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Studies in Language
Vol. 44:4 (2020) ► pp.737–787

Associated motion, direction and (exchoative) aspect in Ethiopian Komo

ORCID logo | Eastern Connecticut State University

Komo (Koman) of Ethiopia has an obligatory paradigm of deictic directional (dd) verb morphology that, among its functions, indicates direction of motion relative to a deictic reference point, associated motion and grammatical aspect when collocated with verb roots of different semantic classes. The semantic components of a motion event underlie the Komo dd system and the grammatical aspect of a predicate can be directly mapped to the bounded/unbounded path profile. The Associated Motion function contains a bounded path which entails arrival at or departure from a reference point and, as a result, imparts aspectual telicity to the predicate. The Direction function by contrast, contains an unbounded path that expresses motion towards a reference point and does not impart aspectual telicity. Further, some morphemes express exchoativity, or the ‘exiting’ of a state, a rare if unattested grammatical category.

Keywords: Koman, Nilo-Saharan, associated motion, direction, path, aspect, exchoative
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Komo language background
    • 1.2Komo verb morphosyntax
  • 2.Theories and concepts
    • 2.1Motion event and path
    • 2.2Associated motion and direction
    • 2.3Aspect
  • 3.Direction and associated motion in Komo
    • 3.1Directional encoding
      • 3.1.1Manner of motion verbs
      • 3.1.2Non-deictic path verbs
      • 3.1.3Deictic path verbs: Come and go
      • 3.1.4The =kɛ́ enclitic on intransitive motion verbs
    • 3.2Associated motion encoding
      • 3.2.1Transitive dynamic (non-motion) verbs
      • 3.2.2Intransitive dynamic (non-motion) verbs
      • 3.2.3 The =kɛ́ enclitic on dynamic (non-motion) verbs
  • 4.Exchoative aspect
    • 4.1Intransitive stative verbs
    • 4.2Transitive stative verbs
    • 4.3The =kɛ́ enclitic on stative verbs
  • 5.The problem of alternate construals
    • 5.1Static and intransitive motion verbs
    • 5.2Caused motion verbs
    • 5.3Intransitive stative verbs
    • 5.4Sensory perception verbs
    • 5.5Body emission verbs
    • 5.6Weather verbs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 21 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.17035.ote
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