2.3.1 The general typology of the clause
In broad typological terms, Olo can be characterized as an SVO Subject, Verb, Object language A. McGregor 1983; Staley 1994b. Examples showing this ordering are given in 5 and 6. The simple
declarative unmarked ordering is SVO. The occurrence of a third-person object infix marked by an un- derline as in 5, versus a suffix, as in 6, is a function of verb class. A discussion of verb classes in Olo
can be found in the next section as well as Staley 1990 ms, 1994b, 1994c. There is a prefix on the verb which marks the subject of the verb, and provides information about the person, number, and
gender
2
of the subject. Objects are marked as well with the person, number, and gender information occurring as either a suffix or infix.
S V
O 5
Ales l-olto
luom Alex
3m-dip.3m sago
Alex dips sago.
S V
O 6
Martin l-osi-ene
Rita Martin
3m-attack-3f Rita
Martin attacked
Rita. While the normal, unmarked order in Olo is SVO, that is not the only order. The object can be
fronted to initial position, as in 7. It is also possible for the subject to remain a free noun phrase when the object is fronted, as in 8.
7 ki
l-irpei-ki I
3m-speak-1s Me, he spoke to me
8 ki
Kowi l-irpei-ki
I Kowi
3m-speak-1s It was me Kowi spoke to.
Examples 7 and 8 show the type of construction that functions similarly to the passive in English. It could be translated “I was spoken to by Kowi”. Neither of the translations exactly reflects the con-
struction in Olo. Olo has no morphosyntactic passive, nor is the fronting of the object to a topic posi- tion a type of the “It was X…” cleft construction in English.
Before examining the clausal relations, both semantic and grammatical, let us turn to the grammati- cal structures that make up the clause. Doing this will provide information that is needed to support
the analysis of the different relations involving clausal arguments.
2.3.2 Word classes
The large open word classes in Olo are verbs and nouns. Adjectives make up the third largest class. The minor classes consist of numerals, pronouns, demonstratives, adverbs, prepositions and
subordinators, and conjunctions and discourse particles.
2.3.2.1 The verb
The verb is the central element in the clause. Often the clause is only composed of a single verb with no free standing arguments.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 9
2
The gender is only reflected in the third person and only then in the singular and dual forms.
9 a. k-e
b. l-ifei c.
n-aplo-pe 1s-go
3m-sit 3f-pierce-3m
I go. He sits.
She pierces them. Depending on their class, verbs can take up to four different affixes. They can take a subject prefix,
an object infix, an object suffix, and can reduplicate part of the verb root to mark continuous aspect. The discussion of the continuous aspect will be handled under the section dealing with aspect and
mood.
Subject prefix The subject prefixes distinguish person: first, second, and third; number: singular, dual, and plural;
and gender in third person. The Olo genders are masculine and feminine. Table 2.3 gives the subject prefixes.
Table 2.3. Olo subject prefixes k-
first-person singular ‘I’
w- first-person dual
‘we two’ m-
first-person plural ‘we’
Ø -
second-person singular ‘you’
y- second-person plural
‘you’ l-
third-person singular masculine ‘he’
n- third-person singular feminine
‘she’ t-
third-person dual masculine ‘they two’
m- third-person dual feminine
‘they two’
3
p- third-person plural
‘they’ The following examples show the subject prefix on both intransitive 10 and transitive 11 verbs.
10 Wamnei
n-a Wamnei
3f-die Wamnei dies.
11 Kowi
l-etesi-ne Ros
Kowi
k
3m
k
-hit-3f
r
Roser Kowi hit Rose.
Not all verbs take the subject prefix for phonological reasons. Vowel-initial verbs take the prefix. The only consonant-initial verbs that can take prefixes are those that start with r and l; they can
take some of the verbal prefixes, specifically: k, p, t, m, as in 12–14. These are more common in writing than in speech. Some speakers never use them, other speakers will only use them in slow and
deliberate speech. No speaker has been observed using them all the time. Speakers who use them in slow and deliberate speech will consistently use them in writing. This use I believe reflects that they
are morphologically “present” but deleted because of phonological constraints.
12 a. Kowi
na-iye b.
pe na-iye
Kowi call-2s
they call-2s
Kowi calls you. They call you.
10 The Olo Language
3
The feminine gender is used for any mixed, male and female, subjects.
13 a. ki
k-ratei b. le
ratei c.
le l-ratei
I 1s-live
he live
he 3m-live
I live. He lives
14 a. pe
p-retai b. ne
retai c.
ne n-retai
they 3p-know
she know
she 3f-know
They know. She knows.
With one verb, lolpo ‘fight’, the prefix is optional. This may be in part due to the semantic constraint that the subject of this verb must be plural. A fight, lolpo, must involve more than two people. This
optionality is only for this verb, so the semantic explanation is the most likely. 15
a. mete
p-lolpo b. mete
lolpo men
3p-fight men
fight The men fight.
