Coverbs and Complex Predicates in Wagiman

Wilson, Stephen

ISBN 10: 1575861720 / ISBN 13: 9781575861722

Published by Center for the Study of Language, 1999

A copy that's been read. Pages are clean. Seller Inventory # mon0002744746

Synopsis:

Wagiman is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by about ten people in the top end of the Northern Territory. It possesses an unusual open class of words which Wilson calls 'coverbs'. Coverbs are responsible for conveying a wide range of mostly verbal and adjectival meanings. They are most frequently paired with an inflecting verb from a closed class to form a complex predicate: the coverb and inflecting verb jointly determine the verbal semantics and argument structure of the clause. This book provides a descriptive and analytical account of the behaviour of coverbs in Wagiman, especially their role in complex predicate formation. The author seeks to discover what governs which pairings of coverbs and inflecting verbs are possible, and how the meaning of the whole can be derived from the meanings of the parts. Wilson pursues a formal account of Wagiman complex predicates within Lexical Functional Grammar, seeing complex predicate formation as the fusion of Lexical Conceptual Structures.

Book Description: Wagiman is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by about ten people in the top end of the Northern Territory. It possesses an unusual open class of words which Wilson calls 'coverbs'. This book provides a descriptive and analytical account of the behaviour of coverbs in Wagiman.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Coverbs and Complex Predicates in Wagiman
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good