東印尼 Sasak 與 Sumbawa 語的關係化現象

Relativization in Sasak and Sumbawa, Eastern Indonesia

本文探討東印尼Sasak 與Sumbawa 方言中的關係化現象。根據研究結果，本文主張Keenan 與Comrie 對西馬來亞玻里尼西亞語群的兩項假定並不成立。在西馬來亞玻里尼西亞語群中，主題並不能視為主語。此外，南島語中的非主事焦點句並不能視為被動句。如同印尼語、其他西馬來亞玻里尼西亞語、及台灣南島語，在Sasak 及Sumbawa 方言中，主題與主語是兩種並存的語法關係。較之於主語，主題更易於關係化。此發現推翻Comrie 與Keenan所謂「主語最易於關係化」的假設 (Comrie & Keenan 1979:653)。此外，Sasak與Sumbawa 方言中的人稱代詞使用機制也推翻了Comrie 與Keenan 的另一項假設，亦即「關係化機制必須依循關係化階層 (Accessibility Hierarchy) 中的順序來運作」(Comrie & Keenan 1979:661)。本文主張，西馬來亞玻里尼西亞語中，關係結構應視為名物化子句與主要語 (head noun) 的並列，與語法關係並無相干。台灣南島語及許多非南島語語言亦呈現類似現象。

On the basis of a detailed study of the relativization phenomena in the dialects of Sasak and Sumbawa in eastern Indonesia, this paper shows that the two crucial assumptions made by Keenan & Comrie on Western Malayo-Polynesian languages are untenable. That is, the Topic in these languages cannot be reinterpreted as Subject and that Austronesian non-Actor focus constructions cannot be considered passive. Both Sasak and Sumbawa, just like Standard Indonesian and other Western MalayoPolynesian and Formosan languages, have two privileged but distinct grammatical relations Topic and Subject, and the fact that the Topic is most accessible to relativization in these languages falsifies Comrie & Keenan’s claim that “in absolute terms Subjects are the most relativizable of NP’s” (Comrie & Keenan 1979:653). The pronoun-retention strategy in Sasak and Sumbawa also falsifies their other universal: “All RC strategies must operate on a continuous segment of the AH” (p.661). The paper concludes with the suggestion that relativization in Western MalayoPolynesian (and Formosan languages and many other non-Austronesian languages) involves nominalized clauses juxtaposed to a head noun in appositive syntagm; and this possibility renders moot the question of grammatical relations in relativization.