Complex Noun Phrases in Luo

Sue Wen Chiao

1. Introduction

The noun modifiers we will discuss in this paper are numeral quantifiers (e.g. /abic/, ‘five’), adjectives (e.g. /mamor/, ‘happy’), demonstratives (e.g. /ni/, ‘this’), and other non-numeral quantifiers (e.g. /tE/, ‘all’).

2. Basic Word Order

The basic word order of noun phrases in Luo appears to be

Noun [Numeral Quantifier] [Adjective(s)] [Demonstrative] Our examples of this construction include ones with one modifier only (1-3), two different types of modifiers (4-6), and all three types (7-8):

(1)	nyaTe aciEl child one ‘one child’	(2)	nyaTe matIn child small ‘the small child’
(3)	nyaTe ni child this ‘this child’	(4)	wOi aciEl matIn boy one small ‘one small boy’
(5)	nyiri abic go girl.PL five those ‘those five girls’	(6)	yiEn matIn ni tree small this ‘this small tree’
(7)	wOi aciEl matIn no boy one small that ‘that one small boy'’	(8)	wOi aciEl matIn mamor no boy one small happy that ‘that one small happy boy’

As example (8) shows, more than one adjective may be used. However, the order of the adjectives is sometimes important, as the following contrast shows:

(9)

wOi matIn mamor
boy small happy
‘the happy small boy'

(10)

wOi mamor matIn
boy happy small
‘the slightly happy boy’

In example (9) both /matIn/ and /mamor/ are being used as adjectives; however, in (10) /matIn/ is used as an adverb modifying the adjective /mamor/. We have found another adverb, /ahInya/, which operates similarly.

(11)

jo-wOi mamor ahInya
PL-boy happy very
‘the very happy boy’

(12)

guEn matIndo ahInya
chicken.PL small.PL very
‘the very small chickens’

2. Non-numeral quantifiers

Although the word order for numeral quantifiers, adjectives, and demonstratives in noun phrases appears to be fairly consistent, the order varies much more with the use of non-numeral quantifiers. In fact, the word order seems to vary depending on which quantifiers are used.

2.1 /matIn/ ‘few’

These examples have a fairly consistent word order of the form

Noun [Adjective(s)] /matIn/ [Demonstrative]

(13)	rabolo matIn banana few ‘a few bananas’	(14)	Dok matIn cow.PL few ‘a few cows’
(15)	jo-wOi matIn go PL-boy few that ‘a few of those boys’	(16)	jo-wOi matIndo matIn go PL-boy small.PL few that ‘a few of those small boys’

2.2 /maNEny/ ‘many’

We have not been able to obtain any examples of /maNEny/ occurring with demonstratives. However, we will assume that the basic word order stated above is not affected in our pattern, so that demonstratives follows adjectives. Although there are some exceptions, the basic word order with /maNEny/ seems to be:

Noun /maNEny/ [Adjective(s)] [Demonstrative]

(17)	Dok maNEny cows many ‘many cows’	(18)	jo-wOi maNEny mamor PL-boy many happy ‘many happy boys’
(19)	guEn maNEny matIndo chicken.PL many small.PL ‘many small chickens’

Note that /maNEny/ takes the same word order as our numeral quantifiers. The main exception that we have found is with the following example:

(20a)

jo-wOi maNEny ma-tIndo
PL-boy many REL-small.PL
‘many of the boys who are small’

(20b)

jo-wOi matIndo maNEny
PL-boy small.PL many
‘many small boys’

As (18) shows, /jo-wOi /, meaning ‘boys’, appears with other adjectives in the normal /maNEny/ construction, and, as (19) shows, /matIndo/, meaning ‘small’, appears with other nouns in the normal /maNEny/ construction. It seems likely, therefore, that the phrase /jo-wOi matIndo/, ‘little boys’ (and probably /wOi matIn/, ‘little boy’, by extension), acts as a lexical unit in Luo, so that /matIndo/ generally follows /jo-wOi / even when violating the basic order.

Another question to consider is the nature of the difference between (20a) and (20b). Example (20a), which violates the usual word order with /jo-wOi matIndo/, requires an interpretation involving a relative clause. The adjectival marker /ma-/, which we have chosen to not separate in the examples in this paper, seems to be identical to the relative particle /ma-/, which is used in more complex expressions such as:

(21)	Dako ma tedo ciEmo woman REL cook food ‘the woman who is cooking the food’

All of our examples in this paper could probably also be interpreted as nouns modified by relative clauses involving stative verbs like ‘being small’ or ‘being happy’. However, the distinction between (20a) and (20b) above indicates that this interpretation is not the usual one made.

2.3 /tE/ ‘all’

During elicitation we obtained examples with numeral quantifiers, adjectives, and demonstratives, and the word order appears to be fairly consistent.

Noun [Numeral Quantifier] [Demonstrative] /tE/ [Adjective(s)]

(22)	guOgi apar tE dog.PL ten all ‘all ten dogs’	(23)	guOgi apar tE matIndo dog.PL ten all small.PL ‘all ten small dogs’
(24)	guOgi apar gi tE dog.PL ten these all ‘all of these dogs’	(25)	guOgi apar go tE matIndo dog.PL ten those all small.PL ‘all of those ten small dogs’

Note that, when /tE/ is used, adjectives, which normally precedes the demonstrative, appear at the end of the noun phrase after the demonstrative.

2.4 /ONgE/ ‘no’

Of the modifiers, /ONgE/ is the only one we have found which ever appears before the noun. However, as examples (26) and (27) show, this varies as well when there are no other modifiers. We have very few examples of /ONgE/ in complex noun phrases, but the basic word order appears to be

/ONgE/ Noun [Adjective(s)] [Demonstrative]

(26a)	ONgE pi no water ‘no water’	(26b)	pi ONgE water no ‘no water’
(27)	ONgE jo-wOi matIndo no PL-boy small.PL ‘no small boys’

As these four groups show, the word order of noun phrases differs depending on which non-numeral quantifiers, if any, are used. In addition, we have found several cases of ambiguity and examples where word order is not strict at all. It appears that overall word order is quite flexible, with limitations only in cases of ambiguity. Some of the non-numeral quantifiers discussed can sometimes also be used as adjectives or adverbs, e.g. /matIn/, ‘few’ or ‘small’.

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