Tense, Aspect and Action: Empirical and Theoretical Contributions to Language Typology 9783110883077, 9783110127133

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Tense, Aspect and Action

w DE

G

Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 12 Editors Georg Bos song Bernard Comrie

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

Tense, Aspect and Action Empirical and Theoretical Contributions to Language Typology

edited by Carl Bache Hans Basb0Ü Carl-Erik Lindberg

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

1994

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.

© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication-Data

Tense, aspect and action : empirical and theoretical contributions to language typology / edited by Carl Bache, Hans Basboll, Carl-Erik Lindberg. p. cm. — (Empirical approaches to language typology ; 12) Some papers were originally presented at two seminars held at Odense University in 1986 and 1987. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 3-11-012713-X : 1. Grammar, Comparative and general — Verb. I. Bache, Carl, 1953-, II. Basboll, Hans, III. Lindberg, Carl-Erik. IV. Series. P281.T376 1994 415-dc20 94-25766 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek —

Cataloging-in-Publication-Data

Tense, aspect and action : empirical and theoretical contributions to language typology / ed. by Carl Bache ... — Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1994 (Empirical approaches to language typology ; 12) ISBN 3-11-012713-X NE: Bache, Carl [Hrsg.]; GT

© Copyright 1994 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Disk conversion: Wagner GmbH, Nördlingen. Printing: Gerike GmbH, Berlin Binding: Dieter Mikolai, Berlin Printed in Germany.

Preface

This volume has a long history. Some of the papers collected here were originally presented at two seminars on Verbal Semantics held at Odense University in the years 1986 and 1987, with Simon C. Dik and Pier Marco Bertinetto, respectively, as our international guests. The ideas, hypotheses and analyses put forward gave rise to such an interesting and fruitful discussion among the participants in those seminars that we were encouraged to attempt the composition of a volume on Tense, Aspect and Action. After contact with Mouton de Gruyter, we decided to emphasize the typological aspects of the book — in addition to the functional aspects already being highlighted in most of the papers given at the seminars — by inviting contributions from a number of distinguished scholars who are specialists in languages outside the mainstream of present-day linguistic discussion. Since those linguists were Scandinavians (with the sole exception of Ferenc Kiefer, who has however had close connections with Scandinavia for a quarter of a century), the volume also gives a picture of some of the work on Tense, Aspect and Action going on in this part of the world. We are very pleased with the results and think the volume deserves its subtitle as well: Empirical and theoretical contributions to language typology (cf. further Carl Bache's Introduction to the volume). During this long editorial process, we have accumulated a large debt of gratitude which must, at least partially, be acknowledged here. To Odense University, in particular the Institute of Language and Communication, which has supported the venture in different ways. To our secretary Lilian Kristensen who had to struggle — together with the editors — with innumerable technical problems which are inevitable when dealing with so many diverse languages with all kinds of transcription traditions using accents and other diacritics in large numbers. To the representatives of Mouton de Gruyter, and Professor Georg Bossong, Series Editor. And last, but certainly not least, to our patient authors whose contributions have more than justified our efforts in putting together such a volume. By collecting the papers in this volume and publishing them in the present form, we hope to contribute to the continuing scholarly discussion of Tense, Aspect and Action, by adding not only new perspectives, but also new data and new approaches, to the intriguing puzzles of Verbal Semantics. Carl Bache Hans Basbell Carl-Erik Lindberg

Contents

Preface

ν

Introduction: An overview Carl Bache

1

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar Simon C. Dik

23

Verbal categories, form—meaning relationships and the English perfect Carl Bache

43

Verbal time reference in English: Structure and functions Peter Harder

61

Russian aspect as different statement models Per Durst-Andersen

81

Temporal reference, aspect and actionality: Their neutralization and interactions, mostly exemplified in Italian Pier Marco Bertinetto

113

Change in homogeneity in verbal and nominal reference Carl Vikner

139

Did Aktionsart ever "compensate" verbal aspect in Old and Middle French? Lene Schosler 165 Some peculiarities of the aspectual system in Hungarian Ferenc Kiefer

185

Aspect as boundedness in Finnish Orvokki Heinämäki

207

From aspect to tense in Lulubo: Aiorphosvntactic and semantic restructuring in a Central Sudanic language Torben Andersen

235

viii

Contents

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu Jan-Olof Svantesson

265

Aspect in Chinese S0ren Egerod

279

Tense, aspect and actionality in the Ainu language Kirsten Refsing

311

Aleut tenses and aspects Knut Bergsland

323

The expression of temporal and aspectual relations in Tokelau narratives Arnfinn Muruvik Vonen

371

Ideophones in Sign Language? The place of reduplication in the tense—aspect system of Swedish Sign Language Brita Bergman - Osten Dahl

397

Index of languages

423

Index of names

425

Introduction: A n overview Carl Bache

0. Preliminary remarks The aim of this introduction is to give the reader an overview of the contributions included in the present volume. Each of the papers will be briefly examined in order to provide a guide to the main arguments presented and to the languages and the data analysed, not to mention the very different terminology occasionally employed by the authors. It is hoped that the short mention of each paper will serve to whet the reader's appetite and provide a helpful summary for later research purposes. It should be noted that the principle employed by the editors in the selection of the papers for this volume was not adherence to a particular linguistic theory (such as, for example, Generative Grammar or Functional Grammar) or a concern for certain languages to the exclusion of others, but rather a wish to show the diversity and richness of data and descriptive approaches in the field of tense, aspect and action. What links the contributions of this volume together is that they all have a solid empirical basis, though some are more explicitly founded in data than others. Only one paper - viz. Simon Dik's contribution - is not explicitly related to a particular language but provides instead a general framework - a functional grammar of tense, aspect and action - which accommodates many of the principles and phenomena described in the other papers, however different their theoretical stand may be. A variety of languages are dealt with by the other authors, both conventional "object languages" (such as English, French, Italian, Russian, Finnish and Hungarian) and - from a blatantly ethnocentric point of view - more "exotic" languages, such as Chinese, Ainu, Kammu, Tokelauan, Aleut, Lulubo and also Swedish Sign Language. This volume thus has an obvious typological perspective. At the same time, however, many of the authors offer new methodological insights and views on "category architecture". In this connection it is interesting to note that, although the authors clearly work within different national and international traditions - and use different terms (or use the same terms differently) - many of them share a preoccupation with the nature of categorial "interaction" (or "intersection", "interplay", "compensa-

2

Carl Bache

tion") and the place or "scope" of tense, aspect and action in verb systems. It is a remarkable fact that the views on methodology and categorial structure presented - explicitly or implicitly - by the scholars contributing to this volume have been formed largely independently: there are exceptionally few references to fellow contributors' earlier work. And yet many of them seem to be concerned with phenomena of a very similar nature which have received little attention elsewhere. At the same time, however, the terminological problems of this particular research area are abundantly clear in this volume. We hope its publication may also serve as an incentive to researchers in the field to try to work toward a common, more generally acceptable nomenclature. Regarding the organization of the volume, the papers are collected into two major groups: one with general and Indo-European studies (moving from the more general to the more specific) and one with studies of non-Indo-European languages (grouped according to language family relations). And finally, at the end of the volume, there is a paper in a section of its own dealing with Swedish Sign Language. It is striking that in the papers of the first group, the authors tend to make claims not only about the particular object language under analysis but - in varying degrees - also about methodology and theoretical issues within general linguistics. Although the papers in the second group are also clearly of general linguistic interest, they are, on the whole, more explicitly corpus-oriented and display a primary concern for the analysis of language-specific data not generally available to students or even linguists. The final paper on Swedish Sign Language combines the qualities of the two major groups of contributions by making typological claims of general linguistic interest on the basis of data from a questionnaire investigation. With this structure of the volume in mind, let us now turn to the individual contributions.

1. G e n e r a l a n d I n d o - E u r o p e a n studies 1.1. G e n e r a l : A F u n c t i o n a l G r a m m a r a p p r o a c h (S. D i k ) In his contribution, "Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar", Simon Dik offers a description of how a number of issues relating to verbal semantics can be dealt with coherently within his own theory of Functional Grammar. The first part of the paper reviews some of the basic tenets of Functional Grammar and may thus serve as a brief introduction to the theory as a whole. The exposition quickly becomes more specific, offering a detailed typology of

Introduction:

An overview

3

"states of affairs" (which correspond to the semantic types traditionally known as Aktionsarten) and voice distinctions. The last part of the paper deals with morpho-semantic categories relevant to the verb (such as tense, aspect, mood, polarity and illocution). Each of these categories is described separately with a specification of the distinctions and nuances involved. According to Dik, the morpho-semantic categories differ in scope, i.e., they differ with respect to the extension of the linguistic material to which they apply. To the extent that they are expressed by grammatical means, they must therefore be handled by a hierarchically ordered set of grammatical operators: predicate operators (which apply to the nuclear predication), predication operators (which apply to the extended predication), proposition operators (which apply to the proposition), and illocutionary operators (which apply to the clause). For example, in this system the perfective/imperfective aspect distinction is a predicate operator, directly interacting with "states of affairs", whilst tense is a predication operator, not changing the internal semantics of the predicate like aspect but rather locating the "states of affairs" externally in time. Thus the perfective/imperfective distinction falls inside the scope of tense distinctions but not vice versa. Dik carefully defines a number of terms. Some of these are used differently by other scholars and should therefore be noted. "Situation" is not used as a general cover term for what the predicate refers to, as in many general works on aspect, but refers specifically to non-dynamic referents. Instead Dik employs "states of affairs" as a general term, covering both "situations" and "events" (which are dynamic) plus their subclassifications ("position", "state", "action", "accomplishment", "activity", "process", "change" and "dynamism"). Dik also sets up a useful guide to the different uses of the term "aspect" likely to be encountered in the literature. In the light of other contributions in this volume, his classification of the English perfect and the progressive as "phasal aspects" is particularly interesting.

1.2. English: The perfect (C. Bache) In "Verbal categories, form-meaning relationships and the English perfect", Carl Bache discusses some central issues relating to the semantics of the English verb system. He argues that the main problem in the analysis of any verb system is that language-specific categories, unlike general-linguistic metacategories, are necessarily semantically complex. There are two reasons for this complexity. The first reason is the "categorial interplay" between verbal categories, which creates functionally derived

4

Carl Bache

meanings and which explains certain constraints on language-specific constructions. The second reason for complexity is that members of different metacategories (tense, aspect, Aktionsart) sometimes merge into one languagespecific form (for example, the simple past in English, which is both past and perfective). Such forms are "non-monadic" because they require analysis in terms of more than one category. Bache then shows that categorial complexity is also present in perfect forms. Rather than treating perfect forms simply in terms of one category like most other scholars, he provides evidence that all three categories - tense, aspect and Aktionsart - are present in their semantic subspecification. In fact, in this respect perfect forms are not even different from most other English verb forms. What is special about them, according to Bache, is that there are two members from each category in the subspecification and that they are related according to a "compositional" principle of "situational dependency". Bache finally suggests that the perfect form be categorized in terms of this principle. It is evident that Bache adopts a fairly narrow view of the terms tense and aspect. "Tense" is described in terms of a primary three-way (deictic) distinction between "anteriority" (past meaning), "simultaneity" (present meaning) and "posteriority" (future meaning). And "aspect" is defined in terms of the perfectivity/imperfectivity opposition. Aktionsart is a more complex category, consisting of a set of interrelated oppositions representing contrasts of "situation types" expressed by verbs (+/- complex, +/- punctual, +/- telic and +/directed). In his description of perfect forms, Bache employs these category features, noting that some of them are always present, irrespective of what type of perfect is under analysis (present, past, future, non-finite), whereas others vary according to the type of perfect or the actionality values involved in the expression. By stating the variability at its most general, Bache arrives at a unified description of perfect forms.

1.3. English: Time and tense (P. H a r d e r ) In "Verbal time reference in English: Structure and functions", Peter Harder suggests a revision of Reichenbach's theory of tense. His main concern is to capture the essential claims of this theory (as well as some of the modifications and extensions offered by other scholars such as, for example, Bernard Comrie, Co Vet and Sten Vikner) in a coherent, explicitly functional framework. The reorganization of Reichenbach's system proposed by Harder involves a redefinition of "features" (such as "past", "future" and "perfect") as indepen-

Introduction: An overview

5

dent "paradigms". These paradigms provide three ordered choices available to the speaker in the construction of a verbal expression: a) present or past, b) +/future, and c) +/- perfect. According to Harder, the first choice of either "present" or "past" determines the basic time orientation of the event referred to by a verbal expression. The subsequent choice of a marked member from the other paradigms (+future, +perfect) specifies a new time but also has the effect of transforming the previously chosen time into a reference point, relative to which the new time is oriented. The selection of an unmarked member (-future, -perfect) preserves the time orientation already chosen. Harder looks closely at the semantic functions of the three paradigms, paying particular attention to the questions of markedness, deixis and context. Harder's model is not merely a terminological variant of Reichenbach's but in fact posits a different set of relationships between the elements. More importantly, perhaps, it provides an explanation of tenses in terms of communicative functions. Thus tenses are viewed by Harder as markers of interactive options available to the speaker. For comparative reasons, it should be noted that Harder adopts a fairly broad conception of the term "tense". Thus it accommodates not only the simple present and past tenses but also perfect forms and will/shall + infinitive constructions. Harder does not enter the discussion of the role played by aspect or Aktionsart in the selection of his tenses, but acknowledges the possibility of other categories (e.g., "phase") being involved in the selection of perfect forms.

1.4. Russian (P. D u r s t - A n d e r s e n ) In "Russian aspect as different statement models", Per Durst-Andersen offers a sketch of his new theory of Russian aspect and applies it to a number of specific problems in the analysis of the Russian verb system. Durst-Andersen regards verbal aspect as a propositional-semantic category which operates on the "ground-propositional" structures created by "action verbs". One of the novel observations which Durst-Andersen makes in his paper is that "action verbs", in his sense of the term, do not have normal referential properties like "state verbs" and "activity verbs". In Durst-Andersen's theory, an "action" is not a real-world situation but rather a construct or a meta-concept combining a state and a process. According to him, aspect basically comprises two "statement models" - a perfective and an imperfective which are the linguistic equivalents to the "mental models" of events and processes, respectively. Verbs are described in terms of "ground-situations" (the

6

Carl Bache

situational image created by the verb) and "ground-propositions" (the propositional description of ground-situations). Verbs may refer to real world "states" (state verbs) or real world "activities" (activity verbs). Both types of verb create single situational images but differ with respect to the notion of stability: state verbs create a single ground-situation which is stable (and a ground-proposition based on a state-description) whereas activity verbs create a single ground-situation which is instable (and a ground-proposition based on an activity-description). Action verbs are significantly different. They combine two images and hence create two ground-situations and two ground-propositions, one involving an activity and one involving a state. Thus for example, dat' (perfective)/davat' (imperfective) 'give' is an action verb, expressing a relationship between an activity (that of causing a change of possession) and a state (new ownership). When constituting an action, these two situation types never obtain simultaneously: the existence in time of either one of them logically excludes the existence in time of the other. An action cannot therefore be truly referred to but must be manifested either as an event, i.e., as a state situation caused by prior activity (perfective statement model), or as a process, i.e., as an activity situation intended to cause a state (imperfective statement model). According to Durst-Andersen, pure aspect is found only in action verbs. Together the perfective and imperfective form of an action verb complete the notion of an action and thus denote the same deep semantic concept. From the point of view of surface semantics, the perfective aspect presents an action as an event whilst the imperfective aspect presents it as a process. Durst-Andersen's terminology and methodology may take some getting used to for readers unfamiliar with propositional semantics and mental models in linguistic descriptions. But once assimilated, the theory is not only relatively simple but provides a useful framework for tackling a number of problems in the analysis of Russian aspect. And this is exactly what DurstAndersen demonstrates in the main bulk of his paper. By distinguishing between three types of grammatical and ungrammatical utterance (viz. "concordant" vs. "non-concordant" utterances, "harmonic" vs. "non-harmonic" utterances, and "coherent" vs. "non-coherent" utterances), he offers an explanation of the choice of aspect in a variety of construction types, such as catenative constructions (with "start", "continue", "finish", etc.), adverbial clauses with poka ne ('until'), clauses with temporal adverbials (e.g., za dva casa 'within two hours') and other verb-adverb concord relations, and utterances containing a question-answer relationship.

Introduction: An overview

7

1.5. Italian (P. M. Bertinetto) In "Temporal reference, aspect and actionality: Their neutralization and interactions, mostly exemplified in Italian", Pier Marco Bertinetto offers a richly exemplified description of the intricate relationship between the categories involved in the tense systems of natural languages, i.e., "temporal reference", "aspect" and "actionality". Two phenomena which are often felt to be rather peripheral are in fact shown to be of crucial importance for our understanding of tense systems: neutralization and interaction of verbal categories. Bertinetto deals with these two phenomena separately, providing examples from several languages (in addition to Italian, e.g., German, English and Japanese). B y "neutralization", he means either the use of a member of a category in contexts where one would expect the occurrence of its categorial counterpart, or the use in one language of a formally unopposed form to express meanings requiring expression by different, opposed forms in other languages. Thus, for example, the perfective/imperfective opposition is neutralized in the German preterite (or past tense), which can be used in both perfective and imperfective contexts, i.e., contexts which in other languages require the selection of perfective and imperfective forms, respectively. Another notable example of neutralization is found in the distinction in Slavic languages between perfective and imperfective forms (which, incidentally, Bertinetto classifies under the heading of "actionality" rather than "aspect"). This distinction is generally neutralized in negative and interrogative clauses, where imperfective forms prevail - even in contexts which would require perfective forms in other types of clause. B y categorial "interaction", Bertinetto means the convergence of two members of the same category ("within-category interaction"), or of two members belonging to different categories ("between-category interaction"). An example of the former type, according to Bertinetto, is the English perfect progressive forms, which can be viewed as combinations of perfectivity and imperfectivity. Between-category interaction is found in most verb systems which employ aspect. The best-known example is the difference of actional properties of telic verbs in perfective and imperfective aspect. But Bertinetto reviews many other important instances of categorial interaction before concluding his paper with a sketch of his theory of the aspectual values of the Italian tense system. Bertinetto's use of terms should be noted. "Verbal action" is used (rather than Aktionsart) to refer to the nature of the "situation" (or "process") referred to. "Tense" is a formal category employed in natural languages for the expression not only of (deictic) "temporal reference" but also "verbal action"

8

Carl Bache

and "verbal aspect", the latter defined in terms of the "perspective" or "viewpoint" with which the speaker represents "situatiöns" (sometimes also referred to more specifically as "events").

1.6. Modern F r e n c h (C. Vikner) In "Change in homogeneity in verbal and nominal reference", Carl Vikner discusses some striking similarities between verbal and nominal reference. Both domains are shown to be governed by a principle which Vikner calls "change in homogeneity". More specifically, this principle applies to verbal aspect and to nominal countability. According to Vikner, "homogeneity" is a property of "states" and "processes" (collectively grouped as "continuities") as distinct from "events" (further classified as "protracted events" or "instantaneous events"), which are neither stative nor homogeneous. On the basis of this system of Aktionsart, aspect in French can be viewed as a "homogeneity-changing device". For although sentences in the passe simple typically describe events and sentences in the imparfait typically describe continuities, the two categories of aspect and Aktionsart often "cross", or intersect, in one of two possible ways: the passe simple may operate on a continuity-expression and change it into an event-expression; and the imparfait may operate on an event-expression and change it into a continuity-expression. Vikner shows that this system is very similar to the system of countability in nominal reference. "Masses" (such as water, wine, gold or sugar) are like continuities in being "uncountable", "divisible", "additive" and "contourindependent", whereas individuals (such as horse, table, watch or leg) are like events in being "countable", "nondivisible", "non-additive" and "contourdependent". Vikner further distinguishes between two kinds of homogeneity change in nominals: "individualization", where a mass-noun assumes the function of an individual noun (as in "a beer"), and "homogenization", where an individual noun assumes the function of a mass noun (e.g., "two kilograms of horse"). These changes take place at either a "phrase-external level" (involving the homogeneity value of the whole phrase) or at a "phrase-internal level" (involving the homogeneity value of the noun only). An examination of these various types of change reveals certain semantic regularities which correspond closely to those found in the verbal domain. Thus, for example: homogenization in nominals normally results in either "contour-deletion" (as in du cheval and deux kilos de cheval) or "multiplication of individuals" (as in des chevaux and des vins). If we change an event like

Introduction: An overview

9

lis cbanterent la Marseillaise to a continuity-expression by adding a "foradverbial" (lis cbanterent la Marseillaise pendant deux heures), the result is, strictly speaking, an ambiguity between "multiplication of individuals" (they sang the song several times for two hours) and "contour-deletion" (they sang only part of the song and stopped singing after two hours). Vikner concludes his paper by characterizing French aspect in terms of its more specific homogeneity-changing properties.

1.7. Old French (L. Schasler) In "Did Aktionsart ever compensate verbal aspect in Old and Middle French?", Lene Sch0sler takes a new look at certain puzzling Old French constructions which have not received adequate attention in the literature: sentences with a verb in the passe simple corresponding in meaning to an imparfait. The verbs in question are durative or stative in meaning (and thus often classified as "imperfective verbs", which normally require the imparfait rather than the passe simple). Some scholars treat such constructions as cases of "Aktionsart compensating verbal aspect". Schosler, however, questions the validity of this analysis in Old and Middle French on several grounds. A number of apparent examples of compensation can be shown in fact to be cases where, although the verbal lexeme as such may be viewed as durative (i.e., as having "imperfective" Aktionsart), the situation referred to by the whole construction is nondurative ("perfective"), and thus naturally in the passe simple. The crux of the problem here, according to Sch0sler, is the term Aktionsart, which in traditional Romance linguistics is taken to be an inherent lexical category rather than a category of situation types expressed by whole clausal constructions. On a more general level, Sch0sler points to extensive statistical evidence of the development in Old and Middle French of a grammatically based distribution of the passe simple and the imparfait: the passe simple seems increasingly to have become the preferred tense form in main clauses, the imparfait the preferred form in subordinate clauses. The "compensation analysis" in fact seems to have validity only in a few Old French cases of a purely idiomatic nature, involving a highly restricted set of verbs used in certain well-defined contexts. Schosler concludes that the "compensation hypothesis" must be rejected as a general explanation of the relationship between Aktionsart and verbal aspect in Old and Middle French.

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Carl Bache

2. Studies of non-Indo-Eüropean languages 2.1. Hungarian (F. Kiefer) In "Some peculiarities of the aspectual system in Hungarian", Ferenc Kiefer discusses two major areas of Hungarian aspect, verbal prefixes and object noun phrases, and their relevance to the distribution of the progressive, the perfective and the imperfective. Kiefer's analysis is based on a definition of aspect as a sentential category expressing event time. Event time is either punctual (and thus temporally indivisible) or durative. If an event is durative it can be further specified as completed (with indivisible time intervals), continuous (with divisible time intervals) or on-going (with restricted time intervals). In this system, imperfective sentences express events with divisible time intervals (i.e., continuous events and states), perfective sentences express events with indivisible time intervals (i.e., punctual or completed events), and progressive sentences express events with restricted time intervals (i.e., ongoing events). Kiefer first examines the role of verbal prefixes. In Hungarian, prefixes generally mark a verb as perfective but may more specifically have three different functions: perfectivization only, Aktionsart-iormztion and word-formation. These functions are defined grammatically in terms of a set of conditions which apply to Aktionsart as a morphological category, involving considerations of, for example, the predicate-argument structure of sentences, selectional restrictions, the semantic generality of the prefix and the relative productivity of the prefix. One peculiar property of Hungarian prefixes is their mobility. Under certain conditions the prefix appears in postverbal position. Thus, characteristically, if there is a focus constituent in the sentence (which in Hungarian is heavily stressed and placed in the position immediately preceding the verb), the prefix is moved to postverbal position. In such cases the prefix is unstressed. But even if there is no focus constituent, the prefix may occur in postverbal position either to express progressive aspect (in which case the prefix is stressed) or to give the sentence an experiential meaning (in which case the prefix is unstressed). Kiefer then examines various types of object noun phrase and their relevance to aspect. Articleless objects are shown to behave in a fashion not unlike prefixes: their normal position is immediately before the verb, with which they are closely integrated, denoting a complex activity, but by moving into postverbal position they may affect the aspectual interpretation of the construction. Typically, when a verb is preceded by an articleless object the sentence is imperfective. By contrast, the combination of a verb and a postverbal article-

Introduction: An overview

11

less o b j e c t makes the sentence either perfective (typically if the o b j e c t is a stressed o b j e c t o f result) o r experiential (if the o b j e c t is unstressed). K i e f e r shows that in fact o t h e r types of o b j e c t behave like o b j e c t s o f result with respect to m o b i l i t y . T h u s "presentative o b j e c t s " (i.e., o b j e c t s referring to e n tities made available and utilizable b y the verbal activity) and " p r o t o t y p i c a l o b j e c t s " (i.e., o b j e c t s typically associated with the verb) f o l l o w the same pattern. In sum, then, o n l y individuated o b j e c t n o u n s can render a verb phrase perfective. O n the o t h e r hand, i n c o r p o r a t e d n o u n s m a y o n l y o c c u r in i m p e r fective sentences. In the final s e c t i o n , K i e f e r extensively describes the uses o f the progressive. In H u n g a r i a n the progressive is f o r m a l l y identified b y the s e q u e n c e z e r o f o c u s + stressed verb + stressed prefix. In imperfective c o n s t r u c t i o n s , p r o g r e s sive m e a n i n g is p o s s i b l e b u t e n t i r e l y c o n t e x t - d e p e n d e n t . A close s c r u t i n y o f the data s h o w s that the use o f the g r a m m a t i c a l i z e d progressive is restricted t o durative-perfective prefixed verbs w i t h transparent meaning w h e r e the f u n c tion o f the prefix is w o r d - f o r m a t i o n . T h e r e is, in addition, b o t h a s y n t a c t i c and a s e m a n t i c restriction: the past progressive requires a t e m p o r a l clause expressing a t e m p o r a l frame, the time interval of w h i c h c a n n o t be essentially l o n g e r than the time interval o f the progressive clause. T h e present p r o g r e s sive has as its reference p o i n t the speech event.

2.2. Finnish ( O . Heinämäki) In her c o n t r i b u t i o n " A s p e c t as b o u n d e d n e s s in F i n n i s h " , O r v o k k i H e i n ä m ä k i discusses the c o m p l e x nature of aspectual expressions in F i n n i s h . A s p e c t is n o t a f o r m a l verbal c a t e g o r y in this language but, as H e i n ä m ä k i aims to s h o w , a n u m b e r o f other, interacting factors seem to constitute a fairly regular, pervasive s y s t e m f o r the expression o f an aspectual contrast b e t w e e n " b o u n d e d " and " u n b o u n d e d " as properties of w h o l e sentences. In this system, aspect is n o t defined in terms o f a simple, o n e - t o - o n e c o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n f o r m and meaning but rather as a result o f the c o n t r i b u t i o n of o n e o r m o r e of the f o l lowing factors: the lexical semantics o f the verb, derivational m o r p h o l o g y , case variation o f the o b j e c t , countability, the presence o f limiting temporal o r destination phrases, and quantification. F i r s t H e i n ä m ä k i s h o w s that derivation can change the aspectual c h a r a c t e r o f verbs. T h u s , f o r example, m o m e n t a r y affixes m a y turn durative verbs into b o u n d e d , m o m e n t a r y expressions and iterative derivational suffixes m a y turn m o m e n t a r y verbs into u n b o u n d e d duratives. B u t since these derivations are fairly sporadic and s u b j e c t to severe restrictions, H e i n ä m ä k i regards them

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only as the innermost layers of the system of devices for expressing (un)boundedness. In a detailed section on the form and meaning of objects, Heinämäki takes a hard new look at the traditional distinction between the accusative and the partitive object case in the light of the bounded/unbounded distinction. Basically the accusative form of the object invites a bounded interpretation of the situation referred to whereas the partitive form invites an unbounded interpretation. However, m a n y factors are at play. Thus Heinämäki makes a primary distinction between countable noun objects and mass noun objects, on the basis of which she deals with the various types of verb. For example, momentary verbs are shown to allow countable nouns as object only in the accusative but mass nouns both in the accusative and the partitative - though with a difference in meaning. With durative verbs, it is important to consider whether or not a bound is explicitly expressed in, e.g., adverbial phrases and, if it is, whether it is independently related to the object or rather specifies a bound implied by the object. In this connection Heinämäki also discusses causative constructions and constructions with measure phrases to establish the w a y s in which boundedness is expressed and what co-occurrence restrictions are involved. Negation, which has often been regarded as a partitive-inducing factor separate from aspect, is shown to fit nicely with the bounded/unbounded distinction: expressions of the non-occurrence of a situation are easily interpreted as unbounded and therefore usually require the partitive case - even if the corresponding expressions of the occurrence of the situation w o u l d have been bounded and thus would have required the accusative case. Quantification provides a special problem for the description of aspect in Finnish. U s u a l l y quantified N P s are either bounded or unbounded, requiring the accusative or partitive case, respectively. But boundedness sometimes applies to t w o referential levels of quantified NPs: the individual member of the group referred to or the whole group. The quantified accusative object N P behaves as expected in that it does not allow a temporal measure phrase expressing an independent bound. Quantified partitive object NPs, however, accept phrases that usually only co-occur with bounded phrases and thus challenge an analysis in terms of aspect only. H e i n ä m ä k i suggests a solution to this problem in terms of neutralization of the bounded/unbounded distinction in quantified partitive NPs. Finally Heinämäki discusses a possible progressive construction: copula + the inessive form of the third infinitive. This construction is normally used to express unbounded situations, more specifically ongoing activities or future situations, and regularly takes the partitive.

Introduction: An overview

13

2.3. Lulubo (T. Andersen) The paper " F r o m aspect to tense in Lulubo: Morphosyntactic and semantic restructuring in a Central Sudanic language" by Torben Andersen is based on fieldwork carried out in Sudan during various periods from 1984 to 1988. The main object of Andersen's analysis is Lulubo, which is a Central Sudanic language spoken by some 8,000 people, belonging more specifically to the M o r u Madi group of languages or dialect clusters. The paper falls into three main sections on the syntax, the morphology and the semantics of the tense-aspect system of Lulubo as compared to the Miza dialect of Moru and the Lokai dialect of Madi. Andersen aims to show not only that there are notable differences between the tense-aspect system of Lulubo and that of the other languages but also that it is possible to explain these differences in terms of language development and innovation in Lulubo. In the chapter on syntax, the perfective/imperfective distinction is described primarily in terms of word order. In Moru and Madi, as in most of the other related languages, perfective clauses have the constituent order SV(O) whereas imperfective clauses have the constituent order S ( 0 ) V . In Lulubo both perfective and imperfective clauses are of the S V ( O ) type. Andersen refines this word order analysis by providing evidence that in Moru and Madi imperfective clauses the O V part is really a nonfinite verb phrase. In Lulubo, perfective and imperfective clauses both have finite verb phrases but differ morphosyntactically in other ways. Thus in transitive clauses the imperfective verb is followed by the morpheme rii as an object marker, and transitive stems which begin with a vowel are followed by a transitivity marker. The object marker rii is also present in nonfinite transitive verb phrases with the constituent order O V (which is the order found in this type of construction in all the M o r u Madi languages). And here rii appears as a postposition with a genitive function, marking the O V phrase as a genitive construction. B y hypothesizing that the S V O order in imperfective clauses in Lulubo has developed from the S O V order found in the other Moru-Madi languages (with the O V part as a nonfinite verb phrase of the same order as that in nonfinite transitive constructions), Andersen can offer a neat explanation of the presence of rii as an accusative postposition in Lulubo imperfective S V O clauses. Independent evidence of the change in constituent order is provided in the section on morphology. Recognizing aspect as a clearly inflectional category in Lulubo, Andersen reviews some of the differences between the perfective and the imperfective in terms of the segmental shape and tone of inflectionally relevant phonological classes of verb stems and the segmental alternants of prefixes. Andersen demonstrates that the imperfective inflection of a stem is

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predictable on the basis of its perfective inflection and its grammatical features but not vice versa, which means that the imperfective seems to be historically secondary to the perfective. Furthermore, imperfective inflection in Lulubo is shown to be a result of a contraction of elements with obvious counterparts in Moru and Madi imperfective constructions - a contraction made possible precisely by the constituent order shift from O V to V O . In the final section of his paper, Andersen discusses the semantics of the formal perfective/imperfective distinction in Lulubo and finds that in this respect, too, Lulubo differs from the other Moru-Madi languages. Whereas Moru and Madi seem to have an aspectual opposition with the perfective aspect as the unmarked member, Lulubo has a relative tense category with the perfective aspect as the marked member expressing relative past time and the imperfective aspect as the unmarked member expressing relative nonpast time. This relative tense distinction is, however, shown by independent evidence in negative clauses to have developed from a proper aspect distinction like the one found in Moru and Madi. Andersen thus concludes that Lulubo has innovated both morphosyntactically and semantically with respect to the aspect category.

