ALS 2010 Annual Conference Programme - Australian Linguistic ...

Hoffmann
Dorothea Hoffmann (University of Manchester)
Dorothea.Hoffmann@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Where to, from and through? On the distribution of Path in Motion
Descriptions in Jaminjung and Kriol
This paper deals with the distribution of path in motion events in two Australian languages,
namely Jaminjung, a highly endangered Non-Pama-Nyungan Language
and Kriol, an English-lexified Creole both spoken in the Victoria River area in the
Northern Territory.
Ever since Talmy (1985, 2000, 2007) introduced the existence of verb-framed and
satellite- framed languages on the basis of the distribution of manner and path
expressions in languages, the typology has been subject of debate. One major
issue concerns a number of languages which seem to fall outside the typology
in, for example, expressing path information in more than one lexical item within
a clause. It has been observed by Schultze-Berndt (2007) that Jaminjung seems
to fall outside the Talmy-typology. The language expresses (restricted) path information
in an inflecting verb (-uga in example (1) and manner (mingib) as well as
additional path information in an uninflecting coverb (burduj) accompanying the
verb:
(1) mingib=bung
crawl=RESTR
’he took us up crawling’
(ES08_A04_06_0256)
gang-kuga
3SG>1SG-take.PST
burduj
go.up
The concept of path is obligatory in any motion description (Slobin, 1996). However,
languages differ regarding the degree of detailed path description in discourse
(Ibarretxe- Antunano, 2009). A thorough analysis of path description in
discourse must consequently be based on three complementary areas. First, the
verb phrase can be distinguished in terms of ‘minus- and ‘plus’-ground clauses
depending on the number of bare verbs (fall) or verbs with a satellite indicating
the direction of movement (fall down) and verbs that additionally are complemented
by a ground phrase (fall into the river) (Slobin, 1996). Jaminjung seems to
prefer minus ground phrases. However, plus-ground expressions are also possible
as in example (2).
(2) buru-biya
return=NOW
yirr-angga
1PL.EXCL-go.PRS
’let’s go back, up to the school!’
(ES08_A13_01tt.045)
kul-bina
school-ALL
janggagu
up