Valence-Increasing Strategies in Urim Syntax Written by Joyce Kathleen Wood and Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
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Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics Thesis Approval Sheet This thesis, entitled Valence-increasing strategies in Urim syntax written by Joyce Kathleen Wood and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics has been read and approved by the undersigned members of the faculty f the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. Dr. Paul R. Kroegen(Mentor) Dr. Michael Boutin Dr. Karl J. Franklin Mr. Robet J. Conrad Vecember 4, 2012 Date VALENCE -INCREASING STRATEGIES IN URIM SYNTAX By Joyc e Kathleen Wood Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics Graduate Institute of Applied Lingu istics December 2012 © 2012 Joyce Kathleen Wood All Rights Reserved CERTIFICATE I acknowledge that use of copyrighted material in my thesis may place me under an obligation to the copyright holder, especially when use of such materials exceeds usual fair use provisions. I hereby certify that I have obtained the written permission of the copyright owner for any and all such occurrences and that no portion of my thesis has been copyrighted previously unless properly referenced. I hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics from any and all claims that may be asserted or that may arise from any copyright violation. 8ignature ecember 4 2012 Date THESIS DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics Library to duplicate this thesis when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed: Refused: ABSTRACT Valence-increasing strategies in Urim syntax Joyce Kathleen Wood Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics The Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, December 2012 Supervising Professor: Dr. Paul Kroeger Urim, an SVO Torricelli language of Papua New Guinea, has very few underived ditransitive verbs. Urim uses an applicative construction and serial verb constructions to increase the valence of a clause. Aside from the verb uk 'give', most verbs require the applicative suffix –n to form ditransitive clauses. In serial verb constructions (SVC), a second verb is used to express instruments and goals, and the two verbs form one clause. Directional and posture verbs in Urim are semi-transitive; they take a locative object whose syntactic properties, e.g., fronting and relativization, differ from those of primary objects. In directional or posture SVCs, locative objects of semi-transitive verbs differ in the same way, and express the semantic goal of the SVC. External possession is another ditransitive construction, in which a possessor and its body part are both expressed as grammatical objects. Acknowledgements Writing this thesis has been a “mountain” for me to climb. Many people supported me, cheered me on, and helped me in this process. I have learned that it is okay to need the help of others. Seija Meinander faithfully asked the Urim-Kalpm speakers any elicitation questions that I sent, while she was in the Sepik region and I was in America. She believed in my desire to write this thesis, which encouraged me greatly. I also thank my friends in the Kalpm language area for praying for me. Pirkko Luoma and Ritva Hemmilä’s grammar sketch of the other dialect of Urim gave me an advantage in learning the structures of the language quickly. I am pleased to acknowledge the help of my committee members. It is an honor to study with Dr. Paul Kroeger, my thesis advisor. I appreciate his rigorous approach to language data. He patiently helped me to narrow the scope of my thesis, discussed my in- tuitions about the data, and refined my work. Dr. Michael Boutin often challenged me with a semantic perspective. His questions pushed me to find an analysis for Urim locative ob- jects. Dr. Karl Franklin contributed anthropological insights from his years of experience in Papua New Guinea, which helped me to understand more of my narrative texts. Mr. Robert Conrad also has decades of experience in PNG, in related languages no less; it was encour- aging that he understood my data or analyses when they sounded strange or implausible to the others. vii viii I was privileged to have Liisa J. Berghäll as my linguistics consultant mentor in Ukarumpa, PNG. During my time at GIAL, she remained available to me via email for