Alex Francois - Verbal aspect and personal pronouns
1sg Aorist includes /k/ as in Mwotlap nk, but this /k/ is a prefix to the verb. obvious when pronoun and verb are separated: Vera'a. Mwotlap. n s k- an. 1sg. PROSP ...
A special form for the 1sg pronoun The 1sg subject pronoun has two forms: n vs depending on the predicate’s TAM marking.
The subject and object clitics of POc have been replaced in Mwotlap with a unique set of free pronouns: SING
DUAL
TRIAL
PLUR
n nk k
dj kamj kmj kj
dtl kamtl kmtl kjtl
n kmm kimi kj
1 incl 1 excl 2 3
(2)
m-tsas k,
k
m-tsas
n.
1sg
PRF-see
3sg
PRF-see
1sg
3sg
nk
[*n ]
1sg:AO
ml. return
‘I went back.’
nk = ‘1sg:AO’
স 3sg subjects encode the Aorist with a prefix ni-: (3)
k
ni-
ml.
3sg
AO:3sg-
return
‘He went back.’
n
nk,
স nk encodes one TAM category, called the Aorist
These pronouns are generally invariant: (1)
Pentecost
ni- = ‘AO:3sg’
… and other persons with zero: (4)
‘I saw her and she saw me.’
kj (Ø-)
ml.
3du
return
(AO-)
‘They went back.’ 4
5
Semantic definition of Mwotlap's Aorist
The Aorist of Mwotlap has a wide polysemy / polyfunctionality.
Five major functions (see François 2003) স Sequential actions in sequence, typically in narratives… স Generic definitions, procedure descriptions, conditional… স Subjunctive required in modality-bound subordinate clauses স Optative optative; volitional modality; imperative স Imperfective with reduplicated verb: habitual; progressive
Hiw
স Can surrounding languages help understand the unusual morphology of Mwotlap's aorist?
LoToga Löyöp Lehali Volow Mwotlap
(nk) | Ø | ni- | Ø
Lemerig
Mota
Veraa
Mwesen
The Aorist construes a new event which is deictically indeterminate with regard to tense and modality.
Vurës
স Could be called “Indefinite”, “Minimal”, “Dependent” or “Zero aspect” Nume
This complex aspect category matches narrowly several cases of aorist described for other languages of the world
Lakon
(Wolof; Hausa; Berber; Coptic; Turkish …)
Olrat
স "Aorist" originally means 'indefinite' স
Aspect studies in Benveniste (1966); Culioli (1978); Robert (1996)…
6
Hiw
The Quest for the Aorist
Sequential
DRG
ti
t
s
Generic
?
Subjunctive
The 11 northernmost languages possess a genuine “Aorist”
OLR
LKN
Ø
t
Lehali Volow
(nk) | Ø | ni- | Ø
Lemerig
Mota
Veraa
Mwesen Vurës
s-
s-
()a
()a
t
Optative Imperfective
KRO
Mwerlap
Löyöp
স They possess no single TAM category that encompasses the five basic functions of Mwotlap's Aorist. স The equivalent morphemes resemble neither nk nor ni-. NUM
Dorig
LoToga
The six “South Banks” languages
MRL
Koro
Aorist markers in North Vanuatu
st … ti
t-… ti
t-… ti
t-… ti t-… t 10
Aorist markers in North Vanuatu
11
The Quest for the Aorist
The Quest for the Aorist
The eleven northernmost languages
স Each language possesses a single TAM category that essentially encompasses the five basic functions of Mwotlap's Aorist.
The three “Central Banks” languages স Aorist encoded by a set of clitics or pronoun variation
স The formal coding of the Aorist varies with the person of the subject
1sg
2sg
3sg
non-singular
‘let me see’
‘you see’
‘let him see’
‘let us see’
Mota
(nau) na ilo
(ko) ka ilo
(ni) ni ilo
nina a ilo
Mwesen
na na l
nk a l
n ni l
nin a l
Vurës
(n) na l
nk i l
n ni l
nn a l
স স স স
a vowel a where Mwotlap had Ø. ni ‘AO:3sg’. a single vowel: i ; or a < spread of non-sg. MTA ka < ko+a. alternation between pronoun n (or nau) and Aorist na MTA/VRS na < nau/n + a.
