WARLPIRI draft answer to motion questionnaire's
MODULE II : Motion-Rich 'Textlet' or Text Fragment

1. I chose this textlet partly to parallel the Arrernte example. It is taken from the draft Warlpiri dictionary entry for warlawurru 'wedge-tailed eagle, eaglehawk', in turn taken from an 'oral essay' on the eaglehawk, among those of other birds, by Sam Johnson Japangardi in his 'Lander River' dialect of Warlpiri, recorded and transcribed by Ken Hale 1966 (Tape 2.8, Side 1, transcription pp.556-7).

   1. Pi-nyi=lki       ka   yangka walya-ngka=lku kuja-ka + walya-ngka-rlu=lku 
      act on-NPast=now Pres that   ground-Loc=now Rel-Pres  ground-Loc-Erg=now
        pi-nyi,      kankarla-rra-jangka-rlu,
        act on-NPast up-away-from-Erg
   Then it kills them down on the ground, after coming down from the 
   sky.

   Note: The Ergative on the Locative serves to indicate that the subject is in the walya location: without the Ergative the location could be just that of the object and not the subject. Similarly, in kankarla-rra-jangka-rlu the Ergative indicates that the subject of the clause is kankarla-rra-jangka, i.e. 'one from above'. Integrating these words into a meaningful sentence requires a change of location of the subject, i.e. a downward movement.
   NB: In the draft dictionary, this clause has been edited to read: Pinyilki ka yangka walyangkarlulku -- kankarlarrajangkarlu, ...

   2. kankarlu-rlu-jala ka   nguru-wana-rlu nya-nyi;
      up-Erg-of course  Pres sky-Perl-Erg   see-NPast
      It sees some animal when it is up overhead in the sky.

   Note: The Perlative (or general locative) -wana on nguru 'sky, area' contrasts with the regular Locative -ngka ~ -rla: -wana means there is positive dimensionality in the coincidence of the Figure (here, the eaglehawk) and the Ground (here, the sky). An obvious interpretation is that the path of the eaglehawk's flight covers an area of sky over time.

   3. kula-lpa-rla    wuruly-parnka-yarla warlawurru-ku, marlu=rlangu,
      not-Imperf-3Dat seclusion-run-Irr   eaglehawk-Dat  'roo=for example
      An animal like a kangaroo cannot run away from the Wedge-tailed 
   Eagle.
   
   4. kankarlu-mparra-rlu ka   wajirli pi-nyi,
      up-across-Erg       Pres chase   act on-NPast
      It chases it overhead

   Notes: The suffix -mparra occurs only on a compass direction or vertical orientation; historically it looks like it is from *-mpa-rra but the meaning 'across, side' is closer to the modern directional enclitic =mpa. It includes a meaning of positive dimensionality in the appearance of the Figure (here, the eaglehawk) from the viewpoint (here unspecified, but presumably the generic human observer on the ground). The coverb wajili 'fast movement' is also a nominal 'chase'; as a coverb with pi-nyi it means 'ERG give chase to ABS'.

   5. kaninja-rra-kari=lki  ka-rla +  panti-rninja-ku-ngarnti  jangkardu 
      down-away-towards=now Pres-3Dat pierce-Infin-Purp-before aggress
        kaninja-rra-kari-jarri-ø.
        down-away-towards-become-NPast
      and then it swoops down to attack and stab it in its talons.

   Notes: N-kari '(facing) in direction of N', where N can only be kaninja-rra 'down' or kankarla-rra 'up'; contrast N-purda 'N-wards' which occurs on all six cardinals and some other stems (Laughren 1978:9).
   An alternate expression in this context is jayirr(pa)-ma-ni 'ERG snatch up ABS', as in [HN 559:]

   yangka warlawurru-piya-rlu=yijala, kuja-ka  jayirr.pa=rra-ma-ni,
   that   eaglehawk-like-Erg-still    Rel-Pres  snatch-away-make-NPast
   just as the eaglehawk snatches it up (with its feet)
   
   6. Kuja-ka  kuyu nga-ni,   pi-nja-rla,      warlawurru-rlu,
      Rel-Pres meat eat-Npast act on-Infin-Seq eaglehawk-Erg
      When it has killed the animal it eats it 
   
   7. ngula-ji ka-rla +  wita-ku   yangka warlawurru-ku ka-nyi
      that-Top Pres-3Dat small-Dat that   eaglehawk-Dat carry-Npast
        yuwali-kirra=rlangu.   Kuyu-ju.
        nest-Allat=for example meat-Top
      and then it takes some meat to the little ones, the baby Eagle Hawks 
   in their nest.

