12.meseret Mesqan
12.meseret Mesqan
12.meseret Mesqan
MESERET ESHETU
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Signature: _______________________________________
Date:________________________________________
ii
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Meseret Eshetu entitled: Tense,
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) complies with the
regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to
iii
ABSTRACT
This study takes Mesqan as its target language. The researcher has
taken over the task of describing the tense, aspect and mood system of
Mesqan verbs. Besides, the researcher seeks to achieve the following
specific objectives.
Mesqan verbs are primarily marked for aspect, i.e. they have distinct
grammatical base forms for the perfective and imperfective aspects. In
addition to this, subject agreement markers are distinct for the two
aspects. In this language tense is expressed by means of auxiliaries: past
by the auxiliary bannä and non-past by the auxiliary –u. besides, the
perfective and the imperfective verb forms may or may not appear with
visible tense markers. If there is no visible tense marker the perfective
form is associated with past reading and the imperfective with non –past
and/or habitual meanings. If there is visible tense marker, the
progressive reading is obtained by the combination of the imperfective
form of the verb and the non-past auxiliary –u; whereas the habitual
reading is obtained by the imperfective form of the verb and the past
auxiliary bannä.
Mesqan verbs are also marked for mood. There are distinct grammatical
base forms for the jussive/imperative mood. Besides, obligation and
ability are expressed by periphrastic constructions.
In addition, the perfective form can be combined with the converb marker
–m to denote a reading of present perfect and with the past auxiliary
bannä to denote a reading of past perfect.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and for most, I thank the almighty God for granting me tolerance
and strength so that I accomplish this study.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... V
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .............................................................VI
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS .............................................. IX
vi
4.1.3 NEGATION .............................................................................................. 33
REFERENCES ...................................................................................... 69
vii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1: Classification of Ethio-Semitic Languages ........................................... 4
Figure 2: Basic Tense Distinctions .................................................................... 10
Figure 3: Bipartite Representations of Tense .................................................... 11
Figure 4: Semantic Sub-Classifications in the Imperfective Aspect ................... 15
viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
1, 2, 3 Person
AUX Auxiliary verb
CNV Converb marker
C Consonant
COP Copula
IPV Imperfective
JUS Jussive or imperative
NEG Negative
NP Non-past tense
OBL Obligation
P Plural
PAST Past tense
PF Plural feminine
PM Plural masculine
PRE Present tense
PROS prospective
PV Perfective aspect
S Singular
SF Singular feminine
SM Singular masculine
V Vowel
VN Verbal noun
* Ungrammatical expression/form
ø Zero morpheme
→ Become
ix
CHAPTER ONE
1 INTRODUCTION
The major topic of this paper is concerned with the tense, aspect and mood system
in Mesqan. This chapter provides background information regarding the people and
their language. It also contains the statement of the problem, the objective, the
The People
The Mesqan people live southwest of Addis Ababa in the Gurage Zone of the
Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS). The Gurage
Yemsa speakers in the west; and Hadiyya speakers in the south and southwest. The
Mesqan have their own Woreda in the Gurage Zone, which comprises around forty-
one principle villages. The Mesqan Woreda is situated approximately 137 km to the
south of Addis Ababa. Quite a large number of Mesqan people live outside their
1
According to the population and housing census (Central Statistical Agency 2007:
59), the total number of Gurage is 1,280,483 of which 179,737 are Mesqan. Among
The people of Mesqan earn their livelihood by cultivating different plants, like
maize, wheat, barley and beans and by breeding animals. As with most of the
Gurage people, ässät ‘false banana’ provides the staple food in Mesqan. Besides their
native language, most Mesqan people can also speak one or more other Gurage
languages and Amharic. The Mesqan are predominantly followers of the Islamic
faith. Only some Mesqan are Orthodox Christians and a very few are Protestants.
Mesqan is a member of the Gurage languages that belong to the South Ethio-Semitic
belongs to the Western Gurage branch of Outer South Ethio-Semitic (see Figure 1
Wolane and Muher speakers in the west, by Mareqo speakers in the east, and by
Silt’e speakers in the south. Mesqan is not a written language but only serves for
oral communication.
1
Getu (2012:9) provides a similar figure based on the 2010 Housing and Population Census.
However, according to Lewis (2009:126), the number of Mesqan speakers only amounts to 25,000
2
There are various classifications of the Gurage languages among which Hetzron
(1972) is the most profound until today. Hetzron (1972: 7-8, but also 1977) divides
the Gurage languages into two main typological groups, namely Gunnän-Gurage
encompassing the Northern and Western Gurage languages vs. Eastern Gurage.
subdivided into two branches: Northern Gurage (basically also a typological unit)
and Western Gurage. In genetic terms, Northern Gurage consists only of Kistane,
Dobbi and probably the extinct Gälila. In typological terms, Muher is also subsumed
under Northern Gurage because all these languages possess a special set of
morphemes that are added to the verb in affirmative indicative main clauses. The
Western Gurage group, a genetic unit, includes Mesqan versus Central and
Peripheral Western Gurage. The Central Western Gurage group comprises Chaha,
Gumer, Ezha and Gura whereas the Peripheral Western Gurage group consists of
Gyeto, Inor, Ener and Endegagn. The varieties within Central and Peripheral
3
Semitic Languages (Adapted from Hetzron 1972 and Meyer 2011)
Figure 1: Classification of Ethio-Semitic
Leslau (1992a: 226), on the other hand, classifies the various Gurage varieties as
follows: Silt’e, Wolane, Zay belong to Eastern Gurage; Chaha, Gyeto, Ezha, Inor and
represented only by Kistane. Leslau (1992a) further states that Muher, Mesqan and
Already Hetzron (1969: 19-20) and later also Hetzron/Bender (1976: 28) suggest
that the Gurage languages are not a homogeneous group from a linguistic point of
view because Northern Gurage, i.e., Kistane and Dobbi (and Gälila), form a unit
within Outer South Ethio-Semitic which is closer to Gafat than to other Gurage
Ethio-Semitic. Within this branch, Eastern Gurage is closer to Harari than to any
other Gurage language. Therefore, Hetzron (1969 and passim) suggests that the
Even though tense, aspect and mood (TAM) are major topics in linguistics,
comprehensive studies that deal with these three categories are not available for
Mesqan. This does not mean that there is no work on the TAM system of Mesqan.
