Existential clauses with bhe

160 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE 82 no-bhari ni-fumaa: naando kapaea ka-taha, naando kahitela, 3sR-many P.PART-eat be papaya NOM-ripe be maize naando mafu sau be yam wood there are many foods, there is ripe papaya, there is maize, there is cassava 83 no-feena-mo bhahi naando ka-amponi-no do-gaa bhe ana-no 3sR-ask-PF maybe be NOM-forgive-POS 3pR-marry with child-his he asked whether there is forgiveness if one has married ones child At this place I will also treat some other uses of naando. The first of these is that naando may be object-inflected: the direct object pronominal suffixes are added to the base naando, in which case the addition of subject markers is ungrammatical see 4.8.1 The meaning of an object-inflected naando is the same as with subject inflection, but the object-inflected forms are used either when the subject of the clause precedes the verb or when the subject has first or second person reference. 84 ta-ama-ndo naando-e only their father was there JUST-father-their be-him was alive 85 naandoo-ko? are you there? be-you In the second place naando may precede another verb, in which case the meaning is not existential but signals a progressive aspect. In some instances it may even be translated by still or while: 86 naando no-lodo he is still asleep be 3sR-sleep 87 no-rafo-ti-e naando no-bisara she found him while he was 3sR-find-TR-him be 3sR-speak still talking 88 intagi-kasami ne ini naando ta-k[um]ala tae-ala sau IMP-wait-usex loc this be 1eI-go 1eI-get wood wait here for us ex while we go and get wood

7.2.2. Existential clauses with bhe

In addition to the verb naando, the word bhe can also be used in existential clauses. The preposition bhe has already been discussed in 6.2.1, where its usage was shown to be broader than the other prepositions. In existential clauses bhe seems to function as a verb, but since it is not and cannot be inflected, we can not call it a verb. I will use the term existential preposition to refer to this bhe, which is glossed as be. Examples of bhe in positive clauses: 89 ne-lengka lapa-lapa, garaa bhe Wa Ode Kambeano Mbiluju 3sR-open mattress SURPR be Wa Ode Kambeano Mbiluju she folded away the mattress and there was Wa Ode Kambeano Mbiluju 7 THE CLAUSE 161 90 a-mai ne ini rampahano bhe isa-ku 1sR-come loc this reason be older.sibling-my I have come here because my older brother is here 91 tamaka we lalo bhe a-paa-paando but loc inside be ART-RED-mouse.deer but inside there was the mouse deer 92 miina na-[m]ande-ha-ane bhe kaedeha welo ghoti-no not 3sI-know-INT-it be faeces in rice-his he did not know there were faeces in his rice More usual, however, is the occurrence of bhe in negative clauses see 8.5.1: 93 miina-ho bhe bhirita ampa aitu so far there is not any news not.yet be news until now yet 94 miina-mo bhe ka-se-ise there was no unity any more no.more be NOM-RED-one 95 miina bhe doi-ku I do not have any money not be money-my 96 paise bhe ka-ngara-ha-ku-a I wont be bored FUT.not be NOM-bored-REAS-my-CL In all the preceding examples bhe is followed by a full noun. In certain constructions bhe is found followed by the root form of a verb see 4.9; the resulting meaning is a very strong negative: 97 suru gholeo miina bhe sampu all day long there was no long day not be go.down coming down; he did not come down 98 miina-ho bhe suli there was no returning yet; not.yet be return we still did not return Notice that there is no overt subject expressed in these clauses; the context normally makes this sufficiently clear. The semantic difference between such a root form and a ka--ha-nominalization 10.2.18 is not entirely clear. Finally, naando and bhe may also co-occur in a clause: 99 naando bhe ghule there is a snake be be snake In this examples bhe seems to function as an emphatic preposition. It may be left out in 99 without any clear difference in meaning. On the other hand, naando may also be left out, in which case the remaining bhe is again an existential preposition.

7.3. Transitive clauses