A Grammar of Miya - UCLA Department of Linguistics

1. Introduction
Chapter 10
NOUN PHRASE SYNTAX
This chapter describes the internal syntax of noun phrases. Many of the syntactic
features of nouu phrases depend on lexical features of nouns, in particular gender and
plurality. Chapter 8:§2 describes gender and number morphology and gender and number
agreement patterns. Chapter 8:§§4-6 describe other aspects of nominal morphology.
Chapter 9, esp. §§1-3, describes functional aspects of indefinite and definite determiners
which relate to sentential and discourse structure outside the noun phrase. Chapter 9:§5
does the same for noun phrases containing universal quantifiers ('every', 'each', 'all').
SectlOns 4-5 of the present chapter discuss noun phrases with internal clauses (relative
clauses and related structures). See Chapter 5 for a full description of the tense, mood, and
aspect (TAM) system, and Chapters 11-12 for more general discussion of sentence level
syntax.
2. Determiners
2.1. "Previous Refereuce Markers" (PRM). The PRM category comprises the
following morphemes:
ka k;\n, kiln
The left-hand form serves as a clitic on nouns to indicate previous explicit or implied
reference in a discourse, similar to Hausa -n/-r. It is invariable for gender or number and
always bears high tone, regardless of the final tone of the word to which it is cliticized
(3:§5). I have translated the clitic as 'the' for convenience, though depending on context,
this may not be the best translation:
sanka (m) 'the person' silbo ka (pI) 'the people'
mbilrguka (m) 'the ram' mbilrgwagwaw ka (pI) 'the rams'
shin ka (f) 'the farm'
d];\rkiy ka (f) 'the chicken'
The other form, ki;n (always with L tone in the functions described here-see 9:§2.2
for discussion of kIm vs. kin), apparently is never cliticized to a noun alone; it was never
volunteered as such, and I have found no clear examples in texts. Aside from this, kd and
k?m share a functional relationship. Even though kan seems never to be a nominal clitic,
neither does it ever occur in isolation or phrase initial, suggesting that it be considered a
phrasal clitic. It shares this syntactic feature with kd, which. may also have a phrase as its
scope. One of the two morphemes is obligatorily present following a phrase introduced by
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10. Noun Phrase Syntax (§2J 243
the deictic predicator Inay'l 'herelthere is .. .', 'voicilvoila .. .' (11:§4.7). When physical
distance is at issue, kim is proximal, kd distal (first example in each group below); in other
cases with Inay'l, the two seem more or less interchangeable (second examples in each
grOUp below)l Kim may also mean 'here' in the sense of physically near or of immediate
discourse importance (last two examples in the first group below). Kd as an NP clitic
appears at the end of the NP, not as a clitic on the head noun (third example under ka). It
also forms the second part of the discontinuous marker of conditional clauses (14:§2),
assuming that this is the same morpheme as the determiner (last example below).
k'n
nee (= nay) k'm-wan bn
nay Mm ba dzaray milwsuw kgn
tIon dil bn d-aa makaw
suw k?m-ay aa niy baa-za
ka
lilly kan my b-hn ka, t;lla-kiln 2
nay hiim M mar-wan ka
sobo ts;lr ka
kwaa b-uwsil ka, dil dongaya ...
'here's my house (here),
'here's what will resolve the dispute'
'they were here, residing'
'when here [appeared] her father & Co.'
'there is your parents' house, go in'
'here's what happened to me'
'the two people (just mentioned)'
'when he comes, he tells him ... '
See 9:§2 and §2.2 immediately below for uses of kdlkJnlkin in conjunction with other
morphemes.
2.2. Demonstratives. Miya demonstratives are marked for two parameters:
gender/number and distance.
Near
Far
Masculine
nabn
mfra
Feminine
takon
taka
Plural
niykin
niyka
These forms are composites of the genderlnumber morphemes naltalniy plus the PRM
c1itics discussed in the section immediately above.
The demonstratives can be used as pronouns to mean 'this one', 'those', etc. and as
attributive modifiers of nouns. In their productive attributive use, demonstratives precede
the noun they modify:
nakon mbilrgu takon tomilku niykin tomakwiy
'this ram' 'this ewe' 'these sheep'
naka lay taka wun niyka wtltlomiy
'that boy' 'that girl' 'those children'
IThere may be a difference. In the example with kim, the thing in question is about to be explained whereas
with kd it has just happened, i.e. forward vs. backward view in time.
2T-ala-kim 'go in' is a feminine singular Imperative. Kim here is the 2nd feminine singular rep, not the
PRM.
I
_ .. ________________________ • .a. .. ______________________ __
...1