Datapoint Berbice Dutch/Uses of the habitual marker

Berbice Dutch has borrowed two preverbal habitual markers from Creolese, das (tense-neutral habitual) and justu (past habitual). These mark habitual only. Additionally, the imperfective suffix -arɛ / -a may be used to mark habitual; see Feature 47 "Uses of the progressive marker".

Values

Habitual, progressive, and current state Frequency: 50.0%

Example 28-51:
ɛkɛ wa stupa so, krɛkɛ ben, ofru hildapo
ɛkɛ
1sg
wa
pst
stupu-a
stop-ipfv
so,
so
krɛkɛ
creek
ben,
inside
ofru
over
hilda-apu
Hilda-pl
I was living over there, in the creek, on the other side of Hilda and her family.

Source: Kouwenberg 1994: 239

Example 28-82:
lombo plɛkɛm wangeni bwa drungwa stɛdi
lombo
bad
plɛkɛ
place
wanga
where
eni
3pl
bu-a
drink-ipfv
drungu-a
get.drunk-ipfv
stɛdi
steady
A bad place, where they drink and get drunk all the time.

Source: Kouwenberg 2007: 29

Example 28-89:
o sukwa mu
o
3sg
suku-a
want-ipfv
mu
go
She wants to go.

Source: Kouwenberg 1996: 33

Confidence:
Very certain

Only habitual function Frequency: 50.0%

Example 28-46:
eni bi eni das mini namapu kɛkɛ hatibeʃapu
eni
3pl
bi
say
eni
3pl
das
hab
mini
swallow
nama-apu
meat-pl
kɛkɛ
like
hatibeʃi-apu
bush.deer-pl
They say they swallow animals, such as bush deer.

Source: Kouwenberg 2007: 445

Example 28-50:
idri daka ɛk justu kriki skeliŋskeliŋ
idri
every
daka
day
ɛkɛ
1sg
justu
pst.hab
kriki
get
skelingi-skelingi
cent-cent
Every day I would find an 8-cent coin.

Source: Kouwenberg 1994: 245

Confidence:
Very certain