Subordinate concessive clause Adverbial clauses

18.9.3 Subordinate concessive clause

The most common concessive subordinator in Lhomi is -na NFNT1 ak INCLN. There is another more rarely used subordinator, which is -t ɕaŋ NFNT3, and it has the same grammatical meaning examples 18.107 and 18.108. In the next example it is the concession which is highlighted t ɕhe-na ak. The main clause is clearly unexpected. 18.102 mi-la d ʏt di ɕin-na juŋ-e jaŋ-la man-DAT demon DEF cling-NFNT1 come-NMLZ;Q-GEN time-DAT hat ɕa-raŋ-ki ŋii-pa khanʈa ak 1PL.INCL-self-ERG go.wrong-NMLZ;Q what INCLN mat-t ɕhe-na ak nak kop-ken bet. TE62 NEG-do;VBZR-NFNT1 INCLN crime accuse-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘At the time when the evil demon comes and possesses a man, it accuses us of crimes even though we have done nothing wrong.’ Indefinite concession 18.103 d ʑaa-pu-la suttsana taŋ-ni king-M1-DAT hint send;VBZR-NFNT2 d ʑaa-p-ʏ khanʈa hin-na ak ɕok king-M1-ERG what COP-NFNT1 INCLN come[IMP] sin-na u-na løn ta ŋ-a bet. TE21 say-NFNT1 that-IN message send;VBZR-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘After they had sent a hint to the king, he sent back a message saying, “Come here whatever the circumstances are”’ Or: ‘“…make sure you come”’ This example is from a story where the king invites a lama to come and help with his lamaistic rituals to get a son. The concessive reading is underlined and it means in this example that the person should come ‘whatever the circumstances might be’, ‘whatever the case’, or ‘no excuses would be acceptable’. Example 3.44 provides another example of indefinite concession. Counter- expectation concession 18.104 gotta ʈhik=tu juŋ-na ak ŋa gotta-taŋ mit-ɖo. 3SG fetch=PURP come-NFNT1 INCLN 1SG 3SG-COM NEG-go[NPST] ‘Even if he comes to fetch me I will not go with him.’ The subjects are not coreferential and therefore the personal pronouns occur in both clauses. 18 .105 ŋa-la pajisak thop-na ak 1SG-DAT money receive-NFNT1 INCLN ŋa nama ta mit-ʈhik. 1SG wife EMPHP NEG-fetch[NPST] ‘Even if I get money I will not take a wife.’ Speaker is responding to someone who has suggested that he should take a wife when he earns some money. Definite concessive -NFNT1 INCLN The next example further illustrates the definite concession. Relevant markers are underlined: 18 .106 ŋin khaŋ se-na ak ɕʏli mit-ɖaŋ-ken bet day one eat-NFNT1 INCLN at.all NEG-become.filled-NMLZ;CONJ AUX luk ma di=raŋ. TE30 sheep CONTR1 DEF=FOC ‘In fact even ifeven though a sheep eats whole day it does not become satisfied at all.’ Or: ‘In spite of the fact that it eats grass the whole day it actually does not become satisfied.’ This is from a text that tells about sheep raising. When eating good grass some sheep never have enough even though they may eat all day. The contrastive CONTR1 particle in the end highlights the main clause. Concessive subordinator -tɕaŋ This concessive subordinator is used rarely. Consider the following two examples. 18.107 mi kurik-ki dikpa t ɕhi-ni kurik-la dikpa jøk-ken man all-ERG sin do;VBZR-NFNT2 all-DAT sins EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ t ɕhi-ni juu-kaŋ-tu mi ɕi-na kha-ni mit-tɕaŋ do;VBZR-NFNT2 village-house-LOC man die-NFNT1 where-ABL NEG.EXIST-NFNT3 lama ʈhik-ken bet. TE51 lama fetch-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Because all men have committed sins, all men have sins, therefore if a man dies they fetch a lama wherever he is.’ Lit. ‘from wherever he would not be.’ This suffix -t ɕaŋ which marks the concessive relation in non-finite clauses combines only with existential and equative copulas. The other concessive marker - na ak NFNT1 INCLN may combine with all types of verbs. 18.108 ket di t ɕikpa jøt-tɕaŋ iki di sound DEF same EXIST-NFNT3 written.form DEF’ raŋsa raŋsa ʈhi-ken bet. TE91 different different write-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Though the sound is the same, we write them different.’ This refers to some words of the Devanagri orthography of Lhomi.

18.9.4 Subordinate substitutive clause