Two forms are used as lexical verbs which govern other lexical verbs. These are the optative form ja], and the desiderative (ü) form ja'i] 'wish/want to’. Actions about to be performed or one wishes to perform are expressed by the use of ja], e.g.,
ie' a i-k-a-he' 1SG opt IRR-FUT-EV-go
'I am about to go'. ie' a'i i -k -a -he' 1 SG D IRR-FUT-EV-go
3*3»13*3 Expressions of continuity
Events begun and prolonged for an indefinite length of time, are expressed in Abu' by:-
a) the use of raraif 'until/till' as in
afa' m -a-he' raraif m -a-taka
1PLEXCL NCE(PLEXCL,Sub j)-R-go until NCE (EXCL,Subj)-R-arrive 'We went and went until we arrived'.
b) repetition of the verb:
afa' mahe-mahe e mataka we we-went-we-went and we-arrived
'We went and went until we finally arrived'. 3.3.14 Verbs
Up to this point of the grammar I have described the simple to complex lexical words and the nominal modifiers and adverbial terms. A pervasive feature of most Abu' nominal categories is the complex morphological composition of nouns. Few Abu’ nouns are
morphologically simple; the majority are complex and include appropriate inflectional affixes for semantic and contextual preciseness. From here on we will deal with verbs, the category of Abu’ forms that signify actions, events or states. We will
outline Abu' verb types first and then we will demonstrate how objects (human/non-human) undergo or perform events to give an overview of how different verbs are put into concrete use, and how nouns interact in different scenes.
3
.3
.H.I Types of verbsVerbs in Abu' are of two main types. Those that can take on an OBJECT (i.e .transitive verbs) and those that cannot (i.e. intransitive verbs).
3 . 3 * 1 4 . 2 I n t r a n s i t i v e v e r b s T h i s v e r b c a t e g o r y i n c l u d e s m o t i o n v e r b s s u c h a s h u ' u ’ g o ' , h i ' i ' c o m e ' , b u l a w a ' r u n ' a n d p o s i t i o n v e r b s s u c h a s k i s ' s l e e p , r u t u ' s t a n d ' . The s t r u c t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n i n t r a n s i t i v e v e r b s ( v b i ) and t r a n s i t i v e ( v b t ) w i l l be d i s c u s s e d l a t e r on i n t h e c h a p t e r . 3 . 3 . 1 4 . 3 T r a n s i t i v e v e r b s T h i s i s a r a t h e r l a r g e c l a s s c o n s i s t i n g o f numer ous v e r b t y p e s . They a r e s t r u c t u r a l l y marked by t h e c a p a c i t y o f t h e v e r b t o t a k e an d i r e c t o b j e c t (shown by e i t h e r t h e o c c u r r e n c e o f n o m i n a l o b j e c t s u f f i x m a r k e r s t o v e r b s t e m s o r a s s e p a r a t e w o r d s ) . I w i l l d i s c u s s t h e grammoji'cal o r d e r and t h e q u e s t i o n o f c a s e m a r k i n g i n due c o u r s e . I n t h e f o l l o w i n g t a b l e a r e some e x a m p l e s o f b o t h t r a n s i t i v e and i n t r a n s i t i v e v e r b s . T a b l e 3 - 1 1 : Exa mp le s o f T r a n s i t i v e and I n t r a n s i t i v e V e r b s . T r a n s i t i v e 1 I n t r a n s i t i v e 1 1 wa 1 t o e a t / d r i n k ' j 1. h i ' i ' t o c o me ' s a k a ' t o chew' ! 