Recent Advances in Linguistics
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LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 11 : 12 December 2011 ISSN 1930-2940 Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D. G. Baskaran, Ph.D. L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. Recent Advances in Linguistics A Silver Jubilee Publication Chief Editors C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D. Professor and Head Department of Linguistics Bharathiar University [email protected] V. Thayalan, Ph.D. Professor of Linguistics Bharathiar University Language in India www.languageinindia.com 11 : 12 December 2011 C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D. et al. Editors Recent Advances in Linguistics, A Silver Jubilee Publication Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Editors S. Sivakumar, Ph.D. T. Muthukrishnan, Ph.D. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 11 : 12 December 2011 C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D. et al. Editors Recent Advances in Linguistics, A Silver Jubilee Publication Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Affirmative – Negative Expressions in Modern Tamil A Study on Language Structure and Language Use K. Karunakaran Faculty of Languages & Linguistics, University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Introduction Language structure displays different types of expressions (structural) in the use of language in various socio cultural contexts and situations. Affirmative – negative, question – answer, imperative, opposite words (antonyms), acceptance – rejection/ refusal, liking – disliking, exclamation, emphasis and so on are some of the expressions which are not only basic and common but also frequent and significant in the day – to- day communication. These expressions are found not only in the lexical level, but also in the morphological and syntactic levels of the language. Also these expressions are used in varying degrees both in the formal and informal domains of language use. This paper tries to focus on the structure and use of affirmative negative forms/expressions found in the modern Tamil with suitable illustrations and conditions of occurrences. As affirmative – negative distinction is quite prevalent and explicit in the day –to –day use of language (spoken or written), special emphasis becomes a must in language – learning- teaching process. This becomes quite obligatory in the teaching – learning of a second language or foreign language. For example, the following examples bring out the affirmative – negative dichotomy in Tamil and English, at a glance. Tamil English un. t.u X illai (it) is X (it) is not a:m/a:ma:m X illai yes X no periya X ciriya Big X small pitikkum. X pit.ikka:tu like X don’t like 1 Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Dept. of Linguistics, Bharathiar University vantu X vara:mal having come X without coming pa t.itta:l X patikka:vitt . .a:l If (one) reads X if (one ) doesn’t reads po:ñka l.X po:ka:ti:rka l. you go X you don’t go pa:rtta X pa:rkka:ta (one) who saw X (one) who didn’t see vanta polutu X vara:ta polutu when (one) came X when (one) didn’t come etc. The affirmative – negative distinction is found both in the morphological structure as well as in the phrase/syntactic structure of Tamil, in addition to the lexical level. Lexical level: usages Negative words: there are two negative words which occur as free forms having allomorphs. i) alla ‘no/not’ and ii) illai ‘no/not’ Occurrences 1) alla ‘no/not’ alla:- ‘no/not’ atu eñkal vi:tu alla‘ /al – . that is not our house’ alla:mal (unnai alla:mal) avar tamil a:ciriyar alla alla:tu (unnai alla:tu) ‘he (hon.) is not Tamil teacher’ alla:vi tt. .a:l (appa t.i alla:vi tt. .a:l) appa .ti alla ‘ it is not so’ anri ( anri unaiyanri) 2) illai ‘ no/not’ illa:- ‘ no/not’ illa:- (allomorphs) illai ‘no’ il avar u:ril illai illa:mal / illa:tu ‘he (hon.) is not in town’ illa:vi tt..a:l atu eñka .l vi: t.u illai illa:ta , illa:mal ‘it is not our home, illa:n illai enra:l ‘ if not…..’ inmai inri illa:tavarka l. illa:mal 2 Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Recent Advances in Linguistics The negative base forms behave as verbs, in the sense they take verbal suffixes like participles, gender- number suffixes etc., other than the tense suffixes. eg, alla:tu /alla:mal ‘without’ alla:vi.tt .a:l ‘if not’ allan ‘not (he)’ illa:mal ‘without’ illa:vi.tt .a:l ‘if not’ illa:ta a:l. ‘ a person not having……., The negative verb bases have allomorphs such as il-, illai, illa:t-, illa:- , and al- , alla , alla:t- , alla:- , etc., As al-, and il- are negative bases, there is no need to make them negatives by adding negative suffixes - a:t- and - a:- as done in the case of regular verb bases. eg. o:.tu - a: - mal >o:ta:mal. ‘without running’ o:t.u – a:t - e: >o:t.a:te: ‘don’t run – you’ (sg.) o:þu – a: - vitt. .a:l >o:t.a:vitt. .a:l ‘if (one) doesn’t run’ etc., Negative suffixes i) –a:- , ii) -a:t- & iii) - ma:tt. .- Conditions of occurrence i) –a: - occurs before consonants. cey-a: -mal > ceyya:mal ‘without doing’ ii) –a:t- occurs before vowels. na.ta -kk -a:t-a > nat.akka:ta ‘that which did not walk’ o:.tu - a:t - e: > o:t.a:te: ‘ don’t run-you’ (sg.) iii) –ma:tt. – occurs before PGN suffixes. vara- ma:.tt . - a:n > varama:.tt .a:n ‘he will not come’ 3 Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Dept. of Linguistics, Bharathiar University Use of opposite (antonyms) words 1) Q: ilañ .ko: unnu t.aiya tampiya ? ‘ Is Elango your little brother?’ A: i) a:ma:m . i lañ.ko: ennu t.aiya tampi ‘ Yes, Elango is my little brother’ ii) illai , ila .ñko: ennut aiya. tampi alla or illai , i l.añko: ennu t.aiya tampi illai. ‘No, Elango is not my little brother’ 2) Q : atu marama:? ‘Is it a tree?’ A : i) a:ma:m , atu maram ‘Yes, it is a tree’ ii) illai , atu maram alla / illai ‘No, it is not a tree’ Here, alla and illai occur in free variation. 3) Q: ni:ñka .l añke: po:vatu unt . .a: ? ‘Do you (hon.sg.) used to go there?’ A: i) a:ma:m , na:n añke: po:vatu u ntu. ‘Yes, I used to go there’ ii) illai , na:n añke: po:vatu illai ‘No, I do not used to go there’ In this kind of sentences alla and illai are not in free variation with one another. That is, after the verbal noun form only illai occurs. 4) Q: ennutaiya . putinam uñkal . i .tam irukkirata:? ‘Do you have my novel book?’ A: i) a:ma:m uñka .lu .taiya putinam enni t.am irukkiratu ‘Yes, your novel is with me’ ii) illai , unka lut. .aiya putinam enni tam. illai ‘No, your novel is not with me’ (irikiratu ’! irukkiratu + illai > illai ( FV is deleted) In the above illustration (4) also illai doesn’t occur in free variation (as it replaces irukkiratu + illai). Occurrence of negation in noun phrase sentences Ý S NP1 + NP2 : avar a:ciriyar ‘ he is a teacher’ (Affirmative) NP1 + NP2 + alla / illai (Negative) : avar a:ciriyar alla / illai ‘he (hon,) is not a teacher’ 4 Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C. Sivashanmugam, Ph.D., et al. Recent Advances in Linguistics Occurrence of negation in verb phrase sentences S Ý NP + VP (Aff.) : na:n tinamum añke: o: t.uvatu u nt. .u ‘ I used to run there every day’ (Neg.) : na:n tinamum añke: o t.uvatu illai ‘ I do not used to run there every day’ (Aff.) : uñka .lut .aiya puttakam araiyil irukkiratu ‘your book is in the room’ (Neg.) : uñka .lu taiya. puttakam araiyil illai ‘Your book is not in the room’ Occurrence in Imperative sentences Affirmative Negative ni: o: .tu ‘ You (sg.) run’ ni: o: t.a:te: ‘You (sg.) don’t run’ ni:ñka .l o: t.uñka l. ‘You (pl.) run’ ni:ñka l. o: .ta:tirka .l ‘You (pl.) don’t run’ Negative Imperative form = [Verb Base + Neg. Suf. + Imp. Suf. ] Neg Suf Ý -a:t- , Imp. Suf. Ý -e & - i:rka l. Affirmative – Negative expressions in impersonal verb sentences Affirmative Negative 1 ve: nt. .um ‘want’ 1. ve: nt. .a:m ‘don’t want’ 2. teriyum ‘know’ 2. teriya:tu ‘don’t know’ 3. po:tum ‘(is) enough’ 3. po:ta:tu ‘(is ) not enough’ 4. pi t.ikkum ‘like 4. pi t.ikka:tu ‘doesn’t like’ 5. mu t.iyum ‘can’ 5. mu .tiya:tu ‘cannot’ 6. puriyum ‘ understand’ 6. puriya:tu ‘do not understand’ There are no person – gender – number endings in the above impersonal forms (which are finite). When these forms occur in the verb predicate, they have dative subjects as follows: eg. ve: nt. .um / ve:nt . .a:m ‘want / don’t want’ 1. enakkup puttakam ve: nt. .um ‘ I want a book’ 5 Language in India 11:12 December 2011 Recent Advances in Linguistics C.