Survey chapter: Papiá Kristang

Structure data for these languages can be found in structure dataset 42.

1. Introduction

Papiá Kristang (‘Christian language’), also called Malacca (Creole) Portuguese, is spoken in Malacca, West Malaysia, by approximately 800 people (estimation 2010). It is also spoken by small numbers of people in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Although still being acquired by some children in Malacca, Papiá Kristang is an endangered language because of a strong generational shift towards English as the dominant language. Speakers of Papiá Kristang are also fluent in Malay, the official language of Malaysia.

2. Sociohistorical background

Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511. During the 16th and 17th centuries until its conquest by the Dutch in 1642, it was a key port in a trade and administration network of Portuguese establishments extending from Goa to the Moluccas and beyond to Macau. This network saw a constant traffic of Portuguese and their various camp followers, and traders of other origins. The setting for the development of Papiá Kristang involved the importation of both Portuguese foreigner talk and pidgin Portuguese models from India and beyond, a local genesis, and the presence of models of Creole Portuguese from India. Subsequently, further external influence on Papiá Kristang would have occurred through connections with Asian ports where Portuguese and Creole Portuguese communities existed. The lexicon of Papiá Kristang is principally Portuguese-derived, with a good number of Malay-based items and items from other sources, including Cantonese, Dutch, Hindi, Hokkien, Konkani and Malayalam. Its grammar reflects Portuguese and Malay influences mainly, yet also evidence of influence from Hokkien and languages of India.

The first known document of the language approximating to its contemporary form is an anonymous text written in the last quarter of the 19th century, located in the Schuchardt collection at Graz University (Baxter 2010a). The first general (yet, non-specialist) description of the language is that of Rêgo (1942). Knowlton (1964) and Hancock (1969, 1970, 1973, 1975) published sketches of the grammar and aspects of the lexicon. Subsequently, Baxter (1988) published a descriptive grammar and Baxter & de Silva (2004) produced a dictionary employing a Malay-based orthography. Some didactic materials were published by Marbeck (2004a, 2004b).

3. Sociolinguistic situation

Kristang, endangered for several decades, has now reached a significant crossroads (Baxter 2005). The core speech community of Papiá Kristang is the Portuguese Settlement in the Hilir suburb of Malacca. A self-report survey conducted by Lee (2004) on best/fluent speakers in 85 households in this community revealed that 96.4% of fluent speakers fell in the 31+ years age group, with 77.6% in the 40+ years age group. If we extrapolate conservatively from Lee’s population figures (» 750 in 2002) and best/fluent speaker report, the number of fluent speakers currently would number between half and one third of the overall population of the Portuguese Settlement, and they are mainly over 40 years of age. Elderly Papiá-Kristang-dominant mother-tongue speakers are few and the transmission to younger generations is very weak. The Papiá Kristang speech community is shifting very strongly towards English, in most age-groups, and in the family and friendship domains. Domain loss and contact-induced change is apparent in lexical shrinkage, lexical replacement and grammatical convergence, under the influence of English and Malay.

The Kristang community seems to be relatively oblivious of the danger faced by its language. Although Papiá Kristang speakers view their language positively, this is negated by an over-relaxed attitude towards protecting the language. The viability of language maintenance hinges on the community’s ability to recognize the impending danger and to establish a language revitalization program. Indeed, there are several factors on which a revitalization program could capitalize, if one were to be implemented. A further potential danger to the language now comes from attempts by European Portuguese influence-groups to “re-establish” the community’s Portuguese roots. Few attempts have been made to teach Papiá Kristang, even though the establishment of minority language schools is enshrined in the Malaysian Government education Act of 1961.

4. Phonology

Papiá Kristang has a system of eight oral vowels (see Table 1). However, phonemic contrasts involving close and open mid vowels, and the central close-mid vowel, are relatively peripheral to the system, occurring in a small set of words (Baxter 1988, 2010b). For the most part, the close/open distinction in the front and back mid vowels is neutralized, and a vowel falling between the close and open positions stands in phonemic contrast to /i/, /a/ and /u/. The difference between phonemic close and open mid vowels is not represented in spelling.