2.4. K a m m u ( J . - O . S v a n t e s s o n ) In "Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu", Jan-Olof Svantesson discusses the Yüan dialect of Kammu on the basis of both informant work and recorded folkloristic texts. Kammu, which is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken by some 400,000 speakers in Northern Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Burma, is an isolating language with respect to verbs (including adjectives) and nouns but has a well-developed morphology in the so-called expressives (or ideophones) - an open class of highly descriptive words with iconic and connotative properties which relate to the locutionary agent's perception of situations or his feelings. Svantesson's analysis of the tense-mood-aspect system in Kammu falls into two main sections: one which deals with the markers of mood and aspect and one which deals with the morphologically expressed actional properties of expressives. Svantesson notes that Kammu lacks not only tense but also the perfective/imperfective distinction and progressive forms - which is not surprising for a basically isolating language. Instead it has a modal marker of irrealis (c99) and two aspect markers: a perfect (hooc) and an habitual (kk). The irrealis marker is obligatory in sentences with future time reference but is also used for a variety of other purposes such as, for example, the

Introduction: An overview

15

expression of intentions, disbelief, conditions and the non-occurrence of past situations. Thus, although in many cases it does establish a temporal contrast to unmarked verb forms (which express present, past or generic time), it is clearly a mood rather than a tense. Both hooc and kü may function independently as the main verbs of clauses (hooc with the meaning "to finish" and ku with the meaning "to like") but when concatenated with other verbs they assume an aspectual function in relation to these verbs as markers of perfect and habitual meaning, respectively. As a marker of perfect meaning, hooc corresponds more or less to the present and past perfect in English, denoting a situation which occurred before a present or past reference time and which is relevant for the discourse situation. As a marker of habitual meaning, kü expresses situations that occur repeatedly during a long stretch of time and which the speaker judges to occur normally but not necessarily. It is thus distinct from both unmarked matter-of-fact statements of repetition and generic statements. In the last part of his paper, Svantesson reviews the morphologically derived actional meanings of expressives. The morphology of expressives is characterized by reduplication of roots, prefixation or by combinations of these operations. Each operation carries an actional meaning from one of the following contrasts: static vs. dynamic, durative vs. non-durative and punctual vs. non-punctual. It is interesting to note that this system, though strikingly regular, is never obligatory but varies in extent with the style of speech and with the individual speaker. B y way of conclusion, Svantesson points to some of the difficulties in interpreting the data and determining the exact meaning of the mood and aspect markers. Also, he draws attention to the similarities between the Kammu tense-mood-aspect system and that of the genetically unrelated neighbouring languages Lao and Thai.

2.5. Chinese (S. Egerod) In "Aspect in Chinese", S0ren Egerod discusses various means of expressing aspect and tense meanings in Early Archaic Chinese, Late Archaic Chinese and Modern Standard Chinese. Egerod begins by noting that in Chinese tense has always been secondary to aspect. But even aspect does not constitute a pervasive, regular system in Early Archaic Chinese or Late Archaic Chinese. Apart from the use of adverbs and modal verbs to express a variety of actional and temporal meanings, Early Archaic Chinese expresses aspect-like meanings in verbal constructions involving the third-person possessive pro-

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nouns qi and jue. The former is typically used for the subject or the object in non-past sentences, the latter for the ergative agent in past perfective subordinate clauses. A distinction is drawn between the existential agentive and the subordinated ergative possessive-plus-verb constructions, and the passive is described as inherently perfective in meaning. In Late Archaic Chinese, the ergative construction has disappeared as such but has left its mark in certain ergative verbs with perfective meaning. In this period too, temporal and aspectual meanings are expressed by adverbs and modal verbs and there is little evidence of a full-fledged aspect system. However, there is a distinction between the two "final particles" ye and yi. The former, which seems historically to be a demonstrative, indicates a judgement or a state, whereas the latter, which seems to be the equivalent of ye plus the verb yi with the meaning "to finish", indicates a change of state, ye is found in both nominal and verbal sentences, yi only in verbal sentences. The main part of the paper is devoted to the description of the more systematic expressions of aspect in Modern Standard Chinese. The system which emerges employs atonal postponed particles and tonal preposed elements, which interact with the semantics of the verb, the syllabicity of the verb, word order and the nouns and modifiers which are part of the construction. Egerod describes this system in terms of three axes: the "punctual/durative" distinction (which, of course, is a question of event time), the "intense/extense" distinction (which concerns the modificational scope of the markers involved) and the "temporal/non-temporal" distinction (which concerns matters of tense, which is always in syncretism with aspect). A number of important markers are discussed in terms of this system and their use in different types of construction is exemplified extensively. Thus le is characterized as a punctual, non-temporal, intense and extense marker (with aoristic or perfective meaning, respectively). In contrast, zhe is a durative, non-temporal, intense or extense marker (with progressive or imperfective meaning, respectively). Among the temporal markers, Egerod notes a distinction between punctual intense guo (with experientative meaning) and durative intense zai (with momentative meaning) and between punctual extense gub le (with anterior perfective meaning) and durative extense lai zhe (with anterior imperfective meaning). Mention is also made of the focus-neutral -de which expresses punctuality in the past and duration in the non-past.

2.6. Ainu (K. Refsing) In "Tense, aspect, and actionality in the Ainu language", Kirsten Refsing

Introduction: An overview

17

reports on her field work on the Shizunai dialect of Ainu in 1980, 1981 and 1985. Ainu, which was originally spoken on the island of Hokkaido, in the southern half of Sakhalin and on the Kurile Islands, is now rapidly dying out with only a small number of old people and revivalists using it for everyday communication. The fact that Ainu has no writing system but has been transmitted orally from generation to generation presents the obvious problem of determining on the basis of recorded material earlier stages of the language - a vital exercise especially in the light of the considerable influence of Japanese on Ainu syntax, morphology and vocabulary. Refsing discusses critically a number of claims about tense in Ainu made by a number of earlier scholars. Being unable to identify one single morpheme in the verbal system which has a clear, dominant tense meaning, she is forced to disagree with her fellow researchers: Ainu has no tense in the ordinary sense since it has no morphological means of pinpointing actions, events or states in linear time. However, it has means of expressing various relative temporal relationships through adverbs and conjunctionalizers, and more importantly, perhaps, through aspect and actionality. The closest Ainu comes to expressing absolute temporal meanings is through a small number of temporal nouns such as "yesterday", "tomorrow", etc., which are mostly Japanese loan translations. Refsing suggests that Ainu markers of aspect and actionality took on various temporal meanings over a period of strong Japanese influence but that these meanings are clearly secondary to aspectual and other functions. Having formulated this hypothesis, Refsing goes on to review the major aspectual and actional markers in Ainu. She posits two main aspectual oppositions: that between perfective and imperfective aspect and that between completed and uncompleted aspect. The auxiliaries marking imperfective and uncompleted aspect (wa an and kane an, respectively) both indicate that the situation referred to is viewed as non-final. But whilst the imperfective aspect conveys a focus on action, the uncompleted aspect conveys a focus on time span. Both the perfective aspect (wa isam) and the completed aspect (wa okere) indicate that the situation referred to is viewed as final but again with a difference of focus between action and time span, respectively. In the last part of the paper, Refsing discusses a number of actionality types (such as: durative, iterative, defective, velocity-connected, inchoative, momentary and resultative) and conjunctionalizers which connect situations in a sequential or contemporal relationship. Refsing concludes that in Ainu time is not an absolute but a relative concept. Rather than a system of deictic tense Ainu has means of expressing temporal properties of, and relationships between, situations.

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2.7. A l e u t (Κ. Bergsland) In his richly documented contribution "Aleut tenses and aspects", Knut Bergsland offers an extremely thorough description of tense and aspect-like distinctions in the two Aleut dialects Eastern Aleut and Atkan Aleut, which are historically related to the Eskimo languages. The former is spoken by about 450 people in southwestern Alaska, the latter by only about 80 people in Atka Village (Aleutian Islands, U S A ) and by half a dozen old people on Bering Island (Commander Islands, Russia). Bergsland's analysis is based primarily on his own Atkan fieldwork undertaken in 1950, 1952 and 1971 to 1987 (including the period from 1982 to 1987, during which he worked with Moses L. Dirks) but also includes examples from Lavrentiy Salamatov's biblical translations from about 1860, Waldemar Jochelson's Eastern Aleut texts collected in 1909-1910 and Gordon M. Marsh's field notes from 1948 to 1952. Bergsland describes Aleut as a strict SOV language. Its major morphosyntactic structure seems at all levels - words, phrases, and clauses - to be governed by a principle of progressive superordination, whereby each element modifies the preceding element or string. This principle is also at work in complex sentences, where the last clause provides the temporal and modal marking of the sentence as a whole. Aleut sentences can be extremely complex, containing easily up to forty clauses and thus corresponding in length sometimes to English paragraphs or even whole narratives. The speaker can go on adding more clauses to his sentence or choose to make a "full stop", in which case the last clause gets to determine the temporal and modal properties of the whole sentence. Most tense markers used in final clauses are also used in non-final clauses but with a clear difference in meaning: in final clauses they assume absolute tense meaning whereas in non-final clauses they assume relative tense meaning, their reference point being determined by the point in time expressed by the final clause or, in some instances, by the immediately following predicate. Bergsland divides his paper into three major sections on absolute tense tense, relative tense and aspectoidal suffixes. Both absolute tense and relative tense are expressed on three distinct but interacting morpho-syntactic levels: by inflectional suffixes, by auxiliary verbs and by derivational suffixes. Among the large set of Aleut derivational suffixes, about twenty express aspectual or aspectoidal meanings. The Aleut absolute tense system comprises means of expressing present time, near past and future, and remote past and future. There is also a zero tense, the general, which is temporally unspecified and thus often used for the expression of generic and habitual meaning. And there is a conjunctive, which

Introduction:

An overview

19

in statements seems to indicate an ongoing activity or an act in progress. Future meaning is typically expressed by the intentional in combination with auxiliary verbs or derivational suffixes. Bergsland describes this system in terms of an open-ended scale from suffixes to auxiliaries and lexical verbs with intermediate cases of auxiliaries reduced to suffixes. Relative tense in Aleut is partly governed by the overall sentential structure according to the principle of final-clause domination, partly by the selection of specifically relative tense markers, such as the anterior and the conditional, or participial constructions. It is characteristic that whilst there are a fair number of derivational suffixes which serve to specify the temporal properties of a sentence there are few adverbial particles and conjunctions. In the final section, Bergsland recognizes the fact that there is no grammatical aspect system in Aleut comparable to that of Russian or English. He reviews a number of derivational suffixes with actional meanings (such as, for example, duration, frequency, distribution, habituality, etc.) and their order and scope in the clause. O f special interest are - q a l i - and -qada-, which have a specific aspectual component, expressing the meanings "have started" and "have stopped", respectively. The suffix -(x)ta- is also important with its meaning of limited duration and with its perfect meaning in combination with the general.

2.8. T o k e l a u a n ( A . M . V o n e n ) Arnfinn Muruvik Vonen writes on "The expression of temporal and aspectual relations in Tokelau narratives". Tokelauan, which belongs to the SamoicOutlier subbranch of the Polynesian languages, is spoken by some 5,000 people in Western Polynesia and in New Zealand. Vonen's analysis of tense and aspect in Tokelauan is based on narrative data from traditional tales as well as from reports of personal experience, including examples collected during his fieldwork in Tokelau in 1986. Vonen demonstrates that although Tokelauan has no obligatory grammatical marking of tense and aspect, a number of other factors contribute to the temporal and aspectual interpretation of narrative clauses, such as the lexical properties of verbs (including derivational morphology), syntactic arguments, particles, sentence adverbials, topic-comment structure, intonation and general context. In order to provide an adequate analysis of these factors, Vonen rejects the common description of the syntax of Polynesian languages in terms of predicate-argument structure. The disadvantage of this type of analysis is that various pre-verbal particles, including tense-aspect-mood markers

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( Τ Α Μ markers), are treated as predicate-internal phenomena despite the fact that their semantic scope is broader, covering all subsequent elements in the clause. Instead Vonen suggests an analysis in terms of "core clauses", which consist of the verb in combination with any post-verbal particles, pre-verbal agentive pronouns, and post-verbal arguments. In this model, pre-verbal particles, which are especially important in an analysis of tense and aspect meanings, are viewed as independent verbs (or predicates) which take the core clause (or the combination of other, subsequent pre-verbal particles and the core clause) as their argument. This description of Tokelauan syntax captures the semantic scope of constituents more adequately. Vonen begins his account of the w a y s in which temporal, actional and aspectual meanings are expressed in Tokelauan by setting up two classes of verbs, punctual and durative, and by describing the morphological processes that affect this distinction. H e then goes on to show that although the properties of the situation expressed b y a core clause mostly follow from the properties of the individual constituents, m a n y aspectual meanings derive from the context, especially meanings related to such distinctions as singulary/habitual, inceptive/durative, telic/atelic, perfective/imperfective. A number of post-verbal particles ( a i , loa, nei, pea, hö) are available which may provide clues as to the temporal/aspectual specification of the core clause. Outside the core clause special attention is paid to the pre-verbal particles (explanators, negation markers and TAM-markers), each of which is described as a durative verb which takes everything which follows it as its argument. In a detailed section on T A M - m a r k e r s , Vonen offers a description of na, nae, e, kua, koi and &#and their interaction with post-verbal particles. One of the conclusions that Vonen reaches is that "future" in Tokelauan should be considered a mood rather than a tense, the reason being that "future" utterances indicate a present state of expecting a future situation rather than the future situation itself. In the last part of the paper, Vonen argues that intonation plays an important role in establishing the temporal structure of narratives. Thus the reference time of intervening non-narrative clauses is shown to be dependent on their intonational relation to preceding or following narrative clauses. In this w a y also the level of representation above the sentence is relevant to setting the values of tense and aspect.

3. Swedish Sign Language (B. Bergman—Ö. Dahl) In "Ideophones in Sign Language? The place of reduplication in the tenseaspect system of Swedish Sign Language", Brita Bergman and Osten Dahl

Introduction: An overview

21

extend the questionnaire investigation in Dahl's earlier work to include Swedish Sign Language. The data analysed is thus the transcription of a video recording of a native deaf signer's translation into Swedish Sign Language of the approximately 200 sentences in the questionnaire. The paper is, however, more than simply an analysis of this data along the lines set out for spoken languages in Dahl's earlier work. It also describes some unexpected parallels between sign languages (such as Swedish Sign Language) and spoken languages with an ideophonic component (such as, for example, Kammu, cf. the paper in this volume by Svantesson) and thus offers new typological insights. In the first part of the paper, Bergman and Dahl describe the aspect system of Swedish Sign Language on the basis of the analysis of the transcribed data. It turns out that there is a relatively limited number of tense-aspect markers in the questionnaire material. Four relatively clear cases are identified and illustrated: a perfect marker, a negated perfect, a future marker and a habitual marker. These seem to be periphrastic (not morphological) markers in the sense that they appear as free morphemes rather than modifications of the verb. Moreover, they seem in many cases to be optional and, therefore, to have a low degree of grammaticalization. In addition to this system of periphrastic markers, Swedish Sign Language employs verb reduplication to express aspect-related meanings. O n criteria such as "mean duration", "number of repeated movements" and "movement contours", Bergman and Dahl identify two different types of reduplication: fast reduplication and slow reduplication, both of which are clearly distinct from simple repetition of movement units (roots) and other non-reduplicated signs. It is characteristic of manual reduplication that it may be accompanied by semantically modifying oral or facial elements and that it has a high degree of iconicity. It may also interact with other modifications operating on verbal roots and is thus part of an extremely complex morphological system. The problem to which Bergman and Dahl next turn their attention is that of determining what kind of morphology is involved in verb reduplication in sign languages. F o r American Sign Language, which has a similar system, scholars such as Klima and Bellugi have operated with inflection. However, verb reduplication does not in any obvious sense meet the criteria of obligatoriness and lexical generality - the properties usually associated with inflection. N o r does it fit semantically with aspect as an inflectional category in other, spoken languages, where the meanings expressed are typically those of the perfective/imperfective opposition. Instead Bergman and Dahl see semantic parallels between the derivational morphology of Russian verbs (such as stuk-) and sign language reduplication. However, Bergman and Dahl find an even more striking parallel in spoken

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languages, namely reduplication in expressives (or ideophones) in African and Austro-Asiatic languages. Kammu turns out to be especially interesting: not only does it have roughly the same periphrastic tense-aspect markers as Swedish Sign Language but in its ideophonic component it employs reduplication extensively to express a very similar range of meanings. This striking fact and other evidence lead Bergman and Dahl to see a typological parallel between Swedish Sign Language and Kammu with respect to tense and aspect. Moreover, they argue that the properties of the two systems warrant an analysis in terms of a separate grammatical component distinct from inflection and derivation. By operating with three types of morphological process rather than just two, namely inflectional, derivational and ideophonic, they can offer a more precise and fine-grained morphological typology - and one which yields a number of correct predictions about languages such as Swedish Sign Language and Kammu.

4. A final word There are at least three main, related issues with which linguists interested in tense, aspect and action are concerned. One is to provide adequate descriptions of how these categories are manifested in natural languages across the world. Another is to look at the three categories from a more metalinguistic point of view and to work out adequate terminology and basic methodological tenets for their description. The third issue is to relate and integrate the findings of the first two exercises in a general, overall theory of language. As will be evident from the review of papers in sections 1 to 3 above, this volume offers insights in all three research areas.

Verbal semantics in Functional G r a m m a r

Simon C. Dik

0. Introduction In this paper I give a survey of the treatment of a number of aspects of the semantics of the verb within the theory of Functional Grammar. For each aspect discussed, a fuller treatment can be found in Dik (1989), or in the various publications mentioned in the text. I will briefly discuss the following topics: (1) predicate and predicate frame, (2) lexical meaning, (3) predicate formation, (4) types of States of Affairs, (5) voice distinctions, (6) morphosemantic categories relevant to the verb (namely: (6.1) predicate operators, (6.2) predication operators, (6.3) proposition operators, (6.4) illocutionary operators). Together, these various items cover most of the information which may be "packaged" in the verb, whether in a lexical, a derivational, or an inflectional way.

1. Predicate and predicate frame In Functional Grammar (in the sense of Dik 1978a and later publications), all lexical items of a language are treated as "predicates", defined as expressions which assign properties to, or establish relations between, the entities which are referred to by terms (or nominal expressions). When a predicate is applied to an appropriate number of terms, the result is a predication. Predicates belong to different categories: verbs (V), nouns (N), and Adjectives (A). Predicates may be basic or derived. Derived predicates are those which can be formed by means of synchronically productive rules. These will be treated in section 3 below. Basic predicates, such as walk, man, old, cannot be productively formed, but have to be learned and memorized as such before they can be used correctly. These basic predicates are stored in the lexicon. Each predicate, whether basic or derived, is considered as part of a "predicate frame", a structure which defines its essential semantic and syntactic properties. For example, the predicate frame of the basic predicate give would be stored in the lexicon in the form shown in (1). (1)

givey (x\:

(XI))A%

(X2)GO

(X3-

(xi^Rcc

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This predicate frame informs us that give is a three-place verbal predicate with three argument positions χι, xi, X3, in the semantic functions of agent, goal (or patient), and recipient, where the first and the third argument position are specified by the selection restriction "". The number and types of arguments with which a predicate combines may be called the "valency" of the predicate. Since the predicate frame already contains the "blueprint" of a predication, Functional Grammar does not require any "base rules" for generating syntactic structures independently of the lexical item: the predicate frame in fact contains the syntactic structure, and predications can be directly formed from it by inserting appropriate term structures into the argument slots. Thus, by inserting the structures underlying the terms the man, the book, the librarian into the three argument slots of (1), we immediately get the predication in (2). (2)

givev

(the man)hg

(the book)Go

(the

librarian)^

which can be used to construe a variety of linguistic expressions, all containing this predication as their nucleus. It is to be noted that the predicate frame is supposed to be unordered: the predicate and the terms could be written in any other order without loss of information. The order of the linguistic expression is determined by later linearization rules.

2. Lexical meaning Each predicate in the lexicon is associated with a number of "meaning postulates". These are rules of the following form. (3a)

tulips

(x\)0 —>

b)

growv

(xijproc —> becomey

flowem

(xi)0

c)

kissv (xi)Ag (X2)Go —> touchw

bigger κ

(xikmc

(xi)h% (X2)Co

(3a) says that if one applies the predicate "tulip" to some entity, one is committed to accept that "flower" likewise applies to that entity; (3b) says that "growing" in the same way entails "getting bigger"; and (3c) says that if one entity "kisses" another, this entails that the first entity "touches" the other entity. 1 Note that it is assumed that meaning postulates relate a lexical item to other lexical items of the same (object) language in much the same way as this is done in a monolingual dictionary. Functional Grammar thus avoids the

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar

25

usage of "abstract" semantic predicates in the analysis of lexical meaning, for reasons which are more extensively discussed in Dik (1978b). A meaning postulate is a one-way entailment, not to be equated with a meaning "definition": although a tulip is a flower, a flower is not a tulip. W e can only speak of meaning definitions if the entailment w o r k s b o t h ways. F o r many lexical predicates it is difficult to give a full meaning definition. Consid e r t h e f o l l o w i n g d e s c r i p t i o n o f " t u l i p " i n t h e Advanced

Learner's

Dictionary

(.AID):

(4)

"bulb plant with, in spring, a large bell-shaped flower on a tall stem"

This description w o u l d certainly not seem to be sufficient to allow a person to pick out tulips f r o m among other plants. Wisely, the ALD adds a little picture of a tulip to the lemma. Even if no complete definition is possible, however, the meaning postulates associated with a predicate may tell us a lot about its meaning. Certain other predicates are less difficult to define. Consider, for example: (5)

kitten^

(xi)0

1] output: predy-er^ (x\)0 ...(xn) meaning: "a person who has the property of being involved in the action of predv-ing"

This type of formulation has several advantages. First, the conditions on the input predicate can for the greater part be coded in the input predicate frame. For example, from (6) it is immediately clear that the rule applies only to agentive verbal input predicates. Second, the argument structure of the input predicate frame can be retained in the derivation. This means, for example, that in deriving writer from write, the goal position can be retained, so that in (7) (7)

the writer of this book

the constituent this book can still be characterized as the goal argument of the predicate (which will be marked by of in the derived nominal context). The properties of the predicate frame, as exemplified in (1) above, yield a natural typology of the possible modifications effected by predicate formation rules. Such rules may affect: (8)

1. the form of the predicate; 2. the category of the predicate; 3. the valency of the predicate (i.e., the arguments with which it can be combined); 3.1. the quantitative valency (the number of arguments), which may be 3.1.1. extended, or 3.1.2. reduced; 3.2. the qualitative valency, i.e., 3.2.1. the semantic functions, 3.2.2. the selection restrictions.

We restrict ourselves here to some examples which are of special relevance to verbal semantics. The prototypical example of a rule which extends the quantitative valency of a predicate is the rule of causative formation, which is found, in different guises, in many different languages. This rule is exemplified by such pairs as (9a-b).

Verbal semantics in Functional

(9a) b)

John opened the window. Peter made/had/let John open the

Grammar

27

window.

Note that the rule introduces an extra argument: the causer, and "demotes" the original agent to the status of causee. In a general way, the rule can be formulated as in (10). (10)

Causative formation input: predy (x\) ... (xn) [n> 1] OUtpUt: C~pred\' (Xojcauser (Xljcausee ··· (Xn) meaning: "x 0 brings it about that xi predv's ... (x n )"

In this rule, " C " stands for the formal expression of the operation of causative formation: " C " may take the form of an auxiliary causative verb, as in the English example (9b); or it may be morphologically expressed, as is the case in many other languages. Conversely, many languages have rules of "valency reduction", through which an input predicate is reduced by one argument position (which may be either the first or the second argument), so that we get oppositions such as those shown in (11) and (12a-b). (11) (12a)

b)

The ladies wash the clothes. The ladies R-wash. = (i) 'The ladies wash themselves' (ii) 'The ladies wash each other' The clothes R-wash. = 'The clothes are being/must be/can be washed'

The output of valency reduction thus yields constructions with a reflexive, reciprocal, pseudo-passive or "medial" interpretation. " R " stands for the formal marker of valency reduction, which is 0 in English, is morphologically expressed in many languages, and can take the form of an originally reflexive element in the Romance, the Slavic, and the Scandinavian languages. The relevant predicate formation rules can be formulated as (13) and (14). (13)

First argument reduction input: predy (χι) (X2) ... (xn) [n > 1] output: R-predy (-) (xi) ... (xn) meaning: "predy applies to only (x2) ... (xn)"

28

(14)

Simon C. Dik

Second argument reduction input: predy (x\) (xi) ... (x„) [n>2] output: R-predy (x\) (-)... (xn) meaning: "predv applies to only (χι) (X3) ... (x n )"

For further details on the predicate formation component of Functional Grammar I refer to the surveys given in De Groot (1987) and Dik (1988).

4. Typology of "States of Affairs" Predicates designate properties and relations, terms designate entities. The predications resulting from the application of a predicate to an appropriate number of terms designate "States of Affairs" (SoAs), defined as "things that may be the case in some world". SoAs may be divided into different semantic types (corresponding to differences in what is traditionally known as Aktionsart), according to a number of basic parameters. The most important of these parameters appear to be those offered in (15). (15)

± Dynamic [±dyn]:

whether or not the SoA involves any change; whether or not the SoA has a natural end point; whether or not the SoA takes place instantaneously; whether or not the SoA can be initiated/ended by one of the participants; whether or not the SoA exists by virtue of one of the participants experiencing it.

± Telic [±tel]: ± Momentaneous [±mom]: ± Control [± con]:

± Experience [± exp]:

The three parameters [dyn], [con], and [tel] define the subclassification of SoA types in (16). (16)

SoA type: • Situation • • Position • • State • Event

[dyn]

[con]

-

+

+

[tel]

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar

• • • • • •

• • • • • •

Action • Accomplishment • Activity Process • Change • Dynamism

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

+

-

-

29

SoA with the value [+tel] (i.e., accomplishments and changes) can be further subdivided into [±mom], and all resulting SoA types can be [±exp]. For some examples of the SoA types in (16), consider (17a-f). (17a) b) c) d) e) f)

Position State Accomplishment Activity Change Dynamism

John kept his money in an old sock. John's money is in an old sock. John ran the marathon in three hours. John was reading a book. The apple fell from the tree. The clock was ticking.

N o t e that the relevance of these various SoA types must be and has been motivated by linguistic arguments concerning selection restrictions, possible co-occurrences, etc. For one example, consider the context in (18). (18)

X promised

Y to 2

Some consideration will show that in this context, the Ζ may be a position, an accomplishment, or an activity, but no other type of SoA. It follows that promise requires the property [+con] in its complement. For further discussion of the typology of So As, see Vester (1983), De G r o o t (1983, 1985), and Dik (1989).

5. Voice d i s t i n c t i o n s The theory of voice developed within Functional Grammar can be summarized in the following points: • The relation between an active and a passive construction is formalized through alternative assignments of the function subject to the first or to a later argument of the predication, as in (19a-c). (19a)

John (AgSubj) gave the book (Go) to Mary

(Ree).

30

Simon C. Dik

b) c)

The book (GoSubj) was given to Mary (Ree) by John (Ag). Mary (RecSubj) was given the book (Go) by John (Ag).

• The subject function is interpreted as a "pointer", indicating that participant from whose "perspective" the SoA is presented. Thus, the same SoA is presented from the perspective of "John" in (19a), of "the book" in (19b), and of "Mary" in (19c). • In a similar way, the object function is used to define a "secondary perspective" on the SoA. (20a) b)

John (AgSubj) gave the book (GoObj) to Mary (Ree). John (AgSubj) gave Mary (RecObj) the book (Go).

• Subject and object functions are only used in this way if the constructions in question are interpretable as alternative formulations of the same underlying predication. For example, a construction such as (21). (21)

This book sells very

well.

is not treated in terms of subject assignment, since no agent can be added to it, and since it signifies a property of the book rather than an action. It will be described as a form of valency-reducing predicate formation (see section 3 above). • The functions subject and object are simply added to the semantic functions of the terms in the underlying predication, as in (22) and (23). (22) (23)

givey (John)h^Sub] (the book) Go (Mary) R ec obj 'John gave Mary the book.' give\ (John)hg (the book) GoSubj (Mary) R 'The book was given to Mary by John.' ec

• The formal effects of these assignments will be "spelled out" by later expression rules. For example, the predicate will be turned into the passive form if the subject function has been assigned to some argument other than the first. And the subject term will get zero marking (as in English) or nominative case (in "nominative-accusative" languages), and will often be placed in a special subject position. Note that the agent phrase by John can now be described as resulting from an agent argument which has not been assigned subject function. • When voice is treated in this manner, we must accept that many languages

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar

31

will not have any form of object assignment (when there are no oppositions similar to (20a) and (20b)), and that many languages have no subject assignment either (when there are no active-passive oppositions similar to (19a-c)). However, in languages which do have such assignments we find significant similarities in two respects: with respect to the formal consequences of subject/object assignment, and with respect to the question of which terms in the predication are liable to receive these functions. • With respect to the latter question, which might be termed "accessibility to subject/object assignment", we find that certain languages have much more extensive accessibility than English. In such languages, a whole range of terms can be taken as the subject (or object) of the predication, yielding such constructions as (24a-f). (24a) b) c) d) e) f)

John (AgSubj) cut down the tree. The tree (GoSubj) was cut down by John. Mary (RecSubj) was given the book by Peter. Mary (BenSubj) was bought a dress by Peter. [With] the axe (InstrSubj) was cut down the tree by John. The blackboard (LocSubj) was written the message on by John.

