Functional Grammar of Nunggubuyu

341 Pages·1984·35.766 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Heath

Functional grammar of
Nunggubuyu
Jeffrey Heath
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
Canberra 1984
Published in Australia by the
Contents
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies,
GPO Box 553, Canberra, ACT 2601.
Sold and distributed in North and South America by
Humanities Press Inc., 171 First Avenue,
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716.
The views expressed in this publication are those of
the author and not necessarily those of the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
~Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1984.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private
study, research, criticism or review, as permitted
under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication TABLES/FIGURES/TEXT xi
may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without
ABBREVIATIONS/SYMBOLS xiii
the written permission of the publisher.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
AlAS new series no. 53
1.1 The Nunggubuyu people 1
1.2 Main features of the language 1
National Library of Australia 1.3 The data base and its usage here 4
Cataloguing-in-Publication data: 1.4 Use of this grammar 6
1.5 Acknowledgements 7
Heath, Jeffrey.
Functional grammar of Nunggubuyu. CHAPTER 2 SEGMENTAL PHONETlCS/PHONOLOGY 9
Includes index. 2.1 Vowel segments 9
2.2 Vowel archiphoneme /V/ and other
ISBN 0 85575 157 6.
problematic cases 10
1. Nunggubuyu language - Grammar. 2.3 Consonantal segments 11
I. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. 2.4 Consonant archiphonemes /G/ and /N/ 13
II. Title. 2.5 Paired stops and continuants;
the problem of /wl/ and /w2/ 14
499' .15
2.6 Distributional restrictions: vowels 17
2.7 Distributional restrictions:
initial and final C, CC 18
2.8 Distributional restrictions: medial CC clusters 20
2.9 CCC clusters 30
2.10 Phonologically significant phoneme classes 31
2.11 Intonation and pitch contour 32
2.12 /0:/ 33
CHAPTER 3 PHONOLOGICAL RULES 35
3.1 General
35
3.2 ngu-Epenthesis P-l
35
3.3 Initial Reduplication P-2 37
3.4 Final Reduplication P-3 41
84 06 1000 3.5 Homorganic Semivowel-Deletion p-4 42
Printed in Australia by Brown Prior Anderson Pty Ltd, Melbourne 3.6 Initial Semivowel-Insertion P-5 46
3.7 wI-Insertion p-6 46
ii
iii
47 4.5 Place names (toponyms) 156
3.8 w-Insertion :-7 48 4.6 Inflection and derivation 159
3.9 Velar-Insertlon p-8 50 4.7 NC (noun-class) prefixes: forms 159
3.10 wl-Deletion P-9 53 4.8 Uses of NCinfl prefixes 163
3.11 y-Insertion P-10 . 53 4.9 Uses of NCder prefixes; defective (bound) roots 173
3.12 Prefixal w2-D~letlon P-ll 55 4.10 Semantics of NC categories: human 177
3.13 Stern w2-Deletl~n P-12 56 4.11 Semantics of nonhuman NC categories: NA, NgARA 179
3.14 wl-Palatalisatlon P-13 57 4.12 Semantics of nonhuman NC categories: WARA 185
3.15 yr-Contraction p-14 57 4.13 Semantics of nonhuman NC categories:
3.16 iy-Contraction P-15 58 ANA¢, ANAwu, and MANA 186
3.17 Lenition p-16 62 4.14 Types of reduplication 193
3.18 ~igu-Lenition P-17 62 4.15 Regular number-marking 195
3.19 Hardening p-18 . 64 4.16 Minor plural markers: Iman-/,!-mulung-I,
g g
33 .. 2201 LPeroftnwoamrdin-Hala rdd-eI.nmsnegr tP'l -O1~9 P -20 6656 4.17 Multip/l-ew ~/-awngl/a,r a/(-Gy)u-n/, /,P 1 anind te-nysinifYiuenr // -lhangu/ 119978
3.22 Derivational d-Insertlon P-2l 66 4.18 Case system: general 199
3.23 Nasalisation P-22 67 4.19 Nominative /-¢/ 200
3.24 Denasalisat~on P-23 68 4.20 Allative-Dative /-wluy/;
3.25 rn-Contractlon p-24 68 direct vs. indirect object 201
3.26 r-Deletion P-:5 69 4.21 Ablative /-wlala/ 203
3.27 palatal-D~l~tlo~ p-26 70 4.22 Special nuclear uses of /-wluy/ and /-wlala/ 204
3.28 Nasal-Asslmllat~on P-27 71 4.23 Pergressive /-w2aj/ and Retrospective
3.29 Semivowel-Deletlon P-28 72 Pergressive /-wlaj/ 205
