HET KONINKLIJ K INSTITUUT VOOR

TAAL·, LAND· EN VOLKENKUNDE

DEEL 46

C. L. VOORHOEVE

THE FLAMINGO BAY DIALECT

OF THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

'S-GRAV E N H AG E -MAR TIN U SNIJ HO FF-1965

(WOTRO), formerly the Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Nieuw-Guinea (WONG), The Hague, for making available to me the money to enable me to carry out fieldwork in linguistics for a period of two years in West N ew Guinea and, in addition, for making it possible for me to devote myself exclusively on my return to working on the material I had assembied. I owe a particular debt to the Treasurer of the Stichting, Dr J. H. Westermann for his continued and stimulating interest in the progress of the work. I am grateful to the Board of Directors of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, The Hague, for their kindness in publishing this thesis as one of the Verhandelingen of the Instituut. My thanks are due to Dr J. C. Anceaux and Mr B. J. Hoff for their suggestions made during the preparation of the baok, suggestions upon which I place great value. The translator, Miss Jeune Scott-KembalI, has been painstaking in the difficult task of translating this work and her critical observations have frequently led to a clearer formulation of the facts. Her efforts des erve great praise. I t is not possible to name every person who was so helpful to my wife and me during our stay in New Guinea and who made our sojourn one of great pleasure, but they are remembered with gratitude. I wiII, however, mention those who were directly concerned with my work. Foremost among them were Dr A. A. Gerbrands and Mr D. B. Eyde who were carrying out anthropological fieldwork in the Ásmat country. Their friendship and their continued interest was a stimulus to my own work and their knowledge of Ásmat culture enabled me to catch a glimpse of the inner working of this remarkable society. Here the name of Pater G. Zegwaard, M.S.C. at Merauke must not pass without comment. By placing his own field notes at the disposal of the fieldworkers in the Ásmat country, he made accessible

ASMAT LANGUAGE

to them an inexhaustible source of valuable data on the Asmat people. I am also grateful for the support and co-operation I was fortunate enough to receive from the Roman Catholic and Protestant Missions at Agats, in particular from Father Pitka, with whose help I obtained my informants and Mr W. Hekman who was kind enough, af ter I had left the Asmat country, to send me some additional data that I needed. That I can recall with so much pleasure our stay in the Asmat country is not least due to the friendship and hospitality of Mr J. W. Kroon [District Offieer], Mr J. Watrin [Chief of Police], and Dr V. F. P. M. van Ame1svoort, M.D. Our thoughts frequently go out to the friends in SurU and J epém whose hospitality we so of ten enjoyed and who many times acted as my informants : in Suru, there was \Varsékomen, the great warrior; the astute Simni; his brother Pókakat and his wife Misinmaj who adopted my wife as their daughter; the old Oscowák, and Asépar, the mother of my informant Natinák. In Jepém there was Erémnet, my 'father', and the old Poe, my wife's 'mother'; Manéfakat the seer; our neighhours, the story-teller Makór, the vain Joperák and the good-natured, if testy, Jojpir and last but not least the youths Wominén and Atmer. All of them made the time my wife and me spent among them unforgettable. In particular, however, is this book the hook of my adopted sons and informants Mifekpic and N atinák. With endless forbearance and with great enthousiasm these youths, with sueh simple Malay as they knew, endeavoured to teach me something of their difficult language, and it is especially due to them that the year and a half of productive research has resulted in this book.

Leiden, October 1965 C. L. VOORHOEVE

page V

CONTENTS VII

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. The Ásmat language: area, adjacent languages, dialects............. .. 1
2. The terrain, the people, the concept of their world 2
3. Establishment of Government and the Missions; first linguistic research....... 3
4. Present research, choice of dialect... 4
5. The Flamingo Bay dialect; area, history. 5
6. Work with informants... 6
7. Tape recording..... 8
8. Research in Ágats and J epém 8
   

   PART 11: PHONOLOGY

I. THE PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM • 10 9-11. Introduction.. 10 12-19. The vowel phonemes 12 20---31. The consonant phonemes. 16
11. SPECIAL PHONOLOGICAL PHENOMENA • 20
32. Introduction..... 20
33. The occurrence of an allophone in a ~sition in which it occurs not otherwise.... .. 21
34--37. Particular phoneme modifications... .. 21

38. Sounds which stand completely by themse1ves. 23
39. THE ACCENT. • • • • • • • • • • • • 23
40. Introduction......... 23

41. The general principle of accentuation 25
    41--44. Words in isolation :

42. Monomorphematic words. 25
    42--44. Polymorphematic words 45-47. Words in context...

ASMAT LANGUAGE

/Jage 31 31 32 33

38 38 38

IV. THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES IN THE WORD •

48. Single vowels and consonants
    

    49-50. Vowel sequences..

51-52. Consonant sequences

V. WORD-VARIANTS..

53. Types of variants

54-61. Free variants..

PART lIl: WORD-CLASSES

1. INTRODUCTION
   

   62. Morphological processes

Il. THE VERB

63. Introduction

64-70.

64. Core and periphera! part.
    65---69.

70.

71-103. Core-morphology :

71--80. Prefixed formatives

81-94. Suffixed formatives.

95. Sequences of formatives

96-99. Root-allomorphs

100-103. forms 104--180. W ord-morphology : 104--106. Introduction

107. The core category
     

     108. The-ic category.

109. The-a category.

110-111. The m-/mV-category.

112. The m-/mV- -áji/éji category.

113. The-ájmos category

114. The-ájpuruw category

115-118. The imperative category

119-122. The hortative category

123-124.

41 41

41 41

42 43 46

47 52 57 58

67 72 73 74 74 76 76 77 78

Genera! survey of the structure of verba! forms:

The morphological structure of the core. The morphological structure of the peripheral part

Lists of unidentified morphemes and of residual

Subdivision into subject- and object-categories.

CONTENTS IX

page The conditional category 85 The optative category. 90 The habitual category. 92 The habitual forms of the mediate past. 97

The habitual forms of the mediate past. 97
The progressive forms.. 99
The progressive forms of the mediate past. 104
The ultimate past category 106
The mediate past category 111
The anterioritive forms 114
The perfective forms. 115
The past tense category of cores with durative
formative. 117
The -mer forms.. 119
The unproductive category of the positional verbs 121
The prefixes em- and p-jpV- 123
Syntactical valenee of the verb. 125
Summary of the forms of the verbs e and
'to do', which were found linked to a form of the
125

Ij ji

-a category Summary of the forms of the verb em 'to do, to make', which were found linked to the m-jmV- form of the verb............ 127

lIl. SUBSTANTIVES • • 128

184. Definition 128

185-187. Primary derivatives. 128

188. Secondary derivatives 130

189. Words with which derivatives are formed only

with*-nakáp,* or only with*-nakás*. 131

190. A non-productive plural category 132
     

     191. Cases of transposition 132

192-193. Syntactical valenee..... 133

IV. PROPER NAM ES. • 135

194. Grouping 135

195-196. Names of persons and names of riv ers 135

197. Names of villages and names of ceremonial houses 136
198. Syntactical valenee........... 136

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

page

V. AD]ECTIVES • • • • • • • •

199.
200-203.

.

VI. DEICTIC WORDS. • • 142

207-231. 207-219.

. 232-234.

.......

VII. INTER]ECTIONS • • • • 161

235. Characteristics 161

236. Exclamations. 161

237. Onomatopoeic interjections and words of command

to animals.............. 162

VIII. NEGATIONS AND POSTPOSITIONS • 164

239-244. 245-261. 245-247.

252-254.

.

259-261.

PART IV: TEXTS

262-263. INTRODUCTION........

262. Recording and presentation...
263. Individual details about the texts.
264. TEXT I
265. TEXT 11
266. TEXT 111
     

     267-270. TEXT IV

271-279. TEXT v

280-302. TEXT VI

303-306. TEXT VII

307-315. TEXT VIII

316-320. TEXT IX

321-344. TEXT x

PART V: WORD LIST

MAP I:

MAP IJ: THE FLAMINGO BA Y AREA..

SKETCHES

DIAGRAM: Surwy of thc sllhject-allel categories 10-22, 24.

XI

page 180 180 181 184 184 186 186 190 200 232 238 250 256

.. 363 364

ASl\IAT AND RELATED LANGUAGES

object suffixes of

paddie decorated with white cockatoo f('athers and a pouch made of pandanus leaves. He is wearing a cap made of the skin of the CtlSCUS and a necklace made of dog's teeth. (Safántes, from]epém),

Mifekpic and Natinák.

Thc village of Jcpém. 1962.

INTRODUCTION

1 The Asmat Ianguage: area, adjacent Ianguages, dIalects

The language of the Ásmat Papuans, Ásmat,l is one of a number of related Papuan languages which are spoken over an extensive area of the coastal plain of South-West New Guinea (Irian Barat). These languages extend along the coast from the River Ópa in the north-west to the mouth of the River Digul in the south-east.2 The Ásmat region is generally considered to he the coastal strip and the adjacent hinterland between the Rivers Momác (Le Cocq d'Armandville) and Ewtá. In addition to his region, however, Ásmat is also spoken in a small area to the east of the confluence of the Rivers Siréc (Eilanden) and Wildeman; on the coastal strip hetween the Ewtá and Cook Bay (the Casuarinen Coast); and in a few villages on the coast hetween Cook Bay and the mouth of the River Digul. It is still not known with certainty how far inland the Ásmat language-area extends. It was only recently that this coastal area was brought under Government control and that part of the low-lying plain abutting onto the mountainous country in the centre is still practically terra incognita. Up to now, Ásmat villages have been encountered inland to a distance of more than 70 miles. To the north-west of the Ásmat language-area, two languages re1ated

Introductory note In the notes the following abbreviations have been used: Kon. Inst. TLV. -Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde. BK! Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, of the Kon. Inst. TLV. VKI Verhandelingen van het Kon. Inst. TLV. MBA Micro-Bibliotheca Anthropos. 1 Two remarks have to be made: (i) accents will be shown only on native names; (ii) the native names of rivers will he given, if possible, and where there is also a Dutch name, this will he added between brackets the first time the river is mentioned. 2 See map at back.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

to Ásmat, Kámoro and Sémpan, are spoken. These two languages cover the whole coastal area between the Rivers Ópa and Otákwa. Between the Otákwa and the Momác, where the Ásmat language-area begins, there are no villages. Nothing is known about the languages to the north and the north-east of the Ásmat language-area: in the east and the south-east, Ásmat meets up with the Áwju and Jakáj languages, which are probably not related to Ásmat,3 Ásmat has various dialects, but a systematic investigation into them has not yet been made, so that little is known about the nature and extent of the dialectical variations. Broadly, Ásmat dialects can he divided into a central group of little differing dialects with, around it, on the periphery of the Ásmat language-area, a number of dialects differing sharply from it: those spoken upstream of the Rivers Pomác (Noordwest), Unir (Lorentz) and Siréc, and the dialect of the Casuarinen Coast.

2 The terrain, the people, the concept of their world

The area in which the Kámoro, Sémpan and Ásmat languages are spoken consists mainly of a marshy, low-Iying, thickly wooded plain, intersected by countless rivers and streams of which a noteworthy feature is the ebb and flow of the tide far into the hinterland. The c1imate of the region is very humid and the rainfall abundant-approximately 225 inches a year. The terrain is very heavy going on foot, so the canoe is the usualmeans of transport. It is used extensively. One can go everywhere along the natural network of waterways by canoe and people can thus move about easily and ean cover great distances. The Ásmat people dwell in villages situated along the riv ers. The

3 The data on the Kámoro and Sémpan languages are taken from P. Drabbe,

M.S.C., Spraakkunst van de Kámoro-taal, Kon. Inst. TL V., Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1953. The first studies of the Awju and Jakaj languages, also by the same author, are:
1) Twee dialecten van de Awju-taal, BKr, Vol. 106, Part I, 1950, pp. 93-147;
2) Spraakkunst van het Aghu-dialect van de Awju-taal, Kon. Inst. TLV., The Hague, 1957;
3) Ka~ti en Wambon, twee Awju-dialecten, Kon. lnst. TLV., The Hague, 1959; and
4) De Jakaj-taal. Talen en dialecten van Zuid-West Nieuw-Guinea, MBA, Vol. II, Part B, 1954, pp. 73-98. (Vocabulary on pp. 128-142.)

largest villages have between 1,000 and 2,000 inhabitants; the smaUest less than 100. The total Ásmat population is estimated to be 40,000 persons. The people of the central Ásmat region caU themselves ásmat ow. which probably means 'tree people'.4 According to the Ásmat people, the territory they inhabit, the ásmat capinmi, is enclosed within, and lies at the bottom of, a gigantic coconut: their world is not convex but concave.5The boundaries of their world correspond roughly to those of their language-area-between the Casuarinen Coast and the Mimika Coast (where Kámoro is spoken). And one can do the 'journey round the world' by setting out from the Casuarinen Coast, crossing the stretch of water between it and the Mimika Coast, landing there, and then returning to the Casuarinen Coast. Through the middle of this world flows the great River Siréc, rising far away, somewhere at the top of the coconut, cloSe to the holyentrance to the upper world (the outside world). From this opening, in prehistorie times, the heavenly beings descended to earth, in order to populate the world with their descendants.

8 Establishment of Government and the Mlssions; fint linguistic research.

It was only in the recent past that the Ásmat region was brought under control- the area was notorious for head-hunting. Only in 1954 did the Government finally set up its seat there, at Ágats, though the Roman Catholie Mission had opened its first Mission station there in 1953. 1t was also at Ágats that the Protestant Mission (The Evangelical Alliance Mission, TEAM for short) began its activities in this region in 1955.6

4 It is my opinion that, from the diachronical point of view, the word ásmat, or ásmot, is possibly a compound formed with the word for 'tree', now os, and a generic element, now a11l0t, mot, which is found in compounds like ser-amot-ser fish (species of), and probably also in the word setmót, set bird (species of), the name of one of the ceremonial houses (jew) of Suru. The name Ásmat would then he consistent with a tradition that the people sprang from trees. 5 I have to thank D. B. Eyde for this information which he came upon by chance. It is noteworthy, that a concept of the world common to all the Ásmat people, which is not sacred and is spoken of openly, has for so long escaped the attention of European investigators. 6 There is a more detailed description of the first contacts of the Ásmat people with the outside world, and of the establishment of Government, the Roman Catholic Mission and the Protestant Mission in these regions in: V. F. P. M. van Amelsvoort, Early Introduction of Integrated Rural Health into a

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Investigation into the Ianguage spoken in the territory inhabited by the Ásmat people, as in sa many regions in N ew Guinea, was first undertaken by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Missions. The Dutch Missionary, P. Drabbe, who lived in Ágats from 1957 to 1959, made a study of the dialect of the village of Ajám, 20 miles further upstream. In addition, he collected material on various other dialects. Ris gram mar of the Ajám dialect, with a vocabulary, as well as a comparative study of three Ásmat dialects, have been published.7 The TEAM linguist, C. Roesier, is still working on the Ajám dialect, and Mrs. Dresser, the wife of the TEAM doctor at Pirimapun, Cook Bay is making an initial study of the Ásmat of the Casuarinen Coast. To date, their work has not been published.

4 Present research, choice of dialect

The following description of the language is the result of an investigation into the coastal dialect around Flamingo Bay which was carried out from November, 1%0, to September, 1962, under the auspices of the Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Nieuw-Guinea (W.O.N.G.).8 The aim of this research was the collecting of material for a description of one of the Ásmat dialects. Out si de Mission circles in N ew Guinea, almost nothing was known about Ásmat. Drabbe's grammar of the Ajám dialect had been puhlished, though this fact was not known to me until I arrived in the area, and found that the Mission disposed over a few copies of it. The only thing on Ásmat I had had at my disposal was a short vocabulary at the end of Drabbe's Kámoro grammar. Thus a preliminary orientation into the language was not possible. The investigation had to be started from scratch. For some time the Roman Catholic Mission had been opening schools in the Ásmat region, the language taught in them being Malay,

Primitive Society, thesis, Van Gorcum & Co., Assen, 1964. This thesis also contains a complete bibliography of works containing information on Asmat, up to 3lth December, 1962. 7 Drabbe, P., M.S.C., Grammar of the Asmat Language, Our Lady of the Lake press, Syracuse, 1959. Drabbe, P., M.S.C., Dictionary of the Asmat Language, Our Lady of the Lake Press, Syracuse, 1959. Drabbe, P., M.S.C., Drie Asmat-dialecten, VKI, Vol. 42, 1963. 8 The activities of the W.O.N.G. Foundation we re continued by a new Foundation, de Stichting voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek van de Tropen,

W.O.TRO., af ter the transfer of West New Guinea to Indonesia.

On arrival in the area, it became c1ear that the number of Ásmat Papuans with such a knowledge of Malay was meagre. These potential informants belonged almost entirely to the younger genera ti on-children who had attended the three-year lower school of the Mission at the Government Station at Ágats, or who had left it. Only a few of the older men knew some Malay. The children who went to school in Ágats came from the neighbouring village of Suru, and from Ajám. The language of the village of Ajám, already examined by Drabbe, belonged to a dialect different from that of the coastal villages, one of which was Suru, in the environs of Ágats, and I therefore decided to make the dialect spoken at Suru the object of the investigation.

6 The Flamingo Bay dialect: area, hlstory

The Flamingo Bay dialect is spoken hy about 2,600 people who live in five villages, Ewér, Suru, Jepém, Per and Uwus,9 situated in the immediate vicinity of Flamingo Bay. In the literature on Ásmat, this group of villages is also called Bismám, but the people themselves apply this name only to the villages of Ewér allel Suru, of which the inhabitants formerly lived together. The oral historical tradition of these villages goes back about a century. About the middle of the 19th century, Ewér, Suru, Uwus, and the village of Majit, stood together on the River Mow: UWlls is still there (see map). Jepém and Per, situatecl on the Jomót and the Mani, respectively, were then on the upper reaches of these small streams, with, at that time, the village of Kajé standing beside Per. Later on, Majit affiliated with Suru, while Kajé ceased to exist,

9 According to the data furnished by the Medica! Service for 1961, published in V. F. P. M. van Amelsvoort's thesis (sec notc 5), p. 192, the population of these villages at that time was:

ASMAT LANGUAGE

because its inhabitants dispersed to different villages af ter the death in battle of their foremost warrior.10Some of the Kajé people went to live at Suru. The inhabitants of Ewér and Suru left the Mow and, af ter wandering about for some time, settled in their present dwelling place. The language of the villages around Flamingo Bay exhibit small lexical variations as between one village and another. Within Suru, the descendants of the people fr om Kajé are distinguished from the 'true' people of Suru by some lexical peculiarities in their speech. These singularities are regarded by the non-Kajé people as typical of the latter. Nothing comparable concerning the people from Majit came to my attention.ll

6 Work wUh lnfonnants

The collaboration of two boys from Suru who were in the third and highest class at the Roman Catholic Mission school, was arranged with the help of the Mission. These boys were about 13 years old and appeared to be fairly intelligent. One of them, Mifekpic, was the pnncipal informant throughout the entire investigation. The other, Natinák, worked with me for over a year. Mifekpic, baptised Andreas, was a grandson of Warsékomen, the oldest of the chiefs of Suru and the most influential man in the Flamingo Bay area. Through his grandfather, Mifekpic was descended from the people of Kajé. Natinák, baptised Natalis, was related on his mother's side to the people of Amorép, a village belonging to the Ajám dialect-area. Both boys also had relatives in the village of Jepém,

10 I was told in Jepém that, on the death of the most important tesmájipic, warrior, it was formerly the usual practice for the group to break up,' and for the people in it to seek affiliation with other groups ('villages'). 11 Asmat villages are not c10sed communities as far as language is concerned. Formerly, there was a regular influx of people speaking other dialects con- sequent upon the practice of abducting women and children during headhunting raids; by the adoption of children at the peace ceremony; and by people affiliating with other villages (see note 9). At the present time, it is especially the family connections with other villages (probably as a result of the historical facts above mentioned) which provide the contact with people speaking different dialects. In J epém, I know of family connections with four villages in another dialect-area, namely, Ac, Amánamkaj, Miwár and Ománesep. Although the Asmat people who speak one dialect regard anyone speaking another dialect as fasi (crooked, wrong), no similar judgement regarding the small language differences within the village community ever has come to my attention.

where the investigation was later to be carried on. Mifekpic had even spent part of his childhood there. My relationship to the two boys developed from the outset on the 'anak piara' 12 pattern: they called me their 'father' and were regarded as my 'children'. They were paid in cash for their assistance. They were given a meal every day, and now and then some clothes and tobacco. With their wages they could buy clothes, tobacco, and the highly prized axes and chopping knives at the shop in Agats. The relationship with these informants was a very good and personal one throughout the whole undertaking. They worked with enthusiasm and pleasure, apart from some unavoidable lapses. Because the boys were still rather young, their knowledge of their mother tongue, of tradition and of mythology was sometimes inadequate for the translating of the folk tales I collected. The help of an older man was then enlisted for the interpretation of mythological matters and special usage. In addition, all the Asmat people with whom I con- versed acted as informants. The information received from them was always checked again with the regular informants. The reason I chose two of the latter was primarily to enable me to control the information given by the one by that provided by the other and vice versa. Another reason was that the boys' capacity for work was rather small, especially in the beginning -an hour at a stretch was more than enough for them. Later, when they had been properly trained, they could sustain a session of two hours or longer without difficulty. No fixed scheme of questioning was followed at these sessions. The discussion began on a particular subject and developed as it went along, depending upon the mood of the informant. The boys were never prevented from giving information spontaneously, even if it were not relevant, but sometimes they had to be guided along a fresh track back to the original subject. If it became apparent that an answer to a question about a particular matter was not forthcoming readily, either because the boy did not understand me, or because he had had enough, then it was put on one side. Later, a casual return to it of ten produced good results. If one of them gave information on a subject and it differed from that which the other had furnished, then these variations were discussed in the presence of bath of them. And sometimes it then became clear that they held differing opinions regarding the pronunciation of particular words, or their meaning.

li The Indonesian word for foster-child.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

'7 Tape recordlng

A portable tape recorder was used extensively for the collecting of the language data and the music. Thus texts and music could always he got without difficulty. Only once was I requested not to record a sacred song. The Ásmat people were delighted to hear their own music reproduced. Western music meant nothing to them. They were not much interested in the texts, though this did not alter the fact that the audience always listened critically and expressed their disapproval in a very positive fashion of any deviations from the version they knew. The analysis of the texts collected appeared to be of great value for an understanding of the language and it was through these that I came upon the track of the special forms of the Ásmat verb which express varying moods. The language of the folk talès would not appear to differ from common usage. Ásmat songs, however, have their own vocabulary which is known only to the older people, particularly the singers. These latter were, however, less inclined to be communicative about it to strangers.

8 Research In Apis and Jepem

I began the investigation at Ágats, but since Ágats was completely outside the sphere of Ásmat society -it was a IS-minute walk from Suru -I decided, once I had surmounted the first difficulties of the language, to continue it in one of the Ásmat villages in the vicinity of Ágats. By living amidst the Ásmat people I would he able quietly to observe the way in which Ásmat society functioned and would become acquainted with the people and their language. Su ru was,less suitable as a place in which to stay because the presence of the Government and the Missions had to a certain extent already influenced the way of life there. The village of J epém, where both my informants had relatives, appeared to he the most suitable, and from May, 1961, the investigation was carried on from there, interrupted from time to time by a short sojourn in Ágats. During the period of my stay in the Ásmat region, the Dutch scholar, Dr. A. A. Gerbrands, and the American student D. B. Eyde, were also there: the former doing research into Ásmat art, similarly under the auspices of W.O.N.G., and the latter doing ethnological field work. Their presence was of great value in acquiring as good an insight as

possible into Ásmat culture. Many were the pleasurable and stimulating discussions we had when we were together, either in the house of the W.O.N.G. in Ágats or at the 'Wong Club', as Dr. Gerbrands' house in the village of Amánamkaj was called. During the last year, a lively correspondence on mythological and linguistic subjects was kept up with Eyde. A knowledge of mythology seemed to he of the greatest importance for acquiring an insight into Ásmat culture, and it was for this reason that I put as many tales as possible on the tape. I collected approximately 80 texts, but these represent only a fraction of the wealth of stories the Ásmat people know.

PHONOLOGY

I THE PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM

Introduction

9 The phonological description i.s based on the speech of the two principal informants. In the cases where their speech deviates from that of other people speaking the same dialect, the difference will he mentioned. The system used for the phonetic spelling is that followed by the American linguist, K. L. Pike, in his work "Phonemics".1 The phonetic transcription, in accordance with usual practice, is put hetween square brackets; the phonematic transcription between solidi. In the phonetic spelling, the accent is indicated by a sign placed hefore the accented vowel ['a]: in the phonematic spelling, by a sign above the accented vowel jáj. The following signs are also used: "" = other than; '""Iv = alternating with; C = consonant; V = vowel. The term cluster means a biarticulate, non-geminate intervocalic consonant cluster. The terms initial, medial and final indicate positions in the word.

