Olli Salmi

24.1.2010
This is a Web version of my article "Salmi, Olli. 1984. The Aspectual System of Soviet Dungan. Folia Fennistica & Linguistica. Vuosiartikkelit 1984. Tampereen yliopiston Suomen kielen ja yleisen kielitieteen laitoksen julkaisuja 11. University of Tampere, Tampere." I have scanned it, run it through an Optical Character Recoginition program and replaced the transliteration with the standard Dungan orthography.  I have corrected obvious mistakes.


THE ASPECTUAL SYSTEM OF SOVIET DUNGAN1
1. INTRODUCTION

Dungan is a minority language spoken in Soviet Kirghizia and Kazakhstan. It is based on North-Western Chinese dialects, but the written language uses the Cyrillic alphabet and has no connection with the Chinese written language. The Dungan written language is related to the Chinese dialects of the southern part of the province of Gansu (Zav'jalova 1979:65).

Dungan grammar differs from Chinese chiefly in the richness of its morphology. There are many more obligatory grammatical markers in Dungan. In fact, Dragunov (1952) claims that Chinese dialects present a continuum of development and those in North-Western China represent the latest stage in this development.

The richness in morphology is most immediately visible in the aspectual system of Soviet Dungan. This question has been treated before, but the system has been regarded as a system of tenses. Kalimov (1968) gives a short account of three tenses, while Dragunov (1962) discusses some of the forms in more detail. Imazov (1982) also mentions all the forms discussed in this paper.

This paper sets out to show that the system is basically aspectual. The terminology is mainly Comrie’s (1976). Another argument in this paper is the division of clauses into stative and action clause types.

The examples have been taken from the short stories in the Dungan newspaper Шыйүәди Чи and a few Dungan books. The numbers after the examples represent the date of the issue, or the number of the book (given in the bibliography) and the page where the example has been found. If this information is not given, it has not been noted down. No informant has been available. This is unfortunate, since there are exceptions to the regular features presented here, but they are not numerous enough to enable treatment.

The transliteration used in this paper is based on Kahla - Kecskeméti (1967), except for a few changes:

In this Web version a simplified form of this transliteration (without diacritics) is used for names in the English translation.

ә for
 
ä
 
e
 
ė 
je
 
e
 
jo
 
ë


These changes ensure better legibility, but Russian words have an unfamiliar appearance (Brježnjev) and some of them cannot be unambiguously transcribed back into Cyrillic (rajon). In the bibliography only the first change is implemented.

2. SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Before we embark on the aspects mentioned in the paper some background information is necessary.

In this paper, the terms sentence and clause refer to different things. Roughly, a sentence is a unit usually ending in a full stop in the orthography, whereas a clause is a unit containing a predicate. A sentence consists of one or more clauses.

The clauses  preceding the subject are temporal, concessive and other subordinate clauses. The subject is followed by a predicate or several predicates expressing successive actions.

Clause, Subj Pred, Pred, Pred.

Fig. 1 Structure of the Sentence

2.1. Aspectual slots

The aspectual system described in this paper uses suffixes and enclitical particles, which occur in two slots: first, verbal suffixes after the verb, and secondly, enclitical sentence final particles.

±Subject
+Verb ±Verbal  suffix
(aspectual slot) 		±Postverbal element
 ±Aspect particle ±Modal particle
(aspectual slot)
      
Fig. 2 Structure of the Clause

A very significant fact is that (except for the cases listed below p. 88–89) every sentence ends in an aspect particle. Subordinate clauses normally end in a particle as well, but non-final predicates do not have a particle, they can only have a verbal suffix. (Dragunov A. & K. 1936)

There are cases where final particles occur inside the sentence, but in these cases the predicates are co-ordinate, referring to simultaneous actions performed by one or two subjects. Normally a predicate chain refers to successive actions performed by the same subject.

It should be noted here that it is not always clear what a suffix is in Dungan. The orthography treats every neutral tone element as a suffix and writes them together with the preceding word (Salmi 1980:104). Some of these elements are really enclitics, not being in construction with the immediately preceding word. The most important of such enclitics are the attributive particle -ди, the copula -сы, and sentence final particles.

In the case of the aspectual markers, the verbal suffix is never preceded by anything but the verb and can consequently be regarded as a suffix, whereas sentence final particles can also follow objects or other post-verbal elements.

Both the verbal suffix and the aspect particle slot belong to the same system of aspectual oppositions, because their fillers are mutually dependent. Only one of the slots is filled at the same time, except for the perfective, where both have to have a filler in the case of a final predicate.

2.2. Resultative suffixes

The slot of verbal suffix can also be filled by morphemes that are not part of the aspectual system discussed here. These morphemes form a class of resultative suffixes roughly corresponding to "phase complements" in Chinese (Li–Thompson 1981:65, Chao 1968:446).

