Morpho-syntax
Pronouns and person markers
In Ambonese Malay, personalEtymology
A number of observations can be made from the pronouns of Ambonese Malay which demonstrate etymology of certain pronouns: # A number of pronouns are historically compounded. They are: #* ''Bat'ong'': Derives from ''beta'' 'I (1SG) + ''orang'' 'people; man' #* ''Kat'ong'': Derives from *''kita'' 'we (1PL) + ''orang'' 'people; man' #* ''Dorang'': Derives from ''dia'' 'he; she; it (3SG) + ''orang'' 'people; man' # The 2nd person singular form ''ose'' is derived from thePoliteness
Similarly to other Austronesian languages, such as= Syntactic positions
= As previously mentioned, Ambonese pronouns consist of a full and one or more variant form. Full forms occur in every syntactic position. Variant form have a more restricted distribution and may be functionally different. The following table summarises the set of full personal pronouns plus (in brackets) their variant forms according to context and syntactic function: From this table it follows that two factors determine whether a personal pronoun can be shortened: syntactic construction and syntactic position: * Except for the first person singular ''beta'', first person plural ''kat'ong'' and third person singular ''dia'', all pronouns can be shortened in one-word sentences. Third person singular neuter ''akang'' cannot form a one-word sentence altogether. * In clauses all personal pronouns in Subject position may be shortened, except for third person singular neutral ''akang''. * In clauses all personal pronouns in Object position may be shortened, except for first person singular ''beta'', first person plural ''kat'ong'', second person ''ale'' and third person singular ''dia''. * Likewise, as preposition object all personal pronouns except for ''beta'', ''ale'', ''kat'ong'' and ''dia'' may be shortened. These facts show that ''se'', ''os'' 'you', ''dong'' 'you', ''ont'o, ant'o, ant'u'' 'he; she' and ''dong'' 'they' have developed into doublets which are functionally (but not semantically) on a par with their full forms, while other short forms (''bet, al, kang, ang'') are phonological variants with a more restricted distribution. It is also important to note a number of syntactic variations within the functions of personal pronouns in Ambonese: 1) The 3rd person single ''dia'' 's/he; it' can be shortened to ''di'' or ''de'' when it is in Subject position, or when it is head of a Noun Phrase (NP) in object position. 2) The 3rd person single ''antua'' (and ''angtua, ontua, ongtua'') is also a modifier of head nominals in a phrase, thereby adding an aspect of deference. It adds a feature respect. 3) The third form, ''akang'', is a neater pronoun 'it', which also functions as a determiner. This form links up with the demonstratives ''ini'' and ''itu'' for deictic reference: it occurs as a single attribute before nouns, and in combination with postnominal ''tu''. 4) The short form of ''dorang'', which is ''dong'', also functions as a modifier in NPs to create collective plurals.Reduplication
Reduplication with personal pronouns is not frequent. The following examples denote a concept "referent of pronoun plus persons who are alike":Word Order
Ambonese Malay is a SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Its basic word order has the subject in initial position, followed by the verb and then the object, as shown below. 'Subject, verb, object' are labelled 'S, V, O' respectively:Negation
