SuperSwan3178
. Consider the following data from Wambaya, a language of the…
. Consider the following data from Wambaya, a language of the Barkly region of Australia’s Northern Territory.
a. Alaji gin yugu.
boy AUX cry
“The boy is crying.”
b. Bungmanya ga yandu nganga.
old_woman AUX waited for_you
“The old woman waited for you.”
c. Ngajbi nga lunggaji gulugbarda.
saw AUX(I) policeman sleeping
“I saw the policeman sleeping.”
d. Waliyulu irra darranggu-wuli.
found AUX(they) stick-two
“They found two sticks.”
e. Mirra ngi gayanggani darrangguwuliji.
sit AUX(I) on_top on_two_sticks
“I’m sitting on two sticks.”
f. Darrangguni ngiyinga irrijabi.
stick AUX(me) scratched
The stick scratched me.
g. Barraala dunggala wurlun babawuliji.
white_cockatoo chase.away AUX(they) two_brothers
“The two brothers are disturbing the white cockatoos.”
h. Alajiji gin waliyulu barraala.
boy AUX found white_cockatoo
“The boy found a white cockatoo.”
a) What is Wambaya’s core case system for common nominals (pronouns exist in Wambaya, but are not shown in the above examples)?
b) How are the core functions of transitive subject, object, and intransitive subject encoded?
c) What morphemes are used to distinguish these functions?
d) Do these morphemes appear to have other uses too?
HINTS (for question 1):
ignore the auxiliary verbs (elements glossed ‘AUX’). The glosses ‘I, me, they’ that appear on these are not nominals, but part of a complex agreement system.
note that Wambaya freely allows subject and object nominals to be left out of the sentence. A clause’s transitivity is therefore not based on what nominals appear, but rather on the interpretation of the verb itself. You can assume for the purposes of this exercise that verbs have the same transitivity in Wambaya as their equivalents do in Englishp (e.g. assume that the Wambaya for kill is transitive but the Wambaya for sleep is intransitive).
2. Duungidjawu (Waga-Waga, formerly spoken from Brisbane to Gayndah) is said to have a split-ergative case system.
a) Based on the following data, state which nominals inflect according to an Ergative pattern and which inflect according to an Accusative pattern (and which nominals, if any, show tripartite case marking).
Describe the split and comment on how well it conforms to Silverstein’s animacy hierarchy.
a. Buginydu ngina iyaau.
dog you will_bite
“The dog will bite you.”
b. Buginydu ngaamma iyaainyi.
dog we_two bit
“The dog bit us two.”
c. Ngadyu ngunamma nyangi guyumba.
I children saw in_camp
“I saw the children in camp.”
d. Ngunambu buginyna bumbee.
children dog beat
“Children are beating the dog.”
e. Ngaambu nyangi guyumma.
we_two saw camp
“We two saw the camp.”
f. Goroomandu nyangi nganya.
kangaroo saw me
“The kangaroo saw me.”
g. Ngadyu bumi man gorooman dyuyume.
I killed this kangaroo yesterday
“I killed this kangaroo yesterday.”
h. Ngindu buminyi ngarinyna buginyna!
you hit my dog
“You hit my dog!”
i. Ngarinydu buwaau gundu dyendinyi dyuyume.
my father canoe steered yesterday
“My father steered a canoe yesterday.”
j. Dyandu baran maan.gu.
man boomerang will_pick_up
“The man will pick up the boomerang.”
k. Ngariny buwaa nindai.
my father stooped
“My father stooped.”
l. Ngai bai.
I came
“I came.”
m. Ngaam nindai.
we_two stooped
“We two stooped.”
n. Gorooman bai.
kangaroo came
“The kangaroo came.”
o. Baran yererenge.
boomerang is_going
“The boomerang is going.”
p. Buginy manyurnenge.
dog is_sleeping
“The dog is sleeping.”
q. Ngin manyurnenge.
you is_sleeping
“You are sleeping.”
