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Notes on the morphology and classification of Rarotongan full-words

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Title:
Notes on the morphology and classification of Rarotongan full-words
Series Title:
Conference on Linguistic Problems of the Indo-Pacific Area : Mimeographed papers for the confrence held at SOAS January 5-8, 1965
Creator:
Buse, J. E. ( Author, Primary )
SOAS University of London ( contributor )
University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies ( contributor )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
SOAS University of London
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
SOAS University of London
University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies ( LCNAF )
Linguistics ( LCSH )
Indo-Pacific Region ( LCSH )
Austronesian languages ( LCSH )
Austronesian languages -- Cook Islands ( LCSH )
Rarotongan language ( LCSH )
Rarotongan language -- Morphology ( LCSH )
Spatial Coverage:
Pacific -- Cook Islands -- Rarotonga
Coordinates:
-21.233333 x -159.783333

Notes

General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Buse, J. E. : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/8148389432610711962
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : University of London., School of Oriental and African Studies : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/126246578

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SOAS University of London
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SOAS University of London
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Rights reserved by the authors. Digitised for preservation.
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L A.409.5 /181444
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CONFERENCE OR LINGUISTIC PROBLEMS OP

THE INDO-PACIPIC AREA - 5-8 JANUARY 1965

THE UNIVERSITY OP LONDON
SCHOOL OP ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

XLVI

NOTES ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OP
‘ RAROTONGAN PULL-WORDS

J. E. Buse

1. Rarotongan is a Polynesian language spoken on the
Island of Rarotonga in the Southern Cooks, where it is
regarded as the standard dialect. Its phonology and
grammar are very similar to that of other islands in
the Southern Group, but differ somewhat from that of
the dialects spoken in the Northern Cooks.

2. The transcription used in this paper is a phonemic
one, based on a regularization of the current orthography.
Nine consonant phonemes are recognized:

stops: /p/ /t/ /k/ /‘/ (glottal stop)

nasals: /m/ /n/ /ng/(velar nasal)

liquids: /r/(flap)

fricatives: /v/(bilabial or labiodental)

Pive vowel phonemes are recognized:

/i/ A/

A/ A/

A/

As elsewhere, in Polynesia, vowels may he (contrastively)
short or long. This necessitates either setting up a
length phoneme or (as here) treating long vowels as a
sequence of two identical short vowels. If such sequences
are regarded phonologically as comprising two syllables,
then Rarotongan syllable structure is limited to V or CV.
forms such as /ke/7 TdifferentT and /tai/ 'sea' are here
treated as phonologically dissyllabic, i.e. as /ke.e/ and
/ta.i/, though phonetically there is only one peak.

This separation of phonetic and phonological syllables


2

/ki:ki 'J

/ki . te. Id.. te/
/ki.i.ki.i/,

simplifies many morphophonemic statements, for example,
the statement of reduplication processes. Compare the
root, partially reduplicated and fully reduplicated forms:

/kite/ /kikite/ /kitekite/

/RifT* /kiki/7

here regarded phonologically as:

/ki.te/ /ki.ki.te/

/ki.i/ /ki.ki.i/

permitting the general statement that the exponent of
partial reduplication is prefixual reduplication of the
first syllable of the root and that the exponent of full
reduplication is repetition of the whole root. Compare
also the distribution of the allomorphs of the inceptive
verbal particle /ka:, ka/ :

/ka.a ru.tu/ 'will hit', /ka ru.tu.a/ 'will be hit'
/ka.a ru.u/ 'will strike', /ka ru.u.a/ 'will be struck',

where a general statement can be made that the dissyllabic
alternant /ka.a/ appears before dissyllabic word forms,
and the monosyllabic alternant /ka/ before polysyllabic
word forms.

