B. SYNTAX.
1. Sentence and word.
a. Syntactic relations.
52. The sentence consists of one or more words: Aráy! 5Ouch! Umúulàn. It’s raining. Ina kò! Mother of mine! (as exclamation). Sya y sumùsúlat. He or she is or was writing.
53. The relations between the words in a sentence are the usual ones: (1) Attribution: Ina kò! Mother (of) mine! (2) Predication: Sumùsúlat syà. Literally: Is-writing he. (3) The 10serial relation: butò t balàt bone and skin.
54. Some of the particles (§ 55) seem, however, to stand in none of these relations, but rather to express these relations themselves. Thus the particle t and in the preceding example is expressive of the serial relation. So further: malakì ŋ báhay 15large house; the particle ŋ expresses the attributive relation; Sya y sumùsúlat. The particle y expresses the predicative relation.
It is to be remarked, further, that the sphere of attribution includes some cases in which the attribute markedly alters the sense: sakìt sickness: máy sakìt (máy is an attribute) having 20sickness, sick.2
b. Parts of speech.
55. Tagalog distinguishes two parts of speech: full words and particles.
The particles either express the syntactic relations between 25full words (as illustrated in § 54) or act as attributes of full words (so máy in the example in § 54): Hindí sya sumùsúlat. He is not writing. The particle hindìʾ not is an attribute of sumùsúlat.
In contrast with the particles, full words act not only as attributes, but also as subject or predicate, and any full word may, 30in principle, be used in any of these three functions:
(1) Subject: Aŋ sumùsúlat ay si Pédro. The person writing is Pedro. Aŋ pulà naŋ panyò ay matiŋkàd. The red of the handkerchief is intense.
(2) Predicate: Sya y sumùsúlat. He is writing. Pulà aŋ panyo ŋ itò. This handkerchief is red.
5(3) Attribute: aŋ báta ŋ sumùsúlat the writing child, the child who is writing; aŋ pulà ŋ panyò the red handkerchief.
56. Independent of this classification into parts of speech are certain less important groupings of words and certain phrase types, some of which will appear in the course of the analysis. 10Others, however, demand mention at the outset.
c. Static and transient words.
57. Transient words express an element of experience viewed as impermanent, i. e. belonging to some limited portion of time, so sumùsúlat above, as opposed, e. g., to siyà, pulà, panyò, bátaʾ, 15Pédro. Words which are not transient may be called static. Only a few particles are transient; among the full words the transient group is large and important.
d. Personal names.
58. Except in exclamations and in address, names of persons 20(or animals) are distinguished from other words by being always (but see § 78) preceded by the atonic particle si: Hwàn! Juan! si Hwàn Juan, si Salamìn Glass, Mirror (as name of a dog).
59. Many terms of relationship and titles may be used in place of the name of an individual and then belong to the personal 25name class: aŋ amà the father, aŋ áki ŋ amà my father, but: si Amà Father. Thus are used, further: si Inà Mother, si Tátay Papa, si Nánay Mama, si Kúya or si Kúyaŋ Oldest brother, si Atè Oldest sister, si Iŋkòŋ Grandfather, si Indàʾ or si Impò Grandmother, si Áli or si Tiyà Aunt, si Mámaʾ Uncle; si Bathálaʾ God, but: aŋ 30Dyòs.
So also phrases in which these and other titles as attributes precede a name, see § 256.
60. The particle sinà or silà, pretonic, in place of si forms an expression denoting the person named together with his family 35or group of adherents: sina Hwàn or sila Hwàn Juan and his family or Juan and his crowd. With a series of names sinà implies that those named form a group: si Hwàn, si Andrès, at si Mariyáno Juan, Andrés, and Mariano; sina Hwàn, Andrès, at Mariyáno the group consisting of Juan, Andrés, and Mariano; sina Hwàn, sina Andrès, at sina Mariyáno Juan, Andrés, and Mariano, each with his group.
e. The object construction.
61. When a word or phrase denotes an element of experience 5viewed as an object, it is, with certain exceptions, preceded by the atonic particle aŋ: aŋ bátaʾ the or a child, boy, girl; children, aŋ báhay the, a house; houses, aŋ báyan the, a town, aŋ kabàítan goodness, kindness; an act of kindness, aŋ kataúhan mankind, aŋ pagsúlat the or an act of writing, aŋ mabúte that which 10is good, the best thing.
The following are the exceptions:
62. Personal names preceded by si or sinà (silà) do not take aŋ; they always, of course, denote an object idea. See the examples in § 58 ff.
1563. The personal pronouns (which always express an object idea) do not take aŋ. They are: akò I; kità we, i. e. thou and I, inclusive dual; táyo we, i. e. thou (or ye) and I (or we), inclusive dual and plural; kamì we (but not you), exclusive dual and plural; ikàw, kà thou (singular); kayò ye, you (dual, plural, and 20polite singular); siyà he, she; silà they.
All of these except ikàw are often enclitic; kà is always so: Ikàw ay talúnan. You are defeated. Sumúlat ka. Write (thou).
Siyà is used only of living beings, except for a single peculiar construction to be described below (§ 106 f.).
