tolos²

tolos²

adv.; directive modifier

Immediately; right away; at once; without delay; with prompt compliance.

Used principally after a verb or within an expression that clearly identifies the required action or the immediate time reference.

Usage

Ngowan tolos.
“Now—right away.”

Ge’ran mo tolos.
“Tie it right away.”

In Ge’ran mo tolos, the command is expressed by ge’ran mo, while tolos requires the commanded action to be performed without delay.

Grammatical note

The adverbial meaning is normally established by its syntactic environment. Because bare tolos is ordinarily interpreted as “jammed or binding tie/cinch,” the sense “immediately” generally requires:

• an expressed verb;
• a preceding temporal word such as ngowan “now”; or
• a clearly established command recoverable from the discourse.

Compare

• ngowan — now; at the present time.
• tolos — immediately; without delay.
• tolostolos? — “Right now, really?”; an echo-question challenging or confirming the command.

Syntactic Environment and Prosody:Distinction