Some formal characteristics of parallel speech in Kambera Leif Asplund Department of Linguistics Independent Project for the Degree of Master (one year) Degree 15 HE credits General Linguistics Spring term 2017 Supervisor: Bernhard Wälchli Examiner: Bernhard Wälchli Exper reviewer: Francesca Di Garbo Some formal characteristics of parallel speech in Kambera Leif Asplund Sammanfattning I alla språk på den östindonesiska ön Sumba används parallellt tal i rituella sammanhang. I denna studie undersöks några egenskaper av parallellt tal i Kambera. I analysen av kupletters (enheter för parallellt tal) strukturtyper används alla kupletter som finns i Kapita (1987) och en del annat material, även från andra sumbanesiska språk. I resten av undersökningen används endast ett urval av 100 kupletter, här löst definierade som parallella talenheter, i Kapita (1987) av den vanligaste typen, och undersökningen är begränsad till formella (icke-semantiska) drag som förbinder de två raderna. De drag som undersökts är antalet stavelser, ord och betoningar och syntaktisk struktur. I diskussionsdelen diskuteras bl a om existensen av icke-parallella rader som inkorporerar parallella par bör erkännas. Slutsatserna summerar resultaten om de olika typerna av kupletter och den formella kopplingen mellan de två raderna i dem. Nyckelord Kambera, ordpar, parallelism, rituellt språk, Sumba Abstract In all languages of the eastern Indonesian island of Sumba, parallel speech is used in ritual contexts. In this study, some characteristics of parallel speech in Kambera are investigated. In the analysis of the structural types of couplets, the units of parallel speech, all the couplets found in Kapita (1987), and some additional materials, even from other Sumbanese languages, are used. In the rest of the investigation, only a sample of 100 couplets, here loosely defined as parallel speech units, in Kapita (1987) of the most common type is used, and the investigation is limited to formal (non-semantic) features which connect the two lines. The features investigated are number of syllables, words, and stresses and syntactic structure. In the discussion part, the question if the existence of non-parallel lines incorporating parallel pairs should be recognized and other questions are discussed. The conclusion summarizes the results about the different varieties of couplets and the formal connection between the two lines in them. Keywords Kambera, parallelism, ritual speech, Sumba, word pairs Contents Abbreviations .......................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 1 2 Background ..................................................................................... 2 2.1 Kambera and the languages of Sumba .................................................................................... 2 2.2 Parallel speech ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.2.1 Definitions and terminology ............................................................................................ 3 2.2.2 Stress patterns in Kambera .............................................................................................. 5 2.2.3 Parallelism in Indonesia and worldwide .......................................................................... 5 2.2.4 Earlier research on parallel speech on Sumba ................................................................. 5 2.2.5 Context and function of parallel speech on Sumba ......................................................... 6 2.2.6 Characteristics of Sumbanese parallel speech ................................................................. 6 3 Aims and research questions .......................................................... 8 4. Method and data ............................................................................. 9 4.1 Method and procedure of investigation ................................................................................... 9 4.2 Materials .................................................................................................................................. 9 4.2.1 Materials used .................................................................................................................. 9 4.2.2 Transcription, morphological analysis, glossing and translation ................................... 10 4.2.3 Sample limitations ......................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Ethical issues ......................................................................................................................... 10 5 Results and analysis ..................................................................... 11 5.1 The structure of parallel speech ............................................................................................. 11 5.1.1 The combination of parallel lines .................................................................................. 11 5.1.2 Order between parallel lines .......................................................................................... 20 5.2 Non-semantic relations between parallel lines ...................................................................... 21 5.2.1. Non-semantic differences between parallel lines .......................................................... 21 5.2.2 Number of syllables in parallel lines ............................................................................. 22 5.2.3 Factors relevant and irrelevant for equality of quantity between parallel lines ............ 23 5.2.4 Functional morphemes found in only one of the parallel lines ..................................... 25 5.2.5 Repeated words and words in parallel pairs .................................................................. 25 6 Discussion ..................................................................................... 27 6.1 Discussion of method ............................................................................................................ 27 6.2 General discussion ................................................................................................................. 27 6.4 Some characteristics of parallel speech which have not been researched in this study ........ 28 7 Conclusions ........................................................................................ 29 7.1 Answers to the research questions ......................................................................................... 29 7.2 Suggestions for further research ............................................................................................ 29 References ............................................................................................ 31 Appendices ............................................................................................ 33 Appendix A: Grammatical morphemes in Kambera. ........................................................................ 34 Appendix B: The sample of couplets ................................................................................................ 35 Appendix C: Number of syllables and stresses ................................................................................. 48 C.I. Number of syllables ................................................................................................................ 48 C.II. Number of primary and secondary stresses, counted according to the description in Klamer (1998). ........................................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix D: The functional morphemes and repeated terms found in the couplets in Appendix B 50 D.I. Non-content/functional morphemes ....................................................................................... 50 D.II. Content words, repeated terms .............................................................................................. 50 Abbreviations 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person ACC accusative ART article (Kambera, SG: na, PL da) CLF classifier CTR marker of controlled complement clause (Kambera pa=) DAT dative DEM demonstrative EXCL exclusive GEN genitive HORT hortative INCL inclusive IRR irrealis k_o kind of LOC locative preposition (Kambera la, lai) NA proper name NEG negation (Kambera nda) NG The suffix -ng (functions in Kambera: applicative, aspectual (continuous, imperfective, distributive or non-delimited), verb incorporation marker, stylistic filler (Klamer 1998: 234)) NOM nominative PA the prefix pa- (functions in Kambera: causative/factitive and intensive/volational (Klamer 1998: 197) (to be distinguished from CTR and REL.OBJ) PL plural PFV perfective aspect marker (Kambera =ka) PRM permissive SG singular REL.OBJ object relative clause marker (Kambera pa=) REL.SBJ subject relative clause marker (Kambera ma=) Ø no morpheme _ connector between words in glossing when one gloss consists of more than one word . affix boundary, but the two connected morphemes are glossed as one unit - affix boundary = clitic boundary (only clitics which are both prosodic and syntactic are marked with =) ͡ connects two words which are glossed together > stands before an explanation of a couplet 1 Introduction The present study is about the formal characteristics of the couplets of the parallel speech which is used in ritual