A Grammar of Engdewu. An Oceanic Language of the Solomon Islands [PhD thesis]

A Grammar of Engdewu

An Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands

Anders Vaa

Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD

Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies

University of Oslo

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Abstract

Engdewu (also known as Nagu or Nanggu) is an endangered language spoken by only about

200 persons. The speakers live in three villages on the south coast of the island of Nedö (aka

Santa Cruz) in Temotu, the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands. Engdewu belongs

to the Reefs-Santa Cruz language family (RSC). There has formerly been disagreement as to

the genetic lineage of RSC, and for a long time it was considered to be part of the

easternmost spoken group of the so-called ‘Papuan languages’, but today it is classified as

belonging to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family, mainly based on data

from the RSC languages Äiwoo and Natügu.

There are no previous comprehensive papers on Engdewu, so this thesis is the first

thorough grammatical description of the language. It may also be seen as a contribution to

the argument for an Oceanic pedigree, among other things by descriptions of direct and

indirect possessive constructions, and of the verb complex which, in spite of its distinctive

features, reminds one of verb complexes in other Oceanic languages where the elements

have a fixed position, and where they express negation, aspect and mood, valence

increase/reduction, direction, Aktionsart, ‘subject’ (S/A), and to a certain degree ‘object’ (O),

and some adverbial meanings.

Even though Engdewu clearly is an Oceanic language, it also has some distinctive features.

Like the other RSC languages the pronoun system can be described with an eight-

term minimal-augmented pattern.

The alignment is reminicent of the Philippine-type.

The language has an impressive number of relational possessive classifiers in

indirect possessive constructions.

Continuous markers express a distinction in visibility.

The numbers seven to nine are subtractive forms.

The thesis is based on data from fieldwork and aspires to build on the ideas of Basic

Linguistic Theory, where the framework is the accumulated consensus-based knowledge of

descriptive studies over the years.

Sammendrag

Engdewu (også kjent som nagu eller nanggu) er et utrydningstruet språk med rundt 200

talere. Det snakkes i tre landsbyer på sørkysten av øya Nedö (også kjent som Santa Cruz) i

Temotu, Salomonøyenes østligste provins. Engdewu tilhører Reefs-Santa Cruz-

språkgruppen (RSC), og det har vært en debatt rundt den genetiske tilhørigheten til denne

språkgruppen. Lenge ble den ansett å være Stillehavets østligst talte gruppe ’papua-språk’,

men er i dag klassifisert som tilhørende den oseaniske grenen av den austronesiske

språkfamilien. Denne reklassifiseringen er i all hovedsak basert på data fra RSC-språkene

äiwoo og natügu.

Det finnes fra før ingen arbeider om språket, og denne avhandlingen er dermed den første

ordentlige grammatiske beskrivelsen av engdewu. Den kan sees på som et bidrag til

argumentet om at RSC-språkene er oseaniske, blant annet gjennom beskrivelsene av direkte

og indirekte possessivkonstruksjoner, og av verbkomplekset, som tross sine spesielle

særtrekk, minner om verbkomplekser i andre oseaniske språk, hvor elementene har fast

plass, og hvor de uttrykker negasjon, aspekt og modus, valensøkning eller -reduksjon,

retning, Aktionsart, ’subjekt’ (S/A) og til en viss grad objekt (O), og i tillegg enkelte

adverbiale betydninger.

Selv om engdewu tydelig er et oseanisk språk, så har det også noen spesielle særtrekk:

I likhet med de andre RSC-språkene kan pronomensystemet beskrives med et åtte-

termers minimal-augmented-mønster.

Morfosyntaktisk er det likheter med filippinsk alignment.

Språket oppviser et imponerende antall relasjonelle possessivklassifikatorer i de

indirekte possesivkonstruksjonene.

Selv kontinuerlig (continuous) aspekt-markørene uttrykker en distinksjon i

visibilitet.

Tallordene ‘syv’ til ‘ni’ er subtraktive former.

Avhandlingen er basert på data fra feltarbeid og forsøker å bygge på ideene til Basic

Linguistic Theory, hvor rammeverket er den akkumulerte konsensusbaserte kunnskapen til

deskriptive studier gjennom årene.

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For Boas Anders Beto

and George Meupma

Naaliö nae lepela, ä lüpi.

To make language alive, you must speak it.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The dissertation is meant to describe Engdewu as it is spoken today. It has been impossible

to cover all aspects of variation, but variation—both favoured and disfavoured by the

speakers—has been included. This is not meant to be a normative grammar, but rather an

attempt at a description of the language as it is spoken today. It is submitted under the

framework of the PhD programme at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.

Due to time restrictions the text does not discuss all aspects of language and grammar. Still, I

hope that the text is comprehensive enough to please those interested in the topic.

I have tried to make the text as accessible as possible. In this spirit I have provided both

English and Pijin translations of most examples, making it possible for the Engdewu

speakers to read their language for the first time—if not in the final version of orthography.

There are many Engdewu examples in the thesis that are meant to illustrate the descriptions

and generalisations I have made. While most recordings have been transcribed and

translated, all of it has not been subject to standardisation, which means that some words

might unintendedly appear in more than one form in the text. I hope the reader will bear

with me on this.

The list of people to thank is long indeed, and first of all I want to mention my two

supervisors, Rolf Theil and Åshild Næss, who deserve special thanks for helping me make

this come through. Rolf has contributed extensively with his useful theoretical insights and

overarching comments, and with a falcon’s eye Åshild has spotted so many things that had

to be hunted down, and she has acted with great precision, and has had many concise and

pointed comments. I owe both of them so much for enabling me to carry out my work!

I also wish to express my gratitude to Even Hovdhaugen for introducing me to the field of

documentary and descriptive linguistics, and for taking me to the Solomon Islands back in

2005. I have learnt a lot from him, not only about linguistics and fieldwork, but also about

being human. He is truly an inspiration! Thank you.

Thanks also to the splendid Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the

University of Oslo. I hope for a bright future for linguistics and language studies in Oslo.

Thanks to all my colleagues for being such a happy team, and thanks to my two ‘aunts’, Inger

Moen and Hanne Gram Simonsen, for being great supporters all the way from the start: they

were inspiring teachers in the early student days, they were inclusive bosses during my

research assistant days, and they also encouraged me to do what I just have done. And also

warm thanks to the former head of the department, Bente Christensen, for also being

supportive and for thinking of me whether present or away.

Thanks also to Malcolm Ross for kindly answering my questions and for enlightening me as

regards the history of Oceanic languages.

Thanks to my fellow PhD colleagues at the university, Eli Anne Eiesland, Federico Aurora,

Guri Bordal, Guro Nore Fløgstad, Ingeborg Dalby, Klaus Johan Myrvoll, Emiliano Guevara,

Signe Laake, Laila Henriksen, Tor Arne Haugen and Kari Kinn. Thanks also to Pål Kristian

Eriksen for useful chats about language typology whenever I met him. Special thanks to

Suzanne Marti for great help during some of my last days of writing, and to Ivo Spira for

valuable comments on parts of this thesis. Thanks also to my great office-mates Silje Hernæs

Linhart and Aasta Marie Bjorvand Bjørkøy.

A special thank you to Astrid Kjetså for caring for me during my most stressful days.

Thanks to my brother Even and my parents Gudvei og Dyre Vaa for their support, and once

more to Daddy for his great help with the English language.

And by the way, thank you to WordsWay for the eminent copy-editing and a green tea

recipe.

Thanks and love to Hanne for all practical help, for being so patient—and for her love. And

not the least for taking so good care of our little Erle while I spent the hours at the office.

Thanks also to the Programredaktør Andor Birkeland og hustru Halinas legat for giving me a

scholarship, which made my second field trip possible.

Thanks to Brenda Boerger and her Dan. I met the two on Nedö in 2005 where they worked

with a Bible translation into the Natügu language. They are really warm and loving people,

and Brenda: thank you for all the practical help, for exchange of ideas on language, and for

inviting me into the team for co-writing what turned out to be my first paper. I’d also like to

thank Rachel Emerine and Angela Hoover for helping me to pave the road to Mömwawë.

And finally: The Solomon Islands! I want to thank the Ministry of Education and Human

Resource Development in the Solomon Islands and the Temotu Provincial Government for

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permitting me to undertake research on Nedö, and, I believe, for seeing the value of this

work.

I also want to thank the friendly staff at Lata Motel for taking such good care of me (and

Hanne) while staying with them.

I want to thank Kennedy Clq in Lata/Graciosa Bay for being a friend and for being willing to

help me with any practical problems at Nedö, and for being my Internet extension to the

people in Mömwawë and Nagu.

And many thanks to Benjamin Tua and his wife Iva for being my guardians in Honiara and

for being such a good help in all practical matters, and for taking me on road trips and

sightseeing around the capital. I am happy at being one of your friends, and I still enjoy

thinking of all the laughs we’ve had.

But most of all, a big thank you goes to all the leaders and people in Mömwawë, Ulou and

Nagu, and especially all the consultants who have worked with me during my two stays:

Abraham Mepoulo, Bartholomew Tekiato, Clement Menapa, Emily Niabu, George Meupma,

Jacob Menamopu, Jeremiah Mewe, Luke Nona, Margareth Moliki, Rachel Noyi, Richard

Menubwö, Wilfred Sade, Alfred Mwetuku, Ben Menamateone Noah, Christian Bëkilë,

Elisabeth Pekau, Frances Niada, Ishmael Tanen, Joel Menapa, John Henry, John Meovli, Joyce

Mary, Juda Melapeiki, Nelson Menumapwa, Paul Bonuga, Simion Tekëliade, and Frazer

Blamoli.

Thanks also to John Henry and his family for their friendship and for keeping me in Nagu, to

the late Jacob Menamopu and to Clement Menapa for keeping me in Mömwawë, and not

least the women and children for making my life easy as a guest. Thanks also to Ben

Tängäloa and Roda for their great friendship.

Special thanks go to the Nagu village community for taking such good care of me when we

fled for our lives after the three big earthquakes in 2009. I will never forget that night, when

we all slept together in the bush under a tarpaulin while the earth was constantly shaking.

Awi kä ilöpi!

I wish to express an extra warm thank you to old man George. You are wise and always

welcoming. I am so grateful to have met you, and I will never forget you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iii

Sammendrag ................................................................................................................................... iv

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vii

List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xxiii

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xxvii

List of Plates and Maps ................................................................................................................. xxix

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... xxxi

Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Geographic setting ........................................................................................................... 1

1.3 History .............................................................................................................................. 3

1.3.1 The Lapita cultural complex ..................................................................................... 3

1.3.2 European contact ..................................................................................................... 6

1.3.3 History of the Engdewu people ................................................................................ 9

1.3.4 Genealogical classification: The Reefs-Santa Cruz languages as Oceanic .............. 11

1.4 The people and their culture .......................................................................................... 11

1.4.1 Social organization .................................................................................................. 13

1.4.2 Tradition ................................................................................................................. 15

1.4.3 The name of the language ...................................................................................... 16

1.5 The current language situation ...................................................................................... 17

1.5.1 Sociolinguistic setting ............................................................................................. 17

1.5.2 The Engdewu-speaking villages .............................................................................. 17

1.5.3 Languages in the vicinity ........................................................................................ 24

1.6 Engdewu: an endangered language ............................................................................... 25

1.6.1 Language decline in song activities ........................................................................ 27

Chapter 2. Theory and methodology ....................................................................................... 29

2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 29

2.2 Basic Linguistic Theory ................................................................................................... 29

2.3 The fieldwork situation and consultants ........................................................................ 30

2.3.1 The fieldwork situation .......................................................................................... 30

2.3.2 The consultants ...................................................................................................... 31

2.3.3 Data ........................................................................................................................ 34

2.4 Recording technique ...................................................................................................... 41

2.4.1 Recorder, Zoom H4n .............................................................................................. 41

2.4.2 Microphones .......................................................................................................... 41

2.4.3 Videocamera .......................................................................................................... 42

2.5 Software tools ................................................................................................................ 42

2.5.1 ELAN ....................................................................................................................... 42

2.5.2 PRAAT ..................................................................................................................... 42

2.5.3 Toolbox................................................................................................................... 43

2.5.4 Phonology Assistant ............................................................................................... 43

Chapter 3. State of the Art ....................................................................................................... 45

3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 45

3.2 Genetic classification of RSC .......................................................................................... 46

3.2.1 Codrington (1885) .................................................................................................. 46

3.2.2 Capell (1962) .......................................................................................................... 47

3.2.3 Davenport (1962a) ................................................................................................. 47

3.2.4 Wurm (1969, 1970, 1978) ...................................................................................... 48

3.2.5 Lincoln (1978) ......................................................................................................... 52

3.2.6 Næss (2006) ........................................................................................................... 53

3.2.7 Ross and Næss (2007) ............................................................................................ 53

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3.2.8 Næss and Boerger (2008) ....................................................................................... 56

3.3 Internal classification ...................................................................................................... 56

3.4 Grammatical description ................................................................................................ 58

3.4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 58

3.4.2 Grammatical features according to Wurm (1969, 1972b) ..................................... 60

3.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 66

Chapter 4. Phonology ............................................................................................................... 69

4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 69

4.2 Consonants ..................................................................................................................... 72

4.2.1 Oral stops ................................................................................................................ 72

4.2.2 Prenasalised voiced stops ....................................................................................... 74

4.2.3 Nasal stops .............................................................................................................. 82

4.2.4 Fricatives ................................................................................................................. 82

4.2.5 Approximants ......................................................................................................... 84

4.3 Vowels ............................................................................................................................ 84

4.3.1 /i/ ............................................................................................................................ 88

4.3.2 /e/ ........................................................................................................................... 88

4.3.3 /ɛ/ ........................................................................................................................... 88

4.3.4 /a/ ........................................................................................................................... 89

4.3.5 /ʉ/ ........................................................................................................................... 89

4.3.6 /ɵ/ ........................................................................................................................... 89

4.3.7 /ɞ/ ........................................................................................................................... 90

4.3.8 /u/ ........................................................................................................................... 90

4.3.9 /ɔ/ ........................................................................................................................... 91

4.3.10 /ɒ/ ........................................................................................................................... 91

4.4 Diphthongs and vowel sequences .................................................................................. 91

4.5 Phonotactics ................................................................................................................... 94

4.5.1 Consonant clusters ................................................................................................. 95

4.5.2 Syllables ................................................................................................................ 111

4.6 Phonological processes ................................................................................................ 114

4.6.1 Vowel harmony .................................................................................................... 114

4.6.2 Vowel assimilation ............................................................................................... 115

4.6.3 Vowel contraction ................................................................................................ 117

4.6.4 Vowel elision ........................................................................................................ 117

4.6.5 Lenition of voiceless stops ................................................................................... 120

4.6.6 Cluster simplification/Lenition of postnasalised stops ........................................ 122

4.6.7 Spirantisation of /t/ and /d/................................................................................. 122

4.6.8 Glide formation .................................................................................................... 124

4.6.9 Glottal stop........................................................................................................... 124

4.7 Prosody ........................................................................................................................ 125

4.7.1 Stress .................................................................................................................... 125

4.8 Orthography ................................................................................................................. 127

Chapter 5. Word classes ........................................................................................................ 129

5.1 Nouns ........................................................................................................................... 129

5.2 Verbs ............................................................................................................................ 132

5.3 Pronouns ...................................................................................................................... 134

5.4 Prepositions ................................................................................................................. 135

5.5 Possessive classifiers .................................................................................................... 137

5.6 Adverbs ........................................................................................................................ 138

5.6.1 Free adverbs ......................................................................................................... 138

5.6.2 Bound adverbs ..................................................................................................... 141

5.7 Determiners ................................................................................................................. 141

5.7.1 Indefinite article ................................................................................................... 141

5.7.2 Quantifier ............................................................................................................. 142

5.7.3 Demonstrative determiners ................................................................................. 143

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5.8 Conjunctions ................................................................................................................. 143

5.8.1 Coordinating conjunctions ................................................................................... 143

5.8.2 Subordinating conjunctions .................................................................................. 146

5.8.3 Conjunctions borrowed from Pijin ....................................................................... 147

5.9 Particles ........................................................................................................................ 147

5.10 Interjections .................................................................................................................. 148

Chapter 6. The Noun Phrase .................................................................................................. 149

6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 149

6.2 Noun phrase types........................................................................................................ 151

6.2.1 NPs with a common noun as head ....................................................................... 151

6.2.2 NPs with a proper noun as head .......................................................................... 155

6.2.3 NPs with a free pronoun as head ......................................................................... 155

6.2.4 NPs with a demonstrative as head ....................................................................... 156

6.2.5 NPs with a quantifier as head ............................................................................... 158

6.2.6 NPs with a possessive classifier as head ............................................................... 158

6.3 Noun types ................................................................................................................... 158

6.3.1 Proper nouns ........................................................................................................ 158

6.3.2 Common nouns .................................................................................................... 160

6.3.3 Local nouns ........................................................................................................... 162

6.3.4 Bound nouns ......................................................................................................... 163

6.4 Modifier elements ........................................................................................................ 168

6.4.1 Indefinite article di ............................................................................................... 168

6.4.2 Quantifier du ........................................................................................................ 170

6.4.3 Demonstrative ...................................................................................................... 171

6.4.4 Pluraliser =yo ........................................................................................................ 171

6.4.5 Restrictive marker =pwë/=pwa ............................................................................ 173

6.4.6 Prepositional phrases ........................................................................................... 173

6.5 Noun compounds ......................................................................................................... 174

6.5.1 Noun + Noun ........................................................................................................ 174

6.5.2 Noun + Verb ......................................................................................................... 175

6.5.3 Bound noun as compound noun head ................................................................. 177

6.5.4 Part-whole compounds ........................................................................................ 181

6.6 Nominalisation ............................................................................................................. 183

6.6.1 Participant nominal constructions ....................................................................... 183

6.6.2 Action nominal constructions (ANC) .................................................................... 187

Chapter 7. Pronouns .............................................................................................................. 191

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 191

7.2 The minimal-augmented pronominal system .............................................................. 191

7.3 Free pronouns .............................................................................................................. 195

7.3.1 Dative pronominal forms ..................................................................................... 198

7.3.2 Is ni a pronoun or a verb? .................................................................................... 200

7.4 Bound pronominal forms ............................................................................................. 201

7.4.1 Subject markers ................................................................................................... 201

7.4.2 Object marker ...................................................................................................... 206

7.4.3 Possessor markers................................................................................................ 207

7.5 Inclusory constructions (Specific number augmentation) ........................................... 210

7.5.1 With comitative mae ............................................................................................ 210

7.5.2 Based on number verbs ....................................................................................... 213

Chapter 8. Possession ............................................................................................................ 215

8.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 215

8.2 Direct possession constructions .................................................................................. 217

8.3 Indirect possession constructions ................................................................................ 219

8.3.1 General classifier (CL.I), telo ................................................................................ 223

8.3.2 Edibles classifier (CL.II), na(nu) ............................................................................ 224

8.3.3 Drinkables classifier (CL.III), gâ ............................................................................. 226

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8.3.4 Animate classifier (CL.IV), nei ............................................................................... 227

8.3.5 Dwellings classifier (CL.V), nyo/nyö ...................................................................... 228

8.3.6 Transport classifier (CL.VI), ango .......................................................................... 230

8.3.7 Fire classifier (CL.VII), molo, mwilo....................................................................... 230

8.3.8 Covering classifier (CL.VIII), nokwo/nokwö .......................................................... 232

8.3.9 Clothing classifier (CL.IX), napleio/napleiö ........................................................... 232

8.3.10 Spouse classifier (CL.X), nolo/nölö ....................................................................... 233

8.3.11 Inalienable fluids classifier (CL.XI), mö ................................................................. 234

8.3.12 Traces classifier (CL.XII), no/nö ............................................................................. 234

8.3.13 Beam classifier (CL.XIII), lo/lö ............................................................................... 235

8.3.14 Discussion of other classifiers mentioned by Wurm (1972b)............................... 236

8.4 The possessive strategy for dative marking: possessive classifiers in

recipient/goal/benefactive marking ......................................................................................... 237

8.5 The dative strategy for possession marking ................................................................. 239

Chapter 9. Demonstrative forms ............................................................................................ 241

9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 241

9.2 Demonstrative determiners ......................................................................................... 243

9.2.1 The problem of the four kä’s in Engdewu ............................................................ 248

9.3 Demonstrative pronouns.............................................................................................. 253

9.4 Demonstrative adverbs ................................................................................................ 254

9.4.1 Temporal demonstrative adverbs ........................................................................ 257

9.5 Complex demonstrative forms ..................................................................................... 259

9.5.1 Based on the indefinite article ............................................................................. 259

9.5.2 Based on bound nouns ......................................................................................... 262

9.6 A note on the differences in the demonstrative systems in RSC ................................. 264

Chapter 10. Verb types ............................................................................................................. 267

10.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 267

10.2 Intransitive verbs ......................................................................................................... 268

10.2.1 Stative verbs ......................................................................................................... 270

10.2.2 Numeral verbs ...................................................................................................... 275

10.3 Transitive verbs ............................................................................................................ 281

10.3.1 Underived transitives ........................................................................................... 282

10.4 Ambitransitive verbs .................................................................................................... 284

10.5 Semitransitive verbs ..................................................................................................... 285

Chapter 11. The Verb complex ................................................................................................ 287

11.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 287

11.1.1 The ‘Verb Complex’ in Oceanic languages ........................................................... 287

11.1.2 The verb complex in Engdewu ............................................................................. 289

11.1.3 The morphological status of the morphemes in the verb complex ..................... 292

11.2 The verb base: Derivational morphology ..................................................................... 298

11.2.1 Detransitive prefix ................................................................................................ 299

11.2.2 Causative prefix .................................................................................................... 300

11.2.3 Transitive suffix .................................................................................................... 303

11.2.4 Applicative suffix .................................................................................................. 305

11.2.5 Comitative suffix .................................................................................................. 307

11.2.6 Complex verb roots: cut and break verbs ............................................................ 309

11.3 Preverbal and postverbal verb modifiers .................................................................... 314

11.3.1 Negative markers ................................................................................................. 315

11.3.2 Continuous particle .............................................................................................. 317

11.3.3 Mood/aspect prefixes .......................................................................................... 320

11.3.4 Aktionsart markers ............................................................................................... 327

11.3.5 Subject suffixes .................................................................................................... 331

11.3.6 Object suffix ......................................................................................................... 333

11.3.7 Person directionals............................................................................................... 334

11.3.8 Geometric directionals ......................................................................................... 340

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11.3.9 Reflexive/reciprocal suffix .................................................................................... 348

11.3.10 Comparative suffixes ........................................................................................ 351

11.3.11 -bo ‘still, yet’ ..................................................................................................... 352

11.3.12 =ala ‘another’.................................................................................................... 353

11.3.13 -kap(w)ë/-kap(w)a ‘too’ .................................................................................... 354

11.3.14 Restrictive =pwë/=pwa ..................................................................................... 356

11.3.15 Similative, -ki ‘like this’ ..................................................................................... 357

11.3.16 Intensifier, -ata ................................................................................................. 358

11.3.17 -löpwi ‘quietly’ .................................................................................................. 359

11.3.18 Hortative particle .............................................................................................. 359

Chapter 12. Aspect and mood .................................................................................................. 363

12.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 363

12.2 Aspect ........................................................................................................................... 364

12.2.1 Viewpoint aspect .................................................................................................. 365

12.2.2 Aktionsart ............................................................................................................. 366

12.3 TMA constructions ....................................................................................................... 367

12.3.1 Dahl’s TMA Questionnaire .................................................................................... 367

12.3.2 Perfective: PFV-V .................................................................................................. 371

12.3.3 Imperfective: IPFV-V ............................................................................................. 376

12.3.4 Perfect: PFV-V=COS .............................................................................................. 383

12.3.5 Progressive: CONT IPFV-V ..................................................................................... 386

12.3.6 Inchoative*: IPFV-V=COS ...................................................................................... 394

12.3.7 Conclusive*: PFV-V=COS yoko .............................................................................. 398

12.3.8 Summary ............................................................................................................... 401

12.4 Mood marking and the expression of modality ........................................................... 402

12.4.1 Irrealis ................................................................................................................... 403

12.4.2 Imperative ............................................................................................................ 406

12.4.3 Hortative .............................................................................................................. 406

12.4.4 A few words on other markings of modality ....................................................... 407

12.4.5 Evidentiality .......................................................................................................... 407

Chapter 13. Simple clauses ...................................................................................................... 409

13.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 409

13.2 Verbless clauses ........................................................................................................... 411

13.2.1 Equative (Identity) ................................................................................................ 411

13.2.2 Possessive (Possession) ........................................................................................ 412

13.2.3 Locational (Location) ............................................................................................ 413

13.3 Intransitive clauses....................................................................................................... 415

13.4 Transitive clauses ......................................................................................................... 421

13.5 Semitransitive clauses .................................................................................................. 433

13.6 Agent-backgrounding clauses ...................................................................................... 441

13.7 Imperative sentences ................................................................................................... 446

13.8 Interrogative clauses .................................................................................................... 446

13.8.1 Content questions ................................................................................................ 446

13.8.2 Polar questions..................................................................................................... 450

13.9 Negative and prohibitive clauses ................................................................................. 452

13.9.1 With bipartite negative marking .......................................................................... 452

13.9.2 With negative marker tobi ................................................................................... 452

13.9.3 Prohibitive bou ..................................................................................................... 453

Chapter 14. Complex clauses ................................................................................................... 455

14.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 455

14.2 Relative clauses ............................................................................................................ 455

14.3 Complement clauses .................................................................................................... 458

14.3.1 Juxtaposition of unmarked sentence-like complement ...................................... 459

14.3.2 Sentence-like complement with the verb ngwe ‘be like’ .................................... 461

14.3.3 Sentence-like complement with the complementiser nge .................................. 463

xxi

14.3.4 Nominalisation of complement ............................................................................ 464

14.4 Adverbial clauses .......................................................................................................... 465

14.4.1 Time clauses ......................................................................................................... 465

14.4.2 Purpose clauses .................................................................................................... 467

14.4.3 Concessive ............................................................................................................ 468

14.4.4 Reason clauses ...................................................................................................... 469

14.4.5 Conditional clauses ............................................................................................... 470

APPENDIX 1 Engdewu Texts ...................................................................................................... 475

Three short personal stories .................................................................................................... 475

Nubo / Dried breadfruit ............................................................................................................ 477

APPENDIX 2 Examples From Östen Dahl’s TMA Questionnaire ............................................... 483

Part A – sentences .................................................................................................................... 483

APPENDIX 3 Elicitation tasks ..................................................................................................... 535

Staged Events (van Staden et al. 2001) .................................................................................... 535

Video stimuli clips ..................................................................................................................... 537

Childrens’ Cut & Break (Bowerman and Majid 2003) .......................................................... 537

Questionnaires ......................................................................................................................... 538

Dahl’s The TMA Questionnaire (Dahl 1985) ......................................................................... 538

Bertinetto’s Questionnaire on the Progressive Aspect ........................................................ 546

Johanna Nichols’s Transitivizing/Detransitivizing questionnaire (Nichols, Peterson, and

Barnes 2004) ......................................................................................................................... 550

References .................................................................................................................................... 553

xxiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: The consultants ................................................................................................................................. 33

Table 2.2: Types of elicitation tasks employed ......................................................................................... 35

Table 2.3: List of recordings of stimuli clips for elicitation tasks ...................................................... 37

Table 2.4: List of questionnaire recordings ................................................................................................ 39

Table 2.5: List of narratives ............................................................................................................................... 40

Table 3.1: Reflexes of POc consonants among RSC .................................................................................. 54

Table 3.2: Comparison of different internal classifications for the languages on Nedö ........... 58

Table 3.3: Engdewu subject suffixes according to Wurm (1969) ...................................................... 63

Table 3.4: Subject suffixes in Buin and cognate forms in RSC ............................................................. 63

Table 3.5: ‘Possessive class markers’ as given by Wurm (1972b) ........................................................ 66

Table 4.1: Consonant phonemes in initial and medial position in Engdewu ............................... 70

Table 4.2: Consonant phonemes in final position in the speech of younger generations in

Engdewu .................................................................................................................................................................... 70

Table 4.3: Vowel phonemes in Engdewu ..................................................................................................... 70

Table 4.4: Some minimal pairs illustrating vowel contrasts ............................................................... 71

Table 4.5: Oral stops in initial and medial position ................................................................................. 72

Table 4.6: Prenasalised voiced stops in initial and medial position ................................................. 75

Table 4.7: Mean duration of prenasalised stops in medial position ................................................. 81

Table 4.8: Nasal stops in initial and medial position .............................................................................. 82

Table 4.9: Fricatives in in initial and medial position............................................................................. 83

Table 4.10: Approximants in initial and medial position ...................................................................... 84

Table 4.11: Minimal and near minimal pairs illustrating phonological contrasts in vowel

length .......................................................................................................................................................................... 85

Table 4.12: Diphthongs in Engdewu .............................................................................................................. 92

Table 4.13: Attested combinations of C and S in CS clusters ............................................................... 95

Table 4.14: Word initial CCs in Engdewu .................................................................................................... 97

Table 4.15: Word medial CCs in Engdewu .................................................................................................. 97

Table 4.16: Examples of Cw clusters in Engdewu ........................................................................................ 99

Table 4.17: Mean duration of Cw clusters in medial position ........................................................... 101

Table 4.18: Examples of Cj clusters in Engdewu .................................................................................... 102

Table 4.19: Mean duration of Cj clusters in medial position ............................................................. 103

Table 4.20: Cl clusters in Engdewu .............................................................................................................. 104

Table 4.21: Heterorganic Cn clustes in Engdewu ................................................................................... 105

Table 4.22: Homorganic CN clusters, aka postnasalised stops .......................................................... 106

Table 4.23: Mean duration of CN clusters in medial position ........................................................... 109

Table 4.24: Inter-syllabic consonant clusters in Engdewu ................................................................ 111

Table 4.25: Examples of monosyllabic syllables in Engdewu ........................................................... 112

Table 4.26: Examples of disyllabic syllables in Engdewu .......................................................................... 112

Table 4.27: Examples of polysyllabic syllables in Engdewu ..................................................................... 113

Table 4.28: Vowels in Engdewu and present orthography ................................................................ 128

Table 4.29: Consonants in Engdewu and present orthography ....................................................... 128

Table 5.1: Word classes in Engdewu ........................................................................................................... 129

Table 5.2: Semantic roles coded by the proposition më/mö ............................................................. 136

Table 6.1: Examples of men's and women's traditional last names ............................................... 159

Table 6.2: Examples of directly possessed nouns in Engdewu ......................................................... 161

Table 6.3: Bound nouns mainly used in compounds ............................................................................ 165

Table 6.4: Bound nouns mainly used in participant nominalisation ............................................. 167

Table 7.1: The six-term pronominal system in English ....................................................................... 192

Table 7.2: The seven-term pronominal system in the Oceanic language South Efate ............ 192

Table 7.3: Free pronouns in Hanunóo (table adapted from Dixon 2010) .................................... 193

Table 7.4: Person in the minimal-augmented pronominal system ................................................. 194

Table 7.5: Free pronouns in Engdewu ........................................................................................................ 195

Table 7.6: Free pronouns in the RSC languages ...................................................................................... 198

Table 7.7: Pronominal forms based on the dative preposition ........................................................ 199

Table 7.8: ‘Dative pronouns’ in Äiwoo and ‘indirect object pronouns' in Natügu (van den

Berg and Boerger 2011) ................................................................................................................................... 200

Table 7.9: Subject (S/A) suffixes in Engdewu, arranged in inflection types ............................... 202

Table 7.10: Possessor enclitics in Engdewu ............................................................................................. 207

Table 7.11: Possible correspondences between possessive suffixes in Proto-Oceanic and

Proto-Temotu (Lynch, Ross and Crowley 2002; Ross and Næss 2007) and possessive and

subject markers in Engdewu .......................................................................................................................... 208

Table 7.12: Pronouns and specific number forms ................................................................................. 213

Table 8.1: Common possessive construction types in Oceanic languages ................................... 216

Table 8.2: Simplex construction paradigms of some directly possessed nouns ....................... 219

Table 8.3: Possessive classifiers in Engdewu ........................................................................................... 221

xxv

Table 8.4: Examples with the General possessive classifier .............................................................. 223

Table 8.5: Examples with the Edibles possessive classifier ............................................................... 225

Table 8.6: Examples with the Drinkables possessive classifier ........................................................ 227

Table 8.7: : Examples with the animate possessive classifier ........................................................... 228

Table 8.8: Examples with the Dwellings possessive classifier .......................................................... 229

Table 8.9: Examples with the canoe possessive classifier .................................................................. 230

Table 8.10: Examples with the fire possessive classifier .................................................................... 231

Table 8.11: Examples with the spouse possessive classifier ............................................................. 233

Table 8.12: Examples with the dependent contents possessive classifier ................................... 235

Table 9.1: Demonstrative forms in Engdewu ........................................................................................... 242

Table 9.2: Simple demonstrative determiner forms in Engdewu ................................................... 243

Table 9.3: Demonstrative pronouns in Engdewu ................................................................................... 253

Table 9.4: Demonstrative adverbs in Engdewu ...................................................................................... 255

Table 9.5: Temporal demonstrative adverbs in Engdewu.................................................................. 258

Table 9.6: Demonstrative determiners based on the indefinite article ........................................ 260

Table 10.1: Some intransitive A- and U-verbs in Engdewu ................................................................ 270

Table 11.1: The verb base in the verb complex ....................................................................................... 299

Table 11.2: Examples of initial position forms in Cut & Break verbs in Engdewu ................... 311

Table 11.3: Examples of second position forms in Cut & Break verbs in Engdewu ................. 312

Table 11.4: Continuous particles ................................................................................................................... 318

Table 11.5: Mood/aspect markers in Engdewu ...................................................................................... 320

Table 12.1: Three-way split in the description of TMA ....................................................................... 363

Table 12.2: TMA constructions in Engdewu and their corresponding cross-linguistic TMA

categories ................................................................................................................................................................ 371

Table 12.3: Combinations of the perfective construction and verbs of different situation

types in Engdewu ................................................................................................................................................ 376

Table 12.4: Combinations of the imperfective construction and verbs of different situation

types in Engdewu ................................................................................................................................................ 383

Table 12.5: Combinations of the perfect construction and verbs of different situation types

in Engdewu ............................................................................................................................................................. 386

Table 12.6: Combinations of the progressive construction and verbs of different situation

types in Engdewu ................................................................................................................................................ 394

Table 12.7: TMA constructions and situation types in Engdewu .................................................... 402

Table 13.1: : Interrogative pronouns and adverbs in Engdewu ....................................................... 447

xxvii

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 4.1: Waveforms illustrating variation in aspiration in the voiceless stop /p/ in poi: [p i]

and [pʰ i] ................................................................................................................................................................... 74

Fig. 4.2: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /b/ mb in word initial position in the

word /be ide/ ‘skin’ ............................................................................................................................................... 76

Fig. 4.3: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /b/ [mb] in word medial position in the

word /labɞ/ ‘root’ .................................................................................................................................................. 76

Fig. 4.4: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /d/ [nd] in word initial position in the

word /dakn / ‘earthquake’ ............................................................................................................................... 77

Fig. 4.5: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /d/ [nd] in word medial position in the

word /nide/ ‘s/he (3MIN)’ ................................................................................................................................ 77

Fig. 4.6: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /g/ ŋg in word initial position in the word

/ga/ ‘there (MED)’ ................................................................................................................................................. 78

Fig. 4.7: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /g/ ŋg in word medial position in the

word /nigɒ/ ‘we (1AUG)’ ................................................................................................................................... 78

Fig. 4.8: Lip position at max in the production of the vowels in Engdewu .................................... 87

Fig. 4.9: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /pm/

pⁿm in word medial position in the word /lɛpmu/ ‘grass’ ............................................................. 107

Fig. 4.10: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /tn/ tⁿ

in word medial position in the word /nɵtna/ ‘fish’ ............................................................................... 107

Fig. 4.11: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /kŋ/

kⁿŋ in word medial position in the word /dʉkŋa/ ‘devil’ ............................................................... 108

Fig. 4.12: Illustration of reduced (or whispered) word final vowel /u/ in the word /iblɞŋu/

‘it is green/blue’ ................................................................................................................................................... 119

Fig. 4.13: The waveform and spectrogram illustrates lenition of /k/ ........................................... 121

Fig. 4.14: Spectrogram and waveform with intensity (middle) and pitch curves (bottom) for

/nidabwe/ [nindambwe] 'we (12AUG)' ..................................................................................................... 126

Fig. 5.1: Major functions of verbs and nouns in Engdewu .................................................................. 130

Fig. 9.1: The three-way distance-oriented deictic system .................................................................. 241

Fig. 13.1: Pitch contour for the content question clause Yaka iyâ matu kä? ‘Who built this

house’ ........................................................................................................................................................................ 448

Fig. 13.2: Pitch contour for the content question clause Matu kä iyâtni ye? ‘Who built this

house’ ........................................................................................................................................................................ 448

Fig. 13.3: Pitch contour for the declarative clause Myei kä iyâ matu ka ‘My brother built this

house’ ........................................................................................................................................................................ 448

Fig. 13.4: Pitch contour for the content question Tüvëna yöpö? 'Where are you going?' ..... 450

Fig. 13.5. Above: Pitch contour for the polar question clause Ikutaipepmea nungum[u]? ‘Have

you brushed your teeth?’ Below: Pitch contour for the indicative answer clause Tonapo,

nungu dä tüblubo ‘No, my teeth are still dirty (lit. black)’. ................................................................. 451

xxix

LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS

Plate 1.1: Lapita pottery pieces from Nagu .................................................................................................... 4

Plate 1.2: Arriving at Ulou village ................................................................................................................... 20

Plate 1.3: Mömwawë village .............................................................................................................................. 21

Plate 1.4: Menopmautë ........................................................................................................................................ 21

Plate 1.5: Nagu village seafront........................................................................................................................ 22

Plate 1.6: The namwe in Nagu .......................................................................................................................... 22

Plate 1.7: The truck from Mömwawë to Lata ............................................................................................. 23

Plate 1.8: The wharf at Dedu, Nagu ................................................................................................................ 23

Map 1.1: Temotu Province .................................................................................................................................... 2

Map 1.2: Nedö (Santa Cruz Island) ................................................................................................................. 18

xxxi

ABBREVIATIONS

The abbreviation conventions stick as close as possible to the Leipzig Glossing Rules.

Some grammatical meanings have no overt exponents, like PL in English sheep. Such

meanings are written in square brackets in the glossing, e.g.:

sheep

sheep-[PL].

This notation makes zero morphs superfluous, and we don't have to write e.g.:

sheep-Ø

sheep-PL

- affix boundary

= clitic boundary

> direction towards

1 first person

12 first plus second person

2 second person

3 third person

A agent-like argument of canonical transitive verb

ABS absolutive

ADV adverb(ial)

AO aorist

APPL applicative

ART article

AS achieved state

AUG augmented number

CL (possessive) classifier

CMP comparative

CNJ conjunction

COM comitative

xxxii

COMP complementiser, complement clause

COND conditional

CONT continuative

COS change-of-state

DAT dative

DEIC deictic

DEM demonstrative

DETR detransitive

DIR directional

DIST distal

DU dualis

DUPL duplicative

EMPH emphasis

ERG ergative

EXCL exclusive

GDIR geometric directional

GEN genitive

GENR general tense-aspect-mood marker

HORT hortative

IF intensifier

INCL inclusive

INCP inceptive

INDF indefinite

INTENS intensifier

INTJ interjection

IPFV imperfective

IRR irrealis

IVS invisible

LDA locative-directional-ablative

LNK linker

LOC locational

MED medial

MIN minimal number

N- non (e.g. N3AUG non-third person augmented)

NEG negation, negative

xxxiii

NMLZ nominaliser/nominalisation

O object-like argument of canonical transitive verb

OBL oblique

PAST past

PDIR person directional

PH phasal aspect

PL plural

POSS possessive

PREF prefix

PRO pronoun

PROX proximal

PRP preposition

PRS present

PRT particle

PSP prospective

PURP purpose

RECP reflexive-reciprocal

QT quantifier

RED reduplication

REL relativiser, relative clause

RL relational marker

RS realis subject

RST restrictive

S single argument of canonical intransitive verb

SBJ subject

SG singular

SIM similative

STA agent-like argument of semitransitive verb

STO object-like argument of semitransitive verb

SUBR subordinator

SUF suffix

TR transitive

UA unit-augmented number

VCS verbless clause subject

VIS visible

xxxiv

VPL verbal plural

1

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Engdewu is spoken by about 200 speakers in three villages on the southern coast of Nedö

(Santa Cruz Island). It is a member of the Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) language group, which is

classified as Oceanic. This chapter will provide the reader with a general background to the

description of the Engdewu language and its speakers. The geographic setting of Nedö island

is given in §1.2. The human history of Nedö, from the time the first Oceanic people came

here in ancient times, via the inhabitants’ first encounters with Europeans, to the present, is

given in §1.3. A brief description of the people and their culture is given in §1.4. The current

language situation with a short introduction to the three Engdewu speaking villages is given

in §1.5. Finally, the vitality status of Engdewu is discussed in §1.6.

1.2 Geographic setting

Temotu is situated about 380 km east of the main Solomon Islands Chain, and is the most

remote of all the provinces in the Solomon Islands, a setting reflected in the province’s

former name, Eastern Outer Islands. Temotu covers a vast area of sea with huge distances

between the islands. Nedö, where Engdewu is spoken, is the biggest of the islands,

stretching about 40 km in an east-west direction, 22 km in a north-south direction, and with

a surface area of about 505 square km. 45 km to the north are the low-lying Reef Islands,

and 95 km further to the north-east are the Duff Islands. Utupua and Vanikoro sit about 70

and 125 km respectively to the south of Nedö. And even further south-east are the small

islands of Tikopia and Anuta. The Torres Islands in Vanuatu are situated about 270 km to

the south of Nedö.

2 Chapter 1 Introduction

Map 1.1: Temotu Province

Geologically, Nedö and the other islands in Temotu Province—sometimes collectively

referred to as the Santa Cruz Islands—belong to the same archipelago as Vanuatu, and are

considered to be a part of the Vanuatu rain forest ecoregion (Wikramanayake, Dinerstein,

and Loucks 2002: 591). The Santa Cruz Islands consist of low-lying atolls, volcanic islands,

and islands formed as the tectonic plates met and pushed the land mass upwards. Nedö is a

volcanic formation, and it basically consists of limestone or limerich sediments with an ash-

derived soil cover (Mueller-Dombois and Fosberg 1998: 89-91). The area is situated in a

geologically active area sometimes referred to as ‘The Pacific Ring of Fire’, and volcanoes,

earthquakes and tsunamis are common. There are two main wind seasons in the area, a

rough season of Easterly winds between May and October (nopubla) and a season of

Westerly winds between November and April (pölapu). The latter is normally a calm period,

but this is the season when cyclones commonly occur. Nedö and the islands in the province

are known for having a wet climate.

The island of Nedö is mountainous and covered with rainforest that is similar to the

rainforests found in Vanuatu. There are not as many big tree types here as in the main

Solomons, but one important species can only be found naturally here, the kauri tree

(Mueller-Dombois and Fosberg 1998: 89-93). The highest peak on Nedö is 549 metres

above sea level. The northern coast has many beaches, while the southern coast is, with

some exceptions, mostly rocky. Nedö has two smaller adjacent islands, Tömotu Neo (also

known as Trevanion Island or Malo) in the north-west, and Tömotu Noi (or Lord Howe

Island) in the south-east. On the south-eastern part of the coast, from Tömotu Noi to the

1.3 History 3

island’s easternmost point, there is a big lagoon area with smaller islands and mangrove

vegetation.

The indigenous name of the island, Nedö, has several variants: Ndeni, Nitendi, Ndende. It is

also commonly known as Santa Cruz.

1.3 History

1.3.1 The Lapita cultural complex

There is evidence of about 5,000 years ago (3000 BC) of a distinct ceramic-making group of

people on Taiwan, and these peoples—or rather, their descendants—soon expanded south

and south-east. This was the start of the Austronesian expansion. Some of these peoples

travelled via the Philippines and South-East Asia to the Bismarck Islands north-east of New

Guinea (Kirch 2000: 91-93). These people, today known as the Lapita peoples, spoke the

predecessor of the Austronesian languages found in the Pacific region, Proto-Oceanic (POc)

(Kirch 2000). In his book The Lapita Peoples, Kirch says that:

Lapita— which spans a time period between about 3600 and 2000 years ago, and is distributed in

space from the Bismarcks to New Caledonia and eastwards to Samoa and Tonga— has come to

be recognized as the ancestral cultural stock from which the modern diversity of Oceanic-

speaking peoples and cultures ultimately arose (Kirch 1997: xx-xxi).

The Lapita peoples were skilled pottery makers, and remnants of Lapita pottery are found at

several places in the Pacific. The pottery and its special decorative style is among the

arguments for defining these peoples as belonging to a common ‘cultural complex’ (Kirch

2000: 93). The name Lapita itself is a place name on New Caledonia’s west coast. In 1952 an

expedition found stamped pottery there, which was the first in the Pacific to be carbon

dated: it yielded a longer human history in the Pacific than earlier believed (Kirch 2000: 27-

28).


Plate 1.1: Lapita pottery pieces from Nagu

1.3 History 5

The Lapita peoples were skilled seafarers. This is reflected in words for canoes and

seafaring, reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic. Pawley and Pawley say that:

[u]pwards of twenty terms to do with watercraft and seafaring can be reconstructed for PMP

[Proto Malayo-Polynesian]. The comparative lexical evidence allows for the following inferences.

PMP speakers were familiar with outrigger sailing canoes. Various clues indicate that the craft

could be quite large. Hulls could be built up with planking. Skids or rollers were used to move

vessels on land. A steering paddle was used. Large canoes probably carried anchors. Cargo and

paddles, punting poles and bailers were carried on board (Pawley and Pawley 1998: 208).

All these terms were continued in Proto-Oceanic, for which even more can be reconstructed

(Pawley and Pawley 1998: 208). Horridge (2006: 158) argues that because they travelled

eastwards—against prevailing winds and currents—they must have had fast, long-distance

single-outrigger canoes, ‘...with a tilting triangular sail, because these boats sail best a little

upwind or with the wind on the beam’. About 3,500 years ago, the Lapita peoples reached

the Bismarck Archipelago north-east of New Guinea in the area we call Near Oceania, which

also includes the main part of the Solomon Islands. In this part of the Pacific the islands are

relatively close to each other.

When the sailors arrived in the Bismarcks they did not come to uninhabited land. As they

kept moving further east, they encountered peoples who had come to the area many tens of

thousands of years earlier (Kirch 1997). These peoples had come from the Pleistocene

supercontinent Sunda (mainland Asia), and crossed the Wallacea area across the Sahul

Strait to another supercontinent, Sahul, which consisted of the current-day Australian

continent and New Guinea. Many of these early peoples got as far as the Bismarcks and the

Main Solomons in Near Oceania. By the time they reached there, they had become culturally,

linguistically and biologically highly complex after tens of thousands of years. They were the

origin of what has later become known as ‘the Papuan cultures’, speaking non-Austronesian

or ‘Papuan’ languages. The Lapita peoples must have mixed with the Papuan peoples,

further developing the Lapita cultural complex (Kirch 2000: 93).

Intermarriage between the intrusive Austronesian speakers and the long-resident populations of

Near Oceania is indicated by the incorporation of certain markers into the gene pool, particularly

an α-thalassemia deletion that confers resistance to malaria (Kirch 2000: 93).

After some hundred years in the area around the Bismarcks, the Lapita peoples set sail and

took the leap into Remote Oceania, the vast ocean to the east, where the islands are smaller

and much more scattered than in Near Oceania. According to evidence, it is probable that


the first place they arrived at was as far away as the islands in the Reefs-Santa Cruz group,

most probably where no man had ever set foot before (Green 2003). After they had reached

Nedö and the Reef Islands, the Lapita peoples spread rapidly, both further south and

eastwards where some of them later laid the foundation for the Polynesian culture, which

would spread all over Remote Oceania and eventually return to the Reefs-Santa Cruz area

two millennia later.

There are three archaeological sites in the Reefs-Santa Cruz area. The oldest of them (SE-SZ-

8) is close to the modern-day Nagu village. Radiocarbon dating has yielded an age as far

back as 3140 ± 70 BP (Green 1991; Kirch 1997: 156).1 According to archaeological evidence

the three sites in the Reefs-Santa Cruz area are the oldest settlements discovered outside

the Bismarcks. As no older Lapita site is found today in the main Solomons, Sheppard and

Walter (2006) propose that the settlers leapfrogged the 2,000-km distance past these

islands, and that they actually arrived in Temotu before they did so at the rest of the

Solomons (see also Sheppard 2011). This hypothesis is debated (see for instance

"Comments" in Sheppard 2011: 818-32). The main hypothesis is, however, supported by

Ross and Næss (2007) who classify the RSC languages and the Utupua-Vanikoro languages

in a direct subgroup to Oceanic which they call Temotu (c.f. §3.2.7). Direct contact between

the Lapita homeland is also strongly suggested by the great amounts of obsidian2 from the

Bismarcks in the Temotu sites (Sheppard 2011).

Little is known about life on Nedö in the following two and a half thousand years, before the

Europeans came there.

1.3.2 European contact

On 7 September 1595 a Spanish group of four ships led by Alvaro Mendaña de Meyra

‘discovered’ the island as the first Europeans. Markham (1873) gives an account of how the

island got its European name as they first sighted the still-active volcano Tinakula, sitting

some 25 km to the north.

After discovering the Marquesas, they sighted land on the 7th

of September, which Mendaña at

first believed to be the longed-for Solomon Islands. There was a high hill rising out of the sea,

with volumes of smoke rolling from its summit, and more extensive land to the south. The

voyagers were at once reminded of the volcanic peak in the Canary Islands, and named the land

Santa Cruz (Markham 1873: 11-12).

1 Green (2009) provides an evaluation of the dating of the three Lapita sites in the Reefs and on Santa

Cruz, among them the SE-SZ-8 site at Nagu. 2 Obsidian is volcanic glass formed as rock. It occurs naturally and it was extensively used for tools in the

prehistoric period.

1.3 History 7

Even though he soon realised that these were not the Solomon Islands he sought, and which

he had discovered 27 years earlier, he landed in a big bay on the north-western part of the

island which he named ‘Graciosa’ and formed a colony there. The European presence,

however, would soon turn out to be short-lived.

The islanders were uneasy about their new neighbours—maybe because one of the alien

ships had kidnapped eight men on an excursion in the area—and they protected themselves

by shooting poisoned arrows at their enemies. At the same time, the Europeans started to

suffer from different diseases, probably including malaria, and many of them died. Despite

this, the men were driven hard, and soon riots broke out within the small colony. After a

short period of time, Mendaña himself died, probably from malaria. His wife, Doña Isabel,

was given command. With advice from Mendaña’s pilot de Quiros, she decided to leave the

island to continue the search for the Solomon Islands. Just a little more than a month after

their arrival, the Europeans left the island.

There are different versions about what happened to the body of Mendaña. Markham

(1873), who derives his story from de Quiros, says that the body was placed on board one of

the ships which soon ran on a reef, and everybody onboard was killed. Local oral tales,

however, say that Mendaña, in fact, made friends with one of Nedö’s most powerful chiefs,

and that his body is buried somewhere in the Graciosa Bay area.

Today, there are both wild pigs (poi kägö) and wild chickens (Red Junglefowl, kio kägö) on

Nedö. We cannot be sure where they came from, or at what time, but a reasonable

hypothesis is that they were brought there by Mendaña and his people.

The next European to arrive was Captain Philip Carteret. In August 1767 he anchored his

leaky ship in a bay on the northeastern coast of Nedö. The islanders took them as enemies,

and are said to have shot poisoned arrows at them. Captain Carteret responded by pointing

his cannons at the people on shore and opening fire before sailing away. Today, four place

names remind us of this short and bloody confrontation: Nedö’s north-eastern point got the

name Cape Byron. The first bay to the west of the point, Swallow Bay, was Carteret’s first bay

of anchorage, named after his ship, Swallow. A smaller bay further to the west was named

Byron Bay. Finally, the bay where most blood was shed, was named Bloody Bay (Markham

1873: 27-29), but that name does not seem to have been retained until today.

After Mendaña’s and Carteret’s visits came a few decades with minimal outside contact. In

May 1793 the French Captain D’Entrecasteaux sighted and redetermined the position of the


southern tip of Nedö, and in 1797 Captain James Wilson sighted the northern part of the

island. In 1823 an Irishman named Peter Dillon3 was in command of a ship which sailed

along the northern coast of Nedö and landed in Graciosa Bay. The islanders met Dillon and

his crew, but not much is known about that encounter.

But then, in the mid-1800s, the islanders on Nedö had to cope with new and even more

aggressive encounters. In the 1840s, trading of sandal wood and cotton became lucrative

businesses for the Europeans. Their ships traversed the South Pacific to find volunteer

workers, either for cutting trees or to work on plantations in Fiji, Australia and Vanuatu (at

that time known as the New Hebrides). Many of those who refused, were kidnapped. There

are several stories of Pacific islanders being killed, and of villages being burnt down or

destroyed. These ships soon came to be known as blackbirders.4 Davenport (2005: 98,

Notes) say that Nedö and the Santa Cruz Islands were especially subjected to the

blackbirders, and consequently the inhabitants became sceptical and hostile to any ship.

Many people on both sides lost their lives in those days, including missionaries, who had

started arriving at about the same time as the blackbirders. The islanders’ anxiety about

some of the missionaries was probably not helped by the fact that missionaries sometimes

sailed accompanied by naval ships. In one specific case in 1864, missionaries were killed by

poisoned arrows in Graciosa Bay (Markham 1873: 48, 60; Davenport 2005: 98, Notes).

There were several such instances in the years to come5,6 and it took a long time before

there were any converts to Christianity. This is also due to some of the actions of these early

missionaries, some of which we will return to later.

3 Dillon came from the island of Vanikoro, where he had discovered the shipwrecks of La Pérouse, the

French navigator who disappeared some decades earlier. 4 At first the blackbirding enterprise was even supported by British rule. As a consequence of the islanders’

hostility to and warfare against the blackbirders and their actions, it is said that naval ships were sent to curb the islanders’ rage, for instance by destroying their villages (Markham 1873: 47). First, in the early 1870s, British navy ships were sent to prevent ’the labour traffic’. After a turbulent period Commander Albert Hastings Markham and his ship Rosario were sent to investigate the rumours of violence.

My orders were to visit, as far as time would admit, every island of the New Hebrides and Santa Cruz groups, putting myself in communication with missionaries, planters, or other persons, from whom I might obtain reliable information respecting the numerous murders of British subjects which had recently taken place, and also respecting the alleged kidnapping of natives which was supposed to have been the cause of those crimes (Markham 1873: 51).

On 30 November 1871 Markhams’s ship achored in Byron Bay at Santa Cruz’ northern coast. Even though Markham describes the islanders as anxious, they did not attack the ship. And instead of conflict, trade was set up between the ship and the many canoes surrounding it (Markham 1873: 158). 5 In 1875, Captain Goodenough died from poisoned arrows in an attack at Nedö (Davenport 2005: 59).

6 It should be mentioned that Bishop Patteson of the Melanesian Mission was killed at the island of

Nukapu in the outer Reefs. There are, however, different views about the real reason for this murder (c.f. Kolshus and Hovdhaugen 2010).

1.3 History 9

During World War II, one of the biggest battles in the Pacific took place in the area, and

Graciosa Bay served for some as a base for sea planes. For the most part, the battles were

fought north to northwest of Nedö. However, people had heard what was going on, and

when an American navy ship anchored for a short time outside the coast of the Engdewu

village, they were very frightened. Elders still remember how the whole village fled further

into the bush to avoid being seen.

The European contact just described primarily took place on the northern coast of Nedö.

One explanation for this is that there are much fewer good harbours and landing sites in the

south. Still, it is likely that both blackbirders and missionaries also visited the southern parts

of the island, where the Engdewu people lived. A couple of place names do suggest some

kind of contact over the years: the island with the indigenous name Tömotu Noi right off the

south-eastern coast where Nagu and several other villages and settlements are, is also

known as Lord Howe Island, on which the easternmost point is named Point Proby. Whether

these are names given while sailing by, or whether crew from the ships actually landed is

hard to know.

Even though we do not know much about how these contacts took place, there was some

kind of contact, directly or indirectly. In fact, Europeans nearly made the whole Engdewu

society break down. This will be touched upon in the next section.

1.3.3 History of the Engdewu people

After settling the islands some three thousand years ago, the peoples in the Temotu

Province and Reefs and Nedö continued to be in contact with each other, and the different

peoples and cultures that developed were part of an intricate trade network of food

products, large outrigger canoes, women and currency. Polynesian peoples arrived in the

area later, around 1,000 years ago, and played an important part in the network. Today, this

is evident in the many Polynesian loan words in RSC, as mentioned above. More than a

decade ago, the Engdewu people lived in small villages along most of the south coast of

Nedö, from an area a little south of today’s Mömwawë to the lagoon area east of Nagu,

towards the island’s easternmost point. These villages were much smaller in size and were

structured differently from today’s villages (Davenport 2005: 3-4). See §1.4.2.

All in all, the number of people must have been considerably more than today. Even though

European contact definitely had its upsides, it had one nearly fatal side. Davenport writes:

‘By the turn of the century, returning plantation laborers and visiting ships had introduced


diseases that swept these islands in epidemic waves, and the population began serious and

almost fatal decline’ (Davenport 1964b: 60).

The Engdewu community must have been the community that was struck hardest by these

epidemics. A turning point in their history, as remembered by people, was a dysentery

epidemic that spread over the southeastern coast, killing most people in the villages and

settlements here, including the Nagu of that time, situated somewhat to the east of today’s

Nagu village. Many of those who did not die were married into other villages with different

languages. But some managed to move west, towards the villages of Tavi, Engdewu and

Ewawö. After a period with several villages, only three were left. If the language had

prospered before, this was no longer the case.

Engdewu and Tavi were situated east of the Nabalue river, while Ewawö was situated to the

west. Engdewu is remembered as something of a fortress. It was placed on a high plateau

with steep rocky walls running down on three sides, two to the east and south, running

directly down into the sea. The northern border of the village was dense bush. Engdewu was

a powerful village, and had two powerful men’s houses and two dancing circles. The

northern and southern parts of the village, Mne and Mömalë, are sometimes referred to as

two villages that had grown together. The rocky wall to the east of Engdewu ran down to a

small area surrounded by sea and steep hills, and with a small passage to the village of Tavi.

Tavi, lying by the shore to the east of Engdewu, was situated close to a point feared for its

dangerous waters. Ewawö, on the other hand, was situated a little to the south of today’s

Mömwawë, bordering the Nalögo-speaking area. Nothing much is known about Ewawë. It is

said that a garden and a garden house were located a little outside the village, giving the

name to today’s Mömwawë, which meant something like ‘the full house’ (cf. §6.5.3).

The three villages had different dialects. The Ewawö variety was the most distinct of them,

and people sometimes mention it as a different language. But Engdewu and Tavi also had

differences, though people regarded them as belonging to the same dialect.

Then, in the 1950s, as the older generations remember it, times became harder, and the

harvests became very poor in the area. People decided to abandon their villages and head

south-east, partly because the growing conditions were better there. Nagu was resettled by

most of the people from Ewawö, Engdewu and Tavi, and it became the new cultural and

linguistic centre of the language and its speakers. This was the end of the Ewawö and Tavi

varieties of the language. Today, everybody says that they speak the predecessor of the

Engdewu variety. The other varieties are lost, except for a few words.

1.4 The people and their culture 11

After living in the Nagu village region for some time a group returned to their former area

and established a new village, Mömwawë, on the western side of the Nabalue river, where

the dwellings of Ewawë were once located. And later, in the 1970s, a small group

established the village of Ulou.

1.3.4 Genealogical classification: The Reefs-Santa Cruz languages as Oceanic

There are four closely related languages spoken on Nedö and in the Reef Islands. They are

grouped together in the RSC language group. There has been disagreement concerning the

genetic affiliation of the RSC languages, but today they are regarded as members of the

Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family (cf. Chapter 3).7 They can thus be

regarded as direct decendants of the language of the Lapita peoples described in §1.3.1.

There is consensus among historical linguists that the homeland of the Austronesian

languages is Taiwan. Several first-order language families are found exclusively on Taiwan,

often referred to as Formosan languages. Ross (2010, p.c.) says that there is a current

debate concerning the grouping of the Formosan languages (c.f. Blust 2009; Ross 2009;

Sagart 2010), but scholars agree that only one branch, whether a first- or second-order

group of Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) contains languages spoken outside Taiwan. The

area covered by the western languages, that is, the Philippines, Malaysia, and western

Indonesia, is home to 20–30 groups, before being grouped together in the Western Malayo-

Polynesian branch. There are several controversies regarding the central and eastern

languages, but it is clear that there is a group of Oceanic languages within the eastern

languages (Ross 2010, p.c.).

Today, it is assumed that the RSC languages and the Utupua-Vanikoro (UV) languages form a

subgroup directly linked to the Oceanic branch of Austronesian (Ross and Næss 2007). Such

a hypothesis implies that people in the Santa Cruz Islands arrived from the Bismarcks at an

early stage of Lapita expansion, which will be further discussed in §1.3.1.

1.4 The people and their culture

Davenport notes that the Nedö, Reefs and Duffs islanders ‘are culturally very similar’

(Davenport 1964b: 61). The peoples of Nedö are said to have been used to warfare, and

fights between clans and between villages were common for a long time. Mendaña in the

sixteenth century, and later Carteret and Markham in the eighteenth century describe how

7 The Austronesian language family is the largest language family in the world in terms of the number of

member languages, and it is the second-largest family both in terms of number of speakers and geographic spread (Adelaar 2005: 1).


the seafront was protected at several places by defence works ‘consisting of stonebreast

works, in a semicircular form, about four and a half feet in height, thrown up in alternate

lines in front of the village’ (Markham 1873: 156).

Despite this, there was as mentioned an elaborate trading network between villages and

islands in the area. Red-feather currency and food went from Nedö, women and food went

from the Reef Islands, and outrigger canoes were built and sold by the Polynesians in the

Duff Islands, each society producing something needed by the others. Even within the

islands, different districts and villages had their own specialities valued by others, often

based on differences in resources in the different areas. Davenport says:

These specialties include diverse services and a wide range of techniques for exploiting resources,

including agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, hunting, and crafts. Among the latter are

weaving, canoe making, the manufacture of clothing, ornaments, and regalia, as well as the

making of currencies used in exchanging products. In some cases even raw materials (such as

kinds of shell, stone, and fibers) and partially processed materials (such as cordage, turtle shell,

and feathers) move from one district or island to another, where they are used to manufacture

specialized products before being re-exported again (Davenport 1964b: 62).

Before European influence and law had intruded heavily in the area, the commercial

networks and the movement of people were confined to the limits of the group itself, there

being no regular and very little irregular contact or relationship with peoples outside. Thus,

the whole area of the Santa Cruz Islands with its many district and island interdependencies

can be viewed as a single self-contained social and economic system (Davenport 1964b: 61).

The Engdewu people probably had an important role in this network. Davenport writes that

the communities in the south ‘were terminals for trade with Utupua and Vanikoro until

trade ceased’ (Davenport 1964b: 62), thus probably controlling what went to and from the

islands in the south.

When the Santa Cruz Islands came under British administration in 1899, the complex

network of trade which existed between the Santa Cruz Islands was indirectly prohibited.

Most importantly, as long-distance canoe voyages were argued to be dangerous, and

effectively forbidden, the Polynesians could no longer sail their canoes to the Reefs and

Santa Cruz Islands to sell them. Also, the Reef Islands’ most important economic resource,

women—who were sold to Nedö as wives or as prostitutes—was banned. Consequently, the

people of Nedö lost access to two culturally significant values. Eventually, the trading

network broke down.


Still, the contact with the Polynesians of the Duff and Outer Reef Islands is reflected in the

vocabularies of all the RSC languages, in which words for maritime items have especially

been borrowed. Examples are tepwe (type of outrigger canoe; from VAT te puke?), saulo

(canoe; from VAT te alu?), and most of the names for wind directions.

Today, Nedö is home to the administration of Temotu Province. The provincial capital, Lata,

has government buildings, a police station, a hospital, an airstrip and a wharf, a market

building, several buildings for accommodation, a sports field, an ATM, and even a visitors

bureau.

Nedö (Temotu Nende constituency) is divided into several wards. Nagu ward consists of

more than 15 villages and settlements, including the three Engdewu-speaking villages. Most

villages have a primary school, and secondary schools are found in Nagu. The non-Engdewu

speaking villages in the ward are mostly Äiwoo-speaking, and a few are Nalögo-speaking.

The economy is a mix between money economy and subsistence economy. People grow

fruits and vegetables in private garden plots, usually go fishing and collect shells, and many

regularly go hunting for wild pig or coconut crab. People sell produce in the market in Lata

or at the wharf in Nagu when a ship arrives. In addition copra and sea urchins are sold to

traders.

1.4.1 Social organization

The traditional Nedö society is organized in several ways, however this has changed

considerably over time. Davenport summarises:

Formerly, there was a marked social dichotomy and separation between men's and women's

spheres of life. Women were focused on their gardens and households, men on their specialized

skills and men's associations. Under attack from mission and government alike, this division by

gender, which amounted to a generalized avoidance, has greatly lessened over the past few

decades (Davenport 1996).

Today, many of the everyday tasks are joint work, e.g. both men and women work in the

garden and go fishing, and both are responsible for the care of children. However, the

traditional separation between genders is upheld in some contexts. In church, for instance,

the right seat rows are reserved for men, and the left for women. Even though its

significance has decreased, the men’s house still has a role as a male meeting hall and guest

house, as will be discussed in §1.4.2. In language, the traditional separation is reflected in


the expressions for ‘left hand’ and right hand’: nümü kä opla and nümü kä noude, literally

‘woman’s hand’ and ‘man’s hand’.

In the village people have different responsibilities regarding everyday life, and there are

elected chiefs and leaders to head these different areas. Operation and maintenance of the

village is community-based, sometimes with financial support from a government body or

some development programme. Community work, like cutting timber for building new

public facilities is time-consuming, and often in conflict with other duties. People also have

responsibilities for their own families, like growing and gathering food, building houses,

keeping pigs and chickens. People are, thus, forced to work for their own good in order to

earn money to support their families. Community work—building/restoring important

buildings like schools, churches, and the general maintenance of the village—is, thus, harder

to initiate and carry out.

People are also organised in clans which cross-cut the village level and have their own

‘origin myth explaining how and where it began and the food avoidance its affiliates must

observe’ (Davenport 1964b: 76).

Kinship and family relations have traditionally been a complex matter on Nedö. At the base

is the nuclear family, that is, husband and wife, plus biological and adopted children.

Davenport (1964a: 68) notes that ‘ a doptation is very frequent, because the privilege of

adopting a child follows from having contributed to his father’s bride-price. Since bride-

price contributors are always kinsmen of the father, adoptive parents are likewise close kin’.

At the next level is the extended family. Davenport writes:

Extended families vary in size, strength, and degree of cohesion, yet they figure prominently in

just about every activity or undertaking. Sometimes they consist of two generations, sometimes

three; sometimes they embrace only married siblings, yet they may include male patrilineal

parallel cousins. Such variations are determined by these principles: fathers, sons, and brothers

invariably form extended family groups, clustered about and under the authority of the senior

male agnate. Male patrilateral parallel cousins are included only as long as one of the senior

males of the linking siblingship still lives. This is to say, the extended family must cohere around a

living male who is either a lineal (i.e., father, father’s father) or a brother of a lineal (i.e., father’s

brother, father’s father’s brother). The extended family, then, consists of the households of males

who are lineal descendants of a male siblingship of which one member still lives (Davenport

1964b: 70-71).

As indicated, the groom’s kinsmen have to make ready a bride price for the family of the

bride before the wedding can take place. This makes the contributors indirectly responsible


for the married couple’s children, and in return, the contributors are allowed to decide the

name of any children. The one who makes the most valuable contribution will select a name

for the first-born child, the one with the second most valuable contribution will select a

name for the second-born, etc. The name is often the same as the contributor’s, or his wife’s

(Davenport 1962b; 1964b: 72). Earlier the currency used for bride price was rolls of red-

feather money. Today, modern dollars and other goods are used.

1.4.2 Tradition

We do not know much about the early history of the people and the language, and local oral

memory does not go back more than about a century.

There were four important constructions in the old village. First, Davenport (2005: 2)

describes how carved wooden sculptures were used to represent pre-Christian deities on

Nedö. These figures were important artefacts at a time where each village had its own spirit

or worship house (ma dukna or matuö dukna) to store religious items. These houses were

burned at the instance of the missionaries at the time.

Many of the missionaries who came to Nedö in the nineteenth century had a cruel way of

converting the villagers into Christians, namely by forbidding local cultural and spiritual

customs and artefacts, like the wooden sculptures depicting different kinds of deities.

Davenport describes that missionaries ‘...preferred to destroy images publicly or have their

owners do so both as a demonstration of their new faith and proof that such sacrilegious

acts would bring about no retaliation from the traditional deities’ (Davenport 2005: 4).

With the introduction of Christianity, many of the traditional beliefs disappeared, but some

are still upheld. Davenport writes that ‘ t he most significant beliefs are that Nendo culture

was given by supernatural beings; [and that] these beings continue to control human events

for good and bad’. Misfortune and sometimes death is thus believed ‘to be caused by

supernatural influences’ (Davenport 1996).

Second, men and women had a minimum of contact on a daily basis, and the men’s house

(namwe) played an important part. Much has changed in the last 50 years regarding how the

village societies are organised. The men’s house plays a much smaller role today than in the

1950s. A men’s house was connected to a men’s association, headed by a powerful leader. A

Santa Cruzean village could have several men’s houses with important functions, such as:

‘...being a dormitory for adolescents and other single men, ... a meeting place for the older


men, a center for commercial transactions, a center for most social observances, and,

formerly, the home for its concubines’ (Davenport 1964b: 67).

At present, only Nagu and Ulou have their men’s houses. These are no longer based on men’s

associations, but on the male village community, with the paramount chief and other chiefs

as heads. Many of the rituals connected with the men’s houses are still upheld, but they

often have to compete with, or are shared with the church.

Today the church is the most important institution in the village, as in most parts of

Melanesia. The Engdewu village people are Anglican, and many attend service every day.

However, many events are seen to have two types of celebration: one Christian, and one

traditional. For instance, it is normal that a marriage is carried out in traditional ways,

where different men contribute to the bride price and where a customary ceremony is held.

There is an additional marriage in church.

Third, in connection with the namwe, there was a dancing circle which was used both in

rituals and for entertainment. The dancing circle in Nagu is occasionally used today for

dancing events.

Fourth, behind the village there was a stone fence for keeping pigs (nabwa nubwënö poi).

Traditionally, each village also had a fence for defence. Remnants of these structures can be

seen at some places as overgrown stone constructions in the bush.

1.4.3 The name of the language

The language is perhaps best known as ‘Nanggu’ or ‘Nagu’. When Stephen Wurm studied the

RSC languages in the mid-1950s, he simply used the name of the village where almost all

people lived. As a matter of fact, in the introduction to his 1969 paper, Wurm spoke about

‘the Nanggu dialect of the one [languages] located in south-eastern Santa Cruz’ (Wurm 1969:

48, emphasis added). Later in the paper this becomes the Nagu language. The name

‘Engdewu’, however, is the name preferred by the speakers themselves. It is taken from the

ancient village with the same name, Engdewu, from which the modern-day languages

descend (§1.3.3). Note, however, that there is no historical practice among the speakers

themselves to use a special term for referring to the language, and often they simply say nae

le Engdewu (language of Engdewu people), nae le Nagu (language of Nagu people), etc.

where the place name in the phrase could be any name.

1.5 The current language situation 17

1.5 The current language situation

1.5.1 Sociolinguistic setting

The Engdewu language is spoken by a few more than 200 speakers, primarily on Nedö

island in Temotu Province, the easternmost province in the Solomon Islands. Nine non-

Polynesian Oceanic languages and three Polynesian languages are also spoken in the

province,8 which makes it one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. This

multilinguistic setting did not pose a threat to the Engdewu language before the last century

when the trading network broke down and Solomon Islands Pidgin (i.e. Pijin) was

introduced as a Language of Wider Communication. While English is the official language

taught in school, Pijin is the national lingua franca. English is the language used in most

media, like radio and newspapers that occasionally reach the villages, and is used in more

and more spoken domains. Altogether this makes Engdewu a threatened language, as will be

discussed further in §1.5.3.

There are no clear dialectal differences between the villages, but there is attested variation

among speakers, especially between generations. Some variation might stem from the time

when the language was spoken in a larger number of villages along the south coast of Nedö.

As already mentioned, there are reported to have been dialectal differences between at least

some of these villages. The dialect of Ewawë is especially noted for being different from the

others. One or both parents of many present-day speakers were from Ewawë, and even a

few elderly people were born there. This might have contributed to some of the variation.

Other variation can be ascribed to the influence of the Nalögo language. There are Nalögo-

speaking villages in the vicinity of both Mömwawë and Nagu. The dialect in Nonia, 4 km

south of Mömwawë, is often mentioned by people as an impact factor.

1.5.2 The Engdewu-speaking villages

Today, Engdewu is primarily spoken in three villages on the south coast of Nedö,

Mömwawë, Ulou and Nagu. They will be briefly presented here.

8 The Oceanic languages are the three RSC languages (Äiwoo, Natügu and Engdewu); three languages

spoken on Utupua (Nebao/Aba 590 speakers, Asuboa 10 speakers, and Tanibili 15 speakers); and three languages spoken on Vanikoro (Teanu/Buma 520 speakers, Vano 5 speakers, and Tanema/Tetau 4 speakers). The Polynesian languages are Anuta, spoken on Anuta island (270 speakers); Tikopia, spoken on Tikopia island (ca. 3,320 speakers), and Vaeakau-Taumako, spoken on the outer Reef Islands, the Duff Islands, and in settlements on Nedö (ca. 1,660 speakers; (Lewis 2009).


Map 1.2: Nedö (Santa Cruz Island)

1.5.2.1 Mömwawë

Mömwawë village consists of a main village located in the bush, close to the edge of a cliff

from where one can view across to the old Engdewu area and down to the beach in the small

bay where the Nabalue river meets the sea. A steep track leads down to the river delta,

where the small settlement of Menopmautë lies on a rocky beach. The main village has

about 30–40 households, while the settlement at the beach has less than 10. In total, the

village has about 200 inhabitants.

There is no protecting reef outside Menopmautë, and the sea is at times very rough, making

fishing risky. The bush in the area is not ideal for hunting. Consequently, people often go

hunting and fishing to their customary places along the south coast. However, there are

good growing conditions for many types of vegetables, and the village is well known for

cultivating excellent crops.

The linguistic situation in Mömwawë is very different from that in Nagu. It is much more

uniform in Mömwawë, where everyone can speak the Engdewu language.

1.5.2.2 Nagu

With its 500–600 inhabitants, Nagu is said to be the biggest village on Nedö, with more than

50 households. There are both primary and secondary schools, a church, several small


shops, a newly-built singles’ house, a football field, and a newly-installed public phone

booth. Nagu has its own wharf at nearby Dedu, where there is a small clinic also. Nagu is

situated on a white beach, the village itself being protected by a small reef facing Tömotu

Noi across a wide passage. Nagu lies at the southern entrance to a big lagoon area. These are

factors making it ideal for fishing and catching crabs and shells. The area is also ideal for

growing coconuts. As mentioned in §1.3.1 Nagu is home to one of three Lapita sites in the

area—the only on Nedö—suggesting that there have been people here for thousands of

years.

Nagu is linguistically the most diverse of the Engdewu speaking villages, and probably of

any village on Nedö (except for Lata). Less than half of its inhabitants have Engdewu as their

first language. Other common languages are Äiwoo, Nalögo, Pijin, and also Vaeakau-

Taumako. There are several reasons for this. First, the area is linguistically diverse, with

both Äiwoo and Nalögo villages in the vicinity. Second, many speakers of different languages

marry into the village. Third, students from the nearby Äiwoo- and Nalögo-speaking areas

come to attend secondary school in Nagu. Fourth, schoolteachers often come from outside,

further contributing to the multilinguistic situation. And last, with all these speakers of

different languages, Pijin becomes a natural language for communication outside the home.

This situation is discussed more in §1.5.3.

1.5.2.3 Ulou

Ulou is the most remote of the three Engdewu speaking villages. Today’s village was settled

as late as the 1970s, and is home to about 10 families. Ulou is situated a few metres above

sea level, on the eastern side just past the entrance of a big bay (Nabwanu kä ilöpi) with

Nedö’s biggest river running into the bottom of the bay. The village has both a church and a

singles’ house. Besides fishing in the bay and in the river, Ulou and the area around the bay

has a good reputation for the hunting of wild pigs and coconut crabs.

1.5.2.4 Outside Nedö – Honiara

Relative to the total spread or expanse of the language, there is a significant number of

persons speaking Engdewu in the capital of Honiara, maybe as many as 50. Many of these

are counted as persons speaking ‘Other’ languages in Honiara. If they are added to the 1999

Census data, that would increase the total number of speakers by almost 25 per cent.

Unlike the large number of Äiwoo-speakers in Honiara, the Engdewus do not live together in

specific areas.


Plate 1.2: Arriving at Ulou village


Plate 1.3: Mömwawë village

Plate 1.4: Menopmautë


Plate 1.5: Nagu village seafront

Plate 1.6: The namwe in Nagu


Plate 1.7: The truck from Mömwawë to Lata

Plate 1.8: The wharf at Dedu, Nagu


1.5.3 Languages in the vicinity

While Engdewu is the least common of the RSC languages with about 200 speakers, there

are other, more powerful languages in its close vicinity.

Äiwoo, with its approximately 8,000 first-language speakers, is the most common language

in the region. It is mainly spoken in the Reef Islands some 50 km north of Nedö, but due to

overpopulation and shortage of food, an increasing number of villages and settlements have

been established on the northern and south-eastern coasts of Nedö, many of them in areas

formerly inhabited by Engdewu people. The lagoon area east of Nagu, historically Engdewu

territory, is today home to about 1,000 people from the Reef Islands. There is also a

considerable colony of Äiwoo-speakers in Honiara. Äiwoo-speakers often marry their

neighbours, who usually learn their language. Äiwoo is a common language in the Engdewu-

speaking villages, especially Nagu.

Natügu is spoken as a first language by more than 4,000 people in the northern and western

parts of Nedö, making it the most common language on the island. It is spoken in Lata, the

provincial capital, and in the islands’ most central parts. Natügu-speakers mostly marry

inside the language community: it is thus not threatened, and it does not pose a direct threat

to Engdewu.

Nalögo is spoken as a first language by about 1,500 people in the south-western part of

Nedö, close to the Engdewu-language area in the south. Consequently, there are many

encounters between Nalögo- and Engdewu-speakers, and many marriages are of a mixed

kind. As mentioned, people report that the close proximity of Nalöngo villages affects the

Engdewu language as regards words and pronunciation.

Vaeakau-Taumako is the Polynesian language in the area. It is primarily spoken in Vaeakau

(the outer Reef Islands) and the Duff Islands (Taumako), but there are colonies on Nedö as

well (Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011). Some Polynesians are married into the Engdewu

speaking villages, but this does not seem to constitute any threat to the Engdewu language.

Because they are often in minority and often have to adapt to the language of the neighbour,

the Engdewu-speakers are arguably the most linguistically skilled people in the area. It was

probably not before Pijin became the Language of Wider Communication that the

interaction with other speakers became a threat. The linguistic situation of Engdewu and its

vitality status will be discussed in §1.6

1.6 Engdewu: an endangered language 25

1.6 Engdewu: an endangered language

Population growth has led to overpopulation in certain areas, leading to lack of space and

food shortage. Between the last two censuses the population in Temotu increased by about

13 per cent, from 18,912 in 1999 (Solomon Islands 1999 National Population Census 1999)

to 21,362 in 2009 (Solomon Islands Population & Housing Census 2009 2011).

Consequently many people move away from the smaller islands. In recent years several

settlements with people from the smaller, low-lying atolls in the Reef Islands have been

established on Nedö and the adjacent islets Tömotu Noi (also known as Lord Howe Island)

and Tömotu Neo (also known as Malo or Trevanion Island). Areas earlier inhabited by Nedö

islanders have been taken over and resettled by Reef Islanders. This has naturally led to

greater contact between people of different languages.

Before European influence, contact with outsiders was rare, and the movement of people

between districts and islands was highly controlled. Intermarriage between people of

different districts and islands had a strict pattern and was under control of a commercial

network that formed the base of the social and economic system in the islands (Davenport

1964b). Today, this control is much weaker, and it is probable that the number of bilingual

marriages has increased, both with people from other districts and islands, and with

outsiders. At the same time Solomon Islands Pijin has become the Language of Wider

Communication in the area—as is the case for the whole country—and Pijin has become a

primary alternative for communication between any constellation of people with different

mother tongues. Today, Pijin is at least partly spoken in every domain in the Engdewu-

speaking villages. And perhaps most important: Pijin is often preferred in families with

different mother tongues, and also when the marriage is between people from different

districts on Nedö and other islands in the region. This has drastically changed the vitality

status of Engdewu, the least common and most vulnerable language spoken on Nedö.

According to available numbers (238 in 1976; 206 in 1999) and others mentioning the

number of speakers (DeBruijn and Beimers 1999),9 the small number of approximately two

hundred speakers has been upheld for nearly a century. Even though the number of

speakers probably was drastically higher before the turn of the twentieth century, the

language seems to have been in a safe state until recently.

9 The 2009 Census (Solomon Islands Population & Housing Census 2009 2011) unfortunately did not

consider it a mother tongue.


Based on the findings discussed below, Boerger et al. (2012) categorise Engdewu as Level 7

– Shifting on the 13-level Extended Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS,

newly proposed by Lewis and Simons (2010).10 This corresponds to the label ‘Definitely

Endangered’ employed by UNESCO. For a discussion of the vitality status of all the RSC

languages, see Boerger et al. (2012).

The Engdewu-speaking villages have an estimated 600 inhabitants, but Engdewu is the first

language of less than half of these people. Contrary to the mostly monolingual Natügu-

speaking villages, the Engdewu villages are multilingual, and Pijin, Äiwoo, Nalögo, and even

Vaeakau-Taumako are common languages.

Looking at Nedö and the Reef Islands as a whole, Engdewu is spoken by only 2 per cent of

the total population (ca 13,500 people). Engdewu is under pressure from both the inside

and the outside.

While English is the language taught in school and used in reading and writing, Pijin is the

language spoken in school. Pijin is, furthermore, in common use in the villages, either alone,

or along with Engdewu or any of the other languages spoken in the villages. Engdewu is

spoken primarily in the home domain, where it competes with Pijin and the neighbouring

languages.

As described in Davenport (1964b), marriages were traditionally strictly regulated, and only

women were married into a village. Children learnt the languages of both parents. Today,

these patterns have changed, and both men and women can marry into a village. Because

there is less expectation that a man will learn his wife’s language, and because Pijin is

commonly known from school and is the national lingua franca, there is no need for parents

with different first languages to learn each other’s languages, and they often choose Pijin.

Consequently, many children grow up learning Pijin as their own first language. Emerine

(2009) explains the language loss mainly through a threat from Pijin, also mentioned as the

most important threat in Boerger et al. (2012). This is contrary to the situation in the Reef

islands (where the RSC language Äiwoo and the Polynesian Vaeakau-Taumako are spoken),

where mostly women marry into another village, and where they are expected to learn and

speak the language of that village.

EGIDS Level 7 – Shifting implies that: ‘[t]he child-bearing generation knows the language

well enough to use it among themselves but none are transmitting it to their children’

10

The 13-level EGIDS is an extension of Fishman’s (1991) 8-level Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, in which the UNESCO 6-level scale of endangerment (Brenzinger et al. 2003) and the Ethnologue 5-criteria metric (Lewis 2009) are integrated.

1.6 Engdewu: an endangered language 27

(Lewis and Simons 2010). It should be noted, however, that even though this is the case in

most instances, there still are a few families where the children learn Engdewu as their first

language. However, while there are children growing up learning Engedwu as their first

language, and while many children do know Engdewu to some extent, the youngest

generation can, in general, probably not be said to be proficient speakers of their parents’

first languages.

When an Engdewu-speaker meets an outsider, he has to switch to the other’s language, or to

Pijin. Contact with others is getting more common all the time. Mömwawë has a road

connection to the Nalögo-speaking villages and to Lata, where there is a wharf and an

airstrip with regular flights. There are no roads leading to Nagu, but the village has a proper

wharf connecting it to Lata, to other islands and villages in the province, and to the capital.

1.6.1 Language decline in song activities

A common cultural manifestation found in all Nedö languages is the song. There are several

different genres, traditionally used in fighting, shark fishing, bird catching, mourning, and

for joy and dancing only. There are a number of different forms and rhythm patterns, but

many are based on the same melody/harmony pattern. The songs usually consist of one

verse that is repeated, and where the first and last stanzas are textually identical. Songs are

often performed as antiphony between a lead singer and a choir, as described in Haase

(1977). Traditionally, every village has at least one dancing circle, used on special occasions,

as mentioned above. The dance is performed inside the circle accompanied by singing by

both men and women in groups. A dancing session can take hours or even days and nights.

Today, songs in Engdewu are on the decline. First, many of the cultural settings where songs

were employed as important and integrated features are gone. For example, shark fishing

used to be an important cultural activity among men, and there were ritual songs to be sung

before, during and after fishing was performed. Special outrigger canoes (saolo/alatë) were

built and used for this purpose. Today, few people are occupied with traditional shark

fishing and with canoes, so canoe building skills and songs for that purpose are almost lost.

Second, because the song and dance tradition is common all over Nedö, and because people

from different villages usually meet during these events, the result is that languages other

than Engdewu (that is, mostly Natügu) are used for this purpose. This is the case even in the

Engdewu-speaking villages when there are no Natügu speakers present.

29

CHAPTER 2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 Introduction

This chapter will describe and discuss the foundations for the present analysis. Theoretical

assumptions will be considered in §2.2, the work situation, including the (choice of)

consultants and the field situation, will be discussed in §2.3, technical practicalities about

equipment will be presented in §2.4, and software tools in §2.5.

2.2 Basic Linguistic Theory

The term Basic Linguistic Theory was first coined by R. M. W. Dixon in The rise and fall of

languages (Dixon 1997). It is abbreviated ‘BLT’, and refers to the set of generalisations

inductively drawn from the description and analysis of natural languages. BLT focuses on

grammar, ‘the organizational nucleus of every language’ (Dixon 2010b), which is formed by

the relations between members of different word classes.

This theory is discussed in Volume I: Methodology in the three-volume work Basic linguistic

theory (Dixon 2010a, 2010b, 2012), where Dixon both discusses principles in the

grammatical structure of natural languages, and proposes guidelines for those working in

the descriptive linguistics field.

The notion ‘basic linguistic theory’ as a real theory has been questioned by some scholars,

and others working with descriptions of languages reject that they work within a theoretical

framework. Matthew S. Dryer, however, has made a great effort arguing for its existence as a

real theory, and he explains that:

[t]he extent to which most descriptive work shares the same theoretical assumptions is actually

rather striking, especially when one considers how much such work has in common in its

assumptions compared to other theoretical frameworks. It is probably the most widely used and

best known theoretical framework in the field, especially outside the United States. It is

particularly popular among linguists who are more interested in languages than in language.

Many linguists who are adherents of other theoretical frameworks assume it as a point of

departure, as a framework they wish to improve on (Dryer 2001).

As a consequence, even people who do not necessarily relate to one specific linguistic

theory, contribute to the body of BLT by sharing their knowledge, and by making

30 Chapter 2 Theory and methodology

generalisations, based on their own findings in their subject language on the one hand, and

on descriptions made by others on the other. BLT is, thus, a typologically informed theory,

and it is neither the work of one man nor of a small group. Rather it is the sum of insights

drawn from any descriptive work.

One important insight in BLT is that when linguists write about language, the description

should be textually and notionally available for more than the researcher himself and his

closest acquaintances. Dryer notes that that includes ‘semantic considerations’ and the

employment of ‘...terminology that has been used for similar phenomena in other languages’

(Dryer 2001).

The present work is thought to be in the spirit of BLT, and an effort is made to make the

analysis accessible, even to the speakers themselves.

2.3 The fieldwork situation and consultants

2.3.1 The fieldwork situation

Fieldwork in Nedö was carried out in two stages, both lasting for three months, the first

roughly in the period September–November 2009, and the second roughly in the period

April–June 2011. Before these, about three months’ fieldwork was carried out in the Reef

Islands in the spring of 2005, in connection with this researcher’s work on his MA thesis on

Äiwoo of the same language group as Engdewu (Vaa 2006). That gave him invaluable insight

in the life and culture of the peoples of Temotu, and in the Solomon Islands in general. It was

during that field trip that the researcher first met an Engdewu-speaker with whom he made

the first recordings of the language.

Time was shared equally between Mömwawë and Nagu. Ulou was only paid a very short

visit at the end of the last trip, as the researcher understood too late that this also was a

village with more than just a couple of houses.

Communication was conducted in Pijin or English, based on the preference of the

consultants. Narratives were mostly collected through home visits, while elicitation and

transcriptions/translations were carried out in different temporary homes of the

researcher. Songs were equally recorded in both ways. Consultants working with elicitation

and transcription/translation were paid per hour, as such work is very time-consuming.

Informed consent was obtained orally and recorded by digital audio recordings.

During the first visit, although some elicitation (the staged events) was done, the main way

of collecting data was through the recording, transcription and translation of narratives

2.3 The fieldwork situation and consultants 31

(kastom stori), and some songs. The idea was that narratives, and also songs, are of high

cultural value, and, thus, important to record in language documentation. The speakers

themselves consider their kastom stories to be of high cultural value, and think it is a good

idea that they appear in text books: in that way some of their cultural heritage can be passed

on to new generations.

Today, there are only a handful of traditional songs in the Engdewu language. Some time

was, therefore, spent documenting this part of the oral culture.

2.3.2 The consultants

The researcher spent about the same amount of time in the two villages of Mömwawë and

Nagu, while the smaller village of Ulou was paid only a short visit. Twenty-seven speakers

were consulted, 12 of whom were from Mömwawë, 14 from Nagu, and 1 from Ulou.

The initial plan was to have a more or less equal distribution in sex and age, equally spread

between the villages. Another criterion was that the consultants should have some

knowledge of English, in addition to Solomon Islands Pijin. However, it turned out that these

requirements were difficult to implement.

2.3.2.1 Gender

The consultants were chosen in cooperation with leaders in the villages, and the outcome of

this was that the researcher ended up with 22 male speakers and only 5 female ones. This

has at least two reasons: first, men in general are more educated than women, and

consequently, thought of as linguistically more skilled; second, men turned out to be more

willing than women, maybe because the researcher himself was a man.

2.3.2.2 Age

As the number of mother tongue–speakers seems to be declining, and people generally are

worried about the future of their language, it was difficult to achieve the requirement of an

even spread in age. As for any language in the world, Engdewu is a language in change, and

the younger generations in some respect use the language differently from the elders. The

majority of consultants were clearly of the opinion that the eldest speakers were the most

proficient ones with detailed knowledge of correct language use and with the greatest

lexical knowledge. This viewpoint was even shared by the youngest speakers, who often

excused themselves saying that they did not have sufficient knowledge in their first


language. This attitude, combined with a profound concern for the future of their language,

made it difficult for the researcher to argue for more young speakers.

2.3.2.3 Villages

While all three villages are situated relatively close to each other on the south coast of Nedö,

time was divided equally between the two villages of Mömwawë and Nagu. Ulou was only

paid a very short visit. It is by far the smallest of the three villages, and lies in walking

distance from Nagu. Linguistically, it is not believed that this omission has had a great

impact on the present work, as people in all three villages are closely related, and people

from Ulou visit their relatives in Nagu, and also Mömwawë, on a regular basis.

Information about the consultants—their home village, (approximate) age and sex—is given

in Table 2.1.


Table 2.1: The consultants

Code Village Age Sex What

M01m Mömwawë ca. 45 M Elicitation

M02m Mömwawë ca. 30 M Narrative

M03m Mömwawë ca. 50 M Elicitation

M04f Mömwawë ca. 90 F Elicitation

M05m Mömwawë 92 M Narratives, song, elicitation

M06m Mömwawë ca. 40 M Elicitation, transcription/translation

M07m Mömwawë ca. 75 M Narrative, song11

M08m Mömwawë ca. 40 M Narrative, elicitation, word list

M09f Mömwawë ca. 40 F Song, transcription/translation

M10f Mömwawë ca. 50 F Elicitation

M11m Mömwawë ca. 85 M Narrative, songs

M12m Mömwawë 15 M Narrative

N01m Nagu ca 70. M Narratives, song

N02m Nagu 72 M Elicitation, short narratives

N03m Nagu ca. 65 M Elicitation, narrative, transription/translation

N04f Nagu 52 F Elicitation, short narratives,

transcription/translation

N05m Nagu 47 M Elicitation, short narrative

N06m Nagu 60 M Elicitation

N09m Nagu ca. 90 M Songs

N08m Nagu 29 M Elicitation, transcription/translation

N09m Nagu 57 M Elicitation, short narrative

N10f Nagu F Elicitation

N11m Nagu 68 M Elicitation, songs, short narrative,


N12m Nagu 60 M Elicitation, narratives, short narratives,


N13m Nagu 44 M Elicitation, short narrative,


N14m Nagu ca. 70 M Narrative, song

U01m Ulou ca. 40 M Elicitation

11

Recordings of M07m is excluded from the current investigation because he originally has Nalögo as mother tongue. Studies of these recordings will be interesting in a later, more thorough investigation on variation in Engdewu.


2.3.3 Data

Most of the recording hours consisted of elicitation sessions. With few exceptions the

sessions were recorded on the 2011 field trip. This alone accounts for 86 hours and 39

minutes of recording. In addition, the data material consist of about 123 minutes of

narratives divided into different genres (traditional stories, short stories about personal

experiences, and procedural texts) and about 170 minutes of recorded responses to video

stimuli elicitation tasks. There are also 2 hours and 48 minutes of word-list elicitation, and

about 10 minutes of recorded songs.12

Several types of elicitation tasks were employed. These are shown in Table 2.2.

12

Note that due to time limitations, not all materials have been consulted in the analysis, as checking and normalising of all transcriptions/translations were found to be too time consuming.


Table 2.2: Types of elicitation tasks employed

Type Description Example

Direct elicitation The consultant respond to

pointing

Simple elicitation

The consultant translates

words and sentences

fromEnglish or Pijin

Dahl’s The TMA Questionnaire

(Dahl 1985)

Bertinetto’s Questionnaire on

the Progressive Aspect (MPI-EVA)

Johanna Nichols’s

Transitivizing/Detransitivizing

questionnaire (Nichols,

Peterson, and Barnes 2004)

Elicitation by paraphrase

The consultant is asked if

there are other ways to

formulate a given response

Paradigmatic elicitation The consultant provides all or

missing forms in a paradigm

Targeted elicitation

The consultant judges test

phrases based on preliminary

hypotheses

Stimuli elicitation

The consultant is asked to

respond to specific stimuli

designed to elicit certain

aspects of the language

Staged Events (van Staden et

al. 2001)

Childrens’ Cut & Break

(Bowerman and Majid 2003)

During the second field trip, the main focus was on different elicitation techniques and

mostly shorter narratives.

2.3.3.1 Stimuli clips

Among the elicitation techniques employed were two sets of video clips designed for

elicitation tasks. Both sets were developed at the Language and Cognition Department at the

Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The video clips were

shown to the consultants, one at the time, on a laptop. After each clip they were asked to

explain in Engdewu what they had just seen. The responses were recorded. At a later stage


the responses were transcribed and translated with the help of consultants into Pijin or

English.

Staged events (van Staden et al. 2001). This set consists of 53 short and long video clips

showing one or more people in a complex setting. The test was thought of as a helpful

tool in elicitating complex verb constructions, and as a good way to investigate how

referents are introduced and reintroduced in Engdewu, as the persons in the video clips

belong to a limited set of people. This test was extremely time-consuming, and it was,

therefore, presented to two consultants only.

Children's cut & break (Bowerman and Majid 2003). This set consists of 34 short video

clips (including two control clips) where a set of people perform different forms of

cutting and breaking actions on different objects. The test was thought to be useful in

the exploration of complex verb constructions, as cut and break verbs in the other RSC

languages exhibit an array of complex verbs denoting such actions (Næss and Boerger

2008). For the same reasons as for the staged events, the task was thought to be a good

tool in collecting information about the expression of referents in different states of

activation. This task was presented to three consultants.

An overview of recordings of stimuli clip elicitation sessions is given in Table 2.3. A grey

field indicates that the recording has not been transcribed and translated, and it is therefore

not included in the corpus that is the basis for the present research. See APPENDIX 3 for a

description of each of the video clips.


Table 2.3: List of recordings of stimuli clips for elicitation tasks

Type Length

(mins:secs)

Participant Reference

Staged Events 23:40 M06m SE_set1_220909_M06m

Staged Events 24:25 M08m SE_set1_210909_M08m

The TMA Questionnaire 162:00 N02m N02m_110512-003_TMA_A

The TMA Questionnaire 10:25 N02m N02m_110512-004_TMA_B

The TMA Questionnaire 144:00 M03m M03m_110411-000_TMA_A

The TMA Questionnaire 21:50 M03m M03m_110411-001_TMA_B


questionnaire

27:52 M06m M06m_110412-

000_trans_detrans

Questionnaire on the

Progressive Aspect

85:15 M03m M03m_110418-000_Prog_S01-

S10

M03m_110418-001_Prog_S11-

S13

M03m_110425-000_Prog_S14-

S31

M03m_110425-001_Prog_S32-

S51

Childrens’ Cut & Break 29:30 N04f N04f_110519-001_Cut_Break

Childrens’ Cut & Break 6:30 M05m M05m_110610-001_Cut_Break

Childrens’ Cut & Break 26:35 N11m N11m_110518-003_Cut_Break

2.3.3.2 Questionnaires

Different questionnaires were employed to elicit verbal features concerning tense, aspect

and mood, and transitivity. This was a major focus of the 2011 fieldtrip. Each session was

recorded.

Dahl’s The TMA questionnaire (Dahl 1985). This questionnaire has two parts. Part A

consists of 156 sentences with contextual explanations (1–156). Part B consists of nine

short connected texts (B1–B9). This extensive questionnaire is designed to cover a wide

range of questions concerning tense, aspect and mood. Two speakers were consulted.

Bertinetto’s Questionnaire on the progressive aspect (Department of Linguistics at the

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany). This

questionnaire consists of 83 sentences with contextual explanations (S01–S83). Some of


the sentences were excluded as they were found to be difficult to understand by the

consultants. Topics were changed in others to adjust them to the environment. The

questionnaire is especially designed to investigate the progressive aspect in 26

subsections focusing on different verbs and sentence types: tentative definition;

transitive verbs and valency; object incorporation; causative verbs; motion verbs; phasal

verbs; postural verbs; non-durative verbs; non-intentional verbs; non-agentive,

intransitive processes; stative verbs; copular verbs; remoteness/invisibility; durative

adverbials; graduality adverbs; imminental meaning; temporariness; backgrounding;

habitual (and quasi-habitual); futurate meaning; sequence and coordination of events;

imperative; passive; negation; modal verbs; temporal location of the event. Two speakers

were consulted.

Johanna Nichols’s Transitivizing/detransitivizing questionnaire (Nichols, Peterson, and

Barnes 2004). The questionnaire consists of 38 short sentences without context (1–36).

It consists of 18 pairs of intransitive/transitive sentences (one of which comes in a and b

variants). The pairs are laugh/make laugh, die/kill, sit/seat, eat/feed, learn/teach,

see/show, be angry/make angry, be afraid/frighten, hide/hide, boil/boil, burn up

(down)/burn down, break/break, open/open, dry/dry, be straight/straighten,

hang/hang or lean/lean, turn/turn, fall/drop. Only one speaker was consulted.

Transitivity was, however, a focus in several other elicitation sessions.

Sentences from the questionnaires were read aloud to the consultant with or without the

accompanying context. The sentences were often translated into Pijin to improve

understanding. Sometimes the consultant and the researcher talked about the sentence

before a response could be given, and the consultants at times chose to translate the context

given.

An overview of the questionnaire recordings is given in Table 2.4.

Table 2.4: List of questionnaire recordings

Type Length

(mins:secs)


The TMA Questionnaire 162:00 N02m N02m_110512-003_TMA_A

The TMA Questionnaire 10:25 N02m N02m_110512-004_TMA_B

The TMA Questionnaire 144:00 M03m M03m_110411-000_TMA_A

The TMA Questionnaire 21:50 M03m M03m_110411-001_TMA_B


questionnaire

27:52 M06m M06m_110412-

000_trans_detrans

Questionnaire on the

Progressive Aspect

85:15 M03m M03m_110418-000_Prog_S01-

S10

M03m_110418-001_Prog_S11-

S13

M03m_110425-000_Prog_S14-

S31

M03m_110425-001_Prog_S32-

S51

2.3.3.3 Narratives

The corpus contains 22 narratives, 15 short (< 5 minutes), 4 long (5–10 minutes), and 3

very long (> 10 minutes) ones. Eight of these are traditional stories, six are stories about

personal experiences and views, three are stories about the people and culture in the past,

and five are procedural texts. An overview of recordings of narratives is given in Table 2.5. A

grey field indicates that the recording has not been transcribed and translated, and was,

therefore, not included in the corpus that is the basis for the present research.


Table 2.5: List of narratives

Type Length

(mins:secs)


Traditional (kastom stori) 34:00 N01m Story_041009_N01m


Historical 3:00 M02m Story_130909_M02m

Historical/personal 6:00 M04f Story_130909_M04f

Personal 2:00 N05m Story_160909_N05m

Traditional (kastom stori) 4:00 M05m Story_100909_M05m


Personal 2:00 N12m Story_101009_N12m



Personal 2:00 SM Story_120505_SM


Personal 2:00 M12m Story_090909_M12m

Historical/personal 1:15 M07m M07m_110501-001_outrigger

Procedural 2:30 N05m N05m_110531-001_wildpig

Personal 2:50 N09m N09m_110530-002_birds

Procedural 4:45 N11m N11m_110601-000_eelfishing

Procedural 4:10 M08m M08m_110427-001_poi

Procedural 1:50 N04f N04f_110602-000_breadfruit

Personal 2:55 N13m N13m_110603_people

Procedural 1:20 N04f N04f_110602-002_yam

Traditional (kastom stori) 12:30 N12m N12m_110505-001_kastom_stori

2.3.3.4 Songs

There are 13 recordings of songs with Engdewu lyrics in the material. Some are translations

of modern religious songs, and some are traditional songs. Songs and musical culture of the

Reef Islands and Nedö are studied in Haase (1977).

2.3.3.5 Swadesh/word lists

Basic vocabulary items were collected through recorded elicitations of Swadesh lists and a

word list taken from Bowern (2008).

2.4 Recording technique 41

2.4 Recording technique

2.4.1 Recorder, Zoom H4n

The recorder used in recording data was a Zoom H4n. It is a professional 4 track digital

recorder designed for high definition audio. Sound is recorded directly to removable SDHC

memory cards, which makes it easy to transfer the recordings from the recorder to the

laptop/harddisk via its card reader.

The Zoom H4n has built-in X/Y stereo condenser microphones, but external microphones

were nearly always used to avoid handling noise.

Original recordings were made in 44,100 Hz/32-bit lossless wave format. This makes them

good not only for auditory analysis, but also for instrumental studies in fine phonetic detail.

The recorder was mostly run on battery power. In a few sessions there were technical

problems with the recorder, and a buzzing sound was included in the recordings. This

happened when the recorder was connected to a solar cell circuit. The source of the noise

could not be found, but ground fault or uneven voltage is suspected.

2.4.2 Microphones

2.4.2.1 Mipro MU-55HN

This is an omni-directional headworn condenser microphone with the frequency response

being 40Hz~20KHz±3dB. It is, thus, able to pick up deep male voices. It was connected to

one of the XLR ports of the H4n through the MJ-53 adapter.

The microphone is lightweight, easy to fit and comfortable to wear, and none of the

consultants had any problems wearing it. It is a great advantage that the microphone is

always close to the consultant’s mouth. That maximises the signal-to-noise ratio, and gave

more-than-acceptable recordings, even in environments where noise was unavoidable.

Because of its omni-directional pick-up pattern, it also recorded the researcher’s voice,

without drowning the consultant´s voice in moments of overlap.

Because this is a single mono microphone, it is not suited for recording dialogue.


2.4.2.2 RØDE NT-4

This is a stereo condenser microphone combining a matched pair of cardioid microphone

capsules in an X/Y pattern. Its frequency response is 20Hz~20KHz, and, therefore, also

perfect for deep male voices.

The microphone can be used in any type of recording, and a major advantage is that stereo

recording captures spatial information about the sound. The microphone is perfect for

dialogue and choir recording. But it also picks up the movement of the speaker, which can

be useful information. A challenge when recording with this microphone was to find a good

place to put it during the recording, especially since the stand used was a small table stand.

It sometimes turned out to be hard to place it so that it was close to the consultants, but far

from the surrounding noise. It was also important to make sure that the consultants did not

touch the table in front of them, as that would be picked up.

2.4.3 Videocamera

Some of the sessions were filmed with a Sony Handycam HDR-CX115 digital HD camera. The

video was linked with a simultaneous sound recording in ELAN.

2.5 Software tools

Four different software tools have been used in the analysis of the data.

2.5.1 ELAN

Transcriptions and translations were done in ELAN, developed at the Max Planck Institute

for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (http://www.lat-mpi.eu/tools/elan/), and

described in Sloetjes and Wittenburg (2008). ELAN is a professional tool for annotation of

audio and video, and it is well suited for linking transcriptions and translations to

synchronised sound and video files. Some of the transcriptions and translations were

exported to Praat Text Grids for further phonetic analysis in PRAAT. Other files were

exported to Toolbox for grammatical analysis.

ELAN was the main tool during this research. Most materials were transcribed and

translated here, and additional tiers for notes were added. ELAN’s powerful search function

made it possible to navigate easily in the corpora, either randomly, or in searching for

different constructions or word forms or parts of words.

2.5.2 PRAAT

Phonetic analysis was performed in PRAAT, developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink

at Phonetic Sciences, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

http://www.lat-mpi.eu/tools/elan/

2.5 Software tools 43

(http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/). All spectrogram and wave form illustrations used in

this dissertation were created in PRAAT. Some Praat Text Grids were imported from ELAN.

2.5.3 Toolbox

Even though ELAN turned out to be the main tool for searching the corpora, some

grammatical analyses were done and a lexical database was compiled in Toolbox. Toolbox is

a tool for analysing and managing linguistic data, developed by SIL International

(http://www.sil.org/computing/toolbox/index.htm). The files that were analysed in this

way were first transcribed and translated in ELAN before they were imported into Toolbox

for further grammatical analysis.

2.5.4 Phonology Assistant

Phonological analysis was done in Phonology Assistant, developed by SIL International

(http://www.sil.org/computing/pa/). Phonology Assistant is a software for phonological

analysis. Text files were imported from Toolbox for phonological analysis.

http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/

http://www.sil.org/computing/toolbox/index.htm

http://www.sil.org/computing/pa/

45

CHAPTER 3. STATE OF THE ART

3.1 Introduction

The classification of the RSC languages—and, thus, Engdewu—has been subject to debate. In

the Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, two different views on the

classification of the RSC languages were presented, namely Lincoln (1978), and Wurm

(1978). Lincoln argues for an Austronesian origin as opposed to Wurm’s classification.

Wurm (1978) is a reiteration of Wurm (1969) and Wurm (1970): that the RSC languages are

‘Papuan’ languages partly taken over by Austronesian languages. According to him there is a

high percentage of Austronesian morphemes in RSC, but because there are so many ‘Papuan

structural elements’ in the grammar of these languages, they have to be ‘Papuan’, that is,

non-Austronesian.

The only existing attempts at a grammatical description of Engdewu are Wurm (1969) and

Wurm (1972b). The former gives a very brief general description of each of the RSC

languages, including Engdewu, and the latter gives a description of their possessive systems.

Wurm also conducted a tentative comparative-historical analysis for RSC based on a list of

220 basic vocabulary items, arguing for a non-Austronesian origin (Wurm 1970). Of these,

145 items are included in Wurm (1969).

Earlier descriptions and classifications of the RSC languages are Codrington (1885), Capell

(1962) and Davenport (1962b). Tryon and Hackman (1983) include Engdewu and the other

RSC languages in their internal classification of 55 Pacific languages. None of these works

treat Engdewu in any detail. Capell (1962) bases his classification largely on Wurm’s

analyses after communication with him, and, in general, it can be said that until recently

Wurm’s view had been adopted by other scholars. Hence, the RSC languages have been

mentioned as examples of eastern Papuan languages, and as ‘mixed languages’ (Bakker

2003: 123).

In addition to arguments concerning the external classification of RSC, there have been

different opinions on exactly where the borders between the languages should be drawn,

not only genetically (between dialects and languages), but also geographically (between

areas and villages (Capell 1962; Davenport 1962b; Wurm 1969, 1970).

46 Chapter 3 State of the Art

The latest contributions to the debate are Næss (2006), Ross and Næss (2007) and Næss

and Boerger (2008). Based on new studies on Äiwoo and Natügu, they argue in line with

Lincoln (1978) for an Oceanic (i.e. Austronesian) origin for RSC. The debate is interesting

not only in linguistic circles. Indeed, it is of interest to any scholar who studies historical

migration patterns in the Pacific. A major problem is this: How did these Papuan people

come to Nedö and the Reefs? One view could be that they didn’t—it was only the proto-

Oceanic–speaking Lapita peoples who ever settled Nedö and the Reefs, and the languages

there are genetically Oceanic. Another view could be that some Papuans actually had sailing

skills and managed to sail the stretch. The Lapita pottery found there might then be

remnants of a second migration movement by the Lapita people who came later. Extensive

contact between the peoples in the area led to language change, and eventually ended in

‘mixed’ languages. However, this hypothesis is unlikely: first, because archaeologists have

never found evidence of a pre-Austronesian settlement anywhere in the Santa Cruz Islands

(Sheppard and Walter 2006); and second, there is no reason to postulate a Papuan substrate

in the RSC languages, as will be shown below.

In the remainder of this chapter the different opinions on the genetic classification of RSC

(§3.2) and Wurm’s claimed ‘Papuan structural elements’ (§3.3) will be reviewed.

3.2 Genetic classification of RSC

3.2.1 Codrington (1885)

Codrington (1885) gives an overview of languages in Melanesia. He only describes two

languages in the RSC language group, referred to as ‘Nifilole’, said to be spoken on the Reef

Islands,13 and ‘Santa Cruz’, said to be spoken on Nedö.14 The name ‘Nifilole’ is derived from a

small island in the Reefs, commonly known as Nifiloli. Today, the Polynesian Outlier

language Vaeakau-Taumako (formerly Pileni, coined after one of the outer Reef Islands) is

spoken on Nifiloli.15 Codrington’s description, however, is definitely of the Äiwoo language

spoken on Ngäsinue (Fenualoa), a bigger island in wading distance to the south of Nifiloli.

This suggests that Nifiloli was the home of Äiwoo-speakers at Codrington’s time. Davenport

(1962a), however, explains this as a mistake.

13

Referred to as ‘Swallow Islands’ by Codrington (1885). 14

Referred to as ‘Deni’ by Codrington (1885). 15

As mentioned in Chapter 1, Vaeakau-Taumako is spoken today on Nifiloli, Pileni, Makalumu, Matema, Nukapu and Nupani in the Vaeakau district of the outer Reef Islands, and on the Duff Islands (Taumako) about 200 miles north-east of the Reef Islands: see Næss and Hovdhaugen (2011).

3.2 Genetic classification of RSC 47

It was at Nifiloli that the first missionary of the Melanesian Mission was permitted to establish a

school in the Santa Cruz Group in 1878. Although this was a PN-speaking [Polynesian] community

then, to it were drawn a few Reef Island--speakers [Äiwoo] as well, and the samples of this latter

language used by Codrington and Ray were obviously obtained from informants encountered

there without the realization that they were either bilinguals or foreign to the place (Davenport

1962a: 401).

‘Santa Cruz’ is referred to as one language with only small dialectal differences. Codrington’s

records are from a village by the name of Nelua on the north coast of Nedö. The village no

longer exists, but the area is clearly in the Natügu language district.16 Neither Engdewu nor

Nalögo are mentioned in his description. Codrington either did not know about the variation

on Nedö, or he recognised it as small dialectal differences.

Codrington (1885: 16) obviously did not classify the languages according to the principles of

today. But he did note that the ‘Santa Cruz’ language is ‘exceptional’ when compared with

other languages in Melanesia.

3.2.2 Capell (1962)

Capell (1962) upheld Codrington’s internal two-language classification, also opening up for

a classification of them as non-Austronesian, in correspondence with Stephen Wurm.

However, he acknowledged that this classification could be problematic.

3.2.3 Davenport (1962a)

William Davenport spent several years in the Santa Cruz Islands between 1958 and 1976,

and his name is known all over the province. While on Nedö, he was for the most part based

in Graciosa Bay, and his information on the Engdewu language is scant. Davenport seems to

be the first to recognise more than one language on Nedö. He distinguishes between four

RSC languages: Reef Island–Santa Cruz, North-West Santa Cruz, South-Central–Santa Cruz,

and South-East–Santa Cruz.

Reef Island–Santa Cruz (today known as Äiwoo) was at the time spoken by 3,100 speakers in

20 villages on the main Reef Islands, and it is, ‘…clearly related to the dialects of Santa Cruz

Island (Ndeni)’ (Davenport 1962a: 401). North-West Santa Cruz (today known as Natügu)

16

Capell (1962: 402) notes that: ‘[t]he Nelua district has been abandoned for many years now, its speakers dispersed through other districts and dialects along the north coast’. However, modern-day maps still list Nelua as a village, and according to Natügu speakers, there is a village in the area which they mention as ‘Nölwë’. These might all be the same village, and it thus seems that Nelua village still exist (Boerger, p.c.).


was spoken by about 2,004 speakers, ‘…throughout 26 villages distributed along the entire

north and west coasts as well as along a portion of the south coast as far east as the bay and

village marked Nea on the charts’ (Davenport 1962a: 402). South-Central–Santa Cruz (today

known as Nalögo) was spoken by 341 speakers, ‘…in the three villages of Cape Mendaña,

located near the central part of the south coast [and in] their offshoot village of the islet of

Tēmotū Noi’, which lies off the eastern part of the south coast. He notes that Natügu and

Nalögo form a dialect continuum, but he chose to classify them as distinct languages, since

the dialects in the extremes of the chain are said not to be mutually intelligible. See also

Boerger and Zimmerman (2012).

The last language, South-East–Santa Cruz, is reported to have been spoken, ‘…in the two

remaining villages of the island located along the eastern portion of the south coast’. South-

East–Santa Cruz is identical to Engdewu, and the two villages must be the newly-established

Mömwawë and Nagu, the latter re-established some 10 years earlier (cf. §1.5.2). These two

villages are also indicated (without name) on a map in Davenport (1964b).17

3.2.4 Wurm (1969, 1970, 1978)

Just as for Davenport, Stephen Wurm’s name is well known in the Reefs and on Nedö. He

trained and collaborated with local people, and together with a small team (including

Patrick Bwakolo and Martin Moiâ) he suggested an orthography for Äiwoo. During a period

of more than 20 years, Wurm wrote several papers on the RSC languages in general, but

especially on the Äiwoo language.

One of his papers deals especially with the languages on Nedö (Wurm 1972b). Another

paper intends to describe ‘the nature and composition of the verb complex’ in the languages

on Nedö, more accurately Natügu (Wurm 1992: 529).18 Some of the papers are descriptions

of different grammatical aspects of the languages (Wurm 1969, 1972b), and some concern

their classification (Wurm 1969; Wurm and Laycock 1970; Wurm 1972a, 1978). None of

them are exclusively about Engdewu. Information about Engdewu is found in Wurm (1969)

and Wurm (1970), and repeated in several subsequent papers (Wurm 1976, 1978, 1992).

Wurm’s enterprise regarding the Reefs and Nedö languages started after he collected some

data from a Reef Islander who visited Sydney Harbour with the ship S.S. Southern Cross for

17

Note that one of the marks is actually placed where Engdewu was situated, on the east side of the Nabalue river. It would probably be more correct to place the mark on the west side of the Nabalue, where the present-day Mömwawë is situated. 18

Other papers deal with different aspects of ‘Aŷiwo’, i.e. Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands (e.g. Wurm 1981, 1985, 1987).


some days in 1954. Initially, Wurm thought that the man’s language was ‘a highly aberrant

Austronesian language’ (Wurm 1970: 468). In 1965, he undertook six weeks of fieldwork

where he collected and recorded, ‘…quite extensive materials in the Reef Islands language…,

the Malo dialect of the language spoken in northern Santa Cruz … and the Nanggu dialect of

that located in the south-eastern part of the island’ (Wurm 1970: 469). It is, however,

uncertain how much he actually managed to collect and record regarding Engdewu

(Nanggu). Among Wurm’s materials which are now archived in Pacific And Regional Archive

for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC), there is at present only one

recording available. This recording is a word list of plant names (Wurm et al. n.d.). It is likely

that Wurm did not base his analysis of Engdewu on anything more than the 220-item word

list mentioned above and the notes he managed to take down during his short trip to the

area. His analyses are, thus, based on rather scanty materials.

3.2.4.1 Internal classification of RSC

Supported by his analyses of structural similarity and lexical resemblance, Wurm (1970)

classified the RSC languages into a Reefs branch—containing only the Reefs (i.e. Äiwoo)

language—and a Nedö branch. The latter consists of three languages: Nambakaengö (i.e.

Natügu), Nea (i.e. Nalöngo), and Nanggu (i.e. Nagu), with different dialect variants.19

Reefs and Santa Cruz (RSC)

o Reefs (language): Äiwoo

o Santa Cruz

Nambakaengö (language): Natügu

Malo (dialect)

Nea (language): Nalögo

Nemboi (dialect)

Menjembelo (dialect)

Nanggu (language): Engdewu

Äiwoo was reported to be spoken by 3,500 speakers (3800 in Wurm 1975) on the Reef

Islands and in two enclaves on the north coast and on an offshore island east of Nedö.

Natügu was reportedly spoken by 1,450 speakers (2000 in Wurm 1975), and Nalögo was

19

Wurm is always careful to mention what dialect he is talking about because the classification of Nambakaengö and Nea into two distinct languages is disputable as their dialects create a chain of mutually intelligible language variants (but where the dialects at the extreme ends are unintelligible).


reported to be spoken by 600 speakers (1200 in Wurm 1975), both only on Nedö. Finally,

Engdewu was said to be spoken by 560 speakers (250 in Wurm 1975), also on Nedö.20

3.2.4.2 External classification: lexicostatistics and ‘structural elements’

In his genetic classification Wurm employed a lexicostatistical method. His analysis was

based on, ‘about three hundred vocabulary items, constituting an extended basic vocabulary

list’ for each language variant (Wurm 1970: 469). The reason for using basic vocabulary (e.g.

words for body parts, kinship terms, simple verbs, and colours) is that it is thought to

change at a slower rate than other aspects of the lexicon (Swadesh 1952). Wurm (1970)

stresses that the material is far too limited to comprise a chart of all the sound

correspondences between Proto-Oceanic (henceforth POc) and proto-Austronesian forms

and the forms encountered in RSC. But based on the limited material he has at hand he

draws the conclusion that about half of the items are of POc origin, about 25 per cent might

be of POc origin, and about 25 per cent are not of Austronesian origin.

