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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Dear Sune,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">I've been following this thread with interest,
piqued by the claim that
Papuan Malay uses <i>taw</i> 'know' to mark habituals, which
seemed to be at
odds with my own experience with the language.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>So I did some looking into this, and it turned out (to my
surprise) that
your Papuan Malay source, Angela Kluge, was right.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But the situation is
actually considerably
more complicated, with a substantial amount of variation across
Malay/Indonesian
dialects.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In a nutshell:
there seem to
be (at least) three dialects (or perhaps idiolects) with regards
to the
possible interpretations of <i>taw/tau/tahu</i>:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">(a) literal 'know how to'</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">(b) experiential 'have ever' (like Mandarin <i>guo</i>)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">(c) habitual</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">I have appended below some additional discussion,
for those of you who
may be interested in more details.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Best,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">David</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">**********</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">As a white person in Indonesia, I am frequently
asked whether I <i>tahu </i>eat
rice.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>At first,
interpreting <i>tahu</i>
literally as 'know how to', my response was Yeah, put it I my
mouth, chew, and
swallow; however, I was obviously missing something here.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But what?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;font-variant:small-caps;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">So, </span><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="EN-US">prompted
by Sune's query, I
posted my own query, on the "Malay Dialects" facebook group,
asking what
people mean when they ask whether I 'know how to eat rice'.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The ensuing thread is
freely accessible at </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/531708060493604/posts/2078927959104932">https://www.facebook.com/groups/531708060493604/posts/2078927959104932</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">though it's mostly in Malay/Indonesian.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Two qualifications:<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>most of the correspondents
are not
professional linguists, and it's usually not clear which
dialects of Malay or
Indonesian they represent.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But
having
said that, the discussion on the thread can be roughly
summarized as follows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">1. 10 respondents interpreted the question
literally, as meaning 'Do you know how to eat rice?'.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">2. 4 respondents interpreted it as having an
experiential meaning, 'Have you ever eaten rice?'.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It was further claimed that
this interpretation
comes from the cognate form in Javanese.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>One of the respondents generously provided copious
references to this,
which I have appended below.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">3. 7 respondents interpreted it a having a habitual
meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In particular,
one of them, a
native of Ternate (Northern Maluku), suggested that this was
typical of eastern
varieties of Malay, which of course include Papuan Malay.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">In summary, it seems like dialectal variation
within Malay/Indonesian may offer a fruitful source of evidence
for possible
paths of grammaticalization of verbs meaning 'know', if anybody
wishes to
pursue this particular avenue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">**********</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE"
lang="EN-US">References on Javanese:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="NL">tau : 1. KW. Ml. weten
(zva. wêruh), en iets weten
te doen. N. of nau, Wk. tate, en gew. nate, K. niet vreemd zijn
iets te doen,
... (Gericke en Roorda 1901)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="NL">tau : N., tate, K.,
gewoonte, hebbelijkheid. -K.
nate, gewoon zijn, plegen; gewoon, gewend. ora tau, N., botên
nate, K., niet
gewend zijn, ongewoon. durung ... (Gericke en Roorda 1847)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="NL">tau : ng, nate kr 1 ever,
at some time. Apa kowe
wis [x] wêruh gambar iki? Have you ever seen this picture? Aku
durung [x] wêruh
sêgara. I've never seen the ... (Horne 1974)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="NL">tau-rasa : excl of
satisfaction at smn's similar
discomfiture. Tau-rasa, saiki kowe ngêrti dhewe piye rasane wong
disiksa. Now
you see what it feels like to be ... (Horne 1974)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="NL">tau : N. tate, N. [Red. K]
habitude, coutume,
usage. nau, Kw. connaître, savoir. tau, N. nate, K. être
habitué, avoir
coutume, (L'Abbé P. Favre 1870)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN">tahu : tahu; bisa; ahli;
berpengalaman; tahu-tahu
sangat berpengalaman. (Wojowasito 1977)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN">tahu : to know; common,
usual; expert; experienced;
tahu-tahu very experienced. (Wojowasito 1980)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN">tahu [Ind] : 1 wêruh,
sumurup; 2 ngêrti, bisa; 3
tau, kulina; tidak tahu menahu: padhadene êmoh wêruh;
bertahu-tahu: kumintêr
(ambêk ngrêti apa-apa); diketahui: ... (Purwadarminta c. 1939)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN">tahu : (C) kn. ar.
lêlawuhan sing digawe dhêle
putih digiling. (Poerwadarminta 1939)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN">tahu : sumêrêp, waspaos.