• We also find that these different semantic functions can be ordered in a "semantic function hierarchy". (25)

Ag > G o > Ree > Ben > Instr > Loc

which has both typological and intra-linguistic significance. Typologically, languages will have some initial segment of the hierarchy (if they have accessibility to the subject/object function at all). For example, English can assign subject to agent, goal, recipient, and (in some dialects) beneficiary. And within one language, we will usually find that the frequency with which the construction in question is used will decrease as we proceed through the hierarchy f r o m left to right. • The semantic function hierarchy can be shown to be the result of a number of preferences monitoring the choice of terms for subject/object assignment (and thus for defining the primary or secondary perspective on the SoA). These preferences can be formulated as follows in (26).2 (26)

Preferences monitoring accessibility to • argument > satellite 3 • 1st > 2nd > 3rd argument

subject/object

32

Simon C. Dik

• • • • • •

human > other animate > inanimate concrete > abstract entity lst/2nd > 3rd person singular > plural definite > other specific > non-specific term from same predication > from subordinate predication

These various preferences can be used to explain a great number of phenomena concerning both the possibilities of assigning subject/object function, and the relative frequency with which this will happen. For exemplification of this I refer to Dik (1989).

6. Morpho-semantic categories relevant to the verb 6.0. Overview Apart from the intrinsic semantic features captured by meaning postulates/definitions and by the typology of So As, verbs may be characterized by a number of morpho-semantic categories. The most important of these categories are: tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and illocution. Tense distinctions serve to locate the SoA as designated by the predication at some interval on the temporal axis, with respect to some reference point tr, which may or may not coincide with the moment of speaking t 0 . The main parameters for tense systems are: (i) whether the SoA precedes, coincides with, or follows the reference point, and (ii) the relative distance (very close, relatively remote, very remote) to the reference point (cf. Comrie 1985). Aspect distinctions in our opinion do not constitute a unified semantic category. The term "aspect" is used in the literature for at least the following rather different morpho-semantic distinctions:4 (i) Differences in Aktionsart which we have captured in our typology of SoAs. These concern the internal semantics of the nuclear predication; we will not use the term "aspect" for these distinctions. (ii) The opposition between perfective/imperfective aspect, which concern the question whether the SoA is presented as one undivided whole from an external point of view (perfective), or is presented from an internal point of view, as if we stand in the middle of the SoA in progress (imperfective). See section 6.1. for further discussion. (iii) Differences in "phasal aspect", which concern the things that can be said at a certain reference point tr in relation to the occurrence of some SoA.

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar

33

These different phasal aspects can be represented as in diagram (27). (27)

SoA 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

The different possible phasal aspect distinctions can be defined in relation to the reference points in (27). (28)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Prospective Immediate Prospective Ingressive Progressive Egressive Recent Perfect Perfect

John John John John John John John

is going to cry. is about to cry. starts crying. is crying. stops crying. has just cried. has cried.

(iv) Differences in "quantitative aspect", which concern various types of quantification over SoAs. For example, Iterative aspect signals the repeated occurrence of an SoA. In this domain, we may distinguish aspectual distinctions according to whether they relate to such values as the following: (a) habit, (b) frequency, (c) continuity, and (d) intensity. M o o d distinctions likewise cover a whole range of semantic distinctions, for which it is difficult or even impossible to provide a unified definition. We shall say that mood is the grammatical expression of "modality", where this term covers the following semantic domains: 5 Sub-areas of modality Level 1: inherent modality distinctions define relations between a participant and the realization of the SoA in which he is involved. These distinctions may consist in the ability or the willingness of a participant to do the SoA (can, be able to/want, be willing to), or in the question whether the participant is obliged (must, have to) or permitted (may, be allowed to) to do the SoA. Inherent modalities are not expressed by grammatical means, and belong to the internal structure of the predication. They are mainly discussed under modality because the predicates used to express these SoA-inherent features often develop into more strictly "modal" expressions over time (cf. Goossens 1987). Level 2: objective modality distinctions express the speaker's assessment of the

34

Simon C. Dik

likelihood of occurrence (the "actuality") of the SoA. We can usually be rather certain of the actuality of that which we see happen before our very eyes. But we often talk about SoAs that do not have this prima facie tangibility. In such cases, objective modality distinctions allow us to express what we think of the chances of occurrence of the SoA in terms of what we know about SoAs in general. Objective modality can be divided into two sub-areas: (i) epistemic objective modality, in which the speaker evaluates the actuality of the SoA in terms of his knowledge of SoAs in general; (ii) deontic objective modality, in which the actuality of the SoA is evaluated in terms of a system of moral, legal, or social norms. Polarity distinctions (positive: "It is the case that SoA", and negative: "It is not the case that SoA") may be regarded as the logical extremes of epistemic objective modality: they signal that the speaker is certain about the actuality or non-actuality of the SoA. Level 3: epistemological modality distinctions signal the speaker's personal commitment to the truth of the proposition, and signals how certain he is about its truth: whether he personally finds it certain, likely, possible, or unlikely that what he says is true. In evidential epistemological modalities the speaker expresses his assessment of the quality of the proposition in terms of how he has obtained it: has he inferred it from certain outside evidence (inferential), from personal experience (experiential), or heard it from someone else (quotative, reportative). All these epistemological modalities relate to the speaker's attitude towards the content of the proposition. Illocutionary distinctions relate to the speech act value of the linguistic expression: is the expression intended as a statement, a question, an order, a request, a promise, etc. Grammatical categories relating to the illocution are such distinctions as "declarative", "interrogative", "imperative", and "exclamative", which are usually captured in terms of different "sentence types". It is evident that these various morpho-semantic distinctions differ in scope. For example, illocution takes all the other distinctions in its scope; Negation may have objective modality distinctions in its scope (as in (29b)), but not subjective modalities ((30b) and (31b)). (29a) b) (30a) b) (31a) b)

It is possible that John has not seen it. It is not possible that John has seen it. It is a pity that John has not seen it. ' It is not a pity that John has seen it. Possibly John has not seen it. '"Not possibly John has seen it.

Verbal semantics in Functional Grammar

35

T o the extent that the different morpho-semantic categories discussed above are expressed by grammatical means, they will be captured by grammatical operators which are divided into four different types. Together, these operators are indicated as "π-operators". In order to come to grips with the rather complicated scope relations between the different π-operators we assume that the clause consists of a "layered" structure which can be roughly sketched as in (32). 6 (32)

Level 1 2 3 4

Domain Nuclear Predication Extended Predication Proposition Clause

Operators πι: Predicate operators nr. Predication operators ny. Proposition operators K*: Illocutionary operators

The overall abstract structure of the clause can then be represented as follows. (33)

Clause Proposition Ext predication Nucl predication

= = = =

n4[Proposition] nj[Ext predication] ft2[Nucl predication] πι Predicate (arguments)"

We shall n o w discuss each of the π-operators in turn.

6.1. Predicate o p e r a t o r s Predicate operators (πι-operators) provide additional specification of the SoA designated by the nuclear predication. As an example, we take the perfective/imperfective distinction. For languages which have this distinction in grammaticalized form, and thus display regular oppositions between perfective and imperfective predicates, this opposition can be captured in such representations as (34a-b). (34a) b)

Impf ready (John) Ag (the paper)Q0 'John was reading the paper' Pf ready (John)K% (the paper)Go 'John read the paper'

For a concrete example, compare Hungarian: 7

36

Simon C. Dik

(35a)

b)

Olvastam az üjsdg-ot read-I the paper-acc (imperfective) Impf olvasy (dlx;: +S(xi))Ag (dlxj: «/s

si

firewood

kÄyu

GEN

INSTR

ΐέέρέ

ADV

From aspect to tense in Lulubo

Ü-fli

253

äk0

NF-kill without "'According to our custom, we are cooked with milk and with AAyu (a kind of grass that burns very fast) as fuel without being killed first'" (37e) has the imperfective aspect, and the adverbial läbl ämä rcöya 'according to our custom' makes explicit that what is referred to is a habitual situation. Notice also the use of the perfective with the stative verb Ιέ 'to want' in (37b), and the use of the future tense in (37c).

4.2. Lulubo At first sight, the semantics of the perfective/imperfective contrast in Lulubo looks similar to that in Moru, at least if we consider only isolated sentences. In narratives, however, the distribution of perfective and imperfective clauses is strangely different from that in Moru. In the latter language, as we have seen, events on the event line are described with perfective clauses. In Lulubo, by contrast, such events are almost always described with imperfective clauses. This is illustrated by the following fragment of a folk tale: (38a)

kepi

kb-

mbd)

αά^ύ

nl

spear

ACC

Kenyi 3-collect/IMPF 'Kenyi collected the spears' b)

ko - kl

pärirjä

ri

3-go/IMPF carnivore G E N 'He went near the carnivore' c)

d)

ko - tü

taka

ägd

chest/LOC di

3 - c l i m b / I M P F platform/GEN 'He climbed onto the platform'

head

azl

ände

kb-

wi

lie - ni

nl

then

mother

3-INGR/IMPF

monster

D2-SG

GEN

ürjgwe

ö - rjgo

rl si

call/NF NF-sing INSTR 'Then his mother started calling that monster with a song' This use of the imperfective form would seem to be anything but prototypical of an imperfective aspect, and the question is whether an aspectual interpretation is compatible with this use at all. Perfective clauses are not excluded from narratives, but they are much less

254

Torben Andersen

frequent than imperfective clauses in this type of discourse. Examples such as that in fragment (39) are typical. (39a)

άηάά

ini

did

ADV

day

another I N S T R

si

lyi

nl

e-

kepi

ko - ki

Kenyi

3-go/IMPF

gold

river/LOC

gu

water G E N C P - c a r r y / N F 'Another day Kenyi went to the river to fetch water' b)

ko - ki

gold

kö-U

3 - g o / I M P F river/LOC 3-EGR/IMPF 'When he had reached the river,' c)

kepi

ko-twe

awl

Kenyi 3-untie/IMPF 3S 'Kenyi took his clothes off' d)

dia

pita

lit

ri

lösü

nl

GEN

dress

ACC

3 -de

A D V Pita D2/LOC 3-fall/PF 'Meanwhile Pita had followed him' e)

pita

kb-nde

Pita 3-see/IMPF 'Pita saw Kenyi' f)

g)

k - agwe

ba-ά

ground-LOC

ba>

nd

tb

track

POSS3/LOC

ADV

kepi

nl

Kenyi

ACC

agwe

3-be.beautiful/IMPF 'He was handsome'

be.beautiful/VA

azl

k - εηά

k - e-ki

rä

ämbärjd

then 3 - C P - g o / I M P F 3-tell/IMPF T R sister 'Then she came and told it to her sister Kide'

kide

ηί

Kide

DAT

(39) begins with a sequence of imperfective clauses which describe events on the event line, but in (39d) the sequence is interrupted by a perfective clause. Clearly, this clause describes an event which occurred prior to the events described by the preceding clauses (39b - c), as I have indicated by using the past perfect in the English translation. The following clause (39e) is, again, an imperfective clause, which resumes the event line. The same phenomenon can be observed in fragment (40), where the perfective clauses (40c - d) interrupt the event line. (40a)

lago

k -

dpa

3S 3-escape/IMPF 'He escaped' b)

ko - ijgwl

bä

d$iirii

- ο

3-return/IMPF home/LOC village-LOC 'and returned home to the village'

From aspect to tense in Lulubo c)

Idgo

3 — zT

ki

dbi

νώ

3S 3-take/PF year many POSTP 'He had spent many years in the bush' d)

3 de

dyi

Id

grass

LOC

255

tb

3+become.old/PF ADV 'and had become old' e)

dndd

k - c - s d

bd

ADV 3-CP-arrive/IMPF 'He reached near the home' f)

dzl

ko - Tjgl

dzl

ko -

near

rl

then 3-fall/IMPF 'and then he fell' g)

ti

home

REFL

dd

then 3-die/IMPF 'and died' Compare the above-mentioned way of using the perfective and the imperfective with the way they are used in dialogues. The following are examples of dialogical discourse embedded in narrative discourse, that is, direct speech by characters of the narrative: (41a)

3gwa

k - c - s d

kast

duiker 3-CP-arrive/IMPF walking in grass) 'Duiker arrived' b)

ikere

k - ό -

k

still lS-plant/PF groundnut Ί have not planted groundnuts' (51a)

m-idi

rl

tfomondi

lS-plant/IMPF TR groundnut Ί am planting groundnuts' b)

m - idi

tfomondi

not nl

ACC

kco

lS-plant/PF groundnut not Ί am not planting groundnuts' Notice, however, that although the morphological contrast is neutralized in negative clauses, the tense opposition itself is not: if a negative clause is intended as a description of a relative past situation, the adverb ad) is needed, cf. (50b), while the absence of this adverb indicates that the situation referred to is relative nonpast, cf. (51b). In positive clauses adi means 'still', as in the nonverbal clause (52). (52)

ml adI

kdyozigd

2S still young.woman 'You are still a young woman' Thus the relative past tense must be characterized as marked, and the relative nonpast tense as unmarked. This, on the other hand, is in conflict with the fact that the perfective verb form rather than the imperfective verb form is used in negative clauses. However, if the tense opposition is hypothesized to have developed from an aspectual opposition identical with that in Moru, then this conflict gets a natural historical explanation: the use of the perfective verb form in negative clauses is a retention from the stage when the perfective was semantically and formally the unmarked member of the opposition, that is, when the perfective still had aspectual meaning.

260

Torben Andersen

5. S u m m a r y Aspect as a grammatical category exists in most of the languages that belong to the Moru - Madi group. In these languages the basic order of core constituents of finite verbal clauses is SV(O), but in the indicative mood such clauses contrast with clauses in which the subject is followed by a nonfinite verb phrase. The latter clause type expresses imperfectivity. Since in nonfinite verb phrases the object precedes the verb, imperfective clauses appear to have the constituent order S ( 0 ) V , but the subject of such clauses is variously marked in ways that distinguish it from the subject of clauses with the S V ( O ) order. T o the extent that S V ( O ) clauses contrast with imperfective clauses, they express perfectivity. As I have shown in this article, Lulubo deviates from the other Moru - Madi languages. In Lulubo, imperfective clauses have the constituent order S V ( O ) just like perfective clauses, and the verb is finite in both clause types. What distinguishes imperfective from perfective clauses in Lulubo are inter alia (i) the inflection of the verb and, if the verb has an overt object, (ii) accusative marking of the object by means of a postposition. O n the other hand, as I have demonstrated, these very features are vestiges of an earlier stage in which imperfective clauses had the same structure as they do at present in the other Moru Madi languages. Thus the following morphosyntactic changes have taken place in Lulubo: (i) change in constituent order from S O V to S V O , which had the side effect of (ii) turning a genitive marker into an accusative marker; subsequently, and made possible by the constituent order change, (iii) contraction of imperfective pronominal subjects and nonfinite verb forms, resulting ultimately in (iv) a new inflection of the verb on a par with, but different from, the original person - number inflection of the verb in perfective clauses, thus making aspect an inflectional category. Besides, Lulubo also differs from the other Moru - Madi languages in the use of perfective and imperfective clauses. In Lulubo, as I have argued, perfective clauses seem to indicate relative past tense, and imperfective clauses seem to indicate relative nonpast tense. But again, there is evidence that even in Lulubo the semantic contrast was originally one of aspect rather than one of tense. In conclusion, Lulubo has innovated both morphosyntactically and semantically. The grammatical category of aspect has become an inflectional category, and its aspectual contrast has become a tense contrast. Possibly, the semantic change from aspect to tense was enabled or facilitated by the relative demarking of the imperfective which resulted from the morphosyntactic changes.

From aspect to tense in Lulubo

Transcription

261

Conventions

Vowel symbols and consonant symbols have IPA values, except for the following: /d/

=

voiced interdental stop

/d/

=

voiced retroflex stop

/']/

=

implosive palatal stop

/t/

=

voiceless interdental stop

/t/

=

voiceless retroflex stop

/y/

=

palatal glide

The vowels fall into two sets in terms of the feature Advanced Tongue Root: [+ATR]

/ i e ΛΟu /

[-ATR]

/ ι ε a ο ro /

Tones are indicated by diacritics in the following way: / '/

=

high

/7

=

mid

/ V

=

low

/ 7

=

high+low

/ 7

=

low+high

ΓΊ

=

high+mid

A tone symbol without a vowel symbol beneath it indicates a "floating" tone.

Acknowledgements The fieldwork on which this article is based was carried out in the Sudan in February-August 1984, July-August 1985, June-August 1986 and March-May 1988. I wish to thank the Danish Research Council for the Humanities for its financial support.

Notes 1. In addition to the perfective/imperfective contrast, the Moru-Madi languages have a number of particles and auxiliary verbs that express what Dik (1987:61) calls "phasal aspect". These aspect markers are not considered in the present article. 2. The transcription is phonemic. Moru, Madi and Lulubo all have three tones, which are indicated by diacritics: low (V), mid (V), and high (V). A vowel can carry a sequence of two tones, e.g. low-high (V). The phonemic systems of Madi and Lulubo are described in Andersen (1986b, 1987). 3. The following abbreviations are used in interlinear translations: 1P/2P/3P

= first/second/third person plural

1PEX/1PIN

= first person plural exclusive/inclusive

1S/2S/3S

= first/second/third person singular

3

= third person

ACC

= accusative

ADV

= adverb

AP

= antipassive

C

= completive

COM

= comitative

262

Torben

Andersen

COND

= conditional

CONJ

= conjunction

CP D1

= centripetal

D2 D3

= "second person" demonstrative = "third person" demonstrative

DAT

= dative

EGR

= egressive

FOC

= focus

FUT

= future

GEN IMPF

= genitive = imperfective

INGR INSTR

= ingressive

= "first person" demonstrative

INTERR

= instrumental = interrogative

LOC

= locative

Μ

= multiplicative

MASC

= masculine

NEG

= negative

NF

= nonfinite

PF

= perfective

PL POSS3

= plural = third person possessive

POSTP

= postposition

PTC

= particle

REFL

= reflexive

SG SUBJ

= singular or singulative

SUF TR VA

= subjunctive or imperative = suffix = transitive = verbal adverb

UNSP = unspecified person An oblique stroke (/) indicates that the following element of meaning is expressed solely by the final tone of the word or solely or partly by the tone pattern of the word. A plus (+) between two elements of meaning indicates that they are expressed by one morph. 4. In Moru, as well as in Madi and Lulubo, prefix vowels are subjected to vowel harmony controlled by the root vowel(s), see Andersen (1986a, 1986b, 1987). 5. I do not know whether the unspecified person can combine with the subjunctive mood. 6. " C " symbolizes both single consonant phonemes, some of which are transcribed as a sequence of two, three or four consonant symbols, and consonant clusters, all of which consist of a consonant plus a glide (/w/ or /y/). 7. The narratives quoted in this article are folk tales. The Lulubo tales were performed orally and then transcribed from tape recordings. The Moru tales, on the other hand, were produced directly in writing. 8. The future tense should perhaps be considered a mood rather than a tense, see Andersen (1986a). 9. 5 ^ 3 in (44b) seems to be a petrified unspecified person perfective verb form.

From aspect to tense in Lulubo

263

References Andersen, Torben 1984

"Aspect and word order in Moru ", Journal -34.

of African Languages

and Linguistics 6: 19

1986a

"Verbal inflexion in Moru", Afrika und Übersee 69: 19 - 43.

1986b 1987

"The phonemic system of Madi", Afrika und Übersee 69: 193 - 207. "An outline of Lulubo phonology", Studies in African Linguistics 18: 39 - 65.

Callinan, Lynne 1986

"Sentence constructions in Avokaya", Occasional Languages

Papers in the Study of

Sudanese

5: 48 - 72. Juba: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Comrie, Bernard 1985

Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dik, Simon C. 1987

"Copula auxiliarization: How and why?", in: Martin Harris - Paolo Ramat (eds.), 53 - 84.

Goyvaerts, D. L. 1986

"Markedness, language acquisition and the verbal system of Logo", in: D. L. Goyvaerts (ed.), Language 44).

Antwerp:

and history in Central Africa (Antwerp Papers in Linguistics

Universiteit

Antwerpen,

Departement

Germaanse,

Afdeling

Linguist'iek, 9 - 29. Harris, Martin - Paolo Ramat (eds.) 1987

Historical

development

of auxiliaries

(Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs

35). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Tucker, A. N. 1940

The Eastern Sudanic languages. Volume 1. London: Oxford University Press.

Tucker, Α. Ν. - M. A. Bryan 1956

The Non-Bantu languages of North-Eastern Part 3. London: Oxford University Press.

Africa. Handbook of African languages,

Tense, m o o d and aspect in K a m m u Jan-Olof Svantesson

1. Background In this article I will describe the tense-mood-aspect system in Kammu (Khmu), a language belonging to the Kammuic (Khmuic) branch of the MonKhmer division of the Austroasiatic language family. It is spoken by some 500,000 persons in Northern Laos and in adjacent areas of Thailand, Vietnam, China and Burma. The Kammu dialect described here, known as Yuan, is spoken in the Nam Tha area in Northern Laos (see Lindell - Svantesson Tayanin 1981, Svantesson 1983). Verbs (including adjectives) and nouns have no inflectional morphology in Kammu, which thus is an isolating language in relation to these word-classes. The major tense-mood-aspect system is based on verb particles. There is a third open word-class in Kammu, the expressives, which have a well developed morphology. Part of the expressive morphology is used to express aspectual categories, and can be regarded as a supplementary aspect system. The basic word order is SVO, and all kinds of modifiers follow the head of a noun phrase. Although clause constituents can be topicalised, the topiccomment structure is less prominent than in some other East Asian languages, such as Chinese or Japanese. Grammatical categories are marked by word order or by particles, which are fewer, however, than in many other isolating East Asian languages. The data for this article comes from informant work and from folkloristic texts (recorded by Kristina Lindell and Damrong Tayanin). With Kam Raw as informant I have gone through a tense-mood-aspect questionnaire devised by Osten Dahl (Dahl 1985, cf. also Svantesson 1984). Examples from this questionnaire are marked Q and the number of the sentence as given in Dahl (1985: 198-206). I have followed the terminology used by Bernard Comrie in his books Aspect (1976) and Tense (1985) as closely as possible, and I refer to them for definitions of the terms for tense-mood-aspect categories.

266

Jan-Olof Svantesson

2. The verbal tense-mood-aspect system Like many other languages in the area, Kammu lacks tense, i.e., a category that refers to time only, although sentences with future time reference are obligatorily marked for irrealis mood (cf. Comrie 1985: 50 ff. for tenseless languages). The unmarked verb form is used for past and present time reference, as well as for generic statements. Thus, sentence (1) can be translated as 'the cat(s) mew(ed)', 'cats mew', etc. (1)

meew

yaam

cat

mew

(Q73)

There is only one modal marker, irrealis cba, the only Kammu word used exclusively as a marker for tense, aspect or mood. There are two aspect categories in Kammu: perfect (hooc) and habitual (kü). Other aspect distinctions, such as perfective vs. imperfective are not made, and there is no progressive form. Thus, sentence (1) can also mean "The cat is/was mewing". The aspect markers in Kammu are verbs, which can function as the main verb of a clause, but which can denote aspect categories when combined with other verbs. As main verbs, hooc means 'to finish' and kü 'to like'. A possible criterion for verbhood in Kammu is that verbs can be immediately preceded by negations (the general negation pas and the perfect negation praa), whereas no other words can. Even when used as aspect markers, hooc and kü can be negated, while caa cannot. This indicates that the uses of hooc and kü as aspect markers can be regarded as special cases of verb concatenation, a process which is common in Kammu as well as in many other East Asian languages. Verb concatenation has a number of uses in Kammu, which include denoting simultaneous or consecutive situations, showing the direction or manner of a movement or action, showing result or potentiality, etc. In the next three sections I will treat the categories irrealis, perfect and habitual in greater detail and exemplify their use.

2.1. Irrealis The irrealis marker cbs never functions as an independent verb. It precedes the verb, and only negations and some other sentence adverbs can intervene between caa and the verb. The word cba is obviously related to the irrealis marker ca?in Lao and Thai.

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu

267

Lao and Thai are Tai languages which are not genetically related to Kammu, but the languages have been in close contact for a long time, and Kammu has a large number of Tai loan-words. The word cha does not follow the usual phonological correspondence patterns for such loans, however, and since it is fully integrated in the syntactic structure of all these languages, it must be a fairly old loan. The direction of the loan is difficult to ascertain. Irrealis mood is used for non-actual events (cf. C h u n g & Timberlake 1985: 241 ff.), i.e. when it is uncertain f r o m some point of view if a situation actually obtains or not. The actuality of the situation is usually seen f r o m the speaker's point of view, so that irrealis mood is used if the speaker believes that something is/was happening but is not sure (2, 3): (2)

kba

cba

kooc

cldag

(Q24)

he IRR write letter ' H e is/was probably writing a letter.' This sentence could be the answer to a question "What is he doing right now?" or to "What was he doing yesterday evening?" in a situation where the speaker does not actually k n o w whether the letter-writing takes/took place or not. (3)

mian

cba

mbh

kläarj

kii

Ιε

like IRR be stone this PART '[It is] as if it were this stone [that sang].' In (3), f r o m a folk-tale, the speaker had heard a stone sing, but did not quite believe what he heard. Irrealis can also show that the speaker quotes and denies something that someone else has said. In (4) the speaker thought that a task was easy, although her husband thought it was difficult, and (5) was said by a man whose wife did not recognise him. (4)

kbs

C33

yaak

mbh

it IRR difficult what ' W h y should it be so difficult?' (5)

C39

pia

mbh

kle

paa

bnmb

IRR not be husband you why ' W h y should [I] not be your husband?' (= ' W h y do you think I'm not your husband?') Future situations are regarded as non-actual in Kammu, and irrealis mood is obligatorily used for them:

268

(6)

Jan-Olof

kss

Svantesson

C33

ybh

sipatj

he IRR go tomorrow 'He will go tomorrow.' For negated future situations, caa can be combined with the negation />aa, which immediately precedes the verb (7). caa is not obligatory, however, and is usually omitted, as in (8). (7)

caa

pas

pian

ps

mah

IRR not can eat food '[I] will not be able to eat anything.' (8)

&aa

pas

ybh

sipar)

he not go tomorrow 'He will not go tomorrow.' In imperative sentences, irrealis is not used: (9)

mee

sis

sok,

ό

cos

sis

lit)

you sleep outside I IRR sleep middle 'You sleep on the outside, and I'll sleep in the middle.' Irrealis is also used about a situation that was supposed to occur, regardless of whether it did in fact occur or not, and also regardless of whether the speaker knows if it occurred or not: (10)

mbb

kncb

neey

&aa

caa

root

is yesterday PART he IRR come 'It was yesterday he was supposed to come.' Irrealis can also express an intention which may or may not be realised. In this case, the situation is non-actual from the point of view of the agent of the sentence rather than the speaker: (11)

waay

ni

&aa

s6ok

r)dor

cba

after that he seek way 'Then he tried to find his way home.' (12)

yem

trial

cba

pntru

when pheasant then

IRR

decorate crow,

priarj

tSam

?wiak

koo

IRR

puuc

kl?aak,

wee

return nbo

they

mian

others drink wine sing beautiful 'When the pheasant was going to decorate the crow, they heard people drinking wine and singing beautifully.' (13)

p33

äh

mah

caa

pnmäh

kion

not have food IRR feed child '[He] did not have food to feed his children.'

tee

REFL

mec

hear

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu

269

Similarly, if there is a conditional subordinate clause, the main clause is usually marked for irrealis: (14)

thaa

kb3

rap

kmiiul

la,

kba

C33

wbct

if he get money PART he IRR buy kbooykhwdn uun naa te (Q105, 106) gift give she IO 'If he has/had received the money, he would have bought a present for her.' In complement clauses, the actuality of the situation is judged from the point of view of the subject of the matrix clause: (15)

ΙΛΛ

ess

uun

ö

te

kmuul

he say IRR give I IO money 'He said that he would give me the money.' (16)

(17)

ksd

kuun

coon

he believe say REFL IRR see 'He believed that he would see the thief.'

thief

kss

tiim

tök'lör)

sah

C33

tee

d>3

riot

he promise I R R come 'He promised to come.'

2.2. Perfect Perfect is marked by the word hooc, which means "to finish" when used as a verb: (18)

mh

hooc

hntii

cntraij

tee

kdal

pian

pb

mah

anyone finish hole pole R E F L first can eat food 'Those who finish their house-pole holes first will get food to eat.' (19)

ρήατ}

C33

hooc

kaal

6

others IRR finish before I 'The others will be finished before me.' The verb hooc is also a marker for perfect. Comrie's (1976: 52 ff.) definition of the perfect category fits in well with Kammu perfect: it typically denotes a situation which occurred before present time (or before some other reference time in the past or future), and which has 'present relevance', i.e. its result remains and is relevant for the discourse situation at present time (or at the reference time). In other words, Kammu perfect corresponds fairly well to perfect and pluperfect in languages such as English or Swedish (as noted by Dahl

270

Jan-Olof

Svantesson

1985: 130). In the following examples, the reference time is present (20), past (21) or future (22): (20)

ό

pb

mah

hooc

I eat food P R F Ί have eaten.' (21)

khiarj

hntii

ni

hooc,

τηλ\ί

kon

haan

ni

maan

dig hole that P R F take man die that bury 'When [they] had dug the hole, [they] buried the dead man [in it].' (22)

sipärj

d

tomorrow I

cos

pb

mah

hooc

kaal

kmra

IRR

eat

food

PRF

before wife

root

come

taa

to

kdaiι

home 'Tomorrow I will have eaten before [my] wife comes home.' Present (or, more generally, reference time) relevance is a necessary condition for using the perfect. For instance, (23) is an appropriate answer to the question "Is the king still alive?", where the subject of interest is the king, but as an answer to a general question "What happened today?" a non-perfect sentence such as (24) is more likely. (23)

kba

haan

he die 'He has died.' (24)

cdw-ctiwit

hooc

(Q56)

PRF (Q67)

hdan

king die 'The king died.' This shows that hooc is not a perfective aspect marker, and its use is much more limited than e.g. Chinese le or the Russian perfective. Typically perfective situations whose results are not directly relevant at present time are not marked with hooc, even if the result as such remains: (25)

rooy

Iwaaij

koh

crkuul

ti

kba

spirit heaven cut finger hand he 'The spirit of heaven cut off his fingers.' When the situation is static, perfect denotes ingressive (inchoative) aspect, i.e. the beginning of a state: (26)

k6on

sis

hooc

child sleep P R F 'The child has/had fallen asleep.'

271

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu

(27)

kba hooc mbh khuu 6 he PRF be teacher I 'He has/had become my teacher.'

Sentence (26) can be compared with non-perfect koon sis 'The child is/was sleeping.' There is a special perfect negation praa (28), which can be compared with the plain negation pSa (29): (28)

(29)

ό praa pb mäh I N P R F eat food Ί have/had not eaten.' ό ρ 33 pb mäh I not eat food Ί am/was not eating.'

kbon praa sis child N P R F sleep 'The child has/had not fallen asleep' kbon pba sis child not sleep 'The child is/was not sleeping.'

Praa can be used with future time reference: (30)

ό cbo praa pb mäh kaal kmrä root I IRR N P R F eat food before wife come Ί will not have eaten before [my] wife comes home.'

täa to

käarj home

Although perfect hooc usually follows the verb and its object(s), it can also precede it or be repeated so that it both follows and precedes it: (31)

(32)

yorj father 'Your nbo they 'They

mee hooc wee ria you PRF return leave father has left to go home.' hooc pb kba hooc PRF eat it PRF have eaten it.'

In statements, the position of hooc does not seem to change the meaning, but in questions a preposed hooc denotes experience. Thus, in (33) the question is whether the listener has ever met the speaker's father, but (34) asks whether a specific meeting (which the speaker probably knew about) did in fact take place. In both cases a positive answer could be (35) and a negative (36). (33)

(34)

bee mee Q you 'Have you bee mee Q you 'Have you

hooc pip yog ό PRF meet father I ever met my father?' pip ydij ö hooc meet father I PRF met my father?'

