Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 49:2 (2025) ► pp.478–500

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required
News from the Field

Toba Batak manang

Notes on its uses and form

ORCiD logo with link | University of Helsinki | National University of Singapore
Published online: 13 February 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.24067.erl
Abstract
This paper offers a description of the multifunctional morpheme manang in Toba Batak (Austronesian; Sumatra) — as the disjunctor, the interrogative complementizer, and a particle forming wh-based polarity items — contextualized within the broader semantic and typological literatures on such meaning expressions. I also observe a puzzle regarding its form: the form manang diverges substantially from its functional equivalent, barang, as described in H. N. Van der Tuuk’s pioneering grammar of Toba Batak (. 1864–1867. Tobasche Spraakkunst. Amsterdam: Frederik Muller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). I argue that consideration of this historical change supports the analysis of these various uses of manang as a case of functional polysemy, reflecting a common conceptual core.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Uses of Toba Batak manang
    • 2.1Disjunction
    • 2.2Embedded question marker
    • 2.3Manang wh negative polarity indefinites
    • 2.4Manang wh free choice items
    • 2.5Summary
  • 3.On the form of manang and its equivalents
    • 3.1The puzzle of Van der Tuuk’s barang
    • 3.2From barang to manang
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (54)
References
Adelaar, K. Alexander. 1981. Reconstruction of Proto-Batak phonology. In Robert A. Blust (ed.), Historical linguistics in Indonesia, 1–20. Jakarta: Atma Jaya University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aloni, Maria & Angelika Port. 2014. Modal inferences in marked indefinites: the case of German irgend-indefinites. In Ana Aguilar-Guevara, Joost Zwarts & Bert Le Bruyn (eds.), Weak referentiality, 17–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amritavalli, Raghavachari. 2003. Question and negative polarity in the disjunction phrase. Syntax 6(1). 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ariel, Mira & Caterina Mauri. 2018. Why use or? Linguistics 56(5). 939–993. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biezma, María & Kyle Rawlins. 2015. Alternative questions. Language and Linguistics Compass 9(11). 450–468. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Billings, Blaine & Bradley McDonnell. 2024. Sumatran. Oceanic Linguistics 63(1). 112–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blust, Robert. 2013. The Austronesian languages. Rev. edn. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blust, Robert, Stephen Trussel & Alexander D. Smith. 2023. CLDF dataset derived from Blust’s “Austronesian Comparative Dictionary” (v1.2). (last access 25 January 2025).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borzdyko, Oxana. 2004. La disjonction, l’indéfinition et l’interrogation: la particule ci du biélorusse. London, Canada: University of Western Ontario PhD dissertation.
Bossuyt, Tom, Ludovic De Cuypere & Torsten Leuschner. 2018. Emergence phenomena in German wimmer/auch-subordinators. In Eric Fuß, Marek Konopka, Beata Trawiński & Ulrich H. Waßner (eds.), Grammar and corpora 2016, 97–120. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cole, Peter & Gabriella Hermon. 2008. VP raising in a VOS language. Syntax 11(2). 144–197. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cumming, Susanna. 1984. The syntax and semantics of prepredicate word order in Toba Batak. In Paul Schachter (ed.), Studies in the structure of Toba Batak (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5), 17–36. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dayal, Veneeta. 1995. Licensing any in non-negative/non-modal contexts. In Proceedings of SALT 51, 72–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Any as inherently modal. Linguistics and Philosophy 21(5). 433–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eggink, H. J. 1936. Angkola- en mandailing-bataksch-nederlandsch woordenboek. Bandoeng: A.C. Nix & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emmorey, Karen. 1984. The intonation system of Toba Batak. In Paul Schachter (ed.), Studies in the structure of Toba Batak (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5), 37–58. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2018. Extraction and licensing in Toba Batak. Language 94(3). 662–697. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, James A. 1974. Review of A Grammar of Toba Batak by H. N. Van der Tuuk. Anthropos 69(5/6). 1014–1016.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. The meaning of free choice. Linguistics and Philosophy 241. 659–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, Chung-hye & Maribel Romero. 2004. The syntax of whether/Q…or questions: Ellipsis combined with movement. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22(3). 527–564. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1997. Indefinite pronouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin & Ekkehard König. 1998. Concessive conditionals in the languages of Europe. In EUROTYP 3: Adverbial constructions in the languages of Europe, 563–640. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horn, Laurence R. 2000. Pick a theory (not just any theory): Indiscriminatives and the free-choice indefinite. In Laurence Horn & Yasuhiko Kato (eds.), Negation and polarity, 147–192. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackson, Catherine A. 1984. Focus particles in Toba Batak. In Paul Schachter (ed.), Studies in the structure of Toba Batak (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5), 80–99. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Karttunen, Lauri. 1977. Syntax and semantics of questions. Linguistics and Philosophy 1(1). 3–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ladusaw, William A. 1979. Polarity sensitivity as inherent scope relations. Austin: University of Texas at Austin PhD dissertation.
LeGrand, Jean Ehrenkranz. 1975. Or and any: The syntax and semantics of two logical operators. Chicago: University of Chicago PhD dissertation.
Meerwaldt, J. H. 1904. Handleiding tot de beoefening der bataksche taal. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moravcsik, Edith A. 1971. On disjunctive connectives. Language Sciences 151. 27–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mordechay, Susan. 1984. The semantics and pragmatics of the “perfect” marker nunga in Toba Batak. In Paul Schachter (ed.), Studies in the structure of Toba Batak (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5), 100–121. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986. The aspectual particle nunga in Toba Batak. In Paul Geraghty, Lois Carrington & Stephen A. Wurm (eds.), FOCAL I: Papers from the fourth international conference on Austronesian linguistics, 113–132. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nababan, Partabas Wilmar Joakin. 1966. Toba Batak, a grammatical description. Ithaca: Cornell University PhD dissertation.
. 1981. A grammar of Toba-Batak (Materials in languages of Indonesia 6). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Ileana. 2005a. Disjunction in free choice and polarity in Malagasy. In Proceedings of CLA 2005.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005b. Or, wh- and not: Free choice and polarity in Malagasy. In Proceedings of AFLA 121, 359–267.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Percival, W. Keith. 1981. A grammar of the urbanized Toba-Batak of Medan. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rawlins, Kyle. 2013. (Un)conditionals. Natural Language Semantics 21(2). 111–178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schachter, Paul. 1984. Semantic-role-based syntax in Toba Batak. In Paul Schachter (ed.), Studies in the structure of Toba Batak (UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5), 122–149. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silitonga, Mangasa. 1973. Some rules reordering constituents and their constraints in Batak. Champaign: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PhD dissertation.
Sohn, Ho-min. 1975. Woleaian reference grammar. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szabolcsi, Anna. 2015. What do quantifier particles do? Linguistics and Philosophy 38(2). 159–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uegaki, Wataru. 2018. A unified semantics for the Japanese Q-particle ka in indefinites, questions, and disjunctions. Glossa 3(14). 1–45.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Auwera, Johan. 2024. Any and its ‘free choice’. Kalbotyra 771. 7–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Tuuk, Herman Neubronner. 1861. Bataksch-nederduitsch woordenboek. Amsterdam: Frederik Muller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1864–1867. Tobasche Spraakkunst. Amsterdam: Frederik Muller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1971. A grammar of Toba Batak. Berlin: Springer. Translated by Jeune Scott-Kemball, edited by A. Teeuw and R. Roolvink.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vergouwen, J. C. 1933/1964. The social organisation and customary law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra. Berlin: Springer. Translated by Jeune Scott-Kemball.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voorhoeve, P. 1940. De dans met de bedjan. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 99(3). 339–356. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Warneck, Johannes. 1906. Tobabataksch — Deutsches Wörterbuch. Batavia: Landsdrukkerij.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1977. Toba-Batak — Deutsches Wörterbuch. Berlin: Springer. With additions by Joh. Winkler and edited by R. Roolvink. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue