Absolute Directional System in Usen Barok

Transcription

1 Absolute Directional System in Usen Barok Jingyi Du RCLT, La Trobe University

2 1. Language background Barok is an Oceanic language spoken by approximately 7000 people on the main island of New Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea (Map 1). 2

3 Map 1: New Ireland within PNG ( 3

4 Barok in the Austronesian family (after Lynch et al, 2002). 4

5 Dialects: Nabo and Usen (also see Wagner 1986: 4). The Usen dialect (spoken by about 2000 people) is the focus of my research. 5

6 Usen Barok is a nominative-accusative language with very limited morphology. The basic constituent order of verbal clauses is AVO (transitive) or SV (intransitive). Cross-referencing of the subject within VP is obligatory. 6

7 2. Frames of spatial reference Levinson (2003: 38-50) proposes a typology of spatial reference frames which distinguishes three major types: Intrinsic frame of reference e.g. He is in front of the house. Relative frame of reference e.g. He is to the left of the house. Absolute frame of reference e.g. He is north of the house. Usen Barok does not seem to have a relative system. It makes a little use of an intrinsic frame and uses predominately an absolute frame. 7

8 3. Directionals in Usen Barok 8

9 Essive indicates positions in a direction (following Bowden 2001:277) Allative prefix u- towards indicates motion towards a direction. The prefix u- is probably a reflex of POs *ua go (Ross 2003b: 268). Ablative prefix me- from indicates motion away from a direction. The prefix me- is probably a reflex of POs *mai come (Ross 2003b: 284) A near form is used to indicate the same direction as that of its unmarked counterpart, while suggesting a shorter distance from the speaker. 9

10 Usen Barok employs a non-compass absolute directional system which is motivated by its local settings. 10

11 Map 2: Enlarged map of New Ireland and its offshore islands 11

12 Longish island Offshore islands: Tabar, Lihir, Tangga, Anir (Feni) Mountainous spine divides the Barok area into the east coast and the west coast regions. Data are gathered from Kolonoboi (Map 3). 12

13 Map 3: The directional system of Usen Barok (map: World GPS Map Database) 13

14 Basic features of absolute spatial reference in Oceanic languages (Ross 2003a: 221; François 2004): Land-based subsystems: inland-seaward axis or up-down axis. Sea-based subsystems: northwest-southeast axis (using terms of winds or terms of vertical axis). 14

15 The land-based axis in Usen Barok nuso inland/up and nii seaward/down nuso up and nii down are also used in the vertical axis. 15

16 nuso up nii down 16

17 Vertical axis nuso up nii down 17

18 nuso inland and nii seaward nii seaward nuso up/inland 18

19 The sea-based axis in Usen Barok nii northwest and noo southeast This axis operates both at sea and on land. 19

20 nii northwest and noo southeast nii northwest noo southeast 20

21 This axis was probably motivated by the prevailing seasonal winds aligned on a northwest-southeast basis (Wagner 1986: 26-27; Ross 2003b: 127; Parkinson 1907 [1999]: 111). A few aged speakers at Kolonoboi are still able to tell the association of noo southeast and taubar southeast trade wind. The Boluminski Highway has been used as an axis. Wagner (1986: 25) reports that: Traditionally the southeast, or Namatanai direction was called mara bo, the eye or hole of the pig; the northwest, or Kavieng, direction was the mara mangin, the eye of the mis (strung shell-disk currency). 21

22 nii or noo? Contradictory data have been collected when the speakers are located far at sea. nii nii noo noo 22

23 Beyond these two axes For an Usen speaker located on land in the Barok area, at sea is treated as a direction noo at sea. Within the Usen Barok system, depending on their location, someone may be nii löxöön down at the beach or noo lömöö at sea, although these can be exactly the same direction according to the western cardinal directional system. 23

24 noo at sea noo at sea nii seaward 24

25 The direction nuso up is also used to indicate locations outside the main island of New Ireland and its surrounding area (i.e. the offshore islands). 25

26 nuso up =beyond the familiar area 26

27 nuso up =beyond the familiar area I went from Rabaul to Port Moresby. I went up to Cairns. [p31-s5] Abbreviations:1, first person; ABL, ablative; ALL, allative; SG, singular; SM, subject marker. 27

28 Questions Why southeast and at sea are grouped together in this system (using the term noo)? It seems that the Usen speakers only distinguish two directions nii and noo when they are located far at sea. What do these two terms really mean? 28

29 References Bowden, John Taba: description of a South Halmahera language. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. François, Alexandre Reconstructing the Geocentric System of Proto-Oceanic. Oceanic Linguistics 43, No.1: pp Hyslop, Catriona Hiding behind trees on Ambae: spatial reference in an Oceanic language of Vanuatu. In Representing space in Oceania: culture in language and mind, ed. Giovanni Bennardo, pp Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Lithgow, David. and Oren Claassen Languages of the New Ireland district. Port Moresby, T.P.N.G.: Dept. of Information & Extension Services Lynch, John, Malcolm Ross and Terry Crowley ed The Oceanic Languages. Curzon Language Family Series. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. Palmer, Bill Absolute spatial reference and the grammaticalisation of perceptually salient phenomena. In Representing space in Oceania: culture in language and mind, ed. Giovanni Bennardo, pp Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Parkinson, Richard Thirty years in the South seas: Land and People, Customs and Traditions in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands. Bathurst: Crawford House Publishing. 29

30 Pawley, Andrew Locating Proto Oceanic. In The lexicon of Proto Oceanic, The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society. vol. 2 The physical environment, ed. Malcolm Ross & Andrew Pawley & Meredith Osmond, pp Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Ross, Malcolm. 2003a. Meteorological phenomena. In The lexicon of Proto Oceanic, The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society. vol. 2 The physical environment, ed. Malcolm Ross & Andrew Pawley & Meredith Osmond, pp Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Ross, Malcolm. 2003b. Talking about space: terms of location and direction. In The lexicon of Proto Oceanic, The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society. vol. 2 The physical environment, ed. Malcolm Ross & Andrew Pawley & Meredith Osmond, pp Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Wagner, Roy Asiwinarong : ethos, image, and social power among the Usen Barok of New Ireland Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. 30