There are comparative studies, like Hetzron (1972, 1977) and Leslau (1992a/b).
However, when we look at these works and try to apply the findings on TAM
5
provided, for instance, by general typological works, like Comrie (1976) or Bybee
et al. (1994), we understand that they are not comprehensive. Considering this
gap, the present study focuses on the detailed description of tense, aspect and
mood in Mesqan from a typological point of view mainly based on Comrie (1976)
The general objective of this study is to describe the tense, aspect and mood system
of Mesqan verbs. The study has the following specific objectives to:
• Identify the grammatical markers of tense, aspect and mood of the language,
Since the study represents basic research, it has the following significances:
Mesqan.
typology in general.
6
• It can serves as a launching pad for further research on Mesqan.
this study limits itself to the description of tense, aspect and mood, neglecting
other parts of the grammar. Within the realm of verb morphology, the study
focuses on tri radical verbs in the basic or simplex stem and neglects derived stems.
7
CHAPTER TWO
The first part of this section defines the categories tense, aspect and mood, and
deals with the distinction between tense and aspect from a typological point of
view. Many scholars contributed to the cross-linguistic study of TAM. The most
prominent are certainly Comrie (1976, 1985), Dahl (1985) and Bybee et al. (1994),
among others. The second part of this section reviews previous works on Mesqan
from a general perspective focusing on topics that seem to be of relevance for the
2.1.1 Verb Semantics and Its Interaction with Aspect and Tense
Stative verbs express a situation that has no different phases or changes between
phases, whereas dynamic verbs express a situation that has different phases.
instance, the stative verb stand, i.e. getting or being in a standing position, in
English may or may not involve change. Therefore, it is possible to say that
dynamic verbs involve change, whereas stative verbs may or may not involve
change (Comrie 1976: 13). The main difference between the two is that stative
The distinction between dynamic and stative verbs also has an effect on the
description of tense and aspect. Saeed (1997: 133) states that inherent features of a
verb’s meaning may be compatible with the meaning of certain tense and aspect
forms but not with others. Thus, the distinction between dynamic and stative verbs
can make a difference in the time implications for verbal events, whereas the
phrase verbal event encompasses both stative and dynamic verbs. For instance, by
using the perfective aspect of dymamic verbs, the speaker commonly implies that
an action was accomplished before the moment of speech, but by using the
perfective aspect of stative verbs, the speaker usually implies that a state occurs
simultaneously with the moment of speech. Similarly, Bybee et al. (1994: 95) point
out that one of the differences between tense and aspect is that perfective with
stative verbs has the effect of signaling a present state, whereas the past tense has
The time implication with stative verbs will be taken as main diagnostics to
distinguish between past tense and perfectivity, and consequently between tense
9
and aspect. Whether a verb has a stative semantics will be tested by using it in the
2.1.2.1 Tense
Tense is a grammaticalized category that indicates the time at which a verbal event
takes place (Comrie 1985: 9). Based on this definition, tense only exists in
Comrie (1985: 5) states that, tense is a deictic category; it locates a verbal event
According to Comrie (1976: 2) the commonest tenses that are found in the
languages of the world are past, present and future (see also Payne 1997: 236).
10
conceptual notion can be further divided into a bipartite tense distinction in
individual languages, namely past vs. non-past or future vs. non-future, as shown
in Figure 3.
2.1.2.2 Aspect
According to Comrie (1976: 3), “aspects are different ways of viewing the internal
aspect in terms of boundaries, i.e. whether the situation has a starting point and/or
an endpoint. If the situation has a temporal right boundary, i.e., an endpoint, it can
11
(1) a. He came.
b. He is coming.
beginning, middle, and end phase that make up the action of coming. The second
sentence, (1b), does not present the situation in this way. It rather makes explicit
reference to the middle phase only. In this example, there is no explicit reference to
There are two major aspectual categories in the languages of the world: perfective
distinction of the various separate phase that make up that situation. The
(1976: 4) states, “perfective looks at the situation from outside, without necessarily
distinguishing any of the internal structure of the situation from inside, and as such
is crucially concerned with the internal structure of the situation.” On the other
hand, Payne (2003: 239) states, “in the imperfective aspect the situation is viewed
from ‘inside’, as an ongoing process.” Thus, the perfective presents the situation as
Bybee et al. (1994: 52-57) point out that completive, perfective and simple past
respects: perfective refers to a situation as a bounded whole, while past tense refers
12
to a situation which existed prior to the moment of speaking, and completive refers
Comrie (1976: 26) observes that there are a number of languages which have an
imperfective form with progressive and habitual reading. This situation is also true
period of time (Comrie 1976: 64, but see also Bybee et al. 1994: 28 and Payne
The categories tense and aspect differ with regard to their reference system. Tense
is a deictic category which relates the verbal action or state with regard to a
reference point, usually the moment of utterance but as Lyons (1968: 315) states,
“aspect is not however a deictic category, it does not locate a situation relative to
some reference point in time.” Therefore, the main difference between tense and
Comrie (1976: 5) makes a difference between tense and aspect based on their
time. Similarly, Kearns (2000: 148) states, “tense locates the event or situation on
the time line, in the past, present or future. Aspect does not locate an event in time,
13
Another difference between tense and aspect is concerned with their interaction
with the inherent lexical semantics of verbs. That is, aspect interacts with the
lexical semantics of verbs but tense does not. Bybee et al. (1994: 92) states in this
regard:
The third difference relies on the degree of grammaticalization of tense and aspect.
According to Bybee et al. (1994: 92), tense is more grammaticalized than aspect,
i.e. tense may be implied by aspectual constructions; however tense markers do not
develop into aspect markers. Bybee et al. (1994: 92) further point out that past
tense is more generalized than perfective aspect and, thus, regardless of the verb
14
The most common sub-divisions of the imperfective aspect are presented in Figure
4.
ranging category, with habitual and continuous dividing up the imperfective range,
These semantic sub-types in the imperfective aspect (and related constructions) are
form are said to be a grammatical aspect whereas situations which are encoded by
15
the lexical semantics of verbs are considered as aktionsart. According to Sasse
the lexical semantics of verbs, their argument frame also has to be considered.
