A grammar of Nakkara (Central Arnhem Land Coast)
Date
1990
Authors
Eather, Bronwyn
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Abstract
Chapter 1: In the first chapter I present a brief overview of the Nakkara language and its
speakers. We look firstly at the linguistic type and point out that Nakkara belongs to the
Non-Pama Nyungan family of Australian languages. Some of the salient features of the
language are pointed out and comparisons drawn with other languages in the area.
Alternative names used to refer to this language are listed, followed by descriptions of the
traditional land estates of Nakkara speakers. The remainder of the chapter provides a
backdrop for the language description by outlining relations with traditional neighbours,
involvement with ceremony, arts and crafts, recent history and the language and its
speakers today.
Chapter 2: This chapter describes the phonology of Nakkara and includes phonemic
analysis, stress patterns, phonotactics and word structure, phonological and morphological
rules and orthographic representation. The most detailed area of analysis in this chapter is
the interpretation of an audible stop contrast in the language. Stop length is introduced as a
significant phonetic factor in the phonemic interpetation of Nakkara sounds.
Chapter 3: This chapter is entitled Morphological Preliminaries. It gives a typological
profile of the language and introduces most of the technical terms used in the morphological
analysis of Nakkara. The parts of speech (or word classes) used in this description are also
introduced here, as well as the morpho-syntactic notions of core, outer-core and peripheral
levels.
Chapter 4: The morphology of Nakkara is extensive and is therefore divided into three
separate chapters. In this chapter we examine nominal morphology in general, looking
firstly at independent pronoun morphology^ then at pronominal affixes. Lastly the
morphological functions of non-pronominal affixes and postpositions are introduced.
Chapter 5: This and the following chapter deal with the morphology of verbal structures in
the language. In chapter five the verb-complex (VC) is defined and the morphological
components of the verbal pronominal prefix are analysed extensively. This introduces the
notions of verb transitivity and valency, pronominal participant identification, the morphology of tense, status and polarity distinctions as well as Imperative and Hortative
constrictions. A
Chapter 6: This chapter deals with verb-stem morphology in Nakkara. We examine and
categorise verb conjugations and look at the idiosyncrasies of monosyllabic verbs in this
language. Other verb-stem components introduced are the orientation afffixes as well as the
reflexive, reciprocal and inchoative affixes.
Chapter 7: This chapter examines the form and function of the remaining word-classes and
thus represents a bridge between description of the morphology and syntax of this
language. These word-classes include qualifiers of space, place and time, interrogatives
and indefinites, connective and introductory particles, mood particles and adjuncts (which
function something like manner adverbials).
Chapter 8: This final chapter looks beyond morphology to the structure of both simple and
complex clauses in Nakkara. We examine firstly the occurrence of different types of verbless clauses in the language and then look at simple and complex verbal clauses.
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