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Minhast/Noun Incorporation: Difference between revisions
→Type III Noun Incorporation
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== Type III Noun Incorporation == | == Type III Noun Incorporation == | ||
Another important difference in Minhast between Antipassivation and Noun Incorporation is found in discourse manipulation in extended speech or narratives. Antipassivation is often used to remove an element from discourse entirely, marking the demoted NP as truly incidental and ultimately unimportant to the narrative. On the other hand, Minhast uses NI to retain the demoted argument in the | |||
18 | |||
discourse, albeit backgrounded . Backgrounding is a useful device if the salience of the demoted | |||
argument must be decreased, but is still too important to eliminate from the discourse. Therefore, an IN may be retained throughout the length of the narrative. In doing so, the speaker can maintain the context in which the core arguments operate, a useful mnemonic and rhetorical tool to keep the listener | |||
19 | |||
on track with the discourse . Additionally, the IN may be promoted back to a core argument later on | |||
without creating an abrupt discontinuity within the narrative, which would occur if an argument that had been supposedly marked incidental in the discourse by Antipassivation were to be reintroduced into the argument. Indeed, it is the case that speakers often expect a noun backgrounded by NI in extended discourse to later resume core status at a later point. The following sample passage comes from a recording of a Salmon Speaker conversation, and illustrates the backgrounding function of NI: | |||
11) Ayakna ubarrāsekabampamā, dūyaran ehahekampi, kašmakki ehaheku, arruššan sakwaštan, yakmaran saxtihayyuštinesaš, saxtimurrešnesašnaft irraktuyeku, wahēk intušindūyekan, ayayadūyekan, indiknatūmanekammā, hūraran indiħyekan, reyriaktipār sipsambuyekammā, iyuššitaran sarekampamā, intadutyusapakmahummā, dumyaharan sarekampi, yapkekan, uzzattuyekan, bastettuyekanimmā, isangarekan. Wahēk, uzzatekunimmā, inditayyisakšareku, alluakan. | |||
Gloss: Ayakna ubarrās-ek-ab-an-pi=mā dūy=aran ehah-ek-an-pi, kašmak=ki ehah-ek-u, arrusi-š-an sakwat-š-an, yakma=ran saxt-hayyut-š-nes-an=š, saxt-murre-š-nes-an=š=naft irrak-dūy-ek-u, wahēk nta-ušn-dūy-ek-an, ayaya-dūy-ek-an, nd-ikna-tūman-ek-an=mā, hūr=aran nd-hy-ek-an reyria-k-de=pār sipsab-dūy-ek-an=mā, iyuššit=aran sar-ek-an-pi, nta- dut-yusap-akmah-u=mā, dumyaħ=aran sar-ek-an-pi, yapk-ek-an, uzzat-dūy-ek-an, bastet-dūy- ek-an-nimmā, isangar-ek-an. Wahēk, uzzat-ek-u-nimmā, n-tayy-sakšar-ek-u, alluak-an. | |||
early.morning to.fish-1S.ABS-IMPF-INTRANS-ANTI=SUBORD salmon=DAT capture- 1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI, kašmak.river=LOC capture-1S.ERG-TRANS, be.big-ANIM- INTRANS be.fat-ANIM-INTRANS, salmon.noodle.soup=DAT INCHO-dinner-ANIM.ABS- IMMED.FUT-INTRANS=IRREAL INCHO-be.delicious-ANIM-IMMED.FUT- INTRANS=IRREAL=NMLZ know.general.truth-salmon-3S.COMM.ABS + 1S.ERG-TRANS, wahēk INTENS-hit-salmon-1S.ABS.INTRANS, INCEP-go-home-1S.ABS- INTRANS=SUBORD mountain=DAT INCEP-be.high-1S.ABS-INTRANS shoulder-1S.ERG- ERG=INSTR carry-salmon-1S.ABS-INTRANS=SUBORD, storm.clouds= DAT see-1S.ABS- INTRANS-ANTI INTENS-DAT.APPL-rain-1S.ABS+3P.ERG-TRANS=SUBORD, cave=DAT see-1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI, take.shelter.from.bad.weather-1S.ABS-INTRANS, pull.out.of.container-salmon-1S.ABS-INTRANS, place.down.carefully-salmon-1S.ABS- INTRANS=PURPOS.SUBORD light.up.a.fire-1S.ABS-INTRANS . wahēk, | |||
18 Discourse Manipulation falls under Mithun's Type III classification. But the discourse manipulation function of backgrounding information in Minhast is very different from other languages with NI, especially the oft-cited works on Mohawk NI processes. These differences are described in greater detail later in the text. | |||
