Related Papers
Kujireray: morphosyntax, noun classification and verbal nouns
Rachel Watson
The thesis constitutes a first description of the Joola language Kujireray. In addition to a grammatical sketch, it comprises an analysis of the noun classification system in Kujireray, including a detailed treatment of verbal nouns and their interaction with this system. The analysis takes place within a Cognitive Linguistics framework. The noun classification system is shown to be semantically motivated along such parameters as number and physical configuration. The semantic analysis is carried out at the level of the noun class paradigm, which approach is able to draw a more fine-grained picture of the structure/organization of the system. However, it is recognized that noun classification operates on three distinct but interdependent levels – the paradigm, the noun class prefix, and the agreement pattern – all of which contribute meaning. The analysis also encompasses a detailed treatment of verbal nouns, as they interact within the noun classification system. It is shown that the formation of verbal nouns in various noun class prefixes is semantically motivated just as in the nominal domain, and furthermore that analogies can be drawn between the semantic domains in the nominal domain and the verbal one. The analysis is situated within a Cognitive Linguistics framework, whereby notions of embodied experience, encyclopaedic knowledge and metaphorical thought are invoked to account for the semantic organization of noun classification system. It is shown that noun formation in Kujireray is constructional, with individual components possessing underspecified semantics which are elaborated in combination with each other. Furthermore, it is the property of underspecification which accounts for the parallels between the nominal and verbal domains
INDIAN LINGUISTICS 83 (1-2)
MORPHO-SYNTAX OF NOMINAL CATEGORIES IN GANDERBAL KOHISTANI
2022 •
Nazrin Laskar
The Kohistani group of Dardic languages are spread across the Swat and Indus Kohistan regions in Northern Pakistan. A small concentration of Kohistani speakers reside in Ganderbal and Kupwar Districts in Kashmir, India, where they co-exist with other languages. In existing literature, Kohistani has been attested as a variety of either Kashmiri or Shina. In this paper, we provide a description of the morphosyntactic features of the nominal categories in Kohistani as spoken in Ganderbal district in Kashmir. We have discussed the morphosyntactic properties of nouns, pronominals and adjectives in Ganderbal Kohistani by analysing a huge corpus of natural data. In addition, we also present an analysis of numeral expressions in this variety. The aim of this study is to understand the grammar of the nominal categories in Ganderbal Kohistani and delineate its position in relation to other languages existing in the region.
Morphosyntax of Katcha nominals: a Dynamic Syntax account
2016 •
Darryl Turner
This thesis presents a new description and theoretical analysis of the nominal system of Katcha (Nilo-Saharan, Kadu), spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. The description and analysis are based on a synthesis of data from several sources, including unpublished archive material and original fieldwork. The study is placed in context with a discussion of the demographic, cultural and political background affecting the Katcha linguistic community, a review of the current state of linguistic research on Katcha and a discussion of the ongoing controversy over the place of the Kadu languages within the language phyla of Africa. The morphosyntactic descriptions first focus on the role of nominals as heads, considering phenomena such as classification, agreement and modification. It is shown that Katcha has a unusual system of gender agreement with three agreement classes based on the concepts of Masculine, Feminine and Plural and that the gender of a noun may change between its singular a...
Japanese Studies Conference 2015. Building Connections in Central and Eastern Europe, February 16-17
Morphology instead of Syntax. On Japanese Nominal Elements (2015)
2015 •
Arkadiusz Jabłoński
Typological approach may be essential for adequate analysis of grammatical phenomena. From the purely typological point of view, it is indeed interesting to observe the incompatible, heterogeneous descriptive traditions being continuously utilized in the process of actual grammatical analysis of language phenomena. Nominal elements of Japanese may constitute a striking example of how analytic (and isolating) descriptive tradition is applied towards synthetic (and agglutinating) Japanese language facts. The conclusion that Japanese nominal elements reveal in fact more similarities to inflecting languages (as, for example, Polish, the native language of this author) than to isolating ones may at first seem exaggerated, though it is well supported by substantial amount and quality of actual language phenomena. The original paper was published as: 2015. “Morphology instead of syntax. On Japanese Nominal Elements.” [In:] Japanese Studies Conference 2015. Building Connections in Central and Eastern Europe, February 16-17, 2015. Pál, Dániel-Levente et al. [eds.] Budapest: Eötvös University Press. 51-62.
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society
NOTES ON NOMINAL MARKING AND NOUN PHRASE ELEMENTS IN KINARAY-A
2022 •
Marvin Casalan
This paper aims to discuss the nominal marking system of the Kinaray-a language. Kinaray-a is the language of the Karay-a people, who live in the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Palawan (KWF 2016) and some mountainous areas bordering Aklan and Antique in the Philippines. However, the Kinaray-a variety discussed in the present study is the one spoken in the southern part of Antique Province. The analysis is based on written and spoken corpora which include Kinaray-a online news reports, literary texts, utterances in naturally occurring conversations, and spoken-like narratives. The paper discusses a prototypical noun phrase of Kinaray-a among other Philippine languages. A Kinaray-a noun phrase may contain two categories of nominal markers: determiners and demonstratives. Furthermore, the paper supports Tanangkingsing's (2009) description that noun phrases in Philippine languages may contain case markers, plural markers, determiners, possessive or genitive pronouns, numerals, modifiers, or ligatures, as they are also evident in Kinaray-a. Notes on types of Kinaray-a nouns, their morphological formation and linguistic elements, such as bare nouns, borrowed nouns, and affixed nouns are also presented in the appendix part of paper.
On the structure of nominal constructions in West Caucasian
Peter Arkadiev
A Grammar of Koyee PhD dissertation
Tara Mani Rai
Studies in African Linguistics
A Grammatical Description of Leteh Nominal Morphology
Mercy akrofi ansah
Noun Morphology of K-C languages
Pauthang Haokip
A Unified Morphosyntactic Approach to Gender and Class across Languages
Karim Achab
Investigates the gender system in Tamazight (Berber) and compare it with its counterpart in French and English. In Tamazight, the morphological system used to indicate feminine natural (or sex) gender and grammatical gender is also used to indicate KIND or CLASS categories such as diminutive/augmentative and singulative (or individuation). Masculine gender has become unmarked in this language (see Guerssel 1993 and Achab 2003). In French, the same morphological system used to indicate natural gender is also used to indicate grammatical gender while English is restricted to natural (or sex) gender only. It is argued on the basis of data from Tamazight that n and class correspond to two distinct categories. Getting inspiration from Marantz’ (2008) “two places” approach for word formation, I argue that in the situation where semantics is involved (natural gender, diminutive / augmentative, singulative), the category n probes and merges with the CLASS morpheme that had merged with the lexical ROOT by virtue of its feature [+N]. Inversely, in the situation where no semantics is involved (pure grammatical gender), the category n probes and merges with a head determiner that dominates the bare noun. Like nouns, D also has a nominal feature (Chomsky 1995: 364). The two structures thus obtained are illustrated below as (1a) and (1b), respectively. (1) a. [DP D [nP [ CLASS [ ROOT] b. [nP [DP D [ CLASS [ ROOT]]] The structures proposed for Tamazight in (15) and (19) and the discussion provided were extended straightforward to explain the facts observed in French and English as well as the differences between these languages. It is demonstrated that the other kinds in Tamazight (diminutive, affective and individuation) involve a second Level of derivation in the way proposed by Kiparsky (1983). The discussion also explains why some change may occur as evidenced by the feminisation of nouns of professions in French. The analysis provides an account on how such changes are reflected in the structures proposed.
