Taba language

Taba (also known as East Makian or Makian Dalam) is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea group. It is spoken mostly on the islands of Makian, Kayoa and southern Halmahera in North Maluku province of Indonesia by about 20,000 people.

Dialects

There are minor differences in dialect between all of the villages on Makian island in which Taba is spoken. Most differences affect only a few words. One of the most widespread reflexes is the use of in Waikyon and Waigitang, where in other villages is retained from Proto-South Halmaheran.Template:Sfn

Geographic distribution

As of 2005, Ethnologue lists Taba as having a speaking population of approximately 20,000; however, it has been argued by linguists that this number could in reality be anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000. The language is predominantly spoken on Eastern Makian island, although it is also found on Southern Mori island, Kayoa islands, Bacan and Obi island and along the west coast of south Halmahera. There has also been continued migration of speakers to other areas of North Maluku due to frequent volcanic eruptions on Makian island.Template:Sfn The island itself is home to two languages: Taba, which is spoken on the eastern side of the island, and a Papuan language spoken on the western side, known alternatively as West Makian or Makian Luar (outer Makian); in Taba, this language is known as ('Outer Taba'), while its native speakers know it as .

Speech levels

Taba is divided into three different levels of speech: , and .

, or 'refined' Taba, is used in situations in which the speaker is addressing someone older or of greater status than the speaker themselves.

, or 'ordinary' Taba, is used in most general situations.

The , or 'coarse' form of Taba, is used only rarely and generally in anger.

Phonology

Taba has fifteen indigenous consonant phonemes, and four loan phonemes: . These are shown below:

ConsonantsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

		Bilabial	Apico- alveolar	Lamino- palatal	Dorso- velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link
Fricative		(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link
Trill			Template:IPA link
Approximant		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link

Syllables may only have complex onsets at the beginning of morphemic units. The minimal Taba syllable consists of just a vowel, while the maximal indigenous syllable structure is CCVC (there are some examples of CCCVC from Dutch). The structure CCVC, however, is only found in syllables which occur at the beginning of morphemes; non-initial syllables have a maximal structure of CVC. The vast majority of words are mono- or disyllabic.

All consonants except Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, and Template:IPAslink can be geminated.Template:Sfn Geminates can occur word-initially, e.g., Template:Gloss vs. Template:Gloss.Template:Sfn Some speakers degeminate Template:IPAslink to Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfn Initial fricative clusters can be metathesized or assimilated (e.g., can become or ).Template:Sfn

File:Taba vowel chart.svg

The vowel phonemes of Taba on a vowel chart

Taba has five vowels, illustrated on the table below. The front and central vowels are unrounded; the back vowels are rounded.

VowelsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link    Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link    Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link    Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link    Template:IPA link
Open		Template:IPA link    Template:IPA link

Grammar

Word order

Taba is, predominantly, a head-marking language which adheres to a basic AVO word order. However, there is a reasonable degree of flexibility.Template:Sfn

Taba has both prepositions and postpositions.

Pronouns

Independent PronounsTemplate:Sfn

		Singular	Plural
1st person	exclusive
	inclusive
2nd person
3rd person

In Taba, pronouns constitute an independent, closed set. Syntactically, Taba pronouns can be used in any context where a full noun phrase is applicable. However, independent pronouns are only used in reference to animate entities, unless pronominal reference to inanimate patients is required in reflexive clauses.Template:Sfn

As mentioned, independent pronouns are generally used for animate reference. However, there are two exceptions to this generalisation. In some circumstances an inanimate is considered a 'higher inanimate' which accords syntactic status similar to animates.Template:Sfn This is represented as in English where inanimates such as cars or ships, for example, can be ascribed a gender. This is illustrated below in a response to the question 'Why did the Taba Jaya (name of a boat) stop coming to Makian?':Template:Sfn

The Taba Jaya, a boat significant enough to be given a name, is accorded pronoun status similar to animates. The other exception occurs in reflexive clauses where a pronominal copy of a reflexive patient is required, as shown below:Template:Sfn

Non-human animates and inanimates are always grammatically singular, regardless of how many referents are involved. In Taba, pronouns and noun phrases are marked by person and number.

Person

Taba distinguishes three persons in the pronominal and cross-referencing systems.Template:Sfn Person is marked on both pronouns and on cross-referencing proclitics attached to verb phrases.Template:Sfn The actor cross-referencing proclitics are outlined in the following table.Template:Sfn In the first-person plural, a clusivity distinction is made, 'inclusive' (including the addressee) and 'exclusive' (excluding the addressee), as is common to most Austronesian languages.Template:Sfn

Cross-referencing proclitics

		Singular	Plural
1st person	exclusive	k=	a=
	inclusive		t=
2nd person		m=	h=
3rd person		n=	l=

The following are examples (4–10) of simple actor intransitive clauses showing each of the proclitic prefixes.

