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Temporal, aspectual and modal expression in Anindilyakwa, the language of the Groote Eylandt Archipelago, Australia
Abstract
This thesis provides an empirically driven and theoretically informed examination of temporal, aspectual and modal (TAM) expression in Anindilyakwa, an underdescribed and underdocumented Gunwinyguan language of the Groote Eylandt archipelago, north-east Arnhem Land, Australia. The goals of the thesis are both descriptive and theoretical. The first is to provide a detailed description of some of the core grammatical properties of Anindilyakwa, particularly related to the verbal complex. This descriptive goal is linked to, and builds the infrastructure for, the second goal of the thesis: to provide a theoretically-informed examination of temporal, aspectual and modal expression and interaction in Anindilyakwa, thus contributing towards (and building upon) research in the area of TAM semantics and pragmatics (and their interfaces with morpho-syntax). The original contribution of this thesis lies in the cross-section between theoretically-informed morpho-syntactic, semantic and pragmatic approaches to TAM expression in natural languages, and the exploration and examination of this domain in a fieldwork and language documentation setting: how do underdescribed languages inform our understanding of this domain, and how should we approach the documentation of these concepts in the field? Anindilyakwa is a particularly interesting language to examine in this regard, given the polysynthetic nature and complex morphological make-up and combinatorics of the verb. Inflectionally, TAM expression is realised through the combination of (at least) two discontinuous morphological slots of the verb structure. In addition to the complex morphological combinatorics of the verbal structure, this inflectional system displays widespread aspectuo-temporal underspecification, coupled with a widespread lack of contrastiveness in many of the paradigmatic forms (i.e. syncretism). Thus, unpacking and understanding these inflectional verbal properties, with respect to TAM expression, is where the core of this thesis lies. This comprehensive semantic and morpho-syntactic investigation into the TAM system of Anindilyakwa contributes not only to the description of this underdocumented language, but it also bolsters the representation of understudied (particularly non-European) languages that have received detailed TAM study, ensuring that future cross-linguistic typological work on TAM has access to richer data in a wider sample of the world's languages.
... So-called 'zero tenses' have attracted considerable theoretical attention over the past two or three decades. We will focus here on a special instance of the inflectional verb paradigm in an under-described Indigenous Australian language, namely Anindilyakwa, which Bednall (2020) analyses as an indicative 'zero tense', both formally and semantically. Contrary to e.g. the formally non-reduced, and temporally non-underspecified indicative past tense inflection (realized as a -n@ suffix in (1)), the Anindilyakwa zero tense has (a) a phonologically reduced form (cf. the null suffixed TAM augment Ø in (2a/b)) and (b) a very 'lightweight' TAM content, as it is underspecified for both temporal and aspectual meaning, cf. ...
... Anindilyakwa thus radically differs from, e.g., Sranan and Tuwuli (and many Creoles and Pidgins, it seems) in that it does not treat dynamicity as a major parameter determining the temporal interpretation of its zero tense, while it converges with, e.g., Mandarin Chinese and Navajo, in that boundedness is the most influential aspectual parameter for constraining the temporal anchoring of its zero tense-marked utterances. We will also show that Bednall's (2020) hypothesis that event atomicity (or punctuality, if you will) rigidly determines a past temporal anchoring for zero tense in this language is supported-a property which until Bednall's (2020) initial observations had gone unnoticed in the literature, and one that contradicts certain generalizations about zero tense (as in Malchukov 2009or Bybee 1990, where is its more or less clearly implied that additional temporal information can override most, if not all aspect-inferred effects of temporal anchoring on zero-tense). We will also briefly compare Anindilyakwa to two other Australian languages, and formulate some potentially fruitful novel hypotheses for a typology of zero tenses. ...
