INFORMATION TO USERS

This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films
the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and
dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of
computer printer.

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the

copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations
and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.

In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by

sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing
from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.

ProQuest Information and Learning

300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, M1 48106-1346 USA
800-521-0600
 COMPLEX PREDICATES IN TSAFIKI

by

CONNIE DICKINSON

A DISSERTATION

Presented to the Department of Linguistics

and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

December 2002
 UMI Number: 3072578

Copyright 2002 by
Dickinson, Connie S.

All rights reserved.

UMI Microform3072578
Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Leaming Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

ProQuest Information and Leaming Company

300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346
"Complex Predicates in Tsafiki," a dissertation prepared by

Connie Dickinson in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of

Linguistics. This dissertation has been approved and

accepted by:

/
Dr. Scott DeLancey, Chair of the Examini Committee

1
/
Date

Committee in charge: Dr. Scott DeLancey, Chair

Dr. Eric Pederson
Dr. Spike Gildea
Dr. Phillip Young

Accepted by:

Dean of the Graduate School

0 2 0 0 2 Connie Dickinson
 An Abstract of the Dissertation of

Connie Dickinson for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

in the Department of Linguistics to be taken December 2002

Title: COMPLEX PREDICATES IN TSAFIKI

Approved :
Dr. Scott DeLancey

This dissertation is a study of two predicate

constructions in Tsafiki, a Barbacoan language spoken in

the western lowlands of Ecuador. The first concerns complex

predicates. The majority of predicates in Tsafiki are

complex consisting of an inflecting element (generic verb)

from a small closed class of around thirty-three verbs and

a non-inflecting element (coverb) from a large open class.

Each of the elements of the complex predicate contributes

semantic participants and affects the syntactic structure

of the clause, although syntactically, the complex

predicate functions like a simple predicate in that it

allows only one set of morphosyntactic arguments. Complex

predicates of this type pose a challenge for mainstream

approaches to valency or argument structure. The standard

approach is characterized by the view that valency and

argument structure are determined by the lexical properties

of a single element, the head, exemplified by a simple

verb. In this study I show that the standard approach is

untenable for Tsafiki and instead adopt an alternative

approach. By carefully considering the relational

properties of the two elements of the complex predicate,

allowing argument sharing or merger and by considering the

construction as a sign in its own right, the syntactic

structure and interpretation of the complex predicates can

be explained.

Once the complex predicate is formed it can be further

classified by another overt system of verbal

classification. In Tsafiki, every predicate, whether simple

or complex can be classified into one and only one of five

categories based on overt morphological coding.

Both of these systems can be considered overt

classifying systems, but I contend that the classifying

function is secondary. The primary function of both systems

is to provide a schematic profile or template for the

evidentuality coded by the predicate.

 CURRICULUM VITA

NAME OF AUTHOR: Connie Dickinson

PLACE OF BIRTH: Coeur drAlene, Idaho

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:

University of Oregon

DEGREES AWARDED:

Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics, 2002, University

of Oregon
Master of Arts in Linguistics, 1994, University of
Oregon
Bachelor of Arts, 1991, University of Oregon

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

Mirativity and Evidentiality

South American Languages
Barbacoan Languages

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Teaching Assistant, University of Oregon, 1991-1994,

1995, 1998-2002.

AWARDS AND HONORS:

Fulbright Grant, 1996

National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement

Grant, 1997
 Graduate Student Research Award, Graduate School of
the University of Oregon, 1999, 2000

Graduate Student Research Support Grant, Center for

the Study of Women in Society

Endangered Language Fund, 2002

PUBLICATIONS:

Dickinson C., and M. Ventura. (in press).

La Narrative Tsachila. Literaturas indigenas del
Ecuador, compiled by J. Juncosa. Quito:
Corporaci6n Editora National.

Dickinson, Connie. 2000. Complex predicates in

Tsafiki. BLS 24. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistic
Society.

Dickinson, C. 2000. Mirativity in Tsafiki (Colorado).

Studies in Languaqe. 24.2:379-422.

Dickinson, C., and Givbn, T. 2000. The effect of the

interlocutor on episodic recall: An experimental
study. Usage-Based Models of Language, ed. by
Michael Barlow and Suzanne Kemmer, 234-276.
Stanford: CSLI

Dickinson, C. 1999. Semantic and pragmatic dimensions

of Tsafiki evidential and mirative markers. CLS
35, ed. by S. Billings, J.P. Boyle, and A.
Griffith.
29-44. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Dickinson, C., and Givbn, T. Memory and Conversation:

-

Toward an Experimental Paradigm. Conversation:

Cognitive, Communicative and Social Perspectives,
ed. by T. Givbn, 34-67. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my most sincere thanks to the

following people and institutions that have helped me to

start and finish this project:

My friends in Congoma, Ecuador, particularly the

family and friends of Jacinto Aguavil and the Director of

PIKITSA, Alfonso Aguavil. In addition special thanks to

Catalina Calaza6n, Primitivo Aguavil, Juan Aguavil,

Secundina Aguavil, Gloria Campuez, Ram6n Aguavil, Rosa

Zaracay, Berta Zaracay, Rene Aguavil, Meri Aguavil and Joel

Aguavil and all my other friends in Ecuador including Dr.

Marleen Haboud and Fernando Oretega.

I also wish to thank Tom Giv6n and Colette Grinevald

for getting me started. A special thanks to Scott DeLancey

and my offspring, Brodie, Dylan, Aeson, Sofia and Aaron and

to Joan Dickinson. Special thanks to el diablo, thanks

Roberto. This research was funded by the Fulbright

Foundation, an NSF Grant (SBR-9614981),and grants from the

U of Oregon Graduate School and CSWS.

 DEDICATION

to Gerald Dickinson
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I . INTRODUCTION........................................ 1

.......................................
1 . Overview 1
1.1 Goals of the Study....................... 3
1.2 Complex Predicates....................... 4
1.3 Terminology Used in This study........... 12
2 . The Language and Speakers...................... 17
2.1 Genetic Afffiliati~n ..................... 17
2.2 The Tsachila ............................. 20
.
3 Previous Research .............................. 24
.
4 Fieldwork.................................... 25
4.1 Methodology .............................. 27
.
5 Organization of the Dissertation............... 30

I1. BASIC GRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF TSAFIKI

1. Introduction................................... 32
2- Phonology .................................... 33
2.1 Phoneme Inventory........................ 33
2.2 Consonants ............................... 34
2.3 Vowels ................................... 37
2.4 Syllable Structure. ...................... 38
2.5 Stress and Intonation.................... 39
2.6 Notes on Orthography ..................... 40
3. Word Order ..................................... 41
3.1 Verb Final Characteristics............... 47
4. Words and Phrases.............................. 52
4.1 Nominal Expressions ...................... 52
4.2 Verbs .................................... 79
4.3 Complement Clauses ....................... 124
4.4 ~dverbialSubordinate Clauses ............ 130
5.0 Summary ....................................... 141

111. SIMPLE AND COMPLEX PREDICATES..................... 142

 Introduction................................... 142
Canonical Complex Predicates................... 1 4 6
2 . 1 Word Order and Prosody ................... 147
2.2 Negation ................................. 150
2.3 Summary.................................. 150
Coverbs ....................................... 1 5 1
3 . 1 Coverbs and Nouns ........................ 152
3.2 Nouns, Verbs and Coverbs................. 1 5 9
3.3 Coverbs and Subordinate Clauses.......... 1 6 1
3.4 Coverbs in Finite Clauses................ 1 6 6
Adverbs ..................................... 170
Ideophones..................................... 177
5.1 Tsafiki Ideophones....................... 178
5.2 Semantic Constraints of Ideophones....... 1 8 6
5.3 Phonological Properties of Ideophones.... 189
5.4 Coverbs vs . Ideophones................... 1 9 1
5.6 Ideophones with ti 'sayf ................. 195
5.7 Integration of Ideophone and Verb ........ 1 9 6
5.8 Summary.................................. 197
Borrowed Words ................................. 198
Generic Verbs .................................. 200
Coverb Classes................................. 208
Summary........................................ 210

.
IV ARGUMENT STRUCTURE OF SIMPLE AND COMPLEX PREDICATES 212

1. Introduction................................... 212
2 . Simple Finite Clauses in Tsafiki ............... 220
2.1 Morphosyntactic Properties of 'Subjectf
and 'Object ' ............................ 224
2.2 Relative Clauses ......................... 233
2.3 Stative Verbs ............................ 237
2.4 Dative-Subject Constructions............. 241
2.5 Locative Alternations .................... 252
2.7 Summary .................................. 256
3 . Complex Predicates............................. 257
3.1 Complex Predicate Formation of Active
Verbs ................................... 259
3.2 Stative Complex Predicates............... 279
4 . Summary ...................................... 282

V . VERB CLASS MARKERS AND AUXILIARIES .................. 284

.
1 Introduction ................................... 284
 xii

2. Verb Class Markers ............................. 291

2.1 Morphosyntactic Properties of VCLs ....... 295
2.2 Verb class markers within the clause..... 304
2.3 Verb Class Markers as Referential
Devices................................. 335
2.4 Discussion............................... 359
3 . Auxiliaries .................................... 361
3.1 Participle and infinitive forms.......... 361
3.2 The auxiliary jo 'be' .................... 364
3.3 Discussion............................... 383
3.4 The Auxiliary i 'become' .................. 384
4 . Summary......................................... 400

V1 . GENERIC VERBS AND VERBCLASS MARKERS

AS CLASSIFYING CONSTRUCTIONS...................... 402

.
1 Introduction................................... 402
2 . Structure of the Classifying Systems ........... 404
.
3 Functional Similarities........................ 410

APPENDIX

A . List of Abbreviations.......................... 413

BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................... 415
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Location of Tsafiki lexemes on a scale from

affecto-imagistic to schematic.............. 2 1 1

2. Initiating Point (IP) and coding of nominative

in causative and inchoative constructions... 223

3. Argument sharing of monovalent motion verb and

monovalent coverb aligning with Undergoer =
inchoative. .................................
262

4. Argument sharing of monovalent motion verb and

monovalent coverb aligning with Actor = manner
of motion .................................. 263

5. Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligning with Actor and monovalent coverb
aligning with Undergoer = causative. ......... 264

6. Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligning with Actor and monovalent coverb
aligning with actor = non-translational
motion.. ..................................... 264

7. Argument sharing of bivalent generic verb

aligned with an actor and event and monovalent
coverb aligning with actor.... ............... 267

8. Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligned with an actor and bivalent coverb
aligning with actor and undergoer ............ 268

9. Argument sharing of trivalent generic verb

and a bivalent coverb ........................ 269
10. Argument sharing of monovalent generic
verb aligning with Undergoer and a monovalent
coverb aligning with Undergoer ............... 270
11. Monovalent coverb aligned with undergoer, and
bivalent stative generic verb ................ 280

12. Bivalent coverb and monovalent stative generic

verb ......................................... 281

13. A monovalent coverb with undergoer alignment

and monovalent stative generic verb .......... 282

14. Initiating Point and coding of nominative with

active verbs ................................. 360

15. Argument Sharing of bivalent nonfinite verb

aligned with actor and undergoer, and stative
auxiliary aligned with entity and
location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

16. Nonfinite motion verb combined with monovalent

auxiliary aligned with undergoer............. 400
 LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 . T s a f i k i Consonants ............................ 33
2 . T s a f i k i O r a l Vowels ........................... 34
3 . T s a f i k i Nasal Vowels .......................... 34
4 . Frequency of Occurrence of Coverb w i t h a
G e n e r i c Verb .................................165
5 . Frequency of Occurrence o f a Coverb w i t h a
Generic Verb i n A l l C l a u s e Types .............l 6 8
6 . Morphological and S y n t a c t i c P r o p e r t i e s of
Nouns. Coverbs and G e n e r i c Verbs .............l 6 9
7 . G e n e r i c Verbs and Number of Coverbs w i t h which
They CO-occur ( o u t of 551) ...................203
8 . T s a f i k i Coverb and Verb C l a s s e s ...............209
9 . T s a f i k i G e n e r i c Verbs and Number o f Coverbs
( o u t o f 551) w i t h which t h e y can CO-occur ....292
10 . Gender v s . C l a s s i f i e r systems .................405
11. Verb C l a s s Markers v s . G e n e r i c Verbs ..........406
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. Overview

This work is a study of two predicate constructions in

Tsafiki (Colorado) a Barbacoan language spoken in the

western lowlands of Ecuador. The first system concerns

predicate formation in Tsafiki. The majority of predicates

in Tsafiki are complex, consisting of an inflecting element

(generic verb) from a small closed class (33 members) and a

non-inflecting lexeme (coverb) from a large open class of

neutral elements. The generic verbs can also occur as the

sole predicating element in the clause (simple verb). The

coverbs can take nominalizing morphology to function as

nominals, or can CO-occur with the generic verb to form a

finite complex predicate.

The second system applies to both the fully formed

complex predicate and simple verbs. All predicates in

Tsafiki can be classified according to one of five verb

class markers (VCL) they takes in certain morphosyntactic

environments. These verb class markers also occur with

simple verbs. By way of introduction, two examples of the

type of complex predicates that are the focus of this are

given below. In (1) the first underlined element is a

generic verb ji 'G0:GEN'. The second underlined element is

the verb class marker i 'BECOME:VCLr. Both follow the

coverb chi 'rip' .

(1)

(1) Jali chijinin

jali chi-S-nin
blanket rip-G0:GEN-CNTR

inatietif
-i-na-ti-e-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say she said the blanket was just ripping.'
(TSAB01.54)

Another complex predicate construction is given in

(2). Here the coverb jeke 'dry' is followed by underlined

generic verb suwa 'CAUSE.BECOME:GENr, which in turn is

followed by the plural marker and then the underlined verb

class marker ki 'DO:GENr.

 Junni sabe pelebinan
junni sabe pele=bi=nan
then rubber trunk=LOC=INCL

jeke suwalakiman' ,
jeke suwa-la-ki-man-e
dry CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-PL-DO: VCL-SIT-DCL

matu=te=ri
matu=te=ri
old.days=LOC=FOC
'They dried the rubber on the trunk of the tree
itself, in the old days.' (CCNANNI.4)

1.1 Goals of the Study

The goals of this thesis are twofold: on the one hand, it

aims at a thorough description of core areas of Tsafiki

grammar, on the other hand, it is concerned with linguistic

typology and the implications the type of complex predicate

system found in Tsafiki has for linguistic theory. Tsafiki is a

little described language from the under-documented Barbacoan

language. A detailed description of a core area of its grammar

will provide much needed information concerning this family of

languages. In addition, the type of complex predicate found in

Tsafiki has some striking linguistic similarities to the types

of systems found in Northern Australian languages (see

Schultze-Berndt 2000, and McGregor 2002). The existence of the

Tsafiki system demonstrates that these types of systems are not

simply an idiosyncratic phenomenon found in a single language

family or area, but rather yet another means languages may

employ to code events. Finally, complex predicates pose many

challenges to mainstream approaches to argument structure and

the relationship between syntax and semantics which are

examines in this study.

1.2 Complex Predicates

Complex predicates, including the kind represented by the

above Tsafiki examples, have received a good deal of attention

in recent literature due to the challenges they pose for

mainstream approaches to argument structure (Alsina, Bresnan

and Sells 1997; Baker 1988, 1997; Hale and Keyser 1993; Mohanan

1994, 1997; Butt 1995, 1997; Schultze-Berndt 2000; inter alia).

In the standard analysis, valency and argument structure are

thought to be determined by the lexical properties of a single

element, exemplified by a simple verb. Complex predicates

create difficulties for the standard approach in that in this

construction two or more relational lexemes combine at the

syntactic level to form the equivalent of a single predicate

with a single set of arguments. Either or both elements may

contribute semantic participants and affect the argument

structure of a single clause. There have been several different

approaches presented in the literature to overcome these

difficulties ranging from Baker's (1988, 1997) 'head movement'

which allows two separate predicate argument domains in D-

structure which can then undergo subsequent syntactic

transformations (Geuder and Butt 1998) to approaches which

allow argument composition at the syntactic level (Alsina 1996;

Butt 1995; Mohanan 1994, 1997; Durie 1997; inter alia). In this

study, the latter approach will be utilized. This approach is

loosely based on construction grammar (Goldberg 1995; Croft

2001) and has three basic characteristics: 1) both elements of

the complex predicate are considered relational jointly

contributing semantic participants and affecting the argument

structure of a single clause; 2) argument sharing is allowed,

i.e. more than one semantic participant may converge on a

single argument; and 3) the construction is considered a sign

in its own right, capable of contributing its own information

to the clause.

While allowing argument composition at the syntactic level

solves many of the problems posed by complex predicates,

questions concerning argument structure or linking still

remain. The classic approach has depended heavily on the notion

of "thematic roles" which have been posited not only to depict

the relevant semantic properties of arguments that are

'projected' into the syntax, but also to encode pertinent

aspects of the verb's meaning (Geuder and Butt 1998). However

it has become increasingly clear that these roles may lack

explanative value and there is a growing consensus that they

should be reconstructed in terms of other semantic or syntactic

factors (Geuder and Butt 1998:2; Dowty 1991; Jackendoff 1990;

Croft 1998 inter alia). Increasingly compositional semantics

and event structure have been evoked to solve some of the

classic problems concerning "thematic roles" and constructions

such as locative (Levin 1993) and causative alternations

(Alsina 1996, 1999). The semantic effects created in these

types of alternations are not easily explained in a theory

which posits an argument structure derived solely from the

thematic roles projected by a single lexeme (see Butt and

Geuder 1998).

Tsafiki offers a unique opportunity to address these

larger theoretical issues for several reasons. Primarily the

majority of predicates in Tsafiki are complex (except for the

thirty-three generic verbs which can also function as simple

verbs). In Tsafiki there is no need to 'decompose' the verb

meaning, in that the predicate already contains two

independently predicating elements. One of the primary aims of

this study is to exam the type of information contributed by

each element of the complex predicate. I will contend that the

coverb is rich in specific lexical meaning and carries semantic

participants, but lacks information concerning event structure.

The generic verbs in Tsafiki are highly schematic and general

in their meaning and directly carry information concerning

event structure in terms of different types of CAUSE, GO, ACT,

BECOME, BE, and SAY and hence there is no need to postulate an

additional layer of meaning.

The importance of distinguishing between two types of verb

meaning, the lexically specific and the structural is

recognized by most current semantic theories. However,.

differences arise concerning whether the structural information

is projected by the verb or lies elsewhere. The projectionist

account must posit multiple lexical representations to account

for the multiple meanings of the verb that then determine the

various syntactic structures the verb can be found in. An

alternative approach is the construction model, in which a

single verb names a concept that is common to all its uses

across various syntactic configurations. Verbs that name

concepts that are compatible with the meaning conveyed by more

than one syntactic structure can be found in more than one type

of syntactic construction. In this approach a construction is

defined as any element (from a morpheme to a syntactic

configuration) that contains one or more properties that are

not strictly predictable from its component parts or from other

previously established constructions (Goldberg 1995:4). The

only restrictions in this approach are semantic. Two or more

constructions may combine as long as the semantics of the

constructions are compatible.

The construction grammar approach and the closely related

cognitive grammar approach are both utilized in this study.

Cognitive grammar does not posit a clear division between

semantics and syntax but rather a gradient between specific

lexical meaning and schematic meaning. In this sense it is

highly compatible with construction grammar. Construction

grammar is particularly attractive for Tsafiki, in that the

thirty generic verbs obviously occur in a large number of

different syntactic structures. In addition, the majority of

the caverbs can occur with more than one of the generic verbs.

I will show throughout the study that by considering the

meaning of the coverb, the generic verb and the construction

itself, Tsafiki complex predicates can be explained simply

without positing a large number of lexical representations for

the individual coverbs and generic verbs.

While the focus of this study will be on complex predicate

formation, Tsafiki actually has four distinct categories of

predicating elements..Besides coverbs and generic verbs,

Tsafiki has a large class of ideophones. Ideophones were

defined early on by Doke (1935) as a' vivid representation of

an idea in sound". They can describe manners, sounds, smells,

actions or states. In Chapter I11 I will demonstrate that

ideophones in Tsafiki can be used independently to code an

event separate from that coded by the main verb in the clause

in which it occurs. Kita (1997) calls ideophones "verbal

gestures" in that like gesture they are high in affective

meaning, often directly evoking certain modalities such as the

visual, hearing, tactile or sensory motor. Many of the coverbs

can also function as ideophones and like the ideophones are

high in 'affecto-imagistic' information coded by the

ideophones. Affecto-imagistic is a term from Kita (1997) who

argues that the semantic representation of Japanese mimetics

belongs to the affecto-imagistic dimension in which "language

has direct contact with sensory, motor, and affective

information" (Kita 1997:379). He contrasts this dimension of

meaning with the 'analytic dimensionr or the "dimension of

decontextualized predication" (Kita 1997:379). Due to the

specific, highly affective meaning coded by both the coverbs

and ideophones, both have strong constraints on the type of

semantic participants they carry (in standard terms they have

strict subcategorization frames), which contrasts with both the

generic verbs and the verb class markers. The verb class

markers lie at the other extreme from ideophones. As mentioned

above, all predicates in Tsafiki can be classified by which one

of five verb class markers they take in certain morphosyntactic

environments. In Chapter V I will argue that these are not

simply classifying lexemes, but rather function much like the

generic verbs in that they carry information concerning event

structure, minimally determining whether the clause is coding

ACT, BECOME, SAY, BE or BE IN A POSITION.

The four predicating elements, ideophone, coverb,

generic verb and verb class marker can be arranged on a cline,

ranging from the highly affecto-imagistic ideophones, to the

verb class markers which code highly schematic event structure.

The existence of four different predicating elements all

carrying different types of semantic naturally leads to a

question which I cannot answer here, namely: Do the four

different predicating elements arise from a single level of

mental representation? We know that there must be some sort of

conceptual structure that mediates between other systems such

as the visual, auditory, haptic (sense of touch) and

sensorimotor. Jackendoff originally proposed only a single

level of mental representation at which information conveyed by

language is compatible with information from other systems. In

his more recent work (Jackendoff 2002) in addition to positing

a 'conceptual structure' adds a 'spatial structure' based on

visual modality. He only addresses spatial structure but admits

there may be other structures, based on other modalities. He

maintains that the grammatical aspects of language make

reference only to the conceptual structure, but postulates that

it is only due to other structures such as 'spatial structure'

that we can talk about what we see (or hear, or smell or feel

for that matter). He further asks an interesting and as he

admits unanswerable question at this point, as to how much, if

any overlap, is there between "spatial structure" and what he

calls "conceptual structure"?

I cannot answer these questions here, but Tsafiki does

offer an interesting means to approach the question in that

affecto-imagistic words and the more analytical words do belong

to morphosyntactically distinct, although somewhat overlapping

categories.

As pointed out the different elements combine at the

syntactic level to form a single predicate. These combinations

are not arbitrary. An individual coverb generally only

regularly combines with a subset of the generic verbs, and

while the system is productive to some degree, there are clear,

semantically-based restrictions. The semantic basis of this

system leads to the secondary function of the generic verbs and

verb class markers, i.e. both can be seen as classifying

systems in that when the Tsafiki speaker forms a finite clause

he must choose from a limited set of generic verbs essentially

classifying all events in Tsafiki into a small number of

categories, The verb class markers further classify all

predicates into one of five semantically based classes. While

not the focus of this study, there are some interesting

parallels between the classifying system that arises from the

use of the generic verbs and verb class markers and other

overtly marked linguistic classifying systems such as nominal

classifiers. This function of the complex predicate systems in

Tsafiki will be addressed in Chapter VI.

In the remainder of this Chapter, I first discuss the

terminology used in this study and then the historical and

present situation of the Tsachila, and then fieldwork and the

methodology used to collect the data used in this study.

1.3 Terminology Used in This Study

Following Shiiltze-Berndt (2000), I call the inflecting

verb a 'generic verb' and the non-inflecting element a

'coverbf. She uses these terms in her study of Jaminjung

complex predicates which bear a striking resemblance to the

Tsafiki system. In Jaminjung, as in Tsafiki, there are

roughly thirty generic verbs that combine with an open

class of coverbs to form complex predicates. The coverbs,

as in Tsafiki, can also function as ideophones. While the

similarities of the two systems are striking, the semantic

meaning of the generic verbs exhibits some differences. In

particular, generic verbs in Jaminjung tend to code more

specific manner such as 'poker, 'kick/stepf or 'bite'

whereas in Tsafiki this type of information is found in the

coverbs. Despite these differences the systems are similar

enough that to highlight the similaritie I use Schultze-

Berndt'S terms.

As pointed out by Shultze-Berndt (2000) the term

coverb accurately describes the dependent nature of these

elements, which in finite clauses combine with an

inflecting verb to form a predicate. Schultze-Berndt uses

the term 'generic verb' rather than other terms such as

'classifierf or 'verb class' for the inflecting verbs in

that, while the term 'classifier' does capture the

categorizing nature of the closed-class of inflecting

verbs, she considers the generic verbs to be semantically

general lexemes with a categorizing function rather than

classifiers per se. The term 'generic' is borrowed from the

tern 'generic nounr, familiar to Australian linguists,

which describes nouns coding general rather than specific

properties which CO-occur with more specific nouns in

combinations reminiscent of nominal classifier systems.

While the closed-class verbs in Tsafiki are of a general

nature, i.e. they code events such as 'dof, 'put8,

'becomer, 'gor, 'ber, there is an important difference

between the coverb-generic verb combinations in Tsafiki and

Jaminjung and the 'generic noun-specific nounf combinations

found in languages such as Mparntwe Arrente (Wilkins 2000).

In the generic noun constructions either element can occur

as an independent, referring noun with discourse factors

determining which of the three constructions--generic noun,

specific noun or generic noun-specific noun--will be used

(Wilkins 2000). In general, the coverbs, unlike specific

nouns, cannot occur as independent elements. They require

nominalizing morphology to occur as nominals and in most

cases a generic verb to function as a predicate. Hence

there is an important difference between specific nouns and

coverbs that also affects the function of the generic

verbs. However, the term is useful for Tsafiki in that it

distinguishes the generic verbs from the verb class

markers.
 Also following Schtiltze-Berndt, who bases her

terminology on Goldberg (1995), I distinguish between

participants and arguments. In a construction based account

semantic relationality can be described independently of

syntactic argument structure. The term 'participantf or

'semantic participantf refers to the semantic participants

that are inherent to the meaning of a relational predicate.

I differ from SchUltze-Berndt however in using the more

abstract semantic roles 'undergoer', 'actorf, 'entityf and

'locationf as the basic semantic participant roles coded by

coverbs and generic verbs rather than more specific terms

such as 'giverf or 'giveef. The terms 'Actorf and

'Undergoerf are taken from Van Valin and LaPolla (1997).

Both terms refer to 'macrorolesf, i.e. each covers a broad

range of specific types of participants, The term

'undergoer' refers to the participant that undergoes a

change of state or location or is the element at which the

action is directed (i.e. with a verb like 'hitf the

'hittee' does not necessarily undergo a change of state,

but it is the focus of the action). Actor covers the more

traditional notion of 'agentf, but includes perceivers and

experiencers among other semantic roles. Actors are not

necessarily volitional. The meaning of both these terms is

highly linked to an event, i.e. the Actor does something

and the Undergoer 'undergoes' something. Neither term is

appropriate for states in which there is no event or action

for the Actor to do, nor an event for the Undergoer to

undergo. I use the terms 'Entity' and 'Locationg for

stative eventualities. States describe relationships

between different entities. I use 'Entity' for the more

prominent participant that is being ascribed a 'locationg,

either literally or metaphorically in a stative

relationship.

Arguments are slots in a syntactic construction and

can be described in terms of 'subject', 'objectr or

'nominativer, 'accusativei, etc. or in terms of the

constructional meaning associated with that slot.

Both semantic participants and arguments can be

further distinguished by their status as core or

peripheral. Core semantic participants are participants

present in all usages of a particular lexeme. Core

arguments are entities that are always present in a certain

syntactic construction.

Finally, a note on the glosses. The glosses I use

often combine both the meaning of the lexeme and its

function in a certain construction. In particular some of

the generic verbs can function as simple verbs, generic

verbs or verb class markers. When used as a simple verb the

generic verb occurs in small letters with a single gloss.

When used as a generic verb or verb class marker, the verb

is glossed in capital letters followed by a colon and its

function in the construction i.e. 'DO:GENV or 'DO:VCLf .

2. The Language and Speakers

2.1 Genetic Affiliation

Tsafiki is a Barbacoan language spoken by

approximately 2,000 speakers in the western lowlands of

Ecuador. The genetic classification of the Barbacoan

languages remains an open question. The three Barbacoan

languages spoken in Ecuador, Tsafiki, Charpaalachi (Cayapa)

and Awa Pit (Coaiquer), have been classified in the

Chibchan family since 1891 (Brinton, 1891; Rivet 1924;

Jij6n y Caamafio 1945; Loukotka 1968; Swadesh 1959; Moore,

1952; Tovar and Tovar 1984; Greenberg 1960, 1987). While

the grouping with Chibchan has been questioned (Kaufman,

1990; Constenla, 1981), the sub-grouping with Paez (Nasa

Yuwe) of Colombia has generally been accepted. However,

recent work by Curnow (1998) argues against the grouping of

Barbacoan with Paez. He further identifies two languages in

Colombia, Guambiano and Totor6, as members of Barbacoan. In

any case, the grouping of the Barbacoan languages with

Chibchan at the phylum level is not corroborated by current

evidence and the sub-grouping with Paez needs further

study.

The only truly comparative work that has been done

within the Barbacoan family is Moorefs (1962) article,

which looked at the correspondences between Tsafiki and

Cha'palaachi. He examined 207 cognates and clearly

demonstrated the close relationship between the two

languages.

Curnow and Liddicoat (1998) made a first attempt using

the comparative method to demonstrate the relationships

within the Barbacoan family, but unfortunately the study is

based on only forty-eight cognates. It does however,

demonstrate the already established relationship between

Tsafiki and Chafpalaachi. Guambiano and Totor6 also show a

close relationship. In fact Totor6 is sometimes considered

a dialect of Guambiano and apparently the two languages

exhibit a great deal of mutual intelligibility (Curnow

1998). According to Curnowfs study, Awa Pit is more closely

related to Guambiano/Totor6 than to the two Southern

Barbacoan languages, Tsafiki and Cha'palaachi. He groups

the languages into a Northern Branch-Awa Pit and

Guambiano/Totorb and a Southern Branch-Tsafiki and

Chafpalaachi. While the relationship of Tsafiki and

Chafpalaachi is firmly established, and the relationship

between Guambiano and Totor6 appears self-evident, a more

thorough study involving the comparative method and a

larger number of cognates remains to be done.

Two interesting, fairly rare, typological aspects that

the Barbacoan languages appear to have in common is all

languages appear to have at least a reduced system of the

verb classification systems discussed in this study and all

along with Paez, have some form of the mirative,

disjunct/conjunct system (Garzon 1994; Vasquez 1988, 1994;

Rojas 1994, 1998; Vitadella 1988a, 1988b). Whether the

presence of these similar grammatical systems is due to

genetic affiliation or area1 contact remains to be seen.

So at this time the genetic affiliation of Tsafiki and

the Barbacoan languages remains an open question.

 2.2 The Tsachila

Tsafiki is spoken by approximately 2,000 Tsachila

living on seven communes situated at the western base of

the Andes near the city of Santo Domingo de 10s Colorados.

The Tsachila have no village, and traditionally lived in

widely scattered houses. Extended family groups that were

loosely aligned with other groups under a miya 'governor'

or pone 'shaman'. However it should be noted that their

narrative history includes the story of a Tsachila city in

which the residents began to die of an epidemic. The

shamans instructed the people to abandon and burn the city,

and leave, taking nothing with them. No house was to be

constructed within view of another, and if a member became

ill and died, they were to immediately abandon and burn

their dwelling. Hence, how far their present mode of living

in widely scattered houses extends into the past is not

known. It could be the result of colonialism and the

epidemics it brought.

From the work of F. Salomon (1997) we know that the

present-day Tsachila are an amalgamation of several

distinct groups that populated western Ecuador before the

colonial period. They may have occupied the region from the
Esmeraldas river basin in the extreme North of Ecuador to

points in the Andean highlands such as the ancient

Angamarca. There is evidence of extensive economic trade

between the Tsachila, the highlands and even down into the

Amazon until well into the century until the pressure

of colonialization and the disappearance of neighboring

groups led to the increasing isolation of the Tsachila

(Ventura i Oller 2000). At the end of the lgth Century the

expoloitation of rubber in the area led to the arrival of

both black and white colonialists (Ventura 2000). Still

overall, the Tsachila remained relatively isolated from

colonial contact throughout the 16th-19th centuries.

However in 1958, with the construction of highways through

the area, the Tsachila began to feel the full impact of the

dominant culture of Ecuador (Ventura i Oller, 1995). The

city of Santo Domingo de 10s Colorados had approximately

1,500 inhabitants in 1957, but by 1989 it had 160,000

residents. Counting the floating population, Santo Domingo

is now the third largest city in Ecuador with 250,000

inhabitants (Canelos 1989: B-4). In 1964 el Instituto

Ecuatoriano de Reforma Agraria y Colonizaci6n promoted the

colonization of the area, considering the land of the

Tsachila barren because it was not permanently cultivated

(Ventura i Oller, 1995). Between 1954 and 1963 the Tsachila

were organized in communes. These communes are located

eight to 25 km. from Santo Domingo and are geographically

fragmented by the city and by the land of the colonists.

Traditionally the Tsachila relied on hunting, fishing

and slash and burn agriculture as their subsistence base.

With the loss of their old territory most of the Tsachila

now grow commerical crops such as coffee, cacao, pineapple,

yuca and platano both for national and international

consumption. Each family individually can buy and own land

within the community, but this land is considered communal

and cannot be bought or sold to non-Tsachila. Each commune

has a set of annually elected officers that in turn follow

the guidelines of a constitution and an elected Governor

that has precedence over all seven communes.

The Tsachila communal land is agriculturally rich, and

the Tsachila are engaged in a constant battle to fight

encroachment from the colonialists. The elected government

and system of land ownership have erected some barriers

against this intrusion, but both systems differ radically

from the Tsachilafs former system of loose alignment, which

sometimes leads to a loss of effectiveness. Unfortunately,

the situation does not look hopeful. There is not enough

land for the new generation of Tsachila and many are being

forced to leave the communes to seek employment elsewhere.

The city of Santo Domingo is growing rapidly. One of the

communes, Chiwilpe, is already being absorbed by the

growing city. The recent paving of the main road to one of

the larger communes, Congoma, now makes the commune a

short, twenty-minute commute from the city. While children

are still learning Tsafiki as a first language and there

are still a number of older monolingual speakers as well as

a few younger monolinguals, the small number of speakers,

the close proximity of the city and the geographical

fragmentation as well as the change in economic base

brought about by the loss of their old territory requires

that the majority of the population speak Spanish on a

regular basis. The survival of the language in the twenty-

first century is an open question. Most of the children now

attend school, where they are in daily contact with non-

Tsachi. Intermarriage between the Tsachila and the local

population is increasingly more common. While there is a

bilingual program, the presence of large numbers of non-

Tsachi children in the classrooms and the lack of trained

instructors and materials has resulted in an emphasis on

Spanish and very little Tsafiki is used in the classroom

(Sefior Marcus Aguavil, Director of the Bilingual Program,

personal communication, 1998). Spanish is rapidly becoming

the preferred language among school-age children, Tsafiki

only being used to address elders within the community.

With the arrival of electricity, television and radio,

Spanish is now the dominant language in many Tsachila

households. Tsafiki is clearly an endangered language and

the culture has already undergone rapid change.

On the other hand, many members of the community are well

aware of what is taking place and are struggling to find a way

to adjust to a new way of life while still holding on to their

language, their culture and their identity as Tsachila.

3. Previous Research

Linguistic information on Tsafiki is somewhat sparse.

The first grammatical study of Tsafiki is Rivet and

Beauchat (1907). Jij6n and Caamafio (1941) include a Tsafiki

grammatical sketch and lexicon as a part of their study of

the pre-Colombian inhabitants of western Ecuador. However,

while interesting, neither of these works meets modern

standards of grammatical description.

The first modern field investigator of Tsafiki was the

SIL linguist Bruce Moore. He has published a small wordlist

of Tsafiki (1966), a short pedagogical grammar (1979), a

brief phonological sketch (1975), a paper on

correspondences in South Barbacoan Chibcha (1962) and

Levinsohn has edited a short (88 pgs.) basic morphological

description based on Moore's Grammatical Patterns of

Colorado (1972). Moore's 1972 work is written in a style

popular with SIL linguists of the time, tagmemics.

Tagmemics concentrates on morphology and categorization and

really does not address theoretical issues or complex

morphosyntactic structures. However, Moore's work is a

valuable description of the phonology and morphology of

Tsafiki.

In addition, there have been a limited number of

publications of Tsafiki texts with Spanish translations

including, I l u s h u n (1985), Y o I m i n T s a c h i : 50 L e y e n d a s d e

10s I n d i o s C o l o r a d o s (1983), and Matu t o C u e n t a , (1982) all

published by the Museo Antropol6gico del Banco Central del

Ecuador, Guayaquil.

4. Fieldwork

My own fieldwork was first undertaken in 1994, when I

spent almost one year in the field. Because the Tsachila do

not have villages, I lived and worked in a Tsachila

household in the Congoma commune. I then spent an extended

stay of almost two years, 1996-1998, with funding from the

Fulbright Foundation and a National Science Foundation

Dissertation Improvement Grant (SBR-9614981). Since then I

have made yearly trips for short stays from one to three

months in the field every year since 1998, spending a total

of almost four years in the field. Because of the

overwhelming hospitality of the Tsachila and the amenable

conditions in the field, I quite literally spend all my

time in Ecuador with the Tsachila, only going to Quito or

other cities when business demands.

I work with an indigenous organization, PIKITSA, ( P i l a

K i m i n Tsachila 'Tsachi who writer) under the approval of

the Tsachila Government. PIKITSA is an indigenous

organization dedicated to the documentation and

preservation of the Tsachila language. The three core

members, Alfonso Aguavil, Primitivo Aguavil and Juan

Aguavil first began reading and writing Tsafiki with the

SIL linguist Bruce Moore. They then worked for many years

collecting texts for the Museo del Banco Central. All three

are literate in both Tsafiki and Spanish and have a basic

knowledge of linguistic analysis. I am formally considered

a consultant to this organization.

 4.1 Methodology

This study is primarily based on textual data. Working

with the members of PIKITSA, we have collected

approximately seventy hours (76 tapes) of texts from a mix

of genres including traditional stories, personal

narratives and conversations. The tapes are always

collected by a member of PIKITSA, sometimes with my

presence, but we always make sure there is native Tsafiki

'listenert in the room. To do otherwise is to put the

speaker in the somewhat awkward and totally unnatural

situation of reciting a long narrative to someone who does

not understand the language or the culture well. These

tapes are primarily transcribed by one of the nine members

of PIKITSA who are computer literate. I then listen to the

tape and go over the transcription with the transcriber.

The text is then parsed and glossed and entered into

Shoebox (Davis and Wimbish 1993). The transcriber then

translates the document and then the transcriber and I

listen to the tape one more time and check the translation.

In addition, when possible, I listen to the tape and go

over the transcription and translation with the original

speaker.
 In addition to my own data, Montserrat Ventura i Oller

has generously allowed me to use and process some of the

recordings she has collected during the course of her

ethnographic research among the Tsachila. Also during my

first year in Ecuador, El Museo del Banco Central de

Ecuador allowed me access to the texts that had been

collected by the Tsachila under the supervision of Robert

Mix, The texts from this collection were retranslated and

analyzed by myself and members of PIKITSA. Altogether, the

texts used in this study represent the speech of more than

thirty-seven speakers1 from the ages of six to their late

nineties, although the narratives that are primarily used

in this study are from the older generation. The majority

of the speakers speak the more common dialect of Tsafiki.

Only a few of the texts represent members of the Bua

commune, who speak a slightly different dialect and I have

only worked directly with one member of this community.

One of the major goals of the PIKITSA organization is

the creation of a dictionary so in the course of this work

we have created a rough, approximately 6,000 word

l Some of the speakers only participate briefly in the

recorded conversations hence they are not counted in with
the speakers who produce longer narrations.
dictionary based on 2,051 roots using the MDF program of

Shoebox. While still needing much work, the entries in this

database contain grammatical information, including the set

of generic verbs with which each individual coverb has been

attested to CO-occur, verb class, a phonetic transcription

and example sentences. This work has proved invaluable in

this study.

In addition to the texts, I have also done a fair

amount of elicitation. I primarily work with two older,

relatively monolingual speakers in their sixties, and three

younger men (late thirties-forties) who are bilingual in

both Spanish and Tsafiki, with Tsafiki the dominant

language. I also work on a regular, but more limited basis

with three women and two men, again bilingual speakers in

their thirties and early forties. Elicitation is always

contextualized, i.e. I do not simply ask for a translation

or for a grammaticality judgment concerning a sentence, but

rather the Tsachila consultant and I always establish a

context for the sentence, either based on the immediate

situation, a situation we both witnessed, or as one of the

older consultants put it a nene pun 'lie' or imagined

situation. This is done due to the fact that, the speaker

is going to imagine a context for the example even if I am

looking for a 'pure' grammatical judgement, and it behooves

me to have some idea of what that context is. In addition,

the analysis here is based on meaning, both semantic and

schematic. The context allows one to push the boundaries

under which a given construction is acceptable and often

leads to an understanding of the meaning of that

construction. I then sometimes will give my next consultant

the context without the example and ask them to give me a

phrase describing the situation. All elicited examples are

checked with all nine of my regular consultants, and the

consultants and I also sometimes ask other members of the

community to comment on the examples.

5.0 Oraanization of the Dissertation

The remainder of the dissertation is structured as

follows:

Chapter I1 contains a brief grammatical sketch of Tsafiki.

This is necessary in that almost all the examples used in this

study come from texts. While the use of these examples is at

times distracting, the analysis is strengthened by its reliance

on natural speech and in addition, the examples convey the

richness and elegance of the Tsafiki language. The grammatical

sketch should make the reading of these examples easier.

 Chapter I11 looks at the morphosyntactic behavior of the

complex predicate as a whole, and then the morphosyntactic

behavior of both the coverb and the generic verb separately,

establishing that both belong to distinct, although somewhat

overlapping categories. Ideophones are also discussed in this

Chapter.

Chapter IV addresses the argument structure of the complex

predicate by first examining with some depth the structure of a

simple, finite clause in Tsafiki and then turning to the more

complex predicate argument structure.

Chapter V looks at the verb class markers, their

morphosyntactic behavior and their function and compares them

with auxiliaries.

Chapter V1 takes an overall view of the two systems as

classifying systems and compared them to the more well-known

system of overt classification-noun classifying systems.

 CHAPTER I1

BASIC GRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF TSAFIKI

1. Introduction

The majority of the examples cited in this study are

taken from narrative texts, and often contain grammatical

features irrelevant to the issue being discussed.

Unfortunately, there is no widely available study of

Tsafiki grammar to which I can refer the reader to guide

him through these examples. In addition, an understanding

of the basic structure of Tsafiki is necessary to follow

the argumentation presented in the following chapters.

Therefore, this chapter aims at an informal sketch of

Tsafiki phonology, morphology and syntax. The sketch makes

no claims as to completeness or rigor. The phonology

section is structured primarily as an aid in understanding

the orthography used throughout the text. I do cover in

some depth the mirative/evidential system of Tsafiki, in

that the majority of the finite verbal inflections have to

do with mirative, evidential and mood distinctions which

are little described in the literature. However, overall,

only major word classes and constructions are described

here. Areas discussed in other chapters of the study are

only mentioned briefly.

2.0 Phonoloav

2.1 Phoneme Inventory

Tsafiki has an inventory of fifteen basic consonants

plus a glottal stop, whose phonemic status is marginal

(Moore 1962, 1991). The consonants are listed in Table 1

below. The symbols of the practical orthography adopted in

this study are given in angular brackets.

TABLE 1: Tsafiki Consonants

Bi- Dental Alveo- Alveo- Pala- Velar Glot-

labial lar Palatal tal tal

Stop

Nasal
Frica-
tive
Affri-
cative
Approx-
imant

Lateral
Approxi-
mant
 Tsafiki has a five oral vowels and four nasal vowels

(Moore 1962, 1991). The practical orthography used to

represent these phonemes is once again given in angular

brackets in Table 2 and Table 3 below.

TABLE 2: Tsafiki Oral Vowels

TABLE 3: Tsafiki Nasal Vowels

2.2 Consonants

The phonemes /bJ and /d/ are preglottalized when they

occur intervocalically, i. e. [be7b6] bebo 'woodpeckerf and

[de7do] dedo 'male friend of a femaler. The glottal affects

the preceding vowel slightly.

Tsafiki has no dipthongs and all vowel sequences are

separated by a phonologically conditioned glottal:

[ke?ere?i?e] keereie 's/he fell' .A glottal also occurs

before a word initial vowel [?ele] 'wild turkey'. The

glottal only occurs as a phoneme in environments in which a

vowel or morpheme has been dropped. The declarative marker

-e is often elided in rapid speech, signaled only by the

glottal hence /ho?e/ joe 'It isf is often pronounced [ho?]

j o t . Hence the glottal has at least allophonic status in

some environments.

The velar stop is often vocalized when it occurs

intervocally, hence [koggama] Konkama 'the commune Congomaf

or [kogkama] Konkama.

The nasals /m/ and /n/ only occur in the onset

position of the syllable, although they may be realized as

stops when a nasalized vowel is followed by a stop. Hence

/mZ/ man 'onef becomes [miigka] nanka 'one thing, [miinde]

mande 'one long rigid thingf, [mSmpe] manpe 'one large

rigid planular thingf.

The fricative /S/ is pronounced [S] before the high

vowels /i/ and /U/: [SLIIU]susu 'dogf, [Sili] sili 'vine'.

This also occurs when the /S/ is preceded by an unaccented

high vowel [hiSA] j i s a 'letfS gof. Before all other vowels

it remains /S/: /se/ se 'goodf, /sawi/ sawi 'slither' and

/SOJ~/sori 'swirlf .
Much the same process occurs with the affricative /C/

that occurs before the high vowels /i/ and /U/ but the

allophone [ts] occurs before the mid and low vowels: [tsa]

tsa 'true', [tsGmpi] tsonpi 'type of frogf, [tse] t s e

'light.' Many speakers, particularly those in Bua, do not

distinguish these two allophones and simply use /e/ in all

environments. The closely related language Cha'palaachi,

spoken by the Chachila also only has /C/. Hence to

distinguish themselves from the -

Chachila, the -
Tsachila do

not use a single form for these allophones. They could of

course use the allophone [ts], rather than the phoneme J Z /

in all environments which would still distinguish the

Tsachila from the Chachila, but this system of writing both

the phoneme and the allophone was established by the SIL

Bruce Moore (1979) and the Tsachila have decided to retain

the system.

The consonant /.I/ is often pronounced as a flap [r],

particularly when occurring word initially. When following

a nasalized vowel /.I/ the allophone [n] occurs: [ajzni]

ayan-ri 'mother-FOC' , but /sdna~i/sona-ri 'woman-FOCf . In

the writing system this is written as an <n>.

2.3 Vowels

Tsafiki has five oral vowels / i fu,e, ofa/ and four

nasal vowels. The phoneme /o/ becomes [G] when nasalized.

Contrastive pairs are given in (1) below. Following the

standard orthography, nasalized vowels are indicated with a

following 'n' .

(1) ba 'unstickf ban 'placentaf

ma 'dayf man 'onef
da 'cookf dan 'slashf
SO 'vaginaf son 'alivef
miya 'governorf miyan 'sister of a femalef
kuru 'guatusaf kurun 'cockroachf
pupu 'foamf punpu \butterflyf

Nasalization of a vowel is also morphemic. A nasalized

vowel can indicate the interrogative (2a), an adjective

(2b), or a secondary predicate (2c) .

(2) a. jie 'S/he went. '
jin 'Did s/he go?'
b. bare 'stretchf
baren 'long'
c. katsoe 'S/he slept.'
katson tsoe 'S/he lay there sleeping.
 Unaccented vowels before voiceless obstruents are

devoiced: [pip&] p i p a 'mudf, [Tgt6] Teto 'Quitof, [pk6] oko

'spirit', [tsgEi] t s a c h i 'person', [@jki] fiki 'wordr .

However a complete study remains to be done on devoiced

vowels. They do not occur, and seem to be disallowed with

certain morphemes, rarely occurring for example before the

perfective suffix -ka.

2.4 Syllable Structure

The syllable structure of Tsafiki is CV or V, with the

exception of the glottal that remains when a vowel is

elided (see above) and the phonological realization of a

nasal when a nasal vowel is followed by an obstruent. There

are no consonant clusters in native Tsafiki words.

The majority of Tsafiki roots are mono- or bi-syllabic

with trisyllabic being less common and roots with four or

more syllables quite rare in Tsafiki roots, although they

do occur more often in borrowed words: a-kra-de-se 'thank'

from Spanish a g r a d e c e r . All phonemes are allowed in word

initial position, although /J/ has only been attested in

word initial position in one Tsafiki word, r a 'be in a

positionf, and a few Spanish borrowings. This one word that

has an /J/ word initially, ra 'be in a positionf, is a

generic verb and hence one of the more common words in

Tsafiki. /J/ is pronounced as a flap in word initial

position [r]. This allophone also occurs word medially in

rapid speech.

2.5 Stress and Intonation

Much work remains to be done on the Tsafiki stress

pattern. Generally, the last syllable of the root or stem

receives the accent. However, some roots receive accent on

the first syllable and there are a few minimal pairs that

are only distinguished by the accent:

(3) dewi 'broomr

dkwi 'type of fishf
tsap6 'splash, fall into waterr
tsdpo 'hide somethingf
m6ra 'waitf
merd 'hearf

Furthermore, while the accent generally appears on the

last root of the stem, some of the suffixes, in terms of

the stress system, appear to be part of the stem, others

 In coverb/generic verb combinations the last syllable

of the coverb will receive primary stress with a secondary

stress on the generic verb (second syllable if bisyllabic)

(see Chapter 111).

The pattern of intonation is rarely highly pronounced.

In declarative sentences, the tone drops slightly after the

final accented syllable. There is only rarely a rise of

intonation towards the end of a question. In general, the

intonation is far less pronounced when compared to English

or Spanish. Much work remains to be carried out on both the

stress system and the intonation patterns of Tsafiki.

2.6 Notes on the Orthography

us,ed in this study is based on the

The ,orth,ogr.aphy

orthography used by the members of PIKITSA. The core

members of this team first learned to write Tsafiki in

their teens, using the alphabet developed by Bruce Moore,

the SIL linguist, based to a large degree on the Spanish

alphabet. They modified the system somewhat, primarily,

changing some of the symbols based on the Spanish alphabet

to IPA symbols, while they worked for the Museo del Banco

Central. The phoneme /h/ however continues to follow the

Spanish system, written as 'j'. As mentioned above nasals

vowels are indicated with a following 'nf. This causes some

problems when the nasal vowel is followed by a vowel, in

that nasals do occur in syllable onset position, i.e.

j i m a n e could either be j i - m a n - e or j i - m a - n e . The SIL

linguist Bruce Moore (1991) developed a system in which an

'hf is inserted after the 'nf coding a nasal vowel:

j i m a n h e . While this system is not without its problems, the

Tsachila are accustomed to it and it seems to serve their

purposes well. We have made a few further modifications in

the last few years, primarily concerning word divisions.

Word divisions in Tsafiki are not predictable. Some of the

coverb/generic verb combinations clearly form a single

phonological word while others are clearly independent

elements. In general, the intuitions of the Tsachila

correlate well with the linguistic analysis of these

combinations, so I generally rely on the speakersf

intuitions as to what consists of a single word.

3. Word Order

The basic word order of Tsafiki is AOV and SV, the 'A"

standing for the agent or actor of a transitive clause, the

'S" for the single core argument of an intransitive clause

and the '0" for the object of a transitive clause in

Dixon's (1979, 1994) terminology. An example of a

transitive clause with the order AOV is given in (4). The

nominative phrase ya pone uniri 'The old shamanf carries

the focus clitic =ri, but is unmarked for case. The

accusative argument sonaka carries the non-obligatory,

accusative enclitic =ka. An intransitive clause with the

order SV is given in ( 5 ) . The nominative argument na

'childf is unmarked.

(4) AOV
Junni ya pone uniri ya sonaka
junni ya pone uni=ri ya sona=ka
then 3P2 shaman old.M=FOC 3P2 woman=ACC

josolenutie.
joso-le-nu-ti-e
release-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-EV-RP-DCL
'They say the old shaman released the woman.'
{TSEITONUNI.21)

sv
Junni kebi inasa
junni kebi i-na-sa
then dark become-PRG-DR

-
na ja-na-nu-ti-e
child come-PRG-EV-RP-DCL
'They say when it was getting dark a child was
coming.' (MV.AASALUN.19)

Other orders are attested in the texts. In particular

topical objects are often fronted resulting in the order

OVA. In (6) the woman is the main protagonist in the story

and hence highly topical. Fronted objects usually occur in

a separate intonation contour with a pause between the

object and the rest of the sentence.

(6) OAV
Tsachi sonaka man kaka, ponela
tsachi sona=ka man-ka=ka, pone=la
person woman=LOC one-NCL=LOC shaman=PL

yukapiyarika junmantie.
yuka-piya-ri-ka jo-man-ti-e
evil-lose-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-PF.P BE:AUX-SIT-RP-DCL
'A Tsachi woman, the shamans had cursed (her).'
{MV.TSAB02.3)

Alternatively the object can occur post-verbally as in

(7). These objects again, often have a separate intonation

contour, and might be best considered right dislocations,

rather than bona fide word order variations.

(7 -
v0
Wari pinchin kekanin
wari pinchin ke-ka-nin
EMPH strangle hit-GET:GEN-CNTR

kinatieti', numika .
ki-na-ti-e-ti-e numi=ka
D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL penis=ACC
'(It) was just strangling (his) penis.'
{CCTSONPIPI.280)

The 'A" of a transitive clause can also occur

postverbally as in (8).
 OVA
Sonaka jele timantie
sona=ka jele ti-man-ti-e
woman=ACC fear SAY:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL

luban okolari.
lu-ba-n oko=la=ri
red-QUAL-ST spirit=PL=FOC
'They say they are afraid of women the red
demons.' (VLP.LUBANOK0.15)

Both the A and 0 may also occur postverbally as in

VAO
Tulale, tulale, tulale,
tula-le tula-le tula-le
unite-CAUSE.SUF unite-CAUSE-SUF unite-CAUSE.SUF

tulale tulaimin
tula-le tula-i-min
unite-CAUSE.SUF unite-BEC0ME:GEN-1MPF.P

joyotieti' yari, jun biyaali

jo-yo-ti-e-ti-e a jun biyalli
BE:AUX-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3P2=FOC 3D1 nutria

tsachika .
tsachi=ka
person=LOC
'(He) would always meet (him) meeting, meeting,
meeting, meeting, he and the
nutria. ' {CCTSONPIPI.396)

The S of an intransitive clause may also occur

postverbally (10).
 Tsaninasanan j inin
tsan-i-na-sa-nan ji-nin
SMBL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DR-INCL go-CNTR

inayotieti' ya tsachiri.
i-na-yo-ti-e-ti-e ya tsachi=ri
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3P2 person=FOC
'While this was happening (they) say (he) said
(he) just kept going, this person.
(CCTSONPIPI.89)

In addition to some variance in word order, Tsafiki

frequently elides core arguments. In a survey of 668 finite

clauses, 294 or 44% had no expressed core arguments.

Neither the intransitive sentence in (11) or the transitive

sentence in (12) has overt expression of core arguments.

(11) Junni kakarinin tinatietif.

junni kakari-nin ti-na-ti-e-ti-e
t,hen laugh-CNTR SAY:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said (she) was just laughing.'
{CCTSONPIPI-15)

Polariyanae
pola-ri-ya-na-e
come.across-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-DSJ-PRG-DCL

titif.
ti-ti-e
say-RP-DCL
' (They say) (she) said (she) would take (him)
.
across (the river) (if she could) '
{MV.AASALUN.286)

The word order for the 374 finite verbs that had at

least one core argument overtly expressed are given in

(13). A, 0, and S are first counted separately in (13a-c).

In (13d) the order for the thirty clauses which had both an

A and 0 overtly expressed is given.

(13) a. Word Order for A

AV 80 85%
VA 12 15%

b. Word Order for 0

OV 191 95%

c. Word Order for S

SV 95 82%
VS 17 18%

d. Word Order for clauses with both A and 0

AOV 23 77%
OAV 7 23%

Altogether subjects (A and S) are more likely to occur

postverbally than objects- As noted above, arguments

occurring in non-canonical word order often have a separate

intonation contour and are often separated from the rest of

the clause by a pause. An in-depth study of the intonation

contour of these word orders need to be done to determine

if they are right dislocations containing parenthetical

information.
 3.1 Verb Final Characteristics

Tsafiki exhibits several structural features that are

often found in verb final languages (Greenberg 1963; Dryer

1991, 1997 inter alia).

First, all Tsafiki adpositions are postpositions:

Aman jodochi yabi

aman jodo=chi
now armadillo=POSS house=LOC

feyotie.
fe-yo-ti-e
arrive.there-CNJ-RP-DCL
'Now she said she arrived at the armadillo's
house.' (VLP.SUPAN.16)

Wari ya minuka yari

wari ya minu=ka ya=ri
EMPH 3P2 road=LOC 3P2=FOC

jinin iyotie titun,

ji-nin i-yo-ti-e ti-tu-n
go-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-CNJ-RP-DCL say-NEG-INT
'He said he went on this road didn't he?'
(VLP.SUPAN.9)

Secondly, the possessor precedes the possessee (16).

Boliyochi sona ja'nae tika.

Boliyo=chi sona ja-ya-na-e ti-ka
Liborio=POSS woman come-DSJ-PRG-DCL say-PF.P
'Liborio's wife said she was going to come.'
IJERAKUWENTA.282)
 The relational noun precedes the locative enclitic.

Relational nouns are primarily grammaticalized body-part

nouns encoding the subregion at which a participant is

located as in (17).

(17) Tsanhinasa matuteri Ya

tsan-i-na-sa matu=te=ri Ya
SMBL-BEC0ME:VLC-PRG-DR old.days=LOC=FOC house

punkise sulonomantie.
punki=se su-10-no-man-ti-e
ear=through feet.in.air-GO.OUT:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'When this happened (the red demons came) in the
old days they would jump out through the corner
of the house (roof).' (VLP.LUBANOKO.10)

In nominal compounds the dependent noun always

precedes the head (18) .

(18) a. pekaforo b. kupi
pe-ka-foro ku-pi
bottom-NCL-hole breast-water
'anus' 'mil k'

c. misubutu d. fikikido
mi-su-butu fiki-kido
think-rock-top word-Skin
'The top of the head' 'lip'

e. fikiforo f. temisu
fiki-foro te-mi-su
word-hole arm/hand-think-rock
'mouth' 'f inger' (LIT:' head
of the arm/handt
 The main verb precedes the auxiliary. Tsafiki only has

three true auxiliaries, jo 'BE:AUX' (19)' i t o 'NOT. BE:AUXf

(20) and i 'BEC0ME:AUX' (see Chapter V). In (19) jo

'BE:AUXr appears with the imperfective participle w i r u - r a -

min 'stand-BE. P0SIT:GEN-IMPF. P' and i t o 'NOT.BE:AUXr

appears with the perfective participle ten-i-ka 'think-

BEC0ME:GEN-PF. P' (20).