3. A basic division of syntactic units is made into
particles (P), full-words (W), and clitics (c). Particles
are closed classes of markers or 'function words', usually
monomorphemic, which occur in rigidly fixed positions
before and after full-words. Occurring before full-words are

(l) verbal particles (Pl), marking tense-aspect-mood (this
is one grammatical category in Rarotongan), defining the
following phrase as verbal, and therefore mutually exclusive
with (2) nominal particles (P2,P3,P4), which define the
following phrase as nominal. The nominal particles are
numbered in the order in which they occur and are labelled:
preposition^ (P2), determinatives (P3), and number

particles (P4).

(Pl W) (P3 V/) (12 P3 â–  P4 W)
Example: kua pupu/.i *a Tere i te au puaka ,
shoot Tere pig
'Tere. has shot the Pigs'


-*—

F/

3.

Nominal phrases are either indirect., i.e. commencing with P2,
or direct, i.e. starting with P3 or P4. The sentence quoted
above contains a verbal phrase (P1,W), a direct nominal
phrase (P3,W), and an indirect nominal phrase (P2,P3,P4,W).

The particles which occur after full-words are not

definitive for phrases and occur in both verbal and nominal
phrases. They are numbered in the order in which they can
occur and are labelled: adverbial particles (P5)>

direction particles (P6), location particles (P7), and
modifying particles (P8). Examples:

(Pl W W P5 P6 P7 P8) (P3 P4 W P7)

tee taapapa maarie ‘ua atu nei raai te ngaa tangataa ra,

wait patient ' man

'those two men are still just waiting patiently';

(P3 W P5 P7) (P2 P3 W) (P3 W)

< e tangata ‘ua nei mei aa koe te roa,

man " you tall

'just an ordinary chap, about your height'

It will be observed from the quoted sentences that full-
words occupy a nuclear position in the phrase, preceded and
followed by the peripheral particles. The nuclear position
must be filled, i.e. at least one full-word is essential in
a complete phrase. Either Pl or P2 and/or P3 and/or P4 are
also required, except in imperative, expletive, and vocative
utterances or in certain types of narrative style.

4. Rarotongan full-words exhibit three main types of

morphological process:

(1) reduplication (three types). Only the reduplication of
dissyllabic roots is discussed here: a slightly different
statement may be required for polysyllabic roots and root
compounds.

(2) prefixation (three orders).

(3) suffixation (inflexional and derivational).

5. Reduplication may be treated as a process operating on
the full-word root. There are three types:




(1) partial reduplication » exponed by repetition of

the first syllable of the root morpheme;'

(2) full reduplication ^PR^, exponed by repetition of the
whole of the root;

(3) double reduplication ^DR^. exponed by double repetition
of the first syllable of the root, together with lengthening
of the first vowel of the reduplicated form.

Examples:

/moto/

/momoto/

/motomoto/

/moomomoto/

root form

PR/ + \moto

\pr/ + (moto

(•

)â– 

/momoto, motomoto, moomomoto/ are therefore bimorphemic,
composed of a reduplication morpheme plus a root.

6. normally expones intensity and/or plurality,e.g..s

/tupu/ 'to grow ', /tutupu/ 'to grow luxuriantly';
/‘oro/ 'to run' , /‘'o‘ oro/ 'to run (of several people)'
/kite/ 'clever' , /kikite/ 'cunning ''.
7. ^PRj ' expones frequentative , diminutive, diffuse or
sporadic action or state, e.g. ;
/kata/ 'laugh', /katakata/ 'giggle, smile'
/maki/ 'ill, /makimaki/ 'sickly, often poorly'
/kika/ 'drag', /kikakika/ 'drag (several objects)' •
/ anu/ 'cold', /anuanu/ 'cool'.
9. ^DR, is rare. I have heard it only from older speakers,
who use it with a dual subject (cf. Tahitian). Younger
speakers usually substitute ^PR in this context. )^(
appears ' therefore to represent an obsolescent dual form, e.g.