In the 1960s a common way of classifying languages was through a lexicostatistical

approach, developed by Morris Swadesh (see for instance Swadesh 1955). In lexicostatistics,

word lists for basic vocabulary items are collected for the languages in question, and

through these lists ‘cognates’ (that is, forms with similar meanings and sound patterns) are

determined. Then lexicostatistical percentages are calculated on the basis of the percentage

of cognate elements, and family trees are generated. The higher the numbers in cognacy, the

closer two languages are to each other. This technique was later criticised, for one thing

because it did not recognise that some of the vocabulary items could, in fact, have been loan

words. Consequently, it failed to classify languages in some linguistic areas, such as RSC,

because of considerable ‘mixing’ on several levels of the language.

As a response Wurm suggested to improve the technique by trying to recognise and

compare grammatical structures, and he thought that, ‘the dominant element in the

language structure, if one can be recognised, should be regarded as the dominant element in

the language for the purpose of genetic classification’. And that was where it went wrong:

‘…because the Papuan structural elements in them are more basic—e.g. as concerns the verb

structure—than the Austronesian elements’ (Wurm and McElhanon 1975: 147), he felt the

urge to classify the RSC languages as ‘Papuan’. The high percentage (50–75 per cent) of

Austronesian lexical items was explained by saying that the RSC languages, ‘…were basically

non-Austronesian, i.e. Papuan languages which had been subjected to very strong

20

Boerger (2007) presents this census from 1976 and 1999, respectively.


Austronesian influence with a resulting approximation of their structural features to those

of Austronesian, and the incorporation of Austronesian items into the vocabulary’ (Wurm

1970: 469).

[T]he author presumes that the original language or languages of the Reefs-Santa Cruz people

were Papuan and belonged to the same group to which the non-Austronesian languages to the

west of the Reefs–Santa Cruz area belong, and which has been tentatively established as the East

Papuan Phylum. This seems evident from the present-day Reefs–Santa Cruz languages. The

author therefore feels that it is justifiable to classify these languages as originally members of this

Papuan group which have been very largely destroyed in their nature through the far-reaching

takeover of an Austronesian language. In the author's opinion, these languages represent the

easternmost extension in the south-western Pacific of an identifiable non-Austronesian element.

This classification is concerned with the origin of these languages which, in the author's view, is

the prime issue surrounding them in the light of the study of the prehistory of the area, which has

been in progress for some time (Wurm 1978: 1006).

As a consequence of his linguistic analyses, the peoples in the Reefs and on Nedö should

originally have spoken a non-Austronesian language or languages, and, ‘they have

incompletely taken over an Austronesian language, and it appears that the present-day

languages show evidence of this fact’ (Wurm 1978: 971). This is discussed in Wurm et al.

(1975).21

There are a few shortcomings to Wurm’s classification that should be noted here. First, it is

problematic to rely on a genetic classification of grammatical features, because such features

are often subject to borrowing (Matras and Sakel 2007). Second, and perhaps more

importantly, Wurm’s analyses are partly based on a limited set of data, and, as will be

discussed in the subsequent sections, they turn out to have several shortcomings, and as

such do not form a good basis for a genetic classification.

21

Tryon (2009) follows Wurm and analyses the RSC languages as ‘Papuan’. He says that ‘the verb morphology is typically Papuan, the verb stem being followed by a complicated set of suffixes indicating actor, tense, negation and a-sometimes-bewildering array of other information’ (Tryon 2009: 47) In line with Wurm, he explains the Austronesian elements in RSC to have emerged through, ‘[p]rolonged contact [which] resulted in some striking linguistic change’ (Tryon 2009: 46). The most important Austronesian features he ascribes to this contact are the four possessive noun classes (body parts/kinship terms, edibles, drinkables, general), and, for Äiwoo, the subject prefixes which are attached to intransitive verbs. Tryon, however, acknowledges that the analysis of RSC as ‘Papuan’ is problematic. The overall picture in the Santa Cruz archipelago of the Solomon Islands is one of constant and intensive contact and interaction. While this has produced a largely predictable result in terms of borrowings, its extent and nature in Äiwoo and Nendö is quite remarkable, so extensive, in fact, that the status of these languages as Austronesian or Papuan has never been completely determined (Tryon 2009: 48). 21

Referred to as ‘Swallow Islands’ by Codrington (1885).


Grammatical features as described by Wurm will be presented and commented upon in §3.3.

3.2.5 Lincoln (1978)

In the Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics two different views on

the classification of the RSC languages were presented (Lincoln 1978; Wurm 1978). Wurm

notes that almost 50 per cent of the vocabularies probably are of Austronesian origin. He

also notes that many of the morphological elements probably have Austronesian

connections. In line with Lincoln (1978), he recognises that there might be sound changes

from POc that are not transparent: ‘…there are great difficulties in establishing regular

sound correspondences with POC [POc] and PAN [Proto-Austronesian ’ (Wurm 1978: 970).

However, Wurm continues to argue that RSC has to be classified as non-Austronesian

(Wurm 1978).

Lincoln (1978), on the other hand, argues that RSC could be classified as belonging to the

Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, ‘free from the influence of other language

families in the Pacific’ (Lincoln 1978: 929). Much of his argument is based on data from the

Reefs (Äiwoo) and Lödäi (Natügu and Nalöngo) only. Lincoln argues that basic grammatical

morphemes in RSC are ‘suggestively similar’ to the ones reconstructed for POc. He also

shows that the grammatical categories for RSC pretty much match the ones in POc: e.g.

irrealis/future markers in RSC correspond to POc *na (‘future’), and the directional

-mä/-m (‘toward speaker’) in RSC correspond to *mai (‘toward speaker’).

As seen in §3.4.2.5, Wurm (1969) argues that the verbal subject suffixes in RSC remind one

of those in the non-Austronesian language Buin (today, Terei) and he takes them as

evidence of Papuan influence. This is rejected in Lincoln (1978), and he comments:

There seems to be nearly a one-to-one match between the sample of RSC morphemes and the

sample of Proto-Oceanic morphemes. Stated in yet another way, I did not find very many RSC

morphemes that simply could not be accounted for with some phonologically quite liberal

comparisons with Proto-Oceanic. I did not discover whole classes of morphemes that bore no

resemblance to equivalent classes in Oceanic languages (Lincoln 1978: 961).

The biggest problem for Lincoln is that regular sound correspondences at the time had not

been established.

If these typological similarities were reinforced by a set of recurring regular sound

correspondences that connected the particular grammatical markers of RSC languages to their


putative Proto-Oceanic sources, we could conclude quite simply and finally that RSC languages

are Oceanic (i.e. Austronesian) (Lincoln 1978: 929).

Today, such sound correspondences have been established (Ross and Næss 2007).

3.2.6 Næss (2006)

The next paper to cast doubt on Wurm’s analysis was Næss (2006). After five months of

fieldwork with Äiwoo-speakers in 2004 and 2005, Næss argues that Wurm was wrong

regarding the ‘noun class system’ in Äiwoo. First, she shows that the elements taken as noun

class markers in Äiwoo have little in common with those found in ‘Papuan’ languages with

noun classes. Rather, she describes them as, ‘...bound nominal elements that to varying

extent show nominalizing and classifying properties’ (Næss 2006: 294). And second, Næss

shows that the system of bound nominal elements in Äiwoo in fact has far more in common

with other Austronesian languages.

Through her continued work on Äiwoo and collaboration with colleagues Næss continued to

argue for an Oceanic origin for Äiwoo and RSC in Ross and Næss (2007) and Næss and

Boerger (2008). These papers will be discussed in the next subsections.

3.2.7 Ross and Næss (2007)

Ross and Næss (2007) is a watershed in the classification of RSC as Oceanic. They establish

regular sound correspondences between Äiwoo—and in some part the other RSC

languages—and POc. These are given in Table 3.1.


Table 3.1: Reflexes of POc consonants among RSC

POc Äiwoo Natügu Engdewu POc Äiwoo Natügu Engdewu

*p v v v *dr d d d

*p/_*u — — — *s s … …

*p/_*u, o Ø Ø Ø *s/_*# — — —

*p/_*# — — — *l l l l

*b b b b *l/_*u l l l

*m m m m *n n n n

*w w … … *c … … …

*pw … pw pw *ñ … … …

*bw … … … *k/*#_ k, Ø k k, Ø

*mw mw m m *k/V_V Ø Ø …

*t/*#_ t t(l) t *k/_*# — — —

*t/_*u — — — *g … … …

*t/_*u, i t l … *ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ

*t/V_V Ø l l *ŋ/_*i ŋ n n

*d d … d *q k, Ø Ø Ø

*r l l l *R l l, Ø l, Ø

*r/_*u l l l *R/_*# — — —

*r/_*# l l l

Notes: Ross and Næss (2007).

† ‘…’ indicates the absence of a reflex, and ‘—’ indicates that the relevant environment does not occur.

It is worth mentioning two important processes in the development towards RSC:

‘truncation’, and ‘syncope’. Truncation is the loss of the final syllable, which has happened to

most nouns in RSC (Ross and Næss 2007: 465):

(1) Truncation

*C1V1C2V2(C2) > C1V1/_#.

Syncope is described as the deletion of the first vowel in *CVCV-clusters where the

consonant in the first syllable was a bilabial and the consonant in the second syllable was

either *l or *n, thus turning two syllables into one:

(2) Syncope

*BVLV > BLV


Syncope happened before truncation and thus blocked the latter in two-syllable nouns as

they had become monosyllables (Ross and Næss 2007: 466). Phonological processes such as

these have no doubt obscured the correspondence between RSC and POc, and is definitely

one reason why Wurm did not discover even more Austronesian reflexes.

Ross and Næss comment that:

[a] large majority of POc noun roots were disyllables, and loss of the final syllable leaves only a

single-syllable root in RSC…. This evidently led to a high degree of homophony and consequently

to lexical replacement and compounding. This in turn means that even many basic vocabulary

items do not obviously reflect a POc form and that reflexes of even initial consonants are

relatively rare (Ross and Næss 2007: 466).

Even though Wurm (1969; 1976) found that at least half (and maybe as much as 75 per

cent) of the basic vocabulary items in RSC were of Austronesian origin, the new insights

probably explain a good portion of the remaining 25 per cent.

Not only do Ross and Næss (2007) classify RSC as Oceanic, they, in fact, join them with the

Utupua-Vanikoro group in a first-order subgroup labelled ‘Temotu’.22 And they establish

consonant correspondences between RSC and the Utupua-Vanikoro group (UV) on the one

hand and POc on the other, ‘a major step in establishing that they are Oceanic’ (Ross and

Næss 2007: 462). We should, however, bear in mind that their analysis is based on a very

limited set of data, namely Tryon and Hackman (1983).

Elements in the verb morphology earlier taken as evidence of a non-Austronesian origin

(‘pronominals, the transitive marker, possessive classifiers, directionals, the causative

prefix, and perhaps some nominalising prefixes, the irrealis marker, and the oblique

proform’) are now shown to be basically Oceanic (Ross and Næss 2007: 494).

According to Ross and Næss (2007), the Äiwoo irrealis prefix nâ-/nä- and probably also

Natügu irrealis prefix na- reflect the POc irrealis marker *na. These forms are also related to

the irrealis prefix in Engdewu (cf. §11.3.3.3). The Äiwoo directional -mä (‘towards 1p’) is a

reflex of POc *mai, just as pointed out by Lincoln (1978). There is also a probable reflex in

the Engdewu form -m[u] ‘PDIR>1’ (cf. §11.3.7.1), and one in Natügu, -mü ‘PDIR:hither’

22

‘Santa Cruz’ sometimes refers to Nedö only, the main island in the island group in which it belongs, and sometimes to the island group as a whole. The label ‘Utupua-Vanikoro’ consists of the names of two islands in the Santa Cruz Islands group. Belonging to this group are the three languages on Utupua (Nebao/Aba, Asuboa and Tanibili), and the three languages on Vanikoro (Buma/Teanu, Vano/Vana and Tanema/Tanima/Tetau). The label ‘Temotu’ is identical to the name of the province in which these languages are used.


(Boerger, pc.). The directional -wâ (‘towards 2p’) is found to reflect POc *ua. They note that

the origin of the Natügu directionals is less clear.

Furthermore, the Äiwoo causative prefix wâ- and probably also Natügu a- reflects POc *pa-.

A similar form is found in Engdewu, (v)a- (cf. §11.2.2). And finally, the Äiwoo transitive

agreement suffixes -i and -nyi(i) are probably reflexes of POc *-i.

As already stressed above and in Chapter 1 the linguistic classification of Temotu as a first-

order subgroup is supported by archaeological research on Lapita culture in the Reef and

Santa Cruz Islands (Sheppard and Walter 2006; Sheppard 2011). Remember also that no

such early Lapita sites have been confirmed between the Bismarcks and the Reef and Santa

Cruz Islands. This suggests that the Lapita settlers came directly to Temotu from the west,

‘leapfrogging’ the Solomon Islands Archipelago. Ross and Næss (2007: 461) note that: ‘…if

the Temotu languages form a primary subgroup [of Oceanic], then this suggests that the

arrival of their ancestors was separate from the arrivals of either of the Southeast or

Northwest Solomonic groups in the areas they currently occupy’.

3.2.8 Næss and Boerger (2008)

Næss and Boerger (2008) is an analysis of complex verb structures in RSC, based on data

from Äiwoo and Natügu. They show that a number of verbal forms originate from POc. They

also suggest that many complex verb structures stem from an earlier process of productive

verb serialisation, common in Oceanic languages. Even though such serialisation still is

productive to some extent, many of the verbal forms participating in such constructions

have at some point grammaticalised to become bound elements, modifying the other verbal

element in the complex. These only appear as a part of a complex verb, and never

independently.

3.3 Internal classification

Everybody agrees that there is a single RSC language in the Reefs. On Nedö, however, there

has been some disagreement. We have already seen that both Wurm and Davenport talk

about three languages, but that they draw the line between them somewhat differently.

Simons (1977), on the other hand, claims that there are only two languages, ‘Santa Cruz’ and

‘Nanggu’. After conducting a language survey in the villages on Nedö, he argues that this is

the best analysis based on the criterion of mutual intelligibility. Basically, he found that:

3.3 Internal classification 57

(1) Informants underestimated their understanding of other dialects. (2) The intelligibility

between dialects of Santa Cruz has increased since the time of the two other studies [that is,

Wurm (1969) and Davenport (1962a)] (Simons 1977: 7).

Intelligibility has increased, he argues, simply because of better communications between

the districts and villages (Simons 1977).

While they do not draw a sharp line between the ‘Santa Cruz’ varieties, Boerger et al. (2012)

recognises three languages on Nedö, splitting ‘Santa Cruz’ into Natügu and Nalögo. This is

because the dialects at each end of the chain of dialects within the group are mutually

unintelligible.

There is a dialect chain wrapping around the western end of the island with Natügu at one end

and Nalögo at the other, these endpoints not being mutually intelligible. Natügu and Nalögo have

therefore recently been recognized as two separate languages by the ISO (Boerger et al. 2012:

117; see also Boerger and Zimmerman 2012).

This is the view taken in the present work, too. It is important to stress that in the opinion of

the speakers of the Natügu and the Nalögo varieties, they are two peoples with two distinct

languages.

Simons (1977) includes a nice table illustrating the different internal classifications. He also

includes four other surveys, but they have not been reviewed here. To conclude this section,

Simon’s table is reproduced in Table 3.2, with the inclusion of the present view, represented

by Boerger et al. (2012).


Table 3.2: Comparison of different internal classifications for the languages on Nedö

Villages Davenport

(1962a)

Wurm

(1970)

(Wurm

(1969),

1972b))

Simons

(1977)

Boerger et al.

(2012)

Neo North West Namba-

kaengö

Namba-

kaengö

Santa Cruz Natügu

Malo

Graciosa Bay,

north coast

villages,

northwest

coast villages

Baengö,

Menjebelo

Nea Nea

Nea Nalögo

Nooli, Nonia,

Bibö

South Central Nanggu

Mömwawë,

Ulou, Nagu

South East Nanggu Nanggu Nagu

Note: Based on Simons (1977). The shaded area indicates the fuzzy border between Natügu and Nalögo varieties.

An additional point to be made is that there is a considerable Äiwoo-speaking population on

Nedö nowadays, by far outnumbering Engdewu, and probably also Nalögo. Äiwoo-speakers

are scattered in villages and settlements especially on the north coast of Nedö, on Tömotu

Noi, and in the lagoon area to the east of Nagu village.

3.4 Grammatical description

3.4.1 Introduction

Wurm (1969) and Wurm (1972b) are the only papers where aspects of the Engdewu

grammar are discussed. Wurm notes that the RSC languages show many similarities in their

grammars. He sums up some of the most general characteristics.

1. Complex morphophonemics (Wurm 1969: 77).

2. ‘Petrified’ prefixed articles with little functional load in the forms nV-, tV- and lV-

(Wurm 1969: 77).

3. Personal pronouns formed by possessive suffixes added to a base, in RSC ni (Wurm

1969: 77).

3.4 Grammatical description 59

4. Inclusive-exclusive contrast in first person non-singular, plus extra number in the

first person non-singular inclusive (Wurm 1969: 77).

5. Possession of relationship, body parts and some other nouns expressed by

possessive suffixes attached to the nouns (Wurm 1969: 77).

6. Other possession expressed by possessive markers suffixed by possessive suffixes

following the noun (Wurm 1969: 77-78).

7. Some nouns are observed with semantic class prefixes. Seven have been established

for Engdewu (Wurm 1969: 78).

8. ‘Adjective introducer’ in the form of ka-, kä, kɛ- in RSC. In Engdewu, the ‘adjunct’

following the introducer is obligatorily prefixed with i- (~u-) (Wurm 1969: 78).

9. Many aspects, indicated by prefixes, suffixes and discontinuous morphemes.

10. Few tenses, indicated by suffixes (Wurm 1969: 78).

11. Direction and location of an action indicated by suffixes and prefixes (Wurm 1969:

78).

12. ‘Negation, prohibition and other features’ indicated by discontinuous morphemes

(Wurm 1969: 78).

13. Causative indicated by prefix (Wurm 1969: 78).

14. Verbal nouns common in Engdewu (Wurm 1969: 78).

15. Benefactive obligatorily marked by ‘special suffixes’ (Wurm 1969: 78).

16. Subject indicated by suffixes (Wurm 1969: 78).

17. Object number frequently marked in Engdewu (Wurm 1969: 79).

18. Transitivity prefixes can be attached to many verbs if they can have objects (Wurm

1969: 79).

Features special to Engdewu, in addition to the seven semantic noun classes, object number-

marking, and what is described as verbal nouns, are:

a complex phonology; and

the composition of his 1PL.INCL (i.e. 1+2AUG) category suffix -damʷe, which consists

of his 1DL.INCL (i.e. 1+2MIN) -da, and 2PL (i.e. 2AUG) -mʷe.

A remarkable ‘feature’ of Wurm’s papers is the lack of examples in support of his analysis:

many of the points above are not illustrated, and the form of many of the morphemes are

not given. The few examples provided tend to be reproduced in every subsequent piece of


work. For instance, the example below from Wurm (1969) is repeated in Wurm (1976) as

the only example to ‘demonstrate the structure of verbs’ in Engdewu.23,24

(3) i- ŋi- tö- i- piyaki -pʷ -ɛ -di

COMPL DEF NEG COMPL cut NEG 1SG:S O:SG

‘I cannot cut it.’ (Wurm 1969: 79)

It is difficult to know exactly what he means in cases that are not accompanied by any

example. Some features, however, are discussed and exemplified in some detail. These will

be presented briefly in the remainder of this section. Reference to the example in (3) is

made where appropriate. Reference and comments to Wurm’s analysis are made

throughout the dissertation, where appropriate.

3.4.2 Grammatical features according to Wurm (1969, 1972b)

3.4.2.1 Aspect

Wurm mentions two aspect prefixes, i- labelled ‘completed action’ (cf. (3)), and tʰu- ~ tʰü-

labelled ‘continuing aspect’. These are respectively analysed as perfective and imperfective

aspect prefixes in the present analysis. They are probably remnants of an earlier system of

preverbal Proto-Oceanic person markers, and indicate some features of subjects (S/A), as

well as aspect (cf. §11.3.3).

Furthermore, Wurm states that there are few tenses in all the Santa Cruzean (SC) languages,

but that they are marked predominantly by suffixes (1969:78), claimed to be a ‘largely non-

Austronesian’ characteristic (Wurm 1969: 97). Unfortunately, he provides no examples. If

one assumes that he grouped together what the present analysis defines as tense, aspect and

Aktionsart, he is partly in line with the present analysis—many Aktionsart markers do

follow the verb in RSC. In Engdewu, these are the duplicative (§11.3.4.2), and the change-of-

state (§11.3.4.1) markers.

23

Glosses from Wurm 1969 Wurm (1969). For space reasons they have been abbreviated: COMPL completed action, DEF definitive, NEG negation, 1SG:S first person singular subject, O:SG singularity of object. 24

Glossing according to the present analysis is provided here. The morphemes are discussed throughout the thesis.

i-ngi to i-piyaki=pwee di PFV:N3AUG.S/A -be.like NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut=NEG2:1MIN.S/A INDF:SG


Viewpoint aspects, on the other hand, all precede the verb. This is not a feature exclusive for

Engdewu—the structure is similar in all RSC languages. Just as in Engdewu, there is no tense

marking in Natügu, and Äiwoo only has one tense morpheme, an enclitic analysed as future,

=Caa. Both languages have several aspect morphemes following the verb (Næss and Boerger

2008). Notice, however, that both irrealis na- and imperfective tü-/tu- are frequently

employed for future situations (cf. §12.3.1). Remember also that Lincoln (1978) argued that

the irrealis/future markers found in RSC correspond to POc *na (‘future’), and are, thus, no

evidence for a non-Austronesian substrate.

The different aspect and Aktionsart markers found in Engdewu will be described in Chapter

11. These markers are employed in different constructions expressing aspectuality, which

are the topic of Chapter 12.

3.4.2.2 Directionals

Wurm analysed many prefixes and suffixes as marking the direction of the action or the

action’s relation to the speaker (c.f. Wurm 1969: 78). That is, he described both directionals

and locationals, many of which are described for RSC in Ross and Næss (2007) and in Næss

and Boerger (2008).25 The directionals in Engdewu are found in two positions among the

post-verbal modifiers in the verb complex, labelled respectively as geometric directionals

(cf. §11.3.8) and person directionals (cf. §11.3.7).

Lincoln (1978) supported this by showing that the directional -mä/-m (‘toward speaker’) in

RSC corresponds to POc *mai (‘toward speaker’). According to Lynch, Ross and Crowley

(2002), directional enclitics are a common category of post-verbal morphemes in Oceanic

languages. Wurm acknowledged that directionals are found in some Austronesian

languages.

Morphemes denoting ‘the location of an action in relation to the speaker’, however, were not

found to be common in Austronesian languages (Wurm 1969: 97), and were, thus, taken as

25

Directional markers are employed with many verbs in both Äiwoo and Natügu. The former has a tripartite system of suffixes (-mä towards 1p, -wâ towards 2p, -kä/-kâ towards 3p) while the latter has a two-way system of suffixes (-mü/-pü hither, -bë thither). In addition, both languages have several other lexical items indicating direction. In Äiwoo, some items are found both as independent verbs and serialised to a main verb (ee ‘up’, woli ‘down’, to ‘in’, lâ ‘out’) while others are attested only in verb complexes (nedemu ‘backwards’, ude ‘across’, po ‘through’, poli ‘between’). In Natügu, items with similar meanings are found in verb complexes (-dë ~ -lë ‘up’, -o ‘down’, -tö ‘in’, -pä ‘out’, -ba ‘reverse’, -wi(â) ~ -â ~ -o ‘across’, -plä ‘through’, -ki ‘move along a path’, -së ‘beyond, away’ (Næss and Boerger 2008; Frostad 2006)). Some of these morphemes are found to be clearly cognate with those in POc (cf. Ross and Næss (2007: 491).


an argument for a non-Austronesian substrate in RSC. Unfortunately, he provides no

examples to support his analysis.

It is possible that he had a group of locative adverbs in mind. In Engdewu they are found

post-verbally, and they mark the location or an endpoint of an action in relation to a deictic

centre (above, below, outside, inside). Unfortunately, they are not treated in detail in this

thesis. Locationals are described for some Oceanic languages, e.g. Sye (Erromanga), where

they usually occur post-verbally (Crowley 2002b: 717), and the Oceanic language Sivisa

Titan (Admiralty Islands) where ‘locative adverbs’ follow the verb.

It is possible that he had demonstratives in mind. The demonstrative system in Engdewu is

discussed in Chapter 9.

3.4.2.3 Negation

In all RSC languages negation consists of discontinuous morphemes, analysed by Wurm as,

‘consisting of prefix and suffix systems’ (Wurm 1969: 78). In Engdewu the system is said to

consist of ‘tö-… -pʷ + special subject suffixes differing in part from those appearing in the

affirmative’ (Wurm 1969: 84). Discontinuous negation marking is described in §11.3.1.

According to Wurm, discontinuous morphemes are typically non-Austronesian. Lynch, Ross

and Crowley (2002: 51), however, find that negation marked discontinuously is a ‘recurring

tendency’ in Oceanic languages, and, thus, not a good argument for a non-Austronesian

substrate.

3.4.2.4 Benefactive

‘With many verbs, the benefactive is obligatorily marked by special suffixes’ (Wurm 1969:

78). This feature is taken as evidence of non-Austronesian origin (Wurm 1969: 97), but he

provides no examples.

It is, however, probable that he talks about the person directionals which usually mark the

recipient or benefactive of an action and which is typically found in verbs in ditransitive

clauses. Person directionals are primarily described in §11.3.7.

Recall that directionals are common in the verb complex in Oceanic languages, and some of

them are reconstructed for POc.


3.4.2.5 Subject markers

Wurm says that with the exception of the intransitive subject prefixes in Äiwoo, the subject

is indicated by suffixes in RSC. This is agreed upon by the present analysis, and in the

present work, where the subject markers are analysed as suffixes that index S and A

arguments. Wurm (1969) provides a list of subject suffixes for all RSC variants, given in

Table 3.3. While he organises them in a system with three persons and three numbers,

including an inclusive-exclusive distinction in the first person dual and plural, the present

work analyses the system as a three-person, two-number minimal-augmented system, as

seen in Chapter 7.

Table 3.3: Engdewu subject suffixes according to Wurm (1969)

Singular Dual Plural

1 -i~-ɛ~-u 1 incl. -da 1 incl. -damʷe

1 excl. - 1 excl. -gɔ

2 -a~-i 2 - 2 -am

3 -Ø~-ə 3 - 3 la- + -(ŋ)ö

Wurm takes these suffixes (‘in particular singular subject suffixes’) as proof of a non-

Austronesian substrate (Wurm 1969: 97). To illustrate his point he compares the subject

suffixes found in RSC with those found in the non-Austronesian language Buin (today, Terei)

of south-eastern Bougainville. He argues that while some of these suffixes are Austronesian,

others are non-Austronesian in form, similar to those found in Buin. The argument is

repeated in Wurm (1978). A table is provided with corresponding cognates in RSC, as

reproduced in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4: Subject suffixes in Buin and cognate forms in RSC

Buin RSC

sg. 1 -u Na -u

2 -e~-i Na -i

3 -u M -u

dl. 1 -ge M, No -ki, N -ki~-gi; incl.

pl. 1 -gi M -ku, N -kɔ~-go, No -kɔ; incl.

2 -ŋ N -ŋəmʷi


Note: According to Wurm, N Neboi dialect of Nea language (i.e. Nalögo); Na Nagu language (i.e. Engdewu); No Nooli dialect of Nea language (i.e. Nalögo) (1969: 97).

As mentioned above, Lincoln (1978) argues against this view. First, he argues, in non-

singular, the forms, ‘…seem to mark different categories with Buin using separate markers

for person and number’ (Lincoln 1978: 952). Second, the subject suffixes occur with

transitive verbs in RSC, while the Buin suffixes in the table occur in the active voice (Lincoln

1978: 952). However, he admits that the singular suffixes in the Malo dialect of Natügu

coincide with those in Buin, ‘[u]nder certain conditions having to do with [the] focus of the

verb’ (Lincoln 1978: 952). Thus, ‘ i f the conditions in Malo correspond to Buin active voice,

there seems to be a reasonable case…for Buin influence in RSC’.

3.4.2.6 Object markers

Another non-Austronesian feature found to be especially common in Engdewu is that, ‘the

number of the object—singularity versus non-singularity—is frequently marked with the

verb…’ (Wurm 1969: 79). The present analysis shows that third person–augmented

‘objects’, i.e. O-function arguments, in certain circumstances are marked on the verb (cf.

§7.4.2).

Today, object markers are actually found to be common in Oceanic languages (Ross and

Næss 2007: 475), and their presence is thus not a good argument against an analysis in

favour of Oceanic.

3.4.2.7 Causative

Wurm (1969: 78) also described the RSC languages to have causative prefixes. He provides

no example of their form for Engdewu. A causative prefix in Engdewu is found which will be

discussed in §11.2.2.

Lynch, Ross and Crowley (2002: 43-44) describe causative marking in general to be

expressed by a verbal prefix in many Oceanic languages of Melanesia, in addition to

Polynesian and Micronesian, and Rotuman and Fijian, so this trait is not a good argument

against an analysis in favour of a classification as Oceanic.

3.4.2.8 Transitivity prefix

Wurm describes that many verbs, ‘...if they can have an object’, appear with a transitivity

prefix attached to them (Wurm 1969: 79).


Again, he does not provide any example of such a prefix in Engdewu, but gives the form ö-

for the Malo dialect of Natügu. Engdewu has a form (v)ö- that is analysed as a detransitiviser

in the present analysis. It is employed in semitransitive clauses where focus is on the actor

of the event, and where the object often is bare and generic. The detransitivising prefix is

described in §11.2.1 and semitransitive clauses are discussed in §13.5.

Wurm ascribes this prefix to a non-Austronesian substrate. Ross (2004c), however, says

that, ‘ s ome canonic languages also have detransitivising morphology, although its role is

much less significant than the transitivising and causativising morphology…’ (Ross 2004c:

511). It is, therefore, possible that the detransitivising prefix can be taken as a feature of an

Oceanic language.

3.4.2.9 Verbal nouns

Another grammatical feature, said to be especially common in Engdewu, is the use of verbal

nouns (Wurm 1969: 78). Verbal nouns and sentence-medial verbs are taken as Papuan

characteristics (Wurm 1969: 97). No examples are provided. Many verbs are, however,

found in action nominal constructions (cf. §6.6.2), sometimes used in complement clauses

and time clauses, as described in §14.3. Other verbs are found in participant nominal

constructions (cf. §6.6.1).

Today, nominalising morphemes are reconstructed for POc (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002:

70), and nouns derived from verbs are not uncommon in Oceanic languages (Lichtenberk

2011).

3.4.2.10 Possession

Wurm (1972b, 1969) describes the possessive suffixes to either attach to nouns or any of a

class of ‘possessive markers’, depending on the semantics of the possessed noun: possession

of relationship, body parts and some other nouns, he says, are expressed by possessive

suffixes attached directly to the noun, while other nouns have a ‘possessive marker’

following the noun to which the possessive suffixes attach. He observes that the possessive

suffixes show great similarities with the suffixes added to the personal pronominal base ni

in the formation of personal pronouns. The 1SG form is described to be

zero-marked in most cases. He does, however, observe that some nouns have allomorphic

forms according to what possessive suffix is added to it.


[T]he form denoting possession by the first person singular is either allomorphically unique, or

the same as that appearing in conjunction with one or two other possessive suffixes, mostly of

the first person in a non-singular number (Wurm 1972b: 95).

Wurm (1972b) describes at least nine possessive class markers, cf. Table 3.5.

Table 3.5: ‘Possessive class markers’ as given by Wurm (1972b)

Class label 1SG form

General nei

Food na:-nu

Water kɔ

Drink gɔ

Utensils tɛlɔ

Location nʲɔ

Dependent contents lɔ

Independent contents ka:le

Fire mɔlɔ

Louse nau

Canoe aŋo

Wurm's observations correspond to a great extent with the present analysis, where a

distinction between direct and indirect possessive constructions is made. In the former,

found with inalienable nouns, person markers are added directly to the possessed noun. In

the latter, found with alienable nouns, person markers are added to any of a set of

possessive classifiers following the noun.

Mark, however, that the ‘possessive class markers’ are analysed as possessive classifiers.

The choice of classifier is dependent on the relationship between the possessor and the

possessee, and not by the semantics of the noun. This will be discussed in more detail in

Chapter 8, where 13 different classifiers are suggested, and where a few of Wurm’s original

classes will be questioned.

3.5 Conclusion

This chapter has presented the different papers on the languages in the Reef Islands–Santa

Cruz group (RSC), including Engdewu. Through a review of different internal classifications

of the RSC languages, we have seen that different analyses have used different

classifications. The most recent classification concludes with four languages: Äiwoo is

3.5 Conclusion 67

spoken on the Reef Islands and on the northern and eastern part of Nedö; Natügu is spoken

in the Bay area, on the northern coast, on Tömotu Neo and in villages on the west coast of

Nedö; Nalöngo dialects are spoken on the west and south-west coasts of Nedö, in addition to

Tömotu Noi in the south-east; and finally, Engdewu is spoken on the south coast of Nedö.

We have seen that it was the ‘Papuan structural elements’—supposedly more basic and

dominant than the high percentage of Austronesian lexical elements—that led Wurm to

classify the RSC languages as non-Austronesian. Even though Wurm acknowledged that,

‘…there are great difficulties in establishing regular sound correspondences with POC POc

and PAN [Proto-Austronesian ’ (Wurm 1978: 970), and even though he concludes that at

least 50 per cent (probably 75 per cent) of the lexicon in RSC is of Austronesian origin

(Wurm 1970), his analysis of the grammatical elements in RSC led him to classify RSC as

non-Austronesian, as many of them in his opinion clearly resemble those in ‘Papuan’

languages further west in the Solomon Islands and into Papua New Guinea, both in form and

function. In general, he states that the verb morphology of all the RSC languages is ‘of very

considerable complexity’ (Wurm 1969: 78).

In support of this hypothesis, he presents several grammatical features taken to be unusual

in Austronesian languages.

1. Subject suffixes

2. Complex verb forms

3. Object suffixes

4. Transitivity prefix

5. Benefactive marking

6. Directionals and locationals

7. Verbal nouns and sentence-medial verb forms

8. Possessive suffixes

9. Semantic class system

10. Gender system (in Äiwoo)

There has been a debate concerning the genetic pedigree of RSC. Many recent analyses have,

however, rejected Wurm’s claim, both because there are established sound correspondences

between RSC and POc, and because many of the grammatical features have been reanalysed

and/or indeed found to be common for Oceanic languages: in a trio of papers that appeared

at the start of the new millennium, Wurm’s claims were finally convincingly rejected. First,

the ‘nominal classes’ in Äiwoo were shown to be bound nominal elements that have


parallels in other Oceanic languages (Næss 2006). Second, sound correspondences between

RSC and POc were established, and phonological processes uncovering the path of evolution

into these ‘aberrant’ Austronesian languages were discovered. At the same time RSC and the

Utupua-Vanikoro languages were grouped together in a first-order subgroup of Oceanic

(Ross and Næss 2007). And third, the verb structure in RSC was shown to have parallels in

other Oceanic languages (Næss and Boerger 2008).

In fact, none of Wurm’s points concerning the ‘Papuan structural elements’ can be taken as

evidence of a non-Austronesian substrate in RSC. When the points in the list above are

added to Wurm’s own list of Oceanic/Austronesian features in RSC, it seems unreasonable

to classify these languages as non-Austronesian on the basis of grammatical features.

1. Possessive classifiers

2. Articles

3. Numerals

4. Adjective introducer (analysed as a relative marker in Engdewu)

5. Aspect prefixes

6. Causative prefix

7. Preposed subject marker (only in Äiwoo)

8. Word order (will be commented upon in Chapter 13)

In conclusion, while neither Lincoln nor Wurm had the chance to reveal the phonological

processes that had taken place in RSC over the course of time, and which obscured the

Oceanic origin of many of the morphemes, it turned out through the works of Næss, Ross

and Boerger that Lincoln was right: the RSC languages are ‘free from the influence of other

language families in the Pacific’ (Lincoln 1978: 929). After all, Wurm’s initial thought—that

he was faced with ‘a highly aberrant Austronesian language’—is in all respects the most

plausible conclusion.

69

CHAPTER 4. PHONOLOGY

4.1 Introduction

Engdewu has 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

Vowel length is phonemic only in some words.

The syllable template for Engdewu is (C)(S)V(S), where S is a sonorant.

Most syllables are open, but closed syllables are on the increase in the speech

varieties of younger people.

Stress is mostly penult.

Labialised and palatalised consonants as described by Wurm (1969) are analysed as

sequences of C + glide, a pattern that fits with the general CS pattern for consonant

clusters.

Some syllables contain what is sometimes described as ‘whispered vowels’ (cf. §4.3).

These are reduced vowels, audible as vowels with a whispering phonation type. The

reduced vowels are subject to elision in the speech of younger generations.

An identificational feature of Engdewu is the postnasalised stops. Phonologically,

they are described as clusters of stop + nasal. Phonetically, however, the transition

between the stop and the nasal is often characteristically filled by a long period of

voiceless nasal energy before voicing of the nasal starts, which in turn can be almost

absent.

There are no attesteded clear dialectal differences between the three Engdewu-

speaking villages, but there is variation within the language community: some of it

seems to be free variation, and some can be ascribed to generational differences. A

few points regarding variation will be mentioned throughout this chapter.

The 14 consonants found in word initial and word medial position in the speech of all

generations are given in Table 4.1, while word final consonants that appear in the speech of

younger generations are given in Table 4.2. The 10 vowels are given in Table 4.3.

70 Chapter 4 Phonology

Table 4.1: Consonant phonemes in initial and medial position in Engdewu

Active articulator labio- apico- lamino- dorso-

Passive articulator labial velar alveolar alveolo-

palatal

palatal velar

ORAL STOP, VOICELESS p t k

ORAL STOP, VOICED,

PRENASALISED

b d g

NASAL STOP m n ŋ

FRICATIVE, VOICED β

FRICATIVE, VOICELESS s

APPROXIMANT w j

LATERAL APPROXIMANT l

Table 4.2: Consonant phonemes in final position in the speech of younger generations in Engdewu

Active articulator labio- apico- dorso-

Passive articulator labial alveolar velar

ORAL STOP, VOICELESS p (t) (k)

NASAL STOP m n ŋ

Table 4.3: Vowel phonemes in Engdewu

Front Central Back

unrounded unrounded

~rounded

rounded

CLOSE i ʉ u

CLOSE-MID e ɵ

OPEN-MID ɛ ɞ

OPEN a ɒ

4.1 Introduction 71

Vowel contrasts in minimal or near minimal pairs are given in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4: Some minimal pairs illustrating vowel contrasts

i E ɛ a ʉ ɵ ɞ u ɒ

p/pw /pi/

’say’

/pwe/

’father

(1MIN.P

OSS)’

/pwɛ/

‘cut (to

pieces)’

/pwa/

’1. bear

fruit;

2. have

sex’

/pʉ/

‘coil

(around

arm) (v)’

/pwɵ/

‘be cold’

/pwɞ/

‘hammer

(v)’

/pu/

’cough

(v)’

/p /

’poop

(v)’

/pwɒ/

‘lightnin

g’

t /ti/

’1.

breast-

feed;

2. inter-

jection’

/te/

’friend

(1MIN.P

OSS)’

/tɛplɞ/

’kick’

/ta-/

IPFV:

3AUG

/tʉ/

‘1. smell;

2. burnt’

/tɵ/

‘hit’

/tɞ/

‘1. holy;

2. preg-

nant’

/tu/

’stand’

/t /

’hold’

/tɒ.ɒ/

‘gift

(used in

bride

price

cere-

mony)’

k /ki/

’because

’

/ke/

’sing’

/kɛ/

PROX:

SG

/ka/

MED:

SG

/kʉ/

‘dig’

- /kɞ/

‘1. peel;

2. pull

vine’

/ku/

1. cover;

2. call’

/ko u/

DIST:

PL

/kɒ /

DIST:

SG

j - - /jɛ/

‘who’

/ja/

’paddle

(v)’

/jʉ/?

‘wet’

- /jɞ/

‘1. write;

2. today’

/ju/

’1. spear

(v);

2.

change

skin’

/j /

’swim’

/jɒ/

‘pull’

Throughout this chapter the reader is presented with measurements that show the mean

duration of sounds and sound sequences. Due to time limitations, some of these measures

have shortcomings that the reader should keep in mind. The durational measurements are

based on an analysis of words in a lexicon check session of a single speaker. Because

segment durations are found to vary according to the position in the word, all samples are of

sounds in word medial position. Ideally, measurements from more than one speaker should

be used to reduce the effects of inter-speaker variation in the sound production. The reason

for basing these measurements on data from only one speaker, however, is that speed of

speech can vary between situation types and between speakers, and because the


measurements of each token in general are based on a relatively low token frequency which

is regarded as best for the reliability of the measurements to reduce the risk of variation in

tempo. Also, because some sounds and sound sequences in general are less frequent than

others, a few of them are only represented by a single token. They are still included because

some data are viewed as better than no data at all, and even though a few numbers should

be taken with a pinch of salt, they give an impression of the timing features of the sound in

question.

The reader will also be presented with statistical calculations as regards frequencies of

speech sounds. They are based on a small sample corpus of 1,468 records consisting of both

elicited uninflected words and inflected words in narratives. This selection is meant to give

an impression of the occurrences of a selection of speech sounds. Note that a few records in

this corpus have been omitted due to transcription uncertainties.

4.2 Consonants

There are mainly three active articulators in action in the production of the consonants in

Engdewu: the lower lip (labio-), the tongue tip (apico-), and the tongue body (dorso-). The

passive articulators involved are: the upper lip (labial), the alveolar ridge

(alveolar/postalveolar), and the soft palate (velar). In addition, the hard palate is involved in

the production of the approximant /j/.

Note that word final consonants are uncommon with older speakers while some consonants

appear in this position in the speech of younger generations. This is reflected in the syllable

patterns in different speakers. This issue will be mentioned in the relevant places in the text.

4.2.1 Oral stops

The oral stops are /p/, /t/, and /k/. They are produced in the three main places of

articulation. That is, /p/ is labio-labial, /t/ is apico-alveolar or apico-postalveolar, and /k/ is

dorso-velar. All of them occur in initial and medial positions (Table 4.5).

Table 4.5: Oral stops in initial and medial position

/p/ /t/ /k/

WORD INITIAL /pɞle/ ‘point’ /tali/ ‘knife’ /k te i/ ‘good’

WORD MEDIAL /jɞpɞ/ ‘where’ /kɛtʉ / ‘betel nut’ /mɞk / ‘flying fox

sp.26’

26

/mɞkɔ/ is the name for the Temotu Fruit Bat, Pteropus nitendiensis, one of two living species of fruit bats on Nedö.

4.2 Consonants 73

The oral stops and nasals also appear in word final position in modern speech variants

under the right conditions, that is, when a reduced vowel is elided (§ 4.6.4). Among the stops

this is especially evident for /p/. As final consonants are not at all that common among

speakers in the older generation, this seems to be a recent innovation. The explanation for

this seems to be that the words in question have undergone word final vowel elision, thus

reducing the number of syllables and leaving the onset stop of the original last syllable to

the coda of the new final syllable. The vowels in question are not fully elided in the speech of

the older generation.

(4)

/lamɞpu/

/ tu/

/ bwɒ lɒkⁿu/

Older speakers

[lamɞpu

[ tu

[bwɒ lɒkⁿu

or [bwɒ lɒkⁿ

Younger speakers

[lamɞp]

[ t]

[bwɒ lɒk]

‘five’

‘seed’

‘river’

Loan words from Pijin and English often retain their final consonants. This also applies to

words with final /t/ or /k/.

(5) /pilip/

/kap/

‘Philip’

‘cup’

/plet/

/baket/

/sal t/

‘plate’

‘bucket’

‘spring onion

(e.g. shallot

onion)’

/buk/

/trak/

/plastik/

‘book’

‘truck’

‘plastic’

/t/ has two allophones [t] and [ɾ, r]. The general rule is that [ɾ, r], realised as either a tap or a

trill, appears between vowels, while [t] appears elsewhere. Note that people regard [t] as

the proper pronunciation, and in careful speech, it even appears between vowels. Some

elderly speakers consistently pronounce it [t], in their opinion the original and only correct

way of pronunciation.

(6) /t/ > [t]

/t/ > [r]

/t k /

/tel /

/matu/

/tɞmɞta/

/butɞte/

/matu/

[t k ]

[tel ]

[matu]

[tɞmɞra]

[mburɞre]

[maru]

‘no’

‘CL.I’

‘house’

‘hook’

‘sweet potato’

‘house’


Wurm (1969) notes that retroflex versions of all apical consonants are found in a number of

words. As already noted, these sounds are alveolar to post-alveolar: the apical sounds are

commonly produced with a retracted tongue tip, giving them a retroflex flavour. Both [t, d, n,

l] and [ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ] are allophones of /t, d, n, l/ that seem to be in free variation.

Oral stops are sometimes aspirated in Engdewu. Aspiration is not phonemic, but in free

variation in front of any vowel. It is, however, more frequent in stressed syllables. Fig. 4.1

illustrates the point. It shows two pronunciations of the monosyllabic word /p i/ ‘pig’, only

differing in the aspiration of the initial stop.

Fig. 4.1: Waveforms illustrating variation in aspiration in the voiceless stop /p/ in poi: [pɔ i] and [pʰɔ i]

Note: A burst of air, visible as a period of noise immediately before the vowel, is clearly present in the aspirated variant to the right. In the unaspirated variant there is no such energy present before the voicing of the vowel starts.

The stops are sometimes subject to lenition between vowels in unstressed conditions. /p/

and /k/ are subject to voicing or receiving fricative-like qualities. Variation between lenited

and nonlenited sounds seems to be free. This is described in §4.6.1.3.

Oral stops are sometimes unreleased in word final position, e.g. the name /menamopu/ can

be pronounced menamopu , with a final reduced vowel, [menamop], with an elided final

vowel, or [menamop ], where the original final vowel is elided and where /p/ is unreleased.

4.2.2 Prenasalised voiced stops

Prenasalisation of voiced stops is a common feature in Oceanic languages, and Engdewu, like

the other RSC languages, is no exception. Just like the oral stops, the prenasalised voiced

stops are produced in the three main places of articulation. That is, /b/ is a labio-labial

prenasalised stop, /d/ is an apico-alveolar or apico-postalveolar prenasalised stop, and /g/

is a dorso-velar prenasalised stop. Prenasalised stops occur in word initial and word medial

position (Table 4.6). They are not found word finally in any speech variety.

4.2 Consonants 75

Table 4.6: Prenasalised voiced stops in initial and medial position

/b/ /d/ /g/

WORD INITIAL /beli/ ‘basket’ /dɞwe/ ‘bird’ /ga/ ‘there (MED)’

WORD MEDIAL /nibi/ ‘1. kill;

2. bamboo’

/wadu/ ‘bone’ /nagu/ ‘Nagu

(village)’

Phonetically, these sounds are homorganic sequences of a nasal and a stop element, i.e. the

nasal and the oral stop sounds have the same place of articulation, only differing in velar

setting: mb , nd , ŋg . The prenasalised stops are distinguished from their oral (unvoiced)

counterpart both in prenasalisation and voicing. Prenasalised stop phonemes are found in

the majority of Oceanic languages, and they are usually analysed as single phonemes. This is

also the analysis indicated by Wurm (1969) and continued here.

Acoustic features of the prenasalised stop sequences are illustrated in the waveforms and

spectrograms in Fig. 4.2–Fig. 4.7.


Fig. 4.2: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /b/ [mb] in word initial position in the word /be ide/ ‘skin’

Fig. 4.3: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /b/ [mb] in word medial position in the word /labɞ/ ‘root’

4.2 Consonants 77

Fig. 4.4: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /d/ [nd] in word initial position in the word /daknɔ/ ‘earthquake’

Fig. 4.5: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the /d/ [nd] in word medial position in the word /nide/ ‘s/he (3MIN)’


Fig. 4.6: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /g/ [ŋg] in word initial position in the word /ga/ ‘there (MED)’

Fig. 4.7: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating /g/ [ŋg] in word medial position in the word /nigɒ/ ‘we (1AUG)’

4.2 Consonants 79

The spectrograms show that the prenasalised stops consist of a nasal and a voiced stop

segment in sequence, both in word initial and word medial position. The nasal element is

more pronounced in word medial than word initial position. It is, however, not any shorter

in initial than in medial position in these illustrations. This is typical of older speakers,

while, as will be discussed below, the word initial nasal element tends to be shorter with

younger speakers. Based on the spectrograms alone, the choice of a unit phoneme over a

cluster analysis is perhaps not clear, and requires some discussion.27

An objection to a unit phoneme analysis could be that Engdewu exhibits other consonant

sequences with a nasal as the first segment that have the same distribution, namely the

nasal-nasal clusters mn and ŋn as in /mn / ‘my eye’, and ŋn as in /ŋnɵ/ ‘lie’ (§ 4.5.1.4).

These clusters also occur word medially and word initially. Why shouldn’t the prenasalised

stops be grouped with these? There are two reasons for this. One, as pointed out in §4.5.1,

the mn and ŋn clusters can all be described as CS clusters, i.e. where the second element

is a sonorant. The second element in a prenasalised stop, however, is not a sonorant, and,

thus, does not fit with the general CS pattern found with all other consonant clusters in

Engdewu. Two, the prenasalised stops can cluster with sonorant consonants, as seen in (7),

and if they are analysed as unit phonemes they form CS clusters. If the prenasalised stops

are analysed as clusters, prenasalised stops combined with sonorants would form the only

three-consonant groups in the language.

(7) [mbwale] ‘old woman’ [ndj lu] ‘custom adze’ [nʉŋglʉ] ‘tail’

[mbliki] ‘backhead’ [ŋgwaː ‘run!’

[mɞmbjɵ] ‘butterfly’

Three, the prenasalised stops are homorganic, while the CS clusters are not. In the CS

clusters there is variation in the combination of C and S (cf. §4.5.1). E.g. [p] can combine with

[m, l, w, j]. There can be no such variation in a homorganic cluster.28

Since the prenasalised stops are found not only word medially, but also initially, they must

be considered tautosyllabic. By analysing these tautosyllabic sound complexes as consisting

27

Homorganic sequences of nasal + obstruent occurred word medially in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP). These sequences were inherited in pre-POc, which also innovated such sequences in word initial position, later to become the prenasalised voiced stops described for the great majority of Oceanic languages (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 64-65). The discussion here is, thus, interesting because the RSC languages including Engdewu are grouped in a primary subgroup to Oceanic, and are in that respect a direct link to Proto-Oceanic. 28

It should be acknowledged, however, that phonetic nasal + obstruent clusters have a strong tendency to be homorganic cross-linguistically (cf. Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996: 119ff).


of two phonemes in sequence, one would have to operate with some phonologically rather

unusual sonorant-stop onsets (/mb, nd, ŋg/) that would go against the intuition in the

sonority hierarchy.29

Segmental duration is a key feature in the choice between a unitary (‘monophonematic’) and

a cluster (‘polyphonematic’) analysis. According to Trubetzkoy (1969: 58), Rule III, a unitary

analysis can only be chosen if the duration of the complex does not exceed the duration of

other phonemes in the language. A similar suggestion is made by Herbert (1986) as regards

nasal-stop sequences: prenasalised phonemes have about the same length as other

consonants in the given language, while clusters of stop and nasal are longer. Ladefoged and

Maddieson (1996: 122f), however, disagree with this generalisation, as they observe great

variation in the length of nasal-stop clusters cross-linguistically. They find examples of

languages where nasal-stop clusters are not longer than unit phonemes in the same

position.

Table 4.7 shows the length of nasal-stop sequences compared to other consonant phonemes

in Engdewu. Notice that the lengths of the prenasalised stop segments are longer than the

corresponding consonants when they occur as single nasal and stop sounds. The lengths of

the sequences are, however, not at all double those of single consonant phonemes: they are,

in fact, pretty close to that of their single counterparts. This indicates that they should be

considered unit phonemes. This will become even more clear when the prenasalised stops

are compared to other complex segments.

29

One could, of course, argue that the sonority hierarchy describes phonetic tendencies in terms of aerodynamics and articulation, rather than phonological systems in the world. In this view, word initial prenasalised stops conflict with the sonority hierarchy anyway, no matter whether they are analysed as unit phonemes or consonant clusters. That is, the physical facts of these clusters are the same no matter what phonological analysis one chooses. An important feature of these complex segments, however, is that they are homorganic and they involve only a single oral configuration. The distinct phonetic nasal and stop segments are produced by a velic gesture within that oral closure. Browman and Goldstein (1986) study nasal-stop sequences in other languages, and they suggest that syllabic structure is defined by oral gesture, while velic gesture is irrelevant to the syllable structure. The difference between unit phoneme and cluster analyses of nasal-stop sequences is, thus, that the latter includes two (partially overlapping) oral closure gestures while the former involves a single oral closure gesture. Articulatorily, Browman and Goldstein (1992: 165) propose that: ‘…wider constrictions always precede narrower constrictions (reminiscent of the sonority hierarchy’. An implication of such an insight is that homorganic nasal-stop sequences are not so much against the laws of aerodynamics, and, thus, are acceptable within a single syllable. Nasal-stop sequences that are produced with two oral gestures, on the other hand, are, thus, clearer candidates for a heterosyllabic analysis as they are opposed to this insight. This view may be taken as an explanation for why homorganic sequences of nasal + stop are pretty common cross-linguistically, also word initially, while this is not so for heterorganic nasal-stop sequences.

4.2 Consonants 81

Table 4.7: Mean duration of prenasalised stops in medial position

TIMING Mean (M) St. deviation (SD) Total sample size (N)

PRENASALISED STOPS IN MEDIAL POSITION:

[mb] 100,1 25,6 19

[nd] 80,2 25,6 14

ŋg 79,9 36,5 10

OTHER CONSONANTS IN MEDIAL POSITION:

[p] 88,3 29,6 23

[t ~r] 89,3 26,9 26

[k] 74,3 23,8 24

[m] 111,3 33,8 13

[n] 72,8 21,9 22

ŋ 67,2 29,0 18

β 78,8 25,8 11

[l] 63,2 22,8 62

[w] 74,3 24,4 26

[j] 86,9 45,9 7

While there are no other allophones for /b/ and /g/, the apico-alveolar /d/ is pronounced

as [nʤ] in front of /i/ in word initial position with some speakers. This is especially evident

with the singular indefinite article /di/, where [nʤ] sometimes also triggers a more back

pronunciation of the following vowel. This word is found in many variants: [ndi], [di], [nʤi]

and [nʤɨ].30

It is evident that the degree of prenasalisation varies among the generations, and younger

speakers tend to prenasalise less than older speakers. This is especially clear in initial

position. Older speakers usually produce a relatively long nasal element word initially, and

this element often lasts as long as a corresponding single nasal phoneme. On the contrary,

some younger speakers are found to lack prenasalisation in this position, reducing these

complex sounds to simple voiced stops. The voiced stops in the speech of some younger

speakers thus have two allophones, b, d, g in word initial position, and mb, nd, ŋg

elsewhere. That prenasalisation of stops is on the decline is also discussed in Boerger et al.

(2012) and Hoover (2010). The same tendency is observed in Natügu (Boerger in progress).

30

Note that the variant [nʤ] is different from /dj/ [ndj] in words like /djɔlu/ ‘custom axe’ and /djapmugʉ/.


A possible explanation for the change is increased exposure to English, where voiced stops

are not prenasalised.

4.2.3 Nasal stops

There are three nasal stop phonemes in Engdewu: /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/. They pattern with the

oral stops in their place of articulation. /m/ is labio-labial, /n/ is apico-alveolar or apico-

post-alveolar, and /ŋ/ is dorso-velar. All nasals appear in initial and word medial position

(Table 4.8).

Table 4.8: Nasal stops in initial and medial position

m n ŋ

WORD INITIAL /matu/ ‘house’ /nali/ ‘coconut crab’ /ŋële/ ‘day‘

WORD MEDIAL /nʉmʉ/ ‘hand’ /mwanʉ/ ‘red-bellied

fruit-dove’

/niŋi/ ‘1. ray; 2.

hair’

All nasals can also appear in final position, primarily in the speech of the younger

generations, just as described for the oral stops in §4.2.1. The explanation for this

innovation is the same as for the oral stops. In the speech of elders a final unstressed back

open vowel (most notably /u/) is reduced after an oral stop or a nasal, as described in

§4.6.4. In the speech of younger generations this devoiced vowel is elided, and this gives rise

to these word final nasals.

(8)

/d nu/

/nimu/

/iblɞŋu/

Older speakers

[nd .nu

nimu

[imblʉŋu

Younger speakers

[nd n]

[nim]

[imblɞŋ

‘here’

‘you (2MIN)’

‘green/blue’

4.2.4 Fricatives

There are two fricative phonemes in Engdewu, /β/ and /s/. There is no voiceless labial

fricative. /β/ is labial, but it varies between labio-labial [β] and labio-dental [v]. The labio-

labial version tends to be pronounced like an approximant. Whether the variation is

allophonic or free remains to be investigated. The lamino-palatoalveolar /s/ is found only in

a handful of words, some of which are in frequent everyday use. Both fricatives appear in

initial and word medial position (Table 4.9).

4.2 Consonants 83

Table 4.9: Fricatives in in initial and medial position

β s

WORD INITIAL /βi/ ‘squeeze’ /sate/ ‘yellowfin tuna’

WORD MEDIAL /laβjɞ/ ‘tie (v)’ /kεlakiso/ ‘child’

/s/ is not mentioned in the phonology proposed by Wurm (1969), where an [s] only occurs

in one of the transcribed words in his word list, ise ‘mother’. This word is, however,

attested as [ite] in the present material. While /s/ definitely is a phoneme in the speech of

most generations, an alternative analysis for the speech of elders would be to posit [s] as a

phonetic variant of /dj/. This variation is most pronounced with older speakers. Elders tend

to pronounce these words [dj], while [s] seem to have taken over in the younger

generations, as seen in (9).

(9)

/djapmugʉ/

/kε-la-kidjo/

Older speakers

ndjapⁿmuŋgʉ]

sapⁿmuŋgʉ]

–

[kεlakindj ]

[kεlakis ]

Younger speakers

–

sapⁿmuŋgʉ]

sapuŋgʉ]

–

[kεlakis ]

‘rat’

‘child’

However, a few words are found to be pronounced with [s] by all speakers. In these words

/s/ appears in initial position.

(10)

/saul /

/sate/

‘outrigger canoe’

‘yellowfin tuna’

/s/ also appears in loan words from Pijin/English, e.g. in the frequently-used conjunctions

bikos ‘because’ and so ‘so’.

One word is found in the material where/s/ seems to have replaced /t/. This is probably

related to a productive phonological process where /t/ becomes [s] in front of /i/, as

described in §4.6.6.

(11)

/tivi/

Older speakers

[tivi]

[sivi]

Younger speakers

–

[sivi]

‘wading bird’


4.2.5 Approximants

There are three approximants, the two glides /j/ and /w/, and the liquid /l/. /j/ is palatal,

/w/ is labiovelar, and /l/ is laminal. All are found in initial and medial position (Table 4.10).

Table 4.10: Approximants in initial and medial position

j w l

WORD INITIAL /jɞŋi/ ‘shore’ /wepa/ ‘day after day

after tomorrow’

/lɛpmu/ ‘weed, grass’

WORD MEDIAL /nejɞ/ ‘breast’ /newa/ ‘cloth’ /k βili/ ‘fregate bird’

Recall that Wurm (1969) operates with labialised and palatalised versions of the voiced and

voiceless stops and of the labio-labial and dorso-velar nasal stops; and with palatalised

versions of the voiceless stops, of the labio-labial and apico-alveolar voiced and nasal stops,

and of the lateral approximant. In the present research, these are analysed as sequences of

two phonemes, Cw and Cj, consequently yielding a smaller inventory of consonant

phonemes, and a higher type and token frequencies of glide consonants than in Wurm’s

analysis.

(12)

/pwe i/

/napwu/

‘leaf’

‘pidgeon’

(13)

/pjeŋe i/

/ɒpjɵ/

‘go slowly’

‘stone’

Consonant clusters will be discussed in §4.5.1.

4.3 Vowels

Engdewu has 10 oral vowels: /i, ʉ, u, e, ɵ, ɛ, ɞ, , a, ɒ/. They are produced in front, central

and back positions, as schematised in Table 4.3. The four front vowels are all unrounded.

The three back vowels are rounded. The central vowels can be produced with or without lip

rounding, as indicated in Table 4.3, but the conditioning factors for the rounding are not

clear. Lip positions for one male speaker are illustrated in Fig. 4.8. The pictures are all stills

of lip position at max in single syllable words in the same sentential frame Öpiön[u] _ nëge ‘I

say _ now’. This is to ensure a similar context for all words. The illustrations show clear

rounding of the back vowels, but little or no rounding of the central ones.

While stress normally affects length of vowels, length is marginally phonemic, and contrasts

in length play a minor role in Engdewu. However, a handful of minimal pairs contrasting

short and long vowels have been confirmed. Examples are given in Table 4.11.

4.3 Vowels 85

Table 4.11: Minimal and near minimal pairs illustrating phonological contrasts in vowel length

Vː V

/tʉː/ ‘three’ /tʉ/ ‘burn’

/liː/ ‘two’ /li/ ‘life (v)’

/n ːli/ ‘village name’ /n li/ ‘fruit sp.’

/luɑː/ ‘CNJ’ /luɑ/ ‘fly’

/tɑː/ ‘gift’ – –

/nɵgeː/ ‘then’ /nege/ ‘now, today’

/ plɛː/ ‘blow’ / plɵ/ ‘run’

Wurm (1969: 63) says that, ‘ v owel length is phonemic, and long vowels are frequent’. In

the list of basic vocabulary items Wurm provides for six of the Reefs and Santa Cruz

languages and dialects: there are 147 Engdewu items of which 32 are transcribed as having

long vowels. In these transcriptions a long vowel coincides with stress in 26 of the words

while one word is unmarked for stress. In 21 of these transcriptions stress falls on the

penultimate syllable. The remaining five transcriptions where stress and vowel length do

not coincide are numeral words. And indeed, long vowels—and stress—are attested in these

verbal forms also in the present material.

(14) Wurm (1969)

ˈtötʰi :

ˈtʰüli:

tʰüˈtü:

tʰuˈpʷ :

ˈtʰemü:

Present

tʉˈɞte ~ ˈtɞːte

tʉˈliː

tʉmu ˈtʉː ~ tʉmˈtʉː

tuˈpw ː

tumu ɞtem u ~tumɞteˈm u

‘one (Lit. it is one)’

‘two (Lit. they are two)’

‘three (Lit. they are three)’

‘four (Lit. they are four)’

‘six (Lit. they are six)’

This can be analysed in at least two ways. One, that vowel length was phonemic 50 years

ago, and that it often coincided with stress. Two, that length was one of the factors

constituting stress in Engdewu, and that it was, therefore, easy to transcribe stressed vowels

as longer than unstressed ones in some words. The current research analyses today’s

situation in line with the second alternative. Many words which initially were transcribed as

having long vowels have been checked to find that short vowels are equally acceptable.

Because vowel length is phonemic in some words (also in non-penultimate syllables), the

conclusion, thus, has to be that vowel length is marginally phonemic.


Long vowels have a tendency to be slightly diphthongised by some speakers. /eː/ is

sometimes heard as e i , / ː/ as ɒ], /ɒː/ as ɒ ], and /ɞː/ as ɞ ]. As indicated in (14), /ʉː/

in ‘six’ has evolved to become / u/ in present-day speech. The frequent distal demonstrative

determiner form is found to be pronounced both [kɒː and kɒ ]. Diphthongs will be

discussed in §4.4.

Note also that it is common to pronounce a stressed vowel as extra long to express

emphasis, e.g. /ilɞpi/ ‘it’s big’ > /ilɞːpi/ ‘it’s very big’. Emphatic lengthening seems to be an

aerial feature. It is described for the Polynesian neighbour Vaeakau-Taumako (Næss and

Hovdhaugen 2011: 26), and for the Oceanic language Hiw of the northernmost island of

Vanuatu (François 2010: 399).

Wurm (1969) says that in contrast to Äiwoo of the Reefs, the Santa Cruzean languages have

nasal vowel phonemes. This is confirmed for Natügu by Boerger (in progress). Nasalisation

is, however, not analysed as phonemic in Engdewu, where nasalisation is predictable. Oral

vowels are sometimes nasalised in a nasal context. This is especially evident after the

postnasalised stop sequences. Postnasalised stops are analysed as clusters and are

described in §4.5.1.5 as on the decline and about to be replaced by oral stops. There is

evidence that the following vowels are nasalised in these contexts also.

Some vowel contrasts seem to be neutralised in unstressed syllables, for instance, the non-

back non-closed vowels /e, ɵ, ɛ, ɞ, a/ which may be reduced to schwa in this context. This

obviously represents a challenge to the transcription, and may, therefore, have led to

incorrect representations of some words in the present work.

4.3 Vowels 87

Fig. 4.8: Lip position at max in the production of the vowels in Engdewu

Notes: Top left: /i/ in ti; top middle: /ʉ/ in tü; top right: /u/ in tu. 2

nd row left: /e/ in te; 2

nd row middle: /ɵ/ in të; 2

nd row right: /ɔ/ in to.

3rd

row left: /ɛ/ in vä; 3rd

row middle: /ɞ/ in tö; 3rd

row right: /ɒ/ in tâ. Bottom: /a/ in taglü.

i ʉ u

e ɵ

ɛ ɞ ɒ

a


4.3.1 /i/

/i/ accounts for about 15 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus.31 It is

realised as [i] or [ɪ], depending on factors not yet fully understood. It is found word initially

and word finally, between consonants, and preceding and following consonant clusters.

#_ /ipmu/ ‘rain’

_# /nepi/ ‘sun’

[C]_[C] /tɞmil / ‘current’

_[C][C] /nibli/ ‘shell sp.’

[C][C]_ /nablika/ ‘lizard’

4.3.2 /e/

/e/ accounts for about 17 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It is

realised as [e] in stressed conditions and sometimes [ə] or [ɛ] in unstressed conditions,

which indicates that distinction between /e/ and /ɛ/ is neutralised in this position. /e/ is

found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and preceding and following

consonant clusters.

#_ /ebi / ‘big ocean wave’

_# /bwale/ ‘old woman’

[C]_[C] /daleŋi/ ‘earring’

_[C][C] /vepla/ ‘sit’

[C][C]_ /naple iɞ/ ‘CL.IX’

4.3.3 /ɛ/

/ɛ/ accounts for about 5 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It is

realised as [ɛ] or [æ] in conditions not yet understood. /ɛ/ occurs word finally, between

consonants, and preceding consonant clusters. It is not attested word initially, but it does,

however, constitute the common monosyllabic conjunction /ɛ/ ‘and’. It is not found to occur

following consonant clusters.

31

The statistical calculations of vowel frequencies are based on a sample corpus of 1,468 records consisting of both elicited uninflected words and inflected words in narratives. This selection is meant to give an impression of the vowel occurences. Note that a few records in this corpus have been omitted due to transcription uncertainties.

4.3 Vowels 89

#_ –

_# /kɛ/ ‘PROX:SG’

[C]_[C] /lɛpmu/ ‘weed, grass’

_[C][C] /tɛplɞ/ ‘kick, bang’

[C][C]_ –

4.3.4 /a/

/a/ accounts for about 6 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It is

realised as [a] in unstressed syllables. In stressed syllables it is sometimes pronounced as

[æ]. /a/ is found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and preceding and

following consonant clusters.

#_ /ape/ ‘door’

_# /ŋɵla/ ‘crawl’

[C]_[C] /namu/ ‘mosquito’

_[C][C] /taglʉ/ ‘fan’

[C][C]_ /i-bla/ ‘red’

4.3.5 /ʉ/

/ʉ/ accounts for about 4 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It is

not found word initially. Speakers pronounce it with a varying degree of lip rounding, i.e.

[ʉ]~[ɨ]. The conditions for lip rounding needs more research. It does appear word finally,

between consonants, and preceding and following consonant clusters.

#_ –

_# /nʉmʉ/ ‘hand’

[C]_[C] /nʉbʉ/ ‘ashes’

_[C][C] /mʉmnʉ/ ‘make noise’

[C][C]_ /i-blʉ/ ‘black’

4.3.6 /ɵ/

/ɵ/ also accounts for about 6 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It

seems to have one form only. Phonetically, it is close to schwa, and it can, therefore, be

difficult to distinguish it from other vowels in unstressed syllables. However, a number of

lexical items have been checked and cross-checked, and it is clear that there is a basis for

postulating a phoneme /ɵ/. Note also that Wurm (1969) describes a phoneme /ə/.


This is supported by minimal pairs such as those in (15), repeated from Table 4.4.

(15) /pwɵ/ ‘be cold’ /tɵ/ ‘hit’

/pwɞ/ ‘hammer (v)’ /tɞ/ ‘1. holy; 2. pregnant’

/ɵ/ is found word initially and word finally, and it appears word medially between two

consonants, and both before and after consonant clusters.

#_ /ɵβɵ/ ‘always’

_# /ɒpjɵ/ ‘stone’

[C]_[C] /tɵli/ ‘knife’

_[C][C] /nɵpubwi/ ‘coconut’

[C][C]_ / plɵ/ ‘run’

4.3.7 /ɞ/

/ɞ/ accounts for about 9 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. Like

the other central vowels, it is realised with a varying degree of lip rounding, i.e. as [ɞ] or [ɜ].

It is found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and preceding and following

consonant clusters.

#_ /ɞki/ ‘MED:PL’

_# /namelɞ/ ‘end’

[C]_[C] /pɞtʉnu/ ‘shark sp.’

_[C][C] /ɞpwe/ ‘shoot (with bow)‘

[C][C]_ /i-blɞŋu / ‘blue/green’

4.3.8 /u/

/u/ accounts for about 11 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. /u/

is found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and preceding and following

consonant clusters.

#_ /upe/ ‘fantail (bird sp.)’

_# /wenu/ ‘very’

[C]_[C] /tɞputi/ ‘cat’

_[C][C] /n publa/ ‘East wind season’

[C][C]_ /i-klu/ ‘many’

4.4 Diphthongs and vowel sequences 91

As indicated elsewhere and as described in §4.3.8, /u/ is sometimes voiceless and is

pronounced with a whispered phonation type. An example is the adverb donu (‘here’),

pronounced do.nu by the oldest speakers. Speakers of younger generations pronounce it

[don], reducing the number of syllables from two to one.

4.3.9 /ɔ/

/ / accounts for about 12 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample corpus. It is

realised as [ ]. / / is found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and

preceding and following consonant clusters.

#_ / ki/ ‘liver’

_# /ɒpjɵ/ ‘stone’

[C]_[C] /t nap / ‘no, none’

_[C][C] / pla/ ‘girl’

[C][C]_ /mn / ‘my eye’

4.3.10 /ɒ/

/ɒ/ accounts for about 6 per cent of the total number of vowels in the sample. It is

pronounced with or without lip rounding, as either [ɒ] or [ɑ]. Whether this is due to context

or just free variation is not yet understood. A similar variation is also reported for Äiwoo

(Næss, p.c.). /ɒ/ is found word initially and word finally, between consonants, and preceding

and following consonant clusters.

#_ /ɒpjɵ/ ‘stone’

_# /telɒ/ ‘CL.I’

[C]_[C] /lɒkŋu/ ‘water’

_[C][C] /gɒmwe/ ‘CL.III:2AUG

[C][C]_ /jɒpwɒti/ ‘know’

4.4 Diphthongs and vowel sequences

There are several diphthongs in Engdewu. The most common are /e i, a i, i, u, a u/. Others

occur less frequently: /a ʉ, a e, a , ɒ u, ɞ ʉ/. Diphthongs only occur word medially and word

finally. Examples are given in Table 4.12.


Table 4.12: Diphthongs in Engdewu

e

/e i/ ‘INTJ’

/k te i/ ‘good’

/le ipja/ ‘firewood/’

a

/pwa ide/ ‘ his grandmother’

/βja ipemu nam/ ‘open come out (Imperative)’

a ʉ

/na ʉ/ ‘apple (Malay apple, Eugenia malaccensis L.)’

/t im ka ʉ/ ‘I haven’t seen (him/her/it)’

/ta ʉli/ ‘chase’

a e

/na ede/ ‘his/her word’

/ma e/ ‘with him/her’

a u

/tewa u/ ‘money (Orig. feather money)’

/tala u/ ‘hundred’

a ɔ

/na / ‘head’

ɔ i

/l i/ ‘pudding’

/id imu / ‘s/he fell down (hither)’

ɔ u

/k u/ ‘DIST:PL’

/n u/ ‘clan’

u

/kɒ u/~/kɒː/ ‘DIST:SG’

/jɒ ul tnie/ ‘s/he makes (something, food)’

ʉ

/mwɞ ʉ/ ‘bird sp.’

/latɞ ʉ/ ‘bow’

/tʉβɞjɞ ʉ/ ‘I write’

4.4 Diphthongs and vowel sequences 93

Just like short and long vowels, the diphthongs can appear in open syllables, both with and

without an onset.

(16) a. /ɛ / ‘and’ (17) a. /ni/ ‘PRO- 1MIN.POSS ’

b. /e:/ ‘yes’ b. /tɒː/ ‘gift (used in bride

price ceremony)’

c. /a i/ ‘INTJ’ c /l i/ ‘pudding’

Remember that while closed syllables are uncommon in the speech of the older generation,

oral and nasal stops are found in word final position in the younger generations’ speech (cf.

§§ 4.2.1 and 4.2.3) due to elision of word final reduced vowels (§ 4.6.4). Diphthongs are also

found in these closed syllables as exemplified in the monosyllabic words below. This is an

argument for analysing these sequences as diphthongs and not vowel + glide sequences: the

whole complex has the same distribution (in the nucleus of a syllable) as single vowels. If

these sequences did consist of vowel + glide, the syllables in the examples in (18) would

have to be analysed as having consonant clusters in the coda. This would be unfortunate as

there are no other consonant clusters in this position in Engdewu syllables.

(18) pwa im ‘your grandmother’

la im ‘give (to sp)’

Another and perhaps stronger argument for a diphthong analysis is that the second element

in these sequences does not always correspond to a glide elsewhere in the language. That is,

not only do /i/ and /u/ occur as the second element in these sequences, but also /e, , ʉ/—

two close-mid and one central vowel. There are some minimal pairs, like /na / ‘head’ and

/na ʉ/ ‘apple (e.g. Malay apple)’. Such acoustic variation cannot be reflected through the two

glides [j] and [w], only.

While many diphthongs appear inside a single lexical root, as those in (16)–(18), some are

dimorphemic. This is illustrated by (19) where a subject marker /ʉ/ is attached to a stem

ending in an open syllable. The result is that the two adjacent vowels form a diphthong.

(19) tü-vö-yö-ü

/tʉβɞjɞ ʉ/

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-1MIN.S/A

‘I write’


Note that two adjacent vowels need not form diphthongs: adjacent vowels can also

constitute their own syllables. This is evident from monomorphemic words like /le.u/ ‘leaf’

and /ti.u/ ‘thousand’, which are not diphthongs, probably because these sequences do not

match the closing transitional pattern between the first and second vowels found in the

other diphthongs. That two adjacent vowels do not form diphthongs is also evident from

inflected words where a vowel is attached to a stem ending in a vowel. In the case of (20),

however, the /i/ in the base tend to beacome a glide [j] in this context.

(20) yânga-ti-e

/jɒ.ŋa.ti.e/

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-take-TR-3MIN.A

‘s/he took it’

In other cases it is hard to judge the status of the additional vowel, but they are at present

analysed as sequences of two vowels, following what seems to be the main rationale behind

diphthongisation in Engdewu, namely that the transition from the first to the second target

is closing, i.e. that the second vowel sound is more close than the first one. Opening vowel

transitions, on the other hand, are treated as sequences of two vowels, cf. (21). Sequences

without a change in vowel height are infrequent and in need of more study.

(21) a. la-bwë-ö

/la.bw[ɵɞ]/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-dead-APPL

‘they die from it/olketa dae long hem’

b. i-bwë-a

/i.bw[ɵa]/

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead-2MIN.S/A

‘you die/iu dae’

4.5 Phonotactics

The syllable template in Engdewu is (C)(S)V for elderly speakers and (C)(S)V(C) for younger

speakers, where S is a sonorant. Because there is a tendency among younger generations for

eliding reduced vowels (§§ 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 4.3.8, 4.6.4) in word final position after oral voiceless

and nasal stops, closed syllable types have emerged. In the speech of elders, on the other

hand, there are voiceless (‘whispered’) vowels after these stops and nasals in word final

position, and there are no closed syllables.

4.5 Phonotactics 95

Syllables can have zero, one or two onset consonants. Complex onsets consisting of two

consonants appear in both generations. The second consonant in these clusters is a

sonorant. 3-consonant groups are not allowed. The syllable patterns for younger and elderly

speakers are given in (22). Note that there is a gradual transition between these two

systems. This means that some syllables even in the speech of elders can have a coda, but

this is much less common.

(22)

Elderly speakers

Younger speakers

Zero onset

V

V, VC

Zero/ simplex onset

CV

CV, CVC

Complex onset

CSV

CSV, CSVC

4.5.1 Consonant clusters

Any consonant can form a single onset. In complex onsets the first consonant (C) can be a

stop /p, t, k, b, d, g/, a nasal /m, n, ŋ/or the fricative /β/. The glides are not allowed in this

position. The second consonant (S) is restricted to sonorants: either a glide /w, j/ a liquid

/l/ or a nasal /m, n, ŋ/. The attested combinations of clustered consonants are illustrated in

Table 4.13.32

Table 4.13: Attested combinations of C and S in CS clusters

C S

pm, pl, pw, pj p m pm

tn t n tn, mn, ŋn

kŋ, kl, kw, kj k ŋ kŋ

bl, bw, bj b l pl, kl, bl, gl, βl

dj d w pw, kw, bw, gw, mw, ŋw

gl, gw g j pj, kj, bj, dj, mj, nj, βj

mn, mw, mj m

nj n

ŋn, ŋw ŋ

βj, βl β

32

One word in the material has been found, /nelja/ ‘village’ with a cluster /lj/. If this cluster is added to the list of clusters, /l/ should be added to the list of possible consonants in the first position in a cluster.


The intra-syllabic clusters can be categorised in two groups: first, those where the last

consonant is a glide (Cj and Cw); and second, those where the last consonant is either the

liquid /l/or a nasal (Cl and CN). The CN clusters can be further divided into homorganic and

heterorganic CN clusters. There seem to be few restrictions on which consonant clusters

may appear word initially and word medially.

In addition to the intra-syllabic clusters, there are also a few inter-syllabic clusters found

where the consonants occur across the boundary of two syllables. This is possible in the

speech of speakers who allow for closed syllables. Both intra- and inter-syllabic clusters are

schematised in the matrixes in Table 4.14 and Table 4.15.

4.5 Phonotactics 97

Table 4.14: Word initial CCs in Engdewu

C1

p t k b d g m n ŋ β l j w

C2 p – – – – – – – – – – – –

t – – – – – – – – – – – –

k – – – – – – – – – – – –

b – – – – – – – – – – – –

d – – – – – – – – – – – –

g – – – – – – – – – – – –

m pm – – – – – – – – – – –

n – tn – – – – mn – – – – –

ŋ – – kŋ – – – – – – – – –

β – – – – – – – – – – – –

l pl – – bl – – – – – – – –

j pj – – bj dj – mj nj – – – –

w pw – kw bw dw gw mw – – – – –

Note: The matrix shows possible consonant clusters; '-' indicates no attested CC constellation; a white cell means that the CC is intra-syllabic (and appears in the same onset).

Table 4.15: Word medial CCs in Engdewu

C1

p t k b d g m n ŋ β l j w

C2 p – – – – – – – – – – – –

t – – – – – – – – – – – –

k – – – – – – – – – – – –

b – – – – – – – – – – – –

d – – – – – – – ŋ.d – – – –

g – – – – – – – – – – – –

m pm – – – – – – ŋ.m – – – –

n – tn – – – – mn ŋ.n – – – –

ŋ – – kŋ – – – m.ŋ – – – – –

β – – – – – – – – – – – –

l pl – kl bl – gl – – – βl – –

j pj – – bj dj – mj nj – βj – –

w pw – kw bw – gw mw – ŋw – – –

Notes: 1. The matrix shows possible consonant clusters; '-' indicates no attested CC constellation; a white cell means that the CC is intra-syllabic (and appears in the same onset). 2. Grey shading indicates that the CC is inter-syllabic; these sequences are more common among younger speakers.


With only three exceptions, Cj and Cw clusters correspond nicely to the palatalised and

labialised phonemes given for Engdewu in Wurm (1969: 63).

The first exceptions are Wurm’s palatalised and labialised versions of the voiceless

apical stop, /tʲ/ and /tʷ/, neither of which are attested in the present research. Note

also that none of the lexical items listed in that paper contain any such phonemes.

The second exception is the Cj cluster with the bilabial fricative /β/ as C1 in the

present analysis. Wurm provides no labial fricative phoneme, and, thus, no

palatalised version of it.

The third exception is the sequence /lw/ which is attested in the material, though

only in a single token.33

The Cw, Cj, Cl, and CN clusters, and the differences between them, will be discussed in the

subsequent sections. Just as seen with the prenasalised stops, these clusters are phonetically

two segments in a sequence. The choice of a cluster analysis over a unit phoneme analysis is

based on the same criteria as those leading to a unitary analysis for the prenasalised stops,

that is, distribution and duration. Since both unit phoneme and cluster analyses may seem

plausible for these complex sound sequences, this issue will be discussed in the relevant

places.

4.5.1.1 Cw

The Cw clusters make up about 64 per cent in initial position and 33 per cent in medial

position among the CS clusters. Those attested are /pw, bw, dw, gw, mw, ŋw/.34 Of these, all

except /ŋw/ are found word initially, and all except /dw/ are found word medially. With the

exception of /dw/ all clusters are much more frequent word medially than word initially.

The most frequent of these clusters are the ones with a bilabial C in the first position, both

word initially and medially. The Cw clusters do not appear before /u/. Examples are given in

Table 4.16.

33

This word is /i-melwe/ ‘be heavy’ which is pronounced [iˈme.lwe] both in careful and in normal speech. Note the contrast to the river name /nabalue/, which is always pronounced [na.baˈlu.e]. This indicates that there is a contrast between sequences of glide + high vowel as opposed to vowel + high vowel, and that [w] isn’t merely an allophone of /u/. 34

The sequence [kw] does appear in the material, but is then taken as the result of a phonological process of glide formation, as discussed in §4.6.8.

4.5 Phonotactics 99

Table 4.16: Examples of Cw clusters in Engdewu

Cw

pw /pwe i/ ‘leaf’

/pwi/ ‘my father’

/napw / ‘pidgeon’

/pɞpwela/ ‘swallow’

mw /mweli/ ‘time’

/mwati/ ‘tomorrow’

/numwe/ ‘snake’

/nimwe/ ‘you (PRO:2AUG)’

ŋw /itɵ.ŋwe/ ‘break’

/i.ŋwe/ ‘be like’

bw /bwale/ ‘woman’

/bwe/ ‘story’

/na.bwe/ ‘shoulder’

/nidabwe/ ‘we (PRO:12AUG)’

dw /dwe i/ or

/dweː/

‘what’ One occurence

gw /gwati/ ‘take’ One occurence

/igwaː/ ‘you (2MIN) run’ One occurence

Proto-Oceanic is reconstructed as having had a series of ‘labio-velars’, that is, consonant

sounds that have a double labial and velar articulation. A few Oceanic languages still retain

such an articulation, while reflexes in modern languages are phonetic sequences of stops

and /w/ (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 64). The Cw sequences in Engdewu are indeed

such sequences.

Based on their relatively small set of lexical items, Ross and Næss (2007) suggest that POc

*pʷ is retained as /pʷ/ in Engdewu: they have not found any reflex of *bw, while they

suggest that *mʷ is reflected as /m/. As regards the last point, the examples below suggest

that *mʷ also is retained as /pʷ/ in Engdewu,

(23) POc Engdewu Source

*pwala(ŋ) ‘side, part’ pwala ‘sea, seashore’ (Ross, Pawley, and

Osmond 2003)


?? *bwal(o,a)k ‘belly, hollow space’ tapwë ’belly’

(Ross, Pawley, and

Osmond 2003)

?? *tobwa ‘bay, harbour; belly,

stomach’

(Ross, Pawley, and

Osmond 2003)

*mwaqane ‘man, male’ m(w)e- ‘BN:male’ (Ross, Pawley, and

Osmond 2003)

*tamwataq ‘living person’ lëmwotangi ‘white

man, foreigner’

(Ross, Pawley, and

Osmond 2003)

*mwata ‘snake’ nümwa ‘snake’

The choice between a phonological single phoneme vs cluster analysis is often difficult

because of the similar phonetic features of segments in sequence. There are two main

reasons for treating these sequences as clusters and not unit phonemes. First, the lengths of

the Cw sequences are in average considerably longer than any single phoneme, as seen in

Table 4.17. Compare also the lengths of the Cw sequences with those of the prenasalised

stops in Table 4.7. Phonetically, both types consist of two segments, but the latter are

considerably longer, and this is one reason why they are treated differently. Second, unlike

most consonant phonemes, a sequence of consonant and [w] cannot itself be clustered with

a sonorant or any other consonant. If these sequences are analysed as clusters, however,

they fit into the common CS cluster pattern, and no special three-consonant pattern needs to

be posited for this combination of sounds. The measurements are based on the same single-

speaker analysis as that for the prenasalised stops in §4.2.2. Notice that the token frequency

varies from sequence to sequence and that it is only 1 for [kw] and [ŋgw . Despite the small

sample size, these numbers are still included to provide the reader with an impression of

the length of the sequences in question.

4.5 Phonotactics 101

Table 4.17: Mean duration of Cw clusters in medial position


LABIOVELAR STOPS IN MEDIAL POSITION:

[pw] 118,9 28,3 20

[kw] 89,1 n.a 1

[mbw] 140,0 30,9 8

ŋgw 122,1 n.a. 1

[mw] 148,5 74,6 4

ŋw – – -35


[p] 88,3 29,6 23

[t ~r] 89,3 26,9 26

[k] 74,3 23,8 24

[l] 63,2 22,8 62

[m] 111,3 33,8 13

[n] 72,8 21,9 22

ŋ 67,2 29,0 18

β 78,8 25,8 11

[s] – – –

[w] 74,3 24,4 26

[j] 86,9 45,9 7

4.5.1.2 Cj

The Cj clusters make up about 20 per cent of the word initial and only 3 per cent of the word

medial CS clusters. Those found are /pj, kj, bj, dj, mj, nj, βj/. All except /kj/ appear in word

medial position, while /pj, kj, dj, mj, nj/ also appear in word initial position. Some clusters

are attested only in single words, especially in medial position. The Cj clusters do not appear

before /i/. Cf. Table 4.18.

35

The [ŋw] sequence is found in a few words, /ŋwe/. It does not, however, occur in any word in the elicitation session on which these calculations are based, and numbers cannot be produced.


Table 4.18: Examples of Cj clusters in Engdewu

Cj

/pj/ /pje.ŋe i/ ‘go slowly’

/ɒ.pjɵ/ ‘stone’

/bj/ /mɞ.bjɵ/ ‘bat’ One occurence

/dj/ /dja.pmu.gʉ/ ‘rat’

/kɛlakidj / ‘child’

/mj/ /mje i/ ‘brother:1MIN.POSS’

/ɒ.mja/ ‘cold (v)’

/nj/ /nj / ‘CL.V:1MIN.POSS’

/nja.mwe/ ‘parrotfish’

/be.nja.bu/ ‘arm decoration’

/βj/ /la.βjɞ/ ‘tie’ One occurence

/lj/ /ne.lja/ ‘village’ One occurence

Table 4.19 shows that the duration of these Cj sequences are considerably longer than single

phonemes, including the prenasalised stops, whose durations are given in Table 4.7.

Furthermore, a Cj sequence cannot be clustered with another consonant. The Cj sequences

fit into the common CS cluster pattern. These are good arguments for a cluster analysis for

the Cj sequences also. The total sample size of these sequences is rather low, and [mbj], [mj]

and [nj] have a token frequency of only one. While the reliability of these numbers is, thus,

low, they are provided here to give the reader an impression of the length of sequences in

question.


Table 4.19: Mean duration of Cj clusters in medial position


PALATALISED STOPS IN MEDIAL POSITION:

[pj] 169,5 31,3 5

[kj] 140,7 27,2 3

[mbj] 167,7 n.a. 1

[ndj] 116,2 12,4 2

[mj] 177,4 n.a. 1

[nj] 106,0 n.a. 1

βj 147,7 56,7 4


[p] 88,3 29,6 23

[t ~r] 89,3 26,9 26

[k] 74,3 23,8 24

[l] 63,2 22,8 62

[m] 111,3 33,8 13

[n] 72,8 21,9 22

ŋ 67,2 29,0 18

β 78,8 25,8 11

[s] - - -

[w] 74,3 24,4 26

[j] 86,9 45,9 7

4.5.1.3 Cl

The Cl clusters make up about 11 per cent of the word initial and 20 per cent of the word

medial CS clusters. Those attested are /pl, kl, bl, gl, βl/. All appear in word medial position,

while /pl/ and /bl/ also are attested in word initial position. Cf. Table 4.20.


Table 4.20: Cl clusters in Engdewu

Cl

pl /βepla/ ‘sit’

/naple iɞ/ ‘CL.IX’

/ pla/ ‘girl’

βl /laβle/ ‘tie (v)’

/daβlʉ/ ‘conch shell sp.’

kl /i-kle/ ‘shout’

/i-klu/ ‘many’

bl /bliki/ ‘back.head’

/blakupwa/ ‘old woman’

/nibli/ ‘shell sp.’

gl /i-gle/ ‘recognise’

/ tigli/ ‘sharp pillars of rock’

/taglʉ/ ‘fan’

Ross and Næss (2007: 465) describe how BL clusters evolved through ‘syncope’, one of the

two most important phonological processes leading from proto-Temotu to RSC. The syncope

is described as the deletion of the first vowel in *BVLV words where the consonant in the

first syllable was a bilabial (B) and the consonant in the second syllable was a liquid *l or *n

(L), thus turning two syllables into one: *BVLV > BLV. The Cl clusters /pl, bl, βl/ described

here are clearly results of this process. /kl/ and /gl/, however, are not bilabial, and this

might indicate that syncope also happened to syllables with a velar as the first consonant, or

that it happened at a later stage, perhaps on analogy with the BLV patterned words. A few

examples from Ross and Næss (2007: 467) illustrate the development of some lexical roots

from POc through two phases branching off Proto–Reefs–Santa Cruz (PRSC) to modern-day

Engdewu. In some cases other processes, like consonant assimilation and the accretion of

the POc article *na can also be seen here.

(24) POc pre-PRSC PRSC Engdewu

*pulu ‘body hear, feathers’ *pulu *na plu nëplü ‘feather’

*meRak ‘red’ *mela *mlâ i-bla ‘be red’

*marawa ‘green’ *malawa *mlâ(wa) i-blö-ŋu ‘be green/blue’


4.5.1.4 Heterorganic CN clusters

Two types of CN clusters can be distinguished. These are the non-homorganic nasal-nasal

clusters, and the homorganic stop-nasal clusters. The nasal-nasal clusters have either /m/

or /ŋ/ as the first element and /n/ as the second. They are found in only a few words in both

word initial and word medial position. Cf. Table 4.21.

Table 4.21: Heterorganic Cn clustes in Engdewu

Cn

mn /mn / ‘1. stay; 2. my eye’

/mʉmnʉ/ ‘make noise’

ŋn /ɞŋna/ ‘look’

/aŋnɵ/ ‘lay’

These clusters are apparent results of the same historical process of syncope (sometimes

combined with consonant assimilation) as that described for the Cl clusters (§ 4.5.1.3); cf.

(25) (Ross and Næss 2007: 467).


*mata ‘eye’ *mala *na mnɒ mn

An alternative analysis for these nasal + nasal sequences would be to assign the first nasal to

a syllable of its own, making it syllabic, e.g. /m.n /. The restriction would then be that there

is no onset or coda connected to the syllable. This could be possible since nasals have a

certain degree of sonority, making them potential candidates for filling the time slot in a

nucleus. Such an analysis is unfortunate because it obscures the developmental relationship

with the Cl clusters. Furthermore, since stress is usually penultimate, this analysis would

imply that stress is assigned to the syllabic nasal. There is no evidence that this is the case.

4.5.1.5 Homorganic CN clusters: postnasalised stops

The other CN cluster type is characterised by a homorganic sequence of stop + nasal. All

three main places of stop articulation have a homorganic stop-nasal sequence, i.e. labio-

labial /pm/, apico-alveolar or apico-post-alveolar /tn/ and dorso-velar /kŋ/. They appear

both in word initial and word medial position. Cf. Table 4.22.


Table 4.22: Homorganic CN clusters, aka postnasalised stops

CN

pm /pmu/ ‘poison’

/bɞpmi/ ‘banana’

tn /tna/ ‘CL.II’

/nɞtna/ ‘fish’

kŋ / kŋia/ ‘shout’

/dʉkŋa/ ‘devil’

An analysis of these sequences as clusters is perhaps not straightforward. First, the

prenasalised stop sequences, where a nasal element precedes the stop element, were

analysed as unit phonemes. So why shouldn’t these postnasalised stop sequences also be

analysed as unit phonemes? Articulatorily, the postnasalised stops seem to be mirror

images of the prenasalised stops. What happens in the production of these sequences is that

the raised velum is lowered during a single oral occlusion, and a burst of air is released

through the nose. Voicing is sometimes—though not always—found to occur at the end of

the nasal sequence before the following vowel.

And second, the second segment of these sequences does not obviously correspond to any

phoneme in the sound system of Engdewu. Unlike the prenasalised stops that phonetically

are sequences of nasal + stop (§ 4.2.2) where both nasal and stop also occur as unit

phonemes, the nasal element in a postnasalised stop (or at least a part of it) has different

acoustic properties from unit nasal phonemes. That is, the larger part of the nasal element is

voiceless and rather resembles aspiration in that a burst of air is released through the nose.

Phonetically, this is best symbolised by the IPA diacritic ⁿ (for nasal release).

Acoustic features of these complex postnasalised voiceless stops are illustrated in the

waveforms and spectrograms in Fig. 4.9–Fig. 4.11. The nasal burst of air before the voicing

starts is especially visible with the /tn/ tⁿ and /kŋ/ kⁿ . During the closure, air is let out

through the nose, visible as noise scattered all over the frequency band. At the end of the

stop the vocal folds start to vibrate, producing a nasal sound, with its characteristic white

bands of no energy. The vocal folds keep vibrating and the nasal transcends into the

following vowel.


Fig. 4.9: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /pm/ [pⁿm] in word medial position in the word /lɛpmu/ ‘grass’

Fig. 4.10: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /tn/ [tⁿ] in word medial position in the word /nɵtna/ ‘fish’


Fig. 4.11: Waveform and spectrogram illustrating the postnasalised stop sequence /kŋ/ [kⁿŋ] in word medial position in the word /dʉkŋa/ ‘devil’

A major argument in favour of a cluster analysis is the duration of the sequences. Table 4.23

shows that the postnasalised stops tend to be considerably longer than corresponding unit

stop or nasal phonemes, including the prenasalised stops (cf. Table 4.7). Note, however, that

the length measures indicate that the sequences are not as long as the length of a stop and a

nasal combined.


Table 4.23: Mean duration of CN clusters in medial position


POSTNASALISED STOPS IN MEDIAL POSITION:

[pm] 124,4 43,6 8

[tn] 143,2 58,5 8

kŋ 116,1 36,8 13


[p] 88,3 29,6 23

[t ~r] 89,3 26,9 26

[k] 74,3 23,8 24

[l] 63,2 22,8 62

[m] 111,3 33,8 13

[n] 72,8 21,9 22

ŋ 67,2 29,0 18

β 78,8 25,8 11

[s] – – –

[w] 74,3 24,4 26

[j] 86,9 45,9 7

The sequences [pn, tn, kn] can also appear word initially and word medially, but they are,

however, never found in clusters with other consonants. This would make them exceptional

if analysed as unit phonemes, as nearly all other consonants can appear as the first element

in a CS cluster. This makes them typical candidates for a cluster analysis, as the clusters in

Engdewu can only consist of two segments. If the postnasalised stops are analysed as

clusters, on the other hand, they fit right into the common CS pattern.

And finally, it is interesting to note that postnasalised stops seem to have evolved through

the same historical process of syncope as the Cl clusters /pl, bl, βl, kl, gl/ (§ 4.5.1.3) and the

heterorganic CN clusters /mn, ŋn/, turning bisyllabic *BVLV words into monosyllabic *BLV

words. In §1.5.1.3 the origin of the Cl clusters was explained through the phonological

process of syncope, as described by Ross and Næss (2007). It seems that not only BL

clusters, but members of all CL patterns can be traced to this process and a following

process of consonant assimilation, yielding not only kl, gl and ŋn, but also pm, tn and kŋ.



*puluq ‘ten’ *pulu *na plu n pmu ‘ten’

*penako ‘steal’ *penao *pnä pma ‘steal’

*tuna ‘eel’ *tuna *tnâ nëtna ‘fish’36

Because these clusters can appear word initially, their members have to be assigned to the

onset in the same syllable. Note also that these clusters only occur in a very small group of

words.

Among the Austronesian languages postnasalised stops are described for Western

Austronesian languages of Asia, in addition to some in New Caledonia. Rivierre (1975)

describes a series of postnasalised stops that can occur in both initial and medial position in

words in Némi (New Caledonia). One of the proposed origins for these phonemes is syncope

(‘réduction syllabique’), i.e. *tama > tnau- ‘father’; *tina > tne- ‘mother’. Another proposed

origin is that they appear in onomatopoeic words for birds, i.e. kŋeekŋe ‘parrot sp.’, kŋiik

‘purple swamphen’, kŋoova ‘heron sp.’; and sounds, i.e. cñie ‘sneeze’, kŋaak ‘scream’

(Rivierre 1975: 354). There is only one word, kŋia 'meow', in the material that could be

taken as an onomatopoetic, so syncope seems to be the main source for the postnasalised

stop sequences in Engdewu.

There is variation among speakers as regards the pronunciation of the relevant words. Some

speakers consistently pronounce them with postnasalised stop clusters, while these clusters

are simplified to simple oral stops in the speech of others. There is also variation among the

RSC languages as regards these sounds, and in Äiwoo, cluster simplification seems to be the

rule (Ross and Næss 2007). Engdewu speakers who simplify the clusters, however, tend to

leave a trace of the elided nasal in the following vowel which is often nasalised. That is, some

speakers pronounce ‘water’ lɒkⁿ(ŋ)u , others lɒkũ , and yet others lɒku] or [lɒku , with

no trace of nasalisation. This could be taken in favour of a single phoneme analysis, where

the postnasalised stops are about to merge with the oral stops. However, cluster reduction,

which is the alternative analysis, is not uncommon cross-linguistically.

Phonetic postnasalised stop sequences are sometimes also the result of a productive

process of vowel elision in rapid speech; cf. §4.6.4.

36

There are two reflexes of POc *tuna in Engdewu. /nɵtna/ has undergone syncope and accretion of the POc article *na and has the general meaning ’fish’ in modern Engdewu, as described by Ross and Næss (2007). The form /tuna/ means ’eel’. Because this latter word shows no sign of sound change, it is probably a loan from Polynesian. In Vaeakau-Taumako there is a word tuna ’eel’ (Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011: 26).


4.5.1.6 Inter-syllabic CCs

There are few closed syllables in Engdewu and only a few possible instances of inter-syllabic

CCs where two consonants in a cluster are assigned to the coda of one syllable and the onset

of the other, respectively. They all have a nasal before the syllable break. Some examples of

such inter-syllabic CCs are given in Table 4.24.

Table 4.24: Inter-syllabic consonant clusters in Engdewu

CC

m.ŋ

la.klem.ŋɵ ‘they called for (someone)’

lɒ.tum.ŋɵ ‘they took (something)’

m.g

tiɒ.lu.ɵm.gɒ ‘we return back’

m.d

m.da ‘thing’

ŋ.d

eŋ.de.wu ‘Engdewu village’

The old village and language name Engdewu is itself a riddle. Elders insist that it should be

pronounced [eŋndewu , with a velar nasal. Even in their speech this nasal does not seem to

be followed by a reduced vowel, and it thus seems to be a coda of the first vowel. There is no

good explanation for this, which seems to be an obvious exception to the general rule. This

may explain why especially younger speakers rather pronounce it [endewu], without the

odd coda nasal.

4.5.2 Syllables

The syllable template was described as (C)(S)V for the older generation and (C)(S)V(C) for

the younger generations. Because there are no closed syllables in the speech of the older

generation, all consonants are assigned to an onset. In the speech of the younger

generations some stops and nasals are analysed as codas if the corresponding consonants in

the speech of elders appear as an onset in a word final syllable with a whispered vowel in

the nucleus (cf. §§ 4.2.1 and 4.2.3). Hence, closed syllables in the speech of the younger

generations only appear word finally in words where older generations pronounce a

reduced vowel. Examples of monosyllabic, disyllabic and polysyllabic words are given in

Table 4.25–Table 4.27. Words where number of syllables and syllabification differ between

the generations are indicated.


Table 4.25: Examples of monosyllabic syllables in Engdewu

MONOSYLLABIC WORDS

V /ɛ/ ‘and’

/eː/ ‘yes’

/e i/ ‘INTJ’

CV /ni/ ‘I/me (PRO-[1MIN.POSS])’

/ja/ ‘pull’

/tɒː/ ‘gift (used in bride price ceremony)’

/ne i/ ‘my (CL.IV)’

CSV /pwe/ ‘father:1MIN.POSS’

/nj / ‘my (CL.V)’

/mn / ‘my eye’

/dweː/ ‘what’

/pwe i/ ‘leaf’

/mwɞ ʉ/ ‘kingfisher’37

Table 4.26: Examples of disyllabic syllables in Engdewu

DISYLLABIC WORDS

Elderly speakers Younger speakers

V.V /e.u/38 ‘yes’

V.CV /a.m / ‘and’

/a.pe/ ‘door’

/i.b / ‘be blue’

V.CSV / .pla/ ‘girl’

/i.mn / ‘s/he stays’

/i.pmʉ/ ‘be rain, it’s rain’

CV.V /ti.u/ ‘thousand’

/le.u/ ‘leaf’

/d . / ‘yam sp.’

37

Collared Kingfisher, Todiramphus chloris. 38

Borrowed from Natügu. The original Engdewu word for ‘yes’ is /eː/.


CV.CV /ma.tu/ ‘house’

/βu.lʉ/ ‘parrot’

/ni.mu / CVC /nim/ ‘you (PRO:2MIN)’

/k .te i/ ‘good’

/la i.mu / CVC /la im/ ‘give it (come)!’

CV.CSV /te.mwa/ ‘moon, month’

/βe.pla/ ‘sit’

/nu.glu/ ‘grate for breadfruit

drying’

/ta.pw i/ ‘float’

/ja.pje i/ ‘to trap’

CSV.CV /bli.ki/ ‘backhead’

CSV.CSV /nja.mwe/ ‘parrotfish’

/pwɛ.vli/ ‘be in bad condition’

Table 4.27: Examples of polysyllabic syllables in Engdewu

POLYSYLLABIC WORDS

Elderly speakers Younger speakers

V.CSV.CV /i.blɞ.ŋu / V.CSVC /i.blɞŋ/ ‘be green/blue’

/i.kle.mu / V.CSVC /i.klem/ ‘s/he shouted hither’

CV.CV.CV /le.pe.la/39 ‘human’

/k .lɞ.mu / CV.CVC /ko.lɞm/ ‘ocean’

CV.CV.CSV /nɵ.pu.bwi/ ‘coconut’

/ni.da.bwe/ ‘you (PRO:12AUG)’

/ka.ko.pli/40 ‘crocodile’

CV.CSV.CV /tʉ.mwa.nu / CV.CSVC /tʉ.mwan/ ‘I eat’

39

Also frequently /le.pla/. 40

/ka.kɔ.pi.li/ is also found. Elders say that this form is a borrowing from Nalögo. Næss (p.c.) reports that ‘crocodile’ is /kakɔpili/ also in Äiwoo, which might also be a source.


4.6 Phonological processes

In this section the main phonological and morphophonemic processes which apply in

Engdewu that have been observed will be described.

4.6.1 Vowel harmony

There is a productive process of regressive vowel harmony in Engdewu where a back

open/open-mid vowel (/ɒ, /) triggers assimilation in the vowels in preceding syllables

across the word. While this process is not fully understood—how far it ranges, and what

vowels are affected—it clearly controls the forms of some prefixes. Vowel assimilation is

most evident in speech varieties of elders.

4.6.1.1 Imperfective prefix /tʉ/~/tu/

Vowel harmony controls the form of the imperfective aspect prefix. If the prefix is added to a

word with a back vowel in the adjacent right syllable, the form of the prefix is /tu/ (with a

back vowel), otherwise it is /tʉ/ (with a non-back vowel), except when the form is prefixed

to a stem with an initial /j/, in which case the form /te/ is triggered. The imperfective prefix

is discussed in §11.3.3.2.

(27) a. Nëwa tü-minga.

/tʉmiŋa/

cloth IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry

‘The cloth will dry./Kaleko fo drae.’

b. Mweli kââ tu-mo-lö,

/tum lɞ/

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-3MIN.A?

tu-mno-gâ ma pwi.

/tumn gɒ/

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-1AUG.S/A with father:1MIN.POSS

‘When he saw (us), I stayed with my father./Taem hemi lukim, mitufala father

blong mi stap.’ (Story_130909_M04f)

c. Nëge te-ya-tö=pme-m[u].

/tejatɞpmem/

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

‘Then she starts to paddle in./Den hem padol kam in nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

4.6 Phonological processes 115

4.6.1.2 Third person augmented perfective prefix /la/~/lɒ/

Vowel harmony also affects the third person augmented perfective prefix which has the

allomorphic forms /la/ and /lɒ/, and /le/.

(28) a. la-lii /laliː/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘they are two’

c. la-tüü /latʉː/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘they are three’

b. lâ-pwoo /lɒpw ː/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-four

‘they are four’

d. lâ-klu /lɒklu/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-many

‘they are many’

e. Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u],

and IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-return=COS-PDIR>1

le-yâlu-m,…

/lejalum/

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1

‘And they returned, they returned,…/An olketa kam baek nao, olketa kam baek,…’

(Story_031009_N01m)

4.6.1.3 ANC possessive marker /bwapwɞ/~/bwɒpwɒ/

Vowel harmony is also found in the special possessive marker in action nominal

constructions (ANC) with a referential agent (§6.6.2). When a possessive person marker

with a back vowel is added after the nominalisation suffix, this takes the form /bwɒpwɒ/ or

/b pwɒ/. Otherwise it is /bwapwɞ/. If a distal demonstrative determiner follows the

nominalised noun which does not itself include any back vowels, the whole nominalising

suffix, including the subject marker, is subject to vowel harmony. This indicates that the

vowel harmony is effective across word boundaries.

(29) Ma më na-yöni-ö-bwâpwâ-ngâ kââ…

/na.jɞ.ni.ɞ.b .pwɒ.ŋɒ kɒː/

but in NMLZ:3AUG.S/A-cry-NMLZ-POSS-3AUG DIST:SG

‘But when they cried for it…/Bat taem olketa krae (fo hem) ia…’

(Story_200909_M11m)

4.6.2 Vowel assimilation

Affixes are sometimes observed to trigger vowel assimilation in the root. The first, second

and third minimal subject suffixes all include one-vowel forms. When these are added to a


verb stem ending in a vowel, this vowel is assimilated with that of the subject marker. The

result is two syllabic vowels with equal quality, often contracted into a long homorganic

vowel. The example in (30) a. shows a root /jɞ/ with no morpheme attached after it. In b. a

subject marker -e /e/ ‘3MIN.A’ is added, and the result is a change in root vowel quality.

Together, the form is pronounced as a single syllable form with long vowel quality.

(30) a. Ö-yö leta.

/ɞjɞ/

DETR-write letter

‘He wrote letters./Hemi raetim tufala leta.’ (N13m:29)

b. Nege ye-e leta la-möp[u].

/jeː/

now [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-write-3MIN.A letter PFV:3AUG.S/A-five

‘Now he writes five letters./Nao hemi reaetim faefala leta.’

Another example is when a third person minimal form -ä is attached to a person directional

-bë ‘PDIR>2/3’, yielding a portmanteau morph -bää ‘PDIR>2/3:3MIN’. In (31) a.–d. there are

three different forms of the directional -yë ‘GDIR:up’ attached to the verb. In b. a second

person minimal (2MIN) marker -a is added, and the vowel in the directional is assimilated,

yielding a portmanteau -yaa which is a combination of both directional and person marker.

In c., assimilation occurs when a third person minimal (3MIN) marker -ä is added. When the

first person minimal (1MIN) marker -ü is added, as seen in a., on the other hand,

assimilation does not take place. (Observe, however, that /ʉ/ forms a diphthong with /ɵ/ in

the directional.) This basic form of the directional appears with all other markers, those

with an initial consonant, exemplified by the first plus second person minimal (12MIN) form

in d.

(31) a. i-va-le-yë-ü

i.va.leˈjɵ ʉ]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-hang-

GDIR:up- 1MIN.S/A

‘I hung it on the line.’

b. i-va-le-yaa

i.va.leˈjaː


GDIR:up:2MIN.S/A

‘You hung it on the line.’

c. i-va-le-yää

i.va.leˈjɛː


GDIR:up:3MIN.A

‘S/he hung it on the line.’ (M03m52)

d. i-va-le-yë-da

i.va.leˈjɵ.da]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-hang-GDIR:up-

12MIN.S/A

‘We two hung it on the line.’


4.6.3 Vowel contraction

In rapid speech, two vowels following one another in different syllables are commonly

merged into one long vowel in one syllable, as already indicated in §4.6.2. This is common if

the two vowels have identical quality.

(32) ne-yo-o-pe to Bibö.

/naj ːpet /

IRR-swim-GDIR:across-GDIR:out HORT B.

‘I will swim across to Bibö now./Mi suim akros long Bibö na.’ (N02m:55)

4.6.4 Vowel elision

In *C1V1C2V2 syllable patterns an unstressed V1 is subject to elision if:

a) C1 is one of the voiceless oral stops /p, t, k/;

b) C2 is a prenasalised stop; and

c) C1 and C2 have the same place of articulation.

The outcome is audible as a nasal release of C1, resembling a postnasalised stop cluster,

before the prenasalised C2 stop. This is common in rapid speech.

(33) to-pe-be [t pebe] > [t pⁿmbe

take-GDIR:out:PDIR

‘take it (come) out’

(34) a. itö=de [itɞ-de] > itⁿnde]

mother=3MIN.POSS

‘his mother’

b. nötü=de [nɞtʉ-de] > [nɞtⁿnde

name=3MIN.POSS

‘his/her/its name’

If a prefix ending in a vowel is added to a vowel initial base, the vowel in the prefix is

frequently elided. This is seen when an imperfective prefix /tʉ/ (‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A’) is

added to a detransitivising prefix /ɞ/. The contrast between /t/ and /p/ is neutralised in

this context. The result is, thus, two allomorphs of a portmanteau morph (tö- /tɞ/ and pö-

/pɞ/ ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:DETR’) which can both be used instead of a sequence of an

imperfective prefix and a detransitivising prefix.


(35) a. tü-ö-pia-ü

/tʉɞpia ʉ/

IPFV-DETR-chop- 1MIN.S/A

‘I will chop (firewood)’

b. /to pia ʉ/

c. /po pia ʉ/

When the imperfective aspect prefix tü- is added to a causative prefix /a/, the result is a

portmanteau: pa- /pa/ ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS’. There has not been found any form ta- with

this meaning (ta- is the third augmented imperfective prefix).

(36) Dä pa-minga... dä tü-a-minga

/pamiŋa/ /tʉamiŋa/

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3A:CAUS-dry CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-dry

newë.

cloth

‘S/he is drying...s/he is drying clothes./Hemi dreaem...hemi draem kaleko.’

(M06m_110405-001)

Closed non-front vowels, most notably /u/, are subject to weakening in unstressed syllables

in word final position after oral and nasal stops. The reduced vowel is pronounced in a

whispered phonation type with no vocal cord vibration, and with a shorter length. These

reduced vowels are not always audible in the language of the oldest generation, but they are

indicated in a spectrogram. In the spectrogram an intensity curve in Fig. 4.12 the final /u/ is

seen as a prolongation of the lower energy band of the preceding nasal combined with a

slight rise in the intensity.


Fig. 4.12: Illustration of reduced (or whispered) word final vowel /u/ in the word /iblɞŋu/ ‘it is green/blue’

Note: Notice the rise in intensity that indicates the vowel.

Word stress is basically penult in Engdewu, and these final reduced vowels are, thus, fairly

common. Whispered vowels are the rule in the speech of the oldest generation. In younger

generations, however, these vowels tend to be elided. A possible explanation for this is that

younger speakers perceive them as not present, leading to a phonological reanalysis of

apocope. Consequently, the syllable patterns among younger and older generations differ: in

the speech of younger speakers the number of syllables is reduced by one, and the final

syllable is characterised by being closed. Note that the change in syllable pattern does not

alter stress, as the result is a heavy syllable, and heavy syllables attract stress (c.f. §4.7.1).

(37)

/lamɞpu/

/d nu/

/menam pu/

Older speakers

laʹmɞpu

ʹd nu

menaʹm pu

Younger speakers

laʹmɞp]

ʹd n]

menaʹm p]

‘those are five’

‘here’

‘Menamopu (person name)’

Since whispered vowels appear word finally, some morphemes have two allomorphs

depending on their position in the word. This is also the case in the speech of younger

speakers. This is evident from the forms of the personal directional -mu ‘PDIR>1’ in (38) a.

and b.


(38) a. Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u], le-yâlu-m[u], …

/tejɒlupmem/ /lejɒlum/

and IPFV:3AUG.S/A-return=COS-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1

‘They started to return, they returned,…/Olketa kam baek na, olketa kam baek,...’

(Story_031009_N01m)

b. Okei, la-pwe yoko ä

okay PFV:3AUG.S/A-plant [PFV:3AUG.S/A]-finish and

le-yâlu-mu-ngö kââ matu.

/lejɒlumuŋɞ/

PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1-3AUG.A DIST:SG house

‘Okay, they finished planting and they returned to the house./Okei, olketa plant

finis, and olketa kam baek nomoa long haus.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Reduced or silent vowels are common in the other RSC languages as well. Wurm (1991)

mentions it as a challenge in the creation of an orthography for Äiwoo. Because word-final

vowel reduction seems to be predictable, these vowels will be written without any special

marking in examples in the subsequent chapters.

As described in §§ 4.2.1 and 4.2.3 word-final reduced vowels (stops and nasals) tend to be

fully elided, especially in the speech of younger generations.

4.6.5 Lenition of voiceless stops

As mentioned in §4.2.1, voiceless stops are subject to lenition between vowels. This is

especially evident in rapid speech, when/p/ and /k/ are voiced between vowels, yielding [b]

and [g]. These voiced stops can be distinguished from the voiced stop phonemes which are

prenasalised. Lenited oral stops are never prenasalised. /k/ is also sometimes realised as a

fricative [x].

(39) /lakape/ [lagabe] ‘they hooked it out/down’

/joko/ [joxo] ‘all’

Fig. 4.13 illustrates the lenition of /k/ (realised as a voiced stop, and as a fricative) in these

examples.


Fig. 4.13: The waveform and spectrogram illustrates lenition of /k/

Note: To the left, voicing is clearly seen as a dark band of energy in the lowest frequency area throughout the stop in the word lakape /lakape/ ‘they hooked it out/down’. To the right, /k/ is pronounced as a voiceless fricative [x] in the word yoko /jɔkɔ/ ‘all’; there is little voicing, but friction clearly visible as bars of noise in the middle of the sound.

/t/ is subject to two other lenition processes. First, it frequently becomes [r] between

vowels, as mentioned in §4.2.1 and illustrated in (40)

(40) /k tei/ [k re i ’good’

/butɞte/ [mburɞre] ’sweet potato’

/matu/ [maru] ’house’

Lenition of /t/ also happens across morpheme boundaries.

(41) ŋɞla-tɞ-pu!

[ŋɞlarɞp]

crawl-GDIR:in-PDIR>1

‘Come in! (Lit. crawl in)’

The second lenition process affecting /t/, spirantisation, is described in §4.6.6.


4.6.6 Cluster simplification/Lenition of postnasalised stops

As mentioned in §4.5.1.5, the nasal element in postnasalised stop clusters is subject to

lenition in rapid speech, turning the nasal into a more sonorous glide. These clusters are

often found to undergo cluster simplification, turning them into non-nasal oral stops [p, t, k]

while the following vowel is nasalised. An example is given for the change-of-state marker

/pme/.

(42) Tongo viti la-nibi=pme

/lanibipẽ/

chief PFV:3AUG.S/A-kill=COS

‘The chief has been killed./Olketa kilim tsif.’ (N03m:2)

Other common words where this takes place are nëtna which are pronounced [nɵtⁿa or

[nɵtã], or even [nɵrã]~[nɵra].

The labial /pm/ alternatively turns into a labialised stop [pw]. This is seen with the change-

of-state marker/pme/ and the duplicative marker /pm /. The following vowel becomes

nasal in these contexts.

(43) /il linipm / [il linipw ] ‘it drops it down again’

/tʉplipme/ [tʉplipwẽ] ‘s/he burns it’

We thus have several phonetic variants of these markers.

(44) /pmo/ pⁿ ]~[ pw ]~[p ] ‘DUPL’

/pme/ pⁿe ~ pwe ~ pẽ] ‘COS’

4.6.7 Spirantisation of /t/ and /d/

There is a phonological process of spirantisation where /t/ and sometimes /d/ becomes [s]

in front of [i]. In both examples in (45) the unstressed vowel in the first syllable is elided,

yielding the sequence [tj] which is then turned into [s].

(45) /tʉjɒmwenɞbe/ [sɒmwenɞmbe] ‘I tell you something’

/tʉjɞplatɞ/ [sɞplatɞ] ‘It bangs in (it)’

When a vowel, usually in the form of a third person minimal subject marker -e, is added to

the transitive suffix -ti, which then receives stress, the /i/ is, as a rule, formed into a glide in

rapid speech, [tj]. (c.f. §4.6.8). The stop + glide sequence is sometimes changed into [s], as

seen in (46).


