Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

dissociative na-), and in tonal environment.
(405) ndìnàñátàwùlà
ndì-nà-ñát-àwùl-à
1sg-pst-cut-iter-fv
‘I was cutting to pieces’ (ZT2009Elic45)
That the H tone surfaces on the first root mora, and not the mora following -na-, is
shown in (406).
(406) tàndìnàkàmùñátàwùlà
tà-ndì-nà-kà-mù-ñát-àwùl-à
neg-1sg-pst-dist-3sg-cut-iter-fv
‘I didn’t cut him to pieces’ (yesterday or before) (ZT2009Elic45)
-na- exhibits some degree of vowel length, and has falling tone when immediately preceding
monosyllabic stems, as in (407). Because the length of na- is variable, and is not
potentially contrastive in this position, length is not indicated in the orthography.
(407) tàndìnâlwì
tà-ndì-nâ-lu-ì
neg-1sg-pst-fight-fv.neg
‘I didn’t fight’ (ZT2009Elic45)
Other morphemes in this position surface with only H tone, as shown in (408), where
pre-root posthodiernal -ka- does not surface with falling tone.
(408) tàndìnàkálwì
tà-ndì-nà-ká-lu-ì
neg-1sg-pst-prehod-fight-fv.neg
‘I didn’t fight’ (yesterday or before) (ZT2009Elic26)
(407) also shows that monosyllabic stems have a final -i with past -na-.
7.2.1.1 Negation
An example of -na- in a negative form (the prehodiernal past) is shown in (406). With the
exception of prehodiernal imperfective forms, -na- appears in all past negatives, hodiernal
and prehodiernal. Negative tone patterns and final vowels are the same as in affirmative
forms. Negation with hodiernal and prehodiernal pasts is shown in (409a) and (409b),
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