This thesis examines the functions of the Malayo-Polynesian stative markers *ma- and *ka- reflected in the Central-Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the are spanning from Timor to the Aru...Show moreThis thesis examines the functions of the Malayo-Polynesian stative markers *ma- and *ka- reflected in the Central-Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the are spanning from Timor to the Aru-Islands. It contributes something new to a history of scientific literature on both the topic and area by examining these morphemes in a comparative typological study. Trends in the way these morphemes are reflected gives insight into the historical developments of CMP languages, genealogical relationships in the area alongside a better understanding of how these morphemes function within each individual language by comparing it with the larger context of the area. This thesis compared ten individual languages alongside wordlist data from the languages of the Babar archipelago to determine the functions of *ma- and *ka- reflexes and discover notable trends. The languages discussed are Rotinese, Uab Meto, Amarasi, Tetun Terik, Tetun Dili, Letinese, Luang, Kisar, Selaru and Dobel. It found three common functions: (1) either morpheme forming predicates or equative clauses, (2) either morpheme deriving adjectives from another word class, and (3) *ma- forming a relativising pronoun maka, prefix mak-, or circumfix ma- -k(a) in combination with a definiteness marker -ka. These findings suggest historical relations and grammatical developments within this area.Show less
Rotinese parallelism is an extensively researched feature from an anthropological perspective. This thesis, however, is a research from a linguistic perspective. Linguistic features of Rotinese...Show moreRotinese parallelism is an extensively researched feature from an anthropological perspective. This thesis, however, is a research from a linguistic perspective. Linguistic features of Rotinese parallelism are described on multiple levels. The structure of the parallels is described by means of analysis of the parallels, and statistical data gained from it. The grammatical, semantic and lexical parallelism is described by means of analysis of the relation between the words in a word pair, or the lines in a parallel. Most features of Rotinese parallelism agree with the parallelism in other Central-Eastern Indonesian languages. In contrary to these languages, Rotinese parallelism shows no strict order in lexical parallel pairs. Some parallel pairs do show a strict order, they seem to be pairs denoting strong cultural constructs. In conclusion, this thesis has been the first linguistic exploration of Rotinese parallelism. First steps are taken into understanding its extensive use and richness of features.Show less
This thesis studies evidentiality in Linguistic Melanesia. The thesis focuses on the differences and similarities of evidential strategies in a sample of languages spoken throughout the area while...Show moreThis thesis studies evidentiality in Linguistic Melanesia. The thesis focuses on the differences and similarities of evidential strategies in a sample of languages spoken throughout the area while trying to refrain from using a rigid framework in which to place the strategies. This leads to a broad, adjusted definition of evidentiality that allows evidentiality to be seen as a more general strategy for expressing a speaker’s access to certain information, rather than only the grammatical encoding of this. The thesis studies languages from both the Austronesian and Papuan language families and compares each language’s strategy both individually and in context of linguistic and geographical proximity. As this is a typological overview, it is the goal to give an impression of the situation that is as objective as possible. Therefore, generalizations were minimalized and conclusions given or tendencies highlighted only based on the data within this study. Hopefully, this thesis shows that rigid (typological) demarcations of features is not always helpful but can often hamper a deeper understanding and skew typological overviews.Show less
