Saturday, July 30, 2016

Interrogatives in Ŋʒädär, pt 1

The basic interrogatives come in two basic forms, corresponding quite closely to 'who' and 'what':
kaɣo, təɣə
the animate form has a plural absolutive as well:
kaɣant
Other than that, the case forms are conflated for plural and singular throughout the pronouns' paradigm:
dati.  kaɣam, təɣəm

lative kaɣlus, təɣlıs
locati. ka
ɣŋa, təɣŋo
ablat. kaɣluno, təɣlınə

gen-c. kaɣas, təɣəs
instru. kaɣak, təɣək
compl. ka
ɣuv, təɣıv
A similar pair of pairs of lexemes with similar morphological forms exist for 'pick one out of many' and 'pick one out of two'-questions. Both pairs have the same animate-inanimate distinction at their core, with the animate given to the left in the next lists.

One out of two:
abs. k'opo, roto
dat. k'opom, rotom
lat. k'oplus, rotus
loc. k'oŋa, roŋa
abl. k'opluno, rotuno
g-c. k'opos, rotos
ins. k'opok, rotok
cmp. k'opuv, rotuv
One (or more) out of several:
sg. abs.
camu, təmıt
pl.  abs
camant
The rest of the inanimate are identical to the what form, whereas the cam- forms are formed analogously to the other animate forms given in the tables above. -ml- turns to -vl- in most dialects, but to -mn- in the easternmost dialect.
Ŋʒädär has two words for 'when',
ɣok'nu, when, (future)
ɣ
ok'oś, when, (past)
these also have demonstrative analogues:
əqnu, then, (future)
əqoś, then, (past)
Unlike the very absolute future/past distinction of the interrogative pair, the demonstrative pair seem to showcase a rather relative future/past distinction.

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