5. Constituency and Grammatical Relations in Australian languages

Nordlinger, Rachel

doi:10.1515/9783110279771.215

Cited by 129 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Kayardild may well have inherited its vocabulary via the lower dashed arrow in Figure 4, but much of its morphosyntax via the upper dashed arrow. Figure 4: Tangkic family tree after Memmott et al (2016) Returning to the synchronic plane, as in many of Australia's languages (Nordlinger 2014), much of the syntactic structure in Tangkic sentences is re lected not in word order, but in in lectional morphology. Notably, in lectional features often take scope over a syntactic constituent such as DP, VP or even a whole clause, within which all words in lect overtly for that feature.…”

Section: Tangkicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rara and theory testing in typology: The natural evolution of non‐canonical agreement

Round¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In typology, rara provide valuable tests for theoretical hypotheses. Here I consider the rarum of PERSON inflection in Kayardild, which has only two surface contrasts but is found across all words in complementized subordinate clauses. I introduce a general schema for reasoning about the diachronic emergence of rara, and reconstruct the evolution of Kayardild subordinate PERSON agreement, from an earlier state in which a main‐clause inverse system was coupled to a system of complementizing CASE agreement. Serendipitously, the same synchronic facts have been analysed twice earlier without the benefit of the full diachronic backstory, and so present a retrospective case study in what diachrony offers for the analysis of rara, structures which by definition are difficult to contextualize using synchronic typology alone. I argue that since rara are so valuable for the testing of typological theories, and since diachrony may offer the only source of convincing explanation for them, it follows that typological science will need to refer to diachrony for the successful development of theory. It cannot rely on synchrony alone .

show abstract

Section: Tangkicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rara and theory testing in typology: The natural evolution of non‐canonical agreement

Round¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Kayardild may weil have inherited its vocabulary via the lower dashed arrow in Figure 17.4, but much of its morphosyntax via the upper dashed arrow. l Returning to the synchronic plane, as in many of Australia' s languages (Nordlinger 2014 ), much of the syntactic structure in Tangkic sentences is reflected not in word order, but in inflectional morphology. Notably, inflectional features often take scope over a syntactic constituent such as DP, VP or even a whole clause, within which all words inflect overtly for that feature.…”

Section: Yangarellamentioning

confidence: 99%

17 Rara and Theory Testing in Typology: The Natural Evolution of Non-canonical Agreement

Round¹

2019

Morphological Perspectives

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Typological research seeks to make valid generalisations about the diversity of human language. lt proceeds from observed linguistic traits, their distributions across geography and genealogy, and their relationships to other traits. Typological theories generate hypotheses, whose testing can prompt us to make more precise and systematic observations. Theories also propose explanations for observations. Corbett (2012), for example, generalises over extensive typological evidence to propose a theory of features, according to which, inflectional features are limited to only a handful of kinds. As in all sciences, theories in typology have apparent counter-exarnples. Rare linguistic traits, or rara (Plank 2000; Cysouw and Wohlgemuth 2010), often present such instances. If so, they challenge the theory, and warrant closer examination. Here I present an instance in which Corbett's theory prompted the re-examination of a rarum, namely the inflectional marking of complementised clauses in Kayardild. This led to a revised understanding of the phenomenon, and to support for the themy. Moreover, the re-examination presents the opportunity to compare three analyses of the same facts . The comparison highlights the methodological value for typology of attending to diachrony when evaluating rara. The argument has been made before that rara often arise through normal processes of historical change, only that because they require unlikely combinations of multiple changes, or rare preconditions, they are less likely to arise than common traits (Harris 2008, 201 O; Grossman 2016). Here I emphasise two corollaries of the nature and scientific value of rara. Because rara are particularly useful for hypothesis testing and attendant theoretical progress, and since our understanding of rara often requires reference to diachrony, it follows that methodologically, typology should ideally include as much about diachrony as it can in its evidentiary base; and epistemologically, it would be mistaken to characterise typology as an ahistorical discipline (e.g. Daniel 2011), since diachrony is paiticularly important for understanding some of the best evidence for testing typological theories. 'Tomorrow 1 will show you the man who gave me this boomerang. ' ft (3) Kayardild [E493.ex.12-13b] Jinaa bijarrb, [ngumbaa kurulutharranth] ? cina-a picarpa IJUIJ+pa-a ku-1.uluL+1Jara-inLa where-r dugong 2sG-XOBL-T kill-XPST-XDAT where dugong 2sG-COMP 1 kill-PST-COMP 1 'Where is the dugong which you killed?' (4) Kayardild [E493.ex.12-13a] Jinaa bijarrb, [nyingka kurulutharray]? cina-a picarpa JlÜJ+ka ku-tulu~+!Jara+ki-a where-r dugong 2sG-T kill-XPST-XERGLOC-T where dugong 2sG[ COMP2] kill-PST-COMP2 'Where is the dugong which you killed?'

show abstract

Quantification in Nen

Evans

2017

Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language: Volume II

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

5. Constituency and Grammatical Relations in Australian languages

Abstract: Australian languages have had a signifi cant impact on the theoretical and typological stage over the last 50 years, particularly in the areas of nonconfi gurationality and phrase structure constituency, ergativity, and case-marking.¹ This was trig

Cited by 129 publications

References 69 publications

Rara and theory testing in typology: The natural evolution of non‐canonical agreement

Rara and theory testing in typology: The natural evolution of non‐canonical agreement

17 Rara and Theory Testing in Typology: The Natural Evolution of Non-canonical Agreement

Quantification in Nen

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About