MARK DONOHUE University of Sydney
[email protected] Sentani, May 1999 i MARK DONOHUE Started 11th May 1998; wrapping up in May 1999 University of Sydney
[email protected] Warembori is a language spoken by 600-700 people living in river mouths on the north coast of the island of New Guinea, in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. It has not been previously described in any grammatical detail, and this sketch presents some of the complexities of applicative and noun incorporation structures, as well as aspects of its interesting phonology. A structuralist approach is taken to the description, allowing the morphosyntax of the language itself determine the categories used in the description, rather than impose a particular theoretical model on the data. After surveying the main grammatical constructions in Warembori, including notes on the speakers’ preferences for alternative constructions, notes on the genetic affiliations of Warembori with respect to nearby Papuan and Austronesian languages are given, and a short text to illustrate the language in context. [in addition to this, this sketch is intended to serve as an illustrative guide to grammatical sketch writing, with frequent explanations as to why particular choices were made, and why some things were omitted or put in. It is not intended to discuss all the possible grammatical structures that might be encountered when examining a language, but is aimed at being a useful guide to the style of writing up grammatical information for a wider audience] Note: the un-annotated version of the Warembori grammar was published at the end of 1999.