Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kansas, 1985. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 435-439).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kansas, 1985. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 435-439).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1982. Bibliography: leaves 233-247.

This thesis describes the features of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Oksapmin, a Papuan (Non-Austronesian) language of Papua New Guinea. Oksapmin is spoken by around 8000 people, most of whom reside in the Tekin valley in Sandaun Province. The analysis in this thesis is based on the study of data from both elicitation and text collection undertaken on two field trips between 2004 and 2006: from May to October 2004, and from October 2005 to January 2006. / A general introduction is provided in Chapter 1, phonology, phonotactics and morphophonology are discussed in Chapter 2, word classes in Chapter 3, demonstratives in Chapter 4, nouns in Chapter 5, postpositions in Chapter 6, noun phrase syntax in Chapter 7, verbs in Chapter 8, coverbs in Chapter 9, clausal syntax in Chapter 10, phrasal clitics in Chapter 11, and clause combining in Chapter 12. Four sample texts are provided as appendices. Sound files are provided on the accompanying CD for many of the examples scattered throughout the thesis, as well as for all the texts in the appendices. / The most interesting and important grammatical subsystem in Oksapmin is the evidential one, which permeates various areas of the grammar. Without proper knowledge of this system, one cannot make a single grammatical sentence in the language. Recall that evidentiality is, roughly speaking, when a speaker marks how he or she came about the knowledge on which a given utterance is based. Evidentiality in Oksapmin is indicated with past tense verbal inflection, with enclitics, and with a number of other constructions. The evidential system is typologically unusual in that the primary contrast it marks is participatory/factual versus visual/sensory evidence; this distinction is made in the verbal inflection. Participatory/factual evidentials are not widely attested cross-linguistically, and those systems that do exist have been largely ignored in the typological literature. / Some of the other areas of grammar discussed in this thesis include prenasalised consonants with nasal allophones, noun phrases with a complex syntactic structure, a range of demonstratives which distinguish for elevation, a large vocabulary of kin terms including a set of dyadic kin terms, extensive use of complex predicates consisting of a light verb plus a coverb, and a variety of clause combining strategies including clause chaining.

Cette thèse propose une étude des différentes stratégies mises en place pour former des propositions subordonnées dans les langues australiennes et papoues. Ces deux groupes de langues, rarement présents dans les études typologiques sur le sujet, présentent certaines constructions morphosyntaxiques peu fréquentes dans les langues du monde. Cette étude se base sur une dizaine de langues : quatre langues australiennes (le nyangumarta, le martuthunira, le wambaya et le kayardild) et six langues papoues (le maybrat, le yimas, le manambu, le mian, l'amele et le hua). Après une brève présentation grammaticale de ces langues, la thèse analyse six types de stratégies de subordination pour en déterminer les fonctions et les types d'emploi : la subordination sans marque, avec une conjonction, avec le marquage casuel, avec une forme verbale spécifique, avec un système de "switch-reference" et par la relativisation. Un dernier chapitre s'intéresse au cas particulier de la complémentation des verbes de perception. Cette thèse a pour but d'illustrer le fonctionnement de ces langues dans le domaine de la subordination, mais également, dans une dimension typologique, de montrer comment ces langues peuvent aider à repenser les théories linguistiques générales. / This thesis propose a study of different strategies to construct subordinate clauses in Australian and Papuan languages. These two language groups, rarely found in typological studies on the subject, show some unusual morphosyntactic constructions. This study is based on ten languages: four Australian languages (Nyangumarta, Martuthunira, Wambaya and Kayardild), and six Papuan languages (Maybrat, Yimas, Manambu, Mian, Amele and Hua). Following a brief grammatical overview of these languages, the thesis examine six types of subordinate clause strategies to identify their functions and uses: subordinate clauses without segmental marking, with a conjunction, with case marking, with a specific verbal form, with a switch-reference system and with the relativization strategy. The last chapter is focused on the specific situation of complementation strategies with perception verbs. This thesis aims to illustrate how subordinate clauses function in those languages, but it also aims to show how these languages may help to re-examine general linguistic theories.

