Knowledge base · Part XIV — Tense, Aspect, Mood, and Modality · this topic as a network

112. The 'Appearance' Continuative: siran, siri…, and kane an

How does Hokkaido Ainu express durative, ongoing situations framed as observable appearance?

27 sentences from 13 sources · every sentence names the pages it rests on

The auxiliary collocation kusu 'an expresses the continuation of an action or state ('-ing', 'be in the middle of doing'). (Murasaki 2025: 33)

The continuative field in overview

What range of continuative constructions does Hokkaido Ainu use to express ongoing states?

The particles kane, kane-an, and kane-okai express durative aspect. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936)

siran — the appearance-based continuative

How does the noun-based predicate siran function as an appearance-based continuative?

shiri-an (plural shiri-okai) expresses a question or an exclamation. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) 'síran' means 'it seems that' or 'it is in a situation of'. (Satō 2008: 57)

nea kur arpa kor sir-an

that person go CONJ appearance-exist

‘That person appears to be going.’

· constructed

supuya at kor sir-an ru-we ne anan

smoke rise CONJ appearance-exist track-POSS COP MIR

‘Smoke was rising, it turned out!’

Dal Corso 2018: 327 · HK

The aspect–evidential boundary

How does Hokkaido Ainu blur the boundary between continuative aspect and evidentiality in siran?

The uncompleted aspect indicates simultaneity between a process and the temporal frame maintained by the speaker. (Refsing 1986)

kane an — the merged durative

How does the kane an construction merge progressive and resultative readings into a single durative?

The restrictive postposition patek can be interpolated between kane and an to express concentration upon performing only one action. (Refsing 1986) When kane or kan is followed by an (or siran) as a grammatical aspect marker, it often expresses a resulting state. (Nakagawa 2024: 343) Aspectually, kane an corresponds to both wa an and kor an, expressing both continuation of an action and a resultant state. (Nakagawa 2024: 446) kan an may be pronounced with a break as kan 'an or connected as kanan. (Nakagawa 2024: 448) When a verb expression with kane an or kane oka, or with wa an or wa oka, has a pronominal subject affix, the affix is usually carried by both the main verb and the auxiliary verb. (Refsing 1986) Kane is also used in the analytically constructed auxiliary for the uncompleted aspect. (Refsing 1986: 251) The kane an construction can become fixed as a conventional phrase and exhibit an adjective-like function. (Yoshikawa 2022: 19.3)

asir sapa tuye kane an hine mina kane an wa

be.new head cut CONJ exist CONJ laugh CONJ exist CONJ

‘having cut the new head and laughing’

Nakagawa 2024: 446 · SAR

hine an, kan an, and tek an — further dialect variants

What are the dialect variants hine an, kan an, and tek an, and how do they express resultative durative?

In dialects such as Saru, kor an corresponds in aspectual function to Shizunai kane an, with kor serving as the contemporal conjunctionalizer instead of kane. (reported in Refsing 1986) In Saru Ainu, the auxiliary kane ('doing such a thing as...') is frequently used in hyperbolic or extraordinary expressions. (Nakagawa 2024: 308) In Saru and Chitose dialects, kane an often adds a nuance of something noteworthy or remarkable compared to kor an or wa an. (Nakagawa 2024: 446) In Shizunai and Samani dialects, kane an does not particularly express a noteworthy situation, and is often used in contexts where Saru and Chitose dialects would use wa an or kor an. (Nakagawa 2024: 447) Okuda (1995) states that in Shizunai dialect kane an expresses an ongoing process or a habitually realized state. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 447) Yoshikawa (2023) points out that in Shizunai dialect kane an can also express the continuation of the result of a change. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 447) In Ishikari and Horobetsu dialects, kane an is used more frequently corresponding to wa an (resultant state) than corresponding to kor an (action in progress). (Nakagawa 2024: 447) In Tokachi and Ishikari dialects, kan an is frequently used to express continuation of action or a resultant state. (Nakagawa 2024: 448) Tokachi dialect tends to use kan an to express continuation of action, whereas Ishikari dialect mostly uses it for resultant states. (Nakagawa 2024: 448) Tokachi dialect has the construction tek an, which mainly expresses the resultant state of change verbs, like wa an in Saru dialect. (Nakagawa 2024: 448) Kirikae (1996) glosses tek an in Tokachi dialect as '...shite iru (state)'. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 448) In Tokachi dialect, wa an is also frequently used, and can be used in almost the same situations as tek an, with no clear difference identified at present. (Nakagawa 2024: 449) In Tokachi dialect, tek an is also used to express states of relatively long duration. (Nakagawa 2024: 449) Several dialects east of Shizunai use kane or kan both for the continuation of an action and for a sustained state. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4)

a=tura wa cepkoyki=an kan an pe a=ki kan oka=an ainne

4.A=accompany CONJ catch.fish=4.S CONJ exist NMLZ 4.A=do CONJ exist.PL=4.S CONJ

‘while we were fishing together’

Nakagawa 2024: 448 · TOK

poro cise as kan an na

be.big house stand CONJ exist FIN

‘A large house was standing there.’

Nakagawa 2024: 448 · ISH

Grammaticalization and the degree of aspect

What grammaticalization path do these continuative forms follow, from conjunction or noun to ongoing-state reading?

Sato (2002) considers kane to have basically been a degree conjunctive particle indicating reaching a standard, which in Shizunai and Samani dialects lost the meaning of degree and became established as an imperfective aspect form marking mere simultaneity. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 447)