[Lingtyp] “at last” and “only now”
Randy J. LaPolla
randy.lapolla at gmail.com
Thu Feb 25 03:45:12 UTC 2021
Hi David and everyone,
In Tagalog you would most likely use muna ‘first’ plus either bago ‘new’ or tsaka ‘and':
(T= topic referent, NT = non-topic referent, IR = irrealis, R = realis, IMP = imperfective, AT = actor topic, PT = patient topic, CS = change of state marker, incl = inclusive, ex = exclusive)
Tapus-in muna natin ito bago mag-shopping.
finish-PT first 1plinclNT thisT new IRAT-shopping
‘We’ll finish this first then go shopping’
ka-kain muna ako bago mag-shopping
IMP-eat first 1sgT new IRAT-shopping
‘I’ll eat first then go shopping.'
k<um>ain muna ako tsaka nag-shopping
<RAT>eat first 1sg and RAT-shopping
‘I ate first then went shopping.'
kumain na kami bago nag-shopping
<RAT> CS 1plexT new RAT-shopping
‘We ate first then went shopping.’
In Mandarin Chinese there is a morpheme cái (才) used to mean ‘only then’, and also a morpheme zài (再) which most often is used to mean ‘again', but in certain constructions can mean ‘only after X will we Y’. There is a third morpheme jiù (就) used to mean ’then’ which contrasts with cái (Biq Yung-O, The semantics and pragmatics of cai and jiu in Mandarin Chinese, Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1987).
我吃了才去工作。
wǒ chī le cái qù gōngzuò
1sg eat PFV only.then go work
'I’ll eat first and then go to work.'
我先吃，再去工作。
wǒ xiān chī zài qù gōngzuò
1sg first eat again go work
‘I’ll eat first, then go to work.'
wǒ chī le jiù qù gōngzuò
1sg eat PFV then go work
'I’ll eat and then go work.’
Hope this helps.
Randy
-----
Randy J. LaPolla, PhD FAHA （羅仁地）
Professor of Linguistics, with courtesy appointment in Chinese, School of Humanities
Nanyang Technological University
HSS-03-45, 48 Nanyang Avenue | Singapore 639818
http://randylapolla.info/ <http://randylapolla.info/>
(personal.ntu.edu.sg/randylapolla <http://personal.ntu.edu.sg/randylapolla>)
Most recent books:
The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition (2017)
https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324 <https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324>
Sino-Tibetan Linguistics (2018)
https://www.routledge.com/Sino-Tibetan-Linguistics/LaPolla/p/book/9780415577397 <https://www.routledge.com/Sino-Tibetan-Linguistics/LaPolla/p/book/9780415577397>
> On 25 Feb 2021, at 5:39 AM, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de> wrote:
>
> Dear Alex (and all),
>
> Just to confirm that all of Alex's examples of the prioritive in Mwotlap and Bislama work also with Indonesian dulu (including even its first-person usage in polite leave-taking). I share Alex's awe at the resilience of the pattern, as manifest not only in its horizontal diffusion from the Austronesian languages of Vanuatu to Bislama, but also in its apparent genealogical conservativity as suggested by its presence in relatively distantly related Austronesian languages such as Mwotlap and Indonesian.
>
> An interesting question for Austronesianists would be exactly how wide the distribution of the priorative is. My impression is that in Tagalog, the various subfunctions of the prioritive listed below are divvied up among two or more different forms.
>
> David
>
>
>
> On 24/02/2021 20:23, Alex Francois wrote:
>> dear David,
>>
>> Interesting example. I agree with you that this dulu construction also involves a combination of phasal aspect and pragmatics; and I agree that its mechanism is different from the TimeFocus of Vanuatu languages.
>>
>> In fact, among the 25 TAM categories of its system, Mwotlap has not only the TimeFocus qoyo, but another TAM construction that I think is even closer to Indonesian dulu : this is a (compound) morpheme bah en, which I've glossed the Prioritive.