(19) Ya dechiri
ya de=chi=ri
3P2 edge=LOC=FOC

wiruramin jotieti' .
wiru-ra-min jo-ti-e-ti-e
stand-BE.POSIT-1MPF.P BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he would stand at the edge (of the
patio.' {SUYUN1.61)

(20) Ya tenhika
ya ten-i-ka
3P2 heart-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P

itominnutie finaeke, yaka .

ito-min-nu-ti-e fi-na-e=ke ya=ka
NOT.BE:AUX-SIT-EV-RP-DCL eat-PRG-DCL=QT 3P2=ACC
'They say she must not have realized he was
eating her. tMV.TSAB01.76)

Nouns occurring in the position of the coverb exhibit

a type of noun incorporation (see Chapter IV) and precede

the generic verb (21).

(21) Komuna Peripabi naika
Komuna Peripa=bi na-i-ka
commune Peripa=LOC child-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P

joe.
jo-e
BE:AUX-DCL
'He was born in the commune of Peripa.'
(CIPAN01.3)

Complement clauses precede the main clause:

(22) Tsachila talari toteno

tsachi=la tala=ri to-te-no
person=PL DIR=FOC kill-CAUSE. SUF:GEN-INF

podeitiyoe timanti' .
pode-i-ti-yo-e ti-man-ti-e
be-able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say he said he couldn't kill people-like
ones.' {TSACHIMANKAMOSO.7)

While the position of adverbs can vary (see Chapter

111, Section 2.5)' Tsafiki has three adverbial proclitics,

man= 'again' (23)' ka 'still' (24) and pe 'also' (25) .

(23) Uyan sona mankae tito.. .
uyan sona man=ka-e ti-to.. .
other woman again=get-DCL say-DR
'....saying he got another woman again.'
{TSONPIPI.45)

(241 Weyan postoteri nakanan kajoe.

weyan posto=te=ri na-ka=nan ka=jo-e
other place=LOC=FOC small-NCL=INCL still=be-DCL
'In some places it (the corn) is still small.'
{SOKOK0.34)
 Nu pemeratunjunda.
nu pe=mera-tu-n-jo-n-da
2 also=listen-NEG-ST-BE:AUX-ST-DCL.GEN
'You also shouldn't listen.' {BITALISIIY02.36}

The majority of subordinate clauses in Tsafiki precede the

main clause and take subordinating suffixes. However, in the

texts the order can vary. An example of the canonical order is

given in (26). The subordinator tenchi 'in order to' indicates

that the action of the subordinate clause is necessary for the

carrying out of the action of the main clause. The subordinator

normally follows the subordinate clause and both precede the

main verb (26) .

(26) Aman wanenan tenchiri aman ina junse
aman wane=nan tenchi=ri aman ina jun=se
now slice-INCL in.order.to=FOC now IMM 3Dl=through

manloka ...
man=lo-ka ...
man=come.out-PE'
'Slicing (the whale open), he came out through
there.' {VLP.DADAPOMIN.31}

However, there is one construction in Tsafiki that

consistently violates this word order. In 112 examples

containing the subordinator yape 'so that' not only does

the subordinator precede the adverbial clause, but in 86

cases the subordinate clause also follows the main clause

(27). This construction stands out as an anomaly, in that

it contradicts the otherwise strong verb-final structural

properties of Tsafiki.

Yaka ponela mandomantif wari

ya=ka pone=la man=do-man-ti-e wari
3P2=ACC shaman=PL again=close-SIT-RP-DCL EMPH

yaka okobinan man=yape

latusa tamolante.
la-tu-sa tamolan=te
come.out-NEG-DR door=LOC
'Him, the shamans shut him up again, well, in
spirit, so that he wouldn't come out the door
again.' (MV.AASUYUN.42)

Nevertheless, in terms of frequency and structural

features, Tsafiki exhibits strong characteristics of a

typical verb-final language.

4. Words and Phrases

4.1 Nominal Expressions

Nominal constructions include a head noun or

independent pronoun and several modifiers. Nominative case

is not marked (see Chapter IV). Noun phrases take case-

marking enclitics.

In addition to the head noun, nominal constructions

may include demonstratives, a relative clause, a possessor,

adjectives and quantifiers. Demonstratives most commonly

precede the head noun but the other elements show varying

behavior .
4.1.1 Nouns

Nouns can function as heads of noun phrases (28) and

(29)

Junni aman wa pini jera jalinutie.

junni aman wa pini jera jali-nu-ti-e
then now big snake all bite-EV-RP-DCL
'Then a big snake bit them all.' {PINIJALA.41)

Junni, ya manka lake kela

junni ya man-ka lake kela
then 3P2 one-NCL yellow tiger

tefun arale kakarinamanti' .

tefun ara-le kakari-na-man-ti-e
tooth scatter-CAUSE.SUF laugh-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then this one yellow tiger laughed, loosing a
tooth.' (SALUN.81)

Nouns can also function as non-verbal predicates,

taking the full range of finite verbal morphology (30-32).

(30) Kalue kalue latinutieti' .

kalu-e kalu-e la-ti-nu-ti-e-ti-e
horse-DCL horse-DCL PL-say-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'"It's a horse. It's a horse," they say they must have
said. '

ya pone-nu-ti-e-ti-e
3P2 shaman-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said he must have been a shaman.'
 Baronin baroyoe tinutie tie.
baro=nin baro-yo-e ti-nu-ti-e ti-e
buzzard=CNTR buzzard-CNJ-DCL say-EV-RP-DCL say-DCL
'She said he said, "A buzzard, I'm a buzzard.'
{BAROUNI.34}

Pronouns can also serve as non-verbal predicates (33).

Yayoe titietir.
ya-yo-e ti-ti-e-ti-e
3P2-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'"It's me,'' they say she said. (TSONPIPI.12)

In (34) the pronoun takes the possessive enclitic followed

by the declarative verbal suffix.

(34) Junni aman, kelabe

j unni aman, kela=be
then now, tiger=COM

pataalakinatieti*
pata-a-la-ki-na-ti-e-ti-e
argue-RECIP-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

yachieke.
ya=chi-e=ke
3P2=POSS-DCL=QT
'They say he said he was arguing with the tiger,
(saying the Tsachi) was his. ' (CCMANTSA.68)

Nominative case is unmarked. Nouns can take the

accusative enclitic =ka. Nominative and accusative case-

marking are discussed in some detail in Chapter IV, Section

1.0, and will not be discussed in detail here.

 Accusative and other case-markers occur suffixed to

the final element of the noun phrase. In (35) the

possessive enclitic is suffixed to the imperfective

participle of the relative clause.

(35) Ya puyan tsominchi fikiforonan ...

ya puya-n tso-min=chi fiki-foro=nan...
3P2 dead-ST lie-IMPF.P=POSS word-hole=INCL.. .
'The one who lay there dead's mouth. .."
{VLP.DONUNPE.15)

The comitative enclitic =be appears suffixed to the numeral

in rather than the head noun in (36).

(36) Aman junni jun mate tarato

aman junni junma=te tarato
now then 3D1 day=LOC contract

kilakimantie, tsachi mankabe

ki-la-ki-man-ti-e tsachi man-ka=be
D0:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL person one-NCL=COM

watsa kabi jichun.

watsa ka-bi ji-chu-n
fish get-PURP go-IRR-ST
'They say he made a contract to go fishing with a
man.' IBOPI.5)

Noun phrases may take a number of inflectional

morphemes. All occur as suffixes on the noun itself or the

final element of the noun phrase. The order of the

morphemes is given below- The locatives and the final three

enclitics also occur on subordinate verb forms, although in

a different order than with nouns.

(37) ROOT
1. Nominal Classifier (-ka, -nit -de, -pe, -ki)
2. Plural (=la)
3. Possessive (=chi)
4. Accusative (=ka)
Dative (=chi)
Locative (=bi 'in/atf ,=ka 'to/atf,=le
'in/onf, =te 'inf, =se 'throughf, =chi
'in general areaf)
Instrumental (=chi)
6. Locative (=le 'LOCf , =te 'LOCf )
7. Contrastive (=nin)
8. Grade (=si)
9. Focus (=ri)
10. Semblative (=tsan)
11. Inclusive (=nan)

The locative postpositions are simply glossed as

locatives in the texts. The meaning of many of them does

not translate easily into English. For example, =chi 'LOC'

is used for rooms, caves and the jungle, i.e. it means

something like 'go into the general area of a bounded

region.' While -bi 'in/onf and -se 'throughf can in most

cases be translated directly into English, -1e and -te mean

something such as 'on the general area of' with some

unclear differences between the type of contact the object

has with the location. The postposition -ka when occurring

with motion verbs has an allative sense but this is due to

the semantics of the motion verb. Further study is needed

to determine the exact range of meaning carried by each

locative.

Plural marking is facultative in Tsafiki. In some

cases, most often with non-humans, neither the verb nor the

noun takes plural marking and the plural reading is

inferred from the context as in ( 3 8 ) .

(38 ) Junni jatele para joe titit.

junni ja=te=le para jo-e ti-ti-e
then 3D2=LOC=LOC wild.pig be-DCL say-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said that over there are wild
pigs.' (KELATSACHI.14)

In (39) plural marking only occurs on the verb.

Aman, tsanketobi, unila mantiminni

aman, tsan-ke-to=bi unila mantiminni
now SMBL-D0:VCL-SR=LOC man EMPH

jelenchi jilaie.
jelen=chi ji-la-i-e
jungle=LOC go-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-DCL
'Now, when they had done this the MEN went to the
jungle.' {KASAMA.121)

In (40) the plural marking occurs on both the noun and

verb.
 Tsachila sufenin
Tsachi=la su-fe-nin

ilaiyotietir.
i-la-i-yo-ti-e-ti-e
BE=ME:VCL-PL-BECOME: VCL-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said the people arrived there ,

running. {DOBE:53)

Plurals are more likely to occur with humans. When the

plural marker occurs with animals or inanimates it tends to

have a collective reading (41a). To express plurality with

non-humans a quantifier such as duke 'a lotr is usually

employed (41b). To get a collective reading with a noun

that refers to humans the plural is often repeated (41c).

(41) a. pichu=la 'many classes/all types of birdsr

b. duke pichu 'many birdsf
C. sona=la 'woment
d. pone=la=la 'all types of shamansf

There is some variation among speakers in the use of

the plural. Probably due to the influence of Spanish many

of the younger speakers do not recognize or utilize the

collective sense of the plural exhibited in (41a.)

Plural marking is discussed further in Chapter IV,

Section 1.1 and Chapter V, Section 1.2.1)

The two ubiquitous nominal enclitics =nan 'Inclusiver

and =ri 'Focust still require an in-depth discourse study

to explain their function. Both can 0ccu.r on any element in

the sentence except a finite verb. The inclusive =nan often

has a reflexive reading (42), although Bruce Moore (1991)

from whom the term 'Inclusiver is borrowed consistently

translates the morpheme with the Spanish tambikn 'too.'

(42) Tsenan espejobi kirayoe.

tse=nan espejo=bi kira-yo-e
lF=INCL mirror=LOC see-CNJ-DCL
'I saw myself in the mirrorr

I use the term 'Focusr for =ri because at this point

(a discourse study is needed) it appears to only mark a

prominent element within the sentence. In this study, I

reserve the term topic for an element that is prominent

within an extended stretch of discourse. More than one

focus marker can appear in a single sentence and the focus

marker attracts negation as in examples (43-45).

(43) Kisin Fan=ri kuchi

Kisin Juan=ri kuchi
yesterday Juan=FOC pig

totetue.
to-te-tu-e
k i l l - ~ E SUF:
~ ~ .GEN-NEG-DCL
'Yesterday JUAN didn't kill the pig (someone else
did) .'
 Kisin Juan kuchiri
Kisin Juan kuchi=ri
yesterday Juan pig=FOC

totetue.
to-te-tu-e
k i l l - ~ ESUF:
~ ~ .GEN-NEG-DCL
'Yesterday Juan didn't kill the PIG (he killed
something else.'

Kisinri Juan kuchi

Kisin=ri Juan kuchi
yesterday=FOC Juan pig

totetue.
to-te-tu-e
k i l l - ~ E SUF:
~ ~ .GEN-NEG-DCL
'YESTERDAY Juan didn't kill the pig (he did it
some other day.'

The Contrastive =nin, Accusative =ka, and Dative =chi

are discuessed in Chapters IV and V and will not be

discussed further here. Examples of the other nominal

morphology are given below.

In possessive constructions the possessor precedes the

possessee (46).

(46) Ya Chipiri Katochi .

yabi. . .
ya Chipiri Kato=chi ya=bi
3P2 Chipiri Kato=POSS house=LOC
'In Chipiri Kato's house ...' (CHIPIRI.17)

The instrumental =chi can occur on nouns (47)' or it

can occur on coverbs coding emotions to indicate the source

or cause for a certain behavior (48).

 Nuchi tedechi aman foroto
nu=chi te-de=chi aman foro-to
2=POSS hand-NCL=INSTR now hole-SR

ara: :le erena timanti' .

ara: :-1e ere-na ti-man-ti-e
1DEO:scatter-CAUSE.SUF send-PRG say-SIT-EV-DCL
'They say he said "Open it with your hand and send it
scattering araa.' (KELATSACHI.55)

Yaka pachi piyanada, yari.

ya=ka pa=chi piya-na-da ya=ri
3P2=ACC anger=INSTR lose-PRG-DCL.GEN 3P2=FOC
'She's dying from anger at him.' (PILABAN.122)

Examples of the various nominal postpositions are

given below:

( 4 9) Junni nalala mantiminni nunchi jito

junni na=la=la mantiminni nun=chi ji-to
then child=PL=PL EMPH which=LOC go-SR

uyan yabi
uyan ya=bi
strange house=LOC

felaimantie.
fe-la-i-man-ti-e
arrive.there-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'(The children got lost.) Then they say they went
every which way and arrived there at a strange
house. ' {CHIPIRI.15)
 Tamolante temisu larisa
tamolan=te temisu la-ri-sa
wall=LOC finger come-out-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-DR

tinuda mulu inanunka

ti-nu-da mulu i-na-nun=ka
say-EV-DCL:GEN fat BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-NOM=ACC

miichun.
mi-i-chu-n
know-BEC0ME:GEN-IRR-ST
'She told them to stick their finger through the
wall, so she could see if they had gotten fat.'
{CHIPIRI.KATO}

...man pisase man

...man pisa=se man
...one island=through one
patilaiyoe titi8
pati-la-i-yo-e ti-ti-e
go.down-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
'They say he said they went down by way of another
island.' IMALI.51)

Junka mantiminni minule

n = k a mantiminni minu=le
3.DI=ACC EMPH road=LOC

chutenan kururi
chu-te-nan kuru=ri
sit-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-INCL guatusa-FOC

paide janamantie.
pa-i-de ja-na-man-ti-e
angry-BEC0ME:GEN-ASS0C.M come-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say when they had set this in the road the
guatusa was coming angry.' (VLP.KURU.57)

The following examples (53-55) below illustrate cases in

which more than one postpostion occurs on the noun. The

postpositions listed as occurring in position 4 in (37)' cannot

CO-occur with each other, but can occur with all of the

morphemes listed in the other positions.

(53) Yari mankasirinan kuru

ya=ri man-ka=si=ri=nan kuru
3P2=FOC one-NCL=GRAD=FOC=INCL guatusa

pamin jotif.
pa-min jo-ti-e
call-IMPF. P BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'They say he goes alone to call the guatusaf
{ JAKURU1.64 )

Jeralete pinisiri jominnutie.

jera=le=te pini=si=ri jominnutie
all=LOC=LOC snake=GRAD=FOC be-IMPF-P-EV-RP-DCL
'(Her body) all over was just snake/Snakes were
.
all over (her) ' (GA.23)

Junni leyan sona=ri man-ka pone

junni leya-n sona=ri man-ka pone
junni illegitimate-ST woman=FOC one-NCL shaman

unichika jinutie.
uni=chi=ka ji-nu-ti-e
old=POSS=LOC go-EV-RP-DCL
'They say the mistress went to the old shaman's.'
(VLP.TSEITON.2)

4.1.2 Relational Nouns

As noted above, nouns, particularly body parts can

serve as relational nouns. Some of the more frequent

relational nouns include beten 'backf, pe 'feces/bottomr,

punki 'earf, and ne 'footf . The latter occurs frequently

with the locative =chi to express the idea of 'fromt ( 5 6 ) .

An example with pe 'feces/bottomr is given in (57).

Junni ya, ya kolejiyobi nechi .

jada
junni ya, ya kolejiyo=bi ne=chi ja-da
then 3P2 3P2 school=LOC foot=LOC come-DCL.GEN
'Then he, he came from the school.'

Junni aman jun tsantinari pone

junni aman jun tsan-ti-na-ri pone
then now 3D1 SMBL-SAY:VCL-PRG-FOC shaman

unichi Ya pekachi nosa

uni=chi Ya pe-ka=chi nosa
old.M=POSS house bottom-NCL=LOC silent

tiwinpoleto junchi
tiwin-pole-to jun=chi
turn-GO.ACROSS:GEN-SR 3Dl=LOC

katsolaimantie.
katso-la-i-man-ti-e
sleep-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say while he was saying this they quietly
went around back behind the old shaman's house to
sleep there.' {VLP.LUBANOK0.25)

4.1.3 Independent Pronouns

Three persons are distinguished in the paradigm of

independent pronouns, first, second and third person. Third

person pronouns are recruited from demonstratives and hence

exhibit deictic distinctions. In '3Plt is a proximate

marker indicating 'close to speakert. It is an emphatic

form, often accompanied by a pointing gesture and higher

tone. Ya '3P2' the second proximate pronoun is the most

commonly occurring demonstrative and indicates 'close to

speakerf, but is not emphatic. Jun and j a a indicate

'distalf, the difference between these two is not clear. I

simply gloss them as 'Distal One (Dl)' and 'Distal Two

(D2)'. Jein is an emphatic proform. It can be used to refer

to a noun or can function with a verb class marker as a

proverb. First person pronouns distinguish between

masculine and feminine gender. The plural form is based on

the feminine first person pronoun. Plural forms are formed

with the same plural marker that occurs with nouns.

(58) Singular Plural

1F chike/tse chikela/chila (M and F)
1M la
3 (PI) in inla
(P2 Ya yala
(D1) jun junla
(D21 jaa jaala
PR0:EMPH jein/jeen jeinla/jeenla

First and second person pronouns are used for

contrast, emphasis and clarification. In (59) the father is

contrasting what he wants the children to do as opposed to

what HE is going to do.

 Nalalaka nulari intele

chularana lari chinape

chu-la-ra-na la=ri china-pe
sit-PL-BE.POSIT-PRG lM=FOC bee-feces

porechinayoe titie.
po-re-chi-na-yo-e ti-ti-e
cut-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-INGR-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
'They say he told the children, "You stay right
here, I'll go cut down the honey.' (RLAPAK.7)

In (60), a speaker has been retelling a story about an

arrest she heard from someone else. Suddenly she starts

using the eye-witness evidential form, the listener

immediately questions this asking "You saw it?" The speaker

- saw it."
answers with "I

(60) a. Nu kiramanyun?
nu kira-man-yo-n
2 see-SIT-CNJ-INT
'You saw it?"

b. Tse kiramanyo' .
tse kira-man-yo-e
1F see-SIT-CNJ-DCL
'I
- saw it.'

An example of the third person distal pronoun jun

'3Dlf is given in (61). In discourse, j u n is often used to

reintroduce an entity that has already been talked about,

but no in the immediately preceding stretch of discourse.

The narrator had been talking about a woman's suitor. She

then goes on to talk about other aspects of the womanfs

life before she returns to talking about the suitor.

(61 Junni jun jito mantiminni wari

junni jun jito mantiminni wari
then 3D1 go-SR EMPH EMPH

manjatunutie.
man=ja-tu-nu-ti-e
again=come-NEG-EV-RP-DCL
'Then they say that one left and didn't come back
again. ' { PILABAN. 44)

An example is taken from a conversation in which a

woman is pointing to a radio. She first refers to it with

innin, which carries the contrastive marker and contrasts

with the radio someone was thinging of buying. She then

refers to the buyer with ya, then to the radio again, this

time with the accusative form inka, and then refers to the

radio again with yari.

(62) Innin ya inka munatinari,

in=nin, ya in=ka muna-ti-na-ri,
3Pl=CNTR 3P2 3Pl=ACC desire-SAY:GEN-PRG-FOC

ya=ri kase man miyon.

ya=ri kase man miyon
3P2=FOC almost one million
'This one, if he wants to buy this one, it is
almost one million (sucres).' { JERAKUENTAl.332)
 Tsafiki also has a set of interrogative pronouns. They

can take case markers to function as different kinds of

interrogative pronouns, e.g. mo 'whot, mo=ka 'whom1, mo=chi

'whoset etc.

(63) mo 'whof
ti 'whatt
numasi 'whent
nuwi 'wheret
nisi 'how much'
niyanka 'how many'
nun 'which1

4.1.4 Demonstratives

Tsafiki has five demonstratives: i n '3Plt, ya '3P2',

jun '3Dlt, jaa '3D2 and j e i n 'PR0:EMPH. They commonly occur

before the head noun and as the initial element of the noun

phrase (64) and (65).

(64) Ya unilari wari uyan sonala mantato

ya unila=ri wari uyan sona=la man=ta-to
3P2 man=FOC EMPH other woman=PL again-have-SR

wari in paluka sonalaka

wari in palu-ka sona=la=ka
EMPH 3P1 two-NCL woman=PL=ACC

puyarichun .
tito..
puya-ri-chu-n ti-to...
die-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-IRR-ST say-SR ...
'This man, taking another woman, wanted to cause
these two women to die. . . l {VLP.SUPAN.5)
 Aman manka tsachiri, yari jun sonalaka
aman man-ka tsachi=ri ya=ri jun sonalaka
now one-NCL person=FOC 3P2=FOC 3D1 woman=PL=DCL

munainutietif.
muna-i-nu-ti-e-ti-e
desire-BEC0ME:GEN-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Now one man, he desired that woman.'
{WILINKI.2.46)

4.1.5 Adjectives

Tsafiki adjectives may function as modifiers and as

non-verbal predicates. The majority of elements serving in

an adjectival function in Tsafiki are derived from coverbs

or verbs. In addition nouns may modify other nouns. There

is only one, undisputable, underived adjective wa 'bigf,

which is probably related to the coverb owa 'growf. Other

adjective-like elements such as kumana 'weakf, epe

'uselessf, laki 'sadf and lake 'yellowf can function as

adjectives, adverbs or coverbs.

Adjectives may appear before or after the modified

noun. The underived adjectives, including wa 'bigf and the

pseudo-adjectives, such as lake 'yellowf and nouns

functioning as modifiers almost always precede the head

noun. (64) contains two nominals functioning as adjectives,

lake 'yellowf, which modifies the noun kala 'moneyf, which

in turn modifies to10 'bagf. In (65) wa 'bigf modifies the

noun p a r u 'waterfallf and in ( 6 6 ) the noun kuwafu 'white

clay' modifies the noun sona 'womanf.

(64) Ya lake kala toloka kato

Ya lake kala tolo=ka ka-to
3P2 yellow money bag=ACC get-SR

manjalaimantie.
man=ja-la-i-man-ti-e
again-come-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say they grabbed the gold money bag/bag of
gold money and came back.'

Wa parubi manpiyapolenin
wa
- paru=bi man=piya-pole-nin
big waterfall=LOC again=lose-GO.ACROSS:GEN-CNTR

imantif.
i-man-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say he disappeared again in the big
waterfall. (MV.AASALUN.118)

Jun kuwafU sona ya

jun kuwafu sona ya
3D1 white.clay woman 3P2

kanaminnutieti'.
ka-na-min-nu-ti-e-tie
get-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said the white clay woman must have
taken it.' {CCTSONPIPI.80)

The adjectives derived from coverbs and verbs are

essentially relative clauses, and like relative clauses the

order of head noun/relative clause varies. Perfective

participles ( 6 7 ) and predicates nominalized with -n 'be in

a statef can function as adjectives ( 6 8 ) . Example (67) is

an example of a pre-head derived adjective while (68) is an

example of a post-head derived adjective.

(67) Junni na palukabe, junni junbi yari

junni na palu-ka=be junni jun=bi ya=ri
then child two-NCL=COM then 3Dl=LOC 3P2=FOC

sona piyaka yabinan, chuti' .

sona piya-ka ya=bi=nan chu-ti-e
woman dead-PF.P house=LOC=INCL sit-RP-DCL
'They say the dead woman/the woman who had died
lived in the same house with the two children.'
(SONAPUYAN.23)

Junni yari piyan oko mma

junni ya=ri piya-n oko mma
then 3P2=FOC dead-ST spirit madam

manjanutieti'.
man=ja-nu-ti-e-ti-e
again-come-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said the dead woman must have gone
back again.' (PIYANOKOMMA.73)

The majority of adjectives expressing emotional

qualities have a special form. They occur with the

nominalized generic verb po-n 'put-ST' as in (69).

(69) Amali susu tamin jominnutie,

amali susu ta-min jo-min-nu-t i-e
many dog have-IMPF. P BE: AUX-EV-RP-DCL

wa susu papunla.
wa susu pa-pu-n=la
big dog angry-PUT:GEN-ST=PL
'They say they must have had many dogs, all kinds
of big, angry dogs.'
 Adjectives, like nouns, many function as non-verbal

predicates:

Patele lan punmanti'.

patele lan po-n-man-ti-e
priest lazy PUT:GEN-ST-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say the priest was lazy.' (ICMATUS.5)

Ajectives may also occur followed by an existential

copula expressing either permanent (71) or transient states

(72):

Weyan tsachiri sen jolajoyoko.

weyan tsachi=ri se-n jo-la-jo-yo-ko
other person=FOC good-ST be-PL-BE:AUX-CNJ-DUB
'The other people were good?' (JCPUKA11.28)

Ya jodo mmari PaPun

ya jodo mma=ri pa-po-n
3P2 armadillo madam=FOC angry-PUT:GEN-ST

animali jotie.
animali jo-ti-e
very be-PR-DCL
'They say the armadillo woman was very angry.'
(VLP.SUPAN.17)

4.1.6 Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are formed with the imperfective

participle suffix -min and the perfective participle suffix

-ka, to form a nominative and accusative aligned relative

clause respectively. Relative clauses of locatives and

instruments are formed with the nominalizer -nun. The order

of relative clause/head noun varies. The most common order

given in elicitation is relative clause/head noun (73).

To tenpe chumin tsachi junmanti'.

to tenpe chu-min tsachi jo-man-ti-e
earth under be-1MPF.P person be-SIT-RP-dcl
'They say (they) were the tsachi that lived under
the ground.' (VLP.DATSANIN.2)

In texts, the head noun can appear before the relative

clause (74).

(74) Na tsotsoka wiloraminka

na tsotso-ka wilo-ra-min=ka
child infant-NCL hang BE.POSIT:GEN

fiminmantie, Malaba.
fi-min-man-ti-e Malaba
eat-1MPF.P-SIT-RP-DCL NAME
'They say the Malaba (people) eat the little
infants that are hanging (in a papoose).'
{MALABA.4)

Headless relative clauses are quite common (75). In

this case the relative clause functions as a referring noun

phrase.
 Pibi uraminka unila
pi=bi ura-min=ka unila
water=LOC float-IMPF.P=LOC man

supatito...
su-pati-to...
feet.in.air-go-down-SR...
'The man jumped down to the one that was floating in
the water and. ..' {CCTSONPIPI.209}

Relative clauses are discussed at more length in

Chapter 111, Section 1.2.

4.1.7 Quantifiers and Numbers

Tsafiki has a number of quantifiers that generally

precede the head noun. The most common quantifiers are

nasi 'a little', duke 'a lotf, jera 'all', amali 'many',

and piyanle 'all, total'. Duke and amali can also function

as adverbs.

Tsafiki appears to have orginally had a number system

based on five: man 'onef, palu 'two', peman 'three',

junpalu 'four' and mante 'five'. The other numbers which

complete the present day system based on ten are borrowed

from Quichua and Spanish: sota 'six' (from Quichua sucta),

siyete 'sevenf (Spanish siete), ochu 'eight' (Spanish

ocho), nue 'nine' (Spanish nueve), chunka 'tenf (Quichua),

patsa 'one hundredf (Quichua), mili 'one thousandf (Spanish

mil), and miyon 'one millionf (Spanish milldn) .

4.1.8 Nominal Classifiers

Tsafiki has five basic nominal classifiers, as well as

several nouns that have a double function as nouns as well

as nominal classifiers (Moore 1991). The semantic basis for

the majority is shape. Classifiers are required for all

numerals except man 'one' when they occur with concrete

nouns. When occurring without the classifier, man generally

is interpreted as 'otherf. Classifiers do not occur with

abstract nouns such as ma 'dayf or wata 'yearf . The five

basic classifiers are listed in (76) and examples are given

in ,(77).

Five basic nominal classifiers

-ka General classifier, any three dimensional
objects. Is the only classifier for humans.
It has two possible sources which in turn
may be related: ka 'fruitf and kaka 'eyef.
-ni Small grain-like objects. It is
transparently related to ni 'grain'.
-de Long, rigid object.
-pe Hard, planular object.
-ki Planular and flexible, cloth, paper, leaves.
It is possibily derived from kido 'skinf .
 peman-ka sonala 'three women'
peman-ni arosi 'three grains of ricef
peman-de chide 'three planks, boards.
peman-pe kutape 'three tablesf
peman-ki tunan 'three skirtsf

Some nouns can occur with more than one classifier and

the use of a different classifier results in a difference

in meaning:

(78) palu-de ano 'Two single bananas'

palu-ki ano 'Two banana leaves.'
palu-Eka ano 'Two stalks of bananasf

Tsafiki also has a classifier for actions -net which

occurs suffixed to numerals and indicates the number of

times the action was performed (79)

('7 9 Palune o pemanne dilikate

palu-ne o peman-ne dili-ka=te
two-NCL o three-NCL massage-PF=LOC

manseimin joe.
man=se-i-min jo-e
again=good-BEC0ME:GEN-1MPF.P BE:AUX-DCL
'After it gets massaged two or three times, it
will get better.' (MV.ACPONE.100)

In addition there are a number of nouns that can

function as classifiers including sili 'rope/viner, as well

as reduced forms of nouns, ja 'leaff from japisu 'leaff.

(80) a. junpalu-sili nepi 'Four ayaguasca vinesr
b. junpalu-ja (pisu) ano 'Four leaves of platanor

Although it is possible to elicit classifiers with

nouns, particularly to create elements that refer to parts

of wholes such as in (78) above, most nouns do not occur

with classifiers. Although some nouns, such as na

'child/smallrf uni 'old.manfr and s i n u lold.womant more

often than not do occur with a classifier. This is probably

due to their uncertain status as nouns. Na 'child can occur

alone as a referring element, but it always takes a

classifier when functioning as a modifier (81). Na is also

one of the few nouns that can occur in the position of a

coverb (see Chapter 111, Section 2.1.1). A thorough

investigation of the function of nominal classifiers and

under just what conditions they occur with nouns still

needs to be undertaken.

(81) Naka chide ali jera patie.

na-ka chide ali jera pati-e
child-NCL tree branch all fall-DCL
'All the little leaves fell., (SUPAN.35)

Some of examples of nominal classifiers ocurring in

texts are given below (82):

 Nominal Classifier with Nouns
Wari ano mokininsileri
wari ano mo-ki-nin-si-le-ri
EMPH platano desire-D0:GEN-CNTR-IMM-LOC-FOC

jun nakaka wari finin kinun jot

jun na-ka=ka wari fi-nin ki-nun jo-e
3P1 child-NCL=ACC EMPH eat-CNTR D0:VCL-NOM

jof pinbabe anoberi,

jo-e pinba=be ano=be=ri
BE:AUX-DCL salt=COM platano=COM=FOC

anodeka .
ano-de=ka
platano-NCL=LOC
'Well when one gets hungry (when in the jungle on
a long hunting trip), one would have to eat a
little something, platano and salt, a platano.'
(JAKURU5.1320)

A numeral plus classifier can be used as a referring

element as the first uses of manki 'one cloth thing' in

(83) and mande 'stick/polef in (84).

(83) Kasaleri duke, duke moora, manki, manki

kasa=le-ri duke duke moora, man-ki man-ki
first=LOC=FOC a.lot a.lot quick one-NCL one-NCL

manki sita tunan manpetsanpa kimin

man-ki sita tunan manpetsanpa ki-min
one-NCL weave skirt male.skirt D0:VCL-1MPF.P

jomin jonhon.
jo-min jo-n-jo-n
BE:AUX-1MPF.P BE:AUX-ST-BE:VCL-ST
'At first she did it very very quickly, another
one, another one, another woven skirt, a male
skirt.' tTSAB02.5)
 Mannan unilari chide mande mande
mannan unila=ri chide man-de man-de
again man=FOC tree one-NCL one-NCL

poreto kuwanutie junchi

po-re-to kuwa-nu-ti-e jun=chi
cut-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-SR give-EV-RP-DCL 3Dl=LOC

supanka misulakisa tito.

supan=ka rnisu-la-ki-sa ti-to
bat=ACC head-PL-D0:VCL-DRsay-DR
'Now they say the man cut a stick and then
another one and gave them (to the women) saying
hit the bats in there hard.' IVLP.SUPAND0.3)

Nominalized coverbs also occur with noun classifiers

(see Chapter 111, Section 2.1).

4 - 2 Verbs

The majority of verbs in Tsafiki are complex, and

Chapters Three and Four describe both elements of the

complex predicate as well as the basic structure of a

simple clause in Tsafiki. In this section, I will discuss

finite inflectional morphology and subordinate clause

constructions not discussed in the following chaters.

4.2.1 Finite Verb Morphology

Finite verbs are defined in Tsafiki by their ability

to take evidential, mirative and mood markers. As mentioned

previously, nouns functioning as non-verbal predicates can

also take these inflectional morphemes. Verbs can however,

be distinguished from nouns in that they require

nominalizing morphology to be used as nominals. Tsafiki has

no morphemes dedicated to tense distinctions. The only

agreement on the verb is the non-obligatory subject plural

marker -1a (See Chapter IV, Section 1.0, and Chapter V,

Section 1.2.1). The perfective and imperfective/habitual

aspects are formed with participle forms and an auxiliary

(See Chapter V, Section 2.0). The only aspectual marker

found on the verb is the progressive suffix -na, which can

also occur on subordinate clauses (see below). The

remaining suffixes include: the negative

-ti/-tu, the disjunct -i/-ya, the conjunct -yo, the

evidential -nu, the situational -man, the INGRtive future

chi-na, the irrealis chu-na, the reportative -ti and the

mood suffixes: the speculative -nka, the declarative -e,

the declarative general knowledge -da, the interrogative

-n, the dubitative -ko and the certainty marker -re. There

are four adverbial proclitics: 'sernblativef tsan=, 'also'

pe=, 'again' =man, and 'still' =ka. There are, of course,

restrictions on which morphemes can CO-occur. In addition,

there is some flexibility, but the most common basic order

of the verbal morphemes is given below.

 1. ADVl 'stillt ka= 'stillt
2. ADV2 'alsot pe= 'alsor
3. SMBL tsan=
4. ADV3 'again man= 'againf
5. COVERB
6. VERB
7. RECIPROCAL - ( k a )a
8. NEG -tu
9. PLURAL -1a
10. VERB CLASS M. -kit -it -tit -ra -10
11. NEG -ti/tu
12. DISJUNCT -i/ya/ka-i
13. PROGRESSIVE -na
14. INGRTIVE - chi -na
IRREALIS -chu-na
EVIDENTIAL -RU
SITUATIONAL -man
HISTORICAL HABITUAL -noman
15. CONJUNCT -YO
16. MOOD
Speculative -nka
Interrogative -R
Declarative -e
Declarative.Genera1 -da
Dubitative -ko
Certain -re

The plural and negative forms are discussed at some

length in Chapters Four and Five and will not be addressed

here. The majority of the remaining morphemes can be

grouped into the categories evidential/mirative markers and

mood markers. So after first discussing the proclitics and

the progressive 1'11 discuss with some detail the complex

evidential/mirative system.

The adverbal proclitics usually occur on the first

element of the complex predicate (86) or before a simple

verb (87) and (88). The proclitic ka= 'still' CO-occurs

with the progressive marker when attached to an active verb

(86). This is not necessary with a stative verb (87) or if

the verb phrase contains a stative auxiliary (88) (see

Chapter V).

(86) Kasutanjinae.
ka=su-ta-n-ji-na-e
.
still=feet i n . Z r - h a v e - ~ ~ -GEN-PRG-DCL
~~:
'He's still chasing her." {PACHIP.46)

Junni wari ichinakari

junni wari ichi-na-ka=ri
then EMPH tiny-small-NCL=FOC

kajomintieti' .
ka=jo-min-ti-e-ti-e
still=be-1MPF.P-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said it is still pretty small.'
{VLP.DAWILINKI.36}

Nukari matunan kasa tinasa

nu=ka=ri matu=nan ka-sa ti-na-sa
2=LOC=FOC old.days=INCL get-DR say-PRG-DR

kameraka itominlae.
ka=mera-ka ito-min=la-e
still=listen-PF.P NOT.BE:AUX-IMPF.P=PL-DCL
'You wouldn't listen when I was telling you
before to grab him.' (BOPI.48)

Examples of the other two proclitics are given below

(89) and (90). There is also an independent word with

roughly the same meaning as man= 'againf, formed with the

same morpheme followed by the inclusive man-nan 'again-

(89) Meri, nu pejino joyun ayuna?

Meri, nu ==ji=no j0-yo-n ayuna
Meri, 2 also=go-INF BE:AUX-CNJ-INT tomorrow
'Meri, do you have to go tomorrow too?'
{JERKUWENTA4.121)

Junsiri manjanin
jun=si=ri man=ja-nin
3Dl=GRAD=FOC again-come-CNTR

iyotie.
i-yo-ti-e
BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-RP-DCL
'He said after that he came back.' (SUPAN.14)

Mannan wanbi mannan latif.

man=nan wanbi man=nan la-ti-e
again=INCL after again=INCL come.out-RP-DCL
'They say again, afterwards, he came out again.'
{TSACHIMANKA.13)

The semblative = t s a n is discussed at some length in

Chapter V.

The progressive (Comrie 1976; Dahl 1994) primarily

.
appears on active verbs1 as in (92) and (93) Active verbs,

out of context, are considered by default to be past tense.

The presence of the progressive marker, out of context with

an active verb, can signal present tense.

'Active verbs are defined as verbs which take the verb

class markers i 'become', ki 'dof and ti 'sayf . See Chapter
V for further discussion.
 Ya nene tsantinae tit.
ya nene tsan=ti-na-e ti-e
3P2 lie SMBL=SAY:GEN-PRG-DCL say-DCL
'He said "He is lying like this."' (BITALISIY0.2)

Tseri kiranayoda.
tse=ri kira-na-yo-da
lF=FOC see-PRG-CNJ-DCL.GEN
'I was looking. ' {JERAKUWENTA.50)

The progressive -na can occur on stative verbs,

carrying much the same meaning as the English progressive

does when occurring with a stative verb. Note the

translation of (94) 'he is being a manf has a sense of

irony in the English, i.e. it implies he is only a man for

the moment. The Tsafiki has the same sense of irony. It can

also indicate doubt as in (95) and often occurs with the

complements of tenja 'imaginef. In (95) the speaker is

simply speculating on how a woman in jail contacted her

family.

(94) Ya unila jonae.

3P2 man be-PRG-DCL
'He is being a man. '

(95) Ya kiranun tiri junnae

ya kira-nun tiri jo-na-e
3P2 see-NOM something be-PRG-DCL

tenjae.
ten-ja-e
heart-C0ME:GEN-DCL
'I imagine how they found out was something like
that.' (JERAKUWENTA.116)
 The p r o g r e s s i v e i s a l s o u s e d a s an i m p e r a t i v e ( 9 6 ) . I t

i s a more p o l i t e , less f o r c e f u l form t h a n t h e i m p e r a t i v e

-de.

Yachi mala kuwana.

ya=chi mala kuwa-na
3P2=DAT c h i c h a give-PRG
'Could you g i v e him t h e c h i c h a ? '

4.2.2 R e c i ~ r o c a l sand R e f l e x i v e s

Reflexives i n Tsafiki a r e t o a l a r g e degree

d e r i v a t i o n a l . A l l b u t what Kemrner (1993) c a l l s t h e d i r e c t

r e f l e x i v e , a r e formed w i t h a c o v e r b and d i f f e r e n t g e n e r i c

v e r b s (See C h a p t e r s T h r e e and F o u r ) . Direct r e f l e x i v e s , o r

a c t i o n s performed d i r e c t l y on o n e s e l f , c a n o c c u r w i t h t h e

a f f e c t e d body p a r t e i t h e r a s a d i r e c t o b j e c t o r a l o c a t i v e

( 9 7 ) , a l t h o u g h most o f t h e t i m e i t i s s i m p l y u n d e r s t o o d

from t h e c o n t e x t . The u s e o f t h e e n c l i t i c =nan, 'INCLUSIVEf

f u r t h e r c l a r i f i e s t h a t t h i s is a r e f l e x i v e construction.

T h e r e i s a r e f l e x i v e pronoun tenkachikenan, b u t i n a l l t h e

t e x t s it o n l y o c c u r s twice. One o f t h o s e examples i s g i v e n

below ( 9 8 ) .
 Tse tedeka/bi=nan poreyoe
tse tede=ka/=bi=nan pore-yo-e
1F hand=ACC/=LOC=INCL cut-CNJ-DCL
'I cut my hand/I cut my own hand/myself on the
hand. '

Junni aman yalanan tenkachikenan

junni aman ya=la=nan ten-ka-chike=nan
then now 3P2=PL=INCL heart-NCL-lF=INCL

paito
pa-i-to
angry-BEC0ME:GEN-SR

warenaminnan, su tikatiya
wa-re-na-min=nan su tikatiya
cry-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-PRG-IMPF.P=INCL rock whatever

jera walakeerelakimantie.
jera wala-ke-ere-la-ki-man-ti-e
all toss-hit-SEND:GEN-PL-D0:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say now the ones that were crying, angry at
themselves, threw all the (shaman) stones out.'

There are two reciprocal constructions. The first

construction occurs with inherently reciprocal coverbs

(Kemmer 1993). The reciprocal is formed with the coverb,

the generic verb i 'become' and the plural. The coverb aman

'hug' appears in three basic constructions in (99) below.

The coverb with the generic verb i 'become' and the plural,

codes a reciprocal event (99a). With just the generic verb

and without the plural it codes a permissive event (99b)

(See Chapter IV, Section 2.0) . Finally, with a different

generic verb ki 'do' it codes a one way hug. Juan does not

necessarily hug back in (99c).

(99) a. Yala amanhilaie.

ya=la aman-i-la-i-e
3P2=PL hug-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-DCL
'They hugged. '

b. Gloria Fanbe amanhie.

Gloria Fan=be aman-i-e
Gloria Juan-COM hug-BEC0ME:GEN-DCL
'Gloria let Juan hug her.'

c. Gloria Fanka amankee.

Gloria Fan=ka aman-ke-e
Gloria Juan-ACC hug-D0:GEN-DCL
'Gloria hugged Juan.'

The second reciprocal construction occurs with

predicates that are not inherently reciprocal. This

construction consists of the,optional augmentative suffix -

ka followed by -a suffixed to a bivalent predicate. The

augmentative suffix is more likely to occur on the finite

verb form. The reciprocal construction always takes a

single core argument (100).

(100) Junni ponela tala pataato chuto
junni pone=la tala pata-a-to chu-to
then shaman=PL DIR argue-RECIP-SR be-SR

yuka kikaato
yuka ki-ka-a-to
evil D0:GEN-AUG-RECIP-SR

totekaalakimantie.
to-te-ka-a-la-ki-man-ti-e
kill-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-AUG-RECIP-PL-DO:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
Then they say the shamans kept arguing among
themselves, cursing each other and trying to kill
each other.' (VLP.PINIJAL.1)

4.2.3 Evidentiality, Mirativity and Epistemic Modality

The majority of the verbal suffixes are dedicated to

the three categories of evidentiality, mirativity and

epistemic modality (see Dickinson 2000; DeLancey 1985,

1986a, 1990a, 1992, 1997, 1999; Slobin and Aksu 1982; Aksu

and Slobin 1986; Chafe and Nichols 1986 inter alia). These

three categories are closely related and often conflated in

languages such as English, i.e. the 'must havef

construction. In Tsafiki these three categories are

distinct. They are defined as:

(101) a. Mirative indicates the relationship the

information coded in the proposition has to the
speaker's general expectations and knowledge.

b. Evidential indicates the source of the

information coded in the proposition.
 c. Epistemic Modality indicates the speaker's
attitude towards the proposition in terms of
certainty, desirability etc.

In Tsafiki all three of these categories can be coded

separately as in (102). In this example, a man is waking up

"the morning afterffand realizes he must have made a

foolish mistake while intoxicated the night before and

revealed some secret information. He doesn't really

remember it, so the verb is marked with -nu 'EV, deduced

from physical evidence' and because he doesn't remember his

own behavior, (normally one does), the clause takes the

disjunct -ya indicating the information is not congruent

with normal expectations. Finally, it takes the mood marker

-ko because he is not sure what really happened.

(102) Tichun painke

ti-chu-n pa-i-n=ke
what-IRR-ST speak-DSJ-INT=QT

tenhimantie, winan ito

ten-i-man-ti-e, winan i-to
heart-BEC0ME:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL drunk BEC0ME:GEN-SR

ePe warente kuchito payanukoke.

ePe warente kuchi-to pa-ya-nu-ko=ke
useless liqueur drink-SR speak-DSJ-EV-DUB=QT
'Why did I speak? they say he thought, Getting
drunk, drinking that useless liqueur, I must have
told them, didn't I?' (FLABIYA.36-37)
4.2.3.1 Mirativity

The mirative system consists of two distinctions

(Dickinson 2000; DeLancey 1997, 1999). If the information

in the proposition is congruent with the speaker's

expectations and general knowledge the conjunct

-yo is used. If the information is not congruent with the

speaker's expectations the disjunct suffix -ya/i is used.

These markers generally only occur when the source of the

information is the same as a participant in the event.

However, at first glance the system looks like a

person-marking system distinguishing first person from

second and third. In (103) below the subject is first

person and the verb is suffixed with -yo 'conjunct.' The

next two clauses have second and third person subjects and

the verb is unmarked for mirativity.

(10.3) First Person

Aman pamukinasa kirato
aman pa-mu-ki-na-sa kira-to
now angry-desire-D0:GEN-PRG-DR see-SR

wirurayoe, tse=ri .
wiru-ra-yo-e tse=ri
stand-BE.POSIT:GEN-CNJ-DCL lF=FOC
'Now as this was pissing me off, I was standing
(there) watching it.' IJRKW3.16-17)
 Second Person, Declarative
Nu, nu pasuwato
nu nu pa-suwa-to
2 2 anger-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-SR

wirurae.
wiru-ra-e
stand-BE.POSIT:GEN-DCL
'You, you are standing (there) bothering (us).'
(JERAKUWENTA3.56)

Third Person, Declarative

Tsachi pasuwato
tsachi pa-suwa-to
person anger-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-SR

wiru-ra-ti-e-ti-e
stand-BE.POSIT:GEN-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say she said that a man was standing there
bothering (her).' { SUYUN.8)

In questions the conjunct marker -yo now appears with

a second person subject (106), a first person question

occurs with the disjunct -i (107), and third person remains

unmarked (108). Note that both the question and the answer

in (106a-b) appear with the conjunct marker.

(106) a. Second Person, Question

Junni panhanutie
junni, panha-nu-ti-e
then ask-EV-RP-DCL

nu tika finayunke?

'Then they say he asked, "What are you eating."'

 b. First Person, Declarative
Mololo finayoe tinin
mololo fi-na-yo-e ti-nin
firefly eat-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-CNTR

tinutie.
ti-nu-ti-e
SAY:GEN-EV-RP-DCL
'They say he said that he was just eating
fireflies.' (AAPALUKA.31-32)

First Person. Ouestion

In sonakari niyaito iton
in sona=ka=ri niya-i-to ito-n
3P1 woman=ACC=FOC how-BEC0ME:VCL-SR not.be-ST

suwano joinke? aman

suwa-no jo-i-n=ke aman
CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-INF BE:AUX-DSJ-INT=QT now

tenka kankee...
ten-ka ka-n-ki-e
heart-NCL get-ST-D0:VCL-DCL
'Now he must have been thinking "How can I get
rid of this woman...", (URU.23)

Third Person, Question

.Jaabi Rinti j,an?
jaa=bi Rinti ja-n?
3D2=LOC Rinti come-INT
'Did Rinti come there? (JRKWTlA.496)

The conjunct/disjunct markers can only be used when

the source of the information is a participant in the

event. Complements of speech verbs or verbs coded with

reportative suffixes (-ti) can carry the conjunct/disjunct

markers if the subjects of both clauses are CO-referent

(109). The absence of the conjunct/disjunct marker

indicates the subjects are not CO-referent (110).

(109) Jera
jera
all

sujilaiyotieti' .
su-ii-la-i-vo-ti-e-ti-e
feet.in.air-G0:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-
DCL
'Theyi said that theyi all ran. ' {CCANKULU.197)

Jera
jera
all

sujilaitieti' .
su-ji-la-i-ti-e-ti-e
feet.in.air-G0:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say theyi said that theyj all ran.'
(CCTSONPIPI.268)

Evidence that the conjunct/disjunct markers are not

first person agreement markers comes from the use of the

first person pronoun in (111). The verb is not marked for

conjunct/disjunct. The subject of the complement is

different than the matrix clause hence the conjunct marker

does not appear despite the presence of the first person

pronoun.

(111) Ya la mantoka jie tie.

ya -
la man-to=ka ji-e ti-e
3P2 1M other-earth=LOC go-DCL say-DCL
'He said that I went to Santo Domingo.'
 Further evidence that these are not direct quotes

comes from the possessive pronoun in both (112a) and (112b)

below. In this example a lizard is asking a man if he eats

her children (lizard eggs). If this were a direct quote the

expected form of the possessive pronoun form would be

tse=chi 'myf, not ya=chi 'his/hert .

(112) a. Yachi na ka fitumanyun?

ya=chi na=ka fi-tu-man-yo-n
3P2=POSS child=ACC eat-NEG-SIT-CNJ-INT

tinutieti' .
ti-nu-ti-e-ti-e
say-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said she asked him if he ate hers
.
(her children) '

b. Yachi fitumanyoe
a fi-tu-man-yo-e
3P2=POSS eat-NEG-SIT-CNJ-DCL

ti-nin tit0 kirawoyoe

ti-nin ti-to kira-WO-yo-e
say-CNTR SAY:VCL-SR see-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-CNJ-DCL

tieti' .
ti-e-ti-e
say-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said he showed (her) (his teeth)
saying he didn't eat hers. ' (CCMANTSA.107,110)

(113a-b) are direct quote forms with the appropriate

first and second person pronouns occurring with the

conjunct marker.
(113) a. Laka tsantie nu merayun?
la=ka tsan-ti-e nu mera-yo-n
l=ACC SMBL-say-DCL 2 hear-CNJ-INT
'So he said to me, "Do you hear it?"'

b. La merayoe tiyoe.
la
- mera-yo-e ti-E-e
lm hear-CNJ-DCL say-CNJ-DCL
'I said, I
' hear it. "' (AAKMEDI2.9-10)

As noted above, the conjunct/disjunct markers can only

occur when the source of the information is the same as a

primary participant. Only a participant can evaluate the

status of the event. The conjunct/disjunct markers can

occur when the speaker is part of the group. The speaker is

talking about the habits of the Tsachila in the old days in

(114a). The verb takes no conjunct/disjunct marking. In

(114b) she is speaking about their present day habits.

Although the subject is technically third person here, she

is part of the group, knows the situation well and the verb

takes the conjunct marking.

(114) a. Jun materi Tsachila pini

jun ma=te=ri tsachi=la pini
3D1 day=LOC=FOC person=PL snake

fiminla jomantie.
fi-min=la jo-man-ti-e
eat-IMPF.P=PL BE:AUX-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say in the old days the Tsachila used to
eat snakes.'
 b. Arnana Tsachila
amana tsachi=la
nowadays person=PL

fituminla joyoe.
fi-tu-min=la J o-yo-e
eat-NEG-IMPF.P=PL BE:AUX-CNJ-DCL
'Nowadays the Tsachila donft eat snakes.
(CCTSAPINI.20-21)

The next example is similar to the above. Here the

speaker is asking a question about everybody, a group to

which he undoubtedly belongs, so he uses the disjunct form

on the verb even though the subject here is technically

third person.

(115) Junni piyanle tsachilanan mowin pun

junni piyanle tsachi=la=nan mowin po-n
junni total person=PL=INCL spirit put-ST

jolajoin?
jo-la-jo-i-n
be-PL-BE:VCL-DSJ-INT
'Then does everybody have this spirit?'
( JCPUKA6.16)

The conjunct/disjunct markers also often occur with

predicates coding the arrival of dawn and dusk (116) with a

reading much like English 'it got dark on me'. Two forms

are possible, one with and one without the conjunct marker

depending on the degree the participant is affected (117)

and (118).
 Sano tsala tenpe wito
sano tsala tenpe wi-to
twine mound under go.in-SR

paloranle tseiyoe
palo-ra-n=le tse-i-yo-e
face.down-BE.POSIT:GEN-ST=LOC light-become-CNJ-DCL

titir yari.
ti-ti-e ya=ri
say-RP-DCL 3P2=FOC
'They say he said going underneath the mound of
twine, he stayed face down (until) it got light
(on him) .' {AATETOMINU.1171

Jayanato kebi iyoe.

jaya-na-to kebi i-yo-e
work-PRG-SR night become-CNJ-DCL
'While I was working it got dark on me (As a
consequence I couldn't finish).'

Jayanasa kebi ie.

jaya-na-sa kebi i-e
work-PRG-DR night become-DCL
'While I was working it got dark (Doesn't
matter) .'

An interesting aspect of this construction is that

even though with the conjunct marker the subordinate verb

takes -to 'Same Reference', unless there is a subordinate

verb the phrase kebi i 'get dark' does not take another

argument. Hence the first person pronoun in (119) is not

acceptable in any form.

(119) *Tse/*tsechi kebi iyoe.

Tse/tse=chi kebi i-yo-e
lF/lF=DAT night become-CNJ-DCL
'*It got dark on me.'
 The conjunct/disjunct suffixes interact differently

with different verb classes (Dickinson 2000). A disjunct

marker with a transitive active verb often indicates

accidental behavior (120b), whereas the conjunct can signal

intention (120a).

(120) a. La yaka kiyoe.

la ya=ka ke-yo-e
1M 3P2=ACC hit-CNJ-DCL
'I hit him (intentionally).'

b. La yaka keie.
la ya=ka ke-i-e
1M 3P2=ACC hit:^^J-DCL
'I hit him (unintentionally) ' .
With monovalent verbs with a single undergoer

argument, the disjunct indicates unawareness or

unconsciousness. Both (12la-b)indicate an accident, but the

first indicates that the speaker was aware that a fall was

possible-the ground was slippery or he was dizzy. In (121b)

the speaker just suddenly found himself on the ground.

(121) a. La keereiyoe.
la ke-ere-i-F-e
1M hit-send-BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-DCL
'I fell (expected) '.
b. La keeraiie.
la ke-ere-i-i-e
1M hit-s~~~-BEcoME:GEN-DSJ-DCL
'I fell (unexpected) ' .
 With a stative verb, the disjunct indicates that there

is a feature of the situation that does not correlate with

the features usually identified for that state. (122b) has

a sense of irony, the speaker knows he appears to others as

bad, but knows internally that he is not. (122a) indicates

the speaker is bad and he knows it (Dickinson 2000: 386-

388).

(122) a. La seiton joyoe.

la se-ito-n jo-yo-e
1M good-NOT.BE:GEN-ST be-CNJ-DCL
'I'm bad. (and I know it).'

b. La seiton joie.
la se-ito-n jo-i-e
.
1M good-NOT BE :GEN-ST be-isJ-DCL
'I'm bad. (but I don't believe it).'

As with evidentials and certain types of epistemic

modality (doubt) the use of the disjunct with an activity

(123a) or motion verb (124a) leads to a somewhat odd

reading-the speaker must have been in an extreme state of

altered awareness when the event occurred. Note that these

verbs are also odd with the English 'must have'

translation. This can be remedied by elaborating the event

in which case the focus of the disjunct is focused on the

elaboration. In (123b) the disjunct marker indicates that

it was the crossing over to the mestizo's land that was

unintentional and in (124b) the disjunct indicates that the

location is a surprise. The speaker thought he was going to

a new place and suddenly recognizes he has been there

before.

(123) a. La jaya keie.

la jaya ki-i-e
1M work DOZEN-DSJ-DCL
??'I must have worked.'

b. Fetochi witaka poleto

feto=chi wita=ka pole-to
mestizo=POSS farm=LOC go-across-SR

jaya keie.
jaya ki-i-e
work DOZEN-DSJ-DCL
'Crossing (unintentionally) over to the non-
Tsachi' S farm, I worked.'

(124) a. Tse jiie.

tse ji-i-e
IF g ~ -J-DCL
D~
??'I must have gone'

b. Carlobe tse inte faie.

Carlo=be tse in=te fa-i-e
Carlos=COM 1F 3Pl=LOC arrive-here-DSJ-DCL
'I' ve arrived here (before) with Carlos! (I just
realized that Carlos' brother's house is the
house I know as Juan' S friend' S house).'

The mirative markers code the relationship the

information coded in the question has to the speaker's

general knowledge. As might be expected there are special

forms for rhetorical questions. The speaker already knows

the answer. A positive question implies a negative answer

(125), (126) and (127a). A negative question implies a

positive answer (127b). The first person and third person

forms use the INGRtive future chi-na. The first person form

is accompanied by the mirative marker. The second person

has a unique form again based on the INGRtive chi.

(125) First Person Rhetorical Question

Jiichinan? (te)
ji-i-chi-na-n (te)
go-DSJ-INGR-PRG-INT (no)
'Would I go? (No)

Second Person Rhetorical Question

Jichiton? (te)
ji-chito-n (te
go-2RHET-INT (no)
'Would you go?' (No)

(127) a. Third Person Rhetorical Question (Positive)

Jichinan? (te)
ji-chi-na-n (te)
go-INGR-PRG-INT (no)
'Would he go?' (No)

b. Third Person Rhetorical Question (Negative)

Jituchinan? (jaan)
ji-tu-chi-na-n (jaan)
go-NEG-INGR-PRG-INT (yes)
'Wouldnft he go?' (yes, (hefS going) )

There is also a special form, the historical habitual,

that is used to code events which the speaker used to do in

the past but no longer does. These verbs always indicate

that the speaker was a participant in the event. In (128b)

there are no pronouns or other indication of first person,

but this can only be interpreted with a first person

reading. The speaker knows this because he habitually did

this action, although he no longer does it.

(128) a. Walpakari jun materi bopi kela

walpa=ka=ri jun mate=ri bopi kela
chiken=ACC=FOC 3D1 old.days=FOC fox tiger

kamin jomanhe kepen.

ka-min jo-man-e kepen
get-1MPF.P BE:AUX-SIT-DCL night
'In the old days the foxes and tigers used to get
the chickens, at night.'

b. Jun tenchi walpaka dotosiri

jun tenchi walpa=ka do-to-si=ri
3D1 in.order.to chicken-ACC close-SR-IMM=FOC

katsonomanhe.
katso-noman-e
sleep-HAB.P-DCL
'Because of this we used to sleep, closing in the
chickens.' (CCANKULU.142-144)

4.2.3.2 Evidentials

There are three basic evidential constructions. The

first (129a), unmarked form, is based on direct sensory

experience. The second (129b), coded with the suffix -nu,

is based on knowledge inferred from direct physical

evidence and the third (129c)is deduced from general

knowledge. This form uses a nominalized verb form and a VCL

(see Chapter V and (Dickinson 2000:407-408).

