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Re: Question

From:Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...>
Date:Thursday, June 24, 1999, 9:11
On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Barry Garcia wrote: > > Well, in one of my conlangs, thats the only way i can describe the third > > aspect. > > Well, the thing is, and I don't know if you use it the same way, but to > me, "completive" implies the completion of an activity. However, -(h)e' > indicates that the object is completely effected, that is, not just > stabbed, but stabbed to death, or not just hit, but beaten. >
George van Driem in his Grammar of Dumi (1993:213-214) has a category of pseudo-aspectivizers which impart an _aktionsart_ to the verb they modify. Amongst others (such as the frolicsome aspectivizer ;-)), he has the following, which seems to agree quite neatly with the use of completive <-(h)e>, and which he calls _terminative_. i Perhaps a term like _completive_ will cause a lot of people to think of perfective aspect - and I think a completive <-(h)e> is more an aspectivizer than an aspect, since it seems not so much concerned with internal temporal constituency of the action, but rather with the nature of the action itself, i.e. it does not say much about the situation-internal time of the action, but more about the way the action was carried out, it alters the meaning of the verb in a way that, say, a habitual aspect does not. Yamphu (Rutgers. 1998. Yamphu, Leyden. pp..165) has exactly the category of completive amongst its inventory of aspectivizers: 4.4 Completive basic morphs: <-sed- ~ -set- ~ se.-> label: completive The transitive auxiliary verb <-sed- ~ -set- ~ se.-> 'to complete' specifies that the event described by the main verb is carried out to its completion. A construction containing the completive auxiliary <-sed- ~ -set- ~ se.-> 'to complete' is also often rendered in Nepali by means of the verb <saknu> 'to finish'. The completive auxiliary <-sed- ~ -set- ~ se.-> 'to complete' is probably etymologically related to the independent verb <sed- ~ set-> 'to kill'. 97 _pak.sep.pe..the.w.a lae.?aen.di._ pay_back.complete.RES.PF.->3.PLNR NW.EXH Now you've paid your debts. 98 _namba.jati jammai yik.sed.u.ji._ father-in-law._jati_ _jammai_ chase.complete.->3.3NS They completely chased away all father-in-law's people. I'm sad to say that Denden doesn't have the notion of aspectivizers as such - a completive meaning is expressed with an adverb and _tan_ like: Hamal ga nothaz.dan ju, kisen.dan nizoa tan hakag.ju Hamal NOM kill.AGP real steal.AGP complete TAN beaten.CRT Hamal is a real killer, he's completely beaten up a thief. Perhaps a verbal compound or a serial verb construction could be formed too - that would be an area I'd have to look into. Boudewijn Rempt | http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt