Kambera language

The diphthongs {{IPA|/ai/}} and {{IPA|/au/}} function phonologically as the long counterparts to {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}}, respectively.

Kambera formerly had {{IPA|/s/}}, but a sound change occurring around the turn of the 20th century replaced all occurrences of former {{IPA|/s/}} with {{IPA|/h/}}.

Negators are used in Kambera, and other languages, to make a clause or sentence negative in meaning. Kambera has several types of negators. There are six main types of negators listed below.

{{lang|xbr|Ndia}} 'no' is used for general negation, and {{lang|xbr|nda}} 'negative' or {{lang|xbr|ndedi}} 'not yet' are predicate negators. {{lang|xbr|Ndoku}} is used to emphasise the negation by being placed with the negator {{lang|xbr|àmbu}} or {{lang|xbr|nda}}.{{harvnb|Klamer|2005|p=723}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|Ambu bobar ndoku -ma -ya!

|NEG.IRR preach NEG.EMP -EMP -3SG.ACC.EMP

|'Do not talk about it at all!'{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=143}}}}

{{lang|xbr|Àmbu}} is used to express future negation, as well as negation in imperatives.

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|Àmbu katuda{{=}}kau nàhu!

|NEG.IRR sleep{{=}}2SG.ACC now

|'Don't go to sleep now!'}}

Negators are elements in a clause that are deictic. They can be used to refer to time, space and discourse.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=142}} Shown below, the negator, {{lang|xbr|ndia}}, is used to refer to discourse.

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|Ndia ná!

|NEG DEI

|'No!' (not like that){{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=142}}}}

Two of these negators, {{lang|xbr|nda}} and {{lang|xbr|àmbu}} – with {{lang|xbr|nda}} being a general negator, are used for nominal and verbal predicates.

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|Nda ningu ndoku

|NEG be NEG.EMP

|'There are none at all.'{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=143}}}}

The word {{lang|xbr|pa}} in Kambera is derivational and can be added to few prepositional nouns, numerals and negators to create verbs. The emphatic negator {{lang|xbr|ndia}} 'no' can become a verb through {{lang|xbr|pa}} derivation. The translation of this verb then becomes 'to deny'.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=184}}

Example below of how {{lang|xbr|ndia}} is constructed into a verb in a given phrase:

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|na- pa.ndia -ya ba nda na- njala

|3SG.NOM- pa.no -3SG.ACC.EMP CNJ NEG 3SG.NOM {be/do wrong}

|'He denied that he did wrong.'{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=185}}}}

A nuclear clause has the predicate as the head in Kambera, and modifiers are positioned at the beginning of the clause. As {{lang|xbr|nda}} is a modifier it is placed at the beginning of a clause, as a clause-initial negator, before the verb and the rest of the elements of a nuclear clause.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=77}}

You can distinguish nominal clauses from NPs is through the irrealis negator {{lang|xbr|àmbu}} and the negator {{lang|xbr|nda}}, which both never occur inside a possessed NP.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=99}}

The Kambera word {{lang|xbr|nda}} is also considered to be a pro-clitic as well, as they do not conform to the minimal word requirement and must occur with a syntactic/phonological host.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=27}} A clitic is a type of bound morpheme which is syntactically free, but are phonologically bound morphemes. They can attach themselves to a stem, for example the negator {{lang|xbr|nda}}. {{lang|xbr|Nda}} appears before its host and is used to mark negation. It has a very simple phonotactic properties and cannot carry stress.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=47}} {{lang|xbr|Nda}} as a clitic can only ever occur with a host.

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|Ka 'nggiki hi nda {{=}}u- 'ita -ka?

|CNJ why CNJ NEG 2PL.PN- see -1SG.ACC.EMP

|'Why didn't you see me?'{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=50}}}}

In the example above, the negator {{lang|xbr|nda}} becomes {{lang|xbr|nda u-}} {{IPA|[ndaw]|lang=xbr}}, with {{lang|xbr|nda}} attaching itself to the allomorph {{lang|xbr|u-}}.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=50}} {{lang|xbr|Nda}} is a proclitic that marks an embedded clause in Kambera.

Negators are also included in relative clauses, but are not a part of the noun phrase.

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=ex:

|[Nda [ndui pa- bohu]_NP] -ya

|NEG money RmO- steal -3SG.ACC.EMP

|'It (is) not stolen money.'{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=336}}}}

Personal pronouns are used in Kambera for emphasis/disambiguation; the syntactic relation between full pronouns and clitics is similar to that between NPs and clitics. NPs and pronouns have morphological case.

Kambera, as a head-marking language, has rich morpho-syntactic marking on its predicators. The pronominal, aspectual, and/or mood clitics together with the predicate constitute the nuclear clause. Definite verbal arguments are crossreferenced on the predicate for person, number, and case (Nominative (N), Genitive (G), Dative (D), Accusative (A)). The four main pronominal clitic paradigms are given below.

