Tepa particles
In this section, I discuss a heterogeneous collection of grammatical elements which I will call particles. All particles in Tepa are clitics; that is, they have the syntax of full words but the phonology of affixes (I will use the words particle and clitic interchangeably in the following description). I distinguish between five kinds of particles: 1) pronouns, 2) postpositions, 3) quantifiers, 4) conjunctions, and 5) modal particles.
Pronouns
There are three kinds of pronouns in Tepa: 1) personal pronouns, 2) demonstrative pronouns, and 3) interrogative/indefinite pronouns.
Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns of Tepa constitute a remarkably lean system. There are only two persons, first and second, and no distinction in number.
=ma ‘1’
=ku ‘2’
The personal pronouns are used primarily as oblique objects of ditransitive predicates. When third person referents need to be mentioned, a demonstrative pronoun is pressed into service.
There is a construction which corresponds in meaning roughly to the colloquial English use of the reflexive as an emphatic pronoun. In Tepa, this is done by affixing one of the argument prefixes to the demonstrative pronoun nɨ. For example, wa-nɨ means approximately ‘I (am) that (one).’
Demonstrative Pronouns
There are three demonstrative pronouns in Tepa distinguishing between two degrees of proximity:
=ni ‘this’
=nu ‘that’
=nɨ generic
The pronoun =ni is used for referents near the speaker, while =nu is used for referents which are not near the speaker. The pronoun =nɨ is used when the proximity of the referent is not known, or is not relevant. The demonstrative pronouns are also used anaphorically; that is, to track third person referents in a discourse.
Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns
The set of interrogative and indefinite pronouns is also rather small. Unlike English, one set of pronouns does both jobs in Tepa; their particular interpretation depends on the presence of the interrogative modal particle su. When it is present, the pronoun is understood as an interrogative pronoun, otherwise as an indefinite pronoun. The pronouns are:
=ttɨ who, what; someone, something
=tti where, somewhere
=tta when, sometime
=ttu why
These particles contain a geminate [tt]; when they are attached to a word (noun or verb) ending in a nasal, the nasal is “overwritten” by the first half of the geminate and does not surface. When these particles are attached to a word which is bound in phase or to a monosyllabic form, the result is a ...CVVC.CV sequence; this is one of only two violations of the constraint against “superheavy” syllables in the language.
Some examples of their use follow. Note also that the position of the pronoun differs with its grammatical function; as a subject, it is attached to the last word in the sentence, and as a direct object it is attached to the right edge of the verb.
[surɨšipɨttɨ]
| su= | 0- | lɨsi | pɨn | =ttɨ |
| ?= | 3>3’- | fear | child | =who |
‘Who fears the child?’
[surɨšittɨpɨ̃ɨ̃]
| su= | 0- | lɨsi | =ttɨ | pɨn |
| ?= | 3>3’- | fear | =who | child |
‘Who does the child fear?’
[naɣiyɨɨttɨ]
| 0- | naki | yɨɨ | =ttɨ |
| 3>3’- | eat | egg | =someone |
‘Someone ate the egg.’
[sunaɣiyɨɨttɨ]
| su= | 0- | naki | yɨɨ | =ttɨ |
| ?= | 3>3’- | eat | egg | =who |
‘Did someone eat the egg?’ or ‘Who ate the egg?’
This last sentence has two interpretations. The first is simply a yes/no question; while the second is a wh-question, querying a particular grammatical function (in this case, the subject). They are distinguished in Tepa by means of pitch contour; the yes/no question has on the last word a falling tone contour (a sequence of a high tone followed by a low tone) followed by a high tone on the final syllable:
yɨ́ɨ̀ttɨ́
The wh-question has falling tone contour without the subsequent high tone on the last syllable:
yɨ́ɨ̀ttɨ̀
Very often the final vowel of the wh-question is voiceless, as is the final vowel of the indefinite pronoun.
