The morphology of tense and aspect in Nama, a ...

Open Linguistics 2014; 1: 211–231

Research Article

Open Access

Jeff Siegel

The morphology of tense and aspect in Nama, a Papuan language of southern New Guinea Abstract: This paper describes the complex tense and aspect morphology in Nama, a previously undocumented Papuan language of southern New Guinea. Tense/aspect suffixes followed by agent/actor referencing suffixes occur in combination with one of two sets of patient referencing prefixes. Most of the tense/aspect suffixes mark two possible tenses, and the choice of a prefix from a particular set determines the appropriate interpretation. The distinction between imperfective and perfective aspect is central to the Nama tense/aspect system, and the forms of the perfectivity markers depend on the number category of the grammatical arguments: dual versus non-dual, which encompasses both singular and plural (i.e. more than two). At the same time, the agent/actor suffixes and patient referencing prefixes generally index two different number categories: singular versus non-singular. Each of the two basic aspects has three different tenses, with some other aspectual distinctions occurring only with singular arguments. A combination of imperfective and perfective marking is also used. Keywords: Papuan languages, New Guinea, imperfective, perfective, dual number, inceptive, immediate, proximate, remote DOI 10.2478/opli-2014-0011 Received June 30, 2014; accepted October 31, 2014;

1 Introduction In this article I describe the morphological marking of tense and aspect in Nama, a Papuan language spoken in the southwestern part of Papua New Guinea. This system of tense/aspect marking is typologically interesting not only for the degree of its formal complexity but also for the following characteristics: (1) the use of prefix “switches” which determine one interpretation or another of tense aspect suffixes; (2) the focus on the inception rather than the completion of events; (3) the centrality of a contrast between dual number versus non-dual number (which includes both singular and more than two); and (4) the simultaneous use of both imperfective and perfective marking to indicate a particular aspect. The article first presents some background information about the language in general and the structure of the verb in particular. Then it describes the imperfective-perfective distinction that is central to tense/ aspect marking in Nama. The sections that follow outline the various tenses and aspects under the headings of imperfective, perfective and imperfect inceptive.

2 Background 2.1 The language and field work Nama (pronounced [nəmə]) is a language of the Nambu Branch of the Morehead-Upper Maro family of languages (ISO 639-3 code: nmx) (Lewis, Simons and Fennig 2014). It is spoken by approximately 1200

*Corresponding author:Jeff Siegel: School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia, E-mail: [email protected] © 2014 Jeff Siegel, licensee De Gruyter Open. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

Unauthenticated Download Date | 1/16/16 6:58 AM

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people in three villages: Daraia, Mata and Ngaraita. A language from the same family, Nen, has been described in detail by Evans (2012a, 2012b, forthcoming a, forthcoming b). I began studying Nama in the early 1990s, working with a speaker in Australia, but had to curtail the research because of an overload of teaching commitments. As a consequence, nothing was published on the language at that time except for a few examples in Crowley et al. (1995). In the meantime, a trial orthography was developed for Nama at a workshop run by SIL (Price 2000). I resumed work on the language in 2011. Since then I have made six field trips to Papua New Guinea, ranging from one to three weeks in length. Data used in this article come from both elicitation and more than three hours of recorded texts.

2.2 The verb in Nama There are three types of verbs in Nama which differ according to their morphological marking of arguments. Transitive verbs mark two arguments: verb-final sets of suffixes index the person and number of the agent (A); verb-initial sets of prefixes index the person and number of the patient (P), which is the semantic undergoer or beneficiary. This is shown in (1) and (2).1 (1)

Ghakèr-am

mbárdèr

yè-frango-tat.

boy-erg

goanna

3sgP-leave-3nsgA

‘The boys are leaving the goanna.’ (2)

Mbárdèr-am

ghakèr

e-frango-te.

goanna-erg

boy

3nsgP-leave-3sgA

‘The goanna is leaving the boys.’ The number distinction indexed is generally singular (sg) versus non-singular (nsg). The term “nonsingular” covers both dual (du) and plural (pl, more than two). (Dual number specifically is encoded via other means, as shown below.) Note that the glosses of these introductory examples are simplified, as the prefixes and suffixes also indicate tense and aspect, as described in section 2. The two types of intransitive verbs each mark one argument, but in different ways. For agentive intransitive verbs, the argument is treated as an actor or theme, and is indexed by the same set of suffixes as those for agents of transitive verbs (A); special intransitive prefixes indicate the absence of a grammatical patient. (3)

(a)

Ghakèr

n-armbo-tat.

boy

ØP-climb-3nsgA

‘The boys are climbing up.’ (3)

(b)

Mbárdèr

n-armbo-te.

goanna

ØP-climb-3sgA

‘The goanna is climbing up.’ These examples, compared to (1) and (2), demonstrate that Nama has a split system with regard to nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive marking. In the VP, the agent of a transitive verb and the subject of an agentive intransitive verb receive the same marking. In other words, the intransitive subject is indexed as an agent (and will be referred to as such in the remainder of this article). However, as shown in (1) and (2), in the NP, the agent of a transitive verb takes an ergative case suffix (erg) while both the object of a transitive verb and the subject of an agentive intransitive verb are unmarked (absolutive) (abs). 1 Note the following features of Nama orthography: = /kw/, = /mb/, = /nd/, = /ŋɡ/, = /ɣ/, = /ə/, = /æ/, = /y/, = /ø/.)