>>
>> Its usual gloss would be Eng. first, but as you said, its pragmatic range goes beyond that translation.
>>
>> One typical use is in a diptych presenting two sequential actions:
>> { First P, then Q } — whether in the realis or the irrealis:
>>
>> (1) Gēn in bah na-ga en, tō gengen.
>> 1in:pl drink Prio1 Art-kava Prio2, then eat
>> (Past interpretation) “We first drank kava, then we had dinner.”
>> ~ (Future interpⁿ) “First we'll drink kava, then we'll have dinner.”
>>
>> Under a future interpretation, the apodosis (2nd clause) would often have a TimeFocus qoyo, meaning “then and not earlier” [cf. my earlier post]:
>>
>> (2) Gēn in bah na-ga en, tō qoyo gengen.
>> 1inc:pl drink Prio1 Art-kava Prio2, then TmFoc eat
>> (Future interpⁿ) “First we'll drink kava, and only then shall we have dinner.”
>>
>> A sentence like (2) thus combines two morphemes entailing a pragmatic focus, with complementary semantics:
>> Prioritive: { event1 is a priority, before anything else }
>> TimeFocus: { event2 happens at time T, and not earlier }
>> Those diptychs, with a protasis in the Prioritive and an apodosis in the TimeFocus, are common in conversation. (cf. François 2003: 284)
>>
>> Etymologically, bah is a verb “finish”, and en a Topicalizer, which makes sense for (1-2) [we finish drinking TOP, then eat]; but this combination has grammaticalized into a construction (à la Construction grammar) that is not always compositional, as you'll see.
>> ______
>> In a way similar to Indon. dulu, the Prioritive bah... en is also commonly heard on its own, i.e. on a protasis without apodosis:
>>
>> (3) Gēn in bah na-ga en !
>> 1inc:pl drink Prio1 Art-kava Prio2
>> “First (before anything else) let's have kava !”
>>
>> In such cases, there is no Sequential reading, but a hortative interpretation.
>> This Prioritive hortative entails a phasal focus on “now (and not later)”; it contrasts with the ordinary hortative, which lacks such entailment:
>> (3') Gēn in na-ga !
>> 1inc:pl drink Art-kava
>> “Let's have kava !”
>>
>> When used with a 2nd person, the Prioritive sometimes has an interpretation of a polite imperative:
>> (4) Nēk mōkheg bah en !
>> 2sg rest Prio1 Prio2
>> “Why don't you (first) rest?”
>>
>> With a 1st person, it also serves as a polite way to downplay the negative impact of one's actions. (Forgot how to call this in English: attenuative?):
>>
>> (5) Nok van bah li-sto en !
>> 1sg go Prio1 Loc-store Prio2
>> “Let me (first) go to the store.”
>> [= sorry to leave you, I'll be right back.] — suggesting our convo is bound to continue soon.
>> (In actual fact, those Prioritive utterances are often a polite way to take leave.)
>>
>> I described the various uses of the Prioritive (“le Prioritif”) in François (2003: 278-301).
>> François, Alexandre. 2003. La sémantique du prédicat en mwotlap (Vanuatu) Collection Linguistique de La Société de Linguistique de Paris, 84. Paris, Louvain: Peeters. [ direct link to section <http://alex.francois.online.fr/data/AlexFrancois_Mwotlap-Predicat_2003_SLP.pdf#page=298> ]
>> ______
>> Once again, the Creole Bislama has calqued the category of the Prioritive through relexification.
>> The Bislama Prioritive is an adverb fastaem (< Eng. first time), which is very common in conversation.
>> The structural isomorphism with Mwotlap is again striking:
>>
>> (1') Yumi trink kava fastaem, ale kakae.
>> 1in:pl drink kava PRIOR then eat
>> (Past interpretation) “We first drank kava, then we had dinner.”
>> ~ (Future interpⁿ) “First we'll drink kava, then we'll have dinner.”
