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) ‘Don’t 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.