B. cimina
hobaoa? |
|
‘how much will it be (by this way)?’ |
| The
reconstructed form ‘ena jan-ko-te cimina
hobaoa?’ becomes an interrogative. Again the first sentence is of
personal type while th socond is of impersonal construction. |
| (c)
Responsive: Such incomplete sentences which are used as a response
in a conversational situation may be either a short form of reply
to a question or echo form denoting awareness on the part of the
listener. Echo form of response is very common in Mundari conversations.
The reply type of incomplete sentences are easy to reconstruct: |
|
A. kotem senkena ‘where had
you gone?’ |
|
B. nete-ge . . . ‘there only’ |
| In
such replies, the phrase used by B has to replace the interrogative
phrase used by A along with the change in the person: |
|
netegeisenkena
‘I had gone there only’
|
| The
emphatic particles /ge/, /do/ etc., are frequently suffixed to such
forms. It may be observed that such responses are elliptical. On
the other hadn in echo types of responses, the finite verb as well
as the whole structure is retained: |
|
A. mod can·u? lagao-gea ‘it
will take a month’ |
|
B . lagao-gea ‘it will take’ |
| The
‘yes’ or ‘no’ type repies with /he/ or /ka/ respectively will belong
to this type of minor sentence with possibility of reconstructions. |
| 3.3.1.1.2.
Stereotype sentences: |
| All
the idiomatic or formulate types of full formed sentence, most of
which may be closed for further transformations and have marked
semantic deviations, may be termed as stereotype minor sentences.
They may be of either vocative or exclamatory or conventional response
type. |
| (a)
Vocative: A full sentence may be used as vocative with appropriate
inotation but with idiomatic uses: |
|
lelepe!
ape agn asur-ko! ‘you see, you Asur people!’
|
| Such
vocatives stand apart from the main sentence and occur indepently.
The finite verb /lel/ is used only idiomatically. |
| (b)
Exclamatory: Syntactically independent exclamations with a finite
verb, often used with an interjection, expressing suggestion, anger,
etc., are another stereotype used in formulate manner: |
|
A. abu jaleka nimir-do besege
mena?bu |
|
‘these days we two are anyhow pulling on well’ |
|
B he! mar tobe! ‘well ! then
proceed ahead!’ |
| The
minor sentence used by B is of exclamatory type with the interjection
/he/ suggesting A to go ahead or even expressing annoyance. |
| (c)
Formulate responses: The syntactic formation in this case is complete.
They are used in formualate manner as response and thus fill up
gaps in conversational speech. They belong to third category or
stereotypes and lose the semantic function. They cannot, therefore,
undergo any further transformation. Such responses also may be of
echo-type: |
|
A. bes ge abu? ‘are we two alright’ |
|
B . base ge abu, tisin-gapa |
|
‘we (tw) are alright, anyhow, today-tommorow’ |
|
The stereotype responses may be elliptical also: |
A. en somoe-re ka hoba da io?tana |
|
‘these days nothing can be done’ |
|
B. sartige |
|
‘surely, enough’ |
The
reconstruction will be like the following: en somoere sartige ka
hoba da io?tana. |
