Car Nicobarese

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite

Car Nicobarese Paul Sidwell

1.

BACKGROUND

Car Nicobarese (ISO 639-3 car) is the language of the people of the island of Car Nicobar, located in the Andaman Sea west of the Malay Peninsula and south of the Andaman islands. Car Nicobar is the northernmost, and most populous and prosperous island of the Nicobar group. The 2011 census counts 36,842 persons on in the islands, of which 17,841 are resident on Car, among whom are 15,027 identified as Scheduled Tribes. A large proportion of non-tribals reflects a build up of Indian military and civil infrastructure on the islands since the 2004 tsunami. The present sketch is based on data extracted from Critchfield-Braine's 1970 University of California (Berkeley) PhD thesis Nicobarese Grammar (Car Dialect) (henseforth CB). 347 example sentences from that thesis were retyped, retranscribed, reglossed, and re-analysed, and can bee accessed online.1 Some other textual data is published, such as Whitehead (1918 and 1925), Das (1977), and various Bible tracts, but these are not relied upon in this sketch. Map: Nicobar languages from Wurn & Hattori (eds.) (1981/83) Language Atlas, (fragment from full map prepared by D. Bradley) on left, and from Google Map on right.

Sidwell (2015a) presented a preliminary statistical analysis which finds Nicobarese lects of the Central island group (Nancowry, Katcall, Camorta, Kondul, Pulo Milo, Teressa) form a coherent dialect grouping that coordinates with Car, forming a tree with two main branches. There are 1

docs.google.com/document/d/1nyBRh-kJZPTJDN83scSisfNtrTojb1WXzYEaUFqLHKs/edit?usp=sharing

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite phonological indications2 that Shompen and various Southern lects (Great and Little Nicobar) may form a group that coordinates with Central Nicobarese. Thus the Nicobar lects would appear to fall into three primary groups, essentially consistent with the geographical distribution of the islands as seen in the Wurn & Hattori map reproduced here. This can be diagrammed as follows: Figure: Classification of Nicobar languages. Car Nicobarese

Central: Nancowry/Müot, Camorta, Trinkat, Katchall Southern: Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar, Shompen

The above configuration also supersedes the study by Blench and Sidwell (2011), which hypothesized that Shompen may be more closely related to Aslian or otherwise represent a branch intermediate between Nicobarese and Aslian. Car is remarkable in the Austroasiatic context. Basic word order is VS/VPA in independent clauses, alignment is Ergative/Absolutive, and there are numerous Passive and Anti-Passive constructions. Syllables are simple CVCs that can be concatenated to build up complex phonological words. Morphological processes are extensive, and not exhaustively covered in this sketch; prefixation, infixation, and suffixation are all employed. Strikingly, reduplication has not been noted for Car; this is notable since there is an elaborate system of reduplicative morphology in Nancowry (see, for example, Radhakrishnan 1981).

2 PHONETICS/PHONOLOGY 2.1

Word/Syllable structure

The phonological word in Car is built up of simple syllables that lack onset or coda clusters in native vocabulary, and lack suprasegmental features such as contour tones or phonation/register contrasts. Aside from some exceptions among loan word vocabulary, the syllable template is robustly CV(C).3 Words of four syllables are common and even longer words are recognised if we admit compounds and/or loans. Morphemes are mono- or disyllabic and primary stress falls on the second syllable in disyllabic lexical roots (iambic). In this study, primary stress is marked with an acute over the relevant nuclei, otherwise stresses are unmarked. Polysyllabic forms are particularly common, especially among derived forms, e.g.: x)

ha-ráˑl-ɲ-uvə CAUS-dry-PASS-POSS 'dried (e.g. 'These clothes have been dried.')

x)

haɻóh-túm-hə-ta some-number-INC.OBJ-towards '(give) some' (e.g. 'Give me some lead.')

2

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Man's (1889) dictionary includes a comparative vocabulary. In that data it is apparent that Shompen, Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar share a hardening of nasal codas to stops. A tendency to prestop nasal codas in other Nicobarese lects has been variously noted, but only in the Southern group are the etymological nasal codas consistently recorded with oral stops. Note that while CB does not write glottal stop onsets, they are rendered consistently here.