3.30 Stop-Deleti~n P-29 73 4.24 Purposive!--YUngguyung/ 208
3.31 Nasal-Deletlon P-~O 74 4.25 Locative -ruj/ . 208
3.32 Geminate-Con~rac~lon P-3l 75 4.26 Ablative-Pergressive /-wlala-waj/ 210
3.33 lh_Delaterallsatlon.P-32 76 4.27 Instrumenta~-miri/ 210
3.34 Initial Nasal-Deletlon :-33 76 4.28 Originative -mira:dhu/ 212
3 35 Feminine Prefix-Truncatlon P-34
76 4.29 Similative -yi:/ 212
3:36 Prefix-Truncation P-35 78 4.30 Relative /-yinYung/ 213
3.37 rV-Truncati~n P-36 79 4.31 Vocatives 217
3.38 V-Assimilatlon P-37 80 4.32 Postpositions: /-W2ugij/, /-maji:/,
3.39 V-Ablaut P-38 . P 86 /-w indi:yung/, /-maga:/, i-magi/ 217
3.40 Interjection-Formatlon -39 86 4.33 Nouns use~ as abstractives: /wunga:ri/,
3.41 Rdp-Shortenin~ p-40 87 /wumangumangu/, /wungali/, /bari/, /lhaEug/,
3.42 Nonsg-Shortenl~ P-4l 87 /wungubal/, /wuyungguwan/, /galij/ 218
3.43 Adverb-Shorten~g p-42 88 4.34 Nominal affixes used with other word-classes 219
3.44 Length-Shift p-43 . p-44 88
3.45 Monosyllable-~engthenlng 91 CHAPTER 5 KIN TERMS 221
3.46 Verb-Lengthenlng p-45 92
3.47 V-Truncation p-46 93 5.1 General 221
5.2 Stern morphology 224
3.48 yi-Elision P-~7 93 g
3 49 w2an-Contractlon P-48 94 5.3 Dual /-w2a:/ and /-w2i:yun / 228
3:50 vv-Contraction P-49 101 5.4 Further analysis of stern forms 228
3 51 V-Fronting P-50 106 5.5 NPs with separate expression of propositus 230
3:52 Order of application . 142 5.6 Dyadic kin terms 231
3 53 Diagrams of rule orderlng 144 5.7 Bereavement terms and avoidance style 233
3:54 Final remarks on phonology 5.8 Markedness relations; choice of propositus 234
g
5.9 Suffix sequence /-lhara-yun / 234
151
5.10 Kinship subcategories; body-part metonyms 234
CHAPTER 4 NOUN MORPHOLOGY
151 5.11 Nonhuman kin terms and compounds 237
4.1 General 152 5.12 Kinship verbs 238
Cornmon and adjectival nouns
4.2 154
4.3 Adverbial nouns 155
4.4 Personal names, including necronyms
v
iv
CHAPI'ER 6 PERSONAL PRONOUNS 241 7.24 Extent DemAdv in / -ga-waj~ 327
Y
7.25 Type derivatives:!.i:-jun /~ /i:-jin /,
6.1 General 241 g g
/i:-jinYun , /bu-junJun / 327
6.2 Stem forms 242
7.26 Perspective shift 328
6.3 Uses of Nominative pronouns 245
7.27 Demonstrative categories associated with
6.4 Uses of Relative case forms of pronouns 248
pronominal persons 331
6.5 Unsuffixed Oblique stem (predicate genitive) 250
7.28 Deictic measures of distance: /ngunYju ... nga ... / 332
6.6 Other nonzero case forms 251
7.29 Cardinal directions: compass points, up/down 333
6.7 Vocatives 253
g 7.30 Postpositions with demonstratives: /-w ugij/,
6.8 Contrastive /-ayun /, /-ayung-gaj/ 254 2
/-lhangu/, /-w2indi:yung/, /-maga:/,
6.9 Emphatic /-waj/, /-waj-baj/ 261
/-magi/, /-maji:/ 334
6.10 Sequential /-abilhangu/ 264
7.31 Temporal orientation 335
6.11 Lateral derivatives 265
6.12 Suffix /-miri/ 266
6.13 Postpositions: /-w ugij/, /-maji:/, etc. 266 CHAPTER 8 OUTLINE OF THE VERBAL INFLECTJDNAL SYSTEM 337
2
6.14 Interaction of pronominal and 8.1 Tense-Aspect-Mood-Negativity categories 337
demonstrative categories 267 8.2 Formal expression of the categories 338
8.3 Aspect 340
CHAPTER 7 DEMONSTRATIVES 269 8.4 Verb reduplication 341
8.5 Imperative 343
7.1 General 269
7.2 Forms of predicative (unprefixed) DemPro 271 8.6 Past Potential 345
8.7 Evitative 346
7.3 Forms of nonpredicative (prefixed) DemPro 274
7.4 Uses of predicative and nonpredicative DemPro 278
7.5 Centripetal I-alai, Centrifugal I-alii, CHAPI'ER 9 PRONOMINAL PREFIXES WITH VERBS 347
Transverse / -waj/ 281 9.1 General 347
7.6 Concrete /-u/ 287 9.2 Additional phonological modifications 350
g
7.7 Absolute /-yun / and Absolute Dual /-yum-ba:/ 291 9.3 Formal internal analysis of pronominal prefixes 360
7.8 Centripetal plus Ablative: /an-uba-ni:-'la-wala/ 295 9.4 Direct, inverse, and equipollent
g
7.9 /-ala-yun /, /-ala-yung-gala/, transitive prefixes 362
~-ala-YUng-gala-Waj/ 296 9.5 Ca tegorial neutralisat ions in transitive prefixes 363
