1 / 20

Cushitic Case: Oromo Absolute and Nominative

This text explores the Oromo language's absolute and nominative cases, their functions, and limitations. It also discusses the marking of the nominative case and its relationship to definiteness.

gdinh
Download Presentation

Cushitic Case: Oromo Absolute and Nominative

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cushitic Case Maarten Mous

  2. Absolut(ive) or unmarked case • (i) it lacks morphological marking, • (ii) it is used as the citation form, • (iii) it is the basis of morphological processes such as genitive marking and coordination marking • (iv) it is used in a large variety of other contexts.

  3. Nominative or marked case • (i) it needs morphological marking • (ii) its function is restricted • (iii) can be specifically formulated as marking the (focussed and non-focussed) subject of a tensed clause both the subject of intransitive clause (S) and the agent of a transitive clause (A).

  4. Oromo absolute case • a. equative predicate • xun bishaan kursháashaa • this water dirty • ‘This is dirty water.’

  5. Oromo absolute case • b. direct object • húrrée-n arká d’olki-t-i • fog-NOM sight prevent-F-IMPFV • ‘Fog reduces visibility.’

  6. Oromo absolute case • c. causative object • nama sún intalaa-f xennáa xann-isiis-e • man that girl-DAT present give-CAUS-PAST • ‘He made that man give the girl a present.’

  7. Oromo absolute case • d. goal, location object • magaláa deema • market go • ‘He will go to the market.’

  8. Oromo absolute case • e. time complements • inníi saa’áa afur si bóodá maná tur-e • he hours four you after house stay-PAST • ‘He stayed behind four more hours than you at home.’

  9. Oromo absolute case • f. predicative • maná adíi akka gaaríi-tti díimáa dib-e • house white as nice red paint-PAST • ‘He painted the white house red very well.’

  10. Oromo absolute case • g. unit of measure • xaráa-n ás írráa kilométríi diddám fagata • road-NOM here from kilometers twenty far • ‘The road is twenty kilometers from here.’

  11. Oromo absolute case • h. object of postposition • inníi xeesúmmáa sun bírá jira • he guest that near exist • ‘He is near to that guest.’

  12. Oromo nominative case • a. subject of adjectival clause • híd’ii-n díim-tuu • lip-NOM red-F • ‘A lip is red.’

  13. Oromo nominative case • a. subject of adjectival clause • híd’ii-n díim-tuu • lip-NOM red-F • ‘A lip is red.’

  14. Oromo nominative case • b. focussed patient subject (S) verbal clause • nyaan-níi ní nyaatama • food-NOM focus eat:PAS • ‘The food is being eaten.’

  15. Oromo nominative case • c. focussed agent subject (S) verbal clause • sárée-n adíi-n ní iyyi-t-i • dog-NOM white-NOM focus bark-F-IMPFV • ‘The white dog is barking.’

  16. Oromo nominative case • d. non-focussed agent subject (A) verbal clause • haat-tíi okkótée goot-t-i • mother-NOM pot make-F-IMPFV • ‘Mother is cooking.’

  17. Limitations of nominative case • only masculine nouns in Saho, Afar, Dirayta, Sidamo, and Kemant. • in Rendille only on feminine nouns ending in a consonant provided that the noun is noun phrase-final

  18. Marker of nominative case • low tone and a final vowel i • often head marking

  19. Nominative - Accusative • Agaw group; (Agaw marked accusative)

  20. Case and definiteness

More Related