Taba (also known as East Makian or Makian Dalam) is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea group. It is spoken mostly on the islands of Makian, Kayoa and southern Halmahera in North Maluku province of Indonesia by about 20,000 people.
Dialects There are minor differences in dialect between all of the villages on Makian island in which Taba is spoken. Most differences affect only a few words. One of the most widespread reflexes is the use of in Waikyon and Waigitang, where in other villages is retained from Proto-South Halmaheran.
Geographic distribution As of 2005, Ethnologue lists Taba as having a speaking population of approximately 20,000; however, it has been argued by linguists that this number could in reality be anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000. The language is predominantly spoken on the eastern part of Makian Island, although it is also found on the southern island of Mori, Kayoa, Bacan, and Obi, and along the west coast of south Halmahera. There has also been continued migration of speakers to other areas of North Maluku due to frequent volcanic eruptions on Makian Island. The island itself is home to two languages: Taba, which is spoken on the eastern side of the island, and a Papuan language spoken on the western side, known alternatively as West Makian or Makian Luar (Outer Makian); in Taba, this language is known as ('Outer Taba'), while its native speakers know it as .
Speech levels Taba is divided into three different levels of speech: , , and .
The , or 'refined' Taba, is used in situations in which the speaker is addressing someone older or of greater status than the speaker themselves.
The , or 'ordinary' Taba, is used in most general situations.
The , or 'coarse' form of Taba, is used only rarely and generally in anger.
Phonology Taba has fifteen indigenous consonant phonemes, and four loan phonemes: . These are shown below:
+ Consonants Bilabial Apico-alveolar Lamino-palatal Dorso-velar GlottalNasal Plosive/Affricatevoiceless () ()voiced() Fricative () Trill Approximant
Syllables may only have complex onsets at the beginning of morphemic units. The minimal Taba syllable consists of just a vowel, while the maximal indigenous syllable structure is CCVC (there are some examples of CCCVC from Dutch). The structure CCVC, however, is only found in syllables which occur at the beginning of morphemes; non-initial syllables have a maximal structure of CVC. The vast majority of words are mono- or disyllabic.
All consonants except , , , and can be geminated. Geminates can occur word-initially, e.g., vs. . Some speakers degeminate to . Initial fricative clusters can be metathesized or assimilated (e.g., can become or ).
Taba has five vowels, illustrated on the table below. The front and central vowels are unrounded; the back vowels are rounded.
+ Vowels Front Central Back Close Mid Open
Grammar
Word order Taba is, predominantly, a head-marking language which adheres to a basic AVO word order. However, there is a reasonable degree of flexibility.
Taba has both prepositions and postpositions.
Pronouns + Independent Pronouns Singular Plural 1st person exclusive inclusive 2nd person 3rd person
In Taba, pronouns constitute an independent, closed set. Syntactically, Taba pronouns can be used in any context where a full noun phrase is applicable. However, independent pronouns are only used in reference to animate entities, unless pronominal reference to inanimate patients is required in reflexive clauses.
As mentioned, independent pronouns are generally used for animate reference. However, there are two exceptions to this generalisation. In some circumstances an inanimate is considered a 'higher inanimate' which accords syntactic status similar to animates. This is represented as in English where inanimates such as cars or ships, for example, can be ascribed a gender. This is illustrated below in a response to the question 'Why did the Taba Jaya (name of a boat) stop coming to Makian?':
The Taba Jaya, a boat significant enough to be given a name, is accorded pronoun status similar to animates. The other exception occurs in reflexive clauses where a pronominal copy of a reflexive patient is required, as shown below:
Non-human animates and inanimates are always grammatically singular, regardless of how many referents are involved. In Taba, pronouns and noun phrases are marked by person and number.
Person Taba distinguishes three persons in the pronominal and cross-referencing systems. Person is marked on both pronouns and on cross-referencing proclitics attached to verb phrases. The actor cross-referencing proclitics are outlined in the following table. In the first-person plural, a clusivity distinction is made, 'inclusive' (including the addressee) and 'exclusive' (excluding the addressee), as is common to most Austronesian languages.
+ Cross-referencing proclitics Singular Plural 1st person exclusive k= a= inclusive t= 2nd person m= h= 3rd person n= l=
The following are examples (4–10) of simple actor intransitive clauses showing each of the proclitic prefixes.
+Intransitive Clauses Singular Plural 1st person exclusive inclusive 2nd person 3rd person
The alternation between proclitic markers indicates number, where in (4) k= denotes the arrival of a singular actor, while in (7) a= indicates the arrival of first-person plural actors, exclusionary of the addressee, and is replicated in the change of prefix in the additional examples.