7.10 /-yun -gaj/ 297 9.6 Portmanteaus 363
7.11 Demonstrative adverbs (DemAdv) in general 298 9.7 The pronominal hierarchy and
7.12 Locative DemAdv in /-ji/,/-gU/ 299 morpheme ordering rules 366
7.13 Allative DemAdv in /-guni 303 9.8 B-Insertion and Inverse-Insertion 368
7.14 Directional DemAdv in /-u-wuy/ 307 9.9 Deletions of component morphemes
g
7.15 Centripetal DemAdv in I-alai, /-ala-yun / 309 within pronominal prefixes 369
7.16 Centrifugal DemAdv in I-alii 313 9.10 A morpheme conversion rule ( .... Pl- becomes -Nonsg-) 372
7.17 Pergressive DemAdv in /-waj/, /-waj-gaj/, 9.11 Allomorph-Assignment for component morphemes 372
/-wlala-waj/ 314 9.12 Nominative-accusative or ergative-absolutive
7.18 Case suffixes with DemAdv and DemPro: patterning?
375
Locative /-ruj/ 317
7.19 Case suffixes with DemAdv and DemPro: CHAPI'ER 10 VERBAL DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES 377
Instrumental / -miri/ 318
10.1 General
7.20 Case suffixes with DemAdv and DemPro:!.-mira:dhu/, 377
g 10.2 Benefactive /-aG-/ or /-wa:G-/ 377
/-wlala/, /-WyUy~, /-yungguyun ,
10.3 Comitative /-anYji-/ 381
/ -yi: /, / -yin un / 320
10.4 Multiple prefixes: /-ngaran-/ or /-ngaraG-/,
7.21 Lateral DemAdv and DemPro: /ya:-ji-ji:-'la/,
/-wlara-/ o;<-wlaraG-/, /-lhagara-/,
/ya:-ji-ji:-'li/, /wa-ga-ga:-'la/,
/-wlaragara- , /-w algara-/ 383
/wa-ni:-'la/, etc. 322 2
10.5 Reflexive suffix /-i-// 389
7.22 'Facing here/away/' derivatives /-bu-gunu:-'/,
10.6 Reciprocal suffix /-nYji-/ 391
!buguwugunu:/, /ba-ga:-'la/,
10.7 Causative suffix /-jga-/, /-jgi-/ 393
/bagawaga:la/, g/bagawaga:lu:/ 325 10.8 Inchoative verbalising suffixes /-ma-/, /-Wli-'-/,
7.23 Companrls with /mulun -/ 'group' and
/-w2i-/, /-dhi-/ 395
Gentilic /nuN-/ 326
vi vii
Y
10.9 Factitive /-wla-/, /-ga-/ 398 13.4 jyangi-maYi~ /nun -~angi-maYi/ '(of) what place?' '457
10.10 Minor derivational affixes: 'together' prefixes 13.5 /yangi-nYun /, /gan i-nYum-ba:/,
/-anggara-/, /-albunguN-/, /-ilbuN-/, /yanga-yan i/ 'who?' 457
/-ambirwir-/, /-w~aji-/; 13.6 /-ngarg~ 'how much?, how many?' 458
suffixes /-ja-/, /-dha-/, /-mi-/ 400 13.7 /lhal-n argu/ 'when?' 459
10.11 Combinations of two or more derivational affixes 402 13.8 Interrogative-demonstratives 459
13.9 Interro~ative verb /=yaminggari-/ 461
CHAPl'ER 11 VERBAL INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES 407 13.10 /(w)a:n / 'whatchamacallit?' 461
11.1 General 407
CHAPI'ER 14 COMPOUNDS AND SIMILAR DERIVATIVES 463
11.2 Verb classes 407
11.3 Identification of suffix allomorphs 412 14.1 Classification of cpds. 463
11.4 Identification of stem-final vowel 414 14.2 Special cpd. initials 465
11.5 YA class augments 415 14.3 Special cpd. finals 468
11.6 Suppletive verbs: 'to come', 'to go' 415 14.4 Auxiliary compound finals: /-w2u-/ and others 469
11.7 Aspectual subsystems in the 14.5 Nc-NAdj and (rare) Nc-Nc cpds. 471
inflectional affixation 416 14.6 Grammatical relation of nominal cpd. initial 472
11.8 Assignment of verbs to inflectional classes 417 14.7 Derivational layering (double cpds., etc.) 475
11.9 Textual attestations (selected) 421 14.8 Discourse uses of productive cpds. 477
14.9 Transitivity changes accompanying compounding 478
CHAPl'ER 12 PARTICLES AND POSTPOSITIONS 423 14.10 Unmarked (dummy) cpd. initials: /-w1ara-!,
/-lhalma-/, /-ngagara-/, /~rangga-/,
12.1 Definitions: particle, postposition,
/-WUEugu-/, /-malangaG-/, /:aG-/ 480
enclitic particle 423
14.11 Gentilic /nuN-/ 481
12.2 Verbal root forms 423
14.12 Special nuclear initials: /bala-/ 'side',
12.3 /a£aba/ or jabal 'now, then' (immediate) 425
/malG-/ 'time(s), , /agalhal-/ 'season',
