erromangan verb phrases

8/8/2019 Erromangan Verb Phrases

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Occasionally, however, especially when the object has human rather than non-human reference, it is

possible for the third person singular pronoun iyito be used. Thus, the example just presented could appear

also as follows, with no change of meaning:

Y-etipe iyi.

3SG

:D

ISTPAST-BR:

appoint3SG

'(S)he appointed him/her.'

With the verb sompat 'close', for which an inanimate noun phrase is the only pragmatically likely

object, a third person singular pronominal object is almost exclusively expressed as zero, as in the following:

Yi-sompat .

3SG:DISTPAST-close 3SG

'(S)he closed it.'

When a suffixed transitive verb is associated with an object, the verb appears with a suffix that is

identical in shape with the third person singular pronominal marker - referred to as the construct form - whenthe object is a noun. With the greatest number of suffixed verbs, the construct suffix is -i, while with that

small number of verbs referred to as possessive verbs, the construct suffix is -n. Thus:

Ovrog-i ovonyan. Atovni-n ovonyan.

2SG:lMP-BR:call-CONST PL:child 2SG:IMP-BR:NAME-CONST PL:child

'Call the children!' 'Name the children!'

While no lexical material can appear between a construct suffix on a verb and the following object,

the post-object suffixes can appear in this environment. Thus:

Konisu (


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Such constructions are almost exclusively restricted to the speech of people in their seventies (or

older), though younger speakers occasionally produce random instances of such constructions. Younger

people judge such constructions prescriptively as "better" than those in which the construct suffix is present,

despite the rarity of such forms in their own speech. These facts suggest that the construct suffix on verbs

may be a relatively recent innovation in Erromangan. If this is the case, however, it certainly became

established very rapidly.

When the construct suffix is absent, the preceding verb root behaves as if the following noun were

morphologically bound to it. We therefore find the following kinds of alternations:

(i) When the verb root ends in ok-, og-or ogk-, these sequences become ocbefore any segment other than a

velar consonant when there is no construct suffix. We therefore find alternations of the following kinds:

Y-oryok-i nitni. Yoryoc nitni.

3SG:DlSTPAST-BR:pick.up-CONST child:3SG 3SG:DlSTPAST-BR:pick.up child:3SG

'(S)he picked up his/her child.'

Y-ovog-i ovoteme. Yovoc ovoteme.

3SG:DlSTPAST-BR:give-CONST PL:person 3SG:DlSTPAST-BR:give PL:person

'(S)he gave it to the people.'

(ii) Underlying schwa is realized as either o (or, very occasionally, e) or zero. Thus:

Yochi (


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'(S)he was very tired.'

3.0 Causative

There is a causative construction in which the action that is brought about by an external agent is

expressed by placing the caused action by placing the uninflected basic root of the verb as a separate wordafter the inflected causative verb om-, with the subject of the caused verb being expressed as the pronominal

object of the causative verb. The caused verb can be either stative or active, as illustrated by the following:

C-am-kor omurep. Y-ov-yau etehep.

3sg:fut-mr:caus-3pl BR:alive 3sg:distpast-br:caus-1sg BR:sit

'(S)he will bring them to life.' '(S)he sat me down.'

The verb appearing after the causative verb can be either intransitive, as in the examples just

presented, or it can be a transitive verb with an object, for example:

Yac-am-kik omonki nu.1sg:fut-mr:caus-2sg BR:drink water

'I will make you drink water.'

This construction has a defective paradigm in that it cannot be used with either a noun as the subject

of the caused verb, or a third person singular pronoun. Thus, in order to express meanings such as 'I will

bring the people to life' or 'I will bring him/her to life' a second causative construction must be used.

4.0 Verbal Postmodifiers

There is a small number of verbal postmodifiers which have in common the fact that they are

obligatorily associated with a pronoun that agrees with the pronominal category of the subject of the verb.

(i) Pe- 'regardless, in spite of everything'

Pe- has the same paradigm as the pronominal postmodifier and it indicates that the subject of the

verb will perform the action in spite of adverse circumstances. This form appears with the same pronominal

marking as the verbal subject, for example:

Kamli-ve pe-kam.

lPL.EXCL:DlSTPAST-BR:go regardless-1 PL .EXCL

'We went regardless.'

(ii) Sinvango'naked'

The form sinvango 'naked' behaves in the same way as an unsuffixed transitive verb in that it is

obligatorily followed by an independent pronoun, or, in the case of a third person singular pronominal object,

by zero. However, sinvango is clearly not a verb itself because it accepts no verbal prefixation of any kind.

Thus:


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Kaml-oruc sinvango kam.

lPL.EXCL:DiSTPAST-MR:bathe naked 1PL.EXCL

'We all bathed naked.'

Cam-naleipo sinvango .3SG:PRES-MR:sleep naked 3SG

'(S)he sleeps naked.'

(iii) Kinta- 'backwards'

This modifier accepts pronominal suffixes that are identical with those that express possession on

bound nouns. These suffixes express the same pronominal category as the subject of the verb. Thus:

Avan m-torilki kinta-m!

2SG:lMP-BR: walk SG:ES-BR:return backwards-2SG

'Walk backwards!'

Yam-avan m-torilki kinta-g.

lSG:DlSTPAST-BR: walk SG:ES-BR:return backwards-lSG

'I walked backwards.'

(iv) No-.. .-go 'barefoot'

The form no- is a bound noun meaning 'foot', though it can also function as a verbal postmodifier, in

which case it carries a pronominal possessive suffix that agrees with the pronominal category of the subject,

as well as the restrictive suffix -go 'only'. As a verb modifier, no-.. .-go indicates that the action is performed

barefoot, for example:

Ndw-avan no-nd-go.

3PL:DISTPAST-BR: walk foot-3PL-REST

'They walked barefoot.'

Yam-avan nogo (


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When both an object and any of the verbal postmodifiers just described is present, the object

immediately follows the verb, and the modifier follows the object, as in:

Yoco-nta-i nompcahi pe-yau.

1SG:

FUT-MR:

kill-C0N

ST pig regardless-1SG'I will still kill the pig (even though I have been told not to).'

Yac-ahpi netai sinvango yau.

lSG:FUT-MR:read book naked lSG

'I will read the book naked.'

There is one additional verbal postmodifier whose appearance is not dependent on the inflectional

categories marked on the verb, and that is the negative constituent tawi. This is described as a marker of

negation in non-verbal clauses. However, it can also appear after a verb phrase that itself contains inflectional

marking in order to express emphatic negation. Thus:

Kotwaghi (

erromangan verb phrases

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