kua mate ‘a Tere

kua maamamate te ngaa metua, 'both parents have died1




5

10. A few roots exhibit the full reduplicative scatter, e.g.

PRJ + ROOT
/kakake/
/mamate/
/momoto/

ROOT

/kake/' climb'

/mate/ 'die'

/moto/ 'punch'

/‘oki/ 'return' /‘o‘oki/
/‘ oro/ 'run' /‘ o‘ oro/

^PRJ + ROOT
/kakekake/
/matemate/
/motomoto/
/‘ oki‘oki/
/‘ oro‘ oro/

pRj + ROOT
/kaakakake/
/maamamate/
/moomomoto/
/‘ oo‘ o * oki/
/‘ oo‘ o‘ oro/

Normally, however, jDR( is missing from the scatter, e.g.:
/kai/ 'eat' /kakai/ ,' /kaikai/ - ,

and is also frequently missing, e.g.:

/repo/ 'dirty'

/reporepo/

Occasionally the root itself does not occur as a free form,e.g.:

—- /tatara/'loosen' /taratara/ -------- ,

but is only found bound to a prefix, e.g.:

/ma-tara/ 'work loose' -— /maa-taratara/ ——

Sometimes the root does not occur elsewhere even as a bound
form, e.g.:

--- /aave/ 'blur' /aveave/ --- ,

but these forms are regarded as sufficient evidence to establish
/aave/ as ^PR^ + ^ave^, and /aveave/ as
The problem of morphemic analysis is raised most acutely in
forms such as /‘a‘anu/ 'mope' and /kaokao/ 'side', which
the analyst suspects may be ^PR^ + ^‘anu^ and ^PR^ + ^kao^
respectively, but where the posited root occurs only in
this one structure. In such cases one can only argue from
the known structure of the language. Most Rarotongan
morphemes are dissyllabic, though longer morphemes are by
no means rare (e.g. /tangata/ 'man'). Probability therefore
favours the analysis of /aave/ as bimorphemic, rather than as
a polysyllabic single morpheme in which the first syllable
happens to be identical with the second. Whether or not a
free form cognate with /-‘anu/ or /-kao/ occurs in related
languages is not, of course, a question which concerns the



6

descriptivist. • The analysis of /‘a‘ahu/ and /kaokao/ as

bimorphemic is in keeping with the known reduplicative

tendencies of Rarotongan - one would not, of course, advocate
the analysis of (say) dodo and cha-cha as himorphemic in
English, where reduplication is hardly a productive process.

11. Three orders of prefixes are recognized in Rarotongan,
labelled inner (ip), Middle (mp), and outer (op), according to
their position in the word.

12. Inner prefixes stand immediately before the root, or

before the reduplication morpheme if this is present, e.g.:

/puta/ 'hole', /tii-putaputa/ = ^tii-^ + ^FR^ + ^puta^'perforate'.

Ten common inner prefixes are illustrated below:

(i) /aa-/: /ranga/ 'lever',/aa-ranga/ 'bob up to the surface';

/keri/ 'dig', /aa-keri/ 'dig up, resurrect';

(ii) /nga-~ ngaa-/ :/‘oro/ 'run', /nga-‘ oro/ 'crumble (as an
old building)', /ngaa-‘oro‘oro/ 'ditto (frequentative)';

(iii) /‘ii-/ ; /karo/ 'scoop out, hollow out', /‘ii-karokaro/

'winkle something out of a crevice';

(iv) /koo-/ :/ta‘a/ 'sail through the air', /koo-ta‘a/ 'a
frigate bird' : /to‘e/ 'base, rump, stern', /koo-to‘e/

'reverse, back away, make excuses';

(v) /ma-~ maa-/ : /tatara/, + jtara^ 'loosen',

/maa-taratara/, ^ma-^ + )RR^ + ^tara^ , 'gradually work loose';
/‘uti/ 'twitch, jerk', /ma-‘uti/ 'snap off (like a button)';

