A Grammar of Ngardi
-
Thomas Ennever
About this book
Ngardi is a highly endangered language with fewer than 10 remaining speakers and is no longer being acquired by children. Despite the limited circulation of a draft dictionary (Cataldi, 2011), there has been no published reference grammar of this language. Upon publication, this work will constitute the most comprehensive grammar of any Ngumpin-Yapa language.
The Ngardi language exhibits many of the same typologically interesting features first identified in the related language Warlpiri—namely phenomena of non-configurational syntax and null anaphora. This grammar also brings to light a number of unique properties which will be of interest to linguistic typologists and formal theorists. The registration of arguments both through case marking on free NPs as well as in pronominal enclitics is similar to Warlpiri but differs in its detail—particularly in the ability to register various non-core cases (e.g. locative and allative) as ‘arguments’ in the pronominal complex. Within the verbal system, Ngardi is notably for a large number of verbal inflections (~20) which mark various distinctions in tense, aspect and mood, as well as associated motion and speaker-centric directionality. Ngardi exhibits a highly articulated system of complex predication, covering both complex verb and serial verb constructions. Other typologically interesting aspects of the language include the presence of dedicated apprehensional constructions and interesting interactions between negation and clausal modality.
The descriptive value of this grammar is enhanced by its sustained regional comparison of the linguistic features of Ngardi with those of neighbouring Ngumpin-Yapa and Western Desert languages. This grammar (and a forthcoming dictionary) of Ngardi will be of great significance to both those few remaining Ngardi speakers as well as the next generation of Ngardi people for whom accessible published materials will be an invaluable resource.
Author / Editor information
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
I -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Acknowledgements
V -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
VII -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Abbreviations, symbols and conventions
XXI -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
1. Introduction
1 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
2. Phonology
44 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
3. Word classes
106 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
4. Nominals I: Case and nominal morphology
122 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
5. Nominals II: Nominal subclasses
219 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
6. Bound pronouns
297 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
7. Verbal morphology
341 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
8. Complex predication
419 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
9. Grammatical relations and argument structure
498 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
10. Auxiliaries, particles and modal constructions
567 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
11. Complex syntax
664 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Appendix: Narrative texts
719 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
References
745 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
765
-
Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
