Nivkh Time
Expressions (1)
（ＣＥＳ７，２００４）
1. Introduction
All Languages have some types of time
expressions. But it is not the case that every language has the same set of the
types. It has its own particular set of time expressions. However, most
languages share the following types:
(1)
Time Expressions
a. Time Indicators (abridged: TI) which represent time units of daily life or
some
time intervals, e.g. today,
soon, etc.
b. The socalled Tense which overtly marks when a verbally represented event
occurs relative to the time point of speech. It can also mark the relative order
of events each other
c. The socalled Aspect which thematizes a certain phase within the process of a
verbally represented event. It revises the inherent process a verb represents,
namely LA in (d) and makes up a new complex of the process.
d. The socalled aktionsarten or, in my terminology, Lexical Aspect (abridged: LA)
of verbal categories which represents how an event is going. Each language has
its own particular set of types of LA.
Time Indicators like now, today, winter, etc. can be found in most languages. A language
without any time indicator like today is
hardly conceivable. But many languages lack, e.g. the word for winter, autumn
etc., because they need not such words from the local and meteological ground.
Therefore, the possession of TI in general belongs to the universal features of
languages, but what kinds of TI a language has belongs to the individual
character of a particular language.
Tense is not an indispensable grammatical
category of languages. It is only an optional category which many languages
really lack. Therefore, languages can be typologically classified by means of
the feature whether they possess Tense. Such a classification would bring about
a simple binary opposition: tense-languages versus tenseless-languages. But the
thing is more complicated. Some languages represent it morphologically by means
of affixation, the other by some complex syntactic device. And some others
distinguish the relative order of events with an adverb. If a language marks
Tense obligatorily with a certain adverb, we can hardly classify the language
into the tenseless group, for it can be estimated as grammaticalized in a
certain degree. But if the marking occurs only optionally, we used to classify
the language into the tenseless type. The adverbially tense-marked languages
are, therefore, classified further into the subclasses: obligatorily or
optionally marked types. So, we have a variety of different marking of Tense,
e.g. the morphological, syntactic and lexical (adverbial) marking. This formal types of marking is cross-classified with the
semantic variety of marking: the distinction of past marking, future marking,
or aorist, etc. and the optionality of making with various grade of its
grammaticalization, etc. Therefore, we have to establish a multiple typology of
tense forms and their functions, so that languages are classified by the
criterions, first whether they possess it, second, what they marks and how.
Tense belongs anyway typically to typological categories.
The socalled Aspect is a typological category, too. But it is more difficult to find languages without aspect than tenseless ones. In the history of many languages, aspect precedes tense and the latter has been derived from the former. At least from the historical point of view, Aspect seems to be more underlying than Tense. But from the semantic viewpoint, Aspect stands on a different dimension than Tense. Tense is concerned with the historical order of events relative to the time point of speech, but Aspect is not. It is confined within the process of an event and determines how an event occurs and is going on, namely, it begins, continues, finishes, and so on, but it is not concerned within other events which a speech mentions eventually. In some languages, the grammatical forms for Aspect are derived from verbs, but in some others it is represented with affixes attached to verbs. And there are languages, too, which represent both categories with the same form under different syntactic conditions, e.g. Mandarin Chinese le. Aspect is not necessarily supported by formal devices, it is definable merely by means of its semantic functions.
Languages represent things and events.
Suppose that every language has verbs, then this
category represents events, though the contrary is not true, for events are not
always represented by verbs. Suppose again that the meaning of verbs
corresponds to the verbally represented events substantially, then verbs have to represent various types of events. They
represent events like a human act, a natural phenomenon, or the state and/or
quality of things etc. So, the verb meanings can be classified according to the
sorts of events so far as they are reflected in them in substance. We call these feature of verb meanings the aktionsarten or LA of
verbs. However, most languages do not formally mark these types of the semantic
classification of verbs in grammatical forms. But this does not say that
languages have absolutely no formal support to indicate LA. On the contrary, in
many languages, the differences of LA are indicated with affixes, and in the
other it is implied indirectly by some morphological and syntactic restrictions
on the possible concatenation of morphemes. In such cases, we can describe the
LA by means of the morphosyntactic conditions.
Time expressions of languages represent
events. Time Indicators (1a) indicates events themselves or when or how they
occur. Tense (1b) combines events with the time point of speech and events each
other. Aspect (1c) thematizes a certain phase of an event, and aktionsarten or
LAs (1d) represent the processual types of events, if necessarily, with some
other semantic feathers altogether. For the appropriate description of time
expressions, therefore, we have to show first what types of events do occur and
how do they occur, too. For that purpose, it is reasonable to make use of a
strong logical model for event types. We utilize the following model which was
first developed in Stuttgart 1970's.
(2) Model for LA and Aspect
a. An event occurs at a time t1 and continues for a time being T and ends
at
a time t2.
b. An event presupposes a situation before the occurrence of it and entails
another
situation after the
end of it.
c. An event is, therefore, the chain of three situations: presupposed situation
(presit)- verbally represented situation (verbsit, abridged as sit) - entailed situation
(postsit).
d. Every situation touches densely with one another either with an open (*) or with
a closed time interval (#). The closed interval belongs to the verbally represented
situation and the open interval
to the other situation.
Formally:
e: ∃t1,t2,T
(t1$T$t2) [ presit$┣(T) sit $ postsit ]
where $ = {＝, ＜, ＞, ≦, ≧}
Verbally:
f: There are times t1, t2, T, such that:
t1$T$t2 , for them the relation is applied:
[ presit
$ sit occurs at T $ postsit ]
The relative order of events is also
described by means of the following model:
(3) Model for Tense
Two events e1 and e2 are ordered such that
∃t1,t2 [┣(t1)
e1 $┣(t2) e2 ]
where $ = {＝, ＜, ＞, ≦, ≧
2. Time Expressions of the Language Nivkh
2.1.
Types of Time Expression of Nivkh; an Outline
The time
expressions of the language Nivkh have been hitherto investigated merely
partially. We have some partial grammatical descriptions on verbal aspects and
tense. Needless to say, such questions like what kinds of types Nivkh verbs
have and how their types interact each other have not been even asked. We have to start, therefore,
from getting an image what types of time expressions the language Nivkh
have. We will first collect some of time indicators from texts and field
datas, and the grammatical devices for time indications from the grammatical
descriptions hitherto made by Russian and Japanese grammarians in the last
century. About tense and aspect of verbal expressions, we have relatively
sufficient data to begin discussion. But about the lexical aspect of verbs
we have only scanty descriptions. Panfilov 1965 mentioned about protekaniya
deistvia (aktionsarten) of verb, but he seems to understand this notion
not as an independent grammatical category, but he does not clearly distinguish
it from morphological aspects. It was Galina Oaina who atempted to investigate
this category for the first time. However, she restricted her grammatical
description only to the socalled quality verbs (kacestvennye glagoly).
