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Mussau Grammar Essentials

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Mussau Grammar Essentials Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages Volume 52 Mussau Grammar Essentials John and Marjo Brownie 2007 SIL-PNG Academic Publications Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea Papers in the series Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages ex- press the authors’ knowledge at the time of writing. They normally do not provide a comprehensive treatment of the topic and may contain analyses which will be modifi ed at a later stage. However, given the large number of undescribed languages in Papua New Guinea, SIL-PNG feels that it is appropriate to make these research results available at this time. René van den Berg, Series Editor Copyright © 2007 SIL-PNG Papua New Guinea [email protected] Published 2007 Printed by SIL Printing Press Ukarumpa, Eastern Highlands Province Papua New Guinea ISBN 9980-0-3223-5 Contents Maps................................................................................................................... 1 Abbrevatons................................................................................................... 3 1..Introducton.................................................................................................. 6 1.1.Locaton.and.Speakers.................................................................... 6 1.2.Language.Name................................................................................ 6 1.3 Linguistic Classification and Dialects........................................... 7 1.4.Mussau-Emra.Culture.................................................................... 7 1.5.Lngustc.Vtalty.and.Educaton............................................... 10 1.6.Earler.Work.................................................................................... 11 1.7.Typologcal.Overvew................................................................... 12 2..Phonology................................................................................................... 13 2.1.Phonemes........................................................................................ 13 2.2.Orthography................................................................................... 14 2.3.Phonotactcs................................................................................... 15 2.4.Syllable.Structure.......................................................................... 19 2.5.Stress............................................................................................... 21 2.6.Reduplcaton................................................................................. 22 2.7.Morphophonemcs........................................................................ 24 2.8.Loan.Words..................................................................................... 26 3..Nouns.and.Noun.Phrases.......................................................................... 30 3.1.Pronouns......................................................................................... 30 3.2.Nouns............................................................................................... 35 3.3 Demonstratives.............................................................................. 39 3.4.The.Artcle.ta.................................................................................. 41 3.5 Numerals, Number Marking and Classifiers.............................. 43 3.6 Adjectives and Nominal Modifiers.............................................. 64 3.7.Possesson....................................................................................... 71 3.8.Noun.Phrase.Structure................................................................. 86 4..Verbs.and.Verb.Phrases............................................................................ 97 4.1.Verbs................................................................................................ 97 4.2.Verb.Morphology......................................................................... 102 4.3.Verb.Phrase.Structure................................................................. 115 4.4.Seral.and.Compound.Verbs....................................................... 127 4.5 Verbal Modifiers.......................................................................... 142 5..Prepostons.and.Prepostonal.Phrases............................................... 146 5.1.Prepostons.and.Prepostonal.Phrase.Structure.................. 146 5.2.The.Preposton.tale..................................................................... 147 5.3.The.Preposton.ta....................................................................... 149 5.4.The.Preposton.eta-.................................................................... 152 5.5.The.Preposton.(e)tapaa............................................................. 155 5.6.The.Preposton.elo...................................................................... 156 5.7.The.Locatve.Procltc.e=............................................................. 157 6..Clause.Structure....................................................................................... 159 6.1.Intranstve.Clauses..................................................................... 159 6.2.Transtve.Clauses........................................................................ 164 6.3.Oblgatory.Consttuents............................................................. 165 6.4.Verbal.Clauses:.Perpheral.Arguments..................................... 166 6.5.Negatve.Clauses.......................................................................... 173 7..Imperatve.and.Interrogatve.Sentences.............................................. 177 7.1.Imperatve.Sentences.................................................................. 177 7.2.Interrogatve.Sentences............................................................. 178 8..Complex.Sentences.................................................................................. 181 8.1.Coordnaton................................................................................. 181 8.2.Subordnaton.............................................................................. 185 8.3.Complementaton........................................................................ 195 9..Further.Research...................................................................................... 205 9.1.Phonology..................................................................................... 205 9.2.Pronouns....................................................................................... 205 9.3 Demonstratives............................................................................ 205 9.4 Number-Classifiers...................................................................... 205 9.5.Adjectves...................................................................................... 206 9.6 Transitive Suffixes....................................................................... 206 9.7 The Suffix -aa................................................................................ 207 9.8.Counterfactual............................................................................. 207 Appendx:.Mussau-Emra.Texts................................................................. 208 Text.1................................................................................................... 208 Text.2................................................................................................... 211 Bblography................................................................................................. 215 List of Tables Table.1:.Consonant.Phonemes..................................................................... 13 Table.2:.Vowel.Phonemes............................................................................. 13 Table.3:.Syllable.Types.................................................................................. 20 Table.4:.Reduplcaton................................................................................... 23 Table.5:.Loan.Words....................................................................................... 27 Table.6:.Pronouns........................................................................................... 30 Table 7: Derived Abstract Nouns.................................................................. 36 Table.8:.Instruments.and.Agents................................................................. 37 Table.9:.Noun.Classes..................................................................................... 46 Table 10: Class I Prenominal Number-Classifiers...................................... 48 Table 11: Prenominal Number-Classifiers.................................................. 49 Table 12: Postnominal Number-Classifiers................................................ 53 Table.13:.Number.Exstental.Verbs............................................................ 60 Table 14: Quantifier Existential Verbs........................................................ 60 Table.15:.Ordnal.Numbers........................................................................... 61 Table.16:.Adjectves....................................................................................... 65 Table 17: Possessive Classifiers.................................................................... 77 Table.17:.Possessive Classifiers.................................................................... 78 Table.19:.Verb.Classes.................................................................................... 98 Table.20:.Transtve.Verbs.wth.-i.............................................................
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