La verticalidad del hogar en la articulación del mundo tierra-cielo

(1) The circumstantial construction is the usual way of providing back­ ground information to the event depicted in the main clause. Usually, but not always (5-64), the circumstantial clause depicts something else that is happening while the main clause event took place. There may or

9 .

may not be, in addition, the implication of a causal relationship between the two events.

5-60 ngunytju pukul-ari-ngu, katja ngalya-yanku-nytja-la mother(NOM) glad-INCHO-PAST son(NOM) this way-go-NOML-LOC

'Mother was happy when/because (her) son came'

5-61 nganana nyina-nyi, kungka-ngku tina kutja-ntja-la,

lpl(NOM) sit-PRES woman-ERG lunch(ACC) put to fire-NOML-LOC pata-ra

wait-SERIAL

'We're sitting while a woman prepares lunch, waiting' 5-62 nya-ngu-t.ja-ya kungka-ngku wangka-nyt ja-la

see-PAST-1sgACC-3pl(ERG) woman-ERG talk-NOML-LOC 'They saw me while the woman was talking (to m e ) ' 5-63 ngayulu ngalya-yanku-nytja-la, paluru puluka-ngka

lsg(NOM) this way-go-NOML-LOC DEF(NOM) cattle-LOC waaka-ri-ngu

work-INCHO-PAST

'When I came here (Alice Springs), he was working with the cattle (at Mimili)'

5-64 pulitjumana-ngku wati panya witi-ra kati-ngu policeman-ERG man(ACC) ANAPH grab-SERIAL take-PAST mani kutitjunku-nytja-la

money(ACC) steal-NOML-LOC

'The police arrested and took that man away, because he stole some money'

It may be helpful to contrast the circumstantial with the embedded relative clause (5.2.1). A relative clause7as in (5-65i), identifies a referent, in this case the object of the main sentence. A circumstantial construction, as in (5-65ii), on the other hand indicates the background to the main event.

5-65 (i) ngayulu malu panya kapi tjiki-ntja waka-nu

lsg(ERG) 'roo ANAPH water(ACC) drink-NOML(ACC) spear-PAST

'I speared the kangaroo which was drinking'

(ii) ngayulu malu waka-nu kapi tjiki-ntja-la

lsg(ERG) 'roo(ACC) spear-PAST water(ACC) drink-NOML-LOC

'I speared kangaroo while it was drinking'

(2) The circumstantial construction is also used as a clausal complement

to a verb of perception, such as kuli-1 'hear', nya-ng 'see', panti-1 'smell',

specifying the preceived event. (5-67i) and (5-67Ü) contrast this use with

a nominalisation functioning as object. (The examples in (5-67) and (5-72)

refer to a Dreaming story in which a bilby man was roasted and partially eaten.)

5-66 malu-ngku nya-ngu/ kuli-nu/

'roo-ERG see-PAST hear-PAST

urakati-nytj a-la creep up-NOML-LOC

'The kangaroo saw/heard/smelt the man creeping up'

5-67 (i) paluru tjana wati miri pawu-ntja-la nya-ngu

DEF(ERG) 3pl(ERG) man dead roast-NOML-LOC see-PAST

'They saw the dead man being roasted'

(ii) paluru tjana wati miri pawu-ntja-nya nya-ngu

DEF(ERG) 3pl(ERG) man dead(ACC) roast-NOML-ACC see-PAST

'They saw the roasted dead man'

Now let us turn to the switch-reference specification inherent in the circumstantial construction, evident from the ungrammatically of (5-68)

and the forced different-subjects interpretation of (5-69). Background

information concerning the main clause subject is expressed through a serial verb construction (6.5) so that, as long noted by writers on Western Desert

(eg Trudinger 1943), the circumstantial and serial constructions function in a complementary syntactic fashion as switch/same subject variants, despite their structural dissimilarities.