(Wintêr 1928)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New
Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-ansi-language:IN;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="IN"><br>
</span></p>
<p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 17/04/2023 11:20, Sune Gregersen
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bae6de06-9b83-408c-c6ee-08c7076a8321@isfas.uni-kiel.de">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p>Dear colleagues,<br>
</p>
<p>In connection with an investigation of habitual markers, we are
looking for information on languages which use serial verb
constructions (SVCs) to express habitual meaning, i.e. for
customarily or typically recurring situations. An example of
this is seen in (1), from Papuan Malay [ISO 639-3: pmy], where
the verb <i>taw</i> can be combined with another verb to
express a habitual situation. Outside of this construction, the
verb <i>taw</i> means 'know', as in (2):<br>
<br>
(1) Papuan Malay (Kluge 2023: 8)<br>
<i>dong <b>taw</b> maing foli</i><br>
3PL know play volleyball<br>
'they habitually play volleyball'<br>
<br>
(2) Papuan Malay (Kluge 2023: 7)<br>
<i>mama de blum <b>taw</b> tempat itu</i><br>
mother 3SG not.yet know place DISTAL.DEM<br>
'mother doesn’t yet know that place'<br>
<br>
We adhere to the definition of SVC offered by Haspelmath (2016:
296): "a monoclausal construction consisting of multiple
independent verbs with no element linking them and with no
predicate–argument relation between the verbs".<br>
<br>
That the verbs must be "independent" means that they must be
able to occur on their own in a non-elliptical utterance (see
Haspelmath [2016: 302–304] for details). This does not exclude
the possibility that the verbs in a SVC are pronounced as a
single phonological word. Hence the definition also covers some
constructions which may be termed differently in grammars, e.g.
"verb incorporation", "verbal compounds", or "secondary verbs".
An example of such a SVC is seen in (3) from Northern Paiute
[pao]. The combination of 'kill' with<i> </i><i>čakwi</i>,
literally 'carry', gives the habitual meaning 'would kill'.
However, 'carry' may also be used as an independent verb, as
shown in (4):<br>
<br>
(3) Northern Paiute (Thornes 2003: 266)<br>
<i>nɨnmi kammɨ koi-<b>čakwi </b></i><br>
1.EXCL jackrabbit kill.PL-carry<br>
'We would kill jackrabbits.'<br>
<br>
(4) Northern Paiute (Snapp et al. 1982: 68)<br>
<i>baa-huu-na i gunna pa-to-<b>ǰakwi</b>-kɨ-kwɨnai-hu</i><br>
water-flow-SUBORD my wood
water-shoulder-carry-APPLIC-away-PUNCTUAL<br>
'The flood carried away my wood.'<br>
<br>
Apart from Papuan Malay and Northern Paiute, we have examples
from the following languages so far: Anamuxra [imi], Dumo [vam],
Kwomtari [kwo], Lao [lao], Sezo [sze], Tariana [tae], and Yace
[ekr]. We would be most grateful for any information on other
habitual serial verb constructions, including verbal compounds,
in any language of the world.</p>
<p>With all best wishes,<br>
Eva van Lier (Amsterdam) and Sune Gregersen (Kiel)</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>REFERENCES</p>
<p>Haspelmath, Martin. 2016. The serial verb construction:
Comparative concept and cross-linguistic generalizations.
Language and Linguistics 17(3). 291–319. <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002215626895"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002215626895</a><br>
<br>
Kluge, Angela. 2023. Serial verb constructions in Papuan Malay:
Forms, functions and indeterminacy. Journal of the Southeast
Asian Linguistics Society 16(1). 1–36. <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52507"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52507</a><br>
<br>
Snapp, Allen, John Anderson & Joy Anderson. 1982. Northern
Paiute. In Ronald W. Langacker (ed.), Studies in Uto-Aztecan
grammar 3: Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches, 1-92. Dallas:
Summer Institute of Linguistics. <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/8593"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/8593</a><br>
<br>
Thornes, Timothy Jon. 2003. A Northern Paiute grammar and texts.
Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon.<br>
</p>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
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</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
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