Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 11: Southeast Asian Syntax
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PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series A - No. 77 Papers in South-East Asian Linguistics No. 11 SOUTH-EAST ASIAN SYNTAX David Bradley, ed. Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVESITY Bradley, D. editor. Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 11: Southeast Asian Syntax. A-77, iv + 234 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1989. DOI:10.15144/PL-A77.cover ©1989 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the Linguistic Circle of Canberra and consists of four series: SERIES A: Occasional Papers SERIES C: Books SERIES B: Monographs SERIES D: Special Publications FOUNDING EDITOR: S.A Wurrn EDITORIAL BOARD: D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton, M.D. Ross EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B.W. Bender H.P. McKaughan University of Hawaii University of Hawaii David Bradley P. Miihlhl1usler La Trobe University Bond University Michael G. Clyne G.N. O'Grady Monash University University of Victoria, B.C. S.H. Elbert A.K. Pawley University of Hawaii University of Auckland KJ. Franklin K.L. Pike Summer Institute of Linguistics Summer Institute of Linguistics W.W. Glover E.C. Polome Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Texas G.W. Grace Gillian Sankoff University of Hawaii University of Pennsylvania M.A.K. Halliday W.A.L. Stokhof University of Sydney University of Leiden E. Haugen B.K. Tsou Harvard University City Polytechnic of Hong Kong A. Healey E.M. Uhlenbeck Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Leiden L.A. Hercus J. W.M. Verhaar Australian National University Divine Word Institute, Madang John Lynch C.L. V oorhoeve University of Papua New Guinea University of Leiden K.A. McElhanon Summer Institute of Linguistics All correspondence concerning PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and SUbscriptions, should be addressed to: PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University Canberra, AC.T. 2601 Australia Copyright © The Authors First Published 1989 Typeset by Ling Matsay Printed by AN. U. Printing Service Bound by Adriatic BookbindersPty Ltd The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for assistance in the production of this series This publication was made possible by an initial grantfrom the Hunter Douglas Fund. ISSN 0078-9178 ISBN 0 85883 379 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION iv Southern Thai deixis Anthony DILLER 1-14 Directional modification in Thai fiction: the use of 'come' and 'go' in text building Robert J. BICKNER 15-79 Directional auxiliaries in Daai Chin Helga HARTMANN-SO 81-92 The grammarof simple clauses in Mizo Lalnunthangi CHHANGTE 93-174 Hmong and areal South-East Asia Marybeth CLARK 175-230 iii INTRODUCTION These fivepapers cover closely related aspects of South-East Asian syntax, based primarily on data fromSouth-western Thai dialects, Kukish Tibeto-Bunnan languages, and Hmong. The first three exemplify aspects of syntax which are both typical of the linguistic area and often neglected, because they relate to discourse structure rather than just sentences in isolation. The last two explore clause structure, focusing on two specific languages; in the latter this is also placed in its areal context with numerous parallel examples fromunrelated or distantly-related languages. In Diller's paper the various tonal, vowel and initial alternatives for deictics in a Southern Thai dialect are explored in the context of their syntactic and semantic properties. Both Bickner and Hartmann-So explore the syntax of directional verbs. Bickner analyses the discourse function of the two main directionals in a Thai text. Hartmann-So describes the morphosyntax of this important areal phenomenonin a Chin language of Burma. Chhangte gives a detailed descriptionof main clause syntax in Mizo, which is closely related to the Daai Chin language described by Hartmann-So. Finally, Clark gives detailed examples of the way Hmong (formerly Miao or Meo) follows the areal syntactic patterns of South-East Asia. DAVIDBRADLEY Department of Linguistics La Trobe University iv Bradley, D. editor. Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 11: Southeast Asian Syntax. A-77, iv + 234 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1989. DOI:10.15144/PL-A77.cover ©1989 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. SOUTHERN THAI DEIXIS Anthony Diller 'Demonstrative elaboration' was used by Sapir to refer to complex deictic systems in certain languages - systems which he said could lead to 'an endless procession of nuances' (1921:93, 108). He went on to observe that languages differ as to which deictic distinctions are obligatory or at least 'very natural', and the comparative impoverishment of English demonstratives and articles in this regard was noted. (We use deixis below to refer to such demonstrative categories, e.g., to spatial adverbials like here and there and to adjectival and pronominal forms like this and that; although deixis is sometimes also applied to tense phenomena and personal pronouns, those will not be dealt with here.)l As though to constrain somewhat Sapir's'endless procession', recent cross-linguistic interest in deictic phenomena has led to a search for deictic generalisations and universal features. Such studies include the important general taxonomic proposals of Fillmore (197 1; 1982), emphasising a two-way category system of syntactic functions and'distance contrasts', the latter covering the familiar proximal-(medial)-distal distinctions made in many languages - but not in the same manner. The tendency of these distinctions to be coded through phonetic iconicity is also well-known (Tanz, 1971, 1980). A more diachronic-developmental approach has been taken by Lyons (1 977, 1979), who suggests a quasi-derivational progression from what he calls 'proto-reference', including pointing gestures, through demonstratives, textual deixis and on to anaphors, articles and personal pronouns. Perhaps related to this progression are other proposed deictic features and contrasts, such as an unemphatic/emphatic distinction noted for Southern Sotho and earlier stages of Turkish (Anderson and Keenan, 1985) and the use of deictic forms to indicate emotional closeness and distance, as though through a metaphorical process related to spatial distance (R. Lakoff, 1974). David Bradley ed., Papers in South-East Asian linguistics No.ll: South-East Asian syntax, 1-14. Pacific Linguistics, A-77, 1989. © Anthony Diller 1 Diller, A. "Southern Thai deixis". In Bradley, D. editor, Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 11: Southeast Asian Syntax. A-77:1-14. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1989. DOI:10.15144/PL-A77.1 ©1989 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. 2 AnthonyDiller In the following sections we turn to a deictic system that Sapir would probably have considered'demonstrative elaboration'. We present evidence suggesting that the deictic forms under review operate as two separate but linked subsystems, along with another series of reduced forms. The main subsystems are separate along both formal and functional lines, although there is a certain functional overlap. Of the proposed approaches not ed above, no one of them alone adequately account s for the str ucture of the total deictic system under review below, although taken as a whole these st udies suggest most of the relevant categories and contrasts needed to clarify how the system is constituted and operates. The deictic system described is that of a representat ive rural SouthernThai dialect (Le. of Pak Tay, as the dialect group is called locally); the variety discussed here is spoken in the Sathing Phra District of Songkhla Province.2 General features of the dialect, including sociolinguistic background, have been described elsewhere (Diller, 1979a). For purposes here it is sufficient to note that the seven-tone system is represented by paired subscript numbers (one to five) suggesting relative pitch and contour; this follows the practice of Li (1977 :5). 3 Absence of a subscript of this sort indicates an unstressed variable-pitch syllable, not unlike the so-called 'neutraltone' of Mandarin Chinese. 1. Deictic forms Deictic forms for Sathing Phra Southern Thai as encountered in recorded conversations and colloquial texts can be represented paradigmatically as in Figure 1.4 Out of the thirt y-three form s, two perhaps have a somewhat marginal status, being regarded by some speakers as 'very impolite' or even as 'sub-linguistic'exclama tions (note Lyons' 'prot o-reference'); these forms are represented in parent heses. Not indicated in Figure 1 are interrogative and indefi nite for ms which clearly have a close relationship,e.g.daY24 'which', naY55 'where', et c. Glosses for set s of forms in Figure 1 are suggested in Figure 2; these should be taken as only very loose approximationsfor convenience, pending fuller discussion below. Considerable allomorphy or near allomorphy characterises Figure 1. This is partly a matter of free variation and part ly variation conditioned by environment. Such alternation is to be distinguished from more substantive morphophonemic or morphosyntact ic relationships which . code distinctive semantic, pragmatic and syntactic information as discussed below. Allomorphy has been observed only among items with the same vowel and tone, and is of two sorts. (i.) The initial h- often occurs as an apparent ly free vari ant of initials d- and n-, as in forms such as de:31 / 5 he:31 '(look) here!' and na:n31 / ha:n31 '(look) there!'. For Group II in Figure 1, the colurnn-4 variant s in h- often (but not invariably) have weaker str ess than do their colurnn-3 counterpart s in n-; such weaker-stresss for ms - especially han43 'that' - are far more common than their n counterparts in narrative texts.