The
case of the possessor to the possessed is, in most cases,
marked by {-zero} and in some cases by {-a} with obligatory
possessor-possessed woed order. Although {-a} preferably
occurs with human names ending in a consonant and {-ø}
elsewhere, both are, in strict sense, morphemic alternant.
The word order is irreversible. Hamar does not make
any distinction between alienable and inalienable possessions.
The following a examples could be seen.
/shyám-à
b:/
‘Shyam’s
cow’
/jóhn-à
ké:l/
‘John’s
goat’
/smúth-à
mít/
‘Smith’s
eye’
/pàdún-à
hlínà/
‘Padun’s
joy’
/pètér-à
hmáàiná/
‘Peter’s
love’
/ín-à
rán/
‘animal
of the house’ (domestic’
/lóu-à
thlài/
‘vegetable
of the jhum’
/rám-á
thí/
‘tree
of the jungle’
There
is a growing tendency to ignore the differences and
ganitive marker {-a} can alternate with {-Ø}.
Examples :
/smíth-à
lúá:inà
à pú/
‘the
sorrow of Smith increases’
/smíth-Ø
lùàiná
cù a zÛol/
‘Smith’s
sorrow aggravates’
/pètér-à
l:mná
à zúol/
‘Peter’s
joy aggregates
/
/pètér-Ø l:mná
à zÛol/
or;
increases’
The
use of {-a} as a genitive suffix is not very stable.
The tendency to delete {-a} as a genitive marker is
growing very steadily.
3.2.1.7.5
Ablative
The
case of a noun functioning as a source or beginning
point of a motion of an action is realised periphastically.
First, a genitive form in {-a} which again alternates
with {Ø} is realised and then
a post position /iʼnthkin/
or /kùomà/ is used. Thus, both {-a} and a post position
together mark the allative. Generally {-a}+ /ìʼnthkín/
occurs after any non-human noun and {-Ø} + /kùomà/ occurs
as an alternant only after human nouns or names.
/ín-à
ìnthkin
sìkúlàh/
‘from
home to school’
/lèkhábú-à
ìnthkín/
‘from
a book’
/knk-A
ìnthkín
kà lá:k/
‘I
brought it from Kanak’
/b-á
ìnthkín/
‘from
a cow’
/mìhríem-á
ìnthkín/
‘from
the man’
/mérí-Ø
kùomàh lá rh/
‘take
it from Mary’
3.2.1.7.6
Dative
The
case of an animate noun functioning as a recipient of
an object as suggested by verb is marked in most cases
by {-Ø} alone and sometimes by
adding the post position /kuomah/ after the genitive
form in {-a}.
/nk-ìn
náupá-Ø
puon à pé:k/
‘Kanak
gave the boy cloth’
/mérí-ìn
gìtá-Ø thú á hrìl/
‘Mary
told Gita a story’
/púonsóptù-Ø
púon pé:rh/
‘give
clothes to the washerman’
/ràm-á
kúomàh pé rh/
‘give
it to Ram’
/náupá-Ø
kùomàh pé rh/
‘give
it to the boy’
/rán-Ø
kúomàh/
‘to
the animal’
3.2.2
Numerals
The
numberless in Hmar can be discussed under two categories
such as cardinals and ordinals. It may be seen that
ordinals are derived from cardinals by a simple derivation
3 process of suffixation.
3.2.2.1
Cardinals
The
system of enumeration of the cardinals is very simple.
To refer to ‘one’ up to ten’ there are ten lexical entries;
the initial syllable for first nine entries are identical.
To refer to ‘eleven’ onwards to ‘ninetwee’ Hmar constructs
new forms just by compounding the cardinals, referring
to ‘one’ to ‘nine’ with /som/ referring ‘ten’. ‘Twenty’
is constructed by adding /som/ ‘ten’ with /pahni/ ‘two’
after replacing initial syllable ‘pa’ of the numeral
/pahni/ ‘two’. Similarly ‘thirty is /som/ ‘ten’ + /thu/
< /lpathum/ ‘three’.
:
/
:mná
à zúol/
/pètér-Ø l
kin/
or /kùomà/ is used. Thus, both {-a} and a post position
together mark the allative. Generally {-a}+ /ìʼnth