Had she been able to work longer, she could have surely contributed more
than her teacher (Panfilov) to her own native language. Now, we will first sketch the types of
time expressions of Nivhk.
I. Time Indicators
Nivkh has many types of Time Indicators which
represent when and how a event occurs, e.g.
(4) Time Indicators of Nivkh
a. [time
adverbs]: p«t
(tomorrow), naf (now) , tJ«k (long tome)
b. [nouns]:
tH«t (morning), parv (evening), urk (night), ku (day and night)
c. [verb
phrases]: nana ozdJ (just
getting up), anJ
malGodJ (many years)
d. [compound words]: tH«t-tH«t (every day), l«z anJ (last year), tHof tolf
(last summer), nana ozdJ ( just after getting up)
(from Puxta 1995/2003 (PU in the following), III-17, 4001-
4061)
II. Tense forms
Nivkh has been hitherto thought to have two
Tense forms: non-marked finite form (aorist), i.e. -φ and the
future form with the suffix -n«- which indicates the future occurrence of an event. Without this
morpheme, verb forms are used for all the other occurrences of events, namely,
for events in present as well as in past time. But the unmarked form can also
represent a future event, if it is a matter of course that the event occurs in
the future. The suffix -n«- is used, namely, mainly in a marked case if an event prescribed to
occur in a future time. Compare the following sentences:
(5) Examples for Tense
a. nJnanak
pH!al dJu-n«-dJ-ra,
ni pH!al latJsku guku-n«-dJ-ra.
(PU408)
my-elder sister floor wet-FUT-FIN-AF I floor mat clean-FUT-FIN-AF
My elder sister
wet the floor and I clean the floor mat.
b. pitGu
urudJ smodJÄu bak pHr«u urdJÄura. (PU516)
book-PL well
love-PL only learn well-PL-AF
Whoever loves
books well, they only learn well.
III Aspect forms
Panfilov 1965 (PA65,§38 -§44) distinguishes the following 4 types of morphological aspect forms:
(6) Aspect forms by Panfilov
(i) -Ä«t-/-k«r- /-Ä«r- for conclusive, perfect or resultative aspect
(abridged: CON) (Amur-Dialect, its corresponding Sakhalin-Dialect form:
-Äar-/-xar-) , e.g.
a. caj «rk muz -Ä«t-tJ .(PA70)
Tea already become=cool-CON-FIN
Tea is already
become cool.
b. nJ«N
«rHt««rHt«
modJra: c«N «Är«kon
mu-Ä«t-tJ.
we
always grieved: you long-time-ago die-CON-FIN
We always
grieved that you had died long time ago.
(ii)
-ivu-/-ivi- for stative or durative aspect (abridged:DUR), e.g.
c. coN«N«r
virot эÄr pHr«-ivu-dJ
. (PA76)
fishing go-PART
soon come-back-DUR-FIN
Having gone
fishing, (he) was soon coming back.
(iii) affixation of -tJu- or duplication of verb stem for iterative aspect
(abridged: ITER),e.g.
d. jurudJ (read) vs. juru-tHu-dJ (read many times)
эzqou-dJ (wash something) vs. cXou-tHu-dJ (do washing) (PA73)
e. h« macala N«cki NaqrNaqr tHm«Nan h« qan N
«NN«N
somru
this young-man mountain-top one-by-one step-over-PART this dog
one-by-one let-off
huNdJ-huNdJ-dJ. (PA73)
leave-behind-leave-behind-FIN
The young man, stepping over the mountain tops one-by-one, left a dog
behind one-by-one.
(iv) affixation of -x«, duplication of verb stem, adverbal participle ending
-t, -r and syntactic
concatenation
with hadH (exist) for conventional/habitual aspect
(abridged: HAB), e.g.
f. h«
nivx qHotr l«u-x«-dH. (PA75)
this man bear
hunt-HAB-FIN
He hunts bears.
g. paluin
has vxtJ-vaxtJ
эGdH. (PA75)
forest-in
cloth tear-tear quick
In the forest clothes
are raged quickly.
h. nJ«Kn
t«fku tHirkir l«tHadJ-Äu. (PA75)
we-by house-PL tree-with make-exist-FIN-PL (l«tHadJ
＜l«ttH
+ hadJ )
By us houses are
made with log.
As for the function of aspectual
morphems, Gruzdeva 1998 (Ch.3.4.1.) mentioned that "aspect markers
transform the original meaning of verbs", in the sense, that they play an
additional semantic role to change the inherent lexical meaning of verbs into a
complex time representation. To take an example of the morpheme -x«, the event represented by the inherent meaning of a verb Vi is changed into
a conventional/habitual process, i.e. the event of the
Vi into a conventional/habitual occurrence. Here remain yet some
crucial problems, it is not clear how the inherent meaning of verbs
"interacts" (in the sense of Gruzdeva) with aspectual markers, what
conditions underlie the interaction, how they are related with other aspectual
complexes and other relevant questions. In order to answer these questions, we
have first to extract the relevant part of the inherent lexical meanings of
verbs which goes into the interation with aspect forms, and distinguish it from
the substantially cognitive part of them which does not go into the merging
process. Let us call the former the processual meaning and the latter the
cognitve meaning of verbs. The former is LA of verbs and the latter the
individual meaning of them. The distinction is well motivated because the
former parts make types and the latter, on the contrary, language-particular
lexical notions. However, we do not yet know exactly how many and what kinds of
types of the inherent processual meaning Nivkh verbs have and how they interact
with what aspect forms. We have to build up descriptions little by little.
(Cf.: Kaneko 1995, new edition 2003 (in CD-form available) as a descriptive
model)
IV
Lexical Aspect of Verbs
The typology of LA of Nivkh verbs has not
yet been seriously investigated. Panfilov 1965 mentiones the
lexical "protekanie dejstvia" of verbs in many places, especially in
relation to its possible change when aspect forms are attached to them.
He seems to understand "aspect" (vid) as the complex notions as
follows (#39ff.):
(7) Panfilov's Notion of Aspect
a. Aspect is the represenation of the temporal and local features of process
("protekaniedejstvia")
which verbs express as their inherent meaning.
b. Aspect is "the grammatical category of non-syntactic word change".
It is
manifested as the opposition of lexical units or verbal forms which are changed
by means of some morphological
procedures.
c. Nivkh has 4 aspect forms: conclusive, iterative, conventional/habitual
or
durative aspect.
d. Almost all verbs are aspectually neutral without any (morphological) aspect
marker.
e. But there are some pairs of verbs which have inherently with an aspectual
opposition, e.g.
qmadJ (run) versus kHimmJ (run
away), janH /jajmadJ
(look at) versus ind«dJ
(see).
