At least that's how it is based on marriage language. In Bundu Dusun there are two prefixes (among others) that indicate ability/accidental action:
1. ko - that refers to the ability/accidental action of the person DOING the action
2. o- that refers to the ability/accidental action of a person to whom the action is BEING DONE
When you refer to the action in the past tense they are:
1. noko- 2. no-
(depending on the words, can realize as ka-, a-, naka-, na-)
Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a language lesson but a thought of something I encountered while listening to my recorded conversation with an elderly lady. She kept refering to the women she talked about as 'nasao' (no + sao) = having been weded by...', and the men as 'nakasao' (noko + sao) , "having had married ...".
It shows that men who do the marrying are 'dynamic', while women who are being married off to are 'non-dynamic' :-) It is interesting how the language really reflects the culture.
2 comments:
Now I know about the tenses in the dusun language. But what's with the 'dynamic' thing....-)
I was going to say men are 'active' in the sense that they do things, and women are 'passive' in the sense that they are receiving actions done to them but that sounds a bit harsh huh?
Anyway, dynamic refers to 'activity'. Since our men (at least with regard to marriage) are the doers, it seems to fit well. Come to think of it, in many aspects, we are quite an egalitarian society, aren't we?
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