This weeks reading entitled “Discourse and Tongan mai, atu, ange: Scratching the Surface,” explains the importance of understanding three directional adverbs that play a very significant role in the Tongan language. The main points that Tchekhoff focuses on include: “the three are basically directional adverbs, their inherent meaning remain constant, but their uses are context-sensitive and vary as centre of interest according to the speaker’s subjective choice, they sometimes but not always have come to mean first, second and third person respectively and the three are also used to soften a statement of command.” (Tchekhoff 1990, 105)
We learn from the reading that mai means towards the centre, atu means away from the centre and ange mean to and from a lace that is not the centre of interest, but Tchekhoff explains that there is more to understanding these words than just knowing the basic definition in an individual context. When these adverbs are used within a sentence, the meaning can differ depending on what the speaker sees as the centre of interest. This adverb system is actually a lot more complex than meets the eyes, and it is without a doubt a very culture-specific system within the language.
The use of these adverbs, mai, atu and ange, can explain much more than just the direction. Tchekhoff says, “these directional adverbs also directly concerns the speaker’s utterance itself: they give the picture a specific location in space and in the community’s experience.” (Tchekhoff 1990, 110) One specific example used in the text shows how using or not using a directional can completely change a statement.
To’o ‘ae tohi ‘o taipe – Bring the letter here to type
To’o mai ‘ae tohi ‘o taipe – Bring the letter here to type
To’o atu ‘ae tohi ‘o taipe – Take the letter away from me to type
To’o ange ‘ae tohi ‘o taipe – Take the letter to (third person) who will type it
These are just simple examples of how these words are used in the language, and this shows the importance of understanding these small words that have a big impact. I wonder if other Pacific languages put the same weight on these types of words in their own languages. The sites that I have inserted below are sites that have information about the Hawaiian language and its grammar. If you are interested you can look at these books, I feel that they are very informative and can answer many of your questions about the Hawaiian language.
http://books.google.com/books?id=RdOCAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA1&lpg=RA2-PA1&dq=rule+of+tongan+language&source=web&ots=ErmXjd7B4C&sig=N970u56sD1Bz09UZk1XrBXxCbuw&hl=en&ei=o1OSSca7KonOsAPyhdSoCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPP1,M1
http://books.google.com/books?id=C7Uvh-60JooC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=adverbs+in+the+hawaiian+language&source=web&ots=YaWrruf8KI&sig=kzKlQ_eZ3qtQM1RWuYbljsyRYbo&hl=en&ei=vlSSSdCWNpHItQOC3sG_Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA47,M1
http://books.google.com/books?id=niV4UZPzhzEC&pg=PA463&lpg=PA463&dq=hawaiian+language+adverbs&source=web&ots=2BWaBLX4fA&sig=yCQjT6HoK4kgA1cLeQf8c77myE4&hl=en&ei=GFSSSYamD5KasAOz_tC1Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA261,M1
Tchekhoff, Claude. 1990. Discourse and Tongan mai, atu, ange: Scratching the Surface. In Pacific Island languages: Essays in honour of G.B. Milner. Pp. 105-110. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
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7 comments:
Great summary of the reading! The examples of the different directional adverbs you used were helpful. I think that these types of directional adverbs might exist in other Pacific languages because we have something similar in my language too. I wonder if it was easy for linguists to determine the difference because it seems that the sentence structure remains the same and just the directional verb changes, or maybe it is more complex than that.
Good summary. I like the use of the quotation at the beginning of the summary because it brings the focus to the forefront. Of course, there will be repeated topics and similar patterns with different languages, and it is apparent here. With many of the Pacific languages, pronouns and adverbs are more defined than the English language. It shows the thought process and the history of their language and it is interesting to see similar patterns such as this in Spanish and other distant languages, but not in English. Obviously, there is not always going to be a direct translation, as Tchekhoff says, but I think there is always a common term or phrase that holds equivalent values or meanings within each respected culture or society.
Great Summary! I clearly agree with you that small words have big impacts in language structure. The information about Hawaiian language and its grammar are similar in understanding directional adverbs as well. In Hawaiian language mai also means towards the speaker and aku (atu) means away from speaker as well. Adverbs due play an important role in language giving "a specific location in space and in the community’s experience.” Tchekhoff explains. Directional adverbs gives the speaker great depth when explaining a specific location.
Although this was not a required reading, I thought it was fairly interesting and short. Luckily for me, I am doing Tongan for my language report. Thanks for the summary.
Directional adverbs could be something I can use in my report. As we keep doing more and more readings on Austronesian descended languages we are able to make more connections and actually see how they are related. These types of linguistic patterns allow us to link their common points. Some of these things can be confusing for English speakers!
I was once told that culture is language and that language is culture. The idea of linguistic communications reflecting the culture seems reoccurring. So in the article….“In Tonga, personal relationships are warm”….and…“In Tonga, personal relationships are immediately manifest in the language.” Hence, the importance of relationships in the community are manifested in the directional adverbs, speakers and centers of interest, and other language structures. (The same prevalence of familial terms are present in Filipino. There’s are not only a word for sibling “kapatid”, but there’s also terms for specific relationships such as the youngest child “bunso” or older sister “ate”). I found it really interesting how the directional markers dramatically change the meaning when everything else in the sentence stayed the same.
Because this article wasn't required, I didn't read it yet. I'd figure I'd put it off until later and go to the mandatory readings first! Your summary was good! I learned something new! You defined mai, atu, and ange and gave awesome examples! Mai means here. Atu is there. Ange refers to over there away from us. Is that right?
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