19 The use of NI to background previously mentioned items falls under Mithun's Type III Noun Incorporation category. | |||
pull.out.of.container-3S.COMMON.ABS+1S.ERG-TRANS-PURPOS.SUBORD INCEP- prepare.food-REFL.BEN-3S.ABS+1S.ERG-TRANS, be.pregnant.with.eggs-INTRANS. | |||
“Early in the morning, I was fishing and caught a salmon in the Kashmak River. It was a big, fat one, and I knew it would make good yakma for dinner. So I killed it and put it in my basket, and I began my journey home, heading up the mountain carrying the salmon over my shoulder, but then I saw storm-clouds and soon the rains began to pelt me. I found a small cave and took shelter in it, and then I took out the salmon and lay it aside so I could make a fire. I took the salmon out and began to clean it, it was a female and filled with roe.” | |||
The passage introduces the salmon in the beginning: “...I was fishing and caught a salmon...” Here, the salmon, while semantically Patient, is introduced in the narrative as a Dative argument, and becomes the topic of interest in the next few clauses, where it assumes core status as the Absolutive argument. Casting the salmon as an Absolutive argument also ensures that the sentence fulfills the requirements for its Absolutive argument to become the S/O pivot of the next clause, which is a stative clause. Minhast lacks a separate word class for adjectives, hence stative verbs are used instead. Statives target only Absolutives, never Ergatives or Obliques. After the salmon is killed and placed in the basket, the wahēk particle20 allows the narrator to resume his status as the Absolutive argument so that he can serve as the S/O pivot for the next series of clauses up to the point in the narrative where he makes a fire. Throughout this part of the narrative, the salmon, when mentioned, has been backgrounded by NI so that the narrator can retain his status as the S/O pivot. The second wahēk of the narrative in the next clause allows the narrator to change the S/O pivot again, at which point he reassigns the salmon to Absolutive status in order for it to become the S/O pivot to feed the final three clauses of the narrative. | |||
The same native speaker who provided this narrative was presented an alternative text, whose English translation is exactly the same, but instead of NI to demote the salmon and move it into the background, Antipassivation was used instead to demote the salmon to a Dative oblique argument: | |||
12) Ayakna ubarrāsekabampamā dūyaran ehahekampi, kašmakki ehaheku, arruššan sakwaštan, yakmaran saxtihayyuštinesaš saxtimurrešnesašnaft irakeku, wahēk dūyaran intušnekampi, dūyaran ayayakampi, indiknatūmanekammā hūraran indiħyekan reyriaktipār dūyaran sipsabekampamā, iyuššitaran sarekampamā intadutyusapakmahummā, dumyaharan sarekampi, yapkekan, dūyaran uzzatekampi, dūyaran bastetekampinimmā isangarekan. Uzzatekunimmā inditayyisakšareku, alluakan. | |||
Gloss: Ayakna ubarrās-ek-ab-an-pi=mā dūy=aran ehah-ek-an-pi, kašmak=ki ehah-ek-u, arrusi-š-an sakwat-š-an, yakma=aran saxt-hayyu-š-nes-an=š saxt-murre-š-nes-an=š=naft irak- ek-u, wahēk dūy=aran nt=ušn=ek=an-pi, dūy=aran ayaya-ek-an-pi, nd-ikna-tūman-ek-an=mā hūr=aran nd-ħy-ek-an reyria-ek=de=pār dūy=aran sipsab-ek-an-pi=mā, iyuššit=aran sar-ek- an-pi=mā nta-dut-yusap-s-ek-u=mā, dumyah=aran sar-ek-an-pi, yapk-ek-an, dūy=aran uzzat- ek-an-pi, dūy=aran bastet-ek-an-pi=nimmā isangar-ek-an. Uzzat-ek-u=nimmā nd-tayy-sakšar- ek-u, alluak-an. | |||
early.morning to.fish-1S.ABS-IMPF-INTRANS-ANTI=SUBORD salmon=DAT capture- 1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI, kašmak.river=LOC capture-1S.ERG-TRANS, be.big-ANIM- | |||
