To’abaita language

The Independent person pronouns in Toqabaqita are for single, dual and plural pronouns for first person exclusive, first person inclusive, second and third person categories. With only a few systematic exceptions the pronominal noun phrases are used in the same position as where a lexical noun phrase would occur. Lexical nouns are marked only as singular or plural in Toqabaqita.[14]

Examples:

(1)	nau	ku	thathami-a	koro	koki
	1SG	1SG.NFUT	want-3.OBJ	DU(INCL)	DU(INCL).FUT
	"I want the two of us to eat." [15]

{| | (2) ||kamiliqa||kori-a||fau||rafu|| |- | ||1PL(EXCL)||scrape-3.OBJ||stone||sea.cucumber.sp|| |- | || colspan="9" | "We scrape limestone..." |}[16]

The variants in the table marked with (1) were used exclusively by women. Of these pronouns used only by women, only the first person inclusive plural pronoun kia is used at the present time. This is specifically in the context of referring to one's home, or one's home place or one's country most commonly when away from one's home area.[17] It is notable that although there are multiple plural personal pronouns some are used more commonly than others. Some alternatives are rarely used, specifically these are the first person exclusive kamaliqa, the third person plural kiiluqa, and the second person singular qoo. Both forms of the second person plural, kamuluqa and kamaluqa are commonly used. There are phonetic associations with specific person pronouns. The dual pronouns all contain r, and the plurals all contain l, with exception of the third person plural kera. Lichtenberk suggests that this is due to their associations with the numbers rua which glosses as two, and ulu which glosses as three, and also that perhaps the plurals were previously trial or paucal forms of pronouns.[5]

In some cases where the independent pronoun and a subject marker are identical (homophones) and occur in the same sentence one will be omitted, and Lichtenberk (2008) suggests it is the pronoun that is omitted. This occurs for koro, where it is both the inclusive dual inclusive independent personal pronoun and the dual inclusive nonfuture subject marker. Similarly kulu is both the plural inclusive independent plural pronoun and the plural inclusive nonfuture subject marker. Lichtenberk believes that most speakers would avoid the repetition.[18]

(3)	(?kulu)	kulu	foqa	naqa
	PL(INCL)	PL(INCL).NFUT	pray	PRF
	"Let's pray now" [17]

In the above example the first kulu would be deleted. The independent personal pronouns, including the third person pronouns, are used with human reference, or with spirits, very rarely with animals. They may be used with mythological animals or with an animal that is in view.

(4)	Nia	ka	riki-a	ma	ka	thathami-a	kai	lai	bii	keeroqa
	3SG	3SG.SEQ	see.3SG.OBJ	and	3SG.SEQ	want-3.OBJ	3.SG.FUT	go	COM	3DU
	"He (a boy) saw it and wanted to go with them (his parents)" [19]

(5)	Nia	e	mataqi	nena
	3SG	3SG.NFUT	be.sick	N.PAST.THERE
	"It (a chicken) is sick (the chicken is in view)" [20]

The third person pronoun can be used to specify subject topicalization, even with inanimate objects, as is:

(6)	dadaku)	qeri	nia	qe	takwi	qi'	laa	one
	Calophyllum.sp	that	3SG	3SG.NFUT	that	stand	LOC	in	<smallsand
	"The dadaku tree, it stood in the sand on the beach" [20]

There are numerous specific uses of the independent personal pronouns such as the third person singular pronoun being used to close off a story or a narration, in a verb-less statement:

(7)	Nia	bo-naqa	neri
	3SG	ASRT=PRF	N.PAST>HERE
	"That's all I have to say" [21]

To emphasize a pronoun the same strategies that are used with lexical nouns are also employed, but with a specific pronominal foregrounder ni.

(8)	Nau	ku	lae	naqa	ma	ni	kamuluqa
	1SG	1SG.NFUT	go	PRF	and	PROFORE	2PL
	"I'm going now; and you?" [22]

Here the emphasis is on the persons being spoken to. The inclusive pronouns can be used in a way to include the addressee, to index personal closeness or in a jocular sense.