12.4 /mari/ or /nga/ 'and' 426
/lhal-/ 'country, place' 482
12.5 /wuruguL 'later' 430
g 14.13 /wlandha-/ 'craving', /anYji-/ 'being with'
12.6 /ngijan / 'more, again, further' 430
as cpd. initials 482
12.7 AnticiPatorY/Yingga/, /araga/ 'suddenly',
14.14 Proprietive derivation: reduplication
/giya: 'lo~k out:'" g" 431 and suffix /-yij/ 483
12.8 Confirmative par~lcles: (~l~aJ/, (n,ublndl/ 434 14.15 Nc or NAdj nominaliser /-j/
12.9 Exhortative partlcles: /jlrl/, /wlll/,
g (with or without reduplication) 484
/nga:ban /, /ma/ 434 14.16 Abstractive nominalisations: /-j/, /-nY/ 486
12.10 Concessive /wulguy/, Adversative /yagu/ 435
14.17 Special reduplications of /anYbaj/
12.11 Dubitatives /aEi/, /muga/, /nga:lhug/ 438 'other, different' 486
12.12 jyaga:/ 439 14.18 Cpd. initial /-malangaG-/ 'considerably, very' 487
12.13 Similative /ngunYju/ 'like, as' 440
14.19 Actor-indexing cpd. initials for myth characters 487
12.14/arbidi/ 'anyway' (noun) 442
14.20 Special PI/Collective initials with verbs and
12.15 Enclitic /yamba/ 'because' y g 442 g
NAdj: /-man-/, /-mandag-/, /-mulun -/ 488
12.16 Emotive exclamations: /a£uga/, Ian jawalayun / 444
14.21 Root nouns (participial, agentive);
12.17 Terminal particle /wi:ya:/ 'that's all:' 445
Negative final /-aEi/ 490
12.18 Affirmative particles: /yao:/, /i:/ 445 14.22 /-w alij/ 'pair of'
12.19 Self-correcting /gada:/ 446 2 491
14.23 Diminutives (compounded or by
12.20 Exclamations: 19ao:7, /way:/, /gay:/,
consonantal "symbolism") 492
/yay:/, /gaga:/, /yagay:/ 446
14.24 Irregular and problematiC sets
493
12.21 Postpositions: !-w ugij/, /-maji:/, /gmaga:/,
2 14.25 Numerals; /anYja:-'nYja:-'nYja:bugij/
/-magi/, /-w2indi:yung/, /-lhan u/ 447
'one by one' 494
CHAPl'ER 13 INTERROGATIVES 453
g
13.1 Yes/no particles: /yu:ga/, /aliyun /, /ala/ 453
13.2 WH interrogatives: general remarks 454
13.3 /yangi/ 'what?' 455
viii ix
497 TABLES
SYNTAX: "PHRASE" AND "CLAUSE" LEVEL
CHAPTER 15
497
15.1 General 497 ~ ~
15.2 Status of "NP" 2-1 Consonant Phonemes 12 9-3 ISg Object Prefixes 349
506
15.3 Status of "VP" . . 2-2 Final Consonants 19 9-4 lExPl Object Prefixes 350
15.4 Basic word order patterns wlthln 507 2-3 Intervocalic CIC2 9-5 lInDu Object Prefixes 350
breath/intonation groups 4 Clusters 21-22 9-6 lInPl Object Prefixes 351
15.5 St a t us of "clause"; double-pr"e dicate construction 51 4-1 Forms of Noun-Glass 9-7 2Sg Object Prefixes 351
15.6 Negation, "negative cont~xt, Prefixes 160 9-8 2Pl Object Prefixes 352
and aspectual skewlng 554109 4-2 Correlation of NCinfl Form 9-9 3Pl/WARA Object
Conjunction (of nouns, etc.) with Case Category 164
15.7 Prefixes 353-354
545
15.8 Possession 4-3 NCde7 Paradigm of 9-10 3MSg Object Prefixes 355
15.9 Grammatical relations; "dummy" subjects 550 /muwaj/ 'name' 174 9-11 NA Object Prefixes 356
g
5-1 Kin-Term Stems 225-228 9-12 3FSg/N ARA Object
557
CHAPTER 16 SYNTAX: COMPLEX CONSTRUCTIONS 5-2 Body-Part Metonyms 235 Prefixes 357
6 Simple clause conjunction and chaining 557 6-1 Personal Pronouns g 243 9-13 ANA¢ Object Prefixes 357
1 .1 Status of "complement" and "subordinated" clauses 558 6-2 Analysis of /-ayun / and 9-14 ANAwu Object Prefixes 358
1166..23 Direct and indirecthqu/o t ~ t·y ong/ 559 7-1 PreNdiocmaitnivateiv De emPrPoron ouns 227525 99--1165 SMAtrNuA cOtubrjee cot fP refixes 359
6 4 Relative clause wit -ylIT un ;
1 . case-spreading from head nOMn 560 7-2 Human Nonpredicative Basic PMs 361
6 Purposive clause with /-~ungguy~n~~ . 570 DemPro 274 11-1 Classes with
16'~ Other case suffix subordlnators. /-ruJ/, /-wlala/, 7-3 Nonhuman Nonpredicative Stem-Final lal 408
