Martuthunira: a language of the Pilbara region of Western Australia

Abstract

This thesis is a reference grammar of Martuthunira, an Australian language of the Ngayarda subgroup of Pama-Nyungan, and originally spoken in the locality of the Fortescue River in northwest Western Australia. There are now just three remaining speakers and this thesis is based on the speech of one man - Algy Paterson. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the Martuthunira language and its speakers; the traditional patterns of social organisation of the Martuthunira people, their post-contact history and the wider linguistic affiliations of their language. Chapter 2 describes Martuthunira phonology. Chapter 3 discusses a number of general theoretical issues raised by the description of Martuthunira morphology. Parts-of-speech classes are defined and the lack of an adjective/noun distinction for nominals discussed. I also argue against the establishment of a form class 'particle', preferring a plethora of idiosyncratic minor parts of speech. This chapter also describes general patterns of word structure and the organising principles of nominal suffixation. The functions of individual nominal suffixes are described in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 describes the forms and functions of pronouns, demonstratives and the minor nominal subclasses. Chapter 6 describes the inflectional and derivational morphology of verbs. Chapter 7 describes the class of proposition-modifying adverbs, clitics and the minor parts of speech. Chapter 8 describes the structure of Martuthunira noun phrases. The analysis of apparent ellipsis is discussed in some detail leading to a quite liberal approach to the identification of endocentric nominal expressions. Chapter 9 discusses the structure of non-verbal clauses and copula constructions. Chapter 10 describes the syntax of verbal clauses: basic clause types are presented according to a classification of predicates. The syntax of the active/passive voice contrast and the implications of double-object constructions for the assignment of grammatical relations are discussed in some detail. Finally, the strong preference for SVO word order is discussed. Chapter 11 describes complex sentences; the various types of subordinate clause marked by special verbal inflections, and the role of the passive in presenting subordinate clause pivots. Three appendices are also included. Appendix A details the phonological history of the Ngayarda languages thus setting the phonological discussion in Chapter 2 in a wider context. Appendix B provides a detailed description of the role of anaphoric demonstratives in tracking participants in text. Finally, Appendix C presents a selection of Martuthunira texts. Due to the limitations of space, I have had to leave out a substantial Martuthunira wordlist. However, I anticipate producing a Martuthunira dictionary separately. Show more