PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Se�ie� B - No. 58 THE TIGAK LANGUAGE OF NEW IRELAND by Clive H. Beaumont Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Beaumont, C.H. The Tigak language of New Ireland. B-58, xii + 174 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1979. DOI:10.15144/PL-B58.cover ©1979 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the L�ngu����e C��ele 06 Canbe��a and consists of four series: SERIES A - OCCASIONAL PAPERS SERIES B - MONOGRAPHS SERIES C - BOOKS SERIES V - SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS EDITOR: S.A. Wurm. ASSOCIATE EDITORS: D.C. Laycock, C.L. Voorhoeve, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton. EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B. Bender, University of Hawaii J. Lynch, University of Papua D. Bradley, Australian National New Guinea University K.A. MCElhanon, University of A. Capell, University of Sydney Texas S. Elbert, University of Hawaii H. MCKaughan, University of Hawaii K. Franklin, Summer Institute of P. Mtihlhausler, Technische Linguistics Universitat Berlin W.W. Glover, Summer Institute of G.N. O'Grady, University of Linguistics Victoria, B.C. G. Grace, University of Hawaii A.K. Pawley, University of Hawaii M.A.K. Halliday, University of K. Pike, University of Michigan; Sydney Summer Institute of Linguistics A. Healey, Summer Institute of E.C. Polome, UniverSity of Texas Linguistics G. Sankoff, Universite de Montreal L. Hercus, Australian National E. Uhlenbeck, University of Leiden University J.W.M. Verhaar, University of N.D. Liem, University of Hawaii Indonesia, Jakarta ALL CORRESPONDENCE concerning PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: The Secretary , PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, Department of Linguistics, School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University , Canberra , A.C.T. 2600. Australia. Copyright (§) C.H. Beaumont. First published 1979. The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for help in the production of this series. This publication was made possible by an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund. National Library of Australia Card Number and ISBN 2 0 85883 187 PREFACE It is my hope that this description of the Tigak language wi ll make one of the languages of New Ireland better known and stimulate linguis­ tic work on others . May it also be an encouragement to the people of New Ireland and Papua New Guinea to see another of their languages described. I shall be very pleased if this work is useful to them in some way . Th is monograph is a revision of my doctoral thesis which was sub­ mitted to the Australian National University in January of 197 4 . Appendix 2 of the thesis has already been published in Te Reo 17-8 (Beaumont 197 4 -7 5) and this has been omitted , although some of this material has been included in an addition to Chapter 2. The other main changes are an expanded section on pronouns (6.4.) and an additional text . My wife and I began our study of the Tigak language in February 1969, following an invitation from the United Church . Our Lord Jesus Christ led us into this work and what has been done could not have been achieved without His help . For His steadfast love we praise Him. From late in 1970 until early in 197 4 my work was supported by the Australian National University through a research scholarship and gen­ erous fieldwork grants for which I would like to express my thanks. I would also like to thank Christian friends and relatives in Australia and New Zealand who helped support our work especially in the initial eighteen months . For my introduction to general linguistics I am indebted to the staff of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) courses in Auckland and Brisbane , especially Dr . Karl Franklin. Dr . David Lithgow and the late Mr. Oren Claassen who made a survey for SIL of the New Ireland languages in 1966 were responsible for initiating my interest in this iii iv area. I am grateful for the use of their unpublished wordlists as well as their published report . At the Australian National University my supervisors were Dr . T.E. Dutton, Dr . C.L. Voorhoeve and Professor S.A. Wurm . I would like to thank Dr . Dutton and Dr . Voorhoeve for their comments on drafts of this thesis and Professor Wurm for his general encouragement and assistance with