DOCUMENT RESUME ED 362 054 FL 021 521 AUTHOR Forsberg, Vivian M. TITLE A Pedagogical Grammar of Tboli. PUB DATE 92 NOTE 111p.; For the complete journal issue, see FL 021 520. PUB TYPE Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT Studies in Philippine Linguistics; v9 nl p1-110 1992 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; *Grammar; *Morphology (Languages); Pronunciation Instruction; *Syntax; Uncommonly Taught Languages IDENTIFIERS *Tagabili ABSTRACT Tboli is a language spoken by people living in southwestern Mindanao, Philippines, in the province of South Cotabato. The pedagogical grammar of Tboli has been written to help non-Tboli interested in learning to speak Tboli. A discussion of spelling and pronunciation includes the alphabet and spelling rules. Other forms of grammar described are nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and personal and demonstrative pronouns. Phrases and nonverbal and verbal sentences are discussed, with emphaEis on the focus system. Location, time words, negatives, and questions are also described. Two particular difficulties with Tboli are pronunciation and the focus system. (Contains 2 references.) (JP) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office or Educanonat Research ano Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION kls CENTER 'ERIC1 document has been reproduced as et...ad from the person or orgentzatton A Pedagogical Grammar of Tboli ongtnating .t "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS r Manor changes nave been MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED made to unprove 9Y reprOdUCLO Qualify PiritS of view or opnions statea fl thisdocu- "trent do not necessahly represent cohp,al OERI position Or Poiroy Vivian M. Forsberg Summer Institute of Linguistics TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" `ZP 4 Abbreviations and symbols General abbreviations 5 5 0. Introduction 1. Spelling and pronunciation 5 tZ 1.1 Alphabet 5 AT4 5 1.1.1 Vowels 6 1.12 Consonants 6 1.2 Spelling rules 6 1.2.1 Glottal stop 6 1.22 Double consonants at the beginning of words 7 1.23 Prefixes 8 1.2.4 Infixes 9 1.3 Pronunciation 9 1.3.1 Preference for two-syllable words 9 1.3.2 Stress 10 2. Nouns 10 2.1 Regular nouns jo 2.1.1 Pluralization of common nouns 10 2.1.2 Pluralization with personal names 2.13 Possessives 11 12 2.1.4 Diminutive 22 Derived nouns 13 2.2.1 Abstract nouns 13 22.2 Gerunds 13 14 3. Modifiers 14 3.1 Adjectives 15 3.1.1 Regular adjectives 15 3.1.2 Derived adjectives 11.3 Distribution of adjectives 15 17 3.1.4 Number of adjectives used in sequence 17 3.1.5 A further function of bong and udi 18 3.2 Adverbs 3.2.1 Those occurring before the word they modify 18 322 Those occurring after the word they modify 21 22 4. Noun substitutes: personal pronouns 23 4.1 Focused pronoun sets r-N1 23 4.1.1 The -e set 24 4.12 The ou set 25 4.2 Nonfocused pronoun sets 26 4.2.1 The -u set (N.) 27 4.2.2 The dou set 29 4.3 Display of pronoun functions 30 5. Noun substitutes: demonstrative pronoun,: 31 5.1 The ni set 5.1.1 As a substitute for a focused participant in a sentence 31 2 2 A Pedagogical Grammar of Moll 5.1.2 As a substitute for a location 31 32 5.1.3 As a substitute for a time word 32 5.1.4 Used with a noun for specificity 33 5.2 Thc num set 5.2.1 The nim set used with focusedarticipants 33 34 5.2.2 The nim set used with nonfocused participants 36 5.2.3 The nun set used to indicate known information 37 5.3 The dini set 37 5.4 Ways of being more specific with demonstratives 37 5.4.1 Repeating the final vowel of the demonstrative 38 5.4.2 Using sii and dii particles 38 6. Noun phrases 38 6.1 Personal nouns with the nonfocus particle ke 38 6.2 Nouns with a modifier 39 6.2.1 Nouns modified by a possessive 39 6.2.2 Nouns modified by an adjective 40 6.2.3 Nouns modified by a plural marker 41 6.2.4 Nouns modified by a demonstrative 43 6.2.5 Nouns modified by a verbal clause 44 7. Nonverbal sentences 44 7.1 Existential 45 7.1.1 Negated with hi 46 7.1 2 Optional constituents 47 7.2 Descriptive 48 7.2.1 Negated with là 49 7.2.2 Optional constituents 50 7.3 Equational 7.3.1 Topic-comment ordering 51 