Edinburgh Handbook of Evaluative Morphology

Edited by Nicola Grandi and Livia Kortvelyessy

EDINBURGH University Press

20.3 Lule

Raoul Zamponi and Willem J. de Reuse

1 Introduction Lule was once spoken by a semi-nomadic people known under the same name who lived in the Gran Chaco between the Pilcomayo river and the Andean foothills of north-western Argentina. It is a dialect of an extinct language, also called Lule (or, less commonly, Lule-Tonocote), also spoken in that area by other groups: the Y sistine, the Toquistine, the Oristine and, probably, the Tonocote. This last group, part of the sedentary indigenous population of the present-day provinces of Tucuman and Santiago del Estero, is treated as linguistically separate from the Lule by early colonial sources such as the Relaciones geognijicas de Indias (Jimenez de la Espada 1965, I: 390-6; II: 78-85). They are, however, connected linguistically to the Lule by the Sardinian Jesuit missionary Antonio Maccioni (1688-1753) in his grammar and vocabulary of Lule (proper) as shown in the title of his work: Arte y vocabulario de la lengua lule y tonocote (Machoni 1732). It is likely that the Tonocote, who suffered constant attacks from the Lule, had shifted to the Lule language by Maccioni's time.

Mentions of Lule and its co-dialects disappear from the historical record after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1776 (Viegas Barros 2001, 14). At the time of renewed interest in the indigenous languages of Argentina, under the impetus of scholars such as Lafone y Quevedo (1894), Calandrelli (1896) and Cabrera (1910), it became clear that no Lule speakers could be found. We may surmise that the Lule language lost its last speakers sometime in the course of the early nineteenth century.

The external relationships of the Lule language are controversial. The most widely accepted affiliation is with the moribund Vilela of the Bermejo river basin further east1 to form the Lule-Vilela family. The possibility cannot be excluded, however, that the shared vocabulary of the two languages (Viegas Barros 2001) is entirely due to contact, rather than common ancestry~ and that they are geographically close isolates (Zamponi 2008, li- lv). More work on the precise historical relationship between Lule and Vilela is therefore a strong desideratum.

The above-mentioned work by Maccioni, first published in Madrid in 1732, is our primary source for the Lule language.2 The picture ofLule that emerges from Maccioni's Arte is that of an agglutinating language with a rather simple and basically suffixal mor-phology. The language appears to have open classes of nouns, verbs (which includes most of the words that are semantically adjectives) and adverbs, and closed classes of pronouns, demonstratives, postpositions and particles (including discourse markers and interjec-tions). Nominal inflectional categories include number (singular vs. plural) and possession.

Lule 617

Verbal inflectional categories include person (of the subject), number, tense and mood. The derivational morphology is somewhat richer. The language has a set of 'transpositional' affixes with a specific word-class-changing function and a wider set of 'semantically rich' affixes (with a concrete meaning) including nine instrumental prefixes (which is quite unusual for the Chaco area, and actually for South America as a whole) and a set of mor-phemes expressing evaluative values.

2 The system of evaluative morphology Eight evaluative suffixes (or morphemes that we may consider as such3) are attested in Lule, as well as a polysemic reduplicative process which expresses, among other things, attenu-ation and speed. Most of these suffixes and the reduplicative process are not restricted to a specific word class, being attested with verbs and nouns, and sometimes also with adverbs.

In the following subsectjons, each of the affixes and the reduplicative process will be examined as far as semantics and uses are concerned. The forms and the examples are drawn from Maccioni 's Arte, and will be presented in a tentative phonemic transcription based on the analysis ofMaccioni's orthography of Lule proposed in Zamponi (2008).4

2.1 -eks 'celerative'

Used with activity verbs denoting activities that can be carried out at variable speed, the suffix -eks signals (just like the above-mentioned reduplicative process; see Section 2.9. and also compare examples (1) and (51)) that a given activity is realised quickly:

(1) ne-eks-come-CBL 'come quickly' (D: 132)

