Kinship and collective activity in the Ngayarda languages of Australia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2874643
AutoresAlan Dench (0000-0002-1374-5680, The University of Western Australia, autor de correspondencia)
Año1987
Volumen16
Número3
Páginas321-339
Fecha de publicación1987-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404500012410
OpenAlexW1974209402
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas11

This paper describes the functions of a verbal derivational suffix found in the Ngayarda languages Panyjima, Martuthunira, Yinyjiparnti, and Kurrama. This suffix, which appears at first blush to be an essentially syntactic device very like the reciprocal suffix found in other Australian languages, may be used to indicate the existence of a particular kin relationship between participants involved in the action described by a verb. The paper presents firstly the more general functions of the suffix in the Ngayarda languages and then discusses the use of the suffix to mark kin relationships. It is argued that the general "collective activity" meaning of the suffix has generalised to the marking of certain kin relationships through the recognition that collective activity is a feature of these particular relationships. The successful analysis of the data thus relies on a knowledge of the social uses to which utterances involving the suffix are put. (Anthropological linguistics, sociolinguistics, syntactic theory, cultural anthropology, Australian linguistics

Epistemology · Kinship · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Sociology · Suffix · Verb · Anthropology · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy