DOCSLIB.ORG

Use of Theses

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Use of Theses THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. MORPHOSYNTAX OF KEWAPI A poi Mason Y arapea BARons (UPNG), MPhil (Sydney) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University, January 2006 ii Acknowledgements Many individuals and organisations have enabled me to complete this thesis. I could not have written this account of Kewapi morphosyntax had it not been for Professor William A. Foley who suggested to me that I study a topic in Kewapi as a dissertation for a Master of Philosophy degree in 1990 at the University of Sydney. I am grateful to Bill Foley for inviting me to his linguistic lectures and supervising a M.Phil. dissertation 'Aspects of Kewapi grammar' completed in 1992, and in retrospect for inspiring me to write a grammar of my mother tongue. At the Australian National University Professor Andrew Pawley, Professor Malcolm Ross and Dr Tom Dutton of the Linguistics Department in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies guided my research. Professor Pawley and Professor Ross provided comprehensive written comments and I am grateful to them but faults which may remain are my own responsibility. I express my appreciation to Dr Karl and Mrs Joice Franklin for inviting me to attend a Semantics Workshop at SIL School, Kangaroo Grounds, in Melbourne in November 1997, and for their encouragement. They are indeed the pioneer Kewa winya ali-lopo who have shown me the way to my people and language. The Franklins account of Kewa language and culture has guided my own research so that my account of Kewapi morphosyntax hopefully complements their account of West Kewa morphosyntax. Kewapi speakers in and around Ialibu District have provided language data and cultural information. The following people from my own village of Mugumapu gave much of their time and linguistic knowledge: Mr Were Adala, Mr Nala Nadape, Mr Sinya Warea (my late cousin), Mr Kilua Kauga (now deceased), Mr Leposi l1l Kupu, Ms Waba MoJo, Mr Kiwai and Mrs Suli Yaki, Mr Kasa Regepea (my late maternal uncle from Pale village), Mr Popeke Ubi, Mr John Yarapea (my brother), Mr Yarapea Yareali (my father), and Mrs Rekainya Yarapea (my late mother). To my wife, Elizabeth, who has most capably managed our family in Canberra during my absences for fieldwork trips and conferences and in Lae during the revisions of drafts of my thesis, I am most indebted. Finally I thank the Australian Government for awarding me scholarship under AUSAID, and my employer, the Papua New Gninea University of Technology, for financial support and for granting me study leave to undertake this study. iv Table of Contents Declaration ................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 11 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .......................................................................................................... xiii Language Area Map ............................................................................................... xvi Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ xvii Abstract ................................................................................................................. xxii Chapter One Introduction: The Language and its Speakers .................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Location of Kewa and its dialects ................................................................ 1 1.2 The wider sociolinguistic context ................................................................. 2 1.2.1 Neighbouring languages and multilingualism ..............................2 1.2.2 Language viability ..............................................................3 1.2.3 Loan words .................................................................... .4 1.2.4 Genres ........................................................................ · ..4 1.3 Cultnral notes ....................................................................... .4 1.3 .1 Social groups ............................................................... .4 1.3 .1.1 The family group ................................................. .4 1.3 .1.2 The subclan group .................................................5 1.3.1.3 The clan group .................................................... 5 1.3.2 Clothes and ornamentation ................................................ 6 1.3 .3 Marriage ..................................................................... 7 1.3 .4 Dominant economic activities ......................................................... 8 1.3.5 Material culture and possession ...................................................... 8 1.3.6 Perception of wisdom ..................................................................... 9 1.3. 7 Knowledge and use of environment .................................. .1 0 1.3. 7 .I Land and soil care ............................................. 10 v 1.3.7.2 Gardening .......................................................................... 11 1.3.7.3 Food preservation .............................................................. 