Evolution of verbal morphology in Balinese

Abstract

This thesis is a comparative historical study of the Old Balinese language, (the language known from Balinese inscriptions, no longer spoken). and Modern Balinese, including Modern Standard Balinese and Modern Mountain Balinese. The evolution of verbal morphology in Balinese is the major concern of this study. A version of 'Role and Reference Grammar' (Foley and van Valin. 1984) is developed to describe Balinese morpho-syntactic relations. This thesis illustrates the potential value of that theory for diachronic analysis. Some modifications are suggested for the Balinese case, e.g. two pragmatic functions are distinguished for nominals, TOPIC and FOCUS. These interact with the theory's two semantic macro-roles, ACTOR and UNDERGOER. Modern Standard Balinese is described in both its form and social functions. Historically, Old Balinese has been influenced by Sanskrit and Old Javanese, borrowings from Sanskrit and Old Javanese are discussed. Most of the Sanskrit words which occur in Modem Balinese are used in high level ('Basa Alus'). However, Old Javanese lexical items which still exist in Modem Standard Balinese. belong to both low level ('Basa Kasar') and high level ('Basa Alus'). The Old and Modem Balinese phonological systems are discussed in order to explain morphological changes. A comprehensive quantitative analysis of Modern and old Balinese syllabic types is presented. Data show that 90% of Modem Balinese and 84% of Old Balinese root morphemes are bisyllabic. The maximal monosyllabic canonic syllable pattern is C₁ (C₂) V (V) (C₃). The correspondences between Old Balinese graphemes and the Modern Balinese phoneme system are analysed to assist in determining the Old Balinese phoneme system. Old Balinese spelling variation is also considered. The morphological processes of Old Balinese are compared with Modem Balinese, to understand the morphological changes that have occurred in Balinese. Evidence from the Old Balinese and Modern Balinese shows that for some affixes few changes of function and meaning have taken place. Sometimes multiple Old Balinese affixes merge into a single affix in Modem Balinese. Certain other affixes in Old Balinese have shifted functions and meanings. as compared with the Modern Balinese. These affixes have been replaced by other affixes which have similar functions and meanings. Quantitative morpho-syntactic comparison is presented. Old and Modern Balinese data show three patterns: (i) verb-initial constructions, (ii) ACTOR- initial constructions, and (iii) UNDERGOER-initial constructions. It appears that the [A VTRANs U] construction is more frequent than the [VTRANS A U] construction both in Old and Modem Balinese; and that ACTOR-initial constructions have increased in frequency over the past thousand years. Show more