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite

2.2

Segmental inventories

The description here is based primarily on that of CB, although it is possible to find recordings of Car speech online made by religious organizations.4 My auditory examinations of these find no contradictions with CB's account. Car is analysed here as having the following contrastive segments: Onsets p m f v

t n s l ɾ ɻ

c ɲ

k ŋ

Codas p t m n

ʔ

c ɲ

k ŋ

h

ʔ h

j

v

l ɾ

j

Nuclei: Stressed iˑ ɨˑ eˑ ɤˑ ɛˑ əˑ (ɛɔ) aˑ

uˑ oˑ ɔˑ

Unstressed i (ɛ)

u

ə a

± nasalization /˜/

Stressed nuclei vary in length from about one and a half to two and a half morae, tending to two morae in open syllables. Throughout long is marked [ˑ] but should be read as [ː] before zero codas. All syllables with coda /h/ are phonetically short in duration, even when stressed. The rhotic flap onset /ɾ/ is often prestopped [ͭɾ, ɾͩ ]. The retroflex /ɻ/ is restricted to onsets, and is described by CB (1970:45) as an 'apico-domal fricative' with a degree of palatalization. The symbol ɽ is used for this segment by Sidwell (2015), while ṛ is generally used in earlier sources (Whitehead 1925, Das 1977, Brain ms.) while CB writes r. Nuclei with [æ] occur due to English loan words. Unstressed /ɛ/ does occur in affixes, but not in the unstressed syllables of lexical roots. Note also that there is some confusion within and between sources regarding /a/ and /ə/ in suffixes, yet these nuclei do contrast robustly in other positions. Strong nasalization is contrastive on stressed nuclei, in addition weak nasalization surfaces phonetically in unstressed closed syllables with glottal onsets and nasal codas, and in syllables with nasal onsets but non-glottal codas. Nuclei [ɛ] and [ɛɔ] are almost in complementary distribution, [ɛɔ] occurring stressed before k, ŋ and l, and [ɛ] occurring elsewhere; the modest evidence of contrast appears to relate to loan vocabulary. Phonetically the sequence [ɛɔ] takes prominence on the [ɛ] when short, and on the [ɔ] when long.

2.3

Morphophonemic alternations

Morphophonemic alternations in Car were a substantial topic of interest in CB's thesis, and that thesis should be consulted for full details. Broadly speaking, the following kinds of changes are common:

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

underlying sequences of adjacent glottal segments tend to merge into one,



glides are inserted between adjacent nuclei,



nuclei-sonorant sequences will methasize to favor CV.CVⁿ sequences,



assimilation and/or dissimilation of nuclei across adjacent syllables.

E.g. http://globalrecordings.net/en/program/C33150 and others.

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite Generally throught this sketch the language is given with broad phonetic, rather than the strong morphophonemic represenation favoured by CB.

3. PHRASE AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE The dominant word order in independent clauses is verb initial and subject final (VS/VPA); additionally there is significant use of passivization, postponed arguments and adjuncts, as well as pragmatic elision of arguments, all of which affect word ordering in speech. Arguments are realised with Nominal Phrases (NP), while predicates consist of Verbal Complexes (VC) and their dependent arguments. Adverbial phrases, indicating time or place, distribute peripherally, initially or finally; the apparent tendency being for time phrases to come first and location after. Within dependent/subordinate clauses word order reverts to SV/AVP, arguably reflecting an older pattern (typical of Mainland SEAsian languages). Lexical roots are precatagorical in terms of class membership (such as is claimed for Tagalog (de Guzman 1996) and other, especially SEAsian languasges). A striking feature of Car grammar, only noticed recently by this author, is the nature of Car alignment. The language can be analysed as somewhat promoninalizing, in a manner that creates split Absolutive marking. The basic pattern is as follows: 

in intransitive clauses with lexical S (not a pronoun or proper noun) a 3rd person pronoun (AGR) agreeing with S takes the right-most position in the VC, and the S takes an obligatory DEM (most often the generic ŋam). Otherwise there is no agreement, although apparently S's incorporating a possesive pronoun are ambiguous when it comes to requiring agreement.



in transitive clauses, agreement is required by lexically expressed P. However, there is a restriction such that AGR and DEM never co-occur with transitives; consequently, if the P is definite DEM is used, otherwise AGR is pressent. Alternately a lexical Adjective (ADJ) can stand in the place of DEM.

