Chumash Ono1996 o
Chumash Ono1996 o
Chumash Ono1996 o
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Doctor of Philosophy
in
Linguistics
by
Tsuyoshi Ono
Committee in charge:
Professor Marianne Mithun
Professor Wallace Chafe
Professor Sandra A. Thompson
Professor William Ashby
Professor W. Randall Garr
August 1996
UMI Number: 9807454
UMIMicroform 9807454
Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17, United States Code.
Committee Chairperson
August 1996
Copyright by
Tsuyoshi Ono
1996
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vii
Infoz=mation Flow and G r a m m a t i c a l S t r u c t u r e
i n Barbarefio Chumash
by
Tsuyashi Ono
This d i s s e ~ a t i o np r e s e n t s a d e s c r i p t i o n of some of
the f u n c t i o n a l aspects of the grammar of Barbarefio
Chumash, a C a l i f o r n i a language, by c l o s e l y examining
actual discourse d a t a with respect t o one area of
research called ' i n f o m a t i a n f l o w 8 .
I begin with a brief grammatical sketch of
Barbareiio, and t h e n discuss t h r e e d i f f e x e r i t b u t t i g h t l y
connected areas of t h e grammar. 1 f i r s t demonstrate t h e
importance of the cure-oblique distinction in t h e
argument structure of t h e language by e x m i n i n g s e v e r a l
different aspects2 pronominal affixes, eanstituent
o r d e r , and core a r w e n t - b u i l d i n g devicese
1 t h e n d e s c r i b e t h e v a r i o u s r e f e r e n t i a l forms and
their r e s p e c t i v e discouxse functionse These i n c l u d e
viii
pronominal affixes, full NPs, independent pronouns, and
the demonstrative be?. 1 suggest that pronominal
affixes are the default choice because they are
grmatically recpixed and are most commonly used for
the least cognitively demanding task of keeping track af
e s t h l i s h e d p m i c i p a n t s in the discourse. In contrast,
f u l l W s are used for the more cognitively demanding
tasks of introducing/reintrod~cing pa*icipants and
clarifying potentially ~ i g u o u s referents in the
discaurse. Independent pronouns and the demonstrative
-
he2 are used for such tasks as making a contrast and
Abstract ...m....................................viii
Table of Contents ............................m.e X
l . Intxoduction ..............m..m..............l.
L 1 . Language and people
................W....m 2
1.2. Previous work .............m..............3
1.3. Theoretical foundation .............W..... 4
4 . 2 * Full noun p h a s e s . e . e e o . e . o e o . . . . e . e . e . e . 79
4 * 3 . Independent pronouns o . . e e e e e e e e e . e . . e e . . . 94
xii
1 first person
l0 = f i r s t person direct object
1FL = f i r s t person pluxal
2 second person
20 = seeand person direct abject
2PL = second person plural
3 - third person
3PO = third person plural direct object
AGT = agentive
A2 = Alienable possessiun
ART = article
CA = causative
COB! = comitative
DAT dative
DIR = directional
DIS = distal
DP = dependent
DU = dual
Drn = dusative
EM = emphatic
EVT = future
habitual
indefinite
inst m e n t a l
locative
negative
nominalizer
noun past
plural
proximate
past
reduplication
resultative
reflexive
remote
repetitive
superlative
transitive
xiv
1. Introduction
Baxbarefio Chumash is a North h e r i c a n Indian
language indigenaus to Santa Barbara, C a l i f o r n i a . This
d i s s e r t a t i o n descxibes some f u n c t i o n a l aspects of t h e
grammar of t h e Barbzueiio Chumash by c l a s e l y examining
a c t u a l ckiscourse data. S p e c i f i c a l l y g t h i s w i l l be done
based on t h e findings and t h e asswtptions i n one area of
research c a l l e d 5nfonnation flowF (Chafe 1987, 1994}g
which suggests that t h e u s e of d i f f e r e n t grammatical
foms is motivated by t h e changing c o g n i t i v e s t a t e of
the information i n t h e speaker% and t h e hearer*^ minds.
Aspects of t h e grammu which will be dealt with in t h i s
disse-ation are axgument structureg r e f e x e n t i a l choice,
and c o n s t i t u e n t ozder. These have been chosen because
they axe t h e a r e a s where the i n t e r f a c e of grammar and
discourse function i s most evident.
Since studies of linguistic farms based on
discourse data have been xather scarce, p a r t l y because
of a general l a c k of t e x t u a l materialg a8 w e l l as t h e
dominance of uconstmcted sentencem methodolagy, this
d i s s e r t a t i o n w i l l make an impoz=txint new contxibution t o
the field. F ~ i c u l a r l ybecause o f i t s r i c h morphology,
the s t r u c t u r e of Baxbarefio Chumash i s r a t h e r d i f f e r e n t
from inany well-docmented languages* For t h i s reasonp
the present diseertation will provide the f i e l d with a
much-needed database which should help to genexate new
ideas and to evaluate a l r e a d y e x i s t i n g t h e o r i e s of
language.
