[Lingtyp] 'until' clauses in Africa

Thu Jan 6 10:01:53 UTC 2022

Dear Jesús, everyone,

Following up on the Papuan Malay sampe 'arrive/until' construction David mentions: yes, there are similar constructions in a few languages elsewhere in north Maluku and northwest New Guinea. In these languages, a form meaning ‘until’ is used clause-finally with both adjectives and verbs (where there’s a distinction) to communicate intensification, emphasis, or an event of unusually long duration. The prosody of 'until' varies by language: in some cases it takes the low 'afterthought' intonation David describes for Papuan Malay example (1), in some it's realised with non-final intonation (despite being in final position), and in some the final vowel is lengthened.

Some examples:

Ambel (Austronesian > South Halmahera-West New Guinea; Arnold 2018)

(1)     Conjunction:    ki=u-toróy     tu      i       aya     ula-lál

EXPR=3DU-live.with      COM     3SG.AN  until   3DU-big

'The two of them lived with her until they were grown up.'
(2)     Intensifier:    na-kalép       aya

3SG.AN-lick     until

'He licked for a long time.'

Ternate (North Halmahera; Hayami-Allen 2001)

(3)     Conjunction:    ngofa~ngofa     gee     oho     sado    i=torifu

REDUP~child     that    eat     until   3PL=full

'The children ate until they got full.'
(4)     Intensifier:    rehe    cum     sado

flesh   hurt    until

'[My] muscle hurts very much.'

This looks very similar to the French construction with jusqu'à in Africa that Joey mentioned. I'm happy to provide further references, if they're of use. I'd also—like David—be interested to hear of similar constructions elsewhere.

Laura
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Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] 'until' clauses in Africa

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Dear Jesús, all,

In a literary style of Modern Hebrew, one way of marking excessivity is with the expression  la-ʕayefa 'to-tiredness'; examples cited in the website of the Academy of the Hebrew Language make it clear that the tiredness is not necessarily meant literally.

Website: https://hebrew-academy.org.il/2015/11/01/%D7%9C%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%94/[in Hebrew]

The same website attributes this usage to Biblical Hebrew, specifically Isaiah 46:1 "כָּרַע בֵּל קֹרֵס נְבו, הָיוּ עֲצַבֵּיהֶם לַחַיָּה וְלַבְּהֵמָה; נְשֻׂאֹתֵיכֶם עֲמוּסוֹת מַשָּׂא לַעֲיֵפָה", which, in the King James translation, reads " Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast".

However, in this particular Biblical Hebrew verse, "weary" does seem to permit a literal interpretation, suggesting that the semantic extension evident in Modern Hebrew took place subsequent to the Biblical period.  But I leave it to those who know more about the history of Hebrew than I do to pass judgement on this.

David

On 05/01/2022 18:34, David Gil wrote:

Dear Jesús, all,

In the Papuan dialect of Malay, sampe 'arrive' / 'until' may occur in the following two constructions, which, although not the same as the West African ones, seem to bear a family resemblance:

(1) A sampe

(2) V sampeeeH X

In (1), A is a scalar adjective, and sampe has the effect of an intensifier, 'very A'.  This construction occurs only utterance finally, and the intonational peak is on the A, with sampe associated with a low "afterethought-like" contour.

In (2) sampe fuses with an ideophone consisting of a super-long [e] associated with High (or High falling) pitch.  The meaning of (2) is 'V for a very long time until X'.

Similar constructions occur also in some of the local languages of North West New Guinea; Laura Arnold has looked at some of these.

These two constructions differ from the West African ones in that they lack an explicit expression meaning 'getting tired':  in (1) there is nothing, while in (2) there is an overt expression X that is interpreted literally.  However, they share with the West African constructions a somewhat unexpected association between a form meaning 'until' and a notion of excessivity, or, in the case of (2) 'long time'.

I'd be interested in hearing of similar constructions in other languages.

David

On 05/01/2022 17:56, Jesus Francisco Olguin Martinez wrote:
Dear all,

I hope this email finds you well.

I send you this message because in my sample there are a couple of  African languages (e.g. Tommo So and Bangime) that have a narrative construction in which the until-clause appears with a verb meaning ‘to get tired’ (e.g. I worked I worked until I get tired). Note that this clause does not necessarily denote literal weariness or physical fatigue. Instead, this construction is used in contexts where speakers express that they carried out an activity for a very long time (e.g. I worked I worked for a very long time). In this type of construction,  the first clause in linear order denotes a prolonged activity and is followed by a clause meaning ‘until I got tired’ emphasizing the extreme prolongation of the first situation.

I was wondering if you know any study that has explored this type of construction or if you know any other African languages that have this type of construction.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best,

--
Jesús Olguín Martínez
Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Linguistics
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/people/jesús-olguín-martínez<http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/people/jes%C3%BAs-olgu%C3%ADn-mart%C3%ADnez>

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David Gil

Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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David Gil

Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, 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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