The main structures of Imonda : a Papuan language
Date
1984
Authors
Seiler, Walter
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Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to describe the main structures of Imonda,
a Papuan language spoken by less than 300 people in the West Sepik
Province of Papua New Guinea.
The introductory chapter provides some socio-historical background
information and discusses the genetic affiliation of Imonda. This
chapter also contains brief discussions on the assumptions underlying
the grammar, the organisation of the grammar and related matters.
Chapter 2 describes the most important aspects of the Imonda sound
system.
Chapters 3 through 9 contain the main body of the thesis. Word
classes or parts of speech are formally identified and discussed in
chapter 3* Chapter 4 examines the noun phrase and the ways its
functions are signalled in the clause. Chapter 5 describes the verbal
complex. Chapter 6 provides a discussion of a particularly
fascinating aspect of Imonda grammar, the noun-classification system,
which appears to have arisen through a reinterpretation of serial
verbs. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss aspect» of the clause and chapter 9
addresses the question of clause linkage.
The first of the three appendixes provides some comparative data of
other Waris languages. The second contains an Imonda narrative which
illustrates all the major grammatical features previously discussed in
the grammar. Finally, the last appendix looks at the impact the two
periods of Malay presence in the Imonda area have had on the language.
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