(46) Kä-la-kiso noude kââ yângâ-ti-e bolo

[jɒŋɒse]

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man DIST:SG take-TR-3MIN.A ball

kââ…

DIST:SG

‘The young boy took the ball…/Iangboe ia hem tekem bol ia…’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m)

This rule is very productive, but not obligatory. It applies most often in rapid speech. It is

not quite clear if the rule is applied equally in all generations, but it seems that it is most

common among the younger generations. Older generations tend to pronounce these

sounds more like stop + glide sequences.

The phrase matu nyo /matu nj / ‘my house/home’ is in very common use. It is frequently

contracted, so that the final vowel /u/ in matu and the initial /n/ in nyo have been elided:

[ma s ]. /t/ has become /s/ in front of the I-sound, and the nasal feature has been inherited

by the first vowel. Note also that there is one word where most speakers consistently

pronounce [s]. That word is [sivi] ‘species of wading bird’. Many people don’t know any

other way of pronouncing this word. Some elderly speakers, however, pronounce it [tivi].

/d/ can also undergo spirantisation. In a few words, dyapmugü~sapugü ‘rat’ and

kälakidyo~kälakiso ‘child’, this process is seen in the speech of all speakers but the very

oldest. This is the reason for postulating a phoneme /s/. When /d/ is spirantised, the nasal

element preceding the stop is not kept after this phonological process.

(47) Elderly speakers Younger speakers

/djapmugʉ/ /sapugʉ/ ’rat’

Elderly speakers report that their pronunciation is how they learnt it as children. Many

younger speakers, however, are not aware of this, and judge a pronunciation with [s] as the

only correct variant. The elderly speakers’ claim is supported by Wurm (1969: 69), where

‘rat’ is transcribed ˈdʸapmugu , with a palatalised apico-alveolar stop. If Wurm’s (1969)

transcriptions are right, it suggests that /dʲ/ has changed in two directions. The first is as

already noted to /s(~ʤ)/. The second is to a voiceless apico-alveolar stop, /t/. This is

supported by Tryon and Hackman (1983).

(48) Wurm (1969) /dʸapmugu/

Tryon & Hackman (1983) /dʸapuᵑgə/

Present /djapmugʉ/ ~/sapugʉ/

‘rat’


/mʷaˈdʸidʸi/ -

/mʷaⁿdʸidʸi/ /ŋəⁿdʲə/

/mwatiti/ /ŋɞ djɞ/

’morning’ ‘vitex cofassus’

Other words where both [ti] and [s] variants can be heard include:

[tivi]~[sivi] ‘wading bird’

laˈtiu ~ ˈlasu ‘ship’; notice the elision of i , the reduction of syllables and stress

change

4.6.8 Glide formation

As mentioned in §4.6.6, the high front vowel /i/ may be turned into a glide [j] if it is followed

by another vowel. This is normal in rapid speech.

(49) a. ɞ-pi-ɞ

[ɞ.pjɞ]

DETR-say-APPL

‘S/he said…’

b. tü-meli-e

[tʉmelje]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-wait-3MIN.A

’S/he waits’

Likewise, /u/ may become [w] in the same situation.

(50) a. nɞlua [nɞlwa]

b. n ku-ɞ [n kwɞ]

4.6.9 Glottal stop

Glottal stops appear in Engdewu speech. The glottal stop, however, is not phonemic, and,

thus, not part of the regular stop series. Glottal stops are most common in rapid speech, and

in some special, lexicalised expressions in which it is found to replace a light syllable. This is

evident in a common greeting used when people meet each other in the morning. Here, the

unstressed of two identical adjacent syllables is replaced by a glottal stop.

(51) /ˈmwatiti kɛ ik te i/ ˈmwaʔti kɛ ik re i ‘good morning’

4.7 Prosody 125

4.7 Prosody

4.7.1 Stress

Stress in Engdewu is not phonemic. Primary stress normally falls on the penultimate

syllable, or on the ultimate syllable if this is heavy, i.e. containing a long vowel or a coda.

Secondary stress normally falls on every second syllable to the left of the primary stressed

syllable.

(52) ˈwandu]

ˈmepjɞ]

ˈpaplɞ]

ˈnu ]

‘bone’

‘blood’

‘wife’

‘wind’

iˈb wi]

ˌjɞŋiˈbaŋgɒ]

ˈninde

niˈndambwe

‘it is long’

‘we felt (it)’

‘s/he (PRO:3MIN)’

‘we (PRO:1AUG)’

Notice that heavy syllables attract stress and may change the stress pattern.

(53) ˈiβɵ] ‘s/he went’

iˈβɵm] ‘s/he came’

ˈnig tʉˈkɒːlɒˌpⁿme ‘we became afraid’

Loudness and vowel length are the major features of stressed syllables in Engdewu. That is,

characteristic to a stressed syllable in contrast to an unstressed one is an increase in

loudness combined with vowel lengthening. The pitch on the other hand is relatively flat

throughout the word, and plays a minor role in stress assignment. This is illustrated in Fig.

4.14.


Fig. 4.14: Spectrogram and waveform with intensity (middle) and pitch curves (bottom) for /nidabwe/ [nindambwe] 'we (12AUG)'

Note: Notice how vowel length and the peak in intensity correlate with stress. Notice also the flat pitch curve.

Lynch (2000) proposes that POc foot structure was moraic trochees assigned from right to

left, and that primary stress was placed on the rightmost moraic trochees. That means that a

final heavy syllable would get primary stress, else it would be assigned to the penultimate

syllable. This seems to be a possible way to describe stress, also in Engdewu.

Note that the stress rules in Engdewu have not been investigated in detail, and there may be

patterns that deviate from what has been said here.

4.8 Orthography 127

4.8 Orthography

Until now there has been no orthography for Engdewu. People who have tried to write it

down report having particular problems with the vowel sounds. This is mainly due to the

fact that the Latin alphabet made known through English only offers five simple vowel

symbols, <a, e, i, o, u>, and individual attempts made to write words in the Engdewu

language are mostly made through inspiration and guiding from the English system. The

village name /bibɞ/ is sometimes found to be written <bibir>, where <ir> is adapted for the

[ɞ]-sound after the British pronunciation of words like Sir, stir, swirl, etc.

An orthography is now under development for Engdewu. It is based on orthographies in the

other RSC languages. It has so far resulted in the practical orthography which is used in the

remainder of this work. It is presented in Table 4.28 and Table 4.29.

Table 4.28: Vowels in Engdewu and present orthography

FRONT CENTRAL BACK

CLOSE i ʉ <ü> u 

CLOSE-MID e <e> ɵ <ë>

OPEN-MID ɛ <ä> ɞ <ö> <o>

OPEN a <a> ɒ <â>

Table 4.29: Consonants in Engdewu and present orthography

Phoneme Symbol

/p/ 

/t/ <t>

/k/ <k>

/b/ 

/d/ <d>

/g/ <g>

/m/ <m>

/n/ <n>

/ŋ/ <ng>

/β/ <v>

/s/ <s>

/w/ <w>

/j/ <y>

/l/ <l>

Clusters

/pj, kj, bj, dj, mj, nj, βj/ <py, ky, by, dy, my, ny, vy>

/pw, bw, dw, gw, mw, ŋw/ <pw, bw, dw, gw, mw, ŋw>

/pm/ <pm>

/tn/ <tn>

/kŋ/ <kn>

Long vowels are written with a pair of vowel symbols. In diphthongs, symbols for the first

and the second target vowels are paired together. <j> is reserved for [ʤ] that is found

initially in loan words like Jises and John.

129

CHAPTER 5. WORD CLASSES

There are three types of morphological elements in Engdewu, namely roots, affixes and

clitics. A root is a single-morpheme unsegmentable base, while affixes and clitics are

morphemes that are dependent on a base. While some bases can function as a word-form

alone, others cannot. Different affixes and bound forms have different combinatory

potential. Different roots take different morphological marking, and they have different

functions in the clause. They can, therefore, be classified into different word classes

according to their morphosyntax. There are two major, open classes of words to be

distinguished in Engdewu, while there are several closed classes, cf. Table 5.1.

Table 5.1: Word classes in Engdewu

OPEN CLASSES Nouns

Verbs

CLOSED CLASSES Pronouns

Prepositions

Possessive classifiers

Adverbs

Determiners

Conjunctions

Particles

Interjections

Note that there are nominalising processes in Engdewu that derive nominals from verbs.

These will be treated in Chapter 6. Only underived bases are considered in this general

overview, where their most general morphosyntactic properties will be presented.

5.1 Nouns

The primary function of nouns is as the head of an argument NP, both core and non-core, as

seen in (54) a. and b. respectively.

130 Chapter 5 Word classes

(54) a. Opla kââ i-mwali-e kä molama.

girl DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hold-3MIN.A PROX:SG maul.hammer

‘The girl holds a maul hammer./Gele ia hem holem mol ama.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

b. Ä plet kââ i-dâ-pe=pmo mö

and plate DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:out=DUPL at

nümü=de.

hand=3MIN.POSS

‘Then the plate fell back into his hand./Den plet ia hem foldaon bak long hand

blong hem.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Nouns have a secondary function as predicates. Verbs, on the other hand, cannot appear as

NP heads. Thus, in general, nouns are those words that can appear both as argument heads

and as predicates. Fig. 5.1 illustrates the major functions of verbs and nouns, showing that

nouns have a secondary function as predicates in Engdewu.

CLAUSE STRUCTURE predicate NP as argument

WORD CLASS verb noun

Fig. 5.1: Major functions of verbs and nouns in Engdewu

Note that in their secondary function as predicates, nouns seem to be restricted to

intransitive predicates, yielding clauses like ‘to be N’ or ‘to become N’, depending on the

accompanying TMA marking. In (55) a. the noun lepela ‘man’ carries no verbal marking, and

the reading of the intransitive predicate denotes a state, i.e. ‘be human’. Nouns in predicate

position can be marked by mood/aspect prefixes and Aktionsart enclitics, yielding different

TMA constructions as described in §12.3. This can be seen in (55) b., where the nominal

predicate kuli ‘dog’ is marked with a perfective mood/aspect marker i- ‘PFV:N3AUG.S/A’ and

a Change of State marker =pme ‘COS’. In this construction the noun enters the position most

frequently occupied by a verb in the verb complex.

(55) a. Toko, ni lepela.

no PRO-[1MIN.POSS] human

‘No, I am human./Nomoa, mi man.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Lepela kââ i-kuli=pme.

human DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dog=COS

’The man has become a dog./Man ia hemi dog finis.’

5.1 Nouns 131

The material contains only a very few examples of nouns in predicate function. More

research is needed to uncover the full set of properties of predicates with nominal heads;

that is, whether nouns in predicate function can be marked by any other morphemes

associated with the verb complex as described in Chapter 11.

Based on both morphosyntactic and semantic criteria, nouns can be divided into proper and

common nouns. The latter can be subcategorised into those that take part in direct

possession constructions, and those that take part in indirect possession constructions.

Proper nouns

Common nouns

o directly possessed

o indirectly possessed

Proper nouns cannot be modified by a possessive NP. They can, however, be modified by

demonstrative determiners. On the question ‘Who’s there?’ the answer in (56) can be given.

(56) Pita kä

P. PROX:SG

‘Peter here./Pita long hea.’

When a free common noun heads an NP it is frequently marked by a demonstrative

determiner, as seen in (27) a. Common nouns can also be marked by an indefinite article, a

quantifier, a possessive classifier, or a relative clause. They can also be bare. The structure of

the NP is treated in Chapter 6.

There is an important distinction in the categorisation of common nouns between directly

possessed and indirectly possessed nouns. In the former, which consist of inalienables

including words denoting body parts and some kinship terms,41 a person marker

designating the possessor is attached directly to the noun, as seen in (57) a. In the latter,

which consist of alienables, a possessive classifier follows the noun which is marked by a

member of the same set of person markers as that in the direct construction, as seen in b. 41

Not all kinship terms are directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns include ite ‘mother’, yei ‘father (of a male person)’, pwei ‘father (of a female person)’, myei ‘brother (of a male person)’, wei ‘brother (of a female person)’, plapyei ‘sister (of a male person)’, opyei ‘sister (of a female person)’, pwai (or wai?) ‘’grandmother’, ita ‘grandfather’, plai (plaibu) ‘aunt, niece’, melibu ‘uncle, nephew’, pwapo ‘namesake’, (bwe)te ‘friend’. Words for ‘wife’ and ‘husband’, on the other hand, are indirectly possessed. This strongly indicates that there is a distinction between blood (or ‘consanguineal’) relations and affinal relations within the kinship term system where only blood relations are directly possessed. Note, however, that mödo ‘uncle’ is directly possessed.


(57) a. nümü=de

hand=3MIN.POSS

‘his/her hand’

b. poi nei=de

pig CL.IV=3MIN.POSS

‘his/her pig’

Some nouns are found to function as modifiers inside an NP in what can be analysed as noun

compounds. The modifying nouns found indicate such things as sex, place, material, source,

but the range of noun types found in this function needs more investigation. Noun

compounding is described in more detail in §6.5.

(58) opla nelya ‘woman of the village’

pwala Engdewu ‘sea of Engdewu’

nila waku ‘flame of fire’

nawü dalengi ‘turtle sp. (dalengi is the noun for ‘earring’)

napwö töwi ‘small pigeon sp. (töwi ‘arrow’)’

beli opwö ‘basket type (opwö ‘tree sp.’)’

beli në ‘basket type (në ‘tree sp.’)’

Another subcategory of nouns that cuts across proper and common nouns is of local nouns.

This category includes proper place names and nouns that denote familiar places, like Nagu,

Ulou and Mömwawë, and like pwala ‘sea’, namwe ‘singles’ house’, pyedoa ‘bush’. Unlike

proper nouns and common nouns, local nouns do not take prepositions to form phrases

denoting goals and locatives. Local nouns will be treated in more detail in §6.3.3.

5.2 Verbs

Verbs are those roots whose primary function is as the head of a predicate. Semantically,

verbs typically denote actions, processes, states, and properties. In indicative clauses verbs

are minimally prefixed with a mood/aspect marker.

(59) Jon i-vepla=pme.

J. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit=COS

‘John sat down./Jon siddaon finis.’ (M06m:26, Transitivising/detransitivising)

Verbs in Engdewu are frequently also marked by any of a range of postverbal elements:

geometric directionals, Aktionsart markers, person directionals, subject and object markers,

plus bound adverbial elements. This is the topic of Chapter 11. Different types of verbs are

5.2 Verbs 133

described in Chapter 10 on the basis of their valency, where they are classified as

intransitive, transitive, ambitransitive and semitransitive.

There are no adjectives in Engdewu, and adjectival meaning is frequently expressed by

intransitive stative verbs in relative clauses. These thus have a secondary function as

modifiers of nouns. There are two types of relative clauses in Engdewu, with or without a

relativiser kä, as seen in (60) a. and b. In both constructions the relative clause delimits the

reference of the nominal head, and the verb in both constructions is obligatorily prefixed

with an aspect/mood marker.

(60) a. I-vë [mweli [i-bowi]REL].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go time PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

‘It went/took a long time./Go longtime.’ (Story_200909_M11m)

b. Di kä me trak, daka yele

INDF:SG PROX:SG PROX truck something [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like

[trak [kä u-tâpwa]REL].

truck REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-small

‘There is a truck here, something like a small truck./Wanfala trak long hea,

samting ia hem olsem trak, smolwan.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Similarly, there is no word class of numerals in Engdewu. Numerals in Engdewu are stative

verbs, and are, thus, obligatorily marked by a mood/aspect prefix. They do often appear in a

relative clause when they modify a noun, as seen in (61). Numeral verbs are described

further in §10.2.2.

(61) La-mo=pmo-ngö [naü [la-lii]REL].

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see=DUPL-3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘They saw two more apples./Olketa lukim moa tufala apple.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

While underived verbal roots cannot act as arguments, there are morphological processes of

nominalisation in Engdewu, deriving a nominal from a verb. Like any nominal, such a

deverbal nominal can act as an argument. There are two main nominalising construction

types in Engdewu, the ‘action nominal construction’ and the ‘participant nominalisation’. In

the former, an uninflected verb root is marked by a nominalising prefix and a suffix, as seen

in (62) a.; in the latter, a verb root inflected by a third person augmented mood/aspect

marker is prefixed by one of a series of bound nouns whose meaning is fairly general, such

as ‘human’, ‘man’, ‘woman’, and ‘place’, ‘thing’, etc. as seen in b.


(62) a. I-kâlâ më no-doli-ë

PFV:N3A.S/AUG-afraid at NMLZ:N3AUG-hang-NMLZ

‘He is afraid of hanging./Hem fraet long hangam.’

b. Kä-la-kiso kââ i-vötemölü,

NMLZ-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wait

i-vötemölü, i-vötemölü, toko.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wait PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wait no

‘The child waited, waited, waited, (but) no./Pikinini ia wait, wait, wait, nomoa.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

5.3 Pronouns

There are two main types of pronouns in Engdewu, free and bound.

Free pronouns

o Personal pronouns

o Demonstrative pronouns

o Interrogative pronouns

Bound pronouns

o Subject markers

o Object marker

o Possessor markers

The free pronouns can head an NP alone. The free personal pronouns consist of a

phonologically uniform base ni plus possessor markers. The bound pronouns are the subject

and object suffixes that are suffixed in the verb complex, and the possessor markers that

encliticise to directly possessed nouns, to possessive classifiers, to the dative preposition,

and to the free personal pronoun base. All these forms follow a minimal-augmented

inflectional pattern, as illustrated in Chapter 7.

Other pronouns are the demonstrative and interrogative pronouns. The former indicate a

singular-plural distinction combined with a three-way distance-oriented distinction

(Chapter 9).

The interrogative pronouns are given here. Their use is in interrogative clauses are

described in §13.8.

5.4 Prepositions 135

ye/ya/yâ ‘who’ can appear both at the start and the end of a clause. They indicate

deictic distance in a similar pattern as the demonstratives, and they can appear with

demonstrative determiners, yielding forms ye kä, ya ka and yâ kââ.

bwe ‘what’ appears clause initially, and it can co-occur with a demonstrative

determiner, e.g. bwe kââ.

duwee ‘what’ (sometimes pronounced ndu.we i]) is found clause initially. It seems to

be interchangeable with bwe, cf. (63) a. and b.

(63) a. Duwe i-dei-na?

what PFV:N3AUG.S/A-make-2MIN.S/A

‘What have you done?/Wat iu duim?’ (M03m_110411-000_TMA_A)

b. Bwe tü-dei=pme-a?

what IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-make=COS-2MIN.S/A

‘What are you doing?/Wat iu duim na?’ (N02m_110512-001_TMA_A).

5.4 Prepositions

There are three prepositions in Engdewu that form a prepositional phrase with a following

NP, one general preposition, one dative preposition, and one comitative preposition.

më/mö ‘PRP’

(ë)le ‘DAT’

ma ’COM’

The general preposition, më/mö, marks peripheral arguments (i.e. non-core arguments) that

encode semantic roles like direction, source, time, location, and instrument. It is also used to

mark purpose clauses. Cf. Table 5.2. Note that local nouns do not take any preposition. (cf.

§5.1).


Table 5.2: Semantic roles coded by the proposition më/mö

Translation English preposition Semantic role

mö matu ‘to (the) house’ to direction

mö matu ‘from (the) house’ from source

mö mwilo ‘in the evening’ in time

mö nöwe ‘in the dancing circle’ in location

mö lakne kââ ‘on the pillow’ on location

mö labö ngâgu kââ ‘at the bottom of the

pandanus tree’

at location

mö latöü ‘with bow’ with instrument

mö nongumwa ‘to go fishing’ to purpose

The dative preposition, (ë)le, marks peripheral arguments that encode goals, recipients, and

benefactives. Unlike më/më, the dative preposition can host a possessor marker, as

illustrated in (64) a., instead of a following NP, as illustrated in b. The pronominal dative

forms are discussed in §7.3.1.

(64) a. I-lai-be nöpubwi ële=m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A coconut DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I gave the coconut to you./Mi givim go kokonat long iu’ (M01m:32)

b. Ni ka tu-vë-tö-pö [le

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-GDIR:in-PDIR? DAT

Papa mö kantin], i-mno=gâ ma-e

P. PRP canteen PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay=1AUG.S/A with-3MIN

i-vë, i-vë.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

‘Then I went to Papa in the canteen, and we stayed and stayed (there)./Den mi

go long Papa long kantin, mitufala stap go-go.’ (Story_090909_M12m)

If the the goal/recipient/benefactive participant is not animate or higher in the Nominal

Hierarchy, the general preposition mö is usually employed. This contrast is illustrated in

(65) a., b. and c., where the two former are respectively human and animate, while the last is

inanimate.

5.5 Possessive classifiers 137

(65) a. Tü-va-pe-bä [le melibu].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-PDIR:1>3 DAT uncle:1MIN.POSS

‘I go to my uncle./Mi go long ankol blong mi.’ (M01m:31)

b. Tü-va-tö-pe-bä [le poi nei].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:in-GDIR:out?-PDIR:1>3 DAT pig CL.IV

‘I go to my pig./Mi go long pikpik blong mi.’ (M01m:31)

c. Dä tü-va=pme [mö matu].

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS in house

‘He is going to the house./Hem go long haus.’ (M01m:30)

The comitative preposition ma, frequently translated ’with’, is used to form a comitative

phrase that indicates an accompanee or co-actor of the agent. In a. it is followed by an NP. In

b. it occurs with a 3MIN subject marker. It is described in more detail in §7.5.1.

(66) a. (Q:B3:N02m) [Do you know what happened to my brother yesterday? I saw it

myself.] (171) We WALK in the forest.

I-va-gâ [ma myei] pedoo.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go with brother:1MIN.POSS bush

‘I went with my brother in the bush./Mi go wetem brata blong mi long bus.’

b. Nëgä te-ya-pe=pme [ma-e].

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:out=COS with-3MIN.S/A

‘Then the two paddles out./Den olketa tufala padol aot nao.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

5.5 Possessive classifiers

A possessive classifier describes a possessive relation between a possessee and its

possessor. It forms a possessor phrase with a following NP. The possessor phrase follows a

possessee NP. A possessive classifier can host a person marking enclitic instead of a

following NP. The possessee NP is sometimes omitted, and the possessive classifiers, thus,

form possessive NPs on their own.

Thirteen possessive classifiers are found in Engdewu. These are described in more detail in

§8.3.


5.6 Adverbs

Adverbs modify the action or event denoted by a predicate or a clause, that is they do not

modify nominal constituents. The main distinction to be drawn is that between free and

bound adverbs, where the former generally have a free distribution in the clause, while the

latter is bound in the verb complex. Different subtypes of them can be listed according to

their semantics and most common distribution.

5.6.1 Free adverbs

5.6.1.1 Demonstrative adverbs

Demonstrative adverbs are deictic expressions that indicate a spatial location in relation to a

deictic centre, usually identical with the speaker’s position. The demonstrative adverbs

distinguish between three distances, me ‘PROX’, ga ‘MED’, and gââ ‘DIST’. The demonstrative

adverbs have a rather free distribution. They are treated in more detail in §9.4.

5.6.1.2 Location adverbs

Location adverbs indicate a spatial position of the event described in the sentence.42

donu ‘here’

yowu ‘above/over/on top’

you ‘below/under/at the bottom’

yowa/yowo/yowâ ‘outside’

ela ‘inside’

mo ‘far’

Some examples follow in (67)–(69).

42

The status of a form youyë is unclear. It seems to take geometric directionals, and is attested as both youyëm and youyëpe, both meaning ‘near’. More specificially, the first means ‘near the speaker’ while the latter means ‘near something away from the speaker’ and is found in youyëpe pwala ‘near the sea’. The endings in these forms are, thus, probably the directionals -m ‘GDIR>1’ and -pe ‘GDIR:out’. This indicates that youyë is a verb. There is also elicited another form, youyënöm ‘near’. The meaning of -nö here is not understood.

5.6 Adverbs 139

(67) Ee, nëgää tü-ngala-yë=pme yowu,

eh then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:up=COS on.top

tu-tukapi-pe=pme ga-yowu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-hide-GDIR:out=COS BN:place-on.top

‘Eh, then he climbs up on top, he hides up there./Eh, den hemi klaem ontap, hemi haed

dea ontap.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

(68) … negää kä-la-kiso kââ

then BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG

o-tâki-pe-bee le bwete=de

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-throw-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A DAT friend=3MIN.POSS

kâu lâ-klu yowa.

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many outside

(69) La-ka-pe, i-do-ini-m[u]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hook-GDIR:out PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down-PDIR>1

you.

at.bottom

‘One hooks it out, it falls down./Olketa hukim daon, den olketa folim daon long graon.’

(N04f_110602-000_breadfruit)

5.6.1.3 Interrogative adverb

The form yöpö ‘where’ is mostly found after the predicate in the same position as a

corresponding locational phrase (i.e. local noun, demonstrative or location adverb, or

prepositional phrase). It is never found with any demonstrative form, like the interrogative

pronouns.

(70) Tü-vë-na yöpö?

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-2MIN.S/A where

‘Where are you going?/Iu go long wea? (M10f_110415-004)

5.6.1.4 Temporal adverbs

Temporal adverbs are deictic expressions that indicate a temporal location in relation to a

deictic centre, often the time of utterance. They can appear before or after the verb.

nege ‘now’

ëvë ‘always, all the time, forever, often’

awi ‘just, before’


doka ‘before, long time ago’

nübu ‘yesterday’

naknu ‘today, recent past’

mwati ‘tomorrow’

we ‘day after tomorrow’

wepa ‘day after day after tomorrow’

Some examples follow.

(71) Ëvë lâknu upü …

always water hot:PFV:N3AUG.S/A

‘The water is usually warm…/Wata hem save wom…’ (TMA_B_N02m: Q.34)

(72) Naknu kä-la-kiso noude kââ

today NMLZ-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man DIST:SG

i-vë-m[u], i-wopla-ini-m[u] ...

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit-GDIR:down-PDIR>1

‘Today the young boy came, and he sat down…/Tude iang boe ia hem kam hem

sidaon…’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m)

(73) Nübu Meri o-bwâ dalaknü.

yesterday M. DETR-drill yam

‘Yesterday, Mary drilled yam./Yestade, Meri drilim yam.’ (N03m_110524-001)

(74) Tü-mo-lü ëvë

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A often

‘I see him often./Mi lukim hem olowe. ’

There is an identical form to ëvë ‘always, all the time, forever’ in Natügu that is analysed as

an adverb with the meaning ‘always’ (Boerger in progress). While it is described as a free

form that can appear outside the verb complex, it can also appear among the modifiers in

the complex. ëvë in Engdewu, however, cannot appear inside the verb complex. These

differences suggest a historically freer distribution of elements in the verb complex, some of

which have today grammaticalised in different positions. This will be discussed in Chapter

11.

(75) Natügu (Boerger in progress)

A-yëlu-ëvë-ngö-bë töte natü doa ne=de-ng.

CAUS-return-always-APPL-PDIR(yonder) father word child CL=3MIN.POSS-

PL

‘A father always replies to the words of his children.’

Finally, some temporal expressions are compounds or complex constructions:

5.7 Determiners 141

löba nübu ‘day before day before yesterday’

âbu kä nübu ‘day before yesterday’

5.6.1.5 Degree adverbs

wenu is a free degree adverb in Engdewu. It is used as a general marker of emphasis, and is

translatable with both ‘tumas’ and ‘barava’ in Pijin, or ‘very’ in English. Unlike the

demonstrative, location and temporal adverbs, it cannot appear before the verb.

(76) a. I-ta-ü Pita wenu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-1MIN.S/A P. very

‘I hit Peter hard./Mi hitim Pita tumas.’ (M08m:49)

b. Nepi tu-upü wenu.

sun IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-hot very

‘The sun is very hot. / San hem barava hot. ’ (M10f:15)

5.6.2 Bound adverbs

Contrary to the free adverbs that can appear either before or after, or both before or after

the verb, the bound adverbs have a fixed position in the verb complex among the modifiers

that can occur after the verb base. They will be described in Chapter 11.

5.7 Determiners

There are three types of determiners that are used in an NP to limit the potential referent,

an indefinite article, a quantifier, and a set of demonstrative determiners.

5.7.1 Indefinite article

There is an indefinite article in Engdewu, di. It precedes the noun and marks the NP as

indefinite. When it marks an NP alone, it denotes exactly a single referent. In general, the

indefinite article cannot alone form a phrase, and because it seems to be obligatory in the

expression of an indefinite noun (unless a generic meaning is intended), it is analysed as an

article in the sense of Matthews (2007). In Wurm’s (1969) example given in (3), §3.4, a form

di appears verb-finally without any noun after it to denote a single referent. The forms are

probably the same. In the present analysis, di is also found post-verbally, but only before a

noun in an NP.


It frequently co-occurs with a demonstrative determiner, as seen in (77). The article is

described in more detail in §6.4.1.

(77) Di ka kä-la-kiso noude

INDF:SG MED:SG BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man

i-vë-m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1

‘A young boy comes./Wanfala iangboe kam.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

There is variation among speakers regarding the pronunciation of the article in this context.

That is, when the meaning is plural the article is sometimes pronounced [ndʉ], with a more

central quality to the vowel. This might indicate that there has been a plural article in the

grammar. Note however that most speakers tend to articulate [ndi] in both functions.

Furthermore, while most people say [ndi]~[ndʉ], with voiced apical stops, some speakers

tend to pronounce the same words [dji] and [djü].

5.7.2 Quantifier

There is one form, du, in Engdewu that indicates a plurality of referents, and which is usually

translated as ‘some’. It is analysed as a quantifier, which is defined by Matthews (2007) as,

‘ a ny word or expression which gives a relative or indefinite indication of quantity’. du

occurs in the same position as the indefinite article. That is, it precedes the noun and never

co-occurs with the article.

(78) Nege ta-welu=pme me mö döknu, [du lepela]

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-put=COS here in walling some human

la-ö-dei tewau.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-make money

‘Then they put it here in the walling, (and) some people made money./Den olketa

putum long hea long woling, samfala pipol olketa wakem seleni ia.’

(Story_200909_M11m)

Contrary to the article, the quantifier can constitute a noun phrase on its own.

(79) Du tu-vë-bä tâ-oplö-bä

some IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR:?? IPFV:3AUG.S/A-run-PDIR

i-vë, i-vë, ta-bwë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:3AUG.S/A-be.dead

mö lapöki.

5.8 Conjunctions 143

on road

’Some of them run for a while, (then) they die on the road./Samfala long olketa ran,

go, go, olketa dae long rod.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

5.7.3 Demonstrative determiners

There is a set of demonstrative determiners that frequently follow the noun in the NP. They

mark the NP as definite, that is they indicate that the denoted referent is identifiable

(Matthews 2007), either from the text-external world or from a previous mention in the

discourse. They follow a three-way distance-based pattern and have singular and plural

forms. Note that the proximal plural form is a complex form that consists of the proximal

singular form kä and the nominal pluraliser =yo. They will be described in more detail in

Chapter 9.

(80) a. na kä

rope PROX:SG

‘this rope (proximal)’

d. na kä=yo

rope PROX:SG=PL

‘these ropes (proximal)’

b. na ka

rope MED:SG

‘that rope (medial)’

e. na (ö)ki

rope MED:PL

‘those ropes (medial)’

c. na kââ

rope DIST:SG

‘that rope (distal)’

f. na kou

rope DIST:PL

‘those ropes (distal)’

5.8 Conjunctions

Conjunctions are functional words that connect other words, phrases, or clauses. In

Engdewu, as in many languages, they can be subgrouped into coordinating conjunctions and

subordinating conjunctions.

5.8.1 Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions in Engdewu are ä, ämo and ma. They connect entities with an

equal status. The two former, ä and ämo, have the meaning ‘and’, while ämo is also

frequently used with the meaning ‘with’. It is not uncommon in the world’s languages that

‘and’ and ‘with’ are expressed by the same word (Schachter and Shopen 2007: 47). The last,

mä, has the meaning ‘but’ or ‘with’.


Both ä and ämo can connect NPs.

(81) a. Tü-mwa-dabwe [poi ä loi ] mö

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-12MIN.S/A pig and pudding for

dwei?’

what

‘We eat pig and pudding for what (Lit. What for do we eat pig and

pudding)?/Iumi kaikai pikpik and puding long wanem?’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. [[Mwe-la-kölö kââ] ämo [bwale kââ]]

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-big DIST:SG and woman DIST:SG

ta-kuki, ngö ta-kuki.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-cook CONT:PL IPFV:3AUG.S/A-cook

‘The man and the woman cook; they are cooking./Man ia wetem woman olketa

kuki ia, olketa kuki.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m)

Both ä and amo are also used to connect clauses.

(82) [I-lai-be böpi ële=m[u]] ä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A banana DAT=2MIN.POSS and

[i-lai-bi böpi ële].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A banana DAT-[1MIN.POSS]

‘I give a banana to you, and you give a banana to me./Mi givim wanfala banana long

iu, and iu givim wanfala banana long mi.’ (M01m_110414-003)

The conjunctions seem to be syntactically more associated with the word, phrase, or clause

they precede than the one they follow. Both ä and amo are very frequently used to start a

sentence, and are then often translated as ‘then’. Schachter and Shopen (2007) say that, ‘ i t

appears that the prepositional or postpositional character of the coordinating conjunctions

that occur in a language are quite systematically associated with the language’s general

word order characteristics’ (Schachter and Shopen 2007: 46), and they note that it is

specially common for non-verb-final languages—like Engdewu—to be prepositional . The

prepositions were mentioned in §5.4.

5.8 Conjunctions 145

(83) Ä plet kââ i-dâ-pe=pmo mö

and plate DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:out=DUPL PRP

nümü=de. Ä ö-pi-ö-dä

hand=3MIN.POSS and DETR-say-APPL-3MIN:S/A

tü-küki-ö-dä. Ä i-mianga

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-APPL-3MIN.A and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-miss

ne=de plet kââ.

leg=3MIN.POSS plate DIST:SG

Ä plet kââ te i-megle=pwö.

and plate DIST:SG NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2

‘Then the plate falls again from his hand. Then he says she must kick it. Then her leg

misses it. Then the plate does not break./Den plet ia hem fol daon bak long han blong

hem. Den hemi sei hemi mas kikim. Den leg blong hemi misim plet ia. Den plet ia hem

no brek.

(84) Ni=de kââ i-va=pmo-m[u],

PRO=3MIN.POSS DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=DUPL-PDIR>1

i-va=pmo-m[u] mö tebol kââ. Amo

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=DUPL-PDIR>1 PRP table DIST:SG and

tebol kââ la-a-kuwe-ini nowö

table DIST:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-CAUS-cover-GDIR:down cloth

kââ upwö.

DIST:SG white

‘He comes again; he comes again to the table. Then the table, they cover it with a

white cloth./Hem nao kam moa ia, kam moa long tebol ia. Den tebol ia olketa

kaverem wetem waet kaleko.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

The coordinating conjunction ma is frequently used with the meaning ‘but’, as seen in (85).


(85) I-vë, ö-pi-ö-bë:

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:2/3

‘Tü-po-ini=pme=dabwe, ma lai-m[u]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-DIR:down=COS-12AUG.S/A but give-PDIR>1

dyolu kââ’.

custom.knife DIST:SG

‘He goes, (and) he says: “We go down, but you give (to me) the dyolu (custom

knife).”/Hem go, hem say: “Iumi go daon nao, bat iu givim kam kastom naef ia.”’

(Story_041009_N14m)

Just like ä and amo, ma is syntactically more associated with the entity it precedes than the

one it follows.

(86) Ma mo kââ dä tü-va=pme.

but man DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS

‘But the man is leaving./Bat man ia, hemi go nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

The conjunction ma can be suffixed by a form -e which indicates a third person participant.

This yields the form mae ‘with him/her’ which indicates exactly two referents. It is placed

post-verbally.

(87) Tü-vë, ta-luomwo-ti-yabu-nga ma-e.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:3AUG.S/A-meet-TR-RECP-3AUG.A with-3MIN

‘Go, the two of them meet each other./Go, tufala meet long tufala narawan.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

5.8.2 Subordinating conjunctions

Some subordinate clauses are marked by special subordinating words.

(a)ki ‘because’ is used in reason clauses.

kä/kë/ka is used in temporal,purpose, conditional clauses. As indicated here, this

word is attested with different vowel qualities, and more research is needed to

establish whether these are really different morphemes

There are several marking strategies for subordinate clauses, as briefly described in Chapter

1.

5.9 Particles 147

5.8.3 Conjunctions borrowed from Pijin

Conjunctions are often members of a closed class of words. In Pacific languages, borrowing

into such a class is more restricted than lexical borrowing (Crowley 2004: 52). However, in

Engdewu three commonly used conjunctions are borrowings from Pijin: bikos ‘because’, so

‘so’, and bat ‘but’. They appear in the same position as the traditional Engdewu coordinating

and subordinating conjunctions, which they seem to replace. The Pijin loans are frequently

used among both younger and older generations.

(88) Ma dyü kou dä

but INDF:PL DIST:PL CONT:SG:VIS

ta-wulu-ni-ba-nga mö tii kââ,

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:down-??-3AUG.A in tea DIST:SG

da-ki=yo upwö, bat i-muma kä

BN:thing-MED:PL=PL white but PFV:N3AUG.S/A-strong REL

i-pipwö, …

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little

‘But he puts something down in the tea, something white, but something which is a

little bit strong…/Bat samfala samting olketa putum daon long tea ia, samting ia

white, bat samting ia strong lelebet…’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(89) Bikos tu-mu-nö gä-nungo, tobi matu

because IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep-? BN:place-tree be.not house

‘Because he sleeps at a place with trees, not in a house.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m)

5.9 Particles

There are identified three particles or particle sets in Engdewu, the continuative particles,

the negative particle, and the hortative particle. The two former appear in their invariant

forms in the same fixed position immediately preceding the predicate, usually a verb

complex. The latter is only found at the end of the verb complex.

The set of continuous particles distinguish between singular an plural, and in singular

between visible and invisible, i.e. dä ‘CONT:SG:VIS’, da ‘CONT:SG:IVS’, and ngö/ngë

‘CONT:PL’. The continuous particles re generally employed with third persons. They mark

an event as ongoing, and precede both verbal and nonverbal predicates.

The negative particle is the first of two morphemes in a bipartite negative marking in

Engdewu. Its form is to with some speakers and te with others. Thus, this is not variation


controlled by the morphological or phonological environment, but is, rather, inter-speaker

variation. The motivation for the difference in pronunciation between speakers is not

understood. The negative particle precede both verbal and nonverbal predicates. The form

to is clearly related to the negative answer to a polar question, toko ‘no’: there is no form

*teko found.43

The hortative particle to is verbal, and appear at the end of the verb complex.

The particles are described in Chapter 11.

5.10 Interjections

The interjections attested in the material are the following:

aa!

ei! (also attested as e-he-hei!)

eke! (sometimes aki/iki!)

hë!

oo!

They seem all to be used to express the speaker’s mental state, like surprise.

43

This is the positive answer to a polar question in ee or eu, the latter perhaps the most commonly used. This latter form, however, is according to speakers borrowed from Natügu, while the former is the ‘correct’ Engdewu form.

149

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

6.1 Introduction

The noun phrase in Engdewu consists minimally of a head which can be constituted by any

of the following elements:

Common noun (§6.2.1)

Proper noun (§6.2.2)

Free pronoun (§6.2.3)

Demonstrative (§6.2.4)

Quantifier (§6.2.5)

Possessive classifier

The different heads are illustrated in (90)–(95).44

(90) Common noun

Negää [dükna kââ]S i-vë-m[u].

then devil DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1

‘Then the devil came./Den devol ia hemi kam.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

(91) Proper noun

Ö-pi-ö-ba [Melake]STA: “Aa, toko!”

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:away M. INT no

‘Melake said: “Ah, no!”/Melake hem sei: “Aa, nomoa!”’ (Story_100909_M05m)

(92) Free pronoun

Ma i-va-kotei-ö-dä [ni=gâ]O.

but PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-good-APPL-3MIN.S/A PRO=1AUG.POSS

‘But it’s okay for us./Bat hemi gud long mifala.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

44

Throughout this chapter the following marking principles are employed in the examples: (a) the lexical or grammatical element to be illustrated is given in bold face; (b) the relevant NP is indicated by square brackets; and (c) the head of the NP is underlined.

150 Chapter 6 The Noun Phrase

(93) Demonstrative

La-ö-pi-ö-ba-ngë [le [kââ

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:away-3AUG.S/A DAT DIST:SG

[utâ=pwâ]RC]]DAT:...

small:PFV:N3AUG.S/A=RST

‘They say to the small one:.../Olketa sei long smolwan long olketa:...’

(Story_280909_M05m)

(94) Quantifier

[Du]S tu-vë-bä tâ-oplö-bä

some IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR IPFV:3AUG.S/A-run-PDIR

i-vë, i-vë, ta-bwë mö lapöki.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:3AUG.S/A-dead on road

‘Some of them run for a while, they die on the road. /Samfala long olketa ran, go, go,

olketa dae long rod.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(95) Possessive classifier

Okei, bwale kââ, [nyö=de]VCS gââ.

okei woman DIST:PL CL.V=3MIN.POSS DIST

‘Okay, at the woman’s place./Okei, long ples blong woman ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

There are different prenuclear and postnuclear elements that can modify the head in a

nominal phrase. These are the indefinite article (ART), the quantifier (QUANT), a

demonstrative (DEM), a pluraliser (PL), a change-of-state marker (COS), a possessive phrase

(POSSP), and a relative clause (RC). The article and quantifier are prenuclear elements, and

the possessive phrase and relative clause are postnuclear. The demonstrative, the pluraliser,

and the change-of-state marker can occur both in a prenuclear and postnuclear position,

either following an article or an NP head.

(96) ({

}) HEAD ({

}) (POSSP) (RC)

While common nouns can be the head in constructions with any of these elements, there are

different restrictions on what pre- and postnuclear elements the other head types can co-

occur with. The structure of simple noun phrases will be described in §6.2 according to their

head. Dative phrases and prepositional phrases was described in Chapter 5 and relative

clauses is the topic of §14.2. They will not be described here. The two noun type heads,

proper nouns and common nouns, are described in §6.3.1 and §6.3.2 respectively. The other

NP heads are the topics of other chapters. Pronouns are described in Chapter 7,

6.2 Noun phrase types 151

demonstratives in Chapter 9, and possessive classifiers in Chapter 8. Finally, different types

of complex NP heads are described in the subsections of §6.3.3.

6.2 Noun phrase types

6.2.1 NPs with a common noun as head

An NP with a common noun as a head can have the full structure given in (96) above. All

elements except the common noun head are optional.

A bare common noun usually indicates a generic referent. If a semitransitive clause (cf.

§13.5) has an overt object argument, this is often an NP with a common noun head only. In

(97) the bare noun beli ‘bag’ is the object argument of the semitransitive verb öve ‘weave’.

Semitransitive object NPs tend to be generic, and they usually (though not always) appear

without any modifiers. That is, rather than denoting a specific bag, beli indicates the whole

class of bag referents.45 Semitransitive clauses are described in §13.5 where there is a

discussion of their syntax and semantics. While the transitivity status is acknowledged to be

a topic for discussion, it is concluded that these constructions have two core arguments.

(97) N

Meri ö-ve [beli] ëvë.

M. DETR-weave basket always

‘Mary always weaves baskets./Meri wiwim basket olowe.’ (N09m:1)

Bare nouns are not only used as objects in semi-transitive clauses. In (98) the bare noun

nepi ‘sun’ is the S-argument in the clause. nepi ‘sun’ is perhaps a special kind of noun as it is

generally known to people, and, thus, never needs any introduction. The status as

identifiable is a feature it shares with generic nouns (Lambrecht 1994: 82).

(98) N

[Nepi] tu-upü wenu.

sun IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-hot EMPH

‘The sun is very hot./San hem hat tumas.’ (M10f:15)

The indefinite article marks the NP as indefinite. It usually co-occurs with a demonstrative.

The demonstrative can either follow the article directly, before the head noun, or it can

follow the head noun. In (99) the demonstrative follows the article. This forces a specific

45

Note that definite generic referents would be impossible, as definiteness implies specific referents.


reading of the phrase, since demonstratives are deictic expressions that point out a referent

and places it in time or place.

(99) ART DEM N

[Di ka kä-la-kiso noude]


i-vë-m[u].



The NP in (99) can be compared to this guy in English.

(100) ‘I met this guy from Fiji on the plane.’

Lambrecht (1994) follows the tradition of referring to the demonstrative in the noun phrase

as ‘indefinite this’. The referent is not only specific unidentifiable, and by using this guy

rather than a guy, the speaker ‘...signals to add further information about the person in

question’. That use seems to fit well with the use of the indefinite article plus demonstrative

in Engdewu: most narratives in the material introduce the protagonists in this way.

Vaa (2006) describes a similar pattern in Äiwoo, where the quantifier dä, which generally is

used in an NP to indicate unidentifiable referents, co-occurs with a demonstrative formin

the introduction of new referents, cf. (101).

(101) Äiwoo (Vaa 2006: 78)

Dä ibe=eâ lâ ki-o-mo=to=wâ.

QT old.man=DIST PRT:DIST IPFV-?-live=PH=LOC:DIST

‘Once upon a time an old man was living [lit. An old man was living]. ’

The indefinite article can also co-occur with a demonstrative that follows the head noun, as

seen in (102). Both the ART DEM N and ART N DEM orders indicate an indefinite but specific

referent. However, it seems that while the former introduces a specific referent of all

possible referents, the latter picks out a specific referent from a known group of referents.


(102) ART N DEM

(‘The two boys from today kick a ball.’)

So, i-taplö-bää [di te=de

so PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-PDIR>2/3:3.S/A INDF:SG friend=3MIN.POSS

kââ].

DIST:SG

‘So, one of the friends kicks it./So, nara fren ia kikim go.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

The quantifier du ‘some’ marks the NP as indefinite and indicates a small number of

referents, as illustrated in (103).

(103) QUANT N

[du lepela] la-ö-dei tewau.

some human PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-make money

‘some people made money./samfala pipol olketa wakem seleni ia.’

(Story_200909_M11m)

A demonstrative determiner frequently follows a common noun head. When it does not co-

occur with an indefinite article (cf. (99) and (102)) it marks the noun phrase as definite.

That is, it indicates that the denoted referent is identifiable (Matthews 2007), either from

the text-external world or from a previous mention in the discourse. In (104) the speaker

describes what he has just seen in one of a series of stimuli clips including the same set of

people: there are two noun phrases, noude kââ ‘the man’ in S-function, and opla kââ ‘the girl’

in the dative phrase. Both referents are mentioned before, and are, thus, identifiable.

(104) N DEM

Ä [noude kââ] i-lai-bë kä mda

And man DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3 PROX:SG thing

yele dipwo le opla kââ.

[PFV:N3AUG]-be.like dipwo DAT girl DIST:SG

‘And the boy gives something like a dipwo to the girl./An boe ia hemi givim wanfala

samting olsem dipwo long gele ia.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

The head noun can be marked by a possessor enclitic in the direct possessive construction,

as seen in (102). In the indirect possessive construction a possessive phrase follows the

head noun. The possessive phrase consists of a possessive classifier that is either marked


with a possessor marker, as illustrated in (105) a., or is followed by an overt possessor

noun, as seen in b.

(105) a. N [CL POSS] (Possessive construction: Classifier + Possessor marker)

Tü-aminga-pe=pme [newo telo=de] mö

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry-GDIR:out=COS clothes CL.I=3MIN.POSS at

dano.

beach

‘She dries her clothes at the beach./Hemi draem go na kaleko blong hem long

sanbis.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. N [CL N] (Possessive construction: Classifier + Possessor noun)

Vë-ti-ba to [na telo mödo]!

go-TR-PDIR:away HORT rope CL.I father.in.law-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Go get my father-in-law’s rope!/Go tekem fastaem rope blong fada-in-lo blong

mi!’ (Story_041009_N01m)

The noun can also be modified by a relative clause, as seen in (106). The relative clause

follows the noun and any demonstrative in an NP and is either unmarked or marked by a

relativiser kä, as seen in a. and b. respectively.46

(106) a. N RC

[Mwale kä i-kotei] i-vaglë.

loya.cane REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good PFV:N3AUG.S/A-strong

‘Loya cane47 that’s good is strong./Loiaken na hem good, hemi strong.’

(N05m_110531-001_wildpig)

b. [Opla kââ=pwë tu-woda]

girl DIST:SG=RST IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-destroy

i-va-pe-m[u] mö tebol kââ.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-PDIR>1 to table DIST:SG

‘The same girl who destroys came out to the table./Same gele hemi damage ia,

hem kam aot long tebol ia.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Note that in (106) b. the demonstrative that follows the noun is followed by a restrictive

marker. It occurs with demonstratives that are used anaphorically and emphasises that the

46

The form of the relativiser formally resembles the demonstrative determiner kä, the bound noun kä- and the topic marker kä, as discussed in §9.2.1. 47

mwale ‘loya cane (also known as rattan)’, is a vine in the Calamus spp. of the Arecaceae family.


NP denotes an active referent, and unlike demonstratives, the pluraliser and the change-of-

state marker, this is never attested in prenuclear position.

6.2.2 NPs with a proper noun as head

In general, an NP with a proper noun as a head cannot have any prenuclear or postnuclear

elements. A proper noun thus constitutes an NP alone as seen in (107).

(107) N

Ä ö-pi-ö-bää [Dawea]: Ee,

and DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:2/3:3.S/A D. yes

i-kotei.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good

‘And Dawea says: “Yes, that’s okay”./An Dawea hem sei: “Ies, hem good”.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

There are a few examples in the material where a proper noun is followed by a

demonstrative. When they do, they always have a deictic function, i.e. they specify the

spatial position of the referent. This is also the case in the example in (108).

(108) N DEM

[Pita kä].

P. PROX:SG

‘It’s Peter here./Pita long hea.’

Note that these NPs are never found to appear as arguments to a predicate to a verb in a

clause. The NPs are, rather, to be analysed as constituting a verbless clause (§13.2) or

merely a minor sentence.

6.2.3 NPs with a free pronoun as head

An NP with a free pronoun as a head can, in general, not have any prenuclear or postnuclear

elements. This is similar to NPs with a proper noun head (§6.2.2). This is exemplified in

(109).


(109) PRO

Nogââ [ni=m] tü-ngala-yë=pme (a)yö

then PRO=2MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-climb-GDIR:up=COS up?

më dapwë ka nungo, nogââ

on bottom MED:SG tree then

pa-yö-pe-a.

IPFV:CAUS:N3AUG.S/A-fasten-GDIR:out-2MIN.S/A

‘Then you climb up on the tree bottom, then you fasten it [the rope, around the

neck ./Den bae iu klaem ontap long botom rut, den bae iu fasten go rop aroun nek .’

(N05m_110531-001)

As mentioned in §6.3.4, some bound nouns can combine with demonstratives, and, thus,

form words that act as free-form pronouns. These can also constitute a noun phrase on their

own, as seen in (110). These forms will be further described in Chapter 9.

(110) [Da-ka] tâ-olomo-ti-ngë, [da-ka]

BN:thing-MED:SG IPFV:3AUG.S/A-find-TR-3AUG.S/A BN:thing-MED:SG

ta-ngö-ngö öki.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-3AUG.S/A MED:PL

‘Anything (lit. that) they find, (that) they eat./Eniting olketa faendem, hem na fo

olketa kaikai.’ (N09m_110530-002)

6.2.4 NPs with a demonstrative as head

Demonstratives usually mark a noun in an NP, as described in §6.2.1. Demonstratives can,

however, also head an NP. In that case they generally constitute the NP alone. Such NPs

indicate a previously mentioned referent, as seen in (112) below, or it switches to another

referent within a known group of referents, as illustrated in (111). The speaker tells about

how individuals within a known group of people alternate in bringing money to the game in

a round of betting.


(111) DEM

[Kââ] o-to-m[u] tewau,

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG?-take-PDIR>1 money

i-welu-ni-ää, ä [kââ]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:down-3MIN.S/A and DIST:SG

o-to=pmo-m[u], i-welu-ni-kapää.

PFV:N3AUG?-take=DUPL-PDIR>1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:down-too:3MIN.S/A

‘Another one takes the money, puts it down, and another one takes it again, he puts it

down, too./Narawan tekem kam seleni, putum daon, and narawan tekem kam moa,

putum daon tu.’ (N13m_110603_people)

In one example in the material a demonstrative head is followed by a possessive phrase

constituted by a possessive classifier and a possessor marker.

(112) DEM POSSP

[Kââ mwilâ=dabwe], wâku kââ i-pom

DIST:SG CL.VII=12AUG.POSS fire DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-form

Metiö.

M.

‘That’s ours, the fire formed at Metiö./Hem ia blong iumi nao, fire hemi form long

Metiö.’ (Story_130909_M11m)

The referent-switch function reminds of how the demonstrative la in Vaeakau-Taumako is

used both to reactivate a referent that was mentioned earlier in the discourse, as seen in

(113).

(113) Vaeakau-Taumako (Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011: 439)

(‘They stood and stared, (saying) “Hey, what village is this? All the times we have

come here to shoot pigeons, we have never seen this place. So who is living here

now?”’)

ioko la ko te memea la] ne he-telek-aki

CNJ DEM.3 TOP SG.SP child DEM.3 PFV RECP-run-RECP

i vaho na

LDA side DEM.2

'And that child (last mentioned several paragraphs previously) came wandering

outside.'


6.2.5 NPs with a quantifier as head

There are also a few instances where the quantifier du functions as the head of an NP, as

illustrated by (94) above. Quantifier heads are not found to be modified by any element in

the NP.

6.2.6 NPs with a possessive classifier as head

If a possessed referent is retrievable from the context, it is sometimes not mentioned, and a

possessive phrase with a possessive classifier head constitutes the NP alone. An example

was given in (95).

6.3 Noun types

Nouns in Engdewu were described in Chapter 5 as lexical words whose primary function is

as the head of an NP and whose secondary function is as a predicate. They can be

subcategorised according to their grammatical properties as proper nouns and as common

nouns. §6.2.2 described how proper nouns generally do not take any prenuclear or

postnuclear modifiers, and §6.2.1 described how common nouns can be modified by a

prenuclear article or quantifier and by a postnuclear demonstrative, pluraliser, possessive

phrase and relative clause. This section will describe in more detail proper nouns (§6.3.1)

and common nouns (§6.3.2), and the category of local nouns that cross-cuts proper and

common nouns (§6.3.3).

6.3.1 Proper nouns

Proper nouns denote specific persons. People have a first name (e.g. Pita, Pol, Meri,

Margaret) and sometimes both a modern and a traditional last name.48 Many traditional last

names are derived from place names. Men’s last names often start with the prefix me-, while

women’s last names are traditionally prefixed with i-. Consequently, some names have male

and female counterparts, like Menapi and Inapi.

48

It is customary that a newborn child is named by one of the contributors to the mother’s bride price according to the following system. The first-born is named by the person who makes the biggest contribution. The second-born is named by the next-biggest contributor on the list, and so on. It is the traditional last name—in Pijin om nem (Eng. ‘home name’)—that has to be inherited in this way, after the contributors, but sometimes the first name is also given by a bride price contributor. That means that children seldom have the same home name as their parents. According to some elders, the home name used to follow descent and not bride price contributor in earlier days. The child is nowadays often given an additional Christian last name, and other names too, usually chosen by the parents.

6.3 Noun types 159

Table 6.1: Examples of men's and women's traditional last names

Me- ♂ i- ♀

Menapi Inapi

Menapo Ibilü

Menapa Inaoti

Melapi Inakipu

Meupa Inagle

Menamopu Ikootü

Menemapwe Inaangu

Medesami Ilatuë

Meleuto Ipwoma

Melapeiki

Meovli

While the meanings of many names are obscure today, some are still segmentable. The part

after the gender prefix can be a place name, which is the case in Menapo, cf. (114). It can also

refer to a personal characteristic of the person initially bearing the name, cf. (115).

(114) Me-napo

BN:male-N.

‘man from Napo’

(115) a. Me-la-peiki

BN:male-IPFV:3AUG.S/A-cut

‘man who cuts’

b. Me-la-pi

BN:male-IPFV:3AUG.S/A-say

‘man who talks’

Many proper place names in Engdewu are preceded by mö-. This is analysed as a bound

noun with the specific meaning ‘house’, found in many compound constructions (cf. §6.5.3).

These constructions make up place names like Mömwawë, Mönopautö, and Mömala. In the

latter example, Mala is a name, and the meaning is, thus, ‘The house of Mala’.49 As described

in §6.3.4.1, mö- is not only found in the beginning of common place names: it can also be

attached to a random noun forming a word indicating the location of the referent denoted

by the noun, giving the meaning ‘house of X’, e.g. it is possible to construct a local noun by

49

In the village name Mömwawë, mwa is a morpheme meaning house (also found in m(w)a dükna ‘spirit house’), and *wë reportedly means ‘full’, yielding ‘the full house’. Mömwawë was the name of the storage house connected to the garden area of Ewawö village, which was situated some hundred metres north of the village.


prefixing mö- to the word for ‘dog’, kuli, thus yielding mökuli ‘house of dog, dog’s house’. The

independent noun for ‘house’ is matu.

6.3.2 Common nouns

The common nouns are by far the biggest group of nouns. They can be classified in one

major group of free nouns, and one minor group of bound nouns (discussed in §6.3.4).

Unlike proper nouns, free common nouns can be modified by a preceding indefinite article

(plus demonstrative determiner), or followed by a demonstrative determiner, a possessive

classifier or by a relative clause, as described in §6.2.1.

Common nouns can be subcategorised in two groups according to how possession is

marked. Generally, directly possessed nouns have possessive person markers attached

directly to them, while indirectly possessed nouns are followed by a possessive phrase. The

possessive phrase consists of a possessive classifier which is marked with a possessor

marker or a noun indicating the possessor. Possessive constructions are discussed in further

detail in Chapter 8.

(116) a. Direct possession

nümü=de

hand=3MIN.POSS

‘his/her hand’

b. Indirect possession

poi nei=de

pig CL.IV=3MIN.POSS

‘his/her pig’

Nouns involved in the direct possessive construction are typically inalienables, like words

denoting body parts and kinship terms. Kinship terms form a small group of nouns denoting

family and other personal relations. In some cases there are different words reflecting the

sex of the possessor, e.g. myei is the brother of a male person, and wei is the brother of a

female person. This is also seen in the other RSC languages. In Äiwoo, there are systematic

differences between male ego forms, prefixed with gi-, and female ego forms, often prefixed

with si- (Næss, p.c.). Such a systematisation is more obscure in Engdewu. Examples of

directly possessed nouns are given in Table 6.2.

6.3 Noun types 161

Table 6.2: Examples of directly possessed nouns in Engdewu

Kinship

ite ‘mother’

yei ‘father (of a male person)’

pwei ‘father (of a female person)’

myei ‘brother (of a male person)’

wei ‘brother (of a female person)’

plapyei ‘sister (of a male person)’

opyei ‘sister (of a female person)’

pwai OR wai? ‘grandmother’

ita ‘grandfather’

plai (plaibu) ‘aunt, niece’

melibu ‘uncle, nephew’

pwapo ‘namesake’

(bwe)te ‘friend’

Body parts

nümü ‘hand’

nao ‘head’

mno ‘eye’

dötü ‘nose/ear’

ne ‘leg’

bei ‘skin’

nëplü ‘feather’

nüglü ‘tail’

nubö/nübö/nibë ‘back, backside’50

Body products

mwotü ‘smell’

nae ‘word, talk’

Personal belongings

Nini ‘mat’

bwâ towi ‘arrow’

Part of a whole

pele ‘top (of something)’

50

cf. nubwa nübö dolo ‘shark sp. (nubwa “shark”, nübö “back”, dolo “wave”)’.


butü ‘soft part’

daape ‘half’

Other concepts inalienably connected to humans

nuwo ‘mind’

nötü ‘name’

6.3.3 Local nouns

Local nouns were described in §6.3.3 to include proper place names, like Nagu, Ulou and

Mömwawë, and other nouns that denote familiar, specific places and geographical structures

important to the speakers’ everyday life—and of which there is only one possible referent.

Place names naturally denote specific, single places. Pwala ‘sea’ and pedoo ‘bush’ can also be

argued to have this oneness feature. They are omnipresent, and there is only one sea and

one bush, places where people fulfil their everyday commitments. Namwe ‘singles’ house’

denotes another familiar structure in the village.51 Local nouns are described for many

Oceanic languages. They are also found in languages in other language families. In Fulfulde,

for instance, the group of nouns that denote places do not take prepositions like other

nouns. Otherwise they share all other features with these (Theil, p.c.).

Local nouns cross-cut the categorisation of nouns into proper and common nouns. Unlike

other nouns, local nouns do not take prepositions to form phrases denoting goals and

locatives. In this respect they behave like adverbs.

(117) Nege i-vë-pme-i pwala

today PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-COS-1MIN.S/A sea,

i-mo-lü di kou

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A INDF:SG DIST:PL

da-te-ya-nö.

BN:thing-IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:about

‘Today, when I went to the sea, I saw things that went around./Tude, mi go long sea

mi lukim samfala samting olketa go olabaot.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Note that matu ‘house’ is only a local noun when it is used in this function, as one’s one and

only familiar home. Otherwise, matu ‘house’ is a common noun which normally has many

possible referents. The same is true of nelya ‘village’, another common noun. Lynch, Ross,

and Crowley (2002: 69) say that local nouns other than proper place names had this dual

function in POc, as both local and common nouns. In (118) a. matu ‘house’ is not used as a

51

Today, there is only one namwe ‘singles’ house’ in the village. Before, however, there could be more than one namwe connected to a village. Still, a man was affiliated to only one of these.

6.3 Noun types 163

local noun and the prepositional phrase, mö matu ‘to the house’ is used to code it as a goal.

In b., on the other hand, matu is coded as a goal without being preceded by a preposition.

The difference between a. and b. is that the latter encodes the house as familiar to the agent,

that is, as his own home, while the latter encodes a house that is not the home of the agent.

Unlike adverbs, local nouns share other features with common nouns, that is, they can be

modified by a possessive phrase. In c. matu, ‘house’ combines with a possessive classifier in

Engdewu. In this case the sense is ‘home’. Naturally, the noun receives no preposition.

(118) a. Dä tü-va=pme mö matu.

CONT:PROX:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS to house

‘He is going to the house./Hemi go long haus.’ (M01m:30)

b. Tü-va-pe-da matu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-12MIN.S/A house

‘We (two) go home (lit. to the house)./Iumitufala go long haus.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

c. Tü-va=pme-i matu nyo.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-1MIN.S/A house CL.V:1MIN.POSS

‘I am going home (lit. to my house)./Mi go long haus (long haus blong mi).’

(M01m:31)

All RSC languages express this distinction. In Äiwoo, local nouns like ngââgu and bwää can

mean, respectively, ‘bush’ and ‘to the bush’, and ‘sea’ and ‘out at sea’. Compare example

(119) from Äiwoo below, where a. shows the local noun ngââgu ‘bush’, and b. shows the

common noun nuumä ‘village’. Only the latter has a preposition.

(119) Äiwoo (Næss, p.c.)

a. I-wä ngââgu.

PFV-go bush

‘He went into the bush.’

b. I-wä ngä nuumä.

PFV-go PRP village

‘He went to the village.’

6.3.4 Bound nouns

There is a small group of bound nouns in Engdewu. Most bound nouns appear as the first

element in noun-noun compounds, while some also appear as the first element in noun-verb


compounds with uninflected verb roots, as described in §6.3.4.1. A few bound nouns are

found only in nominal constructions with inflected verb roots, as described in §6.3.4.2.

While further investigation is needed with respect to the distribution and semantics of the

group of bound nouns, some identificational features can be mentioned. Semantically, bound

nouns can be seen as a subclass of common nouns. That is, in general, they have a lexical

meaning, and they correspond semantically to a free common noun. As described in §6.5.3

and §6.6.1 all bound nouns form a phonological word with the element they precede. This

could be taken as an argument for a prefix analysis. However, because some exhibit a certain

freedom in the selection of the element they precede, and because some of them can be

followed by a demonstrative or a possessive classifier, and also because their meanings are

lexical rather than grammatical, they are analysed as nouns. But as already noted, they differ

from their independent noun counterparts in that they can never constitute an NP alone.

Wurm (1969: 78) describes a small group of bound elements as ‘semantic class prefixes’, of

which he found seven. Unfortunately, he does not provide any examples, so his claim has

been impossible to test. However, bound nouns indicate semantic class membership of the

referent denoted by the construction, and they, thus, clearly have a classifying function. That

is, bound nouns indicate semantic class membership of the referent denoted by the

construction. When bound nouns head a verb, on the other hand, they also have a

nominalising function. These deverbal nouns are probably among the constructions Wurm

had in mind when he stated that Engdewu exhibits ‘verbal nouns’, as mentioned in §3.4.2.9.

The examples in (120) a. and b. respectively illustrate a bound noun that heads another

noun and a bound noun that heads a verb. The former construction is analysed as a

compound (§6.5.3) and the latter as a nominalisation (§6.6.1).

(120) a. mwa-toklu

BN:fruit-breadfruit

‘breadfruit fruit’

b. da-la-ngö

BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘something one eats’

6.3.4.1 Bound nouns mainly used in compounds

Most bound nouns appear as heads in nominal compounds. As described in §6.5.3, a bound

noun compounds with another lexical root to form a complex noun of which the bound noun

indicates the semantic class membership. These bound nouns are (almost) all found to come

6.3 Noun types 165

in pairs with a free common noun counterpart that is used independently. An attempt to

group them according to their function and semantics is provided in Table 6.3. The forms

are further described below.

Table 6.3: Bound nouns mainly used in compounds

Bound noun Meaning Free noun

I: CROP PLANTS

bla- ‘breadfruit’ toklu

nei- ‘yam’ dalaknü

ngë- ‘taro’ wetö

II: PARTS OF PLANTS

lewö- ‘leaf’ leu

mwa- ‘fruit’ -

ngö-/ngë- ‘tree’ nungo

III: HOUSE

ma- ‘house’ matu

IV: COLLECTIVE

mö- ‘house, collective’ nelya

le- ‘human, collective’ lepela

V: SEX

m(w)e- ‘male’ noude

(l)i- ‘female’ opla

Crop plants. The members in this subgroup denote types of crop plants, those found being

bla- ‘breadfruit’, nei- ‘yam’ and ngë- ‘taro’. They all have a free noun counterpart for use

independently. None of these correspond formally to their bound counterparts.

Parts of plants. This subgroup denotes part of plants, e.g. mwa- ‘fruit’, lewö- ‘leaf’ and ngö-

/ngë- ‘tree’. They appear in compounds with a noun root or another noun compound

involving a bound noun denoting crop plants. Two of these bound nouns, lewö- and ngö-,

have a free common noun counterpart that can be used alone outside a compound to

respectively denote leaves and trees in general. To make reference of a fruit in general,

however, mwa- is compounded with the free general term for ‘tree’, nungo. Crowley (1991)

describes a similar though much more elaborate system of bound nouns (labelled ‘linked

nouns’) in Paamese. The biggest subgroup contains elements that denote constituent parts

of plants and trees.


House. There is one bound noun, ma-, that has the meaning ‘house’. Its independent

counterpart is matu, of which the bound noun seems to be a short form. At least

semantically this form does not easily fit into any of the other subcategories of bound nouns,

and it is, therefore, put alone in its own ‘group’.

Collective. Two bound nouns, le- and mö-, denote collectives of people and houses

respectively. The former has a morphologically independent counterpart in lepela, that

denotes human beings in general. mö- does not have a direct counterpart, but the

morphologically unrelated independent noun nelya means ‘village’. Note also that mö- is

similar in form to the preposition më/mö which was described in §5.4 to encode peripheral

arguments of different semantic roles, including direction and location. There might be a

link between the bound noun and this preposition, but this will not be discussed further

here. Note also that le- is found with a demonstrative in the form le-gââ ‘people there (gââ

“DIST”)’. This strengthens the status as a bound noun, and not as a prefix.

Sex. Two bound nouns, m(w)e- and (l)i-, respectively denote male and female humans. Both

have independent counterparts that seem to be morphologically unrelated, noude ‘man’ and

opla ‘woman’.

All RSC languages have bound nouns, but the numbers confirmed varies. While Natügu has

only very few (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear), it seems that Äiwoo has the biggest

inventory of bound nouns (formerly labelled ‘class prefixes’52) found in compounds. Næss

(2006: 284) lists be- ‘basket’, bo- ‘shark’, na- ‘crabs, crayfish’, oli- ‘cutnuts’, pä- ‘seashells’, po-

‘fishing nets’, u- ‘bananas’, u- ‘alite nuts’, ubu-/umu- ‘betelnuts’, and bu- ‘soil’, and Næss (to

appear) adds bulo- ‘breadfruit’. In Äiwoo, these are generally found to be reduced forms of

corresponding independent generic nouns. That is, the full forms exhibit accretion of the

Austronesian article *na, evident as an initial syllable nV-, while the bound forms lack this

initial syllable: bound noun be- corresponds to nyibä ‘basket’, po- corresponds to nupo

‘fishing net’, and bulo- corresponds to nyibälo ‘breadfruit’ (Næss to appear). Because of the

obvious lack of formal correspondence between many of the bound nouns and independent

noun counterparts in Engdewu, Næss (to appear) suggests that the latter might have been

replaced by new words while the former reflect older forms. She points out that Engdewu

bla- ‘breadfruit’ corresponds to Äiwoo bulo- ‘breadfruit. While the corresponding

independent form nyibälo in Äiwoo is clearly related, the Engdewu form, toklu, is probably a

more recent loan from Polynesian. In Vaeakau-Taumako, the word for ‘breadfruit’ is kulu

52

Næss (2006) labels the bound element ‘class prefix’, that is, a prefix with primarily classifying function. These are later described as bound nouns, e.g. in Næss (to appear).

6.3 Noun types 167

(Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011). The formation from this word to Engdewu toklu is easy to

explain through accretion of the Polynesian article te, syllable reduction after vowel elision

(§4.5.1.3) forming the cluster /kl/ and vowel harmony changing /te/ to /t / (§4.6.1).

6.3.4.2 Bound nouns mainly used in participant nominalisation

Three bound nouns are found in nominal constructions where they precede inflected verbs,

described as participant nominal constructions (§6.6.1). The semantic meanings of these

bound nouns are fairly general, such as ‘thing’, ‘place’, and ‘individual’. Differing from the

bound nouns in §6.3.4.1, two of these bound nouns lack an independent noun counterpart.

They are listed in Table 6.4 and a few notes are made about each of them below.

Table 6.4: Bound nouns mainly used in participant nominalisation

Bound noun Meaning Free noun

da- ‘thing’ mda

ga-/gä- ‘place’ -

kä- ‘individual, one that …’ -

da- is the only form with an independent counterpart, mda ‘thing’, a form that obviously is

formally related. As will be seen in §6.6.1, da- is frequently followed by a demonstrative and

sometimes a pluraliser in participant nominalisations. This is an argument in favour of an

analysis as a bound noun over a prefix analysis, since the latter normally has a fixed position

in relation to the base it attaches to (in this case a verb).

ga- is formally identical to the medial form of the demonstrative adverb ga, which is a

possible source for the bound noun. This is briefly discussed in 9.4. The bound noun ga- can

be followed by a possessive classifier, strongly indicating that it actually is a noun and not a

prefix.

(121) Nege Dawea yâlu=pmo ga-nyö=de.

then D. [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-return=DUPL BN:place-CL.V=3MIN.POSS

‘Then Dawea went back to his place./Den Dawea hemi go baek long ples blong hem.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Further evidence of noun-hood is that it is frequently followed by a demonstrative.


(122) Te i-mo=pwe ga-gââ

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2:1MIN.S/A BN:place-DIST

tü-vö-yö-dä leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A letter

‘I cannot see the place where he is writing letters./Mi no lukim ples ia wea hemi

raetem leta ia.’ (TMA.Q.7_N02m)

It is also found with location adverbials, e.g. ga-yowu (BN:place-on.top) ‘place on top’.

Næss (2006: 276ff) describes Äiwoo to have eight bound nouns primarily or exclusively

used in participant nominal constructions: gi- ‘male’, si- ‘female’, me- ‘human’, mi- ‘general’,

de- ‘thing’, nyi- ‘place’, nye- ‘manner (of action)’, and pe- ‘(human) collective’. de-, nyi- and mi-

clearly correspond functionally and semantically to the Engdewu forms da-, ga- and kä-

which only appear in participant nominalisations. Furthermore, §6.6.1 describes how the

Engdewu forms (l)i- ‘female’ and m(w)e- ‘male’ discussed in §6.3.4.1 can also appear in

participant nominalisations. These correspond to the Äiwoo si- and gi- forms. The closest

corresponding form in Engdewu to the two Äiwoo forms me- ‘human’ and pe- ‘human

collective’ are le- ‘human collective’.53 This was described in §6.3.4.1 and is not found in

participant nominalisations. No correspondence has been found with Äiwoo nye- in

Engdewu. As described for ga- above, the nominalising bound nouns in Äiwoo forms can

appear in possessive constructions and with demonstratives (Næss 2006). In Natügu, there

are much fewer bound nouns used in participant nominalisations (Boerger in progress). As

mentioned in §6.6.1, the form kä- which is homophonous with the subordinator, is much

more frequent in these constructions.

6.4 Modifier elements

6.4.1 Indefinite article di

As described above, the singular indefinite article can precede the noun to make the noun

phrase indefinite.

53

While she notes that it is found in only a few examples, Næss (2006) notes that me- is used to denote singular human referents irrespective of gender. The function and meaning is, thus, close to that of mi- which can refer to any entity, not necessarily but often human. Äiwoo me- is formally identical to and might be a loan from me- ‘male’ found in all RSC languages. This form is a hallmark of originally male names on Nedö, but has—at least in the Engdewu community—come to be used in names of both males and females today.

6.4 Modifier elements 169

(123) [Di yünipom telo=de] i-bo ä

INDF:SG uniform CL.I=3MIN.POSS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-blue and

[di kä] i-bla.

INDF:SG PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-red

‘One uniform belonging to him is blue, and one is red./Wanfala uniform hemi blue

and wanfala uniform hemi red.’ SE_set1_220909_M06m)

As noted above, the article is often followed by a demonstrative. The combination forces a

specific reading of the phrase, since demonstratives are deictic expressions that point out a

referent and places it in time or space. The construction is similar to the ‘indefinite this’ in

English, cf. (124).

(124) [Di ka kä-la-kiso noude]


i-vë-m[u].



If a demonstrative follows the article, another demonstrative cannot also follow the head

noun.

When the article is followed by a demonstrative, sometimes an Aktionsart marker also co-

occurs with them, attached to the demonstrative. In (125) there are two noun phrases, di

kââpme mweli ‘a time’ and di kââpme lepela ‘a man’, both with a demonstrative, and the

change-of-state marker =pme cliticised to the article. The exact function of the change-of-

state marker in this construction is not clear, but a suggestion is that it marks the situation

to which the mentioned referent belongs as completed. The noun phrase di kââpme mweli ‘a

(past) time’ is, thus, in the same fashion as the English expression ‘once upon a time’.


(125) Di kââ=pme mweli, di kââ=pme lepela

INDF:SG DIST:SG=COS time INDF:SG DIST:SG=COS human

kä yele, ä la-mno, la-mno,

REL [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like and PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay

la-mno ma bwale nölö=de.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay with woman CL.X=3MIN.POSS

‘Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who stayed for a long time./Once

upon a time, wanfala man hem stap, stap, stap, stap, wetem waef blong

hem.’(Story_041009_N01m)

The NP [di kââpme mweli] in (125) and [di kââpme lepela [kä yele]] can possibly be

analysed as verbless clauses with readings like ‘there was a time’ and ‘there was a man that

existed ’. If all instances of the change-of-state marker in an NP was taken from such

constructions, that would indicate that it can only occur on NPs when they function as

predicates. It would also suggest that it is predicates that attract the change-of-state marker.

However, the example in (126) is an argument against such an analysis, because here the

marker occurs both in the verb complex and in the argument NP. This strongly suggests

that the change-of-state marker can occur with any NP, both in predicate and argument

function.

(126) ... ta-ö-pi-ö-nga: "Aha, [[da-kââ=pme]S

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-3AUG.A aha, BN:thing-DIST:SG=COS

i-bwa=pme]]!"

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.dead=COS

‘Then they say: "Aha, he is dead!"/Den olketa sei: "Aha, hem dae nao!"’

(Story_041009_N01m)

6.4.2 Quantifier du

(127) QUANT N (repeated from (103))

du lepela la-ö-dei tewau.

some human PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-make money

‘some people made money./samfala pipol olketa wakem seleni ia.’

(Story_200909_M11m)

Contrary to the article, the quantifier can constitute a noun phrase on its own. This was

illustrated in §6.2.5.


6.4.3 Demonstrative

A demonstrative commonly follows the head to mark it as definite or to indicate the

referent’s spatial position.

(128) N DEM (repeated from (104))

Ä noude kââ i-lai-bë kä

And man DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3 PROX:SG

mda yele dipwo le opla kââ.

thing [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like dipwo DAT girl DIST:SG

‘And the boy gives something like a dipwo to the girl./An boe ia hemi givim wanfala

samting olsem dipwo long gele ia.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

When an article is present in the phrase, a demonstrative can either follow the indefinite

article or the head noun. In the first case, the NP is marked as specific, and is often used in

the introduction of new referents. In the second case, a new referent in a known group of

referents is picked out. A demonstrative cannot both appear after the article and the head

noun. Demonstratives are described more thoroughly in Chapter 9.

(129) ART DEM N (repeated from (99))

[Di ka kä-la-kiso noude]

INDF MED:SG BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man

i-vë-m[u].



(130) ART N DEM (repeated from (102))

I-taplö-bää [di tede kââ].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.S/A INDF:SG friend DIST:SG

‘Another friend kicks it away./Nara wan ia kickim go.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

6.4.4 Pluraliser =yo

The pluraliser can either follow a prenuclear demonstrative, follow the head noun, or follow

a demonstrative that follows the head noun. Because of this distribution it is treated as a

clitic. The difference between these constellations is not understood at the present stage of

research. In (131), the pluraliser occurs after the noun opla ‘girl’.


(131) Opla=yo tü-va-pe-am[u] yöpö?

girl=PL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-2AUG.S/A where

‘Girls, where are you going?/Olketa gele, iufala go long wea?’ (Song_061009_N11m)

In instances where the noun is determined by a demonstrative, the marker obligatorily

attaches to that demonstrative. Note, however, that there is a three-way distance-oriented

demonstrative system in Engdewu, and that the pluraliser only can be added to a proximal

singular form of the demonstrative. The result is a proximal plural demonstrative form.

There are dedicated medial and distal plural forms, (ö)ki and kââ to which the pluraliser

cannot be attached (cf. Chapter 9). Consider the examples in (132) where a proximal

singular demonstrative form follows the noun kuli ‘dog’. In a. there is no pluraliser present,

and the reading is singular. In b. =yo is added to the proximal demonstrative enclitic, and the

NP is plural.

(132) a. kuli kä

dog PROX:SG

‘this dog’

b. kuli kä=yo

dog PROX:SG=PL

‘these dogs’

If there is an indefinite article followed by a demonstrative present preceding the head

noun, the pluraliser is added after the demonstrative.

(133) Di kä=yo mda tü-mo-lü

INDF:SG PROX:SG=PL thing IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A

taa-nö ga=yo, da-ka=yo

go:IPFV:3AUG.S/A-GDIR:around MED=PL BN:thing-MED:SG=PL

la-ngë?

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘I see some things which go all about here: are those things for eating?/Samfala

samting mi lukim, olketa go olabaot long hea, olketa samting ia olketa kaikaim?’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Note that the pluraliser does not seem to be obligatory. Compare the example in (134) to the

one in (135). In the latter there is no plural marker, but the reading is clearly plural.


(134) Opla=yo tü-va-pe-am[u] yöpö?

girl=PL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-2AUG.S/A where

‘Girls, where are you going? / Olketa gele, iufala go long wea?’

(135) Kä-la-kiso, kä-la-kiso

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small

mno-löpwi-am[u] nege!

stay-quiet-2AUG.S/A today

‘Children, children, you stay quiet today!/Pikinini, pikinini, iufala stap quiet tude!’

(M08m_110427-000)

6.4.5 Restrictive marker =pwë/=pwa

The form =pwë/=pwa is sometimes found added to a post-head demonstative determiner to

indicate that the referent of the NP is the same as a recently mentioned referent. It is only

found with arguments that denote agents, and only more research can uncover whether it

can occur with NPs that denote patients as well.

(136) Lepela kââ=pwë ö-lapyö=pmo-de kä mwalaë

human DIST:SG=RST DETR-split=DUPL-3MIN.A PROX:SG axe

kamdi

different

‘The same man split firewood with a different axe./Sem man ia splitim faeawud

wetem defren akis.’

As described in §11.3.14, an identical form described as a ‘restrictive marker’ can appear in

the verb complex with a similar meaning. This form is thus analysed as the same form. Note

however that more research is needed to establish whether these two forms really are the

same morpheme.

6.4.6 Prepositional phrases

In (137), where the noun dowe ‘bird’ heads the noun phrase dowe më dowe nuë kä ‘birds in

this world’, it is not modified by any article or demonstrative, and the reading is still generic,

as dowe më dowe nuë kä ‘birds in this world’ in (137) illustrates. Note that the

demonstrative kä modifies the noun phrase incorporated in the prepositional phrase. The

reading of the noun phrase is [dowe [më [dowe nuë kä]]], and not [dowe [më [dowe nuë]]

kä].


(137) Dowe më dowe nuë kä e... la-mwa...

bird in world PROX:SG ? PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

la-mwa-pe-pwë mwa-nungo.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-?-RST BN:fruit-tree

‘Birds in this world just live on fruit (lit. eat, they just eat fruit)./Bird long disfala wol

olketa live long fruit.’ (N09m_110530-002)

6.5 Noun compounds

By noun compound is here meant a construction that consists of more than one lexeme, of

which the first compound member is a noun and where the construction as a whole

functions as a noun. Morphologically, the compound members are juxtaposed to eachother,

and they appear as a complex head in the NP, with any modifier elements before or after the

compound as a whole. The first compound member, which is the semantic head of the

construction, is either a common noun or a bound noun that only appears in the

construction and never alone. The second member in a noun compound is the dependent,

i.e. a modifier to the semantic head, and it can either be a noun or a verb. All compound

types encountered seem to be endocentric, i.e. where the compound meaning is a subset of

the meaning of the head. §6.3.4 subcategorised the bound nouns in two distinct but related

groups according to their grammatical features and semantics. Members of the first of these

groups occur in noun compounds.

1. Noun-Noun compounds (§6.5.1)

2. Noun-Verb compounds (§6.5.2)

3. Compounds with bound noun head (§6.5.3)

In addition, there is a construction which may look like a compound, but where a relational

marker is added to the head noun. Because of its semantic resemblance to the compounds it

is described below in §6.5.4.

6.5.1 Noun + Noun

Both nouns appear in an unmarked form in this construction. The first noun is the semantic

head of the construction and denotes the basic meaning, while the second noun modifies it.

These are endocentric compounds where the compound meaning is included in the meaning

of the more general head. This is illustrated with the compound opla nelya ‘village girls, girls

of the village’ in (138) and pwala Nagu ‘sea of Nagu’ in (139). Notice in (138) that the

demonstrative kââ appears after the whole complex.

6.5 Noun compounds 175

(138) Yângâ-ti-e opla la-lii, opla nelya kââ.

[PFV:N3AUG]-take-TR-3MIN.S/A girl PFV:3AUG.S/A-two girl village DIST:SG

‘He took two girls, girls of the village./Hemi tekem tufala gele, gele long ples ia.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(139) Numwa ka i-mno mö pwala Nagu.

reef MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay at sea N.

‘The reef is at the sea of Nagu./Rif ia hemi lei daon long sii blong Nagu.’ (N12m2:1)

Other examples of noun-noun compounds are given in (140).

(140) nila waku ‘flame of fire’ (M01m:25)

nawü dalengi ‘turtle sp. (dalengi is the noun for ‘earring’)

napwö töwi ‘small pigeon sp. (töwi ‘arrow’)’

pwala Engdewu ‘sea of Engdewu’

beli opwö ‘basket type (opwö “tree sp.”)’

beli në ‘basket type (opwö “tree sp”)’

There are several different clans, and these are named with noun-noun compounds where

the first noun is the word for ‘clan’, nou, and the second is a noun denoting the clan’s animal.

(141) nou nübü ‘trevaly (mamula) clan’

nou napwo ‘pidgeon clan’

nou nyoda ‘barracuda (ono) clan’

nou bwebla ‘fish sp. clan’

nou kyo ‘rooster clan’

6.5.2 Noun + Verb

There is another compound which shares some formal properties with the noun-noun

constructions in §6.5.1. The first compound member in these constructions is a noun. The

second element is a stative verb in its uninflected form. There are no morphological

markings on any of the participating elements, which are simply juxtaposed with one

another. In common with the noun-noun compounds, these are endocentric compounds

where the compound meaning is included in the meaning of the more general head.

Examples are given in (142).


(142) nubwa bla shark red ‘red shark’

kâvia bu shell dark ‘shell sp. (lit. dark shell)’

kâvia upwö shell white ‘shell sp. (lit. white shell)’

The primary function of stative verbs is as a predicate with obligatory verbal inflection. cf.

(143) where bu, found in kâvia bu, is a stative verb in the clause nguë ibu ‘night is dark’.

(143) Kä i-vë-ba-gâ

? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR:away-1AUG.S/A

i-mno-pe=pme-gâ,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-GDIR:out=COS-1AUG.S/A

i-mno-gâ, i-mno-gâ, nguë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-1AUG.S/A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-1AUG.S/A night

i-bu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dark

‘We went, we stayed up there, we stayed, we stayed, then it was dark./Mifala go,

mifala stap ontap nao, mifala stap, stap, hem dark nao.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

In the constructions seen in (142) the uninflected stative verb is the dependent and thus

modifies the head noun. In some compound-like constructions the stative verb carries the

perfective aspect marker i-. The construction is no longer analysed as a compound.

Depending on the context, it is analysed as an NP modified by a relative clause in which the

inflected verb is the predicate, or simply as an intransitive clause where the noun

constitutes an NP that is the argument of the verb. The difference between a. and b. when

the former is analysed as an NP, can be compared to English ‘red shark’ vs. ‘shark that is red’

(144) a. nubwa bla

shark red

‘red shark / red saki’

b. nubwa i-bla

shark PFV:N3AUG.S/A-red

‘red shark (shark that is red)/red saki’

Note that there are no special markers for the relative clause in (144) b., and it is, in fact,

identical to an intransitive clause. Thus, it is the context that decides how to render such a

construction. If the construction clearly is an argument of another predicate, it is analysed as

a relative clause. If it is the only predicate in the clause, on the other hand, it is analysed as


the main clause predicate to which the head noun with any modifiers constitute the S-

argument.

(145) a. Main clause

[Matu kââ] i-löpi.

house DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘The house is big./Haus ia bikfala.’

(Q.2:TMA_A_M03m)

b. Relative clause

i-ngumwa-ti-e [nöta [i-klu]]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish-TR-3MIN.S/A fish PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many

‘He caught many fish./Hemi fisim staka fis.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Note that there are two subtypes of relative clauses: those that are introduced with a

relativiser, and those that are not. They will be described in more detail in §14.2.

Demonstratives cannot intervene between the members in a compound. This can be seen in

(146) where the demonstrative kââ appears after the compound nubwa bla ‘red shark’. In

(147), on the other hand, the demonstrative kââ and the nominal construction kä-la-kiso

‘child’ forms an NP which is the subject argument of the stative verb utö-pwa ‘small’.

(146) Nege [nubwa bla kââ] tü-vë-m[u].

then shark red DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1

‘Then the red shark comes./Den red sak ia kam.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(147) So, [kä-la-kiso kââ] utö=pwa

so BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG small=RST

avia-pe-m-yë nangilito nümü=de.

show-GDIR:out-PDIR>1-GDIR:up?? little.finger hand=3MIN.POSS

‘So, the small child shows him his finger./So, smol pikinini ia sou kam aot smol finga

blong hem.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

6.5.3 Bound noun as compound noun head

In this construction a bound noun of the type described in §6.3.4.1 precedes a common noun

or an uninflected verb root. The bound noun is the semantic head of the construction and

denotes its basic meaning, while the second element is the dependent that modifies it. The

morphological and semantic relationships between the elements are, thus, the same as for

the noun-noun and noun-verb compounds described in §§6.5.1 and 6.5.2. The main


difference between the constructions and the one described here is that the bound noun

cannot occur independently, but only appears in the compound construction.

The bound noun is the semantic head of the compound and denotes its semantic class

membership. Five semantic subclasses were identified in §6.3.4.1: (a) crop plants, (b) parts

of plants, (c) house, (d) collective, and (e) sex. The lexical word that follows the bound noun

head specifies a subtype of the semantic class by denoting a typical characteristic of it. Each

bound noun has a generic noun counterpart. The bound nouns described here have

classifying function and resemble nominal classifiers, i.e. forms that ‘characterize the noun

and co-occur with it in a noun phrase’ (Aikhenvald 2000: 81).


Bound noun Compound

I: CROP PLANTS

bla- ‘breadfruit’ bla-bwepu ‘breadfruit sp.’, bla-nou ‘breadfruit sp.’, bla-bowi

‘breadfruit sp. (big breadfruit)’, bla-bu ‘breadfruit sp.’ , bla-kio

‘breadfruit sp (chicken breadfruit)’54

nei- ‘yam’ nei-tong(u) ‘yam sp. (wild yam)’, nei-toko ‘yam sp. (pana)’

ngë- ‘taro’ ngë-löpla ‘taro sp.’

II: PARTS OF PLANTS

lewö- ‘leaf’ lewö-butöte ‘sweet potato leaf’, lewö-nei-toko ‘pana leaf’, lewö-

dalaknu, lewö-nei-tong(u)

mwa- ‘fruit’ mwa-oki ‘oki fruit’, mwa-tâbö ‘papaya fruit’, mwa-böpmi

‘banana fruit’, mwa-toklu ‘breadfruit fruit’, mwa-nei-tong(u)

‘wild yam fruit’, mwa-ngë-nëpubwi ‘fruit from coconut’

ngö-/ngë- ‘tree’ ngö-nëpubwi ‘coconut tree’, ngë-oki ‘oki tree’, ngë-tâbö ‘papaya

tree’, ngë-böpmi ‘banana tree’, ngë-toklu ‘breadfruit tree’, ngâ-

loli ‘tree sp.’

III: HOUSE

ma- ‘house’ ma-matu ‘main space inside house’,

ma-mumu ‘space between ma matu and walls, separated by a

cross-post called nâo ma-mumu’, ma-wë ‘bush house for storing

yams and pana (found in the village name Më-m(w)awë)’

IV: COLLECTIVE

mö- ‘house,

collective/settlement’

Mömwawë ‘village name’

le- ‘human, collective’ lenelya ‘people of the village’, lepela ‘humans, people’, ledö

‘people from Nedö’

V: SEX

m(w)e- ‘male’ Me-napa ‘man from Napa’

(l)i- ‘female’

While some of the second position elements are clearly nouns (e.g. butöte ‘(sweet) potato’,

kio ‘chicken’) and some are clearly verbs (e.g. bowi ‘long’, bu ‘dark’), a few of them are not

found outside these constructions and their status needs more investigation (e.g. bwepu,

tongu, toko, löpla).

54

Other breadfruit types: nëpwë nyo oda, nyipwë, tapyei, avlömini, nave takopma.


Remember that word stress basically is penult in Engdewu. The bound element and the

second element in these compounds form a phonological word where word stress is

assigned according to the syllable structure of the whole construction. That the bound noun

forms a single phonological unit with the second element is also described for similar

constructions in Paamese (Crowley 1991: 22).

(148) a. x b. x word accent

(x ∙ ) (x ∙ ) foot accent

σ σ σ σ σ

bla- bu bla- bo wi



σ σ σ σ σ

ngö- dyö ngâ- no li



σ σ σ σ σ

le- dö le- ne lya

In the word ngömibü ‘mibü-tree’, the first syllable of the second element is sometimes elided

yielding the form ngöbü, frequently also used for canoes, since they are traditionally made

from this tree. The stress pattern is retained on the second syllable in the complex. This

indicates that other unidentified bound nouns might be obscured in similar lexicalisation

processes.



σ σ σ σ σ

ngö- mi bü ngö- dyö

Remember that bound nouns can only appear in compounds. If a speaker wants to make

reference to breadfruit or taro in general, he or she must use the generic nouns,55 as

illustrated in (152).

(152) ... la-mwale më leu/*lewö.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hold with leaf

‘...they hold it with a leaf./...olketa holem witem lif.’ (N11m_110601-000)

55

Note that not all members of these semantic classes are preceded by the class marker. There are several other breadfruit types without any such marker, e.g. nëpwë nyo oda, nyipwë, tapiey, avlömini, nave takopma.


A special case is the bound noun mwa ‘fruit’ of the parts of plants subgroup. It is found as the

first element in constructions where mwa denotes the semantic type (‘fruit’), while the

second element specifies the type of fruit: mwa oki ‘oki fruit’, mwa tâbö ‘papaya fruit’, mwa

böpmi ‘banana fruit’, mwa toklu ‘breadfruit fruit’, and mwa tapwö ‘orange fruit’. To make

reference to a fruit in general, mwa nungo ‘fruit of tree’ is used, itself a compound consisting

of the bound noun mwa- ‘fruit’ and the independent generic noun nungo ‘tree’. mwa- can

also co-occur with other bound classifier nouns, e.g. mwa ngö tapwö ‘fruit of orange tree’,

and mwa ngë nëpubwi ‘fruit of coconut tree’. The same pattern is seen in Äiwoo where nuwa

‘fruit’, cannot be used alone, but must be used with another noun that specifies the type of

fruit, e.g. nuwa sapolo ‘pawpaw fruit’. If the speaker wants to make a reference to fruit in

general, it has to be combined with the generic word for tree: nuwa nyenaa ‘fruit of a tree’

(Næss 2006: 273).

The second element in the construction need not be a simple common noun. That is, bound

nouns of the parts of plants subgroup are often combined with complex forms with bound

nouns of the crop plants subgroup. In these constructions the latter denotes the type of

object and the former narrows the meaning to a specific part of the object.

(153) lewö-nei-toko ‘pana leaf’

lewö-nei-tongu ‘leaf of yam sp.’

6.5.4 Part-whole compounds

Now, consider the constructions in (154). At first sight, these might look like the noun-noun

compounds described in §6.5.1 with two nouns juxtaposed with each other, and where the

first compound member is the semantic head while the second noun is the dependent. The

formal difference between noun-noun compounds and the present constructions is that the

first noun in the latter construction has a suffix attached to it. Four phonologically distinct

forms of this suffix is found: -o, -ö, -nö, and -lö, of which -ö and -nö are the most common in

the material. Whether these are allomorphs of the same morpheme, or whether they are

different forms that reflect some kind of relationship between the head noun and the second

noun is not possible to say at this stage of research.

There is an important semantic difference between the noun-noun compound and these

constructions in that the latter denote a part-whole relation between the head and the

dependent. That is, the first element denotes a part of the referent denoted by the second

element. The function of the suffix added to the first noun seems to mark the part-whole


relationship between the first and second noun, and it is, thus, analysed as a relational

marker (RL).

(154) a. dâ-o pwodöknu

feces-RL gecko

‘gecko faeces/siti blong geko’

b. name-lö bot

bow-RL boat

‘boat’s bow/bou blong bot’

c. nuo-nö lepela

mind-RL human

‘thought of man/tingting blong

man’

As seen in Chapter 8, possessive constructions in Engdewu are also used to express part-

whole relations. The construction under consideration here can be seen in relation to the

indirect possession construction, where the first element is seen as the possessee and the

second is seen as the possessor. While the direct possessive construction has an obligaotory

possessive classifier between the possessee and possessor nouns, the part-whole compound

has a relational marker present. Formally, the resemblance to the possessive classifiers (cf.

Chapter 8) is clear as the type of relationship is expressed through these obligatory markers.

Thus, the relational marker could perhaps be analysed as a kind of possessive classifier. It is

however different from the classifiers in that it is always bound to a stem and in that it never

seems to appear independently, without a preceding noun that denotes the part/possessee

in the part-whole relation.

In the examples above, the second element is a simple common noun. It can also be a

participant nominalisation (§6.6.1), as seen in (155), or an action nominal construction

(ANC), as seen in (156) a. and b. ANCs are nominalised active verbs, characterised by a

nominaliser prefix nö-/no-/na- and (often) a nominaliser suffix -(n)ö (§6.6.2).

(155) plet-ö da-la-ngö

plate-RL BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘plate of food/plet blong kaikai’

(156) a. sü-ö no-oplö

shoe-RL NMLZ-run

‘running shoe’

b. da-e na-to-ö

thing-RL NMLZ-talk-NMLZ

‘thing to talk in (e.g. mobile phone)’

Næss (p.c.) describes a similar situation in Äiwoo where a small set of markers primarily

indicate a relationship between two nouns: (e)ä~wä, lä and nä. They are found in

constructions like sime lä nuumä ‘person from the village (sime “person”, nuumä “village”)’

6.6 Nominalisation 183

and siguwâu eä nuumä ‘young men from the village (siguwâu “young man”)’. She refers to

these as ‘relational markers’, and also points out their resemblance to the possessive system

in Äiwoo, which—as in Engdewu—exhibits several types of possessive markers which mark

and specify the relationship between the possessor and the possessee.

6.6 Nominalisation

There are two nominalisation constructions in Engdewu creating deverbal nominals. The

first is the participant nominal construction described in §6.6.1, and the other is the action

nominal construction described in §6.6.2.

6.6.1 Participant nominal constructions

A participant nominal is a deverbal nominal construction that denotes a participant of the

action expressed by the verb. The construction as a whole is a nominal that can function as

the head of an NP. A participant nominal construction consists of two parts, a bound noun

and a verb, the former preceding the latter. The bound nouns that occur in this construction

are primarily of the type described in §6.3.4.2 (da- ‘thing’, ga- ‘place’ and kä- ‘individual’),

but also a few of those in §6.3.4.1 (m(w)e- ‘male’ and (l)i- ‘female’) are found. Just as seen

with the nominal compounds with bound noun heads described in §6.5.3, the bound noun in

a participant nominal construction is the head of the construction and denotes its semantic

class, while the second element specifies this basic meaning.

Participant nominals differ from compounds in some important ways. First, the verb

constituent is inflected with a mood/aspect marker while all constituents in a compound are

uninflected. Second, since the second element is always a verb in a participant nominal

construction, thus, the bound nouns in these constructions have a nominalising function.

Third, a participant nominal construction denotes a semantic role of the event-structure of

the verbal part. While these constructions do not seemto inherit the full argument structure

of the verb, the construction can denote an agent or a patient, or even a location. Note that

the term participant here is used synonymously with semantic role, and not as a reference to

those directly involved in the speech act (i.e. speaker and addressee). The examples in (157)

denote the agent of intransitive verbs.


(157) a. me-la-pi

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-say

‘man that talks’

b. me-na-pi

BN:male-IRR-say

‘man that talks’

c. kä-la-kiso

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-

small

‘child (lit. one that is small)’

d. kä-la-kölë

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-

prominent

‘old person (lit. one that is

prominent)’

e. mwe-la-kölë

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-

prominent

‘old man (lit. man that is

prominent)’

f. da-te-ya-nö

BN:thing-IPFV:3AUG.S/A-swim-

GDIR:about

‘thing that swims about’

The example in (158) denotes the agent of a transitive verb.

(158) me-la-peiki

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut

‘man that cuts’56

The examples in (159) denotes the patient of a transitive verb. As noted in §6.3.4.2 da- is

often found followed by a demonstrativ determiner and, if the form denotes a proximal

plural referent, a plural marker, too. This is seen in b.

(159) a. da-la-ngö


‘food (lit. thing that one eats)’

b. da-ka=yo la-ngë

BN:thing-MED:SG=PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘food’

If the construction denotes another semantic role than an agent or a patient, an applicative

marker is attached to the verb. This can be seen in (160) and (161). The applicative marker

seems to licence the bound noun as an argument of the verb when this noun is a non-core

argument of the verb.

56

peiki is attested both as a verb ‘cut’ and a noun ‘knife’. However, people prefer the word tali for the latter meaning, as peiki is said to be borrowed from Nalögo.


(160) ga-ta-mwa-nö

BN:place-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-APPL

‘place at which one eats’

(161) gä-la-yo-lö

BN:place-PFV:3AUG.S/A-swim-APPL

‘place to swim at’

In all the examples above, the verb is inflected with a 3AUG mood/aspect marker. These

constructions can often be used as heads in NPs that denote single referents, i.e. kä-la-kiso

kââ (BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG) ‘the child’. There thus seems to be a

mismatch in number in those constructions in some constructions. This is because the 3AUG

mood/aspect prefixes implies a plurality of agent referents while the NP denotes a single

referent (signalled by the singular form of the demonstrative determiner). However, §§

11.3.3.1 and 11.3.3.2 mention that 3AUG aspect prefixes are used to indicate generic agents

in clauses where the verb forms lack a subject suffix. This is exactly what is seen here, where

the examples in (157)–(160) can be analysed to denote generic entities, much like common

nouns. If the prefixes indicate generic agents, the constructions are not that strange, because

a generic form does not indicate a plurality of referents, but rather picks out one of the class

of possible referents denoted by the construction. Ross (p.c.) suggests that these prefixes

simply might have become the default that is used when the verb is otherwise unmarked.

Note that a participant nominalisation also can have the verb inflected with a N3AUG

mood/aspect marker. An example is given in (162). Here, a form ga/gä similar to the bound

noun ga ‘place’ precedes a verb phrase referring to a place in which the action of that verb

phrase takes (or took) place. Just as in (160), the argument that denotes the location role is

licensed by an applicative marker on the verb. In this construction, the participant denoted

by the construction as a whole is not generic, but rather denotes a specific referent.

(162) gä-i-mwaki-ö kuli kä i-löpi

BN:place-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-bite-APPL dog REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

ni.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘place where the big dog bit me./ples wea bik dog baetem mi.’

Notice that this construction contains both A and O-function arguments NPs of the verb. The

generic agent participant nominalisation constructions, on the other hand, can never have


an S/A NP present. This is parallel to the generic agent constructions discussed in §13.6,

where the only marker of the agent role is the 3AUG mood/aspect prefix.

Functionally, the participant nominalisations resemble nouns modified by relative clauses.

Chapter 1 describes two types of relative clauses in Engdewu. In the first type there is no

special marking, and the verb is minimally inflected with a mood/aspect marker and follows

the noun in an NP. Constructions like da-la-ngö in (159) and me-la-peiki in (158) could be

taken as special types of relativisation constructions where the bound nouns da- ‘thing’ and

me- ‘male’ are NP heads that are modified respectively by la-ngö ‘they/one eats’ and la-peiki

‘they/one cuts’. In most participant nominalisations, however, the 3AUG aspect marker

indicates a generic agent of the action denoted by the verb. These cases are problematic for

a relative clause analysis in those cases where the construction as a whole denote the agent

of the action expressed by the verb, exactly because the verb form indicates a generic agent,

while the construction as a whole usually is used to indicate a specific referent.

In the second type of relative clause there is a relativiser kä preceding the inflected verb.

The similarity with participant nominalisations headed by the bound noun kä- is obvious,

e.g. kä-la-kiso in (157) c. and kä-la-kölë in (157) d. A discussion of the different functions of

kä is found in §9.2.1, where it is concluded that there is reason to operate with both a

relativiser-kä and a bound noun-kä. A main reason is that unlike any relative clause, these

participant nominalisations cannot follow a noun and thereby modify it, e.g. an NP like

[*noude kälakiso] (man BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small) is impossible. Participant

nominalisations can, however, be modified by other nouns, e.g. [kälakiso noude] is

frequently used with the meaning ‘boy, young man’.

In fact, as described by Næss (to appear) and Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear), Äiwoo and

Natügu also have participant nominalisations where the bound noun is identical in form to

the relative marker. In Äiwoo, this form is mi-, cf. mi-li-dâu BN-3AUG.S-many ‘that are many’,

and in Natügu it is kä-, cf. kä-wë BN-work ‘one who works, worker’. There are some notable

differences in the construction of participant nominalisations in RSC, however. In Engdewu

and Äiwoo the verb that follows the bound noun is always inflected with a prefix that

indicates a generic subject. In Engdewu, this is as described above and in §11.3.3 either a

third person augmented perfective or imperfective marker. In Äiwoo, this is a special

generic agent marker li-. In Natügu, kä- is used alone with no other indication of a generic

agent if it is the subject of the verb. kä- is also always included when there is another bound

noun that is the object of the verb, e.g. da-kä-në-ngü BN:thing-SUBR-3AUG-eat. In such


constructions there is a form në- (functionally similar to li- in Äiwoo) prefixed to the verb,

indicating a generic agent.

6.6.2 Action nominal constructions (ANC)

The other type of deverbal nominal construction in Engdewu denotes the event or action

expressed by the derived verb and not the participant as seen in the participant

nominalisations in §6.6.1. These are the action nominal constructions (ANC).

Morphologically, they are recognised by a nominaliser prefix, and usually also a nominaliser

suffix -(n)ö/-(n)ë. The form of the prefix is nö-/no-/ne- ‘NMLZ’. The prefix and suffix are

attached to a verb stem that is unmarked for mood/aspect. There are two subtypes of ANCs

in Engdewu. In the first type there is no expression of an agent, and in the second, the agent

of the action is expressed morphologically as described below. The agent in this

construction is, thus, referential, while it is non-referential in the former.

In the non-referential agent ANC type, where the agent of the action is not described, the

verb simply appears with the nominalising prefix and suffix, as seen in (163) a. and b. Notice

that the O-function argument follows the verb if it is transitive, as seen in b.

(163) a. I-kâlâ më no-doli-ë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-afraid of NMLZ-hang-NMLZ

‘He is afraid of hanging.’

b. ...mwati tü-va-dabwe mö nö-mwa-në

tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-12AUG.S/A to NMLZ-eat-NMLZ

ângu pedoo.

pandanus.fruit bush

‘Tomorrow, we will go to eat pandanus fruit in the bush./Tumoro iumi go kaikai

ângu-frut long bus.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

In the referential agent ANC type a special possessive form -bwâpwö/-bwâpwâ follows the

verb. The possessive marker is followed by a morpheme that expresses the agent of the

action. The person marking form follows the inflection type V of the subject markers,

described in §7.4.1. The second and third person minimal possessor forms are -i and -e.

When these are added, they merge with the last vowel of the possessive form which is

assimilated, i.e. -bwâpwi 2MIN.POSS and -bwâpwe 3MIN.POSS. The 1MIN form is -ee

resulting in the possessive form -bwapwee. All other possessor person forms are consonant

initial and are added after the possessive marker. With some speakers the first back vowel


in the possessive form triggers vowel harmony which is effective to the right across the

morpheme boundary to the possessor marking forms.

(164) a. Nö-va-nö-bwâpwi i-kotei.

NMLZ-go-NMLZ-POSS:2MIN.S/A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good

‘Your walking is good./Wokabout blong iu hemi gud.’ (M06m:63)

b. No-doli-ö-bwâpwe kä i-kotei=pwä.

NMLZ-hang-APPL-POSS:3MIN.A PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good=NEG2

‘His hanging is dangerous (lit. is no good)/Hangim blong hem nogud.’

c. Ma më na-yöni-ö-bwâpwâ-ngâ kââ, …

but in NMLZ-cry-NMLZ-POSS-3AUG.POSS DIST:SG

‘But when they cried for it, … (lit at their crying for it…)/Bat taem olketa cry (fo

hem) ia, ...’ (Story_200909_M11m)

If the agent is overtly expressed, the possessor takes the default form -bwapwö/-bwapwë.

This is seen in (165), where the S of the nominalised verb is expressed through the NP dowe

‘bird’ that follows the deverbal noun.

(165) Nö-ke-bwapwë dowe pa-wü-me

NMLZ-sing-POSS:3MIN.A bird IPFV:N3A:CAUS-happy-PDIR>1:3MIN.S/A

nötü.

body:POSS.1MIN

‘The singing of the bird makes me happy./Sing-sing blong bad mekem mi hapi.’

(M06m:63)

O-function arguments can also be expressed in an ANC. Just like overt A arguments, they are

also placed after the deverbal form. This can be seen in (166) where the NP lâknu ‘water’ is

the O of the verb. The possessor marker on the possessive form indicates the agent and

prevents the post-deverbal NP from being taken as an A.

(166) Eh, no-ngu-ö-bwâpwâ-ngâ lâknu...

eh... NMLZ-drink-NMLZ-POSS:3A water

‘When they drank water (lit. their drinking water).../Taem olketa drinkim wata...’

(N09m_110530-002)

ANCs with the expression of an agent have some similarities with indirect possessive

constructions where a noun is followed by a possessive classifier that is marked with a

possessor marker (Chapters 7 and 8). That is, the possessive marker -bwapwö/-bwâpwâ

could be taken as a possessed action classifier that is either followed by a possessor noun

and takes the default form (as seen in (165)), or that is marked by a possessor marker.

Possessor markers and overt possessor NPs do not co-occur, just as seen with the indirect

possessive construction. A difference from the possessive classifiers, however, is, as

mentioned, that the first, second and third person minimal possessor markers (Set II) have

different forms from the possessor markers employed with other classifiers (Set I).

Note that one speaker pointed out that the two possibilities in (167) are equally good. In b. a

form identical to the third person minimal possessor marker =de is attached to the

nominaliser, indicating the agent of the action. Notice in b. that the base of the possessive

marker is -bwa, and not the full form -bwapwö, as in the other constructions shown here.

The reason for that is not known.

(167) a. Baruku i-bwunö më nö-vö-bwapwe.

B. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-slow in NMLZ-go-POSS:3MIN

‘Baruku is slow in its going./Baruku hem slow long going blong hem.’ (N03m:47)

b. Baruku i-bwunö më nö-vö-bwa-de.

B. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-slow in NMLZ-go-POSS-3MIN

Baruku is slow in its going./Baruku hem slow long going blong hem.

Also Natügu and Äiwoo have ANCs. Examples are given in (168) and (169), where the

examples in a. illustrate constructions with a referential agent, and the examples in b.

illustrate constructions with a generic agent. Though they exhibit some interesting

differences discussed in Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear), the prefixes (nö-/no-/ne- in

Engdewu, në- in Natügu and nyi- in Äiwoo) and the suffixes (-(n)ö/-(n)ë in Engdewu, -ngö/-

kö in Natügu and -naa in Äiwoo) that mark these constructions are clearly cognate. The

nominalising prefix can be tracked back to PMP *<in>/ni-, and the nominalising suffix is

considered to be reflexes of PMP *-an, which together formed the location voice in

perfective indicative constructions, *<in>-V-an, which licensed other semantic roles to

become subjects (Ross 2002: 33)57 (PMP had a Philippine type voice system with four

‘voices’). This construction was also a nominalising construction, and it seems that RSC has

retained this function, as discussed by Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear).

57

Note that the applicative marker in Engdewu (and in Natügu) is thought to be a reflex of PMP *-an, cf. §11.2.4.


(168) Natügu (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear)

a. Në-wë-kö=de në-vo-ngö pöla.

NMLZ-work-NMLZ=3MINII NMLZ-go-NMLZ sea

‘His work is travelling on the sea’.

b. Kölâ në-kölë-ngö kä möbö=pe=Ø mëli ka.

DEIC NMLZ-know-NMLZ SUBR lost=AS=3MINI time DEIC

‘This is knowledge which is lost now’

(169) Äiwoo (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear)

a. Mo ku-mâea-ive-epu-wâ-no=nge,

but IPFV-laugh-APPL-also-DIR:2-1MIN.A=DEIC:PROX

ilâ nye-eli-naa nugu-mu=wâ.

DEIC:DIST NMLZ-crawl-NMLZ POSS:UTEN-2MIN=DEIC:DIST

‘But I am also laughing at the way you crawl (lit. your crawling).’

b. Päko, de-ki-ngâbo-oli-le=to go

good 12AUG.S-IPFV-climb-down-UA=CS CONJ

i-ku-bou go nyi-li-täve-naa.

1MIN.S-IPFV-afraid PREP NMLZ-3AUG.S-hang-NMLZ

‘Okay, let us climb down, because I am afraid of hanging.’

191

CHAPTER 7. PRONOUNS

7.1 Introduction

This chapter is dedicated to the description of the pronominal system in Engdewu. Because

the system found in Engdewu and the other RSC languages can be described as a minimal-

augmented system, not described for any other Oceanic language, §7.2 gives a thorough

discussion of this system in general. Oceanic languages often exhibit four sets of pronominal

forms: free pronouns, subject prefixes, object suffixes, and possessive suffixes (Lynch, Ross,

and Crowley 2002; Ross 2004c), and Engdewu has all these types. These will be discussed in

turn below. Free pronouns are described in §7.3 before subsections of bound pronominal

forms follow in §7.4, §7.4.1 about subject markers, §7.4.2 about the object marker, §7.4.3

about possessor markers. Finally, §7.5 is dedicated to inclusory constructions, that is,

constructions used to specify the number of referents indicated by augmented pronominal

forms.

7.2 The minimal-augmented pronominal system

The pronominal system in Engdewu follows a minimal-augmented pattern with eight

different terms. It resembles the inclusive-exclusive system common to many Oceanic

languages (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 35), except that such a system has only seven

terms. The inclusive-exclusive system is similar to six-term systems like those found in

English, with one exception: there are two first person plural forms, one including, and one

excluding the hearer. This leaves, as noted, systems like that found in English with six

pronominal forms. Systems with an inclusive-exclusive distinction like the one found in the

Oceanic language South Efate of Vanuatu yields one more form (Thieberger 2006). The

English and South Efate systems are illustrated in Table 7.1 and Table 7.2, respectively. The

distribution of person is given in parentheses.

192 Chapter 7 Pronouns

Table 7.1: The six-term pronominal system in English

Singular Plural

1 I (1) we (1+(21)+31)

2 you (2) you (21+31)

3 he/she/it (3) they (3+31)

Note: Two numbers and three persons, no inclusive-exclusive distinction. Subscript ‘1’ means ‘one (or more)’, i.e. 31 yields ‘one (or more) third persons’.

Table 7.2: The seven-term pronominal system in the Oceanic language South Efate

Singular Plural

1 INCLUSIVE kineu/neu (1)

akit (1+21+31)

1 EXCLUSIVE komam (1+31)

2 ag (2) akam (21+31)

3 ga (3) gar (3+31)

Note: Two numbers and three persons, plus an inclusive-exclusive distinction.

The minimal-augmented system contains one more term than that seen in South Efate. This

additional form denotes the speaker and a single addressee, i.e. ‘me and you’. This would

otherwise be covered by the first person plural inclusive ‘me and one or many others

including you’ in the inclusive-exclusive system. In English, the corresponding term would

be first person plural ‘we’.

Thomas Thomas (1955) was the first to describe such a system, for the Austronesian

language Ilocano of the Philippines. He argued that the traditional categories employed for

the Indo-European languages (1st/2nd/3rd person, singular/dual/plural number, and

inclusive/exclusive) were not universal categories fitting any pronominal system in the

world. Conclin (1962) found a similar system in another Austronesian language of the

Philippines, Hanunóo. Based on Thomas, he suggested a model with the binary contrasts

±speaker, ±hearer, ±minimal. Cf. Table 7.3.

7.2 The minimal-augmented pronominal system 193

Table 7.3: Free pronouns in Hanunóo (table adapted from Dixon 2010)

SPEAKER HEARER minimal non-minimal

‒ 1 kuh mih

1+2 tah tam

‒ 2 muh yuh

‒ ‒ 3 yah dah

As seen in the table, there is a major difference between traditional systems and this one in

that ‘first plus second person’ (1+2) is in the same column as ‘me’ (1), ‘you’ (2), and ‘s/he’

(3). McKay (1978) describes it this way.

The most significant difference between the two systems of analysis lies in the rejection of a set

of number categories based upon the exact number of persons or items referred to, in favour of a

system based upon a minimal number appropriate to each person category, appropriately

augmented by the addition of one or more. Thus the number of referents within a single number

category may vary depending on the person category (McKay 1978: 28).

As ‘me and you’ is placed in the same column as 1, 2, and 3, the minimal number forms refer

to ‘me’, ‘me and you’, ‘you’, and ‘s/he’. The non-minimal forms add one or more to the

meanings of the minimal forms, denoting ‘me and one or many others’, ‘me and you and one

or many others’, ‘you and one or many others’, and ‘s/he and one or many others’.

Because 12 (denoting a base of two people) is grouped with 1, 2, and 3, the terms ‘singular’

and ‘plural’ are not applicable, and ‘minimal’ and ‘non-minimal’ are employed in Conklin’s

(1962) system. The non-minimal numbers refer to entities more than the minimal number.

More recently, the label ‘augmented’ has come to be used for this category. ‘Augmented’ thus

means ‘plus (one or more) third person(s)’. Cysouw (2003: 85) points out that this system

yields ‘three different forms for “we”, the first plus second person minimal (“you and I”), the

first person augmented (“I and others”), and the first plus second person augmented (“you

and I and others”)’. The distribution of person is schematised in Table 7.4.


Table 7.4: Person in the minimal-augmented pronominal system

Minimal Augmented

1 (‘I’) 1+31 (‘I and one (or more) others’)

1+2 (‘I and you’) 1+2+31 (‘I and you plus one (or more) others’)

2 (‘you’) 2+31 (‘you and one (or more) others’)

3 (‘one other’) 3+31 (‘one plus one (or more) others’)

Minimal-augmented pronominal systems are not very common, but they are, according to

Dixon (2010a: 197), ‘fairly widespread’. They are found in some Philippines languages,58

and in some languages of South America,59 North America,60 Africa,61 Australia,62 and the

non-Austronesian groups of New Guinea.63 In the Philippines, South America, North-

America and Africa they always have only two number categories, minimal and augmented,

while most of them have three categories in Australia and New Guinea, adding a unit-

augmented number to minimal and augmented numbers. The unit-augmented numbers add

exactly one person to the minimal numbers.64

The RSC languages are the only known Oceanic languages to follow this system. While the

languages on Nedö have two number categories, and, thus, follow a minimal-augmented

system, Äiwoo has three number categories and follows a unit-augmented pattern (Næss

and Boerger 2008: 188-89).

58

Cysouw (2003: 139) says that they occur ‘abundantly’ in the Philippines. Ilocano and Hanunóo are already mentioned. Cysouw employs the Austronesian language Maranao as a the typical example. Another example is Tagalog. 59

Cysouw (2003: 140) is only aware of the Cahuapanan language Chayahuita of Peru. 60

In ‘…a few languages from Western USA (California and Oregon)’ (Cysouw 2003: 140). 61

Cysouw (2003) mentions that the system appears ‘quite frequently’ in Africa, especially in Cameroon and Nigeria, ‘…in various families of the Niger-Congo stock and in the Chadic family of the Afro-Asiatic stock’ (Cysouw 2003: 140). 62

The system occurs frequently in the non-Pama–Nyungan languages, and it is also found in one Pama-Nyungan language (Cysouw 2003: 139). 63

According to Cysouw (2003: 140) in a scattered couple of languages on mainland New Guinea. 64

The unit-augmented system thus looks like this.

Minimal Unit- Augmented

Augmented

1 1+3 1+31

1+2 1+2+3 1+2+31

2 2+3 21+31

3 3+3 3+31

7.3 Free pronouns 195

7.3 Free pronouns

The free pronouns consist of a phonologically uniform base ni plus person markers which

are identical to the possessive markers described in §7.4.3. The first minimal form in the

paradigm is, thus, zero, such that a single base without any person marker denotes a first

person minimal referent.

Table 7.5: Free pronouns in Engdewu

Minimal Augmented

1 ni ni=gâ

1+2 ni=da ni=dabwe

2 ni=m[u] ni=mwe

3 ni=de ni=ngö

The free pronouns in Engdewu primarily appear in NPs in core argument function. In the

material, they occur most frequently as the sole argument in SV and VO clauses exemplified

in (170) and (171) respectively, but they also do appear as A arguments, as seen in (172).

Free pronouns are also common in verbless clauses as Verbless Clause Subjects as seen in

(173), and as an object of the verb in Action Nominal Constructions (§6.6.2), as seen in

(174).

(170) S-argument

Nogââ ni=m[u] tü-ngala-yë=pme (a)yö

then PRO=2MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A -climb-GDIR:up=COS up?

më dapwë ka nungo, nogââ

on bottom MED:SG tree then

pa-yö-pe-a.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-fasten-GDIR:out-2MIN.S/A

‘Then you climb up on the bottom of the tree, then you fasten it the rope, around

the neck]./Den bae iu klaem ontap long batom rut ia, den bae iu fastim hem go

[araon nek .’ (N05m_110531-001)


(171) O-argument

La-mni-ti-ö-pe-ngë ni,

PFV:3AUG.S/A-?-TR-APPL-DIR:out-3AUG.S/A PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

la-ö-pi-ö-ngë li-nibi=ngë

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-3AUG.S/A IPFV:3AUG.S/A-kill-3AUG.A

ni.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘They test me a lot. They say they want to kill me./Olketa testim mi tumas, olketa sei

olketa wande kilim mi dae.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(172) A-argument

Tü-vë-pe-da pedoo, ni=m[u]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-12MIN.S/A bush PRO=2MIN.POSS

te-yabla da=kä-la-ngö ä

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-find BN:thing-PROX:SG-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat and

ni tö-pia-ü leipya.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:DETR-split-1MIN.S/A firewood

‘The two of us go to the garden, you will find food and I will split

firewood./Iumitufala go ap long gaden, iu faendem kaikai an mi splitim faeawud.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(173) Verbless Clause Subject (VCS)

Ö-pi-ö-bë opla kâo: ’Toko,

DETR-say-APPL-DIR:3>3.S/A woman DIST:SG no

ni lepela.’

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] human

‘He said to the woman: “No, I am a man.”/Hemi sei go long woman ia: “Nomoa, mi

man.’’’(Story_041009_N01m)

(174) Action Nominal Object

Bou nö-mo-lö-bwâpwe ni=m[u].

PROH NMLZ-look-NMLZ-POSS.3MIN.A PRO=2MIN.POSS

‘It must not see you (lit. “Its seeing you must not be”)./Hem no mas lukim iu.’

(N05m_110531-001)

A free pronoun can also function as the predicate in a verbless clause. In (97), ni is the

predicate in a negated verbless clause.


(175) Te ni=pwee

NEG1 PRO-[1MIN.POSS]=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

‘It’s not me./Hem no mi.’ (N09m:62)

As will be seen in §7.4.2 there is only one object suffix, i.e. a marker that indicates an O-

argument. This marker indicates 3AUG objects. 3MIN objects are not verbally marked, and

an unmarked verb form generally indicates a 3MIN object. If the object is first or second

person, or first plus second person, a free pronoun must be used. This is seen in (171).

Pragmatically, the free pronouns are often used to make a contrast between participants

already in the discourse. This is evident from (172), where a contrast is made between two

agents denoted by two free pronouns in, respectively, A-function, and STA (semitransitive

subject; cf. §13.5) function. Pronouns are employed in the same way in Äiwoo, where free

pronouns are often used to mark a contrast between participants (Vaa 2006: 80-81), as

shown in the example in (176).

(176) Äiwoo (Vaa 2006: 81)

Lâto kä=nä, iumu täve-ta mo iu i-ki-mele-ta.

and say=CL 2MIN hang-HORT but 1MIN 1MIN-IPFV-fly-HORT

‘So he said, “You keep hanging, but I'm flying away.”’

Contrastive uses of pronouns are common elsewhere in the Pacific as well. For example in

South Efate, an Oceanic language spoken on Efate Island in the central part of Vanuatu in the

same archipelago as Nedö, there is a set of free pronouns labelled ‘focal pronouns’

(Thieberger 2006), which is employed in the same fashion. They can function as both

subject and object, as illustrated in (168) a. and b., where the first person singular form

kineu is used as a subject and as an object, respectively.

(177) South Efate (Thieberger 2006: 104)

a. Me kineu a=tap nrogtesa-wes mau.

but 1SG 1SG.RS=NEG feel.bad-3SG.O NEG2

‘But I don’t feel bad about it.’

b. Ruk=fo wat kineu.

3p.RS=PSP:IRR hit 1SG

‘They will hit me.’

As already mentioned, the RSC languages are the only known Oceanic languages to exhibit a

minimal-augmented pattern in their pronominal systems. The free pronoun forms in


Engdewu are repeated in Table 7.6 together with those of Natügu, Nalögo, and Äiwoo (Næss

and Boerger 2008: 188-89).

Table 7.6: Free pronouns in the RSC languages65

Engdewu Nalögo Natügu Äiwoo

1MIN ni ninu ninge, ningä i((u)=nge)/i((u)=ngâ)

12MIN nida nigi nigi iuji

2MIN nim nimwü nimü iumu

3MIN nide nide nide i=ne/i=nâ

1UAUG – – – iungole

12UAUG – – – iudele

2UAUG – – – imile

3UAUG – – – ijiile

1AUG nigâ nigom nigö iungo(pu)

12AUG nidabwe nigo nigu iude

2AUG nimwe nimwi nimu imi

3AUG ningö nigö nidö ijii

Observe that the free pronouns are formed in a similar fashion in all RSC languages: There is

a base plus person markers attached to it. The base in the free pronouns is ni for all Santa

Cruz languages, while it is i(u) for Äiwoo. As already noted, in Engdewu ni alone constitutes

the first minimal (1MIN) form. In the other Santa Cruz languages it is difficult to establish a

basic form, as there are no zero expressions in their paradigms. In Äiwoo, on the other hand,

the shortest, most basic form is i, which is found in both first and third person minimal. That

is, in the latter it can never occur without a deictic =ne or =nâ. In the former the basic form is

analysed as iu, but it can be reduced to /i/ when it hosts a deictic enclitic =nge or =ngâ

(Næss, p.c.).

7.3.1 Dative pronominal forms

As mentioned above, free pronouns can only function as core arguments. Recall from

Chapter 5, however, that the dative preposition (ë)le can host a possessor marker. In these

cases the dative phrase is, thus, a dative pronominal form, cf. Table 7.7. Recall that ‘dative’

65

Spelled out in English, the glosses are as follows: 1MIN ‘me’; 12MIN ‘me and you’; 2MIN ‘you’; 3MIN ‘s/he’; 1UA ‘me and one other’; 12UA ‘me and you and one other’; 2UA ‘you and one other’; 3UA ‘s/he and one more’; 1AUG SC ‘me and one or more others’, ÄIW ‘me and two or more others’; 12AUG SC ‘me and you and one or more others’, ÄIW ‘me and you and two or more others’; 2AUG SC ‘you and one or more others’, ÄIW ‘you and two or more others’; 3AUG SC ‘s/he and one or more others’, ÄIW ‘s/he and two or more others’.


was employed as a label for these phrases because they primarily encode recipient, goal,

and benefactive participants.

Table 7.7: Pronominal forms based on the dative preposition

Minimal Augmented

1 (ë)le (ë)le=gâ

12 (ë)le=da (ë)le=dabwe

2 (ë)le=m[u] (ë)le=mwe

3 (ë)le=de (ë)le=ngö

A few examples are given (178) and (179).

(178) Meri o-dei-bë da-la-ngö ële

M. DETR-make-DIR>2/3 BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat DAT-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Mary makes food for me./Meri mekem kaikai fo mi.’

(179) I-lai-be nöpubwi ële=m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A coconut DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I gave the coconut to you./Mi givim go kokonat long iu.’ (M01m:32)

Formally, the only difference between these forms and free pronouns is, thus, the base.

Another parallel is that just as the pronominal base ni alone indicates a first person minimal

core argument, the dative preposition (ë)le alone indicates a first person minimal dative

argument, as seen in (178). However, while the dative preposition commonly forms a

prepositional phrase with an NP, such a distribution is not available for the base in free

pronouns which only appear as the base in these pronouns.

There are similar pronominal sets in Natügu and Äiwoo, and they seem to have the same

basic use. Næss (2006: 272) labels the forms in Äiwoo ‘dative pronouns’, and says that they

are used as arguments encoding recipients, goals, and benefactives, just like those in

Engdewu. van den Berg and Boerger (2011) label the forms in Natügu ‘indirect object

pronouns’, and explain that they consist of a ‘dative base’ plus possessive pronominal

enclitics, also similar to the Engdewu forms.


Table 7.8: ‘Dative pronouns’ in Äiwoo and ‘indirect object pronouns' in Natügu (van den Berg and Boerger 2011)

Äiwoo Natügu

Minimal Augmented Minimal Augmented

1 ngâgu ngâgungopu bange bagö

1+2 ngâguji ngâgude bagi bagu

2 ngâgumu ngâgumi bam(ü) bamu

3 ngâgo ngâgoi bade badö

7.3.2 Is ni a pronoun or a verb?

In addition to pointing out the phonological similarity of the bases within and between the

different RSC languages, Wurm (1978) argues that they really are verbs. He states that:

[t]here are no true independent personal pronouns in the languages. What constitute

independent person markers are verbal nouns from the verb ‘to exist’ which is ni in the Santa

Cruz languages and occurs as an independent inflected verb (Wurm 1978: 973).

Wurm describes the same kind of development for Äiwoo, where i/y is said to be the verb ‘to

exist’. In present-day Natügu the completive aspect marker -pe sometimes occurs between

the pronominal base and the person marker, e.g. ni-pe=de (PRO-COMPL=3MIN) ‘he has

become…’ (Boerger in progress), which may support Wurm’s hypothesis about the origin of

the pronominals in RSC. However, verbless clauses where lexemes other than verbs are

predicates are common, at least in Engdewu. While many verbal affixes are restricted to

appearing with verbal roots, a few morphemes can also appear on non-verbal hosts in

verbless clauses. In Engdewu, this was illustrated with negation marking in (97), and it also

applies to the duplicative and change-of-state markers that are found on a range of hosts,

and, therefore, analysed as clitics (see §11.1.3 for a discussion). The completive aspect form

-pe in Natügu formally resembles the change-of-state marker in Engdewu. Both are found in

the verb complex with similar meanings (cf. §11.3.4.1). Instead of analysing Natügu ni as a

verb, it may turn out that the completive aspect marker is, like in Engdewu, has a wider

distribution than just in the verb complex, and that it should be analysed as a clitic. At least

in Engdewu, that an element appears in the verb complex need not imply that it is only used

as a modifier of verb roots. And, thus, a root that occurs with what is typically found in the

verb complex should not be analysed as a verb root unless it can appear with other elements

in the verb complex, including TMA marking, which is otherwise obligatory with verbs in

indicative clauses, at least in Engdewu. This is not seen with ni, and it is, thus, not taken to

be a verb.

7.4 Bound pronominal forms 201

Note that Natügu has a verb ngini ‘to be’ (glossed ‘be (in equations)’ in Wurm (1978: 987))

of which ni might be a reduced form. There is a corresponding verbal form ngi ‘be like’ in

Engdewu that is possibly cognate to Natügu ngini. Engdewu ngi cannot take the full range of

verbal morphology, but it is obligatorily inflected with a perfective, imperfective, or irrealis

marker.

(180) Ti-ngi66 mou nö kä-la-kiso

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like sign CL.XII BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small

kââ.

DIST:SG

‘It is a sign of the child./Hem olsem saen blong pikinini ia.’ (Story_200909_M11m)

7.4 Bound pronominal forms

There are three sets of bound pronominal forms in Engdewu, a set of subject markers, an

object marker, and a set of possessor markers. All sets follow the minimal-augmented

pattern. Several forms in the respective paradigms are formally identical, while other forms

are distinct in each set.

7.4.1 Subject markers

While subject marking prefixes have been reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic, the subject

markers in Engdewu are suffixes. That is the case in all Santa Cruz languages. Äiwoo, on the

other hand, has subject prefixes for intransitive verbs. The set of subject markers in

Engdewu and the other RSC languages follows the same minimal-augmented pattern as

their free pronoun counterparts. As elsewhere in this thesis, ‘subject’ here refers to

arguments in S- or A-function, following a nominative-accusative pattern. The subject

markers are suffixed to the far right in the verb complex, after the change-of-state (COS) and

the duplicative (DUPL) morphemes that are analysed as mesoclitics (see §11.1.3 for a

discussion of the status of the postverbal modifier morphemes in the verb complex). The

‘we’ forms first plus second person minimal (12MIN.S/A) and first person augmented

(1AUG.S/A) have one single form, while the first plus second person augmented

(12AUG.S/A) morpheme has a free, the -dabwe ‘12AUG.S/A’, and a short form -dam[u].

These forms are homophonous with the general possessor markers, as will be discussed in

66

The IPFV-form /ti/ is only attested with the verb ngi. It may look like the closed, front root vowel in the verb controls vowel harmony in this case. The form would otherwise be /tʉ/, which is the expected IPFV:N3AUG.S/A form.


§7.4.3 below. The remaining morphs (1MIN.S/A, 2MIN.S/A, 3MIN.S/A, 2AUG.S/A, and

3AUG.S/A) all exhibit allomorphy. The different inflectional forms can be summarised as in

Table 7.9.

Table 7.9: Subject (S/A) suffixes in Engdewu, arranged in inflection types

I II III IV V

1MIN -n[u] -lü/-lu -ü/-u -i -ee

12MIN -da

2MIN -na -la -a -i

3MIN Intr.: Ø

Trans.: ?

Intr: Ø

Trans: -le

Intr.: Ø

Trans.: -ä(ä)/-e(e)

Intr.: Ø

Trans.: -e

1AUG -gâ

12AUG -dabwe (-dam[u])

2AUG -nam[u] -am[u] ?

3AUG Intransitive: Ø

Transitive: -ngë/-ngö/-nga

Notes: Inflection type I is triggered by a few verb roots, e.g. mwa ‘eat (tr.)’, ngö ‘eat (intr.)’, vë/va ‘go’. It is also triggered by APPL -(n)ö, GDIR:around -nö. Inflection type II is only found with three relatively frequent verb roots, kâlâ ‘be afraid’, yo ‘swim’, and mo ‘see’. Inflection type III is triggered by several verb roots, e.g. ato ‘talk’, kia ‘know’, bwë ‘be dead’, ngu ‘drink’, minga ‘dry’, upwö ‘roll’, ölangu ‘listen’, kë ‘peel’, mu ‘sleep’, pi ‘say’, ta/tö ‘hit’. It is also triggered by GDIR:up -yë, GDIR:down -(i)ni, GDIR:in -tö, DUPL =pmo. Inflection type IV is triggered by several verb roots, e.g. aki ‘count, read’, bowi ‘be tall, long’, tave ‘sick’, bi ‘bake’. It is also triggered by TR -t(n)i, COM -mi, GDIR:out -pe, COS =pme, PDIR>1 -m[u]. Inflection type V is triggered by -bë ‘PDIR>2/3’, -pwö ‘NEG2’.

The allomorphy in the 1MIN, 2MIN, 3MIN, and 2AUG morphs is partly phonological, partly

suppletive, as will be discussed in §7.4.1.1 below. In addition to the difference in initial

consonants in type I and II as oposed to no consonant in the corresponing forms in types III,

IV and V, recall also that there is generational variation in the pronunciation of word final

/u/ after stops and nasals, as discussed in §§ 4.3.8 and 4.6.4. This vowel is present in a

reduced form in the speech of elders, while it is elided in the speech of younger speakers.

This variation is indicated by square brackets, [u].

As discussed in §13.4, the subject markers do not co-occur with free pronouns in unmarked

word order in transitive clauses, which is OVA. That is, when an A NP appears post-verbally,

no subject marking is attached to the verb. The subject markers are, therefore, regarded as

pronominal, and not just as cross-referencing devices. And also, speakers stress that a clause

can only contain either a subject marker or a free pronoun. If an A NP precedes the verb,

however, a subject marker is attached to the verb. In this case the argument NP is regarded

as left-dislocated. This is illustrated in (181) a. and b., respectively.


(181) a. Di kä kuli i-nibi Pita.

INDF:SG PROX:SG dog PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill P.

‘Peter killed a dog./Pita kilim dog.’ (M08m:29)

b. Pita i-nibi-ä kä kuli.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3MIN.A PROX:SG dog

‘Peter killed a dog./Pita kilim wanfala dog.’ (M08m:29)

Note also that the 3MIN and 3AUG suffixes are only used in transitive clauses. Intransitive

clauses have no morphological marking of third person arguments on the verb.67

7.4.1.1 Discussion of forms

As discussed below in §7.4.3, the 12MIN, 12AUG, and 1AUG forms are formally identical to

the corresponding possessor forms, all of which are possible reflexes of POc possessor

suffixes. Furthermore, the 1MIN allomorph of inflection type I -n[u], the 3MIN allomorph -

dä/-de of inflectional types I, II, and III, and the transitive 3AUG allomorph -ngö are all

identical to the corresponding possessor forms of which none are obvious reflexes of any

POc possessor form. The other forms are different. It is, however, possible that the 2AUG

subject forms -am[u]/-nam[u] are also reflexes of the POc 2PL marker *-m[i]u, just as

suggested for the 2AUG possessor form =mwe.

While all morphemes at least have a phonological form that is consonant-initial, all

morphemes that exhibit allomorphy also have a phonologically similar form without this

initial consonant. In addition, some of the morphemes also have suppletive forms with

different vowels. While Table 7.9 above shows that many of the subject marking forms are

identical in all inflectional types, and, thus, appear on all kinds of verbal base, the 1MIN,

2MIN, 3MIN, and 2AUG allomorphs whose existence is the reason for arranging the forms in

different inflection types is triggered by the form they follow. While more research is

needed to uncover the full nature of what kind of morphemes condition which allomorph—

and why, and whether any of the inflection types is the default type—a few generalisations

can be made.

Inflectional type I (-n[u] ‘1MIN.S/A’, etc.) is triggered by:

o the geometric directional -nö ‘GDIR:around’;

o the applicative marker -(C)ö; and

67

Third person subject markers are, thus, glossed respectively 3MIN.A and 3AUG.A, while the remaining subject markers are glossed 1MIN.S/A, 12MIN.S/A, 2MIN.S/A, and 1AUG.S/A, 12AUG.S/A, 2AUG.S/A.


o certain verb roots (see below).

Inflectional type II (-lu ‘1MIN.S/A’, etc.) is triggered by:


Inflectional type III (-ü/-u ‘1MIN.S/A’, etc.) is triggered by:

o the geometric directional -yë ‘GDIR:up’;

o the geometric directional -tö ‘GDIR:in’;

o the geometric directional -ini ‘GDIR:down’;

o the duplicative marker =pmo ‘DUPL’; and


Inflectional type IV (-i ‘1MIN.S/A’, etc.) is triggered by:

o the geometric directional -pe ‘GDIR:out’;

o the transitive marker -t(n)i ‘TR’, resulting in what is analysed as a merged

form with a long vowel -t(n)ii ‘TR:1MIN.S/A’;

o the person directional -m[u], resulting in what is analysed as a merged form

-mi ‘PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A’;

o the comitative marker -mi ‘COM’, resulting in the merged form -mii

‘COM:1MIN.S/A’; and

o the change-of-state marker =pme, sometimes resulting in what is analysed as

a merged form =pmi ‘COS:1MIN.S/A’ ELLER er dette -p(u) ‘PDIR>1’ + -mi?

Inflectional type V (-ee ‘1MIN.S/A’, etc.) is triggered by:

o the person directional -bë ‘PDIR>2/3’, resulting in the merged form

-bee ‘PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A’; and

o the postverbal negative marker -pwö ‘NEG2’, resulting in the merged form

-pwee ‘NEG2:1MIN.S/A’.

The initial consonants in inflection type I and II may very well be examples of long-lost final

consonants that have been kept in some person marking forms that are added to the verb. If

the subject marker is attached directly to a verb root, the choice of 1MIN, 2MIN, and 2AUG

allomorph is controlled by that root, as indicated above. There are no clear phonological

rules governing the choice of form, which might seem random. However, it seems that the

history of forms can contribute to an explanation. That is, some verb roots are found to be

probable reflexes of a POc form, and it is possible that the onset consonant in the final

syllable in some of these ancient forms have been reanalysed as an initial consonant in some

of the subject marking forms.

The consonants in question, thus, seem to be so-called ‘thematic consonants’, that is,

remnants of root consonants that generally have been lost, but which have been kept in


certain suffixed forms. Recall that Ross and Næss (2007) describe how truncation resulted

in the loss of the final syllable in many nouns in RSC. They also observe that, ‘ v erbs…retain

their final syllable, presumably because at the time truncation occurred the final syllable of

the root was not the final syllable of a phonological word’ (Ross and Næss 2007: 466). It

may look as if the person markers have merged with the last vowel in the POc form,

changing the vowel quality to that of the subject marker. The onset consonant in the last

syllable has then been reanalysed as a part of the person marker, and not as a part of the

verb root. ‘Thematic consonants’ are not unknown in Austronesian linguistics and are

described for many Oceanic languages, including Fijian (Geraghty 1983) and Manam

(Lichtenberk 1978).

An example will serve to illustrate the point. Inflection type I (-nV) is found with three

frequently occuring roots in the material, including mwa ‘eat (tr.)’, ngö ‘eat (intr.)’ and vë/va

‘go’. A suggestion is that these allomorphs are triggered by certain verb roots that

historically had a last syllable with an onset consonant of which /n/ is a reflex. E.g. if

1MIN.S/A is added to the verb root vë/va ‘go’, the allomorph -n[u] is triggered; tü-va-n u ‘I

go’. The form seems to reflect the /n/ in the last syllable in the corresponding POc root form

*pano of which vë/va probably is a reflex.68 This syllable was lost at some stage in history,

but the initial consonant was kept in the subject marking form. It must, however, be

admitted that possible reflexes of POc roots are found only for some verbs in Engdewu, and

only more research can strengthen or weaken the assumptions made here. As regards

inflection type II (-lV), this pattern is also found only with three roots, kâlâ ‘be afraid’, yo

‘swim’, and mo ‘see’, and there is simply not enough data to make any historical

assumptions.

In other instances the hypothesised original final consonant is not retained, and the subject

marker is added directly to a verb root ending in a vowel, i.e. i-nguu PFV:N3AUG.S/A-

drink:1MIN.S/A ‘I drink’, i-të-ü PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-1MIN.S/A ‘I hit him/her’. Note also that

the variation between 3AUG -ngö and -nga/-ngâ is not understood.

The examples in (182) with the same verb root ya ‘paddle’ illustrate some of these

generalisations which basically say that the morpheme to which the subject marker attaches

controls the allomorphic form.

68

According to Ross and Næss (2007: 463), POc *p is continued as /v/ (corresponding to /β/ in the present analysis; cf. Chapter 4) in RSC, including Engdewu.


(182) a. Ya-ü me bot ango nübü.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-paddle-1MIN.S/A in boat CL.VI yesterday

‘I paddled in my boat yesterday./Mi padol long bot blong mi iestade.’

(N13m:28f)

b. Ya-n[u] bot ango nübü

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-paddle-1MIN.S/A boat CL.VI yesterday

‘I paddled my boat yesterday./Mi padolim bot blong mi iestade.’

c. Ya-mii nöpubwi kä

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-paddle-COM:1MIN.S/A coconut REL

i-klu nübü Bibö.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many yesterday B.

‘I paddled many coconuts to Bibö yesterday./Iestade mi padolim staka kokonat

long Bibö.’

d. Ya-mi-mü nöpubwi

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-paddle-COM-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A coconut

la-möp[u] me bot ango nübü.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-five in boat CL.VI yesterday

‘I paddled here five coconuts in my boat yesterday./Mi padolim kam faevfala

kokonat long bot blong mi iestade.’

It is puzzling, though, that different allomorphs in some instances can attach to the same

word form. That is, they cannot entirely be chosen on a lexical basis. The examples in a. and

b. with the ambitransitive verb ya ‘paddle’ suggest that the valency of the verb plays a role.

In a. the reading is intransitive, and the subject marker is -ü. In b. the reading is transitive,

and the subject marker is -n[u]. The valency of the verb, however, is not the only thing that

controls the form of the subject marker. The c. and d. examples are both transitive, but the

subject markers are different from each other and from that in b. In c. it is zero marked,

while in d. it is similar to that found in the intransitive construction in a.

7.4.2 Object marker

The second ‘set’ of bound pronominal forms is the object marker. That is, one object

marking morpheme is attested in Engdewu, -ng[u], which indicates a third person

augmented undergoer referent. ‘Object’ here refers to O-function.69 Unlike subject markers,

the object marker is obligatorily present if the undergoer is third person augmented, also

69

Note that in difference from the situation in Engdewu, Äiwoo has a full set of object markers that are identical to the possessive markers.


when there is an O NP in the clause. This means that while subject markers are pronominal,

the object marker is a cross-referencing device.

(183) Kuli kou i-nibi-ng[u] Pita

dog DIST:PL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3AUG.O P.

‘Peter killed the dogs./Pita kilim olketa dog.’ (M08m:30)

7.4.3 Possessor markers

The set of possessor markers is given in Table 7.10. The first plus second person minimal

(12MIN), first person augmented (1AUG), first plus second person augmented (12AUG), and

third person augmented (3AUG) forms are formally identical to the corresponding subject

markers, as will be discussed below. The other forms differ. Note also that in difference from

subject markers, possessor markers each come in one phonologically uniform version.

Table 7.10: Possessor enclitics in Engdewu

Minimal Augmented

1 Ø/=nu =gâ

12 =da =dabwe

2 =m[u] =mwe

3 =de =ngö

As commented above and as can be seen in Table 7.11 below, the possessor enclitics in

Engdewu reflect the possessor suffixes in POc. That is, while some of the forms show no

clear reflex, several of them are possible reflexes of forms reconstructed for POc (Lynch,

Ross and Crowley 2002).

Table 7.11: Possible correspondences between possessive suffixes in Proto-Oceanic and Proto-Temotu (Lynch, Ross and Crowley 2002; Ross and Næss 2007) and possessive and subject markers in Engdewu

POc (> PTM) POSS Engdewu POSS Engdewu SBJ

1SG *-gu 1MIN Ø/=nu -(n)u/-(n)ü/-(m)i

2SG *-mu 2MIN =mu -(n)a/-mu

3SG *-ña 3MIN =de -(d)ä, alt. -(d)e

1DU *-da-rua > *da-ru 12MIN =da -da

1PL.INCL *-da 12AUG =dabwe (=damu) -dabwe (=damu)

1PL.EXCL *-mai > *-me 1AUG =gâ -gâ

2PL *-m[i]u > *-mu 2AUG =mwe -(C)amu

3PL *-dra > *-da 3AUG =ngö -ngö/-nga

Note: For clarity, the word final /u/ which is reduced in the speech of elder generations and elided in the speech of younger generations is simply notated as here, not <[u]>.

The Engdewu 2MIN form =m[u] is probably a reflex of POc 2SG *-mu.

The Engdewu 2AUG form =mwe is probably a reflex of POc 2PL *-m[i]u.

The Engdewu 12MIN form =da is possibly a reflex of POc 1PL.INCL *-da. If so, a

reanalysis has taken place. If one assumes that the minimal-augmented system in

Engdewu (and RSC) represents an innovation, one more ‘we’ form occurred in the

paradigm in the transition from an inclusive-exclusive system to a minimal-

augmented system. More specifically, the 1PL.INCL form, where person can be

spelled out as 1+2+31 (cf. Table 7.2 above), were split in two: 12AUG and 12MIN,

respectively 1+2+31 and 1+2 (cf. Table 7.4 above). POc *-da continued the latter

meaning (12MIN). That is, it may look like the former meaning (12AUG), -da-bwe

(short form -dam[u]) is expressed by a complex form where the first element is a

reflex of POc *-da. The second element might be a reflex of POc 2PL *m[i]u. This is

semantically plausible as the new meaning of =da now lacks the third person

dimension, a meaning that is added by the 2PL form (2+31), which otherwise

overlaps semantically with 12AUG/1PL.INCL, 1+2+31.

It is unlikely that the Engdewu 1MIN form =nu (that is used only with the food

classifier) is a reflex of POc 1SG *-gu. First, Ross and Næss (2007) found no reflex of

POc *g in Engdewu in their study, and second, *g is reflected almost nowhere as /n/

in Oceanic (Ross, p.c.). The origin of =nu is, thus, unknown.

The Engdewu possessor forms 3MIN =de, 1AUG =gâ and 3AUG =ngö seem to have no

obvious origin in the possessor forms in POc.

There is no obvious reflex of POc possessor markers 3SG *-ña, 1PL.EXCL *-mai and

3PL *-dra.


There is full or partial formal identity between the cells in the set of possessive markers and

subject markers in Engdewu. While the 12MIN, 12AUG, and 1AUG forms are identical in the

two sets, the possessor form is included among the allomorphs in 1MIN, 3MIN, and 3AUG.

(The different consonants in these allomorphs might be ‘thematic consonants’ that stem

from an original root form of the verbs to which they attach.) The only forms that differ

noticeably between the possessor and subject sets are the 2AUG ones, but even these might

be related.

While there is full identity between the POc possessor suffixes and object markers in many

Oceanic languages, including Äiwoo (Ross and Næss 2007: 476), it was shown in §7.4.2 that

there is only one object marking form -ng u ‘3AUG.O’ in Engdewu. It is, thus, hard to

establish a correspondence between this ‘set’ and the set of POc possessor markers. It

should, however, be added that Evans (1995) has shown that there was a defective set of

object markers in POc also. In this respect Engdewu is perhaps more conservative than

Äiwoo.

Possessor markers can attach to a range of different hosts. In (184) a. the third person

minimal (3MIN) morpheme is attached to a noun in a direct possessive construction (§8.2).

In b. the same form is attached to a possessive classifier in an indirect possessive

construction (§8.3). In c. it is attached to a free pronoun base, and in d. it is attached to a

dative preposition (§5.4), as already discussed in §7.3.

(184) a. Noun

Dükna kä nötü=de Mwelo Laake.

devil PROX:SG name=3MIN.POSS M.L.

‘The devil, his name was Mwelo Laake.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

b. Possessive classifier

Poi nei=de

pig CL.IV=3MIN.POSS

‘his pig/pikpik blong hem’

c. Free pronoun base

Ni=de i-tave.

PRO=3MIN.POSS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sick

‘He is sick/Hemi siki’.


d. Dative preposition

Lâ-to-m[u] da poi ële=de.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>1 ? pig DAT=3MIN.POSS

‘They took a pig to him/Olketa tekem kam wanfala pikpik long hem (finis).’

The distribution of the possessor markers—the fact that they are found in several

grammatical contexts—calls for a clitic analysis. Zwicky and Pullum (1983: 503-04) say that,

‘ c litics can exhibit a low degree of selection with respect to their hosts’. Bickel and Nichols

(2007: 176) go even further and state that, ‘[a]n element is a clitic only if it can attach to

hosts of diverse categories’. According to this criterion, the possessor markers are clearly

clitics. Furthermore, they have an invariant form in all environments, which, according to

Zwicky and Pullum (1983: 503-04), is another characteristic of clitics, and contrary to the

subject markers discussed in §7.4.1, where some of the forms exhibit allomorphy. Finally,

the possessor markers’ function is always the same: that is, they always indicate

person/number of the referent denoted by the form of which they are a part. This again goes

well with another characteristic noted by Zwicky and Pullum (1983: 503-04), namely that,

‘ s emantic idiosyncrasies are more characteristic of affixed words than of clitic groups’.

7.5 Inclusory constructions (Specific number augmentation)

There is no dual in the pronominal system in Engdewu. Exactly two referents are exclusively

picked out by 12MIN forms only, specificially denoting the speaker and the addressee. There

are, however, two possibilities of indicating the exact number of a plurality of referents. The

first involves adding the word form mae ‘with him/her’ to the clause to denote exactly two

referents, as will be described in §7.5.1. The second involves adding word forms based on

numerals to the clause to denote an exact number between 2 and 10, as seen in §7.5.2. Both

mae in the first strategy and the numeral form in the second can co-occur either after free

pronouns or after verbs. The two strategies are sometimes used in tandem.

These strategies are similar to those used in English where the exact number of a plural can

be either by juxtaposing a numeral to the pronominal form, e.g. we two, you two, or by the

form the three of them, the four of us, the seven of you, etc.

7.5.1 With comitative mae

mae, which means ‘with him/her’, can be placed either post-verbally or following a pronoun.

It indicates a co-actor to the agent expressed by the verb. In other words, these

constructions are only found specifying the number of S or A. The verb or free pronoun that

7.5 Inclusory constructions (Specific number augmentation) 211

mae follows always refers to a plurality of referents, that is, mae occurs with free augmented

pronouns or verbs that express augmented number of the subject, i.e. that has an

augmented subject marking form or a third person augmented mood/aspect prefix, or

both.70

(185) Nege pa-ngolopli-ti-gâ ma-e matu.

today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-decorate-TR-1AUG.S/A with-3MIN house

‘Today, we two decorate the house./Tude mitufala dekoretim haus.’ (N09m:36)

mae seems to be a comitative preposition ma ‘with’ and a person marker -e indicating third

person minimal attached to it. That mae is segmentable in this way is supported by the two-

clausal example in (186). The first clause contains the peripheral argument ma myei ‘with

my brother’, where a comitative preposition is followed by an NP, while the second clause

contains mae ‘with him’. This is parallel to how a dative preposition can be followed either

by an NP or a possessor enclitic.

(186) I-va-gâ ma myei pedoo,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1AUG.S/A with brother-[1MIN.POSS] bush

i-va-gâ ma-e pedoo.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1AUG.S/A with-3MIN bush

‘I went with my brother to the bush, we two went to the bush./Mo go wetem brata

blong mi long bus, mitufala go long bus.’ (TMA_B3:N02m)

These phrases are clearly parallel to dative and possessive phrases which both either have a

NP or a possessor marker following the preposition or classifier (§5.4, §8.3). When there is

no NP following the preposition or classifier, respectively, a possessor marker indicates the

referent of the phrase. Notice, however, that the comitative preposition is only found with a

third person minimal pronominal form attached to it. And this form is not taken from the set

of possessor markers. Rather, the pronominal form -e in mae is identical to a third person

subject marker of inflection type V (§7.4.1).

mae or ma + NP frequently appear after the verb, as seen above. It can, as mentioned, also

follow a free augmented pronoun; cf . the elicitated forms nigâ mae ‘we (1AUG) two’, nimwe

mae ‘you (2AUG) two’ and ningö mae ‘they two’.

70

mae is, however, not found with the first plus second person minimal form, but this is hardly surprising as there are no need, or no room, to specify the number of a form that indicate exactly two persons


Similar constructions are described for other Oceanic languages, and Lichtenberk (2000)

labels them ‘inclusory constructions’, a term adopted here. He introduces them in this way.

Many Austronesian (and other) languages contain one or more syntactic constructions of the

following basic kinds: PETER WE(DUAL) WENT FISHING and/or PETER WE(DUAL)-WENT FISHING,

which can be glossed as ‘Peter and I went fishing’ or ‘I went fishing with Peter’. The independent

pronoun or the dependent pronominal (such as an affix) identifies a set of participants that

includes the one or those referred to by the lexical noun phrase. Pronominal forms with this

function are ‘inclusory’ (Lichtenberk 2000: 1).

The following example is from Niuean. The lexical noun phrase mo Maka resembles the

forms in Engdewu. In the construction in Niuean it follows a free pronoun.

(187) Niuean (Austronesian)

Kini e maua mo Maka e mala.

clear ERG 1DU(EXCL) 'with' M. ABS plantation

‘Maka and I are clearing a plantation.’

While ma + NP is frequently used to introduce a new referent, the pronominal variant mae

can only be used with identifiable referents. The beginning of a narrative, where

participants are introduced, frequently includes a ma + noun construction. In (188) a man

and his wife, i.e. ‘a man with his wife’, are introduced by this strategy. Later in the same

narrative the husband and wife have a meal. By now the wife is known to the hearer, and

mae is used, as seen in (189).

(188) Di kââ=pme mweli, di kââ=pme lepela

INDF DIST:SG=COS time INDF DIST:SG=COS human

ka yele, ä lâ-mno,

MED:SG [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like and PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay

lâ-mno, lâ-mno ma bwale

PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay with woman

nölö=de.

CL.X=3MIN.POSS

‘Once upon a time, there was a man who lived for a long time with his wife./Wanfala

taem, wanfala man hem stap, stap, stap, stap, witem wife blong hem.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

7.5 Inclusory constructions (Specific number augmentation) 213

(189) La-mwa=pmo ma-e, ö-pi-ö-de:

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat=DUPL with-3MIN [PFV:3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN

No-mwa-në-bopwâ=da kä.

NMLZ-eat-NMLZ-POSS=POSS.12MIN PROX:SG

‘The two chew more, then he says: “This is our meal.”/Tufala kaikai moa, hemi say:

“Kaikai blong mitufala ia.”’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Speakers report that the inclusory construction with mae is much more frequent among

elders and in the adult generation, than among younger speakers. In the speech of younger

people another form, telinö, seems to be in the process of replacing mae.

7.5.2 Based on number verbs

As already mentioned, the form telinö can occur in an inclusory construction type where it

denotes two referents. This form is clearly based on the verb for ‘two’, li. There are

corresponding forms used to denote a specific number of referents for all numbers between

2 and 10. These forms seem to have a distribution similar to mae. That is, they can occur in a

clause following the verb, or they can be juxtaposed to any of the first, second, or third

person augmented free pronouns nigâ ‘1AUG’, nimwe ‘2AUG’, and ningö ‘3AUG’. Notice also

that it is optionally marked with a person marker. The pronoun-number forms are listed in

Table 7.12.

Table 7.12: Pronouns and specific number forms

First augmented (1AUG) Second augmented (2AUG) Third augmented (3AUG)

2 nigâ telinö/mae nimwe telinö/mae ningö telinö/mae

3 nigâ tötülö nimwe tötülö ningö tötülö

4 nigâ topwoi nimwe topwoi ningö topwoi

5 nigâ tömöpmö/tömöpunö nimwe tömöpmö/tömöpunö? ningö tömöpmö/tömöpunö?

6 nigâ mötemou(=gâ) nimwe mötemou ningö mötemou

7 nigâ tümtüü(=gâ) nimwe tümtüü ningö tümtüü

8 nigâ tümulii(=gâ) nimwe tümulii ningö tümulii

9 nigâ tümuöte(=gâ) nimwe tümuöte ningö tümuöte

10 nigâ nopmu(=gâ) nimwe nopnu ningö nopnu

In (190) the pronominal form nigâ ‘1AUG’ is followed by telinö, the form designating two

referents, yielding the reading ‘we two’.


(190) Ni=gâ telinö i-lai-bâ-gâ kiou

PRO=1AUG.POSS two PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR:?-1AUG.S/A DIST:PL?

böpi le di lepla

banana DAT INDF:SG human

‘We two gave bananas to a man./Mitufala givim banana long wanfala man.’

(M01m:30)

These forms have not been segmented successfully, but they are clearly related to the

numeral roots. Compare them to the perfective and imperfective inflected numerals. Note

that forms ‘7’ to ‘10’ are identical.

‘2’ ‘3’ ‘4’ ‘5’ ‘6’ ‘7’ ‘8’ ‘9’ ‘10’

la-lii

tü-lii

la-tüü

tü-tüü

lâ-pwoo

tu-pwoo

la-möp(u)

??????????

la-mötemou

tü-mötemou tü-mutüü tü-mulii tü-muöte nopmu

telinö tötülö topwoi tömöpunö mötemou tümutüü tümulii tümuöte nopmu

The comitative form mae and telinö seem to be synonymous in this function: they can be

interchanged, and speakers judge them to be equally good. Notice that (191) a. with telinö

corresponds to (185) in §7.5.1 with mae. Interestingly, they can co-occur in the same clause,

as shown in (191) b. The difference between the three sentences is not fully understood, and

needs more research.

(191) a. Nege pa-ngolopli-ti-gâ telinö matu.

today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-decorate-TR-1AUG.S/A two house

‘Today, we two decorate the house./Tude, mitufala dekoretim haus.’ (N09m:36)

b. Nege pa-ngolopli-ti-gâ ma-e

today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS -decorate-TR-1AUG.S/A with-3MIN

telinö matu.

two house

‘Today, we two decorate the house./Tude, mitufala dekoretim haus.’ (N09m:36)

215

CHAPTER 8. POSSESSION

8.1 Introduction

According to Matthews (2007), a possessive construction indicates, ‘…the relation between

someone who possesses something and the thing that they possess’. This is a very general

definition that does not adequately cover the meanings expressed by possessive

constructions found in many languages, including Engdewu. First, the possessor need not be

a person, and second the possessee need not be a concrete object. Note also that the

relationship between possessor and possessee can only in a very wide sense be described as

possession.71 In Engdewu, possessive constructions express more than ownership. They are

also used to express kinship relations, part-whole relations, and other abstract relations,

features that Dryer (2007b: 178) points out as common for possessive constructions in

many languages. He does, however, also point out that some languages have different

constructions for different semantic relationships. There are two main types of possessive

constructions in Engdewu, the direct and the indirect possessive construction, where the

former involves possessive marking on the possessed noun, while the latter exhibit

possessive classifiers modifying the possessed noun. That is, in the direct type, a possessor

NP or a possessor marker directly follows the possessed noun, while in the indirect type a

possessive phrase including a possessive classifier plus either a possessor NP or a possessor

marker follows the possessed noun. The contrast between direct and indirect possessive

constructions is present in many Oceanic languages. The systems are reflections of older

systems found in Proto-Oceanic. There is usually more than one possessive classifier in the

system, indicating a possessive relationship between the possessor and the possessee.

Three classifiers have been reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic, though it probably had some

more possessive subtypes (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 77–78).

71

Possession is often expressed through two co-occurring nouns or noun phrases, denoting a possessor and a possessee, respectively. The modifying noun phrase is often called ‘the possessor’ or ‘the genitive noun phrase’, and the noun that is modified is often called ‘the possessed noun’, or ‘the head noun’. It is sometimes also called ‘possessum noun’ (Palmer and Brown 2007; Lichtenberk 2009). Dryer (2007b) argues for labelling this construction type ‘genitive construction’ to avoid confusion with constructions ‘where possession is predicated at the clause level’, illustrated by English She has three children and That book is mine (Dryer 2007b: 178).

216 Chapter 8 Possession

Many modern Oceanic languages have three possessive constructions. These include the

direct type for inalienable possession, and the indirect type with two different classifiers. In

addition to inalienable possession, some languages have only one classifier for alienable

possession. Others have three classifiers, and some languages of Vanuatu have four

(Lichtenberk 1983). These common systems are schematised in Table 1.

Table 8.1: Common possessive construction types in Oceanic languages

Direct possession Inalienable Inalienable Inalienable Inalienable

Indirect possession Alienable General General General

Alimentary Edibles Edibles

Drinkables Drinkables

Valued possession

There are languages that exhibit a much bigger range of classifiers than four. These are

mostly found in Micronesia (Kosraean has more than 17, Marshallese has more than ten,

Trukese has at least 27). Outside Micronesia, a comparable system is found in Iaai of the

Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia. Some of the classifiers in those languages that have more

than four are splits of one of the more common classes in Table 8.1, while others are for

other relations, normally included in the general indirect possession type in other Oceanic

languages, e.g. chewable food, drinkable food, raw/uncooked food, other foods, mats,

mother and wife, father and husband (Kosraean); and eating implements and kitchen

utensils, cherished possessions (children, pets, toys, valuables), plants (planted by the

possessor), baits, preys, vehicles, dwelling places (Marshallese) (Lichtenberk 1983). In most

Polynesian languages, there is no longer any distinction between direct and indirect

construction types at all (Lynch 1998: 128). This is partly true also for the Polynesian outlier

Vaeakau-Taumako, where two types of indirect constructions mark inalienable and

alienable possession respectively, but where a few kin-terms are marked by a direct

construction type (Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011: 109, 47).72 This is quite the opposite of

what has happened in the RSC languages, where there is a relatively high number of

possessive classifiers. In Äiwoo, there are six (Næss 2006: 272-73), in Natügu there are nine

(Boerger, p.c.), and within the indirect possessive construction type in Engdewu there are as

many as 13.

The structure and semantics of the direct possession construction will be described in §8.2,

before the structural and semantic description of indirect possessive constructions

72

Næss and Hovdhaugen (2011: 109) observe that the distinction between the a-possessive and the o-possessive construction, where either a preposition a or o appears in front of the possessed noun, is not about alienability in the strict sense of the word, but rather about control over the possessive relationship.

8.2 Direct possession constructions 217

including the relational classifiers is given in §8.3. Finally, a strategy that involves marking

possession by a dative phrase is discussed in §8.4.

8.2 Direct possession constructions

Nouns involved in direct possessive constructions are nouns denoting kinship, body parts

and body products, nouns denoting a part of a whole, and also some nouns denoting

personal belongings. These are typically termed inalienables. In the direct possessive

construction the possessor is either indicated by a noun juxtaposed to the right of the

possessed noun, or by a possessor enclitic attached to the possessed noun. These

constructions are illustrated respectively in (192) a. and b. In a. the possessed noun nau/nao

is directly followed by a possessor noun matu ‘house’. In b. the possessed noun nau ‘head’

carries the third person minimal possessor marker =de, indexing the possessor.

(192) a. Dâ-kââ tü-ato-ini-m[u] mö nau

BN:thing-DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-talk-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 from head

matu.

house

‘That one, he talks down from the roof of the house./Hem nao, hemi tok kam

daon long hed blong haus.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Mo kââ öviö-nö-de nau=de.

man DIST:SG shake-APPL-3MIN.S/A head=3MIN.POSS

‘The man shakes his head./Man ia sekem hed blong hem.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Lichtenberk (1983) labels these two types as respectively the ‘simplex possessive

construction’ (where ‘the possessor is a possessive suffix’), and the ‘complex possessive

construction’ (where ‘the possessor is a noun phrase usually with a noun as its head’)

(Lichtenberk 1983). However, in Engdewu the pattern seen in these two construction types

merely follows a general pattern seen elsewhere in the language, namely that there can

either be an NP or a pronominal form that denotes the referent in question, not both; cf.

person marking of verbs in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13; and person marking in action nominal

constructions in §6.6.2. The general principle behind the choice between them is pragmatic.

If the referent is identifiable, in this case the possessor, the simplex possessive construction

is chosen; if the referent is unidentifiable the complex possessive construction is chosen.

That is, the choice between ‘simplex’ and ‘complex’ constructions is not based on the

semantics of the possessed and possessor referents involved. It is primarily based on the


identifiability status of the nominal referents in the construction. In (192) b. above the

possessor is already known as the subject of the same clause. In the preceding context of a.,

on the other hand, the house roof has only been indirectly mentioned, as the protagonist has

made his way upwards through one of the posts of the house in question, from where he is

talking down. A complex construction is, thus, chosen to activate the referent ‘roof of the

house’, thus also avoiding confusion with the protagonist himself, who is also a third person

minimal referent. Note that Engdewu and the other SC languages differ from Äiwoo in that

person markers only appear when there is no possessor noun present in the construction.

A possible problem for analysis is when the complex construction involves a generic

referent. In (193) the possessive construction nümü lepela can be translated ‘human hand’,

rather than ‘human’s hand’.

(193) Ä nümü lepela kââ i-mo-pe-pwe ä

and hand man DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-GDIR:out-just and

molama.

maul.hammer

‘And I only saw a human hand and a maul hammer./An han blong man nomoa mi

lukim and molama.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

This construction is formally identical to the noun-noun compounds described in §6.5.1, e.g.

nila waku ‘flame of fire’, napwö töwi ‘small pigeon sp. (töwi ‘arrow’)’, and now kyo ‘rooster

clan’, which can formally be described as direct possessive constructions.

Table 8.2 lists some simplex constructions. Notice that the first minimal form is different

from the base to which the pronominal enclitics are added in ite ‘mother’ and nini ‘mat’.

Note also that the unpossessed form of nini ‘mat’ is different from the first person minimal

nino, i.e. nini means ‘mat’, nino means ‘my mat’, and ninö is the base form to which the

possessive markers are attached.

8.3 Indirect possession constructions 219

Table 8.2: Simplex construction paradigms of some directly possessed nouns

ite ‘mother’ nini ‘mat’ dotnü ‘ear’ nau ‘head’ nöwi ‘louse’73

1MIN ite nino dotnü nao nöwiö

2MIN itö=m[u] ninö=m[u] dötnü=m[u] nau=m[u] nöwiö=m[u]

12MIN itö=da ninö=da dötnü=da nau=da nöwiö=da

3MIN itö=de ninö=de dötnü=de nau=de nöwiö=de

1AUG itö=gâ ninö=gâ dötnü=gâ nau=gâ nöwiö=gâ

2AUG itö=mwe ninö=mwe dötnü=mwe nau=mwe nöwiö=mwe

12AUG itö=dabwe ninö=dabwe dötnü=dabwe nau=dabwe nöwiö=dabwe

3AUG itö=ngö ninö=ngö dötnü=ngö nau=ngö nöwiö=ngö

Wurm (1972b) notes that, ‘[m]any nouns in the Santa Cruz languages undergo more or less

extensive morphophonemic changes and appear in two or several allomorphic forms, when

possessive suffixes are added to them’ (Wurm 1972b: 91-92). Wurm claims the feature to be

more pronounced in Engdewu than in the other RSC languages. Wurm analyses the changes

as being morphologically conditioned. This remains to be studied in more detail, but it

seems to hold true for at least some nouns, as seen in Table 2.

8.3 Indirect possession constructions

Nouns involved in the indirect possession constructions are typically alienable nouns. §8.1

described an indirect possession construction as a construction where a possessed NP is

modified by a following possessive phrase that contains a possessive classifier that hosts a

possessor marker or is followed by a possessor NP. The possessive classifiers in indirect

possession constructions in Engdewu—and in other Oceanic languages—are by no means to

be confused with sortal classifiers, which categorise entities according to the kind of entity

(Lichtenberk 1983), and they, thus, do not reflect any kind of gender system. Wurm

(1972b), however, do categorise entities according to the kind of entity when he gives an

account of possession in RSC and labels the classifiers ‘possession class markers’. Contrary

to in noun class systems, there is no fixed relation between a noun and a classifier in

Engdewu: the classifier is chosen on the basis of what semantic feature of the referent the

speaker wishes to focus on, a characteristic of relational classifiers. In languages with

relational classifiers, a noun can, thus, be found occurring in two or more construction types,

‘depending on the nature of the relationship between the possessor and the possessed’

73

This word can also be indirectly possessed with the general classifier, e.g. nöwi telo ‘my louse’.


(Lichtenberk 1983: 157). For instance, the noun denoting ‘pig’ can be followed by both a

food classifier and a pet classifier, depending on whether the speaker talks about the pig as

meat or as a property. Relational classifiers categorise, ‘…not by some properties of the

entity to which the noun phrase associated with the classifier refers but by the semantic

relation between two linguistic elements, more precisely by the nature of the real-world

relation that obtains between the referents of those elements’ (Lichtenberk 1983: 148). 13

possessive classifiers are identified in Engdewu. They are given in Table 8.3.


Table 8.3: Possessive classifiers in Engdewu

CL.I

telo

- general

CL.II

na

- edibles

CL.III

gâ

- drinkables

CL.IV

nei

- animate

CL.V

nyo/nyö

- dwellings

1MIN telo nanu gâ/gâ? nei nyo/nyö

12MIN telo=da na=da gâ=da nei=da nyo=da

2MIN telo=m[u] na(nu)=m[u] gâ=m[u] nei=m[u] nyo=m[u]

3MIN telo=de na=de gâ=de nei=de nyo=de

1AUG telo=gâ na=gâ gâ=gâ nei=gâ nyo=gâ

12AUG telo=dabwe

(telo=dam[u])

na=dabwe

(na=dam[u])

gâ=dabwe

(gâ=dam[u])

nei=dabwe

(nei=dam[u])

nyo=dabwe

(nyo=dam[u])

2AUG telo=mwe na(nu)=mwe gâ=mwe nei=mwe nyo=mwe

3AUG telo=ngö na(nu)=ngö gâ=ngö nei=ngö nyo=ngö

CL.VI

ango

- transport

CL.VII

molo /mâlâ/mwilo

- fire

CL.VIII

nökwo/nökwö

- covering

CL.IX

napleio/napleiö

- clothing

CL.X

nolo/nölö

- spouse

1MIN ango molo nökwo napleio nölö

12MIN ango=da molo=da nökwö=da napleiö=da -

2MIN ango=m[u] molo=m[u] nökwö=m[u] napleiö=m[u] nölö=m[u]

3MIN ango=de molo=de nökwö=de napleiö=de nölö=de

1AUG ango=gâ molo=gâ nökwö=gâ napleiö=gâ

12AUG ango=dabwe

(ango=dam[u])

molo=dabwe

(molo=dam[u])

nökwö=dabwe

(nökwö=dam[u])

napleiö=dabwe

(napleiö=dam[u])

2AUG ango=mwe mâlâ=ngö nökwö=mwe napleiö=mwe

3AUG ango=ngö mâlâ=da nökwö=ngö napleiö=ngö

CL.XI

mö

- inalienable fluids

CL.XII

no/nö

- traces

CL.XIII

lö/ löâ

- beam

1MIN mö no lo

12MIN mö=da – lö=da

2MIN mö=m[u] – lö=m[u]

3MIN mö=de nö=de lö=de

1AUG mö=gâ – lö=gâ

12AUG mö=dabwe

(mö=dam[u)]

– lö=dabwe

(lö=dam[u])

2AUG mö=mwe – lö=mwe

3AUG mö=ngö – lö=ngö


Notice that the first person minimal is the most unmarked form of all classes in Engdewu.74

They get no additional marking and are the basic forms to which the person/number

markers for all other person/numbers are added. One exception is the edibles classifier

(CL.II), where the first person minimal form nanu is longer than the base to which the

pronominal enclitics in the other forms are attached. One exception is the second person

minimal, which in a few cases also is attested with a base nanu. What the last part /nu/

means is not known; it does not appear as a first minimal possessive marker in other

environments.

The classifiers that exhibit morpho-phonological variation all have two allomorphic forms

according to the possessive enclitic added to them: the basic form of the clothing classifier

(CL.IX) is nëkwo in the first minimal person, while it is nëkwö in all others, the covering

classifier (CL.VIII) is napleio in first minimal and napleiö elsewhere, and the dwellings

classifier (CL.V) is nyo in the first minimal and nyö elsewhere. Note that some speakers do

not exhibit any such morpho-phonological variance. The variation is absent with some

speakers, in general the younger generations, which tend to stick to the final ö-variant in all

forms.

If there is no possessor NP present in the possessive phrase, as in (194) a., a possessive

pronominal enclitic is attached to the classifier, and when a possessor noun is present, as in

b., the pronominal enclitic is absent. This is parallel to the simplex and complex direct

possessive constructions.

(194) a. Tü-aminga-pe=pme newa telo=de mö dano.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry-GDIR:out=COS cloth CL.I=3MIN.POSS at beach

‘She dries his clothes at the beach./Hemi draem go na kaleko blong hem long

sanbis.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Vë-ti-ba to na telo mödo!

go-TR-PDIR:away HORT rope CL.I father.in.law-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Go get my father-in-law’s rope!/Go tekem fastaem rope blong fata-in-law blong

mi!’ (Story_041009_N01m)

In this respect there is a contrast between Engdewu on the one hand and Äiwoo on the

other. In the former, the examples in (194) show that the possessor markers act

pronominally in the ‘complex possessive constructions’, while in the latter they obligatorily

74

In Äiwoo, especially in the direct possession construction, some nouns take the first person minimal as the basic form, while others take the third person minimal (Næss, p.c.).


co-occur with (thus cross-referencing) the possessor noun. The contrast is parallel to that in

the direct possessive construction.

The possessive classifiers in Engdewu will be discussed in turn below.

8.3.1 General classifier (CL.I), telo

The general classifier has the invariant form telo. It is employed for all possessive relations

that are not covered by any of the other classifiers. This is also the most productive class.

Wurm (1972b) labels it the ‘utensils class’. The classifier is indeed employed with different

kinds of useful instruments and tools. It does, however, have a much wider use than that, as

the examples in Table 4 indicate. The general classifier telo can be used for general

possession with many nouns, without any further expression of the relationship between

the possessor and the possessee. As will be discussed below, the classifier is besides, used

frequently instead of some of the other classifiers.

Table 8.4: Examples with the General possessive classifier

Example Gloss Meaning

nöpa telo=de stick CL.I=3MIN.POSS ‘his stick’

na telo mödo rope CL.I father-in-law:POSS-

[1MIN.POSS]

‘my father-in-law’s rope’

pweiki telo=de knife CL.I= 3MIN.POSS ‘his knife’

bwâ töwi telo=m[u] arrow CL.I=2MIN.POSS ‘your (2MIN) arrow’

nümü telo=m[u] hand CL.I=2MIN.POSS ‘your hand (Lit. your way of

being)’

fren telo=de friend CL.I=3MIN.POSS ‘his/her friend’

As an example, in (195) it modifies the possessed NP töwi kââ telo ‘the arrow’.

(195) Ö-pi-ö-de: “Ai, ma ni töwi

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-APPL-3MIN.S/A ai but PRO-[1MIN.POSS] arrow

kââ telo yâle-de

DIST:SG CL.I [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-think-3MIN.S/A

i-do-inii me.”

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down PROX

‘He says: “Ay, my arrow, I think it fell down here.”/Hemi sei: “Ai, aro blong mi, ating

hem foldaon long hea.”’ (Story_041009_N01m)


As already explained in §8.2, kinship nouns are usually directly possessed. However, some

speakers tend to include them in indirect possessive constructions with the general

classifier, yielding constructions like fren telode ‘his friend’ and angkol telom ‘your uncle’.

Note that the examples found involve borrowings from Pijin/English. Original Engdewu

words are not found in this construction in the material, and it might be that it is more likely

that loanwords end up with the general classifier, which, as noted above, is the most

productive class. Lichtenberk (1983) notes that if kinship nouns are used with possessive

classifiers, ‘there is a tendency for the general classifier (if the language has one) rather than

any other to be used so’ (Lichtenberk 1983: 167).

As noted above, speakers have a tendency to generalise to the general classifier, which

sometimes appears in constructions where it otherwise would be natural to employ one of

the other classifiers. This is especially true with words for clothing, where both newö telo

(cloth CL.I:1MIN.POSS) and newö napleio (cloth CL.II:1MIN.POSS) for ‘my cloth’ is used. A

word like dyolu ‘custom adze’ is also found with different classifiers, dyolu nanu (custom.axe

CL.II:1MIN.POSS) and dyolu telo (custom.axe CL.I:1MIN.POSS), but without any obvious

difference in the kind of relation the speaker wants to express. Other examples are poi telo

‘my pig’, kio telo ‘my chicken’, and töputi telo ‘my cat’, all constructions where the animate

classifier nei would be expected. Speakers report that overgeneralisation to the general

classifier is especially common among children.

In one instance in the material given in (196) the form /newolom/ is found where newö

telom ‘your clothes’ (or newö napleiöm ‘your clothes’) would be expected. It is likely that the

general classifier here is contracted with the preceding possessed noun. A parallel is the

phrase matu nyo ‘my house’, which, as will be mentioned in §8.3.5, is often contracted to

/masõ/.

(196) Kalu-yë-m[u] newolo=m[u],

roll-GDIR:up-PDIR>1 clothes:CL.I=2MIN.POSS

tü-va-pe-da matu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-12MIN.S/A house

‘Roll up your clothes, we will go out to the house./Iu rolem ap kaleko blong iu,

mitufala go long haus.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

8.3.2 Edibles classifier (CL.II), na(nu)

The first person minimal form of this classifier is nanu. The base form of the other persons is

usually na. However, some of them are also attested with a base nanu. This is the only set of


classifiers where the full first (and sometimes second) minimal form is not included in the

other forms (if we disregard the vowel alternation that takes place with some classifiers).

This classifier is employed for food that is chewed. Possession of alimentary objects that are

juicy or liquid are expressed through the drinkables classifier described in §8.3.3. As can be

seen from Table 5, the edibles classifier is also used with objects related to food. This is also

pointed out by Wurm (1972b: 108), who notes that it is also used with, ‘…utensils connected

with food and its acquisition such as axes, knives, paddles and the like’. Lichtenberk (1983)

points out that possessive classifiers are ‘metaphorical’ in nature’ (Lichtenberk 1983: 170),

and that, for example, an alimentary classifier, ‘…need not be restricted just to items of food

but may be extended to objects somehow connected with food’ (Lichtenberk 1983: 172).

Some examples of constructions are given in Table 8.5.

Table 8.5: Examples with the Edibles possessive classifier


nëta nanu=ngö fish CL.II=3AUG.POSS ‘their fish’

wagu nanu=mwe pandanus CL.II=2AUG.POSS ‘your (2AUG) pandanus (for eating)’

dyolu nanu mwe

nölö=de

custom.knife CL.II husband

CL.X=3MIN.POSS

‘her husband’s custom knife’

dapna nanu=de cabbage CL.II=3MIN.POSS ‘his cabbage’

Table 8.5 shows the edibles classifier co-occuring with dyolu ‘custom adze’, which is a

traditional tool with many uses. The example in (197) gives another instance of the classifier

in use with another tool in the construction mwalaë kââ nade ‘his axe’.

(197) i-to-mee mwalaë kââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>1:3MIN.S/A axe DIST:SG

na=de gwa-bee

CL.II=3MIN.POSS take-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.S/A

i-pweiki=mee nölaa nungo kââ.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut-PDIR>1:3MIN.A branch tree DIST:SG

‘…he took his axe and cut the tree’s branch./…hemi takem akis blong hem and katim

aot brans blong tri ia.’ (N11m_110518-003)

As noted above, a few instances are found where the basic form of the classifier is nanu, also

in other than the first person minimal. This is illustrated in the indirect construction nëtna

nanungö ‘their fish’ in (198). This might suggest that nanu is a more original basic form, but

that the second syllable is generally kept in the first person minimal.


(198) La-a-tü nëtna nanu=ngö yoko…

PFV:3AUG.S/A-CAUS-burn fish CL.II=3AUG.POSS [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-all

‘They burnt all their fish…/Olketa bonem fis blong olketa finis…’

(Story_031009_N01m)

Another example is (199), where the possessive marker is attached to the base nanu, and

not only to na.

(199) I-tu-mi-e ga-namwe: ‘Mede

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>1-3MIN.S/A BN:place-singles.house here

nubwa nanu=mwe!’

shark CL.II=2AUG.POSS

‘He took it to the singles’ house: “Here is your shark!”/Hemi tekem kam dea long

singol haus: “Hea, sak blong iufala!”’

When the edibles classifier is combined with the bound noun da ‘BN:thing’, the form is

/datnanu/ or /datanu/ ‘my food (lit. my something to eat )’. The former is the

pronunciation by most elders, while the postnasalised stop cluster /tn/ has been reduced to

a simple stop /t/ in the speech of most other speakers. Recall that while most noun roots

were disyllabic in POc, the final syllable was lost in RSC (Ross and Næss 2007: 465). It may

thus look like the classifier nanu triggers an allomorph of the bound noun, dat, which

reflects what is hypothesised to be a historical onset /t/ in the truncated final syllable. In

other contexts encoundeter, the form of the bound noun is da. If it, for instance, heads a

participant nominalisation (§6.6.1), da-la-ngö nanu Pita BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat CL.II

Peter ‘Peter’s food (lit. Peter’s thing which one eats)’, the classifier has to be na(nu).

8.3.3 Drinkables classifier (CL.III), gâ

The basic form of the drinkables classifier is gâ in all persons. As mentioned in §8.3.2, it is

employed with potable referents, such as liquids and also juicy fruits that are sucked, like

mangoes and papayas. Table 6 gives some examples of constructions where the classifier

appears.


Table 8.6: Examples with the Drinkables possessive classifier


lâknu gâ=m[u] water CL.III=2MIN.POSS ‘your water’

pwei gâ=mwe leaf CL.III=2AUG.POSS ‘your leaf (for betel chewing)’

Kou gâ kä-la-kiso

Engdewu

DIST:PL CL.III BN:individual-

PFV:3AUG.S/A-small E.

‘those to the children of Engdewu’

tii gâ tea CL.III-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my tea’

(200) illustrates the drinkables classifier in a sentence. As they proceed upstream along a

river, a group of children discovers ripe näu fruits, commonly refered to in Pijin as ‘apol’.

näu denotes a type of Malay apple where the fruits are small, ovoid and berry-like with a

juicy flesh inside. When they are thought of as an alimentary item, Engdewu speakers, thus,

use the drinkables classifier. In the example, gâ appears as the head in the constructions gâ

Engdewu ‘ apples of Engdewu’ and gâ kälakiso Ewawö ‘ apples of the children of Ewawö’.

(200) Okei, la-pia-tö=pme kä la-lii, gâ

okei PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut-GDIR:in=COS PROX:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-two CL.III

Engdewu la-lii, gâ kä-la-kiso

E. PFV:3AUG.S/A-two CL.III BN:individual-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-small

Ewawö la-lii.

E. PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘Okei, they divide in two, two to (the children from) Engdewu, two to the children of

Ewawö.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

As mentioned above, Wurm (1972b) suggests a specific water class with a classifier kâ. No

evidence has been found for this, and Wurm notes that, ‘[i]t seems possible to regard this

class and the water class as sub-classes of one general potables class’ (Wurm 1972b: 108).

8.3.4 Animate classifier (CL.IV), nei

This classifier has the invariant form nei. It is labelled ‘general class marker’ by Wurm.

However, as explained in §8.3.1, telo is really the most general classifier, and also the

classifier which some of the other classifiers seem to generalise to. Wurm (1972b: 107) goes

on to say that nouns classified by this marker are, ‘…mostly animals, birds, fishes, insects etc.

which are not specially thought of as food’. The classifier marks possessive relations where

the possessee denotes any low-status animate or spiritual referent, or even referents related


to animals, children and spirits.75 Table 8.7 gives some examples of constructions with the

animate classifier. While the appearance of dalengi ‘earring’ in a construction with the

animate classifier may seem odd, earrings are commonly made from turtle shell, and the

semantic relationship is, thus, clear.

Table 8.7: : Examples with the animate possessive classifier


bwe nei=ngö children CL.IV=3AUG.POSS ‘their children’

poi nei=de pig CL.IV=3MIN.POSS ‘his pig’

dükna nei=de spirit CL.IV=3MIN.POSS ‘his spirit’

dalengi nei=de earring CL.IV=3MIN.POSS ‘his/her earring’

The example in (201) presents a sentence with the animate possessive construction bwe nei

‘my children’, a typical construction for the classifier to appear in.

(201) Ö-pi-yë-be ’Bwe nei!’

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-GDIR:up-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.S/A? children CL.IV

‘He says up (to them): “My children!”/Hemi sei go ap: “Pikinini blong mi!”’

(Story_280909_M05m)

8.3.5 Dwellings classifier (CL.V), nyo/nyö

The form of this classifier is nyo in unmarked forms including the first person minimal, and

nyö when a possessor is encliticised to it. Wurm (1972b) describes it as being used with,

‘…objects which are located somewhere and usually not readily movable, such as villages,

houses, islands, valleys, as well as trees, palms, bamboo and other plants and also fruits of

all descriptions—coconuts, bananas, betel-nuts, taro, yams, etc.—while growing and not

thought of as food, even though they may have been plucked or pulled up from the ground’

(Wurm 1972b: 109). The description seems to be accurate, and is confirmed by the present

study. Wurm (1972b) labels it the ‘location class marker’. It is here named the ‘dwellings’

classifier, to avoid confusion with locational adverbial forms. Note that a word like lapöki

‘road’ is not included in the group of items possibly classified by the dwellings classifier.

Rather, it is directly possessed: e.g. lapökio ‘my road’, lapökiöde ‘his road’. Some example

constructions are given in Table 8.8.

75

Remember, however, from the above that ‘louse’ is directly possessed.


Table 8.8: Examples with the Dwellings possessive classifier


laanungo nyo garden CL.V-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my garden’

numwa nyo Bibö reef CL.V B. ‘the reef of Bibö’

naü nyö=dabwe apple CL.V=12AUG.POSS ‘our apple (tree)’

ga-nyö=de BN:place-CL.V=3MIN.POSS ‘his/her place’

Note that näu ‘apple’ here is referred to in the meaning ‘apple tree’. That is, in this context

näu nyödabwe refers to the apple tree as a dwellings possession and not to the apple fruit as

a drinkable item. This is further exemplified in (202).

(202) Ni=mwe kä tü-ngöla-pö naü

PRO=2AUG.POSS TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-climb-?? apple

nyö=dabwe.

CL.V=12AUG.POSS

‘You climb up in our apple (tree)./Iu klaemap long apol (tri) blong mifala.’

(Story_280909_M05m)

Notice also that the classifier can follow a bound noun, as seen in ganyöde ‘his/her place’.

Bound nouns were described in §6.3.4.

The dwellings classifier appears very frequently with the noun matu ‘house’, as seen in

(203). Notice that the frequently used phrase matu nyo ‘my house’ is often contracted to

/masõ/.

(203) La-to-ba-nga mö matu kââ nyo

PFV:3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR:away-3AUG.A to house DIST:SG CL.V

bwale itö=de.

woman mother=3MIN.POSS

‘They took it to his mother’s house./Olketa tekem long haus ia blong mami blong

hem.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

In the verbless clause in (204) the possessor NP precedes the classifier , which has a

possessor enclitic attached to it. This indicates that the possessor is not part of the same

phrase as the classifier: a possible analysis is that it is fronted for focus purposes, and the

reading is something like ‘the woman, there at her place’.


(204) Okei, bwale kââ, nyö=de gââ.

okei woman DIST:PL CL.V=3MIN.POSS DIST

‘Okay, at the woman’s place./Okei, long ples blong woman ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

8.3.6 Transport classifier (CL.VI), ango

This classifier has the invariant form ango in all contexts. Wurm (1972b: 110) reports that

he had only found it with ngö-mibü ‘canoe (lit. mibü tree)’76, and he, thus, labels it ‘canoe

class marker’. Table 9 illustrates that it has a wider use, and that it is found with several

vehicles, not only canoes, but also boats, cars, and probably any vehicle. A more convenient

and transparent label for this morpheme is, thus, ‘transport classifier’.

Table 8.9: Examples with the canoe possessive classifier


saulo ango=ngö canoe CL.VI=3AUG.POSS ‘their canoe’

edyin ango engine CL.VI-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my engine’

trak ango Salome truck CL.VI S. ‘Salome’s truck’

In (205) the transport classifier appears in the typical construction ngömibü angoda ‘our

(two) canoe (lit. our mübü tree)’.

(205) Nege kä tü-to-ee ngö-mibü

then if IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-3MIN.A BN:tree-mibü

ango=da dä tü-bo-lii.

CL.VI=12MIN.POSS CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sink-GDIR:down

‘Then if he takes our canoe, he will sink (down)/Den sapos hemi tekem kanu blong

iumitufala hem sinkdaon.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

While ango is used with NPs denoting vehicles other than boats and canoes, the general

classifier is also common in such constructions. That is, trak ango Salome from Table 8.9

could also be trak telo Salome.

8.3.7 Fire classifier (CL.VII), molo, mwilo

This classifier is found in two forms. The elderly usually use molo, which is the form Wurm

(1972b: 110) reports. Today, however, most speakers say mwilo. Note that Wurm reports

only the first minimal form to be molo, while all other forms are mola plus person markers.

molo is found with all persons in the elders’ speech today. It is likely that mwilo is a loan

76

Wurm transcribes it ŋamübü.


from Nalögo. Wurm gives the form /mʷilö/ for the dialect variant spoken in Neboi/Nea

(Wurm 1972b: 105), thought to be a variety of Nalögo. The classifier is only attested with

waku ‘fire’ and leipya ‘firewood’. Some illustrative constructions are given in Table 8.10.

Table 8.10: Examples with the fire possessive classifier


leipya molo=de firewood CL.VII=3MIN.POSS ‘his firewood’

waku molo fire CL.VII-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my fire’

An example of the molo variant is given in (206), and an example of the mwilo variant is

given in (207).

(206) La-pi-ö-ngö, “Dä leipya

PFV:3AUG.S/A-say-APPL-3AUG.A CONT:SG:VIS firewood

molo=m u ”.

CL.VII=2MIN.POSS

‘They said: “Here’s your firewood.”/Olketa sei: “Ia firewood blong iu.”’

(Story_031009_N01m)

(207) Kââ mwilo=dabwe, waku kââ i-pom

DIST:SG CL.VII=12AUG.POSS fire DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-form

Metiö.

M.

‘That is ours, the fire that formed at Metiö./Blong iumi, faea hemi fom long Metiö.’

(Story_130909_M11m)

There is generally not much morphology found between the possessor and possessed nouns

and classifiers, except for demonstratives, marking any of the nouns as definite. There is,

however, one example in the material where a change-of-state marker, =pme, is added to a

possessive classifier, more specifically to a fire classifier, as illustrated in (208). The function

in this construction is not fully understood, but at least the example suggests that possessive

classifiers are among the possible hosts of this clitic.


(208) Yoko-pe=pme kä tu-ola=pme,

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish -GDIR:out=COS REL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-?=COS

nege i-wâku, molo=pme kandri kämde,

now PFV:N3AUG.S/A CL.VII=COS country different

lëmotangi77.

white.man

‘It’s over now, now it lights, fire from another country, white man./Hem finis nao,

hem laet dis taem na, faea blong difren kandri, waetman.’ (Story_130909_M11m)

8.3.8 Covering classifier (CL.VIII), nokwo/nokwö

Both nokwo and nokwö are elicited as the first minimal form while nökwö is elicited as the

base in all other forms. Though there are only attested a few examples, the classifier is

explained as being used with cloth and other things used to cover the body, like shirts, and

also big leaves which people sometimes use to protect the body from rain, e.g. set nokwo ‘my

shirt’, set nökwö=de ‘his/her shirt’. Remember that a possessed NP need not be present in

possessive constructions. In (209), nokwö appears without any possessed noun in the

phrase.

(209) Pita i-pna-ti-e nokwö.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-steal-TR-3MIN.S/A CL.VIII-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Peter stole my shirt./Pita stilim set blong mi.’ (M06m:54)

As noted above, nokwo/nökwö seems to be replaced with the general classifier which is

found with most younger speakers.

8.3.9 Clothing classifier (CL.IX), napleio/napleiö

Both napleio and napleiö have been elicited as the first person minimal form of this

classifier. The base for the other forms is napleiö. This classifier was originally used for

different types of clothing. It is not found frequently, and like the ‘covering classifier’ in

77

In Engdewu, this word has lexicalised into a form that is translatable with ‘person from far away’ or simply ‘white man’. People say that the first syllable /lɵ/ means ‘from abroad’. (Davenport 2005: 59) says the following about the word.

Before the coming of the missionaries, administrators, and traders, there was some vague knowledge on the part of the Nendö people of a very large island off to the southeast. They called the island Matangi (ma = ‘place’; -tangi = ‘the name of a seasonal wind’). The name Lematangi literally means ‘People of Tangi’ and came to be the generalized name for all Europeans.

If Davenport is right, the original form of the first syllable is /le/, identical to the human collective nominalizer le- (cf. [8.4.3.3) from which lë- has developed. Næss (p.c.) notes that matangi means ‘wind’ in Vaeakau-Taumako. It is thus probable that the word in Engdewu is based on a Polynesian loan.


§8.3.8, it seems to be outcompeted by the general classifier. Younger speakers tend to use

the latter. Both trausis napleio and trausis telo are elicited for ‘my trousers’. The difference

between this and the covering classifier is not fully understood, but it seems that while this

can be used about any clothing, the latter is only used about clothes and materials that are

used as covering or protection from e.g. rain.

The reason why nokwo/nökwö and napleio/napleiö are taken over by the general classifier is

not fully understood. A reasonable hypothesis, however, is that many of the traditional

clothing items are no longer in use, and many people do not even know about them any

more. This is reflected in the example above, where the English/Pijin word trausis

represents the new/modern type of clothing/garment. Another probable explanation is

language contact. That is, this classifier is not found in any other RSC language, and the

constant contact with those languages might have led to the loss.

8.3.10 Spouse classifier (CL.X), nolo/nölö

In the speech of elders, the first minimal form of this classifier is nolo, while it is nölö, as in

all other forms, with younger speakers. It is only found with nouns designating husbands

and wives, and it is simply labelled ‘spouse classifier’, after Wurm (1972b)’s description of

such classifiers in RSC. Whether the form really is a possessive classifier or just a noun

meaning ‘spouse’ is uncertain. Note that Wurm (1972b) does not mention any spouse

marker for Engdewu, but he mentions one for Nalögo (Neboi), /nəlö/, which is clearly

related to the one discussed here. Some constructions with the spouse classifier are given in

Table 8.11: Examples with the spouse possessive classifier.

Table 8.11: Examples with the spouse possessive classifier


mwe nölö=de man CL.X=3MIN.POSS ‘her husband’

bwale nölö=de woman CL.X=3MIN.POSS ‘his wife’

opla nölö=m girl CL.X=2MIN.POSS ‘your wife’

mwe nolo/ mwe nölö man CL.X:1MIN.POSS ‘my husband’

Notice that the bound noun mwe ‘male’ (§6.3.4) is frequently found as a possessed noun in

constructions with this classifier. Note that there is also a directly possessed kinship noun

for ‘wife’, with the first minimal form paplo, and paplö for all other forms.


8.3.11 Inalienable fluids classifier (CL.XI), mö

One classifier is found with fluids which are inextricably associated with or necessary to the

possessor. The form is mö, and it is used, for instance, with bodily fluids, lâknu mö ‘my water

(i.e. my urine)’. It is also used with reference to the water in which something is cooked, e.g.

lâknu mö nöta ‘the fish’s water’.

The example in (210) is taken from a story about rituals during life. In the preceding context

a coconut is broken for the liquid inside to be used in a ritual act.

(210) …lâku mö=de i-mopi-ö-ini ä

water CL.XI=3MIN.POSS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-?-?-GDIR:down and

lâ-yâ-lö-ngö ma paplö=de

PFV:3AUG.S/A-bathe-APPL-3AUG.A with wife=3MIN.POSS

‘…its water, he poured it down (on them), and he and his wife bathed in it./…water

blong hem capsaet down (long olketa), and tufala swim long hem wetem wife blong

hem.’ (Story_200909_M11m)

8.3.12 Traces classifier (CL.XII), no/nö

The form of this classifier is no in the first person minimal, and otherwise nö. It is only found

in elicitation and it seems to be used about things, concrete or more abstract, that are left

behind by and thus act as signs or traces of a living being. It is found with the possessed

noun möpyö ‘blood’, e.g. möpyö no (blood CL.XII:1MIN.POSS) ‘my blood, blood that comes

from me’, and möpyö nöde (blood CL.XII=3MIN.POSS) ‘his/her blood, blood that comes from

him/her’. The classifier is also used in a more abstract manner to identify any sign left by a

human, for instance trampled leaves or an abandoned campsite.

(211) I-mo-lü mou78 nö=de.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A human.sign CL.XII=3MIN.POSS

‘I saw a sign of him a sign of man]./Mi lukim saen blong hem.’ (Notes:51)

Note that another typical trace, nabwe ne ‘footprint’, is only found as directly possessed, as

seen in §6.3.2. More research is needed to uncover any other possible possessive relations

these concepts can partake in.

78

mow is a special word that denotes traces or signs of recent human activity, for instance broken sticks, flattened leaves, or a smoking fire—signs that someone has been here just before you.


8.3.13 Beam classifier (CL.XIII), lo/lö

The first person minimal form of this classifier is found as both lo and lö; the form in all

other persons/numbers is lö. Wurm (1972b), however, says that the first minimal forms for

this classifier are lo, no, or ngo with lö and nö respectively, and probably ngö, for all other

forms. Today, no ngo/ngö variant is found. Wurm (1972b) describes this classifier as being

used with, ‘…nouns which are inseparable contents of a container such as the blood and the

bones inside the human body’ (Wurm 1972b: 109), which seems to fit with both this and the

forms mö and nö, respectively described as the inalienable fluids classifier (§8.3.11) and the

inherent value classifier (§8.3.12). The relationship between the three forms has not been

studied in detail. The relationship between these forms and the relational marker described

in §6.5.4 should also be studied in more detail.

lo/lö is used not only to describe possession of ‘inseparable contents of a container’, like

wadu ‘bone’, but also other more abstract concepts, like niwa ‘love’ and ningi ‘ray’, that are

also inseparable from their possessors, but not necessarily contained within them. Both

‘love’ and ‘ray’ are, rather, emitted from a source. The common semantic features of all these

relations are perhaps not clear, but they can all be described as somethings that beam (are

emanated from) from an object. The classifier is also found used with wadu ‘bone’, which

potentially can be seen as something that protrude from the body. While the semantics of

the relations covered by this classifier definitely need more research, it will, thus, be labelled

‘beam classifier’ to cover the general relational meanings expressed by constructions

containing it. Table 8.12 lists some example constructions.

Table 8.12: Examples with the dependent contents possessive classifier


wadu lö bone CL.XIII-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my bone’

wadu lö=de bone CL.XIII=3MIN.POSS ‘his bone’

niwa lo love CL.XIII-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my love’

niwa lö Gad love CL.XIII God ‘God’s love’

ningi lo79 ray CL.XIII-[1MIN.POSS] ‘my ray (said by an angel)’

ningi lö Gabriel ray CL.XIII G. ‘Gabriel’s ray’

Now, consider the example in (212), where lö is used to modify na ‘rope’. Based on the

description above, the use of the classifier in this construction seems strange. In context,

79

Note that this word form could refer to ‘roof of pandanus’ in a compound where ningi ‘ray’ also is used about the long palm leaves, and lo is the word for a type of pandanus.


however, it makes perfectly good sense. The example is from a traditional story where a

woman takes her husband’s adze (without permission) to cut firewood. The head is tied to

the handle by a rope. While chopping, the tie breaks so that the head gets loose and the rope

hangs out from the adze. In this respect, the rope becomes something that ‘beams’ out from

the tool to which it belongs.

(212) Dyolu kââ, okei, i-to-mi-e le

custom.adze DIST:SG okay PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>1-3MIN.S/A DAT

mwe-nölö=de, ö-pi-ö-bee:

BN:male-CL.X=3MIN.POSS DETR:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.S/A

“Dyolu kââ, i-bokia-pe=pme na

custom.adze DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-detach?-GDIR:out=COS rope

lö=de.”

CL.XIII=3MIN.POSS

‘The dyolu, okay, she took it to her husband, she said to him: “The dyolu, its rope is

detached.”/Dyolu ia ,okei, hem tekem hem kam long hasban blong hem, den hem sei:

“Rop blong dyolu, hemi aot nao.”’ (Story_1090909_M05m)

Note that the classifier is also found in a phonologically different form with some speakers,

namely la, where the first person minimal form is laö, and all other forms are la plus the

possessive enclitic indexing the person in question: ningi la temwa ‘moon ray (lit. ray of

moon)’, ningi la lamp ‘ray of lamp’.

8.3.14 Discussion of other classifiers mentioned by Wurm (1972b)

Wurm (1972b) claims to have identified nine different possessive classifiers (‘possessive

class markers’) in Engdewu, and he expects there to be more. Many of Wurm’s classifiers are

basically the same as those described here. However, some of them cannot be established on

the basis of the present data.

Wurm (1972b) suggests a ‘louse class’ marker, nau. His example is /nəwi nau/ ‘my louse (or

lice)’; /nəwi nau=de/ ‘his louse (or lice)’ (Wurm 1972b). However, nau is also the word for

‘head’, and it is probable that nöwi nau is simply a noun-noun compound meaning ‘louse of

my head’. As nau is a body part it is directly possessed, and the first minimal form is nau.

nöwi nau can, thus, mean both ‘head louse’ and ‘my head louse’.

Wurm (1972b) also operates with a water ‘class marker’ kâ [kɔ] which is said to be found

appearing with the word lâknu ‘water’ only. The existence of that classifier is questionable.

First, it has not been confirmed in the present research, and second, lâknu is generally used

8.4 The possessive strategy for dative marking: possessive classifiers in recipient/goal/benefactive marking 237

with the drinkables classifier, gâ: lâknu gâde ‘his water’. Wurm might have mistaken the

singular demonstrative determiner kââ to be a classifier, as it is frequently used to make a

noun definite: lâknu kââ [lɒkⁿu kɒ simply means ‘the water (there)’.

The last questionable ‘class marker’ Wurm (1972b) mentions is for the ‘independent

contents class’, kaale, said to be used with, ‘…objects which are contents of other things, but

can exist separately from them or pre-exist them’ (Wurm 1972b: 109). He provides no

examples to be tested, but at present no evidence is found for the existence of this marker.

Wurm notes himself that, ‘…the existence of this class in Nanggu is not quite certain’ (Wurm

1972b: 109). A suggestion is that kaale actually is the distal singular demonstrative

determiner in co-occurence with the oblique pronoun, ka + le, as illustrated in (213).

(213) Vë-ti-bë baket ka le Pita!

go-TR-PDIR>2/3 bucket MED:SG DAT P.

‘Go get the bucket from Peter/Peter’s bucket!/Go getim baket (b)long Pita!’

8.4 The possessive strategy for dative marking: possessive classifiers in

recipient/goal/benefactive marking

The dative preposition (ë)le is similar to the possessive classifiers in some interesting ways.

First, if there is no overt noun in the dative phrase, the dative preposition is marked by a

bound pronominal form, as described in §5.4 and illustrated again in (214), where the

speaker talks about a cave they sometimes enter.

(214) Tü-ngala-to-gâ ële=de,…

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:in-1AUG.S/A DAT=3MIN.POSS

‘We crawl inside into it./Mifala go insaed long hem,…’ (Story_100909_M05m)

Exactly the same happens in the indirect possessive phrase: if there is no overt noun

present, a bound pronominal form is attached to the classifier. This was described in §8.3

and has been seen in several examples above.

Second, if there is an overt recipient/goal/benefactive in the clause in the form of a noun, it

follows the dative preposition which is then unmarked for person. This is analogous to what

happens in the indirect possessive construction: if there is an overt possessor noun

following the possessive classifier, then the person marking enclitic is left out; see §8.3

above.


Third, a dative phrase can be interchanged with a possessive phrase with a possessive

classifier in many contexts and still retain the meaning of benefactive. Compare the example

in (215) to those in (216). In the former, a dative codes the benefactive as it commonly does

(§5.4). In the latter, a possessive classifier na(nu) (§8.3.2) does the same. Notice, however,

that a possessive classifier can be placed either after or before the object when it denotes a

benefactive, as seen in a. and b. respectively. This order is not found when the classifier

indicates possession.

(215) Meri o-dei-bë da-la-ngö ële.

M. DETR-make-PDIR>2/3 BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat DAT-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Mary made food for me./Meri mekem kaikai fo mi.’

(216) a. Meri aku-bë da=ka-la-ngö

M. cook-PDIR>2/3 BN:thing-DIST:SG-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat

nanu.

CL.II-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Mery cooked food for me./Meri kukim kaikai fo mi.’ (M01m:34)

b. Meri o-dei-bë nanu

M. DETR-make-PDIR>2/3 CL.II-[1MIN.POSS]

da-la-ngö.

BN:thing-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat

‘Mary makes food for me./Meri mekem kaikai fo mi.’

In contexts where the theme object is not a concrete entity, like that in (217), the dative

construction has to be chosen. The explanaition to this is probably that there is no

transmission of property in such examples. When you cook for someone, on the other hand,

the food that you cook also becomes in the benefactor’s possession.

(217) Meri i-ki=bää kä nabwa

M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing-PDIR>2/3:3M PROX:SG song

ële.

DAT-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Mary sang a song for me./Meri singsing wanfala singsing long mi.’ (M01m:34)

The similarities between possessive and dative constructions are not only seen in Engdewu.

‘Possessive-benefactive polysemy is…found in various Oceanic languages’ (Lichtenberk

2002a: 439). The strategy seen here, where a possessive phrase is used to express a

benefactive, resembles the strategy described by Margetts (2007: 110) as an ‘adnominal

possessive strategy’ where a benefactive ‘is expressed as the possessor of the theme object’.

8.5 The dative strategy for possession marking 239

This is interesting because it is evidence against the unidirectionality principle stating that

benefactive constructions develop into possessive constructions and not vice versa (c.f.

Heine 1997a, 1997b).80

Typologically, there is a connection in the coding of the semantic roles of recipients, goals

and benefactives on the one hand, and the property of possession on the other. Margetts

(2007: 110) says about the adnominal possesive strategy that, ‘[t]his strategy is

diachronically linked to the oblique/adjunct strategy in that, ultimately, the benefactive

reading of the possessive construction tends to grammaticalize into a separate, formally

distinct construction’. As noted above, the constituent order is freer with possessive phrases

expressing benefactives rather than possessors. It can thus be said to have grammaticalised

into a separete construction that is formally distinct from the indirect possessive

construction.

8.5 The dative strategy for possession marking

A dative-possessive link was established in §8.4 where it was discussed how a dative phrase

can be used to express possession in Engdewu. The dative-possessive link is also evident in

that possessive classifiers can be employed to mark nouns as recipient/goal/benefactive.

(218) describes a three-participant event where a person gives leaves (for chewing with

betel nut) to a group of people. The theme object is pwei ‘leaf (for betel chewing)’, and it is

directly followed by the drinkables classifier marked for person, gângö ‘CL.III=3AUG’.81 The

meaning of pwei gângö in this context is not ‘their leaf’, but rather ‘leaf to them’, something

that is also reflected in the Pijin translation: leaf blong olketa ‘their leaf’.

80

More arguments against this view can be found in Lichtenberk (2002a) and Margetts (2004) who discuss unidirectionality and present evidence against it from Oceanic languages. 81

Three ingredients are used in betel chewing, katü ‘betel nut (actually of the areca-family)’, pwei ‘leaf’, and do ‘lime‘. In the context of chewing betel, the drinkables classifier gâ is used with the two former, while the edibles classifier nanu is used with the latter: i.e. katü gâ ‘my betel nut (for drinking)’, pwei gâ ‘my leaf (for drinking’, and do nanu ‘my lime (for eating)’. People usually grow their own betel (i.e. areca) trees, and in that respect, as the owner of a betel tree, the dwellings classifier is used: katu nyo ‘my betel (of my dwellings)’.


(218) I-lai-bää pwei gâ=ngö, nëge

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A leaf CL.III=3AUG.POSS then

pö-pi-ö-bää le myei=de:

IPFV:DETR-say-APPL- PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A DAT brother=3MIN.POSS

“Te-yâlu=pme-i matu.”

IPFV-return=COS-1MIN.S/A house

‘He gave (the) leaf to them, and then he said to his brother: “I’ll go back home.”/Hemi

givim go lif blong olketa an den hemi sei go long brata blong hem: “Mi go baek long

haus na.”’ (Story_041009_N01m)

It is not uncommon that Oceanic languages with dative/oblique markers employ them in

benefactive marking (Song 1997). Lichtenberk (2002a) points out an obvious similarity

between possessors in possessive constructions and recipients, in that the latter are

prospective possessors or ‘individuals who are possessors of the relevant entity at the time

of reference’ (Lichtenberk 2002a: 456). This insight is easily observed in examples like the

one in (218). The leaf becomes in the benafactive referents’ possession when it is given to

them.

241

CHAPTER 9. DEMONSTRATIVE FORMS

9.1 Introduction

The demonstrative system in Engdewu expresses a three-way distance-oriented contrast.

This means that it expresses three degrees of distance, proximal ‘PROX’, medial ‘MED’, and

distal ‘DIST’, from the deictic centre, usually anchored to the speaker’s position. This three-

way contrast is schematised in Fig. 9.1, which indicates that proximate terms denote

referents within reach of the speaker, that medial terms denote referents out of reach, but

still in the proximity of the speaker, and that distal terms denote referents at a distance from

the speaker. Notice, however, that these deictic meanings are relative, and that the choice of

demonstrative form may vary between contexts.

Fig. 9.1: The three-way distance-oriented deictic system

There are three basic sets of demonstrative forms in Engdewu, given in Table 9.1. The

demonstrative determiners, the demonstrative pronouns, and the demonstrative adverbs

belong to different parts of speech, as described in Chapter 5. They are treated together in

this chapter because they are all arranged according the deictic system just described, and

because they are formally related to each other.

Proximal in the reach of the speaker (< 1 m)

Medial close, but out of reach of speaker (approx. 1–3 m)

Distal away from speaker

(> 3 m)

242 Chapter 9 Demonstrative forms

Table 9.1: Demonstrative forms in Engdewu

Demonstrative

determiners

Demonstrative

pronouns

Demonstrative

adverbs

SG PL SG PL

Proximal kä kä=yo ekä ekä=yo me

Medial ka (ö)ki eka eki ga

Distal kââ kou ekââ ekou gââ

The same vowel alternation can be seen in all three paradigms. That is, the proximal forms

exhibit /ɛ/~/e/,82 the medial forms exhibit /a/, and the distal forms exhibit /ɒː/.83 With

only minor differences in quality, these vowels reflect some of the demonstrative forms

reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic, of which they are probably reflexes. Notice also that there

are cognate terms in Natügu and Äiwoo, as discussed in §9.6. In POc *i or *e was the near

speaker/proximal form, *a was the near addressee/medial form, and *u or *o was the distal

form of the ‘subject determiners’, and *ni or *ne was the near speaker/proximal, *na was the

near addressee/medial, and *nu or *no was the distal form of the ‘genitive determiners’

(Ross 2004a: 178). Note that the medial and distal plural forms in Engdewu have vowels

different from their singular counterparts.

Demonstrative determiners are described in §9.2, demonstrative pronouns in §9.3, and

demonstrative adverbs in §9.4, including a set of temporal demonstrative adverbs in §9.4.1.

As described in §6.2, demonstrative forms can co-occur with the indefinite article in the NP,

and they can combine with bound nouns. Such complex demonstrative forms are discussed

in §9.5. As described in Chapter 6, demonstrative determiners can appear either before or

after an NP head, alone or in combination with other material. Demonstrative determiners

that appear in pre-head position in combination with an indefinite article are described in

§9.5.1. Demonstrative determiners and adverbs in combination with a bound noun are

treated in §9.5.2. Finally, there is a discussion on differences between demonstratives in the

RSC languages in §9.6.

Before we go on, a comment upon a few problems as regards the present research. First,

there is one obvious pitfall in researching demonstratives, namely that they are shifters, and

82

There is variation among speakers in the pronunciation of the vowel in the basic proximal form. That is, both /kɛ/ and /ke/ are found. As the former seems most common, the form is reproduced as kä throughout the thesis. Note, however, that the corresponding proximal form of the demonstrative adverb is generally /me/. 83

In PHONOLOGY, it was explained how long vowels tend to diphthongise with some speakers. This means that the distal singular forms kââ, ekââ, and gââ are often heard as /k ɔ/, /ek ɔ/, and /k ɔ/ respectively. Generally, speakers consider the diphthongised pronunciation to be most correct.

9.2 Demonstrative determiners 243

the parameters controlling the choice of form might, therefore, shift according to where the

deictic centre is. In elicitation it is notoriously difficult to ascertain that both speaker and

researcher operate with the same deictic centre. It must also be stressed that while some

demonstrative forms occur very frequently in the recorded texts, other terms appear very

infrequently, and some appear only in elicitation, where forms given by one speaker

sometimes deviate slightly from forms given by another. This should be kept in mind, and it

must be stressed that more research is needed in the field of demonstratives.

9.2 Demonstrative determiners

The demonstrative determiners in Engdewu distinguish between three distance categories,

proximal, medial, and distal, as described above, and the two number categories singular

and plural. They are repeated in Table 9.2.

Table 9.2: Simple demonstrative determiner forms in Engdewu

Proximal (P) Medial (M) Distal (D)

SG kä ka kââ

PL kä=yo (ö)ki kou

Most forms are simple, monosyllabic forms. The proximal plural is a complex form

analysable as the proximal singular form kä plus the plural marker =yo. §6.4.4 described

how the pluraliser can attach to a demonstrative form, either before or after the NP head.

The pluraliser is restricted to proximal kä when it appears in combination with a

demonstrative. Medial and distal distance are expressed by portmanteaus expressing both

distance and singular or plural number. The medial plural demonstrative is, as indicated,

either öki or ki. The difference between them is not clear. However, some speakers describe

ki to be a short form of öki. Finally, there is attested a form kiou which seems to be a variant

of the distal plural form, but this needs more investigation.

The primary function of these demonstrative forms is to modify the nominal head in an NP.

In this function, Chapter 6 described two different positions in which they can appear, one

directly after the head, and one in combination with the indefinite article (cf. §9.5.1), before

the head. This is illustrated in (219) and (220) respectively.

(219) Bwâ dalaknü öki!

drill yam MED:PL

‘Hollow out those yams!/Aotim olketa yam ia!’ (N03m:31)


(220) Di ka bol upwö-pe-m u ,…

INDF:SG MED:SG ball roll-GDIR:out-PDIR>1

‘A ball rolls out,…/Wanfala bol hem rola kam aot,…’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

In the examples above, the demonstratives mark the head noun in an NP. However, they can

also mark pronouns, as seen in the common greeting in (221), where a. with the singular

medial form ka is used to greet one person, and b. with a plural medial form öki is used to

greet more than one person. The general way to say goodbye is given in (222), where the

change-of-state marker =pme is added to the demonstrative determiner.

(221) a. ni=m[u] ka

PRO=2MIN.POSS MED:SG

‘hello (Lit. you SG there)’

b. ni=mwe öki

PRO=2AUG.POSS MED:PL

‘hello (Lit. you PL there)’

(222) a. ni=m[u] ka=pme

PRO=2MIN.POSS MED:SG=COS

‘goodbye’

b. ni=mwe öki=pme

PRO=2AUG.POSS MED:PL=COS

‘goodbye’

Demonstrative determiners frequently also co-occur with question/interrogative pronouns,

like bwe ‘what’ and ye/ya/yâ ‘who’, illustrated in (223) and (224), respectively. The material

contains no instance of a determiner combined with dwe ‘what’.

(223) Styü o bwe kä dä

stew or what PROX:SG CONT:SG:VIS

ta-kuki-ö-ngö?

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-cook-APPL-3MIN.A

‘Stew or what are they cooking?/Stiu o wat ia olketa kukim?’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m)

(224) Ya kââ sopwai?

who DIST:PL [IPFV:N3AUG.S/A]-laugh

‘Who’s laughing?/U na laf?’ (N09m:62)

The demonstrative determiners have a secondary function as a head in an NP. This is

illustrated in (225) and (226). In the former, kââ heads the NP kââ imolü ‘the one that I saw’,

denoting a bird that the speaker has just seen. The NP is a subject in a verbless clause

(§13.2). In the latter, kou heads the NP kou lamöp[u] Engdewu ‘those five from Engdewu’.

The demonstrative points back at a previous mention of the referent which is restricted by

the relative clause and the place name. When these determiners function as NP heads, they

are generally found to be used anaphorically.


(225) [Kââ [i-mo-lü]] döwe kä

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A bird REL

i-löpi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘The one that I saw was a big bird./Datwan mi lukim hem bikfala bid.’ (N03m:14)

(226) [Kou [la-möp[u]] Engdewu]

DIST:PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-five E.

taa-yë=pme Engdewu.

go:IPFV:3AUG.S/A-GDIR:up=COS E.

‘Those five from Engdewu went up to Engdewu./Olketa faevfala long Engdewu ia,

olketa go ap long Engdewu nao.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

Note that even though a demonstrative determiner can appear as the head in an NP, such

use is infrequent in the material.

Demonstrative determiners are typically used exophorically to point to objects in the text-

external world, the typical deictic use. This is clearly seen in (219) above. The elicited

examples in (227) a.–f. also illustrate this. The speakers point at a rope (na) in the text-

external world.

(227) a. na kä

rope PROX:SG

‘this rope’

d. na kä=yo

rope PROX:SG=PL

‘these ropes’

b. na ka

rope MED:SG

‘that rope’

e. na ki

rope MED:PL

‘those ropes’

c. na kââ

rope DIST:SG

‘that rope (far)’

f. na kou

rope DIST:PL

‘those ropes (far)’

The distal versions of these demonstrative determiners are frequently used anaphorically to

point back to a previous mention of a referent. This was seen in (225) and (226). Consider

also (228), where the NPs noude kââ and opla kââ in the clause in the second sentence is co-

referential with dika noude and di opla from the previous sentence.


(228) Dü kou, di ka noude ni=ngë ma

INDF:PL DIST:PL INDF:SG MED:SG man PRO=3AUG.POSS with

di opla, ä la-vepla mö di ngue.

INDF:SG girl and PFV:3AUG.S/A at INDF:SG place

Ä [noude kââ] i-lai-bë kä

And man DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3 PROX:SG

mda yele dipwo le [opla kââ].

thing be.like-[PFV:N3AUG.S/A] dipwo DAT girl DIST:SG

‘Some, a boy with a girl, they sit at a place. And the boy gives something like a dipwo

to the girl./Samfala, wanfala boe wetem wanfala gele, olketa siddaon long wanfala

ples. An boe ia hemi givim wanfala samting olsem dipwö long gele ia.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

According to Ross (2004a: 177), there is usually one demonstrative form that is used

anaphorically in Oceanic languages. This is most often either the near

addressee/intermediate form, or a form employed exclusively for this purpose. In Engdewu,

however, the third form, i.e. the distal form kââ (or plural kou) is used anaphorically. A

similar pattern is observed in Äiwoo: albeit, this language only has two terms, it is the distal

and not the proximal form that is most frequently employed anaphorically (Vaa 2006: 76).

Not only is kââ used anaphorically to point back at previously mentioned referents, but also

to indicate a change in referent. Consider the example in (230). The speaker talks about

gambling and he has just introduced a group of gamblers who are referenced in the first

sentence. In the first clause in the second sentence, kââ constitutes an NP that indicates one

of the members of the newly mentioned group of gamblers.84 Later in the same multi-clause

sentence kââ appears again, but the referent is no longer the same as in the previous

mention. This time the referent has changed to another member of the group. Hence, kââ

functions as a switch-reference tracker.85

84

Note that if the speaker had used the plural form kou, the whole group would have been denoted. 85

In the Polynesian neighbour Vaeakau-Taumako, the distal demonstrative la is combined with the quantifier thai ‘one’ to mark a similar change in discourse topic.


(229) Tü-vë me tewau, tâ-o-tâkiö=pme tewau

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-go into money IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-throw=COS money

mweliö=ngë. Kââ o-to-m[u] tewau,

between=3AUG.POSS DIST:PL DETR-take-PDIR>1 money

i-welu-nii-ee, ä kââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:down-3MIN.A and DIST:PL

o-to=pmo-m[u], i-welu-nii-kapee.

DETR-take=DUPL-PDIR>1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:down-too:3MIN.S/A

‘They go into money, they throw money between them. One of them gets money, he

puts it down, and another one gets more, he puts it down, too./Olketa go intu seleni,

olketa torowem seleni bitwin olketa. Narawan tekem kam seleni, putum daon, and

narawan tekem kam moa, putum daon tu.’ (N13m_110603)

To avoid a switch in reference, a restrictive marker =pwë/=pwa (§11.3.14) is added to the

demonstrative to indicate that the referent is still the same, cf. (230).

(230) Opla kââ=pwa tu-woda

girl DIST:SG=RST IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-destroy

i-va-pe-m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-PDIR>1

‘The same girl that is destroying came./Sem gele wea hemi save distroy hem kam.’

(M01m:75)

In sum, the nominal demonstratives have a deictic function, i.e. they can pick out a referent

in the text-external world, and their forms distinguish between three degrees of distance.

The forms also make a distinction between singular and plural. They are primarily used to

determine a nominal head in an NP, but they can also be the head. Besides their deictic

function, the distal versions are frequently used as anaphora.

Vaeakau-Taumako (Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011: 442):

thai la lek-ange e-i kute-a ko le-mai, one DEM.3 go-go.along GENR-3SG see-TR INCP go-come thai la lek-ange e-i kute-a ko le-mai, one DEM.3 go-go.along GENR-3SG see-TR INCP go-come ha-hano k-osi RED-go.SG INCP-finish ‘One of them went and looked and came back, another one went and looked and came back, until they had all gone.’


9.2.1 The problem of the four kä’s in Engdewu

The proximate singular demonstrative kä has a form that is found in four different

grammatical construction types, and it is necessary to discuss whether all or some of these

are the same morpheme or different, homophonous forms. First, as a demonstrative

determiner it primarily determines the head, and secondarily acts as a head in an NP. These

functions have been described and illustrated here and in §6.2. Second, in §6.3.4.2 the form

kä was described as a bound noun, often found in participant nominalisations like kä-la-kiso

(BN:individual-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-small) 'one that is small' (cf. §6.6.1). Third, the form kä is

used as a relativiser in a relative clause, in which it appears as the first element, linking the

relative clause to the preceding head noun (cf. §14.2). And last, this form is found to be used

as a topic marker.

Wurm (1969: 78) probably has the relativising variant of kä in mind when he notes that

there is an adjectival introducer, ‘…denoting adjectival qualitative noun

adjuncts…universally present in the form mi- in R [Äiwoo] and ka-, kä-, kɛ- in the other

languages and dialects.’ Næss (2006) analyses the ‘adjectival introducer’ mi- in Äiwoo as a

nominalising form. In examples like those in (168), two nominal forms, thus, stand in

apposition.

(231) Äiwoo (Næss 2006: 277)

a. nuwopa mi-olo

house MI-big

‘the big house’

b. nuwopa mi-ku-mo John=kä

house MI-CONT-live John=CÄ

‘the house in which John lives’

Given their distribution, at least some of the kä forms in Engdewu should be analysed as

distinct morphemes. We have seen that kä heads a participant nominalisation construction

with the meaning ‘individual, one that is…’. This construction shares some formalities with

relative clauses that are introduced by a kä form and can be translated as something like

‘that is…’.

However, if the bound noun kä really is the same as the relativiser kä, it suggests that a word

like kä-la-kiso ‘child (lit. one, individual that is small)’ should have the possibility of

modifying a noun, parallel to the constructions in (232)–(233).


(232) I-kânüblüü [lepela [kä lâ-klu]RC] nege.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-follow:1MIN.S/A human REL PFV:3AUG.S/A-many today

‘I followed many people today./Mi folom staka man tude.’ (M01m_110428-000)

(233) Yele meke... la... [plet [kä lâ-pwo]RC]

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like ... ... plate REL PFV:3AUG.S/A-four

a-megle-ka=pme.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-CAUS-break-just?=COS

‘I think it’s the fourth plate she breaks./Ating mekfofala plet hem brekem nao ia.’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m)

Note also that it is impossible to put kälakiso in a similar construction. Speakers judge

*noude kä-la-kiso as ungrammatical. It can’t mean neither ‘small boy’ nor ‘small boys’. If one

wants to say any of the two, one would have to use a noun-noun compound kä-la-kiso noude.

To be specific about the number, speakers employ constructions like di kä kä-la-kiso noude /

di kou kä-la-kiso noude or kä-la-kiso noude kä/ka/kââ / kä-la-kiso noude käyo/ki/kou. This is

illustrated in the examples in (234)–(237). It should be mentioned that kä-la-kiso is found in

combination with only one other noun in the material, oplë ‘girl, woman’. It is combined in

exactly the same way as noude, i.e. kälakiso oplë ‘small girl’. One cannot rule out that these

frequently used constructions are some special kind of idiomatic expressions where the

nouns behave differently than expected.


(234) [Di ka kä-la-kiso noude]S

INDF MED:SG BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man

i-vë-m[u].


‘A boy came./Wanfala iangboe kam.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(235) Di ka mweli, [di kou

INDF MED:SG time INDF DIST:PL

kä-la-kiso noude]VCS nopmu öte.

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small ten one

‘One time, there was ten boys (lit. some boys were ten)/Wanfala taem, samfala iang

boe olkea ten.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

(236) [Kä-la-kiso noude kââ]S

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man DIST:SG

i-ngëla-nö-pe-ba, ...

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-APPL-GDIR:out-PDIR:away

The boy climbed out (on it)./Iangboe ia hem climb go aot, ... (Story_280909_M05m)

(237) ... i-lai=pmo-be le

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give=DUPL-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A? DAT

[kä-la-kiso noude kââ].

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man DIST:SG

hemi givim back long iangboe ia (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Another reason for treating the participant nominalisations with kä differently from this is

that they tend to indicate a generic agent, as signalled by the 3AUG aspect marker. These

features are parallel to those of the other participant nominal constructions where there is

no question of alternatively analysing the bound noun as a relativiser. None of these

constructions are found to modify a nominal head. That is, it is the bound noun that is the

head of the construction.

(238) mwe-la-kölö (BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-prominent) ‘old man’

(239) da-la-ngö (BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat) ‘food’

(240) ga-ta-mwa-nö (BN:place-IPFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-APPL) ‘eating place’

Notice that just like kälakiso and the other participant nominalisations with a 3AUG aspect

prefix, the agent of the verbal action is generic. This was discussed in §6.6.1. There are

however, relative clause constructions where there is no identity between the head noun


and the aspect marker.86 In the examples below, the NP denotes a single referent, while the

aspect marker prefixed to the verb in the relative clause is prefixed with a 3AUG perfective

marker. In these constructions the head noun is the O of the verb in the relative clause, and

the 3AUG aspect prefix indicates a generic or non-referential agent. These constructions are

thus similar to kälakiso in that both have a 3AUG aspect prefix that indicates a generic/non-

referential agent. But, as already explained, while the constructions below can modify an NP

head, that is not the case with kälakiso. Recall also that if the head noun is the S of the

relative clause (unfortunately, there is no data for A), a 3AUG aspect prefix is co-referent

with this argument.

(241) Okei, basikol kââ, [basikol [kä la-kielü]RC].

okay bicykle DIST:PL bicykle REL PFV:3AUG.S/A-fold

‘Okay, that bicykle, it’s a bicykle that’s folded.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(242) mö [tuna [kä la-mo-i=pme=pwë bwâ lâknu]RC].

for eel REL PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-?=COS=RST river water

‘For eel that you/they have seen in the river./Fo iilfis wea iumi lukim insaet long

wata.’ (N11m_110601-000_eelfishing)

To conclude, while there are similarities between kä as a relativiser and kä as a nominaliser,

the two constructions are different enough to operate with two distinct kä-morphemes: one

kä for participant nominalisation, the bound noun, and one kä for relativisation, the

relativiser kä.

But what about the demonstrative determiner and the relativiser? First, they never seem to

co-occur, i.e. there are no such examples as *kuli kââ kä ilöpi (dog DIST kä PFV:N3AUG.S/A-

big) in the meaning ‘the/that dog that is big’. If a noun is modified both by a demonstrative

determiner and a relative clause, only the demonstrative determiner is allowed; cf. kuli kââ

ilöpi (dog DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big) ‘the big dog’, where there is clearly no relativiser in

the relative clause. If the dog is close to the speaker, the construction would be kuli kä ilöpi,

and based on this instance it is difficult to say whether kä is a demonstrative or a relativiser,

at least without contextual information. Two things can be said about this. First, as

mentioned above and described in §14.2, there are two types of relative clauses, the formal

difference being that kä is present in one and absent in the other.87 The pragmatic difference

86

To avoid a generic reading the verb is generally inflected with a N3AUG form, which corresponds with a singular referent. 87

Note that in some contexts the construction alone could be analysed as a main clause where the noun is the subject NP of a stative verb, i.e. kuli ilöpi ‘big dog (Lit. dog is big)’, where no kä-form intervenes


between the two is that the relative construction with kä is primarily used in the

introduction of new, and, thus, unidentifiable referents, while the construction without kä is

used with identifiable referents. This explains why the demonstrative determiner and the

relativiser-kä never co-occur. Second, Heine and Kuteva (2002: 114) mention

demonstratives as a common source for relativisers. One obvious example is English that,

which is both a demonstrative (e.g. that dog) and a relativiser (e.g. I see the dog that bit me).

Another example mentioned is from the Oceanic language Buang of Papua New-Guinea,

which is comparable to the situation in Engdewu.

(243) Buang (Sankoff 1979: 35-36)

a. Ke mdo bya ken.

I live house this

‘I live in this house.’

b. Ke mdo bya ken gu le vkev.

I live house that you saw yesterday

‘I live in the house that you saw yesterday.’

In a. ken is analysed as a demonstrative and in b. it is analysed as a relative marker. It has

the same position relative to the noun in both examples, just as in Engdewu.88 Diessel (1999:

115) notes that, ‘…the path of evolution that a demonstrative might take is crucially

determined by the syntactic context in which it occurs’, and that, ‘ a dnominal

demonstratives give rise to grammatical items that function as operators of nominal

constituents’. One target that he mentions is linkers, ‘which function to establish an overt

link between the elements of a complex noun phrase’ (Diessel 1999: 130). The relativiser in

Engdewu is precisely a linker that links the head of an NP to a relative clause. Hence, while

there is reason to analyse the relativising kä and the demonstrative kä as two distinct

morphemes, the source of the former may very well be the latter.

An interesting point to be made is that in those Oceanic languages where a demonstrative is

found to be the source, the linkers have developed from a medial demonstrative form of the

three-way system in POc (Ross 2004a: 178). As noted above, the demonstratives in

Engdewu reflect the three-way pattern in POc, but it is the proximal form that seems to be

the source for the relativiser.

between the head noun and the verb. It is, however, rather unusual that a bare noun alone constitutes a core argument phrase (Chapter 6). 88

A difference between Buang and Engdewu, however, is that in the former language the same form is also used as a demonstrative adverbial meaning ‘here’ (Sankoff 1979: 35-36). As described in §9.4, there is an independent set of demonstrative adverbs in Engdewu.

9.3 Demonstrative pronouns 253

A fourth function of kä was also mentioned above, namely marking of topic. In this situation,

it only appears after a sentence-initial NP that very often stands in apposition to the clause,

as also will be discussed below. As can be seen in (265)–(267), it can occur with kä forms

that are analysed as demonstrative determiners. Thus, to analyse the kä in question as a

determiner would be odd because two demonstrative determiners would then follow each

other, and they would even sometimes express a clash in distance.

9.3 Demonstrative pronouns

There is a special set of demonstrative pronouns as mentioned in 5.3. These forms are

derived from the demonstrative determiners by a prefix e-. This prefix is not found

anywhere else. While the demonstrative determiners were described to be used

anaphorically in §9.2, these are found to be used deictically. The demonstrative pronouns

are repeated in Table 9.3.

Table 9.3: Demonstrative pronouns in Engdewu

Proximal Medial Distal

SG e-kä e-ka e-kââ

PL e-kä=yo e-ki e-kou

Consider the example in (244) where eka functions as the S-argument of the clause. The

context is a group of people which has just tricked the protagonist in the story into climbing

a big tree to fetch a pandanus fruit for them. As they stand on the ground, they point out the

specific fruit they want him to get for them. The use of eka here is clearly deictic.

(244) Eka tü-lee-pe mö pöle=de

MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-hang-GDIR:out at end=3MIN.POSS

kä lade kä.

PROX:SG side PROX:SG

‘That one hangs out at its end (the brach’s), at this side./Datwan ia hemi hang long

en blong hem ia, dis saet ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Note that eka in (244) possibly could be analysed in another way. This second way would be

to analyse it as what Diessel (1999: 5) calls an ‘identifier’, which, ‘…function[s] to identify a

referent in the speech situation’. While pronouns with identificational function are often

considered demonstrative pronouns, ‘…many languages distinguish ordinary demonstrative

pronouns from demonstratives in copular and nonverbal clauses’ (Diessel 1999: 5). (244)


would then have to be analysed as a verbless clause with an identifier and a complement

clause, and the reading would then be something like, ‘there is one that hangs out at its end,

at this side’. Based on the example in (245), however, it is clear that the form is

interchangeable with an NP, and a pronominal analysis is chosen.

The example in (245) illustrates how ekä ‘this one’ can be interchanged with the NP buk kä

‘that book’. It is an answer to a question about whether the speaker’s brother has finished

reading a book. Notice here also that ekä ‘this one’ in a. can be interchanged with the NP buk

kä ‘this book’ in b. Also, in this example the demonstrative pronoun is analysed to be

deictically, to point at an actual book in the text-external world.

(245) (Q.55:M03m) [Q: Your brother DO what his teacher told him to do today?] (Yes,) he

READ (all of) this book (as he was told)

a. Eu, i-vaki-pmee ekä

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A PROX:SG

yoko

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘Yes, he read all of this one (book)./Ies, hemi rid disfala (buk) finis.’

b. Eu, i-vaki-pmee [buk kä ]

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A book PROX:SG

yoko


‘Yes, he read all of this book./Ies, hemi rid disfala buk finis.’

9.4 Demonstrative adverbs

The demonstrative adverbs are formally related to the demonstrative determiners, and they

exhibit the same three-way distance-oriented pattern. That is, while the demonstrative

adverbs do not express a distinction in number, they show a similar vowel alternation

between the proximal, medial, and distal forms as that seen with the singular series of the

nominal demonstratives. The major difference is the initial consonant: the nominal

demonstratives all have an initial /k/: kä, ka and kââ, while the adverbs have an initial /m/

or /g/: me, ga and gââ. This pattern is similar to that seen with the singular distal form of

the demonstrative determiners. That the demonstrative adverbs have a different basic form

from the demonstrative determiners is, according to Diessel (1999), a pattern that is seen in

many languages of the world; cf. English this/that vs here/there. The demonstrative adverbs

are repeated in Table 9.4.

9.4 Demonstrative adverbs 255

Table 9.4: Demonstrative adverbs in Engdewu


me ga gââ

While nominal demonstratives point out objects, the demonstrative adverbs point out

places. They can be used as the only locational expression in the clause, as seen in (246) a.

and b.

(246) a. Bwâtowi telo i-wopwa-n[u] ä

arrow CL.I PFV:N3AUG.S/A-shoot-1MIN.S/A and

i-koki-mi-e me.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-come-PDIR>1-3MIN.A PROX

‘My arrow, I shot it, but it came here./Aro blong mi mi sutim long hem, bat hem

kam olsem.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Lepela gââ la-yoko-to=pme.

human DIST PFV:3AUG.S/A-finish-?=COS

‘The people there are done./Olketa pipol long there olketa finis nao.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Demonstrative adverbs can also be used in combination with other locational expressions,

as seen in (247) a. and b.

