DOCSLIB.ORG

Split Intransitivity in Rotokas, a Papuan Language of Bougainville

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Split Intransitivity in Rotokas, a Papuan Language of Bougainville c 2011, Stuart Robinson Cover design: Harald Pieper, In-Zicht Graphic Design, Nijmegen Typeset with LATEX Printed and bound by Ipskamp Printers, Nijmegen Split Intransitivity in Rotokas, a Papuan Language of Bougainville Een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de Letteren Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. mr. S.C.J.J. Kortmann, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 5 april 2011 om 15.30 uur precies door Stuart Payton Robinson geboren op 28 oktober 1973 Bad Cannstatt (Duitsland) Promotor: Prof. dr. Stephen C. Levinson Copromotor: Dr. Michael Dunn (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen) Manuscriptcommissie: Prof. dr. Leon Stassen Prof. dr. Ulrike Mosel (Christian-Albrechts-Universit¨at zu Kiel) Prof. dr. Robert van Valin (University at Buffalo, The State University of New York) The research reported in this thesis was supported by a grant from the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur F¨orderung der Wissenschaften, M¨unchen, Germany. Acknowledgements This dissertation would never have been realized without the generous support of numerous individuals and organizations. First and foremost, I must acknowledge the the generous funding of the Max Planck Society and the institutional support of the Max Planck Institute for Pyscholinguistics in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I also should thank Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson for encouraging my return to linguistics after a three-year long hiatus as a software engineer. Although building web sites for business-to-business automative resale and for personal wealth management taught me a great deal about the art and craft of programming, my intellectual life has been more fulfilling since my return to the linguistic sciences. I also wish to thank the various individuals who read drafts of this dissertation (in part or whole) and provided feedback: Michael Dunn, Nick Enfield, Tracy King, Stephen Levinson, Ger Reesink, Gunter Senft, and Angela Terrill. Needless to say, I am solely responsible for its shortcomings. Special thanks go to Saskia van Putten and Annemarie Verkerk, who translated my samenvatting from English, and to Edith Sjoerdsma, whose patient assistance with the final bureaucratic hurdles of dissertation publication was an absolute lifesaver. Hartelijk bedankt. I owe a debt to numerous individuals in Papua New Guinea, without whom the fieldwork underlying this work would have been impossible. First and foremost, I would like to thank Samuel Akoitai for providing accomodations in Togarao and to the rest of his family for their hospitality, especially his brothers, Samson, Paul, and Thomas Akoitai, who made Togarao feel like a home away from home. Second, this work would not have been possible without the assistance of the Rotokas-speaking community. Timothy Taureviri and Sera Mon worked full- time as language consultants, and their assistance in the transcription and analysis of Rotokas was invaluable. Vearovira rutu! Finally, the friendly support of the staff at the National Research Institute in Port Moresby deserves mention, especially that of James Robins. My various officemates over the last few years also deserve acknowledgement for putting up with my ranting and raving (usually directed at my computer when it refused to cooperate but also sometimes over the frustrations of life as an expatriate in Nijmegen): first and foremost, Claudia Wegener, who shared an office with me during the majority of my time at the MPI, but also Sylvia Tufvesson and Clair Hill. I also want thank my family for their support throughout the entire Ph.D. process. It was an eventful few years for my mother, Marsha; my father, Michal; and my sister, Emily. I wish I could have been a less distant presence. My adopted family (Mike, Surinder, Cindy, Annup, and Sanjay) has been incredibly supportive. My wife, Rupe Singh, is the most deserving of vii acknowledgement for her love, support, and forebearance during a hectic four years divided between three continents. But it is my deceased grandfather, George Delbert Middleton, to whom I wish to dedicate this work. His was a virtuous life of a service to family, community, and country, and I am deeply saddened that he did not live to see this work come to fruition. Contents I A Grammatical Sketch of Rotokas 1 1 Introduction 3 1.1 AimsandFocus.................................. 3 1.2 FieldworkandData................................ 3 1.3 Organization.................................... 5 2 Language Background 9 2.1 BougainvilleandIslandMelanesia . ...... 9 2.1.1 HistoryoftheRegion........................... 9 2.2 TheRotokasLanguage .............................. 