The men fight. Object infixes
There are thirty-four verbs in the Somoro dialect which use an infix to refer to third-person objects. All these verbs require the object to be marked. The infix normally occurs following the vowel of the
first syllable. The object infixes are given in table 2.4. They are underlined throughout this work. Table 2.4. Olo object infixes
-l- ‘him’
-n- ‘her’
-ut- ‘two males’
-m- ‘two females’
-p- ‘them’
Example 16 shows the verb kali ‘get him’, inflected with the different third-person infixes. 16
ne kali
4
‘She gets him.’ she
get.3m ne
kauti ‘She gets two males.’
she get.3md
le kani
‘He gets her.’ he
get.3f le
kami ‘He gets two females.’
he get.3fd
le kapi
‘He gets them.’ he
get.3p That these are clearly infixes can be shown from comparing 16 with 17. The parts of the word
that remain constant are the outer edges, which are obviously distinct in the different examples.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 11
4
The initial k is part of the root and not a first-person singular prefix.
17 reltapo ‘put him on it’
put.3m on something else routapo
5
‘put the two of them m. on it’ put.3md on something else
rentapo ‘put her on it’ put.3f on something else
remtapo ‘put the two of them f. on it’
put.3fd on something else reptapo
‘put them on it’ put.3p on something else
Object suffixes Olo uses suffixes to mark all first and second-person objects. Third-person objects are marked for
some verbs by suffixes and for other verbs by infixes. First and second person
First- and second-person objects are realized by suffixes. This pattern applies to all transitive verbs including the thirty-four verbs which take third-person object infixes. The suffixes which realize first
and second-person objects are given in table 2.5. Table 2.5. Olo first- and second-person suffixes
-iki first-person singular
‘I’ -uku
first-person plural ‘us’
-ye second-person singular
‘you’ -ise
second-person plural ‘you’
If one of the object-infix-taking roots is inflected for first or second person, the root can undergo rather drastic but regular alternation. If the vowel in the first syllable is either a or e, the first sylla-
ble of the root becomes an ei. This form is also used for the reciprocal, as will be discussed below. 18
kali ‘get him’
get.3m keiye-iki
‘get me’ get-1s
keiyo-uku ‘get us’
get-1p keiye-iye
‘get you’ get-2s
keiye-ise ‘get you.pl’
get.2p
12 The Olo Language
5
This data shows vowel harmony. More information on vowel harmony in Olo verbs can be found in Staley 1990.
19 a. p-alfo
p-eifo-iki 3p-put.inside.3m
3p-put.inside-1s They put him inside something.
They put me inside something. b. l-anei
l-eiye-iki 3m-eat.3f
3m-eat-1s He eats her.
He eats me. c.
p-alpo p-eipo-iki
3p-shoot.3m 3p-shoot-1s
They shoot him. They shoot me.
d. l-eptei l-eite-iki
3m-put.3p 3m-put-1s
He puts them. He puts me.
First- and second-person suffixes do not distinguish gender and only make a singularplural distinc- tion, as in 20a. If a speaker desires to distinguish a dual from a plural for a first- or second-person ref-
erent, a free pronoun must be used in addition to the suffix, as in 21.
20 a. l-eila-iki
b. l-eila-uku c.
l-eila-iye d. l-eila-ise
3m-lift-1s 3m-lift-1p
3m-lift-2s 3m-lift-2p
He lifts me. He lifts us.
He lifts you. He lifts you p.
21 a. l-eila-uku
ronge b.
l-eila-ise rom
3m-lift-1p md
3m-lift-2p fd
He lifts us two men. He lifts you two women.
Third person The Somoro dialect of Olo has two main suffix sets to mark third-person objects. There are two dis-
tinguishing features of the suffix sets. The first is that the third-person masculine suffix is -o or -wo in set 1 and Ø in set 2.
6
The other difference is that the other set 1 suffixes have an initial e, which does not occur with the second suffix set. Examples of set 1 are given in 22, 23, and of set 2 in 24. The two
suffix sets are given in table 2.6. Table 2.6. Olo third-person object suffixes
set 1 set 2
-wo Ø
- third singular masculine
‘him’ -ene
-ne third singular feminine
‘her’ -enge
-nge third dual masculine
‘them’ -eme
-me third dual feminine
‘them’ -epe
-pe third plural
‘them’ Set 1
22 esi-o ‘hold him’
hold-3
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 13
6
These sets correspond to classes 3a and 3b, respectively in Staley 1994b.
esi-ene ‘hold her’
hold-3f esi-enge
‘hold them two masculine’ hold-3md
esi-eme ‘hold them two feminine’
hold-3fd esi-epe
‘hold them’ hold-3p
23 ku kulta-wo
7
‘We arouse him.’ we
arouse-3m le
kulta-ene ‘He arouses her.’
