Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Song-climbing, line-sitting, word-throwing: Non-body part noun incorporation in the Daly languages

Berntsson, Hugo LU (2024) ALSK13 20232
Division of Linguistics , Cognitive Semiotics and Rhetoric
General Linguistics
Abstract
Noun incorporation refers to a linguistic process in which a noun forms a compound with a verb. Globally, the phenomenon is rare, but occurs frequently in several American, Paleo-Siberian and Australian languages. Specifically frequent in Australian languages is the incorporation of body part nouns, a process which has garnered a fair amount of published materials. In Australian languages, incorporation of nouns other than body parts is rare, and no general pattern providing a corresponding systematicity of this process has been found. This study explores this discrepancy by examining the Daly languages of Northern Australia, whose incorporation of non-body part nouns has largely been unexplored, and of which no typological overview has... (More)
Noun incorporation refers to a linguistic process in which a noun forms a compound with a verb. Globally, the phenomenon is rare, but occurs frequently in several American, Paleo-Siberian and Australian languages. Specifically frequent in Australian languages is the incorporation of body part nouns, a process which has garnered a fair amount of published materials. In Australian languages, incorporation of nouns other than body parts is rare, and no general pattern providing a corresponding systematicity of this process has been found. This study explores this discrepancy by examining the Daly languages of Northern Australia, whose incorporation of non-body part nouns has largely been unexplored, and of which no typological overview has been published. The apparent rarity of non-body-part noun incorporation in the Daly languages is examined by use of a cross-linguistic typological overview based on existing literature, analyzing factors which inhibit or encourage incorporation of such nouns. It is argued that semantic factors, associated with environment, alienability and meronymy, have a significant effect on shaping the syntax and rules of incorporation of these languages. Cross-linguistic analyses show evidence that language contact and diachronic change within the Daly languages has likely resulted in grammaticalization and denominalization of nouns. This study argues that such new lexical items, when found in verbal compounds, should be viewed as constituting instances of noun incorporation, suggesting that non-body-part noun incorporation occurs more commonly than previously attested. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Berntsson, Hugo LU
supervisor
organization
course
ALSK13 20232
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
linguistics, noun incorporation, linguistic typology, comparative linguistics, incorporation, Daly languages, non-Pama-Nyungan languages, Australian languages, polysynthesis, semantics, syntax, meronymy, alienability, body part nouns
language
English
id
9151434
date added to LUP
2024-05-13 09:51:31
date last changed
2024-05-13 09:51:31
@misc{9151434,
  abstract     = {{Noun incorporation refers to a linguistic process in which a noun forms a compound with a verb. Globally, the phenomenon is rare, but occurs frequently in several American, Paleo-Siberian and Australian languages. Specifically frequent in Australian languages is the incorporation of body part nouns, a process which has garnered a fair amount of published materials. In Australian languages, incorporation of nouns other than body parts is rare, and no general pattern providing a corresponding systematicity of this process has been found. This study explores this discrepancy by examining the Daly languages of Northern Australia, whose incorporation of non-body part nouns has largely been unexplored, and of which no typological overview has been published. The apparent rarity of non-body-part noun incorporation in the Daly languages is examined by use of a cross-linguistic typological overview based on existing literature, analyzing factors which inhibit or encourage incorporation of such nouns. It is argued that semantic factors, associated with environment, alienability and meronymy, have a significant effect on shaping the syntax and rules of incorporation of these languages. Cross-linguistic analyses show evidence that language contact and diachronic change within the Daly languages has likely resulted in grammaticalization and denominalization of nouns. This study argues that such new lexical items, when found in verbal compounds, should be viewed as constituting instances of noun incorporation, suggesting that non-body-part noun incorporation occurs more commonly than previously attested.}},
  author       = {{Berntsson, Hugo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Song-climbing, line-sitting, word-throwing: Non-body part noun incorporation in the Daly languages}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}