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SYNTAX
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3.1.
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General
Characterization - Simple Sentence :
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The most general characterization of Mishmi syntax is
that the sentences are structured around a predicate. The predicate, when
not further modified, may itself be a sentence. The predicate consists of
any one of the constructions described in section 3.3. The predicate may be
modified by a number of nominals.
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The word order is more or less rigidly fixed as subject -
X - object - verb where X is a cover symbol for other syntactic components.
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3.2.
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Noun Phrase :
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If it does not contain a pronoun, a Noun Phrase, as a
rule, contains a noun. It can also contain any number of adjectives (though,
in texts, few Noun Phrases have more than two adjectives). The adjectives
follow the noun but precede the case inflexions. A typical Noun Phrase of
this type consists of a noun (N), followed by a sentence intensifier (i1),
one or more adjectives (m1, m2,
m3, etc.), a lexical intensifier (i2),
and a classifier - numeral combination (cl-n). Except the noun, all others
are optional.
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3S2 NP ® N + (i+m1+m2+
. . . . i2) + (cl + n)
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Conoccurrence Restrictions :
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(i)
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The presence of i1 requires the
presence of i2.
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(ii)
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The presence of i2 requires the presence of at
least one adjective.
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(iii)
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The occurrence of the classifier numeral combination and that of
the intensfier adjetive combination are independent of each other.
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(iv)
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The sentence intensifier is always
/ąlyay m/
`incomparable’.
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Though a Noun Phrase with a long string of the above
elements is theoretically possible, in actual texts Noun Phrases are seldom
more complex than three components.
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/tabįb dra /
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`big snake’ |
snake big
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| /tabįbtyamįa/
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`five snakes’ |
snake c1 five
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| /tabįb thįyg grag/ |
`very poisonous snake’ |
snake poisonous intens.
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| /tabįb thįyg dra/
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`big poisonous snake’ |
snake poisonous big
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| /tabįb ąlyaym thįyg
grag/ |
| snake incomparable poisonous intens. |
`very highly poisonous snake’
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| /tabįb
ąlyaym
thįyg grag tyamįa/ |
| snake incomparable poisonous intens. cl-five |
`five very highly poisonous snakes’
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