10 The phonological system contains six vowel phonemes and el even consonant phonemes. These are reproduced as follows: ja, e, i, 0, u, e; m, n, f, j, k, p, r, s, t, c, wj. Sets of minimal pairs are:

1 Pike, K. L. Phonemics. Linguistics, Vol. 111, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1954. Since the printer did not have some of the symbols, used by Pike, it has been necessary to replace these by other symbols. The following are not Pike's : [a, ö, 9, Û, n, {J, j, j, j, T, [].

jfaj jfej jfij jfol Ifuj lreménl jciménj

laml janl jajj lak! lapj jarj lasj lat! jacj lawl

jeml lenj jefl jekj lepl lesj

= bottom = = empty

= wind = bamboo hom = penis

= stem of a canoe = kind of fish

= sago trough = new = cheek

= kind of tree = sawfish = faeces

= urging = name of a village = breast (of a woman)

= drum = kind of fish = twig

= stone = tail = blood

[fa] [fe] [fi] [f,?] [fu] [bm'en] [cim'en]

[am] [an] [aj] rak] rap] [ar] [as] [at] [ae] [aw]

rem] [en] [ef] [ek] [ep] [es]

string (on which something is threaded)

Most phonemes occur in phonetically differing variants (allophones). These can be divided into: positional and alternating allophones.2

Two allophones are positional allophones when either of them occurs in specific mutua1ly exc1usive positions. Two allophones are altemating allophones when both occur in the same or partly the same positions.

These definitions imply that an allophone may he a positional and an altemating allophone at the same time, which is in fact the case.

2 With regard to the terms alternation, alternate I have departed from the usual practice of using them specifically in relation to phonemes, and have made them applicable to allophones, morphemes, and words.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

To give an example: of the allophones of the jej phoneme, [el may he called an alternating allophone because of the free alternation with [e] in certain positions, and a positional allophone because in other positions [el and [el exclude each other. (§ 14).

The vowel phonemes

Diagram of the allophones of the vowel phonemes.

close i u High open

closeel ö ë öl Mid ~ open e

close re Low open a a,2 a

1 slightly open [el and [0] 2 fronted [a]

18 jaj Allophones: [a], [a], [a], [re].

1. [a] occurs in final position: [a] thigh; [fa] bottom; [fir'ka] kind of grass.
2. [a] occurs in all other positions : [ak] cheek; [baj) foot; [was'en] forest; [kanp' 3. [a] 'V [a] in initial and medial positions, except hefore a cluster or a final consonant: [kam'em, kam'em] many-pointed spea.r; [as' en, as' en] place; [aw' aw' 9r] kind of fish.
3. In addition, [a] 'V [re] when the vowel immediately preceding it or the one immediately following is jij: [jism'ak, jism'rek] fire;

[jir'an, jir'ren] ripe; [baw'it, baw'it, brew'it] star; [dam'in, dam'in, drem'in] white ant.

lel Allophones: re], [E], [ö].

1. [e] occurs in final position: [e] leaf; [se] mud; [bat'e] rib of a sago frond (gaba-gaba).
2. [E] occurs before a final consonant :;o!: Iw land before clusters :;o!: IwC/: [Ep] tail; [éES] arrow; [ESk' am] red; [term'En] split.
3. [ö] occurs before a final Iw I, and before clusters of the type IwC/: [öw] crocodile; [jöw] ceremonial house; [böws' En] duckboard.

4. [e] 'V [e] in all other cases: [er' En, Er' En] upstream; [fer' 9, fEr' 9] sharp. Here there appears to be a certain tendency towards harmony on the allophone level [ e-e; E-E]; the allophone most frequently occurring before lol is [ e] : [es' e] bag; [ter' e] rattan leaf; [bES' Ep] spittle; [bEt' En] amlband; [bew'9r] kind of parrot; [sej' 9r] kind of fish.
   15 lij Allophones: [i], [ü], [tl.

5. [i] occurs in all positions: [i] urine; [ié] thorn; [fié] nail; [pi] cassowary. In the following cases, [i] alternates with [ü] or [e] :

6. [i] 'V [ü] before a final Iw/, and before clusters of the type IwC/: [tiw, tüw] son; [iwn'im, üwn'im] the water's edge.

7. [i] 'V [tl occurs in a small number of words, before a final consonant : [bi~r'im, bis~r'tm; masir'im, masi(tm] thereupon; [b'utir, b'ubr] octopus; [in, en] (postposition, see § 258). In these words the [t] allophone generally occurs.
   18 jol Allophones: [0], [9], [ë].

8. [0] occurs in final position, and before Iw/: [éö] nest; [jo] river; [éow'ak] one (numeral); [éow] the sago palm.

9. [9] occurs in all other cases. In addition, it occurs in final position, unless preceded by jcl or Ij/, and before Iw/, uniess preceded by Ic/ or Ij/. In the lastnamed cases, therefore, [0] and [ 9] altemate : [ 9k] egg; [ 9m' En] shouting; [ Ç'tm' a] neap tide; [wm'an] opposite side; [h

THE AS MAT LANGUAGE

[pö, w] paddie; [wö-w9] waves; [öw,9W] people; [böw, b9w] kind of fibre.

3. In the foUowing cases, [9] alternates, moreover, with [ë] when the environment is formed by a specific combination of consonants from the alveolar and alveopalatal set. These combinations are: js-s, s-t, t-s, t-t, j -r, j*-cj:* [sës, sjoj between Isj and jrj, the allophone [9] was always found.
   17 juj AUophones: [u], [û].

4. [u] occurs in all positions: [uc] iguana; [fu] bamboo hom; [ amb' us] sago scraper; [j uw' ut] heron.

5. In some cases [u] alternates with an allophone [û], namely, when consonants of the alveolar and alveopalatal set precede and foUow ju;' The [u] occurs in these cases only if the words are spoken slowly and emphaticaUy: [ajt'ur, ajt'ûr] fuU (of something); [cur'uw, cûruw] secret; [jims'ur, jims'ûr] stake standing in the water; [bis'ur, bis'ûr] pole; [sus'ur, sûs'ûr] kind of small bat; [jur, jûr] white cockatoo; [bis'un, bis'ûn] abdomen; [duC'ur, dûC'ûr] ancient; [jurs'uc, jûrs'ûc] longing.
   18 jëj In addition to the vowels la, e, i, 0, ui there occurs a mid-central vowel [a]. In the first place, it is found in the foUowing cases where it alternates with one of the other vowels :

6. in words in isolation; only in the unaccented position: [fas' ak, fas'ak] white; [en'am, an'am] fish; [piC'in, paC'in] skin; [Wr'ö·w, par'öw] evening; [juw'ur, jdw'Ur] dog.

7. in words in context; also in the accented position: [jö, ja] river; [dew'et, daw'at] elder brother; [dö 'nat, dö 'nat] I (stressed); [jumb'us, jam'as] with bowed head. In the second place, it does not alternate with one of the other vowels, for example in [cam' en] penis; [san'en] e1bow; [eamb'öw] abuse; [j'<:>pares] sweat; [and'öw] mother. I t also occurs in a number of verbal suffixes, such as: [-an, -ar].

The possibility of this [~] occurring only in a consonantal environment in which the other vowels do not occur, is excluded by the occurrence of word pairs, like the following:

[cern] house [ cam'an] space under the house [ bm' en] = penis [ cum' an] a burn [ cim'in] the temple (of the head) [cÇlmb'it] sponge made of young sago leaves

The following minimal pairs were also found: [ c~m' en] penis; [ cim' en] stem of a canoe; [~nd'öw] mother; [çnd'öw] thatch; 3 [aWf'eS] they saw him (from por- to see); [a~f'ES] they sat (from ap- to sit). Since [~] occurs in the accented as weIl as the unaccented position in those cases in which it alternates with the other vowels, it is not possible to regard it here as an allophone common to la, e, i, 0, u/ which is restricted to unaccented positions. Because [~] also occurs without alternating with the other vowels, in which cases I found some minimal pairs, it must be regarded as a phoneme lel Cases of alternation must be regarded as cases of phoneme alternation. The phoneme lel is then distinguished from the other vowels by its different behaviour, and because it is the only vowel phoneme without allophones.

19 To sum up one can say that the vowel phonemes form a system of three contrasting tongue heights. At the highest level, there is a contrast front-back /i-u/; at the middle level, a contrast front-central-back Ie- e - 0/; while at the lowest level only lal occurs:

u

e ë o

a

3 According to my informants, the word [<;md'öw j was used only by the people who originated from the village of Kajè. I had the impression that now only the older people within this group use it. The younger people, as well as the non-Kajè people in Suru, use the form [Qnd'owj.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

From the foregoing it is clear that a rounded allophone of jil and Gleloccurs in analogous cases, while a rounded and an unroutided Dallophone of jul and joj, respectively, occur in analogous cases. Later it will become clear that there is a close connection between lil and jul, and between lel and joj which manifests itself in their occurrence in word variants (see § 55, 56) and in allomorphs (see § 91, 98).

The consonant phonemes

Diagram of the allophones of consonant phonemes (allophones belonging

to one phoneme are enclosed within a line)

labio-inter-bilabial alveolar alveo-palatal palat. velar dental dental

un-un-un-un-un- voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced

.----- I p, pWl b t d j k

03 n f {) s, S j x ~

m n

w J

-

1 rounded lp] 2 paiatalized [t] 3 [s] with minimal friction.

The consonants are not, in general, strongly articulated. The stops do not usually have a release when they occur at the end of a word. When a final lp, t, kl is followed by a hesitation pause, a nasal release sometimes occurs: [po., tD,ktJ].

In clusters, as a rule, 'close transition' occurs; 'open transition' can occur in clusters of the type stop + stop, nasal + nasal, and stop followed or preceded by a non-homorgan nasa.

21 Ipl Allophones: [p], [n], [pW].

1. [p] occurs in all positions: [ep] tail; [pa] scale; [up'u] coconut shell; [apC' 9m] having; [kanp' 9f] kind of crab.
2. [n] alternates with [p], it would seem, only in the sequence IVpVpV I [banan'ajimb'ue] open it!
3. [pW] this allophone, it seems, is used only by ol der people. It could not be established whether it is a social characteristic, for instance, a sign of status. It occurs only before the vowel Ie;' This allophone did not occur in the speech of the regular informants. [pWer] name of a village; [pWe] crab.
   22 Itl [t]. No allophones. [tem] rattan; [bat'e] gaba-gaba; [pit] python; [tatm'a] nonsense; [ajt'ur] having a high degree of a partictllar quality.

23 Icl Allophones: [e], [e].

1. [e] occurs in all positions, except as the first consonant of a cluster (§ 51): [ cem] house; [paC' ak] bad; [apC' 9m] having, supplied with; [ue] iguana.

2. [e] was found alternating with [c] in final position in the following cases: [ic, it'] thorn; [fie, fit'] nail.
   24 Ikl Allophones: [k], [x].

3. [k] occurs in all positions: [kap] armpit; [ak' at] good; [akm' at] old; [esk' am] red; [P9k] goods.

4. [x] as an alternant of [kl was found only in a few cases; in

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

the cases noted, [x] always follows avowel: [akm' at, axm' at] old; [ atak' am, atax' am] story; [Ç1P' ak, Ç1P' ax] not.

25 jfj [f]. No allophones. [fi] empty; [uf'u] kind of shell fish; [Ç1f] rotten; [afè'in] the crust of roasted sago; [bat'akfiw] to go downstream into (a house).

28 Isl Allophones: [s], [a], [sj, [ti].

1. [s] occurs in all positions: [si] stone axe; [es'e] bag; [esp' et] shoot of the sago palm; [dems' cîncîkap] slow; [Ç1s] tree.
2. ['] alternates with [sj in normal speech, i.e., speech that is neither deliberately slow nor intentionally emphatic. In the cases noted, [0] always occurs af ter a .vowel. The phonetic quality of this allophone is difficult to define byear. I found it markedly similar to a voiceless glottal fricative [h]. When, however, I deliberately pronounced an [hl in such cases, my informants thought it ridi- culous. It is probably a weak alveolar fricative. Regrettably, I have not been succcessful in reproducing this allophone: [amb' as, amb' aS] sago; [des' en, de" en] none.

3. [s] and [ti] occur especially in the speech of older people. I got the impression that they are not alternants of [s], but that [ è] and [ti] are distributed throughout the vocabulary in a way which varies from person to person.
   27 Ir/ Allophones: [r], [rl·

4. [r] occurs in all positions except in initial position and as the last consonant of a cluster (§ 48, 53): [tèr' e] rattan leaf; [arp' uk] far away; [ir] year bird.

5. [r] '"'V [r] was found only in the speech of small children and in the speech of the regular informants. It is not beyond question that a consequence of the latter regularly speaking Malay with [r], is their using it now and then in their mother tongue.
   28 Iw j [ w]. No allophones. [wu] edible top of the sago palm; [juw'ur] dog; [öw] crocodile; [iwn'im] the water's edge; [k'afwan] dagger made from a croco-

PHONOLOGY 19

dile's jaw. [w] is of ten very weak between two identical vowe1s: [ju"'ur] dog; [ni"'i] father.

Ijl Allophones: [jl. [j], [j].

1. [j] occurs in all positions: [j9f] hole; [aj' am] name of a village; [baj] foot; [ajk'un] younger brother; [bat'amjen] name of a woman.

2. [j] and [j] altemate with [j] in initia! position: [j' 9P~res, j'9~res, j'9P~res] sweat; [jiw'i, jiw'i, fiw'i] child; [jó,jó] river.
   80 Im, nl These are two complex phonemes which present an almost complete parallel. Both phonemes have as allophones a voiced stop, its homorgan nasal, and a combination of both; nasal + stop: Iml = [bl. [ml. [mb] Inl = [d], [n], [nd]

3. The voiced stop 4 occurs in initial position, and as second member of the clusters Inm, mn/; in the latter case only if no nasal follows: [b]: [bi] nose; [besn'im] smell; [cap'inbi] land; [d]: [det] ghost; [dew' et] brother; [amd'u] towards each other.

4. The nasa! occurs in all other cases, and, in addition, in initial position before a following nasal, and also as second member of the clusters Inm, mn/, if no nasal follows. In these last cases, the stop and the nasal thus alternate: [m]: [m'imkam, b'imkam] kind of liana; [m' antam, b' antam] on the lookout; [am' an] bow; [jims'ip] door; [manm' ak, manb' ak] eye; [j9km' en] having supernatural power; [' anm[tam] morning; [9m] digging stick. [n]: [namb'ir, damb'ir] dead; [ank' 9s] centipede; [tamn' am] kind of duck; [akn'im] angry; [jamn'9k, jamd'9k] two; [en'am] fish; [jin'a] knee; [s~n' en] elbow.
5. In the following cases, the nasal and the combination nasal + voiced homorgan stop, alternate:
   a) between two vowels, when no nasalor final lal follows: [mem'ap, memb'ap] to sit down; [em'atm9f, emb'atm9r] he cut down; [~n'öw, ;md'öw] mother; [min'9, mind'9] lump.
   4 In initial position the voiced stop is often preceded by a very weak homorgan nasa!. This has not been indicated in the phonetic spelling.

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

b) as second member of a cluster ~ Inm, mnl provided no nasal follows: [jitm'up, jitmb'up] the sea; [tasm'a, tasmb'a] beautiful, powerful. No cases were found of [ n] '"'., [ nd], though [ n] as weIl as [nd] was found in comparabie environments: [k<.>k'<.>jndiew'erl to fall down continually (ripe fruit); as weIl as: [lik' ajni' d] it toppled over, broken (of a tree).
81 The consonant system can now be set out as follows:

P t c k

f s

m n

w r

11 SPECIAL PHONOLOGICAL PHENOMENA

Introductlon

82 The term special phonological phenomena is used here to denote a number of speech sounds which do not fit into the phonological system as described in the preceding paragraphs. These speech sounds are found in a restricted part of the vocabulary: in onomatopoeia, interjections and proper names, and aJso in some special forms of speech, i.e. when speaking in a kindly or affectionate manner, and when people call out to each other. In the following paragraphs will he discussed: 1) one allophone occurring in a position in which it occurs not otherwise; 2) five particular phoneme modifications; 3) three sounds that stand completely by themselves.5

11 The special phonologica1 phenomena described in § 33 to § 38 will be indicated in the phonematic spelling as follows: [e]: è. prolongation of the vowe1 by a macron: joj laryngalization by a broken underlining. the alveopalatal nasal: nj the voiceless glottal fricative: h ['m] : 'm,' Cts] : ts; [pr]: pr.

The occurrence of aR aUophone in a position in which it occurs not otherwise

SS The [El allophone of the phoneme lel occurs in final position in:

the word [kaj'e] name of a village two forms of the verb: these will be discussed in § 135 and § 140. interjections : [we] ouch! onomatopoeia: [kekeke] the screaming of the joe bird; [lij' e lij' e lij' e] imitating laughter.

a kindly manner of speaking; the [e] can then occur at the end of every final word of a word group. Here it is regarded as a feature typical of the speech of women; men use [ 0], unless they are mimicking a woman. So, a woman will say:

[ji, ndC;>f mb'oe] hey, my husband! hey my husband

And a man will say:

['c;> nat 'is esc9w'o] now, you go to sleep! you pp 6 sleep /you must!

The [e], however, occurs in the speech of men and women, when they give expression to astrong emotion:

[n9n s'awe] Oh, Mrs! (a pity you are going). Mrs. pity

In this case, the [El can be prolonged (see § 34).

Particular phoneme modifications

1. Prolongation of vowels occurs: in interjections : [j9"i] exc1amation of surprise
   [ba·] Oh no! Really!

uuup and dooown; (said of a fish jumping high out of the water);

6 pp = postposition. (See § 245-261). Since postpositions mostly are untrans- latabie in a word by word translation, they will be marked here by pp.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

[d·] (laryngalized, see § 35) reproducing the screaming of a crowd of people.

In addition, I found the forms [jin'irlÎC'i·na, jin'ira·] 'exceptionally beautiful' in which the prolongation of the vowel stresses the high degree of beauty.

Prolongation of the vowe1 also occurs in final [e] and [0], already mentioned in § 33: [ d9f9m' umo·] my dear one! (expression of affection ); and in final [a] which can be suffixed to the last word of each word group when people address each other or call out to each other. This final [a] is sometimes very long drawn out:

[9 C' ama·] Who are you ? you who [wu jaC' a j ow' ow mböw' a·] hey there! Who are those people? hey there which people pp

A long vowe1 [ä, e·, d·] is sometimes suffixed to a word in order to indicate the duration of a happening, or to lay emphasis on its continuation :

[t'owa·] (they gathered continually) sago grubs.
sago grubs ....
[' amsesmb' eSd·] they slept and slept. [ èf' en 'lÎwi tepef' e·] upstream jhe walked quickly j he walked quickly further and further upstream.

35

2. Laryngalization of vowels and voiced consonants occurs when the speaker is quoting a word or words shouted by a crowd of people. When the speaker is speaking softly, laryngalization can result in unvoicing: [ d·] (voiceless) scream of horror; [ji'a·] (voiceless) cry of amazement;

[yJ (voiceless, rising to voiced) war cry;

lji~'! è~,: ~'~~ç:p~'~~,:.] quickly, bring the child upstream! child quickly /bring it upstreamj

4. Palatalization of the alveolar nasal [n] occurs sometimes In onomatopoeia, in initial position only : [ne[, fier], or [n' 9ma, n' 9ma ..] indicating the gnawing of maggots devouring a corpse, or the gnawing of sago grubs. [na na na] indicating the mmmm when a great crowd of people are talking together. 37
5. A short glottalized bilabial nasa I r'ml occurs as an interjection, and indicates a vigorous start to an act or happening: ['m! '0 nim jak k'aju k'aju 'etëtërmb'ar araw 'un] m! pig like heart thump thump Ibegan it of each to dol pp pp Then their hearts began to thump like the hearts of wild pigs! (§ 334). Sounds which stand completely by themselves 38
1. A voice1ess glottal fricative [h] which occurs in the stereotyped sign of agreement [hehe], and in the interjection [ha]! ah!
2. An alveolar click [ts] : an interjection expressing annoyance.
3. A bilabial trill with 'mouth air' 7 [pr 1 : an interjection indicating that one finds something very beautiful or impressive. III THE ACCENT Introduct1on 39 To the most recent investigations in the field of accent belong the studies of the American linguist D. L. Bolinger. In 1958, the results of a number of experiments he had made were published.8These showed that the most important cue in determining stress in English is what he terms 'prominence of pitch', i.e. ua rapid and relative1y 7 I owe this term to: K. L. Pike, Phonetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1958, p. 93. 8 Bolinger, D. L., A Theory of Pitch Accent in English, Word 14, 1958, pp. 109-149.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

wide departure from a smooth or undulating contour".9 By 'departure' Bolinger means a deviation in a contour which then continues in the same pitch .-or-. -, as weU as a sudden rise _ or fall -, af ter which it continues on a higher or a lower level. With regard to Asmat, it could be established that in most cases the accent is accompanied by a c1ear and sudden rise or fall of the pitch. Four cases can be distinguished:

1. The accented vowel has a higher tone than the rest of the contour:

2. The accented vowel has a higher tone than the contour preceding it :
   .-

3. The accented vowel has a lower tone than the contour preceding it:
   .-

4. The accented vowel bas a higher tone than the contour following it:
   -.

It is c1ear that in 3, and 4 'pitch' alone does not determine the accent. There must be other factors that cause the difference. Bolinger, who describes a parallel case in English, attributes the determination of accent in this case to different factors: context, phonetic reduction, and contiguous 'unaccentables'.10 It is not possible, however, for me to determine in how far similar factors are also active in Asmat. This would require special investigation. There are also cases in which I noted accent without being able to discern a deviation in the pitch by ear. Insome of these cases it could he established tbat the accented vowel was rather longer than the contiguous non-accented vowels. It was of ten not possible, however, to determine by ear what the accent-determining factors were.ll

9 Id. p. 112. 10 Id. pp. 136, 137. 11 In the above mentioned article, Bolinger remarks that psychological factors play a role in the interpretation of phonetic data as accent: data interpretable as accent may be ignored by a person speaking his mother tongue, when they occur in places where he knows from experience that there is no accent. (p. 136, 137). This presents the possibility that, on the one hand, a Iinguist

The genera! principle of accentuatlon

40 The general principle of accentuation is: there is a regular alternation of accented and unaccented vowels. In certain cases, however, sequenees of two, at most three, unaccented vowels occur. Furthermore, there are some cases of multi-vowelled onomatopoeia in which no alternation of accented and unaccented vowels is found:

~nnnn imitating the sound produced by many small objects falling down. sesesese imitating the hissing of fire as it is put OUt.12

The factors which co-operate to pro duce the accent pattern of a word are: the morphological structure of the word, and the accents of contiguous words in the context.

Words In lsolatlon

1. M onomorphematic words: 41 Here the general principle applies without exception. Words having two vowels: As a mIe, these have the accent on the second vowel. In the material I collected, the following words, however, have the accent on the first vowel:

ud a tree fallen over a river

working on a language foreign to him, interprets phonetic data as accent where the man speaking his mother tongue would not do so, and on the other, that he errs in ignoring phonetic data when they occur in places where he does not anticipate them. So, the fact that most words with two vowels have the accent on the second vowel, caused me to over look for a considerable time a number of cases in which the accent falls on the first vowel. 12 More cases will he given in § 237. 13 Loan-word from Malay (rit ja).

TUE ASMAT LANGUAGE

mUM octopus

mácir

cámuw sound of wood being chopped

kófo káju

l onomatopoeia ind;""ting a ,lap, 'pIMh or IIMh.

cáka pére

jáka

~ deictic words (§§ 225, 226).

átar

A numher of minimal pairs were found in which the accent appears to he distinctive : cámuw sound of wood being chopped -camûw (going) on foot umu crown of a palm tree -umtt name of a feast usi a tree fallen over a river -usi camp éco kind of frog -ecó revenge jókmen tongs -jokmén having supernatural power

W ords having three vowe1s : These have an accent on the first and the third vowel. As a rule, the last vowe1 is stressed more strongly than the first :

usawic banana jicemup the sea

An exception is the word canupir, pelican.

42

2. Polymorphematic words.14 The general principle of accentuation also applies to these words with, however, the limitation that in specific cases, to be mentioned later, a sequence of two unaccented vowels occurs. With regard to the position of the accent, or the first accent where the word concerned has more than one accent, the following rules apply :
1. The accent falls on the first vowel when the first morpheme has only one vowel : ó·few relatives jó.mopán hird of paradise. The accent falls on the second vowel, however, when in compound words, the second morpheme has an accent on the first vowel when it occurs as a word (see § 41): om.ócen spear (óccn) of which the top of the shaft is shaped like
a digging stick (om).

No cases were found of the theoretically possible combination :

v.'vv'v
A number of compound words having two vowels were noted which, contrary to Rule 1, have the accent on the second vowel. These are:

14 In the following paragraphs, the signs given below wil! be used: v morpheme with one vowel vv morpheme with two vowels vvv morpheme with three vowels 'v accented vowel junction between two morphemes, for example: wa.sén, the forest. However, the junction between a verbal core and verbal affixes will be shown by a dash: -, for example: má-ni.fewer-ic go home and take it! For the term core, see § 64).

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

the forest mi.tá nasal mucus fadn the skin of the cuscus (Jac + cin) udn the skin of the iguana (uc + cin)

2. The accent falls on the second vowe1 when the first morpheme has two vowe1s:
   

   emén.metén calf band

Words with two vowels, having the accent on the first vowe1, however, retain this accent when they occur as first member of a compound word:

jipir.sám to wrestle

Some cases of regular accentuation are:

Monomorphematic words having two vowels, of which the first vowe1 is accented, appear to retain this accent when they occur as first member of a compound word or when, as a second member, they are preceded by a morpheme having one vowel. When, however, they occur as second member of a compound word and are preceded by a morpheme having two vowels of which the second vowe1 is accented then, in agreement with the general principle of accentuation, the accent faUs on the second vowel:

akám, nipa palm; umu, crown; akám.1tmU, crown of the nipa palm (proper name).

No cases were found of the theoretically possible combination 'vv'v.v'v, from 'vv'v, and 'vvo

44 Sequences of two unaccented vowe1s occur In the following cases:

1. When an accented vowel is followed by:

a) three morphemes, each of which has one vowel, the last morpheme being final or penultimate : tów.om.iw.tám to bring something inside for someone; tów.om.iw.tám-cemés they will bring it inside for someone. But: á-mit.áp.m-ac.és when they had stabbed him;
b) a morpheme having one vowe1 and a morpheme having two: pór.jar.awér to go and look at (something) continually. No cases were found in which the morpheme with two vowe1s has the accent on the first vowe1 when it occurs as a word.
2. In the morpheme combination : vv.vv, in which the first morpheme be10ngs to the exceptions which always have the accent on the first vowel (see § 41): umu.nakáp full pákaj.amis all to lie together 15 No cases were found of the theoretically possible combinations 'vv.v.'v; 'vv.v.'v.v'v; 'vv.v.'v.vv'v.
3. A sequence of two unaccented vowels can also occur in:
a) the imperative forms of the verb (§ 116);
b) shouted words, to which the vowe1*-a* is suffixed (§ 34).
In these cases, the last vowel of the word is always accented. When a morpheme of the type vv is followed by this accented vowel, this morpheme is unaccented if it is also preceded by an accented vowel, as for example in:

mé-tewér to take-mé-tewer-ic take it! Tewér.awuc T. Tewér.au'uc.á hey, T! (woman's name).

But when this is not the case, it has an accent on the first vowe1, as for example in:

niwi father niwi.á hey, father !

15 pákaj is not included in the list given in § 41, because it is a bound morpheme (verbal formative, see § 67).

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

Words In context

45 The principle of the regular alternation of accented and unaccented vowels also operates in word sequences, though not so rigidly as within a word. This is expressed by:

1. the accentuation of words with one vowe1; this appears to be governed by this principle, as for example in: wun ow nát cem máp emétePákajpites in some people pp houses ahead /had gone upriver and sat togetherl pp some of the people had gone ahead upriver to their houses and sat there together.
2. the influence which accents m words in sequence can have on each other:
   a. words which in isolation have an accent on the first vowel, do not have this accent when, in context, a word with final accent precedes it; or, instead of it, have an accent on the second vowe1:
   

   ém-or.ém you made it.

a pó ca ém-or.ém who made this paddie ? this paddIe who Iyou made it/

a pó cá em-or.ém who made this paddie ? this paddIe who Iyou made itl

má.ne.m-or.ém you chopped down.

ucim os má.ne.m-or.ém which tree have you chopped down? which tree Iyou chopped downl

os cá ma.né.m-or.ém who has chopped down the tree. tree who Iyou chopped downl

b. words which in isolation have an accent on the last vowel do not have this accent when, in context, a word with initial accent follows it; or, instead, have an accent on the penultimate vowel: usawic banana

usawic é banana leaf

PHONOLOGY 31

pomán 'the other side'

póman cém, póman cém the houses on both sides (of the river). /other side/ house, /other sideJ house

Contrary to the general principle, sequences of two accented vowels can occur in context. Unfortunately, I have not been able to discover any definite regularity in their occurrence.

]omót áwse aráw here lies the (river)]omót (§ 309). Jom6t /here it is/ pp

esé jmu anmuc/ make a carrying bag! (§ 284). bag /make itj

jimsip ónoká bolt the door! (§ 292). door bolt

47 Because the rules of accentuation presuppose an insight into the morpheme structure of the Asmat words which cannot be expected from readers without a fair knowledge of the Asmat language, and because in context changes in the accentuation of words of ten occur, the accents will be shown throughout this work, except in the lists of verbal cores 15" given in §§ 100-103, and in the verbal cores, given in the word list.15b

IV THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES IN THE WORD

Single vowels and consonants

48 All vowe1s occur word-initially, word-medially and word-finally, except e which does not occur word-finally. I found only the following exceptions to this rule: a) the onomato-

15. For this term, see §§ 64-69. 15" The reasons for not showing the accents in these cases are: a. that only a few cores were found in isolation; b. that the morphological structure of many cores is still not ful!y known. In many cases it is therefore impossible to tel! how the core in isolation wil! be accentuated.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

poeic words sesese hissing of fire as it is put out, and fefefefe the sound of the wind; b) the words with the long final e mentioned in § 34.

All consonants occur word-initially, word-medially and word-finally, except r which does not occur word-initially.

Vowel sequences

49 Here, the following rules apply :

1. In monomorphematic words, vowel sequences do not occur. I found two exceptions to this rule: MaitjMajit the name of a ceremonial house in SurU fait j faunc joke
2. In polymorphematic words sequenees of only two vowe1s occur; the first vowe1 always is a morpheme-final vowel, the second one a morpheme-initial vowel. H The following combinations of vowels were found: word-initia! :
   they went on the way down river

they repeated1y press

word-media! :

roll it up for me!

~a

~e

10 ~u

word-final :

Here, the second vowel is always one of the three vowels: a, 0 and è which are discussed in § 33 and 34.

ea maré.a enGugh !; stop! eo maré.o it's done now za niwi.á father ! iè uci.è what's the matter! 10 ém.ams-i.o I lay down oa tÓ.a tomorrow! ua mÛ.a water! oè nor mÓ.è my husband!

The following vowe1 combinations we re not found 111 this material :

word-initial: ae, ai, au; ee, eu; eV; iV; uV. word-medial : ae, au; ei, eu; cV; ii; oe, oi, 00, ou; ui, uu. word-final: Ve; a V; ei, eu, ee; cV; ii, iu; oi, 00, ou.

Consonant sequences

51 Here, the following rules apply:

1. Consonant sequences occur only word-mcdially; scquences of more than two consonants do not occur.

LANGUAGE

2. sequences of two identical consonants cannot occur; consequently, in polymorphematic words, only one consonant is found instead of two identical consonants wherever one would expect a sequence of two identical consonants to occur because of the constituent morphemes: mánakap little hand; from man hand, and*-nakap,* diminutive suffix. tépor to go upstream to look at; from tep to go upstream, and por to look at.
3. The sequence e + non-identical consonant cannot occur; consequently, in polymorphematic words, t is found instead of cC (C ~ e) wherever one would expect this sequence to occur because of the constituent morphemes: eowutnakap little woman; from eowue woman, and*-nakap,* diminutive suffix. motni to return while crying; from moe to cry, and ni to return.
4. The sequence te cannot occur; consequently, in polymorphematic words, only e is found instead of te wherever one would expect te to occur because of the constituent morphemes:

16 1t is not within the scope of this material to answer the question whether definite consonant combinations do occur in polymorphematic words but do not occur in monomorphematic words. For the sake of completeness, however, and where it is possible, af ter each consonant combination I give an instance where such a combination occurs in a monomorphematic word, as wel1 as one in which it is the result of word derivation or composition.

pj

tn

tf tw tj

kt

kf

kj to go downstream and put together

mi

mk

ASMAT LANGUAGE

mf mw

late nt

nm

nf

sw sj

wt

wk

wf wj

jt

ajl~ûn tép.taj.l~û

jf

arpûl~

rw rj

ASMAT LANGUAGE

The following consonant combinations were not found in this material : Cr; fp, ft, fk, tw, fj; ns, nj; pw.

V WORD-VARIANTS

Types of varIants

A number of words were found which have two or more variants. These variants fall into two groups: conditioned variants, and free variants. Conditioned variants are variants which:

a) exclude each other in all contexts, or:
b) exclude each other in some contexts, and alternate in others, or:
c) alternate only in specific contexts. Conditioned variants are found among the deictic words, verbal forms,
and postpositions. They will be discussed in §§ 129, 146, 208-212, 221, 229, 232, 245, 258 and 259. Free variants alternate freely in any context. Only these wilt be treated here.

Free varlants

54 In most cases, the free variants form pairs, of which the members appear to differ exclusively, or almost exclusively, from each other in one of the following points:

1. the one has i where the other has u
2. the one has e where the other has 0
3. the one has c where the other has t
4. the one has 'ltl which is absent in the other
5. the one has j which is absent in the other
6. the one has avowel which is absent in the other.
   55 Pairs of variants of which the one member has i whereas the other has u, are: jifó-jufó cold jiwUs-juwus name jimsip-jumcip door

to go aboard and depart -jukurum to squeeze out all (sago pulp) jur white cockatoo

Pairs of variants of which the one member has e, whereas the second has 0, are:

57 Pairs of variants of which the one member has e, whereas the other member has t: 17 Words which in isolation always have a fjnal e, in context alternate freely with a form with final t; for example:

moe crying arám mot, moe, mot, mot, mot. .. he cried and cried and cried ...
he crying ....

Variants with non-final e and t are: ei ti canoe

Pairs of variants of which the one member has w, which is absent in the other, are:

man ~

they go with him inside (the house)

17 cent of this dialect. This is suggested by the close relationship between c and t, which appears from their distribution and their role in word-variation and also from the fact that the phoneme c does not occur in the dialects spoken in the interior and along the Casuarinen Coast.

LANGUAGE

When w occurs in the one variant between two identical vowels, the other variant has V instead of VwV:

kuwUs-kus head niwl-ni father nuwuw nuw to go aboard and depart tewér-ter to take

59 Pairs of variants of which the one member has j which is absent in the other, are:

M ajU-M aU name of a ceremonial house in Suru fW'tJM iwis to go quickly to the forest éwtePkojér-éwtepkoér (the fruit) feIl from above

60 Pairs of variants of which one member has avowel which is absent in the other, are:

aJfmsomfcemes-ájimsomitmes they pull him up with them manuwUw-manwuw (in order) to go aboard and depart ajisic-ajsic go to the forest! misiti-misti stand up! mápacájkukuás-mapcájkukuás (in order) to disperse In all directions.

Although these variants appear to alternate freely, there is a c1ear distinction as to their frequency, which is determined by the speed of speaking: the variant having this vowel occurs mostly in deliberately slow speech, whereas the variant in which this vowel is absent, occurs mostly in normal or quick speech.

61 In addition to the preceding cases a number of isolated cases of free variation were noted. In these cases the same formal difference was not found to recur in a series of pairs of variants. I will give here only the variants of two words which occur frequently in the texts:

1. másinerim, másnerim, masirim, miserîm, masnim then, thereupon.
2. mariw, maréw; mari, maré ready, finished.

WORD-CLASSES

I INTRODUCTION : MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

62 The following morphological processes occur:

A. Frequently occurring processes:
1. suffixation: occurs with verbs, substantives, proper names, adjectives, and personal-possessive pronouns.
2. prefixation : occurs only with verbs.
3. reduplication: occurs only within the core of the verb and consists of the repetition of the first two phonemes of the under-Iying form. When the latter consists of two phonemes only, this process results in duplication (§ 79).
4. composition: occurs with verbs, proper names and substantives.
B. Processes occurring exceptionally :
S. infixation: was only found to occur instead of prefixation within the core of the verb in three cases (§ 76).
6. infixation, simultaneous with suffixation: was only found to occur instead of suffixation within the core of the verb in three cases (§ 82).
7. modification: was only found instead of prefixation in one case (§ 76).
8. multiplication: only two cases were noted: one of triplication of an adjective (§ 200) and one of quadruplication of a verbal root (§ 79).
II THE VERB

Introductlon

From the preceding survey of the morphological processes, it IS

ASMAT LANGUAGE

clear that the word-class of the verb is distinguished from the other word-classes by the fact that all these processes occur within it, whereas outside the word-c1ass of the verb only suffixation and composition occur. Of the morphological processes which occur only within the word-class of the verb, only prefixation can occur with all verbs, and therefore is characteristic of the verb as a whoie: an Asmat verb could be defined as a word which is, or can be, prefixed. The morphological structure of the verb which is of ten very com-plicated, in comparison to the structllre of non-verbs, makes it necessary to divide the description of the verb into three parts:

1. a genera! survey of the morphological structllre of verba! forms and of the relation between the core-morphology and the word-morphology of the verb;
2. the core-morphology;
3. the word-morphology.
   General survey of the structure of verbal forms

C ore and peripheral part

64 Within the verb, two parts can be distinbuished which are to a certain degree independent of each other, name1y:

1. a central part, which will be termed the core of the verb;
2. a peripheral part. The verba! core can he monomorphematic or polymorphematic. The peripheral part consists of prefixes andjor suffixes added to the core. The mutual independenee of the core and the peripheral part shows itself in a differenee in internal organization which makes a separate description of the two parts necessary. Their mutual dependence shows itself in the fact that: a. a verb consists either of a core, or of a core + peripheral part, but never of a peripheral part alone; and b. there are a number of verbal categories that do not occur with cores ending with the morphemes itum, es, it or awer (see §§ 91-94).

The morphological structure of the core

Only provisional observations can be made here about the structure of the core. The reason for this is that the main point of research, as regards the verb, was an investigation into the verbal categories. An insight into the structure of the verbal system proved to be a pre- requisite if I were to understand and to speak the Asmat language. The relative independence of the core made it possible, temporarily to leave its structure outside consideration. Since, however, research into the verbal categories took most of the available time, there was none left for a systematic examination of the cores. This remains one of the most important tasks for future research. Consequently, the paragraphs on core-structure, as well as the paragraphs on core-morphology, represent only a preliminary reconnaissance in the field. The picture of the core-structure given here is for the main part based on indirect information, i.e. information obtained from an analysis of a specific corpus of verbal cores of which only a small part was elicited from the informants with this analysis in view. This corpus of verbal cores consists of -+-3,000 cores, of which -+-1,200 occur in the texts to he appended to this grammatica! description.

86 Among the morphemes of which a core can consist, first a number of roots can he distinguished. The following will he considered to he roots:

1. The morphemes that can occur as a core of averb, for example: ap to sit; tak to go downstream; tewér to take

2. The morphemes that were not found as a core, but which appear to he allomorphs of morphemes that occur as cores, for example: occurring as a care:
   not occurring as a core: en mer to go upstream amis amés to lie (down) The distribution of these allomorphs will be dealt with in § 97-100.

3. The morphemes that were not found as the core of a verb, but that do occur as a word within another word-class, i.e. cases of transposition. For example:

ASMAT LANGUAGE

siri quick (adjective) áp.siri to break into a run kiki close together (adjective) kiki.m to put close together.

87 Secondly: among the remaining morphemes that were not found as cores, a number can be distinguished which have the character of affixes. These are morphemes that conform to the foIlowing criteria:

1. they occur in a series of forms;
2. their position in relation to the root is constant: they are either always placed before it, or always behind it;
3. they add to the core a specific semantic element;
4. they do not occur in combination with each other as a core;
5. there can be established a relative order in wruch they occur In relation to the root. In order to distinguish these morphemes from the affixes of the peripheral part, they will henceforth be termed formatives. Formatives are for example: o/or-again;-tam on behalf of The formatives wiIl be discussed further In the core-morphology (§ 71-1(0). The grouping of the corpus of core-morphemes now presents the following picture:
   as components of a core-as a core not as a core I (root-roots allomorphs ) formatives rest

(cases of transposition)

88 The group comprising the rest (rest-group) consists of:

1. a number of morphemes of which it cannot be said with certainty whether they belong to the formatives or to the roots. These fall into:

a. a number that were not found in combination with formatives.
b. a number that occur with formatives. The fact that these morphemes can occur with fortnatives could be an indication that we are here dealing with roots. This applies particularly to those morphemes which, in combination with formatives, were found to occur as a root, such as: co 'hidden' in cores as: có.ap to sit hidden; co.m to hide something (co + formative*-m/Vm,* cf § 81). Here the possibility must be taken into consideration that a third category of morphemes occurs within the rest-group, namely, morphemes that cannot occur as a core but which have certain characteristics in common with roots. The morphemes naw 'coming' and as 'away' neither of which can occur as a core, would belong to this category. Both morphemes can occur with the formative -mjVm (see § 101, nr 4 and 8).
2. a residu of forms of which the constituent morphemes could not yet be identified andjor, of which the meaning is not known with certainty. Complete lists of the morphemes and residual forms belonging to the rest-group will be added to the core-morphology. 69 Survey of the root-formative structures, occurring in cores. The following survey will, naturally, be limited to those cores of which all the constituent morphemes could be identified as root or formative. These cores fall into four groups:
I. Those, consisting of a root 1I. Those, consisting of more than one root
lIl. Those, consisting of a root + one or more formatives IV. Those, consisting of more than one root + one or more formatives.

The following symbols wi1\ be used here:

R root f-prefixed formative -f suffixed formative fi, placed before R infixed formative.

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

ap to sit; onór to carry something on the back

tép.ap to go upstream and stay ni.ma.tiw to return and chop down

éw.ni to return from

s.om.it to stand up with something (in the hand); from: sit to stand up. pór.om to show, to cause to see éw.om.sé to row with something from jik.tam.pór to try to tie something up for someone sá.saká.m to cut into pieces
s.um.ut.'um to cause to stand up;
from: sil to stand up. é.m.tam.pór to try to make something for someone

ó.jis.pór to go outside again to have a look at fá.m.tiw to burn a lying object jim.s.om.U to pull someone up tów.o.ni to bring something to the river fá.m.o.p to sit by someone until the morning ni.tiw.tam.pór to try to put down on behalf of someone éw.ni.om.uw to go down from (the house) and go aboard with (something) ó.fasi.m.tewér to take up where one left off (a story) taká.m.ne.m to cause to go below through an opening ó.wu.ap.óm to bury something again jis.kawi.m.tiw to go outside and put down s?me- thing against ni.tew.sé.m to go to the river and lay something in the water si.si.m.ka.kami.m.tiw to wash ashore many objects (subject = the water).

70 The morphological structure of the peripheral part.

The peripheral part can consist of: a prefix, or: 1, 2, 3 or 4 suffixes, or: a combination of 1 or 2 prefixes and 1, 2, 3 or 4 suffixes. The

peripheral part can also he absent: the core can occur as a word (see § 107).

Survey of the structures of the peripheral part. The following symbols will he used here:

S

now?

Core·morphology

Fonnatives which occur prefi.red to a root

71 *em j om-*This formative was only found with the roots amis, to lie; ap, to sit; em, to stand; tep, to be above; se, to be on or in the water. *om-*only oeeurs in comhination with the formative ojom/otjoc- (§ 76): óm.óp to go and sit hy someone. ó1n.o.mis to go and lie with someone.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

The difference in meaning between roots with and without this formative seems to he that the roots without *em/om-*mean: 'to he' or 'to move', of a subject which helongs to the 'lying', 'standing', 'flying' or 'swimming' class of things,l whereas the roots with *em/om-*denote the actual action of lying, sitting, etc. The roots with *em/om-*have, moreover, an inchoative element of meaning: they can mean: to lie down, to sit down, etc. ap 'to he, to move', of a 'sitting' subject. ém.ap to sit, to sit down.

*ew-*from, out of, since. fis to come outside; éw.fis to come outside from (a house). kekém to sew something up; éw-kekém to sew something up from a particular point; to be sewing something from a particular point in time. Found in 39 cores.

73 ~nm-indicates: 1) plurality of subject; 2) that the subject is walking. tep to go upstream (rowing or walking); irim.tep to walk upstream wit many people. Found in 6 cores.

74 *jam-*indicates that the subject or object is bulky, or that it consists of a quantity of component parts. It refers, for example to a bunch of fruit, a bundie of arrows, a crowd of people. tep to hang, to he up in the air; jám.tep to hang; of a large object, or a bundle, a bunch of objects. ni to go downriver; jám.ni to go downriver; of a large animal, of a crowd of people together. Found in 24 cores.

1 The Asmat people divide all existing things into these five 'position' classes. In general, it can be said that anything that is tall and slender 'stands' (e.g. trees, upright poles, and men); anything that is about as high as it is broad 'sits' (e.g. houses, carrying bags, and also women); anything that is much broader than it is high, or is low to the ground, 'lies' (fallen trees, small animais, reptiles, the just-risen sun or moon). The fourth class contains anything in or on the water (e.g. canoes, fishes, and also rivers); the fifth class contains anything that is above eye-level (e.g. flying animais, hanging objects, objeets stored away on the rafters of the house).

75 *%r-*again, anew. *0-*occurs before a consonant. *0-*alternates with *or-*before avowel, except when this vowel is followed by another vowel, or if avowel precedes the formative. In such cases *or-*always occurs:

mow ap to split off pandan fibres Jpandan fibres / to split off/ mow ó.ap / ór.ap to split oH pandan fibres again mow á-or.ap-ór she split oH pandan fibres again.

e to say. é-o.f I said; ór-e-ó.f I said again. Found in 37 cores.

76 *%m/ot/oc-*indicates that the subject is holding something, is accompanying someone, is on the way to someone, or is busy with something. This formative was only found with the roots amis, ap, em, tep, and se (see § 71) and with roots which indicate a going in a particular direction.

*0-*occurs with:

The following roots, af ter 0-, have an allomorph without initial vowel: ap o.p to sit with, by; or, busy with something em o.m to stand with, by; busy with amis o.mis to lie with, by; busy with es o.s to come here with; busy with

*om-*occurs with: jir /ir óm.ir to cross the river with; towards someone jis/is/us: óm.is to go landwards with; towards someone jiw/iw óm.iw to enter with; to go inside towards someone. (Of these roots, the allomorph without initial j occurs af ter an m)

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

01-

(the allomorph in occurs only in combination with oe)

Instead of prefixation the exceptional processes of infixation and modification occur with this formative. Infixation occurs in the following three cases:

(There occurs also a form fiw.om.iw. which has the same meaning as fómiw; here iw is an allomorph of jiw which also means 'to go inside'.)

Modification occurs in: tep : top to hang with, by

This is the only case of modification I found.

77 pákaj 'with many together'. pákaj was only found with the roots amis, ap, em, tep and· se (see § 71). ap to sit; pákaj.áp to sit together with many.

78 tew indicates the beginning of an action. po ji to row paddIe Ito dol po téw.ji to start to row

o.s to come here with; téw.o.s to leave here with.

jiniw.jar to go with everyone (walking); téw.jiniw.jar to set out with everyone (walking). Found in 12 cores.

Finally, I treat as a prefixed formative the element which is added to the root by the process of (re)duplication. In all cases I noted, this process consists of the repetition of the first two phonemes of the underlying form. If this form consists of only two phonemes, the result is duplication.

Reduplication, or duplication, indicates that the action is repeated a number of times, or that the action is itself repetitive. erém to tear something; ér.erém to tear something to pieces. si.m to shift something; si.si.m to shift something repeatedly. ciki.m, ci.ciki.m to wash something.

One case was found in which the non-reduplicated root has initial a, whereas the reduplicated root has initial e: apér to make a test hole in the bark of the sago palm áP.epér to make test holes.

In one case, quadruplication of a CV root was found: si to dig(in); á-si.si.si.si-ác af ter he had dug them in (the glowing coals in the ashes)....

The prefixed formatives do not occur with all roots equally. On the basis of their distribution, it appears to be possible to classify the roots in three groups, namely:

1. amis, ap, em, tep, se: 'positional roots';
2. roots that indicate a going in a particular direction, 'directional roots';
3. other roots; as will appear from the following survey.

ew-+ + + jam-

+ + +

%r-

+ + +

%m/ot/oc- + + tew- + + em/om- + pákaj- + irim- + reduplication +

+ = found-= not found

Formatives which occur suffixed to a root

81 -m/Vm By means of*-m/Vm* transitive or causative cores can he formed from intransitive roots, and causative cores from transitive roots.

-m occurs:

1. Af ter avowel: kawi to add oneself to; kawi.m to add something to. an/na to eat (see § 98); na.m. to cause to eat, to give to eat. Of roots which have two allomorphs, one with and one without fina! j or w, the allomorph without j or w always occurs with this formative: sakáj to be broken; saká.m to break something. uw to go aboard; u.m to cause to go aboard.
2. Af ter a consonant, when avowel follows the formative: ap to sit; áp.om to cause to sit; ap.m-ór he made him sit.
   

   -Vm occurs:

Af ter a consonant, if no vowel follows the formative. The vowel of*-Vm,* as a ruIe, harmonizes with the (last) vowel of the root to which it is added. tak to go downstream; ták.am to cause to go downstream. onór to carry something on the back; onór.om to cause to carry something on the back.

Exceptions to this rule are: ap to sit; áp.om to cause to sit. tep to go upstream; tép.om, táp.om to cause to go upstream.

82 In three cases suffixation of*-Vm* occurs simultaneously with infixation of*-Vm:* sit to get up; s.um.ut.ttm to cause to get up. fiw to go inside; f.im.u.m to cause to go inside. fis to come inside, to come outside; f.im.us.um to cause to come inside, or outside.

These three roots each have an allomorph with u instead of i, which occurs only in this case (see § 98).

ss Two positional roots cannot be combined with*-m/Vm:*

em can mean 'to stand' as weIl as 'to cause to be stood up, to put down' (of a 'standing' object) amis, to lie, does not occur with the meaning 'to lay, to put down' (a 'lying' object); in place of it, another root is used: tiw, to lay, to put down.

84 -m/Vm bas a particular value 2 in such cases as:

(faj to bum; fa.m to cause to bum; ap to sit, to stay): jo fá.m.ap to stay somewhere until the sun begins to shine. sun

(pu to rise; pu.m to cause to rise; em to stand, to stay): jo pu.m.em to stay somewhere until the sun rises.

(jis to go outside) : pir jamnók jis.m.ap moon two to stay somewhere until two 'months' have elapsed.

