Kimoto, Yukinori
15-ICAL: 15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Jun 29, 2021, The Department of Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic)
Many studies have been conducted on verb formation and the morphosyntactic and semantic nature of Philippine-type verb forms. However, the semantic relation between voice affixes, roots, and composite forms is not always straightforward. For example, in Arta [ISO 639-3: atz], a Philippine-type language spoken in northern Luzon, the root word "dima", ‘walking,’ predictably yields an intransitive verb "mandima" ‘to walk.’ Alternatively, verbs can be formed from some nouns representing concrete physical things such as ‘wild boar,’ ‘child,’ and ‘moon,’ as in manlaman ‘to hunt a wild boar,’ mangana ‘give birth to a child,’ and "mambulan" ‘go hunting under the moonlight.’ This study focuses on the semantic relationship between nouns and derived verbal forms. Table 1 illustrates the productive patterns of verbs derived from concrete nouns in Arta.
Of the major intransitive verb (actor voice) affixes, "maN-" can be attached to various nouns to form verbs. First, "maN-" verbs denote (1) ‘to hunt, collect, get, or catch N,’ where N refers to the root noun. In Arta, verbs are productively derived from game hunting nouns, such as wild boar, monkey, deer, and python. The prefix "maN-" also precedes nouns of (2) animal and plant parts, deriving verbs that express ‘to produce, lengthen, elongate, or extend N.’ Other affixes "ma-" and <um> may take (3) nouns referring to the stages of human life, weather, and location. The composite meaning is ‘become N.’
Arta has three major transitive verb (or undergoer voice) affixes: "-ən", "-an", and "i-". The prefix "-ən" precedes (4) nouns of means, instruments, or tools to create performative action verbs that ‘use’ the nouns. The suffix "-an" forms verbs of two opposite meanings (5) ‘to remove N from something’ and (6) ‘to add, attach N to something.’ For example, part-whole nouns like ‘fish scales’ or ‘animal intestines’ tend to form verbs that mean ‘removal.’ Finally, the prefix "i-" indicates (7) something to be transferred or (8) verbs of caused-motion.
Several less productive denominal verb patterns are not categorized above; some denominal verbs are far less transparent in meaning. For example, "mambulan" ‘hunt under the moonlight’ cannot be understood without prior knowledge of their hunting practices. In all cases, however, the composite meanings conform to the semantic constraints on the verbal affixes. For example, "maN-" basically denotes activities, while "ma-" and <um> mostly represent changes of state or location (Reid and Liao 2002, Kimoto 2017). The meanings of the denominal verbs examined here also conform to these general characteristics. This study provides a foundation that reveals productive patterns of denominal verbs across Philippine languages.
References
Kimoto, Yukinori. 2017. A grammar of Arta: A Philippine negrito language. Ph.D. dissertation, Kyoto University.
Reid, Lawrence A. and Hsiu-chuan Liao. 2004. A brief syntactic typology of Philippine languages. Language and Linguistics 5(2): 433-490.