... Anindilyakwa thus radically differs from, e.g., Sranan and Tuwuli (and many Creoles and Pidgins, it seems) in that it does not treat dynamicity as a major parameter determining the temporal interpretation of its zero tense, while it converges with, e.g., Mandarin Chinese and Navajo, in that boundedness is the most influential aspectual parameter for constraining the temporal anchoring of its zero tense-marked utterances. We will also show that Bednall's (2020) hypothesis that event atomicity (or punctuality, if you will) rigidly determines a past temporal anchoring for zero tense in this language is supported-a property which until Bednall's (2020) initial observations had gone unnoticed in the literature, and one that contradicts certain generalizations about zero tense (as in Malchukov 2009or Bybee 1990, where is its more or less clearly implied that additional temporal information can override most, if not all aspect-inferred effects of temporal anchoring on zero-tense). We will also briefly compare Anindilyakwa to two other Australian languages, and formulate some potentially fruitful novel hypotheses for a typology of zero tenses. ...
Many so-called ‘zero tense’-marked (which we define as morphologically reduced and underspecified inflections) or untensed verb forms found in tenseless languages, have been characterized as context dependent for their temporal and aspectual interpretation, with the verb’s aspectual content (either as event structure or viewpoint properties) being given more or less prominent roles in their temporal anchoring. In this paper, we focus on a morpho-phonologically reduced inflectional verbal paradigm in Anindilyakwa (Groote Eylandt archipelago, NT, Australia), which is both temporally and aspectually underspecified, and constitutes an instance of zero tense as defined above. On the basis of a quantitative study of an annotated corpus of zero-inflected utterances, we establish that in the absence of independent overt or covert temporal information, the temporal anchoring of this ‘zero tense’ exhibits complex patterns of sensitivity to event structural parameters. Notably we establish that while dynamicity/stativity and telicity/atelicity are to some extent valuable predictors for the temporal interpretation of zero tense in Anindilyakwa, only atomicity (i.e., event punctuality) and boundedness categorically impose a past temporal anchoring—this confirms insights found in previous works, both on Anindilyakwa and on other languages, while also differing from other generalisations contained in these works. Our analysis also shows that unlike several zero tenses identified in various languages (especially in Pidgins and Creoles), Anindilyakwa zero tense-marked dynamic utterances do not correlate with a past temporal reading. Rather, we show that Anindilyakwa seems to come closest to languages possessing zero tensed-verbs (or tenseless verbs) where boundedness monotonically enforces a past temporal anchoring, such as Navajo and Mandarin Chinese. We also show that aspect-independent temporal information appears to determine the temporal anchoring of all zero tense-marked unbounded atelic utterances (both stative and dynamic) in Anindilyakwa—a fact at once conflicting with some claims made in previous works on zero tenses, while confirming results from past studies of Indigenous languages of the Americas (especially Yucatec Maya), concerning the role of temporal anaphora in the temporal interpretation of ‘tenseless’ verb forms.
... (2)). Note that departing from (Bednall 2020), and following (Caudal, Mailhammer & Bednall 2019), we are analyzing each combination of prefix and suffix exponents as a single discontinuous TAM morph, i.e. as instance of so-called 'distributed exponence' in the sense of (Carroll 2016). ...
... The starting point for the present study is Bednall's (2020) account of the zero inflection. On the surface, the temporal anchoring of REAL-V-Ø utterances appears to be largely determined by the Aktionsart of the verb: stative verbs seem to favor a present anchoring, verbs describing atomic telic events (cf. ...
... 'Now you have seen that I really am alive again…' (Bednall 2020: 62) (4) n-eniba-dhə-Ø=ma REAL.3m-alive-INCH-USP =STYPE 'He came back to life' (Bednall 2020: 149) Other typological works seem to be partly in agreement with Bednall's (2020) generalizations (see e.g. (Bybee 1990: 12-13), which observes that dynamic predicates, regardless of their telicity, can give rise to past temporal anchorings in at least some languages, in contrast with stative, whose 'default interpretation' seems to be past (the latter claim being at odds with Bednall's generalization in Anindilyakwa, while the former is not). ...