13 1.3.7.4 Medicinal plants ................................................................ 13 1.3.7.5 Bridges .............................................................................. 14 1.4 Beliefs and practices to do with social control ............................................ 14 1. 4.1 Appeasing ancestral spirits .............................................................. 14 1.4.2 Sorcery .......................................................................15 1.4.3 Restrictions relating to women ........................................... 15 1.5 Previous research on the Kewa language .................................................... 16 1.5.1 Research by the Franklins ............................................................... 16 1.5 .2 Previous research by the present writer ........................................... 17 1. 6 Present research ........................................................................................... l 7 1.6.1 Aims and scope ............................................................................... 17 1.6.2 Conventions ................................................................................... 18 1.6.2.1 Orthography and text-marking conventions ....................... .18 1.6.2.2 Text references ......................................................... 18 1.6.2.3 Marking of embedded constructions ................................ 18 1.6.2.4 References to parts of the thesis .......................................19 1.6.2.5 Stress and tone marking on words .................................... 19 1. 7 A sketch ofKewapi ................................................................. 19 Chapter Two A brief outline ofKewapi Phonology ................................... 24 2.0 Introduction ......................................................................... .24 2.1 Segmental phonemes ...............................................................24 2.1.1 Consonants ..................................................................24 2.1.2 Vowels ........................................................................ 26 2.2 Suprasegmental elements ..........................................................27 2.2.1 Stress ....................................................................... 27 2.2.2 Tone ....................................................................... .30 VI 2.2.3 Geminate vowels and long vowels ................................... .35 2.3 Phonemic and othographic conventions .......................................36 Chapter Three Morphosyntactic Features ............................................38 3.0 Introduction ...................................................................... .38 3.1 Basic clause structure ............................................................ 38 3 .1.1 Intransitive clauses ...................................................... 3 8 3.1.2 Monotransitive clauses ..................................................39 3.1.3 Ditransitive clauses .........................................................40 3 .1.4 Benefactive and causative clauses .................................... .40 3 .1.5 Adjunct functions ........................................................ .41 3.2 Head-marking and dependent-marking morphosyntax ...................... .42 3.2.1 Dependent-marking in possessive noun phrases .................... .42 3.2.2 Dependent-marking and head-marking in clauses .................. .43 3.2.3 Dependent-marking and head-marking in sentences ............... .43 3.3 GranJmatical categories ......................................................... .44 3.3.1 Nouns ......................................................................44 3.3.1.1
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Languages of Melanesia: Quantifying the Level of Coverage
    Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 5 (December 2012) Melanesian Languages on the Edge of Asia: Challenges for the 21st Century, ed. by Nicholas Evans and Marian Klamer, pp. 13–33 http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp05/ 2 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/4559 The languages of Melanesia: Quantifying the level of coverage Harald Hammarström Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthopology Sebastian Nordhoff Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthopology The present paper assesses the state of grammatical description of the languages of the Melanesian region based on database of semi- automatically annotated aggregated bibliographical references. 150 years of language description in Melanesia has produced at least some grammatical information for almost half of the languages of Melanesia, almost evenly spread among coastal/non-coastal, Austronesian/non- Austronesian and isolates/large families. Nevertheless, only 15.4% of these languages have a grammar and another 18.7% have a grammar sketch. Compared to Eurasia, Africa and the Americas, the Papua- Austronesian region is the region with the largest number of poorly documented languages and the largest proportion of poorly documented languages. We conclude with some dicussion and remarks on the documentational challenge and its future prospects. 1. INTRODUCTION. We will take Melanesia to be the sub-region of Oceania extending from the Arafura Sea and Western Pacific in the west to Fiji in the east – see the map in figure 1.1 This region is home to no fewer than 1347 (1315 living + 32 recently extinct) attested indigenous languages as per the language/dialect divisions of Lewis (2009), with small adjustments and adding attested extinct languages given in table 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Dallas International University Thesis Approval Sheet This Thesis, Entitled
