Machi mai. Positional verbs Ex. 4 –5

6.4 Grammar 63 Exercise 4 . Idiomatic use of maichi drill The teacher says one of the words in the following list. Using the word the teacher has said, the student completes a sentence with the idiomatic form of maichi. Example Teacher: Ome Student: Ome chi. 1. ome ‗woman‘ 2. pun ‗daughter‘ 3. machi ‗boy‘ 4. tad ‗elder‘ 5. Luis ‗Louis‘ 6. María ‗Mary‘ Exercise 5 . Positional verb viewpoint drill If practical, the teacher should carry out the following drill. The purpose of the drill is to help the student learn how a Kuna would view the position of an object. The teacher points to an object. The student replies, inserting in the frame below the positional nai, mai, chi, kwichi or un that a Kuna would use, viewing the object involved. Example Teacher: points to a cord hanging down from the roof Student: We, wegin nai. Frame We, wegin ____. ‗That is lying, sitting, standing, hanging, on all fours over there.‘ Note : Ten to fifteen items should be used, if possible. The drill should be repeated several times until the student is able to anticipate the Kuna viewpoint of an object ‘s position.

6.4.2 Present progressive tense-aspect Ex. 6 –9

When an event or action is viewed by the speaker as being in progress, the aspect of the verb is present progressive. The present progressive parallels the SpanishEnglish construction Estoy comiendo. ―I am eating.‖ In Kuna, the present progressive is formed by suffixing one of the positional verbs -mai, -chi, -nai, or -kwichi to the verb stem.

6.4.2.1 General use of the present progressive

In general, the positional verb used to form the present progressive reflects the position of the personthing doing the action. Examples 1a. Mimmi kammai. 24 ‗The baby is lying sleeping.‘

b. Mimmi kabzhi.

‗The baby is sitting in a chair sleeping.‘

c. Wag kabgwis.

25 ‗The outsider is standingleaning against something sleeping.‘ 2a. An mas kunchi. ‗I am sitting eating.‘

b. An mas kunkwis.

5 ‗I am standing eating.‘

3. Kukualed kukunai.

‗The plane is suspended flying.‘ It is important to note that the present progressive suffix -chi, changes its form according to the final vowel or consonant of the verb stem: -chi occurs following fortis consonants. -chi becomes -zhi following lenis consonants. -chi becomes -ji following vowels. 24 b becomes m before m or n. For example, kab + -mai = kammai ‗is sleeping‘. 25 -gwis and -kwis are short forms of kwichi ‗to be standing‘.