Spatial reference in Aghu (Presentation in Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia)

Spatial reference in Aghu

WLP3, 20th January 2014

Wilco van den HeuvelVU University Amsterdam

Greater Awyu

50km

Data and framework• Drabbe (1957) Spraakkunst van het Aghu-

dialect van de Awyu-taal

• Grammar description of high quality, in Dutch

• Texts of uniform genre – interlinearized

• No information on intonation, meaning of orthographic signs like colon, semicolon, full stop, comma.

• Balance between information in the description and in the texts

• Rivers• Tree houses• Gardens

License All rights reserved by rostropálido, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/albert_mr/2891526479/, accessed 24/12/2013

Typology• Verb-final• [ [ … ] clause ]1,2,…n chain]1,2, …n sentence

• Dedicated SS-forms, which are nonfinite: no expression of tense, mood, person. Never at end of ‘clause chain’ or sentence.

• Semifinite verbs: if non-final implies DS. Expression of person and mood.

• Finite verbs: only final; very rare; expression of ‘tense’too.

Examplea-de=k ba-de=k kufe xabãtake-SS=CON sit-SS=CON enemy head

pem-oxe mi-kecast-N1.RLS[SG] come.down-N1.RLS[SG]‘He took hold of the head and sat down and cast theenemy‘s head and it came down’

Examplea-de=k ba-de=k kufe xabãtake-SS=CON sit-SS=CON enemy head

pem-oxe mi-kecast-N1.RLS[SG] come.down-N1.RLS[SG]‘He took hold of the head and sat down and cast theenemy‘s head and it came down’

Examplea-de=k ba-de=k kufe xabãtake-SS=CON sit-SS=CON enemy head

pem-oxe mi-kecast-N1.RLS[SG] come.down-N1.RLS[SG]‘He took hold of the head and sat down and cast theenemy‘s head and it came down’

Posture verbs and location

• Location: (posture) verb plus demonstrative or other spatial expression.

• Posture verbs: ba ‘sit’, i ‘lie’, e ‘stand’• Examples:

–Meraukexo (ke) baxe Merauke thatO sit-N1.RLS[SG] ‘he is (sitting) in Merauke over there

– nego (ke) ba-xethis O sit-N1.RLS[SG]‘he is (sitting) here’ (lit: at this)

Sit, stand and lieType of object Posture verb usedbirds ba ‘sit’living humans ba ‘sit’ or e

‘stand’ animals that do not usually creep e ‘stand’ ‘standing things like houses, trees’

e ‘stand’

creeping animals, like snakes and lizards

i ‘lie’

‘things that are usually in a more or less lying position, so all small things’

i ‘lie’

fruits on a tree i ‘lie’ dead humans or dead animals i ‘lie’

Existential / locational

Kesaxe weaxa de e-dia-nãwood muchLOC stand-HIST-N1PL‘there used to be many trees’

napi de ba-xemother LOC sit-N1.RLS[SG]‘mother is present’

düde i-gesagoLOC lie-N1.RLS[SG]‘there ‘s sago’

Durativebigio si-di=k ba-diamattrass twine-SS=CON sit-HIST[SG]‘he is/was (sitting and) twining a mattrass’

xo-do=k e-ke-nã, efego-SS=CON stand-N1.RLS-N1.PL 3SG

küda woküe namu ti -geyounger.sibling cassowary only shootN1.RLS[SG]‘After they have gone for a while, the younger brothershoots just a cassuary’

Durativebigio si-di=k ba-diamattrass twine-SS=CON sit-HIST[SG]‘he is/was (sitting and) twining a mattrass’

xo-do=k e-ke-nã, efego-SS=CON stand-N1.RLS-N1.PL 3SG

küda woküe namu ti -geyounger.sibling cassowary only shootN1.RLS[SG]‘After they have gone for a while, the younger brothershoots just a cassuary’

Durativebigio si-di=k ba-diamattrass twine-SS=CON sit-HIST[SG]‘he is/was (sitting and) twining a mattrass’

xo-do=k e-ke-nã, efego-SS=CON stand-N1.RLS-N1.PL 3SG

küda woküe namu ti -geyounger.sibling cassowary only shootN1.RLS[SG]‘After they have gone for a while, the younger brothershoots just a cassuary’

Copulakesaxe siaxa e-ketree highstand-N1.RLS[SG]‘the tree is high’

dü buto i-gebow strong lie-N1.RLS[SG]‘the bow is strong’

sigiane ba-xe-nãfour sit-N1.RLS-N1PL‘they are four’

Come and go and deictic centre

• Deictic centre: the “point in space” from where the situation is viewed.