272 (35)

Jan-Olof 33,

Svantesson ö

pip

kss

hooc

yes I meet he 'Yes, I have met him.' (36)

praa,

ό

praa

PRF

pip

k$3

NPRF I NPRF meet 'No, I have not met him.'

he

2.3. Habitual The habitual marker is ku, a word which means 'to like' when used as a main verb: (37)

nbo

ku

puuc

they like wine 'They like wine.' It also expresses habitual situations, i.e. situations that occur repeatedly during a relatively long stretch of time. The habitual has a modal meaning as well, indicating that the speaker judges the situation to occur usually or normally, but not necessarily always (38). The non-habitual (i.e. unmarked) form can also be used for repeated situations such as in (39), but this is more a matterof-fact statement of what actually happens. (38)

koo

ku

ybh

miag-theey

küu

pii

he HAB go Thailand each 'He usually goes to Thailand each year.' (39)

koo

ybh

miarj-theey

kuu

year

pii

he go Thailand each year 'He goes to Thailand each year.' As said above, the habitual is not used for generic statements. The negation p33 can occur either before the marker kü or between ku and the main verb: (40)

nbo

kü

Twtak

püuc

they

HAB/like

drink

wine

'They usually drink wine./They like to drink wine.' (41)

nbo

pSa

kü

?wiak

puuc

they

not

HAB/like drink

wine

'They usually don't drink wine./They don't like to drink wine.' (42)

nbo

ku

ρ 39

?wtak

puuc

they

HAB/?like

not

drink

wine

'They usually don't drink wine./PThey like not to drink wine.'

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu

273

With the habitual interpretation there seems to be no difference between (41) and (42), but the main verb interpretation of (42) is unusual, if not impossible. The habitual and perfect can be combined: (43)

ό kü pb mah hooc yem kmrä root I HAB eat food PRF when wife come Ί have usually eaten when [my] wife comes home.'

taa to

kaarj home

3. Aspect in expressives The expressives form a third major word-class in Kammu, alongside of verbs and nouns. Expressives are words which describe how the speaker perceives a situation with the senses, how it sounds, looks, smells, tastes or feels, or which describe the speaker's feelings. Expressives follow the verb as complements: (44)

KBO

yoh

CAAC-CAAC

he walk EXP(walk with long steps) 'He is walking with long steps.' Expressives have a well developed morphology which involves some degree of iconicity (Svantesson to appear; cf. also Bergman - Dahl in this volume). Furthermore, expressive phonology and phonotactics are often somewhat aberrant and can give the feeling of playing games with words, although the expressives are a regular part of the language. See Svantesson (1983) for a detailed description of Kammu expressives. The expressive morphology denotes categories which are at least partially aspectual, and it can thus be used to supplement the verbal aspect system. It should be noted, however, that such a use of expressives is never obligatory, and that the frequency of expressives varies with the style of speech and with the individual speaker. Expressive roots are bound forms that carry the basic meaning. The expressives are formed from the roots by reduplication and prefixation, and by combinations of these operations. Each expressive-forming operation has a meaning which is related to aspect. The different types of expressive-forming operations that occur are given in (45), where R denotes the root, C a consonant which is lexically determined for each root, and C f is the final consonant (coda) of the root. (45)

a. R-R (or R-roR

dynamic durative situation

274

Jan-Olof

Svantesson

b. C R punctual situation rR c. C R - C R iterated punctual situation rR-rR d. C C f R static situation rCfR The form R-&«R is a lexically determined variant of R - R . The second form in each pair (the forms which contain the consonant r), expresses plurality, i.e. the fact that several entities are involved in the situation (e.g. CAAC-YQCAAC 'many people walk with long steps'). They will not be dealt with in detail here, since plurality is not an aspect distinction (but some examples are given in (46) below). The infixed coda (C f ) makes the word disyllabic with a non-phonemic shwa as the vowel of the first syllable, so that e.g. PCCAAC (46d) is pronounced [paccAx]. Examples of the different types of expressives are: (46)

a.

CAAC-CAAC

'walk with long steps' CAAC-rrjCAAC

'many people walk with long steps' b.

pCAAC

'take one long step' rCAAC

'many people take one long step each' C.

pCAAC—pCAAC

'jump on one leg' TCAAC-rCAAC

'many people jump on one leg' d.

ρ CCA AC

'stand on one leg' YCCAAC

'many people stand on one leg' (47)

a.

haal-haal

'hold out (e.g. tongue) and move it' b.

cbdal

'stick out (e.g. tongue)' c.

chdal-chaal

'stick out (e.g. tongue) repeatedly' d.

clbdal

'hold out (e.g. tongue) without moving it'

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu (48)

a.

275

teen-teen 'sparkling light'

b.

steen 'light blinking o n c e '

c.

steen-steen 'blinking light'

d.

snteen 'steady light'

(49)

b. p ? k A j 'become angry' d.

py?ÄAy 'be angry'

(50)

b.

chbik 'become blue'

d.

cbkbik 'be blue'

W h e n the basic meaning of the expressive r o o t is static (49, 50), the punctual f o r m (b) is interpreted as ingressive, denoting the beginning o f a state. In such cases, the durative f o r m s (a, c) c a n n o t usually be f o r m e d . W h e n the basic meaning is d y n a m i c , the static expressive denotes a ' f r o z e n ' action as in (46d). T h e aspect contrasts that can be isolated in the K a m m u expressives are static vs. d y n a m i c , durative vs. non-durative and punctual vs. n o n - p u n c t u a l : static a.

R-R

b.

CR

c.

CR-CR

d.

CCfR

durative

punctual

+ + +

+

+

E a c h o f these aspect contrasts is expressed b y a separate m o r p h o l o g i c a l o p e ration: reduplication f o r durative, c o n s o n a n t prefixation f o r punctual, and c o d a infixation ( c o m b i n e d with c o n s o n a n t prefixation) f o r static. T h e use of reduplication f o r durativity is clearly iconic, and there seems to be s o m e i c o n i c i t y involved in denoting punctual situations with the prefixation o f a single c o n s o n a n t , m o s t often a stop. Perhaps c o d a infixation makes the p r o n u n c i a t i o n o f the w o r d m o r e static b y giving it t w o syllables with the same coda, b u t this m a y be going t o o far in the search for iconicity. T h e use of the vibrant [r] for plurality is iconic, however, since it is the o n l y K a m m u p h o n e m e which audibly consists o f several repetitions o f o n e sound.

276

Jan-Olof

Svantesson

4. C o n c l u s i o n As a rule, the isolating East Asian languages have rather few tense - mood aspect categories, and many of them, e.g. Chinese, Burmese, Lao and Thai lack pure tense, as does Kammu. The paucity of the tense - mood - aspect system is in a way compensated for by the possibility of combining verb meanings by verb concatenation which exists in most of these languages. In Kammu the expressives provide a supplementary system for making aspect distinctions. In contrast with the irrealis mood marker cbs, which functions only as a grammatical marker, the Kammu aspect markers are verbs whose use as aspect markers is more or less grammaticalised. It is difficult, however, to draw a strict dividing-line between the two uses. For instance, both meanings of ku are almost always possible in a given sentence (if the subject is animate), so that e.g. (38) can be interpreted as meaning "He likes to go to Thailand each year", in addition to the habitual "He usually goes to Thailand each year". It can also be difficult to draw the dividing-line between those verbs that have been grammaticalised as aspect markers and those that have not. For example, there is a verb looc 'to be used up' which is often used as a result complement, with the meaning that some entity has been used up completely or that the action has been applied to all available entities. This often, but not always, implies a perfect meaning: compare (51) with the ordinary perfect (52): (51)

kba

pb

kd

looc

he eat fish used+up 'He has eaten up/ate up the fish.' (52)

käs

pb

ka

hooc

he eat fish PRF 'He has eaten fish.' Since the perfect meaning of looc seems to be secondary to its basic meaning, I have not regarded it as a perfect marker, but this decision is somewhat arbitrary. The verbal tense - mood - aspect system in Kammu has much in common with the corresponding systems in the genetically unrelated languages Lao and Thai. Kammu even shares the irrealis marker with these languages, and recently, a Lao/Thai progressive marker has been borrowed into Kammu as kmläg. Its use seems to be sporadic so far, but such examples show that unrelated languages which are in close contact can influence each other in central parts of the grammar. In their contribution to this volume, Bergman and Dahl found remarkable similarities between the tense - mood - aspect systems of Kammu and Swedish

Tense, mood and aspect in Kammu

171

Sign Language, both being isolating languages with a periphrastic verbal tense - m o o d - aspect system supplemented by another aspect system based to a large extent on reduplication. Since these two languages have never been in any kind of contact with each other, the reasons for their similarity should be sought at a deeper level where the iconic nature of many of the processes involved must play an important role.

Abbreviations

and transcription

The following abbreviations are used in the glosses: EXP

expressive

HAB

habitual marker indirect object marker

ΙΟ IRR

irrealis marker

NPRF

perfect negation

PART

particle

PRF

perfect marker

Q

question particle

REFL

reflexive pronoun

IPA symbols are used throughout, except that y = IP A [j] and η = IPA [jl]. Kammu has two tones, high (') and low (*).

References Bergmann, Brita - Osten Dahl This volume. Ideophones in Sign Language? The place of reduplication in the tense-aspect system of Swedish Sign Language. Chung, Sandra - Alan Timberlake 1985

"Tense, aspect, and mood". In Language

typology and syntactic description, ed. Timo-

thy Shopen, Vol. 3, 202-258. Comrie, Bernard 1976 Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985 Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dahl, Osten 1985

Tense and aspect systems. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Lindell, Kristina - Jan-Olof Svantesson - Damrong Tayanin 1981

"Phonology of Kammu dialects", Cahiers de linguistique Asie Orientale

9: 45-71.

Shopen, Timothy (ed.) 1985

Language Press.

typology and syntactic description Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University

278

Jan-Olof

Svantesson

Svantesson, Jan-Olof 1983 Kammu phonology and morphology. Lund: Gleerup. 1984 "Sketch of the tense-mood-aspect system of Kammu". In Selected working papers from the tense-mood-aspect project, ed. Osten Dahl & Dora Kos-Dienes. Stockholm: Stockholm University. 44-48. to appear "Iconicity in Kammu morphology". Proceedings from the 33rd International Conference on Asian and North African Studies, Toronto, August 1990.

Aspect in Chinese Soren E g e r o d

0. General remarks Chinese is the only member of the Eastern branch of Sino-Tibetan. In modern times it is composed of a number of languages, which are for historical reasons usually referred to as dialects (Egerod 1974). During its long history the Chinese language has undergone many structural changes, resulting several times in a change of general typology. 1 As regards aspect the trend has been from little concern with categories of this nature to considerable emphasis on just such phenomena. Although discernible here and there, especially in Modern Chinese, the category of tense has always played a secondary role in relation to aspect. 2

1. Archaic Chinese 1.1. Early A r c h a i c C h i n e s e 1.1.1. A s p e c t in lexicon The grammar of Early Archaic Chinese (first half of first millennium B.C.) has been described in detail in D o b s o n (1959). D o b s o n operates with aspect, but in reality he just lists such adverbs and modal verbs as can be said to define "a point in the progress of the action", "degrees of incidence" (such as iteratives and number adverbs), or the concept "momentary" as opposed to "customary". The aspects defining a point in the progress are said to be: point of conception = desiderative; point prior to realization = potential; point or span in period of realization = durative; point of completion = perfective; point of successful completion = resultative. All of this can be quite useful to the learner of the language, but the use of these adverbs is so sporadic and irregular that they do not add up to an aspectual system. It rather tells us what the language can or must do occasionally, precisely because there is no elaborate aspectual system available.

280

Soren

Egerod

1.1.2. A s p e c t in g r a m m a r 1.1.2.1.

Possessives

with

verbs

What traces there are of something more systematic within the scope of the category of aspect - not analyzed as such by Dobson - is connected with the use of verbs in certain special constructions, not least those involving possessive pronouns, especially qi Ä and jue Μ , both third person possessives irrespective of gender or number, qi is used for the subject or the object in mostly non-past sentences, jue for the (ergative) agent in certain past perfective subordinate clauses (Egerod 1986). The examples below are from the Shu Jing 'Book of Documents': (1)

tidn qi sben ming yong xiü? πρ /Heaven/its/renew/mandate/use/blessing/ 'As for Heaven, it will renew the mandate and apply blessings' (5.10)

(2)

diqinianzäi '^rÄ/S^ /emperor/his/ponder/''exclamation"/ 'May the emperor ponder it!' (5.17)

(3)

yüqishä /I/his/kill/ Ί shall kill him' (30.14)

Qi also occurs as agent after pronouns of the first and second persons: (4)

wo shi qi wei yln xiän zhe wäng de /I/always/his = my/think of/Yin (dynasty) /former/wise/king/virtue/ Ί always think of the virtues of Yin's former wise kings' (29.20)

(5)

fan er zhöng qi wei ζ hi gao /universally/you/group/their = your/think of/effectuate/announcement/ 'You should all think of effectuating the announcement' (16.17)

(6)

wang jui you cheng ming ΞΕΜ^ίβ^αρ /king/his (ergative), by him/exist, have/fulfill/mandate/ 'If the king has fulfilled his mandate' (32.14)

(7)

jue wei fei yuan ming /his (ergative), by him/"there is" (existential particle) /neglect/ great/mandate/ 'when he had neglected the great mandate' (34.50)

Aspect in Chinese

281

(8)

jue bi di zhi ming MSP^^dp /his (ergative), by him/despise/God/"marker of possession'Vcommand/ 'Because he despised G o d ' s command' (38.5)

(9)

gao jue cheng gong π β ΐ ϋ /announce/his (ergative), by him/finish/work/ ' H e announced the work he had finished' (6.39)

The possessive/ergative construction is also found with noun agents (followed or not by the marker of possession zhi Ζ ): (10)

you wei yin zhi di zhü chen wei göng näi miän yü jiü wü yöngshäzhi X t i J & ^ & s t g t i l f l » f l ^ l f ö /further/"there is, as for'VYin (dynasty)/"marker of possession"/ lead/all/servant/"there is, who are"/official/"and thus, and'Vsteep/ in/wine/"don't"/necessarily/kill/them/ 'And further as to all of Yin's guided servants (guided by Yin), those who are officials and who steep themselves in wine, you need not kill them' (30.15)

(11)

wü zhuitiän zhi jiangbäo ming ^ ^ ^ / i P ^ f f n p /don't/let fall/Heaven/"marker of possession'Vsend down/precious/ mandate/ ' D o not let fall the precious mandate sent down by Heaven' (26.7)

(12)

yong ning wdng yiwö da bao gui /use/serene/king/hand down/I/great/precious/tortoise/ Ί have used the great precious tortoise handed down to me by the serene kings' (27.3)

So we have to distinguish between two types of possessive plus verb constructions, the (existential) agentive and the (subordinated) ergative: "There is his giving me a tortoise" > " H e gives (or "will give", rarely "gave") me a tortoise" and " H i s given-to-me tortoise" > "The tortoise which was given me by him, the tortoise which he gave me". 1.1.2.2. Voice and aspect The verb in the ergative construction must be thought of as a logical passive. The same is true when transitive verbs appear as predicates with their potential ("logical") object as subject, and also in this usage the aspectual implication is perfective.

282

Seren

(13)

Egerod

yüe wu ri jia yin wei cheng /and/five, fifth/day/name of day in sixty days cycle/emplacement/ achieve, determine/ 'and on the 5th day, jia yin, the emplacements were (achieved =) determined' (32.3)

Compare: (14)

χιάη ze sän huäi cheng fu /in all cases/then/three/soil/achieve, determine/revenue/ 'In all cases one took as norm the three (classes of) soil and determined the revenues' (6.31)

We have found here the verb cheng 'achieve, determine' as transitive active in one sentence, and as (logical) passive in the other. The active sentence is translated in the past tense, only because it is evident from the context that the action took place a long time ago, the passive is inherently perfective (but not necessarily past tense). Another example is: (15)

shäng qidian sang j^J^cÄfS /Shang (dynasty)/its (alienable)/laws, statutes/ lose/ 'When in Shang its statutes have been lost ...' (i.e., 'will have been lost ...') (20.8)

Compare: (16)

tiän wei sang ym rub se fü /Heaven/" there is "(existential particle)/lose, perish, destroy/ Yin (dynasty)/be like/farmer/man/ 'Heaven in destroying Yin is like a (weeding) farmer' (27.14)

1.1.2.3.

Possessives

with

nouns

The two third person pronouns which we met above as verb modifiers, q i ^ z and jue , also occur as noun modifiers. In this case qi expresses alienable possession, jue inalienable (Egerod 1986). As our first example we can refer to the sentence (15) quoted above shäng qi dian sang, where qi was glossed as /its (alienable)/. Compare also: (17) wo bu xhi qiyilün yöu xu /I/not/know/its(alienable)/constant/norm/"where,whereby"/order/ Ί do not know whereby its constant norms get their proper order' (24.2)

(18)

mnmmm^

Aspect in Chinese

283

yong qiyi xing yiisbä /use/their (alienable)/just/punishment/just/kill/ 'Apply their just punishments and killings' (29.13)

In the above examples 'its statues', 'its constant norms', 'their just punishments and killings' are alle exponents of alienable possession. Other nouns characteristically modified by qi are "horse", "offence","action". (19)

yündijuede /sincerely/lead on, push ahead/his (inalienable)/virtue/ 'If he sincerely pushes ahead his virtue' (4.1)

(20)

shen jue shen fMIffiM' /careful/his (inalienable)/body, person/ 'He should be careful about his person' (4.1)

(21)

pan 'geng nai de ng jin jue min /PN/then/mount/bring forward/his (inalienable)/people/ 'Pangeng then mounted and brought his people forward' (16.18)

Here 'his virtue', 'his person', 'his people' are examples of inalienable possession. Other examples of nouns modified by jui are "fate", "father", "son", α

»

α1

t

»

«

^

»

sovereign , heart , country . 1.1.2.4.

Conclusion

on

possessives

So qi, the dominating possessor, used with alienable nouns, also functions as agent and object of active non-past tense verbs, whereas jue ffli , dominated possessor, used with inalienable nouns, also indicates the ergative with subordinate past perfective verbs.

1.2. L a t e A r c h a i c Chinese 1.2.1. Ergative verbs Both of these constructions disappear before the next period, Late Archaic Chinese (second half of first millennium B.C.; so named by Dobson 1959). We do, however, still find the use of transitive verbs as predicate of their potential object. Not all transitive verbs behave this way. Those that do are called "ergative verbs" by Cikoski (1978). So the ergative construction as such has disappeared, but has left, as it were, part of its force to certain verbs, as for instance cheng 'achieve', which we have already met in Early Archaic Chinese above. The two constructions can be exemplified by cheng göng 'he achieved (finished) the work' versus göng cheng 'the work was achieved (finished)'. The latter is perfective.

284

Seren

Egerod

1.2.2. Lexical and grammatical aspects Dobson finds all the same aspects in Late Archaic Chinese as he describes for Early Archaic Chinese, expressed by the same or similar particles or modal verbs, and again they fail to constitute an aspectual system. It is surprising that Dobson should not have been willing to look for aspect where many modern grammarians of Archaic Chinese are convinced that they have found it, viz. in the use of the "final particles" ye i l l and yi (the first to realize the aspectual difference between these two particles was Erwin von Zach who calls yi "ein Ausdrück für das Perfektum" in von Zach 1926, and "eine Perfektpartikel" in von Zach 1930. See also Simon 1934). Dobson is of the opinion that these particles "impose a stress in the environment in which they occur", ye indicating the stress x/ye, yi the stress χ y/yi or zero y/yi. (I find no evidence whatsoever for this rather quixotic theory.)

1.2.3. The aspectual existential copulas Historically speaking ye "til seems to be a demonstrative pronoun. It is still used as such in the language of direct quotations in certain texts (Karlgren 1951). It occurs here after personal names with the force of a definite article, like "der Hans, den Hans, dem Hans" in German. Otherwise it is used after theme or rheme, in the first case denoting "as for that" > "as for ..., i.e., theme marker", in the second "that's how it is, i.e., rheme marker", see further below. The development of a demonstrative pronoun into a kind of copula is repeated in the language or dialect which became Modern Standard Chinese, where the classical pronoun shi 'that' has become the copula 'is'. The particle yi appears to be the equivalent of the particle ye plus a verb which is also pronounced yi tZj 'to finish', grammaticalized as 'already' (Pulleyblank 1978). It occurs only after a rheme, no matter whether this, in the normal way, follows the theme, or, on rare occasions, precedes it. This development also has a later parallel, in that one important modern Chinese particle of punctuality, subsentential le, is a weakened form of the verb liäo 'to finish'. Ye Ü1 and yi are both very common rheme markers, and as such exclude each other. Ye indicates a judgement or a state (Dawson 1968, Egerod 1972, Harbsmeier 1981), yi a change of state, whether temporal or logic (Harbsmeier 1981). A sentence ending in ye can be nominal or verbal, a sentence ending in yi is always verbal. Sentences without ye or yi tend to be, but are by no means always, adverbial. As "final particles" ye and yi are faint reflexions of systems found in some other Sino-Tibetan languages such as Tibetan or Akha, a Yipho (Lolo) lan-

Aspect in Chinese

285

guage o f C h i n a , B u r m a , and T h a i l a n d ( E g e r o d 1985), w h o s e "final p a r t i c l e s " ("existential c o p u l a s " o r " r h e m e m a r k e r s " ) a m o u n t t o a b o u t 30. W h i l e ye means 'that is the state obtaining', o r 'that is w h a t it is', γι tells us that 'that is the result o b t a i n i n g ' , 'that is h o w it has b e c o m e , ended up'. Ye sentences are negated b y means of the c o n s t r u c t i o n fei

^

...ye

. . . ( a n d that is h o w it i s ) ' , y i sentences b y means o f wei the p o i n t w h e r e

..ye

'it is n o t that . . . 'hasn't reached

(and that is h o w it is)'. T h e ye, w h i c h is buried in yi, see

above, surfaces in the negated f o r m . T h a t the grammatical feature " t h a t is h o w it has ended u p " also contains " t h a t is h o w it i s " is another w a y of saying that the perfective contains the feature " p r e s e n t r e l e v a n c e " . (22)

xidnsheng

shϊ zhϊ cat shl ye

/senior, you/generation/"marker

of p o s s e s s i o n ' V ( m o s t )

talented/

knight/"that is h o w it is, that is what y o u are"/ ' Y o u are y o u r generation's m o s t talented k n i g h t ' (23)

di wei däozhi,

wei tidnxia

hai er fü nengjiao

ye

/younger brother/constitute, b e / R o b b e r Zhi/constitute, be/world/ injury/and yet/not him/can/instruct/"that is h o w it is"/ ' Y o u r y o u n g e r b r o t h e r is the R o b b e r Zhi, w h o is injurious t o the world, and yet y o u c a n n o t instruct h i m ' (24)

bu wei ye, fei bu neng

ye

/not/do/"that's h o w it is, that's what it is"/,/it is n o t (a case of)/not/ can, able to/"that's h o w it is, that's what it is"/ ' T h a t is (a case o f ) n o t acting, it is n o t (a case o f ) not being able t o ' (25)

fei wu tu ye /it is n o t that ,../my/disciple/"that's what he is"/ ' I t is n o t that he is m y disciple', ' H e is not m y disciple'

(26)

wö fei ζϊ, git bu zhi zl yi /I/not be/you/of course/not/understand, know/you/"that's h o w it has b e c o m e , that's w h a t f o l l o w s logically"/ '(It f o l l o w s that) since I am n o t y o u , o f c o u r s e I d o n ' t understand you, I d o n ' t k n o w y o u r s e n t i m e n t s '

(27)

de he ru ze ke yi wang

yi

/virtue/what/resemble/then/can/by means of/rule, be king/" that's the result"/ ' W h a t should virtue be like, so that o n e can with its help b e c o m e king?'

286 (28)

Seren Egerod guo wei

yi

/land/dangerous, in danger/"that's the result"/ 'The land has become endangered, is in danger' (29)

che η wei zhl

wen

ye

/servant, I/not yet, have not/it/hear/"that's how it is"/ Ί haven't heard about it' An example of ye as theme marker (and rheme marker in the same sentence): (30)

wu you

zbdng

ye wei nan neng

ye

/my/friend/PN/"as for him"/do/difficult/able/"that's what he is"/ '(As for) my friend Zhang, in managing the difficult he is able, he is well able to manage what is difficult' And yi with preposed rheme: (31)

shenyi

wushudiye

/extreme/"that's the result, that's how it has become"/my/decay/"as for that"/ 'Extreme has my decay become!' 1.2.4. C o n c l u s i o n o n L a t e A r c h a i c C h i n e s e So "state" and "change of state" is as much of an aspect system as Late Archaic Chinese has to offer. Tense plays no role as a systematic category.

2. M o d e r n S t a n d a r d Chinese 2.0. General remarks We shall now perform a great leap forward, all the way down to Modern Standard Chinese. In contradistinction to Early Archaic Chinese and Late Archaic Chinese, whose grammars have in fact not been as extensively studied as might have been expected, modern Chinese grammar has been the object of well-nigh feverish activity for several decades. An old superstition that Chinese is a language with almost no grammar has been superseded by a conviction that there is more to it than meets the eye. So deep structure "is where it is at". And more is probably being written about aspect than about any other grammatical category, at least if the construction is included, as it is here. We shall mention only a few of the most important contributions to this debate: Courant (1914) was a lonely pioneer, and so was Frei

Aspect in Chinese

287

(1940-1941). Frei had grasped all the main points of the Peking aspect system, at a time when all the old misconceptions about the structure of Chinese were alive and kicking: " L e systeme que je viens d'exposer s'inscrit en face contre ceux qui pretendent que le chinois ne possede pas de categories grammaticales et que l'usage des particules dans cette langue n'a ä peu pres rien de grammatical". Iakhontov (1957) has much original material. T h e masterly grammar by Chao Yuen Ren (1968) is rich in observations also on aspect. Similar information is supplied in a more systematic way in Henne et al. (1977). Very important is Rygaloff (1973) with many new insights. Li - T h o m p s o n (1981) contains the most systematic treatment to date. Liu (1964) is clear and practical. Teng (1977) and Marney (1977) are both useful. A few out of a wealth of excellent articles available should be mentioned: Wang (1965), Teng (1973, 1979), Chen (1979), M a (1981), Arendrup (1983, 1984), Li - Thompson (1976, 1985), Chu - Chang (1987), Huang - Davis (1989). The present writer has touched on the topic in Egerod (1984).

2.1. The aspectual system Modern Standard Chinese has a rather intricate aspectual system, expressed through mostly atonal postposed particles (enclitics) and one or two tonal preposed elements. T h e exact purport of the aspectual information is tied up with such phenomena as the semantics of the verb (we shall not here be able to treat, for instance, the different behavior of stative and non-stative verbs in this respect); the syllabicity of the verb (whether monosyllabic or disyllabic, not treated here); nouns and modifiers which enter into the construction (treated in some detail below); as well as word order (also treated). Most, but not all, constructions contain one or more verbs. All aspect markers are either punctual or durative. Besides imposing punctuality or duration on a sentence or a verb phrase the marker may also relate to specific verb modifiers ("always", "again", and the like), specific noun modifiers ("quantifier", "quantifier plus classifier", "demonstrative plus classifier"), verb complements and objects, additional verb phrases, or additional aspect markers, without which the marker may be impossible in the sentence construction, or take on another meaning. The elements which thus enter into a mutual relationship with the markers we shall refer to as the scope of the markers; cf. the category "champ d'attente (expectation field)" in Egerod (1972). Markers whose scope is subsentential are opposed to others which have sentential scope. T h e subsentential scope can also be described as intrasentential, centripetal, or intense (Egerod 1972 and 1984). A scope which covers only one of several verbs in a sentence is clausal. If it covers more than one verb

288

Seren

Egerod

phrase it is extra-clausal. The sentential (extense or centrifugal) markers could often be characterized as extrasentential, when they are concerned with a reaction to the sentential content: "and therefore", "and next", "what next?". Another category subdivides the markers into temporal and non-temporal, according to whether or not they are concerned with matters of tense. Tense is found only in syncretism with aspect.

2.2. P u n c t u a l aspect 2.2.1. T h e m a r k e r s le Ύ a n d

meiyöu

is a marker used with verbs (including stative verbs), nouns (rarely), and with sentences. It refers to a point in time where something happened or happens, was accomplished, began or ended, or will end. The scope can be subsentential (concerned with the event) or sentential (concerned with the consequences). Where le is facultative it adds discursive focus (Chu and Chang 1987). It occurs in a number of constructions: is the most important nucleus of the punctual aspect constructions. It indicates that an event took place, has taken place, will take place at a given time (subsententially) or that somebody is faced with some consequences of a punctual phenomenon, which creates a situation, determines what is to be done next. The point of occurrence or accomplishment is determined by the context: (32)

laoshi laile /teacher/come/"point in time; event or situation"/ 'Teacher came' (narration) or, 'Teacher has come' (discourse)

(33)

huöche lai le /train/come/"point in time; event or situation"/ 'The train arrived' or 'The train has come, there's the train'

(34)

dongxi gui le /thing/expensive/"point in time, situation"/ 'Things are expensive now'

(35)

tiän Hang le /sky/bright/"point in time, situation"/ 'It's daylight'

(36)

wo mingbai le /I/understand/"point in time, situation"/ 'I've understood, I understand'

Aspect in Chinese

(37)

bing

hdo

289

le

/disease/good, well/"point in time, situation"/ 'The disease has been cured, he is well n o w ' (38)

tdhud

le

/he/paint/"point in time, situation"/ ' H e has started painting' (39)

wo zÖH le

/ I / g o / " p o i n t in time, situation"/ Ί am leaving now, I'm o f f (40)

td si le

/he/die/"point in time, situation"/ ' H e died, he is dead' (41)

huö

mie

le

/fire/go out/"point in time; event or situation"/ 'The fire went out' or 'The fire has gone out' There is no subsentential le in the negative but there are two negatives with different aspectual connotations mei ~ meiybu and bit ~ bu\ (42)

tä

mei

Ιάι

/he/"did not; point in time, event" or "has not; point in time, situation'Vcome/ ' H e didn't come' (narration) or ' H e hasn't come' (discourse) (43)

wo zuotian

mei

cbou

ydn

/I/yesterday/"did not; point in time, event"/smoke/tobacco/ Ί didn't smoke yesterday' (44)

wo bii

qu

/I/not/go/ Ί am not going, I w o n ' t go' (45)

tdqü

le, wö mei

qu.

/he/go/"point in time, event"/I/"did not; point in time, event"/go/ ' H e went, but I didn't go' (46)

ni zuotian

bit Idi, kesbi

jintian

lai

le

you/yesterday/not/come/but/today/come/ "point in time, situation"/ 'You didn't want to come yesterday, but you came today'

290

(47)

Seren

Egerod

tä bk läi le /he/not/come/"point in time, situation"/ 'He is not coming any more, can no longer be expected to come' (Sentential le is possible in the negative)

< V C le>. A single event has, not necessarily willfully, been accomplished with a known result. The scope of le is both subsentential and sentential: (48)

wo cht de tai bao le /I/eat/"marker of complement of manner'Vtoo/full, satisfied/"point in time, situation"/ 'I've eaten too much, I'm full' (le is obligatory when the complement contains tai 'too (much)')

indicates what has happened or is happening to create a situation or state: (49)

ni chifan le me /you/eat/rice/"point in time, situation'V'question'V 'Have you eaten?'