DemPro 275-276 11-2 Classes with
1 . /-waj/, /-wluy/, /-mira:dhu/,
/-miri/, / -yi:! 572 7-4 Motion Forms of DemPro 282 Stem-Final iii 408
577 7-5 Frequency of Concrete 11-3 Classes with
1166..78 C'toon dwiatinotn' aclso nstruction 582 Imm Forms 288 Stem-Final lui 409
7-6 Frequency of 11-4 Augment Classes:
1 6 .9 Rough we'n:1i. tuhi vcaolmenptlse moefn tEs nglish matrix verb 584 Absolute /-yung/ 292 Nand YA 409
587 7-7 Locative DemAdv 300 11-5 Classes with Augment
16.10 Comparatives
7-8 Allative DemAdv 303 -nga- 410
589 7-9 Directional DemAdv 307 11-6 Classes with Augments
FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMATICS (TEXT ANALYSIS)
CHAPTER 17 7-10 Centripetal DemAdv 309 -ma-, -ra- 411
17.1 General 589 7-11 Centrifugal DemAdv 313 11-7 Verbs with NonpasiQ -yi: 411
17.2 Remarks on "Text A" 589 7-12 Pergressive DemAdv 315 11-8 Suppletive I=ya(:)-/,
17.3 Information units in Text A 7-13 Other Case Forms of I=Euma-1 'to go' 411
(Echoes, Rephrasings, etc.) 591 DemAdv and DemPro 321-322 12-1 Root Forms 424
602
17.4 Discourse uses of intonation . . 7-14 Lateral DemAdv 13-1 Interrogative-
604
17.5 Referential tracking and disa~blguatlon and DemPro 323 Demonstratives 459
606
17.6 Focus, topic, definiteness, glve~ess 7-15 Cardinal Directions 333 14-1 SpeCial Cpd. Initials 465
17.7 Preposed and "afterthought" constltuents 612 8-1 Verbal Inflectional 14-2 Phonologically Irregular
615
17.8 Compounding in Text A Categories 337 Cpd. Initials 466
17.9 Particles in Text A 617 8-2 Distribution of Suffixal 14-3 Semantic Shifts 467
Categories 338 15-1 Negation of
8-3 Distribution of
Predicative NAdj 523
APPENDICES A and B Prefixes 339 15-2 Lexicalised Negatives 537
621 9-1 Intransitive Prefixes 341 16-1 Case Suffix Adverbial
A. Adaptation of English and Creole borrowings
627 9-2 l~ 2 and 2~ 1 Prefixes 349 Subordinators 573
B. Historical linguistic notes
C. Addenda/Corrigenda to earlier publications 639
647
BI BL IOGRAPHY
651
INDEX
xi
x
Abbreviations and symbols
FIGURES
page
144
3-1 Selected Rule Orderings
145
3-2 Model of Word Structure (Verbs)
223
5-1 Kinship System
270
7-1 Demonstrative Categories
287
7-2 DemPro Motion Axes
305
7-3 DemAdv Motion Axes . . .
15-1 A. Constituent-Negatlon Analysls,
525
B Pruned Clause-Negation Analysis
15-2 L~ping Approach to Clausal and
534
Existential Negatives
16-1 Analyses of Double Noun-and-Verb
565
ReI Sequence
591
17-1 [model of narrative units]
a) book references.
TEXT
NMET Heath, Nunggubuyu Myths and Ethnographic Texts
592-598 TNT Hughes, Tales of the Nunggubuyu Tribe
Text A
MT Hughes, More Tales of the Nunggubuyu Tribe
[see Bibliography, pp. 647-48, for references]
b) phonological symbols
vowel length
morpheme boundary
= boundary before verb root or predicative NAdj
# word boundary (in some rules also stem boundary)
C consonant
G stop archiphoneme, p. 13
L liquid consonant, pp. 24, 134
N nasal consonant or nasal archiphoneme, pp. 13-14
V vowel or vowel archiphoneme
wI /w/ becoming /g/ by Hardening P-18
w /w/ becoming /b/ by Hardening P-18
2
c) other symbols
/ •.. / enclosing phonological transcriptions
// ••. // enclosing underlying or presurface transcriptions
[ ..• ] enclosing phonetic transcriptions
a) 'becomes' in phonological rule
b) subject/object relationship (pronominal prefixes)
morpheme-initial vowel contracted by VV-Contraction P-49
¢ zero (nil morpheme)
d) kinship terms (Chapter 5)
0' male
~ female
[for 'Br', 'Mo', etc., see list p. 221
xiii
xii
e) subscripts (X represent s word/symbol with subscript) Chapter 1
A series pronominal prefix, p. 338ff.