Table 1. Vowels

front

central

back

close

i

u

close-mid

e <e>

ǝ <ě, a>

o <o>

open-mid

ɛ <e>

ɔ <o>

open

a

There are 18 consonants in Papiá Kristang, of which [v] occurs only in one word: novi ‘nine’ (see Table 2).

Table 2. Consonants

bilabial

labio-dental

alveolar

palatal

velar

plosive

voiceless

p

t

k

voiced

b

d

g

nasal

m

n

ɲ <ny>

ŋ <ng>

tap

r

fricative

voiceless

f

s

voiced

v

z

affricate

voiceless

č <ch>

voiced

ǰ <j>

lateral

l

Papiá Kristang is a syllable-timed language. The two largest stress groups are words with tonic stress on the penultimate syllable, as in kaza ‘house’, and on the final syllable, as in kumí ‘eat’. Smaller stress groups are those words with a stressed antepenultimate syllable, such as kólera ‘cholera’, and some monosyllables such as ‘what?’. The nucleus of a syllable in Papiá Kristang may consist of a vowel or a word-initial nasal consonant. There are eight syllable types in Papiá Kristang: Cnasal m-bes ‘once’, V e-li, CV ja ‘perfective aspect’, CCV sti-ru ‘style’, CCCV stra-du ‘dais whereupon the bride and groom sit in state’, VC om-bru ‘shoulder’, CVC mal ‘bad’, and CCVC krol ‘hair-bun’. There are ten word-internal vowel sequences (/au/, /ai/, /eu/, /oi/, /io/, /ui/, /iu/, /ua/, /ia/, /ue/), all of which may constitute diphthongs, and three of which may also constitute hiatus: /ai/ as in rainya ‘queen’, /ua/ as in chua ‘rain’ and /ia/ as in dia ‘day’. In the foregoing examples in this chapter, the orthography proposed by Baxter (1988), and derived from Hancock (1969), is used, employing the following five vowel and 18 consonant characters: <a, e, i, o, u, p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ny, ng, r, f, v, s, z, ch, j, l>. Tonic stress is indicated on vowels and syllabic nasals by a written accent when the tonic does not fall on a penultimate syllable or to differentiate stressed and unstressed monosyllabic words. Different from Baxter (1988), unstressed centralized /ə/ is represented as <ě>; otherwise, unstressed /a/ is represented as <a>.

5. Noun phrase

The noun is invariable. Natural gender is usually distinguished by different words, as in mai ‘mother’ vs. pai ‘father’, or by femi ‘female’ and machu ‘male’ following the noun, as in baka machu ‘he-goat’ vs. baka femi ‘she-goat’. A restricted number of human referent nouns retain etymological gender (Baxter 2010b).

Number is expressed by numerals, as in dos kaza ‘two houses’, quantifiers as in tantu kaza ‘many houses’, or by reduplication kaza kaza ‘houses’.

There is no definite article. Bare nouns may occur with definite reference and prenominal demonstratives may function as definite determiners. The numeral ńgua ‘one’ functions as a prenominal indefinite article ńgua dia ‘upon a day’.

Generic noun phrases are expressed by zero-marked nouns, as in (1).

(1)
Kobra
snake
pesonya.
poison
Snakes are poisonous. (Baxter 1988: 88)

The demonstratives isi and ake(li) ‘that’ precede the noun and indicate a distance contrast. The respective pronominal demonstratives are isi and akeli.

Adnominal possessives precede the noun and consist of possessor (noun or pronoun) + genitive marker sa (or ) e.g. barku sa lemi ‘the boat’s rudder’, yo sa kaza ‘my house’.

