Arrernte Wilkins1989

Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda) :
Studies in the Structure and Semantics of Grammar
by
David P. Wilkins
A thesis submitted for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
of The Australian National University
September 1989
Declaration
Except where otherwise indicated,

this thesis is my own work.
David Wilkins
September 1989
Acknowledgements
Above all I must acknowledge my profound debt to the Yipirinya School Council and to the
Yipirinya community of teachers, staff, students, relatives and concerned supporters. To these people,
who are working hard to keep their language and culture strong, I would like to say:
Yeperenye mapeke,
Arrantherre atyenge mwarre aneke angkentye arrekantherrenhe pipeke intelhiletyeke ilemele.

Ayenge kangkeme nthurre nhenhe mpwaretyeke.
Ayenge ahentyeneme pipe nhenhe re arrenantherrenhe helpemiletyeke angkentye nhenhe renhe
rlterrke atnyenetyeke arrulenge kngerre.
The Yipirinya School Council asked me to come and work for them as linguist for their bilingual-
bicultural school program in July of 1982. From the very beginning, the Council has supervised,
controlled, enabled and facilitated my work on Mparntwe Arrernte. In short, without the Yipirinya
School Council, this thesis would not exist.
I have been very fortunate to have had very skilled and patient teachers. Chief amongst the
people who have taught me the intricacies of Mparntwe Arrernte are Margaret Heffernan, Rosie Ferber,
Basil Stevens, Davey Hayes and Thomas Stevens. Margaret Heffernan, especially, has been an
excellent friend, teacher and colleague, and has always been there when I needed her help. Others who
helped me to understand particular aspects of the Mparntwe Arrernte language and culture are Willie
Rice, Hilda Rice, Wenten Rubuntja and Franky Stevens.
For help with Western Arrernte, I thank Eli Rubuntja and Louise Raggett. I must also thank
Veronica Dobson, Margaret Mary Turner and Gabriel Turner who provided help with Eastern Arrernte.
On my arrival in Alice Springs, Gavan Breen provided me with copies of his excellent field notes
on Mparntwe Arrernte and he has always been willing to discuss linguistic matters with me. I am just
sorry we have not had more opportunities to get together. Gavan has provided many helpful comments
on several chapters of this thesis.
From the standpoint of linguistics, my greatest intellectual debt is to Anna Wierzbicka and Bob
Dixon. Neither Anna nor Bob have had much direct input into this thesis, but they are its 'grandparents'.
Anna sparked my interest in semantics and in seeing how grammatical structures encode cultural
meanings. Bob Dixon first sparked my interest in linguistics generally and then in Australian Aboriginal
languages in particular. Through their teaching and their writings, they have both continued to inspire me.
Avery Andrews and Harold Koch traded off the duties of supervising this thesis, which has not
been easy since I have spent most of my time writing this thesis away from the Australian National
University. They must be thanked for their insightful comments on drafts of chapters of this thesis and
for basically letting me have free reign to do what I wanted to do.
Four colleagues who have, on their own initiative, at various times taken on the difficult role of
surrogate supervisor are Robert Hoogenraad, Bill McGregor, Edith Bavin and Robert D. ("Van") Van
Valin, Jr.. Van has been especially good at cracking the whip during the final stages of this thesis.
Nick Evans, John Henderson, Cliff Goddard, Ian Green, Nick Reid, David Nash, Jane
Simpson, Mark Durie, Alan Dench and Felix Ameka have been good friends and colleagues, and
discussions with them over the past seven years have been the source of many ideas in this thesis. For
detailed comments on individual chapters, I thank Aram Yengoyan, Jeri Jaeger, Caroline Henton, Cathy
Wildermuth, Bill Foley, Jean Harkins, Tim Shopen, Bob Dixon and Anna Wierzbicka.
Writing a thesis is always stressful, and there are many people who have had to live through the
stress of this particular thesis. To these people, I would like to apologise for the tension that my work
(or lack of work) habits have caused. At various times over the past seven years, Robert Hoogenraad,
Penny Evans, Cathy Wildermuth, Simon Wildermuth, Danuta Loesch, Bohdan Mdzewski, my sister
Sandy and her husband George, and Barbara Villanova-Wilkins have all, in their own way, helped to
keep me sane during the particularly hard birth of this work. Barbara, especially, has been a source of
calm and strength.
Financial support for my first field trip was provided by the Australian National University. Both
the A.N.U. and the Commonwealth Department of Education have supported my work through
scholarships. For help with the production of this thesis, I must acknowledge the support of the
Department of Russian and Language Studies, Melbourne University, which, through the agency of
Mark Durie, gave me an honorary position as a visiting research scholar and provided me with an office
and a computer. While I worked at La Trobe University, Brigette Cerevic organised the typing of some
early drafts of chapters and helped transfer computer files from one format to another. Margaret
Wildermuth valiantly typed an earlier version of the texts in appendix 1, as well as an early version of
chapter 6. Greg Wildermuth patiently taught me how to draw tables using MacDraw and is responsible
for producing Table 4-4 in this thesis. Maria Sergi also helped to type some early drafts. Mark
Zimmerman, the creator of the program Texas, deserves special thanks for putting this software into the
public domain. Texas saved me hours of time in searching for words and examples in texts.
The final production of this work has only been made possible through the hard, collaborative
work of the "E-Street Band", which consists of Ruth B. Shields, Barbara Villanova-Wilkins and myself.
Ruth did an outstanding job taking my rough sketches and annotations to other people's maps and
turning them into the first three maps in chapter 1. Ruth and Barbara have both helped me type, format
and proof read the final version. Robert Van Valin often played the role of trouble-shooter when
something strange happened in one of the computers or programs that were being used.
No one but myself can be held responsible for any of the mistakes, oversights, "stupidities" or
inconsistencies which might be found in this thesis.
This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Basil Stevens,

who worked hard to make sure that his language and culture would never die,
and to the future of the Yipirinya School and the Yipirinya Community.
Conventions and Abbreviations
General Abbreviations used throughout the thesis:

eg. 'for example; example' ie. 'that is (to say)'
cf. 'see; compare with' lit. 'literally'
f. 'female'm. 'male'
s.o. 'someone' s.t. 'something'
k.o. 'a kind of'
§ gives reference to section throughout the thesis; the first number following § is
the chapter number and all subsequent numbers refer to sections in that chapter
Structure of Examples:
All example sentences have three tiers. The first tier conveys the Mparntwe Arrernte sentence in
bold, the second uses a different and smaller font for interlinear glosses, and the last tier, which is in
italics, provides an English translation.
Note that round brackets (ie. '( )') within a translation often convey elements which are
understood, but which are missing from the Mparntwe sentence. Brackets following the English
translation may carry alternative translations, background context to the utterance, and/or the
implications of the example.
Square brackets (ie. '[ ]') at the end of an example convey the text and/or authorship of the
example sentence.
Example sentences which come from the texts in Appendix 1 are marked by a final bracket
conveying the text number (ie. T1 = text number 1) and line numbers of the example within that text (eg.
[T11-3,4,5] = 'The example is from text 11, lines 3, 4 and 5').
The Mparntwe element or structure which is being illustrated by the example sentence is usually
underlined or placed in square brackets.
The asterisk (*) marks an ungrammatical/unacceptable string. When placed before round
brackets (ie. '*(...)'), it means the element(s) in the brackets must occur; they are not optional.
Examples from other languages follow the same conventions as the above, except that forms
from the other language are conveyed in bold and italics.
Phonological Conventions:
[] phonetic representation // phonemic representation
C consonant V vowel
# word boundary CV stressed syllable
+ morpheme boundary ( ) optional element
Morphological Conventions:
- morpheme boundary
Ø morpheme with zero realisation
X unspecified elements in a stem
C(C) a single consonant or a consonant cluster
Æ 'becomes; is realised as'
. separates parts of a portmanteau morph
Syntactic Conventions:
Grammatical Functions:
A subject of transitive
O object of transitive
S subject of intransitive
Constituents:
S sentence NP noun phrase
V verb Adj adjective
N noun Adv adverb
Quant quantifier Class classifier
SREL relative clause Hd head (of structure)
3pnDefthird person pronoun acting as definitiser
SCOMP subject complement
Other:
* ungrammatical element or string
*( ) not optional, must occur
A dotted branch in a syntactic tree (as opposed to a solid line) indicates that there is no
grammatical rule which orders the constituent at the end of the branch with respect to its sisters.
Subscript 'i' and 'j' indicate coreferential and non-coreferential third person arguments,
respectively.
Kin-term Abbreviations:
F father M mother
S son D daughter
B brother Z sister
H husband W wife
X/Y 'X or Y' (eg. S/D 'son or daughter')
Nominal Morphology:
Pronoun, Demonstrative and Quantifier Abbreviations:
1 first person 2 second person
3 third person sg singular
dl dual pl plural
+ pat 'same patrimoiety' dif.pat 'different patrimoiety'
+ gen 'same generation' dif.gen 'different generation'
dist distal mid medial, mid-distant
pl(grp) plural in a group
REMEMB 'you remember the one'
KinPOSS pronominal kin possessive suffix
Cases:
ABL ablative ACC accusative
AFTER ('after'-ative) ALL allative
ASSOC associative AVER aversive
COM comitative DAT dative
ERG ergative INST instrumental
LOC locative NOM nominative
POSS possessive PROP proprietive
Other nominal and nominal-deriving forms:

abundance 'place abundant in'
Bad.CHAR 'bad character'
DYADIC kin-dyadic; complementary kin together
KinPOSS (pronominal) kin possessor
NMZR nominaliser
NMZR.Hab.rdp nominaliser of habitual involvement (reduplication)
tmp.nom temporal nominal formative
UQ unified quantity
Verb Morphology:
Inflectional:
Stem final:
Tense:
npc non-past completive npp non-past progressive
pc past completive p.immed immediate past
pp past progressive rem.p.hab remote past habitual
Other:
AVER aversive GenEvt generic event
HOPE hope to do HYPO hypothetical
IMP imperative NegIMP negative imperative
PERM permissive PURP purposive
DS different subject SS same subject
Optional (non-stem final):

dl S/A dual subject
pl S/A plural subject
CONT 'do continuously (non-motional)'
DO ALONG 'do continuously while in motion'
DO COMING'do verb action while coming'
DO COMING BACK 'do verb action while coming back'
DO COMING THRU 'do verb action while coming through a place'
REVERS 'do verb action while going back; do verb action back to'
(reversive)
DO PAST 'do verb action while moving past or through a place'
DO DOWNWARDS 'do verb action while moving downwards'
DO UPWARDS 'do verb action while moving upwards'
GO & DO 'go to a place and do verb action'
GO BACK & DO 'go back to a place and do verb action'
DO & GO 'do verb action at a place and then go'
DO & GO BACK 'do verb action at a place and then go back'
Quickly: DO & GO 'quickly do verb action and then quickly go'
Quickly: DO & GO BACK 'quickly do verb action and then quickly go back'
DO ON Y'S ARRIVAL 'X do something to Y when Y come to be at place X is'
FREQ.rdp 'frequentative (reduplication)'
SPORAD.rdp 'sporadic (reduplication)'
CAUS.rdp 'causative [or multiple objects] (reduplication)'
C.Incep.rdp 'continuous inception (reduplication)'
Derivational:
CAUS causative INCH inchoative
RECIP reciprocal REFL reflexive
Eng.tr marker of English transitive verb
HITHER 'move towards place where speaker is'
Adverb-deriving Morphology:
ADV manner adverb formative
All Time 'the whole time through'
CONNECT 'out surface contact; connected to'
TIMES 'happens X number of times'
val.adv value adverb marker
Particle/Clitics:
Clitics:
AS WELL 'as well, too, again, still'
BEFORE 'before doing anything else'
DESPITE 'despite X, even though X'
EMPH emphatic
EMPH+ strong emphatic
EMPH++ very strong emphatic
FIRST 'be first' in a series of things/events
FOC focal constituent
IndReasAng 'indirect reason for anger'
INTERinterrogative (checking clitic)
MISTAKE 'mistaken belief'
MORE comparative 'more'
NomNEG nominal negator
REL relative clause marker
SEMBL semblative
SELF 'by one's self'
SINCE 'because, as you should know'
TAG 'isn't that so?'
TOO MUCH 'X happens too much (I'm sick of it)'
THAT 'that'-complement marker
Particles:
ASSERT assertion (that X is the case)
bi-and binary and (conjoining two entities)
BUT 'now consider this one; on the other hand, by contrast; but'
FACT 'it's a fact that'
DISMIS dismissive ('not much, only, just, nothing important')
HurBef 'hurry before bad thing X happens'
INTENS intensifier ('very, really, truly')
O.K. 'ready, already; OK; so; the end'
PRECISE 'precisely at that place and time'
QUOT quotative, hearsay
REMIND 'may I remind you?'
THOUGH 'even though, anyhow, anyway'
Conventions used in text analysis in §10.4 (do not occur elsewhere in the thesis):
< > Encloses all elements of a clause (the core, all sentential modifiers, all adjuncts).
{ } Encloses all elements of a core (nuclear predicate plus arguments and
propositional modifiers).
____ The nucleus is underlined.
X Æ Y X is dependent on Y where X and Y are both units which contain atleast a
nucleus.
X ¨ Y Y is dependent on X where X and Y are both units which contain atleast a
nucleus.
[] Encloses phrases.
tr transitive
intr intransitive
:exist existential subclass of verbs
:d.mot deictic (directed) motion subclass of verbs
:man.mot manner of motion subclass of verbs
:or.mot oriented motion subclass of verbs
:perc perception subclass of verbs
:become verbs derived by suffixation of the inchoative
:aff.ingest verbs of affect, ingestion subclass
:manip manipulation subclass of verbs
:stance stance verbs
:stance.change change of stance verbs
Unless a verb takes one of the following endings, it functions as a main verb:
-SS Same Subject (dependent nucleus, core or clause)
-PURP Purposive (dependent nucleus, core or clause)
-PercComp Perception Complement
indef indefinite
def definite
Ben Benefactive function
Phrases are marked for case within square brackets and subscripts at the end of the brackets indicate
the function of the phrase:
eg. [N Adj PnDAT]NP-Def-Ben = A Definite Dative Noun Phrase -- composed of a noun,
an adjective, and a third person definitising pronoun -- is functioning as a Benefactive
T.Adv Temporal Adverb

T.Adv'l Temporal Adverbial
ManAdv Manner Adverb
AspAdv Aspectual Adverb]
Sp.Adv Spatial Adverb
Sp.Adv'l Spatial Adverbial
PropPart Propositional Particle

SentPart Sentential Particle
Conj Conjunction
Ø zero case marking or elipsed element

-------- Indicates episodic boundaries
S1 , S2 , S3 , ... Sentence 1, sentence 2, sentence 3, etc.
Natural Language Definitions:

Note that natural language definitions of elements and structures are italicised and typically set off
from the body of the text. The natural semantic metalanguage has not been fully regularised and
definitions do not all reflect the same depth of analysis. Capital letters (eg. A, B, C, X, Y, Z) are used to
represent variable arguments (which may be entities or events). Variables are often given subscripts
indicating the general type of semantic content of the filler of the variable. Elements which are not clearly
part of the definition are bracketed (in round brackets) and pragmatic aspects of the context are given in
square and or angle brackets. Longer definitions are broken into lines giving individual propositions in
the structure. Indenting may be used to set off functionally distinct propositions in the definition. The
main purpose of the definitions in this thesis is to clarify meanings of elements and structures for the
reader, not to doggedly follow a particular formalism or to advance a particular theory.
Table of Contents
Declaration ii
Acknowledgements iii
Abstract vi
Coventions and Abbreviations viii
Chapter One: Introduction 1

1.1 Background to the language 1
1.1.1 Mparntwe and Arrernte Mparntwarenye: Relations of land
and language 1
1.1.2 Relation of Mparntwe Arrernte to other Arandic varieties 6
1.1.2.1 Hale's (1962) view of internal relations within Arandic 8
1.1.2.2 Brief demonstration of differences between Mparntwe
Arrernte and Western Arrernte 11
1.1.2.3 Hypothesised revision of internal relations within Arandic 14
1.1.3 Previous work on Arandic languages 14
1.2 Cultural background and contact history 20
1.2.1 Brief history of Alice Springs and surrounding area 20
1.2.2 History of ethnography of Arandic groups 24
1.2.3 Contemporary life (with an account of English and Mparntwe
Arrernte in contact) [Catholicism,Sacred sites, Other groups
inhabiting Alice Springs, Food and medicine, Residence and
mobility, Art, Mparntwe Arrernte and English: languages in
contact] 26
1.2.4 Kinship and avoidance 33
1.2.4.1 Subsections 33
1.2.4.2 Kinterms 38
1.2.4.3 Avoidance 42
1.3 Account of fieldwork 47
1.3.1 "Choosing" a research topic - a question of ethics? 47
1.3.2 The first few months of fieldwork 49
1.3.3 A research policy 52
1.3.4 The advantages of fieldwork under Aboriginal control 53
1.3.5 Some comments on research "methodology" 55
1.4 Theoretical and descriptive preliminaries 58
1.4.1 The A.N.U School of Australian Grammatical
Description 58
1.4.2 Semantic approach 59
1.4.3 Functional approaches to grammar 63
1.4.3.1 Review of relevant notions from Role and Reference
Grammar (RRG) 65
1.4.4 Main aims and organisation of thesis 69
1.4.4.1 Parts of speech 70
Chapter Two: Phonology 74

2.1 Phonemes and their realisation 74
2.1.1 Vowels 74
2.1.1.1 /i/ 77
2.1.1.2 /u/ 78
2.1.1.3 /a/ 79
2.1.1.4 /ë/ 79
2.1.1.5 Initial (a) 81
2.1.2 Consonants 83
2.1.2.1 Phonetic realisation of consonants: Manners 87
2.1.2.1.1 Nasals and laterals 87
2.1.2.1.2 Stops 87
2.1.2.1.3 Pre-stopped nasals 88
2.1.2.1.4 Approximants 89
2.1.2.1.5 The Trill 90
2.1.2.2 Phonetic realisation of consonants: places 90
2.1.2.2.1 Apico-post-alveolars (and the rothic class) 91
2.1.2.2.2 Lamino-inter-dentals 91
2.1.2.3 The labialised consonant phonemes 92
2.2 Stress 94
2.3 Phonotactics 95
2.3.1 Word structure 95
2.3.2 Consonant clusters 97
2.3.2.1 Homorganic clusters 97
2.3.2.2 Heterorganic clusters 98
2.4 Morphophonological processes 100
2.4.1 /ë/ elision 100
2.4.2 Deretroflection 101
Chapter Three: Simple Noun Phrases, Nominals, and Nominal

Morphology 102
3.1 Simple noun phrases 102
3.2 Case 103
3.3 Nouns and adjectives 104
3.4 Classifiers 105
3.4.1 Social status classifiers 106
3.4.2 Inherent nature classifiers 106
3.4.3 Function/use classifiers 107
3.4.4 Use of two classifiers together 108
3.5 Quantifiers 109
3.5.1 'Amount' quantifiers 109
3.5.2 'Collective' quantifiers 109
3.5.3 'Increase' quantifiers 110
3.5.4 Quantifiers phrases 110
3.6 Demonstratives 110
3.6.1 Spatially deictic demonstratives 111
3.6.1.1 Alertekwenhe 'that, there (exophoric)' 113
3.6.1.2 "Certain" versus "uncertain" forms 114
3.6.1.3 Discourse use of the "certain" demonstratives 119
3.6.2 nhenge 'remember' (REMEMB) 121
3.6.3 The demonstrative form alakenhe 'like so, thus' 122
3.7 Personal pronouns 123
3.7.1 General forms 123
3.7.2 Kin distinctions in non-singular pronouns 126
3.7.3 Extended use of third person forms 129
3.8 Interrogative forms 130
3.8.1 Basic set of interrogative forms and their subdivision 130
3.8.2 Compounding of interrogative forms with peke 'maybe
and kweye 'self doubt' 132
3.8.3 Reduplication of interrogative forms 132
3.9 Kin term morphology 133
3.9.1 Kin possession 133
3.9.1.1 Pronominal kin possessor suffixes 133
3.9.1.2 Dative of kin possession 135
3.9.1.3 Referential functions of possessed kin terms 135
3.9.2 -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' (DYADIC) 136
3.9.3 Reduplication of kin terms 137
3.10 Nominal derivation 137
3.10.1 Verb nominalisation 137
3.10.1.1 -ntye/tye Nominaliser (NMZR) 138
3.10.1.2 Reduplication & -nhe: Nominalizer of Habitual
Involvement (NMZR.Hab.rdp) 139
3.10.2 Productive nominal-based derivations 141
3.10.2.1 -artweye 'custodian' 141
3.10.2.2 -anternenhe 'huge, giant, huge ammount of' 141
3.10.2.3 -angktyarre 'place abundant in' (abundance) 142
3.10.3 Nominal derivations with limited productivity 142
3.10.3.1 -atye 'grub' 142
3.10.3.2 -ampe 'honey' 143
3.10.3.3 -althe 'bad character' (bad.char) 143
3.10.3.4 -nye 'temporal nominal' (tmp.nom) 143
3.10.3.5 -me Unified Quantity (UQ) 144
3.10.4 Nominal compounding 145
3.10.5 Nominal reduplication 147
3.10.5.1 Total reduplication 148
3.10.5.1.1 Base of reduplication is an identifiable lexeme 148
3.10.5.1.2 Base of reduplication is not identifiable lexeme 151
3.10.5.2 Partial reduplication 152
Chapter Four. Case: Forms and Functions 153

4.1 Overview of the case system 153
4.1.1 Inflection vs. derivation 155
4.1.2 Formal criteria for identifying case forms 157
4.1.3 Subclassifying case forms 159
4.2 Functions of case inflections 163
4.2.1 Ø case-marking; Split case marking; Tripartite case system 163
4.2.2 Functions of Ø Nominative (S) 166
4.2.3 Functions of -nhe ACCusative 168
4.2.4 The form -le: Ergative, Instrumental and Locative 170
4.2.4.1 Functions of -le ERGative (A) 171
4.2.4.2 -le INSTrumental 172
4.2.4.3 Functions of -le LOCative 174
4.2.4.3.1 Spatial functions 174
4.2.4.3.2 Temporal function 175
4.2.4.4 Other uses of the -le form 176
4.2.4.4.1 Manner adverb formative 176
4.2.4.4.2 Compond ligature in nthe- 'give a' constructs177
4.2.4.4.3 Cohesive function: switch reference 178
4.2.4.4.4 Language being spoken 178
4.2.5 Functions of -ke DATive 179
4.2.5.1 Spatial functions 179
4.2.5.2 Addressee 179
4.2.5.3 Focus of internal human states 180
4.2.5.4 Dative of attempt 180
4.2.5.5 The conscious reason for performance of an action 181
4.2.5.6 Topic of what is being said 181
4.2.5.7 Temporal function 182
4.2.5.8 Kin possession 182
4.2.5.9 Dative as linker in nominal/adverbial reduplications 182
4.2.5.10 Cohesive functions: switch reference 183
4.2.5.11 Discussion of dative functions 183
4.2.6.A Functions of -nge ABLative 185
4.2.6.A.1 Spatial functions 185
4.2.6.A.2 Use in comparative constructions 185
4.2.6.A.3 Reason/cause/control functions 186
4.2.6.A.4 Temporal function 186
4.2.6.A.5 Cohesive function 187
4.2.6.B The morphemic complex -nge-ntyele 'from onwards' 187
4.2.6.B.1 Spatial: extension 187
4.2.6.B.2 Temporal function 188
4.2.6.B.3 Source of origin in a transformation 188
4.2.6.B.4 Discourse function 188
4.2.6.B.5 Discussion of ablative functions 188
4.2.7.A Functions of -werne ALLative: spatial functions 189
4.2.7.A.1 Spatial functions 189
4.2.7.B The morphemic complex -werne-theke/-thepe 190
4.2.7.B.1 Spatial functions 190
4.2.7.B.2 Endpoint in a transformation 191
4.2.7.C Discussion of alllative functions 191
4.2.8.A Functions of -kerte PROPRietive 192
4.2.8.A.1 Possession 192
4.2.8.A.2 Characteristics/attributions 193
4.2.8.A.3 Accompaniment 194
4.2.8.B The morphemic complex NP-ke-kerte/V-tyetke-kerte
'endpoint, extent' 196
4.2.8.B.1 Spatial function 196
4.2.8.B.2 Temporal function 196
4.2.8.C Discussion of proprietive functions 197
4.2.9 Functions of -kenhe POSSessive 198
4.2.9.1 Possession 199
4.2.9.2 Entity used to provide desired commodity 200
4.2.9.3 Derivational use: terms of entities with particular functions
in respect to another entity 201
4.2.9.4.Discussion of possessive functions 202
4.2.10 Functions of -arenye ASSOCiative 202
4.2.10.1 Spatial function 202
4.2.10.2 Kinship: group association 203
4.2.10.3 Part-whole relations 203
4.2.10.4 Derivational uses 204
4.2.10.5 Discussion of associative functions 204
4.2.11 Functions of -iperre~-ipenhe = AFTER 205
4.2.11.A Functions with nominals 206
4.2.11.A 1 Temporal functions 206
4.2.11.A.2 Cause/result functions 207
4.2.11.A.3 Spatial function 207
4.2.11.A.4 Cohesive function, discourse 209
4.2.11.B -TENSE-le-iperre-VERB FORMS
(After V happens, then Y) 209
4.2.11.C Discussion of functions of 'AFTER' 210
4.2.12 Functions of -larlenge COMitative 210
4.2.12.1 Simple Comitative 211
4.2.12.2 Comitative of containment 211
4.2.12.3 Discussion of comitative functions 212
4.2.13 Functions of -ketye AVERsive 213
4.2.13.1 Avoidance of entity which could cause something bad
to happen 213
4.2.13.2 Kin avoidance 214
4.2.13.3 Spatial sense: away from 214
4.2.13.4 Discussion of aversive functions 215
4.2.14 Summary of case functions 216
Chapter Five. Case Assigning Predicates, Verbs

and Verb Morphology 218
5.1 Case assigning predicates 218
5.1.1 Preliminaries 218
5.1.2 Nominal predicates 219
5.1.3 Verbal predicates 220
5.1.3.1 Intransitive verbs 220
5.1.3.2 Transitive verbs 222
5.1.3.3 Ditransitive verbs 223
5.1.3.4 Ambitransitive verbs 224
5.2 Structure of the verb 225
5.3 Inflection occurring in final position in the verb 225
5.3.1. Main verb inflections 225
5.3.1.1 Tense 225
5.3.1.2 The positive and negative imperatives (Ø 'IMP' & -tyele
'NegIMP') 231
5.3.1.3 -rle 'Generic Event' (GenEvt) 231
5.3.1.4 -eye Permissive (PERM) 232
5.3.1.5 -mere Hypothetical (HYPO) 233
5.3.2 Inflections where verb dependent on auxiliary to carry tense 234
5.3.2.1 -tyekenhe/-tyange 'verb negator' (VbNEG) 235
5.3.2.2 -tyeke 'Purposive' (PURP) 236
5.3.3 Dependent verb inflections 238
5.3.3.1 -eyemenge 'hope to do' (HOPE) 238
5.3.3.2 -tyenhenge 'subsequent' (SBSQNT) 239
5.3.3.3 -ketye 'Aversive' (AVER) 240
5.3.3.4 Switch-reference 241
5.4 Optional verb inflections 242
5.4.1 Verb reduplication 242
5.4.1.1 Reduplication & -pe 'frequentive' (FREQ.rdp) 243
5.4.1.2 Reduplication & -rliwe 'happen sporadically; sporadic'
(SPORAD.rdp) 244
5.4.1.3 Reduplication & -lhile 'force to do, action on multiple
objects' (CAUS.rdp) 246
5.4.1.4 Reduplication & -elpe 'continuous inception'
(C.Incep.rdp) 247
5.4.1.5 Further comments concerning verb reduplication 248
5.4.2 Number agreement with S/A 249
5.4.2.1 Dual subject marking 250
5.4.2.2 Plural subject agreement 251
5.4.3 Continuous aspect 252
5.4.4 The category of associated motion 254
5.5 Verb derivation 256
5.5.1 -rre 'reciprocal' (RECIP) 256
5.5.2 -lhe 'Reflexive' (REFL) 256
5.5.3 -ile and -lhile 'Causative' (CAUS) 258
5.5.4 The unproductive causative suffix -rne 259
5.5.5 -irre 'Inchoative' (INCH) 260
5.5.6 Free verbs or derivational suffixes?: The ambiguous

behaviour of -ile 'causative' and -irre 'inchoative' 261
5.5.7 Transforming English verbs into Mparntwe Arrernte verbs 264
5.5.8 The stacking of verb derivational suffixes 265
5.5.9 Verbs formed with compounding 265
5.5.10 Deictic motion verbs and their formation 268
Chapter Six. The Category of Associated Motion 270

6.1 Introduction 270
6.2 Is this 'aspect'? 271
6.3 Subclassification of forms 272
6.4 Action and motion concurrent 274
6.4.1 Concurrent motion directed with respect to speaker
(i.e. deictic forms) 275
6.4.1.1 Definitions and examples 275
6.4.1.2 Comments on concurrent motion deictic forms and their use 277
6.4.1.3 The use of directed concurrent motion forms in reporting
events 280
6.4.2 Oriented concurrent motion 284
6.4.2.1 Definitions and examples 284
6.4.2.2 Comments on oriented concurrent motion forms and their use 285
6.5 Non-concurrent motion 287
6.5.1 Definitions and examples 287
6.5.2 Comments on non-concurrent motion forms and their use 289
6.6 The form -ty.intye 'do on Z's arrrival' 293
6.6.1 Definition and examples 293
6.7 Further comments on the category of associated motion 294
6.7.1 The analysis of 'associated motion' morphemic complexes 294
6.7.2 The diachronic origin of the associated motion category 296
6.7.3 Near lexical status of certain 'associated motion' marked verbs 296
6.7.4 Explaining the common co-utilisation of motion verbs of and
associated motion forms : the raison d'etre of the category of
associated motion 297
6.8 Conclusion 298
Chapter Seven. Adverbs and Adverb Morphology 299

7.1 Adverbs in Australian languages 299
7.2 The identification of adverbs in Mparntwe Arrarnte 302
7.3 Subclasses of adverbs 305
7.3.1 Temporal adverbs 305
7.3.2 Spatial adverbs and related spatial expressions 309
7.3.2.1 'Adverbs of orientation' 311
7.3.2.2 'Spatial parts cum positionals' 313
7.3.2.3 Cardinal points and distance forms 316
7.3.2.4 Derivation of spatial adverbs into verbs of motion and verbs
of causative position 322
7.3.3 Manner, aspectual and 'degree of achievement' adverbs 323
7.3.3.1 Manner adverbs 323
7.3.3.2 Aspectual adverbs 326
7.3.3.3 'Degree of achievement' adverbs 327
7.3.3.4 Co-occurrence of manner, aspectual, and degree of
achievement adverbs 329
7.4 Adverb derivation 330
7.4.1 Temporal derivations 330
7.4.1.1 -tyathe 'the whole thing through; throughout' (All Time) 330
7.4.1.2 -ureke 'during' 330
7.4.1.3 -tayeme 'time' 331
7.4.2 Spatial derivations 332
7.4.2.1 -thayete 'side of' 332
7.4.2.2 -ampinye 'vicinity of' 333
7.4.2.3 -[ke]rleke 'outer surface contact; connected to' (CONNECT) 334
7.4.2.4 The four "wards" suffixes: -ntyele/-tyele 'from onwards';
theke/-thepe 'towards'; -ntape 'upwards' and -kerle
'downwards' 336
7.4.2.5 A note on the expression of spatial locational concepts 338
7.4.3 Manner, aspectual, and 'degree of achievement' derivations 339
7.4.3.1 -le 'manner adverb formative' (ADV) 339
7.4.3.2 The unproductive suffix -ntye (val.adv) and value adverbs 340
7.4.3.3 -ngare/-renge 'happens X number of times' (TIMES) 341
7.4.4 Adverb reduplications 343
7.4.4.1 Total reduplications with no analysable root forms:
accompanying stance or noise 343
7.4.4.2 Reduplications to form temporal adverbs 344
7.4.4.3 Reduplication of aspectual adverbs 344
7.4.4.4 Morphologically linked reduplication 345
Chapter Eight: Particle/Clitics 347
8.1 Clitics 347
8.1.1 Enclitics which may attach to either verbs or nominals 347
8.1.1.1 -arteke 'semblative' (SEMBL) 347
8.1.1.2 -tetye 'instead' 348
8.1.1.3 -warte 'since, because (as you should know)' (SINCE) 348
8.1.1.4 -me 'interrogative' (INTER) 349
8.1.1.5 -athewe? 'isn't it?' (TAG) 349
8.1.1.6 -eye 'is it?' 349
8.1.1.7 -arteye? 'what about?' 350
8.1.1.8 -kathene 'mistaken belief' (MISTAKE) 350
8.1.1.9 -ante 'only, exclusively' (ONLY) 350
8.1.1.10 -anteye 'as well,too, again, still' (AS WELL) 351
8.1.1.11 -kine / -'gain / again 'same again' 351
8.1.1.12 -rlke 'too, as well' (TOO) 352
8.1.1.13 -kemparre 'be first' (FIRST) 352
8.1.1.14 -urrke 'before doing anything else' (BEFORE) 353
8.1.1.15 -aye 'emphatic' (EMPH) 353
8.1.1.16 -ewe 'strong emphatic' (EMPH+) 354
8.1.1.17 -eyewe 'very strong emphatic' (EMPH++) 354
8.1.1.18 -rle 'focal constituent; relative clause; 'that' clause
(FOC; REL; THAT) 354
8.1.2 Enclitics which attach only to nominals or to both nominals
and adverbs 355
8.1.2.1 -kwenye 'nominal negator' (NomNEG) 355
8.1.2.2 -ulkere 'comparative, more; kind of' (more; KIND) 356
8.1.2.3 -arrpe 'by one self's, on one's own' (SELF) 357
8.1.2.4 -penhe 'poor thing; pitiable thing' (PITY) 358
8.1.2.5 -itanye 'despite, even though' (DESPITE) 358
8.1.2.6 -iknge "I'm sick of..., happens too much' (TOO MUCH) 359
8.1.2.7 -arrkngele 'be indirect reason for anger' (IndReasAng) 359
8.2 Particles 359
8.2.1 Propositional particles 360
8.2.1.1 kwele 'so they say, hearsay, "quotative", supposedly' (QUOT) 360
8.2.1.2 kwenhe 'assertion' (ASSERT) 360
8.2.1.3 (a)pele 'it's a fact' (FACT) 361
8.2.1.4 (a)peke 'maybe, might; if; or' (maybe) 361
8.2.1.5 ithwenge 'maybe not' 362
8.2.1.6 ware 'not much, only, just, nothing important, dismissive'
(DISMIS) 362
8.2.1.7 nthurre 'very, real(ly); intensifier' (INTENS) 363
8.2.1.8 antime 'right there and then; right here and now' (PRECISE) 363
8.2.1.9 warre 'may I remind you' (REMIND) 364
8.2.1.10 y'know (yenewe) 'you know; you understand' 365
8.2.2 Sentential particles 365
8.2.2.1 Kele 'ready; already; O.K.; so; the end' (O.K.) 365
8.2.2.2 wale 'well (then); and so' (well) 366
8.2.2.3 imerte 'and then, then' (then) 366
8.2.2.4 anteme / aneme 'at this point in time, now, and now' (now) 367
8.2.3 Conjunctions 368
8.2.3.1 ante / ane 'and' 368
8.2.3.2 X uthene Y uthene 'X and Y which are a common pairing;
binary and' (bi-and) 369
8.2.3.3 Name X therre name Y therre: coordination of named people
using therre 'two' 371
8.2.3.4 kenhe 'now consider this one; on the other hand, by contrast,
but' (BUT) 372
8.2.3.5 perre 'even though; anyhow, anyway' (THOUGH) 373
8.2.3.6 athathe 'quickly do Y before X happens; hurry before X
happens' (HurBef) 373
8.2.4 Interjections 374
8.2.4.1 werte 'what's up, what's news, gidday' 374
8.2.4.2 yewe-yewe / yewe /yawe / ye 'yes' 375
8.2.4.3 arrangkwe 'no; nothing; have nothing of' 375
8.2.4.4 yweke 'I don't know' 375
8.2.4.5 mpe 'let's go' 376
8.2.4.6 ngke 'give it to me' 376
8.2.4.7 me 'here it is' 376
8.2.4.8 kunye 'poor thing, poor bugger; dear one' 376
8.2.4.9 alaye! 'watch out; get out of the way' 377
8.2.4.10 kweye 'what the heck am I doing/saying/thinking?;
is that right?' (SelfDoubt) 377
8.2.4.11 yekaye 'What the hell's going on here?!, SHIT!, ouch!' 378
8.2.4.12 eyyye! 'yuck, that's terrible, Oh no!' 378
8.2.4.13 Other forms which function as interjections 378
8.3 Particle/clitic insertion 378
8.3.1 Insertion into verb compounds 379
8.3.2 Insertion in linked verb reduplication 379
8.3.3 Insertion into causative and reflexive derivations 380
8.3.4 Insertion into inchoative and causative verbs derived from
nominals 380
8.3.5 Particle/clitic insertion into verb forms inflected for associated

motion 380
8.3.6 Insertion into the verb negator -tyekenhe 381
8.3.7 Final comments and multiple particl /clitic insertion 381
Chapter Nine: Five Particle/Clitics for Criticism and Complaint 382

9.2 Criticism/complaint derived directly from particle/clitic's
meaning 384
9.2.1 -iknge 'happens too much' (TOO MUCH) 384
9.2.2 -itanye 'despite' 388
9.3 Criticism/complaint derived from a logical contradiction
of part of the particle/clitic's meaning 390
9.3.1 kwele 'quotative' 391
9.3.2 -kathene 'mistaken belief' 395
9.3.3 -me 'interrogative' 397
9.3.4 Discussion of implicature 399
9.4 Conclusion 402
Chapter Ten. Aspects of Syntax 404

10.1 Complex Noun Phrases 404
10.1.1 Coordinated NPs without overt conjunctions 405
10.1.1.1 Listing 405
10.1.1.2 Pronominal inclusion (The Plural Pronoun Construction) 407
10.1.2 Part-whole constructions 411
10.1.3 Relative clauses 414
10.1.3.1 General structure shared by all relative clause types 415
10.1.3.2 Fully embedded relatives 418
10.1.3.3 Discontinuity between head and SREL 419
10.1.3.4 Headless relatives 423
10.1.3.5 Internally headed relatives 426
10.1.3.6 Access to relativisation 426
10.2 Verb iteration 431
10.3 Simple sentences and the basic elements of clause
structure 432
10.3.1 Semantic roles and grammatical functions 432
10.3.2 The grammatical relation subject in Mparntwe Arrernte 435
10.3.3 Verbless clauses and copular clauses 437
10.4 Word order and topic continuity in a narrative text 439
10.5 Complex sentences 450
10.5.1 Clausal coordination without conjunctions 450
10.5.2 Complementation 451
Chapter Eleven: Switch-Reference and Morphologically

Related constructions 454
11.1.1 General 454
11.1.2 What is switch reference? 455
11.2 Switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte 458
11.2.1 Relative tense 461
11.2.2 Switch-reference on negatives 463
11.2.3 Discourse realisation of switch-reference 465
11.2.3.1 Subject NP ellipsis 465
11.2.3.2 Trans-sentential switch-reference 466
11.3 System versus morphology 468
11.3.1 The level and nature of switch-reference clause linkage 468
11.3.2 -me-le versus -me.le 469
11.3.2.1 Manner adverbials 470
11.3.2.1.1 'Means' manner adverbials 470
11.3.2.1.2 'Nature of process' adverbials 473
11.3.2.2 Seriation 474
11.4 Problems of identity 476
11.4.1 General discussion 476
11.4.2 Inclusion 477
11.4.3 Part-whole relations 479
11.4.4 Split personality? 482
11.5 Conclusion 486
MAPS
Map 1-1: Boundaries of Mparntwe 2
Map 1-2: Map of Arandic languages and dialects 5
Map 1-3: Arandic languages and their neighbours 7
Map 1-4: Map of "Arandic speaking area" from Hale (1962) with lexical
statistics added 8
TABLES
Table 1-1: Kinship terms and range of application from point of view of a
Pengarte woman 43
Table 2-1: Mparntwe Arrernte vowels 75
Table 2-2: Mparntwe Arrernte consonant phonemes and their orthographic
equivalents 84
Table 2-3: Words exemplifying distinctions amongst consonants phonemes
(part 1) 85
(part 2) 86
Table 2-4: Homorganic clusters 97
Table 2-5: Nasal initial heterorganic clusters 98
Table 2-6: Lateral initial heterorganic clusters 99
Table 2-7: Trill initial clusters 100
Table 3-1: Mparntwe Arrernte cases and their realisation on different nominals 104
Table 3-2: Spatially deictic demonstratives 111
Table 3-3: Preliminary definitions of the spatial sense of 'certain' and 'uncertain'
demonstratives 118
Table 3-4: S/A (subject) pronoun set 124
Table 3-5: Accusative (O) pronoun set 124
Table 3-6: Dative pronoun set 124
Table 3-7: Possessive pronoun set 125
Table 3-8: Alyawarra 1st and 2nd singular A, S, O forms
(based on Yallop 1977: 94) 125
Table 3-9: Kin distinctions in non-singular pronouns 127
Table 3-10: Kin terms which have a reduced or suppletive form when
taking suffexes specific to kin terms 134
Table 4-1: The Mparntwe Arrernte case system. Case forms and parameters
for the subclassification of cases 154
Table 4-2: Series of set inclusions for semantic cases 162
Table 4-3: Comparison of case marking on definite and non-definite NPs 165
Table 4-4: The semantic/functional space covered by Mparntwe Arrernte case
forms 217
Table 5-1: The Mparntwe Arrernte tense system 227
Table 5-2: Plural subject agreement markers and examples from the verb classes
they determine 252
Table 5-3: Morphemic complexes indicating continuous aspect 253
Table 5-4: The deictic motion verb subclass 269
Table 6-1: Subclassification of associated motion forms 272
Table 10-1: Number of occurrences of each of the four relative clause types
in a survey of 19 texts (approx. 1,000 clauses) 417
Table 10-2: Text count of roles played by relativised NP in SREL 430
Table 10-3: Text count of roles played in matrix clausesby a NP with
a relative clause 431
Table 10-4: Structural outline of text 10 from appendix 1 440-1
Table 10-5: Ordering of core arguments for clauses of each line in text 10
(appendix 1) 445
Table 10-6: The changing structure and function of NPs referring to the two
major participants of text 10 (in appendix 1) 447
FIGURES
Figure 1-1: Diagram of historical relations within Arandic, based on Hale
1962 showing posited dialect chain which constitutes Upper
Aranda language 9
Figure 1-2: Hypothesised reformulation of relations within Arandic 15
Figure 1-3: Patrimoieties, semi-patrimoieties (nyenhenge sections) and
subsections 35
Figure 1-4: Generation moieties, subsections and first choice marriage 37
Figure 1-5: Patterns of relationship between subsections assuming first
choice marriages 39
Figure 1-6: RRG Actor-Undergoer Hierarchy 65
Figure 1-7: RRG conception of clause structure 67
Figure 1-8: RRG conception of operator scoping and constituency within
the clause 67
Figure 1-9: RRG Syntactic Bondness Hierarchy 68
Figure 1-10: Parts of speech and their subclassification 73
Figure 2-1: Division of vowel space for Mparntwe Arrernte 76
Figure 4-1: Representation of a complex NP containing a genitive (-kenhe)
phrase 157
Figure 5-1: The structure of the Mparntwe Arrernte verb 226
Figure 6-1: Example scene of action in midst of motion path 281
Figure 9-1: Schema for predicting what report type an utterance containing
-iknge 'happens too much' will be associated with 387
Figure 10-1: Ross's (1967) representation of coordinate structure 407
Figure 10-2: Proposed representation of Mparntwe Arrernte "listing" structure 407
Figure 10-3: Complex NP involving 3 coordination strategies
(and 4 coordinations) 410
Figure 10-4: Structure contained in all relative clause types 415
Figure 10-5: Structure of NP with fully embedded relative 418
Figure 10-6: The Bondness Hierarchy (Foley 1980: 174) 420
Figure 10-7: The Accessibility Hierarchy in Mparntwe Arrernte 428
APPENDIX 1: Texts 488

