‘ALLAA’ — I Get Killed! Describing Two Finite Verbal Forms in Khalkha-Mongolian

Peter Kalchofner

ALLAAI Get Killed! Describing Two Finite Verbal Forms in Khalkha-Mongolian

(45th Meeting of the PIAC, Budapest 2002)

The finite verbal forms -laa and žee in Khalkha-Mongolian can have either present or past reference. A classification as PERFECT or RESULTATIVE are too narrow. The meanings of these two verbal suffixes are obviously shifting to a modal category. Whereas the meaning of laa is closely related to the speaker, žee has a more inferential meaning.