A GRAMMATICAL SKETCH OF MASBATENYO by MICHAEL WILSON I. ROSERO 2007-00303
Irma U. Peneyra, Ph.D Advisor
A thesis submitted submitted in partial partial fulfillment fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics
University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101
March 2011
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people: My mentors: my advisor, Prof. Irma Peneyra. You have been very patient. Thanks for always believing in me. And Prof. Ricky Nolasco, for all the wonderful lectures and very linguistic discussions you shared with me. This ‘masterpiece’ is for the two of you; Prof. Resty Cena, for his valuable comments and suggestions on my thesis and Mr. Marfeal Santiago, for introducing me to the world of discourse and functional linguistics; Faculty and members of the UP Department of Linguistics and all my other professors who have passionately shared their knowledge and experiences to me: Prof. Ria Parsram-Rafael (Lingg 110), Prof. Laarni Cepe (Lingg 115), Prof. Viveca Hernandez (Lingg 130 and 140), Prof. Farah Cunanan (Lingg 125) and Prof. Jesus Federico Hernandez (Lingg 150, 170 and 190); My family and relatives for the help and understanding they have rendered me to be able to accomplish this paper. Thank you for your never-ending support; My informants: Auntie Charit, Lola Dandit, Mama Nining, and other countless Masbatenyos who have been my inspiration in doing this thesis. Uncle Nonoy for letting me borrow your laptop while I was doing my research. The residents of Rizal, Ticao. Masbate for the additional data you have provided me for this research; My coffee mates, Iji Imperial, Aya Tantiangco, Pete Sengson, Casey Giron with whom I had interesting, thought-provoking and ‘progressive’ conservations on language and linguistics and its practical applications to the society. The UP Samahang Linggwistika, who were my first linguistic companions and who taught me the value of linguistics; To the members of UP Layap (Layapeeps) who have boldly accepted my invitation and the challenge of advancing a multilingual and culturally relevant education which I believe the ultimate task of being a linguist who studies language. Danielle Tadena, Jeva delos Reyes, Abbi Lavina, Leizl Ocampo and all the Ricky babies and survivors. My friends, Empor (N4) blockmates, blockmates, and fellow Linguistics majors. majors. Lipad tungo sa karunungan! My NEO laptop, always a reliable companion since I started writing my thesis until I finished my final draft. Thanks for not giving up. i
ABSTRACT
Masbatenyo ([msb]) is a member of Central Philippines and of the Bisayan subgroup of the Austronesian family of languages. It is spoken in the islands of Masbate and some parts of Sorsogon. According to the latest report Ethnologue (2009) on the languages of the world, it has 350, 000 speakers as of 2002 (SIL, 2002) with 50, 000 who speak it as first language. About 250,000 speakers use it as their second language. There are but a few researches and studies that have been done on Masbatenyo language. Unlike its neighboring languages, the other Bisayan languages to where it belongs, Masbatenyo is not a well-researched area in the field of linguistics. For many years, the Masbatenyo language has only been an oral language despite the size of the population and the outstanding academic achievements of the speakers. This paper is another attempt to document the language. It is a grammatical sketch of Masbatenyo language, a short description of the most salient points of the grammar of the language. It aims to describe and establish the Masbatenyo grammar. This is also to further support the existence of Masbatenyo as a language, and not merely as a dialect of one of the surrounding major language groups in the Visayan area. This paper is the first to make a detailed description of the Masbatenyo grammar. This paper presents the basic phonological, morphological and syntactic structures of the language based on both written and actual spoken language following the t he framework of the functional grammar. It is divided into five chapters. The first chapter discusses the general information about about the Masbatenyo language such as the location of Masbate province, the short history, the varieties of the language spoken in Masbate area and the previous studies done on the language. This includes the discussion of the theoretical approach and the methodology of the study and the review of the previous studies done on the language. The second chapter discusses the phonology section. This part presents the phonemic inventory of the language, the phonotactic constraints and the morphophonemic changes in the language. Both articulatory and acoustic analyses of the phonology of the language will be presented. ii
The third chapter focuses on the morphology of the language. This includes the discussion of the word classes and presents the morphological morphological and syntactic evidences for such classifications. It also deals with the debated issues on Philippine morphosyntax such precategoriality and inherent structure, the layered structure hypothesis, and ergativity and makes use of the Masbatenyo language to provide support for such claims The fourth chapter describes the clause structure and grammatical patterns of unmarked and pragmatically marked constructions in Masbatenyo. The fifth chapter concludes this study. This study will also describe the Masbatenyo language patterned to some recent research findings on Philippine language that constitute a very important role in the description of Masbatenyo grammar.
