Noun Modification with -u

Adjective suffix -u

All verbs, some nouns, and all stative verbs that are more prototypically attribute-denoting can become ‘adjectives’ if the appropriate morphology is used. One way to adjectivize is by use of the suffix -u.

The adjectival suffix -u is a predicational suffix. Verbs in their bare form with -u become attributive adjectives and in information-structurally neutral contexts follow the head they modify.

-u suffixed adjectives can be strung together with no particular ordering constraints, or on the number of adjectives layered:

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xa- ɓiy ofodax -u pl-Cl fruit sour Adj \trans sour fruit </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll xa- ɓiy xa- pel -u xa- fodax (-u) ole pl-Cl fruit Agr good Adj Agr sour Adj Det \trans the delicious sour fruit </gl>

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll xa- ɓiy xa- podax -u x- apel -u xe pl-Cl fruit Agr good Adj Agr sour Adj Det \trans the sour delicious fruits </gl>

<gl id="ex4" fontsize=12> \gll a- jeg -a xa- ɓiy xa- ɗaq xa- podax -u xa- pel -u 3sg have 3sg pl-Cl fruit pl-Cl two pl-Cl sour Adj pl-Cl good Adj \trans There are two sour delicious fruits. </gl>

<gl id="ex5" fontsize=12> \gll jik -am omaxanda seer -u yaxg -u buy 1sg hat expensive Adj red Adj \trans I bought an expensive red hat. </gl>

<gl id="ex6" fontsize=12> \gll jik -am omaxanda yaxg -u seer -u buy 1sg hat red Adj expensive Adj \trans I bought an expensive red hat. </gl>

In perfect or distant past tense, the -u suffix becomes a tense-carrying suffix and takes the regular pre-vocalic glottal stop that the perfect usually takes in verbal inflection. The following two sets of examples illustrate how tense-marking is achieved in two different ways - either clausally, as an inflection on the verb (7) and (9), or as an inflection on the verb-as-adjective noun-phrase internally (8) and (10). Sentences (7) and (9) illustrate the regular predicational clause with a tense-bearing verb as predicator, as a point of comparison with the behavior of regular verbs:

<gl id="ex7" fontsize=12> \gll fambe le a- magin -‘a goat Det 3sg be-big 3sg-Pst \trans The goat was big. </gl>

<gl id="ex8" fontsize=12> \gll fambe magin -'u laa goat be-big Pst-Adj Det-Prog \trans the was-big goat </gl>

<gl id="ex9" fontsize=12> \gll wiin a- magin -'a people 3sg be-big 3sg-Pst \trans the was-big person </gl>

<gl id="ex10" fontsize=12> \gll wiin magin -‘u waa people be-big Pst-Adj Det-Prog \trans the were big people </gl>

The attributive force of -u can be observed in clefts as well, where modification with an -u adjective seems to be the dominant way of expressing contrastive focus of the kind 'it's x that y':

<gl id="ex11" fontsize=12> \gll Yande gar -eer -u Yande come Neg Adj \trans It's Yande that didn't come. </gl>

(See Predication Strategies for more).

Example (11) has the phrase structure of a nominal phrase, but informationally focuses the noun by using an attributive -u suffix on the negated verb.

Sentences (12) and (13) show that this is indeed the pragmatic function of -u, where (12) has typical predication for neutral focus, and (13) has -u for marked focus:

<gl id="ex12" fontsize=12> \gll ondeb onge dang na obox ole a- ʄuf -a boy Det feed Rel dog Det 3sg leave 3sg \trans The child that fed the dog went away. </gl>

<gl id="ex13" fontsize=12> \gll ondeb onge dang na obox ole ʄuf -u boy Det feed Rel dog Det leave Adj \trans The child that fed the dog, he's the one who went away. </gl>

Variation in word boundary vowel-deletion

At the word boundary between an adjective and a determiner, vowel hiatus is usually avoided by the deletion of one or the other vowel. While the form containing both vowels is acceptable, it is not colloquially preferred. When choosing between the adjectival vowel -u and the determiner vowel (a, or o), the latter is preferred for deletion. Cases where the adjectival vowel is deleted do occur, but there are also cases where it is not acceptable to do so (the last ones in (c) and (d) are confirmed as unacceptable):

(12)

 (a) oɓiy ofodaxu ole		(b)xabii xapodaxu axe	(c) oɓiy ofelu ole       (d) wiin faax we
     oɓiy ofodaxu le	           xabii xapodaxu xe	    oɓiy ofelu le         wiin faaxu we
     oɓiy ofodax ole		   ?xabii xapodax axe	    *oɓiy ofel ole        *wiin faax owe
     'the sour fruit'             'the sour fruits'        'the good fruit'      'the good people'

Go back to: Modification Strategies

--Oana 05:56, 17 May 2013 (UTC)