Chapter 9. Walk around the clock
The shaping of a (counter-)clockwise distinction in Siar directionals
Most Oceanic languages have complex systems of directionals which have been shaped by geographical, topographical or meteorological factors. Siar, an Oceanic language of the Patpatar-Tolai subgroup in New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea, is one of these languages. However, it is difficult to determine the exact position of some of its directionals on this axis because of superficially contradictory data (that is, the same speaker uses different directionals in the same context). I will here present a theory which assumes that two of the Siar directionals have been undergoing semantic adjustment because of the migration of some Siar speakers from the east coast to the previously unoccupied west coast. A result of this migration was the reanalysis of these two directionals as clockwise and counter-clockwise directionals, an uncommon phenomenon cross-linguistically.
References (24)
Bibliography
Bowden, J
(
2001)
Taba: Description of a South Halmahera language. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, R.M.W
(
1988)
A grammar of Boumaa Fijian. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Du, J
(
2010,
October).
Towards a grammar of the Usen dialect of the Barok language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea (PhD). Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, Bundoora.
Duchan, J.F., Bruder, G.A., & Hewitt, L.E
(Eds.) (
1995)
Deixis in narrative: A cognitive science perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Florey, M., & Kelly, B.F
(
2002)
Spatial reference in Alune. In
G. Bennardo (Ed.),
Representing space in Oceania: Culture in language and mind (pp. 11–46). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Francois, A
(
2003)
Of men, hills, and winds: Space directionals in Mwotlap.
Oceanic Linguistics, 42(2), 407–437.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
François, A
(
2004)
Reconstructing the geocentric system of Proto-Oceanic.
Oceanic Linguistics, 43(1), 1–31.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friederici, G
(
1902)
Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer amtlichen Forschungsreise nach dem Bismarck-Archipel im Jahre 1908, II: Mitteilungen aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lehman, F.K., & Gerdrich, D.J
(
2002)
On the relevance of point field for spatiality in Oceania. In
G. Bennardo (Ed.),
Representing space in Oceania: Culture in language and mind (pp. 179–197). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lewis, M.P
(Ed.) (
2009)
Ethnologue: Languages of the world, Sixteenth Edition. Dallas, TX: SIL International. Retrieved from
[URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lichtenberk, F
(
1983)
A grammar of Manam. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Osmond, M., Pawley, A.K., & Ross, M.D
(
2003)
The landscape. In
M.D. Ross,
A.K. Pawley, &
M. Osmond (Eds.),
The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The culture and environment of Ancestral Oceanic society. 2 - The physical environment (pp. 35–90). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Palmer, B
(
2002)
Absolute spatial reference and the grammaticalisation of perceptually salient phenomena. In
G. Bennardo (Ed.),
Representing space in Oceania: Culture in language and mind (pp. 107–157). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rappaport, W.J., Segal, E.M., Shapiro, S.C., Zubin, D.A., Bruder, G.A., Duchan, J.F., & Mark, D.M
(
1989)
Cognitive and computer systems for understanding narrative text (
Technical Report No. 89-07). Buffalo, NY: State University of New York at Buffalo.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D
(
1988)
Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of Western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D
(
2002)
Siar. In
J. Lynch,
M.D. Ross, &
T. Crowley (Eds.),
The Oceanic languages (pp. 410–425). Richmond: Curzon Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D
(
2003a)
Meteorological phenomena. In
M.D. Ross,
A.K. Pawley, &
M. Osmond (Eds.),
The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The culture and environment of Ancestral Oceanic society. 2 - The physical environment (pp. 119–154). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D
(
2003b)
Talking about space: Terms of location and direction. In
M.D. Ross,
A.K. Pawley, &
M. Osmond (Eds.),
The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic, Vol. 2: The physical environment (pp. 229–294). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D
(
2004)
Demonstratives, local nouns and directionals in Oceanic languages: A diachronic perspective. In
G. Senft (Ed.),
Deixis and demonstratives in Oceanic languages (pp. 175–204). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, M.D., Pawley, A.K., & Osmond, M
(
2003)
Introduction. In
M.D. Ross,
A.K. Pawley, &
M. Osmond (Eds.),
The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The culture and environment of Ancestral Oceanic society. 2 - The physical environment (pp. 1–16). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rowe, K
(
2005)
Siar-Lak Grammar Essentials. Ukarumpa: SIL.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stephan, E., & Graebner, F
(
1907)
Neu-Mecklenburg (Bismarck-Archipel). Die Kuste von Umuddu bis Kap St. Georg. Forschungsergebnisse bei den Vermessungsfahrten von S. M. S. Mowe im Jahre 1904. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Der Mark, S. C
(
2007,
March).
A grammar of Vinitiri, An Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea (PhD). La Trobe University, Bundoora.
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Nash, Joshua, Peter Bakker, Kristoffer Friis Bøegh, Aymeric Daval-Markussen, Hartmut Haberland, Dale Kedwards, John Ladhams, Carsten Levisen, Jón Símon Markússon, Joost Robbe & Jeroen Willemsen
2020.
On languages on islands.
Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 52:1
► pp. 81 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.