jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
252 5 Noun phrase structure
b. masraw-aet ded-en ad saemmos-aet
ten-Fe woman-FePl with five
'fifteen women'
t-e-mede 'hundred' (PI t-i-mad) is syntactically a noun and is the head of
its NP. It may be followed by a possessed noun in singular form, as in
t-e-mede η ae-halss 'one hundred men' (lit. "hundred of man"). It may be
preceded by a simple numeral: saendt-aet nt-3-mad 'two hundred'. For '150
men' I recorded t-e-mede ad saemmos-aet "'t-a-marw-en η ae-hatas (lit.
"hundred with five-Fe tensomes of man").
e-faed 'thousand' (PI dialectally variable, e.g. T-ka afaed-aen) is also a
noun syntactically, and it has the same syntax as 'hundred'. It can be preceded
by a simple numeral, as in essin afaed-aen [asii'na'faedaen] 'two thousand'. For
'1000 women' I recorded e-faed an 't-ae-maet-t (lit. "thousand of woman"). For
A-grm I recorded the noun as Sg ά-faed, PI efd-αη. Cognates in Niger Tamajak
mean 'million, immense number'.
5.1.2.5 Pronominalized numerals
A special morphological construction involving a numeral, a suffix -e- (similar
to an e found at the end of presuffixal forms of some prepositions), and a
pronominal suffix (from the series used after prepositions) is exemplified in
(235).
(235) a. aekkaersed-e-naer 'the three of us-MaPl'
b. aekkaeraed-set-e-naer 'the three of us-FePl'
Further examples are in (236), in 3MaPl and 3FePl form. Note the
geminate ss in the 3MaPl suffix. Note also the default accent throughout.
(236) Pronominalized Numerals with -e- (T-ka, sample forms)
numeral 3MaPl 3FePl
'2' assin-e-ssaen saenat-aet-e-snaet
'4' aekkoz-e-ssaenI I aekkoz-set-e-snaet
'8' aettam-e-ssaen aettam-£et-e-snaet
For the K-d dialect, I recorded the variants in (237).
