CHAPTER 5
NOUN EXPRESSIONS, 121–148
121. A noun, or a phrase with a noun head, or a co-ordinative phrase with noun expressions as members, is a noun expression. A phrase which is a noun expression is a noun phrase.
122. Nouns are of four types: ordinary nouns, interrogative nouns (131), numerals (132–140), classifiers (141–148).
123. In a noun phrase the head noun or a noun member has one or more attributes of the following types: noun expression (124–128), verb expression following (129), verb expression preceding (130).
124. A noun expression attribute is a noun expression which precedes the head noun. Juncture is close between the attribute and the head noun unless a particle intervenes (125–128):
yéi ‘water’: káphí ‘coffee’: káphíyéi, ‘coffee (beverage)’; pyâ ‘bee’: pyâyéi ‘honey’; léimmóðî ‘orange (fruit)’: léimmóyéi ‘orange juice’; θámbayáðî ‘lemon (fruit)’: θámbayáyéi ‘lemon juice’; pôun ‘container’: yéibôun ‘bucket’; Ɂôu ‘jar’: yéiɁôu ‘water jar’; twîn ‘cave, hole’: yéidwîn ‘well’.
hîn ‘curry’: ŋâ ‘fish’: ŋâhîn ‘fish curry’; weɁ ‘pig’: Ɂaθâ ‘flesh’: weθθâ ‘pork’: weθθâhîn ‘pork curry’; ceθθâ ‘chicken (meat)’: ceθθâhîn ‘chicken curry’; Ɂaθî ‘fruit’: yweɁ ‘leaf’: hînðî hînyweɁ ‘vegetables’.
taiɁ ‘brick building’: sá ‘letter, writing’: sádaiɁ ‘post office’; Ɂasôuyà ‘government’: ɁasôuyàdaiɁ ‘government building’; Ɂéin ‘house’: taiɁɁéin ‘brick house’.
tòu ‘plurality’: couɁ ‘I’: couttòu ‘we’; khímbyâ ‘you’: khímbyâdòu ‘you (pl.)’; θú ‘he, she, it’: θúdòu ‘they’; lú ‘person’: lúmyâ ‘people’ cf. 129: lúmyâdòu ‘people (in general)’; siθθâ ‘soldier’: siθθâdòu ‘soldiers’.
125. Certain noun expression attributes, which consist of a syllable in tone I or II, change to tone III before the head noun:
θú zagabyán ‘he (is an) interpreter’: θù nyí zagabyán ‘his younger brother (is an) interpreter’; khímbyâ badúlê ‘who (are) you?’: khímbyà θaŋéjîn badúlê ‘who (is) your friend?’; sháin ‘shop’: šín ‘master’: shàin šín ‘storekeeper’; Ɂeín ‘house’: Ɂèin šín ‘householder’.
Quite often, however, the tone remains unchanged: Ɂéinšín occurs beside Ɂèin šín, sháinšín beside shàin šín, with no difference of meaning.
126. Noun expression attributes formed from verb expressions by means of the enclitic particles ‑tè (134) or ‑mè (155) precede the head noun with open juncture:
lú kâundé ‘the person is good’: kâundè lú ‘good person’, cf. lúgâun (129); shôudé ‘is bad’: shôudè lú ‘evil person’, cf. luzôu (129); mêimmà hóuhmá yaɁ néidé ‘a woman is standing there’: hóuhmá yaɁ néidè mêimmà ‘the woman who is standing there’; lú manepphán yaummé ‘a person will arrive tomorrow’: manepphân yauttè lú ‘the person who arrives tomorrow’, cf. next paragraph; hóu lúhá bamá mahoupphû ‘that person is not Burmese’: bamá mahouttè lú ‘a person who is not Burmese’.
