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Overt relation markers in Maranao

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Howard McKaughan
Howard McKaughan*
Affiliation:
Summer Institute of Linguistics
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Extract

Maranao is a member of the Tagalog family of Philippine languages; these, together with the Visayan languages, are members in turn of the Malayopolynesian family. These languages are characterized by verbal inflection to indicate not only time, kind of action, and psychological point of view of the speaker, but also certain grammatical relations between the verb and the topic of the sentence. When a substantive phrase is not the topic, its grammatical relation to the verb is indicated either by particles or by certain pronoun forms. In some of these languages, position in the sentence signals such relations, but in Maranao position carries little functional load.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 38 , Issue 1: January-March , March 1962 , pp. 47 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © 1962 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 Howard McKaughan, The inflection and syntax of Maranao verbs 8 (Manila, 1958).

2 Maranao particle so corresponds to Tagalog and Cebuano ang. Ilocano ti has a broader function, in that phrases so introduced occur in primary and nonprimary relations. Most Philippine languages have three sets of pronouns, marking (1) primary relation, (2) source, and (3) nonprimary, nonsource.

3 The verbal affixes marking voice relations in Maranao, in general, are -om- subjective, -en objective, -an referential, and i- instrumental.

4 Op.cit. (in fn. 1)17–24, §3.

5 /'/ indicates glottal stop, /e/ a high central unrounded vowel, /o/ a high to mid back rounded vowel, /ng/ the velar nasal, /o/ and /i/ are nonsyllabic when not contiguous to a consonant. Other symbols have their usual phonetic value.

6 Using an English -ing form in the translation is not meant to convey the idea that such forms in Maranao are nominal.

7 McKaughan and Forster, Ilocano: An intensive language course 4, Lesson 6 (Grand Forks, North Dakota: 1957).

8 A. Capell of Sydney University, in a MS he is preparing for publication, contends that because attributive pronouns (and phrases introduced by particles such as o in Maranao) occur with substantives to mark possession, the same relation exists when these occur attributive to verb4ike words, and that therefore the verb4ike words should be considered nominal. I do not agree that verbs should be called nouns simply because they occur with such attributives. Verbs in Philippine languages are those words which contain certain affixes indicating voice relations as well as tense, aspect, and mode.

9 So pirak o hanko would be ‘money of the bank’ or ‘money belonging to the bank’. Sa hanko characterizes the money as of a certain type.

10 Each of the phrases introduced by the particles under discussion may be expanded indefinitely, using both verbs and substantives, e.g. sa karabao a domedeke' ko kilid o lama' (the carabao connector rest the edge the lawn) 'the carabao resting on the edge of the lawn'.

11 Begaken sa mama': such an expression would be possible only under strained conditions and would mean ‘He left it at Man’. Begaken sa Marawi ‘He left it at Marawi’ would be more probable, but rare even so.