Laria
like Bagheli and Awadhi, is a dialect of Eastern Hindi, i.e., Ardh-Magadhi form
of Indo-Aryan. Laria, like most other Indian languages can be typologically classified
as a verb final language.
sita
| ram | la | maris |
Sita | Ram | ACC |
hit |
'Sita
hit Ram.' |
The word order in Laria is
SOV. Verb-final languages have typical characteristics. These characteristics
have been enumerated for Laria as follows.
(i) In the basic
word order, the indirect object precedes the direct object.
ra:m | sita: |
la | citthi | lekhis |
Ram
| Sita |
ACC | letter | wrote |
'Ram
wrote a letter to Sita'. |
(2) ra:m sita:
la citthi lekhis
Ram Sita ACC letter wrote
'Ram wrote a letter to Sita'.
(ii)
The auxiliary follows the verb.
(3) ra:m sita: la citthi
lekh the
Ram Sita ACC letter writing CONT-2-SING.
'Ram is writing
a letter to Sita'.
(iii) Adjectives precede the noun.
(4)
bhl bhi
good book
(iv) Determiners precede
the noun.
(5) he pila:
that boy
(v)
Quantifiers precede the noun.
(6) kete bhi
so
many books
(vi) Languages with SOV order are post positional.
(7)
ra:m g*h tle bsis e
Ram tree under sit CONT
'Ram is sitting
under the tree'.
(vii) In verb final languages the relative
clause comes to the left of the main clause.
(8) jen pila
gi:t ga: the pne mor bhai e
Which boy song sing CONT he my bother is
The boy who is singing a song is my brother'.
(viii) Genitive
precedes the head noun in verb final languages.
(9) raju
ke bhi
Raju GEN book
'Raju's book'.
The auxiliary
verb follows the main verb.
(10) ra:m ped guis
Ram fell went
'Ram fell down'.
(x) The time adverbials
precede the place adverbial in a sentence.
(11) mE)
ch bje dilli jiba:r lagi ga:d?I dhrih)
I six o'clock
Delhi go-INF for train catch-FUT
'I will catch the train to go to Delhi at
6 o'clock'.
(xi) SOV languages have weather type constructions
without the dummy subject.
(12) brsa h the
rain happening
'It is raining'.
(13) bhut grm
a:he
very hot is
'It is very hot'.
(xii) Inclusive,
exclusive and emphatic particles follow the noun.
(14)
ra:m bhi jahi (Inclusive)
Ram also go-FUT
'Ram will also go'.
(15) ra:m hi ja:hi (Exclusive)
Ram only go-FUT
'Only Ram will go'.
(16) ra:m t ja:hi
Ram EMP go-FUT
'Ram will definitely go'.
(xiii)
Yes-No questions are always post verbal.
(17) ra:m ghr
ja:the ka
Ram home go-CONT QUES
'Is Ram going home?'
(xiv)
Dubitative Markers are post verbal.
(18) ra:m ghr
jahi bdhe
Ram home go-PST DUB
'Ram will most probably go home'.
(xv)
Post Verbal Negatives
(19) ra:m ghr ni jae
Ram
home NEG go-FUT
'Ram will not go home'.
Laria does not
conform to the post-verbal negative markers trend in SOV languages. Laria has
preverbal negative markers.
In this chapter the structure
of the language in question, i.e., Laria has been dealt with in detail under the
various heads of CO-ordination, Subordination. Interrogation, Negation, Anaphora.
2.1
CO-ORDINATION
Co-ordination refers to the process of conjoining
two or more elements of equal categorical status of the three syntactic levels
- word, phrasal and sentential - to one conjoined structure, in which all elements
are of equal status or rank. Thus, two nouns (N) can be co-ordinated to a noun
co-ordination : N N + N, two noun phrases (NP) can be co-ordinated to a noun phrase
co-ordination : NP NP + NP, and two clauses (S) can be co-ordinated to a sentence
co-ordination : S S + S. Words, phrases and clauses are co-ordinated to a noun
phase co-ordination by co-ori\dinating morphemes referred to as co-ordinators,
which express the semantic (logical) connections between the elements conjoined.
Semantically, three types of co-ordination can be distinguished and they are as
follows :
unmarked conjunction - 'and' co-ordination
disjunction
- 'or' co-ordination
adversative conjunction - 'but' co-ordination
2.1.1
CONJUNCTIVE CO-ORDINATION
The Conjunctive co-ordinator in
Laria is a:u which occurs between the elements conjoined. The conjunctive co-ordination
in Laria can be represented as follows :
X X a:u X
The
elements which can be placed in variable X's position are:
(a) Lexical Categories
Nouns
(N)
Verbs (V)
Postpositions (P)
Adverbs (Adv)
Adjectives (Adj)
(b)
Phrasal Categories
noun phrase (NP)
postpositional (PP)
verb phrases
(VP)
adverb phrases (Adv P)
adjective phrases (Adj P)
(c)
Clauses
Infinitive clauses
(d) Sentences
The
following sections are given as illustration.
2.1.1.1.1 Lexical Categories
(i)
Noun co-ordination
(20) ra:m a:u ya:m coleg guin
Ram and Shyam college went
'Ram and Shyam went to the college'.
(ii)
Verb co-ordination
(21) ra:ju meda:n bhitr la
dud?is a:u khelis
Raju field in to ran and played
'Raju ran into
the field and played'.
(iii) Postposition co-ordination
(22)
ghr ke a:g a:d?e a:u pch a:d?e bhut mela a:he
house
of front of and back of lot garbage is
'In front of and at the back of the
house, there is a lot of garbage'.
(iv) Adverb co-ordination
(23)
ra:m a:ram a:u sa:nti thi bse rihis
Ram confort and peace in sit CONT
'Ram was sitting peacefully and comfortably'.
(v) Adjectives
co-ordination
(24) gute gora: a:u sundr d?ki
(te) ra:sta: thi ja: tirihis
one fair and beautiful girl one road on go-CONT.
'A fair and beautiful girl was going on the road'.
2.1.1.2
Phrasal Categories
(i) Noun phrase co-ordination
(25)
ram [kile santra a:u drjne kdel] ghinis
Ram one kilo oranges
and dozen banana bought
'Ram bought a kilogram of oranges and a dozen bananas'.
(ii)
Postpositional phrase co-ordination
(26) makd? mne
gch u:pre a:u bhui: thi bsinehE)
monkey PL tree on and ground
in sitting
'Monkeys are sitting on the tree and on the ground'.
(iii) Verb
phrase co-ordination
(27) hri ra:m la ma:ris a:u dud?
ke pleis
Hari Ram ACC hit and ran do went
'Hari hit Ram and ran
away'.
(iv) Adverb phrase co-ordination
(28)
ra:ju pa:ha:d? la bhut jldi a:u bhut a:ra:mse ced? guis
Raju mountain ACC very fast and very comfort climb with
'Raju climbed the
mountain very fast and very comfortably'.
(v) Adjective
phrase co-ordination
(29) phl gera phirij bhitre bhut
thnda: a:u bhut bhl rhrhe
fruit PL fridge in
very cold and very good stay
'Fruits in the fridge stay very cold and very
fresh'.
2.1.1.3 Clausal Categories
(i)
Infinitival clause co-ordination
(30) hri ur?ia pd?ba:r
a:u tbla bjaba:r a:rmbh kris
Hari Oriya studying
and tabla playing start did
'Hari started studying Oriya and playing tabla'.
2.1.1.4
Sentences
(31) hri bhat khahi a:u ra:m ruti khahi
Hari rice will eat and Ram chappati will eat
'Hari will eat rice and Ram will
eat chappati'.
In all the above examples, the conjoined
elements belong to the same syntactic category. Chomsky (1957) also says,
.
. . .if X and Y are both constituents, but are constituents of different kinds
. . .then we cannot in general form a new sentence by conjunction. . . In fact,
the possibility of conjunction offers one of the best criteria for initial determination
of phrase structure1.
2.1.2 DISJUNCTIVE CO-ORDINATION
There
are two disjunctive co-ordinators in Laria -- the co-odinating conjunction word
nih ele 'or' and the co-ordinating conjunction interrogative ki 'or'. Disjunctive
co-ordination in Laria can be represented as
X --------->
X nihele/ ki X
All the categories which can have conjunctive
co-ordination can have disjunctive co-ordination. Examples of disjunctive co-ordination
are given below.
2.1.2.1 Lexical Categories
(a)
Noun co-ordination
(32) mit ke bhai nihele bhin
asihi:
Amit GEN brother or sister come-FUT
"Amit's brother or sister
will come'.
(b) Verb co-ordination
(33)
me bsih) nihele khelih)
I sit-FUT or play-FUT
'I'll sit to play'.
(c) Postposition co-ordination
(34)
ghr ke a:g a:d?e nihele pch a:de d?ra:m la madi se
house of front
side or back side drum CL kept is
'The drum is kept in front of or at the
back of the house'.
