R M W Dixon

Datos Biográficos

ID3161
NOMBRER M W Dixon
NOMBRESR M W
APELLIDODixon
FIRMADIXON R M W
AFILIACIONESLa Trobe University
ORCID0000-0001-8294-5806
VERIFICADOSí
TOTAL DE OBRAS128
TOTAL DE CITAS679
TOTAL COMO AUTOR115
TOTAL COMO EDITOR13
PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN1963
AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN2026
ÍNDICE H13

  • The mighty moon

    Open AccessAlexandra Y Aikhenvald, R M W DixonARTICLEJournal of Linguistics2026

    We focus on the dynamics of colexification, a process whereby different meanings are expressed by the same word, and its opposite, de-colexification, in language and culture contact. In multilingual environments, colexification of reference to two celestial entities – ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ – enhances intertranslatability and ease of communication between coexisting languages. The terms for ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ in two extant dialects of Tariana, the only N…

  • First person orientation in Yidiñ narratives and its implications

    R M W DixonCHAPTERCelebrating Indigenous Voice2023

    Whereas traditional legends in the Australian language Dyirbal would be told in 3rd person, in its motherly neighbour, Yidiñ, 1st person was often preferred. That is, the narrator would take on the identity of the central character. In one legend the initial main character (telling the tale in 1st person) departs from the story (he dies),, then another character takes over, and continues the story from their perspective, in 1st person. As a conse…

  • The Art of Language

    Anne Storch, R M W DixonBOOKThe Art of Language2022

  • What Dyirbal uses instead of commands

    R M W Dixon, A I͡U AĭkhenvalʹdBOOKCommands2017

    Dyirbal has verbal inflections which have been referred to as ‘positive imperative’ and ‘negative imperative’. However, their meanings and functions extend far beyond these traditional labels. Their subjects can be first or second person singular and plural, and they can occur in questions. The ‘positive imperative’ refers to the potentiality of something, which usually does, but may not, eventuate. It corresponds to a number of modal meanings (s…

  • The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Typology

    Open AccessA I͡U Aĭkhenvalʹd, Alexandra Y Aikhenvald et al.BOOKCambridge Handbook of Linguistic…2017

    Linguistic typology identifies both how languages vary and what they all have in common. This Handbook provides a state-of-the art survey of the aims and methods of linguistic typology, and the conclusions we can draw from them. Part I covers phonological typology, morphological typology, sociolinguistic typology and the relationships between typology, historical linguistics and grammaticalization. It also addresses typological features of mixed …

  • The Australian Linguistic Area

    Open AccessR M W DixonCHAPTERCambridge Handbook of Linguistic…2017

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  • The grammar of English pronouns

    Open AccessR M W DixonARTICLELingua2017Citada por: 1Referencias: 3

  • Summarizing Clauses in Jarawara

    R M W DixonARTICLEAnthropological linguistics2017Citada por: 2

    A common cross-linguistic grammatical process involves repetition. This generally operates at the morphological level, as reduplication, and can carry any of a variety of meanings. In Jarawara repetition operates at the syntactic level. After a fully articulated main clause, can be added a truncated version of it (including just the core components). This has purely semantic effect, indicating that the activity referred to is extended in time. Th…

  • What is not (really) needed

    R M W DixonCHAPTERAre Some Languages Better than…2016

    Not every aspect of human languages is ideal, or conducive to easy communication. Here we examine complexities which appear at first sight to fulfil no useful role, and indeed to impede the efficient learning and use of languages. Having many forms of, say, past tense occupies the mind in ways which could be better occupied with distinctions that carry meaning. However, there is something to be said in favour of certain types of irregularity, suc…

  • Are Some Languages Better than Others

    R M W Dixon, Robert DixonBOOKAre Some Languages Better than…2016Citada por: 28

    This book sets out to answer a question that many linguists have been hesitant to ask: are some languages better than others? Can we say, for instance, that because German has three genders and French only two, German is a better language in this respect? Jarawara, spoken in the Amazonian jungle, has two ways of showing possession: one for a part (e.g. 'Father's foot') and the other for something which is owned and can be given away or sold (e.g.…

  • Edible Gender, Mother-in-Law Style, and Other Grammatical Wonders

    R M W DixonBOOKEdible Gender Mother-in-Law…2015

    This book studies the languages of Yidiñ, Warrgamay and Dyribal and the interrelations between them. The introductory chapter sets out the anthropological and linguistic background. In Part I there is a through examination of, and comparison between, the gender system in Dyirbal and the set of nominal classifiers in Yidiñ. The chapters in Part II describe Dyirbal’s unusual kinship system and the ‘mother-in-law’ language style, and examines the or…

  • Jalnguy, the ‘mother-in-law’ speech style in Dyirbal

    R M W DixonCHAPTEREdible Gender Mother-in-Law…2015

    Virtually every open class lexeme—nouns, adjectives, time words, verbs, adverbals—has a different form in the everyday (Ev) and Jalnguy (Ja, ‘mother-in-law’ or avoidance) styles. Yet Ja has only about one-quarter as many lexemes as Ev. This is achieved through many-to-one correspondences between the two vocabularies. Ja has just a generic term relating to twenty names of frog species in Ev, one adjective for two adjectives of taste, one verb corr…

