original state/action/process which is the
opposite or negative of the one identified by the verb, a kind of
status-quo-ante4
|
|
78. |
1a. |
a1 na pfo o-sü2
|
|
|
my1
son2 has come3
(and is here) |
|
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
a1
na pfoo-sü2
vu-oie3
|
|
|
my1
son2 had come3
(and has gone back, is not here) |
|
|
|
|
2 |
a. |
ole1
ako/apru-ie2
|
|
(the)
pot1 has broken2
(one can see the broken pot) |
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
ole1
ako/apru-oie2
|
|
|
(the)
pot1 had broken2
(it is no longer inthe broken state) |
|
|
|
|
3 |
a. |
tasoni1
ocü2 vu ta-oie3
|
|
Tasoni1
has gone away2
home3 (and is
not here) |
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
tasoni
ocü vu ta-oie
|
|
|
Tasoni1
had gone away2
home3 (but is
back here) |
|
|
|
|
4 |
a. |
oso-sü1
shü-ie
2 |
|
the meat1
has spoiled2
|
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
oso-sü1
shü-oie2
|
|
|
the meat1
had spoiled2
(but is no longer inthe spoiled state) |
|
|
|
|
5 |
a. |
sibo1
ili shü-ie2
|
|
|
Sibo1
has taken ill2
(and is ill now) |
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
sino1
ili shü-oie2
|
|
|
Sibo1
had taken ill2
(but is no longer ill) |
|
|
|
|
6 |
a. |
mahibo1
mara-ie2
|
|
Mathibo1
has gone mad2
(and is mad now) |
|
|
| as
opposed to |
|
|
|
|
|
|
b. |
mahibo1
mara-oie2
|
|
|
Mathibo1
had gone mad2
(but is no longer mad) |
|
4.
|
The
latter is marked typically for some verbs (e.g motion verbs)
by the past perfective forms in some languages eg. English,
Kannada. |
Since aorist is morphologically
zero, the above sentences illustrate both present and past
perfective. The reader should not be misle by the
English past tense glosses for o i-sentences.
As a further example, consider:
|
|
79. |
ai1
idu2 ni3
cü4 he5
vue6 ana7
ni8 ·elli9
-li10 ta-ie11 |
| |
‘I1
came6 to5
your3 house4
yesterday2 but7
you (sg.)8 HAD |
| |
gone11
to10 Delhi9
(you were not at home)’ |
|
where the sentence-ending ta-ie
is clearly (semantic) past (tense) perfective (aspect),
meaning ‘had gone’. ta-oie,
on the other hand, would mean ‘had gone and come back’,
which does not make sense in the above sentence.
|
|
Or
|
|
80. |
ai1
idu2 ni3
cü4 he5
vue6 ana7
ni8 ozhi-ie9
|
| |
I1
came6 to5
your3 house4
yesterday2 ,
but7 you (sg.)8
HAD |
| |
slept9
|
|
In contrast, the sentence
|
|
81. |
ai1
idu2 ni3
cü4 he5
vue6 ana7
ni8 ozhi-oie9
|
| |
I1
came6 to5
your3 house4
yesterday2 ,
but7 you (sg.)8
had |
| |
slept (and got/were
up)9 |
| |
does not make good
sense. |
|
This back-to-the-original-state
meaning that -oi
carries is not true across the board. Being sensitive, as
it is, to the semantics of the verb, it is not true of all
intrasitives. thi ‘to die’ for instance. oi
suffixed to thi as in
|
|
82. |
a1 pfo2
ata-yi3 duno4 thi-oie5
|
| |
my1 father2
died5 for4 us (excl. prn.
& excl. pl.)3 |
|
signifies one of the attendant meanings of oi,
to be discussed presently ; to wit, that ‘the subject died
for us ands he had nothing more to accomplish’. |
The perfective aspect is marked
for transitive verbs only by oi,
not by i.
Only with verbs descriptive of social coming together does
oi
carry the back-to-the-original-state meaning with transitive.
|
|
83. |
1. |
makhabo-no1
manini-yi2 mono-oie
3 |
| |
|
Makhabo1
(has) married and separated from3
Manini2 |
| |
|
|
|
|
2. |
kaikho-no1
kaini-yi 2 kasa
so-oie3
|
| |
|
Kaikho1
(has) made friends with and fell/has fallen out
with3 Kaini
2 |
|