    Dallas International University Thesis Approval Sheet This thesis, entitled Participant Reference in Edolo, a Trans-New Guinea Language written byy Steven Miller and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics has been read and approved by the undersigned members of the faculty of Dallas International University Aauak Ervin Starwalt (Supervising Professor) Janet Allen Kenneth McElhanon une 72012 PARTICIPANT REFERENCE IN EDOLO, A TRANS-NEW GUINEA LANGUAGE By Steven Miller Presented to the Faculty of Dallas International University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics Dallas International University June 2019 © 2019 Steven Miller All Rights Reserved CERTIFICATE I acknowledge that use of copyrighted material in my thesis may place me under an obligation to the copyright owner, especially when use of such material exceeds usual fair use provisions. I hereby certify that I have obtained the written permission of the copyright owner for any and all such occurrences and that no portion of my thesis has been copyrighted previously unless properly referenced. I hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless Dallas International University from any and all claims that may be asserted or that may arise from any copyright violation. Signature ne Z202 Date THESIS DUPLICATE RELEASE I hereby authorize Dallas International University to duplicate this thesis when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed: nlaeAll (student signature) Rejected: (student signature) ABSTRACT PARTICIPANT REFERENCE IN EDOLO, A TRANS-NEW GUINEA LANGUAGE Steven Miller Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics Dallas International University, June 2019 Supervising Professor: Ervin Starwalt This thesis describes three “variable factors” or facets of the participant reference system of Edolo narrative discourse.
    [Show full text]
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings for the Pacific Islands
    Library of Congress Subject Headings for the Pacific Islands First compiled by Nancy Sack and Gwen Sinclair Updated by Nancy Sack Current to January 2020 Library of Congress Subject Headings for the Pacific Islands Background An inquiry from a librarian in Micronesia about how to identify subject headings for the Pacific islands highlighted the need for a list of authorized Library of Congress subject headings that are uniquely relevant to the Pacific islands or that are important to the social, economic, or cultural life of the islands. We reasoned that compiling all of the existing subject headings would reveal the extent to which additional subjects may need to be established or updated and we wish to encourage librarians in the Pacific area to contribute new and changed subject headings through the Hawai‘i/Pacific subject headings funnel, coordinated at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.. We captured headings developed for the Pacific, including those for ethnic groups, World War II battles, languages, literatures, place names, traditional religions, etc. Headings for subjects important to the politics, economy, social life, and culture of the Pacific region, such as agricultural products and cultural sites, were also included. Scope Topics related to Australia, New Zealand, and Hawai‘i would predominate in our compilation had they been included. Accordingly, we focused on the Pacific islands in Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (excluding Hawai‘i and New Zealand). Island groups in other parts of the Pacific were also excluded. References to broader or related terms having no connection with the Pacific were not included. Overview This compilation is modeled on similar publications such as Music Subject Headings: Compiled from Library of Congress Subject Headings and Library of Congress Subject Headings in Jewish Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Nomenclature Abbreviations
