EMOTION VERBS IN BANTOANON

EMOTION VERBS IN BANTOANON

Youngrye Ma and Sherri Brainard

Summer Institute of Linguistics

0. INTRODUCTION

This paper is an analysis of emotion verbs in Bantoanon.' Emotion verbs such as 'to be happy', 'to be afraid', 'to like', and 'to hate' pose problems for analysis because languages are less consistent in the way in which they encode these verbs compared with verbs that are unambiguously semantically transitive (e.g. 'to throw' and 'to cut') or semantically intransitive (e.g. 'to go' and 'to sleep'). This variation in the coding of emotion verbs occurs not only between languages, but also within languages. Thus in Bantoanon, we find that some emotion verbs occur most often in intransitive clauses with stative verb affixes while others occur most often in transitive clauses with active verb affixes.*

In this study, we will argue that most of the surface variations displayed by Bantoanon emotion verbs are governed by two properties: semantic dynamism and semantic transitivity. Emotion verbs appear to be lexically specified for semantic dynamism; that is, they are specified as to whether the situations they encode are construed as states or events. In the same way, emotion verbs also appear to be lexically specified for semantic transitivity; that is, they are specified as to whether the situations are inherently intransitive or inherently transitive. This claim is based on the observation that even though many emotion verbs may occur in both intransitive and transitive clauses, one of these clause types appears to be the preferred structure for encoding a given verb.' In general, emotions construed as states are encoded in intransitive clauses and so are assumed to be semantically intransitive, while those construed as events are encoded in transitive clauses and are assumed to be semantically transitive.'

' Bantoanon is spoken by about 50,000 people who live in the municipalities of Odiongan and Calatrava on Tablas Island and three small islands of Simara, Sibali, and Banton in the province of Romblon in the central Philippines. Bantoanon is one of the Bisayan languages and is most closely related to Hiligaynon. Tagalog is the main trade language spoken by Bantoanon speakers.

The data for this study were collected in Odiongan between 1993-1995, while the first author, the primary researcher, was working there under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. The data include about 8,000 dictionary entries, and elicited sentences and paradigms. A great debt of gratitude is owed to Mrs. Gie Menez who so willingly helped with collecting and analyzing the data.

The following is the Bantoanon orthography. The vowels are: a [a], i [el [i], and o [o] [u]. The consonants are: b [bl, d [dl, g [gl, h [hl, k [kl, I ill, m [ml, n [nl, ng [a], P [PI, r [rl, s [sl, 1 [tl, w [wl, and y [j]. Glottal stop is not represented word-initially or between vowels; however, when glottal stop follows a consonant word-medially, it is represented by a hyphen, as in bag-o [baglo] 'new'.

Intransitive clauses in this paper include single-argument stative clauses and single-argument active clauses.

' This preference is indicated by Bantoanon speakers' tendency to spontaneously select one clause type over all others for encoding various emotion verbs during elicitation.

' The analysis presented here represents 'work in progress'. This study is not a comprehensive treatment of Bantoanon emotion verbs, and the conclusions should be regarded as tentative.

1998. Sherri Brainard, ed. Localist case grammar and Philippine verbs.Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines. pp. 26-34.

Emotion Verbs in Bantoanon

1. LOCALIST CASE GRAMMAR

In order to investigate Bantoanon emotion verbs, we will adopt a restricted version of localist case grammar developed by DeLancey (1991), based on earlier proposals by Anderson (1971), Diehl (1975), Gruber (1976), and Jackendoff (1983,1990). This model assumes that every clause expresses a locative relation between a Theme and a Loc. This relation can be literal or metaphorical. States and events are represented by the following cognitive schemas:

(1) Theme AT Loc Theme GOT0 Loc Agent CAUSE Theme GOT0 Loc

The cognitive schemas give three core semantic roles: Agent (AG), Theme (TH), and Loc (LOC). The semantic roles are defined in terms of the schemas: a Loc is a physical site or a state; a Theme is an element that changes location or state; and an Agent is the primary cause of the change of location or state. These semantic roles are taken to be universals.

Localist case grammar assumes that a Theme and a Loc are lexically required by every verb. Some verbs are also lexically specified for an Agent. Other semantic roles such as Instrument, Benefactive, and Source are treated as semantic roles of nonnuclear clauses that have been integrated into the nuclear clause. (In Philippine languages, these nonnuclear clauses are usually not present in the sentence.) Thus, Instruments and Associatives are Nonnuclear Themes (NTH); Benefactives are Nonnuclear Locs (NLOC); and Sources are either Nonnuclear Locs or Nonnuclear Agents (NAG), depending on the verb.'