Negation in Ambonese is sentential rather than constituent. Negation is predominantly expressed by five free morphemes that are treated as adverbs, modifying predicates, clauses or parts of the sentence as opposed to specific elements (such as single verbs or nominals). These morphemes are listed below alongside their common variants and English equivalents: * ''seng ‘no, not’'' * ''tar (tra) ‘no, not’'' * ''bal’ong (blong) ‘not yet’'' * ''bukang ‘no, not’'' * ''jangang (jang) ‘don’t’''.Van Minde 1997, p. 273 Constituent order Ambonese negators are typically positioned between the subject and the VO-group. This word order is typical of SVO languages. In the following example, the subject pronoun ''de'' precedes the negator ''seng (''represented here as ''sem''), and the verb group headed by the verb ''bisa'' follows it.Summary of distinguishing features
# All negators except ''tar/tra'' can be used as one-word sentences in response to a Yes-No question.Van Minde 1997, p. 276 # All negators except ''jangang/jang'' can be used in declarative and interrogative sentence types. # Only ''jangang/jang'' can be used in an imperative sentence. These features will be explored in greater detail below.''Seng''
''Seng'' is the most commonly used negator. Although Ambonese generally operates on the premise of sentential negation, ''seng'' can be used in a marked word order to narrow the scope of negation to single verbs or nominals. ''Seng'' moves rightwards in the clause, shifting the focus of negation to the word it immediately precedes. In the first example below, ''seng'' occurs in its default position between the subject ''de'' and the verb group headed by ''kar'ja,'' modifying the verb group ''kar'ja bat'ul'' in a general sense. In the second example, ''seng'' is integrated into the verb group itself, immediately preceding and placing the emphasis of negation on the verbal modifier ''bat'ul.'' ''Seng'' also collocates with modal auxiliary ''usa'' to express a lack of necessity: ''Seng'' is also used with the reduplicated interrogative pronoun ''apa,'' meaning 'what', in a fixed expression to denote 'nothing', or 'not anything':''Tar/tra''
Unlike all other Ambonese negators, ''tar/tra'' cannot form a one-word sentence. It is typically regarded as a marker of emphatic negation, and can be used alongside ''seng'' and with reduplication to achieve even greater emphasis. In the example below, ''ampas'' is reduplicated, following both negators ''seng'' and ''tra.'' ''Tar/tra'' also commonly collocates with: * existential verb ''ada'' 'be (somewhere)' *''bai'' 'good' * modal auxiliary ''bole'' 'may, be allowed'''Bal'ong/blong''
''Bal'ong'' marks both negation and the phasal aspect 'yet', denoting 'not yet'. Similar to ''tar/tra'' it can also be used as a marker of emphatic negation alongside a reduplicated verb, as in the example below where ''bal'ong'' co-occurs with the reduplicated verb ''pulang-pulang:''''Bukang''
According to van Minde's research findings'', bukang'' is the least commonly used negator in Ambonese Malay.Van Minde 1997, p. 278 It expresses a 'contrast which implies an alternative' - ''bukang'' X means 'not X (but on the contrary) Y)': It may also occur in sentences with contrastive stress, combined with the use of 'higher pitch and articulatory strength' to articulate the constituents that are the focus of the negation. In the examples below, these specific constituents are capitalised to demonstrate prosodic emphasis:''Jangang/jang''
''Jangang'' does not occur in declarative or interrogative sentences but is used to express negative imperatives, as in the example below - 'don't go to China.' It is also used in several 'short formulaic expressions':Van Minde 1997, p. 280Negators and common collocations
= ''Lai''
= In the above example, the particle ''lai'' is used in sentence-final position as an exclamative marker. However, it can also be used with ''seng'', ''bal'ong,'' and ''jangang'' in non-exclamative sentences to denote, 'anymore; again', or 'still':= ''Ka''