The present study uses the term aktionsart in the sense of Sasse (2006) to refer to
the semantic sub-types of main aspects (perfective and imperfective) which are
expressed by both periphrastic constructions and lexical semantics of verbs. For the
The progressive describes an ongoing action (Bybee et al. 1994: 128). This
definition implies that progressivity does combine with dynamic verbs rather than
Some tense/aspect forms of verbs may fit with some situation types but not with
others. Progressivity, for instance, does combine with dynamic verbs rather than
meaning can be combined with the meaning of certain verb forms, like
16
The prospective indicates a situation that is about to take place. Comrie (1976: 64)
intended to be fulfilled.
2.1.4 Perfect
A perfect refers to a situation which occurred in the past but whose result is still of
importance to the reference point. Comrie (1976: 52) states that since the perfect is
not concerned with the internal temporal constituency of a situation or the location
of a situation in time, it is rather different from aspect and tense. Consider the
following example:
In (2a), the action of eating is finished at the moment of utterance, and contains no
information on its relevance for the present situation. However, in (2b), the action
of eating was finished prior to the moment of speech but its result is still relevant.
situation. In the perfect, there are two situations: reference situation that is often
related with moment of speech, and the actual verbal event/state that took place
17
2.1.5 Mood
Mood is not related with time or the internal constituency of a situation but with
Concerning the meaning distinction between mood and modality, Bybee et al.
(1994: 181) point out that “modality is the conceptual domain and mood is its
inflectional expression.”
Bybee et al. (1994: 177) identified four types of modality. These are agent-
types can further be sub-divided into specific semantic notions, like necessity,
Obligation indicates that the agent of the clause is obliged to perform the action of
the verb; ability gives information about the internal capacity of performing an
make someone to enter into action; imperative is used to issue a direct command to
expressing the wish or hope of the speaker. Both the jussive and the imperative
moods are used to issue a command; the jussive expresses an order or instruction in
the first and the third person whereas the imperative expresses a command in the
18
second person. In the present study, the focus is only on agent-oriented and
speaker-oriented moods.
This section has four sub-sections: general typological information about Mesqan,
O(bject)–V(erb); adjectives, genitives, and relative clauses precede their head noun.
marked with definite direct objects. Mesqan has complex verb morphology. Several
vocalization and gemination pattern is put onto a lexical root, typically consisting
of three or four consonants. Subjects are obligatorily marked by affixes on the verb,
2.1.7 Phonology
vowel phonemes. His phonemic inventory of consonants includes eight stops /b,
bw, t, d, k, kw, g, gw/, eight fricatives /f, fw, s, z, ʒ, ʃ, h, hw/, two affricates /tʃ, ʤ/,
four ejectives /k’, k’w, t’, tʃ’/, three nasals /m, mw, n/, two liquids /l, r/ and two
19
approximants /w, y/. The vowel phonemes are /i, e, ä, a, o, u, ɨ/. He also states
Hetzron (1977) and its shorter version in Hetzron (1997) offer a general and
properties of all Gunnän Gurage languages among which Mesqan is one. Hetzron
(1977: 34) discovers 32 consonant phonemes for Mesqan, including the palatal
stops /gy/ and /ky/, as opposed to Abduljebar (1989) who claims that Mesqan has
only thirty consonant phonemes. According to Abduljebar (1989), /gy/ and /ky/ are
This study has adopted the above consonant and vowel phonemes in transcribing
Hetzron (1969: 16) points out that Mesqan is the only Western Gurage language to
have a past, a present perfect and an imperfective, i.e., past säbbärä ‘he broke’,
present perfect säbbäräm ‘he has broken’, and imperfective yɨsäbɨr ‘he breaks/he
Hetzron (1977: 94) deals with converbs of Mesqan by comparing it with other
Gurage languages. For Mesqan, he identifies an m-converb which consists of the
perfective, imperfective, jussive/imperative or infinitive followed by the converb
marker -m, like:
20
(3) a. PERFECTIVE +-m
säbbäräm wärä
säbbär-ä-m wär-ä
break.PV-3SM-CNV go.PV-3SM
‘He broke and went.’
b. IMPERFECTIVE +-m
yɨsäbɨrm yar
y-säbɨr-ø-m y-ar-ø
3-break.IPV-SM-CNV 3-go.IPV-SM
‘He breaks and goes’
c. JUSSIVE+-m
yɨsäbɨrm yäwär
y-säbɨr-ø-m yä-wär-ø
3-break.IPV-SM-CNV 3-go.JUS-3SM
‘Let him break and go!’
d. IMPERATIVE +-m
sɨbɨrɨm wär
sɨbɨr-ø-m wär
break.JUS.2SM-CNV go.JUS.2SM
‘Break and go!’
(Hetzron 1977: 94)
Hetzron (1972: 60) further states that Mesqan is different from other Western
Gurage languages by lacking a distinct paradigm for the future tense and,
consequently, for using the imperfective form of the verb for both present and
future meanings.
Hetzron (1972: 58) describes a present perfect for Mesqan that consists of the
perfective form of a verb followed by the suffix -m (see also Hetzron 1977: 84).
This suffix forms the present perfect and the m- converb; they can only be
21
marked by the suffix -m occurs in a non-final position in the clause, but with the
Hetzron (1972: 81) states that the singular third person masculine present copula
in Mesqan and Central Western Gurage is the suffix -u, which denotes 3SM. The
suffix –u can also be use as a temporal auxiliary indicating the non-past tense (see
Another work on Mesqan is Getu (1989) who deals with verb inflectional affixes.
indicate person, number and gender in the perfective aspect. In the imperfective
aspect, however, they are indicated separately except for the third person singular.
Furthermore, Getu (1989) classifies Mesqan verbs into type A, type B and type C
based on their gemination of the penultimate radical. Leslau (2004), however, adds
another type D (see section 0 for further details). Getu (1989: 21-33) also presents
verbal paradigms that he classifies regarding tense, aspect and mood. He states that
the past tense is marked by the auxiliary bannä whereas the non-past tense is
indicated by the imperfective form of the verb. However, as far as the present
tense. Furthermore, in Getu’s (1989) analysis, tense and aspect are considered as
one and the same. In the present study however, they are treated as different
categories.
22
Hetzron (1977: 84 and also 1997: 544) argues that all Gunnän Gurage languages
have a past perfect which is formed from the perfective verb plus the past-tense
inappropriate with respect to Mesqan. Furthermore, in his use of the terms tense
and aspect is unclear. For instance, he considers säbbärä ‘he broke’ as a past tense
construction.