_________________________________
1
N.A.Chomsky (1957), Syntactic Structures, Mouton, The Hague, p. 36.
(d)
Adjective co-ordination
(35) raju kelagi gut?e sundr
nihele gora d?ki t?e khuj
Raju for one beautiful or fair girl
one search
'Look for a beautiful or fair girl for Raju'.
(e)
Adverb co-ordination
(36) makd? la ekhen nihele pche
degihi
monkey CL now or afterwards jump
'The monkey will jump now or afterwards'.
(f)
Quantifier co-ordination
(37) u:mne mndir lagi
t?ike nihele besi pesa dehi:
they temple for little or lot money give
'They will give little or a lot of money for the temple'.
2.1.2.2. Phrasal
Categories
(a) Noun phrase co-ordination
(38)
jy nihele kr bhai la bjar jael lagihi
Ajay or
his brother ACC market go have
'Ajay or his brother will have to go to the
market'.
(b) Post positional co-ordination
(39)
makd? mne gch u:pre nihele bhui thi bsihE)
monkey
PL tree on or ground in sit
'Monkeys sit on the tree or on the ground'.
(c)
Adjectival phrase co-ordination
(40) mrubhumi la bhut
thnda nihele bhut grm rhthe
desert CL
very cold or very hot stays
'The desert stays very hot or very cold'.
(d)
Adverb phrase co-ordination
(41) raju bhut jor nihele
bhut dhire ca:lthe
Raju very fast or very slow walks
'Raju walks
very fast or very slowly'.
(e) Verb phrase co-ordination
(42)
raju ra:m sa?ge ld?ihi nihele dud? ke plehi
Raju Ram with
fight or run do go
'Raju will fight Ram or run away'.
2.1.2.3
Clausal Categories
(a) Infinitival clause co-ordination
(43)
ra:m or?ia pd?ba:r nihele hindi pd?ba:r armbh krihi
Ram Oriya study-INF or Hindi study-INF start do
'Ram will start studying Oriya
or studying Hindi'.
(b) Conditional clause co-ordination
(44)
jdi tcE) senela jabe nihele ra:m i:nela a:sihi hele
if you there go
or ram here come then
ham la khbr la milihi
we ACC news CL
get
'If you go there or Ram comes here then we'll get the news'.
2.1.2.4
Sentence Co-ordination
(45) mE) senela jahã
nihele raju i:nela a:sihi
I there go-FUT Raju here come-FUT
'I will go
there or Raju will come here'.
Like the disjunctive marker
nihele the interrogative disjunctive marker ki changes the statement to alternative
questions. The interrogative disjunctive marker ki can occur with all the categories
listed above. Examples of interrogative disjunction are given below.
2.1.2.5
Lexical Categories
(i) Noun co-ordination
(46)
tE bhat ki rut?i khabe
you rice or chappati eat
'Do you want to
eat rice or chappati?'
(ii) Verb co-ordination
(47)
tE) medan la jaeke bsbe ki khelbe
you field to godo sit
or play
'Will you go to the field to sit or play?'
(iii)
Adverb co-ordination
(48) ram jorse ki dhire dud?ihi
Ram fast or slow run-FUT
'Will Ram run fast or slowly?'
(iv)
Adjective co-ordination
(49) tla gora ki klia
d?ki bhl lagthe
you fair or dark girl good like
'Do you like
fair or dark girls?'
(v) Postposition co-ordination
(50)
makd? mne gch upre ki tle bsi nehE)
monkey PL
tree on or under sit-CONT
'Are the monkeys sitting on or under the tree?'
(iv)
Quantifier co-ordination
(51) raju bhut ki km
bhat khais
Raju lot or less rice ate
'Did Raju eat a lot or little rice?'
2.1.2.6
Phrasal Categories
(i) Noun phrase co-ordination
(52)
kumar ra:m ke bet?a la ki mr bet?a la cakri dehi
Kumar Ram GEN son ACC
or my son ACC job give
'Will Kumar give a job to Ram's son or my son?'
(ii)
Postpositional phrase co-ordination
(53) masr a:ej
itihas ke bise thi ki bhugol ke bise thi
teacher today History
of about or Geography of about
btehi
talk-FUT.
'Will the teacher
talk about History or about Geography today?'
(iii) Adjectival
phrase co-ordination
(54) dilli thi bhut thnda
ki bhut grm e
Delhi in very cold or very hot is
'Is
it very cold or very hot in Delhi?'
(vi) Adverb phrase co-ordination
(55)
raju bhut jor ki bhut dhire calthe
Raju very fast or very slowly
walks
'Does Raju walks very fast or very slowly?'
(v)
Verb phrase co-ordination
(56) kumar hri s?ge
ld?ihi ki dud? ke plehi
Kumar Hari with fight or run do
go
'Will Kumar fight with Hari or run away?'
2.1.2.7
Clausal Categories
(i) Infinitival clause co-ordination
(57)
ra:m i:nela a:ra:m krba:r lagi ki ka:m krba:r lagi a:sise
Ram
here rest do-INF for or work do-INF for
Come
'Has Ram come here to take
rest or to work?'
(ii) Conditional clause co-ordination
The interrogative disjunctive marker cannot form alternative questions in
conditional
clause co-ordination.
2.1.2.8 Sentence Co-ordination
(58)
mE) phon krih) ki pne cit?t?hi lekhihi
I phone do-FUT
or he letter write
'Will I telephone him or will he write a letter?'
One
of the most common usages of the interrogative disjunctive marker ki is alternative
question that expresses the alternative of a positive and negative proposition.
It is formed by conjoining the positive and the negative clause with ki and deleting
every thing of the negative clause except the negative marker ni.
(59)
ram kael a:sihi ki ni
Ram tomorrow come-FUT or NEG
'Will Ram come tomorrow
or not?'
2.1.3 ADVERATIVE CO-ORDINATION
The
adversative co-ordination in Laria is the conjunction word kintu 'but', which
occur in-between the two elements conjoined. It is represented as follows:
X X kintu X
A generalised PS-rule may be formed for category
co-ordination.
X CONJ Xn
i.e., 'n' like categories
may be co-ordinated by any co-ordinating conjunction in any syntactic environment.
Conjunctive co-ordinator can co-ordinate any number of like categories.
(60)
ra:m a:u raju a:u sita a:u hri bulel guin
Ram and Raju and Sita and
Hari stroll went
'Ram and Raju and Sita and Hari went for a stroll'.
Disjunctive
co-ordinator can co-ordinate any number of like categories.
(61) tE)
raju nihele sita nihele gi:ta la daek debe
you Raju or Sita or Gita ACC call
give
'You can call Raju or Ram or Sita or Gita'.
However
kintu 'but' can only co-ordinate two like categories.
(62)
i:la gute bd? kintu purna(*kintu nua) ghr e
this one big but old
but new house is
'This is a big but old (*but new) house'.
kintu 'but'
can co-ordinate only a few categories. They are as given below.
2.1.1.1
Lexical Categories
(i) Adjective co-ordination
(63)
i:la gute bd? kintu purna ghr e
this one big but old house is
'This is a big but old house'.
(ii) Adverb co-ordination
(64)
ha:m jorse kintu ara:m se a:sen
we quickly but comfortably came
'We came
quickly but comfortably'.
2.1.1.2 Phrasal Categories
(i)
Adjectival phrase co-ordination
(65) u:kr ghr
la bhut bd? kintu kete ni kete purna e
their houe CL very big
but very old is
'Their house is very big but very old'
(ii)
Adverbial phrase co-ordination
(66) pne bhut
jldi kintu bhut a:ra:mse paha:d? ced? guis
he very quickly
but very comfortably mountain climb went
'He climbed the mountain very quickly
but very comfortably'.
2.1.1.3 Clausal Categories
(i)
Conditional clause co-ordination
(67) tE) cd?be
hele cd? kintu ped? jael pa:rs
you climb then climb but
fall go able
'If you want to climb then do so but you might fall'.
2.1.1.4
Sentential co-ordination
(68) ra:m suiba:r lagi ca:ha:the
kintu kr ne kht? ni
n
Ram sleep-INF AUX wants
but his with bed NEG
FP
'Ram wants to sleep but he doesn't have a bed'.
2.1.4
GAPPING AND DELETION
Gapping is a term proposed in Generative
Grammar to refer to the Deletion of a repeated Verb in Clauses which have been
Conjoined2.
One of the most important papers written about deletion in co-ordinated
structures is Ross's (1970) paper entitled 'Gapping and the Order of Constituents'.
It proposes a hypothesis which is as follows :
The order in which GAPPING operates
depends on the order of elements at the time that the rule applies; if the identical
elements are on left branches, GAPPING operates forward; if they are on right
branches, it operates backwards3.
___________________
2 D. Crystal (1985),
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, p. 133.
3
J.R.Ross (1970), 'Gapping and the Order of Constituents',in MBeierwisch and K.
Heidolph (eds.), Progress in Linguistics, Mouton, The Hague, c..f.,R.R. Van Oirsouw
(1987). The Syntax of Co-ordination. Croom Helm, London, p. 251.
Laria
does not follow the gapping pattern as proposed by Ross for verb final languages,
i.e., SO+SOV. It has the pattern SOV + SO. For example,
(69)
ra:m kr knia la pit?the a:u raju kr kukur la
Ram his wife ACC beats and Raju his dog ACC
'Ram beats his wife and Raju his
dog'.
(70) *ra:m kr knia la a:u raju kr
kukur la pit?the
Ram his wife ACC and Raju his dog ACC beats
'Ram his
wife and Raju beats his dog'.
Oirsouw has collapsed the
four rules, i.e., Gapping, Right Node Raising, VP-deletion and Conjunction Reduction
into one rule which says : 'delete under identity in co-ordination'. This rule
is optional because the grammaticality of co-ordination does not depend on the
application or non-application of the co-ordianate deletion rule; the co-ordinate
deletion rule does not 'filter out' ungrammatical strings but only maps grammatical
strings into grammatical strings4.
The rule of co-ordinate deletion formulated
as 'Delete under identity in co-ordinated structures' applies to co-ordination
of well-formed Ss only. This makes it one of the 'late' rules in the grammar ;
one that applies within what is usually called the 'Government/Binding' model
of grammar, to surface structure; i.e., after all the movement rules have applied,
or, within other mdels of generative grammar, a rule that applies late post-cycl;ically5.
For
example, in English WH-movement precedes deletion.
Who did Ram hug and Hari
kiss?
In Laria WH-word deletion is not possible in co-ordinated sentences.
__________________________
4
R.R.Van Oirsouw (1987), The Syntax of Co-ordinated, Croom Helm, London. P. 113.
5
Ibid. p. 252.
(71) *ra:m kla dhris a:u hri
Ø cuma di:s
Ram who caught and Hari Kiss gave
'Who did Ram catch
and Hari kiss?'
Laria also, like English, deletes verbs
and subjects forward.
(72) ra:m rut? khathe a:u ? Ø
pa:ni pi:the
Ram chappati eats and water drinks
'Ram eats chappati and
drinks water'.
(73) ra:m rut?I khathe a:u hri bhat
Ram chappati eats and Hari rice
'Ram eats chappti and Hari rice'.
Indirect
objects and direct objects are deleted forward in Laria.
(74)
ra:m sita la bhi di:s a:u hri Ø khata li:s
Ram Sita DATbook
gave and Hari copy took
'Ram caught and Hari kissed Sita'.
(75)
ra:m sita la bhris a:u hri Ø cuma di:s
Ram Sita ACC caught
and Hari kiss gave
'Ram caught and Hari kissed Sita'.
2.2
SUBORDINATION
Subordination is a term used in GRAMMATICAL
analysis to refer to the process or result of linking LINGUISTIC UNITS so that
they have different SYNTACTIC status, one being dependent upon the other, and
usually a constituent of the other. (In this respect, it is usually distinguished
from CO-ORDINATE linkage, where the units are equivalent). Subordinate clauses
are illustrated in the SENTENCE John came when Mary left; the marker of linkage
is when, a subordinating conjunction (or subordinator). A wide range of subordinates
exist in English, e.g., although, since, because, while, after. In ENDOCENTRIC
PHRASES, the term 'subordinate' is also used to refer to the words which modify
the HEAD; e.g., in all the vary big cars, all the very big is subordinate to cars,
and very is subordinate to big6.
In a complex sentence,
there is a sentence which is the main or matrix sentence and another one which
is a dependent or subordinate clause.
The
various kinds of complex sentences that can be formed in Laria are:
(i)
Relative or Adjectival clauses.
(ii) Complement or Noun clauses
(iii) Adverbial
clauses.
(iv) Participial clauses.
__________________
6 D. Crystal (1985),
op.cit..p.294.
2.2.1 Relative or Adjectival Clauses
In
English, two simple sentences form a relative clause when there is a common noun
phrase which can link these two sentences.
Those people
[those people live in big houses] have expensive cars.
The
second noun phrase can be changed into a relative pronoun and the two sentences
joined to form a Relative construction.
Those people [who
live in big houses] have expensive cars.
The pronouns which
link the main clause with the subordinate clause when the noun phrases are identical
are called Relative Pronouns.
A relative construction in
Laria can be formed as in the example.
(76) jen pila: jor
dud?ihi la puruska:r milihi
which boy fast run-FUT heACC prize
get
'The boy who runs fast will get the prize'.
This can be broken into
two simple sentences.
(76a) he pila: la [he pila: jor dud?ihi]
puruska:r milihi
that boy to that boy fast run prize get
In
English, the relative pronouns and the question word are homophonous but in Laria
they are different.
Relative pronouns Question word
jen 'who' kiye 'who'
jla 'whom' kla 'whom'
jene 'where' kene
'where'
jebhe 'when' kebhe 'when'
jendi 'which direction' kendi 'which way
'which direction'
jen jagah 'which place' ken jagah 'which place'
In
Laria the relative clause can be moved, i.e., the relative clause can occur.
(i)
before or to the left of the head noun
(ii) immediately
after or the right of the head noun
(iii) after the matrix
clause
(77) [jen d?ki t?hiad? his e] pne
lmba e
which girl stand- CONT is she tall is
'The girl who is standing
is tall'.
(78) hed?ki [jie t?hiad? his e] lmba
e
that girl who stand CONT is tall is
'The girl who is standing is tall'
(79)
he d?ki lmba e [jie t?hiad? his e]
that girl tall is who
stand CONT is
'The girl who is standing is tall'.
The
stricture of the relative clause is as given below. The relative clause, bring
an adjunct, branches from 1'.
The
relative clause (CP) can be extraposed to the beginning or the end of the matrix
clause. The relative pronoun occurs in the SPEC of CP. The subject of the relative
clause i.e., the relative pronoun is moved to the SPEc CP position leaving a trace
at the NP of IP. The trace, the relative pronoun jie in the above sentence and
the subject of the matrix clause are co-indexed. The transformation responsible
for this movement is WH-movement. The nature of the relative pronoun can be equated
with that of WH-question words. Moreover the place to where the relative pronoun
moves (SPEC, CP) is the landing site of WH-question words. SO we can assume that
the COMP of relative clause is [+WH], although relative clauses are not wh-questions.
2.2.2
Complement or Noun Clauses
Complement clauses are subordinate
clauses using a complementizer. In Generative Syntax, the term complementizer
(COMP) is used to refer to CONJUNCTIONS which mark in EMBEDED sentence of a complement
type Laria has two complementizers (a) je, (b) the quotative belke.
Complex
sentences with complement clauses can be formed in the following three ways in
Laria.
[MAIN CLAUSE] je [SUBORDINATE CLAUSE]
[MAIN
CLAUSE] [SUBORDINATE CLAUSE] belke
[MAIN CLAUSE] je
[SUBORDINATE CLAUSE] belke
The following examples
illustrate Laria complementation.
(80) ha:m sunen je kael
nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi
we heard COMP tomorrow from class start
happen
'We heard that classes would start form tomorrow'.
(81)
ha:m sunen kael nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi belke
we heard tomorrow
from class start happen COMP
'We heard that classes would start from tomorrow'.
(82)
ha:m sunen je kael nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi belke
we heard COMP
tomorrow from class start happen COMP
'We heard that classes would start from
tomorrow'.
When the quotative belke is used as COMP,
the subordinate clauses can be extraposed to front before the matrix clauses.
(83)
kael nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi belke ha:m sunen
tomorrow from
class start happen COMP we heard
'We heard that classes would start from tomorrow'.
But,
when je comlementizer is used the subordinate clause cannot be extraposed.
(84)
*je kael nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi ha:m sunen
COMP tomorrow from class
start happen we heard
'We heard that classes will start from tomorrow'.
(85)
*je kael nu kla:s a:rmbh hehi belke ha:m sunen
COMP tomorrow
from class start happen COMP we heard
'We heard that classes will start from
tomorrow'.
The complex sentences with complement clause
can be represented schematically as below.
(86)
ra:m bhabis je mohan buta la ker pkehi
Ram thought COMP Mohan
work ACC do make fall
'Ram thought that Mohan could do the work'
When
the quotative COMP 'belke' is used the schematic representation is
(87)
ra:m bhabis mohn buta la ker pkehi belke
Ram taught
Mohan work ACC make fall COMP
'Ram thought that Mohan could do the work'
The
subordinate clause can also be extraposed before the matrix clause.
