A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia)
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Minerva Access is the Institutional Repository of The University of Melbourne Author/s: NORDLINGER, RACHEL Title: A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) Date: 1998 Citation: Nordlinger, R. (1998). A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Publication Status: Published Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/32775 File Description: A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) Terms and Conditions: Terms and Conditions: Copyright in works deposited in Minerva Access is retained by the copyright owner. The work may not be altered without permission from the copyright owner. Readers may only download, print and save electronic copies of whole works for their own personal non-commercial use. Any use that exceeds these limits requires permission from the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from these works. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series C-140 A GRAMMAR OF WAMBAYA, NORTHERN TERRITORY (AUSTRALIA) Rachel Nordlinger A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) PACIFIC LINGUISTICS FOUNDING EDITOR: Stephen A. Wurm EDITORIAL BOARD: Malcolm D. Ross and Darrell T. Tryon (Managing Editors), Thomas E. Dutton, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, Andrew K. Paw ley Pacific Linguistics is a publisher specialising in linguistic descriptions, dictionaries, atlases and other material on languages of the Pacific, the Philippines, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The authors and editors of Pacific Linguistics publications are drawn from a wide range of institutions around the world. Pacific Linguistics is associated with the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. Pacific Linguistics was established in 1963 through an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund. It is a non-profit-making body financed largely from the sales of its books to libraries and individuals throughout the world, with some assistance from the School. The Editorial Board of Pacific Linguistics is made up of the academic staff of the School's Department of Linguistics. The Board also appoints a body of editorial advisors drawn from the international community of linguists. Publications in Series A, B and C and textbooks in Series D are refereed by scholars with relevant expertise who are normally not members of the editorial board. To date Pacific Linguistics has published over 400 volumes in four series: •Series A: Occasional Papers; collections of shorter papers, usually on a single topic or area. 'Series B: Monographs of intermediate length. •Series C: Books; publications of greater length, especially reference books such as dictionaries and grammars, and conference proceedings. •Series D: Special Publications; including archival materials, pedagogical works, maps, audiovisual productions, and materials that do not fit into the other series. Series C, Volume 140 A GRAMMAR OF WAMBAYA, NORTHERN TERRITORY (AUSTRALIA) Rachel Nordlinger Pacific Linguistics Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Canberra Published by Pacific Linguistics Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University PO Box 1428 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Copyright © The author First published 1998 Nordlinger, Rachel. A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia). Bibliography. ISBN 0 85883 481 2 ISSN 0078-7558 1. Australian languages — Northern Territory. 2. Australian languages — Northern Territory - Grammar. I. Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Pacific Linguistics. II. Title. (Series: Pacific Linguistics. Series C-140). 499.15 Copyedited by Basil Wilson, typeset by Sue Tys Printed by ANU Printing Service Bound by F & M Perfect Bookbinding, Canberra Ngaba irri ngajbi: "Ahh, yununggu irraji ngarlwi ". So that (the young people) can look (and say):. "Ahh, so that's how they used to talk". — Molly Grueman TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND CONVENTIONS xiii MAP 1: THE bIIRNDI GROUP AND SOME SURROUNDING LANGUAGES xv MAP 2: THE WEST BARKLY LANGUAGES xvi CHAPTER 1: THE LANGUAGE AND ITS SPEAKERS 1 1.1 THE LANGUAGE 1 1.1.1 The West Barkly languages 2 1.1.2 Wider relationships 4 1.1.3 Other spellings of language names 5 1.1.4 Previous investigations 6 1.2 ITS SPEAKERS 6 1.2.1 History 6 1.2.2 Present situation 8 1.2.3 Social organisation 9 CHAPTER 2: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 17 2.1 PHONEMES AND THEIR REALISATIONS 17 2.1.1 Consonants 18 2.1.2 Vowels 21 2.1.3 Phonemic oppositions 22 2.1.4 Long vowels and vowel—semivowel—vowel sequences 23 2.2 PHONOTACTICS 25 2.2.1 Syllable structure 26 2.2.2 Word-initial position 27 2.2.3 