Hetzron (1997: 544) considers the perfective and the imperfective forms of verbs
In (3), Hetzron considers wärä and yar as verbs in past or non-past tense,
marked by auxiliaries but not by the perfective and the imperfective form of a
verb.
Leslau (1992b) deals with the jussive for type A verbs in Mesqan by comparing it
with Muher. Regarding the jussive, Leslau (1992b: 539) points out that Mesqan and
states that the pattern yä-C1C2äC3- is found with intransitive verbs, while the other
23
Leslau (2004: 31) describes basic and derived verbal inflection in Mesqan with
reference to other Gunnän-Gurage languages. Beside the basic stem, he deals with
the t-stem, the a-stem and the at-stem and their functions. He also discusses verbs
with weak radicals. Leslau (2004: 112) notes that the verbs wärä ‘go’, hänä ‘be
(become)’, ʃä ‘search, seek’ are isolated verbs because they do not fit into any
regular pattern.
Dobbi and Chaha. As a result of this comparison, he classifies Muher, Dobbi and
various Mesqan texts with glossing and translation and the present study uses his
24
CHAPTER THREE
This study is qualitative and empirical in nature and it is mainly relies on primary
linguistic data which is elicited through interview with three native speakers of
Meaqan in Meaqan wereda in the village of Beresa. The secondary data include
Since the researcher is not a speaker of Mesqan, native speakers of the language
were consulted. The data were gathered from three native speakers of Mesqan
during three fieldworks from 09 December 2011 until 02 January 2012, 10 May
2012 until 18 May 2012 and 13 June 2012 until 21 June 2012 in Mesqan Woreda.
The three language informants were Kedir Hussen (born in 1981 E.C.), Mesfin
Abera (born in 1975 E.C.), and Melesech Belay (born in 1980 E.C.). They all are
native speakers of the language and were born within the speech community of
Mesqan where they also obtained their primary and secondary school education.
Amharic as Meta language (cf. Appendix). To compliment the data one text was
distinctions between aspect and tense, as well as moods. All gathered data were
phonetically transcribed. The phonetic data were later transformed into a broader
25
phonemic transcription and, translated, and analyzed in the light of descriptive
approach.
26
CHAPTER FOUR
there are two unpronounceable morphemes: a pure skeletal morpheme and a pure
melodic morpheme. Both are incomplete and cannot occur alone. In order to make
them a pronounceable element, they must be combined. This situation also occurs
in Mesqan. For example, the verb ʃäkkätä ‘he worked’ is a combination of the root
morpheme √ʃkt with the lexical meaning ‘work’ and the vowel melody ä-ä. The two
are arranged according to the pattern C1VC2C2VC3, which marks the perfective
aspect.
jussive. The former two are clearly ascribed an aspectual meaning, while the later
27
Table 1: Conjugational Patterns
The above patterns in Table 1 occur only with regular tri-consonantal roots,
consonant which can be geminated or not. Generally, lexical roots of basic stems in
Mesqan consist of one, two, three or four consonants (see Leslau 2004). Bi-
1977: 76). Baye (2000: 44-54) also points out that the basic radicals of Ethio-
Semitic languages are tri-radicals. Non tri-radical verbs are formed by root
reduction. Thus, mono- and bi-radical verbs are results of reduction of original
their radicals.
The combination of lexical root and vowel melody according to specific patterns
derives a grammatical base form of the verb, which is a pronounceable but still a
28
dependent element. In order to form a complete verb, i.e., an independent word, a
Perfective verbs use a suffix set for subject agreement, but imperfective and jussive
verbs use a combination of prefixes and suffixes (see section 0, Table 5 for a
detailed list of the subject markers). Imperfective and jussive verbs use almost the
same set of affixes with two major differences. First, 1S subjects are marked by
29
(4) a. nɨ-k’ät’ɨr-ø or ä-k’ät’ɨr-ø
1-kill.IPV-S 1-kill.IPV-S
‘I kill/will kill.’
b. nɨk’t’ɨr
nɨ-k’t’ɨr-ø
1-kill.JUS-S
‘Let me kill!’
c. annɨk’ät’ɨr
an-nɨ-k’ät’ɨr-ø
NEG-1-kill.IPV-S
‘I will not kill’
Second, the third person subjects, except the 3SF, are marked by the prefix y-on
Mesqan verbs can be classified into four types based on gemination of a root
consonant and the quality of the vowel following the first consonants of a root:
type A, type B, type C and type D. In verbs of type A, gemination only occurs in the
perfective aspect and is characterized by the vowel ä following the first consonant
gemination occurs in all three bases. The vowel following the first consonant is ä in
the jussive but ä or e in the perfective and imperfective (see Hetzron 1977: 71;
Leslau 2004: 16).Verbs in type C geminate their second root consonant in the
perfective and imperfective aspect but not in the jussive. The vowel after the first
consonant is a in all bases (see Hetzron 1977: 71, Leslau 2004: 23). In verbs
30
following type D, gemination is consistent with type C, but they are different in the
vowel following the first radical that is o in all three bases (Leslau 2004: 24).
The verb bannä in Mesqan is used as past-tense auxiliary verb and as past-tense
copula. The two occur in distinct syntactic positions. The past-tense copula occurs
occurs with another verb, it functions as a temporal auxiliary indicating past tense
and does not show subject agreement but occurs in the invariant form bannä. The
continuous/durative or habitual verbal event in the past, but does as such not
occur with bare perfective verbs (but see the formation of the past perfect in
section 5.5).
31
(5) a. astämari bannähw
astämari bannä-hw
teacher COP.PAST-1S
‘I was a teacher.’
b. yɨtʃäɲɲ bannä
y-tʃäɲɲ-ø bannä
3-come.IPV-MS AUX.PAST
‘He was used to come.’
The non-past tense auxiliary –u is used to express present or future time (see also
imperfective main verb. The non-past tense auxiliary can also be used as a
agreement is indicated at the main verb. The non-past tense auxiliary -u is used in
section 5.4). However, the main function of the auxiliary –u is to indicate tense.
32
(7) yɨsäbru
y-säbr-ø-u
3-break.IPV-MS-AUX.NP
‘He is breaking.’
