Sequential number word formation and children's secret language games in New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) – Christoph Holz (LCRC, JCU), 4 Dec 2019
Abstract 1: Sequential number word formation Number words in several Tungak-Nalik languages are morphologically complex. This kind of complexity is not the result of arithmetic operations, but has its origin in the sequence of successive Proto Oceanic number words. The pattern is called sequential number word formation here. As sequential number word formation is also found in several other Meso-Melanesian languages, and non-Austronesian languages of New Ireland and New Britain, it is likely to be an areal feature.
Abstract 2: Children’s secret language games Secret languages play an important role in Melanesian communities. Traditionally, they are more commonly found among men in their endeavour to keep their secrets from uninitiated social groups. This article, in contrast, presents a secret language code primarily used by school girls in New Ireland: a language game that can be played in many local languages, in Tok Pisin and in English. Schools, often accommodating children from various linguistic backgrounds, harbour a creative environment for the development and spread of language games within the province, and apparently further in Papua New Guinea. This article also focusses on how young speakers deal with applying a fixed set of game rules to a variety of phonotactically unlike languages.
1. Sequential number word formation 1.1. Introduction - typological studies on number words (e.g. Hurford 1975, Stampe 1976, Greenberg 1978, Lean 1992, Comrie 2005a, Comrie 2005b, Owens et al. 2018) focus on arithmetic operations and bases - base = numeric value to which arithmetic operations are applied to create higher number words - five arithmetic operations:
(1) a. Addition in Haruai b. Multiplication in Chukchi mos paŋ qliq-qlikkin two one twenty-twenty ‘three [= 2 + 1]’ ‘400 [= 20 x 20]’
c. Subtraction in Latin d. Division in Welsh un-de-viginti hanner cant one-from-twenty half hundred ‘nineteen [= 20 – 1]’ ‘fifty [= 100 : 2, or 100 x ½]’
e. Exponentiation in English bi-llion two-thousand.thousand ‘billion [= 10002 x 1000]’
- arithmetic operations and bases in Tiang (Tungak-Nalik) (2)
(2) a. Addition in Tiang (own data) b. Multiplication in Tiang (own data) patlima pâ tâlât iuâi saŋaulá five with four two ten ‘nine [= 5 + 4]’ ‘twenty [= 2 x 10]’
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- another pattern in Tiang (3): only second part of ‘3’, ‘4’ and ‘5’ resembles POC; first part unrelated
(3) ‘1’ ‘2’ ‘3’ ‘4’ ‘5’ Tiang saka iuâi utál tâlât patlima (own data) POC *sakai *rua *tolu *pat(i) *lima (Lynch et al. 2011: 72)
- same pattern in southern Tungak-Nalik (Tiang, Kara, Lakurumau, Nalik) (4)
(4) ‘3’ ‘4’ ‘5’ Tiang u-tál tâl-ât pat-lima (own data) Kara tala-tul tala-faat pa-ma (Dryer 2013: 83) Lakurumau ralo-run rala-vaat vat-mit (Lidia Mazzitelli, p.c.) Nalik o-rol orola-vaat kavit-mit (Volker 1996: 6) POC *X-tolu *X-pat(i) *X-lima
- northern Tungak-Nalik (Tungak, Tigak) (5): ‘5’ similar pattern to (4); ‘3’ and ‘4’ with fossilised POC classifier *puaq as first element
(5) ‘3’ ‘4’ ‘5’ Tungak po-tol pu-at palpal lima (Fast 1990: 10) Tigak po-tul po-iat pal-mit (Beaumont 1979: 105) POC *puaq-tolu *puaq-pat(i) *X-lima (cf. Lynch et al. 2011: 73)
1.2. Sequential number word formation - phonologically similar formatives in ‘3’, ‘4’ and ‘5’ in southern Tungak-Nalik (6)
(6) ‘3’ ‘4’ ‘5’ Tiang u- tâl- pat- Kara (tala-) tala- pa- Lakurumau (ral-)o- rala- vat- Nalik o- (o-)rola- (ka-)vit- POC *rua- ‘2’ *tolu- ‘3’ *pat(i) ‘4’ (?)
- formatives do not match value of actual number word, but of preceding POC number word, i.e. ‘3’ with formative from POC *rua ‘2’; ‘4’ with formative from POC *tolu ‘3’; etc. - cannot be explained by arithmetic operations, but sequence of successive POC number words:
(7) Sequential number word formation x = present-day number word xn = y(n – 1)-zn y, z = POC number words n = numeric value of number word x
(8) ‘3’ < POC *rua-tolu ‘two-three’ ‘4’ < POC *tolu-pat(i) ‘three-four’ ‘5’ < POC *pat(i)-lima ‘four-five’ (?)
- Nalik o-rola-vaat ‘4’ < POC *rua-tolu-pat(i) ‘2-3-4’ - Kara tala-tul ‘3’ < POC *tolu-tolu ‘3-3’ - Lakurumau ral-o-run ‘3’ < POC *tolu-rua-tolu ‘3-2-3’ - Tungak-Nalik ‘5’ < POC *pat(i)-lima ‘4-5’ or ‘part-hand, i.e. one hand (with five fingers)’, cf. Dryer (2013: 30) for Kara; Beaumont (1979: 145) for Tigak; Fast (2015: 29) for Tungak
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1.3. Beyond Tungak-Nalik - Kandas (southern New Ireland, St George linkage) with sequential pattern for ‘3’ to ‘9’ (9a), and cyclic for higher numbers words with ‘7’, e.g. ‘17’ and ‘70’ (9b, 10)
(9) Kandas (Davies 2009) a. ‘three’ u-tul < POC *rua-tolu ‘two-three’ ‘four’ lu-wat < POC *tolu-pat(i) ‘three-four’ ‘five’ ti-lim < POC *pat(i)-lima ‘four-five’ ‘six’ w-onom < POC *lima-onom ‘five-six’ ‘seven’ ma-wit < POC *onom-pitu ‘six-seven’ ‘eight’ ti-wal < POC *pitu-walu ‘seven-eight’ ‘nine’ li-su < POC *walu-siwa ‘eight-nine’
b. ‘17’ noino ma w-ono-ma-wit < POC *[…] lima-onom-onom-pitu ‘five-six-six-seven’ ‘70’ w-ono-ma-wit na noino < POC *lima-onom-onom-pitu […] ‘five-six-six-seven’
(10) Cyclic pattern in Kandas [w-ono]-[ma-wit] [five-six]six-[six-seven]seven ‘seven (in higher number words)’
- Nakanai, Meramera (New Britain, St George linkage), Nehan (northern Bougainville, St George linkage) (11): ‘9’ < POC *walu-siwa ‘8-9’
(11) ‘9’ Nakanai uala-siu (Johnston 1980: 183) Meramera iala-sue (Johnston 1980: 183) Nehan lu-sio (Todd 1978: 1195) POC *walu-siwa ‘8-9’
- Selau (northern Bougainville, St George linkage), Vaghua (Solomon Islands, St George linkage) (12): ‘8’ < *pitu-walu ‘7-8’
(12) ‘8’ Selau tu-al (Blust 2004) Vaghua (ka-)z-al (Gross 1995) POC *pitu-walu ‘seven-eight’
- Kuot (central New Ireland, non-Austronesian isolate) (13): ‘2’ based on ‘1’; ‘7’ based on ‘6’
(13) ‘one’ ‘two’ . . . ‘six’ ‘seven’ Kuot ar ar-as gun-amur g-amur-a (Lindström 2009: 1)
- Qaqet (New Britain, Baining, non-Austronesian): approximative ‘1, 2’ with singular or dual marker - Taulil (New Britain, Taulil-Butam, non-Austronesian): ‘3’ based on ‘2’
(14) ‘one’ ‘two’ ‘three’ Qaqet qunas-kɑ qunɑs-iɑm (depguas) (Hellwig 2019: 90) Taulil (təgəta) mukəm mukəm magərum (Meng 2018: 136)
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1.4. Conclusion - sequential number word formation in Meso-Melanesian languages of New Ireland, New Britain, Bougainville and Solomon Islands; also in some non-Austronesian languages of New Ireland and New Britain → areal feature - no clear pattern, which number words are sequentially formed - possible factors for devoloping sequential number words: - counting things aloud, lexicalising final segments of number word string, e.g. there are one- two-three-four pigs > three-four pigs ‘4 pigs’ - approximative number words (cf. Aikhenvald 2012: 353 for Amazonian): POC number words might have lost exact numeric value, e.g. POC *tolu ‘3’ > paucal marker ‘a few’; sequential formative could narrow down vague meaning to exact numeric value - successive number words influence each other: nasal mutation in Irish with ‘7’, ‘8, ‘9’ and ‘10’, although nasal ‘8’ not inherent from Proto Indo-European (Windisch 1879: 27)
2. Children’s secret language games 2.1. Origin of secret languages - two types of language in Melanesia (Aufinger 1942) - straight language (gerade Sprache): understood by everyone in the speech community - secret language: register only known to initiated people - figurative secret language (Bilder-Geheimsprache): normal words get new meaning - secret language proper: new words from foreign languages or newly constructed words - motivation: only initiated people understand privat group-internal speech, excluding: - other clans (Laycock 1977: 136), foreigners, certain gender, age group (Aufinger 1942: 630), animals, plants (Laycock 1977: 137), ghosts (Aufinger 1942: 630) - may be bound to certain area or activity as a special registers, e.g. pandanus languages in Highlands (Franklin 1972: 69-70) - schools as ground for creation and spread of secret languages among children: in-group identity, gossip (Sarvasy 2019: 21), exploring rhetoric possibilities (Storch 2017: 292)