Adjectives follow the noun, e.g. kaza belu ‘old house’, and do not agree in natural gender except in a very small number of cases with human reference, e.g. fila kěriada ‘adopted child (female)’, filu kěriadu ‘adopted child (male)’ (Baxter 2010b: 138). Papiá Kristang has a special focusing construction whereby adjectives of quality may be placed before the indefinite article:

(2)
nechěs
pretty
ńgua
one
mulé
woman
a pretty woman. (Baxter 1988: 194)

In comparative constructions of equality, the adjective is marked by iguál ‘equal’ and standard is marked by ku ‘with’:

(3)
John
John
iguál
equal
grandi
big
ku
with
Peter.
Peter
John is as big as Peter.(Baxter 1988: 185)
(4)
John
John
ku
with
Peter
Peter
iguál
equal
grandi.
big
John and Peter are as big as each other.(Baxter 1988: 185)

In the comparative construction of inequality, the adjective is marked by más ‘more’ and the standard by di ‘of’:

(5)
Eli
3sg
más
more
altu
tall
di
of
Pio.
Pio
He is taller than Pio. (Baxter 1988: 184)

The superlative comparison consists of the comparative of inequality plus a universal standard:

(6)
Maria
Maria
más
more
altu
tall
di
of
tudu
all
mbes
once
aké
dem
femi
female
femi.
female
Maria is the tallest of all the girls. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

There is only one set of personal pronouns which occurs in all pronominal functions. The 3sg and 3pl pronouns only refer to animates, principally to humans.

Table 3. Personal pronouns and adnominal possessives


subject

object

independent pronouns

adnominal possessives

1sg

yo

yo

yo

yo + sa

2sg

bos

bos

bos

bos + sa

3sg

eli

eli

eli

eli + sa

1pl

nus

nus

nus

nus + sa

2pl

bolotu

bolotu

bolotu

bolotu + sa

3pl

olotu

olotu

olotu

olotu + sa

6. Verb phrase

Papiá Kristang has two overt markers of aspect (ja ‘perfective’ and ta ‘imperfective’), an overt marker of future tense (lo(gu)), and a zero marker. All the TAM markers are preverbal. For the functional analysis of the markers, it is essential to distinguish three broad lexical aspect classes of verbs: Dynamic verbs (e.g. nadá ‘to swim’), type-1 statives (i.e. which do not occur with ta ‘imperfective’, e.g. gostá ‘to like’) and type-2 statives (i.e. which can occur with ta ‘imperfective’, e.g. lembrá ‘to think’). The functions of these markers are summarized in Table 4.

Table 4. Tense-Aspect-Mood markers

lexical aspect

tense/aspect

mood

Ø

dynamic

habitual past / present

imperative

(perfective)

stative-1 or -2

past / present

ja

dynamic

perfective

ta

dynamic

imperfective past / present

stative-2

imperfective past / present

lo(gu)

dynamic

future

conditional

habitual present / past

stative-1 or -2

future

Example (7) shows the zero marker (Ø) with a dynamic verb of past or present habitual representation:

(7)
Yo
1sg
sa
gen
pai
father
Ø
Ø
fai
do
sibrisu
work
na
loc
municipal.
minicipal
My faher works/used to work in the Munucipal. (Baxter 1988: 134)

In examples (8) and (9), the Ø marker occurs with a dynamic verb with perfective and imperative representation, respectively:

(8)
Yo
1sg
sa
gen
papa
father
justu
just
mbés
once
Ø
Ø
dali
hit
ku
acc
yo
1sg
la.
emph
My father just hit me once.
(9)
(Bos)
2sg
Ø
Ø
bai
go
kaza!
house
Go home! (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

The occurrence of the zero marker Ø with a stative verb, with past or present representation, is shown in example (10):

(10)
Eli
1sg
Ø
Ø
sabé
know
bos
2sg
ta
ipfv
beng.
come
He knows/knew you are/were coming. (Baxter 1988: 135)

Example (11) shows the marker ja with a dynamic verb, with perfective aspect representation:

(11)
Eli
3sg
ja
pfv
bai
go
mar
sea
(onti
yesterday
anoti).
night
He went fishing (last night). (Baxter 1988: 119)

The marker ta occurs with dynamic verbs in past or present contexts, with either a progressive reading, as in (12), or an iterative reading, as in (13):

(12)
Diego
Diego
ta
ipfv
les
read
buku.
book
Diego is/was reading a book. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)
(13)
Eli
3sg
ta
ipfv
fai
do
sibrisu
work
na
loc
Singapura.
Singapore
He is/was working in Singapore. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