he arouse-3f
ne kulta-enge
‘She arouses them two masculine.’ we
arouse-3md ku
kulta-eme ‘We arouse them two feminine.’
we arouse-3fd
ku kulta-epe
‘We arouse them.’ we
arouse-3p Set 2
24 etesi-Ø ‘hit him’
hit-3m etesi-ne
‘hit her’ hit-3f
etesi-nge ‘hit them two masculine’
hit-3md etesi-me
‘hit them two feminine’ hit-3fd
etesi-pe ‘hit them’
hit-3p The distinction between the -o and -wo in set 1 is phonological. The -o only occurs following the high
front vowel,
8
i, and -wo occurs in all other environments. A few words that end in i can actually take ei- ther form. For some speakers the final vowel is lax, and lax vowels match with the -wo. In all cases a
high front lax vowel when followed by a morpheme beginning with either a u or w will harmonize and become backed. This explains the change in the root of 25b from kani to kano. For more information
on this phenomena see Staley 1990.
14 The Olo Language
7
The initial k is part of the root and not a first-person singular prefix as shown by the first-person plural lexical Agent. If this was a case of agreement then the prefix would need to be w- or m-.
8
The high front vowel must be the only vowel in the syllable and not an offglide.
25 a. kani-o
b. kano-wo help-3m
help-3m Help him.
Help him. The preceding examples have been of prototypical transitive events with Agents and Patients. Not
all verbs in Olo mark the Patient as an object by using a suffix. Verbs in Olo that have three inherent se- mantic roles do not mark the Patient on the verb; rather they mark the BeneficiaryRecipient with an
object suffix. In 26 the third-person feminine suffix corresponds to Wamnei ‘a woman’s name’ and not the Patient, ila ‘knife’, a masculine noun.
26 a. ki
wat-ene Wamnei
ila le-iki
b. le wat-ene
I give-3f
Wamnei knife
m-1s he
give-3f I gave Wamnei my knife.
He gave her something.
2.3.2.2 Nouns
Nouns in Olo are distinguished generally for both number and gender Staley 1994a, 1994b. Olo has a wide variety of number allomorphy. A. McGregor 1983 lists twenty-one subclasses for the Lumi
dialect. Analysis is still going on in the Somoro dialect, but there are over fifty different subclasses of nouns in that dialect of Olo, solely based on the allomorphy of singular and plural markings. The two
genders are masculine and feminine. The gender and number distinctions are keys in disambiguating third-person referents in narrative texts. Syntactically, nouns function as arguments of the predication,
as the head of the noun phrase, and as predicate nominals Staley 1994b .
Number The topic of number affixation on nouns in Olo is both fascinating and complex. It is in general out-
side the scope of this work; however, this section details some of the different morphemes used to dis- tinguish singular from plural. The largest single class of number marking on nouns in the Somoro
dialect is by zero. This is in part caused by a loss of s in the final position. It did not affect all words, but did cause the loss of the -s plural marker attested to in the Lumi dialect 27. When there is no distinc-
tion in number marked on the noun, the adjectives or pronominal affixes on the verb will provide the indication of the number.
27 a. pilpi
pilpi-s Lumi dialect
drum.call.sign drum.call.sign-
PL
b. pilpi pilpi
Somoro dialect drum.call.sign
drum.call.signs Olo uses a variety of suffixes as a plural morpheme. The most common suffix is -elem. It is added to
the root replacing the final vowel 28. 28 fairingo
fairing-elem millipede
millipede-
PL
Another group that uses a simple ending is the final -m for plural 28. 29 mingi
mingi-m ear
ear-
PL
Other classes use the -m plural marker, but also have a singular morpheme on the nouns. Depending on the noun class the singular morphemes are either -n or -ne.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 15
30 a. wase-ne
wase-m wild.boar-
SG
wild.boar-
PL
b. epe-n epe-m
male.animal-
SG
male.animal-
PL
Contrasting with the -m plural marker, some classes use an -m for a singular morpheme and use dif- ferent plural markers depending on the class, either -pe or -s.
31 a. pa-m
pa-pe wound-
SG
wound-
PL
b. nu-m nu-s
a.seasoning-
SG
seasoning-
PL
Most kinship terms are pluralized by adding a single suffix -re 32a. Kin terms used to designate someone else’s kin have a suffix -tei added to them. In the plural the -tei suffix is dropped 32b.
32 a. wau
wau-re grandmother
grandmother-
PL
b. wau-tei wau-re
someone else’s grandmother grandmother-
PL
One word in Olo forms its plural by adding an o- as a prefix. 33 a.
flam o-flam
central.rib.in.a.sago.mid.leaf
PL
-central.rib.in.sago.mid.leaves Besides the normal methods of affixation, Olo also uses reduplication 34, and consonant alterna-
tion 35. 34 a.
soni soni-ni
shadow shadow-
PL
b. rolsi rolsi-si
new.shoot new.shoot-
PL
35 a. eti
esi hand
hands b. etingi
esingu rivulet
rivulets The final type of number affixation involves vowel alternation. This involves two shifts, vowel
height 36 and front versus back 37. 36
mere meri
betel.nut betel.nuts
37 a. fine
funo amaranth
amaranths a vegetable
16 The Olo Language
b. uno ine
tree.branch tree.branches
These shifts can be combined so there is both a shift in vowel height and a flipping from front to back or back to front.
38 a. naru
nare bird.wing
bird.wings b. pale
palu liver
livers c.
wilpango wilpangi
skull skulls
The vowel shifts can be combined with a suffix as well. 39
opili opuluwongou
part.of.a.bread.fruit.tree parts.of.a.bread.fruit.tree
Besides the many different regular ways to mark number on Olo nouns, there are also many suppletive forms such as 40.
40 morou
siye wild.animal
wild.animals Noun gender
Gender is not marked on the noun itself, but is shown by other means: the numeral form used when counting the items denoted by the noun, the possessive pronoun, agreement on some adjectives, and
the coreferential affixes on the verbs 41. 41 a.
metine ili
moto ine
man big.m
woman big.f
a big man a big woman
b. mete winges
nimou-re wiem
men two.m
woman-
PL
two.f two men
two women c.
metine l-e
moto n-e
man 3m-go
woman 3f-go
A man goes. A woman goes.
Any noun denoting something which has a sex humans, spirits, animals will have the same gender as sex. Kinship terms can be ambiguous for gender Staley 1994b. Nouns which denote items which
have no sex have “inherent” gender. A rule of thumb is that large items are masculine and small items are feminine.
42 ki
k-alei wapuno
ki k-anei
kofi I
1s-eat.3m taro
I 1s-eat.3f
coffee I eat taro.
I drink coffee.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 17
Nouns with masculine gender are more common than those with feminine gender. When two items are grouped together and they have different gender, the feminine gender is used for agreement
purposes. 43
metine l-ire
moto roum
m-e man
3m-with wife
they.fd 3fd-go
A man and his wife, they go. Names
Among the Olo-speaking people names are of three types: traditional names, Christian names, and descriptive names. The traditional names are often thought of as the “real” name. The child is named
after someone and normally given that person’s traditional name. The Christian name normally comes out of a name book. Children also take their father’s name for a last name, and wives take their hus-
band’s name. The descriptive name is given by others to a person. These often sound cruel or pejora- tive to western ears, but are not meant that way. Some of these names are: Mingim olpe ‘Bad ears deaf’
and Urou oli ‘Bad leg’. One of the reasons for giving these names is name taboos. People cannot say the “real” name of certain of their in-laws. This allows them to refer to the person by “name” without
breaking the custom.
2.3.2.3 Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns. Historically adjectives in Olo are derived from both nouns and verbs Staley 1994a. This means that some adjectives in Olo share characteristics with nouns and others
with verbs. Those that come from nouns agree with the head noun in number, using a plural marker, as in 44.
44 a. ki k-alei
tifa funi
b. ki k-aplei
tifa funi-mpe
I 1s-eat.3m
banana ripe
I 1s-eat.3p
banana ripe-
PL
I eat a ripe banana. I eat ripe bananas.
Those that come from verbs agree not only in number, but also in gender for the singular and dual forms as in 45 and 46.
45 a. ki k-ulu-wo
ninge kumpu
b. ki k-ulu-wenge
eple kumpu-nge
I 1s-see-3m son
small I
1s-see-3md children
small-md I see a small boy.
I see two small boys. c.
ki k-ulu-ene ningio
kumpu-ne d. ki k-ulu-eme
eple kumpu-me
I 1s-see-3f
daughter small-f
I 1s-see-3fd
children small-fd
I see a small girl. I see two small girls.
e. ki k-ulu-wepe
eple kumpu-pe
I 1s-see-3p
children small-
PL
I see small children. In 46 the agreement is based on the number and gender of the referents in the speech act situation.
The same forms are used for the third person and could be substituted into the examples given in 31 for the word kumpu ‘small’.
18 The Olo Language
46 a. ki
ili b. ku
lingi I
big.m we
big.md I am big.
We are big. male speaker
male speaker about 2 men
c. ki
ine d. ku
limi e.
ku lipi
I big.f
we big.fd
we big.p
I am big. We are big.
We are big. female speaker
female speaker about 2 women
2.3.2.4 Numerals
Olo has three basic numerals, one, two, and five. All other numerals are built as additives of this base system. The largest of the three forms is given first, then the next largest, and finally the smallest.