In Dungan these morphemes have three important characteristics. Firstly, they can be followed by an object or other postverbal elements. Therefore they can be regarded as suffixes, because the verb can only be followed by one clause level element in Dungan.

Secondly, they never co-occur with the verbal suffix -ли. This means that they belong to the same substitution class.

Thirdly, the resultative suffixes co-occur with all the aspectual sentence particles. This is why they are not part of the aspectual system described here.

Among the most important of these suffixes are -ха 'down' and -дё 'away'. Quite often there is nearly nothing left of the original meaning and the suffixes merely mean that the action has been completed.

3. ZERO PARTICLE

The most striking difference between Soviet Dungan and Standard Chinese syntax is that in Dungan aspectual markers are, as a rule, obligatory. In Chinese the speaker seems to have quite a lot of choice in the use of the particles. This means that in Chinese they are not yet morphological markers.

There are sentences in Dungan without an aspect particle, but these cases can be exclusively listed. Except for the first case, the absence of the particle (or more exactly zero particle) is formally determined.

1    Imperative sentences and promises.
Ги ни гә ще йигә фузы. 1.53
For your brother write one letter.
Write a letter to your brother.

Йиҗү ду бә лё, ду щешон.
one:sentence all don’t miss all write:Res
Don’t miss a single word, write down everything.

Вә куэ ги заму зў фан. 3.3.
I fast for we make food
I'll soon make food for us.
2    Negative sentences.
Вә мә янчуан. 1.13
I not speak
I didn’t say anything.

Багә сышынли, Җинхуар бу җян. 1.17
eight hour:Mod not see Jinhuar
It was already eight o'clock, but Jinhuar was not to be seen.
3    Stative clauses, including those with the copula -сы.
Лёнхани дусы го сан. 1.12
two:side:in all:be high mountains
There were high mountains on both sides.

Ниди минзы җёди са? 4.9.79
your name call:St what
What’s your name?
4    The perfective with a quantified object. For examples see below (6.1).

5    With some auxiliaries, notably нын 'be able'.
Дан гуәчи, бусы йитян, заму тянтян нын зэ хәяншон щехуан. 1.108
if cross:go isn’t one:day we every:day can at riverside:on rest
If we cross, we can enjoy the riverside not only once but every day.
6    After the complement of degree. Particles are possible under unknown conditions.
Фонзы дабанди ганҗин. 28.2.78
House decorated clean
The house was decorated beautiful.
4. THE ASPECTUAL SYSTEM

In figure 3 are set out the aspectual forms that stand in contrast. The figure is meant to illustrate the oppositions between the aspects in much the same way as the vowel triangle represents the oppositions between vowels.

 
1
habitual past


2 experiential perfect


3 imperfective


4 perfective


5 future

 

Fig. 3 The Aspectual System

There are several dimensions in the figure. First, the time, expressed by the vertical axis. Second, "internal temporal constituency" (Comrie 1976:3), expressed by dots and vertical lines. Third, habituality, expressed by a horizontal line. And last, the relation to the present, expressed by an arrow.

The present time and the time of reference are on the same line in figure 3. This does not mean that they refer to the same point of time. They often do, but the time of reference can also be the time of the main clause or the time of the story. On the other. hand, it might be possible to eliminate the present time from the figure altogether.

The time given after the time of reference is "unreal" in Dungan rather than "future". However, the latter term will be used because of its greater familiarity.

5. HABITUAL PAST

5.1. Form

There are two variants of the habitual past, -лэ and -дилэ. The distribution of these variants seems to be conditioned by the type of the clause or predicate.

The more restricted variant is -лэ. It occurs in the following cases:

1    Clauses with -сы 'be' and дон 'work as, be'.
Җысы җын шонвулэ. 3.10.80
It:was exactly noon:HP
It was exactly at noon.

Зэхалэ вә да есы чўзылэ.  4.3.80
Besides my father also:was cook:HP
Besides, my father also used to be a cook.

Җысы 1950 нянди лайүәни йүхади сычинлэ. 29.12.78
This:was 1950 year’s January:in occur matter :HP
This was a thing that happened in January 1950.
 – –нянчинди сыхур мә сылёнгуә дон техника шуйижынлэ,– – 21.8.79
young    time had:not think:EP be technology craftsman:HP
 --When I was young I hadn’t thought of becoming a technician,--
2    Clauses with -суй ‘(X years) old’.
Нэхур вә да эршы ба суйлэ,– – 1.12.81
At:that:time my father twenty eight years:old:HP
At that time my father was twenty-eight years old.
3    Clauses with nonfinal мәю 'have (not)'.
Вә ю вугә эрзылэ. 19.11.82
I have five sons:HP
I used to have five sons.

Нэхур ю йигә лоханлэ. 15.5.81
At:that:time there:was one old:man:HP
There used to be an old man.

Кәсы хуэйзў жынди бый нян, чян нянди лисышон мәю зыҗиди зымулэ. 14.8.79
but Dungan people’s hundred year thousand year:of history:on has:not own letters:HP
During the hundreds and thousands of years of their history, the Dungan people had no alphabet of their own.

– –хуэйзў минжын цунчян лян зыҗиди зыму ду мәюлэ. 15.5.81
Dungan people earlier even own    letters all had:not:HP
--formerly, the Dungan people didn’t even have their own alphabet.
The above sentence is somewhat exceptional in that –лэ is directly attached to мәю. Normally, мәю takes the suffix –ди whenever it occurs finally.
Щятян, шынлан тяншон лян йикуәр йүнцэ ду мәюди. 4.13
In:summer deep:blue sky:on even one:lump cloud all there:wasn’t
In summer, there wasn’t a single cloud in the blue sky.

Таму литу лян йигә нүжын ду мәюдилэ. 3.8.79
They inside even one women all there:wasn’t:HP
There wasn’t a single woman among them.
4    Stative adjectives.
Чўгуә җыгә дуанбян, нэхур совет хуэйзўди вынщүә йүянди фынбыр е дилэ. 26.2.82
except this shortcoming then Soviet Dungans' literature language:of level also low:HP
In addition to this shortcoming, the level of the literary language of the Soviet Dungans was low at that time.
Stative adjectives quite often have the suffix –дихын 'very'. Also verbal predicates with this suffix take –лэ.
Ту йинян узбек хуа до Шәрбашон тэ нандихынлэ. 1.19
Head first:year Uzbek language to Sherba:on too difficult:very:HP
In the first year the Uzbek language was very difficult for Sherba.
5    Clauses with the predicate зэ 'be somewhere'.
Эршы эрнян йичян вә до җыгә җяниди сыхур, җы йидур пин зу зэ җәрлэ. 19.3.82
twenty two:years ago    I come this family:in:of time this one:pair bottle exactly was here:HP
Twenty two year’s ago when I first came to this house, this pair of bottles was exactly here.
6    Clauses with the predicate in the stative form.
Җыгә бригада гуон е мә вуло хуон-янди, хaн вулоди сыгә гектар цэфулэ.    3.8.
This brigade only also not grow tobacco also grow:St ten hectares vegetables:HP
This brigade not only grows tobacco, it also used to grow ten hectares of vegetables.
The more basic variant of the habitual past is –дилэ, which occurs elsewhere. The main contexts are listed below.

1    Transitive and intransitive action predicates.
Та зэ лобэ яншон дё йүдилэ.    4.30
he at pond side:on angle fish:HP
He was fishing in the pond.

Щянчян вә чо    җыму    сылёнли, лян таму щёдилэ.    8.6.79
at:first    I    towards this:way thought:Pfv with them laughed:HP
At first I used to think like that, too, and laughed together with them.
The above example can also serve to illustrate the fact that it is the last predicate in a series that is in the habitual past form.
Йинцысы нянчинди сыхур ба җыще хуа вә щүәхадилэ.
 because young:of time Obj these words I    learn:HP
The reason was that I had learnt these words when I was young.
2    Non-stative adjectives.
Бэкәр да җяни чўлэди сыхур тянчи җын жәдилэ
Baker from home come:out time weather just hot:HP
The weather was (at the moment) hot when Baker came out of his home.
3    Predicates negated with мә.
1909 няншон ги 5-6 чян    деще дини ба фи    хен мә ладодилэ.    17.10.78
1909 year:on for 5-6 thousand desjatina land Obj water yet not bring:HP
In 1909 there were 5-6,000 desjatinas of land that were not yet irrigated.
Dragunov (1952:114, 132) claims that verbs of action require -дилэ, whereas verbs of non-action use plain –лэ, but it is unlikely that the rule is so simple. Җыдо 'know' is classed by Dragunov (1952:113) as a verb of non-action, but it still takes -дилэ:
Ба Манвазы бу зунхў щёнҗяху Устав, ю зыҗи линшу җяхўди җыще ганбан районшон дазо зу җыдодилэ.  3.95
Obj  Manvazy  not obey agriculture regulations follow himself direct economy these behaviour district:on early already. 
know: HP
It was quite early known to the district authorities that Manvazy did not follow the regulations on agriculture and ran the kolkhoz all on his own.
5.2. Stative clauses

It is proposed here that Dungan clause types can be divided into two classes, stative and action clause types. Stative clauses are inherently imperfective and only have a defective range of aspects. There are four types of stative clauses. First, clauses in the stative form -ди. Secondly, clauses with certain non-action predicates such as җыдо 'know', ю 'have, there is'. These use the form of the future to express an imperfective meaning. They never co-occur with the imperfective -дини. They are used in the perfective, but only with an inchoative meaning. A third type has an adjective as predicate. Adjectives can freely be used in stative and action clauses. In the first case they take only. the habitual past aspect, in the second they occur freely with any aspect. The difference between stative and action adjectives is much the same as between he’s nice and he’s being nice. A fourth type is comprised of sentences with the copula and nominal predicates.

