Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 35:1/2 (2008) ► pp.121–162
Missionary linguistics in the Kimberley, Western Australia
A history of the first seventy years
Published online: 7 March 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.35.1-2.07mcg
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.35.1-2.07mcg
Summary
This paper explores the contribution of missionary linguists to the documentation, description, and maintenance of Aboriginal languages of the Kimberley region of Western Australia from the establishment of the first enduring mission in 1890 to 1960. It is argued that the primary contribution was to language documentation. However, the descriptive contribution was not negligible, and many missionary linguists struggled intelligently with the descriptive challenges confronting them (ergative case-marking, noun-class systems, compound verb constructions, etc.). Rather than being rigidly bound by the Latinate model, they modified it in various ways (usually not explicitly discussed), including by using traditional terminology in novel ways.
Résumé
Nous examinons la contribution des linguistes missionnaires à la description de la situation linguistique, à la description langagière et à la préservation de langues aborigènes de la région de Kimberley, en Australie Occidentale, depuis l’établissement de la première mission permanente en 1890 jusqu’en 1960. La description de la situation linguistique en est la contribution principale, mais la description langagière en est également une contribution appréciable : plusieurs de ces linguistes missionnaires se sont trouvés aux prises avec les difficultés de décrire des structures inconnues du modèle grammatical latin, telles que l’ergativité, les classes nominales, et les constructions avec composition verbale. Plutôt que de suivre servilement la tradition grammaticale latine, ils l’ont modifiée, le plus souvent sans discussion explicite, entre autres en adaptant la terminologie traditionnelle aux nouvelles structures.
Zusammenfassung
Im Bereich von Kimberley, West-Australien, waren Missionare von 1890, dem Jahr der Errichtung der ersten dauerhaften Missionsstation, bis 1960 sprachforschend tätig und haben dabei Manches zum Erhalt der autochthonen Sprachen beigetragen. Besonders bemerkenswert ist die zu den studierten Sprachen zusammengetragene Dokumentation und namentlich die Art und Weise, wie diese sprachlichen Gegebenheiten beschrieben wurden. Denn die Missionare sahen sich mit sprachlichen Strukturen konfrontiert (z.B. Ergativität, Nominalklassen, komplexen Verbalkonstruktionen etc.), die ihnen unbekannt waren und zu deren Beschreibung sie sich nicht sklavisch an die Muster der Lateingrammatik hielten, sondern dieses oft stillschweigend modifizierten und traditionelle Terminologien den neuen Strukturen anpassten.
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