Examples: Intransitive clause with lexical S: x)

kúˑn-ə=ʔan small-PERS=AGR 'The man is small.' (CB:122.3)

ŋam DEM

taɾík man

Intransitive clause with pronominal S: x)

fɤ́ŋ-kə-ɾɛ cin burn-INTR-REFL 1S 'I burn myself (accidentally).' (CB:172.1)

Transitive clause with lexical P: x)

ha-cát-ŋɛn=ʔək CAUS-lose-away=AGR 'I lost the book.' (CB:145.2)

líˑpəɾɛ book

cin 1S

Transitive clause with pronominal P: x)

mɨk ʔan see 3S 'I saw him, myself.' (CB:148.1)

cin, 1S,

cú-ʔə 1S.OBL-REFL

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite For pronominal non-core arguments and adjuncts there are special Oblique (OBL) forms. Passive (PASS) and Anti-Passive (ANTIP) constructions are very common, both introducing demoted arguments with the Linker (LINK) tə. Adjuncts and subordinate clauses are introduced with special Subordinate Pronouns (SUB), and relative clauses are marked by SUB+LINK. The above characterisation allows us to account for the corpus of CB's sentence examples with an economy of structural generalisations and grammatical categories.

3.1

Phrase Structure

3.1.1 Nominal Phrases (NP) We can distinguish various NPs: Simple, Quantifier Phrase (QP), Prepositional Phrase (PreP). With the data available we can characterise Simple NPs is as follows: Simple NP = DEM + ADJ + N + Possessor Examples: x)

veˑ tət-kɔ́ˑʔ 3P.ANIM NEG-able 'These unable people.' (CB:251.2)

taɾík person

x)

nɛˑ mahúˑ-və ŋih PROX.PL wave-POSS PROX.S.INAN 'These waves of this troubled land.' (CB:251.1)

x)

nup təhacáˑpə líˑpəɾɛ ʔək DEM pile book SUB 'The piled books of my stupid child.' (CB:251.6)

tə-cóˑc ADJ-rough

təkulóˑʔ-uə stupid-POSS

ɲiˑʔ child

panám village

cu 1S.OBL

We can expand the NP template to include enumeration/quantification with the QP. The ADJ slot is taken by a numerator (NUM) and followed by an optional Classifier (CLF). It may be that ADJ and NUM can co-occur, but the corpus lacks examples of the 'three little pigs' type. There are no special plural markers for lexical arguments and plurality is often unmarked, or an agreeing plural pornoun is used. The template is as follows: QP = DEM + NUM+ CLF + N + Possessor Examples: x)

nɛˑt mikɨ́ˑcə ʔuhə́ˑʔ ʔan two CLF egg 3S 'It (has) two eggs.' ('how many it's eggs?') (CB:254.2)

x)

ʔaˑm manɨ́k kuˑn how.many CLF child 'How many children do you (have)?' (CB:254.1)

x)

luˑj tak jin three CLF 3PL 'The three children are here.' (CB:255.6)

ʔəm 2SG.SUB

veˑ 3P.ANIM

ɲiˑʔ, child,

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ʔihíh here

Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite

Prepositional Phrases (PreP) are common adjuncts indicating locative, directional or benefactive meanings. The template for PreP's is as follows: PreP = Prep + DEM+ ADJ + N + Possessor Examples: x)

heˑ ʔɛl while LOC 'on a summer day.' (CB:250.6)

jɤŋ great

tavúˑj sun

x)

laʔóh-hət-və ʔək kúˑʔ-cɔ́k, break-inward-POSS5 AGR face-arrow 'The arrow point was broken in the pig's body.' (CB:184.3)

x)

ha-ɾɔ́ˑn-haka ʔan ŋam kanúˑc, CAUS-slant-CONT AGR DEM pencil, 'The pencil is leaning against the book.' (CB:193.1)

nə SUB

nə SUB

ʔi DIR

ʔi DIR

ʔaláha body

ŋam DEM

haʔún pig

líˑpəɾə book

On the basis of the above discussion it is possible to suggest a unified treatment of NP structure as follows: NP = Prep + DEM + ADJ/NUM + CLF + N + Possessor

