| A
postposition can be formally defined as that sub-class of indeclinable
which follow a noun/demonstrative but the combined form viz., the
noun + the postposition, on the systematic axis would not occur in
the noun/pronoun slots. |
| Particles
|
| Particles
have a great deal of freedom of occurrence. They could occur with
a noun/adjective as in: |
|
yekubeqó |
`tables’ |
|
yekube kiwiqó |
`good tables’ etc. |
|
|
| or
may connect two words or phrases, as in: |
|
imu eno ifo |
`my brother and my elder sister’ |
|
imu iFi eno ifoye śwe |
`my brother came and my elder sister went’ |
|
|
| Hence
all the indeclinable free forms other than the adjectives/adverbs/intensifiers
and the postpositions form the particles in this language. No effort
is made to sub-divide the particles into clitics, connectors, etc. |
| 3.2
NOMINAL |
| The
nominal in Sema include all the grammatical classes that could form
a constituent of a Noun Phrase. The constituents are : noun, pronoun
including demonstrative Pronoun, numeral, adjective, post position,
intensifier and a few particles. Of these, the occurrences of the
post positions are discussed along with the discussion on the grammatical
category of case. The adjectives, the intensifiers and the particles
are discussed under the main head of indeclinable. Thus, this section
discusses the occurrences of the nouns, the pronouns including the
demonstrative pronouns and the numerals. In this we begin with the
nouns. |
| 3.2.1
Nouns |
| A
noun was formally defined earlier as belonging to that grammatical
class which on the paradigmatic axis is capable of taking gender and
case markers and on the systematic axis is capable of being an i/c
of the post positions, particles including the plural markers and
functions as the nucleus of a noun phrase. A noun could also be the
sole realization of a noun phrase. In the following sections, the
morphological construction and the sub-grouping of the nouns are discussed. |
| 3.2.1.1.
Morphological construction |
| The
morphological construction of any grammatical class would be based
on the inflectional features/bound forms that the particular class
is capable of taking. As far as Sema is concerned at the morphological
level, a noun is capable of showing opposition in gender and case
relationships. For instance, some nouns show a three-way opposition
in gender. These are: common, masculine and feminine genders; of these,
only the latter two are marked, as in : |
|
amsi |
`buffalo (common)’ |
|
awuFi |
`pea fowl (common)’ |
|
aqeu |
`servant (common)’ |
|
amsicö ¸ |
`he buffalo’ |
|
amsiqu |
`she buffalo (with issue)' |
|
awuFidu |
`peacock’ |
|
awuFiqu |
`peahen (laid eggs)' |
|
aqelyś |
`maid servant’ |
|
aqepś |
`male servant’ |
|
|
| The
nouns are also capable of showing case relationship as in |
|
amsino |
`buffalo (agentive)’ |
|
aqeno |
`servant (agentive)’ |
|
aqelyśno |
`maid servant (agentive)' |
|
akģlo |
`in the house’ (locative)' |
|
|
| From
the illustrative examples give above, it is possible to set up the
morphological construction of a noun which is : |
| Root
+ Gender +
Case |
| This
would give a total of 4 morphological construction, viz. |
|
Root alone |
`akģ `house’/aqe `servant’ |
|
Root + gender |
`aqelyś `maid servant’ |
|
Root + case |
`aqeno `servant’ (agent) |
|
Root + gender + case |
aqelyśno `maid servant’ (agent) etc. |
|
|
| 3.2.1.2.
Sub-classification |
| The
nouns in Sema were defined in the previous chapter as a subclass of
nominal showing certain characteristic features. These features include
the capability on the paradigmatic axis of taking gender, case, and
the capability of showing a three-way opposition in a number and on
the systematic axis the privilege |
