Chapter 6: Tense, aspect and mood

as a marker of negated non-past events, and of subordinate clauses (Waddy n.d.-b; sections 8.9.1
and 8.11.1). In these environments the suffix is obligatory and bleached of its meaning. In other
contexts the suffix is entirely blocked, which include: (i) the if-clause of conditionals encoded by
the LOC case suffix -manja, (ii) verbs marked with the PURPosive clitic =yadha, (iii) nominalised
verbs, and (iv) the negated past. The absence of the -ma suffix will be argued to also be
semantically motivated: the suffix does not appear on unrealised events.
Table 6.14 repeats the TAM system from Table 6.13 above and presents its interaction with the
-ma ~ -mvrra suffix. The ‘+’ sign indicates the presence of the suffix, and parentheses mean that
its presence is optional.
Form
Prefix Suffix
Modal meaning -ma ~ -mvrra
Realis
Npast1/2
Non-modal meanings (statements of fact); and
Occasionally Deontic, Desiderative-intentional
(+)
Past1/2 Non-modal meanings (statements of fact) (+)
Npast1/2
Non-modal future; and
Epistemic, Deontic, Desiderative-intentional
(+)
Irrealis
Past2
Counterfactual; and
Deontic, Desiderative-intentional
(+)
+ Negative particle nara: Negated Past -
Imperative Npast1/2 Deontic 2 nd person -
Hortative Npast2
Intransitive Hortative (e.g. let’s go)
Transitive Hortative (e.g. let him kiss her)
(+)
-
a- / ng- Npast3 + Negative particle nara: Negated Npast + (= NP3)
Table 6.14: Enindhilyakwa TAM system and the -ma ~ -mvrra suffix
This table shows that the -ma suffix operates partly independently from the TAM system, which
will be demonstrated in more detail below.
The following two examples, taken from the same narrative, illustrate the first person
focalisation function of -ma.
(48) a. Kvni-yamv-na-manja, kenu-warde-na-manja, nungkwa-ja kv-me-na
IRR.3m-do-NP2-LOC IRR.3m/2-hit-NP2-LOC 2.PRO-CofR IRR.2/NEUT-take-NP2
eeka kvnu-warde-na arrkalha.
NEUT.tree IRR.2/3m-hit-NP2 on.the.other.hand
‘If he does that, if he hits you, you can take a stick and hit him back.’ (‘Children’ h20-3)
b. Ngayuwa=dhangwa yiba-ngaji-na-ma eeka-mvrra ki-yama-manja
1.PRO=EMPH IRR.1/2-hit-NP2-ma NEUT.tree-INSTR IRR.2-do.NP1-LOC
arngk-ingka-manja.
NEUT.times-other-LOC
‘I will hit you with a stick if you do that another time.’ (‘Children’ h26-7)
In (48a) the subject is second person, and the verbs do not take -ma. By contrast, the subject in
(48b) is 1 st person and the verb is marked with -ma. The presence and absence of -ma cannot be
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