Handbook of the Lisu (Yawyin) language - Cryptm.org

( 13 )The derrionstrative pronouns cannot stand alone. An adjunct ofsome kind must be affixed, the commonest of which is the ma 3 givenabove, tite^-ma 3 for 'this' and gaio^-ma 3 for 'that' are verycommonly applied to objects of any kind in a loose way, afid may beeither singular or plural. But when definiieness is desired, or anumber stated, the number plus the appropriate classifying particle *should follow the demonstrative pronoun, after which ma 3 may then beomitted or inserted at will ; e.g.—la 3 -htsaw 4 hte 4 ma 3 = this man or these people ; la 3 -htsaw^hte 4 hti 3 raw 3 (ma 3 )= this man (in particular).a'-mu 5 gaw 4 ma 3 = that horse or those horses ;' a'-mu 3 gaw 4 "hti 5 hka 3 (ma 3 )= that (particular) horse.h'a 4 -mi 4 nye 4 Mi* Ik 6 (ma 3 )= that " taungya " up there.dye 3 -mi 4 je 4 hti 3 hpu 4 (ma 3 )= that (paddy) field down there.mrgh' 3 hte* nyi 5 daw 3 (ma 3 )= these two rolls of cloth.htaw 5 -rghe 3 gaw* sa 3 hpya 1 (ma 3 )= those three sheets of paper.As as { that }isex P ressedb y{ gaw 4 } ' - hchi3:—hte4 mya 3hchi 3 (ma 3 j= as many as this,hte* wu ! hchi 3 (ma 3 )= as big as this.gaw 4 rgh 5 hchi 5 (ma s )= as far as that.Or it could be expressed dv using the phrase 1 „ 4 J hkrgh 4 hchi 3= t0 {that} eXtent '^hte4 hkrgh 4 hchi 5 wu 5 (a) ma 3 h'i 4 = a house as big as this.gaw 4 hkrgh 4 hchi 3 rgh 5 (a) ma 3 ja 3 -gu 3 = a road as long as that.-.(iv) Interrogative.— What? = a'-shi 5 ; e.g.—yi* a'-shi' 5 la 5 -'htsaw 4 nga 4 law 5 = what man is he ?nu 4 a'-shi' 5 ye 5 tya 1 law 3 = what are you doing?Note the tone of the final particle law, which is law 3 in "affirmativesentences, law s in interrogative.In non-interrogative form a'-shi" = any, anything, whatever,every, everything (with negative), no, nothing, etc., according tocontext :a'-shi' 5 na4 jaw 4 nya 3 ,na'-htsi 6 daw = 4 if (you) have any disease,drink medicine.a'-sh'i 3 (a) mi 4 da 4 law = 5 anything will do.a'-shi' 5 jaw 4 nya 3 a-shi' 3 grgh 5 la = 4 give (me) whatever yomhave (lit. what have what give come).* See next section on Numerals.