Mian for typologists the essentials
Gabelentz
Plenary
ALT 10
Leipzig,
August 18,
2013
Sebastian Fedden
With thanks to the AHRC (UK) (grant AH/K003194/1)
Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz
* March 16, 1840 in Poschwitz/Altenburg
† December 11, 1893 in Lemnitz
“In der schildernden Darstellung werden die Einzelsprachen
und Sprachfamilien unter den Gesichtspunkt der allgemeinen
Sprachwissenschaft gerückt.” (Die Sprachwissenschaft, 2.
Auflage, 1901: 479)
Language description puts individual languages and
language families in the purview of general linguistics.
[Translation mine]
2
Phonetics/
Phonology
Syntax
MIAN
Morphology
3
Mian
• Ok family (ok ‘water, river’)
• Trans New Guinea (TNG) (Pawley 2005; Ross 2005;
Wurm 1982)
• Telefomin District, Sandaun Province, PNG
• Two dialects:
– Eastern dialect has approx. 1,400 speakers
– Western dialect (aka Suganga) has approx. 350 speakers
• First contact in the mid-1930s (Kienzle and Campbell
1938; Campbell 1938: 245)
4
141st parallel
Map 1. Putative subgroups within Trans New Guinea (from Ross 2005: 34)
5
141st parallel
Map 1. Putative subgroups within Trans New Guinea (from Ross 2005: 34)
6
The Ok family
Ok-Oksapmin
Ok
Oksapmin
Lowland Ok
Ngalum
Morop Muyu
Ninggerum
Yonggom
Mountain Ok
Mian
Faiwol
Tifal
Telefol
Bimin
Figure 1. Based on Healey (1965), Voorhoeve (2005), Loughnane and Fedden (2011)
7
Multi-lingual environment
• Neo-Melanesian Pidgin (Tok Pisin): by now practically
everybody
• Telefol: only old male speakers, decreasing
importance
• Growing importance of English
8
Essential Mian in one sentence
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
9
Essential Mian in one sentence
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
10
Mian for typologists - the essentials
PHARYGEALIZATION AND TONE
11
Pharyngealization
• Phonemic distinction between a pharyngealized /aˤ/
(spelled <aa>) and a plain /a/
• The contrast of a low, long, glottalized or
pharyngealized vowel against another /a/ typical of
Sepik languages; possibly a diffused feature (Bill
Foley, p.c.)
Minimal pairs:
al ‘faeces’
aal ‘skin’
Near-minimal pairs:
am ‘house’
âam ‘older sister’
ayal ‘light’
mak ‘other’
ayaal ‘tree sp.’
daak ‘down’
12
Pharyngealization
• Lower frequency of the third and a higher frequency
of the first formant (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996)
Figure 2. Spectogramm of /Lal/ ‘faeces’
Figure 3. Spectogramm of /Laˤl/ ‘skin’
F3
a
F1
l
aa
/al/ (L)
/aal/ (LH)
‘faeces’
‘skin’
0
1.609
Time (s)
l
13
0
Time (s)
1.495
Harmonic structure of al ‘faeces’
Sound pressure level (dB/Hz)
H1 H2
40
20
0
2.205·104
0
Frequency (Hz)
14
Harmonic structure of aal ‘skin’
Sound pressure level (dB/Hz)
H1 H2
20
0
-20
2.205·104
0
Frequency (Hz)
15
A tone typology (Donohue 1997)
• Types are based on the domain of contrast which is
phonemically exploited, rather than the number and
identity of tones in a system
Syllable tone system:
Word tone system:
T
|
σ
T
|
ω
|
σ
T T
| |
σ σ
T T T
| | |
σ σ σ
E.g. Mandarin, Cantonese
Vietnamese, Igbo, Chuave
(Papuan, Chimbu Province), and
Sikaritai (Lake Plains, Irian Jaya)
T
|
ω
/\
σσ
T
|
ω
/|\
σσ σ
E.g. Swedish, Mende, Shanghai, Mian
and Kewa (Papuan, Enga Province, PNG)
16
Tone in New Guinea
•
Map 2. Tone languages in New Guinea (Donohue
2003: 330; conservative estimate)
• Phonemic tone in many TNG languages
• Not reported for the languages of the
Sepik-Ramu area (Foley 1991: 19), the
Bismark Archipelago, and the Solomon
Islands
Within TNG
- Ok
- Mek
- Engan, e.g. Kewa (Franklin 1971)
- Chimbu-Wahgi, e.g. Kuman (Hardie
2003), Golin (Evans and Stoakes
2004), Dom (Tida 2006)
- Gorokan, e.g. Fore (Scott 1990)
- Turama-Kikorian, e.g. Kairi (Rumu)
(Newman and Petterson 1990)
• Outside TNG
- Skou (Donohue 2003)
17
Tone in Mian
• Only a few of the logically possible tonal melodies
occur in mono- and polysyllabic words
– L (low), e.g. am ‘house’, ibal ‘dust’; fu ‘cook (v.)’