B" " " Introduction
Continuous
derivational
inflectional
Punctual 1 of ANA class or unprefixed[Text AJ
ANAri sub c ass _
ANAP subclass of ANA noun class
usa;~ varies, see Index
f) grammatical 1mm Imme dl"a t e demonstrative
In inclusive person
A A series, p. 338ff. t"
408J Inch Inchoa lve
Al etc. [verb classes, p. L list intonation p. 592ff.
Abl Ablative Loc Locative
Aft afterthought, p. 592ff. M Masculine
All Allative MAl etc. [verb classes, p. 410J 1.1 The Nunggubuyu people.
ANA a noun class MANA a noun class
ANA¢ subclass of ANA MN modifier-nucleus cpd: p. 464 This grammar completes a three-volume series begun with Nunggubuyu
ANAwu other subclass of ANA Mult Multiple deriv. preflx M ths and Ethno ra hic Texts (1980) and Nunggubuyu Dictionary
Anaph Anaphoric demonstrative N noun; a verb class, p. 409 1982 , hereafter referred to as "NMET" and "the dictionary,"
Arg argument, p. 525 NA a noun class respectively.
B B series, p. 338ff. NAdj adjectival noun The two or three hundred people who speak this language with
Backgr background, p. 592ff. NAdv adverbial noun varying degrees of proficiency were formerly hunters and gatherers
Benef Benefactive Nc common noun on the mainland coast of Arnhem Land opposite Groote Eylandt, in
Br broken-off; brother NC noun class the Northern Territory of Australia. The majority of Nunggubuyu
BO Benefactive obj., p. 550 NgARA a noun class p. 410J were settled at Numbulwar Mission in 1952, and it was there that
C clause NgAl etc. [verb classes, most of my fieldwork was done between 1973 and 1977. During the
Caus Causative Nk kin-term noun years immediately before 1952, the Nunggubuyu spent some time at
Centrif Centrifugal demonstr. NM nucleus-modifier cpd. other earlier settlements but, due to periodic outbreaks of friction
Centrip Centripetal demonstr. O/obj. object with the locally dominant groups there and to their culturally
CM component morpheme P-l etc. [phonological rulesJ engrained attachment to their own local territory and its food
cpd. compound[ing initialJ Per Pergressive and ritual resources, they also spent much time in the bush living
Comit Comitative Pl Plural; place their traditional life. Several of my major informants and
Cont Continuous Pred predicate narrators therefore grew up in the bush, and even in the mid seventies
Contr Contrastive pronoun / 6 Pron pronoun " ) spoke little or no English and had made little adjustment to
D demonstrative, p. 42 25 PROP propositus (of kln term European culture (as opposed to European material phenomena).
Dat Dative Rdp reduplicated [cf. p. 342J The present grammar is therefore a record of a living language
DemAdv demonstrative adverb Recip Reciprocal spoken by fully competent adult native speakers for whom this was
DemPro demonstrative pronoun Refl Reflexive still the vernacular of daily life as well as the medium in which
DER derivational, p. 145 Rel Relative traditional culture was expressed.
dir. direct (object) S/Subj Subject Additional information about clans, moieties, rituals, and
Dist Distant demonstrative Sg Singular individual narrators is provided in NMET; indeed, NMET as a whole
Du Dual Tr Trial number is a kind of mini-encyclopedia of traditional Nunggubuyu life, told
Emph Emphatic pronoun TS transitive subject, p. 258 mainly by Nunggubuyu. Since this information is usually not directly
Erg Ergative Ul etc. [verb classes, p. 409J relevant to grammatical matters we do not repeat it here, though
Evit Evitative V verb [in phonology: vowelJ we will discuss the kinship system in Chapter 5, below. Additional
Ex exclusive person VOC vocative (esp. kin term) ethnographic references are given in NMET (pp. 10-12).
F feminine VP verb phrase
Fact Factitive WARA a noun class 1.2 Main features of the language.
HM high monotone, p. 592ff. YA [a verb class, p. 409J
HumSg human singular Although attaching simple typological labels to a language as
11 etc. [verb classes, p. 408J immensely difficult as this one would be arbitrary and unhelpful,
xiv §l.l, §1.2 1
I will try to mention a number of features which characterise it 1) use of a small number of interjection-like "root forms"
and which perhaps cohere with each other in some way, in order to as uninflectable forms with the meaning of an inflected
verb, for certain meanings (§12.2);
provide an initial orientation to readers:
a) word order flexible (§15.4); m) use of some lexical nouns as abstractives with verbal
b) multi-word syntactic units like,NP, VP, and cl~use,are meaning (§4.33);
difficult to justify except as lnformal approxlmatlons n) use of some lexical nouns with agentive meaning (§14.21).
