Introduction to Tagmemic Analysis Introduction to Tagmemic Analysis Walter A. Cook, S.J. Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C. 20057 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cook, Walter Anthony, 1922- Introduction to tagmemic analysis. Originally published in 1969. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Tagmemics. I. Title. P160.C6 1978 415 78-1268 ISBN 0-87840-171-7 Copyright © 1969 by Georgetown University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America International Standard Book Number: 0-87840-171-7 Preface Introduction to Tagmemic Analysis is an application of the methods of linguistic science to practical language problems at the level of grammar. It presupposes a general introduction to the science of linguistics and a knowledge of phonetics and phonemics. This introduction deals with inductive methods for analyzing real languages beginning with explicit sets of data. In the application of these methods, the beginner is encouraged to use his knowledge of traditional grammar, within the limita- tions imposed by a strictly formal approach to analysis. The tagmemic system is used as the formal method for pre- senting the results of this inductive analysis. It is maximally taxonomic; every function and form is given a name. This system seems best suited for students beginning language analysis and for more advanced students who are analyzing an unknown language for the first time. At a later stage, more sophisticated methods for presenting the results of analysis might be at- tempted, Tagmemic analysis cuts across the boundary between mor- phology and syntax, and presents the structures of grammar by a single method. In the present work, after an introduction deal- ing with method, models, and practice, the system is presented in Chapter 1, Tagmemic Analysis. Structures at the various levels of grammar are presented in the following chapters: 2 Sentence Level; 3, Clause Level; 4, Phrase Level; and 5 Word Level. Methods for determining the number of sentences gene- rated and their underlying structural descriptions are given m Chapter 6, Morpheme Level. Finally, the basic units of the phonological, lexical, and syntactic components of the grammar are described in terms of their feature, manifestation, and dis- tribution modes in Chapter 7, Language Description. Suggested problems and a list of tagmemic symbols for use in problem work are included at the end of the text. At each stage of development, an attempt has been made to be as explicit as possible with regard to the sources used and each chapter is supplemented by suggested readings with anno- tations. Tagmemic theory is developed from the works of Ken- VI PREFACE neth L. Pike and Robert E. Longacre. Practical tagmemic formu- lations are based on the work of Benjamin Elson and Velma Pickett and the laboratory manual of William R. Merrifield. To a lesser degree, use is made of the writings of other tagmemic authors, particularly those of the Summer Institute of Linguis- tics, who in facing practical language problems have contributed so much to the development of the theory. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Kenneth L. Pike Rob- ert E. Longacre, and William R. Merrifield for their constructive criticism of early tagmemic writings, and for materials supplied from the Summer Institute of Linguistics; also to Ruth M. Brend for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. A debt of gratitude is also due my former teachers at the School of Languages and Linguistics and its dean, Robert Lado for their encouragement. And then there are students, who always manage to teach us while we teach them. WALTER A. COOK S.J. Washington, D.C. May 1969 Contents Preface v INTRODUCTION: METHOD MODELS AND PRACTICE 1 The Scientific Method 2 Models of Grammar 5 Theory and Practice 9 1 TAGMEMIC ANALYSIS 13 The Unit: The Tagmeme 15 The Construction: The Syntagmeme 21 The System: Levels of Grammar 27 2 SENTENCE LEVEL 39 Sentence Level Sorting 41 Major Sentences 47 Minor Sentences 54 3 CLAUSE LEVEL 65 Independent Clauses 67 Dependent Clauses 73 Clause Level Analysis 79 4 PHRASE LEVEL 91 Relater-Axis Phrases 93 Multiple Head Phrases 99 Head-Modifier Phrases 106 5 WORD LEVEL 117 Inflections: Outer Formations 119 Derivations: Inner Formations 125 Compounds: Core Formations 131 6 MORPHEME LEVEL 143 Grammatical Patterns 145 Structural Descriptions 151 Generative Possibilities of the Model 159 Vlli CONTENTS LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION 169 The Phonological Component 171 The Lexical Component 177 The Syntactic Component 184 Supplementary Exercises 195 Tagmemic Symbols 197 Selected Bibliography 200 Index 205 In human speech, different sounds have different meanings. To study this coordination of certain sounds with certain meanings is to study language. Leonard Bloomfield, Language, 1933 INTRODUCTION: METHOD MODELS AND PRACTICE Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The