Cover not available
Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 34:4 (2017) ► pp.470–515
Articles / Aufsätze

Reconstructing remote relationships

Proto-Australian noun class prefixation

| University of Newcastle
| Western Sydney University

Evaluation of hypotheses on genetic relationships depends on two factors: database size and criteria on correspondence quality. For hypotheses on remote relationships, databases are often small. Therefore, detailed consideration of criteria on correspondence quality is important. Hypotheses on remote relationships commonly involve greater geographical and temporal ranges. Consequently, we propose that there are two factors which are likely to play a greater role in comparing hypotheses of chance, contact and inheritance for remote relationships: (i) spatial distribution of corresponding forms; and (ii) language specific unpredictability in related paradigms. Concentrated spatial distributions disfavour hypotheses of chance, and discontinuous distributions disfavour contact hypotheses, whereas hypotheses of inheritance may accommodate both. Higher levels of language-specific unpredictability favour remote over recent transmission. We consider a remote relationship hypothesis, the Proto-Australian hypothesis. We take noun class prefixation as a test dataset for evaluating this hypothesis against these two criteria, and we show that inheritance is favoured over chance and contact.

Keywords: Proto-Australian, reconstruction, diffusion, Australian languages, noun class, prefixation, remote relationships
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Reconstruction of PA nominal classification
  • 3.Previous reconstructions of PA nominal classification
  • 4.Classification of NPN languages
  • 5.Sound correspondences and lexical cognates
  • 6.Inanimate lexical domains
    • 6.1Class IV *ma-
    • 6.2Class V *ku-
  • 7.Animate lexical domains
    • 7.1Class I *ci-
    • 7.2Class II *ciɲ-
    • 7.3Class III *ta-
  • 8.Yanyuwa and the PN languages
  • 9.The paradigmatic distribution of prefix reflexes
  • 10.Chance, contact and inheritance
  • 11.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 February 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.15032.har
References
Alpher, Barry, Nicholas Evans & Mark Harvey
2003 Proto-Gunwinyguan verbal suffixes. In Nicholas Evans (ed.), 305–352.Google Scholar
Baker, Brett
2004 Stem forms and paradigm reshaping in Gunwinyguan. In Claire Bowern & Harold Koch (eds.), Australian languages: Classification and the comparative method, 313–340. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The interpretation of complex nominal expressions in Southeast Arnhem Land languages. In Brett Baker & Ilana Mushin (eds.), Discourse and grammar in Australian languages, 135–166. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 Word structure in Australian languages. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds.), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 139–213. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Brett & Mark Harvey
Grammaticalization of complex constituents: Nominal prefixation in northern Australia. Manuscript: University of Melbourne & University of Newcastle.
Baxter, William
1998 Response to Oswalt and Ringe. In Joseph Salmons & Brian Joseph (eds.), Nostratic: Sifting the evidence, 217–236. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baxter, William & Alexis Manaster Ramer
1996 Review of Ringe (1992). Diachronica 13(2). 371–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Black, Paul
1997 Lexicostatistics and Australian languages: Problems and prospects. In Darrell Tryon & Michael Walsh (eds.), Boundary rider: Essays in honour of Geoffrey O’Grady, 51–69. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Blevins, Juliette
2001 Where have all the onsets gone? Initial consonant loss in Australian Aboriginal languages. In Jane Simpson, David Nash, Mary Laughren, Peter Austin & Barry Alpher (eds.), Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages, 481–492. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Blevins, Juliette & Doug Marmion
1994 Nhanta historical phonology. Australian Journal of Linguistics 141. 193–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard
1935 Language. London: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Bonfante, Giuliano
1947 The Neolinguistic position: A reply to Hall’s criticism of neolinguistics. Language 231. 344–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowern, Claire
2006 Another look at Australia as a linguistic area. In Yaron Matras, April McMahon & Nigel Vincent (eds.), Linguistic areas: Convergence in historical and typological perspective, 244–265. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowern, Claire & Quentin Atkinson
2012 Computational phylogenetics and the internal structure of Pama-Nyungan. Language 881. 817–845. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowern, Claire, Patience Epps, Russell Gray, Jane Hill, Keith Hunley, Patrick McConvell & Jason Zentz
2011 Does lateral transmission obscure inheritance in hunter-gatherer languages? PLoS ONE 61. [URL] (4 April 2017.) DOI logo
Bradley, John
1988 Yanyuwa: ‘Men speak one way, women speak another’. Aboriginal Linguistics 11. 126–134.Google Scholar
Breen, Gavan
2011 A new approach to Australian lexicostatistics. Australian Journal of Linguistics 311. 233–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Callaghan, Catherine
1980 An “Indo-European” type paradigm in Proto-Eastern Miwok. In Katherine Klar, Margaret Langdon & Shirley Silver (eds.), American Indian and Indo-European studies: Papers in honor of Madison S. Beeler, 331–338. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Lyle
2006 Historical linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle & William Poser
2008 Language classification: History and method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chambers, Jack & Peter Trudgill
1998 Dialectology, 2nd edn. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clendon, Mark
2014 Worrorra: A language of the north-west Kimberley coast. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry & Claire Bowern
2010 An introduction to historical linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W.
2002 Australian languages: Their nature and development (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eather, Bronwyn
2011 A grammar of Nakkara: Central Arnhem Land coast (Outstanding Grammars from Australia 7). Munich: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar
Ellison, T. Mark
2007 Bayesian Identification of cognates and correspondences. Paper presented at the Ninth Meeting of the ACL Special Interest Group in Computational Morphology and Phonology, Prague, June 28. DOI logo
Evans, Nicholas
2000 Iwaidjan, a very un-Australian language family. Linguistic Typology 41. 91–142.Google Scholar
2003a Bininj Gunwok: A pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2003b Comparative non-Pama-Nyungan and Australian historical linguistics. In Nicholas Evans (ed.), 3–25.Google Scholar
(ed.) 2003c The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia: Comparative studies of the continent’s most linguistically complex region. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2005 Australian languages reconsidered: A review of Dixon (2002). Oceanic Linguistics 441. 242–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Doubled up all over again: Borrowing, sound change and reduplication in Iwaidjan. Morphology 191. 159–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, Janet & Andrew Butcher