(129) a. Manuel ano fi-e.

Manuel food eat-DCL
'Manuel ate.' (The speaker saw him. )

b. Manuel ano fi-nu-e.

Manuel food eat-EV-DCL
'Manuel has eaten-' (The speaker sees the dirty
dishes. )

c. Manuel ano fi-n-ki-e.

Manuel food eat-ST-D0:GEN-DCL
'Manuel must have eaten.' (He always
- eats at 8:00
it's now 9:OO.)

Tsafiki also has a reportative. When this suffix -tit

tranparently derived from ti 'say' occurs with another

evidential form it indicates the basis for the original

speaker' S information (130) .

(130) Manuel ano finutie.
Manuel ano fi-nu-ti-e
Manuel food eat-EV-RP-DCL
'He said/they say Manuel has eaten.' (They didn't
see him, but they have direct physical evidence.)

This suffix may be employed up to three times to

indicate that three different speakers intervene between

the original coding of the event and its present recounting

(131) Mantoka jitie titie tie.
man-to=ka ji-ti-e ti-ti-e ti -e
other-earth=LOC go-HS-DCL say-HS-DCL say-DCL
'They say they say they say he went to Santo
Domingo. '

The evidential -nu can also be interpreted as a

mirative marker with third person. It indicates that the

event coded in the proposition is unexpected from the

perspective of the speaker. In (132) below, a man has had

has head snipped off by a giant firefly. The perspective is

set with one of the primary protagonists who has witnessed

the whole event. Here he has direct sensory evidence, he

sees that the head is not dead, but the -nu is used to

indicate that this is unexpected. Detached heads are

generally dead.

(132) Misukari puyatunutieti* !

misu-ka=ri puya-tu-nu-ti-e-ti-e
head-NCL-FOC die-NEG-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said the head wasn't dead!'
(PALUKA.133)

A similar situation holds in (133). A man thinks he

has gone up the hill to attend a fiesta with what it turns

out are a group of bewitched animals. When he wakes up in

the morning he realizes he is actually in a giant tree. The

balsa bench he is lying on is actually a tree limb. Again,

he has direct sensory evidence he is in a tree.

(133) a. To jomintsannan joe tieti'

To jo-min=tsan=nanf joe ti-e-ti-e
earth be-IMPF.P=SMBL=INCL be-DCL say-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said it seemed to be the ground.'

b. Aman, kiranari jamobi

aman kira-na=ri jamo=bi
now see-PRG=FOC top=LOC

jomin jonue ! tietif

jo-min jo-nu-e ti-e-ti-e
be-IMPF. P BE:%-EV-DCL say-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said now, looking he was up high.'
{MV.AASALUN.73-77)

In (134) a mother is showing a paper her young son has

written to some relatives. The mother watched her son write

the whole page. Hence here the evidential is expressing her

surprise that he can write so well, rather than coding an

event that is only known through its results.

(134) Tsan jera kinu' yari !

tsan jera ki-nu-e ya=ri
SMBL all D0:VCL-EV-DCL 3P2=FOC
'Like HE wrote it all!' {JERKUW.34)

The suffix -man 'situational' is somewhat in contrast

with the mirative sense of -nu 'evidential.' The two

morphemes cannot CO-occur2. It indicates that the situation

coded by the verb is expected-the final sequence in a

series of actions (Moore 1991). At present, this morpheme

is poorly understood. A constrastive pair is given below.

(135) was pronounced in a situation in which I had left my

son in Quito, thinking he was returning to the United

States. He decided not to leave and unexpectedly showed

back up in Congoma. Everyone was surprised and a young girl

in the house uttered (135), indicating the unexpectedness

of his return. She saw his return. Had his return been

expected (136) could have been used to code the event.

(1351 Aeson manjanue !

Aeson man=ja-nu-e
Aeson a g a i n - c G e - ~ v - ~ c ~
'Aeson came back (unexpected).'

Aeson manjamanhe.
Aeson man=ja-man-e
Aeson again=come-SIT-DCL
'Aeson came back (expected).'

The situational always has a past tense interpretation

except when it occurs with the conjunct -yo and an active

verb. In this construction it indicates a habitual activity

(137). Otherwise, the habitual is coded with the

The -noman 'historical habitual' is sometimes

pronounced -/numan/ due to the nasalization of the 'of
before the nasal stop. This should not be confused with the
evidential -nu which is never pronounced / n o / .
imperfective participle (See Chapter V).

(137) Ya manka na sujimanyoe

ya man-ka na su-ji-man-yo-e
3P2 one-NCL little feet.in.air-go-SIT-CNJ-DCL

tietif .
ti-e-ti-e
say-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say this little one said I
' run (races)."
(SA7.4)

This habitual sense does not occur when -man-yo occurs

with a stative verb. (138) codes a singular, stative

situation. A man has gone hunting, as a natural sequence to

this the woman is left with the children.

(138) Junni, nalabe churnanyotietif.

junni na=la=be chu-man-yo-ti-e-ti-e
then child=PL=COM sit-SIT-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say she said she was (there) with the
children. ' {KATIMOWIN.6)

When -man 'Stituationalf occurs with of -na

'progressivef it indicates past progressive (139) and an

expected action given the situation.

 Jun ayanni ano kabi
Jun ayanni ano kabi
3D1 mother food get-LOC

jinamanyotietif.
ji-na-man-yo-ti-e-ti-e
go-PRG-SIT-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say the mother said she was going to get
food.' (CCMANTSA.110)

The evidential coding information that is deduced from

general knowledge is formed with a nominalized verb and a

verb class marker. This construction is discussed in

Chapter V, Section 1.2.3. so will only be discussed briefly

here. In (140) below the parents are trying to figure out

why their daughter, normally an early riser, is still abed.

She is sleeping with a child so they deduce that this could

be the reason.

(140) Nabe lobale katsoto

na=be 10-ba-le katso-to
child=ASSC heat-QUAL-CAUSE:SUF sleep-SR

tsankari katsonhinae.
tsan=ka=ri katso-n-i-na-e
SMBL=ACC=FOC sleep-ST-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DCL
'She is sleeping warmly with the child that's why
she is sleeping (so long).' IAASALUN.87)

This is the verb form found in past conditionals. In

(142) the subordinate verb is suffixed with -manpa 'Past

Conditionalf while the main verb takes the nominalized verb

with a verb class marker, indicating this is deduced from

general knowledge.

(142) Nasi kajamanpari ponekari

fino jominla jonhunhe son

fi-no jo-min=la jo-n-jo-n-e son
eat-INF BE:AUX=PL BE:AUX-ST-BE:VCL-ST-DCL alive
'If he had kept going just a little bit more,
they would have eaten the shaman alive.'
(TETOMINU2.115)

4.2.3.3 Evidentials and conjunct/disjunct

While as shown in (120-122) above, the

conjunct/disjunct markers can appear in free distribution

with an unmarked verb form, only the disjunct occurs with

both -nu and the deductive evidential -n-VCL. This follows

from the meaning of the conjunct/disjunct markers. Normally

one is a direct witness to one's own actions. To only know

of one's own actions by the results (physical evidence) or

by deduction, is not the expected situation. In (143) a

blind witch has been sucking the eyes out of a group of

sleeping men. One of the men, a shaman, is aware of what is

happening and when she reaches him, he kneels down, lifts

up his kilt, and lets her feel his behind. She assumes from

the physical evidence that she has already eaten his eye.
The disjunct marker -ya is reduced to a glottal stop here.

Speakers vary as to whether they express the disjunct here

with just the glottal stop or the full morpheme.

(143) a. Junni aman jera peforolate

junni aman jera pe-foro=la=te
then now all feces-hole=PL=LOC

tala tala kee titie wari.

tala tala ke-e ti-ti-e wari
touch:IDEO touch:IDEO do-DCL say-RP-DCL EMPH
'They say he said she touched and touched all
over his behind, well.'

b. Junsi tsantitie wari. "Aaaaa" titie.

jun=si tsan=ti.-ti-e wari. aaaaa ti-ti-e
3Dl=GRAD SMBL=say-RP-DCL well aaaaa say-RP-DCL
'At this they say he said she said this.
"Aaaaaa," she said.

c. Inkari fika jo'nue titie.

in=ka=ri fi-ka jo-ya-nu-e ti-ti-e
3Pl=LOC=FOC eat-PF BE:AUX-DSJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
I'' must have already eaten this ,one," they say
she said.' {MV.TETOMINU.235)

The next example (144) codes a situation in which the

speaker believes he has never eaten armadillo, until

someone tells him it was in last week's lunch soup (See

Dickinson 2000). He had had soup all that week, if

armadillo was in the soup he must have eaten it3.

Note that the verb class marker is i 'become' here,

not the expected ki, that normally occurs with the verb fi
'eat. There is some evidence that ya is the original
 Jodoka fiinhie.
f odo=ka fi-i-n-i-e
armadillo=ACC eat-DSJ-ST-BEC0ME:VCL-DCL
'I must have eaten armadillo.'

While the conditions controlling the use of an

evidential generally hold--direct sensory evidence, direct

physical evidence, deduction from general knowledge--the

evidentials in fact have been extended to code the

speaker's relationship in the event in terms of degree of

participation. Speakers living in the same household may

use the direct sensory form even when they have not

directly witnessed the event. In (145) below, a husband

uses the direct form to state that his wife had forgotten a

chicken (for dinner) on the bus. He only knows she forgot

it because she told him, He did not see her leave it on the

bus. He can use this form because he is a participant in

this event. He's not having chicken for dinner. A person

who did not live in the household would be considered

presumptuous (were they expecting to be invited for

dinner?) if they used this form.

disjunct marker, which was often accompanied by i 'become'.

Ya has dropped out in many environments, leaving the i
'becomef which is now interpreted as a disjunct marker.
This would explain why here it controls the verb class
marker (See Chapter V.)
 Patarinonan
pata-ri-no=nan
come.down-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

pansika joe wari.

pan-si-ka jo-e wari
calm-REM0VE.SUF:CAUSE-PF.P BE:AUX-DCL well
'She forgot to bring (the chicken) down (off the
bus) .' (JRKW3.7)

One of the more interesting extensions of the

mirative/evidential system is its role in reference

tracking. As noted previously, almost half of Tsafiki

narrative sentences have no overt expression of arguments

and there is a single non-obligatory plural agreement

marker. Reference is tracked through the use of switch-

reference markers, conjunctive phrases (see Chapter V) and

the mirative/evidential markers. In the narratives the

perspective is usually placed with one of the main

protagonists in the story. The use of the mirative and

evidential markers then clearly indicates who is doing

what. In the following examples (146a-d) the perspective

has been initially set with a man who has gone fishing and

has an encounter with a water monster. Despite the fact

that there are no overt arguments in this stretch of

discourse, the referents are being tracked by the

mirative/evidential markers. In (146a) there is no

conjunct/disjunct marking on the verb sujamantieti' which

indicates this is not an action of the main protagonist but

rather of the monster. In (146b) the conjunct marker on the

verb manfayoe indicates this is an action carried out by

the protagonist. In (146c) there is again no

conjunct/disjunct marking on the verb, keereka jonutieti',

indicating this is not an action of the protagonist. The

evidential suffix, -nu, on the main verb, indicates that

the main protagonist just sees the result of the throwing

of the canoe. He did not see the event. Finally in (146d)

there are no reportative markers on the verb, indicating

this information is a direct interjection from the present

narrator, and the perspective is not with the main

protagonist. The verb form used junjunhe indicates that he

is deducing what must have happened from his knowledge of

the overall situation.

(146) a. Todato kade kade sujamantieti' .

'They say he (the man) said exploding (out of the
water) (the water monster) came running grabbing
.
(at him) grabbing (at him) '

b. Tsaninasa tule mansupatato kanowa tsonunte

manfayoe timantie.
'They say he (the man) said while this was
happening he (the man) ran straight down and
arrived where the canoe was lying.'
 c. Kanowaka dilan tala kato keereka jonutieti'.
'They say he (the man) said that (someone) had
grabbed the canoe and turned it over.'
d. Junni ya wilinki nalala jomin junjunhe
'Well it must have been the water monster's
children.' IVLP.DAPOMIN.123-126)

4.2.4 Irrealis Constructions

Tsafiki has four irrealis (Givon 2001) constructions

that can serve as futures. They may also be used in past

contexts, but out of context are interpreted as futures.

The first two constructions most commonly occur with the

conjunct marker, although the disjunct marker is possible

in special contexts (see Dickinson 2000). The second two

constructions can only occur with the disjunct marker.

The first construction consists of the suffix -chi

'INGRESSOVE' followed by -na 'PROGRESSIVE'. This

construction codes an event that is at the beginning stages

of inception. In (147) a wife sees her husband preparing to

leave the house and asks:

(147) Nu jichinayun minuchi?

nu ji-chi-na-yo-n minu=chi
2 qo-INGR-PRG-CNJ-INT road=LOC
you going up to the road?' (wife to husband)
(JRKW.la.19)

In the following clause, the eye-eating witch from

(148) above is beginning to move among the men to suck out

their eyes, as she does so she begins to sing:

Kanta kinin kinatie

kanta ki-nin ki-na-ti-e
sing D0:GEN-CNTR D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL

ya kaka fichinayoeke.
ya kaka fi-chi-na-yo-e=ke
3P2 eye eat-INGR-PRG-CNJ-DCL=QT
'They say she was just singing, "I'm going to eat
the eyes.' (TETOMINU2.46)

This construction can also be used with third person.

In (149) a trouble-making guatusa has been left tied up by

a mob of angry people. He is trying to talk a lion into

changing places with him, telling him that the people are

going to feed him huge quantities of food:

(149) Duke animali kuwalakechinae

duke animali kuwa-la-ke-chi-na-e
a.lot much give-PL-D0:GEN-INGR-PRG-DCL
'Theyfre going to give (me) a huge amount (of
food).' {VLP.KURUKUW.75)

The second construction codes a situation in which

someone has to do something in order to fulfil1 a specific

goal. This construction is formed with the infinitive form

of the verb and the auxiliary jo 'BE:AUX'. The action is

usually something the speaker wants to do for his own

benefit. In (150) a husband is asking what else he needs to

buy in town, while in (151) a woman is talking about her

plans for the day. (152) has a third person subject and

indicates the person needs to go to Santo Domingo for his

own benefit.

(150) Ayan, yakari tanjano

ayan ya=ka=ri ta-n-ja-no
mother 3P2=ACC=FOC have-ST-C0ME:GEN-INF

joyoko?
jo-yo-ko
BE :AUX-CN J-DUB
'Mother, is this all I have to bring (from
town)?'

Amana tse kebiinasa peloto kebi

amana tse kebi-i-na-sa peloto ke-bi
today 1FE night-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-DR ball do-PURP

jino joyoe.
jino jo -yo-e
go-INF BE:AUX-CNJ-DCL
'Today, when it gets dark, I have to go play
soccer.' (SA3.1)

Ya Mantoka jino joyoe.

ya man-to=ka ji-no jo-yo-e
3P2 other-earth=LOC go-INF BE:AUX-CNJ-DCL
'He has to go to Santo Domingo.'

The next two constructions can only occur with

disjunct marking, (when the source of the information is

the same as the primary participant). The first

construction is formed with the irrealis suffix -chu and

the progressive -na. With a first person, but not a third,

this codes obligation, often with a strong sense that this

is not something the speaker wishes to do. In (153) a woman

is talking about taking her mother to a curandero 'healer'

in a town several hours away on the coast.

(153) Junte ayanka

jun=te ayan=ka
3Dl=LOC mother=ACC

petanjiichunae.
pe=ta-n-ji-i-chu-na-e
also=have-ST-G0:GEN-DSJ-IRR-PRG-DCL
'I should take (my) mother there.' (JRKla.331)

In (154) the speaker is talking about what they would

have to do in the old days, when they went hunting and saw

lots of signs of wild pigs, but no actual wild pigs.

(154) Niyan ti jonan

niya-n ti jo-nan
how-ST what be-INCL

wanilaiichunaeke.
wan-i-la-i-i-chu-na-e=ke
wait-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-DSJ-IRR-PRG-DCL=QT
'For whatever reason we would have to wait.'
{KURUKUWENTA4.141)

When the subject is third person and not the source of

the information this sense of obligation is not there. In

(155) some tigers who have restored an old woman to her

youth are simply stating their predictions concerning her

future.

Junni aman nuri unila mankichunaeke.

junni aman nu=ri unila man-ki-chu-na-e=ke
then now 2=FOC man again-do-IRR-PRG-DCL=QT
'Then (they said) "You will get another
husband."' {SINUKA.271)

The next construction, only occurs when the source of

the information is the same as the primary participant. It

carries an opposite sense than the above construction.

Whereas with -chum, there is a conflict between the

protagonist's obligation to do something and his desires

(he doesn't really want to), in the next construction the

protagonist wants to carry out the action but extenuating

circumstances may not permit it. This construction is

formed with the progressive marker -na and the disjunct

marker. In (156) the son of a somewhat evil bear plans to

kill his father, but the bear is big, the son is small and

it might not come to pass. The ke 'DO:VCLt in (156) is

functioning as a proverb, referring to the verb tote 'killf

in the previous sentence.

 Yari aPa janaminka itsan
ya=ri apa ja-na-min=ka in=tsan
3P2=FOC father come-PRG-IMPF.P=ACC 3Pl=like
kegnaeke
ki-ya-na-e
D0:VCL-DSJ-PRG-DCL
(He said) he would kill his father who was coming
(if he could).' ( PAYA1.62)

In (157) the speaker is talking about buying a part

for a car in Santo Domingo. The part might not be available

(157) Jaan ayuna, mantobi

jaan ayuna man-to=bi
jaan tomorrow other-earth=LOC one-NCL=CNTR

mankanin ke' nae

man=ka-nin ki-ya-na-e
again=get-CNTR D0:VCL-DSJ-PRG-DCL
'Yes tomorrow, I will just get one in Santo
Domingo (if I can) .' (JRK.156)

4.2.5 Mood

The final position in the verb is filled by one of

several mood markers: -e 'DECLARATIVE', -da 'DECLARATIVE

GENERAL', -ko 'DUBITATIVE', -n 'INTERROGATIVE', -de

'IMPERATIVE' and -re 'CERTAIN'. All but the last two occur

in free distribution with the evidential and mirative

markers discussed in the previous section.

The imperative -de contrasts with the use of the

progressive marker -na as an imperative in that it is much

stronger and more likely to be used with a child or someone

over whom the speaker has some authority. The following is

from a personal narrative concerning the old days when they

would have to carry a priest down from Quito every year or

so to marry, baptize or bury. Here the speaker is talking

about how hard it was but still, the priest would insist on

being carried.

(158 Wari podeitiyoe.

wari pode-i-ti-yo-e
well be-able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL

Mannan panalakede
man=nan pana-la-ke-de
again=INCL carry.on.back-PL-DO:VCL-IMP

panalakede.
pana-la- ke-de
carry.on.back-PL-DO:VCL-IMP
'1 c,ou1,dntt,do it. But (the priest would say)
"Carry me! Carry me!"' (ICMATU5.7)

The suffix -re does not appear directly on verb roots

nor occur with any of the other finite verbal morphemes. It

can occur directly suffixed to nouns or to non-finite verb

forms creating a finite verb. It codes speaker certainty.

In (159) the speaker, missing a previous portion of the

discourse, wants to know who had been shouting angrily. The

other speaker simply answers with the name of the person

affixed with -re.

(159) a. MO?
mo
who
'Who?'

b. Liroire.
Liroi-re
Leroy-CERT
'Leroy/It was Leroy (for sure)'

In (160) a speaker accepts and confirms that she

forgot a chicken on the bus.

(160 Juntonan jun orari

junto=nan jun ora=ri
but=INCL 3D1 hour=FOC

wari pansikare wari

wari pan-si-ka-re wari
well calm-REM0VE:GEN-PF-CERT well
'But at that time, it was already forgotten (for
sure, nothing to be done about it).' I JRK.4 )

The remaining mood markers are fairly self-evident in

their function. The difference between the two declaratives

is that the -da 'DECLARATIVE.GENERALr indicates that this

is general knowledge 'as everybody knows', whereas -e is

solely coding the speaker's perspective. All of the mood

markers can occur in free distribution with mirative and

evidential markers. They clearly form a separate category.

In questions, the evidential or mirative marker is

always based on the speaker's assumptions about how the

questionee knows the information. In (161) an aunt is

questioning her niece about a theft of some items from her

neice's bag at school. She uses the evidential -nu because

the neice did not see the theft. She is simply asking her

neice if she has evidence the items were taken.

(161) Tanjanun?
ta-n-ja-nu-n
have-ST-GO: GEN-EV-INT
'Did (they) take (some other items in the bag) ?'
{ JRK. 423)

In (162) the speaker is asking the questionee to give

a speculative answer as to whether the questionee is going

to go into town.

(162) Speculative
Kati, jinola joyonkan?
Kati, ji-no=la jo-yo-nkan
Kati, go-INF=PL BE:AUX-CNJ-SPEC
'Kati, do you think you are going to have to go?'
{ JRKW3.364 )

In (163) a narrator is beginning a story and asking

the listener to use his own judgement based on his general

knowledge as to whether the story is true or not.

(163) Tsa junhunkan o nene junhunkan?

tsa jo-n-jo-nkan o nene jo-n-jo-nkan
true be-ST-BE:AUX-SPEC or lie be-ST-BE:AUX-SPEC
'Could it be true or is it a lie?' (JCMALI.2)
 The following examples illustrate different mood

markers with various evidentials.

(164 -da 'DECLARATIVE.GENERALf and -nu 'EVIDENTIAL'

Tsanke tenka
tsan-ke ten-ka
SMBL-D0:VCL heart-NCL

kalakinuda yala sonala.

ka-la-ki-nu-da ya=la sona=la
GET:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-DCL.GEN 3P2=PL woman=PL
'Doing this the woman must have found out (as
everybody knows)' {MALILI.21)

-ko 'DUBITATIVE' and -nu 'EVIDENTIALf

Padeseilaiannuko.
padese-i-la-i-na-nu-ko
suffer-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-EV-DUB
'(The children) must be suffering right?'
(JRKW5.354)

-da 'DECLARATIVE. GENERAL and -nVCL (deduced from

general knowledqe)
Ya man tenkarin Diyosichika
ya man ten-ka=ri-n Diyosi=chi=ka
3P2 one heart-NCL=FOC-ST God=POSS=ACC

jinhida .
ji-n-i-da
go-ST-BEC0ME:GEN-DCL.GEN
'It is this other heart (soul) that' must go to
God.' (ACPUKA1.34)
(167) -ko 'DUBITATIVE and -nVCL (deduced from general
knowledge)
Amanari itonin
amana=ri ito-nin
nowadays=FOC not.be-CNTR

itonjunhunko
ito-n-jo-n-jo-n=ko
NOT.BE:AUX-ST=BE:VCL-ST-BE:VCL-INT-DUB
'Nowadays (there) just aren't any (fish in the
river) right?' { PUKA1.34)

4.3 Complement Clauses

Tsafiki has both independent and dependent complement

clauses (Noonan 1984; Zavala 2000; Giv6n 2001b; inter

alia). The form of the complement clause is determined by

the governing predicate, although some predicates can occur

in more than one type of construction.

4.3.1 Dependent Complement Clauses

Dependent complement clauses will be examined first.

There are two different forms depending on whether the

subjects of the two predicates exhibit CO- or disjoint

reference. When the subjects are CO-referent the complement

verb is suffixed with the infinitive -no and occurs

immediately preceding the verb with no other elements

intervening between the complement and matrix verb. The

matrix verbs occurring in this construction include jo

'bef, the modality complex predicates: m i - i 'learn', pode-i

'be able', m i - r a 'know', m u - k e 'want', m u n a - i 'desirer, and

m u n a - r a 'need' and the speech verb ti 'say'. Examples of

intransitive clauses are given below. Note that in both

examples there is a single negative marker on the matrix

verb. The complement in this construction cannot be

individually negated.

(168) Manlono podeitutie.

man=lo-no pode-i-tu-ti-e
again=go.out-INF be.able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-RP-DCL
'They &ay she couldn't go out again.'
(URUSONA.87)

Ayan junto pi kabi jino

ayan junto pi ka-bi ji-no
mother but water get-PURP g o - E ~

muketue tinutie.
mu-ke-tu-e ti-nu-ti-e
desire-D0:GEN-NEG-DCL say-EV-RP-DCL
'They say she said, "~ut- other, I don't want to
go get water.' (VLP.SUYUN.10)

In (170) and (171) the complements are transitive

verbs. The object of the complement verb can carry

accusative marking (170).

(170) Yaka, yaka miino

ya=ka, ya=ka mi-i-no
3P2=ACC ~P~ZCC
know-BECOME:GEN-INF

muke' .
mu-ke-e
 desire-D0:GEN-DCL
'This, I want to learn this.' (ICMATU3.42)

Tunan tsanla manpetsanpa tsanla

tunan tsan=la manpetsanpa tsan=la
skirt SMBL=PL male-skirt SMBL=PL

kino podeitue tito.. .

ki-no pode-i-tu-e ti-to.. .
D0:VCL-INF be-able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-DCL say-SR
'Saying she couldn't do (weave) like womenfS
skirts, like male skirts.' (TSAB02.251

When the matrix verb and complement have different

subjects, the suffix -sa 'DIFFERENT REFERENCE' is suffixed

to the complement verb. The matrix verbs listed above as

well as k a r i 'cause', manta 'orderr, and ere 'send' can be

used in this construction to form a periphrastic causative.

The complex predicate mera 'wait' can also occur in this

construction. Intransitive examples are given below (172)

and (173). The subject of the complement verb takes

accusative marking.

(172) Yaka jasa

ya=kaja-sa
~ P ~come-DR
GCC
munaratiyoeke.
muna-ra-ti-yo-e=ke
desire-BE.POSIT:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL=QT
'(He said) the he didn't want him to come.'
IMV.ACKELA.36)
 Jaan, (nalaka) tera kisa
jaan, (na=la=ka) tera ki-sa
yes, (child=PL=ACC) step D0:GEN-DR
karilakina' .
kari-la-ki-na-e
cause-PL-D0:GEN-PRG-DCL
'Yes, she' S making (the children) dance. ' {JRKW.6 7 )

When the complement clause is transitive, the subject as

well as the object of the complement clause can carry

accusative case marking (174) to form a double object

construction (Dryer 1986). The subject of the complement

clause is the primary object in that it has access to

relativization. A relative clause cannot be formed from the

object of the complement (secondary object). The absolutive

aligned relative clause in (175) can only refer to the actor

participant (subject) of the complement. The word order of

complement subject and object is strict. A reversal of order

signals a reversal of roles.

(174) Jeinka, bebo malilaka timan,

jein=ka bebo malila=ka ti-man,
PRO:EMPH=ACC woodpecker malila=ACC say-SIT,

sonalaka kasa erekayoe titi' .

sona=la=ka ka-sa ere-ka-yo-e ti-ti-e
woman=PL=ACC get-DR send-PF.P-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
'They say she said that she sent that one, the
woodpecker called malila, to get the women.,
ITSAB0.27)
(175) Kasa ereka manjie.
ka-sa ere-ka man=ji-e
get-DR send-PF.P again=go-DCL
'The one they sent went back/*the one they sent
someone to get w6nt backf

4.3.2 Independent Complement Clauses

Independent complement clauses can take full finite

morphology and unlike dependent complements they can occur

postverbally. As demonstrated by numerous examples

throughout this text, complements of the speech verb ti

'sayf simply occur with full finite morphology before the

verb of speech. Independent clauses can also occur with

matrix verbs formed from the coverb t e n 'thinkf, with

complex predicates formed with the generic verb t i 'sayf,

with panha 'askf, pa-i 'get angryf and pa 'speakf. However,

with verbs other than t i 'sayf the complement verb phrase

takes the enclitic =ke 'QUOTATIVEf . Complements of ti 'sayf

when occurring postverbally also take =ke 'QUOTATIVE'.

While the complements with =ke are more often than not

direct quotes, they are not necessarily so. As elsewhere

the form of the pronoun distinguishes a direct from an

indirect quote. Example (176) with the pronoun nu 'you' is

a direct quote.
(176) Junni , panhanutif nu tika
junni, pan-a-nu-ti-e nu ti=ka
then speak-RECIP-EV-RP-DCL 2 what=ACC

finayunke?
fi-na-yo-n=ke
eat-PRG-CNJ-INT=QT
'Then he asked (him), "What are you eating?"'
{PALUKA.19}

In (177) the possessive pronoun is third person, not

first, indicating this is an indirect quote.

(177) Manfanasa, ya namari

man=fa-na-sa ya nama=ri
again=arrive.here-PRG-DR 3P2 daughter=FOC

panhananketif yachi unila

pan-a-na-n-ke-ti-e ya=chi unila
ask-RECIP-PRG-ST-D0:VCL-RP-DCL 3P2=POSS man

nunchi niyainanke.
nun=chi niya-i-na-n=ke
which=LOC how-BECOME: V=-PRG-INT=QT
'They they say when he arrived back his daughter
must have been asking him about where her husband
.
(had gone) '

Example (178) is an example of a complement occurring

pre-verbally with =ke.

 Jalainakoke

tenhinayotie yalari.
ten-i-na-yo-ti-e ya=la=ri
heart-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-CNJ-RP-DCL 3P2=PL=FOC
'They say they wondered if they were coming.'
{ JRKW. 432)

4.4 Adverbial subordinate clauses

Adverbial subordinate clauses (Foley and Olson 1985)

can be sorted into three types. First, there are two

constructions that only occur subordinated to motion verbs-

-a purpose clause, and an associated motion clause. Second,

there are clauses that are specifically marked for switch

reference, and third there are subordinate clauses that are

indifferent to switch reference.

4.4.1 Motion Verbs

The adverbial clauses that only occur with motion

verbs are suffixed with -bi purpose or -de 'ASSOCIATED

MOTION'. An example of a purpose clause is given in (179).

 Motion Purpose Clause
Junni junka
junni jun=ka
then 3Dl=ACC

kabi jilainutieti' .
ka-bi ji-la-i-nu-ti-e-ti-e
get-PURP go-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL,
'They say he said then they went to get them.'
{DOBE:157)

Associated motion clauses (Koch 1984; Wilkins 1991)

indicate that the eventuality coded by the verb occurred

simutaneously with the motion (180) and (181).

(180) Associated Motion

Aman warede manjanutie.
aman ware-de man=ja-nu-ti-e
now cry-ASSC.M again-come-EV-RP-DCL
'Now they say she came crying.' {VLP.SUYUN.74)

Associated Motion
Juntonan sonakari paide
junto=nan sona=ka=ri pa-i-de
but=INCL woman=ACC=FOC a n g r y G ~ c 0GEN-ASSC.
~~: M

manjanatie.
man=ja-na-ti-e
again=come-PRG-RP-DCL
'But they say he was coming back again angry at
the woman.' {VLP.MMAPINI.ll)

4.4.2 Pur~oseClauses

Purpose clauses subordinated to other verbs can carry

one of either two suffixes -chun (182) or -chike (183).

Both code purpose but -chike primarily codes desire and

carries an implication that the task may not be

accomplished.

Desirative
Junni aman tsanhinasanan
junni aman tsan-i-na-sa=nan
then now SMBL-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-DR=INCL

nenanin rayotietir
nena-nin ra-yo-ti-e-ti-e
go.around-CNTR BE.POSIT:GEN-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

yari, bonkoroka kachike.

ya=ri bonkoro=ka ka-chike
3P2=FOC partridge=ACC get-DESIR
'They say that then while this was happening he
just went around because he wanted to get
partridges.' (TSAONPIPI.30)

Purpose
Junni aman inlaka manfichun
junni aman in=la=ka man=fi-chu-n
then now 3Pl=PL=ACC again=eat-IRR-ST

aman wa paila dakarimantie.

aman wa paila da-kari-man-ti-e
now big pan cook-CAUSE:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then they say she heated up a big pan to eat
them again.' {VLP.CHIPIRI.27)

4.4.3 Secondarv Predicates

One of the essential characeristics of a secondary

predicate construction is that a single clause contains two

predicating elements that refer to a single core argument

(Schultze-Berndt and Himrnelman 2001). In Tsafiki depictive

secondary predicates are formed with the stative -n that

most often occurs on a verb or coverb that encodes a

physical state or condition (e.g. son 'alivef, k a t s o

'asleepf, s e 'goodf, puya 'dead'). The main predicate is

often a verb of motion, manipulation or change-of-state. In

this sense Tsafiki depictive secondary predicates may be

considered 'canonicalf (Schultze-Berndt and Himmelman

2001). In (184) katso 'sleepf and t s o 'lie' both predicate

on the single core argument ayan 'motherf. There is no

causative relationship between the two predicates. I am

using the term secondary predicate in the sense of. Tsafiki

secondary predicates consist

(184) Secondary Predicate

Mannan ayannin winanhito
man=INCL ayan=nin winan-i-to
again-INCL mother-CNTR drunk-BEC0ME:GEN-SR

katson tsomin jomintif.

katso-n tso-min jo-min-ti-e
sleep-ST lie-1MPF.P BE:AUX-IMPF-P-RP-DCL
'But they say the mother getting drunk lay there
sleeping., (AASUYUN.37)

4.6.4 Resultatives

Resultatives, like depictive secondary predicates,

consist again of two predicating elements in a single

clause that share a single core argument. Unlike depictive

secondary predicates however, the main clause and the

resultative clause have a casual relationship. The

resultative clause comes about because of the action coded

in the main clause. The resultative clause is formed with

the perfective participle form of a monovalent, undergoer

aligned predicate and is usually also suffixed with -ri

'FOC' (185).

(185) Kala tseikari

kala tse-i-ka=ri
silver light-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P=FOC

sikiteyoe.
siki-te-yo-e
rub-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-CNJ-DCL
'1 rubbed the silver shiny.'

4.6.5 As~ectualSuordinatina Suffixes

There are two aspectual morphemes besides the

progressive -na that occur on subordinate clauses. The

first is -si 'IMMEDIATE' that indicates the eventuality

coded in the main clause happens immediately after the

eventuality coded in the subordinate (186).

 Ina ina nuchi bonkoro tisi
ina ina nu=chi bonkoro ti-si
Immediately immediately 2=POSS partridge say-IMM

pole walakeeree titif.

po-le wala-ke-ere-e ti-ti-e
IDEO-CAUSE.SUF toss-hit-SEND:GEN-DCL say-RP-DCL
'Immediately, immediately after she said "Your
partridge," she tossed it (to him).'
(CCTSONPIPI.97)

The second, -di 'PUNCTUALf indicates that the

eventuality coded by the subordinate verb is completed

before the eventuality coded by the verb in the main clause

Aman tsankedi ya, yari seiton

aman tsan-ke-di ya, ya=ri se-ito-n
now SMBL-D0:VCL-PUNC 3P2 3P2=FOC good-NOT.BE:GE

sinuka manjimantif.
sinu-ka man=ji-man-ti-e
o1d.F-NCL again=go-sit-RP-DCL
'When she had done this, this evil old woman went
back.' fTETOMINU2.42)

When the progressive -na combines with the focus

marker -ri, and the main clause contains an irrealis

suffix, it can have a conditional reading (188).

 Junni t i l e ya kantsa j a j e r a p e t e n a r i
junni t i = l e ya k a n t s a j a jera p e t e - n a = r i
t h e n what=LOC 3P2 l i v e r NCL a l l rot-PRG=FOC

kela y a r i janin inano

kela ya=ri ja-nin i-na-no
t i g e r 3P2=FOC come-CNTR BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-INF

jotie.
jo-ti-e
BE :AUX-RP-DCL
' I f t h e l i v e r l e a f r o t s t h e r e , a t i g e r i s going
t o b e coming. ' {ACKELA. 5 4 )

However, when it o c c u r s w i t h i n o t h e r c o n s t r u c t i o n s -

na-ri o f t e n i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h e two e v e n t s coded by t h e

v e r b s happen s i m u l t a n e o u s l y ( 1 8 9 ) .

(189) Mannan mantan j i n a r i aman

man=nan man-ta-n- j i - n a = r i aman
again=INCL again-have-ST-G0:GEN-PRG-FOC now

nin f u r i j e r a piyamantie.
nin fu=ri j e r a piya-man-ti-e
f i r e feather=FOC a l l lost-SIT-RP-DCL
'When h e was t a k i n g them ( o u t t o t h e j u n g l e )
again ( t h i s t i m e ) a l l t h e ashes got lost.'
{CHIPIRI.13)

4.4.6 Switch Reference Clauses

The f i n a l t h r e e s u f f i x e s c o d e s w i t c h e s i n r e f e r e n c e ,

o r c o n t i n u i t y o f a c t i o n (Haiman a n d Munro 1983; S t i r l i n g

1 9 9 3 ) . The c o - r e f e r e n c e s u f f i x -to, a n d t h e d i s j o i n t

r e f e r e n c e s u f f i x -sa n o r m a l l y i n d i c a t e c o / d i s j o i n t
reference for the nominative argument of a subordinate verb

and the following verb. In (190) -to 'SR' indicates co-

reference between the nominative arguments of all the

verbs. In (191) -sa 'DR' indicates disjoint reference of

the subordinate clause with the following clause.

(190) Tsanhito aman owoole kaya

tsan-i-to aman owoole ka-ka
SMBL-BEC0ME:GEN-SR now si1ence:IDEO get-PF.P

ito kebi tala mankatsto

i-to kebi tala man=katso-to
BEC0ME:AUX night DIR again=sleep-SR

katsolaimanti'.
katso-la-i-man-ti-e
sleep-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say doing this, quieting down owoo, sleeping
they slept.' IAAMALI.37)

Junnasari, jinasari mantsa

jo-na-sa=ri ji-na-sa=ri mantsa
BE:VCL-PRG-DR=FOC go-PRG-DR=FOC mantsa

jominnutie.
jo-min-nu-ti-e
be-IMPF-P-EV-RP-DCL
'They say meanwhile, when he was going (there) was a
.
sloth (there) ' {CCMANTSA.42)

However, there are exceptions and these two suffixes

might best be considered markers of action continuity or

sequentiality. An example of -sa 'DR' occurring in a clause

in which there is CO-reference between the nominative

arguments of the verbs is given in (192). This is taken

from a text in which a husband has buried his dead wife in

a remote location. After one year he goes back to retrieve

her bones. Although the referents are the same there is a

discontinuity of action, much has intervened during the

year, so the disjoing marker -sa is used.

(192) Junni manjanasa, watate aman chide

junni man=ja-na-sa wata=te now chide
then again=come-PRG-DR year=LOC now bone

laribi manjimanti' .
la-ri-bi man=ji-man-ti-e
come.out-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-PURP again=go-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say then coming back, after one year he went to
take out the bones (of his dead wife).' (MALI.42)

Both the switch reference constructions are nominal to

the degree that they can take locative postpositions (193).

(193) Jun tsanhinasale kiranari,

jun tsan-i-na-sa=le kira-na-ri
3P1 SMBL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DR=LOC see-PRG-FOC

jamobi chutobile tenjati' ,

jamo=bi chu-to=bi=le ten-ja-ti-e
above=LOC sit-SR=LOC=LOC heart-COME-RP-DCL

chide chide palabi.

chide chide pala=bi
tree tree fork=LOC
'They say while this had been going on, looking,
he realized he had been sitting in a tree, the
fork of a tree.' (SALUN.97)
 The same reference marker also occurs in serial verb

like constructions (Durie 1988, 1997; Giv6n 1991a-b; Lord

1993 inter alia), in which the subordinate verb and the

main verb code a single event. This primarily occurs with

pole 'go across' and chu 'sit' as main verbs in the

construction. The construction with 'pole' occurs with a

subordinate motion verb and is usually just translated with

the motion verb. In the texts it always occurs when a

protagonist is escaping from someone or something. In (194)

the protagonist is escaping from a water monster.

(194) Junni tsanhinasa, man kanowa ya wito

junni tsan-i-na-sa man kanowa ya wi-to
then SMBL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DR one canoe 3P2 go.in-SR

sujato polemantir .
su-]a-to pole-man-ti-e
feet.in.air-come-SR go.across-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then they say while this was going on, getting in
another canoe he came running/escaped.' (MALI.76)

The construction with chu 'sit' as the main verb is

usually translated as 'keep doing X' as in (195) below.

(195) Jelen yate fato, manfanasa

jelen ya=te fa-to man-fa-na-sa
jungle house=LOC arrive.here-SR

manfanasa sonala tala

man-fa-na-sa sona=la tala
again-arrive.here-PRG-DR woman=PL DIR
 pataito chunlamantie.
pata-i-to chu-n-la-man-ti-e
argue-BEC0ME:GEN-SR be-ST-PL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say arriving at the jungle house, when he
arrived, the women kept arguing.' (MALI.33)

Finally, the inclusive enclitic indicates disjoint

reference of the nominative arguments. In these cases it

appears as a suffix rather than as an enclitic. However,

unlike -sa 'DR', rather than simply coding sequential

events, there is usually a causal relationship between the

two events. In (196) a lizard woman is trying to grab an

armadillo out of his hole, instead the armadillo pulls her

into the hole and as a consequence she dies.

(196) Chuinaminka jodo

chu-i-na-min=ka jodo
clutch-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-IMPF.P=ACC armadillo

muri kanan jeenbi forobi

muri-ka-nan jeen=bi foro=bi
drag-GET:GEN-INCL PR0:EMPH hole=LOC

manlano podeituto
man=la-no pode-i-tu-to
again=come.out-INF be.able=BECOME:GEN-NEG-SR

forochi puyanutie
foro=chi puya-nu-ti-e
hole=LOC die-EV-RP-DCL
'They say that because the armadillo dragged the
one that was clutching him in there, in the hole,
she died in the hole.' (CCTSAPAPA.46)
 5.0 Summary

In this chapter I have tried to give an overview of

Tsafiki morphosyntax. The remainder of the chapters will

examine complex predicates and verb class markers and

explore with more depth some of the constructions only

briefly mentioned here. In the following Chapter, the

morphosyntactic behavior of the complex predicate will

first be examined as a whole and then the individual

elements, coverb and generic verb, will be analyzed

separately. In addition, categories which are closely

related to coverbs will be analyzed. These include adverbs

and ideophones. Chapter IV looks at the argument structure

of complex predicates and gives a more in-depth analysis of

simple clause structure, particularly case-marking of core

arguments.
 CHAPTER I11

SIMPLE AND COMPLEX PREDICATES

1. Introduction

As mentioned previously, the majority of predicates in

Tsafiki are complex. Two distinct speech elements combine

to perform the function fulfilled by a single 'verb" in

other languages. Complex predicates consist of an

inflecting verb and a non-inflecting element. The

inflecting elements form a closed class of approximately

thirty-three 'generic verbs', whereas the non-inflecting

elements (coverbs) form a large, open class. As

illustration, three examples of Tsafiki coverb-generic verb

constructions are given below. In (1) the coverb j a 'flyr

is followed by the generic verb 10 'GO.UP:GENt . In (2) the

coverb pa 'anger' is followed by the generic verb suwa

'CAUSE.BECOME:GEN' and in (3) the coverb mi 'know' is

followed by the generic verb kuwa 'GIVE:GENr.

 Aman ele kopebi nechi
aman ele kope=bi ne=chi
now wild.turkey bamboo=LOC foot=LOC

jalolaitie.
ja-10-la-i-ti-e
fly-GO.OUT:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-RP-DCL
'Now they say the wild turkey came flying out of
the bamboo.' {AATETO.MINU.20)

Nuri, nuri, unila nukari

nu=ri nu=ri unila nu=ka=ri
2=FOC 2=FOC man 2=ACC=FOC

manpasuwachunaeke.
man=pa-suwa-chu-na-e-ke
again=angry-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-IRR-PRG-DCL-QT
'(They said) "You, you, the men will be bothering
you again. "' { KELAFIMIN. 67)

Jaatsanke manjina tito jera minu

jaa-tsan-ke man=ji-na ti-to jera minu
3D2-SEMBL-D0:VCL again=go-PRG say-SR all road

mikuwae titie, ya tsabo sonari.

mi-kuwa-e ti-ti-e ya tsabo sona=ri
know-G1VE:GEN-DCL say-RP-DCL 3P2 star woman-FOC
'They say she said i n this way, saying ',go ba,ck!"
the star woman showed her the way (home).'
(TSAB01.243)

The primary purpose of this Chapter is to establish

the degree to which the coverb and generic nouns form

distinct morphosyntactic categories, not only in relation

to each other, but also to other closely related categories

such as adverbs and ideophones, with which the coverbs bear

a fair amount of similarity both notionally and in terms of

function. There is some overlap between the categories and

I will be employing the concept of a cline, similar to a
grammaticalization chain to describe the system. If

grammaticalization is considered a process of increasing

generalization of semantic content (Hopper and Traugott

1993) rather than specifically referring to an endpoint

with strictly grammatical rather than lexical

characteristics, then at least some of the various elements

discussed in this chapter can be seen as having undergone a

process of grammaticalization from: ideophone > coverb >

generic verb > verb class marker. Roughly half the coverbs

can function as ideophones. In turn, some of the generic

verbs can function as coverbs and all the verb class

markers can function as generic verbs, resulting in a clear

cline, with a single overlap, i.e. none of the generic

verbs that can function as coverbs can function as

ideophones and none of the verb class markers that can

function as generic verbs can function as coverbs. Despite

the overlap between the categories, the different functions

can be clearly identified by the phonological and

morphosyntactic properties the element has within the

construction as a whole, so in any given example there is

little doubt as to what function the element is serving.

And in each category there are elements that only carry the

functions and morphosyntactic behavior of that category.

However, following Sweetser (1990) I will be arguing

here and in Chapter Four, that rather than simply loosing

semantic meaning the generic verbs and verb class markers

actually gain information lacking in the coverbs and

ideophones. The coverbs and the ideophones are both very

rich in semantic meaning or texture. They more often than

not have strict constraints on the type of semantic

participants they code, and are often quite specific in

terms of the manner in which an action occurs. The generic

verbs have far fewer constraints on the type of semantic

participants they code and the manner in which the action

occurs. However, as will be argued forcefully in Chapter

Four they carry information about the schematic structure

of the event that the coverbs lack, most notably infomation

as to the type of eventuality that is being coded by the

predicate. However, in this Chapter an emphasis will be put

on exploring the type of semantic meaning carried by the

coverbs. I will begin by discussing the complex predicate

construction as a whole and then discuss the individual

elements, coverb and generic verb separately.

 2. Canonical Complex Predicates

Canonical complex predicates consist of a generic verb

and an unmarked coverb, CO-occurring in a single intonation

contour, very often forming a single phonological word and

coding events which could, for the most part be represented

by a single verb in a language such as English. They fit

the standard definition of complex predicate in that "two

semantically predicative elements jointly determine the

structure of a single syntactic clause" (Mohanan 1997:42).

The argument structure of complex predicates will be

addressed in Chapter Five, but to summarize the results of

that Chapter, while in some cases the coverb could be

analyzed as an adverbial modifier in an endocentric

construction, there are clearly cases where the coverb

contributes to the syntactic valency of the clause. For

example in (4) below the generic verb ra 'be in a position'

occurs with a positional coverb nan 'lie horizontalf to

form a monovalent, seemingly endocentric construction. In

(5) this same generic verb ra 'be in a position' combines

with the coverb muna 'desire' to form a bivalent

construction. While the omission of the coverb in (4) would

not result in a significant difference in meaning-the

generic verb appears to carry the greater semantic load-the

omission of the coverb in (5) would result in a meaningless

construction. As will be discussed more thoroughly in

Chapter Four, the coverb can definitely contribute to the

valency of the complex predicate in these types of

constructions.

(4) Manka nedele

man-ka ne-de=le
one-NCL leg-NCL=LOC

nanratieti'.
nan-ra-ti-e-ti-e
horizontal-BE.POSIT:GEN-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'One (woman) was lying across his legs.'
(DOBE.234)

Niyanka munarayun titi'.

niya-n=ka muna-ra-yo-n ti-ti-e
how-ST=ACC desire-BE.POSIT:GEN-CNJ-INT say-RP-DCL
'They say he said how much do you want?'
{KELA.TSACHT.27)

In this section I am primarily concerned with the

degree to which the coverb and generic verb function

syntactically as a single predicate. I will begin with word

order and prosody.

2.1 Word Order and Prosody

Unmarked coverbs always immediately precede the generic

verb. They occur under a single intonation contour and the three
proclitics, man= 'again'; pe= 'also( and ka= 'stillr most

commonly occur on the coverb (6-8), although there are a handful

of examples in the texts where the proclitic intervenes between

the coverb and generic verb and speakers, in some cases, in

elicitation accept the proclitic on the generic verb, even

though it intervenes between the coverb and generic verb (9).

The acceptability judgment of (9) varied amongst the speakers.

Note in (7) that the proclitic ka= is acceptable on the coverb

because the generic verb carries the progressive marker -na.

(6) Tsachiri nin kit0

tsachi=ri nin ki-to
person=FOC fire D0:GEN-SR

peasuwamanti' .
pe=a-suwa-man-ti-e
also=cook-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say the man, making a fire, also cooked.'
{,MV.KELA.43)

Kakole kanae.
ka=ko-le ka-na-e
still=break.large.branch-CAUSE:SUF get-PRG-DCL
'She is still breaking them (the branches).
{CHICOPA.16)

Man tsachi ito

man tsachi i-to
one person become-SR

mansujananutie.

'Turning into a person, he was coming running back.'

(KELATSACHI.32)
 Tera mankee.
tera man=ke-e
step again=DO:GEN-DCL
'~e-danced again. '

In terms of prosody, the most common pattern is for

the primary accent to fall on the coverb, the final

syllable in a bisyllabic coverb (10), with a secondary

accent on the generic verb, again on the final syllable if

bisyllabic (11). In some cases however there are two

primary accents (12).

Pi=bi ter&-p6-e
water=LOC step-PUT.INSIDE-DCL
'S/he stepped in the water.'

Ano A-suwi-e.
food cook-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-DCL
'S/he cooked the food.'

Ter6 kC-e.
step D0:GEN-DCL
'S/he danced. '

In most cases, the degree to which the elements

form a single phonological word is clear. In this study I follow

the orthography used by the speakers. In most cases the writing

system accurately reflects the phonological structure of the

elements. In any case the two elements are tightly bound

syntactically.
 2.2 Negation

Unmarked coverbs do not take negative suffixes. The

negative suffix occurs on the generic verb (13). The

constituents cannot be negated individually and the negative

suffix has scope over the whole complex predicate. As

illustrated throughout this study, all aspect, evidential,

mirative and mood markers are suffixed to the generic verb.

(13) Aman junbiri

aman jun=bi=ri
now 3Dl=LOC=FOC

puraitiyotie.
pura-i-ti-yo-ti-e
abandon-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-CNJ-RP-DCL
'He said he didnft stay there.' {VLP.SUPAND0.21)

2.3 Summary

Tsafiki complex predicates form a close-knit unit in

terms of word order and usually also in terms of prosody.

The constituents share their values in terms of aspect,

evidentiality, mirativity, mood and polarity and take a

single set of morpho-syntactic arguments, determined

jointly by the generic verb and coverb.

 3. Coverbs

The open class of lexemes (coverbs) which combine with

inflecting verbs (generic verbs) to form a complex

predicate, translate into English as verbs, adverbs and in

some cases as adjectives or nouns. Throughout this study I

translate the coverbs with the closest English equivalent,

sometimes as verbs, sometimes as adjectives and even at

times as nouns. However, the translations are somewhat

misleading in that the coverbs form their own grammatical

class and their meaning is often difficult to translate.

While a subset of coverbs can occur as individual elements

functioning as ideophones, many do not occur independently.

The coverbs, in most cases, can only occur in a discourse

if nominalized or 'verbalizedt by a generic verb. While, as

will be argued more forcefully in Chapter Four, the coverbs

do carry information concerning semantic participants, they

are ambiguous as to whether the framework in which they are

to be viewed is a static relationship, as with a noun, or a

sequential relationship as with a verb (Talmy 2000;

Langacker 1987b) .
So bear in mind that the translations are only

approximations. For example I translate bare as 'stretch',

b i t i as 'snapr and p a as 'angryf, but a more accurate

translation would be along the lines of 'of stretching',

'of snappingf or 'of angeringf.

3.1 Coverbs and Nouns

The coverbs differ from nouns in that, like verbs, in

order to function as nominals, i.e. modifiers or referring

elements in a noun phrase, coverbs are suffixed with

nominalizing suffixes. In (14) t e r a 'step' occurs with the

nominalizer -n 'be in the state of', followed by a noun

class marker -ka to form t e r a n k a 'ladderf which is followed

by the enclitic -se 'by/through.' In the second occurrence

of t e r a n k a 'ladderr, the nominalized coverb is followed by

the accusative enclitic -ka. Compare t e r a n k a k a 'step-ST-

NCL=ACCf to p a l u k a k a 'two-NCL=ACCf.
 Junni jun terankase sonala
junni jun tera-n-ka=se sona=la
then 3D1 step-ST-NCL=by woman=PL

palukaka patarisiri unilari

mantiminnin yari terankaka

manmurikanin kimantie .
man=muri-ka-nin ki-man-ti-e
again=drag-GET:GEN-CNTR D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'When the women had gone down the ladder, the
man, well, he just hauled the ladder up again.'
{VLP: SUPAN: DO.4)

In the next two examples bare 'stretchr occurs

suffixed with the nominalizer -n 'be in the state of',

functioning first as the adjectival predicate in a stative

construction (15) and then as an adjective (16). Note that

the nominalizer -n can also be used to nominalize a simple

verb, tanka 'to the one who has' (16).

(15) Numiri baren baren animali jotie.

numi=ri bare-n bare-n animali jo-ti-e
penis=FOC stretch-ST stretch-ST very be-RP-DCL
'They say his penis was really really long.'
{VLP.URUSONA.IC.59)

Ya numi baren tanka...

ya numi bare-n ta-n=ka
3P2 penis long-ST have-ST=ACC
'To (the one) who has a long penis ...'
{MV.ACPONESILI.585)
 These same coverbs tera 'step' and bare 'stretch' can

also occur in combination with a generic verb to form

complex predicates (17) and (18).

(17 Tera kinatieti' yari.

tera ki-na-ti-e-ti-e ya=ri
step D0:GEN-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3P2=FOC
'They say she was dancing.' (CCTSONPIPI.244)

Ku
ku
breast

baresuwalakimantieti'.
bare-suwa-la-ki-man-ti-e-ti-e
stretch-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-PL-DO:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL-RP-
DCL
'They say (they) stretched (the women's)
breasts.' IDOBE.114)

Besides the nominalizing suffix -n, the coverbs take

the same set of suffixes as do generic verbs. The coverb do

'close' directly takes the imperfective participle suffix -

min in (19). Note that without a generic verb dominla in

(19) is ambiguous. Do 'close' with the nominative-aligned,

imperfective participle -min (19) could mean 'the one who

closes it' based on a causative construction coded in

Tsafiki by do-ke-e 'close-D0:GEN-INF', or 'the one that

closes/gets closed/is closed' based on an inchoative

construction coded in Tsafiki by do-i-no 'close-BEC0ME:GEN-

INE". In fact, the presence of the plural indicates it is

probably the causative do 'close'.

(19) a. Nunchi jun mantobi?

nun=chi jo-n man-to=bi
which=LOC be-INT other-earth=LOC
'Where is it, in Santo Domingo?'

b. Mantobi merkado minu wari

man-to=bi merkado minu wari
other-earth=LOC SP:store road well

biya dominla junte

biya do-min=la jun=te
SP:street close-IMP.P=PL 3Dl=LOC
'In Santo Domingo, the market street well, where
they closed the street.' (JERAKUWENTA.624-625)

In (20) the perfective participle suffix -ka in occurs

directly suffixed to the coverb without a generic verb. In

the same manner as (19) above, do 'closer with the

absolutive-aligned perfective participle -ka could mean

'the thing that somebody closed' or 'the thing that closedg

and in this case doka (20) remains ambiguous.

(20 Aman kolon, mala kolon doka jun

aman kolon, mala kolon do-ka jo-n
now vessel chicha vessel close-PF.P BE:AUX-ST

tsominyae titi' .
tso-min-ka-e ti-ti-e
lie-1MPF.P-PF.P-DCL say-RP-DCL
'They say he said the the chicha vessel that was
closed/that somebody closed had been lying
there.' {SONPURA.35)
 Finally in (21)' do 'close' occurs with the

nominalizing suffix

(21) Junni donunpe panamantie,

junni do-nun-pe pana-man-ti-e
then close-NOM-NCL carry.on.back-SIT-RP-DCL

sona.
sona
woman
'They they say the woman carried the door (lit:
the flat rigid thing that closes).'
(VLP.DONUNPE.2)

Do 'close' occurs in a complex predicate construction

(22) Mandokee .
man=do-ke-e
again-close-D0:GEN-DCL
'She closed (the door) again. ' {CHICOJA.48)

Examples (23-25) contain the generic verb pa 'speak',

functioning here as a 'simple' verb, occurring with the

same nominalizing suffixes -min 'IMPF. P' (23)' ka 'PF. P'

(24) and -nun 'NOM' as the above examples (19-21).

(23) Yari tsankeri tsankenan

ya=ri tsan-ke=ri tsan-ke=nan
3P2=FOC SMBL-DO:VCL=FOC SMBL-DO:VCL=INCL

pamin joda.
pa-min jo-da
speak-1MPF.P BE:AUX-DCL:GEN
'So he says, so he says.' (VLP.PONE.339)
 Man fiki man fiki paka
man fiki man fiki pa-ka
one word one word speak-PF.P

jolajoda.
jo-la-jo-da
BE:AUX-PL-BE:VCL-DCL:GEN
'They said one word, one word.' (VLP.PONE.341)

Ya kuru panunka sonala kiratusa

ya kuru pa-nun- ka sona=la kira-tu-sa
3P2 guatusa speak-NOM-ACC women=PL see-NEG-DR

manta jotinkan?
manta jo-ti-nka-n
SP:order BE:GEN-NEG-SPEC-INT
'Wouldn't the order be that the women were not to
look at the guatusa whistle? {JAKURUl.GO)

However, not all coverbs are equal in terms of their

ability to directly take nominalizing suffixes. For example

in a total of twenty-five examples, taken from the whole

corpus, of the coverb ba 'unstick' occurring in subordinate

clauses, none, including seven nominalized clauses, were

found to occur without a generic verb. The complex

predicate as a whole was nominalized (26-28).

(26) Junsiri manbajitumin

jotie.
jo-ti-e
BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'She in no way was able to unstick it (the head).
{BOPI.84)
 Misu baj
- ika jun joti'.
misu ba-ji-ka jo-n jo-ti-e
head unstick-G0:GEN-PF.P BE:AUX-ST be-RP-DCL
'The head was unstuck' (BOPI.113)

Jun misuka balekanun

jun misu=ka ba-le-ka-nun
3D1 head=ACC unstick-CAUSE:SUF-GET:GEN-NOM

tenchi yari, aman finutieti' .

tenchi ya=ri aman fi-nu-ti-e-ti-e
in.order.to 3P2=FOC now eat-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Now they say they must have unstuck the head in
order to eat.' (MMAPIYAN.74)

3.1.1 Nouns with coverb function

Coverbs cannot be distinguished from nouns on the

basis of their ability to occur with generic verbs in

complex predicate constructions in that in Tsafiki, a small

subset of nouns can occur in the same position as the

coverb (29)' with a similar function.

(29) Ya sonaka na poe .

ya sona=ka na po-e
3P2 woman=ACC child put-DCL
'He impregnated the woman/LIT:He child-put the
woman.'

Evidence that na 'child' in (29) is part of the

predicate and not a noun comes from a combination of the

meaning and the case-marking. The normal case-marking for

po 'put' would require that the theme take the accusative

enclitic, and the woman a locative enclitic, The standard

order would be agent/theme/loc/verb as in (30) and the

variance exhibited in (29) is not permitted with other

types of semantic participants (31).

