3.6.2 Cliticization
The monosyllabic and disyllabic morphemes which occur verb initially and finally are considered to be clitics rather than prefixes and suffixes because in many cases other word classes can be inserted
between them and the verbs that they modify. The proclitics e- and ema-, and the enclitics –wa, and -a are in this category. The modal, aspect markers which are disyllabic are also analyzed as clitics since
some can stand alone in other contexts. And the same verbs may occur with or without these clitics with only a change in aspect, or modality but not in meaning or valency.
3.6.2.1 Tense-Aspect-Mood TAM
Specific time in Luang is not considered very important or distinctive. The word for ‘day’ lera can mean ‘sun, season, day, hour, time’. It is not strange then that tense would be of less consideration than aspect
and mood which tend to communicate more about the speakers feelings about a certain event, than the time in which it occurred. In Luang, a large number of clitics and some words are used to indicate the
emotional content of events. The chart below shows each type, however the discussion below will focus only on the clitics.
Table 25. Clitics that show emotional content of events Marker
Label Glosses
Aspect markers
-doini exhaustive
‘until donegone’ -wa
completive ‘already’
-nande durative
‘for a long time’ -taru
durative ‘cannot be undone’
-reri progressive
‘is -ing’ edae-
progressive ‘is -ing’
tepartarlia progressive
‘is engrossed in’ reduplication iterative
‘kept doing’ nhi’inde
habitual ‘habitually, usually’
nwauga inceptive
‘begin to’ Mood
-nana abilitative
‘can, iswas able to’ -teka
attemptive ‘try’
-memna imperativeevidential ‘certain’
-neka evidential
‘just, simply’ -eti
evidentialdefinitive ‘certain’
lama irrealis
‘want to, in order to’ patotpa
irrealis ‘want to, in order to’
niwra optative
‘want to’ ema-
comparative ‘it was as if’
Tense nhorwua
completive ‘all done’
na’nama immediate past
‘just now’ nhi’pa
immediate future ‘almost’
oleka completive
‘already’ edon ma’ta
non-completive ‘not yet’
The words la, ma, tepartarlia, nwauga, and nhorwua, nhi’inde, nhi’pa are discussed below in §3.6.2.4. Na’nama, nhi’pa, totpa and pa are discussed in the later section on connectors, see §7.3. Reduplication
will be discussed in §3.6.3. 3.6.2.1.1
Aspect
The clitic-doini indicates completive aspect. This completive aspect indicates something having been done exhaustivelythoroughly i.e., eat food all gone. It differs from perfective aspect which indicates
an action already occurring. These two aspects can co-occur to modify the same word.
221 a-pwahi-doini-a 1s-wash-COMP-it
‘I washed it till the dirt was all gone.’
222 na-’ana-doini-a 3s-eat-COMP-it
‘He ate it all gone.’
223 na-’ana-doini-wa 3s-eat-COMP-PERF
‘He already ate it all gone.’ Note the sentence examples below:
224 Ai-lia’a ol-doini a-kaje’e-lu
au-la’a olu-doini
a-kajelu-’u 1s-go
sell-COMP my-ring-POS
‘I went and sold my rings all gone.’ 225 Pa
hni’-doinia Nohau
Metam pa
n-hi’a-doini-a Nohau
Metam for
3s-do-COMP-OBJ Nohau
Metam ‘To completely destroy Nohau Metam.’
226 Na-mat-doini-a a’na-ni
Na-mata-doini-a a’na-ni
3s-wake-COMP-OBJ child-POS
‘He woke up emphatic the child.’ 227 R-rora
ra-dil-doin-la-wa
3p-two 3p-left?-COMP-there-PERF
‘They had already completely left.’ 3.6.2.1.2
Perfective action clitic
Completed action is indicated by the enclitic -wa. This indicates completed action in the past, present or future so it is best analyzed as indicating aspect rather than tense. It occurs clause final rather than
always immediately following the verb. It occurs most often encliticized on words of finality such as already and finish and words of motion such as come and go. This enclitic also has a specific purpose
in discourse. It is used over and over in the peak points of a story and especially in direct speech at peak. It serves to make that part of the story more vivid. Note the following examples:
228 Ra-srala krit-ni-wa
3p-throw away octopus-POS-PERF
‘They threw away their octopus.’
229 A-la’ku namehrawa
a-laka-’u na-mehra-wa
My-foot-POS 3s-sick-PERF
‘My foot already hurt.’ 230 Wonira
amla’awa loru-wa
wonira a-m-la’awa
lora-wa
yesterday 1pe-1pe-go sea-PERF
‘Yesterday morning we had already gone to sea.’ Discourse examples in peak: The following sentences occur in direct succession in peak in a given
text. 231 a. Dewade de
Teti Lai na-wali
pa n-mai-wa
Then then Teti lai 3s-return to
3s-come-PERF
‘Then Teti Lai returned,’ b. Yoma
ar di
de Miru Lewna
r-rehi ar-wa
yoma ara
di de
Miru Lewna r-rehi
ara-wa
because battle this that Miru Lewna 3p-win battle-PERF
‘because this very battle Miru Lewna won.’ c. Dewade Teti Lai
n-mai-wa.
then Teti Lai
3s-come-PERF
‘Then Teti Lai came.’
d. N-mai-wa noka