190 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE
327 tantumo ihintu dua so ne-sambili-ndo mie bhari of.course you also FUT P.PART-speak-their people many
of course people will talk about you too 328 bhahi a-[m]unda we se-weta-no ini
maybe 1sI-jump loc one-side-A.PART this maybe I could jump to this side
329 sio-siomo pae-mo da-marasai hopefully we will suffer no
hopefully FUT.no.more 1pI-suffer more
330 ingka no-mbaka obviously it is nice; it is
ENIM 3sR-nice nice, isnt it?; dont you
agree it is nice? 331 ingka ama-mu
dont you know that he is ENIM father-your
your father? 332 labhi a-s[um]uli we Raha
it would be better for me to better 1sI-return loc Raha
go back to Raha The word kaasi is also a disjunct. It is used very frequently in narrative
texts and its function is to show empathy for the characters in the story. It is hard to translate, the closest equivalents being something like too bad for
himher, what a pity for himher, the poor.... However, these English equivalents tend to sound unnatural in a discourse.
When the referent of kaasi is plural, it may receive the plural possessive marker -ndo. Kaasi may occur in various positions in the clause, but in the
majority of cases it follows the verb or the postverbal subject:
333 o kapoluka sa-ntaa kaasi we panda ART tortoise ONLY-wait pity loc bottom
all the time the poor tortoise was waiting down below 334 miina da-ko-diu kaasi-ndo
they did not move, the poor not 3pI-HAVE-move pity-their
things 335 wulu-no kadondo no-tumbu kaasi
feather-POS woodpecker 3sR-grow pity the feathers of the poor woodpecker were growing again
7.12. Other peripheral elements
In this section I want to have a short look at a number of other elements that function at the clause periphery and that cannot be subsumed under other
headings. These elements are vocatives, interjections and ideophones.
7.12.1. Vocatives
A vocative is a noun that is used to address a person directly in a con- versation, for example in commands, requests, exclamations. A vocative bears no
mark to distinguish it from a non-vocative; the interjection o may precede a vocative.
7 THE CLAUSE 191
The following nouns are used for vocatives: 1. Proper names
2. Kinship terms:
ama father
ina mother
awa grandparent
3. Generic terms denoting persons: bhela
friend only vocative ghane
boy only vocative keda
girl 4. Verbs denoting qualities no affixation:
bhore stupid one
lolu fool
Vocatives are usually found in clause-initial or clause-final position: 336 ome-afa itu ghane?
what are you doing, boy? 2sR-do.what that boy
337 ae-ngko-ngkora ingka ama I am just sitting down, father
1sR-RED-sit ENIM father as you can see
338 o sabhangka soba ghoro-kanau dua bhe idi hey friend try IMP-throw-me also with I
hey friend, please throw me one too 339 ne hamai o kenta adhara?
where is the fish, horse? loc where ART fish horse
340 aitu, ghane-hi, kala ghondo-hi-kanau-umu bhake-no now boy-PLUR IMP-go IMP-look-TR-me-PLUR fruit-its
and now, boys, go and try to find its fruit for me Vocatives may be further emphasized by suffixing -e to the word 10.2.2. This
is particularly common with kinship terms. This -e may be drawn out when said on a high tone and is used for calling somebody who is a long way off. Compare
the -e on demonstratives in 5.5.8.
341 ina-e, tulumi-kanau mother, help me
mother-EM IMP-help-me 342 ama-eeee
oh father father-EM
7.12.2. Interjections
Two different kinds of interjections can be distinguished in Muna on a semantic basis. First, there is the type of interjection that is used to show emotions
192 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE
such as pain, fear, amazement. Second, there are interjections used for animals, either to call them or to chase them away.
The following list is a sample of the most common emotive interjections in Muna, the intonation on which they are normally uttered and the emotions they
convey.
aa mid fall
disappointment, dejection ee
high fall 1. disagreement
2. amazement haa
high level fright, alarm, shock
hah low fall
contempt, disbelief o
low level calling attention
aulee mid rise
sorrow, regret adede
mid rise pain
inei high level
surprise kunae, konae
mild irritation Dutch: joh ih
mid fall physical effort
A number of morphologically complex structures also function as interjections, that is, as typical one-word clauses:
ala-itu there you are reproach after
unheeded warning bholosi-no lalo
you have only yourself to blame anoa-mo
that is right; OK bhai-ane
who knows?; no idea runsa-ghoo-mo
just leave it; let it be Examples in clauses some interjections are not glossed:
343 aa, no-tumbu mba-leu-leu ah, it is withering lit. it
ah, 3sR-grow RATHER-RED-wither grows witheringly
344 ee, noafa o-angka-ghoo ne ini? hey, why are you going this
hey, why 2sR-go-PURP loc this way?
345 ee, miina nao-ghosa hey, he is not strong
hey, not 3sI-strong 346 haa, aitu beano a-rafo-ko-mo
boo now I have finally boo now unless 1sR-catch-you-PF
caught you 347 o setani nagha? hah, ka-bhari-no ne-fetingke-mu
ART evil.spirit that ugh NOM-many-POS P.PART-hear-your is that an evil spirit? Rubbish, you are hearing things
348 aulee, miina a-l[um]ulusu oh bother, I have not passed
oh not 1sI-pass the exam
349 alaitu; a-ghele-angko o-[m]omaa-e; aitu omo-saki - 1sR-forbid-you 2sI-eat-it now 2sR-sick
there you are, I told you not to eat it; now you are sick 350 ih, ka-bhie-no
oof, how heavy it is oof NOM-heavy-its
7 THE CLAUSE 193
351 me-ngkora ne ini konae why dont you sit down here
IMP-sit loc this - 352 adede, no-lea fotu-ku
ouch, my head hurts ouch 3sR-hurt head-my
Certain words that belong to other word classes can be used as interjections. Examples:
ina-e extreme pain or fright
lit. mother hintu
shock, terror lit. you garaa
mild surprise usually a conjunction introducing a
new, somewhat unexpected event, see 9.11
353 ina-e, a-mate-mo oh no, I am about to die
mother-EM 1sI-die-PF 354 ama-ku hintu indewi no-maho-mo no-finda-hi-e oto
father-my you yesterday 3sR-near-PF 3sR-step-TR-him car oh boy, my father was almost run over by a car yesterday
355 no-lente ana-mu. Garaa your child is born. What a
3sR-born child-your SURPR surprise
The following list is a provisional list of interjections used to call or chase away animals. As is the case in many languages, in Muna interjections show
phonologically irregular patterns non-phonemic sounds such as the palato- alveolar fricative sy, closed syllables and so on.
koro-koro; krrrrrr to call chickens
sio, siu, syo, sy to chase away chickens
auuuu to call dogs dahu dog
kokokoko to call dogs
tut alveolar click, mamamama to call cats usually accom-
panied by tapping on the ground ekaaae
to call cats bheka cat sigha
to chase away cats or dogs nasalized ee
to call goats brrr bilabial trill
to chase away goats, cows and horses
puuae to call horses
huisy, sei, haae to chase away wild pigs
hia, hela to chase away monkeys
Some of these interjections form the bases of verbs: ae-koro-koro
I call chickens ae-sio
I chase chickens away by calling sio
ae-sigha bheka I chase away a cat by calling
sigha
194 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE
7.12.3. Ideophones
