28.1033, Review: Minangkabau; Austronesian; Disc Analysis; General Ling; Lang Documentation; Typology: Dixon, Marnita (2016)

The LINGUIST List linguist at listserv.linguistlist.org
Tue Feb 28 17:40:37 UTC 2017


LINGUIST List: Vol-28-1033. Tue Feb 28 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.1033, Review: Minangkabau; Austronesian; Disc Analysis; General Ling; Lang Documentation; Typology: Dixon, Marnita (2016)

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté,
                                   Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Clare Harshey <clare at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:40:33
From: Daniel Brodkin [danbrodkin at gmail.com]
Subject: Classifiers in Minangkabau: a typological study

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36201297


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-1762.html

AUTHOR: Rina  Marnita
EDITOR: RMW  Dixon
TITLE: Classifiers in Minangkabau: a typological study
SERIES TITLE: Outstanding grammars from Australia 16
PUBLISHER: Lincom GmbH
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Daniel D Brodkin, Carleton College

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

“Classifiers in Minangkabau: a typological study” by Rina Marnita, a revised
version of Marnita’s 1996 thesis, presents an outline of the systems of noun
classification in Minangkabau and situates them within a theoretical framework
previously applied by others to closely related languages.  This work consists
of six chapters, covering general information about Minangkabau, a
cross-linguistic review of types of classifier systems, and the internal
structure of the Minangkabau Noun Phrase (NP), followed by close analyses of
two distinct types of classifier in Minangkabau coupled with an application of
Conklin (1981)’s “Interactive Semantic Field” model. Marnita concludes her
work with a synchronic analysis of the falling usage of classifiers in
contemporary Minangkabau, drawing data from her own fieldwork.

EVALUATION

Marnita provides in this work a very thorough description of the system of
noun classification present in Minangkabau, presenting a complete survey of
every classifier traditionally used in Minangkabau, coupled with usage notes
and remarks on semantic nuances in her fifth chapter. The author recognizes
multiple distinct semantic groups within the Minangkabau classifier system,
and chooses to categorize classifiers using Conklin’s “Interactive Semantic
Field” Model, which allows for significant degrees of semantic overlap to be
recognized across a set of independent semantic groupings. This model,
originally created to chart out the semantics of classifiers in Malay, a
language closely related to Minangkabau, fits Marnita’s data and analysis well
and makes for a convenient and effective categorization system of the
semantically slippery Minangkabau classifiers.  Marnita presents
well-justified semantic groupings, succeeds in representing them accurately
with Conklin’s model, and presents a thorough and compelling picture of the
classifier system in Minangkabau.

The author presents an important argument in this work for the recognition of
a distinct syntactic grouping of “generic classifiers” in Minangkabau,
contrasting with traditionally recognized numeral classifiers common
throughout East Asia.  Minangkabau, she argues, contains a second, distinct
type of “generic classifier” bearing some similarities to noun classifiers
found elsewhere in the world’s languages.  Marnita presents a convincing,
well-compiled argument for the independent existence of these generic
classifiers in Minangkabau, replete with copious examples of nuances in
classifier behavior and obligatoriness, backed up with data drawn from related
languages concerning a similar phenomenon.  Generic classifiers, among the
Western Austronesian languages, Marnita remarks, have received little
attention in the literature, so the analysis presented in this work holds
particular significance.

The cross-linguistic behavior of classifiers consistently appears on the
frontlines throughout this work, keeping the description of Minangkabau
classifiers informed by typological generalizations drawn from a wide array of
sources.  She frequently references previous works on classifiers both inside
and outside of the Austronesian family, offers comparisons between the
classifier systems of particular languages and that found in Minangkabau, and
presents relevant typological generalizations which assist in the description
of the behavior of the classifiers found in Minangkabau.  In Chapter 4,
entitled “Minangkabau Generic Classifiers,”  the author argues that
Minangkabau contains, along with the numeral classifiers common throughout
eastern Asia, a distinct class of noun-classifiers–a dichotomy which others
have remarked upon in other Western Austronesian languages, such as Malay
(Conklin 1989) and Acehnese (Durie 1985).  Marnita backs up this argument both
with descriptions of behavioral differences among classifiers in Minangkabau
and with an outline of the functions of noun classifiers in languages in which
they clearly exist.  This typological awareness helps clarify the functions
and semantics of Minangkabau classifiers.

