|
illustrated
Examples |
| Unmarked
Common Gender |
| 113 |
a. |
oja |
‘teacher[s] [male
or/and female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
b. |
kasamüi |
‘friend[s] [male or/and
female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
c. |
in iyamüi |
‘Indian[s] [male or/and
female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
d. |
kolamüi |
‘plainsman/men[maleor/and
female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
e. |
mikrümüi |
‘Meitei[s] [male or/and
female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
f. |
modokapimüi |
‘teacher[s] [male
or/and female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
g. |
o hokasemüi
|
‘paddy-pounder [male
or/and female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
h. |
katimüi |
‘blackee[s] [male
or/and female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
i j |
apanmüi |
‘Japanese [male or/and
female]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
j. |
dukamüi |
‘shop keeper[s] [male
or/and female]’ |
|
-o the human masculine gender and singular
number marker
|
| 114 |
a. |
modokapi-o |
‘male teacher [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
b. |
oho
kase-o |
‘male paddy-pounder
[sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
c. |
kasa-o |
‘male friend [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
d. |
kati-o |
‘male blackee [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
e. |
oja-o |
‘male teacher [sg.]’ |
|
-na the human masculine gender and singular
number marker
|
| 115 |
a
|
modokapi-na |
‘male teacher [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
b. |
oho
kase-na |
‘male paddy-pounder
[sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
c. |
kasa-na |
‘male-friend [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
d. |
kati-na |
‘male blackie [sg.]’ |
|
There are slight denotative, connotative and behavioural
[=morphotactic] differences between -o and -na.
Denotatively, -na is somehow general and -o somehow
specific, which meaning difference squares well with the
connotative meaning difference. Connotatively, -na
is emotionally neutral while -o implies emotional
intimacy.
|
| 115 |
c. |
kasa-na |
‘male friend [sg.]
[emotionally neutral and general]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| 114 |
c. |
kasa-o |
‘male friend [sg.]
[emotionally intimate and specific]8 |
|
The behavioral or morphotactic difference is easier to state.
As we will see more circumstantially in the section on Number,
-na is unilaterally dependent on individuates when
it attaches to absolute nominals, but it could occur independently
of any bound form when it is suffixed to derived nominals.
Thus,
|
| |
|
*
oja-na |
‘male teacher [sg.]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| 114
|
c. |
oja-o |
‘male teacher [sg.]’ |
|
-o can also attach to absolute nominals but only
when the absolute nominal is notionally agentive as oja
‘teacher’ is. Otherwise, -o, like -na,
can on its own attach only to derived nominals. |
-pfo, the masculine gender marker. This does not
mark number.
|
| 116 |
a. |
modokapi-müi-pfo
|
‘male teacher[s]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
b. |
mikrü-müi-pfo |
‘male Meitei[s]’ |
| |
|
|
|
| |
c. |
duka-müi-pfo |
‘male shop-keeper[s]’ |
|
8
|
Presumably, this is
the difference between all such contrastive pairs : |
| modo kapi-na |
|
| |
‘teacher [sg. &
masc.]’ |
| modo kapi-o |
|
| |
|
| oho
kase-na |
|
| |
‘paddy pounder [sg.
& masc.]’ |
| oho
kase-o |
|
|
A few of my informants said -na marks common gender
while -o marks masculine gender. This was disputed
by an overwhelming majority of speakers.
|
