Structures and their Functions in Usan
Usan is a Papuan language. In this monograph on the grammatical structures of Usan and their function the author shows the unique features of this language: how speakers can exploit certain principles for communicative purposes, how the language reflects their physical environment. Uniqueness can only be shown in the context of communality with other languages. This monograph offers numerous occasions to observe similarities and differences between Usan and other language, those that can be called Papuan in particular.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 13] 1987. xviii, 369 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Preface
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xi
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Abbreviations and spelling conventions
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xiii
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Learning Usan
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xv
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Maps
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xvi
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1 The Usan people and their language
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1
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1.0 Introduction
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1
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1.1 The Usan as speech community
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4
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1.2 Theoretical principles
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20
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2 Phonology
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25
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2.1 The phonemes
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25
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2.2 Syllable and word structure
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36
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2.3 Stress
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39
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2.4 Intonation
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41
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3 Morphology
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43
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3.0 Introduction
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43
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3.1 Verbs
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43
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3.2 Nouns
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48
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3.3 Pronouns
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52
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3.4 Question words
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58
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3.5 Nominal modifiers
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60
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3.6 Adverbs
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69
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3.7 Deictics
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76
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3.8 Connectives
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81
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3.9. Affixation
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86
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4 Predication
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120
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4.1 Order of constituents
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120
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4.2 Classes of predicates
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127
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4.3 Verb serialization
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143
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4.4 Terms
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150
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4.5 Sentence types
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170
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5 Coordination and switch-reference
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174
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5.0 Introduction
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174
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5.1 Coordination of terms
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176
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5.2 Coordination of predicates
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189
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5.3 Switch-reference
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198
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6 Subordination
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207
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6.0 Introduction
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207
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6.1 Topic
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208
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6.2 Relative clause
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216
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6.3 Conditionals
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235
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6.4 Temporals and Peak information
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244
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6.5 Cause and reason
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248
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6.6 Purpose
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254
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6.7 Subordination compared with coordination
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261
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6.8 Beyond the sentence
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266
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7 Sentential modes
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271
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7.0 Introduction
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271
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7.1 Negation
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271
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7.2 Interrogation
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290
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7.3 Imperatives
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303
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7.4 Conclusion
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309
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8 Organization of information
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310
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8.0 Introduction
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310
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8.1 In conversation
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311
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8.2 In a ‘travelogue’
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317
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8.3 In an edited folktale
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326
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8.4 Conclusion
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337
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Appendix: Text material
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338
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The story about the moon
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338
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The story about the sky
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354
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References
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360
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Index of names
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367
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Index of languages
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369
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Subjects
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General