11 2.2.1 PriorLiterature .............................. 12 2.2.2 TheSpeakersofRotokas. 13 2.2.3 DialectalVariation . 14 2.2.4 TheLanguagesofBougainville . 16 2.2.5 GeneticAffiliation ............................ 17 3 Phonology 25 3.1 SegmentalPhonology(PhonemeInventory) . ....... 25 3.1.1 Vowels .................................. 25 3.1.2 Consonants ................................ 26 3.1.3 APracticalOrthography . 28 3.2 SuprasegmentalPhonology . ... 28 3.2.1 SyllableStructure. 28 3.2.2 WordStress................................ 31 3.2.3 Reduplication............................... 34 4 WordClasses 37 4.1 Root,Stem,andWordClasses . .. 37 4.2 AnInventoryofRotokasWordClasses. ..... 39 ix 4.2.1 Nouns................................... 39 4.2.1.1 GenderandNounSubclasses . 40 4.2.1.1.1 Class1........................ 42 4.2.1.1.2 Class2........................ 45 4.2.1.1.3 Class3........................ 46 4.2.1.1.4 Class4........................ 47 4.2.1.1.5 Class5........................ 48 4.2.2 NounClassifiers ............................. 49 4.2.3 Pronouns ................................. 53 4.2.3.1 PersonalPronouns. 53 4.2.3.1.1 S........................... 55 4.2.3.1.2 A........................... 55 4.2.3.1.3 O........................... 55 4.2.3.1.4 Oblique ....................... 56 4.2.3.2 ResumptivePronouns . 56 4.2.3.3 PossessivePronouns. 58 4.2.3.4 Demonstratives .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 59 4.2.4 Verbs ................................... 61 4.2.5 Adjectives................................. 62 4.2.5.1 Predication........................... 63 4.2.5.1.1 EventPredicate . 63 4.2.5.1.2 PropertyorQualityPredicate . 64 4.2.5.1.3 LocationalPredicate. 64 4.2.5.2 Attribution........................... 64 4.2.6 Adverbs.................................. 65 4.2.7 Postpositions ............................... 69 4.2.8 Interrogatives............................... 72 4.2.9 Conjoiners ................................ 73 4.2.10 Exclamatives ............................... 75 5 Morphology 79 5.1 NominalMorphology............................... 79 5.1.1 Prefixes.................................. 80 5.1.1.1 Order 1 Prefix: Reflexive/Reciprocal Marker . .. 80 5.1.1.1.1 Reflexive ...................... 80 5.1.1.1.2 Reciprocal. .. .. .. .. .. .. 81 5.1.1.1.3 Emphatic/Contrastive . 81 5.1.1.2 Order1Prefix:Specifier. 81 5.1.1.2.1 SpecifierwithNoun . 81 x 5.1.1.2.2 SpecifierwithClassifier . 81 5.1.2 Suffixes.................................. 82 5.1.2.1 Order1Suffixes:Derivational. 82 5.1.2.2 Order2Suffixes:Number/Gender . 84 5.1.2.3 Order3Suffixes:Possession . 84 5.1.2.4 Order4Suffixes:Diminutive . 84 5.1.2.5 Order5Suffixes:Alternative . 85 5.1.2.6 Order6Suffixes:Definite/Indefinite . 89 5.1.2.6.1 IndefiniteSuffix . 89 5.1.2.6.2 DefiniteSuffix. 89 5.1.3 Enclitics ................................. 90 5.1.3.1 PostpositionalEnclitics . 90 5.1.3.1.1 Locative/Instrumental . 90 5.1.3.1.2 Allative ....................... 91 5.1.3.1.3 Benefactive . 91 5.1.3.1.4 Ablative ....................... 91 5.1.3.2 TopicMarker ......................... 91 5.2 VerbalMorphology ................................ 93 5.2.1 Prefixes.................................. 93 5.2.1.1 Order 1 Prefix: Reflexive/Recriprocal . 93 5.2.2 Suffixes.................................. 94 5.2.2.1 Order1Suffixes:Causative . 94 5.2.2.2 Order2Suffixes:Modifiers . 94 5.2.2.2.1 -raga “only/just” .................. 94 5.2.2.2.2 -irao “really” .................... 95 5.2.2.3 Order3Suffixes:Continuous . 96 5.2.2.4 Order4Suffixes:ResultativeSuffix . 97 5.2.2.5 Order5Suffixes: DependentVerbMorphology. 98 5.2.2.6 Order5Suffixes: Person/Number/Gender . 99 5.2.2.6.1 Person/Number/Gender . 99 5.2.2.7 Order6Suffixes:Tense/Mood. 101 5.2.2.7.1 Realis ........................ 102 5.2.2.7.2 Irrealis.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 106 5.2.2.7.3 -peira ........................ 111 5.2.2.7.4 -veira ........................ 111 5.3 Reduplication ................................... 112 5.4 Morphophonemics ................................ 113 5.4.1 IdenticalVowelSequences . 113 xi 5.4.2 DeletionandInsertionRules . 113 5.4.2.1 o-deletion ........................... 114 5.4.2.2 e-deletion ........................... 114 5.4.2.3 i-insertion ........................... 115 6 Syntax 119 6.1 NounPhrases ................................... 119 6.1.1 Nominals ................................. 119 6.1.1.1 Demonstrative-Noun . 120 6.1.1.2 Possessor-Noun . 120 6.1.1.3 Adjective-Noun . 120 6.1.1.4 Numeral-Noun. 120 6.1.1.5 Noun-Classifier . 120 6.1.1.6 Noun-PossessivePronoun . 120 6.1.1.7 Noun-RelativeClause . 120 6.1.2 Possession ................................ 121 6.1.2.1 PossessivePronoun . 121 6.1.2.2 PossessionMarkingonPossessedNoun . 121 6.1.2.3 Ownership........................... 122 6.1.2.4 InalienablePossession(BodyParts).
Recommended publications
  • Half Year Report (Due 31 October Each Year)

