Big words, small phrases
Mismatches between pause units and the polysynthetic word in Dalabon
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3989744 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicholas Evans (0000-0003-0893-3713, Australian National University), Janet Fletcher (0000-0001-7223-4533, The University of Melbourne), Belinda Ro, Belinda Ross (The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 89-129 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/ling.2008.004 |
| OpenAlex | W2010322098 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 17 |
This article uses instrumental data from natural speech to examine the phenomenon of pause placement within the verbal word in Dalabon, a polysynthetic Australian language of Arnhem Land. Though the phenomenon is incipient and in two sample texts occurs in only around 4% of verbs, there are clear possibilities for interrupting the grammatical word by pause after the pronominal prefix and some associated material at the left edge, though these within-word pauses are significantly shorter, on average, than those between words. Within-word pause placement is not random, but is restricted to certain affix boundaries; it requires that the paused-after material be at least dimoraic, and that the remaining material in the verbal word be at least disyllabic. Bininj Gun-wok, another polysynthetic language closely related to Dalabon, does not allow pauses to interrupt the verbal word, and the Dalabon development appears to be tied up with certain morphological innovations that have increased the proportion of closed syllables in the pronominal prefix zone of the verb. Though only incipient and not yet phonologized, pause placement in Dalabon verbs suggests a phonology-driven route by which polysynthetic languages may ultimately become less morphologically complex by fracturing into smaller units
Affix · Linguistics · Morpheme · Phenomenon · Prefix · Verb · Word (group theory) · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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Who Said Polysynthetic Languages Avoid Subordination? Multiple Subordination Strategies in Dalabon* A version of this paper was presented at the Blackwood workshop on Australian languages, March 2002; I thank the participants in that workshop for their comments and discussion, as well as Rachel Nordlinger and two anonymous AJL reviewers. I also gratefully acknowledge the following people and institutions for supporting the research on Dalabon reported here
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| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,22 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2026 (19) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |