Chapter 3: Noun and Verb Phrases
3.4 Verbs
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
The interrogative pida ‘how many’ refers to how great the number of something is. It may be affixed by the sortal affixes and affixes that express ordinal and multiplicative meaning. Actually, the omission of the sortal affix is now acceptable by native speaker as well. However, as is clear in (3.15), when the questioner asked questions by CL-pida, the answerer answers with the identical form.
(3.15) a. A: matja-pida a puvuyuan i-maza?
CL.F-how.many LIG hen.house LOC-here B: matja-lima (a puvuyuan) (i-maza).
CL.F-five LIG hen.house LOC-here
‘A: How many hen houses? B: (There are) five (hen houses) (here)’
(sinapayan)
b. A: pida a puvuyuan i-maza?
how.many LIG hen.house LOC-here B: lima (a puvuyuan) (i-maza).
five LIG hen.house LOC-here
‘A: How many hen houses? B: (There are) five (hen houses) (here)’
(sinapayan)
3.4 Verbs
This section gives a simple classification of verbs. Three main categories are presented:
dynamic verbs, stative verbs, adjectival verbs and auxiliary verbs.
3.4.1 Dymamic vs. stative verbs
Dynamic verbs are verbs that inherently involve any form of change (Velupillai, 2012:208), as opposed to stative verbs, which present mental state or stative concept. The
‧
internal structure of verbs is a broad issue. The following discussion does not cover all the cases.46 Due to the limitation of my research, I only show that (i) verbs that can occur with
<em> belong to dynamic verbs, (ii) verbs with ma- may be dynamic or stative verbs, and (iii) dynamic verbs also include verbs without overt markings. (3.16) shows some examples.
(3.16) Verb stem Verb Category sengseng ‘work’ ma-sengseng ‘work [AV]’ Dynamic verb dudu ‘angry’ ma-dudu ‘be angry’ Stative verb lagav ‘forget’ ma-lagav ‘forget’ Stative verb salu ‘believe’ ma-salu ‘believe’ Stative verb
vaik ‘go’ vaik ‘go’ Dynamic verb
ivu ‘speak’ ivu ‘speak’ Dynamic verb
Both dynamic verbs and stative verbs may occur with auxiliary verbs and aspectual markers. In (3.17a) and (3.17b), the dynamic verb djemadjas ‘hold [AV]’ and the stative verb macingul ‘be stuck’ both occur with the perfective marker na=. In (3.17c) and (3.17d), the dynamic verb vaik ‘go’ and the stative verb maculja ‘be hungry’ are both marked by the auxiliary verb tjara ‘must’.
46 The classification of verbs is elaborately investigated in Huang (2012), which shows that stative verbs in puljetji Paiwan generally include the two classes: (i) verbs with ma-/ka- alternation, (ii) verbs with Ø/ka- alternation, and non-stative verbs include the three classes: (i) verbs with <em>/Ø alternation, (ii) verbs with m/p alternation, and (iii) verbs without overt alternation.
‧
(3.17) a. Aspectual marker + dynamic verb dj<em>adjas
na=dj<em>adjas ta zaman a
PFV=<AV>hold OBL.CMN torch NOM.CMN
maʔacuvucuvung.
young.people
‘The teenagers lifted up the torches.’ (sinapayan) b. Aspectual marker + stative verb ma-cingul
na=ma-cingul sa ku=varung.
PFV=STAT-be.stuck PROX.VIS GEN.1SG=mood
‘I have difficulty (in my mood).’ (sinapayan) c. Auxiliary verb + dynamic verb vaik ‘go’
tjara vaik=anga ti buka.
must go=COS NOM.PRL.SG PR.M
‘Buka must have gone away.’ (sinapayan) d. Auxiliary verb + stative verb ma-culja ‘hungry’
tjara ma-culja=anga a kakedrian.
must STAT-hungry=COS NOM.CMN child
‘The children must be hungry.’ (sinapayan)
3.4.2 Adjectival verbs
Adjectival verbs express attribute, property and characteristics. They are referred to as a class of stative verbs in Huang (2012) and as the category of ‘adjectives’ in Chang (2006).
They can not take <em> and do not have other overt structural markings. As a distinctive feature, they frequently appear in reduplicated form without an overt change of meaning.
They also frequently occur with the comparative prefix tja-, superlative circumfix tjalja><an and the intensifier aravac ‘very’. Occasionally, they may occur with aspectual marker, as
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
shown in (3.18b). Generally, neither auxiliary verb nor bound personal pronouns can occur with them.
(3.18) a. tjalja-ʔaca-(a)n ti patagaw.
SUPL-tall-SUPL NOM.PRL.SG PR
‘Patagaw is the tallest.’ (sinapayan)
b. ʔecengel=anga ʔerepus, uri sa ʔ<em>udjalj=anga.
black=COS cloud will really.likely <AV>rain=COS
‘The clouds have already turned dark. It is going to rain.’ (sapulju)
There is a limited number of adjectival verbs in Paiwan. Some would claim that they belong to the class of adjectives, possibly because that they take attributive use frequently and may be marked by the intensifier aravac ‘very’. However, adjectival verbs may take aspectual marker, as ʔecengel ‘black’ shown in (3.18b), which takes the change-of-state aspectual marker =anga.
3.4.3 Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs do not have overt structural markings like <em> or ma-. They usually occur with main verbs. However, some of them may be used as independently. Distinct from serial verb construction, no ligature a occurs between an auxiliary verb and a verb, as shown in (3.19).
(3.19) a. Serial verb construction: ligature a is required
vaik a ma-tjumaʔ timadju.
go LIG go.to-house NOM.3SG
‘He goes home.’ (sinapayan)
‧
b. [auxiliary verb + main verb] construction: no ligature a uri vaik=itjen.
will go.to=NOM.1PL.INCL
‘We are going to leave.’ (sapulju)
Auxiliary verbs exhibit various extents of proximity to dynamic or stative verbs, which may take aspectual markers and pronominal clitics. In (3.20a) and (3.20b), we can see that the auxiliary verb ulja ‘wish’ may take a pronominal clitic and not take an aspectual marker.
The auxiliary verb tjara ‘must’ may take neither an aspectual marker nor a pronominal clitic, as shown in (3.20c-f). The aspectual marker and the pronominal clitic occur with the main verb.
(3.20) a. ulja=itjen pa-tja-liav ta rakac-an.
desire=NOM.1PL.INCL CAUS-COMP-many OBL.CMN brave-NML
‘Wish that we gain more and more bravery.’ (sinapayan) b. *ulja=(a)nan=itjen pa-tja-liav ta
desire=CON=NOM.1PL.INCL CAUS-COMP-more OBL.CMN
rakac-an.
brave-NML
‘Continuously wish that we gain more and more bravery.’
(sinapayan)
c. neka=(a)nga a paljidring ni vikung.
not.exist=COS LIG car GEN.PRL.SG PR.M
. tjara vaik=anga a ma-sasav.
must go=COS LIG go.to-outside
‘Vikung’s car has gone. (He) must have gone outside.’ (sinapayan)
‧
‘She must have gone.’ (sinapayan) e. tjara vaik=itjen.
In my database, four auxiliary verbs are attested: uri ‘will’, tjara ‘must’, ulja ‘wish’ and maya ‘do not’. They convey mood in a clause, which is discussed in the next section.