Use of the vocabularies 477
al adverb ampon, and the verb anglo ‘hurt’ are all different from the kasar sen-
tence. Comparing (13) and (16) reveals that as was true of (11)/(14), the words
describing the referent are not different (both use alos tenggi as the person re-
ferred to is the King), but the temporal adverb and definite article are different
as this situation calls for alos speech. These sentences clearly demonstrate the
distinction between alos and alos tenggi usage.
The pair of sentences in (12) and (15) reveal what at first seems to be a bit
of a contradiction. While the alos variant includes different lexical items for
‘what’ (ponapa), the definite marker (-epon), and the personal pronoun (pan-
jennengngan) as is expected, the words associated with the referent of the state
of affairs are also different. This is not true of (11) and (14). The important dif-
ference in this case is, however, the fact that the addressee is a person of higher
status and thus should be described using alos tenggi vocabulary.
If alos tenggi words are used in place of kasar (or biyasa) vocabulary in
an a setting appropriate for alos speech, the sentences are not acceptable. Thus,
all of the sentences in (17) are ill-formed alos sentences and should not be used
in place of (14).
(17) a. Gulu-epon kaula ampon ta' nganglo pole.
b. Gulu-epon kaula ampon ta' songkan pole.
c. *Le'er-epon kaula ampon ta' nganglo pole.
(My neck doesn’t hurt anymore.)
The ill-formed sentences in (17) demonstrate the inappropriateness of using alos
tenggi vocabulary to refer to oneself.^6 Likewise, alos vocabulary cannot substi-
tute for kasar vocabulary simply because the referent of the relevant state of
affairs is a person to be honored. Thus, (16), while acceptable as an alos sen-
tence, cannot be used in a kasar environment; that is, ampon ‘already’ and the
definite marker -epon are inappropriate in kasar speech.
(^6) Maukmam (2007) offers a number of examples such as this, including the following
pair:
(i) a. *Pottra kaula songkan ampon tello are.
son I sick already three day
(My son has been sick for three days.)
b. Ana' kaula anglo ampon tello are.
child I sick already three day
‘My child has been sick for three days.’
In the ill-formed sentence in (ia) the alos tenggi word pottra 'son' is ill-formed as the
child being referred to is the speaker's child. Also, the alos tenggi word songkan 'sick'
has been used to refer to the condition of one's own child rather than the appropriate
alos word anglo.