[Lingtyp] Demonstratives to mean deviation from social norm

[Christoph Holz]

Hi Adam,



In Tiang (Oceanic, Papua New Guinea), the proximal visible demonstrative
*(o)ro* has negative overtones. In its emotional function, it indicates
surprise or anger of the speaker towards the referent marked with *(o)ro*
(Holz 2023: 197–200). This can include situations in which someone violates
socially expected behaviours.



Holz, Christoph. 2023. Discourse functions of ‘visible’ and ‘nonvisible’
demonstratives in Tiang (New Ireland) and in a cross-linguistic
perspective. In Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Robert L. Bradshaw, Luca Ciucci &
Pema Wangdi (eds.), *Celebrating indigenous voice: Legends and narratives
in languages of the tropics and beyond*, 181–217. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.



Best wishes

Christoph



-- 

*Christoph Holz*

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Naples L'Orientale

Adjunct Research Fellow, Jawun Research Institute, CQU



Website: https://tianglanguage.wordpress.com/

Orcid: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7997-4928



Recent publications:

A comprehensive grammar of Tiang
<https://acquire.cqu.edu.au/articles/thesis/A_comprehensive_grammar_of_Tiang/25182350?file=44461052>

Documentation of Konomala <https://www.elararchive.org/dk0759>


On Wed, 25 Mar 2026 at 15:32, Adam James Ross Tallman via Lingtyp <
lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> In Chacobo there seems to be a demonstrative that means "do something)
> that deviates from socially normal expectations". This is a pretty
> preliminary description, so I'm open to other ideas and
> reconceptualizations. I call it 'more distal', as an adnominal marker, it
> doesn't tend to have this meaning.
>
>
>
> adnominal
>
> adverbial
>
> verb
>
> proximate
>
> *naa*
>
> *nɨa*
>
> *nɨka*
>
> distal
>
> *toa*
>
> *toa*
>
> *toka*
>
> more distal
>
> *oa*
>
> *oa~oka*
>
> *oka*
>
> At base the morpheme seems to mean "out of vision", but not always.
>
> I was wondering whether anyone had written about something similar in
> another language? Let me know.
>
> best,
>
> Adam
> --
> Adam J.R. Tallman
> CNRS, Sedyl
>
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