2014 Sound patterns of Australian languages. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds.), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 91–138. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gasser, Emily & Claire Bowern
2014 Revisiting phonotactic generalizations in Australian languages. Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology. [URL] (4 April 2017.) DOI logo
Hale, Mark
2014 The comparative method: Theoretical issues. In Claire Bowern & Bethwyn Evans (eds.), The Routledge handbook of historical linguistics, 146–160. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harrison, Sheldon
2003 On the limits of the comparative method. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard Janda (eds.), The handbook of historical linguistics, 214–243. Maldon, MA: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Mark
1997 Head and agreement classes: An areal perspective. In Mark Harvey & Nicholas Reid (eds.), Nominal classification in Aboriginal Australia, 147–163. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 A grammar of Limilngan: A language of the Mary River region, Northern Territory, Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2003a An initial reconstruction of Proto-Gunwinyguan phonology. In Nicholas Evans (ed.), 205–268.Google Scholar
2003b Reconstruction of pronominals among the non-Pama-Nyungan languages. In Nicholas Evans (ed.), 475–513.Google Scholar
2008 Proto Mirndi: A discontinuous language family in northern Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2009 The genetic status of Garrwan. Australian Journal of Linguistics 291. 195–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 Lexical change in pre-colonial Australia. Diachronica 28(3). 345–381. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 Warndarrang and Marra: A diffusional or genetic relationship? Australian Journal of Linguistics 321. 327–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Reconstructing long-term limits on diffusion in Australia. Anthropological Linguistics 551. 158–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Mark, Ian Green & Rachel Nordlinger
2006 From prefixes to suffixes: Typological change in northern Australia. Diachronica 23(2). 289–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Mark & Nicholas Reid
(eds.) 1997 Nominal classification in Aboriginal Australia (Studies in Language Companion Series 37). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haynie, Hannah
2014 Geography and spatial analysis in historical linguistics. Language and Linguistics Compass 81. 344–357. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey
1978a Linguistic diffusion in Arnhem Land. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
1978b Ngandi grammar, texts, and dictionary. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
1980 Basic materials in Warndarang: Grammar, texts and dictionary (Series B 72). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1981 A case of intensive lexical diffusion: Arnhem Land, Australia. Language 571. 335–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1984 A functional grammar of Nunggubuyu. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
1987 Story of *-n-: *CV- vs. CV-n- noun-class prefixes in Australian languages. In Donald Laycock & Werner Winter (eds.), A world of language: Papers presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th birthday, 233–243. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Kessler, Brett
2001 The significance of word lists (Dissertations in Linguistics 20). Stanford: CSLI.Google Scholar
2015 Computational and quantitative approaches to historical phonology. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 133–148. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kirton, Jean
1971a Complexities of Yanyula nouns: Interrelationship of linguistics and anthropology. Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 5 (Pacific Linguistics Series A 27), 15–169. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1971b Yanyula noun modifiers. Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 5 (Pacific Linguistics Series A 27), 1–14. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1988 Men’s and women’s dialects. Aboriginal Linguistics 11. 111–125.Google Scholar
Koch, Harold
2014 Historical relations among the Australian languages. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds.), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 23–89. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koch, Harold & Luise Hercus
2013 Obscure vs. transparent cognates in linguistic reconstruction. In Robert Mailhammer (ed.), Lexical and structural etymology: Beyond word histories, 33–52. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krahe, Hans
1967 Germanische Sprachwissenschaft. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kümmel, Martin
2007 Konsonantenwandel: Bausteine zu einer Typologie des Lautwandels und ihre Konsequenzen für die vergleichende Rekonstruktion. Wiesbaden: Riechert.Google Scholar
Mailhammer, Robert
2014 Etymology. In Claire Bowern & Bethwyn Evans (eds.), The Routledge handbook of historical linguistics, 423–441. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mallory, James & Douglas Adams
2006 The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McConvell, Patrick
2009 Loanwords in Gurindji: A Pama-Nyungan language of Australia. In Martin Haspelmath & Uri Tadmor (eds.), Loanwords in the world’s languages: A comparative handbook, 790–822. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McGregor, William
2008 The origin of noun classes in Worrorran languages. In Claire Bowern, Bethwyn Evans & Luisa Miceli (eds.), Morphology and language history: In honour of Harold Koch, 185–200. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McGregor, William & Alan Rumsey
2009 Worrorran revisited: The case for genetic relations among languages of the Northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Merlan, Francesca
1994 A grammar of Wardaman: A language of the Northern Territory of Australia (Mouton Grammar Library 11). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nichols, Johanna
1986 Head-marking and dependent-marking. Language 621. 56–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 The comparative method as heuristic. In Mark Durie & Malcolm Ross (eds.), The comparative method reviewed: Regularity and irregularity in language change, 39–71. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ringe, Donald
1992 On calculating the factor of chance in language comparison. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 82(1). 1–110. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003 Internal reconstruction. In Brian Joseph & Richard Janda (eds.), The handbook of historical linguistics, 244–261. Maldon, MA: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ringe, Donald & Joseph Eska
2013 Historical linguistics: Towards a twenty-first century reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sands, Kristina
1995 Nominal classification in Australia. Anthropological Linguistics 371. 247–346.Google Scholar
Seebold, Elmar
1975 Archaic patterns in the word formation of early Germanic languages. Transactions of the Philological Society 741. 157–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Singer, Ruth
2006 Agreement in Mawng: Productive and lexicalised uses of agreement in an Australian language. Melbourne: University of Melbourne doctoral dissertation.Google Scholar
Tadmor, Uri, Martin Haspelmath & Bradley Taylor
2010 Borrowability and the notion of basic vocabulary. Diachronica 271. 226–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

