Overview of Ilokano Sentence Structures: A Minimalist Approach
I. IntroductionThis paper is an attempt to describe the structure of Ilokano sentences, concurring with the Minimalist program proposed by Noam Chomsky. The Philippine language being considered is under the Northern Philippine subgroup with an estimated 8,000,000 speakers (NSO, 2002-2004). This study is patterned mainly after the Tagalog Sentence Structures: Minimalist Approach of Resty Cena. In this syntactic description, an overview of the language's lexical phrases will be given for starters. It will move on to defining, classifying and describing the basic sentences of the languages. Errors on this study are solely the author's.
II. Lexical PhrasesLexical phrases are headed by a lexical item (as opposed to functional item). Some common lexical phrases in Ilokano are:HeadDPdeterminer phrasedetermineramin dagiti mannalon(lahat ng mga magsasaka)PPpreposition phraseprepositiontalaga nga para iti ubinga(talagang para sa bata)APadjective phraseadjective rootadayu a nalalaing nga estudyante(higit na mas magaling na estudyante)VPverb phraseverb rootkanayun a gumatang ti arak(bumili ng alak)NPnoun phrasenounnapintas a balasang idiay simbaan(magandang dilag sa simbahan)Determiner Phrase (DP)The determiner phrase is headed by a determiner. Noun phrases serve as complement, and quantifier phrases and adjectival phrases typically serve as specifier.
amin dagiti mannalon (lahat ng mga magsasaka)DP/ D' QPQuantifier phrase serves as specifier/ aminD NP Determiner dagiti is head of the phrasedagiti mannalonThe set of determiner consists of the particles enumerated in the following table.
Ilokano MarkersSingularPluralSingularPluralNon-personaltidagitiiti / idiaykadagiti / kadagidiayPersonalnidaken nikadaLater, we will look more closely at the range of structures that come under DP , like the following:dagiti panday (ang mga panday)idiay dakkel a balay na (sa malaking bahay niya)idiay balay ni Ben (sa kay Ben na bahay)dagiti panday nga agar-aramid ti kanyon (ang mga panday na
II. Lexical PhrasesLexical phrases are headed by a lexical item (as opposed to functional item). Some common lexical phrases in Ilokano are:HeadDPdeterminer phrasedetermineramin dagiti mannalon(lahat ng mga magsasaka)PPpreposition phraseprepositiontalaga nga para iti ubinga(talagang para sa bata)APadjective phraseadjective rootadayu a nalalaing nga estudyante(higit na mas magaling na estudyante)VPverb phraseverb rootkanayun a gumatang ti arak(bumili ng alak)NPnoun phrasenounnapintas a balasang idiay simbaan(magandang dilag sa simbahan)Determiner Phrase (DP)The determiner phrase is headed by a determiner. Noun phrases serve as complement, and quantifier phrases and adjectival phrases typically serve as specifier.
amin dagiti mannalon (lahat ng mga magsasaka)DP/ D' QPQuantifier phrase serves as specifier/ aminD NP Determiner dagiti is head of the phrasedagiti mannalonThe set of determiner consists of the particles enumerated in the following table.
Ilokano MarkersSingularPluralSingularPluralNon-personaltidagitiiti / idiaykadagiti / kadagidiayPersonalnidaken nikadaLater, we will look more closely at the range of structures that come under DP , like the following:dagiti panday (ang mga panday)idiay dakkel a balay na (sa malaking bahay niya)idiay balay ni Ben (sa kay Ben na bahay)dagiti panday nga agar-aramid ti kanyon (ang mga panday na
Bibliography: ena, R.M. (2006). Overview of Tagalog Sentence Structures: Minimalist Approach. Lecture Notes inLinguistics 140, 2nd semester, 2006-2007. University of the Philippines, DilimanIlocos Sur 's Population Growth Rate Doubled After 5 Years. (2002). Retrieved fromhttp://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2002/pr0244tx.html on March 29, 2007.