As far as we can judge from (7) above, Panfilov 1965 understands the notion of aspect as such possible semantic oppositions in a certain temporal/processual meaning which are found between cognitively synonymous pairs of verbs. He does not assume that the inherent meaning of a word necessarily contains a certain temporal feature which determines the processual type of events it represents, even in case it does not make any aspectual opposition with another verb. In other words, he does not think of LA, i.e. an aktionsart in the inherent meaning of verbs. His understanding of "aspect (vid)" has, therefore, twofold fatal shortcomings: first, he overlooked the fact that every verb represents its own processual/temporal (eventually local) feature ("protekanie dejstvia") of events (see (7a)). Second, he trivializes the grammatical category of aspect into the lexical opposition among cognitively synonymous verb pairs. He assumes that the aspectual meaning of verbs can be represented only if the aspectual opposition is actualized overtly as a lexical pair. This idea of him goes back to the traditional linguistic description of Slavic grammarians who assert that the lexical meaning of (some classes of) verbs make an aspectual opposition (like perfective versus imperfective) within the lexical system of a (slavic) language. He was, too, infected by the "national" prejudice to look at Paleoasiatic languages from the traditional Slavic viewpoint.
2.2.
Quality Verbs of Otaina (1978)
Galina Otaina attempted to show the
semantic classification of Nivkh verbs. Cleary, she did not intended to mention
the whole classes of Nivkh verbs, but confined only to the lexico-semantic
class of verbs which she calls quality verbs (kacestvennye glagoly). She
distinguished them from all the other non-quality ones. The latter classes is practically a gathering of various verbs which do
not represent quality. She thinks of the following types of non-quality verbs
(GO13):
(8) Otaina's Types of Quality Verbs
a. verbs representing various actions, e.g. nyzdJ (throw),
jazdJ (bite),
NattJ (measure),
b. verbs representing states, e.g. qHodJ (sleep), qodJ (hurt), hurtHivdJ
(sit),
c. verbs representing natural phenomena, e.g. tidJ (thunder),
kydJ
(fall
(rain/snow)), qHadJ (retreat
(water)).
All the other types of verbs are, according to her, the class of her quality verbs, which has three main semantic subclasses (GO 17-22):
(9) Otaina's Classification of Quality
Verbs
a. expressions for human features with two
subgroups
a1: terms for physical
features, e.g. onJvildJ (tall), h«jmdJ (old), pizvurdJ
(pretty)
a2: terms for modal
and mental feartures, e.g. qHyzNardJ (happy),
urdJ (good);
qannaldJ (unscrupulous), osqavildJ
(coward)
b. expressions for material features with four
subgroups
b1. color
terms, e.g. v«lv«l«dJ
(black), qHonudJ (white), paÄladJ
(red)
b2. terms
for size and forms, e.g. verdJ (broad), NaladJ (equal), uldJ (high)
b3. other
physical feature of things,e.g. qHavudJ (hot), meqadJ (strong),
naudJ
(sufficient)
b4. terms for
quality of foods, e.g. nenidJ
(sweet), hordJ (tasty), perdJ (salty)
c. expressions for various features of animals
with two subgroups
c1. color
terms for fur, e.g. pa:rdJ (red), «:rdJ (black)
c2. other
physical terms, e.g. NardJ (fat), vesqardJ (powerful)
She gives a detailed description about the syntactic behavior of the quality verbs. Some of the syntactic features she described are useful to distinguish them from the non-quality verbs. We will here only summarize the relevant features of quality verbs:
(10) Morphosyntactic Features of Quality
Verbs of Otaina
a. Quality verbs have no
imperative mood. They can combine neither with -ja
for 2nd person singular, nor -ee
for 2nd person plural.(GO83/84)
She mentions two
exceptional usages:
(1) In some
prohibitional usage, they can be affixed with -ja and -ee,
e.g.
tHa h«m-ja (don't be old, tHa: morpheme for prohibition ),
tHa um-ja (don't be
angry)
(2) The optative usage
in 3rd person is possible:
e.g. kHe pil-ÄaZo (The net
may be big, ÄaZo:
optative suffix)
b. Non-quality verbs in
future form with suffix -n« have always "purely temporal
meaning", but quality verbs are ambiguous, in the sense that they can have
temporal and modal meaning, (GO67-69),
e.g. for non-quality verbs: «m«k kHэZ-n«-dJ (Father
will set nets.)
for quality verbs: t«f pil-n«-dJ : ((1) The
house is going to be big.
(2) The house may be big.)
She mentions the aspectual behavior of
quality verbs (#45-52) as follows,
(a) With the aspect form -Ä«ta, they mean that the inherent meaning is preserved.
She calls this aspect sokhranenie dejstivija (preservation of situation).
We mark this meaning with PSV.
(b) With the auxiliary verb hadJ, they mean a conventional/habitual occurrence of
event. (obychnost' dejstvija) Note that the conventional/habitual aspect form -x
« cannot be attached to quality verbs. We
mark this meaning with HAB.
(c) With the durative aspect form have -ivu/-ivi, they mean that the state
comes
about. (stanovlenie dejstvija). We mark this meaning with CAB(=COME-ABOUT)
To illustrate these combinations, she shows the following examples:
(11) Otaina's Aspect Types of Quality Verbs
a.
preservation of quality:
co
loqr -Ä«ta
-dJ
fish frish-PRV-FIN
Fishes remain
frish.
b.
conventional/habitual events
t«
«rux l«x «:rti «SkirHa-dJ («Skia-dJ=«kiradJ+hadJ)
this season weather always bad-HAB-FIN
In this season,
the weather is always bad.
NB. She remarks that
the iterative form with -x« is not possible for quality
verbs and emphasizes that quality verbs are only possible to represent
habitual acts with hadJ and in the adverbial forms -t/-r,
e.g. Narked by EMPH.
tilf
caX m«rke veurHadJ (＞veu-r+hadJ )
autumn
water high deep-EMPH-FIN
In
autunm water will be high and deep.
c. coming about of quality
l«Äigma
«rk tarZe-jvu
-dJ
dried
salmon already dry-CAB-FIN
Salmon is already
becoming dry.
Note that she asserts that quality verbs have different sort of combinational aspects from non-quality verbs. The difference lies in four points:
(i) They have neither conclusive/resultative (zakoncennyj) nor iterative
(mnogokratkij) aspect, instead they have preservative (sokhranenie) and
inchoative (stanovlenie) aspect.
(ii) They make no conventional/habitual
aspect with the suffix -x«, but they
are possible to represent this aspect meaning with a construction:
[adverbial form -t/-r, -Nan + hadJ ].
(iii) They make preservative form when they are combined with the aspectual
form -Ä«ta.
(iv) The suffix -iv(i)/-iv(u) makes an inchoative aspect, though the same form
makes a durative aspect with non-quality verbs.
