The
numerals could also be reduplicated, by repeating the last syllable of
the numeral concerned when a numeral is reduplicated, it has a distributive
function, for instance. |
| lakhìkhì
|
`one
by one/one each’ |
bidìdì
|
`four
each/four by four’ etc. |
|
|
| 3.4.1.4.
Animate-inanimate correlation |
It
may not be out of place to mention here about certain restrictions, in
the selection of adjectives which is correlated with the animate/inanimate
class of nouns, i.e., the same concept may be expressed by two different
lexical items depending upon whether or not the determined noun refers
to an animate or inanimate being, etc. Given below is a couple of words
having such restrictions. |
| Noun
inanimate being |
Noun animate being |
| `big’
|
akizéu
akicyu |
`old’
|
akaw
kiceme/kitemi |
|
|
The
adjective akizéu `big’ can occur with a noun referring to
an individual. In such an occurrence, it has the special meaning of `great’
as in : |
| `timì
akizéu |
`the
great respected person’ |
|
|
whereas
akizéu `big’ when used with nouns referring to the inanimate
beings, refers to the size of the object i.e., `big’ in opposition
to `small’. Both kicemi and kitemi `old’ occurs with nouns
referring to animate beings while the word kicemi is a relative term indicating
that the person concerned is older than the ego, kitemi indicates finiteness,
i.e., a person who has crossed the age of sixty. This term could also
be used for very old animals. Thus the word kitemi is used when specifying
a particular person or animal. |
| 3.4.2.
Adverbs |
An
adverb was defined as that sub-class of invariables which at the syntagmatic
level functions as an attribute of a verb and is capable of functioning
as the nucleus of an adverb phrase consisting of an intensifier and an
adverb. |
| 3.4.2.1.
Sub-classification |
On
the basis of their semantic domain, the adverbs in Sema could be subgrouped
into three viz., adverbs of manner, adverbs of time and adverbs of location.
These are abbreviated respectively as advm advt and adv1, a few examples
of these are given below. |
| Adverbs
of manner (advm). |
p pasi
|
`quickly’ |
mcmisey
|
`neatly’ |
| alhoxuthu
|
`always’
etc. |
|
|
| `Adverbs
of time (advt) |
|
isi |
`today’ |
thi yú |
`tomorrow’ etc. |
|
|
| Adverbs
of location (adv2) |
|
tile |
`there’ |
|
hile |
`here’ |
|
kúsolo |
`yonder/far’
etc. |
|
|
The
sub-grouping of the adverbs had to be done on a semantic basis, as no
formal criterion either on the paradigmatic axis or on the syntagmatic
axis is available for the sub-grouping of the adverbs. For one thing,
all the adverbs are invariables and it would be seen presently that when
two or more adverbs occur within a VP, there is no word order amongst
the adverbs, ie.., the different sub-groups of adverbs can occur without
any restriction in the word-order. The entire adverb phrase, whether it
consists of a sole adverb or two or more adverbs, is invariably pre-posed
to the verb, as in : |
| tile
isi úwya or |
 |
|
| |
`went
there today’ |
| isi
tile úwya |
|
|
|
| isi
tile ppasi
or |
 |
|
| tile
isi ppasi
or |
|
| isi
ppasi
tile or |
|
| ppasi
isi tile or |
`úwya
`went there quickly to day’ |
| ppasi
tile isi |
|
|
|