(247) a. Nege ta-welu=pme me mö döknu,…

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-put=COS PROX at wall

‘Then they put it here in the wall,…/Den olketa putum long hea long wol,…’

(Story_200909_M11m)

b. …tü-vö, tü-vö, tü-vö,

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

tü-vö, tü-vö ga yowu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go MED on.top

‘…go, go, go, go, go (there) on top./…go ap, go, go, go ontap.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

There is a formal similarity between the proximal form me and the locative adverb mo ‘far

away’, but it is not known whether they are synchronically or diachronically related.


(248) Plet kââ i-mno-m[u] mo kä

plate DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-PDIR>1 far.away REL

i-pipwe,…

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little

‘The plate stays (i.e. is) a little bit far away,…/Plet ia stap farawe lelebet,…’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

There is another locative adverb don[u], cf. (249), which, like the demonstrative adverb, is

translated ‘here’. The meaning of this adverb, however, is ‘the geographical place (like the

village) in which the speaker is situated’. It is, thus, not considered a demonstrative since it

does not indicate a specific spot situated with the deictic centre.

(249) Pwei lâ-mo mno=de don[u]

father-[1MIN.POSS] PFV:3AUG.S/A-look eye=3MIN.POSS here

Mömwawë.

M.

‘My dad was born (lit. they saw his eye) here in Mömwawë./Dadi blong mi bon hea

long Mömwawë.’ (M06m:56)

Demonstrative adverbs are often used as utterances alone. Whether they are predicates in a

verbless clause or just sentence fragments can be discussed. However, they often do appear

in constructions with other, pronominal material which can be seen as the argument in a

verbless clause where the demonstrative adverb is the predicate.

In (250) nide ga is analysed as a verbless clause where ga is the predicate, i.e. ‘she is there’.

(250) Ni=de ga, eu, (në)gää tapoitöpme ga.

PRO=3MIN.POSS MED yes then float-GDIR:in=COS MED

‘She’s there, yes, then floats there./Hem long dea, ies, flot go long dea.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

It is especially interesting that a demonstrative adverb can co-occur with a progressive

marker. This is yet another argument for predicate function as the progressive markers (just

like any marker of tense, aspect, or mood) modify predicates and not arguments. In these

constructions the demonstrative adverbs are only used exophorically to point to referents in

the text-external world, as illustrated in (252).89

89

Note that a form da ki is also found, meaning ‘those things/olketa samting ia’. (Story_042009_N01m)

9.4 Demonstrative adverbs 257

(251) Nelya nyo=gâ ma bwale ite amo

village CL.V=1AUG.POSS with old.woman mother:1MIN.POSS and

bwale kââ, dä me.

old.woman DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS PROX

‘Our place, with mother and grandmother, it’s here./Ples blong mifala, mami blong

mi and grani blong mi, hem long hea.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(252) a. To-m[u] na, dä ga!

take-PDIR>1 rope CONT:SG:IVS MED

‘Get the rope, it is there (invisible)!/Getim rop, hem long dea!’

b. To-m[u] na kââ, da ga!

take-PDIR>1 rope DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS MED

‘Get that rope, it is there (visible)!/Getim rop, hem long dea!’

The continuous particle is primarily used to report about present, ongoing situations, i.e. the

speaker reports on the unfolding of a given situation at the moment of speaking, without

focus on past or future, thus forcing a dynamic reading of the event expressed by the clause.

This is close to how it is used with active verbs in combination with an imperfective prefix in

the progressive construction described in §12.3.5. Note that in English, the ‘progressive’ is

also used with some stative predicates, e.g. in sentences like She is staying with us. Compare

the verbless clauses above to the verbal clause with the nondynamic verb mno ‘stay’ in

(253).

(253) Kä-la-kiso kââ dä

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS

tu-mno-pe ga on.top

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-GDIR:out MED yowu.

‘The child is staying up there./Pikinini ia hem stap dea ontap.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

The continuous particle is described in more detail in §11.3.2, and progressive constructions

are discussed in §12.3.5.

9.4.1 Temporal demonstrative adverbs

The demonstrative adverbs described above are used to indicate location, and they cannot

be used temporally. As described in Chapter 5, Engdewu has a set of temporal adverbs that


indicate time, as given in Table 9.5. These forms are clearly related to the other

demonstrative forms, and that is why they are mentioned here.

Table 9.5: Temporal demonstrative adverbs in Engdewu


nege/nëgä

(present)

nëgää

(recent past)

nogââ

(past)

The formal difference between the proximal and medial form is that while the former has

short vowels in both syllables and stress on the first, the second form has a long second

vowel, and, thus, stress on the last, heavy syllable. The semantic difference between the

latter two ‘then’-forms is not clear. All three forms have a short form, respectively ge/gä,

gää and gââ. Examples are given in (254), (255), and (256). The latter two examples,

illustrating the medial and distal variants, demonstrate that these forms are used as

temporal clause combining elements, and they should, thus, possibly be analysed as

conjunctions. This is the most frequent use for the medial and distal variants.

(254) Nëgä ö-pi-ö myei no-ngwe lâknu kä

now DETR-say-APPL brother-[1MIN.POSS] IRR-be.like water REL

i-pwë.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘My brother says right now that the water is cold./Brata blong mi hemi talem

distaem wea wata hem col.’ (TMA:Q.109_N02m)

(255) Pita i-tee ni awiö, nëgää

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit:3MIN.A PRO-[1MIN.POSS] before then

tü-ta=pmo Pol ni.

IPFV:3M-hit=DUPL P. PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Paul hit me first, then Peter hit me, too./Pita hitim mi fastaem, den Pol hitim mi

bihaen.’ (M08m)

9.5 Complex demonstrative forms 259

(256) I-vë-m[u], nogââ i-mo-le

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 then PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-3MIN.A

mwe-la-köle kââ naknü di ka

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-prominent DIST:SG today INDF:SG MED:SG

mda sau-ti-nö-de.

thing [IPFV:N3AUG.S/A]-find -TR-APPL-3MIN.A

‘He came, then he saw the old man who found something today./Hem kam den

hemi lukim bigman tude ia wea faendem wanfala samting.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

9.5 Complex demonstrative forms

9.5.1 Based on the indefinite article

Chapter 6 described two different positions for the demonstrative determiners when they

function as modifiers of the head in an NP. One is after the head, where its function is to

make the NP definite. The nominal demonstrative can, however, also appear in pre-head

position in combination with an indefinite article. The resulting forms are given in Table 9.6.

Two things can be noted about the combinations of article and demonstrative. First, they

tend to be pronounced as a single phonological unit where stress is assigned according to

the general stress rules described in §4.7.90 And second, special allomorphic forms of the

demonstrative determiners appear in some of these combinations.

90

In elicitation, speakers tend to add demonstrative adverbs, yielding forms that are said to distinguish not only between distance and number, but also visibility. Such forms, however, are not found in the material preceding the head in an NP. It is possible that the addition of a demonstrative adverb is merely an effect of the elicitation situation. That is, grammatical elements that usually determine a noun are not normally used alone. An adverb is, thus, added, resulting in what perhaps should be analysed as verbless clauses with meanings like ‘this (indefinite) thing that is here’ and ‘this (indefinite) thing that is there’. More investigation is needed.


Visible Invisible Visible Invisible Visible Invisible

SG di kä (me) ? di ka (ga) di kä (ga) di ka gââ di kââ

di kää (ga)

PL di käyo ? di (k)öki ga di kou (ga) di öki gââ/gou di kou (ga)


Table 9.6: Demonstrative determiners based on the indefinite article

Proximal (P) Medial (M) Distal (D)

SG di kä di ka di kââ/di kää

PL di kä=yo di (k)öki di kou

One oddity should be mentioned about these forms. When the distal singular demonstrative

is combined with the article, two different forms are found. The first is kââ, as expected,

following the general pattern. The other form is kää. The form kää, with a long vowel, differs

from the basic demonstrative determiner kââ. The only thing that sets it apart from the

proximal singular visible form kä is vowel length. Note also that speakers sometimes add a

/k/ in front of the demonstrative determiner when it is combined with the article; cf. the

medial plural form (k)öki. The reason for this is not understood. One suggestion is that this

is an effect of paradigmatic levelling, i.e. that the initial /k/ appears by analogy with the

other forms in the paradigm, which all have an initial /k/. Another suggestion is that a form

kä is inserted by analogy with the proximal forms and that it has merged with öki, yielding

köki.

The following examples show how these complex forms are used deictically in the

introduction of new referents. In (258) the proximal plural version of the nominal

demonstrative precedes the noun mda ‘thing’ in the NP di kayo mda ‘some things’.

(257) Ah, [di ka mweli] [di ka opla]

ah INDF:SG MED:SG time INDF:SG MED:SG girl

yela=pme.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.married=COS

‘Ah, there was a time a woman was married./Ah, wanfala taem wanfala woman

hemi marit nao.’ (Story_100909_M05m)

(258) [Di kä=yo mda] tü-mo-lü




la-ngë?

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘I see some things which go all about, are those things for eating?/Samfala samting

mi lukim olketa go olabaot long here, olketa samting ia olketa kaikaim?’

(Story_041009_N01m)


Dixon (2010a: 227) describes how demonstratives in many languages are synchronically or

diachronically related to articles, and in some languages they even co-occur. In Engdewu,

when a demonstrative determiner determines a noun in a post-head position, this link is

obvious: the function is to make the NP definite. A link between demonstratives and

indefinite markers is not mentioned by Dixon, perhaps because it is less common. In this

case the NP is not marked as definite, but as indefinite specific. That is, the demonstrative

serves to specify the location of the referent the speaker has in mind. Notice the similarity

with ‘indefinite this’ in English, i.e. in constructions like I met this man on the train

yesterday.91 These complex forms in Engdewu are not found as being used anaphorically.

This can be explained as a natural consequence of their only appearing in phrases that

introduce new referents.

Consider the example in (259), which is the first response to the very first clip of the Staged

Events elicitation task (set A). The speaker has not seen any of the persons in the clips

before, and they are, thus, unidentifiable to him. Dükou ‘INDF:PL’ is used pronominally as a

stand-alone word, drawing attention to a plurality of unknown referents. Then the referent

is further specified: dika is used as a determiner before the noun noude ‘man’, while opla

‘girl’ is only determined by a singular article.

(259) Dü kou, di ka noude ni=ngë ma

INDF:PL DIST:PL INDF:SG MED:SG man PRO=3AUG.POSS with

di opla.

INDF:SG girl

‘Some, a boy with a girl./Samfala, wanfala boe wetem wanfala gele.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Vaa (2006) describes that the quantifier dä in Äiwoo is used in the same fashion as di (and

dü) in Engdewu. But there are differences. First, while Äiwoo dä can also be employed to

modify NPs denoting human referents (Vaa 2006: 63), the numeral nyigi ‘one’ seems to be

reserved for this task (Vaa 2006: 68). In Engdewu, the article is used with human referents

as well as non-human referents, as seen in (259) and (258) respectively. Second, dä is not

found in constructions with demonstratives. Even though both the indefinite article and the

quantifier (§5.7.2) in Engdewu sometimes determine nouns without being accompanied by

a demonstrative, they mostly co-occur with a demonstrative.

91

Remember also that if the NP is an O-argument that follows the verb, a demonstrative determiner precedes the head noun alone to make it specific, without it following an article.


While speakers often include demonstrative adverbs in the elicitation of these complex

demonstrative forms, demonstrative adverbs are seldom found to be inserted between the

article and the head. But there are a few examples in the material, as seen in (260). In this

example, the deictic value of the demonstrative determiner and the demonstrative adverb

does not match.

(260) Di kou me lepela te-yawe=pmo,

INDF DIST:SG PROX people IPFV:3AUG.S/A-play=DUPL

te-yawe bolo.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-play ball

‘Some men here play again, they play ball./Samfala man moa olketa plei mo, olketa

plei bol.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

9.5.2 Based on bound nouns

Chapter 6 described how bound nouns can appear in constructions with both demonstrative

determiners and demonstrative adverbs to form complex demonstrative nominals. These

constructions commonly constitute an NP on their own. The examples in (261) and (262)

show forms with the bound noun da ‘thing’ and demonstrative determiners.

(261) Da-ka tâ-olomo-ti-ngë, da-ka

BN:thing-MED:SG IPFV:3AUG.S/A-find-TR-3AUG.A BN:thing-MED:SG

ta-ngö-ngö öki.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-3AUG.A MED:PL

‘Anything (lit. that) they find, (that) they eat./Eniting olketa faendem, hem na fo

olketa kaikai.’ (N09m_110530-002)

(262) Da-ki tü-öpwe mö latöü.

BN:thing-MED:PL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-shoot? with bow

‘Those things, you shoot them with a bow./Olketa samting ia, olketa sutim long bou.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Bound nouns can form complexes with demonstrative adverbs, too, as seen in (263) and

(264) with the bound noun ga ‘place’.


(263) Dawea, ni=m[u] vö ä i-tu-a

D. PRO=2MIN.POSS go and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand-2MIN.S/A

ga-gââ.

BN:place-DIST

‘Dawea, you go and stand there./Dawea, iu stanap go long dea.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(264) Te i-mo=pwe ga-gââ

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2 BN:place-DIST

tü-vö-yö-dä leta

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A letter

‘I cannot see the place where he is writing letters./Mi no lukim ples ia wea hemi

raetem leta ia.’ (TMA.Q.7_N02m)

In addition to the anaphoric and deictic uses, these demonstrative pronominal forms are

found to be used discourse deictically, that is, they can, ‘…refer to elements of the

surrounding discourse’ (Diessel 1999: 101). Rather than picking out participants in the

prior discourse (like an anaphor), they point to whole propositions. This is illustrated in

(265)–(267) where the demonstrative forms point out of the clause, to a proposition

expressed by another clause. Notice in these examples the form kä that follows the

constructions in question. It may look like two demonstrative determiners appearing in

sequence. This, however, is unlikely, first, because it is unusual that two demonstratives of

the same category follow each other, and second, because the deictic value expressed by the

hypothesised second demonstrative does not necessarily match that of the former, as seen

in (266). Recall, however, that mismatch in deictic value is found when a demonstrative

determiner and a demonstrative adverb co-occur (as seen in [(260)]). In (267) the number

values expressed by the forms do not match. Another option is to analyse kä as a relativiser,

as discussed in §9.2.1. If so, the verb forms are really relative clauses. This is also unlikely

because these utterances then would be odd for several reasons: First, as described in §14.2,

the relativiser is used as a marker of relative clauses that modify nouns representing new

information. The demonstrative forms in these examples, however, indicate information

that is identifiable from the previous context. Second, if kä tüwa really is a relative clause,

then the main clause would lack a verbal predicate, and the utterances would have to be

analysed as a verbless clause. While there are verbless clauses in Engdewu, none of them are

analysed as having a relative clause as the predicate (§14.2).


(265) Da-kä kä tu-wa.

BN:thing-PROX:SG TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-true

‘This is true./Diswan tru.’

(266) Da-ka kä tu-wa.

BN:thing-MED:SG TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-true

‘That’s true./Datwan tru.’

(267) Da-kä=yo kä tu-wa.

BN:thing-DIST:SG TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-true

‘These things (PL) are true./Olketa tru.’ (M08m:27)

The kä form in these constructions is best analysed as a topic marker in the sense of

Lambrecht (1994: 131), who defines a topic expression as an expression that is associated

with a clause that denotes a proposition that is about the referent denoted by the topic

expression. This referent necessarily needs to be identifiable. In the Engdewu examples the

phrases in question always denote a referent that is retrievable from the text-external world

or from the previous discourse, as described in §§13.3 and 13.4. These phrases are not

necessarily parts of the clause, but, rather, stand in apposition to it. Usually, the form kä is

used for this purpose, as seen above. Consider, however, the constructions in (268) where it

seems like the plural form ki can be used as a topic marker when the referent is plural. That

(at least) kä and ki function as topic markers explain the possible mismatch in forms, for

example seen in (266) and (268), since distance is less relevant for topicalisation.

(268) a. nübwa ni=ngö ki gââ

shark PRO=3AUG.POSS TOP:PL DIST

‘those sharks/olketa sak long dea’ (M10f:25)

b. Nëtü la-lii, ni=ngö ki

dolphin PFV:3AUG.S/A-two PRO=3AUG.POSS TOP:PL

gââ ta-piapu.

DIST IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-jump

‘The two dolphins, they jump./Tufala dolpin alketa jamp.’

9.6 A note on the differences in the demonstrative systems in RSC

Three-term systems are widespread in Oceanic languages, and it is suggested that they have

descended from a three-way person-oriented system in Proto-Oceanic (Ross 2004a: 177). In

RSC, both Äiwoo and Natügu have been described as having two-term systems (Vaa 2006;

van den Berg and Boerger 2011). Natügu is described by Boerger (in progress) as having a

9.6 A note on the differences in the demonstrative systems in RSC 265

special type of person-oriented system, where the speaker can switch the perspective

between that of his/her own and the addressee’s. Despite this feature which might have

evolved independently in Natügu, the systems in both Äiwoo and Natügu entail a reduction

from the Proto-Oceanic system, from three to two basic terms. The system in Engdewu, on

the other hand, has kept the three-way distinction.

Like Engdewu, Äiwoo exhibits a distance-oriented system expressed in the demonstrative

determiners, enge/eângâ, and the demonstrative adverbs, ke-le/kâ-lâ. Thus, in Äiwoo as in

Engdewu, the determiners are formally different from the adverbs (cf. Engdewu kä/ka/kââ

vs. me/ga/gââ). In Äiwoo, however, the demonstrative adverb forms are related to another

basic pair of forms, le/lâ, which is a type of demonstrative particle occurring adnominally

(Vaa 2006). The adverbs in Engdewu, on the other hand, are unsegmentable, but they

appear to be closer to the determiners. Notice that all proximal and distal forms in Äiwoo

reflect the same vowel qualities, e and â, as the Engdewu proximal and distal forms. These

are obvious reflexes of the vowels found in some of the deictic forms reconstructed for

Proto-Oceanic, as discussed above. In addition, all medial forms in Engdewu exhibit the

vowel a, which is possibly a reflex of medial deictic forms reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic.

As in Engdewu, the demonstrative determiners in Äiwoo can combine with bound nouns.

The result is forms that can act as heads in an NP, i.e. nye-enge (BN:place-PROX) and nye-

ângâ (BN:place-DIST). Vaa (2006: 45) also mentions a set, i-le/i-lâ, which he describes as

‘demonstrative identifiers’. These are, like the demonstrative adverbs (ke-le/kâ-lâ), formally

related to the pair le/lâ. Though their function needs more investigation, the possible

cognacy with the Engdewu demonstrative pronouns e-kä/e-ka/e-kââ should be pointed out.

The system in Natügu deviates from either of those in Äiwoo and Engdewu. Boerger (in

progress) explains that the set of demonstrative determiners (demonstrative pronouns are

not at present described for Natügu) is participant oriented with two pairs of forms, one

expressing speaker perspective and the other addressee perspective. There are several

things to notice. In the two pairs, ka/kâ (speaker perspective) and la/lâ (addressee

perspective), the proximal forms have similar vowel quality as those found in Äiwoo and

Engdewu. The distal forms in Natügu, however, have similar quality as the medial Engdewu

forms. The system in Engdewu seems to be the most conservative as it is formally closer to

the one described for POc. If this is so, both Äiwoo and Natügu have evolved from a three-

way to a two-way system. In the former, the medial forms were simply lost, while in the

latter language the original distal variants were lost while the medial forms came to be used

as new distal markers.


Note also that Vaa (2006: 46-49) mentions a pair of monosyllabic forms in Äiwoo, =ke and

=kâ, that are described as ‘locational enclitics’ (as they attach to both verbal and nominal

hosts). These are formally similar to the proximal and distal demonstrative determiners in

Engdewu, and to the corresponding forms in Natügu.

(269) Äiwoo (Vaa 2006: 43)

nemaa ki-do=wâ, nyâ-nou enge=ke

if IPFV-what=LOC:DIST BN:tree-banana PROX=LOC:PROX

ki-bapo-no. Lâto luwa-kä toponu=kä,

IPFV-push-1MIN then take-DIR turtle=CT

ilâ nyâ-nou eângâ=kâ, luwâ-kä=nä

DIST BN:tree-banana DIST=LOC:DIST take-DIR=CT

‘…if you keep doing that, I'll push this banana tree down.’ So the turtle did, that

banana tree, he did this,’

267

CHAPTER 10. VERB TYPES

10.1 Introduction

Chapter 5 defined a verb as a root whose primary function is as the head of a predicate.

While Chapter 11 discusses verbal morphology in more detail, this chapter is about the

classification of basic verb roots in Engdewu, according to their form, function structure,

and semantics. The findings are based on a questionnaire on transitivity (Nichols, Peterson,

and Barnes 2004), a thorough study of selected verbs, and general findings in the material.

Thus, it must be stressed that the findings presented here are not grounded in a statistical

analysis of all verbs in the material.

While most verb roots in Engdewu are intransitive, this is not the general pattern for all.

Some roots are basically transitive and others are ambitransitive. Many verbs in Engdewu

appear in pairs with an intransitive and a transitive member. The formal correspondence

between the forms in these pairs follows a number of different morphological patterns, both

concatenative and non-concatenative.

Affixation is the most common way of derivation. In most pairs, an intransitive root is the

basic form from which the transitive is derived. These derivations involve an argument-

adding affix; either a causative prefix (v)a- (§11.2.2); a transitivising suffix -ti (§11.2.3); an

applicative suffix -(n)ö (§11.2.4); or a comitative suffix -mi (§11.2.5). In other pairs, a

transitive root is the basic form from which the intransitive is derived. These derivations

involve a prefix that reduces the syntactic or semantic valency of the verb; either a 3AUG

mood/aspect prefix la-/lâ-/le- ‘PFV:3AUG.S/A’ or ta-/tâ-/te- ‘IPFV:3AUG.S/A (§11.3.3),

resulting in an agent backgrounding; or a detransitive prefix (v)ö- (§11.2.1), resulting in a

‘semi-transitive form’.

A few pairs exhibit base modification, recognised by a change in root vowel. This is referred

to as ablaut.

In some other instances, the morphological pattern in the pair can be described as

conversion, i.e. where the base form is unaltered. These verb forms are called ambitransitive

verb forms, because the same form can be used in both intransitive and transitive

constructions.

268 Chapter 10 Verb types

Finally, some intransitive-transitive pairs are suppletive, i.e. they share no obvious common

form, and, thus, cannot be described in terms of a morphological rule. Note that there are no

ditransitive verbs in Engdewu. That is, a verb can have a maximum of two core arguments. A

third participant role is generally encoded by a dative phrase (§5.4), or a possessive phrase

(§8.4).

This chapter is primarily about underived verb roots and non-concatenative morphological

patterns seen in transitive-intransitive pairs. §10.2 is about types of basically intransitive

verbs, §10.3 about basically transitive verbs, and §10.4 about ambitransitive verbs.

Concatenative morphological patterns, that is, derivational affixes in the verb base, will be

treated in their respective subsections in Chapter 11. However, the combinatory potential of

these affixes as regards type of verb root they attach to will be noted here. The expression of

three-participant events is treated in §13.4.1

10.2 Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs by definition take only one core argument, an S-argument. This argument

is optionally present as an NP in the clause. The S-argument is also indexed on the verb in

two ways: through an optional subject suffix,92 and by an obligatory mood/aspect prefix.

While there are subject suffix forms for all persons/numbers, it must be stressed that

mood/aspect prefixes only exhibit a distinction between 3AUG and all other

persons/numbers, and, thus, only marginally express persons/numbers of S arguments.

Mood/aspect prefixes and person marking are described in §11.3.3, while the form of

person markers is described in Chapter 7. The form of NPs was described in Chapter 6,

while constituent structure, including order of core function NPs, is described in Chapter 13.

Intransitive verbs can be categorised in two main groups according to the S argument’s

involvement as actor or undergoer in the event expressed. One group of intransitive verbs

expresses activities implying that the S-argument is a volitional actor of the activity. This

type of verb is labelled ‘A-verbs’ by Ross (1998). The argument of an A-verb is labelled ‘Sa’

after Dixon (2010b) because of its resemblance with the ‘transitive subject’ (A), that is, both

typically denote agent participants. The other group of intransitive verbs expresses events

and states where the S-argument is an undergoer or experiencer of the event denoted by the

verb. This type of verb is labelled ‘U-verbs’ by Ross (1998). The argument of a U-verb can be

92

As indicated elsewhere, ‘subject’ is used about S and A (function) arguments, and ‘object’ is used about O (function) arguments in this thesis (cf. Chapter 13).

10.2 Intransitive verbs 269

labelled ‘So’ after Dixon (2010b) because of its semantic resemblance with transitive objects

(O).93

Sa and So arguments are formally treated the same way, as illustrated by the examples in

(270) and (271), where both S arguments appear preceding their respective verbs, which

both carrying identical aspect marking.

(270) Sa (A-verb)

Jon i-vepla=pme.

J. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit=COS

‘John sat down./Jon sidaon finis.’ (M06m:26, Transitivising/detransitivising)

(271) So (U-verb)

Newa i-minga=pme.

clothes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry=COS

‘The dishes dried (are dry)./Kaleko drae finis.’ (M06m:26,

Transitivising/detransitivising)

Even though the arguments of a typical A-verb (Sa) and a typical U-verb (So) are treated the

same way, the formal correspondences with their transitive counterparts suggest that it is

fruitful to operate with two subclasses of intransitives in Engdewu. While transitive

counterparts of U-verbs are mostly derived by the causative prefix, the corresponding pairs

that involve A-verbs can be characterised by suppletion, as well as derivation by any of the

derivational morphemes mentioned in §10.1. Ablaut is found with both A-verbs and U-

verbs. Some intransitive verbs of both A- and U-types are listed in Table 10.1.

93

Ross (1998) distinguishes between three intransitive verb types. The first type is of A-verbs which are inherently dynamic (or active) and have actor subjects. The second and third types both have undergoer subjects, where the U-stative verbs are inherently stative and cannot be transitivised by other than the causative, and the U-verbs are neither stative nor dynamic, but can be both, depending on aspect marking and context (Ross 1998: 21-22).


Table 10.1: Some intransitive A- and U-verbs in Engdewu

A-verb (Sa) U-verb (So)

ato ‘talk’ mya ‘scratch, itch’

mwa ‘eat’ tapoi ‘float’

ngala ‘crawl, climb’ yövli ‘grow’

wa ‘work’ bowi ‘be long’

vepla ‘sit’ bwotü ‘be short’

yâbu ‘suck’ bwunö ‘be slow’

yâle ‘return, walkabout’ ple ‘be ripe’

yâtu ‘step’ minga ‘be dry (not wet)’

In general A-verbs are derived by the addition of the transitive suffix, introducing an object

argument in O-function (§11.2.3). These are examples where the sole argument of the

intransitive verb denotes the agent of the transitivised verb (A-type):

ngala ‘crawl, climb’ (INTR) – ngalati ’crawl, climb at’ (TR)

yââtu ‘step’ (INTR) – yââtuti ‘step on’ (TR)

ku ‘call’ (INTR) – kuti ‘call for’ (TR)

There is found one example in the material that deviates from those just described. In all

examples above the transitiviser is attached to an A-type verb, and it licenses an O-

argument. In the present one, however, the intransitive base form is of the O-type, and the

transitiviser introduces an agent in A-function.

(272) a. Na kââ i-tubü-pe=pme.

rope DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-straight-GDIR:out=COS

‘The rope is straight. / Rop ia hem stret.’

b. Jon i-tubü-ti=pme na kââ.

J. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-straight-TR=COS rope DIST:SG

‘John straithened the rope. /Jon stretim rop ia.’ (M06m:28)

While any verb in general can occur in a relative clause that modifies the head of an NP,

some U-verbs are more likely to occur as modifiers of nouns than others (e.g. bowi, bwotü,

bwunö, ple and minga in Table 10.1); these are the stative verbs.

10.2.1 Stative verbs

There is no class of adjectives in Engdewu. Meanings expressed by adjectives in languages

like English, are expressed by the means of stative verbs in relative clauses in Engdewu. The


class of stative verbs is, however, based not only on semantic criteria. Recall from §6.5.2 that

stative verbs appear as the second member in noun-verb compounds. And as will be

illustrated below, some of them can appear in multi-verb constructions where they modify

the meaning of another verb.

As discussed in §12.3.2, when a stative verb functions as a predicate in a main clause, it is,

unlike other verb types commonly inflected with a perfective marker in past, present, and

future situations. This is illustrated in (273), which could be used about the past, present,

and future.

(273) Matu kä i-löpi.

house PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘The house is big./Haus ia hem bikfala.’

Stative verbs are described as denoting events, ‘…having an indeterminate extent in time’

(Schachter and Shopen 2007: 11), or as reporting, ‘…situations that do not change’

(Timberlake 2007: 284). The typical unchanging situations expressed by stative verbs are

probably the reason for the general lack of variation in the aspect-marking of such verb

forms as bowi, bwotü, bwunö, ple and minga, which can all be argued to have such a semantic

characteristic as that just described.94 Stative verbs are a subgroup of U-verbs. These verbs

are labelled U-stative by Ross (1998). U-stative verbs are inherently stative and, ‘…have no

corresponding transitive’ (Ross 1998: 22), but their valency can be increased by causative

derivation. U-stative verbs will simply be called stative verbs here, and treated as a

subgroup of U-verbs because they share the defining semantic feature of having undergoer S

arguments.

Wurm describes that an ‘adjective introducer’ kä obligatorily precedes ‘adjectival qualitative

noun adjuncts’ that are obligatorily prefixed with i- (~u-) (Wurm 1969: 78). The adjuncts are

analysed here as stative verbs constituting relative clauses that modify the head in an NP.

When a stative verb acts as a modifier of an NP head, it is inflected as a rule, again with a

third person perfective aspect marker (usually i- ‘PFV:N3AUG.S/A’),95 and preceded by a

relativiser kä (see discussion of this form in §9.2.1). This is illustrated in (274).

94

However, arguably, there are grades of stativity. A tall tree, for instance, has not always been long, and a ripe papaya has not always been ripe. Nevertheless, these are features that are more or less stable at the time of speech. 95

Note that there are some stative verbs that are never attested with i-, i.e. upwö ‘white’, utö(pwö) ‘small’, upü ‘hot’ all indicate perfective aspect. u- should probably be analysed as an allomorph of the non-third person augmented perfective marker.


(274) Sapugü kââ i-dakau-e [kä nabwa

rat DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-make-3MIN.A PROX:SG mouth

nunga [kä i-löpi ]] mö ningi lo.

hole REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big in ray pandanus

‘The rat made a big hole in the roof (lit. pandanus rays, i.e. long, pointed leaves of

pandanus)./Rat ia mekem wanfala bikfala ol long ruf.’ (M06m_110426-000)

There are two types of relative clause in Engdewu, as discussed in §14.2. They are

structurally similar, except that the second type lacks a relativiser kä. The former is used

with unidentifiable referents, while the latter is used with referents that are already known

or retrievable from the context. This is illustrated in (275), where a relative clause with the

stative verb bo ‘be blue’ modifies the noun tim ‘team’.

(275) Te-yawe=pmo-ngö nyö tim kââ

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-play=DUPL-3AUG.A CL.V team DIST:SG

[i-bo].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-blue

‘They play again with the blue team./Olketa plei moa wetem blu tim ia.’

(SE_set1_210909)

It was mentioned that stative verbs can also be the sole predicate in a clause. This is seen in

(276)–(278). The former example illustrates this with the stative verb kotei ‘be good’, which

is inflected with an imperfective aspect prefix and functions as the main clause predicate.

That the basically stative verb kotei ‘be good’ is inflected with an imperfective prefix

arguably forces a non-stative reading and illustrates how basically stative verbs can be

employed to denote non-stative situations: a basic reading of kotei ‘good’ is as a stable

property of an object or a situation, but here the reading is rather as a changeable event.

This is discussed in §12.3.3. The example in (277) has the imperfective form sâloulü as

predicate. This form is analysed as the imperfective marker tü- attached to yâloulü, resulting

in the form sâloulü. Recall from §4.6.7 that an imperfective prefix tend to change into /s/ in

front of a /j/-initial base. This is audible as both [sjɒl ulʉ] and [sɒl ulʉ], where the /j/ is

elided, as seen in the example. In the example in (278) yoko, which is prefixed with a 3AUG

perfective marker, is the predicate in the main clause.


(276) Nëge i-tave-i, mwatüti

today PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sick-1MIN.S/A tomorrow

tu-kotei-ü.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-good-1MIN.S/A

‘Today, I’m sick: tomorrow, I’ll be fine./Tude, mi sik: tumoro, bae mi gud.’ (M08m:57)

(277) Dä sâloulü.

CONT:SG:VIS [IPFV:N3AUG.S/A]-quick

‘He is quick./Hem kvik na.’ (M08m:48)

(278) La-yoko pedoo.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-finish bush

‘Everyone went to the bush (lit. they were all in the bush.)/Mifala go finis evrivan.’

(Story_101009_N12m)

While the stative verbs seen so far have modified nouns, some stative verbs can, rather, be

seen as modifiers of other verbs. Consider (279) and (280), where the stative verbs yoko ‘be

finished’ and yâloulü ‘be quick’ modifies the verbs mwa ‘eat’ and vë ‘go’, respectively. Note

again that the verb forms of the stative verbs both are analysed as perfective verb forms.

The perfective marker i- (PFV:N3AUG.S/A) is as a rule elided before a /j/-initial base.

(279) I-mwa-n[u] yoko.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-1MIN.S/A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘I finished eating./Mi kaikai finis.’ (Story_090909_M12m)

(280) Dä tü-vë-m[u] yâloulü.

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-quick

‘He is coming fast./Hem kam kuik.’ (M08m:48)

These constructions have properties similar to ‘ambient serial verb constructions’. In these

constructions, ‘a serialized verb makes some kind of qualification about the manner in

which an action is performed, with the manner being expressed by means of a serialized

stative verb’ (Crowley 2002a: 41). Note, however, that this cannot be considered

serialisations, because the verbs have different TMA value and thus cannot be part of the

same clause.

There is another common construction which could also be analysed as an ambient SVC, as

illustrated in (281) and (282). These constructions also express manner, just like those in

(279) and (280), but the difference between them, however, is not understood.


(281) Dä tu-tu â-kotei

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand CAUS?-good

‘He is standing steadily (lit. good)/Hem stanap gud.’ (M06m:7)

(282) Yaglü-e nabwe=de âloulü.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-flap-3MIN.A wing=3MIN.POSS quick

‘It flapped its wings fast./Hemi flapim wing blong hem kuik.’ (N03m:11)

The construction in (281) is analysable as kotei ‘be good’ prefixed with a morpheme â-

which possibly is an allomorph of the causative marker (v)a- (§11.2.2). The second verb-

form âloulü in (282) is also â-initial. Notice, however, that the verb root was analysed as

yâloulü, based on the examples in (277) and (280). The latter clearly indicates that yâloulü is

the base. However, in (282), loulü seems to be the base to which â- is attached. At present,

the relationship between these forms is not understood.

However, if the second verb form in these constructions indeed are causative forms, there

are related serial verb constructions in other Oceanic languages. In some, a stative verb in

second position in serial verb constructions, ‘…must be derived by a prefix formally similar

to the causative prefix’ (Bril 2010: 5). An example from Hoava of the Western Solomon

Islands is the V2 leani ‘good’ which carries such an inflection.

(283) Hoava (Bril 2010: 5; after Davies 2003: A grammar of the Hoava language, Western

Solomons)

Koni ome va-leani-o goe.

FUT see CAUS-good.TR-3SG 2SG

‘You will see it well.’

As suggested above, the only way to increase the valency of a stative verb is by adding a

causative prefix.96

96

When that is said, causativisation is theoretically possible in many cases, but still seems strange to speakers. When the example in b. was presented to a speaker he did not accept it until a context where the subject was told to possess magical powers was established, because it is generally impossible to make a stick longer than it is unless it is physically adjoined to another stick. Therefore, under normal circumstances the example in c. is preferable, where the verb tavia ‘join’ is used. a. Nungo kä i-bowi.

stick PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long ‘The stick is long./Stik ia hem long.’ (N09m:24)

b. ?Pita a-bowi nungo. P. CAUS-long stick ‘Peter makes the stick to be long./Pita mekem stik long.’


(284) a. beli i-bwangwe

basket PFV:N3AUG.S/A-broken

‘(the) basket is broken./basket hem brek.’ (N11m:13)

b. Pita a-bwangwe=pmee beli

P. CAUS-broken=COS:3MIN.A basket

‘Peter broke (the) basket./Pita brekem basket.’ (N11m:13)

Numerals in Engdewu obligatorily take TMA marking, and they usually appear in relative

clauses where they modify a head noun in an NP. They are, thus, analysed as stative verbs.

10.2.2 Numeral verbs97

Unlike other stative verbs, numeral verbs do not usually occur in relative clauses of the type

marked by the relativiser kä. Examples in (285) b.–j. illustrate this with the verbs ‘two’ to

‘ten’. All sentences are taken from a kastom story where a group of children paddle up a

river, finding more and more apples the further up they go. Notice that numerals ‘two’ to

‘six’ are prefixed with a third person augmented perfective aspect prefix la-/lâ-/le-. As

described in §11.3.3, the aspect prefixes, including the perfective prefixes, are cumulative

forms that, in addition to the mood/aspect value, express whether the agent is third person

augmented or not. The third person augmented perfective form in these constructions, thus,

reflects the fact that nouns modified by a numeral higher than one necessarily imply more

than one referent. A peculiarity is that numerals ‘seven’ to ‘nine’ cannot take perfective

marking, and they are inflected with an imperfective aspect prefix tü-/tu-, even in this past

situation where perfective marking otherwise would be expected.98

c. Pita ö-tavia nungo.

P. DETR-join stick ‘Peter joins sticks./Pita joinim stik.’

97

Engdewu speakers have two number systems available, both the Pijin/English one, and the indigenous system. Nowadays, even though most people still know the indigenous system, the former is most widely used, especially by the younger generations. This development where an older system is replaced in favour of the ‘English’ type, is seen in cultures all over the world. Comrie (1999) notes that:

[n]umerals, much more so than most other parts of a language, are very culture-bound, being tied to the educational system in modern societies, to trading relations even in earlier and less modernized societies. One result of this has been that, in front of our very eyes, certain types of numeral system have been pushed to the verge of extinction and beyond by the numeral systems of culturally more dominant groups. Indeed, we can say that in the modern world one basic system is rapidly taking over (Comrie 1999: 87).

98 (285) a., which describes the event where the children find their first apple, does not include a numeral.


(285) a. …la-öngna-ba-nga naü kââ

PFV:3AUG.S/A-look-PDIR:away-3AUG.A apple DIST:SG

i-tapoi-m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-float-PDIR>1

‘…they saw an apple that floated towards them./…olketa lukgo wanfala apol flot

kam.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

b. La-mo=pmo-ngö naü la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see=DUPL-3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘They saw two more apples./Olketa lukim moa tufala apol.’

c. La-mo=pmo-ngö naü la-tüü.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see=DUPL-3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘They saw three more apples./Olketa lukim moa trifala apol.’

d. La-mo=pmo-ngö näü lâ-pwoo.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see=DUPL-3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-four

‘They saw four more apples./Olketa lukim moa fofala apol.’

e. La-mo-ngö naü la-möp[u].

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-five

‘They saw five apples./Olketa lukim faevfala apol.’

f. La-mo-ngö naü la-mötimou.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see -3AUG.A apple PFV:3AUG.S/A-six

‘They saw six apples./Olketa lukim siksfala apol.’

g. La-mo-ngö naü tu-m(u)tüü.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-3AUG.A apple IPFV:3AUG.S/A-seven

‘They saw seven apples./Olketa lukim sevenfala apol.’

h. La-mo-ngö naü tu-m(u)lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-3AUG.A apple IPFV:3AUG.S/A-eight

‘They saw eight apples./Olketa lukim eitfala apol.’

i. La-mo-ngö naü tu-m(u)öte.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-3AUG.A apple IPFV:3AUG.S/A-nine

‘They saw nine apples./Olketa lukim naenfala apol.’


j. La-mo-ngö naü nopmu.99

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-3AUG.A apple ten

‘They saw 10 apples./Olketa lukim tenfala apol.’

The monosyllabic basic forms lii ‘two’, tüü ‘three’, pwoo ‘four’, the disyllabic möp[u] ‘five’,

and the trisyllabic mötemou ‘six’, can be inflected with either perfective or imperfective

aspect prefixes as illustrated in the examples above and below in (286) and (287)

respectively.100 Numerals ‘seven’ to ‘nine’, however, cannot take perfective marking. It is

noteworthy that these forms are never found with perfective inflection, as they generally

function to modify nouns in an NP. Even though there are exceptions, recall that stative

verbs tend to get perfective marking, as noted above. In fact, these numeral forms are the

only stative verbs which cannot take such marking at all. Where other numerals would be

inflected with the perfective prefix, these are always found with imperfective aspect, as seen

in (285) g.–i. The classification of these verb forms needs more research.

(286) Mwati tü-a-mopyei-pe=pmo-ee,

tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-capsize-GDIR:out=DUPL-1MIN.S/A??

pa-mopyei-pe=pmo-ee botol-ö lâknu

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-capsize-GDIR:out=DUPL-1MIN.S/A? bottle-RL water

tü-lii.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-two

‘Tomorrow, I will overturn again, I will overturn again two bottles of water./Tomoro,

bae mi kapsaetim, bae mi kapsaetim tufala botol wata moa.’ (N04f:14)

(287) Mwati Pita otakië-dä âpya tü-tüü

tomorrow P. throw-3MIN.A stone IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-three

/ tü-pwoo / tü-möp[u]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-four IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-five

‘Tomorrow, Peter will throw three/four/five stones./Tomoro, bae Pita torowim

trifala/fofala/faevfala ston.’ (N06m:33)

The difference between the perfective and imperfective numeral forms is largely that the

former are used in the expression of a past event, while the latter are used with the

99

While the other numerals are analysed as verbs, the status of nopmu ‘ten’ is unclear, since it clearly is not inflected with any of the perfective or imperfective aspect markers. If it is not to be analysed as a verb, an option is that it is a noun. In constructions like (285) j. it would then simply be juxtaposed to the head noun in a construction that resembles a noun-noun compound (§6.5.1). 100

Unfortunately, there are no examples with an imperfective form of mötemou ‘six’, which is only found in elicitation.


expression of a future event. This reflects the general findings about the perfective and

imperfective construction types, as discussed in §12.3.101

Note that öte ‘one’ is the only numeral form that is vowel initial. The form öte alone indicates

perfective aspect. Recall from PHONOLOGY that /i/ before a base vowel is subject to elision,

in this case the N3AUG perfective marker i-.

(288) I-nguu botol-ö lâknu öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-drink:1MIN.S/A bottle-REL water one:PFV:N3AUG.S/A

‘I drank one bottle of water./Mi drinkim wanfala botol wata.’ (M06m)

öte can also be prefixed with an imperfective marker tü-.102

(289) Tü-va-ka ni=ngö tü-öte.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-? PRO=3AUG.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-one

Tü-va-ka tü-öte, tü-va-ka

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-one IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-?

tü-öte. I-vë, i-vë lepela

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-one PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go human

kâu tu-muöte laa yoko

DIST:PL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-nine go:PFV:3AUG.S/A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘One of them goes first. Another one goes, another one goes. Go, go, all nine

go./Wanfala go fastaem. Wanfala go moa, wanfala go moa. Go, go, naenfala ia,

evriwan go.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

Some numerals are also found with irrealis marking. Like the imperfective, this form is

employed with future situations (cf. §12.3). However, the difference between imperfective

and irrealis numeral forms as seen in (286) and (290) respectively is not fully understood

and needs more research.

101

Note that the numeral is not always inflected with the imperfective marker in future events. In this example, it is inflected with the perfective aspect.

Mwati pa-mopyei-pe-i botol-ö lâknu öki tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-capsize-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A bottle-RL water MED:PL la-lii. IPFV:3AUG.S/A-two ‘Tomorrow, he will overturn those two bottles./Tumoro, bae hemi capsaetim tufala botol wata ia.’ (N04f:15)

102 Notice that /ʉ/ in tü- tends to assimilate with the initial /ɞ/ in öte, yielding the phonological form

/tɞte/, sometimes with a slightly prolonged vowel in the initial syllable, reflecting the quantity of both vowels, /tɞːte/.


(290) Mwati a-mopyei-pe-a botol-ö lâknu në-lii.

tomorrow CAUS-capsize-GDIR:out-2MIN.S/A bottle-RL water IRR-two

‘Tomorrow, you will overturn two bottles of water./Tumoro bae you kapsaetim

tufala botol wata.’ (N04f:15)

10.2.2.1 A note on the forms of the numerals

The 10 basic numeral roots in Engdewu are listed in (291).

(291) öte ‘1’

*lii ‘2’

*tüü ‘3’

*pwoo ‘4’

*möp[u] ‘5’

*mötimou ‘6’

*mü-tüü ‘7’

*mü-lii ‘8’

*mü-öte ‘9’

nopmu ‘10’

The numeral forms from ‘one’ to ‘six’ are separate terms, while numerals ‘seven’ to ‘nine’ are

subtractive forms where a part of the numeral forms ‘one’, ‘two’, or ‘three’ are included in

the word form to yield 10 - 1 = 9, 10 - 2 = 8, and 10 - 3 = 7, respectively. *mütüü ‘seven’,

*mülii ‘eight’, and *müöte ‘nine’ are analysed as subtractive forms where, respectively, tüü

‘three’, lii ‘two’, and öte ‘one’ are subtracted from a base-ten, represented as *mü in all forms.

mü is not found elsewhere, and there is no obvious source for it.

It should be mentioned that Engdewu also has ordinal pair numbers based on what Comrie

(1999) names ‘pairing’, ‘…whereby the expression for some even numbers is directly related

to their half’ (Comrie 1999: 89). Here, a base-2, wi, is multiplied by materials from numbers

‘one’ to ‘five’, yielding the forms wi-te (2 x 1), wi-lii (2 x 2), wi-tüü (2 x 3), wi-pwoo (2 x 4),

and wi-möp[u] (2 x 5). This kind of system is rather uncommon worldwide, but is found in

the California Penutian language Central Wintun (Comrie 1999). The Engdewu forms are

only found in elicitation, and it is not clear what situations these numbers are—or have

been—used in. Speakers do, however, proudly mention them as a feature special to their

language.

10.2.2.2 Numerals above ‘ten’

There is a base-10 system where 20, 30, 40, 50, etc. are multiplications of 10, indicated by

the form for ‘ten’, nopmu, plus one of the numbers ‘two’ to ‘nine’ following it, e.g. nopmu lalii

‘twenty’, nopmu latüü ‘thirty’, nopmu lâpwoo ‘forty’, etc. Note that sometimes even ‘one’

follows ‘ten’, yielding 10 x 1 = 10, e.g. nopmu öte ‘ten’.

In these constructions the first form is an uninflected form, e.g. nopmu ‘ten’, while the

second numeral forms are inflected with a mood/aspect marker, either a perfective or an


imperfective prefix. These constructions are, thus, formally similar to intransitive clauses.

This strengthens the hypothesis that nopmu is a noun while the other numerals are verbs.

Base-10 systems are common in many parts of the world, and are similar to the one found in

the Pijin/English system.

Higher basic numerals are telau ‘hundred’, tiu ‘thousand’, and mala ‘billion’. These seem to

be nominal, just like nopmu.103 Powers of 10, 100, 1,000, etc. are expressed by multiplication

as, for example, ‘ten two’ for ‘20’, ‘hundred three’ for ‘300’, and ‘thousand hundred four’ for

‘400,000’. In numbers below 100, the common conjunction ä is inserted before the last

numeral if a remainder from ‘1’ to ‘9’ is added; cf. (292) a. In numbers above 1000, a

combination of ä and a form luââ is added before any remainder between ‘1’ and ‘9’, and ä is

added before the numeral construction denoting the decimal number, e.g. ‘thousand five

hundred four CNJ ten three luââ two’ yields ‘5432’. Through this system, ‘70’ is nopmu

tümütüü, while ‘17’ is nopmu (öte) ä tümütüü. Examples are given in (292) a.–f. Note that

luââ is only found in numeral constructions and is glossed ‘left’.

(292) a. nopmu lâ-pwoo ä la-tüü

ten PFV:3AUG.S/A-four and PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘forty-three’

b. telau öte ä nopmu öte

hundred one and ten one

‘one hundred and ten’ (M01m:19)

c. telau öte, nopmu la-mötemou ä luââ

hundred one ten PFV:3AUG.S/A-six and left

la-tüü

PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘one thousand and sixty-three’

d. tiu la-möp[u], telau la-tüü ä

thousand PFV:3AUG.S/A-five hundred PFV:3AUG.S/A-three and

nopmu la-tüü ä luââ la-mötemou

ten PFV:3AUG.S/A-three and left PFV:3AUG.S/A-six

‘five thousand three hundred and thirty-six’

e. tiu nopmu öte

thousand ten one

‘ten thousand’

103

There are no examples with mala ‘billion’.

10.3 Transitive verbs 281

f. tiu telau öte

thousand hundred one

‘hundred thousand’

10.3 Transitive verbs

Transitive verbs by definition take two core arguments, an A-argument and an O-argument.

These arguments are optionally present as NPs in the clause. They are also indexed on the

verb: first, A arguments are optionally indexed by a subject suffix, and 3AUG O arguments

are optionally indexed by an object suffix. Second, as described above for intransitive verbs,

3AUG A arguments are obligatorily indexed by a mood/aspect prefix. These prefixes express

a distinction between 3AUG and all other persons/numbers. Thus, they cannot be said to

express the person/number of all S or A arguments.

The example in (293) shows the verb taplö ‘kick’ (§10.3.1.1) with both an A and an O NP

argument overtly present. The A is also indexed on the verb by the imperfective prefix ta-

‘IPFV:3AUG.S/A’ and the subject suffix -ngö ‘3AUG.A’. Here, both arguments appear before

the verb. This is only one of the possible word orders in transitive clauses, which will be

discussed in §13.4.

(293) [Di kou kä-la-kiso noude

INDF DIST:PL BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small man

la-lii]A [di ka bolo]O ta-taplö-ngö.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two INDF:SG MED:SG ball IPFV:3AUG.S/A-kick-3AUG.A

‘Two young boys kick a ball./Tufala iang boe kikim wanfala bol.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

Mood/aspect prefixes and person marking are described in Chapter 11, while the form of

person markers is described in Chapter 7. The form of NPs was described in Chapter 6,

while constituent structure, including order of core NPs, are described in Chapter 13.

Several types of transitive verb forms can be formally categorised in Engdewu. A major

distinction is between the underived transitive roots and the various transitive derivatives

mentioned in §10.1. The affixes taking part in the valency-increasing derivations are

described in §11.2. Recall also that most transitives can be the base of reduced forms, i.e.

intransitive and semitransitive forms derived respectively by a mood/aspect prefix in a


passive-like construction and by a detransitivising prefix in a ‘semitransitive’ construction.

The following subsections will classify underived transitive forms.

10.3.1 Underived transitives

10.3.1.1 Without any intransitive counterpart

Many underived transitives lack an intransitive counterpart. Some examples are listed here.

bwo ‘pick’

dakou ‘make’

dei ‘make, prepare’

dü ‘squeeze’

glü ‘lift’

gwa ‘take’

kalu ‘fold’

kia ‘know’

kë/kö ‘peel’

lë ‘cut’

pia ‘split’

pu ‘close, open’

pwavyö ‘join, bundle s.t.’

tâki ‘throw’

taplö ‘kick’

tavyö ‘bundle s.t.’

tavli ‘chase’

ve ‘weave’

vöbe ‘tie leaves for torch’

welu ‘put’

yâ ‘pull’

yâkli ‘husk’

yangalö ‘prepare food’

yangibyei ‘twist’

yau ‘find’

yebilei ‘sweep’

yö ‘write’

There are found a few transitive verb forms containing -ti that have no intransitive (or

semitransitive) counterpart, i.e. there are no forms without the transitiviser. This suggests

that the suffix has been accreted. However, when they appear in a semitransitive

construction, -ti is not present.

küti ‘dig’ (TR) – ö-kü (STR)

odati ‘destroy’ (TR) – o-da ‘destroy’ (STR)

opwöti ‘peel s.t.’ (TR) – o-pwö ‘peel’

yâti ‘build s.t.’ (TR) – yâ ‘build’ (STR)

yauti ‘find s.t.’ (TR) – yau ‘find (without intention)’

10.3 Transitive verbs 283

10.3.1.2 With a formally unrelated intransitive counterpart

There are some transitive-intransitive pairs where the two members are unrelated,

suppletive forms. That is, none of them can be analysed as derived from the other. The

intransitive verbs in these pairs are found to be of both A-type and U-type, though most

examples in the data are of the latter type. Examples are listed below.

ngö ‘eat’ (TR) – mwa ‘INTR’ (INTR, A-type)

pi ‘say’ (TR) – ato ‘talk’ (INTR, A-type)

bwë ‘ripen s.t.’ (TR) – ple ‘be ripe’ (INTR, U-type)

kapwe ‘scratch s.t.’ (TR) – mia ‘scratch, itch’ (INTR, U-type)

nibi ‘kill’ (TR) – bwë ‘be dead’ (INTR, U-type)

ople ‘blow’ (TR) – yupiey ‘be blown, blow’ (INTR, U-type)

tnetingi ‘dry s.t.’ (TR) – minga ‘be dry’ (INTR, U-type)

velä ‘burn (food)’ (TR) – plapu ‘be burnt’ (INTR, U-type)

vyai ‘open’ (TR) – me ‘be open’ (INTR, U-type)

Examples are given in (294) and (295).

(294) a. Intransitive A-type

Jon i-ngö=pme mago ööte.

J. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat=COS mango one

‘John ate a mango./Jon kaikaim wanfala mango.’ (Trans/intrans)

b. Transitive verb

La-mwa ma-e yoko, nëgee

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat with-3MIN.A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish then

tâ-omwa.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-chew.betelnut

‘They finished eating, then they chewed betelnut./Olketa kaikaim finis, den

olketa kaikai bitolnat nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(295) a. Intransitive U-type

Ape i-me-pe.

door PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out

‘The door is open./Doa hem open.’ (Trans/intrans)


b. Transitive verb

Jon i-vyai-pe=pme ape.

J. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out=COS door

‘John opened the door./Jon openim doa.’

10.3.1.3 With a formally related intransitive counterpart

One transitive-intransitive pair is found to have similar but not identical forms, where the

correspondence between the two is characterised by ablaut.

bwi ‘close’ (TR) – bwë ‘be closed’ (INTR, U-verb)

The final /i/ in the transitive form probably originates from the POc transitive marker *i

(Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 62, 80). The verb pair is illustrated in (296).

(296) a. Nëwe i-bwë.

door PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.closed

‘The door is closed./Doa hem klos.’

b. Pita i-bwi-tää nëwe.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-close-3MIN.A door

‘Peter closed the door./Pita klosim doa.’ (N03m:42)

10.4 Ambitransitive verbs

There are a few pairs of verb bases that have the same form in both intransitive and

transitive clauses, i.e. where the morphological pattern is characterised by conversion.

These are called ambitransitive verbs (c.f. Dixon 2010b: 77). They fall in two categories. In

the first, the ‘subject’ of the intransitive corresponds to the ‘subject’ of the transitive (S=A).

In the second, the ‘subject’ of the intransitive corresponds to the ‘object’ of the transitive

(S=O). Semantically, the argument of the first type typically denotes an agent participant,

while the argument of the second type denotes an undergoer participant. Examples of both

types are given in the list below.

ya ‘paddle’ (S=A)

yâbu ‘suck’ (S=A)

ngu ‘drink’ (S=A)

bwë ‘close’ (S=O)

dâ ‘fall’ (S=O)

10.5 Semitransitive verbs 285

In (297) a. and b. ya appears in a transitive and an intransitive construction respectively. In

the transitive a. bot ango ‘my boat’104 is coded as an object to the verb, that is, it follows the

verb without any special marking. In the intransitive b. the boat is coded through a

prepositional phrase. Note that the first minimal subject marker is different in the

intransitive and transitive constructions. In the former it is -n[u], while it is -ü in the latter.

This is interesting, because in PRONOUNS, the choice of allomorph was found to be basically

controlled by the form to which they attached. This example indicates that not only formal,

but also semantic distinctions as regards valency in some cases control the choice of subject

marker allomorph.

(297) a. S=A intransitive construction

Ya-n[u] bot ango nübü

paddle-1MIN.S/A boat CL.VI-[1MIN.POSS] yesterday

‘I paddled my boat yesterday./Mi padolim bot blong mi yestade.’ (N13m:28)

b. S=A transitive construction

Ya-ü më bot ango nübü

paddle-1MIN.S/A in boat CL.VI-[1MIN.POSS] yesterday

‘I paddled in my boat yesterday./Mi padol long bot blong mi yestade.’

Ambitransitive verbs can be derived by the detransitivising prefix to form a semitransitive,

as will be shown in §11.2.1.

10.5 Semitransitive verbs

Semitransitive verb forms are common in Engdewu. These are verbs which formally, like the

transitives, take two arguments. The semitransitive object, however, is usually bare, and it is

placed directly after the verb. It typically denotes a generic undergoer referent.

Semitransitive clauses often describe habitual actions, and the focus is on the action rather

than the object. Most semitransitive verb forms in Engdewu are derived by the

detransitivising prefix (§11.2.1). However, one example is found of a form that is used both

as a transitive and a semitransitive verb, without any derivation. No underived forms are

found that are exclusively semitransitive.

104

bot is a Pijin loan. Engdewu words for canoe are saolo, alatë (also noted as paleuta) and tepwee. Saulo is a traditional Santa Cruzean outrigger canoe. It is made from the mibü tree, and is sometimes referred to as ngö mibü (‘mibü tree’). saulo appears to be a loan from Vaeakau-Taumako , where it has been borrowed together with the article: te alo. tepwee is another loan from Vaeakau-Taumako where the article has been included: te puke. It refers to the big seagoing outrigger canoe from the Duff Islands (c.f. Næss and Hovdhaugen 2011).


yapwei ‘break’ (N04f:23)

yapwei is illustrated in (298) in a semitransitive clause in a. and in a transitive clause in b.

The form of the verb root is identical in both examples. The former construction is

semitransitive with a generic object. The latter is transitive, with an NP O-argument

denoting two specific breadfruit referents. In the latter transitive construction, the verb is

marked with a third minimal subject marker. Semitransitive verb forms are person marked

in the same manner with the same material as intransitive verb forms. Recall that there is no

subject marker form for third person S arguments. This is seen in a.

(298) a. Nubu Meri yapwei toklu nö-ngwe

yesterday M. [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-break breadfruit IRR-be.like

i-bu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dark

‘Yesterday, Mary broke breadfruit until night./Yestade, Meri brekem bredfrut go

kasem naet.’ (N04f:23)

b. Nubu Meri yapwei-ëë toklu

yesterday M. [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-break-3MIN.A breadfruit

la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘Yesterday, Mary broke two breadfruits./Yestade, Meri brekem tufala bredfrut.’

287

CHAPTER 11. THE VERB COMPLEX

11.1 Introduction

Verbs form the base in a potentially huge complex of formatives, referred to as a ‘verb

complex’. The verb complex consists of an inner verb base plus outer pre- and postverbal

modifiers that occur in fixed positions preceding and following the base. The notion of ‘verb

complex’ is used in the description of many Oceanic languages and it is discussed in §11.1.1,

before an introductory discussion of the verb complex in Engdewu is given in §11.1.2. The

verb base that generally consists of a verb root and any derivational morpheme is discussed

in §11.2. This section will conclude with a description of a type of complex verb roots that

are found in the verb base, the ‘cut and break’ verbs (§11.2.6). The pre- and postverbal

modifier slots consist of a range of particles, affixes, and clitics that express a diverse variety

of features, including TMA, Aktionsart, direction, person/number of S/A and O, and

adverbial meaning, will be the focus of section §11.2.6. Finally, a type of complex verb forms

that are found as the (complex) root in the verb base are the ‘cut and break’ verb

compounds that will be discussed in §11.2.6.

11.1.1 The ‘Verb Complex’ in Oceanic languages

A general feature of the verb morphology in Engdewu is the synthetic combination of

morphemes to construct what might be expressed by several words in a phrase in more

analytical languages, like, for example English, or Pijin. The verb root in Engdewu can be

combined with morphemes that mark features such as mood and aspect, Aktionsart, person

of the ‘subject’ and ‘object’, and direction, plus different adverbial meanings, each marker

with its specific distribution inside the complex. Such complex verbal forms are common

features in many Oceanic languages and they are sometimes referred to as a ‘verb complex’

(VC). VCs are described for several Oceanic languages in general (Pawley 2003), and for

specific Oceanic (Margetts 2005; Thieberger 2006; Guérin 2011; Boerger in progress) and

other languages in South-East Asia (Inkelas 1993). Even though the VC in modern Oceanic

languages is hypothesised to have an origin in a VC in POc, the sequence of similar

morphemes that occur in modern Oceanic languages is found to differ between languages

(Pawley 2003).

288 Chapter 11 The Verb complex

The notion ‘verb complex’ is used as a convenient way to cover the morphophonological

structure of elements that includes the verb and its different types of modifiers. Pawley

(2003: 149) especially mentions three main features of the Oceanic VC. Two of them are

wordlike:

‘It has as its nucleus a verb base or compound verb around which a number of

grammatical functors occur in rigid order, like affixes around a root.’105

‘It is normally spoken as a single intonation contour, with only one contour

stress allowed per phrase i.e. verb complex .’

And one property is unwordlike:

‘ T he periferal functors are usually free forms, which native speakers are

prepared to say and gloss in isolation.’

The VC is sometimes referred to as ‘verb phrase’, and Pawley (2003) points out that then it

is different from the ‘verb phrase’ known from generative theory, which is a syntactic unit

including syntactic objects but excluding syntactic subjects. Such a notion is difficult to

adjust to the grammar of Oceanic languages where word order is less rigid than in languages

like English, and where subjects and objects are frequently marked on the verb instead of or

in addition to possible overt arguments.

Concerning the second bullet point, Pawley (2003: 149) notes that in a majority of Oceanic

languages the formatives on each side of the verb root in the VC (which he labels ‘peripheral

functors’) are free forms, or particles. In other languages, however, these have evolved into

bound forms. Examples of the former are Lolovoli Ambae (North Central Vanuatu) and

Wayan Fijian (Central Pacific), and examples of the latter are Manam (North New Guinea)

and Saliba (Papuan Tip) (Pawley 2003: 150). The two types are illustrated in (299) and

(300), respectively. (The verb complexes are indicated by bold face.)

(299) Lolovi Ambae (Pawley 2003: 150, after Hyslop 2001: 264)

Da-ni hi geni-re tea tau.

1iPsub=IRR NEG eat-3PL.OBJ NEG still

‘We won’t eat them yet.’

105

In the sense of Van Valin and LaPolla (1997), who define the clause in terms of a core containing a nucleus plus periphery.

11.1 Introduction 289

(300) Manam (Pawley 2003: 150, after Lichtenberk 1983:167)

Tanepwa ma9 mi-an-Ø-a-ŋ-Ɂo.

chief chicken 1SG.SBJ.IRR-give-3SG.OBJ-BUF-BEN-2SG.OBJ

‘I will give a chicken to the chief for you.’

While the VC in Engdewu is closer to the latter kind, the most peripheral preverbal and

postverbal formatives, the preverbal negative (§11.3.1) and continuous (§11.3.2) markers,

and the postverbal hortative marker (§11.3.18) are analysed as particles. These particles

have their own stress which does not affect the word stress of the rest of the complex.

The fixed position of morphemes in the VC in many Oceanic languages is often described in

terms of a template with several slots (e.g. Margetts 2005; Crowley 2006; Thieberger 2006;

Lichtenberk 2008; Palmer 2009; Guérin 2011; Boerger in progress). An overview of the VC

in Engdewu is given in §11.1.2 before the various elements within the complex are

described in the next sections. Note that more research is needed to pin the full and exact

distribution of all the morphemes in the VC.

11.1.2 The verb complex in Engdewu

The VC is a syntactic unit where each morpheme has its fixed position. Verbal morphology is

fairly complex, and the VC can consist of several morpheme types attaching both before and

after the verb root which are analysed either as affixes, or clitics. As described in Chapter 5

there is also a small group of particles that appear at the borders of the VC. The VC in

Engdewu distinguishes between an inner verb base, consisting of a root and any

derivational affixes, and an outer set of possible pre- and postverbal modifiers. The simplest

verb form, and, thus, the simplest VC, is the imperative, which can consist of a verbal root in

the base and nothing more. In (301) the monosyllabic verb root vë106 ‘go’ constitutes a

clause on its own.

(301) Vë!

go

‘Go!’

That the word complex is a syntactic unit means that other lexical elements cannot freely

intervene between any of these morphemes, i.e. arguments and free adverbs never occur

106

The form of this root varies between /βɵ/ and /βa/ in ways not yet understood. Both variants are reproduced here, as vë and va.


within the complex. While only a mood/aspect prefix is obligatory in addition to a verb root

in a normal indicative clause, the preverbal negative and continuous particles on the left

side and the hortative particle on the right side define the outer boundaries of the VC.

Pawley (2003) notes that, ‘ t he Oceanic verb complex is a phonological phrase that

resembles a word in certain respects,’ and which in many Oceanic languages, ‘…is normally

spoken as a single intonation contour, with only one contour stress allowed per phrase’

(Pawley 2003: 149). This is mostly true for Engdewu. That is, while the verb base and most

modifiers seem to constitute a single phonological domain, in line with the general

description, the particles at each side of the complex have their own stress. However, they

are pronounced within the same intonation contour as the rest of the complex. As described

in general in §4.7, primary stress is assigned from the right to the syllable containing the last

moraic trochee, and secondary stress is assigned in a moraic pattern to the left. A final heavy

syllable is, thus, stressed, otherwise, stress is penult. A heavy syllable is always stressed.

These rules yield typical patterns like in i-mo-lü /iˈm .lʉ/ (PFV:N3AUG.S/A.S/A-see-

1MIN.S/A) ‘I saw (it)’ and la-mo=pmo-ngö /ˌla.m ˈpm .ŋɞ/ (PFV:3AUG.S/A.S/A-see=DUPL-

3AUG.A) ‘they saw (him/her/it) again’, where primary stress is assigned to the penult

syllable, and patterns like in i-mo=pme-i /ˌim ˈpme i/ (PFV:N3AUG.S/A.S/A-see=COS-

1MIN.S/A) ‘I have seen him/her/it’ where the ultimate syllable is stressed. They also explain

the pattern in a word like i-vyei-pe-i /ˌiβjˈe iˈpe i/ (PFV:N3AUG.S/A.S/A-open-GDIR:out-

1MIN.S/A) ‘I opened it’, where two adjacent syllables are both stressed.107

This chapter is dedicated to the description of the elements that appear in the VC. §11.2

gives a description of the core of the VC, the ‘verb base’. As noted, it can consist only of a

single root, but it can also contain one or more derivational affixes that contribute in

different ways to the valency of the construction: These include the detransitive (§11.2.1)

and causative (§11.2.2) prefixes, and the transitive (§11.2.3), applicative (§11.2.4) and

comitative (§11.2.5) suffixes. In some cases the base contains two adjacent verb roots. This

is referred to as a ‘complex verb’, of which a special type is treated in §11.2.6.

The verb base can be modified by a range of different morphemes inside the VC. The notion

of ‘modification’ and ‘modifiers’ in this respect includes all the morphemes in the VC outside

the verb base. They resemble inflectional elements in that they, ‘…distinguish different

grammatical forms of the same lexical unit’ (Matthews 2007). The original meaning of

‘inflection’ is, according to Matthews (2007), ‘modification’ (lit. ‘bending’). However, many

107

Note that in some words it is difficult to judge which of the syllables receives the primary stress, and in an example like i-kutai-pe=pme-a /ˌikuˈta ipeˌpmea/ (PFV:N3A.S/A-clean-GDIR:out=COS-2MIN.S/A) ‘Have you washed s.t.’ it actually may look like primary stress is on the heavy syllable in the root, kutai.


of them deviate from typical inflection in that they do not involve, ‘…an obligatory

grammatical specification’, which is a defining criterion of inflection according to

Aikhenvald (2007: 35).108 Pawley (2003: 149) refers to the plethora of elements that can

occur in the VC outside the base as ‘grammatical functors’. The notion of ‘modification’ is

kept here because these functors—obligatory or not— modify the verb without changing

the word class, and because this is how the notion is used by some other scholars (e.g.

Palmer 2009: 233). Most of these modifying elements are affixes that are visible to the

phonological rules of feet and stress assignment. The affixes are inflectional, and they

modify the verb by expressing grammatical categories without changing their basic lexical

meaning. The modifiers are treated in several subsections in §11.2.6.

§11.3.1 is dedicated to the description of negative markers in the VC. There is bipartite

marking of negative in Engdewu, where a negative particle precedes the verb base, and

usually a negative clitic follows it.

§11.3.2 discusses the continuous particle, which appears in the same slot as the negative

markers are.

§11.3.3 describes three sets of prefixes collectively referred to as ‘mood/aspect’-markers.

They are really cumulative expressions of mood/aspect and person/number of S/A. These

three sets are the irrealis (§11.3.3.3), perfective (§11.3.3.1), and imperfective (§11.3.3.2)

prefixes.109

§11.3.4 describes two Aktionsart markers, the change-of-state (COS) and duplicative (DUPL)

morphemes. Their distribution is interesting as both have their own slot in the middle of the

postverbal modifier suffixes and outside the VC. They are analysed as mesoclitics in §11.1.3.

Different combinations of mood/aspect and Aktionsart markers give rise to different aspect

constructions. While these morphemes and their position within the VC is described here in

§11.3.2, Chapter 12 is dedicated to a discussion of the most important different aspects

expressed by these morphemes.

Recall also that the perfective and imperfective aspect prefixes index some features of S or

A, namely a distinction between 3AUG and all other persons/numbers of S/A. As noted

below and discussed in §13.6, an aspect prefix alone indicate a generic agent, and it is only

108

Dixon (2010b) also says that ‘…inflections [are] obligatory’. 109

Ideally, a more accurate label would be ‘mood/aspect/person/number’. This, however, is very long, and the shorter and more convenient (but more imprecise) label ‘mood/aspect’ is used.


in combination with core argument NPs or subject markers that a referential S or A-

argument can be indicated.

§11.3.5 and §11.3.6 respectively give a brief description of the ‘subject’ and ‘object’ markers.

The former index person/number of an S/A-argument, and the latter index person of an O-

argument. They were more thoroughly discussed in §7.4.

§11.3.7 and §11.3.8 describe, respectively, the geometric directionals and the person

directionals. They appear in different positions in the VC, the former close to the base, the

latter far out, after the Aktionsart markers.

§11.3.9–§11.3.17 describe an array of other markers including reflexive/reciprocal,

comparative morphemes, and a range of bound adverbs.

Finally, §11.3.18 describes the hortative particle.

11.1.3 The morphological status of the morphemes in the verb complex

The verb complexes in modern Oceanic languages reflect the structure in POc in different

ways. As already seen, in some languages the elements surrounding the main verb root are

bound (like in Manam), and in others they are free (like Lolovi Ambae), and in many (like

Engdewu) some are bound while others are free. Furthermore, the order of similar

elements, like, say, aspect markers and directionals might differ. And also, while some

elements are clearly part of the VC in some languages, they are serialised on the core level in

others (Pawley 2003). Pawley (2003) observes two types of grammatical change in the VC

in Oceanic, centrifugal and centripetal grammatical change. In the centrifugal

grammaticalisation type, an element in a complex nucleus has direction out of the nucleus

while it gets more and more grammaticalised and becomes a prepositional verb, a direction

marker, an aspect marker. In some instances the grammaticalised element ends up outside

the VC (Pawley 2003: 153). In the centripetal grammaticalisation type elements—like

conjunctions, manner adverbs, deixis, quantifiers, prepositions, dative case anaphors—are

drawn into the VC (Pawley 2003: 154). The idea here is not to discuss in detail different

types of grammaticalisation processes in general or processes that have occurred in the

course between POc and modern-day Oceanic. These considerations are merely brought up

to remind the reader that even though there is a historical answer to why a VC looks the way

it looks, the indices are often obscured by the competing motivations that lie behind the

grammaticalisation of the sometimes very huge number of elements that are positioned in

the VC.


For instance, it looks like the geometric directionals in the SC languages are about to be

changed under centrifugal forces. Even though there is no full consensus on exactly when it

happened, directionals are thought to have evolved from directional verbs, as discussed in

Pawley (2003) and Ross (2004b).110 In some Oceanic languages the directional markers are

still verbs. In Äiwoo, geometric directionals (ee ‘up’, woli ‘down’, to ‘in’, and lâ ‘out’) are

analysed as verbs occurring after the main verb in a nuclear-level serial verb construction.

These roots can also occur independently with verbal marking, and are, thus, analysed as

verbs (Næss and Boerger 2008: 207). In Natügu, on the other hand, there is no evidence that

the corresponding directional markers (-dë~-lë ‘up’, -o ‘down’, -tö ‘in’, and -pä ‘out’) can be

used independently as predicates (Næss and Boerger 2008), and even though they are still

relatively close to the verb root, they are further away than those in Äiwoo. The

corresponding morphemes in Engdewu (-yë ‘up’, -(i)ni ‘down’, -tö ‘in’, and -pe ‘out’) are

mostly found as suffixes, but some are also found as roots in the VC. The geometric

directionals in Engdewu can, thus, appear in two different slots in the VC. This will be

illustrated in §11.3.8. The different distributions and functions of the directionals in the RSC

languages illustrate how morphemes can grammaticalise in different tempos in related

languages.

While most elements in the VC in Engdewu can be analysed as affixes, that is, they are bound

morphemes that occur in their specific position only in the VC, a couple of the elements

bound in the complex, the change-of-state marker (§11.3.4.1) and the duplicative marker

(§11.3.4.2), pose trouble to the affix analysis. They do indeed have lots in common with

affixes, and it could be tempting to analyse them as that. These forms:

are bound;

have no free counterpart;

can attract stress in the same fashion as other morphemes in the VC; and

appear in the middle of a group of bound modifiers, between other bound

elements.

Such features apply to all modifier elements in the VC. But one thing is different: the

duplicative and change-of-state markers have a wider distribution than affixes, that is, in

addition to being parts of the VC morphology, they have distribution outside the VC. They

are, in this respect, more like clitics.

110

Note that these authors have somewhat different views on whether some of these verbs had evolved to become postverbal directional particles in POc.


Zwicky and Pullum (1983: 503-04) list some characteristics of clitics of which A and F are of

special interest here.

A. Clitics can exhibit a low degree of selection with respect to their hosts, while affixes exhibit a

high degree of selection with respect to their stems.

B. Arbitrary gaps in the set of combinations are more characteristic of affixed words than of

clitic groups.

C. Morphophonological idiosyncrasies are more characteristic of affixed words than of clitic

groups.

D. Semantic idiosyncrasies are more characteristic of affixed words than of clitic groups.

E. Syntactic rules can affect affixed words, but cannot affect clitic groups.

F. Clitics can attach to material already containing clitics, but affixes cannot.

Both the change-of-state =pme and the duplicative =pmo markers are more promiscuous

than the other postverbal modifying morphemes. Both can appear as a modifier in the VC

and as a pre-head modifier in an NP with the indefinite article and a demonstrative

determiner. Furthermore, the change-of-state marker is also found attached to the negative

interjection toko. Examples are given in (302)–(304).

(302) Change-of-state marker (COS) attached in the VC

Ä nëge yâpwo-ti=pme-a ngue

and then [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-know-TR=COS-2AUG.S/A be.like

i-bwë=pme-i.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS-1MIN.S/A

‘Then you know that I am dead./Den iu save nao, mi dae nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)


(303) Change-of-state marker (COS) attached to article + demonstrative determiner

Di kââ=pme mweli, di kââ=pme lepela

INDF:SG DIST:SG=COS time INDF DIST:SG=COS human

kä yelä, ä la-mno,

REL be.like: PFV:N3AUG.S/A and PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay

la-mno, la-mno, ma bwale

PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay with woman

nölö=de.

CL.X=3MIN.POSS

‘Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who stayed for a long

time./Wanfala taem, wanfala man hem stap, stap, stap, stap, wetem waef blong hem.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(304) Change-of-state marker (COS) attached to toko ‘no’

Lepela kâu la-ö-viö-nö-nga nao:

human DIST:PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-turn-DIR:about?-3AUG.A head

‘Ee, toko=pme.’

eh no=COS

‘The people shook heads: “Ee, no way (lit. no now)”/Olketa pipol shakim head: “Ee,

nomoa nao.’’’ (Story_041009_N01m)

According to characteristic A, the distributional pattern points to a clitic analysis. The main

trouble with this analysis is that, according to characteristic F, if the change-of-state and

duplicative markers are clitics, the implication is that the bound morphemes following them

are clitics, too.111

It would, of course, be convenient to treat all elements that appear after them as clitics to

solve the problem. In §11.3.5, such an analysis will, however, be argued against as regards

the subject markers.

111

About clitics, Anderson (2005: 20) argues that, ‘while it does not constitute a Prosodic Word in its own right, a clitic does (indeed, must) get incorporated into the larger prosodic structure projected by its host’. A form can be either unbound or bound. An unbound form is typically a particle. A bound form can either have an unbound counterpart, or not. An affix cannot, while a clitic can have an unbound counterpart. Finally, a clitic can either have the same distribution as its bound counterpart (simple clitic), or it has special distribution (special clitic). If a special clitic has no bound counterpart it is sometimes referred to as a ‘bound word’. Anderson (2005) refers to special clitics with or without full form counterparts as ‘morphosyntactic clitics’, dismissing the notion of ‘bound words’. According to this, the change-of-state and duplicative markers are bound forms without unbound counterparts. Because of their special distribution these bound forms are further characterised as a subtype of special clitics, namely, as we will see, ‘endoclitics’.


There are at least three options available to solve this problem. The first is to say that the

change-of-state and duplicative markers are affixes and ignore their distribution outside the

VC, because when they appear in the VC they behave exactly like any of the other bound

postverbal modifiers. The objection would be that this is exactly how a clitic might behave—

and that they, as a matter of fact, have distribution outside the VC.

The second option is to analyse the change-of-state and duplicative markers and all

morphemes positioned after these—that is, the personal directionals, the negative marker,

the person markers and the hortative marker, plus the bound adverbials—as clitics. This is

perhaps the easiest analysis, but it is unfortunate because except for the postverbal negative

marker, the post-clitic morphemes do not behave clitic-like in any way other than being

distributed after a pair of clitics that sometimes appear in the VC.

The third option to the problem would be to analyse them as a kind of ‘endoclitics’ (or

rather ‘mesoclitics’), that is, clitics that appear between elements of a composite form. As

already noted, a set of particles and clitics surrounded the verb in the POc VC (Lynch, Ross,

and Crowley 2002; Pawley 2003). As seen above, some languages, like Lolovoli Ambae have

retained a similar structure, while the free forms have become bound in others, as seen in

Manam. It is likely that some elements in the VC were free forms that could also appear in

other constructions. That is, many postverbal directionals and aspect markers are believed

at some stage to have developed (via particles) from verbs. And these verbs might have

been used independently as well.

Lynch, Ross, and Crowley (2002: 86) point out that postverbal aspect markers are common

in Oceanic languages and that they, ‘…do not form a cognate set’, suggesting that they might

have evolved from very different sources. One such source is verbs. One example they

mention is that a postverbal marker with a meaning like ‘finish’ has actually evolved from a

construction where a verb meaning ‘finish’ appeared as V2 in an ambient serial verb

construction. In many Oceanic languages today, and in Engdewu (cf. §10.2.1), this is still the

case. Because of this verbal status, Lynch, Ross, and Crowley (2002) do not include a

postverbal aspect position in the reconstruction of the POc VC as they believe that aspectual

meaning was (primarily) expressed through verbs in such (ambient) core-layer SVCs.

Pawley (2003) is sceptical of the omission.

First, it is one thing not to attribute particular aspectual forms to POc, but it is another not to

attribute an aspectual slot to the postposed periphery. There is little doubt that the process of

deriving postverbal aspect markers from quasi-aspectual uses of verbs in serial verb constructions

has often occurred independently in Oceanic languages. Usually it is verbs of posture, residence


and going which give rise to markers of imperfect or progressive aspect, or to markers of varying

degrees of duration or extendedness: temporary, permanent, etc) and verbs of completion giving

rise to markers of completive aspect. However, we should not suppose that, just because such

parallel changes have occurred in the daughter languages, POc itself did not use certain verbs in

aspectual functions. [---] A second qualification is that there are, in fact, two or three quite

widespread cognate sets among postverbal aspect markers (Pawley 2003: 165).

Furthermore, following Lichtenberk (2002b), he notes that:

there are languages where certain verbs of posture have a second use as verbs denoting location

and existence (but without any indication of posture or spatial orientation). There are languages

where posture verbs have a second use as verbs marking quasi-aspectual meaning, extendedness

in time. And there are languages where posture verbs have become true grammatical functors,

marking aspect. The aspectual functions of such verbs are generally of the following sorts:

‘progressive’, ‘continuous’, ‘durative’, ‘imperfective’ (progressive and habitual) or

‘continuative/persistive’. The grammatical functors usually retain trappings of their earlier verbal

uses, i.e. there are historical layers in the language (Pawley 2003: 166).

An endoclitic analysis suggests that the grammaticalisations of the change-of-state and

duplicative markers have followed their own path at their own pace, perhaps from a verbal

source. Other postverbal modifying elements have become suffixes that are bound to the VC.

As they have become affixes and lost their hypothesised verbal status, they have also lost

any distribution outside the VC. The change-of-state and duplicative markers, however, have

evolved in a different tempo, and they are still to be found in positions other than in the VC.

They have, thus, become endoclitics: they have retained ‘trappings of their earlier verbal

uses’, both their fixed position in the VC, and outside it—without caring about the fact that

elements that follow to their right in the VC are only found in this position.

This analysis is supported by Givón (1971) and his fossilised syntax hypothesis, which

Pawley (2003) notes is one of two competing motivations behind affix order within words.

The other is the Relevance Hierarchy set out by Bybee (1985), which, for instance, accounts

for the derivational morphemes’ appearance close to the root in the verb base.

Based on descriptions on the Iranian language Pashto, the Romance language European

Portuguese and the East Caucasian language Udi, Anderson (2005) includes a discussion on

endoclitics and concludes that, ‘…endo-clitics are indeed a real structural possibility in

languages—either in the limited sense of clitics introduced between elements of a

composite form, as in Pashto and European Portuguese, or in the even more radical sense


illustrated by the Udi examples…’ (Anderson 2005: 143). In the latter, more radical example,

a set of clitics is found to appear inside certain verbal roots, and, thus, breaking up a single

morpheme. This is illustrated by the example in (305) taken from Anderson (2005) after

Harris (2002).

(305) Udi (Anderson 2005: 142)

pasčaɣ-un ɣar-en gölö bẹ=ne-ɣ-sa

king-GEN boy-ERG much look1=3SG-look2-PRS

met’a-laxo

this.GEN-on

‘The prince looks at this for a long time (root be.G “look”).’

In European Portuguese, object pronouns appear between the verb stem and the future or

conditional marker in positive clauses. This limited sense of the notion is sometimes called

‘meso-clitics’ (c.f. Luís and Spencer 2005). An illustration is given in (306), taken from

Anderson (2005).

(306) European Portuguese (Anderson 2005)

dár=te-íamos / *dariamos-te

give=2SG-1PL:COND

‘(we) would give to you’

It is in the limited sense the change-of-state and duplicative aspect markers in Engdewu are

analysed as endoclitics, or rather, mesoclitics: the change-of-state and duplicative markers

do not break up a morpheme, but they do appear between a stem and suffixal forms.

11.2 The verb base: Derivational morphology

Chapter 1 described different types of intransitive, semitransitive, transitive, and

ambitransitive verbs and how some of them are derived by different valency-changing

prefixes and suffixes. While the verb base can consist minimally of a simple root, the

derivational affixes change the function structure of the verb. These derivational

morphemes are all situated in the verb base, close to the verb root, and they are, thus,

placed before any of the modifiers in the outer layer of the VC. Just like any element in the

VC, the derivational morphemes have their fixed order vis-à-vis the root in the base. As just

indicated, the verb base and the modifiers represent two layers where the latter has scope

over the former, which is treated as a single nucleus. The verb base is schematised in Table

11.1, and the elements therein are discussed in the subsequent part of this section. Notice

11.2 The verb base: Derivational morphology 299

that the causative and the detransitive prefixes occupy the same slot, and, thus, cannot co-

occur. They are described in §11.2.1 and §11.2.2 respectively. The transitive and comitative

suffixes occupy the same slot after the root. They are described in §11.2.3 and §11.2.5

respectively. Finally, the applicative suffix is discussed in §11.2.4.

Table 11.1: The verb base in the verb complex

(CAUS)

(w)a- Root

V

(TR)

-ti

(APPL)

-(n)ö

(DETR)

(v)ö-

(COM)

-mi

11.2.1 Detransitive prefix

A transitive verb root can, in general, be prefixed by a detransitivising prefix, as noted in

§10.3, resulting in a ‘semitransitive’ verb form. The prefix is sometimes pronounced with an

initial /β/. There are, thus, two phonological variants, /ɞ/~/βɞ/, but no motivation has been

found for the choice of form, which seems to be in free variation. For instance, the

detransitive variant of yö ‘write’ is found both as /ɞjɞ/ and /βɞjɞ/, represented respectively

as öyö and vöyö. The detransitivising prefix cannot co-occur with the causative prefix, both

of which are thought to occupy the same slot in the base. Neither is it found in the same base

form as the transitiviser, but it can co-occur with the applicative marker.

Verbs marked with a detransitiviser behave like intransitives in their person marking. That

is, they take no object marker, and subject marking follows the pattern for intransitives as

described in §7.4.1. The difference from marking of transitive verb forms is that third

person subject markers only appear on transitive verb forms. Examples are given in (307)

with the verb nibi ‘kill’, where a. shows derivation with the detransitive prefix. Notice that

the there is no subject marking on the verb. Features of the semitransitive clause are

discussed in §13.5.

(307) a. Pita vö-nibi nöta.

P. [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-kill fish

‘Peter killed fish./Pita kilim fis dae.’ (N09m:32)

b. Pita i-nibi-e nöta la-möp[u]

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3MIN.S/A fish PFV:3AUG.S/A-five

‘Peter killed five fish./Pita kilim dae faevfala fis.’


It was stated above that a verb in an indicative clause always carries mood/aspect marking.

Notice that a detransitive prefix alone, without any mood/aspect prefix, indicates non-third

person augmented perfective. All other mood/aspect morphemes are formally expressed by

the respective morphemes described in §11.3.2.

Natügu has a prefix ö- glossed by Næss and Boerger (2008) as a ‘detransitivizing prefix’. It

functions in a similar way as that seen in Engdewu, turning transitive verbs into

semitransitive verbs taking generic objects. In Äiwoo, too, there are semitransitive verb

forms, but they are not formed by the addition of an affix. Instead, it exhibits transitive-

semitransitive word pairs where the correspondence is mainly characterised by ablaut and

sometimes augmentation rather than derivation. For instance, in Natügu one such

transitive-semitransitive pair is kü – ökü ‘dig’; the corresponding pair is kei – kili in Äiwoo

(Næss and Boerger 2008: 190).

(308) Natügu (Næss and Boerger 2008: 193)

Ä o ani në-ö-twë-kö-dö nöpa kënike

CNJ go quickly NMLZ-DETR-get/take-NMLZ-3AUG news whatever

vë-ne, muöde në-ö-pi-lö

go-around because 3AUG.SBJ-DETR-say-3AUG.SBJ

na-ö-mâ-ti-ngö-dö nöwä.

IRR-DETR-see-TR-APPL-3AUG.SBJ peace

‘And they quickly take whatever news goes around, because they think they can find

peace from (it).’

11.2.2 Causative prefix

Any verb root can, in general, take the causative prefix (v)a-. It usually attaches to

intransitive verb roots, increasing the valency by one. Just as seen with the detransitiviser,

there are two variants of this morpheme, one with and one without an initial /β/, i.e.

/a/~/βa/. The motivation behind the choice of form is not understood, but in this case too,

they seem to be in free variation. Just as seen with the detransitive prefix in §11.2.1, a verb

form with an initial causative prefix alone indicates non-third person augmented perfective,

i.e. there is formally no non-third person augmented perfective in verb forms prefixed by a

causative morpheme. All other mood/aspect morphemes, however, are formally expressed

by the respective morphemes described in §11.3.2.


The additional argument that is added is the causer of the event expressed by the verb. This

additional role is always expressed as an A-argument, either in the clause, or by subject-

marking on the verb. An example is given in (309).

(309) a. Âpya upwü.

stone [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-roll

‘The stone rolls./Ston hem rol.’ (N09m:22)

b. Pita a-upwë âpya.

P. [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-CAUS-roll:3MIN.A stone

‘Peter rolls the stone./Pita rollim ston.’

When a N3AUG imperfective marker tü- is added to the causative, the two forms are

sometimes merged and expressed in a portmanteau morph pa-, realising both imperfective

aspect and person/number of S/A, and causative. The choice between pa- and tü-(v)a-

seems to be in free variation, even though it seems more frequent with some speakers than

with others. Both forms are represented in this thesis. Both forms are exemplified in the

example in (310).

(310) Dä pa-minga… dä tü-a-minga

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-dry CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-

dry

newë.

cloth

‘S/he is drying…s/he is drying clothes./Hemi draem…hemi draem kaleko.’

(M06m_110405-001)

As noted in VERB TYPES, A-type verbs can only be transitivised by the causative prefix. This

is illustrated by the verb tukapi ‘hide’ in (311).

(311) tukapi ‘hide’ (A-type)

a. Nëtna i-tukapi-tö mö âpya.

fish PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hide-GDIR:in by stone

‘The fish hid by a stone./Fis ia haed long ston.’ (M08m:41)

b. A-tukapii kä sela mö âpya.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-CAUS-hide:1MIN.S/A PROX:SG shell by stone

‘I hid a shell by a stone./Mi haedim sel long ston.’


The causative marker can also appear with intransitive U-type verbs, as seen in the

examples below.

(312) mowei ‘break’ (U-type)

a. Nungo kââ i-mowei=pme.

stick DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=COS

‘The stick broke./Stik ia brek na.’ (M08m:41)

b. A-mowei=pme-i nungo kââ.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-CAUS-break=COS-1MIN.S/A stick DIST:SG

‘I broke the stick./Mi brekem stik ia.’

(313) minga ’dry’ (So)

a. Nöwe i-minga=pme.

cloth PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry=COS

‘The cloth dried./Kaleko hemi drae finis.’

b. Radyel tü-a-minga nöwe.

R. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-dry cloth

‘Rachel dries (the) cloth./Reisel draeim kaleko.’

(314) tubü ‘straight’ (U-type)

a. Na kââ i-tubü.

rope DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-straight

‘The rope is straight./Rop hemi stret.’

b. Klemen dä tü-a-tubü-e na

K. CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-straight-3MIN.A rope

kou.

DIST:PL

‘Clement is straigthening the ropes./Klemen stretim rop ia na.’

The causative prefix in Engdewu is clearly parallel to wâ- in Äiwoo and a- in Natügu (Næss

and Boerger 2008: 191-92). Causative is generally expressed by a verbal prefix in many

Melanesian languages, in addition to Polynesian and Micronesian, and Rotuman and Fijian

(Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 43-44).


11.2.3 Transitive suffix

The transitive suffix -ti112 is generally attached to intransitive or semitransitive verbs,

increasing the valency of the verb by one. Notice that the stop /t/ is sometimes subject to

spirantisation, as discussed in §4.6.7, and, thus, it sometimes becomes [si]. Some elders

pronounce the onset as a postnasalised stop cluster, [tni].

Derivation by the transitive suffix licenses another core argument to the clause. The

transitiviser is usually found with A-type verbs, and the introduced argument is an object in

O-function. The example in (315) nicely illustrates how the transitiviser is used. First, there

are three clauses only containing the intransitive ngumwa ‘fish’. In the fourth clause -ti is

added to ngumwa, which licenses the object NP nöta iklu ‘many fish’. Because the verb base

is now transitive, a third person augmented subject marker is added in the VC.

(315) I-ngumwa, i-ngumwa, i-ngumwa,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish

i-ngumwa-ti-e nöta i-klu, nege

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish-TR-3MIN.A fish PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many then

te-ya-tö=pme-m[u].

IPFV.S/A-paddle-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

‘He fished, he fished, he fished, he fished many fish, then he paddled inland./Hem

fishing, fishing, fishing, hem fishingim staka fish, then hemi paddle kam insaet nao.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Consider also the example in (316), which shows that derivation by the transitive suffix

licenses third person markers and an additional argument.

(316) a. Pita tü-ku.

P. IPFV-shout

‘Peter shouts./Pita saot.’ (N03m:25)

b. Pita i-ku-ti-e ni

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-shout-TR-3MIN.S/A PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘Peter called for me./Pita kol fo mi.’

The transitive suffix -ti is a rather good example of what Dixon and Aikhenvald (2000: 13)

call ‘applicative’:

112

The transitivising suffix is pronounced with a nasal release by some elders, /-tni/ (cf. N02m:42).


a) Applicative applies to an underlying intransitive clause and forms a derived

transitive.

b) The argument in underlying S-function goes into A-function in the applicative.

c) A peripheral argument (which could be explicitly stated in the underlying

intransitive) is taken into the core, in O-function.

d) There is some explicit formal marking of an applicative construction, generally by an

affix or some other morphological process applying to the verb.

Except for (c) all these points fit with the construction described here. Regarding (c), it is

not clear whether the introduced O-argument in the applicative could be stated in any way

in the intransitive in Engdewu. Note that there is another form in Engdewu, -(n)ö that is

labelled ‘applicative’ (§11.2.4). While the term ‘applicative’ is reserved for that marker, the

term ‘transitiviser’ or ‘transitive suffix’ is used for -ti in the present construction. The reason

for this choice is that first, the present construction resembles a typical transitive

construction with two core arguments, A and O, while the other construction is a less typical

transitive; and second, the choice of labels is in line with the use with similar morphemes in

Äiwoo and Natügu. The verb complexes of both Natügu and Äiwoo exhibit what is labelled

‘transitive suffix’. In the former it is identical in form to that found in Engdewu, -ti, while it is

-wâ or -eâ in the latter (Næss and Boerger 2008: 192).

The transitiviser is not found in semitransitive verb forms. That is, it never co-occurs with a

detransitive prefix (§11.2.1). Consider the examples in (317), where both a. and b. seem to

express an event with two participants, an actor (the diggers) and an undergoer (the holes).

Notice that only the verb derived by the transitiviser (in b.) has transitive person inflection,

that is, a third person augmented subject marker. Syntactic features of and a discussion of

semitransitive clauses are included in §13.5.

(317) a. Pita ni=ngö ma Pol la-ö-kü nünga.

P. PRO=3AUG.POSS with P. PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-dig hole

‘Peter and Paul dug holes./Pita an Pol digim ol.’ (N09m:2)


b. Pita ni=ngö ma Pol la-kü-ti-ngö

P. PRO=3AUG.POSS with P. PFV:3AUG.S/A-dig-TR-3AUG.A

nünga la-tüü

hole PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘Peter and Paul dug three holes./Pita an Pol digim trifala ol.’

11.2.4 Applicative suffix

Intransitive, transitive, and semitransitive verbs, both roots and those derived by the

detransitive prefix or the transitive suffix, can be derived with an applicative suffix -(n)ö/-lö.

While in need of more research, it seems that the choice of allomorph is triggered by the

morpheme to which it attaches in the same fashion as that described for the different

allomorphs of subject markers described in §7.4.1. That is, at least in some cases it may

seem to reflect a consonant from a historical syllable that has been lost; cf. (322), where the

allomorph -lö is added directly to the root kâlâ. This form also triggers an lV form of those

person/number morphemes that exhibit allomorphy. This is illustrated by the 1MIN form of

the subject marker in (321).

The function of the applicative is to indicate another participant. This participant is,

however, not necessarily introduced as a core argument. Participants indicated by the

applicative are not typical objects. That is, while they can be patients, they can also have

different other semantic roles, like experiencer, benefactive, locative, etc.

For instance, the applicative can indicate ‘aboutness’, that the action expressed by the verb

concerns something.

(318) i-vamu-ti-ö-na!

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-lie-TR-APPL-2MIN.S/A

‘You lie about it!/Iu laea long hem!’ (N05m:64)

The applicative can also indicate that the action expressed by the verb is done in favour of

someone indicated by the extra argument. Whether this could also be expressed by an

dative is not known.


(319) Ato-ö-bë Pita ni mö kot.

talk-APPL-PDIR>2/3 P. PRO-[1MIN.POSS] in court

‘Peter talks for me in court./Pita tok fo mi long kot.’ (N12m1:61)

In the example in (320), the applicative seems to indicate the location of the action, also

expressed by the prepositional phrase.113

(320) Nëgee tü-valia-nö-pe-bë mö

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dance-APPL-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3 at

nibö=ngö.

back=3AUG.POSS

‘She dances behind them./Hem dansim bihaen olketa.’ (M01m:69)

The applicative is frequently found with both transitive and semitransitive versions of the

verb pi ‘say’, which is always followed by a citation.

(321) Ö-pi-ö-bë kä-la-kiso: ‘Eh toko,

DETR-say-APPL-DIR>2/3 BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small Eh no

tü-kâla-lü’.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fright-1MIN.S/A

‘The child says: “No, I’m afraid.”/Pikinini sei: “Nomoa, mi fraet.”’

(Story_031009_N01m)

An applicative suffix is found in both Natügu (-ngö) and Äiwoo (-ive) (Næss and Boerger

2008: 191-92). Ross and Næss (2007) report that in Äiwoo it is added to the intransitive

lopâ ‘talk’ to form the transitive lopâive ‘tell’. This is similar to that seen in Engdewu, where

the applicative seems to indicate what is said, often expressed by a citation followed by the

verb and any core argument.

113

One speaker points out that there is a difference in whether the protagonist dances behind many or just a single person. In the latter example -tö is employed, and not -nö, according to this speaker:

a. tüvalia-nö-pebë ‘She dances behind them.’

b. tüvalia-tö-pebë ‘She dances behind him/her.’

The speaker adds another example to illustrate his point.

tü-mno-tö-pe më nibö=m[u]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-APPL??-GDIR:out at back=2MIN

‘I stay behind you./Mi stap bihaen iu.’ (M01m_110428-000)

While more research is needed in this matter, this indicates that the applicative can distinguish between singular and plural.


Note that one example is found where the applicative seems to license an O-argument. In

(322) a. the intransitive U-verb kâlâ ‘afraid’ is seen with an S-argument, Luk, denoting the

experiencer of the verb. In b. kâlâ is derived with the applicative, introducing an additional

argument. The original S-argument goes into O-function and the new argument goes into A-

function. It is not possible to employ the transitiviser in this construction. The reason for

this must be that a transitiviser is generally found with A-type verbs, and, thus, introduces

O-function arguments as a rule.

(322) a. Luk tu-kâlâ

L. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-afraid

‘Luke is afraid./Luk hem fraet.’

b. Vo tu-kâlâ-lö-de Luk

V. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-afraid-APPL-3MIN.A L.

‘Vaa frigthens Luke./Vaa fraetenim Luk.’ (M08m:71)

11.2.5 Comitative suffix

There is one morpheme -mi which appears in a few instances in the verb base. It seems to

indicate a participant with which the main actor performs the action expressed by the verb.

It can be given the translation ‘together with’ or ‘accompanied with’, and it is labelled

comitative. The additional participant is expressed as an O-function argument. This can be

seen by the typical transitive marking in the examples below. In (323) the basically

intransitive vë ‘go’ has both a subject and an object marker, where the third person

augmented object marker -ng indicates the new argument, the group of dogs that the hearer

should bring for hunting. In (324) there is a third person minimal subject marker present,

and as was described in §7.4.1, third person subject marking forms are only available with

transitive verbs. In (325) the basically intransitive ya ‘paddle’ licenses the argument

nöpubwi la-möpu ‘five coconuts’ which is the load the agent paddled with him. Unlike O-

arguments found with other types of transitive verbs, the comitative O-arguments never

denote patients that undergo a change.


(323) Dä tü-vë-mi-a-ng[u] më

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-COM-2MIN.S/A-3AUG.O to

na-nungmwa kuli.

IRR-hunt dog

‘Then you take them for dog hunting./Den iu tekem olketa fo hant long dog.’

(N05m_110531-001)

(324) Mwe tu-oplö-mi-e bolo, i-vë,

man IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-run-COM-3MIN.A ball PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

i-vë,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

‘Man runs with ball, go, go,…./Man wandem ran wetem bol ia, gogo,…’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(325) Ya-mi-mü nöpubwi

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-paddle-TR-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A coconut

la-möp[u] nübu.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-five yesterday

‘I paddled here with (?) five coconuts yesterday./Mi padolim kam faefala kokonat

yestade.’ (N13m:29)

Næss and Boerger (2008) report there being a postverbal comitative marker in the VC in

both Natügu (-mi) and Äiwoo (-i). In Natügu it is identical in form to that found in Engdewu,

while the Äiwoo variant clearly resembles those in the SC languages.



Sâ tü-yëlu-mi-mou-bë-le më Metalo.

PFV RL-return-COM-again-thither-3MIN.SBJ PRP Metalo

‘He returned back to Metalo with it.’

(327) Äiwoo (Næss and Boerger 2008: 192)

Lâ i-pââ-i-le=to=wâ, i-ää-i-mä-i-le

DEIC PFV-steal-3AUG.A-UA=PH=DEIC PFV-paddle-COM-DIR:1-3AUG.A-UA

Tuwo kâ.

Tuwo DEIC

‘They (two) stole it a fish and paddled back to Tuwo with it.’

11.2.6 Complex verb roots: cut and break verbs

The verb base in Engdewu may contain two lexical roots. This is a feature seen in all RSC

languages, as described by Næss and Boerger (2008).114 Different types of complex verbs

and verb serialisations are common in many Oceanic languages, as described in Bril and

Ozanne-Rivierre (2004) and Crowley (2002a). While the topic needs more careful study in

Engdewu, one special type of complex verbs will be discussed here, the ‘cut and break’

verbs.

Lynch, Ross, and Crowley (2002) say that:

[i]n many [Oceanic] languages of southeast Papua and the north coast of PNG, verbs are found

with what are referred to as classificatory prefixes. These prefixes are derived from the first verb

in an earlier causative serial construction. Thus all verbs expressing hitting actions, or cutting

actions, or actions involving the teeth or the feet, may begin with the same prefix, with the

following element either occurring independently as a verb with a related meaning, or only in

conjunction with one or more of these classificatory prefixes (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 48).

Næss and Boerger (2008) and Næss (2012) describe a related series of action verbs in both

Äiwoo and Natügu. These are what have come to be called ‘cut and break’ (C&B) verbs, as

discussed in Majid et al. (2007). C&B verbs are, ‘verbs referring to the targeted destruction

or modification of different types of objects and substances’ (Næss and Boerger 2008: 200).

C&B verbs denote events indicated by English verbs like cutting, breaking, slicing, chopping,

114

They analyse some of these constructions as nuclear-layer serial verb constructions, where the lexical stems are situated in the same (complex) nucleus. Others are merely analysed as complex verbs, basically because any of the elements in the complex nucleus are not attested as independent verbs, and are, rather, analysed as ‘bound elements’ (Næss and Boerger 2008).


hacking, tearing, ripping, smashing, shattering, snapping, etc. In Äiwoo and Natügu, C&B

verbs are complex forms, usually consisting of two stems in combination, where the first

indicates the manner of action, while the second indicates the manner in which the object

acted upon breaks. The second element, thus, often implies the shape or material of the

object. C&B constructions are a type of complex-event SVCs. Næss and Boerger (2008) and

Næss (2012) report that in both Äiwoo and Natügu the initial verbal element may be an

independent verb. That is, some of them are found independently as predicates in a clause,

while others are only found in the C&B VC. A few of the second verbal elements appear

independently in Äiwoo. In Natügu, only one of the second position elements is found

independently. Overall, C&B verbs are argued to have evolved from nuclear-layer serial verb

constructions which have lexicalised into verbs denoting specific cut and break events

(Næss and Boerger 2008; Næss 2012).

In Engdewu, several segmentable complex C&B forms are found. The first element describes

the manner in which an action is performed upon an object, while the second element

describes the manner in which the object breaks. These forms are, thus, of an

assymetrical/hierarchised type where the first element expresses a cause while the second

expresses a result of that cause. Some examples of C&B verbs are given in (328) and (329).

Note that the exact meaning of the elements in these complex constructions is not always

clear. This is glossed with a question mark here.

(328) I-mo-lü kä lepela dä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PROX:SG human CONT:SG:VIS

tö-pia-ki peipa më sisis.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-cut-? paper with scissors

‘I see a person who is cutting paper with scissors./Mi lukim wanfala man wea katem

peipa wetem sisis.’ (C&B_N11m: cut_paper_scissors)

(329) Ee, i-tu mö lakne kââ ä lakne kââ

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand at pillow DIST:SG and pillow DIST:SG

i-mo-we.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break-?

‘Yes, he stands at the pillow, and the pillow breaks./Ee, hem stanap long pilo ia, and

pilo ia brek.’

In some cases the initial element is found to function as an independent verb, like pia ‘split’,



(330) Nogâ tu-ö-pia=pme leipya.

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut=COS firewood

‘Then he cuts firewood./Den hemi katem paeawud.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

The initial elements that have been identified at present are listed in Table 11.2. Those in

boldface are also found independently.

Table 11.2: Examples of initial position forms in Cut & Break verbs in Engdewu

V1 Meaning Examples

atu break s.t. by foot atungwe ‘kick through s.t.’; atupu ‘step

on s.t. hollow so it breaks’; atuvei ‘step

on s.t. solid so it breaks’

knia-/ni-? snap s.t. off with hands kniavei ‘break s.t. off’

la break off part of s.t. with tool or hands lapwei ‘break off’

lo break in two by hand lopwei ‘break in two by hand’; lovei

‘break s.t. solid by hand’

mo break solid object mogle ‘break s.t. in pieces’

ngëlë sit, lie on s.t. so it breaks ngëlupo ‘sit, lie on s.t. hollow so it

breaks’; ngëlëvei, ngëlupo ‘sit, lie on s.t.

solid so it breaks’

pia cut with tool like knife or axe or saw;

general use, used for both cutting and

sawing

piaki ‘cut s.t. in two by sawing

movements’; piavle ‘cut s.t. in two by

sawing’

pli tear plingö ‘tear off s.t.’

pwa cut with knife pwa

pwei cut with sharp tool pweiki ‘cut something off with sharp

tool’

ta break s.t. by forceful, striking

movement

tabö ‘smash s.t. by fist’; tagle ‘smash s.t.

to pieces’; tagwe ‘smash through s.t.’

tapu ‘break s.t. hollow by instrument?’;

tavei ‘break s.t. solid by instrument?’

ti tear s.t. apart with intention tingali ‘tear in two pieces’

(v)a- CAUS vamogle ‘cause s.t. to break’

Some elements occurring in second position in the C&B verb forms are listed in Table 11.3.


Table 11.3: Examples of second position forms in Cut & Break verbs in Engdewu

V2 Meaning Examples

-gle ‘shatter in pieces’ tagle ‘smash s.t. to pieces’

-gwe ‘pierce through’ tagwe ‘smash through s.t.’

-ki piaki

-li ‘become two’ tingali ‘tear in two pieces’

-ngö/-nga plingö ‘tear off s.t.’

-pu ‘act on hollow object’ ngëlupo ‘sit, lie on s.t. hollow so it

breaks’

-pwei lopwei ‘break in two by hand’

-vei ‘act on solid object’ tavei ‘break s.t. solid by instrument?’

-we mowe ‘break s.t. solid…’

Note that the second element which expresses the result or effect of the complex predicate

in some cases implies the shape or material of the object. One element in second position is

found appearing independently, namely the stative verb li ‘two’. This suggests that the

construction might have consisted of independent verbs in a productive process of nuclear

serialisation at an earlier stage, just as suggested by Næss and Boerger (2008). Today,

however, it would be wrong to state that the complex C&B verbs in Engdewu are nuclear-

level SVCs because most of the elements are found only in these constructions.

The same situation is seen in Natügu. Here, only a few elements in both positions are found

to appear independently. In Äiwoo, on the other hand, the constructions are said to be more

transparent, and a handful of the first and second elements in the C&B verbs appear as

independent verbs, too. Examples of C&B constructions in Natügu and Äiwoo are given in

(331) and (332) respectively.



Nâ tabao kâ tü-lu-nge-o-mü-le bute' kâ.

tree papaya DEIC RL-poke-hole-down-hither-3MIN.SBJ corner DEIC

‘The papaya tree poked a hole in the corner (of the house).’


Nyigââ eângâ wo-gulo-Ø.

sea.almond DEM hammer-crack.open.TR-3MIN.A

‘He cracked that sea almond open.’

While most of the first elements are clearly transitive with meanings like ‘break something’,

‘cut something’ and ‘tear something’ the intransitive verb tu ‘stand’ also appears as the first

element, as seen in (333). Notice that the form is prefixed with an a-. If there is a restriction

that only allows transitive elements in the initial position in C&B forms, the a- preceding tu

may be analysed as the causative marker (v)a-. As explained in 11.2.2 the only way to

transitivise intransitive A-type verbs (like tu) is by the addition of the causative prefix.

(333) Le-a-tu-vei.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-CAUS-stand-break

‘They stood on it so it broke./Olketa step long hem so hem brek.’ (M05m_M11m:2)

The meaning of C&B verbs in Engdewu is frequently specified by directionals. They are

always added directly to the complex root. In (334), -yë ‘GDIR:up’ is added to pli-nga ‘tear

off’, and in (335) -tö ‘GDIR:in’ is added to the same complex root. The same is seen in the

Natügu example in (331) where the directional -o is added to the root lu-nge.


(334) Oplë kää? ö-pli-nga-yë-m[u] peipa.

girl PROX:SG DETR-tear-off-GDIR:up paper

‘A woman tears off paper (in an upwards motion)./Wanfala woman terim kam ap

peipa.’ (N11m_tear_sheet_off_)

(335) I-mo-lü kä noude

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PROX:SG man

i-la-ye-e tali ka uta=pwë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-show-GDIR:up-3MIN.A knife MED:SG small=RST

na=de, ä i-va-tu-ni-e

CL.II=3MIN.POSS and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-stand-GDIR:down-3MIN.A

nëge tü-pli-ngë-tö=pme peipa kââ mö

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-tear-off-GDIR:in=COS paper DIST:SG with

tali kââ.

knife DIST:SG

‘I saw a man who showed up his small knife, and he made it stand, then he tore the

paper in (against him) with the knife./Mi lukim wanfala man hemi sowim ap smol

naef blong hem, an hemi stanim hem daon, den hemi terim peipa wetem naef ia.’

(N11m:21)

11.3 Preverbal and postverbal verb modifiers

The elements outside the base are collectively referred to as ‘modifiers’, because they all

modify the meaning of the base without changing its valency or basic meaning.115 While it is

easy to analyse the morphemes around the root in the verb base as derivational, it was

argued in §11.1.2 that it is not that easy to analyse the modifier elements as inflectional in a

strict sense where inflections are obligatorily expressed on all possible bases. Recall that a

VC need not include any modifying elements, in which case imperative is expressed. In

indicative clauses only a mood/aspect prefix, and a subject marker (if S/A is not expressed

by an NP) is obligatory. As noted, the modifiers have their fixed position in the VC. While

most are positioned after the verb base, there are three positions preceding the root. The

position of the modifiers can tentatively be schematised as follows. More investigation is

needed to pin the exact position of many of these elements in relation to each other, and find

out which elements can and which elements cannot co-occur. Note that elements within

square brackets are obligatory, while elements within parenthesis are optional.

115

Inkelas (1993) and Margetts (2005) both operate with a similar distinction. The former talks about stem and modifiers. The latter talks about head and modifiers, where the head might be complex.

11.3 Preverbal and postverbal verb modifiers 315

(NEG1, CONT) [PFV, IPFV, IRR] VERB BASE (GDIR) (ADV) ( RECP) (COS) (DUPL) (SIM, RST,

COMP, ADV, INTENS) (PDIR) (NEG2) (SBJ) (OBJ) (HORT)

The remainder of this section is dedicated to their description.

11.3.1 Negative markers

Negation in Engdewu is generally marked by a negative particle that precedes the VC and a

negative marker that follows it. The preverbal negative marker (NEG1) is found as both te

and to. The choice of form seems to be a case of inter-speaker variation, as individual

speakers mostly seem to stick with one of them. Both variants are represented in the

transcribed examples in the thesis. Note that to is clearly related to the negative answer to a

polar question, toko ‘no’: no form *teko is found.116

The preverbal negative particle (NEG1) appears in the leftmost position in the VC. It shares

this position with the continuous particle (§11.3.2). That is, the two never co-occur, and it is

reasonable to believe that they mutually exclude each other. This implies that negative verb

forms cannot take part in progressive marking (CONT + IPFV-V, cf. §12.3.5). Similar

situations are also seen in other languages, like in the Niger-Congo language Fulfulde, where

there is a distinction between progressive and habitual in positive verb forms, while

negative verb forms only express imperfective (as opposed to perfective) (Theil, p.c.).

The preverbal negative particle generally co-occurs with the postverbal negative marker,

whose default form is -pwö. An example is given in (336). Notice that it is situated before

any person markers, here represented by -da ‘12MIN.S/A’.

(336) Te i-bowi=pwö-da.

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long=NEG2-12MIN.S/A

‘We two are not tall./Iumitufala no tol.’ (M08m:4)

The postverbal negative marker triggers subject marker of type V (c.f. §7.4.1). If the subject

marker is first, second, or third person minimal, i.e. -e(e), -i, -e/-ë, this results in

portmanteau forms that express both negation and person/number.

116

The positive answer to a polar question is ee or eu. The latter form, which is said to be a loan from Natügu, is in very common use. The former is generally acknowledged as the ‘correct’ Engdewu form.


(337) a.

te i-bowi=pwee

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-tall=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

‘I am not tall./Mi no tol.’

b.

te i-bowi=pwi


‘You are not tall./Iu no tol.’

c.

te i-bowi=pwë


‘S/he is not tall./Hem no tol.’

The postverbal negative marker has a short form -p[u], as illustrated in (338). It is not clear

whether there are special conditions lying behind its use.

(338) Nege i-vë-m[u], te i-tula-yë=p[u],

then PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/Astand-GDIR:up=NEG2

te yoko-yë=p[u]

NEG1 [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish-GDIR:up=NEG2

no-tula-yë-bwâpwe.

NMLZ-stand-GDIR:up-POSS:3MIN

‘Then he came, he did not fully stand up in his standing./Den hem kam, hem stanap

bat hemi no finis kamap fo standap blong hem.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m:

124ET_chairstand)

Remember that word-final consonants are a result of final vowel elision: -p[u] is as indicated

analysed with a reduced or elided final /u/. -p[u] should, perhaps, be analysed as the basic

form of the postverbal negative marker: When a person marker is added to it in the form of

a vowel, the /u/ turns into a glide, e.g. /pu / ‘NEG2’ + /e/ ‘1MIN.S/A’ > /pwe/, etc. This

analysis, however, offers no good explanation for the final vowel in the ‘default’ form -pwö,

which appears when a subject marker with an initial consonant is added, as seen in (336).

The negative particle was described to appear as the first element in the VC, and the enclitic

was described to appear at the end, only followed by person markers. Negative marking is

also found with words from other word classes than verbs: it is likely that these markers are

clausal rather than verbal. The example in (339) definitely does not contain a VC, and a

reasonable analysis of it is that it is a verbless clause where lepela ‘human’ constitutes the

predicate.


(339) ... toko, to lepela=pwö kââ

no NEG1 man=NEG2 DIST:SG

‘…no, he’s not human./…nomoa, hem no man nao ia.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

Bipartite negation is common in all RSC languages. Both Äiwoo and Natügu have bipartite

negation, in the former ba-...=gu and in the latter tö-...-u. In the former, the preverbal

element alone, ba, is identical with the negative answer to a polar question (Næss p.c.).

Bipartite negation is fairly common in many Oceanic languages. Lynch, Ross, and Crowley

(2002) say that, ‘ t here is a tendency in Oceanic languages for negation to be expressed

discontinuously. Typically, the first element occupies a preverbal slot, while the second

negative element appears postverbally’ (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 51). Cross-

linguistically, similar negative encodings are found in languages all around the world. One

obvious example is French (ne V pas). It is also found in African languages like Hausa and

Afrikaans (Theil, p.c.).

As mentioned above, ‘not yet’ is expressed in a formally similar fashion as the common

negation.

The preverbal negative particle is sometimes present with a postverbal morpheme -ka. The

combination can be glossed ‘not yet’. -ka is poorly found in the material, but according to the

examples below it appears before person directionals (cf. (340)) and subject markers (cf.

(341)). It is, thus, unclear whether it occupies the same slot as the postverbal negative

marker.

(340) King kââ to i-kapu-tö-ka-p[u].

king DIST:SG NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in-yet-PDIR>1

‘The king has not arrived yet.’ (M03m_TMA_A_154)

(341) Te olivü-ka-ü.

NEG1 ready-yet-1MIN.S/A

‘I’m not ready yet./Mi no redi iet.’ (M08m:55)

11.3.2 Continuous particle

There is a set of three preverbal particles in Engdewu that are analysed as continuous

markers. They are given Table 11.4.


Table 11.4: Continuous particles

VIS INV

SG dä da

PL ngë

While these particles mark an event as ongoing, they also indicate the number of S or A.

Thus, they are analysed as portmanteau morphs expressing both continuous aspect, i.e. an

event in progress, and either a singular, or plural third person. While there is one plural

form, ngë, there are two singular forms which also express a deictic contrast: dä expresses

that the agent performing the action is visible to the speaker reporting the situation, and da

indicates that the agent is invisible to the speaker.

When the continuous particle precedes a verb, this verb has to be inflected with a

mood/aspect prefix. The form of the continuous particle and the form of the verb must

correspond. That is, if the construction expresses a singular third person referent, the verb

is inflected with a non-third person augmented mood/aspect marker and a singular

continuous particle. If the construction expresses a plural third person referent, the verb is

inflected with a third person augmented mood/aspect marker and a plural continuous

particle. The mood/aspect prefix is usually the imperfective marker (§11.3.3.2). Examples

are given in (342). In §12.3.5 the combination of a continuous particle and an imperfective

verb form is analysed as marking the grammatical category of ‘progressive’. Mostly, it

seems, the continuous marker is used to encode progressive, as illustrated in (342). That

chapter will, however, also show that the continuous particle can appear with both

perfective (§11.3.3.1) and irrealis (§11.3.3.3) mood/aspect prefixes, but the exact aspectual

meaning of these constructions needs more investigation.

(342) a. Pita dä tü-wa.

P. CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-work

‘Peter is working./Pita hem waka.’ (M05m:57)

b. Pita da tü-wa.

P. CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-work

‘Peter is working (PROX)./Pita hem waka.’ (M05m:57)

c. Di ka tim ngë te-yawe=pmo.

INDF:SG PROX:SG team CONT:PL IPFV:3AUG.S/A-play=DUPL

‘A team is playing again./Wanfala tim olketa plei moa.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

The continuous and negative particles were both described to appear in the same first

position in the VC, mutually excluding each other. Following the discussion of the


distribution of the negative particle above outside the VC, the continuous marker is perhaps

also best analysed as a clausal element rather than a verbal one, because it is found outside

the VC. In §9.4, it was described to co-occur with demonstrative adverbs. And in §13.2, it

was described to appear in front of a noun. Both these constructions can be analysed as

verbless clausal constructions. Both construction types can basically be taken to denote

stative situations. This is also the reason for labelling this morpheme ‘continuous particle’,

and not ‘progressive particle’. That is, while ‘progressive’ is usually narrowed down for use

with dynamic situations, ‘continuous’ also covers stative situations, where ‘there is no

volitional agent involved’ (Mair 2012: 806).

Some speakers claim that the continuous markers are short forms of the third person free

pronouns ni=de ‘PRO=3MIN.POSS’ and ni=ngë ‘PRO=3AUG.POSS’. In PRONOUNS, these were

analysed as a base ni plus possessor markers. While this correspondence is likely, note that

the forms of the third person minimal possessor marker =de and the formally closest

continuous particle dä deviate slightly in vowel quality.

Interestingly, there is a set of preverbal particles in the VC in Natügu that expresses

aspectual information, sa and sâ. They are placed first in the complex, and, thus, remind of

the continuous marker in Engdewu. Boerger (in progress), however, analyses sa and sâ as

markers of imperfective and perfective aspect respectively; cf. (343). It should be noted,

however, that while the minimal markers dä and da in Engdewu indicate a contrast in

visibility, the vowels in the Natügu forms sa and sâ are similar to those found in proximal

and distal demonstrative forms in Natügu, ka/la ‘PROX’ and kâ/ka ‘DIST’. The vowels in the

Engdewu forms are identical to the proximal and medial forms in demonstratives in

Engdewu; cf. the demonstrative determiners kä ‘PROX:SG’ and ka ‘MED:SG’. Even though the

meanings of these similar markers seem to have evolved in different directions, it is

interesting to see that both might have an origin in the demonstrative system.


(343) Sâ të-ö-pi-pe-lö kä

PFV 3AUG.SBJ.RL-DETR-say-COMPL-3AUG.SBJ SUBR

na-nibü-pe-lö nâblo kâ-ng.

IRR-kill-COMPL-3AUG.SBJ man DEIC-PL

‘They said that they would/wanted to kill those men.’ (Næss and Boerger 2008)

11.3.3 Mood/aspect prefixes

As already mentioned, the only morphemes that obligatorily attach to the verb base in an

indicative clause are the mood/aspect prefixes. There are three pairs of mood/aspect

prefixes in Engdewu: the perfective, the imperfective, and the irrealis prefixes. They are

positioned in the only prefix slot in the VC, and may be preceded by a negative (§11.3.1), or

a continuous particle (§11.3.2). The aspect forms are cumulative expressions of

mood/aspect and person/number of S/A. That is, while the pairs distinguish between the

values perfective and imperfective, they only express a distinction between 3AUG and

N3AUG, such that a clause with a first or second person S/A is inflected with the N3AUG

form. The forms are given in Table 11.5, which also indicates that the perfective and

imperfective forms inherently express realis mood.

Table 11.5: Mood/aspect markers in Engdewu

RL IRR

PFV IPFV

N3AUG i-/u- tü-/tu-/te- nö-/no-/ne-

3AUG la-/lâ-/leta-/tâ-/te-

In transitive clauses the agent is indexed by a subject (S/A) marker in the VC when there is

no S/A NP argument in the clause. The form of the mood/aspect prefix must correspond to

the form of the subject marker. That is, if the subject is 3AUG, the mood/aspect marker must

also be 3AUG. In all other contexts the N3AUG form of the mood/aspect marker is chosen; cf.

the forms in (344).

(344) a. i-kia-ü (PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know-1MIN.S/A) ‘I know it./Mi save.’

b. i-kia-da (PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know-12MIN.S/A) ‘You and I know it./

Iumitufala save.’

c. i-kia-dabwe (PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know-12AUG.S/A) ‘We know it./Iumi save.’

d. la-kia-ngë (PFV:3AUG.S/A-know-3AUG.A) ‘They know it./

Olketa save.’


The person/number information expressed by the mood/aspect prefix is redundant in this

context, as person marking is fully taken care of by subject markers.

(345) a. I-kü-ti=pmee nabwa nünga la-tüü.

PFV:3MIN.S/A-dig-TR=COS:3MIN.A mouth hole PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘S/he dug three holes./ Hemi diggim trifala hol.’ (N05m_110517-001)

b. La-ku-ti-ngë nabwa nünga la-tüü.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-dig-TR-3AUG.A mouth hole PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘They dug three holes./ Olketa diggim trifala hol.’ (N09m:9)

In an intransitive clause with no overt NP argument, however, the person/number

information provided by the mood/aspect prefix is essential because they are the only

person/number markers of S/A. This is because there are no subject markers for third

person arguments in intransitive clauses.

(346) a. i-bwë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead

‘S/he is dead./Hem dae.’

b. la-bwë

PFV:3AUG.S/A-dead

‘They are dead./Olketa dae.’

In constructions without subject markers or S/A NPs in the clause, the 3AUG forms of the

perfective and imperfective prefixes are found to mark generic agents. This is already seen

in participant nominalisations (§6.6.1), and it will be discussed in §13.6, where they are

described to appear in agent-backgrounding constructions.

The mood/aspect prefixes often co-occur with either the continuous particle or the

Aktionsart markers. Different combinations of the continuous particle, the mood/aspect

markers, and the Aktionsart markers, express different grammatical aspect categories in

Engdewu. The most important of these will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 12.

11.3.3.1 Perfective prefix

As already indicated, the perfective prefix appears in the same position as, and, thus, stands

in paradigmatic opposition to, the imperfective and the irrealis prefixes. The form of the

N3AUG morpheme is i-~u- ‘PFV:N3AUG.S/A’, and the form of the 3AUG morpheme is la-~lâ-

~le- ‘PFV:3AUG.S/A’. Ross (p.c.) notes that these forms look remarkably like the person

prefixes in POc, *i- ‘3SG’ and *ra- ‘3PL’, and that Engdewu seems to have had a paradigm of


subject prefixes. (See also Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 67) This is interesting because

Äiwoo has a full set of intransitive subject prefixes, while the transitive subject markers are

suffixes. In Natügu and Engdewu, on the other hand, all subject markers are suffixes (Ross

and Næss 2007: 475; Næss and Boerger 2008: 189).

The choice between the 3AUG allomorphs la- and lâ- is controlled by vowel harmony (cf.

§4.6.2): if the vowel in the following syllable is a back, open vowel (i.e. o / /, â /ɒ/), then lâ-

is chosen. la- is used elsewhere, except when preceding the approximant /j/, which triggers

le-. The choice between i- and u- is not understood. Note, however, that most verbs select i-,

while only a few stative verbs select u-, e.g. u-pwë ‘be white/it is white’, u-pü ‘be hot/it is

hot’, u-tëpwë ‘be small/it is small’. It is possible that u- belongs to the root in these latter

forms, and that i- is elided when it is added to the root.

(347) a. I-bowi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long.

‘S/he/it is tall./Hem tol.’

b. U-pü-gâ.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hot-1AUG.S/A

‘We are hot./Mifala hat.’ (M08m_110406-002)

(348) a. La-ku-ti-ngë nabwa nünga la-tüü.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-dig-TR-3AUG.A mouth hole PFV:3AUG.S/A-three

‘They dug three holes./Olketa digim trifala hol.’ (N09m:9)

b. Lâ-mno ma-e.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay with-3MIN

‘They (two) stayed./Olketa tufala stap.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

c. Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u], le-yâlu-m[u],

and IPFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1

ä nëge ta-ö-tü=pme nëta nanu=ngö.

and then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-burn=COS fish CL.II=POSS:3A

‘And they returned, they returned, and then they burnt their fish./An olketa kam

baek, olketa kam baek, den olketa banem fis blong olketa.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

The N3AUG form i- is never found preceding a base with an initial detransitivising prefix

(v)ö- (§11.2.1), or a causative prefix (v)a- (§11.2.2). A word starting with the detransitiviser

by default expresses perfective aspect. This indicates, as mentioned in §4.6.4, that prefixes


with a final vowel tend to be elided in front of a base vowel. Alternatively, it may indicate

that the language at some time did not have explicit marking of perfective.

(349) Ö-yö leta.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-write-[3MIN.A] letter

‘S/he wrote letters./Hemi raetim leta.’ (N09m:29)

i- is also elided in front of a /j/-initial root. I.e. while the imperfective form of yoko ‘finish’ is

te-yoko, or sometimes s-oko (IPFV-finish), the root form alone signals perfective.

When the root to which 3AUG la- is added is vë/va ‘go’, the fricative/β/ is elided, and the

adjacent vowels merge, resulting in a long homophonuous vowel, cf. laa (PFV:3AUG.S/A-go)

‘they went’. When the 3AUG form la- is added to the causative (v)a- and the detransitive

(v)ö-, the fricative /β/ is never present. In this situation the vowels in the prefix and the base

do not usually merge, cf. la-a- (PFV:3AUG.S/A-CAUS-) and la-ö- (PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-).

§12.3.2 describes how a construction with the perfective prefix alone is employed to express

perfective. A perfective prefix in combination with the change-of-state mesoclitic (§11.3.4.1)

marks perfect aspect, and a perfective prefix in combination with the change-of-state

marker and the verb yoko ‘finish’ marks conclusive.

11.3.3.2 Imperfective prefix

The imperfective prefix appears in the same position as the perfective and the irrealis

prefixes. The form of the N3AUG morpheme is tü-~tu- ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A’, and the form of the

3AUG morpheme is ta-~tâ-~te- ‘IPFV:3AUG.S/A’. Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear) suggest

POc *ta ‘1INCL’ to be a source for the 3AUG ta-~tâ-~te-. They find parallel development

paths in other Oceanic languages. This will be further commented upon below.

The choice of allomorphs is controlled by the same rules as controlling the choice between

perfective 3AUG la- and lâ-. That is, the choice between 3AUG ta- and tâ-, and even N3AUG

tü- and tu-, is controlled by vowel harmony, as described in §4.6.2. The 3AUG allomorph te-

is triggered by a base with an initial /j/. In the speech of some speakers /t/ is spirantisised

and becomes /s/ in this context. Examples are given in (350) and (351).


(350) a. Dawea tü-piapu-tö mö nabwö ngâ-loli

D. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-jump-GDIR:in in mouth tree-tree.sp.

kââ.

DIST:SG

‘Dawea jumps into the mouth of the loli-tree./Dawea hemi jamp go long maot

ngâloli ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Tu-luâ më nao kolöm.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fly over head sea

‘It hovers over the sea surface./Hem flae ontap si.’ (N06m_110511-001)

(351) a. Tü-mwa-dabwe poi ä loi mö dwei?

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-12AUG.S/A pig and pudding for what

‘Why do we eat pig and pudding (lit. we eat pig and pudding for what)?/Iumi

kaikai pikpik and pudding long what?’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. Ee toko, tu-kâlâ-lü.

Eh no IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-afraid-1MIN.S/A

‘Eh no, I’m afraid./Eh nomoa, mi fraet.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

c. Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u] le-yâlu-m[u],

and IPFV:3AUG.S/A-return=COS=PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1

ä nëge ta-ö-tü=pme nëta nanu=ngö.

and then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-burn=COS fish CL.II=3AUG.POSS

‘Olketa kam baek, then olketa burnem fish blong olketa.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

When the base to which the mood/aspect marker attaches is vowel initial, they tend to

merge. The result is usually a form with an, often long tautosyllabic, vowel that reflects the

original base vowel. In (352) tü- ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A’ is attached to (v)a- ‘CAUS’ in the base.

(352) Dä taa-upwë-nö-yee bolo

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-roll-APPL-GDIR:up:3MIN.S/A ball

kââ.

DIST:SG

‘He is rolling the ball (on it)./Hemi rollem ap bolo ia (long hem).’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m: 145B_ramprollup)

In (352) tü- ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A’ is attached to (v)ö- ‘DETR’. In this case the vowel length is

usually short.


(353) I-mo-lü kä lepela dä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PROX:SG human CONT:SG:VIS

tö-piaki peipa më sisis.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-cut paper with scissors.

‘I see a man who is cutting paper with scissors./Mi lukim wanfala man wea katem

peipa wetem sisis.’ (N11m_110518-003_C&B)

Notice that the portmanteaus ta(a)- ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS’ and tö- ‘IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS’

are frequently pronounced /pa/ and /pɞ/, respectively. In the example in (354) the speaker

first pronounces the word paminga ‘s/he dries it’ before he corrects himself and pronounces

tüaminga to make the utterance more articulate. These forms are included in the present

work as respectively pa- and pö- because the motivation that lies behind the pronunciation

of these forms is not known. While there is no obvious phonological rule that triggers them,

these forms may, in fact, seem to be examples of dialectal variation.

(354) Dä pa-minga… dä

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS -dry CONT:SG:VIS

tü-a-minga newa.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-dry clothes

‘S/he is drying…s/he is drying clothes./Hemi draem…hemi draem kaleko.’

(M06m:24)

(355) Eu, pö-pia leipya.

yes IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:DETR-cut firewood

‘Yes, he’s cutting firewood./Yes, hemi katem faeawud.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m)

There is a preverbal prefix in Natügu, tü-/të-, that is similar in both form and distribution to

the imperfective aspect marker in Engdewu. While Boerger (in progress) analyses this

morpheme as marking realis mood, it is interesting to see the formal similarity between the

two. Irrealis is marked by a preverbal prefix na- in Natügu, similar to Engdewu na-/nö-

(§11.3.3.3). Äiwoo also has an irrealis marker, nâ-/nä-, cognate in form with those in Natügu

and Engdewu (Næss and Boerger 2008: 191). Perfective and imperfective aspects are

marked by the prefixes i- and ki-/ku-, respectively, which also imply realis mood (Næss and

Boerger 2008: 190).

§12.3.3 describes how a construction with the imperfective prefix alone is employed to

express imperfective aspect. An imperfective prefix in combination with the change-of-state

mesoclitic (§11.3.4.1) marks inchoative aspect. The combination of a continuous particle

and an imperfective prefix marks progressive aspect.

11.3.3.3 Irrealis prefix

The last ‘mood/aspect’ marker is the irrealis prefix. It occurs in the same position as the

perfective and imperfective aspect markers, and, thus, also attaches directly to the verb

base. In difference from the perfective and imperfective prefixes, there is no distinction

made between 3AUG and N3AUG. All RSC languages have a reflex of POc irrealis marker *na

(Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 44). In Natügu, the irrealis prefix na- and in Äiwoo it is nA-.

It makes no distinctions in person/number in either language (van den Berg and Boerger

2011: 233; Næss and Boerger 2008). Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear) suggest that this is

a reflex of POc *na. The irrealis morpheme nö-/no-/ne- in Engdewu is perhaps cognate with

those in its sister languages. However, the form is formally identical to the nominalisation

prefix nö-/no-/ne- found in action nominal constructions, as described in §6.6.2. Both

Natügu and Äiwoo have cognate prefix forms employed in ANCs, në- and nyi- respectively,

and Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear) assume that these are reflexes of Proto-Malayo

Polynesian *<in>, which had two functions in combination with the suffix *-an, primary to

mark the locative voice in perfective aspect, and secondarily, nominalisation (Ross 2002).

Thus, it is likely that the irrealis prefix in Engdewu is a reflex of PMP *<in> (POc *ni-/<in>),

and not POc *na.

The form of this morpheme is nö-~no-~ne-. The choice between the two former allomorphs

is controlled by vowel harmony (cf. §4.6.2), where no- attaches to base forms with a back

open vowel / , ɒ/ in the first syllable. ne- is triggered by a base-initial /j/.


(356) Mwati tü-vë-dabwe mö nö-taki-ö

tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-12AUG.S/A to NMLZ-take.out-NMLZ

wongu. Nö-mwa-dabwe wongu.

pandanus.fruit IRR-eat-12AUG.S/A pandanus.fruit

‘Tomorrow, we go to take out pandanus fruit. We will eat pandanus fruit./Tumoro

iumi go fo tekem aot fruti blong pandanus. Iumi kaikai fruti blong pandanus.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(357) I-piaki-pe-a du, no-mnote-i pedoo.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut-GDIR:out-2MIN.S/A some IRR-leave-2MIN.S/A bush

‘You cut out some, you will leave it in the bush./Iu katem aot samfala pat, den iu

livim long bus.’ (N05m_110531-001_wildpig)

(358) …ma i-kati nuwo tömöta

but PFV:N3AUG.S/A-like mind:1MIN.POSS hook

ne-yâlu=pmo-m[u]

IRR-return=DUPL-PDIR>1

‘…but I want the hook to come back (lit. my mind like the hook to come back)./…bat

mi laikem huk fo kam baek.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

When the irrealis prefix is attached to a base with an initial /a/, it merges with base. The

result is a form naa. In (359) the irrealis marker is added to a base derived by (v)a- ‘CAUS’.

(359) Naa-pwö-pe-dabwe mnö=dabwe.

IRR:CAUS-cold-GDIR:out-12AUG.S/A eye=12AUG.POSS

‘We will make our eyes cold./Mekem eye blong iumi cold ia.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

11.3.4 Aktionsart markers

The change-of-state and duplicative markers were argued in §11.1.3 to be mesoclitics: while

most morphemes in the VC are only found occurring in its fixed position in the complex,

these two morphemes can appear among the post-base modifiers in the VC, and they can

attach to other hosts.

11.3.4.1 Change-of-state mesoclitic

The change-of-state marker has the invariant form =pme, though it can be lenited to [pwe]

or [pẽ] in rapid speech. It attaches after the verb base and the geometric directionals, but

before any person directional, negation marker, person marker, or hortative marker. The


change-of-state marker indicates either the starting phase or the completion of an action,

and is, thus, labelled ‘change-of-state’ (‘COS’).

When combined with a perfective aspect marker, the end of an event is indicated. When

combined with an imperfective marker, the start of an event is indicated. This distinction is


(360) a. Pita i-vë=pme Dedu.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS D.

‘Peter has gone to Dedu./Pita go finis long Dedu.’ (N05m:22)

b. Pita tü-vë=pme Dedu.

P. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS D.

‘Peter will go/is going to Dedu./Pita bae hem go long Dedu.’ (N05m:22)

The constructions in a. and b. are labelled, respectively, ‘perfect’ and ‘inchoative’ in §§ 12.3.4

and 12.3.6. In that chapter yet another construction, ‘conclusive’, is discussed. This is in

essence a perfect construction with the addition of the stative verb yoko ‘finish’ in the clause.

In Äiwoo, there is a morpheme =to that focuses on the transition from one event to another.

In Natügu, there is a morpheme -pe which marks an action as completed (Næss 2006; Næss

and Boerger 2008: 190–91). Both show functional similarities to the change-of-state marker

in Engdewu. Formally, however, only the variant in Natügu is similar and may have

developed from the same source.

11.3.4.2 Duplicative mesoclitic

The duplicative (DUPL) marker has the invariant form =pmo, though it is sometimes

reduced to [pwo] in rapid speech. It is generally translated with Pijin ‘moa’ (Eng. more,

again). When it appears in the VC, it appears after any geometric directionals, but before any

subject (and, thus, object) markers, as seen in (361) and (362).


(361) I-ngalaa-tö=pmo.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:in=DUPL

‘S/he climbed in again/Hem klaem in moa.’

(362) La-mo=pmo-ngö.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see=DUPL-3AUG.S/A

‘They saw him/her/it again./Olketa lukim hem moa.’

It can be combined with any of the perfective and imperfective aspect markers, as seen in

(363).

(363) I-tu-yë=pmo mö tebol kââ=pwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand-GDIR:up=DUPL at table DIST:SG=RST

‘He stood up again at the table./Hem stand ap go ap moa long tebol ia.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(364) Opla kââ tü-ngala-pe-m[u] naknu mö

girl DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-climb-GDIR:out-PDIR>1 today through

wido, nëge dä tü-ngala-tö=pmo

window then CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:in=DUPL

seim wido.

same window

‘The girl climbing out of the window today, she climbs inside again through the same

window./Gele hem klaem kamaout long windo ia, hem klaem go insaet moa long sem

windo.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

It can co-occur with the change-of-state marker =pme ‘COS’. Both appear to have their fixed

position: the duplicative always follows the change-of-state marker.

(365) Tü-vë-inii=pme=pmo pwala,

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:down=COS=DUPL sea

i-vë-inii-bee…

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:down-PDIR?

‘He walks down to the sea again, he went down…/Hemi go daon moa long sii, hemi

go daon…’ (Story_041009_N01m)

While there is no description of a morpheme that corresponds to the duplicative marker in

Natügu, there is one in Äiwoo: the form -usi is analysed as an adverb attaching to the stem in


the VC (Næss p.c.). It is glossed ‘again‘, and according to the examples provided, it indicates

the repetition of an event (Næss and Boerger 2008: 190-91).


i-lobâku-usi=to

PFV-fold-again.TR=PH

‘s/he had folded it again (the object was presented to me in a folded state)’

The duplicative marker only applies to active verbs, and marks an event as a repeated

instance of another event, but unlike classical iterative aspect, it only indicates one

repetition. Cusic (1981: 89) describes, ‘ s everal kinds of repeated actions where the index

of repeated events = 2 can be distinguished’. One such kind of repeated action he defines as

duplicative was where, ‘a single action is repeated once on the same or a different occasion’.

All instances in the material seem to mark event-external events, repeated on different

occasions. On duplicatives, Cusic observes that, ‘ t his kind of plural action appears to allow

a distinction between two actions performed by the same actor and two actions performed

by different actors’ (Cusic 1981: 89). In the examples above, the subject is the same for the

repeated action as for the first instance of the action. Now, consider the examples in (367)

and (368).

(367) I-va=pmo-m[u] kä döwede kä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=DUPL-DIR>1 PROX:SG time REL

i-löpi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘It came again (or “another one came”), a very big one./Wanfala hem kam moa,

biiiigwan.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

(368) I-ngala-nö-pe=pmo-pwa ke,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-APPL-GDIR:out=DUPL-? ?

i-do-inii-m gâ pyaputö mö nabwe beli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-DIR:down DIST inside? in mouth basket

bowi.

long

‘Another one of them also climbed out, he fell down there into the mouth of the long

basket./Wanfala long olketa klaem go aot moa, hem fol daon long dea insaet long

maot blong longfala basket.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

In these examples the two actions (the initial and the repetition) are distributed on two

different subjects. The sentence in (367) describes the emergence of a recurrent earthquake,


but this earthquake cannot necessarily be the same as the first one. The same is the case in

the second example. In the preceding context, a giant has commanded a group of children to

climb an apple tree to fetch a specific fruit. As he reaches for the fruit, the first child falls

down and into the giant’s basket. Then the giant commands one of the other children to go

for the fruit. The duplicative marker that is attached to the verb in (368) indicates a

repetition of the event of climbing. This time, however, it is repeated by another subject, a

second child from the group. The fact that =pmo is employed here, thus, indicates that the

scope of the reduplication does not obligatorily include the subject.

Next, the duplicative marker is not only found in examples where the event is duplicated. In

the preceding context of (369), which is taken from a Staged Events session, the speaker has

seen a clip where a girl is climbing out of a window. Now she climbs back in through the

same window.

(369) …nëge dä tü-ngala-tö=pmo seim wido.

then CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:in=DUPL same window

‘…then she is climbing back inside through the same window./…hem klaem go insaet

moa long sem windo.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m_146M_outinout)

In this example a mirror-image of the first event is performed. Cusic (1981) labels this kind

of repeated event as reversative, where, ‘two distinct actions, one a mirror-image of the

other, are performed by the same agent on the same or different occasions. ... this usually

concerns verbs of motion and indicates return by the original agent along a path to some

point of origin’ (Cusic 1981: 91). Theil (p.c.) notes that there is a suffix to the Engdewu

duplicative marker in Fulfulde (-(i)t), which has a similar spectre of meanings: reversative,

repetitive, reflexive, retaliative.

11.3.5 Subject suffixes

The form of the subject markers was described in §7.4.1, where they were compared to

possessor markers and classified in five inflection types. The forms in the five classes

deviates in first, second, and third person minimal and in second person augmented. The

forms in the remaining persons/numbers are the same.

While the aspect prefixes indicate some features of S or A, namely the distinction between

3AUG and all other persons/numbers, the subject markers are the main verbal tool for the

indication of S or A arguments. Note that ‘subject’ (and ‘object’ for the object marker, cf.

§7.4.2) are used in the most traditional fashion to indicate a nominative-accusative pattern.


Recall that the third person subject markers, both minimal and augmented, only index A

arguments. Third person S arguments are not subject marked on the verb. In this case, the

mood/aspect prefix indicates whether the S is minimal or augmented.

When present, the subject marker always attaches to the VC, after the Aktionsart markers.

An example is given in (370).

(370) Te-yâlu=pme-i.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-return=COS-1MIN.S/A

‘I go back now./Mi go baek nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

In some situations when a subject marker that consists of a vowel is added to a base ending

in a vowel, the two merge, resulting in a long, homophonuous (and tautosyllabic) final base

vowel. This is for instance seen when subject markers are added to the person directional -

bë (‘PDIR:2/3’) (§11.3.7.2).

In the discussion in §11.1.3 about the morphological status of morphemes in the VC, one

possible solution that was mentioned for the analysis of the morphemes that appear after

the clitic Aktionsart markers was to simply analyse them as clitics. This analysis was,

however, dismissed. First, the variety of allomorphs is a good argument for an affix analysis

of these morphemes, as such morphophonological alternations are typical of affixes and

untypical of clitics. Second, the subject markers show no freedom of stem selection, that is,

they are only found on the verb, and this is another feature typical for affixes.

Verbs are not marked with subject markers in all contexts. Subject suffixes are not

obligatorily attached to the verb if the clause is imperative. If an A NP is present in its

unmarked position after the verb (cf. Chapter 13), the verb is not marked with a subject

suffix. As noted in §7.4.1, the subject markers are analysed as pronominal and not co-

referencing devices. If an A-argument NP occurs in a marked position, i.e. if it precedes the

verb, however, then the verb is marked with a subject suffix, as seen in (371). In this

situation the argument NP is considered appositional, and, thus, outside the clause. If there

is no NP A-argument in the clause, the verb also gets marking, as seen in (372).


(371) Pita i-nibi-ä kuli.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3MIN.A dog


(372) I-tawapia-ä kä nöpubwi

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break-3MIN.A PROX:SG coconut

‘He broke a coconut./Hemi brekem wanfala kokonat.’

11.3.6 Object suffix

As described in §7.4.2, there is only one generally used object marking suffix in Engdewu, -

ng[ü]. It is reserved for the marking of third person augmented referents. It is analysed as an

affix on the same basis as the subject markers in §11.3.5. The object suffix only applies if

there is no overt phrase present in the clause denoting the object referent. Non-third person

augmented object referents are marked by the free pronouns, as will be seen in §13.4.

Generally, there is no marking of 3MIN O arguments. Only the object suffix formally

distinguishes a. from b. in (68), where the A-argument NP kuli ‘dog’ is in the unmarked

subject position after the transitive verb nibi ‘kill’. In a. with an object marker -ng[ü]

attached to the verb, the reading is that the dog killed several object referents. In b., on the

other hand, there is no object marker present, and this indicates a singular patient referent.

(373) a. I-nibi-ng[ü] kuli.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3AUG.O dog

‘They were killed by a dog (or a dog killed them)/Dog kilim olketa.’

b. I-nibi kuli.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill dog

‘S/he/it was killed by a dog (or a dog killed him/her/it)./Dog kilim hem.’

The example in (374) presents the verb ta ‘hit’ indicating all person/numbers acting on a

third person augmented referent. Notice a. and d. where a full form free pronoun is present

instead of object marking on the verb. Notice f., where a free pronoun denoting the subject

referent precedes the verb followed by the verb in a relative clause. And finally, notice g.,

where the form of the object marker is pronounced with a non-reduced final vowel.

(374) a. i-ta-ü ni=ngö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-1MIN.S/A PRO=3AUG.POSS

‘I hit them.’


b. i-tö-da-ng[ü]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-12MIN.S/A-3AUG.O

‘We two hit them.’

c. i-taa-ng[ü]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit:2MIN.S/A-3AUG.O

‘You hit them.’

d. i-tää ni=ngö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit:3MIN.A PRO=3AUG.POSS

‘S/he hit them.’

e. i-tö-gâ-ng[ü]

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-3AUG.A-3AUG.O

‘We hit them.’

f. ni=dabwe kä ö-ta-ng[ü]

PRO=1AUG.POSS TOP DETR-hit-3AUG.O

‘We hit them (i.e. it is we that hit them).’

g. i-ta-amu-ngü

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-2AUG.S/A-3AUG.O

‘You hit them.’

h. la-ta-ngö-ng[ü]

PFV:3AUG.S/A-hit-3AUG.S/A-3AUG.O

‘They hit them.’

There is found one example, in an elicited paradigm, of what seems to be a 3MIN object

marker, -ngö, cf. (375). This is, however, the only context where a form seems to index a

3MIN O. This form is identical to the 3AUG subject suffix, but as there already is another

subject suffix present, the 2AUG -amu, there seems to be no other option than to posit -ngö

as a 3MIN object suffix, however marginal this form is.

(375) i-ta-amu-ngö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-2AUG.S/A-3MIN.O??

‘You (2AUG) hit him/her.’

11.3.7 Person directionals

Engdewu-speakers have a variety of linguistic tools for referring to space. Local nouns were

discussed in §6.3.3, locational and demonstrative adverbs were presented in §5.6, and the

three-way distance-oriented demonstrative system was discussed in Chapter 9, including a

demonstration of the demonstrative determiners. These morphemes all denote specific


points in the spatial setting, either fixed (e.g. many local nouns, like Nagu, Ulou and

Mömwawë) or relative to a deictic centre (adverbs, demonstratives, some local nouns like

nelya ‘village’ and matu nyo ‘my house, home’).

Directionals, on the other hand, which frequently appear in the VC, do not denote a point in

space, but, rather, motion from or towards such a point. In François’ (2003) geometrical

formalisation, directionals are, ‘…“vectorizing” an event in space, that is, orienting it along a

certain axis’ (François 2003: 409), where the axis is drawn between two points. There are,

of course, an unlimited number of ways an axis can be drawn in space, but some are more

commonly indicated in language grammars. In Engdewu there are two different types of

directionals defined by how the axis is drawn: the person directionals, and the geometric

directionals. The ‘person directionals’ (PDIR) denote axes to, from, or between speech

participants.117 The ‘geometric directionals’ (GDIR) denote axes involving any other point in

space, often in relation to the speech participants.118

It is not uncommon to see more than one directional marker that co-occurs in the VC. That

is, a VC can only host one person directional at a time, far to the right in the complex, after

any change-of-state or duplicative marker, but before any person marker, but more than one

geometric directional can co-occur. Directional markers (often analysed as enclitics) are a

common category of postverbal morphemes in Oceanic languages (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley

2002).

The person directionals encode the directional path between the participants in the

discourse, or between a participant and a third person. The notion ‘person directional’ is,

thus, analogous to the notion ‘person marker’: while the latter function to index core

arguments that denote actor and undergoer participants in the discourse, the former

indicate transactional paths between actors, and other participants, that thus are

benefactives, recipients and goals. They resemble the ‘directional enclitics’ found in Proto-

Oceanic, which had at least two members, meaning ‘hither’ and ‘thither’, usually with the

speaker as the deictic centre. They are often cognate with the verbs ‘come’ and ‘go’ in other

languages, ‘and are presumably derived from earlier directional verb serializations’ (Lynch,

Ross, and Crowley 2002).

There are three person directionals in Engdewu. These are:

117

These are called ‘deictic directionals’ by (Pawley 2003). 118

These are called ‘geographic directionals’ by (Pawley 2003).


-m[u]/-mi/-p[u]/-pi ‘PDIR>1’;

-bë ‘PDIR>2/3’; and

-ba ‘PDIR:away’.

Person directionals are found in the other RSC languages as well, but there seem to be minor

differences in the path they encode. Næss and Boerger (2008: 193) report Natügu to have

two person directionals, where -mü/-pü ‘towards speaker, hither’ and -bë ‘towards non-

speaker, thither’, where the former is clearly cognate to Engdewu -m[u]/-p[u]. They are

probably reflexes of POc *mai (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 85). Äiwoo has three person

directionals, -mä ‘towards 1’, -wâ ‘towards 2’, and -kä/-kâ ‘towards 3’ (Næss and Boerger

2008: 193), where the former probably also is cognate with the respective Natügu and

Engdewu forms.

11.3.7.1 -m[u]/-mi/-p[u]/-pi ‘PDIR>1’

This directional indicates direction towards the deictic centre. This is typically the direction

towards the speaker, as seen in (376).

(376) Nëge dükna kââ i-vë-m[u].

then devil DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1

‘Then the devil came./Den devol ia hem kam.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

This directional can indicate direction towards any thought deictic centre, not necessarily

the specific place where the speaker is situated at the time of speech. In (377), the location

the protagonists are returning to is different from the place of utterance.

(377) Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u], le-yâlu-m[u],

and IPFV:3AUG.S/A-return=COS-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1

ä nëge ta-ö-tü=pme nëtna nanu=ngö.

and then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-burn=COS fish CL.II=3AUG.POSS

‘And they started to return, they returned, and then they started to burn their

fish./An olketa kam baek, olketa kam baek, an den olketa banem fis blong olketa.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

Engdewu has no lexical root corresponding to English come. The meaning is simply encoded

through the general verb for motion vë ‘go’ and -m[u] ‘PDIR>1’, as seen in (378) a. A bare

verb, on the other hand, implies movement away, as seen in b.


(378) a. Vë-m[u]!

go-PDIR>1

‘Come!/Kam!’

b. Vë!

go

‘Go!/Go!’

This strategy is seen in all RSC languages, and it is not uncommon in Oceanic languages in

general. It is, for instance, described for Mwotlap, spoken on the Banks Islands in Northern

Vanuatu, as illustrated in (379).

(379) Mwotlap (François 2003: 411)

Van me!

AO:go DIR:1

‘Come (towards me)!’

The allomorph -p[u] is triggered when the morpheme appears after -tö ‘GDIR:in’, as

illustrated in (380). In a., the hearer is commanded into a house by the speaker, who is

situated on the outside, and only -tö ‘GDIR:in’ is attached to the verb. In b., the speaker

himself is situated inside the house, commanding the hearer to come inside. The form -p[u]

is added to the verb after -tö.

(380) a. Va-tö mö matu.

go-GDIR:in in house

‘Go into the house./Go insaet long haus.’

b. Va-tö-p[u] mö matu.

go-GDIR:in-PDIR>1 in house

‘Come into the house./Kam insaet long haus.’

The allomorph -mi is triggered if the directional is followed by a 3MIN subject marker -ä/-e.

In this case the /u/ in the directional is fronted. This is illustrated in (381).

(381) I-dâkou-ini-mi-e yowu,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-drop-GDIR:down-PDIR>1-3MIN.A at.bottom

‘He made it fall down at the bottom./Hemi mekem fol daon long botom.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

When a 3AUG subject marker -ä/-e follows this directional form, however, the form is /pi/,

as seen in (382). This is analogous to the context for -m[u].


(382) I-va-tö-pi-e

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:in-PDIR>1-3MIN

ö-pi-ö-tö-pi-e ele bwale itö=de…

DETR-say-APPL-GDIR:in-PDIR>1-3MIN.A DAT woman mother=3MIN.POSS

‘He came in and said to his mother./Hem kam in and hemi sei kam long mami blong

hem…’ (Story_280909_M05m)

This directional marker is not only used with verbs involving physical movement, it is also

employed with verbs of speech to indicate the direction of the speech. This is illustrated in

(383) a. and b.

(383) a. Ato-m[u] ele

talk-PDIR>1 DAT-[1MIN.POSS]

‘S/he talks to me./Hemi tok kam long mi.’ (Elicited)

b. Lepela kââ ato-m[u] ele=da

man DIST:SG talk-PDIR>1 DAT-12MIN.POSS

‘The man talks to the two of us./Man ia tok kam long iumitufala.’ (Elicited)

As is explained in §§13.3 and 13.4, person directionals are employed in a marking strategy

of an extra participant in extended transitive and intransitive constructions. In (384) it

indicates a recipient.

(384) I-vë, ö-pi-ö-bä:

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go DETR-say-APPL-PDIR

‘Pu-ini=pme-dabwe ma lai-m[u] dyolu

step-GDIR:down=COS-12AUG.S/A but give-PDIR>1 custom.adze

kââ’, nötü=de ‘dyolu’.

DIST:SG name=3MIN.POSS ‘dyolu’

‘He went, he said: “Step down, but give me the dyolu”; its name is “dyolu”./Hem go,

hem sei: “Iumi go daon nao, bat iu givim kam kastom naef ia,” nem blong hem

“dyolu”.’ (Story_041009_N14m)

11.3.7.2 -bë ‘PDIR>2/3’

This directional indicates direction towards a second or third person. Like the other person

directionals, it precedes any subject marker, as seen in (385), where it is followed by the

first person augmented subject marker -gâ.


(385) Ni=gâ telinö i-lai-bë-gâ kiou

PRO=1AUG.POSS two PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3-1AUG.S/A MED:PL

böpi le di lepela.

banana DAT INDF:SG human

‘We two give bananas to a man./Mitufala givim banana go long wanfala man.’

(M01m_110414-003)

The directional triggers person markers of inflection type V (§7.4.1), and when a 3MIN

subject suffix is added to it, the forms merge. That is, -be(e) is a cumulative form of

directional and 1MIN subject suffix, -bi is a cumulative form of directional and 2MIN subject

suffix, -bää is a cumulative form of directional and 3MIN subject marker.

(386) Atâo-be wenu le=m[u].

talk:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-PDIR>2/3:1MIN EMPH DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I talk strongly to you./Mi tok strong long iu.’ (M08m_110420-000)

(387) Atâo-bi le=de.

talk:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DIR>2/3:2MIN DAT=3MIN.POSS

‘You talk to him./Iu tok long hem.’

(388) Pita i-lai-bää böpi kä

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:3MIN banana REL

i-löpi le Meri.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big DAT M.

‘Peter gave a big banana to Mary./Pita givim wanfala bigfala banana long Meri.’

(M01m_110421-002)

11.3.7.3 -ba ‘PDIR:away’

This directional indicates direction away from the deictic centre. This is seen in (389).

(389) Nëge tü-va, tü-va-pe=pme-ba.

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-out=COS-PDIR:away

‘Then he went, he started to go away./Den hem go, go aot nao.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Like the other person directionals, -ba is often found with verbs of speech.


(390) La-ö-pi-ö-ini-ba oplë kâu,

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-down-PDIR:away girl DIST:PL

la-ö-pi-ö-ba-ngë: ’Ni=gâ noude,

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:away-3AUG.A PRO=1AUG.POSS man

ni=gâ oplë!’

PRO=1AUG.POSS girl

‘The girls said (down), they said: “We are men, we are women!”/Olketa gele ia sei go

daon, olketa sei: “Mifala man, mifala woman!”’ (Story_200909_M11m)

11.3.8 Geometric directionals

The geometric directionals do not indicate movement towards or from a person, but, rather,

a movement in space in relation to a deictic centre. Four of them are ordered in pairs with

antonymic reading where the members are ‘directional opposites’ (Cruse 2000: 171). The

members of the first pair indicate a movement in space along a vertical axis, -yë ‘GDIR:up’

and -(i)ni ‘GDIR:down’.119 The members of the second pair indicate movement in space

along a horizontal axis, -tö ‘GDIR:in’ or -pe ‘GDIR:out’, often in relation to a kind of container,

e.g. a house, a cave, a basket. Furthermore, there is a directional -o ‘GDIR:across’, indicating

motion from one point to another across something, e.g. a field or a sound. While all the

mentioned directionals indicate straight lines in space, there is one additional directional

that indicates movement along a random path, -nö ‘GDIR:about’. The geometric directionals

are placed close to the base.

119

The parenthesis indicates that the initial vowel is sometimes elided due to circumstances that are not yet understood.


(391) I-va-tö=pme mö matu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:in=COS to house

‘He went into the house./Hem go insaed long haus.’ (M01m:56)

(392) I-va-pe=pme-m[u] mö matu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out=COS-PDIR>1 from house

‘He came out of the house./Hem go aotsaet long haus.’ (M01m:56)

(393) Ee, nëgää tü-ngala-yë=pme yowu.

yes then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:up=COS on.top

‘Yes, then he started to climb up on top./Ies, den hem klaem ontap.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

(394) Nëge da-kou tü-yâ-ini mö nabwö

then BN:thing-DIST:PL IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-pour-GDIR:down in mouth

beilam kââ.

bowl DIST:SG

‘Then something pours down into the bowl./Den samting pour daon long maot blong

beilam ia.’ (Story_200909_M11m)

(395) Nübu lepela öki le-ya-o Bibö.

yesterday people MED:PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:across B.

‘Yesterday, the people paddled across to Bibö./Yestade olketa pipol padolim akros

long Bibö.’ (N02m:52)

(396) Tü-va-nö-n[u].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:about-1MIN.S/A

‘I walk about./Mi wokabaot.’ (M01m:8)

Two geometric directionals can occur after each other in a VC, though the directional

opposites logically exclude each other. An example is given in (397) where -(i)ni

‘GDIR:down’ and -pe ‘GDIR:out’ appear after each other in the VC in the second clause.


(397) Ga ö-pi-ö-na ngue nö-mwa-në, nëgää

if? DETR-say-APPL-2MIN.S/A be.like NMLZ-eat-NMLZ then

tü-gwa-ini-pe-bi…

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:down-GDIR-out-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A

‘If you want to eat, then you take it down out,…/Sapos iu like kaikai, then iu daonim

kam,…’ (N04f_110602-000)

11.3.8.1 -tö

The most general use of -tö indicates the physical path of an action, like motion into any kind

of container, for instance a house, as seen in (391). It can, however, also be used

metaphorically. In a few examples, -tö is found to indicate that an action is performed with

force. Compare the examples a. and b. in (398). The semantic relation between the primary

use and this secondary use to indicate force seems to be that the latter can be seen as a

displacement not of a concrete referent, but, rather, the abstract displacement of power to

initiate the resulting event. A related example is seen in English and the use of into in

expressions like talk someone into, which means ‘to persuade someone to something by

talking’.

(398) a. A-omwa sif ni.

CAUS-chew.betel chief PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘The chief made me chew betelnut./Sif mekem mi kaikaim betelnut.’ (N06m:28)

b. A-omwa-tö sif ni.

CAUS-chew.betel chief PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘The chief forced me to chew betelnut./Sif fosim mi fo kaikaim betelnut.’

(N06m:28)

Another example is given in (399).

(399) A-oplë-tö sif ni.

CAUS-run-GDIR:in chief PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘The chief forced me to run./Sif fosim mi fo ran.’ (N06m:29)

In some cases, -tö indicates the completeness of an action. In (400), -tö indicates that the

mats were rolled completely together in rolls, i.e. from being spread out, a mat is rolled into

a compact roll.


(400) Meri i-bu-tö=pmee ninö=de.

M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-roll-GDIR:in=COS:3MIN.A mat=3MIN.POSS

‘Mary rolled (in) her mat./Meri rollim mat blong hem finis.’ (N11m:15ff)

The reading in (400) also indicates that something is collected and made more compact. The

same effect is given by -tö when it is combined with the verb roots atiou ‘heap’ and velu ‘put’

in (401) a. and b., respectively.

(401) a. a-tiou-tö ga-öte

CAUS-heap-GDIR:in BN:place-one

‘heap together in one heap (about many entities)’

b. velu-tö ga-öte

put-GDIR:in BN:place-one

‘put together in one place (about some entities)’

The directional is used here as an ‘oriental metaphor’ in the sense of Lakoff and Johnson

(1980: 14), where a concept gets ‘a spatial orientation’. Semantically, in these latter

examples -tö indicates causation into completeness or wholeness from a state of

incompleteness or ‘unwholeness’. This is arguably a case of a metaphorical extension of

prototypical causation, where, ‘ a s a result of manipulation, we view the object as a

different kind of thing’ (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 72-73), and it is clearly related to the

metaphor THE SUBSTANCE GOES INTO THE OBJECT, seen in utterances like I made a sheet

of newspaper into an airplane and I made the clay you gave me into a statue (Lakoff and

Johnson 1980: 73).

-tö is not only used for a physical movement into or out of a container, where the reference

point is variable and changes according to what François (2003) describes as ‘the local

setting’. -tö can also have a fixed setting where it implies direction towards land, ‘inland’. In

this case the movement starts out at sea and is directed to the shore.

(402) Nege te-ya-tö=pme.

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:in=COS

‘Then she paddled inside (ashore)./Den hem padol insaet.’

The directional is also used more abstractly and metaphorically to describe happenings

coming to the island, into the village, and into the lives of the inhabitants, as seen in (403).


(403) Mö ne-yagalö mö âbu kä i-löpi kä

for IRR-prepare for day REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big REL

i-vë-tö-p[u] mö nelya, awi de

PFV:N3AUG.S/A -go-GDIR:in-PDIR>1 to village before ?

i-vë-tö-p[u] âbu kä i-ngwe kiou

PFV:N3AUG.S/A -go-GDIR:in-? day REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A -like MED:PL

la-pi âbu kä, oo, âbu kä

PFV:3AUG.S/A-talk day REL oo day REL

tö-kapu-tö-pi-e kä i-ngwe

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in-PDIR>1-3MIN.A REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-like

kä.

PROX:SG

‘To prepare for the big day that came to the place, before the day that people said,

“Oo, the day that returns is here.”/Fo pripea long big dei wea hem kam insaet long

ples, bifoa hem kam insaet dei olsem olketa tok kam abaot, “Oo, day hem kam nao

hem olsem.”’ (Story_160909_N05m)

11.3.8.2 -pe

The basic use of -pe is to indicate motion out of a container, as seen in (392).120 -pe is not

only used to indicate the path of a movement. Consider (404), where it is attached to alöpi

‘make big’ having nabwa nüga ‘hole’ as an object. Here, -pe implies a widening of the hole.

The direction of the increase of the hole can be seen as outwards from the deictic centre,

which is the middle of the hole.

(404) A-löpi-pe nabwa nünga ka!

CAUS-big-GDIR:out mouth hole MED:SG

‘Widen the hole (Lit. big out)!/Iu waedim hol ia!’ (N06m:37)

Remember that -tö ‘GDIR:in’ marked the in-folding of a mat. -pe is used to mark the opposite

movement, the outfolding of the mat, as seen in (405). The metaphor is, thus, reversed here.

120

This directional is found as both [pe] and [pı]. It seems, however, that these phonetic variants are only due to inter- and/or intra-speaker variation, and that both should be ascribed to the phonological form /pe/.


(405) kapwe-pe nino=m[u]!

open-GDIR:out mat=2MIN.POSS

‘unfold your mat (lit. open out)/openim mat blong iu!’

Another example shows how -pe is found to describe the way something breaks. In (406)

below it is used to describe not only that a dinner plate breaks, but also how it falls apart,

the pieces ‘break out/off’ from the original state.

(406) Ä nivli-ö klei plet kââ i-mengle-pe.

and side-RL clay plate DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break-GDIR:out

‘And the side of the clay plate breaks off./An saed long klei plet ia hemi brek.’

Now consider the example in (407), where -pe occurs on the stative verb köle ‘big’.

(407) Mwalau kââ ö-pia leipya kââ

axe DIST:SG DETR-split firewood DIST:PL

i-köle-pe-be ka

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big-GDIR:out-3MIN.A MED:SG

i-pi=pwë.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little=RST

‘The axe with which he cuts the firewood is a little bit bigger./Akis hemi kat faeawud

long hem ia, hem big go lelebet. OR Okei, ax ia hemi cuttem firewood wea olketa big

lelebet ia.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m: 062M_cookingokay)

The example is uttered as part of the response to a stimuli clip where a man chops firewood

with two different tools. The second tool, which the speaker describes above, is bigger than

the first. The geometric directional -pe ‘GDIR:out’ attached to the verb köle ‘big’ here

indicates that the axe is bigger compared to the first one, and the verb can be translated with

the Pijin phrases ‘big go’ or ‘big go aot’. Note that there is a more productive way of forming

comparative constructions involving morphemes dedicated to indicate comparative

relations, as will be seen in 11.3.10.

Just as seen with -tö, -pe can also have a fixed point of reference. Contrary to -tö it is used for

directions away from land, i.e. ‘seawards’, as in (408) and (409).


(408) Nege te-ya-pe-ngö mö bwale nölö=de.

then IPFV-paddle-GDIR:out-3AUG to woman CL.X=POSS:3MIN

‘Then they paddle out with his wife./Den olketa padol aot’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(409) Yâlu-m[u] yâ-pi-pwe

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-come-PDIR>1 [PFV:N3AUG.S/A-GDIR:out]-pull-3MIN.A?

ngö-bü kââ, gä te-ya-pi.

BN:tree-tree.sp DIST:SG then IPFV-paddle-GDIR:out

‘He returns and pulls the canoe (lit. [mi]bü-tree) back out, then he paddles out./Hem

kam baek, pulum aot baek kanu ia, den hemi padol go aot.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

11.3.8.3 -yë

In addition to the indication of direction along a vertical line, -yë is employed for motion

following a river upstream, as in (410), where a group of children paddle up along a river.

(410) Laa-yë-ba kä i-pipwe gââ

go:IPFV:3AUG.S/A-GDIR:up-PDIR? REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little DIST

koki-ni-m[u] Növiö.

return-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 N.

‘They go up a little bit to the place they come down from Növiö./Olketa go ap lelebet

long ples wea olketa kam daon long hem long Növiö.’ (Story_280909_M05m)

-yë is used not only to indicate the directional path of a movement. In (411) it indicates that

the water level in a container has increased to full level.

(411) I-lopnu-ya mö ipmu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-full-GDIR:up with rain

‘It’s filled up with rain./Hem full ap long rein.’ (N12m2:2)

The example in (412) where -tö occurs on the verb atiou ‘pile, cause to be piled’, the

directional indicates that whatever is piled, is piled on top of each other. The pile is built in

an upwards direction.

(412) a-tiou-yë ga-öte

CAUS-stack??-DIR:up BN:place-one

‘pile up in one stack./pilem ap long wan ples.’

In the two latter examples the meaning of ‘up’ has been extended and is used metaphorically

to indicate ‘increase’ and ‘raise’. It is, according to Lakoff (1990: 53), common for human


conceptualisation to build extended meanings on basic image-schemas, which in this case

involve motion and space. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 17), humans often

organise basic concepts in terms of orientational (‘spatialisation’) metaphors. Concepts of

quantity are often mapped onto a linear vertical scale in human cognition with the two

metaphors MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN. The physical basis for these metaphors is that, ‘ i f

you add more of a substance or of physical objects to a container or pile, the level goes up’

(Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 16). It is easy to see this basis in the examples in (411) and (412).

11.3.8.4 -(i)ni

There is a short form of -(i)ni ‘GDIR:down’, -i, which seems to be the most common form in

some words. For instance, while it is possible to say the example in (413) a., speakers report

that the one in b. is more common:

(413) a. Âpia tü-da-ini-m[u].

stone IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down-PDIR>1

‘The stone falls./Ston hemi foldaon.’ (N06m:37)

b. Âpia tü-da-i.

stone IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down

‘The stone falls./Ston hemi foldaon.’ (N06m:37)

nö- is found in one instance to indicate ‘all aboutness’ of an event taking place. The example

is given in (414).

(414) Leu i-wole-nö më nabwë nelya kä

leaf PFV:N3AUG.S/A-burn-GDIR:about in mouth village PROX:SG

amwan[u].

?

‘Leaves burn all over the village./Lif bun ol ove village ia.’ (N05m:33)

11.3.8.5 Are the geometric directionals really affixes or roots?

Geometric directionals are found in the VC in all RSC languages, where they are positioned

close to the verb root. As noted in §11.1.3, in Äiwoo, Næss and Boerger (2008) analyse them

to be verbs because they can also appear independently as the sole predicate in a clause. In

Natügu, on the other hand, the related forms are suffixes, with no such independent use.

Pawley (2003) indeed suggests that directionals in many Oceanic languages have evolved

from verbs, in some languages later to be bound in the complex and losing their verbal


features. This is also supported by Ross (2004b). Even though it is probable that the

directionals in Natügu have also once been verbs, there is no evidence today for such an

analysis (Næss and Boerger 2008).

The choice between an affix vs a root analysis for these morphemes has an important

consequence for how one regards their distribution in the VC. As an affix, they are best

analysed as belonging to the post-root modifiers. As a root, they must be analysed as

belonging to the base in a complex root. As regards the choice of analysis between either

base elements or modifiers, Pawley (2003) says that:

…the crucial factor in deciding the status of the directional is its placement relative to (a) the

transitive suffix, if any, (b) the object pronouns, and (c) any other modifiers following the main

verb, such as generic objects, modifying verbs that are not part of an SVC, or peripheral particles.

If the directional can follow elements of type (a), (b) or (c) it is part of the postposed periphery. If

it always precedes (a), (b) or (c) it is part of the nucleus (Pawley 2003: 160-61).

In Engdewu, the geometric directionals appear close to the verb root (before other

postverbal modifiers and before the object marker), but they are placed after the transitive

suffix, as seen in (415). And, they are not found to appear independently as the nucleus in a

base. Thus, they are not considered parts of the verb base, but, rather, postverbal modifiers.

(415) A-pwe-pe-ba-nam[u] da-ka

CAUS-lie-GDIR:out-PDIR-2AUG.S/A BN:thing-MED:SG

nö-ngnö-ti-ini-mi.

IRR-lie-TR-GDIR:down-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A

‘Lay out something for me to lie on./Leim aot samting fo mi lei daon long hem.’

(Story_041009_N14m)

11.3.9 Reflexive/reciprocal suffix

The form -yabu marks both reflexive and reciprocal situations. The former is illustrated in

(416). It is suffixed after the transitive suffix, as seen in (417), but before the duplicative

marker and any following person marker, as seen in (418). Both latter examples denote

reciprocal situations.


(416) dowe a-via-yabu-pwë ële=ngë.

bird CAUS-show-RECP-3MIN.A? DAT=3AUG.POSS

‘The bird shows itself to them./Bird, hemi sowim aot long olketa.’ (M01m_119421-

002)

(417) nogââ tâ-tu=pme lâ-tobli121-ti-yabu,…

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-stand=COS PFV:3AUG.S/A-??-TR-RECP

‘Then they stand back to back,…/den olketa stanap bak to bak,…’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(418) nëgee kä la-miti-yabu=pmo-ngë ma

then TOP? PFV:3AUG.S/A-meet-RECP=DUPL-3AUG.A with

te=de.

friend=3MIN.POSS

‘Then when they met with his friend./Den taem olketa mit wetem fren blong tufala

eachother moa.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

It is found to sometimes co-occur with inclusory constructions, and, thus, contain postverbal

mae or telinö, which both indicate exactly two referents (§7.5).

(419) Tü-vë, taa-luwomwo-ti-yabu ma-e.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:3AUG.S/A-meet-TR-RECP with-3MIN

‘Go, the two meet each other./Go, tufala meet long tufala narawan.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(420) Eh… te-yamwe=pme ma-e â-kotei

eh IPFV:3AUG.S/A-talk=COS with-3MIN CAUS-good

la-alaulö-ti-yabu telinë.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn-TR-RECP two

‘Eh, the two talk well, the two face each other./Eh, tufala stori gud nao, tufala feisim

narawan.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

In addition to the appearance of the marker -yabu, there are several things to note about

these constructions. First, the base to which -yabu is added has to be transitive. If the root is

not transitive, this is achieved by the addition of the transitiviser -ti in the base to the

intransitive root form, as seen in (417). Second, the base is inflected with a mood/aspect

prefix which has to correspond in person/number with the referents in the reflexive or

reciprocal relation. Remember that the mood/aspect prefixes only indicate a distinction 121

The exact meaning of tobli is not known. It is, however, related to turning the backside against something. A possible lexical parallel is found in the noun bliki ‘back head’.


between N3AUG and 3AUG. That is, a 3AUG form is employed in reciprocal situations, as

seen in (417)–(420), and a N3AUG form is employed in reflexive situations, as seen in

(416).122 Third, even though the verb base is transitive, the construction is always

syntactically intransitive, with a maximum of one core NP argument. In addition to a

corresponding form of the mood/aspect prefix, the participant(s) in the construction may be

formally expressed on the verb by a subject marker attached to the end of the VC. In (418), -

ngë indicates an augmented number of third person subject referents.

While one of the participants in the reciprocal constructions is known, either as the speaker,

or as the main protagonist of the narrative, the other participant can be overtly expressed in

a peripheral argument phrase. As seen in the example in (421) the form mae ‘with him/her’

follows the verb. mae, analysed to consist of the comitative preposition ma ‘with’ and a

pronominal (subject) marker -e encoding 3MIN to indicate exactly two referents. In support

of this hypothesis, if an overt noun denoting the 3MIN referent is present in the phrase, the

conjunction is not marked by the pronominal marker, as seen in (418). The reading below is,

thus, that two persons meet each other.

(421) Tü-vë, ta-luomwo-ti-yabu ma-e.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go IPFV:3AUG.S/A-meet-TR-RECP with-3MIN

‘Go, the two meet each other./Go, tufala meet long tufala each other.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

In §7.5.1 it was noted that mae seems to be replaced by another word form telinö, which is

based on the numeral form li ‘two’. One reciprocal construction is found in the material

where it appears in exactly the same position as mae. This example was given in (420).

In one example in the material, -yabu seems to indicate ‘reverse direction’. This is illustrated

in (422). Unfortunately, there are no other examples of reverse direction in the material, but

this example might suggest that the source of the reflexive/reciprocal marker is a

directional.

122

Remember that when N3AUG perfective i- is added to a vowel-initial base or the glide /y/, it is elided. In this example, the verb form, thus, also expresses non-third person augmented perfective.


(422) I-vë lade, ma te i-vë=pwö mö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go side but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=NEG2 with

franö=de, i-koki-me-m[u]

front-RL=3MIN.POSS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-??-PDIR>1

yele yânublü-yabu-p[u].

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-follow-RECP-PDIR>1

‘He went to the side, but he did not go with his front: he walked like he came in

reverse./Hem go saetim bat hem no go long fran long hem, bat hem rivasim kam.’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m: 152ET_walkbackward)

König and Moyse-Faurie (2010) discuss the origin of reciprocal markers in Oceanic

languages and argue that one source can be directional markers. This can be seen in the

Loyalty Islands language Nengone (Maré) where there is a clear resemblance between a

directional meaning ‘towards’ and the reciprocal suffix (glossed as SUF in the example).

(423) a. Nengone (Maré) (König and Moyse-Faurie 2010)

Ehnr hna sice jew-ore len

1DU.EXCL PAST flee towards-ART road

‘We both fled towards the road.’

b. ehnij hna e-rede-jeu

1PL.EXCL PAST PREF-fight-SUF

‘We fought each other.’

Note that reciprocal and reflexive markers are common in the other RSC languages, too.

Næss and Boerger (2008) report there being a reciprocal suffix -lie in Äiwoo. Boerger (in

progress) describes a reciprocal suffix -etö and a reflexive suffix -lëbü, the latter clearly

related to the reciprocal marker in Engdewu.

11.3.10 Comparative suffixes

Engdewu exhibits two morphemes that are used in comparative constructions, -ëba

‘CMP.positive’ and -ëbi ‘CMP.negative’. While the former indicates an increase in value, i.e.

‘more’, the latter indicates a decrease, ‘less’. They are attached to the VC among the

postverbal modifiers, but because there are few examples with comparative constructions,

it has been impossible to pin the exact position in the complex in relation to the other

postverbal modifiers.


The use of -ëba is illustrated in (424), where the comparee referent expressed by the

demonstrative determiner kä ‘PROX:SG’ in pronominal function is indicated to be bigger

than the referent denoted by the standard referent nangipili ‘finger’. The use of -ëbi is

illustrated in (425): the comparee noun phrase denotes an object that is smaller than that

expressed by the standard noun phrase. Note that in the latter example there is phonological

interaction between the final vowel in the verb root utapwa ‘small’ and the comparative

morpheme. As described elsewhere, it is common that two vowels that meet at a morpheme

boundary merge.

(424) Nangipipli kä i-löpi, ma kä kä

finger PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big but PROX:SG TOP

i-löpi-ëba.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big-CMP.positive

‘This finger is big, but this is bigger./Finga ia hem big, bat diswan hem biga.’

(425) Niblingö kä=yo uta=pwë, ma kä kä

ant PROX:SG=PL small=RST but PROX:SG TOP

me utapwabi.

PROX small:CMP.negative

‘These ants are small, but this one here is smaller./Olketa ant olketa smol, bat diswan

long hea hemi smol go daon.’ (M01m:46f)

11.3.11 -bo ‘still, yet’

The bound adverbial -bo indicates that a previously mentioned action is still going on, and it

can be translated with ‘still’ or ‘yet’. It frequently co-occurs with the continuous marker, as

illustrated in (426). Notice in (427) that -bo occurs before the directional -pe, which

indicates a position very close to the verb base.


(426) Dä tü-vö-yö-bo leta.

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-still letter

‘He is writing letters./Hemi raet leta.’

(427) Ni=m[u] kä i-mo-bo-pe.

PRO=2MIN.POSS REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-still-GDIR:out

‘I still see you./Mi lukim iu iet.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

11.3.12 =ala ‘another’

There is one postverbal discourse adverb =ala which is frequently translated with

‘(an)other’. It is used to avoid confusion with an already mentioned referent of the same

person/number. There are few instances of this morpheme in the material, but it seems that

it indicates another instance of the event expressed by the verb, and the meaning is, thus,

similar to that of the duplicative marker. As will be seen below, it even appears outside the

VC, in combination with an NP. It is not analysed as a lexical root that can also appear

independently outside the VC because it appears outside the transitiviser, as seen in (429).

Because of its distribution it is, thus, analysed here as a clitic.

(428) Lepela kâu la-ö-pi-ö-ba-nga:

human DIST:PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:away-3AUG.A

‘I-kotei=pme nö-yöni-a’. Bwete=nga kou

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good=COS NMLZ-cry-NMLZ? friend=3AUG.POSS DIST:PL

laa-m[u] la-yöni=ala.

go:PFV:3AUG.S/A-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-cry=other

‘The people said: “It’s good to cry.” Their other friends came and cried./Olketa sei:

“Gud fo krae nao.” Olketa nara pipol, olketa kam, olketa krae (moa).’

(Story_200909_M11m)

The example in (428) shows that it is placed relatively close to the verb base, after the

transitiviser, but before the duplicative marker.


(429) Yanga-ti=ala=pmo-ä kä mwalaë

take:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-TR=other=DUPL-3MIN.A PROX:SG axe

kamde.123

different

‘He took another, a different axe./Hemi tekem nara difren akis.’ (N03m:19)

It was mentioned above that this form is also found outside the VC. As seen in the following

two examples, this marker also appears after an overt nominal, possibly inside the nominal

phrase.

(430) Te=de kââ=ala kä

friend=3MIN.POSS DIST:SG=other PROX:SG

pö-küki-ö-bë…

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:DETR-kick-APPL-PDIR>2/3

‘Another friend of his kicks it away…/Nara fren blong hem ia kikim go…’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m: 122T_menhit)

(431) Okei, kä me di ka=pmo tim

okay PROX:SG PROX INDF:SG MED:SG=DUPL team

kamdi=ala.

different=other

‘Okay, this here is yet another team./Okei, diswan ia hem wanfala defren tim moa ia.’

(SE_set1_210909_M08m)

11.3.13 -kap(w)ë/-kap(w)a ‘too’

The two-syllable adverbial morpheme -kap(w)ë/-kap(w)a sometimes occurs in the VC with

the meaning ‘too’. As seen in these examples, it is placed after the change-of-state marker,

but before the subject marker. If the first, second, and third person minimal subject markers

are added to it, they follow the pattern in inflection type V (§7.4.1). The subject markers are

merged with the final vowel of -kap(w)ë.

123

While ‘adjectival’ meaning is mainly expressed by the means of stative verbs, as seen in §10.2.1, kamdi ‘different’ is a possible candidate for an adjective analysis. The other possible adjective is kagö ‘wild’. Even though these seem to be unsegmentable, it should be observed that their first syllable ka resembles the relative marker kä frequently used in constructions where a stative verb attributes a noun.


(432) Ni, ni

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

te-ya-pe=pme-kape pwala, ki lepela

IPFV-paddle-GDIR:out=COS-too:1MIN.S/A sea because people

kââ i-bwë=pme.

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS

‘I, I will paddle out at sea too, because the man is dead now./Mi, mi paddle go aot

long sea nao tuu bikos man ia hemi dae nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(433) Kä tu-mo-kapi nabwe nei poi kou,

if IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-too:2MIN.S/A footprint CL.IV pig DIST:PL

dä ... tu-mo-kapi nabwe nei poi

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-too:2MIN.S/A footprint CL.IV pig

kou, dä tâ-mo-kapwa kuli kou.

DIST:PL CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-too:3AUG.S/A dog DIST:PL

‘If you see the pig’s footprints, too ... you are seeing the pigs footprints, too, the dogs

are seeing them, too./Sapos iu lukim futprin blong pikpik ia tu ... iu lukim futprin

blong pikpik ia tu na, den olketa dog ia lukim tu na.’ (N05m_110531-001)

(434) I-vö-kü, i-vë, i-vë,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-dig PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

i-vë i-vë,


i-vö-kü-inii ä nau=de

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-dig-DIR:down and head=3MIN.POSS

yoko-ini-kapë.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish-GDIR:down-too:3MIN.A

‘He dug, go, go, go, go, he dug down and his head disappeared down, too./Hem dig go

dao, go, go, go, go, hed blong hem finis go daon tu.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

The other subject markers have initial consonants, and if any of those are attached after it,

-kapa retains its form.


(435) I-va-puka-te da-ka

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-light-3MIN.A BN:thing-MED:SG

tö?-bwa=pme-kapa-ngë kä.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-die=COS-too-3AUG.A PROX:SG

‘He put fire to something and they die on him, too./Hemi laetim nao samting, olketa

dae long hem tu ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

11.3.14 Restrictive =pwë/=pwa

The morpheme =pwë/=pwa is frequently translated ‘nomoa, lelebet’ in Pijin and ‘just’ in

English. Boerger (in progress) reports there to be a formally and functionally similar

morpheme =pwë in Natügu, which she glosses ‘restrictive’ (RST), and the same gloss is taken

here.

It is exemplified in (436) and (437). As can be seen in those examples, it appears after the

change-of-state marker, but before any subject marker. Parallel to that seen with the second

negative enclitic =pwö and -kapa ‘too’, the last vowel is merged with the first, second, and

third person minimal subject markers, -ee, -i and -e of inflection type V (§7.4.1) when any of

them are attached to it. When a person marker with an initial consonant is added to it, as

exemplified by (438) d., the form is =pwa. This indicates a position after the change-of-state

marker, but before the subject marker.

(436) I-vanga-ti=pme=pwë, ma te i-mogle=pwö.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-spoil-TR=COS=RST but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2

‘He spoils a little, but it doesn’t break./Hemi spoilim lelebet, bat no brekem.’

(N02m:42)

(437) a. Tü-va-nö=pme=pwee.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:about=COS=RST:1MIN.S/A

‘I just walk about./Mi wokabot nomoa. (M08m:59)

b. Tü-va-nö=pme=pwi.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:about=COS=RST:2MIN.S/A

‘You just walk about./Iu wokabot nomoa.’

c. Tü-va-nö=pme=pwa-da.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:about=COS=RST-12MIN.S/A

‘You and I just walk about./Iumitufala wokabot nomoa.’


d. Taa-nö=pme=pwë.

go:IPFV:3AUG.S/A-GDIR:about=COS=RST

‘They just walk about./Olketa wokabout nomoa.’

Boerger (in progress) notes that in Natügu the restrictive marker is also found with

demonstratives with the meaning ‘only’ or ‘exactly’. The same is seen in Engdewu, where it

functions as a same subject marker. The distribution of this morpheme, thus, seems similar

to that of the change-of-state and the duplicative markers, and it should perhaps be

analysed as a clitic on the same basis. Cf. (438).

(438) a. Lepela kââ ö-lapyö leipya më

human DIST:SG [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-split firewood with

mwalaë.

axe

‘The man split firewood with (an) axe./Man ia splitim faeawud wetem akis.’

(N03m:18)

b. Lepela kââ=pwë ö-lapyö=pmo-de kä

human DIST:SG=RST [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-split=DUPL-3MIN.A PROX:SG

mwalaë kamdi

axe different

‘The same man split firewood with a different axe./Sem man ia splitim faeawud

wetem defren akis.’

11.3.15 Similative, -ki ‘like this’

The morpheme -ki means something like ‘like this’, indicating likeness/resemblance with

another identifiable event. Here, it will, thus, be glossed ‘similative’. As seen in (439) it

appears before the applicative marker.


(439) Ä bou no-tu-ki-ö ä ki pwei=yo

and PROH NMLZ-stand-SIM-NMLZ and because leaf=PL

ngö-dyö kä tü-plaka-ki-e ayö.

tree-tree.sp PROX:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall?-SIM-3MIN.A ?

‘And you don’t stand like this because the leaf of the aqua will fall down like this./An

iu no stanap long dis wei bikos lif blong akwa ia, baibai hem fol daon olsem.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Dixon (2003) notes that some languages have a type of adverbial demonstrative ‘with a

manner meaning, “like this, in this way/manner”’, which generally are non-inflecting and

‘…serve to modify the verb of the clause’, and which ‘…in most cases are derived from the

nominal demonstratives’ (Dixon 2003: 72).124 The parallel to the form -ki should be

mentioned in this respect. While the source of this form is not known, it can be observed

that it does resemble the demonstrative determiner form öki ‘MED:PL’. The parallel to

verbal demonstratives, that is ‘manner adverbial demonstratives’ in the form of verbs

(Dixon 2003: 72), should be noted. For instance, Dixon (2003: 72) mentions that the Oceanic

language Boumaa Fijian has a verb ‘ene(ii) that is glossed ‘do like this’.

11.3.16 Intensifier, -ata

There is one morpheme -ata that is only found co-occurring with the stative verb kotei

‘good’. It expresses emphasis, and can be translated with Pijin ‘barava’ or English ‘very’.

(440) a. i-kotei

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good

‘it’s good./hem gudfala.’

b. i-kotei-ata

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good-INTENS

‘it’s very good./hem barava gudfala.’ (M08m:52)

Because of its narrow distribution in the material, it is difficult to say anything about its

exact distribution in the VC or outside it. Speakers, however, claim that it cannot stand

alone, and it is, thus, treated as a bound element. Whether this element is affixal or clitical is

a question that has to be left for later research.

124

Dixon (2003) term ‘nominal demonstrative’ covers Diessel (1999) terms ‘demonstrative pronoun’ and ‘demonstrative determiner’, the latter two of which are used here.


11.3.17 -löpwi ‘quietly’

The form -löpwi is a bound manner adverb with the meaning ‘quietly, slowly’. It precedes

any subject markers, as seen in (441), where it also directly follows the root in the base.

(441) Kä-la-kiso, mno-löpwi-am[u] nege.

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small stay-quietly-2AUG.S/A now

‘Children, you must be quiet today./Pikinini, iufala mas stap kvaet tude.’ (M08m:51)

If there are person directionals present in the VC, however, -löpwi appears after these, as

seen in (442) a. and b.

(442) a. Nogâ ni=m[u]

then PRO=2MIN.POSS

tu-woplö-nö-pe-bë-löpwi.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-run-APPL-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3-quietly

‘Then you run easy./Den iu ran isi go na.’ (N05m_110531-001)125

b. Meri i-vë-m-löpwi.

M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1-quietly

‘Mary came quietly./Meri kam kvaiet’ (M08m:50)

Notice that the person directional -m[u] ’PDIR>1’ is pronounced with a reduced or elided

vowel in b. as if it were the last element in the word. This may indicate that -löpwi is a free

adverb and not an adverb bound to the VC.

Boerger (in progress) describes a similar form -löpi in Natügu, which functions as a bound

adverb in the VC.

11.3.18 Hortative particle

to is usually translated into Pijin as ‘fastaem’ or ‘fas’, meaning ‘now’ or ‘first’. It is only found

in hortative situations with verbs with 1 or 2 (or 12) person subjects, and is then employed

as a directive to get the addressee(s) to perform the proposition in the utterance

immediately. It is only found in the VC where it is always positioned as the last element,

after any person directionals and person markers. It is never found with bound material

following it.

125

The example is taken from an instruction about how to hunt for wild pigs, and dogs are essential in this activity, as has just been said by the speaker. The applicative -nö here indicates the inclusion of the dogs.


The hortative particle is analysed as a particle that appears after all other elements in the

VC. There are several reasons for this analysis. First, it always appears as the final element

in the VC. Second, it is always pronounced [t ], with an initial apical stop. As described in

§4.2.1, a word medial /t/ that appears between vowels is subject to lenition and becomes

/r/ in rapid speech. to is never pronounced with an initial rhotic sound, which points to an

analysis as an independent word. Third, when it follows a form that ends in /u/, this final

vowel is reduced or elided as if it were in word final position.

Note the difference between (443) a. and b. The former is a directive for the hearer to come

to the speaker, and the latter, marked by to, expresses the same—plus the wish that it

happen immediately.

(443) a. Vä-m[u]!

go-PDIR>1

‘Come!/Kam!’

b. Vä-m[u] to!

go-PDIR>1 HORT

‘Come now!/Kam nao!’

When a speaker calls another person to come, he or she frequently shouts vëmu! ‘come’,

vëmu me! ‘come here’, vëm to! ‘come now’, or even vëmu to me! ‘come here now’, or a

combination of these expressions: Pita, vëm! Vëm to!

In the example above to does not co-occur with any aspect prefix. However, it is also found

with such prefixes, with the irrealis marker in (444) and (445), and the perfective marker in

(446).

(444) Nëë-bää to mö no-ngumwa.

go:IRR-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A? HORT for IRR-fish

‘I am going fishing now./Mi go fisim fastaem.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

(445) ‘Okei, nëë-dabwe to bwo lâknu.’

okei go:IRR-12AUG.S/A HORT river water

‘Okay, let’s go along the river now./Okei, iumi go long riva fastaem.’

(Story_280909_M05m)


(446) Te-ya-pe=pme-da mö ni

IPFV-paddle-GDIR:out=COS-12MIN.S/A to PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

yanga-i-ti-be to tömöta kââ.’

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-dive-??-TR-PDIR>2/3 HORT hook DIST:SG

‘The two of us paddle out so that I can dive for the hook./Mitufala paddle go aot nao,

mekem mi divem fastaem hook ia.’

There is only a moderate number of occurrences of to in the material. The fact that it is not

found with third person subjects seems natural since hortatives naturally are employed to

encourage someone. Such a situation demands a speaker and an addressee.

to reminds of the marker =ta/=ja in Äiwoo, which is used in a similar fashion and appears in

hortative contexts. Næss (p.c.) glosses them ‘just’.

363

CHAPTER 12. ASPECT AND MOOD

12.1 Introduction

Chapter 11 described the structure of the verb complex in Engdewu, where the different

base and modifier elements were described in terms of form, position, and function. In that

chapter, the focus was on the language-internal morphemes employed in tense, mood, and

aspect (TMA) marking in Engdewu. The main purpose of this chapter is to investigate the

grammatical aspects expressed in Engdewu and relate them to the cross-linguistic

categories suggested by Dahl (1985).

In addition to pure morphological marking, some TMA categories are either unmarked or

expressed by periphrastic constructions, i.e. constructions, ‘in which independent words are

described as having the same roles as inflections’ (Matthews 2007).126 This is also pointed

out by Dahl (1985), who, in his study of 64 languages, suggests a number of cross-linguistic

TMA categories that are commonly expressed in the world’s languages, either

morphologically or by periphrasis. The present discussion distinguishes between three

different levels of description, as schematised in Table 12.1, where there is a split between

cross-linguistic TMA categories on the one hand, and language-internal constructions, on

the other. At the language-internal level there is a split between the TMA morphemes and

the constructions that express the language-internal TMA categories encoded by these

morphemes.

Table 12.1: Three-way split in the description of TMA

Language-internal Cross-linguistic

Morphemes TMA Categories

Constructions

To avoid confusion between the levels of description in this thesis, TMA morphemes are

mentioned as the perfective prefix/marker (PFV), the continuous particle/marker (CONT),

the change-of-state clitic/marker (COS), etc. The language-internal TMA constructions will

126

An example is the English progressive, where an auxiliary plus a verbal participle form the construction: Q: What is John doing now?

A: He is singing for the bishop.

364 Chapter 12 Aspect and mood

be referred to as the perfective construction/ marking type, the progressive construction/

marking type, etc., with small letters. The cross-linguistic or typological TMA categories will

be referred to with initial capital letters: Perfective, Perfect, Progressive, etc.

§12.2 will discuss the notion of ‘aspect’ and the distinction between viewpoint aspect

(§12.2.1) and Aktionsart (§12.2.2) markers. Recall that some of these co-occur in the

expression of some grammatical aspect constructions.

§12.3 is a discussion of the aspect constructions in Engdewu. It will start with a discussion

on Dahl’s questionnaire in §12.3.1, before the different constructions in Engdewu are

discussed in light of the questionnaire, and where correspondences between these

language-internal constructions and the cross-linguistic TMA categories suggested by Dahl

(1985) will be pointed out.

Unfortunately, Dahl (1985) excludes the investigation of modality from his study.

Information about the expression of modality was, therefore, not obtained through the

questionnaire. However, §12.4 will briefly discuss the matter of mood and modality in

Engdewu, focusing on morphologically marked mood, i.e. the distinction between irrealis

and realis (§12.4.1), the unmarked imperative (§12.4.2) and hortative (§12.4.3). A few other

comments about mood marking (§12.4.4) and evidentiality (§12.4.5) in Engdewu will also

be made.

12.2 Aspect

Matthews (2007) describes ‘aspect’ as a, ‘[g]eneral term, originally of specialists in Slavic

languages, for verbal categories that distinguish the status of events, etc. in relation to

specific periods of time, as opposed to their simple location in the present, past, or future’.

The notion has been subject to much debate, and scholars have had different views on what

the defining criteria are for a grammatical category in order to be categorised as aspect. In

his review article, Sasse (2002) takes ‘boundedness’ as the most important feature of aspect.

The basic distinction is that between unbounded and bounded situations: situations may be

conceived of as including their starting points or endpoints or both, or may be conceived of as

persistent situations with no boundaries implied. [---] The basic component of any theory of

aspect is thus concerned with the modeling of the linguistic encoding of situations with respect to

their boundaries (Sasse 2002: 201).

Dahl (1985) stresses that boundedness applies to dynamic situations, and he describes it in

similar terms.

12.2 Aspect 365

A class of situations or a characterization of a situation is bounded if and only if it is an essential

condition on the members of the class or an essential part of the characterization that a certain

limit or end-state is attained (Dahl 1985: 29).

He illustrates the distinction by the expressions ‘run five kilometers’ and ‘run fast’. The first

situation is bounded to the points specified by ‘five kilometers’, i.e. no situation can be

characterised by the expression unless someone actually runs at least five kilometres. The

second situation, on the other hand, is not bounded to such points in time. Note that while

stative situations are not basically bounded as they do not denote activities with a

distribution in time, the right grammatical construction can turn them into bounded

situations; cf. the distinction between ‘be big’ and ‘become big’.

The main point of disagreement in the discussion on aspect is whether there is a,

‘…dichotomic distinction between two categorial dimensions within the aspectual domain’

(Sasse 2002: 202), namely those of viewpoint aspect and Aktionsart.

This is not the right place for a thorough discussion on aspect in general or the dichotomy

between viewpoint aspect and Aktionsart. However, the basic semantic distinction between

the aspectual markers that appear before and those that appear after the verb base in the

verb complex in Engdewu must be mentioned: the relevant preverbal morphemes in

question are the irrealis, perfective, and imperfective markers, which would fall in the

category of viewpoint aspect, and the postverbal markers are primarily the change-of-state

and the duplicative that would be categorised as Aktionsart. There is, thus, a systematic

distinction between these two types of aspect in Engdewu, reflected in the way they are

formally expressed as preverbal or postverbal.

12.2.1 Viewpoint aspect

‘Viewpoint aspect’ is sometimes also referred to as ‘aspect proper’ (Sasse 2002: 203). Smith

(1997: 62) says that, ‘[t]he main difference among aspectual viewpoints is in how much of a

situation they make visible’. Typical viewpoint aspect categories are the perfective, making

the event as a whole visible, and the imperfective, marking a part in the middle of the event,

without including the start or the end. These aspects do not tell anything about the inner

nature of the most basic/important function of proper aspect types, as noted above.

As mentioned in §11.3.3, the perfective and the imperfective markers share their slot with

the irrealis mood marker, the three of them standing in paradigmatic contrast to, and, thus,

excluding, each other. The perfective and imperfective markers indicate realis mood, in

opposition to the irrealis marker.


The third viewpoint aspect marker, the continuous, is a preverbal particle, obligatorily co-

occurring with a mood/aspect prefix, generally the imperfective prefix. Strictly speaking, the

continuous and progressive aspect types are also to be regarded as imperfective aspects as

they are unbounded. Theoretically, a more correct notation of the two markers in Engdewu

would be nonprogressive and progressive (following Comrie (1976)). The labels

‘imperfective’ and ‘progressive’ are, however, employed here. This reflects the tradition in

descriptions of many Oceanic languages in general, and these are the terms used for the

other RSC languages (e.g. Næss and Boerger 2008). The choice of terms also reflects the fact

that the continuous marker morphologically comes in addition to the imperfective marker:

It is a particle added before a verb prefixed with the imperfective marker (to form the

progressive aspect construction), and it can in this respect be seen as a subcategory of

imperfective in Engdewu. Moreover, Dahl (1985: 92) indicates that, ‘…prototypical CONT

contexts would be imperfective’ in languages with a distinction in perfectivity. According to

Comrie (1976), it is really a subcategory of imperfective.

Despite having a very different distribution (before vs after the verb base), there is one

aspect that should be stressed as a major difference between the viewpoint aspects and the

Aktionsart markers. While perfective or imperfective prefixes are obligatorily on verbs in

clauses expressing factual situations, Aktionsart markers are optional. That is, they are

obligatory to the specific TMA constructions they appear in, but merely to make a verb

grammatical in an indicative clause, they are not.

12.2.2 Aktionsart

Recall that the morphemes that can be categorised as Aktionsart markers occur in different

positions after the verb root. They do not stand in any contrast to, and they often co-occur

with, the viewpoint aspect markers. The Aktionsart forms focus on specific phases of an

event—the starting or end point, and repetition—and is, thus, sometimes labelled phrasal

aspects (Dik 1997: 221, 25). Comrie’s (1976) definition of aspect as, ‘…a way of viewing the

internal temporal constituency of a situation’ is perhaps best suited for this kind of aspect,

which resembles the classic ‘Aktionsart’ and emphasises any ‘intrinsic temporal

characteristic of situations’ (Sasse 2002: 203).127

127

In his dissertation on tense, aspect, and verbal plurality, Cusic (1981) points out that aspect is closely related to verbal plurality, and that situations can be plural in three ways. He describes this through his proposal of an hierarchical structure of situations consisting of phase, event, and occasion. First, a situation may consist of one event being composed of a plurality of (more than one) phases, a phase being a part of the inner bound of an event. Second, a situation may be a complex event, composed of a plurality of (more than one) events. Third, if there is more than one event, they may belong to a plurality of (more than one) occasions, where an occasion is a temporal unit disjoint in time from another. In other

12.3 TMA constructions 367

The Aktionsart markers in Engdewu were described in §11.3.4. The change-of-state marker

(COS) indicates the starting or end point of an action, and the duplicative (DUPL) marker

indicates the repetition (or reversation) of an action. As will be seen, the change-of-state

marker participates in two of the TMA constructions in Engdewu, which will be described

further below. The duplicative marker will not be subject to further discussion as the

remaining subsections are about aspect proper, i.e. viewpoint aspect.

12.3 TMA constructions

This section contains a presentation and a discussion on grammatical aspects primarily

drawn from presenting Dahl (1985)’s questionnaire to Engdewu speakers. Verbs denote

different situation types, that is, basic semantic characteristics with respect to their

dynamics and telicity. It is common to operate with the four situations suggested by Vendler

(1967), State, Activity, Accomplishment, and Achievement, plus a fifth Semelfactive (c.f.

Saeed 1997). Though this is no thorough study of aspect and situation types, the text will

also mention how the TMA marking types match verbs of different basic situation types.128

12.3.1 Dahl’s TMA Questionnaire

The contents of the remainder of this chapter are mainly based on responses/judgements to

Dahl’s TMA questionnaire (Dahl 1985). Two male speakers (one adult from Mömwawë and

words, ‘…events may be plural in three general ways—plurality OF, plurality IN, plurality IN and OF events’ (Cusic 1981: 64). He provides the following illustrative examples.

a. Plurality OF events (her er rot med plasseringen)

The mouse bit the cheese again and again.

b. Plurality IN events

The mouse nibbled and nibbled the cheese.

c. Plurality IN and OF events

The mouse was always nibbling at the cheese. (Cusic 1981: 61) Based on this, he proposes a distinction between event-internal plurality, where the phases involved take place in one event on one occasion, and event-external plurality, where there are several events involved, and where these subevents may take place on different occasions, disjoint from each other in time. The situation in b. is, thus, event-internal because it denotes a situation with several phases (internally plural) in a single event on one single occasion. a. and c. both denote several bounded events, the former repeated on a single occasion, and the latter repeated on several occasions. 128

For reference, the situation types are schematised with respect to their dynamics and telicity in this table; cf. Saeed (1997: 114).

State Activity Accomplishment Semelfactive Achievement

STATIC + - - - - DURATIVE + + + - - TELIC n.a. - + - +


one elder from Nagu) were asked for their translations. Ideally, several speakers should

have been consulted, but the fact that the questionnaire is long and very time-consuming to

work through, made this the only reasonable option. This is, nevertheless, a valuable

contribution to the typology of TMA systems, especially since Oceanic languages were not

included in Dahl's original study. Later, however, Thieberger (2006) based his investigation

on TMA in the Oceanic language South Efate of Vanuatu on Dahl’s questionnaire. Note also

that in Dahl’s own investigation of 64 languages, sometimes only one speaker was

consulted.

An important feature concerning questionnaires like Dahl’s is that they enable researchers

to compare language systems. This is truly in the spirit of Basic Linguistic Theory, which

strives for descriptions which, in addition to describing the language system in its own

terms, also stresses the importance of employing similar notions in order to compare them

cross-linguistically.

Through his study of several languages Dahl (1985)’s mission is to arrive at a set of cross-

linguistic grammatical categories that play a role in the grammar of TMA systems in the

world’s languages. He shows how these functional categories are formally expressed in

different ways in different languages, some with more central, others with more peripheral

ways of marking (Dahl 1985: 21-23).

The original project tried to omit English influence on the consultants’ responses by giving

the predicate in capital letters and infinitive, e.g:

(447) Q.01: [Standing in front of a house] The house BE BIG

In the present investigation the investigator and the consultants would together look at a

printed version of the questionnaire while the former also chose to read them aloud in Pijin

or English-influenced Pijin to make the task clear. The choice of translation might have

influenced the informant’s response (c.f. Dahl 1985: 48).

Seven different tense-aspect constructions have been identified as tense-aspect

constructions in Engdewu in the questionnaire; five of those considered major grammatical

categories (see Table 12.2 below). While the two speakers use the same construction type in

the translation of many of the questions, there are also examples where their translations

deviate. In some of these cases the reason is unclear, but a misinterpretation of the question

in the questionnaire cannot be ruled out, as pointed out above. In other cases the speaker

clearly focuses on another aspect of the sentence to be translated than anticipated.


The constructions in Engdewu will be discussed in turn below, exemplified by selected

translations from the questionnaire, and reference to Dahl’s cross-linguistic categories will

be made.

As noted above, five major TMA categories were identified through the questionnaire. Dahl

(1985) excludes from his definition of a TMA category, ‘…those categories that were not

TMA categories proper—that is, things like case, person and number markers and so on’

(Dahl 1985: 52). He adds the following two definitional criteria for the establishment of a

category in a language:

‘that the category should be manifested by at least six instances in the TMAQ i.e. the

TMA questionnaire ’ (Dahl 1985: 53); and

that it should be used in affirmative, declarative, non-embedded, active

constructions (Dahl 1985: 53).

A critical comment made by Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994) should be mentioned in

this respect.

The disadvantage of the questionnaire method for studying grammatical categories is that the

range of functions that can be studied is limited by what goes into the original questionnaire. Of

course, a questionnaire such as Dahl’s can be quite thorough since it is based on a careful study of

aspectual and temporal phenomena in well-known languages. Still, it cannot disclose grammatical

functions that are not anticipated in advance (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 34).

§12.3 presents the constructions found in Engdewu and their corresponding cross-linguistic

TMA categories. Following Dahl (1985)’s criteria, only affirmative, declarative, non-

embedded, active constructions have been considered. In line with the comment made by

Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994), two constructions with less than six instances in the

questionnaire are also included. The names of these have been star-marked.

Another shortcoming of the questionnaire is that it does not deal with the grammatical

coding of modality because such constructions, according to Dahl (1985), are marginal and

mostly expressed in embedded constructions. This is a pity because mood and aspect (and

tense) are often closely related in language; cf. the common abbreviation TMA (or TAM). In

the Engdewu verb complex, for instance, the irrealis prefix shares its slot with the

imperfective and perfective prefixes, both inherently expressing realis. And, as will be seen

below, the choice between an irrealis and an imperfective prefix is not always clear and both

can be grammatical and express a similar meaning in certain contexts. In Engdewu, the


irrealis prefix, which is a marker of irrealis mood, also marks future events, and it is

included among the constructions established through the questionnaire.

However, while the constructions that are attested are undoubtedly biased towards the set-

up of the questionnaire, these kinds of questionnaires in general facilitate the typological

comparison between languages, even across language families. And not the least, they

enable the researcher to get an overview of how the language is organised in an affordable

amount of time. A possible next step would be to tailor the questionnaire specifically

towards Engdewu, or Oceanic languages in general.


Table 12.2: TMA constructions in Engdewu and their corresponding cross-linguistic TMA categories

Description Construction

type, language-

internal

Marking

type

Frequency Corresponds to

cross-linguistic

TMA category

M03m N02m

PFV-V perfective M 82 93 Major Perfective

PFV-V=COS perfect M 26 16 Major Perfect

PFV-V=COS + yoko conclusive* P 1 1 ? Conclusive

IPFV-V imperfective M 30 15 Major Imperfective

IPFV-V=COS inchoative* M 2 6 ? -

CONT + IPFV-V progressive M 10 12 Major Progressive

IRR-V irrealis M 6 8 Major -

Others 7 8

Total 164 159

Notes:

1. ‘M’ and ‘P’ under the heading of ‘Marking type’ are short for ‘morphological’ and ‘periphrastic’, respectively. Note that yoko ‘be finished’ in the periphrastic conclusive construction is a stative verb.

2. ‘*’ means that the construction occurs with less than six instances in the questionnaire, and cannot be considered a major marking type based on the questionnaire alone.

129

A full version of the questionnaire including translations of both speakers are given in

Appendix 2. Note that some answers were excluded because they are clearly due to

misunderstandings, and some were skipped by the speaker in the first place.

12.3.2 Perfective: PFV-V

The most frequent marking type construction that occurs in the questionnaire is by far the

one where a single perfective marker is prefixed to the verb. This marking type corresponds

to the cross-linguistic category Perfective, from which the name of the construction is taken:

129

Other construction types are schematised in this table. These are all infrequent in the questionnaire and not discussed here. (Note that ngi is a verb meaning ‘be like’, often appearing as the first verb in a multiverb construction with two verbs.)

Description Marking type Freq, M03m

Freq, N02m

CAUS-V M 1

PFV-V (extended V length) M 2 1

PFV-CAUS-ngi + dau IRR-day P 1

PFV- V-tei=COS-pwe M 1

IPFV-V-CONT M 2

IPFV-V=dä M 2

IPFV-V=COS=DUPL M 1

IRR-ngi + i-V P 2

IRR-ngi IRR-V=COS P 1

IRR-ngi IRR-V P 1


it is used in all what Dahl (1985: 78) considers to be the most typical examples of this

category. Those are Q.175, Q.165, Q.91 (verb 1), Q.162 (verb 1), Q.99 (verb 1), Q.101 (verb

2), Q.92 (verb 1), and Q.100 (verb 2).

The example in Q.99 is given in (448). The reader is referred to the Appendix A for the other

sentences.

(448) (Q.99:N02m) [Q: How long did it take for your brother to finish the letter?] He WRITE

the letter in an hour.

I-vö-yö-dä leta aua öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A letter hour one

‘He wrote the letter in an hour.’

Perfective aspect can be said to describe an event as a whole as completed, with no special

emphasis on any stage of the event. Based on examples such as this (and the others

mentioned above), Dahl (1985) draws the following ‘tentative’ description.

A PFV [Perfective] verb will typically denote a single event, seen as an unanalysed whole, with a

well-defined result or end-state, located in the past. More often than not, the event will be

punctual, or at least, it will be seen as a single transition from one state to its opposite, the

duration of which can be disregarded (Dahl 1985: 78).

The aspectual meaning in (448) fits well with this description, where the semitransitive

verb vöyö ‘write’ denotes an activity that went on for the specified hour, without any focus

on any special phase of that event. The typical examples mentioned above, including the

Engdewu translations, are all examples of past time reference. Dahl (1985: 79) notes that,

‘[t]here is a strong tendency for [Perfective] categories to be restricted to past time

reference’. The insight is that single, completed events typically are located in the past, again

as seen in (448), and as seen in most other examples.

While the perfective construction in Engdewu is definitely employed with past time

situations, it is not restricted to past time reference. One of the speakers employs it in the

main clause in Q.103, given in (449), expressing a future situation.


(449) (Q.103:M03m) [The boy is expecting a sum of money] When the boy GET the money, he

BUY a present for the girl.

Kä në-yângo-ti-e tewau kââ awi

DIST:SG IRR-take-TR-3MIN.A money DIST:SG before??

ö-vyü-ka-nö-de opla kââ mda.

DETR-buy-?-APPL-3MIN.A girl DIST:SG thing

‘When he gets the money, he will buy something for the girl.’

The construction is even employed in present time reference. One of the speakers uses it in

Q.126, given in (450), which is a performative where the speaker names a child.

(450) Q.126: [Uttered in a naming ceremony (for NAME, substitute any suitable verb (e.g.

CHRISTEN), for X, substitute any suitable proper name (e.g. JOHN)] I NAME this child X.

I-yape-be nëtnü nato kä Pita.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-name?-DIR>2/3:1 name infant PROX:SG P.

‘I name this child Pita.’

Now consider Q.91–Q.96 given in (451) a.–e. These examples indicate that boundedness

plays a part in the choice between perfective and imperfective.

(451) [Q: What your brother’s reaction BE when you gave him the medicine (yesterday)?]

a. (Q.91:M03m) He COUGH once.

I-pu-ö-dä döwedä öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL-3MIN.A time one

‘He coughed one time.’

b. (Q.92:M03m) He COUGH twice.

I-pu-ö-dä döwedä la-lii.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL-3MIN.A time PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘He coughed two times.’


c. (Q.93:M03m) He COUGH seven times.

I-pu-ö-dä döwedä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL-3MIN.A time

tu-mutüü.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-three

‘He coughed three times.’

d. (Q.94:M03m) He COUGH many times.



i-klu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many

‘He coughed many times.’

e. (Q.95:M03m) He COUGH for an hour.

I-pu mweli i-boowi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough time PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

‘He coughed for a long time.’

f. (Q.96:M03m) He COUGH often.

Tü-pu ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough always

‘He coughs often.’

All the sentences describe a past event, and the verb pu ‘cough’ denotes a semelfactive

situation type. In a.–e., where the action of coughing is bounded by a specific number of

times, or by a time interval, the perfective construction is used. In f. where the adverbial ëvë

‘always’ modifies the verb, on the other hand, the imperfective construction is used. The

main difference between a.–e. and f. is that the former are bounded. The first three are

bounded to one, two, and three single times, specifically. In f. the instances of coughs are still

seen as single instances. The difference between e. and f., however, is less clear. But in e. the

coughing went on for a bounded period in time. In f. it seems like ëvë ‘always’ transforms the

coughing to an unbounded event, resembling a habitual situation in the past. As will be seen

in §12.3.3, imperfective marking is normally used to indicate habitual contexts.

There is no clear evidence of adjectives in Engdewu. As discussed in §10.2.1, properties of

referents are often expressed by the means of stative verbs. A stative verb describes a

continuous event where any internal phase is identical to any other internal phase. States

are continuous rather than punctual, unbounded in time. Comrie (1976) points out that,

‘unless something happens to change that state, then the state will continue’, with no effort


spent to remain in that state (Comrie 1976: 49). This implies that verbs expressing states

should not occur with perfective aspect markers, and Comrie (1976: 50), thus, says that,

‘…the combination of perfectivity and stativity can only have a rather restricted semantic

range—reference to a state with its inception and termination’, when an effort is put into

changing the state. In Engdewu, however, when a stative verb is used to express a qualifying

feature of an object, it is only found with the perfective aspect prefix. This applies to past,

present, and future situations. Q.1 is an example of a present situation and Q.31 and Q.36 are

good examples of future situations. The former is given in (452). The two latter can be

translated by the same sentence as seen in (453).

(452) (Q.1:M03m&N02m) [Standing in front of a house] The house BE BIG.

Matu kä i-löpi.


‘The house is big.’

(453) (Q31:M03m) [Of a visible lake, what the water is usually like] It BE COLD.

(Q.36:M03m) [It’s no use trying to swim in the lake tomorrow] The water BE COLD

(then).

Lâknu ka i-pwë.

water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘The water is cold.’

The last example to consider is the one in (454), with the verb minga ‘dry’ denoting an

ongoing and telic situation, i.e. an accomplishment: The cloth is not dry until it has reached

the point where it actually is fully dry. The perfective construction indicates that this state

has been reached.

(454) Newa i-minga-pe nepi.

cloth PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry-GDIR:out sun

‘(The/a) cloth is dried up in the sun./Kaleko drae aot long san.’ (17)

To sum up, common to all perfective constructions is that they are about events that are

ended or bounded. They are mostly used in past time constructions, but there are examples

where they are used with other temporal situations, too. The construction is taken as an

instance of the cross-linguistic Perfective category. Its combination with verbs of different

situation types is summarised in Table 12.3.


Table 12.3: Combinations of the perfective construction and verbs of different situation types in Engdewu


+ + + + +

löpi ‘big’;

pwë ‘cold’

tave ‘sick’

bowi ‘long, tall’;

wü ‘happy’

pu ëvë ‘cough

often’

vöyö leta aua öte

‘write letters for

an hour’;

minga ‘dry’

pu ‘cough’ övyü ‘pay’;

yape ‘name’

12.3.3 Imperfective: IPFV-V

The second-most frequent construction in the questionnaire consists simply of an

imperfective marker prefixed to the verb. Common to all instances of this marking type is

that it denotes unbounded situations, a typical characteristic of the cross-linguistic category

Imperfective. There is, hence, no focus on any special part of the event described by the

verb. As mentioned above, there are two types of imperfective constructions in Engdewu:

the one described here, labelled ‘imperfective’, and the ‘progressive’ construction described

in §12.3.5. The main difference between the two is that while the former is detached from

time, the latter is primarily used to indicate that an event is unfolding at the time of speech,

as will be seen in §12.3.5. Both indicate, however, that the event in question is unbounded.

The imperfective construction is frequently used to express habitual situations in Engdewu.

Dahl (1985) mentions Q.19 (verb 1), Q.18 (verb 1), Q.21 (verb 1), Q.20 (verb 1), Q.31 (verb

1), B7.193 (verb 1), Q.71 (verb 1) and Q.40 (verb 1) as the most typical questions in the

questionnaire for habitual situations. Of these, the imperfective construction is used in all

but the three next to the last, where perfective marking is used. Unfortunately, there are no

data for Q.21. Q.18–Q.20 (and probably also Q.21) all mark habitual situations, as seen in

(455). Notice that Q.20 is a habitual situation set in the past.


(455) [Q: What your brother DO when we arrive, do you think? (=What activity will he be

engaged in?)]

[Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast? A:]

(Q.18:M03m) He WRITE letters.

(Q.19:M03m) He WRITE a letter.

[Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast last summer? A:]

(Q.20:M03m) He WRITE letters.

Tü-vö-yö leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

‘He writes letters.’

Common to these situations is that they are unbounded and iterative, and they can all be

described as activities. This is supported by Comrie (1976: 28), who says that what is

common to all kinds of habitual aspects is that, ‘…they describe a situation which is

characteristic of an extended period of time’.

Note, however, that if the situation is a state, the perfective construction is used, also in

habitual contexts. This is illustrated by Q.31, given in (456).

(456) (Q.31:M03m) [Of a visible lake, what the water is usually like] It BE COLD.

Lâknu ka i-pwö.



One interesting exception to this was mentioned in §10.2.2, namely that numeral verbs

between ‘seven’ and ‘nine’ seemingly never take perfective marking, even in contexts where

other numerals would be inflected with the perfective prefix. The reason for this is not

understood.

The perfective construction is also used if the habitual situation is generic, as seen in Q.74,

given in (457).


(457) (Q.74:M03m) [Q: What do your cats do when they are hungry?] They MEOW.

La-ö-pi-ö-ngö ‘myau’. (PL)

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-3AUG.A miaow

‘They say “miaow”.’

But now consider the examples in (458) a. and b., both containing the stative verb wü

‘happy’. It is possible to mark this verb both with the perfective and with the imperfective

prefix. In the former case, when the perfective construction is employed, the reading is that

the subject is in a general state of happiness, i.e. happy by nature. If imperfective marking is

employed, however, a more transient state is expressed, which can be understood as

excitement. The imperfective marking, thus, seems to change the situation type into an

activity: it is still durative, but not stative.

(458) a. Lepela ka nötü=de i-wü.

man MED:SG body=3MIN.POSS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-happy

‘The man is happy (lit. the man, his body is happy)./Man ia hem hapi.’

(N09m:31)

b. Lepela ka nötü=de tü-wü.

man MED:SG body=3MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-happy

‘The man is happy/excited (lit. the man, his body is happy)./Man ia hem hapi.’

(N09m:31)

This situation corresponds to Dahl (1985: 95), who says that habituals, ‘…express actions

that take place habitually or repeatedly’, implying a plurality of events. This view is shared

by Cusic (1981) who argues that habituals imply so many repetitions of an event that, ‘the

number of occasions on which an action has been performed is so great that the reference to

individual occasions and events is lost, and the action becomes a property attributed to the

agent’ (Cusic 1981: 93).

Now consider the example in (459) with the intransitive verb bwawa ‘break’, which can be

seen to basically denote an achievement, that is, a punctual situation resulting in a new

state: the coconut changes from an unbroken to a broken state. The example in a. is given by

the speaker to describe a past situation, and perfective marking is used. The example in b.

indicates a habitual situation. The perfective marking is employed here, too, contrary to the

habitual situations described above, but similar to what happens to the states in (456) and

(457).


The reason may be that there is no way to see an achievement as anything other than

punctual.130 Punctuality is, in general, incompatible with an aspect type whose main

characteristic is unboundedness. Notice, however, the question in c. Here, imperfective

marking is employed. The reason for this is not understood.

(459) a. Nöpubwi ka i-bwawa.

coconut MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘The coconut broke./Kokonat ia hem brek.’

b. Nöpubwi i-bwawa-pe ëvë

coconut PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break-DIR:out always

‘Coconuts break all the time./Kokonat brek olowe.’ (N05m:12)

c. Nöpubwi ka tü-bwawa?

coconut MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘Did the coconut break?/Kokonat ia brek?’

Punctual events cannot be extended in time (they being the opposite of durative), and it is

impossible to view them as happening over and over again (at least with the same object

involved). In (459) b. the reading is that coconuts—in plural—break all the time. That is, as

a group they have the everyday habit of falling down from trees and breaking. Note that it is

impossible to determine the subject noun with a demonstrative here. That would imply that

the habit was associated with that specific coconut, and that would be impossible.

The imperfective marking is, thus, basically employed in unbounded, durative situations,

and punctual situations are not marked with the imperfective. The example in (460) b., for

instance, where an imperfective marker is prefixed to the verb bwangwe ‘break’, was judged

to be strange. A possible explanation for this is that any event of breaking is punctual. A

punctual event can hardly be thought of as extended in time, or unbounded, which is the

main characteristic of Imperfective.

130

Unless one invents a context where the temporal speed is drastically reduced and where even the most sudden punctual event is stretched out over time, like in slow motion in movies.


(460) a. I-bwangwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘It [basket] is broken/It broke.’ (N11m:2)

b. ?Tü-bwangwe.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A -break

Note, however, that one speaker judged the sentence beli tübwangwe to be all right. He

translated it with ‘basket hem brek’ and added that it expresses the basket’s potential for

breaking, i.e. a habitual-generic reading is applied here. In English, this would be translated

as ‘the basket is breakable, the basket breaks (e.g. easily)’.

A stative verb like bowi ‘tall’, for instance is usually marked with the perfective. An

imperfective construction with such a verb is usually seen as ungrammatical or strange; cf.

(461).

(461) ?Lepela ka tü-bowi.

man MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

However, such a construction can be used in a present situation to pick out a tall person in a

group. For such a situation, one speaker gave the example in (462). The only difference from

that in (462) is the demonstrative ga ‘there’, giving the reading ‘that man there is tall’.

(462) ?Lepela ka gââ tü-bowi.

man MED:SG DIST PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

‘That man there is tall./The tall man there.’ (N09m:30)

The imperfective construction is not only employed to indicate habitual situations. It is also

frequently used in future situations. This is, for instance illustrated by the translation of

Q.152 (verb 2), Q.15, and Q.22, given in (463)–(465), where the former is, according to Dahl

(1985), a typical future situation involving intention by the speaker. In this example the

imperfective prefix is attached to the verb form yâti ‘build something’, which denotes an

accomplishment. The two next examples involve future predictions. The imperfective

constructions in both involve the verb vöyö ‘write’, where the semitransitive form indicates

that the focus is on the situation as an activity.


(463) (Q.152:M03m) [Said by a young man] When I GROW old, I BUY a big house.

Ka tü-löpi-i â-mwa

MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-big-1MIN.S/A CAUS-??

tü-yâ-ti di matu ka??

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-build-TR INDF:SG house MED:SG

i-löpi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘When I am big I will build a big house.’

(464) (Q.15:M03m) [Q: What your brother DO if you don’t go to see him today, do you think?

A:] He WRITE a letter (to me).

Tü-vö-yö-m ële leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-PDIR>1 DAT letter

‘He will write a letter to me.’

(465) (Q.22:M03m) [Q: What are you planning to do right now? A:] I WRITE letters.

Tü-vö-yö-ü leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-1MIN.S/A letter

‘I will write letters.’

Another example where the imperfective construction is used with a future situation is

given in (466). Notice that even the numeral is inflected with an imperfective prefix.

(466) Mwati Meri tü-piaki-e newö tü-lii.

tomorrow M. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut-3MIN.A cloth IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-two

‘Tomorrow, Mary will cut two pieces of cloth./Tumoro, bae Meri katim tufala kaleko.’

(N04f:21)

Perfective and imperfective marking are important tools in the ordering of events. In

complex event situations with two events where one event takes place as another event is

going on (i.e. with a background-foreground contrast), imperfective marking is used with

the verb denoting the backgrounding event, which can be seen as unbounded. The other

verb denoting the foregrounded event, on the other hand, is bound to the time of the former.

In (467) the two events denoted the verbs vëm[u] ‘come’ and tu ‘stand’ do not happen one at

a time, but, rather, simultaneously, in that the standing event was ongoing while the coming

took place.


(467) Di kä noude i-vë-m[u], di kä opla

INDF:SG PROX:SG man PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-DIR>1 INDF:SG PROX:SG girl

tu-tu i-mwalie kä plet.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand PFV:N3AUG.S/A -hold PROX:SG plate

‘A boy came, a woman was standing up holding a plate./Wanfala boe hemi kam,

wanfala gele stanap holem plet.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m: 005P_collidebreak)

The example in (467) can be contrasted with (468). In this example both verbs (mwalie

‘hold’ and loli ‘let go’) appear with perfective marking. This gives a reading of sequentiality

of the events: first the actor holds the maul hammer, then he drops it on the plate.

(468) I-mwalie molama kââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hold maul.hammer DIST:SG

i-loli-ni-be mö plet kââ.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-let.go-GDIR:down-PDIR>2/3 on plate DIST:SG

‘He held a maul hammer, then he let it fall down on the plate./Hemi holem wanfala

molama, den hemi letim go daon long plet ia.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m:

049P_hammerdropbreak)

If imperfective marking is used with a verb denoting an achievement, like minga ‘dry’ in

(469), the construction expresses the potential for the event to happen. In this example the

clothes are not dry, and the drying process has not yet started. That is, the owner of the

clothes has not put them down or hung them on a line for drying. This is, rather, an

announcement that the clothes are ready for drying; cf. the Pijin translation.

(469) Newa tü-minga.

cloth IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry

‘Clothes to dry./Kaleko fo drae.’

To sum up, the imperfective construction can function in a rather wide range of situations: it

is employed to mark habitual, future, and ongoing background situations. These are all

unbounded, and it is plausible to analyse the grammatical construction type as an instance

of the cross-linguistic category Imperfective: Unlike the Perfective, the main characteristic of

Imperfective is that it indicates an unbounded situation. It can be combined with verbs

denoting all the basic situation types, as summarised in Table 12.4.

As already noted, the notion ‘imperfective’ can alternatively be seen as the description of an

overarching category for the construction described in this section and the progressive


construction, as both are unbounded. In such a view, an alternate name for the present

language-internal construction would be ‘habitual’.

Table 12.4: Combinations of the imperfective construction and verbs of different situation types in Engdewu


+ + + -/? ?

wü ‘happy’;

pwö ‘cold’

bowi ‘big’

vöyö ‘write’;

tu ‘stand’

yâti ‘build’;

minga ‘dry’

FUT: pyaki ‘cut’ Q: bwawa ‘break’

12.3.4 Perfect: PFV-V=COS

The third-most frequent construction is marked by a perfective prefix and a change-of-state

clitic. This combination is found in many questions in the questionnaire and it always

indicates that an event is completed. It can be hard to distinguish this marking type from the

perfective construction. A typical example where both speakers employ this marking type is

Q.53. The translation of one of the speakers is given in (470), while the other speaker’s

version is basically the same.

(470) (Q.53:M03m) [A: I want to give your brother a book to read, but I don’t know which. Is

there any of these books that he READ already? B:] (Yes,) he READ this book.

Eu, ekä i-vaki=pmee.

yes PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A

‘Yes, he has read this one.’

In this example it is relevant for the hearer that the speaker’s brother has read the book. It is

this relevance that distinguishes it from a Perfective reading. Dahl (1985) mentions Q.53 as

a prototypical example of a Perfect category. Other prototypical occurrences of this cross-

linguistic category are Q.54 (verb 1), Q.56 (verb 1), Q.42 (verb 1), Q.64 (verb 1), Q.67 (verb

1), Q.136 (verb 1), Q.139 (verb 2), and Q.134 (verb 1). Perfective marking is used in five of

these by both or one of the speakers. It was not employed in Q.54, Q.42 and Q.67 by any of

the speakers, and one of the speakers chose another strategy in Q.136 and Q.139.131

131

One of the speakers employs a conclusive construction in Q.54 (cf. §12.3.6). The other speaker employs a progressive construction (!) here. The reason is unknown, but it is probable that this represents a mistranslation.

In Q.42 one of the speakers employs perfective marking. The motivation for this is not known. However, both the perfective and perfect constructions can be used for past events. The other speaker clearly misinterpreted the question and gave a wrong translation.

In Q.67 with the stative verb bwë ‘dead’ both speakers use perfective marking. The reason why is not known. Note, however, that stative verbs are commonly marked with a perfective construction.


If the event in question took place before another specific point in the past, the perfect

marking is also used; cf. Q.89:M03m and Q.90:M03m, which is translated by the same

sentence, given in (471).

(471) [Q: Did you find your brother at home? A:]

(Q.89:M03m) (No, we did not.) He LEAVE (before we arrive).

(Q.90:M03m) (No, we did not, we were very unlucky.) He LEAVE (just before we came).

Ee toko, i-kapu-tö-pö-gâ

eh/yes/CNJ? no PFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-GDIR:in-PDIR>1-1AUG.S/A

i-vë=pme.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS

‘No, when we returned he had left.’

Perfect is found in what has been called ‘universal perfect’ situations or ‘perfect of persistent

situation’ (Dahl 1985: 136; Comrie 1976: 60), that is, situations where the event reported

started in the past and are still going on at the time of utterance. Q.148, given in (472),

presents such a situation.

(472) (Q.148:N02m) [(Of a coughing child:) For how long has your son been coughing?] He

COUGH for an hour.

Ka-la-kiso ka

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small MED:SG

i-pu-ö=pme-dä aua öte=pme.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL=COS-3MIN.A hour one=COS

‘The child has been coughing for an hour.’

The perfect construction is commonly found with durative situation types. Now, consider

the example in (473), describing a punctual situation. Here the transitive verb form

amopyeipe ‘pour out, capsize’ appears in a perfect construction. The punctual action is

ended, and the perfect form is probably employed because of its relevance to the time of

speech. Through this utterance the speaker leads the hearer’s attention to an action that just

happened before their (or at least the speaker’s) eyes.

In Q.56, however, perfect marking is used with the same stative verb. In Q.136 one of the speakers uses a progressive construction with the adverb awi ‘just’. The

reason is not known. The speaker clearly translates this as a near-past situation, which might have something to do with the choice.

In Q.139 one of the speakers employs perfective marking. Here, the reason seems clear: the speaker has misinterpreted the question, and he translates it with a first minimal person instead of a third person minimal subject. The reader is referred to the Appendix A for these examples.


(473) Mo ka to, lepela kââ a-mopyei-pe=pme

see MED:SG HORT man DIST:SG CAUS-capsize-GDIR:out=COS

botol-ö lâknu kââ.

bottle-RL water DIST:SG

‘Look, the man has capsized the water bottle./Luk go, man ia kapsaetim botol wata

ia.’ (N04f:17)

Now consider the example in (474) with the intransitive verb yöplatö ‘bang in’, denoting a

punctual (semelfactive) situation. In a. the verb is marked with the Perfective, and the

meaning is simply that the door is closed or that it banged at some point. In the example in

b. perfect marking is used. The difference in meaning between the two marking forms can

be hard to tell, but it seems that the relevance to the present situation is emphasised here.

(474) a. Nowe yöpla-tö.

door bang:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-GDIR:in

‘The door is closed, the door closed./Doa ia hem klos.’ (N05m)

b. Nowe yöpla-tö=pme.

door bang:PFV:N3AUG.S/A-GDIR:in=COS

‘The door has closed./Doa ia hem klos.’

Consider the example in (475) where the verb minga ‘dry’ denotes a durative event. At any

point in the drying process before the clothes are actually fully dry, the situation can be

characterised as an activity. When they reach the end point when they are actually dry, the

situation is an accomplishment. That is what is expressed in the example, where the focus

has shifted from viewing an unspecified inner phase of the event to viewing the whole event

by its natural end point.

(475) Newa i-minga=pme

cloth PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry=COS

‘The cloth has dried./Kaleko hemi drae na.’ (N05m:17)

Stative verbs can also appear in perfect constructions as seen in (476) with the verb bowi

‘long, tall’. A common Pijin translation would be ‘hem tol na’, with the particle na, indicating

relevance to the time of speech, for instance that he is tall now, contrary to the last time the

speaker saw him.


(476) Lepela ka i-bowi=pme.

man MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long=COS

‘The man is tall (i.e. has become tall, taller than before)./Man ia hem tol na.’

(N09m:30)

In sum, the perfect construction is found to include verbs of all basic situation types but

semelfactives, as seen in Table 12.5 below. It is found with verbs denoting the other

punctual situation type, i.e. of achievement. The reason why it is not found with verbs that

denote semelfactive situations is not understood, but it may simply be due to lack of data.

Typical for a perfect construction is that it makes unbounded events bounded, and that it

may turn a situation into an accomplishment. These are features that correspond to cross-

linguistic category Perfect. Table 12.5 summarises verbs of different situation types found in

the perfect construction.

Table 12.5: Combinations of the perfect construction and verbs of different situation types in Engdewu


+ + + ? +

bowi ‘long, tall’ vaki ‘read’

vë ‘go’;

pu ‘cough’

minga ‘dry’ amopyei ‘capsize’;

yöplatö ‘bang in’

12.3.5 Progressive: CONT IPFV-V

The progressive construction consists of a continuous particle preceding a verb prefixed

with an imperfective marker. As noted in §11.3.2, it is generally found with third person

subjects. Recall also that these particles seem to be related to the 3MIN and 3AUG free

pronouns, and that the minimal variant expresses a contrast in visibility.

This construction signals that an event is ongoing, typical of the progressive aspect, as can

be seen in Q.5 given in (477).

(477) (Q.5:M03m&N02m) [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he

engaged in?) A by someone who can see him] He WRITE letters.

Dä tü-vö-yö leta.

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

‘He is writing letters.’

Dahl (1985) mentions Q.83 (verb 1), Q.6 (verb 1), Q.5 (verb 1), Q.11 (verb 1), Q.9 (verb 1),

Q.12 (verb 1), and Q.10 (verb 1) as the most prototypical questions in the questionnaire for

the cross-linguistic category Progressive. The marking type described here is used in four of


these by one or both speakers. There are explanations why the three remaining do not

appear with this marking. First, Q.12 was unfortunately skipped or mistranslated by both

speakers, and it has to be ruled out. Second, in Q.83, the subject is translated as first person

and there is, thus, no continuous particle in the construction. Thus, the question is ruled out

here. And third, Q.11 was mistranslated by one of the speakers, and his translation is ruled

out. The other speaker, however, used perfective marking. The reason is not understood.

The example has a past time reference, which is less typical than present time reference for

Progressive. However, the progressive construction is also used in examples with past time

reference; cf. Q.9 and Q.10. This indicates that the construction is also used about the past.

However, a misunderstanding of the context leading to misinterpretation cannot be ruled

out. The matter needs more study, but based on the findings, it seems reasonable to take

this marking type as an instance of the cross-linguistic Progressive category.

One interesting thing should, however, be especially noted concerning the translation of Q.6

and Q.10, given in (478) and (479) respectively. While one of the speakers translated both

with the same clause using a progressive construction (as can be seen in the a. examples),

the other speaker chose a perfective construction (as seen in the b. examples). The reason

for this is not understood, but a few things should be noted about the translations. First, the

first speaker used a semitransitive verb form giving the object leta ‘letter’ a generic reading.