1 * 3 * T h e o r e t i c a l foundatian
Thie d i s s e e a t % o n is based on an approach o f t e n
called functional linguistics. The c h a a c t e r i s t i c s of
t h i s approach can be summarized as f ~ l l o w s : it focuses
on the f u n c t i o n a l aspects of language; it examines t h e
relationship between particular forms and their
functions. The f u n c t i o n s propased by t h i s approach are
o f t e n psycholugi~allyandior socio-culturallymutivated.
This tendency is partly due to the working a s s m p t i ~ n s
that language is a part of the human cognitive
mechanism, and t h a t it i s used foz s o c i a l f u n c t i o n s in
a large sacia-cuXtura1 context*
As a natural consequence of these warking
assumptions, f u n c t i o n a l ~ yariented l i n g u i s t s very often
use natural discourse as a database rather than
constructed data, which are the standaxd f o r many o t h e r
schools af linguistics~ When epaken discourse is
examined by functianally oriented linguists, for
example, audiotapes or videotapes are made af naturally
aecuxring discourse. These are l a t e r transcrfied, o f t e n
u s i n g a d e t a i l e d transcription system (@.g*, nu B o i s e t
al. 1993)* Using these data, eithex very rich
q u a l i t a t i v e analyses ( e m g m ,s t u d i e s i n Chafe 1 9 8 0 ) a r
q a n t i t a t i v e a n a l y s e s axe p e r f a m e d ( e * g m , s t u ~ e si n
Giv6n 1983; Du B a i s 1987 1 . Sometimes, even e q e r h e n t a l
method01aq-y is emplayed to evaluate pre-existing
theories (e.g., Tomlin 1987)- The care taken by
f u n c t i o n a l l y a r i e n t e d l i n g u i s t s with t h e data as w e l l as
t h e i r methodological c o n s i d e r a t i o n 8 may be seen as a
natural progression of t h e f i e l d .
There ase two othex chuacteristics of this
appxoacb which c u t a c r o s s i t s emphasis an p s y c h a l ~ g i c a l
and s a c i o - c u l t u r a l factors m One c h m a c t e r i s t i c i s an
i n t e r e s t i n d i a c h r o n i c aspects of language* T h i s can be
seen i n t h e n o t i o n af g r m a t i c i z a t i o n , which h a s played
a major role i n t h e work of numy f u n c t i o n a l l y o r i e n t e d
linguists ( @ . g m , s t u d i e s in m a u g o t t and Heine 1991;
Hopper and T r a a g o t t 1993). It i s based on t h e idea t h a t
language is f l u i d and c ~ n s t a n t l y changing; tkough
h i s t o r i c a l praeesses, new grammatical c o n s t m c t i o n s are
canstantly evolving to fulfil1 various functional
purposes. The other c h a x a c t e r i s t i c is an intexest in
examining not only one language but a n&ez of
languages i n the woxld and in learning from t h e
diffexences mci s ~ l ~ i t i among
e s them ( e. g g , Hopper
and Thompson 1980: Given 1984, 1990; Mithun 1987; C o m r i e
1989) g
1.5. Organization
T h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n i s organized in t h e following
e 0
a
The front and back vowels M , /e/, /U/, and /o/
tend to be low. This conclusion is based on the
following two observations. First, often these sounds
are written with symbols [I], [ g ] , [v],and [ a ] ,
respectively, in Beeler s fieldnotes . Second, the
audio-recordings of Mary Tee's speech clearly support
this. In general,
*
the vowels seem to be higher in open
syllables and lower in closed s y l l a b l e s .
Barbarego Chumash contains the following
consonants:
Table 2: Barbareno consonants
P t k q 2
k A
S S X h
S X
c c
6 &
W Y
W 9
Barbarefio's relatively large set of consonants consists
of plain consonants and their glottalized counterparts.
The sole exception for this reqular-glottalized pairing
is [ S ] for which no [h 1 counterpart is attested in the
existing data. Glottalized sonorants do not occur word
initially.
Some previous studies o f Chumash (Applegate 1972;
Beder 1976) have treated aspirated consonants as
d i s t i n c t i v e sounds. However, following K l a r (1977) and
Wash ( 1995a) , I w i l l treat them as a combination of a
regular consonant plus an /h/; most of the instances of
aspirated consonants r e s u l t f r o m a morphological process
illustrated in the following example (a list of
abbreviations i s provided on page x i i i ) :
(1) JH59.128L-l28R, t x t 11' line 004 59.128L
&^at t&tty.
s-sa?-tuhuy
3-FUT~r&in
'it is g. to rain. '
The symbol [h ] indicates aspiration. Aspirated
consonants are found when two identical (or similar)
consonants are placed next to each other. Remaining
aspirated consonants in a few lexical items are
interpreted as a combination of a regular consonant and
an /h/ (e.g., [sha] 'toothp as /*ha/).
