Saturday, April 5, 2014

Chapter 08 - Somali Preverbal Particles

Inventory on the preverbal particles :
  1. Somali preverbal particles are like verbal affixes, except they stand detached from the verb.
  2. They mostly occur before the verb in the verbal phrase.
  3. We can distinguish two main categories of preverbal particles :
    • The pronoun particles.
    • The locative and relational particles.
  4. Both categories of preverbal particles have pre-assigned positions in the verbal phrase.
  5. Some particles can coalesce with other particles, both pronoun and/or locative, leading to phonetic changes.


Word order of the verbal phrase :

Subject Pronoun + Object Pronoun (1st series) + Locative Particle + Negation + Relational Particle + Verb + Object Pronoun (2nd series)


Ordered table of Preverbal markers

Word order : Subject Pronoun Object Pronoun
(1st series)
Locative Negation Relational Object Pronoun
(2nd series)
1st pers. sing. waan
waxaan
i u
(for)


ku
(in)


ka
(from)


la
(with)
ma
(not)
soo
(towards)


sii
(away)


wada
(together)


kala
(apart)
kay
2nd pers. sing. waad
waxaad
ku kaa
3rd pers. sing. masc. wuu
waxuu
   
3rd pers. sing. fem. way
waxay
   
1st pers plur. excl. waannu
waxaannu
na kayo
1st pers. plur. incl. waynu
waxaynu
ina keen
2nd pers. plur. waydin
waxaydin
idin kiin
3rd pers. plur. way
waxay
   



 Combinations of preverbal particles and pronouns : 

Preverbal locative and relational particles combine with each other and with various preverbal object and subject pronouns, often with phonological changes, and become amalgamated words.
There are three types of combination schemes :
  1. Locative particle + locative particle combinations
  2. Object pronoun particle + locative particle combinations
  3. Pronoun particle + [particle + particle] clusters combinations


 Two locative particles combinations : 

locative / locative
combination
ú
= for = in = from = with
ú = for ugú ugú ugá ulá
= in   kagá kagá kulá
= from     kagá kalá
= with        


Examples :

sidéebùuugábaxay ?
sí-déebàa-uuú-kábaxay ?
way-whichFOCUS-hein-fromwent out
= How did he get out of it ? (lit. 'in what way did he go out from [it] ?')

nínkíibàancèelkaxádhigkagásóosaaray
nín-kíibàa-aancèel-kaxádhigkú-ká sóosaaray
man-theFOCUS-Iwell-theropewith-fromtowards_meraised
= I pulled the man out of the well with a rope


 Object pronoun + locative particle combinations : 

The locative particles or "prepositions" also combine phonologically with the preverbal object pronouns and with the impersonal subject pronoun la.
The preverbal pronoun takes the first position in the combination.


Pronoun / Locative
combination
ú
= for = in = from = with
i = me íi igú igá ilá
ku = you kúu kugú káa kulá
na = we [excl.] nóo nagú nagá nalá
ina = we [incl.] inóo inagú inagá inalá
idin = you [pl.] idíin idinkú idinká idinlá
la = one [subj.] lóo lagú lagá lalá


Examples :

wuuidhiibay
waa-uui-dhiibay
heme-tohanded
= He handed [it] to me
 
waykáaqaadday
waa-ayku-káqaadday
sheyou-fromtook
= She took [it] from you
 
waynóoqoreen
waa-ayna-úqoreen
theyus-forwrote
= They wrote [it] for us

sidéebàalóosameeyey
sí-déebàala-úsameeyey
way-whichFOCUSone-indid
= How was it done ? (lit. 'in which way did one do [it] ?')


 Pronouns and particle clusters combinations : 

Pronoun / particle
cluster combination
ugú ugá ulá kagá kulá kalá
i = me iigú iigá iilá igagá igulá igalá
ku = you kuugú kaagá kuulá kaagá kugulá kaalá
na = we [excl.] noogú noogá noolá nagagá nagulá nagalá
ina = we [incl.] inoogú inoogá inoolá inagagá inagulá inagalá
idin = you [pl.] idiinkú idiinká idiinlá idinkagá idinkulá idinkalá
la = one [subj.] loogú loogá loolá lagagá lagulá lagalá


Examples :

wayqaadeen
waa-ayqaadeen
theyfromtook
= They took [it] from [him]
 
waynóoqaadeen
waa-ayna-úqaadeen
theyus-fortook
= They took [it] for us
 
way noogáqaadeen
waa-ayna-ú-káqaadeen
theyus-for-fromtook
= They took [it] from [him] for us

                Source: http://hooyo.web.free.fr

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