Tiwi/Grammar

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We based our grammar documentation on the Traditional Tiwi interpretation from Tiwi Today.

Parts of Speech

Nominals<n>

Tiwi nominals include both nouns and adjectives, the distinction being that nouns refer to persons, animals and things, whereas adjectives refer to qualities or properties.

  • nouns
  • kin nouns
  • numerals <num>
  • adjectives <adj>

Verbals <v>

Tiwi verb structure consists of several grammatical concepts: person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, location/direction, time of day, stance, and emphasis.

  • transitive <tv>
  • intransitive <iv>

Other

  • predicatives <pred>
  • locatives <loc>
  • temporals<temp>
  • adverbs<adv>
  • particles
  • interjections <ij>

Alternations

Alternation 1: singular imperative mood

  • wapa<v><tv><imp><s_sg2> ↔ taapa
  • wapa<v><tv><imp><s_sg2> ↔ takirimi

Alternation 2: non-past verbs

"Nonpast verbs have one of the non-past set of subject forms but are not otherwise marked for tense." [1]

  • wapa<v><iv><nonpast><s_sg3><m> ↔ awapa
  • pangurlimayi<v><iv><nonpast><s_sg1> ↔ ngipangurlimayi
  • takirayi<v><tv><nonpast><s_sg3><m> ↔ atakirayi
  • wapa<v><iv><nonpast><s_sg1> ↔ ngiwapa

Alternation 3: past verbs

"Past tense verbs are formed by a} selecting one of the past tense set of subject forms and b) inserting the past tense marker rə- wherever the subject form carries no tense meaning. (An exception to this is that rə- is inserted following pu- "they", which has a distinctively past tense meaning.)"[2]

  • wapa<v><iv><past><s_sg3><m> ↔ yiwapa
  • pangurlimayi<v><iv><past><s_sg1> ↔ ngirripangurlimayi
  • kirimi <v><iv><past><s_pl3> ↔ pirikirimi
  • akijiti <v><iv><past><s_pl3> ↔ pirripakijiti
  • walangarti<v><tv><past><s_sg3><m> ↔ yiwalangarti

"In past tense verbs when third-person singular direct object co-occurs with a third-person singular subject, the subject prefixes are used to express gender of the object, and the gender of the subject is neutralized."[3]

  • pirni <v><tv><past><s_sg3><o_sg3><m> ↔ yipirni

Alternation 4: direct object

  • takirayi<v><tv><nonpast><s_sg3><m><o_pl3> ↔ awuntakirayi
  • pirni<v><tv><past><s_sg3><m><o_sg1> ↔ yiminipirni

Alternation 5: plural nouns -wi suffix

  • tini <n><pl> ↔ tiwi
  • mantani <n><pl> ↔ mantawi
  • pulangumani <n><pl> ↔ pulangumawi
  • pumpuni <n><adj><pl> ↔ pumpuwi
  • tuniwini <n><adj><pl> ↔ tuniwuwi

Alternation 6: feminine nouns -nga suffix

  • tini <n><f> ↔ tinga
  • mantani <n><f> ↔ mantanga
  • tuniwini <n><adj><f> ↔ tuniwunga

Alternation 7: feminine nouns -ka suffix

  • pulangumani <n><f> ↔ pulangumaka
  • pumpuni <n><adj><f> ↔ pumpuka
  • punkirini <n><adj><f> ↔ punkirika
  • panimini <n><adj><f> ↔ panimika

Alternation 8: emphatic pronouns -ila and -awa suffixes

To make a pronoun emphatic, Tiwi speakers add the suffixes -ila and -awa to the pronoun and sometimes use a combination of both.

  • ngiya<n><prn><ref><p1><sg> ↔ ngilawa
  • nginja<n><prn><ref><p2><sg> ↔ nginjila
  • ngarra<n><prn><m><ref><sg> ↔ ngatawa

Alternation 9: feminine predicatives

  • yuwurumi<n><adj><pref> ↔ ngilawa

Alternation 10

Citations

  1. Osborne, p.41
  2. ibid
  3. Osborne, p.40