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Nembi Discourse Structure, Ruth A. Tipton

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with the way paragraphs, sentences, and clauses are brought together in Nembi discourse to form a coherent unit. Insights into discourse structure and discourse analysis gained from Joseph Grimes, Robert E. Longacre, and Michael A. K. Halliday are applied in the study of Nembi narrative and procedural texts. The thesis is based on the analysis of fourteen texts: four procedural and ten narrative. Six of the narratives are ancestral legends, and four are based on recent events. The analysis has led to several conclusions about discourse in the Nembi language.

Discourse is organized into an introduction, a …

A Diachronic Explanation For The Origin Of Ovs In Some Carib Languages, Desmond C. Derbyshire

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Derbyshire and Pullum (1979, this volume) report on the evidence they have accumulated during the past two years showing the likely existence of twelve languages with object-initial basic order (OVS or OSV). Such languages are contrary to what had been generally predicted in the literature on word order typology until 1977. All twelve languages are found in what might broadly be termed the Amazon basin of South America. Seven of the eight OVS languages belong to the Carib family.

This paper suggests a possible diachronic explanation for the emergence of OVS as a basic order in Carib languages. It takes …

Object Initial Languages, Desmond C. Derbyshire, Geoffrey K. Pullum

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

From the introduction: "The purpose of the present paper is to present some facts that have come to our attention recently concerning a number of Amerindian languages which we believe do exhibit object-initial basic orders. The languages we shall discuss belong to South American Indian groups which are known to have suffered more or less catatrophic decline in numbers due to the onslaught of European settlement in the New World over the past five hundred years (see Hemming 1978). Since the historical accident of European colonial expansionism has had such a devastating effect in this case, linguists might be well …

The Abstract Consonant In Seri, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

From the introduction: "The hallmark of generative phonology has been the postulation of unique underlying representations for morphemes and the derivation of surface allomorphs by means of a set of rules. In order for these rules to have the greatest generality possible, a number of linguists have proposed solutions involving underlying segments that never reach the surface with the same feature specifications that they had at the underlying level. These 'abstract' solutions have generally posited segments whose features are fully specified. [...]

"Abstract solutions have generated an abundance of discussion and some alternative proposals have been presented for most of …

Grammatical Relations In Universal Grammar, Donald G. Frantz

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

From the introduction: "[W]e shall look at a number of recurring language phenomena involving grammatical relations. Because most of these allow a universal formulation only in terms of relational networks rather than linear or constituent structures, we shall make use of Postal and Perlmutter's promising framework, generally referred to as Relational Grammar (RG)."

Personal And Impersonal Passives In Seri, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

From the introduction: "In this paper I will examine and discuss passive constructions in Seri. My purpose will be basically two-fold: first, to present descriptive and typological facts concerning these constructions. My second purpose is to discuss how these facts should be accounted for in an explicit grammar. The paper is divided into three major sections in which alternative treatments of these clauses are discussed. In order to compare these alternatives, I will make them explicit in terms of relational grammar (Perlmutter (1978a, 1978b, in press, to appear), Perlmutter and Postal (1977, in press a, in press b, to appear)). …

Reduplication And Accent In Southeastern Tepehuan, Elizabeth R. Willett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

From the introduction: "In the early stages of analysis, Southeastern Tepehuan (SET) vowel length appeared to be conditioned by accent. Although accent fell in a majority of words on closed syllables, there were so many exceptions that no general statement could be made. Thus accent was relegated to being a feature of the underlying character of roots. Reduplicated forms, however, were a confusing body of unpredictable accent; if accent were phonemic, why did it occur on the root syllable of some forms, and on the reduplicated syllable in others? Some plurals were judged irregular because they seemed to lose or …

Front Matter For Sil-Und Work Papers Vol. 23 (1979)

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

No abstract provided.