It
may be mentioned here that a noun Phrase (NP) may stand for
either a single noun or a noun modified by another noun/pronoun
in its genitive, i.e., by juxtaposing. For the purpose of
this section, such phrases are also treated on par with a
single noun. In the section on adjective, the type of adjectives
and the situations in which the adjectives, pre and post modify
the noun head were discussed in detail. Hence these would
not be discussed here. Similarly the occurrence of the intensifiers
with the adjectives and also the word order of the adjectives
within an adjective phrase which were discussed earlier would
not be repeated here. Therefore, as mentioned in the previous
section, an adjective phrase would be treated here on par
with a single adjective. |
It may, however, be pertinent to note here that when a NP
has both pre and post modifying adjectives as in : |
| akuhu
kì tipaw kini
1 2 3 4 |
`those
two red houses’
(lit. red house that two)
1 2 3 4 |
y  ono
ikhònhe kew timì tipaw
1 2 3 4 5
kini
6 |
`those
two very short men’
(lit. very short particle man that
1 2 3 4 5
two)
6 |
|
|
instead of treating the entire NP as consisting of a noun
head plus a single discontinuous adjective phrase, such NP’s
are treated as consisting of a noun head and two adjective
phrases of which one pre-modifies and the other post-modifies.
This is schematically stated as : |
NP —>± Adj. P ± N ± Adj. P.
|
A NP may also consist of two or more nouns/pronouns joined
by a coordinating particle, as in : |
| ekili
eno hatoli mu ú mo
1 2 3 4 5 6
nanì
|
`neither
Ekili nor Hatoli will go’
(lit. Ekili and Hatoli neither go
1 2 3 4 5
not will)
6 7 |
| imu
momu ifo ú nanì
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
`either
my brother or my sister will go’
(lit. I brother or I sister go will)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
|
|
The coordinating/alternating construction like the ones cited
above could also occur without any particles, as in : |
| ipeu
ifoqó akì lo anì
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
`my
brothers and sisters are in house’
(lit. I brother I sister plural house in is)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
nono kini momu kthí
} |
|
} |
`you two or three’ |
~ nono kini kthí
} |
|
|
In a coordinating construction, the particle of coordination
(abbreviated p1), if occurring, is placed before the last
noun that is coordinated. And in an alternating construction,
the particles may occur after each noun or may be deleted
altogether. The potential use of the P1 with both the coordinating
and alternating construction is schematically stated as in
: |
NP—> N ± P1 + N ± P1
+ N |
The
entire noun phrase consting either of a coordinating construction
or of an alternating construction would hereafter (i.e. for
the purpose of describing the place/types of NP’s in
a clause, sentence etc.) be treated on par with a single noun.
This is schematically stated as : |
NP—> N ± N ± P1 + N ±
P1 ± N —> N |
A NP in addition to the noun head with or without any adjective
may have a demonstrative adjective, plural marker, a definite
particle and an indefinite pronoun, as in : |
| apúno
kiwi tipaw qó lakì ikhì |
`each
of those good boys’ |
apúno
kiwi tipawqóhu lakh ì khì |
`each
of those good boys (specified) |
apúno
kms |
`all
boys (unspecified)’ |
apúnohu
kms |
`all
the boys (specified)’ |
apúno
kiwi tipau hu kms |
`all
those good boys (specified)’ |
apúno
kiwi tipaw hu kms
i |
`all
those good boys (specified) also’ etc. |
|