= ''Ka'' combines with negators ''seng'' and ''bal'ong'' to form a sentence-final tag for interrogative sentences: In the above example the tag ''ka seng'' has converted a yes-no question "Are you angry?" into an alternative question "Are you angry, or not?"Phonology
Ambonese Malay has phonemicVowel phonemes
Ambonese contains 5 vowel phonemes as illustrated in the chart (van Minde 1997, p. 24): Ambonese Malay do not have phonemic glottal stop /ʔ/ but phonetically theHigh front unrounded /i/
According to van Minde (1997, p. 25), the high front unrounded vowel /i/ is always perceived as and it always take place in non-final and final closed and open syllables. /i/ in final syllables (whether they are open or closed) can be replaced by /e/ however this only applies in some polysyllabic morphemes. Though /i/ can be replaced by /e/, it does not work in reverse thus it can’t be said the conflict between these two phonemes is negated in that position and environment (van Minde 1997, p. 25). Besides position and stress, further restrictions on the alternation /i ≈ e/ is given in twoPR1: final syllables ending in /s/;
PR2: open final syllables when the penultimate syllable contains /u/ or /i/Van Minde (1997, p. 25) regards /i/ as a ‘heavy phoneme’ wherever there is a change /i ~ e/, which means in environments that are different from those interpreted by PR1 and PR2. The definition of ‘heavy phoneme’ is defined as “consists of one or more optional distinctive features in addition to the basic distinctive features, whereas a basic phoneme consists of basic distinctive features only” (Ebeling 1967; Stokhof 1975). Van Minde deduces that /i/ is a heavy phoneme in environments excluded by PR1 and PR2; /e/ being its basic phoneme and elative highnessis a voluntary feature. Examples are given in the following (p. 25): : /katiNd’isaŋ/ atĩnd’isāŋ‘to talk or rave while sleep’ : /ir/ ir‘drunk’ * closed final syllables (p. 26): :: /k’ukis/ ’ukis *k’ukes‘biscuit’ :: /kac’il/ ac’il *kac’el‘small’ * open final syllables (p. 26): :: /p’uti/ ’uti *p’ute‘white’ :: /h’ari ≈ h’are/ ‘day’
Mid front unrounded vowel /e/
The mid front unrounded vowel /e/ is perceived as (or due to nasalization). Examples are followed (p. 26): : /b’esi/ ’esi‘iron/steel’ : /b’erkaT/ ’erkat-‘divine blessing’ The phonemic status of /e/ versus /i/ is attested by the followed minimal pairs (p. 26): : /’ina/ ‘mother’ - /’ena/ ‘tasty, delicious’ : /p’ici/ ‘to peel’ - /p’eci/ ‘mud’ The examples illustrated distinctly that /i/ is resistant to /e/ in morpheme-final syllables, hence the change /i ≈ e/ in final syllables under the previous restrictions stated in the phonological rules cannot be clarified as neutralization (van Minde 1997, pp. 26–27).Low central vowel /a/
The low central vowel in Ambonese Malay is perceived as (or due to nasalization). Examples are followed (p. 27): : /’añer/ ’añer‘bad fishy smell’ : /kal’apa/ al’apa‘coconut’ The minimal pairs attest the resistance between /a/ and /i/ (p. 27): : /s’atu/ ‘one’ - /s’itu/ ‘there’ : /bal’a/ ‘to split s.t.’ - /bal’i/ ‘to buy s.t.’ The opposition between /a/ and /e/ is shown by the presented minimal pairs (p. 27): : /cak’a/ ‘to strangle s.o.’ - /cak’e/ ‘(vulg) to eat, stuff o.s.’ : /b’aca/ ‘to read’ - /b’eca/ ‘pedicab’High back rounded vowel /u/