The present study investigates the gender systems of 20 languages in the New Guinea region, an often overlooked area in typological research. The languages were classified with five criteria used by Di Garbo (2014) to classify gender systems of African languages. The results showed that the gender systems were diverse, although around half of the languages have two-gendered sex-based systems with semantic assignment, more than four gender-indexing targets, and no gender marking on nouns. The gender systems of New Guinea are remarkably representative of the world, although formal assignment is much less common. However, the gender systems of New Guinea and Africa are very different. The most significant difference isthe prevalence of non-sex-based gender systems and gender marking on nouns in Africa, whereas the opposite is true in New Guinea. However, gender in Africa is also less diverse largely due to the numerous Bantu languages. Finally, four typologically rare characteristics were found in the sample: (1) size and shape as important criteria of gender assignment, with large/long being masculine and small/short feminine, (2) the presence of two separate nominal classification systems, (3) no gender distinctions in pronouns, and (4) verbs as the most common indexing target. / Denna studie undersöker genussystemen hos 20 språk i Nya Guinea-regionen, vilken ofta förbises i typologisk forskning. Språken klassificerades utifrån fem kriterier som användes av Di Garbo (2014) för att klassificera genussystem i Afrika. Resultaten visade att genussystemen var varierade, men ungefär hälften av språken har könsbaserade genussystem med tvaå genus, semantisk genustilldelning, fler än fyra genusindex och ingen genusmarkering på substantiv. Genussystemen är anmärkningsvärt representativa för världen, men formell genustilldelning är mycket mindre vanlig. Jämfört med genussystemen i Afrika är dock Nya Guinea väldigt annorlunda. Den viktigaste skillnaden är den större utbredningen av icke-könsbaserade genussystem och genusmarkering på substantiv i Afrika, medan motsatsen gäller i Nya Guinea. Genus i Afrika är dock till stor del mindre varierat på grund av de talrika bantuspråken. Slutligen hittades fyra typologiskt sällsynta karaktärsdrag i urvalet: (1) storlek och form som viktiga kriterier för genustilldelning, där stort/långt är maskulint och litet/kort feminint, (2) närvaron av två separata nominalklassificeringssystem, (3) inga genusdistinktioner i pronomen och (4) verb som det vanligaste genusindexet.

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The present study analyzes a selection of topics in the grammar of Nalca (Mek language; Papua), with a focus on verbs and nominals. No published grammar or dictionary is available for Nalca, but a translation of the New Testament was used as a parallel text. The results showed that Nalca is split-ergative, strongly suffixing and agglutinating, with subject-object-verb (SOV) as the dominant word order. Verbs consist of a stem and a series of suffixes expressing tense/aspect/mood, negation, number and person. The case alignment is ergative-absolutive for nouns, for which syntactic function is indicated by a series of postpositions. These postpositions agree with nouns in gender. Ergativity was not observed for pronouns; while the results were inconclusive, they appeared to show a nominative-accusative case alignment. The numeral system is an extended body-part system with the base 27. Many of the features found in Nalca are comparable with other Mek languages, with the gender system and split-ergativity being two major exceptions. Finally, the use of the New Testament as a parallel text was a success, with a basic description of the grammar of Nalca having been made, although further investigation is needed. / Denna studie analyserar ett urval av områden i nalcas (mekspråk; Papua) grammatik, med fokus på verb och nominaler. Det finns ingen publicerad grammatik eller ordlista tillgänglig för nalca, men en översättning av Nya Testamentet användes som parallelltext. Resutltaten visade att nalca är split-ergativt, starkt suffigerande och agglutinerande, med subjekt-objekt-verb (SOV) som dominerande ordföljd. Verb består av en stam och en serie suffix som uttrycker tempus/aspekt/modus, negation, numerus och person. Argumentstrukturen är ergativ-absolutiv för substantiv, för vilka syntaktisk funktion indikeras av en serie postpositioner. Dessa postpositioner kongruerar med substantiven efter genus. Ergativitet observerades inte för pronomen; trots att resultaten inte var slutgiltiga, tycktes dessa istället uppvisa ett nominativ-ackusativt system. Det numeriska systemet är ett utökat kroppsdelssystem med basen 27. Många av karaktärsdragen i nalca hade motsvarigheter i de andra mekspråken, med genussystemet och split-ergativiteten som de största undantagen. Användandet av Nya Testamentet som parallelltext visade sig vara lyckat, eftersom en grundläggande beskrivning av nalcas grammatik åstadkoms, även om ytterligare forskning krävs.

This thesis describes certain areas in the grammar of the little-known Kuot language, spoken by some 1,500 people in New Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea. Kuot is an isolate, and is the only non-Austronesian (Papuan) language of that province. The analyses presented here are based on original data from 18 months of linguistic fieldwork. The first chapter provides an overview of Kuot grammar, and gives details of earlier mentions of the language, and of data collection and the fieldwork situation. The second chapter presents information about the prehistory and history of the area, the social system, kinship system and culture of Kuot speakers, as well as dialectal variation and prognosis of survival of the language. Chapter three treats Kuot phonology, with particular emphasis on the factors that govern allophonic variation, and on the expression of word stress and the functions of intonation. Word classes and the criteria used to define them are presented in Chapter four, which also contains a discussion of types of morphemes in Kuot. The last chapter describes in some detail the class of nouns in Kuot, their declensions, non-singular formation, and the properties of grammatical gender. Appendices give the full set of person-marking forms in Kuot, a transcription of a recorded text with interlinear glossing and translation, the Swadesh 100-word list for Kuot, and diagrams of kin relations and terminology / <p>För att köpa boken skicka en beställning till exp@ling.su.se/ To order the book send an e-mail to exp@ling.su.se</p>