Combining clauses in Taba John Bowden Jakarta Field

Combining clauses in Taba John Bowden Jakarta Field Station Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Taba – some background • South Halmahera West New Guinea language – Closest relations in Indonesia to Oceanic group • 40, 000 or so speakers language still quite vibrant • AVO language with very little interest in grammatical ‘control’ • Mixed split-S / accusative system

Tightness of bonding • Clauses joined in looser or tighter ways - Paratactic sequences of clauses (loose bond) (1) Lhan appo lyoa daerah l=han ap-po l=yoa daerah 3 pl=go ALL-down Gitan 3 pl=search area for Gitan, Gitan aman safe ‘They went down to Gitan, they were looking somewhere safe. ’ – Complement clause (tight bond) (2) Ni suka

Structure of talk • • Parataxis ‘Co-ordinating’ conjunctions ‘Subordinating’ conjunctions Complement clauses Relativisation Iconicity in multiclausal constructions ‘Discourse connectors’

Parataxis • No overtly semantic relationship between clauses signalled by any specific conjunctions but a variety of different implicatures occur. Some of the most common examples include: • Temporal relations • Causal relations • Conditional readings • ‘Clause chaining’

Temporal sequence in parataxis (3) Amul am lama Taba, a=mul am la-ma Taba 1 pl. excl=return 1 pl. excl sea-VEN Makian ayol sagala a=yol sagala 1 pl. excl=fetch stuff ‘We returned from seawards (i. e. Moti island) to Makian and we fetched stuff. ’ (3) Nwom nidi um li tesu, n=wom ni-di umli te-su 3 sg=come POSS-3 pl house LOC NEG-POT taplod haso nak ta-plod ha=so nak DETR-erupt CLASS=one again ‘He hadn’t yet arrived at their house when it erupted once again. ’

Causality in parataxis (5) (6) Ktala yotas tesu, kpe tesu. k=tala yotas te-su k=pe te-su 1 sg=find thatch NEG-POT 1 sg=make NEG-POT ‘But I haven't found any thatch yet, so I haven't made it yet. ’ Di suka lpili mon maleo, di suka l=pili mon maleo 3 pl. POSS desire 3 pl=choose husband other mta’at m=ta’at 2 sg=be. obedient mtagal m=tagal 2 sg=perch ‘They want to choose a different man, you remain obedient. ’

Conditional readings (7) Masyarakat masure, ncol masyarakat masure n=sol people be. good 3 sg=be. wrong lmaka haluso l=maka ha-lusa-o 3 pl=RECIP CAUS-say-APPL ‘If people are good, when something is wrong, they will tell each other. ’ / ‘Because people are good, when something is wrong they will tell each other. ’

Clause chaining (8) Yol yol fetch sagala okik, saplik sagala okik sapil-Vk stuff be. finished board-APPL okik, si lhan, yak e ktongo okik si l=han yak e k=tongo be. finished 3 pl=go 1 sg FOC 1 sg=stay ane a-ne DEM-PROX ‘Fetching stuff finished, stowing it on board finished, they go, as for me, I stay here. ’

‘Co-ordinating’ conjunctions • • lo ada ma / mai / me pa malai turus tapi ‘and’ ‘but’ ‘or’ ‘then straight away’ ‘but’

lo ‘and’ (9) Lhan appo dumik lo l=han ap-po dumik lo 3 pl=go ALL-down be. complete and mamatuosi lhan dumik mamatuo=si l=han dumik old. people=PL 3 pl=go be. complete wang gulo myasi lo child baby small and ‘They went down and babies, children and old people all went. ’ • Similar pragmatic readings available as with parataxis (10) Mina namtat lo nayok Mina n=ha-mtat lo n=ha-yok Mina 3 sg=CAUS-fall and 3 sg=CAUS-cry ‘Mina fell over and cried. ’

ada ‘and’ (11) Indadimu lomo indadi-mu lomo so-then other lmul ne ada l=mul ne ada 3 pl=return PROX and latala hu l=ha-tala hu 3 pl=CAUS-meet. CONT ‘So some have come back now and they met up with each other again. ’ (11)Similarities and differences between lo and ada (11)Both can be used to conjoin either clauses or NPs (like English ‘and’) but lo more common with NPs and ada more common with clauses (12)Similar pragmatic readings available with the use of both conjunctions

ma / mai / me ‘but’ • The forms seem to be in free variation (12) Lhan me lalusa lhan te l=han me l=ha-lusa l=han te 3 pl=go but 3 pl=CAUS-say 3 pl=go NEG ‘They went but they said they didn't go. ’

pa ‘or’ • Like lo and ada can be used to conjoin both NPs and clauses (13) Ntongo Keten pa ntongo Tarnate? n=tongo Keten pa n=tongo Tarnate 3 sg=live Moti or 3 sg=live Ternate ‘She either lives on Moti or she lives

malai ‘then’ • (14) Lmaka yoa, l=maka yoa 3 pl=RECIP search malai lmaka tala, malai l=maka tala then 3 pl=RECIP meet lmaka buak malai layok l=maka buak malai l=ayok 3 pl=RECIP hug then 3 pl=cry ‘They looked for each other then they met up; they hugged each other then they cried. ’

turus ‘then straight away’ and tapi ‘but’ • turus ‘then straight away’ (15) Ulan kwat turus ulan kwat turus rain EMPH then ni ni 3 sg. POSS kihis flood ncopang n=sopang 3 sg=descend ‘There was strong rain and straight away a flood descended. ’ • tapi ‘but’ (16) Tasakal tapi lloci te ta-sakal tapi lloci te DETR-smash but a. lot NEG ‘Stuff was smashed up but not a lot. ’

