In many languages, indefinite expressions are known to have restricted access to core argument functions. This article focuses on the accessibility hierarchy of indefinite expressions to subject and object functions in a sample of Austronesian languages. Aiming at some comparative analysis, some… read more
In contrast with various Austronesian languages (especially Formosan, Philippine, Polynesian) for which lexical roots are claimed to be functionally unspecified or precategorial, lexical bases in Nêlêmwa (New Caledonia) evidence a clear noun/verb opposition, identifiable by distinctive… read more
In constrast with Nêlêmwa (Oceanic, New Caledonia) whose lexemes are most generally subcategorised as nouns or verbs and undergo category-changing derivations, in Amis (Formosan), roots are pervasively categorially neutral, yet they contain semantic features and instructions that allow or… read more
Nêlêmwa is an Aspect-Mood oriented language; verbs are unmarked for tense, time reference is expressed by chronology and time adverbs. Aspect hinges on three notions: events (in the aorist), states, and processes. One focus is the contrast between the perfect and the aorist. Bare aorist verb forms… read more
In contrast with some other Austronesian languages, number (i.e. singular, dual, paucal, plural) in Nêlêmwa and Zuanga is generally not marked by inflectional morphology. NP number is marked by demonstrative determiners which also mark definiteness. Numeration makes obligatory use of numeral… read more
This paper analyses clause-linking strategies in mostly Austronesian languages, with particular focus on the functions of informational and referential hierarchy strategies in the architecture of complex clauses. Informational (topic, focus) hierarchy and its markers, structure clauses as… read more
1.Introduction
1.1 Oceanic languages
1.2 Introduction to Nêlêmwa
2. Noun phrase coordination in Nêlêmwa
2.1 The general dependency marker me ‘and’
2.2 The animate, inclusory NP coordinator ma ‘and, with’
2.3 The additive coordinator ka ~ xa ‘and, also, too’
3.… read more