ovo of nizhü ovo ‘yours pig’ is an integral
construction, a word whereas the vo of ni-vo ‘your pig’ is a sub
construction,
a sub constituent of a larger constituent. high ‘this’ of larübvü hihi ‘this
book’ is a word because it lends itself to being addressed by question words
while na- i of larübvü-na-i
‘the book’ is a subword or rather a group of sybwords because it does not
lend itself to being by question words. In a nonmentalinguistic frame,
question words do not call forth a nonword as part of the response. |
Potential pause is not necessary because a sequence of what
are clearly words on other criteria need not be marked by potential pause.
avu le ‘will eat-meal’ as in
|
|
7. |
ai1 |
avu2 le3 |
‘I1 |
will3 |
eat |
[my] meal2 |
|
can not be stretched in time but both avu ‘to eat meal’ and
le, the future tnese marker are words. Absence of potential pause, then, is
not indicative of wordhood. Another, illustration in point is the wordhood
status of manner adverbs. Manner adverbs typically, though not always,
follow the verb root in Mao, and there would be no pause between the verb
root and the following adverb. But the adverb, as is indeed the verb root,
is a word by other criteria.
|
| 8. |
pfo1 |
odzü-da2 |
mazhü3-we2 |
|
|
| |
‘he1 |
beats-water |
[=swims]2 |
well3 |
|
| 9. |
pfo-no1 |
imela2 |
sü3 |
to4-we3 |
|
| |
‘he1 |
knows3 |
the |
Mao language2 |
well4 |
|
mazhü ‘well’ and to ‘properly ; well’ are words rather than
subwords despite the fact that they and the verb roots they follow can not
be made discontinuous in time. |
Presence of potential pause, on the other hand, seems to be
a suficient diagnostic tool of wordhood. But there are initial problems as
Mao allows for degrees of potential pause. Mao has a three-term opposition
of pause, a little pause and no pause. |
Examples of potential pause |
[ indicated by space in between ]
|
|
10. |
pfohi1 |
kanako-yi2
|
leshüe3 |
| |
‘they [two]1 |
love3
|
each other2 |
|
| |
|
11. |
ai1 |
alala2 |
lohe3
|
ta4-se2 |
| |
‘I1
|
went4
|
there3
|
alone/on my own/of
my own accord2 |
|
| |
| 12. |
ai1
|
a2 |
pe3
|
akuo4
bu-we5 |
|
| |
I1 |
live5 |
with4
|
my2
|
grandfather3 |
| 13. |
pfo1 |
ideko2 |
lohe-no3 |
em-e4 |
modoe5 |
|
‘he1 |
studied5 |
M.A.4 |
there3 |
last
year2 |
|
| |
|
14. |
eshuo1 |
odo2 |
kali3 |
hrü-lo-e4 |
|
| |
‘Eshuo1 |
bought4 |
a3
|
paddy |
field2
|
|
|
Examples of a little, not potentially infinite, pause :
|
[indicated by two dashes]
|
|
15. |
ashuli = sü1 |
ta
-  e2 |
|
| |
‘Ashuli1 |
went |
away2 |
|
| |
|
16. |
nikhrumüi1 |
hopfü=yi2
|
kade3 |
ai4 |
asa5 |
shu6-e |
| |
I4
am |
happy6 |
to meet3 |
you1 |
[pl.] all2 |
|
|
Examples of linguistic sequences with no pause, indicated
by a single dash between the elements, are found through
out this book. Examples of linguistic sequences marked by
a little pause do not pose serious problems as they otherwise
behave as if there was no pause, that is, sü of ashuli=sü
[eg. 15], for instance, displays the structural attributes
of an affix which has no pause marking its boundary with
its preceding or following element : it is not isolable,
mobile or elliptible. |
3.0.2.2.
|
Insolubility |
Linguistic
material which is isolable either from its immediate linguistic
context i.e., from part of a sentence or from the total
linguistic context i.e. from a whole sentence is a word.
Linguistic material which is isolable from part of a sentence
can perform the potential phrase function ie., it can stand
for the whole noun phrase or verb phrase while linguistic
material which is isolable from the whole sentence can perform
the potential sentence
|
