Post on 14-Mar-2020
Rhetorical questions in Papuan Malay
Angela Kluge
SIL International
APLL 10
Guildford
4-5 May 2018
Rhetorical questions in Papuan Malay
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Pseudo question
(1) a, sembu apa?
ah be.healed what
[Nephew: ‘(I already) recovered’] Aunt: ‘ah, (from) what
(have you) recovered?’
Stimulus question
(2) jadi akirnya apa yang terjadi?, de biking malam
so finally what REL happen 3SG make night
[About an ancestor:] ‘so finally what happened?, he created
the night!’
Outline
Introduction
Syntactic and phonological features
Pragmatic uses
Pseudo questions
Stimulus questions
Quantitative analysis
Summary
3
Introduction
Papuan Malay [pmy]
LWC in coastal West Papua
1,100,000 or 1,200,000 speakers (Kluge 2017: 37)
Recorded corpus
16-hour of spontaneous
conversations and narratives
231 identified rhetorical
questions
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Introduction
Introduction
Rhetorical questions (Abrams and Harpham 2009: 315)
Question format
No request for information
Basic types of rhetorical questions (Hackstein 2004)
Pseudo questions
Stimulus questions
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Introduction
Pseudo questions with social functions (Bussmann 1996: 1009; Frank
1990: 737; Hackstein 2004)
Provide indirect way to imply more than is said
Declare an expectation or point of view
Strengthen or soften a statement
Answer is obvious and implicit
Example
“Are you crazy?”
Emotive meanings (Schmidt-Radefeldt 1977: 389; Beekman and Callow 1974; Larson 1998)
Express the speakers’ propositional attitude
Dismay, emphasis, indignation, perplexity, protest,
reproach, wonder, etc.
6
Introduction
Stimulus questions with discourse-marking functions(Hackstein 2004)
Raise an issue for discussion
Signal clarification, conclusion, or explanation
Announce new topic or new aspect of same topic
Answer is provided by the speaker
Example (Larson 1998: 260)
“Why is there so much unemployment these days?”
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Introduction
Interpretation of rhetorical questions (Frank 1990)
Difficult to define
Impossible to get inside the speakers’ head
Impossible to know with certainty their intent
Analysts’ subjective judgments
Speakers’ true intent
Speakers’ underlying emotions
As non-participant observers, analysts make best guesses
regarding intent and effect
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Introduction
Present study
16-hour corpus of spontaneous conversations and narratives
Analysis based on analyst’ subjective judgments
Experience as participant observer in Papuan household
231 rhetorical questions identified and analyzed
Outsider’s perspective
Not perspective of Papuan speakers of Papuan Malay
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Syntactic and phonological features
Rhetorical questions versus content questions
No formal, linguistic signals
Same syntax
Same intonation patterns
10
Pragmatic uses
Pseudo questions with social functions
Stimulus questions with discourse-marking functions
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Social functions
Negative and positive assertions
Negative evaluations
Statements of incertitude
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Realization
Polar questions
“Didn’t you listen to …? (≈ “You didn’t listen to …!”)
Content questions
Polarity
“Who told you to …”? (≈ “Nobody told you to …!”)
Neutral polarity
“Why did you come”? (≈ “You shouldn’t have come!”)
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Assertions
Functions
Express speaker’s certitude
Challenge interlocutors
Rebuke interlocutors
Tease interlocutors good-naturedly
Make thoughtful statements
Realization
Polar questions
Content questions
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Assertions
Functions
Express speaker’s certitude
Challenge interlocutors
Rebuke interlocutors
Tease interlocutors good-naturedly
Make thoughtful statements
Realization
Polar questions
Content questions
15
Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Assertions
(3) Challenge
a, sembu apa?
ah be.healed what
[Nephew: ‘(I already) recovered’] Aunt: ‘ah, (from) what
(have you) recovered?’
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Assertions
(4) Good-natured banter
ko su bosang bicara deng bapa ka?
2SG already be.bored speak with father or
[Phone conversation between a father and his daughter:] ‘do
you already feel bored talking with me (‘father’)?’
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Evaluations
Functions
Express opinions as to whether an action, utterance, or
attitude is good or bad, right or wrong
Express disapproval
Realization
Content questions
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Negative evaluations
Content questions
(5) Disapproval
kamu ana skola itu makang pinang untuk apa?
2PL child school D.DIST eat betel.nut for what
‘what for are you school kids (EMPH) chewing betel nuts?’
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Statements of incertitude
Functions
Express incertitude in various forms
Doubt and uncertainty
Perplexity
Deliberation
Realization
Content questions
Polar questions
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Statements of incertitude
Functions
Express incertitude in various forms
Doubt and uncertainty
Convey perplexity
Communicate deliberation
Realization
Content questions
Polar questions
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Pragmatic uses as pseudo questions
Statements of incertitude
Content question
(6) Expressions of doubt and uncertainty
a, bulang depang nanti bagemana?
ah month front very.soon how
adooo, bagemana ini?
oh.no! how D.PROX
[Insufficient financial support:] ‘ah, how (are things going to
be) next month?, oh no! how (EMPH)?’
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Pragmatic uses as stimulus questions
Discourse-marking functions
Cross-linguistically
Signal clarification, conclusion, or explanation
Announce new topic or new aspect of same topic
Papuan Malay
Announce new aspect of same topic
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Pragmatic uses as stimulus questions
Announce new aspect of same topic
(7) siapa yang bawa dorang dari sana?, saya dengang Domi
who REL bring 3PL from L.DIST 1SG with Domi
[Preparations for a youth retreat:] ‘who’s going to (pick them
up and) bring them from over there?, I and Domi!’
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Quantitative analysis
Identified rhetorical questions 231 tokens
Pseudo questions 197 tokens (85%)
Stimulus questions 34 tokens (15%)
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Quantitative analysis of pseudo questions
Pseudo questions types across functions
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Functions
Question types Assert Eval
(neg)
Incert Total
Polar 43 6 49
Content (polarity) 71 71
Content (proper) 41 36 77
Total 114 41 42 197
Quantitative analysis of pseudo questions
Pseudo questions types across functions
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Functions
Question types Assert Eval
(neg)
Incert Total
Polar 43 6 49
Content (polarity) 71 71
Content (proper) 41 36 77
Total 114 41 42 197
Quantitative analysis of pseudo questions
Pseudo questions across functions and underlying emotions
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Underlying emotions
Functions Neg Pos Neut Total
Assertion 96 6 12 114
Evaluation (neg) 41 41
Incertitude 28 4 10 42
Total 165 10 22 197
Quantitative analysis of stimulus questions
Overview
Frequency
34/231 (15%)
Function
Introduce new aspect of same topic
Question type
Content question
29
Summary
Formal characteristics
No formal, linguistic signals
Context determines interpretation as rhetorical question
Functions
1. Pseudo questions with social functions
2. Stimulus questions with discourse-marking functions
30
Summary
Pseudo questions
Functions
1. Assertions
2. Expressions of incertitude
3. Negative evaluations
Underlying emotions
1. Negative
2. Neutral
3. Positive
31
32
References
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Hackstein, Olaf. 2004. Rhetorical questions and the grammaticalization of interrogative pronouns
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