The morphology of tense and aspect in Nama, a Papuan language of southern New Guinea

213

In addition, ergative pronouns are used for agents of transitives, while absolutive pronouns are used for both objects of transitives and subjects of agentive intransitives (for example, yèmo 3sg.erg versus fá 3sg. abs). Thus, as in some other Papuan languages, ergativity is a morphological category, not a syntactic one (Li and Lang 1979; Jones 1986). For patientive intransitive verbs, the argument is treated as an experiencer subject and is indexed by the same sets of prefixes as those for patients of transitive verbs (P); agent marking suffixes are absent. (4)

(a)

Ghakèr

yè-kèm.

boy

3sgP-be.lying.down

‘The boy is lying down.’ (4)

(b)

Ghakèr

e-kèm.

boy

3nsgP-be.lying.down

‘The boys are lying down.’ Thus, Nama can be described as having a split S-marking system (Dixon 1979). The differences between the three types of verbs are illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: Differences between the Nama verb types argument(s) indexed agent

patient

transitive

√

√

agentive intransitive

√

patientive intransitive

√

3 Tense and aspect marking 3.1 Basics Tense and aspect are marked on Nama verbs with a suffix or suffixes following the verb stem in combination with one of two prefix sets. There are also a few analytic preverbal markers, such as so indicating future, but here the concentration is on the synthetic verbal morphology. For transitive and agentive intransitive verbs, two suffixes following the verb stem indicate aspect and tense. One of these marks imperfective (ipfv) versus perfective (pfv) (see below) and others, or the absence of others, mark various other tenses or aspects within each of these categories. The tense/aspect suffixes are followed by a suffix indexing the person and number of the agent, as mentioned above. Some of these agent suffixes differ for various tenses or aspects. Patientive intransitive verbs in Nama do not take imperfective aspect markers and, by definition, do not have an agent marker. They also have a different set of remaining tense/aspect suffixes. This article describes only transitive and agentive intransitive verbs, not patientive intransitives. As an example, we go back to (3a), given below as (5), for further analysis. (5)

Ghakèr

narmbotat. n-armbo-ta-t.

boy

ØP-climb-ipfv-3nsgA

‘The boys are climbing.’


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Here the agentive intransitive verb stem *armbo ‘climb’ is followed by the imperfective suffix -ta and the third person non-singular agent marker -t. 2 The absence of any other intervening tense/aspect suffix indicates the “current” tenses – either immediate or proximate (see below). The full set of agent markers for the current tenses is shown in Table 4 in section 3.1 below. Prefixes not only index the person and number of the patient (or indicate the absence of a patient), but also play a vital role in indicating tense and aspect. In Nama, there are two sets of prefixes. It is the choice of prefix from one set or the other in combination with particular suffixes that determines tense and aspect. This is because the majority of tense/aspect suffixes can have two possible values (as shown below), and the particular prefix set that is used serves as a switch to determine one value or the other. Each prefix set is used for a variety of tenses and aspects, and therefore it is difficult to assign them precise functions. Therefore, the two sets are distinguished by the Greek letters α and β, following the practice used by Evans (2012b) for the related language of Nen. The two prefix sets in Nama are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Verbal prefixes in Nama Patient

α

β

1sg

w-

kw-

2sg

n-

k(èn)-

3sg

y-

t-

1nsg

yèn-

tèn-

2/3nsg

e-

tá-/ta-

Ø

n-

k-

An example of the prefix set determining the precise tense/aspect reading can be seen by comparing example (5) above with example (6) below. The prefix n- in (5) is from the α set, and in combination with the imperfective suffix -ta, it indicates immediate tense (roughly, present). The prefix k- in (6) is from the β set and in combination with the same suffix, it indicates proximate tense (recent past). (These tense distinctions are explained more fully in section 3.1 below.) (6)

Ghakèr

karmbotat. k-armbo-ta-t.

boy

β.ØP-climb-ipfv-3nsgA

‘The boys were climbing.’ Another type of prefix found in Nama indicates direction or proximity in space or time. It optionally occurs after the patient-marking prefix: -n- (c) close to the speaker; towards the speaker for verbs of motion -ng- (f) far from the speaker; away from the speaker for verbs of motion; far interms of time These are illustrated in the following examples, which also show the epenthesis of the schwa-like vowel when a single consonant affix precedes or follows another consonant (including glides).

2 Throughout this article, an asterisk is used to indicate the bound stem form of a verb.


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(a)

Ghakèr

215

nènarmbotat. n-n-armbo-ta-t.

boy

α.ØP-c-climb-ipfv-3nsgA

‘The boys are climbing (towards the speaker).’ (7)

(b)

Ghakèr

nèngarmbotat. n-ng-armbo-ta-t.

boy

α.ØP-f-climb-ipfv-3nsgA

‘The boys are climbing (away from the speaker).’ To make things less complicated in this article, examples without these direction or proximity prefixes have been chosen since they are not relevant to tense/aspect.