practical arrangement s. I have greatly appreciated the faithful devotion and help of my wife , Daisy, especially during fieldwork and in the typing of various drafts, including the final photo-ready copy of the thesis. I wish to extend special thanks to Mr . William Watlugan who has been my principal informant and valued friend . Thanks are also due to Mr . Henry Tanu , Mr . Gabriel Gamsa and boys of Utu High School for their help in building our house , and to the children and staff of the United Church Primary School at Liga for their friendship and practical assistance . I would also like to acknowledge the hospitality and assistance of various members of the United Church in the New Guinea Islands . Members of the Catholic Mission have also been helpful and have p�ovided access to unpublished work on other New Ireland languages. I am grateful to Dr . Andrew Taylor for permission to use the English of 150 examples from his unpublished thesis (1970) on Motu in testing for complex constructions in Tigak . I would also like to thank Miss Mary Rose for computer programming assistance and the Department of Human Geography at the Australian National University for the preparation of the maps . Finally I would like to express my thanks to all others who have encouraged or assisted us in various ways in New Ireland , Canberra and from afar . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preface iii Map 1 - The New Ireland - Tolai Group of Languages xi Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 1. 0. General Setting 1 1.1. Previous Tigak Materials 2 1. 2. Aim 2 1. 3. Presentation 2 1. 4. Theoretical Orientation 3 1.4.1. General 3 1. 4. 2. Establishment of Tagmemes and Syntagmemes 5 1. 4. 3. Unitary Notation 6 1. 4. 4. Layering 7 1. 4. 5. Levels and Level Skipping 7 1. 4. 6. Transformational Rules 8 1. 5. Conventions 8 1.5.1. Formulae 8 1. 5. 2. Feature Symbolisation 9 1. 5. 3. Examples 9 1. 6. Abbreviations 9 Chapter 2 - PHONOLOGY 13 2.0. Introduction 13 2.1. Segmental Phonemes 13 2.1.1. Chart of Phonemes 1 4 2.1.2. Distribution of Allophones 1 4 2.1.3. Distribution of Phonemes 15 v vi Page 2.1.4. Contrasts 15 2.1. 5. Complex Nuclei 16 2.2. Suprasegmental Features 18 2.2.1. Stress 18 2.2.2. Intonation 18 2.2.3 . Pause 19 2.3. Syllables 19 2.4. External Influence 19 2.5. Morphophonemics 20 2.6. Orthography 20 2.7. History of the Tigak Phonemes 21 Chapter 3 - SENTENCE LEVEL 25 3.0 . Introduction 25 3.1. Independent Sentences 25 3.2. Simple Sentences 26 3.3. Conditional Sentences 27 3.3.1 . More Complex Conditional Sentences 28 3.4. Causal Sentences 28 3.5. Quotative Sentences 29 3.6. Compound Sentences 31 3.7. Sentence Periphery 32 3.7.1. Introducer 32 3.7.2. Conjunctions 33 3.7 .3. Vocative 33 3.7.4. Exclamation 3 4 3.7.5 . Salutations 34 3.7.6. Responses 34 3.8. Defective Sentences 34 3.9 . Modification for Yes-No Questions 3 5 Chapter 4 - Clause Level 37 Introduction 4. 0. 37 4.1. Clause Bases 38 4.1.1. Clause Base 1 - Transitive 39 4.1 . 2. Clause Base 2 - Intransitive 39 4.1 . 3. Clause Base 3 - Genitive 40 4.1. 4. - Clause Base 4 Stative 41 4.1. 5. Clause Base Periphery 42 4.1.5.1. Instrument 4 2 4.1.5.2. Indirect Object 4 3 vii Page 4.1.5.3. Referential 4 3 4.1.5.4. Locative 4 3 4.1.5.5. Time 44 4.1.5.6. Comitative 45 4.1.5.7. Manner 45 4.2. Independent Clauses 45 4.2.1. Information Questions 4 6 4.2.2. Phrase-Replacing Question Markers - q 46 l 4.2.3. Adjective-Replacing Question Markers - q 48 2 4.2.4. Clause-Replacing Question Markers - q 3 4 9 4.2.5. Imperatives 4 9 4.3. Relative Clauses 50 4.4. Conditional Clauses 53 4.5. Reason Clauses 53 4.6. Purpose Clauses 54 4.7. Time Clauses 54 4.8. Manner Clauses 55 Chapter 5 - PHRASE LEVEL 57 5.0. Introduction 57 5.1. Noun Phrases 57 5.1.1. Proper Noun Phrases (PNP, NP ) 58 1 5.1. 2. Kinship Noun Phrases (KNP, NP ) 59 2 5.1. 3. Common Noun Phrases (CNP, NP 3) 60 5.1. 3.1. Possessor 61 5.1. 4. Independent Pronoun Phrases (IPP, NP ) 63 4 5.2. Tagmemes within NP 63 5.2.1. Article Phrases 6 4 5.2.2. Adjectival Phrases 65 5.2.3. Appositional NP 66 5.3. Relator-Axis Phrases 66 5.3.1. Genitive Phrases 67 5.3.2. Dative Phrases 68 5.3.3. Referential Phrases 68 5.3.4. Instrument Phrases 69 5.3.5. Locative Phrases 69 5.3.6. Time Phrases 70 5.3.7. Comitative Phrases 70 5.3.8. Manner Phrases 71 5.4. Verb Phrases 71 5.4.1. Subject Pronouns 73 5.4.2. Object Suffixes 7 4 viii Page 5.4.3.