However, with type-2 stative verbs, ta expresses a state in progress:

(14)
Eli
3sg
ta
ipfv
sintí
feel
bos
2sg
keré
want
ngganá
trick
ku
acc
eli.
3sg
She is/was thinking you want/wanted to trick her. (Baxter 1988: 129)

With dynamic and type-1 or type-2 stative verbs, the marker lo(go) conveys a future or conditional reading, as in examples (15) and (16), respectively where it occurs with a dynamic verb:

(15)
Amiang
tomorrow
otu
other
dia,
day
eli
3sg
logu
fut
bai
go
mar.
sea
The day after tomorrow, he will go fishing. (Baxter 1988: 126)
(16)
Kanti
if
yo
1sg
teng
have
doi,
money
yo
1sg
lo
fut
kompra
buy
kareta.
car
If I have/had the money I will/would buy a car. (Baxter 1988: 126)

However, lo(gu) may also express habitual aspect with dynamic verbs, as in (17):

(17)
Kada
every
dia
day
ki
rel
Deus
God
da,
give
jenti
people
pobri
poor
lo
hab
falá
say
ku
obj
sa
gen
fila,
daughter
ku
obj
Luzia:
Luzia
“Bai
go
matu
jungle
buska
seek
lenya
firewood
ke
want
kuzinyá.”
cook
Every day, the poor parents would say to their daughter, to Luzia: “Go to the forest and look for firewood in order to cook”. (Field recording of traditional story Prispi di Kobra The snake prince, 1981)

The TAM markers do not normally co-occur. Combinations of markers are very rare and when they do occur they appear to involve an adverbial reading of the initial marker. Thus, when ja is seen to combine with the imperfective marker ta, ja has the adverbial reading ‘already’ of its Portuguese source:

(18)
Kora
when
yo
1sg
ja
pfv
chegá,
arrive
eli
3sg
ja
already
ta
ipfv
kumí.
eat
When I arrived, he was already eating. (Baxter 1988: 122)

In negated sentences, the system in Table 4 is completely replaced by negative markers: The negator ńgka occurs with verbs carrying perfective or imperfective aspect, the negator nadi occurs with verbs representing future tense, and the negator nang occurs with imperatives. In addition to these, the negator nenang ‘not yet’, may occur in the negation of an anticipated event or state either past of present.

There are five verbs or verbal expressions that refer to ontic, deontic, and epistemic modality, as shown in Table 5:

Table 5. Modal verbs

deontic

ontic

epistemic

obligation

toká ‘be obliged to’

necessity

miste ‘must, should’

miste ‘must’

prĕsizu ‘need, should’

possibility

podi ‘can’

(podi ‘can’)

podi fiká + CLAUSE ‘it can be that’

sabé ‘can’

anumbés + CLAUSE ‘it is possible that’

The verb toka ‘be obliged to’ expresses external, unavoidable obligation:

(19)
Eli
3sg
toka
oblige
bai
go
Muar.
Muar
He is/was obliged / had to go tu Muar (city). (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

The verb miste/misti may express deontic as well as epistemic necessity, depending on context:

(20)
Eli
3sg
miste
must
bai
go
mar
sea
ozi
today
anoti.
night
He must go fishing tonight / he must have gone fishing tonight. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

The verb podi ‘can’ expresses deontic possibility (cf. 21) in addition to occurring in the expression of epistemic possibility. However, ontic modality is most commonly expressed by sabé rather than by podi (as in 22). The use of podi appears to be inspired by English.

(21)
Kora
when
kabá
finish
sibirusi,
work
bos
2sg
podi
can
bai
go
kaza.
house
When you finish work, you can go home. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)
(22)
Eli
3sg
sabe/?podi
know/can
bringká
play
floi.
flute
He can play the flute. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, February 2011)

The expressions of epistemic possibility require the future marker lo(gu) in the dependent clause, as in example (23).