25Kità in the sense here given is not much used, táyo being commoner: Palìt kità naŋ sombréro. Let’s trade hats. Kità ay pumaroòn sa teyátro. Or, more commonly: Táyo ay pumaroòn sa teyátro. Let us go to the theatre. Kità is more used in another meaning, as we shall see (§ 182).
30Kamì differs from these two words in excluding the person or persons addressed: Kàkáin táyo. We shall eat. Nakitúluy kamì kina Pédro. We asked hospitality of Pedro’s. In both of these sentences (as also in that with táyo already given) two or more people may be meant. It will be seen, therefore, that the 35distinction between dual and plural is not categoric (obligatory).
That between singular and plural is categoric in these pronouns; everywhere else it is not obligatory; the idea of plurality is inherent in many words and forms, but these are used only where the idea of plurality is explicitly prominent.
4064. The demonstrative pronouns as object expressions also reject aŋ. They are: irè this (on the person of the speaker or within his immediate reach); itò this (more generally, of anything nearer to the speaker than to the person addressed); iyàn, yàn that (nearer to the person addressed); iyòn, yaòn, yoòn, yòn that (of things distant from both speaker and person addressed).
5Itò and iyòn are used also anaphorically: the former—the latter.
The demonstrative pronouns are often enclitic.
Aŋ is omitted also before an object expression in which a demonstrative pronoun stands first as a modifier, see § 130.
1065. Similarly before object expressions in which an interrogative pronoun stands first as a modifier, see §§ 131.168.
66. The use of aŋ is optional before the numerative pronouns. The use of aŋ seems sometimes to lend these greater definiteness, sometimes to be indifferent.
15The numerative pronouns used as object expressions are: ibà other, ilàn few, karamíhan most, lahàt all. (The other numerative pronouns, namely boòʾ whole and the particles bála any and báwat every are not used as object expressions).
ibà others; ilàn a few; Aŋ ilàn ay malalakàs at aŋ ibà ay 20mahihínaʾ. Some are strong and others are weak. Lahàt naŋ táo sa báya ŋ itò ay dápat umalìs. All people (who are) in this town ought to leave (naŋ táo of people, of the people is an attribute of lahàt). Aŋ lahàt naŋ táo sa báya ŋ itò ay máy sakìt. All the people in this town are diseased. karamíhan sa kanilà 25most of them; aŋ karamíhan the majority.
The use of aŋ is optional also before object expressions in which a numerative pronoun stands first as an attribute, see § 132.
67. The use of aŋ is optional before the cardinal numerals: isà sa kanilà, or: aŋ isà sa kanilà one of them.
30The simple cardinal numerals are: isà one, dalawà two, tatlò three, ápat four, limà five, ánim six, pitò seven, walò eight, siyàm, syàm nine.
Similarly, the use of aŋ is optional before an object expression in which a cardinal numeral stands first as a modifier, see 35§ 133.
In dates and for the hours of the day the Spanish numerals are commonly used; these demand aŋ: aŋ abéynte-kwátru naŋ Húnyo the twenty-fourth of June.
68. Aŋ is omitted, further, before object expressions beginning 40with the particle nì (§ 253) and optionally before those beginning with the particle káhit (§ 248). All object expressions lack aŋ when forming an indefinite object predicate (§ 109), in expressions of indefinite quantity (§ 69), when used indefinitely after pára (§ 275), haŋgàŋ (§ 293), patì (§ 305), and in exclamation or address (§§ 75.78).3
f. Expressions of indefinite quantity.
569. Object expressions are used (without aŋ, § 68) to express indefinite objects (roughly speaking such as would lack the article the in English) or indefinite quantities of objects, when preceded by certain modifiers. These modifiers are the pretonic particle máy, expressing existence or forthcomingness (§ 252), and 10the full words máy-roòn, equivalent with máy; walàʾ the negative of these; malakì great; maláon long; marámi much, many (§ 138). The phrases so formed may be described as expressions of indefinite quantity. Beside the omission of aŋ before the object expression, they have the peculiarity that in certain constructions 15they express (without further accompaniments) the possessor of that designated: may súŋay there are horns or having horns, horned; máy-roo ŋ aklàt there are books or having a book, books; wala ŋ aklàt there are no books or without a book, having no books; malakì ŋ kagamitàn great usefulness, there is great use, or having 20great usefulness; maláo ŋ panahòn long time or taking a long time; marámi ŋ salapèʾ much money, there is much money or having much money; marámi ŋ kaybígan many friends, there are many friends or having many friends.
Máy expresses also approximateness (where the object expression 25is one of number): may ápat na pu ŋ paà about forty feet or having, measuring about forty feet.
70. An expression of indefinite quantity may, as a unit, stand in object construction; in this case the first three have possessive value, but not the others: aŋ máy sakìt the or a person having 30sickness, the or a sick person; aŋ máy-roo ŋ aklàt the (a) person who has a book or books; aŋ wala ŋ hiyàʾ the (a) shameless person; but: aŋ malakì ŋ báhay the, a large house; aŋ marámi ŋ bágay the many things.
71. Marámi may by itself stand in object construction; it 35then has the meaning: aŋ marámi the many, the crowd, the people, hoi polloi.