Jinglu Grammar, Dictionary and Texts
, R. J. Pensalfini 1997
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This dissertation is primarily intended as a thorough description of the Jingulu language of North-Central Australia. The first part describes Jingulu"s phonological, morphological and syntactic structure, illustrating with numerous examples collected by the author in the field in 1995 and 1996, and with a secondary focus on what Jingulu can contribute to an understanding of language from a theoretical perspective. Chapter 1 focuses on the socio-historical context in which the language is spoken, with a lengthy excursus on the state of endangerment of the majority of the world"s languages. Chapter 2 is devoted to Jingulu phonology, with in-depth theoretical discussions of Australian stress systems and of Jingulu"s regressive vowel harmony. Chapter 3 outlines the architecture of the language faculty and the theory of morphology that underlies the description and analyses of the following chapters. Chapter 4 discusses Jingulu syntax, focusing on the question of nonconfigurationality, and includes a syntactic typology of the various types of nonconfigurationality found among the world"s languages. Chapters 5 and 6 are expositions of the morphology of Jingulu nominal and verbal words respectively. The theory outlined in chapter 3 is applied in detail to the complex and apparently bizarre morphological systems of Jingulu, and this complexity is seen to follow from a small number of principles governing how formal features can be spelled out on the surface. Chapter 7 contains 34 glossed and translated texts collected by the author. Throughout the dissertation I have preferred to provide more texts and sentence examples rather than fewer, so that future researchers can test my generalizations, examine the data to find their own, and refute or affirm my analyses.
Part II of the dissertation is a Jingulu to English dictionary with an English to Jingulu word finder. Each Jingulu entry in the dictionary is accompanied by grammatical, morphological and cultural information in addition to an English translation. Most Jingulu entries also include examples of the word used in a sentence. The dictionary is the latest stage in a collaboration that has involved many people over several decades.
Thesis supervisor: Kenneth Locke Hale
Title: Ferrarri P. Ward Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics
Table of Contents
Part I A Grammatical Description and Analysis of the Jingulu Language
Chapter 1 The language and its speakers 17
1 History and current status 17
1.1 Territory, genealogy and surrounding languages 17
1.2 Previous descriptions 19
1.3 Jingili, Mudburra, Kuwarrangu and Kuwirrinji 20
2 Jingulu as an endangered language 23
2.1 Number and age of speakers 23
2.2 Endangered languages and the maintenance of linguistic
diversity 24
2.2.1 What is a language 25
2.2.2 What is an "endangered language"? 30
2.2.3 What makes a language become endangered? 33
2.2.4 Why should anyone care? 35
2.2.4.1 The museum view 39
2.2.4.2 The relativity view 40
2.2.4.3 The emancipation view 43
3 Kinship and subsection system 45
Chapter 2 Phonology 53
1 Phoneme inventory 53
1.1 Vowels 53
1.2 Consonants and glides 56
1.2.1 Retroflex consonants 58
1.2.2 The palato-velar stop: phoneme or cluster? 59
1.2.3 Neutralisation of [+/- lateral] in clusters 63
1.2.4 Initial glides and the special status of /ng/ 63
2 Phonotactics " clusters and syllabification 66
3 Stress 70
3.1 Word stress 70
3.2 Stress and suffixes 72
3.3 Formal analyses of Jingulu stress, with extensions to other
Australian languages 74
3.3.1 An Optimality Theoretic approach 74
3.3.2 Bracketed metrical grids 86
4 Vowel harmony 96
4.1 Jingulu harmony as feature spreading 96
4.2 Putting a finger on the trigger 99
4.2.1 Nominals 99
4.2.2 Verbs 100
4.3 Explaining Jingulu Harmony 103
4.3.1 Templates 103
4.3.2 Floating features 105
4.3.3 Null morphemes block spreading 106
4.3.4 Merger of roots with syntactic heads 108
4.4 Predictions of merger analysis 114
5 Morphophonology 118
5.1 Linking vowels 118
5.2 Lexical alternations 122
5.2.1 Retroflex versus anterior coronals 122
5.2.2 Masculine suffixes 124
5.3 Reduplication 124
Chapter 3 Parts of Speech and Derivation 129
1 Theory of morphology 129
2 Parts of speech 136
2.1 Nominal 136
2.2 Verbal 138
2.3 Adverbial 141
3 Derivation 145