(50)

women chifan le /we/eat/rice/"point in time, situation"/ 'We have eaten' or ' N o w we eat'

(51)

wo kan bao le /I/read/paper/"point in time, situation"/ 'I've read the newspaper'

Examples of the negative: (52)

wo mei chifan /I/"did not"/eat/rice/ Ί didn't eat' (no subsentential le in the negative)

(53)

wo mei chifan ne /I/"did not"/eat/rice/"continued, no new situation"/ Ί haven't eaten' (sentential durative ne, for which see below, has been added)

(54)

wo bu chi fan le /I/not/eat/rice/"point in time, situation"/ Ί am no longer going to eat' (sentential le is possible in the negative)

and express that an event has taken place or is certain to

Aspect in Chinese

291

take place and will be over with as indicated by the modifier, which pinpoints the punctuality. The scope of le is subsentential, potentially also sentential: (55)

zuotian wdnshang hub mie le /yesterday/evening/fire/go out/"point in time, event"/ 'Last night the fire went out'

(56)

hub yijing mie le /fire/already/go out/"point in time, situation"/ 'The fire has already gone out'

(57)

ta gängcdi zou le /he/just/leave/"point in time, situation"/ 'He has just left'

(58)

women gdi zou le /we/must/leave/"point in time, situation"/ 'We must be off now'

(59)

ta mingtian jiu zou le /he/tomorrow/then/leave/"point in time, situation"/ 'He will be gone by tomorrow'

(60)

wo zuotian yujian ta le /I/yesterday/meet/he/"point in time, event"/ Ί met him yesterday'

(61)

xianzai zemme you bti jian le /now/why/again, once more/not/see/"point in time, situation"/ 'Why is he now once more not to be seen?'

occurs with transitive verbs which can express an action and a lasting result. Ν is object of the verb and logical subject of the state: (62)

qidngshang gud le yi fii hua /on wall/hang/"point in time, event, situation"/one/"classifier"/picture/ 'On the wall has been hung a picture and it is still hanging there, on the wall hangs a picture'

and subordinate the verb or verb phrase VI under V2 as a single event anterior to V2. The scope of le includes both VI and V2 and is therefore extra-clausal, but intrasentential (extense as far as VI is concerned, but intense with regard to V2). The result, the situation created, finds expression within the same sentence:

292

Seren Egerod

(63)

chile bubao /late/"point in time, event, situation"/,/not/good/ 'If you are late, it won't be good'

(64)

ni si le wo zuo hesbang /you/die/"point in time, event, situation"/I/do, be/monk/ 'When you die, I shall become a monk'

(65)

mingtian nudn le ye dao bu lido sänshi du /tomorrow/warm/"point in time, event, situation'Valso, yet/reach/ not/obtain/thirty/degree/ 'Even if it turns warm tomorrow, the temperature will not reach thirty degrees'

(66)

wo shuäyä le jiu shang chuang le /I/brush/teeth/"point in time, event"/then/get up in/bed/"point in time, situation"/(For two instances of le in one sentence, see further on) 'After brushing my teeth I had gone to bed'

is a rare construction, which expresses that an accomplishment has resulted in a situation which still obtains. The scope of le, which without ne (see further on) would be extrasentential, is here reduced to sentential by ne which explicitly marks the condition as continuing: (67)

tä shuö wan hua le ne /he/talk/finish/speech/"point in time, situation'V'continuing"/ 'He has finished talking and is still silent'

is a determinative sentence, in which le refers to a point where it became a true statement, which it still is (sentential): (68)

zhe shi zhang taitai le /this/be/PN/Mrs./"point in time, situation"/ 'This is (the former Miss Wang who is) now Mrs. Zhang'

(69)

zhe jiü shi yuebing le /this/then/be/moon cake/"point in time, situation"/ 'Oh, but this is a moon cake!' (it has been a moon cake all along, but this is the point in time when we realize it).

(70)

zhe shi yvngwu, le /this/be/parrot/"point in time, situation"/ 'This is a parrot!' (It has not become a parrot, but this is the point

Aspect in Chinese

293

where we recognize it as such. Li and Thompson 1981, Huang and Davis 1989). contains no verb, but the noun modifier has to be a quantifier. (71)

td jl sui le? son sul le /he/how many/year/"point in time, situation"/,/three/year/"point in time, situation"/ 'How many years old is he?', 'Three years'

. The noun modifier must be a quantifier or specifier for this to be a finite sentence. On the other hand le is obligatory as marker of the past accomplishment of a single event (which may however consist of a series of identical incidents as in drank three cups of tea). The scope includes the modifier and is subsentential: (72)

tä qing le yi wei ke /he/invite/"point in time, accomplished"/one/"classifier'7guest/ 'He invited a guest'

(73)

td he le sän bei chd /he/drink/"point in time, accomplished "/three/cup/tea/ 'He drank three cups of tea'

(74)

wo chi le yi dim χϊ can /I/ eat/"point in time, accomplished"/one/"classifier"/western/meal/ Ί ate a Western meal'

(75)

tdjido le wk man de yvngwen /he/teach/"point in time, accomplished"/five/year/"marker of subordination "/English language/ 'He taught English for five years'

and . An indicator of length of time or space works like a quantified object: (76)

wo zou le wü li /I/walk/"point in time, accomplished"/five/mile/ Ί walked five miles'

(77)

tdpao le sdnshifen zhöng /he/run/"point in time, accomplished "/thirty/minute/of the clock/ 'He ran for thirty minutes'

. The scope of le includes the complement, which suffices to make the construction finite:

294 (78)

Seren

Egerod

wo chdng

zuo cub le shi

/I/always, again and again/do/wrongly/"point in time, accomplished"/ thing/ 'All the time I do things the wrong way' . tence. (79)

The scope of le includes the modifier and produces a finite sen-

wo you gdn

zhe che shäng

le lu

/I/again/drive/"ongoing"/car/on, get onto/"point in time, accomplished "/road/ 'Again driving my car I got onto the road' . V I is subordinate to V2. The scope of le is extraclausal but intrasentential. It includes V I and O , which constitute an accomplished event anterior to V2, without which the sentence would not be finite. (80)

td mdi

le piao jiü jin qu

le

/he/buy/"point in time, accomplished"/ticket/then/enter/go/"point in time, event"/ 'He bought a ticket and went in' (81)

wohe

le chd

zongshihaike

/I/drink/"point in time, accomplished'Vtea/always/still/thirsty/ 'After drinking tea I'm always still thirsty' expresses an accomplishment and its result. The first le can be left out, and the sentence will still be finite with less overt focus on the accomplishment which is logically necessary anyhow. The two instances of le include each other in their scope and express one and the same punctuality: (82)

wo cht le fan

le

/I/eat/"point in time, accomplished"/meal/"point in time, situation"/ 'I've had my meal' (83)

tdlilefdle

/he/cut/"point in time, accomplished"/hair/"point in time, situation"/ 'He's had a haircut' . The noun modifier enters the scope of lei, and the two instances of le still refer to each other.

Aspect in Chinese

(84)

295

la zub le sän tiän che le /he/sit, ride/"point in time, accomplished"/three/day/car/"point in time, situation"/ 'He has been travelling by car for three days now (will he go on or is he ready for something else?)'

(85)

wo jiäo le sän ηϊάη de ylngwen le /I/ teach/"point in time, accomplished'7three/year/"marker of subordination'VEnglish language/"point in time, situation"/ Ί have taught English for three years now (and feel competent?; or would like another job?)'

2 . 2 . 2 . T h e m a r k e r guö

le i f ! Ύ

is a semiverbal expression, grammaticalized in the sense of anterior (mostly recent) accomplishment, anterior (mostly recent) punctual event, done and over with. Compare below, used for the anterior (mostly recent) progressive. Guo as a full verb means 'to pass through, pass by': (86)

ni chl gud fan le me /you/eat/"recently accomplished"/rice/"point in time, /"question"/ 'Have you had your meal?'

(87)

situation"

wochlguble /I/eat/"recently accomplished'V'point in time, situation"/ Ί finished eating (don't need any more now)'

(88)

nei ge piänzi women dbu kan gud le /that/"classifier"/movie/we/all/see/"recently accomplished'V'point in time, situation"/ 'We have all seen that movie (we don't need to see it again)'

(89)

wo käi gud but le /I/open, attend/"recently accomplished"/meeting/"point in time, situation"/ Ί have attended the meeting (and don't have to go again)'

2.2.3. T h e marker

guo

is used for past experience at an unspecified time, e.g., as answer to the question "have you ever . . . ? " . As past and indefinite it is the exact opposite of , which is momentative and specific. Zai is highlighted, guo backgrounded:

296 (90)

Seren Egerod ni qu guo zböngguo

ma

/you/go/"ever"/China/"question'7 'Have you ever been to China?' (91)

qu

guo

/go/"ever"/ 'Yes, I have' (92)

ni zuo guo feijt

ma

/you/sit, ride/"ever'Vairplane/"question"/ 'Have you ever gone by airplane?' (93)

zuo

guo

/sit, ride/"ever"/ 'Yes, I have' (94)

ni chiguo

yuchi

meiyou

/you/eat/"ever"/shark's fin/"did not" i.e., "or not"/ 'Have you ever tasted shark's fins?' (Chao 1968. Cf. ni chi guo yiichi le meiyou /you/eat/"recently accomplished'Vshark's fin/"point in time, situation'V'did not" i.e., "or not"/ 'Have you tasted the shark's fins (offered with this meal)?') In the negative: (95)

wo mei chü guo

yang

/I/"did not'Vgo out/"ever"/ocean, abroad/ Ί have never been abroad'

2.2.4. Passive and ergative Nouns can be marked for agent in passive constructions, for ergative or inert in ergative constructions (Frei 1957, Rygaloff 1973). Such constructions usually are past tense punctual and contain le. The agent is marked with bei. The verb may then be marked with get "marker of non-active verb in certain constructions": (96)

tä bei ren da

le

/he/"agent marker'Vperson, people, somebody/beat/"point in time, past accomplished"/ 'He was beaten by someone'

Aspect in Chinese

(97)

297

td bei wo gei da le /he/"agent marker"/!/"marker of non-active verb"/beat/"point in time, past accomplished"/ 'He was beaten by me'

The ergative is marked by jido or rang BR . In the ergative construction the ergative and the inert are usually not both marked in Modern Standard Chinese (in closely related dialects they have been described as being so): (98)

tdjiao ren da le /he/"ergative marker'Vperson, people, somebody/beat/"point in time, past accomplished"/ 'As for him at the hands of people there was a beating, he was beaten by somebody'

(99)

tä rang women gei shd le /he/"ergative marker"/we/"marker of non-active verb"/kill/"point in time, past accomplished"/ 'As for him at our hands there was a killing, he was killed by us'

(100)

nei ben shujiao wo mai gei ta le /that/" classifier "/book/" ergative marker"/I/sell/to/he/"point in time, past accomplished"/ Ί sold him that book'

The marker of the inert, which is always definite or specific, is bd. Le is obligatory as past tense marker: (101)

wo bd nei ben shü gei ta le /I/"inert marker"/that/"classifier"/book/give/he/"point in time, past accomplished"/ Ί gave him that book'

(102)

wobajluhele /I/"inert marker"/wine/drink/"point in time, past accomplished"/ Ί drank the wine'

(103)

ta ba ge zhangfu si le /she/"inert marker"/"classifier"/husband/die/"point in time, past accomplished"/ 'She "was died" her husband, she was overtaken by the death of her husband, she lost her husband'

298

Seren Egerod

2.3. Durative aspect 2.3.1. T h e marker

zhe

is used with verbs, rarely with adjectives except occasionally with those expressing status rather than quality (Chao 1968), and not with nouns, nor sentences. It refers to an ongoing event, and its scope is purely subsentential. Like le, in some constructions it creates finite sentences, in others infinite clauses. < V zhe> is not normally used without a verb modifier to expand the scope of zhe. It is sometimes maintained that the following example like its negative counterpart can be used finitely: (104)

tdldizhe /he/come/"ongoing'7 'He is coming'

(105)

tdmeiyou Idi zhe /he/"did not"/come/"ongoing'7 'He is not on his way'

is on the other hand without doubt sometimes used finitely. The subsentiential scope of zhe includes the object. (106)

wo chi zhe fan /I/eat/"ongoing'7rice/ 'I'm eating'

(107)

td meimei chi zhe tdng /he/younger sister/eat/"ongoing"/candy/ 'His little sister is eating candy'

and can be finite. The subsentential scope of zhe includes the modifier, which like Ο in the above construction contributes to the finiteness of the sentence: (108)

td zai chudng shang tang zhe /he/be in/bed/on top of/lie/" ongoing"/ 'He is lying in bed'

(109)

tä shou II ηά zhe shü /he/hand/inside/hold/"ongoing"/book/ 'He is holding a book in his hand'

Aspect in Chinese

299

(110)

xiänsheng zai ketdng It zhdn zhe /teacher/be in/classroom/inside/stand/"ongoing'7 'The teacher is standing in the classroom'

(111)

tdzai gongyudn deng zhe ni /she/be in/park/wait/" ongoing "/you/ 'She is waiting for you in the park'

(112)

tdlidn shuijiao de shihou döu nd zhe shü /he/even/sleep/"marker of subordination"/time/in all cases/hold/ "ongoing'Vbook/ 'Even when sleeping he has a book in his hand'

where Ν is a potential object of V, expresses an ongoing state related to a transitive construction. This echo of a V O phrase is intrasentential. The type of verb has been mentioned above in connection with Archaic Chinese (called "ergative" by Cikoski 1978). (113)

men kdi zhe /door/open/"ongoing"/, cf. kdi men 'to open the door' 'The door is open'

(114)

chudnghu gudn zhe /window/shut/"ongoing"/, cf. gudn chudnghu 'to shut the window' 'The window is shut'

(115)

men meiyou kdi zhe /door/" did not "/open/" ongoing"/ 'The door is not open'

is also an ongoing state, related or not to a transitive expression. Subsentential scope of zhe: (116)

shu dixia zuo zhe ge Idoren /tree/under/sit/" ongoing"/" classifier "/old man/ 'There's an old man sitting under the tree'

(117)

zhuözi shang fang zhe yi hen shü /table/on top of/ to place, put/"ongoing"/one/"classifier"/book/ Ά book is lying on the table' Cf -fang shü 'to place a book'

is an inverted form of the preceding construction with Ν moved up to the position of definite (given) information:

300

(118)

Soren

Egerod

huär zai qiang shang gua zhe meiyou /picture/be on/wall/upon/hang/ Ci ongoing'7"did not", i.e., "or not"/ 'Are the pictures hanging on the wall?'

< VI zhe V2>. VI is subordinated under V2 by zhe, as being simultaneous with it. VI zhe supplies a durative frame within which V2 takes place. The scope of zhe is extra-clausal but subsentential. It is being debated whether the zhephrase is backgrounded or foregrounded. As it is a frame, it might be thought to be less prominent than the activity it modifies (Huang - Davis 1989), but as a matter of fact it often supplies unexpected and therefore foregrounded information (Li - Thompson 1981): (119)

tä tang zhe kan häo /he/lie/"ongoing'Vlook, read/newspaper/ 'He reads the newspaper lying down, he is lying down reading the newspaper'

(120)

täkan zhe wo shuö /he/look/"ongoing"/I/say/ 'Looking at me he said ...'

(121)

täxiäo zhe shuö /he/laugh/" ongoing"/say/ 'Laughing he said ...'

Also of contrasting activities: (122)

xidnsheng zhan zhe jiäng, xuesheng zuö zhe ting /teacher/stand/"ongoing"/lecture /student/sit/"ongoing"/listen/ 'The teacher is lecturing standing up, the students listen sitting down'

< V ζ he ne> and indicate an ongoing state which is continuing right now. Instead of referring to a V2 as above, zhe here includes a particle ne in its scope and vice versa. As in the case of the two instances of le in < V lei Ο le2> which approach each other in semantic content, so the co-occurrence of zhe with ne creates a unified durative field: (123)

tä zheng zai yong zhe wo de maobme /he/just/is at/use/"ongoing"/I/"marker of possession"/brush/"continuing"/ 'He's using my brush right now'

(124)

tä zheng chl zhe fan ne /he/just/eat/"ongoing"/rice/"continuing'7 'He's eating just now'

Aspect in Chinese

(125)

301

wo zhäo zhe ne, keshi mei zhäo zhäo ne /I/search for/"ongoing"/"continuing"/but/"did not'Vfind/succeed/ "continuing"/ 'I'm looking for it, but I haven't found it'

. The co-occurrence of zhe ^a and le Τ is rare, this example being quoted from Arendrup 1984. The purport of the construction is to treat an ongoing state in its totality as a single event which results in a new situation. Zhe is subsentential and le sentential: (126)

zub bäogäo de töngzhi häi mei ίάι ne, keshi renmen zäoyi zuo zai Ii' täng Ii deng zhe le /make/report/"marker of subordination'7comrade/still/"did not"/ come/"continued"/,/but/people/already/sit/be in /hall/inside/wait/ « * » /« * · »/ ongoing / situation / 'The comrade who is going to give the report has not yet arrived, still people are already sitting in the auditorium waiting'

2.3.2. T h e m a r k e r

laizbe

is a semiverbal expression, grammaticalized in the sense of recent progressive. As a full verb Idi means 'come': (127)

ni zuo shemme laizhe /you/do/what/"ongoing, recently"/ 'What have you been doing?'

(128)

wo hai hing laizhe /I/suffer/sick/"ongoing, recently"/ 'I've been ill recently'

2.3.3. T h e m a r k e r s zai Ϊ

a n d zheng

IE

is a verb meaning 'to be at', grammaticalized to indicate what one is engaged in doing momentarily. Whereas zhe marks the durative flow, the uninterrupted progression, focuses on only a part of the duration flow, the section right now. entails no interruption, but a highlighting. In contradistinction to the previously treated markers, precedes the verb. is possible as a finite construction: (129)

tä ershi sui le hai zai zhäng /he/twenty/year/"point in time, situation"/still/"is at'Vgrow/ 'He is twenty years old and still growing'

302

Seren

Egerod

. Α common construction, where the subsentential zai covers V O within its scope: (130)

tdzdikdnbdo

/he/"is at'Vread/newspaper/ 'He is (busy) reading his newspaper' (131)

td zai zuo

shemme

/he/"is at'Vdo/what/ 'What is he (busy) doing?' ( C f . täzuö

sh6mme

/he/do/what/ 'What does he do (for a living?)') (132)

tä zai ch udn y ifu

/he/"is at'Vput on, wear/clothes/ 'He is putting on clothes' ( C f . tdchudn

zhe

yifu

/he/put on, wear/"ongoing"/clothes/ 'He is wearing clothes') (133)

td zai ηά

baozi

/he/"is at "/take in hand, hold/newspaper/ 'He is (busy) picking up newspapers' ( C f . td nd zhe

baozi

/he/take in hand, hold/"ongoing"/newspaper/ 'with a newspaper in his hand he . . . ' ) The adverb zheng is often used with zai 'is just ...ing', and sometimes zheng itself is grammaticalized and used in the sense of zai. 'is just ...ing'. (134)

td zheng

ώϊ fan

ne

/he/"just, is at"/eat/rice/"continuing"/ 'He is just now eating' . The action on which the agent is concentrating is continuing. The scope of zai, which is subsentential, includes V O intra-clausally, and ne extra-clausally: (135)

td zai nian

shü

ne

/he/"is at"/study/book/"continuing"/ 'He is (busy) studying now'

Aspect in Chinese

(136)

303

tä zheng zäi kan diänshi ne /he/just/"is at"/watch/T.V./"continuing'7 'He is watching T.Y. right now'

2 . 3 . 4 . T h e m a r k e r ne Dig is a marker of continued state, lack of punctual change. It occurs after sentences and nouns. The scope is sentential. We have already seen quite a few examples in concatenation with other markers and shall not repeat all these constructions. Here follow a few representative samples of and < V Ο ne>\ (137)

täzäizherne /he/be at/here/"continuing"/ 'He is still here'

(138)

tä zheng chi fan ne /he/"just, is at"/eat/rice/"continuing"/ 'He's still eating now'

(139)

täshuözhe hua ne /he/talk/"ongoing"/speech/"continuing"/ 'He's still talking'

(140)

tä zheng xlzdo ne /he/"just, is at'Vtake a bath/"continuing"/ 'He's just having a bath now'

And negated: (141)

wo hai mei chl fan ne /I/yet/"did not"/eat/rice/"continuing"/ Ί haven't eaten yet'

(142)

wo hai bu zhidao ne /I/yet/not/know/"continuing"/ Ί don't know yet'

. Used in continued questioning, follow-up questions, often equivalent to "how about": (143)

wo χϊη, ήί ne /I/believe/,/you/"follow-up question"/ Ί believe it, how about you?'

304 (144)

Seren

Egerod

wei shemme

ne

/because of/what/"follow-up question"/ 'Why?, why indeed?' (145)

wödemaozine

/I/"marker of possession"/hat/"follow-up question"/ '(All right, there is your hat, but) where's my hat?'

2.4. The m a r k e r de Sil is a marker which creates attributive and possessive noun modifiers. It also nominalizes verb phrases, and is used in the sentence construction to specify details concerning past events. It often occurs together with a preceding shi 'is'. The de constructions are nominal in origin, but contribute to filling gaps in the verbal paradigm. The examples follow Liu (1964): and . The scope of de includes the modifier, which further characterizes a past event. Shi is omissible if the modifier supplies Time, Place, or Manner (Liu): (146)

tä shi cong

lou shang

tiao xia qu de, hü. shi diao xia qu

de

/he/"be"/from/building/on top of/jump/down/away/"past determinative"/,/not/is/fall/down/away/"past determinative"/ 'He jumped from the building, he didn't fall' (147)

täzai

zher

he de

cha

/he/be at/here/drink/"past determinative "/tea/ 'It was here he had his tea' (148)

ni shi zai när xue

de

zhöngwen

/you/"be"/be at/where/learn/"past determinative'VChinese language/ 'Where did you learn Chinese?' (149)

täshi

shäng

lihäiwü

jiehün

de

/he/"be"/upper, last/Friday/marry/"past determinative"/ 'It was last Friday he got married' (150)

wo shi zuotian

gei ta da de

dianhua

/I/"be"/yesterday/to/he/hit, make/"past determinative'Vtelephone, phone call/ 'It was yesterday I phoned him' has the same meaning as the above construction, if the object is a pronoun:

Aspect in Chinese

(151)

305

wo shi zäi cheng Ii yüjian ta de /I/"be"/be at/town/inside/meet/he/"past determinative"/ 'It was in town that I met him'

expresses a present tense judgement. Scope of de is the verb phrase: (152)

tä shi zai daxue xue zhöngwen de /he/"be"/be at/university/learn/Chinese language/"present determinative"/ 'He (is someone who) learns Chinese at the university'

(153)

wo shi zuotian käi qiche de /I/"be"/yesterday/open, drive/car/"present determinative"/ Ί am the one who drove the car yesterday' (Cf. wo shi zuotian käi de qiche /I/"be"/yesterday/open, drive/"past determinative'Vcar/ 'It was yesterday I drove a car')

where N1 is a potential object of V, answers such questions as "done by whom", "made of what". It is a present tense judgement related to a past transitive event: (154)

zhe ben shü shi shuixie de /this/"classifier"/book/"be"/who/write/"present determinative"/ 'Who has written this book, this book was written by whom?'

(155)

zhe zhäng zhuözi shi mu zuo de /this/"classifier"/table/"be"/wood/make/"present determinative"/ 'This table is made of wood'

2.5. C o n c l u s i o n We have come to the end of our illustrations of the Modern Standard Chinese aspectual system. Other constructions, which are marginally aspectual, could have been included, such as 'come up' > 'begin to', and 'go down' > 'go on'. We hope to have caught the essentials. We shall summarize our findings in the chart below according to the overriding features which have been seen from our investigations to be indispensable. These features are punctual/durative, intense/extense, temporal/non-temporal, and scope-specific/neutral:

Soven Egerod

306

punctual

durative

non-temporal

temporal

non-temporal

-le

-guo

-zbe

aoristic

experientative

progressive

(backgrounded)

perfective

-zai... momentative (foregrounded)

-guo le

ne

anterior

imperfective

le

temporal

-lai zhe anterior

perfective

imperfective

-de

-de

past

non-past

Hyphen = enclitic to verb = precedes verb Intense (subsentential) and extense (sentential) are scope-specific as opposed to neutral.

Abbreviations C

= Complement

Μ

= Modifier

Ν

= Noun

Ο

= Object

Ρ

= Place

P N = Personal Name Τ

= Time

V

= Verb

Notes 1. I have, as often before, benefitted from discussing these matters with Lektor Birthe Arendrup of the East Asian Institute, University of Copenhagen. 2

As a general category aspect covers ways of viewing verbal or sentential action or event with reference to duration, permanence, relevance, or actualization. Aspect often is tied up with and overlaps with the category of tense. F o r Chinese the following contrasting features have been found to be pertinent: Punctual/durative (aoristic/progressive; experientative/momentative; perfective/imperfective; past/non-past). Intense or subsentential/extense or sentential (aoristic/perfective; anterior

experientative/anterior

imperfective).

perfective;

Nontemporal/temporal

progressive/imperfective;

(aoristic/experientative;

momentative/

perfective/anterior

perfective; progressive/momentative; imperfective/anterior imperfective; past/non-past). Scopespecific (intense or extense)/neutral (see chart).

Aspect in Chinese 3

307

The pronunciation of the characters is rendered in the official modern Chinese transcription known as pinyin. Note especially that an - h - after an initial consonant designates retroflexion and that q, x, and ζ are < c h - > , < ς - > , and .

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1984

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of Far Eastern

Antiquities

Li, Charles N. - Sandra A. Thompson 1976 "The meaning and structure of complex sentences with - z h e in Mandarin Chinese", Journal of the American Oriental Society 96.4: 512-519. 1981 Mandarin Chinese, a functional reference grammar. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1985 "Perfectivity in Mandarin", in: Thurgood, Graham - James A. Matisoff - David Bradley, 310-323. Liu, Mao-tsai 1964 Deutsch-Chinesische Syntax - Handbuch che. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter et Co.

der modernen

Chinesischen

Mä, Qingzhü 1981 "Shi Häng blnyü he döngci de lei" [Time objects and verb categories]. Yuwen 1981.2: 86-90. Marney, John 1977 A handbook

of Modern

Chinese

grammar.

Umgangsspra-

Zhöngguö

San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center.

Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1978 "Emphatic negatives in Classical Chinese", in: Roy, David T. - Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, 115-135. Roy, David T. - Tsuen-hsuin Tsien 1978 Ancient China: Studies in early Press. Rygaloff, Alexis 1973 Grammaire elimentaire sitäres de France.

du chinois.

civilization.

Hong Kong: The Chinese University

[Place of publication not stated]: Presses Univer-

Aspect in Chinese

Simon, Walter 1934 "Die Bedeutung der Finalpartikel i", Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische chen 37: 143-168 Teng, Shou-hsin 1973 "Negation and aspect in Chinese", Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1.1: 14-37. 1977 A basic course in Chinese grammar. San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center. 1979 "Progressive aspect in Chinese", Computational Analysis of Asian and African guages 11: 1-12.

309

Spra-

Lan-

Thomas, Jaqueline M.C. - Lucien Bernot 1972 Langues et techniques, nature et societe. Paris: Editions Klincksieck. T h u r g o o d , G r a h a m - James A. Matisoff - David Bradley 1985

Linguistics of the Sino-Tibetan

area - The state of the art. (Pacific Linguistics Series C,

n u m b e r 87, Special N u m b e r . ) Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University. Wang, William S.Y. 1965

" T w o aspect markers in Mandarin", Language

41.3: 457—470.

von Zach, Erwin 1926

" Z u m Ausbau der Gabelentzschen Grammatik", Asia Major 3: 288-293.

1930

Sinologische note 1].

Beiträge

1, Batavia [ N o t seen, cited and quoted in Simon 1934, p. 144,

Tense, aspect and actionality in the A i n u l a n g u a g e Kirsten Refsing

1. I n t r o d u c t i o n 1.1. The Ainu language The Ainu language is at a point in its lifecycle where few linguists would hesitate to sign the death certificate. Aside f r o m a handful of extremely old people - and an even smaller number of revivalists - no one is able to use Ainu in ordinary daily communication anymore. Originally the Ainu language was spoken all over the island of H o k k a i d o , in the southern half of Sakhalin, on the Kurile Islands, and probably in most of northern H o n s h u as well. F r o m the south the Ainu were driven north by the expanding Japanese state, and from the north the Russians were pushing southwards. Japanese expansion in H o k k a i d o from the 1870s eventually took away traditional Ainu means of sustenance, and compulsory schooling as well as working for the Japanese gradually made the Ainu population bilingual. B y the end of World War II the Ainu had become almost totally Japanized, and new generations of Ainu grew up with contempt for their own background and for the language spoken by their grandparents. T h e Ainu language has been studied by Westerners as well as by Japanese since the late 16th century. All thorough studies, however, date from this century. M o s t of the more reliable research has been done by Japanese scholars and published almost exclusively in Japanese, but both older and more recent studies by Western scholars exist (Refsing 1974; Adami 1981). M y own study is based primarily on field w o r k on the Shizunai dialect of Ainu, carried out in 1980, 1981 and 1985. M y informant was an old woman, Sute Orita, who was 80 years old at the time of the first interview (Refsing 1986: 65-66). Ainu has no system of writing and its literature has been orally transmitted f r o m generation to generation. S o m e of this enormous bulk of orally transmitted literature was recorded during the 1930s by the Japanese scholar Kindaichi K y o o s u k e , and after World War II, when taperecorders came into c o m m o n use, a number of people became engaged in the task of preserving Ainu speech

312

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and Ainu literature on tape. Some of the orally transmitted literature shows archaic forms of the language, which are no longer found in everyday spoken Ainu, and thus it affords data for looking into earlier stages of the language. Still, the centuries of close contact with Japanese may be assumed to have exerted some influence even upon the "literary" Ainu language in the form of loan words, loan translations and syntactic loans, and these are not always immediately obvious. This affords a problem for any analysis of Ainu, and as will be shown below, not least for an analysis of tense and aspect.

1.2. Genetic affiliation The genetic affiliation of the Ainu language is disputed, and many theories have been brought forward. In the West the theories of the Swedish linguist, Pierre Naert, dominated for a long time. Naert's dissertation professed to prove that Ainu was genetically related to the Indo-European languages (Naert 1958), and his theory found further support in earlier anthropological works which claimed that the Ainu people belonged to the European race. In Japan neither of these claims were ever taken seriously. Rather Ainu has been classed with American Indian languages, Central Asian languages, or as an isolated language with no close relatives by different Japanese scholars. Recent theories (Patrie 1982) have classified Ainu as an Altaic language, and thus as related to Japanese, but no theory can be said to have won wide acceptance yet.

2. Tense, aspect, and actionality 2.1. Some questions The first striking feature of the system of tense, aspect, and actionality in Ainu is the total absence of any means for marking tense in the verbal forms. 1 This leads to questions of temporal conceptualization: how is the Ainu concept of time structured? Is it linear, cyclical or something different altogether? H o w is the passing of time registered or measured, and how is it referred to linguistically? In the absence of tense marking, what alternative ways of expressing temporal concepts and relationships may we find in the language? H o w do aspect and actionality function, and what other morphemes or forms may Ainu employ to fix actions, states, or events in a temporal continuum?

