Plngawan does not grammaticalize the concept of tense, but it distinguishes realis/non-future from irrealis/future mood and shows aspectual distinctions among perfective, progressive and habitual.
2.3.5.1 Realis mood
Events that have been completed or have taken/is taking place are marked as realis, which is further divided into perfective, progressive and habitual aspects.
Perfective aspect is usually marked with the infix <in>, as shown in (2.48).
(2.48) a. m<in>ani’ ci ’ucyux ka’ watan.
AF<Prf>eat Acc fish Nom Watan ‘Watan ate the fish.’
a’. ?*t<um><in>uting12 ci walis ka’ watan.
beat<AF><Prf>beat Acc Walis Nom Watan ‘Watan beat Walis.’
b. t<in>ahuk ni yaya’ ka’ ’ucyux.
cook<Prf.PF>cook Gen mother Nom fish ‘Mother cooked the fish.’
c ’<in>tax-an=mu tayhoku watan.
see-Prf-see-LF=1S.Gen Taipei Watan ‘I saw Watan in Taipei.’
12 Mrs. Yuma Watan, our major informant, did not accept this utterance, though the co-occurrence of
<um> and <in> as in (2.48a’) was actually acceptable to late Mr. Watan Nawi (aged 60 in 2006).
However, as he suggested, such forms were used in Plngawan in earlier times. Nowadays, it seems that the two infixes <um> and <in> have undergone phonological contraction as <un> ‘AF.Prf’, as illustrated in the following examples:
(i) a. r<um>anga’ ‘raise<AF>raise’
b. r<un>anga’ ‘raise<AF.Prf>raise’
(ii) a. ’<um>olax tanux na.
rain<AF>rain outside still
‘It is still raining outside.’
b. ’<un>olax tanux la.
rain<AF.Prf>rain outside Part
‘It has rained outside (so the ground is wet)
d. ø-p<in>awas=cini ni yaya’.
I/BF-sing<Prf>sing=1S.Nom:3S.Gen Gen mother ‘Mother sang for me.’
Regarding the perfective infix <in>, it is noted that (i) <in> may co-occur with the AF marker m- but not <um>, (ii) as shown in (2.48b), it may be treated as a portmanteau serving both as a perfective marker and a PF marker, and (iii) the I/BF marker is zero form when predicates are marked with <in> simultaneously.
The other strategy used to mark perfective is by means of the auxiliary wal/waral that is grammaticalized from the motion verb waral ‘go’ and can be shortened as wal. Unlike the perfective infix <in>, wal may co-occur with verbs marked with all types of focus markers, as illustrated in (2.49).
(2.49) a. waral t<um>uting ci walis ka’ watan.
Prf beat<AF>beat Acc Walis Nom Watan ‘Watan has beaten Walis.’
b. wal=mu ni’-un ka’ tugal rating mami’.
Prf=1S.Gen eat-PF Nom three bowl rice
‘I ate three bowls of (cooked) rice.’
c. wal=mu tax-an ka’ ’ule’ ni watan.
Prf=1S.Gen see-LF Nom child Gen Watan ‘I saw Watan’s child.’
d. wal=mu si-pakacik watan ka’ patas=mu.
Prf=1S.Gen IF-lend Watan Nom book=1S.Gen ‘I lent Watan my book.’
Progressive aspect is marked explicitly by the auxiliaries nel and cyel that are grammaticalized from existential verbs nel13 ‘be here’ and cyel ‘be there’, as illustrated in (2.50).
13 As observed by Prof. L. Huang, in Watan’s speech, the word “be here” was pronounced as nyel, but in Yuma’s speech, all of the occurrences of nyel are pronounced as nel.
(2.50) a. nel=cu mabahu.
Exi.Imm=1S.Nom AF.wash ‘I am washing (dishes).’
b. cyel n-on ni watan ka’ lawa.
Exi.Rem wait-PF Gen Watan Nom Lawa
‘Watan is waiting for Lawa.’
Verbs affixed only with focus markers are usually interpreted as habitual or states of facts, as shown in (2.51).
(2.51) a. t<um>ahuk ci ’ucyux ka’ yaya’.
cook<AF>cook Acc fish Nom mother ‘Mother cooks fish.’
(Context: Mother often cooks fish, or Mother knows how to cook fish.) b. ni’-un=mu ka’ ’ucyux.
eat-PF=1S.Gen Nom fish ‘I eat fish.’
(Context: I often eat fish, or I am not afraid of eating fish.)
In terms of habitual reading, the distinction between past and present is marked explicitely by temporal adjuncts, as shown in (2.52).
(2.52) a. mani’=cu ci ’ucyux karirex.
AF.eat=1S.Nom Acc fish every day ‘I often eat fish.’
b. mani’=cu ci ’ucyux karirex rali hang.
AF.eat=1S.Nom Acc fish every day before Part
‘I used to eat fish often before.’
2.3.5.2 Irrealis mood
Events that are about to take place or may happen in the future are marked as irrealis either with the prefix pa- that marks verbs both as AF and irrealis or through Ca-reduplication, as shown in (2.53).
(2.53) a. pa-kani’ ci ’ucyux cuxan ka’ lawa.
Irr.AF-eat Acc fish tomorrow Nom Lawa
‘Lawa will eat fish tomorrow.’
b. ba-bah-en ni watan ka’ ’ule’ hani.
Red-hit-LF Gen Watan Nom child this
‘Watan will hit the child.’
The discussion about the tense/aspect/mood system of Plngawan is summarized in Table 2.6 with the exemplification of kani’ ‘eat’ or tahuk ‘cook’.
Table 2.6 Tense/aspect/mood marking system14
Mood Realis Irrealis
Aspect Perfective Habitual Progressive Irrealis/Future V-AF <in>,
In this chapter, we have provided a sketch grammar covering the phonology, morphology and syntax of Plngawan. Based on the discussion in this chapter, we will investigate the formation and functions of interrogative constructions in Chapter 4 and their intonation contours in Chapter 5. In Chapter 3, we will review how interrogative constructions are discussed in both general and Formosan linguistics.
14 Tense/aspect/mood markers may have different forms in negative or imperative sentences, which we leave for further study. Only those used in affirmative declarative sentences are shown in Table 2.6.