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Hello all,</div>
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There is a construction in Horokoi (a.k.a. Wasembo, [gsp], part of the Madang branch of TNG) in which a clause chain with the final verb "stay/exist" can have various past/resultative-like meanings. I am wondering where else such a construction has been found.<br>
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The form is: [V-SR stay-TAM], where SR means switch reference marking (same-subject or different-subject). With same-subject marking, it literally says "I [V] and I stay"; with different-subject, it says "I [V] and it (impersonal) stays".<br>
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So far I have found the following meanings for the construction. The different-subject marking tends to be associated with more distal meanings (past, far past, anterior).
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<ul>
<li><span class="ContentPasted2">literal (he <u class="ContentPasted2">built</u> a house and it
<u class="ContentPasted2">stayed</u> [didn't fall down])</span><br>
<span></span></li><li><span>stative (the food <u>is dry</u>, lit. it dries and it stays)<br>
</span></li><li><span>copula/stative (you <u>are</u> like me, lit. you become and you stay)</span></li><ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span>Note that this meaning only occurs when the first verb is "become". It does not mean "you became like me" (eventive).</span></li></ul>
<li><span><span class="ContentPasted1">resultative/stative ([you hit it and] it <u class="ContentPasted1">
is broken</u>, lit. it breaks and it stays)</span><br>
</span></li><li><span>past (I <u>went</u>, lit. I go and I stay)</span></li><li><span>far past (they [ancestors] <u>got</u> salt from trees, lit. they take and it stays)</span></li><li><span>anterior (I <u>had said</u> it to you, [then something else happened], lit. I say and it stays)</span></li></ul>
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I have been thinking that this is unusual because "stay" as an auxiliary usually grammaticalizes into continuative rather than past/resultative. Heine & Kuteva (2002) mention "sit" > copula, but not this path of "become and stay" > "become-past" > copula, nor
any cases of "stay" (or similar) to these past-like meanings.<br>
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I've been attributing this pathway to the sequential semantics of the clause chaining construction (Horokoi does not mark simultaneous vs sequential in medial verbs, as far as I know). Thus, the sequence "I [V] and (then) I stay" implies that V is no longer
happening and I am staying in whatever state endures at the end of V's action. But perhaps this is not right, and I received a comment that this implicature need not hold for the literal meaning.
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I have received comments that similar constructions are found in Dani languages, Malay, and some others. I found mention of something very similar in Mian by Fedden (2020). I have found no cognate constructions or comparative evidence to shed light on this
for Horokoi (presumably Mian constitutes a parallel innovation because of the vast time depth separating Madang from Ok).<br>
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Please let me know if you have seen something like this or if you know of references about this grammaticalization pathway, thank you!</div>
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Wesley Kuhron Jones</div>
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Ph.D. student, University of Oregon<br>
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