Paciran Javanese modals

The modals of Paciran Javanese, the East Javanese dialect of Paciran village in Lamongan Regency, as Vander Klok (2013) describes them and Vander Klok and Hohaus (2020, Table 1) tabulate them. Every modal is specified for force, necessity or possibility, and for epistemic or root modality; the root modals kudu₁ and iso range over several root flavors. The epistemic modals are adverbs, the root modals auxiliaries, except the main verb kudu₂.

force	epistemic	deontic	circumstantial	teleological	bouletic
necessity	mesthi	kudu₁	kudu₁	kudu₁	kudu₂
possibility	paleng	oleh	iso	iso	—

The suffix -NE₁ turns the strong necessity modals mesthi and kudu₁ into weak necessity modals of the same flavors, mesthi-ne and kudu-ne, and does not attach to the possibility modals (Vander Klok and Hohaus, §4).

Implementation notes

• The forms are ngoko, the speech level of the data and the one most used in Paciran (Vander Klok and Hohaus, §3.1); register keeps its neutral default.
• The library's circumstantial flavor covers the circumstantial and teleological columns.
• The auxiliary kudu₁ sits above negation and resists topicalization; its homophone, the main verb kudu₂, sits below negation and topicalizes (Vander Klok and Hohaus, fn. 14).
• -NE₁ is -ne after a vowel and -e elsewhere (§4.1). It is homophonous with the nominal definite clitic -NE₂, which Vander Klok and Hohaus treat as a distinct morpheme.

References

• [VK13a]
• [VKH20]

def Javanese.Paciran.mesthi : Modality.ModalItem

mesthi is the epistemic necessity adverb.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.mesthi = { form := "mesthi", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.necessity} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic} }

def Javanese.Paciran.paleng : Modality.ModalItem

paleng is the epistemic possibility adverb.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.paleng = { form := "paleng", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic} }

def Javanese.Paciran.kudu₁ : Modality.ModalItem

kudu₁ is the root necessity auxiliary, with deontic, circumstantial and teleological readings.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.kudu₁ = { form := "kudu", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.necessity} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic, Modality.ModalFlavor.circumstantial} }

def Javanese.Paciran.kudu₂ : Modality.ModalItem

kudu₂ is the bouletic necessity verb.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.kudu₂ = { form := "kudu", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.necessity} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.bouletic} }

def Javanese.Paciran.oleh : Modality.ModalItem

oleh is the deontic possibility auxiliary.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.oleh = { form := "oleh", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic} }

def Javanese.Paciran.iso : Modality.ModalItem

iso is the circumstantial possibility auxiliary, with circumstantial and teleological readings.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.iso = { form := "iso", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.possibility} ×ˢ {Modality.ModalFlavor.circumstantial} }

def Javanese.Paciran.modals : List Modality.ModalItem

modals is the modal system of Table 1, which leaves out the -NE₁ forms.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.modals = [Javanese.Paciran.mesthi, Javanese.Paciran.paleng, Javanese.Paciran.kudu₁, Javanese.Paciran.kudu₂, Javanese.Paciran.oleh, Javanese.Paciran.iso]

def Javanese.Paciran.withNe (m : Modality.ModalItem) : Modality.ModalItem

withNe m is the strong necessity modal m suffixed with -NE₁, which expresses weak necessity with the flavors of m. Both hosts end in a vowel and take the allomorph -ne.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.withNe m = { form := m.form ++ "-ne", meaning := {Modality.ModalForce.weakNecessity} ×ˢ m.flavors, register := m.register }

def Javanese.Paciran.mesthiNe : Modality.ModalItem

mesthi-ne is the weak epistemic necessity adverb.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.mesthiNe = Javanese.Paciran.withNe Javanese.Paciran.mesthi

def Javanese.Paciran.kuduNe : Modality.ModalItem

kudu-ne is the weak root necessity adverb, built on the auxiliary kudu₁.

Equations

• Javanese.Paciran.kuduNe = Javanese.Paciran.withNe Javanese.Paciran.kudu₁