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Warluwarra Grammar | Gavan Breen
7. VERBAL MORPHOLOGY
The organisation of this chapter is morphological rather than semantic. Thus, for
example, verb forms built on the gerund are grouped together in subsections following the
section where gerund is discussed. This means that semantically logical groups, such as the
two (presumed) associated motion morphemes are split up; likewise the same subject /
different subject markers. However, the agent formative, a morpheme which derives normal
nouns, i.e. nouns which function only as nouns and not primarily as bases which can be
inflected in restricted ways to function as non-finite verbs, is described in chapter 10 along
with other nominal and verbal stem formatives.
7.1 Paradigm of verbal inflection.
The grouping of verbs into conjugations has been briefly referred to earlier. A
specification of the conjugations is now given. Note that all verb stems have final /a/ or /i/.
The division is according to the gerund form of the verb, and the naming follows principles
applicable to all the languages of the Ngarna group (so that TH is used instead of DH and J
instead of DJ).
The TH-conjugation includes all verbs the final consonant of whose stem is a nasal, a
lateral (there are only a few examples) or a glide, and whose final vowel is /a/, plus madja ‘to
eat (vegetable food)’, gaa ‘to cry’, djirra ‘to be sick’, warra ‘to grind’, gurra ‘to like’ and
gunugurra ‘to be sick of’. The only known verbs with stem-final nasal or lateral that are not
in the TH-conjugation are ganyi- ‘to weigh on’, gunyi- ‘(liquid) to run out’, birni- ‘to chop’,
bitjirni- ‘to swim’, yapuni- ‘to dry’, dhuli- ‘to be hot’, galarli- ‘to vomit’, all in the Jconjugation.
The J-conjugation includes all verbs whose stems end in /i/. The majority have /rr/ as
the final consonant of the stem, and the majority of these are, or can be plausibly supposed to
be, stems formed with the inchoative suffix -(V)rri. Others include garri- ‘to stand’, larri‘to hear’ (perhaps, apart from its compounds, the only transitive verb ending in /rri/) and
barri- ‘to sneak up’. Verbs in the J-conjugation whose final consonant is not /rr/ are listed
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under the TH- and 0-conjugations. Several of these are formed with the allomorph -i of the
inchoative: yapuni-, guti-, burllugudi-. Probably lirrirlirri- ‘to become hurt’ also belongs in
this category.
The 0-conjugation includes all verbs the final consonant of whose stem is a stop, with
the exception of madja and gaa (TH-conjugation) and the few with stem-final /i/ (those
attested are nati- ‘to do what?’, latji- ‘to dance’, birrtji- ‘to swallow’, burllugudi- ‘to get
hard’, guti- ‘to be shut in’ and its compound marnkarru-guti- ‘to be deaf’, and barlardi- ‘to
show’) which are in the J-conjugation.
The RR-conjugation consists of a few verb stems of three or more syllables ending in rra. Those known are bitjarra ‘to make (a fire)’, nakarra ‘to cut’, wurrgharra ‘to run’,
wurrgharrarra ‘to chase’, yatjuwarra ‘to smell (intr)’, ngawirra ‘to bathe’, numarra ‘to
break’ and numarnumarra ‘to break into pieces’.
In a few cases there is insufficient evidence to assign a verb to a conjugation.
The main verbal inflectional paradigm is given in table 7.1 for these conjugations and
also for the irregular verb nhanda ~ nata(ma)- ‘to go’. which behaves mostly as a member of
the 0-conjugation, except that natama- behaves as a TH-conjugation verb. There is a single
example suggesting that wanda 'to track' is similarly irregular: a present tense form
watarnadha.1 The verb madja~ matjama 'to eat (vegetable food)' is somewhat similar. Other
irregularities are few: the irregular imperatives dhangurnanga ‘eat!’ and wanmanga ‘move!’
(see 7.2.1), the irregular present tense ngutayidha, of nguta ‘to give’, and the verb whose
only known forms are gawa ‘come here’, and gaa(r)ndi ‘was coming’.
The representative verbs chosen for the table are: TH-conjugation, yanga ‘to see’, Jconjugation, larri- ‘to hear’, 0-conjugation, yapa ‘to fall’, RR-conjugation, nakarra ‘to cut’.
Some of the forms have not been heard or may even be impossible for the representative
verb, but are included because they have been heard with other verbs of that group.
1
This is on a short stretch of tape by Hale, which he did not transcribe, presumably because of its poor quality;
the recorder had briefly malfunctioned. See the wanda, watarna dictionary entry for the relevant sentence
(which was said twice).
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Separate tables (7.2 in section 7.3.4 and 7.3 in section 7.7) give the paradigms of
conjunctive verbs and associated motion verbs, respectively.
Table 7.1
Paradigm of verbal inflections
stem
imperative
optative
irrealis
past
TH-conj.
‘to see’
J-conj.
‘to hear’
0-conj.
‘to fall’
yanga
yanga
yangarla
yangimarla
yangarna
larrilarra
larrirla
larrimarla
larrirna
yapa
yapa
yaparla
yapimarla
yaparna
RR-conj.
‘to cut’
irregular
‘to go’
nakarra
nhanda
nakarra
nhanda
nakarrarla
nhandarla
nakarrimarla nhandimarla
nakarrarna nhandarna
(nakarrirna)
present
yangayidha larriyidja
yaparriyidha nakarriyidha natayidha
gerund
yangadhi
larridji
yapi
nhandi
2
purposive
yangadhiyi
larridjiyi
yapiyi
nakarriyi
nhandiyi
privative
yangadhi-nharrangu
yapi-nharrangu
larridji-nharrangu
nakarri-nharrangu
normalis
yangadha
larridja
habitual past yangadhagarri
yaparragarri nakarragarri natagarri
larridjagarri
habit. present yangadhagadja
natagadja
larridjagadja
continuative yangadhini
larridjini
yaparrinyini nakarrinyini nhandini
potential
yangadhaa
larridjaa
yapaa
nakarraa
nhandaa
subject
yangadharragu
yaparragu
natagu ~
larridjarragu
natamadharragu
complement yanganha
larrinya
yapangu
nakarrangu nhandangu ~
natamanha
2
In all purposive forms, the final -yi may be replaced by -yaa.
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7.2 Verbal inflectional suffixes.
7.2.1 Imperative forms.
The imperative suffix is -a, added to the verb stem. The imperative of a verb with a
stem-final /a/ is therefore phonemically identical to the stem (cf. 3.8.6
) and is glossed as
if the suffix were zero. This is the verb form used for a command, as briefly described in 5.5.
See also (46), in which it is not immediately apparent that the use of imperative in the phrase
translated (by the speaker) as ‘you know, you know yourself’ is appropriate.
(1)
8:9
(2)
7:5
(3)
9:2
(4)
7:6
Ngangama
yinya!
wake (tr.):IMP 3sg:O
‘Wake him up!’
Nyina wurru garaliwali!
sit:IMP 2pl:S child-PL:S
‘Sit down, you kids!’
garali-wali
child-PL:S
Gana yikarra.
not cold-INCH-IMP
‘Don’t get cold.’
Dhamirni gangami!
firestick:O carry:IMP-HITH
‘Bring me a firestick!’
An irregular imperative in -nga is formed (apparently optionally) by the verb
dhangurna ‘to eat (meat)’:
(5)
Garla dhangurnanga!
meat:O eat- IMP
7:10 ‘Eat [your] meat!’
This was elicited several times; in discussion Queen agreed that the regular imperative
dhangurna could be used and suggested that dhangurnanga actually meant ‘eat (it) quickly’.
However, I was unable to find any evidence to support this interpretation. There is one clear
example of the same suffix used, apparently optionally, on another verb:
(6)
0:8
Wanma
ngatha!
leave:IMP 1sg:DAT
‘Leave some for me!’
Wanmanga ngatha!
leave-IMP 1sg:DAT
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Another construction described by Breen (1971) as a continuative imperative, and
certainly functioning as such at times, is now described, under the name ‘continuative’, in
7.4.2.
7.2.2 The optative.
The optative mood is used to express a hope or a suggestion, and is marked by the
suffix -rla, added to the verb stem. Optative sentences were discussed and illustrated in 5.6;
a couple of extra examples are given here.
