Il-verbi fażiċi fis-sekwenza verbali tal-Malti

Abstract

F’dan l-artiklu nipprova nuri li sabiex nifhmu aħjar kif taħdem il-katina verbali tal-Malti, nagħmlu tajjeb li nitfgħu ħarsitna fuq klassi waħda ta’ verbi. Għal din ir-raġuni niffoka fuq il-verbi fażiċi li, kif jixhed isimhom, jimmarkaw l-istadju li tkun tinsab fih sitwazzjoni partikolari. Fil-Malti, normalment dawn il-verbi jkunu jirrikjedu verb imraqqad warajhom u b’hekk tinħoloq katina verbali. Huwa b’dan il-mod li l-istudju tal-aspett fażiku u dak tal-katina verbali jistgħu jingħaqdu flimkien fil-Malti. F’dan l-artiklu, ma nħarisx lejn il-verbi fażiċi kollha li nsibu fl-inventarju tal-Malti imma biss lejn beda u reġa’, Ii jesprimu valur ingressiv u valur repetittiv rispettivament. Għalhekk ġbart għadd ta’ eżempji ta’ kull wieħed minn dawn il-verbi f’katina tat-tip V1+V2+V3 sabiex nara nosservax xi tendenzi. Waħda mis-sejbiet prinċipali għandha x’taqsam mat-tip ta’ verbi li jista’ jkollna f’katina tat-tip V1+V2+V3, fejn wieħed mill-verbi jkun beda jew reġa’. Filwaqt li dawn il-verbi fażiċi jistgħu jokkorru f’katina mal-verbi modali u l-verbi lessikali, jistgħu saħansitra jipparteċipaw f’katina b’verbi fażiċi oħra, b’tali mod li żewġ verbi minn tlieta jkunu fażiċi. Barra minn hekk, abbażi tal-imġiba ta’ reġa’ fil-katina verbali, nuri li l-forma aspettwali tal-verbi fil-katina ma tintgħażilx kif ġie ġie imma hija marbuta mal-forma aspettwali tal-verb li jiġi qabel. Għalhekk, nasal nikkonkludi li naraw is-sekwenzi aspettwali li naraw għax kull verb fil-katina jikkmanda lil dak ta’ warajh, b’tali mod li l-V1 jikkmanda lill-V2, u dan jikkmanda lill-V3. Il-V1 biss huwa ħieles, il-għaliex il-forma tiegħu tintgħażel skont iż-żmien li tkun ankrata fih is-sitwazzjoni u mhix marbuta mal-forma ta’ xi verb ieħor.

In this article I try to show that the Maltese verb chain may be better understood if one focuses on one class of verbs at a time. For this reason, I focus on verbs that point to a particular phase of a given situation, known as phasal verbs. These verbs typically require an embedded verb to follow in Maltese, such that a verb chain is formed; thus, Maltese presents an opportunity for joint research on phasal aspect and the verb chain. In this article, I only focus on two phasal verbs, namely, beda ‘start’ and reġa’ ‘do again, repeat’, where beda expresses an ingressive value and reġa’ has a repetitive value. I collected a number of examples in which each phasal verb figures in a chain of the type V1+V2+V3, the aim being to observe any tendencies displayed. One of the main findings is related to the types of verbs that may occur as part of a three-verb chain in which beda or reġa’ is present. These two phasal verbs may show up in verb chains which include modal verbs and lexical verbs, but they may also occur with other phasal verbs, such that two verb slots (out of three) are occupied by a phasal verb. Another finding regards the aspectual forms of verbs in the chain. Based on the peculiar behaviour displayed by repetitive reġa’, I show that these aspectual forms are not chosen at random; rather, each verb is assigned an imperfective or perfective form based on the aspectual form of the preceding verb. In other words, V1 governs V2 and V2 governs V3, such that each verb is governed by the preceding one whilst simultaneously bearing on the aspectual form of the following verb. Only V1 is free, in that its aspectual form is assigned based on the temporal grounding of the given situation.