Intransitive ClausesTemplate:Sfn

		Singular	Plural
1st person	exclusive	Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear
	inclusive		Template:Interlinear
2nd person		Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear
3rd person		Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

The alternation between proclitic markers indicates number, where in (4) k= denotes the arrival of a singular actor, while in (7) a= indicates the arrival of first-person plural actors, exclusionary of the addressee, and is replicated in the change of prefix in the additional examples.

Number

Number is marked on noun phrases and pronouns. Taba distinguishes grammatically between singular and plural categories, as shown in (3) to (9) above. Plural marking is obligatory for humans and is used for all noun phrases which refer to multiple individuals. Plurality is also used to indicate respect in the second and third Person when addressing or speaking of an individual who is older than the speaker.Template:Sfn The rules for marking number on noun phrases are summarised in the table below:Template:Sfn

Marking Number
	singular	plural
human	Used for one person when person is same age or younger than speaker.	Used for one person when person is older than speaker. Used for more than one person in all contexts.
non-human animate	Used no matter how many referents	Not used
inanimate	Used no matter how many referents	Not used

The enclitic =si marks number in noun phrases. =si below (10), indicates that there is more than one child playing on the beach and, in (11), the enclitic indicates that the noun phase , translated as 'mother and father,' is plural.Template:Sfn

Plural number is used as a marker of respect not only for second-person addressees, but for third-person referents as seen in (12).Template:Sfn In Taba, it has been observed that many adults use deictic shifts towards the perspective of addressee children regarding the use of plural markers. Example (13) is typical of an utterance of an older person than those they are referring to, indicative of respect that should be accorded to the referent by the addressee.Template:Sfn

Pronominal affixes

All Taba verbs having actor arguments carry affixes which cross-reference the number and person of the actor, examples of proclitics are shown above. In Taba, there are valence-changing affixes which deal with patterns of cross-referencing with three distinct patterns. The dominant pattern is used with all verbs having an actor argument. The other two patterns are confined to a small number of verbs: one for the possessive verb, the other for a few verbs of excretion. This is discussed further in Possession below.

Possession

Taba does not, as such, have possessive pronouns. Rather, the possessor noun and the possessed entity are linked by a possessive ligature. The Taba ligatures are shown below:

Possessive ParticlesTemplate:Sfn

		Singular	Plural
1st person	exclusive
	inclusive
2nd person
3rd person

Adnominal possession

Adnominal possession involves the introduction of an inflected possessive particle between the possessor and the possessed entity; this inflected possessive, formally categorised as a 'ligature', is cross-referenced with the number and person of the possessor. This ligature indicates a possessive relationship between a modifier noun and its head-noun. In Taba, adnominal possession is distinguished by reverse genitive ordering, in which the possessor noun precedes the noun referring to the possessed entity.Template:Sfn

In many contexts the possessor will not be overtly referenced.

Example of reverse genitive ordering in Taba:

Obligatory possessive marking

In Taba, alienable and inalienable possession is not obligatorily marked by the use of different forms, though this is common in many related languages. However, there are a number of seemingly inalienable entities which cannot be referred to without referencing a possessor.Template:Sfn

For example: Template:Interlinear

Verbal possession

Verbal possession in Taba is generally indicated through the attaching of the causative prefix to the adnominal possessive forms. The possessor then becomes actor of the clause, and the possessed entity becomes the undergoer.Template:Sfn This method of forming a possessive verb is very unusual, typologically, and is found in almost no other languages.Template:Sfn

Negation

Like other Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the Maluku Islands, Taba uses different particles to negate declarative and imperative clauses;Template:Sfn declaratives are negated using , while imperatives are negated using .Template:Sfn In both cases the negative particles are clause-final, a placement which is posited to be the result of contact with non-Austronesian Papuan languages.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Negation of declaratives using

Declarative clauses are negated using the particle , which follows all other elements of the clause except for modal and aspectual particles (these are discussed below).Template:Sfn Examples (15a) and (15b) show negation of an actor intransitive clause, while (16a) and (16b) give negation of a non-actor bivalent clause (i.e. a clause with two undergoer arguments); has the same clause-final placement regardless of the clause structure.

Negation of complex sentences can be ambiguous — see example (17), where can operate on either just the complement clause 'I'm going' or to the whole clause complex 'I said I'm going':Template:Sfn

Negative existential clausesTemplate:Sfn

can serve as the predicator of a negative existential clause, with no verb required. It can occur immediately following the noun phrase that refers to whatever is being asserted as non-existent, as in (18):

However, a discourse marker is generally interposed between the noun phrase and . This marker expresses something about how the non-existence of the noun phrase's referent relates to the discourse context, or alternatively indicates the speaker's attitude towards the proposition.Template:Sfn In (19), the discourse marker (glossed as 'but') is used to indicate that the non-existence of tea, sugar and coffee in the household described by the speaker is counter to one's expectations that a normal household would have these items:

Complex negative modal / aspectual particlesTemplate:Sfn

Taba has three complex negative particles which, in addition to negation, express mood or aspect; these are formed by the modal and aspectual particles attaching onto as clitics. The three particles are (realis negative), (continuative negative), and (potential negative).

