5 Verb categorization
5.3 Verb classes
5.3.6 Other achievement classes
Two verbs in the sample, fika‘arrive’ and aga‘find’, classify as achievements, but they both differ from the achievements classes discussed in the preceding sections in important ways. These two verbs can be taken as representatives of the classes of inceptive and acute achievements (Kershner’s ‘inceptive punctives’
and ‘achievement punctives’), which are well-established classes in neighbour-ing Ndali and Sukwa. Their scarcity in the sample is most likely due to the lim-ited sample of verbs. As a single verb each, however, is insufficient to justify an achievement class of its own, this classification remains tentative. The two verbs are discussed jointly in this section.
To begin with,fikain the simple present has a coming-to-be reading (68) as well as a habitual/generic and a futurate one. Likewise, the periphrastic progres-sive refers to the coming-to-be (69). This indicates a lexical Onset phase and parallels the transitional achievements (§5.3.4).
(68) i-kʊ-fik-a 1-prs-arrive-fv
‘S/he is arriving.’
(69) a-lɪ 1-cop
pa-kʊ-fik-a 16-15-arrive-fv
‘S/he is arriving.’
Fikaalso resembles transitional achievements in that the simple present as the complement of the persistive aspect auxiliary has a habitual/generic reading, but not one of a progressive change-of-state:
(70) a-kaalɪ 1-pers
i-kʊ-fik-a 1-prs-arrive-fv
‘S/he still arrives (regularly).’
not: ‘S/he is still arriving.’
Further proof of a lexicalized Onset phase is found in the behaviour offika withanda‘begin, start’. This auxiliary has a habitual/generic reading and can also refer to the preliminary phase of a single eventuality withfika(71).
(71) and-ile 1.begin-pfv
ʊ-kʊ-fik-a aug-15-arrive-fv
1. ‘S/he has begun to arrive (e.g. get to a place regularly).’
2. ‘She has begun to arrive (right now).’
As expected, the time-span verb phrase ‘take X time’ withfika refers to the time elapsing before the change-of-state:
(72) eeg-ile 1.take-pfv
a-ka-balɪlo aug-12-time
a-ka-tali aug-12-long
ʊ-kʊ-fik-a aug-15-arrive-fv
‘S/he took a long time to arrive.’
The perfective aspect withfikadenotes that the eventuality has passed (73).
The fact that perfective aspect is not licensed in the complement of the persis-tive aspect auxiliary (74) provides proof that, unlike transitional and resultapersis-tive achievements, no Coda state is lexically encoded.
(73) a-fik-ile 1-arrive-pfv
‘S/he has arrived.’
(74) * a-kaalɪ 1-pers
a-fik-ile 1-arrive-pfv
Lastly,mala ‘finish’ is not compatible withfika(75), whileleka ‘cease, stop’
denotes the cessation or interruption of a series or habit, but does not have a single event reading with this verb (76).
(75) * a-mal-ile 1-finish-pfv
ʊ-kʊ-fik-a aug-15-arrive-fv
(intended: ‘S/he has arrived completely.’) (76) a-lek-ile
1-cease-pfv
ʊ-kʊ-fik-a aug-15-arrive-fv
a-pa
aug-prox.16
‘S/he no longer gets here.’
not: ‘S/he has ceased to arrive here.’
To summarize,fikadiffers from transitional and resultative achievements in that it does not lexicalize a Coda state. Like transitional, but unlike resultative achievements, it does, however, encode an Onset phase. Its phasal structure can thus be schematized as in Figure 5.6.
arriving
O N
Figure 5.6: Phasal structure offika
As foraga‘find’, in the simple present this verb has a habitual/generic and a futurate reading, but no progressive one (77), which indicates the lack of a lexical Onset phase. Accordingly, the simple present in the complement of the persistive aspect auxiliary does not have a single event reading (78).
5.3 Verb classes
1. ‘We will find that a/the key is on a/the table (e.g. thus we have been informed).’
2. ‘We find that a/the key is on a/the table (e.g. each time we search for it).’
‘We still find them eating (frequently).’
not: ‘We are still finding them eating (sic!).’
Further proof of the lack of an Onset phase is found in the facts thatagais incompatible with the periphrastic progressive (79) and that it does not have a single event reading with the ingressiveanda(80):
(79) * tʊ-lɪ
(intended: ‘We are about to find them eating.’) (80) tw-and-ile
‘We have begun to find them eating (e.g. each time we pass).’
not: ‘We have begun to find them eating (right now).’
The perfective aspect withagadenotes that the eventuality has passed (81). The incompatibility of perfective aspect with persistive aspect shows that no Coda phase is encoded (82).
(81) tw-ag-ile 1pl-find-pfv
bi-kʊ-ly-a 2-prs-eat-fv
‘We have found them eating.’
(82) * tʊ-kaalɪ
(intended: ‘We are still informed that they are eating.’)
The time-span phrase ‘take X time’ denotes the time elapsing before the change-of-state:
(83) tw-eg-ile 1pl-take-pfv
a-ka-balɪlo aug-12-time
a-ka-tali aug-12-long
ʊ-kw-ag-a aug-15-find-fv ɪɪ-fungulo
aug-key(9)(<SWA) jɪ-lɪ 9-cop
paa-meesa 16-table(9)(<SWA)
‘We took a long time to find that a/the key is on a/the table.’
Lastly,mala‘finish’ cannot be used withfika(84) andleka‘cease, stop’ does not have a single event reading (85).
(84) * tʊ-mal-ile 1pl-finish-pfv
ʊ-kw-ag-a aug-15-find-fv
ɪɪ-fungulo aug-key(9)
jɪ-lɪ 9-cop
paa-meesa 16-table(9)
(intended: ‘We’re done finding that a/the key is on the table (sic!).’) (85) tʊ-lek-ile
1pl-cease-pfv
ʊ-kw-ag-a aug-15-find-fv
ɪɪ-fungulo aug-key(9)
jɪ-lɪ 9-cop
paa-meesa 16-table(9)
‘We no longer find that a/the key is on the table’
not: ‘We have ceased to be finding that a/the key is on the table (sic!).’
To summarize,agadiffers from the other achievements in that it encodes nei-ther an Onset nor a Coda phase, but only a punctual change-of-state. That is, it corresponds to the Vendlerian definition of achievements; see §1.4.3.1 for discus-sion. Its phasal structure can be schematized as in Figure 5.7.
N
finding
Figure 5.7: Phasal structure ofaga