This chapter reports on initial findings of an ongoing large-scale research project into the acquisition of Murrinhpatha, a polysynthetic language of the Daly River region of the Northern Territory of Australia with complex morphology. The complex verbal structures in Murrinhpatha, which can contain a large number of morphemes and bipartite stem morphology discontinuously distributed throughout the verbal template, raise a multitude of questions for acquisition. In this chapter we focus particularly on the acquisition of the complex predicate system in the verb, and the acquisition of subject-marking categories and tense/aspect/mood. Our findings are based on the language development of five Murrinhpatha acquiring children aged from 2;7–4;11 years.
Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the subject of hypoparathyroidism and it has become increasingly clear that psychiatric symptoms may frequently be found in patients with hypoparathyroidism, even where no evidence of tetany is present. It is significant that in a survey, in the Cardiff area, of 82 patients who had had a thyroidectomy, Davis et al. (1961) found that mental symptoms (defined as a feeling of uneasiness, tension and anxiety, sometimes with attacks of panic, often with depression) occurred in 66 per cent. of 26 patients whose plasma calcium was below 9·3 mgms/cent, in 51 per cent. of 31 patients whose plasma calcium lay between 9·3 and 9·8 mgms./cent. and in 35 per cent. of 23 patients whose plasma calcium was above 9 · 8 mgms./cent. They estimated that at least 24 per cent. of the patients showed partial parathyroid insufficiency, and that this apparently accounted for many minor but disabling symptoms, particularly depression and lassitude. They found that often these symptoms could be cured by the administration of calcium.
Children's early language acquisition is directly informed by the talk they hear around them, as is their social and pragmatic development. Child directed speech (CDS), also referred to as ‘babytalk’ or ‘motherese’, is one example of linguistic input that children receive. Descriptions of this register (if it exists in a speech community) can illuminate local cultural practices, values, and beliefs, as well as providing a platform for research into language development. In this chapter we review the limited amount of existing research that describes CDS in Indigenous Australian communities, reporting on studies of CDS as a specialized speech register, as well as work describing verbal routines and socialization practices. This survey highlights the many similarities shared by CDS registers around the country, despite the structure of the respective adult varieties often differing vastly from one another.
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