Marnita’s sociolinguistic observations on the status of contemporary
Minangkabau also provide value to this work and enhance her description of the
Minangkabau classifier system.  The sixth chapter of this work, entitled
“Young Speakers’ Use of Classifiers,” details the results of a study conducted
in the author’s home village, and here the author demonstrates a sharp decline
in the usage of classifiers in the speech of Minangkabau youth and then links
this to sociolinguistic trends of heavy influence from Indonesian, including
partial language shift among the current generation of Minangkabau speakers. 
In this work’s first chapter, entitled “General Characteristics of Minangkabau
Language,” Marnita makes several notes on the usage and prevalence of
Indonesian within the Minangkabau speech community, remarking that the
majority of Minangkabau speakers are bilingual and that Standard Indonesian,
as the prestige language throughout the country, has been increasingly
encroaching on Minangkabau in social and public spheres as the language of
education, media, and all things official.  She links the sharp decline in
classifier use among the current generation of young Minangkabau speakers to
heavy influence from Standard Indonesian, which has already undergone a much
larger decline in classifier use, presenting several convincing diachronic
parallels between the two languages, demonstrating how the ongoing processes
of the general decline in classifier use in Minangkabau have already largely
occurred to completion in Standard Indonesian, and pointing out several
specific instances of common semantic shifts in cognate classifiers between
Indonesian and Minangkabau. She also includes several sociological
observations on the loss of traditional Minangkabau practices and the
linguistic repercussions thereof, remarking that much culturally specific
vocabulary, including several classifiers, has failed to be transmitted to the
youngest generation of speakers, exacerbating the decline of classifier usage
in present-day Minangkabau.  As this shift within the Minangkabau classifier
system can be largely explained by sociolinguistic trends, Marnita’s inclusion
of this information provides a helpful addition to her work.

This work does, however, suffer from several shortcomings which unfortunately
persist through a large part of the book.  Though the work’s final two
chapters, which constitute the majority of the work and which include the
majority of Marnita’s analysis of the Minangkabau classifier system (5) as
well as her account of their disappearance in the modern language (6), contain
clear and clearly guided writing, analysis, and explanation, the same cannot
be said for the earlier half of the work, particularly the first three
chapters, in which Marnita presents an overview of Minangkabau (1), a
cross-linguistic account of classifiers (2), and a description of the
Minangkabau Noun Phrase (3) 

Marnita, especially in the first half of her work, often fails to clearly show
her reader where her arguments are going, what her points are, and how the
information she presents contributes to her argument, leaving the reader
uncertain of her message and direction.  Previous works which she summarizes
are often not linked back to her original arguments, with data or arguments
often being presented and  explained, but not contextualized.  Some chapter
subsections and many paragraphs throughout the work contain lists of arguments
without clear connections, as the author often does not explicitly demonstrate
links between the different points she raises.  

The first chapter, containing an overview of the Minangkabau language,
exemplifies a number of these troubles.  Though Marnita does provide an
informative survey of the Minangkabau, their language, culture, and history,
many subsections lack clear conclusions or distinct messages.  This chapter
begins with a section entitled “Genetic Classification of the Language” in
which the author lists several theories on the internal structure of the
Western Austronesian subfamily, yet provides no broad summary or further
comments of her own.  The following subsection, entitled “The Origins of the
Minangkabau People,” contains yet another list of theories, but this time, on
the geographical origins of the Proto-Austronesian people, without mention of
the Minangkabau until the final paragraph, which the author somewhat abruptly
begins, after a discussion on the difficulties of locating the Austronesian
urheimat, “despite the controversies, Minangkabau and Malay are not often
regarded as mutually intelligible.”  These examples illustrate an unfortunate
trend in the presentation of data, theories, and information throughout the
first portion of this work: the author often does not provide enough
explanation to the reader to clearly demonstrate where her arguments are
moving, how the material she presents connects to her broader work, or how
arguments proposed by other linguists inform her analysis of Minangkabau or
the typological conversation surrounding classifiers.  Much of Marnita’s
writing feels unclear in purpose and direction, as points are left unmade,
connections are not overtly demonstrated, and the overall direction of the
writing remains unclear.  

