na / nake

Two First-Person Frames

Level 3

Na has several roles. Nake occurs in first-person verbal and nonverbal relative frames.

How It Works

Ordinary first-person ongoing activity uses ina; first-person completion uses na. A fronted constituent can select relative continuative nake. Origin focus has the same spelling but separate nonverbal vowel-length conditions.

After an overt subject, reduced continuative na refers to that subject. Compare Na dawo ‘I returned’ with Musa na hutawa ‘Musa is resting’. Independently, genitive na connects a masculine or plural referent to a possessor, as in na Amina ‘Amina’s’.

In the object question below, me asks about the thing being brought, while nake identifies the speaker as the subject of an ongoing action. Ordinary Boko does not fully display the tone and vowel-length differences among these constructions.

Examples (4)

  1. Na dawo.

    I returned.

    Na marks first-person completion.

  2. Musa na hutawa.

    Musa is resting.

    Na is reduced continuation after Musa.

  3. Daga Zariya nake.

    I am from Zaria.

    Nake belongs to a nonverbal origin-focus frame.

  4. Me nake kawo?

    What am I bringing?

    The fronted object question selects verbal relative continuative nake.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

na / nakeLevel 3Two First-Person Frames

Learn This First

Recognize completed events, relative ongoing clauses and direct location before distinguishing completion from ongoing focus and nonverbal origin focus.

Words in This Pattern

na