486 Chapter 15 Speech levels
C: Iya sengko' lakar tao ja' ba'na ma-toron monyet. Mara
yes I indeed know COMP you AV.CS-get down monkey HORT
edhing-agi!
hear-AGI
‘Yes, I know indeed that you got rid of the monkey. Now listen to me!’
In this exchange between brothers , the younger brother addresses Campaka, his
older brother, using tengnga'an nape ‘what’ and bula ‘I’ as a moderate show of
respect for the difference in age. Campaka, as the older speaking to the younger
brother, responds in kasar (as indicated by the underscored words in the second
sentence).
A shift of levels within a single dialogue is illustrated in the following
passage from Ke Moko. In it, the King of Palembang is offering a Makassarese
trader his daughter’s hand in marriage as a reward for the trader’s helping rid
the kingdom of disease. Earlier in the story, Rato Palembang (RP) addresses the
trader in kasar. But in this passage the king shifts to tengnga'an speech and in
the following line alos. This entire passage indicates first the change in their
relationship (from king/commoner to father-in-law and son-in-law) and second
the understanding of the special powers of the trader (which he developed
through his kiai, Ke Moko).
RP: Mon dika endha’, dha-ngodh-an dhari Makassar, jaragan bi’ bula
if you want RED-young-NOM from Makassar owner with I
e-kala’-a manto.
OV-take-IRR son-in-law
‘If you want, young man from Makassar, I will take you as my
son-in-law.’
Tape badha sarad-da sampeyan kodu a-pareng lamar-an
but exist requirement-DEF you must AV-give propose-NOM
gallu.
before
‘But first you must give an engagement gift.’
In the first line, the king uses the tengnga'an pronouns dika ‘you’ and bula ‘I’
(marked by the dotted underscore). In the next line, the king shifts to the alos
pronoun sampeyan and refers to the action of giving by the Makassarese trader,
the addressee, using the alos tenggi pareng ‘give’. This passage marks the shift
in the relationship between the two men from the perspective of the king.
Finally, in a dialogue among acquaintances of equal status, such as the
two cousins Tandha Anggre' and Tandha Serrat (from the story of the same
name), kasar is used throughout. In this passage Tandha Serrat challenges