The
complementizers occur in the COMP of Cp. Declarative clauses are marked with the
feature [-Q] and interrogative clauses with the feature [+Q]. The X-bar projections
of C are the projection of these features. In Laria, as far as embedded clauses
are concerned, the feature [-Q] is optionally realised as 'je' or 'belke'.
2.2.3
Adverbial Clauses
Adverb (ial) is a term used in the GRAMMATICAL
classification of WORDS to refer to a heterogeneous group of items whose most
frequent function is to specify the mode of action of the verb7. Adverbial clauses
can be classified into the following type :
(i) Time
(ii)
Place
(iii) Manner
(iv) Reason
(v) Purpose
2.2.3.1
Time
When the adverbial can be questioned by ketekhn
'when', the adverbial is a time adverbial.
(88) kael caer
bje ra:m ghr jahi
tomorrow four o'clock Ram home go
'Tomorrow
at four o'clock Ram will go homw'.
The adverbial can be
questioned as
(89) ra:m ketekhn ghr jahi ?
Ram when home go
'When will Ram go home?'.
______________________
Ibid.p.7.
2.2.3.2
Place
Place adverbials in Laria can be questioned by kene
'where'
(90) [dilli ke la:l kila ne] mE) ra:ju la
bhet?E)
Delhi of Red Fort at I Raju ACC met
'I met Raju at Red Fort in
Delhi'.
The place adverbial can be questioned as
(91)
tE) raju la kene bhet?E)
you Raju ACC where met
"Where did
you meet Raju?"
2.2.3.3 Manner
Manner
adverbials in Laria can be questioned by kenta 'how'.
(92)
[gad?i thi b kenes ke] mE) dilli a:sE)
car in sit-CONT I Delhi
come
'I came to Delhi sitting on a car'
The manner
adverbial can be questioned
(93) tE) kenta dilli a:sE)
you how Delhi came
'How did you come to Delhi?'
2.2.3.4
Reason
An answer to the question kaje 'why' is a reason
adverb.
(94) raja ni a:sis [kaje ki pne bema:r ped
jae rihis]
Raja NEG came because he sick fall went
'Raja didn't come because
he had fallen sick'.
The reason adverbial can be questioned
as
(95) raja kaje ni a:sis
Raja why NEG came
'Why didn't Raja come?'
2.2.3.5
Purpose
The purpose adverbial can also be questioned with
kaje 'why'
(96) taj mhl dekhba:r la:gi raju
agra: jaerihis
Taj Mahal see-INF for Raja Agra go-PST
'In order to see
the Taj Mahal Raju went to Agra'.
The purpose adverbial
can be questioned as
(97) raju agra: kaje jaerihis?
Raju Agra why go-PST
'Why did Raju go to Agra?'
The
adverbial is an adjunct which branches from V' in the above sentence.
Adverbials
can be moved anywhere in the sentence as shown in the example
(98)
raju [taj mhl dekh ba:r lagi] agra: jae rihis
Raju Taj Mahal see
INF for Agra go-PST
'Raju had gone to Agra to see the Taj Mahal'.
(99)
raju agra [taj mhl dekhba:r lagi] jaerihis
Raju Agra Taj Mahal
see-INF for go-PSt
'Raju had gone to Agra to see the Taj Mahal'.
(100)
raju agra jaerihis [taj mhl dekhba:r lagi]
Raju Agra go-PST Taj
Mahal see-INF for
'Raju had gone to Agra to see the Taj Mahal'.
2.2.4
Participalisation
Paticipialisation is another strategy
for noun modification. But it is difficult to make a clear or absolute demarcation
between a relative clause and a participle clause. Some linguistic features of
a relative clause are
(i) Presence of Tense
(ii) Presence
of Identical NP
(iii) Absence of Genitive
A full fledge
participle has exactly the opposite features.
(i) Absence
of Tense
(ii) Absence of Identical NP
(iii) Presence of Genitive
Dravidian
languages and Oriya do not have a full fledged participle strategy. These participles
are called Relative Participles.
(101) Oriya - ra:m
pd?hithiba bhi
Ram read-PST book
'Ram's read book'.
(102)
Telugu - kamala cadiw - in a pustakam
Kamala-NOM read PST-ADJ-MKR book
'Kamala's read book'.
Laria also does not have a full fledge
participle strategy. The participle is marked by the presence of tense.
(103)
Laria - ra:m ke pd?hla bhi
Ram-GEN read-PST book
'Ram's read
book'.
2.2.4.1 Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy
Keenan
and Conrie have proposed an Accessibility Hierarchy for all languages and have
provided three kinds of universals for the accessibility of noun phrases for modification.
(a)
A language must have a primary relative clause strategy. It means a language must
have a strategy of modifying NP.
(b) If a primary
strategy in a given language can apply to a low position of the
Accessibility
Hierarchy then it can apply to all higher positions.
(c)
If the primary strategy stops at a particular position in the Accessibility Hierarchy
then the primary strategy cannot apply to all lower positions.
The
Accessibility Hierarchy is as given below:
Subject>D.Object>Indirect
Object>Oblique Objects -Instrumental>Locative>Ablative>Comitative>Genitive>Object
of Comparison.
Modification of NPs in Laria by 'Relative
Clauses' and 'Participles' and the accessibility of modification in terms of NPAH
is as given below.
(i) NP as Subject.
(104)
he pila: [jie pd?ht he]
that boy who read-PRE-3-CONT.
(104a)
pd?h terba:r he pila
read-PRE-3-CONT that boy
'That boy who
is reading.'
(ii) NP as Direct Object
(105)
he a:m [jen la se pila khais]
that mango which ACC that boy eat-PST
(105a)
pila: ke khaela a:m
boy6 GEN eat-PST mango
'That mango which the boy has
eaten'.
(iii) NP as Indirect Object
(106)
bhukha log [jen mnla tum echen tk khali
hungry people who PL-ACC
you so far only
santna deha]
assurance given
(106a)
tor ehen tk khali santna dela log
you so far only assurance given people
'Hungry people whom you have given only assurance so far.'
(vi)
NP as Oblique Object
(a) Instrumental
(107)
he ca:muc [jen thi chua mne gurs pi:nehE)]
that spoon which with
child PL milk drink-PST
(107a) chua mn ke gurs
pi:la camuc
child PL POSS milk drink spoon
'That spoon with which children
drank milk'.
(b) Locative
(108) he
midset [jen thi dhi rkhla: a:he
That cupboard which in curd kept
is
(108a) dhi rkhla: midset
curd kept cupbroad
'That cupboard in which curd is kept'.
(c) Ablative
(109)
he ga:e [ja:ha:r nu gurs duha: guis e]
that cow which from milk milked
went is
(109a) gurs duhula ga:e
milk milked cow
'That cow from which milk has been extracted'.
(d) Comitative
(110)
he pila [jie ra:m sa?e a:sis]
that boy who Ram with came
(110a)
ra:m sa?e a:sla pila
Ram with came boy
'That boy who came with Ram'.
(c)
Genitive
(111) he cut?ia [ja:ha:r pr ka:et diya gu:is
e]
That bird whose feather cut given went is
(111a)
pr ka:tla cut?ia
feather cut bird
'That bird whose feathers have
been trimmed'.
(f) Object of comparison
Object
of comparison cannot be modified in Laria. Therefore, the modification in the
Accessibility Hierarchy stops at the Genitive and all the NPs above Genitive can
be modified. Laria, thus, conforms to Keenan and Comrie's Accessibility Hierarchy.
2.3
INTERROGATIVES
Interrogative is a term used in the GRAMMATICAL
classification of SENTENCE types, and usually seen in contrast to DECLARATIVE.
IT refers to VERB FORMS or sentence/CLAUSE types used in the expression of QUESTIONS,
e.g. the inverted order of is he coming? Or the use of an 'interrogative word'
(often subclassified as interrogative ADJECTIVES e.g. which; ADVERBS, e.g. why;
and PRONOUNS, e.g., who).8
Laria has the following sub-types
of interrogatives :
(a) WH - questions or Information questions
(b)
Yes/No questions
(c) Echo-questions
(d)
Alternative questions
2.3.1 WH- questions or Information
questions
Information questions or question word questions
take the truth of a proposition for granted and ask for a particular information
of the proposition. They interrogate only a constituent of the sentence. In the
sentence 'Whom did John meet?' the WH-question interrogates the direct object
in the sentence. For the above question the potential answers can be 'John met
Mary' or 'John met the doctor' but not 'Mary met the doctor'. Therefore all the
potential answers to the question can be written as John met X where X is the
variable which is being questioned.
Semanticaly, question
words are operators and must take scope over their relevant domain. In English,
a question word moves to the clause initial position at S-structure. Laria however
like Sambalpuri, Hindi and other Indian languages has WH-question words in-situ
at S-Structure.
__________________________
8 Ibid, p. 162.
(112)
ra:m ka:la: khahi
Ram what eat
'What will Ram eat?'
