| The
pertinent features found with each of these classes are mentioned
below.1 |
| Inanimates |
+
PP1 |
+adj1 |
|
+
Adj3 |
| Human
non-professional |
+
PP2 |
+Adj2 |
+
Adj4 |
+
possessor |
| Human
professional |
+
PP2 |
+
Adj2 |
+
Adj4 |
+
G1 |
| Animate
NH vegetation |
+
PP2 |
+
Adj2 |
+
Adj3 |
|
| Animate
NH animal horn |
+
PP2 |
+Adj2 |
+Adj3 |
+
G2a |
| Animate
NH animal hornless |
+
PP2 |
+Adj2 |
+Adj3 |
+
G2b |
| Animate
NH birds |
+
PP2 |
+
Adj2 |
+
Adj3 |
+
G2c |
|
|
| 3.2.2.
Pronouns |
| The
pronouns in Sema form a sub-class of nominal. The pronouns differ
from the nouns in that whereas the pronouns are capable of showing
a three-way opposition in person2 and another three-way opposition
in number, the nouns are incapable of showing any opposition in person
and ordinarily show only a two-way opposition in number, for instance,
|
| |
Singular |
dual |
plural |
| I |
ni |
ikuzo |
ni´ł |
| you |
no |
okuzo |
no´ł |
|
|
| 1.
The full form of the abbreviation used: |
| PP1
= postpositions lono `from’ lo `to/towards/in’ |
| PP2
= postpositions lawno `from’ law `to/towards’ |
| Adj1
= akaw `old kötla/aFlo `little’ |
| Adj2
= kicmi `old’, kuFuno `little’ |
| Adj3
= kiześ `big’ |
| Adj4
= akieyu `big’ |
| G1
= common, masculine and feminine gender (all marked overtly) |
| G2a
= four genders, - common (unmarked) masculine, cö
¸, feminine with issue qu, feminine virgin li |
| G2b
= four genders - common (unmarked) masculine li
feminine with issue qu, feminine virgin qś /nģ |
| G2c
= four genders - common (unmarked) masculine du,
female (laid eggs) qu feminine (virgin - ü ¸ |
| 2.
The opposition in number is made through different lexical items and
not through any inflection of the personal pronouns. |
| |
Singular |
dual |
plural |
| he |
pa |
pama |
panó´ł |
| she |
li |
pama |
panó´ł |
| it |
hi |
|
|
|
|
| Like
the nouns, the pronouns also show the case relationships and take
particles and postpositions, as in: |
| pano |
he |
(nominative) |
| pahu |
he |
(the
particular) |
| palaw |
to
him etc. |
|
|
|
| Though
the pronouns function as replacements for co-referential noun phrases,
the pronouns are neither inflected for gender nor have any gender
markers. The nouns referring to the male/female beings within the
human being class of nouns, however have two different pronouns, viz.,
pa `he’ and li `she’as co-referential substitues, while all other
nouns including the animate non-human being class of nouns have hi
`it as replacive, for instance : |
| Saluwi
śwe, paye isi śwe |
`saluvi
went, he went today’ |
| hatoli
śwe, liye isi śwe |
`hatoli
went, she went today’ |
| acöno
śwe, hiye isi śwe |
`the
dog went, it went today’ |
|
|
| The
forms pa `he’ li `she’ and hi `it’ are designated respectively as
third person masculine singulr personal pronoun, third person feminine
singular personal pronoun, and third person non-human singular personal
pronoun. |
| The
opposition between the masculine and feminine third person personal
pronoun is neutralized in the dual and plural and a single form, i.e.,
the form used for the masculine singular with the appropriate number
suffixes is used to refer to both male and female beings in the dual
and plural number, as in : |
| hotoli
eno ekli iFino |
iFi
eno pama isi śwe |
 Hatoli
and Ekili` |
came
yesterday and tey went today’ |
|
|
| It
could therefore be stated that as far as the pronouns are concerned,
the gender is not a grammatical category in Sema except for the III
person singular pronouns where they are gender-sensitive in that pa
`he’ and li `she’ substitute respectively the human beings class of
nouns referring to the male and female beings and hi `it’ substitutes
all other nouns, including the nouns referring to the male and female
animals. |
| 1.
Both Hatoli and Ekili are proper names given to the female children.
|
