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 The grammar of Yalarnnga: A language of western Queensland
Breen, Gavan and Barry J. Blake
PL 584
Yalarnnga is a language from Dajarra and country to its east, in far western Queensland . This grammar presents all that could be learnt by the authors from their work with the last three aged speakers, two of whom spoke it only as a second language. Typologically Yalarnnga is a fairly typical Pama-Nyungan language. It makes an interesting comparison with its northern neighbour, Kalkutungu, with which it shares some lexical and grammatical features, but not some distinctive sound changes that are reflected in that language.
Gavan Breen's work in linguistics can be divided essentially into three main streams: salvage studies of a substantial number of now-extinct Australian languages, based on fieldwork with the last speakers; development of orthographies and literacy courses, and teaching vernacular literacy and other skills relevant to work in bilingual education programs, mainly in Central Australian languages; studies of Central Australian languages, including phonology, kinship and ethno-classification, but mainly directed towards production of dictionaries. Breen has been based for many years at the Institute for Aboriginal Development, in Alice Springs .
2007 ISBN 9780858835672
132 pp
Prices: Australia AUD $34.65 (incl. GST); Overseas AUD $31.50
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