Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the way Tagalog clauses relate entities to one another, to qualities, and to a range of circumscribing relations (e.g. location in time and place). The analysis is informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL), as introduced in Matthiessen and Halliday (2009), Martin and Doran (2015a) and Martin, Wang, and Zhu (2013). In terms of this model of language, the chapter focuses on experiential meaning, as construed at clause rank in lexicogrammar, through systems generally referred to in SFL as transitivity (Martin & Doran, 2015b; Caffarel, Martin, & Matthiessen, 2004). More specifically, it presents a description of relational clauses in Tagalog, building on previous work on Tagalog transitivity (Martin, 1996a, 1996b, 2004).
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In identifying clauses, P1 participants beginning with a demonstrative (ito ‘near speaker’, iyan ‘near listener’, iyon ‘near neither speaker or listener’) may omit the ang function marker (e.g., itong bag ang kinuha ng bata ‘this bag is the one taken by the child’).
- 3.
Lumbera’s text was written in English with a translation into Tagalog provided by Virgilio S. Almario and Charles Tuvilla. For this chapter, we use the Tagalog translation and provide our own translation into English.
- 4.
For discussion of the motivation for variation in information flow of this kind, see Naylor (1975).
- 5.
The enclitic pronoun siya, realising the Carrier, interrupts the nominal group Attribute isang mangkukulam in this embedded attributive relational clause.
- 6.
The pre-position wala is used in place of may/mayroon for Pex: Existents in negative clauses (e.g. walang batingaw sa kaniyang bukong-bukong ‘there were no bells on her ankles’); the particle hindi is used to negate other clause types.
- 7.
Alternatively a nasa pre-position can be used to indicate temporary possession rather than ownership: nasa kaniya ang palmuti-ng tanso ‘the copper ornament was with her’.
- 8.
As noted by Schachter and Otanes (1972), nominal groups like isang babaeng Bagobo specify the verb in these constructions and are connected to it with the linker na/-ng; P1, P2, P3 marking is not possible.
- 9.
The following is an attested topical example of the same structure, reflecting the ongoing brutality of the Duterte regime: mayroong natagpuang bangkay sa isang squatter area ‘There was found a dead body in a squatter area’.
- 10.
Because of the possibility of ay inversion for this Circumstance, as illustrated in (27), it is treated as part of the ranking existential clause rather than as part of the embedded existentialised clause.
- 11.
Pre-positions are glossed as pre-p in this example; the function of the pre-p ang is labelled TFM (for textual Functional Marker).
- 12.
This calls into question our treatment of ang babae as part of an embedded existentialised clause in (37), an issue we will not pursue here (cf. Ramos & Ceña, 1980 for discussion).
- 13.
- 14.
The nub and terms are typically implicit in English imperatives; English tags and elliptical responses make them explicit (e.g., Put them down, will you? - I won’t.).
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Appendix
Appendix
Nang ako’y bata pa at lumalaki sa bahay ng aking Lola sa Davao noong kalagitnaan ng dekada 1950, tuwing kapaskuhan ay may dumarating na isang babaeng Bagobo na ilang oras na mamamaluktot sa tuktok ng aming hagdanan. Takot na takot ako noon sa kaniya—ang akala ko noo-’y isa siyang mangkukulam, dahil siya ay maliit at matanda na, may matang anong-lakas kung makatingin, nangingitim na mga ngipin, at magaspang at makalyo ang mga paa. Nanggigitata sa dumi ang dala niyang katutubong knapsack na siksik ang mga lumang damit, sisidlang plastic, gamit na mga pinggan at platito, at mga lumang kutsara. Ngunit anong-gara ng kaniyang gayak! Luma at punit-punit man ang kaniyang kasuotang yari sa abaka, puno naman ito ng borda, mga kabibe, at ng makukulay na butil. May palamuting tanso at batong-dagat ang kaniyang braso; at may suot na mga munting batingaw, hiyas, at mga borloloy sa kaniyang bukong-bukong (Lumbera, trans. 2009, p. 145).
When I was still a child and growing up at my grandmother’s house in Davao back in the middle of the 1950 decade, every Christmastime there (was) arriving a Bagobo woman who curled up for hours at the top of our stairs. I was very afraid of her then—my opinion then (was) she (was) a witch, for she was small and old, (she had) such sharp eyes if (she) happened to look, blackened teeth, and the feet were rough and calloused. The native knapsack she carried that old clothes, plastic containers, used plates and saucers, and old knives (were) crammed into was wet and sticky with dirt. But how elegant her attire was! Though her clothing made of Manila hemp (was) old and torn, it (was) however full of embroidery, shells, and colourful beads. Her arms had copper ornaments and shells; and there (was) attire with little bells, ornaments and decorations on her ankles.
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Martin, J.R., Cruz, P.A.T. (2019). Relational Processes in Tagalog: A Systemic Functional Linguistic Perspective. In: Rajandran, K., Abdul Manan, S. (eds) Discourses of Southeast Asia. The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9883-4_12
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