Several other unfortunate shortcomings persist throughout the work.  Marnita
occasionally makes overbold or poorly-justified claims about certain languages
or typological trends, especially when summarizing arguments from other works.
 Of the many diagrams she offers in her work, several do show data clearly and
efficiently, but others are poorly designed and presented.  Terminology,
though mostly consistent, is not always clear and in one case, Marnita makes a
major terminological shift which reroutes an entire argument: in her fourth
chapter, two paragraphs after stating “I argue that it is likely that Western
Austronesian languages have noun classifiers as well as numeral classifiers,”
(56) she abandons the terminology of “noun classifier,” despite having devoted
significant attention to a cross-linguistic description of their properties,
and redefines these  items as “generic classifiers,” using Conklin’s term for
similar lexemes in Malay.

Lastly, typographical and grammatical errors appear unfortunately regularly
throughout the work, though again primarily in the first half.  Misspellings
are frequent, both in prose and especially in examples borrowed from previous
works, and written examples in Minangkabau are occasionally misglossed or
mistranslated in ways recognizable to a non-speaker.  Minor grammatical errors
appear in the English text as well, providing distractions to the reader.  
Overall, much of the writing in the first half of the book reads as
unpolished, which detracts from the impression this work provides.  

In summary, Marnita’s “Classifiers in Minangkabau: A Typological Survey”
presents a thorough description of the Minangkabau classifier system, despite
some shortcomings in organization and presentation.  Her analysis of the
Minangkabau Classifier system proves convincing and illuminating.  She clearly
demonstrates the existence of the two distinct types of classifiers she argues
for and provides a solid justification for “generic classifiers” to be
recognized in Minangkabau and other Western Austroneisan languages as a
category distinct from the “numeral classifiers” common throughout East Asia,
substantiating her argument with relevant evidence from multiple languages
from the subfamily, including Acehnese and Standard Indonesian alongside
Minangkabau.  Her application of Conklin’s “Interactive Semantic Field”
classifier model, furthermore, accurately captures relevant semantic
distinctions and groupings in Minangkabau and raises interesting questions
about semantic universals or generalizations among classifier semantics in
Western Austronesian languages and beyond.  Marnita’s own work documenting
classifier use in contemporary Minangkabau adds significantly to her work, and
she makes a compelling argument for the reasons behind their decline in usage
based on her sociolinguistic observations.  While establishing the background
for this discourse and argument, her writing does suffer from a lack of clear
direction, as individual segments often do not receive argument-oriented
summaries and are frequently left unconnected to other portions of her work. 
Typographic errors surface throughout the book, contributing to the overall
unpolished feel which the less-refined first half creates.  This work,
however, does effectively accomplish its goal of analyzing the Minangkabau
classifier system, and Marnita succeeds in distinguishing several salient
syntactic and semantic categories. 
 
This work, I believe, will prove valuable to those working on classifier
systems in Western Austronesian languages, and especially those interested in
the “generic classifiers” which Marnita identifies in Minangkabau and which
have not received significant attention in the literature.  The latter three
chapters contain strong arguments towards the existence of several distinct
kinds of classifier in Minangkabau and towards the motivations behind the
decline in classifier use in contemporary Minangkabau; thus, I would suggest
this work to those interested in such phenomena.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dan Brodkin, currently an undergraduate linguistics major at Carleton College
in Northfield, Minnesota, has been working on Minangkabau, a Western
Austronesian language since early 2016. He plans to pursue linguistics at the
graduate level, with particular interest in the austronesian language family.
He has presented his work at several undergraduate conferences and is
currently co-authoring a paper for publication on particular applicative
morphology found in Minangkabau.





----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-28-1033	
----------------------------------------------------------
Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated
from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:
          http://multitree.org/







More information about the LINGUIST mailing list