Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language

Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language

The sentence ordering of the Karo/Rawa language is S O V (subject object verb).

(3)

subj obj verb

Don si yo-ro maketi-no u-wo.ll

Don string. bag get-ss market-to go.down-pt.3s

'Don got a string bag and went down to the market.'

Sentences tend to be rather lengthy. Verbs carry the principal semantic load of the
clause.

(4) Text 85.1; Clauses 1-3:

Verb Verb
No kuri-mi bodaga-no ko te-wero e-rol si
Is before-int little-loc work do-des say-ss string. bag

Verb Verb Verb

yo-rol duge yo-rol kopi ko-no u -wo-no-wo.H

get-ss/ knife get-ss/ coffee garden-loc go.down-pt-ls-rpt

'Before, when I was litde, I decided I wanted to do some work (so) I got (my)
string bag, my knife, (and) I went down to the coffee garden.'

The verb final of the sentence has tense, person number, or aspect markers. For an
example of the usual tense and person number on verb final, observe the final verb
affixes in the preceding example four.

(5) Final Verb Completive Aspect Affix -yingo:

Ene ma ombu-yingo.H
3s not come-compl
'He did not come.'

The medial verbs connect the clauses together with same subject marker -ro\ or
different subject marker -to-i ~ -too--e; or the imperative -ya marker.

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

(6) Same Subject Medial Verb Marker -ro'.

Em sipedi yo-rol toonge-rol ko-no oore-wo.H

3s spade get-ss walk-ss garden-to go.up-pt.3s
'She got her spade, hiked and went up to her garden.'

(7) Text 85.1; Clauses 64-66: Different Subject Medial Verb Marker -to -/: (speaker
excluded from the previous clause action):

Ngundiro e-rol ene-ndo diige gura nu-noo-to-nil
same say-ss/ 3s-ag knife another me-give-ds-3s.e/

ngu-nonggo nowoondo-ne mete-mi ingo-yingoJI
this-from stomach-Is good-very feel-compl

'She said that and gave me another knife and from that my stomach felt good
again.'

(8) Text 85.4; Clauses 33-35: Different Subject Medial Verb Marker -too-e: (speaker
included in the previous clause action):

Nastyoo-too-we, kokingo ye-to-ni ngu, no-ndo yo-rol
warm.up-ds-ls.i hot put-ds-3s.e when Is-ag get-ss

nombo dabemi-mo ye-yingo.H
ashes by.side-of put-compl

'I warmed it up, and when it became hot, I got it and put it by the side of the
fireplace.'

(9) Medial Verb Imperative Marker -ya\

Yo-ya ombu.ll
get-imp come
'Get it and come.'

When the different subject marker -to -i (speaker excluded from the previous clause
action marker), ~ -too -e (speaker included in the previous clause action marker) is
used, the person number marker occurs second affix order with either the -/ or the -e
marker attached to it according to whether or not the speaker has been included in the
previous clause action. Observe the medial verb different subject marker {-to -/) when
the speaker is excluded from the previous clause action, in example seven. In example
eight, observe the different subject medial verb marker {too-e) when the speaker is
included in the previous clause action.

Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language

Extended noun phrases are used to introduce new material in a discourse. After that it
will be referred to again with either a shortened form, a generic form, or a pronoun.

Suffix markers on nouns indicate: locative, possession, inclusion, agentivity,
instrument, plurality, definite article, discourse prominence. Up to five suffix orders
on nouns have been observed.

(10) Text 85.15; Clause 46: Nouns displaying the following affixation: -mu
'possession', -ngga 'definite article singular', -ku 'discourse prominence', and -
woore 'locative':

Asa era-marawesa eraya-ga-ku ngu
'Then, 2-close.friends 2-def-prom that

boonge-mu-ngga-ku-woore u-wo-riyowo.H

landslide-poss-def-prom-on.top.of go.down-pt-2d.rpt

'Then the two very close friends went down on top of the landslide.'

