| |
|
|
|
In noun phrases, which are composed
of a head and a modifier, the plural marker is added to the
whole noun phrase. Thus in the linear order, this marker follows
the modifier. |
|
|
| kí tu?lu |
| house big |
‘big house’ |
|
| |
| kí tu?lutem |
| house big, |
‘big houses’ |
|
| |
nisó
tàcó |
| person good |
‘good person’ |
|
| |
| ninsó
tàcótem |
| person good |
‘good persons’ |
|
| |
na o
temesu |
| flower white |
‘white flower’ |
|
| |
| nao
temesutem |
| flower white Pl. |
‘white flowers’ |
|
| |
|
When a numeral is present indicating a number more than one,’
the plural makrer /-tem/ is optionally dropped. When the plural
marker is present it follows the numeral, for instance, |
|
| kí |
‘house’ |
kítem |
‘houses’ |
| |
|
|
|
| kí aná |
‘house two’ |
‘two houses’ |
|
| |
|
|
|
| kí asem |
‘house three’ |
‘three houses’ |
|
| |
|
|
|
| kí té
|
‘house ten’ |
‘ten houses’ |
|
|
| |
|
The plural marker exclusively used with human personal and
interrogative pronouns is /-nok/. |
| |
| ní |
‘I’ |
o-nok |
‘we (excl.)’ |
| |
|
ase-nok |
‘we (incl)’ |
|
| |
| ná |
‘you (sg.)’ |
ne-nok |
‘you (pl)’ |
|
| |
| pá |
‘he’ } | |
|
|
| lá |
‘she’ } |
panok
|
‘they’ |
|
|
| sipa |
‘who’ |
siye-nok
|
‘who (pl.)’ |
|
| |
|
The stem variants of the pronouns are discussed in the next
section. |
| |
| 2.2.4.
Personal Pronouns : |
|
The personal pronouns in Ao distinguish three persons, two
numbers and three genders as follows : |
| |
|
Person : First person, Second person and Third person. |
|
Number : Singular and Plural |
|
Gender : Human
masculine and human feminine and non-human. The masculine
feminine is found only in third person human singular. Thus the
gender distinction in pronouns is different from the gender
distinction in substantives discussed above. In the substantives
the distinction is between animate and inanimate, and not
between human and non-human as in pronouns. |
|
|
| |
|
TABLE - 1 |
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|
Singular |
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|
Plural |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st person |
|
ní |
‘I’ |
|
asenok |
|
‘we (incl)’ |
| |
|
|
|
onok |
|
‘we (excl)’ |
| |
|
|
|
~unok |
|
|
| 2nd Person |
|
ná |
‘you’ |
|
nenok |
|
‘you’ |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3rd Person |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Human : |
Mas. |
pá |
‘he’
{ |
|
panok
|
|
‘they’ |
|
" |
Fem. |
lá |
‘she’ { |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Non-human |
|
ipá |
‘it’ |
|
item |
|
‘they’ |
|
| |