    Half Year Report (Due 31 October Each Year)

    Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species Half Year Report (due 31 October each year) Project Ref. No. 13-012 Project Title Integrated River Basin Management in the Sepik River Country(ies) Papua New Guinea UK WWF-UK Organisation Collaborator(s) PNG Department of Environment and Conservation, Ambunti Local Level Government, Ambunti District Local Environment Foundation (ADLEF), and project area communities Report date 1 April - 30 September 2004 Report No. 1 (HYR 1/2/3/4) Project website http://www.wwfpacific.org.fj/wetsepik.htm 1. Outline progress over the last 6 months (April – September) against the agreed baseline timetable for the project (if your project has started less than 6 months ago, please report on the period since start up). Progress towards project milestones: i) Confirm partnership agreements (Q1): The confirmation of partnership agreements between various partners and stakeholders in the national and local level has shown positive affirmation of better working relations. WWF PNG established and maintained the collaboration between the PNG Department of Environment and Conservation and Ambunti District Local Environment Foundation (ADLEF). WWF also strengthened the partnership network with other NGO’s and government institutions such as the PNG Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), provincial government, local level government, and most importantly the local communities. This has enabled the better communication and facilitation of community planning and awareness mechanisms for the indigenous communities. ii) Consultants and staff hired (Q1-2): A position description for the WWF PNG Freshwater Programme Manager was formulated A copy is attached (Attachment A). The position vacancy announcement for a Freshwater Programme Manager was advertised in the major PNG newspaper on 9 June.
  • PNG's Ok Tedi, Development and Environment