In order to examine the interrelation of aspect forms and different verb classes, let us compare their different behavior of quality and non-quality verbs when they are connected with different aspect forms:
(12) Aspect Markers of Quality and Non-quality Verbs
|
aspect markers |
quality verbs |
non-quality verbs |
|
|
1* |
-Ä«ta |
preservative |
---- |
|
2** |
-Ä«t |
---- |
conclusive/resultative |
|
3 |
-iv(i)/-iv(u) |
inchoative |
durative |
|
4 |
reduplication |
---- |
interative |
|
-tHu ** |
---- |
interative |
|
|
5 |
-x« |
---- |
conventional/habitual |
|
+hadJ |
conventional/habitual |
conventional/habitual |
|
|
reduplication |
conventional/habitual |
conventional/habitual |
|
*: Panfilov 1965 and ** :Otaina 1975 do not mention these forms, respectively.
Let us pick up some relevant points in the table. First, Otaina did not mention Panfilov's aspect marker -Ä«t. She dealt with the suffix -Ä«ta exclusively, even without saying if this suffix has something to do with the conclusive -Ä«t. Interesting is that Panfilov 1965, on the other hand, did not mention Otiana's marker-Ä«ta, too. It is more interesting to find two examples he cited (PA72) which show quality verbs are suffixed by -Ä«t (PA72).
(13)
-Ä«t
to Quality Verbs (Panfilov's examples)
a. TuZ-Ä«t caj amra qavrdJ.
cold-become
tea taste bad(?) [qavrdJ
= «kidJ
?]
Cool tea has not
good taste.
b. ur-Ä«t-tJ
good-become
[composita]
recover
So far, it is not yet clear to me whether
Otaina's -Ä«ta has something to do with Panfilov's -Ä«t.
At the moment, we
let the problem open.
Second, Otaina's aspect markers -iv(i)/-iv(u) is
mentioned by Panfilov 1965, too. But he says that it has different aspectual
meaning, namely DURativation. This implies that this form brings about different
meanings according as it are attached to different
classes of verbs, quality and non-quality verbs. Here we have practically two
questions. (i) We have to ask whether this aspect marker has a constant
function, no matter if it is suffixed to different classes of verbs. If yes,
the difference of aspect meaning is not due to the function of the suffixes,
but it has to be ascribed to the meaning of the verb classes; if it is affixed
to non-quality verbs, it represenst CONclusive aspect, but if to non-quality
verbs, ComingABout of the quality. Therefore, we have to ascribe this meaning
difference to the interaction of the aspect marker and the different semantic
feature of verb classes. I like this view and assume that the aspect form has
only one meaning, which realizes the different meaning according to the verb
class which precede it. Instead, if we do not stand on
this viepoint, we will go wrong into a "theory" that aspect markers themvelves
had varisous meaning, i.e. that they are ambiguous or homonymous, just like some Japanese
grammarian who assert that -te iru is
homonymous.
(ii) The second question is concerned with
the morphological status of the aspect markers. We will formulate it simply:
are they suffixes or verb stems? For example, if (13b) ur-Ä«t-tJ can be analyzed as [quality verb + aspect
form + fnite suffix], does the finite suffix -tJ belong to quality verbs discontinuously
or to the aspect form? If it belongs to the aspect form, it has to be
interpreted as verb, on the contrary, if to the quality verb, the aspect form -Ä«t only a suffix without verbal character. In general, if aspect forms
are suffixes, the marker -dJ
belongs to the beforegoing verb stems. The difference can be illustrated as
follows:
(13) Morphological Status of Aspect
Marker
a. [V1(stem)
+ [V2(aspect marker) + -dJ (finite marker)] V] V = aspectual
complex verb
b. [V1(stem)
+ [SUF(aspect marker)] + -dJ (finite marker) ] V= aspectually
suffixed verb
If (13a) is a correct analysis, aspects
markers are themselves verb stems. Then, Nivkh has the concatenation of verb
stems to construct verb complexes which ends with a finite marker at the end of
them, just like in Japanese -rare, -sase and some other forms. We find also more analogies
in this connection: the markers for conventional/habitual aspects -x«,
-t/-r and +hadJ (11-5) above are parallel in a morphological view point to Japanese
stem-concatenations, te-forms and
advervial form (ren-yookei) + independent verbs. This problem of the
morphematic status of -dJ
is also
related to an another relevant issue about the morpheme
concatenation which Krejnovich 1958 mentioned. The finite marker can be
exchanged with a noun to make a free, i.e. non-bound, form in itself, which can
make with other forms further compound nominals. Here, we find again a parallel
phenomenon both in nominal and verbal spheres. The analysis (13a) is,
therefore, well motivated. Namely, if this is true, we can conclude that the
aspect markers are verbs themselves, just like in Japanese.
Third, it is not difficult to imagine
that quality verbs have no iterative aspect in straight-forward way. And the
conventional/habitual aspect is restricted to reduplication and the verb
complex with +hadJ
, but the simple suffixation of -x«
is excluded. The description of Panfilov 1965 appears to regard this morpheme as
the inherent means to make a conventional/habitual aspect. The examples he
cites are sentences with non-quality verbs like va-x«-dJ (fight(dogs)),
l«t-x«-(making),
vivi-x«-dJ (walk/go),
which represent animate actions. This morpheme is perhaps the formal means to
represent a habitual action. The dictionaries now available contain neither
this particle nor its possible derivation. It needs a further
investigation.
2.3.
Lexical Aspect of Nivkh Quality Verbs
Otaina's analysis of quality verbs has
brought about the crucial problems for lexical aspect of Nivkh verbs. As the
table (12) shows, the aspect marker -iv(i)/-iv(u)
make different aspectual meanings according as they are suffixed to quality
and non-quality verbs. We ascribe this meaning difference not to the possible
homonymity of the aspect marker, but to the concatenation type, i.e. to the
inherent meaning difference of the verbs which precede the aspect marker.
Now, if we presuppose that the meaning of
the aspect marker is constant, we
have to ask first what it does mean. Look at some relevant examples from
Panfilov 1965 (§40 and§43) in case of the concatenation with non-quality verbs:
(14) Non-quality Verbs + -iv(i)/-iv(u)
(Panfilov's examples)
a. caj qHavu-ivi -dJ (vs. caj
q'avudJ )
tea boil -DUR-FIN
Tea is boiling. (vs.
"tea boiled")
b. hoqot эxt vidJ-Äu. imN matqamatqa dJi:r v«jrox vit
then home go-FIN. they thick-thick tree under-to go-t(PART) qHojn«-dJ-Äu.
sleep-together-FIN-PL.
Then they went
home. They, going under a thick tree, slept together.
NaN«N-NivÄ-gu pHr« -ivi-dJ-Äu
imN m«-dJ-Äu.
hunter-man-PL come back -DUR -PL they hear-FIN-PL.
The hunters
are coming back, they heard.
c. Ni
mu l«t-ivu-
nJivx nrH«-dJ.
