Thursday, June 16, 2016

Ŋʒädär: Verbal Aspect (pt 1)

Ŋʒädär's verbal system is characterized by a lack of 'thoroughness': few grammatical categories can be found throughout the verbal system, often only being marked on a minority of the verbs. The same marker can take on different functions with different verbs, and one of the verbal aspect markers can be pretty informative.

One of the approaches Ŋʒädär uses for aspect is reduplication. For some verbs, reduplication indicates telicity or perfectivity:
p'an- : hit at
p'amp'an- : kill, to kill by hitting at
duʒ- : to think
duʒduʒ- : to solve, to think through

k'ıv- : to reach for
k'ıvk'ıv- : to be tall enough to reach, to achieve after striving for
notice that k'ıvk'ıv- both conveys perfectivity and an entirely atelic state of affairs.
 For others, it implies progressive or continuous, even habitual aspect:
ŋʒis- : to bring (by carrying)
ŋʒiŋʒis- : be bringing, carry something somewhere
ʒgur- : to escape
ʒguʒgur- : to be exiled, to be an escapee

rəŋ- : to partition
rəŋrəŋ- : to have a share in something
Thus the meaning of reduplication is specific to each verb. Sometimes, the aspectual difference may - as seen above - amount to significant differences in actual meaning as well. 

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