Cover not available
Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 33:1 (2016) ► pp.67–94

Whither Realis marking

Loss and specialization in an Oceanic language

| Victoria University of Wellington

The verb paradigms of declarative clauses in Unua (an Oceanic language of Malakula, Vanuatu) have a distinct Irrealis prefix b- contrasting with zero marking for the Realis. In relative clauses, however, the Irrealis b- contrasts with a prefix m- encoding realis interpretations. On the basis of comparative evidence, the synchronic m- prefix is a remnant of an earlier Realis *mw- that has become specialized for use in relative clauses. The diachronic loss of overt morphology in unmarked categories is not unusual. What is unusual in the Unua case is the retention and specialization of the morphology for the unmarked category in a sub-class of constructions, relative clauses. This paper sketches out the likely significant factors in the historical changes giving rise to the synchronic state. These include conditioned phonological weakening and effects of the salience of the m- prefix in the cross-construction noun modification functional role.

Keywords: backgrounding, distal, Irrealis, Malakula, specialization, Unua-Pangkumu, Vanuatu, Oceanic, relative clause marking, Realis, zero morphology
Published online: 12 May 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.33.1.03pea
References
Barbour, Julie
2011 Exploring mood in Neverver. Oceanic Linguistics 501. 198-220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 A grammar of Neverver. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bembe, Kalangis
2005 Rejen nga mifo hise Iesu Kresto Mark iri. [The Gospel of Mark]. Ms. Unua, Malakula.Google Scholar
2007 Rejen ga mifo hise Iesu Kresto Luk iri. [The Gospel of Luke]. Ms. Unua, Malakula.Google Scholar
2009 Rejen ga mifo hise Iesu Kresto Jon iri. [The Gospel of John]. Ms. Unua, Malakula.Google Scholar
Benveniste, Emile
1966 Problèmes de linguistique générale. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Brotchie, Amanda
2009 Tirax grammar and narrative: An Oceanic language spoken on Malakula, North Central Vanuatu. Melbourne: University of Melbourne PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Capell, Arthur & John Layard
1980 Materials in Atchin, Malekula: Grammar, vocabulary and texts. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Charpentier, Jean-Michel
1979 La langue de Port-Sandwich (Nouvelles Hébrides): Introduction phonologique et grammaire. Paris: SELAF.Google Scholar
1982 Atlas linguistique du Sud-Malekula/Linguistic Atlas of South Malekula (Vanuatu). Vol. 21. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/L’Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique.Google Scholar
2003-2004 Pangkumu texts. Typescript. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.Google Scholar
Clark, Ross
2009 *Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
2003 The verb-marking relative clause strategy: With special reference to Austronesian languages. Linguistik Indonesia 211. 1-18.Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry
1991 Parallel development and shared innovation: Some developments in Central Vanuatu inflectional morphology. Oceanic Linguistics 301. 179-222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998a A salvage sketch of Nāti (Southwest Malakula, Vanuatu). In Darrell T. Tryon (ed.), Papers in Austronesian linguistics. No. 5, 101-148. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2006a Nese: A diminishing speech variety of Northwest Malakula (Vanuatu). [ed. by John Lynch]. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2006b Tape: A declining language of Malakula (Vanuatu). [ed. by John Lynch]. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2006c Naman: A vanishing language of Malakula (Vanuatu). [ed. by John Lynch]. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2006d The Avava language of Central Malakula (Vanuatu). [ed. by John Lynch]. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
De Rijk, Rudolf P.G
1972 Relative clauses in Basque: A guided tour. In Paul M. Peranteau, Judith N. Levi & Gloria C. Phares (eds.), The Chicago which hunt: Papers from the Relative Clause Festival , 115-335. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Dimock, Laura Gail
2009 A grammar of Nahavaq (Malakula, Vanuatu). Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W
2010 Basic linguistic theory, Vol. 2. Grammatical topics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Greg J
1979 Big Nambas grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
François, Alexandre
2010 Pragmatic demotion and clause dependency: On two atypical subordinating strategies in the Lo-Toga and Hiw (Torres, Vanuatu). In Isabelle Bril (ed.), Clause linking and clause hierarchy, 499-548. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin
2008 Creating economical morphosyntactic patterns in language change. In Jeff Good (ed.), Language universals and language change, 185-214. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keenan, Edward L
1985 Relative clauses. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Vol. II: Complex constructions, 141-170. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Koch, Harold
1995 The creation of morphological zeroes. In Gert Booij (ed.), Yearbook of morphology 1994, 31-71. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, Manfred
2011 Notes on Daakie (Port Vato): Sounds and modality. In Lauren Eby Clemens, Gregory Scontras & Maria Polinsky (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighteenth Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association [AFLA], 46-65. Cambridge, MA: Department of Linguistics, Harvard University. [[URL]] (14 July, 2015)Google Scholar
Lynch, John
1975 Oral/nasal alternation and the realis irrealis distinction in Oceanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics 141. 87-99.Google Scholar
2007 The Malakula linkage of Central Vanuatu. Paper presented at the Seventh International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics (COOL7), Noumea, July 2-6.
2012 Play it again Sam: Multiple identical phonological innovations in Malakula. Paper presented at the Ninth International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics (COOL9) , Newcastle, NSW, February 4-8.
Lynch, John & Amanda Brotchie
2010 Vowel loss in Tirax and the history of the apicolabial shift. Oceanic Linguistics 491. 369-388.Google Scholar
Lynch, John & Terry Crowley
2001 Languages of Vanuatu: A new survey and bibliography. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lynch, John, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley
(eds) 2002 The Oceanic languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.Google Scholar
McKerras, Ross
2005 Uripiv phonology and grammar. Ms. SIL.Google Scholar
Morton, Alexander
1891 Grammar of the language spoken at Pangkumu, Malekula. In Daniel Macdonald (ed.), South Sea languages: A series of studies of the languages of the New Hebrides and other South Sea islands, Vol. 2: Tangoan-Santo, Malo, Malekula, Epi (Baki and Bierian), Tanna, and Futuna, 34-72. Melbourne: Trustees of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria.Google Scholar
1892 Narijan mi bu Sa Iesu Kristo. Marik mi ri [Mark]. Melbourne: Walker, May and Co.Google Scholar
. n.d. [1892] Romberat vemu [Primer]. Melbourne: Walker, May and Co.Google Scholar
1897 Narijan mi bu Sa Iesu Kristo. Jon mi ri [John]. London: British and Foreign Bible Society.Google Scholar
Musgrave, Jill
2007 A grammar of Neve’ei, Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Paton, Frederick James
1903 Uasean sa Apostol Hiniri [Acts]. Melbourne: Peacock Bros.Google Scholar
1913 Narijan mi bu Sa Iesu Kristo, Luk mi ri [Luke]. London: British and Foreign Bible Society.Google Scholar
Paviour-Smith, Martin
2005 Mood marking on Malakula. Wellington Working Papers in Linguistics 171. 43-58.Google Scholar
Pearce, Elizabeth
2011 Two or three things in Unua noun phrases. In Claire Moyse-Faurie & Joachim Sabel (eds.), Morphosyntactic aspects of Oceanic languages, 139-178. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
2015 A grammar of Unua. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
von Prince, Kilu
2011 TAMP adjuncts in Daakaka – Reconsidering serial verbs and monoclausality. Paper presented at International Workshop on Languages of Vanuatu , Kioloa Campus of ANU, October 20-23.
Ray, Sidney Herbert
1926 A comparative study of the Melanesian island languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tryon, Darrell T
1976 New Hebrides languages: An internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar