You know what? FUCK IT! IMMA GO THROUGH THAT NEXT EXERCISE ON HERE BKLFSBNSKFJNB! I will include a list of the data at the end. So again we got our hands on 28 samples, and we gotta figure out a TAM system for the PM language Ngiyambaa! We are given a handful of morphemes (affixes and clitics) glossed as ??, where we have to find their function, then from there sort out their meanings! And use that for the TAM description.
With some head scratching and what not, we can find the morphemes to be:
-aga FUT (sample 1-3, 23, 27)
=wa: MIRATIVE/surprise (sample 4-6)
=ga: DUBITATIVE/doubt (sample 7, 24, 25, 27)
-dha IMPERATIVE (sample 9-10)
-giri OBLIGATION (sample 11-12), ??? (sample 13)
=gara EVIDENTIALLITY.DIRECT (sample 15, 17, 18)
=dhan EVIDENTIALLITY.HEARSAY (sample 16, 19)
=baɽa CERTAINTY (sample 20, 21)
=baga: “to the contrary” (sample 22)
=gila POTENTIAL (sample 23, 24, 27)
=ma COUNTERFACTUAL (sample 25, 28)
The TAM system of Ngiyambaa is interesting, as where such information is marked is different if it is a clitic (which then gets marked in a noun phrase), or a suffix (which then gets marked on the verb). What we see marked on the verb is tense and mood. Not only is this seen with -aga FUT, -dha IMPER, and -giri OBLIG, but also with the suffixes that we didn’t have to work out -iyi PAST, and -ɽa PRES. -giri has an interesting function but when it is used on a verb with dhi:rba “to know”, where it then indicates the verb that is known how to do, as seen in 13!
What we see with the clitics, is the encoding of modality, the understanding of the situation the speaker has! We see expressions of surprise, doubt, sources of knowledge, certainty, potential, and however you would describe =baga:. Broadly, these all can be grouped under speaker-orientated modalities. In the samples, I haven’t seen much in the way of aspect. This may be the result of the fact that the samples just didn’t include any examples of aspect marking, that Ngiyambaa does not mark it morphologically, or maybe I am just a galah and didn’t pick up on it BNLKJBNSFLKJNSF I’d say all of these are equally likely! If I missed out on something please lemme know =_=
The samples were modified from 2 sources: Donaldson, T. 1980. Ngiyambaa, the language of the Wangaaybuwan. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press., and Palmer, F. R. 1986. Mood and Modality. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
[fish=??(MIR)=2NOM eat-PAST]
[what=??(MIR)=2NOM eat-PAST]
[fish=??(DUB)=2NOM eat-PAST]
“Maybe you ate a fish, I don’t know”
[what=??(DUB)=2NOM eat-PAST]
“Maybe you ate something, I don’t know”
[that=up climb-??(IMPER)]
10. ŋindu bawuŋ-ga yuwa-dha
[you middle-LOC lie-??(IMPER)]
“(You) lie in the middle”
11. ŋadhu bawuŋ-ga yuwa-giri
[I middle-LOC lie-??(OBLIG)]
“I must lie in the middle”
13. ŋadhu dhi:rba-nha guruŋa-giri
[I know-PRES swim-??(OBLIG)]
15. ŋindu=gara giramb-iyi
[you=??(DIRECT) sick-PAST]
“One can see that you were sick”
16. ŋindu=dhan giramb-iyi
[you=??(HEARSAY) sick-PAST]
17. wara:y=gara=dhu=na bungiyam-iyi dhiŋga:=dhi:
[bad=??(DIRECT)=1NOM=3ABS burn-PAST meat=1POSS]
“I have burned my meat so it is no good, to judge by smell” (said outside the house where the meat was cooking)
18. gabuga:=gara=lu ŋamum-iyi
[egg=??(DIRECT)=3ERG lay-PAST]
“It has laid an egg, by the sound of it” (said of a chicken that was out of sight)
[1sg=??(HEARSAY) cook-PAST]
“People say I have cooked”
20. guni:m=baɽa=nu: baluy-aga
[mother=??(CERT)=2POSS die-??(FUT)]
“Your mother will certainly die (if you point at a rainbow)”
21. wiriwal=baɽa=ni ga-ɽa
[heavy=??(CERT)=3ABS be-PRES]
“It certainly is heavy, that’s for sure.”
22. guyan=baga:=dhu ga-ɽa
[shy=??(CONTR)=1NOM be-PRES]
“But I’m shy (contrary to what you seem to think)!”
23. gali:-ŋinda=gila ŋiyanu baluy-aga
[water-desired=??(POT) we die-FUT]
“I guess maybe we will die for lack of water”
24. guya=gila=ga:=lu dha-yi
[fish=??(POT)=??(DUB)=3ABS eat-PAST]
“I guess maybe he ate a fish, I don’t know”
25. minjaŋ=ga:=ma=ndu dha-yi
[what=??(DUB)=??(CF)=2NOM eat-PAST]
“You might have eaten I don’t know what, but you didn’t.”
26.waŋa=baga:=dhan=du ŋudha-nhi
[NEG=??(CONTR)=??(HEARSAY)=2NOM give-PAST]
“But people say you didn’t give anything (contrary to what you claim)”
27. ŋindu=gila=ga:=dhan guɽuŋay-aga
[you=??(POT)=??(DUB)=??(HEARSAY) swim-??(FUT)]
“I don’t know, but I hear that maybe you will swim”
28. ŋinu:=ma=ni bura:y giyi, ŋindu=ma=ni yada guraw-iyi
[your=??(CF)=3ABS child be.PAST, you=??(CF)=3ABS well look.after-PAST]
“If this child had been yours, you would have looked after it well”