(9)	Nau	kwai	qasi-qaba	fas=i	laa	waki	koro	wane	nau
	1SG	1SG.FUT	fall-hand	PREC=LOC	in	basket	DU(INCL)	man	1SG
	"I am going to poke my hand into our basket, my friend (in the context of searching another's basket for tobacco or areca nut)" [23]

Toqabaqita uses person markers with proper nouns that designate people, spirits, ogres, pets and domestic animals. They are gender differentiated, with tha used with male and ni with female people. When referring to gods and spirits and introduced Christian deities, tha is used. Tha is used to refer to all pets and domestic animals, both male and female. They are used for reference not for address, see examples 11 and 12, but even then they are not obligatory.[24]

(10)	Tha	Kwaqengara	ka	thare-a	ni	Kwakwanumae
	PRSMKR	Kwaqengara	3.SG.SEQ	beget-3.OBJ	PRSMKR/small>	Kwakwanumae
	"Kwaqengara(male) begot Kwakwanumae(female)." [24]

Contrast the need for a person marker when talking about Ulufaala the named person in the narration, rather than when he arrives in person.

(11)	Ma	tha	Ulufaalu	qe	sifo
	And	PRSMKR	Ulufaalu	3SG.NFUT	descend
	"And Ulufaalu went down (to the coast?)." [25]

(12)	Ulufaalu	qe	fula	naqa
	Ulufaalu	3SG.NFUT	arrive	PRF
	"Ulufaalu has arrived." [24]

(13)	Qoko	suqu-si-a	raa-la-na	wane	queri	tha	Saetana
	2SG.SEQ	block-TR3.OBJ	work.NMZL.PERS	man	this	PRSMKR	Satan
	"Block the workings of this man, Satan." [26]

Tha is used with the nouns that refer to children, wela (child, young person), kale (offspring), or weleqi (adult males).

(14)	Tha	wela	'ba=e	sui	naqa
	PRSMKR	chap	that=3.SG.NFUT	be.finished	PRF
	"The chap expired." [27]

Tha is used for inanimate objects that actually have names.

(15)	Nini	qau	marakawa	nia	tha	Raqafeqebasi
	bamboo.knife	piece.of.bamboo	be.green	3SG	PRSMKR	Raqafeqebasi
	"His green bamboo knife is named Raqafeqebasi." [28]

In Toqabaqita there are two classes of transitive verbs, Class 1 and Class 2, and they index their pronominal direct objects differently. Class 1 transitives have object indexing suffixes only for the third person; -a for singular direct objects, -daroqa for dual categories and -da for plural objects.[29]

(16)	Qo	riki-a?
	2SG.NFUT	see-3SG.OBJ
	"Did you see him/her/it?" [29]

(17)	Qo	riki-daroqa?
	2SG.NFUT	see-3DU.OBJ
	"Did you see them(2)?" [29]

Toqabaqita doesn't index object status first and second person, but it is indicated by the appropriate independent personal pronoun as in (18).

(18)	Kai	lole	qoe
	3SG.IPFV	tell.lie.to	2SG
	"He is lying to you." [29]

Class 2 Transitive verbs have object indexing suffixes for all grammatical persons and numbers, and follow a similar pattern to the independent personal pronouns.[30]

Again there are forms that were previously used only by women, in women's speech, that are no longer used. For the third person singular there are two forms -na and -a, and their use is often phonologically determined, in particular so there are no sequences of three vowels.[30]

(19)	taqe-fuil-a	maka	nia
	ascend-site.3.OBJ	father	3SG
	"(of a son) replace his father." [29]

(20)	Nia	biinga	qa-na	qe	aqi	si	thaitoqoma-na
	3SG	sleep	SBEN-3SG.PERS	3SG.NFUT	NEGV	know-3SG.OBJ
	"He was asleep (and) didn't know (about) it." [29]

The -na object pronoun is used here in (20) to follow the vowel a.

Toqabaqita has subject indexing suffixes which appear on the verb and also indicate nonfuture tense, future tense, imperfect aspect, sequentiality, negative aspect, and dehortation.[31] There is some suffixes that are the same in the third person dual and plural categories. It is interesting to observe that there are no archaic women's speech forms noted by Lichtenberk.

.[32]

(21)	Mada	sa	mika	fula	qi	qusungadi	ka	leqa	ba-na
	or	IRR	1PL(EXCL).SEQ	arrive	LOC	tomorrow	3SG.SEQ	be.good	LIM-3SG.PERS
	"If we come tomorrow, will that be alright? (lit.:will that only be good?)" [33]

(22)	Wela	qeri	roo	qaaqae	nia	ki'	qe	taqaa
	child	that	two	3SG	PL	3SG.NFUT	be.bad
	"The child, both of his legs are no good." [34]

The simple negative occurs when negation is achieved through means of the negative subject markers alone.[41] The negative subject markers in Toqabaqita are listed above.