It is true that all the predicates that occur with -лэ are stative. It is possible that in the example above, җыдо is used inchoatively ('got to know, learned') and is therefore not regarded as a stative predicate.

Thus it can be regarded as a rule that -лэ is used in stative clauses and -дилэ in non-stative clauses. The distribution is complementary.

5.3. Meaning

The habitual past is almost exclusively used at the beginning of stories about the past. It very often occurs with the word нэхур 'at that time', or some expression of the past. Sentences with this aspect provide a sort of background, a point of departure for the story.

The imperfective also describes background, but it describes events, whereas the habitual past describes the state of affairs obtaining at the time of the beginning of the story.

6. PERFECTIVE
6.1. Form

There are a few variants of the perfective aspect. The basic variant is Vли Oли, that is, the suffix -ли after both the predicate and the object (as well as any other postverbal element).

It can happen that the two aspectual slots are next to each ether. In the case of the perfective aspect, where both slots are filled, the resulting -лили is always simplified to -ли.
Вә лян Рахим лали щян мәли. 1.68
I with  Rakhim  draw:Pfv idle chat:Pfv
I chatted with Rakhim.

Җысыма, Зўхарди щинщён е доли вә мянчянли.    1.71
And:so Zukhar’s image    also arrive:Pfv me in: front:of:Pfv
And Zukhar’s image appeared before me.
There are two cases where the final -ли is not used. The first case is when the clause is not the final one in the sentence.
Салир е мә фи, та ги дада   бонди щүәли  визы, ноли  җёнзыли. 3.106
also not sleep he for father help whittle:Pfv reed boil:Pfv glue:Pfv
Salir didn’t sleep either, he helped his father cutting reeds and boiling glue.
This same rule also holds for ether sentence final aspect markers.

The second case is when the object has a modifier expressing quantity. Quite often the modifier is simple the enclitic -гә 'a, one'.
Зу нэ йиванщи Мафучын ма филё, ги Салир хўлигә фынзы. 3.106
just that night Mafuchyn   not sleep for  Salir  glue:Pfv:a kite
That night Mafuchyn didn’t sleep, but mode a kite for Salir.

Гуәлиди җы баннян литу Давур ги җяни щели нын ю шы фу щин.
past    this half:year in Davur for home write:Pfv can be ten width letter
During the past half year Davur sent home perhaps as many as ten letters.
Non-final -ли is not dropped in conditional clauses:
Ни дан тэнэ даҗунли, даҗун е щинэ нини.
you if respect masses:Pfv masses also love you:Fut
If you respect the masses, the masses will love you as well.
The verb is regularly without the suffix -ли, if it has a resultative suffix of any sort. It is therefore possible that the perfective form has not a single -ли.
Уф, хасы вәли.
ugh frighten:dead me:Pfv
Oh, you frightened me to death.

Салир ба хўхади фынзы җучелэ, канли йиҗынзы,    манмар надичи,    лидо    чён гыннили.    3.106
Obj Salir glued kite hold-up look:Pfv one:moment slowly take away erect:to wall root: at:Pfv
Salir held up the glued-up kite, watched it for a while, they slowly took it away and stood it against the wall.
The negative of the perfective is formed with мә 'not'. There is no -ли.
Сый ду мә нанви, е мә на лёнгә.    3.105
who all not not:be:nice also not take two
No one’s teased me, nor did I fail in the exam.
6.2. Meaning

The perfective aspect has the classical perfective meaning: it describes an event as a single entity without duration. Occasionally it has an inchoative meaning. It is quite often associated with past time, and that is why it has been called the past tense.
Колхозди җўщи Вонйингуй зэ кабинет литу зуәдини, җинлэли йиви нянчин жын.    1.3
Kolkhoz:of chairman Vonjinguj   in office inside    sit:Impfv enter:Pfv one young man
As Vonjinguj, the chairman of the kolkhoz, was sitting in his office, a young man came in.

Хо, вә ба та фужоли.
good I Obj him forgive:Pfv
Alright, I'll forgive him.

Дуй,    хазыр    заму зу җыдоли.    15.7.77
correct immediately we    immediately know:Pfv
Right, we'll know in a minute.

Эрзы Хўва лян тади чижын да 1965 нян дашон ги колхоз фонли ёнли.  15.9.78
son Huva   with his wife from  1965  year since for kolkhoz herd:Pfv sheep:Pfv
The son Huva and his wife have been herding sheep for the kolkhoz since 1965.
In temporal clauses the perfective indicates an event previous to the main clause.
Фи    гунли,    лохан    ги гуәгуәни щялищер    ган мянтёр.   23.1.76 
water boil:Pfv old:man for pot:in lower:Pfv:some dry noodles
After the water had started boiling, the old man put some dry noodles in the pot.
6.3. The modal particle -ли.

