Grammar Sketch

The Minasbate language (msb), otherwise known as Masbatenyo (or Masbateńo), belongs to the Bisayan subgroup of Central Philippines, which is a member of the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family (Simons & Fennig 2018). It is the statutory language of Masbate province, spoken by 724,000 speakers; as a first language by around 474,000 speakers (2005 UNSD) and as a second language by 250,000 speakers (SIL 2002). It is most closely related to Capiznon (79 % lexical similarity) and Hiligaynon (76% lexical similarity), according to Ethnologue (Simons & Fennig, 2018). Wolfenden (2001) identified three major dialects of Masbatenyo: the western dialect centered around the town of Balud on the western coast which is close to Capiz, the southern dialect centered about the town of Cataingan in the southeastern part of Masbate and the northern dialect covering the whole northern half of Masbate and centered on Masbate City.

This grammatical sketch of Masbatenyo language is another attempt to document the language.  It is a short description of the most salient points of the grammar of the language. In undertaking this research, the following objectives have been set: (1) to describe the language based on the actual spoken language; and (2) to depart from the traditional analyses done in the previous studies by providing alternative analyses on the issues found in Philippine languages.

This paper is the first to make a detailed description of the Masbatenyo grammar after Wolfenden’s (2001) brief discussion in his dictionary. This paper presents the basic phonological, morphological and syntactic structures of the language based on both the written and actual spoken language following the framework of discourse-functional grammar.

Isinay is a member of Central Cordilleran subgroup of languages. It is spoken in three municipalities in Nueva Vizcaya. Isinay has three varieties: Isinay Aritao, Isinay Bambang and Isinay Dupax. Among the three varieties, Isinay Dupax has the strongest language status with more than 16,000 speakers (Cruz, 2010).

There had been previous studies on Isinay language, however they are but a few in comparison to other Philippine languages. This paper is another attempt to document Isinay language, specifically the Isinay Dupax variety.

This study is a basic grammar sketch that discusses the most important aspects of Isinay Dupax grammar. It presents the basic phonological, morphological and syntactic structures of the language based on both the elicited data (see Appendix A and B). It is a synchronic description of the language.

The research is divided into five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Phonology, (3) Morphology, (4) Syntax and (5) Conclusion. The first chapter contains the general information about Isinay language such as its language subgroup, the location where it is spoken, its numbers of speakers and the related literature written before about the language.

In the second chapter, the phonology of the language is discussed. The phoneme inventory of the language is presented along with its phonotactic constraints, syllable structures and morphophonemic changes.

The third chapter focused on the morphology of Isinay Dupax. The basic word classes which are nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, linkers and conjunctions were discussed. Detailed discussion on pluralization of nouns and formation of numerals can also be found in chapter three.

In the fourth chapter the syntax of Isinay is discussed into phrasal and clausal levels. The basic types of phrases and clauses in the language were explained and were given examples.

The fifth chapter concludes this study.

Kasiguranin ([ksn]) is a language spoken in Casiguran, Aurora Province of Central Luzon (Region III), which belongs to the Northern Philippines subgroup of the Austronesian family of languages. The main objective of this study is to describe the basic grammar structure of Kasiguranin. This thesis is an attempt to generate a written Kasiguranin grammar and to record the language which remains undocumented unlike its neighboring language, Casiguran Dumagat. This thesis provides a summary description of the grammatical system of Kasiguranin: phonology, morphology and syntax.

Warembori is a language spoken by 600-700 people living in river mouths on the north coast of the island of New Guinea, in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. It has not been previously described in any grammatical detail, and this sketch presents some of the complexities of applicative and noun incorporation structures, as well as aspects of its interesting phonology. A structuralist approach is taken to the description, allowing the morphosyntax of the language itself determine the categories used in the description, rather than impose a particular theoretical model on the data. After surveying the main grammatical constructions in Warembori, including notes on the speakers’ preferences for alternative constructions, notes on the genetic affiliations of Warembori with respect to nearby Papuan and Austronesian languages are given, and a short text to illustrate the language in context.

[in addition to this, this sketch is intended to serve as an illustrative guide to grammatical sketch writing, with frequent explanations as to why particular choices were made, and why some things were omitted or put in. It is not intended to discuss all the possible grammatical structures that might be encountered when examining a language, but is aimed at being a useful guide to the style of writing up grammatical information for a wider audience]

Mandaya is a Philippine language prevalently spoken in Baganga, Boston, Caraga, Cateel, and Mati City Davao Oriental that belongs to the Mansakan subgroup composed of Kalagan, Kinamayo, Mansaka, and Tagakaolo (Blust, 1991). Despite of its vigorous status, Mandaya remains one among the many understudied Philippine languages (Eberhard, Simons, and Fennig, 2019). Consequently, this paper provides a preliminary description of Mandaya by developing a grammatical sketch that discusses and explains its salient phonological (i.e., phonemic inventory, non/suspect syllables, and stress) and morphosyntactic (i.e., referential expressions, verbs, statives, pragmatically-un/marked constructions, discourse connectives, and pragmatic particles) features. Furthermore, findings of this study will aid Mandaya in becoming a mother tongue as it meets one of the four minima set by the Department of Education and will promote and underscore the need to document Philippine languages.

Keywords: Mandaya, Mansakan, Philippine language, grammatical sketch

ISO 639-3 language codes: mry

References:

Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2019. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-second edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.

Blust, Robert. 1991. The Greater Central Philippine Hypothesis. Oceanic Linguistics, 30 (2), 73-129.

Paper read at the 13th Philippine Linguistics Congress held from the 14th to 16th of November, 2019, at NISMED, University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Грамматический очерк языка гбан из тома серии «Языки мира», посвящённого языкам манде (< нигер-конго), распространённым в Западной субсахарской Африке. Описание базируется в основном на собственных полевых данных автора и следует единой типологически ориентированной схеме, которая применяется во всех томах издания «Языки мира».

A grammar sketch of Gban [in Russian] from a volume in the "Languages of the World" series dedicated to the Mande languages (< Niger-Congo) spoken in the Western sub-Saharan Africa. The description is based mostly on the field data collected by the author and follows a typologically-oriented template implemented throughout the "Languages of the World" volumes.

Romeyka is an endangered Indo-European language, belonging to the Hellenic branch. It is still spoken in situ by Muslim communities on the southern Black Sea coast in Turkey, and by diaspora speakers in Turkey’s large cities and elsewhere. A complex set of geographical and historical circumstances have led to its current sociolinguistic situation, which is outlined in the initial sections of this book chapter. Many structural aspects of Romeyka are still only poorly understood, though ongoing research is rapidly filling many of the gaps in our knowledge. This chapter summarizes the current state of knowledge on the grammar of Romeyka, and refers to the available literature for more detailed coverage.