A Grammar of Miya - UCLA Department of Linguistics

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A Grammar of Miya
both elicited and textual, the only examples available for the koo- + Q word form have the
antecedent bound to the subject position within the modifying clause. Based on
comparable structures from Hausa and other Chadic languages, I have no reason to believe
that a koo- + Q word antecedent could not also be bound to other noun phrase positions.
As for a difference in meaning between the two structures, I argue in 9:§§5.1-2 that tbe
koo- + Q word structure attains a universal/generic interpretation by ranging (exhaustively)
over a set meeting the criteria expressed here by the relative clause, whereas the ndyaam X
bd form attains a universal/generic interpretation by referring as a whole to a set which
meets the criteria. The examples below are arranged according to the position bound within
the clause.
Subject
[k60weena ba zara Nduwy-eekiy], tg rna buws-uw
'[no matter who calls Nduya], he will not come'
[k60weenee jirkU ba Buwy-eekIy], t-aa gMm-uws aad,ma paratSg
'[any monkey which sustains a fracture], he will climb up a Cassia tree'
(more freely, 'even if a monkey sustains a fracture, he can climb a Cassia tree')
[k60weena ba na doona-z-eekIy] dil tgra-tlil kabg rna war
'[whoever is courting her] sews her a festival gown'
[k60weeniy baa tJ d-aa lay akiin-was-eekiy] dg raBa zuw-ay
anyone who he dOl-with son house-his-"ever"
'[anyone who has a son in his household] ferments grain'
[k60weena baa vgrk aakan-was-eekIy] dg 'ara ill-ay
'[anyone with a son in his house] stocks up on beer'23
[ndyaam baa dil zara Kasham], tg rna haya-w
'[no matter who called Kasham], he did not answer'
[ndyaam ba rgma 19bilasg], kwafa vilnuwsg ([ilm(a) aa ta'UWSg
'[whoever eats an onion], well his mouth will make an odor'
ndyaarn harn baa dil bmaya-t1gn], rna shg([ay
'[whatever is spoiled], discard it'
Direct Object
[ndyaam baa dg zar(a) aa Ndilwya], tg rna haya-w
all ba AUX call PS Nduya he NEG answer-NEG
'[no matter who Nduya called], he did not answer'
[ndyaan harn baa dil br(a) aa ita ba kIr] dil rna ([gma-ya amfaaniy-uw
all thing ba AUX steal pln PS "possessor" theft Sjn NEG do-him use-NEG
'[whatever a thief steals] will be of no use to him'
23The generic clause of the preceding example and this one have similar, if not identical, meaning. The
preceding one contains a real relative clause with a 'HAVE' construction (11:§4.3). The footnoted example
contains a "possessor of ... " phrase (§5.1.1) rather than a true relative clause.
------------------------ - ------------
Indirect Object
10. Noun Phrase Syntax (§5)
[ndyaam baa miln bgla-ya litabiiariy], dil dgkaya maamaakiy
all ba I tell-him news Sjn feel surprise
'[whoever I tell the news to], he will be surprised'
Locative
[ndyaan ee dzaree laabaariy], dil dgka-y(a) aa silbg
all where spread news Sjn hear-it PS people
'[wherever he spread the news], the people heard it'
Instrument
[ndyaan harn baa dg wana kam-was aa t1i1m] j-aa dilyday-ay
all thing ba AUX fill house-his with it Prt-with exactness-Tot
'[whatever he fills his house with] it's just fine'
Temporal
[ndyaan l60kaciy baa dil nay-aarna] dil tgree-m(a)-ay
all time ba AUX see-us Sjn greet-us-Tot
'[whenever he sees us] he greets us'
To conclude this section, I note the two following sentences from my data (all elicited
examples) which do not fit the patterns above or the Id concessive pattern, even though
they were volunteered as translations of Hausa sentences comparable to those above. They
appear to be independent clauses in parataxis with the following clause.
[k60mee dg kilmaya-t1gn], laa
anything AUX spoil-Iep, you-Sjn
'[(if) anything is spoiled], discard it'
shg([-ay
discard-Tot
[k60wayya kunt-eekiy njg mbiyya], say day a bay-t1a rna muk-uw
every eggplant-"ever" it red "unless" Pf carry-it NEG sun-NEG
'[every eggplant is red], unless it hasn't been taken into the sun'
5.3.BA/MAISaBAwith other sentential complement types. Section §S.l describes
complements to balmalsaba without a clausal structure. Section §5.2 describes relative
clauses, i.e. clausal structures which are modifiers of nominal heads. Salma/saba can also
head sentential complements which are not, strictly speaking, relative clauses. Consider
the following example from a text:
baa dilw samay nUW-SiJ dg ra ita casg ka
who "quote" trash of-him AUX exceed in amount PRM
'the one whose trash was the greatest in amount'
The translation suggests that this is a genitive relative (§5.2.8), but structurally, the
complement clause cannot be a relative clause. First, the AUX dj shows that the TAM is a
Focused Subject Perfective (5:§2.2.2), i.e. the clause alone might be translated, "It was
!ITS TRASH that was greatest in amount," a translation confirmed by the context, where the
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