There is a modal particle, which also has the form -ли. It is here considered to be a modal particle, mainly because it occurs in negative sentences. As a rule, aspect particles do not occur in negative sentences. That is why if -ли nevertheless occurs finally in negative sentences, it is regarded as filling the next slot, which normally is filled by modal particles such as -ма 'question particle', -на 'and what about' and -са 'I wonder'.

The decision to treat this -ли as a modal particle is somewhat questionable, so its main uses are listed here. It is used in somewhat restricted contexts. The basic meaning is the same as that of the corresponding particle in Chinese, that is 'a new situation'.

The most important case where the modal -ли is used is in negative sentences with both мә 'not' and бу 'not'. The meaning of the particle is 'any more'.
Нённён, ни зэ бә кўли.
aunt  you again don’t cry:Mod
Auntie, don’t cry any more.

Лойүанни е шынсанни канбуҗян сали.
Far:away also it:all look:not:see what:Mod
Nothing at all could be seen in the distance any more.

Виса та ги вә бу ще щинли.
Why he for me not write letter:Mod
Why doesn’t he write to me any more?
The second case of -ли 'new situation' is in expressions of duration. In Chinese the corresponding construction can be viewed as an object. In Dungan the nature of the construction is somewhat different, mainly because it can appear also in positions typical for adverbs. Consequently, it is best treated as a separate expression of duration.
Хуэйзу жынди    щүәшон кэкэ 50 нянли.
Dungan people’s school open 50  years:Mod
It is 50 years since Dungan schools were opened.

Вә ма лён тянли йизуй мә чы.    7.9.79
My mother two days:Mod one:mouth not eat
My mother hasn’t eaten a mouthful for two days.

Лянчў җи тянли таму санли щүә зу до җәрли .    4.39
in:a:row a:few days:Mod they disperse:Pfv school immediately arrive here:Mod
For a few days in a row they've come here right after school.
Thirdly, -ли occurs in nominal predicates.
Та җиннян    сышыбали.    10.7.78
he this:year 48:Mod
He’s forty-eight this year.

Э-ё, кәҗя   хубарлима? 1.83
Oh    already evning:Mod:?
Oh dear, is it evening already?
There is another case where -ли is used after a noun. In this usage, the noun is preceded bы a verb-derived preposition-like word, such is дюха 'as regards', бә фә 'not to mention', кәщилёр 'unfortunately for'.
Дюха Исмарли ни бә цу. 3.39
about Ismar:Mod you don’t worry
Don’t worry about Ismar.

Кәщилёр вәди гуй җүәли, тали ниди җян мынканли.    1.88
pity    my   precious foot:Mod tread:Pfv your cheap theeshold:Pfv
A bad thing for my precious foot, it trod on your worthless threshold.
Here -ли is merely a marker for the construction and has no independent meaning of its own.

Finally, sentence final -ли also occasionally occurs with a quantified object or without the verb having any suffix. It is not clear though that these sentences describe a new situation. Sentences with a quantified object probably have a perfect aspect meaning.
Мәбисы    вә е шонцун нилима? — Сый фә ни шонцунли вәли!    1.64
can:it:be I    also hurt    you:Mod:? who say you hurt:Pfv me:Pfv
Can I have hurt you? — Who says you've hurt me!

Гуәлиди нэ йи чи литу та цанҗя съездли    17.2.76
past    that one week in he participate congress :Mod
During the past week he has been to a congress.

Ни кан гуәли  вусы нянли.    26.6.79
you look pass:Pfv fifty years:Mod
Look, fifty years have passed.
Unfortunately, the expressions described here are so rare that it is difficult to say whether they ought to, in the final analysis, be treated as aspects on a par with the aspects discussed en this paper.

A noteworthy fact is that modal -ли only occurs when the aspect particle slot is empty – it does not co-occur with -ли or any of the other aspects. This could be a reason for arguing that it belongs to the system of aspects.

In any case, two aspects at least ought to be established to account for the modal -ли ("new situation" and "perfect") and the distribution would be rather limited (in negative sentences, with a quantified object, and with a suffixless verb).

7. EXPERIENTIAL PERFECT

Dungan shares with Standard Chinese the aspect of experiential perfect. It is expressed by the verbal suffix -гуә . The use of this aspect in Dungan seems to be exactly the same as it is in Chinese. It refers to an action that has been experienced at least once. The negative uses мә in addition to the suffix.
Тади дада ба хичёрди җыще хочў фәгуә. 3.108
His father Obj starling’s these advantage say:EP
His father had told him about the good sides of starlings.

Эй анля-я, вә хан мә җянгуә җыму гуэфонди нүзы. 1.43
Oh Allah oh I yet not see:EP so obedient daughter
Oh my God, I've never before seen such a nice daughter.

