Tag. ay

[Paz B. Naylor]

Indeed as Jean-Paul points out, AY functions as a discourse marker in
Tagalog.  I remember Cavite Tagalog speakers saying something like (in
response to previous discourse): "Ay bakit naman nagkaganoon! or "Ay kung
gay'on, huwag na lang!" I've even come to wonder if the ubiquitous "E.." is
a phonetic development from AY - what with the AI > E development being such
a common one in so many languages.  (Hardly any analysis of the discourse
markers "E", "A", "O" has been done to my knowledge.)

Kumusta na lamang, Paz



----- Original Message -----


From: "potetjp" <potetjp at wanadoo.fr>
To: " AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS" <AN-LANG at anu.edu.au>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 8:36 AM
Subject: Tag. ay


> Paz B. NAYLOR is right; Tag. _ay_ has other functions than that of
> anteposer.
> My query was whether there existed other Austronesian languages having a
> similar particle.
> Best
> Jean-Paul G. POTET
>
> P.S. Incidentally I dealt with the function of Tag _ay_ at the discourse
> level in "La pétition tagale Caming Manga Alipin (1665)",  pp. 109-157 in
> _Cahiers de Linguistique - Asie Orientale_ (CLAO) XVI, #1, juin 1987,
Paris:
> EHESS.
> In this paper I came to the conclusion that
> 1) if S = D#, then T = P + n(M + n)
> 2) if S = D1 + d2#, then T = [(M + N) + ay + n(M + N)]1 + ay + [P + n(M +
> N)]2
> etc.
> in which
> D = data or datum/item of data
> M = modifier
> N = noun
> n = any number
> P = predicative item (verb, adjective etc.)
> S = what the speaker intends to say
> T = the text or speech that expresses P
> # = end of development
>
>     This means that at that time (17th century), in formal speech and
> writing, whenever the speaker felt they had not reached the end of a given
> development, they would resort to the _ay_ constructions as many times as
> necessary. I would say it was characteristic of argumentative speech.
>     From the example provided by Paz, it is obvious that _ay_ still
> functions as discourse marker.
>     There is also the interesting fact that the _ay_ anteposer
construction
> is used in texts meant to parallel or calque English ones.
>     Apparently Tag. _ay_ is not borrowed from Spanish _hay_ [ai] "there
is".
>