20 The wahēk particle performs multiple functions. It is a type of subordinative sequential particle roughly translated as “and then”. It differs from the -mā suffix in that it simultaneously allows the Absolutive and Ergative arguments to switch roles. The switch in roles between the core arguments coincides with a change in topic, so wahēk serves as a topic shifter as well. | |||
INTRANS be.fat-ANIM-INTRANS, salmon.noodle.soup=DAT INCHO-dinner-ANIM.ABS- IMMED.FUT-INTRANS=IRREAL INCHO-be.delicious-ANIM-IMMED.FUT- INTRANS=IRREAL=NMLZ salmon=DAT know.general.truth-3S.COMM.ABS + 1S.ERG- TRANS, wahēk salmon=DAT INTENS-hit-1S.ABS.INTRANS-ANTI, INCEP-go-home- 1S.ABS-INTRANS=SUBORD mountain=DAT INCEP-be.high-1S.ABS-INTRANS shoulder- 1S.ERG-ERG=INSTR salmon=DAT carry-1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI=SUBORD, storm.clouds= DAT see-1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI INTENS-DAT.APPL-rain- 1S.ABS+3P.ERG-TRANS=SUBORD, cave=DAT see-1S.ABS-INTRANS-ANTI, take.shelter.from.bad.weather-1S.ABS-INTRANS, salmon=DAT pull.out.of.container-1S.ABS- INTRANS-ANTI, salmon=DAT place.down.carefully-1S.ABS-INTRANS- ANTI=PURPOS.SUBORD light.up.a.fire-1S.ABS-INTRANS. wahēk, pull.out.of.container- 3S.COMMON.ABS+1S.ERG-TRANS-PURPOS.SUBORD INCEP-prepare.food-REFL.BEN- 3S.ABS+1S.ERG-TRANS, be.pregnant.with.eggs-INTRANS. | |||
When asked about the alternate narrative, the consultant said that while it was grammatically well- formed, he had not expected to hear it mentioned multiple times throughout the narrative. He remarked that the salmon had been demoted by the first occurrence of the Antipassive, and asked why the Antipassive was used if the salmon was important enough to remain a part of the narrative until it would later resume its core status. | |||
In this respect, NI in Minhast differs in its discourse function from that of Mohawk. An IN in extended Mohawk discourse, as backgrounded information, is truly incidental information, meant only to provide contextual information in the body of the discourse, as illustrated in this passage (Mithun:1984): | |||
13) ó:nv yeyóhe n-a-ye-nvhst-ayvtho:-ko. Akwe: tsi t-ka-nvhst-ayvth-u yvyakwe' tanu y-v-yak- wa-hroht-v-ht-e. E-tho ne ó:nv v-yak-wa-nor-oht-hsi-'. → then there.it.set there-would-one- corn-plant-REVERS all to there-it-corn-planted will.we.go and there-will-we-all-ear-fall- CAUSE-PUNC then the then will-we-all-husk-stand-REVERS-PUNC | |||
“Then it was time to harvest it (the corn). We would all go to the cornfield and take it (the corn) from the stalks. We would then husk it.” | |||
While Minhast uses NI for backgrounding purposes as in Mohawk, its motivation for backgrounding an entity through NI is significantly different from Mohawk and the rest of the Iroquioan languages. Minhast employs NI to keep the IN available so that it can later restore it to core status, thereby returning it to the foreground in the discourse. Thus, in Minhast the status of an IN is somewhere between an oblique argument and a core argument, a key difference between how it uses NI as opposed to Mohawk. The application of NI in Minhast serves as a foreshadowing technique; temporarily backgrounded, the IN often resurfaces later in the discourse as a principal player (core argument) of the narrative. The foreshadowing function of NI also demonstrates an important point: INs occurring in | |||
21 | |||
extended discourse are highly referential in Mohawk, as argued by Baker (1996). Minhast, based on native speakers’ self-reports. | |||
The same is true in | |||
Additionally, there is a type of Control clause, namely the Causative clause22 which requires the | |||
21 This point seems to be contested by others, at least in the case of Mohawk. See Mithun 2010:12. | |||
