Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language
Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language
Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language
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1. BASIC GRAMMATICAL FEATURES 99<br />
obta<strong>in</strong> a thematic vowel. For <strong>in</strong>transitive <strong>verb</strong>s, this is -i while for<br />
transitive <strong>verb</strong>s the thematic vowel can be either -a', -o', or'u. The<br />
presence of the modality particles -oj and -ab' as well as the follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
pronoun <strong>in</strong> example (23) prevent the occurrence of a thematic vowel.<br />
Example (24) shows an <strong>in</strong>transitive<strong>verb</strong> wey `sleep' that is transitivized<br />
by the causative su x tse. The <strong>verb</strong> is therefore pre xed with set A as<br />
well as with set B pronom<strong>in</strong>al a xes, which are preceded by an aspect<br />
marker. Follow<strong>in</strong>g the causative morpheme are a directional and an<br />
irrealis su x. The <strong>verb</strong>al complex is supplemented by the pronoun<br />
naj `he' that allows to identify the gender of the direct object referent,<br />
i.e. male human, and a sentence nal clitic for rst person s<strong>in</strong>gular,<br />
an (CL1s), that <strong>in</strong>dicates that such a participant plays a role <strong>in</strong> the<br />
expression. Example (24) illustrates that the clitics are <strong>in</strong>deed sentence<br />
nal, mov<strong>in</strong>g the clitic to the end of the <strong>verb</strong>al complex, i.e. before the<br />
pronoun, would not be acceptable.<br />
(22) x-ach-b'ey-i<br />
PERF-B2-walk-ITV<br />
`You walked.' Zavala (1992b), 57<br />
(23) ;-b'ey-oj-ab' naj<br />
B3-walk-IRR-EXH he<br />
`He should walk!' Zavala (1992b), 58<br />
(24) x-;-<strong>in</strong>-wey-tse<br />
aa-oj naj an<br />
PERF-B3-A1-sleep-CAUS DIR-IRR he CL1s<br />
`I caused him to sleep.' Zavala (1992b), 89<br />
In the follow<strong>in</strong>g section, the tense-aspect-modality mark<strong>in</strong>g system of<br />
<strong>Akatek</strong> and its relation to the negation system is presented. Tenseaspect-modality<br />
mark<strong>in</strong>g and negation are part of the <strong>verb</strong>al complex<br />
described above. Both play a central role <strong>in</strong> the structural and semantic<br />
characterization of PVCs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Akatek</strong> <strong>in</strong> chapter 5.<br />
1.3. Tense, aspect, aktionsart, modality and negation. The<br />
notions of tense, aspect, aktionsart, modality and negation are used<br />
<strong>in</strong> chapter 5 as characteristics for the structural and semantic description<br />
of PVCs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Akatek</strong>. I do not want to take a stance regard<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the problems that have been discussed regard<strong>in</strong>g the concepts of tense,<br />
aspect, aktionsart and modality. 4 In <strong>Akatek</strong>, there is a future tense<br />
(FUT) that can also express irrealis mode (IRR). The notion of aspect<br />
is restricted to morphologically marked perfective (PERF) and<br />
(1990).<br />
4 For more recent contributions to the topic refer to Vetters & Vandeweghe
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