(70) FOCUS CODA (WMek) // 4
Igu
5baba-oa-ai? //
mountain bottom-3SG-OBL "At the foot of the mountain ?"
This is a typical interrogative: an asserted predicate with PC4 > PC5. (71) T O P I ... T O P 2 ...
// 3
Ke
binguga gaea,
/ 3go-ba-pya
aidyma, /
And work that 2PL-CA-finish time
"And that work, when you (had) finished it, P R E D IC A T E ... FOCUS focus C O D A ...
/ 4
mßni
tsila
5ge-bini-mi? //
money little 3PL-give-2PL did they give you a little money?"
The focus can take PC5 when followed by the interrogative particle
ma,
which then carries PC4. The predicate will then normally take P C I:
(72) F O C ... CODA
// 5
Apu abala-tsi
4mä
/ I
g-ida ge-manitsi? //
place bad-3PL INT 3PL-see 3PL-fear "Did they see (some) bad places (so that) they were afraid?"
Note that while the interrogative mood marking particle
ma
is unstressed it nonetheless carries the appropriate pitch contour - the rising intonation on which a PC4 ends - and prolongs it (as indicated here by the acute accent).Contrastive focus (FOCUSc ) is realised by an exaggerated version of PC3: a high fall followed by a low rise.
FOCUSc CODA
(73) // 3
Ogogo
/ 1e-pa-?ua-lai-s-a.
(EMek)dry(coconut) 3SG-CA-bend-AT-B-3SG "He threw down a dry one."
Oblique topics are often realised on a relatively high level tone, as a sequence of PC7s, just as backgrounded information and narrative transitions are realised by a relatively low pitch, as a sequence of PC6s. The main topic of a matrix predication (i.e. one containing an embedded co-relative predication) also receives PC7.
(74) (NMek)
// 7 Ago-ga tsina-ga-ai, /
2 Fata
1 ina
an-e-boa-lai.
//
front-1PL day-3SG-OBL father here FUT-3SG-walk-AT "In the next few days, Father will arrive here."
(75) (WMek)
// 7 Kuma,
/
2 imi
3gi-ida
au-ga, / 2
iji, /
1abu-u. //
pig child 3PL-see one-3SG I share-1SG
"The pig that the children saw is my property."
The two main functions of
auga
- relativisation and topicalisation - can sometimes be distinguished by suprasegmental cues:Topicalisation:
(76) T O P IC ...
// 3
Papie
auga,
/
woman TOP
"As for the woman, I saw her." Relativisation:
(77) T O P ICc r...
// 3
Papie /
1 au-ga,
/
woman one-3SG
"I saw the one who is/was a woman."
FOCUS
1 la-isa.
lSG -see(-3SG ) (EMek) FOCUS1
la-isa.
//
lSG -see(-3SG ) (EMek)Topicalising
auga
follows the topicalised item without a pause, and simply prolongs the low rise of PC3 upwards. Relativisingau-ga
is usually preceded by a slight to very slight pause, and has its own pitch contour, i.e. a low version o f PC I. (See the following page for a description of TCr and other specialised topics.)I_________ T O P IC ... FOCUS
(78)
Imi
i-agaga
auga,
a-au-n-i-a.
(WMeK)child 3SG-RD-shout TOP lSG-strike-TH-PF-3SG "As for the child which was shouting, I struck it."
Tc r... FOCUS
(79)
Imi
i-agaga(,)
au-ga,
a-au-n-i-a.
(WMeK)child 3SG-RD-shout one-3SG lSG-strike-TH-PF-3SG "I struck the child which was shouting."
Topic and focus are, as we have seen, realised by means of contrastive pitch contours. However, these are gross functions that need to be further classified as to the precise role they fulfill in a given utterance. A variety of topics can be identified on functional grounds, if not on wholly reliable prosodic cues:
T jM jG T ° ta pCR
rr
pN
TCPlain topic, or minor topic, as compared with e.g. TM or T0 . T is typically linked to an argument of a predicate.
Main topic o f a predication, or of several simultaneous predications.1 General or given topic over several sequential predications, not necessarily linked to some argument of each, i.e. subject to ellipsis. Oblique-marked topic - may be a nominal or an adverbial predication. Adverbial topic (time deictics, conjunctions).
Co-relative predication functioning as topic.
Marked topic. This is an external, 'sentence topic', marked by
auga.
New topic - introduced as new information, but not as focus. Contrastive topic.