– H (high), e.g. ān ‘arrow’, ēimawe ‘haze’, *verbs
– LH (rising), e.g. áam ‘pandanus’, unáng ‘woman’, káawa
‘steel axe’, *verbs
– LHL (peaking), klâ ‘properly’, alukûm ‘all’; -ûb’- ‘give (v.)’
– HL (falling), e.g. bòks ‘box’, usàn ‘tail’; hà’ ‘break (v.)’
18
Tone association
/LHunaŋ/ ‘woman’
LH
unaŋ
→
LH
|/
unaŋ
→
L H
/|/
unaŋ
[unáŋ] ‘woman’
19
Tone association
/LHunaŋ/ ‘woman’
LH
unaŋ
→
[unáŋ] ‘woman’
LH
|/
unaŋ
→
L H
/|/
unaŋ
Figure 4. Waveform and fundamental frequency for
/LHunaŋ/ ‘woman’
20
Segments attracting tone
/LHkaʕwa/ ‘steel axe’
LH
L H
|
kaˤwa → kaˤwa
*
*
[kʰaˤwá] ‘steel axe’
→
L H
| |
kaˤwa
*
21
Segments attracting tone
/LHkaʕwa/ ‘steel axe’
LH
L H
| |
kaˤwa
*
→
Figure 5. Waveform and fundamental frequency for
A_kawa__axe_
/LHkaˤwa/ ‘steel
axe’
0.291739368
300
250
200
Pitch (Hz)
L H
|
kaˤwa → kaˤwa
*
*
[kʰaˤwá] ‘steel axe’
150
100
75
k
aa
w
a
/kaawa/ (LH)
‘steel axe’
22
0
Time (s)
1.235
Segments attracting tone
/LHkaʕwa/ ‘steel axe’
LH
L H
|
kaˤwa → kaˤwa
*
*
[kʰaˤwá] ‘steel axe’
L H
| |
kaˤwa
*
→
Figure 5. Waveform and fundamental frequency for
A_kawa__axe_
/LHkaˤwa/ ‘steel
axe’
0.291739368
300
250
Also in :
- ngáamein ‘yellow’ (ADJ)
- máamein ‘maternal uncle’ (N)
- gâala ‘tear down’ (V)
Pitch (Hz)
200
150
100
75
k
aa
w
a
/kaawa/ (LH)
‘steel axe’
23
0
Time (s)
1.235
Interplay between segmental and
suprasegmental specification
• Segmental feature attracts tone
• Related phenomenon in Warembori (Donohue 1999:
8-9)
– “Normal” and “heavy” set of nasal and voiced stops, which
are pronounced identically, but heavy series attracts stress
24
Mian for typologists - the essentials
NOUN CATEGORIZATION − GENDER
AND CLASSIFIERS
25
Our example sentence
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
26
Combining gender and classifiers
• Typologically relatively rare
• Recent research has turned up more and more
languages that combine gender and classifiers
– Papuan
• Mian (Trans New Guinea, Fedden 2011)
• Tidore (West Papuan, van Staden 2000)
– South American
• Miraña (Witotoan, Seifart 2005)
• Tariana (Arawak, Aikhenvald 1994, 2000)
– Australian
• Enindhilyakwa (Non-Pama-Nyungan, van Egmond 2008)
27
Mian gender
• M, F, N1, N2 in the 3rd person
– Marked on: Free pronouns, articles, demonstratives,
person affixes on the verb
• Nominal gender typical of Mountain Ok languages
(Healey 1965a; Healey and Steinkraus 1972; Weber
1997)
• Not typical of TNG languages, which have
pronominal gender (M/F), if at all
28
Agreement target: article
a.
b.
c.
d.
naka=e
unáng=o
tóm=e
káawa=o
‘a/the man’
‘a/the woman’
‘a/the stone’
‘a/the steel axe’
naka=i
unáng=i
tóm=o
káawa=o
‘(the) men’
‘(the) women’
‘(the) stones’
‘(the) steel axes’
29
Controller genders
Singular
Masculine =e
Feminine =o
Neuter 1 =e
Plural
=i
=i
=o
Assignment
Males
Females
Inanimates
Neuter 2
=o
Inanimates: locations, body
decoration, weather phenomena,
illnesses, abstract nouns, some tools
and weapons (e.g. káawa ‘steel axe’)
=o
• Neuter 1 and neuter 2 are non-autonomous values (Zaliznjak
1973[2002]: 69–74)
30
Gender syncretism
Singular
Masculine =e
Feminine =o
Neuter 1 =e
Plural
=i
=i
=o
Assignment
Males
Females
Inanimates
Neuter 2
=o
=o
Inanimates: locations, etc.
