Hmar manifests a kind of pure compounds where both the constituents enjoy the status of nouns with no constituent
functioning as a qualifier of the other. In most cases the
resultant compounds so formed do not express a combination of two
meanings but an extension of the meaning of one of the
constituents.
/túi/
‘water’
/túi
pè:k/
‘irrigation’
/túi
pùi/
‘sea’
/túi
kàm/
‘sea-shore’
/túizà
khàu/
‘current’
/túi
dì:l/
‘lake’
/túi sùo
rìet/
‘ocean’
/túi
làm/
‘canal’
/túi
lìen/
‘flood’
/túi tì/
‘dam’
/mìt/
‘eye’
/mìt
dél/
‘blind’
/tár
mít/
‘spectacles’
/ná/
‘ear’
/ná
sé:t/
‘deaf’
/hmúl/
‘body hair’
/hnér-hmùl/
‘moustache’
/khùm/
‘bed’
/khùm
fá:t/
‘bed
bug’
/khùm
pìndàn/
‘bed
room’
/khùm
púon/
‘bed
sheet’
/thlà/
‘moon’
/thlà
vàr/
‘moon
light’
/nísá/
‘sun’
/nísá
pà:r/
‘sun
flower’
/nísá
tlá:k/
‘sun
set’
/nísá
zù/
‘sun
rays’
/nísá
vàr/
‘sun
shine’
/rám/
‘jungle’,
‘land’, ‘plot’
/sá:p/
‘white
men’
/sá:p
ràm/
‘foreign
country’
/hrí/
‘green’
/rám
hrí/
‘evergreen
forest’
/bú/
‘part
of’, ‘chapter’
/rám
bú/
‘country’,
‘division of land’
/hmùn/
‘place’,
‘location’
/ín/
‘house’
/ín
hmùn/
‘site
of house’
/úm/
‘to
be’
/hùon/
‘garden’
/thlài/
‘vegetable’
/thlài
hùon/
‘veg.
gardern’
/hùon
thlài/
‘vegetables’
(produced in garden)
/ìn/
‘house’
/ìn
hùon/
‘to
fence’
3.6.6
N+N+N Compound
It is also possible to
form compounds of three nouns in a sequence. There are, of
course, not
many examples of this type. In
rú/
n
zái/
