Relative clauses in Tetun Dili: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Relative clauses in Tetun Dili: New contact-induced uses for old constructions

Catharina Williams-van Klinken and Olinda LucasCentre for Language StudiesDili Institute of Technology7th East Nusantara Conference14/5/2018

Slide2

Language contact in Tetun DiliNew forms (obvious). Was strict Subject-Verb. Now has Verb-Subject based on Portuguese,

e.g. Mosu funu (appear war) ‘War started.’Had no passives. Now common in writing.Change in functions of existing constructions (less obvious).

Slide3

Tetun Dili speakersCo-official language with Portuguese.

Speakers: 31% as main home language, 56% as 2nd or 3rd language. Total 930,000. (2015 census)

Slide4

Functions of Tetun Dili To 1999: oral lingua franca, Catholic Church.After 1999: parliament, schools, media, conferences, written reports. Lots of translation, esp. from English and Portuguese.

All adult writers were educated in Indonesian and/or Portuguese. Huge impact on acrolect, especially writing.

Slide5

Relative clausesin traditional tetun dili

Slide6

Structure of relative clausesStrict Subject-Verb order, default SVO, but has Object fronting.Traditionally no system of voice.Relativise mainly on S, O or time, using gap strategy. Most

common relativiser is nebee. emanebeehein

odamatan

nee

person

REL

wait

door

this

‘the person who guarded the door’

‘orang

yang jaga pintu ini’

Slide7

RelCl functions cross-linguisticallyRestrictive – identify referents from a group

DescribeRestate existing informationContinue the actionOpinion, comment by the speakerEnglish and Portuguese have all 5 functions.Indonesian has functions 1-3.

Slide8

1. Restrictive - identifyingModify a noun (usually generic, e.g. ‘person’, ‘place’, ‘thing’, ‘time’) to identify a referent.

Ketahalobuatnebee

sira

halo.

don’t

do

thing

rel

3s

do

‘Don’t do the things that they do.’

Slide9

2. Restrictive on new characterGive relevant identifying information when introducing a new character.

Ihamos emaida

nebee

importante

iha

palasiu

governu,

exist

also

person

one

rel

important

loc

palace

govt

‘There was also a person

who was important in government house,

nia

naran

Haman.

3s

name

Haman

his name was Haman.’

Slide10

3. DescribeDescribe an already-introduced character, in the predicate.

Esterfetoidanebee bonita

no

furak.

Esther

woman

one

rel

pretty

and

beautiful

‘Esther

was a woman who was very beautiful.’

Slide11

4. Describe brieflyDescribe briefly, e.g. using an adjective or existential iha.

NP is in post-verbal object position. Non-narrative.Itaharee diskusaun

nebee

furak

tebes,

diskusaun

klean.

1pi

see

discussion

rel

beautiful

true

discussion

deep

‘We have seen a beautiful discussion, a deep discussion.’

Slide12

New functions through language contact

Slide13

1. Describe: new informationGive information about a known character or entity.

Common in journalism and writing, rare in speaking. Some have comma...arguidoM.P.,nebeemai

akompanha

hosi

nia

advogadu.

accused

M.P.

rel

come

accompany

from

3s

.

pos

lawyer

‘...

the accused

M.P.,

who came accompanied by his lawyer

.’

‘... terdakwa M.P. yang datang didampingi oleh pengacaranya.’

Slide14

2. Give the reason for thanks

ObrigadabaEfinebeehatookansaun

ida

nee.

thanks

to

Efi

rel

pass.on

song

one

this

‘Thanks to Efi

for offering us this song

.’

‘Terima

kasih pada Efi yang menyampaikan lagu ini.’

Slide15

3. Restrict/describe plural pronounOn plural pronouns, to show who is included. Restrictive or non-restrictive

.Iminebeeameasanee,imisei

foin-sae.

2p

rel

threaten

this

2p

still

just-rise

‘You who threaten (me), you are still young.’

‘Kalian yang mengancam ini, masih mudah.’

Slide16

4. Restate existing informationto emphasise the description.

Ihaorasneekedassenhora

nee

nia

oan

loc

hour

this

immediate

madam

this

pos

child

‘That very hour, the woman’s child

‘Pas pada jam itu, anaknya ibu

nebee

diabu

tama

iha

nia

laran

diak

fali

rel

demon

enter

loc

pos

inside

good

again

who had had a demon in her was cured.’

yang kerasukan setan sembuh kembali.’

Slide17

Structure not (yet) noted in TetunPeople do not use a relative clause to modify a clause, e.g. I fell and couldn’t get up, which was very embarrassing.

English and Portuguese have this.Indonesian does not.

Slide18

Functions not (yet) noted in TetunContinue the action, e.g. ‘I gave the book to my brother, who gave it to his wife.’

Opinion, comment by the speaker: ‘The governor sacked the prime minister, which was a very bad idea!’English and Portuguese have these.Indonesian does not.

Slide19

Why use expanded functions?All Tetun writers were educated in Indonesian or Portuguese.It is easier to write Tetun in the style they learned to write in – reduced processing load (Matras 2007)

Much easier to translate relative clause as relative clause, rather than restructure radically.

Slide20

So what?

Slide21

Interpreting relative clauses with ‘new’ functionsReaders have difficulty!Relative clause is ignored totally.

Attempt at non-restrictive relative clause is interpreted as restrictive.Total misunderstanding.

Slide22

Elicitation is trickySpeakers are unsure as to what is ‘good’ Tetun.“We have to accept this, as we

see it all the time.” “We couldn’t say this, but in newspapers you can write it.”

Slide23

Conclusion: Do discourse study!Using correct structures with (formerly) wrong

functions is easy, but doesn’t communicate well.So work out the form of a construction ... and work out its function.