be mere verb roots, or the medial verb may be marked by dative case -la. All medial clauses in Lhomi have the same subject, tense, aspect and negativity. It is like a complex clause rather than a sentence.
These are all features Givón talks about 2001:348–351. The suffix -na has all kinds of other grammatical meanings in non-finite clauses, e.g. conditional
clause, but in medial clauses it only concatenates the medial verbs. This is the primary grammatical meaning of this suffix. There may be up to five or six medial verbs in a chain but typically only two or
three. Tense and aspect of the medial verbs are marked in the finite verb. Subject remains the same throughout the chain.
It is when this same suffix -na is used to mark also non-finite conditional clause that the so called “switch reference system” comes into play. There is more about that in section 18.9 on adverbial clauses.
There are some motion verbs in Lhomi that typically occur in medial position but may occur as main verbs as well. It is the suffix -na that chains them to the finite verb. They are like verbal pairs e.g.
lok- na lit- ‘returning arrive’, lok-na juŋ- ‘returning come’, ‘luk-na ɕok- ‘to put and keep’, khur-na juŋ-
‘carrying come’, and juŋ-na døt- ‘come and stay’. Some refer to just one single event, others to two
consecutive events. David Watters reports this happening also in Kham Watters 2002:325. Lhomi qualifies for a clause chaining language. The relation of chain-medial and chain-final clauses
seems to be one of co-subordination ibid., 322. The next example illustrates that it is the immediately following verb which governs the case
markings of its arguments in chaining. In this example it is the medial verb ke-na which requires dative case marked object. The final verb
toŋ has here the sense ‘to send’. 18.154
ŋa-raŋ-ki mat-thek-pa 1SG-self-ERG NEG-be.able.carry-NMLZ;Q
d ʑentsel-la ke-na taŋ-en. TE3
d ʑentsen-DAT load-NFNT1 send;VBZR-1PST
‘I myself wasn’t able to carry the load, but I put the load on Jenjen’s back instead and sent him on the way.’
18.10.1 Non-final temporal sequence
Conse cutive events marked by non-finite verbal suffix -na
The following examples illustrate serial constructions where up to three medial verbs may occur both medial verbs and final verbs are underlined.
18.155 hi-ni tuwa jø-na se-
toŋ. TE9 this-ABL porridge cook-NFNT1 eat[PST]-1PL.HORT
‘After this let us cook and eat’ Cooking and eating are related activities but there is a clear temporal sequence. Subjects are co-
referential. 18.156 too-let=te.
grind-SCI=EMPH taa-na
juŋ-en. TE9 grind-NFNT1 come-1PST
‘“Go and grind it” I ground it and came.’ Someone else gives the command and the speaker goes to the water mill, grinds the kernels, and
comes back. The activities are clearly sequential but those two verbs form just one clause. 18
.157 ŋaa buktɕaa jar-na juŋ tshar-en. TE4 large.drum cymbals borrow[PST]-NFNT1 come fall.off-1PST
‘I borrowed a large drum, cymbals and came.’
Speaker reports what he has been doing during that day. There is a clear temporal sequence in this example but short time span in between.
Temporal overlap In the next couple of examples the action of the medial verb is at least partly overlapping with the action
of the main verb. 18.158 kittap di gam-la luk-na
ɕak-tuk. book DEF box-DAT put-NFNT1 keep-PRF.VIS
‘He has put and kept the book in the box.’ This is a single event. Someone has put the book in the box and left it there and the speaker finds it
and makes this statement which is marked for perfect of results. 18.159
ɕiŋka-la te-ni lok-na juŋ-en. TE3 field-DAT look-NFNT2 return-NFNT1 come-1PST
‘After I had taken a look at my field, I returned and came.’ Or: ‘…returning I came.’ The chained clauses describe just one activity, returning home. The verbs are lexically related and
both are motion verbs. Rapid consecutive events marked by past verb roots
If the speaker wants to highlight the successive events he may drop the NFNT1 from the medial verbs and also leave the final verb without any suffixation, only past root. Obviously this only happens in
narratives that use past tense. The following examples illustrate it.
