Placeholder na in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-3044-1443
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Presenter Language
English
Research Area
language variation and change, sociolinguistics, language contact, bilingualism and multilingualism
Location
MBSC Gallery Room 308
Start Date
19-10-2024 3:30 PM
End Date
19-10-2024 4:00 PM
Abstract
Placeholder na in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals
The current study analyzes the lexical item na in Cusco-Callao Quechua (Southern Peru), illustrated in (1) below. Using sociolinguistic interview data from bilingual (Quechua/Spanish) speakers from the Cusco region, we observe two primary uses of na. First, it functions as what Fox (2010) refers to as a “placeholder filler” (henceforth ‘placeholder’ similar to English ‘whatchamacallit’) to stand in for another word in the discourse (1-2) (see also Seraku 2024). Second, Nobel and Lacasa (2007) observe that na can be “used alone as a hesitation filler while the speaker is contemplating the next word, but it must have affixed to it the particle that would be affixed to the missing word” (226). In the Quechua data, our analysis reveals patterns, not yet described in the literature, in which na is used with reference to taboo or sensitive topics. Moreover, our Spanish data demonstrate considerable borrowing of na, where it varies with other hesitation markers, such as mm and pues.
Hornberger and Hornberger (2013) describe Quechua na as “a declinable and conjugatable root used to take place of a forgotten or deleted word” (65). In (1) na is affixed to a locative marker pi ‘in’, and with example (2), na is affixed to both a locative marker and person/number inflection. For example (1), na may be interpreted as a typical placeholder, allowing the speaker to fill the pause while recalling the name of a location (Ururu). In (2) the lexical item substituted with na is made clear in context, where the speaker uses na to avoid referring directly to his father’s death, mentioned previously in the discourse—as in wañu-pu-n ‘he died.’ Using sociolinguistic interview data, we demonstrate that na is used both to mark hesitations, as shown in (3) and (4), and to stand in for another word, as in (5), which demonstrates that, like Quechua, na can be inflected depending on the lexical class it replaces—i.e. na-r for verbs. Our data suggest that cases of inflected na with Spanish/Quechua bilinguals are infrequent, particularly when compared to its use as a hesitation marker. More generally, our study illustrates that discourse structures in peripheral domains (e.g., placeholders and hesitation markers) are subject to borrowing and that they often display meanings akin to their source (see Zavala 2001 for pues in Andean Spanish).
Examples
(1) ¿Na-pi… Ururu-pi ka-sa-ncheh-ña? (Nobel and Lacasa 2007: 226)
NA-loc Ururu-loc be-prog-1pl.incl-yet
‘Eh…are we in Ururu yet?’
(2) chayman hinay papa-y-pis nishu-ta macha-pu-qti-n, na-pu-n
then thusly father-1sg.poss- conj much-adv drink-loc-sub-3sg NA-loc-3sg
‘Then, thusly, my father, having drunk a lot, FP-ed’
(3) Mm, ya, yo también aquí en Chinchero yo nacido y na aquí siempre vevemos aquí
‘Mm, okay, I too, here in Chinchero, was born and NA here we always live’
(4) estamos haciendo puskha. Para manta, para poncho, para na, para frasar tiene que ser grueso
‘we are spinning [wool]. For blankets, for ponchos, for NA, for clothing it has to be thick’
(5) De repente a nosotros, como nosotros, trabajamos pequeñas… de repente se va a nar… mm se va desaparecer
‘Maybe to us, because we work little… maybe it will NA… mm it will disappear’
References
Fox, B. 2010. Introduction. In Fillers, Pauses and Placeholders, ed. by Nino Amiridze, Boyd H. Davis, and Margaret Maclagan, 1-9. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Hornberger, E.S. and N.H. Hornberger. 2013. Diccionario trilingüe Quechua de Cusco: Qhiswa, English, Castellano, 4ta edición. Cusco, Perú: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas.
Noble, J. and J. Lacasa. 2007. Introduction to Quechua: Language of the Andes, 2nd Edition. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.
Seraku, T. 2024. Placeholders in crosslinguistic perspective: abilities, preferences, and usage motives. Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2023-0068
Zavala, V. 2001. Borrowing evidential functions from Quechua: The role of pues as a discourse marker in Andean Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 33.999-1023.