2. h u ' u ' t o g o ' w a r e ' t o s w a l l o w j 3. d e h ’t o y e l l ' m i n e ' t o l i s t e n , t o h e a r t i t o s e e / p e r c e i v e I t e ' d r i p , t r i c k l e , d r i b b l e I t i ' a r a t o b r e a k / t e a r t a a h t o t a l k / s p e a k , s a y | --- d a ' + N / v b t t o make, s h o u t , c r y , s i n g , p r a y , d a ' uba t o d e f e c a t e d a ' s o ' eh t o smoke k a h u r ' t o c o u g h ' l i b i ' t o u r i n a t e ' s u b u ' ' t o d r e a m ' k i s ' s l e e p , l i e down' f a a n ' s i t on t h e g r o u n d ' tamun ' s i t on t o p o f a t r e e / l o g / c h a i r ' wamun ' p u t , l i e / p l a c e on t o p o f s o m e t h i n g e l s e ' b u u ' ' p u t , l a y , p l a c e on t h e g r o u n d ' b a n i ' b o i l ' I b i ' eh ' warm, s i m me r, r o a s t k i n d l e , s i n g e k a t a ' b u r n , i n c i n e r a t e , c r e m a t e , i g n i t e , s c o r c h ' y a b u r 'warm ( e s p e c i a l l y l e f t o v e r s ) wa ba r ' f e a r , f r i g h t e n d r e a d , s c a r e i n i k i l a l a ' p a i n ' s e r a ' uh ' b a t h e , wa s h, swim '
tufa' ' to to
cut lying object usually, also trim/to shave'
ra ' to
to
cut down (a standing object), give birth', to pour down,
bar ' to sharpen, to peel, to skin (e.g.banana) suhur ’ to skin (esp. penis)
u' ar ' to open (an orifice, e.g. vagina)
waha ' to uncover earth-oven cooked food, to wear’ sufa ' to block,to dam, to trap , to encircle' buu' ' to pot, 1q\j, p\Q c e '
di' ' to stand/stick on the ground' dida' ' to prepare, to get ready' wa ' to plant objects'
du ' to bury'
kohifa ' to hide'
dua ' to bend'
laa' ’ to walk about'
wadu ’ to find, to search, to seek/consult' kima ’ to follow, to pursue, to go after' rii' ' to precede' ,to lead' ,
haa' ' to carry'
niir ' to carry on a sling' wadeh ' to carry on shoulder'
3.3*14.4 Compound verbs
Transitive verbs are divided further into generic and tautophonic verb compounds. Generic verbs in Abu’ , unlike most other Papuan languages in which relatively larger inventories of them have been noted (cf. Foley forthcoming), are confined to only one serial verb; da/ 'to make/experience, etc.' (see above). To generate serial verb constructions, the verb da' is attached to adjunct nominals or other verb stems and must always occur preceding them. For example:
n-a-da' uba 3SGM-R-pass excreta 'He defecated' n-a-da' maula 3SGM-R-make work ’He worked.' n-a-da' beten 3SGM-R-make pray 'He prayed.'
When the agent undergoes an experience which entails him/her to become the patient of the experience, the Abu' use compound action-verbs by suffixing the serial verb da/ with experiential verbs which relate to the given experience. For instance:
s-a-da-tama
3PL-R-make-copulate 'They copulated.' kw-a-da-ha
3SGF-R-make-kill 'She killed herself.'
Other class of compound verbs are characterized by what I prefer to term (in want of better terms) tautophonic verbs. Verbal constructions of these verb types are manifested by the juxtaposition of verbs that seem to mirror the manner in which certain type of actions are performed, created or experienced by an animate or inanimate agent (-source). These approximate the English 'splish- splash, chit-chat, riff-raff' and other such verb types. Some examples are: fisi-fasel siti-sata kir-kar fir-far tir-tar bil-bal sir-sar sifi-safa
'to peep in and out'
'to scatter here-there and everywhere'
(what a tree does when it is about to break) 'to flap' ( especially in reference to pigs' ears)
'to experience pricking sensation'
'to reflect' (e.g. as a bald head, reflecting light) 'to tangle' (especially with string/vine)
'to shove' (things over and above the capacity a thing can handle or take)
wis-was 'to grumble'
di-du 'to explode' (continously)
Now that some broad discussions have been made on nominals and verbs, the two main categories that usually make up the argument and predicate components of a propositional structure, we will turn our attention to the rules that condition their combination to generate acceptable sentence constructions in Abu'.
3.4 Abu' Syntax