ignored,
Sema shows only a two-way opposition in tense, viz., future
vs. non-future. The occurrences of these are discussed below
: |
Future
tense. - The future tense is used to refer to an even that
is yet to take place, as in : |
| niye
asi cúhanì |
`I
will eat meat’ |
| niye
asi pua nanì |
`I will keep the meat’ |
|
niye si nanì |
`I
will play’ |
|
niye kisi pinì kyà? |
`What
shall I speak?’ |
|
niye sinì |
`I
will play’ |
|
|
From
the illustrative examples given above, one could subtract
nanì and nì as the markers for the future tense.
The full form nanì indicates the certainity of the
occurrence of the action referred to. In addition, the difference
in using the two forms is stylistic in that the full form
is more appropriate in formal situations. The future tense
has a third marker, viz. wi occurring with the probability
modal, as in : |
|
asi cúluwi |
`might
eat meat’ (lit. meat eat can will) |
|
|
The
future marker wi indicates the uncertainity of the occurrence
of an incident or action referred to.
Non-future tense. - For all intents and purposes, the simple
non-future tense in Sema refers only to the past-tense, as
the momentary present is absent in Sema |
Past
tense.- The past tense form is not always marked in Sema,
i.e., when the context could give a clue, the past tense marker
is not taken. Usually an adverb of time offers the clue, as
in : |
| ino
isi li ithulu |
`I
saw her today’ |
|
|
In
addition, a verb root alone could also indicate the past tense,
as in : |
| pano
pi |
|
`he
said’ |
| pano
asi cú |
 |
`he
ate meat’ etc. |
| pano
asi cúwà |
|
|
When
root alone is used, it does not indicate whether or not the
action referred to is complete nor does it indicate the quantum
of the action performed. Therefore, when either of these is
required to be indicated, it is essential to use a past tense
marker. And in the use of the past tense marker, the system
in Sema differs from the use of the past tense marker, the
system in Sema differs from the well known languages in that
the past tense marker could |
also
indicate the performance of the entire work denoted by the
verb as in : |
| (a) |
pano as
tha |
|
'he
cut the tree |
|
(b) |
pano
as
thawà |
| (c)
|
pano
as
thakè |
|
|
Though
both the utterences (a) and (b) indicate that the tree was
cut by him, the utterence (a) does not indicate whether or
not he has cut the entire tree or only a portion of it, whereas
the utterence (b) indicates that the entire tree was cut.
In the case of utterence (c), the past tense marker kè
is taken, but even then the utterence does not state whether
or not the entire tree was cut. This pattern could not be
seen in other verbs also as in : |
| niye
asi cú |
|
`I
ate meat (quantity unspecified)’ |
| niye
asi cúkè |
|
| niye
asi cúwà |
|
`I
ate the entire meat’ |
|
|
|
The
difference resulting from the use of the two past tense markers
kè and wà could be termed respectively as unspecified
and specified past tense. |
As
far as the completive past tense marker is concerned, it shows
concord in person with the person of the subject, as in : |
| liye
asi cuwà |
`she
ate the entire meat’ |
| niye
asi cuwà |
`I
ate the entire meat’ |
| |
`you
ate the entire meat’ |
|
|
The
illustrative examples show that when the subject is the I
or III person pronoun, the form wà is taken and when
the subject is a II person pronoun, the form taken is we.
This, however, is not very rigidly followed in that, the form
we could occur also with the III person pronoun, but never
with the I person pronoun. Another feature found with the
past tense marker in Sema is its ability to indicate the state
of affairs of the action referred to, for instance, in the
utterences : |
| (a) |
ino aki i
lakhìpe li chiwya |
|
`I
tied her with a rope’ |
| (b) |
ino akii
lakhìpe li chie |
| (a) |
ino kpakamì
kalowya |
|
`I
caught the thief’ |
| (b)
|
ino
kpkam
Ûì kalowe |
|
|
|
The utterences
(a) in each pair do not indicate whether or not the person
referred to in the action is in the same state of affairs
whereas the utterences (b) in each pair clearly indicate that
the person referred to in the action is in the same state,
at the time |