    Abbreviations * As a prefix, indicates a proto language word /?/ glottal stop 2′ compound for 3 = 2 + 1 or rarely 1 + 1 + 1 but numeral for 4 2″ distinct numeral for 3 but 4 is a compound, usually 2 + 2, rarely 5 - 1 or 2 + 1 + 1 AN Austronesian languages BC or BCE Before Christ, that is before the Current Era taken as before the period of Christ BP Before the present CE or AD In the current era, that is after the year of the Lord (Domino/Dominum) Christ CSQ, MQ Counting System Questionnaire; Measurement Questionnaire d. dialect IMP Indigenous Mathematics Project Manus type Lean used this to refer to counting systems that used subtraction from 10 such as 7=10-3, 8=10-2, 9=10-1, often with the meaning e.g. for 7 as 3 needed to com- plete the group MC Micronesian Motu type Lean used this to refer to counting systems that used pairs such as 6=2x3, 7=2x3+1, 8=2x4, 9=2x4+1 NAN Non-Austronesian (also called Papuan) languages NCQ, CQN Noun, classifier, quantifier; classifier, quantifier, noun NQC, QCN Noun, quantifier, classifier; quantifier, classifier, noun NTM New Tribes Mission, PNG PAN Proto Austronesian PN Polynesian PNG Papua New Guinea POC Proto Oceanic QC, CQ Order of quantifier-classifier; classifier-quantifier respectively SHWNG South Halmahera West New Guinea (AN Non-Oceanic language of the Central- Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, a subgroup of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian) after Tryon (2006) SIL Summer Institute of Linguistics SOV Order of words in a sentence: Subject Object Verb SVO Order of words in a sentence: Subject Verb Object TNG Trans New Guinea Phylum Nomenclature The Australian system of numbering is used.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of BERGAMO School of Doctoral Studies
    UNIVERSITY OF BERGAMO School of Doctoral Studies Doctoral Degree in Linguistics XXIX Cycle SSD: L-LIN/01 TITLE The morphosyntax of number systems: a cross-linguistic study Advisor Draft Chiar.ma Prof.ssa Sonia Cristofaro Doctoral Thesis Jessica Katiuscia IVANI Student ID 1031796 Academic year 2015/16 Draft ii Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Introduction ............................. 1 1.2. Outline ................................ 2 2. Background 5 2.1. Introduction ............................. 5 2.2. Nominal number marking and typology ............. 6 2.3. The expression of number ..................... 8 2.4. The distribution of the number systems ............. 11 2.5. Development of number systems and sources of number ... 12 2.5.1. Nominal plural from verbal plurality: the case of North American languages .................... 13 2.5.2. Plural markers from associative markers: the case of - men in Mandarin Chinese ................ 15 2.5.3. PluralDraft markers from demonstratives forms ...... 16 2.5.4. Notes on source markers in pidgin and creoles .... 17 2.6. Summary ............................... 18 3. Data collecting and sampling 21 3.1. Introduction ............................. 21 3.2. Sampling methodology ....................... 21 3.3. Sampling procedure ........................ 23 3.4. Data collection ........................... 26 3.5. Summary ............................... 27 Contents 4. Parameters and methodological approach 29 4.1. Introduction ............................. 29 4.2. Parameter units and structural features ............. 30 4.2.1. The nominal types ..................... 30 4.2.2. Number values ....................... 33 4.2.3. Constructions ....................... 34 4.3. Methodological approach ..................... 40 4.3.1. Recent methodological developments in linguistic ty- pology ............................ 40 4.3.2. Analysis of individual structures: the multivariate ap- proach ............................ 42 4.4. Three level of analysis ....................... 44 4.4.1.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 the Trans New Guinea Family Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström
    2 The Trans New Guinea family Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström 2.1 Introduction The island of New Guinea is a region of spectacular, deep linguistic diversity.1 It contains roughly 850 languages, which on present evidence fall into at least 18 language families that are not demonstrably related, along with several iso- lates.2 This immense diversity, far greater than that found in the much larger area of Europe, is no doubt mainly a consequence of the fact that New Guinea has been occupied for roughly 50,000 years by peoples organised into small kin-based social groups, lacking overarching political affiliations, and dispersed across a terrain largely dominated by rugged mountains and swampy lowlands, with quite frequent population movements. Among the non-Austronesian families of New Guinea one family stands out for its large membership and wide geographic spread: Trans New Guinea (TNG). With a probable membership of between 300 and 500 discrete languages, plus hundreds of highly divergent dialects, TNG is among the most numerous of the world’s language families.3 TNG languages are spoken from the Bomberai Pen- insula at the western end of mainland New Guinea (132 degrees E) almost to the eastern tip of the island (150 degrees E). Most of the cordillera that runs for more than 2000 kilometers along the centre of New Guinea is occupied exclusively by TNG languages. They are also prominent in much of the lowlands to the south of the cordillera and in patches to the north, especially from central Madang Province eastwards. There are possible outliers spoken on Timor, Alor and Pantar.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 the Trans New Guinea Family Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström
    2 The Trans New Guinea family Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström 2.1 Introduction The island of New Guinea is a region of spectacular, deep linguistic diversity.1 It contains roughly 850 languages, which on present evidence fall into at least 18 language families that are not demonstrably related, along with several iso- lates.2 This immense diversity, far greater than that found in the much larger area of Europe, is no doubt mainly a consequence of the fact that New Guinea has been occupied for roughly 50,000 years by peoples organised into small kin-based social groups, lacking overarching political affiliations, and dispersed across a terrain largely dominated by rugged mountains and swampy lowlands, with quite frequent population movements. Among the non-Austronesian families of New Guinea one family stands out for its large membership and wide geographic spread: Trans New Guinea (TNG). With a probable membership of between 300 and 500 discrete languages, plus hundreds of highly divergent dialects, TNG is among the most numerous of the world’s language families.3 TNG languages are spoken from the Bomberai Pen- insula at the western end of mainland New Guinea (132 degrees E) almost to the eastern tip of the island (150 degrees E). Most of the cordillera that runs for more than 2000 kilometers along the centre of New Guinea is occupied exclusively by TNG languages. They are also prominent in much of the lowlands to the south of the cordillera and in patches to the north, especially from central Madang Province eastwards. There are possible outliers spoken on Timor, Alor and Pantar.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of Edolo Grammar
    ASPECTS OF EDOLO GRAMMAR The members of the Committee approve the masters thesis of Jan David Gossner Donald A. Burquest _________________________________________ Supervising Professor Jerold A. Edmondson _________________________________________ Kenneth A. McElhanon _________________________________________ Copyright © by Jan David Gossner 1994 All Rights Reserved ASPECTS OF EDOLO GRAMMAR by JAN DAVID GOSSNER Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 1994 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to express my appreciation, first, to Dr. Donald A. Burquest who served as my supervising professor. His academic assistance has certainly been great throughout my study program, but perhaps his most valuable assistance has been his belief that I could accomplish this task in the time I had allotted. I am indebted to him for his "speaking many words of encouragement" to me. My wife, Debbie, has helped me in countless ways, as she always does, not the least of which was as a colleague in language learning and analysis, and I thank her. I wish to express my thanks, also, to the Papua New Guinea branch of the Summer Institute of Linguistics for financial support of this study program specifically, and for lo- gistical support during the period of field work. This support took many different forms, but I am particularly thankful to the personnel of the aviation department of the Papua New Guinea branch for their invaluable service in providing access to the language area. There are many others whose support, financial and otherwise, made this study pro- gram possible and who make our field work possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Appendix To
    Online Appendix to Hammarström, Harald & Sebastian Nordhoff. (2012) The languages of Melanesia: Quantifying the level of coverage. In Nicholas Evans & Marian Klamer (eds.), Melanesian Languages on the Edge of Asia: Challenges for the 21st Century (Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication 5), 13-34. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ’Are’are [alu] < Austronesian, Nuclear Austronesian, Malayo- Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo- Polynesian, Oceanic, Southeast Solomonic, Longgu-Malaita- Makira, Malaita-Makira, Malaita, Southern Malaita Geerts, P. 1970. ’Are’are dictionary (Pacific Linguistics: Series C 14). Canberra: The Australian National University [dictionary 185 pp.] Ivens, W. G. 1931b. A Vocabulary of the Language of Marau Sound, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies VI. 963–1002 [grammar sketch] Tryon, Darrell T. & B. D. Hackman. 1983. Solomon Islands Languages: An Internal Classification (Pacific Linguistics: Series C 72). Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. Bibliography: p. 483-490 [overview, comparative, wordlist viii+490 pp.] ’Auhelawa [kud] < Austronesian, Nuclear Austronesian, Malayo- Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo- Polynesian, Oceanic, Western Oceanic linkage, Papuan Tip linkage, Nuclear Papuan Tip linkage, Suauic unknown, A. (2004 [1983?]). Organised phonology data: Auhelawa language [kud] milne bay province http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=49613 1 Lithgow, David. 1987. Language change and relationships in Tubetube and adjacent languages. In Donald C. Laycock & Werner Winter (eds.), A world of language: Papers presented to Professor S. A. Wurm on his 65th birthday (Pacific Linguistics: Series C 100), 393-410. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University [overview, comparative, wordlist] Lithgow, David.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Typology of Participles
