The additive n ɩ may introduce direct speech in a reported conversation, with the implication that
the speaker doesn’t change but that the same speaker adds an utterance to his speech, as in example 150.
150 ɔ lä
-
ɛɛ ɔ lä nɩ
yua -wa
gäma bhlä
nä 3
S
said yes 3
S
said
ADD
1 child:
DEF
:
PL REL
:3
P
play:
ICP PST
1:
LOP SP
1 ‘He said, “Yes.” Then he added, “And the children who used to play together,
-naa -
lɔɔ -kʋ -
lɔɔ -a
2
S
:
GEN DPF
BE
1:
CP
there
Q
is yours there?”’ [sigo 356–357] The connective n
ɩ is also used in contexts where the material connected is semantically in contrast, as in examples 151a and 151b. Note, however, that the contrastive interpretation is not due to the
connective ‘ n ɩ but due to the semantic contrast between the two clauses.
151 a.
n luënöɔ
a kwiee
1
S
think:falsely:
APL
:3
S PST
2 death:
OBL
‘I thought he was dead
nɩ ɔɔ
- wʋ
lä kuu-
ADD
1 3
S
:
XNEG CNT
2
LOP
die:
CP
and he wasn’t lit. I thought him in death and he hadn’t died …’ [filsprod 267–268] b.
n ɔnɔ
-yä n
ɩ -n
ɔnɔ kuu-
DEMPR
live:
CP ADD
DEMPR
die:
CP
‘One lit. that one lived and one lit. that one was dead.’ [siamoi 26]
8.1.2 The additive connective -yä ‘ADD2’
The element -yä is used both for conjoining noun phrases and for conjoining clauses. 8.1.2.1
C onjoining noun phrases
Conjoined noun phrases have -yä ‘and’ placed between them, as in example 152. 152
tɛɛtɛɛ -a bäsɩ
-yä -a
tɩtɩä first
1
P
father:
PL ADD
2 1
P
forefather:
PL
‘In former times, our fathers and forefathers…’ [kazo 18] If the numeral s
ɔ ‘two’ is placed after the second noun phrase, as in 153a and 153b, the meaning is that the action referred to in the clause is carried out by or happened to the referents of the conjoined
noun phrases at the same time. The semantic meaning is then ‘together with’. Note that a noun phrase with an animate referent can be conjoined with a noun phrase that has an inanimate referent, as in the
second clause of example 153c, where the conjoined noun phrases refer to Chicken and the money.
3
153 a.
sä -
bhɔɔdä nä
kä g
wɛ
-yä nyɩkpɔ sɔ
because beginning
SP
1
ASF
chimpanzee
ADD
2 person two ‘… because in the beginning, the chimpanzee and man actually
3
For example 156, the only possible explanation for the form -ny ɛ is that it contains an intrusive nasal.
- kʋʋ
bhä kʋ
BE
1:
APL PST
1
VPC
lived together.’ [gwebhutu 12] b.
ʋ paa-
lä -mää
küküü -yä
cɛkwɩɩ sɔ
NH
3 put:
CP LOP
here hill:
PL ADD
2 rock:
PL
two ‘… it put lit. threw here hills and rocks.’ [creation 137]
c. nɩ
ɔ yi monie
kʋ bhlü [-kpazebhleku]
ADD
1 3
S XFUT
money:
DEF VPC
take
NUPT
‘… he then took the money nɩ
ɔ -nyɛ
s ɔ yi
bhä yi aa
[-kpazebhleku]
ADD
1 3
S ADD
2:
NH
2 two
XFUT PST
1 come
EXCL
3
NUPT
and went away with it lit. he and it came.’ [kokoleko 174–175] The additive -yä has the variant form -ya. However, -ya does not occur alone; rather, it alternates
with -yä, as in example 154. This is true especially when more than two noun phrases are conjoined, as in example 157b. Moreover, the form -ya occurs not only between noun phrases but also, like the
numeral s ɔ ‘two’, after the second of two noun phrases, as in 157a, and even after the last one of a
series of conjoined noun phrases, as in 157b cf. example 155. Again, the emphasis seems to be on the simultaneity of the actions happening to or being carried out by the referents.
154 a.
-bhutupap ɩɩ
-yä papoo
-ya -vlu
house_wall:
PL
:
DEF ADD
2 straw
ADD
2
ID
‘The walls and the straw crash to the ground’ [gwebhutu 38] b.
papoo -yä
- cɛcɛcɩɩ
-ya -gbäp
ɩɩ
-ya
straw:
DEF ADD
2 beam:
PL
:
DEF ADD
2 pillar:
PL
:
DEF ADD
2 ‘It was on the straw and the beams and the pillars
ɩmɩ kʋ gwɛ
-goo
NHP
:
TH
on chimpanzee
spend_the_night that the chimpanzee spent the night.’ [gwebhutu 44]
Example 155 is particularly interesting in that -ya was added in brackets by the transcriber of the recorded text. He obviously felt that it should occur there. The narrator had first conjoined two noun
phrases and then as an afterthought added the third one but without using the additive -ya. 155
ɔ bä
-yä
ɔ nɔ
sɔ, dunyʋa
-ya wa tu
yɩ 3
S
father
ADD
2 3
S
mother two village_people:
DEF ADD
2 3
P
weep now
‘Her father and her mother, together with the village people, they now wept.’ [siamoi 27–29] 8.1.2.2
C onjoining clauses
The clauses connected by -yä refer to events that take place alongside each other or parallel to each other. The second clause typically receives a purposive interpretation. This meaning extension can be
explained by a cognitive path where the action referred to in the first clause is seen as being accompanied by its purpose. In example 156a both meanings are still clearly present.
