114
(167)
Keše tüngi smena-da iste-p-ti de, qazir demal-ïp žat-ïr eken. (Kaz)
Yesterday night shift-
LOC
work-
CPST
-3 and now rest-
CVB PROG
-
PRES EVID
‘He worked the night shift yesterday; he must be resting now.’
25
The temporal reference of
ekan/eken, while variable, is not completely unconstrained. For the
most part, any past tense features borne by
ekan/eken are neutralized, and tense is expressed by
the main piece of the predicate. Nevertheless, speakers have the option of employing
ekan/eken
as past tense markers when necessary. As seen in (165), for example, when the predicate is non-
verbal, a past tense reading may be forced by the expression of past tense in a later part of the
utterance. And when
ekan/eken are employed in folktales, past tense reference is the default
interpretation. The combination of
ekan/eken and various other verbal markers produce
interesting results with regard to temporal reference. These are discussed in the following
paragraphs.
In Kazakh, the suppression of the past tense reference of
eken is counterbalanced by the
inability of
eken to co-occur with certain present tense makers. The aorist -
Ar does not occur
with
eken in declarative clauses, although it is allowed in questions (Friedman 2010):
(168)
Öt-ip kel-e al-ar me eken-siŋ, Sokolov? (Kaz)
pass-
CVB
come-
CVB
be.able-
AOR Q
EVID
-2
SG
Sokolov
‘Will you be able to get through, Sokolov?’
(Friedman 2010, 439)
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