Introduction
One of the most fundamental claims of modern linguistic analysis is that all languages, whether spoken by rich or poor, powerful or weak, educated or illiterate, have a grammar. Since all language are spoken, they must have phonetic and phonological systems; since they all languages are spoken, they must have phonetic and phonological systems; since they all have words, and that sentences have semantic meanings, they must have semantic principles as well. As these are the very things that make up a grammar, it follows that all languages have this type of system (O’Grady 1992).
The Philippines, home to many indigenous languages, has 175 languages (Gordon 2005). These languages, except perhaps the Spanish-based creole called Chabacano, are closely related genetically and typologically. They all belong to the Philippine subgroup of the Astronesian language family. Among these languages, only Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, and Bikolano are mostly studied. Languages in the south, such as Bahasa Sug, are seldom the subject of research.
Bahasa Sug or Tausug, the language of the then Sultanate of Sulu, known as Sulu Darussalam ‘abode of peace,’was adopted as the language of the royal court, and was written in Arabic script called Jawi. Today, the language is still used by the people of the Sulu archipelago, Zamboanga, Palawan, Davao, and in the Malaysian state of Sabah.
This paper aims to present a survey of the documentation done on Bahasa Sug, and to study its grammar for pedagogical purposes, using the principles of universal grammar (UG) put forward by Noam Chomsky (1995). The UG states that certain rules are shared by all human languages and form part of universal grammar.
Methodology
This qualitative research utilized anthropological tools such as interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) from key informants. Questions were unstructured so that informants could freely share the details about their language. Aside from interviews and FGD, the informants also shared some legends as corpora for the study of Bahasa Sug grammar. Constant consultation with the experts was done for data accuracy and grammar analysis.
The informants of this study were ten pure-blooded Tausug, ages 30-74, who live in Sitio Tacub, Barangay Zone I, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur. All of them are knowledgeable about their language. Originally, the informants hail from Jolo, Luuk, and other municipalities in Sulu. The researcher, a native Tausug, took the role of a participant and went into direct contact with the native speakers of Bahasa Sug during the FGD.
Studies on Bahasa Sug were retrieved from the libraries and online sources such as electronic journals and researches in paper presentations.
Anchored in the framework of syntax by Chomsky (1995) and of semantic structures by Charles Kreidler (1998), the researcher had a prolonged engagement with the analysis of Bahasa Sug grammar. Audit trail was scrutinized by two university professors handling Linguistic courses.
Documentation on Bahasa Sug
Studies on Bahasa Sug are limited to lexicography, literature, and linguistics.
On Lexicography
The dictionary, Tausug-English dictionary: Kabtangan iban maana compiled by Irene U. Hassan, Nurhadan Halud, Seymour A. Ashley, Mary L. Ashley (1975) and Irene U. Hassan, Seymour A. Ashley, and Mary L. Ashley (1994) is the result of a joint project of the Bureau of Public Schools, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and the Coordinated Investigation of Tausug Culture. It is the first major vocabulary compilation published in the Tausug language. The Tausug-English dictionary is not only a light disclosing a rich Tausug heritage and culture, but also a bridge for Sulu’s future, encouraging communication, understanding, accord, renewal, and achievement. In a shrinking world, it is increasingly important to learn to communicate with and to understand each other. As what Santanina Rasul, a former Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, puts it: “I see this publication as an intercultural bridge of understanding between the Tausug culture and other cultures of the world even as it will serve to strengthen the cultural heritage of the Tausug.”
On Literature
Rita Tuban (1977), a descendant of the Sulu Sultanate, documented the Tausug Folk Literature. She explored the kissa (legends), lugu (songs), salsila (genealogy of the Sulu Sultanate), and poems in Bahasa Sug.
Meanwhile, Ingilan (2013) also conducted a research entitled “Literary Patterns in Kagan and Tausug Legends.” Findings of the study revealed that Tausug legends, similar to a short story; have elements namely characters, setting, plot, and theme. The characters in the legends include Allah, Jibrael (angel Gabriel), human beings, animals such as pigs and birds, and supernatural beings. The legends also spoke about supernatural beings like the white lady, the existence of pig, and tukling and crow; and particular phenomena like the rainbow appearing in the Tausug communities. The study also found that the tribes acted in accordance with their belief that katan ini piyapanjari sin Tuhan (these are all planned by God). Most of these legends are based on the Tausug’s beliefs, knowledge, and experiences.
