Tense marked Prepositions

[Frank Lichtenberk]

According to Ray (1926), Baki (Vanuatu) has a preposition vani/bani, which
functions as a goal marker. The vani/bani alternation is part of a more
general pattern of initial consonant alternation in verbs to mark mood. Vani
is used if the verb is irrealis, and bani is used if the verb is realis.
Vani/bani is a reflex of Proto-Oceanic *pani 'give'.

I discussed this in my paper Syntactic-category change in Oceanic languages
(Oceanic Linguistics 24).

I hope this is of some help.

Frank Lichtenberk

>>> Claire Bowern <bowern at fas.harvard.edu> 02/16 1:27 PM >>>
I was wondering if there are many Austronesian languages where there are
prepositions which show tense agreement with the main verb. I'm working on
a grammar of Titan (Admiralty Islands) and this language appears to have a
subclass of prepositions that do this (all clearly related to verbs, eg,
(k)ila 'into', la 'go'). I'm familiar with verboids/deverbal
prepositions/prepositional verbs, but none of the examples I've looked at
seem to mark tense on the relevant constituent. I'd be grateful for any
references.
Thanks!

Claire Bowern

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