(301 Ya piyoka tsalachi poe.

ya piyo=ka tsala=chi po-e
3P2 corn=ACC basket=LOC put-inside-DCL
'S/he put the corn in the basket.'

*Ya tsalaka piyo poe.

ya tsala=ka piyo po-e
3P2 basket=ACC corn put-inside-DCL
*'He corn-put inside the basket.'

If (29) occurs with the order and case-marking pattern

of (30), it can only mean that the man literally put a

fully-formed child inside the woman (32).

(32) Ya naka sonachi poe.

ya na=ka sona=chi po-e
3P2 child=ACC woman=LOC put.inside-DCL
?'He put the child inside the woman.'

3.2 Nouns, Verbs and Coverbs

One of the primary ways that coverbs differ from both

nouns and verbs, is that both nouns and verbs can occur

with finite, declarative mood markers (see Chapter 11,

Section 3.1). In non-verbal predicate constructions the

copula may be dropped, in which case the noun directly

takes the declarative and dubitative mood markers. In (33)

the noun unila 'man' is suffixed with the simple

declarative -e, the emphatic declarative -da, which has the

connotation 'as everybody knowsr and the dubitative suffix

-ko. Generidsimple verbs can also occur suffixed with

these mood markers (34). This has not been found to occur,

either in texts or in elicitation with coverbs.

(33) Noun
Fan unila-e 'Juan is a man'
Fan unila-da 'Juan is a man (as everybody
knows)'
Fan unila-ko 'Juan is a man right?'

Generidsirn~leverb
Fan ji-e 'Juan went'
Fan ji-da 'Juan went (as everybody knows).'
Fan ji-ko 'Juan went right?'

Coverbs can occur with the imperative suffix (35-36).

Note that in an imperative construction the meaning,

valency and argument structure can be recovered from the

context, which is not the case with the other mood

suffixes .
 Junni aman sonakari tsapaito
junni aman sona=ka=ri tsapa-i-to
then now woman=ACC=FOC hurry-BEC0ME:GEN-SR

dana tinutie.
da-na ti-nu-ti-e
cook-PRG say-EV-RP-DCL
'They say he told the woman to hurry up and
cook.' {VLP.Ilusun.24
Te se kiratiyoe, mannan
te se kira-ti-yo-e mannan
NEG good see-NEG-CNJ-DCL again

manterade.
man=tera-de
again=REP-dance-IMP
'I didnft see well, dance again!
{VLP.CHIPIRIDZ.30)

3.3 Coverbs and Subordinate Clauses

Coverbs, unlike nouns and similar to verbs, can also

occur directly suffixed with morphemes coding other types

of subordinate clauses. The frequency with which an

individual coverb will appear in a subordinate clause

without the generic verb varies according to the individual

coverb. For example, Tsafiki has a number of coverbs

depicting 'cookingf. The coverb da 'prepare cooked

food/medicinef contrasts with a 'cookf in that, while both

can be used for cooking in general, i.e. boiling, roasting.

steaming (frying was traditionally unknown), da depicts the

whole process including peeling, mashing, stirring etc.,

whereas a 'cook' focuses on the internal change undergone

by the food. Hence da forms bivalent complex predicates

with ki 'dof or kari 'cause' and more rarely1 i 'become' to

depict a monovalent undergoer-aligned predicate. A 'cook8

forms a bivalent complex predicate with suwa 'cause to

become' and a monovalent undergoer-aligned predicate with i

'become'. Da 'prepare cooked food/medicine8 appears quite

frequently without a generic verb in subordinate clauses,

including the nominalized clauses discussed above. Out of

the 75 subordinate clauses (including nominalized clauses)

formed with da 'cook' found in the texts, 67 or 89%

occurred without the generic verb and only eight or 11%

occurred with the generic verb. This contrasts with the

coverb a 'cook'. Out of the 24 subordinate clauses formed

with a 'cook' only four or 17% occurred without the generic

verb whereas 20 or 83% occurred with the generic verb. In

(37) and (38) examples of da 'cook' and a 'cook8 are given

suffixed with the same reference marker -to.

lDa 'cook8 plus the generic verb i 'become is rare

with this sense. It can be used to refer to an erupting
volcano.
(37) Junni junbi junkari, yalari aman
junni jun=bi jun=ka=ri ya=la=ri aman
then 3=LOC 3=LOC=FOC 3P2=PL=FOC now

asuwato tsachikaka
a-suwa-to tsachikazka
cook-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-SR meat=ACC

asuwato
a-suwa-to
cook-CAUSE-BECOME-SR

kufilakinayotietif .
ku-fi-'la-ki-na-yo-ti-e-ti-e
breast-eat-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DL
'Then they said that there, cooking,
cooking they were feeding the meat to them.'
( JERAKUWENTA2.7 36 )

Daka pi tape layato dato yaka

da-ka pi tape layato da-to ya=ka
cook-PF.P water weed gather-SR cook-SR 3P2=ACC

kutsawotsan joe.
kuchi-WO-tsan jo-e
drink-CAUSE:SUF-SMBL BE:AUX-DCL
'Gathering up the cooking herbs, cooking them,
it's like one has them drink it.' IMV.ACPONE.28)

In (39) a 'cook' first appears as a relative clause in

one of the few clauses in which it appears without a

generic verb and then in the causative construction which

is suffixed with the irrealis/purpose suffix -chu-n. In

(40) da 'cook' also appears suffixed with -chu-n, but

without a generic verb.

(39) Yachi yabi, ya tsachila anaminka

ya=chi ya=bi ya tsachi-la a-na-min=ka
 pitato niyan tsachilaka asuwachun
pita-to niya-n tsachi=la=ka a-suwa-chu-n
smoke-SR how-ST people=PL=ACC cook-CAUSE.BECOME-IRR-ST

pitato pechusa tito

pita-to pe-chu-sa ti-to
smoke-SR also-sit-DR say-SR

junto kato tanjinutietif,

junto ka-to ta-n-ji-nu-ti-e-ti-e
then get-SR have-ST-go-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

yachi yaka.
ya=chi ya=ka
3P2=POSS house-ACC
'They say she had grabbed him and taken him to her
house saying he was to live there too, smoking
whatever kind of person to cook them, to smoke the
people that were getting cooked, in her house
(MMAPIYA2.28-30)

Wari, ano dachun wiruideke

wari, ano da-chu-n wiru-i-de=ke
well food cook-IRR-ST stand-BEC0ME:GEN-IMP=QT
'Well (she said) "Get up to cook the food."'
( CCSALUN . 4 5)

I looked at four different coverbs occurring in

subordinate clauses, the related da 'prepare cooked

food/medicinef and a 'cookf, ba 'unstickf and the

positional coverb w i r u 'standf. There is a fair amount of

variation in the likelihood that the coverb will occur as

the sole predicating element in the clause, with da 'cook'

being the most likely and ba 'unstickf the least (Table 4).
 TABLE 4: Frequency of Occurrence of Coverb
with a Generic Verb

Coverb Coverb plus Total

Alone Generic Verb
da 'cook (processg 67 89% 8 11% 75 100%
a 'cookf 4 17% 20 83% 24 100%
w i r u 'stand' 7 7% 92 93% 99 100%
b a 'unstickf 0 0% 25 100% 25 100%

The coverbs occur in subordinate clauses with the

generic verb more often than not. I looked at 314

subordinate clauses containing a coverb, 59 or 19% occurred

without a generic verb. The remainder, 255 clauses or 81%

occurred with the generic verb. Since the possibility of

occurring without a generic verb is not evenly distributed

among the coverbs, certain coverbs make up a

disproportionate number of the 59 examples found without a

generic verb. In particular four coverbs make up roughly

half the tokens, da 'cookf and w a r e 'cry' each occur nine

times, nand 'carry on the shoulderf eight times and do

'close' seven. In all, these four coverbs make up 33 of the

59 tokens of coverb without generic verb found in the

study. As will be discussed further below, the overall

pattern of the distribution of the coverbs indicates the

variation could be due to a process in which certain

coverbs are beginning to exhibit properties of generic

verbs.

3.4 Coverbs in Finite Clauses

Although coverbs cannot occur directly suffixed with

the declarative and dubitative mood suffixes, they do

occasionally occur directly suffixed with other finite

morphology. Recall that in Tsafiki, finite clauses are

defined by their ability to take evidential, mirative and

mood suffixes. I looked at 326 finite clauses containing a

coverb taken from eleven texts, six traditional narratives

and five personal narratives/conversations. Out of these

326 clauses, only ten or just 3% occurred without a coverb.

Da 'cook' and do 'closer once again are represented in the

ten tokens. Da 'cookf occurring twice (41) and do \closer

twice (42). In the following examples the coverb first

occurs in a finite clause without the generic verb, and

then in a finite clause with the generic verb.

(41) a. Manjatobi ano dayoe.

man-ja-to=bi ano da-yo-e
'When I came back I prepared food.' {SA2.4)
 b. Jun junbi dakeda.
jun jun=bi da-ke-da
3D2 3D2=LOC cook-D0:GEN-DCL:GEN
'He prepared food there (as everybody knows) .'
{CIPANOl.294)

(42) a. Manka namari, walpa

man-ka nama=ri walpa
one-NCL daughter=FOC chicken

donamanyoe tie.
do-na-man-yo-e ti-e
close-PRG-SIT-CNJ-DCL say-DCL
'One daughter said she was penning in the
chickens.' {CCANKULU.141)

b. Aman in suyun foroka

aman in suyun foro=ka
now 3P1 rainbow hole=LOC

dokechinayoe tit0
do-ke-chi-na-yo-e ti-to
close-D0:GEN-IRR-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-SR

jera donutieti'.
jera do-nu-ti-e-ti-e
all close-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say that saying they wanted to shut the
rainbow man up in the hole, they shut up all of
them (the rainbow manfS family) up. '

An Example of another coverb pura 'abandon' are

occurring first without (43a) and then with a generic verb

(43b) is given below:

(43) a. Tsan anodeka ninbi lobato
tsan ano-de=ka nin=bi 10-ba-to
SEMBL platano-NCL=ACC fire=LOC heat-QUAL-SR

fiina ti sonala puramantie

fi-i-na ti sona=la pura-man-ti-e
eat-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG what woman=PL abandon-RP-DCL

tit.
ti-e
say-DCL
'They say that if one eats this platano, heating it
(directly) in the fire, women will abandon you.'
(JAKURUKUWENTA4.56)

b. Yowelo yaka yabi purakee.

Yowelo ya=ka ya=bi pura-ke-e
Joel 3P2=ACC house=LOC abandon-D0:GEN-DCL
'Joel abandoned him (the dog) in the house.'

Overall coverbs without generic verbs are more

acceptable in subordinate clauses than in main clauses. I

have grouped the data discussed above in Table 5 below.

TABLE 5: Frequency of Occurrence of Coverb with a

Generic Verb in all Clause Types

Coverb plus Coverb Alone TOTAL

Generic Verb
# % # % # %
Finite 316 97% 10 3% 326 100%
Clause
Subordinate 255 81% 59 19% 314 100%
Clause
TOTAL 571 89% 69 11% 640 100%
 In summary, coverbs cannot directly take the mood

suffixes -e 'DECLARATIVE' , -da 'DECLARATIVE: GLOBAL' or -ko

'DUBITATIVE.' They do sometimes take directly take other

kinds of verbal morphology but this is fairly rare,

particularly in finite clauses and tends to occur more with

certain coverbs than others. Table 6 below summarizes the

morphosyntactic behavior of nouns, verbs and coverbs

discussed in this section.

TABLE 6: Morphological and Syntactic Properties

of Nouns, Coverbs and Generic Verbs

NOUNS COVERBS GENERIC

VERBS
Require nominalizing suffixes no Yes Yes
to function as nominals
Can oocur with a generic verb Yes Yes sometimes
in complex predicates
Take mood markers: -e, -da, -ko yes no Yes
Take subordinating no 80% do Yes
morphemes not

Take other types of finite yes

- 97% do Yes
-
morphology not

Table Three clearly shows that coverbs have mixed

nominal and verbal properties, and overall form a distinct

class in terms of behavior. What remains to be explored is

the relationship of coverbs to adverbs and ideophones,

other elements with which coverbs share some notional as

well as morphosyntactic characteristics.

4. Adverbs

As in Northern Australian languages (ShUltze-Berndt

2000), in some constructions coverbs resemble adverbial

modifiers. Like adverbs they do not inflect and

grammatically, coverbs are never obligatory (all the

generic verbs can also function as simple verbs). In some

combinations of coverb and generic verb the coverb may be

omitted without a significant change in meaning or argument

structure. Particularly, it is difficult to determine

whether manner-of-motion coverb-verb constructions are

endocentric or exocentric. In (44) the coverb may be

omitted and the construction will still convey roughly the

same meaning, although with a loss of dramatic

effectiveness.
 Ti amali tsanhatinan tito,
ti amali tsan-a-ti-nan ti-to
what very SMBL-scream-SAY:GEN-INCL say-SR

yachibi pipokalate taichun

ya=chi=bi pipoka=la=te ta-i-chu-n
3pZ=POSS-LOC testicles=PL=LOC touch-BEC0ME:GEN-IRR-ST

su-ja-man-ti-e
feet.in.air-C0ME:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say screaming "What!" he came running up to him
and ended up touching his testicles.' {MV.AAMALI.55)

However in the majority of cases the omission of the coverb

renders the clause nonsensical as in (45) and (46).

(45 Misu bojika

- itonke
misu bo-ji-ka ito-n=ke
head crack-G0:GEN-PF.P NOT.BE:AUX-INT=QT

panhanin kinayof.
pa-n-a-nin ki-na-yo-e
speak-ST-RCP-CNTR D0:VCL-PRG-CNJ-DCL
I1 just asked him, "Wasnft (your) head
cracked?"' {PILABAN.131)

Junni yachi namae tenjatie.

junni ya=chi nama-e ten-ja-ti-e
then 3P2=DAT daughter-DCL heart-C0ME:GEN-RP-DCL
\It occurred to him that she was his daughter.'
(Seitonuni.4)

Tsafiki does have a small set of elements that

directly modify the action of the verb. These adverbial

elements include: duke 'very/a lotf, a m a l i 'very/manyf,

j a m i m i 'slow/weakly8 and m o o r a 'brief time/quickf and to

some degree sonba 'strong' and we 'move8. The adverbs have

a mix of properties resembling both coverbs and ideophones.

In some cases the adverb appears directly before a coverb

(47-48).
Aman, jamimi telena tinatif.
aman, jamimi tele-na ti-na-ti-e
now slowly tie-PRG say-PRG-RP-DCL
\He was saying tie it weakly/loosely.'
(MV.AASALUN.113)

Tsachiri sonba amali teleyoe titi',

tsachi=ri sonba amali teleyoe ti-ti-e
person=FOC strong very tie-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL

YaPe tsojitusa.
YaPe tso-ji-tu-sa
so.that loose-G0:GEN-NEG-DR
'The man said that he tied it really tightly so
it wouldn't come loose.' (MV.AASALUN.114)

It can also occur before a complex predicate (49) or

simple verb (50-51). The adverbs, like ideophones, are also

often repeated more than once (50) or contain long vowels

(49). Unlike ideophones however, they may occur without

marked phonological features (47-48) and (51).

 Tiri kuwenta yari jei::n jamimi:::
tiri kuwenta ya=ri jein jamimi
something like 3P2=FOC EMPH:PRO slowly

owainin imin jotieti' .

owa-i-nin i-min jo-ti-e-ti-e
grow-BEC0ME:GEN BEC0ME:VCL BE:AUX-PR-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say it was really something, it just
sloooowly kept rising (the floodwater).'
(VLP.CCMMAPIYA1.36)

Moora moora jinamanti' .

moora moora ji-na-man-ti-e
brief brief go-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say he went quickly quickly.' tMOLEN.41

Aman kuruchibiri duke pechuyotie.

aman kuru=chi=bi=ri duke pe-chu-yo-ti-e
now guatusa=POS=LOC=FOC a.lot also-be-CNJ-RP-DCL
'She said she also stayed at the guatusa's place
for a long time.' (SUPAN.24)

However in many cases the adverb appears in a clause

initial position (as do other temporal adverbs) and unlike

coverb-generic verb combinations, other material can

intervene between the adverb and the verb. Example (52)

describes how the local schoolteacher told her students to

do their work. In (53)' in which the narrator is describing

the manner in which a spirit can make itself known, moora

has the connotation of suddenly.

 Aman jamimi jamimi::: mo nantiya
aman jamimi jamimi mo nantiya
now slowly slowly who nothing

apuro itoe tie, inte.

apuro ito-e ti-e in=te
hurry NOT.BE:GEN-DCL say-DCL 3Pl=LOC
'She said "Slowly, slooowly, no one here needs to be
hurried.' (JERKUWENTA4.151)

Moora yari wube kuwenta jeinchuna

moora ya-ri wu=be kuwenta jein-chu-na
quickly 3P2=FOC wind=COM like EMPH:PRO-IRR-PRG

kiraichuna, jaan.
kira-i-chu-na, jaan
see-BEC0ME:GEN-IRR-PRG yes
'Suddenly, it can appear as though with the wind,
yes.'{MV.ACPUKAl.134)

The adverb may also occur in other positions. In (54)

below, moora appears in between the subject and the object

of the subordinate clause. This clause concerns a daughter

who went to live with the rainbow man and just as her

mother would begin to miss her the daughter would suddenly

return carrying a gift of guanta (a type of paca).

(54) Namari numa moora wale

nama=ri numa moora wale
daughter=FOC already brief guanta

panasi manjan.
pana-si man=ja-n
carry.on.back-IMM again-come-ST
'The daughter would immediately already come back
carrying the guanta on her back!'
 The adverb may also occur in clause final position.

(55) comes from a narrative describing the traditional

nose-piercing ceremony.

(55) Atitiyoe
a-ti-ti-yo-e
scream-SAY:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL

Atitiyoe
a-ti-ti-yo-e
scream-SAY:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL

foro kinin keda moora.

foro ki-nin ke-da moora
hole do-CNTR D0:GEN-DCL:GL brief
'I didn't scream. I didn't scream. They pierced
it quickly.' {ICMATU9.24)

Some of the adverbs can function as noun modifiers

without the presence of nominalizing morphology. In (56)

duke amplifies the number of hard trees and in (57) moora

'brief' occurs in a nonverbal predicate construction. The

narrator is describing a robbery and murder in (57).

(56) Duke duke chide polonla chue.

--
duke duke chide polo-n=la chu-e
many many tree hard-ST=PL be-DCL
'There were many many hard trees,' (SOKOK0.40)

Junnasa kiranari, moora jotie

jo-n-na-sa kira-na=ri moora jo-ti-e
be-ST-PRG-DR see-PRG=FOC brief be-RP-DCL

titun?
ti-tu-n
say-NEG-INT
 'Meanwhile let's see, it was quick/brief right?'
(CCANKU3.78)

The only suffixes or prefixes that have been found to

occur with the adverbs are the focus enclitic =ri (58) and

the grade clitic =si (59). (58) describes the manner in

which a herd of wild pigs would come running towards and

then past the hunters.

(58) Moorari ta:::wu::: para orainin

moora=ri ta:::wu::: para ora-i-nin
brief=FOC IDEO wild.pig good-BEC0ME:VCL-CNTR

wu: :: atikachinan. ..
wu::: a-ti-ka-chi=nan
IDEO scream-SAY:GEN-AUG-AUG=INCL
'Suddenly ta:::wu::! the pigs would just do it
(come running) wu:::! screaming!' (JAKURU1.299)

Moorasi jera kimin jotietif.

moora=si jera ki-min jo-ti-e-ti-e
brief=GWD all DO: VCL be-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say she did them all (wove skirts)quickly.'
{TSAB01.79)

To summarize, the adverbs differ from coverbs in that

they can occur in a variety of positions in the clause and

they do not take any kind of nominalizing, subordinating or

finite verb morphology. As we will see, they not only

differ from ideophones in that they can occur without

marked prosody but they also do not occur in a rather

specialized construction involving ideophones, see xxx.

 Roughly half (249 out of 551) of the coverbs in

Tsafiki can function as ideophones. In addition, there are

ninety-one examples of ideophones in my data base that have

no other function other than that of ideophones, i.e. they

cannot occur in coverb-generic verb combinations. Hence,

ideophones make-up a large part of the Tsafiki lexicon.

Ideophones have been somewhat neglected in the linguistics

literature, perhaps because, as pointed out by Kita (1997),

they do not fit into the Saussurean research paradigm. De

Saussure (1972 [1916])in his well known discussion of the

arbitrariness of linguistic signs declared onomatopoeic

words a marginal phenomenon.

There has been some recent interest in ideophones,

most notably a collection of papers edited by Voeltz and

Kilian-Hatz (2001) which demonstrate that ideophones are

found throughout the world's languages. In addition,

McGregor (2001) postulates that ideophones may be a source

for uninflecting verbs (coverbs) in Australian languages

and Schultze-Berndt (2000, 2001) reports that coverbs in

Jaminjung may, as in Tsafiki, function as ideophones.

 5.1 Tsafiki Ideophones

Ideophones are often difficult to translate and

in Tsafiki as in other languages (Kita 1997) speakers will

often resort to gestures and facial expressions to depict

'themeaning of an ideophone. While many ideophones do

represent sounds, many are hard to define except as vivid

representations of certain ideas having to do with manner,

actions or states. It has been postulated that ideophones

primary function as 'verbal gestures' . In fact Kita (1993)

drawing on experimental evidence found an overwhelming

correlation between ideophones and gestures. And as with

gestures, the meaning of ideophones is often hard to

define.

Ideophones do not simply represent sounds or patterns

of movement but can also be used for light emission,

emotions and tactile sensations. As an immediate

illustration of some of the ideophones found in Tsafiki, a

representative sample is listed in below. Tsafiki even has

an ideophone for the absence of sound owo 'silence'. In

(60) the ideophones mainly have to do with tactile

sensations or adjectival notions having to do with states

or even lightness and darkness.

 ota 'disgusting/dirtyf
oto 'soft'
layun 'smooth'
polo 'hardf
kapo 'uncombed hair/disheveledr
lisin 'tattered'
potsotso 'shaggy as with shaggy fur'
silan 'sticky/slimyf
yabu 'ugly tangle, as with gum in the hairf
piro 'to be wrinkled as with old skin'
Ye 'stinging/burning sensation'
neme 'darkness'
pinda 'flash of light as lightening'

Ideophones also express configurations in space as

illustrated in (61).

(61) jiran 'be twisted with head to sidef

PaPaPa 'three dimensional objects lined upf
paran 'arms opened wide'
pelo 'droop'
sita 'be stuck as in fork of treef
suntu 'hunch over'
yabu 'tangled up as with gum in the hairf
soy0 'hang down from a single point'
tin 'be stretched tautf
nako 'head thrown back'

There are also ideophones which have to do with human

emissions of sound.

(62) Human Emissions

jayi 'scream'
achin 'sneeze'
are 'burp'
jeke 'hiccup'
chiki '£artf
koron 'snoref
 fiyo 'whistle'
jojo 'whistle with hand'
jada 'yawn'
jasa 'breath'
jejeje 'laugh'
jijiji 'giggle'
sin 'snort'
tufa 'spit'
dato 'chattering teeth'
jeejoo 'sound of happiness'

In (63) some of the ideophones having to do with

animal noises and movements are given. Some animals are

named for the sound they emit as illustrated by the first

three examples.

(63 Animal Ernissions/movement

tsonpi 'sound of frog tsonpi'
sowi 'sound of bird sowir
kikika 'sound of small frog kikika'
woun 'sound of a beetle flying'
jori 'sound of hedgehog bobo'
jayi 'yelp of dog'
yenyen 'bark of small dog'
kiri 'sound of bird corralera'
werewere 'sound of wild pigs para'
jun 'sound of angry wild pig'
banban 'sound of wild turkey ele'
seki 'movement of lightening bug'
pots0 'sound of small animal jumping from
branch to branch'
kofo 'sound of small animal rustling in
leaves'
pipi 'sound of baby chick'
chiyo 'animal speech'
kikika 'sound of small frog kikika'
lolon 'raise ears'
seki 'movement of lightening bug'
sike 'centipede moving'
chun 'movement of hummingbird'
 Many ideophones code manner of movement as in ( 6 4 ) .

bokoboko 'sit with difficulty as does a very

old, feeble personf
buruburi 'small lump moving under the earth/as a
small animal burrowing or a child
moving under a blanket'
way0 'slip on slippery surface'
jiwiya 'swing as in a hammock'
jowin 'tremble as with chills'
kuma 'stumble or stagger'
leka 'flip over'
libilibi 'flutter'
lilin 'go/be on tiptoe'
milan 'lick'
piman 'cross bamboo bridgef
yente 'swirl as does a whirlpool'
sulo 'bob in waterf
tot0 'sprout up as plant shoots'
sutan 'jump'

In other cases the ideophone seems to represent a

mixture of sound and overall gestalt. There are a huge

number of ideophones that resemble the following:

chilin 'jingle small metal'

deen 'hitting a tree with a hatchet'
dii 'hitting something hard like a rock
with a small light object such as a
flower'
siti 'rub as two sticks together'
douu 'hitting something hard with a board'
do 'sound of a horse running, hard object
hitting the ground'
dilo 'rocks falling'
pesi 'singing of fur or feathers'
wisi 'scraping with fingernails'
posi 'small grain spilling out of sack'
 kolon 'something big burning'
fofo 'sound of throwing dirt/windJ
dekun 'tree branches hitting the house'
foouun 'sound of floodwater'
biribiri 'light wind in trees'
betso 'flat tire rolling
/or something being flattened'
bita 'slap'
bulubulu 'air escaping through water'
jori 'biting on corn on the cob, apples,
meat on the bone'
baru 'crunching something hard, a stick,
bone'
batu 'crunching small seeds'
kau 'crushing, opening platano skin with
the teeth'
tun 'crushing/mashing something fairly
softJ
jipa 'smush'
poropo 'rain or small objects falling'
kelo 'rocks hitting each otherJ
seku 'sand trickling'
kore 'scraping metal'
bit0 'pop balloon, rifle, testicles,
oranges'
sipi 'splatter egg/mudt
mudu 'walking in mud'
bolo 'walking in water with boots on'
didi 'walking- on something hard with heels'
chiwu 'grease sizzling'
marisi 'scratch'
siki 'small object skittering'
mudu 'walking in mud'
bolo 'walking in water with boots on'

Ideophones intensify or vividly modify various aspects

of the narration. In Tsafiki they tend to appear at pivotal

moments in the text. For example in (66) below, a father-

in-law and his son are camping in the jungle. The son-in-

law has behaved badly and while he is sleeping the father-

in-law is lying by the fire watching as more and more

fireflies, enormous numbers of fireflies, fill up the fire.

Finally he sees off in the distance two great lights, like

flashlights, coming closer and closer as a giant firefly

arrives. The firefly crashes down through the trees and

snaps off the son-in-law's head. The ideophones in this

example (66) show typical phonological properties. The

ideophone has its own intonation contour, separate from the

main clause. The vowel is elongated in biti::le which

represents the sound of the giant firefly crashing down

through the forest canopy above. It is suffixed with -1e

which often occurs on ideophones and is characterized by a

long vowel, common in ideophones but rare in regular text.

The head is cut off and poton poton poton represents the

sound of it jumping around. Note that the event coded by

biti::le does not have a resultative or depictive relation

to the verb ka 'get', but rather represents a separate

event--the firefly crashes through the trees and then snips

the head off. Poton poton poton does modify su-10 'jump

upr, in that it represents the sound of a heavy three-

dimensional object hitting the ground and the repetition

indicates the event occurred more than once. In addition,

biti::le is pronounced with an exaggerated high pitch on

the long vowel, and poton has an exaggerated low pitch with

a slightly higher pitch on the second syllable.

(66) a. Biti::le, .
ka-ti-'
biti: :-le ka-ti-e
snap-CAUSE:SUF GET:GEN-RP-DCL
'They say biti:: he grabbed it!'

b. Sulonin iti'
su-10-nin i-ti-e
feet.in.air-go.up-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-RP-DCL

poton poton poton, misu-ka-ri.

poton poton poton, misu-ka-ri
poton poton poton, head-NCL-FOC
'They say the head just jumped (around) poton
poton poton!' IMVAAPALUKA.70)

The example above concerned ideophones which represent

sounds. Tsafiki also has a large number of ideophones which

represent manner of movement. In (67) below a whale has

been molesting the Tsachila, swallowing up people and logs

in the river. The shamans decide to sacrifice an

illegitimate young man to the whale to correct matters.

They send him out on a raft and sori sori represents the

raft swirling in a whirlpool before it and its contents are

swallowed up by the whale.

 Juntele wari sori sori numa
jun=te=le wari sori sori numa
3Dl=LOC=LOC well 1DEO.swirl 1DEO.swirl already

luwa ketie.
luwa ke-ti-e
go-floating D0:GEN-RP-DCL
'They say there sori sori (swirling swirling) he
was just swallowed up.' (VLP.WILINKIIC.21)

The ideophones can also modify nouns as does s i l a n

'sticky/sweatyf in (68). Both the ideophones in this

example exhibit reduplication of the final syllable, which

is also a characteristic of ideophones. Either the whole

ideophone or just the final syllable may be reduplicated.

(68) Junni aman numika silanlan

junni aman numi=ka silan-lan
then now penis=ACC 1DEO:sticky-REDUP

murikade jikaka ne
muri-ka-de ji-ka=ka ne
drag-GET:GEN-ASSC.M go-PF.P=ACC track

tanjinasa jun parute numiri

ta-n-ji-na-sa jun paru=te numi=ri
have-ST-go-PRG-DR 3D1 waterfall=LOC penis=FOC

sawiwi katson tsonue titie.

sawi-wi katso-n tso-nu-e ti-ti-e
1DEO.slither-REDUP sleep-ST lie-EV-DCL say-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said they the track of the one
who had gone dragging his sticky sticky penis to
a waterfall and he was lying there asleep (his)
penis (going) s a w i w i . ' {VLP.URUSONAIC. 58)
 5.2 Semantic Constraints of Ideophones

Ideophones are rich in semantic meaning and are often

quite constrained in terms of the type of semantic

participants they take. In (69) below three ideophones

having to do with the snapping of a stick or branch are

given. Each is very specific in terms of the size of the

branch it can refer to:

(69) biti 'small stick snapping'

de 'medium (1-3 inches in diameter) stick
snapping8
ko 'large branch/bone snappingt

Particularly with the ideophones denoting

configurations in space, the semantic participants can be

quite specific in that only certain kinds of objects can

assume the position in question. In (70) three related

ideophones having to do with the fanning out of items such

as bird wings or fingers are given as illustration:

(70) keken 'spread as a bird spreading its wingsf

kelen 'spread as spread fingers or boards in
a fence'
kesen 'spread unevenly as with damaged/frayed
wingsr

At other times the ideophone seems to take completely

unrelated types of semantic participants. Jopo swell can be

used to either depict the swelling of a compact mass, such

as a tight wad of cotton that is suddenly released, or it

represents insects swarming. What is interesting here is

that cotton swelling and insects swarming are of course,

based on somewhat opposite phenomena in actuality, i.e.

cotton appears to grow as the volume of space it occupies

increases, whereas a mass of insects appears to grow as the

insects decrease the volume of space they occupy. But the

overall gestalt is the same---a mass with uneven boundaries

swelling rapidly. Jopo can also occur as a coverb as in

(71) where it occurs with the generic verb j i 'go'. In this

example a magical tiger has packed five wild pigs into a

very small, but heavy package. When the package is opened

the meat swells to its normal size.

(71) Nuwiri amali para tsachika duke amali

nuwi=ri amali para tsachika duke amali
far=FOC very wild.pig meat a. lot very

nuwiri amali jopo jimanti' .

nuwi=ri amali jopo ji-man-ti-e
far=FOC very swell G0:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say the wild pig meat swelled enormously.'
(AAKELA.120)

In the next two examples jopo occurs as an ideophone.

In a situation similar to that of (71), the star woman has

given a woman a tightly packed mass of skirts. She tells

the woman throw it down and it will swell. The long vowel

indicates that the group of skirts appears to swell as a

single mass. In this case, jopo functions as an ideophone.

It does not normally form a complex predicate with keere

'throw' .

Junni ya tunanka fenan tenchi

junni ya tunan=ka fe-nan tenchi
then 3P2 skirt=ACC more-INCL in.order.to

nuchi tedechinan jopo:::::le .

nu=chi te-de=chi=nan jopo:::::-le
2=POSS arm-NCL=INSTR=INCL jopo-GEN:SUF

keerena timantif.
ke-ere-na ti-man-ti-e
hit-SEND:GEN-PRG say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say she said, "The moment you arrive throw
the skirt with your own hand jopoooooo."
(AATSABO1.113)

In (73) jopo appears as an ideophone representing a

situation much like the swarming of insects. The speaker is

comparing a hord of children swarming around a teacher to red

ant. Note that here the final syllable of jopo is

reduplicated to represent the individual movement of the

students.
 Mmaka chuika tserin bolon
mma=ka chu-i-ka tserin bolon
madam=ACC clutch-BEC0ME:GEN-PF red.ant group

tsanin ilaina jOPOPOPO

tsan-nin i-la-i-na jopopopo
SEMBL-INCL BEC0ME:VCL-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG jopopopo
'They clutched onto the teacher like a group of
red ants jopopopo. * { JERAKUWENTAla.531)

Note that in English we can use 'swellf to depict the

situation depicted in the first two examples. But to use

'swell' for insects we first have to identify the insects

as a mass, 'The swarm of insects swelled enormously.'

5.3 Phonological Properties of Ideophones

As mentioned above some of the typical characteristics

of Tsafiki ideophones include long vowels, repetition and

exagerrated pitch. Other than these features, ideophones

conform to the regular CV structure of Tsafiki.

Movement ideophones are often reduplicated to indicate

multiple instances of movement. One of the movement

ideophones is listed below (74). In this example, the

mythical character, Salun, is taking out his penis and

sending it up a tree so the man stuck in the tree can slide

down it. S a w i sawi codes the slithering, coiling movement

of the penis as it makes it way up the tree. S a w i can occur

with motion verbs to code translation motion, i.e. s a w i

j i n o 'to go slithering' and with k i 'do/makef to code

nontranslational motion, i.e. s a w i k i n 0 'to writhe, coil in

place. '

Sawi sawi sawi sawi sawi

sawi sawi sawi sawi sawi
slither slither slither slither slither

larinin ketieti'
la-ri-nin ke-ti-e-ti-e
come-up-CAUSE:SUF-CNTR D0:VCL-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
"They say he sent (the penis) up s a w i s a w i s a w i
s aw i s aw i !'

When a generic or simple verb itself is intensified,

rather than repeating the bare root form of the verb, the

speaker will repeat the finite or subordinate verb form

several times. (75) concerns a narration describing the

trip to Quito before the road was built, it would take five

or six days of constant walking to traverse the eighty some

miles to the highlands.

(75) Tetobi titi kabi jito

Teto=bi titi ka-bi ji-to
Quito=LOC something get-PURP go-SR

manjanasa man janasa

man=ja-na-sa man=ja-na-sa
again=come-PRG-DR again=come-PRG-DR

manjanasa kebi janasa feto

man=ja-na-sa kebi ja-na-sa feto
 again=come-PRG-DR night come-PRG-DR non-Tsachi

Ya kepuka chunmantif
Ya ke-po-ka chu-n-man-ti-e
house hit-put-PF sit-ST-SIT-RP-DCL

feto Ya unika.
feto Ya uni-ka
non-Tsachi house o1d.M-NCL
'When they were coming back from buying things in
Quito, walking walking coming at nightfall there
was an abandoned mestizo house, an old mestizo
house.' (AATETO.MINU2.12)

5.4 Coverbs vs. Ideophones

As mentioned above, some of the coverbs can occur

independently as ideophones but not all. Not all the

ideophones, on the other hand can function as coverbs. For

example, kerula in (76), codes the sound of some demons

scratching at the wooden top of a large (shaped like a

small canoe) chica vessel, Again this segment occurs at a

pivotal moment in the text. A Tsachi jumps up and hides on

the roof as he hears strange sounds approaching from the

jungle. The evil spirits get closer and closer until they

are on his property and begin to do mischief.

I have not found any examples of kerula functioning as a

coverb in the texts nor have I been able to elicit any

examples. The speakers insist this is not possible.

 Jein kerula kerula kerula kerula: ::
jein kerula kerula kerula kerula
EMPH:PRO kerula kerula kerula kerula

takiralaketie
ta-kira-la-ke-ti-e
touch-SEE:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-RP-DCL
'He said they felt it (the chicha vessel) kerula
kerula kerula kerula kerula:::' {CCSONPOURA.84)

In other cases the ideophone can also function as a

coverb. In (77a) below pinda2 'lightning' occurs with ki

'do/makef in a complex predicate construction. It falls

within the same intonation contour as the verb, does not

have a long vowel nor is it repeated. In (77b) it occurs

with a long vowel, the suffix -le, has it's own intonation

contour and represents the flash of light. It is followed

by chiwu an element that only functions as an ideophone and

represents the sound of sizzling fat as well as lightening.

(77) a. Junni yari kunta

junni ya=ri kunta
then 3P2=FOC thunder

pinda kinaminnutieti'.
pinda ki-na-min-nu-ti-e-ti-e
lightening D0:GEN-PRG-1MPF.P-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say the thunder was making lightening.'

* Kunta 'thunder' is an animate being in Tsafiki. This

is the typical way to say it thundered. Kunta throws the
lightening.
 b. Junni aman pinda:::le
junni aman pinda-le
then now lightening-CAUSE:SUF

chiwu:::le timin joe

chiwu-le ti-min jo-e
sizzle-CAUSE:GEN say-1MPF.P BE:AUX-DCL
'It was going/saying pinda ! chiwu! '
(CCMMAPIYA2.93-93)

Speakers are fairly aware of the function of

ideophones and can readily identify which ideophones can

and cannot occur complex predicate constructions.

However there are intermediate cases. Poton above, which

generally codes the sound of a hard three-dimensional

object hitting solid ground is, for most younger speakers,

only an ideophone. However, older speakers use it in a

rather specific construction related to hunting. It is used

to code the beating of the ground done to imitate falling

fruit which then attracts the guatusa (a type of paca).

In the following dialogue a son is questioning his father

about hunting practices. Due to the loss of game the son

does not hunt. The father first speaks of the guatusa

earth-beating using poton as a coverb in a complex

predicate (78a). He then uses it as an ideophone in (78b).

The son, confused then asks his father if it is an

ideophone (78c-d), 'Poton is a sound right?' The father

answers that the word is poton kika 'beat/beatenf (78e).

Hence poton can occur in a complex predicate construction

but only with this rather specialized meaning. It cannot be

used to refer to general beating on the ground.

(78) a. Tsante poton keina ora

tsan=te poton ke-i-na ora
SMBL=:LOC poton HIT-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG good

moora na-ka sujaman.

moora small-NCL su-ja-man
brief small-NCL feet.in.air-C0ME:GEN-SIT
'Like there, if the ground gets beaten almost
immediately they (the guatusa) will come
running.' (JAKURU5.1274)

b. Toka misukinin kinun joff

to=ka misuki-nin ki-nun jo-e
earth=LOC head-D0:GEN-CNTR D0:VCL-NOM BE:AUX-DCL

orotonle jeen kinan tenchi

oroto-n=le jeen ki-nan tenchi
clear-ST=LOC PR0:EMPH D0:VCL-INCL in.order.to

poto:::nle keina.
poto:::n-le ke-i-na
poto:::n-CAUSE:SUF hit-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG
'It is to hit the ground really hard, doing it
where (the ground) is cleared in order to hit it
poto:::n! (JAKURU5.1284)

c. Poton, poton merako?

Doton, ~ o t o nmera-ko
poton, poton sound-DUB
'Poton, poton is a sound right?

d. Yakari tsanke fiki panun jun?

ya=ka=ri tsan-ke fiki pa-nun jo-n
3P2=ACC=FOC SMBL=DO:VCL word speak-NOM be-INT
'Is this what they call it?'
 e. Yakari, yakari poton kika
ya=ka=ri ya=ka=ri poton kika
3PZ=ACC=FOC 3P2=ACC=FOC beat D0:GEN-PF.P

ti-nun
say-NOM
'This, this is called 'beatenf . { JAKURUS. 1291)

5.6 Ideophones with ti 'sayf

In addition to taking the suffix -1e 'CAUSE.SUFr all

the ideophones can occur in a specialized construction with

the simple verb t i 'sayf in a construction roughly

analogous to English, 'the balloons went pop! pop! pop!.'

As noted above, adverbs do not occur in this construction.

In (79) below a l i a l i describes the man waving his arms in

the air gesturing to his wife.

.(79) Karsiyela manjade tito

Karsiyela man-ja-de ti-to
Graciela REP-come-IMP say-SR

ali ali tinatie titun.

ali
- - ali ti-na-ti-e ti-tu-n
ali ali say-PRG-RP-DCL say-NEG-INT
'They say that saying "Graciela come back!"
he went ali ali right?' {SEUNIRI.18)

Similar to coverbs, ideophones cannot take direct

negative suffixes. Furthermore they can only occur under

the scope of negation in the construction represented in

(80) and the negation represents a metalinguistic
evaluation.

Poton poton poton titue.

poton poton poton ti-tu-e
poton poton poton say-NEG-DCL
'It didn't go poton poton poton (it made a
different sound) '.
5.7 Integration of Ideophone and Verb

Unlike coverbs the ideophone does not necessarily

correlate with the action coded by the verb. In (81) a

young woman has been picked down to the bone by a condor,

she speaks her final words, calling out to her mother and

father and then her bones clatter to the ground de1e:n

de1e:n. In (82) WO 'undo' an action ideophone, refers to

the untying of the pack, which is a separate action from

throwing down the pack. WO 'untief can occur as a coverb

but not in conjunction with keere 'throw down'.

(81) Ayanko apako tie titida

ayan-ko apa-ko ti-e ti-ti-da
mother-DUB father-DUB say-DCL say-EV-DCL.GEN

de1e::n de1e::n
de1e::n de1e::n
'They say she said, 'Mother? Father?" (and then
her bones fell) dele: :n dele: :nI' (Tsabol.354)
 Wole wole keerenun tenchi we kiyobi
WO-le WO-le ke-ere-nun tenchi we kiyo=bi
undo-le undo-le ke-ere-nun tenchi quick shelf-LOC

jera nankariyotieti'
jera nan-kari-yo-ti-e-ti-e
all lie.horizonta1-CAUSE:
'He threw down his pack wole wole (action of
untying the pack) in order to lie it on the
shelf. (CCSONPURA.33)

At other times the ideophone appears redundant as in

(83). Here both the ideophone pupu and the complex

predicate represent the boiling of water that suggests that

while both code the same event, the type of information

each carries is at least slightly different.

PUPU, PUPU, PUPU, PUPU, PUPU

pupu pupu pupu pupu pupu
PUPU PUPU PUPU PUPU PUPU
wara kinanunka furinchi
wara ki-na-nun=ka furin=chi
boil D0:GEN-PRG-NOM=LOC mate=INSTR

itsanke kalake'
in-tsan-ke ka-la-ke-e
3P1-SMBL-D0:VCL get-PL-D0:VCL-DCL
'When it's boiling, pupu, pupu, pupu, pupu, pupu,
get it with a gourd in this way.' (ICMATUS.43)

5.8 Summary

In Tsafiki ideophones make up large part of the

lexicon. There are some elements which can only be used as

ideophones, but roughly half of the coverbs can also

function as ideophones. Ideophones have been described as

representing the affecto-imagistic dimension of language

(Kita 1997). The relationship between ideophones and

coverbs and some of their notional as well as

morphosyntactic similiarities indicates that at least some

of the coverbs may also code more affecto-imagistic notions

than analytic or schematic notions.

6. Borrowed Words

When Tsafiki borrows verbs or other words from other

languages such as Spanish or Quichua, the borrowed word is

treated like a coverb in a complex predicate construction.

One of the more commonly used borrowings is pode-i 'be

ablef (84) based on the Spanish verb poder 'be ablef

combined with the Tsafiki generic verb i 'become7. Note

that the Tsafiki form is based on the infinitive form of

the Spanish verb.

 Me chuto chudino
me chu-to chu-di-no
tail sit-SR sit-1NCH:SUF-INF

podeitumantie.
pode-i-tu-man-ti-e
be.able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say having a tail he (the rainbow snake
man) couldn't sit down.' (MV.AASUYUN.32)

At times the borrowed word has no ready equivalent in

Tsafiki such as ayuda-i 'help' based on the Spanish a y u d a r

in (85) below.

(85) Ya nanato ayudainae

ya nana-to ayuda-i-na-e
3P2 carry.on.shoulder-SR help-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-DCL

titi'.
ti-ti-e
say-RP-DCL
'They say he (the man) said he (the tiger) was
helping him carrying (the heavy pack) on his
shoulder.'

At other times the construction has roughly the same

meaning as a Tsafiki construction and both constructions

will use the same generic verb, as in (86) and (87) below.
 Ma kura jinati' ,
ma kura ji-na-ti-e
day each go-PRG-RP-DCL

tarabaja kinayoe tito.

tarabaja ki-na-yo-e ti-to
work D0:GEN-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-SR
'Each day he went (to the field) saying he was
going to work.' (SOKOK0.23)

Jaan jaya kinkilake'.

jaan jaya ki-n-ki-la-ke-e
yes work D0:GEN-ST-D0:VCL-PL-D0:VCL-DCL
'Yes they would have to work (in the field).'
(MATUTECC.373)

4. Generic Verbs

Generic verbs can occur as the inflecting element in a

complex predicate construction (88) or alone as the sole

predicating element in the clause (89).

(88) Junpalu piti darapatatie.

junpalu piti dara-pata-ti-e
four -
pieces break.off-come.down-RP-DCL
'Four pieces came breaking down.' (KAWERE2.32)

(89) Manfuinunsi tsachila dubi

man-fu-i-nun-si tsachi=la du=bi
again-dry-BEC0ME:GEN-NOM-GR people=PL mound=LOC

nechi manpatalaimantie
ne=chi man-pata-la-i-man-ti-e
foot=LOC again-come.down-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'When it dried (the floodwaters receded) the
people came back down from the mountain.'
(PAYACHI.32)
 While the generic verb class only consists of

approximately thirty-three verbs, they make up a

disportionate number of the actual predicate constructions

found in the texts. In a study of 1,064 clauses, taken from

traditional narratives (583 clauses) and conversations

(481), 493 or 46% consisted of a generic/simple verb as the

sole predicating element. Shiiltze-Berndt (2000) reports

similar figures for the generic verbs found in Jaminjung.

The generic verbs are quite general in meaning and code

common activities. A list of the generic verbs is presented

in Table 7. The verbs are grouped according to semantic

verb class. Every predicate in Tsafiki, whether simple or

complex, can be grouped into one of five classes, based on

overt morphological marking. This system will be discussed

in Chapter Five.

The suffixes presented in Table Four function much

like the generic verbs, although they are no longer extant

verbs in the language. As mentioned above every predicate

in Tsafiki is grouped into one of five verb classes

depending on which verb class suffix it takes in certain

constructions. Which verb class suffix is utilized is

determined by the generic verb in complex predicates. In

examples (90-92) a verb class marker occurs directly after

the plural marker. Note that it changes depending on which

generic verb is used in the complex predicate.

(90) Mali pele tenpe

mali pele tenpe
huito trunk under

wiruilainake.

'(He said) they were standing underneath a huito

tree.' (JABUAMALILI.30)

Wari chilari kachi

wari chi=la=ri ka=chi
well lF=PL=FOC eye=LOC

wiruralarayo' .
wiru-ra-la-ra-yo-e
stand-BE,POSIT:BEN-PL-BE.POSIT:VCL-CNJ-DCL
'Well we were standing in front.' (JAKURU1.290)

Palaka chidebi nanle

pala=ka chide=bi nan=e
tool=ACC tree=LOC side=LOC

wirukarilakinae.
wiru-kari-la-ki-na-e
stand-CAUSE:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-DCL
'They are leaning the tools against the tree.'
{CHICOPA.2)
 TABLE 7: Generic Verbs and Number of Coverbs
with which they CO-occur (out of 551)

Generic Verb Generic Verb

i 'become' -class coverbs

i 'become' 269
ji 'gor 257 suwa 'cause to
ja* 'come ' 109 become8
l0 'g0 out/upf 48 kari 'cause' 149
la* 'come out/up' 45 ere* 'send' 50
fe 'arrive there' 50 PO* 'put inside' 43
fa* 'arrive here' 34 ka 'get' 35
pati 'go down' 33 pa* 'talk' 10
pata* 'come down' 35 kira* 'see' 9
pole 'go across' 35 kuwa* 'give' 4
pola* 'come across' 43 fi 'eat' 1
wi 'go in' 35 -1e 'direct cause' 76
wiya* 'come in' 37 -ri 'cause motion' 39
piya* 'lose' 33 -te 'set/placef 17
PuYa 'die' 5 -si 'remove' 15
-di 'get into 1 'direct cause' 5
position' 4 'indirect cause' 5
-wiya 'almost' open 'associative open
causet
ti 'say' class
ti 'say/express' ra 'be in ~osition'
class
jo 'be' -class ra 'be in a
j0 'be' 46 position'
ito 'not be' 44 nena 'go around'
ta* 'have'
chu* 'sit'
tso* 'lie'

*indicates generic verbs that can occur as coverbs

 This same process occurs with the generic verb-like

suffixes. In (93) chu occurs as a simple verb and is

followed by the verb class marker ra 'be in a position.'

(93) chip010 junbi chularati' yala

chip010 jun=bi chu-la-ra-ti-e ya=la
balsa.bench 3Dl=LOC sit-PL-BE.IN.POSITION-RP-DCL 3P2=PL
'They were sitting on a balsa bench.' {CCKASAMA.87}

In (94) and (95) chu is suffixed with -di and then -te with

a respective differences in the verb class marker.

(94) yabe jito chudilainae

ya=be ji-to chu-di-la-i-na-e
3P2-CON go-SR sit-INCH-PL-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-DCL
'Going with her they are sitting down.' {CHICOPA.59)

(95) aman tanjato chipolobi

aman ta-n-ja-to chipolo=bi
now have-ST-come-SR balsa.bench=LOC

chutelakee titida
chu-te-la-ke-e ti-ti-da
sit-SET:SUF-PL-D0:GEN-DCL say-RP-DCL.GEN
'Then they say they brought him and sat him down on a
balsa bench.' {VLP.ILUSUN.96}

In (96) the complex predicate w i r u - i is followed by

the associative cause suffix -miya. As was shown in (90)

w i r u - i 'stand up' takes i 'become' as a verb class marker,

here however it takes ki 'do/maker due to the presence of -

miya 'ASSOC. CAUSE' .

(96) Aman jera
aman jera
now all

wiruimiyalakeda
wiru-i-miya-la-ki-da
stand-become-ASSOC-CAUSE-PL-D0:VCL-DCL.GEN

pone tera kichun.

pone tera ki-chu-n
shaman dance D0:GEN-IRR-ST
'Now they had us stand up (with them) to shaman-
dance.' (DZ.40)

It is interesting to note that Vittadello (1988) lists

-re, -te, -1e and -wa as causative suffixes in

Cha'palaachi, a closely related Barbacoan language. It is

possible that the suffixes are derived from very old verb

forms no longer extant in the language. There are some

semantic similarities between the meanings coded by these

suffixes, fiorexample all the predicates with the suffix -

si have to do with removal (97). Si 'remove' does occur as

a predicate but only in a very specific context-to code

yolk leaking out of an egg.

(97) si 'yolk leaking out of egg'

kasi 'sweep'
osi 'sell'
lasi 'open'
pansi 'forget'
disi 'scratch earth for bugs like a chicken'
fusi 'aspirate liquid'
wirisi 'scrape off as with burned food on a
pan'
 There i s some e v i d e n c e t h a t t h e system i s may r e c y c l e

i t s e l f i n c e r t a i n c o n s t r u c t i o n s . Pore 'cut' appears i n t h e

t e x t s b o t h w i t h and w i t h o u t a g e n e r i c v e r b a s does ara

' s c a t t e r spread.' Speakers a c c e p t b o t h forms i n ( 9 8 ) and

(99) and we could f i n d no meaning d i f f e r e n c e s between t h e

forms .
(98) a. Juan piyo=ka a r a - l e - e
b. Juan piyo=ka ara-le ki-e
'Juan s c a t t e r e d t h e corn.'

(99) a. Juan s i l i = k a PO-re-e

b. Juan s i l i = k a po-re ki-e
'Juan c u t t h e l i n e / r o p e . '

The number of c o v e r b s o u t o f 551 w i t h which each

g e n e r i c v e r b was found t o CO-occur a r e a l s o l i s t e d i n Table

7. Note t h a t t h e r e i s a g r e a t d e a l of v a r i a t i o n , r a n g i n g

from 269 f o r t h e g e n e r i c v e r b k i 'do/makef t o o n l y one f o r

puya 'die' and f i 'eat.' Also n o t e t h a t t h e most f r e q u e n t

g e n e r i c v e r b s a l s o o c c u r a s t h e f i v e v e r b c l a s s markers.

The g e n e r i c v e r b s followed by a s t e r i s k s have a l s o been

found t o occur i n t h e c o v e r b p o s i t i o n i n complex p r e d i c a t e

c o n s t r u c t i o n s . I n (100) kira 'see' f i r s t occurs a s t h e

g e n e r i c v e r b i n ta-kira ' t o u c h - s e e / f e e l f , and t h e n i n t h e

coverb p o s i t i o n i n kira-po 'see-put/peekf (101) .

(100) Junsi aman tede tenka jera
junsi aman te-de ten-ka jera
then now arm-NCL heart-NCL all

takirachunae, pele tenka o

ta-kira-chu-na-e pele ten-ka o
touch-SEE:GEN-IRR-PRG-DCL trunk heart-NCL or

sanba tenka jonunka .

sonba ten-ka jo-nun=ka
strong heart-NCL be-NOM=ACC
'Then now they would take his pulse to see if his
heart was weak or strong.' (L1T:'they would see-
touch his hand-heart...') (VLP.FOR2.27)

(101) Junni ya jokari ya tsabo sonari

junni ya jo=ka=ri ya tsabo sona=ri
then 3P2 condor=ACC=FOC 3P2 star woman=FOC

kirapobi jimanti' .
kira-po-bi ji-man-ti-e
see-PUT.INSIDE=LOC go-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then the star woman went to peek on the condor.'
{DATSAB0.7}

Hence kira 'see' can function both as a generic verb

and a coverb. Note that kira only occurs with nine coverbs

when it functions as a generic verb none of the generic

verbs that occur with over a hundred coverbs has been found

in the coverb function. Given the generality and highly

schematic meaning of the most common generic verbs, the

more specific meaning of the coverbs, and the scalar nature

of the generic verbs, both in terms of the frequency with

which they occur with coverbs and in terms of the

specificity of their meaning it is not hard to imagine a

scenario in which a coverb comes to acquire some of the

properties of a generic verb. As we saw above there is a

fair amount of variation amongst the coverbs as to which

ones always require the generic verb even in subordinate

clauses. As coverbs such as da 'cookf come to be used more

and more often without the generic verb it's not hard to

imagine they would come to be recognized and utilized

without the generic verb.

8. Coverb Classes

While the focus of this study is the overt verbal

semantic systems in Tsafiki, it should be noted that the

coverbs can be covertly classified according to the set of

generic verbs with which they regularly CO-occur. While the

system is productive and new collocations can readily be

formed, particularly when telling a joke or in creative

rhetoric, the combinations are conventionalized to a

certain degree. In Table 8 I present some of the more

typical covert coverb classes of Tsafiki.

 Table 8: Tsafiki Coverb
and Verb Classes

i-class ki-class ti-class ra-class jo-

'become' 'do/make/hit 'say/exp 'be in a class
I ress' position' 'be'
Motion pata pata ri ----- ----- -----
Verbs + 'come 'bring down'
die down'
lose
piya piya ri
'get 'lose smth.'
lost'
Manner soko-j i soko-pata -ri ----- ----W

of '90 'cause to
Motion writhing' come writh-
ing down'
soko-i
'writhe' soko-ki
'writhe'

soko-kari
'cause to
writhe'

soko-ere
'send
writhing'

Break biti-ji biti-le ki

Verbs 'snap' 'snap'
(intransi (transitive)
tive)
Stretch bare i bare suwa ------ bare ra
Ferment 'stretch' 'stretch 'be
Emotion smth.' stretched
'
Posi- wiru-i wiru kari ----- wiru ra
tional stand- 'stand up' 'stand'
BECOME (transitive)
'stand
UP'
Cut/hit p o r a i pore ----- ----- -----
'get 'cut'
cut/let
cut/ cut
easily'
Body a c h i la achi ki
Emis- 'sneeze' 'sneeze'
sions
achi l a r i
'let out a
sneezef
Acti- ----- j a y a ki ----- -----
vity 'work
physically'
Cogni- mi-i mi-ki mi-ti mi ra mi ito
tive 'learn' 'count' 'get 'know' 'not
used to' know/no
m i-kari t
'teach' underst
and'
mi-kuwa
'point out'

m i -pa
'indicate'

9. Summary

While core members of each of the categories,

ideophone, adverb, coverb, and generic verb, verbal

suffixes do have distinct morphosyntactic behavior, in each

class there is some overlap with other classes. Adding in

verb class markers (discussed in the Chapter Five) I have

diagramed the system in Figure One below. The system

suggests that something similar to a grammaticalization

process is at work here, although the process concerns for

the most part lexemes that are gradually moving from one

category to another. The ideophones represent information

high on the affecto-imagistic scale while verb class

markers lie at the other extreme of analytic or schematic

meaning. In the next Chapter, I will discuss the argument

structure of complex predicates, and show that, while in

terms of valency, complex predicates are primarily

exocentric, the generic verb does control the schematic

representation of the event coded by the complex predicate

which supports the cline represented in Figure xxx below.

ideophone coverb generic verb verb class markers

AFFECTO-IMAGISTIC SCHEMATIC

Figure One: Location of Tsafiki lexemes on a scale from

affecto-imagistic to schematic
 CHAPTER IV

ARGUMENT STRUCTURE OF SIMPLE AND COMPLEX PREDICATES

1. Introduction

The majority of predicates in Tsafiki are complex.

Complex predicates in Tsafiki consist of an inflecting verb

(generic verb) and a non-inflecting element (coverb). Each

of the elements of the complex predicate contributes

semantic participants, although syntactically, the complex

predicate functions like a simple predicate in that it

allows only one set of morphosyntactic arguments. Complex

predicates of this type pose a challenge for mainstream

approaches to argument structure, in that in the standard

analysis, valency and argument structure are thought to be

determined by the lexical properties of a single element,

the head, exemplified by a simple verb. In formal analyses

the argument structure of the clause is based on properties

of the head and couched in terms such as, 'verbs govern

their complementsr, 'verbs assign case' or 'verbs project

their argument structure.'

 In Tsafiki, the valency and argument structure of the

clause cannot be determined solely by either the coverb or

the generic verb. For example, in (la) the coverb son

'alive' first combines with k a r i 'CAUSE:GEN' to form a

bivalent clause, and then with i 'BECOME:GENt to form a

monovalent clause in (lb). In these examples, it appears

that the generic verb is determining valency, but in (2a),

the coverb i 'BECOME:GENr combines with mi 'know' to form a

bivalent clause and k a r i 'CAUSE:GENr combines with the same

coverb to form a trivalent clause in (2b). Hence i

'BECOME:GENr can occur in both monovalent and bivalent

clauses and k a r i 'CAUSE:GENr in both bivalent and trivalent

clauses.