Syntactically, the negative subject markers occur in the verb phrase, between the irrealis marker (where present) and preverbal particles (where present). The negative subject markers always precede the verb.[42]

The negative subject markers can be used to negate a range of clause types, such as declarative and imperative, shown in (31) and (32) below.

They also occur in clauses with future- and past-time reference, as in (33) and (34) below.

The simple negation and double negation strategies are often used interchangeably, although the double negative is more common.[43] However, there is one context in which only simple negation occurs; this is where the negated verb functions as a noun modifier[44] as in example (35).

The simple negative is also used in a multi-clausal construction referred to as “negative additiveness”.[45] The first clause in this construction is positive while any subsequent clauses will be negated using the negative subject markers. The underlying subjects of each clause will typically have the same reference, but the negative clause(s) will not have an expressed subject phrase.[45]

Example (36) illustrates the negative additiveness construction. The subject of both clauses is nia, third person singular, but the second clause does not contain a subject phrase.

The negative additiveness construction does, however, allow distinct subject identities when its constituent clauses involve weather expressions.[46] For example, the subject of the first verb in (37), -qaru ‘fall,’ is dani ‘rain.’ However, the underlying subject of the second verb in (37), thato ‘be sunny’, is fanua ‘place’[46] as illustrated in (38). Nevertheless, the only expressed subject in (37) is that of the first clause.

The second major strategy to express negation in Toqabaqita is the use of the negative verb aqi. This verb has a range of meanings, including ‘not be so, not be the case’ in general uses, and ‘not exist; not be available’ in existential constructions.[46]

Aqi diverges from typical verbal behaviour in Toqabaqita in two key ways. Firstly, it only occurs with third person singular subject markers,[46] rather than the full range of subject markers. Secondly, it typically does not take subject noun phrases.[46]

Example (39) shows the use of the negative verb to describe the non-occurrence of a prayer service.

Negative existential sentences are used to express the non-existence of an entity[48] and aqi exhibits different syntactic behaviour when used in negative existential constructions.

Firstly, where aqi normally does not take subject noun phrases, it does take a subject noun phrase when used for negative existentials. Furthermore, in negative existentials, the subject phrase follows the verb, as shown in example (40) below. This is in contrast to the standard constituent order in Toqabaqita in which the subject precedes the verb,[49] shown in the non-negative existential sentence in example (41).

Additionally, subject markers in negative existential constructions must be third person singular.[48] For example, in (42), below, it can be seen that although the subject phrase tai toqa ‘some people’ is plural and human, the corresponding subject marker qe is third person singular.

The third strategy used to express negation in Toqabaqita is the double negative construction, which involves the negative verb aqi and negative subject markers in combination.[51] This construction is more common than the simple negative.[43]

Broadly speaking, the double negative involves two negative clauses used sequentially. The first of these may be considered a “mini-clause” involving a third person subject marker and the negative verb aqi. The second clause is a negative event clause that is negated using negative subject markers. The negative event clause does not include a subject phrase, however, a noun phrase corresponding to the subject of this event clause may optionally precede the mini-clause.[51]

Two subtypes of the double negative have been identified; these are referred to as the “general” and “sequential” double negative constructions respectively.

The general double negative is used to negate an event clause. It can be schematised as follows:

The NP is optional as indicated by parentheses, while the “mini-clause” qe aqi and the subsequent negative event clause are both obligatory. Example (43) shows the use of the general double negative construction without the optional noun phrase. Example (44) shows a general double negative with the subject noun phrase expressed, and example (45) shows the construction's ungrammaticality when the subject phrase occurs within the negative event clause.

The sequential double negative is different from the general double negative in its constituents, semantics, and the contexts in which it occurs.

Firstly, the subject marker in the mini-clause is the third person singular sequential marker, ka. Secondly, the sequential construction only occurs following another clause; the coordinating construction ma ‘and’ may be optionally used to mark the relationship between these clauses.[54] Finally, where the general double negative expresses a general negation of the event clause, the sequential double negative expresses “unfulfilled expectation.”[54] In other words, it expresses that circumstances that might have been expected (based on preceding discourse) failed to come to pass.

The sequential double negative construction can be schematised thus:

It should be noted immediately that although this construction has been identified as a double negative, the negative event clause in this construction is grammatically optional. In which case, “in clauses expressing unfulfilled expectations aqi also functions as a lexical verb.”[54]

Example (46) shows this construction with the negative event clause omitted.

While the negative event clause is grammatically optional, many contexts can be found where it is expressed. Examples (47) and (48) below illustrate the use of this construction with an expressed negative event clause.