Chapter 7
From Lamaholot to Alorese
Morphological loss in adult language contact
Alorese is a prime example of a morphologically isolating language.
This paper traces the process of morphological simplification it has undergone by
addressing the following questions: (i) What was the morphological profile of its
ancestor, pre-Alorese? (ii) When did Alorese start to lose its morphology? (iii) Which
factors caused this loss? By comparing the morphological profile of current Alorese with
its sister language, Lewoingu-Lamaholot, I conclude that the morphology of pre-Alorese
was at least as complex as current Lewoingu-Lamaholot. Pre-Alorese underwent a process
of drastic and swift morphological loss after its speakers migrated to Pantar island
around 1300 AD. Pre-Alorese must have had a significant proportion of adult second
language speakers who acquired it imperfectly, thus causing its morphology to be lost.
Thus, this is a good example of morphological simplification due to imperfect adult
learning in a small-scale language variety.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The morphological profile of pre-Alorese
- 2.1Lewoingu-Lamaholot and Alorese inflectional morphology
- 2.1.1Marking of arguments in Lewoingu-Lamaholot
- 2.1.2Marking of possessives in Lewoingu-Lamaholot
- 2.1.3Marking of arguments and possessors in Alorese
- 2.2Lewoingu-Lamaholot and Alorese derivational morphology
- Prefix bə(C)-
- Prefix pə-
- Prefix kə-
- Infix -ən-
- Prefix mən-
- Prefix gə(C)-
- Consonant replacement
- 2.3Summary: The morphology of pre-Alorese
- 3.When, why, and how pre-Alorese became isolating
- 3.1Dating the migration of pre-Alorese to Pantar Island
- 3.2Alorese as a language of trade and interethnic communication
- 3.3Alorese was acquired by adult speakers
- 4.Conclusions
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
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