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LIST OF FIGURES Linguistics Map of Southern Philippi Philippines nes with Masbatenyo highlighted …………….…... 1 Map of the Philippines with Masbate highlighted ………………………………………..… 2 The subgrouping of Austronesian language family (Lobel, 2002)………………………….. 7 Masbatenyo and the Bisayan subgroup of languages (Lobel, 2002)………………………… 7 Masbatenyo and other languages spoken in Masbate Islands ……………………………… 8 The dialects of Masbatenyo and the areas where they are spoken ………………………… 10 Screen shot of Goldwave v5.57 …………………………………………………………………. 16 Screen shot of Praat program…..................................... program…............ ........................................... ......................................... ........................................... .................... 17 Screen shot of PlotFormants program …………………………………………………………..17 The plotted values of the formant frequencies for each vowel in Masbatenyo. ……..…….. 29 The mean values of the formant frequencies of Masbatenyo phonemes …………………... 30
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LIST OF TABLES Masbatenyo equivalents of borrowed consonants …………………………………………… 20 Masbatenyo vowel chart ……………………………………………………………………….... 21 The consonant chart of Masbatenyo …………………………………………………………… 21 Consonants in initial, medial and final positions in Masbatenyo …………………………… 22 Duration, Pitch, Intensity Measurements of Stressed and Unstressed Syllables ………….. 24 Consonant clusters in Masbatenyo (adapted from Wolfenden, 2001) ……………………… 25 Mean Values in Hertz of the F1 and F2 for each Masbatenyo vowel ……………………..… 30 Nominalization morphemes …………………………………………………………………..… 34 Nominalizing voice affix ………………………………………………………………………... 35 Proposed Transitivity Parameters for Philippine Languages (Nolasco, 2003) …………..… 37 Aspectual forms of transitive and intransitive verbs ………………………………………… 38 Summary of Mode in Masbatenyo ……………………………………………….…………….. 45 Voice affixes deriving stative verbs ………………………………………………..…………… 48 Case determiners in Masbatenyo …………………………………………………………….… 49 Personal pronouns based on Wolfenden (2001) …………………………………………….… 51 Demonstrative pronouns ………………………………………………………………………... 52 Numeral expressions ……………………………………………………………………………. 55 Order of clitic particles ………………………………………………………………………….. 62 Case determiners of Masbatenyo ……………………………………………………………… 72 Voice affixes of Masbatenyo ……………………………………………………………..……… 73 v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A
agent or source of action
ABS
absolutive
APT
aptative
CAUS
causative
CONJ
conjunction
CONT
contemplative
COMP
comparative
DIS
distributive
DIST
distal
ERG
ergative
FOC
focus
GEN
genitive
IND
indicative
INT
intransitive affix
IMP
imperative
IMPF
imperfective
LKR
linker
MOD
modifier
MODE
mode
NEG
negator
NEUT
neutral tense-aspect
NOM
nominalization
NPST
non-past
NUM
numeral
O
patient or most affected entity
OBL
oblique
PER
personal
PST
past
PL
plural
POSS
possessive
PROX
proximal
PRT
particle
QW
question word
REDUP
reduplication
RCP
reciprocal vi
RPERF
recent perfective
S
only argument of an intransitive construction constructi on
TA
tense-aspect
TR
transitive
V.STAT
stative verb
1
1st person
2
2nd person
3
3rd person
=
cliticization
-
morpheme boundary
.
