jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
6.6 Compound prepositions 289
construction. It is probably related to ά-gaema 'countryside' (= ά-jaema in
Timbuktu). Combinations with following nouns, e.g. daegman "ae-hasn 'next to
the house' could perhaps still be segmented accordingly: d ae-gma η "as-haen.
But phonetic mutation has weakened the association with ά-gaema. That the
form is tightly fused can be seen in combinations with pronominal suffixes,
where we get daegman- plus the regular pronominal forms after C-final
prepositions: lSg daegman-i 'beside me', 1P1 daegman-naev, 2Sg daegman-ak,
3Sg daegman-as.
6.6.2 'between/among' (jer, jere-)
jer 'between/among' (A-grm gaer) can take a single argument with plural
reference ('among the people', 'between us'). It can also take two arguments,
in which case the second is expressed by Comitative d 'with' or its extended
form daeten. The two-argument construction is seen in (293).
(293) a. jer-i-\dar-3k
between- 1 Sg-\with-2Sg
'between me and you-Sg'
b. jer-as daeten burkina
between-3Sg and Burkina
'between it (a town) and Burkina (neighboring country)'
c. jer-1 ras d Vrazzej
between-lSg only and Sg-livestock
'between me and the livestock' [K]
d. i-ll-\e s hak anu
3MaSgS-exist.Reslt-\3MaSgO that each well
3lld-n-\t
exist.Reslt-3MaPlS-\3MaSgO
jere-s d Vm-idi-nnet [a
between-3Sg and Sg-0-friend-3SgPoss [Dem
e-wwaed-aen ssmmos "0-sil-an]
3MaSgS-reach.Reslt-Partpl.MaSg five Pl-day-MaPl]
'It is possible that, (for) each well, there are between it and its
companion (=the nearest other well) as many as five days
(travel).' [Hm]
The preposition takes the form jer- before singular pronominals and jere-
before nonsingular pronominals. T-ka data are in (294).
