Franjieh, Michael James (2012) Possessive classifiers in North Ambrym, a language of Vanuatu: explorations in Semantic classification. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/16808 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Possessive Classifiers in North Ambrym, a Language of Vanuatu: Explorations in Semantic Classification Michael James Franjieh A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Field Linguistics Department of Linguistics The School of Oriental and African Studies University of London September 2012 Declaration I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: Date: Abstract North Ambrym, an Oceanic language spoken in Vanuatu, exhibits the two common Oceanic possessive construction types: direct and indirect. This the- sis focuses on the indirect construction which occurs when the possessed noun refers to a semantically alienable item. In North Ambrym the indirect pos- sessive construction is marked by one of a set of possessive classifiers. The theory within Oceanic linguistics is that the possessive classifiers do not clas- sify a property of the possessed noun but the relation between possessor and possessed (Lichtenberk 1983b). Thus, it is the intentional use of the possessed by the possessor that is encoded by the possessive classifier, such that an ‘ed- ible’ classifier will be used if the possessor intends to eat the possessed or the ‘drinkable’ classifier will be used if the possessed is intended to be drunk. This thesis challenges this theory and instead proposes that the classifiers act like possessed classifiers in North Ambrym and characterise a functional property of the possessed noun. Several experiments were conducted that induced dif- ferent contextual uses of possessions, however this did not result in classifier change, which would be expected in the relational classifier theory. Each classifier has a large amount of seemingly semantically disparate mem- bers and they do not all share the semantic features of the central members, thus an analysis using the classical theory of classification is untenable. Instead the classifier categories are best analysed using prototype theory as certain seman- tic groups of possessions are considered to be more central members. This hypothesis is supported by further experimentation into classification which helps define the centrality of classifier category members. Finally an anal- ysis using cognitive linguistic theory proposes that non-central members are linked to central members via semantic chains using notions of metaphor and metonymy. All languge data from this project has been deposited at the Endangered Lan- guage Archive (ELAR) at SOAS, University of London. Acknowledgements I wish to thank the different funding bodies who have supported this project. This research has been funded by an Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) grant and from an Endangered Languages Academic Pro- gramme (ELAP) grant, both administered by the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (HRELP). Additional fieldwork funding was granted by the Central Research Fund of the University of London and from SOAS. I wish to express my profound gratitude to the people of Ambrym, without whose help this work would not have been completed. I am most grateful to the people of Ranvetlam village who made me feel welcome so far from home. My sincere thanks go to Willie and Anna Tangou who adopted me into their family, fed and looked after me. I wish to extend my deepest thanks to my first language teacher, Isaiah Bong, my friend from the start. He worked patiently and tirelessly almost every night with me, even when he came back exhausted from working in the gardens. Isaiah also accompanied me on my trips across the island and introduced me to his friends and family who told me many stories. I wish to thank my other language consultants, Ephraim Hari, David Tasso and George Andrew who spent countless hours answering my inane questions about North Ambrym. My friend Saksak Batukon of Fansar village taught me so much about his culture and whose vitality is inspiring. I wish to thank the boys