| 3.3.5.2.
Aspect |
Just
as the tenses are concerned with the time element, the aspects are also
concerned with time, but with one difference, viz., the aspects are concerned
with the temporal distribution of an action, even or state of affairs
rather than the location of `time’ in relation to the time of utterence,
i.e., it refers to the manner in which the action of the verb is regarded
or experienced. Sema has two aspects which combine freely with tenses.
The aspects available in Sema are progressive and habitual. A brief discussion
of these follows : |
| Progressive
aspect |
| The
progressive aspect is usually set up in opposition to the simple tenses,
viz., past, present and future. A simple present tense, however, is not
available in Sema, i.e., there is no distinction between a simple present
and progressive present. Hence, a direct opposition between a simple tense
and an aspect is available only in the past and future tenses, though
the progressive aspect is available in all the three tenses. The progressive
aspect is formed by the locative verb following the principal verb. And
the opposition within the progressive aspect is expressed by the markers
for different tenses following the locative verb. The locative verb incidentally
also functions as an auxilary verb. The principal verb will invariably
be in its uninflected form as in : |
| (a) |
asi cú anì |
`is
eating meat’ |
| |
ino pa ithulu anì |
`I am looking at him’ |
| |
pano z anì
|
`he
is sleeping’ |
| (b) |
ino asi cùay/cuakè |
`I
was eating meat’ |
| (c) |
ino asi cúananì |
`I
will be eating meat’ |
| |
pano zananì
|
`he
will be sleeping’ |
| |
pa hile ananì |
`he
will be here’ |
|
|
| It
was already mentioned that the progressive aspect is formed by the locative
verb following the principal verb. Not all the verbs, however, take the
same shape while forming the progressive aspect, i.e., in the case of
those verbs that refer to some action involving mobility, designated earlier
as mobility verbs, cé rather than a follows the principal verb,
as in : |
|
ino ilicecénì |
`I
am walking’ |
|
ino úcénì |
`I
am going’ |
|
ino pocénì |
`I
am running’ |
|
ino ilicecéy |
`I
was walking’ |
|
ino úcéy |
`I
was going’ |
|
ino pocékè |
`I
was running’ |
|
ino ilicecénanì |
`I will be waking’ |
|
ino ucénanì |
`I will be going’ etc. |
|
|
| Habitual
aspect |
| Just
as the time and duration of an action in relation to the time of uttering
a sentence is indicated by tenses and progressive aspect, the recurring
nature of an action can be indicated by the habitual aspect. This can
be illustrated with the following sentences. |
li akiphikìlo i eacenì |
`she comes to school’ |
|
li akiphikìlo ieacey
|
`she
used to come to the school’ |
|
niye aso cúcenì |
`I
eat bread (habitually)’ |
|
paye asi cúcey |
`he
used to eat meat’ etc. |
|
|
| These sentences are in opposition to the sentences : |
| li
akiphikìlo aecénì
|
`she
is coming to the school’ |
|
li akiphikilo ieacéy
|
`she
was coming to the school’ |
|
niye aso cúanì |
`I am eating bread’ |
|
paye asi cúay/cúakè |
`he
was eating meat’ etc. |
|
|
| The
difference between the two sets lies in that in the case of the first,
it indicates the repetition of an action over a period of time whereas
in the case of the second set, it refers to a single action spread over
a certain time. It also implies that the action is incomplete. The first
and the third sentences in the first set also indicate that the repetition
of the action that began earlier is continued to the present and would
continue afterwards also while the second and the fourth sentences in
the first set indicate that the repetition of the action that began earlier
had stopped by the time the utterence was made. Since the first set refers
to a repetition of an action, the verb in the set is said to be in the
habitual aspect. The first sentence in the first set is in the habitual
present and the second sentence is in the habitual past. |
| 3.3.5.3.
Modals. |
| “Moods,
like tense, is frequently realised by inflecting the verb or by modifying
it by means of auxiliaries. It is best defined in relation to an `unmarked’
class of sentences which expresses simple statement of facts, unqualified
with respect to the attitude of the speaker towards what he is saying.
Simple declarative sentences of this type are, strictly speaking, non-modals
(unmarked |
