18.259 u- ni ŋa aku passaŋ tɕaa-la phin-na
that-ABL 1SG uncle Passang at-DAT go.come[PST]-NFNT1 aku-
raŋ ŋorin dʑuu-let=te tɕhi-pen. uncle-self service run-SCI=EMPH say-1PST
khan ʈa hin sin-na u-p-e ʈhø ak-pokma
what COP.EXP say-NFNT1 that-PL2-ERG plan evil-ADJVZR t
ɕhip-pa di ŋ-e ha khoo-tɕuŋ. TE58 do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q DEF 1SG-ERG aud.impact hear;understand-PST.EXP
‘Then I went to uncle Passang and told him, “Uncle, please do the service work of Ngorimpa” This was because I realized the evil plan which they villagers had made.’
This is a written text telling how the old administration used to work in the Lhomi area. Without his consent and knowledge the writer was elected to be a servant of a village leader. He certainly did not
want that because there were all kinds of implications and responsibilities with that job. He realized that he was deliberately trapped. Therefore he goes to his own uncle and asks him to do it on his behalf. The
grounds clause of this example gives the reason for the preceding syntactic unit which is larger than just a sentence.
18.260 rika di-la ʈhik tshuu-na ni ʈhʏk-ken di-pa-la
forest DEF-DAT bring be.able-NFNT1 DM drag-NMLZ;CONJ DEF-PL2 le lhaa
juŋ-ken bet. work easy come-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
khan ʈa hin sin-na rika-la ʈhok-ken di
what COP.EXP say-NFNT1 forest-DAT take-NMLZ;CONJ DEF gak mit-
juŋ-ken bet. TE65 many NEG-come-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘If a man is able to take a bride for himself in a forest, then it will be easier for those who drag her away. This is because in a forest there are not many who would attack
and try to take her forcefully back.’
If a man has to drag the bride from inside her home, it is going to be difficult since there are so many family members who would attack and try to take her back.
This example is from a story which tells how a young Lhomi man takes a bride for himself forcefully and typically without her or her parents’ consent. He has companions who literally drag her away. Her
family members attack and try to take her back home. The reason clause gives the grounds for the preceding argument.
18.13 Coordinate structures
18.13.1 Contrastive relation in paired clauses
Negated first clause and dropping of its auxiliary Just like Kham see Watters 2002:347 Lhomi does not have any word equivalent to English ‘but’. Lhomi
drops the auxiliary from the non-final clause of the pair to mark paired opposition which in English is marked by “but.”
It is the first clause of the pair which marks the “but” relation and which is marked by negation and dropping of the auxiliary ‘bet’. There is no other marking that marks the contrastive relation in these
paired clauses. An affirmative first clause would not work for this.
If the auxiliary is retained both clauses would be full, independent clauses and the contrastive relation would be lost. The past and nonpast formula for this pair is as follows:
NEG-V-pa V- pa bet NMLZ;Q AUX
NEG-V-ken V- ken bet NMLZ;CONJ AUX
No other verbal suffixes are allowed for this structure. It is the latter clause which governs the tense of both clauses. Consider the following examples.
18.261 d ʑaap-ʏ phumu-la kii-ni ni
king-GEN daughter-DAT be.born-NFNT2 DM rekket ama di-ki mi api t
ɕhok-ø doŋ-pa m.goat mother DEF-ERG man grandma male-GEN face-M2
mit-ta sin-ni NEG-look.at[NPST] say-NFNT2
d ʑaap-ʏ khim-ni pakka-la mat-thøm-pa
king-GEN house-ABL outside-DAT NEG-come.out-NMLZ;Q khim-tu dep-pa bet. TE21
house-LOC stay-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Having been born as a princess, the mountain goat mother said, “I will never look at
the face of a male person,” and she did not come out from the palace but lived inside.’ In this example the princess did not want to see a male person and therefore decided to remain
inside the palace. ‘But’ is the best translation in English to mark the contrastive relation of the paired clauses.
18.262 ni u-ki naptsara di-ki khan ʈa tɕhit mat-tshuu-pa
that-GEN ugly.one DEF-ERG what do;VBZR NEG-be.able-NMLZ;Q uko nuk=raŋ le-nar-a bet. TE21
that like.that=FOC remain-COMPL-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘The ugly one could not say anything but remained just like that.’
Four men are making plans on how to marry a princess. Each has his own excellent talent and plan but the fourth one has nothing at this stage. Later he turns out to be the hero and succeeds to get the
princess. The first clause is marked for contrastive opposition. 18
.263 ŋim-e tshik-la ɕuu-na ta=tu phin-na ears-GEN among-DAT enter-NFNT1 look.at=PURP go.come[PST]-NFNT1
ʈopere di nuk tɕhi-pa suŋ mat-tshuu-pa ʈopere DEF that.way do;VBZR-NMLZ;Q arrest NEG-be.able-NMLZ;Q
pulis di-pa dap-na pur-na t ɕhi-la
police DEF-HUM1 shook.off-NFNT1 throw-NFNT1 outside-DAT ʈhø-nar-a bet. TE28
escape-COMPL-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Policemen went inside the house to look for Topere among the corn cobs, but they
were not able to arrest him, he pushed them off instead and escaped outside.’ This example describes how police tried to arrest a man who had committed a murder. The subject
changes after ‘mat-tshuupa, but the hearer gets a clue from the next NP, pulis dipa, which is marked with
absolutive for object. There is also a slight corrective overtone here and though there is no overt grammatical marker for it I have added “instead” in the English translation.
The following example illustrates the same contrastive relation with nonpast verbs. 18
.264 ni phiŋ-na ak ni jok jok mit-tɕhik-ken sink-NFNT1 INCLN DM shiver shiver NEG-do;VBZR-NMLZ;CONJ
naa døk-ken bet. lay.down stay-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
u- tu=raŋ khaa-ki tshik-tu hi-ni naa-ni ni
that-LOC=FOC snow-GEN amidst-LOC this-ABL lie.down-NFNT2 DM tsa ak mit-sa-ken bet. TE32
grass INCLN NEG-eat-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Even though it becomes buried in snow it does not shiver but lies down.
Having lain down in the snow, it does not even eat any grass.’ This text tells about yak as a domestic animal. It prefers to live in high altitude. Snow does not
bother it at all.
18.13.2 Exception contrast