Barbareno is known f o r a phenomenon called sibilant
harmony i n which s i b i l a n t s within words harmonize w i t h
the last s i b i l a n t of t h e word in terms of tongue
position. Thus words contain e i t h e r only apical ( o r
alveolar) s i b i l a n t s [S], [ & l , [c], and [&l, or only
ldnal/blade ( o r p a l a t a l ) s i b i l a n t s [ g 1, [c], and [ c]
(For details, see Beeler l970b; Harrington 1974.)
Examine the following examples:
(2) JH59.24&241R, txt 26, line 006 59.243X
- -ui hi~etgtidew,
a e ~ i ~ a ~ ~ i&S
&e=s-iy-aqniwili8 hiçAe=fitani
EM=3-PI.--think DP=EM=little
'they just do a little thinking.r
(3) JH59.407R-409&, txt 58, line 004 59.408L
k5.m kaGyw6fi.
k b ka =B-iy-wefi
and thens3-PL-go.to.bed
'then they would go to bed'
?alauksukepwon holS?lfi?iwn
?&l-R-su-kep -won ha -1 -win
NU -B-CA-bxthe-3P0 DIS-ART-chlld-PL
'She's bathing the childrenF
(6) JES9.7R-8R, txt 5, line 001 59.81.
( 13 1 and &
,.- in (14) are all pronouns. (See below
for mare details 1 These prefixes are the same as t h o s e
used for nouns to indicate possession* In ( I1 ) & is
a ciurative pref In ( 12 ) , sa2- i s a future t e n s e
nas?aw ilkti
na ==S-?uw =h
when=3-bite DP=ART=pexaon DP=mWrattleanee
'When a pexson gets bitten by a rattlesnd~e~~
'When the lightning struck the house an 3aley Street in Santa
Bazbaxa, *
lcid~asiyn6-W& hi~iyan8i.n~
kint+ka =S-iy-nowon h%=s-iv-angin
adith%n=3-PL-stap D-3-PL-8at.a.meal
*<and then they would step mating>'
which is a d i r e c t quote.
Below we will examine s e v e r a l repxesentative
c o n d i t i o n a l and t h e a d v e r b i a l c ~ a u s e si n Barbareiia.
These tmes of clause^ appear e i t h e r b e f o r e or after the
main c l a u s e , thaugh it h much more common to f i n d them
before t h e main clause:
-
UmD
*If a conet leeks red or ha8 a xeddish color,
cam
if they have thoughts.'
-
a-iv-R+anSin -? he?=l =~+?invu- - 7
when 3-PL-R+eat.a.meal-? PRX=ART=R+Indian-EM
TInE
#-en Indims are eating a mealr>
-
?i=s-iy-e-tieawi&
?X=3-PL-N-talk
mmi
they don't talk.'
The particles ham and may mark c o n d i t i o n a l and
time adverbial clauses respectively. As can be seen i n
-
( 5 2 1 ( 55 ) , they can occux befoxe or after the main verb.
The following examples i l l u 8 t r a t e the use o f reason
purpose clauses:
lmxle
'We &ink the ocean
2 . 6 . Summary
v m / P ~ msTR
'she had her face c o v e r e d w i t h a cloth8
i$n
gKili?~~w6 - h i ~ p 6 h h+lxÈ6 hilstok,
S-qili-eqwel-?-h Jii-S-wft h a . 4 =%go? bi=i =stuk
3-H&B -sake -?-=S DPm3-wood DPmARTç8yca3~orDP=ARTÈbow
V IMSTR PAT
'he always made a bowl of sycamore wood. '
hiiaba? hilkuhku ?
hi=l =?&h&? hi=l =R+ku
.
-?
DP=ART*aany DP=ARTsR+person-EM
PAT
and w i t h the short arrows "they k i l l e d many people.'
instruments.
@ the storelaouses @
4 . L Pronadnal affixes
sha~t~htt~.
8-8a?-tuhuy
3-FUT-rain
'it is g. to rain.?
ijAi noho saxtatax;
ikhu noho &-&&tax
but vezy.much 3-cold
*But i f s very ccold;
' 1 1 first make a fire.'
( 5 ) JH59.181L-182L. tact 17, line 003.8 59.1811.
tguma?ii p-t
£ - m a i l g-naxyit
and=when 3-be. morning
'in the morningf
In ( 3 ) - ( 5 ) , none of t h e s u b j e c t pronouns i s r e f e r e n t i a l .
They are t h e r e simply because Barbareno grammar requires
them (i.e., t h e y can be thought of as 'dummy subjects').
