Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online

Statives with non-past reference are expressed in two ways: (a) with the bare verb stem ( __ + V), or (b) with a + the bare verb stem (a + V).

Patiño Rosselli (1983: 123) believes that the preverbal particle a in a + V is devoid of any semantic function, and that constructions (a) and (b) are, therefore, in free alternation (cf. [4] to [6] in Schwegler & Green 2007, where polé and a polé appear to have identical meanings). To date, no plausible alternative explanation has been offered, but the suspicion persists that this a does hold a hitherto unidentified function (see also Moñino (1999)).

Note, however, that Maurer (1987) showed that the free alternation between zero-marked verbs and verbs marked by a holds also with dynamic verbs referring to a past perfective situation. Maurer also points to the fact that in Bantu languages, stative verbs referring to present events cannot be marked by present tense, but must be marked by the perfect marker (see also Lingala and Mixed Ma'a/Mbugu in this database). This could explain why stative verbs referring to present situations and dynamic verbs referring to past perfective situations are both marked with a in Palenquero, although optionally.

Clearly, additional research is required before we can have a well-grounded understanding of stative vs. dynamic verbs in Palenquero.

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Stative verbs with present reference and dynamic verbs with past perfective reference are marked with the same overt marker