7.3.2 Negated with sundulsindu 51 51 7.4 Possession 52 7.4.1 Topic-comment ordering 52 7.4.2 Ncza*..:.1d with là 7.5 Location 53 54 7.5.1 Negated with laen da 54 7.5.2 Optional constituents 55 8. Verbal sentences: focus system 8.1 Experiencer focus sentence 55 56 8.1.1 Grammatical forms of experiencer 8.1.2 Participants that are optional 59 60 8.1.3 Display of an experiencer focus sentence 61 8.2 Actor focus sentence 61 8.2.1 Grammatical forms of actor 65 8.2.2 Participants that are optional 69 8.2.3 Display of an actor focus sentence 70 8.3 Object focus sentence 71 8.3.1 Actor as nonfocused obligatory participant 72 8.3.2 Grammatical forms of focused object 75 8.3.3 Participants that are optional 76 8.3.4 Display of an object focus sentence 77 8.4 Goal focus sentence 77 8.4.1 Nonfocused obligatory participants 78 8.4.2 Grammatical forms of focused goal A Pedagogical Grammar of Tbo li 3 79 8.4.3 Participadts that are optional 8.4.4 Display of a goal focus sentence 79 8.5 Instrument focus sentence 79 8.5.1 Nonfocused obligatory participants 8C 80 8.5.2 Grammatical forms of focused instrument 82 8.5.3 Participants that are optional 82 8.5.4 Display of an instrument focus sentence 82 8.6. Summary of the focus system 82 8.6.1 Display of the distinctives of each focus type 83 8.6.2 Display of pronouns as participants 83 8.6.3 Nouns as participants 84 9. Affixes 84 9.1 Derivational affixes 84 9.1.1 The ke- prefix 84 9.1.2.The te- prefix 85 9.2 Inflectional affixes 85 9.2.1 Inflectional affixes with location 87 9.2.2 Inflectional affix with numbers 87 9.3 Affixes functioning as both derivational and inflectional 87 9.3.1 The me- affix 88 932 The ne- affix 09 9.33 The he- prefix 91 9.3.4 The se- prefix 92 9.3.5 The ge- prefix 93 10. Location 93 10.1 Location marker be 93 10.1.1 Location as the place where the action happens 94 10.1.2 Location as that toward which the action is directed 95 10.1.3 Location marker used to introduce a dependent clause 95 10.2 Location words 10.2.1 Location words in relation to higher and lower levels 95 96 102.2 Other location words 97 10.3 The dini set demonstratives as location substitutes 97 10.4 The e- prefix indicating motion toward a location 98 11. Time 98 11.1 Time words 99 11.2 How time is indicated 99 112.1 A time word with be 99 11.22 A measure of time indicated 100 11.2.3 A ni set demonstrative with or without a time word 100 11.2.4 An eginu set adverb with or without a time word 101 12. Neg ltives 101 12.1 Types of negatives 101 12.1.1 The negative hi 102 12.1.2 The negative be 102 12.1.3 The negative sundulsindu 103 12.2 Negatives emphasized 103 122.1 La emphasized by kg', 103 12.2.2 La and be emphasized by dog 105 122.3 Be emphasized by abay 4 A Pedagogical Grammar of 'Moll 13. Questions 105 13.1 Question words 105 13.2 Question particles 107 13.2.1 Question particle de 107 13.2.2 Question particles ice, and Wk., 107 14. Summary 109 References 110 Displays Figure 1. Personal pronouns 22 Figure 2. Functions of personal pronouns 30 Figure 3. Experiencer focus sentence 61 Figure 4. Actor focus sentence 70 Figure 5. Object focus sentence 77 Figure 6. Goal focus sentence 79 Figure 7. Instrument focus sentence 82 Figure 8. Participants and their order 83 Figure 9. Pronouns as participants 83 Abbreviations and symbols directional prefix DIR dual DU emphasis EMPI I exclusive EX Fr future tense identification ID inclusive IN intensifier INT location particle LOC negative particle NEG nonfocus particle NF noun phrase NP plural marker PL preposition PREP rr past tense question particle QU singular SG specific sp zero allomorph 0 morpheme boundary obligatory unknown indicates boundary between comment and topic semantic/grammatical components alternate related meanings encloses implied information as well as words in free ) ( translation which facilitate reading compound gloss or compound vernacular phrase A Pedagogical Grammar of Moll 5 General abbreviations actor focus sentence AFS experiencer focus sentence EtS goal focus sentence instrument focus sentence iFS object focus sentence OFS that is i.e., literal lit, natural nat. section sec. 0. Introduction Tboii is a language spoken by approdmately 80,000 people living in the mountains of southwestern Mindanao, Philippines, in the province of South Cotabato. A pedagogical grammar is a tool for learning. This pedagogical grammar of Tbo li has been written to help non-Tboli who wculd like to learn to speak Tboli. It has been written specifically for those who have had no linguistic training to help them in this most exaceng task. Explanations as to how the grammar of Tboli functions are as brief as possible. But a great many examples have been given so that the learner can actually see how it functions. Memorizing these examples will help develop patterns which can then be used to formulate new sentences. All the examples have been taken from text material authored by Tbo li themselves and compiled in a concordance done at the University of Oklahoma Computer Laboratory (1966). There is a great deal of repetition from one section to another. This has been done deliberately, since repetition is another aid in the learning process. This work is not intended to be a comprehensive grammar of Moll Rather it is meant to be an introduction to the basic areas that need to be learned. From these lessons a serious student can proceed on his/her own to add what yet remains to be learned in order to become a fluent spcaker. These 'bare bones' do not in any way show the beautiful figurative language that Tbo li delight in using to express themselves in even the most everyday matters. But it is hoped that once the student has digested these basic facts, then listening with understanding will become possible, and that is the key to learning how things are expressed figuratively. A great help in compiling this material has been Doris Porter's A Moll Grammar (1977) which was written with linguists in mind. 1. Spelling and pronunciation 1.1 Alphabet There are seven vowels in the Moll alphabet and fifteen consonants. 1.1.1 Vowels Since Tbo li has two more vowels than are symbolized in the English alphabet, it is necessary to mark these two with an acute accent to make the seven distinctions: é and 6. In the table below, the first column lists the sounds that occur in Tbo li written with the special phonetic symbols linguists use. The second column lists the way these sounds are written in Tho li, followed with an example of each sound both in English and no li: A Pedagogical Grammar of Thoh (") Tboli English 'on top Or ta father a a 'foot' ti eat i i 'grandmother, granddaughter' bet be é 'yes' the el e 3 boat 'you,sG' kórn o 6 `us two' boot u u 'throw away' bought 0 bat 3 1.1.2 Consonants The consonants in Tbo li are much the same as those in Pilipino or English: b, d, f, g, h, k, I, m, n, ng, t, w, y, and the glottal stop, which is written with a grave accent mark (') over the final vowel in a s, word where it occurs. Otherwise it is not writtcn. English speakers may have difficulty with the `ng' sound. It is familiar when it occurs either in thc middle of a word or at the end as in the English word 'singing'. But it is not familiar when it occurs at the beginning of a word, as it often does in Thou ngst 'child' or nged 'riddle'. Glottal stop (9) is familiar to English speakers when it occurs at the beginning of words as in '9ache, ''eat', or in the middle of words as in the exclamation `oh9oh'. But it is not familiar whcn it occurs at thc end of a word as it often does in Tbo li ma? `father' or gunu? 'house'. When the glottal occurs with a word ending either with C orO, the symbol for the glottal (') is simply added to the symbol already there: ye 'mother' or yes `daughter-in-law (term of address)'. 1.2 Spelling rules 1.2.1 Glottal stop There are two positior4 where the glottal stop is predictable, therefore it is not written. (1) When the word does not begin with another consonant, there is always an initial glottal stop: written as &Ong 'boat' written as eted ?ówiing `to deliver' ?eted (2) When two vowels occur next to each other within a word, there is always a glottal stop between them: written as secl 'floor' se?el written as lii `taboo' Ii9i The glottal stop is not predictable when it occurs at the end of a word, therefore it is al- ways written when it occurs in that position: 'child, offspring' written as ngit nga? 