The numbers are added together. So three is rendered as ‘two one’. The numerals for one and two differ depending on the gender of the noun counted. Table 2.7 gives the numerals in Olo from one to ten, for
both the masculine and feminine genders.
Table 2.7. Olo numerals from 1 to 10 Numeral
Masculine Feminine
1 niliye
ninpiye 2
wingestwinges wiem
3 winges niliye
wiem ninpiye 4
winges winges wiem wiem
5 eti plen
eti plen hand side 6
eti plen eti plen ninpiye
7 eti plen winges
eti plen wiem 8
eti plen winges niliye eti plen wiem ninpiye
9 eti plen winges winges
eti plen wiem wiem 10
eti plen eti plen eti plen eti plen
many wuru
The number system can be extended to include feet. I have heard eti plen eti plen uro plen uro plen ‘hand side, hand side, foot side, foot side’ for 20. This is very unusual. In many areas the numbering
system above 2 or 3 has fallen out of use in favor of Tok Pisin numbers. When an Olo speaker counts on his fingers, he uses the reverse process to mark a counted number. Five fingers spread wide is not 5, but
0. As something is counted one finger is clasped into the palm. A fist means 5.
2.3.2.5 Free Pronouns
Pronouns in Olo are generally straightforward. The language distinguishes three persons and three levels of number, and masculine and feminine gender. The free pronouns are given in table 2.8.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 19
Table 2.8. Olo free pronouns ki
first-person singular ‘I’
ku first-person plural
‘we ye
second-person singular ‘you’
ise second-person plural
‘you’ le
third-person masculine singular ‘he’
te third-person masculine dual
‘they two males’ ne
third-person feminine singular ‘she’
me third-person feminine dual
‘they two females’ pe
third-person plural ‘they’
Besides these full pronouns there are two other dual pronouns, rounge ‘two males’ and roum ‘two fe- males’. These do not provide person distinctions, but only number and gender information. These can
be used to make number and gender distinctions if they are needed, as in 47. 47 a.
ku rounge
w-e we
md 1d-go
We two m go. b. ise
roum y-au
you.
PL
two.fd 2p-come
You two f come. The free dual pronouns, te ‘they two masculine’ and me ‘they two feminine’, are often combined with
rounge ‘masculine dual’ and roum ‘feminine dual’. When they are combined the pronoun which has the person information comes first. No meaning difference has been detected, and referentially they are
identical. Examples are given in 48.
48 a. te
rounge t-a
te t-a
3md two.m
3md-die 3md
3md-die They two m die.
They two m die. b. me
roum m-a
me m-a
3fd two.f
3fd-die 3fd
3fd-die They two f die.
They two f die. A chart is given in table 2.9 showing the pronominal distinctions.
Table 2.9. Olo pronouns by person and number singular
dual plural
first person masculine
ki ku rounge
ku feminine
ku roum second person
masculine ye
ise rounge ise
feminine ise roum
third person masculine
le te rounge
pe feminine
ne me roum
There is also an unusual exclusive for first and second person. It involves first-person plural exclud- ing the speaker, and second-person plural excluding the audience. This can happen when the chain
20 The Olo Language
topic is not coreferential with the subject of the first clause in the chain. In 49, from the text ‘Amerika’, the chain topic is ku, the first-person plural pronoun. In the text, this refers to the people of
Sipote Village circa 1944. The subject of the first clause is shown on the verb as p, the third-person plu- ral. In the text this includes some of the people of Sipote Village, but not the speaker. The subject of the
verb is a subset of the free pronoun. The combination of the two gives a form of first-person plural, ex- cluding the speaker. The speaker is excluding himself since he did not actually participate in the event.
49 ku
p-uluw-epe m-antutu
m-ire fla-ye
we 3p-see-3p
1p-run.
CNT
1p-with scattering-
EMP
Some of us, but not me, saw them, and we ran really scattering about. The same type of exclusion can be achieved with the second person. In response to hearing 49, the
question in 50 can be asked. 50
ise p-uluw-epe
lom we
3p-see-3p
YNQ
Did some of you see them? A construction of this type allows the speaker to differentiate what he personally witnessed versus
what occurred around him. Genitive pronouns
Olo also has an unusual genitive pronoun system. It is formed by using a pronoun which agrees with the gender and number of the possessed item which is also the head noun in the noun phrase fol-
lowed by a pronoun which agrees with the person, number, and gender of the possessor. The two pro- nouns are combined into a single word. These pronouns are very similar to the free pronoun set.
Simple examples are given in 51–53 with these pronouns in italics.
51 ila
le-ne knife
m-3f her knife
52 ki k-ulu-wo
ninge le-iki
I 1s-see-3m son
m-1s I see my son.
53 ki k-ulu-wenge
eple te-ne
I 1s-see-3md
children md-3f
I see her two sons. The forms of the possessed pronoun in the feminine and plural are identical, 54.
