First, a brief look at temporal constructions in Iraqw in general. Iraqw has a large number of temporal nouns that are used to indicate the temporal setting of an event. Most expressions of time are nouns, which can either be bare (105a), take the background suffix (105b) or one of the adverbial clitics. Being nouns they can be inflected in the regular fashion and occur frequently with the demonstratives (105b). Only a limited number of the temporal lexemes are adverbs (106) (Mous 1992:223-6).
(105) a. laarí hhawaata qaymo ga doosl
today man field O.3:O.F cultivate:3.SG.M
‘Today the man is cultivating the field.’
b. /ameeni i hhuuntsiit tlaatla/angw-i-hee
woman S.3 wash.clothes:3.SG.F afternoon-DEM1-BGND
‘The woman will wash the clothes this afternoon.’
(106) aáng múk Iraqw i-na lóh Iimbóru
long.ago people Iraqw S.3-PAST migrate:3.SG.F PN
58 Temporal nouns that occur sentence initially are most commonly left bare. In the other positions, the background suffix -o occurs frequently. It is especially common in expressing periods of the day (107), unless the period is the subject of the clause (Mous and Qorro 2010:63). The most commonly used temporal nouns for referring to a period of the day are xweera (N) ‘night’ (107), tsiindo (N) ‘evening’,
tlaatla/aangw (M) ‘afternoon’ and matlatle (F) ‘morning’ (Nordbustad 1988:184-9).
(107) alaa na/aay xweeraa-wo daqwayee gw-aa gás
but child night-BACK donkeys O.3:O.M-PERF kill:3.SG.F
‘But the child, the donkeys have killed it in the night.’
(Mous and Qorro 2010:62) The background suffix -o defines the ‘unit over which an operation is active’ (Mous and Qorro 2010:56, 77). A complete discussion of the background marker -o falls outside the scope of this thesis, for an in- depth analysis of the suffix, I would like to refer readers to Mous and Qorro (2010).
Let’s now turn our attention to the ablative temporal constructions. As was mentioned in the introduction to this section, the Iraqwablative marker occurs both in the spatial and the temporal domain and can be used to encode spatial and temporal source. In temporal constructions the ablative clitic is used to signal the starting time of an event (108).
(108) hhawaata qaymo ga-n doosl iimír laarí-wa alé
man field O.3:O.F-EXPEC cultivate:3.SG.M from:CON today-ABL RESPRO
‘The man will cultivate the field from today on.’
If we consider the temporal noun to indicate the Place from which the temporal Path stretches out, we can postulate a one-to-one mapping of the temporal notions with the spatial notions. Furthermore, the notion of Path has further implications for the data which are reminisced of the semantics of the ablative locative phrases. Not only does the ablative clitic indicate the starting point of an action, it also adds a durative aspect to a phrase when compared to a construction with bare temporal noun. The length of the event is not specified by the clitic, but it does indicate that is a lengthier process than if the ablative is left out. Compare examples (109a) with (109b) and (110a) with (110b).
59 (109) a. gadyeé a laarí iimu/uúm
work S.1/2 today start:1.SG
‘I will start the work today.’
Implication: the work will be finished soon, either today or else tomorrow. b. gadyeé a laarí-wa iimu/uúm
work S.1/2 today-ABL start:1.SG
‘I will start the work today.’
Implication: the work will go on for many days, weeks or even months. (110) a. xweera-wo bahu ni-na buheelin-é’
night-BGND hyenas PL-PAST howl-PL:PAST
‘In the night the hyenas howled.’
Implication: they howled only for a limited amount of time in the night. b. bahu ni-na xweerá-wa buheelin-é’
hyenas PL-PAST night-ABL howl-PL:PAST
‘The hyenas howled during the night.’ Implication: they howled until the morning.
The notion of Path adds the implication of duration and of a certain period that spans out from the temporal noun. This use is the main motivation for using the ablative case clitic rather than the bare temporal noun phrase. Speakers appear to have an active awareness of this durative aspect that the ablative clitic adds, as it is also used for narrative purposes. In example (111a) the ablative clitic is used in an unexpected environment, as it does not concern the indication of a starting point of an action. What it does is imply that the amount of time that has passed since the event is quite big, and as such adds the idea of a long period of time having passed. This is narrative strategy and can be left out in favour for the bare temporal noun phrase (111b) and still yield a grammatical sentence.
60 (111) a. kár inín ta-wa hardáh piindo ka-na duúx ala qatni
well 3.PL IMPS-BGND enter:3.SG.M door O.3:IMPS:O.F-PAST open:3.SG.M but bed
kaa qaro tlaatla/áng-wa laqán-í-ke
O.3:IMPS:O.F:PERF long.ago afternoon-ABL show:3.SG.M-INF:INT-NEG
‘Then when they arrived, they opened the door, the bed that had already been shown in the afternoon.’
(Mous and Sanka 2008:181, corrected version 2017) b. kár inín ta-wa hardáh piindo ka-na duúx ala qatni well 3.PL IMPS-BGND enter:3.SG.M door O.3:IMPS:O.F-PAST open:3.SG.M but bed
kaa qaro tlaatla/ángw laqán-í-ke
O.3:IMPS:O.F:PERF long.ago afternoon:CON show:3.SG.M-INF:INT-NEG
‘Then when they arrived, they opened the door, the bed that had already been shown in the afternoon.’
This narrative use of an ablative temporal phrase is rare, and commonly the ablative clitic is only used to indicate the source of a time period. In all other cases, a sentence needs to have temporal source semantics in order to warrant the use of the ablative case clitic (112a). Here leaving the ablative clitic out results in an ungrammatical sentence (112b).
(112) a. kár looitleér hháy /aga naxés aa iwít dinkwa
well next.day clan:CON cannibals accidentaly S3:PERF sit:3.SG.F together
‘Then (on the next day) the cannibal clan happened to be sitting together.’
(Mous and Sanka 2008:39) b. *kár looitleér-wa hháy /aga naxés aa iwít dinkwa
well next.day-CON clan:CON cannibals well/lucky S.3:PERF sit:3.SG.F together
‘Then (from the next day on) the cannibal clan happened to be sitting together.’
(own data; based on Mous and Sanka 2008:39) In summary, the ablative clitic is used to indicate the starting point from which an event takes places, which expresses the notion of Place, and it also implies that the action will continue for quite some time, which is the expression of the notion of Path.