CHAPTER 4
VERB EXPRESSIONS, 79–120
79. A verb, or a phrase with a verb head, or a coordinative phrase with verb expressions as members is a verb expression. A phrase which is a verb expression is a verb phrase.
80. In a verb phrase the head verb has one or more attributes of the following types: subordinate verb expression (81); noun expression (82); secondary verb particle (87); auxiliary verb (109).
Subordinate Verb Expressions, 81
81. A subordinate verb expression precedes the verb head. The juncture is space between a subordinate verb expression and a following verb:
θwâdé ‘(he) goes’: pyándé ‘(he) returns’: pyán θwâdé ‘(he) goes back’; néidé ‘(he) remains, continues’: pyán θwâ néidé ‘(he) is going back’.
Noun Expression Attributes, 82–86
82. A noun expression attribute consists of a noun expression followed by one of the four noun particles ‑hmá, ‑kà, ‑kóu, ‑nè, or of a noun expression alone (zero particle), preceding a verb head in open juncture.
83. ‑hmá denotes place or time at which:
díhmá tháimbá ‘sit here’; díhmá mîyathá lábì: hóuhmá dayyathâ lá néidé ‘the train has already come here; over there the street car is coming’; béhmá θwâ sâmalê ‘where will you to to eat’; bamá lúmyôu phyáhmá tháindé ‘Burmans sit on mats’; tôywáhmá mayàhnáimbû ‘(it) can not be got in country villages’; Ɂapódaphmá líndé ‘up stairs (it) is light’; tèdèhmá šìdé ‘(it) is situated straight ahead’; nwéi Ɂùdùhmá Ɂêilèimmé ‘(it) will probably be cool in the hot season’; couɁ shíhmá shappyá mašibû ‘I haven’t any soap’ (cf. shappyá mašibû, ‘there isn’t any soap’); couɁ shíhmá paisshán malóunlaupphû ‘I do not have enough money’.
84. ‑kà denotes source or agency, past time:
couttòu dígà bégóumà maθwâbábû ‘we won’t go anywhere from here’; coukkà shóuyín, θú checchîn hŋâbálèimmé ‘if it is said (as coming) from me, he will probably lend (it to you) immediately’; khawwêiwêigà šáun θwâ ‘go avoiding (it) at a fair distance’; myîmbwêgà ŋwéi náin ládé ‘(he) came having won money at the races’; yauttè ywágè sâgèmé ‘(I) will eat in the village to which I come’; tayaukkà shè kôuhniɁ, tayaukkà hnashéjó šìbábí ‘one (of them) is nineteen; one is over twenty’; lúdâingàbê pyôjàdé ‘everybody says (so)’; Ɂacîgà bá louɁ sâðalê ‘what does the big one do for a living?’ (the context refers to the son of one of the speakers); Ɂayíŋgà bamá pyéihmá néidé ‘formerly (I) lived in Burma’; ɁayíŋgàdeɁ póu wàdé ‘(he) is fatter than formerly’; hóudôuŋgàdò ɁalouɁ myâdé ‘at that time (I) was busy’; θú manèi-nyàgà θwâzayâ šìdélòu coukkóu pyôdé ‘he told me that he had to go last night’; khùdíŋgàbê pyán θwâdé ‘he went back just now’; lúŋgêdè θôunlàlaukkà dí ywánâgè θwâdá myíndé ‘about three months ago (I) saw (them) going from the neighborhood of this village'.