54 a. ki
k-ulu-ene ningio
pe-iki I
1s-see-3m daughter
f-1s I see my daughter.
b. ki k-ulu-wepe
eple pe-iki
I 1s-see-3p
children
PL
-1s I see my children.
There is also an allomorphic alternation involving the possessed marker. When it is immediately fol- lowed by a stop the ng also causes this alternation, the forms end in l 55.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 21
55 winem le-iki
winem lel-pe
winango pel-nge
house m-1s
house m-3p
houses
PL
-3md my house
their house the two of their m houses
Finally, if one of the possessed markers is followed by uku ‘our’ the e in the possessed form assimi- lates to a backed position becoming an o. So le + uku becomes louku, as in 56.
56 winem
lo-uku house
m-1p our house
The full paradigm for the genitive pronouns is given in table 2.10. The first column is the form for the possessed marker. The second column is the possessor marker. The possessor has forms for first,
second, and third person, while the possessed has only third person. Table 2.10. Olo genitive pronouns
possessed possessor
iki first-person singular
‘my’ uku
first-person plural ‘our’
iye second-person singular
‘your’ ise
second-person plural ‘your’
le le singular masculine
le third-person singular masculine
‘his’ pe pel
singular feminine ne
third-person singular feminine ‘her’
te tel dual masculine
nge third-person dual masculine
‘their’ me mel
dual feminine me
third-person dual feminine ‘their’
pe pel plural
pe third-person plural
‘their’ Reflexive pronouns
Olo forms reflexive pronouns based on the free pronoun set and one of three variations of -otei ‘self’. The complete set is given in table 2.11.
Table 2.11. Olo reflexive pronouns kutei
first-person singular reflexive ‘myself’
kutou first-person plural reflexive
‘ourselves’ yotei
second-person singular reflexive ‘yourself’
isotei second-person plural reflexive
‘yourselves’ lotei
third-person masculine singular reflexive ‘himself’
totei third-person masculine dual reflexive
‘themselves, two males’ notei
third-person feminine singular reflexive ‘herself’
motei third-person feminine dual reflexive
‘themselves, two females’ potei
third-person plural reflexive ‘themselves’
The reflexive pronouns function much like one would expect. An animate Agent implies volitionality in all Olo transitive clauses; this is an absolute requirement with a reflexive. If a speaker
says “He hit himself” he can only mean he did this intentionally. This is shown in 57.
22 The Olo Language
57 le
l-eilu l-otei
l-asi era
he 3m-cut 3m-self
3m-with.
CK
rocks He cut himself with rocks.
He cut himself on the rocks accidentally. The intent of the unacceptable translation of 57 “He cut himself on the rocks” can only be achieved
by casting the instrument as the Agent, making it the primary cause. Once the instrument is cast as the Agent there is no longer any reflexive.
58 era
p-alowi metine
rocks 3p-cut.3m
man The rocks cut him. He cut himself on the rocks.
A further complication in the picture of reflexives is that these same morphological forms can be used in a similar semantic, but nonreflexive, sense. The central semantic idea is one of exclusivity. In
57 he cut only himself, not anyone else. In 59 the “reflexive” pronoun limits the subject to exclu- sively the third-person masculine referent.
59 l-otei
l-au 3m-self 3m-come
He himself came, he did not bring anyone or thing with him. Reciprocal pronouns
Olo marks reciprocal action by using a combination of three devices. First, there is no patient affix on the verb. Second, the root form of the verb is the same as when the verb is inflected for a first or
second-person objects. And finally, the lexical object position in the clause is filled by the properly in- flected form of nele ‘other.m’. Since a reciprocal must involve two or more participants, the form of nele
must be either dual or plural. An example of the reflexive is given in 60.
60 a. pe
p-alpo metine
they 3p-shoot.3m
man They shoot the man.
b. pe p-eipo-iki
they 3p-shoot-1s
They shoot me. c.
pe p-eipo
nemple they
3p-shoot other.
PL
They shoot each other.
2.3.2.6 Demonstratives
Demonstratives in Olo are used to specify a particular referent. A demonstrative may either be used based on the position of the referent in the environment of the speech act, or to indicate a particular
referent based on the text of the narrative discourse. The demonstratives are used only with definite referents, but not all definite referents take a demonstrative. In a speech act environment a request for
a single item that is the only one of its kind visible is a request for a definite item, but no demonstrative is used in requesting the item. The definiteness of the item is based on its presence in the speech act
environment.
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 23
61 wa-iki ila
give-1s knife Give me the knife. the knife is visible
Give me a knife. no knife is visible
If more than one item is visible, a request for a particular item must be distinguished from just a gen- eral request for any item of the type. One of the ways to do this is by its position in relation to the
speaker using a demonstrative. 62 a.
wa-iki ila
l-epe give-1s
knife m-this
Give me this knife. b. wa-iki
ila l-iye
give-1s knife
m-that Give me that knife.