of the stringband for the many jokes we shared and fun we had from dancing on the edge of the volcano, jumping off the cliffs to chilling out with a shell of kava at night. Many people helped me during my stay in the capital Port Vila. I wish to thank Sam Jung, whose guesthouse became my base. Here I met many friends who I wish to thank, such as Hugo DeBlok with whom I have had many discussions over Ambrym’s rituals and customs; Kristine Sunde Fauske, Hildur Thoraren- son and Tom Bratrud for their entertainment; Oliver Wehbe for his hospitality and for shipping beer to me on Ambrym; Mathilde Assouad for my stay on the lagoon; Daniella Kraemer for her friendship and anthropological insights; Kilu Von Prince and Manfred Krifka for their collaboration and support and for hosting me in Berlin; Ella McHenry for the most adventurous hike across Ambrym; and to Kay Johnson for her support and friendship. My time at SOAS would have been very different if it were not for my friends and fellow PhD students who have given advice, support and beer along the way. Many thanks go to Radu Voica, Louise Ashmore, Oliver Bond, Karolina Grzech, Teresa Poeta, Sandy Ritchie and Giovanni Cozzi. I wish to thank my supervisor, Irina Nikolaeva, for her expertise and guidance throughout. I am also grateful to Peter Austin and Peter Sells who have also read through earlier chapters of this thesis. Finally, to my mum and dad for all their love and support. Contents Overview 1 Introduction 15 2 Grammar Sketch 39 3 Possession 178 4 Possession in North Ambrym 217 5 Cognitive Linguistics 259 6 Testing Relationality 284 7 Testing Prototypes 310 8 Schematic Analysis 355 9 Conclusion 382 Bibliography 389 1 Contents 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Vanuatu and North Ambrym . 15 1.1.1 Background . 15 1.1.2 The Languages of Ambrym . 18 1.1.3 Internal Subgrouping . 21 1.2 Sociolinguistics . 25 1.2.1 Social Structure . 25 1.2.2 Economics . 26 1.2.3 Christianity . 27 1.2.4 Language and Education . 30 1.2.5 Language Endangerment . 31 1.3 Research . 32 1.3.1 Research Questions . 33 1.3.2 Methodology and Research Framework . 34 1.3.3 Fieldwork . 37 2 Grammar Sketch 39 2.1 Dialect Variation . 39 2.1.1 Consonantal Differentiation . 41 2.1.2 Vowel Differentiation . 44 2.2 Phonology . 46 2.2.1 Consonants . 46 2.2.2 Vowels . 51 2.2.3 Phonotactics . 53 2.2.4 Morphophonological Processes . 58 2 2.2.5 Clitics and Affixes . 70 2.3 Nouns and Noun Phrases . 72 2.3.1 Nominals . 72 2.3.2 Pronouns . 76 2.3.3 Nominal Derivation . 79 2.3.4 The Noun Phrase . 81 2.3.5 Nominal Modification . 82 2.3.6 NP Coordination . 91 2.3.7 Demonstratives . 92 2.3.8 Articles . 94 2.4 Verbs and the Verbal Complex . 95 2.4.1 Verbs . 95 2.4.2 Verbless Clauses . 96 2.4.3 Verb Classes . 97 2.4.4 Valency Increasing Processes . 105 2.4.5 Pluractionals . 109 2.4.6 Subject Indexing Particles . 112 2.4.7 Tense, Aspect, Mood and Negation . 113 2.4.8 Verbal Compounds . 132 2.5 Adjuncts . 137 2.5.1 Prepositions . 137 2.5.2 Adverbs . 143 2.6 Clause Combinations . 161 2.6.1 Complement Clauses . 162 2.6.2 Adverbial Clauses . 166 2.6.3 Coordination . 169 2.6.4 Clause Chaining . 171 2.7 Serial Verbs . 173 3 Possession 178 3.1 Syntax of Possession . 179 3.2 Semantics of Possession . 186 3.3 Noun Classes and Classifier Systems . 190 3.3.1 Noun Class/Gender Systems . 190 3 3.3.2 Classifier Systems . 191 3.4 Possession in the Oceanic Languages . 196 3.4.1 Relational Classifiers . 199 3.4.2 Proto Oceanic Reconstructions . 206 3.4.3 Passive and Subordinate Possession . 207 3.4.4 Verbal Aspects of Oceanic Possession . 210 3.4.5 Syntactic Status of Classifiers . 212 3.5 Chapter Summary . 215 4 Possession in North Ambrym 217 4.1 Direct Possessive Construction . 219 4.1.1 Emotive Verbs . 221 4.1.2 Recursion . 222 4.1.3 Modification and Quantification . 222 4.1.4 Inalienability . 225 4.1.5 Bound Noun Compounds . 230 4.2 Indirect Possessive Construction . 231 4.2.1 Recursion . 233 4.2.2 Modification and Quantification . 234 4.2.3 Syntactic Status of the Possessive Classifier . 237 4.2.4 Alienability . 238 4.3 Possessor Cross Referencing . 244 4.3.1 Human Animate Possessors .