Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 52-78 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Linguistics |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- intonation unit
- prosodic phrasing
- Dalabon
- Australian languages
- polysynthetic languages
- head-marking languages
- grammatical structure
- prosodic structure
Cite this
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The alignment of prosody and clausal structure in Dalabon. / Ross, Bella; Fletcher, Janet; Nordlinger, Rachel.
In: Australian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2016, p. 52-78.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - The alignment of prosody and clausal structure in Dalabon
AU - Ross, Bella
AU - Fletcher, Janet
AU - Nordlinger, Rachel
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Comparisons of prosodically defined units and grammatical structure in typologically diverse languages may reveal insights into how language is processed. This paper presents examples of intonation units comprising two or more verbs in Dalabon, a polysynthetic head-marking language from Australia. The prosody, semantics and grammar of these multi-verb intonational units is examined and it is shown that intonation is used as a delimitative device to signal the higher-level groupings of grammatical constituents in the discourse. What is interesting in these findings is that, despite the multiple grammatical constructions available to signal subordination in Dalabon, grammatical subordination is infrequently used. Instead, Dalabon speakers make use of intonation to group two or more verbs, in order to represent the close temporal relationship of events. The close examination of multi-verbintonational units presented in this paper may reveal more about the interaction between intonation and syntactic organization in a polysynthetic, head-marking language such as Dalabon.
AB - Comparisons of prosodically defined units and grammatical structure in typologically diverse languages may reveal insights into how language is processed. This paper presents examples of intonation units comprising two or more verbs in Dalabon, a polysynthetic head-marking language from Australia. The prosody, semantics and grammar of these multi-verb intonational units is examined and it is shown that intonation is used as a delimitative device to signal the higher-level groupings of grammatical constituents in the discourse. What is interesting in these findings is that, despite the multiple grammatical constructions available to signal subordination in Dalabon, grammatical subordination is infrequently used. Instead, Dalabon speakers make use of intonation to group two or more verbs, in order to represent the close temporal relationship of events. The close examination of multi-verbintonational units presented in this paper may reveal more about the interaction between intonation and syntactic organization in a polysynthetic, head-marking language such as Dalabon.
KW - intonation unit
KW - prosodic phrasing
KW - Dalabon
KW - Australian languages
KW - polysynthetic languages
KW - head-marking languages
KW - grammatical structure
KW - prosodic structure
UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07268602.2016.1109434
U2 - 10.1080/07268602.2016.1109434
DO - 10.1080/07268602.2016.1109434
M3 - Article
VL - 36
SP - 52
EP - 78
JO - Australian Journal of Linguistics
JF - Australian Journal of Linguistics
SN - 0726-8602
IS - 1
ER -