The other speaker, on the other hand, gave the object a specific reading with the use of a

transitive construction. That the noun leta ‘letter’ is specific is supported by the use of the

numeral öte ‘one’ in Q.6, which is never used with non-specific referents, in which case the

article di is used (§6.4.1). A reason for this diversion in translation may be rooted in the

English phrase a letter, which can be both specific and non-specific.

(478) (Q.6) [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he engaged in?) A by

someone who can see him] He WRITE a letter.

a. (M03m)



‘He is writing letter(s).’


b. (N02m)

I-yää leta öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write:3MIN.A letter one

‘He wrote a letter.’

(479) (Q.10) [A: I went to see my brother yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity was he

engaged in?)] He WRITE a letter.

a. (M03m)



‘He was writing letter(s).’

b. (N02m)

yää kää leta.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-write-3MIN.A PROX:SG letter

‘He wrote a letter.’

As noted, progressive constructions are most often used with present time reference. It is

not attested with future or predictive situations. For instance, both speakers employ

imperfective marking in Q.16 ([Q: What your brother DO when we arrive, do you think?

(=What activity will he be engaged in?)] He WRITE letters).

As already noted, a progressive construction is attested with past time situations, for

instance as seen in the translations of Q.9 and Q.10 in (480) and (481).


(480) (Q.9:M03m&N02m) [A: I went to see my brother yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What

activity was he engaged in?)] He WRITE letters.

(I-vë-be,) da tü-vö-yö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>2/3 CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write

leta.

letter

‘I went there, he was writing letter(s).’

(481) (Q.10:M03m) [A: I went to see my brother yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity

was he engaged in?)] He WRITE a letter.

Dä132 tü-vö-yö leta.


‘He was writing letter(s).’

Now consider the examples in (482) a. and b., which give both speakers’ translation of

Q.117. The translation in a. (Q.117:M03m) is the only in the questionnaire where a stative

verb appears in a progressive construction. In b. (Q.117:N02m) imperfective marking is

chosen, as expected.

(482) Q.117: [Of the water in a lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My

brother KNOW (now) that the water BE COLD (today).

a. (M03m)

I-yââpwâtni myei nö-ngwe lâknu kââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know brother-[1MIN.POSS] IRR-be.like water DIST:SG

da tü-pwö nëge.

CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

‘My brother knows that the water is cold today.’

132

Notice the use of the visible form of the continuous particle. In the translation of (Q.10) the speaker simply indicated that the translation would be identical to that of (Q.5), which is a present situation where the speaker can see his brother. Whether the form really should be da ‘CONT:SG:INV’ as in (Q.9), cf. (480) is not known.


b. (N02m)

Ö-pi-ö-dä, ö-pi-ö

[IPFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A DETR-say-APPL

myei no-ngwe, yâpwâ-tni=pmee

brother-[1MIN.POSS] IRR-be.like know-TR=COS:3MIN.A

no-ngwe lâknu ka nege tu-pwu.

IRR-be.like water MED:SG today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘He knows, my brother knows that, he knows that the water is cold today.’

The example in a. is unexpected in two ways. First, progressive marking is normally used

with dynamic verbs. And second, future situations would normally be marked with either an

imperfective or irrealis construction (§12.3.3). One explanation for the deviant marking

types in a. and b., however, may be that the speakers present different perspectives of the

situation. The example in a. presents the situation as taking place at the time of speech, like

an ongoing activity. Ongoing activities can be expressed with a progressive construction.

The perspective is, thus, with the speaker. In b. the speaker employs an imperfective

construction, which is often used in future and prospective situations, and the situation can

definitely be seen as such if the perspective is with the brother of the speaker, who made a

prediction yesterday about the water temperature today. As always, there is another option

for explaining the translation in a. that should not entirely be ruled out, namely that the

sentence is a mistranslation.

Progressive marking is frequently used in ‘reportive present’ situations, where the speaker

reports to a hearer what he can see at the time of speech. This is illustrated by B8.196–7 in

(483) a.–c. The use of Progressive to mark such a situation, though well known for English,

is, according to Dahl, ‘untypical’ (Dahl 1985: 94). Notice that progressive is only used by one

of the speakers here. The other person uses perfective marking in these translations. He

does, however, use a progressive construction in B8.195, which is a durative situation; cf.

Appendix A.

(483) (B8.) [I’ll tell you what I see in the window right now.]

a. (195) A boy and a girl PLAY in the street.

Di kä opla ä noude te-awe më lapöki.

INDF:SG PROX:SG girl and man IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-play in road

‘A girl and boy play in the road.’


b. (196) (Right now) the boy TAKE a ball and THROW it to the girl.

Dä to-vo-tâki133-ö-bää bolo kââ

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-throw-APPL-PDIR>2/3:3 ball DIST:SG

ële opla kââ.

DAT girl DIST:SG

‘He is throwing the ball to the girl.’

c. (197) The girl THROW it back.

Dä tu-vö-tâki-ö=pmo-bë opla

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-throw-APPL=DUPL-PDIR>2/3 girl

kââ le noude kââ.

DIST:SG DAT man DIST:SG

‘The girl is throwing it back to the boy.’

Many examples have shown that the progressive construction is used with durative

situations, like activities. However, it can also be applied to a punctual/semelfactive

(transitive) verb. In (484) the speaker is right in the middle of the action of breaking a

basket, and the event is turned into a durative event. The breaking takes as long a time as

the actor has to spend to turn the basket into a broken state. With an intransitive

construction where the basket is the subject, on the other hand, progressive marking would

be strange. In that case the verb is stative and indicates that the basket is already in a

broken state.

(484) Dä ta-bwangwe=pme-i.

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-break=COS-1MIN.S/A

‘I am breaking the basket./Mi brekem basket.’ (N11m:9)

Notice that the verb form indicates a first person minimal actor. It is very rare to see the

continuous particle used with actors other than third person (there are only very few

examples in the material). This may indicate that the data are skewed: at least the narratives

are mostly containing third person protagonists. More research is needed to describe the

full use of progressive marking.

In certain contexts it is also possible to apply the progressive construction to basically

intransitive punctual situations:

133

Elsewhere, this lexeme is attested as /otâki/, without the initial fricative. As suggested in PHONOLOGY, a fricative /v/ is sometimes inserted at morpheme boundaries between two vowels when the second is /o/.


(485) I-mo-lü dä tü-bwawa-pe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break-GDIR:out

‘I see, it is breaking (out)./Mi lukim, hem brek (aot).’

Now consider the example in (486) with the intransitive verb talebü ‘lie down’. In a. it is

inflected with a perfective marker. In b. it is marked with the continuous particle. The

difference is not quite understood, but a suggestion is that the sentence in b. turns the

situation in a. from a mere state to an activity which may be interrupted at any time, e.g. by

picking it up.

(486) a. Botol i-talebü.

bottle PFV:N3AUG.S/A-lie.down

‘The bottle lies down./Botol lei daon.’ (N04f:28)

b. Botol kââ da tü-talebü (ga).

bottle DIST:SG CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-lie.down MED

‘The bottle is lying down (there)./Botol ia, hem lei daon (long dea).’

The progressive construction need not indicate a present situation. In (487) the events take

place in the past. The example is from an instruction of how to prepare nubo, dried

breadfruit. After the breadfruit is boiled and cut into pieces, and these are put on a grate

which is heated over a metal drum with burning wood inside. The breadfruit pieces have to

be turned repeatedly so that they don’t get burnt. The progressive use here reminds of

historical present in languages like English to make the history more lively.

(487) La-wo-yë, lepela i-mno, dä

PFV:3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:up human PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay CONT:SG:VIS

le-yapyei, dä le-yapyei.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn CONT:SG:VIS PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn

‘They put them up, a person stays, turning them, turning them./Putum ap, man stap,

den tanim, tanim olabaot.’ (N04f_110602-000)

While the continuous particle mostly co-occurs with an imperfective prefix in the

progressive construction in Engdewu, it is also attested with the irrealis prefix, as

exemplified in (488)–(490), where the speaker predicts something about the future.


(488) Ipmu da na-mu.

rain CONT:SG:IVS IRR-rain

‘It will rain (will be raining)./Bae hem ren.’ (N05m)

(489) Pita, mwati dä na-muti=pmo.

P. tomorrow CONT:SG:VIS IRR-lie=DUPL

‘Peter, he will lie (will be lying) again tomorrow./Pita, tumoro bae hem laia moa.’

(N05m:65)

(490) Në-yoko-pe-bwâpwë dowe nuë dä

NMLZ-finish-DIR:out-POSS world CONT:SG:VIS

nëë-pe-m[u]

go:IRR:non-3AUG.A-DIR>1

‘The end of the world will come (will be coming) soon.’ (N05m:45)

The difference between this construction and the imperfective or irrealis constructions

when they function to mark future situations is not fully understood. These examples do,

however, all indicate future situations. While the matter needs more study, this indicates

that there are two progressive constructions at play here. The first, which seems to be most

common, is a present progressive. The second is a future progressive. Such an analysis

indicates that the event expressed by the construction is not only set in the future, but also

ongoing. It seems that such a reading is possible for all three examples above: First, the

prospective event of raining, as the one in (488), is indeed something that may go on for

some time. Second, a person who is known to be a liar, as may be the case in (489), may very

well be thought to continue his ongoing activity in the future. And third, it is possible to see

the Apocalypse as a gradual and ongoing process that stretches far into the future; cf. (490).

In sum, the progressive construction is usually used about ongoing events, and it

characteristically turns a situation into an activity. It can be taken as an instance of the

cross-linguistic category Progressive. Table 12.6 lists some verbs which denote different

situation types with which progressive marking is attested. While the construction under

consideration is used about present situations, reported to be ongoing at the moment of

speech, recall that the continuous marker also can be used in constructions that denote

ongoing events in the past or future. It is then combined with a perfective or a irrealis prefix,

respectively. While more research is needed to uncover the exact use of these constructions,

it may seem reasonable to operate with three progressive constructions: a present

progressive, as described in this section, in addition to a past progressive and a future

progressive.


Table 12.6: Combinations of the progressive construction and verbs of different situation types in Engdewu


+ + ? + +

pwö ‘cold’ vöyö ‘write’;

talebü ‘lie down’

bwangwe ‘break’;

bwawa ‘break’;

(v)otâki ‘throw’;

apyei ‘turn’

12.3.6 Inchoative*: IPFV-V=COS

As described in §11.3.4.1, the change-of-state marker always co-occurs with either a

perfective or an imperfective prefix, yielding two different constructions. As already

mentioned, these two formally different marking types also have different semantic

characteristics. The co-occurrence of an imperfective prefix and a change-of-state clitic is a

construction that is present in the questionnaire, however, only in a few instances (six

instances with one of the speakers, and only two with the other). Though, based on the

questionnaire alone, this should not be categorised as a major marking type. It is mentioned

here because it is relatively common in the elicitation and narrative material, and, thus,

something that the questionnaire has missed. It will be referred to as the inchoative

construction because, as will be clear, it focuses on the initiation of a situation.

In the questionnaire this marking type appears in the translations of one or both speakers in

Q.13, Q.15, Q.21, Q.27, and Q.81 (and in a dependent clause in Q.105 (verb 1), and Q.138

(verb 1)). They are all given below in (491)–(495). Note that all the occurrences of this

marking type in a main clause occur with one of the speakers only. The other always uses

another.134

The first, Q.13, looks like a ‘clear case of perfectivity’, and most languages in the original

survey indeed use a perfective form of the verb in the translation. This is also how one of the

speakers translates it into Engdewu. The other, however, employs the inchoative*

construction, i.e. with an imperfective prefix and a change-of-state clitic, as seen in (491).

134

In Q.13 the other speaker uses a perfect construction. In Q.15 the other speaker uses an imperfective construction. Q.21 was, unfortunately, not translated by the other speaker. In Q.27 the other speaker uses an irrealis construction. In Q.81 the other speaker uses perfective marking combined with an irrealis form of the verb ngi ‘be like’. Why the other speaker avoids the COSoative marking is not understood.


(491) (Q.13:N02m) [A: When you visited your brother yesterday, what he DO after you had

dinner? ANSWER:] He WRITE letters.

(I-va-be nübu i-mwa-gâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>2/3:1 yesterday PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-1AUG.S/A

ma-e,) nëgää tü-vö-yö=pme leta.

with-3MIN.A then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS letter

‘(Yesterday I went and the two of us ate,) then he started to write letters.’

In Q.15 the clause in question denotes a prediction. The speaker expresses what he believes

his brother is likely to start doing in the near future if he doesn't go to see him; cf.

translation in (492).

(492) (Q.15:N02m) [Q: What your brother DO if you don’t go to see him today, do you think?

A:] He WRITE a letter (to me).

…tü-vö-yö=pme-m ële leta i-yâle

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS-PDIR>1 DAT letter PFV:N3AUG.S/A-think

ti-ngia-ti nuwo=m[u] ni.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like-TR? mind=2MIN.POSS 1MIN-[1MIN.POSS]

‘He will write me a letter, I think.’

In Q.21 the clause in question denotes a past habitual situation. The speaker explains what

he knows his brother usually started to do after breakfast last summer.

(493) (Q.21:N02m) [Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast last summer? A:] [C=20]

He WRITE a letter.

Mö nopmu temwa ka

in ten? moon MED:SG

yoko-pe=pme, ma

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish-GDIR:out=COS but

tü-vö-yö, tü-vö-yö=pme=pmo leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

‘In the year that is finished he wrote letter(s), he wrote letter(s) again.’

In Q.27 the clause in question is a prediction. The speaker, still talking about his brother,

explains what his brother will start to do in his new job; cf. (494).


(494) (Q.27:N02m) [A: My brother has got a new job. He’ll start tomorrow. B: What kind of

work he DO there?] He WRITE letters.

…tü-vö-yö=pme-pwë leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS-3MIN.A?Just? letter

‘He will write letters.’

Finally, in Q.81 the clause in question is another prediction. The speaker explains (probably

with great certainty) what will happen after he eats a mushroom.

(495) (Q.81:N02m) [Q: What HAPPEN if I eat this mushroom?] You DIE.

I-mwa-nü dabë ma te

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-1MIN.S/A mushroom? but NEG1

i-kotei-pwö, ä nëge ni

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good and then PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

tü-bwa=pme.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/Adead=COS

‘If I eat this mushroom it is not good, and then I die.’

Common to all examples is that they focus on the start of an event. While the combination of

the perfective prefix and the change-of-state clitic (the perfect construction) focuses on a

situation as concluded (cf. §12.3.7), this marking type evidently focuses on the start of a

situation. Dahl (1985) does not suggest any category with such characteristics, and no

corresponding cross-linguistic category is, thus, suggested. Here, the term ‘inchoative’ is

chosen for the construction in Engdewu to express that it focuses on the initiation of a

(change of) state. This is in line with how Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994: 75) mention

the notion in a similar manner.

The contrast between the perfect and inchoative* constructions is illustrated with the verb

vë ‘go’ by the example in (496).

(496) a. perfect construction

Pita i-vë=pme Dedu.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS D.

‘Peter has gone to Dedu./Pita go finis long Dedu.’ (N05m:22)


b. inchoative* construction

Pita tü-vë=pme Dedu.

P. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS D.

‘Peter will go (is going) to Dedu./Pita bae hem go long Dedu.’ (N05m:22)

Now consider the example in (497). As seen in (460), the verb bwangwe ‘break’ denoting a

punctual event cannot be marked by an imperfective construction. An inchoative

construction, on the other hand, where the change-of-state marker is combined with the

imperfective prefix, works perfectly well. The reading is, then, that the event is just about to

happen. This reading is thus close to a typical inchoative meaning, where focus is on the

initiation of a situation.

(497) Tü-bwangwe=pme.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=COS

‘It the basket is about to break.’ (N11m:2)

The same reading is applied if the verb is transitivised by a causative prefix, as seen in (498)

(498) Tü-a-bwangwe=pmee.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-break=COS:3MIN.A

‘He will break it now./Bae hem brekem basket na.’ (N11m:5)

When inchoative marking is applied to a stative verb like bowi ‘long’, inchoative marking is

often judged strange. But it is possible in some contexts. In (499) this is exemplified with the

verb bowi ‘long’, where the reading is that the subject of the clause has become tall, against

the speaker’s expectation. The focus is on the sudden change of state.

(499) Lepela ka tü-bowi=pme.

man MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-long=COS

‘The man is tall (against my expectation)./Man ia hem tol.’ (N09m)

In elicitation people accept inchoative marking with verbs denoting punctual events. It is

said to be common in questions, as seen in (500) with the verb yöpla ‘bang’. Here, the

speaker asks if the hearer agrees to a near future event of banging (i.e. shutting) the door.

Inchoative marking seems reasonable here, as it indicates the near future situation of

shutting the door.


(500) Nowe s-öpla-tö=pme?

door IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-bang-GDIR:in=COS

‘I will/shall I close the door?/Mi klosim doa?’ (N05m:16)

Also, durative events with a natural end point, like that denoted by minga ‘dry’, can be put in

the same type of construction. The context for the example in (501) could be that the

speaker carries his clothes to a spot he knows is good for drying clothes. There, he meets

another person, and he asks this other person if it is okay for him to put his clothes down to

dry at that spot. The construction indicates a near future situation where his clothes are

placed to dry, at the specific spot.

(501) Newa tü-minga=pme, me?

cloth IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry=COS PROX

‘Can the clothes dry, here?’ (N05m:17)

In sum, the inchoative construction is found with all situation types other than

accomplishments. If the verb is basically durative, it is changed into a punctual situation in

this construction. Examples of verbs denoting different situation types that appear in the

inchoative* construction are given in the table.


+ + ? + +?

bowi ‘long’ vë ‘go’;

vöyö ‘write’

bwangwe ‘break’

yöpla ‘bang’

12.3.7 Conclusive*: PFV-V=COS yoko

This marking type is formally distinguished from the others by being periphrastic. That is, it

contains a verb marked by the perfective and change-of-state morphemes (i.e. the verb form

resembles the perfect construction), and in addition it is followed by the stative verb yoko

‘finish’, which modifies the main verb in a multiverb construction (cf. §10.2.1). As will be

seen, the construction indicates that the situation is ended, with an emphasis on it as

concluded. In the questionnaire the construction only occurs once in each of the speakers’

translations. It does, however, appear frequently elsewhere in the material, thus it will be

discussed here.

Based on the meaning just described (i.e. with focus and emphasis of an action as finished),

it can be seen as an instance of the cross-linguistic Conclusive TMA category, and the

construction is, thus, labelled ‘conclusive’. This, according to Dahl (1985), is probably not a

broad cross-linguistic category, but he identifies it in Japanese and Tamil, both expressed by


a periphrastic construction with the same basic meaning as that in Engdewu. Bybee,

Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994: 34), however, discuss Dahl’s Conclusive category and identify it

with their own ‘completive’ (they notate it with small letters), with the meaning, ‘that

something is done thoroughly and completely, totally affecting the object’, identified in 30 of

the 76 languages they investigate, but they add that the Conclusive (completive)

constructions, ‘…are not central inflectional grams that are obligatory, nor are they

necessarily of high text frequency in the languages in which they occur, but they are not

entirely marginal either’ (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 34).

This construction in Engdewu is not used in all the sentences where corresponding

constructions are used in Japanese and Tamil. In Q.53, Q.54 and Q.89 the Engdewu-speakers

employ a perfect construction. The construction appears in one of the speakers’ translations

of Q.54, Q.55 and Q.108 (verb 2).


(502) (Q.54:M03m) [A: It seems that your brother never finishes books.] (That is not quite

true.) He READ this book (=all of it) (M03m)

Ekä i-vaki=pmee yoko.

PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘This one he has read (completely).’

(503) (Q.55:M03m) [Q: Your brother DO what his teacher told him to do today?] (Yes,) he

READ (all of) this book (as he was told) (M03m)

Eu, i-vaki=pmee ekä/ buk kä

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A PROX:SG book PROX:SG

yoko.


‘Yes, he read this one/this book (completely).’

(504) (Q.108:M03m) [Said as an order by a teacher leaving the classroom] When I RETURN,

you WRITE this assignment (=You FINISH it by then)

Nö-yâlu-mi (ya)-yö

IRR-return-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A ??-write

a-yoko-pe=pme-am[u] nö-wa-lö

CAUS-finish-DIR:out=COS-2AUG.S/A NMLZ-work-NMLZ

(da)-kä.

BN:thing-PROX:SG

‘When I return, you will have finished this work.’

In Q.54 and Q.55 the basic meaning of the verb denotes an (unbounded, atelic) activity. The

conclusive construction marks the situation as bounded, with a strong focus on the end

point. This is contrary to the perfective and the perfect constructions, which do not change

the telicity status of the situation. That is, while it is possible to have read something

without finishing it, it is impossible to have finished reading something without reaching the

natural end point of that activity.

Despite its low frequency in the questionnaire, the construction is common elsewhere in the

material, something that seems to support Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994)’s note about

the limits of the questionnaire method mentioned above. Consider the examples in (505).

(505) a. Meri i-bu-tö=pmee ninö=de.

M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-roll-GDIR:in=COS:3MIN.A mat=3MIN.POSS

‘Mary has rolled her mat./Meri rolem mat blong hem finis.’ (N11m:17)


b. Meri i-bu-tö=pmee ninö=de

M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-roll-DIR:in=COS:3MIN.A mat=3MIN.POSS

yoko-pe-pwe.

finish-GDIR:out-?

‘Mary has rolled her mat completely./Meri rolem mat blong hem finis.’

(N11m:17)

In a. the transitive verb form butö ‘roll in’ appears in a perfect construction. In b. the verb

yoko is added, yielding a conclusive construction. Notice that yoko is marked with the

directional -pe ‘out’, too. This is not uncommon, and the directional functions to stress that

the event is all over: yokope is sometimes translated with ‘finis aot/finish out’. In both a. and

b. the event is completed.135 The difference between a. and b. is, however, that the focus on

the action as completed is stronger. In Pijin, however, the translations of the two types

sometimes coincide, as seen in this example. finis ‘finish’ does not necessarily put special

focus on the end point of the event, it is also frequently used simply to express an action as

ended, for instance in contrast to an ongoing activity.

In sum, the conclusive marking type is found with verbs denoting all durative situation

types. It characteristically makes unbounded events bounded and turns atelic situations

telic. The table shows some attested occurrences of Completive marking with verbs

denoting different situation types.


? + + + ?

vaki ‘read’

ngumwa ‘fish’

tüpli ‘burn s.t.’

minga ‘dry s.t.’ butö ‘roll s.t. in’

12.3.8 Summary

The discussion has indicated that different marking types act differently with different

situation types, and some markings are incompatible with some situations. While this topic

is in need of a much more thorough investigation, a tentative analysis of the combination of

situation types and TMA marking type is given in the table.

135

Remember also from §11.3.8 that the geometric directionals -pe ‘GDIR:out’ and -tö ‘GDIR:in’ were described as indicating the completion of an event, in which case they describe that the path of an outwards or inwards movement has come to a conclusion.


TMA constructions in Engdewu St

atic

Du

rati

ve

Tel

ic

Situ

atio

n t

yp

e

per

fect

ive

imp

erfe

ctiv

e

pro

gre

ssiv

e

per

fect

inch

oat

ive

con

clu

siv

e

+ + n.a

.

State

e.g. bowi ‘long’

+ + + + + ?

- + - Activity

e.g. vë ‘go’

+ + + + + +

- + + Accomplishment

e.g. minga ‘dry’

+ + ? + ? +

- - - Semelfactive

e.g. bwangwe

‘break’

+ -/? ? ? + +

- - + Achievement

e.g. apyei ‘turn’

+ ? + + +? +

Per

fect

ive

Imp

erfe

ctiv

e

Pro

gre

ssiv

e

Per

fect

- Co

ncl

usi

ve

Corresponding cross-linguistic TMA category

Table 12.7: TMA constructions and situation types in Engdewu

12.4 Mood marking and the expression of modality

A thorough study of mood and modal marking has not been of main focus in the present

study. Still, a few words will be said about the topic. One of the reasons for this is that it is

not included in the questionnaire. Dahl (1985: 26) notes that, ‘…languages that have mood

distinctions normally use them in well defined types of subordinate clauses,’ and he draws

particular attention to the opposition between, ‘…indicative and non-indicative moods,

where the indicative is always the more “real” or “asserted” member of the opposition’.

Because they ‘predominantly occur in embedded contexts’ (Dahl 1985: 53), he, thus, admits

to have excluded mood markers from his analysis. Palmer (2001), however, stresses that the

category of modality, ‘…is a valid cross-language grammatical category that can be the

subject of a typological study’. In Matthews (2007), ‘mood’ is a, ‘[g]rammatical category

distinguishing modality’. Palmer (2001: 1) defines ‘modality’ as being, ‘…concerned with the

status of the proposition that describes the event’. That is, while the latter is a semantic

notion that can be used across languages, the former is a notion for language-internal

12.4 Mood marking and the expression of modality 403

constructions expressing modality. This is reflected in what was said about the distinction

between cross-linguistic TMA categories and language-internal TMA constructions.

Two types of modality can be distinguished, epistemic and deontic. The former signals the

speaker’s degree of knowledge about the proposition expressed, and the latter signals, ‘…the

speaker’s attitude to social factors of obligation, responsibility and permission’ (Saeed 1997:

126). English employs modal verbs to express modality in periphrastic constructions. While

the sentence in (506) a. does not include any modal verb, the sentences in b. and c. contain

the modal auxiliary verbs may and must, which both can mark either epistemic or deontic

modality, i.e. they can either indicate the speaker’s knowledge about, or his attitude to, the

proposition. An epistemic reading of b. and c. indicates the speaker’s degree of uncertainty

about the proposition MARY IS AT HOME. A deontic reading of the sentences indicates

permission in b., and obligation towards the proposition in c.

(506) a. Mary is at home.

b. Mary may be at home.

c. Mary must be at home.

This last section will briefly discuss how different mood marking elements in the grammar

of Engdewu are employed in constructions (morphological and periphrastic) to express

different types of modality that may correspond to other cross-linguistic TMA categories

than those investigated by Dahl (1985).

12.4.1 Irrealis

The irrealis prefix in Engdewu is found in both main clauses, as seen in (509)–(511) a., and

subordinate clauses, as seen in (507) and (508). Different types of subordinate clauses are

described in Chapter 1.


(507) Mno-tei-pwë, nöö-bâ-gâ nö-ve-(ö)-bâ-gâ

stay-?-RST go:IRR-PDIR-1AUG.S/A IRR-go?-APPL-PDIR:away-1AUG.S/A

depu nöta na=dabwe më matu.

depu fish CL.II=12AUG.POSS in house

‘You just stay, we will go, we will go and get food to eat with our fish in the house./Iu

stap, mifala go, mifala go tekem kaikai fo kaikaim wetem fis blong iumi long haus.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

(508) Mwati tü-vë-dabwe më nö-ö-taki-ö

tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-12AUG.S/A to NMLZ-DETR-grab?-

NMLZ wongu. Nö-mwa-dabwe wongu.


‘Tomorrow, we will go to take pandanus fruit. We will eat pandanus fruit./Tumoro,

iumi go fo tek aot frut blong pandanus. Iumi kaikai fruti blong pandanus.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

In languages expressing mood, most clauses are marked as either realis or irrealis. There are

two main systems expressing this contrast, namely indicative/subjunctive systems, and

realis/irrealis systems (Palmer 2001: 5). While, ‘[t]he subjunctive is found mainly in

subordinate clauses’ (Palmer 2001: 5), irrealis is found both in subordinate and main

clauses. As already indicated, the system in Engdewu is, thus, analysed to be of the

realis/irrealis type.

Palmer (2001) elaborates his definition of modality by defining it in opposition to tense and

aspect.

Modality differs from tense and aspect in that it does not refer directly to any characteristic of

the event, but simply to the status of the proposition. One possible approach to its analysis is to

make a binary distinction between ‘non-modal’ and ‘modal’ or ‘declarative’ and ‘non-declarative’,

and to associate this distinction with the notional contrast of ‘factual’ and ‘non-factual’, or ‘real’

and ‘unreal’ (Palmer 2001: 1).

The technical terms ‘realis’ and ‘irrealis’ are commonly used for this distinction (Palmer

2001). The distinction is directly reflected in the morphological marking of verbs in

Engdewu. This is illustrated in the examples in (509) and (510), both with main clauses that

are marked with the irrealis prefix (§11.3.3.3) and where a deontic modality of obligation is

expressed (i.e. ‘you must go here’ and ‘we must fool him’). which can be analysed as ‘non-

factual’ and ‘unreal’.


(509) …ma no-koki=pwë lade kä.

but IRR-walk=RST side PROX:SG

‘…but he must go on this side./…bat hem mas go long dis saet. (Story_041009_N01m)

(510) Mwati nö-tanibwö-ti-dabwe nö-vë-dabwe

tomorrow IRR-trick-TR-12AUG.S/A IRR-go-12AUG.S/A

nyö=ngö, nö-vë-dabwe nyö=ngö pwei.

CL.V=3AUG.POSS IRR-go-12AUG.S/A CL.V=3AUG.POSS leaf

‘Tomorrow we must fool him to walk with us (and get) our, to walk with us (and get)

our leaves./Tumoro iumi mas trikim hem fo iumi go tekem lif.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Notice that the latter example has a future time reference, which is also a type of ‘non-

factual’ and ‘unreal’ situation. Consider the examples in (511) a. and b. in this respect. The

example in a. shows that the irrealis marker is prefixed to the verb in a clause denoting a

future situation. This is contrasted with the clause in b. with perfective marking. The clause

denotes a past situation that can be characterised as ‘factual’ or ‘real’.

(511) a. Nö-yö leta.

IRR-write letter

‘He will write letters./Bae hem raetim leta.’

b. I-vö-yö leta.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

‘He wrote letters./Hemi raet leta.’ (M03m)

As was shown above, the irrealis marker prefixed to a verb base is not the only way to mark

future situations. According to Dahl (1985: 105), ‘…the most typical uses of FUT Future

involve actions that are planned by the agent of the sentence’. The utterance in (511) a. is

not expressed by the agent of the activity himself, but by his brother. This suggests a type of

future that involves prediction rather than intention. The imperfective construction in

§12.3.3 was found to be used with future intention. §10.2.2 mentioned that numerals

between ‘1’ and ‘9’ are marked with either the irrealis or the imperfective prefix for future

time reference, while only the former is employed in the description of hypothetical

situations.


(512) Wel(u)-tö-pmo-ba di në-öte a-ki

put-GDIR:in=DUPL-PDIR:away INDF:SG IRR-one CAUS-count

kââ në-lii.

DIST:SG IRR-two

‘Put one more in, making them count two./Putum go ap wanfala moa, mekem hem

tufala.’ (M10f_110415-001)

For now, a construction with an irrealis marker attached to the verb, IRR-V, is labelled the

‘irrealis construction’, knowing that it also marks future situations. The difference between

the irrealis and imperfective constructions as regards future situations, however, needs

more investigation.

12.4.2 Imperative

Recall that an unmarked verb, that is a verb base without any mood/aspect prefix, marks

imperative in Engdewu. The imperative is a command directed towards a second person

(Palmer 2001: 81). As already mentioned in Chapter 10, the imperative is expressed

through a verb without any of the preverbal mood/aspect prefixes (i.e. IRR, PFV, and IPFV).

The imperative is, thus, often expressed by a verbal root form, as seen in (513) and (514).

The latter shows that an imperative verb form can be marked with postverbal modifiers, for

example a directional.

(513) Vë!

go

‘Go!’

(514) Vë-m[u]!

go-PDIR>1

‘Come!’

12.4.3 Hortative

§11.3.18 described a postverbal hortative particle, to. A hortative is ,‘used in enjoining or

encouraging an action by a group that includes the speaker’ (Matthews 2007). In contrast to

the imperative, the hortative is either first or second person, or both, but never third person.

The hortative marker can be added to an uninflected verb, as seen in (515) a. or to a verb

complex marked with an irrealis prefix, as seen in b. and c. These examples indicate the

close relationship between imperatives, hortatives, and irrealis situations.


(515) a. Vä-m[u] to!

go-PDIR>1 HORT

‘Come now!’

b. Te-ya-pe=pme-da mö

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:out=COS-12MIN to

ne-yanga-i-ti-bee to tömöta kââ.’

IRR-dive-?-TR- PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A HORT hook DIST:SG

‘The two of us paddle out so that I can dive for the hook./Mitufala padol go aot

nao, mekem mi daevem fastaem huk ia.’

c. ‘Okei, nëë-dabwe to bwâ lâknu.’

okei go:IRR-12AUG.S/AUG HORT river water

‘Okay, let’s go along the river now.’/‘Okei, iumi go long river fastaem.’

(Story_280909_M05m)

12.4.4 A few words on other markings of modality

Modality can also be expressed through periphrastic constructions involving the verb ngi ‘be

like’, often as the first verb in a multi-verb construction. Notice that ngi ‘be like’ is marked

with an imperfective prefix in (516) and an irrealis prefix in (517). The difference between

the different markings is not understood. Speakers do, however, note that both ningi and

tingi are good in these constructions.

(516) Treina yângâ-ti-e ni, ma

trainer [PFV:N3AUG.S/A ]-take-TR-3MIN.A PRO-[1MIN.POSS] but

ti-ngi ni=m[u].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like PRO=2MIN.POSS

‘The trainer took me, but it should have been you./Treina tekem mi, bat hem sud be

iu.’ (M08m:56)

(517) Ni-ngi tu-ngö Pita tu-öte böpmi, ma

IRR-be-like IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat P. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-one banana but

i-ngö=pme i-klu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat=COS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many

‘Peter should eat one banana, but he eats many./Pita sud kaikaim wanfala banana,

bat hemi kaikaim staka.’ (M08m:57)

12.4.5 Evidentiality

As explained in §11.3.2, the singular continuous particle comes in two forms, dä and da,

which expresses a distinction in visibility of the ongoing action, where the former is


analysed as being visible to the speaker, and the latter as being invisible to the speaker.

While in need of more research, this can be analysed as an instance of grammaticalised

evidentiality in Engdewu, expressing a dichotomy in speaker perspective, namely the

distinction between the speaker’s visual first-hand personal experience and general

knowledge about the expressed assertion. That is, ‘…the source or reliability of the evidence

on which a statement is based’, to use the words of Matthews (2007), is stronger if the

speaker bases his statement on what he can see rather than on what he cannot see. This can

also explain why the continuous markers generally appear with present situations, as seen

in the discussion on the progressive construction (§12.3.5).

409

CHAPTER 13. SIMPLE CLAUSES

13.1 Introduction

A clause is defined as the smallest syntactic unit that can express a proposition. A clause that

can constitute a sentence136 on its own, is called a ‘main clause’. The clause consists of a

predicate plus any arguments: some are obligatory while others are optional. Obligatory

arguments are called ‘core arguments’. Dixon (2010b) takes core arguments to be of any of

the types ‘S’, intransitive subject; ‘A’, transitive subject; or ‘O’, transitive object. Optional

arguments are sometimes called ‘adjuncts’. Dixon (2010b: 101-02) notes, however, that the

notion of ‘adjunct’ should be avoided because that, ‘…suggests a definite division, which is

not upheld by detailed description of clause structures across a range of languages’, and he

simply uses the term ‘peripheral arguments’ for those arguments that are optional.

Peripheral arguments indicate things as diverse as space and time, instrument,

accompaniment, recipient, and beneficiary (Dixon 2010b: 126-28).137 The predicate is

commonly a verb, but can also be of another word class.

Morphologically, Engdewu has been demonstrated as being mainly accusative. That is, in

most cases, S and A are treated the same way: they are indicated by the same verbal subject

suffixes (§11.3.5) and partly through the mood/aspect prefixes (§11.3.3). S/A is

distinguished from O, which is treated differently, either by being morphologically

unmarked, or by a special object suffix if it is 3AUG (§11.3.6). Recall, however, that there is a

difference between the treatment of S and A in third person in that there are no subject

markers for S. All core argument types are, thus, treated differently when they are third

person.

Even though the language is mostly accusative in terms of morphology, there can be no talk

of an accusative pivot in terms of syntax in Engdewu. That is, for all clause types, any NP

argument can be left out, as will be seen here, and it seems that any argument in a transitive

136

A sentence consists of a main clause, plus, optionally, a number of subordinate clauses (Dixon 2010b: 75). It is often a prosodic unit, and for written languages is traditionally seen as ‘what comes between two full stops (or periods)’ (Dixon 2010b: 93). 137

Dixon (2010b: 127) also mentions ‘aversive’, ‘referring to something for fear of which the action described by the verb takes place or should take place’, exemplified by ‘(shelter in the cave) for fear of the thunderstorm’.

410 Chapter 13 Simple clauses

clause can be fronted and topicalised. Reference-tracking is performed by argument

indexing on the verb by person markers and mood/aspect prefixes, either in combination

with or in absence of argument NPs (the former in marked constituent structures, the latter

in basic clauses). Furthermore, as seen in §14.2, all core arguments are subject to

relativisation. Engdewu shares the lack of pivot with most ‘canonic’ Oceanic languages (Ross

2004c: 533).

As regards constituent structure, the unmarked pattern in Engdewu is ergative, i.e. it is SA

for intransitive clauses, and the unusual OVA for basic transitive clauses, as seen in §13.4.

But, as will be described in §13.5, there is another clause type with arguably two core

arguments: in the semitransitive construction, the constituent structure is (ST)A-V-(ST)O,138

and here it is (ST)A that patterns with S. Thus, there are two morphosyntactic alignment

types in Engdewu. This alignment resembles the actor voice and the undergoer voice of a

‘Philippine-type’ voice system (Ross 2002). Interestingly, the morphological marking in a

semitransitive clause is intransitive. That is, object is never marked on the verb, and third

person subjects are not marked by subject markers.

Pragmatically, clauses can express different modalities, meaning that different speech acts

are expressed through different clause types. These speech acts can be statements,

commands, or questions, and they are conveyed through the expression of, respectively,

indicative, imperative, and interrogative sentence types.

Indicative main clauses in Engdewu can be categorised depending on their internal

structure as verbless clauses, described in §13.2; intransitive clauses, described in §13.3;

transitive clauses, described in §13.4; and semitransitive clauses, described in §13.5; the

latter latter sharing features with both intransitive and transitive clauses. Further, §13.6

discusses two related types of passive-like or agent-defocusing clauses in Engdewu. Finally,

§13.7 will present imperative clauses, §13.8 interrogative clauses, and negative and

prohibitive clauses are the topic of §13.9.

Clauses that cannot constitute a sentence on their own, but are combined with a main clause

are usually categorised in relative clauses, complement clauses, and adverbial clauses. They

will be the topic in §14.3.

138

As will be clear below, the labels ‘STA’ and ‘STO’ respectively are used about the semitransitive agent-like and object-like arguments to distinguish them from A and O in a basic transitive clause.

13.2 Verbless clauses 411

13.2 Verbless clauses

There is no copula verb in Engdewu, and lexemes other than verbs can appear as predicates

in the clause. These are commonly called verbless clauses, where the subject, called

‘Verbless Clause Subject’ (VCS) by Dixon (2010a) and the predicate simply are juxtaposed.

While verbs are marked at least with a mood/aspect prefix, nonverbal predicates appear

without such inflection, which are reserved for the verb complex. A few exceptions to this

have already been pointed out. First, the continuous particle has distribution outside the

verb complex, and can appear in constructions with are regarded as nonverbal predicates.

Nouns, possessive classifiers, and adverbs frequently appear as predicates. In these

functions they can be preceded by a continuous particle. Second, the Aktionsart mesoclitics,

that is, the change-of-state marker and the duplicative marker also have a wide distribution

and are attested not only in the verb complex, but also in combination with the modifiers in

an NP. Note also that sometimes a noun occurs in what appears to be the nucleus of a verb

complex, as illustrated in (518), where kuli ‘dog’ is an intransitive predicate taking lepela

kââ ‘the man’ as its single argument. There are not many such examples, but in these cases

they are always minimally inflected with a mood/aspect prefix. The focus of this section is

clauses without a verb complex, and so clauses like the one in (518) are not further

investigated here.

(518) Lepela kââ i-kuli=pme.

human DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dog=COS

‘The man has become dog.’

Dixon (2010a: 159) lists five common relations between the predicate and the argument in

verbless clauses: identity, attribution, possession, benefaction, and location.139 In Engdewu,

equative (identity), possessive (possession), and locational verbless clauses are attested. As

already seen in §10.2.1, attribution is expressed through intransitive clauses with a stative

verb as the predicate.

13.2.1 Equative (Identity)

In an equative clause the predicate is an NP. The verbless clause subject is always

juxtaposed preceding this predicate. There is attested no inflection on the predicate in these

constructions.

139

Note that Dixon (2010a) analyses a verbless clause to consist of two core arguments, the Verbless Clause Subject, and the Verbless Clause Complement, while there is no predicate in the clause.


(519) Ö-pi-ö-bä opla kââ: ‘Toko,

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:? girl DIST:SG no

[[ni]VCS lepela].’


‘The girl said: “No, I am a human.”/Gele ia hem sey: “Nomoa, mi man.”’

(520) E Ee, [[ni]VCS oplë Nagu].

yes PRO-[1MIN.POSS] girl N.

‘Yes, I am a girl from Nagu (lit. Nagu girl)./Ies, mi gele long Nagu.’ (Story_120505_SM)

In the examples above the VCS argument has an independent pronoun as its head. The head

can also be a demonstrative determiner, as seen in (521).

(521) [[Öki]VCS nöta].

MED:PL fish

‘Those are fish./Olketa fis.’

Note that Dryer (2007a) distinguishes between two types of nominal predicates. In the first

the nominal predicate is referential and denotes the same referent as the subject. In the

second the nominal predicate is nonreferential. Only the former can be called a real

equational clause, as only in this clause is there identity between the predicate and the

subject. Dryer (2007a) refers to the second type as a ‘true nominal predicate clause’. The

examples in (519)–(521) are, thus, really true nominal predicate clauses.

13.2.2 Possessive (Possession)

Possession is sometimes encoded in a verbless clause. In such clauses an NP is the subject,

denoting the possessed object, while a possessive phrase is the predicate, both indicating

the possessive relation and the possessee. This is seen in (522), where the possessed object

denoted by the NP böpi kä ‘the banana’ functions as the VCS argument, and a possessive

phrase consisting of a classifier plus possessor marker functions as the predicate.

(522) Toko, [[böpi kä]VCS na=nu].

no banana PROX:SG CL.II=1MIN.POSS

‘No, the banana is mine./Nomoa, banana ia blong mi.’ (M10f:20)

Alternatively, a possessive classifier can alone constitute a clause as the predicate, without

any verbless clause subject.

13.2 Verbless clauses 413

(523) Na=nu!

CL.II=1MIN.POSS

‘It’s my food!/Kaikai blong mi!’

13.2.3 Locational (Location)

A demonstrative can function as a predicate in Engdewu, coding location, as illustrated in

(524). The construction is parallel to the equative clauses in (519) and (520), except that

here the predicate is a demonstrative that indicates location and not a noun that denotes

identity.

(524) [Ni]VCS kä.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] PROX:SG

‘I am here./Mi long hea.’

This utterance could be used as a funny answer to the general greeting nim[u] ka ‘hello (lit.

you there)’. In such a case it is possible to analyse nim[u] ka and ni kä as constructions

where the demonstrative modifies the pronoun head in NPs that are minor sentences. The

utterance can, however, also be the answer to the question ‘where are you?’, and in such a

case it seems more plausible to analyse it as a verbless clause with the meaning ‘I am here’.

Demonstrative pronouns (§9.3) can also function as a predicate in locational clauses. This is

exemplified by a medial singular variant eka in (525).

(525) Aki, myei, [[myei]VCS eka].

INTJ brother:1MIN.POSS brother:1MIN.POSS MED:SG

‘Ay, my brother, that’s my brother./Ai, brata blong mi, brata blong mi datwan ia.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Also, a place adverbial can function as a predicate in this clause type, as seen in (526).

(526) Ma [ni=dabwe]VCS don[u]]], toko.

but PRO=12AUG.POSS here no

‘But we are just here./Bat iumi long hea nomoa.’

Finally, consider the examples in (527) and (528).


(527) Ni, [[ga-i-mno]VCS dä me].

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] BN:place-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay CONT:SG:VIS PROX

‘I, the place I stay, it’s here./Mi, place we mi stap long hem, hem long hea.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(528) [Nelya nyo=gâ ma bwale ite

village CL.V=1AUG.POSS with woman mother:POSS:1MIN.POSS

amo bwale kââ]VCS dä me.

and woman DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS PROX

‘Our village, with my mother and the grandmother, is here./Ples blong mifala, mami

blong mi and grani blong mi, hem long hea.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

In these examples a demonstrative adverb is analysed as the predicate of the clause. Notice

that it is preceded by a continuous marker in both examples. As mentioned in Chapter 9,

demonstrative adverbs are frequently preceded by a continuous particle in this function. In

a verbal clause the continuous marker usually co-occurs with a imperfective prefix in the

progressive construction which is generally found with 3MIN or 3AUG S or A arguments. In

these nonverbal clauses there is no mood/aspect marker. The reading is still a reported

event that is relevant at the time of speaking. That this particle can occur in verbless clauses

that basically express states rather than dynamic events is indeed the reason for analysing it

as a continuous marker and not a progressive marker, as argued in §11.3.2.

Even prepositional phrases are found in what is analysed as predicate function in a verbless

clause. Consider the example in (529). Here, the PP më skul ‘at school’ is analysed as the

predicate. The predicate is preceded by a continuous marker, parallel to the construction in

(528) where a demonstrative adverb functions as predicate. There is, however, an

interesting peculiarity in the present example: the continuous particle is followed by what is

analysed as the bound adverb -bo ‘still, yet’, generally found in the verb complex (§11.3.11).

This may indicate that da acts as some kind of copula here. The example also suggests that

the distribution of the elements in the verb complex needs more investigation. Recall that

the continuous particle and the change-of-state and duplicative clitics have a wider

distribution than in the verb complex. It is not unlikely that this is the case for more of the

items that generally occur there.

(529) Ka i-löpi da-bo më skul.

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big CONT:SG:IVS-still at school

‘The big one is still at school./Mekwan hem long skul iet.’ (M10f:21)

13.3 Intransitive clauses 415

According to Dixon (2010a: 161), it is unlikely that a verbless clause codes location. Often, in

such circumstances, he notes, a verb like ‘sit’, ‘stand’, or ‘lie’ is used as a predicate to code

the relation. This can also be the case in Engdewu. In (530) the verb mno ‘stay’ occurs as the

predicate.140

(530) (Ma kä)… tü-mno-ti me,

but ? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-1MIN.S/A PROX

tü-a-minga-pe-i newö telo

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-dry-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A cloth CL.I

mö…

at

‘(But…?) I stay here, I dry my clothes at…/Mi stap long hea, mi draem aot kaleko

blong mi long…’ (Story_041009_N01m)

13.3 Intransitive clauses

A basic intransitive clause has an intransitive verb as predicate and it takes one core

argument in S-function. Different types of intransitive verbs were discussed in §10.2.

Morphologically, verbs in intransitive clauses do not take object marking, and the subject

marking follows an intransitive pattern: as described in Chapter 7 this is similar to that seen

in transitive clauses, except that 3MIN and 3AUG subjects are unmarked. In basic indicative

clauses the verb base is minimally marked with an obligatory mood/aspect prefix, and the S-

argument always precedes the verb. Recall that verbs take no subject marker when there is

a corresponding argument NP in the clause. Constituent order in basic intransitive clauses is

SV. That is, S-argument NPs are only attested before the verb, and when they occur, there

are no subject marking on the verb. This is illustrated in (531), (532) and (533). As seen in

(532), the S-argument NP can also consist of a free pronoun, and such NPs also precede the

verb in an intransitive clause.

140

mno ‘stay’ is frequently used to indicate the existence of a referent, and a few other examples are given here.

a. Lâ-mno, lâ-mno mëböö. PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay PFV:3AUG.S/A-stay heathen ‘They stayed, they were heathen./Olketa stap, olketa iden’ (Story_130909_M02m)

b. Meri i-mno-löpwi nege. M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-quiet today ‘Mary is quiet today./Meri hem kvaiet tude.’ (M08m:51)


(531) [[Kä-la-kiso kââ]S i-vötemölü],

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small DIST:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-wait

i-vötemölü, i-vötemölü, toko.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-wait PFV:3AUG.S/A-wait no

‘The child waited, waited, waited, (but) no./Pikinini ia weit, weit, weit, nomoa.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

(532) [Ä nëgee [ni=gâ]S tu-kâlâ=pme],

and then PRO=1AUG.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fright=COS

i-kââlâ=pme-gâ noobla.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fright=COS-1AUG.S/A tsunami

‘And then we became afraid, we feared the tsunami./Den mifala fraet nao, mifala

fraetim nao tsunami.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

(533) a. [Nëtna]S ta-piapu.

fish IPFV:3AUG.S/A-jump

‘The fishes jump./Olketa fis jamp.’ (M10f:35)

b. [Pita]S tü-ke.

P. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing

‘Peter sings./Pita singsing.’ (M10f:35)

c. [Beli]S tü-le.

basket IPFV:N3AUG.S/Ahang

‘The basket hangs./Basket hang.’ (M10f:38)

As will be shown in §13.4, the position of the core arguments in transitive clauses can be

altered. This is not so for these intransitive clauses. According to speakers’ judgements, S

arguments cannot appear postverbally; cf. (534).

(534) a. *Tapiapu nëtna.

b. *Tüke Pita.

c. *Tüle beli.

In general, core arguments need not be expressed overtly through an NP in Engdewu. That

is, S-argument NPs are not obligatory in the clause. If no S-argument NP is present in the

clause, this argument is indexed by a pronominal subject marker suffixed to the verb.

(535) a. Tü-tave.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sick-[3MIN.S]

‘S/he is sick./Hem sik.’ (M08m:5)


b. Tü-tave-gâ.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/Asick-1AUG.S/A

‘We are sick./Mifala sik.’

(536) a. I-tu-da.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand-12MIN.S/A

‘We two stand./Iumitufala stanap.’ (M08m:5)

b. Lâ-tu.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-stand

‘They stand./Olketa stanap.’

(537) a. i-bowi-i

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long-1MIN.S/A

‘I am tall./Mi tol.’ (M06m:20)

b. i-bowi-a


‘You are tall./Iu tol.’ (M06m:20)

c. i-bowi-da


‘We two are tall./Iumitufala tol.’ (M06m:20)

Subject markers were described in §7.4.1 and §11.3.5, where it was stated that intransitive

verbs take no third person subject suffixes. In examples like the one in (536) b. the

perfective prefix alone signals that the intransitive subject is third person augmented. When

this is said, there are a few examples of what seems to be intransitive clauses where the

verb is inflected with a 3AUG subject marker, as seen in (538).

(538) Nege te-ya-pe-ba-ngë ma-e.

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:out-PDIR:away-3AUG.A with-3MIN.A

‘Then they (two) paddled out./Then olketa paddle go nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Why there is a 3AUG subject marker here is unclear. Recall from Chapter 1 that ya ‘paddle’ is

an ambitransitive verb. A possible solution is, thus, to analyse this clause as transitive. From

the context, however, the meaning is that the actors paddle away, not that they paddle

something away. The example is an inclusory construction where the included agent is

expressed by mae ‘with third person’. From the material, however, there is no evidence that

such constructions require transitive morphology on the verb. In fact, many inclusory

constructions are intransitive. The problem, thus, is left unresolved.


In some cases the verb forms are morphologically identical in intransitive and transitive

clauses in many situations, like those seen in (539). Both constructions have the invariant

form -gâ to mark the 1AUG subject, and there is no object marker on the transitive verb in b.

as the object is 3MIN.

(539) a. i-tu-gâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stand-1AUG.S/A

‘We stand./Mifala stanap.’

b. i-ta-gâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit-1AUG.S/A

‘We hit him./Mifala hitim hem.’ (N09m:14)

Sometimes an S-argument NP is followed by a kä-form. This is analysed as a topic marker,

probably related to the proximal demonstrative determiner kä (§9.2). Simply put, topics are

defined by Lambrecht (1994) as those expressions that the sentence is about, and they

denote active referents (cf. §9.2). Such marking is common in elicitation of verb paradigms.

This seems like a natural consequence of the fact that the speaker construes each new form

in the elicitation about a prompted person/number. Topic marking is discussed further in

§13.4.

(540) [Nigâ kä]S tü-kâlâ=pme.

PRO-[1AUG.POSS] TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-fright=COS

‘We became afraid./Mifala nao fraet nao.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

(541) [Ni kä]S s-yâmwe.

PRO-[1AUG.POSS] TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-talk

‘I talk./Mi story.’

Intransitive clauses can optionally take any peripheral arguments. These are encoded by

prepositional phrases or adverbs. Instrument, source, goal, and locative (reason, purpose)

participants are encoded by a common prepositional phrase marked by the preposition

mö/më, as seen in (542).

(542) Luk i-ngumwa mö tömöta.

L. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fish with hook

‘Luke fished with hook./Luk hem fish long huk.’ (M08m:67)

Time and temporality can be encoded by adverbials or general prepositional phrases. They

can appear either before or after the verb.


(543) Pita tü-vë ëvë mö no-ngumwa mö satudei.

P. IPFV:N3AUG:S/A-go always to IRR-fish on Saturday

‘Peter goes fishing every Saturday./Pita go fisim evri satude.’ (N05m:19)

(544) (Q:B6:N02m) [I'll tell you what happens to me sometimes when I am walking in the

forest.] (191) I SEE a snake.

Mö du mweli i-va-n[u] pedoo

at some time PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1MIN.S/A bush

ä i-mo-lü kä numwa.

and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PROX:SG snake

‘Sometimes I walk in the bush, and I see a snake.’

(545) a. Nübu lepela eki le-ya-o

yesterday human MED:PL PFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:across

Bibö.

B.

‘Yesterday, all the people paddled across to Bibö./Yestade olketa pipol padol

akros long Bibö.’ (N02m:52)

b. I-va-mi mö ne nubü.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A by foot yesterday

‘I came by foot yesterday./Mi kam long leg yestade.’ (N03m:1)

Location is expressed through local nouns, general prepositional phrases, or location or

demonstrative adverbs. Local nouns are always positioned after the verb. Prepositional

phrases and adverbs are also usually placed after the verb.

(546) a. I-va-mi namwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A singles.house

‘I come from the singles’ house./Mi kam from singol haus.’ (N06m:19)

b. Te-ya-pe-i pwala.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-paddle-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A sea

‘I paddle out at sea./Mi padol go aot long sii.’ (M10f:4)

(547) Ni=ngö ta-tu mö lapöki.

PRO=3AUG.POSS IPFV:3AUG.S/A-stand in road

‘They stand in the road./Olketa stan long rod.’ (M01m:71)


(548) a. Le-ya-bë â-kotei gââ mö

PFV:3AUG.S/A-paddle-PDIR>2/3 CAUS-good DIST at

mwapwö-nö nubwa bla kââ.

territory-RL shark red DIST:SG

‘They paddle good there to the red shark’s territory./Olketa padol gudfala go

long teritori wea red sak ia stap.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

b. La-kape, i-do-ini-m[u] you.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-hook PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 at.bottom

‘They/one/people hooks it, it falls down on the ground (lit. at the

bottom)./Olketa hukim daon, den olketa folim daon long graon.’ (N04f_110602-

000_breadfruit)

Recipients, goals and benefactives are expressed by a dative phrase. The dative phrase co-

occurs with a person directional in the verb complex which expresses the direction of the

transaction, e.g. towards the speaker, or towards a second or third person; cf. (549). Coding

of recipients, goals, and benefactives is discussed further in §13.4.

(549) a. Pita ato-bë wenu le=m[u].

P. talk-PDIR>2/3 EMPH DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘Peter talked strongly to you./Pita tok strong long iu.’ (M08m_110420-000)

b. Tü-va-pe-bee le pwi.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3:1 DAT father:1MIN.POSS

‘I go to my father./Mi go long dadi blong mi.’ (M01m_110414-003)

As discussed in §8.4, a benefactive or recipient can also be encoded by a possessive phrase,

as seen in (550). The verb is still marked with a person directional; cf. (550).

(550) a. Pita i-ke-bë le Meri.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing-PDIR>2/3 DAT M.

‘Peter sang for Mary./Pita sing fo Meri.’ (M08m:67)

b. Pita i-ke-bë telâ Meri.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing-PDIR>2/3 CL.I M.

‘Peter sang for Mary./Pita sing fo Meri.’ (M08m:67)

There are also a few examples where the directional plus dative denote reason and are, thus,

not affected in any way by the event. This can be seen by comparing (551) a. to b.

13.4 Transitive clauses 421

(551) a. Nötü tü-vü.

body:1MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-happy

‘I am happy./Mi hapi.’ (M08m:66)

b. Nötü tü-vü-bë le=m[u].

body:1MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-happy-PDIR>2/3 DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I am happy about you./Mi hapi long iu.’

For a discussion about the analysis of these dative phrases, cf. §13.4 about transitive clauses.

13.4 Transitive clauses

A transitive clause has a transitive verb as predicate and it takes two core arguments in A-

and O-function respectively. Transitive verbs were discussed in §10.3, and valency

increasing affixes that derive transitive verb forms from intransitive roots were discussed in

§11.2. A transitive verb form can be morphologically marked by subject and object markers.

The set of subject markers is identical to those found with intransitives, with one exception:

there are subject markers also for third person subjects in transitive clauses. There is only

one object marking form, -ng[ü], which is used to index 3AUG O-arguments. In basic

indicative transitive clauses the verb is minimally marked with an obligatory mood/aspect

prefix, where the aspect prefixes makes a distinction between 3AUG and all other

persons/numbers of S or A.

Basic constituent structure in transitive clauses is OVA. By ‘basic’ is simply meant here the

morphologically least marked construction, without any intended implication as regards

pragmatics. In an OVA clause where both O and A are represented by NPs, neither subject

nor object is marked on the verb, as illustrated in (552).

(552) a. [Nöwe kââ]O i-viei-pe [Luk]A.

door DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out L.

‘Luke opened the door./Luk openim doa ia.’ (M08m:72)

b. [Di kä kuli]O i-nibi [Pita]A.

INDF:SG PROX:SG dog PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill P.


Clauses with inverted constituent order, where an NP-A-argument precedes the verb and an

NP-O-argument follows the verb, are also common in Engdewu. In such constructions the A-

argument is obligatorily indexed on the verb by a subject marker, as seen in (553). It has


already been argued that the subject markers are pronominal and not just cross-referencing

devices. This is clearly seen in the examples with an NP-S-argument in §13.3, and it is seen

in the basic transitive clauses in (552). In these clauses the actor is either denoted by a

person marker or by a core argument NP. In examples like the ones in (553), where there

are both person markers and argument NPs, an NP-A in preverbal position is analysed to

stand in apposition to the clause. That is because there already is subject marking on the

verb. Notice that O is not indexed on the verb in these examples because it is not 3AUG. Here

it is rather 3MIN.

(553) a. [Luk]A i-viei-pee [nöwe kââ]O.

L. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open:GDIR:out:3MIN.A door DIST:SG

‘Luke opened the door./Luk openim doa ia.’ (M08m:72)

b. [Pita]A i-nibi-e [kä kuli]O.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3MIN.A PROX:SG dog


A-argument NPs are less frequent in the material than both S- and A-arguments. If there is

no overt A-argument in the clause, the verb is also obligatorily marked with a subject suffix.

If there is an O-argument NP in the clause, as in the following examples, it can appear before

the verb, as seen in (554) and (555), or after the verb, as seen in (556) and (557).

(554) nëgää te-yo… te-yo-yë=pme-a, [nëgaa

then IPFV-pull IPFV-pull-GDIR:up=COS-2MIN.S/A then

[tömöta kââ]O

hook DIST:SG

i-tavyei-pe=pme-mi].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:out=COS-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A

‘Then you pull up, then I have taken out the hook./Den iu pulum ap nao, den huk ia

mi tekem aot nao.’ (Story_041009_N01m)


(555) [[Di kä=yo mda]O tü-mo-lü],




la-ngë?

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘I see some things which go all about here: are those things for eating?/Samfala

samting mi lukim, olketa go olabaot long hea, olketa samting ia olketa kaikaim?’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(556) [I-to-pe=pme [dyö kââ… dyolu

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:out=COS custom.knife D:SG custom.axe

kââ]O], i-lai-be le mwe

D:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR DAT husband

nölö=de.

CL.X=3MIN.POSS

‘She took out the custom knife…the custom axe and gave it to her husband./Hem

tekem kam dyö ia…dyolu ia, hemi givim go long hasban blong hem.’

(Story_100909_M05m)

(557) [I-mo-lü [ka lepela ka

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PROX:SG? human REL?

i-löpi]O nubü].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big yesterday

‘I saw a big man yesterday./Mi lukim wanfala bikfala man yestade.’ (M08m:69)

The examples above both contained O-NPs that denoted single third person referents. If

there is a plurality of third person referents, they are denoted by 3AUG O-arguments,

commonly indexed on the verb by an object marker. A few examples are given in (558). As

will be illustrated below, free personal pronouns are used for first and second person O-

arguments.


(558) a. [Lepela kââ]A dä tü-kânüble141-ng[ü]

human DIST:SG CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-follow:3MIN.A-3AUG.O

[lepela kou]O.

human DIST:PL

‘The man is following the men./Man ia hemi folom olketa man ia.’ (M01m:66)

b. [Kuli ka]A i-mwaki-e-ng[ü] [ni=ngö]O.

dog MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-bite-3MIN.A-3AUG.O PRO=3AUG.POSS

‘The dog bit them./Dog ia baetim olketa.’

While a 3AUG object marker is obligatorily present if there is no other material in the clause

that indexes it, or if an O-argument NP appears in other than what was described as its basic

position before the verb, it is attested even in clauses where the O-argument NP appears in

what was described to be its basic or unmarked position before the verb. This can be seen in

(559).

(559) a. [Pita amo Pol]O i-nibi-ng[ü] [kuli]A.

P. and P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3AUG.O dog

‘The dog killed Peter and Paul./Dog kilim Pita an Pol.’ (M08m:30)

(Original translation: ‘Peter and Paul was killed by (a) dog.’)

b. [Kuli kou]O i-nibi-ng[ü] [Pita]A.

dog DIST:PL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-3AUG.O P.

‘Peter killed the dogs./Pita kilim olketa dog ia.’ (M08m:30)

Thus, it seems that, unlike the subject markers, the 3AUG object marker can be present no

matter whether there is a corresponding argument NP in the clause or not, and no matter in

which position this argument occurs. This gives rise to interesting questions concerning the

formal status of the object marker compared to the subject markers. That is, when there is

no O-argument NP in the clause, an object marker must be present in the verb complex. In

such a situation it must be analysed as pronominal. When there is an O-argument NP in the

clause, however, there can also be a 3AUG object marker in the verb complex, and it is

tempting to analyse it as a cross-referencing device. These questions have to be reserved for

later research. When this is said, however, notice that a transitive clause seldom has two

core arguments NPs, but when it does, the object marker helps speakers to avoid confusion

of A-and O-arguments.

141

The basic form is kanüblü ‘follow’; cf. lâ-kânüblü-ngë PFV:3AUG.S/A-follow-3AUG.A ‘they followed it’. In this construction a 3MIN subject marker -e is added and merged with the last vowel of the verb root.


Admittedly, the problem is marginal as there only is one object marker in Engdewu. If there

is need for indexing an object that is first or second person, it has to be present as a free

pronoun, as will be seen below and exemplified in (568). In such cases it always follows the

verb. If there is a postverbal A-argument NP present, the O-argument NP always follows it,

as exemplified in a.

Two lexical core arguments can appear post-verbally. In such a situation, the A-NP always

precedes the O-NP. Notice that the head in the NP-A followed by a demonstrative

determiner. The phrase is thus definite. The head in the NP-O is preceded by a

demonstrative determiner, and this phrase is thus indefinite, specific. Hence, the NP-A

encodes an identifiable referent, the man, while the NP-O is used to introduces a new

(unidentifiable) referent (cf. Chapter 6). This is a common pattern seen in the material.

(560) (TMA_B_Q.B8-196:CM) [I'll tell you what I see in the window right now.] (196) (Right

now) the boy TAKE a ball and THROW it to the girl.

I-mwalee [noude kââ]A [kä bolo]O

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-throw man DIST:SG PROX:SG ball

‘The man threw a ball./Man ia torowim wanfala bol.’

As regards NPs and clause structure, a few tendencies are observed. First, the material

contains far more O (and S) NPs than A NPs. This is also reflected in the examples above,

where none of the NPs in those clauses that only have one lexical core NP, are in A-function.

Second, while O-NPs occur as indefinite, specific and definite, A-NPs tend to be definite. This

was also seen in the examples above, where all A-NPs have a person noun as head, or in

(561), a common noun marked by a following demonstrative determiner.

(561) Tü-taplö-ba [te=de ka]A, ...

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-PDIR:away friend=3MIN.POSS MED:SG

‘His friend kicks it, .../Fren blong hem kikim go, ...’ (SE_set1_M06m)

It seems like these two general observations, concerning both the frequency and form of

core NPs, can be connected and explained by discourse organisation. While O-NPs is used to

encode referents of any identification status, A-NPs usually encode identifiable referents,

and it seems that they are not preferred for the introduction of new referents. As argued by

Du Bois (1987), a cross-linguistic tendency is that new referents are introduced by O- or S-

arguments rather than A-arguments. Du Bois (1987) found that expressions that denote

non-identifiable referents are avoided in A-function. This also seems to be the case in


Engdewu, and this insight may explain why NP-Os are more common than NP-As.

Identifiable (or old) referents tend to be indicated by person marking on the verb, only,

which indeed is the most common way to indicate A in Engdewu. The introduction of

identifiable referents, on the other hand, usually demands a marking by an NP, usually in S

or O-function. This may also explain why A-arguments tend to be less specific than O

arguments in Engdewu: new referents, normally encoded by O (or S) are generally

unidentifiable.

When this is said, there are examples in the material with an A-NP that is not definite. An

indefinite, specific NP that consists of indefinite article + demonstrative determiner + head

is frequently seen in O- (or S-) function, but can also appear in A-function. In this case it

usually is precedes the verb, cf. (562). (As will be commented upon below, however, a

postverbal indefinite, specific NP is only found in O-function.)

(562) [Di kä oplë]A i-kütee

INDF:SG PROX:SG girl PFV:N3AUG.S/A-peel-TR:3MIN.A

[da-ka böpi]O…

BN:thing-MED:SG banana

‘A woman peeled a banana…/Wanfala woman hemi pilim wanfala banana…’

(N11m_110518-003_Cut_Break)

Notice that this example is taken from a Cut & Break elicitation session where the speaker is

told to explain what he just saw in a series of film clips where different persons act upon

different objects. Both agent and patient referents are new information. Since the speaker

chooses to introduce both in the same clause, neither A- nor O-NPs can be definite.

There is no difference in the form of a definite NP as regards its appearance before or after

the verb, or whether it is in A or O (or S) function. This can be seen from the examples

above: a definite NP with a common noun head and a demonstrative determiner in post-

head position, can appear both in preverbal and postverbal position, as seen in various

examples above.

Notice, however, that when the NP is specific, its form seems to be controlled by its position.

Semantically, the sentences in (552) b. and (553) b. mean the same (And the NP-A is

encoded in the same way by a person noun in both sentences). The NP-Os, however, are

different. In the basic transitive construction in (552) b., the O-argument head kuli ‘dog’ is

preceded by an indefinite article + demonstrative determiner di kä. In the inverted

transitive construction in (553) b., on the other hand, the head of the O-argument is


preceded by a demonstrative determiner kä, only, without an indefinite article. Even though

there are examples where an indefinite article appears in a postverbal core argument NP,

postverbal NPs generally come without any article, and in postverbal position, they do not

co-occur. This is illustrated in (563) and (564). The latter is one of the very few indefintie

NPs in A-function in the material.

(563) Ä dä tu-â-upwo-yë [di bolo]O

and CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-roll-GDIR:up INDF:SG ball

më di lada

at INDF:SG ladder

‘And he is rolling a ball at a ladder./An hemi rolem bolo long wanfala lada.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m_077B_rampman)

(564) Ä nogââ tö-taplö-nö-tö=pme-m[u] [di

and then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-APPL?-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1 INDF:SG

lepela]A ...

human

‘Then a man kicks it hither.../Den wanfala man hem kikim kam ...’ (SE_set1_M06m)

It was just noted that if the agent of the action expressed by the transitive clause is

identifiable, this agent is commonly indicated by a subject marker on the verb, only.

Sometimes, however, a free pronoun is used in combination with the subject marker to

index the A-argument. In such examples the free pronouns are used emphatically to denote

already active referents. Recall that §7.3 described such a function for the free pronouns. In

the second clause in (565) nide precedes the verb, which obligatorily is suffixed with a

subject marker. Here, it is clear that the free pronoun marks contrastive focus, where the set

of alternatives is that of the protagonist denoted by the free pronoun, and the wife, denoted

by the NP bwale kââ löde ‘his wife’ in the first clause. Without a free pronoun in the second

clause, there would be higher risk of confusing the referents, since both are third person

minimal, and the reading would be that the old woman baked food and baked the fish.


(565) Contrastive focus

[Nëgää [bwale kââ lö=de]S tü-vö-bi

then woman DIST:SG CL.XIII=3MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-bake

[da-ka-la-ngö]], [[ni=de]A

BN:thing-MED:SG-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat PRO=3MIN.POSS

tü-bi-e [poi kââ]O].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-bake-3MIN.A pig DIST:SG

‘Then his wife bakes food, she bakes the pig./Den woman blong hem ia, hemi bekim

kaikai, hemi bakim pikpik ia.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

Now, consider the example in (566). This example also does contain a preverbal free

pronoun that indexes A. In this example, it is followed by the form kä which was analysed as

a topic marker in §9.2. They mark what the sentence is about, while the following clause is

the focus of the sentence. Topics are always preverbal. Thus, when an A-argument is topic, it

is left-dislocated while the verb carries a subject marker. (Topic marking of arguments was

also discussed with intransitive clauses above. In these constructions the overt S-argument

stays in its basic position. Notice that the verb carries no person marker here.)

(566) [Ni=ngö kä]A tö??-kalu-tö-ngö

PRO=3AUG.POSS TOP IPFV:3AUG.S/A-roll-GDIR:in-3AUG.A

[ninö=ngö]O.

mat=3AUG.POSS

‘They roll their mats./Olketa rolim mat blong olketa.’ (N11m:18)

The topicalised argument need not be a free pronoun. In (567) it is a demonstrative

determiner, which obviously denotes a highly identifiable referent.

(567) [Nangi pipli kä]S i-löpi, ma [kä kä]S

finger/claw PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big but PROX:SG TOP

i-löpi-ëba.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big-CMP.positive

‘This finger is big, but this is bigger./Finga ia hem big, bat diswan ia hem biga.’

(M01m_110421-001)

The examples above showed free pronouns in A-function. There are also examples where an

O-argument is present as a free pronoun. In these examples it always appears after the verb,

as seen in (568) a. and b. The function of the free pronoun in these examples does not seem

to have a pragmatic function: rather, it seems to be purely semantic. Recall that while there


is a full set of subject suffixes for use with all persons/numbers, there is only one object

suffix. This form codes 3AUG objects. All other objects are morphologically unmarked on the

verb. If the object is not 3AUG, it must be encoded by a free pronoun. This is seen in this

example, where a free pronoun encodes a first person.

(568) a. [Poi kagö142 kââ]A i-mwakee [ni]O.

pig wild DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-bite:3MIN.A PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘The wild pig bit me./Wael pikpik ia baetim mi.’ (M08m:64)

b. I-mwake [poi kagö]A [ni]O.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-bite pig wild PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘The wild pig bit me./Wael pikpik ia baetim mi.’ (M08m:64)

Unfortunately, there has not been time to calculate the frequency of the appearance of the

different constituent orders of transitive clauses. It is, however, safe to say that transitive

clauses with two overt arguments most frequently appear in elicitation. Transitive clauses

with only one or no overt argument are far more common in narratives.

Peripheral arguments appear with a similar distribution as that seen with intransitive

clauses. Instrument, source, goal, and locative (reason, purpose) are encoded by a common

prepositional phrase marked by the preposition mö/më. Time and temporality is encoded

by adverbials or general prepositional phrases. Both can appear both preverbally and

postverbally. In (557) nubü ‘tomorrow’ appears postverbally. The examples in (569) a. and

b. show that a temporal expression, here mwati ‘tomorrow’, can appear both before and

after an A-function argument before the verb.

(569) a. Mwati [Meri]A tü-piaki-e [newo

tomorrow M. IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut-3MIN.A cloth

tü-lii]O.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-two

‘Tomorrow, Mary will cut two clothes./Tumoro, bae Meri katem tufala kaleko.’

(N04f:21)

142

This form looks like a typical attributive construction where a stative verb is preceded by a demonstrative determiner. However, *gö lacks an aspect prefix, and it is not attested outside the word form discussed here. A suggestion is, thus, that kagö is an adjective, and if so, the only one found in Engdewu.


b. [Meri]A mwati tü-piaki-e [newo

M. tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cut-3MIN.A cloth

tü-lii]O.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-two

‘Tomorrow, Mary will cut two clothes./Tumoro, bae Meri katem tufala kaleko.’

(N04f:21)

Location is expressed through local nouns, general prepositional phrases, or adverbs.

(570) a. Tâ-to-pe-ngë mö nelya mö matu.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:out-3AUG.A to village to house

‘They take it to the village, to the house./Olketa tekem go long village long haus.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

b. Mö tebol kââ taa-megle=pwë [opla

at table DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A:CAUS-break=RST girl

kââ]A [plet]O.

DIST:SG plate

‘At the table, the girl breaks (the) plate./Long (sem) tebol gele ia brek plet long

hem.’ (SE_set1_210909_M08m)

c. Gââ [da-kââ]O… la-pwei-ti-ni

DIST BN:thing-DIST:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-plant-TR-GDIR:down

le=de [nungo], ngö-dyö, ngö-nue,

DAT=3MIN.POSS tree BN:tree-aqua BN:tree-cut.nut

ngâ-noli, nga-laipwö, ngö-katü.

BN:tree-inkori BN:tree-ngali.nut BN:tree-betelnut

‘There they planted down trees, aqua tree, cutnut tree, golden apple tree,

ngalinut tree, betelnut tree./Olketa plantim daon tri, akva-tri, katnat-tri, inkori-

tri, ngalinat-tri, bitolnat-tree.’ (Story_200909_M11m)

Notice that there seems to be no restriction on how many free adverbs a clause can contain.

In (571), for example, three follow each other at the end of the clause.

(571) (Q.143:M03m) [Conversation takes place in the afternoon: Do you know my brother?]

(Yes,) I MEET him here this morning (don naknu= at another place different from

speaking)

Eu, i-mo-lü don[u] naknu mwatüti.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A here today morning

‘Yes, I saw him here this morning./Ies, mi lukim hem long hea tude mone.’


Recipient, goal, and benefactive participants were described for intransitives in §13.3 to be

encoded by a dative phrase and a person directional. The same thing is seen with transitive

clauses, as illustrated in (572). There are, thus, no ditransitive verbs in Engdewu, where the

maximum number of core arguments in a clause is two. The example in a. illustrates this

nicely, where the verb lai ‘give’, which in some languages like English would have or could

have coded all three participants through a core argument. Verbs that are commonly

thought of as expressing three-participant events have their third participant expressed in

the same manner as verbs in any clause, intransitive or transitive, where a third participant

is expressed.

(572) a. [George]A i-lai-bää [böpmi

George PFV:N3AUG.S/A-give-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A banana

la-tüü]O [le Jon]DAT.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-three DAT John

‘George gave three bananas to John./George givim trifala banana long Jon.’

(N05m:56)

b. I-pi-bee [kä bwe]O

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A PROX:SG story

[le=m[u]]DAT.

DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I told a story to you./Mi telim wanfala stori go long iu.’ (M08m:32)

Margetts (2007) describes several strategies employed in Oceanic for the encoding of a third

participant in transitive clauses. Two of these resemble how recipient, goal, and benefactive

referents are indicated in transitive and intransitive clauses in Engdewu. First, the presence

of a dative is an instance of the ‘oblique/adjunct strategy’, where a third participant is

expressed through an oblique marker, either a bound pronominal form or an NP denoting

the third participant. Second, the person directional that is attached to the verb and

indicates the direction of transaction in the expression of these three-participant events, can

be analysed as an instance of a ‘verbal modifier strategy’ (Margetts 2007: 96). In Engdewu,

the second strategy is obligatory, while the first is common but optional. That is, if the dative

phrase is dropped, the person directional still implies that the action denoted by the verb is

directed at either a first or a second/third person.

Because the person directionals are obligatorily co-occurring with the dative phrases that

denote the recipient, goal, and benefactive, the dative arguments, thus, seem more closely


tied to the core of the clause than other prepositional phrases and adverbs, and a question is

whether these datives really are extensions to the core, and, thus, valence-bound, rather

than just peripheral arguments. Dixon (2010b: 99) notes that some languages have

extended intransitive and transitive clauses (he abbreviates the additional core arguments

E, for ‘extension’). He implies, however, that languages usually have only a small group of

such extended intransitive and transitive clauses.

If these arguments were E arguments, that would imply that they are obligatory, just like the

other core arguments. The obligatoriness of the extra arguments in question is indeed hard

to judge, as they—and the person directional—can be omitted, leaving ordinary intransitive

and transitive clauses. The ‘extended intransitive’ and ‘extended transitive’ are probably

relevant concepts when it comes to describe verb valency, but it is difficult to provide clear

criteria to distinguish E arguments from non-obligatory arguments in languages in which

arguments can be omitted, like in Engdewu. At present it is not clear how this should be

done in Engdewu, and the problem is left for future research.

It was described in §8.4 how a dative phrase is sometimes found to be interchanged with a

possessive classifier, appearing in the same position as the dative marker. In addition to

merely identifying the third participant, the classifier also indicates the semantic relation

between the O-argument and the third participant. Similar constructions are found in

several Oceanic languages, according to Margetts (2007: 110), who describes it as an

‘adnominal possessive strategy’. She says that it has sprung out from a possessive

construction, and in many languages it is identical to or can be used possessively rather than

benefactively. She links the two constructions by pointing out that the third participant can

be analysed as a ‘possessor of the theme’: ‘Syntactically, the possessor is neither an

argument nor an adjunct but a dependent of the theme object’ (Margetts 2007: 110). This is

reflected in the constituent structure in Engdewu, where the dative directly follows the O-

argument that denotes the theme participant, as seen in (572) a. and b., and in (573).

(573) Lâ-kuve-ini-m[u] [newa kââ upwö]O

PFV:3AUG.S/A-cover-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 cloth DIST:SG white

[ële=de]DAT…

DAT=3MIN.POSS

‘They covered it with a white cloth…/Olketa kaverem wetem waet kaleko…’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m)

13.5 Semitransitive clauses 433

(574) Tü-aminga-pe=pme [newa telo=de] mö dano.

IPFV:N3A.S/A-dry-GDIR:out=COS cloth CL.I=3MIN.POSS at beach

‘She dries his clothes at the beach./Hemi draem go na kaleko blong hem long sanbis.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

13.5 Semitransitive clauses

A semitransitive clause has a semitransitive verb form as predicate. Semitransitive verbs

were described in Chapter 1 and Chapter 11 and are generally derived from transitive verbs

by a detransitivising prefix (v)ö- (§11.2.1). Semantically, two participants are indicated in

these constructions. And syntactically, a semitransitive clause can occur with both a subject

NP and what seems to be an object NP, encoding the same type of participants as transitive

A arguments and transitive O arguments respectively. Morphologically, however, a verb in a

semitransitive clause takes intransitive person marking. Sugita (1973) labels verbs in such

constructions ‘semitransitive verbs’, while Margetts (2008) refers to the phenomenon as

‘transitivity discord’. Even though the former is perhaps a more suiting description as it not

only indicates that the clauses in question have both transitive and intransitive features, but

also that these features can be ascribed to a syntactic and a morphological level respectively,

the term ‘semitransitive’ is used here because it is more easily adaptable to the mention of

verbs and clauses, in the same manner as ‘intransitive’ and ‘transitive’ verbs and clauses.

A few examples are given in (575)–(577). Recall that there are no3MIN and 3AUG subject

marking forms on verbs in intransitive clauses. This is seen in the two latter examples. In

these clauses there are no subject arguments, and the only thing that distinguishes a

minimal from an augmented reading is the mood/aspect marking on the verb. (Recall that

the 3MIN perfective marker i- is elided before a vowel initial verb base, and perfective

aspect + 3MIN person/number of S/A is only implied by the form in (577).) The

semitransitive subject need not be present in the clause as an argument NP, as seen in the

two latter examples, but when it is, it generally precedes the verb, just like an S-argument

NP in an intransitive clause. The semitransitive object always follows the verb directly. This

object is, in general, bare, and it generally denotes a generic referent, as illustrated by all

these examples.

(575) Pita da tü-vö-dü nowi.

P. CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-squeeze louse

‘Peter is squeezing louse./Pita skvisim laus na.’ (N06m:41)


(576) Ta-ö-nibi poi.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-kill pig

‘They kill pigs./Olketa kilim pikpik.’ (M01m:63)

(577) Ö-bi butöte.

DETR-bake sweet.potato

‘S/he baked sweet potato./Hemi bekim kumara.’ (N05m:31)

If the semitransitive subject is second or third person, however, and it is not encoded by an

NP, it is marked on the verb, as seen in the examples in (578).

(578) a. Tü-vö-ve-i tekato ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-weave-1MIN.S/A basket always

‘I always weave baskets./Mi wivim basket olowe.’ (N05m:1)

b. Tü-vö-ve-a tekato ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-weave-2MIN.S/A basket always

‘You always weave baskets./Iu wivim basket olowe.’ (N05m:1)

c. Tü-vö-ve-am[u] tekato ëvë

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-weave-2AUG.S/A basket always

‘I always weave baskets./Mi wivim basket olowe.’ (N05m:1)

These constructions are similar to antipassive constructions that are found in some

languages and that are used to background the patient. In a typical antipassive the patient is

not expressed by a syntactic function, or it is expressed by a peripheral argument. In a

semitransitive clause in Engdewu, however, there is an object argument present, and it is

not marked by an oblique preposition, neither the general nor the dative preposition. The

semitransitive object does, however, behave, like a typical O-argument NP, in a transitive

clause. §13.4 described how an O-argument NP in a transitive clause can appear both after

and before the verb. As stated above, a semitransitive object usually directly follows the

verb. Fronting of the semitransitive object is judged as ungrammatical by the speakers, as

seen in (579) and (580).

(579) *Poi taönibi.

(580) *Butöte öbi.

There is, however, an example found where a possessive classifier intervenes between the

verb and the semitransitive object.


(581) Meri o-dei-bë nanu da-la-ngö.

M. DETR-make-DIR:3>1 CL.II-[1MIN.POSS] BN:thing-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat

‘Mary made food for me./Meri mekem kaikai fo mi.’

The semitransitive object is morphologically restricted. It is, as exemplified, usually

consisting of a bare noun. This noun generally does not take any determiners or

demonstratives, but it is sometimes modified by a possessive phrase (cf. (583)). However,

there are exceptions to which we shall return below.

In general, semitransitive objects are generic. That is, they tend to indicate the whole class

of possible referents, and not a specific one. This is contrary to transitive constructions,

where the O-argument is often definite, and where focus is on this object. In semi-transitive

clauses focus is really on the action rather than on the object, and as will be noted below,

there is evidence that they originate in a historical actor focus construction hypothesised to

have carried over to POc from PMP (Næss 2013a). Semitransitive objects are, thus, more

tightly knit to the verb than the corresponding transitive objects, both syntactically and

semantically. In this respect it could even be argued that the semantic valency of

semitransitive verbs is reduced compared to the transitive verbs from which they are

derived because they usually occur with generic objects. This indicates that these objects are

closer to the incorporated nouns in noun incorporation, which is defined as, ‘…the

compounding of a noun stem and a verb (or adjective) to yield a complex form that serves as

the predicate of a clause…used to express habitual or generic activities or states’ (Gerdts

1998: 84–85).

An object-incorporation analysis suggests that the semitransitive clauses are syntactically

intransitive. An argument in favour of such an analysis is that the semitransitive subject

always seems to precede the verb, just as is the case for the intransitive subjects. This was

seen in (575) above.

If the objects really are incorporated, this would also suggest that they appear within the

verb complex, preferably in the verb base, because an incorporated object should contribute

to the lexical meaning of the verb. However, this does not seem to be the case. As seen in

(578), these objects appear after the person marking, which is attached far to the end among

the modifiers in the verb complex. No material from the verb complex is ever found to

attach outside a semitransitive object. In this respect, the constructions are closer to what is

sometimes known as ‘noun stripping’ or ‘composition by juxtaposition’, where, in difference

from noun incorporation, the verb and the noun ‘…remain as separate words but where


surface adjacency is required’ (Gerdts 1998: 93). This is, for instance described for the

Micronesian language Kosraean, where the ‘stripped’ noun appears in intransitive clauses

with intransitive morphological marking (Gerdts 1998: 94).

However, while it is usually included, the presence of a semitransitive object is not

mandatory if the object is easily retrievable from the context. It is, thus, not fully integrated

with the verb, nor is it stripped, or bare, in these instances. In (582) the protagonist has just

volunteered to dig a hole. There is no object NP in any of the semitransitive clauses here.

(582) [I-vö-kü], i-vë, i-vë,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-dig PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

i-vë i-vë,


[i-vö-kü-ini] ä nau=de

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-dig-GDIR:down and head=3MIN.POSS

yoko-ini-kapë.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish-GDIR:down-too:3MIN.A

‘He dug, went, went, went, went, he dug down and his head disappeared down,

too./Hem dig go dao, go, go, go, go, hed blong hem finis go daon tu.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Moreover, while a semitransitive object is usually bare, it is sometimes modified by a

possessor phrase, as seen in (583). This arguably specifies the object. Notice, however, that

in this example the possessive phrase can be taken to indicate a benefactive participant, as

described in §8.4.

(583) Ä te-yâlu=pme-m[u], le-yâlu-m[u], ä

and IPFV:3AUG.S/A-return=COS-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>1 and

nëgee ta-ö-tü=pme [nëtna nanu=ngö]STO.

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-burn=COS fish CL.II=3AUG.POSS

‘They come back, and then they burn their fish./Olketa kam baek, then olketa

burnem fish blong olketa.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

There is also one example found where the semitransitive object is followed by a

demonstrative determiner. This would not be possible if it were incorporated in the verb

complex, or if it was a stripped noun.


(584) Lepela i-ngöla-yë, nëgee

human PFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:up then

ta-ö-kape=pme toklu kou.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-hook=COS breadfruit DIST:PL

‘One climbs up, then they/one start hooking the breadfruit./Man klaem goap, den

olketa hukim kam olketa bredfrut ia.’ (N04f_110602-000)

Hence, it is fair to say that these constructions have similarities with both intransitive and

with transitive clauses. This concurs with the analysis in Margetts (2008) of similar

constructions in other Oceanic languages as combining lexically intransitive verbs with

syntactically independent object nouns, thus showing properties both of incorporation

constructions and of transitive clauses proper.

(585) Q: Meri ö-bi?

M. DETR-bake

‘Does Mary bake?/Meri bek?’

A: Ee, ö-bi.

yes DETR-bake

‘Yes, she bakes (food)./Ies hem bek (kaikai).’

(586) a. Pita, Pol ä Meri ni=ngö ta-ö-bi

P. P. and M. PRO=3AUG.POSS IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-bake

butöte.

sweet.potato

‘Peter, Paul and Mary are baking sweet potato./Pita, Pol an Meri olketa bekim

kumara.’ (N13m:18)

b. Pita, Pol ä Meri ni=ngö

P. P. and M. PRO=3AUG.POSS

ta-bi-ngö butöte kou.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-bake-3AUG.A sweet.potato DIST:PL

‘Peter, Paul and Mary are baking the sweet potatoes./Pita, Pol an Meri olketa

bekim olketa kumara ia.’ (N13m:18)

Consider also the example in (587).


(587) (B8.) [I'll tell you what I see in the window right now.] (197) The girl THROW it back.

Dä tu-otâki-ö=pmo-bë opla

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-throw-APPL=DUPL-PDIR>2/3 girl

kââ le noude kââ.

DIST:SG DAT man DIST:SG

‘The girl is throwing it back to the boy.’

A special case regards the verb pi ‘say’ and perhaps other verbs of saying and reporting. A

detransitiviser is frequently attached to pi ‘say’ when a direct citation follows. This is nicely

exemplified in (588). Notice also that this is yet another argument against incorporation

because a whole sentence, the one expressing the reported event, certainly cannot be

incorporated. Neither is it generic.

(588) Ö-pi-ö-tö-p[u] ele=nga:

DETR-say-APPL-GDIR:in-PDIR>1 DAT=3AUG.POSS

‘A-vyai-pe=pme-am[u] to nangilito nümü=mwe.’

CAUS-show-GDIR:out=COS-2AUG.S/A HORT small.finger hand=2AUG.POSS

‘She said (in) to them: “Show out your small fingers.”/Hemi sei (in) long olketa:

“Iufala sowim kam aot small finga blong iufala.:”’ (Story_280909_M05m)

Unlike other semitransitive clauses, the semitransitive subject is frequently seen after the

verb, before the citation.

(589) Ö-pi-ö-bë [opla kââ]STA: ‘Toko,

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR:2/3>3 woman DIST:SG no

ni lepela.’


‘He said to the woman: “No, I am a man.”/Hemi sei go long woman ia: “Nomoa, mi

man.’’’ (Story_041009_N01m)

There seems to be a difference between the encoding of direct and reported speech.

Consider the example in (590), where the verb does not carry a detransitive prefix: it carries

transitive subject marking (3AUG.S/A) and there is an O-argument NP. This clause is clearly

transitive.


(590) Ä di âbu la-pi=pmo-ngë [kä

and INDF:SG day PFV:3AUG.S/A-say=DUPL-3AUG.A PROX:SG

mda]O.

thing

‘And one day they said something again./An wanfala day (moa) olketa talem samting

moa.’ (Story_041009_N01m)

This morphosyntactic contrast seems to express a contrast in direct vs reported speech. In

reported speech, the constituent that expresses the reported event is more tightly bound to

the verb than in direct speech. This is not surprising. In a comparative study with a careful

selection of 40 languages from all language families, De Roeck (1994) finds that 15 of these

(37.5%) have intransitive or semitransitive verbs of saying, while 19 (47.5%) have ‘…only

transitive verbs of saying’ De Roeck (1994: 337).

In the typical semitransitive clauses, represented by the examples in (588) and (589), an

observation was that the semitransitive object is semantically more integrated with the verb

than in a corresponding transitive clause, and that focus is on the action rather than on the

undergoer of the action. In the case of direct speech, however, one can perhaps not say that

the constituent that encodes the speech event is integrated in the verb. But syntactically,

however, one can argue that it is less integrated with, or even detached from, the clause, and

this is the rationale for including them with verbs that are morphologically intransitive in

clauses that are less transitive than a canonic transitive clause (with a patient O-argument

that often is definite or at least specific).

When the reported event is not present at all in the sentence, but, rather, made implicit by

the clause, the transitive verb form is generally employed.

(591) I-pi=pme-bää ele te=de,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say=COM-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A DAT friend=3MIN.POSS

Dawea.

D.

‘He told it to his friend, Dawea./Hemi talem go nao, long fren blong hem, Dawea.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

Consider also the next example in (592), where the speaker corrects himself by

interchanging a semitransitive verb form with a transitive one. The sentence does not

contain any direct speech, and this is probably why the speaker makes the correction.


(592) Ö-pi-nö-bë bwale kââ le

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3 woman DIST:SG DAT

yei=de ma…, ehh, i-pi-nö-bää

father=3MIN.POSS but… eh PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A

le yei=de.

DAT father=3MIN.POSS

‘The woman said to her father, and eh…sorry, he told it to her father./Woman ia

hemi sei long dadi blong hem and, ehh (sorry), hem talem go long dadi blong hem.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(593) Ö-pi-ö-bë yei=de: ‘Ee

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3 father=3MIN.POSS yes,

i-kotei, ma i-kati nuwo

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good but PFV:N3AUG.S/A-like mind-[1MIN.POSS]

tömöta kââ kä nöyâlupmom[u],

hook DIST:SG TOP IRR-return=DUPL-PDIR>1

a to lopwaklö=pwa na.

and NEG1 worry.about=NEG2:2MIN.S/A rope

‘Her father said: “Yes, it’s okay, but I want the hook to come back, but no worries

about the line.”/Dadi blong hem sei: “Ies, hem okei, but mi wanem huk ia fo kam

baek, bat no wori long rop.”’ (Story_041009_N01m)

There are constructions similar to the semitransitives in Engdewu in both Natügu and

Äiwoo, and it is doubtful if any of them can be analysed as object incorporation. In Äiwoo,

too, Næss (2013a) describes the clauses to be characterised by a ‘transitivity discord’: the

verb form is intransitive, and the semitransitive object is generally (but need not be) generic

and can be modified. A typical example is given in (594). Note that there is no detransitive

prefix in Äiwoo and that the morphological relation between verbs in basic transitive (OVA)

and semitransitive (AVO) clauses follows several different patterns that involve both base

modification and affixation. This pattern often includes a base final /i/ in the basic transitive

verb, which Næss (2013a) analyses as a reflex of the POc transitive suffix *-i.

(594) Äiwoo (Næss 2013b)

Ki-li-e-tokoli-le ki-li-epaave-le

IPFV-3AUG.S-VPL-sit-UA IPFV-3AUG.S-cook-UA

de-na-i-le.

BN.thing-POSS:FOOD-3AUG-UA

‘They are sitting and cooking their food.’

13.6 Agent-backgrounding clauses 441

Næss (2013a) suggests, mainly through a discussion on Äiwoo, that the OVA and

(ST)AV(ST)O clauses in RSC originate from a ‘symmetrical voice’ system where the

argument in focus was preverbal, also implying that such a voice system was not lost in the

transition from PMP to POc. Thus, the (ST)AV(ST)O structure in semitransitives in Engdewu

possibly reflects an original actor voice construction, where focus is on the actor rather than

on the undergoer, while the OVA structure in basic transitive clauses reflects an original

undergoer voice where focus is on the undergoer. This also indicates that the detransitive

prefix has been involved in the marking of the actor voice. This, however, cannot be

confirmed for now, and further research is needed.

Finally, not all verbs in a semitransitive clause are characterised by a detransitivising prefix.

The intransitive verb mwa ‘eat’, for instance, is sometimes found in a semitransitive clause.

This is illustrated in (595) a. where nëtna ‘fish’ has a generic, non-specific reading. The

example in b. shows a corresponding transitive clause where the object is specified by

lamöp[u] ‘five’.

(595) a. I-mwa nëtna.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat fish

‘S/he ate fish./Hemi kaikai fis.’ (N09m:30)

b. I-ngö-de nëtna la-möp[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat-3MIN.A fish PFV:3AUG.S/A-five

‘S/he ate five fish./Hemi kaikaim faevfala fis.’ (N09m:30)

13.6 Agent-backgrounding clauses

Chapter 11 mentioned that 3AUG perfective or imperfective mood/aspect prefix alone, that

is without any subject suffix or S/A-argument NP is used in passive-like constructions and

constructions with a generic agent. Both are agent-backgrounding, but they express some

important differences. In the passive-like construction an intransitive clause is formed from

a transitive verb by adding a 3AUG aspect prefix to the verb base, giving a reading like ‘they

X-ed S’, or ‘S, they X-ed’, or ‘S is X-ed’. As noted in Chapter 10, this is the only way to form an

intransitive from transitive verb roots without an intransitive counterpart. Even though the

aspect prefix indicates a 3AUG agent, in these constructions it is rendered as non-referential.

Note also that the verb in this construction is never inflected with a subject suffix.

If the undergoer argument NP is present in this clause type, it must be placed verb initially

while any overt agent argument is prohibited. Formally then, the O-argument NP is


promoted and moved to a preverbal position, which is the unmarked position for

intransitive subjects, while any A-argument NP is prohibited. Examples are given in (596)

and (597) a. and b. Notice in the latter example that the form of the continuous marker,

whether it is singular or plural, is controlled by the number of the single NP argument. This

is as expected if this is an intransitive clause. Recall from §11.3.2 that the continuous marker

is described to index the number of S or A. Interestingly, however, the verb in b. is marked

with a 3AUG object suffix, which is a typical transitive feature. In other words, the argument

has features that are characteristic for subjects (it controls the form of the progressive

particle), and others that are characteristic for objects (it is marked by an object suffix on

the verb). This might indicate that the construction is about to be grammaticalised.

(596) Na la-pyei mö nöla nungo

stick PFV:N3AUG.S/A-lean at wall tree

‘The stick leaned against the wall (lit. The stick they leant against the wall)./Stik ia

linim long wol.’ (TR/DETR)

(597) a. Tongo viti kââ dä ta-nibi.

chief DIST:SG CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:3AUG.S/A.S/A-kill

‘The chief is being killed.’

b. Tongo viti kou ngö ta-nibi-ng[u].

chief DIST:PL CONT:PL IPFV:3AUG.S/A.S/A-kill-3AUG.O

‘The chiefs are being killed./Olketa kilim sif na.’

The construction is, thus, a borderline case between a passive and an (impersonal) active

construction. Recall that according to Siewierska (2011) a construction is usually classified

as passive if:

1. it contrasts with another construction, the active; and

2. the subject of the active corresponds to a non-obligatory oblique phrase or is not

expressed; and

3. the subject of the passive, if there is one, corresponds to the direct object of the

active; and

4. the construction is pragmatically restricted relative to the active; and

5. the construction displays some special morphological marking of the verb.

These are basically the same criteria as set up by Dixon (2010b: 166). The constructions in

(596) and (597) clearly meet the four first criteria: One, they contrast with active

constructions that allow for two overt core NP arguments and where subject marking is

possible. The contrast is illustrated in (598) a. and b. with the verb bi ‘bake’. While the


former has a single overt argument, butöte ‘potato’, preceding the verb which has no subject

marker attached to it, the latter has two overt arguments, Pita, Pol ä Meri ‘Peter, Paul and

Mary’ and butöte kou ‘the potatoes’ and a 3AUG subject marker -ngö.

(598) a. ‘Passive’

Butöte da ta-bi

sweet.potato CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-bake

‘The potatoes are baking.’

b. Active

Pita, Pol ä Meri, ni=ngö

P. P. and M. PRO=3AUG.POSS

ta-bi-ngö butöte kou.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A.S/A-3AUG.A sweet.potato DIST:PL

‘Pita, Paul and Mary, they are baking the potatoes./Pita, Pol an Meri, olketa

bakim kumara ia.’ (N13m:18)

Two, the subject of the active is not expressed. Three, the overt argument of the ‘passive’

construction corresponds to the object of the active. Four, no counts have been made, but

most appearances of a verb inflected with a third person augmented aspect prefix is situated

in an active clause, and furthermore, the ‘passive’ construction type is sometimes judged as

strange without a proper context. Whether these constructions meet the fifth criterion can

be discussed: they do not display any ‘special morphological marking’ in the sense that the

morphological marking is special to the passive construction, only. The morphemes

employed in these constructions are 3AUG aspect prefixes frequently used in active clauses,

and what is ‘special’ here is that they are used in what reminds of passive constructions.

Syntactically, they are passive, with any overt undergoer argument obligatorily placed in

preverbal position, the canonical position for S arguments in intransitive constructions. But

even though the aspect prefix denotes a non-referential agent, the verb has full transitive

morphology (the original active object can be marked on the verb as an object if it is 3AUG),

and, thus, resemble verbs in an active clause. It is, therefore, only partly true that the single

overt argument of the construction in question really is the subject. The constructions do

resemble what Dixon (2012) calls ‘non-canonical passive’ constructions where the verb is

marked by an affix ‘which often has further functions in the grammar’ (Dixon 2012: 225).

There is another similar construction in Engdewu where there is no overt expression of an

agent. In this construction a 3AUG aspect prefix can be used on its own to indicate a generic


or non-referential agent. The difference between the constructions is clearest with a

transitive verb root: while the patient participant in a passive-like clause was expressed as

an S-argument and the construction as such is intransitive, the construction in question,

however, is still transitive. That is, the O-argument is not promoted to S-function. In

difference from the passive-like construction, a 3AUG object suffix is not coreferential with

the 3AUG aspect prefix. The latter clearly indexes an A-argument that denotes a generic

agent, while the former, in combination with any O-argument NP, denotes a patient

participant.

(599) Ä du va-bë la-kë-ng[u] më tömötaa…

and PL go-PDIR? PFV:3AUG-hook-3AUG.O with hook

‘And sometimes they/one/people hook them (= eels) on a hook.’

(600) Lepela ö-tevië waku, nëgee ta-tü=pmee.

human DETR-make.fire fire then IPFV:3AUG-burn=COS:3MIN

‘Someone makes a fire, then they/one/people burn (the breadfruit).’

(601) Le-yapwei, la-vea-pe-m[u] butü=de.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut-GDIR:out-PDIR>1 soft.part=3MIN.POSS

‘They/one/people cut it, they/one/people cut out its soft part./Katim, aotim sof pat

blong hem.’

To sum up, while there is reason to analyse the patient participant as being expressed as O

in the generic agent construction, it must be analysed as being expressed as S in the passive-

like construction, syntactically speaking. Morphologically, however, the patient participant

in a passive-like construction is still also indicated by the object suffix, if 3AUG, which

normally indicates an O-argument. While the generic agent construction is an active

construction that expresses both (generic) agent and patient, the passive-like construction

is a borderline case between an active and a passive clause.

Both Äiwoo and Natügu have functionally similar constructions to both the passive-like and

the generic agent constructions just described for Engdewu, as exemplified in (602) and

(603) respectively. The markers that indicate the constructions are put in boldface. Similar

to Engdewu, Natügu employs the same marker in both constructions, while Äiwoo employs

two different markers. The crucial similarity between all these affixes is that they indicate a

3AUG agent participant.143 van den Berg and Boerger (2011) analyse both constructions in

143

Person marking in Natügu is basically suffixal. në- in Natügu is obligatorily combined with a 3AUG subject marker in a basic, active clause to indicate the subject. Notice the similarity to corresponding constructions in Engdewu, where the obligatory mood/aspect prefixes appear in a 3AUG form when the subject is 3AUG. Äiwoo has intransitive subject prefixes, but transitive subject and object suffixes. -i that


(602) a. and (603) a. as proper passive constructions. Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear),

however, show that they express the same distinction as that described for the passive-like

and generic agent constructions described above for Engdewu. The same distinction is also

seen in the morphologically diverse but corresponding constructions in Äiwoo in (602) b.

and (603) b, where the first indicate a ‘referential-defocused agent’ and the latter a ‘generic

agent’.

(602) a. Natügu (van den Berg and Boerger 2011: 236; Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to

appear)

Sâ tü-pi=pe=le kä në-pnë'.

PFV RL-say=AS=3MINI SUBR 3AUG-shoot

‘He said that he was shot.’

b. Äiwoo (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear)

Nuwa nyenaa i-goli-e-i ngä tebol.

fruit tree PFV-throw-up-3AUG.A on table

‘The seeds were thrown onto the table.’

(603) a. Natügu (van den Berg and Boerger 2011: 235; Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to

appear)

Këdu=ngü nüni në-äpe-tö më stoa.

ART=PL mat 3AUG-buy-DIR PRP store

‘Some mats one buys at the store.’

b. Äiwoo (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear)

(Lâ ingokäilâ, mo Setan iwomaa luwakänä iluwabeilâkä ngâgoi,)

(‘As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away.’)

Ilâ nââ God li-ivi-kä

DEIC:DIST voice God 3AUG.S-sow-DIR:3

ngâ nuwosä-i=lâ.

LOC stomach.3MIN-3AUG=DEIC:DIST

‘God’s word which has been sown (lit. which they have sown) in them (lit. in

their stomachs)’.

marks the passive-like construction is identical to the marker of transitive 3AUG subjects, and li- that marks the generic agent construction is identical to the marker of intransitive 3AUG subjects (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa to appear). ‘Subject’ and ‘object’ still refer to, respectively, an S or A-argument and an O-argument.


For more on agent-backgrounding constructions in RSC and the history of their forms, the

reader is referred to (Næss, Boerger, and Vaa (to appear)).

13.7 Imperative sentences

As described in Chapter 11 the imperative is expressed by an unmarked verb base. That is,

no mood/aspect prefix is present on the verb. Imperative clauses often do not contain

anything other than this simple verb form. Note that there is no person marking on the verb

either.

(604) Vë!

go

‘Go!/Go!’

The difference between an indicative and an imperative clause is illustrated in (605) a. and

b., where the former is indicative and the latter is imperative. Notice that if the imperative

clause contains a transitive verb, any O-argument usually appears postverbally, as seen in

b.144

(605) a. Pita, i-nibi-a kuli kââ.

P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kill-2MIN.S/A dog DIST:SG

‘Peter, you killed that dog./Pita, iu kilim dae dog ia.’ (M08m:31)

b. Pita, nibi kuli ka!

P. kill dog MED:SG

’Peter, kill that dog!/Pita, kilim dae dog ia!’ (M08m:31)

13.8 Interrogative clauses

This subsection will briefly describe interrogative clauses, both clauses performing content

questions and polar questions. In both clause types the verb is (minimally) marked with a

mood/aspect prefix: the verbal form is, thus, identical to verbs in indicative clauses.

13.8.1 Content questions

Content question clauses contain at least a verb and a question form, either an interrogative

pronoun or an interrogative adverb. Question words in Engdewu are repeated in Table 13.1.

A thorough study of these forms and their syntax has not been in focus in this dissertation,

144

The difference in demonstrative forms in the O-argument NPs in these examples merely indicates the dog’s distance from the speaker and is not important here.

13.8 Interrogative clauses 447

and interrogatives will merely be presented as only with some comments on their

behaviour.

Table 13.1: : Interrogative pronouns and adverbs in Engdewu

Question word Meaning Word class

ye/ya/yâ ‘who’ pronoun

bwe ‘why, what’ pronoun

duwe ‘what’ pronoun

yöpö ‘where’ adverb

müdë/mdë ‘when’ adverb

Interrogative pronouns can appear both at the start and at the end of the clause, as seen

with ya/ye ‘who’. Notice that what seems to be a demonstrative determiner follows the

interrogative pronoun in a., which justifies its analysis as pronominal. The demonstrative

may alternatively be analysed as a topic marker. Recall that the form kä, identical to the

proximal singular demonstrative determiner, is found to mark topics in Engdewu. Why

there is a transitivising suffix attached to the verb in b. but not in a. is not understood.

(606) a. Ya ka i-yâ matu kä?

who MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build house PROX:SG

‘Who built this house?/Hu na bildim disfala haus?’

b. Matu kä i-yâ-tni ye?

house PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build-TR who

‘Who built this house?/Hu na bildim disfala haus?’ (M03m_110411-000)

Prosodically, content questions have a special intonation pattern with a slight to dramatic

rise in intonation. This can be seen from the examples in (606) a. and b. and in Fig. 13.1 and

Fig. 13.2 respectively. In the former the interrogative NP ya ka ‘who’ precedes the verb and

the O-argument appears after it, while in b. the O-argument precedes the verb and the

question word follows it. Notice that while the overall intonation rises in these examples,

there is a high pitch on the O-argument, too. A suggestion is that high pitch on the O-

argument marks it with contrastive focus; ‘this house (in contrast to that house), who built

it?’. Compare the pitch curves for the questions with the answer Myei kä iyâ matu ka ‘My

brother built this house’ in Fig. 13.3, where the pitch contour is not rising. Notice the high

pitch on the A-argument myei kä ‘my brother’, which is the information sought for in the

question. This can be seen as a contrastive stress, i.e. ‘My brother (and nobody else) built

this house.’


Fig. 13.1: Pitch contour for the content question clause Yaka iyâ matu kä? ‘Who built this house’

Fig. 13.2: Pitch contour for the content question clause Matu kä iyâtni ye? ‘Who built this house’

Fig. 13.3: Pitch contour for the declarative clause Myei kä iyâ matu ka ‘My brother built this house’

Another example shows the interrogative pronoun bwe in clause-initial position. Also, this

form hosts a demonstrative determiner, which indicates that bwe is nominal.

13.8 Interrogative clauses 449

(607) Bwe kââ i-dei Pita mö nöpö dalaknü

what DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-make P. in season? yam

kââ s-yoko-pe=pme?

DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-finish-GDIR:out=COS

‘What did Peter do last year (lit. in the yam season that is finished)?/Wat na Pita

duim last yea?’ (N05m:20)

Unlike the interrogative pronouns, yöpö ‘where’ is most often found postverbally. It, thus,

remains in situ, i.e. it reflects the placement of a corresponding locative, like a propositional

phrase or a local noun.

(608) Tü-vë-na yöpö?

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-2MIN.S/A where

‘Where are you going?/Iu go long wea?’ (M10f:31)

That yöpö remains in situ is shown in (609) a. and b.

(609) a. I-mo-la yöpö?

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-2MIN.S/A where

‘Where did you find (lit. see) it?/Wea na iu faendem hem?’

b. I-mo-lü mö dano.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A at beach

‘I saw it at the beach./Mi lukim long sanbis.’ (N03m:14)

These questions also have a rising intonation pattern, as seen in Fig. 13.4 for the question in

(608).


Fig. 13.4: Pitch contour for the content question Tüvëna yöpö? 'Where are you going?'

müdë/mdë ‘when’ is only found in elicitation, and there are no examples where it appears in

a clause. Questions about time are often constructed with the general noun mweli ‘time’.

(610) Mweli ka-pë ka tü-vë-ne-na Bibö?

time MED:SG-? MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-?-2MIN.S/A B.

‘When are you going to Bibö?/Wat taem na bae iu go long Bibö?’ (N05m:44)

13.8.2 Polar questions

Polar questions are questions where the speaker probes for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. There is

no special verbal marking of such clauses in Engdewu. The same marking is employed as in

indicative clauses, that is, the verb is minimally marked with a mood/aspect prefix. If the

verb in the clause is transitive, an overt O-argument normally appears postverbally.

(611) Q: I-kutai-pe=pme-a nungu=m[u]?

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wash-GDIR:out=COS-2MIN.S/A teeth=2MIN.POSS

‘Have you brushed your teeth?/Iu klinim titi blong iu?’ (N03m:3)

A: Tonapo, nungu dä

no teeth-[1MIN.POSS] CONT:SG:VIS

tü-blu-bo.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-black-CONT

‘No, my teeth are still dirty (lit. black)./Nomoa, titi blong mi stil blak.’ (N03m:3)

Prosodically, the polar question has a special pattern, with a clear rise in intonation. This

distinguishes it from a normal indicative clause, which has a much flatter curve. The pitch

curves for the question and answer in (611) are given in Fig. 13.5 to illustrate this.

13.9 Negative and prohibitive clauses 451

Fig. 13.5. Above: Pitch contour for the polar question clause Ikutaipepmea nungum[u]? ‘Have you brushed your teeth?’ Below: Pitch contour for the indicative answer clause Tonapo, nungu dä tüblubo ‘No, my teeth are still dirty (lit. black)’.

A verbless clause can also be a question, as seen in (612).

(612) Meri ä Jon ngö mö skul?

M. and J. CONT:PL at school

‘Are Mary and John at school?/Meri an Jon olketa long skul?’ (N06m:19)

Polar questions are also found to be formed with the verb yele ‘be like’, which can take a

complement clause as object.

(613) Yele tü-ngungu-a?

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be-like IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crazy-2MIN.S/A

‘Are you crazy? (lit. ‘Is it like you’re crazy?’)/Iu olsem krange?’ (N06m:49)


13.9 Negative and prohibitive clauses

Negation can be expressed by bipartite negative marking preceding and following the

predicate, or by several morphemes that express negation or prohibition.145

13.9.1 With bipartite negative marking

A verbal clause is negated by the negative particle to/te preceding the verb, and an enclitic

marked for person =pwö attached at the end of the verb complex. This is illustrated in (614).

(614) Te i-bowi=pwö-da.

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long=NEG2-12MIN.S/A

‘We (12MIN) are not tall./Iumitufala no tol.’ (M08m:4)

Any arguments to the verb always appear outside the bipartite negative marking.

(615) La-mwa-pwë mwa nungo, to la-pwe=pwë

PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat-just fruit tree NEG1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-plant=NEG2

nanu=ngö mda.

CL.II=3AUG.POSS something

‘They just live on fruits, they don’t plant any food./Olketa jas liv long frut, olketa no

plantim kaikai lo olketa.’ (JoM_110530-002_birds)

A verbless clause can also be marked by this negation type. This is illustrated in (616),

where the noun lepela ‘human’ is the predicate, and in (617), where the pronoun ni is the

predicate. This is, thus, a reason for analysing =pwö as an enclitic.

(616) …toko, to lepela=pwö kââ

no NEG1 man=NEG2 DIST:SG

‘…no, he’s not human./…nomoa, hem no man nao ia.’ (Story_031009_N01m)

(617) Te ni=pwee

NEG1 PRO-[1MIN.POSS]=NEG2:1MIN.S/A?

‘It’s not me./No mi.’ (N09m:62)

13.9.2 With negative marker tobi

Another way of expressing negation is by a morpheme tobi, which seems related to the

NEG1 particle form to. It always appears first in the clause. tobi is often found to appear

145

Note that there are also a few negative interjections in Engdewu, both related to the ‘to’ form of the preverbal particle in the bipartite negative marking of predicates: toko ‘no’, tonapo ‘not yet’.

13.9 Negative and prohibitive clauses 453

preceding a noun. A suggestion is that it is a negative predicate meaning something like

‘there is no’.

(618) Tobi bwe ka i-pi-bä le=m[u].

NEG story MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-PDIR DAT=2MIN.POSS

‘I don’t tell a story to you./Mi no telim eni stori go long iu.’ (M08m:32)

(619) Tobi ipmu.

NEG rain

‘No rain./Nomoa rein.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

13.9.3 Prohibitive bou

Prohibition is expressed by the morpheme bou, which is found clause-initially. It precedes

the verb complex, and the verb is marked with an irrealis prefix.

(620) Bou në-köle-ë, tü-vö-yö-ü leta.

PROH NMLZ-disturb-NMLZ IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-1MIN.S/A letter

‘Don’t disturb, I write letters./No distabim, mi raetim leta.’ (M03m_110411-

000_TMA_A)

There are few examples of prohibitive clauses with overt arguments in the material.

However, if an O-argument precedes the verb, bou follows that argument, and still directly

precedes the verb. Thus, it looks like it has the same distribution as the negative particle in

the bipartite negative marking.

(621) Kuli nei=m[u] bou na-a-mwa-nö-ng[ü].

dog CL.IV=2MIN.POSS PROH NMLZ-CAUS-eat-NMLZ-3AUG.O

‘Don’t feed your dogs./Iu no fidim olketa dog blong iu.’ (N05m_110531-001_wildpig)

455

CHAPTER 14. COMPLEX CLAUSES

14.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses complex clauses in Engdewu. A complex clause is defined here in line

with Matthews (2007) as a clause where any of the constituents itself is a clause, i.e. the

chapter is, thus, really about subordinate clauses. While some of these subordinate

constructions are morphologically marked, others are, rather, juxtaposed to the main clause

without any further formal marking. Therefore, it is important to stress that—rather than in

pure morphosyntactic terms—subordination is thought of in a functional way, in line with

Cristofaro (2003) who defines it as:

…a particular way to construe the cognitive relation between two events, such that one of them

(which will be called the dependent event) lacks an autonomous profile, and is construed in the

perspective of the other event (which will be called the main event) (Cristofaro 2003: 2).

Three such main types of subordinate clauses are described here. First, §14.2 is about

relative clauses; second, §14.3 is about complement clauses; and finally, §14.4 is about

adverbial clauses.

14.2 Relative clauses

In Matthews’ (2007) general description a relative clause is defined as, ‘ a clause which

modifies the head of a noun phrase and typically includes a pronoun or other element

whose reference is linked to it’. The relative construction in Engdewu consists of a nominal

head and the relative clause itself, which delimits the reference of the head noun and always

follows the noun. There are two types of relative clauses in Engdewu. Both relative clause

types are external, that is, the noun they restrict is outside the relative clause. Both always

follow the noun. Both relative clauses are unreduced, that is, they appear minimally with a

mood/aspect prefixed to the verb, just like in a main clause, and they can, as will be

illustrated, also contain argument NPs. The difference between the two relative clause types

is that the first type is marked by a relativiser while the other is unmarked.

(622) is an example of the first type, where the relative clause is formally marked by the

relativiser kä which is directly followed by a verb with an obligatory mood/aspect prefix.

456 Chapter 14 Complex clauses

(622) I-kânüblüü [lepela [kä lâ-klu]REL]O nege.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-follow:1MIN.S/A human REL PFV:3AUG.S/A-many now

‘I followed many people today./Mi follom staka man tude.’ (M01m_110428-000)

The second type lacks an initial relativiser, but is otherwise identical to the first type, as

seen in (623). This may look like a garden-path construction where the verb ngoa ‘ride’ was

taken to be in the main clause. Recall, however, that in sentences that describe two event-

situations where one event takes place as another one is going on, imperfective marking is

used with the verb that denotes the backgrounding event, even if the verb that denotes the

foregrounded event is marked with a perfective prefix (§12.3.2). In this example, the

relative clause, which denotes a habitual action performed by the girl, can be seen as a

background to the event denoted by the main clause verb yâlu ‘return’, the return of the girl.

(623) [Opla kââ [tu-ngoa naknü më basikol]REL]S

girl DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-ride today on bicycle

i-yâlu=pme-m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-return=COS-PDIR>1

‘The girl who rides the bicycle today has come back./Gele wea hem raed long basikol

tude ia, hem kam baek na.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m: 120M_bikefold)

In §9.2.1 the form of the relativiser was discussed, and it was described that an RC with a

relativiser kä is primarily used in the introduction of new, and, thus, unidentifiable

referents, while an RC without a relativiser is used with already active, identifiable

referents. This is seen in (622) and (623), respectively, where the head noun in the former is

indefinite while the head noun is marked as definite by the demonstrative determiner form

kââ in the latter. Notice that, according to Matthews (2007), the former RC is more typical

than the latter as it contains an element, kä, which points to the head of the NP that it

modifies. Recall that the form of the relative marker kä in the first type is identical to the

proximal singular demonstrative determiner. Demonstrative forms are common markers of

relative clauses in Oceanic languages (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 80). Indeed,

demonstratives are common sources for relative markers cross-linguistically (Heine and

Kuteva 2002: 113–15). The second type of relative clause, without any marking, is also

common in Oceanic (Lynch, Ross, and Crowley 2002: 80). Andrews (2007: 206) definition of

an RC as, ‘…a subordinate clause which delimits the reference of an NP by specifying the role

of the referent of that NP in the situation described by the RC’, covers both constructions

and is a better generalisation for a relative clause definition.

14.2 Relative clauses 457

Demonstrative determiners after the NP head marks it as definite, as described in §6.4.3.

