With a relational With an adverb like si ‘down’.

3.8.1.4 Imperfective of ri + sa + nominalised verb In 41 there is a nominalised verb mɛkɔgɔ ‘grinding’ following the ri+sa. 41 She was grinding.’ Nkoe 4.2 In 42 the inceptive imperfective is expressed as mi+ri+nominalised:verb. It means ‘to begin an imperfective process that then persists for some time’. 42 ‘He was beginning to sleep.’ Nkyambe 1.41. i.e., ‘He has fallen asleep and is sleeping’ In 43 the habitual imperfective is expressed with ri +verb. 43 ‘I don’t habitually eat goat.’ Nkyambe 1.29. nb. de ‘eat’ is a verb, not a nominalisation

3.9 Contrast between to and ri in PPs

In 44 we see the important contrast between to and ri when these prepositions are used to make up PPs. Note the difference in the meanings of the clauses in 44 and 45. In the situation of the clause in 45, there were lots of worms, all over the meat, not just one. This shows clearly that for the usage of ri, the boundary of the LM is invoked, and that there is near complete coverage of and contact with that boundary. 44 ‘I have found worms IN the meat’ elicited data i.e., inside the meat, container invoked. tiri tiri meat to to IN binyamɔ binyamɔ worms byela byela find mɔɔ m ɔɔ 1sg. PERF taa taa goat de de eat ri ri HAB màà màà 1sg NEG . gwɔ 0- gwɔ NC1a sleep ri ri IN mi mi of à à 3sg. PST . mɛkɔgɔ mɛ- kɔgɔ NC6 grinding sa sa do ri ri IMPERF à à 3sg PST 45 ‘I have found worms ALL over the meat.’ elicited data i.e., all over the surface of the meat, boundary, contact, and completeness invoked. 4 The preposition ti and its functions The preposition ti has usages in three different domains: 1. in domain of location of a situation in space: physical location space, time space or thought space 2. in the topicality domain of certain adverbial clauses, specifically ‘if’ and ‘when’ clauses 3. in the domain of the TAM system on the verb. 4.1 Domain of location of a situation in various spaces The preposition ti means location of a situation with respect to the boundary of an LM in various spaces. The space can be a purely positional, or a location in time, or, more abstractly, a location in thought. For ti+LM PPs, just as for ri + LM PPs, the LM is not regarded as a container. Note here the contrast between ti and ri both of which invoke the boundary, as against to which always invokes a container.

4.1.1 Location in physical space and ti

When used in the domain of physical location space, the preposition ti has the meaning of ‘about’ or ‘over’, or perhaps more loosely ‘on’, in the purely situational sense with no connotation whatever of ‘weight-bearing’. In this respect ti contrasts with kolɔ, which often does have a sense of weight-bearing in its usage. 46 ‘The knife that he wore ROUND his waist.’ Tumbo 3.1 In 47 the physical location space invokes the boundary of the LM, and complete coverage. gɔ gɔ SUB yɛ y- NC3- POSS bobogɔ bobogɔ waist ti ti ABOUT bɔrɔ bɔrɔ wear nyɛ nyɛ 3sg OBJ kyɛng 0- kyɛng NC5 knife tiri tiri meat ri ri ON binyamɔ binyamɔ worms byela byela find mɔɔ m ɔɔ 1sg. PERF