In this model, it is assumed that each NP will normally have only one semantic role; however, a NP can have two roles if one is an Agent. Semantic roles can be covert arguments; they can also be lexicalized into the verb. In either case, they will not occur in the clause as overt NPs.

2. EMOTION VERBS

Within the localist model, emotion verbs are assumed to be states. Thus, the underlying cognitive schema for these verbs is: Theme AT Loc. The Theme is the experiencer and the Loc is the emotional state. For the analysis, 21 emotion verbs were identified.%ffixes occurring with these verbs are listed in table 1, along with the number of verbs each affix occurs with.

Recipients are assumed to be human Locs. "he verbs are: bali 'to feel good about', buyong 'to be lonely' or 'to long forlmiss someone',

ganda 'to feel nice about', gusto 'to likelwant', hadlok 'to be afraid', hangit 'to be angry', hili 'to be jealous', himurok 'to feel satisfied', hirap 'to feel difficulty', huda 'to be shylembarrassed', lisor 'to be sad'. luoy 'to be pitiful',pahimot 'to hate',palangga 'to love', sadya 'to be happy', sapot 'to be irritated', smva 'to be tired o f , tibmv 'to cry', yain 'to feel bad about', yangkag 'to be lonely', yuda 'to be disappointed'.



Table 1. Affixes Occurring with Emotion Verbs

Intransitive

maCV--an maCV- a--an maka-7 ma-

Transitive

a--an 4 aka--an 2 a--on 4 0 1 ika- 3 maCV--an 2

2.1 Emotion verbs as semantically intransitive states

Table 1 shows that most emotion verbs in Bantoanon occur in intransitive clauses with the stative affixes maCV--an and maCV-. This suggests that most emotion verbs are construed as semantically intransitive state^.^ In an intransitive clause, maCV--an, maCV- and, less commonly, ma- cross-reference an absolutive Theme that is an experiencer. A Nonnuclear Agent, the source which triggers the emotion in the experiencer, occurs optionally in an oblique NP.

Examples ( 2 x 4 ) are intransitive clauses. The affix maCV--an in (2), and maCV- in (3) and (4) cross-reference an absolutive Theme (Experiencer); a Nonnuclear Agent (Source) is an oblique argument.

(2) Masasaa)ahan sida sa ako pug-abot. maCV- =sadya =-an sida sa ako pug- =abot STAT/IRR=happy =TH 3SGlABS OBL 1 SGIGEN NMR=arrive

'She will be happy at my arrival.'

(3) Mahahadlok sida sa ida manghor. maCV- =hadlok sida sa ida manghor STATIIRRITH =afraid 3SGlABS OBL 3 SGIGEN younger.brother

'She will be afraid of her younger brother.'

The affixes maka-, aka--an, and ika- are composite affixes in that they all contain the morpheme ka-. The function of ka- has not yet been fully analyzed and so a separate gloss for the morpheme has not been given.

Henceforth, these verbs will be referred to as 'semantically intransitive emotion verbs'.



(4) Mahahangit sida s a ida anak. maCV- =hangit sida sa ida anak STATIIRRITH =angry 3SGlABS OBL 3SGlGEN child

'She will be angry at her child.'

A smaller number of emotion verbs also occur in intransitive clauses with the active affix a--an. For these verbs, a--an cross-references an absolutive Theme (Experiencer). Again, a Nonnuclear Agent (Source) can occur optionally in an oblique NP, as in (5).

(5) Asaputan sida s a ida asawa. a- =sapot =-an sida s a ida asawa STAT/IRR=irritated =TH 3SGlABS OBL 3SGlGEN husband

'She will be irritated with her husband.'

In intransitive clauses, the stative affix maCV--an also occurs on certain semantically intransitive emotion verbs that imply that the emotion is triggered by an external cause; for example, 'to be irritated' or 'to be angry'. For these verbs, maCV--an is a marked affix, and indicates that there is no external cause for the emotion. The person simply experiences the emotion spontaneously. We will refer to this notion as '- Cause'.This shift in meaning can be seen by comparing (5) with

I (6).

(6) Masasaputan sida s a ida asawa. maCV- =sapof =-an sida s a ida asawa STAT/IRR=irritated =TH 3SGlABS OBL 3SGlGEN husband

'She will be irritated with her husband (for no reason).'

(5) is an unmarked form of sapot 'to be irritated' and implies that the husband did something that is likely to irritate his wife. (6) is a marked form of the verb and implies that the wife will be irritated with her husband even though he did not do anything to prompt the reaction.

Semantically intransitive emotion verbs may also occur in transitive clauses. In transitive clauses, a--an and aka--an occur with the greatest number of these verbs and cross-reference a Nonnuclear Agent (Source) that has been promoted to absolutive NP; the Theme (Experiencer) is the ergative NP, as shown in (7) and (8).

