Ngandi affixes in Ritharngu

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Heath (1978a; 1980b).

4 suffixes which are not interrelated with other borrowed affixes

  • -kaʔ ‘kin-term dyadic dual’, e.g. gaykay-kaʔ ‘uncle and niece’, mu:mu-kaʔ ‘mother’s father’s sister and brother’s daughter’s child’, wa:wa-kaʔ ‘elder brother and younger sibling’ (Heath 1980b:25–26)
  • -ʔmayʔ ‘negative’, suffixed to verbs or other constituents, e.g. wa:n-i-ʔmayʔ ṋi: (go-future-negative/you) ‘You will not go’, munaŋa-ʔmayʔ ra (White-negative/I) ‘I am not a White’ (Heath 1980b:101)
  • -bukiʔ ‘only’, rarely used, and no examples available (Heath 1980b:93)
  • -ʔwañjiʔ ‘semblative case’, e.g. bakara-ʔwañjiʔ ‘like long-necked turtles’ (Heath 1980b:42) (out of a total of 14 case suffixes)

Note that four more prefixes might be borrowed, but the directionality is unclear, therefore they are excluded here (see also the entry on Ngandi): two out of two derivational adverbializers (or “compounding elements”) (Heath 1980b:81): malk- ‘times’ and bala- ‘side’; and two out of three verbal derivation markers (called “comitative” by Heath) (Heath 1980b:79, 82–83): baṱa- ‘applicative’, forming (semantically) transitive verbs with comitative object from intransitive verbs, and ṛay-/yay- ‘applicative marker’, forming transitive verbs with an object that denotes something transported from intransitive verbs of motion.