3.2 Perfectivity The distinction between imperfective and perfective aspect is indicated on every transitive and agentive intransitive verb in Nama. As in other languages, the category of imperfective focuses on the internal structure of an event. (Used here, the term “event” covers activities, accomplishments, achievements or semelfactives, as defined by Vendler 1957 and Comrie 1976.) In Nama it marks ongoing events, encompassing the progressive, habitual and iterative aspects. In contrast, perfective focuses on the event as a whole or on its boundaries. In Nama it marks punctual events and the commencement of non-punctual events, encompassing inceptive and inchoative aspects. This focus on inception rather than completion in perfective marking in non-stative predicates is unusual in languages. Even more unusual in Nama (and closely related languages such as Nen), however, is that marking for imperfective-perfective depends on the grammatical category of dual number. Although not a common category, dual grammatical number is found in many modern languages. In Slovene and Modern Standard Arabic, for example, dual number is marked on nouns, adjectives and pronouns, and referenced by verbal inflections or special forms of the verb. In Oceanic Austronesian languages, such as Hawaiian and Fijian, it is marked only in personal pronouns. Nama differs from these languages in three ways. Firstly, dual number of a noun phrase argument is most often marked only on the verb by perfectivity marking, and not in the noun phrase. Nouns generally do not distinguish number and pronouns distinguish only between singular and non-singular (which includes dual and plural). As shown above, the verbal prefixes that index the person and number of the patient also distinguish only between singular and non-singular. And of the suffixes indexing the person and number of the agent, dual versus plural is not distinguished for first person and distinguished only in some tense/aspects for second and third person. Secondly, transitive verbs take the dual perfectivity marker when either core argument (grammatical agent or patient) has a dual referent. Thirdly, with regard to perfectivity marking, there are not three number categories – singular, dual and plural – but rather two categories: dual versus non-dual (which encompasses singular and plural – i.e. more than two). The imperfective and perfective markers are shown in Table 4. Table 3: Perfectivity suffixes agent

imperfective

perfective

non-dual

-ta

Ø

dual

Ø

-e


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Thus, dual rather than plural number of the agent is most often determined only by the perfectivity marker, as illustrated in the examples below. In both (8a) and (8b), the agent is indicated by the non-singular third person ergative pronoun yèmofem, and is indexed by the non-singular third person suffix -t. It is the non-dual imperfective suffix -ta (ipfv.nd) that gives the plural (3+) reading in (8a) whereas the Ø dual imperfective suffix (ipfv.du) indicates dual in (8b). (8)

(a)

Yèmofem

yètaftat. y-taf-ta-t

3nsg.erg

α.3sgP-chop.up-ipfv.nd-3nsgA

‘They (3+) are chopping it up.’ (8)

(b)

Yèmofem

yètafèt. y-taf-Ø-t

3nsg.erg

α.3sgP-chop.up-ipfv.du-3nsgA

‘They (2) are chopping it up.’ In both of the following examples, the agent is indicated by the first person absolutive pronoun yènd (number is not distinguised in absolutive pronouns) and indexed by the non-singular first person suffix -m. The dual perfective suffix -e (pfv.du) gives the dual reading in (9a) whereas its absence indicates plural in (9b). (9)

(a)

Yènd

nufárem. n-ufár-e-m

1abs

α.ØP-arrive-pfv.du-1nsgA

‘We (2) just arrived.’ (9)

(b)

Yènd

nufárèm. n-ufár-Ø-m

1abs

α.ØP-arrive-pfv.nd-1nsgA

‘We (3+) just arrived.’ With a large number of verbs, the difference between the non-dual and dual forms is more significant because of various morphophonemic changes that occur when the non-dual imperfective suffix -ta or the dual perfective suffix -e follows the verb stem. For example, a final prenasalised velar stop of a verb stem plus the non-dual imperfective marker -ta become . This is shown in the following examples with the verb *áumeng ‘come together (e.g. for a meeting)’: (10)

(a)

Yènd

náumendam. n-áumeng-ta-m

1.abs

α.ØP-come.together-ipfv.nd-1nsgA

‘We (3+) are coming together.’ (10)

(b)

Yènd

náumengèm. n-áumeng-Ø-m

1.abs

α.ØP-come.together-ipfv.du-1nsgA

‘We (2) are coming together.’ Unauthenticated Download Date | 1/16/16 6:58 AM


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Another morphophonemic change is that a final alveolar tap in the stem plus -ta become . This can be seen with the verb *wifár ‘chase’, in which syncope (or vowel elision) also occurs (as well as loss of the initial of the verb stem): (11)

(a)

Ágham

wèrár

ághè-am dog-erg

yifnat. y-wifár-ta-t

wallaby

α.3sgP-chase-ipfv.nd-3nsgA

‘The dogs (3+) are chasing the wallaby.’ (11)

(b)

Ágham

wèrár

ághè-am dog-erg

yifárèt. y-wifár-Ø-t

wallaby

α.3sgP-chase-ipfv.du-3nsgA

‘The dogs (2) are chasing the wallaby.’ With perfective aspect, if a stem ends in the close mid back vowel , as many stems do, this vowel is elided when followed by the dual perfective suffix -e, as illustrated with the verb *winjo ‘see, catch sight of’: (12)

(a)

Yèndfem

yinjem. y-winjo-e-m

1nsg.erg

α.3sgP-see-pfv.du-1nsgA

‘We (2) just saw him.’ (12)

(b)

Yèndfem

yinjom. y-winjo-Ø-m

1nsg.erg

α.3sgP-see-pfv.nd-1nsgA

‘We (3+) just saw him.’ The different tenses and other aspects found in Nama can be grouped according to whether they occur along with imperfective or perfective apsect, or a combination of the two. These are described in the following three sections.

4 Imperfective tenses Nama has three tenses that occur with imperfective aspect: immediate, proximate and remote. As will become apparent below, terms commonly used to label tense – such as “present”, “past”, and “nonpast” – do not work for Nama. The first two imperfective tenses (immediate and proximate) are grouped together as the current tenses.

