A Preliminary Investigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún Nomer Navarro Varua De La Salle University – Manila PHD in Applied Linguistics student
1. INTRODUCTION The Philippines is one of the most ethnoliguistically diverse countries in the world. With approximately 150 living languages in the Philippines (Headland, 2003), only a few have been fairly documented with existing reference grammars. A vast majority of the languages, including many in the top ten major languages in the country do not have an existing reference grammar. With that case, minority languages are even in the dismal states in terms of documentation; majority of the minor languages have limited, narrow documentations or no documentations at all. Among these minor languages that is not yet documented, at least in linguistic terms, is the Aeta Magbukon language. Magbukon is not a tribe; it is the dialect of the Aytas in Bataan. The dialect is a hybrid of Tagalog, Kapampangan and just a bit of Zambal. According to history, the Aytas who first settled in Biaan, Mariveles, developed it. It does not have its own alphabet; instead, it uses the Tagalog alphabet (Balillia, 2012, p. 9). Mostly found in Luzon, Aeta communities in the Central Luzon are referred as Ita or Aeta, in the eastern part as the Dumagat, and in the southeastern Luzon, they are known as Agta. Particularly, in the Bataan Peninsula of Central Luzon, a single indigenous group known as the Aeta Magbukún can be found living near the fringe of Manila Bay/South China Sea and the forest cover of Mount Mariveles in Bataan. According to Balilla (2013), the Aeta Magbukún is one of the least studied indigenous groups in the country, and despite the encroaching population of non-indigenous peoples in their communities, they have maintained a primarily hunter-gatherer existence. Magbukún originated from the word bukud/magbukud, which literally means “to separate from” in the Aeta Magbukún language. Aeta Magbukún, and the A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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women in particular, are known for their reclusive shyness in social situations, particularly outside of their bayan-bayanan, (p. 2). In the conversations conducted with some of the Anda (elders) of the tribe, and the young people it is apparent that the language seems to be at the attrition level, which is confirmed by the study of (Varua N. N., 2014) using the Bilungual Attrition Index. Even the Andas find it hard to produce the words needed to complete utterances. The variations in lexicon among the Magbukon is also apparent. The recent interest on studying Philippine languages have included the description of nominal markers. McFarland’s (McFarland, 2008) (2008) study focused on deictic pronouns in Philippine Languages. Limited studies are focused on minor languages such that of Dita (2007) on Ibanag and that of Cabanding (2014). Determiners are said to "mark" nouns. That is to say, you know a determiner will be followed by a noun. No work, at least none that this author is aware of, has focused on the investigation of nominal system of the Aeta Magbukun language. Most of studies on Aeta Magbukon are anthropological or sociolinguistics in nature such as the study of Balilla et al (2012) who ‘explored basis of basis of self-identity, traditional kinship ties, evolution of sociopolitical organisation, and the developing political options that sustain the small and vulnerable Indigenous population’ (p.1), Cabanding and Varua’s (2014) politeness discourse among Aeta Magbukon and another paper on Aeta Magbukon’s identity negotiaton in conjunction with their indigenous language. Cabanding (2014) wrote about the deictic expressions in Aeta Magbukon. David (2012) on the other hand documented the oral literature of Magbukon in Abucay, Bataan but no linguistic analysis was conducted. In this short paper, I would attempt to initially investigate the nominal marking system of Aeta Magbukun language by primarily analyzing the constituent order of a typical NP, the possible categories of nominal markers, and the functions of these nominal markers.
2. METHOD This study utilizes qualitative analysis of the Aeta Magbukun language. No corpus was gathered in this short paper, therefore, quantitative analysis is not possible. Only that, the respondent, Mr. Leonardo “Pando” Reyes who is an elder member (Anda) of the Sitio Kinaragan, an Aeta community in Limay, Bataan, provided example utterances that utilize the language’s pronominals. It is to be noted that since Magbukon is not a documented language, and due to varying versions of the language within the community, and the aging population of the remaining generation who speaks the language, the author cautions the reader that
A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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there could be possibly more variation of the languageor this paper could not reflect the entirety of the nominal marking system of Magbukon.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this section, the nominal marking system of Aeta Magbukun is presented. Like any other Philippine Languages, it seems that Magbukon exhibits two distinct nominal markers: determiners and demonstratives.