22 In addition to Causative clauses, Control clauses also include Cognitive clauses, Desiderative clauses, Mandative | |||
clauses, Decision clauses etc. Causative clauses differ from other types of Control clauses in that Causative clauses are also Previous Event-Successive Event conjoined clauses (PEC-SEC), always recognizable by the Subordinator affix - | |||
combination of NI and Antipassivation if the speaker wishes to reduce valency. As with all Control clauses, Causative clauses are highly transitive and increase valency. As in all Control clauses, they are recognizable by the presence of two subjects, one called the Controller, which manipulates or acts on a secondary subject, called the Controllee. The Controllee is responsible for carrying out the actual event or achieving the final end state. | |||
Controllers are typically Ergative arguments, and Controllees are cast to Absolutive status, as Sentence 13a demonstrates: | |||
13a) Yakte anxekte išpisattabeddadekarumā siyyekittūmarraran . | |||
Yakte šp-sattabe-redad-ek-ar-u=mā siyyekit-tūman-ar-an | |||
1S.ERG brother.ABS CAUS-kill-man-1S.ERG+3S.ABS-PST-TRANS=SUBORD burn-house- PST-INTRANS) | |||
“I sent my brother to kill the man and then he (i.e. the brother) burned down the house.” | |||
Sentence 13a targets the brother as the Controllee, and so was cast as an Absolutive. However, sometimes valence-reducing operations are required to convert or retain the Controller as the S/O pivot. This can be done only by demoting or removing the Controllee23 acting on the semantic Patient. In such a case, the logical PT is incorporated into the verb in the matrix. The Controllee can now be removed from the Absolutive position, leaving it vacant for the Controller to move into the vacated Absolutive space. The combination of NI and Antipassivation yields the example in Sentence 11b: | |||
13b) Yak išpisattabeddadekarampamā siyyekkittūmanekarampi. | |||
Yak šp-sattabe-redad-ek-ar-an-pi=mā [PRO] siyyekkit-tūman-ek-ar-an. | |||
S.ABS CAUS-kill-man-1S.ABS-PST-INTRANS=SUBORD burn-house-1S.ABS-INTRANS “I sent someone to kill the man, and then I burned down his house.” | |||
The Absolutive argument, yak, is now available to feed the S/O pivot, thanks to the coordination of both NI and Antipassivation to reduce the valency of the sentence; NI backgrounds the logical PT redad, and the application of Antipassivation allows yak to occupy the Absolutive position. Yak can thus serve as the Absolutive feeder of an S/O pivot. | |||
Other Control clauses differ from Causative clauses in that they are embedded in their matrix clauses as | |||
24 | |||
complements, i.e. nominalizations marked with the clitic =naft . Cognitive and Perception clauses are | |||
mā joining the PEC to the SEC. | |||
23 The Causative Controllee can be brought back into the clause, but it must appear as an Instrumental oblique argument. | |||
The reading could then be calqued: “By using [NP], I caused to kill the man so that I may live.” Languages that have the Passive voice, such as English, often use an Instrumental oblique marker on a demoted subject just as languages with the Antipassive do with Instrumental oblique arguments. Compare English “I was caused by Joe to kill the man so that I could live” with Minhast “Yak anxē=par išpisattabeddadekarampamā siyyekkittūmanekaran”, lit. “By using my brother, I caused to kill the man and then I burned down the house”, where the Controllee, anxea (“brother”), is retained as a demoted subject via Antipassivation. | |||
24 The use of nominalizations to serve as complements can lead to ambiguities: Sap min Aynuwast gubbāturrād sattabeddadaranaft yakte sarekaru can be interpreted as either “I saw this Ainu soldier who killed the man” or “I saw | |||
included in this subtype: | |||
