Difference between revisions of "FV & mV"

Revision as of 10:29, 10 March 2022

fV marker

it shows up only with transitive verbs;
it has a meaning similar to perfective;
it is incompatible with negation;
it is incompatible with A′ extraction of any kind (questions, relative clauses);
it is in complementary distribution with another marker, mV.

Complete situation

The morpheme fV has a perfective meaning and is used to decribe complete situations. It cannot be used to describe ongoing or habitual situations.

(1)

ù	f(i)	òdʒ(e)	àba̋tʃà	hì	(mɛ̄)
1SG	PERF1	morsel	cassava	cook	(already)
'I have cooked mashed cassava.'
*I cooked mashed cassava just now.
*I cooked mashed cassava (habitual).
*I am cooking mashed cassava.

Word order with fV

One of the most recognizable properties of fV is its influence on word order. The surface word order in Igala is SVO, including with the progressive and the imperfective markers. However, in the presence of fV, this is modified. This morpheme appears to surface in the usual verb slot, while the matrix verb appears sentence-finally.

(2a)

ù	hʲ	òdʒ(e)	à↑ba̋tʃà
1SG	cook	morsel	cassava
I cooked mashed cassava.'

(2b)

ù	f(i)	òdʒ(e)	àba̋tʃà	hì
1SG	PERF1	morsel	cassava	cook
'I have cooked mashed cassava.'

About fV and the splitting verbs

When the verb is split, the first part of the verb is before the object and second part is after the object, including with the progressive and imperfective aspectual markers.

（4a)

ù	kpɔ̄	(ɔ)nà	lɛ́	fɔ̄
1SG	break-	door	DEF.DIST	-break
'I broke the door.'

(4b)

Ǒtʃálā	k(ɔ)	ēlā	lɛ́	da
Ochala	cut-	meat	DEF.DIST	-cut
'Ochala cut the meat.

When f(i) is added to a sentence with a split verb, the word order seems to become SOV.

(6a)

ū	f(i)	ɔ̌nâ	lɛ̄	kpɔ̀	fɔ̄
1SG	PERF1	door	DEF.DIST	break-	-break
'I have broken the door.'

(6b)

Ǒtʃálā	f(i)	ela	lɛ	kɔ	da
Ochala	PERF1	meat	DEF.DIST	cut-	-cut
'Ochala has cut the meat.'

fV and Stative Verbs

Fu cannot join with most stative verbs.

(7)

*u	fu	gʷu
1SG	PERF	sit
“I finished sitting”

Statives + fV

It can only go with certain statives.
- “basic” statives cannot go with fu.
- li can go with fu. See (31a)
- rida can go with mu. See (31b)

(8)

*u	fu	gʷu.
1SG	PERF	sit
“I finished sitting.”

(9)

*ū	fu	tʃane
1SG	PERF	begin
“I had begun.”

(10)

u	f(u)	otʃala	li
1SG	PERF	Ochala	see
“I have seen Ochala”

(11)

ákpá	lɛ̄	m(u)	rid(a)	èkpìkpà	mɛ̄.
Cloud	DEF.DIST	completion.PERF	change	nominalizer.red	now
“The sky has changed to red”.

mV marker

In complementary distribution with fV (under unknown conditions - might have something to do with unaccusative/unergative distinction and/or thematic roles).

(12)

ù	m(u)	(*f(i))	őgìgò	mī	dū	tíŋɔ̂
1SG	?	(*PERF1)	glasses	my	take	lost
I have lost my glasses.'

@@ Line 112: / Line 112: @@
 | *u || fu || gʷu
 |-
-| 1SG || F1 || sit
+| 1SG || PERF|| sit
 |-
 | “I finished sitting”
@@ Line 130: / Line 130: @@
 | *u||fu ||gʷu.
 |-
-|  1SG||Aux ||sit
+|  1SG|| PERF ||sit
 |-
 | “I finished sitting.”
@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 |  *ū ||fu ||tʃane
 |-
-| 1SG ||AUX||begin
+| 1SG ||PERF ||begin
 |-
 | “I had begun.”
@@ Line 152: / Line 152: @@
 | u ||f(u) ||otʃala ||li
 |-
-| 1SG||AUX||Ochala||see
+| 1SG||PERF ||Ochala||see
 |-
 | “I have seen Ochala”
@@ Line 163: / Line 163: @@
 | ákpá ||lɛ̄ ||m(u) ||rid(a) || èkpìkpà || mɛ̄.
 |-
-| Cloud || DEF.DIST ||completion.AUX ||change || nominalizer.red || now
+| Cloud || DEF.DIST ||completion.PERF ||change || nominalizer.red || now
 |-
 | “The sky has changed to red”.