Tense in Indonesian languages

Abstract

According to Adriani's description30) the Sangirese 'future', "corresponding" to our future tense, also serves to indicate habitual action, wish, and intention; it has, moreover, a nominal function. [...]the oft-recurring statement that, in a particular IN. idiom, the 'future tense' is also used to express wishes. 31) Many instances may be found in my article on the functions of word duplication in IN. languages, published in the Lingua II (1950), p. 170 ff., esp. 182 ff. 82) Buli, spoken by some 1000 inhabitants of South-Halmaheira: see G. Maan, Proeve van een Balische spraakkunst, 's-Gravenhage 1951, p. 84 f. TENSE IN INDONESIAN LANGUAGES. 249 intentions, requests, obligations33). [...]phrases as Urap-Sari, p. 161 wis menerti kowe "(I) understand you (well)"; ya wis gelem "(he is) willing (to)" (ya is a particle indicating affirmation); iku wis karepmu dewe "this is your own wish, there it is; you have your own wish"; ingih sampun kersanin dewa "it is the wish of the gods, there it is" (ingih is an affirmative particle), and in connection with words which are usually called 'verbs': Basa Sala, p. 16 aku saiki wis bisa nantih, sin marahi si nini "now I am able to spin; grandmother taught me it"; Urap-Sari 165 yen kowe wis saguh milu, sesuk jam nem kowe taq-ampiri, wisa 46) dandan "if you promise to go with me, to-morrow at 6 o'clock I shall call for you, please be ready!" If, however, the sequence of events is not clear without the use of markers, these particles may be used to indicate an act, state, or activity which took place, or rather, 4S) Sorandaka, see: E. J. van den Berg, De val van Sora, Leiden 1936, p. 63. **) For the suffix -a see further on, p. 254 ff. Temporal concepts or relations are, generally speaking, expressed otherwise. [...]the particle kun preceding an expression of time states the 'time when' of repeated occurrences: nagtitipon nan pagkdin an mana langam kun tagdraw "the ants collect food in summer".