1PS ship make-DUR
man look-FIN
I saw a ship
making man.
d. pila
nJivx m«Ä-rH por-dJ.
tHuÄř tHoZ -Ä«t -ivi
old man come-down-PART lie-FIN. fire go-out-
-dJ
ø«- ha
-dJ.
CON-DUR-FIN warm-be-FIN.
The old man came
down and lay. Fire has been
going out and was warm.
From these examples, it is obvious that
the aspect marker -ivi/ivu indicates
the going progress of an action (14c), a movement (14b) or a process (14a). The
example (14d) shows that the marker can be combined with another aspect marker -Ä«t
(for
conclusive/resultative aspect) and represents the resultative state after the
process of the beforegoing verb finished, namely the resultative state in
progress.
Panfilov 1965 does not mention the
concatenation with quality verbs. But he notices that punctual verbs like эsptJ (sting, stick) and the inherent durative verbs like kH«m«l«dJ
(think) can not be suffixed by this aspect marker.
As far as we have seen in the examples
above, we can conclude that the aspect marker -ivi/ivu indicates no more than the durative progress of a process
represented by the preceding verb. Now, we compare some relevant examples of quality
verbs (GO 1978) with Panfilov's examples above.
(15) Quality Verbs +-iv(i)/-iv(u) (Otaina's examples)
a. mer эri pHakefake
N«Z -jvu
-dJ.
our river more-and-more(?) shallow-INCH-FIN
Our river
became shallower and shallower.
b. if
pH-nanak«k
tob-jvu-dJ.
he self-elder-sister old-INCH-FIN
He became elder
than his sister.
c. nin
nin pHu -t
vi -ke,
mer d«f hoNÄa-jvu
-dJ.
one one go-out-PART go-CONJ(=after), our house
vacant-INCH-FIN.
After (they)
have gone out one by one, our house became vacent.
d. if
pil-jvo
comsomy-jvu-dJ.
he big-CONJ(then), quiet-INCH-FIN.
If he grows,
(then) he will become quiete.
The examples (15a and b) are
straight-forward. As the finite marker -dJ
markes the time preceding the speech time, the quality represented by the
verbs have already come into existence when the sentence uttered. This time
relation corresponds to Otaina's interpretation that this aspect form marks the
time of coming about of the quality. In the examples (15c and d), the adverbial
phrases preceding the aspect forms (marked with CONJ) indicate the time when
the quality comes about. In (15d), the time is not set in aorist, because the
adverbial phrase indicates the time when the condition is satisfied, namely,
when the mentioned time (when he grows up) comes about. In any case, Otaina's
interpretion is justifed.
Now, assume that the time indicated by -dJ or the adverbial
phrase in the sentences (15) is symbolized by a certain time interval ∃t, we can say that the quality Q is established in the time t. In the
sentences (15a,b and c), the time t precedes the
speech time t0 because of the finite marker
- dJ. But in (15d), the relative order of the time t and the speech time
t0 is in reverse order because of the conditional clause which indicates the
time when the situation Q comes about.
(16) Coming About (stanovlenie) of the
Situation
a. ∃t (t≦t0)┣ (t)
Q for (15a,b and c)
b. ∃t (t0≦t)┣ (t)
Q for (15d, because of the subordinate clause)
where
t0: speech time
The formulation (16) says that in unmarked
cases like (16a), the quality Q comes about at t which precedes the speech
point.
Now, we will think about again what
quality verbs mean in a non-aspectual usage. First, we will look back the
finite sentences with socalled aorist tense-dJ, e.g.
(17) Non-quality Verbs with -dJ
a. n«x
kHr«u-dJ эrq
ur-dJ. (GO22)
today
rest ? good-FIN (эrq ＜эrqtJ＝press?, Otaina's Russian
translation: by)
Today may be good to
rest.
b. if
«rk
ur-dJ.
he already good-FIN
He is already
well.
c. t«
эri
co ram-dJ. (GO32)
this river fish many-FIN
This river has
many fish.
d.«Ärkon/tHof
t« эri co ram-dJ. (test sentence)
formerly this river
fish many-FIN
Formerly, this
river had many fish.
The sentences (17b and c) represent the situations "to be well" and "to be many", respectively. These situations include the speech time and the indefinite time interval preceding the speech time. This case is regarded as the normal represetation of aorist. The sentence (17a) includes the time adverb "today", so that the represented situation includes the speech time. The modal word эrq (Russian by) shows the speaker's feeling that the present situation goes on for a time being. The test sentence (17d) contains the time adverb «Ärkon/tHof (some time ago/in the old time), so that it can imply that fishes are now not so many as before, i.e. the described situation is not true at the speech time. My indigenous friend (Galina Demjanovna Lok) told me that the sentence is good in this meaning. So, we assume that the aorist can indicate the time interval which precedes the speech time. Therefore, we can formulate the aorist time relation as follows:
(18) Aorist Time of Non-quality Verbs
∃t (t⊂t0/t＜t0)┣ (t) Q (or abridged: ∃t (t≦t0)┣ (t) Q)
As Otaina 1978 asserts, the future tensed sentence of quality verbs are ambiguous: they have a future or a modal meaning. Looking back at her examples (10b) and some more examples:
(19) Non-quality Verbs in Future Tense
a. if
pH«m«k
øalagur kH« -n«
-dJ.(GO68)
she
own-mother resembling skillful-FUT-FIN
She will be skillful
like her mother.
b. t«
qHotrnonq-xu
«rk
эgut
pil-n«-dJ.(ibid.)
this
bear-babies already rapid big-FUT-FIN
These bear-babies will be already rapidly big.
c. t«
anJ velso pav -n«
-dJ
-ra.(ibid.)
this year salmon prohibit-FUT-FIN-EMPH
This year
salmons are prohibited to take.
d. «tik
pHi Äe bos nok-n«-dJ xe-dJ.(ibid.)
grandmother self buy cloth narrow-FUT-FIN think-FIN
Grandmother thought that cloth she for her self bought would be narrow.
The sentences (19a,b
and c) show that the qualities concerned will come about in the time indicated
or implied by the time indicators. The complex sentence (19d) is an interesting
example. Here, the future form of quality verb nok-n«-dJ is
subordinated by the matrix verb xe-dJ
(think/thought). According to Otaina (GO68), the
embedded quality verb means that the quality comes about after the time
represented by the matrix verb. Namely, the time when the cloth is
narrow stands after or at least equal to the time she thought because of the
future morpheme -n« : xe-dJ
≦t0≦ nok-n«-dJ .
As the modal usage of -n« indicates, needless to say, that the quality represented by the verb
will come about after the speech time, quality verbs with the future suffix
represent in any case that the quality comes about in the time after the speech
time. Therefore, it is true that
(20) Time of Quality Verbs with -n«
∃t (t0＜t)┣ (t) Q
Suppose that the lexcial aspect of quality verbs Q is formulated as "$…DUR…$", because, first, it has a long situation, therefore "…DUR…" (We markes the internal duration of LA as small "DUR", too. The marking corresponds to the aspectual duration DUR because we assume that the latter is derived from DUR of LA). Second, we leave so far the beginning and the final frame not yet defined and write it as $…$. Third, as the situation comes about at a time t, the situation of quality verbs Q is surrounded by the speech time t0.
