The Factative and the Perfective-Inchoative in Cuurammã (Turka, Gur)

This paper examines two aspectual categories—Factative and Perfective-Inchoative—in Turka. Both categories interact differently with dynamic predication than with stative. In dynamic predications, Factative encodes a prototypical perfective meaning. Perfective-Inchoative also encodes a perfective meaning, but overlays this with spatial distinctions and a nuance of ‘established expectation’ or ‘culmination’. When combined with stative predication, Factative encodes a current state, whereas the Perfective-Inchoative encodes a change of state. Factative and Perfective-Inchoative are distributed differently in conversation than narrative discourse. Factative clauses decrease, and Perfective-Inchoative increase. This is accounted for by a novel function whereby Perfective-Inchoative encodes adverbial ‘when’ clauses in a narrative. Factative is also exploited for this purpose, but with far less frequency.