The first six are basic (discourse-pragmatic) functions. T, TM, T0 and TCR typically represent arguments of an argument-taking predicate. T ° and TA cannot represent arguments. The last three on the other hand (TT, TN and TC) are overlay functions that are superimposed on the basic discourse-pragmatic functions.
There is often a sequence of verb words under the scope of asserted new information. Similarly, a newly introduced actant may rate as a focus in its own right, while a following verb word also receives focal intonation. These possibilities call for a subclassification of focus functions:
F FV pM pSub pPV FC
Secondary focus (typically on core(s) preceding FM). A verbal core functioning as an ancillary focus
Main focus (typically on the immediately pre-verbal item).
Subordinate focus (precedes FM - may be a ranshifted predicate). Post-verbal focus (e.g. goal of motion, predicate adjective) Contrastive focus.
F M always signals the near end of a predication, whether simple or complex, and the beginning of a new predication with a new TM.
The finer functions in complex predications are not realised so distinctively in terms of pitch contours as are the major functions of simple predications, but they can be specified to a certain degree.
DISCOURSE-PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS:
T : Rising (PC2) F : Falling, high-falling
Tm : PC3 pM • Low-falling
TC : Very high level, PC7 pSub • Low falling-low rising Ta : Low level, Low PC3 Fpv ; High-falling
T ° : High level, high PC3 TCR : PC3(N) + low fall on aurja
1 Simultaneous predications refers to the situation where one predication (e.g. a Tc r ) is embedded within another and both share a single TM.
OVERLAY FUNCTIONS:
TT : High-falling-rising : High falling-rising
Tn : High falling-rising Fc : High-falling
There is sometimes a further need to index these topics and focusses, which I do with subscript letters, as in Ti, Tj, etc. (N means indefinite recursion.)
Pre-tonic segments and post-tonic codas which are within the scope of asserted information are shown schematically as follows:
Pre-tonic: I______________ X
Post-tonic: X ... or X... I
1.3.3.4 RANKSHIFT
Rankshift in this grammar is the operation whereby the illocutionary force of an assertion is deleted.1 This operation has no reflex in form, though a rankshifted item will often retain the 3SG determining suffix that originally marked it as a nominal predicate, which then functions to add emphasis, or will carry the predication enclitic
aurja
(the singular with-ga
is the unmarked form). Upon being downranked apredication is syntactically a group. It can thus function as a topic in a matrix nominal or verbal predication. While nominal groups in other languages frequently have a different internal structure to that of predications (e.g. a preposed modifier contrasts with a
postposed modifier), or carry some other kind of marking, in Mekeo the structure of an unmarked group is identical to that of the corresponding predication.
The situation is complicated by the fact (as noted in Section 1.3.3) that predications may be embedded in matrix predications without being rankshifted, i.e. without losing the force of predication. This is dealt with in Section 1.3.3.4.4 in terms of suprasegmental parameters, and it receives further attention in Section 3.5; it is dealt with in connection with the embedding of verbal predications in Section 8.3.1.3.
1 In a logical representation of the propositional structure, this force (glossed where necessary as ASS) can represented as: I-say-so (see Lyons,
1977: 749-751, and Hare, 1970, 1971). This is Hare’s neustic component of logical meaning, deleted when the construction is embedded.
1.3.3.4.1 RANKSHIFTED NOMINAL PREDICATIONS
The simplest kinds of nominal predications either a) assert the identity of some thing, or person, or indeed event, which should be definite, in relation to some class, or to some member(s) a class, or b) assert the nature of some definite thing or person in terms of some property they possess. Some examples are:
TOPIC PREDICATE
(80) Eflaina1 amu?e. (EMek)
that dog-3SG
"That (is (a/the)) dog."
TOPIC PREDICATE
(81) Amu^e e?e le .2 (EMek)
dog small
"The dog (is) small."
After rankshift has applied the assertion is treated as a given, and the erstwhile predication is now treated as a (non-verbal) constituent of another predication, as in:
(82) E ijaina amu?e-rja
1
e?e e. (EMek)that dog small
"That dog (is) small."
The head of the rankshifted predication takes a determining suffix marked for the person and number of the deictic pronoun, which can be a demonstrative or a personal pronoun (see Section 3.1.1). Rankshifted adjectival predicates do not always take a determining suffix:
(83) A m u?e e ? e le , la - i s a . (EMek)
dog-3SG small lSG-see "The small dog, I saw it."
(84) E g a in a am u ?e-g a e ? e le , l a - i s a . (EMek)
that dog-3SG small lSG -see
"That small dog, I saw it."