body or something: giɛ [ ˥ ] da
[ / ] to laugh in the direction of,
or towards, somebody; ɣɛgiɛ da
ʋ̃ɛ [ ˥ ˩ ˩ \ ] “don’t laugh towards
me!” but ɣɛgiɛ ʋ̃ɛ [ ˥ ˩ \ ] “don’t
laugh at me!” mu aɽo [ ˥ ˥ ˩ ]
da [ / ] to turn one’s face to-
wards somebody. As first part
of verbal combinations in da
[ / ] na [ ˥ ] to give somebody
precedence of seniority, i.e.
though being equal in age and
position, as a matter of polite-
ness; ɔda mɛ gbe [ ˩ / ˦ ˧ ] he
always gives me precedence.
da [ / ] yi [ ˥ ] na [ ˥ ] to hold some-
thing for somebody; miɛ da‿e
yi mɛ (miɛ [ / ]) [ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] “take
and hold it for me!” da [ / ]
yi [ ˥ ] xɛ [ / ] (a) to stop some-
body until somebody else comes
( “to stop wait”); da‿e yi xɛ ʋ̃ɛ
[ ˥ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] “stop him (to wait) for
me!” (b) to adjourn (legal pro-
ceedings); mad-en-ɛzɔ yi xɛ‿iko
n-ɔde [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˦ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ ˩ / ] we adjourned
the case until the next court
( “wait court which is coming”).
da [ / ] yi [ ˥ ] is also “to prevent”,
e.g. in ɔda ʋ̃ɛ yi n-iɣɛgb-ẽbe na
[ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˧ ˨ ˨ ˩ ˥ ˩ ] he prevented me from
writing this letter, lit. “that I
might not write”. In connection
with a noun and a verb in d-amɛ
[ / ˩ ] na [ ˥ ] (or gu [ ˥ ]) to catch
dropping water for somebody;
d-amɛ gũ ʋ̃ɛ (or mɛ [ ˥ ]) ya nw-
igaɽi na [ / ˩ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˩ ] “catch the
(dropping) water for me to (take
and) drink this cassava”. d-obɔ
[ ˩ ˥ ] yi [ ˥ ] to hold on (doing
something); d-obɔ yi‿itere [ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˩ ˥ ]
hold on until I come!
dã [ ˩ ] bad; eʋ̃i dã nɔ [ ˩ / ˩ ˥ ] it is
a bad thing (scil. to do).
