Ao is a subject + object + predicate language. The predicate may
be a verb or a noun or an adjective. When it is a noun, or an
adjective, copula is used to link the predicate with the
subject. The subject in a sentence is obligatory and it does not
have concord with the predicate. The subject, the object and the
nominal predicate are expressed by the noun phrase and the
verbal predicate is expressed by the verb phrase. The internal
surface structure of the noun phrase and the verb phrase are
discussed below.
7.1. The
Noun Phrase :
The noun phrases may be of subordinate or co-ordinate
construction. In the subordinate constructionsome attributes
follow and some precede the head noun.
7.1.1. Noun and Attribute : In the noun+attribute construction
the attribute that follows the noun may be an adjective, an
article, a numeral or a quantifier. More than one of these
attributes can be present at a time. The order of the attributes
following the head noun is :
N + Adj
+ [ Num + Pl ]
+ [ Art ]
[ Quant ]
[ Dem ]
A further restriction is when a numeral is present the
indefinite article cannot be present. It must also be noted that
as discussed under demonstrative adjectives, only the deictic
marker occurs after the noun and the gender-number marker occurs
before the noun (cf. 7.1.2.).
kí
‘house’
tanó
‘child’
kí
tu?lu
‘big house
house
big
tan tàcó
‘good child’
child
good
kí
tu?lu
aná
‘two big houses’
house
big
two
kí
tu?lu
tem
‘big houses’
house
big (pl.)
kí
tàcó
áyka
‘many good houses’
house
good
many
kí
tàcó
ká
‘a good house’
house
good
a
kí
tàcó
‘good house’
house
good
kí
tàcó
aná
‘two good houses’
house
good
two
kí
tàcó
áyka
‘many good houses’
house
good
many
The plural suffix follows the adjective like the numeral. If
there is a numeral or a quantifier then the plural suffix is
optional but is less frequent.
‘child’
tàcó
‘good child’