(vi) /pa-~ paa-/ : /tere/ 'travel along', /pa-tere/ 'slide,
slip', /paa-teretere/ 'ditto (frequentative)';

(vii) /tau-/ : /‘oa/ 'friend', /tau-4oa:oa/ 'make friends/;

(viii) /tii-/ : /roa/ 'long'., /tii-roa/ 'place lengthwise' ;

/kaokao/ 'side', /tii-kaokao/ 'list (of a ship)';

(ix) /too-/ :/maru/ 'shade', /too-marumaru/ 'become overcast
(of the sky)'; /pata/ 'drip, drop, blob', /too-patapata/
'sprinkle, covered with spots';

(x) /tuu-/ : /para/ 'slime (on eel)', /tuu-para/ 'smear,

smudge'.


7.

It is difficult to isolate and semantic constant for many of these
prefixes, although /‘ii-/ often carries a connotation of narrowness
or thinness, /ma-^maa-/ of spontaneity, /tau-/ of reciprocity,
and /tii-/ of reciprocity.

13. A very common middle prefix - and the only member of this
class observed in the extensive material examined -• is the
causative-completive prefix /taa-/. Example:

/(e‘eu/ 'to open (a door)1, ^PR^ + /ma-‘eu/, ip + ‘eu^

'to fly open, stand ajar', /taa-maa-‘eu‘eu/, mp + ip + ^RR^ + ‘eu^
'to leave (doors) ajar'.

14. The causative-simulative prefix /‘aka-/, which is an

outer prefix, overlaps /taa-/ in many of its functions.

Example: /re‘u/ ‘ash-grey', /maa-re‘ure‘u/, ip + ^RR^ + ^re‘u^

'dusky (of the twilight)',/‘aka-maa-re‘ure‘u/ op + ip + ^PR^ +^re‘u^
'to draw toward dusk (of the day)'.

Although both the middle prefix /taa-/ and the outer prefix
/‘aka-/ may be causative in sense, /taa-/ often carries a comple-
tive sense which is absent from /‘aka-/, cf:

/kii/ 'full', /‘aka-kii/ 'to fill' (place liquid in a container,
not necessarily fill to the brim), /taa-kii/ 'to fill-right up,
top up'; cf. also: /pee/ 'rotten', /‘aka-pee/ 'to go rotten,
allow something to go rotten', /taa-pee/ 'to rot something down,
to ret (fibre)'. There may also be unpredictable semantic
variation between /taa-/ and /‘aka-/, cf.: /‘inu/ 'oil, grease
(noun)', /‘inu‘inu/ 'oily, greasy' (of hair or skin),

/‘aka-‘inu‘inu/ 'to oil (the hair or skin), /‘aka-taa-‘inu/

'to anoint' (a monarch), 'to dedicate' (a building, by sprinkling
with holy water.

15. There are two major groups of suffixes bound to full-words,
the first group is inflexional, the second group is derivational.

16. Potentiality of occurrence with an inflexional suffix is

definitive for a word-class here termed verbs (see below).


8.

The verb may be termed active when it appears without the suffix,
passive when the suffix is present. Example:
(Pl active /‘oko/: kaa W) 5 oko buy (P3 W) te va‘ine ■ woman (P2 i, P3 te W) pona , dress
passive /‘oko-na/: (Pl W) (P2 P3 ka 6 oko-na 3 te w) va ‘ine (P3 W) te pona
Both sentences may be translated 'the woman is going to buy the
dress'. The passive suffixes (ps) are listed below, preceded by
an example of a verb stem to which they may be bound:
pare a 'wear a hat'
kata ngia 'scoff'
koo ia 'poke'
amo kia 'shoulder a load'
6 opu kina 'seize'
tanu mia 'bury'
ta6 u - na 'burn'
tau ria 'perch'
piri tia 'stick tight'

/-a/ is by far the:commonest of the passive suffixes and can be
added to most verb stems; /-na/ occurs after about seventy verbs;
each of the rest of the suffixes occurs at the most often only
half-a-dozen verbs, while /-nga/ and/-ngia/ represent unique
morphemes. There is very slight evidence of phonological
conditioning: /-ia/ occurs only after stems ending a long vowel,

and /-mia/ only after stems ending in /-u/, but generally the
conditioning is purely morphological.