(1) a. ... (ya yalaka) sonkarito

. .. (ya ya=la=ka) son-kari-to
... ( 3P2 3P2=PL=ACC) alive-CAUSE:GEN-SR
sulonayoe titie.
su-10-na-yo-e ti-ti-e
feet.in.air-GO.UP:GEN-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
'...they say he said he was jumping around waking
them up.'
 b. Tsanhinasanan mankati
tsan-i-na-sa-nan man-ka-ti
SEMBL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG one-NCL-NEG

sonhilaitumantie.
son-i-la-i-tu-man-ti-e
alive-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'But despite all this, not one woke up.'
(AATETOMINU.95-96)

(2) a. Junka kirasiri miiyun?

jun=ka kira-si=ri mi-i-yo-n
3Dl=ACC see-IMM=FOC know-BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-INT

b. 0 (nu=ka junka) mikarilakin?

o (nu=ka jun=ka) mi-kari-la-ki-n
or (2=ACC 3Dl=ACC) know-CAUSE:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-INT
'Did you learn this just by watching or did they
teach (it to you)?' (KURU4.973)

Furthermore, in (3a) the coverb ba-le 'unstick-

CAUSE.SUF:GENf combines with the generic verb ki 'DO:GENrto

form a bivalent clause, but with ji 'GO:GENt in (3b-c) to

form a monovalent clause. Hence in these examples the same

coverb ba 'unstick' appears in both bivalent and monoyalent

clauses.

(3) a. Aman (pesilika)

aman (pe-sili=ka)
now (feces-NCL-ACC)

bale kichi tina.

ba-le ki-chi ti-na
unstick-CAUS:SUF:GEN D0:GEN-INCEP say-PRG
'Now he wanted to unstick them (the intestines).'
 b. Tiyan (pesili) bajichunan?
tiya-n (pe-sili) ba-ji-chu-na-n
what-INT (feces-NCL)unstick-G0:GEN-IRR-PRG-INT
'How would they come unstuck?'

c. Bajitumin
- jotietie.
ba-ji-tu-min jo-ti-e-ti-e
unstick-G0:GEN-NEG-1MPF.P BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say they wouldn't come unstuck.'
(CCTSONPIPI.261-263)

The generic verb ki 'DO:GENf combines with the coverb

tera 'step' to form a monovalent clause in (4)' but in (5)

the coverb tere 'stepf combines with po 'putf to form a

bivalent clause.

(4) Tera kinatietie, yari.

tera ki-na-ti-e-ti-e ya=ri
step D0:GEN-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3P2=FOC
'They say she was dancing.' (CCTSONPIPI.244)

Yari pika tereputori

ya=ri pi=ka tere-po-to=ri
3P2=FOC water=ACC step-PUT:GEN-SR=FOC

piino jotieti' .
pi-i-no jo-ti-e-ti-e
water-BEC0ME:GEN-INF BE:AUX-RP-XL-RP-DCL
'They say he said if she stepped in the water she
would dissolve.'

Finally, in (6)' two different generic verbs, i

'BECOME:GENf and ra 'BE.IN.POSIT:GENff combine with the

same coverb wiru 'standf with a change in aspect rather

than valency.
 Junni yari numa benele
junni ya=ri numa bene=le
then 3P2=FOC already back=LOC

wirurasa
wiru-ra-sa
stand-BE.POSIT:GEN-DR

manwiruinayoe
man=wiru-i-na-yo-e
again=stand-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-CNJ-DCL

tinutietie, tulipochun.
ti-nu-ti-e-ti-e tuli-po-chu-n
say-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL push-PUT:GEN-IRR-ST
'Then they say he said she (the clay woman) said
that she (the frog woman) was already standing
behind her when she stood up, to push her.'
(CCTSONPIPI.69-70)

The results of the above examples are summarized in

Monovalent
son-i 'alive-BECOME:GENf 'wake up'
ba-ji 'unstick-GO:GENf 'come unstuckf
tera -ki 'step-DO: GEN' 'dance'
wiru-i 'stand-BEC0ME:GEN 'stand up'
wiru-ra 'stand-BE. POSITION:GEN' 'standf

Bivalent
son-kari 'alive-CAUSE. BEC0ME:GEN' 'wake sm. up'
mi -i 'know-BECOME:GENf 'learn'
ba-le ki 'unstick-CAUSE D0:GEN 'unstick sm. '
tere-po 'step-PUT:GENt 'step into'
Trivalent
mi-kari 'know-CAUSE:GEN' 'teach'
 According to the mainstream approach to argument

structure there are three possible ways to analyze the

above data as pointed out by Schultze-Berndt (2000). The

first involves analyzing the generic verb as semantically

'empty' or at least radically reduced in terms of lexical

complexity, without syntactic valency and lacking the

potential to govern complements. Under this approach, the

argument structure is determined by the more semantically

specific coverb, i.e. the generic verb is a 'light verb'.

This analysis would necessitate postulating more than one

relational lexeme for the majority of Tsafiki coverbs

including son 'alive', mi 'know', ba 'unstick' and tera

'step' to reflect their ability to occur in predicate

constructions with variable valency.

The second possible standard analysis is the converse

of above, i.e. the coverb is simpiy an adverbial modifier

of the verb and the inflecting element, the generic verb,

determines syntactic argument structure. Again this would

lead to the necessity of postulating more than one

relational lexeme for the majority of generic verbs.

The third approach is that the two elements form an

unanalyzable lexical unit, roughly equal to a simple verb

that determines argument structure as a whole. While this

approach is possible, it misses several important aspects

of the system concerning the possible combinations of

generic verb and coverb and does not explain how the

coverbs can function as predicates, with a complete set of

arguments in non-finite clauses (Schultze-Berndt 2000).

A fourth approach, and the one used in this study and

similar to the approach taken by Schultze-Berndt (2000) has

three main components. First, both elements of the complex

predicate are considered relational, jointly contributing

semantic participants and contributing to the syntactic

structure of the clause. Two, argument sharing is allowed,

i.e. more than one semantic participant may converge on a

single argument and three, the construction itself is

considered a sign in its own right, capable of contributing

its own share of information to the clause.

An approach in which two or more lexemes combine to

determine the relationality of the complex predicate and

which argument sharing is allowed has been proposed for

Northern Australian languages by Schultze-Berndt (2000) for

Jaminjung and Wilson (1999) as well as for the light verb

constructions of Hindi (Mohanan 1994, 1997), Urdu (Butt

1995, 1997, 1998) and Japanese (Shibatani 1996). It has

also been used in the analysis of serial verb constructions

in a number of languages (Durie 1997; Foley and Olson

1985).

The third factor lies in the consideration of the

construction itself as a sign in its own right. This is

loosely based on a Construction Grammar approach (Goldberg

1995). In this approach constructions are taken to be the

basic units of language. Constructions are identified as

phrasal patterns (or morphemes for that matter), which

contain an aspect of form or meaning "that is not

predictable from the properties of their component parts or

from other constructions" (Goldberg 1995:4). In

construction grammar, semantic participants can be directly

mapped onto the grammatical roles of syntactic

constructions. The interaction between construction meaning

and verb meaning will be particularly important when the

combination of a bivalent coverb and monovalent generic

verb is discussed. In this construction the meaning of the

clause is not predictable from either the coverb or the

generic verb, but arises from the construction itself. I

will basically contend that nominative and accusative case-

marking in Tsafiki are semantic cases, highly schematic and

abstract, but semantic nonetheless.

 The primary purpose of this chapter is to analyze the

valency and syntactic structure of the complex predicate.

It will be shown that by considering the contribution of

each lexeme, the coverb and generic verb, and taking the

meaning of the construction itself into consideration, the

argument structure and valency of complex predicates can be

explained.

But before I begin the discussion of the argument

structure of complex predicates, I will first look at the

case-marking and argument structures of simple predicates

to determine the meaning carried by the basic

morphosyntactic structure of the clause in Tsafiki. Once

the meaning and structure of simple clauses is determined,

I'll return to the discussion of complex predicates

2. Simple Finite Clauses in Tsafiki

Tsafiki has relatively little variation in simple

finite clauses. The majority of voice operations in Tsafiki

are derivational, created through the use of different

generic verbs in complex predicate constructions. There is

no passive, nor antipassive, reflexives are either

represented by simple bivalent constructions or formed

derivationally (Chapter Two, Section 4.2). There is a

reciprocal construction, but basically, the only case-

marking alternations found in Tsafiki are external

possession constructions and locative alternations. I will

claim that Tsafiki has this and just this set of case-

alternating constructions due to the fact that it lacks

grammatical case.

Nominative case-marking has often been characterized

as coding starting point or topic. Hence nominative case is

associated with the coding of 'what the clause is about'

(Mithun and Chafe 1999; Jesperson 1924; Giv6n 1984; inter

alia). In fact, Giv6n (2001:203) calls nominative-

accusative systems 'pragmatically-oriented case-marking"

observing that in nominative-accusative systems nominative

case can code a variety of semantic case roles including

'agents' and 'patients' which he takes as evidence that

nominative case could not be coding semantic distinctions.

He furthermore identifies accusative case as coding a

secondary topic based on the same criteria--the ability for

different semantic participants to occur as accusative

arguments. However there is another semantic notion

associated with these two cases that is often subsumed

under the notion of starting point. This relates to the

intiation and termination of a real or imagined event from

the viewpoint of the speaker. Nominative case is associated

with the initiation of the event and accusative case with

the termination, regardless of the agentivity status of the

argument. Nominative and accusative case can be directly

related to what DeLancey (1981) calls "natural attention

flow." The most natural way for a speaker to code an event

is to 'recreate the flow of attention involved in actually

witnessing the event" (DeLancey 1981:632). In a

prototypical transitive clause in a nominative-accusative

language like Tsafiki, as well as English, the nominative

argument will be associated with the initiating point for

the coding of the event. This does not mean initiating

point in real world terms, but rather the point at which

the speaker chooses to begin the coding of the event- For

example in (8), based on DeLancey (1981, 1984), the

nominative argument correlates with the initiating phase of

the event according to the speaker's viewpoint.

(8) a. Lily broke the window with a rock.

b. The rock broke the window.
c. The window broke.

A schematic representation of (8a) and (8c) coding a

causative and inchoative event respectively is given in

Figure One below. The arrow represents initiating point in

relation to the viewpoint the speaker has or adopts in

coding the event. For example in the inchoative the speaker

codes the event as though the viewing of the event began

with the breaking of the window and not the action of the

actor.

("USE .................... > ACT ----------> STATE

IP here IP here
Causative Inchoative Construction
Actor=NOM= Undergoer=NOM
Undergoer=ACC 'The window broke. '
Instrument=COM
"Lily broke the windowr

Figure Two: Initiating Point (IP) and coding of nominative

in causative and inchoative constructions

Note that despite the fact that most speakers do not

believe that windows break without a 'cause', in the

inchoative version of 'break' no cause is coded. The

initiation of the event begins with the breaking of the

window. Under this analysis of nominative case, there is no

i~herentcontradiction in nominative case coding both an

t'.

actor (or initiator of an event) and an undergoer (entity

which undergoes a change of state or location) in that both

may be construed to correlate with the initiating phase of

the event in relation to the speaker's viewpoint.

Now this analysis does not mean that nominative case

never codes starting point or topic, and in some languages

that may in fact be its primary function. Nominative case

also differs depending on the internal aspect of the verb.

In stative eventualities, where there is no event, there

can be no initiating point in terms of action, only a

starting point. So it is not being claimed that in Tsafiki,

nominative case never codes starting point. In fact, in

Tsafiki, starting point most often correlates with the

initiating point, but, as will be shown below, when there

is a conflict between starting point or topic and

initiating point, the initiating point will take precedence

over the starting point for nominative case. In the same

manner I will show that accusative case correlates with the

focus or endpoint of the action coded by the clause.

2.1 Morphosyntactic Properties of 'Subjectf and 'Objectf

In this study, subject and object are not taken to be

primitives. The approach taken here follows much of the

functional and typological literature in that subjects and

objects are taken to arise from the convergence of certain

semantic and pragmatic constraints on specific syntactic

constructions (Li and Thompson 1976; Foley and Van Valin

1984; Van Valin and LaPolla 1997). In other words, in

certain constructions pragmatic considerations such as

topicality and semantic considerations such as initiating

point for the event will all converge on a single argument

essentially creating a subject. In other constructions the

pragmatic and semantic values may be split between more

than one argument.

In Tsafiki, in general, it is not always easy to

distinguish core arguments in morphosyntactic terms. While

it does have fairly rigid AOV word order, in a study of 668

clauses, 294 or 44% had no expression of a core argument at

all and only 30 or 4% had both core arguments of a bivalent

clause overtly expressed. Hence word order is seldom

utilized to distinguish or even identify subject and

object. As will be illustrated below many of the behavioral

properties usually associated with subjecthood-word order,

agreement, switch-reference marking-do not always coincide

with the nominative argument. And, as will be shown below

objects are even more problematic. There is no passive in

Tsafiki, the accusative marker is not obligatory and in any

case is identical to one of the locative markers.

 Nonetheless, core arguments can be identified as the

arguments which are always either understood to be present

or are actually present in the expression of a predicate,

i.e. in clauses with no overt argument expression, core

arguments are the arguments that are understood as being

present from the context and that can be inserted into the

clause with no significant change in meaning. Core

arguments are not necessarily nominative and accusative. In

particular, as will be discussed below, bivalent stative

clauses take a locative as a core argument and Tsafiki has

dative 'subject' constructions in which the dative is a

core argument. This will be made more explicit as the

discussion continues. Core arguments are the arguments that

always have the potential to be overtly expressed in the

syntactic configuration of the clause. Semantic

participants are the semantic roles associated with the

meaning of a generic verb or coverb. Core semantic

participants are the participants obligatorily understood

to be present whenever the predicating element occurs. Non-

core semantic roles are roles that are latent in the

meaning of the predicate but need not be expressed, most

commonly instruments and locatives.

 Despite the caveats above, in a prototypical

transitive clause (Hopper and Thompson 1980), it not only

makes some sense but is notionally convenient to speak of a

subject in that one of the core arguments occurs in clause

initial position and controls plural agreement and switch

reference markers. Ignoring variation for the moment,

examples of 'basicf Tsafiki transitive clauses are given

in (9-10). In (9) the subject occurs sentence initially

right after the temporal adverb and cannot take case-

marking, which indicates unmarked nominative case. The

object occurs second position suffixed with the

accusative case-marker -ka, followed by the verb. The only

agreement in Tsafiki is a non-obligatory subject

(nominative) plural suffix on the verb (10). Note that the

plural object in (9) does not trigger plural agreement on

the verb, whereas the plural subject in (10) does.

(9) Jaatsanke matuteri luban

jaa-tsan-ke matu=te=ri lu-ba-n
3D2-SMBL-D0:VCL old.days=LOC=FOC red-QUAL-ST

oko tsachilaka finamantie.

oko tsachi=la=ka fi-na-man-ti-e
spirit person=PL=ACC eat-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say in the old days the red demon was
eating the people in this way.' (VLP.LUBANOK0.69)
 Ponela yaka kiralakimantie.
pone=la ya=ka kira-la-ki-man-ti-e
s h a m a g ~3P2=ACC
~ see-P~DO:VCL-SIT-HS-DCL
'They say the shamans saw him.' (VLP.LUBANOK0.69)

However as noted in Chapter Two, neither the

accusative marker nor plural agreement marker are

obligatory in Tsafiki. In general, plural agreement does

not occur with generic subjects. In (11) below the speaker

is talking in general about the origin of red demons. It is

clear from the context that the subject is plural but there

is no plural marking anywhere in the clause, neither on the

subject nor the verb. It is the beginning of the narration

and he is simply introducing his subject matter.

Junbi, luban oko loka

jun=bi lu-ba-n oko 10-ka
3Dl=LOC red-QUAL-ST spirit go-out-PF.P

junmantie.
jo-n-man-ti-e
BE:AUX-SIT-RP-DCL
'The red demons had gone out from there.'
(LUBAN.OK0.2)

Likewise the accusative marker is not obligatory,

generally always occurring with humans, less often with

animates and more rarely with inanimates. In (12) nata

'shad' occurs without the accusative marker.

 Junsi aman nata dalakiyoe
junsi aman nata da-la-ki-yo-e
then now shad cook-PL-D0:VCL-CNJ-DCL

tieti' .
ti-e-ti-e
say-DCL-RP-DCL
'Now they say he said they cooked the shad.'
{CCTSONPIPI.332 )

Topical objects may be moved to clause initial

position. In these cases the accusative suffix is necessary

to avoid ambiguity, i.e. in (13) below the absence of the

accusative suffix would lead to the reading that it was the

snake that ate the parents rather than vice versa. The

snake is highly topical in this stretch of discourse. The

parentsr daughter, unbeknownst to them, has taken the snake

as her spouse. The parents kill and eat the snake, much to

their daughter's dismay.

(13) Wari pinikari wari ayanlari

wari pini=ka=ri wari ayan=la=ri
well snake=ACC=FOC well mother=PL=FOC

filakinkin.
fi-la-ki-n-ki-n
eat-PL-D0:VCL-ST-D0:VCL-ST
'Well this snake, the parents must have just
eaten it.' {TSAPINI.29)

It should be noted again that these types of clauses

in actual Tsafiki discourse are fairly rare, generally only

4% of the clauses have full expression of both arguments of

a bivalent construction.

Conjunct/disjunct marking also most often correlates

with the nominative argument, but only when the source of

the information is the same as the person coded as the

nominative argument and there are exceptions (see Chapter

Two, Section 4.3).

There are other behavioral properties that distinguish

subjects from objects in certain constructions. As noted

previously in Chapter Two, the subject generally controls

switch reference, In (14) the suffix -to on the subordinate

clauses indicates that the subject of these clauses is the

same as the subject of the main clause. In (15) the suffix

-sa indicates that the nominative argument of fi 'eat* is

not the same as the nominative argument of ti 'sayt or ere

'send. '
 Junni, (yala) ya katson . tsominka
junni, (ya=la) ya katso-n tso-min=ka
then (3P2=PL) 3P2 sleep-ST lie-IMPF.P=ACC

PeYa kato jito aman,

PeYa ka-to ji-to arnan
hatchet get-S~ go-= now

numika butunle danmanti' .

numi=ka butun-le dan-man-ti-e
penis=ACC chop-CAUSE.SUF:GEN slash-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say grabbing an ax (they) went and chopped off
the penis of the one that lay there sleeping.'
(AASALUN.112-115)

Nuka fisa tito

nu=ka fi-sa ti-to
2=ACC eatGR say-=

erelakee .
ere-la-ke-e
send-PL-D0:VCL-DCL
'They sent me saying I am to eat you."
(VLP.KURU .DZ .37)

However, switch-reference markers in 'Tsafiki,as in

other languages (Stirling 1993), do not simply indicate

co/disjoint reference. In the texts there are aberrant uses

of the switch reference markers (see Chapter Two, Section

4.7) . In particular, the different reference marker -sa can

occur when the nominative arguments of both the subordinate

and main clauses are the same. What this most often

indicates is that despite the CO-reference of the

nominative arguments, the two clauses represent two

separate events that occur at different times in different

places. For example, the context for (16) below is one in

which a lazy turkey buzzard, who has taken human form, is

going around claiming to be working hard on his farm when

in fact he spends most of the day hanging out with his

buzzard buddies. The use of the different reference marker

not only indicates a temporal and spatial difference

between the two events, but also has a strong connotation

that it is one thing to cut down a tree, it is another

thing to go around bragging about it. The implication here

is that he talks more than he works.

(16) Aman tolenasa

aman to-le-na-sa
now f~~~-CAUSE.SUF:
GEN-PRG-DR

tolenayoe tin
to-le-na-yo-e ti-n
fall-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-PRG-CNJ-DCL say-ST

nenamanti'.
nena-man-ti-e
go.around.SIT-RP-DCL
'They say when he cut down (a tree), he went around
saying I' cut down (a tree)."

So rather than simply coding co/disjoint reference the

switch reference markers more properly code continuity or

sequentiality of action.
 2.2 Relative Clauses

Tsafiki relative clauses can also be used to some

extent to distinguish subjects and objects from locatives

and other obliques. The imperfective participle -min can be

used to form a subject relative clause. The imperfective

participle -min is transparently derived from the coverb mi

'of knowing' suffixed with the stative nominalizaer -n.

When -min forms a relative clause it most commonly has a

nominative alignment, i.e. it refers to the nominative

argument of the underlying clause. It occurs with

monovalent (17) and bivalent or trivalent (18) active verbs

and stative verbs (19).

(17) Uyanla mala kuchibi jituminlari

uyan=la mala kuchi-bi ji-tu-min=la=ri
strange=PL chicha drink-PURP go-NEG-IMPF.P=PLFOC

sonnalaratie.
son-ra-la-ra-ti-e
alive-BE.POSIT:GEN-PL-BE.POSIT:VLC-RP-DCL
'Only the others that didn't go to drink chicha
lived/were alive.' (VLP.SONAPURA.MC.10)

Junni wari tako kuwaminlari

junni wari tako kuwa-min=la=ri
then well tobacco give-IMPF.P=PL=FOC

meralaranuda.
me-ra-la-ra-nu-da
wait-BE.POSIT:GEN-PL-BE.POSIT:VCL-EV-DCL:GEN
'They the ones who gave the tobacco (to the
shaman) must have waited.' {VLP.PINIJALAD0.14)
 Junnasa uyan junte sonala
jun-ra-sa uyan jun=te sona=la
3D2-BE.POSIT:VCL other 3D2=LOC woman=PL

- ominlari
j ya tsachika duke
jo-min=la=ri ya tsachi=ka duke
be-IMPF.P=PL=FOC 3P2 person=ACC a.lot

munatilatinutie.
muna-ti-la-ti-nu-ti-e
desire-SAY:GEN-PL-SAY:VCL-EV-RP-DCL
"Meanwhile they say the other women that were
there really desired the man.'
(VLP.SUYUNPINI.MC.62)

The perfective participle only forms relative clauses

with active verbs and most commonly has an absolutive

alignment, i.e. it refers to the accusative argument of a

bivalent clause (21) and the nominative argument of a

monovalent clause (20).

Junni ente kuwenta man fiki kino

junni in=te kuwenta man fiki ki-no
then 3Pl=LOC story one word do-INF

mu kee, parabi jikaka Ya

mu-ki-e para-bi ji-ka=ka Ya
desire-D0:GEN-DCL wild.pig-PURP go-PF.P=ACC 3P2
'Here, I want to say a word about another story,
about the one who went for wild pig.'
(AAKMEDI1.7)
 (21) Junni aman kelalari para
junni aman kela=la=ri para
then now tiger=PL+FOC wild.pig

asuwakaka

juntale juntale tin fisi tiri

jun=te=le jun=te=le ti-n fi-si tiri
3D2=LOC=LOC 3D2=LOC=LOC say-ST eat-IMM something

susu tsannin pajolajotie

susu tsan=nin pa-jo-la-jo-ti-e
dog SEMBL=INCL speak-BE:GEN-PL-BE:VCL-RP-DCL

titun?
ti-tu-n
ti-tu-n
say-NEG-ST
'Didn't they say that the tigers just immediately
ate the wild pig they had cooked "there there"
making noise like dogs.' (VLP.KELAIKA.DO.44)

The ,discussionabove is summarized be1.o~

with .elb,cited

headless relative clauses (22).

(22) a. Imperfective/Nominative Alignment

ki-min jie 'The one who hit someone left.'

ja-min jie 'The one who came left.'
'The one who sat (there) left.'

b. Perfective/Absolutive Alignment

ki-ka jie 'The one who someone hit left.'

- jie
ja-ka 'The one who had come left.'
 The alignment of imperfectivity with a nominative

pattern and the alignment of a perfective with an

absolutive pattern are not unusual (DeLancey 1981, 1982).

The perfective is associated with terminal viewpoint or

endpoint of the action, and the imperfective with onset or

the inception and continuation of the action (DeLancey

1981, 1982). Hence, with imperfective aspect the viewpoint

is skewed towards the agent and with perfective towards the

theme. Thus the relative clause pattern in Tsafiki reveals

a close relationship between initiation of the action and

nominative case, and termination or endpoint of the action

and accusative case, However, it does not specifically

refer to a nominative or accusative argument. The above

readings of the participle relative clause forms can be

overridden in certain constructions. In (23) below the

relative clause refers to the object despite the fact that

it takes the -min suffix. Here the speaker chooses not to

focus on the terminating phase of the event coded by the

construction. In (24) the relative clause refers to the

nominative argument despite the fact that it is suffixed

with -ka. Here the final state, is important.

 Yala fimin ano anpun joe.
ya=la fi-min ano anpun jo-e
3P2=PL eat-1MPF.P food tasty be-DCL
'They food they eat is tasty.'

Ano fika unila manjie.

ano fi-ka unila man=ji-e
food eat-PF.P man again=go-DCL
'The man who had eaten left again.'

So, while there is a natural correlation between the

inception oriented nature of the imperfective participle

and the initiating point orientation of the nominative and

also the termination oriented nature of the perfective and

the endpoint focus the action orientation of the

accusative which most commonly leads to the interpretation

of the imperfective as a nominative-aligned relative clause

and the perfective as the accusative-aligned relative

clause, these are in fact separable phenomena.

2.3 Stative Verbs

The pattern of relative clauses differs with stative

verbs.. Bivalent stative verbs occur when a bivalent coverb

combines with a stative generic verb. There is also a

stative generic verb ta 'have' that is bivalent. It always

occurs with a 'haverr as well as a 'havee'. I will refer to

the semantic participant of a stative verb simply as an

entity and the second argument as a locative for reasons

that will become clear. A stative clause does not code an

activity, hence there can be no actor and undergoer. In

(25) the verb ta \havef occurs with both arguments, the

entity occurs clause initially followed by the locative

which'is suffixed with the locative -ka. Note that this

appears to be a standard, bivalent, transitive clause.

However a relative clause referring to the second argument

is formed with -nun, not the perfective participle -ka

(26).

Tseiton uniri sonaka

tse-ito-n uni=ri sona=ka
light-NOT.BE:GEN-ST old.man=FOC woman=ACC

tamantie.
ta-man-ti-e
have-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say the old blind man had a woman.'
(TSEITON.1)

Ya wa machite tanunka
ya wa machite ta-nun-ka
3P2 big machete have-NOM=ACC

kamankaya
ka=man=ka-ka
still=again=get-PF.P

itominnutietif, ya apari.
ito-min-nu-ti-e-ti-e ya apa=ri
NOT.BE:AUX-SIT-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3P2 father=FOC
'They say the father still hadnft grabbed the big
machete that he had again.' {CCANKULU.84)
 The suffix -nun is also used for oblique relative

clauses coding instruments (27) or locations (28) .

(27) Machite, wa machite jayanun
machite wa machite jaya-nun
machete big machete work-physically-NOM

machiteka mankaya
machite=ka man-ka-ka
machete=ACC again-get-PF.P

jominnutieti' .
jo-min-nu-ti-e-ti-e
BE:AUX-SIT-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he must have grabbed the machete again,
the big machete that he used for working.'

Kanowa tsonunte manfayoe

kanowa tso-nun=te man-fa-yo-e
canoe lie-NOM=LOC again-arrive.here-CONJ-DCL

timanti' .
ti-man-ti-e
say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say he said he arrived back where the canoe was
lying.' (MALI.27)

The suffix -nun 'NOM' can also refer to the predicate

in a non-verbal predicate construction (29) or to the

clause as a whole (30) .

 Jun neka aman bene
jun ne=ka aman bene
3D1 foot=ACC now behind

ya ti jununka miichun.
ya ti jo-nun=ka mi-i-chu-n
3P2 what be-NOM=ACC know-BEC0ME:GEN-IRR-ST
'He said they followed the tracks to see what it
was.' (MV.AASALUN.103)

Man=nan ya seiton jonunka

man=nan ya se-ito-n jo-nun=ka
one=INCL 3P2 good-NOT.BE:GEN-ST be-NOM=ACC

miralaranada.
mi-ra-la-ra-na-da
know-BE.POSIT:GEN-PL-BE.POSIT:VCL-PRG-DCL.GEN
'But (everyone) knew that it was bad.'
(MV.ACPONE.583)

Hence, although verbs such as ta 'havef obligatorily

take two core arguments, the second argument is best

analyzed as taking the locative rather than the accusative

-ka. It follows exactly the same pattern in terms of

relative clause formation as this general locative as

illustrated by (31a) and (31b).

(31) a. Sona ya=ka ji-e.

woman house=LOC go-DCL
'The woman went to the house.'

b. Sona ji-nun ya
woman go-NOM house
'The house the woman went to ...'
 What is of primary interest here is that relative

clause formation clearly distinguishes active from stative

clauses. In particular, the 'object' of a stative verb

differs from that of an active verb. This falls in with the

analysis of nominative and accusative case-marking and

their correlation with the initiation and termination of an

event line. In a state, there is no activity and hence no

initiating point, but the speaker can direct the order of

attention flow from one element of the stative relationship

to the other. The nominative case here does mark starting

point, or the most prominent argument in terms of

discourse. However there is no activity, solely a stative

relationship between entities and hence the locative is

used instead of the accusative

2.4 Dative-Subject Constructions

As noted by Giv6n (2001) a problem with the pragmatic

analysis of nominative-accusative case-marking is that many

languages exhibit 'dative-subject incursion.' In these

constructions, the more topical participant is coded with

dative rather than nominative case and the construction as

a whole shows mixed grammatical relation properties. This

is a problem with the pragmatic analysis of nominative-

accusative case, i.e. if nominative case marks topic and is

oblivious to semantic participant role why would datives

differ from the other semantic roles? These constructions

also cause problems in an analysis in which 'subject' is

seen as a primitive in that subject properties are

generally split between two or more core arguments in these

constructions. Under the analysis followed here, neither of

these poses a problem. In fact the theory predicts that

these constructions would have special properties given the

correlation between nominative case and initiating point.

The more topical dative participant can not be construed as

the initiating point of the event, another core argument

correlates with a point on the event line previous to the

dative argument. The mix of grammatical properties is also

not problematic. As noted above, subject is treated here as

a phenomenon that only occurs in certain constructions. In

these constructions starting point correlates with

initiating point and grammatical properties pertaining to

either category all converge on a single core argument

giving birth to a subject. However, when there is a

conflict, i.e. the starting point or topic and initiating

point do NOT converge on the same core argument, the

properties associated with starting point will converge on

one argument, and the properties associated with initiating

point will converge on another.

2.4.1 Tsafiki Dative Subjects

Tsafiki dative subject1 constructions involve semantic

predicate types that have been associated with dative

constructions in other languages including: psychological

states; physiological states; visual and auditory

perception; and modal states of desire (Shibatani 2001).

The dative constructions can only be used with a first

person subject (32), or when accompanied by a verb of

speech or hearsay evidential (33) and they cannot take

mirative markers. There are two basic types. In one

construction there is a dative-subject and an object (32)

and (33) or complement clause (34) but no nominative

argument.

l Although these constructions do not have a 'subject',

I continue to call these 'dative-subjects' simply because

they are rather prototypical of dative subject
constructions in other languages (Shibatani 2000) and I do
not want to lose the typological association by renaming
them something else.
 Ti amali seiton,
ti amali se-ito-n
what very good-NOT.BE:GEN-ST

tsechi pamukee.
tse=chi pa-mu-ke-e
lF=DAT anger-desire-D0:GEN-DCL
'She's really bad, she makes me angry at her.I
(JERA6.13)

Mmachi karamelo mukee tit0

mma=chi karamelo mu-ke-e ti-to
madam=DAT candy desire-D0:GEN-DCL say-SR

tito chuka.. .
ti-to chu-ka
say-SR sit-PF
'The woman had sat there saying she wanted candy...l
(JERAKUWENTAla.384)

Yachiri uru sonabe katsono

ya=chi=ri uru sona=be katso-no
3P2=DAT=FOC pure woman=CON sleep-INF

mukee tinatieti'
mu-ke-e ti-na-ti-e-ti-e
desire say-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he was saying, I' want to sleep with
the pure woman. "' {AASALUN.23)

The dative =chi most commonly occurs on the goal

argument of the trivalent predicate kuwa 'give'. The word

order varies and because the dative is the same as the

possessive -chi, in (35) the reading is ambiguous between

they 'gave him a woman' and 'they gave (somebody) his

woman.' In the context of this story it is clear that the

prior meaning is meant. The ambiguity can be resolved by a

change in the word order (36). This change in word order is

not found with possessive constructions which rigidly

adhere to the order POSSESSOR-POSSESSEE.

(35) Junni aman yachi sonaka

junni aman ya=chi sona=ka
then now 3P2=POSS woman=ACC

kuwalakimantie.
kuwa-la-ki-man-ti-e
give-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then they say they gave him a woman/?they gave
(somebody) his woman.' (WILINKI.52)

Junni aman sonaka yachi

junni aman sona=ka ya=chi
then now woman=ACC 3P2=POSS

kuwalakimantie.
kuwa-la-ki-man-ti-e
give-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then they say they gave him a woman.'

All the dative constructions have related

constructions, which are based on the same coverb and have

a more standard nominative-accusative pattern. The coverb

mu/muna 'desire' can also occur with the generic verb i

'BECOME' to form a related, but non-dative construction.

Here the 'desirer' takes nominative case and the 'desiree'

takes accusative. The meaning difference between the two

constructions is related to awareness or consciousness. In

the dative-subject construction the 'desirer' just suddenly

feels an overwhelming urge, in the nominative-accusative

construction the speaker is well aware and somewhat in

control of his desire ( 3 7 ) .

( 3 7 ) Junni tsachi manka munainutie,

junni tsachi man-ka muna-i-nu-ti-e
then person one-NCL desire-BEC0ME:GEN-EV-HS-DCL

sonalaka.
sona=la=ka
woman=PL=ACC
'They say there was a man who desired women.'{GA8.14)

In the dative-subject constructions the dative-subject

controls plural verb agreement. In ( 3 8 ) the dative-subject

takes the plural enclitic and the verb can take a plural

agreement marker. In (39) the accusative argument is plural

and the verb does not take plural marking.

(38) Chikelachi unilaka jele kilakee.

chike=la=chi unila=ka jele ki-la-ki-e
1F=PL=DAT man=ACC -
fear D0:GEN-PL-D0:GEN-DCL
'We are afraid of the man'

Chikechi unilalaka jele kee.

chike=chi unila=la=ka jele ki-e
1F=DAT man=PL=ACC fear D0:GEN-DCL
'I am afraid o fthe men.'

So in terms of word order and plural agreement marking the

dative-subject exhibits properties of the subject in more

prototypical bivalent active clauses. Note that these properties

are both associated with topicality. Topical objects are moved

to clause initial position in Tsafiki and generic subjects do

not occur with plural marking. Hence it appears that the dative-

subject is associated with starting point, or topic.

In the clauses that lack a nominative argument, switch-

reference clauses always carry the different reference suffix

-sa. But note that in (34) above the complement k a t s o - n o carries

the normal marker for an embedded clause with the same referent

as the main clause rather than the DR -sa.

(40) Wari tenjatusa berun sili

wari ten-ja-tu-sa berun sili
well heart-C0ME:GEN-NEG-DR hook line

nakaka machitechi danle

na-ka=ka machite=chi dan-le
small-NCL=ACC machete=INSTR slash-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

mankayoe timantie.
man=ka-yo-e ti-man-ti-e
again-get-CNJ-DCL say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say that he said without thinking he grabbed the
little fishing line and slashed it.' IMALI.23)

In dative-subject constructions that do have a nominative

argument the switch-reference marking continues to be controlled

by the nominative argument. This is predicted from the role of

the nominative argument in coding primarily initiating point

rather than starting point or topic. All the dative-subject

constructions in Tsafiki that occur with a nominative argument

concern body emissions.' As always there are a variety of ways

to express these types of events. The most common pattern

involves a bivalent construction with the verb k i 'dof with the

'vomiterf occurring with nominative case ( 4 1 ) . The dative

construction is formed with the verb la 'come.outf ( 4 2 ) . And

there is a third form, created with the causative form of l a ,

la-ri 'come-out:CAUSE.SUF:GENf (43) . The first two both code

uncontrolled behavior with the difference being that in (41) the

speaker had a sense of nausea and expected to vomit. In the

dative-subject construction ( 4 2 ) the speaker just suddenly

vomited without any premonition that the event was about to

occur. ( 4 3 ) codes a more deliberate act.

(41) Tse katsa kiyoe.

tse katsa ki-yo-e
IF vomit do-CNJ-DCL
'I vomited/LIT:I did vomit.'
Tsechi katsa la-e.
tse=chi katsa la-e
~F=DK vomit ~ ~ ~ ~ . O U ~ - C N J - D C L
'I vomited/LIT:vomit came out of me.'

Unfortunatelyf there is only a one-way check on

plural marking in these constructions. A plural dative-
subject does trigger plural marking on the verb, but this
would also entail multiple instances of the nominative
argument. The nominative arguments in all these
constructions are mass nouns and hence take quantifiers
such as duke 'a lotf rather than plural marking to indicate
large quantities. A plural dative-subject does however
trigger the plural marking on the verb.
 Tse katsa larie.
tse katsa la-ri-e
1F vomit come-out-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-CNJ-DCL
'I vomited/LIT:I took vomit out.'

In ( 4 4 ) below the nominative-accusative version of

'vomit' occurs subordinated to a bivalent complex

predicate. The nominative argument of both clauses is the

same and the subordinate clause receives same reference

marking.

Tse katsa kito jera mesabi.

tse katsa ki-to jera mesa=bi
1F vomit do-SR all table=LOC

araleyoe.
ara-le-yo-e
scatter-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-CNJ-DCL
I
' vomited and spewed it all over the table."

In (45) the dative-subject form of 'vomitf occurs with

an intransitive clause that shares the same nominative

argument as the subordinate clause, k a t s a 'vomit'. Again

the subordinate clause receives same reference marking.

 Tsechi katsa lato jera mesabi
tse=chi katsa la-to jera mesa=bi
lF=DAT vomit come.out-SR all table=LOC

arajie
ara-ji-e
lF=scatter-G0:GEN-DCL
"The vomit came out of me and spewed all over the
table. "

In contrast in ( 4 6 ) the nominative-accusative version

of 'vomit' occurs with the intransitive version of ara

'scatter' and hence the nominative argument of the two

clauses is different and the subordinate clause occurs with

a different reference marker.

(46) Tse katsa kinasa jera mesabi

tse katsa ki-na-sa jera mesa=bi
1F vomit do-PRG-DR all table=LOC

arajie.
ara-ji-e
scatter-G0:GEN-DCL
'When I vomited it went all over the table.'

Finally in (47) the dative-subject version of vomit

appears as the main clause and the subordinate verb fi

'eat' occurs with a different reference marker even though

the eater and the vomiter are the same person.

(47) Duke ano finasa katsa lae.

duke ano fi-na-sa katso la-e
much food eat-PRG-DR vomit come.out-DCL
'When I ate a lot of food, vomit came out of me.'
 There is of course the possibility of interpreting -

chi 'dative' as the possessive marker, i.e. 'my vomit came

out.' The evidence against this is that like dative

arguments and unlike possessives the word order may be

changed. I was only able to elicit the construction found

in ( 4 8 ) . The context for this would be rather odd, in that

the vomit is more topical here than the vomiter. It implies

that perhaps you expected something else to come out. It is

semantically odd, but grammatically acceptable.

(48) Katsa tsechi lae.

katsa tse=chi la-e
vomit lF=DAT come.out-DCL
'Vomit came out of me.'

The Tsafiki dative subject constructions rather

cleanly illustrate the split between starting point or

topic and inititating point. In the dative subject

constructions the more topical argument, the dative-subject

has the grammatical relational properties associated with

prominence or topicality, i.e. word order and plural verb

agreement. The nominative argument in a dative-subject

construction retains the grammatical relational property of

control of switch-reference marking. As was noted above,

switch-reference is somewhat of a misnomer, because

although generally the markers correlate with CO-reference,

the markers actually more properly code action continuity.

The data clearly show that in constructions in which

starting point and initiating point correlate with

different core arguments, nominative case will continue to

be marked on the initiating, rather than the starting

point.

2.5 Locative Alternations

The next construction addresses the function of accusative

case-marking. As illustrated above, the second argument of a

construction coding a bivalent state takes locative rather than

accusative marking. This indicates that accusative marking

correlates closely with the endpoint or focus of an event and

not with pragmatic or purely grammatical case. As noted above

Tsafiki has very few case alternations. One of the few that is

allowed with some but not all combinations of undergoer and

locative3 is the locative alternation. In these constructions

either the location or the thing located can occur with

A complete study has not been done, but the occurance

this alternation is somewhat dependent on the animacy or
relative topicality of the entities involved and the
generic verb/complex predicate utilized.
accusative case (49) and (50). As has been noted (DeLancey

1991a) what is of interest here is that either argument can be

construed as the endpoint of the action, depending on whether

the speaker chooses to focus on the change of state of Juan in

(49), i.e. from unsmeared or smeared or the change of location

of the achiote, from Ramon to Juan (50). In these types of

constructions the case-marking can be alternated without

disrupting the correlation with the event line, both arguments

occur at the terminal point of the event and can be construed as

the focus of the action.

(49) Ramon Fanka mu mitee,

Ramon Fan=ka mu mi-te-e
Rarnon J U ~ ~ achiote
~ C C s m e a r - c ~ SUF:
~ ~ ~GEN-DCL
.
'Ramon achiote-smeared Juan.'

Ramon muka Fanchibi

mitee.
mi-te-e
smear-CAUSE.SUF:GEN-DCL
'Ramon smeared the achiote on Juan.'

2.6 External Possessor Construction

The final construction examined in this section is the

external possessor construction. This construction corresponds

to Mithunfs (1984, 1986b) Type I1 noun incorporation in that the

incorporated noun (the possessee) most commonly loses its status

as a syntactic argument and another participant is permitted to

occupy the spot 'vacatedf by the incorporated noun. In (51) the

possessor occurs as a possessor of the object of the clause. In

(52) it occurs as the object of the clause while the possessee

of (52) can either appear 'strippedf i.e. it can no longer take

the accusative marker or it can optionally take a locative

suffix.

Ya lachi tenfuka bole

ya la=chi tenfu=ka bo-le
3P2 lM=POSS tooth=ACC crack-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

kee.
ki-e
D0:GEN-DCL
'S/he cracked my tooth. '

Ya laka tenfu(1e) bole

ya la=ka tenfu- (le) bo-le
3P2 lM=ACC tooth- (LOC) crack-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

kee.
ki-e
D0:GEN-DCL
'S/he tooth-cracked me/S/he cracked me on the tooth.'

What is of interest here is that these constructions only

occur with ATTACHED body parts. External possessor constructions

do not occur if the body part is detached. (53) occurs with a

detached body part, signaled by the NCL. Detached body parts

always occur with NCL. This construction is fine, but the

corresponding external possessor construction is not allowed

(54)

Ya lachi tenfukaka bole

ya la=chi tenfu-ka=ka bo-le
3P2 lM=POSS tooth-NCL=ACC crack-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

kee.
ki-e
D0:GEN-DCL
'S/he cracked my (detached) tooth.'

*Ya laka tenfuka (le) bole

ya la=ka tenfu-ka- (le) bo-le
3P2 lM=POSS tooth-NCL-(LOC) crack-CAUSE.SUF:GEN

kee.
ki-e
D0:GEN-DCL
*'S/he tooth (detached)-cracked me/S/he cracked me on
the tooth.'

External possessors can occur with non-body parts, but in

these cases the possessor must be an immediate participant in

the event and in the same location. (55) was uttered in a

situation where someone had just been pick-pocketed. He arrived

with his pockets turned inside out, unaware of what had happened

to him. This construction can only be used if someone literally

took the money off your body. If they broke into your house and

stole the money only (56) is acceptable.

(55) Ya la=ka kala tarin ke-e.

3P2 lM=ACC money steal D0:GEN-DC:
'(S/he) money-stole me.'
 Ya la=chi kala=ka tarin ke-e
3P2 lM=POSS money=ACC steal D0:GEN-DCL
'He stole my money.'

External possessor constructions are often said to be used

when the possessor is affected by the event coded by the verb.

As the Tsafiki examples show, the construction may be used to

show greater affect on the possessor, but this is not a

sufficient condition to trigger the construction. The possessor

must also be in the same location at the same time as the

original possessee.

The important point about both the locative alternations

and the external possessor constructions is that either argument

can be seen as the endpoint and focus of the action and directly

affected by the event. During the action coded by the event both

participants are in the same location. This contrasts with the

dative participant of a trivalent verb such as kuwa 'givef in

which the dative-shift is not allowed, the dative argument

always takes the dative suffix.

2.7 Summary

In this section I have tried to illustrate the degree to

which nominative and accusative case in Tsafiki directly

correlate with points on the event line. Stative eventualities

in Tsafiki take a nominative and locative argument as shown by

relative clause formation. The nominative in these constructions

indicates starting point, i.e. codes the most prominent or

topical argument, but there is no action hence no 'endpoint'. So

bivalent stative verbs do not take an accusative argument.

Tsafiki has dative-subject constructions in which the relational

properties of a canonical 'subjectf are shared between the

dative-argument and the nominative argument. These different

properties are due to the higher topicality of the dative-

argument and the continued maintenance of the nominative

argument as occurring at the initiating point for the coding of

the event. Tsafiki only has two case-alternating constructions,

the locative and the external possessor construction. In neither

case is the event line disrupted by the alternation in case-

marking in these constructions.

In the next section I will describe the argument structure

of complex predicates.

3. Complex Predicates

Both elements of the complex predicate, as discussed

in can contribute semantic participants and affect the

syntactic structure of the clause. In this section it will

be shown that some of the characteristics of the complex

predicate construction are:

a. A semantic participant of the generic verb will

always receive nominative case, with actor having
precedence over undergoer.

b. If both the generic verb and coverb have similar

semantic participants, those participants may
converge on the same syntactic argument

c. The nominative argument always correlates with

the initiating point.

The valency of generic verbs can be determined when

they occur as simple verbs. The valency of coverbs is

somewhat more problematic, but the primary means utilized

here is to consider any semantic participant that persists

across various constructions to be part of the inherent

valency of the coverb. This will be illustrated throughout

this section. In addition, as noted in Chapter Three, the

generic verb is sometimes dropped in which case the coverb

occurs with a full argument structure (57).

(57) Ichirikari kala j ekenaminnutieti' .

ichirikari kala jeke-na-min-nu-ti-e-ti-e
a lot money dry-PRG-1MPF.P-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'A lot of money was drying (there).'
(CCANKULU.49)
 3.1 Complex Predicate Formation of Active Verbs

As mentioned above, the majority of the coverbs are

derived from ideophones. In the following examples biti

'snap' and soko 'writhe' are functioning as ideophones

(they are reduplicated) and both serve to give an

expression of manner of movement.

(58) Ideophones
a. Ya biti biti jie.
ya biti biti ji-e
3P2 snap:IDEO snap:IDEO go-DCL
'He went biti biti (through the brush)/He snapped
(through the brush) '.
b. Ya soko soko jie.
ya soko soko ji-e
3P2 writhe:IDEO writhe:IDEO go-DCL
'He went writhing writhing.'

As was noted in Chapter Three, ideophones carry a

fairly rich semantic load, being fairly specific as to

trajectories and the kinds of entities which are contained

in the notion of the ideophone. Tsafiki biti 'snap' can

occur without any overt expression of the thing that is

snapping. It is clear in (58a) that he is going through the

brush even though brush is not explicitly mentioned. Only

the breaking of small, relatively rigid objects can make

the sound represented by the ideophone. Soko codes a manner

or trajectory of movement. Ideophones carry this semantic

information with them when they are lexicalized as a coverb

in a complex predicate construction. In (59) and (60) biti

'snap' and soko 'writhe' occur as predicating elements

(coverbs). Note however that while soko 'writher combined

with ji 'go' continues to code a monovalent, manner-of-

motion event (60), biti 'snap' combined with the same

generic verb now codes a monovalent, inchoative change-of-

state (59).

(59) Na ka chide ali bitijie.

na=ka chide ali biti-ji-e
small-NCL stick branch snap-G0:GEN-DCL
'The twig snapped.'

Pini forobi nechi sokojie

pini foro=bi ne=chi soko-ji-e
snake hole=LOC foot=LOC writhe-GO-DCL
'The snake slithered out of the hole.'

In these two examples it appears that the coverb is

determining the nature of the semantic participant, an

undergoer for biti 'snap' and an agent for soko 'writher.

In all the configurations it occurs in, biti 'snap*

contributes a single undergoer participant. This

participant is present in the ideophonic use of biti 'snap'

as well as the inchoative and causative (see below). Soko

'writhe' contributes a single actor participant across all

constructions. However, this does not necessarily mean the

motion verb ji 'go' is inert. As has been often noted,

(Levin and Rappoport 1995, inter alia) motion verbs show

varying behavior in terms of unaccusative and unergative

status. In the terminology used here they can code either

an undergoer or actor participant, depending on the

language and/or different constructions in the same

language, i.e. the single participant of a motion verb can

be depicted in one of two ways: as the patient of a change-

of-location or as the instigator of motion. This is most

clearly seen in Tsafiki in looking at the behavior of

motion verbs with evidential and mirative marking.

Generally, unelaborated motion and activity verbs result it

odd or very funny interpretations when they occur with a

first person subject and an evidential indicating the

speaker received the information from deduction and not

direct evidence (See Chapter TWO, Section 4.3). It's

interesting to note that soko follows the pattern of a

motion verb with a first person subject and an evidential

(61) and have an odd reading (note the English translation

is also odd). But coverbs such as biti or chi 'rip' follow

the pattern for a monovalent predicate with a single

undergoer argument. There is nothing 'funny' or peculiar

about (62)' it simply means the speaker was unaware that

s/he tore their fingernail.

(61) ?Sokojirnue
soko-ji-ya-nu-e
writhe-G0:GEN-DSJ-EV-DCL
?'I must have writhed.'

Tse tewe chijitnu-e

tse tewe chi-ji-nu-e
1F fingernail rip-G0:GEN-DSJ-DCL
'I must have ripped my fingernail.'

Motion verbs contain both an actor and an undergoer as

possible semantic participants, the coverb pushes the

interpretation towards one or the other. In (59) and (60),

the role of the semantic participant of the motion verb is

affected by the single semantic participant contributed by

the coverb. Figures Three and Four illustrate this notion.

The Figures are meant as illustrations only and carry no

formal significance. 'IP' indicates the initiating point

for the coding of the event.

COVERB U dergoer biti 'snapf

GENERIC VERB
f
Actor (or) Undergoer ji 'gof
I
NOM/IP
chide ali biti-ji-e
tree branch snap-G0:GEN-DCL
'The stick snappedf

Figure Three: Argument sharing of monovalent motion verb

and monovalent coverb aligning with Undergoer = inchoative.

COVERB Actor soko 'writhef

GENERIC VERB Actor (or) Undergoer j i 'got

NOM/IP
pini soko-ji-e
snake writhe-G0:GEN-DCL
'The snake slithered'

Figure Four: Argument sharing of monovalent motion verb

and monovalent coverb aligning with Actor = manner of
motion.

The coverbs soko 'writhe' and b i t i 'snap' can also

both occur with the generic verb ki 'do'. Again there is a

difference in the final valency and interpretation of the

two clauses. B i t i combining with k i 'do' creates a

bivalent, causative change-of-state construction (63). Soko

'writhef with k i 'do' creates a non-translational motion

clause (Talmy, 1985). These constructions are illustrated

in Figures Five and Six.

(63) Ya naka chide alika

ya na=ka chide ali=ka
3P2 small=NCL tree branch=ACC

bitile kee.
biti-le ke-e
snap-CAUSE.SUF:GEN D0:GEN-DCL
'He snapped the twig.'

Junni kuru atito soko kee.

junni kuru a-ti-to soko ke-e
then guatusa scream-SAY:GEN-SR writhe D0:GEN-DCL
'Then the guatusa writhed, screaming .'
(JAKURU.84)

COVERB Undergoer biti 'snap1

GENERIC VERB Actor -le ki 'do'

NOM/IP ACC
Ya chide ali=ka biti-le ki-e
3P2 stick snap-SUF D0:GEN-DCL
'He snapped the stickt

Figure Five: Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligning with Actor and monovalent coverb aligning with
Undergoer = causative
COVERB Actor soko 'writhet
I
GENERIC VERB Actor ki 'dot

NOM/ IP
kuru soko ki-e
guatusa writhe do-dcl
'The guatusa writhed.'

Figure Six: Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligning with Actor and monovalent coverb aligning with
actor = non-translational motion

There is an alternative analysis for these two

constructions. Note that ki 'do', is depicted as coding a

single actor semantic participant. At first glance it

might appear that a more traditional argument would be to

say ki is a bivalent verb and is simply taking the coverb

as an argument, i.e. 'He did a writhe,' 'He did a snapping

of the twig.' However, as attractive as the English

translations are, there is no evidence that the coverb is

an argument of the generic verb in these constructions.

Tsafiki has a wide array of nominalizing suffixes and true

embedded, complement clauses which are suffixed with the

infinitive -no. The coverb is not nominalized in these

constructions and there is no structural reason to analyze

it differently from other coverb/generc verb combinations.

From a construction grammar approach, there is no need to

postulate a bivalent version of k i 'do' even though it

occurs in bivalent clauses such as (65). All that is needed

is that k i 'do' be compatible with the bivalent, transitive

construction. It codes an activity and the construction

itself provides an endpoint or termination for that

activity. It is also compatible with coverbs such as soko

'writhe' which does not provide an endpoint, resulting in a

construction simply coding an activity.

(65) Fan yaka kee.

Fan ya=ka ke-e
Juan house=ACC do-DCL
'Juan built a house.'

The verbal suffixes -le, -ri, -te, -si and -re all

function like k i 'do' in creating causative verb forms with

coverbs with a single actor participant. J i 'go' contrasts

with i 'become' in forming inchoative predicates. The

motion verbs can all combine with coverbs coding manner-of-

motion to create different kinds of motion verbs.

In order to create a causative with soko 'writhe'

another generic verb is used. Kari 'cause' across all its

uses as a periphrastic causative or generic verb is always

bivalent occurring with an actor and an undergoer

participant. In (66) the actor participant of the generic

verb is coded with unmarked nominative case, the single

actor participant of the coverb is the focus of the causing

event and is both the actor participant of the coverb soko

'writhef and the undergoer participant of kari 'cause'

(66). It takes accusative case (see Figure Seven).

(66) Fan jodo nakaka mele kato

Fan jodo na-ka=ka me=le ka-to
Juan armadillo small-NCL=ACC tail=LOC get-SR

soko karie.
soko kari-e
writhe CAUSE:GEN-DCL
'Grabbing the little armadillo by the tail Juan
made him squirm.'

COVERB Actor soko 'writhef

I
GENERIC Actor Undergoer kari 'causef

NOM/IP ACC
Fan jodo=ka soko kari-e
Juan armadillo=ACC writhe cause-dcl
'Juan made the armadillo squirm.'

Figure Seven: Argument sharing of bivalent generic verb

aligned with an actor and event and monovalent coverb
aligning with actor

In cases in which a bivalent coverb combines with the

monovalent ki 'do', the actor participants converge on the

nominative argument slot and the coverb provides the

undergoer participant which converges on the accusative

slot (67 and Figure Eight) .

Ya tako chukee.
ya tako chu-ke-e
3P2 tobacco suck-D0:GEN-DCL
'He sucked/smoked tobacco.'

COVERB Actor Undergoer chu 'suckr

GENERIC Actor

NOM/IP ACC
Ya taco chu-ki-e
3 P2 tobacco suck-D0:GEN-DCL
'He sucked/smoked tobacco.'

Figure Eight: Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligned with an actor and bivalent coverb aligning with
actor and undergoer

When a bivalent coverb combines with a bivalent or

trivalent generic verb the actor and undergoer participants

simply converge on the same argument slots. In (68) below

the bivalent coverb tuli 'push' combines with po 'putt

which is generally trivalent taking a locative as well as

an accusative argument. The argument structure for (68) is

illustrated in Figure Nine.

(68) Yari aPa polenaminka kotochi
ya=ri apa pole-na-min=ka koto=chi
3P2=FOC father go.across-PRG-SIT=ACC slope=LOC

tulipochinayoeke
tuli-po-chi-na-yo-e=ke
push-PUT:GEN-INCEPT-PRG-CNJ-DCL=QT
'He pushed his father who was passing by down the
slope.' {PAYA1.48)

COVERB Actor Undergoer tuli 'push'

I I
GENERIC Actor Undergoer Location po 'put'

NO~/IP ACC LOC

Ya apa=ka koto=chi tulipoe
3P2 father=ACC slope=LOC push-PUT:GEN-DCL

Figure Nine: Argument sharing of trivalent generic verb and

a bivalent coverb

Besides ji 'gof, inchoatives can be formed in Tsafiki

with the generic verb i 'become', which is quite

productive, occurring with positional as well as change-of-

state coverbs. As noted in Chapter Three, only ki 'dof

occurs with more coverbs than i 'become' . When the generic

verb i 'become' occurs with a monovalent coverb coding a

single undergoer participant such as bare 'stretch' (69)

the two participants simply converge on the same argument

(Figure Ten) .
(69) Sabe bare i-e.
rubber stretch BEC0ME:GEN-DCL
'The rubber stretched.'

The generic verb i 'become' can also occur with a

bivalent coverb. The interpretation of this combination is

somewhat puzzling and it is here where the basic structure

COVERB Undergoer bare 'stretch'

GENERIC VERB Undergoer i 'becomer

I
NOM/IP
sabe bare i-e
rubber stretch BEC0ME:GEN-DCL
'The rubber stretched.'

Figure Ten: Argument sharing of monovalent generic verb

aligning with Undergoer and a monovalent coverb aligning
with Undergoer

of Tsafiki, particularly the correlation of nominative with

the initiating phase of the event coded, becomes important.

In this construction a bivalent coverb combines with a

monovalent generic verb aligned with a single undergoer

arg~ment.~As we have seen in the above examples, the

generic verb always determines the nominative argument.

Whichever argument of the generic verb is primary in terms

This type of construction is disallowed in Jaminjung

(Schultze 2000).
of the event line will receive nominative case. We have

also seen that similar semantic participants tend to

converge on the same argument. In these constructions there

is a conflict in that the undergoer participant of the

generic verb receives nominative case and is CO-referential

with the undergoer participant of the bivalent coverb. The

expectation here is that this would form a passive and

morphosyntactically it looks like a passive. In (70) the

'seer' receives comitative marking and the 'seenf receives

nominative case.

(70) Ya tsabo sona ya jaatsanke tsachibe,

ya tsabo sona ya jaa-tsan-ke tsachi=be
3P2 star woman 3P2 3D2-SMBL-QT person=COM

kiraito
kira-i-to
see-BEC0ME:GEN-SR
\This star woman letting the Tsachi see her like
this.. .'

However, semantically this a permissive construction.

The undergoer of the event is in control here, unlike the

undergoer participant found in the English passive. The

star woman lets the Tsachi see her. The question is where

does the sense of control or permission come from. The

generic verb i 'becomet always takes an undergoer argument,

and in fact the essential meaning of i \becomef is a change

of state. The star woman is the 'seenf entity here. But

recall, in Tsafiki the nominative argument is always

interpreted as the argument depicted at the initiating

point of the event. Here I argue that because the single

semantic participant of i 'becomef takes nominative case,

the structure itself requires that it be interpreted as the

instigator and hence the permissive reading. The structure

of this construction is illustrated in Figure Eleven.

Notice that the initiation point (IP) is with the

nominative argument.

COVERB Actor Undergoer kira 'seef

GENERIC i 'becomef
VERB

NOM/IP COM
tsabo sona tsachi-be kira-i-e
star woman person-COM see-BEC0ME:GEN-dcl
'The star woman let the Tsachi see her.'

Figure Eleven: Argument sharing of bivalent generic verb

and a bivalent coverb

The actual entity that performs the action, the 'seerf

in the above example takes the comitative postposition -be.

