Topics in Warlpiri Grammar
D. Nash, 1980
This dissertation investigates aspects of the morphology, phonology, syntax and semantics of the Warlpiri (Warlbiri) language of central Australia.
The Introduction surveys previous work on Warlpiri, the sources of data for this work, and brings out themes recurrent in later Chapters.
Chapter Two is a detailed presentation of Warlpiri morphology. A labelled-bracket notation encapsulates the rules of word-formation and gives the concatenative and hierarchical structure exhibited by Warlpiri words. The special properties of verbal inflexion and the Auxiliary word are examined. Compounds, the special category of Preverb, and properties of enclitics, are all incorporated into the model used for simple words.
Chapter Three uses standard distinctive features to present morpheme structure constraints of various morpheme classes, and to describe the few processes of segmental phonology. There are two vowel harmony processes which are related and explained using an autosegmental theory. Word stress is accounted for within metrical theory, using the morpheme as the domain of initial foot construction. The accounts extend to harmony and stress in compound words.
Chapter Four details the properties of nominal and verbal reduplication, and distinguishes between lexical reduplications (with compound structure) and productive verbal reduplication (which copies the initial foot). Numerous examples illustrate the various semantic effects.
Chapter Five turns to syntax. Warlpiri exhibits great freedom of word order (within finite clauses); theoretical perspectives on word order variation are surveyed. A novel approach to Warlpiri"s non-configurational syntax (based on work by Hale) is presented, involving rules labelling phrasal nodes with categorial signatures based on morphological categories.
Chapter Six sketches the predictability of a predicate"s case frame given the thematic roles of each argument position, within theories of "case linking" (Carter, Ostler). The account covers diathetical variants of certain verbs.
Chapter Seven gives rules of semantic interpretation by which the lexical argument structures (Chapter 6) combine with syntactic structures (Chapter 5). Minor interpretive rules dependent on word order are listed.
An Appendix lists all known Warlpiri verb roots with their case frames.
Thesis supervisor: Kenneth Hale
Title: Professor of Linguistics
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 8
1.1 Previous work, and the data used 8
1.2 Notation 10
1.3 Overview 11
Chapter 2 Morphology and word-formation 13
2.1 Parts of speech 13
2.2 Structure of the lexicon 18
2.3 Suffixes 22
2.3.1 N formatives 22
2.3.1.1 N from N 22
2.3.1.2 N from infinitives 25
2.3.1.3 Unproductive N formatives 25
2.3.1.4 N from verbs 29
2.3.2 Case formatives 30
2.3.3 Complementiser formatives 31
2.3.3.1 [+C] complementisers 32
2.3.3.2 [-C] complementisers 32
2.3.4 Argument formatives 33
2.3.5 Summary 36
2.4 Compounding 37
2.4.1 Productive patterns 37
2.4.2 Non-productive patterns 39
2.5 Verbal inflexions 40
2.6 Preverbs 42
2.6.1 N, Case as preverbs 42
2.6.2 INF as preverb 44
2.6.3 Verb roots as preverbs 46
2.6.4 "Pure" preverbs 47
2.6.4.1 Productive preverbs 47
2.6.4.2 Non-productive preverbs 49
2.6.5 Permutation of preverb and verb 51
2.7 Enclitics 55
2.7.1 The auxiliary word 58
2.7.2 Directionals 62
Chapter 3 Phonology 65
3.1 Distinctive features 65
3.2 Morpheme structure conditions 67
3.3 Cluster simplifications and the syllable 78
3.4 Vowel assimilations 80
3.5 Vowel harmony 84
3.5.1 Autosegmental account of vowel harmony 88
3.5.2 Alternative "symmetrical" account 96
3.5.3 The domain of harmony 98
3.6 Stress 99
3.6.1 Basic stress patterns 99
3.6.2 Metrical theory 102
3.6.3 Rules building metrical structure 103
3.6.3.1 Foot placement 103
3.6.3.2 Word level metrical structure 107
3.6.4 Examples 108
3.6.4.1 Compound level stress 110
3.6.4.2 Stress on verbs 112
3.6.5 Remaining problems 115
Chapter 4 Reduplication 117
4.1 Lexical nominal reduplication 118
4.1.1 Semantics of nominal reduplication 121
4.1.2 Near reduplications 124
4.1.3 Morpheme structure conditions 128
4.2 Regular [+N] reduplication 130
4.3 Stress on nominal reduplications 134
4.4 Regular verbal reduplication 136
4.4.1 Properties of peculiar to V reduplication 141
4.4.2 Semantics of verbal reduplication 145
Chapter 5 Syntax
5.1 Word order 148
5.1.1 Freedom of word order 150
5.1.2 Hybrid languages and typological variations 151
5.1.3 Warlpiri as a "scrambling" language 157
5.2 Model of the grammar 162
5.3 Categorial signatures 165
5.4 "Labelling" rules 168
5.4.1 Labelling of complex nominals 169
5.4.1.1 Number 174
5.4.1.2 Double case marking 175
5.4.1.3 Co-ordination 176
5.4.2 Complex complements 178
5.4.2.1 Infinitive complements 178
5.4.2.2 Nominal complements 180
5.4.3 Sentences 181
5.5 Unlabelled nodes 183
5.6 Auxiliary placement 185
5.6.1 Modal particles 186
Chapter 6 The linking of case 188
6.1 Regular linking 192
6.1.1 Doubly-classificed verb roots 195
6.1.2 Cognate object constructions 196
6.1.3 The ERG-DAT construction 197
6.1.4 Dative adjunct preverbs 200
6.2 Other linkings 201
6.2.1 Special linkings 201 6.2.2 Linkings to semantic cases 203
6.2.3 Other diathesis 204
6.3 Linking in nominal predicates 205
6.3.1 Predicational elaboration of N 206
6.3.2 Nominals with complements 207
Chapter 7 Semantic interpretation
7.1 Introduction 211
7.2 Merger 212
7.3 Construal 216
7.3.1 Construal of pronominal clitics 217
7.3.2 Control and obviation 221
7.3.3 Predicational adjunction 225
7.4 Tense and aspect 229
7.5 Evaluation 230
7.6 Order-dependent processes 232
7.6.1 Infinitival complements 233
7.6.1.1 Obviative complement subject 233
7.6.1.2 Infinitive complement object 234
7.6.2 Interrogative words 235
7.6.3 Scopal phenomena 237
7.7 Relative clauses 240
Appendix Warlpiri verb roots 242