(21) Time Relation of Nivkh Quality Verbs
|
a. concatenation types |
b. time relations |
c. t0-position around situation Q |
|
I. with aspect form -ivu/-ivi |
∃t (t?t0)┣(t) Q |
t0 ? Q$DUR$ |
|
II. in finite form -dJ |
∃t┣(t) Q |
(t0＜)Q=$DUR$≦t0 |
|
III. in future form with -n« |
∃t (t0＜t)┣(t) Q |
t0＜Q=$DUR$ |
Now, we have to ask how it looks like such a situation which comes about satisfying the conditions in (21). It has to be able to come about before as well as after the speech time, and at the same time the speech time can be included in it. It has to be nothing than an event whose situation is open both to past and to present. Such a situation can be formulated as
(22) LA of Nivkh Quality Verbs
Q = situation of the form: *…DUR…*
Otaina's quality verbs represent such an event whose processual feature is characterized as the situation of this type. The table (21) shows that it realizes the different time meanings according as it is combined with three different morphemes in (21a,b and c). We conclude that the language Nivkh has verbs with the situation type *…DUR…*, just as Japanese, but they have the language particular morphosyntactic behavior as the table shows.
2.4.
Lexical Aspect of Non-quality Verbs 
Now, let us go back to the Panfilov's
examples (14) which all contain the aspect marker -iv(i)/-iv(u). We pick up the verb forms
in order to see how they are concatenated and what temporal meaning they have:
(23) Meaning Types of Non-quality Verbs with -iv(i)/-iv(u)
|
|
verb complex |
analysis |
meaning types |
|
14a. |
qHavu-ivi-dJ |
boil-DUR-FIN |
natural process in progress |
|
14b. |
pHr«-ivi-dJ-Äu |
come-back-DUR-FIN-PL |
completed act in progress |
|
14c. |
l«tivu- |
make-DUR- |
effective act in progress |
|
14d |
tHoZ-Ä«t-ivi-dJ |
go-out-CON-DUR-FIN |
completed process and its result |
He interpreted that this aspect form
makes continuous process of the head verbs and called it as "vid
prodoldzennogo dejstvija" in the sense of continuous aspect in English
(p.76). However, it is not correct enough to regard the verb complexes above
simply as durativization as a whole. Every example has its special problem. Even the first example with the intransitive verb qHavu-
is not at all easy to
interprete. qHavu-
is a transitive verb and has the intransitive
counterpart qHav-, which is a quality verb with the meaning "to be hot". It
has a phonological variant Xavu-dJ which
is translated into Russian perfective verb nagret; (make hot) by Panfilov himself. He
translated "caj
qHavudJ "
into "haj nagret".
It is not clear whether he showed an imperfective sentence or only one suitable
sample of a perfective transitive usage. But he translated the sentence with
the aspect marker -ivi (14a) with qHavu-ivi-dJ into "haj nagrevaetsq", namely, in imperfective passive sentence. The question is,
whether the original qHavu-
is perfective in the meaning "to make
something hot". If yes, the sentence (14a) has to be interpreted as
"the tea has made hot and is now (yet) hot", namely perfective and
resultative; Therefore, the sentence represents the resultative state.
The verb of the second sentence pHr«-ivi-dJ is translated into imperfective "podxodqt" by Panfilov because of the durative marker. But the original
verb pHr«-dJ is clearly perfective according to any lexicon available to me; it is
translated into "prijti"
or the analogous words. The sentence (14b) is complex,
the verb concerned is embedded as the object sentence of imN
m«dJÄu
(they
heard). As the Nivkh has no grammatical means of consectio temporum, the tense
of the matrix and embedded sentences are the same, namely aorist -dJ. But is is not clear whether the embedded verb tHoZ-Ä«t-ivi-dJ
has to
be interpreted as "they have come back and are yet comming back" or
simply as "they have been coming back". Preferable is here the former
intepretation. Then, here again, the verb complex means perfective and
durative, or better to say, progressive activity and its process.
The example (14c) is the adnominal usage
of the verb l«ttJ (make (up),
Russian: delat;, proiz-vodit;). It
represents an effective human act, i.e. it belongs to the socalled
accomplishment verbs according to Vendler 1967 and Dowty 1979. With the
durative marker -ivi/-ivu, the act is
described as in progress. Here we have the typical case of a progressive
description of a human act.
The example (14d) includes a verb complex
of two kinds of aspect forms tHoZ-Ä«t-ivi, namely,
head verb+CON+DUR. The verb tHoZ- appears in some lexicons in the form t¥Z- with the same meaning: "go off,
go out". The verb complex can be interpreted as "the fire has gone
out and was warm" or "the fire has been going out and was warm".
Both interpretations may be possible. But perhaps the former is preferable.
Then, the complex has the temporal meaning like perfective and resultative
state. As we have seen above, the aspect form -ivi/-ivu does not always produce the
same durative meaning, but it differs according to the LA of the verbs which
precede it. This is easy to understand if we compare (14b) and (14c).
Let us think about the example (14c), the sentence refers to an event that at
the time t the speaker saw a man making a ship for the time being T. The time T
includes the event time t, and the event was reported
at the speech time t0. Therefore, the durative meaning comes about from the
time relation t∈T and the tense is established by the time relation t＜t0. In this sentence, -ivi/-ivu makes up the long interval T
out of the verb l«ttJ. This is only possible if the verb has a durative situation
inherently. So, this verb must have a LA like #…dur…#, where # indicates a
closed frame. On the contrary, the verb complex of (14b) is inherently
perfective pHr«dJ . Though
the verb is aroist finite -dJ, the sentence does not mean that the hunters have already come
back, but they were coming back when the village heard the news. The process of
coming back is streched out towards the time when they heard the news by means
of -ivi/-ivu which represents a
durative or, better to say, a progressive state. But if pHr«dJ alone
stands with the finite marker -dJ, the sentence has to be interpreted as they have already come back.
Let us mark the coming back process with a streched time interval T, then T
precedes the time when the village heard the news at t,
and this t precedes the speech time t0, namely T≦t≦t0.
Interesting is the relation between pHr«dJ and pHr«ividJ
: if the latter stands instead the former in the
same sentence, the sentence will be øaø«nJivÄu
pHr«dJ
Äu imN m«dJэÄu (hunters have come back, they heard). In that case, the time of
perfective pHr«dJ Äu will stands after the progressive pHr«ividJ
, namely t≦t0.