oc- casional questions on Papuan linguistics. H. Andrew Black provided technical support for XLingPaper, the authoring software with which this thesis was written. I enjoyed learning to use XLingPaper, and I acknowledge his reliable help. Beth Bryson imported the Kalpm Toolbox dictionary database into FLEx (FieldWorks Language Explorer) for me. She en- couraged me from the beginning, too. I also want to express thanks to Lynette D. Wilson and Carla Unseth, two phonologist friends who helped me to face my phonology fears. My family and friends who encouraged me, prayed for me, and/or listened to me talk about Urim serial verbs or object clitics are too many to include here. They are far and near, friends old and new, and I owe them much love and thanks. I appreciate them and their contributions to my life and my thesis. Lord's Grace Christian Church (Mountain View, CA) and SIL in PNG contributed financial support toward my studies at GIAL. I thank SIL-PNG in general and Seija Meinander in particular for their patience with my delay in returning to PNG. Finally, I am grateful to God for a positive experience in Papua New Guinea, and for helping me to climb this mountain. August 21, 2012 CONTENTS Abstract . vi Acknowledgements . vii List of Tables . xi Abbreviations . xii 1 Introduction . 1 1.1 Urim, the Urim people, and linguistic fieldwork . 1 1.2 Phonology and morphophonemics . 3 1.3 Torricelli family literature . 7 1.4 Transitivity literature . 9 1.4.1 Primary and secondary object . 10 1.4.2 Serial verb constructions and semi-transitive verbs . 11 1.5 Clause types . 13 1.5.1 Introduction to Urim clauses . 13 1.5.2 Typological overview . 16 1.6 Syntactic objecthood tests . 17 1.6.1 Zero-anaphora . 17 1.6.2 Fronting and left-dislocation . 19 1.6.3 Relativization . 23 1.7 Thesis outline . 27 2 Clitic Pronouns and Ditransitive Constructions . 29 2.1 Introduction . 29 2.2 Object clitic pronouns . 30 2.3 Three-place predicates . 34 2.3.1 Uk 'give' . 34 2.3.2 Nampreng 'distribute' . 39 2.4 External possession constructions . 41 2.4.1 Possessor object . 45 2.4.2 Possessed object . 48 2.5 Clitic pronouns on nouns . 50 2.6 Experiencer constructions . 53 2.6.1 Experiencer constructions . 53 2.6.2 Experiencer clitics and adversative predicates . 55 2.7 Chapter conclusion . 57 3 The Applicative Suffix . 58 3.1 Introduction to the applicative suffix . 58 3.2 The applicative on intransitive verbs . 60 3.3 The applicative on transitive verbs . 63 ix x 3.3.1 Benefactive applicative . 63 3.3.2 Speech verbs with the applicative -n .................. 67 3.4 The derivational -en suffix . 69 3.4.1 The -en suffix on posture verbs . 71 3.4.2 The -en suffix on other verbs . 72 3.5 Chapter conclusion . 76 4 Directional and Posture Serial Verb Constructions . 77 4.1 Introduction . 77 4.2 Directional verbs and locative objects . 80 4.3 Posture verbs . 83 4.3.1 Arpm 'sit', ark 'hang', atn 'stand' . 85 4.3.2 Itna 'be.on' . 88 4.3.3 Hel 'be.up', ha 'lie' . 90 4.3.4 Semantic classification . 93 4.4 Directional & Posture SVCs . 95 4.4.1 Directional verb SVCs . 97 4.4.1.1 Directional path SVCs . 97 4.4.1.2 Directional location SVCs . 106 4.4.2 Posture verb SVCs . 110 4.4.2.1 Posture path SVCs . 112 4.4.2.2 Posture location SVCs . 114 4.5 Aspect . 117 4.5.1 Introduction to Urim aspect . 117 4.5.1.1 Completive aspect . 117 4.5.1.2 Reduplication of verbs . 120 4.5.2 Continuous aspect with posture verbs . 122 4.5.3 Sequential plaln ............................. 126 4.6 Chapter conclusion . 129 5 Instrumental Serial Verb Constructions . 130 5.1 Introduction . 130 5.2 Light verb . 135 5.3 Instrumental SVC . 137 5.3.1 Ak Inst V NP: serial verb analysis . 139 5.3.2 V NP ak Inst: V or P? . 142 5.4 Variations of the instrumental SVC . 145 5.4.1 Instrumental SVC with implicit instrument . 145 5.4.2 Instrumental purpose clauses . 148 5.5 Chapter conclusion . 152 6 Concluding Remarks . 153 Appendix A. Interlinear Text . 157 Appendix B. Informed Consent . 159 References . 163 Vita .......................................... 168 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Phoneme inventory of Urim consonants . 4 Table 2. Core vs. Oblique grammatical relations . 10 Table 3. Direct object vs. Primary object . 11 Table 4. Free pronouns . 30 Table 5. Possessive pronouns . 30 Table 6. Object clitic pronouns . 31 Table 7. Lexical derivations with the -en suffix . 70 Table 8. Tests for SVC in Urim . ..