The Tsafiki comitative fits the standard definition of

comitatives in that a comitative argument is understood to

have the same semantic participant role as some other

argument in the clause (Aissen 1989). Both participants may

take the comitative (71). In (71) the comitative has the

same role as the nominative.

(71) Tonkibe kelabe junlamantie .

tonki-be kela-be jo-n-la-man-ti-e
snail-COM tiger-COM be-ST-PL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say there was a snail and a tiger.' (SA7.2)

In other cases such as (72), only one of the semantic

participants takes the comitative enclitic and in this

example, the verb does not take plural marking.

(72) Ya paluka nakaberi

ya palu-ka na-ka-be=ri
3P2 two-NCL child-NCL-COM-FOC

jinutie.
ji-nu-ti-e
go-EV-RP-DCL
'She went with the children, two children.'
(VLP.LUBAN1.22 1

However, in (73) whereas once again only one

participant takes the comitative marking the verb DOES take

plural marking.
 Ya nabe manjanaminnan
ya na-be man=ja-na-min=nan
3P2 child-COM again-come-PRG-IMPF.P=INCL

manjanaminnan
man=ja-na-min=nan
again=come-PRG-IMPF.P=INCL

aman ayanlachibi
aman ayan=la=chi=bi
now mother=PL-POSS-LOC

manfelaiyotie.
man=fe-la-i-yo-ti-e
again=arrive.there-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-CNJ-RP-DCL
'She said going and going she arrived with the
child at her parents' house.'

In (74) both the undergoer participants take the

comitative marking and fall under the scope of the

accusative enclitic.

(74 Ya kelari ya sonabe nabeka

ya kela=ri ya sona-be na-be=ka
3P2 tiger=FOC 3P2 woman-COM child-COM=ACC

fichike tinutie.
fi-chike ti-nu-ti-e
eat-DESIR say-EV-RP-DCL
'They say the tiger said he wanted to eat the
women and children. ' (SA8.9)

In neither its more prototypical uses, nor in the

construction discussed here is it possible to form a

relative clause directly from the comitative argument. For

example a relative clause of n a l a l a 'the children' in (72)

would require a reversal of comitative marking (75).

(75) Yabe jimin nalala ....

ya=be ji-min na=la=la
3P2=COM go-1MPF.P child=PL=PL
'The children who went with him...'

There is however, a major difference between the

comitative marker in the bivalent coverb/monovalent generic

verb construction concerning plural marking. A comitative

argument in this construction does not trigger plural

agreement. In fact plural agreement would indicate more

than one person is affected by the action (76).

(76) Ya tsabo sona ya jaatsanke tsachi-be,

ya tsabo sona ya jaa-tsan-ke tsachi-be
3P2 star woman 3P2 3D2-SMBL-QT person=COM

kirailaie
kira-i-la-i-e
see-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:GEN-dcl
'The star women let the Tsachi see them.'

Hence the comitative in this complex predicate

construction differs from the canonical comitative. It does

not indicate that the comitative is engaged in the activity

in the same way as the nominative argument. However, both

semantic participants are involved in the bringing about of

the event coded in the predicate. The nominative sets the

stage so to speak for the action and the comitative carries

it through.

The bivalent coverb/monovalent generic verb

construction always indicates a reflexive relationship

between the initiator of the event and the undergoer. The

undergoer participant of the coverb converges on the same

argument slot as the semantic undergoer participant of the

generic verb. (77) was spoken in a retelling of the movie

Terminator 11. In the film a madrobot protects a boy by

letting bullets enter directly into his back.

(77) Terminadori naka bala ikatusa

terminado=ri na=ka bala ika-tu-sa
terminator=FOC child=ACC bullet crash-NEG-DR

puraie.
pore-i-e
cut-BEC0ME:GEN-DCL
'So the bullets wouldn't hit the child, the
terminator cut (them) off (with his own body)'

This construction cannot be used if the terminator has

used an object other than his own body to shield the boy.

In that case another construction consisting of pore 'cut'

and the generic verb ki 'D0:GEN' must be used (78).

 Terminadori naka bala ikatusa
terminado=ri na=ka bala ika-tu-sa
terminator=FOC child=ACC bullet crash-NEG-DR

latachi porekee
lata=chi pore-ke-e.
shield=FOC cut-D0:GEN-DCL
'So the bullets wouldn't hit the child, the
terminator cut (them) off with a shield.'

This construction can also be used with inanimates but

here it indicates that the event occurred because of some

inherent property of the undergoer as the English

translation indicates (79). In Tsafiki an adverbial

modifier such as English 'easyf is not needed.

(79) Sili poraie

sili pore-i-e
rope cut-BEC0ME:GEN-DCL
'The rope cut (easily)'

In (80) below, Salun, a mythical character, is

floating down the river. He uses his rather unusually long

personal appendage as a lasso, trying to stop himself by

catching the appendage in the trees. The effort fails

however and the appendage gets cut off.

(80) Aman atie titie loberto

aman a-ti-e ti-ti-e, loberto
now scream-SAY:GEN-DCL say-RP-DCL loberto

loberto ya wari numi poraito.

loberto ya wari numi pora-i-to
loberto 3P2 well penis cut-BEC0ME:GEN-SR
 'They say he screamed "loberto loberto loberto"
when (his) penis got cut off/when it cut off.

The reflexive reading of these constructions could

simply come about because of the semantic compatibility of

the undergoer argument of the generic verb and coverb. But

it could be that the vowel change evident in the above

examples of pore/pura is also signaling the reflexive

relationship. There is a reciprocal a "RECIPf (See Chapter

Two, Section 4.2) which could be related. However not all

speakers exhibit the vowel change. Particularly in the

common complex predicate keerei

- 'fallf, younger speakers do
not change the vowel although older speakers insist on

- as the proper form.

keerai

One last note on the semantics of this construction,

with highly 'transitivef (Hopper and Thompson 19--) verbs

such as pore 'cutf the nominative argument exhibits a great

deal of control. In fact the disjunct suffix cannot be used

in these constructions. With other complex predciates such

as keerei 'fall' it appears to have the opposite effect

always coding accidental falling (81). If one intentionally

threw oneself to the ground the construction in (82) would

be used with either the inclusive enclitic on the

nominative argument or the reflexive pronoun (little used

in Tsafiki). The meaning still implies that the

initation of the event started with the nominative argument

due to some inherent factor, inattention, clumsiness,

illness etc. that allowed the forces of gravity to go to

work. It resembles the reading given when the argument of

pore 'cut' is inanimate.

(81) Tse keereiyoe

tse ke-ere-i-yo-e
1F hit-send-BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-DCL
'I fell.'

Tsenan (tenkachikenan) keereyoe

tse=nan (tenkachikenan) ke-ere-yo-e
1F=INCL REFLEX. PRO hit-SEND:GEN-CNJ-DCL
'I threw myself (down).'

3.2 Stative Complex Predicates

In complex predicates formed with a monovalent coverb

aligned with undergoer and the bivalent stative generic

verb ta 'haver the undergoer of the coverb converges on the

locative argument of the generic verb (83 and Figure

Twelve). Monovalent, undergoer-aligned coverbs are the only

coverbs found with this generic verb. As expected a

relative clause referring to the undergoer takes the

nominalizer -nun (84). The two examples below refer to

women who are training to be shamans, requiring that they

lead a cloistered life.

(83) Yala sonaka

ya=la sona=ka
3P2=PL woman=LOC

dotalarae.
do-ta-la-ra-e
close-HAVE:GEN-PL-BE.POSIT:VCL-DCL
'They had the women cloistered.' (MALILI.ll)

Dotanun .
sonala. .
do-ta-nun sona=la
close-HAVE:GEN-NOM woman=PL
'The women they had cloistered. ..' (MALILI.12)

COVERB Undergoer do 'close'

GENERIC Entity Locative ta 'have'

NOMjIP LOC
Ya sona=ka do-ta-e
3P2 woman=LOC close-HAVE:GEN-DCL
'He had the woman cloistered.'

Figure Eleven. Monovalent coverb aligned with undergoer,

and bivalent stative generic verb.

The other stative generic verbs are basically

monovalent but compatible with constructions containing a

locative. When a bivalent coverb combines with a monovalent

stative generic verb, the undergoer argument converges on

the optional locative argument of the generic verb (85 and

Figure Twelve). Once again a relative clause referring to

the locative argument takes the suffix -nun (86).

Nasi matu to kuwenta

na-si matu to kuwenta
little-GRAD old.days earth story

miralarako, yakari
mi-ra-la-ra-ko ya=ka=ri
know-BE.POSIT:GEN-PL-BE.POST:VCL-DUB 3P2=LOC-FOC
'They only know a little bit about these old
storie~?~{COMATU5.50)

Yala miranunka
ya=la mi-ra-nun=ka
3P2=PL know-BE.POSIT.-NOM=LOC

aman kuwenta kisa Ignacio

aman kuwenta ki-sa Ignacio
'Now Ignacio let's talk about what they knew.'
(ICMATU1.12)

COVERB Actor Undergoer mi 'know'

GENERIC Entity ~ocative ra 'be in a position'

NOM/IP LOC
Ya yaka mirae
3P2 3P2=LOC know-BE.POSIT:GEN-DCL
'He knows this.'
Figure Twelve: Bivalent coverb and monovalent stative
generic verb.

When a monovalent coverb combines with a monovalent

stative generic verb the particpants of the two predicates

simply converge on the same argument (87 and Figure

Thirteen).

(87) Sabo barerae

sabo bare-ra-e
rubber stretch-BE.POSIT.DCL
'The rubber stretched.'

COVERB Undergoer bare 'stretch

GENERIC Entity ra 'be in a position'

NOM/IP
sabo bare-ra-e
rubber stretch-BE.POSIT:GEN-DCL
'The rubber is stretched.'

Figure Thirteen: A monovalent coverb with undergoer

alignment and monovalent stative generic verb.

4. Summary

In this section it was shown that the nominative and

accusative argument directly correlate with points on the

event line, with nominative being associated with the

initiating point of the event and accusative with the

terminating point. Only case-alternating constructions

which don't violate this correlation are allowed, that is,

locative constructions and external possessor

constructions. Tsafiki has dative-subject constructions

which would be predicated from this analysis. In addition,

bivalent stative verbs take a nominative and a locative

argument rather than nominative/accusative as demonstrated

by relative clause formation.

Although in terms of valency, the majority of Tsafiki

complex predicates could be considered exocentric, the

generic verb could be portrayed as a head in that it

controls the type of schematic structure the clause as a

whole will have in terms of event vs. state, inchoative,

causative among others. The generic verb always controls

the nominative argument. Hence whereas in Chapter Three we

saw the similarities between coverbs and ideophones that to

a large degree convey affecto-imagistic notions, the

primary pupose of the generic verbs appears to provide a

schematic representation of the event line.

 CHAPTER V

VERB CLASS MARKERS AND AUXILIARIES

1. Introduction

In Tsafiki, all predicates, whether complex or simple,

can be sorted into one of five classes depending on the

verb class marker with which they CO-occur in certain

morphosyntactic environments. In these constructions a

nonfinite verb form, which can be either simple or complex,

combines with one of five verb class markers, i 'becomef,

ki 'dof, ti 'say', ra 'be in a positionf and jo 'bef, to

form a single clause. The class marker is determined by the

simple or generic verb and is invariable with no attested

speaker variation. For example, in (1-5) below, the five

verb class marker classes are illustrated by plural

constructions. In these constructions, a simple verb (1, 4,

5) or complex predicate (2, 3) is suffixed with a plural

marker followed by an obligatory verb class marker.

i 'becomer class
Nulari inka kepobi
nu=la=ri in=ka ke-po-bi
2 =PL=FOC 3Pl=ACC throw-PUT:GEN-PURP

jilainake.

'(He said) You guys go throw this out.r

{ ISANSOWE.97)

ki 'dor class
...p onelala paito
...p one=la=la pa-i-to
...shaman=PL=PL angry-BEC0ME:GEN-SR
yuka kilakimantir .
yuka ki-la-ki-man=ti-e
evil D0:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say all the shamans got angry and cursed
.
(him) '(MV.MANKAMOS0.4 )

ti 'sayf class
Aman ya apari ayanbe namaka
aman ya apa=ri ayan=be nama=ka
now 3P2 father=FOC mother=COM daughter=ACC

o-ti-la-ti-man=ti-e
call-say:GEN-PL-SAY:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'Now they say the father and mother called
(their) daughter.' (MV.AASALUN.55)

ra 'be in a ~osition' class

Amanato duke tsachila chularaf.
amanato duke tsachi=la chu-la-ra-e
nowadays many tsachi=PL sit-PL-BE:POSIT:VCL-DCL
'These days there are lots of Tsachila.'
(L1T:These days many Tsachi sit.'){COMATU6.53)
 jo 'be' class
Tonki duke jolajotie.
tonki duke 10-la-jo-ti-e
snail many be-PL-BE:VCL-RP-DCL
'They say there were a lot of snails (L1T:'The
snails were many.') (SA7.10)

Moore (1991) calls the suffixes occurring after the

plural marker in (1-5) auxiliaries. This term is not

inaccurate. While the term 'auxiliaryr is generally

problematic in that it is used to cover a wide range of

both conceptual and morphosyntactic properties (Heine

1993), the verb class markers have several properties

generally employed to define auxiliaries, including several

of the properties listed in Heine (1993:22-24):

a. They form a closed set of linguistic units.

b. They are neither clearly lexical nor clearly
grammatical units.
c. They also occur as main verbs.
d. They express grammatical functions but exhibit,
at least to some extent, a verbal morphosyntax.
e. They carry morphological information relating to
a predicate.
f. They tend to occur in a fixed order and in a
fixed position in the clause.
g. In the presence of an auxiliary, the main verb is
likely to be used in a nonfinite form...

However, Tsafiki verb class markers differ from

\canonical8 auxiliaries in several ways. A primary

difference concerns their notional domains. The verb class

markers in Tsafiki occur in the following types of

constructions: plural, contrastive, semblative,

augmentative, evidential and attemptive. While there is no

exhaustive list of possible auxiliary notional domains, the

verb class marker domains are outside of the tense, aspect,

modality and to a lesser degree, the negation and voice

domains generally associated with auxiliaries and which, in

fact, are sometimes used as defining properties of

auxiliaries (Heine 1993). In addition, the verb class

markers are restricted in the sense that an individual verb

class marker cannot occur with just any verb. Every

simple/generic verb in Tsafiki occurs with one and only one

of the five verb class markers (VCLs). The VCLs contrast

with another set of constructions in Tsafiki in which jo

\bef and i 'becomef combine with nonfinite forms to create

imperfective, perfective, irrealis, negative, abilitative

or permissive clauses. In these constructions, there are

few combinational restrictions-the auxiliary can combine

with almost any verb. For example, in (6) and (7) below the

auxiliary jo 'bef occurs with the imperfective participle

form of a stative jo-class verb (6) and an active, ki-class

verb (7).

(6) Junni ya wilinki nalala jomin jun.

junni ya wilinki na=la=la jo-min -J0-n
then 3P2 whale child=PL=PL be-1MPF.P BE:AUX-ST
'Then it was the whale children.' (MALI.29)

Jaatsan tinatiya kitumin joeke.

jaa-tsan tinatiya ki-tu-min jo-e=ke
3D2-SMBL nothing do-NEG-1MPF.P BE:AUX-DCL=QT
'(She said) she wasn't doing anything.' (TSAB02.94)

While VCLs can be considered a type of auxiliary, I

reserve the term 'auxiliaryf for jo 'bet and i 'become'

when they occur with nonfinite verbs forms, in that they

conform more closely to 'canonical' auxiliaries, both

notionally and in terms of distribution.

What both the verb class markers and auxiliaries have

in common is that a nonfinite verb form combines with

another verb, chosen from a limited set, to form a single

clause. The nonfinite forms range in degree of

nominalization from the participle and infinitive forms

that can function as subjects and objects to adverbial

forms that cannot. The nonfinite verb forms, like coverbs,

cannot in most cases, take evidential, mirative or mood

markers that are the defining features of a finite clause

in Tsafiki. The auxiliary or VCL carries this information.

However this does not mean that the auxiliary and VCLs are

'emptyf carriers of finite morphology. Following Langacker

(1991), I will argue that the VCLs and auxiliaries are

predicators fulfilling a particular semantic function,

rather than purely grammatical markers. Both the

auxiliaries and verb class markers function as verbs, verbs

with highly schematic profiles, but verbs nonetheless.

Using evidence similar to what was used to analyze the

structure of the generic verbs, I will argue that the verb

class markers have a function similar to the generic verbs.

Both the generic verbs and verb class markers provide the

schematic event structure both the coverb and the nonfinite

verb lack. The nonfinite verb is of course, reified or

objectivized as evidenced by its behavior. Nominalized

verbs can be desired, given or received much like an

object--'I want to gof, 'I gave him a bathf, 'I got some

helpf. Hence, nonfinite verbs align (to varying degrees)

with the static configuration associated with objects and

lack a direct association with the finite, schematic event

structure associated with a verb (Talmy 2000; Langacker

1987b). The difference between these structures and the

coverb plus generic verb structures is that the schematic

profile of the verb class marker correlates with the more

specific profile of the nonfinite verb and serves to

'reactivatef the nonfinite verb. Unlike the generic verbs,

verb class markers do not contribute semantic participants

to the clause. The prcfile of the VCL differs from that of

the nonfinite verb form only in relation to its level of

specificity. It is not different in kind, but rather is a

reduced version of the schematic event profile the verb

would have had were it not nominalized. Because of this,

the verb class marker appears redundant or 'swallowed up'

by the semantics of the nonfinite verb. In fact, the verb

class marker is essential in that it provides the schematic

event structure necessary to form a fully finite predicate.

The profile of the auxiliary, on the other hand, does

not necessarily correlate with the profile of the nonfinite

verb form and hence, in these constructions the profile of

the auxiliary dominates and the nonfinite verb form

remains, in essense, a subordinate clause,

I will begin by discussing the verb class markers in

Section One. The auxiliary constructions will be discussed

in Section Two. Both of these sections begin with a fairly

detailed description of the individual constructions

followed by discussion. Section Three compares the two

systems and offers a summary and conclusion.

2. Verb Class Markers

As noted above, every simple/generic verb in Tsafiki

occurs with one and only one of the five verb class markers

with no attested speaker variation. The thirty-three

simple/generic verbs, as well as the verbal suffixes that

function as generic verbs are listed in Table 9 (recopied

from Table 7, Chapter Three) below, according to their

class. The number out of 551 coverbs with which they have

been found to occur is also listed. Note that the generic

verbs that also function as VCLs occur with the largest

number of coverbs for their individual class: i 'become'

(151), ki 'do' (126), ti 'say' (44), jo 'ber (34) and ra

'be in a position (85). This would suggest that these verbs

already express more general rather than specific meaning.

The schematic profile of the verb classes is fairly

transparent from the meaning of the verb, but for the sake

of clarity I have expanded on the definitions in (8). In

(8a) the X in parenthesis indicates that the profile of

this verb may or may not take a complement.

TABLE 9
Tsafiki Generic Verbs and Number of Coverbs (out of 551)
with which they can CO-occur

Generic Verb Generic Verb

# of
i 'become' -class #
- ki 'do/maker-class coverbs
i 'become' ki 'do/make' 269
ji 'go' 257 suwa 'cause to 156
ja* 'come' 109 become'
l0 'g0 out/up' 48 kari 'cause' 149
la* 'come out/upf 45 ere* 'send' 50
fe 'arrive there' 50 PO* 'put inside' 43
fa* 'arrive here' 34 ka 'get' 35
pati 'go down' 33 pa* 'talk' 10
pata* 'come down' 35 kira* 'see' 9
pole 'go across' 35 kuwa* 'give' 4
pola* 'come across' 43 fi 'eat' 1
wi 'go in' 35 -1e 'direct cause' 76
wiya* 'come in' 37 -ri 'cause motionf 39
piya* 'lose' 33 -te 'set/place' 17
PuYa 'die' 5 -si 'remove' 15
-di 'get into 1 -re 'direct cause' 5
position' 4 -WO 'indirect cause' 5
-wiya 'almost' open -miya 'associative open
cause'
ti 'say' class
ti 'say/express' 39 I
ra 'be in position'
class
jo 'be' -class 'be in a
jo 'be' 46 position'
ito 'not be' 44 nena 'go around'
'have'
chu* 'sit'
tso* 'lie'
*Indicates the generic verb also occurs as a coverb
 a. ki Actor does (X)
b. i Undergoer changes state or location
c. ti Actor says or expresses (X)
d. ra Entity has X configuration and location
in space
e. jo Entity is in state or location

There is some overlap in the classes. Note that the

classes are not exclusive. Both r a 'be in a position8 and

j o 'be' can be used to code location in space. While rarely

utilized in this sense, j o 'be' can be used to code

location when the speaker does not wish to specify the

entity's configuration. In this sense r a 'be in a position'

is much more specific in meaning than j o 'be'. Jo 'be' is

more commonly used to code a quality or property, l a k i joe

'S/he is sad', b a r e k a n joe 'S/he is tallr, and class

membership u n i l a j o e 'He is a man' (Stassen 1997). Note

that the first four verbs in ' r a t 'be in a position' class

code static configurations in space. Ra as a simple verb

can only be used to refer to fruit hanging on a vine or

tree, hence originally had the sense of 'hang'. The fifth

verb in this class nena 'go around' (probably derived from

ne 'foot' and the verb r a 'be in a position) consists of a

specific configuration of movement in space, i.e. it lacks

direction and a goal. Neither of the stative classes evoke

a temporal event line, but rather a stative relationship

between various elements.

The ki 'do' class is fairly straightforward. This

class contains activity verbs such as tera-ki 'dance' or

jaya-ki 'work physicallyr as well as well as what might be

called prototypical causatives. As was discussed in Chapter

Four, ki 'do' only specifies an actor, but is compatible

with constructions that contain a undergoer and hence can

combine with other elements to form a bivalent causative

construction. The ti 'say' class also contains an actor but

it specifically codes verbal and nonverbal expression.

The more complicated class is i 'become'. As noted

above the schematic profile of this verb denotes an

undergoer participant that changes location or state. This

class covers many of the notional domains often attributed

to 'middle voice' (Kemmer 1993). Besides the generic verbs

listed above in Table One, complex predicates involving

reflexive-like constructionsr certain kinds of reciprocals,

facilitative, changes in position, certain body actions,

emotions, cognitionp and inchoatives all occur in this

class. However while translational motion verbs are all i-

class verbs, non-translational verbs fall into the ki-

class. On the surface there appears to be a problem here in

that i-class verbs require a undergoer and ki-class verbs

require an actor. It is hard to conceive of a difference in

agency between the two predicates s u l a kino 'to swim (in

place)' and s u l a jino 'to go swimming'. The sole difference

is that in the translational motion construction the

primary participant undergoes a change of location. Hence,

while i-class verbs require that the nominative argument be

an undergoer, they do not preclude the possibility that the

undergoer is also an actor.

2.1 Morphosyntactic Properties of VCLs

The five verb class markers, i 'become', ki 'do8, ti

'say', r a 'be in a position' and jo 'be', are transparently

derived from generic verbs. However their morphosyntactic

behavior and their ability to CO-occur with generic verbs

justifies their classification as a separate system. In (9)

and (10) the generic verbs r a 'be in a positionr and suwa

'cause to becomef occur in complex predicate constructions.

The generic verbs are suffixed with -1a 'PLURAL8 which is

then followed by the appropriate verb class marker, r a

'BE.POSITION:VCL' (9) and ki 'D0:VCL' (10). Note that in

(9) the VCL appears to be a redundant copy of the generic

verb.

Wari chilari kachi

wari chi=la=ri ka=chi
well lF=PL=FOC front=LOC

wiru-ra-la-ra-yo-e
stand-BE.POSITION:GEN-PL-BE.POSITION:VCL-CNJ-DCL
'Well we were standing in front' (JAKURU1.437)

Aman jera
aman jera
now all

asuwalakimanti'
a-suwa-la-ki-man=ti-e
cook-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'Now they say he cooked it all. (AAKELA.81)

Unlike the generic verbs, VCLs do not affect the

semantic interpretation or argument structure of the

clause. Both the plural form with a verb class marker (11)

and the singular form without a verb class marker (12) of

the monovalent complex predicate su ji 'run'are given

below. The semantic participant roles, valency and aspect

of the clause is not dependent on the presence or absence

of the VCL. (The aspectual difference is due to the

presence of the progressive marker -na in (11)).

 Wari ponpopo ito
wari ponpopo i-to
well large.0~1 become-SR

sujilainatieti' .
su-ji-la-i-na-ti-e-ti-e
feet.in.air-G0:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-
DCL
'Then they say he said turning into large owls,
they went running off.' (KELAFIMIN:241)

Junni nao timinnin pipiyabi

junni nao timinnin pipiya-bi
then son EMPH bathe-PURP

sujinutieti'.
su-ji-nu-ti-e-ti-e
feet.in.air-G0:GEN-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said the SON ran off to bathe.'
(DOBE.165)

In (13) and (14) the simple bivalent verb, fi 'eat',

occurs in both plural and singular form. Again neither

semantic participants r.oles,valency nor the aspect of the

clause is affected by the presence of the verb class

marker.
 Mimankaka, mimanka pipokaka
mimanka=ka, mimanka pipoka=ka
lizard=ACC lizard egg=ACC

filakiman', matute
fi-la-ki-man=e matu=te
eat-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-DCL old.days=LOC

tsachila jeinla.
tsachi=la jein=la
person=PL PRO:EMPH=PL
'The lizard, they ate the lizard's eggs, in the
old days those Tsachila.' (CCMANTSA.112)

Junni wilinkiri, tsachilaka jera

junni wilinki=ri tsachi=la=ka jera
then whale=FOC tsachi=PL=ACC all

fi-na-ti-e-ti-e
eat-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said the whale, he was eating
all of the Tsachila.' (CCWILINKI.2)

The class of the predicate is always and invariably

determined by the generic verb. In the following three

examples (15-17) the same coverb, mi 'know', occurs with

three different generic verbs followed by the plural marker

and the appropriate verb class marker, which varies

according to the generic verb.

 Okolaberi ti
oko=la=be=ri ti
spirit=PL=COM=FOC what

miilaimantin?

'What did they say they learned from the

spirits?' {VLP.FOR2.9)

Junni tela nisi uwan naka tikatiya

junni tela ni-si owa-n na=ka tikatiya
then height what-GRAD grow-ST child=ACC whatever

mikarilakinkin?
mi-kari-la-ki-n-ki-n
know-CAUSE:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-ST-D0:VCL-INT
'Then at what age more or less would they teach
the child something?' (MATU1.33)

Ya foro, junte for0 chununka

ya foro, jun=te for0 chu-nun=ka
3P2 hole, 3=LOC hole sit-NOM=LOC

miralarayo'.
mi-ra-la-ra-yo-e
know-BE.POSITION:GEN-PL-BE.POSITI0N:VCL-CNJ-DCL
'The cave, we know where the cave is.'
{ JCPUKA7.75 l

Occasionally, the verb class marker occurs by itself

with a coverb. The generic verb is dropped. For example,

the coverb da 'cook' can occur with the generic verb i

'become' to create a monovalent clause, da i n o 'to cook' or

with k i 'do' to form a bivalent clause da kino 'to cook

something'. In (18) below the coverb occurs directly

suffixed with the augmentative morphemes. The verb class

marker i 'become' indicates that this is the monovalent

form. In (19) the coverb occurs directly suffixed with the

plural marker, the verb class marker ki 'do' indicates that

this is a bivalent clause.

(18) Du to dakachinan
du to da-ka-chi=nan
mound earth cook-AUG-AUG=INCL

inatie
i-na-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL
'The mountain was really erupting.' (GA7.80)

Peka lari kato

pe-ka la-ri ka-to
feces-NCL come.out-CAUSE:SUF GET:GEN-SR

jein ninbi dalakiman' .

jein nin=bi da-la-ki-man=e
PRO fire=LOC cook-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-DCL
'Extracting the feces (honey) they cooked it in
the fire.' (ICMATU5.40)

However in the texts, the generic verb has only been

found to drop in cases where the VCL is a repeater of the

generic verb as in the examples above and with coverbs such

as da 'cook' which, as suggested in Chapter Three is

beginning to take on the properties of a generic verb.

Hence, this might be best considered a case of ellipsis

rather than a case in which the VCL is functioning both as

a generic verb and a VCL.

Finally, one of the more interesting aspects of this

system is the ability for more than one verb class marker

to appear in a single clause, resulting in a concordial

type system, i.e. every element of the verb phrase occurs

with a class marker. Clauses with two or three verb class

markers are common in the texts. Clauses with four are rare

and a clause with five has not been found in the texts but

it is fairly straightforward to elicit. In (ZO), the

complex predicate yuka ki 'curse8, is followed by five verb

class markers. The context created for this example was a

situation in which a man angers the shamans and then has a

long string of bad luck-his crops fail, his dog dies, his

wife runs off with another man etc. but he is still alive

and going strong.

(20) Ponela yaka yuka kiyo kinin

pone=la ya=ka yuka ki-yo ki-nin
shaman=PL 3P2=ACC evil DO:GEN-ATT E:VCL-CNTR

kikb: kinkilakee
ki-k6:
- ki-n-ki-la-ki-e
DO :VCL-AUG DO: VLC-ST-DCVCL-PL-DO
:VCL-DCL
'The shamans must have tried to just curse him
many times. '
 The only absolute order among the VCLs is that, as

might be expected, the evidential construction always

occurs in final position. There is a preference for the

semblative to occur first. The placement of the plural

marker varies. The plural can either occur as a suffix on

the nonfinite verb form or after the VCL. When it occurs on

the nonfinite predicate a single verb class marker follows

the two suffixes (21).

(21) Nulari chuninla ranake,

nu-la-ri chu-nin-la ra-na-ke
2-PL-FOC sit-CNTR-PL BE.POSITION:GEN-PRG-QT
' (She said) you guys just stay
(here)' {KATIMOWIN.151

Alternatively the plural marker can occur after the verb

class marker (22).

(22) Kirasi, amanhinin

kira-si aman=i-nin
see-IMM hug-BEC0ME:GEN-CNTR

ilainamanti'
i-la-i-na-man=ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'Seeing him, (the women and the rainbow man)
hugged.' {MVAASUYUN.57)

The different placement of the plural marker results

in a difference in meaning, In (21) the woman is speaking

to her children, telling them as a group to stay put while

she leaves the house to investigate a strange sound. In

(22) a group of women see the rainbow man, immediately

desire him and they all individually hug him. Although

there is some variation among, particularly older and

younger speakers of Tsafiki, a single plural marker on the

noun usually indicates that the group of individuals

performs a single act as a whole. A single plural marker on

the verb has more of a distributional sense, i.e. multiple

actions.

The other three forms suffixed with -yo 'ATTEMPTIVE',

-nin 'CONTRASTIVE' or -kg: 'AUGMENTATIVE' can vary with

subtle differences in meaning:

(23) a. yuka kikd: kiyo kee ' (He) really tried

.
to curse (him) '
yuka kiyo kik6: kee ' (He tried to curse (him)
many times. '

b. yuka kinin kiyo kee ' (He) just tried to curse

(him)'
yuka kiyo kinin kee '(He) tried to just curse
(him).'

c. yuka kinin kika : kee ' (He)just cursed (him)

many times.'
yuka kik6: kinin kee '(He) really just cursed
.
(him)
 In the next section the individual morphosyntactic

constructions in which the VCLs appear will be examined

individually. The constructions can be divided into two

types depending on whether the VCL occurs within the same

clause as the predicate coding the event it is classifying

or refers to an event coded by a predicate outside the

clause.

2.2 Verb class markers within the clause

Six different constructions have been identified in

which the VCLs occur within the clause. In all cases the

verb class marker follows one of the following suffixes: -

la 'PLURAL8; -nin 'CONTRASTIVE8; -n 'STATIVE' ; -min-tsan

IMPF.P-SEMBLATIVE' ; -kd 'AUGMENTATIVEf; and -yo

'ATTEMPTIVEf. The first two suffixes are also attested as

suffixes on nouns.

2.2.1 -1a 'Plural'

As previously noted plural marking in Tsafiki is

facultative. It may appear suffixed to nouns, nominalized

verbs and to the verb itself, but is never obligatory. When

the plural marker appears on the verb stem, it is

immediately followed by a verb class marker. The following

five examples illustrate this construction with both simple

verbs (24-28a) and complex predicates (24-28b).

(24 i 'become' class

a. Weyan jera piyalainatieti',
weyan jera piya-la-i-na-ti-e-ti-e
others all die-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

ya chiban tenchi.
ya chiba-n ten=chi
3P2 heat-ST heart=INSTR
'They say they said the others were all dying,
from the heat.' (NINSUWA.67)

b. Yachi niyetoe
ya=chi niyeto-e
3P2=POSS grandchild-DCL

tenhilainae.
ten-i-la-i-na-e
heart-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DCL
'They were thinking he was their grandson.'
(AASALWN.65)

(25) ki 'do' class

a. ~unniwari tsachilari ano mochi
junni wari tsachi=la=ri ano mo=chi
then well tsachi=PL=FOC food desire=INSTR

pinika filakinatieti' .
pini=ka fi-la-ki-na-ti-e-ti-e
snake=ACC eat-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said the people were eating the
snake because of hunger.' {CCTARA.ll}
 b. Junni m a n luban okolari
junni aman lu-ba-n oko=la=ri
then now red-QUAL-ST spirit=PL=FOC

layaito
laya-i-to
gather-BEC0ME:GEN-SR

tenpalakimantie.

'They say all the red demons got together and

made plans,' {VLP.BOPI.52}

(26 ti 'say' class

a. Junni ponelalari yakari
junni pone=la=la=ri ya=ka=ri
then shman=PL=PL=FOC 3P2=ACC=FOC
munaratiyoe.
muna-ra-ti-yo-e
desire-BE.POSITION:GEN-NEG-CNJ-DCL

tilatinatieti'
ti-la-ti-na-ti-e-ti-e
say-PL-SAY:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said that all the shamans were
saying they didn't like him.' IACKELA.13)

b. Fuda ikabi fuda

fuda i-ka=bi fuda
hurt BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P=LOC hurt

tilatinatiet'.
ti-la-ti-na-ti-e-ti-e
SAY:GEN-PL-SAY:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said (the wild pigs') wounds were
hurting. (CCMANTSAPONE.52)
(27) ra 'be in a position' class
a, Sonabe unilabe na pemanka
sona=be unila=be na peman=ka
woman=COM man=COM child three-NCL

talaratie
ta-la-ra-ti-e
have-PL-BE.POSITION:VCL-RP-XL
'They say the woman and the man had three
children.' (GA7.3)

b. Jun kiranari, tape dule

jun kira-na=ri tape du=le
3D1 see-PRG=FOC weed mound=LOC

wiruralaranutieti' ,
wiru-ra-la-ra-nu-ti-e-ti-e
stand-BE.POSITION:GEN-PL-BE.POSITION:VCL-EV-RP-
DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said that they stood in a
garbage dump looking (around).' (CCTSAB01.70)

(28) jo 'be' class

a. Fino podei-tu-min=la
fi-no pode-i-tu-min=la
eat-INF be.able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-IMPF.P=PL

pekoro
- itolajotietie.
pekoro ito-la-jo-ti-e-ti-e
anus not.be-PL-BE:VCL-RP-DCL-RP-XL
'They say he said (the ones) who couldn't eat
didn't have an anus.' {VLP.DATSANINNAKA.16)
 b. Junni junchi
junni jun=chi
then 3Dl=LOC

pa-jo-la-jo-ti-e-ti-e
speak-BE:GEN-PL-BE:VCL-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

boobo boobo boobo.

boobo boobo boobo
boobo boobo boobo
'Then they say he said they were making a lot of
noise, "Boobo boobo boobo."' (RL1.11)

This system is recursive in that a verb suffixed with

a VCL can then become nonfinite again by the addition of a

subordinate suffix after the VCL. When the plural marker

occurs directly after the verb in a subordinate clause it

is followed by a VCL and then the subordinating morpheme

(29). However, this is rare in that the majority of

subordinate clauses are not marked for plurality (30). In

both examples below, the nominative argument of the finite

verb is also the nominative argument in the subordinate

clauses. The subordinate clauses are simply suffixed with

the same reference marker -to.

 Aman yalari wari ano mochi
aman ya=la-ri wari ano mo=chi
now 3P2=PL=FOC well food hunger=INSTR

lantoka filakito
lanto=ka fi-la-ki-to
clay=ACC eat-PL-D0:GEN-SR

chularatieti'.
chu-la-ra-ti-e-ti-e
sit-PL-BE.POSITION:GEN-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Now they lived eating clay because of hunger.'
(CCNINSUWA.27)

Jein yape manlasa tito

jein yape man=la-sa ti-to
PRO:EMPH so.that again=come.out-DN say-S~

banbutu kit0 pone kito

banbutu ki-to pone ki-to
drum do-= shaman do-=

sulolainatieti'.
su-10-la-i-na-ti-e-ti-e
feet.in.air-GO.UP:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-XL-
RP-DCL
'They said that telling him to come back out (of
the whale) they jumped around doing the shaman
ceremony and playing the drum.' {CCWILINIKI.43}

Verbs, whether complex or simple, suffixed with the

plural marker are nonfinite in that they can not directly

be marked with evidential or mirative markers that in

Tsafiki serve to individuate and locate the event coded by

the predicate1.

The suffix -nin 'contrastivef resembles the plural

marker in that it can also appear on nouns or verbs. It

indicates a situation that is contrary to expectations.

When it occurs on nouns it generally contrasts two

protagonists and their respective actions, i.e. 'He did

this and HE did thatf. In (32) the whole family goes to

mass except for the son, who needing game for his up-coming

wedding goes to the jungle to hunt instead of to mass.

l It is possible that the plural suffix -1a originally

only occurred as a plural marker on nominals. Some evidence
from this comes from the closely related Barbacoan language
Chafpalaachi. There are two plural forms in Chafpalaachi:
1) a suffix -1a which occurs with nominals and what
Vittadello (1988a:67-68) calls the narrative imperfective
and perfective verb forms; and 2) a prefix de- which occurs
with all other verb forms. This is interesting for a couple
reasons. If the Cha8palaachi perfective and imperfective
forms were originally participle forms, as they are in
Tsafiki, it would explain why they take what is otherwise a
nominal plural marker. Also, Tsafiki has a verbal prefix
pe- 'also/toof which may be related to the Chafpalaachi de-
. So itfs possible that Tsafiki at one time had two plural
markers, one associated primarily with nominals and the
second with verbs. However, this remains highly
speculative.
 Misaka jera jika
misa=ka jera ji-ka
mass=LOC all go-PF.P

jominlanutieti' , jun ya,

jo-min-la-nu-ti-e-ti-e jun ya,
BE:AUX-1MPF.P-PL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL 3D1 3P2

ya kayannin jelenchi
ya kayan=nin jelen=chi
3P2 .femalepS.brother=CNTR jungle=LOC

jika josa.
ji-ka jo-sa
go-PF.P BE:AUX-DR
'They had all gone to mass, (while) that one, the
BROTHER had gone to the jungle.' (CCSONPURA.26)

In (32) a son and father-in-law have gone fishing. The

son-in-law catches a lot of fish, smokes them, yet not only

doesn't give any fish to the father-in-law, he himself

doesn't eat, despite the fact they have not eaten all day.

(32 Yanin fituti' , nisi nakati.

ya=nin fi-tu-ti-e ni-si na-ka-ti
3P2=CNTR eat-NEG-RP-DCL what-GRAD small-NCL-NEG
'He (the father-in-law) said HE (the son-in-law)
didn't eat either, not even a little bit.'
(MV.AAPALUKA.23)

When -nin appears on verbs it always indicates an

action that is contrary to expectations. In (33) which is a

continuation of the story concerning the father and son-in-

law (above), the father catches and cooks a small bird

while the son-in-law is sleeping. The son-in-law awakens

and asks him what he is eating. The father is not about to

share the bird, given the son-in-law's niggardly behavior,

so he lies and tells him he is eating fireflies. Here -nin

indicates his statement contrasts with the truth.

(33) ti-class
Mololo finayoe
mololo fi-na-yo-e
firefly eat-PRG-CNJ-DCL

tinin tinuti' .
ti-nin ti-nu-ti-e
say-CNTR say:VCL-EV-RP-DCL
'They say he must have just said, "I'm eating
fireflies (AAPALUKA.35)
.'If

The son-in-law then asks him if they are good to eat and he

answers that he is only eating them out of hunger. The -nin

in (34) indicates that his present condition contrasts with

the normal state of affairs in which he would not eat

fireflies.
 ki-class
ano mochi finin kinayoe
ano mo-chi fi-nin ki-na-yo-e
food desire-INSTR eat-CNTR D0:VCL-PRG-CNJ-DCL

titi'.
ti-ti-e
say-RP-DCL
'They say he said, "I'm just eating them because
of hunger. "' {AAPALUKA.43)

The next example concerns a Tsachi who has gone

hunting wild pig. As he is chasing them, the pigs suddenly

take human form and he is unable to kill them. He stops and

simply stands there.

(35) i-class
Junni toteno podeituto
junni tote-no pode-i-tu-to
then kill-INF be.able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-SR

wiruinin inamanti'.
wiru-i-nin i-na-man=ti'
stand-BEC0ME:GEN-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-SIT-RP-DCL
'Then they say because he couldn't kill them, he
just started standing there.' (AAMANKSMOS0.23)

The ra-class predicate in (36), occurs in a situation

in which a woman has taken the rainbow man, a snake who can

take human form, as her husband. Here the woman's mother

peeks into the room where they are sleeping and discovers
the rainbow man in his true form-a large snake lying on

top of her daughter.

(36) ra-class
Jun mankiraponasa, kiranari,
jun man=kira-po-na-sa, kira-na-ri
3D1 again=see-PUT:GEN-PRG-DN see-PRG-FOC

wa pini amali, ya, sonachi butchi

wa pini amali ya sona=chi butu=chi
big snake very 3 woman=POSS top=LOC

nanranin rae
nan-ra-nin ra-e
1ie.across-BE.POSITION:GEN-CNTR

rae tieti', wa pini.

ra-e ti-e-ti-e wa pini
BE.POSITION:VCL-DCL say-DCL-RP-DCL big snake
'They say she said that when she went to take a
peek, when she was looking, a great big snake,
he, was just lying on top of the woman, a big
snake.' iCCSUYUN.125-128)

In the jo-class example (37) some children have placed

a wooden snake in a location where a bear takes his daily "-

nap in order to frighten him. The placement is tricky, yet

here it happens to occur in just the right place for

maximum effect.
 jo-class
Aman payari
- - yaka kirachunni
aman paya-ri ya=ka kira-chu-n-ri
now bear=FOC 3P2=ACC see-IRR-NOM-FOC

jonin jominnutie .
jo-nin jo-min-nu-ti-e
be-CNTR BE:VCL-1MPF.P-EV-RP-DCL
'Now the bear was just (right there) to see it.'
(NEL02.23)

The suffix -nin sometimes appears followed by a

repetition of the predicate to which it is suffixed. The

translation for these constructions differs from the normal

translation of a -nin construction. The most common

translation of a -nin clause uses the Spanish nomds which I

usually translate as 'just'. The translation differs in the

repetitive construction in that it is translated with two

verbs, sometimes three. In 138) narration concerns a war

between the Tsachila and another group, the Dobe. After

discussing the large number of Tsachila killed in this war

the narrator mentions that the Dobe were dying too. The

original Spanish translation of the clause was the

nonstandard Spanish de morir murieron tambien 10s dobe,

which I have translated as 'as for dying, the Dobe died

too' although these are also sometimes translated with a

speech verb 'hablandof that is non-existent in the Tsafiki,

i.e. the equivalent of 'Speaking of dying, the Dobe were

dying too.'

(38) Junni tsanke inari

junni tsan=ke i-na-ri
then SMBL=DO:VCL BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-FOC

piyanin
- - piyalainatieti',
piya-nin piya-la-i-na-ti-e-ti-e
die-CNTR die-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

Doberi.
Dobe-ri
Dobe-FOC
\Then while all this was going on, as for dying,
they died (too), the Dobe.' (CCDOBE.123)

I have found no uses of -nin plus VCL that were

translated in this manner.= The two constructions and their

prototypical translations are compared below. First with pa

'speak' ,(39)and then ji 'go' ( 4 . 0 ) .

I looked at one hundred and eleven occurrences of pa

\speakv and ji \gov suffixed with -nin. There were ninety-
five occurrences of -nin plus VCL, Of these, none were
translated with more than a single verb, seventy were
translated with n o m d s and twenty-five were translated as
unadorned verbs. Of the sixteen constructions that occurred
with a repetition of the suffixed verb, thirteen were
translated with at least two verbs, two with n o m d s and one
as an unadorned verb, The examples were from eight
narrators and four different translators.
(39) a. Nu panin kede.
nu pa-nin ke-de
2 speak-CNTR D0:VCL-IMP
'Just say it!' {PUNPUBEl-10)

b. Yaka panin palakinamanhe.

ya=ka pa-nin pa-la-ki-na-man=e
3P2=ACC speak-CNTR speak-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-SIT-DCL
'As for speaking of this, they spoke (of it) .'
{VLPF-POR1.44)

(40) a. Pi kabi jinin ide.

pi ka-bi ji-nin i-de
water get-PURP go-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-IMP
'Just go get some water!' (MV.AASUYU.19)

b. Wale titiya
- jinin jinada, inte.
wale titiya ji-nin ji-na-da in=te
guanta something go-CNTR go-PRG-DCL.GEN 3Pl=LOC
'Speaking of some guanta going around, they go
around, here. ' { JAKURU2.471)

The repetitive construction, although less common than

the contrastive form with the VCL, can be formed with any

predicate given the appropriate context, and may well be

the source construction for the -nin plus verb class marker

construction.

A verb suffixed with -nin can occur as a subordinate

clause without the VCL (41) .
 Aman jinin jinin aman jinasari
aman ji-nin ji-nin aman ji-na-sa-ri
now go-CNTR go-CNTR now go-PRG-DN-FOC

wa pako pele animali chunutie.

wa pako pele animali chu-nu-ti-e
big matapalo.tree NCL huge sit-EV-RP-DCL
'Now they say they were just going and going,
while they were going they came upon a huge
matapalo tree. (DONUNPE.45)

As with the predicates suffixed with the plural -la,

predicates suffixed with -nin cannot occur as finite verbs

without a verb class marker.

2.2.3 The VCL Evidential

The next construction is one of the various evidential

constructions found in Tsafiki. As discussed previously in

Chapter Three, this construction indicates that the speaker

is using his general knowledge to deduce what the situation

coded in the proposition must be. In the i-class

construction below (42) a man has made a contract to meet a

friend to go hunting. The friend goes, but behaves very

strangely throughout the rest of the story. The verb is

suffixed with -n, the verb class marker and the declarative

general mood mark to indicate that, despite appearances,

the narrator deduces, and any one would deduce ,fromhis odd

behavior, that this is not the friend.

i-class
Junni manka tsachiri
junni man=ka tsachi=ri
then one-NCL tsachi=FOC

jinhinada.
J i-n-i-na-da
UO-ST-BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DCL.GEN
d

'But another person must have gone.' (BOPI.9)

The following four examples illustrate this

construction with the other four verb classes. In ( 4 3 ) the

narrator is again deducing from his general knowledge as to

what is the maximum number of wild pigs one person could

possibly hunt.

(43) ki-class
Pemanka o junpaluka o manteka,
peman=ka o junpalu-ka o mante-ka
three-NCL or four-NCL or five-NCL

manteka kinkee
mante-ka ki-n-ki-e
five-NCL do-ST-D0:VCL-DCL
'Three or four or five, he must have done five.'
{KELATSACHI.55)

The ti-class construction in ( 4 4 ) is from a Tsachi

version of Hansel and Gretel. The narrator is deducing that

the stepmother must have made the father abandon the

children in the jungle.

(44) ti-class
Junni ayannin tanjide
junni ayan=nin ta-n-ji-de
then mother=CNTR have-ST-go-IMP

tintida.
ti-n-ti-da
sav-ST-SAY:VCL-DCL.GEN
\S;>the MOTHER must have told (him) to take
(them).' {VLP.RLAPAK.6)

In the ra-class construction below (45)' the mythical

rainbow man is always going in and out of the hole in which

he lives. He also always has a lot of guanta (a type of

paca). The speaker deduces here that the guanta must come
from the hole.

ra-class
Jun forochi wale
jun foro=chi wale
3D2 hole=LOC guanta

tsonnada.
tso-n-ra-da
lie-ST-BE.POSITION.VCL-DCL.GEN
'There must have been a lot of guanta in the
hole. ' {AASUYUN.29)

And finally, the jo-class construction (46) comes from

a conversation in which the speaker is asking the listener
to use his general knowledge to deduce the state of a

woman' S sanity.

jo-class
Yari misu palan ti junjun?
ya=ri misu pala-n ti jo-n-jo-n?
3P2=FOC head mix-ST what be-ST-BE:VCL-INT
'Could she be some kind of crazy (person)?'
(JERAKUWENT3.49)

The suffix -n, as was seen in Chapter Three can be

suffixed to a coverb or a simple/generic verb to form an

adjective or noun. It also occurs with secondary predicates

(47), which structurally, although not phonologically or

semantically, resemble the evidential constructions.

(47) Fudan tsolaratie-tit

fuda-n tso-la-ra-ti-e-ti-e
hurt-ST lie-PL-BE.POSITION.VCL-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said they Lay ther,ehurt.'
(CCMANTSA.26)

In (47) above, there are two elements predicating on

the subject, fudan 'hurt' and t s o 'lie'. In the evidential

construction discussed here the verb class marker does not

add any new predication to the clause. In addition, unlike

secondary predicates the nonfinite verb form and the verb

class marker form a single phonological word, and the order

is strictly nonfinite verb-VCL, whereas in the secondary

predicate construction the secondary predicate may be

right-dislocated (48),

(48) ~ a l utominkoka topiyato

palu tominko=ka to-piya-to
two week=LOC earth-L0SE:GEN-SR

nenalarayoe
nena-la-ra-yo-e
go.around-PL-BE.POSIT:GEN-CNJ-DCL

titida ano fitun.

ti-ti-da ano fi-tu-n
say-RP-DCL.GEN food eat-NEG-ST
'They say he said they got lost and went around
for two weeks, without eating.' (RLAPAK.19)

2.2.4 -min-tsan 'Semblative'

The next construction is based on a clearly

nominalized form. It consists of the suffix -min

'IMPERFECTIVE PARTICIPLE' followed by -tsan 'SEMBLATIVE'

which can also occur on nominals and has the meaning of

'so' or 'like'. The following example (49) is taken from an

on-line narration of the Chicken S t o r y V i d e o (Givon, 1991) .

A man holding a hoe is chasing a woman. It is not clear

whether he really intends to hit her. Note that the English

translation of this differs substantially from the Tsafiki.

In English there is a 'dummyr subject and the main clause

contains a stative verb. The literal translation would be

closer to 'He becomes like chasing her to hit her'. The

English translation also has a much stronger sense of 'it's

not actually happeningr than the Tsafiki, i.e. 'It's as if

he's chasing her to hit her (but actually he's not) .' The
sense in Tsafiki is neutral, i.e. 'It's as if he is chasing

her to hit her (and he actually is)' -

or 'It's as if he is

chasing her to hit her (but actually he's not)' It simply

means the speaker has not yet assessed the true nature of

the event.

i-class
Kichun sutanjimintsan
ki-chu-n su-ta-n-ji-min-tsan
do-IRR-ST feet.up-have-ST-G0:GEN-1MPF.P-SMBL

inae.
i-na-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-DCL
'It's as if he's chasing her to hit her.
(CHICOBAZ.42)

The next example (50) concerns a woman who has gone to

bed with a being that she thinks is a handsome man. He is

really a condor and while he appears to be tickling her, he

is actually eating her, which is made clear in the

following clauses (not shown).

ki-class
Jo mantiminnin jaatsan achiba
j0 man=ti-min-nin jaa-tsan achiba
condor again=say-1MPF.P-CNTR 3D2-SMBL tickle

-pomintsannin kinati' .
po-mintsan=nin ki-na-ti-e
PUT:GEN-1MPF.P-SMBL=CNTR D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL
'They say that the condor in this way seemed to
be tickling her.' (MV.AASALUN.30-31)

In the next example (51) a group of bewitched blind

men are being led down the mountain. There situation is

rather hopeless. Hence their laughter is quite eery and

could not be coming from a sense of true mirth.

(51) ti-class
Silibi chukarito
sili=bi chu-kari-to
rope=LOC grab-CAUSE:GEN-SR

mantanjanasanan aman
man=ta-n-ja-na-sa-nan aman
again=have-ST-go-PRG-DN-INCL now

kakarimintsanninla tinatie' .
kakari-min-tsan=nin=la ti-na-ti-e
lauqh-1MPF.P-SMBL=CNTR=PL
- SAY:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL
'They say he said while he bringing them, making
them grab onto the rope, it was as if they were
just laughing.' (MV.TETOMINU2.50)
 In (52) the narrator cannot recall exactly how many

years she and her family lived in a certain community.

(52) ra-class
Nichi totiya mante wata
ni=chi totiya mante wata
what=LOC something five year

chumintsanla rayoda.
chu-min-tsan=la ra-yo-da
sit-1MPF.P-SMBL=PL BE.POSITION:VCL-CNJ-DCL:GEN
'We lived in that place for like five years.'
{ETV.92)

In (53) the narrator is again watching the Chicken

Story (Givon 1991) online. The scene in the video takes

place in the Oregon countryside.

(53) jo-class
Junte jelen tsannin jomintsan
jun-te jelen tsan=nin jo-min-tsan
3Dl=LOC jungle SMBL=CNTR be-Il4PF.P-SMBL

joe.
jo-e
BE:AUX-DCL
'It is just like the jungle. ' {AACHICO.116)

The semblative verb forms can also occur in

subordinate clauses without the VCL. In (54), taken again

from the on-line video story, the clause suffixed with -

tsan occurs as the complement of tenja 'imaginer.

 Aman tikati nin karichinamintsan
aman tikati nin kari-chi-na-min-tsan
now something fire CAUSE:GEN-IRR-PRG-1MPF.P-SMBL

tenjae.
ten-ja-e
think-C0ME:GEN-DCL
'Now I imagine that she's going to like start a
fire.' (AACHIC0.57)

The next clause (55) is subordinate and begins a

series of clauses describing the behavior of a dung beetle

that has taken human form, deceiving a Tsachi woman. Later,

in the story, it will become clear that he actually is

rolling in feces.

(55 Junni yari pebi

junni ya=ri pe=bi
then 3P2=FOC feces=LOC

ilanpolemintsan, peka...
ilan-pole-min-tsan pe-ka
roll-GO.ACROSS:GEN-1MPF.P-SMBL feces-NCL
'Then as if rolling in feces, feces....'
(MOLEN.28)

2.2.5 -kg: Augmentive

The next construction, consists of a predicate

suffixed with -kd: 'AUGMENTATIVE', followed by the

appropriate verb class marker. When -kg: 'AUGMENTATIVE' is

the final suffix on the predicate the vowel carries primary

stress and is elongated. The construction intensifies the

process coded by the predicate. This varies depending on

the semantics of the predicate. In the i-class construction

below (56), a man has just escaped from inside a whale. The

augmentative construction intensifies the speed of his

emergence manloka': and flight nansujaka':.

(56) Foro kesi ina manlok6: ,

for0 ki-si ina man=lo-k6:
hole D0:GEN-IMM immediately again=go.out-AUG

manlodi manlodi
man=lo-di man=lo-di
again=go.out-PUN again=go.out-PUN

ina mansujak6 :
ina man=su-ja-k6:
immediately again=feet.in.air-C0ME:GEN-AUG

ina mansujak6:
ina man=su-ja-k6 :
immediately again=feet.in.air-C0ME:GEN-AUG

inayotie .
i-na-yo-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-CNJ-RP-DCL
'As soon as he made a hole he really jumped out
(fast), when he got out again, when he got out
again, immediately really running back (fast), he
immediately really came running back (fast).'
(VLP.DADAPOMIN.33)
 The next example (57) illustrates the augmentative

with a ki-class predicate. In this case the augmentative

refers to the large amount of fish that was eaten.

(57) Pitato
pita-to
smoke-SR

fik6: kilakinayotietie.
fi-ka: ki-la-ki-na-yo-ti-e-ti-e
eat-AUG D0:VCL-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'He smoked it and really ate (a whole lot of
.
fish) ' {CCTSONPIPI 388-389)

In the ti-class construction below (58) the

augmentative is an intensifier of the act of crying.

(58) Junni junchi tamochi man na

junni jun=chi tamo=chi man na
then 3Dl=LOC wall=LOC one child

wareka: tinamantie.

'Then there, inside the room a child was really

crying.' {MV.AASUYUN.82)

The ra-class construction below (59), is similar to

(57) in that it intensifies the amount of smoked shad had

by the protagonist.
 Nata pitaka tak6:
nata pita-ka ta-k2:
shad smoke-PF.P have-AUG

ra-ti-e-ti-e
BE.POSITION:GEN-RP-EL-RP-DCL
'He really had (a lot of) smoked shadf
(CCTSONPIPI.418)

Finally, in the jo-class construction below (60), the

augmentative intensifies the degree of pain arising from a

sore throat.

(60) Kudante fuda jokd: jomanf

kudan=te fuda jo-k2: l o-man=e
throat=LOC pain BE:GEN-AUG BE:VCL-SIT-DCL
'S/he really hurt in the throat.' (ICMATU8.52)

As shown in (56) above, a predicate suffixed with the

augmentative can occur as a subordinate clause,

The augmentative can also appear in a slightly

different construction. In (61-64) -ka-chi3 occurs in a

finite clause with a verb class marker, As with the -ka

augmentative suffix, -ka-chi intensifies either the action

or the amount of the object, depending on the valency and

semantics of the verb.

P P- -

The source of the -chi and its relationship to the

other - c h i suffixes, (dative/location and instrumental) is
unknown.
i 'become' class
Yari kupara ik6chinan
ya=ri kupara i-k6-chi=nan
3P2=FOC fever BEC0ME:GEN-AUG-AUG=INCL

'He got a really high fever.' { JAKURU5.1564)

ki 'do' class
Luban kirak6chinan
lu-ba-n kira-k6-chi=nan
red-QUAL-ST see-AUG-AUG-INCL

kinayoeke.
ki-na-yo-e-ke
D0:VCL-PRG-CNJ-DCL-QT
'(She said) she was really menstruating a lot
(LIT: 'She really saw red.') (TSAB01.223)

ti 'sayf class
Junsiri paito
jun-si-ri pa-i-to
3D1-GRAD-FOC angry-BEC0ME:GEN-SR

atikachinan

tilatinutieti'.
ti-la-ti-nu-ti-e-ti-e
SAY:VCL-PL-SAY:VCL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said at this, getting angry they
were really screaming a lot.' (CCANKU3.98)

jo 'be' class
Wari lu jok6chinan joe titun.
wari lu jo-k6-chi=nan jo-e ti-tu-n
well red BE:GEN-AUG-AUG BE:VCL-DCL say-NEG-INT
'Didn't they say he was really embarrassed?'
{JERAKUWENTAlA.165]
 The nonfinite augmentative form can also occur as a

subordinate clause without the VCL as in (65) and (66).

Mololo j- akkhinan,
mololo ja-k6-chi=nan
firefly come-AUG-AUG-INCL

mololo jak6chinan
mololo ja-k6-chi=nan
firefly come-AUG-AUG=INCL

ninbi futu
nin=bi futu
fire=LOC dense

inainati' .
i-na-i-na-ti-e
BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-RP-XL
'More and more fireflies were coming, more and
more were coming and swarming into the fire.
{MV.AAPALUKA.44-45)

Jera punpu fikorochi ma ika

jera punpu fikoro-chi ma i-ka
all butterfly mouth=LOC in.mouth BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P

'All the butterflies entered into his mouth, he was

sleeping so soundly.' (MV.AASALUN.106-107)

Again, the augmentative construction cannot, by

itself, be directly marked for evidential, mirative and

mood distinctions.
2.2.6 -vo 'Attem~tive' Construction

The final construction is somewhat rare in the texts.

