Chapter 147Connective Expressions in Discourse
The orowa family, connective placement and pauses, rapok constructions, and the distinction from nominal coordination.
147.1 Connective words and clause endings
A connection between clauses can be expressed at the end of the first clause or by an expression introducing the next. Nakagawa groups orowa and related words among adverbs. Unlike connective particles, these words need not follow a verb phrase directly; they can follow an existing connective Nakagawa (2024: 516–517, §21.2.3).
Refsing calls the corresponding Shizunai expressions conjunctions. Her statement that Ainu has no “genuine” conjunctions concerns the absence of morphemes exclusively serving that function in her classification. She nevertheless describes their connective use, including temporal, simultaneous, and conditional relations Refsing (1986: 128–131, §12.6.1). The principal clause endings appear in Chapter 131 (Clause Linkage and Its Analyses).
‘Eat, and then go home!’
Refsing 1986: 129; Shizunai, Example 138
Refsing's spelling orwa is retained. Both verbs have the bare imperative form.
147.2 The orowa family
Nakagawa lists orowa, orowano, orowaun, ora, and oraun, with contextual meanings such as ‘and’, ‘then’, and ‘so’. He traces the family to positional or and ablative wa. Expressions combining hi with orano or orowano can retain a ‘from’ or ‘since’ meaning Nakagawa (2024: 517, examples 1187–1188).
‘So I bought flower seeds, then told someone to make holes in the bottom of the box.’
Nakagawa 2024: 517; Saru, Example 1187
Ora follows kusu and orowano follows hine. The source capitalizes the Japanese loan HAKO. The prospective complement reports an instruction.
Connective expressions do not prescribe a fixed pause pattern. Refsing describes junctures that vary with cohesion, phrase length, and speech rate. She also records connectors after conjunctionalizers, and conjunctionalizers separated from the preceding predicate by a pause Refsing (1986: 128–131). Repetition around narrative transitions is treated in Chapter 138 (Narrative Continuation and Repetition).
147.3 Rapok and overlapping situations
Expressions built on rapok relate situations as ‘during’, ‘while’, or ‘meanwhile’. Nakagawa distinguishes a positional-noun construction with ta from adverbial rapokke. His first example places a contemplated action during the in-laws' sleep; the second introduces a pregnancy noticed while a woman is caring for her grandmother Nakagawa (2024: 517–518, examples 1189–1190).
Refsing's Shizunai rapoketa likewise links simultaneous situations. Her example has one person's speech occurring while other things are being said nearby Refsing (1986: 130, example 142).
147.4 Coordination within a phrase
Coordination of nouns has its own constructions, described in Chapter 42 (Noun-Phrase Structure). Kindaichi and Chiri analyze newa historically as ne plus wa Kindaichi & Chiri (1936: 140). Nakagawa records nominal coordination with usa in Tokachi and Kushiro. In his Tokachi iku usa ipe usa ki ‘drink and eat’, he analyzes ‘drinking’ and ‘eating’ as coordinated nominal objects of ki ‘do’ Nakagawa (2024: 324, example 537, citing Ainu Museum 1994:14).