Thus, the above examples suggest that Barbareno
pronominal affixes are h i g h l y grananaticized. (Unlike
other c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , Barbareno i s similar to English
at least i n t h i s one r e s p e c t . ]
However highly graamiaticized the uses of t h e
pronominal a f f i x e s may be, it seems t h a t t h e i r main
f u n c t i o n s t i l l i s t o i n d i c a t e t h e involvement of some
p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e e v e n t d e s c r i b e d by t h e verb. They
a r e always on t h e verb, and that i s what i s minimally
r e q u i r e d by the grammar. This suggests t h a t , i n terms
of t h e r e f e r e n t tracking system i n Barbareno, pronominal
affixes may be t h e d e f a u l t referential choice.
And i n fact when one looks at Barbareno d a t a with
this hypothesis in mind, one finds that the use of
pronominal affixes alone Is by far the most common w a y
of keeping track of referents in discourse. The
following examples are t y p i c a l discourse segments in the
data. They are indicative of the high frequency of
reference by pronominal, affixes alone:
(6) JH59.407R-409L, txt 58, line 001 59.408L
h6?€ilfk n i i i i s i y - d u t a p i n ~ a i,
ho =?alikon maii =S-iv-ahtapin -wag
DIS=In<iian.Orchard afte-3-PL-eat.supper-PST
'<At Indian Orchard, after they ate supper,>
iroe=tSi siyRili?alas&l,
?i=&eEi S-iy-qili-?alaa&l
? I=always 3-PLHAB -pray
<they used to pray,:
t ~ d isifraldalwag %as*-saKutlhan,
Eu ==BM&. S-iv-?alas&l-wag Uika=s-iv-saqt*m
but=after 3-PL-pray -PST DPiso=3-PL-tell.a.story
<but after they prayed> they told bed-time stories
kXffl kasiyw6n.
k h ka =s-i~-weh
and then*-PL-go.to.bed
then they vd go to bed'
( 7 ) JH59.88R-89R, txt 9, l i n e 001 59.89L
m&- ii si$v&ahSgh he?li~in@: ?,
mail S-iy-R+anBin -? he?=l =R+?inyu - - ?
when 3-PL-R+eat.a.meal-? PRX=ARTçR+Indian-E
^When Indians axe eating a meal,>
i-siye-tip& wil -
?i=s-iv-e-tipawil
.
?Id-PL-N-talk
they don't talk.
-
? iy6 -he p s ~ h - ~ h a ~ h a l a-nus^^ttn,
l&
? i y e h 2-R+saqhalalm-us -man
though 2-?%+holler -PAT-3P0
the you holler at them
they don't hear you.'
^I \\
?iyalth&-&in hi?alsa?aktinlr2: hiiuw6-&U,
ly-?al-&akin hi=u-sa?-akti-nuna him1 =?uwthu
likely PL-MM -know DP=NM -EWT-come-bring DP=ART==food
they know it is going to bring food,
e) siyexp8t5 hinoh67 hina~tuhtubfl~
fi-iv-expeE hi=naho+-? hi-a =a-R-tuhuy
3-PL-sing DPçnuch+E DPawhenm3-R-rain
They sing a lot when it is raining. '
siyuÈ?-tap hilt$ofi$oÈn ? -
hiUOhkiki - 7 ,
a-iy-uS?itap hi-l =R-&ovni--? his1 =~-Icxlb> -W?
A
-
3-PL-ffiix DPçART=R-other- DP=ARTçR-thing-
They mix it with other things'
hihulSBw,
hi=ho =l =Sow
DP=DIs=ART-wild. tobacco
t h e y take it and mix it with t h e Sow8
rt
?ik% he ? a l i i a t & o hikl- lkL
? m u &e ?*l-i8a -?&xi hiam-
but EH UK -seat-different DPçthin
but somewhat different.
A v\
suxwalkA tu his?eKw6- lefi.
s-uxwal 4 a t u himas-? -eqwel-Vfi
3-resemble-cat DP=3-NM-make -RES
It looks l i k e a cat.
The above segment is taken from a text entitled
?anabamb&w, a mythical figure. As can be seenr
is discussed as the main topic in the segment
leading up to line d) . In line d}, Jana&mb&~is
expressed with a full NI? probably because there are t w o
p e i c i p m t s being contrasted in the utterance. Unless
they are expressed explicitlyr it would be difficult to
i d e n t i f y the referents correctly.
Here is another example:
'They were a l l numb with fear when that 1ewLew came in. They
say it is samething terrible, it is just like a little child
but it stxikes yau numb. In spite c i f the lewlew being there,
J a d e xeached evex and tcmk a &ink of pispibata and L t gave
hin strength.
eThey say that the tecolote talks just like the Indians.
nafio? -
ahaxtawti g i n
noha-? S-saxtawasin
vexyeEl4 3-say-clearly
he says it very plain:
\F
g) @&P namutey bihaiikp hi@,w-?i*won,
swam -Tip na =mutey -? =l =?&p hi=s-R+iwen
3-IDF-say when=be.neax-2 D ~ D I S = ~ h o u sDP=3-R+sound
e
They say that when he sounds near a house,
l..
h) ?i-?a=l&LyU&-
?i=?al-qilalyiqs
?I =a-bad.omen
it is a bad omen- p
Again, @teco1oteRis a type of owl which is introduced
in line a) f o r the f h s t t h e in t h e discourse. The
segment leading to line f) i s about the Chumash
perception of the t e c o l o t e t a l k i n g j u s t l i k e themselves.
