(ii)
khakhģ occurring as an alternant form of lakhģ after the numeral c Fé
`ten’, stFi ¸ `thirty’ |
| (iii)
khģ after lakhģ `one’ indicating distributive characteristics and |
| (iv)
lakhģ occurring elsewhere e.g. |
| atöFś |
`first’ |
| cFkhakhģ
cFélakhģ |
`eleven’ |
| sF
khakhģ sF
lakhģ |
`one
by one or one each’ |
| lakhģ |
`one’ |
| muku
lakhģ |
`twenty
one’ |
| cFlakhģ |
`eleven’ |
| sFlakhģ |
`thirty
one’ |
| akhč
lakhģ |
`one
hundred’ |
|
|
| Between
the alternant forms cöFé lakhģ, siFö ¸ lakhģ and cöFé khakhģ, söFö
¸ khakhi ¸, the latter sets with khakh are of high frequency. |
| 2.
The numeral bidģ `four’ has another allomorph viz. bdģ occurring in
free variation with bidi, in the fast pronunciation, when it is in
construction with any other numeral, as in: |
|
| 3.
The numeral cöFé `ten’ has four allomorphs. These are |
|
(1)
cöFé occurring before primary numerals when the relationship between
the two is that of summation.
|
|
(2)
lho occurs before the primary numerals when the relationship between
them is that of multiplication.
|
| (3)tonhe
occurs after khé `hundred’ and cöFé elsewhere (i.e., in pre-pause
position and before the ordinal marker) e.g. |
| cF
kini |
`twelve’ |
| lhobidģ
~ lhobdi |
`forty’ |
| khčthone |
`thousand’ |
| cF |
`ten’
etc. |
|
|
| (4)
The numeral akhé `hundred’ has two allomorphs. These are kha- occurring
before ton he `ten’ and before ordinal marker and akhč occurring elsewhere
|
| khčtonhe |
`thousand’ |
| akhčś |
`hundredth’ |
| akhč |
`hundred’ |
|
|
| 3.2.4
The grammatical categories of the nominals |
| Number,
gender and case are the three grammatical categories that occur with
the nouns/pronouns in Sema. A brief discussion of each of these categories
follows: |
| 3.2.4.1.
Number |
| The
grammatical category of number is basically the property of the noun
phrase and usually the plural marker occurs as the last constituent
in a NP in Sema. The grammatical category of number when marked overtly
can occur with nouns, pronouns, adjectives including the demonstrative
adjectives, as in: |
| timģ |
`man’ |
timģ
qó |
`men’ |
| timģ
kiwi |
`good
man’ |
timģ
kiwiqó |
`good
men’ |
| pa |
`he’ |
pannó´ł |
`they’ |
| hi |
`this’ |
hipaqó |
`these’ |
| timģ
kiwģ hi |
`this
good man’ |
timģ
kiwi hipaqó |
`these
good men’ |
|
|
| A
brief statement regarding the use/restriction of the occurrence of
the category of number with different grammatical classes follows: |
| (i)
Nouns |
| The
nouns in Sema are capable of showing a two-way opposition in number1,
i.e. singular v/s plural. While the singular is left unmarked, the
plural is marked by the plural morpheme qó. In the use of the grammatical
category of number, the nouns do not show any distinction between
nouns animate being class v/s nouns inanimate being class or between
nouns human being class v/s noun non-human being class as in : |
| timģ |
`man’ |
timģ
qó |
`men’ |
| ilimģ |
`dame/lady’ |
ilimģ
qó |
`dames/ladies’ |
|
|
