Verb: Elusa active subjunctive

MorphologyVerb – Elusa active subjunctive

• The augment, which marks tense, disappears because the subj only combines with aspect.
• The endings are identical to the Luo act subj (see 29.3.4.1).
• Instead of -σα-, only a σ is added before the endings.
• Be careful: the 1s form σαλεύσω is identical to the 1s Luso form.

fromLesson 31.2

SemanticsVerb – Aorist (6 – Complexive)

States do not have a temporal boundary (see Semantics C). On the other hand, we have consistently described the Aorist as having a boundary in some way, such as when the end of an event is referred to. This creates a mismatch between the meaning of states and the meaning of the Aorist. In fact, the prototypical state εἰμί ‘to be’ is not found in the Aorist for this very reason – since the Aorist requires a boundary and εἰμί has none, it is only found in the Eluon form.

However, the Aorist can combine with a state to refer to its beginning in the inchoative use. Can the Aorist also refer to the end of a state when something in the context specifies that the state has an endpoint? Indeed, it can. We call this use the complexive interpretation of the Aorist, an example for which is found at the end of the Sadducees’ story about the brothers who died with the same wife and kept passing her on to the next brother in line:

fromLesson 31.2