Postpositions
Postpositions are attached to the end of nouns. They serve generally to locate objects in space or time, but some have acquired more metaphorical or opaque usages. Some of the most common postpositions are:
=pu in
=ta at
=ma with
=ka on
=ŋu to
=lɨ from, of
=ŋɨa along
=umɨ around
=ptɨ up
There are also two locative particles which function much like English “here” and “there”. They are:
yi here
yu there
Postpositions can be attached to these locatives to show movement or more precise location:
| [yurɨ] | [yiŋu] | ||
| yu | =lɨ | yi | =ŋu |
| there | =from | here | =to |
| ‘from there’ | ‘to here’ | ||
Quantifiers
To express the kinds of quantification expressed in words like “all”, “a few”, “many”, “some” and “every”, Tepa makes use of its more articulated number system in conjunction with distinctions of phase. Thus, “all” is expressed by a noun phrase which is collective in number and bound in phase:
[tšiɣiwii]
tikiwii
bird:COLL:B
‘all birds’
“a few” is expressed by a noun phrase which is paucal in number and unbound in phase:
[tšiðwi]
titwi
bird:PAUC
‘a few birds’
“many” and “some” are expressed by a noun phrase which is distributive in number and unbound in phase. In addition, an overt quantifying particle is attached to the noun; for “many” the particle is =ntɨ, and for “some” the particle is =nka:
[tšiwiðwindɨ]
| tiwitwi | =ntɨ |
| bird:DIST | =many |
‘many birds’
[tšiwiðwiŋga]
| tiwitwi | =nka |
| bird:DIST | =some |
‘some birds’
Finally, to express “every”, a noun phrase which is distributive in number and bound in phase is used:
[tšiwižiwii]
tiwitiwii
bird:DIST:B
‘every bird’
Note the subtle difference between “all N” and “every N”. For “all”, some predicate is applied to a set of individuals, while for “every” a predicate is applied to individuals as defined as members of a set. In common usage in Tepa these appear to be interchangeable, but they are scrupulously distinguished in formal contexts.
Conjunctions
A distinction is made in Tepa between coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating Conjunctions
The coordinating conjunctions are different from the particles discussed elsewhere in this section. The difference is that of all the particles, only the coordinating conjunctions are non-syllabic. The two coordinating conjunctions in Tepa are:
=n ‘and’ =l ‘or’
They are attached to every item in a list except the last as a suffix (this is the other potential source of superheavy syllables in Tepa):
[tšiɣwilsuɣuraŋgaŋgi]
| tikwi | =l | suku | =l | ankanki |
| bird:COLL | =or | dog:COLL | =or | fish:COLL |
‘birds, dogs or fish’
[tɨanhiβiðɨ]
| tɨa | =n | hipitɨ |
| sun | =and | moon |
‘the sun and the moon’
(Note that the words for ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ appear to be unbound in phase but are translated with the definite article.)
In addition to the conjunctions =n and =l, there is a proclitic conjunction hu= which appears clause-initially; its function is to link clauses together, and is discussed in the chapter on syntax under Coordination.
Subordinating Conjunctions
When a predicate is used to modify a noun as an adjective rather than stand alone as the sole sentential predicate, a subordinating conjunction ɨ= is used:
[ɨhažitšiɣna]
| ɨ= | 0- | hati | tikna |
| SS= | 3- | sharp | tooth:COLL |
‘sharp teeth’
[ɨhažinɨžiɣinaa suu]
| ɨ= | hati | nɨ- | tikinaa | suu |
| SS= | sharp | 3- | tooth:COLL:B | dog |
‘the dog’s sharp teeth’
[tšinaβaʔɨhažisuu]
| tina | -pa | ɨ= | hati | suu |
| tooth | -HAVE | SS= | sharp | dog |
‘The dog has sharp teeth.’
The subordinating conjunctions are dealt with more fully in the chapter on syntax under Subordination.
Modal Particles
There are five modal particles; they are listed below (indicative mode is not marked overtly):
ha= imperative
su= interrogative
pɨ= irrealis
mu= negative
ti= optative
The imperative particle identifies a direct command. An imperative sentence need not always be directed at a second person; it can have jussive force when a first person agent is expressed.
[haɣuðɨɣayiŋu]
| ha= | ku- | tɨka | yi | =ŋu |
| != | 2- | move | here | =to |
‘Come here!’
[hawaðɨθkayuŋu]
| ha= | wa- | tɨtka | yu | =ŋu |
| != | 1- | move:PAUC | there | =to |
‘Let’s go!’
The interrogative particle identifies the clause as a question, whether a yes/no question or a wh-question.
[suwaðɨθkayuŋu]
| su= | wa- | tɨtka | yu | =ŋu |
| ?= | 1- | move:PAUC | there | =to |
‘Are we going?’
The irrealis particle identifies a clause which the speaker knows or presumes to be untrue; it most often translates as an “if” clause.
[pɨwaðawiðuβa]
| pɨ= | wa- | tawitu | -pa |
| IR= | 1- | horn | -HAVE |
‘If I had a horn...’
The negative particle identifies a negative clause. This particle can also negate other parts of speech.
[muwaðawiðuβa]
| mu= | wa- | tawitu | -pa |
| NEG= | 1- | horn | -HAVE |
‘I don’t have a horn.’
The optative particle identifies a wish on the part of the speaker.
[tšiwaðawiðuβa]
| ti= | wa- | tawitu | -pa |
| OPT= | 1- | horn | -HAVE |
‘If only I had a horn!’
