[Lingtyp] Truth markers

[Doris Payne]

In Maa (Maasai), the expression sɪ́pa ‘true!’ is based on a middle-formation of the transitive verb root sɪp ´to strip completely clean’.

Depending on the nature of the object and context, the root sɪp can be rendered into English as meaning ‘strip completely clean, make spotlessly clean’, ‘make totally smooth’, ‘smooth out or bless a situation’, ‘do thoroughly’, ‘completely ruin, destroy’, ‘justify a wrong by getting even -- to the point of killing someone’, ‘kill’, ‘say correctly (e.g. with good grammar and pronunciation), ‘speak truthfully’, ‘be completely certain of sth.’, ‘find out and substantiate the truth about sth.’


  *   Doris Payne

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> On Behalf Of Wesley Kuhron Jones
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 9:51 AM
To: Peter Austin <pa2 at soas.ac.uk>
Cc: Shirly Orr <orr.shirly at gmail.com>; <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG> <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Truth markers

In Horokoi (previously known as Wasembo), a Trans-New Guinea language which I have just started documenting, there is a rich system of demonstratives. One of these, "khaingu" (that one), is used as a truth marker when uttered alone. The speakers calque this into their Tok Pisin by saying "Em!" (It!) to mean "That's right!"

WKJ

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 12:18 Peter Austin <pa2 at soas.ac.uk<mailto:pa2 at soas.ac.uk>> wrote:
The Gamilaraay language, traditionally spoken in northern New South Wales, has a particle giirr or giirru that appears in sentence-initial position to indicate that the proposition expressed by the following words is true, e.g. giirr ngaya Gamilaraay guwaaldanha 'I truly/really am speaking Gamilaraay'. It can be used by itself as an interjection to express '(That is) true.'

If you want references or more examples email me.

Best
Peter


On Thu, 21 Oct 2021, 12:49 Riccardo Giomi, <rgiomi at campus.ul.pt<mailto:rgiomi at campus.ul.pt>> wrote:
...And then of course you have the rhetorical/discourse-marker use of ablative vero in Latin to mean 'in particular, specifically, that is', etc.. This survives in the Italian form ovvero, which I would assume derives from agglutination of the disjunctive preposition/conjunction o  ('or') + vero ('true').

Best,
R

Carl Whitehead <carlrwhitehead at gmail.com<mailto:carlrwhitehead at gmail.com>> escreveu no dia quinta, 21/10/2021 à(s) 06:52:
In Menya (Angan sub-family, Trans New Guinea family in Papua New Guinea), the expression for ‘true’ (often used as a response to a question or a affirmation of agreement and also as an adjective or noun) is naqä qakuä,  where naqä is ‘big’ and qakuä is ‘stump, base of a tree’ or ‘basis, reason’. In church circles, the expression is also used at the end of prayers as ‘amen.’

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> On Behalf Of Mira Ariel
Sent: October 21, 2021 10:00 AM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Cc: Shirly Orr <orr.shirly at gmail.com<mailto:orr.shirly at gmail.com>>
Subject: [Lingtyp] Truth markers

Hi,

My student, Shirly Orr, and I are interested in truth markers, such as true, real, right.
Are they frequently attested in natural languages?
We're interested in etymological sources for them, as well as meanings they evolve to express.
Any leads on literature we can dig up?

Thanks,
Mira Ariel
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--
Riccardo Giomi, Ph.D.
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa (FLUL)
Departamento de Linguística Geral e Românica (DLGR)
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