Re: Re : Re: A Charyan Brothel Song in Teonaht
| From: | Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, May 27, 1999, 12:45 |
|---|
On Wed, 26 May 1999, From Http://Members.Aol.Com/Lassailly/Tunuframe.Html w=
rote:
> Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 26/05/99 21:35:15 , Ed a =E9crit :
>=20
> > Boudewijn,
> > =20
> > Would a very short dissertation on the use of TAN in DenDen be
> > possible? That morpheme troubled me as I worked through the piece
> > with Sally's glossary, and I'm afraid the interlinear isn't helping me
> > much. Otherwise, as you said, the grammar was very easy to pick up.
> > =20
>=20
> Me to, it troubled me because i found that A tan B =3D B tan A (ah mais =
=E7a va=20
> pas du tout, =E7a, alors.)=20
>=20
> Mathias
>=20
Isn't a very short dissertation an oxymoron? Anyway, here I present the
following draft for my Grammar of Denden...
--------------------------------------------
Some remarks on the particle _tan_
--------------------------------------------
I. Introduction
The Denden particle _tan_ is notoriously difficult to describe in a
rigorous fashion. Countless generations of PhD students have been
able to base their thesises on it. The particle _ga_ is nearly as
notorious.
Mattos in his _la langue denden_ notes: 'De tous les particules de la
langue denden, la particule _tan_ est certes celle qui offre les plus
admirables ressources au prodigeux et inpuissable th=E8me de la
circumlocution', although I rather think he's too caustic in that
assessment.
Petro Astio in the _Grammatica Chariana_ I've noted before (Astio
1881 _passim_), associates the prepositional particle _tan_ with the
genitive case, and the postpositional particle _tan_ with the
locative case:
nominativus laismar mensa
vocativus laismar mensa
genitivus tan laismar mensae
dativus laismar mensae
accusativus laismar mensam
ablativus laismar mensa
locativus laismar tan mensae
=20
Although I'm sure I've often seen the particle _tan_ used in an
ablative and a dative sense, too:
Ablative:
1 Sera tan harulon tan Qunayir nahan, tarna sera quna tau.ga
3sHGH TAN temple TAN Qunayir come_from, but 3sHGH cat NEG.NOM
He comes from the temple of Qunayir, but he isn't a cat.
Dative:
2 Do tan di tau.gevir.ju ram
1sMGH TAN 2sMGH NEG.give.CRT money
I certainly won't give you money.
Hahn (1985:71-74) notes of the genitive usages of _tan_ 'Der Genitiv
is im Chari=E4nischen der attributive Kasus slechthin. Seine Aufgabe
besteht darin, einen unmittelbar auf ihn folgenden Substantivischen
Begriff n=E4her zu erl=E4uteren.' From this remark we can but conclude
that the eminent Hahn was not acquinted with the postpositional usage
of _tan_.
What ought to be taken in account when considering the meaning and
usage of _tan_, is the fact that Denden is a lingua franca, spoken
across a large continent by people with a wide variety of
mother-tongues. The substratal influences of their native tongues
have to a large degree caused the wide variety of usages of _tan_
attested in the sources.
Shirley Herry is undoubtedly right when she says 'in some cases we
can only surmise that, spurred on by little understood usage of other
authors, the particle _tan_ was used as a linguistic stop-gap
whenever the grammar of the phrase was too difficult for the author.'
(Herry 1995:54) Rolsch (1996:36) compares the particle _tan_ to the
'bilong' found in Tok Pisin, while In (1998:180) compares _tan_ to
the classical Chinese _zhi_.
Abbreviations
1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
=20
s singular number
p plural number
=20
LGH low grade honorific
MGH middle grade honorific
HGH high grade honorific
=20
NEG negation
=20
CRT certainty attitudinal qualifier
DUP reduplication
AGP agentive participle
IMP imperative modality
=20
HAB habitual aspect
PERF perfective aspect
=20
PT3 third preterite
RFUT relative future
=20
DIST distal deictic
DIM diminutive
=20
NOM nominalizing particle _ga_
TAN particle _tan_
--------------------------------------------
II Core usages of _tan_
In my opinion the central meaning of _tan_ is genitive. The genitive
indicates possession or a belonging together.
There have been attested at least two common genitive constructions
with _tan_:
II.1 Genitive
3 kaolon tan Keluxir zi ga
house TAN Keluxir great NOM
The house of Keluxir is great.
4 weru doxazdan nahan lohe tan Daine nah.
two regiment go to TAN daine side
Two regiments went over to the side of the Daine
5 Tan lauy=E8 purgat.dir cyun.cyun gelaw tayde Hamal ga zunga.dan
GEN well god.p very.DUP angry because Hamal NOM curse.AGP
The gods of the well are extremely angry because Hamal is one=20
who curses.
Thus: X tan Y and tan Y X both mean 'the X of Y'. The first
construction is more general, while the second construction is
limited to southern sources, and could due to the influence of
Southern Colloquial Charyan, or to an extension of the genitivus
partitivus:
6 Tan e.do ram di tejidi tau.getir
TAN poss.1sMGH money 2sMGH little NEG.obtain
You won't get even a little of my money
In the construction X tan Y the constituents X and Y can swap places:
7 s=E9or tan Tacal
sword TAN Tacal
the sword of Tacal
=20
8 Tacal tan s=E9or
Tacal TAN sword
Tacal's sword
=20
The focus is always on the first constituent.
A third construction is attested in some eastern sources:
9 Snes hanun.un tan
plain fly.p TAN
The plain of the flies
=20
However, the construction X Y tan has not been imitated by authors
from other parts of the continent, while the southern construction
tan X Y enjoyed some popularity during the latter half of the three
hundred years of the three hundred kingdoms period.
II.2 Locative
In my opinion the locative use of _tan_ is an extension of the
genitive core meaning of _tan_. When used in a locative sense, the
particle _tan_ is most often used as a preposition, though
postpositional uses are common, too. The locative is more often
expressed with locative suffix <-ar> LOC, though.
11 Seras iber tan nevus hahan.alei. Tan nevas ga ke nadul.
3sHGH first TAN west tramp.PT3. GEN west NOM only sand.
He travelled first in the west. The west only had sand.
12 Barush tan Barushladan.dir wu.ni, barush tan gigar ga.
mountain TAN barushlan.p live.HAB mountain TAN danger NOM
In the mountains the Barushlani live, in the mountains there is
danger.
II.3 Other cases
_Tan_ has usurped the domain of many more specialised case particles
in Denden. In these cases the usage can either be constructed as
derived directly from the genitive usage, or via the locative usage
of _tan_.
a. Dative
13 M=E9mu gjivat tan radan ta.kiraw?
QST gjivat TAN man NEG.bad
Gjivat isn't harmful for a man? (negative answer expected).
14 Seri w=FCwish.do tan do
2sHGH dance.OPT TAN 1sMGH
Will you dance for me?
15 doxaz delai.ai w=FCwish tan pal
thousand girl.p dance TAN emperor
A thousand girls dance for the emperor.
(See also example 2.)
=20
b. Ablative
=20
16 Seri bachaza.hau hod e.rai tan randa
2sHGH hack.IMP head poss.3sLGH TAN trunk
Hack his head off the trunk! =20
=20
(See also example 1.)
=20
c. Allative
=20
17 Sero tau.yalir rezet tan Hamal.
1sHGH NEG.bring bread TAN Hamal
I won't bring the bread to Hamal.
=20
d. Comitative
=20
18 Sero ta.gedir tan bu=E9 yani pahang
1sHGH NEG.think TAN DIST daughter fat
I don't think of that fat daughter.
e. Unclassified usages
19 Do tan Kirimandir hales.ju
1sMGH TAN Kirimandir trust.CRT
I put my trust in the Kirimandir (brother and sister gods)
=20
20 Sero tajir tan tagyan e.di
1sHGH sad TAN mischief poss.2sMGH
I am saddened by your mischief (from parent to child)
=20
21 Tau.tau.etand, e.ras dox'tau.yidan ga nothaz tan kal tu.belay.l=
ay
NEG.dup.be POSS.3pLGH thing.NEG.normal NOM kill TAN far without.ar=
row.DUP
No, no, theirs is a strange thing that kills from far without arrows.
22 Daine chui jahar.onai tan chakahin.yi=20
Daine easily succeed.PERF TAN battle.DIM =20
The Daine easily succeeded in battle
--------------------------------------------
III Peripheral usages of _tan_
III.1 Adjectival constructions with _tan_
As an extension of the genitive usage of _tan_, the particle is
sometimes used to put greater emphasis on an adjectival construction:
23 Rorayal denor gigar tan tugar, ca'fentir
Rorayal speak danger TAN lie yesterday
Rorayal uttered a dangerous lie, yesterday
III.2 Adverbial constructions with _tan_
Adverbial constructions are often made with chains of verbs, but can
also be made with the particle _tan_.
