John Benjamins Publishing Company
Acquisition or shift?
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Abstract
This chapter examines the spatial description system employed by Gurindji children in Kalkaringi (Northern Territory, Australia) to describe ternary relations in small-scale space. While Gurindji is the traditional language of Kalkaringi, a new variety, Gurindji Kriol, has developed as a result of language contact, and is now the first language of young adults and children. Speakers of Gurindji use cardinal directions in descriptions of both small-scale and large-scale space, whereas cardinal terms are almost never used to describe small-scale in naturally-occurring Gurindji Kriol speech. We show that the strategies preferred by children differ from those used by their parents, who produce predominantly cardinal descriptions. Instead, Gurindji Kriol-speaking children show variable use between cardinals and landmark-based strategies.
Abstract
This chapter examines the spatial description system employed by Gurindji children in Kalkaringi (Northern Territory, Australia) to describe ternary relations in small-scale space. While Gurindji is the traditional language of Kalkaringi, a new variety, Gurindji Kriol, has developed as a result of language contact, and is now the first language of young adults and children. Speakers of Gurindji use cardinal directions in descriptions of both small-scale and large-scale space, whereas cardinal terms are almost never used to describe small-scale in naturally-occurring Gurindji Kriol speech. We show that the strategies preferred by children differ from those used by their parents, who produce predominantly cardinal descriptions. Instead, Gurindji Kriol-speaking children show variable use between cardinals and landmark-based strategies.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Acronyms and glosses ix
- Portrait of Salikoko S. Mufwene xiv
- Introduction 1
- A sociolinguistic typology for languages in contact 23
- A local history of Tok Pisin 57
- Conventionalized creativity in the emergence of a mixed language – A case study of Light Warlpiri 81
- Acquisition or shift? 105
- Substrate influence in Northern Quechua languages 133
- Coordination in the Suriname Creoles 161
- Reflections on Darwin’s natural selection 191
- Building grammar in the early stages of development of French Creoles 211
- Foundings and futures 243
- Detecting loan words computationally 269
- Learnability and ecological factors as motivators of language change 289
- The restructuring of Salikoko Mufwene through competition and selection 307
- Language Index 327
- Subject Index 329
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Acronyms and glosses ix
- Portrait of Salikoko S. Mufwene xiv
- Introduction 1
- A sociolinguistic typology for languages in contact 23
- A local history of Tok Pisin 57
- Conventionalized creativity in the emergence of a mixed language – A case study of Light Warlpiri 81
- Acquisition or shift? 105
- Substrate influence in Northern Quechua languages 133
- Coordination in the Suriname Creoles 161
- Reflections on Darwin’s natural selection 191
- Building grammar in the early stages of development of French Creoles 211
- Foundings and futures 243
- Detecting loan words computationally 269
- Learnability and ecological factors as motivators of language change 289
- The restructuring of Salikoko Mufwene through competition and selection 307
- Language Index 327
- Subject Index 329