17. The presence of the passive suffix may cause morphophonemic
change in the stem. One very common change results in the loss
of the initial consonant of the root in structures + root + ps

when the root structure is CVCV. Examples:


9

RR^ + root
/ka- kati/
/"o- ‘ore/
/po- poki/
/ro- romi/

RR^ + root + ps
/ka- ati -a/
/‘o- ore -a/
/po- oki -a/ .
/ro- omi -a/

Some stems may select more than one suffix, e.g. /amo/ (active),
/amo-a/ or /amo-kia/ (passive)? /ta6u/ (active), /ta ‘u-a/ or
/ta‘u-na/ (passive). In such cases the suffixes often appear to
be freely variant (as in the examples cited), but sometimes there
is specialization of meaning, e.g. /piri/ 'to infect' (of a
disease), 'shut' (of a door), /piri-a/ 'be. caught' (of a disease),
/piri-tia/ 'wedged' (of a door).

18. The commonest of the derivational suffixes are a group of
four nominalizing suffixes (ns). These are listed below, preceded
by an example of the root to which they may be bound:

/no6 o/
/poto/
/tanu/
/ tau/

'sit'

'short

bury

/no6o-6anga/ 'chair, seat'
/poto-nga/ 'a short piece'
/tanu-manga/ 'tomb'

'perch, land' /tae -ranga/ 'roost, landing-

strip' .

In a handful of forms, the same consonant appears in both the
passive and the nominalizing suffixes, e.g.:

/tanu-manga/
/tau-ranga/

/1 anu/ /t anu-mi a/

/tau ,. /tau-ria/

Although this may be significant diachronically, as indicating
the preservation of an original root-final consonant, there is
little descriptive advantage in setting up root forms /tanum-/ and
/taur-/ for present-day Rarotongan.

19. The potential structure of Rarotongan words containing a
momomorphemic dissyllabic root may therefore be stated as:

op + mp + ip + rdpl + root + sfx
e.g.: /6aka-taa- tii- poki- poki -a/

It is rare to find all six positions filled. Some examples are
given below of a root /poki/ which appears with a complete range

of affixes:


10.

/poki/ , root, 'to palm' (a card)

(Pl

kua

W)

poki

palm-

(P3

W)

ia

he

(P2

i

P3

te

W)

card

a

'he palmed the card'

/popoki/, )PP( + a blanket, break (of waves), overtake sbdy., set about (a task):

(Pl W P6) (W

ka popoki atu taaua

overtake we

'we'll catch them up'

(P2 (P3 W)

i a raaua

they "

/pookia/, )PP^ + ^poki^ + , 'passive of popoki1 (see 17 above

for the morphophonemic change in the root):

(Pl W)

(P3 W

kua pookia te one

cover

soil food

W (P2 P3 W)

kai e te tiitaa

weed

'his allotment is overgrown with weeds'

/pookinga/ , ^PR^+^poki^ + ^nga^ (see 17 above) 'breaking place'.

(W W)

only in pookingaa ngaru 'place where the waves break',
breaking wave

/pokipoki/ , + ^poki^ 'frequentative and diminutive of /popoki/;

a kind of fishing-net, to use such a net':

(Pl W

P7) (P3 W)

(P2 W)

(P2 P3 W

W)

tee pokipoki nei te ngaru ki runga i te patu toka

break

wave

top

wall stone

'the waves are lapping againstvthe stone wall'

(P2 W) (Pl W) (P3 W) (P2 W) (Pl
naa ‘ au e_ tuku te pokipoki, naa ku £
you set net me
’ you see to the net, I'll drive (the fish) in'
/tiipoki/ , ip + ^poki^ , ' to lie face-down' ? c 0
(P3 W) (P3 W) (Pl W W P7)
1®. a6 a 6 a ia i moe tiipoki ei?
why he sleep face- down

taaanga

drive

why does he sleep on his face?'