4.1 Current tenses The two imperfective current tenses were mentioned in section 2.2. Immediate tense covers progressive, habitual or iterative events that are occurring at the time of speaking or that have occurred earlier in the day. In contrast, proximate tense covers events that occurred the day before or sometimes two or three days before. In both current tenses, the verb stem is followed by the imperfective suffix -ta for non-dual arguments and Ø for dual, and then the agent marker, as shown in Table 4 below. There is a distinction in agent


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marking between dual and plural for second person only, and this results in a distinction between second and third person agent marking, not found in the other imperfective tenses/aspects. The full set of verb endings (perfectivity suffix plus agent suffix) for the current tenses is also shown in Table 4. (Note that in another morphophonemic change, the central open vowel in the imperfective suffix -ta is dropped when followed by the 2/3 person singular agent suffix -e.) Table 4: Suffixes for the current tenses (immediate and proximate)3 imperfective

agent

1/2/3sg

1sg

-èn

2/3sg

-e

1nsg

-m

-ta

1du

Ø

1pl

-ta

combined ending 3

1sg

-tan

2/3sg

-te

1du

-m

1pl

-tam

2du

Ø

2du

-t

2du

-t

2pl

-ta

2pl

-ti

2pl

-tati

3du

Ø

3nsg

-t

3pl

-ta

3du

-t

3 pl

-tat

Also as mentioned in section 2.2, the two current tenses are distinguished by which of the two prefix sets is used: immediate indicated by the α set, and proximate by the β set. Other examples follow.4 (13)

(a)

Yèmo

sèrásèr

yèrèrmete. y-rèrmè-ta-e

3sg.erg

post

α.3sgP-straighten-ipfv.nd-2/3sgA

‘He’s straightening the post.’ (13)

(b)

Yèmo

sèrásèr

tèrèrmete. t-rèrmè-ta-e

3sg.erg

post

β.3sgP-straighten-ipfv.nd-2/3sgA

‘He was straightening the post (yesterday).’ The imperfective immediate tense is also used with the preverbal modal so to indicate imperfective events in the immediate future: (14)

(a)

Yèmofem

fifi

so

yúrtotat. y-wúrto-ta-t

3nsg.erg

body

fut

α.3sgP-take.out-ipfv.nd-3nsgA

‘They (3+) will be taking out the body.’ 3 Evidence of an underlying in some affixes (both verbal and nominal) comes from morphophonemic processes. For example, when a suffix with an initial is attached directly to a stem ending in , there is a vowel change to , rather than only the addition of the consonant. Thus, the 1st person singular suffix is -èn rather than -n because when it is added directly to a stem such as nfè, ‘cut’, the form (with the prefix as well) is yèfnan, not yèfnèn. 4 These examples also illustrate another morphophonemic change: if a verb stem ends in schwa , this vowel is changed to the close-mid front vowel when followed by the non-dual imperfective suffix -ta.


(14)


(b)

Yèmofem

yáf

so

219

eramèt. e-ramè-Ø-t.

3nsg.erg

basket

fut

α.3nsgP-make-ipfv.du-3nsgA

‘They (2) will be making baskets.’ As noted above, in transitive verbs the imperfective suffix is Ø when the number of either the agent or the patient is dual. When it is the patient that is dual, the dual patient suffix -wè (dp) follows the verb stem and the second and third person singular agent suffix is Ø: (15)

(a)

Ágham

wèrár

ághè-am dog-erg

ewifne. e-wifár-ta-e

wallaby

α.3nsgP-chase-ipfv.nd-3sgA

‘The dog is chasing the (3+) wallabies.’ (15)

(b)

Ágham

wèrár

ághè-am dog-erg

ewifárwè. e-wifár-Ø-wè-Ø

wallaby

α.3nsgP-chase-ipfv.du-dp-3sgA

‘The dog is chasing the (2) wallabies.’ Thus in the current tenses, transitive verbs with a non-singular patient prefix and Ø perfectivity marking indicate that there is a dual argument – either the agent or the patient. The dual patient suffix disambiguates this by signalling that the patient is dual. However, when both the agent and the patient are indexed by a non-singular suffix and prefix, there are no morphological means to signal that both the agent and the patient are dual. Therefore, sentences such as (16c) below can be interpreted as having a dual patient but either a dual or a plural agent. (16)

(a)

Yèndfem

ambum

táweretam. tá-werè-ta-m.

1nsg.erg

child

β.3nsgP-hold-ipfv.nd-1nsgA

‘We (3+) held the (3+) children.’ (16)

(b)

Yèndfem

ambum

táwerèm. tá-werè-Ø-m.

1nsg.erg

child

β.3nsgP-hold-pfv.du-1nsgA

‘We (2) held the (3+) children.’ (16)

(c)

Yèndfem

ambum

táwerwèm. tá-werè-Ø-wè-m.

1nsg.erg

child

β.3nsgP-hold-ipfv.du-dp-1nsgA

‘We (3+) held the (2) children.’ OR ‘We (2) held the (2) children.’ A realis-irrealis distinction also occurs in the immediate tense but only with second person nondual or third person singular agents. Irrealis is indicated by the absence of the agent suffix -e 2/3sg or -ti 2pl:


220 (17)

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(a)

Fá

ndauan

mè

násáfote.

ndau-an 3abs

garden-loc

n-ásáfo-ta-e cont

α.ØP-work-ipfv.nd-2/3sgA.real

‘He’s still working in the garden.’ (17)

(b)

Fá

ndauan

wè

násáfota.

ndau-an 3abs

garden-loc

n-ásáfo-ta-Ø pot

α.ØP-work-ipfv.nd-irr

‘He might work in the garden.’ (18)

(a)

Fèm

ndauan

túmèn

ndau-an 2abs

garden-loc

násáfotati. n-ásáfo-ta-ti

always

α.ØP-work-ipfv.nd-2plA.real

‘You’re always working in the garden.’ (18)

(b)

Fèm

ndauan

fiya

násáfota.

ndau-an 2abs

garden-loc

n-ásáfo-ta-Ø oblig

α.ØP-work-ipfv.nd-irr

‘You should work in the garden.’