(23)
Podi
can
fiká
become
amiang
tomorrow
lo
fut
kai
fall
chua.
rain
It is possible that it will rain tomorrow / it might rain. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Volition is expressed by the verb keré ‘want’:

(24)
Yo
1sg
sa
gen
mai
mother
keré
want
yo
1sg
bai
go
butika
shop
komprá
buy
arós.
rice
My mother wants me to go to the shop to buy rice. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Copula: Papiá Kristang generally does not use a copula for adjectival, nominal, and prepositional phrase predicates:

(25)
Eli
3sg
duenti.
ill
She is ill. (Baxter 1988: 183)
(26)
Eli
3sg
padri.
priest
He is a priest. (Baxter 1988: 182)
(27)
Eli
3sg
di
of
Trankera.
Trankera
She is from Trankera. (Baxter 1988: 183)

Some predicate adjectives may even combine directly with TAM particles (Baxter 1988). Although, there is a rare, archaic use of the verb teng as a copula, as in (28), nominal and adjectival predicates normally do not have a copula. The verb teng generally functions as a locative-existential, as in (29):

(28)
Yo
1sg
teng
cop
ńgua
indf
jenti
person
di
of
otru
other
mundu.
world
I am a person from another world. (Field recording of traditional story Prispi di kobra The snake prince. 1981.)
(29)
Eli
3sg
teng
cop
na
loc
bangsal.
fishermen's.hut
He is at the fishermen's hut. (Baxter 1988: 181)

Papiá Kristang is a serializing language (Baxter 1990, 2009). Its most frequent serial verbs are bai ‘go’ and beng ‘come’ in verb complexes expressing directional motion (see 30), and ‘give’ in verb complexes expressing facilitative causation (see 31):

(30)
Eli
3sg
ja
pfv
kuré
run
bai
go
kaza.
home
He ran home. (Baxter 1988: 212)
(31)
Nu
1pl
lo
fut
da
give
kumí
eat
ku
acc
olotu.
3pl
We will feed them. (Baxter 1988: 214)

7. Simple sentences

Papiá Kristang has SVO word order. While subjects and non-human direct objects are not morphologically marked for case, direct human objects are case-marked by the preposition ku (occasionally higher order definite animates may also be thus marked). The same preposition marks indirect objects. In transitive clauses, the case-marked indirect object may precede the direct object, especially when the former is pronominal. Noncore arguments are generally located either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence:

(32)
Amiang
tomorrow
TEMPORAL
Diego
Diego
SUBJECT
lo
fut
 
give
 
ku
dat
IO
bos
2sg
 
aké
that
DO
doi,
money
 
na
loc
LOCATIVE
butika.
shop
 
Tomorrow, Diego will give you that money, at the shop. Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

There are no expletive subject pronouns. Papiá Kristang has structures that correspond in function to passives in assigning prominence to a patient argument. In one structure, the patient of an active transitive verb is assigned to the subject while the actor is unstated:

(33)
Aké
that
ropa
clothing
ja
pfv
labá.
wash
Those clothes have been washed. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

However, another structure, which is comparable to a full passive, is only available to transitive verbs capable of expressing adversity. In other words, the patient is adversely affected by the action. In this structure, the verb is modified by the auxiliary toká ‘touch’ and the patient is assigned to the subject position while the agent (which may be omitted) is assigned to a peripheral argument expressing source:

(34)
Eli
3sg
ja
pfv
toká
touch
pegá
catch
di
of
churikati.
goblin
(S)he was caught by a churikati. (Baxter 1988: 195)
(35)
Eli
3sg
ja
pfv
toka
touch
kemá.
burn
He got burnt. (Baxter 1988: 196)

A further variant of this adversity passive omits both the auxiliary verb and the preposition marking the demoted agent phrase. Interpretation in this case depends on real-world knowledge of what can be adversely affected by what:

(36)
Chang
land
ja
pfv
kumí
eat
mar.
sea
The land was eroded by the sea. (Baxter 1988: 196)

Reflexive voice may be expressed in two ways. With body care verbs, the body part occurs as a bare noun:

(37)
Maria
Maria
ja
pfv
labá
wash
korpu/mang.
body/hand
Maria bathed/washed her hands. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

However, ‘body’ marks the reflexive in ‘suicide, kill oneself’:

