New Benjamins title: Mushin/Baker- Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages

[Paul Peranteau]

http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20104&artid=66119075

Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages
Edited by Ilana Mushin and Brett Baker
University of Queensland / University of New England

Studies in Language Companion Series 104
2008. x, 239 pp.
Hardbound 978 90 272 0571 1 / EUR 105.00 / USD 158.00
e-Book  Available from e-book platforms
978 90 272 9034 2 / EUR 105.00 / USD 158.00

Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages is the first major 
survey to address the issue of the effects of information packaging 
on Australian languages, widely known for nonconfigurationality. The 
papers are based on individual fieldwork and describe a wide range of 
Australian languages of different types, ranging from the 
polysynthetic languages of Arnhem Land and the Kimberley to the 
classical types represented by Walpiri. Topics covered include the 
pragmatics of information exchange, the interaction of noun class 
marking with polarity and referentiality, the effects of specificity 
on argument indexing, the discourse uses of the ergative case, the 
contribution of pronouns to NP reference, the interaction of tense 
and aspect clitics with information structure, clause-initial 
position, and discourse and grammar in Australian languages. The 
volume will appeal to scholars interested in discourse, typology, 
syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Table of contents

Foreword  vii
Maps  ixx
Discourse and grammar in Australian languages
Brett Baker and Ilana Mushin 123
Clause-initial position in four Australian languages
Jane Simpson and Ilana Mushin 2557
Bardi arguments: Referentiality, agreement and omission in Bardi discourse
Claire Bowern 5985
Diverging paths: Variation in Garrwa tense/aspect clitic placement
Ilana Mushin 87109
Pragmatically case-marked: Non-syntactic functions of the Kuuk 
Thaayorre ergative suffix
Alice Gaby 111134
The interpretation of complex nominal expressions in Southeast Arnhem 
Land languages
Brett Baker 135166
"Double reference" in Kala Lagaw Ya narratives
Lesley Stirling 167202
Person reference, proper names and circumspection in Bininj Kunwok 
conversation
Murray Garde 203232
Index of languages  233
Index of names  235236
Index of subjects  237239


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