Mian
SG
PL
M
A
C
F
B
C
N1
A
B
N2
B
B
31
Gender syncretism
Singular
Masculine =e
Feminine =o
Neuter 1 =e
Plural
=i
=i
=o
Assignment
Males
Females
Inanimates
Neuter 2
=o
=o
Inanimates: locations, etc.
Mian
SG
PL
Andi
SG
PL
M
A
C
I
A
A
F
B
C
II
B
B
N1
A
B
III
C
C
N2
B
B
IV
D
D
Cited from
Corbett
(1991: 198)
32
Gender syncretism
Singular
Masculine =e
Feminine =o
Neuter 1 =e
Plural
=i
=i
=o
Assignment
Males
Females
Inanimates
Neuter 2
=o
=o
Inanimates: locations, etc.
Mian
SG
PL
Target genders in Mian
M
A
C
F
B
C
N1
A
B
N2
B
B
Singular
M
e
o
Plural
i
N1
F
o
Andi
SG
PL
I
A
A
II
B
B
III
C
C
IV
D
D
Cited from
Corbett
(1991: 198)
N2
33
Verbal classifiers
• M-CL, F-CL, Long, Bundle, Cover, Residue
– Marked on: Verbs of object handling and movement, e.g.
‘give’, ‘take’, ‘put’, ‘throw’, ‘lift’, ‘turn’, ‘fall’ (~50 verbs)
• Absolutive basis (Keenan 1984)
• Typologically, classification by verb extends:
– Never to A (absolute universal)
– Only to S or O (strong statistical universal) with some
exceptions, e.g. S, O or LOC adjuncts in Enindhilyakwa (van
Egmond 2008)
34
Verbal classifiers
nē
1SG
memâalo
now
fút=e
tobacco=SG.N1
tob-ò-n-i=a
3SG.LONG.O-take.PFV-SS.SEQ-1SG.SBJ=MED
‘Now I take the tobacco leaf and then I ...’ (Rolling smokes)
Dried Nicotiana
leaves bound
together
35
Verbal classifiers
Singular
Plural
M-classifier
dob-
dol-
F-classifier
om-
dol-
Long
tob-
tebel-
Covering
gam-
gemel-
Assignment
Males; plate, clothes,
mosquito net, some bananas,
some pandanus
Females; inanimates: all
nouns of N2 gender
Inanimates: arrow, pen,
tobacco leaf, bone, tongs,
bush knife, nail, belt
skin, palm bark, blanket
Bundle
Residue
golob-
gulelol-
string bag, bundles
tortoises; rest of inanimates36
Clear and intermediary cases
• Gender system fairly normal (with the wrinkle of the
mismatch between controller and target genders)
• Verbal classifiers are a more mixed category
More gender-like
- Small finite set of categories
- Bound form
- Marked outside the noun
More classifier-like
- Marked once, on a single
constituent type
- Some nouns not classified
- Form and function semantics
- Multiple categorization is
common
38
Multiple categorization
A. som=e
banana_bunch=SG.N1
dob-meki-n-e=be
3SG.M_CL.O-hang_up.PFV-REAL-3SG.M.SBJ=DECL
‘I've hung up the banana bunch.’
B. som=e
banana_bunch=SG.N1
gol-meki-n-e=be
3SG.BDL.O-hang_up.PFV-REAL-3SG.M.SBJ=DECL
‘I've hung up the banana bunch (that is supplied with some string or rope
to hang it up on).’