The
question words in Laria are:
kiye 'who' kene 'where'
kala:
'what' ka:ha:r 'whose'
ken 'which' kenta 'how'
ka:je 'why'
In languages
with overt WH-movement, the WH-phrase is assumed to move to [SPEC, CP] as in the
case of English. In the case of languages like Laria, where the interrogative
marker is in-situ, the movement takes place at LF. Following Mahajan (1990), it
is assumed that WH-phrases undergo Quantifier Raising (QR) at LF. Mahajan (1990)
develops this view, mentioned in Chomsky (1964), in his analysis of Hindi interrogatives.
He argues that all in-situ WH-phrases act as clause-bound quantifiers. When governed
by the matrix Co with the [+WH] feature it receives wide scope reading. Subjacency
effects are not seen at LF because movement is strictly local. Laria, like Hindi
has WH-phrases 'in-situ' at S-Structure. At LF, all WH-phrase QR to their minimal
IP.
(113) kiye a:sis
who come PST
'Who came?'
(114)
pne kala kha:is
he what eat-PST
'What did he eat?'
(115)
ra:m kenta kene kala ghinis
Ram how where what bought
'How did Ram buy
where what?'
If the WH-question words are moved to the [SPEC,
CP] position, sentence (115) would create problems for ECP (Empty Category Principle)
which requires that the traces should be properly governed. If the WH-words QR
to the nearest IP, ECP is not violated. Under the segment type approach to adjunction
all phrases adjoined to an XP are hierarchically at par (May 1985; Chomsky 1986b).
At
LF, the WH-words QR to the local IP and they can govern their traces as all the
segments are at par hierarchically. The LF representation of (115) is given below
as tree:
In
the schematic representation the WH-question words kenta, kene, kala: mutually
c-command each other because segments are hierarchically at par as said before.
As adjunction voids barrierhood, IP is no longer a barrier. Therefore, the WH
words can govern their traces.
2.3.1.1 WH-questions in Embedded
clauses
In Laria, non-finite complements remain in the canonical
complement position.
(116) tla ka:ha:r gi:t gaeba:r
(la) bhl la:gthe
you whose song sing-INF ACCgood feel
'Whose singing
do you like?'
(117) ra:m la ka:la krba:r la bhl
ni la:ge
Ram DAT what do-INF ACC good NEG feel
'What does Ram dislike
to do?'
Discussing Hindi non-finite complements Dayal (1996)
argues that Hindi non-finites are DPs. Apart from exhibiting typical characteristics
of gerunds, they behave like noun phrases in terms of distribution and case marking.
This could be extended to Laria non-finite complements. In (117) the non-finite
complement has been assigned accusative case. The non-finite complement being
a DP which is L-marked, the WH-phrase can QR to the minimal IP, i.e., the matrix
IP, and receive wide scope reading.s
Finite complements
are obligatory extraposed to the right in Laria as in Hindi. Dayal (1996) argues
that this extraposition is due to the Case Resistance Principle proposed by Stowell
(1981). Co with a [+tense] feature is incompatible with case. Since finite complements
are extraposed to the right and the canonical direction of government is to the
left the WH-question words in the finite complements which remain in-situ at S-structure
do not have wide scope reading.
(118) ra:m ja:nis e kiye
khaela:sihi
Ram know is who eat come
'Ram knows who will come for dinner'.
(119)
tE) janehas (ki) kiye guis
you know (that) who went
'You know who
went'.
In the above sentences (118) and (119) the WH-words
do not receive wide-scope reading.
Laria has two strategies
for giving wide scope to the WH-words in finite complements - - extraction and
the scope-marking structure. These are the two strategies employed in Hindi too.
(120)
kene tE) bhabths je juh hhi
where you think
COMP war happen
'Where do you think war will take place?'
(121)
tE) ka bhabths je kene juh hhi
you what think
COMP where war happen
'Where do you think war will take place?'
(120)
employs the extraction strategy where the WH-question word is extracted from the
embedded clause at S-structure and in (121) scope marking strategy is used where
ka in the matrix IP gives wide scope to the embedded WH-question word.
Mahajan
(1990) and Dayal (1996) argue that extraction takes place in (121) before the
finite complement is extraposed to the right as it is then in the canonical direction
of governmental and is L-marked.
(122) *kene tE) i:la
bhabths je judhhhi
where you this think COMP war happen
'Where do you think war will happen?'
Sentence (122) is
ungrammatical because no extraction is possible from the extraposed clause when
the expletive i:la occupies the canonical complement position. The presence of
i:la indicates that the finite complement is base generated in the extraposed
position.
Coming to the scope-marking strategy, Mahajan
(1990) regards the scope-marker kya: in Hindi as an expletive while Dayal (1996)
holds it to be a substantive WH-phrase. However as (123) reveals it is essential
to assign a positive value to the scope-marker for the embedded WH-phrases to
receive wide scope. A negative value to the scope marker prevents the assigning
of values to the embedded WH.
(123) (a) ka tE) jane
has ki kiye kala kris
QUES you know AUX that who what did
'Do you
know who did what?'
(b) h mE) janehã
ki kiye kala kris
yes I know-AUX that who what did
'Yes, I know
who did what?'
(c) ni mE) ni jani ki kiya kala kris
NEGI NEG know that who what did
'No, I don't know who did what'.
Another
fact to be noted is that the scope marker is morphologically identical to the
Yes/No question word ka (Yes/No questions are dealt with in the next section).
It is assumed therefore that the scope-marker is a Yes/No operator in the matrix
clause. The Yes/No operator QRs to the matrix clause and is governed by Co[+WH].
The matrix clause contains the trace of the extraposed CP and if values are not
assigned to the WH-phrases in the complement, the matrix IP remains an open sentence.
2.3.2
Yes/No Questions
Yes/No questions ask whether the contents
of the proposition supplied by the speaker is true or not. The Yes/No question
word is Laria is the interrogative marker ka. The Yes/No operator occurs at the
end of the sentence after the verb in simple sentences.
(124)
tE) ghr ja:ths ka
you home go-CONT QUES
'Are you going
home?'
In complex construction the Yes/No operator occurs
after the matrix verb and has scope over the matrix clause.
(125)
ra:m khis ka je hri ghr ja:the
Ram said QUES COMP Hari home
go-CONT
'Did Ram say that Hari was going home?'
(126)
ra:m khis je hri ghr ja:the ka
Ram said COMP Hari home go-CONT
QUES
'Ram said that was Hari going home?'
Apart from
the post-verbal position, the Yes/No operator can occur adjacent to other constituents
of a sentence like NPs and APs. When the Yes/No operator occurs adjacent to a
constituent, contrastive reading of that constituent is allowed. For example:
(127)
ka tE) ghr ja:ths
QUES you home go-CONT
'Are you going
home (or someone else)?'
(128) tE) ka ghr ja:ths
you QUES home go-CONT.
'Are you going home?'
It is therefore
held that the Yes/No operator can be base-generated adjoined to any maximal projection.
The constituent to which it adjoins becomes quantificational and it QRs to its
minimal IP. Governed by a Co[+WH] it receives the required interpretation.
The
following are the LF representations of (128) and (131).
The
yes/no operator in (124) is be generated adjoined to the IP and has scope over
the entire sentence.
In
(127) the yes/no operator is base-generated adjoined to the NP and the whole NP
then QRs at LF.
2.3.3 Echo Questions
Echo
sentences is a term used in some GRAMMATICAL description to refer to a type of
sentence which repeats, in whole or in part, what has just been said by another
speaker. Such 'echo utterances' include 'echo QUESTIONS'9. Echo
__________________________
9
Ibid, p. 104.
questions are questions asking for clarifications on what the
previous speaker has said. For example,
A : I saw a ghost
B
: You saw what?
Echo question can again be subdivided into
four categories.
2.3.3.1 Yes/No Echo-Questions
(129)
A : mE) dilli ja:th)
I Delhi go-PRE-CONT-SING-1
'I am going
to Delhi'
(130) B : tE) dilli ja:ths
you
Delhi go-PRE-CONT-SING-2
'Are you going to Delhi?'
(131)
B : tE) dilli ja:ths ka
you Delhi go-PRE-CONT-SING-2 QUES
'Are you going to Delhi?'
In (130) the hearer repeats the
statement of the speaker with a rising intonation and forms a Yes/No echo-question.
(130) has the Yes/No question word and forms the echo question.
2.3.3.2
Question Word Echo-Questions
(132) A : ra:m bjar ja:the
Ram market go-PRE-CONT-3-SING
'Ram is going to the market.'
(133)
B : ra:m kaha: ja:ths ka
Ram where go-PRE-CONT-3-SING
'Ram is going
where?'
As the WH-question words are in-situ in Laria, the
structure of echo questions is same as that of a WH-question. The difference is
that echo questions have a rising intonation.
2.3.3.3 Yes/No
Question Echo - Question
(134) A : tE) skul ja:ths
ka
you school go-CONT QUES
'Are you going to school?'
(135) B : mE)
skul ja:th ki ni
I school go-CONT or NEG
'Am I going to school or
not?'
Yes/No questions echo questions are alternative questions
where speaker B allows himself to have the option of two propositions; yes and
no.
2.3.3.4 Question word question echo questions
(136)
A : mE) kaha ja:th)
I where go-PRE-CONT-1-SING
'Where am I
going?'
As the question words are in-situ in Laria all the
constituents in a sentences can be subject to echo questioning. In the example
[Sentence (143)] given below, the subject, direct object and the indirect object
can be subject to echo-questioning.
(138) A : ra:m sita:
la bhi gute di:s
Ram Sita ACC book one gave
'Ram gave a book to
Sita.'
(139) B(1) : kiye sita: la bhi gute di:s
who Sita ACC book one gave
'Who gave a book to Sita?'
(140)
B (2) : ra:m kla bhi gute di:s
Ram who book one gave
'Ram
gave a book to whom?'
(141) B (3) : ra:m sita la kala: di:s
Ram Sita ACC what gave
'Ram gave what to Sita?
Echo-questions
can be used for more than one constituent at a time in a sentence. In the following
example (142) the direct object and the verb can be subject to echo questions.
(142)
A : ra:m raju la maris
Ram Raju ACC beat-PST
'Ram beat Raju'
(143)
B : ra:m kla ka kris
Ram who what do-PST
'Ram who what to
whom?'
2.3.4 Alternative Questions
Alternative questions
provide either two alternative propositions or one proposition and its negation.
The addressee is requested to commit himself to one of the alternative of the
two propositions or the propositions or the propositions and its negation10.
In
Laria, alternative questions are formed by the disjunctive (ki in Laria) co-ordination
of two sentences where some identical material is deleted from the second sentence.
________________________
10
T.Lehmann (1989), A Grammar of Modern Tamil, Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics
and Culture. Pondicherry, p. 235.
(144) tE) ca: pibe
ki cofi
you tea drink or coffee
'Do you want tea or coffee?'
In
the above alternative question, the identical subject and the verb is deleted
from the second sentence.
Alternative questions are also
formed by the negation of a proposition where only the negative marker is used
instead of the co-ordinated second sentence.
(145) tE)
ghr ja:ths ki ni
you home go-CONT or NEG
'Are you going home
or not?'
In alternative questions with a negative marker
in Laria can have the redundant verb in the second sentence.
(146)
pne he ka:m la krihi ki ni kre
he that work ACC do-FUT or
NEG do
'Will he do that work or not?'
Such constructions
are ungrammatical in Hindi and English, maybe because of redundancy of the verb
in the second sentence. (147) is an example in Hindi and (148) in English.
(147)
*ra:m ga:na ga:ega ya: n"hi ga:ega
Ram song sing or NEG sing
'Will
Ram sing a song or not?'
(148) *Will Ram go to school or
not go?
2.4 NEGATION
Negation is a
process or construction in grammatical and semantic analysis which typically expresses
the contradiction of some or all of a sentence's meaning. In English grammar,
it is expressed by the insertion of the 'negative PARTICLE' not or n't (the CONTRACTED
negative); in LEXIS there are several possible means. E.g. PREFIXES such as un-,
non-, or words such as deny. Some LANGAUGES use more than one particle to express
negation (as in French ne
pas). The use of more than one negative form in
the same clause (as in 'double negatives') is characteristic of some English DIALECTS,
e.g. I'm not unhappy (which is a stylistically MARKED mode of assertion) and I've
not done nothing (which is not acceptable in STANDARD English)10.
In Laria, Negation is expressed by the negative particle ni which occurs in the
pre-verbal position.
(149) tE) a:m ni khã:
I mango NEG eat
'I don't eat mangoes.'
Laria also has
a number of negative particles - nuhe for the 'equational' e, ni n for the
'existential' a:he as shown below
(i) nuhe : equtional
(ii)
ni n
These are the result of the 'fusion' of the negative
particle ni and the inflected copula or auxiliary verb11.
Examples of sentential negative with inflected negative particles are given below:
(150)
ga: th i thnd?a: e
village in cold is
'It is cold in the village'.
(151)
gã: th i thnd?a: nuhe
village in cold NEG
'It is not cold
in the village'.
(152) pd?ia th i ghas a:he
ground
in grass is
'There is grass in the garden.'
____________
11 Z.N. del
Prado and J.Gair (1993), The Position of Negation in Bengali : an account of synchronic
and diachronic variation, SALA XV, University of lowa, p. 235.
(153)
pd?ia th i ghas ni n
ground in grass NEG
'There is no grass
in the garden.'
Inflected negatives always occur in the
post-verbal position whereas uninflected negatives occur in the pre-verbal position
in Laria.
Typological studies of the position of negation
(as in Dryer, 1988 and Dahl, 1979) have identified the patterns as : (i) inflected
negative particles tend to behave like auxiliaries, i.e., the inflected negative
particle occurs post-verbally in head-final (SOV) languages and pre-verbally in
head-initial languages ; and (ii) uninflected negative particles tend to occur
in pre-verbal position, irrespective of the head parameter value of the language12.
(i)
SOVE NEG+ INFL
S NEG+INFL VO
(ii) S O NEG V _ INFL
S
NEG V + INFL O
The negative particle in Laria conforms
to the general pattern as given above. In main finite clauses and in je- complement
clauses ni occurs in the pre-verbal position in unmarked form
______________
12
Ibid, p. 234.
(154) mE) rut?i ni kha
I chappati
NEG eat
'I do not eat chappati'
(155) pne khis
je raju ni jael pa:re
he said that Raju NEG go able
'He said that Raju
will not be able to go.'
However, the negative particle
can be moved to the post-verbal position for emphasis as in the examples,
(156)
mE) rut?i kha ni
I chappati eat NEG
'I do not eat chappati'
(157)
pne khis je raju jael pa:re ni
He said that Raju go AUX NEG
'He said that Raju will not be able to go.'
The movement
of the negative particle to the post-verbal position is to emphasis the act of
kha 'eat' in (156) and jael pare 'able to go' in (157).
In conditional clauses
like jdi
hele
and conditionals expressed by the non-finite suffix
- le. ni is preverbal.
(158) tE) ni kh aele mE) ni kha
you
NEG eat of I NEG eat
'If you don't eat, I will not eat'.
(159)
tE) jdi ni khae hele mE) ni kha
you if NEG eat then I NEG
eat
'If you don't eat, then I won't eat'.
The negative
marker ni has to be obligatory pre-verbal in the subordinate conditional clasuses.
(160)
* tE) jdi khae ni hele mE) ni kha
Preverbal negation
is onligatory when a non-finite verb or a 'verbal noun' is negated.
(161)
pr ke ktha ni sunba:r ktha
other of words NEG hear INF talk
'One should not hear others talking'.
(162) * pr ke
kotha ni sunba:r ni ktha
(163) uria: ni si:khba:r
la suibidha e
Oriya NEG learn CL problem is
'Not learning Oriya
is a problem'.
(164) *uria: si:khba:r ni la subidha
e
The negative ni can occur in both pre-verbal and post-verbal positions in
co-relative constructions but the post-verbal construction seems very marked.
(165)
tE) jen khata: gera thi ni lekhbar se gera mla de de
you REL copy
PL in NEG write- INF COR PL. I give
'You can give me those copies in which
you don't write'.
(166) tE) jen khata: gera thi lekhbar
ni se gera mla de de
'You can give me those copies in which you don't
write'.
Laria, therefore, follows the typological pattern
that has been stated above.
2.4.1 Constituent Negation
In
the case of constituent negation only lexical negation is possible in Laria by
adding the prefix - to lexical items. For example.
bhdr
- bhdr
'gentle; 'rude
bela - bela
'time'
'untimely'
sundr - sundcr
'beautiful' 'ugly'
sntust
- sntust
'satisfied' 'dissatified'
santi - santi
'peace'
'trouble'
khaeke - khua:
'having eaten' 'without eating'
ga:ed ke - gdhua
'having taken a bath' 'without taking a bath'
st - st
'truth' 'lies'
2.4.2 Focus
Particle in Negatives
Laria is marked by the presence of
focus particle in its negative constructions. The focus particle occurs obligatory
in sentences in the present tense.
(167) mr ne bhi
la ni n
my POSS book CL NEG FP
'I don't have the book'.
(167a)
* mr ne bhi la ni
(168) pne khus ni n
he happy NEG FP
'He is not happy'.
(168a) * pne
khus in
The focus particle occurs optionally in the past and future tense as
in the examples below.
(169) mr ne bhi la ni
thai n
my POSS book CL NEG there FP
'I did not have the book'.