Hetzron (1977: 106) also identifies the present-tense copula -ya for 3SF, inflected -
n for all subjects and -u for 3SM. In addition, Mesqan has the existential copula
nänä, which inflect with the suffixes for perfective verbs, but has an inherent
present-tense meaning.
(8) a. astämarinhw
astämari-n-hw
teacher-COP.NP-1S
‘I am a teacher.’
b. astämariw
astämari-u
teacher-COP.NP.3SM
‘He is a teacher.’
c. astämariya
astämari-ya
teacher-COP.NP.3SF
‘She is a teacher.’
4.1.3 Negation
The negative marker is the invariable prefix an- for perfective verbs (cf. Leslau
2004:4), as in (6).
33
(6) ansäkkäthw
an-säkkät-hw
Neg-work.NEG.PV-1s
‘I did not work’
distinct negative markers. In both cases the alternations are based on person. The
negative prefix an-occurs with the first person, the prefix at- with the second
person or the 3SF and the prefix e- with the third person, except 3SF.
Note that, the negative prefix –e is portmanteau morpheme which indicates both
The past-tense auxiliary verb bannä is negated by the negative perfective of the
verb näbbärä ‘live’, i.e., an-näbär-ä (NEG-live.NEG.PV-3SM) ‘he was not’, while the
existential verb ennä ‘he/it does not exist’. The two negative forms show subject
The present-tense copula is negated by the negative form of the verb hänä ‘be
(come)’, i.e., an-kän-, which also shows subject agreement by the person suffixes
35
CHAPTER FIVE
In this chapter, the tense, aspect and mood system of Mesqan verbs is described.
The perfective and imperfective aspect, the progressive and prospective aktionsart,
past and the non-pat tense, as well as the jussive, imperative and other additional
The present section focuses on the distinctions between tense and aspect. Verb
certain perfective verbs and the use of some adverbs are the main diagnostics to
The main question is whether the base forms of verbs that were labeled as
perfective vs. imperfective in section 0 are the grammatical encodings for aspect or
36
(7) a. huti säb k’ätt’ärä
huti säb k’ätt’är-ä
he person kill.PV-3SM
‘He killed people.’
b. huti säb yɨk’ät’ɨr
huti säb y-k’ät’r-ø
he person 3-kill.IPV-SM
‘He kills/will kill people.’
In (7), the situation can be viewed from two perspectives: the internal constituency
of the situation or the time of an action. In (7a), the action is completed and at the
same time it can be interpreted as referring to the past time, i.e., the action of
killing was performed prior to the moment of speech. In (7b), in contrast, the
situation has internal continuity and also non-past reading. Thus based on the
However, aspect morphemes interact with the lexical semantics of the verb, while
tense morphemes do not. Tense is rather interacting with the whole proposition
with respect to the moment of speech. This idea is realized in the time implications
(8) tägäddärä
tägäddär-ä
sleep.PV-3sm
‘He sleeps.'
As can be seen in (8), the stative verb tägäddär- ‘sleep’ occurs in the base of the
perfective aspect and is marked for 3SM subject agreement by the suffix -ä.
37
However, without additional context, the state of affairs implied in (8) occurs
On the other hand, by using the perfective form of dynamic verbs, the speaker
implies that the action occurred before the moment of speech. The following
As can be seen in (9), the dynamic verb säbbärä ‘break’ occurs in the perfective
aspect. In this case, the agent of the clause has performed the action of breaking
The different time implications of stative and dynamic verbs in the perfective
aspect are a typical feature of an aspect morpheme but not of a tense marker as
tense is more generalized than aspect and, thus, does not interact with the verb
______________________________________
2
See also Meyer (2006: 117) for a similar situation in Wolane.
38
(10) a. zäynu yɨdgäddär bannä
zäynu y-dgäddär-ø bannä
Zeynu 3-sleep.IPV-MS AUX.PAST
Example (10a) contains the stative imperfective verb yɨdgäddär ‘sleep’ followed by
the past-tense auxiliary bannä which has scope over the whole sentence. It does not
interact with the inherent verb semantics, as was the case in (8), but simply
encodes that the state of sleeping was completed in the past, i.e., prior to the
moment of utterance. Similarly, the dynamic verb yɨk’ät’ɨr followed by the past-
tense auxiliary in (10b) refer to a verbal event in the past. However, (10a/b) can
occur in two readings in the past, i.e., either a simple past reading (10i) or a past
habitual (10ii).
In addition to perfective aspect, different readings can be seen in the way that
imperfectives apply to stative and dynamic verbs. Consider the following examples.
39
(14) mɨgɨ yɨbära
mɨgɨ y-bära-ø
food 3-eat.IPV-MS
i. ‘He eats food.’ (He always eats food.)
ii. ‘He will eat food.’
As can be seen from the above example, the dynamic verb yɨbära ‘eat’ occurs in the
imperfective aspect. In this case the situation can have three different readings:
present and future (non-past) and habitual. However when we apply imperfective
aspect to some stative verbs, the effect is only to signal a future state, not non-past
Thus, based on the facts illustrated in the above examples (8) to (10), it is possible
to conclude that the base forms of the verbs are pure aspectual constructions that
interact with the lexical semantics of verbs. Past tense is encoded by the auxiliary
Another diagnostic for an aspect system is the occurrence of the imperfective form
40
(16) a. yɨsäbru
y-säbr-ø-u
3-break.IPV-SM-AUX.NP
‘He is breaking’
b. yɨsäbɨr bannä
y-säbr-ø bannä
3-break.IPV.SM AUX.PAST
As can be seen in (16) above, the main verb is in the imperfective aspect and two
different tense markers, for non-past and past, can be attached to it. In (16a) the
situation is simultaneous with the present moment; in (16b), the situation occurred
prior to the moment of utterance. Thus, a verb in the imperfective aspect can be
used with different tense markers, which is another strong evidence for an aspect
Furthermore, a few verbs in the perfective aspect can occur in an ‘irregular’ use of
to expresses future time. This fact is shown in (17) below.
In (17a), the speaker did not finish the action of coming prior to the moment of
utterance. Rather he is very certain that he will fulfill the action of coming in the
41
near future. Similarly, the perfective verb in (17b) implies that the action of going
will be performed in the immediate future. However, this use of the perfective
aspect seems to be restricted to these two motion verbs only. In any case, were
these verbs marked for past tense, such a reading would be impossible.
