Juan, Luisbal nai. Positional verbs Ex. 4 –5

6.4 Grammar 63 Exercise 4 . Idiomatic use of maichi drill The teacher says one of the words in the following list. Using the word the teacher has said, the student completes a sentence with the idiomatic form of maichi. Example Teacher: Ome Student: Ome chi. 1. ome ‗woman‘ 2. pun ‗daughter‘ 3. machi ‗boy‘ 4. tad ‗elder‘ 5. Luis ‗Louis‘ 6. María ‗Mary‘ Exercise 5 . Positional verb viewpoint drill If practical, the teacher should carry out the following drill. The purpose of the drill is to help the student learn how a Kuna would view the position of an object. The teacher points to an object. The student replies, inserting in the frame below the positional nai, mai, chi, kwichi or un that a Kuna would use, viewing the object involved. Example Teacher: points to a cord hanging down from the roof Student: We, wegin nai. Frame We, wegin ____. ‗That is lying, sitting, standing, hanging, on all fours over there.‘ Note : Ten to fifteen items should be used, if possible. The drill should be repeated several times until the student is able to anticipate the Kuna viewpoint of an object ‘s position.

6.4.2 Present progressive tense-aspect Ex. 6 –9

When an event or action is viewed by the speaker as being in progress, the aspect of the verb is present progressive. The present progressive parallels the SpanishEnglish construction Estoy comiendo. ―I am eating.‖ In Kuna, the present progressive is formed by suffixing one of the positional verbs -mai, -chi, -nai, or -kwichi to the verb stem.

6.4.2.1 General use of the present progressive

In general, the positional verb used to form the present progressive reflects the position of the personthing doing the action. Examples 1a. Mimmi kammai. 24 ‗The baby is lying sleeping.‘

b. Mimmi kabzhi.

‗The baby is sitting in a chair sleeping.‘

c. Wag kabgwis.

25 ‗The outsider is standingleaning against something sleeping.‘ 2a. An mas kunchi. ‗I am sitting eating.‘

b. An mas kunkwis.

5 ‗I am standing eating.‘

3. Kukualed kukunai.

‗The plane is suspended flying.‘ It is important to note that the present progressive suffix -chi, changes its form according to the final vowel or consonant of the verb stem: -chi occurs following fortis consonants. -chi becomes -zhi following lenis consonants. -chi becomes -ji following vowels. 24 b becomes m before m or n. For example, kab + -mai = kammai ‗is sleeping‘. 25 -gwis and -kwis are short forms of kwichi ‗to be standing‘. 64 Positional Words Examples 1. An mas kunchi. ‗I am sitting eating.‘

2. An madun kobzhi.

‗I am sitting drinking.‘

3. An mas tuji.

‗I am sitting cooking.‘ 6.4.2.2 Activepassive involvement in present progressive tense A Kuna speaker often makes a distinction between a person actively engaging in an action, versus someone who is passively involved in an action. If the speaker is focusing on the idea that the person is actively or passively involved in an action, rather than on the action itself, the positional verbs nai and chi are used as present progressive suffixes. The suffix -nai ‗hangingsuspended‘ is used to indicate that a person is actively involved in an action. The actor may be standing, sitting or lying, but he is actively involved. Examples 1. An mol maknai. ‗I am actively sitting sewing a blouse.‘ 2. Machi karro nudanai. ‗The boy is actively lying down underneath fixing a car.‘ The present progressive tense suffix -chi is used if an actor is passively involved in an action, regardless of a standing, sitting, or lying position. If, for example, a woman is standing passively watching food cook, but is not stirring it, or doing anything to the fire, a Kuna speaker would use the present progressive suffix -chi-zhi-ji. Or, if a man is lying under a car, passively looking at it, but he is not actively involved in doing anything, the present progressive suffix -chi-zhi-ji could be used. Examples 1. Ome mas tuji. ‗The woman is passively possibly standing cooking food.‘ 2. Tule karro takchi. ‗The man is passively possibly lying underneath looking at a car.‘ 3. An aros takchi. ‗I am passively possibly standing looking at the rice.‘ 6.4.2.3 Temporary action sense of -gwis-kwis The temporary nature of an action in progress can be indicated by using -gwis-kwis in a secondary sense. In this case the suffix -gwis-kwis 26 is added to the short form of the verb stem. Examples 1. An nuskan takkwis. ‗I am looking after the children for the moment.‘ 2. An itigin meggwis. ‗I am living here temporarily.‘ Exercise 6 . Present progressive aspect frame drill The teacher says Sentence 1 and the student repeats it; the teacher says Sentence 2 and the student repeats it, etc. This exercise should be repeated several times. Example Teacher: An ua kunnai. Student: An ua kunnai. 1. An ua kunnai. ‗I‘m eating fish.‘ 2. An ua maknai. ‗I‘m spearing fish.‘ 3. An ua chwanai. ‗I‘m catching fish.‘ 4. An karta takchi. ‗I‘m just sitting looking atreading a letter.‘ 5. An karta nermaji. ‗I‘m just sitting writing a letter.‘ 6. Machi kammai. ‗The boy lies sleeping.‘ 7. Machi atamai. ‗The boy lies awake.‘ 8. Machi ullukumai. ‗The boy lies resting.‘ 26 purkwis ‗died‘ and nakwis ‗to ascendgo up‘ are not derived in this way.