| Ka- as a
nominal prefix has the following five meanings:
(1)
Ka- is added to nominal
or verbal roots to express ‘company, co-', as in (156)-(159).
 (156)
ya
abo o ka-kteh
ko.
AUX no NOM Co-sibling
1.S.GEN
‘I have no brothers and
sisters.'
(157)
ka-raray
ko ya
ni-mi-vat-vatek do
ilaod.
Co-company 1.S.GEN AUX
PA-AF-RED-write LOC Taiwan
‘(This was my) classmate
when (I) studied in Taiwan.’
(158)
ko
ni-yakan o ka-sisi
no among.
1.S.GEN PA.PF-eat NOM
Co-half GEN fish
‘I ate up half of the
fish.’
(159)
ka-kma
si mina ama mo.
Co-like NOM late father
2.S.GEN
‘Damn! (You are like
your late father).’
(2) Abstract nouns
formed with ka- and
reduplicated roots co-occur with
kman
‘like' to express ‘as …as', as in (160)-(162).
(160)
ya
kman so zateb
rana o ka-sire-sirem
na.
AUX like OBL coal
already NOM Co-RED-black 3.S.GEN
‘He is as dark as coal.’
(161)
ya
kman so tao-do-to
so ka-pia-pia tao.
AUX like OBL god OBL
Co-RED-good human
‘She is as beautiful as
a goddess.’
(162)
ya
kman jiaken so
ka-tav-tava.
AUX like 1.S.LOC OBL
Co-RED-fat
‘He is as fat as I am.’
(3)
Ka- prefixed with
auxiliaries to or
ji
to form a nominalized
construction with
kato
and
kaji
has been discussed in Section 6.2.3.
(4)
Ka- is prefixed to
reduplicated roots to form proper nouns, referring to animals named
after the attributes signified by the roots, as in (163).
(163)
ka- + reduplicated
roots ‘animals named after certain features'
|
Animal names
|
Gloss
|
Root
|
Gloss
|
|
ka-vokovokot
|
worm
|
vokot
|
spine
|
|
ka-lalavi
|
cicada
|
lavi
|
cry |
|
ka-gozagozang
|
lizard
|
gozang
|
thin
|
|
ka-pozopozo
|
clam
|
pozo
|
small round
object with rough surface |
(5) The
circumfix
ka-an
is used to
form common nouns, as in (164)-(165).
(164)
ka-gaga-n ko
si
Salang
.
Co-giggle-NF 1.S.GEN NOM
PN
‘Salang
is my friend.'
(165)
sia
m-ian do ka-rako-an
no wawa
.
3.P.NOM AF-exist LOC
NF-big-NF GEN sea
‘They are somewhere at
sea.'
note: Another prefix
expressing ‘sharing the same fate or feature, being fellow so and so' is
icia-
, e.g.,
icia-rarakeh
‘fellow senior citizens',
icia-kakanakan
‘fellow children',
icia-mamavakes
‘fellow women',
icia-memehakay
‘fellow men', and
icia-tatao
‘fellow people'.
note:
akma
so (reduplicated form)-root refers to comparison ‘as…as' in
(160)-(162).
akma
so katva-tava ‘as fat as',
akma
so ka-pia-pia ‘as beautiful as',
akma
so ka-sir-sirem ‘as dark as'. |
