George Bedell
The Syntax of Khasi
Adverbial Clauses
This
paper will focus on Khasi adverbial clauses. (3) and (4) illustrate one relevant type; they
consist of a well formed clause as in (1) or (2) preceded by a conjunction haba 'when' or naba 'for'.
(1) u mynsiem bymkhuid
u
la mih noh
na
u briew
3SM spirit unclean 3SM
pst
go
out from 3SM person
'an unclean spirit went out of a man'
(2) u hap jyndei ha
ka ding,
jyndei ha ka um
ruh
he fall much into
3Sf
fire
much into 3Sf water also
'he falls often into the fire and often into the water'
(3) haba u mynsiem
bymkhuid u la mih noh na u briew,
when 3SM spirit unclean 3SM pst
go
out from 3SM person
'when an unclean spirit has gone out of a man'
(4) naba u hap
jyndei
ha ka ding, jyndei ha
ka um ruh.
for he fall
much into
3Sf fire much into
3Sf
water also
'for he falls often into the fire and often into the water'
Haba
in (3) appears to consist of the preposition ha 'in, into', which occurs alone in (4), combined with ba; and naba in (4) appears to consist of the preposition na 'from', which occurs alone in (3),
with the same ba a general Khasi
subordination marker. The paper will explore the details of these
constructions. The examples cited will be drawn primarily from the Khasi
translation of the Gospel according to Matthew.
References
Ka Khubor jong ka Jingieit (The Message of Love: the
New Testament in Khasi),