Cover not available

In:Language Description Informed by Theory
Edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin
[Studies in Language Companion Series 147] 2014
► pp. 153–190

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

The reconstruction of inflectional classes in morphology

History, method and Pama-Nyungan (Australian) verbs

Published online: 28 January 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.147.08koc
This paper surveys the approaches that have been taken to the synchronic description of the inflectional classes of verbs of the Pama-Nyungan family of Australian languages, highlighting problems with the application of the concept of the morpheme, and the notion of “conjugation markers”. It then summarizes and critically assesses attempts to reconstruct the prehistory of Pama-Nyungan verb inflection, considering primarily the contrasting approaches of Dixon (1980, 2002) and Alpher (1990). The methodological requirements for such a reconstruction are then discussed. Finally, the proposed principles are applied first to the internal reconstruction of verbs in Walmajarri, a language of the Ngumpin-Yapa subgroup, then to the comparative reconstruction of some Pama-Nyungan (monosyllabic) verbs that display heterogeneous patterns of inflection.
References (55)
References
Alpher, Barry.1990. Some Proto-Pama-Nyungan paradigms: A verb in the hand is worth two in the phylum. In Studies in Comparative Pama-Nyungan [Pacific Linguistics C-111], Geoffrey N. O’Grady & Darrell T. Tryon (eds), 155–171. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. Pama-Nyungan: Phonological reconstruction and status as a phylogenetic group. In Australian Languages. Classification and the Comparative Method [Current Issues of Linguistic Theory 249], Claire Bowern & Harold Koch (eds), 93–126. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2005. Review article: R.M.W. Dixon, Australian Languages . Their Nature and Development ( Cambridge: University Press, 2002). Language in Society 34: 795–805.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alpher, Barry, Evans, Nicholas & Harvey, Mark.2003. Proto Gunwinyguan verb suffixes. In The Non-Pama-Nyungan Languages of Northern Australia. Comparative Studies of the Continent’s Most Linguistically Complex Region [Pacific Linguistics 552], Nicholas Evans (ed.), 305–352. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amery, Rob.2000. Warrabarna Kaurna! Reclaiming an Australian language . Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R.1992. A-morphous morphology [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 62]. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anttila, Raimo.1989. Historical and Comparative Linguistics , 2nd revised edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard.1939. Menomini morphophonemics. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 8: 105–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowern, Claire.2009. Conjugational class stability: Charting the history of conjugation classes in Yol?u languages. Paper presented to the19th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Nijmegen, 10–14 August 2009.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle.1996. On sound change and challenges to regularity. In The Comparative Method Reviewed: Regularity and Irregularity in Language Change , Mark Durie & Malcolm Ross (eds), 72–89. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. Historical Linguistics. An Introduction , 2nd edn. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carew, Margaret.1993. Proto-Warluwarric Phonology. BA(Hons) thesis, Melbourne University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dench, Alan.1998. What is a Ngayarta language? A reply to O’Grady and Laughren. Australian Journal of Linguistics 18: 91–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003. From purposive/future to present: Shifting temporal categories in the Pilbara languages of north west Western Australia. In Historical Linguistics 2001: Selected papers from the 15th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, 13–17 August 2001 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 237], Barry J. Blake & Kate Burridge (eds), 87–103. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W.1972. The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland . Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1980. The Languages of Australia . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002. Australian Languages. Their Nature and Development . Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Douglas, Wilfrid H.1964. An Introduction to the Western Desert language [Oceania Linguistic Monographs 4]. Sydney: University of Sydney.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garrett, Andrew.2008. Paradigm uniformity and markedness. In Linguistic Universals and Language Change , Jeff Good (ed.), 125–143. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goddard, Cliff.1985. A Grammar of Yankunytjatjara . Alice Springs NT: Institute for Aboriginal Development.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, Rebecca.2003. Proto Maningrida within Proto Arnhem: Evidence from verbal inflectional suffixes. In The non-Pama-Nyungan Languages of Northern Australia. Comparative Studies of the Continent's Most Linguistically Complex Region [Pacific Linguistics 552] Nicholas Evans (ed.), 369–421. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hale, Kenneth.1976. Wik reflections of Middle Paman phonology. In Languages of Cape York , Peter Sutton (ed.), 50–60. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Campbell, Lyle.1995. Historical Syntax in Cross-linguistic Perspective . Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harvey, Mark.2008. The origin of conjugation markers. In Morphology and Language History: In Honour of Harold Koch , Claire Bowern, Bethwyn Evans & Luisa Miceli (eds), 123–137. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey.1980. Basic Materials in Ritharngu. Grammar, Texts and Dictionary [Pacific Linguistics B-62]. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1990. Verbal inflection and macro-subgroupings of Australian languages: The search for conjugation markers in non-Pama-Nyungan. In Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology , Philip Baldi (ed.), 403–187. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hercus, Luise A.1992 Wembawemba Dictionary . Canberra: The author.