Bisu verb particles Lahu verb particles

9.6 Verb particles

Verb particles cannot form an utterance alone and are found exclusively following verbs or other verb particles Matisoff 1973:315.

9.6.1 Bisu verb particles

Xu lists six aspectual particles with the following meanings Xu 2001:117: • ‘about to begin’ • ‘already in existence’ • ‘in progress’ • ‘already begunrealised’ • ‘continuing’ • ‘occurred’ The following is an example of the first category, ‘about to begin’: 187 [ga 33 la 55 ni 55 a 31 ] I come ASP -about to begin ‘I am coming soon.’ Xu 2001:124 The second aspect indicates factual visible states or situations that will remain the same for a certain time Xu 2001:125. 188 ʑaŋ 33 ʑum 55 tum 31 xan 55 fu 33 tsa 33 ne 55 he house four CLF have ASP ‘There are four people in his household.’ Actions ‘in progress’ are similar to progressive verb forms in English: 189 [gu 33 tsa 33 p ɣn 33 ne 33 ] we eat ASP -in PROG ‘We are eating.’ Xu 2001:125 The aspect meaning an action ‘has begun’ or a condition has ‘become actual’ emphasizes that event has become a reality Xu 2001:126. 190 [ ʑaŋ 33 fu 33 ʑau 33 aŋ 33 be 33 aŋ 55 ] he look and understand ASP ‘He understood after just one look.’ Xu 2001:126 The aspect of ‘continuation’ differentiates in form and meaning between affirmative ‘still’ and negative ‘not yet’ usage Xu 2001:126. 191 [ ʑoŋ 33 ba 31 tsa 31 s ɿ 55 ] they not eat ASP -continuative ‘They have not eaten yet.’ Xu 2001:126 192 [ ʑaŋ 33 ʑo 31 ne 55 s ɿ 33 ] he walk ASP - continuative ‘He is still walking.’ Xu 2001:127 The ‘final’ aspect indicates that an action has happened Xu 2001:127. 193 ga 33 ni 55 taŋ 31 ts ɣ 31 taŋ 31 na 55 an 31 I this CLF music hear ASP -occurred ‘I have heard this piece of music before.’ Xu 2001:127 Aspectual particles may be combined in two given instances Xu 2001:127: • ‘in progress’ and ‘continuing’ to show ‘the continuous progression of an action’ • ‘about to begin’ and ‘already begun’ to show the reality of an action that is about to start

