Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

4.5.2.1 -la- in Tonga
-la- is listed as a present/future form in Tonga by Carter (2002). Tonga retains the conjunctive/disjunctive
distinction; Carter (2002:45) summarizes the contrast as follows:
A striking feature of the Tonga verbal system is the existence of a ‘strong’ and
a ‘weak’ variant for many verb forms. The strong form emphasises the verb, the
weak form emphasises the following item:
strong: balátumá lúgwalo ‘they are sending a letter’
weak: batúmá l ˙ugwalo ‘they are sending a letter’
4.5.2.2 -la- in Ila
In Ila, the disjunctive/conjunctive contrast between -la- forms and bare forms seems to have
been lost; bare forms apparently only appear in subordinate clauses (Fowler 2000; Smith
1964). 33
Like in Tonga and Totela, -la-marked verbs in Ila may have continuous/progressive, near
future, or habitual readings. In at least two Ila references (Smith 1964; Fowler 2000), it is
presented primarily as a future that may also have present and progressive readings.
Also, unlike in Totela (and, apparently, Tonga), Ila -la- combines with a variety of other
aspectual-type markers in future tenses. All of the examples in table 4.6 (copied from a larger
table in Nurse 2008:Appendix 1, p. 252) would be ungrammatical with the corresponding
Totela morphology: 34
Imperfective Persistive Anterior
-aku- -ci- -ile
F1 tu-la-aku-p-á tu-la-aku-ci-p-á tu-la-aku-p-elé
-la- we will be giving we will still be giving we will have given
F2 tu-la-ka-aku-p-á tu-la-ka-aku-ci-p-á tu-la-ka-aku-p-elé
-la-ka- we will be giving we will still be giving we will have given
Table 4.6: Ila future aspects with -la-
It may be, then, that -la- is in fact becoming a more general future in Ila. 35
4.5.2.3 -la- in Lamba (M.54)
As noted above, -la- in Lamba is a general present or progressive:
33Fowler (2000:857) writes that the “basic present” form without -la- is also used in “questions”; it is not
clear what form these questions take and whether the verb should be regarded as being a main clause verb.
34Note that not all of the TA semantics have been worked out carefully for these forms, as they are from
a study focused on tone.
35 Although nothing can be said with certainty about Fwe F2 -la-, the process there may have gone even
further: -la- marks F2 but no presents or other futures.
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