I
person. Secondly a verb in the imperative can stand alone for a simple
sentence whereas a verb in the obligatory modal is, part of a complex
sentence (though quite often), implied, i.e., niye wú kepu sia
`I have to go’ though in itself is a simple sentence implies that
I had no choice in going and that had I not gone, some unspecified consequences
would follow. Hence by implication, sentences of this type even when not
expressed overtly are treated as part of the complex one. Thirdly the
actor has/had no choice in performing the action denoted, i.e., he has/had
to perform the action denoted under pain or certain unspecified consequences
whereas a verb in the imperative is just a command, which may or may not
be carried out. Lastly the imperative is available only in the present,
whereas the obligatory is available in all the tenses. A few illustrative
examples of the obligatory modal are given : |
| liye
mla kepusia |
`she
has to do the work’ |
|
nono wú kepusia |
`you
have to go’ |
pano a aw
wekhi kepusia |
`he
has to kill the bird’ etc. |
|
|
Potential
modal |
It expresses the ability of the person concerned to perform the action
specified. It also indicates the permission granted to a person to perform
the specified action. This modal is available both with the future and
past tense markers. |
(a)
Future Potential |
It expresses the ability of or the permission given to the person/object
concerned to perform the action specified at a later time than the time
of making the utterence. It is formed by the potential marker lu suffixed
directly to the verbal root with either the negative marker or the future
tense marker folling it. In other words in the potential negative future,
the tense marker is not taken. |
The morphological construction of a verb in the potential mood is : |
|
VR
+ lu + N + T where : |
| |
 |
future —> nani |
 |
| T
—> |
|
| |
past
—> e |
|
N
Negative —>mla |
|
|
| The
following are the examples of the future potential modal : |
wúlunan
|
`can/may
go’ |
|
wúlumla |
`cannot/may
not go’ |
| asi
cúlu nanì |
`can/may eat’ |
|
alacelu nanì |
`can/may walk’ |
|
zlumani |
`can/may sleep’ etc. |
|
|
(b)
Past potential modal |
It expresses the ability which the person concerned had in the past, to
perform the action specified. In the affirmative it is formed by the past
tense marker e suffixed directly to the potential modal marker. When in
the negative, the negative marker mla follows the modal marker lu and
the past tense marker e in its turn follows the negative, as in : |
|
wúle |
`could
go’ |
|
asi cúlue |
`could
eat’ |
|
alacelue |
`could
walk’ |
|
zlue
|
`could
sleep’ |
|
wúlumlae |
`could
not go’ |
|
asi cúmlae |
`could
not eat meat’ |
|
alacemlae |
`could not walk’ etc. |
|
|
Probability
modal |
It expresses the prediction of the speaker about the occurrence of an
action or event in the future. There are two levels or degrees of prediction,
i.e., in one instance, the speaker is fairly certain of the occurrence
of the even predicted while in the other, it is a weakened predication.
These are designated respectively as probability1 and probability2. The
morphological construction, with illustrative examples, of these modals
are given below : Probability1 |
The marker for the probability1 modal is wi. When in the affirmative it
is suffixed to the verb in the potential mood. When in the negative, the
negative marker follows the verb in the potential and the probability
marker in its turn follows the negative marker, as in : |
|
wúluwi |
`is
likely to go’ |
|
asi cúluwi |
`is likely to eat meat’ |
z luwi
|
‘is
likely to sleep’ |
|
wúlu malwi |
`is
not likely to go’ |
|
asi cúlumlawi |
`is
not likely to eat meat’ etc. |
|
|