1. Utnerrenge-kerte (About the emu bush)
by Rosie Ferber 489
2. Arntape untyeye-kerte (About corkwood bark)
by Margaret Heffernan 490
3. Ngkwarle untyeye-kerte (About corkwood nectar)
4. Intelyape-lyape-kerte (Butterflies)
by Yipirinya School Teachers (jointly constructed) 494
5. Antyetyerre-kerte (Frogs)
by Yipirinya School Teachers (jointly constructed) 495
6. Inarlenge (Porcupines)
7. Untitled account of bush trip.
8. Ayeye kngwelye ampe therle aweke angkerlengerle-kerte
(A story about an old dog that I heard talk)
by Rosie Ferber 501
9. Artwe ampwe irrkwerrentye therre-kerte
(A story about a pair of siamese twins)
by Basil Stevens 507
10. Ayeye marle uthene atwetye uthene-kerte
(A story about a girl and a joey)
11. Artewe-kerte (Story of the wild turkey)
by Basil Stevens 512
12. Ampe urreye kweke artnerrentye-kerte (A story about a crawling baby boy)
APPENDIX 2: Lexicon 544

Part A: Suffixes and clitics 544
Part B: Word List 549
Bibliography 602
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background to the Language

1.1.1 Mparntwe and Arrernte Mparntwarenye: Relations of land and language
Mparntwe is the traditional Arrernte (Aranda) name given to an area in Central Australia which
includes the township of Alice Springs, and which is roughly bounded by Bond Springs (Irlpme) in the
north-east, Hamilton Downs (Awerre-Therre) in the north-west, and Maryvale (Imarnte) in the south.
The Hugh River forms the western border of Mparntwe, and the eastern border, which includes
Undoolya (Ntulye), runs roughly parallel to - but 15 kilometres to the east of - the Alice Springs-
Adelaide railway line until it turns west to meet up at Maryvale (Imarnte) [see Map 1-1]. This thesis
focuses on the linguistic variety which is associated with Mparntwe and which is called by its speakers
Arrernte Mparntwarenye or simply Mparntwe.
Here, as in other parts of Australia (see, for instance, Merlan 1981 and Dench 1987:7-8), it
appears that affiliations with particular linguistic varieties are often mediated by associations to country.
That is to say, a linguistic variety (language or dialect) may be identified as belonging to a particular
geographic area and a person may claim affiliation to a particular linguistic variety if they have an
affiliation to the place with which that variety is associated. One may be affiliated to a place that is one's
conception site, birth place, and/or the place to which they have traditional responsibilities through
kinship.
The association of language with country is demonstrated clearly in the narration of traditional
texts in which a Dreamtime ancestor, or group of ancestors, travels across a number of significantly
different areas. At the point that an ancestor moves from the area associated with one local group to
that of another local group, a number of different
linguistic mechanisms may be employed to signal the change of country. Apart from simple overt
reference to the change, which is not always present, linguistic markers representative of the linguistic
difference between the two groups may be used. Thus if an ancestral being moves from Western
Arrernte country, or Pitjantjatjara country, into Mparntwe country, a song in the first dialect or language
may be sung in the early part of the text and when the change of country occurs, a song in the second
dialect or language will be used. Similarly, reported conversation may first contain lexical items, or even
full sentences, from the first group and then it will use ones from the second group. Most interesting,
from the point of view of what sort of morphemes can diffuse from one area to the next, grammatical
particles and even suffixes of roughly corresponding meaning in the two dialects or languages will be
substituted for one another to signal the area change. In the following example from a Dog Dreaming
text in which the ancestor moves from Mparntwe country into Anmatyerre (Ti Tree) country the signal
of the change is the switch from using the Mparntwe Arrernte allative form, -werne, to the Anmatyerre
allative form, -werle.
(1) Re lhe-me-le, lhe-me-le pmere arrpenhe-werne. Pmere-k-irre-me-

le,
3sgS go-npp-SS, go-npp-SS place other-ALL. Place-
DAT-INCH--npp-SS
re inte-ke. Ingweleme kem-irre-me-le aweth-anteye lhe-ke. Lhe-me
3sgS lie-pc morning get up-INCH-npp-SS again-AS WELL go-pc.
go-npp
anteme pmere kngerre-werle, pmere kwatye-rle ne-me-rle-werle.
now place big-ALL, place water-REL sit/be-npp-REL-ALL
He travelled and travelled to another place (in Mparntwe) and when he got there he
camped. When he got up in the morning he went off again. Now he's going to an
important place (in Anmatyerre country), to a place where there's water (in
Anmatyerre country).
The fact that affiliation to a linguistic variety may be mediated by an affiliation to a particular
country can lead to a situation in which a person may rightfully claim affiliation to a linguistic variety which
they are unable to speak. Conversely, fluent speakers of a linguistic variety to which they have no
affiliation through country may make no claim to that variety. One of my main teachers, Margaret
Heffernan, for instance, only claims a linguistic affiliation with Anmatyerre, the language of her home
country. She is fluent in Arrernte Mparntwarenye and people who do have an affiliation to Mparntwe
acknowledge that she speaks the language of their country "properly". However, when it comes to
issues concerning the teaching, maintenance, and/or propagation of Mparntwe (the language), Margaret
abstains from contributing to the decision making process unless she has been given permission by
people with the proper affiliation and hence the proper authority. Thus, there is a clear distinction
between being able to speak a linguistic variety and being able to identify oneself with a linguistic variety.
As with land, one does not own or control a particular linguistic variety, but instead one is born into a
relationship with a linguistic variety (or several varieties) and this relationship determines one's rights and
responsibilities to that variety, regardless of whether one has mastered the variety or not.
The above facts help to explain why there is difficulty in ascertaining, exactly, how many
speakers of Mparntwe there are; the question of how many people speak Mparntwe is too easily
confused with the question of who has a direct affiliation with Arrernte Mparntwarenye through the place
Mparntwe. Estimates made by the people I have worked with suggest that there are approximately
300 people who can claim to speak Arrernte Mparntwarenye. The major concentration of speakers,
thus defined, live in Alice Springs, Amoonguna (Amwengkwerne), and Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Purte).
It is not the case that, from a linguist's standpoint, all the people who helped me in my research spoke
the same dialect, but the range of dialects they spoke were sufficiently similar to allow a coherent
description of Arrernte Mparntwarenye.
Arrernte Mparntwarenye has been variously labeled as Alice Springs Arrernte (eg. Breen 1984),
Central Aranda (T.G.H. Strehlow 1944, 1947 [map], 1971 [map], and Tindale 1974), and sometimes
Eastern Aranda (Hale 1962). Of these Central Aranda is the most appropriate designation since, in
terms of the geographic placement of Mparntwe with respect to the countries associated with other
varieties of Arrernte, it lies between Western Arrernte (a.k.a. Tyuretye Arrernte, Arrernte Alturlarenye,
or Hermannsburg Arrernte), Southern Arrernte (a.k.a. Pertam), Eastern Arrernte (a.k.a. Ikngerripenhe)
and Northern Arrernte (a.k.a. Ayerrerenge) [see map 1-2]. Although Central Arrernte would be an
accurate description, I prefer to designate the variety as Mparntwe Arrernte, for comparative purposes,
but it must be remembered that this is a linguist's descriptive designation and is not the name of the
variety.
In Map 1-1 it can be seen that Mparntwe does not fully correspond to Strehlow's (1947, 1971)
and Tindale's (1974) borders for Central Aranda. Most significantly, Alice Springs is included as part of
Mparntwe, whereas for Strehlow it is part of Eastern Aranda country and for Tindale it is part of
Northern Aranda country (see fn. 4). The larger area designated as Mparntwe, however, takes its name
from a significant sacred site now located within the actual township of Alice Springs and the name
Arrernte people now use for the town of Alice Springs is also Mparntwe.
Map 1-2 : Map of Arandic languages and dialects (based, in part, on Hobson (1984);
Strehlow (1971); and Tindale (1974))
1.1.2 Relation of Mparntwe Arrernte to other Arandic Varieties
To this point I have used the neutral term 'variety', rather than dialect or language, in talking
about Mparntwe Arrernte. To clarify the position of Mparntwe vis à vis other Arandic varieties it is
useful to pull back and present a brief overview of the Arandic group.
The Arandic group is a subfamily of the Pama-Nyungan family of Australian languages which, as
Wurm (1972:130) puts it, has "a great surface difference from other Australian languages in basic
vocabulary because of extensive sound changes which have obscured the picture." These changes
include stress reassignment, the loss of initial consonants and sometimes the loss of the whole first
syllable, the loss of a distinction amongst final vowels, prestopping of nasals, the feature of roundedness
transferring from vowels (and /w/) to consonants and a concommitant reorganisation of vowel systems.
Changes in phonemic system and morpheme structure were not without consequences in the area of
grammar; for instance, unlike most Australian languages (Dixon 1980:382-430), there are no verb
conjugations in Arandic. With syllable loss, not to mention changes involving stress and vowels, it should
not be surprising to find that in Arandic varieties conjugation markers were often reanalysed as part of
the verb stem or disappeared altogether. In fact, it may be the case that one of the conjugation markers
became reanalysed as the verb stem. For proto-Australian Dixon (1980:402) reconstructs an Ñ class
conjugation which has mainly monosyllabic members and was predominantly transitive. One
reconstructable verb in this conjugation is *gaa-Ñ 'to carry, bring, take' (1980:404). A number of
Arandic varieties, including Mparntwe Arrernte, have [ak¸Ñë-] or [k¸Ñë-] for 'to carry, take'. It is not
inconceivable that, with prestopping of the nasal that functioned as the conjugation marker and the loss
of the initial consonant (or whole initial syllable), a form like *gaa-Ñ could have given rise to the Arandic
forms for 'to take, carry'. Suffice it to say, that the changes evidenced by the Arandic group have
impeded work on determining the group's possible relations with other Pama-Nyungan subgroups. The
languages which border the Arandic group are given in map 1-3. These include: Warlpiri to the west
and north-west; Warlmanpa, Warumungu and Wakaya to the north; to the west and south-west are
several Western Desert varieties, including Pintupi-Luritja, Southern Luritja, Pitjantjatjara and
Yankunytjatjara; to the south-east and east the Arabanic group including Arabana and Wangkanguru;
and along the east and north-eastern border we find Pitta-Pitta, Warluwara and Kalkutungu.
1.1.2.1 Hale's (1962) view of internal relations within Arandic

As far as relations within the Arandic subfamily are concerned, Hale (1962) claimed, on the
basis of lexico-statistics using a 100 word list, that the Arandic group consisted of only three distinct
languages: Kaiditj, Upper Aranda and Lower Aranda. Hale's Upper Aranda is a complex dialectal
chain which includes Alyawarra, Anmatyerre, Northern Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte, Western Arrernte
and Southern Arrernte. To give an idea of the nature of this chain I have plotted Hale's lexicostatistics
onto the map that he provided.
Map 1-4 : Map of 'Arandic Speaking Area' from Hale (1962) with lexico-statistics added
While the ends of the chain - Southern Arrernte (Pertam) and Alyawarra - are not mutually intelligible,
Hale maintained that the ends were connected by a cline of mutually intelligible varieties and he,
therefore, concluded that all these varieties represent only one language. Hale (1962:183) went on to
suggest that "the relationship of Kaiditj to the other Arandic languages is the most distant in the Arandic
family", and that "the split which separated Lower Aranda and Upper Aranda appears to have occurred
at roughly the same time in the past as did the gradual development of dialect differentiation in Upper
Aranda." We may diagram these historical relations as in figure 1-1. Since Hale's 1962 article, the two
initial subgroupings have been labelled the Artuya Subgroup, containing only Kaytetye, and the Urtwa
Subgroup , containing Upper Aranda and Lower Aranda (see Oates and Oates 1970: 99-101 and
Wurm 1972:10-131).
Figure 1-1: Diagram of historical relations within Arandic, based on Hale 1962, showing
posited dialect chain which constitutes Upper Aranda Language.
Hale makes no distinction between Mparntwe Arrernte (ie. Central Arrernte or Alice Springs
Arrernte) and Eastern Arrernte, and I think that, on linguistic grounds, this is correct. The two varieties
are clearly mutually intelligible, although speakers will point to certain words and endings as being
diagnostic of the difference between the two. For instance, it may be claimed that Eastern Arrernte
speakers say mwerre [m‚òÂrà] for 'good' while Mparntwe Arrernte speakers say mwarre [m‚aÂrà]; or
that where Mparntwe Arrernte can optionally have /a/ at the beginning of certain words the
corresponding Eastern Arrernte words require the initial /a/ (cf. §2.1.1.4); or that the Eastern Arrernte
word for 'bearded dragon' is amwelye while in Mparntwe Arrernte it is ankerte; or that the Mparntwe
Arrernte suffix -penhe 'pitiable being' corresponds to Eastern Arrernte (-)werne; or, finally, that the suffix
meaning 'edible grub' is -ayte in Eastern Arrernte while it is -atye in Mparntwe Arrernte. However,
while each of the listed variants may be more prevalent in one group than in another, none of the variants
is unattested in my corpus of Mparntwe Arrernte data. The differences between Mparntwe Arrernte
and Eastern Arrernte are primarily, and not unimportantly, social, cultural and political. As there is not a
comprehensive grammar for either Eastern Arrernte or Mparntwe Arrernte, this thesis can serve double
duty for both until one is written for Eastern Arrernte.
According to Hale's analysis, then, Mparntwe Arrernte would be considered a dialect of Upper
Aranda and is supposed to be mutually intelligible with Anmatyerre and Western Arrernte. As Yallop
(1969:187) rightly points out "a high proportion of shared cognates does not of course prove that two
languages or dialects are mutually intelligible." He notes that, even though all the Alyawarra people he
worked with claimed to understand Eastern and other dialects of Arrernte, it is difficult to determine if
comprehension is natural or acquired since it is possible that the Alyawarra understand Arrernte only
because they are in continual and close contact. A comparison of Yallop's grammar of Alyawarra with
the description of Mparntwe Arrernte contained herein will reveal that there are too many significant
differences for the two varieties to be considered immediately mutually intelligible and comprehension
must, to some extent, be acquired.
More importantly, Mparntwe Arrernte people regard the Alyawarra and the Anmatyerre as
socio-politically distinct groups and state outright that they have their own languages which are quite
distinct from Arrernte. Regardless of what linguists may say about mutual intelligibility, one can not avoid
the fact that there may be a psychological component involved in mutual intelligibility in the sense that if
someone does not believe that s/he speaks the same language as another person than there will be a
natural block to comprehension. As mentioned earlier, one of my main teachers is both a fluent speaker
of Anmatyerre and Mparntwe Arrernte, and she observes that the two are not mutually intelligible; two
speakers who have not learned anything of the other variety could not hold a rudimentary conversation.
One of the significant differences between Mparntwe Arrernte and Anmatyerre concerns the vowel
phonology; Breen (ms.1988) notes that Western Anmatyerre has a genuine two-vowel system in which
the central vowel phoneme is much more raised and fronted than is the corresponding vowel in the four-
vowel system of Mparntwe Arrernte. This distinction alone would provide, at least initially, a block to
mutual intelligibility.
Hale's comparison revealed 86% shared cognates between Western Arrernte from
Hermannsburg and his Alice Springs sample (1962:181), but this figure incorrectly suggests that the two
varieties would be mutually intelligible. There are major differences between Mparntwe Arrernte (MpA)
and Western Arrernte (WA) at all levels of grammar and the following series of comparisons
demonstrates just how different two varieties that go under the name of Arrernte can be.
1.1.2.2 Brief demonstration of differences between Mparntwe Arrernte and Western Arrernte
(i) At the level of phonology:
a) MpA possesses the phoneme /û/, a velar approximate, which WA has lost.
Thus the MpA word for 'kangaroo' is aherre /aûërë/ while that in WA is arre /a:rë/
or kerarre /kë®Ûa:rë/; this last form arising from a compounding of the 'kangaroo' term
with the word for 'game animal, meat' kere.
b) In MpA all morphemes end in /ë/, while in WA morphemes end in either /ë/ or
/a/. So, where MpA has tnye- /N„ë-/ meaning both 'to fall' and 'to dig', WA has the
minimal pair tnye- /N„ë-/ 'to fall' and tnya- /N„a-/ 'to dig'.
c) Labialised bilabials in MpA typically correspond to non-labialised forms in WA.

Examples are presented in the following table.
MpA WA
'stone, hill' pwerte /p‚ëtÛë/ perte /pëtÛë/
'good' mwarre /m‚arë/ marre /marë/
'snake' apmwe /aM‚ë/ apme /aMë/
'make, do' mpware- /m‚p‚a®Ûë-/ mpare- /mpa®Ûë-/
(ii) At the level of morphology:

a) MpA has six tenses: -me 'non-past progressive', -tyeme 'past progressive', -
tyenhe 'non-past completive', -ke 'past completive', -rne 'past immediate (just happened)
and -tyerte 'remote past habitual (usitative)'.
WA has five tense distinctions (Capell ms. 1958:12-14; Pfitzner and Schmaal
ms:23): -me 'present', -tyene 'future', -ke 'simple past', -tyerte 'continuous past,
usitative', and -kele 'completed past'
b) The suffix -nhe is used in both WA and MpA to indicate the accusative (O) form of
pronouns, but only in WA is this suffix also optionally attached to common nouns (typically animate)
to indicate their 'object' function (eg. 2).
(2) WA Ikwere-nge tyunpe-le remeye-nhe ilkwe-ke.

MpA Ikwere-nge tyunpe-le alewetyerre-Ø arlkwe-ke.
3sgDAT-ABL perentie-ERG goanna-ACC eat-pc
After that the perentie ate the goanna.
c) For the first person singular pronoun WA manifests three distinct case forms:
athe '1sgA', yenge '1sgS' and yengenhe '1sgO'. In MpA the 1st person singular
pronoun has only two forms: the '1sgA' and ayenge '1sgS/O'.
(iii) At the level of the lexicon:
a) While there may be a high number of cognates shared between MpA and WA,
there are still significant differences as far as basic vocabulary are concerned. This is
demonstrated by a comparison of the forms in the following table.
MpA WA
'no, nothing' arrangkwe itye
'yes' yewe ; ye awe
'father' (a)kngeye karte
'child' ampe ketyeye
'person' tyerrtye relhe
'goanna' (a)lewetyerre remeye
'way, path, road' iwerre tyaye
'creekbed, sand' alhere ulpaye
'ground' ahelhe arne
'moon' tnyentye taye
'long, tall' arlpentye tyenye ; tyinye
'short' urteke twengke
'hot' urinpe wempeye
'cold' irrernte kernte
'strong, tough' rlterrke ikerlte
'long ago' arrule imanke
'to show' imerne- intile-
'to touch' anperne- mpare-
'my' (a)tyenhe nweke
'semblative clitic' -arteke -ngirre
b) A number of cognate forms exist that are semantically shifted. For example,
MpA (a)relhe 'woman' corresponds to WA relhe 'person'; MpA mpwerrke 'full,
complete, whole' corresponds to WA mperrke 'body'; and MpA uyarne 'do something in
vain (unable to do an attempted action)' corresponds to WA yarne 'can't do (unable to do
an action which may or may not have been attempted)' (cf.§7.3.3.3).
(iv) At the level of syntax:

(a) MpA typically negates a proposition by suffixing the verb stem with -tyekenhe
'verbal negator'. The tense of the clause is carried by the copula ne-'be, sit' which
functions as a tense bearing auxiliary that follows the negated verb. WA does not have a suffix
that attaches to negate verbs, instead, the particle itye 'no, nothing' occurs immediately before
or after a finite form of the verb to convey a negated proposition. Compare examples
(3a) and (3b).
(3) a. MpA : Akngeye tyenhe lhe-tyekenhe ne-ke

father 1sgPOSS go-VbNeg be-pc
My father didn't go.
b. WA: Karte nweke itye lhe-ke.

father 1sgPOSS no, nothing go-pc
My father didn't go.
b) Perception complements in MpA are signalled by the different subject switch-

reference marker '-rlenge' attached to the dependent verb, while in WA they are
signalled by -me-nge, also the different subject switch reference marker.
(4) WA Ire nteme tnengkarre are-ke ketyeye mape ulpaye-le

arrken-irre-menge.
MpA Re anteme altyerreare-ke ampe mape lhere-le arrken-irre-rlenge.
3sgA now dream see-pc child pl(grp) creekbed-LOC play-
INCH-DS
She then had a dream about some children playing in a creek bed. [lit. She now
saw in a dream some children playing in a creek bed.]
It must be emphasised that the above list of differences between Western Arrernte and
Mparntwe Arrernte is far from comprehensive, but it serves to highlight just how different the two
varieties are. Indeed, the two are so different that they should be recognised as two different languages.
It is worth pointing out that, as far as the difference outlined above are concerned, Mparntwe Arrernte
is linguistically much closer to Alyawarra and Anmatyerre.
1.1.2.3 Hypothesised revision of internal relations within Arandic

The picture that emerges from the foregoing discussions is that Hale's Upper Aranda, while it
may indeed be a plausible subgoup of Arandic languages, is not itself a language composed of a complex
dialectal chain. For linguistic and/or socio-political reasons, one must recognise at least four distinct
languages within Upper Aranda; these are Alyawarra, Anmatyerre, Western Arrernte and Eastern
Arrernte. There are at least two varieties of Eastern Arrernte; Mparntwe Arrernte and Ikngerripenhe
(the narrow designation of Eastern Arrernte). As for the position of Northern Arrernte and Southern
Arrernte, I do not have sufficient information to say, although it would appear that Southern Arrernte
(Pertam) falls in with Western Arrernte and Northern Arrernte falls in with Eastern Arrernte. Akarre and
Antekerrepenh also appear to fall together into the larger language grouping to be labelled as Eastern
Arrernte. As far as the variety listed as Jaroinga (Oates and Oates 1970) or Yaroinga (Wurm 1972), I
take this to now be another designation of Antekerrepenh. The picture of Arandic languages that I am
suggesting is given in Figure 1-2 (see also map 1-2), but I must stress the tentative nature of this
proposal since much more research is yet to be done.
1.1.3 Previous linguistic work on Arandic languages

In this section I do not intend to present a full catalogue of published and unpublished works
concerning Arandic languages; instead, I will concentrate on land mark documents, published and
unpublished descriptions of Arandic varieties, and more recent publications on Arandic languages. Of
course my focus will be biased towards those works which have proved useful in my research on
Mparntwe Arrernte. As Breen (1988:1) points out, major works on Arandic languages "are rare,
considering their importance and interest to those concerned with Australian languages..".
The first comparative word lists of Arandic varieties were published in Curr's The Australian
Race (1886: vol.1, 411-425). He presents five lists of approximately 120 items each; two collected at
the Alice Spings Telegraph Station, two collected at Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station, and one
collected at Macumba River. Despite the different locations from which they were acquired, all lists
seem to represent different varieties of Lower Arrernte. Lower Arrernte is the only Arandic language in
which puulhe is (presently) attested as the word for 'skin' and therrame is the common word for 'two';
and all the five lists contain these two forms. Moreover, only Southern Arrernte and Lower Arrernte
contain irlpakerte as the word for 'ear', and, once again, all five lists contain this form. On the basis of
this list Curr was the first to observe that the varieties in question reflected certain common Australian
vocabulary items, although they had lost their initial consonant. He notes (1886:411): "Adla = nose, and
oodna = excrement, resemble moodla and koodna, found in so many of our languages;...".
More recently published comparative word lists include Hale (1962) and Menning and Nash
(1981). Hale's work, which has been referred to at length in the preceding sections, represents the first
serious attempt to work out the internal relationships of varieties within Arandic. He compares 10
varieties on the basis of a 100 word list. These varieties are (using Hale's spellings): Kaiditj from Murray
Downs; Alyawarra from Ammaroo; Alyawarra from MacDonald Downs; Akara-Akitjara from the
Plenty River area; Aranda from the Plenty River area west of Akara-Akitjara; Eastern Aranda from
Alice Springs; Anmatjera from Napperby; Western Aranda from Hermannsburg; Southern Aranda from
Henbury; Lower Aranda from Dalhouisie.
Menning and Nash (1981) provide detailed information and word lists, approximately 168 items
for approximately 60 Central Australian languages/varieties. As far as Arandic is concerned, they
provide word lists for Eastern Aranda, Western Aranda, Lower Aranda, Antmatjera, Antekerrepenh,
Alyawarra, and Kaytej. The detailed information provided on each of these varieties, as well as for
Ayerrerenge for which there is no word list, also include invaluable bibliographies which cover both
published and unpublished works.
At the end of The Native Tribes of Central Australia,Spencer and Gillen (1899) provide a
glossary of approximately 400 words, the majority of which are Arandic. They expand this list to
approximately 600 words in the glossary provided at the end of the second volume of The Arunta
(1927). Both glossaries appear to mix words from different Arandic varieties, and Spencer and Gillen
rarely provide a means for distinguishing which Arandic variety a particular word comes from.
At present the largest list of Arandic words is an unpublished manuscript put together by Pastor
Philip Scherer based on the work of Pastor Carl Strehlow (see Breen 1984). The list contains about
7000 words from various Arandic dialects together with the corresponding Luritja word and an English
gloss. Other longer vocabularies (ie. 500+ items) include: the Aranda-English English-Aranda
Vocabulary (IAD 1979), which is a list of words "collected from people who speak a dialect of Aranda
which belongs to the region between Alice Springs and Santa Teresa."; the Eastern Arrernte Learner's
Word List (Arandic Dictionary Project 1984), which includes words from Mparntwe Arrernte, Eastern
Arrernte (in the narrow sense) and Ikngerripenhe; the Anmatyerre Word List (Purle, Green and
Heffernan 1984); and the Kaytetye Dictionary (Koch ms.1986). Since 1983 the Arandic Dictionary
Project, located at the Institute for Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs, has produced a number of
word lists for limited circulation, and continues to work towards producing a major Arrernte dictionary.
The first published grammatical description of an Arandic variety is Kempe's (1891) 'A
Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language Spoken by the Aborigines of the MacDonnell Ranges, South
Australia'. This is an impressive sketch grammar of 36 pages written in the classical model, with an
appended vocabulary of nearly 2000 items. The grammar appears to be mainly based on Western
Arrernte, but there are also elements of Eastern Arrernte (in the broader sense) and Lower Arrernte
mixed in, and Kempe does not distinguish among these. Building on Kempe's work, R.H. Mathews
(1907) published his 'The Arran'da Language, Central Australia'; another brief grammatical sketch with
an appended vocabulary of "160 of the most commonly used words in the Arranda language". Planert's
sketch grammar, 'Aranda-Grammatik', written in German, also appeared in 1907. This work included
some appended texts in Western Arrernte with German glosses and translations.
The low point in Arandic studies is Alf Sommerfelt's (1938) "armchair" analysis of Arrernte
entitled La Langue et la Société: Caractère sociaux d'une language de type archaique which was based
on the works of Spencer and Gillen, Kempe, and Carl Strehlow. In an attempt to show just how
archaic Arrernte is, Sommerfelt claimed that Arrernte lacked all the familiar elements which Indo-
European languages have and he supported his points with false etymologies arising from poor
orthographic conventions in his sources. For example, he claimed (1938:178) that the word for 'sun'
(a)linga (actually alernnge) should be analysed as being composed of (a)la 'go' (actually (a)lhe-) and nka
'carry' (actually knge-), and that the agentive suffix -la (ie. -le 'ergative') should similarly be derived from
the verb 'go' (see Capell 1939).
A comprehensive grammar of an Arandic language did not appear until T.G.H. Strehlow's
(1944) Aranda Phonetics and Grammar. This volume was made up of six papers and an extensive
corrigenda which had appeared in Oceania between 1942 and 1944. T.G.H. Strehlow was born at
Hermannsburg and he grew up speaking Western Arrernte fluently. His Aranda Phonetics and
Grammar primarily describes Western Arrernte, but he does make frequent reference to, and
comparison with, (using his terms and spelling) Northern Aranda, Southern Aranda, Eastern Aranda, the
Alitera dialect and Untmatjera. Notably he does not mention Central Aranda, although he does mention
this group in his later anthropological works (see for example Strehlow 1947, 1971). Since its
publication Strehlow's work has been taken as the authoritative work on Arrernte (Aranda), but it is not
without its problems. Firstly, it does not contain enough information to suffice as a comprehensive
description of Anmatyerre or of what I am calling the Eastern Arrernte language. Secondly, while
Strehlow manages to convey many aspects of the "soul" of the language, it is a very difficult grammar to
use unless you know the language already. He makes no phonological analysis of the language and
consequently his practical orthography is a phonetic one which uses a plethora of diacritics. Moreover
he frequently fails to analyse the individual morphemes that constitute a morphemic complex. He casts
his grammar in the classical Indo-European model and does not employ many of the analytical practices
already well known in linguistics by the 1940s. These criticisms notwithstanding, this work remains a
milestone in Australian linguistics.
Based on T.G.H. Strehlow's grammar and the Testamenta Ljatinja (1956: New Testament in
Aranda), Capell (ms. 1958) provided the first phonemic analysis of an Arandic variety, as well as an
excellent, although brief, grammatical sketch of Western Arrernte. This sketch has two glossed
(Christian) religious texts at the end. Also based on Strehlow's grammar, as well as Kempe's (1891)
sketch, is Pfitzner and Schmaal's (ms:1981) Learning Aranda, which is a useful learner's guide to
Western Arrernte. This guide employs a new phonemic orthography for Western Arrernte based on
Pfitzner's own linguistic research.
The first comprehensive grammar of an Arandic language which is based on modern linguistic
principles is Yallop's (1977) grammar of Alyawarra. Gavan Breen (ms. 1982) has produced an as yet
unpublished grammar of Antekerrepenh, and Harold Koch and Avery Andrews continue to work
towards comprehensive grammars of Kaytetye and Anmatyerre, respectively.
I will conclude this overview by looking at published papers that discuss specific aspects of
Arandic languages. Breen (1977) presents an overview of the phonology of Antekerrepenh and a
detailed analysis of the vowel phonology. This is the first published account of a two-vowel analysis for
an Arandic variety. Hercus (1979) examines some of the relations in the linguistic border between
Arabana-Wangkanguru and Arandic (Lower Arrernte) and discusses the issue of initial consonant loss.
Going to the level of morphology and the lexicon, Koch (1980) discusses nominal inflection in 'Kaytitj' in
a comparative perspective and in a (1982) paper he discusses the composition of non-singular pronouns
which indicate kinship categories. Also with respect to 'Kaititj', Koch (1984) introduces the "category
of associated motion" as a new grammatical category inflected on verbs. Certain 'Kaititj' and general
Arandic etymologies are discussed in Koch (1983). For Mparntwe Arrernte, Wilkins (1984a)
discusses nominal reduplication, Ferber and Breen (1984) discuss the different meanings of the various
forms based on iwenhe 'what', which are translated by English 'why?', and Wilkins (1986) examines the
semantics and function of five particle/clitics. As for syntactic studies, Hale (1966) examines Arandic
kin-based non-singular pronouns and the inclusive pronoun construction (also known as the "plural
pronoun constuction" (see Schwartz 1985)). Relative clauses in 'Kaititj', as compared to 'Walbiri', are
discussed in Hale (1976). Wilkins (1984b) provides a layman's description of the semantic distinction
between various types of noun phrase co-ordination in Mparntwe Arrernte and Wilkins (1988)
investigates switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte. Other relevant publications include Yallop's (1986)
discussion of the various manifestations of number and the importance of duality in Alyawarra, and
Turner and Breen's (1984) account of a 'play' language known as Rabbit Talk which is spoken by
Akarre people.
1.2 Cultural Background and Contact History

Ferguson (1964:437) observes that:
Descriptive linguists in their understandable zeal to describe the internal structure of the language they are
studying often fail to provide even the most elementary data about the socio-cultural setting in which the
language functions.
Fortunately Ferguson's observations rarely hold true with respect to recent grammars of Australian
languages. It is common practice to include information relevant to the socio-cultural setting of the
language and its speakers. This section contains four main subsections: a brief historical account of how
contact with Anglo-Australians affected the lives of Arrernte people living in Alice Springs and
surrounding regions (§1.2.1); an overview of the long history of ethnographic research on Arandic
groups (§1.2.2); an account of contemporary life for Mparntwe Arrernte people which examines the
degree to which traditional values have been maintained in the face of coninued contact with growing
numbers of non-Aboriginal people and which contains a discussion of the affect on Mparntwe Arrernte
of contact with English (§1.2.3); and finally a discussion of kinship and avoidance and their linguistic
manifestations (§1.2.4).
1.2.1 Brief history of Alice Springs and surrounding area

The first non-Aboriginal person to travel through the Mparntwe region was the explorer John
McDouall Stuart who traversed Central Australia in 1862. The story of Stuart's travels has been passed
down by eyewitnesses to their kin and one recorded account is Willie Rice's Ayeye artwe mperlkere
arrwekelenye akerte: The story of the first white man (Henderson ed. 1986:26-35) (see also T.G.H.
Strehlow 1967).
A route into Central Australia was opened up by the building of the overland telegraph line
between Adelaide and port Darwin. Arrernte people are fond of reminding Anglo- Australians that it is
largely through their labour that the telegraph line and railway line were built and it is also through their
labour that the townships and cattle stations were developed. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station, the
first building in Central Australia, was constructed in 1871 and opened in 1872. The Telegraph Station,
which lies to the north of the present day township, was built on a site known to Arrernte people as
Thereyurre.
The early 1870s also saw the arrival of the first cattle in the area and cattle stations were built at
Undoolya and Owen Springs between 1872 and 1873. Until the late 60's many Mparntwe Arrernte
lived and worked on stations that were built on country to which they had traditional ties.
In 1877 the first mission station in the Northern Territory was estabilished by Lutherans at
Hermannsburg, on the Finke River, 120 kilometres west of Alice Springs. The first Aboriginal school in
the region was established there in 1879 and Hermannsburg became an important centre for the first
detailed investigation into Arrernte language and traditions; Kempe, Carl Strehlow, Roheim, and T.G.H.
Strehlow all based their main research there.
The town of Alice Springs had its beginning as the town of Stuart, which was established in
1889. In 1899 Aboriginal population in the immediate vicinity of tiny Stuart was approximately 150
while the white population of the town was about 30 (Heppell and Wigley 1981:6-7). In 1890 gold
attracted miners to Arltunga, 110 kilometres east of Alice Springs, which increased the number of non-
Aboriginal people who visited Stuart Town. Both the white and Aboriginal population of the area
increased steadily and Aboriginal people who were not traditional residents of the area were attracted
to the town to obtain easy access to provisions, as were miners and pastoralists.
In 1915 "an institution known as the Bungalow was established for those Aboriginal people who
wanted to live in the town" (Heppell and Wigley 1981:15). The Bungalow provided education for
Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal children resident in the town. The Telegraph Station ceased operation in
1932 and the Bungalow institution was moved to that site. Heppell and Wigley (1981:15) observe that:
"the move, though not apparently related to white demands that Aborigines not reside within the
precincts of the township, resulted in the permanent Aboriginal population of Alice Springs being
removed from the town".
With the closure of the Telegraph Station and the opening of the Post Office in town, Stuart was
renamed Alice Springs. However, it was the extension of the railway from Oodnadatta to Stuart Town
in 1929, which presaged the onset of tourism and precipitated major changes in the town and district; in
1933 the non-Aboriginal population of Alice Springs was 467.
In 1935 a Roman Catholic Mission and school was established, primarily catering to Mparntwe
Arrernte and Eastern Arrernte people resident in Alice Springs. Once again "opposition to the presence
of Aborigines in the town had become strong" (Heppell and Wigley 1981:21) and in 1937 the school
was moved out of town to a place along the Charles River. The Aboriginal population of the Mission
rose from 113 in 1937 to 221 in 1941 (O'Grady 1977).
In 1942 the Mission was forced to move to Arltunga which had been abandoned as a mining
town in the 1920s. Veronica Dobson, an Eastern Arrernte person, recounts being taken to school at
Arltunga in her story Arltunga-werne Alpeke : Back to Arltunga (in Henderson ed. 1986:10-17). Basil
Stevens (in Henderson ed. 1986:20 [My morphological analysis]) notes regarding this time that:
(5) "Yanhe ikwere-nge arelhe ingkirreke arrwekele-nye ngkarte-le

that(mid) 3sgDAT-ABL person all front/before-tmp.nom priest-ERG
ine-tye.lhe-ke, Frank McGarry-le atherre ngkarteMaloney-le atherre
get-GO & DO-pc, Frank McGarry-ERG two priest Maloney-ERG two
ape Brother Bennett-le, awerne-rle nhenhe-rle akwete re
ne-me."
and Brother Bennett-ERG, poor thing-REL here-REL still
3sgS be-npp
"At that time the people were in the hands of the first missionaries, Frank McGarry,
Father Maloney and Brother Bennett, who is still here" [lit. At the time the first
(Catholic) missionaries had gone and got all the (Aboriginal) people, these were
Frank McGarry, Father Maloney and Brother Bennett, who is still here poor thing.]
In 1954 the Mission moved from Arltunga to its present location at Santa Teresa (Ltyentye
Purte) 85 kilometres south-east of Alice Springs. Since many Mparntwe Arrernte people were moved
with the mission to Arltunga and then to Santa Teresa, a number of them actually grew up away from
their traditional country. It also appears that some people with close ties to Alice Springs were removed
from their camps by the Todd River to Hermannsburg (Heppell and Wigley 1981:17).
Heppell and Wigley (1981:16) note that the Bungalow ceased to operate as an educational
institution in 1942, and in 1945 it became a reserve for full-blood Aborigines. They go on to say (op.
cit.) that "[b]y 1960, the population of the Bungalow Reserve had grown to 386, and once again it
became the butt of criticism by Europeans and European organizations in the town". During this period a
number of "unofficial" Aboriginal camps sprung up around Alice Springs, it was more than clear "that
black faces and their associated living habits were not wanted around a white township" (Heppell and
Wigley 1981:17).
Amoonguna which is several kilometres south east of Alice Springs (14 km by road) was
established as a reserve settlement in 1960 in order to provide a "'solution' to the problem of unwanted
Aborigines littering the approaches to Alice Springs" (Heppell and Wigley 1981:22). The reserve is
within the Mparntwe region and a number of Mparntwe Arrernte people still reside there today. Initially,
however,
"Aranda, Anmatjira, Warlpiri, Luritja and Pitjantjatjara were brought together and forced to live in an
undifferentiated area in which it was impossible to maintain traditional boundaries. Tensions necessarily
sprang from these living arrangements and the traditional enmities between and within these groups often
spilled over into serious conflicts resulting in physical violence. Another reason for these tensions was
that Amoonguna was in Aranda country." (Heppell and Wigley 1981:25).
The sad reality behind this last sentence is that by the 1960s Alice Springs was regarded by some
Aboriginal groups as no longer being Aranda country but "Whitefella" country. The conclusion that
Heppell and Wigley (1981:25) arrive at, on the basis of the failure of Amoonguna, is that many
Aborigines preferred to live in Alice Springs without any amenities, rather than live away from Alice
Springs in places which had improved physical amenities.
In 1970-71 Americans arrived in substantial numbers to work at Pine Gap, an American
research facility which is located 19 kilometres to the south-west of Alice Springs. Pine Gap is built on a
sacred Arrernte men's site, and is the focus of much protest since it is believed by many to be a prime
nuclear target. The population within the Alice Springs town boundary in 1976 was 11,299 white
people and 1,575 Aboriginal people (Seagrim 1980:134, citing Australian Bureau of Statistic figures).
The Whitlam Labor Government which was voted into office in 1972 brought extremely rapid,
and enlightened, changes to government's handling and treatment of Aboriginal issues throughout
Australia. The reforms of the government were implemented too quickly and were too far reaching for
the majority of the Australian population, and in an unprecedented move the Whitlam government was
removed from office by the Governor-General. However, the impetus that the government's reforms
started were critical to Aboriginal people.
In Alice Springs, under a policy of self-determination and self-management for Aboriginal
people, a number of Aboriginal organisations sprung up. By the late seventies and early eighties
aboriginal-controlled organisations had become, and now remain, a major political force in Alice
Springs. These organisations look after the concerns of the increasing number of Aboriginal people who
are living in town camps on the outskirts of Alice Springs or in Alice Springs itself, or even in outstations
away from Alice Springs. Amongst these organisations are the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress
(simply known as Congress), which runs a clinic and concerns itself with issues of health; the
Tangentyere Council, which is concerned primarily with housing and the provision of amenities on town
camps and at outstations; the Yipirinya School Council, which is concerned with bilingual and bicultural
education as well as teacher training; the Institute for Aboriginal Development, which, among other
things, trains interpreters and translators and provides language classes for the staff working for
Aboriginal organisations; the Central Land Council, which processes land claims in the area, and the
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, which, amongst other things, broadcasts radio
programs in Aboriginal languages.
1.2.2 History of ethnography of Arandic Groups