4
156 a.
-n titonöɛ
-yä -n
mëë -l
ɩɩ kɔɔkɔ
2
S
go_alongside:
APL
:
NH
2
ADD
2 2
S
spread thing:
PL
:
DEF
always ‘… walk alongside it =the sea shore while spreading the things all the time’ [creation 49]
b. n
soonö-ö -yä
-n gä
sɔɔ yibhë
1
S
speak:
APL
:2
SO ADD
2 2
S XPOT
thus know
‘… I talk to you so that you know about it.’ [neyo 79.5–6] c.
na ŋnɔnɔ
-n kʋ -kä
- lɔɔ
1
S
:
GEN
woman:
DEM
2
S BE
1
CLU
3 there ‘… my dear woman, so do stay around
-yä n
kä duu
dö fä
ADD
2 1
S XPOT
village:
OBL
news send so that I can take the news to the village,
-yä -n -nyoto
kä -
kɛ -yi
nä
ADD
2 2
S
husband
XCND CLU
3 come:
CP SP
1 so that when your husband will have come,
-a gä
- kɛ
-naa wäl
ɩɩ bhobho
1
P XPOT
CLU
3 2
S
:
GEN
matter:
PL
think we may deal with your problem.’ [devinet 72–75]
Similarly to the form -ya, which is a variant of -yä for conjoining noun phrases, the connective ɩyä is
a variant of -yä for conjoining clauses. It carries an explicit reference to the discourse context the preceding clause by its first part
ɩ, which is the non-human plural pronoun also used for abstract things.
5
The form ɩyä receives more stress than -yä alone and can be preceded and followed by a pause.
When recording texts, transcribers therefore tend to spontaneously put a comma before it. Conjoining clauses by
ɩyä thus appears as a marked way of conjoining clauses. The presence of ɩyä confers special significance on, or highlights, the event referred to by the clause, for reasons that the
hearer infers from the context. The additive can be translated into English as ‘actually’, ‘even’, or ‘and also’, as illustrated in example 157.
157 a.
suu mʋ
wa bhlä ylä
ɩyä ʋ
kä -
zɔɔ bhlü tree:
DEF NH
3
TH
3
P
fell:
ICP
now:
LOP ADD
2
NH
3
XPOT VPC
fall_down ‘They now went about felling the tree, so that it would actually fall
-yä wa kä
yuo kʋ bhlü
ADD
2 3
P XPOT
child:
DEF VPC
take and they could take the child = the baby bird.’ [sigo 226–228]
b. ɩ
- ŋwa
kʋ nynä n pä yɩ
-a bhunünü
NHP
be_right
VPC SP
2 1
S
throw now 1
P
home:tale:
PL
‘… it is a good thing that I now tell our own stories,
4
In 159c, the variant -k ɛ of the connective -kä seems to be due to a need for dissimilation from the immediately
preceding conditional auxiliary kä.
5
Marchese 1986c:239f calls this pronoun the “catch-all” of the pronoun system, as it is used to refer to “anything abstract, in particular words, actions, whole phrases, or discussions”.
-yä wa
kɩ s
ɩɩ numʋ
ADD
2 3
P XPOT
:
NHP ADD
3 hear:
COM
so that they may also hear them, -mä
ɩyä
wa kɩ
s ɩɩ
wa bhlɩ
fä
ADD
4
ADD
2 3
P XPOT
:
NHP ADD
3 3
P
country send and so that they can even take them to their home country.’ [sigo 21–23]
In example 158, a sequence of three clauses is conjoined by ɩyä. The different actions of a ritual
for the dead are explained to the person who is to carry them all out, each action having its own special significance. It is not the order of the actions that is in view here; rather, what is in view is the fact that
they are all to be performed.
158 kɔɔn
nylipë lesie
kʋ ɩyä ŋʋ -lɔɔ
tɩtɔ always sweep tomb on
ADD
2 put there ashes ‘… always sweep the tomb on top and put ashes there,
ɩyä ŋʋ -lɔɔ
- bhʋbhlä
-ya wätɩä
ADD
2 put there leaves sp.
ADD
2 leaves sp. and put Bubla and Wateea leaves there
-n pi -
läbʋ ɩyä
-n ŋʋ -lɔɔ
2
S
cook mashed_banana
ADD
2 2
S
put there Cook mashed banana and put it there’ [siamoi 41–46]
8.1.3 The additive connective s