Test Sentences, 20

Continuing with Gary’s list:

39. Henry’s dog is lost.
40. My cat is black.
41. The little girl’s doll is broken.

No dogs. Just cats. Bah. And Mada (a nice generic name) will be the “owner” of said cat, which is lost. And “lost” is an adjective, just like “black” or “broken”. The difference here is that “lost” and broken” are presumably temporary states, so the verb tɨŋi is used, while “black” I will assume is a permanent state (i.e. the cat really is black and didn’t just roll around in some soot), so the verb tɛndɛ, one of the “to be” verbs, is used.

Possessive, alienable possessives at least, are formed using a pronoun that agrees in class and motility with the possessed noun, like so: POSSESSED PRONOUN POSSESSOR. If the possessor is also a pronoun, the first pronoun often disappears.

39. idɛl ha Mada tɨŋi do dɛstɛ.

40. idɛl le tɛndɛ siye.

41. gyɛdɨdɛn dɨdɛn laki ɨsa tɨŋi gubɨdɛn.

In Kēlen:

39. ñi Māra matūmsēma marō;

40. la matūmsēle maxē;

41. ñi malāca mīña jacīpēmma jahūwa;

Questions?

Oh, and since this is three sentences, there will be no post tomorrow.