স Forms for 3sg: HIW
3sg
LTG
LYP
LHI
MTP
VLW
LMG
VRA
VRS
MSN
MTA
Sequential Generic Subjunctive
n
ni
n-
n-
ni-
n-
n-
n
ni
ni
ni
Optative Imperfective
non-sg: 3sg: 2sg: 1sg:
13
16
The Quest for the Aorist
The Quest for the Aorist
The three “Central Banks” languages
স Aorist encoded by a set of clitics or pronoun variation 1sg
Vanuatu, eleven share a TAM category whose functions include sequential, .... The seven TAM categories requiring the marked form nÉk are the Aorist proper, ..... comparison with an ordinary TAM marker â in this case, the Perfect.6 The .... for our
16. ⣠1sg: alternation between pronoun nÉ (or nau) and Aorist na. MTA/VRS na ..... *nia ni = βano βano ni = maturu. 3sg. AO:3sg go. AO:3sg sleep. 'He went to ...
âhe/himâ or âshe/herâ for a pet or an object, if we have feelings for them. Examples: Max is our dog, he is part of the family. I would love to go on The Queen ...
'The women lit fires, while the men went to the gardens.' ...... math 2007, 2012, 2015); and the criteria that define, for example, nouns or adjectives in ..... The general formula for calculating a language's multifunctionality score f is given in (
innovations for each language, and in the reconstruction of words' histories. As each innovation ...... li vÉniÉ. 1inc:pl with ART= celebration tomorrow LOC village.
of the world: see, inter alia, the papers in Braunmüller & House (2009), and also ...... assets rather than problems, as they potentially form a protective shield for each ...... Austronesian Linguistics, Part 2 ed. by Ray Harlow & Robin Hooper, ...
Sep 28, 2007 - About Haitian Creole, Lefebvre (1998: 9) defines relexification as. âa process of vocabulary substitution in which the only information adopted.
toktok i fit long stret lanwis blong ples ia. Olsem, nem ... blong talemaot sipos yufala i agri mo i luk se i fit gut. Samfala leta ... 350 won vage tel hēñwewul tevëlime.
helpem yumi blong save raetem lanwis, blong i no save lus long fyuja. ... 6 livise wön vage rue. 7 levure. 350 wõn vage tel hÄnwewul tevëlime. 8 levetel.
Franck is speaking to you and me. e. I eat them. 1. ... My mother and I are visiting family members. 4. ... This is my friend Franck, ______ plays tennis with me. 3.
I eat 2 apples. b. Franck is speaking to ... With this video lesson, you will practice personal pronouns. Watch the video: ... Watch the video again and answer the questions. 1. Complete the ... Look at the moon, ______ is very bright! Replace the ..
future monographs in publishable form â even in situations where most linguists ... Alex François â Review essay: Four languages of Malekula by Terry Crowley. 2 .... me to do my reviewer's duty and concentrate now on their imperfections. ..... t
They live on in the secret societies where their presence is ..... forms, (2. 0. ) entails a historical claim that all the forms are cognate, and that they ... Based on regular correspondences, the best reconstruction here is a proto-form *βula â
MRL nÉâkwÉt. Qat is constantly bullied by his eleven brothers, who are all called *TaÉ£aro: (57) *TaÉ£aro â 'a mythological figure, elder brother of the hero Qat':.
Comparative Method (see chapters by Weiss and Hale in this volume), was initially .... Thus, to say that M, N and O subgroup together as opposed to other ...... Spanish and French do not properly fit into a tree, even without considering the ...
vocabulary, displaying regular sound correspondences in ways that cannot be reasonably assigned to chance or borrowing (Weiss, this volume). To say that K, ...
Jun 18, 2008 - He put (the flower) on his head, THEN set off. Il mit (la fleur) .... birds all took flight. .... more, for fear they might drown in the sea. Ils n'ont ...... down to the sea, and tied it FAST [lit. tied it well]. ... [Cf. Mota gov 'a
Edgar Howard to Motlap mÄdÄmsas mahgemamyÄ ÄwÄ to na- kaka nan, so kÄ so ... Mi hop se samtaem, sipos yufala i laekem, bae mi save mekem narafala buk ...
