A grammar of Jingulu,
an Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory
Pensalfini, Robert
PL 536
This book is intended as a thorough
description of the Jingulu language as spoken by the handful
of speakers remaining in the Northern Territory ding the mid
to late 1990s. The description is based on material which
the author collected during three field trips from 1995 to
late 1998. Chapter 1 focuses on the socio-historical context
in which he language is spoken, including estimated of tradition
area, number of speakers, and genetic and cultural affiliations.
Chapter 2 is devoted to Jingulu phonology, from the phoneme
inventory and phonotactics to a spectacular system of vowel
harmony and some interesting facts on reduplication. Chapter
3 outlines the parts of speech of Jingulu as understood by
the author, and argues for the particular labels and categories
that the author assumes in following chapters. Chapter 4 discusses
Jingulu syntax, from simple verbal and non-verbal predication
to the encoding of dependent and conjoined clauses. Chapters
5 and 6 are expositions of the morphology of Jingulu nominal
and verbal words respectively. Chapter 7 contains a few exemplary
texts, glossed and translated into English. Through the grammar
the author has preferred to provide more sentence examples
rather than fewer (particular where the author was less than
certain about the accuracy of his own description), to provide
readers with a sense of what Jingulu sentences are actually
like beyond what can be gleaned from prose description, and
to provide future researchers with organised material with
which to build their own hypotheses and analyses. This grammar
contains no word list or dictionary. A separate Jingulu dictionary
by the author is in preparation.
Published: 2003
ISBN 0 85883 558 4
xix + 262 pp
Prices: Australia A$64.90 (inc. GST), Overseas
A$59.00
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