Determiner DET Other grammatical items

71

5.5 Other grammatical items

Certain grammatical items that are attached to the heads are described below.

5.5.1 Determiner DET

Both of the third person narratives contain determiners in their referring expressions. From the data in this study, I hypothesize the determiner references something in the text-external world. Vogel 2006:87 points out that never occurs alone; rather it precedes a noun. 18 In this position, it is pointing to a uniquely identifiable referent, while at the same time excludes any other possibilities. Lambrecht 1994:87 states: “The reference of a noun phrase may be considered identifiable because in the universe of discourse of the interlocutors or of the speech community as a whole there exists only one referent which can be appropriately designated with that noun phrase.” Burenhult 2005, in his grammar of Jahai, a Mon-Khmer language, accounts for a proclitic identification marker. He states 2005:125, “This identification marker is attached proclitically to the initial constituent of a NP to co-ordinate this NP with a preceding deictic element, typically a nominal demonstrative but occasionally also proper names.” Regarding its function, he says 2005:126 that it has both an affirmative and identifying function and may be related to a phrase-final emphatic and affirmative particle. In Mlabri, another more distantly-related Mon-Khmer language, Rischel 1995 found evidence for what he loosely classifies as a definite article. Rischel states 18 No examples of the determiner preceding a proper name have been found. Further research would need to be done. 72 1995:152, “It is used to identify the specific item talked about as an integral or inalienable part or possession of the person, thing or situation that functions as theme.” Secondly, Rischel finds that it may be used to refer to the status of a referent as “belonging via family relationship to the referent presented as sentence topic.” In this case, Rischel 1995:153 gives the following Mlabri sentence, ‘man miss DEF son’ which in English would be translated as, ‘the man misses his son’. Hinds 1978:148 in his study of Japanese describes items of unique reference that “depends on the speaker’s view of the world and his perceived relationship with a particular audience.” He states that within a certain group such as a family, items such as the dog, the car, the house, have unique reference. The Fish story has many examples where the determiner is used with participants that share some blood relation. This determiner is not used in references for the uncles in this same story because they are not blood relatives of the main participants; rather, they are superhuman beings that frequently appear in Bunong folk tales. This determiner is also not used with proper names in this story. One explanation may be because the proper name by itself is sufficient to uniquely identify someone in the text- external world. In 93, the determiner signifies that the person referenced as ‘mother’ is the child’s actual mother. 19 The referring expression for the child also has a determiner, 19 In Bunong culture, if two people, person X and person Y, carry out a blood pact, then person X calls the parents of person Y, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ and vice-versa. This pact carries with it certain obligations to help one another in times of need. This pact is not common or taken lightly; rather, it is done between two people who share a strong bond. 73 which signifies that he is his mother’s actual blood-related child. 20 This distinction is important in a society that relies almost exclusively on addressing people by some kinship term rather than using proper names. 93 HHHH + = + 95.?J55 =;9 3 = + 95.?J55 =;9 ‘His mother went to calm her child.’ [Fish 440] Another example where the determiner occurs is with relational terminology. Example 100b below illustrates the determiner preceding ‘fiancée’. The determiner allows the narrator to uniquely identify the lady who is at Smelt-fish’s house is truly Smelt-fish’s fiancée. Unlike the Fish story, none of the participants are related in the Cow story. The kinship term ‘uncle’ is used by the narrator only as a respectful term of address to refer to the cow and bull owners and Rabbit. However, the referring expressions are not accompanied by the determiner since that would signal a consanguinal relation. The Life story also does not include the determiner . The story contains many references to historical people and the majority of these references are proper names. Hun Sen, the current Cambodian prime minister, is referred to as ‘father’. However, it is not preceded by the determiner as that would connote that he is the narrator’s blood father. 20 A Bunong adult may call any child ‘child’ as a term of address. This does not mean that that person is hisher actual child. 74

5.5.2 Demonstrative DEM