(7)
7:6
(8)
9:38
Ngutjanagu wuku gangarla.
wife-A
water:O bring-OPT
‘My wife will bring us some water.’
Wayi
yipa ngutarla nganhaaka yinya.
question 2sg:A give-OPT 1sg:O-EMPH 3sg:O
‘Would you like to give it to me?’
nganh(a)-aaka
1sg:O-EMPH
7.2.3 The irrealis mood.
A brief reference was made to the irrealis form of a verb in 5.8. As stated there, the
form is -imarla and it is added to the stem of a verb. It is most commonly used in conditional
constructions, which will be discussed in 8.1.3. However, it can also denote an action that
could have taken place but did not, if the reference is to past time, or something that ought to
happen, if the reference is to present or future time. The latter may be the primary function,
to judge from Queen’s statement that: “Yiwa nganha larrimarla [means] he gotta listen to
me, and yiwa nganha yangimarla [means] he gotta see me.“ (12) shows an association of
irrealis with a question word; it is the only such example in the corpus. Irrealis is not
common and there are no examples in the texts. A sentence in which the suffix seems to have
the form -aamarla is (8-16).
(9)
0:21
(10)
0:22
Maradhurrimarla yiwa malarraa gukuwanha.
maradhurr(i)-imarla
malarr(a)-aa
die-IRR
3sg:S thirst-PROP poor fellow-ABS
‘He nearly perished [died of thirst], poor fellow.’
Dhuwanagu yiwa nganha danmimarla.
snake-A
that:A 1sg:O bite-IRR
‘I thought that snake was going to bite me.’
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danm(a)-imarla
bite-IRR
144
(11)
Nyinimarla yipa, gana yipa nhandimarla. …
yipa nganga ,
sit-IRR
2sg:S not 2sg:S walk-IRR
(inaudible) 2sg:S eye:S
walgharrirna, kukuwara.
nyin(a)-imarla nhand(a)-imarla
go.round-IRR poor.fellow-PROP
sit-IRR
sit-IRR
0:27 ‘You should be keeping still; you shouldn’t have been walking around. You fainted,
you poor thing.’
(12)
9:43
‘Ngarna Gamuwililu
natayidha.’ ‘Wayi ngarna nhandimarla?’
nata-yidha
nhand(a)-imarla
1sg:S
Camooweal-ALLA go-PRES
question 1sg:S go-IRR
‘I’m going to Camooweal.’ ‘Can I come?’ (or better perhaps, ‘Can’t I come?’)
7.2.4 The past tense.
The past tense (or perfective aspect; there appears to be no compelling reason to prefer
either designation) is marked by the suffix -rna. There seems to be a suffix -rri marking past
tense in conjunction with the habitual aspect; see 7.4.1. Some examples are given below;
numerous examples of -rna have already appeared in other contexts; perhaps a quarter of all
the examples in Chapter 6 involve a verb in the past tense. Also there are a large number in
the texts (Chapter 12), especially 5, 6, 11, 16, 18 and 19. Most of these involve some
completed action in the indefinite past; in (6-43) the action is clearly in the immediate past,
while some others, such as (6-44) and (6-81), seem clearly to be the sort of thing a person
would not talk about except soon after the event. (6-40) refers to something that happened
‘last night’ while (6-108) and (6-129) refer to events ‘a long time ago’. Text 16 is in the
fairly distant past, and text 18 in the Dreaming. (13) and (6-39) refer to situations that were
spread over a period of time — only a few minutes, probably, in (13) but two years (in the
indefinite past) in (6-39). In (6-91) the drinking may have extended over a period of hours, in
the immediate past. In some cases a past tense verb is translated as a present situation: ‘died’
can mean ‘is dead’ as in (14), and ‘shut’ is ‘are shut’ in (6-26).
(13)
7:3
(14)
7:12
Wurrgharrarna ngarna.
run-PAST
1sg:S
‘I’ve been running.’
Warrawurla ngathangu maradhurrirna.
dog:S
1sg.GEN:S die-PAST
'My dog is dead.'
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In (6-57) there are three verbs, all in past tense and all with the same actor. Compare
(15), where the two verbs in the sentence have different actors. See also 8.1 on juxtaposition
of clauses in a sentence.
(15)
7:16
Ngarna yaparna gana yipa nganha gurrghumarna.
1sg:S fall-PAST not 2sg:A 1sg:O hold-PAST
‘I fell because you didn’t hold me.’
Another past tense morpheme, occurring only in association with the habitual aspect, is
the suffix -rri (see 7.4.1). -rna and -rri are clearly separate morphemes, and could be
designated past tense 1 and past tense 2. See also 7.3 for the use of the gerund as a past tense
verb.
7.2.5 The present tense.
The most common uses of the present tense form of a verb, as determined from the
texts, are to denote an action in progress at the present time (‘action’ being used in a broad
sense to include, for example, waiting and sitting) (see texts 1, 2, 4, 19 and 21) and to denote
a present state or capacity, such as knowing, liking, being afraid or being hungry (as in texts
2, 13-16, 21, 22 and 23). In 19x the state is of the environment and in (17) of an inanimate
object, while in (16) the action is being carried out by an inanimate substance. In 9i the
action has apparently just happened, or maybe it is being repeated several times over a
period. In 6ix and 22iv the action is about to start, while in (18) it is at some indefinite time
in the future, suggesting that ‘non-past’ would be a better designation than ‘present’
(especially since there is no future tense form). In 17i and also in (5-13) the verb has an
existential denotation. In 14ii and 16xxi the reference is to habitual action. In 19viii the
present tense verb with the negative is understood in the context as ‘can’t do’ rather than
‘don’t do’.
The present tense marking has presented a problem in segmentation, since some forms
appear to be interpretable as a combination of two or even three morphemes and others as
only a single morpheme. The following forms appear:
-rriyidha, used with 0-conjugation verbs,
-yidha with TH-conjugation verbs,
-yidja, used with J-conjugation verbs,
-da, used with the associated motion formative,
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-dha, used with the gerund, and occasionally with the associated motion as alternative to -da,
-dja, used with the habitual aspect.
The -rri of the first form given is a morpheme that occurs, either in this form or as -rra,
as part of several of the inflected or derived forms of 0-conjugation verbs: habitual,
continuative, subject and associated motion forms, and clearly has no meaning. The
disyllabic forms (including the last two syllables of -rriyidha) may derive from a combination
of gerund and present tense, the gerund functioning as an imperfect aspect. It may be of
some significance that the main Bularnu informant thought that Warluwarra speakers used yidha with associated motion forms, e.g. *yangadhayidha instead of yangadhada. However,
the fact that there are separate continuative present forms more clearly based on the gerund
makes this seem unlikely, and there is not sufficient evidence to justify segmentation of these
forms.
Examples of present tense forms of the gerund, habitual and associated motion are
given in 7.3.1, 7.4.1 and 7.7 respectively. Many examples of the ordinary present tense have
already been given in other contexts; some more are given below.
(16)
8:32
(17)
7:12
(18)
7:11
Wuku mara yaparriyidha.
water:S here fall-PRES
‘It’s raining now.’
yapa-rriyidha
fall-PRES
Burllugudu yiwa, ganyiyidja.
heavy
3sg press.down-PRES
‘It’s heavy.’
ganyi-yidja
press.down-PRES
Wayiga, nhangarnda ngarna natayidha.
question when
1sg:S go-PRES
‘I don’t know when I’m going.’
nata-yidha
go-PRES
7.3 The gerund formative.
The gerund formative is added to verb stems to form a stem that can function as an
inflected verb, as a verb stem to which certain allomorphs of the present tense can be added,
and as a nominal stem to which the dative and privative suffixes can be added.
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The four allomorphs of the gerund formative are:
-i, used with 0-conjugation verb stems, with associated motion verbs derived with one of the
disyllabic allomorphs of the associated motion formative and with conjunctive verbs,
e.g. matha ‘to hit’ + -i —> mathi (see 3.8.6 for the phonological rule applying here)
-dhi, added to TH-conjugation verb stems and to associated motion verb stems derived from
0-conjugation stems with the allomorph -a of the associated motion formative, and one of the
two alternative forms used with associated motion forms derived from TH-conjugation verbs
with the allomorph -dha or from J-conjugation verbs with the allomorph -dja,
e.g. yanga ‘to see’ + -dhi —> yangadhi
matha + -rri + -a (associated motion) + -dhi —> matharradhi
-dji, used with J-conjugation verb stems,
e.g. larri- ‘to listen’ + -dji —> larridji
and -di, the second alternative with associated motion verbs derived with -dha or -dja,
e.g. yanga + -dha (associated motion) + -di —> yangadhadi.
