Recent major publication from Pacific Linguistics

[Malcolm Ross]

PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is happy to announce the publication of:

 Bininj Gun-Wok: A pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune 
(Volumes 1 and 2)
Nicholas Evans

This work is described below.

Prices are in Australian dollars (one Australian dollar is currently
equivalent to about US$ 0.75).

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 Bininj Gun-Wok: A pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune
(Volumes 1 and 2)
Nicholas Evans

        The term Bininj Gun-wok was recently coined to cover a large 
group of related dialects spoken in Western Arnhem Land, Australia, 
including Kunwinjku, Mayali, Gun-djeihmi, Kune, and others; many of 
these dialects have not been described before. Bininj Gun-wok, in turn, 
belongs to the so-called Gunwinjguan family, the largest family of 
non-Pama-Nyungan languages. It is one of the few Australian languages 
still being passed on to children, and in fact the number of speakers 
is increasing.

This detailed pan-dialectal grammar takes care to set the language in 
its cultural context throughout, with rich ethnographic discussion of 
the many special kinship-based speech registers and a sizeable text 
collection with examples of all major dialects. Bininj Gun-wok is a 
heavily polysynthetic language, with three productive types of noun 
incorporation, incorporation of one verb into another, two 
applicatives, reflexive/reciprocal formation, prefixes representing 
subject and object/indirect object, and a large number of further 
adverbial-type prefixes. Within the nominal system, it has four genders 
in some dialects, reducing to simpler systems in others. A major focus 
of the grammar is the many problems of how meanings are constructed in 
a polysynthetic language, and how the many elements of the verbal 
morphology interact with one another in the composition of grammatical 
structure.

This volume will be of interest to a wide range of readers: 
morphologists and syntacticians, Australianists, linguistic 
anthropologists, dialectologists, typologists, and educationists and 
others working in Western Arnhem Land.

PL 541, 2003           ISBN 0 85883 530 4
Vol. 1: xxix + 357 pp
Vol. 2: xxviii + 376 pp
Australia A$159.50  (inc GST)           International A$145.00

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Orders may be placed by mail, e-mail or telephone with:

Publishing, Imaging and Cartographic Services (PICS)
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia

Tel: +61 (0)2 6125 3269 Fax:    +61 (0)2 6125 9975

mailto://Thelma.Sims@anu.edu.au

Credit card orders are accepted.

For our catalogue and other materials, see:

http://pacling.anu.edu.au (under construction)

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Other enquiries (but not orders) should go to:

The Publications Administrator
Pacific Linguistics
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia

Tel: +61 (0)2 6125 2742 Fax: +61 (0)2 6125 4896

mailto://jmanley@coombs.anu.edu.au 

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