The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia

by McGregor,William B.

• ISBN13: 9780415308083
• ISBN10: 0415308089
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-02
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

The Kimberley, the far north-west of Australia, is one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the continent. Some fifty-five Aboriginal languages belonging to five different families are spoken within its borders. Few of these languages are currently being passed on to children, most of whom speak Kriol (a new language that arose about half a century ago from an earlier Pidgin English) or Aboriginal English (a dialect of English) as their mother tongue and usual language of communication. This book describes the Aboriginal languages spoken today and in the recent past in this region. The main features are of their grammars are outlined, including their sounds and word and sentence structures. In addition, there is discussion of how they are related to one another, how they were and are used in conversational interactions, and their roles and uses in traditional and modern speech communities.

Author Biography

William B. McGregor is Professor of Linguistics at Aarhus University.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xi
Preface	xiv
Acknowledgements	xvii
Abbreviations and conventions	xix
Introduction	1	(26)
Nature of Australian languages	1	(2)
The Kimberley environment	3	(5)
Recent history of the Kimberley region	8	(6)
History of research on Kimberley languages	14	(7)
Spelling and pronunciation	21	(6)
Further reading	26	(1)
Survey of Kimberley languages	27	(20)
Language, dialect, and `tribe'	27	(2)
Names of languages and `tribes'	29	(3)
Relationships among the languages of Australia	32	(5)
Language families in the Kimberley	37	(10)
Further reading	46	(1)
Language in Kimberley Aboriginal societies	47	(32)
Traditional Kimberley Aboriginal way of life	47	(4)
Social organisation	51	(6)
Speech styles	57	(4)
Post-contact varieties	61	(10)
Multilingualism, language choice, and code switching	71	(2)
Language shift and endangerment	73	(6)
Further reading	78	(1)
Phonetics and phonology	79	(18)
Types of sounds	79	(4)
Consonants	83	(7)
Vowels	90	(1)
Words and syllables	91	(3)
Stress	94	(1)
Connected speech	95	(2)
Further reading	96	(1)
Fundamental concepts of grammar	97	(13)
Words and morphemes	97	(4)
Parts-of-speech	101	(5)
Beyond the word: phrases, clauses, and sentences	106	(4)
Further reading	109	(1)
Pronouns and determiners	110	(22)
Person and number systems	110	(6)
Case systems	116	(3)
Bound pronouns	119	(6)
Determiners	125	(7)
Further reading	130	(2)
Nominals and noun phrases	132	(27)
Introductory remarks	132	(1)
Case-marking	133	(10)
Pronoun affixes	143	(3)
Noun classes and gender systems	146	(4)
Other nominal morphology	150	(4)
Noun phrases	154	(5)
Further reading	158	(1)
Verbs and verbal constructions	159	(32)
Types of verb and verbal construction	159	(2)
Simple verb constructions	161	(13)
Compound verb constructions	174	(11)
Origin and development of verbal constructions	185	(2)
Other verbal morphology	187	(4)
Further reading	190	(1)
Vocabulary and meaning	191	(25)
Range and depth of vocabularies	191	(5)
Metaphor and extension of meaning	196	(2)
Terms for new items and concepts	198	(5)
Number words	203	(6)
Language and space	209	(4)
Ethnoscience	213	(3)
Further reading	215	(1)
Clauses and sentences	216	(30)
Introductory remarks	216	(2)
Nominal clauses	218	(3)
Verbal clauses	221	(14)
Word and phrase order	235	(2)
Complex sentences	237	(9)
Further reading	245	(1)
Text and discourse	246	(28)
Preliminary remarks	246	(2)
Sample narratives	248	(17)
Narrative structure	265	(6)
The interactive dimension: narrative in discourse	271	(3)
Further reading	273	(1)
Grammar in language use	274	(19)
The nature of grammar	274	(1)
Noun phrase discontinuity	275	(4)
Pragmatics of ergative marking	279	(9)
Narrative functions of quotation	288	(5)
Further reading	292	(1)
Conclusion	293	(29)
Summary	293	(6)
Gesture and sign languages	299	(5)
Applications of linguistics to modern Kimberley Aboriginal contexts	304	(12)
Kimberley languages in a temporal perspective	316	(6)
Further reading	320	(2)
Notes	322	(14)
Languages and sources	336	(2)
Bibliography	338	(21)
Index of languages and language families	359	(4)
Index of names	363	(4)
Index of subjects	367