The Arrernte have been under the Academic microscope for just over a century now and, from
the point of view of ethnography, no Australian group has been studied in the same depth and from so
many different angles. As Morton (1985:3) points out:
"...if there are any people known to Anthropology to whom the old cliche - 'need no introduction' -
applies, then it must be the Aranda. Not only are they the subject of some of the earliest and most
famous high quality ethnographies ever produced, they have also entered the ranks of the immortal by
giving their name to a kinship type."
The first comprehensive ethnographies of the Arrernte were written by Spencer and Gillen in
1899 and 1927, although the first important paper on Arrernte customs and religious life was Gillen's
contribution to the fourth volume of the Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central
Australia (Spencer ed. 1896). Spencer and Gillen's researches were primarily concerned the Southern
and Central Arandic groups. F.G. Gillen contributed one of the Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station
word lists that appeared in Curr's (1886) Australian Race (cf. §1.1.3), and at the time of the Horn
Scientific Expedition to Central Australia in 1894 he was the Special Magistrate and Sub-Protector of
Aborigines at Alice Springs. It was Gillen's long experience in the area, and the detailed knowledge
which came with this, that formed the cornerstone of Spencer and Gillen's collaboration.
The next major ethnographic work to appear was Pastor Carl Strehlow's massive five volume
work Die Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien which appeared in parts between 1907
and 1920. These five volumes provide detailed descriptions of the mythology (with texts included),
ceremonial life, social life, material culture, and religious beliefs of the Western Arrernte and the Luritja
(ie. the Kukatja and the Martutjarra). Carl Strehlow's work was based on research he had undertaken
since taking over the managemant of Hermannsburg Mission in 1894 .
Olive Pink (1933, 1936) published two short, but important, papers on the Northern Aranda (in
Oceania), but the next major works wer by Géza Róheim. Róheim's works (1932, 1934, 1945, 1974,
1988) added a psychoanalytic perspective to the ethnography of the Arrernte in particular and Central
Australian groups in general. Morton and Muensterberger note (Intro. to Róheim 1988:ix) that "Róheim
made psychoanalytic anthropology a whole new field of inquiry" and Muensterberger (intro. to Róheim
1977) claims that "Róheim's fieldwork in Central Australia is perhaps his essential and basic
contribution" to this field. Róheim went to Hermannsburg in 1929 to conduct nine months field work
and there he worked with Western Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte, Pintupi, Kukatja and Pitjantjatjara
people (Morton 1985:14-15). John Morton's (1985) Sustaining Desire follows in Róheim's footsteps
and, taking the ethnographic work on the Arrernte as its focus, provides a combined psychological,
moral and mythical historical perspective on Central Australian religious life.
T.G.H. Strehlow's linguistic work has been mentioned previously, but his ethnographic work is
far more significant. His major works are: Aranda Traditions (1947) which focuses primarily on
traditions amongst the Western Arrernte, Northern Arrernte, and Southern Arrernte; Songs of Central
Australia (1971) which describes in detail the structure, as well as the geographic, social and religious
context, of "the traditional native poems of Central Australia [ie. amongst the Arrernte and the Luritja:
DPW], which are intoned according to traditional rhythmic measures" (Strehlow 1971:xiii); and Central
Australian Religion: Personal Monototemism in a Polytotemic Community (1978).
As Morton (1985:18) notes, T.G.H. Strelhow was "the last ethnographer to contribute
extensively to the knowledge of the traditional Aranda", although one must be very careful as to how one
defines the notion 'traditional Aranda'. Certainly Bell's (1983) Daughters of the Dreaming is a very
important work that gives insight into the present religious (ritual) life of Kaytej (ie. Kaytetye) women,
and to a lesser extent Alyawarra, Warumungu and Warlpiri women, based at Warrabri. Indeed,
Morton's own work, mentioned above, can be seen as a major ethnographic contribution to the study of
the 'traditional Aranda' as can the largely unpublished works which have emanated from land claims and
investigation of sacred site claims within Arrernte country (eg. Green, et al. 1984; Hagen 1981; Rowell
1983; Woods 1986; Alpher 1987).
1.2.3 Contemporary Life (with an account of English and Mparntwe Arrernte in contact)
Accurate accounts of contemporary life for Aboriginal people living in Alice Springs can be
found in Seagrim (1980:134-42), Heppell and Wigley (1981), and Nathan and Leichleitner (1983,
1984). The reader is referred to these works for a more complete picture than is presented in this
section. The aim of this section is to look briefly at the response of Mparntwe Arrernte people to
contact with Anglo-Australia.
I concur with Merlan's (1981:133) observation that no neat line can be drawn anywhere in
Australia between 'traditional' and 'post-contact' Aboriginality. The Mparntwe Arrernte people I have
worked with still manifest most of the significant aspects of traditional life that they have been associated
with in the ethnographies, despite T.G.H. Strehlow's constant assertions that the Arrernte were a
"rapidly declining tribe" (1947:55) and that pure Arrernte traditions had died with the Arrernte elders
that he had worked with (see Strehlow 1971:Introduction, and McNally 1981:188-191).
The Altyerre (Dreamtime law) still governs social and ritual behaviour. All members of the
society still fall into one of eight subsections and marriage is still reckoned according to the "Aranda rule"
(Maddock 1982:65-66; see §1.2.4.1). People still claim traditional ties to specific sites and spirits from
the country still enter pregnant women giving the child some responsibility to that country. The land is
still "criss-crossed from south to north and from east to west by myths of travelling totemic ancestors and
ancestresses; and these mythical travel routes provide the lawful points of social contact between the
totemic clans and local groups joined by them" (T.G.H. Strehlow 1970:94). Places are still assigned to
nyenhenge sections (Strehlow's 'njinaÑa'), that is, patrinlineal pair (father-son) sections (see T.G.H.
Strehlow 1975), and so one place may be related to another place according to kinship and a person
may be related to a place by kinship. People still practice hunting and gathering and they still make and
use traditional medicines. Ngangkere, traditional medicine people, still see patients and still treat ailments
through a variety of traditional methods including "singing" their patients. There are still people practiced
in singing ilpentye (love songs) in order to attract lovers or to bring loved ones back to their home
country. When a person dies it is still the case that their name, along with words that sound like the
name, can not be spoken and must be replaced by Kwementyaye 'no name'. One must still go through
several initiation rites in order to become a full Arrernte adult, and, finally (although this does not pretend
to be a complete list), Mparntwe Arrernte children still grow up speaking Mparntwe Arrernte.
Though there has been continuity of tradition, this does not mean there has been no change. Far
from it, contact with Anglo-Australians, and increased contact with other Australian Aboriginal groups
due to the development of Alice Springs as a major centre for the provision of resources, has in some
cases forced, and in other cases enabled, Mparntwe Arrernte people to make changes in their life style.
Catholicism
Most of the Mparntwe people I have worked with profess to being Catholics. According to one
woman I spoke with, Catholocism doesn't replace one's traditional religious beliefs but becomes part of
them. She observed that the story of the Christian God, and of Jesus and Mary, is one of the many
Dreamtime stories that have revealed themselves to Arrernte people and as such it should be revered
like other Dreamtime stories. God, Jesus, and Mary - who all have subsection names - should also be
revered like any other Dreamtime ancestral being.
Sacred Sites
While Mparntwe Arrernte people still claim ties to specific sites, many of their sacred sites have
been desecrated and/or destroyed in the development and expansion of Alice Springs. Moreover, sites
which are still intact can no longer have traditional ceremonies enacted at them because privacy can not
be ensured since they are in town, or they are close to the town. Tourism and racism act to inhibit
people from having free run of the country they were born to and for which they have responsibilities.
Mparntwe Arrernte people are forced by these circumstances to perform rites for particular sites at a
secondary, but related, site or to abandon the rites for those places altogether. One of the traditional
owners, Thomas Stevens (1985), has chronicled the destruction of a number of important Alice Spring
sites in his book Altyerripenhe Anwernekenhe Akurneleke Kerte: Damaging our Dreaming Land.
Other Groups Inhabiting Alice Springs
The concentration of people from different Central Australian Aboriginal groups living in Alice
Springs is far greater than it ever would have been traditionally. According to surveys by the
Tangentyere Council, undertaken in 1982 and 1983, the 17 Alice Springs town camps which the
Council serviced, were populated not only (and not even mainly) by Mparntwe (Central) Arrernte
people, but also by significant numbers of Western Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte, Northern Arrernte,
Alyawarra, Anmatyerre, Luritja, Pitjantjatjara and Warlpiri people. This concentration of different
groups within Alice Springs frequently leads to tensions between groups, since groups that traditionally
had little or no contact with each other are now at close quarters. These groups are still in the process
of negotiating the proper means of interaction between themselves and also the proper means of
interaction with the far larger non-Aboriginal population of Alice Springs.
Food and Medicine
For the Yankunytjatjara, Goddard (1983:7) observes that "[t]here is still much economic use of
the land along traditional lines, though the rifle and the crowbar have superceded the spear and digging
stick for most purposes", and this also holds true for the Mparntwe Arrernte. However, the bulk of the
diet is now provided by store-bought goods and bush foods are a healthy and welcomed supplement.
Cooking on an open fire is still the favoured method. Bush medicines are also collected and processed
to take care of minor ailments, but people who need the services of a doctor are likely to visit both a
ngangkere and a doctor or health worker at the Congress clinic.
Residence and Mobility
In Alice Springs, the Mparntwe Arrernte people I worked with tended to live in one of the town
camps located on the fringes of the township, although some people did take up residence for short
periods of time within the township itself. In the town camps people live in houses or tin sheds provided
by the Tangentyere Council or they camp outside. Houses and camps tend to be shared by expanded
families and will be abandoned for a period of time if someone who lives there dies. People lead a highly
mobile lifestyle and frequently move out bush, or to other centres like Amoonguna or Santa Teresa, for
several months in order to conduct ritual and family business.
Art
A number of Mparntwe Arrernte people are adept painters and belong to either the Arrernte
School of water colour landscape painting, made famous by Albert Namajira, or to the Western
Desert Acrylic School, made famous by the Papunya Tula Artists (see Anderson and Dusart 1988 and
Bardon 1979), and indeed some artists belong to both schools. Anderson and Dusart (1988) point out
that:
"Acrylic painting by Central Australian Aborigines is one of the most exciting developments in modern
Australian art. The materials - canvas and acrylic paints - are European in origin. The content and the
execution of the paintings, however, lie firmly within the framework of desert Aboriginal culture. The
topics are generally mythological ones to which the painter has a particular relationship, and the set of
polysemous symbols used is the same as that found in the older art forms of rock engraving, ground
design, and ceremonial body painting."
These paintings, which may roughly be described as maps of the country depicting the travels and
adventures of Dreamtime beings, are clearly identifiable as reflecting Central Australian Aboriginal
traditions. The watercolour landscapes of the Arrernte School, on the other hand have "long been
dismissed variously as imitative whitefella art, or mere commodities in the Australian tourist trade"
(Mackinolty in Green ed. 1988:4). It has taken a long time to put to rest the notion that Namajira's
paintings, and those of the other Arrernte landscape artists, were a departure from traditional symbolism
and values, and that they represent the viability of assimilation (see Jones 1988). As Mackinolty (Green
ed. 1988:Introduction) points out, it has only been very recently that Arrernte people have been able to
provide their views on their own painting.
As with Acrylic paintings, the landscape painters only paint country to which they have traditional
ties or for which they have permission. While paintings of both styles are typically attributed to a single
artist, they are usually joint ventures. That is to say, for the work to be done properly, the artist must be
advised by both the traditional owners (pmerekartweye) and the caretakers (kwertengwerle) of the site
which forms the focus of the painting. Indeed, in the case of the larger acrylic paintings it is common for
a group of people to actually work together on the same canvas. Wenten Rubuntja, a member of the
Mparntwe community who belongs to both schools of painting, makes the following pertinent
observations (in Green ed. 1988:13):
"When we see them, that country, the tywerrenge is right there, this is my country. When they
see this painting here, they say 'Well that's my country', and then he'll say, 'Well that artist is a good man,
he's a kwetengwerle for this one'.
The landscape painting is the country itself, with tywerrenge himself. Tywerrenge and songs
come out of the body of the country, See all this one, this little waterhole. We're not like whitefella who
can take a photograph and say what pretty country it is; we've got the song to sing for that country.
The country has got sacred sites, that stone, that mountain has got dreaming. We sing that one,
we've got the song.
Country where we live we've got to show, and country with the song. We've got to follow the
line from a long way, from Port Augusta. All we're doing now is till altyerre, it's still there. We've got to
help each other for that altyerre. Doesn't matter what sort of painting we do in this country, it still
belongs to the people, all the people, and we've got to keep it going, Country is nothing else but culture,
and all over Australia this culture is alive."
Mparntwe Arrernte and English: Languages in Contact

Finally, while Mparntwe Arrernte children grow up speaking Mparntwe Arrernte, they also grow
up speaking English. Indeed, except for very old people, Mparntwe Arrernte people tend to be fully
bilingual in Mparntwe Arrernte and English. As many of the examples in the following chapters will
show, a number of English words may be used by people when they are speaking Mparntwe Arrernte
and there is frequent code-switching in certain contexts.
In a preliminary survey of 17 texts (including the 12 texts in appendix 1), I found that the amount
of English used tended to vary according to genre (and subject) type. In expository texts describing
native fauna only 0.7% of the words used were of English origin; in procedural texts describing the use
of native plants it was 1.8%; in traditional narratives the count was 2.9%; in personal accounts (ie.
contemporary narratives) the number of words of English origin increased sharply to 11.4%; and, finally,
in oratorical-hortative texts, which typically contrast the lifestyle of the past with the problems of the
present, the percentage more than doubled to 24.8%. We can see that those text types which were
concerned primarily with the recounting of traditional pre-contact knowledge had very low percentages
of words of English origin. By contrast, those text types which have present concerns as their focus had
much higher counts.
The case of oratorical-hortative texts is particularly interesting since the common thrust of these
texts is to condemn things as they are at present and to exhort people not to forget their traditions, yet
nearly a quarter of the words used in the texts of this type were of English origin. This might seem ironic
until one recognises that a feature of this text type is frequent repetition of the same point and it is
stylistically preferred to repeat the same point in different words. Thus English provides a stock of
words and phrases which can act as near synonyms to be used for rhetorical purposes. This is
exemplified in (6) where an Mparntwe Arrernte elder is talking about the misuse by white people of a
water hole on a sacred Arrernte site. As well as using kwatye-ke irrpe- (water-DAT go into-), which
means 'to swim, to bathe, to go into water', he also uses the English words 'swim' and 'shower', derived
using Mparntwe Arrernte morphology into Mparntwe Arrernte verbs, as synonyms for the Mparntwe
Arrernte form.
(6) "Ar-Ø-aye! Marle mape-rle petye-me kwatye-ke irrpe-tyeke,

see-IMP-EMPH girl pl(grp)-TOP come-npp water-DAT go into-
PURP,
kwatye-ke irrpe-rle.ne-tyeke, nhenhe-ke shower-irre-tyeke.
water-DAT go into-CONT-PURP, here-DAT 'shower'-INCH-
PURP
You can't Arrernte are-rle pmere nhenhe-werne
you can't Arrernte see-GenEvt place this-ALL
petye-rlenge shower-irre-tyeke kwatye-ke. Arrangkwe. Mperlkere
come-DS shower-INCH-PURP water-DAT. no/ nothing. white
mape-ante, pmere itne-kenhe-arteke. ... Yeperenye countrye-ke
pl(grp)-ONLY place 3pl-POSS-SEMBL. ... caterpillar country-DAT
nhenhe-ke itne petye-me, swim-irre-rle.ne-tyeke, please himself,
here-DAT 3plS come-npp, swim-INCH-CONT-PURP, please himself,
nwerne kenhe are-rleke."
1plA BUT see-DS.
"Hey look! Those girls are coming to have a swim, to swim around, to bathe [shower]
here. You never see Arrernte people coming here to have a swim [shower]. Not at all.
It's only white people, as if it were their country. ... They come here to Yeperenye caterpillar
country to swim and they please themeselves while we watch."
No text type examined was devoid of words of English origin and this reflects the fact that words
such as mape (mob) 'plural, group' and ante 'and' have become fully incorporated into Mparntwe
Arrernte. Certain English words have even become Mparntwe Arrernte clitics or suffixes ; for example,
-tayeme 'TIME', -thayete 'side of', and -kine / -'gain 'same again'. However, the dividing line between
those words of English origin which have been fully incorporated into Mparntwe Arrernte and those
words which are recognised as being English, but may be used in Mparntwe Arrernte, is not at all clear.
On the other side, it is often the case that when Mparntwe Arrernte speakers appear to be speaking
English, their utterances are filled with the semantics and pragmatics of Mparntwe Arrernte and the intent
of the utterance may be lost on, or totally misconstrued by, English speakers. This situation has been
reported for other varieties of Arrernte by Harkins (1984), for Kaytetye by Koch (1985) and for
Southeast Queensland Aboriginal English by Eades (1982, 1983).
We may conclude this brief discussion of Mparntwe Arrernte and English in contact with a brief
conversational snippet which exemplifies both the use of English in Mparntwe Arrernte conversation
(words of English origin are underlined) and the widely held contempt for the consequences of the
European colonisation of Australia.
(7) B.S.: ltne-rle kenhe knge-tye-ke arne nhenhe map-aye.

3plA-TOP BUT take-HITH-pc thing this pl. group-EMPH
Rlkerte-rlke, rlkerte knge-tye-ke too. Utyene kurne kwele
sick-TOO, sick take-HITH-pc too. sick bad QUOT
nhenhe Captain Cook-le knge-tye-ke I think.
this Captain Cook-ERG take-HITH-pc I think
But it was THEM (ie. white people) who brought these (bad) things. Even
the diseases, I'm not sure but I think, they were brought by them as well.
These bad sores are supposed to have been brought by Captain Cook, I think.
D.H.: Yew-aye! That's all diseases nhenge re knge-tye-ke

Yes-EMPH! That's all diseases REMEMB 3sgA take-
HITH-pc
Most certainly. All of those diseases were brought by him.
B.S.: Re nthurre, nhenhe arrwekele ane-ke-nge no rlkerte.

3sgS INTENS, here before (front) be-pc-ABL no sick
It WAS him, because there were no diseases here before (that).
D.H.: No mange, nothing.

No mange, nothing.
There was no mange, nothing.
B.S. Arrangkwe ultekethe.

no/nothing 'altogether'
Nothing at all.
D.H. Blanket-le itne arte-lhe-tyekenhe. Wale name

blanket-INST 3plS cover-REFL-VbNEG. Well grass
nhenhe-ulkere-le itne inte-tyerte. Rlkerte-rlke ne-tyekenhe.
this-KIND-LOC 3plS lie-rem.p.hab sick-TOO be-VbNEG
They (our ancestors) didn't (ever) cover themselves with blankets. Instead
they used to sleep in grass like this and there was never any sickness.
I hope to have demonstrated, on the basis of the preceding examples of the Mparntwe Arrernte
response to Anglo-Australian colonisation, that the Mparntwe Arrernte group has neither yielded to
Anglo-Australian domination nor stood fast against change. The group has accomodated, and adopted,
many aspects of Anglo-Australian lifestyle, but it has done so in its own unique way and it has remained
true to the essential values of Arrernte tradition.
1.2.4 Kinship and Avoidance

Bohannan and Middleton (1968:301) rightly observe that it would be more accurate to call the
Arrernte system of kinship famous rather than well-known. This section does not add any new insights
into the underlying basis and raison d'etre of the Arrernte kinship system; it does, however, present the
relevant Mparntwe Arrernte terms describing kinship and kin classification and it does give some insights
into contemporary Mparntwe Arrernte use of the system. The importance of this section lies not only in
the fact that it provides a brief description of an aspect of Mparntwe Arrernte culture which is of great
salience and importance, but also lies in the fact that it provides the necessary background to an
understanding of a number of analyses and examples which appear in the following grammatical
description.
1.2.4.1 Subsections
The first thing Mparntwe Arrernte people teach an outsider, like myself, about kinship is the
subsection names and the relations between different people of different subsections. Myers (1986:188)
notes that "[s]ubsections provide a shorthand model of kin relationships, a metalanguage that permits the
systematic ordering of relationships on a society-wide scale". Every person in Mparntwe Arrernte
society, and every person who has a constant interaction with Mparntwe Arrernte people, belongs to
one of eight subsections known locally as "skins". A person born into the society is born into a particular
subsection while an outsider who has no previous relationship to any Aboriginal group is assigned to a
subsection by the person or people s/he has the most contact with. As for the people who already
belong to a kin-network elsewhere in Aboriginal Australia, there are usually several means of computing
a relation from a "foreign system" into a subsection in the Mparntwe Arrernte system. While each
subsection contains people which are in a number of different named kin relations to a particular
individual, for teaching purposes Mparntwe Arrernte people begin by associating the eight subsections
with just eight different kin relationships. In one subsection there is oneself, in another subsection there is
one's father, in yet another there is one's mother, one's (cross-)cousins fall into a fourth subsection, one's
'granny' (MM) into a fifth, one's (potential) spouse into a sixth, one's (potential) father-in-law into a
seventh, and finally one's mother-in-law falls into the eighth subsection.
The eight subsection names are: Peltharre, Kemarre, Mpetyane, Pengarte, Kngwarreye, Angale
(or Ngale), Perrwerle and Penangke. These forms may be used as address forms (8a) or as forms of
reference (8b); although they are not used in these functions as commonly as they are in Warlpiri (Nash
p.c.) or Kaytetye (Koch p.c.). When used for address or reference, the subsection names are typically
preceded by one of the social status classifiers (cf.§3.4): artwe 'man', relhe 'woman' (8b), or ampe 'child'
(8a).
(8) a. Ampe Peltharr-aye, iparrp-aye!

child [skin name]-Emph, quickly-Emph
Hey Peltharre (kid), hurry up!
b. Apmwerrke the relhe Mpetyane are-ke hospital-ke.

yesterday 1sgA woman [skin name] see-pc hospital-DAT
Yesterday I visited Mpetyane (woman) in hospital.
There are a number of parameters within which the subsections are structured. Firstly,
Mparntwe Arrernte people recognise two patrimoieties which are egocentrically named anwakerre 'my
patrimoiety' and malyenweke 'the opposite patrimoiety'. Each patrimoiety is divided in half to give pairs
of subsection terms which are related agnatically (ie. related as father to child). These patrilineal
semimoieties are the nyenhenge (nye- 'father' -nhenge 'DYADIC' = 'father and child together'[ie.
patricouple]) sections mentioned earlier (cf. §1.2.3). The subsection membership of the semi-
patrimoieties and patrimoieties is shown in figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3 : Patrimoieties, Semi-patrimoieties (nyennhenge sections), and Subsections
Previously (cf.§1.2.3) it was noted that each named site is associated with one of the four
nyenhenge sections. One consequence of this association is that the language of kinship can be used in
reference to places. One can, for instance, talk about two places which have the same nyenhenge
assignment as being each other's brother (eg. 9).
(9) Pmere nhenhe therre kenhe ke-nhenge therre; y'know,

place this two BUT e.brother-DYADIC two; y'know
pmere nhenhe re kak-arteke arrpenhe ikwere.
place this 3sgS e.brother-SEMBL other 3sgDAT
These two places are two brothers together; you know, this place is like the elder
brother of that one. [of two places with same nyenhenge association]
Similarly if one place belongs to the Kngwarreye-Peltharre nyenhenge section and another place belongs
to the Penangke-Pengkarte nyenhenge section, then the two places can be referred to as ipmenhenhenge
therre (mother's mother-Dyadic two) 'two mother's-mothers together'. In the kinship system Peltharre
and Pengarte call each other ipmenhe 'mother's mother', as do Kngwarre and Penangke. As well as
being able to determine kin relations that hold between places, there is also evidence that people can
indicate that they themselves are in a kin relation to a place depending on their own individual subsection
membership and the nyenhenge section of the place (eg. 10). Thus while the Arrernte kinship system
may be primarily designed to describe relations between people, it is also used with respect to other
entities that have important social status, including places and totemic beings.
(10) ..., pmere nhenge ipmenh-atye.

..., place REMEMB 'granny'(MM)-1KinPOSS
..., that place (you remember the one) is my "granny" (MM).
A further dimension in the structuring of the subsections involves the recognition of generation
moieties. The four subsections in one generation moiety give rise to the four subsections in the other
generation moiety, and vice versa, and, as a result, the members of even numbered generations
(including G0, ego's generation) belong to one moiety and members of odd numbered generations
belong to the other. Following Hale (1966:319) "[a] person will be said to be harmonic with respect to
those of his kinsmen who belong to the same set of alternate generation levels as he; he will be said to be
disharmonic with respect to all others of his kinsmen". People belonging to one generation moiety will,
egocentrically, refer to members of their own generation moiety as being nwernekenhe 'ours; our
generation moiety' and members of the opposite generation moiety are refered to as being nyurrpe
'opposite generation moiety from ours'. Amongst the kin relations which belong to one's generation
moiety are one's siblings, one's cross-cousins, one's 'granny' (mother's mother) and one's preferred
spouse. The opposite generation moiety contains, amongst other relations, one's parents and one's
parents-in-law (from a preferred marriage). The generation moieties bisect the patrilineal semimoieties
giving the eight individual subsections. The subsections which occur in each generation matrimoiety are
given in figure 1-4.
Figure 1-4 : Generation Moieties, Subsections and First Choice Marriage
There is a strong prohibition against marriage between members of opposite generation moieties
and one is meant to keep one's distance with respect to people who are nyurrpe. Small subcommities of
Aboriginal Councils must, ideally, be composed of members of the same generation level and overseen
by a member of the opposite generation level. We will return to the interaction of disharmonic kin in the
discussion of avoidance behaviour below.
There is no particular term which names the whole set of subsections, although there is a suffix, -
patherre, that seems to make reference only to this set. -Patherre 'skin name; subsection' is only attested
on the question word iwenhe 'what ?' and together they form the means by which one asks what
subsection a person belongs to (eg. 11).
(11) Iwenhe-patherre unte?

what-subsection 2sgS
What 'skin' are you? [ie. What subsection do you belong to?; What's your
'skin' name?]
As Koch (1982:65) points out for Kaytetye, there is no evidence of the structuring of
subsections according to matrilines. As we have seen above there are egocentric terms for patrimoieties,
but no known matrimoiety terms, and as we shall see in §3.7.2, non-singular pronouns code same or
different patrimoiety, but there is no similar phenomenon which is coded according to matrimoieties.
Moreover, in actual practice, one's skin is always derived through the father and not through the mother.
People have three marriage choices within their generation moiety, and regardless of which of three
possible subsections a man takes his wife from, his children will always be of the same subsection
(according to the nyenhenge [patricouple] sections discussed previously). The subsection of a woman's
children, on the other hand, will vary according to which of the three possible subsections she takes her
husband from. In certain cases, as when a woman is unmarried, a woman's relatives may reckon the
child's subsection through the'mother', but only in the sense that the subsection is determined by virtue of
the subsection of her 'potential' husband in an ideal (preferred) marriage.
The preferred marriage choice is for the children of two cross-cousins to marry (Elkin 1938:61;
Radcliffe-Brown 1968:327). Thus a person ideally marries the child of their mother's female cross-
cousin or the child of their father's male cross-cousin (ie. for men: MMBDD, MFZDD, FFZSD,
FMBSD; and for women: MMBDS, MFZDS, FFZSS, FMBSS). The second marriage choice is with
someone of one's cross cousin's subsection and the third choice marriage is with someone of one's
'granny's' (mother's mother) subsection (eg. the children of one's parent's opposite sex cousins).
Figure 1-5 (following page) shows the primary relationships which bind members of the various
subsections together. This figure is premised on first choice marriages and, as well as showing the four
pairs of subsections (nyenhenge sections) which father each other, it shows two matrilineal cycles which
operate in opposite directions. Members of one generation moiety occupy the sides of the diagram and
members of the other generation moiety occupy the top and the bottom. The patricouples which are
diagonally opposite each other in the figure belong to the same patrimoiety.
1.2.4.2 Kin terms

The discussion may now turn to terminology for kin relationships. The term altye 'a relation; one
of the family' may be taken as the superordinate term for all kin relations. In general it is accurate to
claim that Mparntwe Arrernte kin terms are classificatory. That is to say, the system of kin terms, "being
'closed' and thus cyclical, places genealogically distant relatives (or even only putative relatives) in the
same terminological categories with
Figure 1-5 : Patterns of relationship between subsections assuming first choice marriages
close ones" (Hammel 1966:1) and thus "everyone in the social universe is included within one of the
terms (for a given Ego)" (Heath in Heath, et.al. eds. 1982:5). The term akngeye 'father', for instance,
does not only designates one's own biological father, but also designates his brother, and also any male
which belongs to the same subsection and generation as one's father. It is worth pointing out that terms
like mameye 'mummy' and tateye 'daddy', which may be used by adults, although they are primarily
children's words, refer to one's own mother and father and are not classificatory. Such terms are,
however, totally unlike other kin terms and fail to enter into the morphological and grammatical
constructions which caracterise standard kin terms (cf §3.9).
Other features of kin terms which have commonly been remarked upon for Arrernte in
particular, and for Australian languages in general, are the fact that there are separate terms for maternal
and paternal grandparents, each of which may be used to refer to either the male or female sibling of the
grandparent, (ie. ipmenhe 'mother's mother', tyemeye 'mother's father', arrenge 'father's father', and
aperle 'father's mother') and the fact that it is common for certain terms to be used reciprocally between
members of generation-n and generation-n+2 (ie. between harmonic kin). This last observation may be
exemplified by the fact that all the 'grandparent' terms are also used to designate 'grandchildren'; a
person and his/her father's father may, for instance, refer to each other using the term arrenge 'father's
father; son's child'. It is important to realise that such polysemy is not without its means of
disambiguation. The 'grandparent' terms all have reduplicated versions which, as far as I am aware, may
only refer to 'grandparents' not 'grandchildren' (see table 1-1). Furthermore it is common to refer to a
'grandparent', but never a 'grandchild', using the phrase "X-k-artweye grandparent term" (X-DAT-
custodian grandparent) 'X's (ancestral) grandparent' as in "Kwementyaye-k-artweye arrenge" ('no
name'-DAT-custodian father's father) 'Kwementyaye's father's father'. Examples of reciprocal kinship
terms for disharmonic kin are anherre 'woman's mother-in-law; woman's daughter-in-law' and mwere
'man's mother-in-law; woman's son-in-law'.
There are several other notable aspects of Mparntwe kin terminology. Firstly, there are two
terms, arrkare and (a)newe, both of which mean 'spouse' but which appear to be differentiated by the
fact that they refer to marriages in different generation moieties. A person asking someone from his/her
same generation moiety "Where is your spouse?" would use arrkare 'spouse-generation moiety P' as in
(12a), while the same person talking to someone from a different generation moiety would use (a)newe
'spouse-generation moiety Q' as in (12b). The term (a)newe 'spouse' also appears to be the generic
term for 'spouse'.
(12) a. Arrkar-angkwe nthenhe?

spouse(gen.P)-2KinPOSS where
Where's your spouse? [Said by Peltharre man to a Pengarte person]
b. Anew-angkwe nthenhe?
spouse(gen.Q)-2KinPOSS where
Where's your spouse? [Said by a Peltharre man to a Penangke person]
Secondly the term for older and younger siblings - kake 'older brother'; yaye or angkwere 'older sister';
and atyeye 'younger sibling' - need not always refer to the relative ages of the two people related by the
term. For example, one may call any of the children of one's father's eldest brother by the terms for
older siblings, even if they are younger, and one may, similarly, be called by them atyeye 'younger
sibling', regardless of actual relative ages. Here, then, it is the relative age of one's father and his brother
which dictates one's own choice of sibling terms. Thirdly, 'cross-cousins' are designated by a general
term arrwempe, as well as two terms which distinguish for sex, ankele 'male cross-cousin' and altyele
'female cross-cousin'. Fourthly, the terms a man and a woman use to designate their child are different.
Alere is the term for a 'man's child' and for 'a woman's nephew or niece' and ampe is the term for 'a
woman's child' and 'a man's nephew or niece'. The generic term for 'child' is also ampe. Finally, with
the exception of the terms for 'mother-in-law', 'father-in-law, 'son-in-law', and 'daughter-in-law', kin
terms may be used as terms of address and for self reference. When a kin term is used for address, the
propositus is always the speaker, and the kin term may appear on its own, unpossessed, with the
propositus understood (13a) or it may occur with a 1st person possessor (13b).
(13) a. Werte ipmenhe, nthenhe-werne lhe-me?

'what's up' 'granny'(MM), where-ALL go-npp
Hello (my) 'granny', where are you going?
b. Alakenhe angke-tyele atyenge atyeye.

like so speak-NegIMP 1sgDAT yng.sibling
Don't speak like that my younger brother.
When kin terms are used for self reference, the propositus is the addressee and this is typically indicated
by the use of a 2nd person possessive form (14 a and b).
(14) a. Arrenge mpwele-kenhe kangkwirr-Ø-eyewe

'grandfather'(FF) 2dl-POSS pay attention-IMP-EMPH++
(You two) Pay attention to me, (your father's father).
b. Am-angkwe, kunye, got no merne.
mother-2KinPOSS poor thing got no food
I (your classificatory mother), poor thing, haven't got any food.
[Implying that the addressee should be have like a good 'son' or 'daughter'
and give the speaker some food].
While there are other means of address and self reference, the speaker, in using kin terms in this way, is
able to call up and play upon the obligations that are entailed by the particular kin relationship that holds
between him/herself and the addressee. This is especially clear in examples 13b and 14a and b.
The full set of Mparntwe Arrernte kin terms is presented in table 1-1 (following page). The table
is organised from the perspective of a Pengarte woman who has married in the preferred way (ie. has
married a Mpetyane man). The kin terms are, therefore, defined from the perspective of a woman.
There is a rough indication of the range of possible kin that each term may cover, but it must be
remembered that the terms may also apply to people who have no genealogical relation to 'ego'. Terms
which cover relations at more than one generation level are repeated at each generation level in which
they apply and the description that is given is appropriate to the particular generation level.
1.2.4.3 Avoidance
The preceding sections have already indicated that many aspects of social life and social
interaction are governed wholly or in part, by the kinship system. In this section one aspect of social
interaction, kin-based avoidance behaviour, is briefly discussed so as to demonstrate the deeper
significance of the kinship system and some of its effects on language use.
Mparntwe Arrernte avoidance behaviour is covered by the term ikirrentye, which is the
nominalised form of the verb ikirre- meaning 'to avoid kin that one is not, for traditional and ritual
reasons, meant to be close to' (eg. 15).
(15) Ayenge ikwere ikirre-me.

1sgS 3sgDAT avoid-npp.
I'm avoiding him. (ie. I can't be too close to him because
of his relationship to me).
One woman described ikirrentye as meaning "to be a bit further away from those who you are
respecting; to fathers and older brothers and father-in-laws and uncles and ntwelenge."
There are varying degrees of avoidance depending on the type of relationship which holds
between two people, and each degree is reflected in differences in language and/or physical behaviour.
For instance, while one is supposed to 'ikirre-me-le angke-tyeke
Moiety A Moiety B Moiety B Moiety A
Same Generation Same Generation Same Generation Same Generation
Skin : Pengarte Mpetyane Kemarre Peltharre
G0 EGO (Female) (1st choice marriage) (2nd choice marriage) (3rd choice marriage)
kake 'elder brother' anewe or arrkare arrwempe ipmenhe ' "granny" '
[B+; FBS+; MZS+] 'spouse' [H] '(cross-)cousin generally' (spouse's cousins;
cousin's spouse;
yaye or angkwere arntenge 'sister- altyele 'female parent's opposite sex
'elder sister' in-law' [HZ; BW; (cross-) cousin' cousin's children)
[Z+ ; FBD+; MZD+] MMBDD; FMBSD; [MBD; FZD; [MBDH; FZDH;
MFZDD; FZZSD] DHM; SWM] MBSW; FZSW;
atyeye 'younger HMBS/D; HFZS/D;
sibling' mpwerneye 'brother- ankele 'male FMBDS/D; FFZDS/D;
[B-; Z-; FBS-/D-; in-law' [ZH; HB; (cross-) cousin' MMBSS/D; MFZSSD]
MZS-/D-] MMBDS; FMBSS; [MBS; FZS;
MFZDS; FZZSS] DHMB; SWMB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
G-2 arrenge or aperle or atyemeye or ipmenhe or
arrenge-arrenge aperle-aperle atyemeye-atyemeye ipmenhe-ipmenhe
or ange-ange 'grandmother' or nyeme 'grandmother'
'grandfather' [FM; FMB/Z] 'grandfather' [MM; MMZ/B]
[FF; FFB/Z] [MF; MFB/Z]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
G+2 arrenge aperle atyemeye or nyeme ipmenhe
'grandchild (actually: 'grandchild 'grandchild (actually: 'grandchild
nephew's children or (son's children)' niece's children or (daughter's children)
son's child's spouse)' [SD/S] daughter's child's spouse)' [DD/S]
[BSS/D; SDH; SSW] [BDS/D; DDH; DSW]
Moiety A Moiety B Moiety B Moiety A
Different Generation Different Generation Different Generation Different Generation
Skin: Penangke Angale Perrwerle Kngwarreye
G-1 akngeye apmarle meye anherre

'father' [F; FB] 'father-in-law' 'mother' [M; MZ] 'mother-in-law'
[HF; HFZ/B] [HM; MMBD; MFZD]
naweye kamerne (?)
'father's eldest (Father's cousins, if 'uncle' [MB] mwere or urtaltye (?)
brother (if very old)' close, are called (uncle typically only or mweye-mweye
[FB+] apmarle, if distant, occurs in possessed 'husband's uncle or
then they are called form the root of which mother's male
awenhe ampe 'child' [FMBS/D; is tnye-) cousins'
'aunt' [FZ] FFZS/D]) [HMB; MMBS; MFZS]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
G+1 alere ampe meye (?) 'nephew's wife' anherre 'daughter
'nieces and nephews' 'children: sons and [BSW] -in-law' [SW; MBDD;
[BS/D; HZS/D] daughters' [S; D] kamerne (?) 'niece's FZDD]
husband' [BDH] mwere or urtaltye (?)
apmarle (?) 'male or mweye-mweye
cousin's children 'son-in-law' [DH;
[MBSS/D; FZSS/D] MBDS; FZDS]
______________________________________________________________________________
_______________
Table 1-1 : Kinship terms and range of application from point of view of a Pengarte woman.
[NB: nteweye 'father-in-law of a man'; mwere 'mother-in-law of a man'; alere ' a man's children']
nyurrpe-ke' (avoid-npp-SS speak-PURP member of opposite generation moiety-DAT) 'speak in an
avoidance manner to people in the opposite generation moiety (ie. disharmonic kin)', one has far greater
restrictions placed on how one speaks to actual parents-in-law and children-in-law as opposed to other
types of disharmonic kin.
There is no auxiliary in-law language of the sort described by Dixon for Dyirbal (1972) or
Haviland (1979) for Guugu Yimidhirr. Ideally, parents-in-law and their children-in-law have no direct
interaction: they sit with their back to each other, they do not walk close to each other, they transfer
goods through an intermediary or by leaving their goods in a certain place so that they can be collected
later by the avoided in-law, and they typically pass messages through an go-between. When referring to
one's in-law one cannot use their name or even say "my in-law", instead one must use more circumspect
means. One common method is to state one's relation to a close kin member and then to indicate the
relation that that person has to one's in-law. For example a man cannot say *mwer-atye 'my mother-in-
law', but he can say alere tyenhe ipmenh-ikwe (man's child 1sg poss 'granny' MM-3KinPoss) 'my son's
mother's mother'. A similar strategy is used when talking about people who have died: while one can not
refer to the dead by name or by the direct kin relationship to ego, one can - if absolutely necessary -
refer to them by making reference to their kin relation with another person. Thus a Penangke woman
reporting the death of her female cross-cousin might refer to her as 'artwe Kngwarreye-ke newe' (man
Kngwarreye-DAT spouse) 'Kngwarreye's wife'.
Another way of referring to disharmonic in-laws or antwelenge 'mother of son taken in ceremony
(?)' is by using the epithet 'nyente arrpenhe' (one other) 'another one; one more; the other one'.
Margaret Heffernan (pc) observes that:
"You use 'nyente arrpenhe' for ntwelenge and father-in-law and mother-in-law. For urtaltye therre
[spouse's mother's brother; child's spouse two (?) : DPW] and mweye-mweye therre [spouse's mother's
brother; child's spouse two (?): DPW]. When you talk about them you say something about them like
"nyente arrpenhe petyeme yanhe" [one other comes there(mid): DPW] 'my other one is coming just over
there', and "nyente arrpenhe yanhele nerne" [one other there(mid)-LOC just sat: DPW] ' the other one
just sat down over there'."
In a situation where someone asks a question using ngwenhe 'who?', and to which the answer
would make direct reference to one of the respondant's disharmonic in-laws, the common strategy is to
replay with "Unte itelar-Ø-aye" (2sgA know/remember-IMP-EMPH) 'You know!; You remember'.
The person who asked the question will take the reply as an indication that the respondant is prohibited
from answering the question directly, and may then start to list the names of people with whom the
respondent is in a strict avoidance relationship. Upon hearing the correct name the addressee will
respond with "Nyente arrpenhe re" (one other 3sgS/A) 'That's the 'other one''.
It was noted earlier that the mechanisms of avoidance involving nyurrpe 'disharmonic kin' who
are not close 'in-laws' are not as restrictive as those just mentioned. One may, for instance, pass things
directly from hand to hand, and as far as conversation is concerned maintaining one's 'distance' with non-
in-law nyurrpe may simply be a matter of the right choice of words. A man speaking to one of his
classificatory 'aunts' (woman of FZ subsection) could not say "Relhe mwarre pety-Ø-aye!" (woman
good come-IMP-EMPH) 'Good woman come here!' as it would be taken to be sexually suggestive, but
if mwarre 'good' is omitted, then the utterance is permissible.
One of the notable features of the interaction between members of opposite generation moieties
who are only distantly related is that they will constantly tease each other and feign distrust of one
another. An account of two incidents which I witnessed will demonstrate the type of behaviour involved.
In one case I was having lunch with eight Arrernte people when we heard the sound of police sirens
close by. One man, A, who was nyurrpe to all the rest, joked that the police must be coming after man
B. At this, everyone ganged up on person A and started joking that he would be taken away by the
police and that if the police didn't come soon they'd go report him. Then they started teasing him with a
list of his supposed "crimes". On seeking an explanation as to why everyone had taken sides against A,
I was told simply that it was because he was the only nyurrpe 'disharmonic kin' present. In the second
incident, man D wanted to go to the shop to buy some cigarettes and wanted to borrow some money
from man E, who is nyurrpe with respect to D. Man E only had a $20 bill and, feigning distrust, he
claimed he wanted to make sure man D would come back with his change. The two started joking and
teasing each other and man E told man D to leave his thongs behind to ensure that he would return. A
mock argument ensued, but man D left his thongs behind, walked barefoot to the store and then returned
and exchanged man E's change for his thongs. Again the explanation for this interaction was simply
"That's how nyurrpe treat each other".
I will finish the discussion with a further interesting case of avoidance behaviour, this time
involving a woman and her eldest (biological) brother. Once the oldest brother in a family has gone
through initiation, he and his younger sisters must practice a fairly strict form of avoidance behaviour. As
with disharmonic 'in-laws', an eldest brother and his younger sister may not pass things to each other
from hand to hand and they may not walk close to each other. They may, however, speak to each other
as long as they employ certain conventional morphemes to convey distance. For instance, the plural
form of verbs (cf §5.4.2) must be used when talking to one's avoided sibling about an action that s/he is
performing or should perform. Similarly, the members of this pair address each other using 2nd person
plural pronoun forms. This, then, is similar to the use of 2nd plural pronoun forms as 2nd singular
respect forms in certain European languages (eg. 'vous' in French; see Brown and Gilman 1960). The
following description, given by a woman, of an encounter with her eldest brother exemplifies these
features of avoidance behaviour. It is not clear which other kin relations this form of avoidance is
observed with.
(16) Apmwerrke, merne-rlke-kerte, kere-rlke-kerte irrpe-nhe-ke
yesterday bread-TOO-PROP, meat-TOO-PROP go into-DO PAST-pc
pmere kake-kenhe-ke. Re ne-tyeme chair-le T.V.
home e.brother-POSS-DAT. 3sgS sit-pp chair-LOC T.V.
are-rle.ne-me-le. Kele ayenge angke-ke ikwere:
see-CONT-npp-SS. OK 1sgS speak-pc 3sgDAT
"Kere-rlke, merne-rlke nhenhe the knge-tyenhe arrekantherre.",
meat-TOO, bread-TOO this 1sgA carry-npc 2plDAT
kenhe re atyenge angke-rlenge: "Table yanhe-ke
BUT 3sgS 1sgDAT speak-DS; "Table that(mid)-DAT
arrerne-warr-Ø-aye, the fridge-ke arrerne-tyenhenge."
put-pl.S/S-IMP-EMPH, 1sgA fridge-DAT put-SBSQNT
Kele ayenge lhe-me-ng-ewe.
OK 1sgS go-npp-ABL-EMPH+
Yesterday I went through into my elder brother's house with some bread and
some meat. He was sitting in a chair watching T.V. So I said: "I'll carry this bread and
meat in for you [lit. 'for you plural' but there is only a singular addressee].", but he said to me:
"Put it on the table [lit. 'you mob put it ', but again only a singular addressee], I'll put it in the
refrigerator later." So then I left. [N.B. it is important that the food was left on the table and
that no acutal contact or act of 'face to face' giving was performed.]
This does not pretend to be a complete account of Mparntwe Arrernte avoidance behaviour and
much work needs to be done. It is hoped, however, that this section has provided some insight into one
of the many different ways in which kinship is related to both linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour in
Mparntwe Arrernte society. As Sutton (1982:182) argues:
"... structural-semantic information about Australian systems of kin classification, when complemented by
a knowledge of the rules of speech etiquette, especially in relation to all forms of personal address and
reference, can provide us with an objective key to the nature of the principles by which personal
relationships are organised in Aboriginal society. A fuller treatment would encompass other areas such
as eye contact and the giving and receiving of food. ... Aboriginal personal relations are primarily
governed by structures of kinship and rules of interpersonal behaviour, and by individuals pursuing their
interests and careers both in accordance with and despite those structures and rules."
1.3 Account of Fieldwork
I will spend the next few pages relating what I see to be some of the more salient features
concerning my fieldwork on Mparntwe Arrernte in Alice Springs. In as much as it is possible, I will
attempt to indicate how the context within which I work affects my research methodology. Of central
focus in this discussion will be the fact that my research on Mparntwe Arrernte takes place under the
control of the Yipirinya Council, the all Aboriginal governing body of the Yipirinya School.
1.3.1 "Choosing" a Research Topic - A Question of Ethics?