4.2 Imperfective remote tenses The remote tense indicates progressive, habitual and completed events of more than two or three days ago. It distinguishes between two different aspects: completive and continuous. The remote completive is used for distant past events that have been completed. It is marked by the α set prefixes and a suffix –m (rem.comp) that follows the imperfective marker -ta in the case of non-dual arguments and directly follows the verb stem in the case of duals. This is followed by one of the agent markers. These are the same as those for the current tenses for the first person singular and non-singular (i.e. -èn and -m) but different for the second and third person singular (both either Ø or -ng) and for the second and third person non-singular (-nd). The remote completive verb endings are shown in Table 5, followed by examples. Table 5: Remote completive suffixes imperfective 1/2/3sg

-ta

1du

Ø

1pl

-ta

2/3du

Ø

2/3pl

-ta

rem.comp

-m

agent 1sg 2/3sg

-èn Ø, -ng

1nsg

-m

2/3nsg -nd

combined ending 1sg 2/3sg 1du

-tamèn -tam/-tamèng -mèm

1pl

-tamèm

2/3du

-mènd

2/3 pl

-tamènd


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Yèmo

wèn

3sg.erg

tree

yitrotam

endta.

y-itro-ta-m-Ø

end-ta

α.3sgP-move-ipfv.nd-rem.comp-2/3sgA

road-abl

221

‘He moved the tree from the road.’ (20)

Yènd

1abs

nangotamèm.

Daruta.

n-ango-ta-m-m

Daru-ta

α.ØP-return-ipfv.nd-rem.comp-1nsgA

Daru-abl

‘We returned from Daru.’ (21)

Ágham

wèrár

ághè-am dog-erg

yifármènd. y-wifár-Ø-m-nd

wallaby

α.3sgP-chase-ipfv.du-rem.comp-2/3nsgA

‘The (2) dogs chased the wallaby.’ The remote continuous tense is used for distant past events that were continuing, often focusing on their start. It is marked by the β set prefixes and a suffix -w (rem.cont) that follows the imperfective marker -ta for non-dual arguments and directly follows the verb stem for of duals. This is followed by one of the agent markers. These are the same as those for the remote completive except that the second and third person non-singular suffix is -t rather than -nd. The remote continuous verb endings are shown in Table 6, followed by examples. (The -w remote continuous marker is orthographically realised as when not followed by another suffix.) Table 6: Remote continuous suffixes imperfective

rem.cont

1/2/3sg -ta 1du

Ø

1pl

-ta

2/3du

Ø

2/3pl

-ta

(22)

Fèyo

-w

agent

combined ending

1sg 2/3sg

-èn Ø, -ng

1nsg

-m

2/3nsg

-t

1sg 2/3sg 1du

-tawèn -tau/-tawèng -wèm

1pl

-tawèm

2/3du -wèt 2/3 pl

tánetawèm

-tawèt

yènè

wagif.

dem

fish

tá-ne-ta-w-m then

β.3nsgP-eat-ipfv.nd-rem.cont-1nsgA

‘Then we started eating these fish.’ (23)

Bulu Mato

sènko

(name) Bulu Mato

kufrotau. k-ufro-ta-w-Ø

head

β.ØP-become-ipfv.nd-rem.cont-2/3sgA

‘Bulu Mato was becoming leader.’


222 (24)

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Ágham

wèrár

tifárwèt.

ághè-am

t-wifár-Ø-w-t

dog-erg

wallaby

β.3sgP-chase-ipfv.du-rem.cont-2/3nsgA

‘The (2) dogs were chasing the wallaby.’

5 Perfective tenses and aspects Nama also has three different tenses that co-occur with perfective aspect: immediate, proximate and remote. The first two are grouped together as the inceptive tenses.

5.1 Inceptive tenses The inceptive tenses indicate a punctual event that has just occurred, or the start of a non-punctual event. They are not marked when there is a dual argument but there is a verbal suffix -ang for non-dual. Immediate inceptive is similar to what is called the “recent perfect”, indicating “just now”. It is indicated by the α set prefixes and by the inceptive suffix (inc) -ang or Ø. This suffix is obligatory for plural (i.e. 3+) agents, but it is absent when there is a dual argument; then only the perfective suffix -e occurs. For a singular agent there is an aspectual distinction between punctual and durative. For punctual events – those that are instantaneous and occur only once – the verb stem is followed directly by the agent suffix. For durative events – i.e. those that have just started but are incomplete (e.g. carry), or those that have occurred but still have an effect (e.g. close) – the inceptive suffix -ang follows the verb. In the immediate inceptive tense, the agent marking suffixes for first person singular and nonsingular are the same as those we have seen for all the other tenses and aspects (-èn and -m). But here the suffix for second and third person singular is Ø (which means that in the punctual immediate, no suffix follows the verb stem for these persons). For second and third person dual, the suffix is -nd, and for second and third person plural, it is -i. The punctual and durative immediate inceptive verb endings are shown in Table 7. Table 7: Immediate inceptive suffixes perfective 1/2/3sg Ø

inceptive punc dur Ø

-ang

1du

-e

Ø

1pl

Ø

-ang

2/3du

-e

Ø

2/3pl

Ø

-ang

combined ending punc dur

agent 1sg -èn 2/3sg Ø 1nsg -m

1sg 2/3sg 1du

-èn Ø

-angèn -ang -em

1pl

-angèm

2/3du -nd

2/3du

-end

2/3pl -i

2/3 pl

-angi

The following examples show punctual immediate inceptive tense: (25)

Yámrèsom

wèn

yá-mèrès-om his-sister-erg

yèráfár. y-ráfár-Ø-Ø-Ø

wood

α.3sgP-break-pfv.nd-inc-2/3sgA

‘His sister just broke the wood.’