(38)
Ake
that
omi
man
china
Chinese
ja
pfv
matá
kill
korpu
body
doi
money
sa
gen
kauzu.
cause
That Chinese man suicided because of money. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malaccy, June 2010)

A second structure employs the term onsong ‘alone’ as the possessor in a genitive construction:

(39)
Maria
Maria
ta
prog
olá
see
onsong
alone
sa
gen
rostu
face
na
loc
spelu.
mirror
Maria is looking at herself in the mirror. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Reciprocal voice is expressed by a structure wherein the reduplicated numeral referring to the referents of the subject is interpreted as the object and patient of the transitive verb:

(40)
Maria
Maria
ku
com
Diego
Diego
dos
two
dos
two
busidu.
hate
Maria and Diego hate each other. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Causative voice is formed with the verb fazé ‘make’. The causee may either occur between the causative verb and the main verb, or may occur to the right of the main verb. In both instances, the cause is accusative case-marked; however, in the latter instance the sequence fazé + main verb functions essentially as a transitive unit:

(41)
Bos
2sg
ja
pfv
fazé
make
ku
acc
ali
3sg
kai.
fall
You made him fall. (Baxter 2009: 70)
(42)
Bos
2sg
ja
pfv
fazé
make
kai
fall
ku
acc
eli.
3sg
You made him fall. (Baxter 2009: 70)

8. Interrogative and focus constructions

In content questions, the interrogative phrase is moved to the beginning of the clause or to a position between the subject NP and the VP complex:

(43)
Úndi
where
bos
2sg
ja
pfv
parí?
be.born
Where were you born? (Baxter 1988: 189)
(44)
Bos
2sg
úndi
where
ja
pfv
parí?
be.born
Where were you born? (Baxter 1988: 189)

On the other hand, the interrogative phrase may remain where it would occur in unmarked declarative word order. In this case, the intonation contour focuses the questioned item:

(45)
Bos
2sg
ja
pfv
parí
be.born
úndi?
where
Where were you born? (Baxter 1988: 189)

Polar questions are marked either by tagging the phrase with seng ‘yes’ or ńgka ‘no’, with the optional addition in either instance of the question particle (q) ka or the confirmation particle (conf) , or by simply using interrogative intonation alone without tag or particle:

(46)
Eli
3sg
bebé
drink
sura
palm.wine
ńgka/seng
neg / aff
(ka)/(ná)?
q / conf
He drinks palm wine doesn't / does he? (Baxter 1988: 187)

Some speakers accept the use of the question or confirmation particle alone, without the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ tag.

Focus constructions are of three main types. The particle la may be used to mark unmoved focused adjectives, nouns (as in 47) or verbs. The particle is placed after the focussed item.

(47)
Yo
1sg
lembrá
think
eli
3sg
ja
pfv
parí
be.born
na
loc
Melaka
Malacca
la.
emph
I think he was born in Malacca. (adapted form Baxter 1988: 194; the topic was whether the informan's father was born in Malacca or in Kuala Lumpur.)

In the case of nouns, contrastive focus may also be performed by a cleft sentence, which has the structure teng ‘BE’ + focused NP + relative clause, as in example (48). The relative clause may occur with or without the relative marker.

(48)
Teng
cop
bos
2sg
sa
gen
krensa
child
ki
rel
yo
1sg
ta
prog
lantá,
carry
retu?
true
It is your child I am carrying, isn't it? (Baxter 1988: 210)

All arguments of the verb may be focused.

Predicative adjectives may be focused by left-dislocation, as in (49):

(49)
Grandi
big
aké
that
pesi.
fish
That fish is big. (Baxter, inforant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Contrastive focus of verbs requires juxtaposition of affirmative and negated sentences, as in (50), placing the negator at the beginning of the excluded proposition. The emphatic particle may be used optionally at the end of the first sentence.

(50)
Diego
Diego
ja
pfv
bai
go
mar
sea
lá,
emph
ngka
neg
eli
3sg
ja
pfv
fiká
stay
na
loc
kaza.
house
What Diego did was go fishing, not stay at home. (Baxter, informant-elicited, Malacca, June 2010)

Neither focused adjectives nor focused verbs leave a copy in the background clause.