Line f) b e g i n s a new sequence which describes haw t h e
Chumash were a f r a i d af t h e tecolote. So t h e r e seem to
be a minor thematic break after l i n e e), and in l i n e f)
the tecolote is expressed as a f u l l W even though it
has been t a l k e d about i n t h e pzeceding c o n t e x t . That
is, the use of a f u l l W h e r e coincides w i t h a thematic
break. W e have thus seen that a thematic bzeak is
another factor which motivates the use of full noun
phrases for t h e p m i c i p m t s which have a l r e a d y been
e s t a b l i s h e d i n t h e discouse.
H e r e i s another example:
(16) JH59.36R-40&, txt 175, line 008 59.37R
kivM? ?i-a
-
klgkS? i n a k i y h t i wun he?lkopkop& :f)
=k-iy-kutiy-wun he?=l =R+kopk6p
IPL ?I çwhen=l-PL-se -3P0 PRX=AKTÈR+toa
'The -three who were befriended. Hawk and Raven and Coyote,
happened t o be walking past the house of skunk, and Coyote
just happened t o say: *Come, let's go i n and see the old man,
the dancerIn Coyote said: "You two go infw Coyote wanted
Skunk t o kill them. And so they (all) went i n . "Sit down,
my friendsf- And Coyote s a i d to Skunks "Please dance a
Little, SO that these fellows are amused." And Skunk said:
-Alright, I will. I'm already getting a little old, but at
least 1' l1 try to dance. But it ' 8 very cold; I l1 first make
a flee. Then Irll try t o dance.- Then he straightened his
tail. Then he raised h i s tail, and he started to dance. He
kept whirling around and around and making his anus get
closer and closer t o the faces of his friends. Skunk cried
out, saying: "Get a little closer1*, because he wanted to
squirt, his poison on them. And then Raven t h r e w a hot rock
SO that it quickly entered h i s anus. Skunk was running a l l
over from suffering so much. And he cried out: "This fellow
is a bad person; he already has killed many p e ~ p l e . ~And so
Skunk died. And Hawk told Coyote:
hoQi h i iti
h&% hi ill
coae.here DP this.one DP 2 too
'You come here toolu
Â¥Wh should I asked Coyote. And he was already
afraid. "Get a move on, hurry and corner But Coyote didn't
obey him. And so Hawk finally caught Coyote and threw him
into the f i r e . And there he burned up. Coyote was a bad
.
holllbre '
'When you are heated you don't want to drink too much cold
water.
b1 ? iyaltb d n w a i ib6? iholkuhkd? ih6?.
iy-?a ~ - & a b h - w ah~i m h a ? hi=ho?=l = R - h-+ ? hi==he?
PL-NM -know -PST DP=PRX DPÇDISmABTÈR-person+ DPÇPR
The Indians knew t h a t . '
4
P
& y ~?id& ip:
feiyafoi ?al-?ip
? a l s i t ~ *^cl
~ &hih6?
?al-S-iehaxi hi+he?
perhaps maybe KM -think MM -3-enemy DP+PRX
Perhaps he thinks it is an enemy.'
Ill
( 3 1 ) JH59.139&-151R, txt 198, line 010 59.140R
'When one ' 8 spirit leaves oneFs body and wanders about, it is
a sign that the person i s going to die.
napantl? hilnahn~-h'an h i i a b a . ~ ~ . ? i ki*&eti hiha?,
na --anti? M.4. =R-R+~& h i 4 ==?aha&i?Sk d e E hi+m
when=2-meet DPÈARTÇR-R+ DP=ART=ghoat like DP+PRX
If one meets such a. spirit walking about,'
4.5. Summary
tfiunasamlw& -wan
fiu
iiwi,
çn =s-am -ivawan his1 =?a+i
soWthatçwhen=3-IDF-cu DP=ARTÇID
<So that when they cut someone,>
v (NI
This may look like a rather m d h e n t a r y structure f r o m
the perspective of syntax, but as we saw above, it is
possible paztly because most of the xeferential tracking
activities in Barbare60 are pe~fomeciby the pronominal
affixes on the verb. That is, we axe observing the
moqhological richness of the language c ~ ~ z e l a t i nwith
g
its syntactic sparseness. Or to put it another way, the
moqbological tightness of the language is correlating
with its syntactic looseness.