   Note: The verb ka-nyi 'carry' occurs here without a directional enclitic. The possible directional enclitics are -rni 'hither', -rra 'away', -mpa 'across', and -yi 'continuously', and especially the first two commonly occur with ka-nyi 'carry' in the senses of English 'bring' and 'take' respectively. The absence of a directional enclitic here fits with the irrelevance of how the motion of 'carry' relates to any observer's point of view or 'narrative centre', as this is a generic description of eaglehawk behaviour unrelated to other reference points.

   Note on context: The immediately preceding part of the description has free translation: "Its feet, those claws are very big and sharp. It is with them than [sic] the Wedge-tailed Eagle stabs itself meat -- like with a spear. It grabs hold of them and doesn't let go."

2. The second textlet and free translation is a paragraph taken from the middle of 'Wawarljakurlu/The Man from Wawarlja', a Dreaming narrated by Peggy Rockman Napaljarri, recorded 5 March 1990 at Lajamanu, transcribed Elizabeth Ross Nungarrayi and Lee Cataldi, and translated by Lee Cataldi. It is published in Rockman & Cataldi's Warlpiri Dreamings and Histories. Yimikirli (HarperCollins, 1994), pp.154-5.

   1. Ngula-jangka=ju yarnka-ja that Jungarrayi, yarnka-ja    pina.
      that-from-Top   set out-Past   (name)      set out-Past back
      The Jungarrayi from Wawarlja returned to his own home.
   

   Note: The simple verb yarnka-mi can occur with and without a Dative argument, associated with two senses distinguished thus in the draft Warlpiri Dictionary. In this textlet the verb occurs only in the first sense (in sentences 1 and 5):
   (i) x come not to be at some place, by moving along path, in order to come to be at place, end-point of said path: 'set off, set out, start of, start out, leave (on journey), come out, emerge, head off, head out, move'
   (ii) x move towards yDAT, in order to control y by being in contact with y: 'take hold of, grab, grasp, seize'

   2. warla-rnu-wiyi walku=lku=lpa      kiripi-ka-nja-ya-nu=lku,  mata=lku.
      well-now-first nothing-now-Imperf crawl-carry-Infin-go-Past tired-now
      At first he was walking, but then he became so tired he could only 
   crawl along the ground.
   

   Note: The stem of the verb kiripi-ka-nyi 'ABS crawl' is identical in form with (and conjugates the same as) the simple verb ka-nyi 'ERG carry ABS', and is one of a dozen or so compound verbs in ka-nyi which has its subject linked to Absolutive and whose meaning is not clearly a hyponym of 'carry'. The further compounding of the Infinitive V-nja- with the ordinary simple verb ya-ni 'ABS go' follows a regular Warlpiri pattern, with composite meaning 'go V-ing'.
   NB: kiripi occurs wrongly as kiripa in the published version.

   3. Yuka-ja    ya-ninja-rla.
      enter-Past go-Infin-Seq
      He managed to get to his camp, and went inside.
   

   Note: Presumably the character could be said to have crawled inside, but just as this isn't specifically repeated in the Warlpiri, so it is not in the translation.

   4. Nya-ngu=lpa-lu    Nangala-patu-rlu nyiyakantikanti-rli ngayi
      see-Past-Imp-333s (name)-many-Erg  things-Erg          just
        panu-jarlu-rlu yapa-ngku.
        manu-very-Erg  people-Erg
      All the Nangala women and the other women looked at him.
   
   5. Yarnka-ja=rni.      Ya-nu   wurna=lku. Yarnka-ja.
      set out-Past-hither go-Past travel-now set out-Past
      He went away again, he went away and stayed away.
   
   6. Kulkurru nguna-ja=rnu    ngurra-ngka.
      middle   lie-Past-hither camp-Loc
      He slept in another place.
   

   Note: In the last two sentences the 'hither' enclitic has not been translated, and presumably means the motion was towards where the narrator was, or was placing herself.

Date created: 30 March 1998
Last modified: 2 April 1998
© 1998 David Nash
Maintained by: David Nash

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