So-called ‘zero’ or ‘null’ tenses have often been characterized as functionally deficient forms, deprived of any inherent content. In this paper, we will focus on the semantics of a morpho-phonologically null inflectional verbal paradigm in Anindilyakwa (Groote Eylandt, N.T., Australia, which is both temporally and aspectually underspecified. Through a quantitative corpus study conducted in the paper, we establish that ‘zero inflection’ in this language, contra prior works on such tenses in general (e.g. Bybee 1990) and in Anindilyakwa in particular (Bednall 2019), presents various degrees of sensitivity to traditional Vendlerian aspectual parameters. We show that while telicity is not a significant predictor for the temporal interpretation of zero-inflected Anindilyakwa verbs, and dynamicity is a good but not very good predictor, only a very broad opposition between change-of-state (including qua boundedness) and non-change-of-state, or perfective/imperfective, gives very significant biases towards past vs. present anchoring. We also show that atomic telicity is the only categorical Aktionsart predictor for temporal anchoring in this context correctly predict the temporal anchoring of such verbs, and stativity is not biased towards present interpretations, thereby questioning currently received typological theories of the semantics of so-called ‘zero-tenses’ / aspectuo-temporally underspecified tenses.
... A striking prosodic pattern is described for many Australian languages: a stretch of level, high pitch over an intonational phrase (IP) accompanied by extreme lengthening of the IP-final vowel [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. It has been given various names including "narrative high monotone", "sustained level pitch", "Linear Lengthening Intonation", and variations on "stylised sustained high contour/plateau/tone/intonation". ...
... In Kuninjku, on the other hand, the high, level pitch may spread up to the IP boundary tone; if this is L%, signalling finality, then there is a sharp fall over a short portion of the lengthened vowel, equivalent to the duration of a regular vowel, and any following sonorant in the rime [12]. Reduplicated verb stems in utterances with SSP are reported to occur in Nunggubuyu [4], Wik-Mungkan [8], and Anindilyakwa [1]; in the first language the IP-final vowel is lengthened, in the second the lengthened vowel is proposed to be an additional clitic =aːː, while in the last a "post-lengthening" clitic =wa occurs following the lengthened vowel, often accompanied by falling/low pitch. ...
A similar, striking prosodic pattern is reported to occur in languages around Australia. It is characterised by a stretch of level, high pitch, and lengthening of the IP-final vowel. This pattern appears to have a similar meaning in each language, expressing the extension of an event in space or time. However, there are some differences in the form described. In this paper, we present a study of the acoustics of this pattern in three unrelated Australian Indigenous languages, and propose a method for automatically identifying examples within an audio file. Hence, the purpose of this paper is twofold: 1) to provide a cross-linguistic description of this prosodic pattern with the aim of acoustically describing cross-linguistic variation, and 2) to provide a proof-of-concept for a method to automatically identify this pattern which could allow other language data to be incorporated into the typological description in the future.
... There has been a surge of interest in this kind of modal variability in recent years, and work on less well-studied languages has contributed a great deal to our developing understanding of variation in the typology of modality (Bochnak 2015a;Deal 2011;Peterson 2010;Rullmann et al. 2008). Traditional languages of Australia have not featured greatly in the discussion thus far, particularly outside of a number of Non-Pama-Nyungan languages of Northern Australia (Bednall 2019;McGregor and Wagner 2006;Nordlinger and Caudal 2012). In this paper, I document the modal contribution of this construction in Pintupi-Luritja and compare it to other examples of modal variability in the literature. ...
... It is as of yet largely unknown how traditional languages of Australia fit into this typology, as there are at present few systematic studies into how modality is expressed. Most of the existing work in this area explores modal and mood systems in non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia (Bednall 2019;McGregor and Wagner 2006;Nordlinger and Caudal 2012;Schultze-Berndt and Caudal 2016;Verstraete 2005); outside of Northern Australia there has been very little work on modal expression (Bell 1988;Bednall 2011Bednall , 2020 being some relevant exceptions). This paper is a step towards addressing this gap in the literature by exploring an expression that is used to express root modal meanings in Pintupi-Luritja (Western Desert, Pama Nyungan). ...
