Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 39, no. 1 (2000)

ARTICLES

Inclusory Pronominals, 1-32
Frantisek Lichtenberk

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.” Constructions with inclusory pronominals have usually been analyzed as coordinate or comitative. The purpose of the paper is a detailed investigation of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of the two types of inclusory-pronominal construction found in Toqabaqita, arguing that they are neither coordinate nor comitative. One type is a noun phrase with the inclusory pronoun as its head and the lexical noun phrase as its modifier. In the other type, the inclusory function is borne by a dependent pronominal. It is this mismatch in the values of morphosyntactic features that identifies constructions of the latter type as inclusory. This also shows that dependent pronominals may be independently meaningful rather than merely agreement phenomena.

Siraya Reduplication, 33-52
K. Alexander Adelaar

The main patterns of reduplication in Siraya (West Formosa) include monosyllabic root reduplication, an inherent lexical property of certain wordbases, and disyllabic reduplication, which adds the notion of diffuseness (including plurality, variety, similarity) to nominal wordbases, and the notion of diffusenes (repetition of action, plurality of actants) or continuity (including state, process) to verbal wordbases. The same meanings are conveyed by rightward reduplication, which applies when the last three or four segments of a root are copied at the end (losing the final consonant if there is one). First-syllable reduplication basically forms cardinal numbers with nonhuman referents. Ca- reduplication is part of verbal morphosyntax indicating progressive aspect, generic aspect, or a state, but it also forms deverbal nouns; it is, moreover, used with ordinal numerals, and with cardinal numerals and other count words having a human referent. Contrary to the general pattern found in other Austronesian languages (Blust 1998), the meaning of Siraya nouns derived through Ca- reduplication is not restricted to that of instrument but also includes that of agent, abstract noun, undergoer, and (in combination with the suffix -an) location. Finally, pa- reduplication is a morphosyntactic device forming causative verbs.

Reconstructing Proto-Oceanic Stress, 53-82
John Lynch

Proto-Oceanic (POc) probably did not have a vowel length contrast. Little work has been done on stress in POc, “but phonologically conservative languages generally agree in displaying primary stress on the penultimate syllable and secondary stress on every second syllable preceding the penultimate, and this was probably the POc pattern” (Ross 1998:18), a view held by most Oceanists. Recent research within Oceanic, however, suggests that patterns of regular penultimate-syllable stress are not as widespread throughout the family as was initially thought, and that certain interstage protolanguages need to be reconstructed with something other than regular penultimate-syllable stress and something other than the pattern exhibited by their daughter languages. By investigating stress patterns in a wide range of Oceanic languages, I show (i) that POc stress was probably assigned on the basis of moraic rather than syllabic trochees, with word-final closed syllables being treated as “heavy” and thus receiving primary stress, and (ii) that other modern patterns developed quite independently in a number of languages.

Chamorro Historical Phonology, 83-122
Robert Blust

After a brief look at the synchronic phonology of this language of the Mariana Islands, the details of its development from Proto-Austronesian are set forth. Questions of subgrouping within Austronesian and the original settlement of these islands are also considered.

Events in Madurese Reciprocals 123-143
William D. Davies

This paper examines the two manners of forming reciprocal meaning in Madurese, each of which is based on elements that are used for nonreciprocal meaning. Although the two constructions appear to have little in common formally, I argue that they do share an important semantic property that makes them particularly suited to forming reciprocals. This property is that they are used to describe discrete multiple events, precisely the type of situation that obtains in reciprocal meaning. Therefore, these constructions are selected rather than other candidate constructions that show plural activity but crucially are not used for discrete multiple events. The properties of the various candidate constructions are explicitly contrasted in some detail. Finally, I demonstrate the special syntactic characteristics of the reciprocals that distinguish them from the nonreciprocal uses, properties that indicate that the reciprocals have been grammaticized.

Phonological Variation and Sound Change in Atayal, 144-156
Der-Hwa V. Rau

Three phonological variables in Atayal, (p), (m), and (l), have been identified by Li (1982) as evidencing sound change in progress. Older people tend to retain word-final [-p], [-m], and [-l], while younger people are replacing them with word-final [-k], [-N], and [-n], respectively. In a recent study of Atayalic dialects, Rau (in press) discovered that new variants that do not seem to be determined by the age factor are present in the patterning. The current study explores how age, gender, social class, and social network are related to the use of these three variables in the Mstbon community. The directionality and implicational patterning of the sound change are also explored. The results indicate that the phonological variation in (m) and (l) is correlated with age, but that word-final [-p] has almost completed its change to [-k] in the community. In fact, a new variant [-t] is emerging, led by the highest social class. The direction of sound change for (p) and (m) shifts towards simplification, while the new variant for (l) arises possibly due to language contact. Furthermore, lexical diffusion plays a role in the change. Some lexical items have completed the change to new forms while others contain residues.

Te Reo Maori: The Past 20 Years and Looking Forward, 157-169
Tamati Reedy

This paper outlines the current population situation of Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand as a backdrop to the developments of the Maori language revitalization efforts over the past two decades, and then traverses some issues that will affect the language as it moves into the new millennium.

REVIEW ARTICLE

Sandra Chung. 1998. The design of agreement: Evidence from Chamorro, 170-198
Reviewed by Lisa Travis

BOOK REVIEWS

Steven Roger Fischer. 1997. Rongorongo: The Easter Island script; history, traditions, texts, 199-203
Reviewed by Gary N. Kanada

Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, and Meredith Osmond, eds. 1998. The lexicon of Proto Oceanic: The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society. 1. Material culture, 204-211
Reviewed by George W. Grace

I Ketut Artawa. 1998. Ergativity and Balinese syntax (Parts 1, 2, and 3), 212-216
Reviewed by Fay Wouk