Tense, aspect and actionality in the Ainu language

313

The problem of weeding out Japanese loans is central to this discussion, but only the implications of the problem will be discussed in this paper, as the research needed to draw clear conclusions and borderlines still remains to be carried out.

2.2. Descriptions of tense in Ainu Until recently most researchers of Ainu have maintained that the category of tense does indeed exist in Ainu, and that one or more morphemes are employed to express it. John Batchelor in his grammar of Ainu (attached to Batchelor 1938) basically assumed that the present, past and future tenses were marked by verb auxiliaries. For the present tense he lists the "auxiliaries" ruwe ne, shiri ne, kor'an, and tap an. For the past tense he gives nisa ("seems to be the proper auxiliary for the past tense"), okere ("resembles the English perfect tense"), awa, a-eramu shinne, bemaka, and an-ma/an-manu. For the future tense kusu ne and nangoro are listed (Batchelor 1938: 63ff.). All twelve are existing forms, but their functions are not correctly defined. The Japanese Ainu scholars, Kindaichi Kyoosuke and Chiri Mashio, are a lot more reserved than Batchelor in their assessment of Ainu tense markers. Kindaichi claims that Ainu possesses only the past tense, because the now is of such fleeting nature that it cannot be pinned down by language. The present can come out only in the imperative form and with the help of various circumlocutions (Kindaichi 1960: 223). Chiri modifies this statement slightly by introducing a distinction between stative and non-stative verbs, where only non-stative verbs always represent the past tense, while stative verbs have the present progressive tense corresponding to the Japanese -te iru forms (Chiri 1942: 96-97). One of the younger generation of Ainu scholars, Tamura Suzuko, presents the two auxiliaries a and nisa as markers of the past tense in the Saru dialect of Ainu (Tamura 1960: 347ff.). Thereby she appears to implicitly assume that unmarked verbs represent the present tense, but Tamura does not enter into a general discussion of the topic. She restricts herself to straightforward explanations of the meanings of each individual auxiliary as she sees it. It is a characteristic of her work that she seems to expect that any expression in Ainu has a reasonably close equivalent in Japanese, and this expectation may well have influenced her interpretation of the data.

314

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Refsing

2.3. Does "tense" exist in Ainu? A narrow understanding of tense would define it as a semantic category expressed in the verbal system2 with the function of pinpointing actions, events, or states in linear time, i.e., on a time line where "now" is progressing steadily from "past" towards "future". My analysis of Ainu has not uncovered one single morpheme in the verbal system which can be described as having this function. An Ainu verb in isolation or with a subject and/or an object is thus not fixed in linear time. In a translation we shall be forced to choose between placing such a verb in the past, the present, or the future on the timeline, which is inescapably built into our own language - be it English, Danish, or even Japanese. Such a translation will be partly false, but just like the Ainu are incapable of placing an action in linear time, we are in many cases unable to avoid doing so in our languages. Of course adverbs {later, earlier etc.) or conjunctionalizers3 (and then, therefore, etc.) can help pinpoint a sequence of occurrences, but they primarily indicate temporal relationships between two separate utterances (relative time) while not necessarily relating them to any linear timeline based upon cultural consensus (absolute time). Temporal nouns, on the other hand, may serve this function (yesterday, tomorrow, etc.), but there are rather few of this type of temporal nouns in Ainu as a whole, and many of them can be discounted as Japanese loan translations (Refsing 1987). The Ainu language was not written down, and time was not measured by any kind of calendar or clock. When dictionaries4 offer glosses for month or week (or even last month, etc.), one should therefore not necessarily accept them at face value. They may very well have been constructed at a late point in history to serve in a daily life that had become more and more structured according to the Japanese way of life (and time). In a culture where time is not measured or "counted", where calendars and watches are unknown, and where only changes in the natural scenery and the changes between night and day serve to structure the experience of passing time, words for "time" will etymologically tend to derive from or be identical to terms for natural changes. Such words will be able to serve as equivalents, when glosses are sought to translate Japanese temporal expressions. Furthermore, in a language A, which perceives time as linear, time may be visualized and drawn as a line upon which specific points may be marked off relative to each other. Therefore, temporal expressions are often analoguous or identical to locative expressions. In a language B, which does not draw this analogy between time and space, locative expressions will presumably be quite separate from terms which express temporal meanings. When language Β meets language A, which conceptualizes time as a line drawn in real space, language Β

Tense, aspect and actionality in the Ainu language

315

can easily avail itself of some of its own locative expressions to reproduce the meanings encountered in language A. Finally, auxiliaries and other morphemes which were not originally intended to express tense - but, e.g., aspect or actionality - may be recruited as tense markers when the world view changes to create a necessity for tense marking. I suggest that this is what happened in the Ainu language during this century as Japanese became dominant, and the general confusion among scholars as to what is tense marking and what is not probably stems from here. With the data I had available I have tried to look for other meanings in the verb auxiliaries than those of tense. And this has led me to conclude that there are no morphemes in Ainu which have the specific function of marking tense in the verbal system. In my opinion all the morphemes which have so far been suggested as tense markers carry other and more dominant functions. In what follows I shall briefly introduce the various ways in which Ainu deals with time, i.e., as aspect or actionality, or through the employment of various other morphemes.

2.4. Aspect In earlier descriptions by the Japanese scholars who employ the concept of aspect at all, aspect has been given rather broad and vague definitions (Refsing 1986: 33). My analysis has left me with a more narrow definition in which I define aspect as a category which serves to describe the temporal contours or distribution of an action, state or event - irrespective of its position within the overall temporal framework of a particular language. Thus I have determined two types of aspectual "opposites" in Ainu, namely perfective vs. imperfective and completed vs. incompleted aspect. The perfective aspect describes a process which has been completed because the possibilities for its continuation have been exhausted or because its subject (in the case of intransitive verbs) or its object (in the case of transitive verbs) has disappeared. The completed aspect, on the other hand, describes an action which has achieved completion according to a planned course, and if a result is implied the completed aspect will indicate that the desired result was achieved. In the case of verbs for events or states the completed aspect will indicate that the event has run its expected course, or that the state was achieved completely and according to expectation. The morphemes employed for the perfective aspect are the coordinative conjunctionalizer wa and the intransitive verb, isam 'be gone/not exist/not have'. For the completed aspect wa is optional, but preferred, and the verb involved is okere 'finish'. The difference between the two auxuilaries, wa isam and wa okere may be illustrated by the following two examples:

316

(1)

(2)

Kirsten Refsing

Cep ci e wa isam Fish we eat perf.asp. 'We ate up (all) the fish (and it was gone)' Toon korsi tu pon cep e wa okere That child 2 small fish eat compl.asp. 'That child finished (the process of) eating the two small fish'

Example (1) stresses the disappearance of the fish, while (2) stresses the completion of the act of eating. The imperfective aspect describes the action, event or state as an ongoing process, which reaches beyond the subjective temporal framework or attention span of the speaker. The uncompleted aspect indicates simultaneity between an action, event or state and the attention span of the speaker, and the utterance is only concerned with the temporal distribution within these confines. The morphemes involved are for the imperfective aspect the coordinative conjunctionalizer wa and the existential verb an, while for the uncompleted aspect we get the contemporal conjunctionalizer kane, also in combination with an. In the following example both are employed: (3)

Tookere ape sam ta monaa wa an. Dayfinish fire next to sit imp.asp. Nep eyaykouepekere kane an ruwe ta an What worry about uncmp.asp. interrog. 'He is sitting all day long by the fire. What is he worrying about (while sitting)?'

Thus the worrying is confined within the temporal framework of the sitting, and the sitting goes on beyond the attention span of the speaker. The four aspectual auxiliaries may thus fit into a system like this:

Aspectual auxiliaries

-Final

+Final

Focus on action

wa an

wa isam

Focus on time span

kane an

wa okere

Tense, aspect and actionality in the Ainu language

317

2.5. M o d e of a c t i o n Whereas aspect concerns itself with whether an action is completed or not and how, mode of action is used to describe the function of morphemes which refer to various circumstances or properties of actions. Properties of actions would generally be perceived as an objective category, but this is not necessarily so in Ainu. A number of the morphemes involved contain a subjective evaluation concerning, e.g., the longwindedness, the excess, the speed, etc. of a process. Mode of action is primarily expressed with the help of auxiliaries, but also among the verb suffixes and the conjunctionalizers do we find morphemes which present a statement about the mode of action of the verb to which they are attached. Finally, the lexical meaning of certain verbs may imply a mode of action, i.e., the verb may in itself be durative, momentary, or resultative. In Ainu the following types of actionality may be distinguished: durative, iterative, excessive, defective, velocity-connected, directional, inchoative, momentary, and resultative. In the following we shall confine ourselves to those which have temporal connotations, thus excluding the excessive and directional modes of action (see Refsing 1986: 199-201). The durative mode of action is expressed by the auxiliary a, which simply marks an action or event as having a certain duration. When the verb followed by a is reduplicated, a nuance of impatience creeps into the statement.

(4)

Toon katkemat

caroruy

wa

itak a itak a

That woman be talkative and talks talks 'That woman is talkative, and she goes on and on ...' The iterative mode of action will result from employing the construction (verb) a (verb) a with verbs of momentary or resultative meaning, i.e., verbs which for semantic reasons can have no duration.

(5)

... e

tekehe

e

tuye a tuye a

You

GENhand you cut

cut

'... you cut your hand again and again' Other ways of expressing the iterative are by employing the conjunctionalizer ranke to indicate that something happens several times, or to add the verb suffix - p a to verbs which are able to form the plural. -pa may denote plurality of the subject as well as of the object, but it may also denote repetition (i.e., plurality) of an action (Refsing 1986: 245, 150). The defective mode of action will indicate that a process has not run its expected course, and that something is lacking. There are two auxiliaries involved, niwkes which simply indicates that part of a process is left undone,

318

Kirsten Refsing

and orakse, which furthermore carries the nuance of disapproval or dissatisfaction with the non-completion of the process. (6)

(7)

Ku ipe niwkes I eat not finish Ί have not finished my meal' Nekon poronno ku ipe yakka ku ipe orakse How much I eat regardless of I eat not enough 'No matter how much I eat, I never get enough'

The modes of action which indicate velocity are expressed by the two auxiliaries moyre 'be slow' and tunas 'be fast'. They may in some cases be understood as 'late' and 'early' respectively, not in an absolute sense, but relative to expectation, and no words exist which express exclusively the concepts of 'late' and 'early'. (8)

Ε ek moyre kuni ku ramu You come slow/late quot.mrk. I think Ί thought you would be slow in coming/come late'

(9)

Eci apkas tunas wa eci tura wa ku apkas You walk fast and you follow -ing I walk 'You walk fast, and I cannot keep up with you'

nukuri cannot

The inchoative mode of action is expressed by the auxiliary wa ek, which is constructed from the coordinative conjunctionalizer wa and the intransitive verb ek 'come'. (10)

Ruyanpe as wa ek Rain falls 'It began to rain'

The "momentary" mode of action is rather limited in its possibilities for application. Two verb suffixes, -kosanpa and -ekatta, both indicate the suddenness of an action or event, and they both imply surprise on the part of the speaker. However, the two suffixes seem to combine with only a small number of verbs, which have almost become lexicalized, and it is doubtful whether they can really be regarded as productive suffixes in modern Ainu. (11)

Mun turn wa poro heper cisoyekatta Underbrush midst from big bear come out Ά big bear suddenly came out from the underbrush'

The resultative mode of action may be expressed by employing the sequential conjunctionalizer ayne. ayne relates two predicates temporally, often in such a

Tense, aspect and actionality in the Ainu language

319

way that the second appears as the result of the first, and it gives an added nuance of impatience on the part of the speaker. The nuance of impatience can be strengthened by subjecting the verb conjunctionalized by ayne to the construction presented as the durative mode of action, (verb) a (verb) a. The second sentence will then indicate the outcome of a preceeding, long and tiresome process.

(12)

Pon

nitay oka kusu,

Small trees be

an tuye wa,

because we cut

an yanke a an

and we carry

we

yanke a ayne, a toykar carry we make farmland 'Because there were small trees, we cut them and we carried them and we carried them, and finally we had made farmland'

2.6. O t h e r time-related f o r m s Some conjunctionalizers directly connect events, actions or states in a sequential or contemporal relationship. E.g., konno indicates that in a specific set of circumstances one event is (inevitably) followed by another.

(13)

Cep

e

konno,

Fish eat condition 'Whenever he eats fish he gets sick'

sanpe

wen

be

bad

Other conjunctionalizers carry as their dominant semantic feature a consequential (causal) or conditional meaning, but this generally presupposes a temporal context as well. A consequentially conjunctionalized utterance must in real time precede the utterance describing the effect, and likewise a conditional statement should basically be seen as a statement about a (hypothetical) cause and its possible effect (Refsing 1986: 25Iff.). Modal auxiliaries may also presuppose a temporal context together with their modal significance, such as, for example, the hortative and intentional moods, which clearly signify future events, although futurity is not the central point of the utterance.

3. Conclusion The absence of the concept of linear time in Ainu does not mean that time is of no importance in the language, only that it is perceived differently. Ainu time is amorphous as an absolute concept, but it is quite concrete when it

320

Kirsten

Refsing

comes to placing utterances in a temporal relationship to each other and when describing temporal properties of actions, states, or events. Whether something was in the past, is in the present, or will be in the future is of no concern to the language. It only concerns itself with whether something comes before, after, or at the same time as something else, and whether and how it is completed or not completed. The orally transmitted literature is generally not told in the third person, but rather has the narrator appear as if telling the story with himself as the center. In these stories the device used to place the narration outside of the present reality is not tense marking, but rather the employment of the indefinite pronominal affix in lieu of that of the first person. The narration is thus placed beyond the here and now by depersonalizing the main character of the story, represented by the narrator.

Notes 1. Some scholars disagree, e.g., Tamura (1960: 347ff.). See also below. 2. For the purpose of this paper the verbal system in Ainu is defined as consisting of verbs, verb prefixes, verb suffixes, and auxiliaries (Refsing 1986: 140ff., 177ff.). 3. Conjunctionalizers are defined as bound forms modified by a sentence. The conjunctionalized sentence becomes embedded as an adverbial adjunct to a new predicate. There are the following semantic categories of conjunctionalizers: coordinative, sequential, contemporal, consequential, concessive, conditional, and adversative (Refsing 1986: 238ff.). 4. Such as, e.g., Hattori (1964) or Batchelor (1938).

References Adami, Norbert Richard 1981

Verzeichnis rassowitz.

der europäischsprachigen

Literatur

über die Ainu. Wiesbaden: Otto Har-

Batchelor, John 1938

An Ainu - English - Japanese Dictionary. [1981] [4th ed. Tokyo: Iwanami.]

Chiri, Mashio 1936

Ainugohoo [1974]

1942

gaisetsu

[An outline of Ainu grammar. Tokyo: Heibonsha.]

Ainu gohoo kenkyuu

- Karafuto

hoogen ο chuushin to shite [Studies in Ainu grammar

- with an emphasis on the Sakhalin dialect]. Toyohara: Karafuto-choo hakubutsukan hookoku. Hattori, Shiroo (comp.) 1964 Ainugo hoogen jiten [An Ainu Dialect Dictionary], Tokyo: Iwanami.

Tense, aspect and actionality

in the Ainu language

321

Kindaichi, Kyoosyuke 1960

Ainugo kenkyuu

[Studies of the Ainu language]. (Kindaichi Kyoosuke senshuu, 1).

Tokyo: Sanseidoo. Kreiner Josef (ed.) 1993

European Studies on Ainu Language

and Culture (Monographien aus dem Deutschen

Institut für Japanstudien der Philip-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung, Band 6). München: Iudicium Verlag. Naert, Pierre 1958

La Situation Linguistique

de L' Arnou et Indoeuropeen

(Lunds Universitets Ärsskrift,

53,4). Lund: Lund University. Patrie, James 1982 The genetic relationship of the Ainu language (Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication, no. 17). Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. Refsing, Kirsten (as Taguchi, Kirsten) 1974

An annotated

catalogue

of Ainu material

in the East Asian Institute,

University

of

Aarhus (Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies Monographs 20). Lund: Studentlitteratur. Refsing, Kirsten 1986

The Ainu language. The morphology Aarhus University Press.

1993

The Ainu Concept 91-101.

of Time as Expressed

and syntax of the Shizunai Through

Language,

dialect.

Aarhus:

in: Josef Kreiner (ed.),

Tamura, Suzuko (as Fukuda, Suzuko) 1956 "Ainugo no dooshi no koozoo" [The Structure of Ainu verbs], Gengo kenkyuu 21-38. 1960

39:

"Ainugo Saru hoogen no jodooshi" [Auxiliary Verbs of the Saru Dialect of Ainu], Minzokugaku kenkyuu 24/4: 67-78.

Aleut tenses and aspects Knut Bergsland

1. Introduction T h e A l e u t language, in Aleut Unangam

tunuu, is historically related to the

E s k i m o languages. T o d a y it includes t w o main dialects, Eastern Aleut ( E A ) and A t k a n Aleut ( A A ) . Eastern Aleut is s p o k e n b y a b o u t 450 middle-aged and old p e o p l e in six villages of southwestern Alaska, U S A : K i n g C o v e , A l a s k a Peninsula; A k u t a n , U n a l a s k a , and N i k o l s k i , U m n a k Island, Aleutian Islands; St. Paul and St. G e o r g e , Pribilof Islands. A t k a n Aleut is s p o k e n b y a b o u t 80 p e o p l e , including children, in A t k a Village, Aleutian Islands, U S A (174° 13' W , 52° 13' N ) , and b y half a d o z e n old p e o p l e o n Bering Island, C o m m a n d e r Islands, Russia. T h e w e s t e r n m o s t dialect, b e f o r e W o r l d W a r II s p o k e n on Attu, U S A (173° 15' E , 53° N ) , and after the w a r - after the i m p r i s o n m e n t of the p e o p l e in J a p a n - in A t k a Village, is n o w extinct in A l a s k a but survives in a creolized f o r m o n Bering Island, Russia. 1 A l e u t is a strict S O V language, and in c o m p l e x sentences, s o m e t i m e s very long, the final clause carries the temporal and m o d a l m a r k i n g of the sentence. 2 Tense, absolute and relative, finds expression o n three m o r p h o - s y n t a c t i c levels: b y inflectional suffixes, f o l l o w e d b y n u m b e r and p e r s o n markers and p o s sibly c o m b i n e d with suffixal negation; b y certain auxiliary verbs (with inflectional suffixes); and b y certain derivational suffixes. T h e m o r e than one hundred

derivational

suffixes

include

many

suffixes

of

an

aspectual

or

" a s p e c t o i d a l " nature. T h e s e suffixes c o m b i n e and p e r m u t e in various w a y s , 3

mutually and with other suffixes.

2. Absolute tense 2.1. Inflectional suffixes T h e basic tense suffixes include a " p r e s e n t " -ku-, negative -lakag-, o p p o s e d , on the one hand, to a " c o n j u n c t i v e " (contemporative) -lix, after a c o n s o n a n t -six (modern A A -// -5), negative -lakan, and to a " g e n e r a l " one without a tense suffix; and, on the other hand, to a "recent p a s t " E A -laagana-, A A -lagana-, and

324

Knut

Bergsland

to a "remote tense" -na- or -qa- (the difference is explained below). The latter two and the "general" are also participial and are negated by an enclitic, EA + ulux, AA + ulax. The future may be expressed by the "intentional", a variety of the optative, but is typically specified by auxiliary verbs or by derivational suffixes to be discussed in 2.2. 2.1.1. P r e s e n t -(i)ku-,4

negative

-lakag-

In the present of a verb without a complement or with fully specified complements (e.g., an object) a 3. p. subject is marked by a simple number suffix: singular -(x), dual ~(i)x, plural EA -(i)n, AA -(i)s, and a nominal subject is in the absolutive case; a 1. or 2. p. subject is marked by an enclitic pronoun, added to the singular form. 5 In forms with an anaphoric complement, the number of the complement and the subject are marked by so-called possessive suffixes, and a nominal subject is in the relative case (simple sg. -(i)m).6 In general, with the qualifications to be stated below, a statement in the grammatical present refers to a state-of-affairs, including quality, quantity, and time, that obtains (or does not obtain) at the time of speech, or to a process or an event that takes place (or does not take place) at the time of speech, or took place (or did not take place) a short time before the act of speech, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (la)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

Ula-x quhma-ku-x. house-SG white-PR-SG 'The house is white.' Ula-x tagada-lakax. house-SG new-NegPR-SG (zero suffix) 'The house is old (literally not new).' Sluka-s hasina-ku-s. sea gull-PL numerous-PR-PL 'There are many sea gulls (now).' Vaskrisiiniya-x angali-ku-x. Sunday-SG day-PR-SG 'It is Sunday today.' Ada-ng saga-ku-x. father-SGlSG sleep-PR-SG 'My father is sleeping.' Viira-x hila-lakax. Vera-SG read-NegPR-SG 'Vera is not reading (but doing something else).'

Aleut tenses and aspects

g)

h)

i)

325

Piitra-x waaga-ku-x. Peter-SG come here-PR-SG 'Peter is coming back or just came back.' Piitra-x asxu-x su-ku-x. Peter-SG nail-SG take-PR-SG 'Peter is taking or took (right now) a/the nail.' Piitra-m su-kuu (= -ku-a). Peter-REL take-PR-SG3SG 'Peter took it (right now).'

The present is compatible with derivational suffixes such as EA -saagi-, AA -zaagu- 'recently, a while ago', see 2.2.2. With certain other derivational suffixes and with certain auxiliaries the grammatical present refers to a near future, see 2.2.1 and 2.2.3. Simple present forms normally imply that the fact is directly experienced by the speaker. The deictic situation may be made explicit by a demonstrative verb (suffix -ma-) combined with the conjunctive of the main verb, 7 e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (2a)

b)

c)

Piitra-x waaga-l hinga-ma-ku-x. Peter-SG come here-CON there-do-PR-SG 'There (you see) comes Peter.' Uymina-lakan gu-ma-ku-q (= -ku-x + ting). feel well-NegCON here/now-do-PR-I Ί am not feeling well now.' Achuna-l uma-ma-ku-x. windy-CON here/now (invisible)-do-PR-SG 'It is windy now (I feel it).'

A statement based on inference, including hearsay, is marked as such by the derivational suffix -(x)ta- (see 4.3), or by the auxiliary a-xta-, derived from a'be', combined with the conjunctive of the main verb, e.g., (3 a)

b)

ΕA

Piitra-x waaga-xta-ku-x. Peter-SG come here-INF-PR-SG AA Piitra-x waaga-l a-xta-ku-x. Peter-SG come here-CON be-INF-PR-SG 'Peter apparently came back/has come back.' 8 AA Ugunu-l a-xta-ku-ng. forget-CON be-INF-PR-SGlSG Ί must have forgotten it.'

326

Knut Bergsland

Within a traditional tale, marked as such by a final form such as hiilaxtadax 'it is said about ...', 9 sentences may be in the simple present, a usage comparable with relative tense, cf. 3.3. In general, one could perhaps say that the Aleut grammatical present expresses actuality, as opposed to some remoter time. Thus it is compatible also with the counter-factual particle kum (Old Atkan kuma), a near synonym of the Russian by, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (4a)

b)

Piitra-x kum ting kidu-ku-x. Peter-SG C F me help-PR-SG 'Peter would have helped me (now, but he is not here).' Wa-n angali-x sla-chxiza-guu (= -gu-a) kum this day-SG weather-nice-if-3SG CF ayux-ta-l imyag-iku-q. go out-temporarily-CON fish-PR-I 'If it were nice weather today I would go out (in a boat) fishing.'

In Eastern Aleut the present can be used also in a question, for instance in a myth collected in 1910 by Waldemar Jochelson Q. 15:49 (for reference see note 1)): (5)

Inga-ya umni-ng a-xta-ku-x-txin hi? there-look nephew-SGlSG be-INF-PR-SG-you ? 'Are you my nephew then (judging from what you say)?'

In Atkan Aleut, and frequently also in Eastern Aleut, a question referring to the present time or to the near past is put in the conjunctive or in the general (with a difference to be explained below), rather than in the grammatical present. 2 . 1 . 2 . C o n j u n c t i v e - l i x / -six (-1/ -s), negative

-lakan

The conjunctive admits neither simple number suffixes nor possessive suffixes. Anaphoric complements are marked by special suffixes: singular -ka, EA and modern AA -kan, dual -ki-x, plural EA -ki-n, AA -ki-s, with certain reductions of the preceding conjunctive suffix, e.g., old AA -l-ka/ -s-xa, -lakan-ka; Ε A -kan/ -s-xan, -laka-kan; modern AA -(i)kan, -laka-kan (for all numbers). A 1. or 2. p. subject is marked by an enclitic pronoun, with certain reductions of the preceding suffix, e.g., EA -l-txin/ -si-txin, -ka-txin/ -s-xatxin, -laka-ka-txin; AA -t/ -si-t, -l-ka-t/ -s-xa-t, -lakan-ka-t, modern -(i)ka-t, -laka-ka-t. A 3. p. subject is unmarked. A statement in the conjunctive may seem to indicate an ongoing activity or an act in progress, e.g., in Atkan Aleut:

Aleut tenses and aspects

(6a)

b)

327

Txin achixa-ting. you teach-(CON)-I Ί am teaching you (now).' Awa-l hinga. work-CON that 'He is working (right now).'

Eastern Aleut (J. 17: 155 and J. 33: 8) (6c)

d)

Wa-ngun anqaxta-siga(t)-si-ting. here stand-long time-CON-I Ί have been standing here for a long time now.' Aya-ng wa-n, inga-n txin a-chxi-laka-ting. friend-SGlSG this that you be-think-NegCON-I 'My friend (here), I didn't think it was you.'

The difference from the present may be illustrated by the following pair of sentences in an Eastern Aleut tale collected by Jochelson in 1910, where a baby monster announces her coming in the conjunctive (J. 13: 40), whereas her fleeing brother reports it in the present (J. 13: 43) (the preceding verb is in the intentional): (6e)

Aang, uyu-ngi txin qa-a-ngan aqa-l-ting. well brother-SGlSG you eat-INT-lSG come-CON-I 'Well, my brother! now I come to eat you.' Ungi-ng ting qa-ag-an aqa-ku-x. sister-SGlSG me eat-INT-3SG come-PR-SG 'My sister is coming (has come) to eat me.'

The difference might seem to be aspectual, but taken as a whole the use of the present is compatible with any kind of aspect, inherent or suffixally marked. In (6e), the threat in the conjunctive is rather "performative", the following report "constative". A question in the conjunctive corresponds with a statement (answer) in the present, referring to the time of speech or to the near past. A question marked by the interrogative particle ii or (EA) hi with a rising intonation, or by the intonation alone, is a question of fact ("or not?") as opposed to a question in the general (see 2.1.3). The following Atkan examples include a couple of possible answers in the present. (7a)

Chaayu-utu-t ii? drink tea-want-(CON)-you ? 'Do you want (to drink) tea?'

328

b)

c)

d)

Knut Bergsland

Aang, ma-ku-q. 'Yes, I do.' Qungtux-si-ting ii? snore-CON-I ? 'Did I snore (right now)?' Haqa-l ii? come-CON ? 'Did he come?' Su-l-kis ii? take-CON-3PL ? 'Did he take them?' Su-ku-ngis hinga. '(Yes,) he did take them.'

Likewise in Eastern Aleut, e.g., (J. 41: 26 and J. 61: 10): (7e)

f)

Duxtaasa-gi-laka-txichi hi? guest-have-NegCON-you (pi.) ? 'You don't have a guest, do you?' Txin asxa(t)-si-ting ii? you kill-CON-I ? 'Did I kill you (right now) ?'

A question marked by an interrogative pronoun, adverb, or pro-verb, has the same kind of time reference, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (8 a)

b)

c)

Klin haqa-l. who come-CON 'Who came?' Qana-ax haqa-t. where-from come-(CON)-you 'Where do you come from?' Qana-hli-gan ax-sxa-t where (precisely) put-CON-3SG-you 'Where did you put it?'

hama. that

Eastern Aleut (J. 74: 45 and J. 13: 26): (8d)

e)

Qana-li-gan a-lix angali-lix where be-CON (spend) day-CON 'Where has he been today?' Alqu-lix ting adaluusa-l-txin. do what-CON me deceive-CON-you 'Why did you deceive me?'

wa-ya. here-look

Aleut tenses and aspects

329

The difference between a question and a statement (answer) may be viewed as modal, like the morphologically marked difference between the interrogative and indicative moods in Eskimo. Taken as a suspended expression of reality, a question in the conjunctive is comparable with a statement in the conjunctive such as (6) above, opposed to the present in terms of degree of reality, including "performative" vs. "constative". A similar function of the conjunctive may be seen in farewell formulas such as A A Haqa-hli-lix! ' C o m e again!' (-hh'still'); Uku-diga-lix! 'Live well!', equivalent to the imperative Uku-diga-da!. In a non-final clause (the most common use of the conjunctive) the tense and mood are suspended until the final predicate, e.g., AA Haqa-l qa-da! ' C o m e and eat!' (see 3.2).

2.1.3. G e n e r a l The general has no tense or mood suffix. It admits the same number and person markers as the present -ku-, but the negation is enclitic, EA + ulux, A A + ulax, added to the number and possessive suffixes, e.g., EA sg. -g-ulux, pi. -nulux, SG1SG -ng-ulux; A A -g-ulax, -z-ulax, -ng-ulax, in modern Atkan restructured to -gula-x, -gula-s, -gula-ng. An enclitic 1. or 2. p. marker comes last, e.g., EA 1. sg. -g-ul-ting, 2. pi. -g-ul-txicbi(n); A A 1. sg. -gula-q, 1860 -gulak (-ulax + ting), 2. sg. -gulax-t. A statement in the general is temporally unspecified and may be generic or have a more limited generality, depending on the subject, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (9a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

lsugi-x alagu-m alga-a a-x. hair seal-SG sea-REL animal-SG3SG be-SG 'The hair seal is a sea animal.' Unanga-x a-q. (EA 1910 Unanga-qing.) Aleut-SG be-I Ί am an Aleut.' Txin idaxta-g-ula-k. (1860, Mark 1: 24) you ignore-SG-not-I 1 0 Ί k n o w you.' Asa-a agach idaxta-hli-ng-ulax. name-SG3SG rather ignore-still-SGlSG-not 'Its a (dog's) name I still remember.' Haaga-gula-q. be hungry-not-I Ί do not starve (I have enough food).'

330

Knut

vs.

Bergsland

Haaga-laka-q. be hungry-NegPR-I Ί am not hungry (now).'

A statement in the general very often includes the derivational suffix -za-, EA -da- 'usually' (see 4.2), e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (10a)

b)

vs.

Qawa-x anguna-za-x. Sea lion be big-usually-SG Ά sea lion is big, is a big animal.' Piitra-x kuri-za-g-ulax. Peter-SG smoke-usually-SG-not 'Peter does not /never smoke/s (Peter is a non-smoker).' Piitra-x kuri-lakax. Peter-SG smoke-NegPR-SG (zero suffix) 'Peter is not smoking (now).'

The general with -za- or -da- makes a true general statement, for the suffix also admits the present, e.g., AA Hawaan quchxaan igaxtax waaga-xta-za-ku-x. 'Sometimes the plane comes (down) here.' (-xta- 'temporarily'). A question in the general does not admit a negation, except the verb idaxta'ignore', which has an obligatory negation, as in (9 c-d), vs. haqata- + negation 'not know'. A question in the general may correspond with a statement (answer) in the general, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (11a)

b)

Piitra-x kuri-za-x ii? Peter-SG smoke-usually-SG ? 'Does Peter smoke, is Peter a smoker?' Ada-mis ngaan asa-xta-qa-a father-SG2SG REL for it name-have as-R-SG3SG idaxta-hli-in-ulax it? ignore-still-SG2SG-not ? 'Do you still remember what name your father had for it?'