On Linguistics
In her study entitled “The Phonology of Tausug: A Descriptive Analysis,” Tan (1967) found out that the Tausug does not have a highly complicated sound system compared to some languages of the world. It has only three vowel phonemes, /a/, /i/, /u/ (a fact which undoubtedly facilitated its adoption by the early people of Sulu of the Arabic language). Tausug has nineteen consonants namely /p/, /b/, /t/, /k/, /g/, /?/, /r/, /h/, /m/, n, /q/, /y/, l, /z/, s, /j/, /w /,/tl/, and /d3/.
Ingilan (2013) analyzed the verb phrase constituents in the Muslim legends of Tausug, Kagan, and Maguindanao. The verb phrases in Bahasa Sug has verb, noun phrase, adverbial phrase, and prepositional phrase as constituents. In the study of Jubilado and Ingilan (2012), it was revealed that Islam plays an immense role in the lexicalization of profanity in Bahasa Sug like Syaytan (‘devil’), and Kafir (‘infidel’). It functions as an identity marker of Tausug as Muslims. Animal references form part of the profanity in Tausug Muslims like Putingan kaw! Babuy kaw! (`You are a liar! You are a pig!’) in Tausug. Cursing in Tausug also includes expressions of destruction, sex, death, sickness and assault to the “face.” Expressions of profanity in Tausug are in sentential forms.
Grammar of Bahasa Sug
In the study of Bahasa Sug grammar, the theory on syntax of Chomsky (1993) and semantic structures of Kreidler (1998) were used to uncover the laws in Bahasa Sug.
Sentence is one of the most fundamental units of linguistic organization. Speakers of any human language can produce and understand an infinite number of sentences. The part of grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and their structures is called syntax.
The task now is to analyze the Bahasa Sug syntax.
First Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Nanga kahuy hi Sala.
Transliteration: Got firewoods Sala.
Translation: “Sala got woods.”
The first Tausug sentence Nanga kahuy hi Sala which is transliterated and translated in English shows that the Tausug sentence has a verb phrase in the initial syntactic position. The verb phrase Nanga kahuy (Got firewoods) is located before the determiner phrase hi Sala, which acts as the subject of the sentence. It follows the verb-object-subject (VOS) word order having Nanga (verb), kahuy (object), and hi Sala (subject).
Second Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Natipun in manuk,sapi,kambing than na sin kaibanan.
Transliteration: Assembled the rooster, cow, goat and others.
Translation: “The rooster, cow, goat, and other animals assembled.”
The second Tausug sentence Natipun in manuk, sapi, kambing iban na sin kaibanan again shows that the verb phrase is located in the initial syntactic position. The sentence is headed by the verb phrase Natipun (assembled) followed by the determiner phrase in manuk, sapi, kambing-iban na sin kaibanan.
Third Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Diyayaw nila in Kaaba.
Transliteration: Arranged they the Kaaba.
Translation: “They arranged the Kaaba.”
The third Tausug sentence Diyayaw nila in Kaaba is another manifestation that Tausug follows the VSO word order. This sentence is headed by a verb phrase Diyayaw (arranged). The subject, nila (they) comes after the verb phrase. The verb is located on the left side of the sentence which is followed by the subject. It follows the VSO word order, Diyayaw (verb), nila (subject) and in kaaba (object).
Fourth Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Nagjanji magtuy sila na hibalik in Kaaba.
Transliteration: Agreed immediately they to return the Kaaba.
Translation: “They agreed immediately to return the Kaaba to its place.”
The fourth Tausug sentence Nagjanji magtuy sila na hibalik in Kaaba shows that it is preceded by a verb phrase Nagjanji magtuy (agreed immediately), which is in the initial syntactic position. It is then followed by the subject silt’ (they). It is noted also that the adverb magtuy (immediately) appears to be the constituent of the verb phrase, thus follows the structure: VP (verb phrase) = V (verb) + AdvP (adverbial phrase).
Fifth Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Siyuysuyan niya in manga panubuh niya.
Transliteration: Told he the family his.
Translation: “He told his family.”