When used without further affixation, the gerund functions syntactically as a verb,
being approximately equivalent to an imperfective, usually past tense, form of the verb from
which it was derived. Three text examples show it used on an existential verb: 15ii and two
in 18i. The elicited examples (19), (21) and (23) below (but no text examples) show it
functioning as the verb of the subordinate clause of a two-clause sentence. Other text
examples are in 6ii and vii, 11v and viii, 14i, 16viii, xi, 17iv, 18 i, ii, vii, xviii and 24iii.
(19)
7:9
(20)
7:17
(21)
8:21
(22)
8:33
Ngunadhi ngarna wukuwara
ngatharlu yaparna.
sleep-GER 1sg:S water-PROP:S 1sg:ALLA fall-PAST
‘It rained on me while I was asleep.’
wuku-wara
water-PROP
Ngarna yinda
warramadhi.
1sg:S
2sg:DAT search-GER
‘I was looking for you.’
Nyinadhandi mara ngarna yinya mathiyi.
math(a)-iyi
sit-MOT-GER here 1sg:A 3sg:O hit-PURP
hit-PURP
‘If he comes here [presumably by car or on horseback] I’ll hit him.’
Ngarna djirridji ngunparrilaga.
1sg:S sick-GER day-OTH-LOC
‘I was sick yesterday.’
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ngunpa-rrila-ga
day-OTH-LOC
148
(23)
8:41
Ngarna nyinadhi nyimi ngarna yangarna wukulu.
1sg:S sit-GER fish:O 1sg:A see-PAST water-ALLA
‘While I was sitting over there I saw some fish in the water.’
The gerund may occur also with any one of the following inflectional suffixes:
purposive and privative (both of which are used with nominal stems), continuative imperative
and present tense, the last two being verbal affixes. The last is discussed in sub-section 7.2.5;
the others will be discussed, with examples, in sub-sections 7.3.2, 7.3.3 and 7.4.2.
7.3.1 Possible present continuous tense
A present tense form -djidha, occurring only with J-conjugation verb stems (no
corresponding form is known for other conjugations) and heard without prompting only from
Lilly Clayton and George Age (including in his monologue on the Deakin tape, see 24vi) but
accepted and repeated by Fred Age and Queen when they were asked about it, seems to be
analysable as gerund plus present tense suffix. It has been tentatively interpreted as a present
continuous marker, on the basis of the following comparison by Queen:
(24)
djirridjidha
yiwa
sick-GER-PRES 3sg:S
9:15 “He’s sick — long time, months — he mighta been sick in months.“
contrasted with:
(25)
9:15
djirriyidja yiwa
sick-PRES 3sg:S
“not long he [sick].“
djirri-yidja
sick-PRES
However, translations given by informants on other occasions do not indicate any
continuative aspect, and they have stated on some occasions that the meanings of two clauses
forming a similar pair to that illustrated above are “the same“. (26) and (27) give typical
examples, with non-committal translations. Furthermore, certain usages of the present tense
seem to include ‘continuing action’ as part of the meaning; examples are 19ii, iii and vi.
(26)
Larridjidha
ngarna
hear-GER-PRES 1sg:A
7:26 ‘I’m thinking.’
(Thinking can also be expressed with reduplication of the verb ‘to hear’: larrilarriyidja.)
(27)
0:1
Nhangarli yipa birrtjidjidha?
what:O
2sg:A swallow-GER-PRES
‘What are you eating?’
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It may well be that -djidha is simply a dialectal equivalent of the J-conjugation present
tense suffix, -yidja.
7.3.2 Purposive
The nominal dative inflection (see 6.6.1) can be used with the gerund (assumed to be
functioning as a nominalised verb in this circumstance) to form a combined suffix that has
been glossed as PURP, for purposive. This may often be translated by or translate an English
future tense form, but, as will be seen from some of the following examples, this cannot
always be done, and the primary denotation is clearly purpose or intention rather than future
time. Often a purposive verb functions as or is the head of a phrase functioning as a type of
subordinate clause (which will not contain a finite verb form; see 8.1). When used with the
gerund, the purposive suffix may have one of two forms: -yi, which is the most common form
and is used almost always when the suffix is word-final, and -ya or -yaa, which is used when
another suffix (a directional or an emphatic) follows. The latter form is reminiscent of the
prosodic suffixes of the form Caa used with case suffixes of the form -CV, see 6.4.
Purposive is a very common construction; text examples include 3i, 5iv, 8i, ii and iii,
9ii, 10iii, 12ii and 19iii, in which it functions as a main verb and can be translated as a future
(as also in (28) and (29)); 16i, ii, xviii and xix where again it is a main verb but denotes
wanting rather than future time (the first two of these are situated in the past); 3ii and 13i
where there are two purposive verbs, one being the main verb and the other dependent; 9i, iv
and v where purposive verbs are used in indirect quotations (the main verb being ‘to say’ or
‘to hear’) and 1i, 7ii and iii, 10ii, 11i and iv, 18iii and 19 viii where again the purposive verbs
are dependent on other main verbs. In two cases there are two levels of dependency: in 11i a
third verb functions as complement to the dependent purposive verb, while in 18iii a
dependent purposive verb has another purposive verb dependent on it. In (30) a purposive
verb expresses the purpose of an object (denoted by a noun). In (31) the purposive verb
expresses the would-be purpose of an action that did not take place, while in (32) it is used
with an adverb to denote something that might happen.
(28)
7:3
Djipiyi
ngarna dhurra.
sing-PURP 1sg:A song:O
‘I’m going to sing a song.’
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djip(a)-iyi
sing-PURP
150
(28)
8:11
(30)
Yipa latjidjiyi,
ngarna yina yangadhiya.
ladji-djiyi
yanga-dhiya
2sg:S dance-PURP 1sg:A 2sg:O see-PURP
‘I’m going to watch you dance.’
7:13
layi,
puya warradhiyi.
grinding.stone seed:O grind-PURP
‘stone for grinding seeds’
(31)
Gana yipa nhandarna ngathangurlalu
warra-dhiyi
grind-PURP
ngurrirnilaalu,
ngurrirni-laalu
not 2sg:S go-PAST
1sg:GEN-NOMIN-ALLA camp-REDUP-ALLA
garlaanha ngutiya.
garl(a)-aanha
meat-O
give-PURP
meat-O
7:15 ‘If you had come to my camp I would have given you some meat.’
(32)
7:16
Ngarladha wuku
yapiyami.
maybe
water:S fall-PURP-HITH
‘It might rain.’
ngarna yina
1sg:A 2sg:O
ngut(a)-iya
give-PURP
yap(a)-iya-mi
fall-PURP-HITH
7.3.3 Privative verbs
As described in 5.8 (and see (5-62)), the privative suffix (‘lacking’, ‘not having’,
‘without’) can be used to negate a gerund (again, functioning as a nominalised verb) as well
as a noun (see 6.7.3).
(33)
9:19
(34)
9:30
(35)
9:44
Ngarna marlalya wathi-nharrangu.
1sg:A nothing dig-GER-PRIV
‘I haven’t dug [any yams] yet.’
wath(a)-i-nharrangu
dig-GER-PRIV
Garridji-nharra(ngu?) nhanda!
stand-GER-PRIV
go:IMP
‘Keep on going!’ (literally, ‘Go without standing.’)
Yangadhi-nharrangu ……
look-GER-PRIV
‘When he looked away ……’
7.3.4 The conjunctive formative.
The conjunctive affix has allomorphs -warra and -wa, the latter occurring only (and
always) with the past tense suffix -rna. It may be cognate with the conjunctive adverb garra.
It is attached to the gerund; there was earlier some doubt about this, since the vowel
immediately preceding the conjunctive affix is always unstressed and is often realised as a
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central vocoid, in the region of [ə], and in many cases it is not at all clear that it is not a
realization of /a/, rather than /i/. Since the gerund is the base of the conjunctive, a
conjunctive purposive form has two occurrences of the gerund formative; thus mathiwarriyi
‘in order to go and hit’ is matha ‘to hit’ + -i gerund, + -warra conjunctive, + -i gerund + -yi
dative.