    PNG's Ok Tedi, Development and Environment

    Parliamentary Research Service PNG's Ok Tedi, Development and Environment Paul Kay Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group 19 September 1995 Current Issues Brief NO.4 1995-96 Contents Major Issues 1 Background to Ok Tedi 3 Discovery and Development 5 Geology and Mining 8 The Economic Impact ofOk Tedi 9 Environmental Issues 12 Legal Challenges 14 Endnotes 16 Tables Table 1 : Comparison of the Fly River with Other Recognised Systems 14 Figures Figure 1 : Ok Tedi - Locality Maps 4 Figure 2 : Original Ok Tedi Ore Body and Mount Fubilan 6 Figure 3 : Ok Tedi Locality Map 6 PNG's Ok Tedi, Development and Environment Major Issues The Ok Tedi mine commenced operations on 15 May 1984, bringing tremendous change to the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). On a national level. PNG depends on the mine for 15.6 per cent of export income, royalty and taxation payments. Regional development ofthe Western Province ofPNG has been facilitated by the Ok Tedi mine and the development ofthe mine has accrued substantial benefits to the local people. The mine has created employment and business opportunities along with education options. Through the provision of medical services, people in the mine area have experienced decreased infant mortality. a decreased incidence of malaria and an average 20 year increase in life expectancy.' Some 58 million tonnes of rock are moved each year at Ok Tedi by means of open cut mining techniques. Of this, 29.2 million tonnes of ore are recovered per annum while the remainder is overburden or associated waste. The result ofthis production is about 589000 tonnes of mineral concentrate, which is exported to markets in Asia and Europe.
  • Abstract of Counting Systems of Papua New Guinea and Oceania

    Abstract of Counting Systems of Papua New Guinea and Oceania

    Abstract of http://www.uog.ac.pg/glec/thesis/ch1web/ABSTRACT.htm Abstract of Counting Systems of Papua New Guinea and Oceania by Glendon A. Lean In modern technological societies we take the existence of numbers and the act of counting for granted: they occur in most everyday activities. They are regarded as being sufficiently important to warrant their occupying a substantial part of the primary school curriculum. Most of us, however, would find it difficult to answer with any authority several basic questions about number and counting. For example, how and when did numbers arise in human cultures: are they relatively recent inventions or are they an ancient feature of language? Is counting an important part of all cultures or only of some? Do all cultures count in essentially the same ways? In English, for example, we use what is known as a base 10 counting system and this is true of other European languages. Indeed our view of counting and number tends to be very much a Eurocentric one and yet the large majority the languages spoken in the world - about 4500 - are not European in nature but are the languages of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific, Africa, and the Americas. If we take these into account we obtain a quite different picture of counting systems from that of the Eurocentric view. This study, which attempts to answer these questions, is the culmination of more than twenty years on the counting systems of the indigenous and largely unwritten languages of the Pacific region and it involved extensive fieldwork as well as the consultation of published and rare unpublished sources.
  • Basic Linguistic Theory, 2

    Basic Linguistic Theory, 2

    Basic Linguistic Theory 2 Basic Linguistic Theory R. M. W. Dixon The three volumes of Basic Linguistic Theory provide a new and fundamental characterization of the nature of human languages and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis. The first volume addresses the methodology for recording, analysing, and comparing languages. Volume 3 (which will be published in 2011) examine and explain every underlying principle of gram- matical organization and consider how and why grammars vary. Volume 1 Methodology Volume 2 Grammatical Topics Volume 3 Further Grammatical Topics (in preparation) AcompletelistofR.M.W.Dixon’sbooksmaybefoundonpp.488–9 Basic Linguistic Theory Volume 2 Grammatical Topics R. M. W. DIXON The Cairns Institute James Cook University 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ©R.M.W.Dixon2010 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.
  • The Position of Enggano Within Austronesian