'serving spoon' written as gawi gawi9 As has already been noted in section 1.1.2, when it occurs with either the ó or the 6 in word final position, the two accent marks are joined to become the circumflex: sa9 written as sdo" written as he 'don't' be9 1.2.2 Double consonants at the beginning of words There are a great many words in Moll which have two coa. nants at the beginning of a word. When these words are pronounced, there is a short vowel sound h..;ard between the two consonants which is similar to the sound of the vowel in the English word 'the'. This sound is written by linguists with the symbol a. Because the sound is so short when it occurs between thc two consonants, it is written above the line: batang 'to fall' and lefung `dust'. This is done to distinguish it from the vowel of normal length of the same sound: lagad 'industrious' and naat 'omen'. A Pedagogical Grammar of Tholi The fact that it is not the same as the regular vowel of the same sound is evident in that it makes no difference to the new reader whether it is written in a word or not. They can read the word just as easily without it being written. As new literates, they often write this short vowel sound since they pronounce it in slow speech. But as they gain fluency in writing, they drop it. When translating songs where the aim is to have one syllable correspond to one note, there was a very strong negative reaction by Thou speakers to make this short vowel and a consonant form a syllable, e.g., Da.wa.ta 'God' and da.m6.yOn 'to praise'. The fact that it was soundly rejected as a syllable is further proof that Tboli speakers distinguish it from the other vowel of regular length. So for consistency in all published materials, the short vowel sound a heard between two consonants at the beginning of words is not written: Ptang `to fall' written as btang 'God' written as Dwata lYwata efung 'dust' written as kfung 'to shine' written as mming m2mring Pboli 'Tboli' written as Moll 1.2.3 Prefixes Moll has very few prefixes compared to many other Philippine languages. The pattern for all the prefixes is the same: he-, ke-, se-, ge-, de-, te-, me- and ne-. Since a prefix is attached directly to the beginning of a root word, it is written with a hyphen to show this: me- and ne-. The vowel in these prefixes is the short a described in section 1.2.2. When prefixed to a root word, there are only a few specific instances where the vowel is retained. In all other cases it is dropped, forming words with the preferred pattern of a double consonant at the beginning of the word. 1.23.1 The vowel of the prefix is retained (I) When prefixed to a root word beginning with a double consonant pattern: + 'to accidentally go crosswise' becomes geblekel blekel ge- 'cause to be dusty' + hekfung becomes kfung he- + becomes 'falling' kebtang btang Ice- If the initial consonant is an h, it becomes an f when prefixed with he-, me- or se-: 'to (have someone) repair' + becomes hefru he- hyu 'to be in trouble' hlayam becomes + meflayam me- has + 'to continue' sell& becomes se- (2) When prefixed to a single syllable root word whose initial cons9nant is a glottal stop (which is retained). The two examples given are the only members of this class: med 'to liquify' + becomes me- 'to sic a dog (on someone)' + becomes meis me- ?is 1.2.3.2 The vowel of the prefix is dropped In all other cases the vowel of the prefix is dropped, forming the preferred pattern of a double consonant at the beginning of a word. (i) When prefixed to words which permit a double consonant pattern: 'badness' becomes ksidek + sidek ke- `to see/find' + mton becomes ton me- `to tie up (someone, something)' + fet nfét becomes ne- 'engaged' + slinti becomes linti se- 8 A Pedagogical Grammar of Moll There is a variation in the above pattern when the first syllable of the stem is le-, as the I 1 is always dropped: he- + lenek becomes henek 'to cut into small pieces'; `to become quiet' + se- kbut becomes sebut `to be angry with each other' (2) When prefixed to stems of two syllables whose initial consonant is a