or potentialities (for ex., coreferential elements in a It is equally important to indicate some features of the more
"NP" may be scattered, and can be analysed as appositional), familiar languages which are not present:
see §15.2, §15.3, §15.5; 0) no infinitive or similar reduced complement clause type;
c) intonational/breath groups ('strings') only occasionally p) no productive participial (deverbative) formation;
coincide exactly with (intuitive) "clauses," because of q) no productive verbal noun form (derived from verb);
frequent pauses within a "clause" and because two or more r) no relative-clause construction requiring coreferential
"clauses" may be run together (§15.5); head noun (though such coreference is occasionally overtly
d) direct marking of cases is also rather casual, since marked in the Nunggubuyu "Relative" construction, §16.4);
zero (Nominative) is used for subject and direct object, s) no switch-reference system or other cross-clause rules
and often as an option for other case categories (§4.18ff.); triggered by coreferentiality (for a minor and somewhat
e) elaborate system of noun-class affixation, with different dubious exception see the 'to want' construction described
subsystems used for nouns, pronouns, demonstratives, and in §16.8);
pronominal prefixes (subject-object) in verbs (§4.7ff.); t) no copula;
f) proliferation of morphology, with each word-class (nouns u) no formal distinction between imperative and future (except
of several types, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, for 'come!', §8.5);
cardinal-direction adverbs, verbs) developing its own v) aside from dubious 'to want' construction mentioned in (s),
highly unique set of forms and categories; no complex surface constructions with a "higher" verb
g) direct influence of discourse factors in much of the like 'can', 'must', 'promise to', 'persuade to', etc.
morphology--choice among two series of noun-class prefixes (see §16.9 for Nunggubuyu counterparts);
or absence of prefix (§4.8), use of a whole series of w) no passive or antipassive rules creating demoted (ch~meur)
personal pronoun formations expressing different kinds of nouns (for derivations roughly similar to agentless passive
focus and emphasis (§6.8-10), use of demonstratives and objectless antipassive see §lO.5 and §14.9).
separately marking nuances of discourse status in roots It is not appropriate to launch here into a long typological
(§7.1), prefixes (§7.4), and suffixes (§7.6-7), use of disquisition involving data from many other languages. However, we
reduplication and compounding in some types of repetitions can say that some of these positive and negative features make
of verbs (§8.3-4, §14.8, §17.5-6), use of distinctive sense, either by direct reference to nonlinguistic way of life
intonation patterns (§17.4), and use of a number of particles (use of a few lexical, unsegmentable nouns with abstractive verbal
with framing effects (Chapter 12, §17.9), in addition to or agentive participial meaning, instead of having productive
partial discourse determination of word order (§15.4); deverbative formations, reflecting small number of traditionally
h) extensive morphological and syntactic interactions between institutionalised "activities" and absence of occupational
tense-aspect, mood, and negativity (with effects on specialisation), or by reference to others among the features listed.
noun-class prefixes on nouns and pronominal concord prefixes In particular, the prolific noun-class indexing system (e) and the
on verbs), so that instead of separate formal expression use of discourse-controlled affixation in all major word-classes
these categories tend to blend into interactive configura (g) seem to be centrally important, compensating for (and thus
tions (Chapter 8, §15.6); permitting) fluid word order (a), looseness of phrasal and clausal
i) "possession" not a unified phenomenon, rather an umbrella structure (b-c) , casualness of case marking (d), looseness of
label for a number of quite distinct formal mechanisms, subordination (j-k), and several of the negative features, cf. also
including propositus[Ego-of-reference] indexing in kin the use of noun-class derivational marking for one type of
terms (Chapter 5), derivational ("inner") noun-class "possession" (i).
concord for whole-part harmony (§4.7, §4.9), and genitive In these respects, Nunggubuyu seems to have gone farther than
usage of a broader "Relative" case marker (§4.30, §6.4), even the neighbouring Aboriginal languages which I have also worked
along with special forms for predicate genitive (§6.5), on (Ngandi, Warndarang, Mara, Ritharngu, Dhuwal, etc.). For this
see overall discussion in §15.8; reas~n, and because these publications on Nunggubuyu are much more
j) use of direct rather than indirect quotation (§16.3); detalled and reflect much more effort than earlier ones on those
k) "subordinated" clauses including Relatives having semi languages, it would seem to me that Nunggubuyu is a language which
autonomous status, formally with normal inflected verbs and des~rves recognition by serious typologists, as representing
nouns plus a subordinator (§16.2, §16.4ff.); maxlmal development of a certain discourse/grammatical strategy.
2 §1.2 B §1.2 :3
1.J The data base and its usage here.
Particularly in the case o.f demonstratives (Chapter 7) I fo.und
A casual thumbing-through of chapters in this grammar (except the it necessary in addition to generate statistics about corr~lations
early phonetics/phonology ones) will immediately reveal a large among roots and affixes. I therefore installed a concordance
number of lists of numbers like "15.4.J, 17.5.2/J, TNT 4, MT 6." program in our computing centre at Harvard (the Oxford Co.ncordance
These numbers indicate textual references, and playa major part Project), typed in the more than JOOO tokens of demonstratives in
in the organisation of the present volume (as they did in the NMET with a schematisation of contexts, and produced a working
dictionary). The three-part sequences like "15.4.J" refer to NMET concordan~e ~nd s~at~stical word-list. This material was highly
(i.e., my own texts volume) and indicate text number (15), segment valuable In ldentlfYlng categorical and statistical covariation
number within that text (4), and line of Nunggubuyu text (disregard pattern~ among the mo.rphemes in the demonstrative system, and led
ing English interlinear glosses) within that segment (3). "17.5.2/J" to prevlously unsuspected conclusions about the usage of each
with slash indicates occurrence of the feature in question on both morpheme. Some statistical material is also. given in connection
line 2 and line J of text segment 17.5, while "17.5.2-J" indicates with no.uns (Chapter 4), though in that case the problems were mere
that the feature spills over from line 2 into line J. "TNT" manageable without computational resources.
