LINGUIST List 22.4738 Mon Nov 28 2011 Diss: Anthro Ling: Nicholls: 'Referring Expressions and Referential...' Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Sophie Nicholls , Referring Expressions and Referential Practice in Roper Kriol (Northern Territory, Australia) Message 1: Referring Expressions and Referential Practice in Roper Kriol (Northern Territory, Australia) Date: 24-Nov-2011 From: Sophie Nicholls <sophielilliangmail.com> Subject: Referring Expressions and Referential Practice in Roper Kriol (Northern Territory, Australia) E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of New England, Australia Program: PhD Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2009 Author: Sophie Nicholls Dissertation Title: Referring Expressions and Referential Practice in Roper Kriol (Northern Territory, Australia) Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics                             Discourse Analysis                             Language Documentation                             Pragmatics                             Semantics Subject Language(s): Kriol (rop) Language Family(ies): Australian Pidgins and Creoles Dissertation Director: Cliff Goddard Brett Baker Jeff Siegel Dissertation Abstract: Referring Expressions and Referential Practice in Roper Kriol (Northern Territory, Australia) In this thesis I describe aspects of referring expressions and referential practice in an English-lexified creole language spoken in the Ngukurr Aboriginal community, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Kriol has substrate influences from seven traditional Aboriginal languages. Dialects of Kriol are spoken in Aboriginal communities across the Top End of Australia; with estimates suggesting more than 20,000 people speak it as a first language. The language has a low status and in many contexts, such as health, medical and legal contexts, it frequently goes unrecognised as a legitimate language requiring interpreters. There is no comprehensive grammar of Kriol and as yet, there have been few in-depth studies into its structure and use. I investigate referential expressions in Kriol from various perspectives, using tools from a range of theoretical frameworks and research traditions, including descriptive linguistics, discourse analysis, information structure, and ethnopragmatics. The thesis provides an integrated description of how referential expressions are structured and how they are used in spontaneous talk to meet communicative needs. A further goal of this thesis is to demonstrate that there is significant continuity of referring strategies from Kriol's Aboriginal substrate languages. The data used in this study consists of a corpus of spontaneous discourse between two or more speakers, elicited material, and consultation with Elders on cultural issues relevant to language use. Chapter One provides an overview of Kriol, its speakers and the Ngukurr community. I discuss the development of Kriol; of particular significance is that it developed over a number of generations, enabling the possibility of continuity of cultural speech practices. Chapter Two provides a sketch of Kriol grammar, as well as an introduction to interactional style in Aboriginal languages. Chapter Three provides a detailed description of the Kriol noun phrase, as well as possessive and inclusory pronominal constructions. Chapter Four draws on interactional data to describe the distribution and function of a determiner, det. Using various diagnostic tests, I show that this determiner is a definite article, and that its discourse function is to indicate assumed 'familiarity' of the referent of the noun phrase. Chapter Five examines clause-level phenomena involving referring expressions in Kriol using tools from the theory of information structure. It includes a discussion of how the concepts of topic, focus and 'accessibility' apply in Kriol discourse, as well as an empirical study of left and right-dislocated noun phrases. Chapter Six is a description of aspects of communicative practice in Kriol, in particular, person reference and information exchange. This chapter employs the 'cultural scripts' method of ethnographic description. It shows how cultural values and interactional norms influence aspects of referential practice in the Ngukurr community. Each chapter contributes original description of the Kriol language. By combining a number of theoretical perspectives, the thesis offers an integrated description of the structure and function of referring expressions. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 28-Nov-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.