(3) apes-eks-go.down-CBL 'go down quickly' (0:24)

2. 2 -etsi 'ameliorative '

(2) is-eks-urinate-CEL 'urinate quickly' (D: 100)

The suffix -etsi, a grammaticalisation of the verb etsi- 'be good, healthy', appears in the Arte with two state verbs. It conveys an ameliorative meaning:

(4) un-etsi-taste-AML 'have a good taste' (D: 118)

( 5) akem-etsi give.off.a.smell-AML 'give off a good smell' (D: 114-15)

It also occurs with state and activity verbs, producing state verbs with the meaning 'be good to v' or 'worthy ofv-ing'. Interestingly, in these forms, -etsi does not appear adjacent to the stem of the base verb, but on the right periphery, after the (inflectional) subject marker:

(6) kai-p-etsi eat-3SG-AML 'it is good to eat' (0:54)

(7) amaitsi-p-etsi love-3SG-AML '(it is) worthy of love, lovable' (0:70)

618

(8) unuk-p-etsi loathe-3SG-AML

(9)

'it is worthy of hate, contemptible' (0:70)

Raoul Zamponi and Will em J. de Reuse

yet-ip-etsi dance-3sG-AML 'it is a good time to dance' (0:55)

The stem with which the suffix ~etsi occurs may also include a nominalising reduplicative process (see also Section 2.9. for more on reduplication), as seen in (1 0) and (11 ):

(1 0) titi-p-etsi doNMLS-3SG-AML 'it is good to do' (0:55)

(11) eutita ka[ka]i-petsi now eat[NMLS)-3SG-AML 'now is a good time to eat' (0:55)

Followed by the intensive suffix -ike (Section 2.6.), -etsi is also used with nominal stems. Added to the noun ekis 'dream', the suffix sequence of -etsi plus -ike indicates that the referent of the noun is good:

(12) ekisetsike lek.is-etsi-ikel dream-AML-INT 'good dream' (D: 123)

The same sequence added to the noun il?e 'elder sister' indicates that the referent of the noun is a blood relative:

(13) il?etsikep lil?e-etsi-ike-pj elder.sister-AML-INT-3SG 'his or her elder sister (by blood)' (0:93)

2.3 -eyu 'pejorative ' Contrasting with -etsi, the suffix -eyu is pejorative, and is a granunaticalisation of the verb eyu- 'become ill'. It is attested with two state verbs (14)-(15) and one noun (16):

(14) un-eyu-taste-PBJ 'have a bad taste' (D:13)

(16) ekis-eyu dream-PEJ

(15) akem-eyu-give.off.a.smell-PEJ 'give off a bad smell' (D:99)

'nightmare, bad dream' (D: 123)

2.4 -(i)pan 'derogatory' The suffix -pan (postvocalic variant) or -ipan (postconsonantal variant) has a derogatory connotation and is attested with nouns referring to human beings only:5

( 17) !cumue-pan woman-DER 'prostitute' (D: 112)

Lule

It is also attested with two verbal stems, producing two tenns for 'slave':

(18) met-ipan takeDER 'slave' (D:36)

2.5 -ikeps 'augmentative'

( 19) wenek-ipan buy-DER 'bought slave' (D:36)

The suffix -ikeps is augmentative when used with nouns denoting inanimate referents:

(20) epuwkwe-ikeps lightning -son-A uo 'flood' (epukwe 'rain, shower') (D:55)

With a kinship tenn, it indicates that the referent of the noun is a blood relative:

(21) pepe-ikeps (22) ya?a-ikeps-ts brother-AUG-! sg fatherRDP-AUG

'my father (by blood)' (0:92) 'my brother (by blood)' (G:93)

It is also used with state verbs. In this case, it has an intensifying meaning:

(23) etsi-ikeps- letsi-ikeps-1 be.good-Auo 'be very good' (D:94)

(25) ewikeps-lewi-ikeps-1 be.a.lot-AUG 'be very much' (D:94)