    The Position of Enggano Within Austronesian

    7KH3RVLWLRQRI(QJJDQRZLWKLQ$XVWURQHVLDQ 2ZHQ(GZDUGV Oceanic Linguistics, Volume 54, Number 1, June 2015, pp. 54-109 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\8QLYHUVLW\RI+DZDL L3UHVV For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ol/summary/v054/54.1.edwards.html Access provided by Australian National University (24 Jul 2015 10:27 GMT) The Position of Enggano within Austronesian Owen Edwards AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Questions have been raised about the precise genetic affiliation of the Enggano language of the Barrier Islands, Sumatra. Such questions have been largely based on Enggano’s lexicon, which shows little trace of an Austronesian heritage. In this paper, I examine a wider range of evidence and show that Enggano is clearly an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian (MP) subgroup. This is achieved through the establishment of regular sound correspondences between Enggano and Proto‒Malayo-Polynesian reconstructions in both the bound morphology and lexicon. I conclude by examining the possible relations of Enggano within MP and show that there is no good evidence of innovations shared between Enggano and any other MP language or subgroup. In the absence of such shared innovations, Enggano should be considered one of several primary branches of MP. 1. INTRODUCTION.1 Enggano is an Austronesian language spoken on the southernmost of the Barrier Islands off the west coast of the island of Sumatra in Indo- nesia; its location is marked by an arrow on map 1. The genetic position of Enggano has remained controversial and unresolved to this day. Two proposals regarding the genetic classification of Enggano have been made: 1.
  • AMBAKICH [Aew]

    AMBAKICH [Aew]

    Endangered languages listing: AMBAKICH [aew] Number of speakers: 770; Total population of language area: 1,964 (2003). Ambakich (also called Aion or Porapora) is a language spoken in the Angoram district of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Ambakich is classified as one of the “Grass” languages (Laycock 1973); these languages are now regarded as members of the “Lower Sepik-Ramu” family (Foley 2005). Ambakich speakers mostly live in villages along the Porapora River, which flows northward into the Sepik River. One village (Yaut) is located on the Keram River, southwest of the other villages. Speakers call their language “Ambakich”, whereas “Aion” is the name of the ethnic group. The population in 2003 was probably greater than the 1,964 reported. The language has SOV structure. An SIL survey in 2003 (Potter et al, forthcoming) found that Ambakich has very low vitality. While most adults were able to speak Ambakich, both children and youth spoke and understood Tok Pisin far better than Ambakich. Ambakich speakers report positive attitudes toward their language, stating they value it as an important part of their culture. However, parents use more Tok Pisin than Ambakich when speaking to their children. Communities verbally support the use of Ambakich in schools and teacher attitudes are positive; however teachers feel that the children are not learning the language because it is not being used in the home. Tok Pisin is used in all domains, including home, cultural, religious, social, legal, trade and other interactions with outsiders. Ambakich speakers are close neighbours to the Taiap language studied by Kulick (1992).
  • Journal of Arts & Humanities

    Journal of Arts & Humanities

    Journal of Arts & Humanities Volume 09, Issue 10, 2020: 40-48 Article Received: 06-10-2020 Accepted: 19-10-2020 Available Online: 29-10-2020 ISSN: 2167-9045 (Print), 2167-9053 (Online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18533/jah.v9i10.1990 The Codification of Native Papuan Languages in the West Papua Province: Identification and Classification of Native Papuan Languages Warami Hugo1 ABSTRACT This study aims to discuss how regional languages as the local language of Indigenous Papuans (OAP) in West Papua Province can be codified at this time or at least approach the ideal situation identified and classified by the State (government), so that local languages can be documented accurately and right. Starting from the idea that the extinction of a language causes the loss of various forms of cultural heritage, especially the customary heritage and oral expressions of the speaking community. There are two main problems in this study, namely: (1) Identification of the regional language of indigenous Papuans in West Papua Province, and (2) Classification of regional languages of indigenous Papuans in West Papua Province. This study uses two approaches, namely (1) a theoretical approach and (2) a methodological approach. The theoretical approach is an exploration of the theory of language documentation, while the methodological approach is a descriptive approach with an explanative dimension. This study follows the procedures of (1) the data provision stage, (2) the data analysis stage, and (3) the data analysis presentation stage. The findings in this study illustrate that the languages in West Papua Province can be grouped into four language groups, namely (1) Austronesian phylum groups; (2) West Papua phylum group; (3) Papuan Bird Head phylum group; and (4) the Trans West Papua Phylum Group.
  • Kodrah Kristang: the Initiative to Revitalize the Kristang Language in Singapore

