and
the subgrouping of the verbs are attempted on the basis of these features.
A discussion of these follows : |
3.3.1.
Morphological construction |
The tense,
aspect and the modal markers occurring with a verb has fixed order which
can be seen from the illustrative examples given below : |
|
cú |
|
`eat/ate’ |
|
cúlò
|
|
`eat
(imp)’ |
|
cúkelò |
|
`do
not eat (imp)’ |
|
cúpe
|
|
`cause
to eat’ |
|
cúpekewilò
|
|
`do
not cause to eat’ |
|
cúwà
|
|
`ate’ |
|
cúnanì |
|
`will
eat’ |
|
cúanì
|
|
`is
eating’ |
|
cúcenì |
|
`eats
(habitual)’ |
|
cúluwe |
|
`could
eat’ |
|
cúmowe |
|
`did not eat’ |
|
cúamo |
|
`is/was
not eating’ |
|
cúcemo |
|
`does
not eat (habitual)’ |
|
cúmla/culumla |
|
`cannot
eat’ |
|
cúmlawe
|
|
`could
not eat’ etc. |
|
|
From the illustrative
examples given above, it can be seen that a verb root may have either a
modal marker or an aspectual marker and not both. The tense marker can occur
either immediately after the root or after the modal/aspectual marker. And
whenever the tense marker occurs, it functions as the closure. As far as
the occurrence of the negatives are concerned, a two-way structure is noticed.
i.e., in the case of all modals except the imperative, the negative follows
the modal marker, if any. In the case of the imperative, the modal marker
follows the negative. The morphological construction of a verb in Sema can
therefore be presented schematically as under : |
VR± |
C± |
{
aspect } |
±
Neg1 |
±T |
|
|
{modals1
} |
|
|
VR± |
C
± |
Neg2
+ M2 |
|
|
|
|
The scheme
presented above can be described as under : |
VR
|
—> |
|
verb
root |
C |
—> |
|
causative |
Modals1 |
—> |
|
indicative,
permissive and potential |
Modal2 |
—> |
|
imperative |
Aspect
|
—> |
|
progressive
and habitual |
Neg1 |
—> |
|
all
negatives except the imperative negative |
Neg2
|
—> |
|
imperative negative —> lò |
T |
—> |
|
tense
—> past and future tenses. |
|
|
The
scheme presented above has two restrictions in that neither the causative
nor the modal1 nor an aspectual marker can be a form-closing suffix. If
any one of them occurs in a verbal construction, the occurrence of either
the negative1 or tense is a must. Similarly a negative particle without
any other suffixes cannot occur with a verb root. On the basis of the
scheme presented above, the morphological construction of a verb in Sema
could have the following possibilities. |
|
verb
root alone |
|
cú
`eat’ |
|
VR
+ M2 |
|
`cúlò `eat’ (imp)’ |
|
VR
+ Neg2 + M2 |
|
`cúkewilò `do not eat (imp)’ |
|
VR
+ Causative + M2 |
|
`cúpelò
`cause to eat (imp)’ |
|
VR
+ Causative + Neg2 + M2 |
|
`cúpekewilò
`do not cause to eat’ (imp)’ |
|
VR
+ tense |
|
`cúwe
`ate’ |
|
VR
+ Neg1 + tense |
|
`cúmoe
`did not eat’ |
|
VR
+ Causative + tense |
|
`cúpewe
`caused to eat’ |
|
VR
+ Asp + tense |
|
`cúay
`was eating’ |
|
VR
+ Asp + Neg1 |
|
`cúamo
`is not eating’ |
|
VR
+ Causative + asp + tense |
|
`cúpeay
`was causing to eat’ |
|
VR
+ Causative + Asp + Neg1 |
|
`cúpeamo
`is not causing to eat’ |
|
VR
+ Asp + Neg1 + tenseVR + Causative +
Asp + |
|
`cúamoe
`was not eating’ |
|
Neg1
+ tense |
|
`cúpeamoe
`was not causing to eat’ |
|
VR
+ Modal1 + Neg1 |
|
`cúlumla
`cannot eat’ |
|
VR
+ Modal1 + tense |
|
`cúlunanì
`can eat’ |
|
VR
+ modal1 + Neg1 + tense |
|
`cúlumlae
`could not eat’s |
|
VR
+ Causative + Modal1 +
Neg1 |
|
`cúpelumla
`cannot cause . . to eat’ |
|
|