The fifth Tausug sentence Siyuysuyan niya in manga panubuh niya also shows that the verb phrase is located in the initial syntactic position. The sentence is headed by the verb phrase Siyuysuyan (Told), followed by the noun niya (He). It follows the VSO word order having Siyuysuyan (verb), niya (subject) and in mga panubuh niya (object).
The corpora revealed that majority of the Tausug sentences are verb-initial, and has the structure VP (verb phrase) + DP (determiner phrase). Now, look at the sixth to eighth sentences.
Sixth Sentence
Tausug Sentence: In manga ista naubus kiyaun sin Kulapu.
Transliteration: The fishes all eaten by Kulapu.
Translation: “The fishes were all eaten by Kulapu.”
Seventh Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Magtuy siya minuwi pa bay.
Transliteration: Immediately he went to home.
Translation: “He immediately went home.”
Eighth Sentence
Tausug Sentence: Ampa siya limingi pa taykuran niya.
Transliteration: Then he turned to back his.
Translation: “Then he turned to his back.”
What happens here is that all the sentences have verb phrases in their final syntactic position. This means that the verb phrase comes after the subject, the determiner phrase. The sentences follow the subject-verb-object (SVO) word order. The sixth sentence has In manga ista (The fishes) as a topic which is followed by the comment naubus kiyaun sin Kulapu (were all eaten by Kulapu). The seventh sentence has siya (He) as topic which is followed by the comment minuwi pa bay (went home). The eighth sentence has siya (He) as topic and comes after the comment limingi pa taykuran niya (turned to his back). Thus, they follow the structure DP + VP.
VP
V
Naghunahuna hi Muhammad. (Tausug Sentence)
Reflected Muhammad. (Transliteration)
“Muhammad reflected.” (Translation)
FIGURE I. Verb as head word of Tausug VP
In Figure 1, VP (verb phrase,) is a constituent of the sentence Naghuna-huna hi Muhammad, which has a verb naghunahuna (reflected) as its member. It is then noted that a single-word verb like naghunahuna functions as a verb phrase since it is a constituent of a verb phrase whose main member is a verb.
VP
NP
Nanga kahuy hi Sala. (Tausug Sentence)
Got woods Sala. (Transliteration)
“Sala got woods.” (Translation)
FIGURE 2. The structure of Tausug VP (V+NP)
It is also shown in Figure 2 that the Tausug verb phrase has verb (V) + noun phrase (NP) as constituents. This shows that the verb phrase is composed of the verb nanga and noun phrase kahuy. It is noted then that the verb is on its head-initial position, which means that it comes on the left side of the verb phrase.
TABLE I. V + PP of Tausug VP
Verb Phrase | Literal English Translation
limingi pa taykuran niya | Turned to his back
minuwi pa bay | Went home
Kita sin mga malaikat | Saw by the angels
Table 1 shows that the Tausug verb phrase has verb (V) + prepositional phrase (PP) as constituents. Figures 3 and 4 show that the verbs appear on the left of the verb phrase, followed by the prepositional phrase, which has preposition and noun phrase as immediate constituents. It could be noticed also that in Figure 4, the noun phrase taykuran niya has noun + determiner structure, unlike English, which follows the determiner + noun structure.
** SEE PDF FILE FOR FIGURE 3. FIGURE 4 **
Table 2 shows that the Tausug verb phrase has verb (V) and adverbial phrase (AdvP) as its constituents. The verb phrase has head-first pattern which means that the verb appears on the left side of the verb phrase.
TABLE Z. V AdvP of Tausug VP
Verb Phrase | English Translation
Yukat magtuy | Separated immediately
Nagsilawak magtuy | Shouted immediately
Namayta magtuy | Told immediately
Diya na | Brought already
Nagjanji magtuy | Agreed immediately
Figure 5 represents the structure of the verb phrase Yukat magtuy (separated immediately). Yukat and magtuy are shown to be constituents of the verb phrase, consisting of a verb Yukat (separated) and adverbial phrase magtuy (immediately). It is noted then that the single-word adverb magtuy is labeled as an AdvP, since its main member is an adverb.
** SEE PDF FILE FOR FIGURE 5.**
Findings revealed that a Tausug verb phrase has verb, verb + noun phrase, verb + prepositional phrase, and verb + adverbial phrase as constituents:
Tausug VP V
V + NP
V + PP
V + AdvP
To discuss further the Bahasa Sug syntax, the sentence below is provided which shows that Tausug can stand without verbs.