3.1 Nominalisation 145
3.2 Adverbialisation 147
3.2.1 /-kaji/ 147
3.2.2 /-nama/ 149
Chapter 4 Syntax 153
1 Simple clauses 153
1.1 Nonconfigurationality 153
1.1.1 Kinds of nonconfigurationality 154
1.1.2 Jingulu nonconfigurationality 158
1.1.3 A typology of nonconfigurationality 174
1.1.3.1 English, Japanese and Hopi 176
1.1.3.2 Jiwarli 176
1.1.3.3 Warlpiri 176
1.1.3.4 Wambaya 177
1.1.3.5 Jingulu 178
1.1.3.6 Mayali and Mohawk 178
1.1.3.7 Kalam 179
1.1.3.8 A typology continuum for Australian
nonconfigurationality 181
1.1.4 The problem of semiconfigurational languages 183
1.2 Nominal predication 185
1.2.1 Adjectives and nouns as predicates 185
1.2.2 Possession as predication 189
1.2.3 Adpositional predication 192
1.3 Adverb placement 193
1.4 Questions 198
1.4.1 Simple questions 198
1.4.2 Multiple interrogatives 199
1.5 Negation and quantification 200
1.5.1 Negation 201
1.5.2 Quantification 202
1.6 "Double object" and beneficiary constructions 205
2 Complex sentences 209
2.1 Coordinate structures 209
2.2 Subordinate structures 212
2.2.1 Cause-effect 213
2.2.2 Purpose 214
2.2.3 Evitative 216
2.2.4 Relative clauses 217
2.2.5 Causatives 220
2.2.6 Switch reference 221
2.3 Clausal arguments 223
Chapter 5 The Noun Phrase 225
1 Demonstratives 225
1.1 This, that, and the other thing 225
1.2 The aforementioned and the newly introduced 232
1.3 hither, thither, and this way 234
1.4 Interrogatives 236
1.4.1 Who, what, when, where, why and how 236
1.4.1.1 Nyamba questions 236
1.4.1.2 (W)aja questions 238
1.4.1.3 (W)ani questions 239
1.4.2 A simple "yes" or "no" would do 241
2 Pronouns 242
2.1 Nominative pronouns 243
2.2 Ergative pronouns 244
2.3 Accusative and genitive pronouns 246
3 Nominal features 253
3.1 Gender 253
3.1.1 Genders and gender morphology 253
3.1.2 Adjectival agreement 259
3.1.3 Gender disagreement and the gender feature
structure 259
3.2 Number 263
3.2.1 Number morphology 263
3.2.2 Number feature structure 267
3.3 Case and role marking 271
3.3.1 Core, structural, or grammatical case 272
3.3.1.1 The ergative suffix /-mi/ 273
3.3.1.2 The dative suffix /-ma/ 274
3.3.2 Semantic or adpositional case 279
3.3.2.1 The locational suffixes 280
3.3.2.2 The instrumental suffix /-arndi/ 283
3.3.2.3 The comitative suffix /-ngkujku/ 286
3.3.2.4 The privative suffix /-jija/ 286
3.3.3 Pragmatic marking 287
3.3.3.1 The focus suffixes 287
3.3.3.2 The emphatic suffix/particle /-ma/ 293
3.3.3.3 Vocative forms 295
3.4 (In)definiteness 295
3.5 Structure of nominals " review 299
3.6 The origins of the focus suffixes 301
3.6.1 Three distinct sources 302
3.6.2 Contact-induced change in an environment of
language loss 303
Chapter 6 The Verb Complex 305
1 Argument marking 305
1.1 Subject agreement 305
1.2 Object agreement 308
1.3 Combined subject and object agreement 310
1.3.1 Filling nodes individually 312
1.3.2 Fused nodes 316
1.3.3 Switching morpheme order and the inverse
construction 320
1.4 Reflexive and reciprocal constructions 325
1.5 Agreement feature neutralisation and absence of object
agreement 327
1.6 Doubling inflection 329
2 Core verbs 330
2.1 The three verbs 330
2.2 Irrealis and imperative moods 334
2.3 Interpretation of tense 338
2.4 Verbs suffixed to nominals 339
3 Other verbal morphology 345
Chapter 7 Texts 347
1 The people and their land 347
1.1 The story of the Jingili 347
1.2 Warranganku I 350
1.3 Warranganku II 352
1.4 Pharlap"s story 355
1.5 Kirnbininku 356
1.6 At the creek 359
1.7 Rough country 360
1.8 Lancewood dreaming 363
1.9 Fly dreaming, longreach 364
1.10 My home 365
1.11 Stars 367
1.12 Mother birds 368
1.13 Hornets 368
1.14 Fish 369
1.15 Environmental changes 369
2 Implements and instruments 372
2.1 Making implements 372
2.2 Putting a blade on a spear 373
2.3 Making a didgeridoo 374
3 Hunting, food, and cooking 376
3.1 Sugarbag 376
3.2 Sugarleaf 377
3.3 No meat, lots of gum 378
3.4 Hunting at night 380
3.5 We killed a goanna 387
3.6 Hunting 389
3.7 Translation of a mudburra hunting story 391
3.8 Hunting far away in the old days 392
3.9 Cooking in an earth oven 393
3.10 Making a fire and cooking 393
3.11 Preparation of yams 395
3.12 Hunting for ashes 396
4 Culture 397
4.1 Teaching about initiatives 397
4.2 Traditional poison 397
4.3 Tree burials 398
5 The old blind man 399
6 Kriol text " My home 400
References 401
Part II " Jingulu-English English-Jingulu Dictionary
User"s Guide 413
Jingulu-English 417
English-Jingulu 575