(7) Ahangitan n ida kag ida anak. a- =hangit=-an nida kag ida anak ACT/IRR=angry =NAG 3SGlERG ABS 3SGlGEN child

'She will get angry at her child.'

" This analysis is tentative


30 Youngrye Ma and Sherri Brainard

(8) Akahadlukan nida kag sawa. aka- =hadlok =-an nida kag sawa ACT/IRR=afraid =NAG 3SGlERG ABS snake

'She will be afraid of the snake.'

When the stative affix maCV--an occurs on semantically intransitive emotion verbs in transitive clauses, it signals that the Theme (Experiencer) will experience the emotion spontaneously. In (7), hangit 'to be angry' occurs with a--an, and the clause implies that the child did something that is likely to make his mother angry; in (9), the verb occurs with maCV--an, and the clause implies that the child's mother will get angry even though the child has not done anything to warrant her reaction.

(9) Mahahangitan nida kag ida anak. maCV- =hangit=-an nida kag ida anak STAT/IRR=angry =NAG 3SGlERG ABS 3SGlGEN child

'She will get angry at her child (for no reason).'

Many semantically intransitive emotion verbs can also take the active inchoative affixes maka- and ika- which convey the meaning 'to become', indicating that the situation is now construed as an event, specifically a process. In the intransitive clause in (lo), maka- cross-references an absolutive Theme (Experiencer), and the Nonnuclear Agent (Source) is an oblique NP. In the transitive clause in (1 1), ika- cross-references the Nonnuclear Agent which has been promoted to absolutive NP, and the Theme is now the ergative NP.

(1 0) Makasadya sida s a ako pug-abot. maka- =sadya sida s a ako pug- =abot ACT/IRRlLOC=happy 3SGlABS OBL 1 SGIGEN NMR=arrive

'She will become happy at my arrival.'

(1 1) Ikasadya nida kag ako pug-abot. ika- =sadya nida kag ako pug- =abot ACTIIRRNAG =happy 3SGlERG ABS I SGIGEN NMR=arrive

'She will become happy with my arrival.'

Certain semantically intransitive emotion verbs may occur with a--on. The presence of a--on signals a change in the underlying cognitive schema from state to event, and the cognitive event schema becomes: Agent CAUSE Theme GOT0 Loc. Here the Agent intentionally tries to trigger a certain emotional response in the experiencer. The experiencer is now viewed as a Theme that undergoes a change of state. The Loc, the emotional state, is a covert argument. This change in cognitive schema and semantic roles is reflected in the assignment of the semantic roles to NPs in the clause (as well as a change in affix). Specifically, the Agent provoking the


Emotion Verbs in Bantoanon 3 1

emotional response is the ergative NP, and the Theme experiencing a change in emotional state is the absolutive NP, as shown in (12) and (1 3).

(1 2) Ahangiton sida it anak. a- =hangit =-on sida it anak ACT/IRR=angry =TH 3SGIABS ERG child

'The child will make her angry.'

(1 3 ) Ahadlukon sida it ida manghor. a- =hadlok =-on sida it ida manghor ACT/IRR=afraid =TH 3SGlABS ERG 3SGlGEN younger.brother

'Her younger brother will frighten her.'

2.2 Emotion verbs as semantically transitive events

Although the majority of emotion verbs occur most often in intransitive clauses with stative affixes, a few, such as palangga 'to love' and gusto 'to likelwant', occur more often in transitive clauses with active affixes. This suggests that these verbs are construed as semantically transitive events, and have the cognitive event schema: Agent CAUSE Theme GOT0 Loc."' For these verbs, the experiencer is construed as an Agent. The person or object for which the Agent experiences an emotion is viewed as a Theme; the Loc, i.e. the state of being loved, liked, or wanted, is a covert argument. In (14), palangga 'to love' occurs with a--on; in (IS), gusto 'to likelwant' occurs as a bare root." In both examples, the the Agent (Experiencer) is the ergative NP, and the Theme is the absolutive NP.

( 1 4) Apalanggaon nida kag anak it iba. a- =palangga=-on nida kag anak it iba ACTIIRR =love =TH 3SGlERG ABS child GEN different

'She will love the child of another.'

(15) Gusto nako kag bag-ong sapatos. gusto nako kag bag-o =-ng sapatos want ISGIERG ABS new =LK shoes

'I want a new pair of shoes.'