(realis negative)Template:Sfn

is a compound of and the realis mood marker , and expresses a more emphatic negation than plain . In (20), it is used to emphasize the absolute nature of the prohibition against making alcohol in the Muslim community of the speaker:

(continuative negative)Template:Sfn

is a compound of and the continuous aspect marker , and can be roughly translated as 'not up to the relevant point in time': this may be either the time of utterance (i.e. 'not yet', 'still not'), or some other time relevant to the context of the utterance, as in (21). Unlike the potential negative , does not express any expectations about the likelihood of the negated event or state occurring in the future.

also often appears at the end of the first clause in a sequence of clauses, indicating whatever is referred to by the first clause has not still occurred by the time of the event(s) or state(s) referred to by the following clauses.

(potential negative)Template:Sfn

is formed by suffixing , expressing the potential mood, to . Although is similar to in that it encodes the meaning 'not up to the relevant point in time', it also expresses an expectation that the event referred to will occur in the future: this expectation is made explicit in the free translation of (23).

shares with the ability to be used at the end of the first clause in a sequence of clauses, and also carries a similar meaning of incompletion; in addition, it encodes the expectation that the event referred to by the first clause should have happened by the event(s) of the following clauses. This expectation does not need to have actually been fulfilled; the breakfast that was expected to be cooked in the first clause of (24) was, in reality, never cooked due to the ensuing eruption.

Unlike the modal and aspectual markers which are used to form the other complex negative particles, is not attested as a free morpheme elsewhere; however, it is likely related to the optional final of the modal verb 'to be unable', which appears to be derived historically from having fused onto the verb 'to be able'.Template:Sfn When used with a final , as in (25b) compared with (25a), this modal verb encodes the same meanings expressed by :

Negation of imperatives using

Imperative clauses are negated using the admonitive particle . This particle appears to be derived from a verb 'to leave something behind'; however, this verb requires actor cross-referencing, whereas the particle is never cross-referenced.Template:Sfn Bowden (2001) posits that the imperative use of has developed from the use of the independent verb in serial verb constructions, with the morphological elements being lost in the process of grammaticalization.Template:Sfn The particle is shown in (26), while the verbal use (with cross-referencing) is shown in (27):

Using negative particles as question tags

Yes–no (polar) questions can be posed with either positive or negative polarity; positive polarity questions operate in much the same way as in English, while negative polarity questions, which are formed using forms of the negative marker as question tags, work in a different manner.Template:Sfn An example of a positive polarity question is given below in (28a), while (28b) shows a negative polarity question:

The answers to the positive polarity may be either ('Yes, I do smoke') or ('No, I don't smoke'); when responding to the negative polarity question, the answers are either ('Yes, I do not smoke'), ('No, I do smoke').Template:Sfn

Demonstratives and directionals

Taba has two systems which are both involved in marking deixis: the demonstrative and the directional systems. Although compared to other Austronesian languagesTemplate:Sfn Taba is typologically unusual in that its grammar involves little morphology, this is not the case when it comes to demonstratives and directionals. Both of these systems involve root morphemes which can occur either on their own or with affixes, creating a large variety of meanings.Template:Sfn

Demonstratives

There are two demonstrative roots in Taba: , which expresses proximity to the speaker, and (or shortened form ), which expresses distance from the speaker. Each of these roots can be combined with a variety of morphemes to produce different nouns and pronouns, as follows:

DemonstrativesTemplate:Sfn

		(≈ this)	(≈ that)
		Proximal	Distal
Root forms
Demonstrative pronouns	sg.
	pl.
Locative nouns
Similative nouns

Note: the three different categories of similative nouns refer to the three different registers of Taba, which have been ascribed the following meanings: ('normal'), ('fine/respectful') and ('coarse').Template:Sfn

Root forms

Root forms and have a deictic function with respect to the speaker, and can express the speaker's physical, textural, temporal or even emotional and spiritual distance from something. These forms, when used on their own, occur immediately after the noun phrase to which they refer, much like the equivalent forms in many other Malayo-Polynesian languages. Examples of the root forms functioning as such can be seen below:

Demonstrative root forms in Taba, like in most other languages, can also be used to refer to concepts previously mentioned in a conversation, as per the following example:

Although the demonstrative roots are a closed class and most clearly mark deixis, they also belong to a slightly larger class of deictics, including the directional root ('up'). When this directional root is used deictically, it implies that both the speaker and hearer hold some common knowledge about the referent.Template:Sfn

