A Grammar of Tulil
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A Grammar of Tulil Submitted by Chenxi Meng, M.Phil. A thesis submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Centre for Research on Language Diversity Department of Languages and Linguistics School of Humanities and Social Sciences LA TROBE UNIVERSITY VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA May, 2018 ii Contents List of Figures xiii List of Tables xvii Abstract xix Statement of authorship xxi Acknowledgements xxiii Abbreviations and conventions xxvii Conventions used in examples . xxvii Orthography . xxvii Abbreviation . xxvii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Overview of the Tulil speakers and the language ............... 1 1.2 Subsistence .................................... 4 1.3 Social organization ............................... 5 1.3.1 Descent groups .............................. 5 1.3.2 Kinship .................................. 6 1.3.3 Expected behaviors related to kinship ................. 7 1.4 Previous work on Tulil ............................. 7 1.5 Typological profile ............................... 9 1.6 The data ..................................... 13 2 Phonology 15 2.1 Consonant inventory .............................. 15 2.1.1 Stops ................................... 15 2.1.2 Fricatives ................................. 19 2.1.3 Nasals ................................... 21 2.1.4 Approximant /w/ and /j/ ........................ 21 2.2 Vowel inventory ................................. 22 2.2.1 Simple vowels .............................. 22 2.2.2 Vowel combination ........................... 24 iii iv CONTENTS 2.3 Phonotactics ................................... 26 2.4 Suprasegmental features ............................ 27 2.4.1 Stress ................................... 27 2.4.2 Intonation ................................. 27 2.4.2.1 Declarative sentence ...................... 27 2.4.2.2 Questions ............................ 28 2.5 Morphophonology ................................ 31 2.5.1 Hiatus resolution ............................. 33 2.5.2 Vowel deletion and insertion ...................... 34 2.5.3 Consonant assimilation ......................... 36 2.5.4 Fortition .................................. 42 2.5.5 Consonant mutation ........................... 42 2.5.5.1 Consonant mutation in verbs . 43 2.5.5.2 Consonant mutation in possessive constructions . 44 2.5.6 Reduplication ............................... 45 2.6 Loan phonology ................................. 45 2.6.1 Consonant change ............................ 46 2.6.2 Vowel change ............................... 47 2.6.3 Vowel insertion .............................. 48 3 Basic Clause Structure 49 3.1 Introduction ................................... 49 3.1.1 Types of clauses ............................. 49 3.1.2 Overview of the functions of predication . 51 3.1.3 Form and meaning correlation ..................... 53 3.1.4 Full structure of clauses ......................... 58 3.2 Verbal clause .................................. 59 3.2.1 Coding of arguments ........................... 61 3.2.1.1 Person indexing ........................ 61 3.2.1.2 Constituent order ....................... 63 3.2.1.3 Patientive case ......................... 63 3.2.2 Types of verbal clauses ......................... 67 3.2.2.1 Impersonal clause ....................... 67 3.2.2.2 Stative-intransitive clause ................... 70 3.2.2.3 Ditransitive clauses ...................... 73 3.2.2.4 Locative clauses ........................ 73 3.3 Non-verbal clauses ............................... 78 3.3.1 Structure of non-verbal clauses ..................... 78 3.3.2 Nominal clause .............................. 80 3.3.3 Non-verbal clause with PP/ADV as predicate . 86 3.4 Functions of verbal and non-verbal clauses . 88 CONTENTS v 3.4.1 Class membership and property ..................... 89 3.4.2 State .................................... 92 3.4.3 Location .................................. 94 3.4.4 Possession ................................. 95 3.4.5 Other functions of non-verbal clauses . 97 3.4.5.1 Existential ........................... 97 3.4.5.2 Identificational ......................... 98 3.5 Adjuncts ..................................... 99 3.5.1 Adverbs .................................. 99 3.5.2 Prepositional phrases . 100 3.5.3 Adverbial demonstratives . 101 3.5.4 Complex forms of adjuncts: directional clitics . 101 3.6 Question formation ............................... 102 3.6.1 Polar questions .............................. 103 3.6.2 Constituent questions . 103 3.7 Negation ..................................... 107 3.7.1 Negation with kori only . 107 3.7.2 Negation with kori go only . 108 3.7.3 Negation with either strategy . 109 3.7.4 Negation with kori + other non-specific pronouns . 