Habyela: Difference between revisions

1,121 bytes added ,  19 November 2015
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===Case===
===Case===


There are only two cases, nominative (unmarked) and genitive (marked with the suffix -qa). The genitive case also functions as an ergative marker.
There are only two cases, absolutive (unmarked) and genitive (marked with the suffix -qa). The genitive case also functions as an ergative marker e.g.


/qənə̀bə-qa ʔàɟʷɨnəɴ ʔaɴɖà-ʔə/
dog-ERG man.PL bite-3PS.NONHUM.TEL
The dog bit the men.
/ʔàɟʷɨnəɴ-qa qənə̀bə ʔaɴɖà-ʔə/
man.PL-ERG dog bite-3PS.PL.TEL
The men bit the dog.
In the above sentence, it is clear that /-qa/ is functioning as an ergative marker and not a genitive marker, because the word for "dog" is not marked with a possessive suffix. Compare:
/ʔàɟʷɨnəɴ-qa qənə̀baɴʈa ʔaɴɖà-ʔə/
man.PL-ERG dog.3PS.PL.POSS bite-3PS.PL.TEL
The men's dog was bitten.
====Fluid-S Marking====
Habyela is an active-stative language of the Fluid-S type https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active%E2%80%93stative_language. In addition to marking the subject of a transitive verb, /-qa/ is also used for the subject of an intransitive verb, as long as the action is volitional. Compare:
/ʔàɟʷɨnəɴ paʔà-ʔə/
man.PL fall-3PS.SG.MASC.TEL
The men fell (involitional, as in they accidentally fell over)
vs.
/ʔàɟʷɨnəɴ-qa paʔà-ʔə/
man.PL-ERG fall-3PS.SG.MASC.TEL
The men fell (volitional, as in they fell to the ground to hide or to duck something).


==Adjectives==
==Adjectives==