Example 25-188

Thet min bos bla mibala. [...] Thet fo mibala bos. [...] Gunjumarra min bla mibala bos wanim tijing as yuno? [...] Mai big bos [...] Au bos wanim tijing as.
Thet
dem
min
mean
bos
boss
bla
dat/poss
mibala.
1pl.excl
[...]
[...]
Thet
dem
fo
dat/poss
mibala
1pl.excl
bos.
boss
[...]
[...]
Gunjumarra
boss
min
mean
bla
dat/poss
mibala
1pl.excl
bos
boss
wan=im
subord=3sg
tij-ing
teach-prog2
as
1pl.excl.obj
yuno?
you.know
[...]
[...]
Mai
1sg.poss
big
big
bos
boss
[...]
[...]
Au
1pl.excl.poss
bos
boss
wan=im
subord=3sg
tij-ing
teach-prog2
as.
1pl.excl.obj
(That means) our boss/teacher, that's our boss, gunjumarra means our boss who is teaching us you know? [...] My big boss [...] Our boss who is teaching us.
Comment:
Variety: Spoken Victoria River, Younger Generation. This example illustrates variation in word order in a possessive noun phrase, variation between the use of an adpositional phrase with a pronominal NP and a possessive pronoun (the latter an acrolectal feature), and the variation in dative/possessive marker (fo/bo vs. bla(nga)). The example was prompted by the question "what does gunjumarra (a Jaminjung word) mean?"
Type:
translation in elicitation of other language
Source:
Fieldwork Schultze-Berndt