Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

CLAUSE COMBINING IN NOOTKA^249

operator markings plus the core pronominal suffix indicating the subject.
This clause can freely be independent, absolu ti ve, or subordinate. The sec­
ond verb is more often marked for aspect, and it controls the arguments
that may occur, and correspondingly may be marked for Causative and Pas­
sive. In the typical case the meaning of the first verb is rather general, hav­
ing to do with categories like negation, sequencing, comparison, manner,
time, and place. (Such verbs are not, however, precluded from occurring
alone as a predication.) Independent forms of prepositions and sentence
connectives may also play this role, as may subordinating particles (section
10.7). The second verb usually has a more specific lexical meaning. Subject
and object words usually come after the second verb. There are at least 50
occurrences of this pattern in the narrative passages, and 30 in the direct
discourse. The following are typical examples:
wik ciqsik (23:2)
not-3 speak-MOM
"he did not speak"
hasrk ciyay (40:16)
finish-3 CUt-DUR
"he finished cutting it"
2akpitwe2in -kihatsvk (37:11 )
twice-QuoT-3 move up out of water-
"twice he moved up out of the water"
ha2ukwik2ayqkak caxsii paykwinrhit (27:11)
do in turn-MOM-FUT iNT-FiN-3 spear-MOM Skate-son
"Skate was about to take his turn at spearing"
yamtwsi qahsarpat hawi42i (32:8-9)
Who-PASS-REL DUB-3 die-MOM-CAUS-PASS Chief-ART
"who it was that killed the chief"
There are additional occurrences in the previously cited examples from 27:5
(section 5.1) (twice), 14:2 (section 6.3), 15:8-9 (section 8) (last two words),
and 26:5 (section 8).
Occasionally the meanings of the two verbs seem reversed, with the
more general one second (and a consequent piling up of markings on the
first one):