This yields some cases where there are no clear structural indications of whether it is the

noun that is determined by a proximal singular demonstrative, or whether it is the relative

clause that is introduced by a relativiser. In some cases it is impossible without context to

see whether kä should be analysed as a demonstrative or a relativiser, and a structure with

kä can, thus, be ambiguous. Recall that it is clear that the relativiser and the demonstrative

determiner have to be analysed as two different kä forms. Consider the example in (624)

where two relative clauses appear after each other, both modifying the same head noun âbu

‘day’. Notice that both relative clauses are marked with kä. This indicates that kä is a part of

the relative clause as it is impossible to analyse both as following the head noun.

(624) Mö ne-yagalö [mö âbu [kä i-löpi]REL [kä

To IRR-prepare for day REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big REL

i-va-tö-p[u] mö nelya]REL …

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:in-PDIR>1 to village

‘To prepare for a big day that come to the village,…/Fo pripea long bikfala dei wea

hemi kam insaet long ples,…’(Story_160909_N05m)

Relative clauses are frequently used in attributive modification. Recall that there are no

adjectives in Engdewu and that stative verbs frequently occur in a relative clause to modify

an NP head. This is seen with kä lâklu ‘that are many’ in (622), and kä ilöpi ‘that is big’ in

(624).

All types of arguments in a main clause can be modified by a relative clause. This was

illustrated for an O-argument in (622) and an S-argument in (623), and in (624) the head in

a peripheral argument is modified. The examples in (625)–(627) gives more instances of A,

O, and peripheral arguments respectively. Note that these all have common noun heads,

while there are no examples found where a free pronoun heads a relative clause.

(625) [Opla kââ [tu-woda]REL]A i-wölu-e

girl DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-destroy PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-3MIN.A

[kä plet]O.

PROX:SG plate

‘The girl who destroys puts (down) a plate./Gele wea hemi distroi ia, hemi putum

wanfala plet.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m: 150P_hammerthrowaim)


(626) I-vë-m[u], nogââ i-mo-le

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 then PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-3MIN.A

[mwe-la-köle kââ [naknü di kä

BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-big DIST:SG today INDF:SG PROX:SG

mda s-âuti-nö-de]REL]O.

thing IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-find-APPL-3MIN.A

‘He came, then he saw the old man that found something today./Hem kam den hem

lukim bikman tude ia wea faendem wanfala samting.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m:

008ET_talknormal)

(627) Peripheral argument

Noude kââ, eh… mwe-la-köle kââ

man DIST:SG eh BN:male-PFV:3AUG.S/A-big DIST:SG

ti-pi-be naknü tü-vepla-tö-pö [le opla kââ

IPFV-say-PDIR today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit-GDIR:in-? DAT girl DIST:SG

[tu-kuki]REL]DAT, dä tü-vepla-tö-bo-pwa.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cook CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit-GDIR:in-CONT-just

‘The man, eh, the old man I told about today, he sits with the girl that cooks, she is

still sitting there./Man ia, eh, ol man ia mi talem tude hemi sidaon go long woman ia

wea kuki, hem sidaon go long hem iet.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

From these examples it is also clear that all core arguments are subject to relativisation:146

in (622) lepela ‘human’; in (623) and (625) opla kââ ‘the girl’; and in (624) âbu ‘day’ are S

arguments of their respective relative clauses. In (626) mwelakölë kââ ‘the old man’ is the A-

argument of the relative clause, and in (627) noude kââ is the O-argument of the relative

clause.

14.3 Complement clauses

A complement clause is defined by Matthews (2007) as a clause that is, ‘…within the valency

of a verb or other lexical unit’. This chapter will describe those clauses that fill an argument

slot in another clause. There are four different complementation strategies found in

Engdewu. In the first, the complement clause, which has the structure of a main clause, is

simply juxtaposed to the main clause. This type is described in §14.3.1. In the second, a verb

ngwe ‘be like’ is present in the complement clause, which is similar to the first type. This

type is described in §14.3.2. In the third type, a complementiser nge is preposed to the

146

This has not been checked for peripheral arguments.

14.3 Complement clauses 459

complement clause, as described in §14.3.3. The fourth strategy involves nominalisation of

the complement in the form of an action nominal construction (ANC), as described in

§14.3.4.

14.3.1 Juxtaposition of unmarked sentence-like complement

In the simplest type of complementation, two clauses are simply juxtaposed to one another

without any further marking of the relationship between the clauses. Examples of this are

given in (628) and (629) with the verbs völangu ‘hear’ and mo ‘see’ as the complement-

taking predicate in the main clause. The complement clauses, both intransitive, have the

same form as if they were main clauses, that is, they are marked with a mood/aspect prefix.

And there are no complementisers in these complement clauses. Noonan (2007) states that,

‘ a ll languages have some sort of sentence-like complement type, one that without its

complementisers has roughly the same syntactic form as a main clause’. This is also the case

in Engdewu, as seen here.

(628) Dä tü-vö-langü [dolo ka

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-hear wave MED:SG

s-öpla]COMP-STO.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘I am hearing (that the) waves break./Mi herem weiv hem brek.’ (M08m:68)

(629) I-mo-lü [ipmu da tü-mu]COMP-O.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A rain CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-rain

‘I saw (that the) rain was falling./Mi lukim rein hem foldaon.’ (M08m:68)

Notice also that the subject argument in these clauses precedes the verb, just like it would in

an intransitive main clause. Compare the examples in (628) and (629) with the main clauses

in (630).

(630) Ipmu da tü-mu.

rain CONT:SG:IVS?? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-rain

‘It is raining./Hem rein na.’

This simple type of complementation is found with many verb types, especially those

expressing perception or expression. Examples are yele/yâle ‘think/be like’ (both forms

appear in the material) in (631) and (632), and yöngi ‘feel’ in (633).


(631) Ma yele [di kä lepela

but [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like INDF:SG PROX:SG human

i-va-pe-bë]COMP-O.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3

‘I think a person goes out./Ating wanfala person hemi go aot.’

(SE_set1_220909_M06m: 080M_fbpushfan)

(632) …yâle [i-ngö=pme dükna]COMP-O.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat=COS devil

‘…I think (the) devil has eaten him./…ating devol kaikaim nao.’

(Story_031009_N01m)

(633) Ni=gâ ka tü-mno,

PRO=1AUG.POSS TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-say

yöngi-ba-gâ [daknë kââ

feel-PDIR:away?-1AUG.S/A earthquake DIST:SG

i-va=pme-m[u]]COMP-O.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-PDIR>1

‘We stayed, we felt the earthquake come./Mifala stap, mifala filim go etkuek ia kam

nao.’ (Story_101009_N12m)

Direct speech, discussed in §13.5, is often expressed as the semitransitive object of the

detransitive verb öpiö ‘say’, as seen in (634)–(636). Direct speech resembles any other

clause found in this type of complementation.

(634) Ö-pi-ö-bää: [“La-ö-pi-ö

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL

bwoto=m[u] kâu mwati

friend=2MIN.POSS DIST:PL tomorrow

tü-vë-dabwe mö nö-mwa-në ângu

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-12AUG.S/A to NMLZ-eat-NMLZ fruit.sp

pedoo.”]COMP-STO

bush

‘He said: “Your friends say that tomorrow we will go to eat ângu-fruit in the

bush.”/Hem sei: “Olketa fren blong iu sei tumoro iumi go kaikai ângu-frut long bus.”’

(Story_041009_N01m)

(635) Ä ö-pi-ö-dä [tü-küki-ö-dä]COMP-STO.

and DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-APPL-3MIN.A

‘And he said he must kick it./An hemi say hemi mas kickim.’ (Story_220909_M06m)


(636) (Q.109:M03m) [Assuming that the speaker's brother is trustworthy and speaking of the

water in a lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother SAY

(right now) that the water BE COLD.

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei [lâknu kââ

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS water DIST:SG

i-pwë].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘My brother said that the water is cold.’

The verbs in the complement clauses seen so far have been inflected with perfective and

imperfective aspect prefixes. It is, however, also found marked with an irrealis prefix, as

seen in (637).147

(637) Ö-pi-ö-me le [në-aku

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1:3MIN.A DAT-[1MIN.POSS] IRR-cook

da-ka-la-ngë]COMP-O.

BN:thing-MED:SG-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘He told me to cook food./Hemi talem kam (askim) for mi kukim kaikai.’

(M08m_110420-000)

As noted above and already demonstrated, the complement clause in this type is unmarked.

There is no special element that marks the relationship between the main and complement

clauses. However, speakers report that the verb ngwe ‘be like’ inflected with an irrealis

prefix can optionally be inserted initially in the complement clause. This verb then formally

marks the clause as a complement to the other. As will be seen in §14.3.2, complements with

ngwe are common with verbs of perception and expression.

14.3.2 Sentence-like complement with the verb ngwe ‘be like’148

As mentioned above, another type of complement clause is marked with the verb ngwe ‘be

like’. As a complementiser, it is prefixed with an irrealis marker, i.e. nö-ngwe. The rest of the

complement clause is sentence-like, with full mood/aspect marking. This is illustrated in

147

Recall from Chapter 13 that benefactive/recipient/goal is coded by a combination of person directional and dative phrase. This can be seen in this example, where the first person minimal recipient of the enquiry is encoded by the person directional -m[u] ‘PDIR>1’ and le, which indicates first person minimal when it constitutes a dative phrase on its own. 148

The status of ngwe, whether it is a co-verb or a complement taking a verb or something else, will not be discussed here. It can just be noted that it frequently appears as the first verbal element in some kind of multiverb construction.


(638) and (639) with the main verbs velu ‘put’ (here in the meaning ‘promise’) and öpiö ‘say’

respectively.

(638) (Q.125:N02m) [Uttered as a promise] I PROMISE to COME to you tomorrow

Eka velu-bää ële=m[u] [no-ngwe

MED:SG put-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A? DAT=2MIN.POSS IRR-be-like

tü-va-mi ële=m[u] mwati]COMP-O.

IPFV-go-PDIR>1-1MIN.S/A DAT=2MIN.POSS tomorrow

‘I promise you (lit. I put to you) that I will come to you tomorrow.’

(639) (Q.109:N02m) [Assuming that the speaker's brother is trustworthy and speaking of the

water in a lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother SAY

(right now) that the water BE COLD.

Nëge ö-pi-ö myei [no-ngwe lâknu kä

now DETR-say-APPL brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like water MED:SG

i-pwë]COMP-STO.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘Now my brother says that the water is cold.’

Sometimes, speakers contract the full form nongwe to the monosyllabic form /ngwe/. The

rest of the clause resembles basic main clause structure. The example in (640) illustrates

this.

(640) Q: I-kiaa [ngwe planet i-mumu]?

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know:2MIN.S/A be.like planet PFV:N3AUG.S/A-round

‘Did you know that the planet is round?/Iu save wea planet hemi raon?’

A: I-kia-ü [ngwe planet i-mumu]!

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know-1MIN.S/A be.like planet PFV:N3AUG.S/A-round

‘I know that the planet is round!/Mi save wea planet hemi raon!’ (N06m:48)

The strategy described here is common with verbs of perception and verbs of expression.

The TMA questionnaire contains several sentences where the main clause contains any of

the verbs ‘say’, ‘think’, ‘know’, ‘believe’, ‘feel’. Both speakers who translated the

questionnaire employ ngwe with an irrealis prefix as a marker of the complement clause in

most of these examples. Note that these are the same type of verbs as those found with

unmarked complement clauses, described in §14.3.1. Compare, for instance, the example in

(639) with that in (636).


Finally, consider (641) a. and b. with the transitive verb kati ‘want, like’ (which obligatorily

takes nuwo ‘mind’ as a subject). Here, an S-argument NP of the complement clause precedes

ngwe. In most examples there is no S or A-argument NP of the verb in the complement, as

the verb often carries subject marking. Here, there is both an S-argument NP and subject

marking, and the clause resembles the contrastive focus constructions discussed in §13.4.

These examples may indicate that ngwe is not preposed to the complement clause. However,

the verbal subject marker on the verb in the complement clause indicates that the

independent pronoun is outside the clause, since subject in general is not marked on verbs

when there is also a subject NP present in the clause. A question, thus, is whether the

pronoun really is a part of the complement clause. Notice also that the examples seem to be

structurally parallel to their English translations. A thorough analysis of these structures is

left for further research.

(641) a. I-kati nuwo [ni=m[u] (nö-ngwe)

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-like mind-[1MIN.POSS] PRO=2MIN.POSS IRR-be.like

nö-wa-la]COMP-O.

IRR-work-2MIN.S/A

‘I like you to work./Mi laekim iu fo waka.’ (M05m_M11m:58)

b. I-kati nuwo [ni=de (nö-ngwe) nö-wa]COMP-O.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-like mind PRO=3MIN.POSS IRR-be.like IRR-work

‘I like him/her to work./Mi laekim hem fo waka.’ (M05m_M11m:58)

14.3.3 Sentence-like complement with the complementiser nge

There are a few examples where the form nge appears initially in the complement clause.

(642) I-kia Pita nge Pol i-kiee

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know P. COMP P. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know:3MIN.A

no-ngumwa â-kotei-ö.

NMLZ-fish CAUS-good-NMLZ

‘Peter knows that Paul is good at fishing.’/(M06m:66)

Notice the similarity in form and position between nge and the contracted form of (no)ngwe,

/ngwe/. nge, thus, might be a short form of nongwe.


14.3.4 Nominalisation of complement

Nominalisation of the complement is another strategy employed in Engdewu. In these

constructions the complement is an ANC (cf. §6.6.2), and the verbs therein are, thus, verbs

that denote actions.

While it is the verb that carries the nominaliser prefix nö-/no-/ne- and the nominaliser suffix

-(n)ö, the ANC can also contain arguments related to the verb.149 Any such argument always

follows the nominalised verb, as seen in (643) Here, the ANC functions as an S-argument of

the intransitive verb kotei ‘be good’. Notice that this order of constituents is the opposite of

the normal SV structure of intransitive main clauses.

(643) I-kotei [no-to-bwapwi na le polis]COMP-S.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good NMLZ-take-POSS:2MIN.S/A word DAT police

‘It’s good that you take (the) word to the police./Hem gud fo iu tekem go wanfala tok

long polis.’ (M06m:65)

In (644) kotei appears with another nominalised verb as complement. Here, the

complement precedes the verb.

(644) [No-mno-bwâpwee Mömwawë]COMP-S i-kotei-ata.

NMLZ-stay-POSS:1MIN.S/A M. PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good-very

‘My stay in Mömwawë is very good./Stei blong mi long Mömwawë hem barava gud.’

(M05m_M11m:64)

In (645) the nominalised complement is the A-argument of ngu ‘be like’ which functions as

an intransitive predicate. Here, the complement is placed in front of the verb in the main

clause.

(645) [Në-li-o-bwâpwâ-nga kä]COMP-A

NMLZ-live-NMLZ-POSS-3AUG.A PROX:SG

i-ngu-pe-pwe kape-pwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like-GDIR:out-just too?-just

‘Their life is just like that./Hem nomoa life blong olketa.’ (N09m_110530-002)

In (646), the nominalised complement functions as an O-argument that follows the verb kia

‘know’ in the main clause.

149

Notice that the nominaliser suffix is sometimes not present. One can hypothesise that it is elided in context with other vowels in rapid speech.

14.4 Adverbial clauses 465

(646) …la-kia-ngë [nö-wulü-ö tewau]COMP-O.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-know-3AUG.A NMLZ-keep-NMLZ money

‘…they know (how) to keep money./…olketa save keepim seleni.’

(N13m_110603_people)

14.4 Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause is a clause construction that, ‘…can be said to modify another in a way

similar to the way in which an adverb modifies a proposition’ (Thompson, Longacre, and

Hwang 2007: 237). These are, thus, dependent clauses that modify another clause in a

similar manner as adverbs, and they are, thus, not as tightly knit to the main clause as the

relative and the complement clause types. Adverbial clauses in Engdewu follow an array of

different patterns, some of which will be described here. They are categorised according to

the function they serve: §14.4.1 describes time clauses, §14.4.2 describes purpose clauses,

§14.4.3 describes concessive clauses, §14.4.4 describes reason clauses, and §14.4.5

describes conditional clauses.

14.4.1 Time clauses

14.4.1.1 awi ‘before’

A common type of time clause exhibits the temporal adverbial form awi ‘just, before’ as the

first element in the clause. The verb is inflected with a mood/aspect prefix, just as verbs in a

main clause.

(647) …i-mno-yë-m[u] mweli bowi kä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay-GDIR:up-PDIR>1 time long PROX:SG

i-pipwö [awi i-melt]ADV.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little just/before PFV:N3AUG.S/A-melt

‘…it stayed for a long time before it melted./…hemi stap longtaem lelebet bifor hem

melt.’ (SE_set1_220909_M06m)

(648) Mwati awi i-laviö-be.

tomorrow before PFV:N3AUG.S/A-tie-PDIR>2/3:1MIN

‘(It will be) tomorrow before I tie it./Tumoro nao bifoa mi taeingim.’

(Story_041009_N14m)


14.4.1.2 ka ‘when’

Another morpheme ka is also found to introduce a time clause. The form is identical to the

singular medial version of the demonstrative determiners, ka ‘MED:SG’, to which it possibly

is related.

(649) [Ka i-to-bää]ADV ä

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A and

ö-pi-ö-bää: ‘Aah!’

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A ah

‘When he took it away, he said “Ah!”/Taem hemi tekem go, an hemi sei: “Ah!”’

(Story_041009_N01m)

14.4.1.3 Action nominal construction

Time clauses can also be subject to nominalisation, and these clauses are similar to the

nominalised complement clauses.

(650) (Q.140:N02m) When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=that is the

activity he was engaged in)

[Nübu da nöö-bwâpwe kââ]ADV

yesterday CONT:SG:IVS?? go:NMLZ-POSS:1MIN.S/A DIST:SG

i-yää leta la-lii.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write:3MIN.A letter PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘Tomorrow, when I go, he has written two letters./Tumoro, taem mi go, hem raetim

tufala leta.’

(651) [Nö-lu-o-bwâpwö-ngë]ADV, lâ-luo, la-taatë

NMLZ-fly-NMLZ-POSS-3AUG.A PFV:3AUG.S/A-fly PFV:3AUG.S/A-land

më nölaa nungo.

on branch tree

‘When they fly, they fly, they land on a branch./Time olketa fly, olketa fly, olketa land

long brans blong trees.’ (N09m_110530-002)

(652) I-ngaglü nabwe=de mö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-flap wing=3MIN.POSS to

ne-yau-nö-nö-bwa-de nëtna.

NMLZ-look-APPL-NMLZ-POSS-3MIN.A fish

‘It flaps its wings while it looks for fish./Hem flap wing blong hem taem hem lukim fo

fis.’ (N03m:12)


14.4.2 Purpose clauses

14.4.2.1 kä/kë

Purpose clauses are introduced by a form kä or kë. The verb in this clause is marked with a

mood/aspect prefix. In these constructions the purpose clause is not combined with a

proper main clause. Rather, it is connected, either by juxtaposition or by a conjunction, to an

ANC.

(653) [Kä la-li-ö]ADV, nö-mwa-nö.

PURP PFV:3AUG.S/A-live-APPL? NMLZ-eat-NMLZ

‘To stay alive, you must eat./Fo stei alaev, iu mas kaikai.’ (M05m_M11m:44)

(654) [Kë i-vü-lö nötnü lepela]ADV, ä

PURP PFV:N3AUG.S/A-happy-APPL body human and

nö-ke-e.

NMLZ-sing-NMLZ

‘To stay happy, you must sing./Fo stei hapi, iu mas singsing.’ (M05m_M11m:44)

14.4.2.2 Action nominal construction

Purpose clauses are also found where the verb is nominalised in an ANC. In the example in

(655) the main clause is connected to the purpose clause by a conjunction.

(655) [Naa-li-ö na-e lepela]ADV, ä lü-pi.

NMLZ:CAUS-live-NMLZ word-RL human and IPFV?-say

‘To make language alive, you must speak it./Fo mekem languis alaev, iu mas spikim.’

(M05m_M11m:43)

14.4.2.3 Irrealis marking

Purpose can also be expressed by a clause with an irrealis marked verb. Contrary to that in

(656) the purpose clause is placed here after the main clause, and the two are juxtaposed to

one another.


(656) Meri ö-lai-bë plawa le Jon [nö-lai-bää

M. DETR-give-PDIR>2/3 flower DAT J. IRR-give-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A

le Pita]ADV.

DAT P.

‘Mary gave flowers to John to give to Peter./Meri givim go flawa long Jon fo givim go

long Pita.’ (N09m:25)

14.4.2.4 Preposition më

Another type of purpose clause is introduced by the preposition më, as seen in the example

in (657). Notice that the purpose clause contains an ANC. Note that the ANC is based on a

semitransitive verb form derived by the detransitive prefix. The overt O-argument follows

the deverbal form as in semitransitive main clauses.

(657) Mwati tü-vë-dabwe [më nö-ö-taki-ö

tomorrow IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-12AUG.S/A to NMLZ-DETR-??-NMLZ

wongu]ADV. Nö-mwa-dabwe wongu.


‘Tomorrow, we will go to take pandanus fruit. We will eat pandanus fruit./Tumoro,

iumi go fo tek aot frut blong pandanus. Iumi kaikai fruti blong pandanus.’

(Story_041009_N01m)

This use of a preposition is parallel to the type of purpose clause seen in the English

translation where the form to is an infinite marker that has evolved from a preposition.

14.4.3 Concessive

14.4.3.1 ka ingwe ka öte ‘that it is like one’

There are not many examples of concessive clauses in the material. The one in (658) is

elicitated. Here, the whole phrase ka ingwe ka öte, translatable to something like ‘that it is

like one’, introduces the concessive clause which contains an S-argument and an intransitive

verb inflected with a perfective prefix. This phrase contains the verb ngwe ‘be like’ and öte

‘one’, while the analysis of the two ka forms is more uncertain, but their similarity to the

medial demonstrative determiner should be mentioned. The main clause is connected to the

concessive clause with the conjunction ma ‘but’.


(658) [Ka i-ngwe ka öte ipmu

? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like MED:SG one rain

i-mu-m[u]]ADV, ma tü-vë-n[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-rain-PDIR>1 but IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1MIN.S/A

‘Even though it rains, I will go./Nomata hem rein, bat mi mas go.’ (M05m_M11m:42)

The phrase ka ingwe ka öte can also constitute the predicate in a main clause with the

special meaning ‘be identical’.

(659) Bayro ka=yo ka i-ngwe ka

pen MED:SG=PL MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like MED:SG

öte.

one

‘Those pens are identical (lit. like one)./Olketa pen ia, olsem wan.’ (M05m_M11m:42)

14.4.4 Reason clauses

14.4.4.1 (a)ki ‘because’

Reason clauses are often introduced by the morpheme (a)ki. This is illustrated in the answer

in (660).

(660) Q: Le-matu ka la-mu=pme?

BN:human-house MED:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-sleep=COS

‘The people in the house, have they gone to bed (lit. have they fallen

asleep)?/Pipol long haus ia, olketa slip finis?’

A: Ee, la-mu=pme [aki

yes PFV:3AUG.S/A-sleep=COS because

la-ö-bwi-pe=pme-m[u] nöwe]ADV.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-close-GDIR:out=COS-PDIR>1 door

‘Yes, they have gone to bed, because they have shut (the) door out.’ (N03m:43)

Reason clauses can stand alone, for example as an answer to a question, cf. (661).

(661) Ki ni lepela.

because PRO-[1MIN.POSS] human

‘Because I’m human./Bikos mi man.’ (N06m:20)


14.4.4.2 ka tungwe dakiyo ‘because’

This subordinator is a whole clause, transcribed as the phrase ka tungwe dakiyo when it is

pronounced in careful speech. (Another possible transcription could be ka tingi nuo dakiyo.)

In rapid speech, however, it is contracted to three or four syllables: /katdakj / or

/katdakijo/. This constituent heads the subordinate clause which follows to the right.

(662) I-vë-mi më ne nubü [ka

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A by leg yesterday ?

tu-ngwe da-ki=yo trak

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like BN:thing-MED:SG:PL truck

i-vö=pme]ADV.


‘I came by foot yesterday because the truck had broken down./Mi kam long leg

yestade bikos trak hem go finis.’ (N06m:2-3)

Note that Pijin/English bikos/because is frequently employed in reason clauses.

14.4.5 Conditional clauses

A conditional construction consists of a condition clause and a consequence clause. The

construction discusses a factual implication and its consequence, or a hypothetical

implication and its consequence.

14.4.5.1 ngi ‘be like’ in factual conditional clauses

In this type of factual/predictive conditional construction the conditional clause is

introduced by the verb ngi. This verb is prefixed with a form /ne/ or /ni/, which are

analysed as variants of the irrealis marker nö-/no-/ne-. In other contexts ngi can be inflected

with an imperfective prefix, also with a close front vowel /ti/. The motivation behind the

change in vowel quality is not known.150 It is reasonable to believe that the choice of an

irrealis marker expresses that the event in the clause is hypothetical.

150

As seen in Chapter 11, nö- becomes /ne/ when it precedes an approximant. This suggests that the root form of the verb in question is ingi rather than just ngi.


(663) [Ne-ngi no-loli-nii dowe kââ nötna kââ]ADV,

IRR-be.like IRR-drop-GDIR:down bird DIST:SG fish DIST:SG

i-ngi i-li=pmo.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-life=DUPL

‘If the bird drops the fish it will still live./Sapos bad ia dropim fis ia, bae hem laef

moa.’ (N06m:7)

The consequence clause is sometimes connected to the conditional clause with nöga/nëge

‘then’.

(664) a. [Ni-ngi naa-bi]ADV, nëge i-ngi

IRR-be.like go:IRR-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A then PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like

i-va-n[u] Lata.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1MIN.S/A L.

‘If you come, then I will go to Lata./If iu kam, baebae mi go long Lata.’ (N06m:7)

b. [Ni-ngi naa-bi]ADV, nëga i-ngi

IRR-be.like go:IRR-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A then PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like

nëë-n[u] Lata.

go:IRR-1MIN.S/A L.

‘If you come, then I will go to Lata./If iu kam, baebae mi go long Lata.’ (N06m:7)

Instances are also found where ngi in the conditional clause is inflected with a perfective

marker.

(665) [I-ngi nö-va-n[u] Lata]ADV,

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like IRR-go-1MIN.S/A L.

i-ngi ö-vyü böpmi mö maket.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like DETR-buy:1MIN.S/A banana at market

‘If I go to Lata, then I will buy bananas at the market./If mi go long Lata, den mi peim

banana long maket.’

(666) [I-ngi nëëna]ADV, nëgää

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like go:IRR-2MIN.S/A then

ta-ki=pme.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-sing=COS

‘If you go, they will sing./If iu go, den olketa singsing.’


14.4.5.2 kä ‘if’ in factual conditional clauses

Another type of factual conditional clause is introduced by the morpheme kä. The form is

similar both to that found in one of the purpose clause types (kä/kë, cf. §14.4.2.1), and to

that found in one of the time clause types (ka, cf. §14.4.1.2). Many languages do not

distinguish between ‘if’ and ‘when’ (Theil, p.c.). Thus, these constructions, and the

relationship between their markers, is left for further research.

(667) Kä tü-vë-n[u], vë-kapë.

? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-1MIN.S/A go-too:2MIN.S/A

‘If I go, you will go!/If mi go, iu go!’ (N06m:9)

(668) Kä ti-ki-aa, kä

? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing-2MIN.S/A ?

ti-ki-aa, ni

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A -sing-2MIN.S/A PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

ne-yopwai-be.

IRR-smile-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A

‘If you sing, if you sing, I will smile./If iu singsing, if iu singsing, bae mi smael.’

(N06m:9)

(669) Kä ti-ki-aa, ä nö-ki-kape.

? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sing-2MIN.S/A and IRR-sing-too:1MIN.S/A

‘If you sing, I will sing, too./If iu singsing, bae mi singsing tu.’

(670) Kä tü-vë-bi, ni kä

? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A PRO-[1MIN.POSS] REL

nö-ki.

IRR-sing

‘If you come, I will sing./If iu kam, mi bae singsing.’ (N06m:10)

14.4.5.3 ngi ‘be like’ in concessive conditional clauses

There is one elicited instance of a concessive conditional clause in the material. Its structure

is similar to that found with the other conditionals, but here ngi is inflected with an

imperfective prefix. The consequence clause is coordinated to the conditional clause with

the coordinator ma ‘but’.


(671) Ti-ngi nepi o ipmu, ma

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like sun or rain but

tü-va-dabwe mö nölaa nungo.

IPFV-go-12AUG.S/A to garden

‘Even if it’s sun or rain we’ll go to the garden./Weda hem san o rein, bat bae iumi go

long gaden.’ (N06m:16)

14.4.5.4 ngi ‘be like’ in contrafactual conditional clauses

In contrafactual conditional clauses, both conditional and consequence clause are

introduced by ngi ‘be like’. What is special here is that both instances are inflected with an

irrealis marker.

(672) Nö-ngi ni kuli, nö-ngi

IRR-be.like PRO-[1MIN.POSS] dog IRR-be.like

i-mwake-i ni=m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-bite-1MIN.S/A PRO=2MIN.POSS

‘If I were a dog, then I would bite you./Sapos mi dog, den mi baetim iu.’

(M05m_M11m:45)

(673) Nö-ngi ni nepi, nö-ngi to

IRR-be.like PRO-[1MIN.POSS] sun IRR-be.like NEG1

i-mya=pwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-freeze=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

‘If I were (the) sun, then I would not freeze./Sapos mi san, den mi no kol.’

(M05m_M11m:45)

475

APPENDIX 1 ENGDEWU TEXTS

Three short personal stories

These three short stories were recorded at Lata Motel in 2005 when I was on my way home

from a field trip to the Reef Islands after collecting material from my MA thesis. Professor

Even Hovdhaugen had met a native speaker of Engdewu (then known as Nagu) on a

previous field trip. He thought that it would be a good idea for me to make a few initial

recordings of the most mysterious, and endangered, language in the area. So I met with a

Nagu woman resident in Lata, and together we made these very short recordings.

Text 1

1

Ee, ah... ni opla Nagu. Nötü N.N.

yes ah PRO-[1MIN.POSS] girl N. name-[1MIN.POSS] N.N.

‘Yes … I am a girl from Nagu. My name is Salome Melapi’

2

Ä i-koki-mi Nagu, lepela Nagu

and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A N. human N.

lâ-klu.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-many

‘I come from Nagu village, there are many people in Nagu‘

3

Vë-nâ gâ-i-koki-mi nabwa danâ youyope

go-? BN:place-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A mouth beach close

pwala.

sea

‘Place where I come from is a beach near the sea.’

476 APPENDIX 1 Engdewu Texts

Text 2

1

Awi-tei=pme më no-to-bwâpwe nae aki

thanks-very?=COS for NMLZ-take-POSS:1MIN.S/A word because

‘Thank you for taking my words,’

2 tü-vë=pme-i pedoo, tü-vë=pme-i

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-1MIN.S/A bush IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-1MIN.S/A

nanu da-la-ngë.

CL.II-[1MIN.POSS] BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

‘because I am going to the bush to get some food for myself.’

Text 3

1 Mwati mwatüti i-me-yë-mi gä

tomorrow morning PFV:N3AUG.S/A-?-GDIR:up:1MIN.S/A then

ni tü-va=pme më no-oka.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS to IRR-pray

‘Tomorrow morning when I wake up, then I go to prayer.’

2 Yâlu-pe-mi awi ni

return-GDIR:out-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A before PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

va-ku nanu,

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-CAUS-cook CL.II-[1MIN.POSS]

‘I come out before I cook my food,’

3 nege ni tü-va=pme pedoo.

then PRO-[1MIN.POSS] IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS bush

‘then I go to the bush.’

4 Yâlu-mi pedoo, gä ni

return-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A bush then PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

pa-ku=pmo nanu,

IPFV:CAUS-cook=DUPL CL.II-[1MIN.POSS]

awi ni vë më no-oka=pmo mwilo.

before PRO-[1MIN.POSS] go to IRR-pray=DUPL evening

‘I come back from the bush, so then I cook for myself, then I go again for prayer in the

evening.’

0 Nubo / Dried breadfruit 477

Nubo / Dried breadfruit

Told by N04f, Nagu

1 Te-lavyë napwë, te-lavyë-tö-pö dâ-kââ

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-tie bamboo IPFV:3AUG.S/A-tie-GDIR:in-? BN:thing-DIST:SG

nanubwi,

hook

‘They tie bamboo, tie something like a hook, /Taengim bambu, taegim go samting

olsem huk,’

2 ä negee lepela tü-ngëla-yö=pme.

and then human IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:up=COS

‘then someone starts to climb up./den man klaem go ap na ia.’

3 Lepela i-ngöla-yë, nëgee ta-ö-kape=pme

human PFV:N3AUG.S/A-crawl-GDIR:up then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-hook=COS

toklu kou.

breadfruit DIST:PL

‘Man climb up, then he hooks the breadfruit. /Man klaem go ap, den olketa hukim kam

olketa bredfrut ia.’

4 La-kape, i-do-ini-m[u] you.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-hook PFV:N3AUG.S/A-fall-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 down

‘They hook it, it falls down on the ground. /Olketa hukim daon, then oketa fallim daon

long ground.’

5 La-gwaa-pe-m[u] ta-welu-tö më

PFV:3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:out-PDIR>1 IPFV:3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:in in

tekato o beli,

basket or bag

‘They take out, put it inside a basket or a bag, /Olketa kolektim ap, olketa putum insaet

long basket,’

6 ä nëgee tâ-to=pme-m[u] më matu.

and then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-take=COS-PDIR>1 to house

‘and then they take it to the house./an den olketa tekem kam long haus na.’


7 Lâ-to më matu, lepela ö-tevië

PFV:3AUG.S/A-take to house human [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-make.fire?

waku, nëgee ta-tü=pmee. Laa-tü

fire then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-burn=COS:3MIN.A PFV:3AUG.S/A-burn

yoko.


‘They take it to the house, a man makes fire, then they start to burn it. They finish

burning. /Olketa tekem long haus, man wokem faea, den burnim na. Olketa burnim

finis.’

8 Nëgää ta-gwa-ini=pme-m[u],

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:down=COS-PDIR>1

lâ-mo-bë ngue i-ku,

PFV:3AUG.S/A-look-PDIR>2/3 be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cook

nëgee ta-gwa-ini=pme-m


‘Then they take it out, see that its cooked, then they take it down./Den olketa aotim

kam, lukim go hem tane, den aotim (from faea) na.’

9 Nögee laa-tü yoko,

then PFV:3AUG.S/A-burn [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

lâ-mo-bë ngue i-ku=pme,

PFV:3AUG.S/A-look-PDIR>2/3 be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cook=COS

nëgee të-gwa-ini=pme-m[u].


‘Then they finish burning it, they see that it has cooked, then they takes it down. /Den

olketa burnim finis, lukim go hem tane, then aotim (from faea) na.’

10 La-gwa-inii-m[u], la-welu,

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:down-PDIR>1 PFV:3AUG.S/A-put

i-mupläipye âbu, mwatüti.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-?? day morning

‘They take it down, and puts it overnight, to the morning./Olketa aotim kam, olketa

putum, ovanaet, mone.’


11 Nö-pwo-tei awi lâ-opwo-ti. Lâ-opwo-ti

IRR-cold-?? before PFV:3AUG.S/A-peel-TR PFV:3AUG.S/A-peel-TR

yoko, la-vea-pe-a

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut-GDIR:out-2MIN.S/A

butü=de

soft.part=3MIN.POSS

‘It must be cold before they peel it. They finish peeling it, you cut out the soft part./Kol

fastaem bifoa pilim. Pilim finis, and katim sofpat blong hem.’

12 Le-yapwei, la-vea-pe-m[u] butü=de.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut-GDIR:out-PDIR>1 soft.part=3MIN.POSS

Nëge ta-vea=pme ti-kisâ=pme.

then IPFV:3AUG.S/A-cut=COS PFV:3AUG.S/A-small=COS

‘Cut it, take out the soft part. Then start cutting small pieces./Katim, aotim soft pat

blong hem. Den katem smol na.’

13 La-vea=pme-i ... la-ve-i

PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut=COS-1MIN.S/A PFV:3AUG.S/A-cut-1MIN.S/A

yoko awi laa-glü.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish before PFV:3AUG.S/A:CAUS-dry

Aglë më nuglu. Ta-ö-knawe nabwëtom

dry in grate IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-make.fire oven

‘Cut it, finish cutting it before drying it. Make it dry in the oven. Make fire in the oven. /

Katem smol finis bifor draeim. Draeim long draea. Mekem faea long oven.’

14 Ä nabwëtom kââ i-weiniitei, bou nö-ka-aku. Nëge

and oven DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG-?? PROH IRR-?-fire then

lâ-wole-pe-bë nuglu.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3 grate

‘The oven must light(?), no smoke. Then one puts it up on the grate./Oven ia mas light,

no eni simoka blong faea. Den putum ap net.’

15 Lâ-wole-bë nuglu, ga ta-wole-pe-ba

PFV:3AUG.S/A-put-PDIR>2/3 grate then? IPFV:3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:out-PDIR:away

nubo kou.

dried.breadfruit DIST:PL

‘One puts (up) net, then one puts (up) the dried breadfruit./Olketa putum ap net den

putum ap olketa nubo ia na.’


16 La-wo-yë lepela i-mno, dä

PFV:3AUG.S/A-put-GDIR:up human PFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay CONT:SG:VIS

le-yapei, dä le-yapei.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn CONT:SG:VIS PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn

Le-yapei yoko.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-turn [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘One puts it up, someone stays, turning it, turning it./Putum ap, man stap, den tanim,

tanim olobaot. Tanim finis.’

17 Lâ-mo-ka te tü-glu=pwee më

PFV:3AUG.S/A-see-just NEG1 IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry=NEG2:3MIN.A? in

dowe to mo awonë,

time? ? ? ?

kâo, nëgee ni=m[u] pö-knawë=pmo.

DIST:SG then PRO=2MIN.POSS IPFV:DETR:N3AUG.S/A-make.fire=DUPL

‘One just sees that it hasn’t dried in the first fire?, then you make another fire./ Iu

lukim go hem no drae long fasttaem faea, den iu wakem nara faea moa. ‘

18 Ä ö-knawë=pmo-a, nëge

and [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-make.fire=DUPL-2MIN.S/A then

tü-akei-pe=pme-a

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-good-GDIR:out=COS-2MIN.S/A

i-glë ä i-vi-a lo-obu

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dry and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-?-2MIN.S/A BN:leaf-plant.sp.

‘And you make another fire, then it becomes good, it’s dry, and you go and get lobu

leaves,/ Wokem faea moa, den hem (drae) gud na, hem drae an go tekem obu-leaf,’

19 ä i-to-bee

and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A??

yanga-pö-ta

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-take-?-GDIR:in:2MIN.S/A

tekato awi welu-ta nubo kou.

basket before put-GDIR:in:2MIN.S/A dried.breadfruit DIST:PL

’and take and put it inside basket before you put in the dried breadfruit./an putum

insaet long basket bifoa iu putum insaet olketa nubo ia.’


20 Nëge savle=pme-aa, yavle-a,

then tie:IPFV:N3AUG.S/A=COS-2MIN.S/A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-tie-2MIN.S/A

welu-yaa yowu më noblë, nëge

put-GDIR:up:2MIN.S/A on.top at bed? then

tü-mno=pme

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay=COS

’Then you start to tie it, you tie it, you put it up on top, then it stays./Den iu taengim na,

taengim, putum ap long bed, then livim stap na.

21 Ga ö-pi-ë-na nguee nö-mwa-në,

if? [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-2MIN.S/A be.like NMLZ-eat-NMLZ

nëgee tü-gwa-ini-pe-bi

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-GDIR:down-GDIR:out-PDIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A

nëgee tu-kuwe-pe=pme-aa, nëge ni=m[u]

then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out=COS-2MIN.S/A then PRO=2MIN.POSS

tü-mwa=pme.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat=COS

’If you want to eat (lit. if you feel like eating, then take it down, then open it (basket),

then you eat./ Sapos iu laek kaikai, then iu daonim kam, then iu openim na, then iu

kaikai na.

483

APPENDIX 2 EXAMPLES FROM ÖSTEN DAHL’S TMA QUESTIONNAIRE

Part A – sentences

M03m N02m

1. [Standing in front of a house] The house BE BIG

Matu kä i-löpi.



Matu kä i-löpi.



2. [Talking about the house in which the speaker lives (the house is out of sight)] The house BE BIG

a. Matu kââ i-löpi.

house DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘That house is big.’

Masyo i-löpi.

house:CL.V-[1MIN.POSS] PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

‘My house is big.’

b. Matu kä i-lööpi.


‘This house is (very) big.’

3. [Talking about a house in which the speaker used to live but which has now been torn down] The

house BE BIG

[Same as 1] [Same as 1]

NOTE: N02m added ma i-tua=pme ‘but it’s no good now’

484

4. [Talking about a house which the speaker saw for the first time yesterday and doesn't see pow:]

The house BE BIG

[Same as 2b] a. (Ivan ä ivëbe ga ä imolu ka ‘I go and I go there and I see ...’)

matu kä i-lööpi.


‘The house is (very) big’

5. [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he engaged in?) A by someone who can see

him] He WRITE letters







6. [C=6] He WRITE a letter

[Same as 5] I-yää leta öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write:3MIN.A letter one

‘He writes one letter.’

7. [A: I just talked to my brother on the phone. B: What he do right now? A answers:] He WRITE

letters

[Same as 5] OR Da tüvöyö leta??? (Te imopwe ga gââ ‘I can’t see him there ...)

tü-vö-yö-dä leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A? letter

‘He writes letters.’


Part A – sentences 485

[Same as 5] (Te imopwe, ma ... I cannot see him, but ...)

yaa /yää? kä leta.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-write:3MIN.A PROX:SG letter

‘He writes a letter.’

9. [A: I went to see my brother yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity was he engaged in?)] He

WRITE letters

(I-vë-be,) da

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>2/3:1 CONT:SG:IVS

tü-vö-yö leta.


‘He was writing letters.’

[Same as 5]

(Ivabe nübu a ... ‘I went there yesterday and ...’)

da tü-vö-yö leta.

CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

‘He was writing letters.’


Past,

118

[Same as 5] (Nubu imolü, ma ...)

yää kä leta.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]- write:3MIN.A PROX:SG letter

‘He writes a letter.’

11. [A: I talked to my brother on the phone yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity was he engaged

in?)] He WRITE letters

Past,

118

I-vö-yö leta.


‘He wrote letters.’

486

12. [C=ll] He WRITE a letter

Past,

118

13. [A: When you visited your brother yesterday, what he DO after you had dinner? ANSWER:] He WRITE

letters

[Same as 11] (Ivabe nübu imwangâ mae, negää ‘Yesterday I went and we two ate,

then ...’)

tü-vö-yö=pme leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS letter

‘he started to write letters.’


[Same as 11] Yää kä leta.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-write:3MIN.A PROX:SG letter

’He wrote a letter.’

15. [Q: What your brother DO if you don't go to see him today, do you think? A:] He WRITE a letter (to

me)


Tü-vö-yö-m le/öle leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-PDIR>1 DAT letter

‘He will write me a letter.’

(Ningi to noolaatipwe nöngi ingiaatni nuwode ni a nögää ...)

tü-vö-yö=pme-m ële leta

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS-PDIR>1 DAT letter

i-yâle ti-ngia-ti

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-think IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like-TR?

nuwo=m ni.

mind=2MIN.POSS PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

‘He will write me a letter, I think??’

16. [Q: What your brother DO when we arrive, do you think? (=What activity will he be engaged in?)] He

WRITE letters

Tü-vö-yö leta.


’He writes letters.’



18. [Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast? A:] He WRITE letters

[Same as 16] (Ivabe a ...)


CONT:SG:IVS? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write letter

’He is writing letters.’


488

[Same as 16

20. [Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast last summer? A:] He WRITE letters

[Same as 16] I-vö-yö leta.


‘He write letters.’


Mö nopmu temwa ka

PRP ten? moon MED:SG

yoko-pe=pme ma tü-vö-yö,

finish-GDIR:out=COS but IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write

tü-vö-yö=pme=pmo leta.


‘In the year that’s over, but he writes, he will write letters again??’

22. [Q: What are you planning to do right now? A:] I WRITE letters

Tü-vö-yö-ü leta.


‘I will write letters.’

Kayö ni ka

? PRO-[1MIN.POSS] TOP

tü-vö-yö-bo leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-CONT letter

‘I will continue writing letters.’

23. [C=22] I WRITE a letter


[Same as 22] Kayö ni kää

?? PRO-[1MIN.POSS] TOP

tü-vö-yö-bo leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-CONT letter

‘I will continue writing letters.’

24. [Neither A nor B can see B's brother. A: What he DO right now, do you think? (=What activity is he

engaged in?)] He WRITE letters (I think so because he does that every day at this time)

Ee, yâle da

yes [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-think CONT:SG:IVS

tü-vö-yö leta.


‘Yes, I think he is writing letters.’

25. [A: My brother works at an office. B: What kind of work he DO?] He WRITE letters

[Same as 16] (Da tuwâ ga mö opis a ... da tuvapem mö opis

’He works there at the office and ... he goes at the office’)



[Same as 9, 18 and 24]

26. [A: Last year, my brother worked at an office. B: What kind of work he DO there?] He WRITE letters

490

[Same as 16] (Më nopmu ëte teemwa kââ syokopepme imnopem mö opis ...

‘Last year he stayed at the office ...’)



[Same as 9, 18, 24 and 25]

27. [A: My brother has got a new job. He'll start tomorrow. B: What kind of work he DO there?] He

WRITE letters

Nö-yö leta.

IRR-write letter

’He will write letter.’

(Dä aavi tuvayoutöpä nomnopebwapme (kââ)

‘ ??? ‘

tü-vö-yö=pme-pwë leta.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=COS=RST letter

‘He will just write letters.’

28. [Talking of what happened yesterday] While my brother WRITE the letter, I WAIT in the garden

Mweli kââ tü-vö-yö

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write

myei leta, ni kä

brother:1MIN.POSS letter PRO-[1MIN.POSS] TOP

tü-vaveneli më nabwe-ne

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-wait ?? in mouth?-RL

laa-nungo.

??? (garden)

‘When my brother wrote letters, I waited in the garden.’

Mweli kââ tü-vö-yö-dä

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A

leta, mweli ka

letter time MED:SG

ni kä (tü-mno) pedoo.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] TOP IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-stay bush

’When he wrote letters, that time I (stayed) in the garden/bush.’


29. [Q: Did your brother finish the letter quickly? A:] (No,) he WRITE the letter slowly

Toko, i-bwunö (viatää).

no PFV:N3AUG.S/A-slow ??

‘No, he is slow ...’

Toko, nö-yö-bwë-dä i-bwunö.

no NMLZ-write-POSS?-3MIN.A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-slow

‘No, his letter writing is slow.’

30. [Talking of the water in a lake which is visible to the speaker and the hearer:] (The water is

usually warm, but today) it BE COLD

Lâknu kä i-pwö nëge.

water PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

‘The water is cold today.’

Mweli kä lâknu ka ii-pwë.

time PROX:SG water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘This time, the water is cold.’

31. [Of a visible lake, what the water is usually like] It BE COLD

Lâknu ka i-pwö.



Lâknu eka ii-pwë.


‘Water there is cold.’

32. [Of a visible lake, in which the speaker swam yesterday] (Today the water is warm, but yesterday)

it BE COLD

Nübu lâknu kä i-pwü

yesterday water PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

i-pwü.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘Yesterday, the water was cold.’

I-pwë.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘It’s cold.’

33. [Of a visible lake] (The first time I swam in this water many years ago) it BE COLD

492

Doka lâknu kä i-pwö.

before water PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘Before, the water was cold.’

Mweli kââ aviönë i-nguu

time DIST:SG before? ?PFV:N3AUG.S/A-drink:1MIN.S/A

o-yo-lö-n[u] ma

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-swim-APPL-1MIN.S/A but

i-pwë.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘That time before, I drank, I swam in the water, but it was cold.’

34. [Of a visible lake, said in the summer] (Usually the water is warm, but this summer) it BE COLD

Mweli ka/kä? lâknu ka i-pwü.

time PROX:SG water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

‘That time, the water was cold.’

Ëvë lâknu u-pü, ma mweli ka

always water PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hot but time MED:SG

i-pwë, mweli ka

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold time MED:SG

i-pwë=pme.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold=COS

‘The water is always hot, but this time it’s cold, this time it has

become cold.’

35. [C=34] (Usually the water is warm, but last summer) it BE COLD


36. [It's no use trying to swim in the lake tomorrow] The water BE COLD (then)


Future,

107

Lâknu ka i-pwë.



Mwati to yo=pme=pwe mö lâknu

tomorrow NEG1 swim=COS=NEG2 PRP water

ka da-ki=yo i-pwë.

because BN:thing-MED:PL=PL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

’Tomorrow, don’t swim in the water, because that thing is cold.’

37. [Q: Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him (so I know him)

Ee, i-mo=pme-i.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=COS-1MIN.S/A

‘Yes, I have seen him.’

Myei i-mo-yabu-gâ ma-e.

brother:1MIN.POSS PFV:N3A.see-RECP-1A UG.S/A with-3MIN

‘Me and my brother saw each other.’

38. [C=37] (Yes,) I just (=a couple of minutes ago) MEET him

Da-kä/ da-ekä awi

BN:thing-PROX:SG BN:thing-PROX:SG just

tü-mo-lü.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A

‘That one, I just saw.’

Da-kä awi tü-mo-lü.

BN:thing-PROX:SG just IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A

‘That one, I just saw.’

39. [C=37] (Yes,) I MEET him (once) several years ago

I-mo=pme-i doka.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=COS-1MIN.S/A before

‘I saw him before.’

Mö di âbu kââ yoko-pe=pme

on INDF:SG day DIST:SG finish-GDIR:out=COS

i-mo-yâbu-gâ ma-e.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-RECP-1A UG.S/A with-3MIN

‘On a day that’s past, we saw each other.’

40. [C=37] (Yes,) I MEET him often (up to now)

494

Dä?? ekä tü-mo-lü

CONT:SG:VIS PROX:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A

ëvë.

always

‘I’m meeting that one often.’

Tü-mo-lü ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A always

‘I see him all the time.’

41. [C=37] (No,) I not MEET him (in my life)

To i-mo-ka-ü mö di

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-??- 1MIN.S/A at INDF:SG

mweli.

time

‘I have never seen him (lit. I have not seen him any time).’

Toko, to tü-mo=pwe ëvë.

no NEG1 IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2:1MIN.S/A always

‘No, I haven’t seen him.’

42. [Q:] You MEET my brother (at any time in your life until now)?

Mweli kââ tu-va-nö-bi,

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-APPL-DIR:2>3:2MIN.S/A

i-mo-la myei o

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-2MIN.S/A brother:1MIN.POSS or

toko?

no

‘In the time that goes around, have you seen my brother, or not?’

43. [Q: Did you know my father, who died last year?] (Yes,) I MEET him (at least once)


Ee, i-mo-lü.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A

‘Yes, I met him.’

Mweli kââ tü-bwa-ü

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead-?

iyei-m[u] ma

father-2MIN.POSS but

nopmu-ö temwa ka

?-RL moon MED:SG

te-yoko-pe=pme

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-finish-GDIR:out=COS

i-mo-lü i-mo-tö-pe

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-GDIR:in-?

nö=de.

CL.XII=3MIN.POSS

‘Your father has died, but last year I saw, I saw him.’??

44. [C=43] (Yes,) I MEET him (several times, now and then)

I-mo-lü mweli kä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A time PROX:SG

i-klu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many

‘I met him often.’

Tü-mo-lü ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A always

‘I see him all the time.’

45. [Assuming that B was going to meet A's brother, A asks:] You MEET my brother (yesterday, as was

planned)

496

I-mo-la myei

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-2AUG.S/A brother:1MIN.POSS

nübu?

yesterday

‘Did you see my brother yesterday?’

46. [Answer to (45):] (Yes,) I MEET him (yesterday, as was planned)

[Same as 43] Ee, i-mo-lü nübu.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-1MIN.S/A yesterday

‘Yes, I saw him yesterday.’

47. [Answer to (45):] (No,) I not MEET him (yesterday, as was planned)

Toko, te i-mo=pwe-i.

no NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2-1MIN.S/A

‘No, I didn’t meet him.’

E/ä toko te i-mo-tö=pwä

eh? no NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-GDIR:in??=NEG2

nö=de nübu.

CL:XIII=3MIN.POSS yesterday

‘No, I didn’t see (sign of?) him yesterday.’

48. [Q: When you came to this place a year ago, did you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him (at least

once before I came here)

[Same as 43]

49. [C=48] (Yes,) I MEET him (just before I came here)


Eu, i-mo-lü awi dä

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A before CONT:SG:VIS

ni tü-vë-m donu.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 here

‘Yes, I saw him before I was coming here.’

Ee, ka tua, i-mo-tö-pe

yes MED:SG right? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-GDIR:in-?

mnö=de.

eye=3MIN.POSS

‘Yes, that’s right, I saw him (lit. I saw his eye)’

50. [Q: Did you know my father, who died last year?] (No,) I not MEET him (at any time)

Toko, to i-mo=pwe(e).

no NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2: 1MIN.S/A

‘No, I haven’t seen him.’

Ee, ka tua, te

yes MED:SG right? NEG1

i-mo-tö=pwö mnö=de.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-GDIR:in=NEG2 eye=3MIN.POSS

‘Yes, that’s right, I did not seen him (lit. didn’t see his eye)’

51. [Q: When you came to this place a year ago, did you know my brother?] (No,) I not MEET him (before

I came here)

[Same as 50] te i-mo=pwe(e).

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

‘I haven’t seen him.’

52. [C=51] (No,) I not MEET him (before I came here but I met him later)

Te i-mo-pwee mweli kââ

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2:1MIN.S/A time DIST:SG

tü-va-nö-mi donu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:about?-PDIR>1:1MIN.S/A here

‘I didn’t meet him when he came here.’

498

53. [A: I want to give your brother a book to read, but I don't know which. Is there any of these

books that he READ already? B:] (Yes,) he READ this book

Eu, ekä i-vaki=pmee.

yes PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A

‘Yes, I have read that one.’

Ee, ka t(n)ua i-vaki=pmee

yes MED:SG right? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A

buk ka.

book MED:SG

’Yes, that’s right, he has read that book.’

54. [A: It seems that your brother never finishes books.] (That is not quite true.) He READ this book

(=all of it)

Ekä i-va-ki=pmee

PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A

yoko.


‘That one, he has finished.’

Ee buk ka dä

yes book MED:SG CONT:SG:VIS

tu-vaki-e.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-read-3MIN.A

’Yes, that book, he is reading.’

55. [Q: Your brother DO what his teacher told him to do today?] (Yes,) he READ (all of) this book (as

he was told)

Eu, i-vaki=pmee ekä/ buk

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS:3MIN.A PROX:SG book

kä yoko.

PROX:SG [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish

‘Yes, he has finished this one/this book.’

Ee, buk ka i-vaki=pme-e.

yes book MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-read=COS-3MIN.A

‘Yes, that book, he has finished.’

56. [Q: Is the king still alive? A:] (No,) he DIE


Toko, i-bwa=pme.

no PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS

‘No, he has died.’

Toko, kingi i-bwa=pme.

no king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS

‘No, (the) king has died.’

57. [A: Have you heard the news? B: No, what happened? A:] The king BE KILLED (alt: They KILL the

king)

King kââ la-nibi=pme.

king DIST:SG PFV:3AUG.S/A-kill/hit=COS

‘The king has been killed.’

(Ee, ivölangup(m)eadi mda? ‘Ey, have you heard

it (lit. something)?’)

King i-bwa=pme, la-nibi.

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS PFV:3AUG.S/A-kill

‘(The) king has died, they killed him.’

58. [Q: Do you think the king will go to sleep? A:] (Yes,) he BE TIRED

Yâle i-mu=pme-?.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-think PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep=COS-?

‘I think he has gone to sleep.’

Ee, kingi da tu-mu.

yes king CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep

’Yes, (the) king is sleeping.’

59. [Looking out of the window, seeing that the ground is wet] It RAIN (not long ago)

Ipmu i-mwü-m[u].

rain PFV:N3AUG.S/A-rain/fall?-PDIR>1

‘Rain has fallen.’

I-vë-ngna-pe-i yowâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-look-GDIR:out- 1MIN.S/A outside

ä ipmu.

and rain

‘I look outside, and it’s raining.’

60. [The police are investigating a burglary. Seeing an open window and footprints beneath it, the

police inspector says:] The thief ENTER the house by this window

500

Me ka i-pma mda gä

man MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-steal thing P??

i-ngëla-ki-tö=p(m?)ee ekä.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-climb-?-GDIR:in=COS?:3MIN.A PROX:SG

‘The man who steals things climbed in this one.’

Di kää lepela tü-mne

INDF:SG PROX:SG human IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-steal?

nö-ngala-tö mö wido ka gââ.

IRR-crawl-GDIR:in in window MED:SG DIST

’A man that steals(?) climbed in that window there.’

61. [It is cold in the room. The window is closed. Q:] You OPEN the window (and closed it again)?

I-vyei-pe-aa widow kââ.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out-2AUG.S/A window DIST:SG

‘Have you opened the window?’

62. [Answer to (61):l (Yes,) I OPEN the window

Eu, i-vyei-pe-i.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A

‘Yes, I opened it.’

Ee, i-vyei-pe=pme-i nâwi.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A door?

‘Yes, I have opened (the) door(?)’

63. [Answer to (61):l (No,) I not OPEN the window

Toko, to i-vyei-pe=pwe.

no NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-DIR:out=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

‘No, I did not open it.’

Te i-vyei-pe=pwe nâwi.

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out=NEG2:1MIN.S/A door?

‘No, I did not open (the) door(?)’

64. (64) [Child: Can I go now? Mother:] You BRUSH your teeth?


I-kutai-pe=pme-a

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-clean-GDIR:out=COS-2MIN.S/A

nungu=m[u]?

teeth=2MIN.POSS

‘Have you brushed your teeth?’

Ee, i-kotei ma

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good but

i-vati=pme-aa nugu=m[u]?

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-brush?=COS-2MIN.S/A teeth=2MIN.POSS

‘Yes, it’s ok, but have you cleaned your teeth?’

65. (65) [A returns home after having been away for a while. B asks:] What you DO?

Duwe i-dei-na?

what PFV:N3AUG.S/A-do/make-2MIN.S/A

‘What have you done?’

Yâlu-pe-bi bwee

return-GDIR:out-DIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A what

ti-dei=pme-aa?

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-make=COS-2MIN.S/A

‘You return, what have you done?’

66. [Answer to (65):] I BUY food

I-vö-vyü

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-buy:1MIN.S/A

da-la-ngë.


‘I bought food.’

I-vö-vyü

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-pay:1MIN.S/A

da-ka la-ngë.

BN:thing- MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat

‘I bought food.’

67. [Q: What did you find out when you came to town yesterday? A:] The king DIE

502

King i-bwë.

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead

‘The king is dead.’

Naa-nö-bwâpwi kââ nübu,

go:NMLZ-NMLZ-POSS:2MIN.S/A DIST:SG yesterday

(vö-langa)? Kingi i-bwë.

DETR-hear:2MIN.S/A king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead

‘When you came back yesterday (did you hear anything?) The king is

dead.’

68. [C=67] The king BE KILLED

King la-nibi=pme.

king PFV:3AUG.S/A-kill=COS

‘The king has been killed.’

King i-va-ngi dau në-âbu.

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-be.like ? IRR?-?

??

69. [Q: Why is it so cold in the room? The window is open but the person who asks does not know. The

person who opened the window answers:] I OPEN the window

I-viyäi-pe-i wido.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A window

‘I opened the window.’

I-vyai-pe-i nâwe ka.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-open-GDIR:out-1MIN.S/A door? MED:SG

‘I opened the door(?)’

70. [Q: Has this house always been red? A:] (No, earlier) the house BE WHITE

Toko, awënë matu kä upwö.

no before house PROX:SG white

‘No, before, the house was white.’

Doka, matu eka upwë.

before house MED:SG white

‘Before, that house was white.’

71. [Talking about the speaker's habits: I like to be up early.] I RISE at six in the morning (alt: at

dawn)


a. I-me-yë-mi

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wake?-GDIR:up-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A

mwatüti pwögiö.

morning quite.early

‘I get up early in the morning.’

b. I-me-yë-mi më

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wake?-GDIR:up-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A at

siksoklok.

six.o’clock

‘I get up at six o’clock.’

I-tula-ya-mi mweli kââ

PFV:N3AUG-?-GDIR:up-PDIR>1- 1MIN.S/A time DIST:SG

mwatüti.

morning

‘I get up when it’s morning.’

72. [This week I have to go to work early.] I RISE at six in the morning (alt: at dawn)

I-me-yë-mi më

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wake?-DIR:up-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A at

faivoklok mwatüti.

five.o’clock morning

‘I get up at five o’clock.’

I-tula-ya-mi mweli kââ

PFV:N3A-?-DIR:up-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A time DIST:SG

mwatüti pwagiö.

morning early

‘I get up when it’s early morning.’

73. [Q: What kind of sound do cats make?] They MEOW

Töputi ö-pi-ö-dë ‘myau’.

cat DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A miaow

‘Cats say “miaow”.’

Nö-k(n)ia-bwâpwë töpüti

NMLZ-shout?-POSS:3MIN.A cat

ö-pi-ö-tei=pme-pwee ‘kiaau’.

DETR-say-APPL-??-=COS-?:3MIN.A miaow

‘The cat’s scream, it says “miaow”.’

504

74. [Q: What do your cats do when they are hungry?] They MEOW

a. La-ö-pi-ö-ngö ‘myau’.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-say-APPL-3A miaow

‘The say “miaow”.’

b. Ö-pi-ö-dää ‘myau’.

DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A miaow

‘I says “miaow”.’

75. If you tease a cat, it MEOW

Töputi kä lë-a-kiklü

cat PROX:SG PFV:3A:DETR?-CAUS?-?

ö-pi-ö-dää ‘myau’.

DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A miaow

‘Cats that are tickled say “miaow”.’

Töputi i-knia nö-knia-bwâ-dä

cat PFV:N3AUG.S/A-shout NMLZ-shout-NMLZ:3MIN.A

ka ‘miau’.

MED:SG miaow

76. [Q: Do cats bark?] (No), they not BARK

Toko, to lë-knia=pwö.

no NEG1 PFV:3AUG.S/A:DETR?-bark=NEG2

‘No, they don’t scream.’

Töputi i-knia mö no-mwa-bü-bwâpwa-nga.

cat PFV:N3AUG.S/A-shout PRP NMLZ-???-NMLZ-3AUG.A

77. Whatever you TELL him, he not ANSWER


Duwä ekä i-pi-be

what PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-3MIN.A

ële=de, ma to

DAT=3MIN.POSS but NEG1

i-la=pwö.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-answer=NEG2

‘Whatever you say to him, but he don’t answer.’

I-vâto-bi le=de

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-talk-DIR>2/3:2MIN.S/A DAT=3MIN.POSS

tobi da i-pi-bää.

PROH CONT:SG:IVS PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-3MIN.A

‘You talk to him, but he don’t answer.’

78. Whatever you PUT into this bag, it not BREAK

Da-kä i-velu-ta më

BN:thing-MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-2MIN.S/A in

beli ke, to i-mogle=pwö/imoglepwä.

basket PROX:SG NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2

‘Anything you put in this basket, it doesn’t break.’

I-velu-ta da-eka më

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-2MIN.S/A BN:thing-MED:SG PRP

beli ma te i-bwangue=pwë.

basket but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2:3MIN

‘Anything you put in (the) basket, it doesn’t break.’

79. If you PUT a stone into this bag, it BREAK

Nö-ngi nö-elu-taa di âpyë më

IRR-be.like IRR-put-3MIN.A INDF:SG stone in

beli ke nëgää tü-bwöngwe.

basket PROX:SG then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘If you put a stone in this basket, it breaks.’

I-velu-tö-ü âpyë më beli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-DIR:in- 1MIN.S/A stone in basket

ä nëgää tu-bwangwe.

and then IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-break

‘I put a stone in (the) basket, then it breaks.’

80. Even if you PUT a stone into this bag, it not BREAK

506

I-ngue kä öte

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-be.like?? PROX:SG one

i-velu-taa di âpyë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-2MIN.S/A INDF:SG stone

më beli ke ma to

in basket PROX:SG but NEG1

i-bwöngue=pwö.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2

‘If you put a stone in this basket, it doesn’t break.’

I-velu-tö-ü âpyë më beli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-DIR:in- 1MIN.S/A stone in basket

ma te i-bwangue=pwë.

but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-break=NEG2

‘I put (a) stone in (the) basket, but it doesn’t break.’

81. [Q: What HAPPEN if I eat this mushroom?] You DIE

Nü-ngi i-bwö-aa.

IRR?-be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead-2MIN.S/A

‘Then you die.’

I-mwa-nü dabë ma te

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat- 1MIN.S/A mushroom? but NEG1

i-kotei=pwö ä nege ni

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good and then PRO-[1MIN.POSS]

tü-bwa=pme.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-dead=COS

‘I eat this mushroom, but that’s not ok, and then I’ll die.’

82. (According to the contract) we not WORK tomorrow


To tu-wë=pwö-dabwe mwati.

NEG1 IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-work=NEG2-12AUG.S/A tomorrow

‘We don’t work tomorrow.’

Eka i-pi-gâ alâwu

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-1AUG.S/A ??

no-ngwe bou no-wâ-lö mwati ...

IRR-be.like PROH NMLZ-work-NMLZ tomorrow

eka i-pi-gâ

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-1AUG.S/A

alâwu no-ngwe bou no-wâ-lö, lepela

? IRR-be.like PROH NMLZ-work-NMLZ people

te i-wâ=pwë mwati.

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-work=NEG2 tomorrow

‘That one said that there’s no work tomorrow, that one said that

there’s no work tomorrow, people don’t work tomorrow.’

83. [Father to child:] (Please do not disturb me), I WRITE a letter

Bou nö-kö-lee,

PROH NMLZ-disturb-NMLZ:3MIN.A

tü-vö-yö-ü leta.


‘Don’t disturb, I write letters.’

Ei, bou na-kele-ei? ki

INTJ PROH IRR-scream?-2MIN.S/A because

tü-vö-yö-ü leta.


‘Hey, don’t scream(?), because I write letters.’

84. [Q: Your brother WRITE a letter right now? (=Is that the activity he is engaged in?)] (No,) he not

WRITE a letter (he's asleep)

508

Toko, to tü-vö-yö=pwë leta.

no NEG1 IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=NEG2 letter

‘No, he don’t write letters.’

Toko, tö-vö-yö=pwa leta,

no IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write=NEG2:3MIN.A? letter

ki da tu-mu.

because CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep

‘No, he don’t write letters, because he’s sleeping.’

85. [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he engaged in?) A:] He SIT in a chair (and)

READ a book

Dä tu-vena më tsee

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit in chair

tü-vaki buk.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-read book

‘He’s sitting in a chair, reading a book.’

Dä tü-vepla, vepla-ini-m mö

CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-sit sit-DIR:down-PDIR>1 in

di chea di kä buku

INDF: SG chair INDF:SG PROX:SG book

tü-vaki-ee.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-read-3MIN.A

‘He’s sitting, sitting down in a chair, he is reading a book.’

86. [C=85] He EAT bread and DRINK water

Tü-mwa bred ä tü-ngu

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat bread and IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-drink ‘

lâknu.

water

‘He eats bread and drinks water.’

Da tü-mwa ma

CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-eat but

tu-vö-ngu-va=pme-ä lâknu.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-drink-?=?-3MIN.A water

‘He’s eating, and he’s drinking(?) water.’

87. [Q: What your brother DO after breakfast (yesterday)? A:] He GO to the market and to BUY some

apples


I-va më maket më nö-vyö naü.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go to market to IRR-buy apple

‘He went to the market to buy apples.’

I-va nübu mö maket ä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go yesterday to market and

i-vyää kâu mwa-tapwo.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-pay:3MIN.A DIST:PL BN:fruit-fruit.sp.

‘He went to the market yesterday and bought those(?) apples.’

88. [Q: What the boy's father DO when the boy came home (yesterday)? A:] He BEAT him and KICK him

(several times)

I-wipü-ää ä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-wip-3MIN.A and

i-küki-ö-dää.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-APPL-3MIN.A

‘He beat him and he kicked him-‘

Nübu kä-la-kiso (e)ka

yesterday BN:individual-PFV:N3AUG.S/A-small MED:SG

i-tää i-velu-kapää

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-hit:3MIN.A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-kick-too:3MIN.A

ne=de.

leg(?)=3MIN.POSS

‘Yesterday, he hit the child and kicked him, too.(?)’

89. [Q: Did you find your brother at home? A:] (No, we did not.) He LEAVE (before we arrive)

Conclus

ive, 95

Ee toko,

eh/yes/CNJ? no

i-kapu-tö-pö-gâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-GDIR:in-PDIR>1-1AUG.S/A

i-vë=pme.


‘Eh, no, when we arrived, he had gone.’

I-va-ba-gâ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:away?-1AUG.S/A

masyö=de ma i-va=pme.

house:CL.V=3MIN.POSS but PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS

‘We came to his house, but he had gone.’

510

90. [C=89] (No, we did not, we were very unlucky.) He LEAVE (just before we came)

[Same as 89] I-va-ba-gâ dä awi

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:away?-1AUG.S/A CONT:SG:VIS before

tü-vë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go

‘We came, but he was leaving just before.’

91. [Q: What your brother's reaction BE when you gave him the medicine (yesterday)?] He COUGH once

Perfect

ive,

78

I-pu-ö-dä döwedä öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL-3MIN.A time one

‘He coughed once.’

92. [C=92] He COUGH twice

Perfect

ive,

78



la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘He coughed twice.’

I-pwu-dä dowede

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-3MIN.A time

la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

‘He coughed twice.’

93. [C=92] He COUGH seven times



tu-mütüü.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-seven

‘He coughed seven times.’

I-pwu-dä dowedä


tu-mütüü.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-seven

‘He coughed seven times.’


94. [C=92] He COUGH many times



i-klu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many


I-pwu-dä dowedä


i-klu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-many


95. [C=92] He COUGH for an hour

I-pu mweli i-boowi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough time PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

‘He coughed for a long time.’

I-pwu-dä aua öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-3MIN.A hour one

‘He coughed for an hour.’

96. [C=92] He COUGH often

Tü-pu ëvë.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough always

‘He’s always coughing.’

97. [Q: Why do you think your brother has caught a cold?] He COUGH often

[Same as 96]

98. [Q: Why did you think yesterday that your brother had caught a cold?] He COUGH often

512

a. [Same as 96]

b. Tü-pu, tü-pu

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough

te i-pi=pwe.

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-little=NEG2

‘He coughs, he coughs much (lit. not a little).’

99. [Q: How long did it take for your brother to finish the letter?] He WRITE the letter in an hour

I-to-ti-e ni=de mweli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take?-TR-3MIN.A PRO=3MIN.POSS time

(kä) i-bowi.

REL PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long

‘He took a long time.’

I-vö-yö-dä leta aua öte.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-3MIN.A letter hour one

‘He wrote letters in an hour.’

100. [The boy's father sent him a sum of money some days ago and it arrived yesterday] When the boy GET

the money, he BUY a present for the girl

Perfect

ive,

78

Yânga-ti-e tewau kou, ä

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-take-TR-3MIN.A money DIST:PL and

ö-vi-ö-bë telâ opla kââ mda.

DETR-buy-APPL-PDIR>2/3 CL.I girl DIST:SG thing

‘When he got the money, he bought something for the girl.’

Mweli kââ tu-vö-to o-dä

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-take ??-3MIN.A

tewau le opla ka, i-tu-ää

money DAT girl MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-take-3MIN.A

tewau o-dä, i-vë-lai-bë

money??-3MIN.A PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-DIR>2/3

telo=de mda.

CL.I=3MIN.POSS thing


101. [Last year, the boy's father sent him a sum of money] When the boy GET the money, he BUY a present

for the girl

Perfect

ive,

78

[Same as 100] Mweli kââ tu-vo-to o-de

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-take CL??-3MIN.A

tewau, i-vö-lai-bë telâ opla kââ

money PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-DIR>3 CL.I girl DIST:SG

tewau.

money

‘When he got money, he gave money to the girl.’

102. [The boy used to receive a sum of money now and then] When the boy GET the money, he BUY a present

for the girl

[Same as 100] Mweli kââ to-o-to-dä tewau

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-take-3MIN.A money

le opla ka, opla ka gââ

DAT girl MED:SG girl MED:SG DIST

i-vö-lai-bä telâ=dä mda.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-DIR CL.I=3MIN.POSS thing

103. [The boy is expecting a sum of money] When the boy GET the money, he BUY a present for the girl

Future,

Dahl:

107

Kä në-yângo-ti-e tewau kââ awi

DIST:SG IRR-take-TR-3MIN.A money DIST:SG before??

ö-vyü-ka-nö-de opla kââ mda.

DETR-buy-?-APPL?-3MIN.A girl DIST:SG thing

514

104. [The boy thinks that he will perhaps get a sum of money] If the boy GET the money, he BUY a

present for the girl

[Same as 103] Mweli kââ tü-to-nü

time DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-take- 1MIN.S/A?

tewau-ö opla ka gâ ä

money-RL girl MED:SG DIST and

i-vö-lai-be telo=de mda.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-PDIR CL.I=3MIN.POSS thing

105. [The speaker knows the boy was expecting money, but he doesn't know if he got it] If the boy GET

the money (yesterday), he BUY a present for the girl

Kä tü-yângâti=pmee tewau kââ

DIST:SG IRR-take-TR=COS:3MIN.A money DIST:SG

ä ö-vyü-ka-në=pme-dee

and [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-buy-?-APPL=COS-3MIN.A

opla kââ mda.

girl DIST:SG thing

No-o-to-bwa-dä tewau opla ka gâ

NMLZ-?-take-POSS-3MIN money girl MED:SG DIST

ä i-vö-lai-be [telâ opla

and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-PDIR>2/3 CL.I girl

ka gâ]/ [telâ=dä] mda.

MED:SG DIST CL.I=3MIN.POSS thing

106. [The speaker knows the boy was expecting money and that he did not get it] If the boy GET the

money (yesterday), he BUY a present for the girl


Nö-ngi në-yângo-ti=pme-e tewau kââ

IRR-be.like IRR-take-TR=COS-3MIN.A money DIST:SG

nöga ö-vyü-ka-nö=pme-de opla kââ

then DETR-buy-?-APPL=COS-3MIN.A girl DIST:SG

mda.

thing

No-o-to-bwa-dä tewau ä

NMLZ-DETR-take-NMLZ-3MIN.A money and

i-vö-lai-bë

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-give-PDIR>2/3

telâ oplë ka gâ mda.

CL.I girl MED:SG DIST thing

107. [Talking to someone who is leaving in a while] When you RETURN, I WRITE this letter (=I FINISH it

already at that time)

I-yâlu-bi yäyö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>2/3 ??

i-va-yoko-pe=pme-i

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-finish-GDIR:out=COS-1MIN.S/A

leta kä.

letter PROX:SG

Kä s-yâlu-be ayö

when IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-PDIR>2/3:? ?

na-yö-ba=di (ö?) leta ka no-o-to-a.

IRR-write-DIR?=SG letter DEM? IRR-take-2MIN.S/A

108. [Said as an order by a teacher leaving the classroom] When I RETURN, you WRITE this assignment

(=You FINISH it by then)

Nö-yâlu-mi (ya)yö

IRR-return-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A ??

a-yoko-pe=pme-am[u]

CAUS-finish-GDIR:out=COS-2AUG.S/A

nö-wa-lö (da)-kä.

NMLZ -work-NMLZ BN:thing-PROX:SG

Naa-ba-to ma da-kä=yo

go:IRR-DIR??-HORT but BN:thing-MED:SG=PL

i-yö name ayö

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write ?? ?

yoko-pe=pme.

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-finish-GDIR:out=COS

516

109. [Assuming that the speaker's brother is trustworthy and speaking of the water in a lake which is

not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother SAY (right now) that the water BE COLD

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APP-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS

lâknu kââ i-pwë.

water DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

Nëge ö-pi-ö myei

now [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL brother:1MIN.POSS

no-ngwe lâknu kä i-pwë.

IRR-be.like water PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

110. [Of the water in a lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother SAY (right

now) that the water BE COLD (but I don't believe him)

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APP-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS

lâknu kââ i-pwë ,

water DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

ma to i-leti=pwe.

but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-believe=NEG2

Ti-pi-gâ ma-e lâknu ka

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-1AUG.S/A with-3MIN.A water MED:SG

gââ, ma to i-mo-pwâ-gâ,

DIST but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG2-1AUG.S/A

te i-mo-to-pwâ=gâ mnö=de,

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-??=NEG2-1AUG.S/A eye=3MIN.POSS

ma ö-pi-ö-dä ngue lâknu

but [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A be.like water

kââ i-pwë.

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

111. [C=110] My brother SAY (right now) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but I don't believe him)


[Same as 110] Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei lâknu ka

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS water MED:SG

gââ i-pwö, ma te

DIST PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold but NEG1

i-leti=pwe.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-believe=NEG2:1MIN.S/A

112. [C=110] My brother SAY (yestexday) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but I think he was wrong)

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei ële

DETR-say-APP-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS DAT

nübu lâknu kââ i-pwö,

yesterday water DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

ma toko.

but no

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei no-ngwe

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like

nübu lâknu ka i-pwu.

yesterday water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

113. [C=110] My brother SAY (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (the day before yesterday, but I think

he was wrong)

[Same as 112] Ö-pi-ö myei no-ngwe

DETR-say-APPL brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like

nübu lâknu ka i-pwë.

yesterday water DEM.M.SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

[(Almost) same as 112]

114. [C=110] My brother SAY (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (today, but he turned out to be wrong)

518

Ö-pi-ö-m[u] myei nübu

DETR-say-APP-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS yesterday

nö-ngwee lâknu kââ tü-pwë nëge,

IRR-be.like? water DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

ä dä toko.

and CONT?? no

Ö-pi-ö-m myei

DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1 brother:1MIN.POSS

ö-pi-ö-dä lâknu ka nögä

DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A water MED:SG today

i-pwu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

115. [C=110] My brother THINK (right now) that the water BE COLD (today, but he is wrong)

Mö nuwo myei

in mind brother:1MIN.POSS

ö-pi-ö-dee

[IPFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A

nö-ngwee lâknu kââ tü-pwë

IRR-be.like?? water DIST:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

nöge, ma toko.

today but no

Ö-pi-ö më nö-pale nuwo

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL PRP IRR-think?? mind

myei ö-pi-ö-dä

brother:1MIN.POSS [PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APP-3MIN.A

no-ngwe lâknu ka i-pwu.

IRR-be.like water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

116. [C=110] My brother THINK (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but he was wrong)

Mö nuwo myei nö-ngwe lâknu kââ

in mind brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like water DIST:SG

tü-pwë nübu, ä dä toko.

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold yesterday and CONT? no

Ö-pi-ö-dä nübu

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APP-3MIN.S/A yesterday

no-ngwe lâknu ka i-pwë,


ma te i-kotei=pwë.

but NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-good=NEG2


117. [C=110] My brother KNOW (now) that the water BE COLD (today)

I-yâpwâtni myei nö-ngwee lâknu

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like water

kââ da tü-pwö nënge.

DIST:SG CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

Ö-pi-ö-dää

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A

ö-pi-ö myei

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL brother:1MIN.POSS

no-ngwe yâpwâ-tni=pmee no-ngwe lâknu

IRR-be.like know-TR=COS:3MIN.AIRR-be.like water

ka nege tu-pwu.

MED:SG today IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

118. [C=110] My brother KNOW (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (today)

I-yâpwâtni=pme ka myei

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-know=COS MED:SG?? brother:1MIN.POSS

nübu nö-ngwe lâknu kââ

yesterday IRR-be.like water DIST:SG

i-pwö nëge.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

Ö-pi-ö-dää, ö-pi-ö

DETR-say-APP-3MIN.A [PFV:N3AUG.S/A ]-DETR-say-APPL

myei no-ngwe

brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like

yopwati-ää no-ngwe lâknu ka

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A ]-know-TR-3MIN.A IRR-be.like water MED:SG

i-pwë nëge.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

119. [C=110] My brother BELIEVE (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (usually)

520

I-letni myei nö-ngwe

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-believe brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like

lâknu kââ i-pwë nöge.

water DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

Ö-pi-ö-dää

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APP-3MIN.A

i-letni-ä â-kotei

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-believe-3MIN.A CAUS-good

no-ngwe lâknu ka i-pwë nëge.

IRR-be.like water MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold today

120. [C=110] He FEEL (right now) that the water BE COLD

Ö-pi-ö-dä nö-ngwe lâknu

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A IRR-be.like water

kââ i-pwë.

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

I-yengi-tää no-ngwe lâknu kä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-feel??-3MIN.A IRR-be.like water DIST:SG

i-pwu.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

121. [C=110] (Yesterday when my brother went into the water) he FEEL that the water BE COLD

[Same as 120] Nübu ö-pi-ö-dä no-gwe lâknu

yesterday DETR-say-APPL-3MIN.A IRR-be.like wate

ka i-pwë.

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

122. [Of the water in an invisible lake - the speaker knows that the water is in fact cold] My brother

not THINK (right now) that the water BE COLD (=he thinks it is warm)

123. [C=110] My brother DOUBT (right now) that the water BE COLD (=he suspects it is warm)


To i-leti=pwë myei

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-doubt=NEG2 brother:1MIN.POSS

nö-ngwe lâknu kââ i-pwö.

IRR-be.like water DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cold

Myei to

brother:1MIN.POSS NEG1

i-leti=pwää

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-believe=NEG2:3MIN.A

no-ngwe lâknu ka i-pwë.


124. [C=110] My brother HOPE (right now) that the water BE COLD

Mö nuwo myei nö-ngwe lâknu kââ

in mind brother:1MIN.POSS IRR-be.like water DIST:SG

në-pwö=pwë to.

IRR-cold=NEG2 HORT

Myei yâpwâti-ä â-kotei no-ngwe

brother:1MIN.POSS hope-3MIN.A CAUS-good IRR-be.like

lâknu ka i-pwë.


125. [Uttered as a promise] I PROMISE to COME to you tomorrow

Nepmü kââ i-velu-da ä

? ? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-12MIN.S/A and

ni ka nöö-m[u] mwati.

PRO-[1MIN.POSS] MED:SG go:IRR-PDIR>1 tomorrow

Eka velu-bää ële=m[u]

MED:SG put-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A? DAT=2MIN.POSS

no-ngwe tü-va-mi

IRR-be.like IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A

ële=m[u] mwati.

DAT=2MIN.POSS tomorrow

126. [Uttered in a naming ceremony (for NAME, substitute any suitable verb (e.g. CHRIN14mM04f), for X,

substitute any suitable proper name (e.g. JOHN)] I NAME this child X

522

I-yape-be nötnü nato

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-name?-DIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A name infant

kä Pitä.

PROX:SG P.

Tü-velu-bää nëtü=m[u]

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-put-PDIR>2/3:3MIN.A name=2MIN.POSS

tü-va ma itü-be/i.

IPFV-?????

127. [Looking at a broken cup, angrily:] Who BREAK this cup?

Iya kää a-mogle kap kä?

who PROX:SG? CAUS-break cup PROX:SG

128. [Looking at a house] Who BUILD this house?

a. Iya kä i-yâ matu

who PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build house

kä?

PROX:SG

b Matu kä i-yââ-tni iye?

house PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build-TR who

129. [Looking at a picture of a house which has been torn down] Who BUILD this house?

[Same as 128 a] Ye... ye-kää yâ-tni-ää matu öki/aki?

who who=PROX:SG build-TR-3MIN.A house MED:PL

130. [Looking at a house, recently painted] Who PAINT this house?

Matu kä i-pedü iye?

house PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-paint who

I-mo-lü matu ka gââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A house MED:SG DIST

ma iye la-yaluli=pme-bë matu aki.

but who PFV:3AUG.S/A-paint=COS-?? house ?


131. You MUN14m GO to bed before you GET tired (today)

Mu-yayö âlowlü.

sleep-?? quick

I-vë ä i-mu-a

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep-2MIN.S/A

ki kââ no-mu-tni-a

because DIST:SG IRR-sleep-TR?-2MIN.A

nëtü=m[u].

name/body?=2MIN.POSS

132. (Yesterday evening) I GO to bed before my brother COME home

I-mu=pme-i awi dä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-sleep=COS- 1MIN.S/A before CONT:SG:VIS

myei tü-kapu-tö-p[u].

brother:1MIN.POSS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in-PDIR>1

I-vë-n[u] më NMLZ-mu-NMLZ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go- 1MIN.S/A PRP IRR-sleep-??

ä awi myei

CNJ? before brother:1MIN.POSS

tü-kapu-tö-p[u].

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in-PDIR>1

133. [The speaker has just seen the king arrive (no one had expected this event)] (Have you heard the

news?) The king ARRIVE

Ö-langü=pme-a nö-ngwe

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-hear=COS-2MIN.S/A IRR-be.like

king tü-kapu-tö-p[u]?

king IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in-PDIR>1

I-mo-lü king

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A king

i-va=pme-m[u] ...

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-PDIR>1

i-va-tö=pme-m[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

524

134. [A person who has heard (133) but not seen the event says:] (Have you heard the news?) The king

ARRIVE

Ö-langü=pme-a nö-ngwe

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-hear=COS-2MIN.S/A IRR-be.like

king i-kapu-tö=pme-m[u]?

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-DIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

King i-va=pme-m[u].

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go=COS-PDIR>1

135. [The king has been expected for weeks. The speaker has just seen him:] The king ARRIVE

King (i-)kapu-tö=pme-m[u]!

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

[Same as 134]

136. [A person who has heard (135) but not seen the event says:] The king ARRIVE

[Same as 135] King i-vö-langu nae nö=de ä

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR?-hear word CL=3MIN.POSSand

awi dä tü-vë-m[u].

just CONT:SG:VIS? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1

137. When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=first I came and then he wrote the letters)

I-va-mi nübu ä

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1- 1MIN.S/A yesterday and

i-yö-u leta la-lii.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write-1MIN.S/A letter PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

138. When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=he finished writing them just before I came)


Kä tü-kapu-tö=pmi

PROX:SG?? IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-return-DIR:in=COS:2MIN.S/A

kââ ä i-yö=pmää

DIST:SG and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write=COS:3MIN.A

leta la-lii.

letter PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

[Same as 137]

139. When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=that is what he accomplished during my

absence)

Nö-kapu-tö-bwëpmi kââ nübu

NMLZ-arrive-GDIR:in-POSS:1MIN.S/A DIST:SG yesterday

ä i-va-yoko-pe=pme leta

and PFV:N3AUG.S/A-CAUS-finish-DIR:out=COS letter

la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

[Same as 137]

140. When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=that is the activity he was engaged in)

526

a. Nö-kapu-tö-bwapwä kââ ä

IRR-return-DIR:in-NMLZ DIST:SG and

dä tü-vö-yö leta.


b. Nö-kapu-tö-bwapwi kââ ä

NMLZ-return-GDIR:in-POSS.2MIN DIST:SG and

dä tü-vö-yö leta.


a. Nübu da nöö-bwâpwe

yesterday CONT?? NMLZ:go-POSS:1MIN.S/A

kââ i-yää leta

DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write:3MIN.A letter

la-lii

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

b. Nübu i-va-mi

yesterday PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1: 1MIN.S/A

i-mo-lü

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see- 1MIN.S/A

i-yää leta

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-write:3MIN.A letter

la-lii.

PFV:3AUG.S/A-two

141. [Conversation takes place in the afternoon. The market referred to is assumed to be situated at a

considerable distance from the place where the conversation takes place Q: Do you know my

brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him at the market this morning


Eu, i-mo-lü më maket naknu

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look- 1MIN.S/A at market today

mwatüti.

morning

I-mo-lü gââ tââ-lalöpi

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look- 1MIN.S/A DIST IPFV:3AUG.S/A-??

alâwë ta-ö-vi-ö

?? IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-pay-APPL??

da-la-nga.


142. [C=141] (Yes,) I MEET him at the market yesterday

Eu, i-mo-lü më maket

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look- 1MIN.S/A at market

nübu.

yesterday

I-mo-lü nübu ga-gââ

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look- 1MIN.S/A yesterday BN:place-DIST

tââ-lalöpi alawë, ga-gââ

IPFV:3A-?? ?? BN:place-DIST

ta-ö-vyö da-la-nga.

IPFV:3AUG.S/A-DETR-pay BN:thing-PFV:3AUG.S/A-eat

143. [Conversation takes place in the afternoon: Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him here this

morning

528

a. Eu, i-mo-lü me nëge

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look-1MIN.S/A PROX today

mwatüti.

morning

b. Eu, i-mo-lü donu naknu

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look-1MIN.S/A here today

mwatüti.

morning

Ee, ka tnua i-mo-lü

yes MED:SG true? PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look-1MIN.S/A

[nëge / naknu] mwatüti me.

now today morning PROX

144. [C=143] Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him here yesterday

Eu, i-mo-lü me nübu.

yes PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look-1MIN.S/A PROX yesterday

I-mo-lü nübu me.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-look-1MIN.S/A yesterday PROX

145. [Traveller to local:] If you SHOW me the way, I GIVE you money

Kä tü-vaviay-be/i? ële nuë,

if IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-show?-DIR: 1MIN.S/A? DAT ?

nëga nü-ngi i-vi-üü

then IRR?-be.like PFV:N3AUG.S/A-pay-1MIN.S/A

ni=m[u].

PRO=2MIN.POSS

Avyai-m[u] ële ga nö-lai-ö-be

show-PDIR>1 DAT then? NMLZ-give-NMLZ-PDIR>2/3:1MIN.S/A

telo=m[u] tewau.

CL.I=2MIN.POSS money

146. [Mother to child:] If you not STOP PLAY with that ball, I TAKE it away


Kä (t)sawe-pwi bolo ka

if play:IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-just:2MIN.S/A ball MED:SG

ëvë dä në-yângo-ti-bä.

always CONT:SG:VIS IRR-take-TR-PDIR??

‘If you keep on playing with that ball, I’ll take it away.’

Kä to s-yawe=pwi bolo

if NEG1 IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-play=NEG2:2MIN.S/A ball

ka (ngue)

MED:SG be-like?

dä në-yângâ-ti=pmo-pe ële=m[u].

CONT:SG:VIS IRR-take-TR=DUPL-?? DAT=2MIN.POSS

147. [Standing in front of a house: Who BUILD this house?] My brother BUILD this house

a. Matu kä i-yâ-ti

house PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build-TR

myei.

brother:1MIN.POSS

b. Myei TOP i-yâ

brother:1MIN.POSS PROX:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build

matu kä.

house PROX:SG

Mye=y kä i-yâ

brother:1MIN.POSS TOP PFV:N3AUG.S/A-build

matu ka.

house MED:SG

148. [(Of a coughing child:) For how long has your son been coughing?] He COUGH for an hour

530

a. I-pu-ti=pme mweli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-TR=COS time

i-bowi=pme.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-long=COS

b. I-pu=pme mweli

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough=COS:2MIN.S/A time

kamde=pme.

different=COS

Kä-la-kiso ka

BN:individual-PFV:3AUG.S/A-small MED:SG

i-pu-ö=pme-dä aua öte=pme.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-cough-APPL=COS-3MIN.A hour one=COS

149. [A knows that B was going to meet A's brother but not when. A:] You MEET my brother (yet)?

I-mo-pme-a myei, tonapo?

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-COS-2MIN.S/A brother:1MIN.POSS no

I-mo=pme-a myei, oo

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-COS-2MIN.S/A brother:1MIN.POSS or

tonapo?

no

150. [Answer to (149):l (Yes,) I MEET him.

Eu, i-mo=pme-i.


Ee, i-mo=pme-i.


151. [Answer to (149):] (No,) I not MEET him

Tonapo, to i-mo-ka-ü.

no NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see-??-1MIN.S/A

Te i-mo=pwe(e).

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-see=NEG:1MIN.S/A

152. [Said by a young man] When I GROW old, I BUY a big house


Ka tü-löpi-i â-mwa

MED:SG IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-big- 1MIN.S/A CAUS-eat

tü-yâ-ti di matu

IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-build-TR INDF:SG house

ka i-löpi.

MED:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

Ka tü-löpi mwa yâ-tni=di matu ka

when IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-big ? build-TR=SG house REL

i-löpi.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-big

153. [The speaker has just seen the king arrive (earlier than was expected):] The king ARRIVE already

King kââ i-kapu-tö=pme-m[u].

king DIST:SG PFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in=COS-PDIR>1

King i-va-m[u] mö âbu kamde,

king PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 PRP day different

te i-va-p[u] mö âbu kââ

NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-go-PDIR>1 PRP day DIST:SG

i-pi-e.

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-say-3MIN.A

154. [The king is expected to arrive] The king not ARRIVE yet

King kââ to

king DIST:SG NEG1

i-kapu-tö-ka-p[u].

PFV:N3AUG.S/A-arrive-GDIR:in=yet-PDIR>1

King to i-kia-tö-ka=pme nuo.

king NEG1 PFV:N3AUG.S/A-??-GDIR:in-yet=COS ??

155. [Q: Has your brother finished the letter?] (No,) he still WRITE it

532

Tonapo, dä tü-vö-yö-bo.

no CONT:SG:VIS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-CONT

a. Toko, da tü-vö-yö-bo.

no CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-DETR-write-CONT

b. Toko, da tü-yö-bo-ää.

no CONT:SG:IVS IPFV:N3AUG.S/A-write-CONT-3MIN.A

156. [Q: What did your brother say yesterday when you asked him if was busy?] He SAY that he WRITE

letters

Ö-pi-ö-mi-ää dä

[PFV:N3AUG.S/A]-DETR-say-APPL-PDIR>1-3MIN.A CONT:SG:VIS

tü-vö-yö leta.


535

APPENDIX 3 ELICITATION TASKS

Staged Events (van Staden et al. 2001)

File name

1 001ET_handtohand.mpg

2 003ET_soupsit.mpg

3 004M_teasameactor.mpg

4 005P_collidebreak.mpg

5 006ET_findstop.mpg

6 007T_menstop.mpg

7 008ET_talknormal.mpg

8 017B_block.mpg

9 018P_hammerhitbreak.mpg

10 030M_bikeunfold.mpg

11 031B_blockwoman.mpg

12 032M_saltsameactor.mpg

13 033P_collidenonbreak.mpg

14 035ET_foottohand.mpg

15 043ET_talkbacktoback.mpg

16 049P_hammerdropbreak.mpg

17 058P_tablethrow.mpg

18 059M_saltorder.mpg

19 061M_fbheadononefalls.mpg

20 062M_cookingokay.mpg

21 064ET_soupfloortable.mpg

22 065M_fbheadontwofall.mpg

23 074ET_findgoon.mpg

24 075T_menmiss.mpg

25 076M_fbpushing.mpg

26 077B_rampman.mpg

27 078P_ticklebreak.mpg

536

28 079ET_chairsit.mpg

29 080M_fbpushfan.mpg

30 100P_tabledropbreak.mpg

31 101M_fblongpasses.mpg

32 103C_complextunnel.mpg

33 104P_tabledropnonbreak.mpg

34 105ET_walkforward.mpg

35 106M_fbfoulleg.mpg

36 107M_inoutout.mpg

37 108P_hammertable.mpg

38 117B_rampkickup.mpg

39 119M_cookingwierd.mpg

40 120M_bikefold.mpg

41 121P_tablecornerbreak.mpg

42 122T_menhit.mpg

43 123M_wakeup.mpg

44 124ET_chairstand.mpg

45 126T_applegive.mpg

46 144P_tablefist.mpg

47 145B_ramprollup.mpg

48 146M_outinout.mpg

49 147M_saltswitchactor.mpg

50 148ET_talkclose.mpg

51 150P_hammerthrowaim.mpg

52 151T_applerefuse.mpg

53 152ET_walkbackward.mpg

537

Video stimuli clips

Childrens’ Cut & Break (Bowerman and Majid 2003)

File name

1 drink_juice

2 throw_ball

3 cut_paper_scissors

4 break_twig_hands

5 cut_bread_knife

6 tear_paper_knife

7 tear_cloth_hand

8 draw_picture

9 cut_nails_nailclipper

10 break_chocolate-bar_hand

11 cut_cake_piece_of_broken_pot

12 cut_egg_eggcutter

13 break_pot_hammer

14 eat_cookie

15 cut_twig_knife

16 cut_nail_tang

17 cut_cardboard_knife

18 tear_piece_of_bread_hand

19 cut_hair_scissors

20 tear_plastic-bag_hand

21 cut_banana_knife

22 kick_ball

23 break_baguette_hand

24 tear_banana-peel_tong

25 tear_sheet_off_pad_hand

26 cut_cloth_scissors

27 cut_bread_scissors

28 open_jar

29 cut_grass_against_scythe

538

30 cut_twig_axe

31 break_glass_elbow

32 break_rope_chisel+hammer

33 cut_banana_scissors

34 cut_rope_knife

Questionnaires

Dahl’s The TMA Questionnaire (Dahl 1985)

Context indications are given within square brackets. Words within parentheses are not to

be translated.

Part A – sentences

1. [Standing in front of a house] The house BE BIG

2. [Talking about the house in which the speaker lives (the house is out of sight)] The

house BE BIG

3. [Talking about a house in which the speaker used to live but which has now been torn

down] The house BE BIG

4. [Talking about a house which the speaker saw for the first time yesterday and doesn't

see pow:] The house BE BIG

5. [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he engaged in?) A by

someone who can see him] He WRITE letters


7. [A: I just talked to my brother on the phone. B: What he do right now? A answers:] He

WRITE letters


9. [A: I went to see my brother yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity was he

engaged in?)] He WRITE letters


11. [A: I talked to my brother on the phone yesterday. B: What he DO? (=What activity

was he engaged in?)] He WRITE letters

12. [C=ll] He WRITE a letter

13. [A: When you visited your brother yesterday, what he DO after you had dinner?

ANSWER:] He WRITE letters


539

15. [Q: What your brother DO if you don't go to see him today, do you think? A:] He

WRITE a letter (to me)

16. 16) [Q: What your brother DO when we arrive, do you think? (=What activity will he

be engaged in?)] He WRITE letters


18. [Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast? A:] He WRITE letters


20. [Q: What your brother usually DO after breakfast last summer? A:] He WRITE letters


22. [Q: What are you planning to do right now? A:] I WRITE letters

23. [C=22] I WRITE a letter

24. [Neither A nor B can see B's brother. A: What he DO right now, do you think? (=What

activity is he engaged in?)] He WRITE letters (I think so because he does that every

day at this time)

25. [A: My brother works at an office. B: What kind of work he DO?] He WRITE letters

26. [A: Last year, my brother worked at an office. B: What kind of work he DO there?] He

WRITE letters

27. [A: My brother has got a new job. He'll start tomorrow. B: What kind of work he DO

there?] He WRITE letters

28. [Talking of what happened yesterday] While my brother WRITE the letter, I WAIT in

the garden

29. [Q: Did your brother finish the letter quickly? A:] (No,) he WRITE the letter slowly

30. [Talking of the water in a lake which is visible to the speaker and the hearer:] (The

water is usually warm, but today) it BE COLD

31. [Of a visible lake, what the water is usually like] It BE COLD

32. [Of a visible lake, in which the speaker swam yesterday] (Today the water is warm,

but yesterday) it BE COLD

33. [Of a visible lake] (The first time I swam in this water many years ago) it BE COLD

34. [Of a visible lake, said in the summer] (Usually the water is warm, but this summer) it

BE COLD

35. [C=34] (Usually the water is warm, but last summer) it BE COLD

36. [It's no use trying to swim in the lake tomorrow] The water BE COLD (then)

37. [Q: Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him (so I know him)

38. [C=37] (Yes,) I just (=a couple of minutes ago) MEET him

39. [C=37] (Yes,) I MEET him (once) several years ago

540

40. [C=37] (Yes,) I MEET him often (up to now)

41. [C=37] (No,) I not MEET him (in my life)

42. [Q:] You MEET my brother (at any time in your life until now)?

43. [Q: Did you know my father, who died last year?] (Yes,) I MEET him (at least once)

44. [C=43] (Yes,) I MEET him (several times, now and then)

45. [Assuming that B was going to meet A's brother, A asks:] You MEET my brother

(yesterday, as was planned)

46. [Answer to (45):] (Yes,) I MEET him (yesterday, as was planned)

47. [Answer to (45):] (No,) I not MEET him (yesterday, as was planned)

48. [Q: When you came to this place a year ago, did you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET

him (at least once before I came here)

49. [C=48] (Yes,) I MEET him (just before I came here)

50. [Q: Did you know my father, who died last year?] (No,) I not MEET him (at any time)

51. [Q: When you came to this place a year ago, did you know my brother?] (No,) I not

MEET him (before I came here)

52. [C=51] (No,) I not MEET him (before I came here but I met him later)

53. [A: I want to give your brother a book to read, but I don't know which. Is there any of

these books that he READ already? B:] (Yes,) he READ this book

54. [A: It seems that your brother never finishes books.] (That is not quite true.) He READ

this book (=all of it)

55. [Q: Your brother DO what his teacher told him to do today?] (Yes,) he READ (all of)

this book (as he was told)

56. [Q: Is the king still alive? A:] (No,) he DIE

57. [A: Have you heard the news? B: No, what happened? A:] The king BE KILLED (alt:

They KILL the king)

58. [Q: Do you think the king will go to sleep? A:] (Yes,) he BE TIRED

59. [Looking out of the window, seeing that the ground is wet] It RAIN (not long ago)

60. [The police are investigating a burglary. Seeing an open window and footprints

beneath it, the police inspector says:] The thief M04fTER the house by this window

61. [It is cold in the room. The window is closed. Q:] You OPEN the window (and closed it

again)?

62. [Answer to (61):l (Yes,) I OPEN the window

63. [Answer to (61):l (No,) I not OPEN the window

64. (64) [Child: Can I go now? Mother:] You BRUSH your teeth?

65. (65) [A returns home after having been away for a while. B asks:] What you DO?

541

66. [Answer to (65):] I BUY food

67. [Q: What did you find out when you came to town yesterday? A:] The king DIE

68. [C=67] The king BE KILLED

69. [Q: Why is it so cold in the room? The window is open but the person who asks does

not know. The person who opened the window answers:] I OPEN the window

70. [Q: Has this house always been red? A:] (No, earlier) the house BE WHITE

71. [Talking about the speaker's habits: I like to be up early.] I RISE at six in the morning

(alt: at dawn)

72. [This week I have to go to work early.] I RISE at six in the morning (alt: at dawn)

73. [Q: What kind of sound do cats make?] They MEOW

74. [Q: What do your cats do when they are hungry?] They MEOW

75. If you tease a cat, it MEOW

76. [Q: Do cats bark?] (No), they not BARK

77. Whatever you TELL him, he not ANSWER

78. Whatever you PUT into this bag, it not BREAK

79. If you PUT a stone into this bag, it BREAK

80. Even if you PUT a stone into this bag, it not BREAK

81. [Q: What HAPPM04f if I eat this mushroom?] You DIE

82. (According to the contract) we not WORK tomorrow

83. [Father to child:] (Please do not disturb me), I WRITE a letter

84. [Q: Your brother WRITE a letter right now? (=Is that the activity he is engaged in?)]

(No,) he not WRITE a letter (he's asleep)

85. [Q: What your brother DO right now? (=What activity is he engaged in?) A:] He SIT in

a chair (and) READ a book

86. [C=85] He EAT bread and DRINK water

87. [Q: What your brother DO after breakfast (yesterday)? A:] He OG to the market andlto

BUY some apples

88. [Q: What the boy's father DO when the boy came home (yesterday)? A:] He BEAT him

and KICK him (several times)

89. [Q: Did you find your brother at home? A:] (No, we did not.) He LEAVE (before we

arrive)

90. [C=89] (No, we did not, we were very unlucky.) He LEAVE (just before we came)

91. [Q: What your brother's reaction BE when you gave him the medicine (yesterday)?]

He COUGH once

92. [C=92] He COUGH twice

542

93. [C=92] He COUGH seven times

94. [C=92] He COUGH many times

95. [C=92] He COUGH for an hour

96. [C=92] He COUGH often

97. [Q: Why do you think your brother has caught a cold?] He COUGH often

98. [Q: Why did you think yesterday that your brother had caught a cold?] He COUGH

often

99. [Q: How long did it take for your brother to finish the letter?] He WRITE the letter in

an hour

100. [The boy's father sent him a sum of money some days ago and it arrived yesterday]

When the boy GET the money, he BUY a present for the girl

101. [Last year, the boy's father sent him a sum of money] When the boy GET the money,

he BUY a present for the girl

102. [The boy used to receive a sum of money now and then] When the boy GET the

money, he BUY a present for the girl

103. [The boy is expecting a sum of money] When the boy GET the money, he BUY a

present for the girl

104. [The boy thinks that he will perhaps get a sum of money] If the boy GET the money,

he BUY a present for the girl

105. [The speaker knows the boy was expecting money, but he doesn't know if he got it] If

the boy GET the money (yesterday), he BUY a present for the girl

106. [The speaker knows the boy was expecting money and that he did not get it] If the

boy GET the money (yesterday), he BUY a present for the girl

107. [Talking to someone who is leaving in a while] When you RETURN, I WRITE this

letter (=I FINISH it already at that time)

108. [Said as an order by a teacher leaving the classroom] When I RETURN, you WRITE

this assignment (=You FINISH it by then)

109. [Assuming that the speaker's brother is trustworthy and speaking of the water in a

lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother SAY (right now)

that the water BE COLD

110. [Of the water in a lake which is not visible to the speaker and the hearer] My brother

SAY (right now) that the water BE COLD (but I don't believe him)

111. [C=110] My brother SAY (right now) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but I don't

believe him)

543

112. [C=110] My brother SAY (yestexday) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but I think

he was wrong)

113. [C=110] My brother SAY (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (the day before

yesterday, but I think he was wrong)

114. [C=110] My brother SAY (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (today, but he turned

out to be wrong)

115. [C=110] My brother THINK (right now) that the water BE COLD (today, but he is

wrong)

116. [C=110] My brother THINK (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (yesterday, but he

was wrong)

117. [C=110] My brother KNOW (now) that the water BE COLD (today)

118. [C=110] My brother KNOW (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (today)

119. [C=110] My brother BELIEVE (yesterday) that the water BE COLD (usually)

120. [C=110] He FEEL (right now) that the water BE COLD

121. [C=110] (Yesterday when my brother went into the water) he FEEL that the water BE

COLD

122. (122) [Of the water in an invisible lake - the speaker knows that the water is in fact

cold] My brother not THINK (right now) that the water BE COLD (=he thinks it is

warm)

123. (123) [C=110] My brother DOUM02m (right now) that the water BE COLD (=he

suspects it is warm)

124. (124) [C=110] My brother HOPE (right now) that the water BE COLD

125. (125) [Uttered as a promise] I PROMISE to COME to you tomorrow

126. (126) [Uttered in a naming ceremony (for NAME, substitute any suitable verb (e.g.

CHRIN14mM04f), for X, substitute any suitable proper name (e.g. JOHN)] I NAME this

child X

127. (127) [Looking at a broken cup, angrily:] Who BREAK this cup?

128. (128) [Looking at a house] Who BUILD this house?

129. (129) [Looking at a picture of a house which has been torn down] Who BUILD this

house?

130. (130) [Looking at a house, recently painted] Who PAINT this house?

131. (131) You MUN14m GO to bed before you GET tired (today)

132. (132) (Yesterday evening) I GO to bed before my brother COME home

133. (133) [The speaker has just seen the king arrive (no one had expected this event)]

(Have you heard the news?) The king ARRIVE

544

134. (134) [A person who has heard (133) but not seen the event says:] (Have you heard

the news?) The king ARRIVE

135. (135) [The king has been expected for weeks. The speaker has just seen him:] The

king ARRIVE

136. (136) [A person who has heard (135) but not seen the event says:] The king ARRIVE

137. (137) When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=first I came and then

he wrote the letters)

138. (138) When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=he finished writing

them just before I came)

139. (139) When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=that is what he

accomplished during my absence)

140. (140) When I COME home (yesterday), he WRITE two letters (=that is the activity he

was engaged in)

141. (141) [Conversation takes place in the afternoon. The market referred to is assumed

to be situated at a considerable distance from the place where the conversation takes

place Q: Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him at the market this morning

142. (142) [C=141] (Yes,) I MEET him at the market yesterday

143. (143) [Conversation takes place in the afternoon: Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I

MEET him here this morning

144. (144) [C=143] Do you know my brother?] (Yes,) I MEET him here yesterday

145. (145) [Traveller to local:] If you SHOW me the way, I GIVE you money

146. (146) [Mother to child:] If you not STOP PLAY with that ball, I TAKE it away

147. (147) [Standing in front of a house: Who BUILD this house?] My brother BUILD this

house

148. (148) [(Of a coughing child:) For how long has your son been coughing?] He COUGH

for an hour

149. (149) [A knows that B was going to meet A's brother but not when. A:] You MEET my

brother (yet)?

150. (150) [Answer to (149):l (Yes,) I MEET him.

151. (151) [Answer to (149):] (No,) I not MEET him

152. (152) [Said by a young man] When I GROW old, I BUY a big house

153. (153) [The speaker has just seen the king arrive (earlier than was expected):] The

king ARRIVE already

154. (154) [The king is expected to arrive] The king not ARRIVE yet

155. (155) [Q: Has your brother finished the letter?] (No,) he still WRITE it

545

156. (156) [Q: What did your brother say yesterday when you asked him if was busy?] He

SAY that he WRITE letters

Part B - connected texts

B1. [Do you know what happened to me yesterday?] (161) I WALK in the forest.] (162)

Suddenly I STEP on a snake. (163) It BITE me in the leg. (164) I TAKE a stone and

THROW at the snake. (165) It DIE.

B2. [I'll tell you what happened to me once when I was a child.] (166) I WALK in the

forest. (167) Suddenly I STEP on a snake. (168) It BITE me in the leg. (169) I TAKE a

stone and THROW at the snake. (170) It DIE.

B3. [Do you know what happened to my brother yesterday? I saw it myself.] (171) We

WALK in the forest. (172) Suddenly he STEP on a snake. (173) It BITE him in the leg.

(174) He TAKE a stone and THROW at the snake. (175) It DIE.

B4. [Do you know what happened to my brother yesterday? He told it himself.] (176) He



B5. [Once upon a time there was a man. This is what happened to him one day.] (181) He



B9. [The speaker is right back from a walk in the forest: Do you know what just happened

to me?] (186) I WALK in the forest. (187) Suddenly I STEP on a snake. (188) It BITE

me in the leg. (189) I TAKE a stone and THROW at the snake. (190) It DIE.

B6. [I'll tell you what happens to me sometimes when I am walking in the forest.] (191) I

SEE a snake. (192) I TAKE a stone and THROW at the snake.

B7. [I'll tell you what happened to me sometimes, when I was a child and was walking in

the forest.] (193) I SEE a snake. (194) I TAKE a stone and THROW at the snake.

B8. [I'll tell you what I see in the window right now.] (195) A boy and a girl PLAY in the

street. (196) (Right now) the boy TAKE a ball and THROW it to the girl. (197) The girl

THROW it back.

546

Bertinetto’s Questionnaire on the Progressive Aspect151

Tentative definition

S01- /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Ann; the answer is: - Ann is near me…

/ … She WORK [right now]

S02- A: What does Ann do every saturday morning?

B: She CLEAN THE HOUSE / READ

S03- [Last night at 8 o' clock,] when John came, Ann still WORK

S04- Last year we [usually] CLEAN THE HOUSE on Saturdays [now we do it on Thursdays]

S05- Last summer, John VISIT us three times

Transitive verbs and valency

=== /Somebody on the phone wants to know about John; the answer is: - John is near

me… /

S06- … He CLEAN a gun

S07- … He READ a newspaper

S08- … He BUILD a shelter for the sheep

S09- … He SING a song

S10- … He GIVE a present to his sister

S11- … He TELL a story to his sister

Object incorporation

=== /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Ann; the answer is: - Ann is near me…

/

S12- … She PEEL potatoes

S13- … She PEEL the potatoes

S13- … She PEEL 3 kilos of potatoes

S14- … She PEEL all the potatoes

S16- … She CHASE chickens out of the house]

S17- … She CHASE two chickens out of the house

S18- … She WRITE her thesis [I think she will never finish]

Causative verbs

=== /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Ted; the answer is:/

S19- She HAVE his hair CUT [right now]

S20- He MAKE the child EAT the porridge [right now]

Motion verbs

151

From Department of Linguistics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/questionnaire/progressive-aspects_description.php

http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/questionnaire/progressive-aspects_description.php

http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/questionnaire/progressive-aspects_description.php

547

=== /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Julie; the answer is/

S21- She GO OUT [right now; do you want me to hold her back?]

S22- Well, [right now] she FLY to New York / Moscow [you can call her tomorrow at her

hotel]

Phasal verbs

=== /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Fred; the answer is: -Fred is near me,

… /

S23- … he BEGIN to peel the potatoes right now

S24- … he FINISH repairing the lamp right now

S25- … he BEGIN a language drill [right now]

S26- … he FINISH a language drill right now

S27- … he CONTINUE his story-telling [right now]

Postural verbs

S28- /Somebody on the phone wants to know about Mary; the answer is/ [Right now] She

SIT in the kitchen/yard

S29 A: I need my blue shirt right now; where is it?

B: It HANG on the nail

Non-durative verbs

S30- I took the photo exactly while John THROW the stone against the window

S31- [Right now] The climber REACH the top of the mountain

S32- The pardon arrived just while the captain GIVE the sign to the firing squad

Non-intentional verbs

S33- [Look, there he goes again!] George inadvertently INSULT his neighbour with his silly

questions. [He really cannot understand the situation].

S34- [Incredible! Listen to him now! With his words] Philip unconsciously ADMITS the

guilt

Non-agentive, intransitive processes

S35- [Look at John, on the sofa!] He DREAM of his girlfriend

S36- [Look out of the window now!] The sun SHINE

S37- The water BOIL [shall I make tea?]

S38- [Look, what a shame!] The apples ROT on the tree

Stative verbs

S39- [Now, unexpectedly,] Peter KNOW the answer

S40- [Now, unexpectedly,] Tess LIKE the music

S41- The mountain SURROUND the plain

548

Copular verbs

S42- [What a wonderful present!] You BE very KIND, now!

S43- /John has made a negative comment on Ann's hair-style; Ann says with a tone of

surprise/ You BE RUDE this evening

Remoteness / invisibility

=== /on the phone/ A: Is Ann with you right now?

S44- B: No, she DANCE [in the next room]

S45- B: No, she PLAY CARDS [in the next room]

=== /on the phone/ A: Is Ann at home right now? -B: No, …

S46- … she SHOP. She left one hour ago

S47- … she PLAY CARDS in the club as usual

Durative adverbials

S48- [Yesterday, during my sleep] Ann PLAY for 2 hours all by herself

S49- [During the whole time of the class/prayer] Ann TALK to her neighbour [in fact, she

carried on even afterwards]

S50- [During the whole time of the class/prayer] Ann TALK to her neighbour [but as soon

as that was over, she suddenly became very silent]

S51- [Moment by moment] The policeman TAKE NOTES of what the speaker said

S52- He continually FORGET people's names

Graduality adverbs

S53- The level of the water INCREASE slightly since yesterday

S54- [When I arrived] the situation already IMPROVE little by little

S55- [When I arrived] the snow COVER gradually the land

Imminential meaning

S56- [Hurry up!] The train LEAVE

S57- The old man DIE [but finally they found the right medicine]

Temporariness

S58- Ann STAND in the doorway, [right now]

S59- The statue STAND in the garden [for the summer]

S60- [Think! While we are here talking about our matters] the earth TURN around the sun

S61- The boss TYPE his own letters, while the secretary is ill

Backgrounding

S62- It was a bright summer day. The bees HUM, the birds SING, the cows GRAZE in the

greenfield. Suddenly, the earth opened and the devil came out

Habitual (and quasi-habitual)

549

S63- At that time, he GO to dance every Saturday.

S64- If you insist on calling me Fred, you INTRUDE in my private life.

S65- As soon as you start asking what is the use of education, you ABANDON the basic

assumptions of any true culture

Futurate meaning

S66- Ann LEAVE tomorrow

S67- Ann LEAVE in a minute

S68- John GET MARRIED tomorrow. Who BE his witness at the wedding?

S69- Who BE captain of the team tomorrow?

Sequence and coordination of events

S70- Yesterday, while Ann READ in her room, Martin PLAY in the courtyard

=== /What did Martin do yesterday evening?/

S71- He STUDY, he READ the paper, he EAT, and then he GO to bed

S72- He STUDY from 2 to 6, he READ the paper from 6 to 7, he EAT from 7 to 8, and then

he GO to bed

Imperative

S73- [For goodness sake,] WORK when the boss comes back!

S74- /Mother to daughter, whom she wants to punish/ You NOT GO to that party!

Passive

S75- [Come in, please!] The meal BE SERVED [right now]

Negation

S76- The boss was angry, because John not WORK when he came in

S77- [Let's go out,] it not RAIN now

S78- [This is disgusting;] it is 8.30 and the train not yet LEAVE

Modal verbs

S79- Tom must FEED the animals [I guess]

S80- Ann should TEACH now [I guess]

Temporal location of the event

S81- [I am so tired:] I BAKE all day since I got up this morning

S82- When John came home yesterday, he was very tired because he WORK hard all week

S83- If you come at 8 o' clock, I still COOK [Come a little later, please]

550

Johanna Nichols’s Transitivizing/Detransitivizing questionnaire (Nichols,

Peterson, and Barnes 2004)

1. X laughed

2. Y made X laugh

3. X died

4. Y killed X

5. X sat down

6. Y seated X, gave X a seat

7. X ate (an apple / a mango / meat)

8. Y fed X (an apple / a mango / meat)

9. X is learning English

10. Y is teaching X Englishs

11. X saw Y’s car

12. Y showed X his / her car

13. X is angry

14. Y made X angry

15. X is afraid

16. Y frightened X

17. X hid

18. Y hid X

19. The water boiled. (or: Water boils at 100° C.)

20. X boiled water

21. X’s house burned up (down). (X’s house caught fire.)

22. Y burned down X’s house. (Y set fire to X’s house.)

23. The pencil (stick) broke.

24. X broke the pencil

25. The window opened

26. X opened the window

27. The dishes dried (are dry).

28. X dried the dishes

29. The wire straightened out (was straight, became straight)

30. X straightened the wire

31a. The towel (shirt, rope) hung from the branch (nail, beam, line)

32a. X hung the towel (shirt, rope) on the branch (nail, beam, line)

or

31b. The pole (shovel) leaned against the wall

551

32b. X leaned the pole (shovel) against the wall

33. The boat (basket, chair) turned over

34. X turned the boat (basket, chair) over

35. The stone fell (down)

36. X dropped (let fall) the stone

553

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A Grammar of Engdewu. An Oceanic Language of the Solomon Islands [PhD thesis]

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