morpheme with several metalanguage elements
<>
infixation
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………………… i ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………. ii LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………… v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……………………………………………………………………... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………...… 2 1.0. General Information on Masbatenyo …………………………………………………….. 2 1.0.1. Short History H istory of Masbate ……………… …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………3 1.0.1.1. Pre-colonial Period ………………………………………………………………... 3 1.0.1.2. Colonial Period ………………………………………………………………….… 4 1.0.1.3. Masbate as an Independent Province …………………………………………... 5 1.0.1.4. The Second World War ………………………………………………………….. 5 1.0.2. The Masbatenyo Language ………………………………………………………… 6 1.0.3. Dialects of Masbatenyo …………………………………………………………..… 9 1.0.4. Literature on the Language ………………………………………………………… 9 1.1. Scope and Limitations Limitati ons ……………………………………………………………………. 13 1.2. Theoretical Approach …………………………………………………………………...… 13 1.2.1. Discourse-functional linguistics ……...………………………………………….… 13 1.2.2. Ergative analysis ……...…………………………………………………….…….… 14 1.2.3. Stem-based hypothesis or the sapin-sapin hypothesis ……...………………….… 14 1.3. Data and Methodology ……………………………………………………………………. 14 1.3.1. Participants ………………………………………………………………………….. 15 1.3.2. Methods and Programs Used ……………………………………………………… 16 1.3.2.1. Acoustic Analysis of Masbatenyo Vowels ………………………………………18 1.3.2.2. Acoustic Correlates of Stress …………………………………………………….. 18 1.3.2.3. The Pear Film ……………………………………………………………………… 18 1.3.2.3.1. The Film……………………………………………………………………… 18 1.3.2.3.2. Interview Procedure………………………………………… Procedure……………………………………………...……..…. …...……..…. 18 18 CHAPTER 2: PHONOLOGY ……………………………………………………………………. 20 2.0. Introduction Introductio n ………………………………………………………………………………...… ………………………………………………………… ……………………...… 20 2.1. Orthography …………………………………………………………………………………. 20 2.2. Masbatenyo Phonemic Inventory ………………………………………………………….. 21 2.2.1. Vowels ……………………………………………………………………………….. 21 2.2.2. Consonants ………………………………………………………………………...… 22 2.2.3. Stress …………………………………………………………………………………. 23 2.2.3.1. Acoustic Correlates of Stress …………………………………………………….. 23 viii
2.3. Phonotactics ………………………………………………………………………………...... 25 2.3.1. Syllable Patterns …………………………………………………………………….. 25 2.3.2. Consonant Clusters …………………………………………………………………. 25 2.4. Morphophonemics ………………………………………………………………………...… 26 2.4.1. Syncopation or Vowel Deletion…………………………………………………….. 26 2.4.2. Sandhi ………………………………………………………………………………… 27 2.4.3. Assimilation …………………………………………………………………………. 27 2.4.4. Simplification or Degemination …………………………………………………… 28 2.4.5. Metathesis ………………………………………………………………………….… 28 2.4.6. Deletion ………………………………………………………………………………. 28 2.5. Masbatenyo Vowel Space …………………………………………………………………… 28 2.6. Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………… 31 CHAPTER 3: MORPHOLOGY ……………………………………………………………….… 32 3.0. Word Classes ………………………………………………………………………………… 32 3.1. Nouns …………………………………………………………………………………………. 32 3.1.1. Nominal morphemes………………………………………………………………... 33 3.1.2. Nominalization ……………………………………………………………………… 34 3.2. Verbs ………………………………………………………………………………………..… 35 3.2.1. Dynamic Verbs ……………………………………………………………………… 35 3.2.2. Voice ………………………………………………………………………………….. 36 3.2.2.1. Transitivity ………………………………………………………………………… 37 3.2.2.1.1. Intransitive constructions …………………………………………………. 38 3.2.2.1.2. Transitive constructions …………………………………………………..…38 3.2.3. Aspect ………………………………………………………………………………… 35 3.2.3.1. Perfective Aspect …………………………………………………………………. 