LINGUIST List 14.2320

Wed Sep 3 2003

Books: Lang Desc/Syntax, Djingili: Pensalfini

Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. jmanley, A grammar of Jingulu: Pensalfini

Title: A grammar of Jingulu
Subtitle: An Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory
Series Title: Pacific Linguistics
			
Publication Year: 2003
Publisher: Pacific Linguistics 
 http://pacling.anu.edu.au/		 
			
Book URL: http://pacling.anu.edu.au/catalogue/536.html
 
Author: Robert Pensalfinix

Paperback: ISBN: 08588355847, Pages: xix + 262 pp, Price: A$59.00
Comment: Australian purchasers pay GST
			
Abstract:

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.

Lingfield(s): Syntax
		Language Description
			 
Subject Language(s): Djingili (Language code: JIG)

Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)


 See this book announcement on our website: 
 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=7089.