18.160 hi-ni khim-la lok mi taŋ laŋa gar
this-ABL house-DAT return[PST] fire VBZR[PST] frying.pan put.on.fire[PST] laŋa di-ki thok-la dze-ni
frying.pan DEF-GEN on.top-DAT climb-NFNT2 goŋak tɕik tɕarikla tɕe. TE16
egg INDF lay[PST] ‘She pheasant returned to the house, made fire, put the frying pan on fire; after
having climbed on top of it she laid an egg.’ Pheasant prepares a lunch for herself and her monkey friend. The medial verbs in this example are
mere past roots. Also the finite verb is past root. This is one of the ways a Lhomi speaker highlights the sequential actions when the climax of the story is approaching and the hero is the subject like in this
one. In the first sentence there are two medial verbs and the final verb gar which all are just verb roots. The final verb of the second sentence is also just past root t
ɕe. The medial verb is dze-ni which I will talk about later.
18.161 hi-ni mi taŋ laŋa gar
this-ABL fire send;VBZR[PST] frying.pan put.on.fire[PST] laŋa di mappu-la soŋ. TE16
frying.pan DEF red-DAT go[PST] ‘Then he the monkey made fire, put the frying pan on the fire. The frying pan
became red.’ The scope of the same subject covers the first two verbs. Therefore my analysis is that there is a
sentence break after the second event. The first event is the medial clause and the second is the final.
The third is a separate independent clause which gives important information for the forthcoming climax. Therefore the finite verb is highlighted and occurs without any suffixation.
Serial chaining with finite existential copular verb When a motion verb is chained to finite existential copula it produces a kind of periphrastic perfect like
in the following example: 18
.162 juukaŋ-la phin-ni village-DAT go.come[PST]-NFNT2
honta ŋit jampu-la lit-na jøt. TE76 now 1PL.EXCL Kathmandu-DAT arrive-NFNT1 EXIST.EXP
‘After visiting the village we have come back and are now in Kathmandu.’ Or: ‘having arrived we are here in Kathmandu.’
This is a setting for a letter. This serial construction is a kind of perfective aspect. Time of arrival has been left indefinite. If the speaker uses lip-en 1PST as the final verb instead of this serial
construction he would normally specify the time of arrival by using a time adverb. Besides, it would not actually tell if the person is in Kathmandu or not at the moment of writing.
Resultative perfect, which is marked in the main verb by -tuk PRF.VIS, combines only with third person referents. Naturally it cannot be used for a first or second person referent. The following
examples are alternative ways for a Lhomi to use perfect of result for a third person referent. 18.163 gotta jampu-la lit-tuk.
3SG Kathmandu-DAT arrive-PRF.VIS ‘He has arrived in Kathmandu.’
Speaker has seen him after his arrival but has not seen the event of arriving see more about that in chapter 14 on evidentials and on resultative perfect in section 13.10.4.
18.164 gotta jampu-la lit-na duk. 3SG Kathmandu-DAT arrive-NFNT1 EXIST.VIS
‘He has arrived and is in Kathmandu.’ Or: ‘Having arrived he is in Kathmandu.’
Speaker has seen the man after he has arrived and he is in Kathmandu at the time of this speech act. 18.165 gotta jampu-la lit-na jøk-ken bet.
3SG Kathmandu-DAT arrive-NFNT1 EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘He has arrived and is in Kathmandu.’ Or: ‘Having arrived he is in Kathmandu.’
Speaker knows that the person has arrived and is in Kathmandu, general knowledge. Example 18.164 focuses more on the arrival which speaker has not seen; he has only seen the
outcome. Therefore his statement does not say much if the person is in Kathmandu or not at the time of this speech act. In 18.165 the speaker verifies that the person really is in Kathmandu because the
existential copula is the finite verb.
18 .166 ŋik-ki khimtsi lit jøʈ-ʈo.
1PL.EXCL-GEN neighbour arrive[PST] EXIST-PROB ‘Our neighbour may have arrived.’
Speaker has no evidence but he infers that this may be the state of affairs. Arrival may have happened in the past. I believe that this is a grammaticalized form of the periphrastic perfect of lit-
na jøʈ- ʈo. Though the medial verb suffix has been dropped it is still periphrastic perfect like in 18.164 and
18.165.
18.10.2 Non-final means–result relation
