A comparison of morphosyntactic features between Marquesan ...

2.1. DEFINITE NA
No. HAW MQA TAH DEF SPEC
SG ke~ka te te ± ±
DL — na nā +
PC — na nā +
PL nā na — +
Table 1: Basic “definite” articles in HAW, MQA, and TAH.
HAW nā is the definite plural article corresponding to the definite singular ka~ke
(Elbert & Pukui 1979).
According to Mutu & Teìkitutoua (2002:75), MQA na 1 is a “definite, specific,
and paucal [article] indicating either two or a small number”, and corresponds to
the definite singular te. Cablitz (2006:140) says it “expresses that a noun phrase
refers to definite plural entities”, but that the entities are usually limited to two
which is shown by other indicators in context. She also notes that na is only used
by older speakers. In glosses, Cablitz gives na as “ART.dl/pl”, indicating that it
functions as either a dual or a plural. Cablitz is elsewhere fairly scrupulous about
the distinction between specific and non-specific articles, but here she does not
mention whether na has a particular focus on one or the other. In a later comment
on this she states that na is considered by her to be specific (Cablitz, p.c.).
TAH nā (given as na by some) is a dual article according to Vernier & Drollet
(1968), although they also claim it can express a “limited plural reduced to several
units”, what is probably a paucal. Indeed, Lazard & Peltzer (2000:207) describe TAH
nā as “article paucal” giving a translation as “les (deux, quelques)” (tr. “the (two,
some)”) which indicates that it may function as either a dual or a paucal. Again,
TAH nā corresponds to the definite singular article te. Tryon (1970:11) describes
this article as both a dual and as a paucal “used with numbers up to ten, with reference
to persons, if the actual number is specified”. No source describes TAH nā
as a definite article, but the glosses and translations in each suggest that this is the
case. e question remains whether TAH nā is a specific article.
Functional comparison of these articles shows that MQA and TAH preserve essentially
the same definite specific dual/paucal article descended from PCE *na(a),
however HAW nā has changed it into a definite plural article. Note that the number
of MQA na is intermediate between TAH and HAW. is could indicate that MQA
1. Perhaps MQA may also be nā Mutu & Teìkitutoua denote vowel length and give na, but Cablitz
does not give vowel length. ere may be no distinction.
2