During the late 70s and early 80s, when I was finishing off my undergraduate degree at the
Australian National University (A.N.U.), a number of postgraduate and undergraduate students,
including myself, were beginning to question the social value and ethics of linguistic research. In
particular, we were questioning the ethics surrounding theoretical-descriptive linguistic work which
involved fieldwork with minority languages in economically depressed and underprivileged communities.
Much of the immediate worry surrounded work in Australian Aboriginal communities since it is in such
communities where the majority of A.N.U. postgraduate fieldworkers were located at that time and
since such communities were also the likely destination of aspiring fieldworkers like myself.
People already working with Aboriginal communities in different parts of the country were
beginning to report community suspicion of, and resentment towards, all types of research. It is
important to realise that in many places the work of academic researchers is not distinguished from that
of journalists, writers, artists or anyone else who might come into a community to collect information and
take it away with them to share with the rest of the world. As much as the academic researcher may
dislike it, this association is perfectly logical and if a journalist, for instance, publishes something
inaccurate or dangerous concerning a community, then an academic researcher can expect to be
regarded as the same type of dangerous person and may be treated accordingly. This suspicion and
resentment of research was not, and still is not, universal amongst Aboriginal communities, but many of
the issues raised by those communities who are concerned about research hold a general validity.
Some communities were worried that they did not fully understand what the researcher was
doing and they felt there should be some mechanism which made the researcher more accountable to the
community. A number of these communities (or individuals from the communities) felt that past
researchers had betrayed them; some through making secret-sacred material public, others through
stealing sacred objects, and still others by simply not doing what the community thought they were going
to do. A not unfamiliar argument given by some linguists in support of the social value of their research
is that by recording a language it will be saved for posterity's sake and the descendents of those
speakers will at least have a record of the language. But the reality was, and basically still is, that
academic works based on field research are by and large inaccessible to community members. While
Aboriginal people often readily agree with the linguist that their language should be "saved", and "written
down", some were surprised and angered by the form this took (and still takes). Moreover, there were
those communities which felt that the various sorts of research being undertaken were of very low
priority in terms of the community needs. Some communities could not understand why many of their
research projects, which had practical ends, failed to recieve funding, while the more esoteric research
interests of academics coming into communities seemed to attract funding. At the end of such projects
researchers received the kudos and/or the piece of paper which would assure their future livelihood and
the community would have recieved comparatively very little. More importantly, community energy and
human resources were often being diverted to peripherial issues rather than being employed in more
community directed projects.
Thus it was at the end of 1981, when all these issues - and the attendant moral questions which
they raised - were in the air and on my mind and on the minds of many of my colleagues, that I was
offered a Ph.D. scholarship in linguistics. Some of my contemporaries convinced me that I should try to
do something useful within the Australian context and, at the beginning of 1982, I decided to write
letters to a number of Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal organisations to see whether they had any
community-approved research topics for which they could use an independently funded Ph.D. student in
linguistics. Thus, neither the choice of language nor the choice of topic was going to be made on
academic grounds.
One of the organisations that I wrote to was the Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, an Aboriginal
controlled bilingual-bicultural primary school based in Alice Springs. They had, in fact, advertised for a
linguist for the school and I wrote to say that, although I did not want the job itself, I would be happy to
offer my research skills and to undertake any tasks that they may see fit to give me. As it turned out, the
linguist they had employed could only work for six months and they asked me to come and replace her,
on a part time basis, while undertaking my research. I was to have a three-month trial period after which
I would either be able to continue my work and Ph.D. research or I would have to find some other place
to work. So it was that in the middle of July 1982 I arrived in Alice Springs and attended my first
meeting with the Yipirinya School Council, the body which oversees and supervises my research with
the Yipirinya community.
1.3.2 The first few months of fieldwork

The Yipirinya Council is composed of parents and relatives of the students and also includes
concerned community members. The council which welcomed me in July 1982 contained a majority of
people who identified themselves as being Western Arrernte , a smaller group of Mparntwe Arrernte
and Eastern Arrernte people, and some Luritja, Pitjantjatjara, and Anmatjera people. Although the
majority of the students at that time were Western Arrernte speakers, the council had decided that I
should be taught Mparntwe Arrernte which was the main language of only a handful of students.
Mparntwe Arrernte was chosen because it is the language of Alice Springs; it is the language associated
with the Yeperenye caterpillar Dreaming which is the main Dreaming of Alice Springs, and after which
the school is named. Regardless of practical issues, the community considered it protocol to give
priority to Mparntwe Arrernte in term of linguistic research. I am still not sure whether it was a fortuitous
coincidence or part of the council's reasoning, but there were two things which made the choice of
Mparntwe Arrernte over Western Arrernte particularly fortunate as far as I was concerned. Firstly the
two people who had been assigned to teach me Mparntwe Arrernte - Margaret Heffernan and Rosie
Rice Ferber - are both excellent teachers. They are both fully fluent in Mparntwe Arrernte and English
and they have both studied at Bachelor College and the School of Australian Linguistics (SAL) in the
Northern Territory. Furthermore they had both worked with research linguists previously. They were,
therefore, familiar with what linguistics is (they had learnt certain linguistic skills themselves through SAL)
and they also had a good idea of what linguists do. Secondly, as has been mentioned previously, while
Western Arrernte had already been the focus of a considerable amount of linguistic research, Mparntwe
Arrernte had received scant attention. What serious recent linguistic work there was on Mparntwe
Arrernte had been undertaken by Gavan Breen who, with great kindness, unselfishly made his
unpublished notes available to me.
My first stint of fieldwork was to be six months long and was funded by the A.N.U. . This
funding, along with my Commonwealth Ph.D. scholarship, meant that I had independent means and
could offer free services to the Yipirinya school. On the very first day, however, it was made clear to
me that I had to be in the paid employ of the Yipirinya Council even if it was only as a part-timer. In this
way the Yipirinya Council established a certain degree of control over my work and also established a
degree of accountability.
As far as many community members were concerned my accountability to the Council had to be
ensured. Still clear in the minds of Arrernte people is the controversy over the research dealings of
T.G.H. Strehlow who let secret-sacred material be displayed in public by selling photographs of
traditional Arrernte ceremonies to Stern Magazine in Germany in 1977. These photographs later
boomeranged back to Australia, apparently in contravention of an agreement between Strehlow and
Stern (McNally 1981:189), and appeared in People magazine in 1978. Strehlow was also charged
by a number of important Arrernte people with having stolen sacred objects (tywerrenge) and with
having committed what, according to some, is his greatest crime by allowing a woman (his wife) to work
with, and become curator of, a very large collection of sacred objects related to secret men's
ceremonies. While one can find Arrernte people who support Strehlow as well as those who condemn
him, all of them appear to be upset by the controversy arising out of his research and they believe that if
stricter controls had been kept on his research, then these terrible problems probably would not have
arisen. Such controls were not feasible at the time when Strehlow did his research since the bulk of it
was undertaken at a time before Aboriginal people were recognised as full citizens of Australia [ie. pre-
1967], and at a time before there were any government-independent Aboriginal organisations active in
Central Australia. Now, through Aboriginal-controlled organisations like the Yipirinya School, Central
Australian Aboriginal people have greater power, and more opportunities to control research which
concerns them.
As linguist for the Yipirinya school I was the person responsible for coordinating the literature
production unit of the school. Besides learning to speak Mparntwe Arrernte, my first duties included the
taping of traditional stories to be made into books, supervising the production of bilingual lesson material
for both the Western Arrernte and the Mparntwe Arrernte groups, and training new workers in all
aspects of literature production.
I was fortunate that I was constantly surrounded by Arrernte and met it in a number of different
contexts. I was daily working in an office with a team of between two and six literature production
workers, all of whom would speak mainly Arrernte among themselves in my presence. Early in my
stay, my teachers, Margaret Heffernan and Rosie Ferber, put an end to my formal elicitation procedures
claiming that it made me look like the teacher, not them. They then proceeded to drill me, test me and
basically force me to speak and listen to the language in the course of undertaking my other duties. They
insisted that since I was like a child in the language that I should learn like a child, so there were a
number of weekends in which I visited Margaret and Rosie at home to play with the kids in adult-
supervised games which involved responding to verbal orders given by adults. For instance, one game
involved hiding a stone or a coin and then directing "us children" to it by giving the compass point relation
of the object with respect to one of the children playing the game. As we moved around more compass
point directions would be given until the object was found. It was, therefore, like the game that Anglo-
Australian kids play using "hot" or "cold" to tell the players whether they are near to, or far from, the
hidden object, but the Arrernte version drills many more directional, spatial, and linguistic skills. Also,
once a week I would go out on a bush trip with the children as part of the Arrernte cultural program.
On these trips Arrernte elders would take the children to important sites and tell them stories and would
sometimes also train them in some aspects of traditional culture, such as making spears or cooking
kangaroos. It was my responsability to tape the stories and follow up the linguistic issues that arose on
such trips. Overall, then, I was able to learn generally how Arrernte people operate at work, at home,
and - to a limited extent - in the bush.
1.3.3 A Research Policy
There was one undertaking in that first six-month period which still continues to exercise a
significant influence on my research work with the Yipirinya school.
Alice Springs is one area in particular where all the concerns about research which were outlined
earlier have a high profile. This is largely because there are a considerable number of Aboriginal-
controlled organisations which have themselves found the need to initiate research and, in doing so, have
found previous research unsatisfactory for their purposes. Further, in trying to initiate research, they
have found themselves in competition with outside bodies for money and human resources. In an
attempt to get a unified line on research, the Central Australian Aboriginal Organisations, a then unofficial
organisation comprising the Alice Spring-based Aboriginal-controlled organisations, requested that I
draft a research policy that they could use for further discussion (Wilkins ms. 1982). In drafting such a
policy, I talked with Aboriginal members from each of the organisations, as well as past and current
researchers in the area, and also consulted research policies already in use by some of the organisations.
The message from Aboriginal people in the organisations was clear; they felt that there should be very
tight restrictions placed on researchers and they felt that the view that there should be no restrictions
placed on the pursuit of knowledge was plainly wrong. As far as they were concerned, language and
knowledge were not free to everyone but were under Aboriginal control.
In December of 1982 I delivered a draft document entitled 'A Research Policy for Central
Australia' to the Combined Aboriginal Organisations Committee, to be used as a discussion paper. As
it happened, this body never did go on to produce a research policy which all Aboriginal Organisations
would use. The particular document which I drafted was, however, taken by a number of organisations,
such as Yipirinya, as their basic research policy (until something better came along) and was also used as
input for the drafting of other policies by other organisations (such as the Tangentyere policy on research
drafted in 1987).
This draft policy, accepted in principle by the Yipirinya School Council, was intended to lead to
a formal contract between the Yipirinya Council and myself. While this never eventuated, there is still an
agreement that both the school and I will abide by the spirit of the provisions in the draft policy. From
my point of view, the most significant feature of this agreement is that it gives the Council control over my
research. My research work, both inside and outside the field situation, continues only with the consent
of the Council and may be terminated by them if they have good reason. They must approve all
research methods before they are employed and they must receive and approve all works centrally
based on my field research that are intended for publication. Whenever possible, copyright of
publications is to rest both with myself and the Council. Moreover the Council is acknowledged as the
rightful owner of all tapes and raw field notes which I make when I am in the field; they must be supplied
with all originals, or copies of originals, and the copies, or originals, that I retain are on permanent loan to
me but may be taken at the behest of the Council. Our agreement requires that my stays of research be
of practical use to the school and the community on its own terms, but does not require that the
publications and other works that I produce as a linguist serve a similar practical purpose (although
ideally they would).
At the end of my first six month fieldwork period the Yipirinya Council requested that I stay on
to work full-time as linguist for another six months. When that period was up I was then requested to
remain in employment as linguist for at least another eighteen months in order to see a number of specific
projects through. To meet this last request I had to forfeit my Ph.D. scholarship, but, as far as the
Council was concerned, it was not clear that the academic thesis I would produce would be of
immediate value to them, and, given the form and style expected of Ph.D. dissertations, I had to agree.
The Council felt, and I concur, that under the terms of our agreement they could require of me to first do
the work which would mainly benefit the school before allowing me to go off to write my Ph.D. In
short, the terms of the agreement significantly lengthened the duration of my Ph.D. course beyond its
usual 3-4 years. It must be said, though, that the Yipirinya Council did continue to support my general
academic research and that my work for them was more than tangentially related to the concerns of my
thesis. Moreover, they agreed to fund me for six weeks in every six months to return to Canberra for
Ph.D. supervision at the A.N.U..
1.3.4 The advantages of field work under Aboriginal control

On a personal level, my work for Yipirinya fulfilled a need to do something useful with my
linguistic skills. It also gave me a chance to learn at first hand something of the social and political
aspirations of one group of Aboriginal people and to realise the magnitude and variety of obstacles that
are put up, both intentionally and unintentionally, by an Anglo-Australian dominant society in order to
prevent such groups from succeeding on their own terms. The tenacity of purpose and sheer
determination of certain individuals within the Yipirinya community when they meet such obstacles is a
real source of inspiration. I regained lost optimism when I saw that gains, both large and small, could
be made against what I originally thought were impossible odds. The most significant gain thus far has
been the achievement of registration (and, therefore, official recognition and funding) of the Yipirinya
School in September 1983 after five years of battle with a hostile Northern Territory government. To
be a very small part of such a great achievement is a very exciting thing.
From a more academic point of view, working under the control of the Yipirinya Council also
had (and has) advantages for research and for the acquistion of skills that would be of use for later
academic, and non-academic, employment. As mentioned earlier, I was responsible for literature
production at the school and later became involved in curriculum development. Thus, I had to learn,
develop, negotiate and put into practice applied linguistic skills that were never originally part of my
training. This opportunity to pick up skills on the job and to help work out a viable school curriculum in
the unique context in which Yipirinya operates was a distinct bonus.
Although the period it took to complete my PhD thesis was increased considerably as a direct
result of my agreement with the Yipirinya Council, the extra time I spent in the field and the type of
work I was asked to undertake by the Council has given me a far better understanding of the language
and the cultural context which form the focus of my research than I would have been able to gain
otherwise. Because the Council had employed me, the Yipirinya community basically knew why I was
there and what I was meant to be doing. Thus I was spared most of the troubles and traumas of
justifying my presence, finding people to work with, and gaining community acceptance that faces many
researchers who are just starting fieldwork. Right from the outset the community, knowing that I worked
for them, were very open to me and would often seek me out to give me information and stories that
would be of interest to the Arrernte or Luritja sides of the school program.
From 1983 onwards I became, at the Council's request, part of a team of interpreters which
provided interpreting from Arrernte to English and English to Arrernte at the fortnightly Council meetings.
This opportunity gave a considerable boost to my fluency in Arrernte and enabled me to interpret for
other Alice Springs-based organisations where necessary. It also enabled me, on occasions, to travel as
aide and interpreter to inter-state conferences with Council delegates. In this way I frequently
discovered how Arrernte speakers talk about, and conceive of, things (such as elevators and escalators)
which were previously unfamiliar to them and which were part of an Anglo-Australian world that had not
before been revealed to them.
Also, in 1983 Margaret Heffernan and I began research into Arrernte mathematical concepts so
as to lay the foundationsfor the mathematics curriculum at the school. This remains an ongoing project
which looks at such areas as the Arrernte conception of space, time, number, and measure. Many
theoretical questions raised by this research have become specific concerns of my PhD thesis and my
other academic research projects. For example, this research lead me to ponder the whole issue of how
one uses linguistic data to discover speakers' conceptualisation of the world and how then to best define
and explicate the concepts discovered so that a group to which these ideas are foreign can understand
them. This is an issue which is central to the theoretical concerns of semantics, pragmatics, and cross-
linguistic comparison.
As well as the research into mathematical concepts, the Council initiated research into local
sacred sites for the social and cultural education (SACE) curriculum and also initiated research into
plants, medicines, seasons and animals for the natural science curriculum. During the time that I took
part in this research (in situ), I and certain other non-Aboriginal members of staff (particularly Christine
Allen and, later, Kathy Doolan), worked as part of a team with a number of Arrernte and Luritja
speakers. The different perspectives that each member of the team were able to bring to such
investigations ensured a fairly detailed coverage of the selected subject of research. In short, this team
approach to investigation, coupled with the fact that the conceptual domains that were to be examined
were extremely varied, helped give me a broad, and fairly clear, view of both the linguistic and non-
linguistic reflections of concepts in these important domains.
1.3.5 Some Comments on Research "Methodology"

It would be misleading to claim that my approach to learning, documenting, and building up a
picture of Mparntwe Arrernte grammar was very systematic. As the above discussion demonstrates,
the development and directions of my research have not been independent of the changing developments
and demands of my research for the Yipirinya School. I have just pointed out that much of the
research for the school was joint research done by a team of people. The research methodology for any
individual project was largely established through conferencing amongst members of the group and
through consultation with the Yipirinya Council (and the administrative arm of the school which kept a
close eye on finances). In these cases, then, I had input to, but did not determine, the research methods
which would yield the information which I was to work with.
I have already pointed out earlier that Margaret Heffernan and Rosie Ferber had frowned upon
formal elicitation when I first started working on the language and this set a general pattern. I have, over
the years, had some formal elicitation session concerning specific theoretical points to do with my own
academic linguistic research, but these sessions, while always very fruitful, have never been the norm.
More frequent have been the sessions, stemming from the collection of data for the school, which review
the grammaticality of transcribed utterances as well as reviewing the appropriateness of English
translations, interpretations, and/or explications of Arrernte data. Otherwise, many of my observations
have been gathered in bits and pieces or have simply been acquired and internalised during the process
of trying to learn to function in the language.
Another factor affecting "my" research "methodology" involves Yipirinya's strong emphasis on
the training of adults from the community to undertake various jobs at the school. Adults may be
trained in reading and writing their own language, teaching, linguistics, interpreting, translating, literature
production, taping, transcribing, film making, and so on. Much of this training is done from within the
school or through the School of Australian Linguistics (SAL) or through the Institute for Aboriginal
Development (IAD). I have myself taught courses for Yipirinya and SAL and have helped with courses
through the IAD. Some of the most interesting and intriguing information I have collected concerning
Arrernte has come from Arrernte students in workshops and courses that I have run on such subjects as
semantics, translation, language and culture, lexicography, mathematics and natural science. This,
however, is not the only way in which the training of adults has contributed to the linguistic research at
the school. Once these adults are trained they are eligible for employment at the school and some of the
tasks which I performed during the earlier part of my work for the school were later taken over by
trained members of the community.
From early in 1983 I began to do far less of the taping of stories and cultural information.
Instead, trained members of the Yipirinya community began making their own tapes and videos. This
practice encouraged much more natural interactions amongst speakers and often lead to more detailed
information being collected than I would have been able to elicit. One drawback of this approach,
however, is that transcribing is a much less popular task than recording and people who collected tapes
were often not available to help transcribe them. As most linguists would know, transcribing a tape is
extremely difficult if one was not present at the time of collection and knows very little about the context
in which they were made. By the time I left Yipirinya in 1985 several hundreds of hours of tape existed
but only a relatively small proportion of these had been transcribed. This state of affairs was not only to
do with a general disinterest in transcribing but was largely due to the fact that all of those people with
the skills to do accurate transcription also had numerous other important tasks such as the writing of
lessons or the teaching of classes. Still, it must be said that a substantial proportion of my raw material
for linguistic analysis was collected and initially transcribed by someone else.
One final, and quite unique, aspect of the research situation which helped to make my linguistic
research "methodologies" more rigorous is the fact that Central Australia contains probably the largest
number of linguists per capita of population in the world, and those that don't live in Alice Springs itself
often come to visit. These other linguists provided valuable insights and comparative data and were
always willing to give advice and constructive criticism. Jeannie Bell, who had previously worked as the
linguist at Yipirinya and was working at IAD when I first arrived, provided useful suggestions on how to
get started and many of the initial texts that I worked on had been collected by her. During my period
of residence in Alice Springs there were five other professional linguists who were also resident in Alice
Springs and who helped me. Three of these - Gavan Breen, John Hendersen, and Jenny Green - also
work on Arandic languages, one - Robert Hoogenraad - is interested in Warlpiri, and one - Cliff
Goddard - works on Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. Linguists who were resident in other parts of
Central Australia and who provided me with some help are Mary Laughren who works on Warlpiri for
the bilingual school programme at Yuendemu and Jane Simpson and David Nash who were based at
Tennant Creek and who work on a number of languages in the area (including Warlpiri and
Warumungu). To this group of people must be added those linguistic researchers who passed through
Alice Springs to do fieldwork. These include Edith Bavin, Tim Shopen, and Avery Andrews.
Moreover, the Yipirinya School has also supported the linguistic research of Sister Robin Reynolds,
Jean Harkins, and John Hobson. So, although I was a long way from Canberra where the official
academic supervisors of my research were based, I was never far from somebody I could turn to
regarding academic linguistic matters.
I left Alice Springs and formal full-time employment for the Yipirinya School Council in early
1985. I was brought back by Yipirinya to work on specific projects in June and August of 1985, and
January-March of 1986. In August of 1987 I returned to follow up some of my own research. Also
since leaving Alice Springs I have three times had the pleasure of acting as guide and aide, and once as
host, to Council delegates to interviews or conferences in Sydney and Canberra. Needless to say, the
Yipirinya Council still maintains control of my research.
1.4 Theoretical and Descriptive Preliminaries

Halliday (1980:i) has noted that "what was needed in linguistics was not so much new theories
as new descriptions." His view, one that is very Sapirian and Jakobsonian in spirit, is that linguistic
theory cannot advance without a corresponding advance in descriptive practices, and that grammatical
descriptions must be sensitive to both the advances and the claims of theory. Above all, a description of
a particular language must attempt to be true to the extraordinary complexity of the linguistic system and
to the intricacy of the system's relation to both the social and the cultural context of the speakers of the
language, regardless of whether or not current theory has a way of dealing with or explaining the details
which must be described.
This thesis is, in a number of senses, a 'new description'. Firstly, in describing Mparntwe
Arrernte, it describes a previously undescribed linguistic variety. Secondly, it brings a number of
relatively current theoretical perspectives to the description of various aspects of Mparntwe Arrernte
and thereby indicates similar descriptive advances for other Arandic varieties. Finally, it attempts to
continue the recent trend of incorporating more and more information regarding the semantics,
pragmatics and discourse functions of grammatical elements (including grammatical structures) into
descriptions of Australian Aboriginal languages.
1.4.1 The A.N.U. School of Australian Grammatical Description

It would be appropriate to claim that there is a School of Australian Grammatical Description
which is rooted at the Australian National University (A.N.U.) and which has as its founder and head
R.M.W. Dixon. Dixon's grammars of Dyirbal (1972) and Yidiñ (1977), which have themselves "been
influenced in part by the grammar-writing traditions associated with Franz Boas, Edward Sapir and their
pupils" (Dixon 1972:xx), have provided the models for what grammars of Australian languages can and
should be, and this thesis is very much a part of the lineage that begins with those grammars. Dixon's
grammars, and those of the A.N.U. School generally, are very closely aligned to the particular
standpoint attributed above to Halliday, although this is rarely acknowledged. These grammars are
highly eclectic as far as their reliance upon, and use of, theory is concerned, and they have drawn freely
upon a wide range of approaches to linguistic description. For this reason, the grammars of the A.N.U.
School have evolved in parallel with the evolution of theory and practice in linguistics over the past
twenty years. While these grammars do not tend to build theories, they do test theories, and they
frequently provide critiques on the ability of various theories to handle the particulars of the language
being described. The following quote from Evans (1985:xii) captures these aspects of the A.N.U.
School, and the spirit of this thesis, very nicely.
"My many frustrating experiences trying to extract generalizations about a particular language from a
grammar, or 'fragment' of a grammar, written in the ephemeral formalisms of a once-fashionable theory,
have convinced me that grammars should be presented in straightforward language, and furnished with a
generous set of naturally occurring example sentences. Only in this way can readers glean enough to
reach their own conclusions about the internal consistency and empirical accuracy of the description.
And only when a relatively full informal account of a language's structure, and of the ways it encodes
meaning, becomes available, can the next step - of more formal modelling - be taken."
1.4.2 Semantic Approach

From the outset one important aspect of the A.N.U. School of Australian Grammatical
Description has been its emphasis on semantic description as well as structural description. Dixon has
long championed a semantics-prior approach to linguistic description which recognises that "[m]eaning is
the starting-point and the ending-point of language use" (Dixon ms) and works from the assumption that
"syntactic properties can be predicted on the basis of semantic representations" (Dixon 1982:8). While
this thesis is organised according to structural properties of Mparntwe Arrernte, it attempts, wherever
possible, to describe and correlate the semantic, as well as the structural, properties of grammatical
elements. Furthermore, I see this work as laying the foundations for a fully semantically organised
grammar of Mparntwe Arrernte which will take conceptual (ie. semantic), rather than structural,
categories as the basis for its organisation. I do not, therefore, agree with linguists like Chomsky (1957)
who claim that the grammatical (morpho-syntactic) component of language is autonomous of semantics,
nor do I agree with linguists like Halliday (1985:xxxiii; 1988) who claim that grammatical categories are
ineffable and that grammatical constructions can not be described semantically. As Wierzbicka (1988:1-
3) observes, "[l]anguage is an integrated system, where everything 'conspires' to convey -meaning -
words grammatical constructions, and illocutionary devices (including intonation)" and this meaning can
be revealed and rigorously stated.
Of course, the problem faced by any descriptive linguist who wishes to incorporate semantics
into his/her description is exactly how to explicate semantic phenomena rigorously. In recent years a
number of members of the A.N.U. School, including Cliff Goddard (1983), Nick Evans (1985) and
myself (1986), have made profitable use of the approach to semantic description developed by Anna
Wierzbicka (1972; 1980a; 1980b; 1985; 1988). There is a definite need for a semantic metalanguage
that can be used for the purposes of general description and one can easily eschew the theoretical
underpinnings of Wierzbicka's 'semantic primitives' approach and still benefit from her general program
of semantic decomposition and semantic explication.
The main feature of Wierzbicka's approach is that she uses a minimal (primitive) vocabulary of
natural language items to construct paraphrases in natural language syntax which must be substitutable
for the analysandum without change of meaning (Wierzbicka 1980:20). By using a minimal vocabulary
of simple, everyday, natural language lexemes, she ensures that linguistic forms are explicated in terms
which are simpler than the form being explicated and thereby avoids circularity in definition (Wierzbicka
1980:12-13). A further advantage of the use of natural language as a semantic metalanguage is that it is
intuitively comprehended by the layman, which gives it a wide range of applicability, and it is easily
translated from language to language, so that the intuitions of native speakers can be tested on
definitions.
It is important to realise that the possible viability of a natural semantic metalanguage for semantic
description was recognised by Dixon (1971) who noted that the Dyirbal "mother-in-law language"
JalÑuy used an extremely reduced vocabulary, but the same morpho-syntax as the everday language, to
convey all the propositions that can be expressed in everyday Dyirbal itself. Dixon found that non-
nuclear predicates (ie. semantically more complex predicates) of the same semantic class could all be
captured by a single nuclear predicate in the mother-in-law language, and modifiers and adjuncts would
be used to make more explicit what particular sense is intended. Dixon maintains that his analysis
supports a combination of a componential and a definitional natural language approach to semantic
description.
Wierzbicka's current (1988:10) version of the hypothetical set of primitive, indefinable, lexical
items that constitute her basic metalanguage contains fifteen elements: I, you, this, someone, something,
time, place, want, don't want, say think, know, imagine, become, and part. She also notes (1988:10)
that "[o]ther candidates currently under consideration include: like, two, other, world, good, kind of, and
feel." Wierzbicka rarely defines linguistic forms using only the minimal vocabulary of her primitive
metalanguage and tends to work with a vocabulary which is ten times larger; these other items, however,
have all been defined using the minimal metalanguage or using items which have been defined using the
minimal metalanguage.
In this thesis, where I employ a Wierzbickan-style definition, I tend towards using the larger
vocabulary, and the paraphrases I employ are not only intended to capture the meaning of the Mparntwe
Arrernte forms in English, but also the 'flavour' of the forms. I have attempted to check most definitions
with bilingual informants. Not all elements have permitted the same depth of analysis and so there are
many elements which have gone undefined or which have only been partially defined. One feature of
definitions à la Wierzbicka, which I follow here, is their concern with capturing features of an utterance
which are typically relegated to the field of pragmatics. These features include the thoughts, intentions
and assumptions of the speaker as encoded through linguistic form (see especially chapter 9).
At present it would be fair to say that Wierzbicka's natural semantic metalanguage attempts to
capture many more facets of natural language meaning than logic-based metalanguages. However, there
has not been the same amount of time employed in making the metalanguage as consistent and rigorous
as formal metalanguages. Both McCawley (1983) and Nichols (1982), while praising the insights which
Wierzbicka's program yields, have cogent criticisms. McCawley points out that she does not make fully
clear what formal nature she ascribes to her analyses: are they strings of words, trees or dependency
structures? This confusion arises from the fact that, although Wierzbicka provides a vocabulary for her
natural language metalanguage, she does not describe the combinatorial properties of her items or the
syntax and discourse structure of her paraphrases. Nichols (1982:698) comments that Wierzbicka is a
"maximally content-oriented linguist" and that "[her] exclusive orientation to content leaves her study
unequipped to recognize the properly syntactic aspects of such phenomena as demotion, promotion,
ergativity, voice and surface syntactic relations -- all of which it reduces, as it reduces meaning, to
content." What Nichols has hit upon is the fact that Wierzbicka's approach is basically static in the sense
that it will accurately define fully contextualised utterances but it gives no indication of the dynamics of
how all the meaningful elements of an utterance - morphemes, lexemes, phrases, syntactic construction,
intonation, and context - come together to realise the final meaning of an utterance. I have tried, in
chapter 9, to indicate by demonstration how a more dynamic approach might be employed (see also
Van Valin and Wilkins, forthcoming).
The above criticisms notwithstanding, the usefulness of Wierzbicka's program for teasing out
and laying bare semantic distinctions which any semantic theory will have to take into account is, to my
mind, invaluable, and can be seen as a necessary prior step to any further formalisation using logic-
based metalanguages. On this point John Lyons notes that (1977:12) :
"Any formalization is parasitic upon the ordinary everyday use of language in that it must be understood
intuitively on the basis of ordinary language."
Moreover, a natural semantic metalanguage allows for a wider dissemination of findings to

anthropologists, psychologists, educators and philosophers, as well as among linguists, since it is
immediately intelligible and does not require readers to learn an abstract metalanguage. This is especially
important since the rigorous paraphrases do not only capture linguistic, but also cultural, social and
psychological, aspects of the linguistic form defined. As Wierzbicka points out (1985:4-5):
"One reason precise, exhaustive definitions of lexical items are needed is because this is the only way to
explain a culture to outsiders. ... when it comes to concepts encoded in words of a foreign language,
especially a culturally distant one, the intuitive link between a word and a concept is missing, and a full
definition is the only way of ensuring true understanding of the cultural universe encoded in the language's
lexicon."
Wierzbicka's approach has already provided some insight into the linguistic and cultural universe of
Russian (Wierzbicka 1980b), Polish (Wierzbicka 1976), Japanese (Wierzbicka 1979), Ewe (Ameka
1986), Chinese (Chappell, 1984), Walmatjari (Hudson 1986) and Warlpiri (Harkins 1986), amongst
others.
1.4.3 Functional Approaches to Grammar

Although this thesis is eclectic in terms of the means it chooses to describe the phenomena at
hand, it would already be clear to the reader that there are, as is almost inevitable, certain basic
theoretical positions which are favoured over others. As far as the trichotomy between structural,
formal, and functional grammatical approaches (see Nichols 1984) is concerned, this work relies heavily
on traditional structural categories and structural means of description, and merges this with a basically
functionalist philosophy. Formal approaches provide little more to this description than certain 'generic'
descriptive formalisms and certain analytical approaches which are reviewed according to their ability to
deal with the phenomenon being described.
While functionalist approaches to grammar make up a fairly heterogeneous group (including
Halliday (1985), Kuno (1987), Givon (1984), and Foley and Van Valin (1984)) they do share certain
basic views. As Nichols (1984: 97) observes, a functional grammar:
"analyzes grammatical structure, as do formal and structural grammar; but it also analyzes the entire
communicative situation: the purpose of the speech event, its participants, its discourse context.
Functionalists maintain that the communicative situation motivates constrains, explains, or otherwise
determines grammatical structure, and that a structural or formal approach is not merely limited to an
artificially restricted data base, but it is inadequate even as a structural account."
This viewpoint is in no way at odds with the semantics-prior approach espoused in the previous section
(§1.4.2). The form and/or the use of a particular mophological element or grammatical structure in
natural discourse may be seen to be determined by semantic choices which are constrained by, and
demonstrate cognisance of, the larger communicative context. Thus, semantics mediates between the
social, physical and linguistic context of communication and linguistic structure. Functionalists often tend
to circumvent semantics, however, and attempt to map structure directly onto aspects of the
communicative situation, or else attempt to map in the reverse direction.
In an insightful series of lectures on lexical semantics Fillmore (1977:78-79) observed that:
"...,whenever we are interpreting what somebody has said or written, there are four questions we have
to answer for ourselves:
(I) What did he say?