2 In using the term meaning exc1usive1y for the semantic aspect of words, and the term value for the semantic aspect of parts of words, or morphemes, I follow E. M. Uhlenbeck and A. Reichling. See: E. M. Uhlenbeck, De systematiek der Javaanse pronomina, VKI 30, Den Haag 1960, Inleiding p. 2; and: A. Reichling, Verzamelde studies, Zwolle 1962, p. 43.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

81S In addition, there are a number of cases in which the value of this formative is not clear to me; such as in : nUa.m, having apparently the same meaning as the underlying form nî.taj 'to return and reach', in: támnakap nUa.m-or jmorning-a-bit j she arrivedj she arrived (home) towards the end of the morning,

when compared with: cém norpá ma.ni.táj I 'Il arrive home alone. house 11 alone I shall arrivej

and ot.m, apparently meaning the same as ot, 'to touch', in: wá ot.m.enáw-or.és they came, brushing along the trees, trees Itouching them they camel

when compared with: amás a Pimnakap átemet.ót.ap-er sago there Inear-edge I it rose-touched-satl the sago had almost risen to the edge.

88 A number of cases were noted in which by the suffixation of*-m/Vm* a word belonging to another word-class is transposed to the word-class of the verb. These cases are: fek, fak (adjective) broken, damaged; fal?ám to break, to damage. kapi (adjective) shut, closed; kapi.m to shut, to close. kiki close together (adjective); kiki.m to put closely together. parsá, porsá disorderly, scattered about here and there (adjective?); parsá.m to scatter. ~r~n.. .. onomatopoeia, indicating the sound of many smallobjects falling down; irirf.m to brush small objects off something; to scrape small pieces off. káju onomatopoeia, indicating a dull thud, the sound of footsteps; ká.kaju.m to knock on something.

87 -kurum 'all, totally' aw to roast; áw.kurum to roast everything. jirán ripe; jirán e to become ripe; jirán e.kurûm to become squashy. Found in 41 cores.

88 -por 'to try, to be able to' an/na to eat; ná.por to try to eat, to taste.

e.m to make something; é.m.por to try to make something; to he able to make something. Found in 25 cores.
89 -tam 'for, on behalf of' aw to raast; áW.tam to raast for. onów Je to make thatch thatch make onów Jé.tam to make thatch for someone; to help to make thatch. Found in 76 cores.

90 -totór 'everyone for himself, each individually' wu bundIe, wrapped in sago leaves; wu wu to make a bundle, wrapping it in sago leaves; wu wu.totór each person to make for himself sago leaf bundIes. e to say; é.totór to say, each person for himself. Found in 10 cores.

91 Finally, there are four suffixed formatives,-itum, -es, -it, and*-awer* which, in contradistinction to the other formatives, exert an influence on the peripheral part: there are a number of verbal categories which do not occur with cores in which these formatives occur.3

-itUm/utum indicates that the action or the event takes place during that part of the day which is called porów, i.e. the period from afternoon to shortly af ter sunset.

-itUm and*-utum* are distributed according to a rule which also governs the distribution of the formative*-it/ttt* (§ 93), the verba! suffixes*-i/u* (§ 117),-ij (u, uj) (§ 156), (-er, er)/or (§ 156) and the postposition (in, 'n)Jun (§§ 258, 259). This rule is: The allomorph containing u instead of i or absence of vowel, or o instead of e, e, occurs only:

3 A survey of these categories can be found in § 104, 105.

TUE ASMAT LANGUAGE

f, when these consonants are preceded by a con-

e, always occurs :

play /to dol atów e.itum to play in the afternoon. ém.itum to stand during the afternoon. é.m.utum to make during the afternoon. taw to talk; táw.utum to talk in the afternoon.

92 ~es indicates that the action or the event takes place during the period from nightfall to early in the morning. This period covers that part of the day which is called erém 'night, when it is really dark', and the first part of tam 'morning, from daybreak to ± 10 a.m.' tak to go downstream; ták.es to go downstream at night, in the early morning. purumuc ji to sing dirges dirge sing purumuc j.es to sing dirges the whole night.

93 -itlut indicates that the action or the event takes place in the morning,

i.e. in the remaining part of tam (see above). The distribution of*-it* and*-ut* nms parallel to that of*-itumlutum.* tak to go downstream; ták.it to go downstream in the morning. faw to spear (plural object); enám fáw.ut to spear fish during the morning. fish
There is no formative corresponding to jok, the period from ± 10 a.m. to + 3 p.m. i.e. 'during the day'. Cores without itum, es and it are neutral as far as indicating the time of day is concerned.

SM

-awér I ewér I ewir I a is a formative indicating duration: 'continua1ly, always, all the time'.

The distribution of the allomorphs is determined by the verbal categories within which the core occurs : awér occurs in forms of category 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 233 " ewér occurs in forms of category 5, 6, 7 and 23 ewir occurs in forms of category 22 a occurs in forms of category 14 and 15.

so e to sing (with drum accompaniment) singing do to só e.awér-m.om tomorrow singing /we shall do continually / tomorrow we shall sing and play the drums continually.

This formative can follow*-iMmjutttm, -es,* and*-it/ut:* pe ak to catch crabs crabs catch pe ák.es.awér to catch crabs continually at night. jisin ák.it.awér to gather coconuts all the morning. coconuts

The informants also translated these four formatives as meaning 'many': jisin ak.it-m.om we gathered many coconuts (in the morning) coconuts jisin ak.á-m.om we gathered many coconuts (during the day) jisin ak.itum-om we gathered many coconuts (in the afternoon) pé ak.es-m.om we caught many crabs (at night).

Sequenees of formatives

915 I only found sequences of prefixed formatives preceding the first root of a core, and sequences of suffixed formatives following the last root of a core. Between two roots, sequences of two formatives do occur, but the sequence consists always of a suffixed formative followed by a prefixed formative. In these cases, the suffixed formative is always -mjVm; the prefixed formative is *%m/ot/oe-*or, a (re)duplication:

R-ff-R ká.m.o.ni to tear away and take downstream f-R-ff-R-fR si.si.m.ka.kami.m.tiw to wash ashore many objects.

30 A survey of these categories can be found in § 104, 105.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Only a few different combinations of prefixed formatives were found; for some of these a relative order could he tentatively fixed: olor-, emjom-, olomlotloc-, Root, or: olor-, (re)duplication, Root. (Re)duplication was not found with roots with which *emlom-*and *olomlotjoc-*occur (§ 80).

The following combinations were found:

olor-+ (re)duplication: ó.si.si.m.tám again to push

(different objects) towards someone. olor-+ emlom-ór.em.ém again to stand up emlom-+ ojomlotjoc-: óm.o.p to sit down by, with

A relative order could he determined for the following suffixed formatives: -itûmlutum R*-mjVm, -kurum, -tam, -por,!-es* ,-awérlewérjewirla -itlut

Here, the following sequences of formatives were noted: -m/Vm +-por é.m.por to try to make -mlVm +-es é.m.es to make something at night -tam +-por jik.tam.pór to try to tie up something for someone -por +-awér otáw.por.awér continually to try to exhort someone -itum +-awér jisin ak.itum.awér to gather coconuts all afternoon -kurûm +-awér sa.kurum.awér to be dried up all -kurum +-por ná.kurum.por to try to eat up everything -mlVm +-tam +-por: é.m.tam.pór to try to make for someone.

Root-allomorphs 4

96 There are a number of roots which have 2, 3, or 4 allomorphs.

4 The following allomorphs, which were already discussed in the preceding paragraphs, will not be dealt with again:

a. The morphologically conditioned allomorphs of the positional roots (§ 76).
b. The phonologically conditioned allomorphs of the roots jiw and jir (§ 76).
c. The morphologically conditioned allomorphs, mentioned in § 81.

The distribution of these all01110rphs appears to be conditioned by the following factors:

1. a phonological feature, or:
2. a morphological feature, or:
3. a positional feature, or:
4. a combination of 1 and 3, or of 2 and 3. There are three positions which are relevant to the conditioning of root-allomorphs :
   a. Occurrence as a core; b. final position in the core; c. non-final position in the core. 97 Conditioned by a phonological feature are the allomorphs of the root e/j: to say, to do e occurs in all cases, except between two vowels. j occurs between two vowels. é-o·f ~ I sa! 'd ,. f a-J-o. é.ap.óm to build (a house); á-j.ap.m-ór he built (a house). 98 Conditioned by a morphological feature IS the distribution of the allomorphs of the following roots:
5. ni/ne to go down, to go home, to go towards the river. ni occurs in all cases, except before the formative*-m/Vm.* ne occurs before the formative*-nt/Vm: ne.m* to cause to go down, etc.
   2. fis/fus to come inside fiw/fuw to go inside sit/sut to stand up fis, fiw, and sit occur in all cases, except in the exceptional case of simultaneous infixation and suffixation of the fonnative*-m/Vm,* in which the all01110rph with u occurs: f.i17l.us.um; f.im.u.m;
   s.um.ut.um (see § 82).

ASMAT LANGUAGE

3. tep/tap to go upstream (on a small river). tep occurs in all cases. In addition, tep alternates with tap hefore the formative*-mjVm: tep.om, tap.om* to send someone upstream (see § 81).
4. tep/top to he above, to be hanging. tep occurs in all cases, except before the formative*-mjVm.* Here occurs top: tóp.om to cause to be above; to hoist (a flag).
5. temétjtomt to rise, to climb. temét occurs in all cases, except before the formatives*-mjVm* and ojomjotjoc-; here occurs tomt: tómt.om to cause to rise; tómt.o.m to stand on top of something, and be busy with.
6. tewjtow to take, to seize. tew occurs in all cases except before the formative ojomjotjoc-: tów.om.iw to bring inside; ancl in the core tow.okop to swallow. 99 The following roots have in addition to allomorphs of which the distribution is conditioned by phonological, morphological or positional features, allomorphs of which the distribution is conditioned by a combination of these features.
1. amisjamésjams to lie down; to stream; to swim (a fish). ams occurs preceding avowel. Preceding a consonant occur: amis, as a core, or core-finally amés, in a core, but not core-finally. áw-amis it is lying here; áw-ams-i I am lying here. áms.es to come swimming towards (said of fish) kámi.ams-ér he lay af ter having collapsed kámi.amis to lay af ter having collapsed amés.ni to stream downwards.
2. amjatámjmajm to chop. am occurs as a core atám occurs core-finally ma occurs in a core, but not core-finally, before a consonant, or a vowel ;o!: a. m occurs in a core, but not core-finally, before a.

chop it! mér.atám to go to .. to chop má. tiw to chop down

m.ás.am to chop oH, to chop away.
3. an/na/n/Vn to eat. an occurs as a core na occurs in a core, but not core-finally, before a consonant, or a vowel ~ a or e. n occurs a) in a core, but not core-finally, before a and e; b) core-finally, af ter avowel. V n occurs core-finally af ter a consonant; the vowel of V n harmonizes with the vowel preceding it. án-m.ar he eats, is eating ná.kurum to eat up everything ná.itum to eat in the afternoon
n.ás.am to eat up; n.es to eat at night ci.n to cut up something for eating téw.en to take something to eat it.
4. apfpa/p to work loose (fibres); to gather (sago grubs). ap occurs as a core, and core-finally pa occurs in a core, but not core-finally, before a consonant, and before vowels ~ a. p occurs in a core, but not core-finally, before a. nww ap to work loose fibres from the roots of the pandan tree. /pandan fibresj m-o.ap-uc work (the fibres) loose agail1! mów p.a-m.ár she was busy workil1g loose the fibres tow pá.tewér to work loose the pith of the sago palm in order to jsago grubs/ gather the sago grubs.
5. enfin/mer to go upstream (on a large river); to go to a specific point. en occurs a) as a core; b) core-finally, except when it is preceded by the formative %m/ot/oc-; in this case in occurs.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

6. jisjisjus to go to the forest; to go outside. jis occurs in all cases, except af ter m. $S occurs after m, but not af ter the formative*-mjVm.* us occurs af ter*-mjVm.* ém.is to walk to the forest tów.om.is to bring to the forest ni.m.us to disappear into the forest. Lists of unidentified morphemes, and of residual forms 100
1. Morphemes that in combination with one or more formatives can constitute a core (see § 68).
1. ariw to he together; to be with many people in one canoe. See: ariwap, ariwes, emariw, tawariwap; +-mjVm: arim, arimut, emarimut.
2. asaw to be adorned. See: asawtam (+-tam), asam (+-mjVm).
3. faj to glide, to stream. See: fajpuw; +-mjVm: fam, famasam. famsem, enawfam.
4. fajim to put in order; to arrange neatly. See: fafajim, tatafajimtiw.
5. fiki to give forth a smelI. See: fikikonaw; +-mjV m: fikim.
6. firi to be turned around. See: merpajfirap, pajfirap; +-mjVm: firim, firimtiw.
7. jiri to he fully loaden. See: jirikaj; +-mjVm: jiririm (reduplicated), jirmotep, nijirimuw.
8. juw to marry. See: juwut, sajwut; +-mjVm: juwum.
9. kaj to he 100se. See: kajkurum; +-mjVm: kam, kamapom, kamoni, kampomes, kamtewer, kamtiw.
10. koj, okoj to break off; to set out. See: emkoj, kojir, kokójni, takokojir, tepokojir, tiwkoj; +-mjV m : komjokom, amkoman, emkom, jisokomtiw, komtewer, kokomtaw, kokomtiw, okomemtam, okmomse, okmoni, okomtiw, okokom.
11. ok to stick to. See: okap; +-mjV m: okom, okokom.
12. pajiw to he open. See: pajiwem; +-mjVm: pajim.
13. papuj to peri sh. See: papujkurum.
14. pari, peri to turn round. See: paperini, poperiomat; +-mjVm: paremjperem, kupaperemapom, papcrimop, tepomparem, tiwpo- perem.
15. patam to lood full. See: patamkurum.

+-mjVm: +-mjVm: sumo

+-m/Vm: tipim. +-mjVm: com, comop,

beside each ot her in a row. See: turamis; +-m/Vm: turutn, turumtiw.

101

IJ. Morphemes occl1rring with one or more formatives, though not constituting a core in combination with one or more formatives.

1. am disappeared. See: anicukas; +-mjV m: animcuku, antmus.
   2. anaw bowed. See: anawtep; +-m/Vm: emanam.
   3. akapi alone, separate. See: akapiem, akakapipu.
   4. as 'away'. See: a.nicu/ws, na/?urumas, cas, jisas, kikicukomas, kukuas, pacajku/?Uas; +-m/Vm: nasant, emasam, famasam, fafe1llasam, fa'l.c.'asam, pumasam, sasakamasam, siasam, tawasam, tewerasam, tiwsiriasam, cumasam, wiasam.
   5. awer to be at the edge of something; to be at the extreme part of something. See: awerfis, niawerap, apawerjotak, awewerjar (redl1plicated); +-m/Vm: aweremtiw, aweweremkum.
   6. mes against, close by, along. See: mesamis, mesakajipirem, mesari, mesem, mesenaw, 1I1eses, mesjotep, mesoJn, mesop, jiwmesop, konawmesem; +-m/Vm: mesemapom, mesemjirmem, tamesem.
   7. met accompanying; in addition t~. See: metos, metotnaw, metotep, metowomis, metocin; +-m/Vm: metemaw, metememan, metemtewer.
   8. naw coming. See: enaw, enawap, konawjkunaw, konawamis, konawap, konawmesem, konawfiJn, konawkapu, konawomis, pinaw, pijinaw, towotnaw; +-m/Vm: iwenam.
   9. nuk to embark with many others (in a canoe). See: ninukamis; +-mjVm: nukumomuw.
   10. fu gathered rOl1nd, with. See: fuamis, jiwfuem; +-mjVm: jiwfumtotor.
   11. J~mw (walking) with many, with all. See: tewjiniwamis, tewjiniwem, tewjiniwjar; +-m/Vm: jinimtewer, tewjinim.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

12. J~nm to stick something in somewhere. See: jirimem, mesemjirmem, jirimku, jarjirimop, kujirimap; jiririmsem (reduplicated).
13. juk together, assembIed. See: jukap, jujukamis; +-m/Vm: jukumtiw, jujukumapom, jujukumapomtam, jujukumsomit, tajujukumapom.
14. kuri, kuru to agree with. See: tepkuru" kukuram.
15. pakaj to break. See: oterespakaj; +-m/Vm: capakamop.
16. pawu to depart with many. See: pawuawer, pawuamis.
17. piti to be fuIl. See: pitijamap, pitijiwap; +-m/Vm: pitimsem.
18. puw to go into the water. See: jipuw; +-m/Vm: jipum, jispum, pumasam.
19. si being in something. See: nisiap; +-m/Vm: simom, sisimomis, jiramsimapom.
20. co to put on a string; to plait. See: cop, coap, cotiw, cotiwpor, comom.
21. cuk, cuku to disappear, to go out of sight, to he out of sight. See: anicukas, namicuku, jicuku, pacajcuku, animcuku, cukem, kikicukomas; +-m/Vm: parsamcukum.
22. wu with all, with everyone. See: wuamis, emwu; +-m/Vm: wumomas. 102
111. Morphemes, not found in combination with formatives.
1. am together, with each other. See: amamew, amakan, ame, amkawi, amkawimapom, amkoman, ampi, am tak, amtewen, amtewer, amtiw, amcirim, amuw; apam, emamtewer, jumamtam, kapumamtewer, kukuram, o tmamtewer.
2. amis to set out (to seek food). See: wuamis, tewjiniwamis.

3. anim to take in hand. See: tiwanim.

4. asi to assembIe. See: asienaw.

5. atam indicates that the subject is doing two things at the same time, or that the subject is using an implement. See: atamni, atamen, atamjik, atamse, atamsi, atamsiom, atamtewer, atamurum, atamompor, jiwatamap.
6. awum to stick something in the hair. See: tewawum.

7. matam to accompany to. See: nimatam, takmatam.

8. mu to pay, to present (a gift). See: mutam, mutiwtam.
9. nuwum, nowom (rowing) in line of battle. See: nuwumamis, mesnowomtep.

tur). See: aptersi.

plants). See: temetwasiap.

108

Residual elements

These elements will he marked as follows:

A meaning uncertain, or unknown. B morphological structure uncertain, or unknown. AB meaning as weil as morphological structure uncertain, or unknown.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

1. amer AB. See: jitamernem, jitamertaw.
   2. anerem AB. See: sianeremtiw.
   3. amew B. to teIl someone to do something. See: amamew.
   4. ak A. See: niakap.
   5. akaj A. being somewhere for some time (?). See: mes-
   akajipirem, tepakajap.

7.
See: astamotak, astamotep, emastam-

map

mm

25.
s~nm

WORD-CLASSES 67

A. See: suwap, suwem, suwomis, jisuwap, nisuwem, suwumomis/sumomis, suwumoplsumop, mersuwem.

ta, t A. (neatly; with). See: tem, tap, tatafajimtiw, taju-

cajl~urum, cajomat.

WORD-MORPHOLOGY

Introduction

104 In this seetion the verbal forms whieh ean he formed from the eore by the addition of prefixes and suffixes will be dealt with. These verbal forms, together with the affixless eores, make up the system of verbal eategories. This system consists of 24 main categories 17 of which eaeh consist of a system of sub-categories. A survey of these 24 main categories is given in the seheme on p. 68; the sub-eategories are here omitted.

The form of the scheme is determined by the following considerations :

1. that the verbal eores are distinguished from all other ver bal forms by the absence of a categorial element of form. They can be said

por-ic 3. á-por-á

4. mó-por 5. mó-por-áji 1
6. mó-por-ájmos 7. mó-por-ájpuruw

8. mó-por-ic 2

9. á-por-ców 3
n

10. a-por-ei 11. ta-por-cáj
12. á-por-cemi 14. á-por-mi 16. á-por-i 118. á-por-aci I 20. á-por-iti
13. á-por-cemóp 15. á-por-móp 17. á-por-óf 119. á-por-aró I 21. á-por-itó 22. á-poréwir-i 4:
23. á-por-meró 24. ap-i
I I A B c I I

1. non-characterized categories. B. not occurring with cores ending in a time-formative or Il. characterized categories. in the durative-formative.
   C. only occurring with cores ending in the durative-
2. without sub-categories. formative.
3. with sub-division into object-categories.
4. with sub-division into subject-categories. The categories are dealt with in the sequences as given
5. with sub-division into subject-· and object-categories. in the survey. For a fuller explanation of this survey, and
   the meaning of the verbal forms shown, see paragraphs

A. occurring with all cores 104 and 105.

to form a non-characterized eategory as opposed to to all other categories, whieh are characterized. In the scheme: land Il.

2. that the eharaeterized categories fall into:
3. categories in which there are no sub-eategories.
4. one in which there is a division into a number of object-eategories; the verbal forms be10nging to this category differ from eaeh other in the suffix indicating the object, e.g., mo-por-c.én look at me! mo-por-c.awuj look at us!
5. one in which there is a division into a number of subject-categories; the verbal forms belonging to this eategory differ from each other in the suffix indieating the subject, e.g., á-por-c.ów do look! (sing.) á-por-c.owuj do look! (plur.)
6. a number of categories in which there is a division into a number of subject categories and a nu mb er of object categories; the forms be10nging to these categories differ from each other in the suffix indicating the subject and the suffix indicating the object, e.g.,

(Cat. 14)

In the scheme : Il, 1, 2, 3, 4.

3. Cutting aeross the preceding division of four groups of eharacterized categories, there is a division of a totally different kind, i.e., the division of the characterized eategories into:
   A. A number of categories that occur with all cores.
   B. A number of eategories that do not occur with eores ending in time-of-day formatives, i.e., itum/utum, es, it/ut, or the durative formative, awér / awér / ewir / a.
   

   c. One category that occurs only with cores ending in the durative

formative, awér / awér / ewir / a. In the seheme: Il. A, B, C.

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

105 The 24 categories given in the scheme are as follows :

I. 1. The core category: *por-*to see, to look at. Il.
1. A: 2. A category of forms of which the categorical meaning is still not clear:

por-ic seeing (?)

3. A category of repetitive forms : á-por-á to look at time and again.
   4.,5. Two categories each of which has a semantic element of intent. Cat. 5 has, in addition, a semantic element translatabIe by 'usually, customarily': m6-por in order to see, to wish to see mó-por-áji customarily to want to see. 6-11. These categories are modal categories. They express 'The psychological atmosphere of an action as interpreted by the speaker'. 5
   6.,7. Two categories expressing reproof. The forms in Cat. 6 contain, in addition, a semantic element of exhortation: the forms in 7, one of disapproval:

5 Nida, E. A. Morphology, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1956,

p. 168.

The categories 12-21, inc1usive, form a coherent group in which two sets of oppositions occur: a) the oppositions ultimate past -mediate past; 6 b) the aspect oppositions habitual, progressive, anteriority, perfective, absence of aspect:

aspect habitual progres--anterior-perfect- siveI Iity ive ultimate [12] 14 16 18 20 past I tense mediate 13 15 17 19 21 past I

An exception is Cat. 12 which relates to the present as weIl as the future. Cat. 14 is distinguished from Cats. 16, 18 and 20 because it relates to the present as weIl.

12. á-por-cemi I shall see, I am accustomed to look at
13. á-por-cemóp I was accustomed to look at
14. á-por-mi I look at, I am looking at
15. á-por-móp I was looking at
16. á-por-i I saw him (uIt. past)
17. á-por-óf I saw him (med. past)
18. á-por-acî Af ter I had seen it (ult. past)
19. á-por-aró Af ter I had seen it (med. past)

20. á-por-iti 1 had seen him (uIt. past)

21. á-por-itó I had seen him (med. past)
4. C : 22. A category consisting of past tense forms in which there is no distinction between ultimate past and mediate past. This category occurs only with cores ending in the durative formative : in this category, the allomorph ewir occurs.

á-poréwir-i I always looked at him.

6 The Asmat people divide the past into two periods of which the one embraces the other. The one period, which I shall eall the ultimate past, includes the most recent past as weil as the distant past. To the ultimate past belongs everything that happens on the day of a speech-event but prior to it, as weil as everything that took place so long ago that it is known only from tradition. The interval of time between begins with yesterday and goes as far back as the generations still alive can reeall from their own experience: this period I shall eall the media te past. It should be noted that according to the Asmat people the day begins at nightfall.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

4. A: 23. A category of forms which seems to be an isolated category. These forms relate to the past (ultimate- and mediate past). and, in addition, have a semantic element of repetition that can be translated with 'each day again': á-por-meró I saw him again each day.
5. B: 24. An unproductive category that only occurs with positional roots:
   

   ap-i I am (sitting).

106 In the following paragraphs, first the verbal categories will he discussed in detail. Next, two prefixes of which the occurrence is determined by syntactical factors will he dealt with. Finally, two verbal word-groups will also be discussed, i.e., those consisting of:

1. a form of Cat. 3 (core -a), followed by a form of the verb e/j to do;
2. a form of Cat. 4 (mjmV- core), followed by a form of the verb e.m to do.
   1 The oore category

10'7 The cores form a category that is distinguished from all other categories by the absence of a categorial element of form. Their common semantic element is difficult to define on the basis of the 31 cases I noted. Tentatively, it can he said that these cases fall into two grouPs:

a. one comprising a numher of cases in which the core seems to he characterized by the absence of all other categorial meanings and only relates to the action or the happening as such: a W ók tetám, a Mis tetám, é a niwi tetám, infm a-e-f here Wok give here Mis give there his father give /that's what / he did/ He gave (the fish) to Wok, and to Mis, and to bis father (§ 318). onów amapóm ará it must be covered with thatch. thatch /to cover / it is/

b. one comprising a number of cases in which the core seems to have a semantic element of completion : pók tatáfajimtiw akát the things were neatly put down (§ 268). things Ineatly put down/ properly

ei jicemup a pájnijis

canoe sea there /to turn downstream and go out/ the canoe had turned downstream anel drifted out on sea (§ 339).