11

/taapoki/ , mp +
(

(a misdemeanour), a lid or cover1

cover up

(11 W) (W)

kua taapoki raaua
cover they

(12 13 14 W

i au £i‘a

box

W)

‘aanani

(12 13 W)

ki te kie

canvas

orange

'they've covered the orange-boxes with a tarpaulin'
/taapokipoki/ , mp + + ^poki^, 'frequentative of /taapoki/

obscured by clouds (of the sun)':

(11 V/) (13 W)

kua taapokipoki te raa

obscured sun

'the sun has gone in'

/taatiipoki/ , mp + ip + jpoki^, 'turn turtle' (of a canoe):

(11 W)

ka taatiipoki
capsize

(13 W)
te vaka

canoe

'the canoe will capsize'

/‘akataatiipokipokia/, op + mp + ip + ^1R^ + \poki/ +

made to capsize's

(11 W) (13 W)

ka ‘ akataatiipokipokia te vaka

be

'the canoe will be capsized'

20. Two clitics are recognized: a passive clitic (pc) and a
nominalizing clitic (nc). Unlike the suffixes, which are
word-bound, the clitics may be phrase-bound, i.e. they may form
an immediate constituent with a preceding word group. The
passive clitic stands between 15 and 16, though it may occur
directly after the full-word if 15 is not present in the phrase.
In many uses the passive clitic appears to function similarly
to the passive suffixes, e.g. from /tipi/ 'cut' may be formed
both /tipi-a/, stem + ps, and /tipi-‘ia/, stem + pc. In verbal
groups, where the verb is followed by one or more full-words,

the whole complex may be made passive by the addition of the

clitic, e.g.:

(Pl W W pa) (13 W)

kua * aka6 oro maarie -z> ia te 6 oro‘ enua,

ride slow horse

'the horse has been ridden gently'


12

The passive suffixes, being word-bound, cannot appear in this
position as an immediate constituent of a word group. It is
possible, however, to form a double passive, using both suffix
and clitic, and this'construction is compulsory when the passive

suffix is followed either by one or more full-words attributive
to the verb or by P5, e.g.:
(R1 kua W) -ps W ‘ aka6oro-a maarie -pc) (P3 W) -"ia te ‘oro'enua,
ride slow horse
' the horse has been ridden slowly'

Rarotongan has, then, three passive types:

(i) suffix passive, W + ps, e.g. /‘aka‘oro-a/,

(ii) clitic passive, W + pc, e.g. /(aka‘oro-6ia/,

(iii) double passive, W + ps + pc, • e.g. /6aka‘oro-a-‘ia/.

21. The nominalizing clitic has considerable positional freedom,
unlike the word-bound nominalizing suffixes. It may follow a
single full-word or full-word group, but it may not (in contrast
with the nominalizing suffixes) interrupt a full-word group.

It may also occur between P5 and P6, or between P6 and P7, and
either before or after the passive clitic, e.g.:

W ' nc

6 aka‘oro -‘anga 'riding'

W "aka(oro W maarie nc -‘anga 'slow riding'
W ' 6aka6.oro . w: maarie P5 roa nc -‘anga 'very slow riding'
W . 6 aka6oro W maarie P5 roa pc nc -‘ia ‘anga 'being ridden very slowly'
W 6 aka‘oro W maarie P5 roa nc pc -‘anga -‘ia 'ditto'
W ‘aka6oro W maarie P5 roa P6 nc mai ‘anga 'riding here very quickly'
W 4 aka‘oro W maarie P5 roa nc P6 ‘anga mai P7 nei ’riding here very

quickly now'


13.

