3.1.1.3. Locative markers
As explained above, spatial verbs agree with their locative arguments. These arguments are constituents that would answer the questions “from where?” (source) and “to where?” (goal). Even though agreement verbs usually agree with human arguments, spatial verbs do not have to do so.
The spatial verbs that can be categorized as motion verbs such as walk or those whose meaning involve transfer of entities such as put are usually articulated with path movement. The start location of the movement coincides with the locus of the source and the end location with the locus of the goal. The following illustrate these cases:
NDH: CL:'picture'3a
DH: pıcture3a there3a one gırl3b there_ıs
‘In the picture there is a girl.’
house3k poss3 3b ın_front door3c
‘(There is) a door in front of her house.
door3c 3cnear3d park3d house3k 3kwalk3d
‘There is) a park near her (house) door. She is walking from her house to the park.’
While agreement with the goal is obligatory, agreement with the source is not. For instance,
the verb put may or may not show agreement with the source.
waıter3a ıx3a table3b plate3c 3cput3b
‘The waiter put the plate on the table.’
waıter3a ıx3a two table3b table3c one plate3c 3cput3b
‘The waiter put the plate from this table on that table.’
There are also some spatial verbs such as sleep that do not semantically involve transfer and are not articulated with path movement. These verbs may show agreement with a locative argument by being articulated at the locus of that argument. This is usually achieved by the use of classifiers representing the subjects.
beda ıxa chıld sleepa
‘The child is sleeping in the bed.’