25
Despite these limitations, the converted format without further modification is used throughout the rest of this paper. The adjustments are indicated in the respective
consonant and vowel tables for easy reference.
3.3 Grammar overview
Bunong is a head initial, isolating language with no verbal inflection. The basic word order is SVO and grammatical constructions often follow the pattern of
Head:Attribute.
3.3.1 Word formation
While Bunong is an isolating language, some morphology exists in the pronoun system. In addition, like many other Mon-Khmer languages, Bunong makes extensive use
of expressives and elaborate expressions.
3.3.1.1 Morphology
A nasal presyllable may act as a causative, but not in every case. For example, when the syllabic nasal prefix
12 is added to the intransitive verb ‘die’, it becomes a transitive verb
‘to kill’. 1
+ +
2 +3 45 67852 95
:5.; = =;9 ‘Why are you ordering me to kill him, you there?’ [IS14.086]
The pronoun system also makes use of affixes. The prefix 2 is used to
indicate plural number cf. §3.3.2.2.1. 2
2 ?
9 ‘they’
26
The suffix 2 is used to mark possession on pronouns cf. §3.3.2.2.2.
3 2
2S.F POSS
‘yours feminine’ With certain second and third person pronouns, the two words are contracted. In
A B95C and - ‘POSS’ are contracted.
A 2
3-POSS ‘hishers’
Dollowing the first person pronoun , the possessive suffix takes the form 2 .
5 2
1S POSS
‘mine’
3.3.1.2 Expressives ADV.X
While Mon-Khmer languages may lack adjectives and not have a great variety of adverbs, they make up for this lack with an abundance of words Diffloth 1974 terms
“expressives.” He defines this term 1974:483 as follows:
These are sentence adverbials that describe noises, colours, light patterns, shapes, movements, sensations, emotions, aesthetic feelings, and so on. Some sort of
symbolism, perhaps based on synaesthesia, is often observable in these words and serves as a guide for individual coinage of new words. The forms of the
expressives are thus quite unstable, and the additional effect of wordplay can create subtle and endless, sometimes apparently empty, structural variations.
Expressives add a nuance of meaning and follow the head they modify. Burenhult 2005:114 states, “They usually serve as syntactically optional adjuncts that add life to a
narrative.” Their meaning often stems from some type of onomotopoeia or synaesthesia.
27 6 +
go sound.of.one.person.walking.alone
‘one person is going walking’
3.3.1.3 Reduplication and elaborate expressions EE
Total reduplication is used for intensification. 7
beard big big
truly DEM3 ‘that really big, long beard’ [IS05.0030]
An important type of reduplication common to Mon-Khmer languages is elaborate expressions EE. Matisoff 1973:81-2 defines the term:
An elaborate expression is a compound containing four usually monosyllabic elements, of which either the first and third or the second and fourth are identical
A-B-A-C or A-B-C-B. They characteristically convey a rather formal or elegant impression. Skillful speakers sprinkle elaborate expressions liberally through
their conversation, using four syllables where two would have conveyed the same information.
In 8, the intensifer word is elaborated, so the noun phrase has an A-B-A-C structure.
8 become fish really fish EE
‘He became a real fish’ [Fish 220]
3.3.2 Phrase level