(169a)
mr ne bhi la ni thai
(170) mor ne bhi
la ni rhe n
my POSS book CL NEG be-FUT FP
'I won't have the
book'.
The focus particle can be optionally present in
the post-verbal position. The meaning of the sentence changes with the presence
of the focus particle.
(171) ra:m gi:t ni gae
Ram song
NEG sing
'Ram won't/doesn't sing'.
(171a) ra:m gi:t
ni gae n
Ram song NEG sing FP
'Ram won't ever sing'.
The
post-verbal focus particle emphasizes the degree of negation in the sentence.
The focus particle can not negate a sentence on its own.
(171b)
* ra:m gi:t n gae
(171c) * ra:m gi:t gae n
n is a focus particle is shown by the fact that it cannot occur in sentences
where the negative particle is moved to post-verbal position. For example
(172)
ra:ju khae ni
Raju eat NEG
Raju won't eat
(172a)
* raju khae ni n
hi (emphatic particle) can also be
substituted by the focus particle n as shown on the examples below.
(173)
ra:m hi jahi
Ram EMP go-FUT
'Ram only will go.'
(174)
ra:m n jahi
Ram FP go-FUT
'Ram only will go.'
2.4.3
Negative Particle and its Position in the Structure.
It
has been proposed hat sentential negation involves generating a functional projection.
Pollock (1989) and Ouhalla (1990) have referred to it as Negation Phrase (NEg
P) and Laka (1990) has referred it to as Sigma Phrase (?P) for emphatic assertion
ad negation. In Laria the negative particle ni occupies the head position NEG.
2.4.4
Constituent Negation vs. Sentential Negation
Consider the
examples:
(175) mE) bhabth) je dilli thi
rheke hindi ni sikhba:r
I think that Delhi in stay-AUX Hindi NEG learn-INF
'I think that, staying in Delhi, not to learn Hindi will be a problem'.
(176)
mE) bhabth), je dilli thi rheke hindi sikhba:r
I think
that Delhi in stay-AUX Hindi learn-INF
thi subidha ni he
in
problem NEG be-FUT
'I think tat, staying in Delhi, to learn Hindi will not
be a problem.'
(175) means it will be necessary to learn
Hindi. (176) means it will be easy in learn Hindi. Syntactically, ni in (175)
negates the non-finite verb (sikhba:r 'to learn') while in (176) ni negates the
finite verbs (he 'to be').
The negative particle
that negates the non-finite verb has to be obligatory pre-verbal whereas that
negates the finite verb can be moved to the post-verbal position for emphasis.
(178)
* mE) bhabth) je dilli thi rhe ke hindi sikhba:r la ni
subidha e.
(179) * mE) bhabth) je dilli
thi rhe ke hindi sikhba:r la ni subidha he ni.
This contrast allows us distinction between 'cinstituent negation' as in (178)
and (179) 'sentential negation'. del Prado and Gair propose that the difference
comes up with respect to the constituent that the negative particle negates in
each case. In cases of constituent negation ni negates a verb; in cases of sentential
negation ni negates a verb; in cases of sentential negation ni negates tense.
In other words, constituent negation constitutes negation of a lexical head (V0)
while sentential constitutes negation of the [V
+T] complex in T0.
2.5
ANAPHORA
2.5.1 REFLEXIVES
Anaphors
are NPs which have no capacity for 'inherent reference'. Chomsky's Principle A
states that 'An anaphor is bound within its governing category'.
Chomsky gives the definition of 'bound' as follows
(i)
a is X-bound by b if and only if a and b are coindexed, b c-commands a and b is
in an X-position.
(ii) a is locally bound by b if and only
if a is X-bound by b and if * Y - binds a then either * Y - binds b or *=b.
(iii) a is locally * bound by b if and only if a is locally bound and X-bound
by b.
where, 'X' can be replaced by A or A and 'X' and
'Y' may be independently replaced by A or A.
(a) Bill i
saw himself i in the mirror.
In (a) Bill and himself are co-indexed. 'himself'
is the anaphor which is bound by the NP Bill.
In Laria
the anaphor (reflexive) is nije (self).
(b) ram nije la
drpn thi dekhis
ram self ACC mirror in saw.
Ram saw himself
in the mirror.
The reflexive nije in Laria is bound by the
NP ra:m and they are co-indexed. NP ra:m is in an A-position and its c-commands
the reflexive.
2.5.1.1 Distribution of Reflexives
In
Laria reflexives occur in four different positions.
(a)
as the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.
(180) ra:mi nijei la bhl
pathe
Ram self ACC love does
'Ram loves himself.'
(181)
ra:mi nijei la gute upha:r di:s
Ram self DAT one present gave
'Ram
gave himself a present.'
In (180) nije is the direct of
the verb and in (181) nije is the indirect object of the verb. The reflexive nije
is properly governed, coindexed with the NP ra:m.
(b) as
the object of the proposition
(182) ra:mi nijei upre khus
heis
Ram self on happy happened
'Ram was happy with himself.'
(c)
as the specifier of an NP
(183) hri nije ke gadi hjae
dis
Hari self POSS vehicle lost gave
'Hari lost his vehicle.'
As
a possessive, the reflexive behaves like an emphatic pronoun.
(185a)
rbii simaj la u):kr nije i+j ke ga: la lis
Ravi Seema ACC their
own POSS village to took
'Ravi took Seema to their village'.
(185b)
rbii simaj la nije i+j ke ga: la lis
Ravi Seema ACC self POSS village
to took
'Ravi took Seema to their village'.
A pronoun
can have a split antecedent, but an anaphor cannot have a split antecedent. Therefore
is (185a) when a possessive pronoun is attached to the anaphor the anaphor is
more like an emphatic pronoun. IN (185b) the anaphor reflexive is attached only
to its antecedent NP.
(d) As the subject of a gerund
(186)
mdhui nijei ke gi:t gaeba:r psnd krthe
Madhu self
POSS song singing like does
'Madhu likes singing songs.'
The
subject position of a gerund is ungoverned, according to Chomsky (1991) as indicated
by the occurrence of PRO in this position.
(187) mdhu
PRO gi:t gaeba:r psnd krthe
Madhu song singing like does
'Madhu likes singing songs'.
In Laria, the usual practice
is to avoid reflexives although they can occur in the subject position of a poss-ing
construction. Thus, we can have,
(188) mdhu gi:t gaeba:r
psnd krthe
In sentence (187), the reflexives
being the subject of a gerund, is ungoverned and does not have a governing category.
It, therefore, can satisfy principle (A) vacuously.
2.5.1.2
Long Distance Anaphora
Chomsky's Principle A says the reflexive
must be bound within its governing category i.e. within the same simplex sentences.
In some sentences the reflexive can not be co-indexed with its antecedent in the
same governing category. The antecedent has to be found outside the simplex sentence.
Consider the following example.
(189) ra:m hrii la
nijei/*j la dos ni deba:r lagi khis
Ram Hari ACC self ACC blame NEG
give-INF AUX said
'Ram asked Hari not to blame himself.'
(190)
rbii mohnj la kr nijei/j lagi gut?e sa:t? anba:r
Ram
Mohan ACC his self AUX one shirt bring
lagi khis
AUX said
'Ravi
asked Mohan to bring a shirt for him/himself.'
(191) ra:mi
ra:juj la kr nijei/j ke kpd?a spha: kr ba:r
Ram Raju ACC his self POSS cloth clean do-INF
Lagi khis
AUX said
'Ram asked Raju to clean his clothes'.
The S-structure representation
of the sentences (189), (190) & (191) are given below.
(192)
ra:m hrii la [PRO nijei lagi] khis
(193) rbii
mohnj la [PRO kr nijei/j lagi gut?e sa:t? a:n ba:r lagi] khis
(194)
ra:mi ra:juj la [PRO kr nijei/j ke kpd?a spha: kr
ba:r lagi] khis kr khis
In the
S-structure of the above sentences we can see that the reflexives do not have
their antecedent NPs in the same simplex sentence. It has to move outside the
simplex sentences to find an antecedent. In sentence (192), the reflexive is necessarily
bound in its governing category. In sentence (193) the reflexive occurs as an
object of the preposition. The reflexive is therefore not properly governed and
it can move outside its governing category for co-indexation. The reflexive kr
nije can be co-indexed with both the NPs viz. rbi and mohn.
Even
when the pronoun kr is deleted, the reflexive pronoun nije can be
co-indexed with the both the subject and the object NPs ram and raju respectively.
(195)
ra:mi rajui la [PRO nijei/j ke kpda spha krba:r lagi] khis
This
is similar to both Oriya and Hindi construction as shown in (
196) and (197)
(196)
Oriya - ra:m raju ku nij r kpd?a spha
Ram Raju
ACC self POSS cloth clean.
kriba pai khila
do-INF to said
'Ram asked Raju to clean his shirt'.
