- Relevent Affixes and Modifications
- Major Aspects
- Dynamic Verb Aspects
- Stative Verb Aspects
- Temporal Factors
- Tense
- Secondary Clause and Matrix Clause Interaction
- Temporal Factors for Noun Clauses
- Related Marking
- Class-Changing Suffixes
- Process Phases
- Additional Aspect-Related Marking
- Things Marked by Reduplication
- Iterative
- Distributive
- Other Reduplication Uses
The affixes and modifications relevent to this chapter are:
| Tag | Form | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| -Prf | -D | -0 | perfective aspect (never marked) |
| -Ipf | -e/, -D | -e̅, -0 | imperfective aspect |
| -Ret | -te | -te | retrospective aspect |
| -Pro | y-ot | y-ot | prospective aspect |
| -Inc | -pat | -pat | inchoative, entry to a state |
| -Per | y-ak | y-ak | perlative |
| Itr~ | reduplication~ | iterative | |
| Dis~ | distributive | ||
The major aspects are the perfective (or aoristic), the imperfective (or durative), the retrospective (or perfect), and the prospective. How these are marked used depends on whether the verb is stative or dynamic (nouns aren't marked for aspect).
A perfective form represents an action or series of actions complete within some time frame. The time of a perfective clause must be either past or future (excluding performatives, which are always present) and is non-specific, unlike the other aspects.
An imperfective form represents a current state or an action in progress or an ongoing series of actions at some point in time.
A retrospective form represents a state current at some point in time resulting from a prior action, series of actions, or even an instance of another state. Exactly what kind of resulting state is intended depends on the verb and the context.
A prospective form represents a state current at some point in time out of which an action or series of actions is expected to emerge (but has not yet started).
Both the retrospective and prospective tend to be inferential in contrast with the perfective and imperfective.
For dynamic verbs, the basic form is perfective, while the other aspects are indicated using suffixes.
Stative verbs lack the perfective aspect, so the basic form is imperfective. However, the point in time for imperfective stative verbs may be non-specific past or future as well as specific. As with dynamic verbs, the retrospective and prospective aspects are indicated using suffixes. An important thing to note is that for the retrospective, the prior action etc. is no longer in progress at the time in question.
Tense is one thing that isn't indicated by the verb; instead, the time of a situation is specified using temporal adverbs or other less direct means. This means that a given verb form might be interpreted as past, present, or future. An exception to this is that imperative forms are always future.
When a secondary clause appears, it can interact temporally with its matrix. Usually, if the secondary clause is perfective, the matrix clause will be imperfective, retrospective, or prospective, and vice-versa. In the first case, the secondary clause partially specifies the time of the matrix clause, functioning as a "when" construct. In the second case, the secondary clause partially specifies the time frame in which the matrix action occurs, functioning as a "while" construct if imperfective, as an "after" construct if retrospective, and as a "before" construct if prospective.
A retrospective secondary clause may suggest the cause of the matrix clause instead of or in addition to the temporal function. Similarly, a prospective secondary clause may suggest the purpose of the matrix clause instead of or in addition to the temporal function.
A noun clause acts as an elaboration of an indefinite or 3rd person argument of some word. Depending on the kind of word, the time of the clause may be relative to the time of that clause.
There are a number of suffixes which change a verb's aspect class, its argument structure, or both. Those in the first category are covered here; for the last two categories, see Valence-Increasing Operations.
The following suffixes change a verb from stative to dynamic:
The inchoative forms are constructed using the inchoative suffix {-pat} |-pat| (-Inc) and the terminative forms are constructed by applying the inchoative suffix to a negative stem (the resulting suffix is {y-ampat} |y-ampat|, -Neg-Inc).
| .palok'pat'ko |
| palok'pat'ko. |
| "I got sick." |
| palok'-pat'-ko |
| sick-Inc-1S |
| .lanzampaze/ |
| lanzampaze̅. |
| "They stopped being joyful." |
| lanz-am-paz-e̅ |
| joyful-Neg-Inc-3P |
This is used on verbs denoting spatial relations and positions to derive verbs specifying a route. These are constructed with the perlative suffix {y-ak} |y-ak| (-Per). There are a couple examples in the next section. Perlative stems are used most often as depictives.
Since this is covered in Perlative Applicative and applies only to certain kinds of stative verbs, this subsection might not be needed.
The process phases are:
It hasn't been decided if these are grammaticalized suffixes yet.
There are a number of additional aspect-related suffixes. These include:
The construction and phonotactics of reduplicated forms is covered under Reduplication. This section covers the various ways the resulting reduplicated stems are used.
The first use is marking iteration, i.e. the repetition of an action on a single occasion. This is naturally available only for dynamic verbs (and is distinct from the habitual, representing the repetition of a situation over a number of occasions, which is available to all verbs. In fact, an iterative verb can also be habitual). It's mainly used with words denoting actions of short duration, rather than processes. An example is {hoep} |hoep| "ripple" from {hep} |hep| "slosh".
The second use is marking spatial distribution. This is naturally limited to a subset of the stative verbs denoting spatial positions and relations. These include {lelem} |lelem| from {lem} |lem| "along", {p'poz} |p'poz| from {poz} |poz| "around", and {minkot} |minkot| from {mikot} |mikot| "across".
| .k'hoztip le/mak'me talze | ||
| k'hoztip le̅mak'me talze. | ||
| "I walked along the path." | ||
| k'-hoz-tip | 0-le̅m-ak'-me | talze |
| 1S-feet-go/come.Prf | 3S.Dir-along-Per-ACD | path |
| .kompe/n lelo/me/ talze | ||
| kompe̅n lelo̅me̅ talze. | ||
| "The kompe were all along the path." | ||
| kompe̅-n | 0-le~lo̅m-e̅ | talze |
| kompe-P | 3S.Dir-Dis~along-3S | path |
| .ta/ztip pi/zak'me heazto | ||
| ta̅ztip pi̅zak'me heazto. | ||
| "Let's go around the house." | ||
| ta̅z-tip | 0-pi̅z-ak'-me | heazto |
| 1NP.Imp-go/come | 3S.Dir-around-Per-ACD | house |
| .p'pi/;ze/ heazto | |
| p'pi̅ze̅ heazto. | |
| "They're surrounding the house." | |
| 0-p'~pi̅z-e̅ | heazto |
| 3S.Dir-Dis~around-3S | house |
The other uses are mostly one-of-a-kind. For example, the relational verb {ciot} |ciot| "ready for" is historically *yuyut, the reduplication of *yut which now appears as the prospective aspect suffix {y-ot} |y-ot| -Pro. Another one is {ook} |ook| "okay", the reduplication of the satisfactive root, {ok} |ok|.
page started: 2009.Mar.28 Sat
prior version: 2009.Apr.10 Fri
last modified: 2009.Oct.21 Wed
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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