(II) What was he talking about?
(III) Why did he bother to say it?
(IV) Why did he say it in the way he said it?
Only the first of these questions - "What did he say?" -is among the traditional concerns of linguistics.
Linguists professionally pay attention to what people have said, and they can more or less feel that their
work is done when they have devised a system of categories and contrasts, a notation,and possibly, a
generative theory, which will enable them to make systematic statements about each part of what has
been said."
In the present theoretical climate, what Fillmore has claimed for linguists generally now holds true
primarily for structuralists and formalists. As well as answering Fillmore's question (I), functionalists have
also taken on the "Why" questions in (III) and (IV). Thus functionalists tend to focus on explanations of
linguistic phenomena rather than models and descriptions (Nichols 1984; see Heath 1984 for a
functional description of an Australian language). The important semantic question of "What was he
talking about?" is largely neglected in all approaches. Ideally a grammar of a language should attempt to
provide answers to all four questions, and underlying much of the discussion in this thesis, as well as the
annotated translations of example sentences, is a recognition that all four questions deserve an answer,
even if one is unable to provide answers to some of the questions.
Role and Reference Grammar (RRG - Van Valin and Foley 1980, Foley and Van Valin
[henceforth FVV] 1984 , Van Valin 1987) is perhaps the only functional theory which both
acknowledges that aspects of syntax may be predicted from semantic representations in the lexicon and
provides a method of semantic decomposition, albeit a fairly superficial one for verbs only (Van Valin
and Wilkins forthcoming). At present, Nichols' observation (1984; 106) that RRG is "not a fully worked
out grammatical system" is a fair one, although the theory is continuing to develop (Van Valin ed. 1987;
ms a; ms b; ms c). Since the RRG approach basically underlies the discussion of case in chapter 3, the
discussion of syntax in chapter 10 and the discussion of switch-reference in chapter 11, certain aspects
of the theory need to be described briefly.
1.4.3.1 Review of relevant notions from Role and Reference Grammar (RRG)
In RRG there is a direct mapping between the semantic representation of a sentence and its
surface syntactic representation (FVV 1984:15). At present the RRG representation of predicate
semantics is based primarily on the approach to verb semantics and lexical representation presented in
Dowty (1979). Argument positions in the semantic representation of a predicate determine the basic
thematic roles (ie. semantic roles: including agent, patient, theme, source, goal, location, experiencer) of
arguments, and the semantic roles are taken to be universal since they are derived on the basis of a
universally applicable method of decomposition for predicates (FVV 1984; 36-53). Thematic roles fall
into a hierarchy which universally has agent at one pole and patient at another pole, with other semantic
roles being ordered in between according to what are partially universal and partially language specific
parameters. Thematic roles are associated with two universal macroroles - actor and undergoer - in a
pricipled fashion. When considering the two arguments of a transitive predication, it is the argument with
the role that is, relative to the thematic role of the other argument, closer to the agent role which is
identified with the actor macrorole. The other argument, which is, relatively speaking, closer to the
patient thematic role, fills the undergoer macrorole (FVV 1984:53-63). The RRG 'Actor-Undergoer
Hierarchy' is given in figure 1-6, and it demonstrates how the notions of 'actor' and 'undergoer', unlike
thematic roles, are relative rather than fixed.
Figure 1-6 : RRG Actor-Undergoer Hierarchy (based on FVV 1984: 59 and VanValin ms. c)
Foley and Van Valin (1984:32) note that actor and undergoer "constitute an interface between
syntactic relations such as subject and semantic relations such as case roles or thematic relations". In
RRG grammatical relations are not taken to be universal, nor is a grammatical relation like 'subject'
necessarily comparable between languages in which it may be identified. Ultimately, grammatical
relations must be described in terms of semantic roles (ie. macroroles and thematic roles).
In this thesis I follow Avery Andrews' (1985) useful three-way distinction between semantic
roles, grammatical functions and grammatical relations. Grammatical functions are relationships, like
'subject of transitive clause' (ie. S) or 'subject of transitive clause' (ie. A) or 'object of transitive clause'
(ie. O), which "is definable over the sentence structures of a language under study, regardless to the
extent to which it is important for the grammatical principles of that language" (Andrews 1985:66). By
contrast, a grammatical relation in a particular language "will be a grammatical function that is generally
significant for the working of the grammatical principles of that language" (op. cit.). Roughly speaking,
then, semantic roles are determined by predicate semantics, grammatical functions are recognised by
shared grammatical treatment of semantic roles at the level of the clause and grammatical relations are
determined by a shared treatment of semantic roles and/or grammatical functions inter-clausally. In
terms of RRG, grammatical functions, like grammatical relations, ultimately derive from semantic roles.
Another crucial aspect of RRG concerns its conception of clause structure. Based on Olson's
(1981) analysis of clause structure in Barai (Papua New Guinea), and Watter's (1987) revision of the
original RRG conception, RRG posits a universal tripartite division of clausal units (FVV 1984: 187; Van
Valin 1987). The central unit, the nucleus, contains the predicate of the clause. The nucleus is enclosed
in the core layer which also contains the arguments which fill argument positions in the logical structure of
the verb; these are called the core arguments. Core arguments may be divided into direct core
arguments and non-direct core arguments depending on language specific distinctions in morphosyntactic
coding. Direct core arguments may, for instance, be morphologically unmarked while non-direct core
arguments may be morphologically markedwith case or adpositions. For instance, in an active sentence,
the prepositionally marked locative semantic role which is associated with the English verb 'put' is a non-
direct core argument, while the agent and theme semantic roles are direct core arguments that are linked
to the actor and undergoer macroroles respectively and are morphologically unmarked. The next clausal
unit, the periphery, is treated as a sister of the core layer and contains adjuncts (non-arguments) such as
setting and temporal adverbials. This conception of the clause is presented in figure 1-7 and is intended
to cover both configurational and non-configurational languages since it does not place any constraint on
the ordering of the elements (FVV 1984:78).
Figure 1-7 : RRG Conception of clause structure (based on VanValin 1987; ms.d; and
Watters 1987)
It is important to realise that each clausal unit is associated with, and identified by, a different set
of operators (FVV 1984:208-224). Operators over the entire clause have in their scope operators over
the core, which, in turn, have in their scope operators over the nucleus. Nuclear operators include
aspect (Asp) and directionals (Dir), core operators include modality, and clausal operators include status
(ie. epistemic modality, external negation), tense, evidentials (Evid) and illocutionary force (IF). The
proposed relationships of scoping amongst operators and constituents is given in figure 1-8.
(IF(Evid(Tense(Status [PP/ADV ...](Modality [NP (NP) ... (Dir (Asp [Predicate]))])))))

NUCLEUS
PERIPHERY CORE
CLAUSE
Figure 1-8: RRG conception of operator scoping and constituency within the clause.
(Refinement of FVV 1984:224 and VanValin ms. d : (...) = Operators, [...] =
Constituents)
Foley and Van Valin (1984:188) propose "as a working hypothesis", that clausal units of the
same type, but not of different types, may be joined together. This realises three types of
juncture:nuclear juncture, which realises a complex nucleus; core juncture, which comprises two cores
each with their own arguments; and peripheral (ie. clausal) juncture, which is the joining of the two
clauses with independent peripheries. Syntactically, peripheral junctures are a looser linkage type than
core junctures and nuclear junctures form the tightest linkage of all three juncture types (Van Valin
1984:555).
RRG further recognises three distinct types of linkage which may be manifested at any level of
juncture. There are two independent features to be established in deciding the nature of the syntactic
linkage at a particular level of juncture: (i) whether one linked unit is dependent on the other or not, and
(ii) whether one linked unit is embedded in the other or not. This leads to the establishment of three
nexus types: coordinate (- dependent, - embedded), subordinate (+ dependent, + embedded), co-
subordinate (+ dependent, - embedded) (Van Valin 1984: 546). The only nexus type which is not
realised in all juncture types is subordinate nexus which is not attested in nuclear junctures. As far as the
tightness of linkage of different nexus types is concerned, coordination is a looser linkage type than
subordination, which, in turn, is a looser linkage type than co-subordination (FVV 1984: 226; Van Valin
1984: 555). The combination of the hierarchy of bondness for juncture types may be combined with
that for nexus types to give the Syntactic Bondness Hierarchy as represented in figure 1-9.
Figure 1-9: RRG Syntactic Bondedness Hierarchy (FVV 1984:267; Van Valin 1984:555)
A crucial notion for both intra-clausal and interclausal syntax is that of pivot. "The pivot of a
syntactic construction is the NP which is crucially involved in it; ie., it is the NP around which the
construction is built" (FVV 1984:110). RRG recognises two types of pivot: semantic pivots and
pragmatic pivots. Where the central NP, or target NP, in a construction must realise a specific semantic
role (macrorole or thematic role), the pivot is said to be a semantic pivot. On the other hand, where
pivot choice cannot be stated in semantic terms, that is, where the pivotal NP need not realise a unique
semantic role, the pivot of the particular construction is said to be a "pragmatic pivot". English has a
pragmatic pivot which in most constructions is realised by the grammatical relation of "subject" that fills
pre-verbal position. Note that in an active transitive sentence the actor macrorole acts as pivot
("subject") while in the corresponding passive sentence the undergoer macrorole, moved to preverbal
position, acts as pivot ("subject"). Thus the pivot notion which corresponds to the "subject" notion in
English can not be reduced to a simple statement about the semantic role the NP is playing, but it can be
reduced to a simple statement about the position of the NP. Note that languages may manifest more
than one pivot type in different constructions and not all constructions, in fact, not all languages, have a
pivot (FVV 1984:108-148).
There are many more aspects of RRG which could be presented, they are not, however, crucial
for an understanding of the analyses presented in the following chapters. The reader is directed to the
major works on RRG, as cited above, for further clarification of any points.
1.4.4 Main Aims and Organisation of Thesis

When all is said and done, the two main aims of this thesis are the same as those for most
detailed grammars. The first aim is to provide a comprehensive, and comprehensible, overview of
Mparntwe Arrernte. The second aim is to give the reader some sense of the natural genius of the
language. In order to achieve these two aims I have interleaved chapters which provide relatively
sketchy details of major portions of the grammar (chapters 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10) with chapters that
provide detailed analyses for specific aspects of the grammar (chapters 4,6,9 and 11). Chapters 3
through 9 are organised around the four major parts of speech: nominals, verbs, adverbs and
particle/clitics. Chapters 10 and 11 are concerned with syntax. Chapter 2 provides a brief sketch of
the phonology of Mparntwe Arrernte. Even in chapters which are meant to be less detailed I have
occasionally spent considerable space describing interesting or previously undescribed aspects of the
language. For instance, reduplication is a very salient characteristic of Mparntwe Arrernte and I have
detailed its effect on nominals, verbs and adverbs in each of the relevant chapters.
I have not gone as far as calling this thesis a grammar mainly because it does not meet my vision
of a grammar of Mparntwe Arrernte. It is not the case that all elements are analysed to the same depth
and certain very important aspects of the language have not really been treated at all. For instance, there
is no account of intonation, there are only brief indications of how discourse is constructed (texts are
provided in appendix 1), there are only passing references to the structure and ethno-classification of the
lexicon (although a lexicon is provided in appendix 2) and, although I mention pragmatics at a number of
points in the discussion of particular linguistic forms, the whole question of how culture-specific
pragmatics governs language use and interpretation remains largely unexplored. For these reasons I feel
that "studies in the structure and semantics of grammar" is a more accurate designation for this thesis,
even though this work probably contains no less information than most grammars of Australian
languages.
1.4.4.1 Parts of Speech

Since chapters 3 through 9 are organised around the four major parts of speech, it would be
useful to present an overview of parts of speech classification and subclassification. As noted above all
words in Mparntwe Arrernte fall into at least one of four broad classes: nominals, verbs, adverbs, and
particle/clitics. Each of these classes contain a number of formally distinct subclasses many of which are
closed. Of the four principal classes only the particle/clitic class is closed; there are productive
derivational morphemes which can create new members belonging to the other three groups.
Two criteria by which nominal words may be identified are:
(i) they can occur in an utterance as the sole member of a NP and, as such,
can bear case inflections (cf. §3.1 and §3.2), and
(ii) they can be negated with the clitic -kwenye 'NomNEG' (cf. §8.1.2.1).
(17) Artwe-le-kwenye re-nhe mpware-ke, relhe-le-rle.

man-ERG-NomNEG 3sg-ACC make-pc, woman-ERG-FOC.
It wasn't a man that made it, it was a woman.
Subclasses of nominal are identifiable by reference to the position they take up within a fully
expanded NP. Pronouns, nouns, adjectives, quantifiers, classifiers, interrogatives, and demonstratives
are the major subgroups within the nominal class, but it is not uncommon for a form to have membership
in more than one subgroup. Note that a handful of nominals - such as kaltye 'be knowledgeable of' and
kutne 'be ignorant of' - may act as case assigning predicates (cf. §5.1.2).
By contrast, members of the verb class are inflected for tense/mood/aspect when acting as the
main predicate in a simple clause and are negated by a stem final inflection ,
-tyekenhe 'verb negator' (cf. §5.3.2.1), which replaces tense.
(18) Artwe-le re-nhe twe-tyekenhe, re re-nhe are-k-ante ware.

man-ERG 3sg-ACC hit-VbNEG, 3sgA 3sg-ACC see-pc-EXCL
DISM
The man didn't hit it , he only looked at it, nothing else.
Verbs may be subclassified on the basis of the core case frames that they select. Most verbs are
either transitive (ergative-accusative ) or intransitive (nominative or nominative-dative), but there are
verbs which are ditransitive and some which are ambi-transitive (cf. §5.1.3).
Adverbs are verb predicate modifiers which are distinguished by the fact that they can only
occur in verbal clauses. The only counter-examples to this statement arise when the verb action is
understood but the verb itself is ellipsed. Adverbs can freely occur in utterances without any form of
inflection (nominal, verbal, or other), but they may also occur suffixed with one of the forms from the
subset of local (or spatial) case suffixes (cf. ch. 4). Forms in this class tend to correspond to temporal,
spatial, and manner adverbs in English.
The particle/clitic group, as analysed here, is not strictly a word class since it contains both
bound and free morphemes. The free morphemes in this class never bear inflection unless they are used
to post-modify a nominal and are internal to an NP. They may occur in either verbal or verbless clauses
but their positioning in a clause is usually restricted. Positioning may depend on the position of the
element a particle/clitic has in its scope, or it may depend on the position of clause and/or constituent
boundaries or, finally, certain particle/clitics may be restricted to being the only element of the clause in
which they occur. Particle/clitics take no form of independent negation, although some are themselves
used for negation. They form a heterogeneous group, within which can be found conjunctions,
interjections, exclamations, discourse level particles, as well as modal, epistemic, evidential, attitudinal,
comparative, contrastive, and aspectual markers.
As a general rule nominals and adverbs can be derived into verbs by use of either -irre
'inchoative' (cf. §5.5.5) or -ile 'causative' (cf. §5.5.3). There are two ways in which all verbs can be
nominalised (cf. §3.10.1): (i) through suffixation of -ntye/-tye 'nominaliser' to the verb stem, and (ii)
through 'reduplication with -nhe' which creates a noun referring to a thing which habitually does the
action described in the verb stem. Certain adjectival nominals can be adverbialised using -le (nterte
'quiet, silent'; nterte-le 'quietly, silently) and verbs ending in -me-le (cf. ch. 11) can also be used
adverbially. Some adverbs undergo reduplication to form adjectival nominals (mwantye 'carefully,
slowly'; mwantye-mwantye 'careful, cautious'). There is a degree of overlapping membership
between the nominal, adverb, and particle/clitic classes. For example, arrangkwe 'no, nothing' acts both
as a nominal and as a particle/clitic (§8.2.4.3) ; kwete 'still' shows characteristics common to adverbs
and particle/clitics (cf. §7.3.3 and §8.3); and the spatially deictic demonstratives have both nominal and
adverbial uses (cf. §3.6). For this reason it is not always easy to determine the primary membership of
a word form. Moreover, the boundaries between these classes are not as sharply defined as might
appear from this brief description. Even the most clearly defined part of speech, verbs, can be seen to
fall together with certain nominals if one simply considers the property of case assignment. The major
parts of speech and the subclasses which they contain are given in figure 1-10. Chapters and sections in
which each class and subclass is discussed are shown in square brackets.
Chapter Two
Phonology
Natural historical processes operating on a standard Pama-Nyungan sound system have, in

Australian terms, given rise to an atypical phonemic and phonotactic system within the Arandic
languages. This is not to suggest that a unitary phonological analysis can be presented for all Arandic
languages. On the contrary, while there are certain characteristic phonological features exhibited by
Arandic languages - such as the phonemic status of pre-stopped nasals - there is a considerable
degree of variation between the sound systems of these languages. Thus, wherever this presentation of
the phonology of Mparntwe Arrernte differs from that detailed for other Arandic languages, it should
probably be interpreted as a difference in systems rather than a difference in analyses.
2.1 Phonemes and their Realisation

Throughout the rest of this thesis the practical orthography adopted by the Yipirinya School
bilingual programme and the Institute for Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs will be used. As this
orthography is not readily transparent to people unfamiliar with Arandic languages, I will (in this section
only) match the orthographic symbols to more conventional phonetic and phonological symbols.
2.1.1 Vowels
One area in which there is considerable variation among Arandic languages is in the vowel
system. Antekerrepenh (Breen, 1977) and Kaytetye (Koch, 1984:fn.4 ), for instance, are analysed as
having only two vowel phonemes, while in Alyawarra, Yallop (1977:25-34) recognises six distinctive
vowel phonemes (including 1 diphthong). Mparntwe Arrernte falls in between with four contrastive
vowel phonemes; /i/, /u/, /a/ and /ë/. Four-vowel systems are very rare amongst the world's languages;
out of 317 languages Maddieson (1984:126) attests only 15 (4.7%) with four-vowel systems, of which
3 are Australian languages. Disner (1984:140-141), who, like Maddieson, uses the UPSID database
(see fn. 4), claims that all four-vowel systems with one mid vowel are "defective" since they leave
unbalanced gaps in the primary (peripheral) vowel system. It is unclear what she would say about the
Mparntwe Arrernte system, since it seems that one could argue for symmetry with the single mid vowel
/´ë/ being equidistant from all the peripheral points of the system. (see Table 2-1)
Front Central Back

High i (i) u (u)
Mid ë (e)
Low a (a)
Table 2 - 1 : Mparntwe Arrernte Vowels
(Orthographic symbols are given in brackets)
The phoneme /ë/ does not occur in initial position. The following minimal set demonstrates the
contrasts in initial position:
(1) inteme /intëmë/ [ìndëÂmà] 'is lying down'

unteme /untëmë/ [ùndëÂmà] 'is hurrying away'
anteme /antëmë/ [andëÂmà] 'now (particle)'
While a full four-way contrast of vowels between consonants is extremely rare the following
three sets of near minimal forms establishes the distinctiveness of each vowel phoneme. The only vowel
phoneme to occur finally is /ë/.
(2) a. arrule /arulë/ [aròÂ:là] 'long time'

arrirlpe /arilÛpë/ [ariÂlÛpà] 'sharp'
irrarle /iralÛë/ [iraÂlÛà] 'cocoon'
arerte /a®ÛëtÛë/ [a®ÛëÂtÛà] 'deaf, mad'
b. ahirre /aûirë/ [aûiÂrà] 'do imagining'

aherre /aûërë/ [aûëÂrà] 'red kangaroo'
ahate /aûatë/ [aûaÂdà] 'shortened'
c. apure /apu®ë/ [apòÂ:®à] 'shy; shame, ashamed'

apere /apë®ë/ [apëÂ®à] 'river red gum'
aparre /aparë/ [apaÂrà] 'butt of spear'
Impressionistically - that is, on auditory evidence only - these four vowel phonemes cut up the
vowel space as follows (Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1 shows that there is a considerable degree of variation in the realisation of each vowel
phoneme. Furthermore, it shows that the phoneme /ë/ is the chameleon par excellence; given the right
environments it succeeds in reproducing the full range of variation of both the /i/ and /u/ phoneme and
part of the range of the /a/ phoneme. How do we best explain this variation? While this is not the time
nor place to present a critique of classical or generative approaches to the phoneme, I will venture the
following observations. Underlying most approaches to the phoneme is a choice (sometimes overtly
stated but most times covert) to abstract from reality and idealise the speech context. It is well known
that there is a chaos of variation if one, at once, examines a phoneme's realisation within a single
speaker, in the whole speech community, in different styles and registers, and so on. Such chaos is not
amenable to neat, precise, and simple rules. To simplify matters one usually, or ideally, works with
citation forms given in careful pronunciation, perhaps working with only one speaker. From this, neat
statements may be extracted but it is at the expense of describing what items really sound like in
connected discourse.
Some Mparntwe Arrernte examples may help justify and explain this apparent diversion. It is
true, for instance, that in a majority of uses the /i/ in iteme 'is cooking' and ileme 'is telling' is pronounced
[i] and [ì] respectively. However, even in carefully produced citation forms, some speakers may used [ì]
for the former and [i] for the latter. Thus the association of a particular allophone with a phoneme in a
specific environment may be merely a statistical correlate. Similarly, /ë/ before /y/ is realised by a range
of pronunciation between [e] and [i], while /i/ before /y/ is always [i]. Here we have an example of a
breach of the biuniqueness principle in classical phonology (see Lass 1984:27-30). Just hearing [i] in a
form, one would be unable to assign the phone definitively to either /i/ or /ë/, but knowing the range of
pronunciations for a form allows one to determine, unambiguously, the particular phoneme.
In order to be true to the chaos of variation existing in normal speech contexts I have chosen to
present nothing more than a rough descriptive account of allophonic variation, complete with hedges.
The realisations of each vowel phoneme will be discussed in turn.
2.1.1.1 /i/
Initially, preceding simple (non-labialised) stops, nasals, rhotics, and the approximants, the
pronunciation of /i/ tends to be [i], elsewhere it tends to be [ì].
(3) irretye /irët„ë/ [irëÂt„ßà] 'eagle'

itne /iNë/ [ìt¸nàÂ] 'they'
Between consonants /i/ is pronounced as [e:] in stressed position in the environment of a lamino-
interdental, or preceding a labial consonant. Otherwise, it tends to be pronounced as [i], unless /i/'s
medial occurrence arises through compounding or suffixation in which case it is typically realised as [ì].
(4) thirnte /t˜inÚtÛë/ [t˜†eÂ:nÚdÚà]'flat; chinese'

ngkwinhe /Ñkwinˆë/ [ÑgweÂ:nˆà] 'yours (sg)'
amiwerre /amiwërë/ [ameÂ:wërà] 'milky way'
antyipere /an„t„ipë®ë/ [an„d„? eÂ:bë®à] 'bat'
amirre /amirë/ [amiÂrà] 'spear thrower'
arntinye /anÚtÛin„ë/ [a„nÚdÚiÂn„à] 'wasp'
While the above is an accurate statement of the distribution of the allophones of /i/, there is no clear
explanation for why the environment preceding a bilabial consonant should lower /i/ to [e:]; although, at
least for [w], we can note the back tongue position and for bilabials generally we can note a low second
formant relative to other consonants (Lieberman and Blumstein 1988:224-225). That lamino-
interdentals provide a conditioning environment for this realisation of /i/ makes more sense; the body of
the tongue must be relatively flat, and extended, in the production of interdentals and this is likely to
lower a surrounding high front vowel which would typically have the body of tongue bunched up.
2.1.1.2 /u/
Initially, before rhotics, /u/ varies between [o] and [ò], but is typically more towards the latter
than the former phone. Preceding nasal-stop clusters /u/ is heard as [ù], while in the remaining initial
environments it is [u]. There are no attested examples of /u/ preceding a peripheral consonant (cf.
§2.1.2.).
(5) ure /u®Ûë/ [ò®Ûà] 'fire, firewood'

unte /untë/ [ùndà] 'you (sg)'
uthneme /uNˆëmë/ [ut˜†nˆëmà] 'bite (of animals)'
Between consonants /u/ is extremely rare. It is only attested, as far as non-derived forms are concerned,
in stressed position after the first consonant, or consonant cluster, and it is pronounced as [ò:]. When a
form beginning with /u/ is used as a non initial element in a compound, the /u/ in that form tends to have
the same quality that it would have prior to compounding or it may be slightly lowered.
(6) purte /putÛë/ [pòÂ:tÛà ] 'cluster, clump, heap'
kunye /kun„ë/ [kòÂ:n„à] 'poor thing'
nthurre /nˆt˜urë/ [nˆt˜†òÂ:rà] 'very, really'
2.1.1.3 /a/
Both initially and medially /a/ is typically realised as [a]. However, it is not uncommon for /a/ to
also be realised as a shorter, more centralised [à] in unstressed syllables during normal to rapid speech.
There tends to be a distinct palatal on-glide between realisations of this phoneme and the apico-post-
alveolar (retroflex) consonants.
(7) atneme /aNëmë/ [at¸nëÂmà ] 'digging stick'

tharre /t˜arë/ [t˜†aÂrà] 'numb'
Arlpere /alÛpë®Ûë/ [a„lÛpëÂ®Ûà] 'Warlpiri'
arne-artne /anÚë-aNÚë / [a„nÚaÂ„tÛnÚà] 'scrub, bush country'
The emphatic clitic -aye, which always takes stress, is pronounced [-e:y], even though it begins
orthographically with 'a'. Typically /a/ before /y/ is realised something like /aì/. Note the different
pronunciations of the following two forms which, apart from the exclamation mark, are given the same
representation in the Arrernte orthography.
(8) alaye! [ale:y] 'watch out!'

alaye [alaìyà] 'large body of water; sea'
2.1.1.4 /ë/
Between consonants /ë/ is realised as [o] preceding /w/.
(9) tyewe /t„ëwë / [t„ßoÂwà] 'friend'
newe /nëwë/ [noÂwà] 'spouse'
Following a labialised non-peripheral consonant /ë/ tends to be realised as [u] with the labial off glide
from consonant imperceptible. In this case, if the following consonant is a rhotic (ie. a apico-post-
alveolar consonant or a trill) then the phoneme is commonly realised as [ò].
(10) tweme (hit-npp) /t‚ëmë/ [tuÂmà] 'is hitting'

twerne (hit-p.immed) /t‚ënÚë/ [tòÂnÚà] 'just hit'
Following /w/ it can vary between [ë] and [ù], sometimes rising to [u], while it is often realised as [ù]
between a labialised peripheral and a velar consonant.
(11) iwenhe /iwënˆë/ [iwëÂnˆà ~ iwùnˆà] 'what?'

ngkwenge /ÑkwëÑë/ [ÑgùÂÑà] '2sgDAT'
Between two bilabial consonants, where the first is labialised, /ë/ rises to [u].
(12) pwepelye /p‚ëpël„ë/ [puÂpël„à] 'tadpole'
Rounding of /ë/ also sometimes occurs following a non-labialised bilabial consonant and preceding
another peripheral, especially another bilabial. Thus (a)peke 'might, maybe' is typically pronounced
[(a)pëkà] but may occasionally be pronounced as [(a)pùkà]. Note also that where /ë/ precedes /y/
conditioning from that environment takes precedence.
While /ë/ in the environment of a labialised consonant can have realisations which cover the same
vowel space as /u/, in the environment of a lamino-palatal consonant /ë/ shares the same range of
allophones as /i/. Preceding /y/ the schwa phoneme can vary anywhere between [e] and [i].
(13) kngwarreye / ‚arëyë/ [k¸Ñ‚aÂreyà ~ k¸Ñ‚aÂriyà] 'One of the skin names'
Between two lamino-palatal non-approximants it is almost always realised as [ì], sometimes rising to [i].
(14) tnyentye /N„ën„t„ë/ [t¸n„ìÂn„d„? à] 'moon'
Following any lamino-palatal consonant, /ë/ will vary between [ë] and [ì] before peripherals,
excluding /w/, and will vary through [ë], [è], and [ì] preceding an apico-alveolar consonant. It also
varies between [ë] and [ì] when preceding a lamino-palatal non-approximant.
(15) yeparenye /yëpa®Ûën„ë / [yëÂpà®ÛëÁn„à ~ yìÂpà®ÛìÁn„à] 'k.o.

caterpillar'
nyente /n„ëntë/ [n„ëÂntà ~ n„èÂntà ~ n„ìÂntà] 'one'
alenye /alën„ë/ [alëÂn„à ~ alìÂn„à] 'tongue'
There are a number of forms where [ë] and [à] are both possible realisations of /ë/. There
seems to be a relation between stress - secondary, tertiary, and sentential - and the occurrence of one of
[ë] or [à]. The exact principles operating here are not clear and the choice between whether or not a
particular form contains phoneme /ë/ or /a/ is often a matter of guesswork, coupled with intuition.
(16) kemirreme /këmirëmë/ [këmirëmà ~ kàmirëmà] 'is getting up'
Elsewhere, and most frequently /ë/ is heard as [ë] medially.
(17) therre /t˜ërë/ [t˜†ëÂrà] 'two'

utyerneme /ut„ënÚëmë/ [ut„ßëÂnÚëmà] 'is lifting s.t. up'
As mentioned previously, /ë/ is the only vowel to occur word finally in Mparntwe Arrernte and
is, therefore, non-distinctive in that position. More particularly, it is the only vowel to occur morpheme
finally (see §2.3.1 for further discussion). All words in citation end with /ë/, but in normal speech it is
often left out. When it does occur it is typically realised as [à], although it may also be realised as [ë].
(18) arnkentye /anÚkën„t„ë/ [a„nÚgëÂn„t„ßà ~ a„nÚgëÂn„t„ß] 'single men's

quarters'
2.1.1.4 Initial (a)

An intriguing feature relevant to the vowel phonology of Mparntwe Arrernte is that a large
number of words which may be pronounced with an initial consonant, can also be pronounced - both in
citation and in normal speech - with an epenthetic [a] ~ [à] initially.
(19) (a)lheme (go-npp) [l˜ëÂmà ~ al˜ëÂmà ~ àl˜ëÂmà] 'is going'
It is, as yet, unclear exactly which forms allow this variation in pronunciation or what rules
determine the occurrence or non-occurrence of epenthetic [à] ~ [a]. As with the [ë] ~ [à] alternation
medially for /ë/, this alternation appears to be linked to stress assignment and possibly syllable count, as
well as vowel quality appearing in following syllables. These epenthetic phones are typically treated in
the orthography with an 'a' but it is not at all clear whether they should be considered as allophones of /a/
or any other vowel phoneme for that matter. While the occurrence of /a/ versus no vowel initially is a
distinctive one, neither possibility ever appears to contrast definitively with a form with epenthetic [à] ~
[a] initially. In other words, while there are minimal pairs involving /a/ and Ø initially, there are no words
which manifest initial epenthesis and, at the same time, show a contrast with either an /a/-initial word or a
consonant initial word.
(20) ampwe /am‚p‚ë/ [aÂmb‚à] 'old'

mpwe /mpwë/ [mb‚àÂ] 'urine'
(but never [àmb‚àÂ] for 'urine')
The fact that the initial epenthetic vowel never contrasts with /a/ could be taken as evidence that
it is an allophone of /a/. This, however, leaves one to explain why a form like apekepe 'weakened,
unable to walk' always occurs with initial /a/, while an analogous form (a)peke 'might, maybe' allows
epenthetic 'a'.
The variable, epenthetic, occurrence of [a] ~ [à] in initial position in some words, is akin to the
behaviour of /ë/ in final position and this suggests a possible analysis which sees the epenthetic vowel as
an allophone of /ë/. Under such an analysis one could say that in open syllables /ë/ is realised as [à] and
has a transient, or variable, occurrence; something which could be expected of schwa. Thus, although
contrasting medially, /ë/ would be seen as non-contrastive initially or finally. That it does not contrast
initially may be explained by the fact that it would neutralise with /a/ and Ø in this position. On this
analysis, then, all four vowels do occur initially and the orthography could use 'e', instead of initial 'a' or
nothing, to represent words which manifest epenthetic 'a'. The information on this point is, however, too
sketchy to be confident of this solution.
Another solution is to say that the epenthetic 'a' is not a realisation of any vowel phoneme, but
occurs before various lexically determined consonant initial lexemes. This last solution is the one that is
essentially adopted here as a matter of convenience. In the body of this thesis words which variably
have [a] ~ [à] initially may be written with '(a)' (ie. optional 'a') at the beginning, but are regarded as
words which begin with consonants. Examples attempt to follow pronunciation and use 'a' or nothing at
the beginning of a word depending on what the speaker is understood to have said.
2.1.2 Consonants
Mparntwe Arrernte has 49 consonant phonemes, a very large inventory compared to most
Australian languages. Like many Australian languages it has stops and nasals at six contrastive points of
articulation - bilabial, lamino-dental, apico-alveolar, apico-post-alveolar, lamino-palatal, and dorso-
velar. Unlike most languages of the world (see Maddieson 1984:27), but like all Arandic languages, it
has a phonemic series of pre-stopped nasals at each of six places. To best explain phonotactic
constraints and environments for allophonic and morpho-phonemic variation, it is useful to recognise
three natural classes associated with these six points of articulation: apicals, laminals and peripherals.
Peripheral is a term coined by Dixon (1980:139) to cover consonants articulated 'at the extreme back or
front of the mouth' and it corresponds to the Jakobsonian feature 'grave'. It is also useful to recognise a
rhotic-class which includes the apical trill and the lamino-post-alveolar (retroflex) consonants (see
§2.1.2.2.1).
Another atypical feature exhibited by Mparntwe Arrernte is that two series of consonant
phonemes can be identified on the basis of whether or not the phoneme has the secondary articulation
feature of labialisation. With three exceptions, each of the non-labialised phonemes can be seen to
correspond to a labialised phoneme at the same place and manner of articulation. In the data, labialised
laminal pre-stopped nasals (Nˆ‚ & N„‚) and a labialised inter-dental nasal (nˆ‚) are not attested. There
appears to be no explanation as to why these three gaps, in particular, exist. Further data may, indeed,
reveal their existence and the phoneme inventory would have be to revised accordingly. Following
Breen (1977:379 [Breen cites Hale (pc)]), /w/ is treated as being the labialised counterpart of the velar
approximant /û/. Table 2-2 gives the consonant phonemes and their orthographic equivalents. Table 2-
3 provides, for each consonant phoneme, a word containing that phoneme, as well as demonstrating a
number of important phonemic contrasts using minimal and near-minimal sets.
A : Phonemic Symbols
Bilabial Lamino- Apico- Apico- Lamino- Dorso-

(Peripheral) Inter-dental Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar
Alveolar (Peripheral)
(Retroflex)
( Non-Labialised Consonant Phonemes)
Stops p t˜ t tÛ t„ k
Nasals m nˆ n nÚ n„ Ñ
Pre-stopped Nasals M Nˆ N NÚ N„
Laterals l˜ l lÛ l„
Approximants ®Û y û
Trill r
(Labialised Consonant Phonemes)

Stops p‚ t˜‚ t‚ tÛ‚ t„‚ k‚
Nasals m‚ - n‚ nÚ‚ n„‚ Ñ‚
Pre-stopped Nasals M‚ - N‚ NÚ‚ - ‚
Laterals l˜‚ l‚ lÛ‚ l„‚
Approximants €(w) ®Û‚ y‚ w
Trill r‚
B : Orthographic Symbols Used to Represent Consonant Phonemes

( Non-Labialised Consonant Phonemes)
Stops p th t rt ty k
Nasals m nh n rn ny ng
Pre-stopped Nasals pm thn tn rtn tny kng
Laterals lh l rl ly
Approximants r y h
Trill rr
(Labialised Consonant Phonemes)

Stops pw thw tw rtw tyw kw
Nasals mw - nw rnw nyw ngw
Pre-stopped Nasals pmw - tnw rtnw - kngw
Laterals lhw lw rlw lyw
Approximants (w) rw yw w
Trill rrw
Table 2-2 : Mparntwe Arrernte Consonant Phonemes and their Orthographic Equivalents
Non-Labialised Consonant Phonemes
(a)pere athere atere arteme (a)tyeke kere

/(a)pë®Ûë/ /at˜ë®Ûë/ /atë®Ûë/ /atÛëmë/ /(a)t„ëkë / /kë®Ûë/
[àpë®Ûà] [at˜†ë®Ûà] [atë®Ûà] [a„tÛëmà] [àt„ßëkà ] [kë®Ûà]
'river red 'grinding 'afraid' 'is covering, 'loose' 'game
gum' stone' building' animal'
(a)menge (a)nheme (a)neme arne (a)nyente (a)ngepe

/(a)mëÑë/ /(a)nˆëmë/ /(a)nëmë/ /anÚë / /(a)n„ëntë/ /(a)Ñëpë/
[àmëÑà] [ànˆëmà] [ànëmà] [a„nÚà] [ànyèntà] [àÑëpà]
'a fly' 'is wetting 'is sitting' 'tree' 'one' 'crow'
something'
(a)pmere uthneme (a)tneme artneme (a)tnyeme (a)kngeme

/(a)Më®Ûë/ /uNˆëmë/ /(a)Nëmë/ /aNÚëmë/ /(a)N„ëmë/ /(a) ëmë/
[àp¸më®Ûà] [ut˜†nˆëmà] [àt¸nëmà] [a„tÛnÚëmà] [àt¸n„ëmà] [àk¸Ñëmà]
'camp, 'is biting 'is standing' 'is crying' 'is falling' 'is taking'
place' (of animal)'
(a)lheme aleme arlenge alyeme

/(a)l˜ëmë/ /alëmë/ /alÛëÑë/ /al„ëmë/
[àl˜ëmà] [alëmà][a„lÛëÑà] [al„ëmà]
'is going' 'liver' 'far' 'is singing'
arenge ayenge ahentye

/a®ÛëÑë/ /ayëÑë/ /aûën„t„ë/
[a®ÛëÑà] [ayëÑà] [aûën„t„ßà]
'euro' 'I' (S,O) 'throat,
desire'
arrenge
/arëÑë/
[arëÑà]
'father's
father'
Table 2-3 : Words Exemplifying Distinctions Amongst Consonant Phonemes (Part 1)

Labialised Consonant Phonemes
apwe ithwenge itwe artwe atywe akwarratye

/ap‚ë/ /it˜‚ëÑë/ /it‚ë/ /atÛ‚ë/ /at„‚ë/ /ak‚arat„ë/
[ap‚à] [it˜†ùÑà] [ìt‚à] [a„tÛ‚à] [at„ß‚à] [ak‚ara„t„ßà]
'emu down' 'maybe not' 'near' 'man' 'calf of leg' 'right hand'
mwarre inwerle arnwere (a)nywerre ingwe

/m‚arë/ /in‚ëlÛë/ /anÚ‚ë®Ûë/ /(a)n„‚ërë/ /iÑwë/
[m‚arà] [ìnòlÛà] [a„nÚò®Ûà] [àn„òrà] [ìÑ‚à]
'good, 'spider' 'humming 'do thinking 'night'
healthy' noise' badly of'
apmwe atnwaye artnwepe (a)kngwelye

/aM‚ë/ /aN‚ayë/ /aNÚ‚ëpà/ /(a) wël„ë/
[ap¸m‚à] [at¸n‚ayà] [a„tÛ¸nÚupà] [àk¸Ñ‚ùl„à]
'snake' 'heel of 'swamp' 'dog'
foot'
alhwe alwirreme arlwe alyweke

/al˜‚ë/ /al‚irëmë/ /alÛ‚ë/ /al„‚ëkë/
[al˜‚à] [al‚ìrëmà] [a„lÛ‚à] [al„ukà]
'blood' 'is running' 'rounded 'stone knife'
away' stone'
awethe arwe aywerre awethe

/awët˜ë/ /a®Û‚ë/ /ay‚ërë/ /awët˜ë/
[awët˜†à] [a®Û‚à] [ayòrà] [awët˜†à]
'more, again' 'handle of 'noise, 'more, again'
shield' sound'
arrwe
/ar‚ë/
[ar‚à]
'rock
wallaby'
Table 2-3 : Words Exemplifying Distinctions Amongst Consonant Phonemes (Part 2)

2.1.2.1 Phonetic Realisation of Consonants : MANNERS
2.1.2.1.1 Nasals and laterals.
Beyond the specific features associated with certain places of articulation discussed below (cf.
§2.1.2.2), the realisation of nasals and laterals is basically unremarkable.
2.1.2.1.2 Stops.
In initial position and beginning a stressed syllable the stops will be voiceless and unaspirated. In
other positions, the question of whether a stop will be voiced or unvoiced tends to vary from one place
of articulation to another. The lamino-inter-dental stop /t˜/, for instance, always has a voiceless
realisation.
Positions where voicing of other stops is likely to occur are intervocalically, when beginning an
unstressed syllable, and in a cluster preceded by a nasal or lateral. When a nasal-stop cluster is initial, or
begins a stressed syllable, the stop is always voiced (with the given exception of /t˜/). Otherwise stops
may have a voiced or voiceless realisation. It is, however, important to realise that the preferred
pronunciation of a particular form may hinge on whether the stop is voiced or not, even when the same
stop, in an analogous environment, has the opposite voicing feature in the preferred pronunciation of
another lexeme. Moreover, another constraint on what one might have assumed to be free variation of
voicing is the fact that, comparatively, the apical stops /t/ and /tÛ/ tend to be realised as voiced more
frequently than the bilabial, velar, and lamino-palatal stops.
(21) arteme /atÛëmë/ [a„tÛëÂmà] 'is covering, building'

marteme /matÛëmë/ [maÂdÚëmà] 'is closing (tr)'
arnteme /anÚtÛëmë/ [a„nÚdÚëÂmà] 'is hurting; cramping'
karnte-karnte /kanÚtÛë-kanÚtÛë/ [kaÂnÚtÛàkaÁnÚtÛà] 'a circle, circular'
kethe /kët˜ë/ [kët˜†à] 'outside, clear, naked'
meke-meke /mëkë-mëkë/ [mëÂkàmëÁkà] 'sacred (of places)'
angkeme /aÑkëmë/ [aÑgëÂmà] 'is saying'
mpwangke /mp‚aÑkë/ [mb‚aÂÑkà] 'whole, complete'
tnyentye /N„ën„t„ë/ [tn„ìÂn„d„? à] 'moon'
ahentye /aûën„t„ë/ [aûën„t„ßà] 'throat, desire'
Finally, it should be mentioned that, while the apicals and peripherals are fully stopped, the
laminals both have an audibly fricated release: /t„/ is realised as [t„ß] or [d„? ] and /t˜/ is realised as [t˜†].
The lamino-palatal /t„/, in particular, may approximate the affricates [t¸ß] or [d¸? ], although it is always
considerably less fricated than in the typical English pronunciation of these sounds.
2.1.2.1.3 Pre-stopped Nasals.

