Author Archives: jonafras

nurm (noun): courageous, fearless. tayat arcá nurm-a yallangettá tandesá early indeed courageous-INDEF die.IMPERF.NON1 glorious.ESS.PL “the fearless die early, [but] with glory”

musand- (transitive verb), imperfective musandaram: to beat, break, break in two. cirnut musand-am sútalut cúlarur man.DEF break.PERF-TRANS bone.ACC.DEF tooth.GEN “the man broke the bone [in two] with [his] teeth”

taya (quantifier): nobody, no thing, nothing. ta ca ngúrnucám máru-taya-l NEG I see.POT.TRANS it.GEN-nothing-ACC “I could not see anything” taya belongs to the class of ‘numeral-like quantifiers’, which exhibit syntactic behavior identical to that of proper cardinal numerals (such as … Continue reading →

hangún (noun): bird; flock of birds. vicúsassut yuttásam hangúnd-ecá sallándevisut priest.DEF hate.IMPERF.NON1.TRANS bird.BEN.PL temple.SUBL.DEF “the priest hates the birds [gathering] on the temple [roof]” Listen to the example sentence here: W_HE_145_hanguun_example

ciling- (transitive verb), imperfective cilingaram: to visit, travel to, travel around. len ciling-ucám nan-arangalá ambassemecut we visit-POT.1.TRANS all-village.ACC.PL valley.INESS.DEF “we [plan to] visit all the villages in [this] valley”

nárc (noun): strict, terrible. ca-ngillándut ngúya cer-nárc-es cíndurá my-paternal.uncle.DEF be.IMPERF very-strict-ESS servant.GEN.PL “my paternal uncle is very strict to [his] servants” Listen to the example sentence here: W_HE_143_naarc_example

lurcan (noun): lazy. már sittíndupam na-cínda-lurcand-alá he cast.away.PERF.TRANS all-servant-lazy-ACC.PL “he dismissed all the lazy servants” Listen to the example sentence here: W_HE_142_lurcan_example

maham- (ditransitive verb), imperfective mahamárte: to fit, be suitable (for). sána yettár máru ta maham-asárte cal calendec REL arrange.MID it.GEN NEG fit-IMPERF.NON1.DITRANS I.ACC money.BEN “this arrangement is not suitable for me [on account of] money” With the verb mahamárte, the … Continue reading →

núna (noun): success, victory, good fortune; luck, coincidence. ta núna-r ratti ullínengá NEG chance-SOC you.PL meet.PERF.RECIP “you have not met by chance” As in the example above, the noun núna often appears in the form núnar (sociative or genitive), with … Continue reading →