Part 7 · miscellaneous

word classes and parts of speech

N – noun

A content word denoting a person, place, thing, or abstract entity. Nouns head noun phrases and can be modified by classifiers, descriptive verbs, and relative clauses.

tʰwîˀ “dog”
hîˀ “house”
kəθîˀ “medicine”
tâ-ɣè-tâ-klò “information” (compound)

V – verb

A content word denoting an action, process, or state. Verbs head clauses and can take verbal prefixes (person, negation, irrealis) and the coreference enclitic wɛ̄.

lɛ̀ “go”
ʔɔ̂ˀ “eat”
dôˀ “be big”
kətò “speak”

PN – proper noun

A noun referring to a specific individual, place, or entity: personal names (with honorifics), place names, names of organizations.

sɔ̀-wā [M.HON-be.white] “Saw Wah” (personal name)
nɔ̂-lā.sē.pʰɔ̄ [F.HON-PN] “Naw Lah Say Paw” (actress)
wê-blīˀ [city-Myeik] “Myeik”
kɔ̂-tʃɔ̂ˀ.tɛ̀ˀ [country-Thai] “Thailand”
θū.mwɛ̄.kʰī-tʃō [PN-school] “Thoo Mweh Khee School”

PTCL – particle

A cover term for various small, uninflected words that do not fit neatly into other categories: adverbial particles, discourse markers, etc.

sê.kɔ̄ˀ “also”
māˀ “only then, even”
nàˀ.kē “likewise, although”
dīˀ.ʔì “like this”

INTJ – interjection

Exclamations and hesitation markers that stand alone, not integrated into clause structure.

ʔə̄~ʔɨ̄ “yes”
hə̄ˀ.ʔə̄ “no”
kɛ̄~kɛ̂ “so, well”
hɨ̃ (hesitation marker, like “uhm”)

in context

kɛ̂ hā lə̄ ʔə-ɣè kɔ̄ˀ.dī.nɔ̄.ɣà dɛ̄ˀ
so evening GNR.P 3-be.good everyone each
“So, good evening, everyone.”

IDEO – ideophone

Expressive, often reduplicated words that depict sensory experiences. Occur immediately after verbs.

bɣōˀ ʔwɛ̂ˀ.ʔwɛ̂ˀ
vomit IDEO
“retch (with the sound/feeling of retching)”

mī-bâˀ θāˀ θā krɔ̀ˀ.krɔ̀ˀ lɔ̀
sleep-HIT heart breathe IDEO FACT.FP
“(They) fell asleep and snored (sound of snoring).”

ONOM – onomatopoeia

Sound-symbolic words imitating natural sounds. Function similarly to ideophones.

Not attested separately in the text, but mentioned as a category alongside ideophones.

kinship abbreviations

Used in glosses to specify family relationships when translating kinship terms used as pronouns or in examples.

Abbr	Meaning	Example in gloss
B	brother	eB = older brother
e	older	eZ = older sister
F	father	F = father
G	grand-	GF = grandfather
M	mother	M = mother
SI	sibling	ySI = younger sibling
y	younger	yB = younger brother
Z	sister	yZ = younger sister

jə-wɛ̂.sɔ̄ [1sx-eB] “my older brother”
jə-pɨ̂ [1sx-ySI] “my younger sibling”
pə-mô-pə-pâ [1px-M-1px-F] “our parents”

honorifics (HON)

General term for titles and respectful forms of address.

Honorific	Used for	Example
sɔ̀	male names	sɔ̀-wā “Saw Wah”
nɔ̂	female names	nɔ̂-wā “Naw Wah”
θərâˀ	teacher, expert	θərâˀ.mɨ̂ˀ “female teacher”
kəsâ	lord, respected figure	kəsâ kʰərìˀ “Lord Christ”
pʰɨ̄	grandfather, elder	pʰɨ̄-mɔ̂.tɔ̂ “Old Maw Taw”

source and style markers

GNT – Good News Translation

Indicates that a Bible passage example is from the modern Good News Translation (1992 revision).

nɔ̂ ʔè.sətâ bâˀ tâ lɛ̀-sʰɣə̄ ʔɔ̀ sʰū sɔ̀.pà ʔəxà.ʃəwê.rôˀ ʔə-ʔôˀ (Esther 2:16; GNT)
F.HON Esther hit thing go-send 3i ALL.P king Xerxes 3x-LOC.N
“Esther was brought to King Xerxes.”

