[Lingtyp] Words for 'left' and 'right' in Australian languages

[Felicity Meakins]

Dear Tas,

There is a series of Gurindji and Gurindji Kriol papers on this topic (for a language which is close to Jaru):

Dunn, Vivien, Felicity Meakins & Cassandra Algy. 2021. Acquisition or shift: Interpreting variation in Gurindji children’s expression of spatial relations. Variation     Rolls the Dice, ed. by E. Aboh & C. Vigouroux, 105-31. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Meakins, Felicity. 2011. Spaced out: Inter-generational changes in the expression of spatial relations by Gurindji people. Australian Journal of Linguistics 31.43-              77.
Meakins, Felicity & Cassandra Algy. 2016. Deadly reckoning: Changes in Gurindji children's knowledge of cardinals. Australian Journal of Linguistics 36.479-501.
Meakins, Felicity, Caroline Jones & Cassandra Algy. 2016. Bilingualism, language shift and the corresponding expansion of spatial cognitive systems. Language        Sciences 54.1-13.

The Gurindji grammar also has a a bit more on the historical origins of cardinal morphology:

Meakins, Felicity & Patrick McConvell. 2021. A Grammar of Gurindji, a Ngumpin-Yapa language of Australia as spoken by Violet Wadrill, Ronnie Wavehill, Dandy         Danbayarri, Biddy Wavehill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Long Johnny Kijngayarri, Banjo Ryan, Pincher Nyurrmiari and Blanche Bulngari Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Some of this is based on a Warlpiri paper:

Laughren, Mary & Patrick McConvell. 1999. Down under in Central Australia. Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Chicago.

Felicity
_________________________________________
Professor Felicity Meakins FASSA FAHA
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language<http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/>
Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences Australia<https://socialsciences.org.au/> (FASSA)
Fellow of Australian Academy of Humanities<https://humanities.org.au/> (FAHA)
Editor of Contact Language Library<https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/coll/main>
School of Languages and Cultures | University of Queensland
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email f.meakins at uq.edu.au<mailto:f.meakins at uq.edu.au> |
web http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/547




From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of TasakuTsunoda via Lingtyp <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Date: Saturday, 12 October 2024 at 2:20 PM
To: LINGTYP LINGTYP <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>, TasakuTsunoda <tasakutsunoda at nifty.com>
Subject: [Lingtyp] Words for 'left' and 'right' in Australian languages
                                                    2024/10/12
Dear Colleagues,

    Re: Words for ‘left’ and ‘right’ in Australian languages

1. Would you please help me? I wish to seek information on Australian languages. I would also appreciate information on other languages as well.
    I am making this request on behalf of a friend of mine who is a psychologist (not a linguist).

2. In the Australian languages I worked on, e.g. Djaru (or Jaru) of northwest Australia (Tsunoda 1981) and Warrongo of northeast Australia (Tsunoda 2011), I have not found any word for ‘left’ or any word for ‘right’.
    In these languages, expressions that will correspond to the English sentences below will be possible.

(1) Person A sat in front of Person B.
(2) Person A sat behind Person B.
(3) Person A sat north of Person B.
(4) Person A sat east of Person B.
(5) Person A sat south of Person B.
(6) Person A sat west of Person B.

3. Are there any published works that point out the absence of the words for ‘left’ and ‘right’ in Australian languages?
    If you have PDFs of such works, would you be able to send them to me?

4. I suppose some of the list members will be likely to recommend works by Stephen Levinson. I would like to know which works by him are the most directly relevant to my request.

5. Again, I wish to seek information on Australian languages. I would also appreciate information on other languages as well.

Best wishes and thanking you in advance,

Tasaku Tsunoda

Tsunoda, Tasaku. 1981. The Djaru language of Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University.

Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2011. A grammar of Warrongo. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter Mouton.

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