24 Serir tan Pal arat tan karinzu
1pHGH TAN emperor fear TAN enter
We went to the emperor with fear.
=20
Another redaction of the same text, the memoires of Yundiai lue Erlo,
a courtier at time time of the twelfth emperor, has the following:
25 Serir Pal.ar arat tan Pal gelaw karinzu
1pHGH emperor.LOC fear TAN emperor fury enter
We went to the Emperor's palace in fear of the fury of the emperor.
Which of course is a normal genitive construction.
A clear example of the adverbial use of _tan_ is found in the song
_lamay neranmen_:
26 E.do nahak hya tan sunane
poss.1s penis smooth TAN saunter
My penis smoothly saunters
III.3 Conjunction
Tan can also be used as a conjunction. In the next example, tan can
either be analysed as an adverbial particle (belonging to _tupamo_),
or as a conjunction between _naha_ and _tupamo_:
27 Pal naha tan tupamo etal.amoi Barushla
emperor brave TAN unexpected conquer.RFUT Barushla
The brave emperor then unexpectely conquered Barushla.=20
or: The emperor then bravely and unexpectedly conquered Barushla.
or even: The brave and unpredictable emperor then conquered Barushla.
III.4 'one'
_Tan_ can also be used as an undetermined pronoun, like 'one':
28 Tan tau.tau.yuan.ini yob
TAN NEG.NEG.do.HAB that
One doesn't do that.
III.5 As a relative pronoun
Although Denden has a perfectly good and usable set of relative
pronouns, some authors extend the range of uses of _tan_ into the
domain of relative pronouns:
29 Do avanrir quhuran.dir tan w=FCwish
1sMGH love whore.p TAN dance
I love whores who dance.
=20
30 Do tauvan adan tan tauvan do
1sMGH hate man TAN hate 1sMGH
I hate those who hate me.
III.6 Comparative constructions
In comparative constructions, _tan_ couples the terms
that are compared:
31 Klondan.dan. qarnak.yara tan tardan logh.
farmer.p fuck.DSP TAN animal like
Farmers fuck like the beasts. (i.e. without any art).
III.7 Passive constructions
In passive constructions, _tan_ can be used to mark the passive
subject:
32 Tarna drai tan najan.ini
but girl TAN kiss.HAB
But girls are usually kissed.
=20
--------------------------------------------
IV Conclusion: an analysis of the usage of _tan_ in the song _lamay
neranmen_
In the song _lamay neranmen_ the particle _tan_ occurs two times, in
lines 6 and 7 [1]:
6 Yuanei tiran e.di yanang.dir tan
pleasure grasp poss.2s breast.pl TAN
with pleasure I grasp your breasts
7 E.do nahak hya tan sunane
poss.1s penis smooth TAN saunter
My penis smoothly saunters
In line 6 the particle appears to be essentially meaningless and
merely used to obtain a rhyme with _anyalan_, in line 8. The usage
of _tan_ in line 7 is more interesting, since it is one of the
examples where _tan_ forms an adverbial construction.
So the usage of _tan_ ranges from a case particle to a meaningless
syllable, and only a careful analysis of the text and its provenance
can lead the philologist to a correct translation.
-------------------------------------------
Notes
[1] Incidentally, in the interlinear version posted on Conlang, I've
made a mistake and glossed e.di as poss.1s, while it should have been
glossed as poss.2s, of course.
--------------------------------------------
References
Astio, Petro. 1881. Grammatica Chariana. Castrae Geminae.
de Mattos, Teixera. 1937. _la langue denden_. Bruxelles
Hahn, Otto. 1985. Lehrbuch der Klassischen Chari=E4nischen
Schriftsprache, Bonn.
Herry, Shirley. 1995. 'Denden as a _mischsprache_', _Acta Linguistica
Twincastriana_, XV:4 50-73.
In, Guo-ping. 1998. 'Genitive Constructions', Amsterdam.
Rolsh, Gerbrandt. 1996. 'Denden as a Pidgin', _Mededelingen van het
Instituut voor Vergelijkende Taalwetenschappen_, III: 2 (12-83).
Boudewijn Rempt | http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt