Definition
Second-position predicate particles consist of additional information that modifies or adds to the information of the predicate head. Many second-position predicate particles can co-occur and do so in a fixed order.
In Halkomelem, they include four person markers, two tense markers, and a number of modal particles that mark questions, requests and instructions, the degree of certainty and quality of information, the relationship to old information or assumptions and many others. (Suttles, 2004, pp. 40-44)
Examples
| Person Marker | Tense Marker | Modal Particle Q | Modal Particle Requests and Instructions | Modal Particle Degree of Certainty and Quality of Information | Modal Particle Relationship to Old Information or Assumptions |
| cən ‘I’ | -əł ‘past’ (PAST) | ʔə ‘interrogative’ (ROG) | łe ~ łə ‘imperative’ (PER) | m̓e ~ m̓ə ‘certainty’ (CERT) | kʷə ‘then’ |
| ct ‘we’ | ceʔ ‘future’ (FUT) | yəxʷ ‘inference’ (INF) | q̓ə ‘emphatic’ (EMPH) | ||
| čxʷ ‘you (sing.)’ | c̓ə ‘hearsay, quotative’ (QUOT) | θəł ‘though, but, adversative’ (ADV) | |||
| ce·p ‘you’ (plural) | c̓twaʔ ‘speculative’(SPEC) | ʔal̓ ‘just, only’ |
References
Suttles, W. (2004). Musqueum reference grammar. UBC Press. SFU Student Access.
INLP Linguistic Glossary 