haves (lit. “does”) as if he were
right.
(e)ʋ- 3 (1) what (interrogative);
ʋ-u-aʋ̃ɛ [ ˩ / / ] what did you
get? ʋ-u-amiɛ̃ [ ˥ ˥ ˦ ] what did you
see? (2) what (relative); con-
structions with ʋ- in this sense
are in some cases used to denote
objects which in other languages
would be expressed by nouns,
e.g. eʋ-aɽe [ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] “what one
eats”: food; eʋ-axuɛ (short for
eʋ-ayaxue) [ ˩ / / ] “what one
takes to have a bath”: soap; to
this class belongs probably also:
eʋ-ariɛ [ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] (cf. riɛ [ ˥ ]?) (native)
butter. (3) why (with following
gu [ ˥ ] or zɛ [ ˥ ]); ʋ-ɔgu ɽu‿ɛe
[ \ ˩ ˥ ˥ ] why did he do it? ( “what
did he do it with, or, for”); ʋ-ɔzɛ
n-ɔna ɽu‿ɛe [ \ ˩ ˥ ˥ ˦ (4-1) ] ( “what
caused him to do it”). (4) how
(interrogative); hɛ [ / ] is put at
the end of the sentence: ʋ-uwa
ʋiɛ hɛ [ ˩ / / / ] how have you
(pl.) slept? (5) where (but cf. ʋo 1
[ / ]); ʋ-u-arie [ ˩ / / ] where are
you going? ʋ-u-aye [ ˩ / ˥ ] where
do you live? (6) particle intro-
ducing temporal relative sen-
tences (v. n- 1), e.g. ugbɛ̃ (or ɛɣɛ
[ ˩ ˩ ]) ʋ-ide [ ˩ ˩ ˩ / ] (at the time)
when I was coming.
ʋa [ / ] (1) to meet; to pass on the
road; iʋa-ɽe [ ˩ \ ˥ ] I met him;
idiom.: ʋa ʋ-owa [ ˩ ˩ ˥ ] “to meet
in the house”: to deflower; v.
ɔɣɛɽɛ [ ˩ \ ˩ ]. (2) to affect.
ʋe [ ˥ ] a conjunction linking up
nouns: “and”; Ozo ʋ-Odɛ, iɽ̃ã
keɣigbĩna n-owiɛ [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˧ ˥ ˩ ˥ ˥ ˩ ˩ ˥ ˦ ]
Ojo and Odɛ (they) were fighting
this morning; wɛ ʋ-iɽ̃-ɔ̃gbay-
ugbo [ ˩ ˥ / ˥ ˦ (4-1) ] “you and he, did
you (lit. “he”) go to farm to-