Examples:

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(1)

|apu-nggu

|granny-1SG.GEN

|'My granny.'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(2)

|ana-na

|child-3SG.GEN

|'His child.'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(3)

|Kau pa.ta.lunggur-ya na wihi-na

|scratch {CAU.be sore} ART leg-3SG.GEN

|'He scratched his leg sore.' ({{lit|He scratched and caused his leg to be sore}})}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(4)

|Na-tari-bia nahu angu-na

|3SG.NOM-watch-MOD now companion-3SG.GEN

|'He just watches his companion.'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(5)

|Ningu uma-nggua

|be.here house-1SG.GEN

|'I have a house.' ({{lit|Here is a house of mine.}})}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(6)

|Nyuda-ha-ka nahu da ana-nda

|they-3PL.ACC-PRF now ART child-1PL.GEN

|'They are our children now.'}}

The items in the table below mark person and number of the subject when the clause has continuative aspect.

Examples:

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(1)

|Lunggur-nanya na Ihi-na

|scratch-3SG.CONT ART body-3SG.GEN

|'He is scratching his body.'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(2)

|"Laku-nnguya ina", wa-na

|go-1SG.CONT mother say-3SG

|"'I am going, mother,' he said."}}

Kambera has a possessive or reflexive noun {{lang|xbr|wiki}} 'self/own', which can be used to mark possession (1).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(1)

|Uma wiki -nggu

|house self/own -1SG.GEN

|'My own house'}}

{{lang|xbr|Wiki}} has the structural properties of a noun and can be used as a nominal modifier (compare 2 and 3), unlike pronouns which must be cross-referenced on the noun with a genitive clitic (3).{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|pp=130–131}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(2)

|Uma witu -nggu

|house grass -1SG.GEN

|'My hut'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(3)

|Uma -nggu nyungga

|house -1SG.GEN I

|'My house'}}

As (3) is a possessed noun phrase, the enclitic attaches to the noun. In possessed and modified noun phrases, the genitive enclitic attaches to the noun modifier (4).{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|p=48}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(4)

|Na uma 'bakul -nggu

|ART house {be big} -1SG.GEN

|'My big house'}}

In Kambera, where cross-referencing is used, the noun phrase is optional. A verb along with its pronominal markers constitutes a complete sentence. Pronominal clitics are a morphological way of expressing relationships between syntactic constituents such as a noun and its possessor.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|pp=60–61}}

Possessors can be relativised with a {{lang|xbr|ma-}} relative clause.{{harvnb|Klamer|1998|pp=320–321}} There are three types of clauses used in the relativisation of possessors.

The first is when the embedded verb is derived from a relational noun such as mother or child. These derived transitive verbs express relations between the subject and the object (5).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(5)

|Na anakeda [na ma- ina -nya]

|ART child [ART RmS- mother -3SG.DAT]

|'the child whose mother she is'/'the child she is the mother of'}}

The second clause type is where the possessor is the head of the ma- relative clause and the possessee is the subject of the embedded verb (6).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(6)

|Ita -nggu -nya [na tau na ma-meti {kuru uma} -na]

|See -1SG.GEN -3SG.DAT [ART person ART RmS-die wife -3SG.GEN]

|'I saw [the man whose wife died]}}

The final type is where the relative clause contains the verb {{lang|xbr|ningu}} 'be' and the incorporated argument of this verb. The head of the relative construction is the possessor (7).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(7)

|Na tau na ma- ningu ihi woka .ng

|ART person ART RmS- be content garden .ng|c2=N.B: the morpheme .ng marks the edge of incorporation

|'the person that has crops' ({{lit|the person whose garden content is}})}}

Normally, the possessor pronoun {{lang|xbr|nyuna}} 'he/she' follows the possessed noun (8), though it can also be the head of a relativised clause (9).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(8)

|Na marihak [na kalembi -na nyuna]

|ART {be dirty} [ART shirt -3SG.GEN he]

|'His shirt is dirty'}}

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(9)

|Nyuna na [ma- marihak na kalembi -na

|He ART RmS- {be dirty} ART shirt -3SG.GEN

|'He whose shirt is dirty'}}

Possessors can also be relativised in the same way as subjects. For example, in the following headless relative clause (no possessor NP is present), a definite article is present (10).

{{interlinear|lang=xbr|number=(10)

|Na ma- rabih karaha kalai -na

|ART RmS- trickle side left -3SG.GEN

|'The (one) whose left side trickles (i.e. lets water through)'

(mythological character that is the source of rain)}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Klamer |first=Marian |author-link=Marian Klamer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGuF4M1SqZwC |title=A Grammar of Kambera |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=1998 |isbn=3-11-016187-7 |location=Berlin/New York }}
• {{cite book |last=Klamer |first=Marian |year=2005 |chapter=Kambera |editor=Adelaar, Karl Alexander |editor2=Himmelmann, Nikolaus |title=The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-7007-1286-0 }}

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Category:Sumba languages

Category:Languages of Indonesia