Auxiliaries in Apatani (?)

It is not clear if there is auxiliary verbs similar to that in English in Apatani. However, some words and marker elements are suggestive of doing function as auxiliary verbs. If at all they are actually auxiliary verbs, there may not be direct correlation with the one found in English as Apatani and English belong to two completely different language families.

I. da, do, du, dane, done, dune, ma, mane, nyima, nyima ne, etc. act similar to ‘be’ auxiliaries in English. In Apatani they also indicate position, posture, existence or state of the subject in question. For example-

da [is (stand)] Tapu insi da. [lit. Tapu there is (standing position).]

Tapu is (standing) there.

dane [was (stand)] Tapu inso ho dane. [lit. Tapu there was (standing position).]

Tapu was (standing) there.

du [is (sit)] Tapu insi du. [lit. Tapu there is (sitting position).]

Tapu is (sitting) there.

dune [was (sit)] Tapu inso ho dune. [lit. Tapu there was (sitting position).]

Tapu was (sitting) there.

do [is/are (lie/exist)] Bazar ho haman do. [lit. In the market vegetable is/are (exist)]

There are vegetables in the market.

done [was (lie/exist)] Bazar ho haman done. [lit. In the market vegetables was/were (exist)]

There were vegetables in the market.

ma [(is) no] Mo Tapu ma. [lit. He Tapu (is) no] He is not Tapu.

mane [(was) no] Ngiika aki kapa niin hii pulu mane. [lit. By me the dog seen white (was) no.] The dog seen by me was not white.

nyima [(is) not (exist)] School ho miyu kone heter nyima. [lit. In the school man one even (is) not (exist.)] There is no one in the school.

nyima ne [(was) not (exist)] School ho miyu kone heter nyima ne. [lit. In the school man one even (was) not exist.] There was no one in the school.

In following conditions ‘be’ auxiliaries are hidden or no ‘be’ auxiliaries are used:

· when subject is personal pronoun

eg, 1. Ngo student. [I student.] I am an student.

2. Ngo Tanii atu. [I Tanii child] I am a Tanii. OR I am an Apatani.

3. Ngunu arda Itanagar to’pa miidu. [We tomorrow Itanagar about to go (down) doing.] We are going to Itanagar tomorrow.

· while making comparison

eg, 1. No mo mi kaye yado. [You to him/her tall (is/are) more(degree)] You are taller than him/her.

2. Apa miilan rumi kaye jado. [Apa all of them tall (is/are) most(degree) ] Apa is tallest among them.

· in interrogative sentences

eg, 1. Lampung whu? [Lampung who?] Who is Lampung?

2. Si nii? [It what?] What is it?

3. No niimpa khe’du? [You why crying?] Why are you crying?

4. Si whu? [He/She who?] Who is he/she?

· in a sentence using present particples

eg, 1. Ngo yasan pa’du. [I firewood cutting.] I am cutting firewood.

2. Tallo lembo si in’do. [Tallo on road walking.] Tallo is walking on road.

II. sii, sii-do, sii-ne, sii-ma, sii-to, etc. act similar to ‘do’ auxiliary in English, e.g,

· Opo ngiinyi a’ba sii. [Opo two of us do come together.] Opo and I do come together.

· Tamo, Tatung nyi in’ba siine. [Tamo, Tatung two (of them) go together did.] Tamo and Tatung did go together. {compare: Tamo and Tatung went together.}

· Niinyi du’ba siito [two of you do sit together.] Both of you do sit together. OR Both of you sit together.

III. mii-do, mii-to, mii-ne, mii-du, mii-ma etc., appear like ‘do’ auxiliary but act similar to ‘be’ auxiliaries as above, e.g,

· Mo school in’pa miido. [He/She school about to go.] He is about to go to school

· Ngo school in’pa miidu. [I school about to go (do)] I am about to go to school.

· Ruja alyi ho ngo apin dii’pa miito. [Ruja when came I about to eat meal (did)] When Ruja came I was about to take meal.

.

IV. bii, bii-do, bii-lyi, bii-ne, sii-lyi, sii-pa, etc act similar to ‘has/have’ auxilliary in English, e.g,

· Ngo apin diibii-lyi. [I meal have eaten] I have taken (eaten) meal.

· Tara apin diija bii-do. [Tara meal/rice has finished(by eating)]] Tara has finished meal/rice.

· Mo ngiimi kii’bii-ne. [He/She me has punched.] He/She has punched me.

· Ngunu a’ba siilyi. [we come together have] We have come together.

V. kin-do, kendo, talyi, -chi, nen-ne-do, nen-kin-do, nen-kin-ma, nend-ma etc., seem to act similar to ‘shall/will/should/would’ auxiliaries e.g,

· Ngo lemba cha’chi. [I villge will go (up)] I will go (up) to village.

· Tamo agin ho Obing a’bo kendo. [with Tamo, Obing come along will] Obing will come along with Tamo.

· Ngo imi talyi. [I sleep will.] I will sleep.

· Kago mi yasan ta’ke nenne-do. [To Kago firewood entrust (asked) to split would.] Kago would be entrusted (asked) to split firewood. {ta’ke nen ‘allow or entrust to cut/split’ a’ke nen ‘allow to come’}

· Omo mi so a’ke nendma. [To Omo here allowed or asked to come wont.] Omo would not be allowed to come.