More interestingly, a question in the general may also correspond with a statement (answer) in the present, being so opposed to a question in the conjunctive. Whereas the latter is an "or not?" question, which in the case of an event refers typically to the near past, the general makes an "or what?" question, referring to the actual time of speech, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (12a)

Mariiya-x hila-x ii? Mary-SG read-SG ? 'Is Mary reading (presently, reading or doing something else)?'

Aleut tenses and aspects

b)

c)

vs.

d)

vs.

331

Hila-x-t iif read-SG-you ? 'Are you reading (or what)?' Ukuxta-an ii? see-SG2SG ? 'Do you see it now?' (Are you in the process of seeing it?) Ukuxta-(l)-ka-t ii? see-(CON)-3SG-you ? 'Did you see it (object gone)?' Su-un iif take-SG2SG ? 'Are you taking it now?' Su-(l)-ka-t iif take-(CON)-3SG-you ? 'Did you take it ?'

A question in the general marked by an interrogative pronoun, adverb, or proverb, may correspond with a statement in the general or in the present, and has the same time reference as the general questions (12), e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (13a)

b)

c)

d)

Kiin a-x-t. who be-SG-you 'Who are you?' Kiin a-x. who be-SG 'Who is it (the person in the picture)?' Ting a-x. 'It is me.' Qana-ngudag-an huya-x hinga. which-direction-in go-SG that 'In which direction is it (the ship) moving?' Alqu-x-t. do what-SG-you 'What are you doing?'

A question with a demonstrative verb, which makes the deictic situation explicit, as in (2) above, is in the general, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (14a)

Ichingu-l hinga-ma-x-t? feel chilly-CON there-do-SG-you 'Do you feel chilly?' Aang, gu-ma-ku-q. 'Yes, I do (here/now).'

332

Knut b)

Bergsland

Alqu-l

hinga-ma-x-t.

do w h a t - C O N

there-do-SG-you

'What are you doing there?' Summing up, one could perhaps say that the general is a contextually determined present, a zero tense. A question in the general thus naturally concerns the range of the predicate, the " o r what?", whereas a question in the conjunctive concerns the truth of the proposition, the " o r n o t ? " Neither expresses doubt, which is marked b y a special dubitative suffix -iixtasuffixes), e.g., A A Igaxtax

haqanaa

ukuxta-axta-chix?

(with possessive

'Did you (pi.) see the

plane coming (I wonder)?'. Being a zero tense, and a zero mood, the general may also be nominal, depending on the syntactic construction. T h e stem igamana-, which in the present is verbal: igamana-ku-x'is

for instance,

good, nice (e.g., well-behaved),

useful, fit, etc.', may be nominalized by the verb a - 'be', as in the Atkan translation of Mark 9: 50 Tagayu-x ly, a stem like cbaayu-

igamana-x

a-x.

'Salt is a good thing.' Converse-

'tea', borrowed as a noun from Russian, in a final pred-

icate is verbal: cbaayu-ku-x

'is drinking tea', cf. (7a) above.

2.1.4. Recent past Ε A -laagana-/ -saagana-, A A -laganaT h e Eastern Aleut variants admit the same suffixes and enclitics as the general. T h e Atkan variant is rare and does not admit a negation, 11 the recent past being commonly expressed b y auxiliaries, see 2.2.4 and 2.2.5. In a final predicate, the Eastern Aleut recent past refers to an earlier time of the same day or, more commonly, to the day preceding the day of the speech act, e.g., (15a)

waag(a)-laagana-x.n

Qila-m

morning-REL

come h e r e - R P - S G

' H e came in this morning.' b)

Sngax-saagana-qing.

dream-RP-I Ί was dreaming last night.' c)

Ya-m

yesterday

alqu-laagana-x-txin.

do what R P - S G - y o u

'What were you doing yesterday?' Possibly, however, the distance from the present may be more than one day (e.g., J . 9: 54). In a tale collected by Jochelson (J. 68: 39), the recent past is even combined with unug-ulux

'long ago', although in a figurative sense, the real

meaning of the sentence being 'We are already lost!':

Aleut tenses and aspects (15d)

Asaga-x,

unugulux

asxa-laagana-n

cousin-SG

long a g o

die-RP-PL

333

a-xta-ku-n! be-INF-PR-PL

' C o u s i n , w e apparently died long a g o ! ' In (15d) the recent past is f o l l o w e d b y the inferential auxiliary, and it is also u s e d in participial constructions, see 3.6, example (59).

2.1.5. Remote -na-,

-qa-

T h e s e suffixes admit the same suffixes and enclitics as the general. With a simple n u m b e r suffix or an enclitic subject p r o n o u n , the -na- is active, the -qapassive. In a final predicate with anaphoric reference, m a r k e d b y a p o s s e s s i v e suffix (cf. 2.1.1), only -qa- is used. In simple final predicates these suffixes refer to a remote past, with certain auxiliaries o r derivational suffixes t o a r e m o t e future, see 2.2.1 and 2.2.4. In the case of a simple r e m o t e past, the time distance f r o m the time of speech is at least one day, e.g., in A t k a n Aleut: (16a)

Piitra-x

waaga-na-x.

Peter-SG

come here-R-SG

'Peter c a m e back here (e.g., the other day).' b)

Qanayiim

haqa-na-x-t.

when

come-R-SG-you

'When did y o u c o m e ? ' c)

Piitra-x

hama-n

Peter-SG

that

ula-ic

agu-na-x.

house-SG

make-R-SG

'Peter built that h o u s e (in the past).' d)

Piitra-m

agu-qa-a.

Peter-REL

make-R-SG3SG

'Peter built it.' e)

Uka-n

ula-x

hamahliim

this h o u s e - S G long a g o

agu-lga-qa-x. make-PASS-R-SG

'This h o u s e was built a long time a g o . ' Eastern Aleut (J. 4: 35) (16f)

... xaaya-x

i-kin

steam b a t h - S G

for-them(2)

ani-qa-x. light-R-DU

' . . . a steam bath w a s lit f o r them.' 1 3 If the past referred to is earlier than the generation of the speakers, the f o r m s are naturally f o l l o w e d b y an inferential auxiliary, e.g., in A t k a n Aleut:

334

(17)

Knut

Bergsland

Kadaangi-s kayu-tu-za-na-s ancestor-PL strength-have much-usually-R-PL a-xta-ku-s. be-INF-PR-PL 'The ancestors were strong (it is said).'

These suffixes are also nominal, e.g., acbixa-nax 'one who teaches, teacher', achixa-qa-x 'pupil, disciple'. In participial constructions the difference of voice is turned into a difference of relative time, the -na- (also with possessive suffixes) corresponding to a final present -ku-, the -qa- to a final -na- or -qa-, see 3.6. 2.1.6. I n t e n t i o n a l -iig-, n e g a t i v e

-laga-ag-

The intentional is a variety of the optative, with possessive subject suffixes in the relative case (the 1. p. sg. is irregular). It is basically modal and is most commonly non-final, preceding another predicate or combined with an auxiliary (see 2.2), but it may also be used alone as a more or less modal future, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (18a)

b)

c)

Qa-a-ngan. eat-INT-lSG 'I'll eat now.' Qa-laga-a-ngan. eat-Neg-INT-lSG 'I'm not going to eat now.' Ayux-ta-a-mis? go out (in boat) -temporarily-INT-2SG 'Are you going out?'

In addition to the negative optative and a negative imperative (2. p. sg. -lagada), there is a prohibitive suffix -iigana- which may refer to a more distant future than the former, e.g., AA sisa-agana-x-t 'don't get lost!'; ugunu-uganaan 'don't forget it!'

2.2. Temporal specifications As mentioned in the introduction, the time relations may be specified by derivational suffixes and by auxiliaries, followed by the inflectional suffixes discussed in 2.1, with certain restrictions and semantic shifts to be indicated below. Before a temporal auxiliary the main verb is in the conjunctive or in the

Aleut tenses and aspects

335

intentional. A phrase referring to the future would have the main verb in the intentional, but the intentional is used also in certain phrases referring to the past. In some cases where Atkan has a phrase, Eastern Aleut has a derivational suffix. In modern Atkan, some of the phrases with the intentional are contracted into single forms. 2.2.1. I n t e n t i o n a l + agThe auxiliary ag- probably originated from the full verb ag- 'put; give', but actually it combines with any verb and the phrases refer to the future. The present suffix -ku- makes it an immediate future, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (19a)

b)

Piitra-x waaga-ag-an ag-iku-x. Peter come here-INT-3SG AUX-PR-SG 'Peter is coming, is about to come.' Piitra-m su-ug-an ag-iku-u. Peter-REL take-INT-3SG AUX-PR-SG3SG 'Peter is going to take it.'

In modern Atkan waagaagikux, suugikuu. The conjunctive makes it "performative" or interrogative, as in (6) and (7) above, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (20a)

b)

Hi(t)-ta-l slaaga-xta-a-ngan go out-temporarily-CON go outside-temporarily -INT-lSG ax-si-ting. AUX-CON-I Ί am going outside for a while now.' Hadan huya-a-mis ax-s-xa-t ii? to him go-INT-2SG AUX-CON-3SG-you ? 'Will you be going to him?'

The remote -na- or -qa- makes it a remote future, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (21a)

b)

c)

Piitra-x waaga-ag-an ag-na-x. Peter-SG come here-INT-3SG AUX-R-SG 'Peter will come back later.' Haqa-a-mis ag-na-x-t ii? come-INT-2SG AUX-R-SG-you ? 'Are you coming later?' Piitra-m su-ug-an a(g)-qa-a. Peter-REL take-INT-3SG AUX-R-SG3SG 'Peter will take it later.'

336

Knut

d)

Bergsland

Ma-a-ngan do-INT-lSG 'I'll do it later.'

a(g)-qa-ng. AUX-R-SG1SG

In modern Atkan the corresponding forms are waagaanax, Haqaanaxt, suuqaa, Maaqang. In modern Eastern Aleut the phrasal remote future is obsolete. In the older language the auxiliary admitted both tenses and even the optative, e.g., J. 15: 57: (22)

Wa-ku-n chuxtaqa-n chuxta-na-ning ukuxtathese clothe-PL wear-PART-PLlSG see-na-txin chuxta-a-min ag-iix-txin. -PART-PL2SG wear-INT-2SG AUX-OPT-you 'These clothes that you see me wearing you must wear.'

The auxiliary does not combine with a negative intentional, except that of the obligatorily negated idaxta- 'know', e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (23a)

b)

Idaxta-laga-a-mis ag-iku-un. ignore-Neg-INT-2SG AUX-PR-SG2SG 'You will recognize it.' Idaxta-laga-a-mis a(g)-qa-an. Ignore-Neg-INT-2SG AUX-R-SG2SG 'You will know it sometime.'

With other verbs, the negated future (improbability) is expressed by the derivational suffix -duuka- or (AA) -zuuka- with a negation, the negated present -lakag- for the foreseeable future, the negated general for the unlimited future, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (24a)

b)

c)

d)

Piitra-x waaga-duuka-lakax. Peter-SG come here-FUT-NegPR-SG 'Peter probably won't come back (now).' Txin saga-atu-chxi-duuka-laka-q. you sleep-want-let-FUT-NegPR-I Ί shall not be keeping you awake.' Piitra-x waaga-duuka-lakan ii? Peter-SG come here-FUT-NegCON ? 'Isn't Peter coming?' Piitra-x waaga-zuuka-g-ulax. Peter-SG come here-FUT-SG-not 'Peter will probably never come back here.'

Aleut tenses and aspects

e)

Piitra-x waaga-zuuka-g-ulax Peter-SG come h e r e - F U T - S G - n o t 'Isn't Peter ever coming?'

337

iif ?

With a negated general the negated a-duuka- or a-zuuka- ' b e - F U T - ' expresses a strong conviction or a future obligation, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (25a)

b)

Haqata-g-ulax a-duuka-lakag-iin. know-SG-not be-FUT-NegPR-SG2SG ' Y o u can not fail to k n o w it.' Ma-g-ulax a-zuuka-a-yulax. do-SG-not be-FUT-SG3SG-not ' H e has to do it sometime.'

In Eastern Aleut the suffix -duuka(26a)

b)

is used also in positive statements, e.g.,

Qila-ga-n ukuxta-duu(ka)-ku-ng. tomorrow see-FUT-PR-SGlSG 'I'll see him t o m o r r o w . ' Aku-u(n) slu-m il-a-n that-REL year-REL in it waag(a)-duu(ka)-ku-qing. come h e r e - F U T - P R - I 'I'll come next year.'

F o r the negated future the older language also had the derivational suffix -naag- 'try' with the negated remote, 3. p. sg. E A -naag-na-g-ulux (e.g., J. 28: 22), A A -naag-na-g-ulax (e.g., M a r k 11: 26). 2.2.2. Intentional + A A

ax-ta-

With the suffix -(x)ta- 'temporarily' or 'apparently', the immediate future turns into an immediate or near past, e.g., (27a)

b)

c)

Piitra-x waaga-ag-an Peter-SG come h e r e - I N T - 3 S G 'Peter came back a while ago.'

axta-ku-x. AUX-PR-SG

Piitra-x waaga-ag-an axta-l ii? Peter-SG come h e r e - I N T - 3 S G AUX-CON ? 'Did Peter come back?' Piitra-x waaga-laga-ag-an axta-ku-x. Peter-SG come h e r e - N e g - I N T - 3 S G AUX-PR-SG 'Peter did not come back as expected.'

338

Knut

d)

Bergsland

Uku-u-ngan axta-ku-ng. find-INT-lSG AUX-PR-SG1SG Ί found it a while ago.'

In modern Atkan the corresponding forms are waagaaxtakux, ukuuxtakung. In this sense Eastern Aleut has a suffix -iiqalta- with the present -ku-, e.g., (28a)

b)

Qa-qada-aqalta-ku-x. eat-stop-NP-PR-SG 'He finished eating a little while ago.' Ukuxta-aqalta-ka-txin e? see-NP-(CON)-3SG-you 'Did you see him?'

The suffix seems to be derived from the optative -iig- with the suffixes -qali'start' and -xta- 'temporarily' or 'apparently' (with syncopation), so the underlying idea may be the same as in Atkan, the suffix -qali- corresponding to the auxiliary ag-. The "apparent" beginning or being about to do something is judged by its effect. The time distance from the act of speech seems to be a little longer for the suffix EA -saagu-, AA -zaagu- 'recently: a while ago', e.g., (29a)

b)

EA Umla-saagu-ku-x. wake up-recently-PR-SG 'He woke up a while ago.' AA Isxa-ng ila-ga-an haxt-zaagu-ku-q. bed-SGlSG from it get up-recently-PR-I Ί got up from my bed a little while ago.'

The distance is still longer for the recent past -laagana- (2.1.4, cf. 2.2.5). 2.2.3. I n t e n t i o n a l + A A

amu-

This auxiliary might have originated from the full verb amu- 'dress', in the sense of getting ready (cf. kaxsa- 'get ready, prepare'; EA 'dress'), but in fact it is an abstract tense marker. With the present -ku- it indicates a near future, much like the present of ag-, and also admits certain derivational suffixes, e.g., (30a)

b)

Haqa-ag-an amu-ku-x. come-INT-3SG AUX-PR-SG 'He will come soon.' Piitra-x waaga-ag-an Peter-SG come here-INT-3SG 'Will Peter be coming soon?'

amu-l AUX-CON

ii? ?

Aleut tenses and aspects

c)

d)

339

Waaga-ag-an amu-qali-ku-x. come here-INT-3SG AUX-begin-PR-SG ' H e is about to arrive.' Qan'gi-x amaatxa-qada-ag-an amu-uguta-ku-x. winter-SG be far-stop-INT-3SG AUX-again-PR-SG 'The winter will soon again be close at hand.' (said in October)

With -na- or -qa- it indicates a distant past, possibly a distance of several years, e-g·, (31a)

b)

c)

Piitra-x waaga-ag-an amu-na-x iif Peter-SG come here-INT-3SG AUX-R-SG ? 'Did Peter come here long ago ?' Hama-hli-ya-achxuza-am waaga-a-ngan amu-na-q. very long time ago come h e r e - I N T - l S G AUX-R-I Ί came here a very long time ago.' Hama-hli-im ngus ag-iig-an amu-qa-a. long time ago to me give-INT-3SG AUX-R-SG3SG ' H e gave it to me a long time ago.'

In modern Atkan the corresponding forms are waagaamuna-x, -q, agiimuqaa, used like an English simple past. Like ag -, this auxiliary does not combine with a main verb in the negative. For the future the negated -duuka- is used instead (see 2.2.1), for the past the simple forms with -na- or -qa- (see 2.1.5). The constructions with amu-, and the full verb amu- 'dress', were also Attuan. The corresponding Eastern Aleut expression for the future is the suffix -iiq(i/a)la- with -na-, -qa-, used also with the enclitic negation, e.g., (32a)

b)

c)

Aqa-aqla-na-x. come-FUT-R-SG ' H e will come soon.' Qila-ga-n u-uqla-qa-ng. tomorrow reach-FUT-R-SGlSG 'I'll see him tomorrow.' Txin akuuga-asa-aqala-na-g-ul-ting. you go ashore-with-FUT-R-SG-not-I Ί will not carry you to shore.' (J. 28: 8)

This suffix is used also in the optative, in the negative with the suffixal negation before it, e.g., J. 35: 48:

340

Knut Bergsland

(32d)

Saga-tu-laga-aqila-ax-txin. sleep-much-NEG-FUT-OPT-you 'Don't sleep late.'

The exceptional order of the negation indicates a phrasal origin of the suffix: an apocopated intentional + qila- 'morning; do in the morning', cf. 2.2.5.

2.2.4. Intentional and conjunctive + sagaUsed as an auxiliary with the main verb in the intentional, the verb saga'sleep; E A pass the night' in the remote or, in a question, in the conjunctive, indicates the day after the time of speech, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (33a)

b)

c)

Qila-ga-n haqa-ag-an saga-na-x. tomorrow come-INT-3SG AUX-R-SG 'He will come tomorrow.' Ma-a-ngan saga-qa-ng. do-INT-1SG A U X - R - S G 1SG Ί will do it tomorrow.' Piitra-x waaga-ag-an saga-l Peter-SG come here-INT-3SG AUX-CON 'Will Peter come tomorrow?'

ii? ?

In modern Eastern Aleut the auxiliary indicates a more indefinite future, perhaps 3 - 4 days or even a month after the time of speech, e.g., Unalaska 1984, (33d)

u-xta-a-ng(an) reach-temporarily-INT-1SG Ί will go there some time.'

saga-qa-ng. A U X - R - S G 1SG

In Atkan, saga- in the remote is used also with the main verb in the conjunctive, to indicate the day before the time of speech, in which case qilagan means 'yesterday', e.g., (34a)

b)

c)

Qilagan haqa-l saga-na-x. yesterday come-CON AUX-R-SG ' H e came yesterday.' Piitra-x waaga-l saga-na-x ii? Peter-SG come h e r e - C O N AUX-R-SG ? 'Did Peter come back here yesterday?' Qilagan saga-aka-lakan saga-na-q. yesterday sleep-can-NegCON AUX-R-I 'Yesterday I could not sleep.'

Aleut tenses and aspects

d)

1860

341

Chingla-m agiisa-l-ka saga-qa-a. fever-REL leave-CON-3SG AUX-R-SG3SG 'The fever left him yesterday.' (John 4: 52)

The phrase haqal saganax could possibly be translated as 'he came and slept' but this interpretation is difficult for (34c) and impossible for (34d). The verb saga- 'sleep' has become a genuine tense marker, equivalent to the Eastern Aleut recent past suffix -laagana- (2.1.4) with yam 'yesterday' (e.g., in John 4: 52).

2.2.5. C o n j u n c t i v e +

angalietc.

The following verbs are on the borderline between full verbs and tense markers. The word angali- 'daylight; light; day' and 'be daylight; be or do today' is used as a full verb, alone as in (Id) (2.1.1), or with a preceding conjunctive, e.g., in the present: chixta-l angali-ku-x 'it has been raining today (and still does)'. In the general, with the main verb in the conjunctive, it refers to an earlier time of the day of speech, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (35a)

b)

c)

Piitra-x waaga-l angali-x. Peter-SG come h e r e - C O N day-SG 'Peter came back today.' Piitra-x waaga-l angali-x Peter-SG come h e r e - C O N day-SG 'Did Peter come back today?' ukuxta-lakan angali-ng. see-NegCON day-SGlSG Ί did not see it (earlier today).'

ii? ?

This construction is used in Eastern Aleut as well, but it also corresponds to the Eastern Aleut recent past. The words qila- 'morning' and amag- 'night' are used as verbs with ordinary tense markers, e.g., A A awa-l qila-ku-q Ί worked all morning'; chixta-l amag-iku-x 'it rained last night'. With an additional suffix -(x)si- (in other connections 'make, build, etc.'), they are used in the general like angali- in (35), likewise angaliking-siderived f r o m the phrase angali(m)-king-a 'evening', lit. 'latter part of the day', e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (36a)

Mariiya-x waaga-lakan qila-xsi-x. Mary-SG come h e r e - N e g C O N morning-do-SG 'Mary did not come back this morning.'

342

Knut

b)

c)

Bergsland

Qungtux-s amax-si-x-t. snore-CON night-do-SG-you 'you snored last night.' Ukuxta-l angaliking-si-ng. see-CON evening-do-SGlSG Ί saw him this evening.'

In a more complex predicate, these tense markers come last, after the inferential a-xta-, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (36d)

e)

Suna-(m) ku-ga-n waaga-l axta-l ship-REL on it come here-CON INF-CON qila-xsi-x. morning-do-SG 'He came back on the ship this morning (they say).' Hachit-iku-u, hamaax angagina-m haxsi-qa-a close-PR-SG3SG some person-REL open-R-SG3SG axta-l amax-si-x. INF-CON night-do-SG 'He closed it (a door), but somebody must have opened it in the night.'

What makes these verbs auxiliary tense markers is both their syntactic position and their general tense, that is, a zero tense which gives them the function of a tense suffix. The stems have also a nominal use, e.g., wa-n angali-x 'today' in (4b) and qila-m 'in the morning' in (15a), so the incorporation in the predicate, as in (35) and (36), may be viewed as an instance of the very common syntactic ambivalence of Aleut stems. By contrast, slu- 'summer' and qanag- 'winter', used as verbs, seem to have the ordinary tense suffixes, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (37a)

b)

slu-m huzu-u chixta-l slu-ku-x. summer-REL all-3SG rain-CON summer-PR-SG 'This summer it has been raining all the time.' Uuquchiing-is qiguna-l qanag-iku-s. fox-PL hard to get-CON winter-PR-PL 'Foxes were hard to get this winter.'

The word hula- 'dawn; do at dawn, in the early morning' is verbal only, but precedes the inferential auxiliary, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (38)

Chagi-lgu-x asxa(t)-s hula-l axta-ku-x. halibut-big-SG kill-CON dawn-CON INF-PR-SG 'Early this morning he got a big halibut on his hook (and came back with it).'

Aleut tenses and aspects

343

2.2.6. O t h e r temporal verbs The following borderline cases are like ag- (2.2.1) in having ordinary tense suffixes and a meaning very different f r o m that of the full verbs: ukut- 'for a rather long time', as a full verb 'turn (e.g., his eyes, or his boat) toward (in a certain direction)'; A A bagit- 'for some time', as a full verb 'lift' (in Eastern Aleut also reflexive 'be or do altogether'), e.g., (the first example Eastern Aleut, the rest Atkan): (39a)

Awa-lix

ukut-iku-x.

work-CON long time-PR-SG ' H e has been working for a rather long time now.' b)

Qana-ng

a-l

uku(t)-si-t.

where be-CON long t i m e - C O N - y o u 'Where have you been all this time?' (40a)

Beeringi-ngis

hulma-l

a.xta-1

hagit-iku-x.

bearing-PL3 [SG] melt-CON INF-CON time-PR-SG 'His bearings (of his inboard) apparently had been melting for some time.' b)

Wa-an

kad-a-n

this-REL

before-3SG-REL

tugida-ga-n

il-a-n

saalu-x

in it

dry weather-SG

month-SG3SG-REL agu-xta-l

make-temporarily-CON

hagit-na-x.

time-R-SG 'Last month it was nice weather most of the time.' What makes them auxiliaries is the syntactic position. Like angali- in 2.2.5, the Eastern Aleut word uniix 'lately (about a week ago, or perhaps more)' is both nominal and verbal, with -na-, e.g., (41a)

Iluulu-m

il-an

uniix

waaga-na-x.

Unalaska-REL in it lately come-here-R-SG ' H e arrived in Unalaska Village a few days ago.' b)

Waaga-lix

uniig-na-x.

come h e r e - C O N lately-R-SG ' H e arrived a few days ago.' In the subdialect of St. Paul, however, the verbal phrase is contracted into a single form: waagalniigpax, and the -na- is used also with possessive suffixes, instead of -qa-, e.g.,

344

(41c)

Knut

Bergsland

Unugulux uku-l + niigna-ng. long ago f i n d - C O N + lately-SGlSG Ί found it a long time ago.'

In this way the cluster -/ + niigna- has become a suffix like the recent past suffix -laagana- (2.1.4). In Aleut, then, the temporal specifications constitute a cline, an almost open-ended scale from basic suffixes (2.1) to auxiliaries and lexical verbs, with several instances of auxiliaries reduced to suffixes. The determining factor is of course the strict SOV structure of the language.

3. Relative tense 3.1. The structure of complex sentences An Aleut complex sentence, with the marker of the absolute tense at the end, may contain an unlimited number of clauses, in actual texts recorded on tape up to about fourty. Quite often the speaker apparently has the choice between making a "full stop" (the final absolute tense marker) or adding more clauses to his sentence. An Aleut sentence may thus be more like an English paragraph, possibly a whole narrative, and must be understood as it goes, rather than backwards from the final "main" clause. With the exception of the imperative and the prohibitive (cf. 2.1.6), the tense or mood markers used in final clauses are used also in non-final clauses, some of them participial, and in addition there are two specifically relative tenses, the anterior (suffix -iing-) and the conditional (suffix -gu-). Semantically, a nonfinal clause may be on the same level of representation as the following clause, as in a temporal sequence, or it may be a "report", the complement of a following expression of mental or linguistic activity (see, hear; know; think, say; ask, with different kinds of complements). Within a complex sentence these types may combine in various ways, for instance a "report" with its superordinate verb embedded in a participial construction. The choice of the tense marker of a non-final clause depends in part on that of the final clause, that is, on the modal nature of the proposition, whether it is realized in the present or past, or is future, counter-factual (particle kum), or habitual (suffix -za- or -da-). Otherwise, the temporal reference point of a non-final clause is, in general, the point in time given by the following predicate. This is a vast subject, however, and only a few points can be illustrated below, with very simple examples.

Aleut tenses and aspects

345

3.2. Conjunctive The conjunctive is used very commonly, in all sorts of complex sentences, to join, in an iconic order, predicates that are on the same level of representation, indicating contemporaneous or consecutive events, and have a common subject, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (42)

Qiiga-s la-xta-l, isxa-xta-l, grass-PL cut-temporarily-CON bed-have a s - C O N ingti-x akiigasa-l, chachi-xta-l, blanket-SG take along-CON cover-have as-CON saga-za-na-s. sleep-usually-R-PL 'We used to sleep on grass we cut for a bed, covered by a blanket we had with us (going on hunting trips in a kayak)'.

In a complement clause dependent on hi-xta- 'say' or anux-ta- 'think', representing a final clause in the present, the conjunctive is used only if the subjects are different, for instance, corresponding to the simple sentence Suna-x haqaku-x 'The ship is coming', in Atkan Aleut: (43)

Suna-x haqa-l hixta-na-x. ship-SG come-CON say-R-SG 'He said that the ship was coming.'

If the subject is the same, that is, if it represents a self-report, the complement clause is participial, for instance, corresponding to the simple sentence Saahmla-s uku-ku-q Ί found eggs (right now)', AA {-an = -iin singular-reflexive 3. p. sg.): (44)

Saahmla-s uku-na-an egg-PL find-PART-SG3RSG 'He said that he found eggs.'

hixta-nax. say-R-SG

Phrases with ag-iku- (2.2.1) are treated in the same way, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (43b)

(44b)

Saalu(t)-smihli-ig-an ax-s stop raining-still-INT-3SG AUX-CON anuxta-t ii? think-(CON)you ? 'Do you think it will stop raining?' Il-a-n ag-iig-an ag-na-an in it put-INT-3SG AUX-PART-SG3RSG

346

Knut

Bergsland

hixta-duuka-lakag-a. say-FUT-NegPR-SG3SG 'He will probably not say where he is going to put it.' The difference appears to be modal, for only a self-report expresses an experienced fact or volition (cf. the discussion of the final conjunctive in 2.1.2).

3.3. N o n - f i n a l clauses marked for tense A clause may also be linked to a following one by the grammatical present -ku-, negative -lakag-, which indicates a time including or preceding that of the following clause, like the relation to the time of speech in a final clause (2.1.1). If the clauses are on the same level of representation and share a simple 3. p. sg. subject, without any anaphoric reference to another term, there is a case distinction, the absolutive case (-x) indicating inclusive time, the relative case {-m) precedence or contrast, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (45a)

b)

c)

Hla-x uda-m hach-a-n imyag-iku-x, boy-SG bay-REL outside it fish-PR-SG atxida-txagi-na-x. cod-catch-R-SG 'The boy was fishing outside of the bay and caught (one or several) cod.' Anqaxta-ku-m haqa-ag-an ag-iku-x. go out-PR-REL come-INT-3SG AUX-PR-SG 'He went out (away) but will come back.' TayagH-x uqit-iku-m, hla-aH ayug-na-x. man-SG return-PR-REL son-SG3SG go out-R-SG 'When the man came back, his son went out (in a boat).'

In the dual and plural there is no case distinction. If the subjects are different, or a first or second person, the precedence or contrast is mostly marked by an enclitic -(ng)aan (modern Atkan 1. p. sg. -qaang from -qing-aan), dual -ikin, plural -(ng)iin 'for -, to -', added to the absolutive case, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (46a)

Alitxu-x ina-ku-g-aan, Atxa-m had-a-n war-SG end-PR-SG-for Atka-REL toward it uqiti-iguta-na-s. return-again-R-PL 'When the war was over, we returned to Atka.'

Aleut tenses and aspects

347

Likewise a phrase with ag-iku-, Atkan Aleut (from an informal narrative recorded on tape) (46b)

Hama-agan chiilu-ug-an ag-iku-z-iin there-ABL return-INT-3[PL] AUX-PR-PL-for ma-1, Uliyaana-x drafti-lga-qa-x. do (so) - C O N Julian-SG draft-PASS-R-SG 'As we were about to return from there, Julian was drafted (conscripted).'

The remote past may be used in the same way, indicating a distant past in relation to the following clause (or to the time of speech), e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (47a)

Hama-ax hit-na-q-aang tataam hama-aga-aguta-na-q. there-ABL go out-R-I-for again there-go-again-R-I Ί had gone out from there but went back there again.'