39
A case for Canonical Typology
• New 3-year long AHRC-funded project on
“Combining gender and classifiers in natural
language”
40
A case for Canonical Typology
• New 3-year long AHRC-funded project on
“Combining gender and classifiers in natural
language”
– Inform the typology of different types of noun
categorization systems in a language
41
A case for Canonical Typology
• New 3-year long AHRC-funded project on
“Combining gender and classifiers in natural
language”
– Inform the typology of different types of noun
categorization systems in a language
– Use a canonical approach to mapping out the possibility
space and focus on intermediate cases
42
Mian for typologists - the essentials
RECIPROCALS
43
The sese-construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
44
The sese-construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
• Verb-marking reciprocal strategy
45
The sese-construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
• Reciprocants have to be (i) subject and (ii) object
– Transitive verb-marking reciprocal strategies are typologically unusual
(Nedjalkov 2007: 12, 40)
– But see Moyse-Faurie (2008) for Oceanic languages and Marlett (2005)
for Seri
46
The sese-construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
• Note the singular object suffix -o ‘3SG.F.R’
– Iconically expressing that the respective reciprocal actions are directed
towards individuals of the same sex
– Restricted to two reciprocants (constructional encoding of a dual)
– The plural -e ‘AN.PL.R’ is also possible, but only if there are three or more
reciprocants
47
The sese-construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
• Existential verb
– subject suffix in the plural, expressing the whole set of reciprocants
‘they are doing this’
– aspectual function of expressing imperfectivity
48
An alternative construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
bl-Ø-io=be
exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
49
‘Zigzag’ construction (Evans 2008)
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
Zigzag verb
spelling out
reciprocal
subevents
bl-Ø-io=be
Existential
verb
exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
50
The Mian ‘zigzag’ construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
-s is a S/R marker
indicating ‘different
subject’ and
‘sequentiality of
events’
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
bl-Ø-io=be
exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
51
The Mian ‘zigzag’ construction
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
om-ûb’-o-s-e
F_CL.PL.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ
-s is a S/R marker
indicating ‘different
subject’ and
‘sequentiality of
events’
-e is a subject
cross-referencing
suffix frozen to
the 3rd person
singular
masculine
bl-Ø-io=be
exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
52
A standard S/R example
nē
1SG
bib
un-Ø-om=o!
place go.PFV-REAL-HORT.1SG.SBJ=HORT
ge
say.PFV
baa-s-e=a
say.PFV-DS.SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ=MED
éil=e
ae
ge-n-e=a
pig=SG.M
yes
say.PFV-SEQ-3SG.M.SBJ=MED
‘he (the male protagonist) said “Let’s go to my place!”, “yes” said
the pig, and then …’ [The talking pig]
53
Circular S/R marking
it-give-her-DS-SBJ
it-give-her-DS-SBJ
they.are
om-ub’-o-s-e
om-ub’-o-s-e
bliobe
54
The Mian ‘zigzag’ construction
• Makes overt all the semantic components of a
reciprocal event
– First two subevents are mapped onto the transitive zigzag
verbs
– Difference in agent motivates ‘backward-looking switchreference’ (Evans 2010: 33)
– Existential verb: Whole complex event is a joint activity
55
Development of the fused reciprocal
• V-s-e … V-s-e > V-s-e … V-s-e > V-sese
– Haplology-like phonological reduction
– For a historical scenario, see Fedden 2013
• Zigzag type reported for other TNG languages (Amele
and Hua)
• Fused type is so far only attested in Mian
56
Essential Mian in one sentence
unáng=i
woman=PL.AN
káawa=o
steel.axe=N2
om-ûb’-o-sese-bl-Ø-io=be
F_CL.SG.O-give.PFV-3SG.F.R-RECP-exist-IPFV-2/3PL.AN.SBJ=DECL
‘The (two) women are giving a steel axe to each other.’
57
Mian for typologists - the essentials
CODA
58
Thanks to
• The Gabelentz Award committee:
– Chair: Hein van der Voort
– Sonia Cristofaro
– Mark Donohue
– Nick Enfield
– Katharina Haude
– Birgit Hellwig
– Søren Wichmann
59
Thanks to
• Greville G. Corbett (SMG, 2009-2011)
• Stephen C. Levinson (MPIP, 2007-2009)
60
Dót klayâm sūm
Mr Kasening Milimap (with his father’s headgear, 2008)
61
Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz
* March 16, 1840 in Poschwitz/Altenburg
† December 11, 1893 in Lemnitz
“In der schildernden Darstellung werden die Einzelsprachen
und Sprachfamilien unter den Gesichtspunkt der allgemeinen
Sprachwissenschaft gerückt.” (Die Sprachwissenschaft, 2.
Auflage, 1901: 479)
Language description puts individual languages and
language families in the purview of general linguistics.
[Translation mine]
62
Phonetics/
Phonology
Syntax
MIAN
Morphology
63
Phonetics/
Phonology
Syntax
MIAN
Typology
Morphology
64
Pharyngealization
Tone
Syntax
MIAN
Typology
Morphology
65
Switch-reference
Pharyngealization
Tone
MIAN
Reciprocals
Typology
Morphology
66
Switch-reference
Pharyngealization
Tone
MIAN
Reciprocals
Typology
Gender
Classifiers
67