A paradigm of conjunctive forms, insofar as they are attested, is given in Table 7.2. As
there are no attestations for the RR-conjugation it does not appear in the table.
Table 7.2
Paradigm of conjunctive verb inflections
TH-conj.
‘to see’
imperative
potential
past
gerund
purposive
habitual
present
J-conj.
‘to hear’
0-conj.
‘to fall’
irregular
‘to go’
yangadhiwarra larridjiwarra
yangadhiwarraa
yangadhiwarna larridjiwarna
yangadhiwarri
yangadhiwarriyi larridjiwarriyi
yapiwarna
nhandiwarna
yapiwarriyi
nhandiwarriyi
yangadhiwarragadja
yapiwarragadja
This morpheme was first called conjunctive by Hale (n.d.) and was said (Breen 1971) to
function as a conjunction. Almost all of the examples elicited by Hale involved a verb of
going followed (not necessarily immediately) by a verb with conjunctive marking. An
example is (36), and (37) is a similar example from my corpus. See also (8-1). However, in
my own fieldwork, perhaps because the speakers were gradually recovering facility in the
language and because my main informant was more likely than Hale’s informants to give a
free translation of anything I asked for, the conjunctive verb was, much more often than not,
the only verb in the sentence. I conclude, therefore, that the conjunctive is actually an
associated motion marker3 (see Koch 1984, and see 7.7 for the other Warluwarra associated
motion form) with the meaning ‘go and do —’ and that the verb ‘to go’ in many of Hale’s
examples (of which 36 is one) and some of mine is redundant. Note, however, examples like
(38) in which there is a verb of motion which carries information not available in the
conjunctive verb; in this case the conjunctive marking seems to be redundant. In the text
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example 6i too it could perhaps be thought of as redundant, but it is a fairly long sentence and
the conjunctive verb is quite remote from the other verb.
Examples of the use of a conjunctive form as the only verb of a sentence include (39) to
(43). See also (8-23) for an example of a conjunctive form as the verb in the second clause of
a compound sentence using the temporal conjunction nhunda ‘then, now’.
(36)
H9
(37)
8:10
Nhandarna yiwa nyinadhiwarna.
go-PAST 3sg:S sit-CONJ-PAST
‘He went and sat down.’
nyina-dhiwa-rna
sit-CONJ-PAST
Ngarna nhandarna mathiwarna
ngarna yinya, dhuwana.
math(a)-iwa-rna
1sg:S go-PAST
kill-CONJ-PAST 1sg:A it:O
snake:O
‘I went and killed it, the snake.’
(38)
Ngularrirna nyinadhiwarriyi.
nyina-dhiwarr(a)-iyi
return-PAST sit-CONJ-PURP
sit-CONJ-PURP
‘(He) went back and sat down.’ (? ‘to sit down’; literally, it seems, ‘went back to go
and sit down’)
(39)
7:21
Garlaa
ngarna warramadhiwarri ngankanayi.
garl(a)-aa
warrama-dhiwarr(a)-i
meat-PROP 1sg:S look.for-CONJ-GER kangaroo-DAT
‘I’ve been hunting kangaroos.’
(40)
0:1
Djarnmarridjiwarra!
“Go and talk to him.“
djarnmarri-djiwarra
talk-CONJ:IMP
*
(41)
8:20
Manhala
ngarna nhangadhiwarriyi.
fire(wood):O 1sg:A get-CONJ-PURP
‘I’ve got to go and get wood for the fire.’
(42)
Ngathangurlagu
0:22
(43)
8:7
nhanga-dhiwarr(a)-iyi
get-CONJ-PURP
gakagu yinya yangarna; nhangadhiwarna yinya.
nhanga-dhiwa-rna
1sg:GEN-NOMIN-A uncle-A 3sg:O see-PAST get-CONJ-PAST
3sg:O
‘My uncle saw him and went and got him.’
mirimalaga nyinadhiwarna
knee-LOC sit-CONJ-PAST
‘[The emu] went and knelt down [to drink].’
nyina-dhiwa-rna
sit-CONJ-PAST
When -mi ’hither’ is suffixed, the meaning of the conjunctive is ‘come and do —’, as
illustrated in text example 11iii and examples (44) to (47).
3
Breen (1971) gave 'again' as a meaning for the conjunctive when attached to the only verb in a sentence on the
basis of a translation by a speaker of yangadhiwarna as 'saw (it) again', but this seems to be an adequate
translation only in the particular context.
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(44)
9:26
(45)
Nyimingurlu yiwa ngunadhiwarnami.
nyimi-ngurlu
nguna-dhiwa-rna-mi
fish-ABL
3sg:S lie-CONJ-PAST-HITH
“He was fishing and came back and lay down.“
0:8
Warrawurlagu yiwa yina danmadhiwarraami.
dog-A
that 2sg:O bite-CONJ-POT-HITH
‘That dog might come here and bite you.’
(46)
Dhawa yinda
9:43
danma-dhiwarr(a)-aa-mi
bite-CONJ-POT-HITH
warramadhiwarnami.
Nganyiranha, yiya, yipa djinanga.
warrama-dhiwa-rna-mi
man:S 2sg:DAT look.for-CONJ-PAST-HITH so-and-so
yes 2sg:A know:IMP
‘A man came looking for you. So-and-so, yes, you know.’
(47)
Nhandarla mara. Burlugudidjiwarnami
nyinadhiwarnami.
burlugud(u)-i-djiwa-rna-mi nyina-dhiwa-rna-mi
go-OPT
this:S stuck-INCH-CONJ-PAST-HITH sit-CONJ-PAST-HITH
Nukarriyidja ngarna maramarlu; wumarlu ngarna nukarriyidja.
nukarri-yidja
mara-marlu
be.sick.of-PRES 1sg:S this-AVER 3sg:AVER 1sg:S be.sick.of-PRES
0:2-3 ‘I wish this one would go. He came and stayed and wouldn’t budge. I’m sick of this
fellow; I’m sick of him.’
It is not clear how an associated motion affix could be used with a verb of motion.
However, when I suggested a couple of such forms to Queen she accepted them and repeated
them in short sentences which she then translated into English. These were:
(48)
9:68
and
(49)
9:24
Nhandiwarriyi ngarna.
go-CONJ-PURP 1sg:S
“I’ve got to go for a while; I’ll be back.“
nhand(a)-iwarr(a)-iyi
go-CONJ-PURP
Nhandiwarna yiwa.
go-CONJ-PAST 3sg:S
“He went out and back again.“
nhand(a)-iwa-rna
go-CONJ-PAST
Note also (7.7) that there are other forms of the verb ‘to go’ which are analysed as
associated motion forms, although again the function of an associated motion marker on this
verb is not clear.
7.4 The normalis formative.
The normalis suffix has as allomorphs:
-0, which is used with RR-conjugation verb stems, and may be used with other 0conjugation stems when the agent formative follows,
e.g.
yitalwa ‘policeman’
(yita ‘to tie’, -lwa, agent)
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wurrgharragarri ‘used to run’
(wurrgharra ‘to run’, -garri past habitual)
-rra, used with verbs of 0-conjugation (excluding RR-conjugation), when the habitual
formative follows,
e.g.
matharragarri ‘used to kill’ (matha ‘to kill’)
-nya, used as an alternative to -0 with 0-conjugation (other than Ia) verbs, when the
agent suffix follows. -nya usually is preceded by -rri (see 10.4.2).
e.g.
yitarrinyala ‘policeman’
(alternative to yitalwa)
(but yitanyala also appears to be acceptable).
-dha, used with TH-conjugation verbs,
e.g.
gantamadha ‘windbreak’
(gantama ‘to block’)
-dja, used with J-conjugation verbs,
e.g.
djarnmarridjalwa ‘speaker’ (djarnmarri- ‘to speak’, -lwa, agent formative).
There are no examples in the corpus of normalis forms derived from 0-conjugation or
J-conjugation verbs and carrying no further suffixation.
