13.117 am-e raari tak-køt. mother-ERG blanket weave-PROG;EXP
‘My mother is in the process of weaving a blanket.’
This suffix primarily marks progressive aspect but also experienceparticipation relation kinship in this. It only combines with nonpast verb roots.
Clause type T1 13.118 nempet
luk thøŋ-ken bet. TE6
tomorrow sheep appear-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Tomorrow the sheep will show up.’
In this example speaker knows that the whole flock of sheep is going to come next day. It is only the time adverb that enables the hearer to understand that this refers to next day.
Clause type T1 13
.119 thaŋpuu-ki gem-paa khajek-ki kha-ntuk tɕhi-tuk=ka in.the.past-GEN duty-COMP2 plural-ERG what-ADVZR do;VBZR-PRF.VIS=Q
u-ko khit khajek-ki ha khoo-kuk=ka? TE46 that-head 2PL plural-ERG aud.impact hear;understand-PROG;VIS=Q
‘Do you understand in what manner your leaderselders lived in the past?’
This is a correlative clause and also a rhetorical question. Speaker is addressing the whole village.
13.9.3 Past perfect tense
According to Givón Givón 2001:294 the event time of past perfect precedes the reference time line which precedes the time of speech.
This tense in Lhomi is only used for giving background or parenthetical information about a participant of a story or an event. The tense is marked by the string of suffixes -køp-pa which is attached
to the auxiliary hin and an additional auxiliary bet is added. The main verb has past root and suffix -pa.
In other words there is no marker as such to mark PPRF but it is the whole construction that marks it. In this construction the suffix -køt in the middle has lost completely its typical grammatical meanings
PROG;EXP. The same is true of the equative copula hin COP.EXP and the existential jøt EXIST.EXP. Past perfect tense combines with most verb types.
It is interesting that also equative copula and existential copula inflect for this tense. The string of suffixes -køp-pa is actually the same string of suffixes that marks the habitual aspect see section 13.10.1
when attached to the verb root. However the habitual aspect never combines with copulas. As table 13.9 shows, two auxiliaries are needed to mark PPRF. This tense is translated into English
usually as ‘there was’, ‘had been’, ‘was’, ‘had spoken’, etc. The primary grammatical meaning of this construction is not to mark the tense but to mark the parenthetical information which may be on the
reference line or prior to the reference line. I still prefer to call it past perfect tense. Table 13.9 shows how the PPRF tense is marked with various verbs.
Table 13.9. Past perfect tense in some finite verbs NPST
PPRF bet
hiŋ-køp-pa bet. COP
COP-PROG;EXP-NMZL;Q AUX jøk-ken bet
jøp-pa bet. EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
EXIST-NMLZ;Q AUX PST
PPRF ɕep-pa bet
ɕep-pa hiŋ-køp-pa bet. speak-NMLZ;Q AUX
speak-NMLZ;Q AUX-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX Past perfect marking parenthetical information on finite equative copulas and existential copulas
In the following example the narrator inserts a parenthetical copular clause which tells what kind of a woman the new wife was.
13.120 ɕi-na khur-ni kantsi tɕik ʈhik-pa bet.
die-NFNT1 carry-NFNT2 second.wife INDF marry-NMLZ;Q AUX kantsi di rimmu
hiŋ-køp-pa bet. second.wife DEF cannibal COP-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX
hi-ni kantsi di na-ja bet. TE41 this-ABL second.wife DEF get.sick-NMLZ;Q AUX
‘After his wife died he married a second wife. The second wife washad been a cannibal. Then the second wife got sick.’
There is a clear event line in TE41 and it is marked by past tense. The narrator of the story inserts important parenthetical information about the second wife who was a cannibal at the time. This fact
later had serious consequences to other participants of the story. The preceding and the following sentences are in past tense which is the time line of the story. In English the best translation is ‘was’. The
inserted clause is part of participant orientation see Levinsohn and Dooley 2001:82.