    Department of Modern Languages University of Helsinki Towards a typology of participles Ksenia Shagal ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII (Main Building), on the 1st of April, 2017 at 10 o’clock. Helsinki 2017 ISBN 978-951-51-2957-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-2958-1 (PDF) Printed by Unigrafia Helsinki 2017 Abstract The dissertation is a typological study of participles based on the concept of participle specifically designed for cross-linguistic comparison. In a few words, participles are defined as non-finite verb forms that can be employed for adnominal modification, e.g. the form written in the book [written by my supervisor]. The study is based on the data from more than 100 genetically and geographically diverse languages possessing the relevant forms. The data for the research comes mainly from descriptive grammars, but first-hand materials from native speakers, including those collected in several field trips, are also of utmost importance. The main theoretical aim of the dissertation is to describe the diversity of verb forms and clausal structures involved in participial relativization in the world’s languages, as well as to examine the paradigms formed by participial forms. In different chapters of the dissertation, participles are examined with respect to several parameters, such as participial orientation, expression of temporal, aspectual and modal meanings, possibility of verbal and/or nominal agreement, encoding of arguments, and some others. Finally, all the parameters are considered together in the survey of participial systems. The findings reported in the dissertation are representative of a significant diversity in the morphology of participles, their syntactic behaviour and the oppositions they form in the system of the language.
    [Show full text]
  • Edolo Phonology Essentials
    Edolo Phonology Essentials Jan Gossner August 1998 Edolo Phonology Essentials Jan D. Gossner Summer Institute of Linguistics August 1998 The phonological essentials of Edolo, a Papuan language spoken by about 1,300 people of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Edolo has five oral vowel phonemes and five nasal vowel phonemes with extensive spreading of nasalization. Of its ten consonant phonemes, the most frequent, the alveolar lateral flap //, has five allophones. Edolo Phonology Essentials Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Layout of paper ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 Areas of interest ..................................................................................... 1 1.3 Language information ............................................................................ 1 1.4 Corpus description ................................................................................. 2 1.5 References to other works ..................................................................... 3 2. General overview ................................................................................. 3 2.1 Phones and phonemes .......................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Work charts...................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Description......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Orthographies in Papua New Guinea Through the Years
    Orthographies in Papua New Guinea through the Years Ray Stegeman Abstract. I would like to present the use of non­English graphemes by many other SIL­PNG colleagues over the years. SIL­PNG has been at work documenting little­known languages in Papua New Guinea for over 60 years. The motivation for using certain graphemes, diacritics and other writing strategies has changed through the years, particularly related to choices made in nearby languages, re­ lated languages and the choices available through the dominant, colonial lan­ guage of English. It is particularly interesting how in recent years, linguists and translators have moved away from using diacritics and other unique graphemes, especially with the advent of cell phone use, so underdifferentiation in the alphabet has become commonplace, and its relative acceptance and efficacy will be the focus of my presentation. I have done a systematic analysis of graphemic choices made for most SIL projects in PNG for the past 60 years. Unusual, non­English graphemes are the focus of that research, and a questionnaire was sent to current SIL members asking about their motivations for using or not using certain unusual graphemes. I wish to compare which uncommon graphemes are chosen to represent which phonemes and gain insight into their efficacy as well as their general acceptance among the people who use the orthographies. 1. Introduction SIL has been at work for over 60 years in Papua New Guinea, a land teeming with hundreds of languages. My colleagues and I have worked in over 300 of the over 800 languages that exist in this most linguisti­ cally diverse of countries/regions of the world.
    [Show full text]