Lalo verb particles Verb particles

Table 19. Imperative Particles co-occurrence restrictions mild suggestion announcement of intent command of a prerequisite ‘first…’ brusque command imperativizing glottal stop ‘let’s’ insistent urging urging or optative imperative ‘may you…’ verb enlivener qha verb enlivener pâʔ violent-climax proverb 202 noun + hê ʔ a noun + get suggestnoun ‘I’ll get a noun or “Give me a noun”’ Matisoff 1973:351 203 câ a šē eat suggestnoun prerequisite ‘Why don’t you eat first before, for example, leaving?’ Matisoff 1973:352 204 ŋà nâʔ yù l ɛ qha-pî ve I gun take and violent-climax NOM ‘I picked up the gun and…bang’ or ‘I picked up the gun and…let him have it.’ Matisoff 1973:357 These particles freely follow group one above, but are mutually exclusive with groups two and three Matisoff 1973:350.

9.6.3 Lalo verb particles

9.6.3.1 Predicative particles Lalo has eight predicative particles Björverud 1998:74–75, 80–85 that “add semantic arguments to the verb’s subcategorization” or give information on degree or repetition Björverud 1998:80. Their meanings are these: • ‘causative’ • ‘concessive’ • ‘beneficiary’ • ‘object exhausted’ • ‘reciprocal’, ‘each other’ • ‘permanence’ • ‘comparative’, ‘more’ • ‘again’ These may follow the main verb or any of the auxiliaries in the first four slots of a verb concatenation Björverud 1998:78 described in section 9.3.3 Lalo . 9.6.3.1.1 Causative The causative particle adds a causee to the predicate, which may be marked by the object marker in addition to an object marker on the patient Björverud 1998:80. The causee is normally animate, but there are exceptions Björverud 1998:81. 205 u dì à phàmú dì tjàq jí tuq 3 P OBJ TOP brother OBJ feed go CAUS ‘[The parents] made her cause go and feed the younger brother patient.’ 206 ʃý dzí thà i tuq iron tree don’t rock CAUS ‘Don’t make the iron tree rock’ Björverud 1998:81 9.6.3.1.2 Concessive Reduplication of the causative particle produces the concessive particle, which is sometimes considered a politer version of the causative Björverud 1998:81. 207 tý lá tuqtuq return come concessive ‘let [someone] come back’ 9.6.3.1.3 Beneficiary A beneficial particle introduces a beneficiary into the predicate, who is usually human and always animate. The beneficiary is marked with the object marker, and the patient is not so marked. The beneficial particle also produces ‘tell’ from ‘say’, and ‘give’ from ‘bring’. 208 u dì s ɛ̀tjhə́ tjhə sɛ̀ vɛ́ ka wù 3 P OBJ pear one CLF buy bring BEN ‘Buy a pear for him and give it to him.’ 209 biq wù say BEN ‘tell’ Björverud 1998:81 The beneficiary is not always marked, but this leads to ambiguity Björverud 1998:82. 210 tshú ǹ̩dý dì ʃí í̍ wù person head on louse look BEN 1. ‘The person looks for lice on the head of beneficiary’ 2. ‘look for lice on the head of someone for the person beneficiary’ 3. ‘look for lice on the person’s head for someone benificiary.’ 9.6.3.1.4 Object exhausted Exactitude in describing the “exhaustive” particle “eludes the author,” but it “seems to indicate that the action has already taken place” and “affects the entire object or subject” Björverud 1998:82. All known examples follow a directional verb, usually ‘away’ Björverud 1998:82–83: 211 mà xàq xá tjí not remember away EXH ‘not remember anything of’ 212 duq thìq tjí exit out EXH ‘all have gone out’ 213 vì t ẃ tjí carry up EXH ‘pick up on back’ 9.6.3.1.5 Reciprocal The reciprocal particle sometimes marks the reciprocating agent with the word “with”; otherwise it is presumed that the subject is plural Björverud 1998:83. 214 tjh ətse ʃỳ dìhi car resemble RECIP ‘The cars resemble each other.’ 215 mú p ỳ à pàq kh ə́ dɛ̀ dìhi corpse carry IMPF NOM with hit RECIP ‘fight with the pall-bearers’ Björverud 1998:83. 9.6.3.1.6 Permanence, or result The permanence particle is used with verbs or adjectives. With verbs, it indicates a tangible or visible consequence of an action. With adjectives, it indicates some change has occurred Björverud 1998:83. 216 kà tàq live PERM ‘be born’ 9.6.3.1.7 Comparative The comparative particle is used with verbs or adjectives. With verbs, it indicates that something is done better than something else. With adjectives it produces the comparative degree, and is part of the superlative construction Björverud 1998:84. 217 s ɛ̀ djí like COMP ‘prefer’ 218 sàq djí know COMP ‘know better’ 219 ɣálaw dì kjh ɛ́lɛ́ mɛ̀ djí flower OBJ more pretty COMP ‘prettier than a flower’ 220 z ɛ̀mɛ̀ xá.ì ɣə̀ djí girl the very big COMP ‘the oldest girl’ 9.6.3.2 Aspectual particles The twelve aspectual particles in Lalo have the following meanings: • ‘imperfect’ • ‘perfect’ • ‘durative’ • ‘planning to’ • ‘about to’ • ‘after’ • ‘a while’ • ‘preparing immediately to’ • ‘preparing to’ • ‘hypothetical’ • ‘completed’ • ‘declarative’ These may not be combined with each other in contrast to Bisu, section 9.6.1 Bisu . These modify the VP or AP , rather than a single V or A Björverud 1998:115. Bjørverud warns that her analysis “should be regarded with caution” since “the aspectual system of Lalo holds many mysteries” for her 1998:115. For the two particles associated with perfective and imperfective aspect, tone is the distinguishing feature: high tone represents perfective and low tone imperfective. 221 lá á come PERF ‘has come’ 222 biq à speak IMPF ‘says; is saying’ Björverud 1998:115 The durative particle shows continuation regardless of the time indication Björverud 1998:115. 223 tji dj ə̀ pull in DUR ‘keep pulling in’ 224 mà g ə̀ dj ə̀ not run DUR ‘not be running’ Björverud 1998:115 For the several “preparing to” particles, it is not yet clear what the difference in usage is. The “planning to” particle shows the agent’s intention Björverud 1998:116. The declarative particle affirms the validity of the clause Björverud 1998:116. In this respect, it seems to play the role of an illocutionary particle, but its syntactic order is the same as other aspectual particles. In the following example, the “looking” clause is affirmed. Note: 3PLR= ‘they’ remote 225 ùq ɣə̀ sí làphìq í́ là hí á sí tàqha dú jí dú we POSS 3PR tea look DECL ugly PERF 3PLR only-be drink go drink phàq mà dá mà.á good not OK not be ‘As for our [tea], it’s only when people look at the tea that it is the ugliest; if they drink it, it’s not the case, that it’s bad to drink.’ Björverud 1998:144

9.6.4 Nuosu verb particles