‘Subordinating’ conjunctions • • • de polo tutik(ma) ndadi karna sabab ‘in order that / so that’ ‘if / when’ ‘until’ ‘so’ ‘because’

de ‘in order that’ (17) Ktoban hadala de kadala. k=toban ha-dala de k=ha-dala 1 sg=wait CAUS-breakfast(breakfast) RES 1 sg=CAUS-breakfast ‘I wait for breakfast (to be ready) so I can eat breakfast. ’ (18) Direct reported speech Nculak wangsi hmul akle! n=sul-ak wang=si h=mul ak-le 3 sg=order-APPL child=PL 2 pl=return ALL-land ‘He told the children “Go home!”. ’ (19) Indirect reported speech (de as complementiser) Nculak wangsi de lmul akle n=sul-ak wang=si de l=mul ak-le 3 sg=order-APPL child=PL RES 3 pl=return ALL-land ‘He told the children to go home. ’

polo ‘if / when’ (20) • Ine polo tpe tadia, ni sso tapa i-ne polo t=pe ta-dia ni sso tapa DEM-PROX if 1 pl. incl=make SIM-REM POSS name thatch This, if we make it like this, it’s called ‘tapa’ (thatch). ’ Direct reported speech • Yak kkutani ‘mhan appo pa te? yak k=kutan i m=han ap-po pa te 1 sg=ask 3 sg 2 sg=go ALL-down or NEG ‘I asked him “are you going down (to Ternate) or not? ”. ’ Indirect reported speech Yak kkutani polo nhan appo pa te yak k=kutan i polo n=han ap-po pa te 1 sg=ask 3 sgif 3 sg=go ALL-down or NEG ‘I asked him whether he was going down (to Ternate) or not. ’

tutik(ma) ‘until’ and ndadi ‘so’ (23) Ngan ngan day nlah n=lah 3 sg=grow nlah, n=lah 3 sg=grow tutikma llocisi tutikma lloci=si until many=PL ‘Day by day it grew and it grew, until there were a lot of people. ’ (24) Ni ni 3 sg. POSS reng tadopas ndadi reng ta-dopas ndadi seal DETR-perish so ol ncopalik. ol n=sopal-ik oil 3 sg=grow. out-APPL ‘Its seal is perished so oil leaks out of it. ’ ni ni 3 sg. POSS

karna / sabab ‘because’ (25) Karna au ya mnagara aboyam, karna au ya m=nagara aboyam because 2 sg. REC 2 sg=be. cleverfishing mot lloci m=ot lloci 2 sg=catch many ‘Because you had are good at fishing, you caught a lot of fish. ’ (26) Kbahagia k=bahagia 1 sg=be. happy kwat, kwat be. strong sabab au masi because 2 sgstill mtanoan yak m=tanoanyak 2 sg=remember 1 sg ‘I’m really happy because you still remember me. ’

Complement clauses • As in most languages there a range of verbs that take complement clauses including verbs of perception, belief, speech, desire, etc. (27) Kbafikir ndadi k=bafikir n=dadi 1 sg=think 3 sg=become NEG ‘I think it won’t work. ’ te te (28) Ni kmul k=mul ni suka 3 sg. POSS desire 1 sg=return ‘She wants me to come back. ’

Relative clauses • Just one example because there is no time to deal with this in detail (29) Lcayang mamatuosi ltagil l=sayang mamatuo=si l=tagil 3 pl=love old. people=PL 3 pl=walk any lahates do l=ahates do 3 pl=impossible REAL ‘They loved the old people who can't

Iconicity in multiclausal constructions • It is noteworthy that most multiclausal constructions occur with the relative ordering of clauses in the order they occurred (or hypothetically occurred) rather than in the opposite order. (30) Polo ulan tane, Yase buko kwat. polo ulan ta-ne ya-se buko kwat if rain SIM-PROX up-ESS noise be. strong ‘If it’s raining like this, there will be a lot of noise above. ’ (31) (From a pop song) Krasa mapot polo koik au k=rasa mapot polo k=oik au 1 sg=feel heavy when 1 sg=leave. behind 2 sg ‘I (my heart) will feel(s) heavy if I leave you. ’

Cause and result (32) He went to the shop because he had run out of cigarettes. (33) He had run out of cigarettes so he went to the shop. (34) (35) Ni tabako dumik do ni tabako dumik do 3 sg. POSS cigarettes be. exhausted REAL ndadi nhan appo ndadi n=han ap-po so 3 sg=go ALL-down toko li shop LOC Nhan appo toko n=han ap-po toko 3 sg=go ALL-down shop ni tabako 3 sg. POSS cigarettes dumik be. finished do do REAL li li LOC karna because

‘Discourse connectors’ • • • mai / me malai (i)ndadi(mu) odo tutik(ma) pu pu ma de (supaya) turus tapi karna tee ‘contrary to indications’ ‘then’ ‘and so’ ‘on the other hand’ ‘until / and then / eventually’ ‘but what if’ ‘eventually’ ‘so then’ ‘but’ ‘because’ ‘if not’

Many discourse connectors have the same forms as conjunctions • Role of discourse connectors is not to link one clause with another but to link one clause with an indeterminate amount of preceding material. I give just a couple of examples: (36) Bonci hu. ine. . . bonci Mai i-ne kutu-kutu mai kutu- peanut DEM-PROX but small-small ‘These are peanuts. But they’re still small. ’ CONT kutu hu (37) Gamos hu, woya nantobi. Turus kaklida idia. gamos hu woya n=an-tobi turus kaklida i-dia dry CONT water 3 sg=INCH-descend then hard DM-RM ‘While it’s still drying there’s water falling out of it.