In addition, the use of adverbs is another diagnostics. Hence, the adverb ‘always’ is
Therefore, the combination of the perfective aspect and the adverb ‘always’ will be
As can be seen from (18), imperfective aspect can be combined with the adverb
describing situations that must inherently last for a certain period of time.
However, the adverb ‘always’ is used in expressing a situation that does not last in
time. Thus, this is another evidence for that the base forms of the verbs are pure
aspectual constructions.
42
To sum up, the discussion until now has shown that Mesqan verbs are primarily
The perfective aspect is commonly used for expressing a situation that has a right
As can be seen in the above example, the main verb is in the perfective aspect. This
i.e., it is assumed that the agent of the clause performed the action breaking prior
verb.
(20).
Sentence (20) denotes an action which is still not completed or without a temporal
boundary, i.e. the subject of the clause did not complete the action of going to the
43
market, rather the situation has internal continuity. The imperfective form of a
imperfective verb. In order to distinguish between the two readings, adverb can be
used, like the adverb ‘always’ in (22) to focus on the habitual reading.
44
Furthermore, Comrie (1976: 19) observes the following:
In Mesqan, too, such kind of reading with stative verbs can be obtained, as shown
in (24):
Sentence (24) can indicate the beginning of the situation of being a teacher, i.e. it
may focus on the change from a being a student, for instance, to being a teacher.
The starting point is emphasized by the grammatical perfective marker. Thus, the
perfective form of the verb hänä can convey an ingressive meaning and,
are distinct verb bases characterized by specific vowel and gemination patterns for
the two aspects. In addition, affixes indicating person, number, and gender of the
subject also help to distinguish between the two aspects because a perfective verb
marks its subject by a set of suffixes while an imperfective verb uses a combination
45
Table 5: Conjugation of Affirmative Verbs in the Perfective and Imperfective Aspect
46
In tri-radical verbs of Mesqan, there are two general grammatical shapes for the
two aspects: c1vc2c2äc3- for the perfective and -c1vc2(c2)c3- for the imperfective. The
penultimate radical (c2) which is found in the imperfective aspect indicates that the
imperfective aspect while in the perfective it is obligatory. Table (6) shows this
fact.
47
As already mention in section 0, the imperfective verb in Mesqan can occur either
in the past or the non-past tense. Past tense with an imperfective verb is expressed
To focus on the present tense with an imperfective verb, the non-past tense
(26) yɨsäbru
y-säbr-Ø-u
3-break.IPV-SM-AUX.NP
‘He is breaking.’
As can be seen from the above sentence, the imperfective form of the verb plus the
non-past tense auxiliary has a progressive reading (see also section 0).
(27) yɨʒäbbɨr
y-ʒäbbɨr-Ø
3-reply.IPV-MS
‘He replies/will reply.’
As can be seen from the above example, in Mesqan tense is not obligatory to be
(28) ʒäbbärä
ʒäbbär-ä
reply.PV-3SM
‘He replied.’
The perfective form of a verb expresses the completion of the situation which is the
reason for its past time implication, or as Bybee et al. (1994: 54) put it, “perfective
Mesqan distinguishes between past and non-past tense by means of auxiliary verbs
that commonly co-occur with imperfective verbs. The past-tense auxiliary bannä
can also combine with the converb form of a perfective verb to form a past perfect
Past tense refers to a situation that took place prior to the time of speaking (Bybee
et al. 1994:55). In Mesqan, the past tense is marked by the invariable auxiliary
bannä:
49
(29) a. zäynu menna yɨʃäkkɨt bannä
zäynu menna yɨ-ʃäkkɨt-ø bannä
Zeynu work 3-work.IPV-SM AUX.PAST
The past-tense auxiliary can also co-occur with the imperfective verb marked by
the suffix -e to express a situation which was intended to be fulfilled in the past
As can be seen in the above examples, the past-tense auxiliary is the invariable
independent word bannä that is simply juxtaposed to the main verb to explicitly
In Mesqan, the non-past tense is marked by the invariable -u to refer to the time
just at/after the moment of speech. The non-past tense auxiliary only co-occurs
50
(31) zäynu tägäbe yaru
zäynu tä-gäbe y-ar-ø-u
Zeynu to-market 3-go.IPV-SM-AUX.NP
‘Zeynu is going to the market.’
the imperfective marked by the suffix –e (see section 0) followed by the invariable
In this case, the verbal event has the reading that it is about to take place in the
future and the future implication is comes from the composition of the
imperfective main verb -nägs- plus the morpheme –e followed by the non past
auxiliary –u. Furthermore, the present tense can be expressed by zero morpheme in
_________________________________________________________________________________
3
Dahl (1985: 19) says that “a grammatical opposition consists of a zero marked member with less
specific interpretation which is opposed to an overtly marked member with more specific
interpretation.”
51
5.1.4 Aktionsart
Mesqan possesses two aktionsarten in main clauses that are formed by periphrastic
5.1.4.1 Progressive
The progressive is used to denote an action that is just in process. In Mesqan, the
the imperfective form of a verb and the invariable non-past tense auxiliary -u, as
52
Table 7: Progressive Conjugation
53
In Mesqan the progressive aktionsart cannot be formed from stative verbs.
in which a verbal noun is preceded by the locative prefix bä- and followed by the
relational noun fwär ‘top’. This locative construction occurs then as complement to
5.1.4.2 Prospective
imperfective verb marked by the suffix -e followed by the invariable non-past tense
auxiliary -u, as in (35), or with the invariable past-tense auxiliary bannä, as in (36).
________________________________________________________________
4
Comrie (1976: 98) states that the progressive aspect can be expressed cross-linguistically by a
54
(35) nägä tägäbe yarew
nägä tä-gäbe y-ar-ø-e-u
tomorrow to-market 3-go.IPV-SM-PROS-AUX.NP
‘He intends to go to market tomorrow.’
(36) tɨrama tägäbe yare bannä
tɨrama tä-gäbe y-ar-ø-e bannä
yesterday to-market 3-go.IPV-SM-PROS AUX.PAST
‘He was intending to go to market yesterday.’
verb -ar- plus the morpheme –e with the prefixed and sufixed personal pronouns
y… ø. The tense is expressed with the non-past auxiliary –u. The same form can be
expressed in past simply by changing the present auxiliary to the past auxiliary
bannä, as in (36).