8. IMPERFECTIVE
8.1. Form

The basic form of the imperfective is sentence final -дини. The non-final form seems do be -ди, bud this form only occurs when the verb is rod follower by any other element. Only certain kinds of verb appear with -ди preceding an object. They are treated below in the chapter for stative form (8.3).
Щёнҗуонниди ваму чын йитянҗя зэ ман хонзыни худи,  фон фынзыдини.    3.105
village:in:of children Prep daily in full street:in cry:Impfv let kite: Impfv
The children in the village wеre shouting and flying kites all over the streets.
The negative form of the imperfective is мә V Oди. In contrast to Chinese, -ди (-zhe in Chinese) follows the object.
Сый е мә фащё ниди,  е мә зота  ниди.    15.6.79
who also nod laugh you:Impfv also not dread :badly you:Impfv
No one is laughing at you or dreading you badly.
8.2. Meaning

The imperfective is user to describe an action viewed as having a duration. Its function is mainly to provide background information to the main event line. It is also used to describe generic action.
Тади ляншу Сўмар кәҗя зэ җәр дын тадини.    3.110
his companion  Sumar  already in here wait him:Impfv
His friend Sumar was already waiting for him here.

Та фончон нан гундо ще заёнди вынтидини.    29.9.78
he usually according:to fairness solve  various problem:Impfv
He usually solved all sorts of problems fairly.
It should be noted here that also the future can refer to generic action.

It is possible that the negative for generic -дини is simply formed with бу, the basic negative word. The main reason for this conclusion is the rarity of мә V Oди.

In temporal clauses the imperfective refers to an action simultaneous to the main clause. If simultaneity is stressed, -са is attached to -дини:
Та җын кўдиниса,  тади лёнгә гәзы луәдо    җязышонли.    4.45
he just cry:Impfv:Sa his two pigeon descend rack:on:Pfv
He was just crying when his two pigeons sat onto the rack.

Ваму щүан ёнди сычиндини, да йүанчўр йигә гўнён чиди ма җочў вәму лэдини. 1.13 - 14
we  talk sheep:of business:Impfv from distance one girl riding horse towards  we    come:Impfv
As we were talking about the sheep, a girl came riding towards us from a distance.
The imperfective is also used with verbs that have a resultative suffix. From the point of view of Chinese this is very surprising, because resultative suffixes usually require the equivalent of -ли in Chinese (Chao 1968:438). In Dungan, resultative suffix + -дини are used to describe a continuing situation resulting from the action
Чынва ба пё мэхадини. 1.17
Chynva  Obj ticket buy:Res:Impfv
Chynva has bought the ticket (and it is ready for use).

Фиҗүәдини  еба тади ляншон щёмущищирди, щүсы зу фимындини.
sleep:Res:Impfv although his face:on smiling perhaps do dream
Although he had fallen asleep, there was a smile on his face; perhaps he was dreaming.

Вә мучин е дабаншондини. 31.10.78
my mother also dress:Res:Impfv
My mother had also dressed up (and was ready to go).
A very disturbing thing is that the combination -лидини also exists. All but one recorded example have an embedded clause with дон or донсы 'think erroneously' as the main verb. In the one exceptional example -ли could be treated as a verbal suffix.
М. Сўшонло 1961 няншон щехади фушон ба Быйянхўди лисы е  щелидини.
M. Sushonlo 1961 year:on written book:on Obj history also write:X
Byjjanhu’s history is also written in M. Sushonlo’s book in 1961.
This solution, however, is impossible for the one example where -лидини does not immediately follow the verb. It seems to fill the aspect particle slot.
Ба та хади,  хан донсы тади нанчун да  лунлурни фичўчи, доли вэтулидини.    18.7.78
Obj he frighten even think his partridge from cage:in fly:out arrive:Pfv outside :X
He got so frightened that he even thought his partridge had flown out of the cage (and got outside).
According to Imazov (1982:105) this form expresses the recent past. He gives no examples of its use. The available examples are more suitable for a perfect of result. It is possible that in the final analysis, a perfect of result has to be set up, but because of the paucity of examples with -лидини this question is left open in this paper.

8.3. Stative form

There is a very problematic verbal form in Dungan. According to Dragunov (1952:153) the imperfective has developed from the Chinese form Vzhe One. The intransitive variant (with no intervening object) has been generalised. The trouble with this explanation is that Dungan also has the construction Vди O. This form is here called the stative form, because it is used in inherently stative clause types.

The following are the main uses of the stative form:

1    Verbs of riding and driving: ё 'drive', зуә 'travel in', чи 'ride'.

2    Verbs of holding: бо 'hold in arms', ти 'lift', дэ 'have along', на 'hold', чуан 'wear', пый 'wear over shoulders'.

3    Verbs of calling and regarding: суан 'regard as', чынхў 'call', дон 'work as', җё 'to be called'.

4    Existential sentences:
җуәзышон гәди фу.
table:on put:St book
There’s a book on the table.
5    An action with a quantified object performed within a specified period of time:
Ба йигә ёнди мо та зы дуәди җёди 3-4 фын җун 29.6.79
Obj one sheep’s wool he at most shear 3-4 minutes
It takes him 3-4 minutes at the most to shear a sheep.
6    For some kinds of generic action:
Җыхур та зэ җәр ги ваму җёди Англиа йүян.    29.9.79
now   he in here for children teach:St English language
Now he teaches English to children here.
7    Verbs of saying: вын 'ask', хуэйда 'answer'. These verbs have a sentential object, which does not necessarily follow the verb.