Consonant clusters 29 2.2.4 Stress placement 33 2.3 MORPHOPHONEMICS 38 2.3.1 Lenition 38 2.3.2 Elision 39 2.3.3 Epenthesis 39 2.3.4 Assimilation 39 2.3.5 Reduction of non-permissible consonant clusters 42 2.3.6 Reduplication 43 CHAPTER 3: PARTS OF SPEECH AND OTHER PRELIMINARIES 46 3A PARTS OF SPEECH 46 3.1.1 Inflecting word classes 47 3.1.2 Non-inflecting word classes 52 VII VI" 3.2 GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS 53 3.2.1 Core functions, adjuncts and complements 53 3.2.2 Defining subject, object and indirect object 56 CHAPTER 4: NOMINALS 58 4.1 THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOMINAL WORD 58 4.2 GENDER 59 4.2.1 Gender assignment 60 4.2.2 Gender marking 65 4.2.3 Odd agreement 70 4.3 NUMBER 72 4.3.1 Singular 72 4.3.2 Dual 73 4.3.3 Plural 76 4.4 NOMINAL CASE MORPHOLOGY 80 4.4.1 Nominative case 81 4.4.2 Accusative case 82 4.4.3 Ergative/Locative/Instrumental case 82 4.4.4 Dative case 86 4.4.5 Allative case 90 4.4.6 Ablative case 90 4.4.7 Perlative case 91 4.4.8 Comitative case 92 4.4.9 Causal suffix 92 4.4.10 Genitive suffix 92 4.4.11 Proprietive suffix 94 4.4.12 Privative suffix 97 4.4.13 Origin suffix 101 4.5 DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY 102 4.5.1 Nominal-to-nominal morphology 102 4.5.2 Verb-to-nominal morphology 104 4.5.3 Nominal reduplication 106 4.6 DEMONSTRATIVES 107 4.6.1 Details of form 111 4.6.2 Function 115 4.6.3 Ga series 117 4.7 INDEFINITE/INTERROGATIVES 119 4.7.1 Gayîni `someone/something, who/what' 120 4.7.2 Injani `somewhere, where' 123 4.7.3 Yangulu `sometime, when' 124 4.7.4 Yangulany- `some amount, how many' 124 4.7.5 Wunjugu `somehow, how' 124 4.7.6 Injuguja `what sort of' 125 4.8 FREE PRONOUNS 125 4.9 NP STRUCTURE 130 CHAPTER 5: THE AUXILIARY 137 5.1 BOUND PRONOUNS 139 ix 5.1.1 The reflexive/reciprocal pronoun 141 5.1.2 First person dual inclusive as an ambiguous category 142 5.2 TENSE/ASPECT/MOOD 144 5.2.1 Simple tense 144 5.2.2 Habitual aspect 147 5.2.3 The progressive suffix 147 5.2.4 Irrealis mood 148 5.3 DIRECTIONAL SUFFIXES 151 5.4 THE AUXILIARY IN THE CLAUSE 153 5.5 THE AUXILIARY IN IMPERATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS 155 CHAPTER 6: VERBS 157 6.1 INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY 161 6.1.1 Non-future inflection 161 6.1.2 Future inflection 161 6.1.3 Infinitive suffix 164 6.1.4 -nka `DAT' 164 6.1.5 -nî `LOC' 165 6.1.6 -nnga 'ABL' 166 6.1.7 Verbal reduplication 166 6.2 DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY 167 6.2.1 Verb-to-verb morphology 167 6.2.2 Adjective-to-verb morphology 170 CHAPTER 7: SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES 173 7.1 VERBLESS CLAUSES 173 7.1.1 Ascriptive clauses 173 7.1.2 Having/lacking clauses 175 7.1.3 Comparative clauses 176 7.1.4 Possessive clauses 176 7.1.5 Locative/allative clauses 176 7.1.6 Existential clauses 177 7.1.7 Mirra `sit' as a copula 177 7.2 VERBAL CLAUSES: BASIC ARGUMENT STRUCTURES 179 7.2.1 Impersonal verbs 180 7.2.2 Intransitive verbs 181 7.2.3 Reflexive verbs 185 7.2.4 Semitransitive verbs 186 7.2.5 Transitive verbs 187 7.2.6 Ditransitive verbs 189 7.2.7 Verbs with alternations in transitivity 192 7.3 VERBAL CLAUSES: DERIVED ARGUMENT STRUCTURES 192 7.3.1 Reflexive/reciprocal constructions 193 7.4 COMPLEX PREDICATES 194 7.4.1 Predicates with two verbs 194 7.4.2 Secondary predicates 195 7.5 QUESTIONS 197 7.5.1 Yes/no questions 197 X 7.5.2 Information questions 198 7.6 NEGATION 199 7.6.1 Sentential negation 199 7.6.2 Constituent negation 203 7.7 CLITICS AND PARTICLES 204 7.7.1 Clitics 204 7.7.2 Particles 207 CHAPTER 8: SYNTAX OF COMPLEX SENTENCES 212 8.1 NON-FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 212 8.1.1 Sentential causatives 216 8.2 ADJOINED CLAUSES 216 8.2.1 Subordinate functions 217 8.2.2 Coordinate clauses 222 APPENDIX A: TEXTS 225 Text 1: Ilarrawulu gujarrawulu 225 Text 2: Barnanggi and Jabiru 233 Text 3: Gambada and Wardangarrî 239 Text 4: Jinkijiyulu 241 Text 5: Dirdibulyi ninagangga buwarraja 244 Text 6: Indilyawuma and Wardangarri 248 Text 7: Gunbi and Garrgalyi 250 Text 8: Molly Grueman's Story 252 APPENDIX B: COMPARATIVE DISCUSSION OF GENDER MARKING 258 APPENDIX C: EASTERN GROUP AUXILIARIES 265 APPENDIX D: WAMBAYA—ENGLISH WORD LIST 268 APPENDIX E: ENGLISH—WAMBAYA FINDERLIST 296 REFERENCES 317 PREFACE Wambaya is a non-Pama-Nyungan language originally spoken in the Barkly Tablelands region of the Northern Territory, Australia. There are perhaps 8-10 fluent speakers remaining, most of whom live in Tennant Creek and Elliott in the Northern Territory. The linguistic work which led to this volume was initiated by the Wambaya community (through the Gurungu Council Aboriginal Corporation in Elliott) out of an increasing concern for the fate of their language as these few remaining speakers get older.