  • The origin of ‘mother-in-law’ vocabulary in Dyirbal and Yidiñ

    R M W DixonCHAPTEREdible Gender Mother-in-Law…2015

    Chapter 5 dealt with the semantic organisation of Jalnguy (Ja)—the ‘mother-in-law’ style—illustrated for Dyirbal, for which there is the fullest data. This chapter investigates differences between dialects of Dyirbal, and the relationship between Ja styles in Dyirbal and in Yidiñ. It will be seen that Dyirbal dialects show more differences in Ja than in Ev (everyday style) vocabulary, and that the Ja styles of Dyirbal and Yidiñ are more similar t…

  • The Grammar of Knowledge

    A I͡U Aĭkhenvalʹd, Alexandra Y Aikhenvald et al.BOOKThe Grammar of Knowledge2014

    This work explores the expression of information source, inferences, assumptions, probability and possibility, and gradations of doubt and beliefs across a wide range of languages in different cultural settings. Like others in the series it will interest both linguists and linguistically-minded anthropologists

  • The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology

    Open AccessMark Aronoff, R M W Dixon et al.BOOKCambridge Handbook of Linguistic…2014

    The field of linguistic anthropology looks at human uniqueness and diversity through the lens of language, our species' special combination of art and instinct. Human language both shapes, and is shaped by, our minds, societies, and cultural worlds. This state-of-the-field survey covers a wide range of topics, approaches and theories, such as the nature and function of language systems, the relationship between language and social interaction, an…

  • A Grammar of Warrongo by Tasaku Tsunoda (review)

    R M W DixonARTICLEAnthropological linguistics2014

    Reviewed by: A Grammar of Warrongo by Tasaku Tsunoda R. M. W. Dixon A Grammar of Warrongo. Tasaku Tsunoda. Mouton Grammar Library 53. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2011. Pp. xxx + 751. $210.00 (hardcover and ebook). This is an unfortunate publication. The grammatical analysis is loose and stodgy, the presentation unnecessarily long-winded, and the database silently mingles information from several languages. In addition, the author shows unparallele…

  • Five Versions of a Dyirbal Legend

    R M W DixonARTICLEAnthropological linguistics2013Citada por: 1

    The Dyirbal peoples of North Queensland believe that at one time the spirit of a departed person could return to visit their relatives. Then one returning spirit saw his own rotting head, which his mother had retained when burying his body. This meant that he must now return permanently to the land of spirits and everyone would follow him when their turn came. This was the origin of death as we know it today. Five versions of this legend were rec…

  • Possession and Ownership

    A I͡U Aĭkhenvalʹd, Alexandra Y Aikhenvald et al.BOOKPossession and Ownership2012

    Linguists and anthropologists explore the intriguing variety of possessive phrases denoting ownership of property, whole-part relations (such as body and plant parts), and blood and affinal kinship relations across a wide range of languages

  • Language at Large

    Alexandra Y Aikhenvald, Alexandra Aikhenvald et al.BOOKLanguage at large2011

    The volume brings together important essays on syntax and semantics by Aikhenvald and Dixon, highlighting their expertise in various fields of linguistics. The first part focusses on linguistic typology, covering case markers used on verbs, argument-determined constructions, unusual meanings of causatives, the semantic basis for a typology, word-class-changing derivations, speech reports and semi-direct speech. The second part concentrates on doc…

  • Searching for Aboriginal Languages

    Open AccessR M W DixonBOOKSearching for Aboriginal Languages2011

    In the early 1960s, R. M. W. (Bob) Dixon was one of the first linguists to study the Aboriginal languages of northeast Queensland, Australia. He found that some languages of the coastal rainforest were still in daily use, but others were only half-remembered by a single elder. This autobiographical account of fourteen years of research, first published in 1984, paints a fascinating picture of the frontier society that existed in the region nearly…

  • The Languages of Australia

    Open AccessR M W DixonBOOKLanguages of Australia2011

    Described by Ken Hale as 'nothing less than a masterpiece' and by P. H. Matthews as 'absolutely clear, astonishingly complete, factually fascinating', The Languages of Australia (first published in 1980 and now reissued) was a landmark in Australian linguistics. This pioneering work of synthesis covered more than two hundred Aboriginal languages, and stimulated the next generation of scholarship in the field. The author's subsequent search for an…

  • Australia's Original Languages

    R M W Dixon

    An introduction to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait languages that explains their distinctive features accessibly for readers who have no previous experience with learning another language, and shows how language reflects traditional ...

  • The Honey-Ant Men's Love Song and Other Aboriginal Song Poems

    R M W Dixon, Martin Duwell

  • Complementation

    R M W Dixon, Alexandra Y Aikhenvald

    A complement clause is used instead of a noun phrase; for example one can say either I heard [the result] or I heard [that England beat France]. Languages differ in the grammatical properties of complement clauses, and the types of verbs which take them. Some languages lack a complement clause construction but instead employ other construction types to achieve similar ends; these are called complementation strategies. The book explores the variet…

  • Basic Linguistic Theory

    R M W Dixon

    Basic Linguistic Theory provides a fundamental characterization of the nature of human languages and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis. In crystal-clear prose, R. M. W. Dixon describes how to go about doing linguistics. He shows how grammatical structures and rules may be worked out on the basis of inductive generalisations, and explains the steps by which an attested grammar and lexicon can built up from observed utterances…