3.5  Phrasal compounds

A special kind of words in Talmit are compounds of two ”light” roots with a particle in between.

1. In se-compounds the two words are joined by se ’and’ (geminized to sse after a stressed single vowel). They are similar to dvandva compounds, but acquire new, abstract meanings. In many cases they denote the interaction between the two nouns:
   • kásseba ’solid ground and pillar’ → ’foundation, fundament, grounds, reason’
   • mésseme ’human and human’ → ’society’
   • téssete ’parent and parent’ → ’parents (dual)’
   • tálzeglo ’word and ear’ → ’communication’
   • θwéssega ’tool and way’ → ’method, techinque’
   • kánzeki ’3dim. shape and 2dim. shape’ → ’representation’
   • kássekun ’solid ground and swampy ground’ → only in the phrase kássekun-nu prangánun ’to go at great lengths to do sth.’ (see http://sindanoorie.net/glp/historical004.html)
   • gássega ’step and step’ → ’step by step, gradual development’
   • kwássekan ’colour and shape’ → ’style’
   • gíssepun ’eye/sight and finger’ → ’skill’
   • déssede ’action and action’ → ’interaction’
   • téssepan ’parent and child’ → ’family’
   • dáxeba ’stone and leg/step’ → ’measurement’ (i.e., weight and length)
   • pérzepur ’top/head and leg/foot’ → ’dimensions, extension, extent’

   In particular, se-compounds of numerals are distributive:

   • áxseat ’one and one’ → ’one by one’
   • ílzehil ’two and two’ → ’two by two’
   • éssehes ’three and three’ → ’three by three’
   • órzeor ’four and four’ → ’four by four’
   • únzehun ’five and five’ → ’five by five’
2. Nu-compounds contain accusative nu and a verbal root. Note that √ga ’go, move’ means ’enter’ when combined with the accusative (3.6.5):
   • hállugi ’life-acc see’ → ’understanding’ (the semantic shift is probably such that if you have witnessed someone’s life, you understand this person)
   • káznuga ’fire-acc go’ → ’danger’
   • ϕárnuga ’cloud-acc go’ → ’insanity’
   • kánuga ’solid.ground-acc go’ → ’stability’
   • pánugi ’state-acc see’ → ’inspection (of the state of affairs)’
   • tánugi ’count noun-acc see’ → ’inspection (of a particular object or person)’
   • kánnugi ’3dim. shape-acc see’ → ’belief’
   • génukes ’flesh-acc pierce’ → ’(1) stinging, very painful; (2) revealing private information about oneself; (3) satire, ridicule’
   • ménugi ’human-acc see’ → ’guard, policeman’
3. Ma-compounds use dative ma:
   • pérmape ’top/head-dat change’ → ’development, progress’
4. Mo-compounds use genitive mo. A particularly common formation is a compound with ka ’soil, ground’ which describes a flat area usually attached to a landmark:
   • krádmoka ’mountain-gen flat’ → ’valley’
   • pélmoka ’house-gen flat’ → ’garden’
   • púmnoka ’finger-gen flat’ → ’inner side of the fingertip (German Fingerkuppe)’
   • gámmoka ’nose-gen flat’ → ’area between the nose and the upper lip (lit. ’nose’s valley’)’

The appearance of the ”heavy” root √gam in these ”light” root compounds with monosyllabic derivatives suggests an ancient loan *gam before it was reshaped to gáme.