Baker, Brett & Mark Harvey
2020. Anti-scope prefix order and zero-marked obliques. Diachronica 37:2 ► pp. 133 ff. DOI logo
Harvey, Mark & Brett Baker
2020. Epenthetic prefixation in Alawa and Marra. Australian Journal of Linguistics 40:3 ► pp. 273 ff. DOI logo
Koch, Harold
2020. Development of aspect markers in Arandic languages, with notes on associated motion. Journal of Historical Linguistics 10:2 ► pp. 209 ff. DOI logo
Koch, Harold
2022. Development of aspect markers in Arandic languages, with notes on associated motion. In Development of Tense and Aspect Systems [Benjamins Current Topics, 123], ► pp. 63 ff. DOI logo
Krauße, Daniel & Mark Harvey
2021. Complex predication and adverbial modification in Wagiman. Australian Journal of Linguistics 41:1 ► pp. 96 ff. DOI logo
Mailhammer, Robert & Mark Harvey
2018. A Reconstruction of the Proto-Iwaidjan Phoneme System. Australian Journal of Linguistics 38:3 ► pp. 329 ff. DOI logo
Meakins, Felicity, Rob Pensalfini, Caitlin Zipf & Amanda Hamilton-Hollaway
2020. Lend me your verbs: Verb borrowing between Jingulu and Mudburra. Australian Journal of Linguistics 40:3 ► pp. 296 ff. DOI logo
Stoakes, Hywel M., Janet M. Fletcher & Andrew R. Butcher
2020. Nasal coarticulation in Bininj Kunwok: An aerodynamic analysis. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 50:3 ► pp. 305 ff. DOI logo
van Egmond, Marie-Elaine & Brett Baker
2020. The genetic position of Anindilyakwa. Australian Journal of Linguistics 40:4 ► pp. 492 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 march 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.