Volume Four, Number One
ABSTRACTS
Introduction: Language
contact, hybrids and new varieties: emergent possessive constructions.
pp. 3-10
Simon Musgrave, Monash University
The position of Australia has made it well-suited to work in the field of contact between languages. Firstly, in Australia itself, there is a relatively recent history of a European language (English) being imposed as a dominant language on a rich pre-existing language ecology. This has resulted in large-scale language extinction, ongoing language endangerment (see McConvell and Thieberger 2001 for a recent assessment of the situation), and the creation of contact languages (Harris 1986, Munro 2000). Secondly, there has also been an even more recent influx of non-English speaking migrants into Australian society, which has also had profound linguistic consequences (Romaine 1991, Clyne 2003). And thirdly, Australia is located geographically in a region of great linguistic diversity in which the impact of European contact and the development of modern nation states has had a great influence on patterns of language use. Much of the Austronesian world, including the Pacific, has experienced changes of this sort (Florey 2005a, Siegel 2000). New Guinea must be considered as part of this regional environment also.
The factors mentioned above have ensured that questions about language contact and language change are salient to Australian linguists (see Florey and McConvell 2005). The level of interest in such questions led to the International Working Symposium Language Contact, Hybrids and New Varieties: Emergent Possessive Constructions, held at Monash University in September 2004. The papers collected here were all originally presented at that symposium (with the exception of this introduction), and report research on a range of languages. Volume 4, No. 1 includes papers on languages from the Maluku region of Indonesia, and from the Pacific region.
Possessive
constructions in language contact settings. pp.11-19
Pieter Muysken, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
This paper surveys data on possessive constructions in a number of languages that have been involved in contact-induced language change. I have structured the material following the three-way division introduced by Thomason and Kaufmann (1988), distinguishing between shift, maintenance, and new creation scenarios. It turns out that the properties of possessive constructions are affected in different ways in these different scenarios. Finally, I try to draw some more general conclusions from the observations made in discussing these different scenarios.
Overview:
the languages of Central Maluku. pp. 21-32
Margaret Florey, Monash University
This paper introduces the language of Central Maluku, eastern Indonesia, focusing in particular on the languages which are analysed in this volume by Ewing and Musgrave, and those analysed elsewhere by Florey. Linguistically, Maluku is characterized by high linguistic diversity, the most rapid pace of language endangerment in Indonesia, and little detailed documentation. The Endangered Moluccan Languages Project is currently documenting four endangered or threatened languages, and the sociolinguistic background of the language communities is described briefly. The research languages include Allang and Souw Amana Teru (spoken on Ambon Island), Haruku (Haruku Island), and Kouro (commonly known as Amahai) of Seram Island. Additional data are drawn from the earlier documentation of Alune (Seram Island). Some documentatioin has taken place with elderly speakers of Central Malukan languages who have lived in exile in the Netherlands since 1950. An overview of possessive systems in Central Malukan languages is provided, with a brief description of the alienable/inalienable contrast, and possessive constructions in the two languages which are in contact with indigenous languages: Ambonese Malay and Indonesian.
Possession
in South Pacific Contact languages. pp. 33-44.
Jeff Siegel, University of New England
This paper examines possessive marking in Pidgin Fijian as an example of morphological simplicity in a restricted pidgin. This is attributed to a process of simplification or lack of development in early second language acquisition. Here the only effect of the substrate languages appears to be in constituent ordering. The paper then goes on to look at morphological expansion in possessive marking in an expanded pidgin (or according to some, a creole): Melanesian Pidgin (MP). This is attributed to functional transfer from the substrate languages in extended second language use. While many core features of the Central Eastern Oceanic substrate are found in MP, the overt marking of alienable versus inalienable possession is not. One explanation is that this feature is "functionally expendable" or "inessential" in language (McWhorter 2002). However, the paper argues that the absence of formal marking of the alienable-inalienable distinction in MP can be best accounted for by availability constraints that prevented transfer of this feature at an earlier stage of development.
Diverging and Converging Patterns of Possession:
Allang in its Central Maluku Context. pp. 45-64
Michael C. Ewing, University of Melbourne
The language of Allang village, together with the closely related varieties spoken in Wakasihu and Larike, stands out among East Central Maluku languages in having developed a complete paradigm of independent possessive pronouns. Additionally, the alienableinalienable distinction found in other East Central Maluku languages appears to have vanished in this language group. I first present a scenario for the emergence of the Allangstyle possessive pronoun paradigm, followed by discussion of structures (among the classifier system, the expression of partwhole relationships, and alternations among certain lexical suffixes) which all point to an older system of inalienable possession marking as their source. Allang, the only Christian village in this group, has experienced a radical shift to Malay usage during the twentieth century and now only a few people above age 70 are fluent speakers. The possessive and related constructions occurring in all three varieties would have developed at a time when all were robust languages and these constructions show a interesting divergence from other East Central Maluku languages. I conclude by describing possessive structures which are emerging among Allang speakers during the current process of language shift, structures that appear to be moving in the direction of a reconvergence with other emergent possessive constructions in Central Maluku.
Possession in Souw
Amana Teru: internally and externally motivated change. pp. 65-81
Simon Musgrave, Monash University
This paper discusses the range of structures used to code possession in the Central Moluccan language Souw Amana Teru. In particular, data is presented to show that this area of the grammar is undergoing change in at least three ways. First, the explicit pronominal coding of alienable possession has almost vanished. Second, the coding of inalienable possession is weakening rapidly. And thirdly, a new strategy now exists for interpreting sequences of two nouns; whereas historically the first noun was the possessor in such structures, it has now become possible for the second noun to be the possessor. The first of these changes can be seen as the result of internally motivated change, but I argue that contact with varieties of Malay has had some influence in the other two cases.
Possessive
constructions in a language contact situation: Tahitian French. pp.
83-93
Susan Love, Australian National
University
This study forms part of a research project on the description of French as spoken in Tahiti. Tahitian French consists of a range of features largely resulting from contact-induced change which distinguish it from standard French. This particular aspect of the research examines the influence of Tahitian patterns in forming non-standard possessive constructions in the French of Tahitians. The study proposes to determine if Tahitian French constructions are affected by the Polynesian inalienable/alienable 'o /a' possessive classification system present in Tahitian, Tahitian VSO word order as opposed to French SVO, and the differing prepositional systems. This work in progress proposes some observations on the possessive system of Tahitian French, establishing the existence of stable structures within parameters of variation. These structures often do not conform to standard French, but show adaptation, though not necessarily directly, of French structures to Tahitian patterns.