39 3.2.3.2. Imperfective Aspect ……………………………………………………………… 40 3.2.3.3. Contemplative Aspect ……………………………………………………………. 41 3.2.3.4. Recent Perfective Aspect …………………………………………………….…… 42 3.2.4. Mode …………………………………………………………………………………. 42 3.2.4.1. Indicative Mode ……………………………………………………………………. 43 3.2.4.2. Imperative Mode……………………………………………………………………. 43 3.2.4.3. Aptative Mode……………………………………………………………………….44 3.2.4.4. Reciprocal Mode……………………………………………………………………. 44 3.2.4.5. Causative Mode…………………………………………………………………….. 45 3.2.4.6. Distributive Mode…………………………………………………………………... 45 3.2.5. Stative Verbs ………………………………………………………………………… 46 3.3. Determiners …………………………………………………………………………………... 48 3.4. Pronouns ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……… ……………………………………………………………………………… 50 3.4.1. Personal pronouns ………………………………………………………………..… 51 3.4.2. Demonstrative pronouns …………………………………………………………... 51 3.4.3. Interrogative pronouns …………………………………………………………..… 52 ix
3.4.4. Reflexive pronouns …………………………………………………………………. 53 3.4.5. Indefinite pronouns ………………………………………………………………… 53 3.4.6. Universal Substitute ‘Amo’ ………………………………………………………… 53 3.5. Numeral Terms ……………………………………………………………………………… 54 3.5.1. Numeral expressions ………………………………………………………………. 54 3.5.2. Plural noun markers ………………………………………………….…………… 55 3.5.3. Plural pronominal forms …………………………………………………………… 56 3.5.4. Reduplication ………………………………………………………………………... 57 3.6. Modifiers ……………………………………………………………………………………… 57 3.7. Clitic Particles ……………………………………………………………………………….. 59 3.8. Linkers ………………………………………………………………………………………... ……………………………………………………………………………………….....63 3.8.1. Conjunctions…. Conjunctio ns…. ……………………………………………………………………. 63 3.9. Word-formation and Word Analysis ……………………………………………………… 66 3.9.1. Pre-categoriality and Argument Structure in Philippine Languages ……...….. 66 3.9.2. Layered stem hypothesis …………………………………………………………… 67 3.10. Summary ………………………………………………………………………………… 69 CHAPTER 4: SYNTAX ………………………………………………………………………….. 70 4.0. Clause Structure in Masbatenyo …………………………………………………………… 70 4.1. Basic Word Order in Masbatenyo ……...…………………………………….………….… 70 4.2. Predicate-Argument Predica te-Argument Structure ……...…………………………………………………...… 71 4.2.1. Voice Marking System ……...………………………………………………..… ……...………………………………………………..….… .… 72 4.2.1.1. Case marking system ……...……………………………………………………… 72 4.2.1.2. Voice Affixes ……...……………………………………………………………..… 72 4.2.1.3. Pronouns ……...………………………………………………………………….… 73 4.3. Noun Phrase ………….……………………………………………………………………… 73 4.4. Verb Phrase ………………………………………………………………………………..…. 74 4.5. Non-Verbal or ‘Predicate Nominal’ Clauses …………………………………………….... 74 4.5.1. Proper inclusion clauses ………………………………………………………….… 74 4.5.2. Equative clauses …………………………………………………………………..… 75 4.5.3. Attributive clauses ………………………………………………………………….. 75 4.5.4. Locative Locativ e clauses …………………………………………………………………….. 75 4.5.5. Existential clauses …………………………………………………………………... 75 4.5.6. Possessive clauses ………………………………………………………………….... 76 4.6. Pragmatically Marked Clauses …………………………………………………………….. 77 4.6.1. Exclamatory clauses ……………………………………………………………….. 77 4.6.2. Question clauses …………………………………………………………………….77 4.6.3. Relative clauses …………………………………………………………………..… 79 4.6.4. Imperative clauses ………………………………………………………………… 80 4.6.5. Complement clauses ……………………………………………………………… 82 4.6.6. Focus constructions construction s ……………………………………………………………..… 82 4.6.7. Negation clauses …………………………………………………………………. 83 x
4.7. Summary …………………………….……………………………………………………..… 86 CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………… 87 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………..… 88 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………..… 92
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