5.1.5 Perfect
perfect formed from the converb of a perfective verb. Thus, the present perfect is
The perfective form of the verb expresses a situation which is completed but the
converb marker -m relates the situation to the moment of utterance. In this case,
55
the present tense is zero marked. In addition, present perfect in stative verbs can
utterance. The reason for the two different English translations, in (37) and (38) is
the inherent semantics of the verbs involved. While (37) is formed from a dynamic
verb, (38) contains a stative verb. Thus, as it was the case with the perfective
aspect, the use of either stative or dynamic verbs also yields different readings in
56
5.1.6 Mood in Mesqan
The agent-oriented moods are jussive and imperative which both are formed by the
5.1.6.1.1 Jussive
The jussive expresses a command for the first and third persons. In Mesqan, the
that the jussive in type A tri-consonantal verbs of Mesqan has three patterns: -
C1C2äC3- for intransitive verbs, and -C1C2C3- or -C1ɨC2C3- for transitive verbs.
However, the researcher of this study came across only two patterns, namely -
C1C2äC3- and -C1C2C3- for intransitive and transitive verbs, respectively, which is
consistent with Leslau (1992b). Table 8 shows the inflection of type A intransitive
57
Table 8: Jussive Conjugation of an Intransitive type A Verbs
JUSSIVE GLOSS
1S ɨyya nɨngäs ‘Let me reign!’
ɨyya n-ngäs-ø
I 1-reign.JUS-S
Transitive verbs of type A verbs in Mesqan have the jussive pattern -C1C2C3-, as
shown below:
(40) a. yäk’bɨr
yä-k’bɨr-ø
3-bury.JUS-SM
‘Let him bury!’
58
b. yänkɨs
yä-nkɨs-ø
3-bite.JUS-SM
‘Let him bite!
c. yäsbɨr
yä-sbɨr-ø
3-break.JUS-SM
‘Let him break!’
d. yänk’ɨl
yä-nk’ɨl-ø
3-dig_out.JUS-SM
‘Let him dig out!’
e. yäkfɨt
yä-kfɨt-ø
3-open.JUS-SM
‘Let him open!’
Unlike in type A, in the other three types (type B, type C and type D) tri-
consonantal verbs, there are no distinct grammatical base forms for the transitive
and intransitive verbs. Both of them are expressed by the same base forms. The
jussive stem pattern for type B tri-consonantal verbs is -c1äc2c2c3- and -c1ac2c3-,
-c1oc2c3- for type C and type D tri-consonantal verbs, respectively. Table (9) shows
this fact.
59
Table 9: Jussive Conjugation of type B, type C and type D Verbs
5.1.6.1.2 Imperative
Verbs in the imperative denote an order given to the addressee. Although the
imperative and the jussive have the same grammatical bases, imperative verbs use
only a suffix set for subject agreement to distinguish between male and female
gender, and singular and plural number whereby the 2SM is zero marked:
60
Table 10: Imperative Conjugation of type A verbs
IMPERATIVE GLOSS
2SM gɨrf ‘Hit!’
gɨrf-ø
hit.JUS-2SM
IMPERATIVE GLOSS
2SM märrɨk’ ‘Bless!’
märrɨk’-ø
bless.JUS-2SM
61
5.1.6.1.3 Negative Jussive and Imperative
The negative jussive and the affirmative jussive use the same grammatical base
forms and subject agreement markers with one major difference: The third persons
are marked by e- with verbs in the negated jussive but by yä- with verbs in the
affirmative jussive.
The imperative is negated by attaching the prefix at- to the affirmative forms. The t
62
Table 13: Negative Imperative Conjugation of type A verbs
Table 14: Negative Imperative Conjugation of type B, type C and type D verbs
IMPERATIVE GLOSS
2SM attɨmärrɨk’ ‘Don’t bless!’
at-t-märrɨk’-ø
NEG-2-bless.JUS-2SM
63
5.1.6.2 Speaker-Oriented Mood
5.1.6.2.1 Obligation
which denotes the obligatory action, as complement to the existential copula nänä
object suffixes referring to the individual who has to fulfill the verbal action.
5.1.6.2.2 Ability
consisting of the verbal noun, denoting the action in consideration, plus the
imperfective verb -hir- ‘know, be able’ whose subject refers to the individual who is
64
CHAPTER SIX
This chapter summarizes and concludes the discussion from the previous chapters
on tense, aspect and mood in Mesqan. It was shown that the tense, aspect and
mood system of Mesqan has not been well studied. Thus the major aim of this
which includes describing the distinction between tense and aspect, identifying the
grammatical markers of tense, aspect and mood and identifying whether Mesqan is
To this effect the study is divided into six chapters that with specific roles. The first
chapter contains introductory remarks about the Mesqan people and their
language, as well as the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, the
significance, and its scope. Chapter Two reviews the typological literature for the
study of tense, aspect and mood as well as previous works on Mesqan. In this
chapter, I attempted to define the concept of tense, aspect and mood, and provide a
method for distinguishing between tense and aspect in which Mesqan verbs are
primarily marked for aspect but not for tense. Further, I briefly discuss the
In the fourth chapter, I provided an overview of Mesqan verbs. I explained that the
65
has a grammatical base form to denote aspect or mood. In addition to these, I
attempt to highlight related issues of verbs, i.e. verb types, negation, copulas and
auxiliaries.
In the fifth chapter, I particularly dealt with the tense, aspect and mood system in
Mesqan. In doing so, I applied the criteria to identify whether a verb is aspect- or
tense-marked from Chapter 2 to the Mesqan case. Besides, the aktionsarten, i.e.,
sub-types of the imperfective aspect, which are expressed by verb semantics and
Based on the findings of the present study, the following conclusions can be
forwarded:
Concerning the distinction between tense and aspect, Mesqan verbs are primarily
base forms of verbs. Mesqan has two main aspects: perfective and imperfective.