The similar time relation is observed in
the sentence (14a). (if) caj qHavudJ (he
boiled the tea) ＜ caj
qHavuividJ (tea is/was boiling) ≦ caj qHavudJ (tea is boiled) ≦caj qHavdJ (tea
is/was hot) . In this case, the aorist -dJ covers both the event and the
speech time.
The time relation of the sentence (14d)
is difficult to interpret as above mentioned. Crucial is the ambiguity whether
the verb complex means the state of the completed process, namely the
resultative state or the completing process. This problem will be settled if we
think about the behavior of the aspect form -Ä«t
a little more precise in 2.5.
As far as we have seen above, we assume
that Nivh non-quality verbs have at leat the LA types in the table (24). The
assumption is, of course, yet tentative, especially because we collected the
words only from Panfilov's description on aspect forms -ivi/ivu. But important is to see that the table indicates what
types of complex aspect meaning comes about when -ivi/ivu is attached to what types of LA. In other words, we can
judge what LA the verb has if it represent a certain complex meaning type when
it is concatenated with -ivi/ivu. This
implies the aspect form can be utilized like a litmus paper to find out the LA
of verbs, just as Japanese -te iru can be used to differenciate durative from
resultative LA.
(24) LA types of Non-quality verbs
|
|
head verb of the complex |
meaning of verb complex |
LA of head verbs |
|
14a. |
qHavu (-ivi-dJ ) (boil) |
is/was already boiling |
#DUR* |
|
14b. |
pHr«(-ivi-dJ-Äu) (come) |
had come/been coming back |
#PUN(+dur)*RES |
|
14c. |
l«t'(-ivu-) (make) |
(was) making |
#DUR#EFF |
|
14d |
tHoZ(-Ä«t-ivi-dJ ) (go-out) |
already has gone out |
#PUN*RES |
Suppose that the Otaina's quality verbs make a LA type which represent a state of various subclasses, we symbolize it as *DUR* altogether. We can summarize the LA types of the Nivkh verbs as follows:
(25)
Lexical Aspect Types of Nivkh -- first approach--
(a) *DUR*: the open stative,
the quality verbs according to Otaina,
(b) #DUR*, verbs for natural
process
(c) #PUN (+dur)*RES, verbs for resultative punctual activity whose process
can be durativized
(d) #DUR#EFF, verbs for a durative action which leaves a certain effect
necessarily, i.e. the socalled accomplishment verbs,
(e) #PUN*RES, punctual verbs
for activity which leaves a result.
The examples, see (11), (14) and (24).
There are surely more LA-types of verbs. We will find them in the next sections in relation to the other spectual forms and their concatenation possiblities.
2. 5. The concatenation of non-quality verbs with the aspect forms -Ä«t and others
In order to go farther to find out some more LA types of the Nivkh verbs, we will examine now some crucial examples of the aspect form -Ä«t from Panfilov 1965.
(26) Sentence Examples with
-Ä«t
(PA§40, pp.69-73)
a. øaø«ønJivÄ-gu pHr« -Ä«t
-kэ t«v l«t -tJ.
hunter-PL come-CON-soon-after house
make-FIN
The hunters,
soon after they have come, made a house.
b. mэr øafq it -tJ,
"nJi tvi -n«
-dox
qHauk-ra,
nJi s«k c«ø
our friend say-FIN
"1PL finish-FUT-DIR
NEG-AF 1PL all you
kHu-Ä«t-n«-dJ-ra."
kill-CON-FUT-FIN-AF
Our friend said, "I am not yet defeated. I will have killed you all.
c. imN
pHr« -Nan
am-Äu
h«
bal laqv s«k por-Ä«t-t
3PL come-back when tiger-PL this mountain around all lie-CON-PART
hum-dJ-ra.
exist-FIN-A
When they came
back, tigers were all lying around the mountain.
d. hoqoNan
h« øa kummJ. kutra qHau -V«t
-ra.
then this animal
failed. failing
become-nothing-CON-AF
Then, this
animal fell. Falling (it) has become nothing (died).
e. utku-oGla mu Xoru-Xoru-V«t-tJ.
woman-child ship rock-rock-CON-FIN
The child
(woman) has rocked the ship.
f. t«
gins-Vu morHqa-t humGa
s«k nJ«N
nJivx-gu kHu-t
this devil-PL survive-PART exist-IF all our people-PL kill-PART
If these devils
remain surviving, they kill all our peoples will have eaten them.
inJ-V«t-n«-dJ-Vu-da.
eat-CON-FUT-FIN-PL-AF
(will have eaten)
The first sentence (25a) is
straight-forward. The verb pHr«- (come) + V«t means the perfective conclusion of the
action of coming. This aspectual meaning is indicated by the particle -kэ (soon after). The sentence (25b) is a remarkable example; the verb kHudJ/xudJ/iVdJ (kill) has the future suffix -n«, which indicates that the event will be accomplished in the future.
This says that the aspect form -V«t is not dependent on tense and
represents only the finish of an event. Panfilov interpretes this
usage of the aspect form as the marker for coherent action toward the
participants of the event. In his sense, the sentence means "I will have
killed every one of you altogether." The verb complex of the sentence
(25c) por-Ä«t-t hum-dJ-ra (were lying) is worth thinking about a little more. The constituent
verb pordJ is translated in Russian le'a (＜le'at; =
lie) by Panfilov. Note that this Russian verb is stative, which does not seem
to be connected with a conclusive aspect. Panfilov interpretes that in this
case, the aspect form -V«t is used to indicate a collected action: "the tigers were lying altogehter". But the verb pordJ
seems
to be an action verb inherently. For CT1970 writes that the verb is used to
represent the action of human being or animals and cites the usages: muin«r
pordJ (to lie from sickness), kHr«r
pordJ (to lie for a rest). If so, the verb complex
has to be interpreted as that an animate action has been done and the result of
the action remained (the result is indicated by humdJ ). Then, pordJ is an action verb with the resultative state in the meaning like le'a (lying).
So, Panfilov's translation is good, but the aspectual feature of the head verb
is different from the Russian correspondence. The sentence (25d) is a very
interesting example; the aspect form -Ä«t
is here attached
to the negative verb
qHaudJ which
follows the affirmative finite verb kutra
(fiel), resulting the meaning "fell and became nothing". Panfilov
interpretes this case as intensive usage of the aspect form.
The negative verb + the conclusive aspect form qHau-Ä«t- has the meaning that the negative state "non-existence"
has come about. Therefore, this complex means that from the process of the
precedent verb kudra (fell) occurred
and the state "exist nothing" has come about. In short, [-Ä«t
+stative]
is resultative/conclusive here, too. Let us go to the sentence (25e). According
to Panfilov, -Ä«t
in
(25e) indicates the sudden stop of the event process the verb represents.
