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6.4.  Noun Phrase :


A sentence may be divided into major constituents : Noun Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP).

1. A noun phrase may consist of a noun or a pronoun as its head. The head may occur by itself.

1. 
soma 
‘Soma (proper noun)’
2.  sadm  ‘horse’
3.  aiN  ‘I’

The head may be modified by the determiner which precedes it.

4. 
¸e h 
‘this man’
5.  en h  ‘that man’
6.  ¸e setaa  ‘this dog’
7.  en setaa  ‘that dog’
8.  en/¸ia darua  ‘this tree’
9.  han¸a darua  ‘that tree’
10.  ne hko  ‘those men’
11.  en kuihonko  ‘these girls’


A noun phrase may consist of an adjective and a noun. Here, the adjective is an optional category.

12. 
huiŋ hon ’
‘small child
13. maraŋ daru  ‘big tree’
14.  hupuiŋ honko  ‘small children’
15.  hupuiŋ daruko  ‘small trees’
16.  bugin h  ‘good man’
17.  haam h  ‘old man’
18.  purna a  ‘old house’
19.  sagua tasa?t  ‘green grass’
20.  raŋgia gaia  ‘red cow’
21.  a?ea khonian kaa  ‘his injured leg’
22.  bugin olkuihon  ‘good student’
23.  besaiŋ bugin olkuihon ‘very good student’
24. moyon besaiŋ bugin olkuion ‘a very good student’
25.  ne birren jontuko  ‘the animals of the forest’
26.  haturen hko  ‘the people of the village’
27.  bururea daruko  ‘the trees of the mountain’
28. bururea diriko  ‘the stones of the mountain’
29. hen haturen mua  ‘the chief of that village’


It seems that the order of adjectives, when there are more than one is not fixed. For example, the normal order is

ne
 bir-ren
 jontu-ko
this forest-case  animal-pl.
‘The animals of this forest’

However,
 the
order
 may
 be
changed
 as
 this
also.
bir-ren ne jontuko            


A sentence itself may be a noun phrase

30.
 omi
 gomi-ke
 dal-l-i-a-a
 hatawa
 heke
  Domy  Gomy-case beat-tense admirable  is
‘That Domy beat Gomy is admirable’

31.
 omi
gomi-ke
 du?ul-i-a-a
 hatawa
 heke
  Domy  Gomy-case defend-tense admirable is
‘That - Domy defend Gomy is admirable’


A noun phrase may be a noun modified by a sentence.

32.
 ina?a
 prithima
apaa-giaa
sayige
  that  world  flat-tense  true
‘That the world is flat is true’


A sentence may be noun phrase modified by a sentence
33.  soma  heakate  sere-len-a ina  goona  maraŋ  ka-heke
  Soma  late arrive-tense  that fact big neg-is
‘The fact that Soma arrived late is unimportant’
 
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