Malingkat in badju niya.
Beautiful dress her.
“Her dress is beautiful.”
[AP Malingkat] [DP in badju [PRN niya].
The sentence Malingkat in badju niya shows that a Tausug sentence is headed by an adjectival phrase (AP) which has malingkat (beautiful), and a derived adjective as constituent. Then, it is followed by the determiner phrase (DP) in badju (the dress) which follows the structure det + noun. Niya functions as a pronoun (PRN) in this sentence, and not part of the determiner phrase in badju since DP is canonically headed by a determiner in. Hence, the Tausug sentence has the following phrase structure rules:
S = AP + DP + PRN
AP = A
DP = det N
PRN
= pro
The structure of the sentence below provides a deeper understanding of Bahasa Sug sentence.
** SEE PDF FILE FOR Structure**
The sentence Miyadtu hi Sajed pa Cavite, which is termed as tense phrase (TP) by Chomsky (1993), reveals that a Tausug sentence is a predicate-initial language, thus the TP has T’ only as constituent. Under T’ are the T Miyadtu and the verb phrase (VP) hi Sajed pa Cavite. The verb miyadtu, which is in the completed aspect, is moved to T, which is the sister of VP. Miyadtu (`went’) serves as the head of the sentence. The VP has DP hi Sajed and PP (prepositional phrase) pa Cavite as constituents. The DP hi Sajed, which is the subject, is part of the VP, and follows the Subject Internal Hypothesis. The subject is located after the verb Miyadtu (`went’). The PP pa Cavite has the structure preposition + noun phrase. The preposition pa signals location in Bahasa Sug.
Miyadtu hi Sajed pa Cavite.
[ went agent location ]
*Miyadtu hi Sajed.
Our discussion about Tausug grammar would not be complete without discussing about semantics, the study of sentence meaning.
The sentence Miyadtu hi Sajed pa Cavite (`Sajed went to Cavite’) has two arguments based on the feature of the verb miyadtu (`went’), making it grammatical. The verb miyadtu ‘went’ is a transitive verb and requires two arguments, in this case, agent and locative arguments. The DP hi Sajed serves as the agent argument and the PP pa Cavite as locative argument. Miyadtu hi Sajed (`Sajed went’) is ungrammatical since it does not answer the query: “Where did Sajed go?” Thus, it requires the locative argument.
** SEE PDF FILE FOR Structure**
Kimaun hi Karim baulu.
“Karim ate a baulu.”
Another Bahasa Sug sentence Kimaun hi Karim baulu (Karim ate a baulu’) manifests that Bahasa Sug is a predicate-initial language as seen in the structure with T’ as the only daughter of TP. The T’ has T Kimaun and VP hi karim baulu as constituents. The sentence is headed by the verb Kimaun (`ate’) which is in the completed aspect. The subject hi Karim which has the structure D + NP is part of the VP, and follows the Subject Internal Hypothesis.
Kimaun hi Karim baulo
[ ate agent theme ]
*Kimaun hi Karim.
The Bahasa Sug sentence Kimaun hi Karim baulu satisfies the required arguments based on the characteristic of the verb kimaun (`ate’). The verb kimaun requires two arguments, the agent and thematic arguments. The agent argument, the DP hi Karim, answers the query as to who ate the baulu, a Tausug delicacy. The thematic argument, the NP baulu, answers the question as to what Karim ate.
To judge the grammaticality of a Bahasa Sug sentence, one should know not just the structure, but also the argument.
Conclusion
Few studies are done on Bahasa Sug and these are focused on lexicography, linguistics, and literature. As studied, Bahasa Sug is a predicate-initial language. The Bahasa Sug sentence is basically composed of a VP and a DP. The VP contains the determiner phrase, prepositional phrase, and adverbial phrase. The determiner phrase has determiner and noun phrase as constituents; a prepositional phrase has preposition and noun phrase as constituents, adverbial phrase has adverb as constituent, and adjectival phrase has adjective as constituent. The verb carries specific arguments which must be observed to make the statements grammatical. Like the nations with royalty in Southeast Asia, it is of great importance that the Philippines preserve its indigenous languages. Thus, further studies must be done to preserve Bahasa Sug, a royal language.