The question verb afa

8 CLAUSAL MODIFICATIONS 221 215 ne-fe-ghondo-ghoo-mo. Peda hae pada, do-gaa bughou itu 3sR-L.CAUS-look-IO-PF like what already 3pR-marry new that he asked her to look for lice on his head. That is quite normal, isnt it? They were newly married 216 no-pupu ka-mente-no ana-no raja ini. Peda hae, miina-mo 3sR-finish NOM-surprised-POS child-POS king this like what no.more na-[m]ora-e kamokula amaitu 3sI-see-him old that he was flabbergasted. And that is understandable, since he did not see the old man any more 6. nefiemo naefie indefie when These three question words all mean when, but nefiemo and indefie can only refer to a point in the past, whereas naefie refers to a future state or action: 217 naefie o-mai? when will you come? when.FUT 2sI-come 218 nefiemo o-mai? when did you come? when 2sR-come 219 indefie o-rato garaa? when did you arrive? when 2sR-arrive SURPR The reduplicated naefie-naefie points to a possible but unspecific point in the future: when at any time: 220 naefie-naefie na-r[um]ato hadhi ne liwu ini RED-when.FUT 3sI-arrive haji loc village this when a haji should arrive in this village Indefiemo ini is an adverb meaning some time ago, in the past: 221 indefie-mo ini naando ka-rame welo liwu ini when-PF this be NOM-celebrate in village this some time ago there was a festival in this village

8.6.3. The question verb afa

In Muna there are two interrogative verbs on the basis of the root afa. With ae-inflection this root means do what? The verb may be suffixed with the indirect object pronominal suffixes, in which case the verb shifts irregularly to the a-class, but the um-form is not necessarily employed: 222 ome-afa-amu? what are you pl doing? 2pR-do.what-PLUR 223 ai-hi-mu de-afa-mo itu kaasi-ndo? younger.sibling-PLUR-your 3pR-do.what-PF that pity-their what are your younger siblings doing, the poor things? 222 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE 224 a-afa-ane? what can I do about it? 1sI-do.what-it rhetorical question signalling resignation 225 da-[m]afa-ane? what can we do about it? 1pI-do.what-it idem When afa is in the ao-class, the verb has a different meaning: what is the matter with? In the third person singular it can usually be translated by why which is consequently done in the interlinear. Verbs following this noafa are often but not always suffixed with the purpose suffix -ghoo. This is also the case with the inflected preposition peda: 226 omo-afa? what is the matter with you? 2sR-be.what 227 miina nao-afa-a it does not matter not 3sI-be.what-CL 228 noafa no-sampu-ghoo we kota? why has he gone to town? why 3sR-go.down-PURP loc town 229 noafa peda-ghoo aini? why is it like this? why like-PURP this For emphasis noafa may be put in clause-final position: 230 pa nae-mbali noafa-mo? why would it not be possible? FUT.not 3sI-can why-PF 231 no-tehi-ghoo noafa? why is he afraid? 3sR-afraid-PURP why In negative why-questions, the negator miina not is sometimes not present; in these cases the purpose suffix -ghoo is also absent. The following two clauses have the same meaning: 232 a. noafa na-mai ne ini? why has he not come here? why 3sI-come loc this b. noafa miina na-mai-ghoo ne ini? why not 3sI-come-PUPR loc this why has he not come here? When a pronominal object suffix is present in negative why-questions, IO suffixes are more usual than DO suffixes when they precede -ghoo. These IO suffixes still refer to the semantic patient: 233 noafa miina o-[m]ewa-ngi-ane-ghoo? why did you not resist him? why not 2sI-resist-TR-him-PURP 234 noafa miina o-s[um]epa-ane-ghoo? why did you not kick him? why not 2sI-kick-him-PURP 8 CLAUSAL MODIFICATIONS 223 Finally, afa is also found as a nominal base for a ko-derivation, usually in negative clauses: 235 ingka miina a-ko-afa-afa dont you know I dont have ENIM not 1sI-HAVE-RED-what anything

8.6.4. Questions introduced by soo-mo