Studies have shown that cross-lin~istically
transitive direct ~bjectsand intransitive subjects are
the structuxal d o t s in which new information is often
expressed (Du Bois 1987). As we just saw above, in
Barbarefia, full W s typically fallow the verb and they
are present because very often they express new
information. Interestingly, when 1 looked at the
syntactic relation of postvexbal NPs, I faund that they
are mostly transitive direct objects and intransitive
snbjects. In fact, most af the a s in ( S ) - ( ? ) above
seem to have one af these syntactic relations. In (51,
*huitacoches (a type af bixd) in line a) is an
intransitive subject, and @xainP in line b) and *foodF
in line d) axe txansitive direct object8 xespectively.
In ( 6 1 , 'Tndians* in line a) and @cut8 in line g) axe
i n t r a n s i t i v e subjects, and ' m e a t in lines e) and h) ,
rsameuner in line f), and OcutF in line i) are
transitive dixect objects. Sn (71, rwaterr in line a)
and ?€ra ' h line c) axe txansitive direct objects,
and 'c1oud8 ' in line e) is an intrmsitive subject. The
NP rfrogsf in line a) may seem to be a case of a
transitive subject, hut as I will show in 5.3, it does
not hold a syntactic relationship with the following
part af line a): it is not a syntactic a ~ ~ e of
n tthe
verb * ~ l @ l e The NP 'LuisaP in line b ) seems to be
another candidate for a transitive subject, but even
this case is suspecte First of all, 2ip 'sayF in b) is
a verb which can take only one nominal (i.e., the
speaker); another element taken by the verb is the
speaker's utterance* The verb 2 i n is thus more like an
intransitive verb, and the 'Luisa' moxe like an
intransitive subject. Further, it should be noted that
in my data I have not seen t h e verb m marked with the
plural ciixect abject euffhc -wune3 This fact sugge~ts
that Z ~m
Day nut be a transitive verb after all (cf.
Munro 1982)e Regazdless of its actual syntactic status,
it thus seems reasonable to suggest t h a t a 'to say is
in essence like an intransitive verb, and accordingly
the NE! *LuisaO is an intransitive subject.
To sum up, mast of t h e f u l l NPs i n Barbaxefia which
appeax postverbally seem t o be either intransitive
subjects o r transitive d i r e c t objects* As we saw
earlier, t h e s e NPs are pxesent p r h a x i l y because they
express new informatione These facts suppart t h e crass-
l i n g u i s t i c finding of Du B o i s (1987), which suggests
t h a t t r a n s i t i v e direct objects and i n t r a s i t i v e s u b j e c t s
are t h e grammatical slots in which new i n f a m a t i o n i s
o f t e n presented. More hpartantly, they s h o w t h a t , i n
terms of g~ammatical reliitians# the mast typical
constituent order in Barbare60 is a verb perhaps
followed by either an intxansitive subject or a
t r a n s i t i v e direct object. Transitive eubjects are
normally expressed as pronominal prefixes ( c f . Dn B o i s
1987) The following s ~ i z e sthe suggested
c o n s t i t u e n t order h Barbaxe50 in te- of grammatical
relation:
5.2. Obliques
Based on t h e f i n d i n g s i n chapter 3 and i n the last
section, I would l i k e to discuss i n t h i s s e c t i o n t h e
order o f obliques with relation to c o r e arguments in
Barbareno u t t e r a n c e s . As we saw i n t h e l a s t s e c t i o n , i n
Barbarefio d i s c o u r s e core argument f u l l NPs are t y p i c a l l y
either transitive direct objects or intransitive
subjects, while transitive subjects are typically
expressed as pronominal p r e f i x e s .
I n order t o t a l k a b o u t the o r d e r of c o r e argument
NPs and o b l i q u e NPs w i t h i n u t t e r a n c e s , of c o u r s e w e need
a sufficient number of utterances in which both of these
types of arguments ace overtly expressed. However, as
I pointed out earlier, it is actually very difficult to
find combinations of two full NPs in Barbarefio
utterances. Specifically, it is not common to find both
transitive subjects and obliques overtly expressed in
utterances because in Barbareno discourse transitive
subjects are typically expressed as pronominal prefixes.
Further, obliques axe in some sense "extra argumentsw,
which are only occasionally used in utterances. For
this reason it is not realistic or even useful to
determine the order of obliques in relation to
transitive subjects, leaving us only with the question
of the order of obliques in relation to other types of
core arguments (i.e., intransitive subjects and
transitive direct objects).