KJV – King James Version

Indicates that a Bible passage example is from the older King James Version-based translation (1853).

pɣà sòˀ nɔ̂ ʔè.sətâ sʰū sɔ̀.pà ʔəxà.ʃəwê.rôˀ ʔə-ʔôˀ (Esther 2:16; KJV)
person carry F.HON Esther ALL.P king Xerxes 3x-LOC.N
“Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus.”

symbols and formatting

* (asterisk) – ungrammatical expression

Marks a constructed example that native speakers judge as unacceptable or non-existent in the language.

*tâ tə-kʰā ʔəwɛ̄.ʔì [thing one-CLF this.EMPH]
Intended: “this thing” – ungrammatical because emphatic demonstratives cannot follow classifiers.

? (question mark) – pragmatically infelicitous expression

Marks an example that is grammatically possible but sounds odd or inappropriate in context.

?ʔəwɛ̄.θêˀ lɛ̀ dɔ̄ˀ | ʔɔ̂ˀ mè lī ɦā
3.PL go and eat rice NS PQ
“Have they gone to eat already?” – sounds unnatural and “too emphasized.”

() (parentheses) – in free translation

Indicates an addition in the English translation that is not present in the Sgaw Karen original but is needed for natural English.

“She is the one who is the good cook.” (parentheses would indicate added clarifying words)

[] (square brackets) – in free translation OR constituent boundaries

In free translation: indicates an addition not present in a translation originating from a cited source.
In examples: marks the boundaries of constituents (NP, clause, etc.) for analysis.

constituent boundary

[tâ dīˀ.nêˀ]P nêˀ [pɣà]A mà [Ø] θē kōˀ ɣà
thing like.that that person do be.skilled each CLF
“A thing like that, anybody can do (it).”

{} (curly brackets) – in free translation

Indicates alternative possible translations for the same Sgaw Karen sentence.

lɛ̀
go
“{Go! / Let's go!}” (context determines which translation is appropriate)

~ (tilde) – separator of reduplicated morphemes

Marks reduplication, where a morpheme is repeated for intensification, plurality, or adverbial function.

dôˀ~dôˀ [be.big~RDP] “rather big”
kʰlîˀ~kʰlîˀ [be.cold~RDP] “really cold”
tə-blɔ̄~blɔ̄ [one-time~time] “anytime, ever”

in context

jə-tʰîˀ hîˀ dôˀ~dôˀ tə-pʰlə̂ˀ
1s-see house be.big~RDP one-CLF(3D)
“I saw a largish house.” (bigger than ordinary, but not the biggest)

elab. – elaborate expression

Indicates that a morpheme is part of a coordinate compound in an elaborate expression (the quadrisyllabic expressive constructions common in MSEA languages).

θûˀ-tɔ̄-θāˀ-lò [liver-be.true-heart-be.straight] “be honest”
jə-mô-jə-pâ [1sx-mother-1sx-father] “my parents” (elaborate form)

intr. / tr. – intransitive / transitive

Specifies the transitivity of a verb in examples where it might be ambiguous.

kâ (intr.) “break” (as in “the tree broke”)
bōˀ (tr.) “break” (as in “he broke the stick”)

n. / v. – noun / verb

Indicates the word class of a morpheme when it could be ambiguous or when a single form has multiple functions.

θōˀ – v. “put on, wear”; n. “likeness” (as relator noun)

Complete list of all abbreviations: This guide covers 120+ glossing abbreviations including all Leipzig conventions and language-specific markers (FIXED, LEARN, AWAY, RETURN, etc.).

↩ back to master list · return to main page