This paper investigates the modal and non-modal uses and readings of the purposive suffix in the Western Desert (Pama-Nyungan) language Pintupi-Luritja. It is shown that the suffix is associated with a range of root-modal readings, with some variability in modal force. The modal readings are investigated in a variety of non-upward-entailing environments and compared with those of other variable modal force languages as described in the literature. I suggest that the purposive suffix does not behave in the same way as in these languages, which suggests that the typology of variable force modality is not uniform. I conclude by suggesting a connection to the modality described in non-finite and nominalised environments in a number of other languages.
... Indeed, in Kayardild, ACT cannot mark past subordinate clauses (Evans 1995:261) only PAST can. Similarly, the temporal interpretation of REAL-V-∅ subordinates or 'chained clauses' in Anindilyakwa depends on that of their matrix clause, whereas that of REAL-V-PST subordinates / 'chained clauses' does not (Bednall 2019). Historically, both tenses can be reconstructed as deriving from former relative tenses (Mark Harvey, p.c., and see Evans 1995). ...
This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour called linear lengthening intonation (LLI), which is found in the northern Australian language Iwaidja. Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e., cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually determined relative scalar meaning. Iwaidja differs from other northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device and not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).
This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour found in the Northern Australian language Iwaidja called Linear Lengthening Intonation (LLI). Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4,000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e. cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually-determined relative scalar meaning (e.g., a ‘typical duration’ à la (Tatevosov 2008)). Iwaidja differs from other Northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns (see e.g. (Bishop 2002: 2002; Simard 2013)), in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device; not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).
This study analyses the role of conjunctions in clause linkage in Australian languages. Conjunctions are seemingly straightforward clause-linking devices, but they remain under-studied, both for Australian languages and from a broader typological perspective. In this study, we propose a functional definition of conjunctions, as set against other resources for clause linkage. We show that this captures not just the prototypical free-standing elements (the equivalents of if , because , but etc.), but also various types of bound markers with a similar function (bound to clause-scoping positions or predicates). We survey the role of conjunctions in a representative sample of 53 Australian languages, showing that they are not a marginal clause linkage resource in Australia, as seems to be assumed in the relevant literature, but often form a major category within clause linkage systems. We also identify a number of areal patterns, based on the size of conjunction inventories and their morphosyntactic features.
This article considers the identification and classification of salient Aktionsart properties in Anindilyakwa (Gunwinyguan, Australia). Through examining the grammatically permissible (and impermissible) distribution and co-occurrence of various temporal adverbials and morpho-syntactic structures, I identify key Aktionsart properties exhibited in Anindilyakwa. I demonstrate that the properties of dynamism and atomicity are particularly important to consider in this language, while telicity is less prominent. The detailed description and analysis of Aktionsart properties in this article contributes towards a more nuanced understanding of the aspectuo-temporal system of Anindilyakwa. In addition, it provides novel perspectives with which to consider cross-linguistic aspectuo-temporal research, particularly with a focus on smaller-scale, under-described languages.
This article explores the expression and conceptualisation of emotions in Anindilyakwa (Gunwinyguan, north-east Arnhem Land). Fundamental to the emotional lexicon of this language is the widespread use of body parts, which frequently occur in figurative expressions. In this article I examine the primary body parts that occur in emotion descriptions in both literal (physical) and figurative expressions. Particular attention is given to yukudhukudha / - werrik - ‘chest’, the body part conceptualised as the primary site of emotion in Anindilyakwa and the most productive body-related morpheme used in emotion compounds. I consider the role of the chest and other productive body parts that occur in emotion compounds, and examine the metonymic and metaphorical devices that contribute to the expression of these emotional states. In doing so, I propose a number of overarching and widespread tropes that hold across different body-part compounds, and briefly contextualise these in relation to the emotion description systems of other closely-related (Gunwinyguan) languages.
This dissertation presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of aspects of the intonation and prosody of an Australian polysynthetic language, Bininj Gun-wok (BGW; also referred to as Mayali). The theoretical framework is autosegmental-metrical phonology, as adapted to the description of intonation by Pierrehumbert (1980), Bruce (1977) and others. The analysis focuses principally on two dialects, Kuninjku and Manyallaluk Mayali (MM), with some reference to the Kunwinjku, Kune, Gun-Djeihmi and Kundedjnjenghmi dialects.
