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====Tonal patterns of nominals==== | ====Tonal patterns of nominals==== | ||
Every noun falls under one of | Every noun falls under one of two tonal paradigms, derived from the Proto-Talsmic relic classifier clitic system: | ||
*Unpossessed: {{sc|*noun<nowiki>=</nowiki>classifier}} | *Unpossessed: {{sc|*noun<nowiki>=</nowiki>classifier}} | ||
*Absolute: {{sc|*possessum-suffix}} ( | *Absolute: {{sc|*possessum-suffix}} ("house of hers") | ||
*Conjunct: {{sc|*possessum-suffix<nowiki>=</nowiki>classifier possessor}} ( | *Conjunct: {{sc|*possessum-suffix<nowiki>=</nowiki>classifier possessor}} ("house-of-hers, [classifier] of Mary") | ||
By corollary the absolute possessed forms have non-final downstep, and the unpossessed and conjunct forms have the same pattern which is lexically determined (meaning that the same word may have different connotations based on the tone pattern.) | |||
====Irregular nouns==== | ====Irregular nouns==== |
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