When carrying no further formative suffix, the normalis may function syntactically in
two ways. Firstly, it may function in the normal way as a noun, such as gantamadha
‘windbreak’. Most nouns of this type are not simple normalis forms, but are compounds of a
noun and a normalis noun. Examples are:
guna-madjadha ‘crow’ (guna ‘faeces, filth’, madja ‘to eat’, thus ‘eater of filth’.)
miki-burlumadha ‘whirlwind’(miki ‘dirt’, burluma ‘to mix, to whirl’)
yirri-warladha ‘crab’ (yirri ‘mud’, warla ‘to pull’)
miki-burnamadha ‘stranger’ (miki ‘dirt, country’, burna ‘white, dry’, -ma causative.
The reasoning behind this derivation is not known.)
These normalis nouns are inflected in the usual way as common nouns, e.g.
(50)
9:77
(51)
0:3
Garla mara guna-madjadhagu dhangurnadhaa.
meat:O this:O crow-A
eat-POT
‘The crow might eat this meat.’
dhangurna-dhaa
eat-POT
Biyadhangurlu yiwa bumatha barlardirnami.
biyadha-ngurlu
cloud-ABL
that sun
show.self-PAST-HITH
cloud-ABL
‘The sun came out from behind the clouds.’ (biyadha ‘cloud’ from biya ‘to cover’)
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Secondly, they may function as verbs with normalis aspect, i.e. referring to an action or
state that is normal or habitual. This appears to be very rare.
(52)
Ngunadhaa-wadji ngarna, ngarna matjadha ngatharrwa, garla garra ngarna.
sleep-POT-before 1sg:S 1sg:A eat-NOR tucker:O
meat:O too 1sg:A
dhangurnadha.
eat-NOR
9:67 ‘I always have a feed before I go to bed.’
(Note that there are different verbs ‘to eat’ depending on whether meat or tucker, i.e.
vegetable food, is being eaten.)
(53)
Yughu yiwa wukulu
garnkalwiyarridha
wood:S that:S water-ALLA top-INCH-NOR
7:13 ‘That wood floats.’ (Note that the normalis suffix here is recorded as -dha; -dja would
be expected.)
The other uses of the normalis stem are as a base to which the habitual verb formative,
the continuative formative, the same subject formative or the agent formative is added (see
7.4.1, 7.4.2, 7.4.3 and 10.5.1, respectively).
There is an obvious parallel between the gerund formative and the normalis formative;
the allomorphs -i, -nyi, -dhi and -dji of the former are matched by allomorphs -0, -nya, -dha
and -dja of the latter. This raises the question of whether one of these formatives should be
regarded as basic and the other derived from it; given the phonological rule stated in 3.8.6,
the gerund could be derived from the normalis by adding -i, or the normalis from the gerund
by adding -a. If we adopt the former solution, it is not at all clear what meaning should be
assigned to the affix -i. If the latter solution is adopted, -a could be regarded as a form of the
proprietive morpheme (see 6.7.2). -aa is the suffix used to form the potential mood of a verb
from either the gerund or the normalis (see 7.9). The potential seems to be semantically
similar to a proprietive; thus for example,
(54)
8:51
Danmadhaa yiwa.
bite-POT
3sg:A
‘He might bite.’
would perhaps be more accurately translated ‘he has the capability of biting’. The potential
morpheme may therefore be a member of the proprietive morpheme. If the normalis is
regarded as derived from the gerund by the addition of the proprietive, we must regard the
potential as formed by two successive additions of the proprietive suffix to the gerund. This
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seems unlikely. While it is thought that one of these forms — the gerund and the normalis —
is derived from the other, it is not possible to say which is primary.
7.4.1 Habitual forms
The habitual verb stem formative, -ga, is added to a normalis noun stem, i.e. a stem formed
by adding the normalis formative to a verb stem, or to a conjunctive verb stem. Its function
is to form a stem to which an inflection for tense (past or present) is added, resulting in a past
habitual or present habitual (possibly better described as a present frequentative) form of the
verb. Thus this formative combines with the normalis formative to form a compound suffix
functioning as a habitual aspect marker, which is glossed HAB. The present habitual
resembles in its function the normalis used as a verb, as in (36).
The past tense suffix used with the habitual is -rri, which, as noted above (7.2.4), is quite
different from the normal past tense suffix; it is homophonous with an allomorph of the
inchoative (10.4.2) and also with the -rri associated with the normalis. The present tense
suffix is -dja, which is similar enough to other forms of the present tense to be thought of as
an allomorph of the same morpheme (or of one of the morphemes which combines to form
the present tense), and thus to justify the segmentation of the past and present habitual forms
-garri and -gadja.
Present habitual, which is uncommon in the corpus, is illustrated in (55) and (56). Past
habitual, which is much more common, is illustrated in (57), (58) and (59); see also text 7
which has several past habitual verbs.
(55)
Ngarna ngularridjagadja Yurandandji.
ngularri-djaga-dja
1sg:S return-HAB-PRES Urandangie
return-HAB-PRES
B:5
‘I often go back to Urandangie.’
(No inflectional suffix was used on the placename, perhaps because the English version was
used.)
(56)
9:27
(57)
7:26
Garla yanu ngunadhiwarragadja.
meat:S 3pl:S sleep-GER-CONJ-HAB-PRES
‘The cattle always go and sleep [there].’
Ngarna nyinadhagarri maraga wukuga.
1sg:S sit-HAB-PAST this-LOC water-LOC
‘I used to camp at this waterhole.’
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nguna-dhiwarra-ga-dja
sleep-CONJ-HAB-PRES
nyina-dhaga-rri
sit-HAB-PAST
157
(58)
Dhanggumadhagarri yanu ngankanaanha, bundjurranha yanu
dhangguma-dhaga-rri
ngankan(a)-aanha
roast-HAB-PAST
3pl:A kangaroo-O
emu-O
3pl:A
dhanggumadhagarri, watalaalu.
roast-HAB-PAST
stone-REDUP-ALLA
9:25 ‘They used to roast kangaroos and emus on the stones.’
(59)
9:50
Dhawiriya ngarna wurrgharragarri yatindalu.
small-PROP 1sg:S run-HAB-PAST
very
‘I used to be able to run fast when I was young.’
wurrgharra-ga-rri
run-HAB-PAST
7.4.2 Continuative
It was originally suggested (Breen 1971) that this was formed by suffixing -ni to the
gerund. However, since the continuative form of matha ‘to hit’ is matharrinyini and not
*mathini, and the sequence -rrinya is associated with the normalis verb form of this
conjugation, it is now suggested that it is formed by suffixing -ini to the normalis. However,
the whole sequence will be glossed CONT. A suffix -ini or -ni is not known in any other
context.
A form using this suffix has been given several times in response to the elicitation of
continuative imperative forms, and an example appears in a text (6ix) which could be
continuative imperative or continuative optative. Another example which was not obtained
by elicitation is (6-119). However, other occurrences have a translation in the indicative
mood. I discussed words and sentences using this construction with Queen on several
occasions, and the meaning seems to be continuative without any necessary reference to
mood. For example, when I asked if ‘Gana yangadhini’ would mean ‘Don’t look’, she
replied: ‘Gana yangadhini. Don’t look. Still looking at him.’ (Presumably, when she said
the last sentence, she was disregarding the negative, gana.) Matharrinyini, which appears in
(61) apparently with an imperative connotation, was on another occasion (after I had asked if
there was such a word as *mathini) volunteered and translated as ‘hitting him all the time’,
and then contrasted with yarrghumarna … matharna ‘hit once’.
(60)
9:12
(61)
9:83
Gana wunga murrinhamadhini.
not
3sg:DAT wait-CONT
‘Don’t wait for him any more.’
murrinhama-dhini
wait-CONT
Gana yinya matharrinyini.
not 3sg:O hit-CONT
Don’t keep on hitting him.
matha-rrinyini
hit-CONT
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(62)
9:44
(63)
9:41
Gana wurru djarnmarridjini, burlghagu yiwa larriyidja.
djarnmarri-djini
larri-yidja
not 2pl:S talk-CONT
old man-A that:A listen-PRES
‘Stop talking, that old man’s listening.’