Directionals will be discussed in further detail in the next section. See below an example of functioning deictically:

Demonstrative pronouns

Taba has four demonstrative pronouns, each formed through the affixation of a pronoun to the demonstrative root.Template:Sfn This process, as well as the rough English translation for each pronoun is outlined in the table below:

Demonstrative pronounsTemplate:Sfn

	Proximal	Distal
singular	Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear
plural	Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

Taba's demonstrative pronouns can also be used to refer to a concept previously mentioned in a conversation, or a series of previously described events, as shown in the next two examples:

Locative nouns

Taba has two locative nouns, formed by the prefixation of . The formation of these nouns and their rough English translations can be found in the table below:

Locative nounsTemplate:Sfn

Proximal	Distal
Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

Here are two examples showing the locative nouns in use, occurring after the noun to which they refer:

Similative nouns

Taba has eight similative nouns, which differ between the language's three registers. Many other Austronesian languages have similative noun equivalents, but Taba is unique in that it has such a high number. The eight different forms can be found in the table below, where the labels ascribed to each register by Taba speakers are as such: ('normal'), ('fine/respectful') and ('coarse').Template:Sfn

	Proximal	Distal

Below is an example of a similative noun occurring naturally in a conversation:

Similative nouns in Taba can also occur as single-word utterances and as adverbs, as in the following examples:

Directionals

As for the directional system, Taba has five basic semantic categories. These, along with their roughly translated English equivalents are: ('up'), ('down'), ('sea'), ('land') and ('there'). Like demonstratives, directionals in Taba can be affixed to express more complex meanings, namely motion towards or from a direction, position in a direction, and parts of something that are oriented in a particular direction. This kind of morphology is unusual within Taba, but typologically common compared to many other Austronesian languages.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is worth noting that while the directional roots in Taba can have rough English translations, utterances containing them will often have senseless meanings if translated directly into English.

All Taba directionals formed by affixation can be found in the table below. The essive forms refer to static location in a particular direction and the allative forms refer to motion towards a particular direction. The venitive forms refer to motion away from a particular direction and the nominalised forms refer to parts of something that are oriented in a particular direction.

DirectionalsTemplate:Sfn

Gloss	Template:Gloss	Template:Gloss	Template:Gloss	Template:Gloss	Template:Gloss
Root
Essive Template:Gloss
Allative Template:Gloss
Venitive Template:Gloss
Nominalised Template:Gloss

Essive forms

Essive directionals in Taba, as stated above, signify static location in a particular direction. These forms can have a larger range of functions when compared with the other directionals. Namely, they can occur as verb adjuncts, both with a locative phrase and alone.Template:Sfn They can occur either before or after a verb, or to modify a noun phrase. Shown below is an example of the essive forms being used in a sentence:

Allative forms

Allative directional forms in Taba express movement towards a particular direction. These forms can occur on their own, after the verb as an adjunct, or at the head of a locative phrase.Template:Sfn Examples of these two functions occurring in natural speech are shown below:

Venitive forms

Venitive directional forms in Taba express movement away from a particular direction. These forms are much freer in word order and can occur at many different places within a clause, serving to modify verbs, as seen in the next two examples:

Venitive forms can also occur in utterances without any verbs, such as in the following example:

The suffix , used to form venitive directionals is likely derived from the word ('come'), that has been reconstructed for Proto-Austronesian.Template:Sfn>

Nominalised forms

Nominalised directional forms in Taba signify parts of an object that are oriented towards a particular direction. These forms are always possessed by and occur after the noun relative to which the location is being expressed. This is illustrated in the following two examples:

List of glossing abbreviations

This section contains only the glossing abbreviations that appear in this article. For a full list, see List of glossing abbreviations.

Gloss	Meaning
ADMON	admonitive mood
ALL	allative case
APPL	applicative voice
CAUS	causative
CL	classifier
CONT	continuous aspect
DEM	demonstrative
DETR	detransitivizer
DIST	distal demonstrative
ESS	essive case
FOC	focus
LOC	locative case
NEG	negation
NOM	nominative case
PL	plural
POSS	possessive marker
POT	potential mood
PROX	proximal demonstrative
REAL	realis mood
REC	reciprocal voice
REM	remote past tense
SG	singular
SIM	simultaneous aspect
VEN	venitive

SIM:simultaneous aspect PROX:proximal demonstrative ADMON:admonitive mood

Name taboo ()

As is common with many Melanesian people, Taba speakers practice ritual name taboo. As such, when a person dies in a Taba community, their name may not be used by any person with whom they had a close connection. This practice adheres to the Makianese belief that, if the names of the recently deceased are uttered, their spirits may be drastically disturbed. The deceased may be referred to simply as 'Deku's mother' or 'Dula's sister'. Others in the community with the same name as the deceased will be given , or substitute names.Template:Sfn