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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NALIK GRAMMAR (NEW IRELAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA) A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HA WAIT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS MAY 1994 By Craig Alan Volker Dissertation Committee: Michael Forman, Chairperson Robert Blust George Grace William O'Grady Geoffrey White Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. We certify that we have read this dissertation and that, in our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE Chairperson Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission c Copyright 1994 by Craig Alan Volker Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv Kun a Pelis Mazakmat ma Violet Hoehnke, u roxis i liaa di dodor ratangiza pan a rangaan a yaai tapal, di i naxaam maalova akula la burburaai na vaaraalaing ka matmuri daxo mase. For a Pelis Mazakmat and Violet Hoehnke, nightingales of paradise, and their song on the tree of eternity, a duet praising the seat of sanctity, a duet of resplendent beauty. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v Acknowledgments Without the cooperation and guidance of many people scattered across the Pacific, I would not have been able to complete this analysis of the Nalik language. Foremost among these are the many New Ireland wantoks who provided assistance in so many ways — from picking me up at airports in the middle of the night to patiently answering a myriad of seemingly endless questions. It has, indeed, been an honor for my family and me to become a part of the Madina community, a community which so richly confirms the fact 'that respect for the dignity of the individual and community interdependence are basic principles of our society' (Papua New Guinea Constitution: 1). Special mention must be made of several individuals and institutions in New Ireland who went especially out of their way to aid this study. Foremost among these is the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bah&'fs of Madina, whose insights and guidance proved to be invaluable, and several of whose members, in particular Kelep Taplawui, Eltie Kunak, Capenias Lundeng, and Lucy Williams, spent untold hours answering questions and transcribing texts. The staffs of Madina Community School and Madina High School, in particular Anita and Eustace Wekina, were more than generous in providing many small favors which made life in a new home comfortable. The clan orators and leaders ( maimai) of the Nalik area, in particular Maimai a Xomerang, Maimai Tamun, and Maimai Sinaila, and their families, must be thanked for their inspiring enthusiasm for this project and for the many hours of their valuable time which they made available. The assistance, hospitality, and advice given by Mr. and Mrs. Wally are also greatly appreciated. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Perry and Virginia Schlie and the library staff of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Papua New Guinea, Dr. Malcolm Ross of the Australian National University, Dr. Clive Beaumont of the Pacific Islanders Educational Centre in Auckland, and Noel and Margaret Bluett now of Cairns were also more than kind in sharing their wealth of knowledge about New Ireland and its languages. The staff of the Vunapope Catholic Mission were most helpful in helping me locate the earliest known documents in Nalik which are in their archives as were the Compilation Branch staff of the Papua New Guinean National Statistical Office in providing early computer printouts of the 1990 National Population Census. Maps of New Ireland were prepared by Dan Hermon of Honolulu. Early reports about grammatical variation in Nalik were given at the First International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics held in Vila, Vanuatu in June 1993 and at meetings of the Austronesian Circle of Honolulu in 1990 and 1993. The comments of colleagues at these meetings were insightful. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee at the University of Hawai'i for their ready availability in times of difficulty, their dedication to a high professional standard, and their unity of purpose. I count myself fortunate to have been associated with them. Extended field work in New Ireland was made possible by the financial support of the National Science Foundation (through NSF Grant no. BNS-8819825) and the East-West Center. A grant for technical assistance was made by the Gifu University for Education and Languages, Japan. The financial support of these three institutions is gratefully acknowledged. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, the New Ireland Provincial Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Government, and the New Ireland University Centre in facilitating administrative matters concerning my field work. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract Nalik is an Austronesian language of central New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. It is spoken by approximately 4,000 persons, all of whom are also fluent in Tok Pisin. This dissertation describes the most salient features of Nalik morphology and syntax. An important characteristic of contemporary Nalik grammar is the variation between constructions used by members of different social groups. Nalik shows morphological differences between transitive and intransitive verbs, the latter including the copula and adjectival verbs. The head of a verb may be preceded by a subject marker, aspect and tense markers, a reciprocal marker, and a habitual marker. The head may be followed by suffixes marking number, transitivity, focus or completion. Noun phrases are headed by a noun or a pronoun. A noun may be preceded by an article, or nonsingular marker. It may be followed by a modifying noun phrase, incorporated adjectival verbs, demonstratives, or possessives. Nalik forms prepositional phrases with five prepositions, which may be preceded by a durative marker. Nalik also has adverbs and conjunctions. Unmarked word order in a simple sentence is subject - verb - direct object, although fronting and clefting occur. Prepositions are often stranded when a head is fronted. In some common constructions elements which normally head arcs terminating in a clause head arcs which terminate in a phrase. These include direct objects which are incorporated into the verb complex, serial and causative verbs Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. constructions, and the use of adjectival verbs to modify a noun. Nouns or verbs which are not clause dependent in these constructions are not preceded by an article or subject marker. Passivization advances direct objects to subjects and requires a participial verb form. Both indirect objects and obliques can advance to direct objects. There is considerable variation between the syntactic constructions used by various speakers of Nalik. Generally, the more innovating speakers are male, younger rather than