|
CHAPTER
3
|
| 3.
GRAMMAR |
|
It is a usual practice in dividing the grammars based on structural
description into chapters on morphology and syntax, thereby distinguishing
the patterns of the formation of the bound forms from that of the
free forms. This, however, is not attempted here and therefore immediately
after the setting up of the grammatical classes, each of the grammatical
classes along with the grammatical categories that occur with the
major classes like nominals, verb, etc. is discussed followed by a
discussion on the patterns of the phrase, clause, sentence, etc. The
setting up of the different grammatical classes are discussed in the
following section. |
| 3.1.
Grammatical classes : Setting up of |
| A
grammatical class may be defined as `a class of words sharing a pattern
of behavior in inflection or in syntax or in both. The stems/words
which follow one pattern of usage but do not follow another pattern
may be designated as belonging to a grammatical class’ (Sreedhar 1974
: 93). |
| Depending
upon whether or not a word/stem is capable of taking suffixes the
words/stems in Sema are primarily divided into two viz. declinable
and indeclinable. Thus those grammatical classes which are capable
of taking suffixes form one class, viz., the class of declinable and
the remaining form the other class, viz. the class of indeclinables.
Each of these two sub-classes can be further sub-divided into a few
sub-classes as in : |
| A.
Declinable |
| (1)
Nominals- |
| (a) |
nouns |
| (b) |
personal
pronouns |
| (c) |
demonstrative
pronouns and |
| (d) |
numerals
and |
|
|
| (2)
Verbals. |
| B.
Indeclinable |
| (3) Adjectives |
| (4) Adverbs |
| (5) Intensifiers |
| (6)
Post positions and |
| (7)
Particles. |
| A
brief discussion of these various grammatical classes along with the
justification for setting up of these classes follows: |
| Declinable
|
| On
the basis of certain shared features, i.e. the ability of taking certain
types of suffixes as opposed to the others, the class of declinable
can be broadly sub-divided into two. viz., the nominal and the verbal.
Whereas the verbals are inflected for tense, mood, aspect etc., a
feature not found with any other grammatical class, the nouns, the
pronouns, the demonstratives and the numerals form a class of nominal
sharing the privilege of taking case suffixes and/or preceding the
post positions, which the verbal are incapable of. |
| NOMINAL
|
| Numerals
|
| Depending
upon whether or not the grammatical classes that form the nominal
could occur alone in its uninflected form in a NP, e.g., NP ->
N, the nominal in the first instance could be sub grouped into two,
viz., (1) those nominals that can occur in its uninflected form alone
in a NP and (2) those that cannot. In this, all the nominals except
the numerals are capable of occurring in their uninflected form alone
in a NP, as in: |
| |
Noun |
:
apu pi |
`father
said’ |
| NP--> |
Pronoun |
:
no pi |
`you
said’ |
| |
Demonstrative |
:
hie ilu |
`this
(is) my field’ |
|
|
| At
the syntagmatic level, if a NP consists of both a numerals and a noun
as in : |
|
| The
noun is the nucleus of the phrase. A numeral can precede a postposition,
as in: |
| kini
lono |
`from
two' |
ak slakhķpe |
`with
a stick’ |
|
|
| A
numeral may therefore be defined as that grammatical class which form
a sub-class of nominal capable of taking case markers and preceding
post positions, but are incapable of occurring in its uninflected
form as the sole realization in a NP. And at the systematic level,
the noun would be the nucleus of a NP consisting of a noun and a numeral.
|
