Aspect: aspect
| Values: | Aor | Conc | Inch | Imp | Impiter | Iter | Perf | Prog | Res |
In Zaar, the aspect features are expressed together with aspect, mood, person and number features in a word functioning as a preverbal clitic tagged as an AUX. The exceptions are the inchoative and the resultative aspects which are directly attached to the verb, as a suffix for the inchoative, and a verbal particle (syntactic link = compound:prt) for the inchoative. The AUX is followed by a finite form of the verb, except for the progressive aspect which is followed by a verbal noun.
Aor: aorist
Zaar: The aorist is the default aspect, morphologically unmarked, and tonally associated with a low tone. It is used where TAM values are backgrounded, and in narration where they are contextually recoverable.
Examples
-
kóː kə yé wuriː ?// “Or how do you see it?”
-
myáː mandá mə tawséy =tə mə́n sòːséy // “I began to pity him really.”
Conc: concomitant
Zaar: In narrations, the concomitant marks an unbounded process functioning as a temporal frame for another process. The inflection follows the pattern “pronoun+yáː+náː”
Example
- myáːnaː tul gìp Kìmsə́ < káwây màːʃîn < fi mə́kə́p // “I had just entered Kimse when the motorcycle stopped.”
Inch: inchoative
Zaar: The inchoative marks the beginning of a process. It can also change the lexical meaning of a verb from a state verb to a process verb (e.g. from ‘sit’ to ‘sit down’). It is expressed by the post-verbal particle ni.
Example
- ín yǎː gàmá ʃaɣndí < tə̀ tsə̌tn ni //= tə̀ ʧòpʃí //= tə̀ lyàː lyáːwàːsə̀n // “If they have finished cooking, they sit down, they wash and they rest.”
Imp: imperfect
Zaar: The imperfect denotes a state or an unbounded process. It can be used in any temporal context, past, present or future. The inflection follows the pattern “pronoun+yáː”.
Example
- ʧáː pol =əm á Kámʃâk fáː !// “I like Kamshak I do!”
ImpIter: iterative imperfect
Zaar: The iterative imperfect is the combination of the imperfect and iterative aspects in the corresponding AUX. The inflection follows the pattern “pronoun+yǎː+yi”.
Example
- myàːyi ɗu bôːl < átâyi nə góːla =wòpə̌n ǎn ?// “When we played football, didn ‘t he use to be our goal keeper?”
Iter: iterative
Zaar: The iterative aspect denotes a repeated or habitual process. The inflection follows the pattern “pronoun+yi”.
Example
- wéy káwây myâːn miː nger mə ɗu bôːl ɗan tu kóː kúmá tá byǎ =m ni aː // “they said that me, I played football like a professional.”
Perf: perfect
Zaar: The perfect aspect denotes a process completed with a resultative value: it has an impact on the state of affairs at the time referred to by the illocution. The inflection follows the pattern “pronoun+áː”.
Example
- àː yaddéy wò ʧanʤá kə́lâːʃíː // “He has agreed to change class.”
Prog: progressive
Zaar: The progressive aspect denotes an ongoing process. The AUX is etymologically analysed as the combination of the copular verb yi ‘be’ and the ADP ká ‘at’. It is followed by a verbal noun.
Example
- á < zaːr wò ɗyáː kap gə̀t àmáː tá mán ɓə̂líː tə́ gə̀ɗès kúmá ʧìɣá tsə́tngə̂n tə́ ŋáː =wôs áy // “Well, a man can marry but they can divorce and she will be living with her child.”
Res: resultative
Zaar: the resultative aspect denotes the complete achievement of the process denoted by the verb, and the intensity of its effect on the affected object or on the resulting state of affairs. It is marked by the suffix -íː attached to the verb or its last dependant.
Example
- wò kap =kə́y ?// “He will abduct you ?”
Aspect in other languages: [arr] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [el] [eme] [ga] [gn] [gub] [hu] [hy] [hyw] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [la] [mdf] [myu] [myv] [pcm] [qpm] [ru] [say] [sl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj] [yrl]