    Kodrah Kristang: the Initiative to Revitalize the Kristang Language in Singapore

    Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 19 Documentation and Maintenance of Contact Languages from South Asia to East Asia ed. by Mário Pinharanda-Nunes & Hugo C. Cardoso, pp.35–121 http:/nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp19 2 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24906 Kodrah Kristang: The initiative to revitalize the Kristang language in Singapore Kevin Martens Wong National University of Singapore Abstract Kristang is the critically endangered heritage language of the Portuguese-Eurasian community in Singapore and the wider Malayan region, and is spoken by an estimated less than 100 fluent speakers in Singapore. In Singapore, especially, up to 2015, there was almost no known documentation of Kristang, and a declining awareness of its existence, even among the Portuguese-Eurasian community. However, efforts to revitalize Kristang in Singapore under the auspices of the community-based non-profit, multiracial and intergenerational Kodrah Kristang (‘Awaken, Kristang’) initiative since March 2016 appear to have successfully reinvigorated community and public interest in the language; more than 400 individuals, including heritage speakers, children and many people outside the Portuguese-Eurasian community, have joined ongoing free Kodrah Kristang classes, while another 1,400 participated in the inaugural Kristang Language Festival in May 2017, including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and the Portuguese Ambassador to Singapore. Unique features of the initiative include the initiative and its associated Portuguese-Eurasian community being situated in the highly urbanized setting of Singapore, a relatively low reliance on financial support, visible, if cautious positive interest from the Singapore state, a multiracial orientation and set of aims that embrace and move beyond the language’s original community of mainly Portuguese-Eurasian speakers, and, by design, a multiracial youth-led core team.
  • Transitivity and Transitivity Alternations in Rawang and Qiang Randy J

    Transitivity and Transitivity Alternations in Rawang and Qiang Randy J

    Workshop on Tibeto-Burman Languages of Sichuan November 21-24, 2008 Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica Transitivity and transitivity alternations in Rawang and Qiang Randy J. LaPolla La Trobe University [email protected] 1. Introduction This paper is more about presenting phenomena and questions related to the concept of transitivity in Tibeto-Burman languages that I hope will stimulate discussion, rather than presenting strong conclusions. Sections 2 and 3 present alternative analyses of transitivity and questions about transitivity in two Tibeto-Burman languages I have worked on. In Section 4 I discuss some general issues about transitivity. 2. Rawang 2.1 Introduction • Rawang (Rvwang [r'w]): Tibeto-Burman language spoken in far north of Kachin State, Myanmar. Data from the Mvtwang (Mvt River) dialect.1 (Morse 1962, 1963, 1965; LaPolla 2000, 2006, to appear a, to appear b; LaPolla & Poa 2001; LaPolla & Yang 2007). • Verb-final, agglutinative, both head marking and dependent marking. • Verbs can take hierarchical person marking, aspect marking, directional marking (which also marks aspect in some cases), and tense marking. • All verbs clearly distinguished (even in citation) by their morphology in terms of what has been analysed as transitivity, and there are a number of different affixes for increasing or decreasing valency (see LaPolla 2000 on valency-changing derivations). Citation form is third person non- past affirmative/declarative: • Intransitives: non-past affirmative/declarative particle () alone in the non past (e.g. ngø 'to cry') and the intransitive past tense marker (-ı) in past forms (with third person argument); they can be used transitively only when they take valency-increasing morphological marking (causative, benefactive).
  • Loan Verb Integration in Michif

