Aspectual verbs marking inception

16.104 hi-nala juŋ-tɕe-ma tɕhuŋ-tuk ka. this-ALL come[PST]-SBJV-F2 happen-PRF.VIS CEP ‘Actually I should have come here on that path.’ Speaker realizes that he had taken a wrong path. When he sees the right path he regrets that he had been mistaken. Subject is left implicit. 16.105 u-ko saar-la mat-phin-t ɕe-ma tɕhuŋ-tuk. that-head city-DAT NEG-go.come[PST]-SBJV-F2 happen-PRF.VIS ‘He should not have gone to the city.’ Speaker sees that the person comes back and is drunk. This verb implies going and coming. 16.106 u-ko hat ɕa-raŋ mat-sir-tɕe-ma tɕhuŋ-tuk. that-head 1PL.INCL-self NEG-say[PST]-SBJV-F2 happen-PRF.VIS ‘We should not have said that.’ Speaker feels remorse because the third party person had become angry.

16.4 Aspectual verbs

16.4.1 Aspectual verbs marking inception

Givón 2001:151 talks about aspectual verbs. Lhomi uses such verbs to convey some grammatical aspects. In section 13.10.3 I have talked about inchoative aspect marked by the verbal suffix -pet. Inchoative or inceptive aspect may be marked also as follows: The verb nominalizer -SBJV-F2 -t ɕe-ma is suffixed to the nonpast root of the verb. This nominalizes the clause and it becomes a complement clause. The feminine marker F2 does not refer to gender here. There are two choices for the aspectual verb, jeŋ- or tɕhit-. The difference compared to the inchoative aspect marked by suffix -pet is that the event or process of events is starting or has just started. There are visible signs of the event beginning to happen. I have not observed any difference between the use of the matrix verbs jeŋ- and tɕhit-. The verb jeŋ when used as a main verb typically means ‘seek for, look for something’ but here it marks inceptive aspect without the normal lexical content. The latter is a common verbalizer without any lexical content and I gloss it elsewhere ‘do;VBZR’. Consider the following examples nominalizer and the matrix verb are underlined. T2 verb 16.107 roo-la m ʏrak ɕor-tɕe-ma jeŋ-kuk. 3SG-DAT sweat perspire-SBJV-F2 search-PROG;VIS ‘He starts to sweat.’ Speaker sees some perspiration already on the face of his friend. T1 verb 16.108 pap-e arak thuŋ-tɕe-ma tɕhi-soŋ. father-ERG liquor drink-SBJV-F2 do;VBZR-PST.VIS ‘Father started to drink liquor.’ Speaker sees his father pouring liquor into a glass or beginning to drink. I verb 16.109 d ʑaap-ʏ ʈhokka di lit-tɕe-ma tɕhip-p-e king-GEN door DEF arrive-SBJV-F2 do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q-GEN jaŋ-la pajisak di set-nar-a bet. TE21 time-DAT money DEF finish-COMPL-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘At the time when he almost reached the palace door his money was finished.’ This is from the story of a man who in order to marry the princess tried to enter the royal palace by bribing the guards. There is an interesting detail in this example. The verb lit ‘to arrive, to come’ may have either an animate subject or an inanimate subject depending on what is the deictic center. This time it was the door which was more important than he himself with his thoughts and plans. “Had the door reached him” he would have been able to enter the palace and get the princess. Often a passenger in a bus has the same view. It is the city which reaches the bus and the passenger. T1 verb 16.110 gott-e tam ha khoo-t ɕe-ma jeŋ-kuk. 3SG-ERG language aud.impact hear;understand-SBJV-F2 search-PROG;VIS ‘He begins to understand the language.’ Or: ‘He understands the language already a little bit.’ ST2 verb 16.111 lakt ɕuŋma tɕik tɕhak-ni nuk tɕhi-na branch INDF break-NFNT2 this.way do;VBZR-NFNT1 tshar-t ɕe-ma tɕhi-tɕuŋ. TE29 fall.off-SBJV-F2 do;VBZR-PST.EXP ‘One of the branches of the tree broke and therefore I almost fell down.’

16.4.2 Aspectual verb marking initiation