13.121 ni ŋima baŋke u-ko [waŋtɕaa rineŋ-ki sa sa-ken
ŋima baŋke that-head waŋtɕaa rinen-GEN field eat-NMLZ;CONJ khajek-ki tshik-ni t
ɕik ] u-ko hiŋ-køp-pa bet. TE55 plural-GEN amongst-ABL INDF that-head COP-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX
‘That Ngima Baŋke was [one of those who had been using] Waŋtɕa Rinen’s fields.’ A new episode begins in this complex story and the narrator tells this background information about
Ngima Baŋke. This piece of background refers to something that had happened before the story line. It is the headless relative clause and past perfect construction of the equative copular verb underlined
which marks it. 13
.122 thaŋpuu ajekpa sik-ken phaʈʈaapa elam-e tshaŋ in.the.past ayekpa call-NMLZ;CONJ tramp lie-GEN nest
khur-e mi t ɕik jøp-pa bet.
carry-NMLZ;GEN man INDF EXIST-NMLZ;Q AUX
u-ko ʈaŋpu ʈaŋpu tɕhi-ni dʑa-la søŋøn di
that-head poor poor do;VBZR-NFNT2 lowland-DAT begging DEF lin=tu phim-pa bet.
go.get=PURP go.come[PST]-NMLZ;Q AUX lak di-la phekka repek t
ɕuŋetmu tɕik hand DEF-DAT bag cloth.bag small INDF
khur-na jøp-pa bet. TE57 carry-NFNT1 EXIST-NMLZ;Q AUX
‘A long time ago there was a tramp called Ayekpa who carried a nest of lies big liar with him. Since he was very poor he went to lowlands to do begging. He had a small
cloth bag in his hand.’ Lit. ‘having carried he had a small bag in his hand.’ In this example the existential jøp-
pa bet gives background information about the main character of the story which is told in past tense. English ‘was’ or ‘had’ is the appropriate gloss at this time.
Past perfect marking parenthetical information on other finite verbs 13
.123 lama di ni raŋ bet si-kuk. lama DEF DM 2SG COP say-PROG;VIS
joŋmaa di-ki lama di hi-ko bet sin-na another DEF-ERG lama DEF this-head COP say-NFNT1
ɕep-pa hiŋ-køp-pa bet. tell-NMLZ;Q AUX-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX
ɕet-ni pulis mi=raŋ ʈhuk-ki ɖoli-la luk-na tell-NFNT2 police man=FOC six-ERG carrying.chair-DAT put-NFNT1
khur-a bet lo. TE18 carry-NMLZ;Q AUX DISCL
‘“You are the lama,” they said. Someone had told the police earlier saying, “This is the lama.” Then six policemen put him into a carrying chair and took him away.’
This is from an oral narrative. The event marked for parenthetical information took place prior to the time line of the story which is told in past tense. Therefore English past perfect is the appropriate
translation. The events are not in temporal order and the speaker has to add this piece of background to explain how the police was able to recognize the lama.
13.124 ni ta-paa di loo-tu lit-ni u-la ajekp-e horse-HUM2 DEF beside-LOC come-NFNT2 that-DAT ayekpa-ERG
ŋ-e dzama raŋ khø. 1SG-GEN clay.pot 2SG use[IMP]
hiko ta- taŋ mit-dʑak-keŋ-ki dzama bet tɕhi-pa bet.
this horse-COM NEG-VBZR-NMLZ;CONJ-GEN clay.pot COP say-NMLZ;Q AUX hi-ki tam hiko ma di ajekp-e u-ki ta di
this-GEN speech this CONTR1 DEF ayekpa-ERG that-GEN horse DEF elama d
ʑap-na ʈhok-tɕe nø-pa tɕhi-pa lie VBZR-NFNT1 take-SBJV think-NMLZ;Q do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q
hiŋ-køp-pa bet. TE68 AUX-PROG;EXP-NMLZ;Q AUX
‘After the horse rider had arrived beside Ayekpa he said, “Try using this clay pot of mine This is a pot which I would not exchange for a horse.” In fact Ayekpa had
decided to cheat and get that horse.’ The story continues and the horseman exchanges his good horse for the clay pot. Speaker inserts
this background information about Ayekpa’s inner decision he already had prior to the time line.
13.10 Aspect