>>
>> (2') Yumi trink kava fastaem, ale jes kakae nao.
>> 1inc:pl drink kava PRIOR then TmFoc eat FOC
>> (Future interpⁿ) “First we'll drink kava, and only then shall we have dinner.”
>>
>> (3") Yumi trink kava fastaem !
>> 1inc:pl drink kava PRIOR
>> “First (before anything else) let's have kava !”
>>
>> (4') Yu spel fastaem !
>> 2sg rest PRIOR
>> “Why don't you (first) rest?”
>>
>> (5') Mi go lo sto fastaem !
>> 1sg go PREP store PRIOR
>> “[excuse me for a sec…] Let me (first) go to the store.”
>>
>> From what David described, it seems that Indonesian dulu would be used in similar contexts. I think his description would fit well the Prioritive in its politeness functions:
>> While in (1) the further activity is overtly expressed, in (2) it is merely implied, which has the effect of softening the imperative/hortative meaning and thereby rendering it more polite.
>>
>> If so, this semantic category of Prioritive, and these phraseological strategies, might well be typically Austronesian (??). It would have survived structurally in the systems in spite of many layers of language change, incorporating phonological material both through language-internal relexification [Mwotlap] and through language contact [Bislama].
>>
>> I am often impressed by the resilience of semantic categories in spite of the renewal of their phonological content. I wonder if that is universal, or specific to Pacific languages, and linked to their particular linguistic ecology…
>>
>> best
>> Alex
>> Alex François
>>
>> LaTTiCe <http://www.lattice.cnrs.fr/en/alexandre-francois/> — CNRS– <http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html>ENS <https://www.ens.fr/laboratoire/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-et-cognition-umr-8094>–Sorbonne nouvelle <http://www.univ-paris3.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
>> Australian National University
>> <https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/francois-a>Academia Europaea <https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Fran%C3%A7ois_Alexandre> – Academia.edu <https://cnrs.academia.edu/AlexFran%C3%A7ois>
>> Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.online.fr/>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 24 Feb 2021 at 12:03, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de <mailto:gil at shh.mpg.de>> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Sergey's query, and especially Alex's recent response on Vanuatu languages, have given me new insights into the Indonesian word dulu, which I now realize also belongs to the same general category of "phrasal/focal particles". While the "literal meaning of dulu is something like "first", it is used in a wider range of contexts than, say, English first. The first example shows dulu in a narrative past context:
>>
>> (1) Dia makan dulu baru pulang
>> 3 eat DULU new go.home
>> 'He/she/they ate and then went home'
>>
>> The next example shows dulu in its very common use as a polite imperative or hortative:
>>
>> (2) Makan dulu
>> eat DULU
>> 'Please eat' / 'Let's eat'
>>
>> In both cases, dulu combines a temporal/aspectual with a focus meaning. However, whereas Alex's Vanuatu examples involved restrictive focus (X but not Y), Indonesian dulu involves additive focus (X and also/then Y). Thus, in both examples, dulu bears the implication that after eating, some other, unspecified activity will occur. While in (1) the further activity is overtly expressed, in (2) it is merely implied, which has the effect of softening the imperative/hortative meaning and thereby rendering it more polite.
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>> On 23/02/2021 20:20, Sergey Loesov wrote:
>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>
>>> Are you aware of cross-language or einzelsprachlich studies of the semantics/pragmatics of particles like “at last” “only now”, and similar. I.e., ‘particles’ that combine phasal and focus semantics.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Sergey
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>> --
>> David Gil
>>
>> Senior Scientist (Associate)
>> Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
>> Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
>> Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
>>
>> Email: gil at shh.mpg.de <mailto:gil at shh.mpg.de>
>> Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
>> Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091
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> --
> David Gil
>
> Senior Scientist (Associate)
> Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
> Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
> Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
>
> Email: gil at shh.mpg.de <mailto:gil at shh.mpg.de>
> Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
> Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091
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