Placeholder na in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals
MBSC Gallery Room 308
Placeholder na in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals
The current study analyzes the lexical item na in Cusco-Callao Quechua (Southern Peru), illustrated in (1) below. Using sociolinguistic interview data from bilingual (Quechua/Spanish) speakers from the Cusco region, we observe two primary uses of na. First, it functions as what Fox (2010) refers to as a “placeholder filler” (henceforth ‘placeholder’ similar to English ‘whatchamacallit’) to stand in for another word in the discourse (1-2) (see also Seraku 2024). Second, Nobel and Lacasa (2007) observe that na can be “used alone as a hesitation filler while the speaker is contemplating the next word, but it must have affixed to it the particle that would be affixed to the missing word” (226). In the Quechua data, our analysis reveals patterns, not yet described in the literature, in which na is used with reference to taboo or sensitive topics. Moreover, our Spanish data demonstrate considerable borrowing of na, where it varies with other hesitation markers, such as mm and pues.
Hornberger and Hornberger (2013) describe Quechua na as “a declinable and conjugatable root used to take place of a forgotten or deleted word” (65). In (1) na is affixed to a locative marker pi ‘in’, and with example (2), na is affixed to both a locative marker and person/number inflection. For example (1), na may be interpreted as a typical placeholder, allowing the speaker to fill the pause while recalling the name of a location (Ururu). In (2) the lexical item substituted with na is made clear in context, where the speaker uses na to avoid referring directly to his father’s death, mentioned previously in the discourse—as in wañu-pu-n ‘he died.’ Using sociolinguistic interview data, we demonstrate that na is used both to mark hesitations, as shown in (3) and (4), and to stand in for another word, as in (5), which demonstrates that, like Quechua, na can be inflected depending on the lexical class it replaces—i.e. na-r for verbs. Our data suggest that cases of inflected na with Spanish/Quechua bilinguals are infrequent, particularly when compared to its use as a hesitation marker. More generally, our study illustrates that discourse structures in peripheral domains (e.g., placeholders and hesitation markers) are subject to borrowing and that they often display meanings akin to their source (see Zavala 2001 for pues in Andean Spanish).
Examples
(1) ¿Na-pi… Ururu-pi ka-sa-ncheh-ña? (Nobel and Lacasa 2007: 226)
NA-loc Ururu-loc be-prog-1pl.incl-yet
‘Eh…are we in Ururu yet?’
(2) chayman hinay papa-y-pis nishu-ta macha-pu-qti-n, na-pu-n
then thusly father-1sg.poss- conj much-adv drink-loc-sub-3sg NA-loc-3sg
‘Then, thusly, my father, having drunk a lot, FP-ed’
(3) Mm, ya, yo también aquí en Chinchero yo nacido y na aquí siempre vevemos aquí
‘Mm, okay, I too, here in Chinchero, was born and NA here we always live’
(4) estamos haciendo puskha. Para manta, para poncho, para na, para frasar tiene que ser grueso
‘we are spinning [wool]. For blankets, for ponchos, for NA, for clothing it has to be thick’
(5) De repente a nosotros, como nosotros, trabajamos pequeñas… de repente se va a nar… mm se va desaparecer
‘Maybe to us, because we work little… maybe it will NA… mm it will disappear’
References
Fox, B. 2010. Introduction. In Fillers, Pauses and Placeholders, ed. by Nino Amiridze, Boyd H. Davis, and Margaret Maclagan, 1-9. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Hornberger, E.S. and N.H. Hornberger. 2013. Diccionario trilingüe Quechua de Cusco: Qhiswa, English, Castellano, 4ta edición. Cusco, Perú: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas.
Noble, J. and J. Lacasa. 2007. Introduction to Quechua: Language of the Andes, 2nd Edition. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.
Seraku, T. 2024. Placeholders in crosslinguistic perspective: abilities, preferences, and usage motives. Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2023-0068
Zavala, V. 2001. Borrowing evidential functions from Quechua: The role of pues as a discourse marker in Andean Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 33.999-1023.