3.1. Constituent Order According to Dita (2011), NPs are characterized as phrases having a noun or pronoun as their heads. Wimbish (1989, in Dita, 2011), NPs may also include quantifiers, modifiers, and either a relative clause or an embedded clause. Since NPs may have more than two constituents, it is therefore appropriate to describe the order of constituents of an NP. Basically, there are two types of markers that introduce NPs: determiners and demonstratives. (1) MAG:
Ti DET ‘The
bata child child.’
(2) MAG:
hatu ti babae DEM DET woman ‘That woman.’
Notice that in Magbukon, the determiner ti seems to be mandatory before a noun. Though it appears like redundant when ‘hatu ti babae’ is translated in English ‘That (the) woman that is the case in Magbukon. Consider the following examples: (3) Hatu ti manok ko DEM DET chicken mine ‘That is my chicken.’ (4) Hatu ti kambing ko DEM DET goat mine ‘That is my goat.’ (5) Hatu ti baboy ko DEM DET pig mine ‘That is my pig.’
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In contrast, while determiner ‘ti’ is ‘mandatory’ as in (2), (3), (4), and (5), when an NP is used as a vocative, no determiner is needed before the head noun, as in (6): (6) Babai, hika ti ilaw ng amak. woman ABS.2s DET light DET house ‘Woman, you are the light of the house.’
When an NP is used as a response to a question, no nominal marker is needed. Hence, the head noun is the sole constituent in a predicate. (7) Hino ti gusto mo? What like ERG.2s ‘What do you like?’ Tinapay. ‘bread’ In my first short paper, I claimed that Magbukon is heavily patterned after Tagalog. However, in this case, in which Tagalog shows the use of ligatures, as in: (8) Ano=ng gusto mo? What=LIG like ERG.2s ‘What do you like?’ Magbukon seems to not use a ligature in such a way that the following utterance is according to the respondent not normal: (9) ?Hinong ti gusto mo? What=lig like ERG.2s ‘What do you like?’ Instead of saying ‘Hinong ti gusto mo?’, the correct version would be ‘Hino ti gusto mo?’ Lastly, in nominalized clauses, nominal markers take the initial position. (10)
Hay hinabi niya DET PERF- say ERG.3s ‘what s/he said’
(11)
Hati ti nalakuan mo DET PERF- go ERG.2s ‘where you went (to)’
(12)
Hay sayaw ko DET PERF- dance GEN.1s ‘my dancing’
3.2. Determiners A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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Dita (2011) wrote that most Philippine language researchers claim to have found only one definite marker. For instance, Dita (2011) cited that Tagalog has ang (cf., Schachter 1976:495; Schachter & Otañes 1972) and Botolan Sambal has ya (cf. Antworth 1979:13). In Ibanag, this definite marker is the determiner i. Like other PL, Magbukon determiners also encode number (singular and plural), case (core and oblique), and distinguish between personal and impersonal.
3.2.1. Number of Determiners On whether the succeeding nominal is singular or plural is encoded by Magbukon determiners. NPs that are in general singular in meaning are announced by the determiner ti; NPs that shows plurality in meaning are also introduced by ti plus the similar Tagalog plurality marker which is mga.
The determiner ti The determiner ti shows adaptability in this initial analysis. A single word noun, a noun phrase, a relativized clause, a verb-like item, or an adjective one can be introduced by this Magbukon determiner. (13)
A single word noun ti taw DET person ‘a person’
(14)
A noun phrase Hati ti kapitan DET chieftain DET barangay ‘the chieftain of the barangay’ A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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(15)
Ti kapitbahay DET neighbor ‘the neighbor’
(16)
A relativized clause Ti taw ti walang kasalanan DET person REL no PAR sin GEN.3s ‘a person who does not have (any) sin’
(17)
A verb-like item Hay ti ginagamit niya DET using ERG.3s ‘the (one he is) using
(18)
An adjective Hay mayayaman ti mga sikat DET rich and PLU famous ‘the rich and the famous’
(19)
A preposition Hati ti para hakayka DET for ABS.2s ‘the (one) for you’
However, in the case of (10), (11) and (12), which used the determiners ti, hati, and hay, it is not clear whether the three have distinct usage since all of them are determiners of nouns and nominalized items. This phenomena could be further looked into and come up with a sharper distinction on when to use ti, hati, and hay in Magbukon. However it is to be noted that in (14), according to the respondent, the use of hati before another determiner ti, is mandatory because the use of combination of hati+ti is to show honor or courtesy to a person in power or in authority. That is why in (15), uttering ‘ti kapitbahay’ would be acceptable because you are dealing with a common folk. However, the use of hati and hay are quite erratic as shown in (17), (18) and (19) in which hay is combined with ti, hati with ti, and sometimes hay stands alone. The determiner ti can both encode definiteness and indefiniteness of referent, as seen in the following examples. (20)
Hay reyna ay kayte na. DET (DEF) queen DEM already ‘The queen is already here.’
(21)
Hay kapitan ikundiling lalaki. DET(INDEF) chieftain NEG.only man ‘A chieftain is not always a man.’
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Like other PL, Magbukon uses obligatory determiners before abstract nouns. (22)
Ti buhay ay mahiwaga. DET life TL mysterious ‘Life is mysterious.’
(23)
Hay tadhana ay dapay gulong. DET destiny TL like wheel ‘Life is like a wheel.’
The oblique ha This section provides a very elementary description of the oblique marker ha and its plural counterpart ha mga. While Magbukon has its own lexicon for the Tagalog sa which is ha, the Magbukon language encodes plurality by using the same Tagalog plural marker mga (i.e. ha mga). Utterances (24) and (25) illustrates this: (24)
Manguha kang saging ha Lubot. Get ABS.2s banana OBL forest ‘(You) Get bananas in the forest.’
(25)
Maku ka ha mga patul mo. Go ABS.2s OBL siblings ERG.2s ‘(You) Go to your siblings.’
3.2.2. Demonstratives The analysis on demonstratives in this paper subscribes to Dita (2011). Demonstratives can both function as nominal markers and pronominals and that demonstratives behave as pronominals if they can function as sole constituents in a predicate clause. That is, an NP does not precede the demonstrative. Otherwise, the demonstrative functions as a nominal marker. There are seven of demonstratives that can function as nominal marker: the spatial, locative, genitive, simulative, existential, directives and the temporal. As for the first six, three degrees of space are distinguished here: the proximal, the medial, and the distal. Dita (2011) mentioned that other philippinists use different terms for this category. Ferreirinho (1993, in Dita, 2011) also marks three deictic categories in Limos Kalinga namely ‘near speaker’ (NS), ‘near hearer’ (NH), and ‘distant’ (DIST). A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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Proximal space refers to those that refer to entities located within the physical and mental realm of the speaker (Rubino, 1997, in Dita, 2011). Medial space encodes proximity to the addressee. These demonstratives often co-occur with the second person pronominals. The referent of distal space, on the other hand, is neither within the realm of the speaker nor the addressee. Because of its nature, the third person pronominals are usually associated with the distal space. Table 2 shows the summary of Aeta Magbukon demonstratives.
Table 2. Summary of Aeta Magbukon Demonstratives Type SPATIAL LOCATIVE GENITIVE SIMILATIVE EXISTENTIAL DIRECTIVES TEMPORAL
Proximal Medial hati Hatu kayte alun hati niyan gayang hati gayte onto kayte onto alun maku ka kayte maku ka alun Recent past and remote past: hatu
Distal hatu alun niyon gayang hatu onto alun maku ka alun
Examples (26), (27), and (28) shows the spatial demonstratives encoding proximal, medial, and distal spaces respectively.
(26)
Hati ti amak ko. DEM DET house ERG.1s Ito ang bahay namin. ‘This is our house
(27)
Hatu ti amak ko. DEM DET house ERG.1s Iyan ang bahay ko. ‘That is my house.’
(28)
Hatu ti amak ko. DEM DET house ERG.1s Iyon ang bahay ko. ‘That is my house.’
