Australian Journal of Linguistics

Vol. 19, no. 2 (1999)

Articles

Maung verbal agreement revisited: A response to Donohue (1998)	Timothy Jowan Curnow	141-159
Place names and land-language associations in the western Top End	Mark Harvey	161-195
Case marking of objects of stative predicates in Japanese	Nerida Jarkey	197-224
The rise of case suffixes as discourse markers in Jingulu - A case study of innovation in an obsolescent language	Rob Pensalfini	225-240
Incomplete topicalization in Biblical and Modern Hebrew and several Arabic Bible translations	Tamar Zewi	241-253

Book reviews

Approaches to media discourse (Allan Bell and Peter Garrett, editors)	Judy Wells	255-258
The handbook of phonetic sciences (William J. Hardcastle and John Laver, editors)	Alan R. Libert	258-260
Western linguistics: An historical introduction (Pieter A. M. Seuren)	Simon Musgrave	261-262
Scope and specificity (Feng-Hsi Liu)	Jyh Wee Sew	262-264

Abstracts

Maung verbal agreement revisited: A response to Donohue (1998)

Timothy Jowan Curnow

Abstract: Donohue's (1998) recent article developed an Optimality Theory analysis of the verb prefix ordering of the general tense form of Maung, a non-Pama Nyungan language of northern Australia. However, that analysis, with constraints based on grammatical relations and alignment categories, required one of the prefixes to be considered as an exception; it was treated as an absolutive prefix despite being formally and functionally an accusative prefix. An alternative Optimality Theory analysis, based on syntactic function and person, is developed which avoids the necessity of treating any form as exceptional. Donohue's (1998) analysis also oversimplified the Maung data, claiming that the complications arose from morphophonemic rules. In fact, some of the prefix forms cannot be developed in Donohue's analysis via morphophonemic rules, regardless of how complex these rules are. However, an analysis of these forms is possible, using ideas from Correspondence Theory. In particular, the tools available within this theory make it possible to explain the phenomenon of 'floating number' in Maung, where a verb takes, for example, a first person plural suffix, even though the argument in question is notionally first person singular.

Place names and land-language associations in the western Top End

Mark Harvey

Abstract: This paper examines how the patterning of place names may suggest comparatively greater or lesser time-depths of association between particular languages and particular areas. Phonological patterning is of comparatively limited use, as languages in most areas of Australia show a high degree of surface phonological similarity. Regular morphological and semantic patternings are also of comparatively limited use. Multi-lingualism/-lectalism is reported from throughout Australia, and meaningful place names commonly appear in variants from two or three different language varieties. On the other hand, irregular morphological and semantic patternings, which are not uncommon in place names, appear to provide a good indication of comparatively greater time-depths of association between a particular language and a particular area of land.

Case marking of objects of stative predicates in Japanese

Nerida Jarkey

Abstract: While the objects of most transitive predicates in Japanese are marked exclusively with the accusative case particle, those of many state predicates can appear with either the accusative or the nominative particle. A variety of observations and explanations regarding this alternation have been put forward in the past. In this paper the focus of the discussion is on the role played by the degree of transitivity of the proposition in influencing the choice of object-marking particle: the higher the transitivity, the more likely it is that the accusative particle will be used; the lower the transitivity, the more likely that the nominative will occur. The significance of factors such as the nature of the predicate and its inherent transitivity, the degree of intention of the subject, and the degree of individuation of the object are considered in particular. Two facets of the alternation - the fact that these objects can be marked nominatively at all, and the importance of the feature of intention of the subject - are discussed within the broader context of the characteristics of transitivity in Japanese.

The rise of case suffixes as discourse markers in Jingulu - A case study of innovation in an obsolescent language

Rob Pensalfini

Abstract: Jingulu exhibits a pattern of morphologically marking discourse prominence quite different to anything found in adjacent or closely related languages. The Ergative, and to a lesser extent the Dative, case suffixes have come to be used as optional indicators of discourse prominence in addition to maintaining their original case-marking uses. Some other head-marking non-Pama-Nyungan languages may also use case markers in non-case functions, but the Jingulu system differs from these in two important respects: the Jingulu innovation appears to be extremely recent (30-40 years) and the Jingulu system uses all core case markers, not just one particular marker, for this function. One possible explanation for this innovation in Jingulu involves re-analysis of the case markers resulting from the dominant and increasing influence of the English language on the final generations of Jingulu speakers.

Incomplete topicalization in Biblical and Modern Hebrew and several Arabic Bible translations

Tamar Zewi

Abstract: The paper discusses three types of incomplete topicalization in Biblical and Modern Hebrew. The first type involves word order change reflected in putting the topic in initial position. The second type involves incomplete extraposition process which presents characteristics of extraposition alongside remains of the original structure, and the third type involves incomplete passive construction which maintains characteristics of the active one.

Last update: 21 April 2000
Comments to Tim Curnow