2 The·ie category

108 I only noted six forms in this category; the categorial element of form is*-ic/uc. -uc* was found af ter core-final m, and in the word jursûc. Here, one would expect the mIe of elistriblltion formulated in § 91 to obtain: jursûc would then he an exception to it. It is still uncertain what the semantic element common to the forms with suffix*-ic/uc* is: the forms seem to indicate a state of having, of being:

jurs-ûc longing for : jurûs to long for.

mokót tewer-ic an inherited sago garden (§ 329). sago garden / having acquired

Jépem ów por-ic thinking of the people of]epem (§ 322).]epém people 'seeing'

jirm-uc jirim customarily to senel someone on (errands). sending on j to send on

cowuc móc am komapm-uc araw un woman wailing pp jwas doing/ pp pp the woman was wailing continually (§ 300).

In one of the cases noted the core was preceded by a prefix a-:

a hari Minggu 7 cowák jiwi takás áj mupicin a-táwat-ic this Sunday one children all new c10thes receiving this very Sunday all the children will get new c1othes.

The word fajmuc, safe, unhindered, perhaps also belongs to this category. The underlying form probably is fajim 'to arrange neatly'.

7 hari Minggu: laan-word from Malay.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

3 The-a category**

109 When*-a* is suffixed to cores, a category is formed with a semantic element of repetition. In most cases the suffix*-a* was found to he accented. The forms of this category can occur with a prefixed a-. No difference in meaning was found between the fonns with and without a-:

é so ókom-á, purumuc am taw-á, /inim cowák, / inim cowák/ e song /to start repeatedly/ lament also Ito sing repeatedly 1 and so on/ land so on/ now (she) started the e song, then again (she) sang the lament, and so on, and so on.

enám faw-á, arásen jukumtiw-á fáfaw-á, arásen jukumtiw-á ... á-mesjótep-éf fish spearing there Iputting together / spearing there /putting together 1 so he did going upstream along the bankt

He went upstream along the bank continually spearing fish, which he always put together where he had speared them (§ 316).

The fonns of this category can he linked with forms of the verb e/j 'to do'. This construction will he dealt with in § 182.

4 The m-/mV-category

110 *m-*is prefixed to cores beginning with avowel; *mV-*is prefixed to cores with initial consonant. The vowel of the prefix is identical to the first vowel of the core, but it can also be a irrespective of the following vowel. A definite regularity could not be found here; sometimes both possibilities were found alongside each other, sometimes only one of them, for instance, I noted: from por 'to see': mó-por and má-por; from fis 'to come inside': always mi-fis; from ni 'to return home': always má-ni.

Cores with prefixed *m-/mV-*have a semantic element of intent which is translatahle with:

1. to wish to, in order to, to intend to :

nó amás m-awán 1 am going to scrape out sago. I sago Igo to scrape out/

Ac ma-jsas ÓW opén

Ac /want to go tol people pp are there people who want to go to (the village) Ac?

enéw mu m-aw dapur 8 emiw-ér mother water /to boil/ kitchen Ishe went intol mother went into the kitchen to hoil water.

2. to have to, to he necessary to : akát cepés mo-cómopawér comely women /must be kept hidden/ you must keep comely women hidden (in the house) (§ 330). ná m-uapóm araw án must we bury him (§ 274)? we Imust bury/ pp pp
3. 'to he able to, to he allowed to', if the postposition pen follows: nó a cém mi-fis pen may 1 come inside this house ? I this house I can come in/ pp 111 1 obtained, in addition, m-/mV-forms from my informants every time they referred to the action or the happening as such; for example, when 1 asked them "What's 'ta go''', they replied "ma-jár". "What's 'ta take'?" -"mé-tewér". The question is, how do these farms stand as regards the core which cao also indicate an action or a happening as such? It is out of the question that this is an idiosyncracy of my informants, for Drabhe 9 had the same experience with his informants from Ajam.10 It occurs to me that these forms only differ from the affixless core in having a semantic element of explanation, or clarification. This idea is supported by the fact that in categories 12, 14, 16 and 17, forms also occur that are characterized by a prefix *m-jmV-*which seems to differ 8 loan-word from Malay. 9 mentioned in the introduction, § 6. 10 Drabbe does not say this explicitly. That he had the same experience, however, appears from his treatment of the m/mV-forms: see § 47 of his "Grammar of the Asmat Language".

ASMAT LANGUAGE

from the forms without this prefix by having a semantic element of explanation or clarification. Examples of the use of these forms, which I shall caU explanatory forms, are to he found in §§ 140, 148, 158, 164.

5 The m-/mV- -áji/éji category

112 'In-occurs before an initial vowel; mV-occurs before an initial consonant: the vowel is identical to the first vowel of the core, or a (/ / m-/mV-§ 111). -áji occurs in all cases, except when the core ends in the durative formative, which in this category has the allomorph ewér; in this case -éji occurs. The first vowel of the suffix is always accented. The forms of this category only differ from those of the preceding category in having a semantic element that can be translated with 'usually; always' :

nó capinmi 'ftI,(V-konáwams-áji I land lusually go to sleep/ 1 shaU make it my custom to go on the land to sleep (says a crocodile).

cár mo-kokójniewer-éji araw án you /always to fall down/ pp pp must you always fall down (§ 226)?

ná inim as m-em-áji pów we don't usually do such a thing (§ 287). we sueb la thing / usually to dol not

6 The-ájmo8 category

liS The following forms were noted:

m/mV-core-mos m/mV-

No difference in meaning could he found between the forms with and without a prefix and between forms with*-mos, -ámos, -ájmos* or -éjimos. -éjimos only occurs with cores ending in the durative formative, which here occurs in the a110morph ewér.

From a comparison with the*-ájpuruw* category, (§ 114), it appears that we are here dealing with a suffix*-ajaj/éji}* followed by a suffix -mos. The suffix*-a/aj/éji* is probably identical with the suffix*-áji* of the forms of category 5. The forms of the*-ájmos* and the*-ájpuruw* category are used to comment on something that, in tbe opinion of tbe speaker, is not as it ought to be. The forms of the*-ájmos* category have a semantic element of exhortation in common:

é wasén m-amus-ájmos 0 eepés akát yonder forest /go with/ your wives comely now, you go with your comely wives to the forest! (as is usual).

atów} ei ak-ájmosó 10· Come, now make a canoe! come, canoe Jmake it now/

(Says a man to his brother-in-Iaw who, according to Asmat custom, must make a canoe for him but who has not done so).

Owpaeákipic} ei jén inim émewer-éjimos

O. canoe sound /like this / you should always have been making 1/ Owpacakipic, you should always have been making canoes for us!
7 The-ájpurûw category

114 The following forms were noted:

m-/mV-core-ájpuruw core*-ájpuruw/-éjipuruw.*

Like the forms of the*-ájmos* category, I could not find any differenee in meaning between forms with and without a prefix.-éjipuruw occurs only with cores ending in the durative formative, which here, also. occurs in the allomorph ewér. \Vith regard to*-puruw,* there is some doubt whether we are here dealing with a suffix: the structure CVCVC was not found in any other suffix. Since, however,-puruw was only found in combination with verbal forms, in a position parallel to that of the suffix*-mos}* I shall regard it as a suffix. The*-ájpuruw* forms differ semantically from the*-ájmos* forms in that they do not express all exhortation, but a disapprobation:

10a For the finalo in akájmosó, see § 33.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

inim as em-ájpuruwa lOb you mustn't do such a thing! jlike this/ something /you must not dol

pók piri emewer-éjipuruwa fish /telling me wrong / you must not always/ you must not tell me always the wrong way (to catch fish).

The semantic difference between forms with*-ájpuruw* and forms with -ájmos stands out c1early in the following case:

pacákseré ow atakám jeten in apteterémtaw-ájpuruwa, unfit people word middle pp /must not sit to talk/ akát ow atakám jeten in apteterémtaw-mosá! fit people word middle pp /must sit to talk/ unfit people are not expected to have a voice in discussions, only fit people do!

8 The Imperatlve ca~ry

115 In this category there is a division into three object categories, a division that also occurs in categories 10 to 24, inc1usive. These object categories are:

I. a. the verb has no object;

b. the object or, where the verb admits of two objects, the indirect object, is neither the speaker, nor a group to which the speaker belongs, nor the person(s) spoken to: him, her, it; them.
11. the object or the indirect object, is the speaker or the person(s) spoken to: me, YOU.
111. the object, or the indirect object, is a group of people to which the speaker considers himself to belong at the time of speaking: us. lOb For the final a in all these examples see § 34.

116 Paradigms of the imperative forms : 11

an to eat tetam to give por to look at tWl to shoot

I. a. an-icji tetam-uc give it

b. án-cej tetám-cej
you should give it to him Il. án-cenjcin tetám-cenjcin give it to me lIl. án-cawuj tetám-cawuj give it to us

A. zero, a-, m-jmV-, p-/pV-direct imperative I
B. mom-/pom-postponed imperative I

I. a. iwi-c por-icji look!

b. iwi-cej pór-cej
you should look at it II. iwi-cenjcin pór-cenjcin/en/in look at me lIl. iwi-cawuj pór-cawuj/awuj look at us

A. zero, a-/aj-/an-, m-/mV-, p-/pV-direct imperative
B. mom-/pom-postponed imperative If a comparison is made hetween the forms iwi-c, iwi-cen, and iwi-cawuj, it will he seen that the object categories II and III are characterized by the suffixes*-en* and*-a'llJUj,* respectively, but that a 11 The following should he noted regarding the arrangement of the paradigms:
1. the verbal forms in the paradigms are shown without any prefix es. When prefixes do occur, they are given separately be10w the paradigms;
2. in the forms, only the junction between the core and the peripheral part is shown: in the usual manner, by a dash. The morpheme structure of the peripheral part can be deduced by comparing the different forms and from the discussion on the formal characteristics of the categories which will he given immediately af ter the paradigms;
3. when the phonological structure of the core influences the form of the suffixes following the core, the paradigms of the different verbs will he given in order to demonstrate this influence;
4. in general, a translation will only be given of one of the series of forms. This translation will always be of the forms with prefixes given in A.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

similar suffix is absent in the form of the object category L Object category 1 is here characterized by the absence of an element of form which is correlated with the categorical meaning. In a case such as this, we can say that the object category is characterized by zero. If we compare the form an-f with the other forms of the paradigm, then we see that here the modal suffix c is absent: the imperative is therefore characterized by zero. Besides an-i, the form with modal suffix*-co an-ic* then occurs: here, the modal suffix*-c* alternates with zero.

Formal characteristics.

11'7 Modal suffix:-co -c occurs af ter the suffix of object category I, and alternates freely with zero; -c occurs before the suffix of object categories Il and lIL In these cases,-c alternates freely with zero, when the core ends in r.

Object suffixes: L a.-i/-u;-i and*-u* are conditioned allomorphs. According to the rule formulated in § 91 (j /itum/utum) they are mutually exc1usive.

b.-ej.

Il.-en alternates freely with-in.

lIl.-awuj.

Prefixes:

A. a-/aj-/an-; m-jmV-; p-jpV-. *a-*is only found before a core-initial consonant, or *a. aj-*or *an-*also occur before a instead of a-. *m-*and *p-*occur before vowels. *mV-*and *pV-*occur before consonants. As a rule, the vowel is identical to the first vowe1 of the core, but it can also be a, irrespective of the vowel following. No definite regularity could be discerned here. These prefixes can also be absent: when, however, the core consists of one vowel, there is always a prefix. In the cases noted this prefix was mostly a-.
B. *mom-jpom-*appear to alternate freely.

Categorial meaning

118

1. The imperative forms with prefixes of series A, or without a prefix. No difference in meaning could be fOlmcl hetween the forms with and without a prefix or hetween the forms which each have a prefix. The farms with *a-*and with *m-/mV-*are interchangeable; the forms with p-/pV-are perhaps rather more emphatic than the others. All these farms, with the exception of those with-cej, express a command that must he obeyed immediately:
   

   mó-por-i, a-por-i look at it!

aj-áf-cen, an-áf-cen hit me!

,atów p~e-c go and play! play Ido iV

The farms with*-cej* do not have such a forceful imperative character; they contain a corrective instruction:

inim a-ám-cej you must chop it this way. Ithis way I chop it/

jewir juruw naká! éfa inim em-pór-cej visit long too! quickly Ithis way I you must do itl your visit has been too long, you should he quick about it!

pacák pók towós-cemokóm, akát pok tówos-céj bad wares Ibring you alwaysl good wares fyou must bringl you always bring bad wares, you should bring good wares.

2. The imperative forms with prefixes of series B. The forms with the prefix *mom-*or *pom-*express a command that does not have to be obeyed immediately: móm-tetám-cin give it to me soon! pom-mátewer-ic (pomáteweric) chop it down soon and take it! 9 The hortative category In this category the following subject categories are distinguished:

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Dual forms of the Ist. and 2nd. persons are only found in this category. They are productive, in contrast to the dual forms of the 3rd. person that occur in categories 14 and 16.

120 Paradigms of the hortative forms:

an to eat; por to look at

5.

(inf. = informal)

A. p-jpV-, m-jmV-, a-, -

The forms with the modal suffix*-er* that occur here in 4. and 5. are forms which only occur in friendly, familiar speech. They are not used when the speaker desires to or must keep the person(s) spoken to at a distance. These forms I shaJl caJl informal forms; the forms with modal suffix*-c* I shaJl caJl formal forms. The term formal only indicates, that in 'formal speech' only the formal forms are used; it does not imply that the formal forms can not occur in 'informal speech'. The distinction between formal and informal forms also occurs in categories 10, 11 and 12.

Formal characteristics

121 Modal suffixes: formal :-c; zero informal:-er -c occurs in all cases; af ter core-final r, -c alternates with zero. -er occurs only af ter core-final consonant ;é r. The modal suffix here occurs before the subject suffix in all cases.

Subject suffixes:

1.-ow
2.-owuj; when the modal suffix is zero:-wuj
3.-tm
4.-ar, alternating with*-a*
5.-aszn Prefixes: a-; m-/mV-, p-/pV-. Here, the same rules of distribution apply as for the prefixes in series A of the imperative category. Here, also, forms occur without a prefix; befare a core having one vowel, however, there is always a prefix: in most of the cases noted this was a-.

Categorial meaning

122 As with the imperative forms, I did not find here a difference in meaning between forms with and without a prefix, and between the forms which each have a prefix. The hortative forms express an exhortation:

sago lIet us scrape it out IJ

IJ

play lIet us 1/

AS MAT LANGUAGE

Subdlvlslon lnto subject- and obJect-categorles

128 In the next categories to he dealt with, categories 10 to 24, inc1usive, there is a division into 3 object-categories, and a division into 6 or 7 subject -categories. The object-categories are those mentioned in § 115. The subject-categories are as follows:

1 st. pers. sing 2nd. pers. " 3rd. pers. " 1 st. pers. plural 2nd. pers. " 3rd. pers. " 3rd. pers. dual

The 3rd. pers. dual occurs only in categories 14 and 16. The object- and subject-categories occur in the following combinations :

II

II III

II III

II

II III

II III

of object

In the paradigms, the verbal forms will he given in the order as above.12

124 The suffixes that characterize the subject- and object categories display great uniformity in all the categories which follow. For the description of these suffixes, we will take as a basis the standard list given below and only the deviations from the list in each category will he given. A survey of these deviations will he found at the back of the hook.

Suffixes indicating the object

I. zero

11.
~ r.

111.-aw Suffixes indicating the subject
lst. pers. s.-l 2nd. pers. s.-em; af ter w, however:-om 3rd. pers. s. zero 1 st. pers. pI.-om 2nd. pers. pI.-okom; af ter r or w, however:-kom 3rd. pers. pI.-es; af ter p or w, however:-os. With object-suffix*-en*- you (pl.): zero; see § 126.

The order of the suffixes is, as a rele: 1. suffix indicating the category;

2. suffix indicating the object; 3. suffix indicating the subject. The suffix indicating the subject only occurs before the suffix indicating the object, in form 2. 10 The condltlonal category 123 In tbis category there is a division into formal and informal forms. This division cuts through the classification into subject- and object- 12 From the foregoing it will be c1ear that, when averbs admits of no object, only forms 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, and 17 occur. See, for example, the paradigms of the positional verbs, given in § 176.

categories, so that the whole paradigm is split into one series of formal

86 THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

forms and one series of informal forms.

Paradigms of the conditional forms:

tetám to give; por to see

formal informal

tetám-ci tetám-eri por-i tetám-cin tetám-erin por-in tetám-cem tetám-erém por-ém tetám-ceném tetám-erném por-ném tetám-cawóm tetám-erawóm pór-awóm tetám-caw 14 tetám-eráw por-áw tetám-cen tetám-erén por-én

tetám-com tetám-eróm por-óm tetám-cenóm tetám-ernóm por-nóm tetám-cokom tetám-erkóm por-kóm tetám-cenokóm tetám-ernokóm pór-nokóm tetám-cawkóm tetám-erawkóm pór-awkóm tetám-ces tetám-erés por-és tetám-cenés tetám-ernés por-nés

tetám-cawós tetám-erawós pór-awós

zero, a-

m-/ma-/maj-

C. p-/pV-, m-/mV-, zero

D. ca-/ta-

practice throughout the paradigms of giving only 'him'.

subject-object combination No. 8.

if I see him 13 if I see you if you see him if you see me if you see us if he sees him, us if he sees me, you; if they see you (pI.) if we see him if we see you if you see him if you see me if you see us if they see him if they see me, you (sing.) if they see us

I

requisitive I prohibitive I prioritive I 13 Of the pronouns in object category I: him, her, it, them, I shall follow the

14 In this category, in contrast to all those following, there is no formal difference between forms with subject-object combination No. 6 and those with

8i

F o-rnzal eharacteristies

126 Modal suffixes:-e; -er/-er/zero.15 -e occurs with the formal forms. The following occur with the informal forms : -er before C -er before V; af ter the core-final r, zero always occurs.

Object suffixes; peculiarities: lIl. in forms 6/8 zero occurs instead of*-GW.* Subject suffixes; peculiarities: 3rd. pers. s. in forms 6/8:-aw occurs instead of zero. 3rd. pers. pI.: a feature occurs here which is also found in the following categories : when combined with the subject suffix*-es* of the 3rd. pers. pI., the object suffix*-en* only relates to the speaker and the person spoken to:

tetám-eenés if they give me, you (sing.).

If the object-suffix re1ates to the persons spoken to, then the subject suffix of the 3rd. pers. pI. is zero and the form is like that of form No. 7:

tetám-een a. if he gives it to me, you, you (pI.)

b. if they give it to you (pl.).
Prefixes

A. zero, a-: *a-*was only found before cores having one vowe1 and beginning with a consonant. An exception is the core tewér to take, of which forms were found with and without prefix G-. 15 For reasons unknown to me the informants a!ways used the informa! forms with cores ending in es, it and awér, and the forma! forms with cores ending in itum: kártu atów é.it-iM, é.es-eri, é.awer-i, e.itum-ci card. ploy lil I do •••• /
If I p!ay cards in the morning, at night, at noon, in the evening ....
Later, it appeared from the texts that the forma! forms can occur with cores ending in it and es and the informa! forms with cores ending in itUm (á-porit-ci, á-pores-ci, á-poritum-eri). Af ter awér, however, the moda! suffix is a!ways zero so that the contrast forma!-informa! does not occur: á- poráwer-i if I continually look at.. .. (forma! & informa! ).

ASMAT LANGUAGE

B. m-jma-jmaj-: *ma-*occurs before C and V ~ a. *m-*occurs before a, except with the positional roots ap to sit, and amis to lie: here, *maj-*occurs.
C. m-jmV-, p-jpV-: The rules of distribution are here the same as for the prefixes of the imperative category (§ 117).
D. ca-jta-: only in one case did I note *ta-*occurring instead of ca-.

Categorial meaning

127

A. Forms with prefix a-, or without prefix: these have a conditional meaning: fakán a-kám-ci, móm-emsiri-c if I scream, then run away quickly! scream /if I give J run away quickly / I 128
B. Forms with prefix m-jma-jmaj-: these have an imperative meaning; they express an order or a requirement. Only the forms of the lst. and 3rd. persons occur with this meaning: inim atakám m-apómkuru-cóm we must ten him about it (§ 343). this story Jwe must tell him/

máj-ap-eráw he must remain sitting.

máj-ams-eráw, máj-amis-caw it must remain lying.

má-emtép-caw it must remain hanging.

má-tep-erés they must go upstream.

Probably the occurrence of imperative and hortative forms of the 2nd. person in category 9 and 10 prevents the forms of the 2nd. person in dus category to occur with an imperative meaning.

129 Forms with prefix *m-jmV-*or p-jpV-: these have a prohibitive meaning. Here, by contrast, only the forms of the 2nd. person occur. They have either no prefix, or m-jmV-, or p-jpV-, just as in the

imperative and hortative categories, without noticeable differenee in meaning: pók mi-jitum-cenemó 15" don't throw things at me the whole evening! thing /doo't throw at me in the evening/

mót se m-ówawer-ém wailing mud Idon't you always roU in it/ don't continually roll in the mud, wailing (§ 299).

papis a-tám-cok6m lexchange women I do not dol you cannot make an exchange of women with her (§ 330)!

man mi tiwot-erém hand tip /don't touch him/ don't touch him with the tips of your fingers (§ 309)!

With the verb e/j to do, in addition to the forms with modal suffix*-c,* forms with modal suffix*-t* occur : m-owórse p-é-cemá 15byou must not travel to and fro! Ito travel to and fro I you must not!

mu-cucum p-e-tém, p-e-tok6m to make noise I doo't do it 1/ you (sing., pI.) must not make such a noise!

lSO

D. By prefixation with *ca-*a category of prioritive-conditional forms is created: first; must first: camnim ca-emáP-ci lin the proper way I I must first go and sitl first, I must go and sit down in the proper way (§ 291). cá-wijispor-in 16 let me first go quickly to the forest to look at it. There was one case in which *ta-*occurred instead of ca-: no tá-tak-d I /1 must first go down the river I I must first go down the river (before you close it off). 15" For final 0 see § 33. 15b For final a see § 34. 116 Form 2 (l-you) always occurs when the speaker refers to himself, as in the case just given.

90 THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

181 The conditional forms also occur in interrogative sentences with the interrogatives ucim what, which, and ca who, when the question relates to the future : udm eaj é-eem what are you going to do? which scheme /you do? /

eá a-tewér-eaw who will take it? who /will take it? /

See also the discussion on interrogatives, § 234.

11 The optative category

182 Here, also, a series of formal and a series of informal farms occur alongside each other.

Paradigms:

--I

had they but seen you (pI.)

I

Formal characteristics

ISS Modal suffixes:-car /-ca} -arar /-ara/-ar /-a: formal :-car in all cases, except in forms 1. and 2. where*-ca* occurs. informal : in all forms, except 1. and 2.:-arar} but af ter the core-final r: -ar. In forms 1. and 2.:-ara} but af ter the core-final r: -a. As in the conditional forms, the contrast formal-informal, does not occur with cores ending in awér. Af ter awér} only*-ar* and*-a* occur.

Object suffixes: no pec1l1iarities.

Subject suffixes: peculiarities: lst. pers. s.-j in form 1.; zero in form 2.

Prefixes: t-/ta-. *t-*before vowels; *ta-*before consonants.

Categorial meaning

184 The forms of the optative category express an unrealizable wish of the speaker:

jó cowák a t-arwáp-cares áw! river one there /had they but Iived together / pp had they but lived together on one river (§ 329)!

In addition, these forms occur in sentences having the irrealis mark aj (see § 256). They then relate to the present or to the future and occur instead of the forms of categories 12 and 14.

nórap áj nat a jéw t-ámses-aráj 1I alonel pp pp here Jceremonial house J I would sleepl If 1 were alone (unmarried) I would stay and sleep here in the ceremonial house.

ó a-tówof áj} nés t-on-cán pig killed pp flesh II would give youl If I had killed a pig, I would give you the flesh.

When, however, the verb following af ter aj relates to the past, then the past tense forms of categories 16 and 17 occur:

ASMAT LANGUAGE

to á es áj, emé-faw-óf yesterday here Ito comel pp 1I speared them al ready I had they come here yesterday, I would have speared them

jó pu inim emse-res áj nat, mu namir eme-áf-ores in sea on flike this I they werel pp pp water dead Ithey were already 1 pp had they been on the sea, then they would by now have met their deaths in the water.

12 The habltual category

185 This category, like categories 13 to 15, inc1usive, and 18 to 21, inc1usive, is a tense-aspect category with separate characteristics of form for indicating time and aspect. In this category, as in the two previous categories, a series of formal and a series of informal forms occur. These two series are, in addition, opposed to a third series of forms whieh express a particular mood of the speaker, such as, for example: joy, excitement, vexation, disappointment. These forms I shall eall mood forms. The formal and the informal forms are, in this respect, neutra!. In addition, a few interrogative forms were noted. These occur only in the traditional stories. I get the impression that they have an arehaic character. Outside the traditional tales, I found in questions only the non-interrogative forms, followed by the question marker enjan.11

188 (Paradigms: see pp. 94-95)

I noted the following interrogative forms:

1. tetám-cemani shall I give him
   3. tetám-cemaném will you give him
   6. tetám-cemán will he give him
   9. tetám-cemanóm shall we give him

2. tetám-cemánokóm will you give him
   14. tetám-cemanés will they give him
   Formal characteristics 187 Aspect suffixes:-cemj-cej-cuj-m; -erm (informaI).

3. only with cores not ending in the formative awér: 17 For the discussion on this, see § 252.

-cem in all non-mood forms, and in mood-form 6 (before mood suffix -op). -ce before mood suffix*-p* when*-p* is followed by avowel 7"" u. -cu before the mood suffix*-p* when*-p* is followed by u.