(26)


Yènd

mbaghè

223

nófnamon. n-ófnamo-Ø-Ø-èn

1abs

bridge

α.ØP-cross-pfv.nd-inc-1sgA

‘I just crossed the bridge.’ (27)

Yèmo

ambum

yèsnè y-sènè-Ø-Ø-Ø

3sg.erg

child

α.3sgP-kiss-pfv.nd-inc-2/3sgA

‘She just kissed the child.’ Examples below show durative immediate inceptive. They also illustrate that, as with the imperfective tenses, there are many morphophonemic changes. For instance, in non-duals where the perfective marker is Ø, if the verb stems ends in or the initial of the inceptive suffix -ang is deleted. (28)

Yèmo

sèsafne

yèmnang. y-man-Ø-ang-Ø

3sg.erg

door

α.3sgP-close-pfv.nd-inc-2/3sgA

‘He’s just closed the door.’ (29)

Nèmè

ár

nufarngi? n-ufár-Ø-ang-i

what

person

α.ØP-arrive-pfv.nd-inc-3plA

‘What people just arrived?’ (30)

Yèndfem

ásáfogh

yifongèm. y-wifo-Ø-ang-m

1nsg.erg

work

α.3sgP-finish-pfv.nd-inc-1nsgA

‘We’ve just finished the work.’ In addition, as already shown in example (12) (a), the final of a stem is deleted when followed by the dual perfective suffix -e: (31)

Fá

mbaghè

nófnamend. n-ófnamo-e-Ø-nd

3abs

bridge

α.ØP-cross-pfv.du-inc-2/3duA

‘They (2) just crossed the bridge.’ Proximate inceptive tense focuses on the starting point of activities or events that occurred in the not-sodistant past, especially in narratives, and also those that will begin some time in the future. The proximate inceptive is distinguished from the immediate inceptive by marking with the β set prefixes rather than the α set. The suffixes are the same as those for the durative immediate inceptive, except for the second and third person singular agent marker, which is -è instead of Ø. These are shown in combination with the inceptive suffixes in Table 8.


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Table 8: Proximate inceptive suffixes perfective 1sg

inceptive

Ø

agent

Ø/-ang

2/3sg

1sg

-ang

1du

-e

Ø

1pl

Ø

-ang

2/3du -e

Ø

2/3pl Ø

-ang

-èn

combined ending 1sg

-èn/-angèn

2/3sg -è

2/3sg

-angè

1nsg

1du

-em

1pl

-angèm

2/3du -nd

2/3du

-end

2/3pl

2/3 pl

-angi

-m

-i

Some examples of the proximate inceptive used for narrative past are as follows: (32)

Mawaièm

Sefor

tènfangè.

Mawai-èm

t-nèfè-Ø-ang-è

Mawai-erg

Sefor

β.3sgP-cut-pfv.nd-inc-2/3sgA

‘Mawai cut Sefor.’ (33)

Yèndo

mbilè

terangèn. t-werè-Ø-ang-èn

1sg.erg

axe

β.3sgP-pick.up-pfv.nd-inc-1sgA

‘I picked up the axe.’ (34)

Fá

3abs

Seforfè

kokawend.

Sefor-fè

k-okaw-e-Ø-nd

Sefor-com

β.ØP-fight-pfv.du-inc-2/3duA

‘He started fighting with Sefor (i.e. the two of them started fighting).’ (35)

“Eso”

táramangèm. tá-ramè-Ø-ang-m

thanks

β.3nsgP-give-pfv.nd-inc-1nsgA

‘We gave them thanks.’ (36)

Sèkw

kètè

kangsongè. k-angso-Ø-ang-è

canoe

there

β.ØP-get.stuck-pfv.nd-inc-2/3sgA

‘The canoe got stuck there.’ When used for the future, proximate inceptive verbs co-occur with the preverbal future modal so, as in the following: (37)

Yèndfem

so

tinjem. t-winjo-e-Ø-m

1nsg.erg

fut

β.3sgP-see-pfv.du-inc-1nsgA

‘We (2) will see him.’


(38)


so

Yènamè

225

táyangèm.

yènè-èmè

tá-yè-Ø-ang-m fut

here-perl

β.3nsgP-plant-pfv.nd-inc-1nsgA

‘We (3+) will plant them along here.’ (39)

Yau

so

kuwanongi. k-uwano-Ø-ang-i

neg

fut

β.ØP-set.off-pfv.nd-inc-2/3plA

‘They (3+) won’t set off.’

