Non-basic word orders and information status

Different word orders are possible under certain information status conditions, when arguments of the verb can be left- or right-dislocated (Lambrecht 1996: 181–184). In Vatlongos, left dislocation of a subject or object to establish a new

or contrastive topic in the discourse is very common. A topic can be defined as a given referent that a proposition is about (Lambrecht 1996: 117–119;

Erteschik-Shir 2007: 13). The use of NP topics in clause-initial position in Vatlongos matches Lambrecht’s (1996: 176) observations that left dislocation of a constituent is used to express a referent that is accessible in the discourse context as an active topic, that is, it marks a switch topic rather than a continued topic (Erteschik-Shir 2007: 4). Right dislocation is much rarer in Vatlongos, and only used for discourse repair, ensuring that the listener has understood the intended referent in what is sometimes referred to as an ‘afterthought’ construction (Mithun 1992: 49). Dislocation is also marked by prosodic cues such as a pause, although these have not been investigated closely.

Example (15) shows the subject NP appearing clause-initially as a topic, separated from the rest of the clause by a prosodic break, marked with a comma in the transcription. Impressionistically, the topic constituent also tends to have a higher pitch and faster rate of speech than the rest of the clause.

(15) Xamem, ma-pus vetei ...

1PL.EXCL 1PL.EXCL.NFUT-see breadfruit...

‘Us, we see breadfruit (is a good food) [20150303d_p01e016_22] While the first and second persons are always accessible and available as topics (Erteschik-Shir 2007: 11–12), example (16) shows how a third-person referent is first introduced into the discourse, then appears in initial position separated from the verb by a prosodic break to show that it is a new topic. This position is typical of the second mention of a referent.

(16) masta ne ok ise-n Smet.

master of PROX name-3SG.POSS Smith

Smet, bemei mi-sekhan mi xamel

Smith 3SG.NFUT.come 3SG.NFUT-shake_hands to 1DU.EXCL

‘This one’s boss was called Smith. Smith, he came and shook hands with us.’ [20170224a_n01s141_18-9]

When the object appears in a different position due to its information status, it is also cross-referenced with a resumptive pronominal object suffix on the verb, which is strong evidence that these are not basic word orders. As the object suffix cannot co-occur with a NP in the post-verbal object position, this shows that there is an anaphoric relationship with a left-dislocated constituent, rather

than the grammatical agreement that is found between a subject NP in subject position and the subject agreement markers on the verb. This is very similar to the distinction between subject and object agreement morphology in Chichewa (Bantu) described by Bresnan & Mchombo (1987).

In examples (17) and (18), an object NP appears at the beginning of the clause and the verb is marked with an object suffix. In (19) three object NPs are fronted in contrastive focus.

(17) Kava igak, mi-gur-i

corrugated_iron here 3SG.NFUT-NFUT.take-3OBJ

‘The corrugated iron here, it [the cyclone] took it out.’ [20150419c_h01s004_25]

(18) his sa-n, tas gur-i ba

banana CL.DOM-3SG.POSS sea 3SG.NFUT.take-3OBJ 3SG.NFUT.go

‘His banana plant, the sea took it away.’ [20170119g_n01s087_07]

(19) langmas, ta rat-pus-i;

insane_person just 1PC.INCL-see-3OBJ

titamol, ta rat-pus-i;

dwarf just 1PC.INCL-see-3OBJ

holesok xil tavusien xe

thing PL all REL

mi-sa, rat-pus-i.

3SG.NFUT-bad 1PC.INCL-see-3OBJ

‘Madmen we’ve seen; dwarves we’ve seen; all bad things we’ve seen.’ [20141107b_n01e020_10]

An independent personal pronoun that is coreferential with the object can also be fronted in contrastive contexts, as in (20). The independent pronoun strictly refers to singular referents, whereas both the pronominal object suffix and subject agreement prefixes can refer to plural inanimate referents (§5.1.3), as in the first clause of the example.

(20) ueili xil vusien xa dik,

pig PL all REL 3SG.NFUT.be_here

u-has-i, e xi, o-naa-vas-i =ti

2SG.DFUT-kill-3OBJ but 3SG 2SG.IFUT-NEG-NEG.hit-3OBJ =NEG

‘All the pigs here you’ll kill, but him, don’t kill him.’ [20170222d_n01s152_86]

When the object is not in a person-number combination that can be indexed with an object suffix (§5.1.3), the independent pronoun object must appear after the verb in addition to the fronted independent object pronoun:

(21) ma xamem, la-sa xamem

then 1PL.EXCL 3PL.NFUT-send 1PL.EXCL

ma-be Niu Zilan

1PL.EXCL.NFUT-NFUT.go_to New Zealand

‘Then us, they sent us to New Zealand.’ [20170413e_n01m030_26] Right-dislocation of an argument is much rarer, at least in the narrative and procedural texts that predominate in the corpus. Example (22) shows the right dislocation of an object in an afterthought construction: the intended referent of the pronominal object suffix is clarified after a prosodic break marked by the comma in the transcription.

(22) iaxa di na-sep usil-i, ngan Petet

thus CONT.REAL 1SG.NFUT-speak+about-3OBJ the_one Petet

‘That’s why I talked about them, the ones from Petet’ [20170222d_n01s152_104]

Example (23) again shows the right dislocation of an object NP following the suffixed verb (a complex predicate, §7.1); the NP is preceded by the hesitation marker na.

(23) mu-si siv-e na yangfala tei

2PL.IMP-stick+kick-3OBJ HES youth one

‘Sack him, um this youth’ [20170218b_n01s144_46]

However, when the referent of an argument needs to be clarified, it is more common to repeat the entire clause but including an NP:

(24) Ma netak mi-long xat-i;

then this_one 3SG.NFUT-hear+right-3OBJ

avu na-n mi-long xat-i grandchild CL.GEN-POSS.3SG 3SG.NFUT-hear+right-3OBJ

‘So this one listened to him; his grandchild listened to him’ [20141208a_n01m045_40]

Example (25) shows this repetition strategy used once, replacing a pronoun with a kin term, followed by right dislocation of the subject’s personal name.

(25) Ma xi mi-sis-i,

then 3SG 3SG.NFUT-ask-3OBJ

avu mi-sis-i, Sorom,

grandparent 3SG.NFUT-ask-3OBJ Sorom

‘Then hei asked himj, Grandadi asked himj, Soromi,’