(Tales o.f the Nun ubu u Tribe) and "MT" (Mere Tales of the Nunggubuyu The extensive exposition of textual citations and statistics
Tribe refer to. two volumes o.f mimeo.ed texts prepared by Rev. in many chapte~s of th~s vOlu~e may strike some readers as reflecting
Earl Hughes, and which are available at the library of the a personal fetlsh of mlne. Whlle this may be true it is a fetish
Australian Institute o.f Aboriginal Studies in Canberra (as well as which I would defend. The format used permits tho~e readers who
at Numbulwar itself); citatio.ns with TNT o.r MT are followed by just want the bottom line to. get it (by skipping over lists of
page number only. exx., statistics presented in tables, etc.), and indeed I assist
These textual citations serve several purposes. When attached them further by do.uble-underlining of important terms and conclusions
to a fully cited Nunggubuyu ex., they have basically do.cumentary On the other ?and, it gives a more patient (or more skeptical) .
value--the reader is assured that the ex. is fro.m a real text, and reader a feellng for the raw data which underlie the analysis and
a reader wanting to know more or having doubts about the analysis an opportunity to "cross-examine" the author by going directly to
can find it and analyse it. Often, however, I cite just one or two the data. It also encourages readers with highly specialised
exx. o.f so.me pattern in this way, then append a list of other interests, ~r with a different theory o.f language, to discover new
textual exx.--readers get an immediate idea of how common the patterns whlch I overlooked or did not have space to discuss.
pattern is (if the list is stated to be exhaustive at leas~ for My concern with documentation reflects my own sad experiences
NMET) , and a reader with a specialist's interest in a partlcular as a reader of other linguists' grammars, which have almost never
grammatical problem will be able to analyse a much larger number of provided me,with the info.rmation I wanted to undertake my own
real exx. than could possibly be presented in full in a one-vo.lume (re-)analyslS of the language in questio.n. It also reflects my
grammar. I also occasio.nally use an intermediate format, with experience that most published grammars are based on material
perhaps one ex. presented in full, and with an accompanying list of obta~ned in unreliable direct-elicitation (sentence-translation)
other textual exx. with a schematic "English" translation or summary sesslons, and/or utterances which were produced by the linguist
added to. the numerical citatio.n in parentheses o.r brackets. Such with,or without "confirmatjo.n" from a native informant. I have no
formats give readers at least an idea o.f the kinds o.f contexts confldence whatever in such data, since my own early "data" of this
invo.lved, again without taking up too. much space. In,this way, we t~pe ~ften turned out to be seriously wro.ng. Acco.rdingly, to. other
take maximal advantage of the published texts (especlally NMET), Ilngulsts who express disappro.val of my emphasis en do.cumentation
achieving a far higher level o.f documentation than is observable I suggest that they try do.ing an analysis based on a co.mparable '
in other reference grammars, while still being able to. devo.te mo.st textual co.rpus and see if it doesn't add to. their understanding o.f
of the pp. in this vo.lume to. commentary and analysis. their favourite language.
The standards o.f accuracy and do.cumentation which I have set In the present volume, I have been least co.ncerned with textual
for myself in preparing this volume have been high, though I may not documentation in the phonetics/phonology chapters, and in Chapter
have lived up to them uniformly. In essence, this is a corpus-based 9 (pro.nominal prefixes), since even a large co.rpus would net contain
grammar, and my ideal has been to. acco.unt for all or nearly all alIef the pro.no.minal prefixes, and certainly net all of the fo.rms
instances in the texts of each morpheme o.r other feature under needed to specify details of phonolo.gical rules and their o.rdering
consideration. Accordingly, I have totally revised earlier unpub relationships. I have also. kept textual do.cumentation lew in some
lished versions of this grammar, which were based to a large extent syntax sections such as §15.2 (status of "NP") and §15.4 (wo.rd
on directly elicited sentences and en my own "knowledge" of the order) because o.f the o.pen-endedness o.f the problems raised (and
language. In combing through the texts while preparing various ~he finiteness of this vo.lume). Of co.urse, elicited utterances have
sections of the final version, I have disco.vered that some of my een used as exx. in vario.us places where no suitable textual ex
rules were wrong, but above all that my rules were o.versimplified, was available or for other reasons, but this should be clear fro.~
missing semantic and syntactic patternings which emerged from the absence of numerical citations if not from the commentary.
collating and organising large numbers of textual occurrences.
4 §l.J
§l.J
5