If a negative confirmation is anticipated the question would
be : |
| noye
li kimiye cemo kesya? |
`don’t
you love her?’ |
|
Sometimes,
even when the one who questions anticipates a negative answer,
may have the feeling that his information is only partially
true, i.e., he is less sure of his information. In such instances,
the same question could be worded slightly differently, as
in : |
| noye
li kimiye cenikyo mo kyá? |
These
two questions would usually elicit either of the answers given
below : |
|
moy `no’, or
pömla `can’t say’ (i.e., the person concerned
in fact loves her secretly but does not want to commit it) |
Apart
from the questions anticipating a yes/no answer, the language
also have devices of making use of interrogative pronouns
for obtaining information on specific issues/topics. In addition
to the use of the interrogative pronouns such questions, must
necessarily have the interrogative particle kya1 at the end
of the sentence. The interrogative pronouns occur in the slots
of the NP about which the information is sought, as in : |
| noye
kusie asi kucu qhiwe kyá? |
`why
did you stop eating meat?’ |
paye
kyúsi anì kyá? |
`what
(is) he doing?’ |
oze
kyú kyá? |
`what
(is) your name?’ |
|
The
primary interrogative pronouns available in Sema are : |
|
khú `who’, kyú `what’,khile `when’,
ki `how’ and kusie `why’,. |
In
addition to these five interrogative pronouns, three interrogative
pronouns are derived from two of the primary interrogative
pronouns. These are : |
khilaw
`where’ khile `when’ + law `towards’,
kize `how many’ ki `how’ + ze `big’
kikuto `how far’ ki `how’ + kuto `far’ |
It
might therefore be stated that there are basically two types
of interrogatives in Sema. Of these one elicits an yes/no
answer. Depending upon whether the one who questions, anticipates
a positive confirmative answer or a negative confirmative
answer, the questions are worded differently. But all such
questions must necessarily have at the sentence final position
an interrogative particle. |
| 1.
In some dialects a occurs instead of kyá. |
The
three interrogative particles that could occur at this position
are :kesya, kema and ma-, Of these, kesya is used when the
person questioned is of low status, and ma is used when he
commands respects and kema is used generally indicating a
neutral feeling in terms of respect/disrespect towards the
person questioned. This is unusual for this language, as nowhere
else, forms to indicate respect/disrespect towards others
including the use of honorific plural is available in this
language. The other type of interrogative seeks information
on specific issues/topics by using one of the interrogative
pronouns. Such interrogative sentences must necessarily end
with the interrogative pronoun kyá. |
|
Any
affirmative sentence in Sema could be negated by taking an
appropriate negative marker. There are in all five negative
markers. These are : kumo, köha, ke(wi), mla and mo.
In addition, at the lexical level, there is also the negative
word mtha `do not know’. |
It
was mentioned earlier that a verb in this language shows opposition
in tense, aspect and mood. The special modal or tense marker
occurring with a verb conditions the selection of one negative
marker or the other. The type of sentences which is negatived
also conditions the selection of the negative particles. Therefore
a brief statement, of the different types of simple sentences
and the verbal structure would be restated here. |
For
the purpose of discussing the system of Negation in Sema the
simple sentences in Sema may be sub-grouped into three, viz.,
equative sentences, locative or possessive sentences and the
rest. Depending upon the modal marker occurring with a verb,
the simple sentences other than the equative and locative
or possessive sentences in Sema may be further sub-grouped
into three, viz. a simple sentence with the verb : (i) in
the imperative, (ii) either in the potential or in the probability
mood, (iii) in the obligatory mood, and (iv) in the rest of
the moods and different aspects and tenses. A discussion of
these follows : |
(i)
Equative sentence. - An equative sentence in Sema was defined
(vide 3.7.1.2) as that sentence which has only NP1 and NP2
with both the NPs referring to the same person or thing, as
in : |
hipawye
ikì |
`this
(is) my house’ |
izeye
soniya |
`my
name (is) sonia’ |
hiye
akì lakhì |
`this
(is) a house’ etc. |
|
