SCopula{N/Adj} pattern of western Saga dialect

 

(1)  kodon no                     yanchamon.

child Subject Marker  yankee

`The child is a yankee.’ [i]

 

(2)  kodon no                     yanchamon-yatta.

child              Subject Marker yankee-was

`The child was a yankee.’

 

(3)  kodon no                     yanchamon-yarou.

child              Subject Marker yankee-will be

`The child will be a yankee.’

 

(4)  gohan no                     umaka.

rice Subject Marker    delicious

`The rice is delicious.’

 

(5)  gohan no                     umakatta.

 rice Subject Marker   delicious was

`The rice was delicious.’

 

(6)  gohan no                     umakarou.

rice  Subject Marker   delicious-will be

`The rice will be delicious.’

 

(7)  kodon no                     kireika.

child Subject Marker  is pretty

`The child is pretty.’

 

(8)  kodon no                                   kireikatta.

 child Subject Marker               was pretty

`The child was pretty.’

 

(9)  kodon no                                   kireikarou.

 child Subject Marker               will be pretty

`The child will be pretty.’

 

There is no other word order grammatical sentence except for (1)-(9). You cannot change the order of the noun at the subject and the predicative noun.



[i] The sentence is used often with the emphatic particle /yo/ or other sentence particles.