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Focus clauses
Miluk focus clauses are used in cleft sentences headed by a focussed noun which can appear with or without article and carries the appropriate case marker. The following focus clause is headed by an article:
χ-umnāƛ̓əč ƛə~kʷī~tġanƛc
ERG-grandmother ART~PRO~bruise
"It is grandmother who bruised it"
ƛe~χ-dīluɫ ƛa~qdal
ART~ERG-young.man ART~shoot
"It was the young man who was shooting at him"
ƛe~χ-c̓mīχʷən-də-hīme ƛə~kʷī~ġalam ƛə~ɫēɫ
ART~ERG~trickster-GEN-children ART~PRO~take ART~medicine
"It was the trickster’s children who had gotten the medicine"
An enclitic pronoun in the focus clause appears in regular second-place position, i.e. here immediately following the article:
χ-eq ƛə=u~ġalmiʒun
ERG-dead ART=1s~take:INV
"It is a dead person who has taken me"
kʷī=hanƛ kʷə=nə~ġalam
PRO=FUT ART=2s~take
"that is the kind you should get"
The focus clause is only used in cleft sentences of the above type. It is not used as an argument noun phrase in a clause, since Miluk does not have headless relative clauses, quite unlike the Salish or Wakashan languages.
Relative clauses
In the text collection, relative clauses mostly occur with k̓ah "person" and dəč "thing" as head. The latter is used as generic head in constructions which correspond to headless relatives in other languages. Following an article, dəč is shortened to č.
If the head noun has no article, the relative clause precedes the noun:
nƛp̓iye~dič
(winged~thing)
"a winged thing"
č̓ēlel~k̓ʷleis
(burn:ST~lamp)
"a burning lamp"
χʷalχʷal~λāu~hūmis
(eye~eat~woman)
"a woman that eats eyes".
The relative clause follows the noun if it carries an article:
ƛə~k̓ah~q̓ayau
(ART~person~die)
"the person who has died"
ƛə~k̓ah~mankt
(ART~person~defeat)
"the person that he defeated"
ƛə~k̓ah~χ-ġeineis~cāu
(ART~person~ERG-cold~kill)
"the person who was killed by [i.e. who died from] the cold"
ƛə~k̓ah~heməlt̓~ɫāya
(ART~person~fire~steal)
"the person who stole the fire".
Examples for relative clauses with č shortened from dəč:
kʷə~č~λāu
(ART~thing~eat)
"that what she eats"
ƛə~č~gūs~dič~λan̓īt̓a
(ART~thing~all~thing~dam:PL)
"the one who had everything dammed up".
The construction [ART~č + relative clause] functions as headless relative clause and can appear as argument of a main clause:
dūhay̓ā=ˀu kʷə~č~λāu
want=1s ART~thing~eat
"I want what she is eating"
As in the corresponding focus clauses, enclitic pronouns immediately attach to the article: ƛə=nə~k̓ah~sλānan (ART=2s~person~hide) "the person you have hidden", dī=ɫ~k̓ah~hāqʷʒūn (ART=1p~person~leave:INV) "the person who has left us". This construction can be analyzed as an internal-relative structure since the enclitic is raised out of the modifying relative clause to the article.
<< Previous: Basic phrase and clause structure
Miluk focus clauses are used in cleft sentences headed by a focussed noun which can appear with or without article and carries the appropriate case marker. The following focus clause is headed by an article:
χ-umnāƛ̓əč ƛə~kʷī~tġanƛc
ERG-grandmother ART~PRO~bruise
"It is grandmother who bruised it"
ƛe~χ-dīluɫ ƛa~qdal
ART~ERG-young.man ART~shoot
"It was the young man who was shooting at him"
ƛe~χ-c̓mīχʷən-də-hīme ƛə~kʷī~ġalam ƛə~ɫēɫ
ART~ERG~trickster-GEN-children ART~PRO~take ART~medicine
"It was the trickster’s children who had gotten the medicine"
An enclitic pronoun in the focus clause appears in regular second-place position, i.e. here immediately following the article:
χ-eq ƛə=u~ġalmiʒun
ERG-dead ART=1s~take:INV
"It is a dead person who has taken me"
kʷī=hanƛ kʷə=nə~ġalam
PRO=FUT ART=2s~take
"that is the kind you should get"
The focus clause is only used in cleft sentences of the above type. It is not used as an argument noun phrase in a clause, since Miluk does not have headless relative clauses, quite unlike the Salish or Wakashan languages.
Relative clauses
In the text collection, relative clauses mostly occur with k̓ah "person" and dəč "thing" as head. The latter is used as generic head in constructions which correspond to headless relatives in other languages. Following an article, dəč is shortened to č.
If the head noun has no article, the relative clause precedes the noun:
nƛp̓iye~dič
(winged~thing)
"a winged thing"
č̓ēlel~k̓ʷleis
(burn:ST~lamp)
"a burning lamp"
χʷalχʷal~λāu~hūmis
(eye~eat~woman)
"a woman that eats eyes".
The relative clause follows the noun if it carries an article:
ƛə~k̓ah~q̓ayau
(ART~person~die)
"the person who has died"
ƛə~k̓ah~mankt
(ART~person~defeat)
"the person that he defeated"
ƛə~k̓ah~χ-ġeineis~cāu
(ART~person~ERG-cold~kill)
"the person who was killed by [i.e. who died from] the cold"
ƛə~k̓ah~heməlt̓~ɫāya
(ART~person~fire~steal)
"the person who stole the fire".
Examples for relative clauses with č shortened from dəč:
ƛe~č~ƛ̓euχeχei
(ART~thing~laugh:PL)
"those who laughed"
(ART~thing~laugh:PL)
"those who laughed"
kʷə~č~λāu
(ART~thing~eat)
"that what she eats"
ƛə~č~gūs~dič~λan̓īt̓a
(ART~thing~all~thing~dam:PL)
"the one who had everything dammed up".
The construction [ART~č + relative clause] functions as headless relative clause and can appear as argument of a main clause:
dūhay̓ā=ˀu kʷə~č~λāu
want=1s ART~thing~eat
"I want what she is eating"
As in the corresponding focus clauses, enclitic pronouns immediately attach to the article: ƛə=nə~k̓ah~sλānan (ART=2s~person~hide) "the person you have hidden", dī=ɫ~k̓ah~hāqʷʒūn (ART=1p~person~leave:INV) "the person who has left us". This construction can be analyzed as an internal-relative structure since the enclitic is raised out of the modifying relative clause to the article.
<< Previous: Basic phrase and clause structure
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