2. only with cores ending in the formative awér:-m. lS
3. Informal :-erm. This suffix occurs only with cores not ending in r. The opposition formal-informal does not, therefore, occur if the core ends in r. Tense suffix: from a comparison with the forms of category 13, it appears that here the time suffix is zero. Mood suffix:-PI-op. -p occurs in all forms, except when the object suffix and the subject suffix are zero; in that case,-op occurs.
   

   Interrogative suffix:-an.

Object suffixes; peculiarities:

111. In the non-mood series:-eraw occurs before vowels;-araw occurs word-finally and before consonants. Subject suffixes; peculiarities: Ist. pers. s.; af ter the mood suffix*-p:* final*-uj,* medial*-u.* 3rd. pers. s.; in the formal and informal series: when the object suffix is zero:-ar alternating with*-a.-ar* and*-a* alternate freely, except when, in context, the form is followed by a word with initial vowel. In that case, this suffix is always*-ar.* Prefixes:
     

     A. zeroja-jaj-:

18 Here I noted only one mood-form of a care ending in awér: m-ájmiremewér-punè = I always go the wrang way, (§ 317).

If

1. porawer-puj; 2. porawer-pun; etc.; 6. porawer-mop; 7. porawer-pen, etc.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

informal 1-

A. zero, a-/aj-

--~--~~~~---_.~~--------------------~--------

B. m-/mV-
c. tep-/tepa-
*a-*alternates with zero. In addition, *a-*aIternates with *aj-*before a. The prefix *a-*usually occurs before a core having one vowel and beginning with a consonant. There is usually no prefix before cores beginning with avowel.

B. m-/mV-: The rule of distribution is here the same as that applying to the prefix *m-/mV-*of category 4 (§ 110).
C. tep-/tepa-: *tepa-*occurs in all cases, except before a *tep-*occurs before a.

mood form: ______ I _________________________________________________ _

· ·

· · ·

____ 1 ______ ---- ______________ _

explicative

--------_--'-----------------------------------1I

negative interrogative

Categorial meaning

138

A. The farms without prefix, or with a-jaj-. These indicate:
1. that the action or the happening is customary: jévu emáp-cer.ná ceremonial house I he sits usually I he is sitting, as usual, in the ceremonial house (§ 265).

ASMAT LANGUAGE

is a-poáms-ermóm (af ter the feast) we usually all go to sleep. sleep /we usually all go to sleepj

ei jufuj nim a-kirim-cupuj canoe Itrough for paintl Iike /1 am accustomed to makel (mood-form) I am accustomed to make a canoe (beautifully carved) like a trough for paint! (Here the speaker gives expres sion to a feeling of pride).

In addition, they ean have a prohibitive meaning:

inim ém-cememá lS" you mustn't do it this way. jthis way / you must not always do itl

inim atakám a-táw-cemém you mustn't keep saying such things. J1ike thisl talking Iyou mustn't a1ways speaki

2. that the action or the happening will take place in the future : usi wow a-káj-cemá today thepeople will return from camp (§ 333). camp today /people will return/ ós armá emwUs-ermár tree fit itself j it will fall down/ the tree will fall down of its own accord (§ 296). ós kor am ém-cepém cough loudly a1so Iyou will dol (mood-form) soon you'll also cough loudly (said a speaker laughing to the tape recorder when he had interrupted his narrative with a fit of coughing). 189
   B. Forms with the prefix m-/mV-. All the forms noted belong to the formal series. The forms with *m-jmV-*are distinguished from the forms without a prefix, or with *a-/aj-*in that they are used when the speaker explains or interprets something, or when he makes a confirmatory statement to himself. These forms I shall eaU explicative forms (see § 111). Explaining which word is used for peeling skin, an informant said: na piein ma-fafuj-cemaráw our skin 'peels'. our skin fit 'peels us' j m-ájmiremewér-punè lSb(mood-form) - I always go the wrong way! IS. For final a see § 34. lSb For final è see § 33.

(complains a man who meets spirits when he is looking for food § 317). Form 2. occurs here because he makes the observation to himse1f.

C. Forms with the prefix tep-/tepa-. All the forms noted belong to the formal series. The forms with *tep-/tepa-*are distinguished from the forms with *zero/a-/aj-*in that they express a negative question : tépa-pór-cemém why don't you usually look at it? 13 The habltuaI fOnDS of the mediate past 141 Paradigms: te tam to give; e/j to do

3.
5.
7.
8.
9.
10.
13.
15.
A.-/a-

ASMAT LANGUAGE

It will he seen from the paradigms that a series of forms occurs with an aspect suffix*-cem,* and another series with an aspect suffix*-erm/-er.* Though the formal contrast between the two series shows great similarity with that between the forma! and the informal series of the habitual category, there does not appear to he a division into formal and informal forms. The forms with*-erm/-er* were only found with the verb eh to do, when it is linked to the repetitive form of a verb (core-á); they occur here instead of the forms with*-cem.* The two series appear to be mutua1ly exc1usive.

F ormal characteristics

Aspect suffixes:-ccm; -erm/-er. -erm before vowels;-er before consonants.

Tense suffix:-po In all forms, the tense suffix follows the aspect suffix, except in forms 1 and 6, in which it follows the subject suffix.

Subject suffixes; peculiarities: lst. pers. S.: before the tense suffix:-0 (form 1) 3rd. pers. S.: before the ten se suffix:-e (form 6).

Prefix: a-. *a-*was only found before cores having one vowel, and an initial consonant. In all other cases noted, no prefix occurred.

Categorial meaning

The forms of this category indicate that the action or the happening took place regularly over a certain period of time. They differ semantically from the forms of the habitual category in that they relate to that part of the past that goes back from yesterday as far back as the generations still alive can recall from their own experience. This period I have called the mediate past (see also § 105, note 6) in contrast to the ultim,ate past which covers the remaining part of the past.

Forms with-cem:

erém 'ni' a-jés-c'émpés, na tapin night come Ithey said time and time again/, we Isleeping matsl lmanám a-jik-c'émpómj, wunám 'opák' a-ji-ecmpes jwe packed them up time and time again/, then 'no' Ithey saidj time and time again that night they said: "come (let's go)". Then we packed up our sleeping mats, but again they said they were not going.

jwá mul nákurumsém-eemop, 'UlUnám Iwun ásj

pool 1I drank up again/ then another every time I drank one pool dry I began on another (§ 314).

In]epém I noted one case where the en ding*-c'épes* occurs instead of*-c'émpes:* jiwi a mu nisé-c'épes, ás i op tepómporsém-c'épes children there water Ithey were as usualf shit piss above Ithey kept letting gol The children who, as usual, were (playing) in the water just let their shit and piss go (§ 320). Farms with*-erml-er:* "u" jkuku-á j-ermép shouting, they usually fled. ooh I /shouting fled I they usually did/

ei táktetémapm-á j-erpóm canoes Iwent downstream and rammed I we usuallY didl we usually rowed downstream and rammed their canoes!

14 The progresslve forma

144 In this category there occur a series of non-mood forms and one series of mood forms. In addition, a numher of interrogative forms was found which appear to he used exclusively in traditional stories. A dual form of the 3rd. pers. occurs in the non-mood series. In contrast to the dual forms of the hortative category, this one appears to he unproductive. Until now, I have only found it in texts which were narrated by a couple of old men who were approximately 50 or 60 years old. In these texts, the dual form was not used consistently by the narrators. The informants knew these dual forms, but in practise they made no distinction hetween the 3rd. pers. pl. and the 3rd. pers. dual. In the progressive forms, the durative formative occurs in the allomorph a instea.d of awér.

tetámutum-eném pór-mepêném tetám-ampênem you give it to me

5. pór-merawóm tetám-ámerawóm tetámutum-erawóm pór-mopawóm tetám-ampawóm you give it to us
6. por-má(r) tetám-amá( r) tetámutum-á(r) por-móp tetám-amóp he gives it to him

7. por-mén tetám-amén tetámutum-én pór-mepén tetám-ampén he gives it to me, you
   they give it to you (pI.)

8. pór-maráw tetám-amaráw tetámutum-aráw pór-mapáw tetám-ampáw he gives it to us

9. por-móm tetám-amóm tetámutum-óm pór-mopóm tetám-ampóm we give it to him
10. pór-menóm tetám-amenóm tetámutum-enóm pór-mopênóm tetám-ampenom we give it to you
11. pór-mokóm tetám-amokóm tetámurum-okóm pór-mopokóm tetám-ampokóm you give it to him
12. pór-menokóm tetam-ámenokóm tetámutum-enokóm por-mópênokóm tetam-ámpênokóm you give it to me
13. pór-merawkóm tetam-ámerawkóm tetámutum-erawkóm pór-mopawkóm tetám-ampawkóm you give it to us
14. por-més tetám-amés tetámutum-és pór-mopós tetám-ampós they give it to him
15. pór-menés tetám-amenés tetámutum-enés pór-mepenés tetám-ampênés they give it to me, you (sing.)
16. pór-merawós tetám-ámerawós tetámutum-erawós pór-mopawós tetám-ampawós they give it to us
17. pór-mamés tetám-amamés they both give it
    A. zero/a-/j-
    B. m-/mV-explicative
    -~------

C. em-/eme-completive

D. op-/opa-interrogative

E. tep-jtepa-negative-interrogative

Paradigms:

tetám to give; tetámutum to give in the evening; por to see (Paradigms: see p. 100)

The following interrogative forms were found :

1. á-por-mani do I see him?

2. á-por-manin do I see you?

3. á-por-maném do you see him?

4. á-por-máneném do you see me?
10. á-por-manóm do we see him?

Formal characteristics

Uts Aspect suffix:-mi-am/zero. -m occurs in all cases, except when the core ends in m. -am occurs when the core ends in m, except af ter the formative itumj utum 'in ·the evening', and af ter the core em 'to do, to make' when the verb forms a word-group with a form of category 4 (see § 183). zero occurs af ter itum/utum, and with em 'to do, to make' in the case mentioned above.

Tense suffix: from a comparison with the forms of category 15 this appears to be zero.

Mood suffix:-pj-Vp. -Vp occurs af ter aspect suffix*-m.* The vowel is identical with the (last) vowe1 of the subject suffix. -op final, when the aspect suffix is*-am* or zero. -p medial, when the aspect suffix is*-am* or zero.

Object suffixes; peculiarities:

1. when the subject suffix is zero*-a* alternates freely with*-ar,* except in context if the word following has an initial vowel: in that case, only -ar occurs.
2. In the non-mood series: final*-araw;* medial*-eraw.* Subject suffixes; peculiarities: lst pers. s.: af ter the mood suffix: final*-UJ* (form 1) medial*-u* (form 2). Interrogative suffix:-an; follows directlyon the aspect suffix.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Prefixes:

A. zeroja-jaj-. *a-*alternates freely with zero. In addition, *a-*alternates with. aj- before a. Cores having one vowe1 and with an initial consonant usually have the prefix a-. Cores with an initial vowe1 usually have no prefix.
B. m-jmV-: the same rules of distribution apply as for the prefix *m-jmV-*of category 4 (§ 110).
C. em-j eme-: *eme-*occurs in all cases except before *e; em-*occurs before e.
D. *op-jopa-: opa-*occurs in all cases, except before *a; op-*occurs before a.
E. *tep-jtepa-: tepa-*occurs in all cases, except before *a; tep-*occurs before a.

Categorial meaning

146 The progressive forms indicate that the action or the happening is or was still in progress. They relate to the present and the ultimate past to which, as I have al ready mentioned, be10ngs everything that has occurred on the same day as the speech event, but prior to it, as well as everything that took place so long ago that it is known only from tradition.19 When, however, the core ends in the formative itumjutum, es, itjut, or a (durative), these forms only relate to the ultimate past and appear to lack the progressive aspect.

147

A. The forms with zeroja-jaj-: their categorial meaning does not differ from the categorial meaning as described in § 146. jisin kokómtaw-més aráw they are picking coconuts. coconuts Ithey are pickingl pp no atakám a-táw-mopokóm (hey!) you're talking about me! me talking /you dol (mood-form) J améw is nim póamis-már maré a-nijirimuw-or in jpeople of J.I sleep when /they all sleptJ, then Ithey all departedj pp 18 See § 105 j note 6.

When the people of Jaméw all slept, they (people of Jepém) all departed (§ 344).

tám a-nuwut-mames in they both departed in the morning (§ 328). moming Ithey both departedf pp

móc a-móca-már she wailed continually. wailing Ishe kept wailingf

I came across a few cases in which the categorial meaning of the forms with *zeroja-jaj-*appeared to he parallel to those of category 12 with prefix zeroja-jaj-. These forms are to be found in text II (§ 265). The following case is taken from a text which is not inc1uded in this hook: ei na sówpum-cemi aráw, a ei wunám ju canoe pp /I always launeh/ pp the eanoe again trunk oworés-mopá fit beeomes again at night 1/ (mood-form) I always launch the canoe and then at night it always changes into a tronk again!

148

B. Forms with prefix m-jmV-: These are distinguished from the forms with *zeroja-jaj-*by a semantic element of explication or c1arification: sók mi-pimá a bird fUes. bird lit fliesl 'jó uciè!"-"ó uciè pak áw; nám m-enáw-mi". you what -you what not pp; 1 /1 eome/ "What do you want!" -"Don't say 'what do you want'; I'm just coming". maré, jó ma-ni-má; nó a me-sés good, sun /goes downf 1 here Istay tonight in the water/ Good, the sun goes down, 1'11 stay here tonight in the water (says a crocodile). 149
C. Forms with the prefix em-jeme-: these are distinguished from the forms with *zeroja-jaj-*by a semantic element of completion which can he translated with 'already'.

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

mu emé-susu-má pen Is the water boiling already?

water fit is boiling alreadyf pp

emé-jistewéres-mi I have already been to the forest tonight and fetched it.

D. Forms with the prefix op-/opa-: these are distinguished from the fonns with *zero/a-Iaj-*by a semantic element of interrogation, translatabIe with: for what reason, why. car mó nor asén opá-na-már your (pi) husband my place /why he ate/ why bas your husband eaten at my place? UI
E. Forms with the prefix tep-/tcpa-: these are distinguished from the fonns with *0p-Iopa-*by a semaritic element of negation: enám tep-ámpia-mém why won't you also go fishing ? fish /why won't you aiso go fishing/ Instead of enám tepámpiamém) one can also say: 20 enám m-ampi pák opá-ema-mém. fish /aiso to fish/ not /why don't you/ 15 The progresslve fonns of the medlate past UZ A division into non-mood and mood forms does not occur here. The durative formative here occurs in the allomorph a. (Paradigms: see p. 105)

Formal characteristics

158 Aspect suffix:-mi-am/zero. -m occurs af ter core-final V, and af ter core-final C ~ m when avowel follows the aspect suffix (forms 1. and 2.).

20 For this construction, see § 183.

tawutum to tell stories the whole evening

6.
7.
8.
9.
A. zero/a-/aj-

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

-am occurs af ter core-final m, except af ter cores ending in the fonnative itumlutum 'in the evening'. zero occurs: a. af ter core-final C ~ m, when a consonant follows;

b. af ter itumlutum. Tense suffix:-po Subject suffixes; peculiarities: Ist. pers. s. : in form 1.:-0. 3rd. pers. s.: in form 6.:-eo Prefix: zerola-Iaj-. *a-*alternates with zero; in addition, *a-*alternates with *aj-*before a.

Categorial meaning

1M The forms of this category differ from those of the preceding category only in that they relate to the media te past:

Owpacákipic is nim putamis-mép, parás ten káku a-wini-óf

o. asleep when /he lay down I dune-ridgel on quickly /1 went awayl when O. lay down asleep, I quickly ran away along the dune-ridge (§ 312). atakám táwutum-ép in the evening he told of it. story Ihe told in the eveningl erén tepit-mép he went upstream in the morning. upstream ,/he went in the morningl kónawomsés-penem cém Iyou ca.rne-slept with mei house the house where you came and slept with me (§ 300). a j!f sion!pora-móp the ground 1I tried to dig away continually I I tried to dig away the ground continually (§ 302).
These forms, like those of category 14, lack the progressive aspect when the core ends in one of the time-of-day formatives or the durative formative.

16 The ulttmate past category

1.M In these categories there is again a distinction between non-mood forms and mood forms. In addition, there is a series of interrogative forms

intenogative forms mood-forms I I I

i

I ~r-an~w I ~r-an~~

I

I -I--I, 1 I I

A. zero/a-/aj-/an-
B. m-/mV---I explicative

C. em-/eme-completive

--

D. op-/opa---interrogative (causal)

E. tep-/tepa---negative interrogative

THE AS MAT LANGUAGE

characterized by the suffix*-an.* The forms of this category, in contrast to those of categories 12 and 14, do not occur in combination with the question marker en/an (§ 252). As in category 14, a dual form of the 3rd. pers. occurs but it does not appear to he productive. I found it in the same texts as the dual form of category 14.

Paradigms of the ultimate past forms: por to see; tetám to give; an to eat; wu to shout

(Paradigms: see p. 107)

titJ to trembIe; ie to string together; (ow én) amo to fight with

1. a-titi/titij-i a-fé-j amó-j a-wu-j
2. a-titi-rém/erém a-fe-rémjerém amo-rém a-wu-orém
   

   6. a-titi-r j ér a-fé-r/er amó-r a-wu-ór

etc. etc. etc. etc.

Formal characteristics

11S8 Tense suffix: from a comparison with the forms of category 17, it appears that the tense suffix is zero.

Mood suffix: final:-op; medial:-po Interrogative suffix:-an, suffixed directly to the core.

Obj eet suffixes; peculiarities:

I. zero: in form 1.; af ter core-final r; 21 in all mood forms. -or: af ter core-final m; af ter core-final p, w, i, preceded by a, 0, u or C; not, however, af ter em- to stand and ap- to sit Cl j itt'tm/ utum, § 91). In the other cases occur: -er before avowel; between two vowels*-er* alternates with*-r.* -er word-finally, or before a consonant. n In the speech of only one speaker did I find the object suffix*-er* word-finally af ter core-final r, alternating with zero: aporér / apór he saw it; atewerér / atewér he took it. See text IV and V, passim.

Il.-en alternates with-n between two vowels.

lIL*-aw* occurs in the mood fonns, and af ter core-final r. -araw occurs word-finally, af ter core-final C ;&!: r. Af ter core-final V*-araw* alternates with*-mw.* -eraw occurs medially, af ter core-final C ;&!: r. Af ter core-final V -eraw alternates with*-mw.* -rawafter core-final V alternating with*-arawand -eraw.*

Subject suffixes: peculiarities:

lst. pers. s.:-uj occurs word finally;-u occurs word-initially; zero af ter core-final*-i; -j* af ter core-final V ;&!: i. The distribution of*-uj* and*-u* is parallel to that of*-or* (see above). 3rd. pers. dual:-mames.

Prefixes:

A. a-jaj-jan-jzero:

*a-*alternates freely with zero. In addition, *a-*alternates with aj- before a. *an-*was only found in the form an-e-rés = they said, alternating with *a-*and zero: a-e-résj e-rés. Before cores having one vowe1, with initial consonant, *a-*usually occurs. Before cores with an initial vowe1, there is usually no prefix.

B. *m-jmV-*Here, the rules of distribution apply as for the prefix *m-jmV-*of category 4 (§ 110). C, D, E: Here, the same rul es of distribution apply as for the corresponding prefixes of category 14 (see § 146).

Categorial meaning

A. The forms without a prefix, or with a-jaj-jan-: These re1ate exc1usively to the ultimate past, i.e. the period covering that part of the day which is prior to the speech event, as weU as the distant past which is only known from tradition (see also § 105, note 6).

THE AS MAT LANGUAGE

1M

B. The forms with the prefix m-/mV-. These have a semantic element of explanation, c1arification: anám ajpim new, ómfts néw, me-msémapm-uj anam Jextreme endJ perhaps omus perhaps JI've left thereJ I've left the extreme end of the anám (central sago pith) m the trunk of the sago palm, or perhaps it's the ómus (outside sago pith) (§ 299). ts! m-émamtewér-pokóm! (mood-form) So. you've just met each other! (Here the speaker deduces a fact ano remarks upon it testily to himself.) 1Ii9
C. The forms with the prefix em-/eme-. These have a semantic element of completion translatabIe with already: emé-setaj-ér he has already arrived (by canoe). emé-pa-nikájap-ánokom 22 ewá
pp have all of you perhaps returned? (from getting sago).

amás nes emé-awkurum-puj sago pith /1 have already scraped out allJ I have already scraped out all the sago pith! (§ 297).

180

D. The forms with op-/opa-. Forms with this prefix are interrogative forms translatable with why, for what reason : a nát a ei mátuwuw pák opá-em-ór he pp his canoe go off not why does he why doesn't he go in his own canoe ? 161
E. Forms with tep-/tepa-. These are negative interrogative forms translatabIe with why not: 22 For pa-, see § 180.

a nát a ei tepá-tuwuw-ór he pp his canoe /why doesn't he goj why doesn't he go in his own canoe? (This is an alternative used instead of the previous example).23

amás tepa-émn-erém why haven't you fetched sago? sago Jwhy haven't you fetched it/

17 The med1ate past category

162 A division into non-mood forms and mood forms does not occur here. I did find a number of informal forms: these, however, do not form a, complete paradigm. In addition, I found in the texts a few cases of informal interrogative forms characterized by the suffix*-an.* My informants, however, always tlsed a construction with the question marker en/an in interrogative sentences.

(Paradigms: see p. 112)

The verb ejj-to do, when linked with a form of category 3 (core-á), has*-erof, eref* as endings instead of*-of* and*-ef* (form 1., 6.) :

tetam-á j-eróf time and again I gave it to him tetam-á j-eréf time and again he gave it to him. 24

F ormal characteristics

163 Tense suffix:-f; in the informal forms: zero.

Interrogative suffix:-an.

Object suffixes; peculiarities: lIl. In the informal forms,-eaw occurs instead of*-aw.*

Subject suffixes; peculiarities:

23 Compare § 151. 24 See also § 182.

112 THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

Paradigms:

tetám to give

formal informal interrogative

tetám-of I tetám-o I gave it to him tetám-fin I gave it to you tetám-fem you gave it to him tetám-feném you gave it to me tetám-fawóm you gave it to us tetám-ef tetám-è tetám-anè he gave it to him tetám-fen he gave it to me, you they gave it to you (pI.) tetám-faw he gave it to us tetám-fom we gave it to him

10. tetám-fenóm we gave it to you
11. tetám-fokóm tetám-okóm you gave it to him
12. tetám-fenokóm you gave it to me
13. tetám-fawkóm you gave it to us
14. tetám-fes tetám-es tetám-anés they gave it to }:lim

15. tetám-fenes they gave it to me,
    you (sing.)

16. tetám-fawós tetám-eawós they gave it to us

    A. I zero/a-/aj-

I

B.I m-/mV-I explicative
C. em-/eme-I completive
I I..

D.I op-/opa-! mterrogative

E. tep-/tepa-I negative interrogative

1 st. pers. S.:-0 (form 1) 3rd. pers. S.:-è (form 6).25

Prefixes:

A. *zero/a-/aj-: a-*alternates with zero; in addition, it alternates with *aj-*before a. The prefix *a-*was found in most cases before cores having one voweI, with initial consonant. No prefix was found usually before cores with an initial vowel.
B. *m-/mV-: m-*and *mV-*are distributed according to the ruie given in § 110.
C. em-/eme-; D. op-/opa-; E. tep-/tepa-: Here, the ruies of distribution appIy as for the corresponding prefixes of category 14 and category 16. Categorial meaning 184
A. The forms with *zero/a-/aj-*relate exclusively to the mediate past,
i.e. the period which begins with yesterday and goes as far back as the generations still alive can recall from their own experience.
B. Forms with m-/mV-: these have a semantic element of explanation or clarification: Taweric enim /f,w ma-táwsim-fawós Taweric and Jiw Itook us with theml Taweric and Jiw took us with them (on their flight) (§ 342).
C. Forms with em-/eme-: these have a semantic element of completion, translatabie with already: amás emé-kafum-anés had they already scraped out sago? sago /had they already seraped out/
D. Forms with op-/opa-: these have a semantic element of interrogation, translatable with why: enéw nat mifán opá-faj-fém why were you averse to mother ? mother pp averse /why were youl
E. Forms with tep-/tepa-: these are negative-interrogative forms: tepá-por-fém why didn't you see it? 25 Here, a special allophone of the e phoneme oecurs: see § 33.

AS MAT LANGUAGE

18/19 The anrerlorltive forms

166 The anterioritive forms are those verbal forms which indicate that the action or happening is anterior to another action or happening. They
can he translated with: af ter ....; first .....

Paradigms:

zeroja-jaj- I

Formal characteristics 166 Tense -aspect suffixes: ultimate past forms:-ac; mediate past forms:-ar.

Subject suffixes; peculiarities: mediate past: Ist. pers. S.:-0 (form 1); 3rd. pers. S.:-e (form 6).

Prefix: zeroja-jaj-. *a-*alternates with zero; in addition, *a-*alternates with *aj-*before a.

Categorial meaning

16'7 The forms of category 18 re1ate to the ultimate past; those of category 19, to the mediate past:

ei sés a-sów-aei, mu a-nifámpum-aci, anPiw a-pesé-j

canoe firing /1 did first! water II pushed it first intol immediately /1 rowed off/ First I fired the canoe, then I pushed it into the water, and immediately rowed off.

tapin a-jik-aró ei á-nuwuw-óf /sleeping mat / 1 packed it up andl canoe /1 go into it/ I packed up the sleeping mat and got into the canoe.

