Since
the different types of computations and permutations that
could form a NP in Sema have been discussed extensively here,
in the subsequent sections dealing with clauses, sentence
etc all occurrence of a NP would show a single noun/pronoun
as the sole realization of a NP. It may be restated here that
the particle Fi `also’ can be post-posed to any NP.
Hence the occurrence of the particle `also’ with a NP
would also not be discussed hereafter. |
|
For
the purpose of describing a verb phrase, the various forms
of a verb including the modal, tense and aspect (which were
already discussed in 3.3.5) and the compound forms of and
the compound forms of a verb would be treated as on par with
the uninflected form of a verb; the rules of combination of
these sub-topics have been dissed in 3.3.1 and 3.3.5. Therefore
the discussion of the verb phrase in this section is restricted
to the occurrence of the verb head with the other grammatical
classes like the noun/pronoun, adverb etc. A verb phrase (VP)
in Sema may have as its constituent only a single verb, as
in : |
| |
In addition to a verb, a VP may have an adverb including a
functional adverb as its constituent, as in : |
| niye
tile ú |
`I
went there’ |
niye
kipikìlo ú |
`I
went to the school’ etc. |
|
A locative verb could substitute the principal verb of both
types of VP cited above, as in : |
| li
kusolo anì
|
`she
is yonger’ |
li
ikìlo anì |
`she
is in the house’ etc. |
|
|
In addition to a verb and an adverb, a noun having sociative
and instrumental1 case relations could also occur as a constitutent
of a VP, as in : |
liye
pasas úwya |
`she
went with him’ |
|
For the ease in description, a noun/pronoun in the sociative
or in the instrumental case relation is considered as verb
complement (VC), rather than a NP. A VC could co-occur with
all sub-types of adverbs, as in : |
niye
calakipecö li sas
ú cé nanö
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
`I
will be going with her daily’
1 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
niye
tile isi ppasi
li sas úcénì
1 7 3 4 5 6 7 |
`today
I am going there quickly with her’
3 1 7 2 4 6 7 |
|
1.
The instrumental relation is available only when the verb
is in its intransitive construction |
In all such instances, the adverbs that form the constitutent
of a VP is pre-posed to VC and the VC in turn is pre-posed
to the verb head. The examples cited above have a verb in
its intransitive construction.When a verb is in its intransitive
construction, a VP would also have a noun1 as its constituent,
as in : |
| ino
li ithulu anì
1 2 3 4
ino hatoli ithulu
ino isi hatoli ithulu |
`I
am seeing her’
1 4 3 2
`I saw Hatoli’
`I saw Hatoli today’ |
|
In
such instances also, the adverbs forming a constituent of
the VP is pre-posed to the NP which in turn is pre-posed to
the verb head. |
It
was seen in the previous para that a VP with a verb in its
intrasitive construction as the head could have a VC as its
constituent. It would be presently seen that a VP with a verb
in its transitive construction could also have a VC as one
of its constituents as in : |
ino
aks
lakhì pe li heqhi |
`I
beat her with a stick’ |
niye
isi asi lisas
cukè |
`I
ate meat with her today’ |
|
The
illustrative examples given above have NA occurring
both before and after VC. The Sema language which otherwise
has a fixed word order permits this much of freedom in the
word order between VC and NA of a VP. |
When
a VP has a diatransitive verb as its nucleus, in addition
to the NA, the VP would also have a noun having
the dative relations |
| Such
a VP could have adverbs also as its constituents, as in : |
ino
kaku lakhì hatoli cwya |
`I
gave Hatoli a book’ |
|
`I
will give Hatoli a book at |
| 1
2 3 4 5 } |
10.30
morning tomorrow. |
kaku
lakhì hatoli c
nanì } |
(lit.
I tomorrow ten half from |
| 6
7 8 9 10 } |
1 2 3 4 5 |
} |
book
one Hatoli give future) |
} |
6
7 8 9 10 |
|
Functionally
the NA is the direct object (in this sentence item
No.6) and NA as its constituents, NA
is invariably pre-posed to the |
1.
Only a noun/pronoun having the accusative case relation can
occur in this position. And such a noun is marked as NA. When
the VP has a diatransitive verb, two nouns could form its
constituent, i.e., one NA and another noun having dative case
relation. The latter one is marked ND. |
yu c
