Irrealis mood 263
The irrealis is also often used to denote hypothetical situations.
(46) Badha pole geddhang jiya mon e-kakan-a kodu e-massa' gallu.
exist again banana this if OV-eat-IRR must OV-cook before
‘There are bananas that you must cook if you want to eat them.’
(47) Ba'eng nyajal-a senjata-na ba’eng jiya, lo' osa jajal-agi dha' tang
you AV-try-IRR weapon-DEF you this not need try-AGI to my
ponggaba.
staff
‘If you want to try your weapon, you don’t need to try with my aides.’
In (46), the irrealis form of ‘eat’, ekakana occurs in a clause introduced by the
subordinator mon ‘if’, marking explicitly the hypothetical nature of the condi-
tional. In (47), the clause including the irrealis form of nyajala ‘try’ is again
interpreted as a hypothetical, but in this instance there is no other indication of
this; the use of the irrealis is sufficient to convey this meaning.
Questions regarding a state of affairs in the present time, and those of the
future, sometimes appear with irrealis marking.
(48) Taretan neng kinto' ba' badha'-a kampong?
brother at here Q exist-IRR village
‘Brother, is there a village near here?’
In (48), the existential predicate badha is marked irrealis, indicating the uncer-
tainty about the possibility of a positive answer. In a similar vein, negatives
sometimes occur with irrealis marking. The irrealis also optionally occurs on
verbs modified by the adverbials para', laggi', and ra'-dhara' all of which can
be translated as ‘almost’.
(49) Mon para' dhapa'-a dha' ba'eng, buwang biggi-na temon gallu!
if almost arrive-IRR to you discard seed-DEF cucumber before
‘If he gets close to you, throw the cucumber seeds!’
In (49), the verb modified by para', dhapa' ‘arrive’, carries the irrealis suffix.
Finally, the irrealis is often used in polite requests with, particularly with
so'on ‘request’, (50), which, as described in Chapter 15, is a word with a conno-
tation of respect toward the person of whom the request is made. It also occurs
with menta ‘request’, a form without the connotation of respect, (51).