The anterioritive forms of the mediate past were never found as the last verb in a sentence; they were always followed by at least one verb. The anterioritive forms of the ultimate past can occur as the last verb of asentence. They then have a conditional meaning. I do not know in how far their meaning is then identical to that of the forms of category 10 with the prefix ea-(§ 130) and whether they are interchangeable with those forms:

már atów e-aeóma! let us first play football. bali play liet us first dol

tó aflnás emtewn-áeema tomorrow sago /you must first fetchl tomorrow you must first fetch sago (before we go on our way).

20/21 The perfecüve fonns

168 In the course of working on the material it became c1ear that the verbs with the suffix*-itjut* form a separate category. It was, therefore, not possible to obtain a complete paradignl from my informants. It is, however, pos si bIe, on the basis of the cases noted, to deduce the complete paradigm with rather great certainty. The forms not found in the material are put between brackets in the paradigm that follows. All these forms appear to have a semantic element of completion.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

I have therefore termed them perfective forms. They relate to the past; a division inlo ultimate past and mediate past only occurs, however, in forms 1 and 6.

Paradigm:

por to see; tetám to give

ult. past med. past ult. past med. past

1. pór-itiIpór-itó tetám-uti I tetárn-utó
2. pór-itin tetárn-utin

3. por-itém tetám-utém

   4. [por-irenem) [tetam-utenem]

4. [por-itawom] [tetam-utawom]

5. por-itIpór-itè tetám-ut I tetám-utè

   7. [por-iten) [ tetam-uten]

6. pór-itáw tetám-utáw

   9. pór-itóm tetám-utóm

7. [por-irenom] [tetam-urenom]

8. pór-itokóm tetárn-utokóm
9. [por-irenokom] [tetam-urenokom]
10. [por-itawkom] [tetam-utawkom]
11. pór-ités tetám-utés
12. [por-itenes] [tetam-urenes]
13. [por-itawos] [tetam-utawos]
    A. zeroja-
    

    ------------------------!------

B. em-jeme-completive

F ormal characteristics

169 Tense -aspect suffix:-itjut. -it and*-ut* are distributed according to the rule given in § 91 (/ j itumjutum).

Subject suffixes; peculiarities:

mediate past forms: lst. pers. s.:-0 (form 1); 3rd. pers. s.:-è (form 6).26 I noted one case of the ending*-itof* instead of*-ito;* here the f occurs which, in category 17, is the tense suffix.

Prefixes:

A. zero/a-: only in two of the cases noted a prefix *a-*occurs.
B. em-/eme-: only one form with this prefix was noted. 170
A. Forms with prefix, or with a-. Some of the cases noted were: no asén akatés cowák emáms-iti 1 place good very 1I have lain/ I have lain in a very good placet (§ 314). jóp nim jitak-itó a mu, Ion the back / Iike this I 1 had gone downstreaml there water I had gone downstream, laying on my back in the water (§ 313). jéw éwenaw-ut he has come from the ceremonial house (§ 315). Iceremonial house I he has come froml
B. The only form with *em-/eme-*I noted, occurs in the following sentenee : wun ow nát cem máp emé-tepákajap-ites in some people pp houses ahead /they had already gone upriver I pp some of the people had already gone upriver to their houses (§ 273). 22 The past teRse category of cores with the durative fonnative 171 A separate category of past tense forms occurs with cores ending in the durative formative. There is no division into ultimate and mediate past. The durative formative here occurs in the allomorph ewir. As in categories 12, 14 and i6, there is a series of mood forms. (Paradigms: see p. 118) 26 Here, a special allophone of the e phoneme occurs: see § 33.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Paradigms: por to see, to look at

non-mood forms mood forms

1. pórewir-i pórewir-ipuj
2. pórewir-in pórewir-ipun
3. pórewir-im pórewir-ipém
4. pórewir-iném pórewir-ipeném
5. pórewir-irawóm pórewir-ipawóm
6. pórewir-ir pórewir-up
   

   7. pórewir-in pórewir-ipán

8. pórewir-iráw pórewir-ipáw

9. pórewir-um pórewir-ipóm

10. pórewir-inum pórewir-ipenóm
11. pórewir-ikUm pórewir-ipokóm
12. pórewir-inokóm pórewir-ipenokóm
13. pórewir-irawkóm pórewir-ipawkóm
14. pórewir-is pórewi-ipós
15. porewir-inés pórewir-ipenés
16. pórewir-irawós pórewir-ipawós
    A. zero/a-
    

    B. em-/eme-

Formal characteristics 1'72

where it is zero.

Object suffixes; peculiarities: IIl. In the non-mood forms:-raw. Subject suffixes; peculiarities:

I always looked at him I always looked at you you always looked at him you always looked at me you always looked at us he always looked at him he always looked at me, you they always looked at you (pI.) he always looked at us we always looked at him we always looked at you you always looked at him you always looked at me you always looked at us they always looked at him they always looked at me, you (s.) they always looked at us

I completive I

Tense suffix:-i in all cases, except in form 9 of the non-mood series

Mood suffix:-pi-up. -up occurs word-finally,-p medially.

lst. pers. s.: in the non-mood fonus: zero. In the mood forms:-ujl-u. -uj occurs word-finally,-u medially (fonus 1 and 2). 2nd. pers. s.:-m when the tense suffix immediate1y precedes it. 3rd. pers. s.:-r in form 6 of the non-mood series. lst. pers. pl.:-um in the non-mood series. 2nd. pers. pl.:-kum when the tense suffix immediately precedes it. 3rd. pers. pl.:-s when the tense suffix immediately precedes it.

Prefixes:

A. zero I a-: *a-*was only found before cores having one vowe\ and with initial consonant.
B. *em-jeme-: eme-*occurs in all cases, except before *e. em-*occurs before e. na
A. Forms without a prefix; or with a-:

inim émtawéwir-is that's what they always said.

/like this I they always saidj

pé amás néwir-um néwa

crabs food /we always atej perhaps what we always ate before was perhaps crabs! (§ 302).

mu midc sejiréwir-up

water seaweed /he lay in it so long that it grew over him/ he lay in the water so long that the seaweed grew over him!

B. Fonus with *em-Ieme-*have a semantic element of completion, translatabie with 'already; have':

ei emé-akéwir-ipuj I have always made canoes!

canoe /1 have always made/

23 The ·miJr forma 174 A category about which meagre data were obtained is that of the forms characterized by the suffix*-mer.* I only got form 6 from the informants, so that I thought for a long time that I was dealing with an isolated case. Later, from the texts it appeared that other forms also occur. The forms with*-mer* relate to the past. In addition, they have a semantic element of repetition which is transIatabIe with 'each day again'. The following forms were noted:

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

2. 27 J J
I gave him an injection every day but it didn't help.

camuw ei ákarawér-merkóm a-por-óf Ion footl canoe /you went each day again / I sawJ I saw that you (pI.) went each dayon foot instead of by canoe.

The*-mer* forms can also indicate that an action or a happening takes place over a long time, from a point in the past up to the present:

nur epic nam tari jiwamis-meró, wow Inamir af-órl my sister sick long Jshe layJ today /she died/ my sister has been sick for a long time, today she died.

1715

I found an ending*-ermero* with the verb elj-to do, when it was linked with a form of category 3 (core*-á).* The forms with*-ermero* were only found in a text, narrated by an old man (between 50 and 60 yea.rs old). The suffix of the forms of cat. 3 in these cases is*-e* instead of*-á.*

Taweric nat jów ceml inim apéwer-e j-érmero

T. pp Jlookout house / Iike this / he sat there each day/ each day Taweric again remained in the lookout post (§ 340). enám Iteweréwer-e j-érmero/, tów Ipéwer-e j-érmeroj fish Ithey fetched each dayJ, /sago grubs / they fetched/ each day they again fetched fish and sago grubs (§ 324).
In addition, this ending occurs in the same text, suffixed to cores ending in awér or ewér:

27 suntik: I<>an-word from Malay.

jók apawer-érmero each day they spent the day in idleness (§ 326). Iduring the day I they just sat, each dayl

wasén namicukewer-érmero forest Ithey all went each day I each day they all went to the forest (§ 326).

These forms are probably contractions of forms of category 3 and j-ermero. I think it not impossible that the forms with*-ermero* are archaic. When Iran the text af ter the recording, the informants repeated it word for word, and they always used in these cases forms with*-mero* instead of these with*-ermero: jók apawér-mero; wasén* namicukewér-mero. Fina1ly, a form with*-mamero* was found:

Suru áwemic aráw, juwur fék wut ak-mámero Suru lis therej pp Ijuwur wood,! big very Ihe makes (a canoe) each dayl Suru is there, he is busy every day making a very big canoe of juwur wood.

In this case, the daily activity is seen as a process that is still unfinished. Perhaps the*-mer* forms are divided into a category of past tense forms and another category of present tense forms.

24 The unproductive category of the posltional verbs

178 When the positional roots occur as a core or as the last morpheme of a core with the meaning 'to be' (in a specific position), the forms of category 14 do not occur. Instead of them we find:

I. With amis (to He), ap (to sit), and se (to be in the water) :
lam

3.
14.

17. ?

TUE AS MAT LANGUAGE

II. With em (to stand), and tep (to he above) :

3.
6.
9. Onee in a text I found a dual form of ap (see above). With amis, ap, and se, interrogative forms oceur which are charaeterized by a suffix*-an:*

6.
9. The eonstruetion with the question marker enlan oceurs with em and tep: em-cém en are you? á-tep-k en is it (above)? 177 The complete paradigm oceurs when the positionál root is eombined with the formative olom-(see § 76).

3. op-ém
   4.
   5.

178 When the positional verbs are preceded by the deictic words a here, or e there,28 a w occurs between these words and the verb:

a w sé-á w amis-a w áp-á w emic-á w atePic it is here é w asé-é w amis-e w áp-é w emic-é w atepic it is there

Morphonologica11y, these word-groups behave as one word: it is not á wamis etc., because a wsé is impossihle: a consonant cluster cannot occur at the beginning of a word; it is not ew asé because in that case the [ö] allophone of the e phoneme would occur in ew, whereas the [ e] allophone occurs. Therefore I shal1 write awsé, áwamis, éwasé etc.

**The prefixes em-and p-/pV-

179 There are two prefixes of which the occurrence appears to he exclusively dependent upon syntactical factors. These prefixes are *em-*and p-jpV-. *em-*occurs only when the verb is linked with the interrogative word udm-how, how many. It does not, however, occur with the verb em- to make. *em-*was found in forms of categories 10, 12, 16, 17 and 24 with the prefix *a-jaj-*or zero; it precedes a-jaj-.

28 See §§ 197, 198.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Cat. 10: a amás ucim em-áw-cem 29 how will you cook tbis. sago ? this sago how /will you cook itj But: sájer 30 ucim em-cém how will you prepare the vegetables ? vegetables how /you make theml

Cat. 12: sej si ucim em-tetám-cemokóm iron axes /how many I you usually give/ how many iron axes do you usually give for it?

Cat. 16: ów ucim em-setáj-erés how many people have arrived? people jhow many / they arrived/

Cat. 17: kus ucim em-sakámtewer-fém heads /how many / you cut off and took/ how many heads have you taken?

Cat. 24: jisin ucim éma-tep-k coconuts /how many / are therel how many coconuts are hanging there? 180

p-jpv-: p-occurs before vowels; pV-before consonants.

The vowel of p V-is identical to the vowel immediately following it. *p-/pV-*is prefixed to the verb when it is immediate1y followed by the postposition ew/aw (§ 255). It was found in forms of categories 10, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 24 with the prefix a-/aj-/zero, or with em-/eme-. 1t is noteworthy that p-/pV- precedes a-/aj-, but is preceded by em-/eme-.

where will you go?

itf pp

28 30

Cat. 24: 0 p-áp-em áw are you at home? you Iyou sit! pp

Syntlwtlcal valence 31 ot the verbs

181 Provisionally, the following can be said about the syntactical valence of the verbs:

1. it would appear that all verbs can be linked with substantives, proper names, personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns;
2. it would appear that the only time that there can be a linkage verb + verb is in the verbal word-groups which are to he discussed in paragraphs 182 and 183;
   3., the word-group interrogative + verb was only found with forms of the categories 10, 12-17 inc1usive, 20, 21, 22 and 24;
3. only the forms of categories 4 and 5 (m-/mV-; m-/mV- -áji) can form word-groups with negations. Cases in which all these verbal word-groups occur will not be given here; they can be found in paragraphs 182 and 183 (verb + verb; verb + negation); 192 (substantive + verb); 198 (proper name + verb); 219 (pronoun + verb); 234 (interrogative + verb) and in 235-243 (verb + negation). Summary ot the forms ot the verbs efj and ji 'to do',31" which were tound llnked to a tonn ot category 3 (core·á) 182 Cat. 10: a-por-á j-eri/e-d etc.': Everytime I see him
   

   Ito see repeatedly I if I dol

Cat. 12 : a-por-á j-ermi etc. : 1 shall see him again and again.

Cat. 13 : a-por-á j-ermóp etc. : I used to see him time and again.

Cat. 14: a-por-á e-mi etc. : time and again I see him.

31 By the syntactical valenee of a word is meant: the possibility of tbe word forming word-groups with other words. 31' The meanings of ji and el j overlap each other: both can mean to do, to say. el j in addition can mean: to become, to make.

TUE ASMAT LANGUAGE

Cat. 15 : a-por-á e-móp etc. : time and again I saw him (mediate past).

Cat. 16: a-por-á ej etc. : time and again I saw him (ultimate past).

a-por-á e-rém etc. : time and again you saw him.

,e-f'om

If ji occurs:

a long period; etc. a-poréwer-é ji-fém a-poréwer-é ji-réf a-poréwer-é ji-fom etc.

Cat. 23: á-por-a j-érmerojjimero each day I saw him again.

The forms of categories 8 and 9 (imperative and hortative forms) are always separated from the core with the suffix*-a* by inim 'in this way' :

Cat. 8 : tám maserim wunám otuwsé-a inim mom-é-c morning then again Idepart again I this way I do it II and when it is morning, you must start out again (§ 300).

Cat. 9: wowuc sumoms-á inim e-rasin middle liet !ie with repeatedly I this way I let us both dol let us always sleep on either side of him! (§ 282).

The forms of category 3 can also be linked with verbal forms the core of which contains the root ji, or ejj:

a-por-á jes-mi time and again I see him at night (cat. 14).

"ni", a-jipor-á jipór opák "corne" Ito win over I she tried / but not! "come" so she tried to win her over, again and again, but in vain.

Sununary of the forms of the verb em. to do, to make, whlch were tOWld Unked to the m/mV· form of the verb

I. Directly linked: this construction has a volitive meaning.

I also noted here a form e-óf, instead of em-óf.

Only once did I find a *m-/mV-*farm followed by a farm of the verb ji- to do, of category 23 :

o mo-pórtewét jiewér-meró you /want to marry / he always didl he has always wanted to marry you (§ 281).

Il. Indirectly linked: this is the negative construction with pak- not. This construction has na volitive meaning.

Ito dol

AS MAT LANGUAGE

III SUBST ANTIVES

DefIn1tlon 184 I will term substantives those words from which derivatives ean be formed by adding the following suffixes:

- nakáp
primary derivatives -nakás

-iriwj-eré secondary derivatives

Prlmary derlvatlves

185 -nakáp is a diminutive suffix indicating 'smallness + singular number'. The diminutive value of*-nakáP* has four aspects:

1. 'smallness': cem house, houses; cémnakap small house.
2. 'small part of a whoie' :
   a. mopán trunk; mopánakap ám awamis Ipiece of the trunkj also lit lies therej there is also a piece of the trunk lying there (§ 299). si axe; sinakap mitapmuj I thrust the axe into it, but not deeply (§ 278). jlittle bit of the axel I thrust into itj pisuwá dagger; pisuwánakap mafáw jlittle bit of a dagger j to strike repeatedly I to strike repeatedly, but not deeply, with a dagger.
   b. Suffixed to names of substances, and generic names,-nakáp ln- dicates a'small quantity of':

3. Suffixed to the words tam morning; jok noon; porów afternoon; and erém night,-nakáp indicates tbat the time of day or night in question bas just begun or has almost passed: 32 támnakap ów /udm ar' am/ éw enáwmes aráw /ea.rly in the morningl people various pp /they are comingl pp early in the morning various people come. támnakap nitamor in, jok Ilate in the morning I she arrived/ pp, noon she arrived (at home) towards the end of the morning, at noon(§ 301).
4. In the following cases the suffix*-nakáp* indicates a closeness to: umu top; esé umunakap apitmomésmar in bag /almost to the top I he filled it at night/ pp at night he filled the bag he had with him al most to the top. pim edge; amás a Pimnakap átemetótaper in sago there /almost to the rim I it rose and stayedl pp the sago (mea1) rose until it had almost reached the rim (§ 289). 188 One case was noted in which*-nakáp* was suffixed to the last word of a word-group; here it refers to the who Ie group: amás nee raw sago; amás nétnakap a little bit of raw sago.
   

   Similar cases are probably :

pók kow opáknakap not enough to eat. food much not-

32 A similar semantic symmetry is found in the following words which also denote periods of time: to tomorrow / yesterday jowun the day af ter tomorrow / the day before yesterday átojowun in three days' time / three days ago átojofáj in four days' time I four days ago átomér in five days' time / five days ago.

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

ténam jóf opáknakap 33 áemémer in throat opening not- /he stoodl pp he stood there his throat almost ehoked (with erying).

187 -nakás is a diminutive suffix indicating 'smallness + plural number':

pok thing/things; póknakas Httle things nani heap/heaps; naninakas little heaps.

The semantie value of*-nakás* does not seem to have the different aspects that*-nakáp* has.

Secondary derlvatives

188 To derivatives with*-nakáp* and :-nakás, the suffix*-iriwl-eré* ean be added to form seeondary derivatives. The forms of this suffix have a distribution parallel to that of*-nakáp* and*-nakás: -iriw* is suffixed to derivatives with*-nakáp,* and*-eré* is suffixed to derivatives with -nakás. Derivatives with*-iriwl-eré* indicate something very small, a very small quantity of, etc.:

porów afternoon; porównakápiriw masnim maré atakám afasmapéf evening-then lat last! story /he toldl FinaIly, when it was still evening, he told them the story (§ 320).

jisis the edge of the fire; jisisnakápiriw fa amnu aotmámseres in ledge of the fire-/ back Ito each other I they lay/ pp by the edge of the fire they lay, their backs towards each other.

jep side; jépnakapiriw máokomémtamcin side-Iroll it up for mei roll up for me a tiny part of the side (of the fish trap) (§ 269).

No cases parallel to sinakap mitapmuj were found.

33 The negation opák will he dealt with in § 240.

A secondary derivative with-eré is:

pis grandchildren; car pisnakaseré all your small grandchildren.

See also: cowákaseré, § 191.

Words wUh which derlvatives are formed only wlth*-nakáp,* or only wlth*-nakás*

1. In the following words, diminutive forms were found only with -nakáp:
   

   cOwUc woman; cowutnakáp little woman, girl

jipic man; jipitnakáp little man

ewUc younger brother; ewutnakáp little younger brother.

It can therefore be assumed that only*-nakáp* can he suffixed to the following kinship terms denoting a particular person:

o grandchild mo husband em wife ótipic brother (said by a sister) teráswuc sister wa brother-in-law epuc older brother epic older sister amUs younger sister nin daughter-in-law

2. In the following words, diminutive forms were found only with -nakás: isipis parents, mothers or fathers; fsipisnakás little fathers pis grandchildren; pisnakás little grandchildren. It can also be assumed that only*-nakás* can be suffixed to the following kinship terms denoting a number of persons : miwis husbands ófajis grandparents ófew blood kinsmen belonging to a ceremonial house different
   from one's own

AS MAT LANGUAGE

A non-productlve plural category

190 A non-productive plural category occurs with six kinship terms. The derivative suffix is*-ewes* in four cases,-wis in two cases:

A. B.

The possibility of suffixing*-nakáp* to the words under A, and*-nakás* to the words under B, has already been discussed in § 189.

Cases of transposltlon

191 The one definite case of transposition I found is the word jiwinakap, which occurs as a substantive with the meaning 'small child' (from jiwi, child), and as an adjective with the meaning 'smali". This case will be dealt with when the adjective is discussed. Transposition to the c1ass of substantives probably occurs in the following cases:

1. The adjectives awUt large, and jiwinakap small, occur in the following sentence in positions in which one would expect substantives to occur:

takás awakámkurumor in, awut am, jiwinakap am, takás in all Ihe killed them alll pp, large also, small also, all pp He killed them all, large and small, all of them U / owerów am, cepés am- men and women).

2. cowák 'one, very, forthwith' > cowákaseré 'little ones' (substantive). cowák is a word of which it is not yet c1ear to which word-c1ass it belongs. 1t ean form groups with substantives, adjectives, and verbs, as in: cem cowák one house; akát cowák very good; átepfés cowák they forthwith rowed upriver. The irregular derivative with*-aseré* instead of*-nakásere* (see § 202) I found once, as a substantive: cowákaseré pen éw melléstewer e11lpûj Jlittle onesl pp pp Icome to getj I do (mood form) I come here and would like to get some [sago] if perhaps there are still some crumbs left! (§ 324). Syntactlcal valence 192 Substantives can form groups with:
1. other substantives: amás esé a bag with sago. sago bag
2. adjectives: áj cem a new house; new house cem awUt a large house. house large
3. deictic words: 110 cém my house; a cém this house; cém ar to the house; cá cem (ám) whose house; udm cem (ám) what kind of house.
4. verbs: fét aworséc change into a fet fish! (§ 270). Ifet fish I change intol

AS MAT LANGUAGE

amás ancemes they usually eat sago.

sago /they usually eat!

na mémtomir ÓW

me jaccompany to the other sidef people people who (want t~) accompany me to the other side (of the river).

5. the postpositions aráw, nat, am (see §§ 245, 246, 248). 198 There are a number of kinship terms which are always linked to a personal-possessive pronoun. They are:

" " " " " " " " " 34 " " " "

34 " " " " " " " " " " "

WORD-CLASSES 135

wie father 34 " (no) wopis 'the people of my age' (no) wós (my) mother 34

IV PROPER NAMES

Grouplng

194 Proper names fall into two groups:

1. one group consisting of names of persons and names of rivers;
2. one group consisting of names of villages and names of ceremonial houses Uew). Names of persons and names of rlvers 195 Derivatives can he formed from names of persons and names of rivers by adding the suffixes*-akáp* or*-sintU.* When*-akáp* is suffixed to a person's name, it indicates that that person is the younger of two namesakes; when*-sintit* is suffixed to a person's name, it indicates that that person is the elder of two namesakes :

When*-akáp* and*-sintit* are suffixed to names of rivers, they serve to distinguish two identically names rivers from each other. The name of the smaller of the two acquires the suffix*-akáp,* that of the larger, the suffix*-sintit:*

34 The current terms for father and mother are niwi and enéw; kipie, óswue, wie and wos I found in texts only. The difference in meaning between ieipie and wie, óswue and wos, is not c1ear to me. From the texts I get the impression that wie and wos are used only when referring to persons belonging to one's own family.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

196 The following kinship terms link up with the proper names:

«

«

youngerjelder namesake.

asakáp the younger of the two partners.

No derivative with*-simit* is known to me of the last term.

Names of vUlages and ceremonlal houses

197 Names of villages and of ceremonial houses (jew) link up with the names of persons and of rivers as regards their syntactical valence. But, they have no morphological valence.35 The name of one of the ceremonial houses of the village, or also a compound formed by the names of two ceremonial houses belonging to a village, are used as the name of the village, for example:

Syntactlcal valence

198 Proper names can form groups with :

1. substantives: Warsé ei the canoe of Warsé; lepém ow people of Jepém. 35 A word has morphological valenee when derivatives can he formed from it by means of one or more of the morphological processes, mentioned in § 62.

2. adjectives: N atinák omér N atinák IS afraid; J epém wut many people of Jepém.

3. deictic words: no TewérawUc lam Tewérawuc; ná Jepém we are from Jepém. já Matámjen that Matámjen (persons name); e Jepém over there, in Jepém. Tewérawuc ár in the direction of Tewérawuc. J epém a to J epém. ca Miwirpic ar'áma! who is this Miwirpic! (§ 273). who M. pp pp
4. verbs: Jispáripic ájmirimtiwér It was the falllt of Jispáripic. J omót ajiser He rowed out of the J omót.
5. postpositions : aráwJ amJ enerim, cin (see §§ 245, 246, 248, 250, 251). V AD]ECTIVES Characteristlcs 199 Words from which derivatives can he formed with the following suffixes will here be termed adjectives:
   -nakápJ -iriw -nakásJ (-eré) -picim

Since, as far as morphological valence is concerned, there is a distinct similarity to the substantives, it is legitimate to ask the question whether there is here a separate class of adjectives. There are three arguments which plead for the existence of a special class:

1. the semantic value of*-nakáp* and*-nakás* differs clearly from the semantic value which these suffixes have when they are added to a substantive;

-pidm, a productive process, that d~ not occur with the substantives;

3. the word jiwinakáp occurs as a derivative substantive with the meaning of 'small child' (see § 191), and as an adjective, with the meaning of 'smalI'. It is possible here to conclude that this is a case of transposition, a conclusion strengthened by the fact that from jiwinakáp 'smalI', derivatives can be formed with*-nakáp(iriw)* and*-pidm* (see § 204). Morphologlcal valence 200 The suffix*-nakáp* has here the semantic value of 'much, to a high degree': jinic slack jinitnakáp very slack, weak siri quick sirinakáp very quick kik;' close together kikinakáp very close together. The suffix*-nakás,* similarly, has the semantic value of 'much, to a high degree': nemcén angry, pugnacious nemcénakás furious, very pugnacious jepén recent jepénakás very recent. The material is not decisive in respect of the distribution of*-nakáp* and*-nakás;* a distinct correlation with singular and plural, respectively, such as occurs in parallel formations with the substantive, was only found with pacák- bad (discussed below). In all other cases, this does not occur: emák kikinakáp having a quantity of bones (said of fish). bones Jvery close together / onów kikikikikikînakás thatch pieces of thatch laid very, very close together. jepénakáp; jepénakás in the recent past, still very new. The material is, however, too limited to allow of a decision whether -nakáp and*-nakás* are interchangeable in these cases and are thus alternants. Bearing in mind the case of pacák (§ 202), they will he provisionally regarded as two separate suffixes.