9.6.2 Lahu verb particles

There are four groups of verb particles, grouped according to distribution and meaning: 1. reciprocity and directionality 2. subjective attitude 3. aspectuals 4. imperatives. Group one is always first, and may be followed by any of the other three. Any member of group four excludes all members of groups two and three. Groups two and three may both follow the first group. Schematically, the four groups related this way Matisoff 1973:315: Table 15. Groups of particles Group one reciprocity and directionality Group two subjective attitude Group three aspectuals Group four imperatives The first group comprises six particles: • reciprocity dàʔ • literal motion to or from və • continued becoming or motion away e • past-to-present becoming or motion toward la • perfective permanence tā • benefactive lâ The meanings of the particles in group one depend on their context: if literal motion precedes them, they give the direction of motion. They may follow one another to mean motion to a place and back Matisoff 1973:321. After verbs of process or adjectival verbs, these particles mean ‘to become’. Possible co- occurrences are shown in table 16 Matisoff 1973:317: Table 16. Reciprocal and directional particles co-occurrence restrictions Reciprocity Perfective permanence Benefactive Motion away motion toward literal motion to or from after transitive verbs only Matisoff 1973:318 Either motion away OR motion toward After adjectival verbs: ‘continued becoming’ ‘away’ OR ‘close to becoming’ ‘toward’ Matisoff 1973:320 194 yù e ‘take away’ Matisoff 1973:319 195 chu e fat away ‘continue to get fatter’ Matisoff 1973:320 196 p ə la send hither ‘send it here’ Matisoff 1973:319 197 chu la fat hither ‘be on the verge of obesity’ Matisoff 1973:320 The second group comprises four particles: • ‘iterative reccurring excess’ qhɛ • ‘wishdesire’ gâ • ‘experiential’ jɔ • ‘vigorous assertion’ à “Reoccurring excess” co-occurs infrequently with “wishdesire,” or “experiential,” but when it does, it is sequenced either before “experiential” or after “wishdesire” Matisoff 1973:331-333. Possible co- occurrences are shown in table 17 Matisoff 1973:331: Table 17. Subjective attitude particles co-occurrence restrictions ‘iterative recurring excess’ ------------------------------------------------------------ ‘wishdesire’ may be followed by ‘experiential’ OR ‘experiential’ may be followed by ‘wishdesire’ ‘vigorous assertion’ 198 câ qh ɛ eat to excess ‘eat constantly’ Matisoff 1973:331 199 lâhū ɔ̄ -chî câ jɔ ò lâ Lahu curry eat experience completed Q ‘Have you eaten Lahu curry?’ Matisoff 1973:332 200 qay j ɔ à go experience assertive ‘Of course I’ve gone’ Matisoff 1973:334 The third group comprises five particles, which are “among the most important in the language” Matisoff 1973:334: • ‘futurity or hypothetical’ ‘tù’ • ‘anticipated futurity’ šē • ‘continuing state of affairs’ ‘~still’ ‘ šɔ̄ ’ • ‘completed action change of state’ ‘ò’ • ‘negation of probability’ ‘tà’ The two futurity particles may not co-occur Matisoff 1973:345. The probability particle must follow a verb that has been negated Matisoff 1973:348. Table 18 shows the mutual exclusivity of the two future particles, and of the probability and continuity particles. It also shows that the completed action particle may co-occur with either the futurehypothetical or the not probable particle. Table 18. Aspectual particles co-occurrence restrictions Future or hypothetical Continuing state of affairs ‘still’ Completed action change of state ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Completed action change of state not probable Anticipated futurity 201 dà ʔ tù šɔ̄ good FUT still ‘It’ll still be good.’ Matisoff 1973:346 These particles freely follow those of group one within a single VP Matisoff 1973:347. They also freely follow all but one ‘vigorous assertion’ in group two. If ‘vigorous assertion’ is used, the only aspectual particle that may follow it is ‘continuing state of affairs’ ‘still’ Matisoff 1973:346. The fourth group of verb particles imperatives comprises ten particles: 1. ‘mild suggestionannouncement of intent’ ha 2. ‘commanded prerequisite activity’ šē, 3. ‘first person intention’ ašā 4. ‘brusque imperative’ ayà 5. ‘we-hortatory’ ‘~let’s…’ av�̀ 6. ‘imperativizing glottal stop’ - ʔ 7. ‘urging optative’ ~‘may you….’ pî- ôʔ 8. ‘verb emphasizerenlivener’ qha and pâʔ 9. ‘verb emphasizerenlivener’ qha- pâʔ 10. ‘a violent-climax proverb’ qha-pî. These are divided into two groups on distributional grounds: • The first seven occur in sequence ONLY with those in group one reciprocal and directional particles Matisoff 1973:355. • In contrast, the final three may sometimes follow a verb and precede any following particle Matisoff 1973:356. Their co-occurrence restrictions are shown in tabular form below: Table 19. Imperative Particles co-occurrence restrictions mild suggestion announcement of intent command of a prerequisite ‘first…’ brusque command imperativizing glottal stop ‘let’s’ insistent urging urging or optative imperative ‘may you…’ verb enlivener qha verb enlivener pâʔ violent-climax proverb 202 noun + hê ʔ a noun + get suggestnoun ‘I’ll get a noun or “Give me a noun”’ Matisoff 1973:351 203 câ a šē eat suggestnoun prerequisite ‘Why don’t you eat first before, for example, leaving?’ Matisoff 1973:352 204 ŋà nâʔ yù l ɛ qha-pî ve I gun take and violent-climax NOM ‘I picked up the gun and…bang’ or ‘I picked up the gun and…let him have it.’ Matisoff 1973:357 These particles freely follow group one above, but are mutually exclusive with groups two and three Matisoff 1973:350.

9.6.3 Lalo verb particles