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hetzron, Robert.1976. Two principles of genetic reconstruction. Lingua 38: 89–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hock, Hans Henrich & Joseph, Brian.1996. Language History, Language Change and Language Relationship. An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles F.1954. Two models of grammatical description. Word 10: 210–31.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hudson, Joyce.1978. The Core of Walmatjari Grammar . Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, Harold.1990. Do Australian languages really have morphemes? Issues in Kaytej morphology. In Language and History. Essays in Honour of Luise A. Hercus [Pacific Linguistics C-116], Peter Austin, Robert M.W. Dixon, Tom Dutton & Isobel White (eds), 193–208. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1995The creation of morphological zeroes. In Yearbook of Morphology 1994 , Geert Booij & Jaap van Marle (eds), 31–71. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1996. Reconstruction in morphology. In The Comparative Method Reviewed. Regularity and Irregularity in Language Change , Mark Durie & Malcolm Ross (eds), 218–263. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. Order and disorder in the reconstruction of the ablaut pattern of athematic verbs in Proto-Indo-European. In Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, Los Angeles June 4–6, 1999 [Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series No.35], Karlene Jones-Bley, Martin E. Huld & Angela Della Volpe (eds), 251–266. Washington DC: Institute for the Study of Man.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003. Morphological reconstruction as an etymological method. In Historical Linguistics 2001. Selected papers from the 15th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, 13–17 August 2001 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory ], Barry J. Blake & Kate Burridge (eds), 271–291. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. R.H. Mathews’ schema for the description of Australian languages. In Encountering Aboriginal Languages. Studies in the History of Australian Linguistics [Pacific Linguistics 591], William B. McGregor (ed.), 179–218. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2009. On reconstructing pronominal proto-paradigms: Methodological considerations from the Pama-Nyungan language family of Australia. In Discovering History through Language. Papers in Honour of Malcolm Ross [Pacific Linguistics 605], Bethwyn Evans (ed.), 317–344. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011a. Morphological change. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences , Patrick Colm Hogan (ed.), 514–515. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011b. Teaching historical linguistics: A personal memoir. In Teaching Linguistics. Reflections on Practice , Koenraad Kuiper (ed.), 66–86. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lass, Roger.1977. Internal reconstruction and generative phonology. Transactions of the Philological Society (1975):1–26.
1997. Historical Linguistics and Language Change . Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lissarrague, Amanda.2010. A Grammar and Dictionary of Gadhang . Nambucca Heads NSW: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture Co-operative.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maiden, Martin, Andrew Swearingen & Paul O’Neill. 2009. Imperative morphology in diachronic evidence from Romance languages. In Historical linguistics 2007. Selected papers from the 18th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Montreal, 6–11 August 2007 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 308], Monique Dufresne, Fernande Dupuis & Etleva Vocaj (eds), 99–108. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthews, Peter Hugo.1972. Inflectional Morphology. A Theoretical Study Based on Aspects of Latin Verb Conjugation [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 6]. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991. Morphology , 2nd edn. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meillet, Antoine. [1954]1967. The Comparative Method in Historical Linguistics , translated byGordon B. Ford, Jr.Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morelli, Steve.2008. Gumbaynggirr Dictionary and Learner’s Grammar = Gumbaynggirr bijaar jandaygam, ngaawa gugaarrigam . Nambucca Heads NSW: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture Co-operativeGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Grady, Geoff N.1990. Prenasalisation in Pama-Nyungan. In Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology , Philip Baldi (ed.), 451–476. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Osthoff, Hermann & Brugmann, Karl. [1878]1967. Preface to morphological investigations in the sphere of the Indo-European languages. In A Reader in Nineteenth-century Historical Indo-European Linguistics , Winfred P. Lehmann (ed.), 197–209. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richards, Eirlys & Hudson, Joyce.1990. Walmajarri-English Dictionary . Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, George Augustus.2000 The Papers of George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector, Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, Vol 2: Aboriginal Vocabularies, South East Australia, 1839–1852 , Ian D. Clark (ed.). Clarendon VIC: Heritage Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schane, Sanford A.1973. Generative Phonology . Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, Jane.2001. Preferred word order and the grammaticalization of Associated Path. In Time over Matter: Diachronic Perspectives on Morphosyntax [Studies in Constraint-based Lexicalism], Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds), 173–208. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, Jane & Hercus, Luise.2004. Thura-Yura as a subgroup. In Australian Languages. Classification and the Comparative Method [Current Issues in Linguisic Theory 249], Claire Bowern & Harold Koch (eds), 179–206, 581–646. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Browne, Mitchell
2024. A Grammar of Warlmanpa, DOI logo
Claire Bowern
2023. The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages, DOI logo
Ennever, Thomas & Mitchell Browne
2023. Cross-referencing of non-subject arguments in Pama-Nyungan languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 43:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Wilmoth, Sasha & John Mansfield
2021. Inflectional predictability and prosodic morphology in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. Morphology 31:4 ► pp. 355 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue