| (the
possesser) is a member of Nani class of nouns, it is necessary to
indicate whether or not the possessor owns the item possessed. This
is indicated by taking the suffix wu, as in : |
azac nipu |
`mother’s
sister’ |
| azawukaku |
`mother’s
book’ etc. |
|
|
(ii)
At the lexical level, this group takes the lexicon akicyu `big’,
as in :
|
|
| (iii)
At the systematic level, the nouns in this group are capable of showing
a three-way opposition in number i.e., singular, dual and plural.
The duality is expressed by the form pöma as in : |
| anu
pma |
`two
children’ |
| |
(lit.
child dual) |
|
|
| As
opposed to these features, another set of nouns within the Nani class
never takes the marker for ownership, as in: |
| acpukhu |
`the
dog’s leg’ |
| acsi |
`the
dog’s meat’ etc. |
|
|
| (i)
At the lexical level, this group takes the adjective akizéu `big’1,
as in: |
| ac
akizéu |
`big
dog’ |
|
|
(ii) At the syntagmatic level, the nouns in this group fail
to show a three-way opposition in number, rather they show only a
two-way opposition, viz., singular and plural. However, if it is required
to indicate only two items/objects are involved, the numeral for `two’
is taken, as in : |
| ackini |
`two
dogs’ |
| |
(lit.
dog two) |
| acqó |
`dogs
(two or more dogs)’. |
|
|
| The
sub-group of nouns within the Nani class of nouns that share the former
(features refers to the human beings and the other sub-group refers
to the animate non-human beings. Therefore the nouns showing the former
characteristics are designated as Nouns Human being class (abbreviated
NH class of nouns) and the nouns that show the latter features are
designated as nouns animate non-human being class (abbreviated Nanh
class of nouns). These two-sub-groups can be formally defined. |
| The
Nani class of nouns that is capable of taking the suffix wu (ownership
marker) and capable of showing a three-way opposition in number, viz.,
singular, dual and plural and form construction with the lexicon/akicyu/`big’
form the sub-class of NH class of nouns. |
| Nanh
class of nouns - The Nani class of nouns that never take the suffix
wu (ownership) and that show only a two-way opposition in number,
i.e., singular vs. plural and form construction with the adjective/akizéu/`big’
and not with/akicyu/`big’ form the Nanh class of nouns. |
| NH
class of certain shared features the NH class of nouns in its turn
can be further sub-grouped. For instance, whereas the nouns referring
to the kinship terms and a large number of other nouns in NH class
of nouns do not show any overt gender markers, a sub-group of NH class
of nouns show a three-way opposition in gender, viz. common, masculine
and feminine genders. These nouns have a form ending in /-u/ which
may refer to both the male and female persons engaged in the profession,
as in: |
| |
Common |
male |
female |
| `shopkeeper’ |
alhizeu |
alhizepś |
alhizelyś |
| `servant’ |
aqeu |
aqepś |
aqelyś
etc. |
|
|
|
Similarly the proper names of female beings end in /li/, as in: |
|
hatoli, yekhili etc. |
| However,
owing to the contact with the western missionaries, the new generation
is taking up different Christian names like Rita, Mary etc. with the
result that it is not possible to ascertain the gender of a person
merely on the basis of its form. Therefore a sub-class of NH being
class referring to proper names can not be set up. However, on the
basis of the capability of showing a three -way opposition in gender,
it is possible to set up a sub-class of NH class of nouns. All the
nouns that show this three-way opposition in gender refer to different
professional classes. Hence this sub-group of nouns is designated
as Nouns professional class (abbreviated NHP class of nouns) and conversely
all NH class of nouns that are incapable of showing a three-way opposition
in gender are designated as nouns human non-professional class (abbreviated
NHnP class of nouns). |