22. Essentially, there are three main distributional features
which may be used to classify Rarotongan full-words. These are:

(1) colligation with a preceding nominal particle (i.e.

colligation with P2 (prepositions), E3 (determinatives), or

E4 (number particles);

(2) colligation with a preceding verbal particle (El);

(3) colligation with a passive suffix (ps) or a passive clitic (pc.)
Pull-words may exhibit one or more of these distributions:

they may show Distribution 1 only, or Distributions 1 and 2,
or Distributions 1,2, and 3. Paced with this situation, where
there is no one-to-one correspondence between form and
distributional feature, there are a number of ways of organizing
the data. As this is a problem which constantly recurs in the
Indo-Eacific area, the different methods of statement are
discussed below and reasons are given for preferring (for
Rarotongan, at least), one of these methods.

23. The choices open to the linguist in this situation have been
2

outlined very succinctly by C.E.Bazell :

"Traditional grammars have it that many English words can
be used both as nouns and verbs - e.g. call, stay, seal, show,
etc. This is one way of putting the position. But the
linguist has many ways open to him of stating it.

One linguist will state that there is a relation of over-
lapping between the classes of noun and verb, such that the
same unit may be a member of both classes.

A second linguist may state that there are three classes of
unit here, three parts of speech (if he uses this term), the
functional range of one class covering the functional range of
the other two combined. So if we choose to call thief a noun
and rob a verb, we shall have to find a third term for such
units as call and show.

By a third linguist, call and show might be taken as
different units, mere homophones, in one function and the other.
As with the second linguist, there would be no overlapping of
classes, though there would be an overlapping of forms from one
class to the other.

A fourth linguist might choose to say that there is only one
class of words here, containing, however, a fair number of words
with defective paradigms: from his standpoint, the absence of
*virtued or *he virtues from the paradigm of virtue would be on
a par with the absence of *an oat or *a tong from the paradigm
of oats and tongs.

If each of these four linguists took his system seriously
from the standpoint of typology, the first would say that
English has a large measure of overlapping in its categories;
the second that not the categories, but rather their ranges,
overlap; the third that English is characterized by a large
number of homonyms; and finally the fourth, that it is
characterized by a large number of defective paradigms."




15.

(Similarly in English, if the forms mileage and cellarage are noun
+ > and seepage and steerage are verb + -age, are wastage and

package noun + -age or verb + -age? If chair is a noun in
he took the chair and a verb in he chaired the meeting, is the
first element of chairman noun or verb?)

25. If we apply Method 2 to Rarotongan, then we might call those

full-words which show Distribution 1, Class A; those which show

Distributions 1 and 2, Class B; those which show Distributions 1,

.2, and 3, Class C. We now have the technical advantage that we can

make a definite statement about the structure of groups and derived

forms. For instance, the structure of /‘are ‘ ura/ is statable

unambiguously as A + C = A, and that of /taa-‘ura/ as /taa-/+ C =C.

(Similarly if English mile is Class A, and seep is Class B, and

waste is Class C, then mileage is A + -age = A, seepage is B + -age

= A, and wastage is C + -age = A. ) Method 2 also appears to

result in a greater congruity of class membership at different

levels. Eor instance, nearly all the members of Class A, a

syntactic class, are also members of a semantic class of concretes

names of people and material objects? most members of Class B are

also members of a semantic class of abstracts - terms for colour,

shape, size, weight, quality-; most members of Class C are also

members of a semantic class of action-terms. There is also some

evidence that this method produces greater congruity with the

morphological level, e.g. most Class A words do not reduplicate,

and though both B and C have formally similar reduplicated forms,

reduplication sometimes has rather different semantic value in
7

Classes B and C.

26. :Method 3 involves an extension of the terms ’homophone' and
'homonym'. The normal use is for pairs which are semantically
different (e.g. pine n., pine vb.). Method 3 also applies the
terms to pairs which are semantically similar, but are members
of different grammatical categories (e.g. smile n., smile vb.).

