Exception sentence relator ma di

mat-t ɕhi-na ak bet. NEG-do;VBZR-NFNT1 INCLN COP boora u-le ta sø-le instead that-COMP.BASIS EMPHP survive-NMLZ ʈhe taŋ-a ga-a juŋ-ken bet. TE46 chop IMMED-NMLZ;Q be.glad-COMP2 come-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Whether one works in the field of no manure or does not work, it makes no difference. Instead it would be much better to slash and burn.’ Slash and burn is a method Lhomis use to have some new fields in steep slopes but they do not really produce very well. Speaker’s point is that unless the villagers agree to have sheep manure in the fields they will have poor harvest. I have borrowed the term adversative correction relation for this from Halliday and Hasan 1976:242–243.

18.12.8 Exception sentence relator ma di

I borrow the term from David Watters again 2002:349. He says, “Exception relator presents an exception, limitation or qualification to the preceding discourse.” Ma di, CONTR1 in Lhomi is one of the exception relators which may be translated into English like ‘in fact’, ‘as a matter of fact’, ‘actually’, ‘on the other hand’, ‘however’. This relator typically occurs following or preceding a NP which is somehow connected to this sentence relator. The position of this relator in a sentence is not really fixed. It relates the current clause to the previous clause or sentence or to a whole preceding section of discourse. This relator may occur also without the definite article di. This discussion overlaps somewhat the discussion in 10.2.16 where I call this marker a contrastive particle. Consider the following. 18.245 khan ʈa hin sin-na u-p-e ʈhø ak-pokma what COP.EXP say-NFNT1 that-HUM1-ERG plan evil-ADJVZR t ɕhip-pa di ŋ-e ha khoo-tɕuŋ. do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF 1SG-ERG aud.impact hear;understand-PST.EXP u- ni ŋa ma di sim-p-e naŋ-la that-ABL 1SG CONTR1 DEF mind-HUM1-GEN inside-DAT d ʑii-tɕe-ma ɖas-si tɕhi-tɕuŋ. TE58 fear-SBJV-F2 be.alike-INTNS do;VBZR-PST.EXP ‘It was because I realized that they had made an evil plan. It was then that I actually began to be afraid inside.’ 18.246 u-tu ma di polis-ki ʈoo di-la that-LOC CONTR1 DEF police-ERG habit DEF-DAT mit- toŋ-køp-pa bet. gaaʈi det taŋ-a bet. TE31 NEG-send;VBZR-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX bus stop IMMED-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘In that place as a matter of fact according to police custom they used not to send the buses on their way. The bus stopped.’ A thief has run away and is travelling in a bus which stops in a village. He did not know that the police habitually check everything at that place. 18.247 jak-ki ama di ɖi-mu bet. yak-GEN mother DEF female.yak-F1 COP ɖi-mu di ɖi-mu di gaɕ-ɕo bet. female.yak-F1 DEF female.yak-F1 DEF be.pleased-SUP COP khuŋ di ta ma di ɖi-mu di true DEF EMPHP CONTR1 DEF female.yak-F1 DEF ga ɕ-ɕo juŋ-ken bet. TE32 be.pleased-SUP come-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘The mother of a yak is a female yak. Female yak is the best. In fact the truth really is that female yak is the best.’ In this text the writer tells about yaks and various hybrids of yak and cow. This is an evaluating statement.

18.12.9 Exception sentence relator