| NHP
class of nouns :- The NHP class of nouns is formally defined as that
sub-group of NH class of nouns that has the capability of showing
a three-way opposition in gender. |
| Nan
H class of nouns : - On the basis of certain shared features Nan H
class of nouns could also be sub-grouped in the first instance into
two i.e. whereas one set of nouns show opposition in gender another
set of nouns are indifferent to the category of gender, for instance,
|
| (i) |
ane |
`goat
(common)’ |
anecķ |
`he
goat’ |
| |
awo |
`pig
(common)’ |
awolģ |
`male
pig’ |
| |
awu |
`fowl
(common)’ |
awdu |
`cock’
etc. |
| (ii) |
asöbo |
`tree’ |
|
|
| |
axamnu |
`flower’
etc. |
|
|
|
|
| All
the nouns that could occur under set No. (i) refer to animals and
birds, and the ones in the other set refer to trees and plants. We
may therefore formally designate the nouns referring to the animals
and birds as belonging to a class of nouns animate non-human non-vegetation
class (abbreviated as NanHnv class of nouns) and the nouns referring
to the trees and plants as nouns animate non-human vegetetion class
(abbreviated as NanHv class of nouns). |
| NanHnv
class of nouns.- The NanHnv class of nouns is formally defined as
that sub-group of NanH class of nouns which has the capability of
taking gender markers. |
| NanHv
class of nouns.- The NanHv class nouns is formally defined as that
sub-group of NanH class of nouns which is incapable of taking gender
markers. |
| NanHnv
Class of nouns.- The NanHnv class of nouns were set up as a sub-group
of NanH being class of nouns on the basis of its capability to take
gender markers. All the nouns that form a member of this class have
the capability of showing a three-way opposition in gender. These
oppositions are (i) an uninflected form marking the common gender,
and (ii) different gender suffixes to mark the masculine and feminine
genders. However, the gender suffixes taken are not identical, rather
different sets of nouns take different gender suffixes for instance.
|
| |
|
common |
masculine |
feminine |
| (a) |
`cattle’ |
amsi |
amsic |
amsiqu |
| |
`goat |
ane |
anec |
anequ |
| |
`deer’ |
ase |
asec |
asequ |
| |
`elephant’ |
aköha |
akhac |
aköhaqu
etc. |
| (b) |
`pig’ |
awo |
awolģ |
awoqu |
| |
`dog’ |
acö |
aclģ |
acöqu |
| |
`cat’ |
akhosa |
akhosalģ |
akhosaqu
etc. |
| (c) |
`fowl’ |
awu |
awdu |
awuqu |
| |
`woodpecker |
asusś |
asusś
du |
asusśqu |
| |
phesant |
aFi |
aFi
du |
aFö
qu |
| |
peafowl |
awuFi |
awuFidu |
awuFiqu
etc. |
|
|
| It
can be observed from the examples cited above that all the nouns under
(c) refer to birds including fowls and the nouns under (a & b)
refer to different kinds of animals. These differences are formally
marked by taking different gender markers. Therefore it is possible
to further sub-group these different sets of nouns. These sub-divisions
in the first instance would be (1) the nouns referring to the fowls
on the one hand and the nouns that refer to different kinds of animals.
All the nouns that refer to the fowls are formally designated as belonging
to the nouns animate non-human fowl class of nouns (abbreviated NanHF
class of nouns and all the nouns referring to the animals are designated
as nouns animate non human animal class (abbreviated NanHA class of
nouns). |
| NanHF
class of nouns is formally defined as that sub-group of NanHnv class
of nouns that takes the gender marker /du/ and /lķ respectively for
the masculine and feminine genders. |
| NanHA
class of nouns is formally defined as that sub-group of NanHnv that
takes the gender markers c/lģ
and ni/qł/qu respectively for the masculine and feminine genders.
|
| From
the examples of NanHA class of nouns given earlier it could be observed
that all the members of this group do not take the same set of suffixes,
rather a sub-group takes c
and another sub-group takes lģ for the masculine gender. A further
observation would show that all the nouns in this group that take
the masculine gender suffix c
refer to animals with horn and the nouns that take lģ refer to
animals without horn. It is therefore possible to sub-classify these
nouns into two, viz. NanHAh class of nouns that refer to the animals
with horns and those that refer to the animals without horn. These
sub-groups are formally designated respectively as Nouns animate non-human
animal horn class (abbreviated NanHAh class of nouns) and Nouns animate
non-human animal hornless class of nouns (abbreviated NanHAh1 class
of nouns). |