One of the principal motivations for analysing intonation and prosody in BGW is to provide input to the developing field of intonational-prosodic typology, from the perspective of a language which is typologically interesting on at least two counts: its position in the Australian language family, and its polysynthetic character.
Murrinhpatha, an Aboriginal language of northern Australia, has an initial k -alternation in verbs that has hitherto been resistant to grammatical analysis. I argue that k -does not encode any feature of event structure, but rather signals the speaker’s epistemic primacy over the addressee. This authority may relate to concrete perceptual factors in the field of discourse, or to socially normative authority, where it asserts the speaker’s epistemic rights. These rights are most salient in the domains of kin, country and totems, as opposed to other topics in which speakers are habitually circumspect and co-construct knowledge. My analysis of the k -alternation thus brings together the typology of epistemic grammar (Evans, Bergqvist, & San Roque, 2018a, 2018b), and a sociolinguistic perspective on stance (Jaffe, 2009).
This paper contributes to the typology of complex perspective markers by presenting an in-depth analysis of a system of epistemic authority marking which functionally overlaps with, but has no exact parallels in, similar systems attested cross-linguistically; it is also the first analysis of grammaticalised marking of epistemic authority in a language of Australia. Jaminjung/Ngaliwurru, a language of the Mirndi family, distinguishes between primary and shared epistemic authority by means of two non-obligatory clitics. By employing the first clitic, speakers claim privileged (asymmetrical) access to evidence informing their utterance; the holder of epistemic primacy shifts to addressees in questions. The second marker, which is transparently related to a 1
This article explores the expression and conceptualisation of emotions in Anindilyakwa (Gunwinyguan, north-east Arnhem Land). Fundamental to the emotional lexicon of this language is the widespread use of body parts, which frequently occur in figurative expressions. In this article I examine the primary body parts that occur in emotion descriptions in both literal (physical) and figurative expressions. Particular attention is given to yukudhukudha / - werrik - ‘chest’, the body part conceptualised as the primary site of emotion in Anindilyakwa and the most productive body-related morpheme used in emotion compounds. I consider the role of the chest and other productive body parts that occur in emotion compounds, and examine the metonymic and metaphorical devices that contribute to the expression of these emotional states. In doing so, I propose a number of overarching and widespread tropes that hold across different body-part compounds, and briefly contextualise these in relation to the emotion description systems of other closely-related (Gunwinyguan) languages.
Mushin provides the first full grammatical description of Garrwa, a critically endangered language of the Southwest Gulf of Carpentaria region in Northern Australia. Garrwa is typologically interesting because of its uncertain status in the Australian language family, its pronouns and its word order syntax. This book covers Garrwa phonology, morphology and syntax, with a particular focus on the use of grammar in discourse. The grammatical description is supplemented with a word list and text collection, including transcriptions of ordinary conversation. © 2012 Walter de Gruyter, Inc., Boston/Berlin. All right reserved.
This thesis is a cross-linguistic study of reduplicative constructions found in a sample of 120 Australian languages. The study is based on an examination of reduplications in various languages, and a comparison of these particular constructions with aspects of the structure of the language in question. In this way, the role of reduplication in grammar may be clarified. This is especially relevant to Australian languages since reduplication is largely used to express 'grammatical' rather than 'lexical' meaning. Chapter one provides an introduction to the aims and methods of the thesis. Chapter two discusses the phonological structure of reduplication in Australian languages by examining reduplication together with such phonological parameters as phonological word boundaries and stress patterns. Chapter three characterises nominal reduplications and sets out to show that reduplication of 'nouns' and 'adjectives' can be distinguished on a semantic or conceptual basis, although formal grammatical differences between the two classes may rarely be evident in Australian languages. Chapter four examines the variety of meanings which verbal reduplication may have, and shows a correlation between the types of meanings found and the role of reduplication in marking differences in verbal semantics in any one language. Finally, the thesis ends with a summary of the findings in chapters two, three and four, some conclusions, and suggestions for further areas of study relevant to the current topic.