5.2 Remote punctual tense The perfective remote punctual tense indicates punctual events that occurred more than two or three days in the past. It is marked on the verb by the α set prefixes and the suffix -ay (pfv.rem), which directly follows the verb stem in the case of non-dual arguments or follows the perfective marker -e in the case of duals. This is followed by one of the agent markers. These are the same as those for the imperfective completive distant past. The perfective remote verb endings are shown in Table 9. (Note that the -ay perfective remote suffix is orthographically realised as when not followed by another suffix.) Examples follow. Table 9: Perfective remote punctual suffixes perfective 1/2/3sg

Ø

1du

-e

1pl

Ø

2/3du

-e

2/3pl

Ø

(40)

pfv.rem

agent 1sg 2/3sg 1nsg

combined ending

-èn Ø, -ng -m

1sg -ayèn 2/3sg -ai/-ay èng 1du -eayèm

-ay

1pl 2/3nsg -nd

-ayèm

2/3du -eayènd 2/3 pl -ayènd

Sèlngwèl

yènramai. yèn-ramè-Ø-ay-Ø

surprise

α.1nsgP-give-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-2/3sgA

‘It gave us a surprise.’ (41)

Yènd

1.abs

a

and

afafè

álet

nuwaneayèm.

afè-afè

ále-t

n-uwano-e-ay-m

father-com

hunting-all

α.ØP-set.off-pfv.du-pfv.rem-1nsgA

‘Me and father set off for hunting.’ (42)

kafe

yèrufayènd y-ruf-Ø-ay-nd

branch

α.3sgP-pull.out-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-2/3nsgA

‘They (3+) pulled out the branch.’


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The following examples illustrate the same morphophonemic changes that occur in the inceptive tenses. In non-duals, where the perfective marker is Ø, if the verb stems ends in or the initial of the remote suffix -ay is deleted, and again, the final of a stem is deleted when followed by the dual perfective suffix -e: (43)

Fá

nufáryènd n-ufár-Ø-ay-nd

3abs

α.ØP-arrive-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-2/3nsgA

‘They arrived.’ (44)

Yèndfem

yinjoyèm. y-winjo-Ø-ay-m

1nsg.erg

α.3sgP-see-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-1nsgA

‘We (3+) saw her.’ (45)

Yèndfem

yinjeayèm. y-winjo-e-ay-m

1nsg.erg

α.3sgP-see-pfv.du-pfv.rem-1nsgA

‘We (2) saw her.’ The perfective remote suffix can also co-occur with the inceptive marker to indicate the remote inceptive tense. This emphasises the start of a non-punctual event in the distant past. The inceptive suffix -ang precedes the remote suffix -ay. Here, unlike in the other perfective tenses, when there is a dual argument, the inceptive suffix -ang does occur, directly followed by the dual perfect suffix -e. The remote inceptive verb endings are shown in Table 10. Table 10: Remote inceptive suffixes 1sg

-angayèn

2/3sg

-angai/-angayèng

1du

-angeayèm

1pl

-angayèm

2/3du

-angeayènd

2/3 pl

-angayènd

Regarding the prefix sets, it appears at this stage of the research that either the α set or β set prefixes can be used. Some examples are: (46)

Efogh

yèfandangeayèm y-fand-ang-e-ay-m

sun

α.3sgP-look.at-inc-pfv.du-pfv.rem-1nsgA

‘We looked at the sun.’


(47)


Rokár

227

kètorngai. k-ètor-ang-Ø-ay-Ø

thing

β.ØP-come.out-inc-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-2/3sgA

‘The thing came out.’ (48)

Fá

kilawangayènd k-ilawè-ang-Ø-ay-nd

3abs

β.ØP-go.inside-inc-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-2/3nsgA

‘They (3+) went inside’ (49)

Yèndfem

táfátongayèm. t-wáfáto-ang-Ø-ay-m

1nsg.erg

β.3sgP-hide-inc-pfv.nd-pfv.rem-1nsgA

‘We (3+) hid it.’

6 Imperfect inceptive aspect The final type of tense/aspect in Nama combines both imperfective and perfective marking of the verb – unusual, but found in other languages. In Bulgarian, for example, a perfective stem can occur with an imperfective suffix to express that a completed event is repeated (Miller 2006: 150). When markers for these two aspects are combined in Nama, imperfective similarly indicates that the event is iterative , but once again the perfective focuses on inception rather than completion. The imperfect inceptive suffix is -tang (imp.inc), which appears to be a combination of the non-dual imperfective suffix -ta and the non-dual inceptive marker -ang. However, this suffix occurs not only on verbs with non-dual arguments but also on those with dual argument, in which case it is followed by the dual perfective suffix -e. The agent suffixes are the same as those for the inceptive tenses. The set of imperfect inceptive verb endings is given in Table 11. Table 11: Imperfect inceptive suffixes 1sg

-tangèn

2/3sg

-tangè

1du

-tangem

1pl

-tangèm

2/3du

-tangend

2/3 pl

-tangi

As with the inceptive, the use of α set prefixes indicates an immediate “just now” or very recent time frame whereas the use of the β set prefixes indicates proximate – further back in time – and is most commonly used in narratives. These are illustrated in the following examples, which also demonstrate that the same morphophonemic processes that apply to the addition of the imperfective suffix -ta also apply to the imperfect inceptive suffix -tang.


228 (50)

J. Siegel

Yènd

tè

nolindangèm. n-oling-tang-m

1abs

already

α.ØP-be.lost-imp.inc-1nsgA

‘We (3+) are getting lost already.’ (51)

Kafukèm

tèmotangè

“emofè

enèm”?

