890 Mere yana
m-huoratdoini-a me
mere yana
mu-horatdoini-a me
but do not
2s-forget-OBJ TAG
‘But do not forget, okay?’
8.1.3 No tags
Sometimes imperatives are formulated without tags of any kind. These are usually less formal and less polite.
891 Mu-kau samomuou a’na-mu
de 2s-hold
good child-2s
that ‘Hold your child carefully.’
892 Mu-ala olai
ida m-a’u
mu-ala olai
ida mai-a’u
2s-give mango
one DIR-me
‘Give me a mango.’ In an alternate form of imperatives without tags, the undergoer or person under command is
encliticized to the predicate, in a sort of reflexive construction.
893 Mol-mo’olu hare
r-watutu
molu-molu-u hare
r-watutu
RDP-quiet-2s those 3p-study
‘You quiet yourself, they are trying to study.’
894 Ple’etu pleta-u
quick-2s ‘You be quick’
8.2 Questions
8.2.1 Yes-no questions
Yes-no questions are identical to their declarative counterpart except that they have a rise in intonation which is highest on the stressed syllable of the final word of the sentence. Note the following examples:
895 Mi don
miplar ma’ta?
mi edonna
mi-p-lara ma’ta
2s not
2p-STAT-hunger still ‘You are still not hungry?’
896 O’a patke’e-mu
etla lek-wa?
2s female-POS
is-at already-PERF
‘You already have a wife?’ 897 O-malanu
2s-pregnant ‘You are pregnant?’
8.2.2 Tag questions
Tag questions are identical to declarative sentences except that they end in a tag. The tag indicates the speaker’s assurance or the lack thereof concerning the answer to his question. With rhetorical type tags,
the tag indicates sarcasm. The speaker does not really want an answer to the question. He is intending to rebuke.
Me’ edonna ‘unsure’ indicates that the questioner is unsure of the answer to his question. 898 Mu-’una leka-wa
me edonna
2s-eat already-PERF or not
‘Did you already eat or not?’ O ‘affirmative’ is a question tag where the speaker is fairly certain that the answer will be
affirmative. 899 Seri ani-ni
woru oleka
o
Seri year-POS two already
TAG
‘Seri is already two years, right?’ Me ‘correct’ is a tag which indicates that the speaker assumes that the hearer thinks that the speaker
is correct. Toh is a tag which functions very similarly to me. It appears to be borrowed from Malay and much
of the time takes the place of me. Toh indicates that both the speaker and hearer know what the speaker is saying it true. It could also function as a mild form of rebuke.
Pa generally functions in Luang as a connector. However it can function as a tag on questions. It is used as a rhetorical question marker and may be a type of mild rebuke.
900 O’a edonna
m-nairi rai-ni
pa
you do not
2s-wear clothes-POS
for
‘Why are you not wearing any clothes ?’ Noka or other sequential connectors can act as tags on the end of questions. They seem to mean
‘then what happened next?’ This type question can also function rhetorically as a rebuke.
O-m-lia’ pa m-lia’ iskola noka? 2s-2s-go to 2s-go school then
‘You left to go to school then what happened to youwhy are you not in school?’
8.2.3 Content questions
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