(24) leteps-ikeps-be.damp-AUG 'be very damp' (D:78)

(26) ap 'u-ikeps-be.stuffed-AUG 'be very stuffed' (D:72)

619

Finally, -ikeps also appears to intensify the adverb mia 'only' producing a verb meaning 'be just only'. The 3so present indicative fonn of this verb, in tum, also has an adverbial use attested by (27). This verb can also occur as an adverb with the adverbialising suffix -le, as in (28):

(27) mia-ikeps-p (28) mia-ikeps-le only-AUG-3SG 'just only' (D: 124)

2. 6 -ike ~intensive '

only-AUG-ADVLS 'truly' (0:86)

The suffix -ike occurs with state verbs with the effect of intensifying their meaning. The difference between -ike and -ikeps is not always clear. Pairs of stems attested with both -ikeps and -ike are in examples (23)-(31), (25)-{35) and (28)-(40):

(29) waleks-ike- (30) know-rNT 'know a lot, be very wise' (G:63)

amaitsike-lamaitsi-ike-1 love-INT 'desire' (D:53)

620 Raoul Zamponi and Willem J. de Reuse

(31) etsike- letsi-i.ke-1 (32) lokots-ike-be.good-INT be.soft-INT 'be very good' (0:94) 'be very soft (to the touch)' (0:27)

(33) yeun-ike- (34) kelots-ike-be.happy-INT be.clear-INT 'be very happy' (G:86) 'be clean' (0:9)

(35) ewike-jewi~ike-1 (36) wele-ike-be.a.lot-!NT be.second-INT 'be very much' (0:94) 'be the last, be final' (D: 108)

The fonns in (37)-(38) are 3sG indicative present fonns, used adverbially, of verbs derived by lokots- 'be mild' by means of -ike and of the above-mentioned reduplicative process, here expressing attenuation (see Section 2.9). Of these forms, that in (38) is unique in that it contains this reduplicative process twice, once on lokots- and once on -ike. The combined semantic import of -ike and of attenuative reduplication, both in (37) and in (38), cannot be derived from Maccioni 's glossing, but whatever it might turn out to be, it is definitely

expresstve:

(37) loko[ko]ts-ike-p be.mild[ A:IT)-INT-3SG 'mildly' (G:86)

(38) loko[ko]ts-ike[ke}-p be.mild[ATI]-INT(ATT]- 3SG 'mildly' (G:86)

The corpus also contains a kinship term noun formed with -ike. Like -ikeps in (21) and (22), -ike indicates that the referent of the stem noun is a blood relative:

(39) melu-ike-p younger.sister-INT -3sG 'her younger sister (of a woman, by blood)' (G:93)

In addition, like -ikeps in (27) and (28), the suffix -ike can intensify the adverb mia 'only' resulting in a verb whose 3sG indicative present fonn is also used adverbially (40):

( 40) mia-ike-p only-INT-3SG 'certainly' (D:47)

Finally, ( 41) is a state verb derived by means of -ike from a stem pili(-) that may be the noun pili 'wing; feather' or the verb pili- 'fly':

( 41) pilike- IPili-ike-1 wing/feather/fly-INT 'be light (in weight)' (D:83)

Lute 621

2. 7 -ewi 'intensive' A further intensive suffix is -ewi, a grammaticalisation of the verb ewi- 'be many'. It is attested in the following state verb:

(42) pei-ewi-be.wide-INT 'be very wide' (0:14)

2.8 -ke 'approximative' The approximative suffix -ke means 'about, more or less'. It is attested with two adverbs: (43) and (44):

( 43) eutita-ke now-APPROX 'a little time ago' (D:8)

(44) ustse-ke=ma how-APPROX-INTG 'how, approximately?', 'how, more or less?' (D:40)