201 On the basis of the derivatives with*-nakáp,* secondary derivatives can he formed with the suffix*-iriw,* which serves to emphasize the semantic value of*-nakáP:*

jinic slack; jinitnakáp very slack; jinitnakápiriw very, very slack.

The only case of a secondary derivative with*-eré* that I came across was pacákaseré (§ 202).

202 Pacák bad, unfit, has irregular derivatives: the suffix*-ap* and*-as* are added to pacák instead of*-nakáp* and*-nakás:*

pácakáp pacákapiriw pacák (not found) pacákaseré

These derivatives express intensity of feeling. Pácakáp is used to express compassion, for example:

newét pacakáp! my poor man! (said by a wife about a deformed husband).

Pacákapiriw and pacákaseré can he translated by: worthless, miserable, deuced. This is the only case in which the derivative with*-apiriw* indicates the singular number, in contrast to the derivative with*-aseré* which here indicates the plural number:

a acir pacákapiriw!

that acir bad that confounded acir (storefor sago on the collar beams of the house).

a juwUs pacákaseré / minip manimcemf,j!

those names bad /1 always forget/ those deuced names, I always forget!

208 The suffix*-picim* indicates a relative degree:

awUt large awutpicim rather large

jiwinakáp small jiwinakápicim rather small

tari long ago taripicim rather long ago

ASMAT LANGUAGE

cases of tr&nsp08itlon

204 The case of jiwinakáp smalI, of which the derivatives jiwinakápnakáp very smalI, jiwinakápnakápiriw very, very, smalI, and jiwinakápicim rather smalI, were found, has already been noted. Probably the following case is also one of transposition (transposition to the adjective cIass by suffixing*-nakáp):*

I do not know if sétnakáp narrow, and karésnakáp thin, laid out far apart (of atap) are derivatives: I did not find an underlying form set and kares.

Syntactlcal valence

205 Adjectives ean form groups with:

substantives: aj young, new, is the only adjective that always precedes a substantive:

The other adjectives can precede as well as follow a substantive. An adjective precedes the substantive when a certain emphasis falls on the former:

proper names:

N atinák omér N. is afraid.

verbs:

ew áj aworéf the other day he was changed into a crocodile crocodile new /he changed into/

141

akát émores ów the men who did it weil. good-jthey did it/ people

personal pronouns:

ó jiwinakáp you are small

nó pacák I will not, I won't do it (Pacák can have the mea.ning 'averse to, not willing' when linked with personal names or personal pronouns).

Adjectives, in addition, can he linked with words which express 'a great degree of'. I got the impression that these words cannot be linked to all adjectives. Thus I found:

kar very, too, in:

anakát really, in:

nucur very, in:

, ?

sa fan' ?., m:

juruw safán very long

ASMAT LANGUAGE

cakámkaj ?, in:

focó cakámkaj skinny

ut very, in:

awut ut very large

cowák 'totally', in:

akát cowák very good

VI DEICTIe WORDS

IntrodUCtiOD

206 Asmat bas a number of deictic words which fall into two main groups:

I. non-interrogative pronouns; Il. interrogative pronouns.
1. The non-interrogative pronouns, if we set aside the derivative forms, can he set out in the following scheme:

a / ar

no / nor e / er ariw

na / nar ja

o / or jáka ca / cal" átar

personal demonstrative directional possessive

The form of this scheme rests on the following considerations :

1. the non-interrogative pronouns fall into three classes: personal possessive pronouns; demonstrative pronouns; and directional pronouns; Of these, only the personal possessive pronouns have morphologica1 valenee;

2. there is one 'neutral' deictic word, a/ar, which links up with all three classes;

3. In all three classes we find pairs of word-variants: one variant ending in avowel, the other in r. The scheme makes it clear that th ere is a certain forma! connection between the classes: 1) because the deictic word a/ar belongs to all three classes; 2) because the same type of word-variants occurs in all three classes. Only with these deictic words do word-variants with and without final r occur systematically: outside the deictic words, only a few isolated cases were found.36 Il. The interrogative pronouns are ca/com, ucim and udnak/uciJuc. In' this group the neutral deictic word a/ar does not occur, nor do word-variants with and without final r. The reasons for treating them as one group will be given in § 232. The non-interrogative pronouns
4. The personal possessive class 207 This class consists of four personal possessive pronouns, to which the neutral deictic word a/ar is added:

0

....... ........

The forms in set A will he called A variants; those in set B, B variants.

as I.e. the verba! forms ending in*-ca/-car, -cemaj-cemar,* and*-ma/-mar.* See §§ 120, 136, 144.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

Distribution of variants.

208 When a personal possessive pronoun is linked to a substantive, we find the B variant before a substantive beginning with avowel; the A variant before a substantive beginning with a consonant:

nor amás my sago; no cém my house.

Deviations from this regularity are found:

1. when the personal possessive pronoun is linked to a substantive having one vowel, which is initial: no ém my drum; 0 ó your pig; Besides these, however, one always finds: nor ém my wife; or ó your grandchild. It is possible that here the homonymy has led to a need for differen- tiation. nas 'it is mine', occurs as weIl as the regular construction nor ás 'it is mine'.
2. when the personal possessive pronoun is linked to one of the following substantives, all of which belong to the group of kinship terms that occur exclusively linked to one of these pronouns (see § 193): Here, the B variant occurs before substantives beginning with m or w:
3. mo husband nor mó, or mó, etc.
   

   2. wa brother-in-Iaw nor wá, or wá,

"

3. wes sons nor wés, or wés,
   "

4. wet namesake

   nor wét, or wét,

"

5. wopis 'people of the same age' no wopis, but: or wopis,
   "

6. wos mother no wós, but: or wós,
   "

In one case has the personal possessive pronoun Ist. pers. sing. a variant new, in four cases a variant nur; in all these cases, the personal possessive pronoun 2nd. pers. sing. has a variant ur. These variants occur when these pronouns are linked to the following substantives:

1. isipis parents

   new isipis, ur isipis

2. kipk father nur kipk, ur kipk

   3. pis grandchildren

nur pis, ur pis

WORD-CLASSES 145

epic e1der sister nur epic, ur epic

5. wis sisters-in-Iaw nur wis, ur wis
These substantives belong to the group of kinship terms which occur exdusively linked to a personal possessive pronoun (see § 193).

209 Only the B variant was found:

1. when the personal possessive pronoun is the only word in the sentence: nor. 1. (in reply to the question: who is there?) or you;
2. when the personal possessive pronoun is not linked to any other word in the sentenee : omóp ea alán, or you, who has hit you ? blow who struck you, you nor, or, nar, ear, ar (summing up).
3. when the personal possessive pronoun is linked to one of the following words:
   a. the directional pronoun ar / a (§ 229): ó nor ár pen are you going for me ? you me to pp
   b. the question markers en and pen (§§ 252, 253) : ór en is it you; ór pen are you there?
   c. the postposition am (§ 248): nor ám, ar ám I also, and he too.
   d. the postposition aráw (§ 245) :
   nor,araw,, " .... ".,~mm eo'1 I th en sal 'd":"
   1 pp so 1I spokei

e. the postposition aw (§ 257): nór aw (yes) it is only I (reassuringly).
4. in sentences like:
lO

ASMAT LANGUAGE

ór enakáp nór enakáp, jumamtámfawos you small I small Ithey intended us for each other I when we were both very smalI, they intended us for each other (§ 280).

ór a /jó ajp;'m/ inim map;', nór a/jó ajpim/ inim memáp you this side jlike this j go to sitf, I this side (Iike this I go to sitl you go and sit on that side, then I will go and sit on this side (of the sleeping mat) (§ 283).

5. before a hesitation pause: no ó mopor pák nor .. .. nám / pok mer emémi/ I you Ilook forl not; I jalso IJ searched for foodj
   I am not looking for you; I .... I was also searching for food.

6. in derivatives: These will he diScussed in §§ 213-217. 210 The A variant was always found:

7. before the postposition nat (§ 246): no nát I (emphatic);
8. before the interrogative ca/cam/com (§§ 232, 233): o cám; ó com ám who are you ? you who; you who pp 211 For the remaining cases, it was not possible to establish a constant difference in distribution between the A variant and the B variant. The A variant was found in the vast majority of cases. Both for,?s occur in identical or similar environments in which no difference in meaning is discernible and it is thus probable that in these cases the two variants can alternate freely: %r cowák aráwan are you the only one? (§ 290). you one pp pp no/nor pók memtém emin I shall take care of the food I food jtake care off / I shallj no/nor áwapi aráw here I am; here I sit. I Isit berel pp

Only in one isolated case, namely, when they are linked to the word omér, was a difference in meaning found between the A and the B variant:

nó omér lamafraid nór omér afraid of me ar omér afraid of him a nát omér he is afraid (For nat, see § 246).

The meaning of the personal possessive pronouns. 212 no/nor points to the speaker of the sentence in which no/nor occurs:

nó or enéw aráw I am your mother. I your mother pp

na/nar points to a group of persons to which the speaker of the sentence in which na/nar occurs belongs, or to which he considers himself to belong:

ná J epém ow we are people of J epem. we J epem people

%r points to the person to whom the sentence m which %r occurs is directed:

ó Miwir en are you Miwir(pic)? you M. pp

cal car points to a group of persons to whom the sentence in which ca/car occurs is directed, or to whom the person spoken to belongs or is considered to belong at the time of speaking:

car arásen ememic you must remain here! you here remain

a/ar points to a person or persons other than those, indicated by no/nor, na/nar, %r and ca/car:

ár enakáp, nór enakáp, jttmamtámerawós he small I small /they intended us for each other /

when he and I were still smalI, they intended us for each other (§ 280).

ASMAT LANGUAGE

When these pronouns are linked to a substantive, they can have a possessive meaning:

nor enéw no niwi my mother and father (see also § 208).

Morphologica1 valence.

218 Derivatives can he formed by suffixing*-ma, -ap/-pa, -ow, -am,* and*-m* to the B variant. The forms with the suffix*-ma* have a semantic element in common which can he translated by: self, oneself, of one's own accord, or reflexively by: myself, etc. In the cases noted, the derivatives with*-ma* are always linked to a verb :

normá maci emi I myself will cut it up. II myself I cut up / 1 will it/

normá atewérfin I have fetched you of my own accord (§ 283). 1- Ifetched youl sej si normá sakamóf I cut myself with an axe. iron axe myself /1 cut/

armá mápjit ás pow it is not something that will grow by itself. self /to grow I thing not

se armá wuápmor in he himself buried him (§ 274). ground self /he buried him/ pp

214 The derivatives with the suffix*-ap* /-pa all have a semantic element which can he translated by: alone, secluded. Distributionally, the forms with*-ap* and with*-pa* exc1ude each other: the derivatives with*-pa* occur only when linked to a verb; derivatives with*-ap* are never linked to a verb:

orPá mempór pow! only you won't do it! (§ 283). lonly you / will dol not

nám a norpá emapi cowák 1 here alone /1 sat/ continually I have sat here the whole time on my own.

wasén arpá soráperes in they lived quite alone in the forest. forest Ithey alone / they livedl pp

naráP /ow somót/ emcóma! we are an independent group (§ 320). /we alonel group Iwe arel

op aráp sipám un, cenés aráp sipám un above lit alone I row of collar-beamsl pp below lit alonel row pp (in the house) there was a separate row of collar-beams above, and a separate row of collar-beams below (§ 321).

When these derivatives are linked to a substantive, they can have a possessive meaning:

noráp tapin my own sleeping mat, mine alone.

One exception to the above mentioned rule of distribution was found: the derivative with*-ap* as well as that with*-pa* occurs linked to an elenlent min, which appears to be an emphasizing element:

caráp min; carpá min you alone (with emphasis).

213 The derivatives with the suffix*-am* have a semantic element which can be translated by: in (his) turn, on the other hand, however:

náram ám naráp /07.(,1 somót/ emcóma we too Jwe alonel group Iwe arel we, too, are an independent group (§ 320).

arám ja atmár araw un, arám po ajinimés araw un he way Ihe was on it travellingl pp pp, they paddIe Ithey were rowing down riverJ pp pp while he was on his way (on foot), they rowed downriver (§ 341).

Fét am arám, " .... " inim aer in Fet, in his turn, said .... " "
Fet and Ihe in his turnl .... so Ihe spoke,l pp
(§ 270).

218 The derivatives with the suffix*-ow* have a semantic element which can he circumscribed as emphasis on the person or persons in question, to the exclusion of others:

norów aporóf I saw it (not you).

THE ASMAT LANGUAGE

cOwUc akát norów tetámfenem áw wife beautiful me /yoo gave mei pp you have indeed given me a beautiful wife (and not to others).

cepés manám arów maf, owér masájwut opów women fin love / they only/ are, husbands choose not women do fall in love, but the ehoiee of a husband is not theirs (§ 283).

217

The derivatives with-m are:

pers. sing. & pI.)

Unlike the orther derivatives, it is impossible in these cases to decide which variant is the underlying form. Is*-m* suffixed to the A variant or does it replace the r of the B variant? Furthermore, here both no/nor and na/nar have a derivative nam. The semantie element common to these derivatives can he translated by: also, eoneerning; of ten it ean only be cireumseribed as slight emphasis on the person or persons in question.

náma! I, too I

nam asén akát emámsió I lie in a good plaee, I do I (§ 314). 1 place good /1 liel

nam ám namsón pak I don't know it either I 1 either II know not!

When a personal possessive pronoun is linked to a substantive and is preceded by an*-m* derivative, it lays stress on 'possession' :

nám no ci (its) my eanoe I 1 my canoe

6m or as (its) yours I you your thing

ám apapis cowUc (she is) his own paPis-woman I he his paP!S woman

In fact,

on the other hand, occurs

If we call the persons concemed A and B, then we

derivatives meaning

A, as distinct from B

Syntactical valence.

219 The personal possessive pronouns can form grollps with:

or ár in your direction, going for you (see § 209).

the postpositions am, aráw, aw, nat. (Examples of these constructions have al ready been given in § 209).

ASMAT LANGUAGE

2. The demonstrative elass 220 This class consists of the demonstrative pronoun eler, the neutral pronoun al ar and the three demonstrative pronouns without variants : ja, jáka and átar.
A B

aI ar e Ier ja jáka átar

221 The A variant was always found, except in the following cases; in these, the B variant occurred exclusively:

1. as the single word in a sentenee :

n~m

Cases in which the demonstrative pronoun was linked to en, pen, am or aw, were not met with in the material I worked on.

4. before the final a which occurs in exclamations : éra! hey, there! 222 al ar points to:
5. that which is by, or in the direct neighbourhood of the speaker: a fér ca seráPmorémè this jfish trapj who fyau put it downf who are you, who have put down this fish trap? (§ 269).

a pér afámtiwU fire, buro up this mouse! (§ 266). fire, this mouse Ibum itl I

2. the locality of the events told of (in a tale): a nesén los wá371 cowák in, a Siréc there only forest only pp there Siréc there was only the forest, there by the Siréc (the locale of the story) (§ 290).
3. to that which is simultaneous, or almost so, with the action spoken of, or the happening narrated: a Ihari Minggul 38 cowák jiwi takás aj mupicin atáwatic this Sunday one children all new c10thes receiving this very Sunday, all the children will get new c1othes. The demonstrative pronoun al ar of ten occurs without its pointing to anything definite. I got the impression that this is the case when something is mentioned which has already been spoken of, or is presumed to he known to the listener : MajU nucur moporóm pak in, a cém os Majit ancestors /to show/ not pp the house poles the house poles [already mentioned], they did not let the ancestors of the Majit people see them (§ 274).
   a Watér nat, •.... " inim aer in Watér then said:

• Watér pp so /he said/ pp a amás jis akát, a pók jis akát étampormi a jim a enám
• sago roasted weil-fish roasted weil 1I make for himl - /fish net/ - fish piewérmi, mán opów 1I catch many:1 [but] eat not I prepare tasty roasted sago, tasty roasted fish for him, I scoop up many fish with the net, but eat he does not! (§ 280).
  37 Asmat people make the distinction between two kinds of forest: cow-sago forest, and os wá forest without sago palms.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

223 el er points tO:

1. that which is distant from the speaker: e eá ei ám whose is that canoe over there? that whose canoe pp
2. to a point in time, neither simultaneous, nor almost 50, with the time of the speech-event: e asép enáweaw Ihari Rabuj 39 ará no karji 39 opák that next lit comes/ Wednesday pp I work not next Wednesday I am free.
3. a place far from the locality of. the event set forth in the narrative: fér e kapi euwue áp aw un Ifish trap/ there c10sed /was present/ sitting pp pp there in the distance stood the fish trap (in the river) dosing it (§ 269).
   4. eler can also indicate a point that, in relation to another, is seen by the speaker as being the farther removed; or as the last one of a series: the distance is not then relevant. esé jép er ár, jép er ár bag side there to, side there to a bag whose sides reach from there to there (the speaker stretches out hls arms on either side) (§ 285). eler can occur without pointing to anythlng definite, j I alar: enám a Wok tetám, a Mis tetám, é a niwi tetám, inim aéf fish-Wok /to givef-Mis Ito givel-his father /to give/ 50 /he did/ he gave the fish to Wok, to Mis and to his father. (Here e occurs as the last one of the series: a .. a .. e .. ). é ur isipis aráw siriá, arásen momásiénawut

• your parents pp quickly here /presently you must come together / as regards (you and) your parents, presently you must come together here quickly! (§ 275).
  39 Hari Rabu; karji: loan-words from Malay. karji = kerdja.

224 ja points specially to the person spoken to: (that) there with you:

ja ueim pok tówomkonáwmem that what thing /you bring with you here! what is that thing you bring with you?

ja émorem ánam aráw that jyou work up! middle pp that part you have been working on is the ánam (middle part of the pith of the sago palm) (§ 299).

no já or mó / manám maf / páka! I that your husband like not 1 don't like that husband of yours! (§ 281).

225 jáka points to everything that is not at too great a di stance from the speaker. Before a word beginning with avowel, sometimes jak is found instead of jáka:

jak ápori look there (beside: ar ápori, look here! and er ápori look over there!)

jáka jowówa! hey, you there! there people

ei jáka erén a! (let's go) a length upstream with the canoe! (§ 269). canoe there upstream to

226 átar was only found in a few cases in the texts. lt seems to me that átar only differs in meaning from the demonstrative a/ar by a certain emphasis:

átar enám amás néwirum néwa! that fish food /we ate always/ perhaps perhaps it was fish we always ate formerly! (§ 302).

a ei nat átar jis ei nim makmák araw un bis canoe pp there firewood canoe Iike !piled up/ pp pp in his canoe, now, there they lay piled up high (the corpses) like a canoe with firewood in it.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

227 The demonstrative pronouns form groups with:

substantives: a esé this bag; ja esé that bag (with you); jáka esé that bag there; e esé that bag over there.

proper names: a lepém here in]epém; e Kájmo the village of Kájmo, away over there; ja Matámjen Matámjen there, near you.

directional pronouns: ar á this way; er á that way. (not found with ja, jáka, átar).

with aráw, maserim, nim, picirim (§ 221).

3. The directional class 228 This class consists of only two members: the directional pronoun ariw, and the neutral pronoun al ar:
aIar ariw

229 alar points in a certain direction :

wásen á to the forest nor á to me

The B variant was always found before the question markers en, pen, before the 'quotative' marker inlun, and before the final a, 0 or è which were mentioned in § 33 and § 34.

ár ará this way! here tol

ó nor ár pen are you going for me? you me to pp

o mokót ar en are you going to the sago garden? you /sago garden I to it/

no mokót aró yes, I am going to the sago garden. I/sago garden / to itj

e jowów mokót ar in those people jsago garden I to itl pp they are on their way to the sago garden, so it is said.

In the other cases, the A and the B variant seem to alternate freely.

230 arîw indicates that the point to which the movement is directed has been reached:

e jowów mokót ariw they are at the sago garden. those people jsago garden j to itj

káper 40 M erauke ariw boat Merauke Ito itf the boat (which left here) has arrived at Merauke.

Syntactical valenee 281 Directional pronouns can form groups with substantives, personal possessive pronouns and demonstrative pronouns. Examples were already given in § 229.

Interrogative pronouns

Characteristics

282 There are three interrogative pronouns:

ca occurs in all cases except immediately preceding the postposition am: in this case cam occurs.

40 káPer: loan-word from Malay, = kapal.

ASMAT LANGUAGE

udm: only once in a text a form udp was found instead of udm.

udnak/udjuc: udnak is probably a compound formed with ud and nak true, actual; udnak occurs in all cases except those given below. ud was found only once in a context in which one would expect udnak: this case is given in § 233 under udnak. uc occurs hefore the directional pronouns a/ar and ariw. In addition, ud and uc occur in the two alternating forms uciè and ucè, which occur in contexts in which the speaker expresses annoyance or uneasiness. These forms have the final è, dealt with in § 33. The syntactical valence of the interrogatives is still not fully known to me. The structure of the sentences in which they occur is not always clear. It can only he said with certainty that they can form groups with substantives and verbs. I shall deal first with those cases in which the interrogatives occur in combination with am; then I shall discuss those in which they occur without am.

Interrogatives occurring ~n combination with am:

283 am only occurs in combination with interrogatives in non-verbal word-groups. There are two exceptions: a. uciè / ucè, with which am never occurs;

b. the word-group udnak + positional verb, af ter which am does occur. cajcom a cá jipic ám who is this man ? this who man pp cá Miwirpic ar' ám who is Miwirpic? who Miwirpic pp pp o cóm am who are you? you who pp Instead of ó com ám, 0 cám who are you, also occurs. jirpu com ám who is angry? angry who pp awut jiwi com ám which is the biggest child? big child which pp

159

a udm pok ám what's this thing? this what thing pp

udm as ám what is it, what do you want? what something pp

In the contexts in which udm means how, how many, am is always preceded by the postposition ar' (see § 245):

ók udm ar' ám how many eggs are there? egg how many pp pp

ná udm ar' ám what must we do now? we how pp pp

o d par udm inim ar' ám how wide is your canoe? you canoe wide Ihow much I Iike thisl pp pp

udnak/ud/uc

The postposition am is always preceded by the postposition ar', when am occurs in combination with udnak.

niwi ueinak ar' ám where is father ? father where pp pp

nó juwur sis uei ar' ám where is my necklace of dog's teeth? my dog tooth where pp pp

cá uc ár' am where are you going? you where pp pp

é jowów uc áriw ám where have those people gone to? those people where lhave gone tol pp

Exceptions, mentioned above:

a. niwi uciè/ucè where is father ? father where In the following set expression, uciè/ucè has the specific meaning: why. inim nat uciè why (do you say) this! (§ 281). llike this/ pp why

ASMAT LANGUAGE

b. Suru ow udnak apés ar' ám where do the people of Suru live? Suru people where /they Iive/ pp pp

I nterrogatives without am

284 am does not occur in verbal word-groups. The only exception is the word-group ucinak + positional verb + ar am as mentioned in the preceding. The interrogatives can form groups with the verbal forms of Cat. 10 (conditional forms), Cat. 12 (habitual forms), Cat. 14 (progressive forms), Cats. 16 and 17 (ultimate- and mediate-past forms), and Cat. 24 (unproductive category of the positional verbs). The forms of category 10 always occur when the question re1ates to the future.

ca a kanU ca cePés apierés these shrimps who women /they caughtj who are the women who have caught these shrimps?

no cá amkawicen who will go with me there. me who /will go with mei

udm

udm emésmemá how did you do it tonight?

how Iyou did it tonightj

tirif 40' udm emamis 41 how many letters are lying there? letters jhow many / Iie there/

makik ucim ématamcém 41 how will you throw out the fish line? /fish Iinej how jwill you throw itj

udnak

/makik mer/ udnak em-cém where will you go to fish? Igo to fishj where /will you do itj

40& tMf: loan-word from Malay: tulis-to write. 41 For the prefix *em-*see § 179.

161

Usually, however, one finds before a verb the circumscription ucim asén which place, instead of tlcinak:

tirif ucim asén tiwirumfem where did you send the letter? letter which place jsent you itf

VII INTER]ECTIONS

CharacterlstlC8

235 The interjections form a word-class characterized by:

1. ,the absence of morphological and syntactical valence;
2. the occurrence of special phonological phenomena;
3. the breaking of the rules of phoneme distribution;

4. the breaking of the rules of accentuation. The special phonological phenomena occurring with interjections are: word-final è prolongation of vowels laryngalization the special sounds nj, 'm, ts, and pro These have already been dealt with in §§ 33-38. The rules of phoneme distribution are broken in that the vowel e can occur word-finally. The rules of accentuation are broken in that, in specific cases, the regular alternation of accented and unaccented vowels does not occur.

   The interjections fall into two groups:

5. exclamations;

6. onomatopoeic interjections, and exclamations used to call animals or to urge them on. Exclamatlons 236 The rules of phoneme distribution are only broken In this group. Among others, the following cases were noted: