Complex Derived Nouns Derived Nouns

have a third stem form, an “oa-stem,” which seems to be an agentless passive and also functions as a reflexive. 28 2.4.1.1.1 “Basic-stem” and “A-stem” Forms The “basic-stem” forms of verbs all have an e, i, o, or y but not 29 a as the nucleus of their last syllable. They are here named “basic” because the specific vowel found in their last syllable is unpredictable and because they are the forms from which the other stem forms are derived. The “a-stem,” as its name implies, has an a as the nucleus of its final syl- lable. In most, if not all, cases it can be derived from the basic-stem form by replacing the vowel of the final syllable of a basic-stem with an a. 36 a. Basic-stem Forms: osy-n go-SUB ‘to go’ andy-n arrive-SUB ‘to arrive’ morodo-n fly-SUB ‘to fly’ dinamy-n stand.up-SUB ‘to stand up’ b. Corresponding A-stem Forms: osa-n wander-SUB ‘to wander around’ anda-n touch-SUB ‘to touch or feel’ moroda-n fly.around-SUB ‘to fly around’ dinama-n pace.around-SUB ‘to pace up and down’ As can be seen in the preceding examples, the basic-stem and a-stem forms consistently differ in how they present the action of the verb: whether they present an action as what might be called “bounded” or “unbounded” in time. That is, the basic-stem forms view an action as happening at some specifiable point or range in time and as having a starting or ending point, or both. The a-stem forms, on the other hand, emphasize the action of the verb itself as an event with duration, and neither the start nor the terminus of the action seems to be in focus. The preceding examples of the basic-stem and a-stem forms were all of intransitive verbs. However, transitive verbs also have these stem forms. For example, notice the following pairs of sentences: 30 37 a. Li fary-fa aba kabadaro. he kill-FUT one jaguar ‘He will kill a jaguar.’ 2.4 Verbs 25 28 This oa-stem seems to bears a certain resemblance to the Greek “middle” voice which also seems to have both a passive and a reflexive interpretation see Lyons 1968:375ff. See also Taylor 1970a:210ff. for further discussion of the three Arawak stem forms. 29 A number of verbs at first appeared to have only a-stems. In most cases, further investigation yielded basic-stem forms not ending in a. 30 These sentences are presented in the future tense because the phonological difference between the basic- and a -stem forms is most clearly seen in this tense. The tense suffixes in Arawak all also contain an aspect component in their meaning see Chapter 5 on discourse. This interacts with the stem forms such that the difference between the stem forms is often neutralized see discussion in following paragraphs.