5-68 *ngayulu wa_ru-ku yana-ngi, ngayulu nyaku-nyt j a-la

lsg(NOM) fire-PURP go-PAST.IMPF lsg(ERG) see-NOML-LOC

^ 'I was going for firewood, when I saw (it)'

panti-nu, wati

5-69 ngayulu yana-ngi, nyaku-nytja-la lsg(NOM) go-PAST.IMPF see-NOML-LOC

'I was walking when (someone else) saw (something)' ^ 'I was walking when I saw something'

5-70 ngayulu waru-ku yanku-la nya-ngu lsg(ERG) fire-PURP go-SERIAL see-PAST

'I saw something, while going for firewood'

In fact it is easy to see that the switch-reference specification may have been grammaticalised into the circumstantial construction precisely because of its opposition to the serial verb construction. If in an earlier stage of the language there were no switch-reference constraint associated with circumstantial clauses, there would have been a choice between the two con­ structions where both the background and the main verb action were performed by the same subject. Where the two subjects were different only the

circumstantial clause would have been possible, and therefore it would have been proportionally more used in the different-subjects situation than the same-subject situation. The way would have been open for a re-interpretat­ ion to bring the semantic structure of the circumstantial construction into line with its majority surface function - through the addition of the switch- reference specification to its semantic structure.

5.4.3 The Post-Circumstantial Construction

This construction is semantically identical to the simple circumstantial except that it implies the prior completion of the event depicted by the nominalised clause. Morphologically the post-circumstantial suffix -nytjitj angka decomposes into -nytja NOML + -itj a ASSOC + ngka LOC. The underlying vowel sequence -ai- which results from the addition of the

ASSOC to the NOML morpheme is reduced to 1 by regular rule - (2.2.4) (4.6.1), because a nominalised form always contains an odd number of morae (6.1.3). To see the semantic difference between the circumstantial and post-circum­ stantial, consider the contrasts in (5-71) and (5-72).

5-71 (i) palu-mpa kuri pukul-ari-ngu, paluru DEF-GEN mate(NOM) pleased-INCHO-PAST DEF(NOM) waaka-ri-nytji-tj a-ngka

work-INCHO-NOML-ASSOC-LOC

palu-mpa kuri pukul-ari-ngu paluru

DEF-GEN mate(NOM) pleased-INCHO-PAST DEF(NOM)

waaki-ri-nytj a-la work-INCHO-NOML-LOC

'His wife was happy, because/when he was working'

maa-ngara-la nya-ngu, wati miri pungku-la

away-stand-SERIAL see-PAST man dead(ACC) hit-SERIAL

pawu-ra wanti-nytji-tja-ngka

roast-SERIAL leave alone-NOML-ASSOC-LOC

'(They) stood at a distance and saw, (someone) had killed the dead man, put him to roast and left him'

maa-ngara-la nya-ngu, wati miri pungku-la

away-stand-SERIAL see-PAST man dead(ACC) hit-SERIAL

pawu-ra wanti-nytja-la

roast-SERIAL leave alone-NOML-LOC

'(They) stood at a distance, and saw someone killing the dead man, putting him to roast and leaving him'

Other examples of the post-circumstantial follow; see also (3—101), (7-104)

and (10-14). (5-73) could be used to report that someone has been hurt in

a car accident. (5-74) comes from a text describing how a water-snake man

flung himself down prone to form a long hill. Just prior to this sentence

the speaker has told us that a spark flew off from a neighbouring camp fire and burnt the man.

5-73 paluru pika, punka-ntji-tja-ngka

DEF(NOM) hurt(NOM) fall-NOML-ASSOC-LOC

'She's hurt, because (she) fell (had an accident)'

5-74 kaa paluru wati-kartjila-ra nyara-tja-lta

CONTR DEF(NOM) across-run-SERIAL over there-EVIDENT-AND THEN

watungara-nyi, ngulu-lta pika kampa-nytji-tja-ngka

“ “ ( - A W b T HeM

lie prone-PRES afraid^NOMjy hurt(ACC) burn-NOML-ASSOC-LOC

'And he ran across and is lying face-down over there, afraid after/because he'd been badly burnt'

(ii)

5-72 (i)