Worrorra: a language of the north-west Kimberley coast

Abstract

This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This licence allows for the copying, distribution, display and performance of this work for non-commercial purposes providing the work is clearly attributed to the copyright holder. Address all inquiries to the Director at the above address. I would especially like to thank an anonymous reviewer for detailed expert commentary, and for whose input the finished product is not only more rigorous, but more in line with contemporary developments. I would like to thank Bob Dixon and Sasha Aikhenvald, who supported me with advice and encouragement from the beginning of the project, and who also read and commented on a couple of chapters. Nick Reid of the University of New England provided valuable support and advice, and Alan Rumsey has been supportive since I met him at Mowanjum in 1993. I would like to thank as well Michael Silverstein, who sent me from Chicago a copy of his unpublished essay on naming practices (Silverstein nd 1), a copy of Silverstein 1986, which touches on Worrorra complex predicates, and a photocopy of some handwritten notes headed The Structure of the Worrorra Verb, for a lecture presented at the Australian National University in 1975; as well as for some initial advice respecting Worrorra phonology. One: introductionThe core reference of the word Worrorra (/Wrrorra/) is linguistic, being applied traditionally to the language spoken as a first language by about a dozen related extended families in Australia's northwest Kimberley region. The extended reference of the word, however, was applied as well to the people, the land and the culture of those families. At the time of sustained European contact (1912) there were an estimated 300 people who spoke Worrorra as their first language, and probably at least twice that number again who spoke it as a second language.The language described here is that attested by Patsy Lulpunda, Amy Peters and Daisy UtemorrahPatsy Lulpunda was born probably at about the turn of the twentieth century. She was a girl when the first Europeans entered Worrorra country in 1912, and from her accounts she would seem to have been about ten years old at that time or perhaps a little older. Her family celebrated her 100th birthday in 1998, and that date is probably close to being correct. She clearly remembered life in her own country before the arrival of Europeans. She remembered the arrival of the first white people, and the fear that she and her friends felt when they first saw them. She remembered staying at Mingkunya (Port George IV) near the first missionary encampment, and later their move to Kunmunya. Her oral histories are recorded in a number of texts held at Mowanjum and at the Kimberley Language Centre.Patsy was born in the land of Gra...

Intransitivizing morphology

“…How best to functionally characterize the middle varies by language. For example, Heath (: 9.4.1) identifies the primary function of the middle in Tiranige (Dogon) as “internally experienced,” while Clendon (, pp. 411–415) describes the middle in Worrorra (Worrorran) as involving “mutual action” in many cases.…”

Strings of Connectedness. Essays in honour of Ian Keen

“…With programs developed and delivered by committees of judges or magistrates, and drawing on other expertise as required, the college deals with a vast range of topics impacting judicial work. Many of these programs incorporate issues about understanding Aboriginal communities and witnesses (for example, in programs on Judging in Remote Localities ), Solution Focussed Judging (2011) and Witness Assessment (2012, 2014). …”

In a Manner of Speaking: How Reported Speech May Have Shaped Grammar

“…See Casartelli (fc) for more detailed analyses and accounts of other subtypes of extended reported speech.16 For the remaining examples in this section we list the macro-area in the sample, rather than countries in which the respective language is spoken.17 Like in other Worrorran languages(Rumsey, 1990) and Nyulnyulan languages(McGregor, 2014), the Matrix predicate yi-in Worrorra can both be translated as 'say', 'think' or 'do' Clendon (2014). opts for the gloss 'do', but the description in the grammar demonstrates that 'say' is one of the available translations, qualifying this example as extended reported speech in accordance with our definition in (4b).Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org September 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 624486…”