2.2. Current situation in New Ireland - multilingual speakers: own local language, Tok Pisin, English, neighbouring languages - local languages in decline, especially on more developed east coast - language games common in New Ireland: learnt from friends and family members of same age, especially girl, some middle-aged women from Tiang, Kara and Mussau area probably as first- generation users (first use in New Ireland in 1990s for Tok Pisin at high school in Nalik area) - sex-based secret languages more commonly described for men, e.g. Tolai in New Britain (Volker 1989: 20), language groups near Madang (Aufinger 1942: 633) - language games played in Tok Pisin, sometimes English, some local languages: - played in Tungak, Tigak, Tiang, Kara, Lihir, Notsi, Madak, Patpatar - not played in Mussau, Nalik, Mandara, Kuot, Barok - three language games: breaking up all syllables of word by inserting [p ~ ɸ] (favourite of most students), [ŋk], or [l, ɡ] (least favourite, because too complicated) - outside New Ireland: almost identical game in Morobe Province for Tok Pisin and Nungon (Finisterre-Huon, non-Austronesian) with [b] insertion (“Long Pidgin”, “girls’ and boys’ language”) by speakers under the age of thirty (Sarvasy 2014: 58); similar games in East New Britain - other Austronesian: Tagalog (Blust 2013: 143), Malay, Indonesian (Blust 2013: 145) - almost identical games → mutual influence of various speech communities through schools: high schools in PNG often boarding school, children from different linguistic backgrounds; innovations spreads on school ground, then home villages and whole province
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2.3. Tiang - all three language games: insert
(15) a. nó=k pan amâ? (nók < nó ik) 2SG=IPFV go where ‘Where are you going?’
b. nópó ipik papan apa-mâpâ? (
- Tiang syllable structure: (C)V(C); C = consonant; V = vowel, diphthong, triphthong - diphthongs and triphthongs start or end with /i, u/ as on-glide and off-glide around syllable peak - insert infix before syllable peak; copy vowel of syllable peak, never on- and off-glides
(16) a. tuái ‘snake’ /tuɨi/ → tu ______ɨ i ↓ b. tu
- infixation not regular gramamtical process in Tiang, “[p]lay languages based on the insertion of an element into the base word are a world-wide common type” (Storch 2017: 292) - multisyllabic words: every original syllable becomes separate phonological word (17b) - helpful tool to see what a syllable is (17)
(17) syllable 1 syllable 2 a. pai ‘seed’ /pəi/ p <əp> ə i p<əp>əi b. taii ‘shell’ /tə.i/ t <əp> ə
- unstable syllables (18): off-glide diphthong/triphthong plus coda as one syllable (fast speech), or two syllables (careful speech)
(18) syllable 1 syllable 2 a. borois ‘to steal’ /...rɔis/ r <ɔp> ɔ is …r<ɔp>ɔis b. kakais ‘fresh water well’ /...kəis/ k <əp> ə
- phonetic vs. grammatical boundaries: phonetic realistation when affix (19a), underlying form when fusion of two grammatical words (19b)
(19) a. boian ‘food’ /bɔi-ən/ ‘to.eat-NOMINALISER’ > [bɔ.iən] b<ɔp>ɔ-i<əp>ən b. nók ‘2SG.IPFV’ /no̝ ik/ ‘2SG IPFV’ > [no̝k] n
2.4. Other New Ireland languages - same rules as in Tiang in Tigak (20), Kara (21), Madak (22), Patpatar (23)
(20) Tigak: Glossed after Beaumont (1979) kara inang lo kono → kapa-rapa ipi-napang lopo kopo-nopo 1PL.INC go in sand ‘Let’s go to the beach.’