    Loan Verb Integration in Michif

    journal of language contact 12 (2019) 27-51 brill.com/jlc Loan Verb Integration in Michif Anton Antonov inalco-crlao, paris [email protected] Abstract This paper looks at the different ways French (and English) loan verbs are being inte- grated in Michif, a mixed language (the noun system is French, the verbal one is Cree) based upon two dictionaries of the language. The detailed study of the available data has shown that loan verbs are almost exclusively assigned to the vai class, i.e. a class of verbs whose single core argument is animate. This seems natural enough given that the overwhelming majority of them do have an animate core participant in the donor language as well. Still, quite a few of them can be transitive. This is accounted for by claiming that vai is the most ‘neutral’ inflectional class of Cree as far as morphology and argument structure are concerned as verbs in this class can be syntactically both intransitive and transitive. Finally, all of the loan verbs examined have Cree equivalents and so the claim that they were borrowed because of the lack of a corresponding Cree verb in the language is difficult to accept at face value. Keywords loan verbs – valency – transitivity – animacy – direct/inverse – hierarchical agreement – Algonquian – Cree – Michif 1 Introduction This paper deals with French and English loan verbs in Michif, and in particu- lar the ways in which they have been integrated into the almost exclusively Cree (i.e. Algonquian) verbal system of that language. It is especially con- cerned with the ways in which the argument structure of the original verb has been mapped onto the existing valency patterns.
  • A Little- Described Language of Solomon Islands

    A Little- Described Language of Solomon Islands

    i Grammatical Relations and Syntactic Ergativity in Roviana: A little- described language of Solomon Islands A DISSERATION TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR IN PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS MAY 2020 by Peter Schuelke Dissertation Committee: William O’Grady, Chairperson Andrea Berez-Kroeker Robert Blust Bradley McDonnell Alexander Mawyer Keywords: Roviana, Ergativity, Language Documentation ii Acknowledgements I would like to start by thanking the Roviana language community for their support and friendship, I could not have done this without you. There are too many people to thank everyone individually, but there are a few people I must mention by name. Frank Tuke was my first Roviana friend and he eventually became my collaborator in linguistics. Glo Oxenham is my teacher and friend and she, along with her friends and family in Wellington NZ, have continually supported this work. I would like to also thank the whole Tuke family, the Tolavae community, Gizo community, Munda community, Rarumana community, and my friends in Honiara. Leana hola koa gamu doduru. I would like to thank my mentor Al Schutz who taught me about academic writing and was even the last proofreader of this very dissertation. Not only that, Al taught me so much about Pacific linguistics, descriptive linguistics, and friendship. I would like to thank my best friend Alex D. Smith. Alex has been my biggest supporter from the very beginning. He proofread my work and provided comments on everything from my writing sample to this dissertation. He is a brilliant linguist, a loyal friend, and courageous human being.
  • The Coastal Marind Language

    The Coastal Marind Language

    This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The coastal marind language Olsson, Bruno 2018 Olsson, B. (2018). The coastal marind language. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73235 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/73235 Downloaded on 01 Oct 2021 11:12:23 SGT THE COASTAL MARIND LANGUAGE BRUNO OLSSON SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES 2017 The Coastal Marind language Bruno Olsson School of Humanities A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 List of abbreviations. Gloss Label Explanation (m) Malay/Indonesian word 1, 2, 3 1st, 2nd 3rd person sg, pl singular, plural 2|3 2nd or 3rd person I, II, III, IV Genders I, II, III and IV Chapter 6 3pl>1 3pl Actor acts on 1st person §8.2.2.2 a Actor §8.2 acpn Accompaniment §12.2 act Actualis §14.3.1 aff Affectionate §14.3.3 all Allative §12.3 apl Associative plural §5.4.2 cont Continuative §13.2.4 ct Contessive §14.4.5 ctft Counterfactual §13.3 dat Dative §8.3 dep Dependent dir Directional Orientation §10.1.4 dist Distal §3.3.2.1 dur Past Durative §13.2.1 ext Extended §13.2.3 frus Frustrative §14.4.1 fut Future §13.2.7 fut2 2nd Future §13.2.7 gen Genitive §8.4 giv Given §14.1 hab Habitual §13.2.6 hort Hortative §17.1.3 slf.int Self-interrogative §14.3.4 imp Imperative §17.1.1 iness Inessive §9.3.2 ingrs Ingressive §16.3.5 int Interrogative §17.3.1 Continued on next page.