The Fore Language of Papua New Guinea
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PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Se�ie� B - No. 47 THE FORE LANGUAGE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA by Graham Scott Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Scott, G. The Fore language of Papua New Guinea. B-47, xvi + 225 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1978. DOI:10.15144/PL-B47.cover ©1978 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. r PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is published through the Lingu��tic Ci�cle 06 Canb e��a and consists of four series: SERIES A - OCCASIONA L PAPERS SERIES B - MONOGRAPHS SERIES C - BOOKS SERIES V - SPECIAL PUB LICATIONS EDITOR: S.A. Wurm. ASSOCIATE EDITORS: D.C. Laycock, C.L. Voorhoeve, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton. EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B. Bender, University of Hawaii N.D. Liem, University of Hawaii D. Bradley, Australian National J. Lynch, University of Papua University New Guinea A. Capell, University of Sydney K.A. McElhanon, University of S. Elbert, University of Hawaii Texas K. Franklin, Summer Institute of H. McKaughan, University of Hawaii Linguistics P. MUhlh�usler, Technische W.W. Glover, Summer Institute of Universit�t Berlin Linguis tics G.N. O'Grady, University of G. Grace, University of Hawaii Victoria, B.C. M.A.K. Halliday, University of K. Pike, University of Michigan; Sydney Summer Institute of Linguistics A. Healey, Summer Institute of E.C. Polome, University of Texas Linguistics E. Uhlenbeck, University of Leiden L. Hercus, Australian National J.W.M. Verhaar, University of University Indonesia, Jakarta ALL CORRESPONDENCE concerning PA CIFIC LINGUIS TICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: The Secretary, PACIFIC LINGUIS TICS, Department of Linguistics , School of Pacific Studies , The Australian National University , Box 4, P.O., Canberra , A.C.T. 2600. Australia. Copyright (§) Graham Scott. First published 1978. The editors are indebted to the Au stralian National University for help in the production of this series. This publication was made possible by an in itial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund. National Library of Australia Card Number and ISBN 0 85883 173 2 ---------------- ----- ACKNOWLEVGEMENTS This monograph is based on some eleven years of work with the Fore speaking people of Papua New Guinea . As memb ers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, my wife and I have had the inestimab le privilege of spending much of that time living among Fore friends in their village situation . We arrived in the area in 1961 to continue the linguistic research of Ray and Ruth Nicholson . Our final period of fieldwork was the year of 1975 . Many have assisted our language learning and analysis . Outstanding among these have been Egigina , who now runs his own public motor vehicle, and Joel Kavari, currently managing an electrical store in Lae . Ayore, who has since passed on , and her family, deserve special ment ion for constantly caring for us , as does my special friend, Nabe, for his complete acceptance and encouragement through the years . A'yab i Yo 'yori, Manko Ya 'i and Abote Aninke taught me much concerning acceptability of utterances and style, as we endured together the discipline required to complete an adequate translation of the New Testament into Fore. David Ayamaso and Maneo Pane provided much assistance, inc luding a complete revision of dictionary materials, for which Esi Aoiye provided Southern dialect equivalent s. This dictionary is being published separately (see Bibliography). Three Fore pres idents of the Okapa Local Government Council deserve thanks for their confidence and assistance during our stays in the area : Messrs Kege Yasinamo , Muriso Warebu and John Pokia . The latter two have also served as members of the national parliament . All residents of the hamlet s surrounding the Kantawanti area of Karosu village have earned our deepest appreciation for sharing themselves and their life-s tyle with us . Hopeful ly we have given value in return . iii iv This work has benefitted from two computer printouts . For the first, a morpheme concordance of Fore text materials , I am indeb ted to the University of Papua New Guinea . Th is was prepared in 1967 under the direction of Professor Max McKay . For the second , an alpha betisation and reversal of the lexicon prepared in 1977, my thanks go to the Australian National University and