アルタ語の名詞・名詞句構造の諸相

Abstract

This paper provides a grammatical description regarding nouns and nominals in Arta, an Austronesian language spoken in Luzon island in the Philippines. After a brief introduction of its sociolinguistic and grammatical profile, a detailed discussion is provided on noun-headed nominals and other types of nominals, including pronouns and demonstratives. First, the structure of the nominals whose head is a noun is described and analyzed by dividing into three parts: pluralization, specificity marking and the determiner system. Here I argue for the varying phonological status of these items, and a paradigmatic selection determined by the nature of referents. Second, the pronominal system is described both synchronically and diachronically. After a phonological account for pronominal allomorphs, some morphological and syntactic phenomena are analyzed. It is shown that bound pronouns are not regarded as obligatory in some context, and thus do not develop as an agreement system. Based on the synchronic analyses provided above, an internal reconstruction is conducted on the development of the current pronominal system. Finally demonstratives and related expressions are examined. The demonstrative system can be analyzed as three-way distinction: proximal, medial, and distal, with each having a short, long, and locative forms. The demonstrative system may be used for spatial reference in combination with geographical terms such as 'upward', 'downward', 'upstream', and 'downstream'.