It is interesting and important to note that Magbukon Spatial demonstratives expressing the medial and distal spaces are the same. On whether what space the speaker is trying to communicate is dependent upon the “finger pointing” of the object being referred to A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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by the speaker; it is in that moment that the hearer would ‘contextually’ understand the distance being reffered to by the speaker. Examples (29), (30), and (31) shows the locative demonstratives encoding proximal, medial, and distal spaces respectively. (29)
Kayte ti amak kay. DEM DET house GEN.1Pe Dito ang bahay namin. ‘Our house is here.’
(30)
Alun ti amak kay. DEM DET house GEN.1Pe Diyan ang bahay namin. ‘Our house is there.’
(31)
Alun ti amak kay. DEM DET house GEN.1Pe Doon ang bahay namin. ‘Our house is over there.’
Similarly, Magbukon does not also provide different lexical items to encode medial and distal differences in expressing locatives. Magbukon uses the same alun to refer to medial and distal locations. The speakers and hearer are expected to have ‘understood’ the space depending on the context of the conversation. In terms of Magbukon Genitive demonstratives, examples (32), (33) and (34) exemplifies their use of genitive proximal hati, genitive medial niyan, and genitive distal niyon. (32)
Kinwa niya hay baterya hati. Got ERG.3s DET DEM Kinuha niya ang baterya nito. ‘He/she got its battery’
(33)
Kinwa niya hay baterya niyan. Got ERG.3s DET DEM Kinuha niya ang baterya niyan. ‘He/she got that battery.’
(34)
Kinwa niya hay baterya niyon. Got ERG.3s DET DEM Kinuha niya ang baterya niyon. ‘He/she got those batteries.’
Though Magbukon has its own lexical item for its genitive proximal (hati), the language adopts Tagalog demonstratives such as niyan and niyon to encode its medial and distal genitives. A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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Similatives are also interesting features of Magbukon demonstratives. Examples (35), (36) and (37) shows sample utterances on the use of Magbukon similatives gayang hati, gayte ti, and gayang hatu which are proximal, medial and distal locatives respectively. (35)
Gayang hati ti gawun mo. DEM DEM DET do ERG.2s Ganito ang gawin mo. ‘Do it like this.’
(36)
Gayte ti gawun mo. DEM DET do ERG.2s Ganyan ang gawin mo. ‘Do it like that.’
(37)
Gayang hatu ti gawun mo. DEM DEM DET do ERG.2s Ganoon ang gawin mo. ‘Do it like those.’
It is interesting to note that in expressing the proximal and distal similatives in Magbukon, it would use a combination of the simulative plus the equivalent spatial proximal and distal, as in (35) and (37). The medial simulative however would just use gayte. If similatives combined with spatial to produce simulative demonstratives, the Magbukon language will combine existential with locative to come up with existential demonstratives, as in exemplified by (38), (39) and (40). (38)
Onto kayte ti ahawa mo. DEM DEM DET spouse ERG.2s Narito ang asawa mo. ‘Your spouse is here.’
(39)
Onto alun ti ahawa mo. DEM DEM DET spouse ERG.2s Nariyan ang asawa mo. ‘Your spouse is there.’
(40)
Onto alun ti ahawa mo. DEM DEM DET spouse ERG.2s Naroon ang asawa mo. Your spouse is over there.’
Magbukon also uses directive demonstratives. Examples (41), (42) and (43) shows examples of their usage. Take note that in expressing directives, Magbukon would have DEM (Directive)+PRONOMINAL+DEM (Locative) construction to produce an appropriate utterance. (41)
Maku ka kayte ha amak. A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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DEM ABS.2s DEM DET house Pumarito ka sa bahay. ‘Come here at the house.’ (42)
Maku ka alun ha amak. DEM ABS.2s DEM DET house Pumariyan ka sa bahay. ‘Go (there) in the house.’
(43)
Maku ka alun ha amak. DEM ABS.2s DEM DET house Pumaroon ka sa bahay. ‘Go (there) in the house.’
In the paper of Dita (2007), two types of temporal demonstratives for Ilocano were identified: the recent past and the remote past (Rubino, 1997).
These temporal
demonstratives are used to indicate referents that are not apparent in the speech event. Such referent is most likely to have happened in the past. Hence, the recent (44) and the remote past are identified (45). (44)
Recent Past Masaya hikay noong panahong hatu. Happy ABS.1pe then time DEM Masaya pa kami noong panahon na iyan. ‘We were (still) happy during that time.’
(45)
Remote Past Masaya hikay noong panahong hatu. Happy ABS.1pe then time DEM Masaya pa kami noong panahon na iyon. ‘We were (still) happy during those time.’
4. CONCLUSION This short paper, which utilized limited data and are only prompted, presents and discusses the general characteristics and basic grammatical aspects of Aeta Magbukon nominal marking system. Data from one person, an Anda or elder in the Aeta Kinaragan Community in Limay, Bataan served as the only source of utterances used in this paper. Magbukon determiners and their number as well as Magbukon demonstratives are discussed in this paper. Magbukon determiners are the core ti and the oblique ha, which are singulars and can be pluralized by using the plural marker mga, which is apparently adopted from Tagalog. It should be noted that in some cases, Magbukon use determiners as a sign of respect, such as for example the use of hati before another determiner ti, which is mandatory A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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because the use of combination of hati+ti is to show honor or courtesy to a person in power or in authority. It is also discussed that there are seven of demonstratives that can function as nominal marker: the spatial, locative, genitive, simulative, existential, directives and the temporal, in which the first six, three degrees of space are distinguished: the proximal, the medial, and the distal. Intersting features of Magbukon demonstratives are: (a) Magbukon Spatial demonstratives expressing the medial and distal spaces are the same; (b) Magbukon does not also provide different lexical items to encode medial and distal differences in expressing locatives; (c) In expressing the proximal and distal similatives in Magbukon, it would use a combination of the simulative plus the equivalent spatial proximal and distal; (d) Magbukon language will combine existential with locative to come up with existential demonstratives;
and
(e)
in
expressing
directives,
Magbukon
would
have
DEM
(Directive)+PRONOMINAL+DEM (Locative) construction to produce an appropriate utterance. A larger spoken or written corpus should be used to further analyze the features and possible unique phenomena in Magbukonnominal marking system.
5. REFERENCES Balilla, V., McHenry, J., McHenry, M., Parkinson , R., & Baal, D. (2012). Indigenous Aeta Magbukún Self-Identity, Sociopolitical Structures, and Self-Determination at the Local Level in the Philippines. Journal of Anthropology, Volume 2013, 9-9. doi:ArticleID 3918 Cabanding, M. (2014). Deictic Pronouns of Aeta Magbukon. De La Salle University. Manila: De La Salle University. David, N. (2013). An ethnographic study of the Magbukun Literary Arts among the Ayta of Bataan. IAMURE Intrenational Journal of Social Sciences., Volume 7, 1-22. Dita, S. N. (2007). A reference grammar of Ibanag. Manila, The Philippines: De La Salle University. Dita, S. N. (2010a). A morphosyntactic analysis of the pronominal system of Philippine Language. Plenary paper presented at the 24th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information, and Computation. Japan. Headland, T. (2003). Thirty Endangered Languages in the Philippines. (S. International, Ed.) Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, 47. McFarland, C. D. (2008). Deictic Pronouns In Philippine Languages. Studies in Philippine Languages and Cultures, Volume 19, 123-141.
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Nagaya, N. (2006). Preferred referential expressions in Tagalog. Tokyo University Linguistics Papers, 25, 83-106. Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of English Language. London: Longman. Santos, M. C. (2012). A Contemporary Grammar of Hiligaynon. PhD Dissertation De La Salle University. Manila, Philippines. Tanangkingsing, M. (2009). A Functional Reference Grammar of Cebuano. Dissertation, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Varua, N. N. (2014). Measuring Language Attrition in Aeta Magbukon Using the Bilingual Language Profile. Department of English and Applied Linguistics. Manila: De La Salle University. Varua, N., & Cabanding, M. (2014). Identity Negotiations in Aeta Magbukon. Department of English and Applied Linguistics. Manila: De La Salle University. Varua, N., & Cabanding, M. (2014). Politeness in Aeta Magbukon. De La Salle University, Department of English and Applied Linguistics. Manila: De La Salle University.
A Preliminary Invesigation on the Nominal Marking System of Aeta Magbukún
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