The demonstratives take an initial prefix which agrees with the number and gender of the head noun. The prefix is identical to the third-person subject prefix. The demonstrative occurs in the final
NP position. Examples of the demonstratives are given in 63. 63 a.
metine l-epei
metine l-epe
metine l-iye
man m-this.close
man m-this
man m-that
this man close enough to touch this man
that man b. moto
n-epei pele-m
p-epe nafle-pe
p-iye woman
f-this.close dog-
PL PL
-this bird-
PL PL
-that this woman close enough to touch
these dogs those birds
Besides functioning as simple demonstratives, these morphemes also are used as locatives. Essen- tially they combine this and that with here and there, respectively. Examples of this usage are given in
64. 64
Ø -au
l-epei le
l-au l-epe
ye Ø
-e p-iye
2s-come m-here.close he
3m-come m-here
you.
SG
2s-go m-there
Come right here. He came here.
You go over there. Also included within this group is the spatial question form inei ‘where’. It is distributed the same as
the demonstratives marking spatial location. 65
Ø -e
l-inei Ø
-e p-inei
2s-go m-where
2s-go
PL
-where What place are you going to?
What places are you going to? Where are you going?
Where all are you going? A chart giving the demonstratives and their gendernumber prefixes is given in table 2.12.
24 The Olo Language
Table 2.12. Olo demonstratives prefix
gendernumber demonstrative
l- m
-epei near
t- md
-epe mid
n- f
-iye distant
m- fd
-inei spatial question
p- pl
Previous referent Olo has a special modifier that is used to specify a previous referent, elpesi ‘previous’. The word is
used to refer to participants in the discourse who recur, but for whom the listener may not be able to make an immediate connection, or might think a new referent is being introduced. The word is also
used as a general adjective for certain previously built items. It does not occur often in either stories or conversation. Examples of both uses are given in 66a and 66b.
66 a. le
nele l-epe
le l-ingo-wo
malfingo fei
metine elpesi
and one.m m-this he
3m-follow-3m trail
now man
PRV
And the other one he followed the trail which now the same man woso
l-inu l-anpo
nafle n-epe
l-au-ye
SBD
3m-before 3m-shoot.3f
bird f-this
3m-come-
EMP
who before shot the bird came to. b. pe
p-alowi p-inge
tisi elpesi
kolo they
3p-cut 3p-follow
road
PRV NEG
They are not cutting the road along the old road.
2.3.2.7 Adverbs
Olo has a few adverbs. Included among those are words which describe the speed or manner of the event. Examples are frou ‘quickly’ and malye ‘slow, easy, without force’. Adverbs occur immediately
before the verb or immediately following it. While this class is called adverbs, it needs to be clearly stated that while they have some characteristics in common with English adverbs, they cannot be
thought of as identical.
67 ye
telpalo Ø
-untuluw-epe ara
pe-iki you.
SG
carefully 2s-look.after-3p
money
PL
-1s You carefully looked after my money.
2.3.2.8 Prepositions and subordinators
There are two prepositions in Olo: ite ‘of’ and iti associated ‘with’. The first -ite is used for kinship re- lations 68a, ownership 68b, and depiction 68c. The form has two possible prefixes, l- ‘third-per-
son masculine’ and p- ‘non-masculine-singular’. 68 a.
wau p-ite
Kowi grandmother
nms-of Kowi
grandmother of Kowi
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 25
b. tom l-ite
Marieta string.bag
3m-of Marieta
the string bag of Marieta c.
ki k-ini-epe
il p-ite
lulem le-iki
I 1s-tell-3p
talk nms-of nephew 3m-1s
I tell the story of my nephew. The second preposition is used for material composition, and associated use.
69 a. pora
l-iti wom
basket 3m-
ASS
coconut basket made from coconut fronds
b. lom p-iti
liom fence
nms-
ASS
garden the fence for the garden.
The same morpheme is also used to introduce subordinate clauses. If this subordinator is used it means a habitual characteristic.
70 mete
p-iti p-eila
p-otei men
nms-
ASS
3p-lift 3p-self
men who lift themselves men who praise themselves
The other subordinator, wuso, does not have the habitual sense, but is used for attributions, or iden- tifications with single events.
71 a. mete wuso
lipi lepe
p-e men who
big these
3p-go The men who were big go.
b. metine wuso
l-esi-ene nafle
n-epe l-au
man who
3m-heldflew-3f birdplane
f-this 3m-come
The man who flew this plane came. When a superlative oli is suffixed onto wuso to form wusoli, the clause it introduces becomes the rea-
son of a reasonresult pair. 72
ki tur-iki,
wusoli ki
k-ulu-wo tutu.