8    Another case where an object does not follow is that of polite imperatives. The verb is in-transitive.
— Зуәди, зуәди. Вә куэзу лэни, - 5.47
sit:St sit:St I    soon come:Fut
– You just sit there. I'll be there in a minute.
Imazov (1982:104) regards the stative form as a variant of the present tense (i.e.. imperfective), expressing protracted action (durative present). It is, however, best to regard it as a special verbal form, partly because it co-occurs with the habitual past. The clauses with the stative form are inherently imperfective in the same way as the other stative clause types. If it is necessary to express a perfective meaning, the form of the verb has to be changed.

It is not surprising that stative clauses have no perfective (Comrie 1976:50). What is somewhat unusual is its being a clause level feature. In Dungan aspect has to be considered a clause level feature, because aspect is expressed by both a verbal suffix and a sentence particle.

9. FUTURE

For want of a better term the form with -ни is called the future. This is probably not a prospective aspect (Comrie 1976:64), because it does not necessarily relate a state to a subsequent situation. On the other hand, it is not a pure tense, because it can also refer to unreal situations.

Again there is no particle in non-final and negative clauses. The basic use of the future is to express an action that has not yet taken place.
Җисы җё ёнмони? 1.13
when cut wool:Fut
When are the sheep going to be shorn?

Ни лэли, җыхур хуә хаба  зу до вәршонни. 1.14
You come:Pfv now work likely as:consequence arrive place:on:Fut
Now that you've come, we'll probably get the work done properly.
The future can also be used for intention in the past.
Вәму зандо кидянли, йинцысы ди эр тян зу санниди ёдунни чини.    17.5.83
we  stop hotel:Pfv reason:is second day go mountain:in:Attr cave:in go:Fut
We stopped at a hotel, because we wanted to go to the caves in the mountains the next day.
Quite often the sentence has an auxiliary expressing intention, such as ё 'want, have to',  щён 'intend'. Apparently also хуэй 'know how to' belongs to this group.
Да  җыгәшон ба то ё даҗә ганҗинни,  ё җуонщүди җүнмыйни. 29.5.79
from this:on Obj it have:to tidy clean:Fut have:to decorate beautiful:Fut
That’s why you have to clean it and decorate it beautifully.

Җе фәчи, Мамары дада са хуә ду хуэй зўни, са җичи ду хуэй кэни.   30.10.79
short say  Mamar  father what work all know:how do:Fut what machine all can drive:Fut
In short, Mamar’s father can do any work and can drive any machine.
There is a special class of non-action verbs that take the future with de imperfective meaning. These verbs include at least җыдо 'know', ю 'have, there is', зэ '(somewhere) is' and хэпа 'be afraid' (which also occurs with -дини). These verbs manifest the predicate in one type of stative clause.
Щёнҗуонниди йиче жын ду җыдони, Маданзы лохан ба сунзы на гункў тёёндини.    24.8.76
village’s    all    people all know:Fut Madanzy old:man Obj grandson with labour educate:Impfv
Everyone in the village knows that old Madanzy educates his grandson with the help of work.

Таму щүсы хэпа хавынни. 19.4.77
they perhaps afraid gadflies:Fut
They are perhaps afraid of gadflies.

Шәхади ёнгозы юнима? — Юни.    1.13
lost    lamb    be:Fut:? be:Fut
Have any lambs been lost? – Yes.

Канди вәди нянҗин ду зэ ташонни, гўнён зу вынли:
seeing my    eyes all is she:on:Fut girl    then ask:Pfv
Seeing that my eyes were directed an her, she asked:--
Except for зэ, these verbs can all be used with -ли to express is inchoative meaning.
Вә хэли пали. Зусы    хапали.    20.12.81
I afraid:Pfv precisely afraid:Pfv
I got frightened. That’s it, I got frightened.
The future in also used with хан мә 'hasn’t yet'. This fits the basic meaning of the aspect, because an action that has not yet taken place iс going to take place is the future.
Заму хан мә йүмянни.
we yet not meet:Fst
We haven’t met yet.
There are other cases where the future is used for unrealized or unreal actions. One is in the main clause following a conditional clause.
Дан бусы ваму,  вә дэ Щимэ йидин ночелэни.    1.67
if isn’t children I and Shchime certainly quarrel: start:Fut
If it wasn’t for the kids, I would certainly have started fighting with Shchime.
Another case is imagined comparison ("as if" and "nearly").
Та җүәмуди ляншон зущёнсы тёзы куәни.    15.5.81
he felt face:on as:if:is whip knock:Fut
He felt as if he had been hit with a whip on the face.

