The following example illustrates the same contrastive relation with nonpast verbs. 18
.264 ni phiŋ-na ak ni jok jok mit-tɕhik-ken sink-NFNT1 INCLN DM shiver shiver NEG-do;VBZR-NMLZ;CONJ
naa døk-ken bet. lay.down stay-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
u- tu=raŋ khaa-ki tshik-tu hi-ni naa-ni ni
that-LOC=FOC snow-GEN amidst-LOC this-ABL lie.down-NFNT2 DM tsa ak mit-sa-ken bet. TE32
grass INCLN NEG-eat-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Even though it becomes buried in snow it does not shiver but lies down.
Having lain down in the snow, it does not even eat any grass.’ This text tells about yak as a domestic animal. It prefers to live in high altitude. Snow does not
bother it at all.
18.13.2 Exception contrast
Longacre 2007:379 talks about exception as a variety of contrast. The following illustration shows how Lhomi handles this kind of contrastive relation:
18.265 rukkam-e mi khajet di t ɕik ’ŋii tɕik pʏp-p-e
Rukkama-GEN man plural DEF one two one put.aside-NMLZ;Q-GEN mi kurik lit-t
ɕuŋ. TE82 man all arrive-PST.EXP
‘All people of Rukkama village came except just one or two.’ This could be rephrased: ‘All men of Rukkama came except one or two did not come.’ The verb p
ʏt is used elsewhere with its original meaning ‘to put aside’. However, in this construction it is fully
grammaticalized to mark exception contrast.
18.13.3 Co-ranking structures
I have already discussed some co-ranking structures in sections 18.1.2 and 18.1.3 on alternative questions and in section 18.11 on complement clauses. The term “co-ranking” comes from Longacre
2007:238 and applies to the relations described in the current section. ‘Either…or’ relation is also discussed in section 10.3.
‘Either…or…or’ relation with two or three alternatives 18.13.3.1
18 .266 aku tshiriŋ ɖo-køtaŋ na ani dʑaamu ɖo-køtaŋ.
uncle ‘tshiring go-NMLZ or aunt d ʑaamu go-NMLZ
‘Either uncle Chiring goes or aunt Jyaamu goes.’ Speaker knows that one of those two will go but he does not know which one.
18 .267 gotta hariŋ juŋ-køtaŋ nempet juŋ-køtaŋ na
3SG today come-NMLZ tomorrow come-NMLZ or naaŋ juŋ-køtaŋ.
day.after.tomorrow come-NMLZ ‘He either comes today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.’
Speaker knows that one of the alternatives will materialize but he does not know which one.
18.13.4 ‘Neither…nor’ relation
The paratactic clauses are in square brackets in the following example: 18.268 [daku tsara mit-t
ɕøk-ken ] friend whereabout NEG-cut-NMLZ;CONJ
[nuk t ɕhi-na dzop dzop-la mit-døk-ken ]
this.way do;VBZR-NFNT1 together together-DAT NEG-stay-NMLZ;CONJ ni jari jari u-ntuk t
ɕhi-na jaŋ dakp-ʏ some some that-ADVZR do;VBZR-NFNT1 CONTR2 owner-GEN
loo- la juŋ-na uko nuk tɕhi-na uko dakp-ʏ
beside-DAT come-NFNT1 that this.way do;VBZR-NFNT1 that owner-ERG thoŋ-ni nuk tɕhi-na [u-ko simtɕeŋ-ki
see-NFNT2 this.way do;VBZR-NFNT1 that-head wild.animal-ERG søt mit-tshuu-ken]
kill NEG-be.able-NMLZ;CONJ [u-ko dzarok-la ak mit-dzak-ken ]
that-head crevasse-DAT INCLN NEG-fall.off-NMLZ;CONJ [dziliŋ-la ak mit-hap-ken ]
vine-DAT INCLN NEG-tangle.up-NMLZ;CONJ [
ʈhaako-la ak mit-tshar-ken ] cliff-DAT INCLN NEG-fall.down-NMLZ;CONJ
u-ko nuk t ɕhi-na døk-ken bet. TE30
that-head this.way do;VBZR-NFNT1 stay-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘It [neither looks a friend up sheep] [nor stays with the flock.] On the other hand
if it comes to the shepherd, the shepherd can see it and therefore [neither a wild animal can kill it] [nor does it fall off to a crevasse] [nor does it become tangled up
in vines] [nor does it fall down from a cliff] but stays just like that.’ This is from a text that describes the life of sheep and shepherd. The negated clauses in brackets are
in juxtaposition and are in paratactic relation to each other. However they are all negated and in contrastive ‘but’ relation to the main clause in the end.
18.13.5 ‘The more…the more’ construction
‘The more…the more’ construction uses a particle tshan which is a Nepali loan.Very rarely does Lhomi borrow from Nepali a word which has syntactic function. Most loans are nouns.
18.269 tshan sor-kin sor-kin ni tshan det toŋ-ken. TE30
more push-NMLZ push-NMLZ DM more stay IMMED-NMLZ;CONJ ‘The more one pushes it from behind the more it stops.’
This is the behaviour of sheep. The shepherd may push it moving from behind but it stubbornly does not go.
18.270 tshan siraa tok-tu d ʑap-na
more hail large-COMP1 VBZR-NFNT1 tshan riki-la t
ɕøn toŋ-ken bet. more potatoe-DAT damage send;VBZR-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘The larger the hailstones are the more they damage the potatoes.’
18.14 Elaboration, paraphrase, amplification, exemplification, and frustration