A different relationship exists between the members of the pair
pine n. : pine vb. from that which exists between the pair


16.

smile n. : smile vb» The linguist may not, of course, wish this
to show up in the grammatical classification (as it would do in
Method 2) as well as in the lexis and semantics. Method 3, like
Method 1, does not permit an unambiguous statement of the
composition of Rarotongan full-word groups or derived forms.

27. Method 4 would involve treating all full-words as members of
the same class. This would clearly be the most economical method
if the defective members (i.e. those full-words which lack
Distributions 2 and/or 3) were comparatively few in number. This
•is not the case in Rarotongan. The use of Method 4 does not, of
course, absolve the linguist from the need to state somewhere in
his account of the language, which members are defective in
scatter, and how..

28. On the whole, then, Method 2, which does not allow a given
form to appear in more than one class, seems preferable for
Rarotongan. It results in three classes having a concentric type
of distribution; Class C has the widest distribution, overlapping
that of Class B, which in its turn overlaps that of Class A.

These three major full-word classes may be labelled;

verbs (V), which colligate with nominal particles
(P2,3,4), verbal particles (Pl), and with the passive suffix
(ps) and the passive clitic (pc);

statives (S), which colligate with nominal and verbal particles,

but are incapable of passive suffixation;

nouns (N), which colligate only with nominal particles.

Examples; /vaka/ (N) 'canoe';

in nominal phrase;(Pl V P5 P7) (P3 P4 N V)

tee *aere mai nei te au vaka taakie

go ’ canoe sail”

'the sailing-canoes are coming' ;

in verbal phrase; (Pl V N N P7) (P3 V)

tee tarai am a a vaka nei. te kamuta

shape float canoe ~ ~ carpenter

'the carpenter is shaping the outrigger float'


I *

> Z^z \ t i 1 t II

17

-7 fa

/kino/ (S) 'cruel(ty), (suffer) hurt, damage

in verbal phrase:

(P2 P3 S) (P2 P3 P4 N) (P2 P3 N)
noo te kino 1 te ngaa va‘ ine ki aa ia
cruel woman he
'because the two women were so cruel to : him' o 9
(Pl s) (P3 N ) (P2 P3 S)
kua kino te 6 are i te matangi
damag’e house windy
' the house has been damaged by the winds ! o

/‘aere/ (V) ’go, walk':

in nominal phrase : (Pl s) (P3 K) (P2 P3 V)
kua ro‘iro* i te va‘ine i te 6 aere
weary woman walk
’the woman is tired of walking' ;

in verbal phrase (active):

(Pl V) (P5 N) (Pl V V)

ka 6 aere ‘a ia kaa kimi ‘aere

go he seek go

'he's going to go searching around' ;

in verbal phrase (passive):

(Pl ka V -pc) 6aere-6 ia (P3 te K V) ‘are « ura house dance
2)0
' the dance hall will be well attended


NOTES

(1) Except also before pronouns (other than/i'a/ 'he, she')
when these occur in direct nominal phrases.

(2) C.E. Bazell, 'Linguistic Typology', p.7.

(3) S. Churchward, 'A Samoan Grammar'2, p. 126.

(4) B. Biggs, 'The'Structure of New Zealand Maaori',

• (Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 3, No. 3) pp. 23-26.

(5) B.J. Honey, 'Word Classes in Vietnamese' (Bulletin
of the School of Oriental and African Studies,

XVIII,3), p. 543', note 1.

(6) G.B. Milner, 'Fijian Grammar', p. 127.

(7) Compare B. Biggs, op. cit., p. 28.


181444

CONGRESSES. Conference on linguistic

problems of the Indo-Pacific area

[Mimeographed papers for the conf-
erence held at SOAS, January 5-8,

1965.3]

nos. 36-49. L A 409.5

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L.A

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