ACLC Seminar | Dr Dineke Schokkin (ANU)
Dr Dineke Schokkin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, is the guest speaker at the ACLC seminar on 7 June 2019 from 16:15 until 17:30 (followed by drinks).
Title
Verbal number and aspect in Idi, a language of Papua New Guinea
Abstract
In this talk, I will zoom in on the complex and fascinating expression of number on inflected verbs in Idi, an underdocumented language spoken in the South-Fly district of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Idi is one of six closely related varieties belonging to the small Pahoturi River family, which is currently unrelatable to any other language family in New Guinea. It shares with many languages in the area a high degree of complexity in the verbal inflectional system, with patterns of suppletion and distributed exponence. Both nominal number (in the form of agreement with core arguments) and verbal number (participant number and/or event number) can be expressed morphologically on verbs, but they operate on two separate bipartite subsystems, with dual number only emerging from a combination of the two. Verbal number also interacts in complex ways with lexical aspect, which shows a main distinction between momentaneous/telic as opposed to durative/atelic categories.
Time & Location
7 June 2019, 16.15 – 17.30
PC Hoofthuis, Room 5.02
Spuistraat 134
1012 VB Amsterdam