Naduta Postpositions and Postpositional Phrases: view article

s脛	tu	to; at
脛有舌	tupa	at
従	gi	from; out of
s穴	re	at; near; around; in the vicinity of
対	kipa	against; close to
対脛	kipatu	against; close to
巡	whe	near; close to; beside
前	wir	before
更前	unarwir	even before
後	nuy	after
更後	unarnuy	even after
泡爰	yaru	as; being

Note: Several postpositions are written beginning with a short, vertical stroke (s), but its use is generally rather inconsistent, even within a single text.

When used with prepositions, nouns must be placed in the objective case:

漁士斧	guerudita	"(a) fisherman"	漁士j泡爰	guerudiy yaru	"as a fisherman"
野紐	hunta	"(the) wilderness"	野ls脛	huih tu	"(in)to the wilderness"
木e	bin	"(a) tree"	木l対	bih kipa	"against a tree"

Prepositional phrases may appear as the complement of nouns. However, in order to do so, they require a complementizer suffix, 聴 -s:

地取聴ml従	Phaismuh gi	"from Faismun"
地取聴ml従聴	Phaismuh gis	"(which is) from Faismun"

Examples of the two phrases used in sentences:

走ode 品de地取聴ml従了来dm
Rusrena aharna Phaismuh gi tah-ehurmu.
this-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument good-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument Faismun-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument) from PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech=come-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
"The goods came from Faismun."

地取聴ml従聴品dl了収c
Phaismuh gis aharha tah-whuraasgu.
Faismun-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument) from-COMPLUnknown code good-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
"I received the goods from Faismun."

The head noun may be dropped, and its case marking appended directly to the suffixed postposition to create a noun phrase:

地取聴ml従聴
Phaismuh gisurna
Faismun-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument) from-COMPLUnknown code-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
"things/ones from Faismun"

The gender of the case endings may affect the meaning:

地取聴ml従聴斧
Phaismuh gista
Faismun-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument) from-COMPLUnknown code-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-ANIMUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
"(some)one from Faismun"

[edit] [top]Topic Marker

The topic marker is a special postposition, ; day that is used in conjunction with the nominative, rather than objective case. It primarily performs two functions, outlined below.

Topic Fronting
An argument of the predicate may be moved out of the predicate to the front of the sentence, before the subject, in order to establish it as the topic of that sentence or clause. When this occurs, it must cooccur with day. The process is similar to English fronting, in that it shifts the topic from the subject to the fronted phrase.

苙葉d紐而穂体de私L脛了足来升dm
Purireta we yirkhururun bueh tu tah-ehehturmu.
sage-leaf-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.UKNWUnknown gender (gender)
large or unknown things.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument and corn-body-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument).NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument 1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-OBJObject (argument) DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech=PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-bring.to-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
"Sage leaves and ears of corn were brought to us."

私L脛;苙葉d紐而穂体de私L脛了足来升dm
Bueh tu day purireta we yirkhururun tah-ehehturmu.
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-OBJObject (argument) DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location FOCFocus (syntactic)
shows new or contrastive information sage-leaf-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.UKNWUnknown gender (gender)
large or unknown things.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument and corn-body-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.KNWKnown gender (gender)
specific known items.OBJObject (argument).NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech=PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed-bring.to-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
"To us, sage leaves and ears of corn were brought."

This may also occur on the subject itself, in order to explicitly mark it as the topic:

偉上斧寺P従了出去m
Baaneytuta disah gi tah-niwermu.
Baaneytu-ANIMUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument temple-KNUnknown code.OBJObject (argument) from PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech=leave-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
"Baaneytu left the temple."

偉上斧;寺P従了出去m
Baaneytuta day disah gi tah-niwermu.
Baaneytu-ANIMUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument FOCFocus (syntactic)
shows new or contrastive information temple-KNUnknown code.OBJObject (argument) from PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech=leave-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
"Baaneytu, he left the temple."

Subject disambiguation
Due to word order, relative clauses frequently follow directly the subject of the main clause. There is often therefore the potential for ambiguity in parsing which clause the subject heads. Using the focus marker on the subject of the main clause thus sets it apart from the subordinate clause.

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