Kafuk-èm

t-mo-tang-è

emo-afè

e-nèm

Kafuk-erg

β.3sgP-ask/call-imp.inc-2/3sgA

who-com

α.2nsgP-come

‘Kafuk asked her “who did you come with?”’ (52)

Yèmofem

kimb

tènamndangi. t-nam-tang-i

3nsg.erg

pig

β.3sgP-shoot-imp.inc-2/3plA

‘They started shooting the pig.’ (53)

Yèmofem

sèkufè

táwaufetangend. tá-waufè-tang-e-nd

3nsg.erg

tobacco

β.3nsgP-blow-imp.inc-pfv.du-2/3duA

‘They (2) started blowing tobacco (i.e. smoking).’ The perfective remote suffix -ay can also co-occur with the imperfect inceptive and the α set prefixes to indicate the start of an iterative action further in the past (remote). (54)

Ambum

child

tèrtèram

yènmotangeayènd.

tèrtèr-am

yèn-mo-tang-e-ay-nd

small-erg

α.1nsgP-ask/call-imp.inc-pfv.du-pfv.rem-2/3duA

‘The young children started calling to us (2).’

7 Summary The preceding description has illustrated at least 11 distinct tense/aspect categories in Nama. Two of these (imperfective immediate and perfective immediate inceptive) also have further aspectual distinctions when the agent is singular. The 11 categories can be divided into three groups with regard to perfectivity marking: imperfective, perfective and imperfect inceptive (which has a combination of imperfective and perfective marking). Within each of these categories, there are three tense distinctions: (1) immediate, (2) proximate and (3) remote. These distinctions are realised through a combination of verbal suffixes one of the two prefix sets. A summary is given in Table 13. In each of the three groups based on perfectivity marking, one set of suffixes is used for marking both immediate and proximate tense (bolded in Table 13). Thus, each suffix set can have two different values. For these tenses, then, it is only the choice of either the α set or the β set prefix that “sets the switch” at the appropriate value – α for immediate or β for proximate. On the other hand, the same two prefix sets are also used for the remote tenses. In the case of the imperfective remote, the α set is used for completive and the β for continuative, but the suffixes also differ (-m and -u respectively). And for the perfective remote inceptive, it appears that either set can be used. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that with regard to tense/ aspect marking, the two sets have no intrinsic function of their own.



229

Table 13: Prefix sets for various tense/aspect categories

imperfective

perfective

α set

β set

immediate

proximate

remote completive

remote continuative

immediate inceptive

proximate inceptive

remote punctual remote inceptive imperfect inceptive

immediate

proximate

remote

As is probably clear from the preceding account, the imperfective-perfective categories that underlie the tense/aspect system in Nama are based on morphological criteria. Nevertheless, because of their inherent lexical semantics, some verbs occur almost exclusively with imperfective aspect – for example: *war ‘hollow out’; *wafro ‘do, make’; *rès ‘carry’. Others are almost exclusively perfective: – for example: *winjo ‘catch sight of’; *uwano ‘set off’ ; *amnjo ‘sit down’. On the other hand, some verbs are unexpectedly never imperfective – e.g. *nam ‘shoot’ – while others are unexpectedly perfective – e.g. *wumb ‘tie up’. A large number of verbs, however, can be used in both categories, depending on the meaning – for example, *wauf ‘blow, blow out’ and *ram ‘make, give’. The richness of the Nama tense/aspect system is illustrated by another of these verbs – *nfè ‘cut’ – in Table 14. Table 14: Various tense/aspect forms of the verb *nèfè ‘cut’ IMPERFECTIVE immediate

yènfetan

‘I’m cutting it.’ / ‘I usually cut it.’

proximate

tènfetan

‘I cut/was cutting it yesterday or the day before’

remote completive

yènfetamèn

‘I cut it many times long ago (but now finished).

remote continuative

tènfetawèn

‘I was cutting it long ago.’

immediate inceptive (punctual)

yènfan

‘I cut it (once, just now).’

immediate inceptive (durative)

yènfangèn

‘I just started cutting it.’

proximate inceptive

tènfangèn

‘I started cutting it in the recent past.’

remote punctual

yènfayèn

‘I cut it once (long ago)’

remote inceptive

tènfangayèn

‘I started cutting it long ago.’

immediate

yènfetangèn

‘I started cutting it repeatedly (just now).’

proximate

tènfetangèn

‘I started cutting it repeatedly (recently)’

remote

tènfetangayèn

‘I started cutting it repeatedly (long ago)’

PERFECTIVE

IMPERFECT INCEPTIVE

In addition, we have already seen that the periphrastic preverbal marker so along with the imperfective immediate or perfective proximal form is used to indicate future tense. There are also other such preverbal markers that can make further tense/aspect distinctions, such as: tè ‘completive’ and mè ‘continuative’. But a description of these must wait for a future publication.


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Acknowledgements: Support for fieldwork has come from an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: The Languages of Southern New Guinea. Thanks go to my colleague Nick Evans for his work in applying for the grant and his continued support; to the many Nama speakers who have been working with me, especially Tony Emoia, Murry Dawi, Yoshie Dawi and Francis Dawi; to my research assistant and expert proof-reader, Vicki Knox; and to an anonymous referee for valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.

Abbreviations 1

first person

imp

imperfect

2

second person

inc

inceptive

3

third person

ipfv

imperfective

A

agent

irr

irrealis

abl

ablative

loc

locative

abs

absolutive

nd

non-dual

all

allative

nsg

non-singular

c

close

oblig

obligative

com

comitative

P

patient

comp

completive

perl

perlative

cont

continuative

pfv

perfective

dp

dual patient

pl

plural

du

dual

pot

potential

dur

durative

punc

punctual

erg

ergative

real

realis

f

far

rem

remote

fut

future

sg

singular

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