![]() We found that the languages do show significant similarities in how they express habitual aspect, some of which may be characteristic of the related languages in this region more broadly. ![]() We attempted to identify the main ways of expressing habitual aspect in our four subject languages, based on existing accounts, general and targeted elicitations, and especially corpus data. ![]() In any case, in the languages under investigation, we did not find markers that expressed habituality to the exclusion of other perfective or modal meanings. On the other hand, none of these languages have so far undergone sufficiently detailed investigations to confirm that the markers in question are in fact exclusively used for the expression of habituality. This picture seems to confirm the claim by Filip (2015) contra Dahl (1985) that dedicated habitual markers are not exceptional cross-linguistically, but rather more widespread than previously acknowledged. Banoni and Port Sandwich have both been reported to have a post-verbal marker expressing habituality ( Lynch and Ross 2002a, b). The auxiliary or preverbal particle rere in Siar is said to specifically express habitual aspect ( Ross 2002b), similar to the auxiliary fani in Kokota ( Palmer 2002). For example, Bali-Vitu has a system of portmanteau subject proclitics that express TMA distinctions along with person-number features of the subject this system is said to distinguish between the categories of realis, realis perfect, and realis habitual (Ross 2002a). There are a few other Oceanic languages which have been reported to have markers that exclusively express habituality. To name but two, Bril (2016) reports a marker kua for Nêlêmwa (New Caledonia), which appears to be restricted to habitual contexts, mostly of the past: There are of course exceptions to this generalization. At the same time, habitual aspect is one of the less described aspectual categories and many of the existing grammatical descriptions do not address this category explicitly. ![]() ![]() It should therefore not come as a surprise that our knowledge about tense and aspect in this group of languages is rather fragmentary. Accordingly, they are often comparatively under-documented. In contrast to some of the bigger Oceanic languages of Polynesia such as Samoan or Maori, most of the Oceanic languages of Melanesia are spoken by relatively small communities of speakers, often do not have a standardized variety, a written tradition, or official status. Most of them are spoken in Melanesia, specifically in Papua New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. The Oceanic language family roughly includes between 450 ( Lynch et al. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |