Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Two different opposites (again) ++

From:J Y S Czhang <czhang23@...>
Date:Thursday, May 13, 2004, 23:01
In a message dated 2004:05:12 10:00:19 PM, theiling@ABSINT.COM writes:

>My book about classical Chinese tells me that it is very common to use >intransitive verbs transitively to add causative meaning. This is >similar: although 'learn' *is* transitive, you'd add another agent and >get 'teach':
In numerous pidgins and creoles one can find similar constructions of high levels of semantic transparency. Here is a simple, _hypothetical_ example: laan <--> laanim learn <---> learn'em Mi laan pijin-kreo. (I [am] learn[ing] pidgin-creole.) Mi laanim gut pijin-kreo. (I teach [them] good pidgin-creole.) Savi 0_o? ...as to save on posts to the list, here's some fascinating info on Portuguese-lexifier creoles in East Asia and SouthEast Asia: Macanese Patua, which has its roots from the Portuguese, English and Chinese language. It would appear that our forefathers, in their need to communicate at the basic level to all cultures, devised the most simplistic yet colourful means of communication, which we still enjoy today. Macanese is a term referring to both the contact language and the ethnic group in Macau. As a contact language, macanese was one of the Portuguese-based creole emerged as a result of trade activities between Portugal and China which could be traced back to 16th century. It was a mixture of Portuguese and Chinese with Malay words and phrases, which facilitated communication between Europeans and Chinese merchants and shopkeepers as the Macanese became important intermediaries to both Chinese and Europeans (Maxwell, Kenneth). The history of Macanese, with no doubt, is highly related to the history of Macau as a colony of Portugal. A creole Macau patois developed, Macanese was mainly used in Macau as a means of communication between indigenous and Portugal. lament for a Language Below is a verse written by Jose dos Santos Ferreira, the most famous (and maybe only) poet of Macau's special language, patúa, with translations: PATUA: Língu di gente antigo di Macau Lô disparecê tamên. Qui saiám! Nga dia, mas quanto áno, Quiança lô priguntá co pai-mai Qui cuza sä afinal Dóci papiaçam di Macau? PORTUGUESE: A língua da gente antiga de Macau Vai disaparecer também. Qui pena! Um dia daqui a alguns anos A criança perguntará aos pais O que é afinal A doci lingua de Macau? ENGLISH: The language of the old people of Macau Will disappear also. What a pity! One day, in a few years A child will ask his parents What is it, after all, The sweet language of Macau? CANTO DI PATUA by Betty (Figueiredo) Sousae )   FELIZ ANO NOVO A TUDO! Ano passado ja vem e vai como unga tufum doido ..... Vira di olhos ja intra ano novo-ia. Tempo passa muito lijero hoje in-dia. Omission of proper accents on the Portuguese words is because my keyboard is not equipped with these.  Desculpe! Decompose Macanese There are little resources on the grammar of Macanese compared with that of CPE [Chinese Pidgin English]. Some grammar characteristics of Macanese, deduced from the little works done by the predecessors, were summarized as follows: * Lack of agreement In most of the European languages, there is an agreement between adjective and the noun they modified. For example in Italian, there is an agreement between the adjective rossa (red; singular feminine) and the noun  la penna (pen; singular feminine noun with singular feminine definite article la) in la penna rossa (the red pen). However, C.R. Bawden found that there is lack of agreement between adjective and noun in Macanese. For example, the adjective branco (singular masculine) fails to agree with the noun casa (singular feminine) in casa branco (white house). * Absence of definite article In most European languages, nouns are always used together with the article, either definite or indefinite. For example in Italian, the singular masculine noun monumento (monument) is used together with the singular masculine definite article il (the) in guarda il monumento (looks at the monument). However, there is a lack of singular feminine definite article a in the Macanese abrir porta (open <the> door). * Possessive adjectives? The 3rd person singular and plural feminine possessive adjective of Portuguese sua is used with other possessive adjectives of Macanese to make a new periphrastic form. This indicates a loss of gender distinction which similar to a lack of agreement between adjective and noun. The examples are listed below for further explanation: Portuguese Macanese Person Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Masculine Plural Feminine Plural ? Eu 'I' (S1) meu 'my' minha 'my' meus 'my' minhas 'my' io-sua 'my' Tu 'You' (S2) teu 'your' tua 'your' teus 'your' tuas 'your' vosso / vos-sua 'your' Ele/Ela/Voc? 