• A description of Abun: a West Papuan language of Irian Jaya Berry, K. and Berry, C. A Description of Abun: A West Papuan Language of Irian Jaya. B-115, xii + 236 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1999. DOI:10.15144/PL-B115.cover ©1999 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS FOUNDING EDITOR: Stephen A. Wurm EDITORIAL BOARD: Malcolm D. Ross and Darrell T. Tryon (Managing Editors), John Bowden, Thomas E. Dutton, Andrew K. Pawley Pacific Linguistics is a publisher specialisingin 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. Pacific Linguistics would like to assure prospective Australian authors and readers that it qualifies as a commercial publisher for The Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) purposes in measuring research output. Series B, Volume 115 - -- ----�--------------- A DESCRIPTION OF ABUN: a West Papuan language of Irian J aya Keith Berry Christine Berry 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 First published 1999 Copyright © The authors Bibliography. ISBN 0 85883 482 0 1. Abun language. I Berry, Christine. II. Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Pacific Linguistics. III. Title. (Series: Pacific linguistics. Series B-115) 499 CopyeditedfTypeset by Margaret Forster Printed by ANU Printing Service, Canberra Bound by F & M Perfect Bookbinding, Canberra The Pacific Linguistics logo was designed by Ian Scales after one small panel of a poro batuna from Vella La vella, held in the Australian Museum (A8S17). This is an artefact made from a plaque of fossilised giant clam shell (Tridacna sp.), carved into an elaborate fretwork design. These particular artefacts were made in the western Solomon Islands, probably between 100 and 200 years ago. The basic cover design is also by Ian Scales. The motif was drawn by Malcolm Ross after the stylised representation of a design on Lapita pottery found by Roger Green in the Reefs-Santa Cruz Islands (source: Matthew Spriggs, 1990 ed. Lapita design, form and composition. Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University.) TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................... xi ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....... ......... ........................................ ................................. 1 1.1 The location of the Abun language............................................................... ........... 1 1.2 The name of the Abun language ............. ........................................................... ..... 2 1.3 Previous studies ...................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Scope of research .................................................................................................... 3 1.5 The general linguistic situation ................................................................................ 3 1.6 Abun and other West Papuan Phylum languages ................................................... 7 1.7 Abun dialects ............................................................................................. ............ 8 CHAPTER 2: PHONOLOGy ............. ................................................................... ..... ..... 10 2.1 Introduction ................................... ........................................................................ 10 2.2 Consonants ........................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Vowels .................................................................................................................. 14 2.4 Syllable structure ................................................................................................... 16 2.5 Morphophonemic rules........ .............................................. ................................... 19 2.6 Stress ................................ ................................................................................... 20 2.7 Tone ....... ............................................................................................................... 20 2.8 The orthography of Abun ..................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3: MORPHOLOGY AND WORD CLASSES .... .......................................... 23 3. 1 Typology. .............................................................................................................. 23 3.2 Establishing word classes ..................................................................................... 24 3.3 Open word classes ................................................................................................ 25 3.4 Closed word classes................................................................................. ............. 38 CHAPTER 4: CLAUSE STRUCTURE ............................................................................. 48 4. 1 Core grammar and grammatical relations .................................. ........................... 48 4.2 Abun and the grammatical relations hierarchy ........................... ........................... 50 4.3 Clause types .......................................................................................................... 50 4.4 Adjuncts.... ............................................................................... ............................. 53 4.5 Particles.. ............................................................................................... ............... 56 4.6 Verbless clauses........................................................... ......................................... 60 4.7 Syntactic information-packaging options in Abun clauses........ ............................ 61 CHAPTER 5: PHRASE STRUCTURE ............................................................................. 65 5.1 Verb phrases ......................................................................................................... 65 5.2 Noun phrases ................................................................................................ ....... 67 5.3 Possessive phrases............................... ................ ................................................. 77 Vll viii 5.4 Prepositional phrases ............................................................................................ 82 5.5 Adverbial and adjectival phrases ........................................................................... 90 5.6 Quantifier phrases ................................................................................................. 92 5.7 Complex phrases .................................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER 6: MARKED MOODS .............. .................................................................... 101 6. 1 Interrogative mood........... ............ .... ................ ................................................... 101 6.2 Imperatives .................................................................................... ............. ........ 116 6.3 Frustrated action......................................................................... .. ....................... 120 CHAPTER 7: ASPECT AND MODALITY. ................................................................... 122 7. 1 Aspect ....................................................... ........................... .................... ........... 122 7.2 Modality................................. ............................................................................