Clause Structure and Types in Mëranaw

Abstract

This paper describes the clause structure and types of Mëranaw (ISO 639-3: mrw). Mëranaw, or more commonly known as Maranao, is a Philippine language prevalently spoken in almost all of Lanao del Sur province and in some areas in Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, and North Cotabato (Eberhard, Simons, & Fennig, 2022). The internal structure of clauses in Mëranaw is typologically similar to that of most Philippine languages. It is left-branching and predicate-initial—that is, it begins from the left and with a predicate that is followed by (pro)nominal arguments. In terms of clause types, they are divided according to predicate heads and pragmatic function. Furthermore, the predicate slot in Mëranaw is not only limited to verb phrases; it can also be filled by nonverbal ones such as noun phrases, adjective phrases, and even prepositional phrases. On the other hand, clauses in Mëranaw categorized through pragmatic function include existential, possessive, and locative clauses, negation, and interrogative clauses.