Namely, the swinging of the ship has suddenly stopped. The aspect form -Ä«t
means
here also the finish of the verb process which is a durative action represented
by the duplicated verb stem. Panfilov interpretes the stop is made
"suddenly". Perhaps he intended to show that the aspect form -Ä«t
points
the situation directly after the finished action. Anyway, the sentence shows
that a long process of action is concluded with neither result nor effect. The
last sentence (25f) contains the combination of the aspect form -Ä«t
and the
marked tense form -n«-, namely inJ-V«t-n«-dJ-Vu-da. This form
represents the conclusive action of eating which occurs in the future. This
implies that the aspect form is independent from the tense, as is the case in
many other languages.
As we have seen above, the conclusive
aspect form -Ä«t can
be attached to various types of verbs and realizes different meanings. We
summarize them as follows:
(27) Meaning types of -V«t
|
|
forms of V+V«t |
V and represented situation |
formerly |
|
(25a) |
pHr«-V«t-k/,... |
pHr«-(come): concluded action with result |
pHr«-≦[t] |
|
(25b) |
kHu-V«t-n«dJra |
kHu-(kill): concluded of action with effect |
kHu-＜[t] |
|
(25c) |
por-V«t-t humdJra |
por-(lie): concluded action with result state |
por-≦[t] |
|
(25d) |
kutra qHau-V«t-ra |
qHau-(no): coming about of a state |
[t]∈qHau- |
|
(25e) |
XouXou-V«t-tJ |
XouXou(-(swing): concluded a long action |
XouXou-＜[t] |
|
(25f) |
inJ-V«t-n«-dJ-Vu-da |
inJ-(eat): concluded action without no effect (in the future) |
inJ＜[t] |
From this table we can conclude that the aspect form -Ä«t realizes five different meanings according to the LAs of the precedent verbs. We summarize as follows:
(28) LA of the verbs in (27)
|
time relation |
examples |
LA |
|
V1≦[t] +result(state) |
pHr«-(25a), por-(25c) |
#PUN(±DUR)*RES |
|
V2＜[t] + effect |
kHu-(25b) |
#PUN*EFF |
|
V3＜[t]−effect |
inJ -(25f) |
#DUR# |
|
V4＜[t] + long action |
XouXou-(25e) |
#+DUR# |
|
[t]∈V5 |
qHau-(25d) |
*DUR* |
We have got here some new distinctive
types of LA by means of the combination of the aspect form -Ä«t. Panfilov suggests some more criterions to
find other LA. The aspect form -tHu for iterative markingis not possible to be attached to quality verbs. He cites some lexical
examples of non-quality verbs like juru-tHu-dJ (read many times, read well) vs. jurudJ (read).
But this suffix is said to be unproductive, the other morphological means like
reduplication are used for the purpose.
The conventional/habitual aspect marker -x«
has a distinctive function for LA. This form can not be attached to quality
verbs, so that it is used to distinguish them from non-quality verbs, as
remarked by Otaina 1978, too.
The complex combinations of different
aspect forms represent complicated time relation of events.
The sentence (14d) shows the example in which
the conclusive/resultative and the durative aspect forms are combinated to
yield a resultative state: tHuÄř tHoZ -Ä«t -ivi
-dJ (the fire has gone out
and the state remained). Let us take very complicated combinations:
(29) Complex aspect forms with different LA
types (PA78)
a. nJ«m«k
pHr« -ba
pHovo sidJlu n« -Ä«t -řadJ
my
mother come=back-after own village soon
do-CON-STATE
Soon after my mother
came back to the village, she was already working.
b. ci maøgohař ja:ř lax pH
-«řp-Ä«t-ku-řadJ-øa?
you
be-strong-become why cloud self-cover-CON-CAUS-STATE-QUESTION
If you become strong,
why the black cloud will have been covering you?
These examples show that the resultative state of the head verbs is indicated with -Ä«t and is streched out by -řadJ ＝contaminated form of -hadJ (exist). This complex form can be utiulized to determine the resultativeness (RES) of non-quality verbs.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Abbreviations and Symbols:
TI: Time Indicators
LA: Lexical Aspect (inherent in verbs)
∃t: There is a
time t
e: an event
$…$: ambivalent (=undefined) frame of a LA,
$ is * or #
*…$: to the right open frame
#…$: to the right closed frame
┣ : establish,
┣ (t) e: a
event is established at the time t.
AF: affirmative morpheme
EFF: effective situation (after an accomplished
action)
FUT: future
morpheme
FIN: finite
morpheme
PL: plural morpheme
CAB: coming about (aspect for quality
verbs)
CON: conclusion/resultativeness (represented by a morpheme or an aspect
form )
CONJ: conjunction morpheme
CONV: conventional process/action
DUR: a durative process
+DUR: a long durative process
HAB: habitual process/action/…
INCH: inchoative aspect form
NEG: negation morpheme
PART: a particle for adverbal concatenation
PRV: preservation of quality
RES: resultative situation
………………………………………………………
Main Literature
Dowty 1979: Dowty, D., Word Meaning and
Montague Grammar.
Synthese Library 7.Reidel Publ.
Gruzdeva 1998: Gruzdeva Ekaterina, Nivkh. Languages of the World.
Lincom Europa.
Kaneko 1995/2003: 金子亨『言語の時間表現』ひつじ書房。改訂２００３
(CD available)
Krejnovich 1958: Krejnovih, E.A. Ob Inkorporirovanii v Nivxskogoij Qzyke
(About Incorporation of the
Language Nivkh). Voprosy Qzykoznaniq 58-6
Krejnovich 1934: Krejnovih, E.A. Nivxskij (Gilqkskij) Qzyk. v
Qzyk i Pis;mennost;
Narodov Sibira,Hast; III. (Nivkh
(Gilyak) Language). Nauhno-issledavatel;naq
Assosiaciq Instituta Narodov Severa
CIK,SSSR
Mattissen 2001: Mattissen, J., Dependent-Head Synthesis in Nivkh and its
Contribution to a Typology of Polysynthesis.Uni Koeln
Otaina 1978: Otaina, G.A., Kahestvennye Glagoly v Nivxskom Qzyke
(Otaina,G.A., Quality
Verbs in Nivkh Language). Izd. Nauka
Punfilov 1965: Panfilov, V.Z., Grammatika Nivxskogo Qzyka (Panfilov, V.Z.,
Grammar of the
Language Nivkh). Akademiq
Nauka CCCP
Puxta 1995-2003: Puxta, M.N.,Nivxsko-Russkij Razgovornik i Tematiheskij
Slovar;( Puxta,M.N.,Nivkh-Russian Conversation and Daily-Life Thesaurus).
ELPR 2002- A2-017, 2003, ed. by Lok & Kaneko
Saveleva/Taksami 1970: Savel;va, V.N. i H.M.Taksami,
Nivxsko-Russkij Slovar;
(Nivkh- Russian Dictionary). Izd. Sovetskaq ?nciklopediq 1970
Vendler 1967, Vendler, Z., Linguistics in
Philosophy (Ithaca, N.Y.CornellUniv.)
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