Rob Pensalfini’s UQ eSpace Page

Rob Pensalifini has an eSpace page with links to recent (and classic) papers of his, especially on Jingulu.

Intonation Units and Grammatical Structure in Wardaman

Intonation Units and Grammatical Structure in Wardaman

William Croft, AJL.

The distribution of grammatical units (GUs) across intonation units (IUs) is analyzed in a corpus of 2,072 intonation units of Wardaman monologic oral narrative, and compared to a previously published study of English and several other languages. Since English and Wardaman are structurally very different languages, any common patterns in the mapping of grammatical units to intonation units would be of considerable interest as potential grammar-discourse universals. The Full GU Condition - IUs are almost always full GUs - holds in Wardaman as well as English and other languages. Both English and Wardaman employ a substantial number of grammatically independent noun phrase intonation units. Three factors constrain the occurrence of GUs in a single IU in English, in descending order of strength: parallelism, complexity and distance. All three factors also hold in Wardaman in the same order of strength. The behaviour of the IU-GU mapping in Wardaman supports critiques of the analyses of arguments as adjuncts and of modifiers as appositive phrases. On the other hand, spoken English displays more grammatical characteristics similar to Wardaman than prescriptive written English.

Ethnography of Kinship

Speaking Kunjen : An ethnography of Oykangand kinship and communication, by Bruce Sommer

Linguistlist book announcementː

This book examines the interface between language and kinship in the Australian Aboriginal language Kunjen which is spoken in the Cape York region of northern Queensland. The author shows that kinship relations play a major role in determining the kinds of linguistic interactions that are appropriate for different groups of individuals. The social meaning of utterances depends more than anything else on kinship and one’s kin relations with those one communicates with. The rules of interpretation used by Kunjen speakers to mediate kinship and language are as complex and as pervasive as the grammatical rules of the language itself, and help to reveal aspects of linguistic structure that might not otherwise be obvious. Conversely, kinship structures can be illuminated, if not revealed, by the study of language use.

(Note that book URL of http://www.pacling.com/catalogue/582.html doesn’t work at present).

Annie Langlois: Wordplay in Teenage Pitjantjatjara

Australian Journal of Linguistics: 26/2.

Here is the abstract of the paper:

‘Secret languages’ of children and teenagers are found in many cultures and societies. In the Pitjantjatjara community of Areyonga in Central Australia, teenage girls have developed a language that allows them secrecy in their private conversation. They called this ‘special’ language the ‘short-way language’. Though the data is limited,1¹This paper is based on data collected between September 1994 and December 1995. this article provides an initial description of the language. An account of the Areyonga community is also provided to support the description.

Ozbib update

OZBib

A linguistic bibliography of Aboriginal Australia

and the Torres Strait Islands

SUPPLEMENT 1999-2006

Compiled by Geraldine Triffitt

Published by Mulini Press, Canberra

OZBIB was compiled by Lois Carrington and Geraldine Triffitt and published by Pacific Linguistics in 1999. Its aim was to provide a full bibliographical listing of all published materials and theses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and linguistics. This Supplement covers the period from July 1999 to September 2006 plus addenda from OZBIB. There are both language and subject indexes to the bibliography.

OZBIB is broad in scope. It lists both theoretical and applied linguistics works. It covers the description and analysis of languages, dictionaries, grammars, works on bilingual education, language policy, language use in courts of law, the experiences of language speakers and the linguistic output of language centres. Included in the Indigenous languages are creoles and Aboriginal English.

Available from

Naviti Documentation, PO Box 537, MAWSON, ACT 2607
No Credit Card facilities available

$30 + postage and handling.

Postage rates: Australia $5.50: Overseas air mail $10-$17 depending on destination

Geraldine Triffitt is a librarian with linguistic qualifications from the Australian National University. She worked as Bibliographer (Linguistics) and Collection Manager (Linguistics) at AIAS and AIATSIS Library from 1986 to 1997.

Lines and Criss-crossings: Hyperlinks and Australian Indigenous Narratives

By Barbara Glowczewski. pdf is available here.

Complex nominal expressions

Brett Baker: The interpretation of complex nominal expressions in two Australian languages. Link goes to pdf. To be published in a collected volume edited by Ilana Mushin and Brett Baker with the provisional title of 'Discourse and grammar in Australian languages'.

FishFilm

http://logos.uoregon.edu/tomlin/research_fishfilm.html includes materials for eliciting focus and topic structures.