18.9.13 Subordinate temporal onset point
The non-final temporal starting point is a nominalized clause that defines the temporal onset of the activity or state of the main clause. English meaning is ‘from now onwards’, ‘from now on’. The structure
is grammaticalized idiom and it is typically as follows:
ha hi-ni t ɕhi-pa di
Another way to analyze this would be to regard it as an ADVP. ha is a time adverb meaning ‘now’, hi-ni means ‘then’, t
ɕhi-pa is the nominalized verb ‘do,VBZR,’ and di is the definite article. Occasionally the temporal adverb ha may be dropped but otherwise this is like an idiom. Consider the following
illustrations the adverbial clause under discussion is underlined. 18.149 ha hi-ni t
ɕhi-pa di khit-raŋ thaŋ ŋa mit-ʈhek-ken now this-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF 2PL-self and 1SG NEG-meet-NMLZ;CONJ
bet. khit- raŋ døk-ken bet. TE28
AUX 2PL-self stay-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘From now onwards you and I will not meet. You will stay. I will go …’ Lit. ‘From
now what I have said…’ A man is saying farewell to his relatives before the police in a moment will take him to prison. He
has committed a murder. 18
.150 raŋ-la thop-e tshikaŋ-ki khøŋkaa dʑeŋkaa di 2SG-DAT get-NMLZ;Q-GEN always-GEN good.clothing good.ornaments DEF
hi-tsøt t ɕik=raŋ bek=o. ha hi-ni tɕhi-pa di
this-amount one=FOC COP=NEW.INF now this-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF raŋ-la ɕʏli mit-noŋ-ken bek=o.
2SG-DAT at.all NEG-receive-NMLZ;CONJ AUX=NEW.INF sa-ma hi-ko so-t
ɕit thuŋ-tɕit. TE49 eat-F2 this-head eat-IMP2 drink-IMP2
‘The good clothing and ornaments which you have received is for ever this much. From now onwards you will get nothing of that at all. Eat this food and drink
beverage’ Lama is giving instructions to a dead soul. He is informing the dead soul about certain facts and
finally requesting him to eat and drink for the last time. 18.151 aku-
raŋ hariŋ-ni tɕhi-pa di lʏ thaŋ sim uncle-self today-ABL do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF body and mind
jaa ʈhe tshar-a bek=o. TE51
apart be.separated fall.off-NMLZ;Q AUX=NEW.INF ‘Uncle, from today onwards your body and soul have become completely separated.’
This shows that some variation is allowed for this non-finite clause. Lama is addressing a dead man and giving instructions in post mortem rites.
18.9.14 Subordinate additive clause
In examples 18.152 and 18.153 it is the adverb t ɕhuwak which is the subordinator see Thompson et al.
2007:264. It is the subordinator t ɕhuwak which makes the first clause subordinate. Otherwise the
relation would be contrastive clauses in paired relation see section 18.13.1. Example 18.153 shows there may be more than just one additive clause.
18.152 khit- raŋ-ki doŋ-ki tuwa-la
2PL-self-GEN face-GEN food-DAT t
ɕhuwak mat-ta-ja tak-ki ri-la tø. TE46 only NEG[IMP]-look[NPST]-NMLZ;Q back-GEN time-DAT look[IMP]
‘Do not only look at the food in front of you but in addition look into the past’ The idea is that in addition to looking ahead one has to look into the past, what has happened
before and how one needs to conduct his life. Both verbs are in imperative. Because the imperative root cannot occur in nonfinite verbs the subordinate clause verb does not have here the imperative root
which would be tø-. It is the imperative negative prefix that marks the imperative in this nonfinite verb. The past root for this verb would be te- which could not be used here either because the main clause
verb is in imperative.
18.153 u-ki hat ɕa-raŋ-la nøppa toŋ-a tɕhuwak mem-pa
that-ERG 1PL.INCL-self-DAT demon send,VBZR-NMLZ;Q only NEG.COP-NMLZ;Q hat
ɕa-raŋ mi khajet khamtɕu dʑak-tu tsʏk-ken 1PL.INCL-self man plural quarrel VBZR-PURP cause-NMLZ;CONJ
duŋ-ri dʑak-tu tsʏk-ken beat-RECP VBZR-PURP cause-NMLZ;CONJ
søt-ri d ʑak-tu tsʏk-ken ... TE48
kill-RECP VBZR-PURP cause-NMLZ;CONJ ‘It the evil one is one who not only sends demons to bother us but in addition
makes us men to quarrel, makes us to beat each other, makes us to kill each other...’
Table 18.4. Summary of reason–result markings on subordinate clauses Markings on
subordinate clause verb
Operations on subordinate clause Relation to the main
clause -kin
NMLZ simultaneous activity
-kil-la NMLZ-DAT string of suffixes on verb
simultaneous activity verb roots -ni
Reduplicated verb roots -ni durative activity
-ni NFNT2, suffix on verb
temporal with causal overlay
-pa-la Object nominalizer-dative case
Causal overlay tɕhi-ni
Subordinate clause verb + tɕhi-ni
Reason–result tɕhi-ni
Subordinate clause verb root + tɕhi-ni
Reason–result verb roots
tɕhi-ni Reduplicated verb roots +
tɕhi-ni Reason–result
-p- e
Object nominalizer-instrument case Reason–result
NEG-V-p- e tɕhittu
Negated-object nominalizer-GEN tɕhittu
Reason–result tɕhuwak
subordinator additive
18.10 Serial verb constructions