Erromangan Prepositional Phrases

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Erromangan Prepositional PhrasesCrowley, T. (1998). An Erromangan (Sye) grammar. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications27: 186 189.

A preposition is a form that appears at the beginning of a prepositional phrase, and which, in certain

situations, is the only occupant of the prepositional phrase. Prepositions in Sye fall into three subtypes :free

prepositions, nominal prepositions andverbal prepositions .

Free prepositions are those which are morphologically invariant when they are followed by a noun

phrase. There are seven forms in this set: (na)ndu 'singular accompanitive', ndal 'plural accompanitive', potpot

'proximate', hogku(su) 'similitive', narigi'topic of (locution)', ra'spatial/causal' and (o)gi'instrumental/oblique'.

Prepositional phrases involving free prepositions generally have the structure PREPOSITION + NP,

in which the NP constituent can be either a noun or an independent pronoun, for example :

nandu kik potpot nimo

ACC.SG 2SG near house

'with you' 'near the house'

However, the NP slot can have a zero occupant when the NP has been moved, or is reconstructible

from the linguistic or non-linguistic context, resulting in the preposition being stranded, for example:

Ave-n-hai Nompwat yococ-ve nandu.brother-CONST-brother Nompwat lSG:RECRAST-BR:go ACC.SG

'It was Nompwat's brother who I went with.'

Sau ihen yococ-se-i nomu ogi.spear POSS:3SG lSG:RECPAST-spear-CONST fish INST

'It was his/her spear that I speared the fish with.'

The preposition hogku(su) 'similitive' differs from the remaining free prepositions in that it cannot be

stranded. When this form governs a moved third person singular noun phrase, it must be followed by the free

third person singular pronoun iyi, for example:

Yocochi(


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we find:

Ndau ma ndu-seni-gi nvag.heliconia.leaf FOC 3PL:DlSTPAST-cover-lNSTPRO food

'It was heliconia leaves that they covered the food with.'

These forms are treated as clitics because they count as the final syllable of the preceding word for

stress-assignment purposes.

The prepositions ra and gi further differ from the remaining free prepositions in that they are

normally associated only with noun phrases that have non-human reference. When the governed noun phrase

has human reference, the prepositional meanings must be expressed respectively by the corresponding

nominal preposition ira- and the verbal preposition wog-.

Nominal prepositions are those which accept pronominal suffixes identical in shape to bound

possessive nouns. When these forms govern a pronoun, the pronominal category is expressed by means of a

pronominal suffix, for example:

nisco-mBEN-2SG

'for you'

However, when they govern a noun, they appear with the construct suffix, which has the same shape

as the third person singular pronominal suffix, that is -n, for example:

nisco-n uyouben-const grandmother

'for grandmother'

Verbal prepositions are also obligatorily suffixed, though they differ from nominal prepositions in

that their pronominal suffixes are identical to the object suffixes found on plain verbs. We therefore find

forms such as the following, in which the preposition governs a pronoun :

pehnur-coh

before-1PL.INCL

'before us'

The construct suffix with such prepositions is -i, so with a following noun we find constructions

such as the following:

pehnur-i ovonyan

before-CONST PL:child

'before the children'

With respect to suffixed transitive verbs, some - especially older speakers sometimes omit the

construct suffix with a following object, and the same speakers sometimes also omit the construct suffix on


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verbal prepositions. The sequences of preposition-final consonant and NP-initial segment are then treated as

if the boundary were a word-internal one. Note, however, that the two forms continue to be stressed as

separate words. We therefore find alternations such as the following, with the forms on the left representing

the most widespread pattern and the forms on the right being more characteristic of older people:

pog-i ovoteme poc ovotemeD AT-CONST PL:person D AT PL:person'

'to the people' 'to the people'

ntovni(

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Erromangan Prepositional Phrases