The Noun Classes System of Maung and Australia - Essay Example

Compare the noun classes system of Maung to other noun class systems in Australia Noun class systems of languages in many instances have similarities and differences. In a majority of instances, noun classes of languages that are from a particular region usually exhibit similarities in form due to commonality in origin or due to lexical borrowing. This paper will be an endeavor to find similarities between the Maung language and the Iwaidjic language especially in relation to the noun class prefix K. The two languages have been selected for study because they have similarities in the proto lexical K not only in the noun classes but also in third singular pronouns and in pronominal prefixes in verbs. This essay will therefore find out the relations between the two languages and prove that the two languages form of noun classes prove that they are related and they originate from a common Iwaidjic background. According to Ms University of Western Australia (1976) an analysis into the aK – in Maung reveals the presence of the VI class marker which belongs to the miscellaneous category. aK is the most accurate representation of the miscellaneous class. The miscellaneous class prefix of aK comprises items such as the names given to food vegetables, new foods introduced by other people, elements of nature; parts of the human anatomy, nouns belonging to the abstract class and terms used in rituals and observances. It is important to take into consideration some of the Maung classes referred to as cross classifying since their miscellaneous indicators creates initial mutation post the first a-: yi-nimi spine of a male a-dimi major stem of potato plant or yam creeper i-mawurr limb of a male a-bawurr limb or stem of vine a stand for the prefix a in added which changes the noun class from human anatomy to the stem of a plant i-ngijalk body (masculine) ma-ngijalk fruit a-gijalk many fruit trees wu-ngijalk ocean; north ak is the prefix added in Maung which may lead to classification that cuts across several noun classes thus cross classifying K is the prefix added in Iwaidjic which may lead to classification that may cut across all noun classes Ms University of Western Australia (1976) present the variety of the miscellaneous noun class prefix as aw-, and contemplate that the modification ultimately harden w and ng which become k prior to consonantal presence. Alternatively the miscellaneous class may be treated as aK- pre consonance and aw in pre vowels. In this discussion I will stress more on the aw- pre-realization in vowels and consonants which is symbolized by aK. The aK usually takes the form of a in addition to a myriad of morphophonemic modifications as illustrated. %Km% - b, example % aK –malal% - nabalal [VI-good] %Kw% -b, example% aK –wijarr% -abijarr [VI-dry] %Kn% -d, example% aK –nimi% - adimi [VI-backbone] %Kl% -d, example% aK –ludbuj% - adudbuj [VI-short] %Kng% -k, example% kaK –nga-ma% - kakamav [VI-lobj-IIsubj-take] %Kg% -k, example% aK – garra% -akarra abundance %Ky% - j, example% aK – yanad% - ajanad they VI Ng, m, l,g,y and w are prefixes in Iwaidjic which in Maung become k as shown in the example above Research by Pensalfini (1999) asserts that If aK were to appear as a final prefix in the consonant, the result would have been a protection of the statement given below from intervocalic lenition although it would also result into assimilation and simplification cluster. From the above rules the %Kw% -b and %Kg –k maintain their original consonants when placed in clusters while %Km% - b and % Kng%-k result into a modification of the same. The %Ky% - j are comprised of a combination of the original j and y extraction. The similarity of Maung aK- and Iwaidjic K-, is evidenced by the parallelism of the above mentioned rules. What is then necessary is the proposition that a removal of the stress of the first syllable resulted to the loss of the a. Such a proposition would then make it possible to attain possible phonological modifications by the use of common morphophonemic procedures acknowledged as having occurred in Iwaidjic. We can therefore assume that the equation Iwaidjic K- ~ aK- is congruent to the gender prefix in the Maung aK. This however brings up issues of semantics since anatomy of the human body nouns in Maung (which comprise the noun class with the highest mutation of cognates in Iwaidjic) take the class of the owner as opposed to miscellaneous