Initially, prestopped nasals are recognised by an audible release of air through the nose while
oral closure is maintained followed by a rapid transition from voiceless nasal to voiced nasal (for
example, /M/ is realised as [pm‹m]). Intervocalically they sound like homorganic clusters of voiceless
stop plus nasal; however, in terms of phonotactic constraints they function as single consonants. There
may be cases in which the prestopped nasal, in non-initial position, is voiced throughout, but this is quite
rare.
The place of articulation of a pre-stopped nasal may be recognised by different auditory
properties. For instance, the lamino-inter-dental has an audible degree of frication between stop and
nasal portions; the lamino-palatal, on the other hand, has no associated frication but is recognised by the
palatal transition from the nasal portion to the following vowel; and the apico-post-alveolar can be
identified by a combination of the 'r-like' colouring, and the palatal transition from the preceding vowel to
the stop portion of the phone.
When a pre-stopped nasal is the last consonant in a word and the final /ë/ vowel is elided,
the nasal portion of the phone will be syllabified.
(22) ngkwerrpme /Ñk‚ërMë/ [Ñg‚òÂrpmà ~ Ñg‚òÂrpmŸ] 'k.o. berry'
Yallop (1977:17) and Maddieson (1984:27, 210, 330; cf. fn.17) analyse this consonant series
as being basically a series of stops (plosives); for Alyawarra, for instance, Yallop labels the series
"nasally released plosives". There are, however, phonotactic, allophonic, and historical reasons for
preferring to regard consonants of this type as 'pre-stopped nasals' in all Arandic languages. Busby
(1979:24) notes that "phonotactically pre-stopped nasals ... have the same distribution as nasals in
Kaititj, and sometimes alternate with long nasals in both Kaititj and Alyawarra". Single nasals are in fact
the historical source of pre-stopped nasals and pre-stopping of nasals remains an allophonic process in
some of languages immediately to the south-east of the Arandic languages. In Diyari (Austin 1981a: 18-
19), for example, apico-alveolar and lamino-dental nasals are optionally pre-stopped when they occur
immediately after the first (primary stressed) vowel of a word and are followed by a vowel, provided
that the initial consonant of the word is non-nasal. The general Pama-Nyungan word for 'shit' kuna
would be realised in Diyari as [kudna] ~ [kuna] and the cognate Arrernte form is atne /aNë/ [at¸nà] 'shit,
guts'.
2.1.2.1.4 Approximants
Peculiar to a number of the Arandic dialects is the velar approximant /û/. In Mparntwe Arrernte
when a word is pronounced emphatically, or as a characteristic of individual production, /û/ may be
realised as the voiced velar fricative [©]. It is, however, more often realised as a true approximant.
Unlike the situation in Alyawarra (Yallop 1977:20) /û/ is never elided in adult (30+) speech. /û/ is only
attested as the first consonant in a simple lexeme, always occurring after the vowel /a/. Earlier it was
noted that /û/ is being treated as the non-labialised (ie. unrounded) variant of /w/. This is not simply an
attractive analysis because of the symmetry it provides in the phonemic system, it is also supported by
diachronic evidence. Breen (1977:379), following an analysis proposed by Hale, argues that /û/
derives, diachronically from a proto /w/ form. It should also be noted that across Arandic languages and
dialects, cognate forms can be found in which one variety has /w/ and the other /û/ : Alyawarra /aûin„a/
and Mparntwe /iwën„ë/ for 'mosquito' (these forms are cognate to Pitjantjatjara kiwinyi 'mosquito').
As in other Australian languages (Dixon 1980:146), /w/ and /y/, are not articulated in certain
intervocalic environments but instead may be absorbed into a vowel sound to which each contributes
certain features. Thus, in rapid speech, the sequence /ëyë/ may be realised sometimes as [e:] and
sometimes as [i:] and the sequence /ëwë/ may be realised as [o:]. In careful speech these approximants
are articulated and are considered to begin new syllables. Otherwise /w/ and /y/ have a pronunciation
much like their English counterparts.
(23) (rapid speech)

kngwarreye / ‚arëyë/ [k¸Ñ‚are: ~ k¸Ñ‚ari:] 'one of the skin names'
kweye /k‚ëyë/ [kwi:] 'oops! oh!'
arreweme /arëwëmë/ [aro:mà] 'is shivering'
/®Û/ is produced with the tongue visibly lower, and the tip of the tongue less curled back, than
the other apico-alveolar consonants. It has a realisation that is somewhere between the intervocalic
pronunciation of 'r' in Australian English and the stereotypic, heavily retroflexed, post-vocalic 'r' of
American English (but, unlike English it is never rounded except when labialised).
2.1.2.1.5 The Trill

The trill /r/ is usually voiced and only briefly trilled. In the emphatic and exclamatory
pronunciation of a word the trill may be extended to what may seem to non-native speakers as an
extremely exaggerated degree. In normal to fast speech /r/ may be realised as a tap [À] and - especially
when flanked on one or both sides by a low vowel phone - it may even be realised as [®Û]. When /r/ is
the final consonant in a word and the final /ë/ of the word is elided the trill tends to be voiceless [r›]. The
trill belongs to the class of rhotics; see §2.1.2.2.1 for further discussion of this classification.
2.1.2.2 Phonetic Realisation of Consonants: PLACES

The bilabial, apico-alveolar, lamino-palatal and velar places of articulation do not appear to be
associated with any unique forms of realisation or with any unusual form of articulation that I am aware
of. This section will concentrate, therefore, on the remaining two places.
2.1.2.2.1 Apico-post-alveolars (and the rhotic class)
Associated with the apico-post-alveolar (retroflex) consonants are a number of features
audible on the preceding vowel. Some of these features are also associated with the trill /r/ and provide
the basis for identifying a class of rhotics (see fn. 18): a vowel before /r/ or before one of the apico-
post-alveolars will have an 'r-like' colouring (which I have not indicated in phonetic transcriptions), and
these consonants also provide the environment for a preceding /i/ to be high and long, for a /u/ to be
realised as [ò] initially, and for /ë/, following a labialised consonant, to also be realised as [ò]. Note the
contrasts in example set (24).
(24) ilpeme /ilpëmë/ [ìlpëÂmà] 'is protecting'

irlpe /ilÛpë/ [iÂ:lÛpà] 'ear'
ulpmernte /ulMënÚtë/ [ùlp¸mëÂnÚdÚà] 'dust storm'
urlpme /ulÛMë/ [òlÛp¸màÂ] 'narrow'
urrpme /urMë/ [òrp¸màÂ] 'chest scar'
A feature uniquely associated with apico-post-alveolar non-approximants is the fact that they
condition a palatal on-glide from a preceding /a/ vowel. The on-glide to the following apico-post-
alveolar non-approximant is most prominent when the /a/ is in initial position in a word (eg. 25 and also
Table 2-3).
(25) arlkweme /alÛk‚ëmë/ [a„lÛguÂmà] 'is eating'

arnterre /anÚtërë/ [a„nÚtëÂrà] 'do intensively, do 'hard''
There are also two environments where apico-post-alveolar non-approximants may be realised
as apico-alveolar consonants. These are in initial position and also following the trill across a /ë/. Thus,
for example, rlkerte /lÛkëtÛë/ 'sick' may be pronounced [lÛkëtÛà] or [lkëtÛà], and Arrernte
/arënÚtÛë/ may be pronounced [arënÚdÚà] or [arëndà].
It is interesting to note that when native speakers are learning to write Arrernte they will often
write an apico-alveolar consonant following medial /u/ as an apico-post-alveolar consonant. It appears
that this is related to the fact that medial /u/ is always realised as [ò:], and as noted above this quality of
vowel (not the length) can be conditioned by the presence of a following apico-post-alveolar consonant
(as a member of the rhotic class).
2.1.2.2.2 Lamino-inter-dentals
Lamino-inter-dentals vary in their production: a comparatively large proportion of the tongue
may protrude between the upper and lower sets of teeth (touching both sets), or the tongue may be
more retracted with the consonant being articulated with the tip of the tongue
contacting under the top front teeth. The typical production is somewhere between these extremes.
While the lamino-inter-dental stop is easily recognised because of its associated frication, the lamino-
inter-dental nasal and lateral are extremely difficult to distinguish - for an English speaker - from the
apico-alveolar nasal and lateral. In teaching English speakers Mparntwe Arrernte some native speakers
describe the difference by saying that the apico-alveolars are 'hard' while the lamino-inter-dentals are
'soft'. It is not clear, however, whether they are referring to a productional or an auditory aspect of
these consonants.
Certainly there are acoustic differences. Busby (1979:133) has shown that "laminality has the
acoustic characteristic of high frequency energy as compared to apicals and peripherals". As far as
laterals are concerned "the dental's F2 value is higher than that of the two apicals though not as high as
the palatal" (Busby 1979:51). With respect to nasals Busby (1979:55) found that higher F3 values
distinguish the laminals from the apicals and that a lower F2 value distinguished the dental from the
palatal nasal.
2.1.2.3 The Labialised Consonant Phonemes

In the production of labialised consonant phonemes rounding of the lips often occurs just prior to
closure, or approximation, of articulation and continues throughout. When a labialised consonant is the
last consonant in a word and is therefore in an open syllable, there is an audible labial off-glide. In
closed syllables the labial off-glide is audible when preceding /a/ and /i/, or when the consonant is
peripheral and preceding /ë/. There are no attested sequences /C‚u/. When non-peripheral labialised
consonants precede /ë/ in a closed syllable a labial off glide is imperceptible and the rounding from the
consonant causes /ë/ to be heard as [u], [ù], or [ò] (see §2.1.1.4). It is often tempting to associate these
manifestations of /ë/ with a /u/ vowel instead. However, it is easy enough to show that what might be
taken as /Cu/ sequences are in fact /C‚ë/ sequences.
The tests of this involves three of the productive verb reduplications (cf. §5.4.1): one that
reduplicates the initial #(V)C(C) of a stem and inserts -elpe- /-ëlpë-/ between copy and stem, and two
others which reduplicate the final (V)(C)Cë- of a verb stem (before adding tense) and then one inserts -
pe- /-pë-/between the stem and the copy and the other adds -nhe /-nˆë/ to both the stem and the
copy. Thus tanthe- 'to spear' becomes t-elpe-tanthe- (spear-C.Incep.rdp- ) 'to make as if to spear';
tanthe-p-anthe- (spear-FREQ.rdp-) 'to spear again and again' or tanthe-nh-anthe-nhe (spear-
NMZR.Hab.rdp) 'the one that always spears or pokes; the one that is always speared or poked'
However, a stem like pwert-irre- (rock-INCH-) 'to turn to stone; to become stingy or unfriendly', which
is pronounced [p‚òtÛìrë-], is pronounced [p‚ùlpàp‚òtÛiìrë-] once it undergoes the first type of
reduplication. Since this reduplication type only copies up to the first C(C) of the stem and not the
following vowel, we must assume that the [ù] vowel in the pronunciation arises from a copy of the initial
consonant /p‚/ being followed by the initial /ë/ of -elpe-. Note that purt-irre- (clump-INCH-) 'clumping
or clustering', which contains a real sequence of /pu/, is pronounced [pò:tÛìrë-] and when it undergoes
this first reduplication it is pronounced [pëlpàpò:tìrë-] (p-elpe-pwert-irre- 'to continue to be on the verge
of turning into stone') with only /p/ reduplicated and no associated rounding of the following vowel.
Similarly, with the second and third reduplication type (which copies the final (V)C(C) of the
stem) , a verb like ilwerne- 'to extinguish' which is pronounced [ìlònÚë-] is not reduplicated to give
*[ìlònÚàpònÚë-] or *[ilònÚànˆònÚënˆà], but is reduplicated as [ìlònÚàpënÚë-] (ilwerne-p-erne- 'to
extinguish again and again') or [ìlònÚànˆënÚënˆà] (ilwerne-nh-erne-nhe 'a fire extinguisher'). Thus what
is phonetically a sequence of rounded vowel plus consonant plus /ë/ (ie. [ònÚë-]) is, in fact, best treated
phonemically as /ë/ plus consonant plus /ë/ (ie. /ënÚë-/) with the first /ë/ being rounded by the preceding
C‚. It is the phonemic, not the phonetic, sequence which is reduplicated.
While these reduplication types demonstrate that many occurrences of a rounded medial vowel
in pronunciation are a consequence of some preceding consonantal feature of labialisation, they do not
demonstrate whether this feature arises from a cluster sequence (C)Cw or whether it is a feature of
unitary phoneme /C‚/. The unitary phoneme analysis has been chosen over the cluster analysis for two
reasons. Firstly, as described above, lip-rounding endures throughout a consonant's articulation. In their
production, therefore, there is no suggestion of a sequence whose latter part is labialised (ie. /w/).
Secondly, under this analysis, it emerges that there are no consonant clusters which consist of more than
two phonemes. If we accepted the cluster hypothesis to explain labialisation then we have the situation,
unusual for Australian languages, where there may be a cluster of three consonants (the final one being
w). The phonemicisation for a word like antywe 'nest' is, therefore, /an„‚t„‚ë/ and not /an„t„wë/.
A final point about labialised consonant phonemes, is that the labialisation may spread forward
or backward to affect /ë/ vowels in adjoining syllables. This is especially so if the adjoining syllable starts
with a bilabial consonant. An example of forward spreading is found in the word pwepelye /p‚ëpël„ë/
'tadpole', which in careful speech is realised as [puÂpël„à] but may, in normal to rapid speech, be
realised as [puÂpùlyà]. Backward spreading labialisation is exemplified by the skin name perrwerle
/për‚ëlÛë/ which may be pronounced as [pëÂròlÛà] or as [pòÂròlÛà].
2.2 Stress
The assignment of stress (primary, secondary, clitics, etc.) in Mparntwe Arrernte is not entirely
clear, and deserves fuller investigation. One rule that covers a large number of lexemes, is that stress is
assigned to the first syllable which is opened by a consonant.
(26) ineme /inëmë/ [inëÂmà] 'is getting'

neme /nëmë/ [nëÂmà] 'is sitting'
One source of counter-examples to this rule appears to arise when there is an initial /a/ and the
second vowel is /ë/. Some words meeting this description may have stress on either the /a/ or the /ë/.
The name Arrernte /arënÚtÛë/ itself may be realised as either [aÂrënÚdÚà] or [arëÂnÚdÚà]. Other
words may have stress only on the /a/, such as ampwe 'old' [aÂmbwà], or only on the /ë/, such as artwe
'man' [a„tÛwàÂ].
Another source of counter-examples to the general stress assignment rule arises when suffix or
clitic stress over-rides root stress. The verbal negator -tyekenhe, for instance has stress on its first
syllable and when this adds to a root which has the shape (V)C(C)ë- it is the stressed syllable of the
suffix which bears the primary word stress (eg. 27).
(27) ne-tyekenhe (be/sit-VbNEG) /nët„ëkënˆë/ [nët„ßàÂkënˆà] 'isn't; not

sitting'
The assignment of stress to suffixes and clitics is as problematic as that for simple lexemes, and I
can only reiterate that more work is required on this topic.
2.3 Phonotactics
2.3.1 Word Structure
Dixon (1980:127) describes the word structure norm for Australian languages as follows:
"...every word must consist of at least two syllables; each word must begin with a single consonant and
can end in a consonant or a vowel. There is just one vowel in each syllable; between any two vowels
there must be one, or a sequence of two, consonants. We can summarise this in a formula:
CV(C)CV(C)."
He later states (ibid:167) that "in many languages roots, as well as words must have at least two
syllables".
Mparntwe Arrernte shares with this Australian norm the fact that there are no diphthongs and
that the maximum consonant cluster size is two. It does, however, deviate from the norm in all other
ways.
To begin with, there are a small number of monosyllabic words; mainly, but not solely, pronouns
or interjections: the /t˜ë/ '1sgERG'; re /®Ûë/ '3sgS/A'; nge /Ñë/ '2sgS/A'; me /më/ 'here it is'; ngke
/Ñkë/ 'give it here'; mpe /mpë/ 'let's go'; mpwe /mp‚ë/ 'urine'. If we consider verb roots, then a significant
number of these are also monosyllabic. Amongst these are perhaps the most commonly used verbs in
the language.
(28) ne- 'sit, be' tne- 'stand' lhe- 'go (away); move; walk'
knge- 'carry' nthe- 'give' ntywe- 'drink'
The majority of words are, however, not disyllabic, but trisyllabic. Basic, underived, lexemes rarely
exceed four syllables.
(29) [3] arletye /alÛët„ë/ [a„lÛëÂd„? à] 'raw, uncooked'

[3] tengkwelknge /tëÑk‚ël ë/ [tëÂÑk‚ùlk¸Ñà] 'snot; a cold'
[4] inarlenge /inalÛëÑë/ [inaÂlÛëÑà] 'echidna'
[4] kwementyaye /k‚ëmën„t„ayë/ [kuÂmën„d„? ayà] 'no name'
Previous examples have shown that words need not begin with single consonants; they can begin
with vowels or consonant clusters. In fact, the majority of lexemes - more than 60% - begin with
vowels, and of those approximately 50% begin with /a/, 35% with /i/ and 15% with /u/. As far as
consonants occurring initially are concerned, the main constraints are:
i. the two apical series tend to neutralise to apico-alveolar initially,
ii. /û/ never occurs initially, and
iii. /Nˆ/ and /t˜‚/ are, as yet, unattested initially.
As noted previously, the first consonant in words which have an epenthetic 'a' initially, are here
considered as consonants which can occur initially.
One regular feature of Mparntwe Arrernte phonotactics is that all morphemes - roots, affixes,
and clitics - end with /ë/. This is not true in all Arandic dialects; Western Arrernte, for example, has both
/a/ and /ë/ morpheme finally. Cognate to Mparntwe Arrernte awe- /awë-/ 'to hear' and we- /wë-/ 'to
throw a missile at', Western Arrernte has we- /wë-/ and wa- /wa-/ respectively. Breen (ms.a:4) has
suggested that because of the predictability of this vowel word finally it would be better not to write it.
Arguments against this position are:
i. in citation forms this vowel provides a syllabic peak for counting the number of
syllables;
ii. native speakers hear it and so want it to be represented;
iii. it would mean that mono-syllabic words may be represented with a single
consonant or consonant cluster even though /ë/ is never elided in these words; and
iv. since all roots and affixes have equally predictable final vowel, the logical
extension of the non-representation of this vowel in writing, would be that suffixes
added directly to roots should, by rights, have no intervening vowel and could
therefore merge with the representation of clusters.
For these reasons I have chosen to represent the final /ë/ in both the phonemic and the orthographic
forms of morphemes.
To summarise, we can say that the smallest word structure is C(C)ë; the upper limit on simple
roots tends to be VC(C)VC(C)VC(C)ë or C(C)VC(C)VC(C)VC(C)ë, and the general word structure
with the highest frequency of occurrence is VC(C)VC(C)ë. All syllables are here analysed as being
open and the three occurring syllable shapes are : V, CV, or CCV. The fact that many consonant
clusters which occur medially also occur initially is taken as evidence that clusters begin syllables. This
account of syllable structure is not unproblematic as Breen (ms. 1988) points out.
2.3.2 Consonant Clusters
2.3.2.1 Homorganic clusters
Like all Australian languages (see Dixon 1980:166), Mparntwe Arrernte has homorganic nasal-
plus-stop sequences for all places of articulation. It is also among the minority of languages (op. cit.)
which have homorganic lateral-plus-stop sequences. These statements are true for labialised as well as
non-labialised consonant phonemes. Labialisation is best treated as a feature of the whole consonant
cluster, thus what is phonemicised as C‚C‚ is best understood as something like CWC (which is
analogous to an autosegmental representation of such forms). See table 2-4 for examples.
All consonant clusters may occur intervocalically. While all non-labialised homorganic clusters -
nasal-stop and lateral-stop - are attested word-initially, of the labialised homorganic clusters only
/m‚p‚/, /n„‚t„‚/, and /Ñ‚k‚/ are attested at the beginning of a word.
mpenge nthenhe ntange arntenge ntyeme ngkeme

/mpëÑë/ /nˆt˜ënˆë/ /ntaÑë/ /anÚtÛëÑë/ /n„t„ëmë/ /Ñkëmë/
[mbëÂÑà] [nˆt˜†ëÂnˆà ] [ndaÂÑà] [a„nÚdÚëÂÑà] [n„d„? ëÂmà]
[ÑgëÂmà]
'ripe, 'where?' 'flour seed' 'sister-in- 'is giving 'cracking out'
cooked' law' off odour'
altheme alte arlte altyele

/al˜t˜ëmë/ /altë/ /alÛtÛë/ /al„t„ëlë/
[al˜t˜†ëÂmà] [aÂldà] [ayldàÂ] [al„d„? ëÂlà]
'plucking 'hair' 'day' 'female
out' cousin'
ampwe intwarre arntwerreme ntyweme ngkwerne

/am‚p‚ë/ ? /in‚t‚arë/ /anÚ‚tÛ‚ërëmë/ /n„‚t„‚ëmë / /Ñ‚k‚ënÚë/
[aÂmbwà] [ìndwaÂrà] [a„nÚdÚòÂrëmë] [n„d„? uÂmà] [ÑgwëÂnÚà]
'old' 'the other 'is 'is 'bone, leg'
side' growling' drinking'
althwalthwe arltwe altywere

/al˜‚t˜‚al˜‚t˜‚ë/ ? /alÛ‚dÚ‚ë/ /al„‚t„‚ë®Ûë/
[al˜t˜†‚al˜t˜†‚à] [a„lÛdÚ‚wàÂ] [al„d„? òÂ®Ûà]
'rotten of 'empty' 'open'
wood'
Table 2-4 : Homorganic Clusters

2.3.2.2 Heterorganic Clusters
Heterorganic clusters can be divided into three types: (a) those that begin with an apical nasal,
(b) those that begin with an apical lateral, and (c) those that begin with an apical trill. Thus the first
element in any heterorganic cluster is apical. The second element for heterorganic clusters of type (a)
and (b) is always a peripheral consonant, while the second element for type (c) may be a peripheral
consonant or a laminal consonant.
The second element of a heterorganic cluster which begins with an apical nasal may be either a
peripheral stop or a peripheral nasal. As table 2-5 shows /k‚/ is the only labialised consonant phoneme
which can occur after the apical nasals. The ten clusters of this type only occur intervocalically.
p p‚ k k‚
anperre ankele ankwe

n(w) /anpërë/ /ankëlë/ /an‚k‚ë/
[anbëÂrà] [angëÂlà] [angwàÂ]
'shallow' 'male 'asleep'
cousin'
arnperrke arnkentye arnkwerte-arnkwerte

nÚ(w) /anÚpërkë/ /anÚkën„t„ë/ /anÚ‚k‚ëtÛë-anÚ‚k‚ëtÛë/
[a„nÚbëÂrkà] [a„nÚgëÂn„t„ßà ] [a„nÚg‚òÂtÛa„nÚg‚òÁtÛà]
'centipede' 'single 'crooked, zig-zag'
men's camp'
m m‚ Ñ Ñ‚
Anmatyerre annge
n /anmat„ërë/ /anÑë/
[anmaÂd„? ërà] [aÂnÑà]
' a language 'fruit, seed'
name'
iltyarnme aternnge
nÚ /il„t„anÚmë/ /atënÚÑë/
[ìl„t„ßaÂnÚmà] [atëÂnÚÑà]
'yabby' 'dirty'
Table 2-5 : Nasal-Initial Heterorganic Clusters
Lateral initial heterorganic clusters differ from nasal initial heterorganic clusters in two respects.
Firstly their second element is never a peripheral nasal, but may instead be a peripheral pre-stopped
nasal as well as a peripheral stop. Secondly, lateral-velar stop clusters are attested initially (eg. rlke
/lÛkë/ [lÛgà ~ lgà] 'wind'), while all other types only occur intervocalically. As with nasal initial
heterorganic clusters, there is a regular gap where one would expect to find a cluster with a labialised
bilabial second element (see table 2-6).
p p‚ k k‚
alpeme alkere atalkwe

l(w) /alpëmë/ /alkërë/ /atal‚k‚ë/
[albëÂmà] [alkëÂrà] [ataÂlg‚à]
'is going back' 'sky' 'across'
arlpentye arlkeme arlkweme

lÛ(w) /alÛpën„t„ë/ /alÛkëmë/ /alÛ‚k‚ëmë/
[a„lÛpëÂn„d„? à] [a„lÛgëÂmà] [a„lÛguÂmà]
'long' 'is calling 'is eating'
out to'
M M‚ ‚
tyelpme alknge alkngwirreme

l(w) /t„ëlMë/ /al ë/ /al‚ ‚irëmë/
[t„ßëÂlp¸mà ] [aÂlk¸Ñà] [alk¸Ñ‚irëmà]
'chips' 'eye' 'is forgetting'
arlpmenye Imerlknge irlkngwe
lÛ(w) /alÛMën„ë/ /imëlÛ ë/ /ilÛ‚ ‚ë/
[a„lÛp¸mëÂn„à] [imëlÛkÑà] [ilÛk¸Ñ‚à]
'ashes' 'place name’ 'burial pit'
Table 2-6 : Lateral Initial Heterorganic Clusters
The final type of heterorganic cluster, the trill-initial-cluster, also has either peripheral stops or
peripheral pre-stopped nasals as its second element. Unlike the previous two types, there are also
examples where the second element is a laminal stop or a labialised bilabial stop. A labialised lamino-
inter-dental stop is also attested in second position but there are no instances of labialised lamino-palatal
stop or any labialised nasals in second position (see table 2-7).
p p‚ k k‚ t˜ t˜‚ t„ t„‚
arrpenhe arrpwere urrke urrkwale urrthe arrthwarrthwe urrtyalthe

/arpënˆë/ /ar‚p‚ë®Ûë/ /urkë/ /ur‚k‚alë/ /urt˜ë/ /ar‚t˜‚ar‚t˜‚ë/ /urt„ë/
[arpëÂnˆà] [arp‚òÂ®Ûà] [òrkë] [òrk‚aÂlà] [òrt˜†à] [art˜†‚arÂt˜†‚à]
[òrt„ßaÂl˜t˜†à]
'(an)other' 'magpie' 'pus' 'mulga 'a type 'sp. of bird; 'liar'
country' of rock' owlet - nightjar'
M M‚ ‚ Nˆ Nˆ‚ N„ N„‚
urrpme urrknge irrtnye

/urMë/ /ur ë/ /irN„ë/
[òrp¸mà] [òrk¸Ñà] [irt¸n„à]
'scar' 'mushy' 'dry skin,
bark, husk'
Table 2-7 : Trill Initial Clusters
2.4 Morphophonological Processes

2.4.1 /ë/ elision
Wherever two morphemes are joined, the final /ë/ of the preceding morpheme disappears if the
following morpheme begins with a vowel.
(30) /ë/ Æ Ø / +VX
This rule applies to reduplication (31a), compounding (31b), case marking (31c), derivation (31d) and
cliticisation (31e).
(31) a. /ipëtÛë + ipëtÛë/ Æ [ipëÂtÛipëÁtÛà]

hole + hole 'rough, bumpy'
b. /aNë + iwë + më/ Æ [at¸niÂwùmà]

guts + throw away + npp' 'gutting an animal'
c. /Ñ‚k‚ëÑë + ipërë/ Æ [ÑgùÂÑipëÁrà]

2 sgDAT + AFTER 'after you; from you'
d. /atë®Ûë + al˜t˜ë/ Æ [atëÂ®Ûal˜t˜†à]

afraid + BadCHAR 'coward'
e. /t˜ë + i ë/ Æ [t˜†iÂk¸Ñà]
1sgERG + TOO MUCH 'I'm always the one (to do X)'
2.4.2 Deretroflection
Verb inflections beginning with the apico-post-alveolar (retroflex) phonemes /lÛ/ or /nÚ/ are
realised as alveolar [l] and [n] respectively when they attach to a stem ending in a non-labialised laminal
non-approximant followed by /ë/. This affects -rne 'past immediate' (eg. 32a) and -rle 'Generic Event'
(eg. 32b), as well as the following complexes beginning with -rle (cf. §5.4.3 & §6.5) : -rle.ne
'continuous'; -rle.pe 'do while going along'; -rle.lhe 'do & go' (eg. 32c); and -rl.alpe 'do & go back'.
(32) a. /l˜ë + nÚë/ Æ [l˜ëÂnà]

go + p.immed 'just went'
b. /n„t„ë + lÛë/ Æ [n„d„? ëÂlà]

give off odour + GenEvt 'stinks (inherently)'
c. /uNˆë + lÛë.l˜ë + më/ Æ [ut˜†nˆëÂlàl˜ëÁmà]
bite + do & go + npp 'is biting and going off'
That this is a morphophonogically conditioned rule, as opposed to a general phonological rule, is

shown by the following examples of simple lexemes in which /lÛ/ and /nÚ/ are realised as retroflexes
even though they follow a laminal across /ë/.
(33) ntyerle /n„t„ëlÛë/ [n„d„? ëlÛà] 'boning tool'

ntyerne- /n„t„ënÚë-/ [n„d„? ënÚë-] 'to smell (tr.)'
Chapter Three
Simple Noun Phrases, Nominals, and Nominal Morphology
As the subclasses of nominals are defined by the position they take up in a fully expanded noun
phrase, it will be useful to preface the discussion of nominals and nominal morphology with a discussion
of the structure of simple noun phrases.
3.1 Simple Noun Phrases

A simple noun phrase (NP) may be defined as one which has no further NPs embedded in it. On
this criterion NPs containing relative clauses, conjoined NPs, or NP-relator phrases (ie. possessives,
proprietives, etc.) are to be considered complex NPs, as are part-whole constructions and the
pronominal inclusion (ie. plural pronoun) construction (cf. §10.1). Simple NPs may be pronominal or
non-pronominal. A simple pronominal NP contains only a pronoun marked for case. Roughly speaking,
a fully expanded simple non-pronominal NP would contain the following slots in the given order:
[Classifier Noun]Hd Adj.P Quant.P Demonstrative 3pnDef -CASE

Figure 3-1 : Structure of a fully expanded simple noun phrase
In fact, while all other orderings are rigid, the ordering amongst the Adjective Phrase, Quantifier
Phrase, and Demonstrative slots is more fluid than given above and only the most typical ordering is
given. Case is suffixed to the final element of an NP and is the only slot which is obligatorily filled. Any
filler of any of the other slots may stand as the sole nominal in a NP, and every NP must contain at least
one nominal. Examples of simple NPs are given in (1).
(1) a. [inarlengeN]Hd [arrpenhe mape]Quant.P -ke

echidna other pl.(grp) -DAT
to the other echidnas [T6-4]
b. [crowbarN]Hd ulthe-ntyeAdj re3pnDEF -nhe

crowbar press down-NMZR(heavy) 3sg -ACC
(...carried) the heavy crowbar [T7-5]
c. [ngkwarleClass untyeyeN]Hd nhengeDem -Ø

nectar/honey corkwood REMEMB -NOM(S)
that corkwood nectar (is ...) [T3-1]
d. [Ø]Hd nhenheDem re3pnDEF -Ø

---- this 3sg -A(ERG)
This one (used to invite ...) [T9-5]
Whenever an adjective, quantifier, demonstrative, and/or third person pronoun (acting as a type
of definiteness marker) occur(s) in a NP without a classifier nominal or a noun, then the particular entity
referred to by the NP must be understood (ie. given) from the immediate speech context. In other
words, there is an ellipsed head in such cases and the modifiers which are used to identify the referent of
the NP function anaphorically. In texts such NPs tend to convey subsequent, rather than initial, mentions
of a participant (eg. 2).
(2) Artwe kngerre nyente-Ø irrp-intye-ke. ... Kngerre re

angke-ke:
man big one-NOM(S) go into-DO COMING-pc. ... big 3sgS
speak-pc:
One big man came in. ... The big one said:
Classifiers and nouns together form a complex head, but either may occur as the only member of
the head of the simple NP. Classifiers are nominals which refer to a general category (eg. kere 'game
animal') and the noun with which they co-occur must be a member of the category indicated (eg. aherre
'kangaroo'). There are cases where classifiers, like the modifiers mentioned above, act to refer back to a
specifically mentioned entity (ie. an aforementioned noun which is a member of the classifier's category),
but they may also be used when the referent of the noun phrase is the general category itself. Unlike
the modifiers which occur outside the head, classifiers always, and only, reaffirm properties inherent to
the range of entities to which the noun term may apply. However, not all nouns have a corresponding
classifier. This means that, while all NPs may contain a noun, not all NPs can contain a classifier.
3.2 Case
Case is discussed in detail in chapter 4. The fourteen cases and their realisation on selected
nominals is given in table 3-1. Boxes and asterisks in the table indicate where a nominal shows the same
form for more than one case and underlining indicates the suffixes which realise the various cases.
Table 3-1 : Mparntwe Arrernte cases and their realisation on different nominals
3.3 Nouns and Adjectives

Dixon (1980:274) observes that in Australian languages it may "be difficult to formulate an
entirely grammatical criterion to distinguish adjectives from nouns". Amongst the reasons for this are the
facts that "in most Australian languages nouns and adjectives take the same inflections, and they can
generally occur in either order in an NP (loc.cit.)."
As mentioned previously, while all nominals in Mparntwe Arrernte may bear the same cases, they have a
fixed ordering within a simple non-pronominal NP. Whenever an NP contains both a noun and an
adjective, the noun must precede the adjective.
There are cases, however, where a form bears both a noun sense and an adjective sense, but
this is not very common. When this does occur, the form may occur twice in the same NP functioning as
both head and modifier. For example, iperte means both 'hole' and 'deep' and the NP iperte iperte (hole
deep) means 'deep hole'. In such an example the first form is always identified by speakers as the noun
and the second as the adjective.
It is also worth pointing out that certain adjectives may have a derived noun form. For instance,
there is the adjective kngerre 'big' as well as the noun kngerrepenhe 'big one; something that is big'.
Moreover, nominal reduplication frequently derives adjectives from nouns, but never appears to derive
nouns from adjectives (see §3.10.5).
Adjectives occur within an adjectival phrase which allows for more than one adjective to appear
together within a NP. By contrast, a simple NP may contain only one noun, noun compounds
notwithstanding. Both nouns and adjectives (as well as verbs and adverbs) may be modified by the
intensifier nthurre, but with nouns this is interpreted as 'real, true' as in artwe nthurre (man INTENS) 'a
real man [one who has been initiated]', while with adjectives it is interpreted as 'very' as in kngerre
nthurre (big INTENS) 'very big'.
Nouns and adjectives are both rich open classes. Prototypical nouns refer to tangible entities
but, contra Strehlow (1944:62), there are also a substantial number of primary abstract nouns (eg.
altyerre 'Dreamtime, dream,God'; ahentye 'desire'). Adjectives cover the full range of semantic subtypes
identified by Dixon (1982:1-62). These are: value, dimension, physical property, colour, human
propensity, age, value, and speed.
3.4 Classifiers
Earlier it was noted that the head of a noun phrase may be complex, containing both a classifier
and a noun in that order. What are here called classifiers have frequently been called 'generic nouns' for
other Australian languages (cf. Yidiñ, Dixon 1977; Yankunytjatjara, Goddard 1983). Classifier is
preferred here because it acknowledges the similarity in function of these forms with classifier forms
described for languages outside Australia. The complex head may be called a classifier construction or,
more conventionally within the Australianist context, a generic-specific construction.
To date, nineteen classifier nominals have come to light and in all cases they have at least one
other related sense. This other sense is always a noun, rather than a classifier,
sense. These classifiers may be divided into three types: social status classifiers; inherent nature
classifiers and function/use classifiers.
3.4.1 Social Status Classifiers

Social status classifiers refer to people (including totemic beings) and places. Unlike other
classifiers, these terms may all precede 'skin' names (ie. subsection names cf.§1.2.4.1) and group names
to identify the general group a person or place belongs to. Furthermore they may all precede nouns
referring to animals, plants, and natural phenomena to indicate the totemic affiliation of a person or a
place. The four members of this class are given in (3).
(3) artwe 'initiated man' eg. artwe alartetye (man leader) 'spokesman'
relhe 'woman' eg. relhe aleperentye (woman f.kurdaitcha) 'kurdaitcha
woman'
ampe 'child' eg. ampe yeperenye (child k.o. caterpillar) 'child of
Yeperenye totem'
pmere 'place' eg. pmere Mparntwe (place Mparntwe) 'Alice
Springs'
For Yankuntjatjara Goddard (1983, 94) uses the label 'social status generics' to cover a similar
class which only refers to people. That places in Mparntwe Arrernte fall within the same grouping is not
unusual. In Wilkins (1987), I pointed out that kin terms, totems, and places are often treated in the same
way by the grammar. For instance pronominal kin possessor suffixes (cf. §3.9.1) may attach to certain
nouns referring to country as well as attaching to kin terms. Further, as noted in §§1.2.3-4, all places
are associated with one of four patrilineal semi-moieties and so have subsection names associated with
them, thus enabling kin terms to be applied to places. Moreover, for certain other Arandic languages,
such as Alyawarra, "places count as human for the purposes of interrogative pronoun usage" (Yallop,
1977:100; see also Strehlow 1944: 98).
3.4.2 Inherent Nature Classifiers

'Inherent nature classifiers' classify together entities that share a large number of physically
perceptible or physically associated characteristics. There are eight members of this grouping as shown
in (4) and, as one Mparntwe Arrernte speaker pointed out, the classes cover the things that one typically
finds in, and immediately around, one's camp.
(4) thipe 'flying, fleshy creatures (birds and bats)' eg. thipe angepe 'a crow'
yerre 'ants' eg. yerre lkerrke 'black meat ants'
arne 'ligneous plants (trees, bushes) eg. arne ilwempe 'ghost gum'
name 'long grasses' eg. name lyentye ' k.o. creek grass'
ntange 'seeds of a nut or grain-like nature' eg. ntange tnyeme 'seeds of witchetty
bush'
ure 'fire related entities' eg. ure kwerte 'smoke'
kwatye 'water related entities' eg. kwatye urewe 'river, flood'
pwerte 'rock related entities' eg. pwerte athere 'a grinding stone'
3.4.3 Function/Use Classifiers

'Function/use classifiers' categorise together entities which people acquire, use, and prepare in
much the same way. The seven attested function/use classifiers are given in (5).
(5) kere 'meat creatures (ie. game animals)' eg. kere aherre 'kangaroo'
merne 'edible foods from plants' eg. merne langwe 'bush banana'
ngkwarle 'sweet honey-like foods/drinks' eg. ngkwarle urltampe 'sugar bag, native
honey'
tyape 'edible grubs' eg. tyape tnyematye 'witchetty grub'
ingwelpe 'native tobacco' eg. ingkwelpe mpurnpe 'hill country
tobacco'
awelye 'medicines' eg. awelye untyeye 'corkwood tree
medicine'
arne 'artifact, useable thing' eg. arne irrtyarte 'a spear'
These classifiers are only used when one is thinking of an entity from the point of view of how it is used,
or from the point of view of what one wants to do with it. Thus a kangaroo (aherre) or echidna
(inarlenge) that is being hunted for its meat will be referred to as kere aherre 'game-animal kangaroo' or
kere inarlenge 'game-animal'. However, when, for instance a kangaroo or an echidna is a major
protagonist in a story and is given certain human or supernatural characteristics, the classifier kere 'meat;
game animal' is never used (see texts 4 and 10 in appendix 2).
3.4.4 Use of two classifiers together

Since entities that have similar structural properties may not have the same uses, and entities that
have similar functions may have extremely different structural characteristics, it should not be surprising
that there is overlapping membership between the classes designated by certain inherent nature classifiers
and those designated by certain function/ use classifiers. For instance, nyengke 'zebra finch' is both a
kind of thipe 'flying, fleshy creature' and a type of kere 'meat creature'. Ngepe 'crow', on the other hand
is also a kind of thipe but, because its flesh is not edible, it cannot be classified as kere.
Where an entity belongs to two different classifications the noun which refers to the entity may be
preceded by both classifier nominals at the same time. There is, however, a strict ordering of
function/use classifier before inherent nature classifier.
(6) a. kere thipe nyengke b. arne pwerte athere c. merne ntange

arlepe
meat BIRD zebra finch artifact rock grind.stone
veg.food seed prickly wattle
a zebra finch (edible) ; a grinding stone (useable) ; prickly wattle seeds
(edible)
Classifier constructs (generic-specific constructs) have often been treated as consisting of nouns
in apposition, but I have avoided that analysis for the following reason. Unlike other constructions
where nouns are in apposition, such as part-whole constructions and noun compounds, one element of
the construction - the classifier - can be used on its own to refer back to the entity described earlier by
the full classifier construction (eg. 7).
(7) ... re petyalpe-ke ngkwarle urlt-ampe-kerte, ... .

3sgS come back-pc sweet-stuff hollow-honey-PROP, ... .
... re nyent-irre-tyeke alhe-ke, ngkwarle impe-nhe-me-le.
... 3sgS one-INCH-PURP go-pc sweet-stuff leave-DO PAST-npp-
SS.
... he returned with some sugarbag (ie. native honey), ... . ... he left the
honey behind as he went past to meet with (the white man). [From Rice in
Hendersen (1986:28); my morphological analysis and translation]
As I pointed out earlier (cf. §3.1) this 'anaphoric' function resembles that of other noun modifiers; thus I
prefer to analyse classifiers (in their classifying function) as a separate nominal class from nouns.
3.5 Quantifiers
Marking of number in the NP is optional and count nouns without quantifiers may have a singular
or a non-singular interpretation (eg. artwe 'man' or 'men'). Quantifiers may be used when one wants, or
needs, to be more specific.
As well as filling a specific slot in the NP (cf. figure 3-1), quantifiers in Mparntwe Arrernte may
be identified by their ability to be derived, through suffixation of -ngare 'TIMES' (cf. §7.4.3.3), into
adverbs indicating the number of times an action was repeated.
(8) nyente-ngare one-TIMES once

arrpenhe-ngare another-TIMES another time, again
mape-ngare pl(grp)-TIMES a lot of times
alakentye thus many-times as many times as this (indicating)
Quantifiers may be further subdivided into amounts, collectives, and increase terms.
3.5.1 'Amount' quantifiers

With count nouns, amount quantifiers indicate, with varying degrees of exactitude, the number of
individuals belonging to the set of things referred to by the NP. With mass nouns, an idea of the
measure, or amount, of the substance referred to is provided. The most common amount quantifiers are
given in (9).
(9) nyente 'one; alone; same; a' atningke 'many, large number of'
therre 'two; a pair' arunthe 'many; much, large amount of'
urrpetye 'a few; three' arrpenheme 'some'
3.5.2 'Collective' quantifiers

Collective quantifiers do not give an actual indication of the size of the quantity involved but,
instead, convey that the referents of the NP form an identifiable group or mass.
(10) mape 'a group; plural marker [pl(grp)]'

ingkirre(ke) 'all, everything together'
The collective quantifiers are unique in that, even when the group referred to is composed of a
large number of individuals, they can co-occur with either a singular or a plural third person definitising
pronoun (cf.§3.7.3). When a singular definitising pronoun is used, the group referred to is being
focussed upon as a singular entity in its own right (eg. 11 a.). If the focus is on the individuals of which
the group is composed, then a plural definitising pronoun is used (eg. 11 b.).
(11) a. Kngwelye mape re artwe alethenge artange-le uthne-ke.

dog pl(grp) 3sgA man stranger(O) co-operatively-ADV bite-pc
The pack of dogs (jointly) attacked the stranger.
b. Ingwe-le Ayeperenye mape itne irrarnp-irre-re-ke, ...

night-LOC [sacred caterpillar] pl(grp) 3plS scatter-INCH-plS/A-pc,
...
In the night the ancestral Yeperenye caterpillars scattered (in all directions), ...
3.5.3 'Increase' quantifiers

Increase quantifiers convey that the referent of a NP represents some form of increase in the
number or measure of a previously identified set or mass. Examples of such quantifiers include arrpenhe
'other, another' and awethe 'more; again.
3.5.4 Quantifier Phrases

A quantifier phrase can be formed by modifying a member of one of the three general quantifier
categories with a member from another category, as the examples in (12) show.
(12) a. artwe therre arrpenhe b. artwe arrpenhe therre

man two other man other two
two other men another two men
c. kere arrpenhe-me awethe d. kngwelye atningke ingkirreke

meat other-UQ(some) more dog many all
some more meat all of the many dogs
In §3.10.3.5 of this chapter the derivation of other quantifiers using -me 'unified quantity' is
discussed. It is also worth noting that the forms kngerre 'big; a large amount of' and kweke 'small, a little
bit' function both as adjectives and as quantifiers.
3.6 Demonstratives
Forms which fill the demonstrative position in a simple noun phrase are of two types. Firstly
there are a set of demonstratives which basically convey spatially deictic information and secondly there
is a single form nhenge 'remember' which indicates that an entity has been mentioned previously. In this
section we will also discuss the demonstrating form alakenhe 'like so, thus'.
3.6.1 Spatially Deictic Demonstratives

The spatially deictic demonstratives are given in table 3-2 and it is necessary to point out that
all members of this class have both nominal and adverbal uses. Thus, a form like nhenhe can mean either
'this' (eg. 13a) or 'here' (eg. 13 b).
(13) a. Artwe kngerre nhenhe re kere aherre tyerre-ke.

man big this 3sgA game kangaroo shoot-pc
This big man shot a kangaroo.
b. Re re-nhe tyerre-ke nhenhe nthurre.

