A contemporary grammar of Hiligaynon

• Main Author: Santos, Marilou C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Language and languages—Grammars; Hiligaynon language; Linguistics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/322; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/1321/viewcontent/CDTG005109_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The study describes the grammar of contemporary Hiligaynon using radio broadcasts, short stories, and news reports that are also available online as corpuses. The research uses the articulatory model and acoustic phonetics, specifically the Praat computer program as frameworks to explain the phonology of the language. Meanwhile, it employs the ergative pattern of sentence analysis (and the concepts of transitivity, case markings, and focus that affect the analysis) and the stem-based affixation systems to describe its morphology. These frameworks have not yet been applied in previous linguistic studies on Hiligaynon. Additionally, it explicates linguistic features of Hiligaynon grammar, especially those not discussed in previous comprehensive grammar works on the language. This dissertation subscribes to the idea that there is no clear-cut classification of words or word parts into nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. in Hiligaynon. Instead, like other Philippine languages, the interrelationship among roots, affixes, and particles and their use in discourse determine their classification. Chapter 1 provides the introduction that includes the background, objectives, theoretical orientation, methodology, and significance of the study, and the background and previous research studies on Hiligaynon, Chapter 2 discusses present day Hiligaynon phonology. It also shows how syllable structure and the suprasegmentals (i.e., stress/accent and intonation) affect its phonology. Chapter 3 presents its morphology, specifically the application of the stem-based affixation and reduplication (CV and full reduplication) used by the language in forming nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The discussion on Chapter 4 (clause types) describes non-verbal and verbal clauses that make up a prototypical Hiligaynon clause. Chapter 5 explains the nominal marking systems, specifically the determiners and demonstratives of the language. Chapter 6 presents the personal and demonstrative pronominals. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 discuss nominals, adjectives, and verbs, respectively. Aside from providing additional examples of the morphological characteristics of the three word classes based on stem-based affixation analysis system, each chapter deals with additional topics. Chapter 7 covers number, gender, and borrowings in nominals. Chapter 8 presents the four criteria in categorizing a word as an adjective, including its syntactic and semantic properties. Chapter 9 discusses verb focus, aspect, and class. Chapter 10 explains Hiligaynon adverbials, specifically lexical particles and adjuncts. Chapter 11 tackles the morphological and syntactic characteristics of numerals. The chapter on existentials (Chapter 12) presents their kinds and uses. Meanwhile, Chapter 13 (connectors) covers ligatures, coordinators/conjuncts, and grammatical particles. Illustrated on Chapter 14 on interrogatives are their various categories, i.e., the Yes/No, the Alternative, the Confirmation and the Information questions. The chapter on negation (Chapter 15) discusses the use of indi and ayao for predicate negation and wala for existential negation. The conclusion (Chapter 16) provides a summary of the grammar of Hiligaynon, and suggestions and recommendations for future research.