• This “point in space” may be either extra-linguistic, or intra-linguistic

• Focus of this talk: come vs. go, along certain axes.– Extra-linguistic: ‘then they came here’ (where ‘here’ refers to the location of the Speaker)

– Intra-linguistic: •‘he saw the man coming’: DC coincides with the point of view of (one or more of) the participants ~ identification

•‘the man came down to the school and went up again’: DC does not (necessarily, explicitly) coincide with participants’ point of view

Movement• o ‘go’ or da ‘come’

• o related to distal demonstrative xo

• o may combine with:• go ‘close’, related to nego

‘this’, expressing going to place close by

• elements expressing relative position along certain up-down axes

•Analogous system for da ‘come’

DC o

DC oogo

DC oda

ogo

DC o

mada

da

ogo

DC o

mada

da

ogo

osu

DC o

mada

da

ogo

ogosuosu

DC o

mada

da

ogo

ogosuosu

moso

DC o

mada

da

ogo

ogosuosu

mosomanomoso

DC

mi DC

mida

DC

mida

DC

mi DC

mida

moso

mata

DC

mida

moda

monoDC

osu

DC

mi DC

mida

moso

mata

oto

DC

mida

moda

osoxo

DCmono

DConu

osu

DC

mi

osü

DC

mida

üko / küto

moso

mata

oto

DC

mida

moda

osoxo

wüoxo

DCmono

DConu

‘conventionalization’• xosu ‘up over there’: at the sky, in a tree, in a tree house -> inside; also in a normal house. The derived verb osu is a standard way of referring to ‘going into a house’.

• xosü and the related verb osü are opposed to xosu and osu, and refer to a going down from a house -> going out of a house.

Where is the deictic centre?

DC ?

Data• 8 texts

• 1: 314 sentences, 1497 words• 2: 223 sentences, 1289 words• 3: 190 sentences, 885 words• 4: 81 sentences, 247 words• 5: 41 sentences, 197 words• 6: 324 sentences, 1604 words• 7: 86 sentences, 450 words• 8: 25 sentences, 181 words

Data• 8 texts

• 1: 314 sentences, 1497 words• 2: 223 sentences, 1289 words• 3: 190 sentences, 885 words• 4: 81 sentences, 247 words• 5: 41 sentences, 197 words• 6: 324 sentences, 1604 words• 7: 86 sentences, 450 words• 8: 25 sentences, 181 words

Tekst 1: two orphan girls, origin of headhunting

House of two orphan girls

1-31; 33-39;41; 43-53;55-56

Tree close to river

32;40;42;54

The most common deictic centre

• At the bottom of the ladder. Consistent use of:– Come to the house (da ‘come’)– Go (up) into the house (osu ‘go up into’)

– Come (down) out of the house (midi ‘come down’)

– Go from the house

A typical sentenceOsuduk eŋgenã bagidi osu-du=k e -g-enã bagidi go.up-SS=CON eat –n1.RLS-n1.PL sit.overnight

xati midik xoxenã.xati mi-di=k xo-xe-nãagain come.down-SS=CON go –n1.rls-n1.pl

They go up and eat, the following day they come down again and go.

House of two orphan girls

1-31; 33-39;41; 43-53;55-56

Tree close to river

32;40;42;54

Different perspectivesmi-de=k fe ü-gecome.down-SS=CON one stab –n1.RLS[SG]‘...he comes down and stabs one’

osü-dü=k fe ü-gego.down-SS=CON one stab –n1.RLS[SG]‘...he goes down and stabs one’

Aidu, Xaidu + children

Apupüsimo + daughter

Apupüsimo’s garden

Beside the roots

Swamp / persons there

1-5

6-8

(9)

10

(11)

(12)

13

1-5;7-10;(12);(15)16-23inside!

(6);(11)

(13)

14

Observations; final thoughts (1)

• Usually outsider’s perspective, no clear identification with one of the participants

• Exceptions seem functional• Bottom of ladder, outside house, also when one or more participants are in the house

• Never: in the house, except micro-movement (mouse coming) or at the end of story 3 (functional exception)

• End of 1 a clear outsider’s perspective (function of this last part: relating to place and time)

• Roles in text structuring? Not only the place, the stage, but also the perspective from which it is viewed.

• How representative is the sample?

• What about other languages: similar structure?

• If we find same structures, could this be indicative of contact?

• What about translation?

Summary and final thoughts (2)