A Grammar of Mavea: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu

Chapter 14 Coordination and subordination

Chapter 14 Coordination and subordination This chapter is devoted to the study of how phrases and clauses can be linked together. §14.1 describes coordination of noun phrases, verb phrases, and of independent clauses. The second part discusses subordination. Subordinate clauses are clauses dependent on a main clause. Their dependency is marked by a complementizer which links the subordinate clause to the main clause. There are two major kinds of subordinate clauses: complement clauses, which are arguments of a complement-taking predicate (CTP), and adjunct clauses, which are not arguments (such as relatives, adverbials, and conditionals). §14.2 describes complement clauses and CTPs, and the mood restrictions on subordinate clauses. Other sections are devoted to adjunct clauses: §14.3 illustrates relative clauses, §14.4 adverbial phrases and clauses, and §14.5 is devoted to conditional clauses. Last, topic and contrastive focus constructions are presented in §14.6. 14.1 Coordination This section reviews several means used to express the coordination of nouns, clauses, or verb phrases. §14.1.1 discusses noun coordination. §14.1.2 describes verb and clause coordination. The reader is referred to Moyse-Faurie and Lynch (2004) for a review of coordination strategies in Oceanic languages. 14.1.1 Noun and noun phrase coordination Several means are found in Mav̋ea to coordinate nouns: juxtaposition; coordination with the conjunctive coordinators rar and ratol, and the comitative tuan; inclusory coordination; and disjunction. They are discussed in turn below. 14.1.1.1 Juxtaposition It is possible for several noun phrases to be coordinated by simple juxtaposition. As witnessed in the following example, a pronoun and five nouns occur one after the other without the presence of a coordinator. 314 14 Coordination and subordination (1175) ref 07032.001–008 Na LOC taro time aite, one nao, 1SG Lowet, Lowet Roger, Roger Song, Song Myriam, Myriam Vira, Vira ki-v̋a 1PL.EXCL-go Aese. Ais ‘One day, me, Lowet, Roger, Song, Myriam, Vira, we went to Ais Island.’ However, when exactly two nouns are coordinated, the presence of a coordinator is mandatory, as shown in §14.1.1.2 below. 14.1.1.2 Coordination Rar ‘binary coordination’ When exactly two nouns are coordinated, the conjunction rar is used between the nouns. (1176) ref 07032.031 Na-tov̋ 1SG-call Vira Vira rar 3PL.DL Myriam. Myriam ‘I called Vira and Myriam.’ The conjunction rar is the grammaticalized version of the third person plural agreement marker ra- followed by the dual marker -r. Conjunctive markers derived from pronouns are found elsewhere in Vanuatu (e.g., in Mwotlap, François 2001:262–263) and in Polynesian languages such as Maori and Samoan (Hasplemath 2007:35). Ratol ‘ternary coordination’ When three nouns are coordinated, the independent pronoun ratol ‘3PL.PCL’ is used between the second and the third conjunct, while the first and second conjuncts are linked with rar. (1177) ref 06025.003 Wep̋e pigeon rar 3PL.DL vomae, dove ratol 3PL.PCL m̋arau wife rarua. 3PL.TWO ‘Pacific imperial pigeon and Dove, and their two wives.’ Several examples in the corpus contain a noun immediately followed by ratol ‘3PL.PCL.’ This sequence indicates coordination of the noun with a group of people. 315 14 Coordination and subordination (1178) ref 06015.035 Tata mom ratol 3PL.PCL ra-l-v̋e 3PL-IMPF-make loko. laplap ‘Mom and them [sic] were making laplap.’ (1179) ref 07062.064 Na LOC ima house sa-n CLF.LOC-CONS tamlese elder ratol. 3PL.PCL ‘At the house of the old man and them [sic].’ Binary and ternary coordinators are often replaced with the comitative tuan ‘with, and’ as presented below. Tuan ‘comitative’ The morpheme tuan ‘with, and’ indicates accompaniment, as clearly exemplified in the following sentence with an intransitive verb (see also Chapter 8). (1180) ref 06020.037 Mo-karu 3SG-swim tuan with nna. 3SG ‘He swam with him.’ The comitative tuan also often functions as a conjunctive coordinator when it occurs between two nouns (a natural process according to Hasplemath 2007:29, 32). Tuan in this case may be interpreted as ‘and.’ (1181) ref 07033.009–010 String string no=na CLF=3SG.POSS tuan with voso, paddle ra-sala. 3PL-float ‘His string and paddle, they floated.’ It is often difficult to distinguish the comitative use of tuan (as in [1182] below) and its function as a coordinator. (1182) ref 07069.087 Ko-an...