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in Sema take the oblique forms. The genitive function of a possessive pronoun differs from the other case functions of the pronouns in that a possessive pronoun is functionally a determiner in a determiner-determined construction, as in :

ipu `my father’
lipu `her father’
iu `my hand’
pau `his hand’ etc.

In the pronominal function of a possessive pronoun, the co-referential item that is replaced may be in the same clause or in a neighbouring one, as in :

ekili eno lic iFiwya `Ekili and her dog came’
ekili acö lakhģ anģ, lic tile anģ `Ekili has a dog, her dog is there’
ekili acö lakhģ anģ, tipaw lic `Ekili has a dog, that (is) her dog’ etc.

(4) Relative pronouns
The relative pronouns connect the relative clause to the principal clause. In other words, the relative pronouns introduce relative clauses post modifying nominal heads, i.e., co-referential with the head noun. Sema does not have relative pronouns, rather it has a single particle kew `who’ that relates both the animate and inanimate beings class of nouns, as in :

(i) lino axatģ iFiq kew kicelu `she collected the fruit’ that has fallen
  1      2      3    4     5    1       5    2     4    3
(ii) niye aa lakhģ ka kew ithulu `I saw a child who was crying
    1     2     3   4   5     6   1 6       3      2     4     5
(iii) niye aa aka kew lakhģ ithulu `I saw a crying child’
     1   2    3     4     5     6   1  6   5   3   4   2

In the sentence (iii) a´a akakew lakhģ `a crying child’ is an endocentric noun phrase with a´a `child’ as the nucleus, hence the sentence is identical to :

niye aa lakhģ ithulu `I saw a child’

While in the sentence (ii) kakew is not part of the NP a´a lakhģ, rather it forms a subordinate clause in itself, though both sentences have the same form of the participial form of the verb. And the sentence (i) may mean both `she collected fruit that has fallen’ and also `she has collected the fallen fruit’. Therefore it is pertinent to note here that there is no difference in the participial form of the verb and the form of the verb available in the relative clause. The two types of constructions, are differentiated on the basis of the position of the numeral lakhi `one’
Another point that needs to be noted is that in Sema the interrogative pronoun khś `who’ is different from the relative pronoun kew `who’ and as far as the relative particles in Sema are concerned, there is no distinction between personal relative particles like `who/whom’ and non personal ones like `which’. The same form is used for both.
(5) Interrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronouns also have both nominal and attributive function, as in:
(a) Nominal -

khu śwe kyį? `who went’?
khś no iFi kyį? `who came’?
khś asi cśwya kyį? `who ate the meat’?

A point to be noted here is that in addition to the interrogative word, the interrogative sentences are usually marked by a sentence final particle like kyį, ma etc. as in :

noye hipaw silu nanģ ma? `can you do it’?
khś śwe kyį? `who went’?

The basis of selection of one particle or the other would be discussed in detail in the section on `interrogation’.
(b) Attributive -

khś pu `whose father’?
khś khursi `whose horse?’ etc.

(6) Demonstrative pronouns
Like the possessive pronouns and the nouns the demonstrative pronouns also have both the determiner and nominal function. In both these functions they show opposition in number by taking the plural marker qó. They also take the focus marker ye as in :

hiye ac lakhģ `this is a dog’
apu tķpanaqó akinipo `that boy (is) deaf’

 

 

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