riŋtak ɖaa-na taŋ-a bet lo. TE18 thread tie.up-NFNT1 send;VBZR-NMLZ;Q AUX DISCL
‘Since the king of Kathmandu did not trust the lama, he put up the lama in the basement floor and tied a thread to him.’
This example comes from a story in which the king puts a lama to a test to find out if he really has the abilities he claims to have. This is the first test.
18.146 ni t ɕhøtnø di-ki khaŋ jøp-pa khajet kurik tɕhi tshar-ni
shaman DEF-ERG whatever EXIST-.45NMLZ;Q plur all do;VBZR fall.off-NFNT2 joŋ khanʈa ak ha mat-khoo-wa-la roo-raŋ-ki
other what INCLN aud.impact NEG-hear;understand-NMLZ;Q-DAT 3SG-self-GEN ʈheŋa di pik-na mo top-ken bet. TE49
rosary DEF pick.up-NFNT1 divination strike-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Having finished everything that there is to do, the shaman still does not understand
and therefore he picks his rosary and divinates.’ In this example the shaman has failed and he does not really know what to do next. The
consequence is that he picks his rosary and divinates.
18.9.12 Subordinate temporal end point
This adverbial clause is marked by the adverb thuk which is the subordinator. The meaning of this adverb is ‘until, till, as long as’. Typically the clause defines the temporal end point of the activity of the
main clause. The verb root is reiterated and the subordinator marked in dative case -la. This adverbial clause does not share the same subject with the main clause. The whole non-finite
clause is underlined. 18.147 nempet
tsaŋɕuŋ ŋim-e ʈhø ʈhø thuk-la tomorrow air sun-ERG become.warm become.warm until-DAT
tsøppuk gossum ŋø-la kha mat-tøn
tsøppuk gossum toward-DAT mouth NEG-show[IMP] sin-na
ɕok-ken bet. TE49 say-NFNT1 put-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘“Do not turn your face towards Tsøppuk Gossum until the sun warms the air tomorrow,” he tells.’
The speaker gives religious instructions to a clientpatient who is supposed to obey this command until the sun begins to warm the air the next day.
18.148 u-ki tam u-ko søk-ken tam joŋma-a tɕik
that-GEN message that-head kill-NMLZ;CONJ message other-COMP2 INDF nam thøn thøn thuk-la mi dzom-sa kha-tu uk
when appear appear until-DAT man gather-ground what-LOC INCLN u-ki tam di mentaa mit-lap-ken bet. TE51
that-GEN message DEF only NEG-talk-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Until another topic which kills this one, comes, this topic is the only theme people
talk about wherever they gather.’ There is also a headless relative clause which is produced by subject nominalization, søk-ken.
18.9.13 Subordinate temporal onset point
The non-final temporal starting point is a nominalized clause that defines the temporal onset of the activity or state of the main clause. English meaning is ‘from now onwards’, ‘from now on’. The structure
is grammaticalized idiom and it is typically as follows:
ha hi-ni t ɕhi-pa di
Another way to analyze this would be to regard it as an ADVP. ha is a time adverb meaning ‘now’, hi-ni means ‘then’, t
ɕhi-pa is the nominalized verb ‘do,VBZR,’ and di is the definite article. Occasionally the temporal adverb ha may be dropped but otherwise this is like an idiom. Consider the following
illustrations the adverbial clause under discussion is underlined. 18.149 ha hi-ni t
ɕhi-pa di khit-raŋ thaŋ ŋa mit-ʈhek-ken now this-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF 2PL-self and 1SG NEG-meet-NMLZ;CONJ
bet. khit- raŋ døk-ken bet. TE28
AUX 2PL-self stay-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘From now onwards you and I will not meet. You will stay. I will go …’ Lit. ‘From
now what I have said…’ A man is saying farewell to his relatives before the police in a moment will take him to prison. He
has committed a murder. 18
.150 raŋ-la thop-e tshikaŋ-ki khøŋkaa dʑeŋkaa di 2SG-DAT get-NMLZ;Q-GEN always-GEN good.clothing good.ornaments DEF
hi-tsøt t ɕik=raŋ bek=o. ha hi-ni tɕhi-pa di
this-amount one=FOC COP=NEW.INF now this-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF raŋ-la ɕʏli mit-noŋ-ken bek=o.
2SG-DAT at.all NEG-receive-NMLZ;CONJ AUX=NEW.INF sa-ma hi-ko so-t
ɕit thuŋ-tɕit. TE49 eat-F2 this-head eat-IMP2 drink-IMP2
‘The good clothing and ornaments which you have received is for ever this much. From now onwards you will get nothing of that at all. Eat this food and drink
beverage’ Lama is giving instructions to a dead soul. He is informing the dead soul about certain facts and
finally requesting him to eat and drink for the last time. 18.151 aku-
raŋ hariŋ-ni tɕhi-pa di lʏ thaŋ sim uncle-self today-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF body and mind
jaa ʈhe tshar-a bek=o. TE51
apart be.separated fall.off-NMLZ;Q AUX=NEW.INF ‘Uncle, from today onwards your body and soul have become completely separated.’
This shows that some variation is allowed for this non-finite clause. Lama is addressing a dead man and giving instructions in post mortem rites.
18.9.14 Subordinate additive clause
