Re: Polysynth Question

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:47:13 -0600, Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
wrote:
>
>Here are a few examples. The first two are sample sentences from the
>reference grammar which illustrate lexical and directional suffixes.
>Lexical suffixes are bound lexical elements which together with a root
>form a base. This base may then be inflected for phase and number to
>yield a stem. The lexical suffixes have various semantic functions;
>they are used to indicate instruments, locations, indefinite or
>generic objects and various other kinds of concrete "lexical"
>meanings.
>
>The first line is a surfacy transcription; based on your earlier
>comments, you may or not be able to read it, so I've included a
>phonemicization in the second line (you were interested in small
>inventories anyway; the second line will give you a better idea of the
>underlying inventory; <e> = <barred-i>). The third and fourth lines
>give a morph-by-morph breakdown and glosses. The fifth line is an
>idiomatic English translation.
>
>waˈno� ˈtaɣaˌʔuβihu
>wanuu takaupihu
>
>wa= nuu taka -upi -hu
>1= down move -path -away
>
>'I went down the road.'
>
>wa�ˈnai ˈtatˌtaɣaˌtɨʃi
>waanai tattakatesi
>
>wa= anai ta- ttaka -te -si
>1= up PAUC- move:U -foot -towards
>
>'a few of us are coming up on foot'
>
>The next sentence is part of a longer story that I've posted here
>before. It illustrates the lexical and directional suffixes in use.
>
>ˈisɨa ˈka�ˌsuɸˌtɨɣaˌtɨɣa aˈsɨwɨˌkɨŋgi�
juˈnanai ˈwɨpˌpɨɸˌtɨɣaˌtɨɣahu i aˈʔuɣai
>isea kaasuptekateka asewekenki yunanai weppeptekatekahu i aukai
>
>n- sea kaasu -pte -ka -teka a= se- -ek- wenki
>TR- out.of remove:U -eye -UN -DIST DS= 3POSS- -COLL- eye
>
>yu= n- anai weppe -pte -ka -teka -hu i a= ukai
>AND= TR- upwards throw:U -eye -UN -DIST -away.from OBL DS= sky
>
>'they were taking out their eyes and throwing them up into the air'
>
>These sentences show all three kinds of reduplication in
>Miapimoquitch: paucal reduplication copies an initial CV; distributive
>reduplication copies a final CVCV or CVV; and collective reduplication
>infixes a -Vk- sequence before the first vowel of the root.
>
>Dirk
Sorry -- I've been having trouble understanding the longer sentence. I don't
see any personal prefixes or switch-reference markers. Or is 3rd person
unmarked? And is the 3rd person used after AND even when it's the same
subject?

Jeff

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