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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2021

Exceptional imperative constructions in Muher: the apprehensive paradigm

Résumé

My contribution is concerned with the prohibitive verb paradigm in Muher, a little-known Ethiosemitic language belonging to the Gunnän Gurage group. First, I describe the morphology of the special prohibitive paradigm and its possible historical origin. In a second step, I compare its pragmatic function vis-à-vis the “regularly” negated imperative. Contrary to earlier works on this verb form in Gunnän Gurage, the Muher prohibitive inflects for all persons, and, like the imperative/jussive, is restricted to main clauses. Although its semantics is usually negative, the involved morphology does not contain a regular negative marker. Moreover, the prohibitive also combines with the so-called main verb marker, which is otherwise limited to affirmative main clauses. In everyday discourse, the prohibitive is frequently used instead of the negated imperative, as it is a more polite way to express a prohibition. Thus, the prohibitive appears to be formally related to the apprehensive, which Treis (2018) describes as a unique paradigm for the Cushitic language Kambaata. Probably it is another, so far unknown, feature of the Highland East Cushitic–Gurage convergence area.
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Dates et versions

hal-03984018 , version 1 (11-02-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03984018 , version 1

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Ronny Meyer. Exceptional imperative constructions in Muher: the apprehensive paradigm. 24. Afrikanist*innentag, Goethe-Universität, Frankfourt, Jul 2021, Online, Germany. ⟨hal-03984018⟩
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