3sgA 3sg-ACC shoot-pc here INTENS
He shot it right here (at this place).
Further, these Mparntwe Arrernte demonstratives are of interest because they make a distinction
between whether or not a person is asserting that they are "certain" that something is in a particular
location or whether or not they are just guessing that it is there. As will be seen below (cf. §3.6.1.2),
this distinction between "certainty" and "uncertainty" need not have anything to do with visibility, and so
this distinction is different from the better known "visible-invisible" distinction described for
demonstratives in languages in other parts of the world (see for instance Anderson and Keenan
1985:289-295).
Table 3-2 : Spatially Deictic Demonstratives
Since modifiers frequently stand in place of the heads they would modify, there is no need to
distinguish demonstrative adjectives from demonstrative pronouns in Mparntwe Arrernte as one does in
English. This is related to another point of contrast between English and Mparntwe Arrernte. Halliday
and Hasan (1976:62) note for English that a demonstrative acting as the head of a NP "cannot refer to a
human referent except in the special environment of an equative clause." As example (14) attests, this is
not true for Mparntwe Arrernte.
(14) ..., unte gotta ampe kweke yanhe mwantye nthurre-le

..., 2sgA have to child little that(mid) carefully INTENS-ADV
atnyene-rle kwenhe, arntarntare-rle yanhe kwenhe."
hold-GenEvt ASSERT, look after-GenEvt that ASSERT
..., you have to hold onto that little child carefully, (you must) look after that
one. [T12-5]
Semantically, the spatially deictic demonstratives are inherently locative. That is, they all contain
the component 'be at' in their semantic decomposition and they function to draw the attention of the
addressee to a spatial region in which an entity or event is located (see Lyons 1977:654). As such,
when they occur on their own, they may occur optionally with, or without, the three case markers which
have a locative function (ie. -le 'locative' [cf. §4.2.4.3], -ke 'dative'[endpoint location; cf.§4.2.5.1], and
-nge 'ablative' [beginning point and dynamic location; cf. §4.2.6.1]). This optionality with respect to
cases manifesting locative function is not available to other nominals, with the exception of place names,
nor is it available to fuller NPs which contain a demonstrative and some other nominal (see egs. in 15).
(15) a. Artwe re inte-me nhakwe(-le) / ntyame nhakwe*(-le)

man 3sgS lie-npp that[dist](-LOC) / swag that[dist]-LOC
The man is sleeping on that (one) over there / on that swag over there.
b. The thipe are-ke nhenhe(-ke) / arne*(-ke).
1sgA bird see-pc this(-DAT) / tree-DAT
I saw the bird in this one / in the tree.
c. Relhe nhenge-le yanhe(-nge) / pmere*(-nge) kaltye-nthe-me.

womanREMEMB-ERG that[mid](-ABL) / camp-ABL
knowledge-give-npp
That woman (you know the one) teaches in that (one)/ in that camp.
Another reflection of the close relation between these demonstrative forms and locatives is the
fact that two of these demonstratives, nhenhe 'this; here' and yanhe 'that(mid); there (mid)', can be
optionally contracted with the locative case -le to give nhele and yale. All other cases, with the possible
exception of the dative, must be built on the long stem form of these demonstratives.
In keeping with their function, all seven of these forms take part in an ostensive equational frame
which is very common in day to day interaction and which is used to point out what and/or where
something is. The frame is made up of a demonstrative in initial position, followed by the NP which
refers to the thing to be identified and finally there may be an optionally occurring existential predicate
which indicates the stance of the entity (ie. ne- 'exist sitting'; inte- 'exist lying'; and tne- 'exist standing').
See example (16). In the canonical situation of utterance, this ostensive structure would be accompanied
by a paralinguistic gesture directed towards the entity in question.
(16) Nhenhe / Yanhe / Nhakwe aherre (ne-me).

this / that(mid) / that(dist) kangaroo (be-npp).
This/ That / That-over-there is a kangaroo.
Table 3-2 (p. 111) shows that a number of subsets can be identified within the larger group of
spatially deictic demonstratives. A first division can be drawn between one form, alertekwenhe 'that;
there', which is only used to refer "to the environment in which the dialogue is taking place - to the
'context of situation' as it is called" (Halliday & Hasan 1976:18), and the other forms which may share
this first use but are also used to refer to a situation set up by the text which may be totally disembodied
from the actual situation of utterance. In other words, these demonstratives are distinguished as to
whether they are solely exophoric or whether they can have both exophoric and anaphoric uses.
3.6.1.1 Alertekwenhe 'that; there (exophoric)"
The only form which is solely exophoric is alertekwenhe 'that; there (while pointing)'. It is used
when pointing out a physical object or event to the addressee, the location of which is not close to either
the speaker or the addressee. There is always a paralinguistic gesture which accompanies the use of
this demonstrative. Most often it is a simple pointing gesture either with the hand, or sometimes with the
eyes or lips. Alertwekwenhe 'that; there (while pointing)' also appears to entail, unlike the other
demonstratives, that the entity/event which has been indicated is visible.
Since this form is only used in real, situated, conversation, I have no instances of it occurring in
narrative texts. It does, however, appear in situated expository texts (eg. 17).
(17) Pmere kngerre nhenhe ne-ke. Alertekwenhe pmere ingkirreke

place big this be/sit-pc There(pointing) place all
artwe-kenhe, artwe-kenhe pmere.
man-POSS, man-POSS place.
This used to be an important place. That there (pointing to a particular site),
was a place for all men, a men's site.
The meaning of alertekwenhe can be rendered as follows:

The thing[entity or event] I am talking about is at a place which is away from where you and I are. I
assume you can see it [It's the thing that I am showing you].
3.6.1.2 "Certain" vs. "Uncertain" forms

The remaining six spatially deictic demonstratives further divide into two subsets. Each subset
exhibits a three-way distinction as far as location is concerned. They can refer to 'the place which I think
of as the place where I am' (ie. the place where speaker is; nhenhe & nhengkenhe); or 'a place, which
(when thinking about more than two places) I think of as being close to the place that I am in' (ie. yanhe
& yalange); or 'a place, which (when thinking about more than two places) I think of as not being close
to the place that I am in' (ie. nhakwe & nhawerne). These distinctions correspond to the traditional
deictic notions of 'proximal', 'medial' and 'distal'. The pair of demonstratives which correspond to any
one 'distance' also share the same initial syllable: nhe- 'proximal'; ya- 'medial' and nha- 'distal'. There is
no consistent patterning to the endings that these forms take and it would not appear that these forms are
synchronically analysable into smaller morphemic units.
In the explications of deictic distance given above I have tried to show that the interpretation of
distance from the speaker is relative. Three things in a line leading from the speaker which would all be
considered physically close to the speaker can still be differentiated in terms of their relative proximity to
the speaker. The middle thing in the line, for instance, is not at the place where speaker is since this is
reserved for the closest entity, but it is close to the place where speaker is when considering the position
of the third item.
Two things which are both considered to be in the place where the speaker is must both be
referred to by proximal forms. This is unlike English where 'this' and 'that' can be used to set up a
contrast regardless of actual distance from speaker. So, while in English one can say : 'Do I do it with
this hand or that hand?' the Mparntwe equivalent would have to be 'Do I do it with this (nhenhe) hand,
or this (nhenhe) hand?' To make the contrast more explicit, for the second reference one could use 'iltye
arrpenhe nhenhe-rle peke' (hand other this-FOC maybe) 'or this other hand'.
The semantic distinction between the two subsets referred to above has to do with how certain
the speaker is that the thing (entity or event) referred to by the demonstrative is actually in the location
indicated (regardless of visibility). Underlying the 'certain' subset is an assertion that the speaker knows
the location of the entity, underlying the "uncertain" set is the semantic component 'I have a reason to
think that the thing I'm talking about is in the place I say it is, but I can not say "I know it"'.
The 'certain' subset contains nhenhe 'this; here', yanhe 'that(mid); there(mid)' and nhakwe
'that(dist); yonder'. These forms occur with much greater regularity than the 'uncertain' forms since they
describe the unmarked situation, for demonstratives, where a speaker describes the situation of known
entities in known proximity to the speaker. In other words, the typical situation is one where a definite
referring description, such as that provided by demonstratives, asserts the truth or accuracy of the
description with respect to the referent (Lyons 1977:177-97).
Lyons (1977:183) has argued convincingly, however, that "successful reference does not depend
upon the truth of the description contained in the referring expression." It seems quite clear that a
speaker can have a specific referent in mind, and yet be uncertain of the evidence upon which s/he is
predicating a referring expression with respect to that entity. When using the 'uncertain' demonstratives,
the speaker has a definite referent in mind and there is evidence which calls up a definite location with
know proximity, but the speaker is not sure that the definite location can be predicated of the specific
referent. Thus, in using these demonstratives, the speaker indicates that s/he is uncommitted to the
validity of what s/he is saying, even though there is some sort of evidence that it may be true. In
describing the 'uncertain' subset, which consists of nhengkenhe 'this; here (uncertain)', yalange 'that(mid);
there(mid)(uncertain)' and nhawerne 'that(dist); yonder' (uncertain)', speakers will call them 'guessing'
words or will mention that 'you haven't seen it yourself'. Thus somebody reporting secondhand about a
fight that was supposed to be taking place beyond a big hill said:
(18) Nhawerne twe-rre-me, pwerte ingkerne-nge.
yonder(uncert) hit-RECIP-npp, hill behind-ABL
There's supposed to be fighting yonder, behind the hill.
When questioned as to why nhawerne was used instead of nhakwe the speaker answered "I don't know
if it's true, I haven't been there."
Another situation in which the 'uncertain' demonstratives are used is when several people are
taking something to be true in their conversation, and another person, who does not share the same
background knowledge, enters into the conversation to check whether the proposition they are taking as
fact is indeed true. In example 19, two people B and C both knew that a certain Catholic sister had
returned to Alice Springs after several years absence and were taking this as given in their conversation,
while speaker A did not know this fact and uses the 'uncertain' demonstrative nhengkenhe 'this; here
(uncertain)' to check her assumption that Sister R. is now 'here' in Alice Springs.
(19) B to C: Yaye R. re ayenge knge-ke pmere Les-kenhe-werne.

sister R. 3sgA 1sgO take-pc home Les-POSS-ALL
Sister R. took me to Les's house.
A: Re-me nhengkenhe?
3sgS-INTERR here(uncert)
Is she really (ie. Sister R.) here (in Alice Springs)?
As well as hearsay evidence, a speaker may 'uncertainly' indicate that an entity is in a specific
location of the basis of some actual or imagined perceptual evidence which does not provide enough
information for an exact identification. Such perceptual evidence may be shadows passing by, noises
beyond some barrier, or even olfactory impressions. For instance, while watching a murder mystery film
which had a scene where two silhouettes were performing some indistinct actions one speaker said:
(20) Ar-Ø-aye! Artwe yalange-le re-nhe twe-me.

see-IMP-EMPH! man that[mid](uncert)-ERG 3sg-ACC kill-npp.
Nhengekenhe-le arrpenhe mape twe-ke.
this(uncert)-ERG other pl(grp) kill-pc
Have a look! That man, I think, is killing her. This one killed the others (I
suppose).
In example (20) the speaker is venturing a guess both that a murder is happening and that it is a man
who is performing the murder. The location of the figures on the screen is not in question, only how they
are to be interpreted.
One further example brings out fairly clearly the distinction between the 'certain' and 'uncertain'
demonstrative forms. One Mparntwe Arrernte woman and I had been working together in an office and
I went out briefly to another room. At that time a person called Kwementyaye had just returned to the
building and I saw him and spoke to him. When I went back to the office the woman asked me:
(21) Ngwenhe-me yalange?

who-INTERR there[mid](uncert)
Who (if anyone) is out there?
I incorrectly answered *"Kwementyaye yalange", and she corrected me by saying:
(22) Kwementyaye yanhe!

Kwementyaye there(mid)
Kwementyaye is there!
She explained that she had used yalange 'there (mid)(uncertain)' because she had only heard something
that made her think someone else might have come in, she didn't see anyone and she wasn't sure
someone was there. On the other hand, since I had seen Kwementyaye and knew he was there, I could
only use yanhe 'there (mid)(certain)', even though I couldn't see him when I was reporting his location.
The above examples demonstrate how the 'uncertain' subset of demonstratives is rooted largely
in the actual situation of utterance. They are used infrequently, and it would seem that younger speakers
are not using these forms and are instead starting to use the 'certain' set exclusively. Anaphoric uses of
the 'uncertain' demonstratives, as with nhengkenhe 'this (uncertain)' in example (20), are quite rare.
Because of the infrequency of their use, it is not clear how their range of discourse functions compares
with that to be discussed for the 'certain' subset of spatially deictic demonstratives.
Table 3-3 : Preliminary definitions of the spatial sense of 'certain' and 'uncertain' demonstratives
Preliminary explications for the six forms under discussion are given in table 3-3. There are
several features of the definitions which are worth noting. Firstly, these demonstratives are regarded as
predicates, based on 'be at', which locate an entity or an event at a place, the location of which is
determined with respect to the place that the speaker regards as his/her present location. Following
from this fact is the fact that the components in the explication of nhenhe (this; here), the proximal
'certain' form, are essentially contained within the explication of all other forms. Finally, the meaning of
the 'certain' forms is fully contained in, and provides the basis for, the corresponding 'uncertain' forms.
The sense of certainty attributed to the 'certain' forms is derived in part from the systematic contrast with
the overt semantics of the 'uncertain' subset and in part from the declarative form of the definition. An
'uncertain' non-proximal form, such as yalange 'that (mid)(uncertain)', therefore, manifests two levels of
semantic inclusion: 'uncertain' (yalange) contains 'certain' (yanhe) and non-proximal (yanhe) contains
proximal (nhenhe). It is important to realise that the definitions given are for what Fillmore (1975:40)
calls the gestural sense of the deictic expressions and are not necessarily the same for the possible
related symbolic or anaphoric senses of these demonstratives.
3.6.1.3 Discourse use of the 'certain' demonstratives

An interesting feature of the use of the 'certain' demonstratives is that when a non-proximal form
is used exophorically to introduce a place or a thing at a place, then the next mention of it, an anaphoric
mention, is often by use of the demonstrative which is one degree of proximity closer to the 'zero point'
(Lyons 1977:638) or 'place of speaking'. The distal form can be replaced by the medial form (eg. 23a)
and the medial form can be replaced by the proximal form (eg. 23b; see also eg. 20).
(23) a. Ingwe-le travel-irre-ke nhakwe (pointing), Imerle-werne-

theke.
night-LOC travel-INCH-pc there(dist) [pointing], Emily
Gap-ALL-wards
Ahelhe-ke itne irrpe-tye.lhe-ke yanhe-ke.
ground-DAT 3plS go into-GO&DO-pc there(mid)
Yanhe-le lyete ne-me re, ...
There(mid)-LOC now be-npp 3sgS, ...
During the night (they the sacred caterpillars) travelled over there[dist] (to
place pointed to), towards Emily Gap. And when they got there they entered
into the ground there[mid]. There[mid] is where they are now, ...
b. Urreye re-therre pmere Uletherrke yanhe are-tye.lhe-ke.
boy 2dl A place Mt.Zeil there(mid) see-GO&DO-pc.
Nhenhe-nge-ntyele re-therre awethe-'gain lhe-me-le ...
Here-ABL-onwards 2dlS again-same again go-npp-SS ...
The two boys came upon Mt. Zeil which is there(mid). From here the two of
them travelled off again ...
In example (23) a. and b. it is as if by bringing a place, or a thing in a place, into the addressee's
apprehension one brings it a step closer to the actual speech situation. This phenomenon, although
common, is not to be seen as the rule. The other common alternative is to use the same demonstrative
as is used exophorically for the later anaphoric reference (eg. 24).
(24) Arne yanhe (pointing) kngerre nthurre kwete.

tree that(mid) [pointing] big INTENS still
Yanhe-nge-ntyele intelyape-lyape arrate-ke.
that(mid)-ABL-onwards butterflies appear-pc.
That(mid) tree (indicating the one) is still very important(sacred).
It's from out of that(mid) one that the (Dreamtime) butterflies appeared.
In traditional narratives the 'zero point' for deictic reference is the place in the story at which the
story starts, or restarts if a major protagonist repeats events in different places. The proximal form is,
therefore, used in reference to this place and movement from that place will result in the new location
being treated (at least initially) as non-proximal. In the text from which example (25) comes, a demon is
chased out of a camp that he had visited ('zero point') and he is killed at a point away from the camp,
which accounts for the medial form yanhe 'that(mid); there(mid)' being used.
(25) ... kenhe atningke re kenhe alwerne-rlenge. ... Kele

re-nhe
... BUT crowd(many) 3sgA BUT chase-DS. ... OK 3sg-ACC
anteme itne twe-ke, yanhe antime re uyerre-ke, kunye.
now 3plA kill-pc, there(mid) exactly 3sgS disappear-pc, poor-thing
... but the crowd was chasing him. ... So then they killed him and he died
right there(mid), poor thing. [T11-43,47,48]
Even when there is no spatial sense of proximity, the proximal form nhenhe 'this; here' can be
used in texts to refer anaphorically to a major protagonist or to an immediately preceding definite NP
acting as the present focus of discourse. It thus refers to something which is in one's immediate
apprehension and is relevant to the 'here and now' of the text itself. For instance, in example (26),
which is taken from the same text as example (25), nhenhe 'this' is used in a NP referring to the major
protagonist (a demon masquerading as a man) because he is being reintroduced into the text at the
beginning of a new series of events in the narrative.
(26) Arlte arrpenhe-le anteme, artwe nhenhe lhe-ke anteme pmere kngerre-
werne.
day other-LOC now, man this go-pc now camp big-ALL
Then, on another day, this man went to a big camp. [T11-27]
Finally it should be mentioned that the 'certain' demonstratives can manifest what Halliday and
Hasan (1976:52-53; 66-67) label 'extended reference'. They define this term as the "use of
demonstratives to refer to extended text, including text as 'fact' ...' (1976:66). In this function these
demonstratives often show up at the point in a text where the narrator is winding up the story s/he has
just told and a demonstrative is used to make reference to the whole text (eg. 27).
(27) a. Nhenhe anteme kweke arntnerre-ntye ikwere-kerte

this now little crawl-NMZR 3sgDAT-PROP
ayeye nhenhe re ne-ke.
story this 3sgS be-pc.
This then was about the crawling baby, that's what this story was. [T12-148]
b. Kele angke-tye ware-rle ile-rne yanh-aye.

OK speak-NMZR DISM-FOC tell-p.immed that(mid)-EMPH
O.K. that's just a bit of talk what I've just told.
3.6.2 nhenge 'remember' (REMEMB)

The demonstrative nhenge 'remember' indicates that the entity to which the NP refers is
something from before which I (the speaker) think that you (the addressee) should be able to remember.
It often functions as an indicator that something has been mentioned previously in the discourse, although
it might not have been mentioned recently. However, it can also be used when something is to be
remembered from general context even if there has been no previous mention of it.
(28) a. Inspector nhenge mape-le school nhenhe-rlke inspect-em.ile-ke.

Inspector REMEMB pl(grp)-ERG school this(O)-TOO inspect-
E.tr.CAUS-pc
Those inspectors (you remember the ones) inspected this school too.
b. ... kem-irre-ke thipe kngerrepenhe anteme. Kem-irre-me-le,

... get up-INCH-pc bird big-one now. get up-
INCH-npp-SS,
ante nhenge-Ø alkere-k-irre-ke, ...
and REMEMB-NOM(S) sky-DAT-INCH-pc.
... a big bird arose. It arose and the aforementioned took flight. [T11-49;50]
The status of nhenge 'remember' as a demonstrative nominal is not totally clear. As the above
examples show, this form fills the demonstrative position when it occurs within an NP (eg. 28a) and it
may, like other demonstratives, stand on its own (marked for case) as a type of anaphor for the referent
of a previously expanded NP (eg. 28b). However, in a number of ways it also behaves like a particle.
For example, it may occur after a NP, following, for instance, the third person definitising pronoun and
case (eg.29).
(29) ..., arlpelhe kngerre therre anteme ikwere-nge nhenge

..., wing big two now 3sgDAT-ABL REMEMB
arrat-intye-ke.
appear-DO COMING-pc
..., then two big wings appeared from out of him (you remember the
one) as he came. [T11-24]
Moreover, nhenge 'remember' need not be associated with an NP in any way. There are two
uses in which it has scope over a whole clause. Firstly, it may occur in various positions within a clause
that refers to a past event with a meaning that may be roughly translated as 'that time when X happened,
you remember it ' (eg.30).
(30) The nhenge nge-nhe are-ke meetinge-ke.
1sgA REMEMB 2sg-ACC see-pc meeting-DAT
I saw you that time at the meeting. (I'm sure you remember it.)
Secondly, nhenge 'remember' can be used as a type of conjunction between two clauses. In this usage it
occurs at the beginning of one clause to indicate that, whenever the event in that clause happens then the
event in the other clause happens (eg. 31).
(31) a. Re ayenge twe-me kwetethe,

3sgA 1sgO hit-npp always,
nhenge unte atyenge-werne petye-rlenge.
REMEMB 2sgS 1sgDAT-ALL come-D.S.
He always hits me whenever you come anywhere near me. (He's jealous)
b. Nhenge tyerrtye mape lthekelth-ile-lhe-tyekenhe,

REMEMB people pl(grp)(S) stretch-CAUS-REFL-VbNEG,
kele itne ine-mer-ante kwete diabetes.
O.K. 3plA get-HYPO-ONLY still diabetes.
Whenever people don't exercise ,then they are very likely to get diabetes.
The facts presented above suggest that nhenge 'remember' is to be considered as belonging to
both the demonstrative subclass of nominals as well as belonging to the class of particle/clitics.
3.6.3 The demonstrating form alakenhe 'like so, thus'

Alakenhe 'like so, thus' is used to indicate that some demonstration or description of how an
event is performed is being, or has just been, given (see §3.8.1). Its primary membership is in the
adverbial class but it also behaves in some ways like a demonstrative. For instance, it may be used in a
text to refer anaphorically to an event or series of events that have just been performed. In this function
it can be followed by a third person definitising pronoun indicating that it can occur as part of a NP.
Since it has never been attested as occurring with any other elements in a NP, it is not clear exactly
what position it fills, but, on functional grounds, it seems reasonable to assign it to the demonstratives
position.
(32) Alakenhe re-nhe itne mpware-tyerte.

thus 3sg-ACC 3plA do-rem.p.hab
That's what they used to do. [ie. They used to do those events just
described.]
3.7 Personal Pronouns

As far as personal pronouns are concerned, Mparntwe Arrernte, like a number of other Arandic
languages, is of interest because it possesses non-singular pronouns which vary according to the internal
kin-relations of the group referred to. Mparntwe Arrernte also possesses a general set of pronouns
which are used when group kin-relations are not relevant. This general set will be presented first
followed by a discussion of the non-singular forms showing kin distinctions. This outline of personal
pronouns concludes with a discussion of the further grammatical functions of the third person pronouns.
3.7.1 General Forms

The general set of pronouns show three number distinctions (singular, dual, plural) and three
person distinctions (first, second, third). In contrast to Alyawarra (Yallop 1977, 92), there is no
inclusive/ exclusive distinction made for the 1st person non-singular forms, although inclusion may be
emphasised using the 'pronominal inclusive construction' (ie. plural pronoun construction) discussed in
§10.1.1.2 or through the use of switch-reference (cf. §11.4.2). As noted (and exemplified)in §1.2.4.3,
second person plural forms may be used with singular reference in the context of kin avoidance and
respect.
As far as case distinctions are concerned, all unique (ie. unpredictable) pronominal forms will be
covered by presenting the S/A (subject), accusative (O), dative, and possessive case-sets (see tables 3-
4 to 3-7). All other case-forms of pronouns are generated by adding the relevant case suffix to the
dative form of the pronoun.
Table 3-4 : S/A (subject) pronoun set
Table 3-5 : Accusative (O) pronoun set
Table 3-6 : Dative pronoun set

Table 3-7 : Possessive pronoun set
In examining tables 3-4 and 3-5 one can see that the first person singular S form is the same as
the O form (ie. ayenge), and there is a distinct A form (ie. the). This means that while all other pronouns
show a nominative patterning, the first singular shows ergative patterning. This is an intriguing feature of
the language since it runs contrary to the hierarchy of features which governs the patterning of split case
systems (see Silverstein 1976:122-134 and §4.2.1). Note also that there are two basically
interchangeable forms meaning 'second person singular S/A' (ie. unte and nge). These two
"irregularities" in the pronoun paradigm can be explained if we assume that Mparntwe Arrernte originally
had a system like Alyawarra (see table 3-7) in which first and second singular pronouns both had three
distinct case forms for A, S, and O.
Table 3-8 : Alyawarra 1st and 2nd singular A,S,O forms (based on Yallop 1977:94)
The present Mparntwe Arrernte paradigm could be seen to arise through a simplification in the
first and second singular pronouns from three to two core case distinctions. In this scenario, nge
'2sgS/A', like the corresponding Alyawarra form nga, would have originally been the second singular S
form but, in the collapsing of distinctions, it would have been used as an A form as well, while the A
form unte would also have been used in S function. For the first person singular, on the other hand, it
must be assumed that the original S form would have taken on the O function as well and, in so doing,
totally displaced some form akin to Alyawarra yinganha '1sgS -Acc'. The conflation to only two
distinctions here leads to the Ergative patterning.
3.7.2 Kin Distinctions in Non- Singular Pronouns

While the general set of pronouns is the most widely used, and appears to be the only set used
by children, speakers wishing to draw attention to the internal kin relations of a specific group have three
non-singular pronoun paradigms to chose from. For background to the features of the Arrernte kinship
system which are manifested in these non-singular pronoun paradigms see §1.2.4.1. One paradigm
indicates that at least one member of the group belongs to the opposite patrimoiety to another member
of the group. In other words, the group consists of at least two people who would consider each other
to be malyenweke 'member of the opposite patrimoiety to me'. The other two paradigms are used
when all members of the group are of the same patrimoiety and so would consider each other to be
anwakerre 'member of the same patrimoiety as me'. However, these two paradigms are distinguished
by whether or not all members of the group are considered to belong to the same generation moiety:
one paradigm is used if all members of the group belong to the same generation moiety and the other
paradigm is used if one member of the group is nyurrpe 'opposite generation moiety (disharmonic kin)'
with respect to another member. The S/A (nominative) forms of these three paradigms are given in table
3-9 (following page).
An examination of forms in table 3-9 reveals that the paradigm indicating "same patrimoiety same
generation" contains exactly the same forms as the non-singular general forms given previously. It may
also be observed that, to a significant extent, the morphology of these pronouns is transparent.
Roughly, a pronoun consists of the following basic elements:
i) a person/number root:
ile- '1dl' mpwele '2dl' al- '3dl'
(a)nwe- '1pl' arre- '2pl' itne '3pl'
ii) a marker of kin relations within group:
-anthe 'members of different patrimoieties in group'
-ake 'members of same patrimoiety, but different generation moieties in group'
-Ø 'all members of group are same patrimoiety and same generation '
iii) All non-same generation plural pronouns end in -rre.
Table 3-9 : Kin Distinctions in Non-Singular Pronouns

This analysis does not account for four of the eighteen forms and the exceptions are all in the
paradigm indicating 'same patrimoiety and same generation' (ie. the general paradigm). To begin with,
there are the first person dual and plural same patrimoiety-same generation forms ilerne and (a)nwerne,
instead of the expected ile and (a)nwe . The -rne on these forms appears to go back to an original
marker of exclusion (cf. Yallop 1977:98-99), suggesting that the pronoun system may have originally
manifested an inclusive-exclusive distinction like Alyawarra.
As for the other two forms, on the basis of the above pronoun formula, one would expect to
find ale 'third person dual same patrimoiety-same generation' and arre 'second person plural same
patrimoiety-same generation'. Instead, there are the suppletive forms re-therre (3sgS/A-two) and
arrantherre respectively. As far as this latter form is concerned, it is the 'second person plural different
patrimoiety' form which replaces the expected form, and so occurs twice within the paradigms.
As to the other case forms of these pronouns the following patterns are apparent. For the 'same
patrimoiety-same generation' forms case marking is as described for the general set of pronouns in
§3.7.1. For the other two paradigms:
(i) The object forms are generated by inserting '-n' between the person/number root and the
marker of kin relations within group, and then suffixing -nhe 'accusative (O)' at the end. (eg ale-n-
anthe-nhe '3dl dif. patri.-ACC')
(ii) The dative is formed by inserting -ke dative in between the person/number root and the
marker of kin relations within group (eg.mpwele-k-ake '2dl.DAT-same pat.dif.gen.')
(iii) The possessive is formed by suffixing -nhe to the dative forms. (eg. nwe-k-anthe-rre-nhe
'1pl-DAT-dif.pat-plural-POSS')
(iv) All other cases are generated by suffixing the relevant case forms to the dative form of the
pronoun (eg. arre-k-anthe-rre-nge '2pl-DAT-dif. pat.-plural-ABL).
Yallop (1977: 98-100) provides a useful comparative discussion of pronoun forms in Alyawarra
and other Arandic languages. His discussion does not, however, cover Mparntwe Arrernte forms and
he is inaccurate in his statement (1977:99) that "probably in current Alice Springs usage, section
reference (ie. kin distinctions in pronouns-D.P.W.) is not marked at all".
3.7.3 Extended use of third person forms.

Apart from their strictly pronominal use, there are two further major functions of the third person
forms.
Firstly, there is their 'definitising' function. Third person forms may occur as the last element of a
noun phrase to indicate that the referent of the phrase is a specific entity (or group of entities) which the
speaker assumes the addressee can identify from the speech context. They, therefore, function in a way
similar to the definite article in English. Unlike the English definite article, however, the Mparntwe
Arrernte third person forms may co-occur with demonstratives and proper names (eg. 30b).
Furthermore, they change in number to indicate the number of referents in the phrase (eg. 30a). When
they occur, third person pronouns, in 'definitising' function, bear case for the whole noun phrase.
(33) a. Artwe itne no ahel-irre-ke artwe mperlkere ikwere.

man 3plS no angry-INCH-pc man white 3sgDAT
The men didn't become aggressive towards the white man.
b. Gavan re Margaret ine-rle.lhe-ke.

Gavan 3sgA Margaret get-DO & GO-pc
Gavan picked Margaret up. (lit. The Gavan I'm sure you can identify got
Margaret and went.)
The second extended function of third person forms appears to be rooted in the fact that, as
well as referring to concrete entities, third person singular forms can be used to refer to abstract entities,
including previously mentioned events. Thus, in example (34) re-nhe (3sg-ACC) 'him/her/it' refers back
to a previously mentioned action of 'chasing each other around'.
(34) Arlte arrpanenhe re-therre re-nhe mpware-tyerte.

day every 3dl(S) 3sg-ACC do-rem.p.hab
Every day they two used to do it .(ie. chase each other around)
As an extension of this use in referring anaphorically to events, there are a number of third
person singular oblique forms which are commonly used as discourse markers. These discourse
markers, presented in (35), indicate the relation of the previously mentioned event (or series of events),
to the next event (or series of events) to be mentioned.
(35) ikwere-nge (3sgDAT-ABL) 'because of that; after

that'
ikwere-nge-ntyele (3sgDAT-ABL-ONWARDS) 'since then; after that'
ikwer-iperre (3sgDAT-AFTER) 'after that; as a
result of that'
ikwere-le (3sgDAT-LOC) 'at that time...'
3.8 Interrogative forms

3.8.1 Basic set of interrogative forms and their subdivision.
There are six basic interrogative forms in Mparntwe Arrernte, which divide into 3 subgroups.
a) ngwenhe 'who' iwenhe 'what' nthenhe 'where'

b) nthakenhe 'how' nthakentye 'how many'
c) ilengare 'when'
Group (a) interrogatives distinguish basic categories of real world entities and they differ from
members of the other two groups in the following ways.
(i) Members of this group take the full set of cases common nouns take.
(ii) They can follow a common noun, with whose basic category they agree, to form a question
which asks the addressee to specifically identify a particular referent from out of the set of possible
referents which the common noun could refer to. They thus behave like English 'which' or 'what' in their
interrogative adjective function; as in the translation of the following examples.
(36) a. Unte pmere nthenhe-le ne-ke?

2sgS place where-LOC stay-pc
Which place do you live at?
b. Ampe ngwenhe-ke re key re-nhe nthe-ke ?

child who-DAT 3sgA key 3sg-ACC give-pc
To which child did she give the key?
c. Arne iwenhe-le relhe Mpetyane re ke-lhe-ke?

thing what-INST womanMpetyane 3sgS cut-refl-pc
With what thing did (that) Mpetyane (woman) cut herself?
Group (b) interrogatives frequently take as their response a physical demonstration rather than a
verbal answer. In accordance with this, each member has a corresponding form which is used to
indicate that some form of demonstration has been, or is being, given.
Corresponding to nthakenhe 'how' is alakenhe 'like so, thus' and corresponding to nthakentye
'how many' is alakentye 'these many, as many as indicated'. Although there is a clear morphological
relationship between the corresponding interrogative and 'demonstrating' forms, the synchronic meaning
of the various elements is unclear.
Nthakenhe 'how' can only take cases which have spatial, temporal, or adverbial functions. It
has never been attested in A or O function like interrogatives from group (a). The range of case forms
which nthakentye 'how many' may take is unclear.
Ilengare 'when?' is the sole member of group (c) It takes only those case forms which may have
a temporal function. Diachronically it may be analysed as being composed of -ngare 'TIMES' (cf.
§7.4.3.3) and ile- which in certain other Arandic languages is the base for the word meaning 'what' (eg.
Alyawarra ileke 'what').
Various nuances of questioning arise from the interaction of these interrogative forms with the
case system and with various particle/clitics. For instance questions corresponding to English 'why?'
may be formed by adding -ke 'dative', -nge 'ablative', or -iperre 'after' to iwenhe 'what'. The subtle
distinction in meaning of the resulting forms are discussed in Ferber and Breen (1984). The range of
common questions based on nthenhe 'where' is given in (37).
(37) nthenhe-le? (where-LOC) 'where at? (central);

through/along where?'
nthenhe-ke? (where-DAT) 'where at? (endpoint)'
nthenhe-nge? (where-ABL) 'where at? (beginning; dynamic);
where from?'
nthenhe-werne? (where-ALL) 'where to?; towards where?'
nthenh-arenye?(where-ASSOC) 'where from? denizen of where?'
nthenh-iperre? (where-AFTER) 'where from? (temporal/cause)
nthenhe(-nge)-ntyele? (where-ABL-onwards) 'from where onwards?;
away from where?'
nthenhe(-werne)-theke? (where-ALL-wards) 'towards where?'
nthenhe-ke-kerte? (where-DAT-PROP) 'up until where?'
nthenhe nthurre? (where INTENS) 'where exactly'
nthenh-ampinye? (where-vicinity) 'in the vicinity of where?'
nthenhe-thayete? (where-SIDE) 'which side?'
nthenhe-kerleke? (where-CONNECT) 'on outer surface of where?'
nthenh-ulkere? (where-MORE) 'Where is it? I want to see it.'
3.8.2 Compounding of interrogative forms with peke 'maybe' and kweye 'self doubt'
In a number of Australian languages (Dixon 1980:277) the basic interrogative forms may also be
used as indefinite nominals so that, for example, the word meaning 'who' can also mean 'someone; one'.
This is not the case for Mparntwe Arrernte which, instead, has general nominal forms which include an
indefinite nominal sense amongst their meanings. For example, arrpenhe 'other, another' may be used to
mean 'someone' (eg. 38).
(38) Arrpenhe kwenhe irrkwentye ine-tyeke.

other ASSERT police(catch-NMZR) get-PURP
Someone should get the police.
Mparntwe Arrernte does, however, use interrogative forms as one of the elements in two types
of compound, each type having a particle as its second element and each type deriving a nominal having
a sort of indefinite or indeterminate sense.
In the first type of compound peke 'might, maybe' is attached to the basic interrogative form to
give nominals which equate with English pronominal forms derived from question words compounded
with 'ever'. For example; ilengare-peke (when-maybe) 'whenever' and ngwenhe-peke (who-maybe)
'whoever'.
In the second type of compound kweye 'SelfDoubt', the exclamation used when you are
surprised by something that turns out to be different from what you thought, is added after the basic
interrogative forms. The resultant compounds are typically used when the speaker can't remember
exactly how to refer to something that they should know the name or term for. Thus, for example,
iwenhe-kweye (what-SelfDoubt) corresponds to English 'whatchamacallit; thingamajig', and ngwenhe-
kweye (who-SelfDoubt) corresponds to 'whoseywhatsit, thingo, what's-his-name'.
3.8.3 Reduplication of interrogative forms

The three interrogative forms from group (a) in §3.8.1 can be suffixed with -nte and totally
reduplicated to derive forms which refer to a number of different things of the same kind (ie. the same
general category) which are being talked about together . These derived forms have both interrogative
and non-interrogative uses (eg. 39).
(39) iwenhente-iwenhente 'What different things?; all the different things'

ngwenhente-ngwenhente 'Who all?; all the assortment of people
nthenhente-nthenhente 'Which different places?; all the various places'
3.9 Kin term morphology
Kinship terms - or, more accurately, relationship terms - belong to a closed subclass of noun
nominals which demonstrate distinct morphological possibilities. The bulk of the membership of this
subclass are indeed nominals which designate kin relationships, such as meye 'mother' and yaye 'sister'
(see §1.2.4.2), but there are also a few lexemes which belong to this grouping that are not, strictly
speaking, kin terms (see Table 1-1 for the full list of kin terms). These other terms do, however, refer to
types of social relationships that exist for Mparntwe Arrernte people. The terms in question are given in
(40).
(40) tyewe 'friend'

(-)arrpe 'self'
(-)artweye 'custodian, master, owner, parent'
altyerre'a person's Dreaming totem or country'
pmere 'a person's traditional country'
3.9.1 Kin possession

There are two ways of marking kin possession, as opposed to any other type of possession.
One way is through special possessive suffixes and the other is through a particular dative construction.
These are discussed in turn.
3.9.1.1 Pronominal kin possessor suffixes

The first strategy to be discussed provides the criterion by which membership of the subclass of
relationship terms is established. Any member of this subclass may have any one of the following set of
pronominal kin possessor suffixes attached to it. Note that the forms only refer to singular possessors.
(41) -atye 1 kin POSS 'my relation'

-angkwe 2 kin POSS 'your relation'
-ikwe 3 kin POSS 'his/her/its relation'
Note the similarity between the suffixes and the first VC(C)e of the singular 'dative' pronoun forms:
atyenge '1sgDAT', ngkwenge'2sgDAT', ikwere '3sgDAT'. Examples of possessed forms are given in
(42).
(42) yay-atye (sister-1 kin POSS) 'my sister'

arrp-angkwe (SELF- 2 kin POSS) 'yourself'
altyerr-ikwe (Dreaming-3kinPOSS)'his/her Dreaming totem or country'
These examples show that the pronominal kin possessor suffixes generally attach directly to the
root of the relationship term. However, there are a group of lexemes which show a reduced, or
suppletive, form when taking these suffixes, or the other suffix which only occurs with relationship terms;
-nhenge 'kin dyadic'. These are tabulated below.
Full form Root form for attachments

of suffixes specific to
relationship terms
mother meye me-
elder brother kake ke-
grandfather (MF) tyemeye tye-
father akngeye (a)nye-
uncle kamerne (?) (a)tnye-
Table 3-10 : Kin-terms which have a reduced or suppletive form when taking suffixes
specific to kin terms
An especially intriguing feature of relationship terms suffixed with one of the kin possessor
suffixes involves the placement of case suffixes. A case suffix may occur attached either to the kin
possessor suffix or between the relationship term root and the kin possessor suffix, or it may even occur
in both places. These three possibilities are exemplified below (eg. 43) where m-ikwe (mother
3kinPOSS) 'his/her/its mother' is marked for ergative case with the suffix -le.
(43)m-ikwe-le / me-l-ikwe / me-l-ikwe-le

mother-3kinPOSS-ERG / mother-ERG-3kinPOSS / mother-
ERG-3kinPOSS-ERG
I know of no semantic distinction amongst the three structural types in (43) and the evidence suggests
that the pronominal possessor forms are in transition between suffix and clitic status. The position of
case in the first example suggests the possessor forms are suffixes, while the position of case and
possessor suffix in the second instance reflects the normal placement of a clitic on a case-marked
phrase. The double marking is symptomatic of the indeterminacy involved.
3.9.1.2 Dative of kin possession

The second structure which conveys kin possession is formed by placing a full kin term in
juxtaposition with a dative marked pronoun, proper name, or kin term (see §4.2.5.7 and §4.2.5.11).
Usually the dative marked form (possessor) precedes the kin term (possessed), but the reverse order
does occur (eg. 44).
(44) atyenge akngeye (1sgDAT father) 'my father'

Toby-ke alere (Toby-DAT child [FS/D]) 'Toby's child'
meye-ke meye (mother-DAT mother ) 'mother's mother'
3.9.1.3 Referential functions of possessed kin terms

These two strategies for indicating kin possession contrast with the strategy that is used for
conveying general possession of any type of entity (cf.§1.2.9), including the possession of kin relations.
While 'my spouse', with third person reference, may be translated as newe tyenhe (spouse 1sgPOSS),
or as new-atye (spouse 1kinPOSS), or as atyenge newe (1sgDAT spouse), it is only the latter two
forms which may also be used for address. In other words, only first person possessed kin terms
formed in either of the manners specific to kin terms may be used for address. As noted in §1.2.4.2, kin
terms which occur with any form indicating second person possessor may be used for self-reference.
Thus, possessed kin terms carry some of the functional load of pronouns in that they can be used to refer
to the first and second person. In such cases kin obligations between speaker and addressee are usually
being emphasised (eg.45 below; see also § 1.2.4.2 , and examples 13 and 14 in chapter 1) .
(45) Atyenge tyeye, k-angkwe ngayekwe nthurre.

