Maisin: A Grammatical Description of an Oceanic Language in Papua New Guinea

Abstract Acknowledgements Contents Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Environment 1.2 Culture and lifestyle 1.3 Language use 1.4 History of contact 1.5 Linguistic classification 1.6 Data collection and fieldwork 1.7 Overview of contents 2 Typological Characteristics 2.1 Constituent order 2.2 Possessor pronominal suffixation on inalienably possessed nouns 2.3 Subject marking by prefixation on the verb 2.4 Subject marking by suffixation 2.5 Exclusive/inclusive distinction within first person plural 2.6 Reduplication 2.7 Tense/aspect marking by cliticisation 2.8 Postpositional phrases with case marking by cliticisation 2.9 Topic marking 2.10 Focus marking 2.11 Serial constructions marking medial and final verbs 3 Phonology 3.1 Phonemes 3.1.1 Consonants 3.1.2 Vowels 3.1.3 Phonemic and orthographic inventory 3.2 Phonotactics 3.2.1 Syllable patterns 3.2.2 Consonant sequences 3.2.3 Vowel sequences 3.3 Phonological processes 3.3.1 Rules affecting nasal consonants 3.3.2 Rules affecting non-nasal consonants 3.3.3 Rule affecting vowels: i-deletion 3.4 Stress 3.5 Orthographic conventions 3.5.1 Long vowels 3.5.2 Nasals 3.5.3 Labialised /k/ 3.5.4 Approximants 4 Word Classes and Morphology 4.1 Open word classes 4.2 Closed word classes 4.2.1 Pronouns 4.2.2 Demonstratives 4.2.3 Interrogative/indefinite 4.2.4 Adverbs 4.2.5 Numerals and quantifiers 4.2.6 Enclitics 4.2.7 Conjunctions 4.2.8 Negation markers 4.2.9 Interjections 4.2.10 Miscellaneous 5 Nouns and Noun Phrases 5.1 Nouns 5.1.1 General nouns 5.1.2 Temporal nouns 5.1.3 Human nouns 5.1.4 Directly possessed nouns 5.1.5 Adjectival nouns 5.2 Noun phrases 5.2.1 Compound nouns 5.2.2 Possessive noun phrase 5.2.3 Appositional noun phrase 5.2.4 ‘Headless’ noun phrase 5.2.5 Modifier noun phrase 5.2.6 Pronominally-headed noun phrase 5.2.7 Coordinate and serial noun phrases 5.3 Case marking on noun phrases 5.3.1 Locative 5.3.2 Ablative 5.3.3 Referential 5.3.4 Accompaniment 5.3.5 Agent/Instrument 6 Verbs and Verb Phrases 6.1 Verbs 6.1.1 Subject prefixes 6.1.2 Verbs with subject-marking by suffixation 6.1.3 Object suffixes 6.1.4 Continuous aspect reduplication 6.1.5 Verb nominalisation 6.1.6 Final tense/aspect markers 6.1.7 Medial tense/aspect markers 6.1.8 Verbs of motion and direction 6.2 Verb phrases 6.2.1 Aspectual verb phrases 6.2.2 Nominal + ‘do’ verb phrases 7 Clauses and Simple Sentence Types 7.1 Non-verbal clauses 7.1.1 Equative clauses 7.1.2 Locative clauses 7.1.3 Possessive clauses 7.2 Verbal clauses 7.2.1 Existential clauses 7.2.2 Intransitive clauses 7.2.3 Transitive clauses 7.2.4 Other constituents of the clause and clause ordering possibilities 7.3 Clause negation 7.3.1 Non-verbal clause negation 7.3.2 Existential clause negation 7.3.3 Verbal clause negation 7.4 Declarative sentences 7.5 Interrogative sentences 7.5.1 Content questions 7.5.2 Polar questions 7.6 Commands and prohibitions 7.6.1 Commands 7.6.2 Prohibitions 8 Complex Sentence Structure 8.1 Serial constructions/merged clauses 8.1.1 ‘Adverbial’ SVC 8.1.2 Directional focus SVC 8.1.3 Constructions involving the medial suffix /-n/ 8.1.4 Object-subject serial causative 8.2 Clause chaining/coordinate dependent clauses 8.2.1 Irrealis sequential marker /=fe/ 8.2.2 Realis sequential marker /=ate/ 8.2.3 Switch reference marker /-na/ 8.3 Coordinate constructions 8.3.1 Clause coordination using conjunctions 8.3.2 Clause coordination by juxtaposition 8.4 Subordinate-Main structures 8.4.1 Temporal/conditional contingencies 8.4.2 Reason-result clauses 8.4.3 Relative clauses 8.5 Complements 8.5.1 Utterance predicates 8.5.2 Predicates of propositional attitude and knowledge 8.5.3 Predicates of modality 8.5.4 Predicates of immediate perception 9 Topic and Focus 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Topic and focus markers 9.3 Defining Topic 9.4 Previous discussion of Maisin information structure 9.4.1 Topic 9.4.2 Focus 9.5 Topic in Maisin 9.5.1 Topic and focus in a narrative text 9.5.2 Topic and focus in a procedural text References