3.1.2 Verbal Complex (VC) A complete clause requires a predicate which minimally consists of a single Verb (V), addtionally theremay also be a preceding Auxiliary (AUX). Predicates are negated with preverbal ʔət (the same morpheme occurs adjectivally 'lacking/without'). Also there is a post-verbal ADV/AGR slot. Taken together we model the VC as follows: VC = NEG + AUX + V + ADV/AGR Any lexical root can potentially take the V slot, and utilize the extensive inflectional morphology (see: §4.2.1). Roots with strongly substantive semantics get a Stative (STAT) or Existential (BE) reading–Car lacks an Existential or Copular verb altogether. In existential constructions the derived V takes the role of derived verb, and takes agreement as if there were a lexical S, e.g.: x)

taŋɛ́ ˑʔ=ʔən bone=AGR 'This is a bone.' (CB:132.6)

ŋih PROX.S.NHUM

x)

kap=ʔan ŋamɔ́h tortoise=AGR DIST.S 'That is a tortoise.' (CB:141.2)

The ADVAGR slot is occupied by either the absolutive marking pronoun or one of a small set of Adverbs (ADV) or a special Instrumental Adverbs (INS.ADV), the latter a body part term with an instrumental reading ('by hand', 'by ear', etc.). Some examples of INS.ADV:

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The labeling of this suffix as possessive follows CB, its appearance on verbs, as in this example, is common, although the motivation is not clear.

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite x)

lakúk-ə=tiˑʔ break-ANTIP=hand 'I broke a bottle.' (CB:184.4)

x)

ɻɔ́ŋ-həc=ɾəˑn still.doing-while=foot 'I'm still running.' (CB:196.4)

x)

vɛ́ˑ-ɲu=naŋ cin, tə tell-PASS=ear 1S, LINK 'I'll be told by John tomorrow.' (CB:216.1)

3.2

tə pilɤ́n LINK bottle

cin, 1S,

cin, 1S,

faˑl run

cɔˑn, PN

huɻɤ́c tomorrow

Clauses Structure & Sentence Types

Broadly, clause structure in Car is highly constrained, the vast majority of example sentences can accounted for with the following template: Q/ADV

NEG

VC AUX V ADV / AGR

S/P IO A NP NP NP

ATM/Qnt

LINK/SUB

V ADV

NP/PreP

3.2.1 Intransitives (INTR) Intransives can be characterised into several types: Existential (BE) (already discussed above), Stative (STAT), Passives (PASS), Anti-Passive (ANTIP). In STAT constructions V can be semantically active or index qualitative states (for lexical ADJ, see §4). The V is often, although not obligatorily, marked with the -a suffix: x)

húˑʔ-a=jin cry-STAT=AGR 'The children are crying.'

mɛˑ ɲiˑʔ DIST.PL child

x)

cɨ́ˑʔ-t-a=ʔən short-toward-STAT=AGR 'This river is short.' (CB:192.5)

x)

patóh-haka=ʔan ŋam sampét spotted-CONT=AGR DEM papaya The papaya is in a spotted condition.' (CB:193.3)

ŋih PROX.S.NHUM

ta-hɛ́ˑl NML-flow

PASS constructions are very common in the corpus. V is marked with one of several phonologically and morphologically unrelated suffixes: -ə, -hu, -ijə/-i, -ləŋə, -ɲu, the demoted S is introduced with tə (LINK) and in the OBL form if pronominal. Examples: x)

