is taken to be a point without dimensions and the action
is only described with reference to it. The multidimensional path, however,
is with reference to place with an area or volume and the action, or process
while in progress, is taken to have passed through and within the location.
The dimensions are more psychological in the sense that they are associated
more with the preception of the speaker rather than the physical object in
question.
(i)
Unidimensional path is marked
by the suffix /-myõ/.
(57)
/h1
tejyabgõ2taphraga(m) myõ3
Nom Abl Loc [Pa]
hayulya4
bóde5/
Dat
`I1 go5
to Hayuliang4 from Tezu2
via Taphragam3/
(ii)
Multidimensional path is marked by
the suffix /-thi/.
(58)
/h1
tejyabgõ2 taphragamth3
Nom Abl Loc [Pa]
/hayulya4
bóde5/
Dat
`I1 go5 to
Hayuliang4 from Tezu2
through Taphragam3’
Multidimensional path is also marked
by a combination of the locative and dative inflexions.
58a)
/pya1 taméy2
krłnąkwnył3
Nom Loc [Pa]
lyanabo4
`the bird1 entered4
into the ear3 of the elephant2’
The combination of /-kw)/, a locative suffix and
/-nył/,
a dative suffix gives the sense of the bird entering the ear, fly through it
and come out. The elephant’s ear is conceived here as a transitory point in
the bird’s flight path.
There are two degrees of comparison each represented by a
distinct morpheme. Where one of the compared entities is qualitatively
identical to the other, the suffix /-dathi/ is added to the second NP. This
suffix can roughly be translated into English as `as . . . . as’.
1
tejyabgõ2 taphraga(m) myõ3
4
bóde5/
ya1 taméy
nył3