Yiwa
garridjini yartanha yiwa.
that:S/there stand-CONT father-ABS that/there
‘That one standing up is my father.’
garri-djini
stand-CONT
Note that, although the majority of examples are translated as or translations of
continuative imperative, there are other ways in which English continuative imperative
sentences were translated; see (34) and the following:
(64)
9:80
Yandawu
marnkarru-dhuka.
wait.a.while ear-throw:IMP
‘Keep on listening.’
7.4.3 Same subject marking.
The suffix -rra is added to a normalis noun stem to form what is regarded as a nominal
stem whose function is to qualify the subject or agent of a verb and specify another cooccurring action or state of the subject or agent. In other words, S/A V1s while V2ing. The
combination of normalis marking and -rra will be glossed SUBJ. Although the verb
concerned need not be transitive, the suffix -gu, which is, in its other occurrences, the agent
suffix used with a noun which is the subject of a transitive verb, is always affixed. There is
no strong evidence for this segmentation and analysis of the sequence -rragu, but note the
possible use of -gu with the word marnu ‘slow(ly)’ (§6.5.4), and also the occasional use of
ergative in other languages (in which, however, ergative has also the instrumental function)
on abstract nouns functioning as predicates or adverbs; for example, Diyari (Austin
1981:121) and Yandruwandha (Breen 1976c note 2).
The use of the term ‘same subject marking’ implies that there is also a ‘different subject
marking’ and that this construction is part of a switch reference system (which certainly
exists in the related language, Wakaya; see Breen 1974, 1976d,f and Austin 1981b)4. This
4
The possibility that there was a system of switch-reference was not considered in Breen (1971); to the best of
my knowledge switch-reference had not been invented then. Austin (1981) quotes Breen (1974) and (1976d) as
his source of data on Wakaya.
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seems to be so; the complement (§7.6) functions as a ‘different subject’ construction; a
handful of apparent problematical examples are shown to be explicable in that section.
In most examples it seems that one verb (with tense marking) functions as the main
verb and the same-subject form is a qualifier; note, however, (69) in which the tense marking
and same subject marking are exchanged between the verbs when the sentence is partly
repeated.
The SUBJ form of a verb in Warluwarra has the same form as the present tense of the
same verb (as most of them are in the stem form) in Bularnu.
The following examples show the use of same subject marking.
(65)
9:4
Yangadharragu yipa matharna?
see-SUBJ-A
2sg:A hit-PAST
‘Did you mean to hit [him]?’
(66)
9:20
Madjadhiyi yiwa, nyinadharragu.
‘He is going to sit down and have a feed.’
(67)
Ngunayidha yiwa nyinadharragu.
nguna-yidha yiwa nyina-dharra-gu.
sleep-PRES 3sg:S sit-SUBJ-A
‘He is sitting down asleep.’
9:74
(68)
9:5
yanga-dharra-gu
see-SUBJ-A
madja-dhiyi yiwa nyina-dharra-gu
eat-PURP
3sg:S sit-SUBJ-A
Ngarna djinangadharragu garrinyamarna.
djinanga-dharra-gu garri-nyama-rna
1sg:A know-SUBJ-A
stand-CAUS-PAST
‘I made (the humpy).’ (i.e. ‘ I, knowing how to make it, made it.’)
Two forms, both irregular, of the subject formative are attested for the verb ‘to go’. In
the shorter form (appearing in the following example) the formative is -0 and the ergative
suffix is added to the stem nata-. In the longer form the final ergative form is
natamadharragu; which would be the regular form for a stem natama.
(69)
0:10
(70)
Ngarna natamarna yangadharragu yinya; natagu
yangarna.
yanga-dharra-gu
1sg:S go-PAST
look-SUBJ-A
3sg:O go:SUBJ-A look-PAST
‘I went along looking at him; looked as I went.’
Garalingurlu yalu wula gulirriyidja, nhunda wula bartarridjarnardanga(?)
garali-ngurlu
gulirri-yidja
barta-rri-dja-rna-rdanga
child-ABL
still 3du:S fight-PRES now
3du:S big-INCH-MOT-PAST-?
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gulirridjarragu yalu.
gulirri-djarra-gu
fight-SUBJ-A
still
fight-SUBJ-A
0:18 ‘Those two have been fighting ever since they were kids. Now they’re grown up they
fight still.’
(The ending — or perhaps separate word — at the end of the first line was discussed
afterwards but inconclusively. The sentence was partially repeated with just bartarrirna.)
7.5 The potential mood.
The potential mood suffix is used to convey the idea of potentiality (virtual certainty in
(75)), usually of something undesirable. It can be compared with the aversive case of nouns
(6.6.6) and contrasted with the potential adverb ngarladha ‘maybe’ which is used (see 9.2.3)
to convey the idea of possibility or probability of some occurrence which is usually desirable
or neutral, and which may already have occurred. It is frequently used in conjunction with
another clause which refers to measures that should be taken to avoid the undesirable event;
in other cases such a clause is implied. For example, (71) implies a clause meaning, say,
‘Don’t go near it’. It has a different function in (76), an example taken from a recording by
Hale; he has another similar example but none of my many examples of the form ‘X can’t Y’
use the potential. However, the usage recorded by Hale is consistent with my remarks
(illustrated by (54)) in 7.4. The following examples illustrate its use; the only text examples
are in 22ii and 24vi.
The potential mood is expressed by adding -aa (0-conjugation verbs and associated
motion verbs), -dhaa (TH-conjugation verbs) or -djaa (J-conjugation verbs) to the verb stem.
It is probably a compound suffix and could be interpreted as gerund plus -aa or normalis plus
-aa. I am inclined to prefer the latter because of the semantic similarity of normalis verb and
potential verb. The -aa could be an allomorph of the proprietive suffix (see 6.7.2).
(71)
7:5
(72)
7:15
(73)
0:8
Warrawurlagu yiwa bartagu yina danmadhaa.
dog-A
that:A big-A
2sg:O bite-POT
‘That big dog might bite you.’
danma-dhaa
bite-POT
Guluwa
yipala, ngarna yipalanha mathaa.
keep.quiet:IMP 2du:S 1sg:A 2du-O
hit-POT
‘If you two don’t stop talking I’ll hit you.’
math(a)-aa
hit-POT
Gimadhaa yiwa yughu yinya, yapaa nhunda yiwa.
gima-dhaa
yap(a)-aa
let.go-POT 3sg:A tree:O that:O fall-POT then
3sg:S
‘He might let go [of the tree] and fall.’
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(74)
9:31
Larridjaa wurrunha dhawagu.
hear-POT 2pl-ACC man-ERG
‘The men might hear you.’
(75)
Nurlagu yina
9:56
(76)
H3
7:1
larri-djaa
hear-POT
danmadhaa; gana nyina nurlamarlagaaga.
danma-dhaa
nurla-ma-rla-gaa-ga
ant-A
2sg:O bite-POT
not sit:IMP ant-GEN-NOMIN-REDUP-LOC
‘The ants will bite you, don’t sit on their [nest].’
Ganarla ngarna yarrghadhaa
not-EMPH 1sg:S climb-POT
‘I can’t get up.’
(Contrast Gana ngarna yangayidha
not
1sg:A see-PRES
‘I can’t see.’)
yarrgha-dhaa
climb-POT
yanga-yidha
see-PRES
7.6 The complement formative.
This has four allomorphs:
-0, used with 0-conjugation verbs other than RR-conjugation verbs in association with the
causative formative. It was necessary to postulate this allomorph so that the second of the
possible descriptions of the causative formative (see 10.4.3) could be adopted; its “existence“
is therefore dependent on the decision which was made in that case, and which will be further
justified in a later paragraph.
-ngu, used with 0-conjugation verbs in other cases.
-nha, used with TH-conjugation verbs, and with RR-conjugation verbs in association with the
causative formative (see 10.4.3).
-nya, used with J-conjugation verbs.
The term ‘complement’ was first applied to this form of the Warluwarra verb by Hale,
because of its function as part of the predicate of a sentence containing a “sense verb“, such
as yanga ‘to see’ and larri- ‘to hear’, e.g.
(77)
H:9
Ngarna yina yangadhiyi dhuwarli
dhukangu.
1sg:A 2sg:O see-PURP boomerang:O throw-COMP
‘I’ll watch you throw the boomerang.’
