Abstract

This paper describes the case markers of Poula. The speakers of the language are known as the Poumai naga tribe. The tribe is concentrated in the Senapati district of Manipur and Phek district of Nagaland and also in some other adjoining areas. An attempt is made to find the case markers in Poula. Eight types of case markers are found in Poula and they are marked with the help of suffixes. The eight types of case markers are agentive, accusative, genitive, instrumental, associative, locative, dative and ablative case. The agentive marker-ye is added only to the + animate while in –animate it is not possible. Different locative markers are used for place, year and days of the week .Two types of genitive case markers are found i.e. –vei and –doni for possessive and benefactive.

Keywords: poula, case, suffix, agentive.

H.Dune Antonia Pao Research Scholar, Dept. Of Linguistics Manipur University

Introduction

Poula is the language of the Poumai naga tribe. The Poumai Naga tribe is one of the Naga tribes mainly concentrated in the Senapati district of Manipur and Phek district of Nagaland and also in some other adjoining areas. The land areas extend about 1200sq.km and are observed in four areas viz.Chilivai, Lepaona, Paomata and Razeba Circles. The Poumais live in seventy seven recognised villages and twenty eight sub-villages. The tribe is recognised under the constitution of the Scheduled Caste and Tribe order (Amendment) Act 2002, Government of India.

CASE IN POULA

Case is a grammatical category which expresses the syntactic-semantic relations between a noun phrase and a predicate phrase.

Generally case is defined in traditional grammars as ‘‘the relation in which a noun stands to some other word or change of form (if any) by which a relation is indicated grammatical relation as well as the change of form’’ (Nesfield,1934-p-21). Case is the most important category of the nouns. It shows the relation between noun and verb and between the two nouns.

‘Case are inflected forms for nouns which fit them for participation in key constructions relative to verbs (Hockett, 1958). Case is ‘a grammatical category’ used in the analysis of word classes to identify the syntactic relationship between words in sentence though contrast as ergative, accusative etc. (Crystal, 1985).

In the discussion of the case system of Poula, it has been discussed as category used in the analysis of word classes to identify the syntactic relationship between the nouns or pronouns or noun phrases and the verb in the sentence.

Case markers are marked primarily with the help of the suffixes in Poula. There are eight case markers. They are given in the table below.

Sl.No.	Case	Case Markers
1	Agentive/ nominative	-new
2	accusative	-ye
3	genitive	-vei, -donew
4	instrumental	-new
5	associative	-kwa
6	locative	-hi, kәu, zәu
7	ablative	-hinew
8	dative	-hi

Types of case markers:

There are eight types of case markers in Poula. They can be discussed in the following heads.

I. Agentive case marker –new

Agentive marker is not obligatory. It is used in various meanings. The function of the Agentive marker is to mark the subject of the sentence. It is to differentiate the agent from the object in the sentence.

Examples:

1. a) pu-new jon-ye dapei-ye

he-AGEN. jon-ACC beat-ASP.

‘He beats John’

b) i-new sanә-ye ngao-ye

i-AGEN. sanә-ACC. see-ASP.

‘I see sanii’

c) ni-new jon-ye doupei-khai-wo

you-AGEN. jon-ACC. teach-COMD.MK.

‘You teach John’

The agentive marker –new is not obligatory. The marker -new has an additional meaning i.e. the action of the subject is more emphasized. In the case of transitive verbs, the agentive suffix-new is not primarily used to mark the agent when the subject precedes the object. The same case occurs in intransitive and stative verbs also.

Transitive verb

Examples:

2. a) i pu-ye lәʃi-ye

i he-ACC. love-ASP

‘I love him’

b) jon douki-hi ta-re

jon school-LOC go-PERF.ASP

‘John went to school’

Intransitive verb

Examples:

3. a) pu ta-re

s/he go-PERF.ASP

‘S/he went’

b) ni ta-khai-wo

you go-COMD.MK.

‘You go’

Stative verb:

4. a) pu hәvei-ye

s/he beautiful-ASP

‘S/he is beautiful’

b) pu tha-ye

s/he fat-ASP

‘S/he is fat’

Agentive marker is not obligatory:

Examples:

5. a) pu-new i-ye sә-ye

s/he –AGEN. i-ACC. know-ASP

‘S/he knows me’

b) pu i-ye sә-ye

s/he i-ACC. know-ASP

‘S/he knows me’

The above sentences 5(a)& )b) shows that the agentive marker is not obligatory as both the given sentences are grammatical.

II. Accusative case marker –ye

The nouns which are directly affected by the action of the verb are called accusative case. In short it is used to make the object of a transitive verb. In Poula the marker –ye is used in accusative as well as directive marker.