We saw in the last section that the basic
constituent order in Barbaz-e5o is a verb followed
perhaps by either a transitive direct object or an
intransitive subject. As we saw in chapter 3, if both
core arguments and obliques are present in utterances,
obliques typically appear after core arguments. The
following examples illustrate the order of obliques in
relation to intransitive subjects:
(8) JH59.6L-7L, txt 3, line 002 59.6R
?iyena siypilikllkw ilpil46-li hjunl-&up,
?iyena S-iy-pililclaw hi-l -oimoli $ i d S u ~
if 3-pl,-f all DP-ART-beans DP=down
v S GOAL
'If beans f e l l on the floor,#
(9) JH59.658R-659&, t x t 63, line 002 59.658R
hilsa?e~w^l hiskitdn
hi=l =sa?-eqwel hi=s-kitwon
DP=ARTçFUT-m& D-3-co3~e.out
v
hilnohd? s?&i ihca-?is hiho?66k,
hi=l ==nofio+-? a-?ua8 hi=l = ? a x u h bi=ho?=n-?tk
DP=ART=veq+EM 3-stink DPÈART=bloo DPsDIS=2-nioutA
S SOURCE
'which will snake very stinking blood come out of your mouth. '
(10) JH59.281R-283I., txt 244, line 005 59.283%
sKi.11-wil ilsy6-lpe hiho?sis?6k ika?6?,
8-qili-wil hi=l =sveloe bi=ho?=~-is-?&k hi=ko?o?
3-?iAB -be DPçARTÈserpe DP=DIS=3-AP-mouth DP=Zaca.Lake
v S LOC
'There used to be a <serpent> in Zaca Lake*
(11) JB59.409R-412L, txt 147. line 010 59.412L
8 ~ i l i t ~ ~kiyantik
6 m6 loK,
S-qili-Sho k-iv-antik hu-rooloq
3-HAB -good l-PL-spirit RM-long-ago
v S TIME
?our s p i r i t was always glad in ancient times,'
(12) JH59.485L-494L. txt 87, line 053a 59.493L
t\
b) ?iamsfi-tip Pihe?
a=s-am -su-tip hi-he?
?X=3-XDF-a-salt DP=PRX
they salt it,
The W 'the leaf of angelicat is first presented, and
the rest of the utterance talks about haw it is used as
a remedy fez poison oak. This example is particulaxly
interesting because it shows that more than one
predication caulci be made for the pxeverbal NP: @the
leaf of angelica8 is fisst presented as seen in line a),
and two predicatians regmding angelica leaf aze made,
both of which are marked with the proclitic ?is, as seen
in lines b) and c). Examples such as t h i s furthex
support the proposed function of the preverbal NPs by
showing that the infannation expressed by the preverbal
IWs plays a role at the level af discourse.
It should also be nated that there are often
preverbal elements which are locatgve and temporal
expresS ions :
Is .
\\
?in67n6 s u t l - S i S h i s son soxyop hiho?lkainl-
noim S - u t i ~ i i t lti=s-on ~ o x y o phi.=ho?=~ = amiaa
?I very 3-hard DP=3-IDF wash DP=DIS=ARTÈshir
t h a t s a l t coning o u t makes h i s s h i r t hard t o wash.'
P% ~eiiia?l'l kaiiy-filihi.kwan,
P% Aesnaii kÇ= =? -iy-qili-hik-wun
perhaps EMejust KA=ART^NM-PL-HAB -do -3PO
*that was probably all that they used to do.'
(42) JH59.428R-432L, txt 150, GM line 001 59.431R
e
? ik%?mekaBi~iina&iii-wag
?ikhuÈ&e=Is&=a-iy-?iÈndiÈ-iw
but =EM=K&=3-PL-custom -NPST
*but that was their custom.*
Agreeing with the e a r l i e r suggestion t h a t ka= may be a
type o f p r e d i c a t e marker (Beeler 1970a, 1976 ; B e e l e r and
Whistler 19801, these examples show t h a t &-marked
u t t e r a n c e s are complete without an HP preceding them.
Notice t h a t kaà appears on a v e r b i n ( 4 1 ) and on a noun
i n ( 4 2 ) : t h e former takes t h e h a b i t u a l p r e f i x Uli- and
t h e t h i x d person plural d i z e c t o b j e c t s u f f i x -mq, and
t h e l a t t e r takes t h e defunct nominal s u f f i x -iwas. The
f a c t that ka=-marked u t t e r a n c e s are complete without an
HP preceding them suggests t h a t t h o s e NFs appearing
before Jca= may n o t b e real syntactic arguments of what
follows .
Finally, morphology also supports the present
analysis. Specifically, these preverbal MPS are
typically not marked by the dependent p r o c l i t i c hi=,
which i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of p o s t v e r b a l NPs, clearer cases
of syntactic arguments of t h e verb.
