• Syntax

    1) noun phrase

    ruma-na
    house-SG
    the/a house

    comments: obligatory singular marking on nouns

    2) noun phrase

    ruma-da
    house-PL
    vani
    four
    four houses

    comments: plural

    3) noun phrase

    ruma-na
    house-SG
    babaga-nana
    big-SG.ADJ
    the big house

    comments: reduplicated number suffixes for adjectives?

    4) more complex “noun phrase”

    ruma-da
    house-PL
    vani,
    four,
    boudadai
    all
    babaga
    big
    four houses, they are all big

    comments: It would be awkward to include ‘vani’ and ‘babaga’ in the same noun phrase.

    5) possessive noun phrase

    ena
    3SG.POSS
    ruma-na
    house-SG
    his/her house

    comments: alienable possession via unbound possessive pronoun

    6) case marking

    ruma-na-i
    house-SG.LOC
    from/at the house

    comments: locative case

    7) postpositional phrase

    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    osidi
    with
    with the girl

    8) postpositional phrase

    bugi-na
    dance-SG
    kaimurinanai
    after
    after the dance

    9) intransitive sentence

    a=ava
    1SG.SBJ=stand
    I stood.

    comments: simple past tense is unmarked verb form

    14) intransitive sentence

    o=ava
    2SG.SBJ=stand
    You (sg.) stood.

    15) intransitive sentence

    e=gana-gere’a
    3SG.SBJ=go-road
    He/she walked.

    comments: noun incorporation?

    16) intransitive sentence

    i=gana-gerea
    1PL.SBJ=go-road
    We walked.

    17) intransitive sentence

    i’ivaruna
    today
    ge=mai-va
    3PL.SBJ-come-PRS
    They came today.

    comments:  ‘va’ can be used for the recent past (today, yesterday), as well as events just starting in the present; perfective/ingressive aspect?

    18) intransitive sentence

    ravina
    yesterday
    u=mai-va
    2PL.SBJ-go-PRS
    You (pl.) came yesterday.

    19) intransitive sentence

    e=mai
    3SG.SBJ-go
    ai’ai
    long.ago
    He/she came long ago.

    20) intransitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-SG
    e=si’o
    3SG.SBJ-jump
    The boy jumped (not recently).

    21) intransitive sentence

    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    e=nau
    3SG.SBJ=swim
    The girl swam.

    21) intransitive sentence

    urame-da
    boy-PL
    ge=ani’ani
    3PL.SBJ=eat
    The boys ate.

    22) intransitive sentence

    va’isi-da
    girl.PL
    ge=nobo’o
    3PL.SBJ=play
    The girls played.

    23) transitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-SG
    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    e=isa-ni-a
    3SG.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The boy saw the girl.

    comments: subject-agreement clitic; object-agreement suffix

    24) transitive sentence

    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    urame-na
    boy-SG
    e=isa-ni-a
    3SG.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The girl saw the boy.

    comments: SOV as basic constituent order

    25) transitive sentence

    urame-da
    boy.PL
    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    ge=isa-ni-a
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The boys saw the girl.

    26) transitive sentence

    va’isi-da
    girl-PL
    urame-na
    boy-SG
    ge=isa-ni-a.
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The girls saw the boy.

    27) transitive sentence

    urame-da
    boy-3PL
    va’isi-da
    girl-3PL
    ge=isa-ni-da
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3PL.OBJ
    The boys saw the girls.

    28) transitive sentence

    va’isi-da
    girl-PL
    urame-da
    boy-PL
    ge=isa-ni-da
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3PL.OBJ
    The girls saw the boys.

    29) transitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-3SG.SBJ
    e=isa-ni-‘u
    3SG.SBJ=see-TR-1SG.OBJ
    The boy saw me.

    30) transitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-SG
    a=isa-ni-a
    1SG.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    I saw the boy.

    comments: clitic pronoun

    31) transitive sentence

    va’isi-na
    girl-PL
    e=isa-ni-da
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3PL.OBJ
    The girl saw them.

    32) transitive sentence

    va’isi-na
    girl-3SG
    ge=isa-ni-a
    3PL.SBJ=see-TR-3SG.OBJ
    They saw the girl.

    33) ditransitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-3SG
    va’isi-na
    girl-3SG
    buka-na
    book
    ka
    one
    e=ve-ni-a
    3SG.SBJ=give-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The boy gave the girl a book.

    comments: ka = ‘one’: article or indefinite pronoun?

    34) ditransitive sentence

    urame-na
    boy-SG
    va’isi-na
    girl-SG
    buka-da
    book-PL
    e=ve-ni-a
    3SG.SBJ-give-TR-3SG.OBJ
    The boy gave the books to the girl.

    comments: object marker agrees with ‘goal’, not ‘theme’

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