(11) Noun displaying the following affixation: -ya 'accompaniment', -ndo
'agentivity':

Oni-ndo Neyuro-ya mande e-wero.H
man-ag Neyuro-incl words say-des
'The man wants to talk with Neyuro.'

(12) Text 85.1; Clauses 41-43: Noun displaying -ne 'possessive', and -mbo
'instrument':

Bibite-roJ sendo-rOy I kondipo ke-ne-mbo mera se-we sa-yingo.H

sit-ss, cry-ss all leg-Is. poss-inst ground dig-des go-compl

'I sat down, cried, and dug out all the dirt (in the fireplace) with my foot.'

(13) Noun displaying -dodo 'plurality':

Bare-dodo kuri kopi ko-no u-yingo.H

woman-all already coffee garden-to go.down-compl

'All of the women have already gone down to the coffee garden.'

Pronouns have fewer markers than nouns and only one suffix may be used on
pronouns at a time. The pronominal suffix markers show possession, locatives,
inclusion, agentivity, and emphatic ( ene -su nangge 'he only').

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

(14) Pronouns displaying -ndo *agentivity' and -no 'locative':

No-ndo ge-no mande e-wero.H
Is-ag 2s-to words say-des
*I want to talk to you.'

(15) Pronouns displaying -ya ^inclusive':

No-ndo ge-ya mande e-wero.H
Is-ag 2s-incl words say-des
*I want to talk with you.'

Note: Examples 14 and 15 show alternative ways of saying the same thing.

(16) Pronouns displaying -ro and -mu 'possessive affixes':

Oone-ro-mu? No-ro-mu.H
who-poss-poss.^ Is-poss-poss
'Whose is this.^ It's mine.'

(17) Pronouns displaying -so nangge 'emphatic affix':

No-so nangge ngu ko te-wo-no.H
Is-emp only that work do-pt-ls
'I alone did that work.'

The third person singular pronoun ngu (also used as a demonstrative pronoun 'that')
and the demonstrative pronoun nga 'this' are the exceptions to the other pronouns and
the types of suffixes it may have. Even though ngu (third person singular) and nga are
pronouns, they also may function as a noun because all of the noun suffixes may
occur on it. The only pronominal suffix that ngu (3sing.) and nga 'this' do not use is the
emphatic suffix.

abs

absolute

ace

accompaniment

adj

adjective

adv

adverb

af

affix

ag

agent

App

appositional

Asp

aspect

CI

clause

cli

climax

compl completive

Conj

conjunction

cont

continuous

action

Coor

co-ordinate

def

definite affix

marker

dem

demonstrative

Dep

dependent

des

desirative

ds

different subject

(medial verb)

du

dual

e&

example

emp

emphasizer

e

speaker excluded

from the

previous clause

action

For

formula

ft

future tense

H

head

ABBREVIATION CODES FOR
REFERENCE GRAMMAR

i speaker included

from the

previous clause

action

imp imperative

incl inclusive

ind indefinite

Indep independent

inst instrument

inten intensifier

10 indirect object

loc locative

mod modifier

MV medial verb

n noun

neg negative

nom nominalizer

num number

Obj object

Phr phrase

pi plural

pos positive

poss possessive

prom prominence

pron pronoun

prt present tense

pt past tense

qu question

qual qualifier

quan quantifier

rel relativizer

rp t remote past tense

s singular

Sent

sentence

seq

sequence

spec

specifier

ss

same subject

(medial verb)

Subj

subject

suf

suffix

sup

superlative

T

temporal

top

topic

tr

transitive

V

verb

Id

first person dual

Ipl

first person

plural

Is

first person

singular

2d

second person

dual

2pl

second person

plural

2s

second person

singular

3d

third person dual

3pl

third person

plural

3s

third person

singular

~

alternating with

>

becomes

#

morpheme

absence

/

or

?

unknown

IX

Toland, Norma R. and Donald F. Toland. 1991. Reference grammar of the
Karo/Rawa language. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, 38.
Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics, ix, 216 p.