I afraid-1s
because I
1s-see-3m snake
I was afraid because I saw a snake.
2.3.2.9 Conjunctions and discourse particles
Olo has two associative conjunctions, -ire ‘with’ and -asi ‘with’. They are used to associate two groups. The conjunction -asi has a tighter link than -ire as is shown in 73. Both words take the same
prefixes as verbs, and ire can take the second verbal suffix set cf. table 2.6.. 73 a.
le l-alei
tipe l-asi
fes he
3m-eat.3m water
3m-with feces
He drank water laced with feces.
26 The Olo Language
b. le l-alei
luom l-ire
nimpu he
3m-eat.3m water
3m-with gnetum.leaves.
He ate dried sago andwith gnetum leaves. The conjunction -ire is also used for accompaniment and instrument, although the latter use is fairly
rare. It does not occur in the text body used in this work. 74 a.
metine l-ire
moto roum
m-e man
3m-with wife
they.fd fd-go
The man with his wife, they went. b. ki
k-elele nimpe k-ire tomiyo
I 1s-fell tree
1s-with ax
I fell a tree with an ax. Olo has a two groups of discourse markers. They are used to link two or more sentences into larger
groups. The discourse markers are given in table 2.13. Table 2.13. Olo discourse linker
sequencers le
sequence so
close link sequence lo
loose sequence wo
ordered sequence leye lo
major sequence eventresult
yo non causal result
leso causal effect
eite reason result
2.3.3 Noun phrase
There are three different types of noun phrases in Olo: the general, the possessive, and the genitive. Each type of noun phrase has a unique morphological structure and realizes different semantic
constructions.
2.3.3.1 General noun phrase
All modifiers in Olo noun phrases follow the head noun Staley 1994b. Examples of this are given in 75–79.
75 mete
lipi Noun + Adjective
men big.
PL
big men 76
metine- éwuso l-esi-ene
nafle n-epe… ù Noun + Relative Clause
man ëwho
3m-old-3f bird 3f-
DEM
û The man who held this bird
The man who flew this plane… 77
mete winges
neliyeye Noun + Numerals
men two.m
one.m three men two + one
2.3 Grammatical Characterization 27
78 metine
l-epe Noun + Demonstrative
man 3m-
DEM
this man 79
pora él-iti
wom ù
Noun + Prepositional Phrase basket
ë3m-of coconut û a coconut leaf basket
Olo speakers resist loading their noun phrases with many elements. If the information is new, then it is apt to be introduced in multiple clauses. If it is not new, the native speaker will try to use reference
management schemes to avoid a large NP. AN NP with more than two elements in it is considered large. However, the order for a fully specified noun phrase is: Noun or embedded Noun Phrase, Ad-
jective or Adjective Phrase, Numeral, Relative Clause or Prepositional Phrase, and Demonstrative.
2.3.3.2 Possessive noun phrase
The possessive noun phrase in Olo is distinguished from other NPs by the inclusion of the compound possessive pronoun. The order is possessed nominal, possessor nominal, and finally possessive pro-
noun. The possessor does not need to be expressed by a nominal in the possessive noun phrase, but it cannot be expressed by anything else.
80 a. ila
moto le-ne
knife woman
m-3f the woman’s knife
b. ila le-ne
knife 3m-3f
her knife c.
ila le-iki
knife 3m-1s
my knife The possessive noun phrase is also used to realize kinship relations. The head of the possessive noun
phrase, the first nominal is always a kin term, and the second nominal is optional. 81 a.
ninge Rita
le-ne son
Rita m-3f
Rita’s son b. paliene
le-iki grandson
3m-1s my grandson
2.3.3.3 Genitive noun phrase
The genitive noun phrase in Olo realizes part-whole and class-member relationships. Syntactically, it is distinguished from the possessive noun phrase by the lack of the possessive pronoun and by both
the nouns being obligatory. Modification of either noun is ungrammatical, although the genitive can fill the head position of the noun phrase and the whole construction can be modified as in 82c.
82 a. nimpe
oru tree
head the top branches of a tree
28 The Olo Language
b. nimpe ili
oru tree
big.m head
c. nimpe
oru ili
tree head
big.m the big top branches of a tree
the big tree top
2.3.4 Adjective phrase
The adjective phrase in Olo is a simple construction. It consists of a single head and a modifier. The modifier can be an embedded adjective phrase. There are two superlatives that can occur in the second position, oli ‘bad’
and -tei
SUPERLATIVE
. The word oli is an adjective which has as part of its meaning ‘extreme’. It is with this latter meaning that oli is used as a superlative. Example 62 shows the forms with increasing size.
83 a. ili-tei
b. ili oli
c. ili
oli-tei big.m-very
big.m extreme
big.m extreme-very
very big really big
extremely big
2.3.5 Time, aspect, and mood