Time Machine

Hey there. I've stepped into a time machine and I welcome you to Me Five Years Ago. I am right where you left me...

Sitting at a desk. At nearly 2 in the morning. Alternating beers and coffee. Writing a linguistics paper. Listening to my entire iTunes library. Going through random files on my computer. Laughing deliriously at dumb things on the internet. Checking the news occasionally. Chatting with other friends also online right now. Snacking. Going through mental states of genius and desolation.

Oh wait a minute! No! This isn't a time machine! This is me, right now, suffering as though I am in college again, thinking it was a great idea to take university classes when I work full time so I don't get to sleep in tomorrow... I can't just stay up til class, hand in the paper and go home and sleep. Nope! I will have to get up like normal and go to work after being up all night writing about the fascinating characteristics and structure of the noun phrase in Wakhi! (Exhibit A):

To address the issue of (b) it is necessary to look at the correct construction of what was being aimed for in the phrase, namely, to utilize 'tra' in an effort to describe that the distal pig is ugly. Below is a Wakhi clause that demonstrates one way to achieve commenting on the qualitative state of the distal pig:

(c.) ja xɨg=i tra ʃakratʂ
DEF pig=3SG LOC.LAT ugly
‘that pig (there) is ugly.’

The difference between (c) and the ungrammatical (b) is that (c) is employing the definite determiner 'ja', and according to Rijkhoff, this is because the definite noun phrase is present in the clause, and does not require additional information or clarification. The absence of the determiner 'ja', which complements and completes 'tra' in this sentence (evident because without 'ja' this is deemed ungrammatical) seems to make all the difference. We can still formulate a correct statement in Wakhi by making use of 'tra' in the clause-initial position as was tested and denied in (b) by employing a definite determiner. Below is this composition:

(d.) tra jor xɨg=i ʃakratʂ
LOC.LAT DET pig=3SG ugly
‘That pig is the one which is ugly.’

Way to go, self! You aren't going to hate yourself tomorrow at all! You don't hate yourself already now in this very instant! Keep it up... love, your present self.