/u/ happens in non-final and final closed and open position. This high back rounded vowel is always perceived as (or due to nasalization). However, /u/ in final unstressed syllables (whether open or closed) consistently alternates with /o/ when in certain polysyllabic morphemes (van Minde 1997, p. 27). In addition, not all /o/ in this position and environment alternates with /u/, thus these two phonemes are not balanced. According to van Minde (1997, p. 27), the change /u ≈ o/ in final unstressed syllables of polysyllabic morphemes is not proven in (p. 27):PR3: open final syllables when the penultimate syllable have /u/ or /i/This situation is alike to the change between the high and mid front vowels /i ≈ e/, where /u/ is seen as a heavy phoneme, /o/ as the basic phoneme and elative phonemeis the optional feature. The following examples prove this assertion (p. 28): : /t’obu/ ’obu≈ /t’obo/ ’obo‘sugar cane’ : /’uNpaŋ/ ’ ũmpãŋ‘bait’ * Closed final syllables (p. 28): :: /c’aNpur ≈ c’aNpor/ ‘to mix’ :: /c’abuT ≈ c’aboT/ ‘let’s go!’ * Open final syllables (p. 29): :: /tapar’egu ≈ tapar’ego/ ‘to do s.t. hurriedly’ :: /cap’atu ≈ cap’ato/ ‘shoe’ * Minimal pairs shown to the resistance between /u/ and /i/ (p. 29): :: /k’utu/ ‘louse’ - /k’uti/ ‘snap’ :: /g’ula/ ‘sugar’ - /g’ila/ ‘mad’ * The resistance between /u/ and /e/ can be shown by (p. 29): :: /b’ulaŋ/ ‘moon, month’- /b’elaŋ/ in: /aruNb’ aI b’elaŋ/ k.o. large proa The resistance between /u/ and /a/ is attested by: : /’uru/ ‘to massage’ – /’aru/ ‘Aru Islands’
Mid back rounded vowel /o/
The mid back rounded vowel /o/ is seen as (or due to nasalization). Examples are followed (p. 29): : /’oraŋ/ orãŋ‘man, human being’ : /b’odo/ ’odo‘stupid’ * The minimal pair show the phoneme status of /o/ vis-à-vis /i/ (p. 30): :: /b’oŋko/ ‘bowed (of persons)’ – /b’eŋko/ ‘bend sideways (of persons)’ * The phoneme status of /o/ against /a/ is shown by (p. 30): :: /kat’oŋ/ ‘we’ - /kat’ aŋ/ ‘crab’ * The resistance between /o/ and /u/ is proven by (p. 30): :: /h’ori/ ‘to wander about’ – /h’uri/ ‘having lost its original shape’Archiphoneme /U/
Archiphoneme /I/
This results from the neutralization of the resistance /i/-/y/ in unstressed position after a vowel or instantly before a stressed vowel (p. 32): : /m’uI/ ’ui, muy‘aunt’ * Van Minde (1997, p. 32) showed some examples of /I/ before a stressed vowel: :: /I’a/ ’a, iy’a‘yes (formal)’ :: /bI’asa/ i’asa‘normal, usual’ * The resistance of /i/ and /y/ is shown by (p. 33): :: /t’iU/ ’iyu‘uncle’Consonants
There are 19Archiphonemes /P, T, K, N/
These archiphonemes is a consequence from the neutralization of the opposition between /p/- /b/, /t/-/d/, and /k/-/g/ respectively in two positions and under certain conditions (van Minde 1997, p. 40): 1. Frequency of /P, T, K/ is especially high in word-final position. Most words with /P, T, K/ in this position are borrowed words from Dutch (van Minde 1997, p. 41). This is due to the many words of Malay origin to have lost final stops *p, *t, *k, or *ʔ. Example: ''*tutup > tutu ‘to close’.'' Wordfinally the archiphonemes /P, T, K/ have a voiceless unreleased realization. Examples are shown (p. 41): : /keP/ ep-‘notch, nick’ (Stops
The voiceless and voiced stops of the series /p, b, t, d, c, j, k, g/ are found in word-medial position and word-initial. /p, b/ are bilabials, /d/ is an apico-alveolar, /c, j/ are laminal-palatals, /t/ is an apico-alveodental, /k, g/ are dorsal-velars. Relevant (near) minimal pairs are shown below (van Minde 1997, pp. 43–44): * ''p: b /t’aNpa/ ‘place stop’; /t’aNba/ ‘to add s.t.’'' * ''p: t /p’aku/ ‘nail’; /t’aku/ ‘afraid’'' * ''p:d /b’apa/ ‘term of address’; /bad’a/ ‘skin powder’'' * ''p:c /p’ipi/ ‘cheek’; /p’ici/ ‘to give money’'' * ''p:j /p’ari/ ‘ray (fish)’; /j’ari/ ‘finger’'' * ''p:k /p’ele/ ‘to obstruct’; /k’ele/ ‘to press under arm’'' * ''p:g /p’araŋ/ ‘machete’; /g’araŋ/ ‘salt’'' * ''b:t /b’aru/ ‘new’; /t’aru/ ‘to place’'' * ''b:d /b’apa/ ‘term of address’; /d’apa/ ‘to obtain’'' * ''b:c /b’ole/ ‘may’; /c’ole/ ‘bodice’'' * ''b:j /b’aNbaŋ/ ‘to warn’; /j’aNbaŋ/ ‘beard’'' * ''b:k /b’ore/ ‘poisonous extract’; /k’ore/ ‘to fumble’'' * ''b:g /b’aru/ ‘new’; /g’aru/ ‘to scratch’'' * ''t:d /t’ulaŋ/ ‘bone’; /d’ulaŋ/ ‘wooden tray’'' * ''t:c /t’ari/ ‘dance’; /c’ari/ ‘to search’'' * ''t:j /t’ari/ ‘dance’; /j’ari/ ‘finger’'' * ''t:k /t’anaŋ/ ‘to plant’; /k’anaŋ/ ‘right (side)’'' * ''t:g /t’ali/ ‘rope’; /g’ali/ ‘to dig’'' * ''d:c /d’aro/ ‘from’; /c’ari/ ‘to search’'' * ''d:j /d’aro/ ‘from’; /j’ari/ ‘finger’'' * ''d:k /d’aki/ ‘dirt’; /k’aki/ ‘foot’'' * ''d:g /d’oti/ ‘to work magic’; /g’oti/ ‘trough for preparing sago’'' * ''c:g /c’ari/ ‘search’; /j’ari/ ‘finger'' * ''c:k /coK/ ‘choke’; /koK/ ‘owl’'' * ''c:g /c’ili/ ‘chili’; /g’ilig’ili/ ‘tickle’'' * ''j:k /j’aNji/ ‘to agree’; /k’aNji/ ‘starch’'' * ''j:g /j’aga/ ‘to keep watch’; /g’aga/ ‘beautiful’'' * ''k:g /k’araŋ/ ‘coral’; /g’araŋ/ ‘salt’'' In certain lexical items there is an unexplained change between the voiceless stop and its homorganic voiced counterpart (van Minde 1997, p. 44): : /cigulu/ = /jigulu/ ‘riddle’Nasals
The nasals /m, n, ñ, ŋ/ are separated on the basis of the following (near-) minimal pairs (van Minde 1997, pp. 44–45): * ''m:n /m’ani/ ‘bead’; /n’ani/ ‘bamboo hoe’'' * ''m:ñ /m’adu/ ‘honey’; /ñ’adu/ ‘brother/sister in-law’'' * ''m:ŋ /m’ana/ ‘where’; /ŋ’ana/ ‘(inter.) gee!’'' * ''n:ñ /ne/ in /b’ubur ne/ k.o. porridge; /ñe/ in” /m’uka m’acaŋ ñe/ ‘look disappointed’'' * ''m:ŋ /’ina/ ‘mother’; /’iŋa/ ‘to remember’'' * ''ñ:ŋ /t’aña/ ‘to ask’; /t’eŋa/ ‘middle’'' The prevalence and functional load of these nasal contrasts differently. They take place word-initially and word-medially before vowels. However, in the environment of word-initially, the functional load of /ñ/ and /ŋ/ is low. Examples are shown (van Minde 1997, p. 45): : /ñ’amu/ ’amu‘mosquito’ : /ñoŋ/ õŋ‘term of address for boys’ In morpheme-final position, nasals other than /ŋ/ are barely proven and thus van Minde (1997, p. 46) finds it hard to find minimal pairs that are different in morpheme-final nasal phoneme.Fricatives
The labio-dentalLiquids
The liquids /l/ and /r/ take place in word-initial, -medial, -final position, just like theSemivowels
TheSamples
Examples: * ''Beta pung nama Ahmad'' = My name is Ahmed * ''Ose su tau Ahmad pung maitua?'' = Do you know Ahmed's wife? * ''Jang bakudapa deng dia dolo, dia ada gagartang deng ose'' = Don't meet with him for a moment, he's angry with you. * ''Susi dong pung kaka mo pi kamari'' = Susi's brother will come * ''Ini beta kasi akang voor ose'' = This is for you. * ''Ale badiang jua, beta cumang mo tipu-tipu. Tuang Ala'' = Shut up, I am just tricking them. god! ('god!' as in swearing. eg. 'jesus christ!) * ''Beta seng tau'' = I don't know Ambonese word samples: * ''Beta'' = I * ''Ose, Ale'' = you (ose is derived from the Portuguese ''voce'') * ''Dia'' = he, she * ''Akang'' = (may) it * ''Katong'' = we (cut from ''kita orang'') * ''Dong'' = they (cut from ''dia orang'') * ''Kamong'', ''kamorang'' = you (pl) (cut from ''kamu orang'') * ''Antua'' = he, she (respectful form) * ''iyo'' = yes * ''seng'' = no * ''bakubae'' = peace * ''nanaku'' = pay attention to something * ''su'' = already (indicating something has already happened or has been done)See also
*Notes
References
* Ethnologue. (2015). Malay, Ambonese. Retrieved 8 May 2015, from https://www.ethnologue.com/language/abs * Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Ambonese Malay". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. * Van Minde, D. (1997). Malayu Ambong. Leiden, the Netherlands: Research School CNWS.External links
* Materials on Ambonese Malay are included in the open access