Nominal Morphology
Nominal Morphology
Nouns can be divided into patterns (classes/genders?).
| Gloss | Noun (sg.) | Sg. article | Noun (pl.) | Pl. article | Noun (pl.2) | Pl.2 article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fence | a-ɗiŋg | alɛ | a-ɗiŋg | akɛ | ||
| Elephant | 0-faɲiik | fɛ | 0-paɲiik | kɛ | a-paɲiik | akɛ |
| Cat | 0-muus | nɛ | 0-muus | kɛ | ||
| Horn | o-ɟan | olɛ | ha-can | ahɛ | ||
| Tongue | 0-ɗɛlɛm | lɛ | a-ƭɛlɛm | akɛ | ||
| Stove | 0-ⁿdɛɛn | nɛ | 0-tɛɛn | ? | ||
| Person | o-kiin | ohɛ | 0-ʋiin | ʋɛ |
Negation of a noun is indicated by the free morphology word [ɟɛgɛ]. It's unclear if this element can function verbally or if it can only negate nouns.
Diminutives
| Gloss | Singular Noun | Diminutive of SN | Plural Noun | Diminutive of PN | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| drum | famb | ombamboŋga | apamb | ||||
| field | qool | oɴɢooloŋga | |||||
| sugar | suukar | ɲɟuukar | suukar | did not elicit dim. of pl. |
Augmentatives
| Gloss | Singular Noun | Augmentative of SN | Plural Noun | Augmentative of PN | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cat | muus | gamuusala |
Word/clitic status of "articles"
The "articles" discussed above are apparently not suffixal, as one might assume, making them either independent (and mobile) words or clitics (which attach to the right edge of a DP?).
For instance, note that the agreement for the article in haˈƥɛk ˈsuuˌkaraˌhɛ 'the pieces of sugar (sugarcubes)' matches that of haˈƥɛkaˌhɛ 'the pieces', rather than the agreement seen in ˈsuuˌkarfɛ 'the sugar': the article agrees with haˈƥɛk despite not being immediately adjacent to it.
It is also unclear at this point precisely what semantic function they serve. Some specifying and/or deictic function seems to be involved.