to linguist-programmer Dr Jacques Guy . Investigations into the relationship of Fore to other languages of the family required help from other linguists working in the area . My thanks to Dr Ellis Deibler, Dorothy Drew , Gwen Gibson , Dorothy James , Sam and Nancy McBride, Joy McCarthy , Audrey Payne, Rev Gunther Renck, Pat Smith, David Strange. Phillip Wanopo , Robert and Rosemary Young , and Dr John Z'graggen. for help in upgrading wordlists and for making unpublished materials availab le. All such sources are noted in the bibliography . Financial aid provided by the Australian National University during 1975-77 is gratefully acknowledged . I have appreciated the interest and couns el of Professor S.A. Wurm, and the interaction with other memb ers of his department . Drs C.L. Voorhoeve and T.E. Dutton have been particularly helpful with criticisms and comment s. Then , to Professors K.L. Pike, who long ago made me appreciate the intricacies of language, and Rob ert E. Longacre , who made me more aware of the subtleties of style ... I salute you. Graham Scott Decemb er 1977 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABBREVIATIONS xi MAP 1: LOCATION OF FORE LANGUAGE WITHIN EASTERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE xiv MAP 2: FORE VILLAGES AND DIALECTS xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. ORIENTATION 1 1.2. HISTORY OF RESEARCH 1 1.2.1. General 1 1.2.2. Linguistic 2 1.3. SCOPE OF STUDY 3 1. 3.1. Content 3 1.3.2. Relationship to Previous Work 3 1.4. CONVENTIONS 5 1.4.1. Bracketing 5 1.4.2. Subscript 5 1.4.3. Capitalisation 5 1. 4.4. Orthography 6 1.4.5. Addition of Mood Morpheme 6 CHAPTER 2: SYNCHRONIC PHONOLOGY 9 2.1. INTRODUCTION 9 2.2. SEGMENTAL PHONEMES 9 2.21. Distribution of Phonemes 10 2.22. Description of Phonemes 10 2.22.1. Obstruents 10 2.22.2. Nasals and Semivowels 12 v vi Page 2.22 .3. Sibilant 13 2.22.4 . Glottal Stop 13 2.22.5. Vowels 13 2.22.6. Vowel- Glides 14 2.23. Discussion 14 2.23.1- Alternatives in Interpretation 14 2.23.2. Glottal Stop 16 2.23.3. Prenasalisation 17 2.23.4. Long Vowels and Vowel-Glides 18 2.3. SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES 19 2.31. Accent 19 2.31.1. Description 19 2.31.2. Discussion of Accent 21 2.32. Intonation and Rhythm 23 2.4. SUMMARY OF PHONEMES 24 2.4.1. Distinctive Features 24 2.4.2. Descriptive Statement 26 CHAPTER 3: MORPHOPHONOLOGY 29 3.1. INTRODUCTION 29 3.2. CONSONANTAL CHANGE 29 3.21. Morphophonemic Classes 29 3.21.1. Classes V, Q, N 30 3.21.2. Unaffected Morphemes 33 3.21.3. Mood Morphemes 33 3.22. Phonological Phrases 34 3.23. Markedness 36 3.23.1. Marked Versus Unmarked Status 36 3.23.2. Application to Fore 37 3.3. VOWEL REDUCTION 38 3.4. ACCENT INDUCTION 39 3.41. Patterns of Induction 40 3.41.1. General 40 3.41.2. Mood Morphemes 41 3.42. Summary 41 3.5. VERB CHANGES 42 3.51. Verb Base Compounding Accent 42 3.52. Verb Root Semivowel Induction 43 3.53. Verb Root Vowel Elision and Harmony 43 vii Page 3.53.1. Elision 43 3.53.2. Harmony 43 3.54 . Verb Suffix Vowel Change 44 3.6. OTHER CHANGES 44 45 CHAPTER 4: BASIC VERB MORPHOLOGY 4. 1. INTRODUCTION 45 4.1.1 . Verb Recognition 45 4.1.2. Reanalysis 46 4.2. THE VERB BASE 47 4.21. Verb Stem 48 4.21.1. Verb Root 49 4.21.2. Adjunct 50 4.21.3. Referent Prefix 51 4.22. Aspect 52 4.22.1. Aspect of Totality 53 4.22.2. Aspect of Intensity 53 4.23. Stem Compounding 54 4.3. INDEPENDENT VERB INFLEXION 56 4.31. Subject 56 4.31 .1. Basic Subject Morphemes 57 4.31.2. Emphatic Subject Morphemes 59 4.31.3. Imperative Subject Morphemes 61 4.32. Tense 62 4.32.1. Past Tense 64 4.32.2. Perfect Tense 64 4.32.3. Future Tense 66 4.32.4. Dubitative Tense 66 CHAPTER 5: BASIC NON-VERB MORPHOLOGY 69 5.1. INTRODUCTION 69 5.2. THE NOUN 70 5.21. Noun Stem 70 5.21.1. Noun Root 71 5.21.2. Referent Prefix 71 5.22. Stem Compounding and Derivation 73 5.22.1. Compounding 73 ·5.22.2. Nominalisation 74 5.22.3. Diminution 75 Page 5.23. Possessive Inflexion 76 5.3. OTHER NON-VERBS 78 5.31. Personal Pronouns 78 5.31.1. General Set 78 5.31.2. Exclusive Set 78 5.31.3. Reflexive Forms 79 5.31.4. Appositional Pronouns 79 5.32. Interrogatives 80 5.33. Demonstratives 82 5.33.1. Verb-Modifying Function 82 5.33.2. Descriptive and Pronominal Functions 82 5.33.3. Clause-Modifying Function 83 5.34. Descriptives 84 5.35. Numerals 84 5.36. Locatives 85 5.37 . Temporals 86 5.38. Adverbs of Manner 86 5.39. Exclamations 87 CHAPTER 6: INTRA-CLAUSAL SYNTAX 89 6.1. INTRODUCTION 89 6.2. PHRA SE STRUCTURE 89 6.21. Noun Phrases 89 6.21.1. Head of Noun Phrase 90 6.21.2. Demonstrative Slot 90 6.21.3.