LINGUIST List 15.3132

Sun Nov 07 2004

Diss: Socioling/Syntax: Jones: 'Towards a...'

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1. Alan Jones, Towards a Lexicogrammar of Mekeo, an Austronesian Language of West Central Papua

Message 1: Towards a Lexicogrammar of Mekeo, an Austronesian Language of West Central Papua

Date: 06-Nov-2004
From: Alan Jones <alan.jones

mq.edu.au>
Subject: Towards a Lexicogrammar of Mekeo, an Austronesian Language of West Central Papua

Institution: Australian National University
Program: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 1994

Author: Alan A. Jones

Dissertation Title: Towards a Lexicogrammar of Mekeo, an Austronesian Language
of West Central Papua

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Language Description; Semantics;
Sociolinguistics; Syntax; Typology

Subject Language(s):
Mekeo (Code: MEK)

Dissertation Director(s):
Tom E. Dutton
Darrell T. Tryon
Andrew Pawley

Dissertation Abstract:

In this dissertation the author describes and compares the four dialects of
Mekeo, an Oceanic (i.e. Austronesian) language spoken in the extreme west
of Central Province, on the southern coast of Papua, in Papua New Guinea.
The four dialects vary widely in terms of mutual intelligibility. The
author shows that Mekeo is a predominantly head-marking head-final
language. Nominals (bare roots) without case marking function either as
cataphoric topics, corresponding to unspecified pronominal arguments
affixed to the verb word; or as nominal predicates. High levels of
homophony and polysemy, and of referential indeterminacy complicate
everyday communication.
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