The distinction between these two aspects is easily traceable from its morphology,
i.e. there are distinct grammatical base forms for the aspects. Thus the perfective
aspect has a general grammatical base form C1VC2C2äC3- and for the imperfective -
C1VC2(C2)C3- In addition, subject agreement markers are distinct for the two
aspects. The perfective aspect uses a suffix set, while the imperfective aspect uses
pre- and suffixes. The perfective and the imperfective verb forms may or may not
appear with additional tense markers. If there is no tense marker, the perfective
66
has a past reading with dynamic verbs but a present reading with stative verbs,
while a bare verb in the imperfective aspect has a non-past and/or a habitual
two tenses: past and non-past, i.e. present and/or future. The past tense is
expressed by the auxiliary bannä while the non-past tense is expressed by the
category can only occur with the imperfective aspect while verbs in the perfective
aspect must be transformed into a converb to combine with a tense marker. The
non-past tense auxiliary -u only occurs with verbs in the imperfective aspect. In the
perfective aspect, there is no special marker for tense. The past meaning which is
In addition, Mesqan further can form a present or past perfect. The perfect in
plus converb marker -m combine with the past-tense auxiliary bannä to form the
Regarding mood, in type A verbs there are two distinct grammatical base forms for
verbs: -c1c2c3- and -c1äc2c3-. Unlike in type A, in the other three types (type B, type
C and type D) tri-consonantal verbs, there are no distinct grammatical base forms
67
for the transitive and intransitive verbs. Both of them are expressed by the same
base forms. The jussive stem pattern for type B tri-consonantal verbs is -c1äc2c2c3-
and -c1ac2c3-, -c1oc2c3- for type C and type D tri-consonantal verbs, respectively.
construction.
To conclude, based on the results obtained from the analysis of tense and aspect,
68
REFERENCES
Abduljebar Awol. 1988. Phonology of Mesqan. Unpublished B.A. Thesis, Addis
Ababa University.
Asher, R. E. (ed.) 1994. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford and
New York: Pergamon Press.
Baye Yimam. 2000. yamarәňňa sǫwasǫw. Addis Ababa: EMPDA.
Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca. 1994. The Evolution of Grammar:
Tense, Aspect and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago and
Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia. 2007. The 2007 National Statistics. Retrieved
from www.csa.gov.et on 22 August 2009.
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comrie, Bernard. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and Aspect Systems. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Getu Shikur. 1989. Verb Morphology of Mesqan. Unpublished B.A. Thesis, Addis
Ababa University.
Getu Shikur. 2012. The Socio-Cultural Milieu, Language Use, Language Attitude and
Ethnolinguistic Identity in Mesqan. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Addis Ababa
University.
Hetzron, Robert. 1969. The Classification of the Ethiopian Semitic Languages.
Unpublished Manuscript, Addis Ababa University, Institute of Ethiopian
Studies.
Hetzron, Robert. 1972. Ethiopian Semitic. Studies in Classification. Manchester:
Manchester University Press.
Hetzron, Robert. 1977. The Gunnän-Gurage Languages. Naples: Don Bosco.
Hetzron, Robert. 1997. Outer South Ethiopic. In Robert Hetzron (ed.), The Semitic
Languages. London/New York: Routledge, 535-549.
Hetzron, Robert and Marvin L. Bender. 1976. The Ethio-Semitic languages. In:
Marvin L. Bender, James D. Bowen, Robert L. Cooper and Charles A. Ferguson
(eds.), Language in Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press, 77-90.
69
Kearns, Kate. 2000. Semantics. Macmillan: St. Martins Press.
Leslau, Wolf. 1979. Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic). Volume I: Individual
Dictionaries. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 751-830.
Leslau, Wolf. 1992a [1968]. Is there a Proto-Gurage? In Wolf Leslau (ed.), Gurage
Studies: Collected Articles. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 226-245.
Leslau, Wolf. 1992b [1982]. The jussive in the Gurage dialects of Muher and
Masqan. In Wolf Leslau (ed.), Gurage Studies: Collected Articles. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz, 538-550.
Leslau, Wolf. 2004. The Verb in Mäsqan as Compared with other Gurage Dialects.
Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 16th Edition. Dallas:
SIL International. Retrieved from www.ethnologue.com on 09 June 2012.
Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. London: Cambridge
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Meyer, Ronny. 2006. Wolane: Descriptive Grammar of an East Gurage Language
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Meyer, Ronny. 2007. Mäsqan. In Siegbert Uhlig (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.
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Meyer, Ronny. 2011. Gurage. In Stefan Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An
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Saeed, John Ibrahim. 1997. Semantics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
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of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Elseviers, 535-538.
70
APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE ON TAM IN MESQAN
SENTEENCES GLOSS
14. ɨssu kand amät bäfit bɨrtʃ’k’o sɛbrowal ‘he has broken a mirror a year
ago.’
15. ɨssu tәlantәna bɨrtʃ’k’o säbro näbbär ‘he had broken a mirror
yesterday.’
71
16. ɨssu ambbässa ɨyyägäddälä näw ‘he is killing a lion.’
72
7. ʤämmärä ‘he began’
NOUNS GLOSS
1. säw ‘person’
2. gäbäya ‘market’
4. astämari ‘teacher’
5. bɨrtʃ’k’o ‘glass’
1. tɨlantɨna ‘yesterday’
2. ahun ‘now’
3. nägä ‘tomorrow’
73
6. kä and amät bähwala ‘one year later’
ASPECTUAL ADVERBS
1. zäwätɨr ‘always’
2. lɨkk ‘just’
ɨne ‘I’
ɨsu ‘he’
ɨɲɲa ‘we’
ɨsswa ‘she’
1. att känä awraɲɲann a eli yärutʃtʃa wudɨddɨr k’ärräsäma. ‘One day rabbit and
tortoise began a running competition.’
2. awraɲɲanna bät’am fätt’an rwaʃt’ tɨttɨhän eli gɨn bäk’ässta tɨrramäd ɨnsɨsaya.
‘The rabbit is fast runner, but the tortoise is slow.’
74
3. awraɲɲannam zi huneta bäwähar “ eli bät’am k’äsästäɲɲaya, ɨyyama
bät’am fätt’an rwaʃt’nhw bäwäbär essäbäʃtʃt. ‘The rabbit understands that she
is faster than the tortoise.
4. bäzi gizyä awraɲɲa k’una k’är assäbäʃtʃt “eli gäna bäruk’iya mädäriya, sɨläzih
hiti ziya tɨsälasɨnn ɨyya bäzaf t’ɨlel mwrä afwäy barräʃtʃt. ‘In this time, the
rabbit thought one thing “the tortoise is so far from me so that I can take a
rest under the tree until she arrives here.”
9. bäzi gizyä awraɲɲa bädrɨgiteta tänaddädäʃtʃt. ‘At this time, the tortoise got
angry.’
75