ɲɛ́ˑk-ə cin, tə bind-PASS 1S, LINK 'I'm bound by the cord.' (CB:183.4)

ɲanɛ́ˑk cord

x)

haʔá h-ləŋə cáʔa, tə feed-PASS 3PL.VIS, LINK 'They were served by their friends.' (CB:183.2)

jik 3PL.NONVIS

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hól-ɾɛ friend-REFL

Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite x)

vɛ́ˑ-ɲu=naŋ cin, tell-PASS=ear 1S, 'I'll be told by John tomorrow.' (CB:216.1)

tə LINK

cɔˑn, PN,

huɻɤ́c tomorrow

Impersonal Passives, lacking an overt demoted S, yet morphologically marked, are also common: x)

laɾáˑk-ijə=ʔan ŋam pak-cóˑn split-PASS=AGR DEM branch-tree 'The branch has (accidentally) split away.' (CB:176.2)

x)

kɨhɨ́ˑt-ə líˑpəɾɛ finish-PASS book 'My books are all taken.' (CB:246.4)

cin 1S

Demotion of P, yielding ANTIP clauses, is very common in the data, paralleling the PASS construction neatly. The demoted P is always introduced with tə, and V may be marked with -ə or other suffixes. Examples: x)

lakúk-ə=tiˑʔ break-ANTIP=hand 'I broke a bottle.' (CB:184.4)

x)

ʔət kahúl-l-uvə NET cook-upward-POSS 'Don't you have food to cook?' (CB:190.1)

x)

haɻóh tum taˑk some number CLF 'Give me some money.' (CB:120.3)

cin, 1S,

tə LINK

pilɤ́n bottle

ʔəm, 2S.SUB,

tə LINK

kahɛ́ˑʔ=tiˑʔ take=hand

man, 2S,

tə LINK

ɲáʔã food

ɾupíˑʔ money

3.2.2 Transitives (TR) Formally transitive clauses are relatively uncommon in the data, since there is a strong tendency to demote patients/undergoers. Personal pronouns as Direct Objects take their OBL forms (except for two examples in the corpus), and frequently the V will take the -ə TR suffix, although there are at least eight suffixes of the same form so the identification is underdetermined. E.g.: x)

mɨ́k-ə ca see-TR 3PL.OBL 'I see them.' (CB:179.4)

x)

haŋ=ɻɔˑʔ ca hear=say 3PL.OBL 'He neglects hearing them.' (CB:242.3)

ʔan, 3S,

nə SUB

x)

ha-cát-ŋɛn=ʔək CAUS-lose-away=AGR 'I lost the book.' (CB:145.2)

líˑpəɾɛ book

cin 1S

cin 1S

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soˑʔ dislike

Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite x)

kasɔ́h ŋam slipknot.tied DEM 'I slip-knot-tied the log.' (CB:213.5)

coˑn tree

cin 1S

All but one of the TR examples in the data involve human A, the exception is the following, which appears to show the A expressed lexcially ('dog') outside of the main clause: x)

káp-ə cu bite-TR 1S.OBL 'The dog bit me.' (CB:213.3)

ʔan 3S

ŋam DEM

ʔam dog

3.2.3 Subordination In Subordinate Clauses word order follows SV/AVP, the first element is typically a subordinate pronoun or the generic subordinator (SUB) that index the S/A of the subordinate clause, or the subordiante clause can be introduced with tə. Examples: x)

kasál-ə mɛh cin, ʔəm dare-TR 2S.OBL 1S, 2SG.SUB 'I dare you to jump across this well.' (CB:146.3/240.1)

x)

kɔ́ˑʔ-tə=kuˑʔ cáʔa, tə ʔɔ, able-ADJ=face 3PL.VIS LINK 3S.OBL '(It was) found by them that it's fruit was tasty.' (CB:244.3)

x)

haɾún ŋam ɲiˑʔ, train DEM child, 'Train the child to write.' (CB:213.7)

nə SUB

tisɔ́k-ŋə kuj jump-away over

nə SUB

ŋih PROX.S.INAN

kucíˑkə sweet

mak water

ɻɔŋ fruit

kuˑc write

3.2.4 Coordination Clauses are coordinated with a range of conjunctions, and as noted at §XX there is also a paradigm of contracted forms of conjunctions and subordinate pronouns that are effectively conjunctions that index the person and number of the S/A of the coordinated clause. Examples: x)

ŋatiˑʔ jin veˑ tə ʔakáha taɾík, jeˑn thus 3PL PROX.PL LINK good person, if.3 'Thus it is for good men, even though they are dead.' (CB:224.3)

x)

húˑʔ-kə=nap ɲiˑʔ, tən ɻúˑl-ŋə=ʔən call-DISTR=AGR child, because use-away=AGR 'Call for the boys, for this torch is about to burn out.' (CB:141.1)

x)

həŋ kə ka-lúˑj nɔŋ jíˑʔ-ə, hɔˑ jiˑʔ, ʔət laŋán only DISTR DISTR-three CLF 2PL-REFL, so.that 2PL, NEG burden 'Each of you (take) only three of them so that you won't be burdened.' (CB:226.4)

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pɔɾɔ́ˑ although

ŋih DEM

nə SUB

kapáh die

taɲúˑknə torch

Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite

3.2.6 Interrogation Polar Questions are formed by intonation, rather than syntactically. Whereas the pitch contour tends to fall in a declarative statement, polar questions have a high pitch on the final stressed syllable. E.g.: x)

haʔɛ́n ʔəc ↗ late 1S.SUB 'Am I late?' (CB:145.4)

x)

ʔihíh ʔək here 3S.NONVIS 'He was just here?' (CB:148.4)

tahɨ́j ↗ now

Wh-type questions can be created by placing an interrogative word (Q) before a declarative clause, or directly into the V position (where it can take regular verbal affixes/clitics). Pronominal arguments often, although not always, appear in their interrogative form (this variation is not understood). E.g.: x)

ʔacíh ʔəp minɛ́ˑʔ-ɲə ʔɔ who 3S.NONVIS name-outward 3S.OBL 'What is his name?' (Of a person not present) (CB:143.4)

x)

sitíh=tíˑʔ ʔap, how=hand 3S.NONVIS, 'How did he beat him?' (CB:203.6)

x)

ʔasúh ʔap laŋ what 3S.NONVIS intend 'What are you going to do tomorrow?' (CB:223.2)

x)

ʔáˑm-ə túˑʔ ʔəm how.many-ATTR sinkers 2S.INT 'How many sinkers do you have?' (CB:126.1)

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WORD CLASSES

nə SUB

fɛ́ˑlan beat

laʔɛ́n do

mɛh, 2S.OBL

huɻɤ́c tomorrow

mɛ́h-ʔə 2S.OBL-EMPH

The general view taken in this study is that all open class lexemes in Car are precategorical, and can be divided into two classes—Nouns and Verbs—on principally syntactic criteria, other considerations are secondary. Additionally there are minor classes that can be grouped with the major classes according to their syntactic relations (whether they fall within the Noun Phrase or Verbal Complex), and there are further parts of speech that fall out side of these structures. These are listed as follows:   

Nominals: noun, classifier, numerator, pronoun, demonstrative, interrogative, preposition Verbals: verb, auxilliary, negator Others: conjunction/linker, particle, exclamation, adverb

Lessor classes include adjectives, propositions, conjunctions, particles, exclamations.

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Car (Nicobarese) sketch, August 2017, Paul Sidwell, for comment only, do not cite

4.1

Nominals

4.1.1 Nouns Nouns occur as simple and compounded forms; body part words are among the most productive in compounds, plus there are many formed with roots having verbal semantics. There are also compounds formed with multisyllabic and/or multi-morphemic constituents. Examples: cɛ́hɛcóˑn 'bird' < kɤɲkúˑn 'son-in-law' < ɻɔŋcóˑn 'fruits/vegetables' < kalrə́ˑn 'leg' < makʔaláharɔ́ŋcóˑn 'fruit juice' < túmʔá hã 'berry' < ɻɛ́ˑnɻɔ́ˑʔ 'noise'