2.5.2 RECIPROCALS
Reciprocals are formed by using the antecedent NP in plural along with reduplicated
pronominals. For example .
(198) u: mnei u) : kr-u)
: kri ktha-barta lagin
they their their talk did
'They talked
to each other'.
(199) : mnei u)kri-u)krii ma
: rdhr hein
they their their fight did
'They hit each other'.
Reciprocals
in Laria are formed by reduplicated form of the pronoun 'their' instead of a single
word like paraspara (each other) in Oriya or ek dusre in Hindi.
2.5.2.1
Distribution of Reciprocals
Like reflexives the reciprocals
in Laria occur in four different positions. Consider the reciprocals in these
different positions.
(a) As the object of the verb
(200) u:mneiu):kri
u):krii bhl pa:thE)
they their their love get
'They love each other'.
(201)
hrii a:u mdhui u):krbina: brsikiya: thi u):kr-u):kri
Hari and Madhu their marriage anniversary in their their
bhet di:ya
di: hein
present gave gave happened
'Hari and Madhu gave presents to each
other on their wedding anniversay'.
In (200), the reciprocal
u:kr u:kr occurs as the direct object of the verb but in (201) it
occurs as the indirect as the indirect object of the verb. Both these positions
are properly governed.
(b) As the object of a post position
(202)
ra:ja:i a:u rajui u):kr- u):kri lagi sa:t? g hinin
Raja and raju
their their for shirt bought
'Raja and Raju bought shirts for each other'.
(c)
As the specifier of an NP
(203) u:mnei u):kr
u):kri bhi pd hin
They their their book read
'They read
each other's books'.
(d) As the subject of the gerund
(204)
u:mnei u):kr u):kri khel thi bhag neba:r psnd krthE)
They their their games in participating like do
'They like each other's participating
in the games'.
2.5.2.2 Long Distance Anaphora
Reciprocals
in tensed clauses, like the reflexives, obey the Principle A. Consider the following.
(205)
(a) ma:str mne khin cha:tr mnei u):kr u):kr
mni la
teacher PL said student PL their their Pl ACC
sahajy
krihi:
help do
'The teachers said the students
will help each other'.
(b) *ma:str mne khin
cha:tr mne u):kr u):kr mn
la sahajy krihi:
In
(205) the reciprocal is contained in the embedded tensed clause. In (205a) the
reciprocals are bound inside the governing category, but in (205b) the reciprocal
is bound outside the governing category. Therefore (205a) is grammatical while
(205b) is ungrammatical.
(206) gita a:u mita:i bhabt hE)
je ra:m a:u mina:j u):kr u):kr *i/j
Gita and Mita think that
Ram and Mina their their
odisi na:c na:cba:r psnd krthE)
Odisi dance dancing like do
'Gita and Mita think that Ram
and Mina like each other's dancing Odissi dance'.
In sentence
(206) the reciprocal occurs in a gerund which is contained in a tensed clause.
The reciprocal can only be co-indexed with the object NP and satisfy Principle
A vacuously.
(207) ma:ster mne cha:tr mn
la u:kr-u:kr birudh thi
teacher PL student PL ACC their their
against in
prca:r krba:r lagi khin
campaign do for said
'The teachers asked the students to campaign against each other'.
In sentence (207) the reciprocal is in the object position of a post position
therefore it is not properly governed. The reciprocal can thus be co-indexed outside
its governing category with both the NPs.
2.5.2.3 Verbal
Reciprocal
Laria does not have a verbal reciprocal. But
a reduplicated verb can act as a verbal reciprocal. Consider the following examples:
(208)
u:mne thela theli hein
they pushing happened
'They pushed each
other'.
(209) u:mne putla putli hein
they embracing
happened
'They embraced each other'.
In the sentences
(208) & (209) the reduplicated verbs thela theli and putla putli give the
meaning of reciprocity.
2.5.3 PRONOMINALS
Chomsky's Principle B states that 'A pronominal must be free within its governing
category'.
For example in English
(210) Bill, saw him
*i/j
In (210) the pronoun 'him' is free within its governing
category and him cannot be co-indexed with 'Bill'.
Principle
A and B of the binding theory jointly predict that there must be complementary
distribution of anaphors and pronominals. Therefore within its governing category
a pronoun must be free where as an anaphor is bound.
The pronouns can be checked
in the positions where anaphors are placed. The four different positions are as
follows:
(a) As the object of the verb
(211)
hrii la*i dekhis
Hari him saw
'Hari saw him'.
(212)
sitai la*i gute bhi di:s
Sita her one book gave
'Sita gave
her a book'.
In (211) the pronoun is the direct object
and in (212) it is the indirect object. In both cases, the pronoun cannot be bound
within the governing category, which is S. The pronoun la in Laria obeys
Principle B.
(213) sitai khis je madhuj lai/*j
gute bhi di:s
Sita said COMP Madhu her one book gave
'Sita said
that Madhu gave her a book'.
The pronoun is free within
its embedded tense clause. It can be co-indexed outside its governing category
i.e. with the subject of the matrix clause.
(b) As the object
of a post position
(214) ra:mi kri la:gi gute
bhi ghinis
Ram his for one book bought
'Ram bought a book for him'.
(215)
ra:mi kri la:gi bhi ghinba:r la psnd kthe
Raju his for book buying CL like does
'Raju bought buying books for him'.
(216)
raju ram ke kri la:gi bhi ghinba:r la
Raju Ram GEN his
for book buying CL
psnd krthe
like does
'Raju likes
Ram's buying for him'.
(24) is a simple sentence where the
pronoun can be coindexed with the subject and therefore bound in its governing
category. In (215) the pronoun is a post positional object occuring in a ground
and it can be bound in its governing category. (216) is a gerundival sentence
with a genitive subject. The pronoun can be co-indexed with subject of the embedded
sentence and thus be bound within its governing category. It can also be coindexed
with the subject of matrix clause. Pronouns in any type of sentence as the object
of the proposition does not obey Principle B.
(c) Pronouns
in gerunds
(217) ra:mi la*i ga:li del psnd
ni kre
Ram him cursing like NEG do
'Ram does not like cursing him'.
(218)
ra:mi sita ke lai/*j ga:li deba:r psnd ni kre
Ram
sita GEN him curse giving like NEG do
'Ram does not like Sita's cursing him'.
In (217) the gerund has a PRO-subject and in (218) it has a genitive subject.
In all the sentences the gerund is the governing category for the pronoun. The
gerund is the minimal category containing the pronoun, its governer (namely the
verb of the gerund) and the accessible SUBJECT/subject. The pronoun is free inside
the governing category. It is co-indexed only with the subject of the matrix clause.
Hence, a pronoun in a gerund always obeys Principle B.
(d)
As the specifier of an NP
(219) rami kri bja bja the
Ram his drum playing
'Ram is beating his drum'.
(220)
ram sita la kr bhi pdba:r lagi khis
Ram Sita
ACC his book read-INF for said
'Ram asked Sita to read his book'.
In (219)
the pronoun occurs in the specifier position of an NP. The governing category
of the pronoun is S and the pronoun can be bound in its governing category. In
(220) the pronoun is in specifier position of an NP in a gerund with a genitive
subject. The pronoun can be co-indexed with both, the NP of embedded gerundive
clause and the NP of the matrix clause.
2.5.4 EMPHATICS
The
emphatic pronoun in Laria is homophonous with the reflexive pronoun. For example,
(225)
ra:m nije la drpn thi dekhis
Ram self ACC mirror in saw
'Ram
saw himself in the mirror'.
(226) ra:m he ka:m la nije krihi
Ram that work ACC self do-FUT
'Ram will do the work himself'.
An overt case marker is present with the reflexive pronoun as it is an argument
and is marked in the Ø-grid. The emphatic pronoun does not have a case
marker and it is not an argument. It is an adjunct, which can be dropped. The
schematic representation of the sentences (225) & (226) are shown as
The emphatic in a sentence can be moved and it has its scope over the NP near
which it is present. This is illustrated in the following examples.
(227)
ra:m sita: la nije ka:m krter ba:r dekhis
Ram Sita ACC self work
do-PRE-CONT saw
'Ram saw sita doing the work by herself'.
(228)
nije ra:m sita: la ka:m krter ba:r dekhis
self Ram Sita ACC work
do-PRE-CONT saw
'Ram saw sita doing the work by herself'.
(229)
ra:m nije sita: la ka:m krter ba:r dekhis
Ram self Sita ACC work
do-PRE-CONT saw
'Ram saw sita doing the work by himself'.
In (227) the emphatic pronoun has scope over the direct object sita. In (228)
and (229) the emphatic pronoun has scope over the subject NP ra:m.
Emphatic pronoun are used for emphasis of a particular NP. In (227) the emphasis
is on sita:, i.e. 'Sita did the work himself'. In (228) the emphasis is on ra:m,
i.e. 'Ram himself saw Sita doing the work'.