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yanga-dhiyi
see-PURP
162
However, some of the following examples show that the range of functions of the
complement in Warluwarra is somewhat wider than this, and suggest that it is the ‘different
subject’ aspect of a switch reference system (cf. 7.4.3); most examples are consistent with
this, but a handful seem not to be because the subjects of the two verbs are the same. This
applies to (85) (and a very similar sentence illustrating djirri- in the dictionary) and (10-4).
As Austin (1981b:316-7) notes for Diyari, same subject marking is used when the subject of
the main clause is included in the (non-singular) subject of the subordinate clause, as in ‘I
want us to …’, but different subject marking is used when the subject of the subordinate
clause is included in the subject of the main clause, as in ‘We two will go so I can …’. The
seemingly anomalous examples in Warluwarra can be explained if the subject of the main
clause is thought of as the person concerned and the subject of the subordinate clause as some
part or aspect of the person, and so included in the subject of the main clause. I have found
this same principle applying in dialects of Arrernte and Western Desert (as in sentences
meaning 'I can feel myself getting weak', 'I can see my hand swelling', and see Wilkins 1989
Chapter 11) and I suspect that it is much more widespread. The only remaining problem in
any of these examples is the nature and purpose of the -ra ending in (85); it must be relevant
that this is the only example in which the main verb is intransitive.
Note that in a couple of cases (80, 82) the accusative suffix follows the complement
formative; it seems to be optional here just as it is on ordinary noun stems since it does not
appear in some others (77, 78, 79, 84). As with noun stems (see 6.5.3) it may not be
permissible when the complement precedes the verb (81, 83).
(78)
Gana ngarna yangadhiyi wuku
yapangu.
not 1sg:A see-PURP water:O fall-COMP
‘I hope it doesn’t rain.’
yanga-dhiyi
see-PURP
larri-yidja
hear-PRES
9:42
Gana yipa nganha larriyidja, djarnmarrinya yindarlu.
not 2sg:A 1sg:O hear-PRES speak-COMP
2sg:ALLA
‘You are not listening to me [talking to you].’
(80)
Gana ngarna yinya larrirna
7:16
(79)
0:3
(81)
0:9
djarnmarrinyanha; ngarna yinya larrimarla.
larr(i)-imarla
not
1sg:A 3sg:O hear-PAST speak-COMP-O
1sg:A 3sg:O hear-IRR
‘I didn’t hear him speak; [if he’d said something] I would have heard him.’
Ngankanaanha yiwa wurrgharrangu matharrarna.
kangaroo-O
3sg:A run-COMP
kill-MOT-PAST
‘He killed the kangaroo while he was running along.’
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ngankan(a)-aanha
kangaroo-O
163
(This would be correct if the second ‘he’ referred to the kangaroo. I intended it to refer to the
killer, but I cannot say for certain that the speaker had this intention. The -rra in the last
word says that the first ‘he’ was in motion. If it was the first ‘he’ who was running one
would expect wurrgharragu, not wurrgharrangu. It possibly was, the sentence was not
recorded.)
(82)
Gana yipa
yangayidha nganha ngunanhaanha, nhangarli yipa ngathaarlu
yanga-yidha
nguna-nh(a)-aanha
not 2sg:A see-PRES
1sg:O lie-COMP-O
what
2sg:S 1sg:ALLA
bakarrarna
yipa.
jump-MOT-PAST 2sg:S
0:12 ‘Can’t you see me lying down, what did you jump over me for?’
(83)
Yiwa bundjurra natamanha wukuwanha gutjanha
lalagu
yinya
that:S emu:S
go-COMP water-O
drink-COMP elder.brother-A 3sg:O
djirrarna.
wuku-wanha
spear-PAST
water-O
0:13 ‘My brother speared that emu when it went and drank water.’
(I am not sure of this translation.)
(84)
0:22
(85)
9:76
Wukuwanha ngarna yangarna mangalarrinya.
water-O
1sg:A see-PAST shine-COMP
‘I saw the water shining [in the distance].’
wuku-wanha
water-O
Ngarna djirriyidja latjinyara.
1sg:S sick-PRES dance-COMP-PROP
‘I am tired from dancing.’
djirri-yidja
sick-PRES
Another seemingly anomalous example is (86), in which what seems to be a complement
form carries an ergative suffix and seems to have the function of a same-subject form. (The
same-subject ergative form of nati- would be natindjarragu.) This may be explainable (as in
sentences like 85) in terms of its subject being an aspect of the subject of the main clause.
(86)
9:20
Natinyagu
yipa yinya dhangurnarna garlaanha.
do.what-COMP-A 2sg:A that:O eat-PAST
meat-O
“What did you want to eat that meat for?“
garl(a)-aanha
meat-O
A sentence in text 18xiv seems to have a locative suffix following the complement formative,
and I have no explanation for this.
There are a couple of nouns which seem to have been derived with the complement
formative: birnmanha ‘sensible’ from birnma ‘to think’ and wanmamanha ‘the dark’ from
wanmama ‘to get dark’.
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164
The decision to regard the causative formative as a suffix -ma attached to the complement
form of a verb stem is based on the parallelism between such pairs of sentences as
Ngarna yinya yangarna gaanha
‘I saw him crying’
and
Ngarna yinya gaanhamarna
‘I made him cry.’
In the latter case the bound verb form -marna corresponds to the free verb yangarna in the
former sentence, and in both cases the verb stem gaa carries the suffix -nha. Similarly
ngarna larrirna dhawa djarnmarrinya
‘I heard the man speak’
is parallel to
dhawa ngarna djarnmarrinyamarna
‘I made the man speak’
Since 0-conjugation verbs may on other occasions take a zero form of a formative suffix
(compare the alternative forms yital(w)a and yitarrinyal(w)a ‘policeman’), the absence of an
overt complement marker in causative forms of these verbs (e.g. yapama, not *yapanguma)
is not regarded as a sufficient reason for rejecting the interpretation of causative verbs as
verb stem + complement formative + causative formative.
A sentence containing a complement, e.g.
Ngarna larrirna garali gaanha
‘I heard the baby crying’
appears to have the same meaning as the corresponding two-clause sentence, in this case
Ngarna larrirna garali gaarna, literally ‘I heard, the baby cried.’
Breen 1971 suggested that the allomorphs of the complement formative may be cognate with
the suffixes -nha and -nya (allomorphs of the absolutive suffix on proper nouns) and the
object marker for other nominal stems, which is variously -nha, -aanha and -wanha. This is
plausible, but is not supported by the use of accusative on complements as in (80) and (82).
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165
7.7 The associated motion formative.
The function of the associated motion5 marker is to indicate that the action or state is
associated in some way with movement from one place to another on the part of the subject
or agent. Thus an action may be performed by an agent who is walking, or moving along, or
who is travelling but not necessarily in motion at the time of the action, or who was travelling
immediately before the action or will be travelling immediately afterwards.
There are a number of allomorphs of the associated motion formative. With 0-conjugation
verbs the forms -a, -nha, -nya and -nhanda are all used, and in all cases are linked to the verb
stem by the suffix -rri. The -nha form is known only for the present tense and is the only
form occurring in the corpus with the present tense affix. The other forms have a wider range
of application and in some cases, at least, there are two or more alternative forms; see Table
7.3 for further details. TH-conjugation verbs use the forms -dha or -dhanda, while the Jconjugation verbs take -dja or -djanda. The table shows the combinations in which these
forms occur in the corpus; further data might have shown that the members of a pair (e.g. dha and -dhanda) are interchangeable in all cases.
Table 7.3
Paradigm of associated motion verb inflections
TH-conj.
‘to see’
J-conj.
‘to hear’
imperative yangadha ~
yangadhanda
optative
yangadharla
larridjala
irrealis
yangadhandimarla
past
yangadharna larridjarna
yangadhandarna
larridjandarna
present
yangadhada
larridjada
gerund
purposive
yangadhandi
larridjandi
yangadhadhiyi larridjadhiyi
yangadhadiyi
0-conj.
‘to fall’
RR-conj.