It has only been found in the speech of older speakers and

not all the younger speakers recognize the construction.

The -yo 'attemptive' construction follows the familiar

pattern-a predicate suffixed by -yo, followed by a verb

class marker. The construction indicates that the

protagonist tries but does not succeed in accomplishing his

task. Note the structure of the English translations for

the five examples below, differ substantially from the

Tsafiki. In English 'try' is the main verb. This is not so

in Tsafiki and a more literal but decidedly awkward

translation for (67) would be 'they say some of the woman

became attempt-running to tell them'. Example (68) concerns

a battle between the Tsachila and the Dobe, in which the

Tsachil initially were loosing ground. In (69) a woman is

trying to warn her husband of an impending disaster, but he

doesn't listen.
 i 'become' class
Man weyan sonalari mera kuwabi
man weyan sona=la=ri mera kuwa-bi
one other woman=PL=FOC hear G1VE:GEN-PURP

sujiyola
su-ii-vo-la

inutieti' .
i-nu-ti-e-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say she said some of the other women tried
to run to tell them.' (ANKULU.246)

ki 'do' class
Junni laya ito
junni laya i-to ki-nin
then gather BEC0ME:GEN-SR hit-CNTR

key0 kilakinatieti'.
ke-yo ki-la-ki-na-ti-e-ti-e
D0:VCL-ATT D0:VCL-PL-D0:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said gathering together they
just tried to fight.' (CCDOBE.39)

ti 'sav' class
Jun sonari tsantiyo
jun sona=ri tsan=ti-yo
3D1 woman=FOC SMBL=say-ATT

tieti' .
ti-e-ti-e
SAY:VCL-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say the woman tried to tell him.'
(VLP.WILINKI2A.110)

Examples of this construction with the ra-class and

jo-class were not found in the texts. However, given the

right context, examples were easy to elicit from older

speakers, (70) and (71).

(70) ra 'be in a position' class

a. Zavala wirurayo rae,
Zavala wiru-ra-yo ra-e
Zavala stand BE.POSIT:GEN-ATT BE.POSIT.VCL-DCL
Zavala tried to stand.'

b. Juntonan winan joto

juntonan winan jo-to
but drunk BE: GEN-SR

keeraie.
ke-ere-a-i-e
throw-send-RV-BECOME.GEN-DCL
'But being drunk he fell down.'

(71) jo 'bef class

a. Zavala sen joyo joe.
Zavala se-n jo-yo jo-e
Zavala good-ST be-ATT BE:VCL-DCL
'Zavala tries to be good.'

b- Juntonan yukan joto podeitue,

juntonan yuka-n jo-to pode-i-tu-e
but evil-ST be-SR be-able-BECOME.GEN-NEG-DCL
'But being a devil he can't do it.'

As subordinate clauses, these constructions, have only

been found to occur with the verb class marker and are

subordinated (72) or nominalized (73) by the same set of

morphemes as a complex predicate or simple verb,

(72) Keyo kinasanan
ke-yo ki-na-sa-nan
hit-ATT D0:VCL-PRG-DN-INCL

numa toteminla
numa to-te-min-la
already kill-CAUSE:SUF-1MPF.P-PL

jotieti'.
jo-ti-e-ti-e
BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said they (the Tsachila) were trying
to fight but they (the Dobe) were killing them.'
(CCDOBE.40)

(73) Mansujayo inamin

man=su-ja-yo i-na-min
again=feet.in.air-come-ATT BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-1MPF.P

jera piyakala jotieti' .

jera piya-ka=la jo-ti-e-ti-e
all die-PF.P=PL BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said the ones who were trying to run
back all died.' (CCSONPURA.105)

2.3 Verb Class Markers as Referential Devices

The verb class markers in the five constructions

discussed above form a tight bond with the verb they

classify. The verb and the VCL occur juxtaposed with no

intervening material and in two cases, the plural

construction and the evidential, the VCL occurs as a

suffix. In contrast, when the VCL is functioning as a

referring element or proverb, it can refer to a predicate

coding an event outside the clause in which the VCL occurs.

The VCLs can occur as proverbs either in the main clause or

in a subordinate clause and can refer both anaphorically

and cataphorically to another verb. They, in turn, can

refer to a predicate occurring in a main clause, a

subordinate clause or even either the auxiliary OR

participle in an auxiliary construction. As will be briefly

described below, the proverbs in concordance with switch

reference markers and the evidential/mirative markers can

be used to track reference. An area of further research on

VCLs functioning as proverbs is their role in discourse.

They appear to be used as backgrounding and foregrounding

devices, but a full study remains to be done.

The existence of a predicate that can be generally

used to refer to another, more specified event is not

unusual. In English the most prominent is 'dof, i.e. 'He

did it. ' 'Did he do it?' . But note that 'do' can refer to

just about any type of active verb regardless of valency,

or perfective/imperfective aspect, as in 'He did itf used

to mean 'He wentf. Tsafiki is discriminating in which VCL

can be used with which verb, and as will be shown below,

the proverb can easily take referring objects, as well as

oblique phrases in circumstances in which this does not

occur with the proverb 'dof in English.

The verb class markers functioning as proverbs often

occur prefixed with the ubiquitous tsan= 'SEMBLATIVEr. In

the following sentence, a young girl has been sent to the

river to fetch water. She returns without the water

claiming that she is afraid because there is a strange man

standing there. Her mother goes to the river, sees nothing

and returns believing that her daughter is simply lazy.

Tsanhinae, the complement of the speech verb in both (74b)

and (74c.) refers to the main clause manjanin inan 'came

back again' in (74a). Note that the translation of this

into English is problematic in that the pi i t o n s i r i

'without water' is a secondary predicate subordinated to

the proverb, resulting in the literal translation 'she was

becoming without waterr which is decidedly awkward in

English, or 'she did it without water', which is acceptable

but with a different reading, i.e. it has the connotation

that she did something which normally requires water,

'washing' for example, without water (using a dry wipe). In

Tsafiki however, the VCL i 'becomef clearly refers to the

motion event and is often translated into Spanish with the

appropriate motion verb.

(74) i-class
a. Junni yari wari, pi iton,
junni ya=ri wari pi ito-n
then 3D2=FOC well water not.be-ST

manjanin inan.
man=ja-nin i-na-n
again=come-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-ST
'Then she just came back again without water.,
(MV.AA.SUYUN.10-11)

b. Wari, mannan pi itonsiri

wari man=nan pi ito-n=si=ri
well again=INCL water not-be-ST=GRAD=FOC

lanchi tsanhinae
lan=chi tsan=i-na-e
lazy=INSTR SMBL=BECOME:VCL-PRG-DCL

timantie, wari ayanri.

ti-man=ti-e wari ayan=ri
say-SIT-RP-DCL well mother=FOC
'They say the mother said that it was because of
laziness she was (coming back) without water.'
(MV.AA.SUYUN.12-14)
 c. Lanchi tsanhinae tito
lan=chi tsan=i-na-e ti-to .
lazy=INSTR SMBL=BECOME:VCL-PRG-DCL say-SR

asota kito sueremantie,

asota ki-to SU-ere-man=ti-e
whip D0:GEN-SR feet.in.air-SEND:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL

pi kabi jinin ide

pi ka-bi ji-nin i-de
water get-LOC go-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-IMP

tito.
ti-to
say-SR
'They say saying she (the daughter) was doing
this out of laziness she (the mother) whipped her
and sent her running saying, "Just go get the
water!"' (MV.AA.SUYUN.14-18)

The next example (75) concerns a mother who has

returned from the dead to care for her children, The verb

in the main clause of (75b), tsankinatie, refers to the

coverb in the purpose clause ilichun 'to mashf in (75a).

(75) ki-class
a. Junbi ilichun chudinin
jun=bi ili-chu-n chu-di-nin
3Dl=LOC mash-IRR-ST sit-1NCH:SUF-CNTR
itieti' .
i-ti-e-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-HS-DCL-HS-DCL
'They say he said she just sat down there to mash
.
(platano) '
 b. Numa, junsi tsankinatie.
numa jo-n-si tsan=ki-na-ti-e
already be-ST-GRAD SMBL=DO:GEN-PRG-HS-DCL
'They say she was already just doing it (mashing
the platano).' (CCSONAPI.69)

In the following, ki-class example two men have

unearthed the body of a dead woman, They are frightened

because, although she has been dead for over a year, she

shows no signs of decomposition. They quickly rebury the

body. The verb class marker in the subordinate clause,

- (77b) refers to the reburying of the body coded by

tsankide

the main clause mankepolakiyoe in (76a)

(76) ki-class
a. Junni ten jatusa
junni ten ja-tu-sa to=ka fo fo
then heart C0ME:GEN-NEG-DN earth=ACC IDEO IDEO

mankepolakiyoe

titie.
ti-ti-e
say-RP-DCL
'Then he said without thinking they threw the
dirt back in, plop! plop!' (AAMALI.127)
 b. tsankide mannan manjato
tsan=ki-de mannan man=ja-to
SMBL=DO:VCL-ASSOC.MOT again again=come-SR

polelaimantie
pole-la-i-man=ti-e
go.across-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say doing this they came back again.'
{AAMALI.128}

In (77) a detached head is jumping around trying to

bite the unfortunate protagonist. The subordinate clause

tsanhinasanan in (77b) refers to the event coded by sulonin

inatie, the main clause in (77a). Tsanhinasanan is marked

with the different reference marker -sa and the inclusive -

nan to indicate that the action the conjunction refers to

is performed by a different actor than in the main verb.

(77) i-class
a. Jalichun sulonin
jali-chu-n su-10-nin
bite-IRR-ST feet.in.air-GO.UP:GEN-CNTR

inatie.
i-na-ti-e
BEC0ME:VCL-PRG-RP-DCL
'They say it (the head) was just jumping around
to bite him.' {AAPALUKA.163}
 b. Wari tsanhinasanan aman,
wari tsan=i-na-sa-nan aman
well SMBL=BECOME:VCL-PRG-DN-INCL now

manjayotie.
man=ja-yo-ti-e
again=come-CNJ-RP-DCL
'Now while it was doing this, he said he
returned.'

In the next, ra-class example, the subordinate clause

tsanraminnan (78b) refers to the complement of the speech

verb chuyoe 'he sat' in (78a).

(78) ra-class
a. Tenka kato chuyoe titif
ten-ka ka-to chu-yo-e ti-ti-e
heart-NCL get-SR sit-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL
'They say he said he sat there thinking'
(MV.AAPALUKA.74-76)

b. Yanan tsanraminnan

tsodiyoe titi*,
tso-di-yo-e ti-ti-e
lie-1NCH:SUF-CNJ-DCL say-RP-DCL

katsochun.
katso-chu-n
sleep-IRR-ST
'They say he said that the one who was (sitting)
there himself lay down, to sleep.'
(MV.AAPALUKA.77-78)
 The verb class marker often refers to a predicate

several clauses removed from the referring clause. Rachi

'to stand' in (79d), occurs five clauses removed from the

participle, w i r u r a m i n 'be standing', it refers to in (80a).

Note that ra 'be in a position' can only occur as a simple

verb when it refers to fruit hanging on a branch or vine.

It can only be used with humans, animals or other

inanimates when modified by a positional coverb such as

w i r u 'standr. However, as a proverb, ra can be used with a

human participant if it references a complex predicate

containing the expected positional coverb.

This example comes from the story of the rainbow man.

He is dangerous to humans, who must not touch him lest they

be burned.

(79) ra-class
a. Ya dechiri wiruramin
ya de=chi=ri wiru-ra-min
3P2 border=LOC=FOC stand-BE.POSITION:GEN-1MPF.P

jotieti'.
jo-ti-e-ti-e
BE:AUX-HS-DCL-HS-DCL
'They say he said he was standing at the edge (of
the patio).' (CCSUYUN.101)
 b. Junni ya, jade tito,
junni ya ja-de ti-to
then 3P2 come-IMP say-SR

chutechila tinutie
chu-te-chi-la ti-nu-ti-e
sit-CAUSE:SUF-INGR-PL say-EV-RP-DCL

tsachilari.
tsachi=la=ri
people=PL=FOC
'They said saying "Come on" the people wanted to
sit him down (with them).' (CCSUYUN.102-105)

c. Jun jatuchi tinutieti'.

jun ja-tu-chi ti-nu-ti-e-ti-e
3D1 come-NEG-INGR say-EV-HS-DCL-HS-DCL
'They say he said he said he didn't want to
come.' (CCSUYUN.106)

d. Yari loba tanyoe

ya=ri 10-ba ta-n-yo-e
3D2=FOC hot-QUAL have-ST-CNGR-DCL

loba tan tsachiyoe.

10-ba ta-n tsachi-yo-e
hot-QUAL have-ST person-CNGR-DCL

Junteri rachi tinayoe

jun=te=ri ra-chi ti-na-yo-e
3Dl=LOC=FOC BE.POSIT:VCL-INGR say-CNGR-DCL

tinatieti'.
ti-na-ti-e-ti-e
say-PRG-HS-DCL-HS-DCL
'They say he said I
' want be (standing) here, I
am very hot. I am a very hot man."' (CCSUYUN.107-
109)

The referential function of the VCL proverb can be

fairly complicated with both the VCL and same or different

reference markers contributing to the reading of the

referring clause. These markers, along with the mirative

and evidential suffixes, are the primary means for tracking

reference in Tsafiki. In (80a), tsanhinanunka refers to the

subordinate clause futu inasanan 'while they were swarmingf

which occurs in sentence initial position. Tsanhinunka is

nominalized with -nun and is the complement of the

cognition verb tenhiyoti' 'he thoughtf. In (80c), the

subordinate clause tsanhinasanan can refer to either

tenhiyoti' 'he thoughtf, the main clause of the previous

sentence (80b) or to futu inasanan 'they were swarming in

(80a). Speakers tell me it can refer to both and can be

translated as 'while this was happeningf. It is marked with

the swit.chreference marker -s.a t,oindicate that it has a

different nominative argument than the following ra-class

verb, tsoti' 'he slept.' The subordinate clause

tsanhinaainnan in (80d) could again refer to either

tenhiyoti' 'he thoughtf in (80b) or futu inasanan 'while

they were swarming in (80a). However, the verb is

nominalized and suffixed with -nan 'INCLf which in this

case indicates that it has the same nominative argument as

the following verb. The nominative argument of this verb

janati' 'were coming' is the fireflies, hence tsaninaminnan

(80d) refers to futu inasanan 'while they were swarming'

.
(80a) Finally in (80e) tsannasanan refers to the main

clause tsoti' 'He lay' in (80c). I have provided subscript

letters to facilitate the reading of these examples.

(80) a. Ninbi futu inasanan warin

nin=bi futu i-na-sa=nani wari-n
fire=LOC mass BEC0ME:GEN-PRG-DN=INCL well-ST

aman tenhiyoti'
aman ten-i-yo-ti-e
now heart-BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-RP-DCL

niyaito tsanhinanunka .
niya-i-to tsan=i-na-nun=kai
how-BEC0ME:VCL-SR SMBL=BECOME:VCL-PRG-OBL=ACC
'While they were swarming in the fire they say he
thought about why this was happening (why they
were swarming in the fire).' (MV.AAPALUKA.85-88)

b. Seit,on kenan janaeke

se-ito-n ke-nan ja-na-e=ke
good-NOT.BE:GEN-ST do-INCL come-PRG-DCL=QT

wari, tenhiyoti' wari.

wari ten-i-yo-ti-ej wari
well heart-BEC0ME:GEN-CNJ-RP-DCL well
'They say he thought they were coming to do
wrong.' {MV.AAPALUKA.89-91)
c. Wari tsanhinasanan,
wari tsan=i-na-sa=nani,
well SMBL=BECOME:VCL-PRG-DN=INCL

wari innin katson tsoti' wari.

wari in-nin katso-n tso-ti-e wari
well 3-CNTR sleep-ST lie-RP-DCL well
'He said that while all this was happening, he
(the son-in-law) lay sleeping.' (MV.AAPALUKA.92-
931
d. Wari aman tsanhinaminnan
wari aman tsan=i-na-min=nani
well now do=BECOME:VLC-PRG-IMPF.P=INCL

jele jelen amalila janati'

jele jele-n amali=la ja-na-ti-e
fear fear-ST very=PL come-PRG-ST-DCL

wa mololo amalila tsan jele jelen tsan.

wa mololo amali=la tsan jele jele-n tsan
big firefly very=PL so fear fear-ST so
'Well now he said as they were swarming, great
big ones were coming, really big fireflies,
enormous ones.' (MV.AAPALUKA.94-96)

e. Tsannasanan a,man,
tsan=ra-sa=nank aman
SMBL=BE.POSITION:VCL-DN-INCL now

tsannasanan aman jeen, wari

tsan=ra-sa=nank now PR0:EMPH wari
SMBL=BE.POSITion:VCL-DN-INCL now EMPH, well

kirasanan jati' .
kira-sa=nan ja-ti-e
see-DN=INCL come-RP-DCL
'They say now while he (the son-in-law was
sleeping, while he was sleeping and while he (the
father-in-law) was looking it came.'
(MV.AAPALUKA. 97-98}
 The verb class markers can also be used cataphorically

to refer to an event that is usually coded by a verb in the

following clause. The VCL usually occurs with ora 'good'.

The construction is used for dramatic effect much like

English 'Then he did it. He stole the money/just left.'

Example (81) comes from the firefly story. Here, a

huge firefly swoops down from the sky and snips off the

son-in-law's head. The story has been building towards this

climax and the cataphoric construction is used for dramatic

effect. Note that the VCL occurs with a real object that

renders an awkward translation in English.

(81) a. Juntele patisi wari

jun=te=le pati-si wari
3Dl=LOC=LOC go-down-IMM WELL

kudan silika orakimantie.

kudan sili=ka ora-ki-man=ti-e
neck NCL=ACC good-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say it (the firefly) went down there and
immediately let him have it on the neck.'
(LIT:'...did his neck good.' {MV.AAPALUKA.124)

b. Butunle ka-man=ti-e.
butun-le ka-man=ti-e
snip-CAUSE:SUF get-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say it snipped off (his head).'
(MV.AAPALUKA.125)
 The following i-class example (82) occurs in a story

where a nutria befriends a man. The man has gone to the

jungle to die when suddenly the nutria, in human form,

appears. The nutria is a main character in the story and

has a pivotal role in saving the man's life. Note that once

again the referring phrase contains an instrumental phrase

kanowachi 'with/by means of a canoef although the clause

itself does not contain a motion verb.

(82) a. Lake kanowachi tsachi

lake kanowa=chi tsachi
yellow canoe=INSTR person

orainin inutieti.'
ora-i-nin i-nu-ti-e-ti-e
good-BEC0ME:VCL-CNTR BEC0ME:VCL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said a person (arrived) by
means of a yellow canoe.' (CCTSONPIPI.305)

b. Pelechi nechi
pele=chi ne=chi
below=LOC foot=LOC

lananutieti'.
la-na-nu-ti-e-ti-e
arrive.here-PRG-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said he arrived from downriver.'
(CCTSONPIPI.306)

The next example concerns a personal narrative about

hunting wild pigs. They have been walking for some time,
without sighting any wild pigs when suddenly they hear them

scream (83).

(83) a. Aman junbi oratinin

aman jun=bi ora-ti-nin
now 3Dl=LOC good-say:VCL-CNTR

tit.
ti-e
say: VCL-DCL
'Then there they did it.' (AAMEDI2.30)
b. Wau: : ati'.
wau:: a-ti-e
IDEO scream-say:GEN-DCL
'They screamed 'wau: :"'(AAMEDI2.31)

The ra-class construction below, concerns a young

woman who has been ordered by the star woman to carry food

to her brothers, the condors. The young woman has been

warned to simply leave the food and return, she is not to

investigate anything she hears or finds on the condors'

land. She is disobedient and goes to look and finds a group

of animals. In (84a) oran rae \they were there' refers to

chue \were sitting' in (84b).

(84) a. Junbi aman dekeloka

jun=bi aman de-kelo=ka
3Dl=LOC now border-close=LOC

oran rae
ora-n ra-e
good-ST BE.POSITION:VCL-DCL
 titida.
ti-ti-da
say-RP-DCL.GEN
'They say he said now close to the edge (of the
finca) there they were.' {Malilib 48)

b. Itsan waka pelela itsante aman

in=tsan wa-ka pele=la in=tsan=te aman
3Pl=so plant-PF.P trunk=PL 3Pl=so=LOC now

ti animali nalala tiya chue

ti animali na=la=la tiya chu-e
what many child=PL=PL kind sit-DCL

titida.
ti-ti-da
say-RP-DCL:GEN
'They say she said where they had planted trees,
all kinds of little animals were sitting.'
{Malilib 49)

As mentioned above the VCL can refer to either the

participle or the auxiliary in auxiliary constructions

depending on which aspect of the event the speaker chooses

to profile. In (85) below, taken from the same nutria story

as (82) above, the man has returned to his home but

continues to meet with the nutria who brings him fish. Here

I have translated ora jotieti' (85a) as 'It was a sure

thing.' It refers to the auxiliary joyotietif, which occurs

with the imperfective participle tulaimin to render 'was

always encounteringf in (85b). What is being emphasized

here is the habitual nature of the action. This is

particularly important in that later, this habitual pattern

will be disrupted by the man's violation of the contract he

has made with the nutria.

(85) a. Pibi jinasa orajotieti' .

pi=bi . ji-na-sa ora-jo-ti-e-ti-e
water=LOC go-PRG-DN good-BE:VCL-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said when he went to the river it
was a sure thing (L1T:it was good).'
(CCTSONPIPI.394)

b. Tulale tulale tulale

tula-le tula-le tula-le
unite-CAUSE:SUF unite-CAUSE:SUF unite-CAUSE:SUF

tulaimin joyotieti'
tula-i-min jo-yo-ti-e-ti-e
unite-BEC0ME:GEN-1MPF.P BE:AUX-CNJ-RP-DCL-RP-DCL

yari, jun biyaali tsachika.

ya=ri jun biyaali tsachirka
3P2=FOC 3D1 nutria tsa.chi=ACC
'They say he said, meeting, meeting, meeting, he
would meet with the nutria man.' (CCTSONPIPI.395)

In (85) above the VCL refers to jot the auxiliary,

rather than the imperfective participle tulaimin 'meet'.

But the VCL can refer to the participle verb form rather

than the auxiliary. In (86) below orakinin kinutieti' 'had

already done itf refers to the perfective participle,

tulipuka 'had pushed', rather than the auxiliary jo. The

story concerns a jealous frog woman who pushes her rival,

the clay woman into the river where she dissolves. In (87a)

the emphasis is on the action whereas in (86b) the emphasis

is on the final result.

(86) a. Numa orakinin kinutieti' .

numa ora-ki-nin ki-nu-ti-e-ti-e
already good-D0:VCL-CNTR D0:VCL-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'Then she had already done it.' (CCTSONPIPI.202)

b. Tulipuka jun pibi.

tuli-pu-ka jo-n pi=bi
push-PUT:GEN-PF BE:AUX-ST water=LOC
'She had pushed her in the water.'
(CCTSONPIPI.203)

In the next example ora i e in (87a.) refers to the

resultative clause p i t i t a l u u u jera i k a r i 'until (she) was

in piecesf in (87b.)

(87) a. Jun payilabinan oraie

jun payila=bi=nan ora-i-e
3D1 pot=LOC=INCL good-BEC0ME:VCL-DCL

titida.
ti-ti-da
say-RP-GEN.DCL
'Then they say he said it happened in the very
same pot.' (VLP.RLAPAK.87)

b. Pititaluuu jera ikari

piti=talu jera i-kari
piece=concentration all BEC0ME:GEN-CAUSE:RESULT

asuwalakiyoe
 a-suwa-la-ki-yo-e
cook-CAUSE.BEC0ME:GEN-PL-D0:VCL-CNGR-DCL

titida.
ti-ti-da
say-RP-DCL:GEN
'They say he said they cooked her to pieces.'
(VLP.RLAPAK.88)

The verb class markers also occur with the question

word niya 'howf. Niya can be nominalized with the stative

nominalizer -n to occur as a question word with nouns,

generally with the meaning of 'how many?' The following

examples concern a question about how many days one would

usually take to hunt wild pigs (88) and how many couples

the priest would marry when he came down from Quito once

every couple years in the old days (89).

,(SS) Niyan maka, kiminla jonan?

niya-n ma=ka ki-min=la jo-na-n
how-ST day=LOC D0:VCL-IMPF.P=PL BE:AUX-PRG-INT
'How many days would you do this (go hunting)?'
{ JAKURU .65)

Junni pansile Patele manne manne.

junni pansile Patele man=ne man=ne
then maybe priest one-NCL one-NCL

jakate niyanka, pareja

ja-ka-te niya-n-ka, pareja
come-PF-LOC how-ST-NCL pair

tsankasalailainin?
tsan=kasala-i-la-i-n-i-n
 SMBL=marry-BEC0ME:GEN-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-ST-
BEC0ME:VCL-INT
'When the priest came down a single time, how
many couples would marry?' (MATU1.23)

When niya occurs with a verb class marker it most

often carries the sense of how or why something happens or

occurs. It can occur with a verb coding the same action to

which the question phrase refers (90). The narrator is

questioning how or why red demons come to be.

(90) i-class
Niya ito puyaka mena ka
niya i-to puya-ka mena-ka
how BEC0ME:VCL-SR die-PE' bury-PE'

itonbiri luban oko

ito-n-bi-ri lu-ba-n oko
NOT.BE:AUX-ST-LOC-FOC red-QUAL-ST spirit

1,olaiman junhun
10-la-i-man jo-n-jo-n
g0.u~-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-SIT BE:AUX-ST-BE:VCL-INT
'How do the red demons come from the unburied
dead?' (VLP.LUBAN.OK02.23)

In the next example niyaito 'how did (you) get up

theref does not refer to another clause but rather concerns

how a man ended up stuck in a giant tree, Salun, a mythical

character, calls out to the man in the tree from below. The

VCL i 'becomef in niyaito, refers to an i-class motion verb

that is not present in this stretch of the narration. The

predicate coding the event of going up the tree occurred

fifty-six clauses before (91). Note that tsanrayunke refers

to chu 'sitf, present in the previous clause (not shown).

(91 i-class
Junni niyaito
-
junni niya-i-to
then how-BEC0ME:VCL-SR

tsanrayunke?
tsan=ra-yo-n-ke
SMBL=BE.POSITION:VCL-CNJ-INT-QT

otimantie, tobi nechi.

o-ti-man=ti-e to=bi ne=chi
call-say:GEN-SIT-RP-DCL earth=LOC foot=LOC
'Then they say he called from below, "How did you
get up there?"' (MV.AASALUN.214-215)

The next clause also concerns a man stuck in a tree.

This time he cannot descend because of a detached head that

is jumping around trying to bite him. Here is trying to

reclaim a blanket that is lying on the ground. Niyakito

refers to the ki-class verb ka 'getr in kano 'to get8

present in the same clause.

 ki-class
Aman ayunananchi tse=bi aman
aman ayuna=nan=chi tse=bi aman
now tomorrow=INCL=LOC light=LOC now

niyakito jali kano joinke

niya-ki-to jali ka-no jo-i-n-ke
how-D0:VCL-SR blanket get-INF BE:AUX-DISJ-QT
'Now the next day at dawn (he thought) 'How am I
going to get the blanket?"' {MV.AAPALUKA.149)

Niya often occurs simply suffixed with -ke 'do' to

inquire about the manner in which something was done (93).

(93) ki-class
Niyake menalakimantin?
niya-ke mena-la-ki-man=ti-n
how-D0:VCL bury-PL-D0:VCL-SIT-RP-INT
'How did they say they buried the dead?
{VLP.ECPONE.12)

The next example, concerning a ti-class verb comes

from a text in which a woman has discovered that a red

demon has taken the form of her husband. She is whispering

to her children, telling them to leave the house when the

red demon overhears her.

(94) ti-class
Junni aman yari niyatiyun
junni aman ya=ri niya-ti-yo-n
then now 3P2=FOC how-say:VCL-CNJ-INT

tinuda ya ilusun luban oko .

ti-nu-da ya ilusun lu-ba-n oko
 say-EV-DCL:GEN 3 spirit red-QUAL-ST spirit
'Then the red demon said, "Why are you talking?"'
(VLP.ILUSUN.50)

Niyajonan 'Why is it' in (95) questions the situation.

A group of hunters had left for the day leaving behind a

companion who was to prepare the smoking racks and campsite

for their return. He is bewitched and instead does nothing.

io-class
Niyajonan nuri te kitiyun?
niya-jo-nan nu=ri te ki-ti-yo-n
how-BE:VCL-INCL 2=FOC firewood do-NEG-CNJ-INT
'Why is it that you didn't gather firewood?'
(KAWERE2.41)

While niya occurs the most frequently with i 'beomef

and ki 'do', and somewhat less frequently with jo 'be' and

ti 'say', it is rare with ra 'be.positionf. However

examples with ra 'be.positionr are easy to elicit (96).

(96) ra-class
Nu ayuna nunchi niyarano
nu ayuna nun=chi niya-ra-no
2 tomorrow which=LOC how-BE.POSITION:VCL-INF

joyun?
jo-yo-n
BE :AUX-CN J-INT
'Where do you have to be tomorrow?'
 2.4 Discussion

As shown above the verbs that occur with the verb

class markers are nonfinite forms. My contention here is

that as nonfinte forms the verbs have lost the ability to

evoke a schematic event structure. The function of the verb

class marker is to provide a skeletal framework to

'reactivater the schematic event structure the verb would

have were it not in a nonfinite form. As has been shown by

numerous examples this system is semantically based. The

semantics of the nonfinite verb form and the verb class

marker must be compatible. In particular, the initating

point for the verb class marker and the initiating point

for the verb must be the same. For example, the initiating

point for a monovalent verb coding a change of state or

location is with the undergoer that consequently receives

nominative case-marking. The initiating point for a

monovalent activity, causative or speech/expression verb

begins with the actor, coded by nominative case-marking.

These initating points correlate with the initiating points

for the VCLrs (Figure Fourteenen). Because the profile of

the nonfinite verb is more specific than the schematic

profile of the VCL it appears to be "swallowed up"

(Langacker 1991b) by the nonfinite verb.

CAUSE --------------> ACT -------------> STATE

IP here IP here
Activity/Causative Change of State/Location
Actor =NOM Undergoer=NOM
ki-class i-class
ti-class

Figure Fourteen: Initiating Point and coding of nominative

with active verbs

The two stative VCL's are similar in that they specify

a schematic stative profile for the stative verb that is in

nonfinite form. The entity located in space or attributed

with a quality, property or a class membership receives

nominative case-marking.

This process is recursive, resulting in the concordial

type constructions in which the VCLs appear to be

redundant.

Once the schematic profile of the VCL is associated

with the profile of a specific verb, it follows that the

VCL can then refer to the more specific profile of the

verb, resulting in the referring, proverb functions of the

VCL.
 In the next section, we will examine, the auxiliaries

whose profiles do not necessarily correlate with the

profile of the nonfinite verb. Here it will be shown that

the schematic event profile proved by the verb class marker

has a dominant role over that of the nonfinite verb, in

particular controlling case-marking.

3. Auxiliaries

In the constructions discussed so far a VCL occurs

with a nonfinite verb form. However VCLrs cannot occur with

all forms of nonfinite verbs. VCLrs do not occur with

perfective or imperfective participles, infinitive verb

forms or one of the negative forms. Regardless of the class

of the verb, the participle, infinitive and negative forms

occur with jo 'bef to form a perfective, imperfective,

irrealis or 'globalr negative form and the participle forms

occur with i 'become' to form abilitative or permissive

clauses.

3.1 Participle and infinitive forms

The participle and infinitive forms are highly

nominalized and can take on nominal functions. As discussed

in Chapter Four, Section 1.2, one of the primary functions

of the participle forms is to form relative clauses. To

briefly recap that discussion, the imperfective participle

-min is transparently derived from the coverb m i 'of

knowingf suffixed with the stative nominalizaer -n. When -

m i n forms a relative clause it has a nominative alignment,

i.e. it refers to the nominative argument of the underlying

clause. It occurs with monovalent and bivalent active verbs

and stative verbs. The perfective participle only forms

relative clauses with active verbs and has an absolutive

alignment, i.e. it refers to the accusative argument of a

bivalent clause and the nominative argument of a monovalent

clause. The elicited headless relative clauses below (98)

summarize the discussion found in Chapter Four, Section

1.2.

(98) a. Imperfective/Nominative Alignment

kimin jie 'The one who hit someone left.'

jamin jie 'The one who came left.'
'The one who sat (there) left.'

b. Perfective/Absolutive Alignment

kika jie 'The one who someone hit left.'

- jie
jaka 'The one who had come left.'
 The infinitive is formed by the verbal stem followed

by the suffix -no. The infinitive form most often occurs as

the complement of another verb (98) and (99). It can also

occur as the subject of a clause (100).

(98 Jano podeitiyoe

ja-no pode-i-ti-yo-e
come-INF be-able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-CNJ-XL

timanti'.
ti-man=ti-e
say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say she said she couldn't come.'
{MV.AASUYUN.30}

Mareno miitonyoeke.
mare-INF mi-ito-n-yo-e=ke
swim-INF know-NOT.BE:GEN-ST-CNJ-DCL=QT
(He said) he didn't know how to swim.'
{CCMANTSA.136}

(100) Junni yarin, manka tsachi piyano kelo

junni ya=ri-n man=ka tsachi piya-no kelo
then 3P2=FOC=ST one-NCL person die-INF close

inannan tsanke, kipimanhe.

i-na-nan tsan=ke kipi-man=e
become-PRG-INCL SMBL=DO:VCL dream-SIT-DCL
'Then it is this, when a person's death is close
in this way, there is this dream.'
{MV.ACPONE-1331

As mentioned previously there is a natural correlation

between the often-noted association of imperfective aspect

with the initiating point of an action and perfective with

the termination of an action. The infinitive form is

neutral in this respect and simply refers to the event as a

whole. The natural correlations that occur with

imperfective and perfective particiles will once again play

a prominent role in the following discussion.

3.2 The auxiliary jo 'be'

3.2.1 The auxiliary jo 'be' and the imperfective participle

When the imperfective participle occurs with the

auxiliary jo 'be' it can indicate habitual aspect and can

occur with a verb from any one of the five classes as shown

in the examples below (101-105).

(101) ki-class
Tsachila tikatiya ya
tsachi=la tikatiya ya
people=PL whatever 3P2

fb i n jotieti'.
fi-min jo-ti-e-ti-e
eat-IMPF. P BE :AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said he (the tiger) eats everybody.'
(AC.KELA.33)
(102) i-class
Junni juntorin aman, titi fino kato
junni junto-ri-n aman, titi fi-no ka-to
then but-FOC-ST now something eat-INF get-SR

kirabi jiminla jof.

kira=bi ji-min-la jo-e
see=LOC go-IMPF-P-PL BE:AUX-DCL
'Then but now, grabbing something to eat they
would go to visit.' (ICMATU1.21-22)

(103) ti-class
Mulunkasiri fichi timin
mulu-n=ka=si=ri fi-chi ti-min
fat-ST=ACC=GRAD=FOC eat-INGR say-1MPF.P

jotie.
jo-ti-e
BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'They say she (the mother of the flood) only
liked to eat the fat ones.' (MMPAIYAMMA.S~)-

(104 ra-class
Paluka sona tat0 ya junchi
palu-ka sona ta-to ya jun=chi
two-NCL woman have-SR 3P2 3Dl=LOC

nenamin jumantif,
nena-min jo-man=ti-e
go.around-1MPF.P BE:AUX-SIT-RP-DCL

paluka sonaberi.
palu-ka sona=be=ri
two-NCL woman=COM=FOC
'They say having two women he went around, with
the two women.' (MALI.71

(105) jo-class
Weyanteri itomin jotie.
weyan=te=ri ito-min jo-ti-e
other=LOC=FOC not.be-1MPF.P BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'They say sometimes she wasn't there.'
(CC.TSAPARA.38)
 This construction can also be used for simple

imperfective aspect. As with other nominal constructions

the copula may be dropped and the nominal form can directly

take verbal morphology (106) and (107). The following three

clauses indicate imperfective but not habitual actions.

This construction can indicate repeated action with a

punctual verb (108).

(106) Chikila jinasa wepanato kirato

chike=la ji-na-sa wepana-to kira-to
1F=PL go-PRG-DN startle-SR see-SR

wiruraminhe.
wiru-ra-min-e
stand-BE.POSITION:GEN-1MPF.P-DCL
'While we were going he was standing (there)
looking around startled.' IPILABAN.33)

(107) ...nosale naka

...nosa-le na-ka
...q uiet-CAUSE:SUF small-NCL

asuwato finaminnuti' .
a-suwa-to fi-na-min-nu-ti-e
cook-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-SR eat-PRG-1MPF.P-EV-RP-DCL
'...they say quietly cooking the little (bird) he
was eating it.' [AAPALUKA.28-29)

(108) Jabi jabi jabinan

jaa=bi jaa=bi jaa=bi=nan
3D2=LOC 3D2=LOC 3D2=LOC=INCL

mankeeraimin
man=ke-ere-a-i-min
again=hit-send-RFLX-BEC0ME:GEN-1MPF.P
 jotie.
jo-ti-e
BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'He said it (a detached head) kept falling far,
there, there, there.' (AAPALUKA.156)

The imperfective construction retains the structure of

a relative clause, i.e. (106) can literally be translated

as 'He was the one that was standing (there)...' But when

these constructions occur as the main clause they are

rarely translated into Spanish as relative clauses but

rather, as habitual or imperfective clauses. This coupled

with the fact that as nominals, the copula auxiliary can be

dropped is leading to the reanalysis of -min as a verbal,

imperfective suffix.

3.2.2 The auxiliary jo and the ,perfectiveparti,ciple

The perfective participle occurs with jo 'be' to code

perfective aspect. These clauses are usually translated as

the Spanish perfective or as simple past. The perfective

participle occurs with jo 'be' regardless of the class of

the verb (109-113).

ki-class
Junto ya ponelala larika
junto ya pone=la=la la-ri-ka
but 3D2 shaman=PL=PL come.out-CAUS:SUF-PF.P

jotie, ya Salunkari.
jo-ti-e ya Salun=ka=ri
BE:AUX-RP-DCL 3D2 Salun=LOC=FOC
'But they say the shamans had already brought him
out, this Salun (a mythical character).'
{MV.AASALUN.7)

i-class
Weyan postoteri telenkachi
weyan posto=te=ri telen-ka=chi
other place=LOC=FOC crawl-PF=INSTR

ji-na-ka jo-man=ti-e
go-PRG-PF.P BE:AUX-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say in other places he had gone crawling'
(MANKA.MOS0.20)

ti-class
Mrnachi kufichun, kasa
mrna=chi ku-fi-chu-n ka-sa
,madam=,DATbreast-EAT :GEN-IRR-ST get-DN

tika jomanyo' .
ti-ka jo-man=yo-e
say-PF.P BE:AUX-SIT-CONGR-DCL
'I had told her to buy (the chicken) to feed to
the woman.' (JERAKUWENTA.331)

ra -class
Kito chuka jun?
ki-to chu-ka jo-n
D0:VCL sit-PF BE:AUX-INT
'He had been sitting (there) writing?'
(JERKUWENTA4.88)
 ti-class
Fuda joka jun?
fuda jo-ka jo-n
hurt BE:GEN-PE'-P BE:AUX-INT
'Had it hurt?'

As with the imperfective construction the auxiliary

may be dropped (114). However, this is less common with the

perfective construction than with the imperfective. This

could be leading to a reanalysis of -ka 'PF,P8 as a verbal

perfective suffix.

(114) Nu yachi pesilika

nu ya=chi pe-sili=ka
2 3=DAT feces-NCL=LOC

tanjakae
ta-n-ja-ka-e
have-ST-C0ME:GEN-PF.P-DCL
'You have taken his entrails.' (VLP.Marial.21)

3.2.3 The auxiliary jo 'be' and the infinitive

As discussed in Chapter Two, when the infinitive form

occurs with the auxiliary verb jo 'bet, it codes irrealis,

most often functioning as a deontic future, i.e. the person

has an obligation concerning the carrying out of the action

or with a stative verb there is a connotation that this

must be. The auxiliary jo is used despite the class of the

verb (115-116). I have given a more literal translation for

these following the free translation. For the active

clauses the English literal translation has much the same

sense as the Tsafiki, i.e. 'I am to sleep with my auntf

carries a strong deontic sense.

(115) i-class
Junni mankubenan katsono joyoe
junni manku=be=nan katso-no jo-yo-e
then aunt=COM-INCL sleep-INF BE:AUX-CNGR-DCL

titif.
ti-ti-e
say-RP-DCL
'Then they say he said I
' have to sleep with (my)
aunt." (LIT: "I am to sleep with my aunt")
(MV.AASALUN.25)

(116) ki-class
Aman junbi patito atarayachi chuli
aman jun=bi pati-to ataraya=chi chuli
now 3Dl=LOC .go,down-SR net=INSTR type,of fish
kano joe.
ka-no J o-e
get-INF
- BE:AUX-DCL
'Now going down there one has to get chuli with a
net .' (LIT: 'One is to get chuli with a net.' )
(BOPI.15)
(117) ti-class
Junni ya kuwachunnin
junni ya kuwa-chu-n-nin
then 3P2 give-IRR-ST-CNTR

kuwanae tinola jof .

kuwa-na-e ti-no=la 30-e
give-PRG-DCL say-INF=PL BE:AUX-DCL
'If they were going to give (their daughter in
marriage) they would have to say (to the
potential bridegroom) that they would give
. .
(her) ' (LIT:' They are to say.. ' ) { ICMATU1.20)

(118) ra-class
Uyanla
- o moti tan0 jof
uyan=la o mo-ti ta-no 10-e
other=PL or who-what have-INF BE:AUX-DCL

inte Aurelio o Primitive

in=te Aurelio o Primitivo
3Pl=LOC Aurelio or Primitivo

talarachunnan
ta-la-ra-chu-n-nan
have-PL-BE.POSITION:VCL-IRR-ST-INCL

tsan kuchuka .
tsan kuchu=ka
SMBL yucca=LOC
'The others or someone should have it, here Aurelio
or Primitivo would have yucca like this.' (LIT: 'The
others or someone are to have it..')
(KASAMA.MATE.22)

(119) jo-class
ya, duke seiton kipi jono joe
ya duke se-ito-n kipi jo-no jo-e
3D2 much good-NOT.BE:GEN-ST dream be-INF BE:AUX-DCL
'This would be a really bad dream (in terms of what
it foretells).' (LIT: 'This is to be a very bad
dream.')(MV.ACPONE.135)
3.2.4 The auxiliary jo 'be' and the negative

In addition to the constructions above, there is a

negative construction in which the auxiliary jo 'bef is used

despite the class of the verb. This construction differs from

the more common negative in that, the negative suffix -tu

occurs before the nominalizing suffixes rather than after the

VCL. There is a difference in meaning between the two

different placements of the negative suffix, roughly equal in

the difference in meaning between 'no smoking' and 'don't

smoke (right now)'. 'No smokingf negates the very possibility

of smoking while 'Don't smokef can refer to the negation of a

singular, specific act.

In the following example (120), both forms are

represented. The example comes from a story in which a red

demon has killed and then taken on the form of a Tsachi man.

The demon than takes the man's liver and gives it to the man's

wife, telling her to cook it for dinner, As it is cooking, the

liver begins to speak and admonishes the children not to eat

- jona, contains two

it. The first negative clause filakitula

plural markers, with the negative occurring before the second

plural suffix. As is the case with nouns in Tsafiki two plural

markers gives a collective reading. In the second clause

- a negation of a specific act, the negative occurs

filakituna,

in the more common position following the plural marker and VCL

and negates a singular, specific act.

(120) Ya jakeri apayoe apayoe

ya jake=ri apa-yo-e apa-yo-e
3P2 liver=FOC father-CNJ-DCL father-CNJ-DCL

apayoe filakitula jona

apa-yo-e fi-la-ki-tu-la jo-na
father-CNJ-DCL eat-PL-VCL-NEG-PL BE:AUX-IMP

filakituna tinae
fi-la-ki-tu-na ti-na-e
eat-PL-D0:GEN-NEG-IMP say-PRG-DCL

titida.
ti-ti-da
say-RP-DCL
'And then they say he said the liver was saying,
"I'm your father! I'm your father! I'm your father!
One is not to eat (fathers), Don't eat (me).'

What is interesting here is when the negative marker

appears before the nominalizing morphology it has 'globalf

scope. The event as a whole is negated. When the negative

marker occurs after the verb class marker or after a finite

verb stem it tends to negate a specific act. This would

support the idea that the nonfinite verb forms lack a

schematic event structure. The participants of a nominalized

verb are not associated with a specific event line, hence the

event as a whole is negated rather than a specific act or the

endpoint of an action.

The auxiliary jo 'be' occurs with the nonfinite negative

clause despite the class of the verb. In (121a) jo 'be'

occurs with the infinitive form of the i-class verb piya 'get

lost/diet and the negative plural form of the ki-class verb

kira 'see' in (121b). The example comes from a story in which

sonpura, an evil spirit, has taken the form of a horse. If

one so much as glances at the sonpura, one will die. Compare

this with (122), also containing the verb kira 'see', in

which a father is ordering his children not to take aim with

a weapon until the father comes back.

(121) a. Kiratutorin piyatuno jotieti'.

kira-tu-to-ri-n piya-tu-no jo-ti-e-ti-e
see-NEG-SR-FOC-ST die-NEG-INF BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said that if one didn't look (at the
sonpura) one would not die.'

b. Jun Sancristanbe ya pateleberi

jun Sancristan=be ya patele=be=ri
3D1 Sancristan=COM 3P2 priest=COM=FOC

kiratula jonutieti' , yalarin.

kira-tu-la jo-nu-ti-e-ti-e ya=la=ri=n
'They say he said that Sancristan and the priest
must have (never) looked (at the sonpura)'
{CCSONPURA.505)
 Nati tuto kiralakitunake
na-ti tuto kira-la-ki-tu-na=ke
little-NEG aim SEE:GEN-PL-D0:VLC-NEG-IMP=QT

tinuti' .
ti-nu-ti-e
say-EV-RP-DCL
'They say he said "Don't aim it even a little
bit."'{SALUN.175)

The next three examples concern ki-class verbs. In (123)

the rainbow man is telling the people never to bother him. He

is dangerous. In (124) a man still has said nothing to his

wife concerning the sale of his soul to the devil despite the

fact that the devil coming in a few hours collect. This

example has a strong connotation that he doesn't intend to

speak. Example (125) concerns a group of hunters who have

walked all day without eating anything.

(123) ki-class
Lakari layan pasuwatula
la=ka=ri layan pa-suwa-tu-la
lM=ACC=FOC a.lot angry-CAUSE.BECOME:GEN-NEG-PL

jona, yari
, duke loba tan
jo-na ya=ri duke loba ta-n
BE:AUX-IMP 3P2=FOC much heat HAVE:GEN-ST

tsachiyoe tinutie.
tsachi-yo-e ti-nu-ti-e
person-CNJ-DCL say-EV-RP-DCL
'They say he said, "(You) are not to bother me
much. I am a very hot man."' {SUYUNPI.71)
(124) Kapatunin jotie
ka-pa-tu-nin jo-ti-e
still-say-NEG-CNTR BE:AUX-RP-DCL
'They say he still said nothing.'

(125) Man malon ano

man ma-10-n ano
one day-go.out-ST food

fitun jolajoyo'
fi-tu-n jo-la-jo-yo-e
food eat-NEG-ST BE:AUX-PL-BE:VCL-CNJ-DCL
'All day we ate nothing.' (AAMEDI2.142)

The next examples contain i-class verbs. (126) comes

from a story in which a father and his children have been

running most of the night to escape some evil spirits. They

run until the children are exhausted and simply cannot go on.

In (127) the narrator is talking about a rather stern teacher

in the local school. In (128) the narrators are discussing

the qualities of a spirit or soul that is important in Tsachi

cosmology.

(126) i-class
Sujanaminnan wari nalala
su-ja-min-nan wari na-la-la
feet.in.air-IMPF-P-INCL well small-PL-PL

podeitula jotie
ode-i-tu-la io-ti-e

'They say they ran until the children were unable

(to run anymore) (VLP.LUBANOK01.56)
(127) Yaberi tensaituno joko.
ya=be=ri tensa-i-tu-no jo-ko
3=COM=FOC play-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-INF BE:AUX-DUB
'One shouldn't play around with her. No?'
(JERAKUWENTA.278)

(128) 0 ya mowin itoto sona kano

o ya mowin ito-to sona ka-no
or.3 spirit.mowin not.be-SR woman get-INF

podeitun junhun?
pode-i-tu-n jo-n-jo-n
be-able-BEC0ME:GEN-NEG-ST BE:AUX-ST-BE:AUX-ST
'Or not having this spirit, one wouldnt be able
to obtain a woman?' [JCPUKA6.11)

Example (129) occurs in a context in which a tiger,

who has been locked up under the earth is begging to be

released claiming he won't bother anyone. The shamans

refuse to release him. After listing several reasons why he

is not to be trusted, they express their desire to have

nothing to do with him.

(129) ti-class
Junni junto munatitula
junni junto muna-ti-tu-la
then but desire-SAY:GEN-NEG-PL

jotieti' , kelaka
jo-ti-e-ti-e kela=ka
BE:AUX-RP-DCL-RP-DCL tiger=ACC
'They say they said that because of this they
didn't want (anything to do with) him, the
tiger.' (ACKELA.49)
 Example (131) comes from a narrative about how the

Tsachila lived before colonialization. Note that as with

the imperfective and perfective forms the auxiliary jo 'be'

has been dropped in this example. The jo-class example

(131) is elicited.

(130) ra-class
Junni, matuteri, man postori
junni matu=te=ri man posto=ri
then old.days=LOC=FOC one place=FOC

chutulamanti' tsachila

'Well, in the old days the Tsachila never lived

in just one place.' (VLP.CCLUBANOK02.2)

jo-class
Naka pajotula
na=ka pa-jo-tu-la jo-e
child=ACC anger-BE:AUX-NEG-PL BE:AUX-DCL
'One is never to be angry at a child.'

3.2.5 The auxiliary jo 'be' and relative clauses

In Chapter Four it was shown that the stative verbs in

the jo 'be' and ra 'class' can combine with bivalent

coverbs. Because these verbs do not code events or change

over time they do not evoke an event line but rather a

stative relationship. Recall that bivalent complex

predicates formed with a stative generic verb form relative

clauses with -min and -nun, correlating with the actor and

undergoer, rather than the -min and -ka with which they

occur in active clauses. Nun can also be used to form

adjunct relative clauses referring to locations,

instruments or the event itself rather than one of the

participants. To summarize the discussion in Chapter Four,

in the elicited clauses below the coverb pa 'angerr first

occurs as a simple clause with an active generic verb i

'becomer in (132a) and a stative generic verb jo \ber in

(133a). Notice that these two clauses appear to have an

identical structure. But the relative clause forms in

(132b-c) and (133b-c) reveal that the -ka in (133a) is the

locative rather than the accusative -ka. A relative clause

referring to a locative is given in (134).

(132) a. Sona unilaka paie.

sona unila=ka pa-i-e
man woman== anger-BECOME:GEN-DCL
'The woman became angry at the mant

b. Paimin jie.
pa-i-min ji-e
anger-8ECOME:GEN-1MPF.P go-DCL
'The one who became angry (at someone/thing)
left.'
 c. Paika jie.
pa-i-ka ji-e
anger-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P go-DCL
'The one someone became angry at left.'

(133) a. Sona unilaka pajoe.

sona unila=ka pa-j0-e
woman m a n = ~ ~
anger-BE
r :GEN-DCL
'The woman is angry at the man.'
b. Pajomin jie.
ji-e
anger-BE:GEN-1MPF.P go-DCL
'The one who was angry (at someone/thing) left.'

c. Pajonun jie.
pa-jo-nun ji-e
anger-BE:GEN-NOM go-DCL
'The one someone was angry at left.'

(134) Kanowa tsonunte manfayoe

kanowa tso-nun=te man=fa-yo-e
canoe lie-NOM=LOC again=arrive.here-CNJ-DCL

timanti'.
ti-man=ti-e
say-SIT-RP-DCL
'They say he said he arrived back where the canoe was
lying.' (MALI.27)

This same pattern occurs with relative clauses formed -

with the auxiliary jo 'be' and an infinitive verb form, the

relative clause which refers to the undergoer of the

nonfinite verb is formed with -nun not -ka. In (135a-b) the

relative clauses of the simple verb fi 'eat' follow the

expected pattern, -min and -ka. In (136a-b) the relative

clauses follow the expected pattern for a stative verb,

-min and -nun.

(135) a. Fi-min ji-e-

eat-1MPF.P go-DCL
'The one who ate left.'

b. Fika anpun joe.

fi-ka anpun jo-e
eat-PF.P tasty be-DCL
'What he ate was tasty.'

(136) a. Fino jominka tanjade.

fi-no jo-min=ka ta-n-ja-de
eat-INF BE:AUX-IMPF.P=ACC have-ST-come-IMP
'Bring the one who has to eat.'

b. Fino jonunka tanjade.

fi-no jo-nun=ka ta-n-ji-de
eat-INF BE:AUX-NOM=ACC have-ST-go-IMP
'Bring what he is to eat.'

In the following two text examples concerning jo 'be'

auxiliary constructions (137-138)' the relative clauses

align with the nominative argument as in (136a).

(137 Junni kasalechiri ya mankachi nao

junni kasa=le=chi=ri ya man=ka=chi nao
then first=LOC=LOC=FOC 3 one-NCL=POSS son

kano jominnutieti' .
ka-no jo-min-nu-ti-e-ti-e
get-INF BE:AUX-1MPF.P-EV-RP-DCL-RP-DCL
'They say he said at first it was another man's
son who should have gotten (her).' (URUSONA.11)
(138) Pakara ketobi lari kano
pakara ke-to-bi la-ri ka-no
Pay D0:GEN-SR-LOC come.out-CAUSE:SUF GET:GEN
jomin junhun.
J 0-min jo-n-jo-n
BE:AUX-1MPF.P BE:AUX-ST-BE:VCL-INT
'When you paid wouldn't you have been the one to
take it out?' { JERAKUWENTA4.363 }

The following three text examples the relative clauses

refer to the undergoer participant of the nonfinite verb,

but are formed with -nun, rather than -ka.

(139) Titiya nasi kano jonunka

titiya na-si ka-no jo-nun=ka
thing little-GRAD get-INF BE:AUX-NOM=ACC

pakara .
kinkito. .
pakara ki-n-ki-to. ..
Pay D0:GEN-ST-D0:VCL-SR
'...we would have paid for the little things we
had to buy.' (Punpubel.40)

(140) Junbi pone miika jonunka

jun=bi pone mi-i-ka jo-nun=ka
3D2=LOC shaman know-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P BE:AUX=ACC

titi, ya pone mikarikake

titi, ya pone mi-kari-ka=ke
thing 3D2 shaman know-CAUSE:GEN-PF.P-DCL=QT
'(He said) there the shaman had taught him the
things that the shaman had learned.'
{VLP.DZB.240}
(141) Jera pade, ya mirachun
jera pa-de ya mi-ra-chu-n
all speak-IMP 3D2 know-BE.POSITION:GEN-IRR-ST

tika tika fimin jomin

ti=ka ti=ka fi-min jo-min
what=ACC what=ACC eat-1MPF.P BE:AUX-1MPF.P

jonunka

'Tell it all, to know what what they used to

eat.' (JAKURU5.595-597)

(142) Temas jera temas mirachunae

temas jera temas mi-ra-chu-na-e
topics all topics know-BE:GEN-IRR-PRG-DCL

jun temabi ti punto pan0 jonunka

jun tema=bi ti punto pa-no jo-nun=ka
3D1 topic=LOC what point speak-INF BE:AUX-NOM=ACC
'Topics, you will know the topic well, and on
this topic, what point you have to make.'
{PUNPUBE.573)

3.3 Discussion

The relative clause constructions based on the

auxiliary jo 'bef indicate that the profile of the stative

verb remains dominant. A bivalent nonfinite form contains

an actor and undergoer, but there is no active event line

with which they can be associated. The stative auxiliary

evokes a stative temporal contour containing an entity and

location. The actor and undergoer of the nonfinite verb

therefore align with the entity and locative semantic

participants of the stative verb (Figure Fifteen).

Basically the pattern is Tsafiki is that the schematic

profile of the final predicating element will dominate.

NONFINITE V: ACTor Unprgoerfimin'eat'

STATIVE AUX: Entity Locative jo 'be'

I I
Ya watsa=ka fi-min jo-e
3 fish=LOC eat-1MPF.P BE:AUX-DCL
'He eats fish.'

Figure Fifteen: Argument Sharing of bivalent nonfinite verb

aligned with actor and undergoer, and stative auxiliary
aligned with entity and location.

3.4 The Auxiliary i 'become'

The verb i 'become' when occurring as a simple or

generic verb takes an undergoer participant. As was shown in

Chapter Four when i 'become' occurs as a generic verb with a

bivalent coverb it results in a permissive construction. When

i 'become' occurs as an auxiliary, it has much the same

effect ranging from a reflexive 'abilitative' reading with

the imperfective participle to a permissive reading with the

perfective participle similar to the i 'become' plus bivalent

coverb constructions discussed previously. I will begin by

describing the auxiliary i 'become' with -min '1MPF.P.

3.4.1 The auxiliary i 'become' and -min '1MPF.P'

The auxiliary i 'become' occasionally occurs with the

imperfective participle, (less than thirty examples in the

texts), all occurring with either ki 'do' or i 'becomef

class verbs. The interpretation of these clauses is in

general abilitative, the subject is able to carry out some

action or put himself in some state4. The first example

again concerns the rainbow man. He refuses to come near

and then leaves without letting himself come closer (143).

(143) Wari nasi

wari na-si
well small-GRAD

jatumin ide
ja-tu-min i-de
come-NEG-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-ASSOC.MOT

jinin imantie.
ji-nin i-man=ti-e
go-CNTR BECOMEzVCL-SIT-RP-DCL
'Well they say he just left without letting
himself come closer.' (AASUYUN.40)

The sense of ability is most commonly coded with a Spanish

borrowing pode-i 'be able to'. Pode is transparently
borrowed from the Spanish poder 'be able to' which is then
combined with the Tsafiki generic verb i 'become'.
 Example (144) is from a personal narrative in which a

family was only able to visit another group of people for a

couple of days.

(144) Tsachilabe yalari palu ma

tsachi=la=be ya=la=ri palu day
person=PL=COM 3PZ=PL=FOC two day

pi
- yamin
-
ilaiyotie.
piya-min i-la-i-yo-ti-e
lose-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-PL-BEC0ME:VCL-CNJ-RP-DCL
'They said they were only able to spend two days
with the other Tsachila.' (GA7.75)

The next example is also from a personal narrative in

which a family is murdered by outsiders. After this the

other people in the community were unable to sleep in their

houses due to fear and instead camped in the jungle every

night until the fear passed (145).

(145) Jun tsachila aman junka totenun merato

jun tsachi=la aman jun=ka tote-nun mera-to
3D1 person=PL now 3=ACC kill-NOM.OBL hear-SR

wari yaka katsotumin ikala

wari ya=ka katso-tu-min i-ka=la
well house=LOC sleep-NEG-1MPF.P BECOME-PF=PL

jomin8 .
jo-min-e
BE:AUX-1MPF.P-DCL
'When the other people heard about the murder
they were unable to sleep in (their) houses.'
(CCANKU3.10)
 The next example is from a traditional story in which

a woman aided by the star woman suddenly gains incredible

weaving ability. Here the other people are asking her, what

happened? How is she able to weave like this?