'He/She/You(FORMAL)' (S3) seu 'his/her/your(FORMAL)' sua 'his/her/your(FORMAL)' seus 'his/her/your(FORMAL)' suas 'his/her/your(FORMAL)' ele-sua 'his/her' N?us 'We' (P1) nosso 'our' nossa 'our' nossos 'our' nossas 'our' nosso / nos-sua 'our' V?us 'You' (P2) vosso 'your' vossa 'your' vossos 'your' vossas 'your' vosotro-sua 'your' Eles/Elas/Voc?? 'They(MAS)/They(FEM)/You(FORMAL)' (P3) seu 'their' sau 'their' seus 'their' saus 'their' ilotro-sua 'their' ? S1: 1st-SING S2: 2nd-SING S3: 3rd-SING P1: 1st-PL P2: 2nd-PL P3: 3rd-PL ? Portuguese Macanese nossos          filhos our-MAS-PL child-MAS-PL 'our children' nos-sua    filho-filho we-POSS child-child 'our children' suas        casas their-FEM-PL house-FEM-PL 'their house' ilotro-sua casa-casa they-POSS house-house 'their house'? The 3rd person singular and plural feminine possessive adjective of Portuguese sua can be added with any Macanese possessive adjective to have a new periphrastic form. It functions as a part of possessive adjective in Macanese. * Tense/Mood/Aspect Verbal Inflection lost Verb to be Person Portuguese Macanese SI sou ' (I) am' iou sa S2 es '(you) are' vos sa S3 e ' (he/she) is ; (you-FORMAL) are' ele sa P1 somos '(we) are' nos sa P2 sois '(you-PL) are' vos sa P3 sao '(they) are' ilotro sa The verb to be in Portuguese is irregular. Both SER and ESTAR in Portuguese are verb to be. Portuguese uses SER to describe PERMANENT things and ESTAR to describe TEMPORARY things.  The one shown in the 2nd column above is the irregular forms of  the SER in Portuguese. Since there is a loss of inflection in the verb to be of Macanese, subject pronoun (iou, vos, ele, nos, vos, ilotro) is used to distinguish person from each other. But 'vos sa' means both the you-SING are and you-PL are. The SA in Macanese seems building from the 3rd person plural form of SER, SAO, of Portuguese. Progressive ta Pastro-pastro  na  riva  di arvre pi-pi-pi                                       ta      canta bird-bird           on  top   of  tree  pi-pi-pi-ONOMATAPOEIA    PROG  sing 'Birds in the treetops were singing pi-pi-pi' In Portuguese, the progressive is indicated by combining the verb to be and the preposition a (to), for example: estou a comer - I am eating In Macanese, a preverbal progressive marker ta is used before the verb canta to indicate the situation is in progress. Perfective ja unga-unga   j?h      vir?h    vai   casa one-one     PFV  return  go   home 'they returned home one by one' There is a pluperfect tense in Portuguese, similar to the past perfect tense in English.  The pluperfect tense of Portuguese is formed by taking the imperfect of the verb TER (to have) and adding the past participle: I had + spoken    -    tinha + falado you had + spoken    -    tinhas + falado he/she/you had + spoken    -    tinha + falado we had + spoken    -    t?qnhamos + falado they / you had + spoken    -    tinham + falado In Macanese, a preverbal perfective marker ja is used before the verb vir?h to indicate the action is completed. * Serial verbs Look at the example of perfective ja again. There are two verbs, vir?h and vai, used in the same sentence in Macanese, which is also one of the characteristics of CPE. It may be the result of the influence of the Chinese verb structure. In Cantonese, the structure like faan1 heoi3 uk1 kei2  (come back home; ????) is acceptable. Both faan1 (return) and heoi3 (go) are verbs. In Chinese, same structure is also used like qu4 kan1 dian4 ying1 (go to see a film; ????). Both qu4 (go) and kan1 (see) are verbs. Thus, the serial verbs structure in Macanese is, convincingly, build up from the Chinese and Cantonese verb structure. * Reduplication Plural nouns
> Full  reduplication
casa (home) --> casa-casa (homes) home (man) --> home-home (men)
> Partial reduplication
nhonhha (woman) --> nho-nhonhha (women) nhum (boy) --> nhu-nhum (boys, lads) The reduplication in Macanese may be influenced by the Malay. In Malay, there is also the same morphological characteristics, for example anak (child) --> anak-anak (children) . Plural adjectives Pa   tudo   nosso   amigo    china-china... for     all      our       friend     chinese-chinese 'for all our chinese friends' Adverb Cedo-cedo     sai         di     casa early-early    go-out    from    home 'leave home early' ? Ca-ca    ri ha-ha   laugh 'laugh ha-ha' In Cantonese, there is an adjective structure 'adjective + reiteratives'. The reiteratives are the sequence of two morphemes. For example, siu3 haa1 haa1 (laugh ha-ha; ???)  or siu3 ke4 ke4 (laugh ke-ke; ???). In Chinese, same structure can also be found. For example, lu4 you2 you2 (dripping green; ???). The reiteratives can be an onomatopoeia like haa1 haa1 in siu3 haa1 haa1 in Cantonese. Therefore, the ca-ca in Macanese may be built up from the same structure that seen in both Chinese and Cantonese. * Lexicon A phrasebook called 'Aomen Jilue' (monograph of Macau) was published in 1751 to serve Chinese pronouncing the Portuguese words. As said by the 'Aomen Jilue' at the beginning, 'though the Portuguese language is very different, it has been with us for a long time and some Chinese have learned it and quite a few can speak the language and even translate it into Chinese', the Portuguese glossary in the phrasebook are marked by Chinese characters which like that in the 'Hongmao Tongyong Fanhua'.  'Aomen Jilue'  is a rare phrasebook, with a total of 396 Portuguese words, published by Chinese to translate Portuguese words in Chinese characters.  'Aomen Jilue', a Portuguese glossary book, can also be treated as a Macanese glossary book since it was published at the time when Macanese was highly used in Macau. At the time of publishing, only a few of Chinese could speak fluent Portuguese. Therefore, the glossary from the phrasebook, convincingly, were mainly came from the glossary used in the Macanese. The glossary of Portuguese is, in fact, the same as the glossary of Macanese since Portuguese is the lexifier of Macanese.   The 'Aomen Jilue' is divided into five groups entitled Heaven and Earth (Group 1: 83 words), Men and Things (Group 2:161 words), Clothing and Food (Group 3: 52 words), Implements and Numbers (Group 4: 48 words) and Commonly used words (Group 5: 51 words), some examples are listed below: Group Chinese term Portuguese  pronunciation Portuguese equivalent English equivalent 1 ? tian ?? siu-ung c?mu sky 1 ? shan ?? m?h-tou monte mountain 2 ? sun ?? lit-tou neto grandson 2 ? yan ?? o-lou olho eye 3 ? zhen ??? tchou-m?h-s?h chumaço pillow 3 ? jiu ?? mei-iôk vinho wine 4 ? he ??? mou-si?o-t?h boceta (caixa) box 4 ? shi ?? lei-si dez ten 5 ? qu ? uâi vai go 5 ? jiao ????? in-tch'in-ni iân-tei ensinar a gente teach There are also some examples of Macanese glossary: casa casa the plural of casa, meaning 'houses', casas in modern Portuguese casado man who has married while living in a Portuguese overseas territory, usually to a native woman chapine (Port.: chapim) type of slipper choa kind of junk used in south China vankans (Port.: vancão, Malay, Javanese: wangkang) small vessel used for the transport of goods, equipped with three pairs of oars worked in a standing position ============= A distinct group of Eurasians are the descendants of the Luso-Malay or Kristang in Malacca. Their community dates back to the Portuguese discovery of the Ocean routes in the sixteenth century. After the conquest of Malacca in 1511, Portuguese were encouraged to marry local women. The Luso-Malay speak a creole language called Papia Kristang, which uses archaic Portuguese with a Malay grammar. MALACCAN CREOLE PORTUGUESE: a language of Malaysia (Peninsular) SIL code:  MCM ISO 639-2:  cpp  Population 5,000 (1997 Col. Timothy D'Souza, Eurasian Association). Population total both countries 5,000 or more (1997). Region Trankera and Hilir, Melaka, Straits of Malacca, Malacca city and the southwest coast of the Malaysian Peninsula. Related varieties in parts of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Variety in Pulau Tikus, Penang is now virtually extinct. Also spoken in Singapore. Alternate names   MALAYSIAN CREOLE PORTUGUESE, MALACCAN, PAPIA KRISTANG, KRISTANG, PORTUGUESE PATOIS, SERANI, BAHASA SERANI, BAHASA GERAGAU, MALAQUEIRO, MALAQUENSE, MALAQUÊS, MALAQUENHO, PORTUGUÊS DE MALACA, MALAYO-PORTUGUESE Classification Creole, Portuguese based. Comments Most speakers also know local varieties of Bazaar Malay and Malaysian English. Some Creole people speak only English. Some older female speakers have limited English. Most people over 20 speak Kristang, and 1/3 of those under 20. Also spoken as second language by some Chinese shopkeepers in Hilir. Used by Creole people more in 1997 than in 1987. 