Examples:

6.a) i-new pu-ye dapei-ye

i-AGEN. he-ACC. beat-ASP

‘I beat him’

b) i-new ni-ye pupa-nai sei ve pei-ye

i-AGEN. you-ACC. flower-DET sent come give-ASP

‘I sent you the flower’

c) pu i-ye ŋai-re

s/he i-ACC. forget-PERF.ASP

‘S/he forget me’

In Poula,the accusative marker –ye is added only to the +human and +animate nouns and pronouns. To the –human and –animate nouns the accusative marker is not possible. If it is added it becomes ungrammatical and unacceptable as the semantic boundary between the speaker and the hearer makes confusion as in the following:

Examples:

7.* a) jon-new khoto-ye tәu-ye

John-AGEN. food-ACC. eat-ASP

‘John eats rice’

*b) jon-new cu-ye tay-ye

John-AGEN. stone-ACC. kick-ASP.

‘John kicks the stone’

*c) i-new thou-ye sau-ye

i-AGEN. rice-ACC. pound-ASP.

‘I pound the rice’

The grammatical sentences should be as in the following:

Examples:

8. a) jon-new khoto tәu-ye

John-AGEN. food eat-ASP.

‘John eats rice’

b) jon-new cu te-ye

John-AGEN. stone kick-ASP.

‘John kicks the stone’

c). i-new thou sau-ye

i-AGEN. rice pound-ASP.

‘I pound the rice’

III. Associative case marker:

The associative marker is used to denote that the action has been performed in

association with another person or object of the association may be marked by this marker. It indicates association or company with. In Poula, the associative case marker is –kwa.

9. a) i pu-kwa ta-ye

i he-ASSO. go-ASP.

‘I go with him’

b) i jon-kwa dava-ye

i john-ASSO. fight-ASP.

‘I fight with John’

c) pu dzә khoto-kwa fe kәu-ye

he water rice-ASSO. bring come-ASP.

‘He brings water with rice’

d) i ni-kwa ci khai nә-ye

i you-ASSO. word discuss want-ASP.

‘I want to talk with you’

IV. Instrumental case marker –new

The case of the inanimate force or object casually involved in the action or state identified by the verb. Only inanimate objects can be used for instruments.(Fillmore,1968, notes that instrument is very commonly marked in some way as stationery location).The primary function of this marker is to indicate the instrument that the agent uses while carrying out an activity.

In Poula, the instrumental case marker –new is obligatory; it is homophonous to the agentive marker.

Examples:

10.a) jon-new khao-nai be-new vu-re

John-AGEN. tiger-DET gun-INST. shot-PERF.ASP

‘john shot the tiger with a gun’

b) pu bәsә-new ve-ye

s/he bus-INST. come-ASP

‘S/he came by bus’

The use of Instrumental case marker in:

A) Denoting day- to-day life activities as washing, cooking etc.

11. a) jon sә-new khoto kho-ye

john wood-INST. rice cook-ASP

‘John cooks rice with fire wood’

b) pu sabo-new na-tao sәu-ye

he soap-INST. cloth-PLU wash-ASP

‘He wash the clothes with soap’

B) Denoting the material used for making certain objects or constructions purposes.

12. a) i vәu-new teipi bokha sәu-ye

i bamboo-INST. garden fence make-ASP

‘I fenced the garden with bamboo’

b) pu rәdzә-new larәbvә-nai rә-ye

he ink-INST. book-DET write-ASP

‘He writes the book with ink’

C) Denoting the means of activity

13. a) i bәsә-new kimaiki ve-ye

i bus-INST. imphal come-ASP

‘I came to Imphal by bus’

b) ʃa-new ha tei hә lousә-ye

money-INST. thing all buy can-ASP

‘Everyhing can be brought by money’.

V. Locative case marker –hi, -kәu and -zәu

They express the location or spatial orientation of the action or state identified by the verb. In Poula, the locative suffixes are used in a wide sense. It’s primary function; denote the location of an object or event.

-hi : Location.

Examples:

14. a) larәbvә-nai bu phao-hi bu-ye

book-DET chair on-LOC live-ASP

‘The book is on the chair’

b) pu kimaiki-hi bu-ye

he imphal-LOC live-ASP

‘He lives in imphal’

-kәu: Expression of year takes this suffix.

Examples:

a) jon mapo 1983-kәu dili ta-re

john year 1983-LOC delhi goPERF.ASP

‘John left for Delhi in the year 1983’

b) i mapo 1986-kәu nya-ye

i year 1986-LOC born-ASP.

‘I was born in the year 1986’

-zәu: Expression of days of the week takes this suffix.

Examples:

jon ratho-zәu na-ye

john sunday-LOC born-ASP.

‘John was born on Sunday’

i fәkha-zәu ta-lai

i tuesday-LOC go-UNR.ASP.

‘I will go on Tuesday’

VI. Genetive case marker –vei and -donew

The genitive marker indicates the relationships between the agent or the objects and the possessors. The basic function of the genitive case is to indicate the relationship between two substantives in which the preceding substantive acts as a qualifier of the succeeding one(Yashawanta,2000). In Poula, there are two kinds of possessive case markers i.e.–vei and –donew. The marker –vei is used with nouns or pronouns and indicates the owner of those things or objects which is to be owned.

The benefactive , sometimes also called the purposive case, indicates that the action identified by the verb is done for, for the sake of, in the interest of an entity expressed by the benefactive marked NP in the sentence. The marker –donew is used for benefactive.

Possessive -vei

Examples:

15. a) hainai jon-vei sa-ye

this john-GEN. cat-ASP.

‘This is John’s cat’

b) pu jon-vei kinapa-ye

s/he john-GEN neighbour-ASP.

‘S/he is John’s neighbour’

Benefactive –donew

Examples:

16. a) i-new ni-donew khoto kho pei-re

i-AGEN you-BENF rice cook give-PERF.ASP

‘I have cooked food for you’

b) i-new vo-donew li hә ve-ye

i-AGEN pig-BENF pot buy come-ASP.

‘I bought a pot for the pig’

VII. Ablative case marker –hinew

The ablative case marker is used to express separation, expulsion, source and direction of movement from one to another. In Poula, the ablative case marker is expressed by the suffix –hinew.

Examples:

17. a) i khaodu teipi-hinew hao ve-ye

i brinjal garden-ABL pluck come-ASP.

‘I bought brinjal from the garden’

b) pu kimaiki-hinew ve-ye

he imphal-ABL come-ASP.

‘He comes from Imphal’

c) pu ki pei-hinew dekәu-ye

he house top-ABL fall-ASP.

‘He falls from the roof’

d) i datoro-hinew sәu yu-ye

i doctor-ABL sickness see-ASP.

‘I did check up from the doctor’

VIII. Dative case marker –hi

18. a) i john-hi lar ә bv ә -nai pei-re

I john-DAT book-DET give-PERF.ASP.

‘I gave the book to John’

john hou-tao eletaw-hi pei-ye

john chicken-PLU us-DAT give-ASP.

‘John gave the chickens to us’.

CASE ROLE

Case markers and the case roles are marked primarily by suffixes in this language. ‘The kind of case roles that can occur in a given sentence depends primarily upon the kind of verb or predicate that has been used in it’’(Bhat and Nigomba, 1986-39).Therefore the number and kind of case roles that can occur in a given sentence depends upon the type of the verb as shown in the following examples:

Verbs like –ka ‘cry’ and –ta ‘go’ only a single case role namely an agent is required .

Examples:

18. a) jon ka-ye

john cry-ASP

‘John cries’

b) pu ta-re

he go-PERF.ASP

‘He went’

Verbs like –da ‘beat’ and –ku ‘call’ two case roles namely an agent and an object are required

19. a) jon-new i-ye da-ye

john-AGEN i-ACC beat-ASP

‘John beats me’

b) pu-new i-ye ku-ye

he-AGEN i-ACC call-ASP

‘He calls me’

Verbs like –pei ’give’ and –nә ‘catch’ at least three different case roles namely, an agent, an object and a beneficiary are required.

Examples:

20. a) jon-new i-ye pupa pei-ye

john-AGEN i-ACC flower give-ASP

‘John gave me a flower’

b) pu rei-hinew kha nә-ye

s/he river-ABL fish catch-ASP

‘S/he catches fish from the river’

From the above examples as in (18-20) it is noted that the number and kind of case roles that can occur depends upon the type of the verb in the given sentences.

CONCLUSION

There are eight types of case markers in Poula and they are marked with the help of suffixes. The agentive marker is optional in transitive verb.When marked it has an additional meaning i.e. the action of the subject is more emphasized. The accusative marker is added only to the +human and +animate nouns and pronouns. The instrumental case marker is obligatory and is homophonous to the agentive marker. There are three locative markers –hi is used for location, -kәu for year and –zәu for days of the week. There are two genitive case markers i.e.–vei and –donew. The marker –vei is used for possessive while the marker –donew for benefactive. In Poula,verbs like –ka ‘cry’ and –ta ‘go’ requires a single case roles, –da ‘beat’ and –ku ‘call’ two case roles and –pei ’give’ and –nә ‘catch’ three case roles.

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