(21) Kara: Glossed after Dryer (2013) laak maan → laapaak maapaan enter come ‘Come inside.’ 5
(22) Madak: Glossed after Lee (2005) l-asen taram nege? → lapa-sipin tapa-rapam nepe-gepe? NM-name POSS.2SG who ‘What is your name?’
(23) Patpatar: Glossed after Condra (1989) iau wara sisiu → iapau wapa-rapa sipi-sipiu 1SG PUR bathe ‘I want to wash.’
- divergent rules: Tungak inserts [p ~ ɸ] (24) (allophones of /p/); Lihir inserts only into last syllable (25); Lihir copies whole diphthong (26)
(24) Tungak: Glossed after Fast (2015) tara pasal ane nei akalit → taɸa-rapa paɸa-saɸal aɸa-neɸe neɸei 1PL.INC go toward in school aɸa-kaɸa-liɸit ‘Let’s go to school.’
(25) Lihir: Glossed after Neuhaus (2015) o=le wa ka tu e? → ol
(26) Notsi: Glossed after McCarthy (2000) u la=ita? → upu l
2.5. Tok Pisin - all three language games in Tok Pisin (27)
(27) a. yumi go nau 1PL.INC go now ‘Let’s go now.’
b. yupu-mipi gopo napau c. yunku-minki gonko nankau d. yulugu-miligi gologo nalagau
- Tok Pisin syllable structure: (S)(C)(L)V(C); S = sibilant /s/; L = /l, r, j, w/; V = vowel, diphthong - same rules as in other New Ireland languages: insert infix before syllable peak, copy vowel of syllable peak - no standard version of Tok Pisin, high degree of speaker variation (Verhaar 1995: 3) - initial consonant clusters of lexical items often with epenthetic vowel (28a, b) - grammatical items often deletion of unstressed vowels (28c)
(28) a. b(u)rus ‘tobacco’ → bupu-rupus b. s(i)to ‘shop’ → stopo c. b(i)long ‘of’ → blopong ~ bipi-lopong
- multilingual speakers apply rules differently depending on language: CVC syllables with off-glide diphthong/triphthong stable in Tok Pisin (29a), but unstable in Tiang (29b)
(29) syllable 1 syllable 2 a. taun ‘town’ /taun/ t
- Tungak children insert [ɸ] instead of [p] alson in Tok Pisin (30)
(30) yumi go long skul → yuɸu-miɸi goɸo loɸong skuɸul 1PL.INC go in school ‘Let’s go to school.’
2.6. English - same rules as above - initial consonant clusters stable in English, but unstable in Tok Pisin for same speaker
(31) let’s go to school → [lɛpɛts ɡɔpɔu tupu skupul]
(32) syllable 1 syllable 2 a. cry /krai/ kr
- Tungak children insert [ɸ ~ p] (33)
(33) let’s go to school → lepets goɸou tupu skuɸul
2.7. Conclusion - three language games in New Ireland played in local languages, Tok Pisin and English - mainly girls play games with friends, in contrast to other sex-based secret languages in PNG more commonly described for adult men - schools accommodate children from all parts of province, innovations spread easily across the whole province and even beyond - segmental manipulation of words by infixation of consonants and vowel copying, “play languages help us to analyse phonological and morphological rules of individual base languages, which are often paradigmatically manipulated in language games and thereby made more transparent in their regularity” (Storch 2017: 299); provide evidence for syllable structure - multilingualism in New Ireland: “Another achievement of the descriptive and typological research on play languages lies in the contribution to insights into language acquisition and multilingual practices” (Storch 2017: 300); multilingual children treat same string of segments differently depending on language - language game in local language is indicator of language vitality; children from Nalik (Volker 1994: 31) and Kuot (Lindström 2002: 81) do not learn local language → play only in Tok Pisin or English - questions - Lihir (25) and Notsi (26) children play differently: because of language-specific game rules, a different mental representation of segments, or game rules not yet fully acquired? - games where else in PNG? - similar rules, mutual influece? - where do they come from? “It is possible that the Highlands fad spread across the Markham River valley to the Nungon area via Tok Pisin-speaking teachers at the Nungon area primary school or other outside connections. If this were the case, this would be evidence of the ability for a linguistic trend to spread across political, geological, and linguistic boundaries in eastern Papua New Guinea” (Sarvasy 2019: 28)
Abbreviations INC inclusive PM predicate marker POC Proto Oceanic IPFV imperfective POSS possessive NM noun marker PUR purpose marker PL plural SG singular
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