'Kristang' is their name for the language, people, and religion. Trade language. Dictionary. Grammar. Fishermen. Bible portions 1884. Also spoken in: Singapore   Language name   MALACCAN CREOLE PORTUGUESE Alternate names   MALAYSIAN CREOLE PORTUGUESE, MALACCAN, PAPIA KRISTANG Comments Also spoken as second language by some Chinese shopkeepers in Hilir. Used in RC church services until World War II. Trade language. Fishermen. Christian. See main entry under Malaysia, Peninsular. Papia Kristang, a Portuguese based creole still spoken in Malacca and Singapore. There, the verb teng (< tem) has a multiplicity of uses very different from Portuguese but in accordance with neighbouring languages such as Chinese and Malay: we find not only eli teng dos prau ???he has two boats“, but also eli teng duenti ???he is sick“ and even eli teng yo sa filu ???he is my son“; note that in the latter two cases the verb is optional. ------------------------------------ Papia Kristang has been listed as endangered by http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Redbook/AsiaPacific/Malaysia/ Papia_kristang.html ------------------------------------ Papia Kristang influence on a Japanese anime series (ATTN: Christophe Grandsire!!!): http://mbs.cbrc.jp/papia/PAPIA_char.html The name "Papia" is originally from the words "Papia Kristang" and "Papiamentu," the names of portuguese creole languages spoken by the people in the tropical islands, where "Papia" means "language" or "speech." For further details see The creolist Archives. The name "Papia Kristang" happened to be the heroine's name in my (= K. Onizuka's) original novel "Trio De Debug" (not complete). Papia Kristang in the novel is a strong girl with dark colored skin and honney brond hair. She, together with two other girls (Srana Seyshell and Krio Saotome,) debugs the evil gangs in the 25th century'es digital medieval world. Another Papia is "Papia Saotome" in a digital-game "TimeLight" (not published nor completed but in my=onizuka's brain.) When we had to give a name to our protein structure analysis system, we selected "Papia." And Papia's first original character image was created for the promotion of Papia system in 1997. Months later, we set up the PAPIA -Cluster. Since the box design of the new cluster system was quite Japanese, "Papia" should be more Japanese than the original one. And also, we needed two different character images, for the cluster system had two doors, For the painting techniques of character images, see "How to Draw Cute Girl Images using tgif", and if you need more character images, see "Pretty Images Drawn by tgif". Papia Red A goddess of proteins. The molecule she holds in the left hand symbolizes a hydrophobic amino residue which prefer to be surrounded by amino residues than by water molecules. Thus, her skin is covered except for her face and hands, and she is surrounded by protein fragments represented by yellow/blue/green ribbons. She has on Miko costume, the costume of Japanese shrine maidens, but slightly modified. For further details of miko costumes, see http://www.miko.org (Japanese page). Papia Blue A goddess of proteins. The molecule she holds in the left hand symbolizes a hydrophilic amino residue which prefer to be exposed to the solvent or surrounded by water molecule, than surrouned by other amino residues. Thus more part of her body is exposed than Papia Red. She has on modified Japanese kimono. ------------------------------------------------ "Some Languages Are Crushed to Powder but Rise Again as New Ones" - John McWhorter, _The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language_
>> maci caca ei debri legosetplex!
prizerva. salva. riceu. gomi-scopa ei risaiclo ! << English translitteration of above _lego junco _, "junk language": "Fight {Maquis/-machy} Waste & Trash Linguistic ! Save, Salvage, Recover, Found-Treasure-Objects-Look/Scavenge & Recycle!" --- *DiDJiBuNgA!!* Hang Binary,baby...--- Hanuman "Stitch" Zhang, ManglaLanger (mangle + manga + lang) <A HREF="http://www.boheme-magazine.net">=> boheme-magazine.net</A> Language[s] change[s]: vowels shift, phonologies crash-&-burn, grammars leak, morpho-syntactics implode, lexico-semantics mutate, lexicons explode, orthographies reform, typographies blip-&-beep, slang flashes, stylistics warp... linguistic (R)evolutions mark each-&-every quantum leap...