Working Paper on Irrealis, Imperative Mode and Complementation ...

morpheme yan and the morphome that I have provisionally identified as COMP
(n/an) have the same effect on a following VP formed with ma- or maN-.
While this consequence of the morpheme I regard as a complementizer is quite
regular (and need not concern us further in this work), there are times when COMP
appears to trigger the loss of a voice-marking prefix or infix in a subsequent VP. This
results in the appearance of an unmarked monomorphemic base following COMP,
plus (optionally) one of the three possible derivational suffixes (-an, -i/-ani or –akӗn)
and an irrealis marker.
Uhlenbeck (1986:337) has analyzed the morpheme that I describe here as a complementizer.
He describes it as used where a pronoun or NP with pronominal clitic is “syntactically
connected with the verb or verbal group which follows it” and notes that “[t]his verb or
verbal group has either as agent or as patient the person to whom the pronoun of pronominal
suffix refers”. He also notes the obligatory denasalization of a succeeding segment beginning
with a nasal consonant.
I have noted thus far in my analysis of data that phrases or clauses formed with COMP n/an
can have a simple interpretation. However, at other times there appear to be cases where
COMP is used under conditions that imply equi-noun phrase deletion, or other changes
symptomatic of embedding of dependent clauses. At this point in my analyses I am not
prepared to make a definitive statement on the role of the morpheme n/an in
complementation. However, considering the fact that COMP does at times trigger a change to
a VP that would normally be found with a voice-marking affix I have broadened my search
on the corpus of materials available to me, and rephrased my goal in terms of the following
question:
Given that in realis conditions the great majority of VPs appear with a voice-marking
prefix or infix, what are the conditions under which a VP appears in the form of the
unmarked monomorphemic base +/- a derivational suffix?
Based on analysis of the data to follow (and a larger set not included in this working paper),
two strong conclusions can be stated with some certainty:
VPs that take the UV2 affix in realis mode in irrealis mode take the form of the
unmarked base +/- a derivational suffix and an irrealis marker (-a or ӗn)
One form of the imperative, which I will refer to hereafter as the “direct imperative”
takes the form of the unmarked base +/- a derivational suffix . It is often found in
combination with the Tr2 suffix –akӗn.
A third conclusion is better presented as a working hypothesis at this stage of analysis:
T. Hunter, ISLOJ <strong>Working</strong> <strong>Paper</strong>, 29 May 09, page 8