Quite often, however, a remote past is treated as a participle and is linked to the following clause by an auxiliary a-kn- (also used as a conjunction: akux, akugaan 'however'), e.g., AA (47b)

c)

Qilagan aygax-s saga-na-x a-ku-q-aang, yesterday walk-CON AUX-R-SG be-PR-I-for namig-iku-q. feel stiff-PR-I Ί was walking yesterday so now I feel stiff.' Lu-na-z-ulax a-ku-s, txi-dix believe-R-PL-not be-PR-PL themselves lu-t-xali-na-s a-xta-ku-s. believe-make-begin-R-PL be-INF-PR-PL 'They (the Atkan Aleuts after the arrival of the Americans in 1867) had not believed but then they began to have confidence.'

With a complement clause in the remote past, as with a predicate noun, the verbs hi-xta- and anuxta- have an additional suffix -usa- ('with'): hiisaxta-, anuxtaasa-, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (48a)

vs. (48b)

Suna-x kidug-na-x anuxtaasa-ku-q. ship-SG sink-R-SG think about-PR-I Ί think that the ship sank.' Suna-x kidux-s ( C O N ) anuxta-ku-q. Ί think that the ship is sinking.' Angali-x ama amgi-x saga-na-x day-SG and night-SG sleep-R-SG

348

Knut

Bergsland

a-xta-na-x-txidix

hiisaxta-na-s.

be-INF-R-SG-themselves say a b o u t - R - P L 'They said (telling their story) that they must have slept day and night.' T h u s the incorporation of a sentence as a non-final clause in a larger sentence does not reduce the possibilities for temporal specification, which only shifts f r o m absolute to relative. Incidentally, also a question m a y be incorporated in this way, for instance Alqus maxt 'What are y o u doing?' + Kikagnal hingamakuxt ' Y o u are so dirty': (49)

Alqus ma-ku-x-t what-PL do-PR-SG-you hinga-ma-x-t.

kikagna-l be d i r t y - C O N

there-do-SG-you 'What are y o u doing that y o u are so dirty?' The question in the general (ma-x-t) is linked by -ku- to the next clause, which shifts f r o m the present (-ku-x-t) to the general.

3.4. A n t e r i o r -iingT h e anterior has possessive subject markers in the locative (relative) case, including reflexive 3. p. suffixes for coreference with the subject of the following (possibly the final) clause. It indicates an event as finished before the next one takes place, and is very frequently combined with the derivational suffix -qada- 'stop; already' (see 4.6), e.g., in Eastern Aleut (J. 52: 5): (50)

Angali-x iku-ung-an, ixta-x daylight-SG turn-ANT-3SG lamp-SG ani-qada-a-giim, tataam tx-in ungut-iku-m, l i g h t - a l r e a d y - A N T - 3 R S G again himself seat-PR-REL ula-am iqug-a-n il-a-an house-SG3RSGREL corner-SG3SG-REL out of it aanghliqiita-x usa-ku-x ukuxta-qali-na-x. sea c u c u m b e r - S G roll-PR-SG see-begin-R-SG 'When daylight began to wane, after he had lit a lamp and sat d o w n again, he saw a sea cucumber rolling out of the corner of his house.'

Aleut tenses and aspects

349

In modern Atkan the anterior is used almost exclusively with -qada- and in coreference with the following clause, being for the rest replaced by the present with -(ng)aan, etc. The anterior of a-qada- 'be already' with the full verb in the conjunctive is particularly frequent, marking a temporal break ("and after that") in strings of conjunctive clauses such as (42) in 3.2. In this way, together with the linking by -ku- or a-ku-, a sentence can be continued indefinitely.

3.5. Conditional

-gu-

The conditional is used in three types of sentences which all contrast with the expression of a realized (completed) fact, and so is practically in complementary distribution with the non-final present and the anterior, with or without -qada- (equally common with the conditional). In the sense of 'if or 'when' or 'whenever' it is used in sentences which refer to the future (including imperatives); or are marked by the particle kum as counter-factual, in the present or the past, or by the suffix -za- or - d a - as habitual, in the general, present or past. The subject markers are possessive, for all persons in the absolutive case, for the second and reflexive third persons also in the relative case, like the simple 3. p. sg. present (3.3). The negation is enclitic, EA + ulux, A A + ulax. Before it the conditional had in older Atkan the allomorph -sxu-, in later Atkan replaced by the negative conjunctive -lakan + a-gu- (in the speech of the youngest generations contracted to -laku-). Like the non-final present, the conditional may indicate a time including or immediately preceding that of the following clause. Or the clause may be marked as future or past by the phrases discussed above. The following Atkan examples may illustrate the various possibilities for temporal distinction. Sentences referring to the future: (51a)

Haqa-l

a-gu-ngis

come-CON

be-COND-3PL

agiitada-a-ngan

accompany-INT-lSG

ag-iku-ning.

AUX-PR-PL1SG 'If (or when) they come, I will go with them.' b)

Chixtaliisi-in

chu-xta-sxu-un-ulax

raincoat-SG2SG put on-temporarily-COND-2SG-not cbixs-a-mis

ag-iku-x-t.

get wet-INT-2SG AUX-PR-SG-you 'If you do not put on your raincoat, you will get wet.'

350

Knut

c)

Bergsland

Hama-ax waaga-l there-ABL come here-CON a-xta-gu-u be-temporarily-COND-3SG ngaan ahmayaax-ta-a-ngan a(g)-qa-ng. to him ask-temporarily-INT-1SG AUX-R-SG1SG 'When he has come back from there, I will ask him.'

Counter-factual sentences, present in (4b) (2.1.1): (52a)

b)

Aniqdu-m su-qa-a-ulax a-gu-un kum child-REL take-R-SG3SG-not be-COND-3RSG CF i-mis ukuxta-chxi-ku-ng. to you see-let-PR-SGlSG 'If the child had not taken it, I would show it to you now. 5 Wa-ngus a-na-x a-lix a-gu-un kuma here be-R-SG be-CON be-COND-2SG CF buyu-ng asxa-na-g-ulax. brother-SGlSG die-R-SG-not 'If you had been here, my brother would not have died.' (John 11: 21)

Sentences marked as habitual, in the general: (53a)

b)

Tx-in saga-ni-qada-gu-um himself sleep-make-already-COND-3RSGREL tx-in qungtu(g)-kali-za-x. himself snore-begin-usually-SG 'When he has fallen asleep he starts snoring.' Qa-a-ngan ag-igu-ung plita-ng eat-INT-lSG AUX-COND-1SG stove-SGlSG ani-xta-za-q. light-temporarily-usually-I 'When I am about to eat I usually light my stove.'

And in the present: (53c)

Qanikinga baqa-gu-u tayagu-s tana-dix spring come-COND-3SG man-PL place-3RPL imax hagya-ya-qali-za-ku-s. for themselves be clean-try to make-begin-usually-PR-PL 'When spring comes the men begin to clean their places.'

Aleut tenses and aspects d)

Qalgada-s

ilga-l

food-PL

seek-CON

351

la-gu-max

catch-COND-3RPLREL

baqa-asa-za-ku-s.

come-with-usually-PR-PL 'They look for (hunt) food and when they get it they bring it back.' And in the past: (53e)

Hama-n

qalgada-x

taxsa-qa-x

that

food-SG

store-R-SG

angagina-z-iin

agu-un

be-COND-3RSG

chisi-lga-qali-za-qa-x

person-PL-to them

distribute-PASS-begin-usually

a-xta-ku-x.

-R-SG be-INF-PR-SG 'When that food had been stored it was distributed to the people (it is said).' f)

Alitxu-ug-in

ag-igu-max

attack-INT-3PL chadugna-m

AUX-COND-3RPLREL

ila-a

qa-za-na-s.

blubber-REL piece-SG3SG eat-usually-R-PL 'When they were about to attack they would eat a piece of blubber.' A clause in the present, indicating an initial condition, may precede the conditional clause, e.g., in Eastern Aleut (J. 56: 6): (54)

Ingas-ag-an

qasxi-ku-m,

throw-INT-3SG

raise arm-PR-REL

ax(t)-ta-gu-un

iglag-a

stand up-temporarily-COND-3RSG ama-atxa-n

chuyu-u

arm-SG3SG spear-SG3SG

achig-da-x.

far away fall-usually-SG 'If, when he (the kayak man) raises his arm to throw, his arm is extended, his spear will fall far away.'

3.6. Tense in participial constructions To fit in as a nominal term in a sentence (subject, object, predicate noun, adjunct of noun, adjunct of positional noun or postposition), a simple or complex sentence is participialized: -na- (enclitic negation) substitutes for the

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present -ku- (negative -lakag-), -qa- for the remote -na- and -qa-, in simple forms as well as in the phrasal tense markers, 15 whereas the general zero remains (without -za- or -da-), likewise the Eastern Aleut recent past -laagana-, and the optative -tig-, as a gerundive. A clausal non-final conjunctive (as in (42) in 3.2) before a general participle becomes a general in the relative case, whereas the anterior and the conditional naturally remain intact. The participial integration thus does not reduce the tense distinctions. The participialization of a simple sentence such as Hla-x aygag-iku-x 'The boy is walking' requires both the substitution of -na- for -ku- {-iku-) and the substitution of a possessive subject marker for the simple number suffix. The subject may remain in the absolutive case, or it may be in the relative case, with a semantic difference: (55a)

b)

Hla-x aygag-na-a anagi-x boy-SG walk-PART-3SG something-SG uku-ku-x. find-PR-SG 'The boy, while walking (or: who is walking), found something (a moment ago).' Hla-m aygag-na-a anagi-x boy-REL walk-PART-3SG something-SG uku-za-x. find-usually-SG Ά walking boy usually finds something.'

The plural of the former is hla-s aygag-na-ngis, that of the latter hla-m aygagna-ngis, with the subordinate subject in the relative singular. Without the subject, the participle is simply a verbal noun: (55c)

Aygag-na-x anagi-x uku-za-x. walk-PART-SG something-SG find-usually-SG 'One who walks, a walker, usually finds something.'

Correspondingly, a sentence like Hla-x ayuxta-l qawa-naag-na-x 'The boy was out hunting sea lion (in the past)' may be participialized as follows: (56)

Hla-x ayuxta-l qawa-naag-iqa-a, boy-SG be o u t - C O N sea lion-hunt-PART-3SG isxa-am il-a-n saga-ku-x. bed-SG3RSGREL in it sleep-PR-SG 'The boy, who was out hunting sea lion the other day, is now sleeping in his bed.'

Aleut tenses and aspects

The gerundive corresponds to an optative such as Qa-x

qa-ax-t

353

'Eat the

fish!' (57)

Qa-x qa-ag-iin fish-SG eat-GER-SG2SG Ί have given y o u a fish to eat.'

i-mis to you

ag-iku-q. give-PR-I

The analysis of the numerous and often complicated participial constructions, including complement clauses (cf. 3.2), is far beyond the scope of this paper. A couple of examples m a y indicate how the system works. First a simple Atkan one: (58a)

(b)

Chagi-x halibut-SG Ά halibut is Chagi-x halibut-SG anguna-a big-3SG 'The halibut

icbaaqida-l anguna-za-x. be f l a t - C O N be big-usually-SG flat and big.' qa-m ichaaqida-ga-n fish-REL flat-3SG-REL a-x. be-SG is a flat big fish.'

In the following Eastern Aleut sentence (J. 49: 11) the participial adjunct of the postposition (positional noun in the locative) includes a complement clause in the present (cf. -na- in sentence (22)): (59)

... ugi-im ad-a-n husband-SG3RSGREL direction-3SG-LOC uya-ku-u ukuxta-laagana-am go-PR-SG3SG see-RECPAST-SG3RSGREL ad-a-n tx-in aygag-(t)-na-x. direction-3SG-LOC herself walk-make-R-SG '...she set out walking in the direction where she had just seen her husband go.'

A s an adjunct of certain positional nouns, used in a temporal sense, the respective participles come into line with the anterior and the conditional, e.g., A A , participial -na-: (60a)

Unanga-x a-ada-na-am Aleut-SG be-like-PART-SG3RSGREL il-a-n tunuxta-du-za-x. i n - 3 S G - L O C talk-fast-usually-SG ' H e talks fast when speaking Aleut.'

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participial -qa-\ (60b)

Waaga-qa-mis agal-a-gaan come here-PART-2SGREL after-3SG-ABL angali-s ag-iku-x. day-PL pass-PR-SG 'You came back here six days ago.'

atuung six

gerundive: (60c)

Tayagu-x waaga-ag~a-n man-SG come here-GER-3SG-REL kad-a-gaan before-3SG-ABL suna-x tx-in ayxa-t-na-x. ship-SG itself move-make-R-SG 'Before the man could come back here the ship had left.'

general: (60d)

Angali-x haqa-ga-n asl-a-gaan day-SG come-3SG-REL time-3SG-ABL -ta-za-x. -temporarily-usually-SG 'He usually goes out (in his boat) at daybreak.'

ayuxgo out-

The adjunct of agalagaan may also be with present -ku-, taking a possessive subject marker like a participle, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (60e)

Waaga-ku-m-chix agal-a-gaan alqu-s come here-PR-REL-2PL after-3SG-ABL what-PL ma-na-x-txichix. do-R-SG-you (pi.) 'After you came back here, what did you do?'

Here, as usual, the present -ku- seems to indicate a time immediately preceding that of the following (final) clause, whereas the participial -qa- indicates a longer interval.

3.7. Suffixal specifications In addition to the basic and phrasal tense markers, several derivational suffixes serve to specify the temporal (and modal) relations in a complex sentence.

Aleut tenses and aspects

355

As mentioned above, the suffix -qada- 'stop; already' is very common with the anterior and the conditional, marking a temporal break. The suffix -zaaguwith -ku-, final in (29) (2.2.2), is also used in a non-final clause, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (61)

Hama-aga-zaagu-ku-s

atuung

asxati-na-s.

there-come-recently-PR-PL six kill-R-PL 'Shortly after we came there we killed six (reindeer).' The suffix -iiguza-, E A -iigusa-, which in other connections means 'mostly, really, precisely, etc.' (see 4.6), combines with the non-final present as well as with the conjunctive, e.g., in Eastern Aleut Q. 15: 40): (62)

Wa-ku-n

la-am

+ aan

ixta-lix

these

s o n - S G 3 R S G R E L + to him

inat-iigusa-lix

asxa-ku-x

finish-precisely-CON

die-PR-SG

say-CON awa.

that/then

'As soon as she had finished saying this to her son, she died.' The very common and important suffix -hli- 'still' (see 4.4) is used with several basic tense markers, e.g., AA present (63a)

Tuta-hli-ku-ng

ti~ng

hear-still-PR-SGlSG

myself

saga-ni-qa-ng16

sleep-make-R-SGlSG

a-xta-ku-x.

be-INF-PR-SG Ί must have listened to him until I fell asleep.' conditional: (63b)

Laavki-m

imda-a

store-REL

content-SG3SG

tuku-g-ulax

rich-SG-not

taya-hli-gu-dix

buy-still-COND-3RPL

hit-za-ku-s.

make-usually-PR-PL

'They buy what is in the store until there is nothing left (literally: they make it poor).' negated general (with following (63c)

-za-)·.

Ina-xta-hli-g-ulag-aan

end-temporarily-still-SG-not-for it

qangi-x

winter-SG

ika-aga-za-qa-a.17

across-get-usually-R-SG3SG 'it (the stored food) did not end before the winter was over.'

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Some more temporal suffixes will be mentioned below. The number of suffixes naturally is a corollary of the fact that Aleut has very few adverbial particles or conjunctions, some of them with suffixal counterparts: taga 'now! (OK); but'; ama 'and; EA or', e.g., (48b); kayux 'also; EA and' (cf. 4.4); tachi-m '(not) yet' (cf. 4.3); tata-am 'again' (cf. 4.4); taaman 'then only' (cf. 4.4); EA unugulux 'long time ago', e.g., (15 d).

4. Aspectoidal suffixes 4.1. Order and scope of suffixes Aleut does not have grammatical aspects comparable with the Russian perfective vs. imperfective, or with the Greek aorist vs. present/imperfect, etc. The Aleut conjunctive, as opposed to the present in a final clause, is reminiscent of the English progressive but is better understood as temporal or modal (2.1.2). Some twenty of the derivational suffixes may be taken as expressing Aktionsart in the traditional sense, such as duration, iteration, inception, completion, stativity, etc. But they do not constitute a single major class, neither in terms of suffixal order, nor in terms of meaning, distinct from some other twenty suffixes expressing speed, intensity, ability, degree, contrast, tense, modality, or the like. In word forms with two or more suffixes each successive suffix mostly modifies the preceding string, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (64)

Kuri-za\-qada2-naagii-itu4-udahlis,-laka(g)f,-q7· 'I 7 do not6 even5 want4 to try3 to quit2 (habitual)i smoking.'

The negation, however, comes last, together with the basic tense or mood suffixes and the person markers, even if it modifies the stem alone, for instance the obligatory negation of idaxta- '(not) ignore', as in (9 d) and (11 b). Some verbal suffixes always come immediately after the verbal stem (including denominal and lexicalized deverbal derivatives) and naturally modify that verb, for instance in terms of Aktionsart and possibly affecting its valency as well. Suffixes which may come later have a wider scope: the predicate with its arguments, the proposition, or the sentence as a whole, possibly a complex one. The mutual order of such suffixes in a string may in part be fixed (the matter has not been investigated thoroughly), but many suffixes are permutable. Permutable suffixes thus have variable scope and may have several meanings, depending on the structural order (cf. Fortescue 1980: 266 - 270). Some brief indications follow, starting with suffixes with wider scopes.

Aleut tenses and aspects

357

4.2. -da-, AA -zaIn the position before the inflectional suffixes of a final clause, this suffix indicates generality or habituality (2.1.3), with the whole sentence as its scope, as seen most clearly from the use of the conditional in a preceding clause (3.5). T o g e t h e r with a negation, which in Aleut is c o m m o n l y contrary rather than contradictory, it gets the meaning 'never' ('always n o t ' rather than 'not always'), as in (10 b). T h e change of scope may be illustrated by the permutation with

-qali-

'begin, start' (4.6), here with a reflexive object tx-in 'himself', in Atkan Aleut: (65a)

Hla-x

txin

kuri-za-qali-ku-x.

' T h e b o y has started to smoke, has become a smoker.' b)

Qilam

txin

kuri-qali-za-x.

' H e usually starts smoking in the morning.' T h e wider and the narrower scopes may be combined, the one within the other, b y using the suffix twice, in immediate succession or with another suffix such as - q a d a - 'stop' in between, as in the following Eastern Aleut sentences (J. 36: 4 and J . 19: 1): (66a)

Tugidam

agnagan

tamadagat

baabka-ga-n2

chagi-da-da-a.

'Every m o n t h j her midwife 2 massages her (the pregnant w o m e n ) . ' b)

Unanga-x

saaqudgaanx

qanikinga2

aqaguum,

mayaagiigan unaxy

agnax

aguum,

qa-da-qada4-da-na-x

axta-da-x.

' W h e n (formerly) an Aleut was going to hunt in the summer], when spring 2 came, he would stop 4 eating old foodi, it is said.' W i t h the narrower scope the meaning depends also on the collocation with temporal specifications such as tugida-m\

ag-na-ga-n2

tamadag-a3

'every 3

passing 2 m o n t h s in (66 a), cf. in Atkan Aleut: (67a)

Huzu-gaan

alug-za-q.

Ί am writing all ( h u z u - ) the time.' b)

Hawaan

quchx-aan

igaxta-x

waaga-xta-za-ku-x.

'Sometimes (quchx- 'interval') the airplane comes (down) here for a while (-xta-).' c)

Agiich-igaan

ila-kucha-a

ukuxta-za-qa-ng.

' O n c e in a while (agiich- 'another') I got a glimpse of him (literally saw a little piece of him).'

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Knut Bergsland

In collocations such as the following, where the subject and the object are involved, the suffix has a distributive function, in Atkan Aleut: ( 6 8 )

A n i q d u - S \

h u z u - n g i s i

a t a q a n

3

k a n f i i x t a - x 4

a t x a z a ^ - z a f r k u - s .

'All 2 the children! got 5 one 3 candy 4 each 6 .' Rather than polysemy, this suffix illustrates semantic variation determined by the suffixal order and by collocations, although, of course, it is difficult to find a single English gloss for the Aleut suffix. The closest approximation perhaps is 'regular recurrence'.

4 . 3 .

- ( x ) t a -

This very important suffix ranges in scope from aspectoidal to temporal and modal, and it also has a denominal homonym. A verbal stem which has an inherently momentaneous, inceptive meaning becomes a temporally limited durative with this suffix, e.g., (AA) iga- 'to take off, take flight (as of a bird or an airplane)', i g a - x t a - 'to have taken off, to fly'; c h l a g - 'to dive', c h l a x - t a - 'to have dived, to be (swim) under the water'; h a x t 'to stand up, get up (as from bed)', b a x t a - (baxt-ta-) 'to be in a raised position; to stay up, out of bed'; s u - 'to take, grasp', s u - x t a - 'to hold; to use'; u k u - 'to get sight of, to find', u k u - x t a - 'to see, to look at'; l a a m p a x a n i - 'to light a lamp'; l a a m p a x a n i - x t a - 'to have lit the lamp, to have the lamp burning' (cf. (53 b)). For verbs with an inherently terminative meaning the time limitation may be predominant, e.g., s i s u g - 'to go over to the other side (as from one side of an island to the other)', s i s u x - t a - 'to go over to the other side and come back'; h n u 'to reach, to go to', h n u - x t a - 'to go to and return, to pay a visit', e.g., A m l a g i x h n u - x t a - t ii? 'Did you go to Amlia Island?' (question in the conjunctive, 2.1.2). Some derivatives can be understood either way, e.g., a n q a - (1) 'to stand up, rise to his feet', (2) 'to set out, depart', a n q a - x t a - (1) 'to stand, be in upright position', (2) 'to go away for a while', (cf. (45 b)); ayug'to go out in a boat, to leave', a y u x - t a - 'to be out in a boat; to go out on a boat trip' (cf. (18 c) and (60 d)). The time limitation of such derivatives may be specified by suffixes, e.g., AA a y u x - t a - y u k a t - n a - x 'he was out in his boat for a long time'; k u m h a x t a y u g a a g i - t ii? 'would you stay up for a little while?' (cf. 4.8). The doubling of the suffix may yield an additional time limitation with wider scope, in a question in the general (cf. 2.1.3), and in the negated general, e.g., in Atkan Aleut (the second example from Mark 2: 12):

Aleut tenses and aspects

(69a)

Amlagix

b)

Liidaxx

hnu-xta-xta-x-t

359

ii?

'Have you ever been to Amlia?' tachim2

'Anything like] its

uku-xta-i-xta^maz^ulax^. we

5 have 4 not^ yet2 seen 3 .'

The general being a zero tense, the outer -xta- functions as a tense suffix, reminiscent of the English perfect, and contrasts with the -za- in the general, an unlimited habitual (2.1.3). The two suffixes are also permutable. Before the -za-, the -xta- has the narrower scope, as in (67 b) waaga-xta-za-ku-x 'usually (sometimes) comes here for a while'. After the -za- (with the narrower scope), the -xta- is inferential, indicating an event experienced otherwise than by eyesight, as in the story about the blind man in Luke 18: 36, in Atkan Aleut: (70)

angagina-S]

ila-ani

ag^-za^-xta^-ku-s

tusix5

'hearings the people] (apparently) 5 continuosly 4 passing 3 by him (3R) 2 ' In this function the -xta- may also modify the modal suffix -masuat the end of the suffix string, e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (71)

Ting\

'perhaps',

adaluusarnaa^-iguta^-masu^-xta(-ku-x7.

' H e 7 may^ perhapss again 4 try 3 to fool 2 me].' In Eastern Aleut the inferential -xta- may follow the temporal one, e.g., (72)

Ugunux-xtaj-xtai-ku-ngi,. 'I 4 must 3 have 2 forgotten] it 4 .'

As mentioned in 2.1.1, even a single -xta- may be inferential: (3a) Ε A Piitrax waaga-xta-ku-x. 'Peter apparently came back/has come back.' This sentence could also be temporal: 'Peter has been back here (but left again)'. In the former case Peter himself is not seen (but perhaps his boat is, or the like); in the latter case he is not seen any more, so the difference is slight, corresponding with the fact that the Aleut present may refer to the time of speech as well as to a time preceding it (2.1.1). In (71) the difference is made explicit as a difference in scope, and in Atkan the inferential is singled out as an auxiliary a-xta(see (3 a - b) in 2.1.1). The positional variants of the Aleut suffix vividly recall the Turkish -mi§, which is both an inferential past and, with -dir, a definite past (Lewis 1967: 122). The denominal -xta- 'have as' has the same time limitation as the deverbal suffix with narrower scope, e.g., ingti-x chachi-xta-l 'having the blanket as a cover' in 3.2 (42); ayaga-xta- 'to have as a wife'. Like very many other stems

360

Knut

Bergsland

the stem chachi- 'cover' is also a transitive verb, and chachi-xta- could probably mean also 'to cover for a while'. Both the deverbal and the denominal -(x)ta- have a corresponding passive -(g)a- (a simple singular + a- 'be'), and the verbal or nominal nature of the stem depends partly on the suffixal context, e.g., chacbi-ga- 'to be covered for a while'; ayaga-ga- 'to be had as a wife, to be married'; su-ga- 'to be held; to be used'; qa-ga- 'to be used as food', passive of qa-xta- 'to have as food' and 'to eat, have a meal'. The deverbal -(g)a- is opposed to -Iga-, which corresponds with the simple verb, e.g., su-lga- 'to be taken, grasped'; uku-lga- 'to be gotten sight of, to be found', vs. uku-ga- 'to be seen, looked at'. Of both kinds of stems there are also derivatives with the suffix -(a)gi- (remote -na- rather than -qa-), which are stative or resultative without time limitation, e.g., cbacbi-gi- 'to have a cover on it, to be closed (as of a can)'; qa-gi- 'to have fish in it (of seine)' and 'to have been eaten from, to have been partially eaten'; wan ι liidali agu-gi-ku-x 'it is made like2 this/ vs. agu-lgaqa-x 'it was made, manufactured'. Denominal and deverbal -(x)ta- (passive ~(g)a~) thus have in common the distinctive feature of temporally limited duration, which is to say that they are collocational variants of the same suffix. The outer -(x)ta-, as in (69) and (72), does of course not have a corresponding passive, the passive belonging to the inner layer, that of the predicate with its arguments. In the outer layer(s), the level of the proposition or the sentence as a whole, the aspectoidal time limitation of the inner layer(s) becomes temporal or inferential, a qualification of the informational value of the sentence.

4.4. -iiguta-, -ma-,

-maaya-

The very common suffix -iiguta-, a near synonym of English again, mostly has a wide sentential scope and can occur even in an auxiliary, as in (30d). Indicating a repetition, as in (30d) and (70), or a return to a former position, as in (46a), it frequently collocates with the particle tata-am 'again', as in (47a). The particle has a reflexive 3. p. sg. suffix in the relative case and seems to be derived from the stem of tachi-m 'yet' with the suffix -(x)ta~, apparently contained also in the suffix -iiguta-, indicating the time limitation. The suffix can also be used in a temporal noun, AA hama-an qila-aguta-a 'the next morning again (the third one)'. In the narrower scope of the predicate the suffix indicates an addition or a contrast and may collocate with kayux, AA kay 'also', for instance before the habitual -za-, in Atkan Aleut (from a war time narrative; the suffix -iilkida'darned' is used in swearing).

Aleut tenses and aspects

(73)

361

Una-naxι kay2 ngiiny a^-alkida^-aguta^-zaj-qa-ni^Ί 9 used 7 to be 4 a (damed 5 ) cookj for them 3)8 also2,6·'

In reference to the subject or the object there is a suffix -ma- 'too', e.g., AA qaatu-ma-ku-q Ί , too, am hungry'; ting kalu-chxi-ma-ax-t (optative) 'let me, too, shoot' (said by a boy). It may follow an -iiguta- collocated with kay, e.g., in Atkan Aleut (with reference to an annoying happening); (74)

Filiip kay χ qagata2-aguta}-ma4-lakag5-a(, 'Philip, too 4 , disliked 2>5 it 6,7 also i j3 .'

bama7.

In Eastern Aleut the suffix -ma- has a wider scope, meaning 'at last', e.g., waaga-ma-ku-x 'at last he came back'. For this Atkan has the derived suffix -maaya-, e.g., chaayu-qada-maaya-ku-s 'at last we got through (literally stopped) drinking tea'. The suffixes of both dialects collocate with taaman 'then at last', for instance in an Atkan text where a first try had been unsuccessful: (75)

Tataam\ liida-x2 agu^-uguta^-l a-ku-ng^ taaman6 sanaj-maayas-na-Xt 'I 5 made 3 another one 2 again^, then 6 at last 8 it9 was big enough 7 .'

In Atkan there is also a suffix -zaxchi- 'for the first time', which in the following sentence contrasts interestingly with -maaya- (from a war time narrative): (76)

Tanaagamagi-X\ hnu-xta2~'zaxchii-i-ng(an)^ hnu-xta^-maaya^-na-qj. literally 'in order to 4 visit2 the mainland! for the first time 3 , at last 6 1 7 visited 5 (it).' = 'That was the first time I got to the mainland (Alaska Peninsula).'

O n the temporal level, then, the suffix -ma-, AA -maaya-, expresses the fulfillment of an expectation and contrasts with the Eastern Aleut suffix -iig(a)li- 'in vain', for instance, with another suffix of swearing, ayxab-naxchxi-igli-ku-ng Ί start it, the damned thing, in vain' = Ί can't get this damned thing (the motor) started'. This is a composite suffix: -iiga- + -Ii-, AA -hli-.

362

4.5.

Knut

Bergsland

-hli-

O n the temporal level this very common suffix indicates continuity, translatable as 'still', as in (9d) and ( l i b ) , or in Atkan Aleut kuufya-atu-kli-t ii? 'do y o u still want coffee, do you want more coffee?'; and in a non-final clause as 'until', as in (63). In the farewell formula haqa-hli-lix the suffix may be translated by 'again': 'come again!' (2.1.2), but it is also combinable with -iiguta- 'again', e.g., in Atkan Aleut: (77)

NguS]

hixtaj-hli^-iguta^-aqa^-an^.

'Please (optative) 5 say 2 , 6

to me] once ('still'^ again 4 .'

Thus it may go also with the particle tata-am, alone or with -iiguta-: tata-hliim 'once again', tata-hli-iguta-am 'over again'. Together with -xta- it is translatable as 'already', e.g., in Atkan Aleut (Mark 16: 4 and John 9: 1): (78a)

Quganax\ agach2-agi2,-hli-xtarku-x

uku-na-s5.

'They found 5 that the stonej already4 was removed 2 _ 3 .' b)

angagina-m.\ ukuqula-lix2

aga^-xta^-bli-xtas-na-a

literally 'a person! being blind 2 already 5 at the time of 4 birth 3 '. Here the 'still' m a y be understood as 'only, nothing but', -hli-xta- as 'temporarily nothing but'. W i t h a negation, as usual contrary rather than contradictory, -hli- gets the meaning '(not) at all', that is, 'only not' rather than 'not only', e.g., Atkan Aleut: (79a)

ΙΙαηχ a-i-hli^-zuuka^-ga^-n + ulaxb ilarij ag-iku$-un9.

'Y0U9 put 8 it 9 w h e r e 1 7 it the w r o n g place.' b)

Anagt\-idahli2-x

wa-ku-s}

5j9

should 4 not 6 at all 3 be 2 ' = 'You put it in luda4-adahli5-s

magi(,-ma7-hlis-za