I" Henceforth, these verbs will be referred to as 'semantically transitive emotion verbs'. I ' One might suppose that the absence of an affix on gusto is attributed to the fact that it is a

Spanish loan word and, for this reason, displays different morphosyntactic behavior from other emotion verbs. Some Philippine languages, however, also have a word that means 'to love' and another that means 'to likelwant', neither of which are loan words, but which display different morphosyntactic behavior. For certain of these languages, the verb that means 'to likelwant' may also occur as a bare root in a transitive clause. Thus, we must assume that the absence of an affix on gusto in (1 5 ) is due to something other than its origin as a loan word.



Notice that semantically intransitive emotion verbs and semantically transitive emotion verbs differ from each other when they occur with a--on in transitive clauses. For semantically intransitive verbs, it is the Theme that experiences the emotion; for semantically transitive verbs, it is the Agent. The fact that these verbs are encoded in the same way in the surface structure suggests that they have the same underlying cognitive schema. Thus, the difference in whether it is the Agent or the Theme that experiences the emotion is not due to different underlying cognitive schemas. Rather, the difference appears to be due to the lexical specification of the verb: if the verb is lexically specified as a semantically intransitive state, the Theme is the experiencer; if it is specified as a semantically transitive event, the Agent is the experiencer.

The verb palangga 'to love' can also occur in an intransitive clause with stative morphology (16), but gusto 'to likelwant' cannot (17). This suggests that palangga 'to love' encodes a situation that can be viewed alternately (albeit less commonly) as a state, whereas gusto 'to likelwant' encodes a situation that can only be viewed as an event.

( 1 6) Mapalangga sida it anak it iba. ma- =palangga sida it anak it iba STATIIRRIAG =love 3SGlABS OBL child GEN different

'She will love a child of another.'

(1 7) *Magusto ako sa bag-ong sapatos. ma- =gusto ako sa bag-o =-ng sapatos STATIIRRIAG =like ISGIABS OBL new =LK shoes

'I will like new shoes.'

When the stative affix maCV--an occurs on semantically transitive emotion verbs in transitive clauses, it indicates that the Agent's (Experiencer's) emotional response occurs spontaneously, unprompted by an external cause, as in:

(1 8) Magugustuhan nako kag ida baro. maCV- =gusto =-an nako kag ida bar0 STATIIRR =like =TH ISGIERG ABS 3SGfGEN clothes

'I just happen to like her dress (for no particular reason).'

Finally, for the verb sadya 'to be happy', certain affixes appear to signal a greater change in the basic meaning of the verb. For example, when sadya 'to be happy' occurs in an intransitive clause with the stative affix maCV--an, it means 'to be happy' (1 9), but when it occurs in a transitive clause with the active affix aka--an, it means 'to entertain' (20).



(1 9) Masasadyahan sida sa ako pug-abot. maCV- =sadya =-an sida sa ako pug- =abot STAT/IRR=happy =TH 3SGlABS OBL 1 SGIGEN NMR=arrive

'She will be happy at my arrival.'

(20) Akasadyahan ninra kag anak. aka- =sadya =-an ninra kag anak ACT/IRR=happy =TH 3PLlERG ABS child

'They will entertain the child.'

3. CONCLUSION

The findings for Bantoanon emotion verbs are summarized in table 2.

Table 2. Summary of Emotion Verbs

ERG ABS OBL Cause Dynamism

maCV--an TH NAG Neutral State maCV--an TH NAG - Cause State

I maCV- TH NAG Neutral State ma- TH NAG Neutral State a--an TH NAG Neutral State

a--an TH NAG aka--an TH NAG maCV--an TH NAG

maka- TH NAG ika- TH NAG

Neutral State Neutral State

- Cause State

Event Event

Neutral Event Neutral Event Neutral Event

- Cause Event

Emotion verbs in Bantoanon have two basic construals which differ in semantic transitivity and semantic dynamism. The majority of the verbs are construed as semantically intransitive states and have the cognitive schema: Theme AT Loc. The situation is viewed as the Theme, an experiencer, being located at the Loc, an emotional state. This construal may also include an optional Nonnuclear Agent, a source, that triggers the emotion in the experiencer. A small number of emotion verbs are construed as semantically transitive events and have the cognitive schema: Agent CAUSE Theme GOT0 Loc. The situation is viewed as an Agent


34 Youngrye Ma and Sherri Brainard

experiencing an emotion for a person or an object. The person or object is viewed as a Theme. Certain changes in morphosyntax alter the syntactic transitivity of the clause in which these cognitive schemas are encoded. Other morphosyntactic changes alter the underlying cognitive event schemas, as well as the syntactic transitivity of the clause. Still other morphosyntactic changes signal the absence of an external cause, or stimulus, for the emotion, indicating that the emotion occurs spontaneously.


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EMOTION VERBS IN BANTOANON