Вә е мә щин, кәсы щин тёди зыгәмуди да куни чўлэни. 1.111
I didn’t believe but heart jump nearly from mouth:in come:out:Fut
I didn’t believe it but my heart jumped so that it nearly came out of my mouth.
Yet another case of unrealized action:
Вә хынбудый донвәр зу  подо  дащүәни. 15.6.7
I hate:not:able on:the:spot immediately run:to university:Fut
I wished very much that I could run to the university at once.
The future is also used to express habits is the name way as the English would. It was noted earlier that generic action takes -дини.
Нянчин җёйүан кын лян зыҗи классди ваму щүанхуон. Щехуанди сыхур лян ваму фани,  чонни, тёни.    18.11.75
young teacher often with own class’s children chat. rest time with children play:Fut sing:Fut jump:Fut
The young teacher often chatted with the children of his class. Outside class, he would play, sing, and dance with the children.
In temporal clauses, -ни refers to actions that have not yet taken place, that is, it follows the main rule.
Щя тучон щүәни, хуон чонцун  бу җянли...   4.34
fall first:ground snow:Fut yellow snake not see:Mod
When the first snow was about to fall, the yellow snake disappeared.
The future is also used in some concessive clauses:
Вaму    фәни,    сысый мә щин:    нэму җинди фи    бозы    туә йигә бо    хан нын фугуәчима?  4.41
children say:Fut no:one not believe so swift water leopard drag one sheep still can swim:across:go:?
Even though the children told us about it, no one believed it: as the current was so strong, how could a leopard swim across carrying a sheep?
10. Summary

The first main argument in this paper is that Soviet Dungan has a system that is basically aspectual and not a tense system. The core of the system is the typically aspectual opposition between the perfective and the imperfective.

The second main argument is that clauses can be divided into stative and action types. The stative clause types are characterized by not having the full range of aspects and by being inherently imperfective. The postulation of stative clauses simplifies the description of the aspectual system, because exceptions to the basic system can be explained by the inherent imperfectivity of stative clauses.

Dungan aspects have throughout been regarded as a clause level feature. This is because the system utilizes two slots, a verbal suffix and a sentence final particle.


ABBREVIATIONS
Att. attributive particle
EP experiential past
Fur future
HP habitual past
Impfv imperfective
Mod modal particle
O object
Obj object marker
Pfv perfective
Prep preposition
Res resultative suffix
St stative form
V verb
? question particle

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1= Хасанов, Махмуд 1973. Ганҗин щин. Фрунзе: «Кыргызстан»
3= Хасанов, Якуб 1975. Хэчэрди минйүн. Фрунзе: Издательство «Мектеп».
4= Имазов, М. 1976. Янҗир. Фрунзе: Издательство «Мектеп».
Шыйүәди Чи. A biweekly newspaper. Фрунзе.


Chao, Yuan Ren 1968. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Comrie, Bernard 1976. Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dragunov 1952= Dragunov, A&K. 1936. Über die dunganische Sprache. Archív Orientální 8:1, 34–38.

Dargunov 1952= Драгунов, А. А. 1952. Исследования по грамматике современного китайского языка.  I. Москва: Издательство Академии Наук СССР.

Imazov 1982= Имазов М. Х 1982. Очерки  по морфологии дунганского яазука. Фрунзе: Издательство «Илим».

Kahla, Martti - Kecskeméti, István 1967. Neuvostoliiton kielten kirjaimistojen translitteroinnista. Neuvosto-liittoinstituutin vuosikirja 15–18, 145–155. Helsinki.

Kalimov 1968= Калимов А. 1968. Дунганский язык. Языки народов СССР, т. V. Монгольские, тунгусо-манчьжурские и палеоазиатские языки. Ленинград.

Li, Charles N. - Thompson, Sandra A. 1981. Mandarin Chinese. A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Salmi, Olli 1980. Tone and Stress in Soviet Dungan. In: Hurme, P. (ed) Voice, Speech and Language: Reports and Reviews. Papers in Speech Research, 2, 89–105. Publications from tie Institute of Finnish Language and Communication, 19. University of Jyväskylä.

Zav'jalova 1979 = Завьялова, О. И. 1979. Диалекты Ганьсу. Наука: Москва.

1 Artikkelin englanninkielisen asun on tarkistanut lehtori Roger O. Luke. Esitän hänelle parhaat kiitokset.

POSTSCRIPT
There are some points where I have changed my opinion.
1. I would use the term irrealis instead of future.
2. I have presented particles like -дини and -лидини as unit morphemes, but they may be treated as compounds. However, I am not sure what benefits that would have.
3. At the time of writing I believed that what I call stative form is -ди 着, but it is quite likely that it is actually -ди< -дисы 的是, which occurs in the Shaanxi dialect of Dungan.