111 4 Word classes 113 4.1 Introduction ................................... 113 4.2 Nouns ...................................... 115 4.2.1 Mass nouns ................................ 117 4.2.2 Proper noun ............................... 118 4.2.2.1 Place names . 120 4.2.3 Kinship nouns .............................. 121 4.2.4 Alienability ................................ 122 4.2.5 Ideophones ................................ 124 4.3 Verbs ....................................... 126 4.3.1 Stative-intransitive verbs . 126 4.3.2 Impersonal verbs ............................. 127 4.4 Adjectives .................................... 131 4.5 Nominalization ................................. 134 4.6 Quantifiers and numerals ............................ 135 4.6.1 Numerals ................................. 136 4.6.2 Quantifiers ................................ 138 4.7 Pronominals ................................... 139 4.7.1 Free personal pronouns . 139 4.7.2 Non-specific pronouns . 141 vi CONTENTS 4.7.3 Reciprocal/reflexive pronoun tang . 141 4.7.4 Verbal indexes .............................. 144 4.7.5 Possessive indexes ............................ 144 4.7.6 Demonstrative indexes . 145 4.7.7 Prepositional indexes . 145 4.7.8 Quotative indexes ............................ 148 4.8 Demonstratives ................................. 149 4.9 Prepositions ................................... 149 4.10 Adverbs ..................................... 150 4.10.1 Locative and temporal adverbs . 150 4.10.2 Manner adverbs ............................. 153 4.10.3 Degree modifier ............................. 154 4.10.4 Non-specific go .............................. 157 4.10.5 Quotative e ................................ 158 4.11 Particles ..................................... 160 4.11.1 Conjunctions ............................... 160 4.11.2 bə iamitive perfect ............................ 160 4.11.3 Desiderative da and apprehensional ti . 165 4.11.4 Emphatic particles ............................ 168 5 Noun phrase structure 171 5.1 NPs headed by nouns and core modifiers . 173 5.1.1 Structure of the core NP . 173 5.1.2 Structure of complex NPs . 177 5.2 NPs headed by nominal demonstratives . 181 5.3 NPs headed by locational adverbials . 183 5.4 NPs headed by non-specific pronouns . 185 5.5 NPs headed by personal pronouns . 186 5.6 Functions of NPs ................................. 188 5.7 Nominal class and gender . 190 5.8 Possession .................................... 194 5.9 Appositives .................................... 197 6 Prepositions 201 6.1 Prepositional phrases .............................. 201 6.1.1 Structure of PPs ............................. 201 6.1.2 Function of PPs .............................. 202 6.2 Classification of prepositions . 204 6.3 Type I prepositions ............................... 210 6.3.1 ba ‘in’ ................................... 210 6.3.2 be ‘at; about’ ............................... 211 CONTENTS vii 6.3.3 da ‘on’ ................................... 212 6.3.4 dova ‘at place of (people)’ . 213 6.3.5 ga ‘at (a crossing point)’ . 213 6.3.6 məge ‘leave.behind’ ............................ 215 6.3.7 vəda ‘for’ ................................. 215 6.4 Type II prepositions ............................... 216 6.4.1 Derived from type I prepositions . 216 6.4.1.1 bem ‘about’ . 216 6.4.1.2 vədəm ‘for the sake of’ . 217 6.4.1.3 məgem ‘leave behind’ . 218 6.4.1.4 dəm ‘on’ ............................. 218 6.4.1.5 gəm ‘between legs’ . 218 6.4.2 Derived from other word classes . 219 6.4.2.1 bərənm ‘over’ . 219 6.4.2.2 təkerm/term ‘beside’ . 219 6.4.2.3 batm ‘around’ . 220 6.4.2.4 təvənm ‘after’ . 221 6.4.3 Other ................................... 222 6.4.3.1 n1 ‘INSTR; APPL’ . 222 6.4.3.2 n2 ‘COMITATIVE’ . 224 6.4.3.3 təpm ‘with’ . 226 6.4.3.4 bətəpm/bətək ‘all over’ . 227 6.4.3.5 bətm ‘with; from’ . 228 6.4.3.6 bəm/bərodəm ‘within’ . 229 6.4.3.7 gəvənm ‘under’ . 230 6.4.3.8 nəgot ‘for’ ............................ 231 6.4.3.9 mən(ə) ‘off’ . 231 6.4.3.10 mənu ‘back.of’ . 232 6.4.3.11 təm ‘at (the start/entrance of)’ . 233 6.5 Prepositions of shared categories . 233 6.5.1 mət(ə) ‘in.mouth’ ............................. 233 6.5.2 Purposive da and negative purposive ti . 234 6.5.3 to ‘of’ ................................... 234 6.6 Directional clitics ................................ 236 6.7 Adverbials derived from prepositions . 237 7 Demonstratives 239 7.1 Morphology of demonstratives . 243 7.1.1 Simple stems and derived stems . 244 7.1.1.1 Compound stems . 244 7.1.1.2 End-point and continuous stems . 244 viii CONTENTS 7.1.2 Directional clitics ............................. 248 7.2 Syntactic functions of demonstratives . 248 7.2.1 Demonstrative as pronoun . 248 7.2.2 Demonstratives as indentifier/locational . 250 7.2.3 Local adverbial demonstratives