The Ethnology of the Khezhas & The Khezha Grammar

Abbreviations

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Abl       :           ablative

adj        :           adjective

adv       :           adverb

asp       :           aspectual

Asp      :           aspirated consonant

Attr       :           attributive

Ben      :           benefactive

C          :           consonant

Caus     :           causative

comp    :           comparative degree

conc     :           concessive

conj      :           conjunction

def        :           definitive

des       :           desiderative

det        :           determiner

Dl         :           dual number

Eg.       :           for example

emph.   :           emphatic

esp       :           especially

exc       :           exclamation

Fem      :           feminine

Fut       :           future tense

Gen      :           genitive

H          :           high tone

imp       :           imperative

inst       :           instrumental

inter      :           interrogative

iv          :           intransitive verb

ir          :           irealis

L          :           low tone

loc        :           locative

M         :           mid tone

md        :           mood

masc    :           masculine gender

N          :           noun

neg       :           negative

neu       :           neuter

nom      :           nominative

nomz    :           nominalizer

NP        :           noun phrase

Num     :           numeral

O          :           object

opt        :           optative

part       :           particle

Pl         :           plural number

pp         :           postposition

pot        :           potential mood

pron      :           pronoun

R          :           rounded lips

re         :           realis

rep        :           reportage

Rpr       :           relative pronoun

S          :           subject, sentence

Sg        :           singular number

Soc      :           sociative

subj      :           subjunctive

sup       :           superlative degree

tv.        :           transitive verb

Uh        :           Unspecific number of human noun

UR        :           Unrounded lips

Unasp   :           Unaspirated consonant

v          :           vowel

vd         :           voiced consonant sound

vl          :           voiceless consonant sound

V          :           verb

VB        :           Verbal

VP        :           verb phrase

 

Symbols used in this book:

 

Ø    zero morpheme;

~    between two elements indicates free variant, eg. rö ~ sonü;

~    on top of a phoneme indicates nasal sound, eg. ñ;

>    becomes;

<    forms from;

*     before a word indicates ungrammatical;

- (i)  before a morpheme indicates suffix, eg. –è `women’s name’,   eg., Khalo `man’s name’,     Khaloe `woman’s name’;

after a morpheme indicates prefix; eg. ke- as in, kewe `goodness’ from we `good’.

(ii) minus, as opposed to plus;

+    (i) boundary between morpheme or word as in, lo `to own’ + ni `desire or wish’ become loni `want’

(ii) plus, as opposed to minus;

 [ ]  phonetic;

/ /   phonemic

( )   bracket indicates optional or literal meaning.

H    high tone

L    low tone

M   mid tone

θ    is phonetic symbol equivalent to native letter ö

š    is phonitic symbol equivalent to native letter sh

ž    is phonetic symbol equivalent to native letter zh

č    is phonetic symbol equivalent to native letter ch

ŋ    is phonetic symbol equivalent to native letter ng

ĥ    is phonetic symbol equivalent to native letter q

ü    is native letter representing phonetic symbol .

 

Note: Except in Phonology Chapter, I have used native spelling “y” for vowel [i] low tone as in, lhy [lhì] `live’. However, some words keep on changing their tones owing to the influence of the adjacent tones. For such cases, the letter “i" is constantly used even in the case of low tone as in,

            Hy hi [hì hì] `this’ {the preceding one “hy” is pronoun, while the following on “hi” is determiner. Both carry low tone, yet the following one is written as “i”, because in other situation it can again become mid tone as,

            No hi `you’

Similarly, except in Phonology Chapter, I have used –h for low tone wherever there is contrastive meaning in all other Chapters as in,

khah [khà] `ask’

weh [wè] `shoot at’

throh [thrò] `go up’

puh [pù] `tell’  and so on.