object of this study is language, "a purely human and noninstinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols." (Sapir, 1921:8V The particular viewpoint adopted by the linguist in this study of language is the search for language structure. The methods he uses to discover and describe language structure are scientific. The central problem in language analysis is the problem of the inaccessible machinery in the mind of man which produces the utterances of language in a regular and systematic way. It is the problem of fundamental grammar. In the early history of linguistic science, Ferdinand DeSaussure (1916:14) distinguished between language and speaking. Speaking is willful individual and accidental; language is systematic, conventional and belongs to the psychological order. It is language, not speaking, that is the object of linguistic study. More recently Noam Chomsky (1965:4) distinguished competence from performance. Com- petence is "the speaker-hearer's knowledge of his language, and performance is "the actual use of language in concrete situations." It is competence, not performance, that is the object of our study. The problem of language analysis is to discover and describe the language competence of the speaker. Grammar in this fundamental state the competence of the speaker, is largely unconscious. People use language uncon- sciously, without being aware of the shift in grammatical struc- tures as they use the language for communication. Whether 'This refers to the author, date, and page number of the reading in the Selected Bibliog- raphy at the end of the text. 2 INTRODUCTION TO TAGMEMIC ANALYSIS language is learned in early childhood, or at an advanced age, the processes rapidly become habitual. In order to analyze lan- guage, one must work backward from performance, which can be observed to a competence that is not accessible by any direct approach. The analyst then attempts to construct a model of grammar, which is a formal statement of competence, based upon the objective evidence that is presented to him in the actual performance of the speaker. The Scientific Method As in most physical and some behavioral sciences, the method used in the analysis of languages is primarily an inductive one. This method is not a matter of free choice; it is forced upon us by the nature of the language problem. The Little Black Box. To illustrate how inductive science works John G. Kemeny (1959:131) gives the example of the box with inaccessible machinery. Suppose you have a locked box, which cannot be opened without destroying its contents. One can observe how the box works, and predict how it will act. We can form a theory as to what kind of machinery is in the box, and we will maintain that theory as long as our predictions concern- ing the box are verified. The problem of the box is similar to the problem which faces the linguistic analyst. He can note the performance of the native speaker of a language, but the competence of the speaker is not accessible to him. Therefore he constructs a formal grammar, a statement of competence, and maintains his theory as long as it continues to predict accurately the performance of native speakers. But this formal grammar has only a relation of equiva- lence, not a relation of identity, with the fundamental grammar in the mind of the speaker. The grammatical model generates language utterances as if it were a native speaker. The Search for Competence. The linguistic analyst has competence as the object of his study, yet this is not directly ac- cessible. He can only approach competence through: (1) the input, the material which goes into the mind of man to form a grammar; (2) reflection on his own language competence; or (3) the output, the performance of the speaker. No one has ever completely measured the material which goes into the mind of the child to form a grammar, nor do we know how this material is assimilated and organized. Reflection also seems to be a poor tool, since language is largely unconscious. Although the analyst is clearly capable of editing his own Ian- INTRODUCTION: METHOD, MODELS, AND PRACTICE 3 guage to make it grammatical, he is wary of subjectivism; and if he analyzes his own language at all, he prefers to work from some objective evidence of actual performance. The result is that the only really objective evidence available to the linguistic analyst is the performance of native speakers of the language. In the search for competence, the goal of the analyst is to catch the unconscious competence of the native speaker in the actual performance, to work backward from what is factual and evident to the structures underlying this system- atic behavior. The Inductive Cycle. The inductive method is a cyclic method which goes from facts to theory to new facts. It consists of four steps: (1) observation of the data, (2) insight into the structure of the data, (3) formulation of a hypothesis, and (4) verification of the hypothesis.