Dupaningan Agta
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DUPANINGAN AGTA: GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY, AND TEXTS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS MAY 2008 By Laura C. Robinson Dissertation Committee: Robert A. Blust, Chairperson Michael L. Forman Yuko Otsuka Kenneth L. Rehg Nicholas A. Thieberger Aurelio S. Agcaoili © Copyright 2008 by Laura C. Robinson iii Dedicated to Ronald “Ukong” Agcaoili, for sharing his language with me iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank all the Dupaningan Agta people who shared their language with me, without whom this work would not have been possible. I am especially grateful to Mr. Ronald “Ukong” Agcaoili, who shared not only his language, but also his friendship. Thank you. My gratitude also extends to Manet Agcaoili, Gilliam “Ballek” Cabaldo, Idring “Garwet” Malingling, Lebi and Amboy Agcaoili, Nardeng “Burog” Doniego, Michael and Anit Andres, Maribel and Luby Agcaoili, Balsig Baclig, and all the Agta of Santa Ana. My sincere gratitude also goes out to those who have helped me in my academic career. I wish to thank Robert Blust, for his support and encouragement over the years; Ken Rehg, for sharing his knowledge of phonology and language documentation; Yuko Otsuka, for asking difficult questions; Mike Forman, for asking interesting questions; Nick Thieberger, for his friendship; and Aurelio Agcaoili, for his willingness to jump on board at the last minute. I also wish to express my gratitude to Bion Griffin, for sharing his experiences with the Dupaningan Agta, and to Lawrence Reid, for leading me to discover the world of Philippine Negrito languages. And to everyone else who helped me along the way, thank you. v ABSTRACT Dupaningan Agta is an Austronesian language of the Philippine subgroup which is spoken in northeastern Luzon, Philippines by approximately 1,400 semi-nomadic hunter- gatherers belonging to the Negrito ethnic minority. The language is endangered, as it is beginning to lose child speakers. This dissertation introduces the language situation and discusses phonology (synchronic and historical) and morphosyntax (word order, word classes, the verb complex, aspect, case marking, nominalization, question formation, relative clauses and other essential aspects of Dupaningan grammar). Dupaningan Agta has a relatively simple phonological system, with fifteen consonants and five vowels. Of note, *a has been fronted to /i/ or /e/ after the voiced stops /b d g/. Morphosyntactically, the language has a typical Philippine-type “symmetrical voice” or “focus” system. The voice system of Dupaningan Agta is explored, with special reference to an interesting “double-object” construction with two syntactic subjects. Finally, this dissertation includes a substantial vocabulary and selection of texts. The audio versions of these texts are available as .wav files associated with this dissertation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................... xiv GLOSSING CONVENTIONS....................................................................................... xv 1 Background................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Language location and situation ......................................................................... 1 1.2 Physical environment.......................................................................................... 4 1.3 Dialects ............................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Language name ................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Place in family tree ............................................................................................. 8 1.6 Dupaningan culture........................................................................................... 11 1.7 Language endangerment ................................................................................... 14 1.8 Borrowing ......................................................................................................... 15 1.9 Conceptions of language................................................................................... 17 1.10 Austronesian/Negrito origins............................................................................ 19 1.11 Previous work on Dupaningan.......................................................................... 25 1.12 Methodology..................................................................................................... 26 1.13 What’s in this dissertation................................................................................. 28 1.14 Framework ........................................................................................................ 29 2 Phonology ................................................................................................................. 41 2.1 Historical phonology......................................................................................... 41 2.1.1 Sound changes.......................................................................................... 41 2.1.1.1 *z > d .................................................................................................... 41 2.1.1.2 *R > g.................................................................................................... 41 2.1.1.3 *j ........................................................................................................... 42 2.1.1.4 *q > ø .................................................................................................... 43 2.1.1.5 *h > ø .................................................................................................... 43 2.1.1.6 Low vowel fronting............................................................................... 44 2.1.1.7 t/s metathesis......................................................................................... 45 2.1.1.8 *s > h..................................................................................................... 46 2.1.1.9 Gemination............................................................................................ 47 2.1.1.10 *´ > O ................................................................................................ 47 2.1.1.11 *´ > a................................................................................................. 48 2.1.1.12 Synchronic or diachronic?................................................................ 48 2.1.1.12.1 Nasal substitution.......................................................................... 48 2.1.1.12.2 Geminate morphophonemics ........................................................ 50 2.1.2 Dupaningan and Northeastern Luzon ....................................................... 55 2.1.3 Northeastern Luzon and Northern Cordilleran ......................................... 57 2.2 Synchronic Phonology...................................................................................... 58 2.2.1 Consonants................................................................................................ 58 2.2.1.1 Minimal pairs........................................................................................ 59 2.2.1.2 Geminates ............................................................................................. 60 vii 2.2.1.3 Liquids .................................................................................................. 61 2.2.1.4 Glottal stop............................................................................................ 61 2.2.1.5 r ............................................................................................................. 62 2.2.1.6 Glottal fricative h .................................................................................. 63 2.2.1.7 Alveolar versus velar voiced stops ....................................................... 64 2.2.1.8 Velar Nasal............................................................................................64 2.2.1.9 Affrication............................................................................................. 64 2.2.2 Vowels ...................................................................................................... 66 2.2.2.1 Minimal pairs........................................................................................ 66 2.2.2.2 Alternations between [a] and [´]........................................................... 67 2.2.2.3 Mid front vowels [e] and [ɛ] ................................................................. 67 2.2.2.4 Mid/high vowel alternations................................................................. 68 2.2.2.5 Stress & vowel length ........................................................................... 71 2.2.3 Syllable structure...................................................................................... 72 2.2.4 Word structure.........................................................................................