Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

utterance. However, the situation has not changed by the time of utterance, and the state
in which I encountered the village church is relevant at perspective time. I argue in chapter
3 that -a- is a completive marker, and not a perfect with relevance effects. In this example,
it is not the result state that is highlighted at utterance time – indeed, the church situation
itself is independent of my finding it. Instead, it seems that the completion of the finding
situation is represented as prior to perspective time, but still within the cognitive domain of
perspective time, because the situation under discussion, the busyness of church life, is part
of the here-and-now world.
(276) Chwale njeyeyi inchechi mwawaana inywa ba. . . ba-Thera. Mwatuwaana mumapulogalama
amangi.
chwale nje-yeyi inchechi mwa-waan-a inywe ba-Thera.
interj cop-cl9.dem cl9.church 2pl.cmpl-find-fv.rc 2pl.pron 2pl
mwa-tu-waan-a mu-mapulogalama a-mangi
2pl-Thera 2sg.cmpl-1pl-find-fv cl18(loc)-cl6.program cl6-many
‘And so that’s the church you find [here today], Miss Thera. You found us in the
midst of a lot of programs.’ (ZT2007Narr44.VK)
Two similar examples, also repeated from chapter 3, are given in (277) and (278). In
(277), nuclear completion (see chapter 3) is on the day of utterance, and -ka- is not used.
In (278), as in (276), the results of the situation referenced have not changed by the time of
the day of utterance, and they are relevant within its temporal domain. Thus, a -ka- form
is not used.
(277) twàyèndá àmázùbà òbílè, ndétùsìkà
twa-yend-a amazuba o-bile, nde-tu-sik-a
1pl.cmpl-walk-fv cl6.day cl6-two at.this.time-1pl-arrive-fv
‘we(’ve) walked two days, now we’re just arriving’ (ZT2009Elic67, repeated from
(121))
(278) kono batili Mulimu atutusa
kono
but
batili Mulimu a-tu-tus-a
no/interj cl1a.God cl1a.cmpl-1pl-help-fv
‘and oh my, truly, God (has) helped us’ (ZT2007Narr18.VK, repeated from (139))
While prehodiernal pasts without -ka- as in the above examples are relatively uncommon,
speakers regularly produce and accept posthodiernal futures without na-. Both (279a) and
(279b) are perfectly acceptable.
(279) a. ìjìlò ndìlàyá kùmpìlì
ijilo
tomorrow
ndi-la-y-a
1sg-noncmpl-go-fv
ku-mpili
cl17(loc)-fields
‘tomorrow I’m going to the fields’ (ZT2009Elic34)
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