Irrealis mood 261
In sentences with the future modal verb bakal, the main verb often takes irrealis
marking, as in (36) and (37), although this is not obligatory. Bakal is discussed
more fully in section 4.
(36) Radin Puspo Negoro bakal ng-amog-a dhaggi' neng kanja, bakal
Radin Puspo Negoro will AV-amok-IRR next at here will
nyare-ya Bindara Sa'od.
AV.seek-IRR Bindara Sa'od
‘Radin Puspo Negoro will go wild when he first gets here; he will look
for Bindara Sa'od.’
(37) Oreng mon gendhak areh gu'-aggu' bakal olle-ya apes-sa
person if arrogant EMPH RED-tomorrow will get-IRR bad.luck-DEF
dibi'.
self
‘An arrogant person will later on get his misfortune.’
The irrealis is also used to mark the conative, on verbs describing unsuc-
cessful attempts to perform some action. For example, the sentences in (38) and
(39) describe a scene in which the minister charged by the king with the task of
killing the king’s daughter (because of an inexplicable pregnancy).
(38) ...moso pate jareya pas pottre gella' jiya e-pate-na.
with pate this then princess before this OV-dead-IRR
‘... the pate (minister) then tried to kill the princess.’
(39) E-kala' peddhang-nga pas e-sabed-dagin-a dha' le'er-ra pottre
OV-take sword-DEF then OV-swing-AGI-IRR to neck-DEF princess
gella'.
before
‘Then he took his sword and swung it at the princess’s neck.’
In (38), the verbal form epatena ‘kill. IRR’, indicates the minister is unsuccess-
ful in his attempt, and (39) follows this up with an explanation of what hap-
pened. Here the irrealis marking on the verb makes clear that the sword did not
complete the swing and behead the princess. Rather, the sword bounced off and
fell to the ground, providing proof of the princess’s innocence. Also, the irrealis
sometimes occurs where there is overt negation, reinforcing the fact that the
state of affairs was not realized (40), and occasionally the irrealis marker is the
sole indication of negation in the sentence (41).