‘to cut’
yaparrinhanda
irregular
‘to go’
natama
natamarla
yaparrarna
nakarrarrarna natamarna
yaparrinhandarna
yapirrinyarna
yaparrinhada nakarrinhada natamadha
nakarrarriyidha natamadhada
yaparradhiyi
yaparrinhandiyi
The associated motion suffix is probably derived from the verb ‘to go’, which has two
roots, nhanda and nata, in complementary distribution. In fact, some associated motion
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166
forms of 0-conjugation verbs are composed of an appropriate form of this verb suffixed to the
augmented (with -rri) stem of the verb; e.g. bakarrinhandarna ‘hopped along’, from baka ‘to
hop, to jump’. (Bakarrarna is an alternative form with, as far as I can tell, the same
meaning.) Nhandarna, as a word in its own right, means ‘went’. (-rna is the past tense
suffix.) Apart from these special cases, there are no known examples in Warluwarra of
compounding of dissimilar verb stems.
Examples (87 to 95) illustrate various tense and mood forms of the associated motion
suffix, and also various aspects of its use — action preceded and followed by travel in (90)
and (94), action followed by going in (92) and (93) (and note (96) where the motion
precedes the 'action' — here stance), action contemporaneous with motion in the others. See
also text examples in 2i, 2iv, 5vii, 16vi, vii, viii and 18vi. Several of these text examples
involve the forms which are regarded as associated motion forms of the verb ‘to go’, a
seemingly tautologous construction. Text 20i shows the use of a suffix homophonous with
the associated motion functioning as a transitiviser on the verb ‘to run’ (and no other; see
10.4.3).
(87)
Yughu manha ngarna manhala
warladhada.
tree this:O 1sg:A fire(wood):O pull-MOT-PRES
9:4
‘I am dragging this log along.’ (warla ‘to pull’, hence warladha ‘to drag’, i.e. ‘to pull
while walking along’.)
(88)
7:22
(89)
8:32
(90)
7:20
Yiwa yarrayanagu yalwiga
gangadhadami.
that:A woman-A
shoulder-LOC carry-MOT-PRES-HITH
‘That woman is coming here carrying [the baby] on her shoulder.’
(ganga ‘to carry’, hence gangadha ‘to carry along’, -da present tense, -mi ’hither’)
Wuku yiwa djarnmarridjada.
water:S that:S talk-MOT-PRES
‘That water is talking as it goes along.’ (Descriptive of a thunder cloud.)
Yarraga ngarna ngunadharnami.
creek-LOC 1sg:S sleep-MOT-PAST-HITH
‘I camped at the creek yesterday (while on my way here).’
(91)
Ngarna bilintji-nharrangurridjarna.
1sg:S lively-PRIV-INCH-MOT-PAST
9:26 ‘That (run) made me tired.’
(bilintji ‘lively’, bilintji-nharrangu ‘tired’, i.e.
‘lacking liveliness’, bilintji-nharrangurri- ‘to be tired’)
5
The term 'associated motion' was introduced by Koch (1984) as the name of a category separate from the
traditional verbal categories tense, mood and aspect. Breen (1971) used the term 'motive'.
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167
(92)
9:82
Wata ngarna yina
ngutarradhiyi.
money 1sg:A 2sg:O
give-MOT-PURP
‘I’ll give you money before I go.’
nguta-rra-dhiyi
give-MOT-PURP
(93)
Yiwa bartagaagu dhukarrarna
yinya.
barta-gaa-gu
that:A big-REDUP-A throw-MOT-PAST 3sg:O
big-REDUP-A
9:25 ‘That big fellow left him behind.’
(dhuka ‘to throw, to throw away’, dhukarra ‘to
leave (transitive)’. The semantic extension involved here, where a man was “thrown away“,
is common in Australian languages.)
(94)
Yinya ngamagaagu
yapamadharna.
ngama-gaa-gu
3sg:O mother-REDUP-A fall-CAUS-MOT-PAST
mother- REDUP-A
9:81 ‘His mother dropped him.’ (The reference is to a joey (baby kangaroo) which has
been dropped from its mother’s pouch while she was fleeing.)
(95)
0:13
Yandawu ngali
nyinadharla, bumatha yiwa ngangarridjiyami.
ngangarri-djiya-mi
wait
1du.incl:S stay-MOT-OPT sun:S
3sg:S get.up-PURP-HITH
‘We’ll stop here until sunrise.’
Examples like (96), with garra ‘to stand’, show that the associated motion suffix may
be used with a verb whose meaning would seem to preclude the possibility of its use.
Similarly, we have an example of its use with nyina ‘to sit’ in
nyinadhandi mara
sit-MOT-GER this
which was suggested by me and translated by Queen as “he was sitting along; he was
sitting all the way“, i.e. he had frequent rests.6 (The gerund here functions as a past
imperfective form of the verb.) Note also (97) where the verb stem is yapa 'to fall'.
(96)
9:80
(97)
8:4
Yanu ngunarna, ngarna garridjarna
nhunda.
3pl:S sleep-PAST 1sg:S stand-MOT-PAST then
‘When they went to sleep, I went away.’ (i.e. I went and stood somewhere else.)
Wuku mara yaparrinhadami.
water:S here fall-MOT-PRES-HITH
‘The rain is coming.’
yapa-rrinha-da-mi
fall-MOT-PRES-HITH
The examples show also that the associated motion suffix may be used in conjunction
with either the causative stem formative (94) or the inchoative formative (91).
6
Comparison with other languages of western Queensland and the Northern Territory suggests that this could
also refer nowadays to travelling in a vehicle.
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168
In passing, it is worth noting again that there are some interesting instances of
interchange between interdental and lamino-alveolar phonemes in associated motion affixes.
For example, Hale notes warladjada and warladhada ‘dragging’ as variants, and gives
ngalwadjadha ‘going in’ where ngalwadhadha or ngalwadhada would be expected7, and
wurrgharrinyadha where wurrgharrinhadha is most common. Fred Age on one occasion
gave me an even more variant form: wurrgharridjadha, and Queen’s puzzled comment, when
this was repeated to her, was: “He’s twisted it again.” The word ‘again’ clearly referred, not
to a “twist” on some other occasion, but to a double “twist” on this occasion.
7.8 Directional Suffixes.
Of the two directional suffixes found in Warluwarra, -mi is very common and -yi is
rare. The former normally has the meaning ‘to here, in this direction, hither’, and, in fact, the
very frequently occurring verb ‘ to come’ is formed by adding this suffix to the verb nhanda
~ nata- ‘to go’. In addition, this suffix can be used with verbs which would not be expected
to be associated with a directional suffix, and in these cases ‘facing this way’ seems often to
be an appropriate translation; see (100). Note also the usage in (10-12). In (103) the
reference is to location away from 'here'.
The suffix -yi means ‘that way, away from here, thither’ and may be derived from yiwa
‘that, there’. If this is so, then -mi is probably derived from mara ‘this, here’.
The following examples illustrate the use of directional suffixes, which are used only
with verbs and always follow inflectional suffixes. There are numerous examples of the use
of -mi on nhanda ~ nata- ‘to go’ throughout the grammar. See also (44 to 47), and text
examples 2i and iv, 10i and ii, 11i and iii, 12ii and iii, 16i, iv, vi and xv, 18vi, 19iii and 21iii.
(98)
7:4
(99)
Gunmangurlu yiwa ngangarridjarnami
dhawa.
humpy-ABL that:S go out-MOT-PAST-HITH man:S
That man came out from the house.
gunma-ngurlu
humpy-ABL
Garra nganha ngutami.
again 1sg:O give:IMP-HITH
‘Give me another one!’
7
Neither of these is backed up by my hearing of Hale's tapes, but he may have heard them before he made the
recordings. He elicited material without tape-recording first, and then re-elicited it with recording later (as I also
did at times, for similar reasons related to problems with tape recorders).
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169
(100) Yiwa liraga
garriyidjami
dhawa.
3sg:S mouth-LOC stand-PRES-HITH man:S
7:4
‘A man is standing in front of the house [facing this way].’
garri-yidja-mi
stand-PRES-HITH
(101) Nhandayi!
go:IMP-AWAY
‘Go away!’
(102) Bumatha ngalwadhidayi.
sun:S
enter-GER-PRES-AWAY
8:20 ‘The sun is setting.’
(103) ‘Dhara yindangu gunmara?’
Yiwa guntigu yangayidhayi.
yanga-yidha-yi
where 2sg:GEN humpy-PROP that house-A look-PRES-AWAY
9:27 ‘Where is your camp?’ ‘It’s over there past that house.’ [i.e. that house looks away
from us at it.]
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