glottal stop (which is dropped when the prefix is added): becomes ?afas gafas ge- `to be able to restrain (someone, something)' + ne- becomes nvlul `to divide into shares' 2v1v1 1.2.4 Infixes In the above list of prefixes (see sec. 1.2.3), there are two that function as focus markers (see sec. 8): me- and ne-. In certain instances these occur as infixes, i.e., instead of being attached to the beginning of the root word, they are inserted into the word itself, hence they are called infixes. An infix is always inserted following the initial consonant of the word. To show that they are inserted within a word, they are written with a double hyphen: -em-, -en-, -m- and -n-. As with the prefixes, ther: are certain instances when the vowel of the infix is retained, but there are many more instances when it is dropped. 1.2.4.1 The vowel of the infix is retained (1) When infixed between double consonants at the beginning of a one-syllable word, the vowel is retained: + blay becomes -em- bemlay `to give' dket + becomes -em- `to stick' demket + hyu becomes -en- `to repair' henyu + syat -en- becomes 'to turn aside' senyat (2) When infixed into a two-syllable word with le- as the first syllable the vowel is retained, but the first vowel of the word is dropped: lebut + -en- becomes 'angry' lenbut + lemek becomes -en- lenmek 'weak' knaw + becomes -em- 'green' lemnaw lenos + becomes -em- lemnos 'windy' 1.2.4.2 The vowel of the infix is dropped (1) When infixed into a two-syllable word with a consonant and vowel pattern in the first syllable: + kuli -en- becomes knuli `to laugh (at something)' + tóbóng becomes -em- 'to help' tmóbóng The only variation to this pattern is when the -em- is infixed to a word with the initial consonant b. Because the m and the b are made in the same place in the mouth, the two sounds tend to blend, and the in replaces the b: + betek becomes -em- metek `to design' (not bmetek) bonok + -on- becomes monok 'to murder' (not Innonok) 9 A Pedagogical Grammar of Tboli 9 But the regular pattern is retained with the -en-: 'to design (something)' betck becomes -en- bnetek `to murder (someone)' bonok becomes bnonok -en- (2) When infixed into a two-syllable word with a double consonant pattern at the beginning, if the second consonant is an /, it is dropped: + `to tease (someone)' hlowon becomes -en- hnowon (not helnowon) + klintang `to play the klintang instrument' becomes kmintang -em- (not kemlintang) When the first of the two consonants is a b, the same blending of the -em- and b occurs as described above: 'to be starry' (not bemlotik) + blotik becomes -em- mlotik + `to be pregnant' (not bemlutut) becomes blutut -em- m/utut With the -en-, the b is retained but the 1 is still dropped: 'for the stars to be many' + Moak becomes -en- bnotik (not benlotik) 'for the stomach to be large' + becomes blutut bautut -en- (not benlutut) 1.3 Pronunciation 1.3.1 Preference for two-syllable words As can be seen from the above patterns, there is one basic principle which runs throughout the language: 'Tho li prefer two-syllable words, so they shorten their words to fit this pattern by regularly dropping two things: (1) The short vowel sound which occurs between a double consonant pattern at the beginning of the words and in all the prefixes, and (2) The light sound of the consonant 1 (described in (he previous section).1 1.3.2 Stress Stress is on the final syllable of the root word, and it does not shift even when a pronoun suffix is attached to the word. A pronoun is never stressed. In the following examples, the stressed syllable is in bold print: `to deliver (someone or something)' eted Etedu yetn nga. I'll deliver the child. 'to go along with (someone or something)' mung You come along with me. Mungi do. The only exception to this rule are four words which have the e vowel at the end of the word. In these words, the stress is on the first syllable. The examples given are the only members of this (class: 'but' 'I don't know' ngunte bede 'good it' dike yake `possibly/likely' Whenever an 1 is the final sound in an utterance, it is often dropped. But if a pronoun or another word follows, thc / can be heard again.