Speaker’s embarassment and frustration

10.9 roo-ki mit-lok si-kuk=o. 3SG-ERG NEG-go.back say-PROG;VIS=NEW.INF ‘I inform you that he says, “I do not return home.”’ Writer of the letter tells his father, the recipient of the letter, that his son is not going to return home. He uses quotative. Writer knows that father’s assumption is that the boy will soon return back home. 10 .10 ha aliŋ-ki le-tɕʏ ʈhup-soŋ=o. TE9 now corn-GEN work-information end-PST.VIS=NEW.INF ‘My information about the work of corn has now finished.’ This is from a story where a farmer tells about different kinds of fieldwork throughout a year. Speaker assumes that the hearer, being a foreigner, knows nothing about this particular work. New information clitic never combines with questions and is always the last morpheme of a finite verb. The following formula describes its use: NEG- V AUX AUX=o

10.1.3 Speaker’s embarassment and frustration

Speaker’s feeling of embarassment is signalled by the enclitic =pe SEC speaker’s embarassment clitic. This clitic only attaches to finite verbs. The following morphophonemic changes take place: • The final t of the inchoative suffix -pet INCH in the finite verb is dropped and the finite marker becomes =pe . Following ŋ it becomes =e, following a, o, u, i it becomes =je. • If the finite VP has an auxiliary bet the final t is dropped and the finite auxiliary becomes be. I have no observation of this clitic combining with any other finite verbal suffixes or auxiliaries. If the statement refers to something the speaker himself has done then it expresses embarassment and some feeling of remorse on the part of the speaker. He feels sorry and embarassed for what he has done volitionally or accidentally or left undone. It may also refer to something that someone else has done but the speaker still feels bad about it. It is not an apology to the offended party but the speaker expresses his embarassment to a third person or to himself. If it is the hearer who has done something wrong or neglected to do something then there is an element of mild rebuke with this marker. This enclitic must not be mistaken for another string of verbal suffixes -p-e which occurs in non-finite complement clauses and marks highlighted reason clause. The following examples illustrate the use of SEC. 10.11 kott-e ɕet-na ak ŋ-e ha mit-khoo=je. 3SG-ERG speak-NFNT1 INCLN 1SG-ERG aud.impact NEG-hear;understand=SEC ‘Even though he explained it to me, I still do not understand. I am embarassed.’ Speaker expresses his bad feeling to a third person about not having grasped a simple message which someone had spoken. Speaker feels sorry for himself. 10.12 u-ko roo-ki at ɕi hiŋ-køp-pa be. that-head 3SG-GEN elder.sister COP-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX.SEC ‘She was his elder sister. I am embarassed.’ Speaker has ridiculed a girl and then he later learns that she actually was the sister of his good friend. He expresses his feelings of being sorry and embarassed to a third person. If the hearer has done something which he should not have done or he has neglected to do something which he should have done, then the speaker calls for a change of mind. His aim is to get the hearer to rectify his fault if possible. There is a degree of frustration also on the side of the speaker. 10 .13 ŋ-e ʈøt sin-na ak raŋ-ki mit-ʈøp=pe. 1SG-ERG give[IMP] say-NFNT1 INCLN 2SG-ERG NEG-give=SEC ‘Though I told you saying: “Give it,” you are not giving it and I am frustrated.’ Speaker tries to change the attitude of his father who is supposed to have given a thing to a friend of the speaker. 10 .14 raŋ-la ɖoo sin-na ak mat-ɖoo=pe. 2SG-DAT study[IMP] say-NFNT1 INCLN NEG-study[PST]=SEC ‘Though I told you saying, “Study” you haven’t studied and I am frustrated.’ Speaker tells this to his son who has failed an exam. He wishes that the son would change his attitude. Father tries to stir up guilt feelings in the heart of the son in order that he would do better next time.

10.1.4 Inclusion marker