9. Complex sentences

The coordinating conjunctions for phrases and clauses are ku ‘with, and’, ‘or’, and mas ‘but’.

Object clauses may occasionally be headed by ki; however, this is rare and is only found in traditional formal registers, as in a wedding speech. Parataxis is the most frequent means of expressing nominal subordination:

(51)
Nus
1pl
pidi
ask
ki
comp
tudu
all
bolotu
3pl
podi
can
kumí
eat
sabrozu.
tasty
We ask that you may all eat to your satisfaction. (Baxter 1988: 201)
(52)
Yo
1sg
sabé
know
Ø
Ø
eli
3sg
teng
cop
aki.
here
I kniw (that) he is here. (Baxter 1988: 201)
(53)
Yo
1sg
ja
pfv
skribé
write
ku
acc
eli
3sg
Ø
Ø
John
John
ja
pfv
kazá.
marry
I wrote to him that John has married. (Baaxter 1988: 201)

Adverbial clauses are headed by antis di ‘before’, kiora ‘when’, chuma ‘as’, kantu ‘if’, padi ‘in order to’, kauzu ki ‘because’, kifoi ‘because’, etc., yet may also be indicated by parataxis without a conjunction (Baxter 1988: 203–206).

Relative clauses are headed by ki ‘what, who’ (and very rarely by keng ‘who’), yet also commonly occur with a pronoun head or may occur headless:

(54)
Tantu
many
yo
1sg
sa
gen
kambra
friend
kambradu
friend
ki
rel
ja
pfv
bai
go
skola
school
pun.
too
many of my friends who went to school too. (Baxter 1988: 110)
(55)
Jenti
person
prenya
pregnant
eli
3sg
parí
bear
muré
die
ja
pfv
fiká
become
pontianak.
vampire
A pregnant woman who dies in childbirth becomes a vampire. (Baxter 1988: 112)
(56)
Nus
1pl
femi.
woman
Jenti
person
Ø
Ø
kontá
tell
stori
story
rainya
queen
omi.
man
We are women. People who tell traditional stories are men. (Baxter 1988: 111)

10. Other features

Reduplication may occur with nouns, interrogative pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, numerals, and verbs. Broadly speaking, the effect is one of intensification. With nouns, reduplication can signal plurality, often involving partial reduplication: krenkrensa (= krensa + krensa) ‘children’, femfemi (= femi + femi) ‘women’. However, the reduplication of nouns with non-specific reference in object position may yield the meaning ‘all kinds of’ or ‘lots of’:

(57)
Yo
1sg
sa
gen
sogru
father.in.law
gadrá
keep
pastu
bird
pastu.
bird
My father-in-law keeps all kinds of birds. (Baxter 1988: 104)

Without reduplication, the above sentence would simply express plural: ‘birds’.

Reduplicated dynamic or type-2 stative verbs convey prolonged repetition:

(58)
Eli
3sg
ta
prog
remá
row
remá.
row
He was rowing and rowing.
(adapted from Baxter 1988: 60; informant-checked, Malacca, June 2010)

Adjectives and adverbs reduplicate to signify intensity: kěni~kěninu [ints~small] ‘quite small, very small’, belu belu ‘quite old’, sedu sedu ‘quite/very early’. On the other hand, interrogative pronouns reduplicate to signify indefiniteness: keng keng [who who] ‘whoever’, ki ki [what what] ‘whatever’. Finally, the reduplication of the numerals dos ‘two’ and tres ‘three’ yields the respective readings ‘in pairs’ and ‘in threes’.

Derivation is productive with verbs, freely producing deverbal adjectives via the etymological past participle morpheme -du: kemá ‘to burn’ > kemado ‘burnt’. Nouns formed via the agentive morphemes -dor, -(d)era, -eru are also frequent: dibinyador ‘soothsayer’‚ jugador/jugadera ‘gambler (m/f)’. Less common, however, are derivations by means of the action morpheme -mentu: pagamintu ‘payment’, kazamintu ‘wedding’.