Speaker’s response or call for response

10.2.14 Speaker’s emphatic call for attention

The particle tete SECA speaker’s emphatic call for attention is used to draw the hearer’s careful attention to what the speaker is going to communicate. Unlike the previous attention particle this may be used also in written communication. The other difference is that tete is more proximate than we. The particle tete is never used when one has to shout to someone. English gloss for this particle is: ‘Note carefully’, ‘notice’, ‘note’, ‘pay close attention to’. The particle tete marks the syntactic unit which follows it and demands the whole attention of the hearer to the contents of the utterance. The following examples illustrate this. 10.94 ɕi-na khur-a di-ki miŋ di tøn-na die-NFNT1 carry-NMLZ;Q DEF-GEN name DEF reveal-NFNT1 aku- raŋ tete ŋ-e tɕhø ɕep-pa uncle-self SECA 1SG-ERG religion speak-NMLZ;Q thaŋ lam tøm-pa-la nen. TE51 and path show-NMLZ;Q-DAT listen[IMP] ‘He reveals the name of the dead one and speaks to him saying, “Uncle, note carefully and listen to my recitation and instructions about the path”’ Speaker is a lama who instructs the soul of a dead person to find his way in the afterworld. 10.95 sa-ma hi-ko so-t ɕit thuŋ-tɕit. eat-F2 this-head eat-IMP2 drink-IMP2 hi-ni tete raŋ-ki ama papa-la sim tɕhaa-pa this-ABL SECA 2SG-GEN mother father-DAT mind attach-NMLZ;Q mat-t ɕhi-tɕit. TE49 NEG-do;VBZR-IMP2 ‘Eat and drink this food. Then note this particularly, do not attach your soul to your parents’ Speaker is a lama who instructs the soul of a dead man. Food is offered for the dead to eat but what follows is even more important. He is not supposed to come back to haunt his family. Therefore that command is marked with this particle tete. 10.96 tete hat ɕa-raŋ-le mi joŋma SECA 1PL.INCL-self-COMP.BASIS man other duk-paa jøk-ken bet. TE49 feel.pain-COMP2 EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Notice, there are other men, more destitute than us.’ Speaker is condoling a mourning family whose father has died. This is part of a longer speech.

10.2.15 Speaker’s response or call for response

The particle na RSPNS response particle has all kinds of grammatical functions in Lhomi. See, for example, sections 10.3 on conjunctions and 18.1.2–18.1.3 on alternative questions. In this section I illustrate its use in finite declarative clauses. Speaker is calling for hearer’s response to something he has stated. It signals a request to explain it or to respond somehow. Speaker may direct this implicit request to himself in order to solve his own puzzlement. The sense varies a lot, ‘tell me why’, ‘will you explain’, ‘I do not understand’ and ‘I am puzzled’ are just a few possible translations. The following examples illustrate this kind of use of the particle na. 10.97 hi-na duk na. this-IN EXIST.VIS RSPNS ‘What is the explanation that it was here?’ Or: ‘It is here, how come’ The speaker has been looking for something. Eventually he finds it in a place where it should not be. He cannot explain why it was there, he is putting this request for himself to explain it. 10.98 numu di t ɕaa-la phin-ni younger.sister DEF at-DAT go.come[PST]-NFNT2 at ɕi di-ki numu di-la khok-ki tɕhopu-la elder.sister DEF-ERG younger.sister DEF-DAT 2SG-GEN husband-DAT nuk t ɕhi-pa gas-si tɕhi-kuk na. TE45 this.way do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q be.pleased-INTNS do;VBZR-PROG;VIS RSPNS ‘Elder sister went to her younger sister and said, “People are treating your husband very well, tell me why.”’ Speaker is requesting a response or explanation from her younger sister. The finite clause is in declarative. The younger sister responds and does give the explanation later in the story. 10.99 aku tshiriŋ dartsiliŋ-ni thøŋ-kuk na. uncle tshiring darjeeling-ABL come.out-PROG;VIS RSPNS ‘I bet you uncle Chiring is coming from Darjeeling.’ The speaker meets the uncle on trail and he has a fair idea that uncle is coming from Darjeeling, but he is not sure and he indicates that with this particle. He wants a response that will confirm his hypothesis. If he wanted to use typical second person question it would be thøŋ-køp=pa ‘Are you coming from Darjeeling?’ 10.100 hi- ni goŋak tɕø-ken na this-ABL egg lay-NMLZ;CONJ RSPNS sin-ni laŋa di-ki thok-la dze. TE16 say-NFNT2 frying.pan DEF-GEN on.top-DAT climb[PST] ‘Then the monkey said, “Now I lay an egg or…?” and climbed on top of the hot frying pan.’ This is from the story of pheasant and monkey and in this section the stupid monkey burns his buttock on a hot frying pan. The particle is directed for himself, he hesitates but goes ahead. He wants to follow the example of the pheasant who had laid an egg and fried it on the same frying pan. 1 Response particle na marking an adverbial clause The following two examples illustrate how the response particle occurs also in adverbial clauses which have the condition–consequence reading. In such circumstances the response particle na marks speaker’s intention to respond to the condition and give the consequence. 10.101 ni ɕi-na na dawa ŋii sum soŋ-na na ak die-NFNT1 RSPNS month two three go-NFNT1 RSPNS INCLN ha mit-khoo-ken bet aud.impact NEG-hear;understand-NMLZ;CONJ AUX u-ki mi dakpu di-ki. TE32 that-ERG man owner DEF-ERG ‘If a yak dies, I tell you in such a case it takes several months before the owner realizes it.’ Lit. ‘….even if two or three months have gone the owner does not realize it.’ 10.102 pap-ni nuk t ɕhi-pa ʈuku di ɕi-na na take.down-NFNT2 that.way do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q calf DEF die-NFNT1 RSPNS homa ɕo-ken bet. TE32 milk milk-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘After the owner has taken them down to the village, if the calf dies, then in that case they milk the female yak.’ This comes from the same story as the previous one. The response marker indicates that the speaker is going to give an explanation, a consequence. 10.103 ɕi-na na juŋ-et. die-NFNT1 RSPNS come-INCH ‘If he dies, it will have no consequences to me.’ Or: ‘If he dies, in that case it will be okay with me.’ This example is almost like an evil wish: na signals that it is irrelevant to the speaker if the other person dies. 2 Particle na at the beginning of a speech act When the particle na is used in the beginning of a statement it marks the speaker’s own response. It is not a reply to a direct question but rather a response to someone who seeks for help or guidance or reconciliation. The English sense is often something like, ‘this is my response’ or ‘as my reply’ or ‘this is my advice’. Consider the following examples. 10.104 na raŋ-la phu-tɕuŋ raŋ-la phitsa juŋ-køt. TE32 RSPNS 2SG-DAT son-small 2SG-DAT child come-PROG;EXP ‘This is my response, you will get a son.’ Speaker is a lama who gives this foretelling to a villager who has come to seek his help for his acute problem of not having a son. The discussion has been going on for a while and this is the final response of the lama. For more about the progressive aspect see section 13.10.2. 10.105 na ŋa gu-w-e tin thaŋ ɕaapa RSPNS 1SG be.pleased-NMLZ;Q-GEN dedicated.item and compensation khur-let sik-ken bet. TE49 bring-SCI say-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘The offended god says, “This is my response, bring me an item dedicated to me and a compensation offering”’ Shaman has been asking what the god lha wants in order to release the victim, a sick person, from its hands. And this is its response.

10.2.16 Contrastive particle