(146) Nu niyaito? tsankari sita

nu niya-i-to tsan=ka-ri sita
2 how-BEC0ME:VCL-SR so=ACC-FOC weave

kimin ika joyunke

ki-min i-ka jo-yo-n=ke
D0:GEN-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-PF BE:AUX-CNJ-INT=QT
'What happened to you? How are you able to weave
these things?' (CCTSAB02.72)

The next example has a reflexive reading. The narrator

is discussing the fact that the Tsachila have lost their

wedding traditions, including the practice of laying the

.couple.downt.ogetherwhile community members advise them.

She is saying the young people no longer put themselves in

this position.

(147) Amanarin wari potumin

amana=ri-n wari po-tu-rnin
nowadays-FOC-ST well put-NEG-1MPF.P

ikala j0'
i-ka=la jo-e
BEC0ME:AUX-PF=PL BE:AUX-DCL
'Nowadays they won't put themselves (in this
position)' (SONATSOREPOKA.177)
 In the texts only examples containing i 'become' or ki
'dof class verbs have been found. However, speakers readily

accept elicited examples formed with verbs from the other

three classes. When given constructions formed with -min

and i 'beomef, speakers gave contexts in which someone who

had been bedridden for a while was finally able to stand or

that one was speaking of a baby who had just learned to

stand (148).

(148) Na wiruramin ie.

na wiru-ra-min i-e
child stand-BE.POSIT:GEN-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'The baby can stand.'

(149) was given a similar context to (148). In this

case the context is a baby who has just learned to say pa,

a typical baby-talk version of apa 'fatherf.

(149) Na pa timin
- ie.
na pa ti-min i-e
child pa say-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'The baby can say "pa"'.

The next jo-class example was given a context in which

someone becomes angry in a situation that generally would

not irritate them.

(150) Pajomin iyoe .
pa-jo-min i-yo-e
angry-BE:GEN-1MPF.P BEC0ME:AUX-CNJ-DCL
'I was able to be angry/I found myself angry.'

3.4.2 The Auxiliary i 'becomef and the perfective

The next construction consists of the perfective

participle with the auxiliary i 'becomef. This construction

is very similar to constructions in which i 'becomef occurs

as a generic verb with a bivalent coverb. They code a

permissive construction. The undergoer appears with

nominative case, a non-obligatory,actorcan appear with

adjunct, comitative case-marking, the verb is in participle

form and there is an auxiliary, i 'becomef (151). In below

the clause is semantically odd without the negative marker

it that it could only mean the rabbit let the tiger eat

him, which leads to an evaluation of the rabbit as misu

palan 'mixed up headf or 'crazy. '

(151) Tsanke konori kelabe

tsan=ke kono=ri kela=be
SMBL=DO:VCL rabbit=FOC tiger=COM

fika iturnantie
fi-ka i-tu-man=ti-e
eat-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-NEG-SIT-RP-DCL
'So they say doing this the rabbit did not let
the tiger eat him.' IKELA.66)
 The next clause (152) is similar to (151). A young

woman is offering herself to the king. It is followed by an

elicitated example in which the auxiliary i \becomer is

replaced by the auxiliary jo 'be' (153). Note the

difference in word order and case-marking between the two

clauses. In (153) the actor takes the expected nominative

case-marking and the undergoer takes the accusative.

(152) Yari miya=be=nan

ya=ri miya=be=nan
3P2=FOC king=?%~=l~c~

kaya inoyoe
ka-ka i-no-yo-e
get-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-INF-CNJ-DCL
'She would have to let the king himself take
her.' (MIYA2.12)

Miyanan yaka kaya jonoyoe

miya=nan ya=ka ka-ka o-no-yo-e
king=INCL 3 = ~ = get-PF. P :E: AUX-INF-CNJ-DCL
'The king himself would have to take her.'

So while these clauses look, morphosyntactically, like

passives the undergoer is actually the initiator of the

event although not the one who actually carries out the

action. In an alternative construction, both arguments may

occur with the comitative -be, in which case a reciprocal

reading is given to the clause (154).

(154 Ya unilabe sonabe munatito
ya unila=be sona=be muna-ti-to
3P2 man=COM woman=COM desire-SAY:GEN-SR

taka ino ya uyan tobi nechi

ta-ka i-no ya uyan to=bi ne=chi
have-PF. P BEC0ME:AUX-INF 3 other earth foot=LOC

kosa itoe tie.

kosa ito-e ti-e
thing not.be-DCL say-DCL
'They say that for a man and woman to have each
other, desiring one another, is not something
from another world.' (PUNPUBE1.293)

The following example contains the same verb ta 'have'

but in this case the subject ya '3D2' occurs without the

comitative marker and while elided in this clause the

'taker', the shaman to whom she is offering herself, would

take the comitative -be if it were present. I have added

the participant that was given in the elicitated version of

this clause in parenthesis. Note that the nominative

argument of the purpose clause suffixed with -chike is

always CO-referent with the nominative argument of the main

verb. The woman is clearly the nominative argument or

subject of both clauses.

(155) Junni ya sonari wari
junni ya sona=ri wari
then 3 woman=FOC well

manseichikeri ya (ponebe)
man=se-i-chike=FOC (pone=be)
again=good-BEC0ME:GEN-DESIR=FOC (shaman=COM)

taka inaeke tin.

ta-ka i-na-e=ke ti-n
have-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-PRG-DCL=QT say-ST
'Then this woman well, she just said because she
wanted to be cured, she would let the shaman take
her.' {BOPIN.29)

In the next two examples the same verb occurs, first

with the reciprocal reading and then with the permissive

reading. In the texts, due to ellipsis of core arguments

the reading of these clauses can sometimes only be deduced

from the context. In (156) the wife of the rainbow man is

telling her relatives that they will not see each other

again because the shamans are locking her and her husband

beneath the earth. No arguments are present, but given the

context, the sense is reciprocal. Example (157) in

contrast, contains the same verb and both arguments with

explicit case-marking indicating that this is the

permissive construction.
(156) Aman numa totiya mankiraka
aman numa totiya man=kira-ka
now already something again=see-PF.P

ituchunae
i-tu-chu-na-e
BEC0ME:AUX-NEG-IRR-PRG-DCL
'They would never see each other again.'
(Suyunpi.85)

(157) Ya tsabo sona ya jaatsanke

ya tsabo sona ya jaa-tsan=ke
3P2 star woman 3P2 PRO-SMBL=DO:VCL

tsachibe kiraka ..
ito.
tsachi=be kira-ka i-to
person=COM see-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-SR
'The star woman appearing like this to the
people ...' (LIT: '...letting the people see her in
this way...,) (TSAB0.127)

With non-motion, i-class verbs the reading is often

reflexive or abilitative. (158) is taken from the Tsachi

version of Hansel and Gretel. The witch has asked the

children to get in the boiling pot.

(158) Junni tsachiri waranamin
junni tsachi=ri wara-na-min
then people=FOC boil-PRG-1MPF.P

chibanbiri
chi-ba-n=bi=ri
hot-QUAL-ST=LOC=FOC

wiruika imannkan?
wiru-i-ka i-man=nka-n
stand-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-SIT-SPEC-INT
'But how would the people be able to stand
themselves in the hot, boiling (water)?'
{VLP.RLAPAK. 71)

The next example has a reflexive reading. (159) comes

from a text about shamanism. When the shaman feels himself

going into a vision he will sometimes wake himself up.

(159) Mannan junsi wa manjinayoe

mannan jun=si wa man=ji-na-yo-e
again 3=GRAD large again=go-PRG-CNJ-DCL

tenjasaleri weyante
ten-ja-sa=le=ri weyan=te
think-C0ME:GEN-DN-LOC-FOC other=LOC

mansonhika imin
man=son-i-ka i-min
again=live-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-1MPF.P

jot
jo-e
BE:AUX-DCL
'Then when he senses that he is going again,
sometimes he will wake himself up.' (JCPUKA5.62)
 There is also an abilitative sense with ra-class

verbs. In the following example a grandson has asked the

grandparents the names of the Tsachila who had built a path

or road to Quito in the early part of the century. The

grandparents feel they have no way of knowing this:

(160) Miraka ichinan

mi-ra-ka i-chi-na-n
know-BE.POSITION:GEN-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-IRR-PRG-INT

nao?
nao
son
'How could we come to know this, son?'
(ICMATU4.43)

The following elicited example contains the perfective

participle form of the stative verb jo 'be'. The

connotation here is that the speaker finds himself angry,

without intention or really even knowing why.

(161) Pa joka ie
Pa jo-ka i-e
angry BE:GEN-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'I found myself angry.'

The next, fairly complicated, example taken again from

Hansel and Gretal, the children are telling the witch they

don't know why they aren't fattening up. There are three i-
become auxiliary plus perfective participle clauses in this

example.

(162) Niyara karitiya ano

niya-ra kari-tiya ano
how-BE.POSIT:VCL CAUSE-thing food

finatotiya
fi-na-to-tiya
eat-PRG-SR-thing

itsan joka ika ie

in-tsan jo-ka i-ka i-e
3P1-SMBL BE-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL

kirade muluika
kira-de mulu-i-ka
see-IMP fat-BEC0ME:GEN-PF.P

itue titida
i-tu-e ti-ti-da
BEC0ME:AUX-NEG-DCL say-RP-DCL.GEN
'They they say they said that they found
themselves like this but they didn't know what
was causing this condition, they were eating.
Look! they weren't able to get fat.'
{VLP.RLPAK.55A)

With an i-class motion verb, the construction results

in a loss of actorivity on the part of the subject. As

noted in Chapter Four a motion verb is somewhat ambiguous

between the coding of an actor or undergoer semantic

participant. When a motion verb combines with a monovalent

coverb aligned with undergoer it forces the reading of a

undergoer onto the subject. When it combines with an actor

aligned coverb it maintains a sense of agentivity. The same

effect is seen in the construction with the perfective

participle form of the motion verb and the auxiliary i

'become.' (But note this does not happen with the VCL i

'become'). I'll begin with an elicited example where the

case-marking is clear, (163) was originally translated with

the a Spanish passive of the verb l l e v a r 'takef, although

the Tsafiki verb used here is NOT the bivalent t a n j i 'takef

but rather the monovalent ji 'gof. The presence of the

auxiliary i 'become' leads to the interpretation that the

first person subject was not responsible for the actual

action, although they did 'allow' or initiate the action.

(163) La Fanbe futbol kirabi jika ie

la Fan=be futbol kira=bi ji-ka i-e
1M Juan=COM soccer see=LOC go-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'I was taken by Juan to watch soccer.' or 'I let
myself go with Juan to watch soccer.'

In the next example three sisters are plotting how

they can make themselves servants of the king.

(164 Niyaito miyachi ano dato kuwabi
niya-i-to miya=chi ano da-to kuwa-bi
how-BEC0ME:VLC-SR king=DAT food cook-SR give-PURP

jika ino junanke,

ji-ka i-no jo-na-n=ke
go-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-INF BE:AUX-PRG-INT-QT

jun puchuka pefichun

jun puchu=ka pe-fi-chu-n
3D1 leftovers=ACC also-eat-IRR-ST
'How would they be able to go cook for the king
so they could eat the leftovers?' or 'How could
they get themselves taken to cook for the king so
they could eat the leftovers.' (VLP.MIYA.9)

The next example is again from Hansel and Gretel. The

children lost for days come upon the witch's house, Their

arrival at the house is not intentional.

(165) Jun kiranari mma tsankiran chununbi

jun kira-na=ri rnma tsan=kira-n chu-nun=bi
3D1 see-PRG=FOC madam SMBL=see-ST sit-NOM.OBL=LOC

faka ie titida
fa-ka i-e ti-ti-da
arrive-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL say-RP-DCL-GEN
.Now they said they said looking they found
themselves arriving at (the place) where what
appeared to be an old woman lived. ' (VLP.RIAPAK.21)

The analysis of these clauses is quite similar to the

analysis of a monovalent generic verb aligned with a

undergoer combining with a bivalent coverb. The profile of

the auxiliary is dominant and it will control which

argument receives nominative case-marking. The perfective

participle, unlike the imperfective participle is

associated with a terminal viewpoint. Although in a simple

clause the actor continues to receive nominal case-marking,

it is already backgrounded to some extend by the nature of

the perfective. Hence the undergoer participant of the

auxiliary i 'becomef aligns with the undergoer rather than

actor participant of the nonfinite clause. As always in

Tsafiki, the nominative argument correlates with the

initiating point (IP) for the coding of the event. This is

illustrated in Figure Sixteen.

NONFINITE V Actor Undergoer k a -ka 'get '

AUXILIARY Undergoer i 'becomef

NOM
IP
miya=be sona ' ka-ka i - e
king=COM woman get-PR.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'The woman let the king take her.'

Figure Sixteen: bivalent nonfinite verb aligned with actor

and undergoer combined with monovalent auxiliary aligned
with undergoer
 With motion verbs, in which the primary participant

can be construed as either an actor or a undergoer that

changes location, the auxiliary i skews the reading to the

undergoer. Another actorive participant can be added as an

adjunct. The sense of 'letf comes from the correlation

between the nominative argument and the initiating point.

This is illustrated in Figure Sixteen.

NONFINITE V. Actor U dergoer ji 'go'

AUXILIARY
f
Undergoer i 'becomer
I
NOM/IP
Juan=be la ji-ka i - e
Juan=COM 1M go-PF.P BEC0ME:AUX-DCL
'I let myself go with Juan.'

Figure Sixteen: nonfinite motion verb combined with

monovalent auxiliary aligned with undergoer

4. Summary

In this chapter I have shown that while auxiliaries

and VCLs share many similar properties, including that of

providing the primary schematic event profile for the

clause in which they participate, there is a crucial

difference in that the schematic profile of the VCL

correlates with that of the nonfinite verb.

One of the more interesting aspects of the VCL system

is its secondary function as a classificatory system.

Because the VCL must match the profile of the verb with

which it CO-occurs it also functions to semantically

classify the predicate. In Chapter Six the classificatory

functions of both the coverbs and the VCLs will be

discussed.
 CHAPTER SIX

GENERIC VERBS AND VERB CLASS MARKERS

AS CLASSIFYING CONSTRUCTIONS

1. INTRODUCTION

In the preceding Chapters, the function of the generic

verbs, verb class markers, and auxiliaries has been found

to be that of providing a schematic profile for the

predicate. This profile consists minimally, in all cases,

of first, defining whether the evidentuality described by

the predicate is a state, event or speech act and second,

in the case of a state determining that the case-marking

pattern will be that of Nominative plus Locative, and in

the case of an event determining whether the initiating

point for the event will be with an Undergoer or Actor. The

profile of a state is further determined as to whether it

codes a configuration, either literally or metaphorically

in space, or attributes a quality or class membership to

the nominative argument. The generic verbs, besides

contributing the above information, also contribute

semantic participants, and contain more detailed

information about the type of event, including motion and

path, type of causation (direct indirect etc.) and specific

positions. The generic verbs and verb class markers have a

similar function--providing a schematic profile-but they

classify different types of elements. The generic verbs

classify the coverbs. As was shown in Chapter Three the

coverbs, which overlap to some degree with ideophones, are

rich in semantic information and can contribute semantic

participants to the clause hence affecting the valency, but

lack the schematic information necessary to form a finite

predicate. The verb class markers occur with non-finite

verb forms. These forms most often consist of either a

complete complex predicate or simple verb and therefore

have all the information necessary to form a finite

predicate, but because the form is non-finite, these

elements are not associated with an activated schematic

profile. An active schematic profile is provided by the

verb class markers. As a secondary effect of their

function, both the generic verbs and the verb class

markers, function as classifiers. Not all coverbs and non-

finite forms are compatible with the schematic profile

provided by every generic verb or verb class marker, hence

the coverbs and non-finite predicates can be classified

according to what set of generic verbs or what verb class

marker they can CO-occur with in certain constructions.

In this Chapter, the generic verbs and verb class

marker systems are compared and contrasted both to one

another and to other, more well known systems, such as

nominal classification systems. I will first simply look at

the overall structure of the two classes.

2. Structure of the Classifying Systems

One of the more striking aspects, in comparing the

Tsafiki classifying systems with nominal systems, is simply

the degree of similarity between the morphosyntactic

structure of the verbal classifiers and nominal classifying

systems. There are, of course, a large number of different

kinds of nominal classifying systems, but the systems are

usually divided into two categories, noun class/gender

systems and classifier systems. Noun class/gender systems

are characterized by agreement with constituents outside

the noun phrase, by a higher degree of grammaticalization

evident in a closed system of a small number of classes and

each noun usually only belongs to one and only one class

(Zubin 1992; Hockett 1958; Corbett 1991; Craig 1986, 2000,

2001; Dixon 1968, 1982 inter alia). In contrast,

classifiers are characterized as comprised of a large,

semi-open set, all members may not be exhaustibly listable.

They often also occur as free forms or roots and not all

nouns can occur with a classifier and some nouns can occur

with more than one. Craig (2000) using the criteria

outlined by Dixon (1982, 1986) summarizes the distinction

in the following Table:

TABLE 10: Gender vs. classifier systems

Noun class/gender systems Classifiers systems

1. classify all nouns
2. into a smallish number of
classes
3. of a closed system
4. fused with other
grammatical categories
(Def, Nb, Case)
5. can be marked on noun
6. realized in agreement
pattern
7. N uniquely assigned to a
class with no speaker
variation
8. no variation in register
do not classify all nouns
into largish number
of an open system
independent constituents
not marked on noun
marked .or?ce
N possibly assigned to
various classes at speaker's
will
formal/informal uses

While not all the criteria above is relevant to the

Tsafiki verb classifiers, a similar chart can be made

comparing the two systems, which reveals similarities on

the one hand between the verb class markers and gender

systems and noun classifiers and the generic verbs on the

other hand.

TABLE 11: Verb Class Markers vs. Generic Verbs

Verb Class Markers Generic Verbs

1. classify all verb
2. into a smallish number of
classes (five)
3. of a closed system
4 . fused with other
grammatical categories
(PL, SMBL, ATTEMPT ETC. )
5. can.bemarked on verb
6, realized in dgreement
pattern
7. V uniquely assigned to a
class with no speaker
variation
8. ,no variat-.on in register
do not classify all
predicates (generic verbs are
generally not classified)
into largish number
of an semi-open system
independent constituents
can be marked on verb
marked once
V possibly assigned to
various classes at speaker's
will
?

Criteria five, does not apply in that both the generic

verbs and verb class markers can form a single phonological

word with the element they classify. Criteria eight

requires a complete discourse study, i.e. the generic

verbs, as simple verbs make up almost 44% of the predicates

in narrations. This is probably due to the fact that they

can be used to refer to the same event as a complex

predicate, i.e. su-ji 'run' can also simply be coded with

ji 'go', 'He ran/He went.' A discourse study determining

what determines the use of a complex predicate as opposed

to a simple verb remains to be done.

Otherwise, the generic verbs exhibit a remarkable

similarity to noun class/gender systems. They form a small,

closed class of five members; every predicate, whether

complex or simple is classified and belongs to one and only

one class; the classifiers occur with other grammatical

morphemes, semblative, plural, attemptive, contrastive,

augmentative and evidential, and there is no attested

speaker variation. The verb classifiers also show an

'agreement' pattern, similar to gender systems, compare the

Swahili (Givon 2000:427) example (1) with the elicited

example from Tsafiki (2).

(1) wa-toto -
Wa-le - wa-angu - wa-li-WO-kufa...
wa-dogo -
the child my small they-p=~-~~L-died
'the small children of mine who died. ..'

(2) Ponela yaka yuka kiyo kinin

pone=la ya=ka yuka ki-yo ki-nin
shaman=PL 3=ACC evil DO:GEN-ATT DO:VCL-CNTR

kik6: kinkilakee.
ki-ka
- : ki-n-ki-la-ki-e
DO :VCL-AUG DO:VLC-ST-DCVCL-PL-DO:VCL-DCL
'The shamans must have tried to just curse him
many times.'
 While as opposed to gender systems, noun and numeral

classifier systems exhibit an enormous degree of variation

among the various systems making it difficult to speak of

them in general terms (Craig 2000; 2001; 2002), the generic

verbs show a great deal of similarity to certain types of

nominal classifier systems, particularly numeral

classifying systems. They consist of more open class than

the verb class markers, (some of the coverbs can function

as simple verbs indicating they may be moving into that

class). They occur independently in the sense that they are

in free distribution with other inflectional morphology;

they only occur once (in a generic verb function) and the

speaker can choose to a certain degree which.generic verb

to use, as long as its schematic profile is compatible with

the semantics of the coverb. In addition, as in some noun

classifying systems the generic verbs can serve a double

function, i.e. they may classify or they themselves may be

classified (Craig 1986, 2001). This is true of the Tsafiki

nominal classification system. Some nouns such as sili

'ropef and japisu 'leaf' can either serve as classifiers

(often with japisu taking a reduced form ja 'leaff) or

themselves be classified (3).

 Simple Verb kira 'see'

ta-kira kira-po
touch-see see-put
'feelr 'peek'
CLASSIFIER CLASSIFIED

Simple Noun japisu 'leaf'

palu-ja (pisu) mu palu-ja (pisu) japisu

two-NCL:leaf achiote two-NCL:leaf leaf
'two achiote leaves' 'two leaves'

And as in many numeral classifying systems such as

Japanese (Downing 1986) or in Tsafiki itself, the specific

generic verb chosen affects the semantic interpretation:

(4) Tsafiki Generic Verb

wiru-i-e 'he stood upr
wiru-kari-e 'he stood it upt
-
wiru-ra-e 'he is standing.'

(5) Tsafiki numeral classifier

palu-ka ano 'two balls of cooked platano'
palu-de ano 'two (individual) platanos (bananas).'
palu-s ano 'two platano leavesr

(6) m e i-ppon 'one plum branch or tree'

m e i-kko \one plum'
m e iti-rin 'one plum blossom'
 3. Functional Similarities

In terms of function, there are of course obvious

differences between nominal classifying and verbal

classifying systems, one refers to objects and the other to

evidentualities. However, in terms of discourse, there are

some similarities. In many languages with classifying

systems, such as Akatek (Zavala 2000) Thai and Vietnamese

(Hundius and Kolver 1983) and Hmong (Bisang 1993) among

others, classifiers occur as high topicality markers. They

tend to occur with definite, specific nouns, whereas

generic nouns do not occur with classifiers. In Tsafiki the

verb class markers, for the most part, only occur in finite

clauses. The non-finite forms they classify, can appear

without the verb class marker in subordinate, backgrounded

clauses. Rijkoff (1990) draws some interesting parallels

between tense/aspect and demonstratives. He points out both

are deictic, one having to do with the temporal dimension,

the other with the spatial. Hence, a finite clause, coded

with tense/aspect and evidentiality (which is also

inherently deictic, coding the speaker's relationship to

the eventuality coded by the predicate) can be considered

definite, in that the eventuality is located within a

certain temporal, discourse space. Now in many languages

that have classifiers (Zavala 2000, Rijkoff 1990) nouns are

transnumeral, i.e. they are not inherently singular or

plural and to be counted or referred to as specific

entities require the use of a nominal classifier. In

Tsafiki, the non-finite verb forms must first be classified

as a type of event (with a verb class marker) before they

can be coded with finite verb morphology. Hence, in one

sense classified nouns and classified predicates are

similar in that each needs to be classified before it can

take definite morphemes or finite verb morphology to refer

to definite or prominent (foregrounded as opposed to

backgrounded clause) phenomena. Rijkoff (1990:180) points

out that "...it appears that indefiniteness and non-

tensedeness are quite similar, in that in both cases it is

indicated that we are dealing with an entity whose

existence is underdetermined.'

Trying to draw parallels between the coverbs and nouns

in languages that require noun classifiers is a bit

trickier. But besides being transnumeral, Rijkoff (1990)

suggests that what he calls "concept nouns" designate

properties that are unmarked in terms of shape or

structure. A concept noun refers to a spatial entity with a

certain property, say 'grapiness', which can refer to any

property essentially characterized by 'grapinessf-one or

more individual grapes, grape juice, bunches of grapes etc.

Such a concept noun cannot be counted, measured or referred

to as a specific, definite object unless it is classified.

I have suggested in this study that the coverbs, like

ideophones are high on the affecto-imagistic scale,

directly referring to specific sensory modalities and rich

in texture, but unstructured in terms of a specific event

profile. We know, that there must be a conceptual interface

between direct sensory experience and language. I have

suggested in this study that the coverbs exist on a layer

intermediate between the sensory modalities and the more

analytic generic verbs. The coverbs express concepts more

closely associated with immediate sensory experience, and

hence lack analytic structure. Whether "concept nouns" are

also high on the affecto-imagistic scale, i.e. contain a

rich array of sensory information but lack structural

information and what if any parallels can be drawn between

"concept nouns" and coverbs, I leave as an open question

here.
 APPENDIX A

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

- Affix
- Clitic
1F lStperson masculine
1M l S t person feminine
2 znd-person
3P1 3rdperson
- proximate
- one
3P2 3rdperson proximate two
3D1 3rdperson distal one
3D2 3rdpreson distal one
ACC Accusative
ATT Attemptive
AUG Augmentative
AUX Auxiliary
CER
COM Comitative
CNJ Conjunct
CNTR Contrastive
.DAT Dative
DCL Declarative
DCL :GEN Dec1arative:General
DISJ Disjunct
DR Different Reference
DUB Dubative
EMPH Emphatic
EV Evidential, inferred from physical evidence
FOC Focus
GEN Generic
GR Grade
HIST-HAB Historic habitual
IMP Imperative
IMPF.P Imperfective participle
INCL Inclusive
INF Infinitive
INGR Ingressive
INSTR Instrument
INT Interrogative
LOC Locative
NCL Noun classifier
NEG Negative
NOM Nominative
PF. P Perfective Participle
PL Plural
POSIT Position
POSS Posssesive
PRG Progressive
PRO Proform
PURP Purpose
QT Quotative
QUAL Quality
RP Reportative
SIT Situational
SMBL Semblative
SPEC Speculative
SR Same Referent
ST Stative
SUF Suffix
VCL Verb class marker
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ackerman, Farrel and Gert Webelhuth. 1998. A Theory of

Predicates. Stanford, California: CSLI Publications.

Aguavil, Ram6n and Fernando Aviles (Translators). 1982.

Matu To Cuenta. Miscelanea Antropologica
Ecuatoriana, No. 2, Aiio 2:56-101.

Aguavil, Ram6n and Fernando Avilks (Translators). 1983. -

Yo
Imin Tsachi: 50 Leyendas de 10s Indios Colorados.
Guayaquil, Ecuador, Museo Antropologico y Pinacoteca
Banco Central de Ecuador.

Aissen, Judith. 1979. Possessor ascension in Tzotzil.

Papers in Mayan Linguistics, ed. by Laura Martin, 89-
108. Columbia, Missouri: Lucas rot hers.

Aissen, Judith. 1983. Indirect object advancement in

Tzotzil. Studies in Relational Grammar 1, ed. by David
M. Perlmutter, 272-302. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

Aissen, Judith. 1994. Tzotzil auxiliaries. Linguistics 32:

657-90.

Akatsuka, Noriko. 1985. Conditionals and the epistemic

scale. Language 61:625-639.

Aksu-KOC, Ayhan & Dan Slobin. 1986. A psychological account

of the development
- and use of evidentials in Turkish.
Evidentiality: The Linquistic Coding of Epistemology,
ed. by Chafe and Nichols, 159-167. Norwood,

Allan, K. 1977. Classifiers. Languaqe. 53:285-310.

Allen, Barbara J. ; Donna B. Gsrdiner; Donald G. Frantz, and
David M. Perlmutter. 1990. Verb agreement, possessor
-
ascension and multistratal representation in Southern
Tiwa. Studies in Relational Grammar 3, ed. by Paul M.
Postal and Brian D. Joseph, 321-383. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.

Alsina, Alex. 1997. CAusatives in Bantu and Romance.

Complex Predicates, ed. by Joan Bresnan and Peter
Sells, 203-246. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Alsina, Alex, Joan Bresnan, and Peter Sells (eds.). 1997.

Complex Predicates. Stanford, California: CSLI
Publications.

Alsina, Alex, and Sarn Mchombo. 1990. The syntax of

applicatives in Chichewa: Problems for a theta
theoretic asymmetry. Natural Languages and Linguistic
Theorv. 8: 493-506.

Alsina, Alex, and Sam Mchombo. 1993. Object asymrnetries and

the Chichewla applicative construction. Theoretical
aspects of Bantu grammar, ed. by Sam Mchombo, 17-45.
Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and
Information Publications.

Anderson, Stephen R. 1.985. Typological distinctions in word

formation. Language typology and syntactic
description: grammatical categories and the lexicon,
ed. by T. Shopen, vol. 3, 3-56. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Anderson, Stephen R. and Edward L. Keenan. 1985. Deixis.

Language Typoloqy and Syntactic Description, Vol. 111,
ed. by Timothy Shopen, 259-308. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Andrews, Avery D. and Christopher D. Mannin. Complex

Predicates and Information Spreading in LFG. Stanford:
CSLI *
Austin, Peter. 1997. Causatives and applicatives in
Australian aboriginal languages. The dative and
related phenomena, ed. by Kazuto Matsumura and Tooru
Hayasi, 165-225. Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo.

Baker, Mark C. 1988a. Incorporation. A theory of

grammatical function changing. Chicago: The University
of Chicago press.

Baker, Mark C. 1996. The polysynthesis parameter. New York:

Oxford University Press.

Bisang, Walter. 1995. Verb serialization and converbs-

differences and similarities. In Converbs in Cross-
Linguistic Perspective: Structure and meaning of
adverbial verb forms - adverbial ~artici~les.
A. A
aerunds.
a

ed. by Martin Haspelmath and Ekkerhard Konig, 137-188.

Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Bisang, W. 1996. Classifiers, quantifiers and class nouns

in Hrnong. Studies in Language 20-3:519-587.

Blake, Barry J. 1990. Relational Grammar. London:

Routledge.

Blake, Barry J. 1994. Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University

fress.

Bresnan, Joan W., and L. Moshi 1990. Object asymmetries in

comparative Bantu syntax. Linguistic Inquiry 21: 147-
185.

Brinton, Daniel. 1891. The American Race. New York.

Bruce, L. 1988. Serialization: From syntax to lexicon.

Studies in Language 12:19-49.

Butt, Miriam. 1995. The Structure of Complex Predicates in

Urdu. Stanford, California: CSLI Publications.

Butt, Miriam. 1997. Complex predicates in Urdu. Complex

Predicates, ed. by Joan Bresnan and Peter Sells, 107-
149. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
Butt, Miram and Wilhelm Geuder. 1998. The Projection of
Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors.
Stanford, California: CSLI Publications.

Bybee, Joan L. 1985. Morphology. A study of the relation

between meaning and form. Amsterdam: John Benj amins.

Bybee, Joan L., Revere D. Perkins, and Willian Pagliuca.

1994. The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect and
modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.

Bybee, Joan L.; William Pagliuca; and Revere D. Perkins.

1991. Back to the future. Approaches to
grammaticalization, ed. by Elizabeth C. Traugott and
Bernd Heine, vol. 11, 17-58. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.

Canelos, Heriberto. 1989. Santo de 10s colorados, de aldea

a urbe de crecimiento ca6tico. El Comercio. Quito:
Lunes 3 de Ju1io:B-4.

Chafe, Wallace & Joanna Nichols (eds.). 1986.

Evidentiality : The ~ i n ~ u i s t icoding
c of Epistemology.
-(Advances in Discourse Processes 20.)- Norwood,
N.J.:Ablex.

Chappell, Hilary, and William McGregor (eds.) 1996. The

qrammar of inalienability: a typological perspective
on body-part terms and part-whole relations. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter.

Chappell, Hilary. 1999. The double unaccusative

construction in Sinitic languages. External
possession, ed. by Doris Payne and Immanuel Barshi,
195-228. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Corbett, Greville G. 1991. Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Corbett, Greville G. and Norman M. Frasier. 2000. Gender

assignment: a typology and a model. Systems of Nominal
Classification, ed. by Gunter Senft, 293-325.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Craig, Colette G. 1986a. Jacaltec noun classifiers. Lingua
70: 241-284.

Craig, Colette G. 1986b. Jacaltec noun classifiers: A study

in language and culture. Noun Classes and
Categorization, ed. by Colette Craig, 263-294.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Craig, Colette. 1992. Classifiers in a functional

perspective. Layered Structure and Reference in a
Functional Perspective. Papers from the Functional
Grammer Conference, Copenhagen, 1990, 277-301.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Croft, William. 1991. Syntactic Categories and Grammatical

Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Croft, William. 2001, Radical Construction Grammar,
Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Comrie, Bernard. 1981. Languaqe universals and linguistic

typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Comrie, Bernard. 1985a. Causative verb formation and other

verb-deriving morphology. Language typology and
syntactic description: Grammatical categories and the
lexicon, ed. by Timothy Shopen, vol. 111, 309-348.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Comrie, Bernard. 1985b. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Comrie, Bernard. 1989. Language universals and linguistic

typology (2nd edition). Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

Curnow, Timothy Jowan. 1997. A grammar of Awa Pit

(Cuaiquer): An indigenous language of southwestern
Colombia. Unpublished dissertation. Australian
National University.
Curnow, Timothy Jowan. 1998. Why Paez is not a Barbacoan
language: The nonexistence of "Moguex" and the use of
early sources. IJAL vo1.64:4.

Curnow, Timothy Jowan. 1998. The Barbacoan languages of

Colombia and Ecuador. Anthropological Linguistics.
40:3.

Curnow, Timothy Jowan. 2000. Why 'first/non-first personf

is not grammaticalized mirativity. Proceedings of
ALS22kf the 2000 Conference of the Australian
Linguistic Society.

Davis, Daniel W. and John S. Wimbish. 1993. The LinquistfS

Shoebox. Washaw: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Dahl, 0sten. 1994. Aspect. The Encyclopedia of Language and

Linguistics, ed. by R. E. Asher and J. M. Y. Simpson,
240-247. Oxford: Pergamon.

Denny, J. P. 1976. What are noun classifiers good for?

Papers From the Twelfth Regional Meeting of the
Chicago Linguistic Society, 122-123.

DeLancev. Scott. 1980. Deictic cateaories in the Tibeto-

Burman verb. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.

DeLancey, Scott. 1981a. An interpretation of split

ergativity and related patterns. Language 51: 626-57.

DeLancey, Scott. 1982. Aspect, Transitivity and Viewpoint.

-

Tense-Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragmatics, ed. by

Paul J. Hopper. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing
Company.

DeLancey, Scott. 1985. Lhasa Tibetan evidentials and the

semantics of causation. Proceedinas of the Eleventh
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society,
ed, by Mary Niepokuj et al., 65-72.

DeLancey, Scott. 1986a. Evidentiality and volitionality in

Tibetan. Evidentiality: The Linquistic Coding of
E~istemoloav.ed. bv Chafe and Nichols, 203-213.
DeLancey,
- Scott. 1986b. Toward a history of Thai classifier
-

systems. Noun Classes and Categorization, ed. by

Colette Craig, 437-452. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.

DeLancey, Scott. 1990a. A note on evidentiality in Hare.

International Journal of American Linguistics 56: 152-

DeLancey, Scott. 1990b. Crosslinguistic evidence for the

structure of the agent prototype. Papers and Reports
on Child Language Development 29. The Board of
Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.

DeLancey, Scott. 1990c. Ergativity and the cognitive model

of event structure in Lhasa Tibetan. Cognitive
Linguistics 1:289-321.

DeLancey, Scott. 1991a. Event construal and case

assignment. Proceedings of the seventeenth annual
meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 338-353.
Berkeley: University of California.

DeLancey, Scott 1992. The historical status of the

-

conjunct/disjunct pattern in Tibeto-Burman. Acta

Linguistics Havniensia 25: 39-62.

DeLancey, Scott. 1993. Grammaticalization and Linguistic

Theory. Proceedings of the 1993 Mid-America
Linguistics Conference, ed. by Jule Gomez de Garcia
and David Rood. Boulder Colorado: University of
Colorado Department of Linguistcs.

DeLancey, Scott. 1997. Mirativity: The grammatical

marking of unexpected information. Linguistic Typology
1:33-52. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DeLancey, Scott. 1999 The Mirative and Evidentiality. To

appear: Journal of Pragmatics.

Demuth, Katherine. 2000. Bantu noun class systems: loanword

and acquisition evidence of semantic productivity.
Systems of Nominal Classification, ed. by Gunter
Senft, 270-292. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diffloth, Gerard. 1972. Notes on Expressive Meaning. Papers
From the Eighth Regional Meeting:Chicago Linguistic
Society, ed. by Paul M. Peranteau, Judith N. Levi and
Gloria C. Phares, 440-446. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic
Society.

Dik, Simon C. 1997. The Theory of Functional Grammar, Part

1: The Structure of the Clause. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter .

Dixon, R.M.W. 1968. Noun classes. Lingua 21:104-125.

.
Dixon, R.M.W. (ed.) 1976. Grammatical Categories in
Australian Lanauaaes. New Jersev:Humananities Press
Inc.

Dixon, R.M.W. 1979. Ergativity. Language 55: 59-138.

Dixon, R.M.W. 1982a. Noun classes. Where Have All the

Adjectives Gone: and other essays on Semantics and
Svntax. 159-183.

Dixon, R.M.W. 1982b. Noun classifiers and noun classes.

Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? and other essays
on Semantics and Syntax, 211-233. The Hague: Mouton.

Dixon, R-M-W, 1986, Noun classes and noun classification in

typological perspective. Noun Classification and
Categorization, ed. by Colette Craig, 105-112.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Dixon, R.M.W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Dixon, R.M.W. 2000. A typology of causatives: Form, syntax

and meaning. Changing valency. Case studies in
.. R.M.W. Dixon and A. Y -
transitivity, ed. by
L.

Aikhenvald, 30-83. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Dowty, David R. 1991. Thematic proto-roles and argument

selection. Language 67: 547-619.
Dryer, Matthew S. 1986. Primary objects, secondary objects,
and antidative. Language 62: 808-45.

Dryer, Matthew S. 1991. SVO languages and the 0V:VO

typology. Journal of Linguistics 27: 443-482.

Dryer, Matthew S. 1992. The Greenbergian word order

correlations. Language 68: 81-138.

Dryer, Matthew S. 1997. On the six-way word order typology.

Studies in Lanquage 21: 69-103.

DuBois, John W. 1985. Competing motivations. Iconicity in

-Svntax. ed. bv John Haiman, 343-365. Amsterdam: John
a

Benjamins Publishing Company.

DuBois, John A. 1987. The discourse basis of ergativity.

Language 63: 805-855.

Durie, Mark. 1988. Verb serialization and "verbal

prepositions" in Oceanic languages. Oceanic
Linguistics 27: 1-23.

Durie, Mark. 1997. Grammatical structures in verb

serialization. Complex Predicates, ed. by Alex Alsina,
Joan Bresnan, and Peter Sells, 289-354. Stanford:
Center for the Study of Language and Information
Publications.

Evans, Nick. 1996. The syntax and semantics of body part

incorporation in Mayali. The Grammar of
Inalienability, ed. by Hillary Chappell and William
McGregor, 65-109. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Evans, Nick. 1997. Role or Cast? Noun incorporation and

complex predicates in Mayali. Complex Predicates, ed.
by Alex Alsina, Joan Bresnan, and Peter Sells, 397-
430. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and
Information Publications.

Fillmore, Charles J. 1967. The grammar of hitting and

breaking. Readings in Enqlish Transformational
Grammar. ed. bv R. Jacobs and P. Rosenbaum, 120-133.
a

Waltham, MA: Ginn.

Fillmore, Charles J. 1968a. Lexical entries for verbs.
Foundations of Language 4: 373-393.

Fillmore, Charles J. 1968b. The case for case. Universals

in Linguistics Theory, ed. by Emmon Bach and Robert T.
Harms, 1-88. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Foley, William A., and Mike Olson. 1985. Clausehood and

verb serialization. Grammar inside and outside the
clause: Some approaches to theory from the field, ed.
by J. Nichols and A. C. Woodbury, 17-67. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Foley, William A., and Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. 1984.

Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Foley, William A., and Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.. 1985.

Information packaging in the clause. Language typology
and syntactic description: Clause structure, ed. by T.
Shopen, vol. I, 282-364. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Gerdts, Donna B. 1998. Incorporation. The handbook of

morphology, ed. by Andrew Spencer and Arnold M.
Zwicky, 84-100. Oxford: Blackwell.

Givbn, T. 1976. Topic pronoun and grammatical agreement.

Subject and Topic, 149-188, ed. by C. N. Li. New York:
Academic Press.

Givbn, Talmy. 1991a. Serial verbs and the mental reality of

'event'. Grammatical vs. cognitive packaging.
Approaches to Grarnmaticalization, ed. by B. Heine and
E. Traugott, vol. I, 81-127. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.

Givbn, Talmy. 1991b. Some substantive issues concerning

verb serialization: Grammatical vs. cognitive
packaging. Serial verbs: Grammatical, comparative, and
cognitive approaches, ed. by Claire Lefebvre, 137-184.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Givbn, T. 1991c. The Chicken Story Video. Undistributed

video. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon.
Givbn, T. 2001a. Syntax. Vol. I. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.

Givbn, T. 2001b. Syntax. Vol. 11. Amsterdam: John Benjamins

Publishing Company.

Goldberg, Adele. 1995. Constructions, A Construction

Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. 1995. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.

Goldberg, Adele E. 1997. Making one's way through the data.

Complex Predicates, ed. by Joan Bresnan and Peter
Sells, 151-174. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1960. The general classification of

Central and South American Indian languages. Men and
Cultures : Selected Papers of the sth International
Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological
Sciences.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with

particular reference to the order of meaningful
elements. Universals of Language, ed. by Joseph
Greenberg, 73-113. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Gseenberg, .JosephH- 1983. Some iconic relationships among

place, time, and discourse deixis. Iconicity in
Syntax, ed. by John Haiman, 271-288. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1987. Languaqe in the Americas.

Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Grinevald, Colette. 2000. A morphosyntactic typology of

classifiers. Systems of Nominal Classification, ed. by
Gunter Senft, 50-92. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Grinevald, Colette. 2001. Linguistics of Classifiers.

Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences,
ed. by Smelser, Neil J. and Paul B. Bates. Amsterdam:
Oxford: Elsevier.
Grinevald, Colette. 2002. Making sense of nominal
classification systems: Noun classifiers and the
grammaticalization variable. New Reflections on
Grammaticalization. ed. bv Ilse Wischer and Gabriele
4

Diewald, 259-276. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing

Company.

.
Haiman, J. (ed.) 1985. Iconicity in Syntax. Proceedings of
a Symposium at Stanford, 1983. Amsterdam: John
Bejamins Publishing Company.

Haiman, J. and P. Munro (eds.). 1983a. Switch-reference and

Universal Grammar. Proceedings of a Sumposium at
Winnipeg, 1981. Typological Studies in language.
Amsterdam: John Bejamins Publishing Company.

Hale, Austin (1980). Person markers: Finite conjunct and

disjunct-verb-forms in Newari. Papers in South-East
Asian Linguistics, ed. by R. TRail, 7:95-106,
Canberra: Australian National University.

Hargreaves, David (1991). The concept of intentional action

in the grammar of kathmandu Newari. Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Oregon.

Haspelmath, Martin. 1993. More on the typology of

inchoative/causative verb alternations. Causatives and
Transitivity, ed. by B. Comrie and M. Polinsky, 87-
111. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Haspelmath, Martin. 1999. External possession in a European

area1 perspective. External possession, ed. by D.
Payne and I. Barshi, 109-135. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.

Heine, Bernd. 1993. Auxiliaries: Cognitive forces and

grammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Heine, Bernd. 2002. On the role of context in

grammaticalization. New Reflections on
Grammaticalization, ed. by Ilse Wischer and Gabriele
Diewald. Amsterdam: John Bejamins Publishing Company.
Heine, Bernd; Ulrike Claudi; and Friederike Hunnemeyer.
1991. Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Hinton, Leanne, Johanna Nichols and John J. Ohala (eds.).

1994. Sound Symbolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Hopper, Paul J., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1980. Transitivity

in grammar and discourse. Language 59: 251-299-

Jacobsen, William 1964. A grammar of the Washo language.

Ph-D. dissertation, University of California at
Berkeley.
Jesperson, Otto. 1924. The Philosophy of Grammar. London:
George Allen and Unwin.

Jij6n and Caamafio, Jacinto. 1941. El Ecuador Interandino o

Occidental antes de.la Conquista Castellana Vol.
2:119-288. Quito:

Kaufman, Terrence. 1990. Language history in South America:

What we know and how to know more. Amazonian
Linquistics: Studies in Lowland South American
Languages, ed. by Doris Payne, 13-74. Austin:
University of Texas Press-

Keenan, Edward L. 1985a. Passive in the world's languages.

Language typology and syntactic description, ed. by T.
Shopen, v01 I, 243-281. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Keenan, Edward L. 1985b. Relative Clauses. Language

Typology and Syntactic Description: Complex
constructions, ed. by T. Shopen, vol. 11, 141-170.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kemmer, Suzanne. 1993. The Middle Voice. Amsterdam: John

Benjamins Publishing Company.

Kita, Sotaro. 1997. Two-dimensional semantic analysis of

Japanese mimetics. Linguistics 35:379-415.
Klaiman, M. H. 1991. Grammatical Voice. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

KO, Kyounghee. 1989. The integrated/New Knowledge Markers

in Korean. Master's Thesis, Eugene: University of
Oregon.

Koch, Harold. 1984. The category of 'associated motion' in

Kaytej. Language in Central Australia 1: 23-34.

Lakoff, Robin. 1971. Passive Resistance. Papers From the

Seventh Reqional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic
Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Langacker, Ronald W. 1987a. Nouns and verbs. Language, Vol

63, No.l:53-94.

Langacker, Ronald W. 1987b. Foundations of Coqnitive

Grammar. Volume I. Theoretical Prerequisites.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Langacker, Ronald W. 1991a. Foundations of Coqnitive

Grammar. Volume 11. Descriptive Application. Stanford:
Stanford University Press.

Langacker, Ronald W. 1991b. Concept, Imaqe and Symbol, The

Cognitive Basis of Grammar. Berlin: Mounton de
Gruyter.

Lee, Ho Sang. 1985. Consciously-known but unassimilated

information: A pragmatic analysis of the epistemic
modal -kun in Korean. Proceedings of the First
Pacific Linguistics Conference, 183-210. Eugene:
Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.

Lee, Ho Sang.
- 1993. Cognitive constraints on expressing
newly perceived information, with reference to
epistemic modal suffixes in Korean. Cognitive
Linguistics 4.135-167.

Lehmann, Christian. 2002. New reflections on

grammaticalization and lexicalization. New Reflections
on Grammaticalization, ed. by Else Wischer and
Gabriele Diewald, 1-18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Levin, Beth. 1993. English verb classes and alternations. A
preliminary Chicago: Chicago University
Press.

Levin, Beth and M. Rappaport Hovav. 1995. Unaccusativity at

the syntax-lexical semantic interface. Cambridge: The
MIT Press.

Li, Charles N. (ed.). 1976. Subject and Topic. New York:

Academic Press.

Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1976. Subject and

topic: a new typology of language. Subject and Topic,
ed. by Charles Li, 457-490. New York: Academic Press.

Lord, Carol. 1993. Historical Change in Serial Verb

Constructions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Lucy, John A. 1992a. Grammatical Categories and Cognition.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lucy, John a. 1992b. Lanquage Diversity and Thought.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lucy, John A. 2000. Systems of nominal classification: a

concluding discussion. Systems of Nominal
Classification, ed. by Gunter Senft, 326-342.
Cambridge: Camgridge University Press.

Mithun, Marianne. 1984. The evolution of noun

incorporation. Language 60: 847-894.
Mithun, Marianne. 1986a. Noun Classes and Categorization,
ed. by Colette Craig, 379-397. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.

Mithun, Marianne. 1986b. On the nature of noun

incorporation. Language 62:32-37.

Mithun, Marianne. 1989. The subtle significance of the

locus of morphologization. International Zournal of
American Linguistics 55: 265-82.

Mithun, Marianne. 1991. Active/agentive case marking and

its motivations. Language 67: 510-46.

Mithun, Marianne. 1994. Word-formation: Incorporation, In

The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, ed. by
R.E. Asher and J.M.Y. Simpson, vol. 9, 5024-5026.
Mithun, Marianne. 1995. Multiple reflections of
inalienability in Mohawk. The Grammar of
Inalienability, ed. by Hilary Chappell and William
McGregor, 633-649. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Mithun, Marianne. 1997. Lexical affixes and morphological

typology. Essays on Language Function and Language
Type: Dedicated to T. Givbn, ed. by Joan Bybee, John
Haiman, and Sandra A. Thompson, 357-371. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.

Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North

America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mithun, Marianne. 2000. Valency-changing derivation in

Central Alaskan Yup'ik. Changing valency: Case studies
in transitivity, ed. by R.M.W. Dixon and A.Y.
Aikhenvald, 84-114. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Mithun, Marianne and Wallace Chafe. 1999. What are S, A,
and O? Studies in Language 23:3:569-596.

Mix, Robert. 1992. Evidentiality in Tsafiki. Eugene,

Oregon: Unpublished MS.

Mohanan, Tara. 1994. Argument Structure in Hindi. Stanford:

CSLI Publications.

Mohanan, Tara. 1997. Multidimensionality of Representation:

Noun-Verb Complex Predicates in Hindi. Complex
Predicates, ed. by Joan Bresnan and Peter Sells, 431-
472. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Moore, Bruce. 1962. Correspondences in South Barbacoan

Chibcha. Studies in Ecuadorian Indian Languages I.
Mexico: Instituto Linguistico Verano.

Moore, Bruce R. 1966. Diccionario: Catellano-Colorado;

Colorado-Castellano. Quito, Ecuador: Insituto
Linguistico de Verano.

Moore, Bruce. 1975. El sistema fonitico del idioma

colorado. Estudios fonol6gicos de lenguas vern6culas
del Ecuador. Quito: Instituto Linguistico Verano.

Moore, Bruce, 1979a- Cuadernos Etnolinguistico 5: El Cambio

Cultural Entre Los Colorados de Santo Dominqo. Quito:
Instituto Linguistico Verano.

Moore, Bruce. 1979b. Cuadernos Etnolinquisticos 4: Metdo

Para Aprender El Idioma Colorado: Gramatica
Pedaq6gica. . Instituto Linguistic0 Verano.

Moore, Bruce. 1991. Patrones Gramticales del Colorados

(Chibcha), ed. by Steve H. Levinsohn. Quito: Instituto
Linguistico Verano.

Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. (ed.) . 1988. Typology of Resultative

Constructions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing
Company.

Nichols, J. and A. Woodbury (eds.). Grammar Inside and

Outside the Clause: Some A~~roaches to Theorv from the
Field. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nicolas, Edith. 2000. The semantics of verbal
classification in Bardi (Western Australia).
Australian Journal of ~ii~uistics 20: 157-777.

Noonan, Michael. 1985. Complementation. Lanquage Typology

and Syntactic Description 11, Complex Constructions,
ed. by Timothy Shopen. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Nuckolls, Janis B. 1996. Sounds Like Life, Sound-Sumbolic

Grammar. Performance and Coanition in Pastaza Ouechua.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nuckolls, Janis B. 2001. Ideophones in Pastaza Quechua.

Payne, Doris L. 1997. The Massai external possessor

construction. Essays on language function and language
type: dedicated to T. Givbn, ed. by Joan Bybee, John
Haiman, and Sandra A. Thompson, 395-422. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.

Payne, Doris L. and Immanuel Barshi. 1999. External

possession: What, where, how, and why. External
Possession, ed. by D. Payne and I. Barshi, 3-29.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Perlmutter, David (ed.) 1983. Studies in Relational Grammar

1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
-
Perlmutter, David and Paul Postal. 1983. The relational
succession l a w . S t u d i e s i n R e l a t i o m l G r a m m a r 1, ed.
by David Perlmutter, 30-80. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.

Rijkhoff, J. 1990. Toward a unified analysis of terms and

predications. Layers and Levels of Representation in
Language Theory: A E'unctional View, ed. by Jan Nuyts,
A. Machtelt Boldestein and CO Vet, 165-192. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Rivet, Paul and Beuchat. 1907. Contribution a 1"etude del
langues Colorado et Cayapa (Republique de l'kquatuer),
Journal de la Soci6t6 des Americanistes de Paris N,J.
Vol. IV. Paris.

Rojas Curiuex, T. 1994. Expression of the category of

grammatical time in the Nasa Yuwe (Paez language)
predicate. Estructuras Sint6cticas de la Predicaci6nn
Lenguas Amerindias de Colombina, compliled by Jon
Landaburu, 567-600, Bogota, Colombia: Universidad de
Los Andes.

Rojas Curiuex, Tulio Enrique. 1998. La lengua paez, Una

visi6n de su aramatica. Colombia: Ministerio de
Cultura.

Sanches, Mary. 1973. Numeral classifiers and plural

marking: An implicational universal. Working Papers on
Linguistic Universals, No. 11, 1-22. Stanford:
Stanford University.

Sands, Kristina. 1995. Nominal Classification in Australia.

Anthropological Linquistics. 37:247-346.

Saussure, Ferdinand. 1972 [1916]. Course in General

Linquistics, translated by Roy Harris. La Salle,
Illinois: Open Court.

Schultze-Berndt, Eva. 2000. Simple and Complex Verbs in

Jaminjung: A study of event categorisation in an
Australian language. PhD dissertation. Nijmegen,
Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.

Scultze-Berndt, Eva. 2001. Ideophone-like characteristics

of uninflected predicates in Jaminjung (Australia).

Schultze-Berndt, Eva and Nikolaus P. Hirnmelman. 2001.

Depictive secondary predicates in cross-linguistic
perspective. Unpublished ms. Sprachwissenschaftliches
Institut, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum.
Senft, Gunter (ed.). 2000A. Systems of Nominal
Classification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Senft, Gunter. 2000B. What do we really know about nominal

classification systems? Systems of Nominal
Classification, ed. by Gunter Senft, 11-49. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1996. Applicatives and benfactives: A

cognitive account. Grammatical Constructions, Their
Form and Meaning, ed. by Masayoshi Shibatani and
Sandra Thompson, 157-194. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1996. Applicatives.and benefactives:

A cognitive account. Grammatical Constructions, ed. by
M. Shibatani and S. A. Thompson, 157-194. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Shibatani, Masayoshi. 2001. Non-canonical constructions in

Japanese. Non-canonical Marking of Subjects and
Objects, ed. by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R.M.W. Dixon
and Masayuki Onishi, 307-354. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.

Silvestein, Michael. 1976. Hierarchy of features and

.
ergativity Grammatical categories in Australian
languages, ed, by R,M, W, Dixon, 112-71, Canberra:
Australia Institute of Aboriginal Studies.

Slater, Keith. 1996. Evidentiality in Minhe Monguor and the

conjunct/disjunct system: Language contact on the
Inner Asian frontier. Unpublished MS, Department of
Linguistics, University of California at Santa
Barbara.

Slobin, Dan & Ayhan Aksu (1982). Tense, aspect, and

modality in the use of the Turkish evidential. Tense-
Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragmatics ed. by Paul
Hopper, 185-200. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Slobin, Dan I. 1997. Mind, code, and text. Essays on

Lanquage Function and Language Type: Dedicated to T.
Givbn, ed. by Joan Bybee, John Haiman, and Sandra A.
Thompson, 437-467. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Stirling, Lesley. 1993. Switch-Reference and Discourse
Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sweetser, Eve E. 1990. From Etyjology to Pragmatics.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Talmy, Leonard. 1985. Lexicalization patterns: Semantic

structure in lexical form. Language Typology and
Syntactic Description: Grammatical Categories and the
Lexicon, ed. by T. Shopen, vol. 111 , 57-149.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Talmy, Leonard. 2000a. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Volume

I, Concept Structuring Systems. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Talmy, Leonard. 2000b. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Volume

11, Typology and Process in Concept Structurinq.
Cambridge, Masschusetts: The MIT Press.

Taylor, John R. 1989. Linguistic Categorization. Oxford:

Clarendon Press.

Thompson, Sandra A. and Robert E. Longacre. 1985. Adverbial

Clauses. Language Typology and Syntactic Description
11, Complex Constructions, ed. by Timothy Shopen.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tovar, Antonio and Consuelo Larrucca de Tovar. 1984.

Cat6logo de las lenguas de Amkrica del Sur. Nueva
Edici6n. Madrid: Gredos.

TriviAo Garzon, L. 1994. Towards a typology of the

predicate of the simple sentence in the guambiano
language. Estructuras Sintacticas de la ~redicaci6nR
Lenguas Amerindias de Colombina, compliled by Jon
Landaburu, 601-618. Bogota, Colombia: Universidad de
Los Andes

Van Valin, Robert D., Jr. and David P. Wilkins. 1996. The
case for 'effector' case roles, agents and agency
revisited. Grammatical Constructions, ed. by Shibatani
and Thompson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Van Valin, Robert D., Jr. and Randy J. LaPolla. 1997.
Syntax. Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

V6squez de Ruiz, Beatriz. 1988. La predicacidn en

Guambiano. Bogot6 Colcienceias and Universidad de 10s
Andes.

V6squezde Ruiz, Beatriz. 1994. The Compound Sentence in

Guambiano. Estructuras Sintacticas de la ~redicaci6nfi
Lenguas Arnerindias de Colombina, compliled by Jon
Landaburu, 619-638. Bogot6, Colombia: Universidad de
Los Andes

Vendler, Zeno. 1957{1967). Linguistics in Philosophy.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Ventura i Oller, Montserrat. 1995. En el camino: Los

Tsachila en el complejo &tic0 de la selva occidental
del Ecuador. Primer Encuentro de Investigadores de la
Costa Ecuatoriana En Europa. Quito, Ecuador: Abya-
Yala.

Ventura i Oller, Montserrat. 1997. En la Actualidad.

Etnografias Minimas del Ecuador, ed. by Jos6 E.
Juncosa. Serie Pueblos del Ecuador No. 14. Quito,

Vittadello, P. Alberto. 1988a. Cha'palaachi, El Idioma

Cayapa, Tomo 1. Guayaquil Ecuador: Museos del Banco
Central del Ecuador.

Vittadello, P. Alberto. 1988b. ChafpalaachifEl Idioma

Cayapa, Tomo 2. Guayaquil Ecuador: Museos del Banco
Central del Ecuador.

Voeltz, F.K. Erhard, and Christa Kilian-Hatz. Ideophones.

Amsterdam: John Bejamins Publishing Company.

Watters, David (1998). The Kham language of west-central

Nepal. Ph.D. dissertation. Eugene, Oregon. University
of Oregon.
Wilkins, David P. 1991. The semantics, pragmatics and
diachronic development of 'associated motionf in
Mparntwe Arrernte. Buffalo Papers in Linguistics 1:
207-257.

Wilkins, David P. 2000. Ants, ancestors and medicine: a

semantic and pragmatic account of classifier
constructions in Arrernte (Central Australia). Systems
of Nominal Classification, ed. by Gunter Senft, 147-
216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wilson, Stephen. 1999. Coverbs and Complex Predicates in

Waaiman. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

Zavala, Roberto. 1999. External possessor in Oluta Popoluca

(Mixean): Applicatives and incorporation of relational
terms. External possessor, noun incorporation and
related constructions, ed. by D. Payne and I. Barshi,
339-372. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Zavala, Roberto. 2000a. Inversion and Other Topics in the

Grammar of Olutec (Mixean). PhD Dissertation.
University of Oregon.

Zavala, Roberto. 2000b. Multiple classifier systems in

Akatek (Mayan). Systems of Nominal Classification, ed.
by Gunter Senft., 114-146. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.