VOCABULARY OF THE WARLMANPA LANGUAGE

1979 introduction
David Nash

Linguistics & Philosophy, 20C-128 M.I.T., Cambridge MA 02139, USA

Introduction

Warlmanpa is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Western Desert type still spoken by a few families living on the fringes of their traditional land in west central Northern Territory, Australia.

This vocabulary is based on information collected at Tennant Creek, Banka Banka, Warrabri, and Elliott, especially with the invaluable co-operation of Bunny Napurrula, the late Jessie Cooper Napangarti (d. 1979-80), Donald Graham Jupurrula (d. 1986), Norah Graham Napanangka (d. c1996), and Jimmy Newcastle Japaljarri (d. c1996) and their families, in the periods October 1977 to August 1978, June to August 1979, July to October 1980. It incorporates the data of Kenneth Hale's transcription of two hours recording he made of an interview with Donald Graham in late 1966.

Field work was supported in 1977-78 by a Rothmans Fellowship in the Department of Linguistics, S.G.S. at the Australian National University, and by equipment and consultation fees provided by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Writing up has been supported in part by National Institute for Mental Health grant MH 13390-12 (1978-80), and National Science Foundation grant number BNS-7913950 (1979-81) (Kenneth Hale, Principal Investigator) to the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Orthography

The spelling system follows the one for Warlpiri used in the Warlpiri Bilingual Education Programme. The major addition is the series of tense stop consonants, represented by double letters, as seen in this chart of the consonants. 
                         apico-    apico-  lamino-   dorso-
              bilabial  alveolar  domal   alveolar  velar

stops  lax       p         t       rt       j         k
       tense     pp        tt      rtt      jj        kk
nasals           m         n       rn       ny        ng
laterals                   l       rl       ly
flap                       rr
glides           w                 r        y
The vowels are i, a, u. Long vowels are written ii, aa, uu. Word-initially, and after a hyphen, rl, rn, rt are written l, n, t respectively. Especially within roots, lyj, nyj are often written lj,nj respectively. Alphabetical order is normal, with composite letters regarded as broken into constituents, except that initial n always precedes initial ng. Hyphen is regarded as ordered before a.

Parts of Speech

Verbs are distinguished by being cited in the imperative, with the suffix marked off by a hyphen. Minor parts of speech are labelled, and the remainder are nominals.

Verb conjugations

The conjugation membership of a verb is indicated by citing it in the IMP, with the suffix separated by a hyphen. The conjugations are numbered to show alignments with Warlpiri conjugations as given in the Yuendumu dictionary (Hale 1974). 
 imperative                         conjugation
     -ka       (consonant-final stem      1c
               (vowel-final stem          2
     -ngka     (i-final stem              1b
               (a,u-final stem            3
     -nta                                 5
     -nyja                                4
     -rra                                 1d
     wangka                               1a
Paradigms are given in the appendix Warlmanpa Verbs, which also arranges verbs by their root.

Abbreviations

Prt    particle                  =     synonymous with
cf.    compare                   opp.  antonymous to
trans. transitive                IMP   imperative
ERG    ergative case             DAT   dative case

Grammatical Preface

(1) Verbal inflexions:

The verb roots of Warlmanpa may be grouped into five conjugations, with some conjugations having subgroupings. The paradigms are given throughout thelist of verbs which follows the rest of the vocabulary.

(2) Auxiliaries:

nga- 1. (with future verb) 'future tense', as in Yamakarna pannya, ngarna kami. I'm going to the shade, and will sit down. 2. (with potential verb) 'potential', as in: Ngampurrparna kanya, ngarna yamaka panama. I might want to go to the shade.

ngarra- (possibly a longer alternant of nga-) 1. (with potential) 'potential', as in Malikurlu ngarrangu pinya. The dog might bite you.

-nga 1.(with potential verb) 'admonitive', as in: Nyanyangunga. He is liable to see you. 2. (with irrealis) 'past counterfactual', as in: Nyangkarlangunga. He would have seen you. 3. (possibly with future -- see (3) kula- )

nga---nga 1. (with potential verb) 'admonitive', as in: Ngurrakarna pina pana, ngajunga parra purlunyanma. I'll come back lest the sun set on me. 2. (with counterfactual) 'conditional' as in: Karin pirrakujarrarlama, ngarnangunga ngapa yinyjakurla. If you were thirsty, I would give you water.