T h e f a c t s p r e s e n t e d above a l l seen to p o i n t t o t h e
conclusion t h a t this second type of preverbal order i s
a focus c o n s t r u c t i o n i n which t h e preverbal HP is
syntactically independent from what follows and
f u n c t i o n a l l y t h e information which t h e HP p r e s e n t s i s
focused. F i n a l l y , in terms of d i s t r i b u t i o n , I should
note t h a t , compared t o o t h e r types of c o n s t i t u e n t o r d e r ,
this order seems to be rathex marked; it is used
relatively infxequently in Basbaxefio discoursee
W e have thus discussed two types of prevezbal
orders in Barbaxefio, each of which is characterized by
a particular proc1iti.c CO-occurring with theme
1 have come across a f e w cases i n the
Intereatingl~~
data which seem to exhibit preverbal NPs aesociated with
both of these two types of orderse Heze is one such
5-4- S--
In this chapter, w e have looked at c a n s t i t u e n t
order i n Barbarefie. 1 first suggested t h a t the most
typical constituent order i n Barbaxe50 is a verb
followed by a t most one core argument full NP . Based on
the functions of full Ws given earliex, I then
presented a functional description of Barbare60 basic
constituent order as a vexb which expresses either an
event or a state which may be followed by one core
argument full NP performing such coqnitively demanding
tasks as introducing and re-introducing p m i c i p a n t s and
clearly distinpishing some pmicipants from other
paeicipmts in the discourse. We then saw that these
f u l l NPs axe typically either intransitive subjects or
transitive direct objects, which suggests a structural
description of Barbareso basic constituent order as a
verb which may be followed by either an intransitive
subject or a transitive direct ob ject . Transitive
subjects are normally expressed as pronominal prefixes.
I further suggested that this rather rudimentary
structure is possible because most refexential tracking
activities in Baxbareiio are performed by the pronominal
affixes an the verb.
Then I talked about the order of obliques in
relation to core arguments. Specifically, 1 suggested
that if utterances have bath a core argument and an
oblique as full NPs, the oblique typically follaws the
c o r e argument* Barbarefio has a pxocess in which c e r t a i n
arguments which would otherwise be ublicpes ( d a t i v e s and
i n s t r u m e n t s ) are treated as a e c t objects by appearing
w i t h a verb c o n t a i n i n g one of t h e core u m e n t - b u i l d i n g
suffixes* 1 discussed t h e consequence i n c o n s t i t u e n t
o r d e r of t h i s process t h a t alters g ~ a m m t i c a x
l elations.
I s h m e d t h a t when t h i s happens and both t h e d i r e c t
o b j e c t and t h e p a t i e n t appear i n t h e u t t e r a n c e , the
direct o b j e c t d i r e c t l y fallows t h e v e r b and i s followed
by t h e p a t i e n t ? r e f l e c t i n g t h e s t a t u s change. To sum
up, B a r b a r e 5 0 basic c o n s t i t u e n t oxder can be summarized
as follows: a verb maybe followed by one core axgtment
f u l l NI? ( e i t h e r t h e t r a n s i t i v e direct o b j e c t or the
i n t r a n s i t i v e s u b j e c t ) ? and maybe f u r t h e r f o l h w e d by
obliques.
F i n a l l y , w e examined c o n s t i t u e n t o r d e r t y p e s o t h e r
than t h e b a s i c a m . Specifically, I discussed cases i n
which NPs a c c w b e f o r e verbs. These c a s e s seem to be
more marked i n terms of both frequency and f u n c t i o n s
t h a n the type that has basic c o n s t i t u e n t ~ x c i e r * I
suggested t h a t there are a t least t w o diffexent t y p e s of
preverbal orders* I f i r s t d i s c u ~ s e dcases i n which
p r e v e r b a l NPs co-occur with a p x o c l i t i c Ji= an t h e word
following them* I suggested t h a t these NPs may not have
a s y n t a c t i c r e l a t i a n s h i p with t h e vexb because t h e i r
r e f e r e n t s are o f t e n n u t semantic arguments uf what i s
represented in the latter part of the utterance*
Further, t h e s e NPs do not take t h e dependent p r o c l i t i c
hi=, which i s c h u a c t e r i s t i c of Ws f o l h w i n q t h e verb.
1 a l s o suggested t h a t t h e function of t h e s e NPs can be
chmacterized as the introduction of a topic,
r e p r e s e n t i n g such i d e n t i f i d l e c h a r a c t e r s as ' I n d i a n s r
and ' t h e old-time peopler, m h a t e l h m a n beings, and/ar
main p a r t i c i p a n t s o f t h e s t o r i e s , o r t h e frame i n which
t h e s t o r i e s are t o l d . I then discussed cases i n which
pzeverbal elements CO-occur with a p x o c l i t i c ka= on t h e
verb. This i s a x e l a t i v e l y mintx c o n s t r u c t i o n which
occurs rather infrequently. I suggested t h a t this
c a n s t r u c t i o n is used when t h e element accurr5ng before
t h e verb i s focused in t h e utterance. I ale0 suggested
that t h e s e preverbal NPs xnay not belong s y n t a c t i c a l l y t o
what follows.
Notes for Chapter 5
1. Even among t h e s e cases, the basic constituent order
cannot be easily determined: approximately h a l f of them
had VOS order and the other h a l f VSO. These cases do
n o t include such examples as ( 3 1 because, as I w i l l
suggest i n 5.3., preverbal NPs do not hold a s y n t a c t i c
relationship with the verb.
(7)