class. There are however a few exceptions for instance in the case of things like arms of the miscellaneous class whose class tends to be of the owner. In general, nouns’ naming the human anatomy, the owner is usually in the form masculine or feminine which makes the Maung human anatomy nouns to have the following structure. i-mawurr M-arm his arm iny-mawurr F-arm her arm M-Male F-Female According to Pensalfini (1999) In Iwaidjic arm is in the structure of bawurr that in structure is closest to the Maung Ak-mawurr or abawurr which may mean arm or stem of a creeper. An explanation of this difference may be explained by an assumption that after Iwaidjic separated from the other Iwaidjic languages such as Maung, it stopped the marking of the human anatomy from the perspective of gender of the owner and started marking them according to intrinsic gender. Since the language Iwaidjic is from Arnhem, it may have acquired such intrinsic form of marking from the other languages in Arhem such as Umburgala. Umburgala is a good example of an intrinsic system of classification since the parts of human anatomy are in tandem with the owner even as they possess their intrinsic gender in instances of controlling their modifiers. Marnmu kw-ark kijn-mira Wife NT-bad FEM-back My spouse has got an aching back Kijn-jamark kw-arik FEM-teeth NT-bad (A woman’s) bad teeth FEM-Female NT-Modifier-represented by variations of k in both Iwaidjic and Maung The above examples in Umbugarla exhibit how the human anatomy take up the feminine gender according to who owns them yet control neuter accord in terms of modifying adjectives. Research by Ms University of Western Australia (1976) In Eastern Kunwinjku, parts of the human anatomy may be structured according to two prototypes of which both retain free distinction. Kuwinjku allows the parts of the human anatomy to have prefixes with either the neuter noun or they may take the possessed noun suffix. As such the nose may be Kun-keb [NT –nose] or [nose-his/her/its]. An eye may be either kun-mim [NT –eye] or mim –no [eye – his/her/its]. A study of the dialects as you go to the West shows that an increasing tendency towards the use of prefix with only the neuter. Kuwinjku may be said to be the middle language between Maung and Iwaidjic. This is because it allows for the features of noun classification that are found in both Iwaidjic and Maung. The examples o0f Iwaidjic Maung and Kuwinjku are important pointers to how the shift can occur in the language system. This is significant in showing how the difference in the marking of noun classes occurred between Iwaidjic and Maung noun classification (Ms University of Western Australia, 1976). Another important marker of the relationship between the two languages is the marking of compound markers. While Maung and Iwaidjic share many features in prefixation they are very different when it comes to the marking of compound case. In his work Semantic Case Stacking and Inside Out Unification, Andrew (1992) asserts that In Maung, compound cases may be illustrated by the following examples: The pattern for a kangaroo would thus be archetypal matyumpa matyumpanthunju matyumpathu matyumpanthinju matyumpathi matyumpaaanha matyumpaa matyumpanjinha matyumpanjii Further research on internal evidence (Dench and Nicholas 1988) establishes nju as a locative suffix for instance thuarr in snake will become thuarrnju. Nha is an allative suffix which is similar to the Nha that is common in many languages of Australia. In Maung the compound cases are constructed in a regular structure except for muu camp which is structured into locative I mulhu. Iwaidjic on the other hand uses possessive suffixes which always adhere to case markers. dhali-nji language tongue dhali-njin your language dhali-njgu in the language dhali-njgu-rin in your language Bibliography Andrews, A., 1992. Semantic Case-stacking and Inside-out Unification, In Austin, Peter and Barry Blake, eds, Theoretical Linguistics and Australian Aboriginal Languages. Canberra: Canberra National University Press, pp. 78-89. Dench, A., and Nicholas E., 1988. Multiple Case-Marking in Australian Languages, Australian Journal of Linguistics, 8, pp. 1-47 Ms, University of Western Australia. Dixon, R. M. W. ed,. 1976. Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages. Canberra: AIAS. Pensalfini, R., 1999. Optional disagreement and the case for feature hierarchies,’ Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 35, pp.343-353. Read More