Gitksan modals

The modal system of Gitksan (Tsimshianic, ISO 639-3 git) as described in [Mat13], building on [Pet10]'s account of the epistemics. Every modal is specified for modality type. The epistemic modals are the second-position clitics ima('a) and the reportative g̱at, each compatible with contexts supporting possibility and necessity claims alike. The circumstantial modals are clause-initial verbs and a predicative particle: da'aḵhlxw, general circumstantial possibility; anooḵ, deontic possibility; and sgi, circumstantial (weak) necessity.

type	subtype	possibility	(weak) necessity
circumstantial	plain	da'aḵhlxw	sgi
circumstantial	deontic	anooḵ	sgi
epistemic	plain	ima('a)	ima('a)
epistemic	reportative	g̱at	g̱at

Implementation notes

• Forms follow [Mat13] in the orthography of Hindle and Rigsby, with the underline marking a uvular written as a combining macron below and the glottal apostrophe as ASCII '.
• The library's circumstantial flavor covers the pure circumstantial, ability and teleological readings the paper distinguishes.
• g̱at's reportative evidence requirement is not recorded: ModalItem has no information source, and the epistemic flavor covers both clitics.

References

• [Mat13]
• [Pet10]
• [Mat16]

def Gitksan.imaa : Modality.ModalItem

The plain epistemic clitic ima('a), felicitous in contexts supporting possibility and necessity claims alike.

Equations

• Gitksan.imaa = { form := "ima('a)", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility, Modality.ModalForce.necessity} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic} }

def Gitksan.gat : Modality.ModalItem

The reportative epistemic clitic g̱at, felicitous only on reported evidence and, like ima('a), in contexts supporting either force.

Equations

• Gitksan.gat = { form := "g̱at", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility, Modality.ModalForce.necessity} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic} }

def Gitksan.daakhlxw : Modality.ModalItem

The circumstantial possibility verb da'aḵhlxw: pure circumstantial and ability readings, and, acceptable but not preferred, the priority readings, teleological, bouletic and deontic, where it competes with anooḵ.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Gitksan.anook : Modality.ModalItem

The deontic possibility verb anooḵ, 'allow'.

Equations

• Gitksan.anook = { form := "anooḵ", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic} }

def Gitksan.sgi : Modality.ModalItem

The circumstantial (weak) necessity particle sgi: deontic, non-deontic circumstantial, teleological and bouletic readings, of strong and of weak necessity.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Gitksan.modals : List Modality.ModalItem

The modal inventory of [Mat13].

Equations

• Gitksan.modals = [Gitksan.imaa, Gitksan.gat, Gitksan.daakhlxw, Gitksan.anook, Gitksan.sgi]