A grammar of Mangap-Mbula : an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to provide a comprehensive and rigorous synchronic description of grammatical structures and their meanings in Mangap-Mbula, an Austronesian language spoken in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. Occasional reference is also made to diachronic matters when these touch upon or help to explain synchronic patterns. In the introductory chapter, the linguistic, geographic, and cultural setting of Mangap-Mbula is described, significant dialect variations are outlined, previously published material on the language is noted, the nature and sources of the data upon which the present analysis is based are described, and a brief overview of Mangap-Mbula grammar is given. The second chapter presents a description of the sound system of the language. The description includes: 1) units distinguished, 2) allophonic and morphophonemic alternations, and 3) segmental composition of morphemes. The third chapter is a description of the morphology of the language. It characterizes both the structure of words and the various word classes which are distinguished in the language. Because of their complexity, adverbs receive especially detailed treatment. The fourth chapter is a presentation of phrase structure up to the level of simple sentences and complement clauses. The theoretical model used is a modified version of the X-bar theory of phrase structure as outlined in Gazdar, Klein, Pullum, and Sag (1985) and Pollard and Sag (1987), in which formal statements are supplemented by prose descriptions. The major modification consists in the replacement of the verb phrase constituent by a predicate phrase in order to more naturally account for non-verbal predicates. The fifth chapter describes mechanisms for combining simpler sentences into more complex ones. It, therefore, treats relative clauses, complement clauses, and various types of sentential connectives. The connectives system of Mangap-Mbula is relatively intricate, but attempts have been made to delineate precisely the meaning differences between various forms. The sixth and final chapter is a study of various means of referring. In it are treatments of Thematic devices, a statistical study of the frequencies and continuity characteristics of various encodings of clausal arguments, and a description of the principal devices for encoding emphasis. There are four Appendices. The first one presents evidence for surface phonemic contrasts, while the second one consists of a reconstruction of the historical developments of consonant and vowel phonemes from Proto-Oceanic. The third Appendix is entitled "On How To Say Things" and consists of a semantically organized set of examples. The fourth Appendix contains three glossed texts. Throughout the grammar, strong emphasis is placed upon precis ely characterizing the meanings of various forms and structures. Show more