14a) Sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sattaberedadaranaft yakde nusilleku | |||
25 | |||
Sap min Aynuw-ast min gubbāturrād sattabe-redad-ar-an=naft yak=de nusill-ek-u. | |||
DEM.PROX CONN aynu.person-GENT CONN warrior kill-man-PST-INTRANS=NMLZ | |||
1S=ERG know.a.fact-3S.ABS + 1S.ERG-TRANS | |||
“I know that this Ainu warrior killed the man” or “I know this Ainu warrior who killed the man.” | |||
14a.1) Sattabe-redad-ar-an=naft, yak=de sap min Aynuw-ast min gubbāturrād nusill-ek-u. | |||
“ | |||
14b) | |||
u. | |||
14c) Yak nusill-ek-an-pi. “I know a fact [about something]”. | |||
14d) Yak nusill-redad-ek-an-pi. “I know a fact [regarding something about] the man.” | |||
14e) Sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sattabe-redad-ar-an=naft yak=de sar-kaddara-ek-ar- u. “I event-saw him, this Ainu warrior killed the man.” | |||
14e.1) Sattabe-redad-ar-an=naft, yak=de sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sar-kaddara-ek- ar-u. “I event-saw this Ainu warrior, he that killed the man.” | |||
14f) Redad=aran sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sattabe-ar-an-pi=naft yak=de sar- kaddara-ek-ar-u. “I event-saw him, this Ainu warrior killed a man” or “I event-saw him, this Ainu warrior who killed a man”. | |||
14f.1) Redad=aran sattabe-ar-an-pi=naft yak=de sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sar- kaddara-ek-ar-u. “I event-saw this Ainu soldier, he that killed a man”. | |||
14g) Yak sar-ek-ar-an-pi. “I saw [something].” | |||
14h) | |||
that this Ainu soldier killed the man.” With non-third person pronouns this ambiguity disappears: Sattabeddadtaharanaft yakte sartahekaru (lit: “I saw you that killed the man”) can only be interpreted as a complement. Another strategy for disambiguation is NI of -kaddar(a)- “event” or -razn- “matter, issue, subject” to the Control verb, e.g Sap min Aynuwast gubbāturrād sattabeddadaranaft yakte sar-kaddara-ekaru (“lit: “I event-saw the Ainu who/that killed the man.”). However, NI of -kaddar(a)- and -razn- are optional, and more often than not omitted. | |||
. | |||
kill-man-PST-INTRANS=NMLZ 1S=ERG DEM.PROX CONN aynu.person-GENT | |||
know.a.fact-3S.ABS + 1S.ERG-TRANS | |||
He who killed the man, I know this Aynu warrior (did it)” or “I know this Ainu warrior who | |||
killed the man.” | |||
Redad=aran sap min Aynuw-ast min gubbāturrād sattabe-ar-an-pi=naft yak=de nusill-ek- | |||
“I know that this Ainu warrior killed a man” or “I know this Ainu warrior who killed a man.” | |||
25 The verb nusill- alleviates the ambiguities mentioned in footnote #17, since its full meaning is “to know a fact”. | |||
a) ** Yak sar-redad-ek-ar-an-pi. “I man-saw.” Antipassivation + NI is not allowed here. | |||
b) Anxea yak sar-redad-ek-ar-an-pi. “I man-saw (my) brother.” Antipassivation + NI is allowed here because this is Type IV NI (see below) | |||
14i) Sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sattabe-redad-ar-an=š=naft yak=de ittawas-ek-ar-u. 14j) Redad=aran sap min Aynuwast min gubbāturrād sattabe-ar-an-pi=naft yak=de ittawas-ek- u. | |||
14k) Yak ittawas-ek-ar-an-pi. | |||
14l) **Yak ittawas-redad-ek-ar-an-pi. | |||
Notice that if the Controller is placed into the Absolutive position by Antipassivation (Sentences 14d, 14h, 14l) the nominalization must be deleted, since Minhast does not tolerate two separate Absolutive arguments and nominalizations must always have an Absolutive argument to relativize on. The IN of the complement clause in which the Controllee is embedded in may be retained by incorporation into the Control verb, but without nominalization, there is no way to qualify the NI. That must be determined by context. | |||
== Type IV Noun Incorporation == | == Type IV Noun Incorporation == | ||