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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Nick, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>enclosed you may find the text of your article with
a suggestion I have added to it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best wishes,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Paolo</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nrde@UNIMELB.EDU.AU href="mailto:nrde@UNIMELB.EDU.AU">Nick Evans</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 23, 2004 4:56 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> query re dyad
constructions</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Dear Colleagues, I am currently preparing an article on 'Dyad
constructions' for the Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics. I enclose
pdf and Word versions of the draft of this article, as well as a pdf file
listing the languages known to me so far in which Dyad constructions are
attested. The paragraph pasted in below summarizes what dyad constructions
are.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>So far I have the impression that the worldwide distribution of dyad
constructions is heavily skewed, with a strong concentration in the Western
Pacific (especially Australia, Austronesian, Papuan) with sporadic attestation
in western north America, the Amazon, the Caucasus, Siberia and Khoisan.
However, this may be an artefact of my own areas of knowledge, of the book
holdings in our library here, or of particular descriptive traditions. I would
therefore be very grateful if any subscribers to this list were able to extend
the list of languages (and of course further data on construction types etc.)
beyond what I have included in these files.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Yours gratefully, Nick Evans</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Times color=#000000>Dyad constructions denote
relationally-linked groups of the type 'pair/group of brothers' or 'mother and
child(ren)'. They may be formed by morphological derivation, as with Kayardild
(Australian)<I> ngamathu-ngarrb</I> 'mother and child' <<I> ngamathu</I>
'mother', or they may be unanalyseable lexical roots , such as Mianmin
(Papuan)<I> lum </I> 'father and child'. Though they most commonly refer
to pairs, as in the above examples, they may also refer to larger groups, e.g.
Mianmin<I> lum-wal </I> 'father and children'. Where a dual-plural
contrast exists, the dual dyad is usually formally unmarked (§3). Though the
above languages have dedicated dyad forms, it is more common for dyadic
constructions to overlap formally with other categories, most commonly
reciprocals, proprietive or possessive constructions, or pair markers (§4).
Dyad constructions display a notably skewed geographical distribution, being
concentrated in the language families of the Western Pacific, with only
scattered occurrences elsewhere (§5).</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>