-Ø- (i.e., phonologically null) 1. (with future, present, past, potential, imperative) 'future, present, past, potential, imperative (respectively)' 2. (with irrealis) 'past counterfactual', 'tried to' 3. (with counterfactual) 'counterfactual' (especially in subordinate clause of conditional).

kari- 1. (with future verb) ''conditional', as in: Yumpanya ngapa karin ngukanmi, murrumurrujamin. If you drink this water, you'll get sick. 2. (with irrealis) 'conditional', as in: Karirna karima pankarla, ngarnanga palapalajarrarla. If I were to go far, I'd get tired.

(3) Finite complementizer:

ngula- 'instantiated relative', as in: Wanyjilan panangurra ngularnangu nyangu? Where were you going when I saw you? Malikin nyangu, ngulaju pungu? Did you see the dog that bit me? Kurturna manma, ngula lungunya. I'll get the child who is crying. Ngularna kangurnu, yungurnajana. I gave it to them ,what I brought here. Ngarrkamannyarna ngularna riit-janya. I know how to read.

kula- 'negative', as in: Kularna nyangu. I didn't see him. Kularnanga nyanyi. I won't see him. Kularnangu purtukanya. I can't hear you.

(4) Infinitive complementizers

(suffixed to infinitive verb, and to a noun grammatically related to the infinitive or when there is no infinitive -- see the examples):

-ka 'relative, main clause object coreferential with subordinate subject', as in: Nyangujun karlika partakurrumanjika. You saw me making a boomerang. Karntarla wanganya ngarrkaku karlika ngartanjaka. The woman is talking to the mean trimming the boomerang. Malikirna purtukangu payimanjika. I heard the dog howling.

-karra 'relative, main clause subject coreferential with subordinate subject', as in: Yinga-ngarninyjakarrarlu karta-pungunya karli. While singing, he is trimming the boomerang. Pakanjakarrarna wanu. While I was chopping it, I fell down. Ngarrka wanganya kanjakarra. The man is talking while sitting.

-rlajinta 'relative, main clause reflexive and subject coreferential with subordinate subject', as in: Nganarlajintankulunyanu pakannya? What are you fighting with yourselves over?

-rla 'sequential', as in: Kuyurna ngarnu manjarla. I took the meat and ate it.

-ku 'purposive', as in: Yamakarna pannya kanjaku. I'm going to sit in the shade. Jawartirna panamirni ngapaku manjaku. Tomorrow I'll come to get water.

-kuma 'admonitive', as in: Pingka panka wanjakuma. Go slowly lest you fall. Kari panka karntakuma. Move away because of the woman.

-kupa 'desiderative', as in: Panangurnujunpala nyanyjakupa. You two came to see me. Kurtu lungunya ngampurlukupa. The child is crying for milk.

-wangu 'negative', as in: Pirtij-wanyjawangu. Don't climb up. Kiyanjawangurlu winyjaka. Leave it, don't throw it.

-jila (alternant of -wangu)

-warnu (alternant -ngarnu) 'resultative') used for perfective relatives: Palapalarna karliwarnu pakanjingarnu. I'm tired from chopping a boomerang. Karlikurnarla nyintinyaku wayinnya partakurru-manjingarnuku. I'm looking for the boomerang that you made. (NOTE: Complements may inflect for ergative or dative case if their subject is deleted under identity with a main clause argument bearing that case.)

(5) Pronominals:

The independent pronouns, which do not inflect for the ergative, are:
ngayu first person, 'I', 'we'

nyuntu second person, 'you'

The clitic pronouns, which occur suffixed to the auxiliary base, are:

[[to be added]]
 

(6) Number:

(7) Determiners:

(8) Case:

(9) Noun formatives:

(10) Kinship terminology:

(11) Verb formatives:

(12) Enclitics:

(13) Sentence particles:

(14) Phonological rules:

 

Published corpus of Warlmanpa

In the early 1950's Arthur Capell recorded and published a list of 20 Warlmanpa words, and a 9-line text. Apart from the citation of some pronoun forms in Hale's 1973 paper, this is the only published material in Warlmanpa.
  • The text is given on the following pages in three interlinear versions:

    • I. from Capell (1952:129), "The Wailbri through their own eyes", Oceania 23(2)
    II. from Capell (9162:46-47), Some Linguistic Types in Australia, Oceania.
    III. in practical orthography, with suggested corrections based on subsequent research     and is followed by a map showing the places referred to in the text.

    The word list is repeated here, in Capell's spelling and in the pactical orthography:

    [[to be added]]
     

    Warlmanpa text

    [[to be added]]
     

    Suffixes and enclitics

    Warlmanpa

    Australia languages