Barxáw: Prepositions as Pragmatical Markers

Barxáw uses its prepositions with its verbs to tie together an utterance. We will first look at the six most important prepositions and their meaning when used with NPs. Some other prepositions have previously been introduced (kur and jà, k'e), but these are not used with verbs.

sún at, by, on

ðo  for, on behalf of, in front of,

gìλ from, about, connected to or related to in some sense

tùð above, on top of, around, covering, the origin of something in a non-motion sense (thus is a contrasting pair with gìλ)

sít under, by, at, inside, by permission from, in 

kàw along, with, as, than

When used in a pragmatical function these are placed just before the verb. 

Paiǵim c'arr nugu dór. Ekxíŋ sún hìlge dór tùð Ugin.

Paiǵim refuse to sell cattle. Ekxiŋ therefore acquire cow(s) from Ugin.

Ráð san tɛ̀n. Gérru kàw xwíu t'áć.

Rain pour much. Harvest soon grow big.

The first and/or the last verb in a unit of thought is often marked by one of these prepositions, and this tells us how it relates to the previous unit of thought or the next one.  There's slightly distinct meanings associated with these different locations:

initial:

sún - just generally introducing a statement. This basically means that this is a central part of an utterance, or that the unit of thought is an independent utterance. 'ku sún ebah', 'we are here to eat (we booked a table)'. Answers to questions, neutral introductions of intent, etc.

 ðo - emphasizes the verb. 'ku ðo ebáh' - 'we for eat' - "We're eating, for crying out loud, (don't talk about this or that)", alternatively 'we're here to eat! (so let's eat!)', '

gìλ - marks that there is coming more that might contrast with or add to what is said. 'ku gìλ ebah', 'we are eating (and maybe also having our drink on)'. The added stuff may be implicit or might be explicitly stated. 'ku gìλ génð ebah , ku káw dećà.' '(we have eaten, and want to pay now)'

túð - marks contextual information / exposition. 'ku túð ebah, ke Ðiám ke í bané is adbè. ...' 'We went to eat, (see), Ðián had birthday, ...'

káw - marks that something contrasting is probably coming up.

sít - marks either speculation or counterfactual/irrealis reasoning. 

The two last ones also have the same meaning when at an utterance-final verb. However, the four others have a somewhat different meaning.

Sún affirms strongly the accuracy of the utterance or the causal connection between the previous sentences.  Ðo basically has a function like '...and that's why so-and-so' - it doesn't affirm the conclusion (unlike sún), it affirms the causes leading up to it. It's truth-affirmation is a bit less, more along the lines of 'or so I reckon'. Gìλ ends a list of a series of events, and codes for 'that's what I recall, at least'. Túð marks irrealis stuff.