Number Number is marked on noun phrases and pronouns. Taba distinguishes grammatically between singular and plural categories, as shown in (3) to (9) above. Plural marking is obligatory for humans and is used for all noun phrases which refer to multiple individuals. Plurality is also used to indicate respect in the second and third Person when addressing or speaking of an individual who is older than the speaker. The rules for marking number on noun phrases are summarised in the table below:
Marking Numbersingularplural humanUsed for one person when person is same age or younger than speaker.Used for one person when person is older than speaker.Used for more than one person in all contexts. non-human animateUsed no matter how many referentsNot used inanimateUsed no matter how many referentsNot used
The enclitic =si marks number in noun phrases. =si below (10), indicates that there is more than one child playing on the beach and, in (11), the enclitic indicates that the noun phase , translated as 'mother and father,' is plural.
Plural number is used as a marker of respect not only for second-person addressees, but for third-person referents as seen in (12). In Taba, it has been observed that many adults use deictic shifts towards the perspective of addressee children regarding the use of plural markers. Example (13) is typical of an utterance of an older person than those they are referring to, indicative of respect that should be accorded to the referent by the addressee.
Pronominal affixes All Taba verbs having actor arguments carry affixes which cross-reference the number and person of the actor, examples of proclitics are shown above. In Taba, there are valence-changing affixes which deal with patterns of cross-referencing with three distinct patterns. The dominant pattern is used with all verbs having an actor argument. The other two patterns are confined to a small number of verbs: one for the possessive verb, the other for a few verbs of excretion. This is discussed further in Possession below.
Possession Taba does not, as such, have possessive pronouns. Rather, the possessor noun and the possessed entity are linked by a possessive ligature. The Taba ligatures are shown below:
+ Possessive Particles Singular Plural 1st person exclusive inclusive 2nd person 3rd person
Adnominal possession Adnominal possession involves the introduction of an inflected possessive particle between the possessor and the possessed entity; this inflected possessive, formally categorised as a 'ligature', is cross-referenced with the number and person of the possessor. This ligature indicates a possessive relationship between a modifier noun and its head-noun. In Taba, adnominal possession is distinguished by reverse genitive ordering, in which the possessor noun precedes the noun referring to the possessed entity.
In many contexts the possessor will not be overtly referenced.
Example of reverse genitive ordering in Taba:
Obligatory possessive marking In Taba, alienable and inalienable possession is not obligatorily marked by the use of different forms, though this is common in many related languages. However, there are a number of seemingly inalienable entities which cannot be referred to without referencing a possessor.
For example:
Verbal possession Verbal possession in Taba is generally indicated through the attaching of the causative prefix to the adnominal possessive forms. The possessor then becomes actor of the clause, and the possessed entity becomes the undergoer. This method of forming a possessive verb is very unusual, typologically, and is found in almost no other languages.
Negation Like other Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the Maluku Islands, Taba uses different particles to negate declarative and imperative clauses; declaratives are negated using , while imperatives are negated using . In both cases the negative particles are clause-final, a placement which is posited to be the result of contact with non-Austronesian Papuan languages.
Negation of declaratives using Declarative clauses are negated using the particle , which follows all other elements of the clause except for modal and aspectual particles (these are discussed below). Examples (15a) and (15b) show negation of an actor intransitive clause, while (16a) and (16b) give negation of a non-actor bivalent clause (i.e. a clause with two undergoer arguments); has the same clause-final placement regardless of the clause structure.
Negation of complex sentences can be ambiguous — see example (17), where can operate on either just the complement clause 'I'm going' or to the whole clause complex 'I said I'm going':
Negative existential clauses
can serve as the predicator of a negative existential clause, with no verb required. It can occur immediately following the noun phrase that refers to whatever is being asserted as non-existent, as in (18):
However, a discourse marker is generally interposed between the noun phrase and . This marker expresses something about how the non-existence of the noun phrase's referent relates to the discourse context, or alternatively indicates the speaker's attitude towards the proposition. In (19), the discourse marker (glossed as 'but') is used to indicate that the non-existence of tea, sugar and coffee in the household described by the speaker is counter to one's expectations that a normal household would have these items:
Complex negative modal / aspectual particles
Taba has three complex negative particles which, in addition to negation, express mood or aspect; these are formed by the modal and aspectual particles attaching onto as clitics. The three particles are (realis negative), (continuative negative), and (potential negative).
(realis negative)
is a compound of and the realis mood marker , and expresses a more emphatic negation than plain . In (20), it is used to emphasize the absolute nature of the prohibition against making alcohol in the Muslim community of the speaker:
(continuative negative)
is a compound of and the continuous aspect marker , and can be roughly translated as 'not up to the relevant point in time': this may be either the time of utterance (i.e. 'not yet', 'still not'), or some other time relevant to the context of the utterance, as in (21). Unlike the potential negative , does not express any expectations about the likelihood of the negated event or state occurring in the future.