2. 9 Reduplication with attenuative, celerative and other meanings

There exists a reduplicative process which, like the reduplicative nominaliser mentioned in connection with examples (10)-(11) above, copies the (second) consonant of the onset and the (first) vowel of the nucleus of syllable to which it is joined. However, unlike the reduplicative nominaliser, it is placed after the first syllable of the polysyllabic stems with which it occurs. It can be observed in our corpus as a suffix CV after monosyllabic stems composed of a consonant and a vowel ((47), (48) and (51)) and bisyllabic stems ending in a CV syllable ((56) and (57b)); as an infix [CV} within stems consisting in a single syllable provided with onset and coda ( 45), or whose nucleus coincides with a diphthong (49); or within stems formed of at least three syllables the second of which is CV ((58)-(60)); and within other polysyllabic stems following a syllable with an onset ((46), (50) and (52)-(55)).

This reduplication is a polysemic process which has five evaluative meanings connected to the aspectual classes of the base verbs:

attenuative, when applied to state verbs ( 45)-{ 48) and activity verbs denoting events which can be carried out with more or less intensity (49)-(50):

(45) lu[lu]ps-be.hot[ xrr] 'be lukewarm'

(46) ake[ke]l-be.hot[ KIT] 'be lukewarm'

(47) p 'op 'o- (48) sisi~ be. w bite/be. dry ATT 'be whitish, be almost dry' (D:5, 76, 82)

for. there. to. be ATr 'be there in a small measure' (0:61, 73)

622

(49) ka[ka)i-eat[ATT] 'eat a little' (0:65)

(50)

Raoul Zamponi and Willem J. de Reuse

olo[lo]m-speak[ ATT] 'speak a little' (0:65)

celerative~ when applied to activity verbs referring to activities that can be carried out with more or less speed:

(51) nene- (52) yep-ku[ku]i-comeCEL IP-move[CBL] 'come quickly' (D: 132) 'move quickly' (D:94)

iterative (or multiplicative), with verbs of achievement:

(53) oko[kojts- (54) lean. out[ ITER] 'lean out many times' (D:21)

tako[ko]ts-embrace[ ITER] 'embrace many times' (D:2)

incessative, with activity verbs denoting events that can be carried out for an indeter-minate length of time:

(55) takyu[yu]?u-look.for[ rNCEss] 'look for incessantly' (D:29)

evolutive, with, apparently, incrementative verbs:

(56) watoto-recover/liveEVOL 'convalesce' (D:41)

The various meanings expressed by this reduplicative process can be regarded as fonning a continuum. This continuum is attenuative at one end and celerative at the other, and can be represented as follows: 'attenuative' ('a bit') > 'evolutive' ('a few/ little at a time') > 'iterative' ('several times')> 'incessative' ('incessantly')> 'celerative' ('quickly').

This reduplication is also used with relational nouns (denoting spatial rela-tions) and adverbs. The meaning conveyed is attenuative with relational nouns (57b), to be compared with (57a) and with the time adverb eutilem 'before' (58). The meaning is iterative with the time adverbs epile 'afterwards' (59) and tsiketole 'when?' (60):

(57) a. moke=le le ka-n-s distant.location=Loc FOC go~FUT-lsg 'I will go far' (0:77)

b. mokeke=ma le ka-n-s distant.location ATT=LOC FOC go-FUT~lSG 'I will go a little way' (0:77)

Lule

(58) euti[ti]lem before[ ATT] 'a little before' (G:83)

(60) tsike[ke]tole=ma when[ ITER]=INTG 'how often? (0:82)

3 Conclusion

623

(59) epi[pi]le afterwards[ ITER] 'from time to time' (G:84, V:85)

In this final section we will deal with two issues: the formal devices used in Lule evalua" tive morphology and the question of the relationship between evaluative morphology and word classes.

We have seen that Lule evaluative morphology uses two formal strategies: suffixation and reduplication. As far as suffixes are concerned, we described one celerative suffix (Section 2.1 ), one ameliorative suffix (Section 2.2), one pejorative suffix (Section 2.3), one derogatory suffix (Section 2.4}, one augmentative suffix (Section 2.5), two intensive suffixes (Sections 2.6 and 2.7) and one approximative suffix (Section 2.8). This is quite an impressive array of evaluative suffixes, but as indicated in note 3, it is not impossible that the ameliorative, the pejorative and the augmentative should be analysed as separate words rather than as suffixes. If one chose to do so, the number of suffixes would be reduced to one celerative suffix, one derogatory suffix, two intensive suffixes and one approximative suffix, which is a less impressive system.

, As far as reduplication is concerned, we have described it as a polysemic process with five evaluative meanings: attenuative, celerative, iterative, incessative and evolutive (Section 2.9.).

Interestingly, some of the evaluative suffixes also have at least one non"evaluative meaning. Added to a kinship term, the ameliorative, augmentative and one intensive suffix (-ike) indicate that the referent ofbase noun is a blood relative (13), (21), (22) and (39). The ameliorative may form with state and activity verbs derivates that express the meaning 'be good to v' or 'worthy ofv-ing' (6)-(11). Finally, it is also noteworthy that the derogatory suffix acts as a deverbal nominaliser in (18) and (19).

We now turn to the relationship between Lule evaluative morphology and the word classes it attaches to. The celerative attaches to verbs. The ameliorative, the pejorative and the derogatory attach to nouns and verbs. The augmentative attaches to nouns, state verbs and one adverb. One intensive suffix (-ike) attaches to state verbs, one adverb, one noun plus an element that could be a further noun or an activity verb. The second intensive suffix ( -ewi) attaches to state verbs. The approximative attaches to adverbs. The evaluative reduplication is found with verbs of different aspectual classes plus nouns and adverbs. Because of the small number of attestations of each sort of evaluative morpheme, it is hard to draw definite conclusions about the relationship between evaluative morphology and word classes. It does appear that evaluative morphology favours verbs and particularly state verbs more than nouns. It is also more common with adverbs than with nouns.

Notes 1. A language that at present has only one or two surviving semi-speakers (Oolluscio and Gonzalez

2008).

624 Raoul Zamponi and Willem J. de Reuse

2. The remaining documentation of Lule consists of a short vocabulary by the Catalan Jesuit missionary Jose Ferragut (Gilij 1782, 364-6)~ a text of the Lord's Prayer (Hervas y Panduro 1787, I 02-3), not identical to that in Machoni ( 1732, Catecismo part, 1) and a few words in eighteenth-century Jesuit reports.

3. In our philological analysis of Maccioni's grammar, the issue of word boundaries needs to be addressed. Maccioni's written word spaces are one criterion by which we can decide whether he considered a fonn to be one or more words. Unfortunately, this criterion is weakened by the fact that Maccioni is not very consistent in his writing of word spaces. and in such cases it is difficult to detennine whether a fonn consists of one or of several phonological words. This issue is of course relevant in detennining which evaluative strategies are part of morphology, and which are separate words and therefore not relevant to a description of evaluative morphology. As a rule of thumb, we considered those evaluative elements which were almost always written together with the preceding word or stem to be suffixes (that is morphology)~ and we considered those evalua-tive elements which were almost always written separate from the preceding word or stem to be separate words (that is, relevant to the syntax rather than to the morphology). This rule of thumb is not very satisfactory, as shown by the qualification 'almost always'.

The presumed affixal fonns with the suffix written separately are the originals in (5) aquem ecy, ( 6) caip eci, ( 16) ecquys eytl and (21) pepe yqueps.

4. Examples from the grammar portion of Maccioni's Arte will be indicated by the abbreviation G, in parentheses, after their translation, while those from the Spanish-Lule dictionary portion or Vocabulario are indicated by the abbreviation D. The abbreviations G and D will then be fol-lowed by the number of the page in which the example occurs. Note that Dis paginated separately from G.

5. Example ( 17) is to be compared to Italian donnaccia 'prostitute', from donna 'woman~.

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