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6 Oceanic Languages

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6 Oceanic Languages CHAPTER 6 Oceanic Languages: Grammatical Overview 6.1. Pronouns I use the term “pronoun” fairly loosely. Oceanic languages generally have only one set of free pronouns, but they also have one or more sets of pronom- inal forms that are more or less bound to nouns, verbs, or other morphemes. While only the free forms might qualify as pronouns under a strict definition, I discuss the other forms here as well. 6.1.1. Person Almost all Oceanic languages make a distinction between inclusive first person, referring to the speaker and the addressee or addressees (“I + you”) and exclusive first person, referring to the speaker and some other individual or individuals (“I + he/she/it/they”). For example: Motu Mono-Alu Nakanamanga Puluwat Singular I lau maha kinau ngaang you oi maito niigo yeen he/she/it ia e‘a nae yiiy Plural we:INC ita maita nigita kiir we:EXC ai maani kinami yáámem you umui maang nimu yáámi they idia relana‘i naara yiir 100 Oceanic Languages: Grammatical Overview 101 Exceptions to this general statement are found in a few languages that seem to have lost the inclusive/exclusive distinction. These include the five lan- guages of the Siau family in the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea (Sera, Sissano, Ali, Tumleo, and Ulau-Suain), Kiribati, and possibly also one or two varieties of Fijian. Sissano Kiribati Singular I ya ngngai you e ngkoe he/she/it i ngaia Plural we eit ngaira you om ngkamii they ri ngaiia Very few Oceanic languages mark gender in pronouns. In all the exam- ples above, the third person singular refers to male or female animates as well as to inanimates. Maringe (Isabel, Solomon Islands) is one of the few Oceanic languages that does have a gender distinction, though it differs from the English one. Female speakers use only one set of third person forms, but male speakers use two sets—one referring to males, and the other in all other cases. Maringe Male speaker Female speaker he mana na‘a she/it na‘a na‘a they (males) mare re‘e they (non-males) re‘e re‘e Some languages in Melanesia have no third-person pronouns at all. Mari (Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea) is one such: It uses demonstra- tives (roughly translated, “this one,” “those ones”) instead of pronouns like “he/she/it” or “they.” 6.1.2. Number A three-way distinction between singular, dual, and plural number is per- haps the commonest pattern in Oceanic languages, the dual number refer- ring to two and only two. This pattern is found in Polynesian languages and 102 CHAPTER 6 Rotuman, as well as in many languages in Melanesia and Micronesia. For ex- ample: Yapese Nakanai A‘jië Samoan Singular I gaeg eau gènya a‘u you guur eme gèi ‘oe he/she/it qiir eia ce ia Dual we two:INC gadow etalua görru tā‘ua we two:EXC gamow emilua gövu mā‘ua you two gimeew emulua göu ‘oulua they two yow egirua curu lā‘ua Plural we:INC gadaed etatou gèvé tātou we:EXC gamaed emiteu gèrré mātou you gimeed emutou gëvë ‘outou they yaed egiteu céré lātou There are two common departures from this pattern. A number of lan- guages in Melanesia and Micronesia show only a two-way distinction be- tween singular and plural. The examples given in 6.1.1 above from Motu, Mono-Alu, and Nakanamanga (in Melanesia), and Puluwat and Kiribati (in Micronesia) illustrate this. The other variation is quite common in Melanesia (including Fiji), though not elsewhere in the Pacific. It involves a four-way distinction, be- tween singular, dual, trial or paucal, and plural. Some of these languages have a trial number, which refers to three and only three: Tolai Anejom̃ Singular he/she/it ia aen Dual they two dir aarau Trial they three dital aattaj Plural they (>three) diat aara Others have a paucal number, which refers to a few (perhaps three to six or so), or to a small group in comparison with a larger group.1 Paamese Nadrau Fijian Singular he/she/it kaie i kwaya Dual they two kailue i kirau Oceanic Languages: Grammatical Overview 103 Paucal they (a few) kaitelu i kiratou Plural they (many) kaile i kira 6.1.3. Functions The pronouns cited so far are known as independent pronouns. They may stand alone as the answer to a question and may also act as subject of a verb (though they often have an emphatic function in this usage). There are, however, other pronominal forms in many Oceanic languages, although they may not always be able to stand alone. Most Oceanic languages, for example, have a separate set of subject markers, which are formally different from the independent pronouns. These subject markers mark the person and number of the subject and usu- ally occur within the verb complex. In some languages they are preverbal particles, in others prefixes to the verb. In many of these languages, the in- dependent pronoun is used in subject position only for emphasis. Contrast the following sentences in Lenakel: Lenakel I-es-ol-aan. I-not-do-not ‘I didn’t do it.’ Io i-es-ol-aan! I I-not-do-not ‘I didn’t do it!,’ ‘It wasn’t I who did it!’ In both sentences, the person and the number of the subject are marked within the verb by the prefix i- ‘I.’ The first sentence, with no independent pronoun, is a neutral statement. In the second, however, emphasis is placed on the subject, ‘I,’ through the use of the independent pronoun io. Below are some examples—in just singular and plural num- bers—illustrating the formal difference between independent pronouns and subject markers. The Nehan and Fijian subject markers are free preverbal particles, while the Trukese ones are verbal prefixes.2 Nehan Trukese Fijian IND. SUBJ. IND. SUBJ. IND. SUBJ. Singular I ingo ku ngaang wú- o yau au you inga ko een ke- o iko o he/she/it git ke iiy e- o koya e 104 CHAPTER 6 Plural we:INC ingeg ki kiich si- o keda da we:EXC ingam king áám éwú- o keimami keimami you ingam kung áámi wo- o kemunī nī they gisit ka iir re- o ira ra Rather fewer Oceanic languages have formally distinct object mark- ers, many using the independent pronoun in this role. Above, for example, we saw the use of the Lenakel independent pronoun io ‘I’ as an emphatic subject. This same form is also used in object position. Lenakel R-ɨs-aamh-aan io. he-not-see-not me ‘He didn’t see me.’ Languages with distinct object pronouns are found in Melanesia and Mi- cronesia. In some of these languages (like Anejom̃ in the example below) these are free forms, while in others (like Kiribati) they are suffixed to the verb.3 Anejom̃ Kiribati IND. OBJ. IND. OBJ. Singular I añak ñak ngngai -ai you aek yic ngkoe -iko he/she/it aen yin ngaia -ia Plural we:INC akaja caja ngaira -iira we:EXC ajama cama you ajowa cowa ngkamii -ingkami they aara ra ngaiia -iia, -i For more about the functions of both subject and object markers, see section 6.4. Virtually all Oceanic languages also have a set of possessive affixes (normally suffixes) marking the person and number of the possessor. These differ from independent pronouns and subject markers (though they are fre- quently identical or similar to object markers). The grammar of possession in Oceanic languages is quite complex (refer to section 6.3 below). For exam- ple, the Fijian possessive suffix -qu ‘my’ is attached directly to certain types of possessed nouns (like tama ‘father’ in the example below), but when used with nouns of other types it is attached to a possessive marker or classifier (as with vale ‘house’). Oceanic Languages: Grammatical Overview 105 Fijian na tama-qou but na no-qau vale the father-my the POSS-my house ‘my father’ ‘my house’ These affixes are almost always suffixes. But in a few languages they occur as prefixes in some grammatical contexts. Wayan Fijian o mna-m but m-ulu the mother-your your-head ‘your mother’ ‘your head’ A comparison between the singular and plural independent, object, and possessive pronouns in Anejom̃ and Kiribati is given below. Anejom̃ Kiribati IND. OBJ. POSS. IND. OBJ. POSS. Singular I añak ñak -k ngngai -ai -u you aek yic -m̃ ngkoe -iko -m he/she/it aen yin -n ngaia -ia -n(a) Plural we:INC akaja caja -ja ngaira -iira -ra we:EXC ajama cama -ma you ajowa cowa -mia ngkamii -ingkami -mii they aara ra -ra ngaiia -iia, -i -ia It follows from all of this that, while some Oceanic languages have a pronoun system as simple as that of English, many have pronoun systems of considerable complexity. Table 5 lists the full set of independent, object, and possessive pronouns in Anejom̃ , along with the three sets of subject markers used in the aorist, past, and inceptive tenses, to illustrate this complexity. 6.2. NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES The notion of parts of speech as we understand it in English, does not nec- essarily apply to Oceanic languages. While some Oceanic languages clearly distinguish nouns from other parts of speech in some formal or functional way, many others do not. The Fijian word tagane, for example, can function as a noun meaning ‘man,’ as a verb meaning ‘to be male,’ and as an adjective meaning ‘male.’ 106 CHAPTER 6 Table 5.
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