One of the most important questions in Australian comparative linguistics over
the last 40 years is the validity of a Pama-Nyungan node in the Australian family
tree. Much of the comparative research done on Australian languages has supported
the notion of a Pama-Nyungan family, and its validity is now well-established. However.
much work remains to be done, both in establishing the relationships among
the Pama-Nyungan languages and in reconstructing proto-Pama-Nyungan and determining
the details of its development in the various branches of the family tree. This
dissertation is a contribution towards the latter effort.
The primary purpose of the present study is to determine the development of
the three initial velars, *k. *ng and *w. in 25 Pama-Nyungan languages through
1561 cognate sets. The cognate sets are also an important resource for the study of
other aspects of phonological change in Pama-Nyungan languages. The data provide
evidence for the weakening of medial consonants, the assimilation of initial velar glides
and nasals to the following vowel, prenasalization of medial stops, the development of
triconsonantal clusters, and the presence of both a laminal lateral and a retroflex series
of consonants in proto-Pama-Nyungan. In addition, statistical evidence is presented
which supports the hypothesis that assimilation of the second to the first vowel is an
important process in the history of many Pama-Nyungan languages.
This dissertation also discusses important issues regarding the Neogrammarian
hypothesis and the comparative method. In particular, the data presented here support
the idea that not all sound changes apply in a lexically abrupt, regular manner.
Many of the sound changes seen in the data appear to affect only a portion of the eligible
forms, and thus provide evidence for the theory of lexical diffusion. Furthermore,
most of the changes are found not just in individual languages, but in a number
of the languages under study. The data therefore support the notion of pandemic
irregularity. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/8279 |
| Date | 15 June 2017 |
| Creators | Fitzgerald, Susan Ann |
| Contributors | O'Grady, Geoffrey N. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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