1sgDAT yngr.sibling, e.brother-2kinPOSS hungry INTENS.
My younger brother (you), your older brother (I) is very hungry.
[implied:Since I'm your older brother you should give me some food or money]
3.9.2 -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' (DYADIC)
Like many Australian languages (see Merlan and Heath 1982), Mparntwe Arrernte has a way of
forming 'dyadic' kinship terms. Merlan and Heath (1982:107) define 'dyadic' terms as ones "in which
the kinship relationship is between the two referents internal to the kin expression". In Mparntwe
Arrernte, and other varieties of Arrernte, -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' attaches to certain kin terms, including
tyewe 'friend' (but excluding other general relationship terms), to form a lexeme which refers to a group
of people (usually only two) who are related to each other in such a way that one member of the group
would call the other member of the group by the kin term which is the root of the formation. If the kin
term is not one which is used reciprocally between the members of the group, then the convention is that
-nhenge 'kin-dyadic' suffixes only to the term used to refer to the senior kin-relation in the group (eg.
46b and c). For this reason terms for junior kin members, such as ampe 'child; MS/D' can not occur
with -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' suffixed to them.
(46) a. tye-nhenge (MF; DS/D-DYADIC) 'grandfather (MF) and grandchild'

b. nye-nhenge (father-DYADIC 'Father and child'
c. awenhe-nhenge (aunt[FZ]-DYADIC) 'Aunt and Niece/Nephew'
As the above examples show -nhenge 'kin-dyadic', like the pronominal kin possessor suffixes, and unlike
other suffixes, attaches to the reduced or suppletive forms of kin terms where they exist.
Dyadic kin terms which are formed with -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' tend to be used instead of
coordinated kin terms and their semantics appears to be that of coordinate NPs. That is to say, at least
two entities, about whom one is saying the same thing, may be uniquely individuated from the group
indicated. This ability to individuate referents within the group is what differentiates such forms from
simple dual or plural forms (in which there is no individual identification of the entities that make up the
group). Very roughly, "KINTERM-nhenge" may be defined as follows:
A group of people one always thinks of as belonging together in a group because of the way they are
said to be related to each other.
One of these people is called [KINTERM] by the other (junior)
member(s) of this group (if there is/are junior member/s).
<Knowing that they call this person [KINTERM] it is assumed that you know what this person calls the
other person (people) in this group>
I am thinking of these people together [now, in this context] because I am saying the same thing about
each of them.
3.9.3 Reduplicaton of kin terms
A number of kin terms, including all four grandparent terms, may be reduplicated. Unlike
reduplication with other nominals (cf. §3.10.5) reduplication of kin terms appear to indicate affection
and/or respect for the person (people) referred to. In §1.2.4.2 it was pointed out that, although basic
grandparent terms also refer to grandchildren, reduplicated grandparent terms only appear to refer to
grandparents not grandchildren (eg. 47).
(47) arrenge grandfather (FF; FFB/Z; BSS/D)

arrenge-arrenge grandfather (FF; FFB/Z) affectionate and respectful
aperle grandmother (FM; FMB/Z; SD/S)
aperle-aperle grandmother (FM; FMB/Z) affectionate and respectful
tyemeye grandfather (MF; MFB/Z; BDS/D)
tyemeye-tyemeye grandfather (MF; MFB/Z) affectionate and respectful
ipmenhe grandmother (MM; MMB/Z; DD/S)
ipmenhe-ipmenhe grandmother (MM; MMB/Z) affectionate and respectful
3.10 Nominal Derivation

In chapter 4, the nominal derivational use of certain case forms, such as -kerte 'proprietive', -
kenhe 'possessive', and -arenye 'associative', will be discussed. In this section other processes and
morphemes which are used to create new nominal lexemes are presented.
3.10.1 Verb Nominalisation

As mentioned in §1.4.4.1, there are two semantically distinct ways of creating a nominal from a
verb stem. The first involves the suffixation of -ntye/-tye 'nominaliser', and the second involves a form of
reduplication in which -nhe is added to both the stem and the copy produced from the stem. In both
cases it appears that the verb stem can contain all the formal derivational and inflectional material of a
fully expanded verb with the exception of the inflections, such as tense, which would typically occur stem
finally. The suffixes -ntye /-tye and -nhe can therefore be seen to fill this stem- final position.
3.10.1.1 -ntye/-tye Nominaliser (NMZR)

The 'nominaliser' suffix -ntye/tye can derive nominals which have one or more of the following
three general senses.
Firstly, a nominal derived in this way may refer to a person or thing that is involved in the
performance of an action. In contrast to reduplication with addition of -nhe, this usage does not
necessarily entail that the person or thing referred to is a habitual performer of the action, but can simply
refer to someone or something who, at the point in time referred to by the speech event, performs the
action even if it is their first and only time.
(48) alharrke-ntye lighten-NMZR lightning

alye-lhe-ntye sing (tr)-REFL-NMZR a song; singer; singing
artnerre-ntye crawl-NMZR baby at the crawling stage
(49) The alhe-ntye yanhe re-nhe alhengk-are-me

1sgA go-NMZR that (mid) 3sg-ACC recognise-see-npp
I recognise that person who is walking there (in the mid distance) [lit. I
recognise that (mid-distance) goer/walker]
Secondly , such a derived nominal may have an adjectival function.
(50) (nanthe) unte-ntye (horse) hurry off-NMZR (A) fast (horse)

(pwerte) ulthe-ntye (rock) press down on-NMZR (A) heavy (rock)
Finally, a verb suffixed with -ntye / -tye 'nominaliser' can name an action or an event and, in this
case, is semantically very similar to the gerund in English. In other words, as well as referring to a
person/thing or providing descriptive modification, these forms can portray the verb action itself as if it
were a thing (ie. reification; eg 51).
(51) a. Ntywe-nty-ipenhe imerte kwele artnerre-nhe-me-le

drink-NMZR-AFTER then QUOT crawl-DO PAST-npp-SS
ulyentye-werne, ...
shade - ALL, ...
After drinking he then crawled (past) towards some shade, ... [T12-45]
b. Ayenge angke-tye-kwenye ne-me, kwetethe.
1sg S speak-NMZR-NomNEG be-npp, always
I'm not speaking anymore. [Lit. I am going to be without speaking]
It is very common for deverbal nominals formed in this pattern to be modified by the adjectival
nominal kngerre 'big; large amount of', and such phrases translate into English with a sense that the verb
action is 'always', or 'continually', happening. (eg. 52).
(52) Re angke-ntye kngerre.

3sgS speak-NMZR big
He's always speaking (or he's a big talker)
The two allomorphs - -ntye and -tye - of the 'nominaliser' suffix are apparently mutually
substitutable. The form -ntye, however, is by far the most frequently used.
3.10.1.2 Reduplication & -nhe: Nominaliser of Habitual Involvement (NMZR.Hab.rdp)

This form of reduplication, replicates the final (V)C(C)e of the verb stem and adds -nhe to
both the stem and the duplicated part of the stem (ie. #(X)(V)C(C)e-# Æ #(X)(V)C(C)e-nhe-
(V)C(C)e-nhe#). The resultant form always refers to someone or something which is habitually involved
in the performance of the verb action described in the stem. The involvement in the action may be in any
of the standard semantic roles (argument positions) associated with the verb stem. Thus it can convey
agentive nominalisation (eg. 52a), patientive nominalisation (eg. 52a&c), intrumental nominalisation
(52b), source nominalisation (52d), theme nominalisation (53), and so on.
(52) a. twe-nhe-twe-nhe hit-NMZR.Hab.rdp 'a murderer, hitter; punching bag'

b. twe-rre-nhe-rre-nhe hit-RECIP-NMZR.Hab.rdp 'weapons'
c. arlkwe-nhe-arlkwe-nhe eat-NMZR.Hab.rdp `food'
d. ine-nhe-ine-nhe get-NMZR.Hab.rdp 'the place one gets things from'
(53) Kwatye iperte kwatye kngerre-tayeme inte-nh-inte-nhe.
water hole water big-TIME lie-NMZR.Hab.rdp
The water hole always lies there in the rainy season. [lit. The water hole is a
habitual 'lier arounder' in the rainy season]. [T12-36]
It is common for nominalisations of this type, which are based on transitive verb stems, to form a
compound with a noun nominal which is understood to fill the undergoer macrorole (cf. §1.4.3.1) of the
underlying predicate. This is analogous to "object" incorporation in English nominal compounds like
'baby-sitter', 'nutcracker', and 'deerstalker'. In such compounds this other noun nominal always
precedes the nominalisation formed by 'reduplication & -nhe'. The resulting compounds refer to
someone or something that is always involved in a particular event that affects, or has as its focus, the
referent of the first element of the compound. As the examples in (54) demonstrate, this is a common
means for the creation of Mparntwe Arrernte words for concepts that have come from contact with
non-Aboriginal Australia.
(54) a. kere twe-nhe-twe-nhe 'a butcher (lit. a meat chopper)'

meat hit-NMZR.Hab.rdp
b. therrke arlkwe-nhe-arlkwe-nhe'a vegetarian (lit. a grass/greens eater)'

'grass' eat-NMZR.Hab.rdp
c. ngkwarle ine-nhe-ine-nhe'a bottle shop (lit. a place for getting

grog (sweet stuff) get-NMZR.Hab.rdp grog)
In contrast to derivations using -ntye/-tye 'nominaliser', nominalisations formed with
'reduplication &-nhe' 'nominaliser of habitual involvement' only refer to people or things, but not to
actions, and they encode that the relation to the verb stem action is necessarily habitual. Note that it is
common for Arrernte speakers to use a verb nominalised with -ntye/-tye 'nominaliser' and modified with
kngerre 'big; a large amount of' to describe the meaning of a form nominalised from the same verb stem
using 'reduplication & -nhe'. Thus, when asked what ntywe-nhe-ntywe-nhe (drink-NMZR.Hab.rdp)
means, more than one speaker told me ntywe-ntye kngerre (drink-NMZR big) 'a big drinker; someone
who always drinks'.
3.10.2 Productive Nominal-based Derivations
3.10.2.1 -artweye 'custodian'
The form -artweye 'custodian' attaches to nominals and pronominals in dative case form to
derive a lexeme which refers to the person, or people, who have the main responsibility for looking after
the entity referred to in the stem of the derivation. This form is frequently glossed as 'owner', 'master', or
'boss', but it would be more accurate to define X-k-artweye (X-DAT-custodian) as: the person
(people) who is (are) thought of as being the person (people) who should look after X properly and take
care of X (where X is a person, place, or thing). The examples in (55) demonstrate the range of
application of -artweye 'custodian'.
(55) ampe 'child' ampe-k-artweye 'parents'

nwerne 'we all' nwerne-k-artweye 'our ancestors'
unte 'you' ngkwenge-artweye 'your boss; your parents'
kngwelye 'dog' kngwelye-k-artweye 'dog-owner'
pmere 'camp, country' pmere-k-artweye 'traditional owners of
an area or a site'
In reality, the status of -artweye 'custodian' as word, suffix, clitic, or other is unclear. In section
3.9 it was noted that (-)artweye could be regarded as one of the kin relation nominals since it may host
the the kin possessive suffixes. The form does not, however, ever occur on its own as a free lexeme.
3.10.2.2 -anternenhe 'huge, giant, huge amount of'

A dative form noun or pronoun may have -anternenhe 'huge' attached to it to indicate that the
referent of the nominal is physically huge or, where the referent is a mass noun, that there is a huge
amount of it (eg. 56).
(56) artwe 'man' artwe-k-anternenhe 'a giant'
apmwe 'snake' apmwe-k-anternenhe 'a huge snake'
kwatye 'water, rain' kwatye-k-anternenhe 'a huge amount of water;
a huge rain storm'
3.10.2.3 -angketyarre 'place abundant in' (abundance)

The form -angketyarre 'abundance' attaches to noun nominals to derive a term indicating a place
in which there is an abundance of the entity referred to by the noun stem.
(57) kere 'game animal, meat' ker-angketyarre 'good hunting grounds'

urltampe 'native honey' urltamp-angketyarre 'place with many trees
full of native honey'
3.10.3 Nominal derivations with limited productivity

There are five derivational suffixes which only occur on a limited number of stems. Two of these
-atye 'grub', and -ampe 'honey' derive nominals with noun function from nominals with noun function.
The form -althe 'bad.character' derives a nominal referring to an animate entity, typically human, from
certain adjectival nominals and adverbs. The suffix -nye 'temporal nominal' derives nominals from a
subset of forms which can act as temporal adverbs. Finally -me 'unified quantity' derives quantifier
nominals from quantifier nominals.
It is quite possible that the three former suffixes (-atye 'grub', -ampe 'honey', -althe 'bad
character') are originally from independent nominal morphemes which compounded with various roots.
There are presently no independent nominals corresponding in both form and meaning to these bound
forms so that a compounding analysis would have to posit the existence of these forms only in
compounds. The suffix -nye 'temporal nominal' is likely to be related to the verb nominalising form -nye
found in other Arandic Languages (Strehlow 1944:62). While there are several morphemes which have
the form -me (eg. -me 'interrogative clitic'; -me 'non-past progressive'; and me 'here it is'), -me 'unified
quantity' only shows close links with the -me used to link reduplicated nominals to form adverbial
phrases like kweke-me-kweke 'little by little' (cf. §7.4.4.4).
3.10.3.1 -atye 'grub'

The form -atye 'grub' attaches to the names for certain trees and bushes to derive the names for
the edible grubs found in those trees and bushes (eg. 57). In at least one case -atye 'edible grub' also
derives the name of a caterpillar associated with a particular bush.
(58) tnyeme 'witchetty bush" tnyem-atye 'witchetty grub'

athenge 'iron wood' atheng-atye 'ironwood grub'
utnerrenge 'emu bush' utnerreng-atye 'caterpillar from emu bush'
(a)pwene 'broom bush' pwen-atye 'grub from the broom bush'
arlkerle buck bush (?) arlkerl-atye 'grub from the buck bush'
3.10.3.2 -ampe 'honey'

The particular source from which a sweet, edible, honey-like or toffee-like substance is collected
may be suffixed with -ampe 'honey' to derive the name for that edible substance (eg. 59). Note that all
forms derived in this way can be preceded with the classifier ngkwarle 'sweet honey like substance' (cf.
§3.4. 3).
(59) untyeye 'corkwood tree' untyey-ampe 'nectar of corkwood flower'

yerre 'ant' yerr-ampe 'honey ant'
urlte 'a hollow in a tree' urlt-ampe 'sugar bag' (honey of the
native bee found in hollow of trees)
3.10.3.3 -althe 'bad character' (Bad.CHAR)

Derivations with -althe 'bad character' are derogatory terms which refer to animate beings,
typically humans. These forms indicate that the being in question is unfortunately characterised by the
manner or characteristic indicated in the root (eg. 60).
(60) atere 'afraid, frightened' ater-althe 'coward

urrtye 'lie, pretense' urrty-althe 'liar'
pwere 'shy, embarrassed' pwer-althe 'shameful person'
ankeye 'to do in a begging manner' ankey-althe 'a very greedy
person'
anyelknge 'to do action sneakily; steal' anyelkng-althe 'thief'
Warlpiri (Nash 1980:28) has a semantically similar formative, nji or nju which is glossed as
'pejoratively characterised by'. Interestingly, even though the Warlpiri form also has limited
applicability, the majority of roots which take this suffix correspond semantically to the roots that take -
althe 'bad character' in Mparntwe Arrernte.
3.10.3.4 -nye 'temporal nominal' (tmp.nom)

The suffix -nye 'temporal nominal' is added to two types of temporal adverb. First, it can be
added to all true temporal adverbs (cf. §7.3.1) which can have non-future reference and it indicates that
a thing comes from that point in time. In (61) one can see that when -nye 'temporal nominal' is added
to an adverbial with future reference the resultant form is unacceptable. Nominal derivations with -nye
may be used in adjectival function (eg.62 ).
(61) apmwerrke 'yesterday' apmwerrke-nye 'something that's from

yesterday'
arrule 'a long time ago' arrule-nye 'something from long ago'
ahinpe 'not recent' ahinpe-nye 'something that's no longer
fresh'
lyete 'today; now' lyete-nye 'brand new; very recent
urreke 'later' *urrekenye
ingwenthe 'tomorrow' *ingwenthe-nye
(62) Arrenge-arrenge atyenhe-le ayeye arrule-nye nhenhe

Father's father (respect) 1sgPOSS-ERG story long ago-tmp.nom
this
atyenge ile-ke
1sg DAT tell-pc
My grandfather (FF) told this old-time story to me.
Second, -nye 'temporal nominal' can be added to the two spatial nominals arrwekele 'in front,
front' and ingkerne 'behind, back' which are also used as temporal adverbs to mean 'before' and 'after'
respectively. The derived form arrwekele-nye means 'first' (eg. 63) and ingkerne-nye means 'last'.
(63) Willie-le ayeye artwe mperlkere arrwekele-nye -kerte ile-ke.

Willie ERG story man white front/before-tmp.nom-PROP tell-pc
Willie told a story about the first white man (to come to Alice Springs).
3.10.3.5 -me 'unified quantity' (UQ)

The use of -me 'unified quantity' is not yet well understood. The main problem is that it is not
always clear whether, or how, it adds to the meaning of the quantifier nominals to which it attaches. For
instance, there appears to be no discernible difference in use between awethe 'more; again' and awethe-
me 'more; again'.
Two examples where a clear distinction can be discerned between root quantifier and derived
quantifier are given in (64).
(64) therre 'two' therre-me 'both'

arrpenhe 'other; another' arrpenhe-me 'some' (eg. some meat or
books)
One could say that in contrast to the root form where the quantifier can refer to entities taken
individually, these forms derived with -me not only quantify the referent(s) but also indicate that the
referent(s) constitute a unified grouping and are not being thought of individually. Therre-me, like 'both'
in English, means two entities which are being thought of as forming one established grouping (eg. 65).
(65) Re patele therre ine-ke ante patele therre-me-rle ntywe-ke.

3sgS bottle two get-pc and bottle two-UQ-FOC drink-pc
He got two bottles and drank both bottles.
Similarly, while arrpenhe 'other, another' refers to a single individual or 'another' portion of
something, arrpenhe-me 'some' is an indefinite quantifier which refers either to a single grouping of
individuals of unspecified number or to a single indefinite portion of a mass noun like 'water' or 'meat'.
In keeping with the 'unified quantity' sense proposed above, -me is also used when linking the
three basic number forms - nyente 'one', therre 'two', and urrpetye 'a few; three' - together to make
compound terms for larger numbers. Such numbers only go up to about ten and the typical pattern of
formation is for the forms for larger numbers to precede the forms for smaller numbers.
(66) therre-me-nyente two-UQ-one 'three' (more specific than urrpetye)

therre-me-therre two-UQ-two 'four'
urrpetye-me-therre three-UQ-two 'five'
3.10.4 Nominal Compounding
Two forms of nominal compound have already been discussed in §3.10.1.2 and §3.10.3.5.
Other types of nominal compound are not uncommon in Mparntwe Arrernte, although there does not
appear to be any productive rule for their formation. As the examples in (67) show, the elements of the
compound may be different subtypes of nominal.
(67) kwatye-pwere rain-tail (noun + noun) lightning

re-therre s/he/it-two (pronoun + quantifier) they-two [3dl S/A]
ampe-kweke child-small (noun + adj) baby
Three areas of the noun nominal lexicon in which compounds are quite common are bodypart terms,
names for flora and fauna, and place names. Interestingly, mono-morphemic body part terms provide
the most frequently recurring elements in nominal compounds and, as exemplified below, they can occur
as part of compounds within each of the three semantic domains just mentioned.
Compounds referring to body parts always have a body part term as their first element. There is
a tendency for the referent of the compound to be a physical part of the body-part indicated in the first
element of the compound (68), but this is not always the case (69).
(68) werlatye-alhe breast-nose nipple

alhe-altywere nose-opening nostril
alknge-arlpelhe eye-feather eye-lash
alknge-kwarte eye-egg eyeball
arryenpe (arre-yenpe) mouth-skin lips
iltye-atnerte hand-stomach palm (of hand)
(69) arralte (arre-alte) mouth-hair beard, moustache

akwarratye (akwe-arratye) hand/arm-true, right right hand/arm
Note that there are three forms which refer to body parts and frequently turn up in nominal and verbal
compounds or derivations, but which never occur on their own as independent words. One of these is
arre- which refers to the mouth and in fact occurs as part of the free form for 'mouth' arre-kerte (mouth-
PROP). The second form is ake- which refers to the head and turns up in compounds such as ake-le-
knge- (head-LOC/INST-carry) 'carry on the head' and ake-ngkwerne (head-bone) 'skull'. The free
form for 'head' (a)kaperte appears to be related to this dependent form but its etymology is uncertain.
Finally, akwe- refers to the arm/hand as in (a)kw-irre- (hand/arm-INCH-) 'to wave; to sign with hands'
and akw-alyenge (hand/arm-left hand/arm) 'the left hand/arm'. The corresponding free forms are iltye
'hand, finger' and amwelte 'arm'. Note that Kaytetye (Koch p.c.) has, as free forms, arre 'mouth', ake
'head', and akwe 'hand, arm'.
Compounds which designate flora and fauna tend either to describe a peculiar physical
characteristic of the referent (eg. 70) or to indicate some habit, or use, of the animal or plant in question
(eg. 71).
(70) alknge-therrke (-therrke) eye-green 'cat'

arrurrperle (arre-urrperle) mouth-black 'black-mouth snake'
lyeke-kaperte thorn-head 'caltrop (ie. spiky headed plant)'
arleye-ingke emu-foot 'k.o plant (?goodenia lunata?)
(71) menge-irrkwenhe-irrkwenhe fly-catcher 'kind of lizard'
kwatye-inpe-k-inpe water-rock crack 'kind of hollow grass
catchments (used as straw to suck
water out of rock cracks)
Place names may be based on the Dreamtime associations a place possesses or on a physical
feature that characterises a place. Nominal compounds may reflect either of these relations (eg. 72).
(72) Uyenpere-Atwatye speartree-gap 'name of East-Side town camp'

Ltyentye-Purte beefwood-cluster 'Santa Teresa Mission'
Werlatye-Therre breast-two 'name of sacred women's site
near oldTelegraph Station'
Kngwelye-Artepe dog-back 'name of a certain ridge along the
dogDreaming track'
Thus far, noun nominal compounds in which each element is clearly identifiable and meaningful
have been presented. However, it must be pointed out that there are lexemes, analogous to 'cranberry'
in English, in which part of the form is easily recognised as a morpheme in the language but the rest of the
form is apparently unique to the lexeme (eg.73).
(73) alkng-arnte eye + ? eye brow
arr-utne mouth + ? jaw
awerrtye-pwere ? + tail/penis kind of long edible beans
alkng-i(r)nere eye + ? cicada
3.10.5 Nominal Reduplication

Reduplication of interrogatives and kin terms has already be discussed in §3.8.3 and §3.9.3
respectively, and the formation of noun nominals from verb stems using 'reduplication & -nhe' was
discussed §3.10.1.2. In this section we discuss other reduplicated forms which realise nominals.
Reduplication of nominal roots is a common way of forming new nominal stems in Mparntwe Arrernte.
It is, in fact, one of the morphological tools commonly used for developing or incorporating new
vocabulary to cope with new concepts arising from a contact situation. For example atnwaye 'back of
ankle including heel' is totally reduplicated to provide the word for 'high heel shoes', atnwaye-atnwaye.
As a number of observers have pointed out (amongst them Moravcsik 1978 and Anderson
1985), cross-linguistically reduplication tends to convey a limited set of semantic notions. Amongst the
notions commonly conveyed by reduplication that are also conveyed by nominal reduplication in
Mparntwe Arrernte are multiplicity or plurality of referents (cf. §3.8.3; §§3.10.5.1.1.A(ii) & B(ii); and
§3.10.5.1.2.A(i)), repetition (cf. §§3.10.5.1.2.A(ii) & B(i), and also §3.10.1.2), similarity (cf.
§3.10.5.1.1.B(i)), and attenuation (cf. §3.10.5.1.1.C(i)). The following survey shows that nominal
reduplications in Mparntwe Arrernte are not, however, limited to conveying only these notions (cf.
§§3.10.5.1.1.A(i) & B(iii), and also §3.9.3). As Moravcsik (1978:316) points out, and as will be
demonstrated below, "the relation between the meaning of a reduplicative construction and its
unreduplicated counterparts is almost always that of proper inclusion, with the former properly including
the latter".
There are several parameters which will be used to subclassify nominal reduplications in the
following discussion. These are:
(i) Is reduplication total or partial?
(ii) Does the base of the reduplication occur as a morpheme on its own or not?
(iii) Where the base is a free nominal lexeme in Mparntwe Arrernte, what subclass
of nominal is the base and what subclass of nominal is the reduplicated form?
(iv) What semantic distinctions does the reduplication convey?
3.10.5.1 Total Reduplication

In this subsection we will only be concerned with total reduplications in which the complete base
form is copied and the copy is combined with the base with no intervening morphology. This form of
reduplication is the most common for nominals.
3.10.5.1.1 Base of Reduplication is an Identifiable Lexeme
A. Noun nominals derived into adjectival nominals:
i) Colour Formations: Colour names for non-core colours (ie. colours other than white, black,
and red) are commonly formed by the reduplication of a noun root naming something that is
characterised by that colour (eg. 74). In other words, to be X-X is to be the colour of X.
(74) therrke grass and other small, herbaceous, green plants
therrke-therrke green
ulpmernte fine red-brown dust; dust storm
ulpmernte-ulpmernte reddish brown
ii) Distributed Feature: A root form noun whose referent can appear singly, but which often
occurs in large numbers together with others of its kind, may be reduplicated to form a stem which is
used to describe something as having a large number of the root form referent distributed over its area
(eg. 75). That is, for something to be X-X , that thing must have lots of X on it.
(75) iperte hole

iperte-iperte rough of roads, holey, corrugated
lyeke thorn, prickle
lyeke-lyeke thorny, prickly
iii) Characterised by Prominent Body Part: A body part term might be reduplicated to form a
stem which is used to describe someone, or something, in which that body part is seen to be particularly
prominent (eg. 76). Thus, to be X-X is to have a very noticeable body part X.
(76) ngkwerne bone

ngkwerne-ngkwerne boney, very skinny
atnerte stomach
atnerte-atnerte pregnant
B) New noun nominals derived from noun nominals:

i) Metaphorical: A noun root may be reduplicated to form a noun stem whose referent has a
characteristic which is commonly associated with the referent of the noun root (eg. 77). The relation
between root and reduplication can be represented roughly by saying that thing X - X is like thing X in
some way.
(77) werlatye breast; milk

werlatye-werlatye kind of medicine plant with milky sap
kwerrke the young of animals
kwerrke-kwerrke the small digit: little finger, little toe.
ii) Variety and Multiplicity: There are a few cases where the reduplication of a noun root whose
referent is quite general and inclusive of many types gives rise to a noun stem whose referent is a group
of different kinds of the main root (eg. 78). This sense is closely related to that described in
§3.10.5.1.1.A(ii) above. As in §3.10.5.1.1.A(ii), the root can occur singly but often occurs in groups: X
- X is a group of different kinds of X.
(78) impatye foot prints, animal tracks

impatye-impatye lots of different kinds of tracks
tyipe a piece of something (especially meat)
tyipe-tyipe lots of different pieces
C) New adjectival nominals derived from adjectival nominals:

i) Approximation of Quality : An adjectival root might be reduplicated to create another
adjectival form which ascribes to a referent a quality that approaches, but is not quite, the root form
quality (eg. 79). In other words to be X-X is to be almost X but not quite X. There is a quality of
'resemblance' in this usage that is akin to that described for §3.10.5.1.1.B(i).
(79) arerte deaf, crazy

arerte-arerte inattentive; heedless; stupid
irrkaye invisible
irrkaye-irrkaye faded
D) Borrowed English Animal Names : A number of English words for introduced animal species
have been borrowed into Mparntwe Arrernte and many of these only appear in a reduplicated form (eg.
80). This reduplication seems to be restricted to English words which have the form C(C)VC(C); that is
they are closed mono-syllabic words. It may be that English words of such a phonological structure, in
fact, presuppose a reduplicated form when borrowed into Mparntwe. Other examples, which have
nothing to do with animal terms, are milke-milke 'milk; kind of plant with white sap' and terake-terake
'truck'. I would note, however, that the animals which take a reduplicated form are often found, and
kept, in groups, even though they can occur on their own. Thus reduplication may be used to convey a
meaning similar to that in §3.10.5.1.1.A(ii) and §3.10.5.1.1.B(ii).
(80) pike-pike pig

tyweke-tyweke chook (chicken)
yepe-yepe sheep
rtake-rtake duck
3.10.5.1.2 Base of Reduplication is Not an Identifiable Lexeme

There are many cases in which the template for a nominal reduplication never occurs individually
as a meaningful lexeme outside of the reduplication. Thus, while titye-titye means 'rough surface', there is
no free form titye. For such cases it obviously does not make sense to ask what category the base
belongs to and what category is derived through reduplication. Instead forms of this sort are classified
according to the general nominal class the form belongs to.
A) Nouns:
i) Entities Which Occur Multiply: Entities which are not typically perceived of as occurring
singly, but which usually occur grouped together in one place, are often named by reduplicated forms
with no analysable root (eg. 81). That is, X-X are lots of the same thing which are thought of as always
occurring together in one place. This sense is clearly linked to §3.10.5.1.1.A(ii) and §3.10.5.1.1.B(ii)
above.
(81) mpele-mpele a rash (of the kind where little bumps rise up on the skin)
tatye-tatye kind of grass species (? five minute grass?).
ntenye-ntenye dots, especially those used in dot paintings;
also used for freckles.
ii) Onomatopoeic Animal Names: Names for animals can be based on the characteristic,
repetitive sounds that an animal makes (eg. 82). This would be similar to calling a cow a 'moo moo'.
Thus, X-X is the animal that makes the sound X-X (over and over again).
(82) tiye-tiye mudlark
rtirre-rtirre kingfisher
ngwerrknge-ngwerrknge pig
B) Adjectival Nominals:
i) Recurrent Patterns : Terms which describe a thing as being characterised by a repeated
pattern or shape in it are also frequently conveyed by reduplicated forms which are not derived from a
meaningful root lexeme (eg. 83). The sense of such lexemes may be conveyed roughly as follows: for a
thing to be X - X is for that thing to have something about it which occurs over and over again.
(83) arnkwerte-arnkwerte crooked; windy; zig-zagged

arlwerte-arlwerte curly or fuzzy haired
3.10.5.2 Partial Reduplication.

In partial reduplication only part of the base form is copied and this partial copy is added back
to the base with no intervening morphology. Partial reduplication is not widely attested amongst
nominals and forms of this type are not able to be as easily subclassified as totally reduplicated forms. I
have yet to find a form where the base which is reduplicated is itself meaningful. Moreover, it is far more
common for the reduplication to be of the final syllables at the end of a stem rather than those at the
beginning. Nominals formed by partial reduplication appear to be most common amongst fauna terms,
but they are not restricted to this domain (eg. 84).
(84) intelyape-lyape butterfly

artityerre-tyerre willie wagtail
tyelepe-lepe navel, belly button
A number of the partially reduplicated forms for bird species appear to be onomatopoeic in
origin (eg. 85).
(85) kwepale-pale bellbird

kwerr-kwerrke owl
Compared to English, a significant proportion of the Mparntwe Arrernte nominal lexicon involves
reduplication. The above discussion makes no claims to completeness as far as the number and type of
morphological and semantic subcategories of nominal reduplication are concerned. It does, however,
cover what appear to be the major, and the most common distinctions. For comparison with
reduplication types in other parts of speech see §5.4.1 with respect to verb reduplication and §7.4.4
with respect to adverb reduplication.
Chapter 4
Case: Forms and Functions
4.1 Overview of the case system

In §3.1 we saw that case in Mparntwe Arrernte is strictly a property of NPs, including
pronominal NPs. It is an inflection which attaches to, or is manifested in, the last element of a NP and,
unlike many Australian languages, it is never distributed amongst the individual constituents of a NP.
Table 3-1, in the preceding chapter, showed the fourteen recognised cases and their differential
realisation on selected nominals. Table 4-1 (following page) gives the full set of case forms as well as
likely criteria for the distinction of sub-classes of case-types (cf. §4.1.2).
Mel'c”uk (1986:37) has observed that case (in the narrow sense of 'governed nominal case') is,
"as currently used in linguistics, at least three-way ambiguous." The three different senses of
(grammatical) case which Mel'c”uk identifies are: case 1 - an inflectional category (ie. the term for the
overall system which indicates the grammatical status of governed nominals in a language); case 2 - a
specific relation within the system of oppositions that realise case 1 (eg. nominative, dative, etc. which
are determined through paradigmatic relations of case 3); and case 3 - "a case form, ie., a linguistic form
which expresses a case 2 (roughly a particular case marker or a word form)." These three uses of 'case'
may be distinguished by using the terms 'case system', 'case relation', and 'case form (or case marker)'
respectively. While there will be some discussion of the notions of case system and case relation with
respect to Mparntwe Arrernte, the bulk of this chapter examines the various functions of the case forms.
The distinct functions discussed with respect to a particular case form will not all be strictly indicative of
a case relation (or the case system), but they are always semantically related to the case form's function
in marking a particular case relation.
The classical Greek and Latin position with respect to case and the semantics of case is still very
much with us. Lyons (1968:289) notes that, for classical grammarians :
"Case was the most important of the inflexional categories of the noun, as tense was the most important
inflexional category of the verb. It is significant that the term 'case' (originally more or less
synonymous with
what was later called 'inflexion' was restricted to one particular inflexional category. The reason for this
would seem to be that most of the other categories - gender, number, tense , person, etc. - could be
related to a principle of semantic classification. Although each case of the noun was given a label
suggestive of at least one of its principle semantic functions (eg. the 'dative' was the case associated with
the notion of 'giving', the 'ablative' was the case associated with 'removal', etc.), it was impossible to give
a satisfactory general definition of the category of case itself in semantic terms."
While it may still be impossible to give a unitary definition of the category of case (ie. case system), it is,
at the very least, necessary to show the range of semantic functions case relations and cases forms have
beyond the function that determines their name, and it is also necessary to attempt to demonstrate the
semantic links which bind the different functions of a case form together. In this I follow Wierzbicka
(1988:436-7) who suggests that :
"It seems more illuminating to postulate, as a general proposition, that case marking may have its own
semantics: different markers of the same case [relation] may differ in terms of meaning. Thus, a given
case marker may carry not only a certain case [relation] meaning (say, accusative, or genitive), but also
an additional meaning, such as animacy, countability or respect. These additional meanings cannot be
explained in terms of a need to distinguish syntactic categories from one another. Rather, it must be
acknowledged that case markers often have a positive semantic function: they encode certain specific
and precisely stateable meanings."
4.1.1 Inflection vs. Derivation

To understand clearly the criteria for identifying case forms in Mparntwe Arrernte one must first
understand the distinction between derivation and inflection used here. Following Anderson (1985:162),
inflection "serves to 'complete' a word by marking its relations within larger structures", while derivation
"produces new lexical items from other lexical material". Derivation thus creates new entries in the
lexicon which are then available to take inflection in the regular process of building phrases, clauses, and
sentences. This distinction is relevant because it explains why a number of the forms which would have
traditionally been treated in grammars of Australian languages as strictly derivational suffixes - such as -
kerte 'proprietive'; -kenhe 'possessive; and -arenye 'associative' - are here treated as case inflections;
some of which may also behave derivationally in the sense outlined above.
This particular treatment of such inflections may be justified as follows. For Yidiñ, Dixon
(1977:134) noted that "'Genitive' is essentially a derivational affix ... (as in many Australian languages)
forming a stem that functions as an adjective and takes the full set of case inflections; a genitive noun or
pronoun must agree in case with the 'head noun' which it qualifies". These then are the characteristic
features that have traditionally been taken to define such 'so-called' derivational suffixes in Australian
languages; (i) the derivation of adjectives and (ii) the attachment of true case inflection, in agreement with
the head, to the derivational suffix on the modifying lexeme. In Mparntwe Arrernte the functionally
equivalent suffixes do not meet these criteria. For instance, the form -kenhe 'possessive', which
corresponds functionally to the Yidiñ 'genitive', is not attached to a noun but a noun-phrase which may
be composed of one or more elements (eg. 1).
(1) Kngwelye kweke [artwe kngerre nthurre-kenhe]-le re-nhe uthne-ke.

Dog small man big INTENS-POSS-ERG 3sg-ACC bite-pc.
The very big man's little dog bit him.
The constituent which -kenhe attaches to in (1) is the whole noun-phrase artwe kngerre nthurre
'very big man'. One could not say, therefore, that an adjective has been derived in this case. Perhaps
one could argue for an adjectival phrase but no unique lexeme has been derived. Furthermore, unlike
true adjectives which must post-modify the head (cf. §§3.1&3) in Mparntwe Arrernte, the -kenhe-
phrase (and other similar cases) can precede the head. Thus, artwe kngerre nthurre-kenhe kngwelye
kweke-le (man big INTENS-POSS dog little-ERG) would be an equally acceptable ordering for the
subject NP in (1). Note that in this situation the strict syntactic case inflection, -le 'ergative', is not
attached to the modifying phrase as suggested by criterion (ii) above.
Finally, and most importantly, -kenhe 'possessive', like other case forms previously labelled
derivational, expresses a relationship between two noun-phrases in which a -kenhe marked noun-
phrase is subordinate to, and a modifier of, another case marked NP. This is clearly in keeping with the
sense of inflection given previously (cf. Anderson 1985:185). These facts merely force us to accept that
a noun-phrase can contain more than one case inflection, but each case inflection will be associated with
a different level of embedding of noun-phrases (case always attaching to the final element of a phrase;
see Dench and Evans 1988). The structure of the complex noun-phrase in (1) can, on this analysis, be
represented as in figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1 : Representation of a complex NP containing a genitive (-kenhe) phrase
In contrast with the inflectional use of -kenhe 'possessive' demonstrated above, there is also a
clear derivational use. For instance the unique lexical item meaning 'bra' is werlatye-kenhe 'breast-
POSSessive'. The derivational use of -kenhe appears to be highly idiosyncratic, while the inflectional
use is totally productive. This is yet another common distinction between inflectional and derivational
processes (Anderson, 1985:163).
4.1.2 Formal criteria for identifying case forms

Mparntwe Arrernte case forms, therefore, refer to NP suffixes which have a primary inflectional
use to indicate the role played by the referent of a NP with respect to more complex propositional
structures. The set of case suffixes can be identified on the basis of the following formal criteria.
Firstly, only NPs marked with the forms listed in Table 4-1 can undergo relativisation. NPs
functioning as core arguments are distinguished from those functioning as peripheral arguments or phrasal
(adnominal) modifiers of a head by the fact that the former NPs relativise leaving a gap (eg. 2) while the
latter relativise leaving a case marked pronominal copy (egs. 3 & 4).
(2) a. Ayenge merne-ke unthe-me.

1sgS food-DAT look for-npp
I'm looking for bush tucker (ie. fruit and vegetables) [Dative = core argument]
b. Merne ayenge-rle Ø unthe-me-rle ...

food 1sgS-REL [gap] look for-npp-REL ...
The bush tucker that I'm looking for ... [gapped Dative in relative clause]
(3) a. Ayenge merne-ke lhe-me.

1sgS food-DAT go-npp
I'm going out for bush tucker. [Dative = peripheral argument (adjunct)]
b. Merne ayenge-rle *(ikwere) lhe-me-rle ...

food 1sgS-REL 3sgDAT go-npp-REL ...
The bush tucker that I'm going out for ... [must have case marked pronominal
copy in relative clause]
(4) a. The Robert-ke newe are-ke.
1sgA Robert-DAT spouse(O) see-pc
I saw Robert's wife. [Dative = adnominal modifier (dative of kin possession)]
b. Robert the-rle *(ikwere) newe are-ke-rle ...

Robert 1sgA-REL 3sgDAT spouse(O) see-pc ...
(The) Robert whose wife I saw ... [must have case marked pronominal copy in
relative clause]
As can be seen table 4-1, there are case forms which may mark NPs occurring at more than one of
these levels of structure. As such, the type of relativisation - gap or pronominal copy - depends on the
level of structure not the case form itself (compare examples 2-4 in which the dative case form functions
at three different levels of structure). This is one way in which case forms like -kenhe 'possessive' and -
kerte 'PROPrietive' differ from the semantically similar clitic forms -arteke SEMBlative (§8.1.1.1) and
-kwenye (§8.1.2.1) 'Nominal Negator' (privative); NPs with these clitics attached do not relativise.
Note that in grammars of other Arandic languages the forms representing 'possessive' (Genitive),
'proprietive' 'semblative' and 'nominal negator' have been grouped together as formally comparable
suffixes.
A second criterion for the identification of case suffixes in Mparntwe Arrernte is the fact that the
pronominals corresponding to case marked noun-phrases either have unique forms (eg. the - 1sgERG),
have unique pronominal case suffixes attached to them (-nhe ACC), or, in the case of peripheral and
adnominal forms, are formed by the attachment of the case suffixes to the dative forms of pronouns. By
contrast, clitics like -arteke 'semblative' and -kwenye 'nominal negator' can attach to any pronominal
form, regardless of its case. This leads to a related point. It was claimed earlier that noun-phrases can
have different layers of case marking. There is however a restriction on this: in Mparntwe Arrernte a
strict syntactic case (ERG, ACC, NOM) can never have a semantic case (see Table 4-1) attached to it,
while the alternative ordering of cases is possible (cf. eg.1). Clitics, can, however, attach to strict
syntactic case markers. Thus the following phrases are distinguished by their grammaticality.
(5) a. *kngwelye-le-kerte
dog-ERG-PROP
b. kngwelye-le-kwenye
dog-ERG-NomNEG
It wasn't the dog (that did it).
4.1.3 Subclassifying Case Forms

The above factors, taken together, uniquely identify the forms given in Table 4-1 as a coherent
set, but the question then arises: Can these case forms be further subcategorised using formal criteria?
The answer is both 'yes' and 'no'. 'Yes', if one accepts a large number of classes and a large degree of
overlapping membership; and 'No' if one wants very neatly delineated subgroups. The choice taken
here has been to show, for each case form, which of five formal characteristics that form exhibits, and to
partially delimit classes which parallel those identified in other Australian languages. The results are given
in Table 4-1 and the degree of overlap should be readily obvious.
It has been common to identify a class of 'core syntactic cases' which are 'inflections onto the
obligatory constituents of a sentence' (Dixon, 1977:124); however, it is difficult to understand what
'obligatory' would mean in Mparntwe Arrernte where there is widespread NP ellipsis. If one takes
'obligatory' to mean 'semantically-necessary' then, depending on the predicate, there are a wide class of
candidates. As noted above, the mark of a semantically entailed argument of a sentence in Mparntwe
Arrernte is its ability to relativise leaving a gap. I have identified a group of 'strict syntactic case forms' (-
le 'ergative', -nhe 'accusative', and Ø 'nominative; accusative; ergative') on the basis that these are the
only case forms which have no other case relational function beyond the marking of a syntactically core
argument of the verb. As such, NP's marked with these case forms may always relativise leaving a gap.
Even this involves a slight degree of hocus-pocus since it rests on an uneasy, but common, separation of
the ergative, instrumental, and locative case relational functions of the form -le. It must be remembered,
that the strict syntactic case forms are not the only forms which mark core arguments; for certain
predicates 'dative' -ke, 'locative' -le, 'ablative' -nge; 'allative' -werne ; and perhaps -le 'instrumental'
also mark core arguments (cf. §5.1).
The 'strict syntactic case forms' are opposed to the 'semantic case forms'. This latter category
includes all forms which mark peripheral arguments and/or can be used to form a phrasal modifier within
a NP. While 'strict syntactic case forms' are assigned to NPs by a predicate, taking into account
whether the case-bearing element is nominal (CN) or pronominal (Pn), 'semantic case forms' can
themselves be seen to control arguments and so necessarily require definition.' In short, while the 'strict
syntactic cases' reflect meaning, the 'semantic cases' are meaning bearing. A number of these case forms
- those which can occur on both core and peripheral arguments - are to be seen as having both
predicative and non-predicative uses (cf. Simpson 1983:227-228).
Three formal criteria which one might use to further subdivide the semantic case forms are: (i)
the ability to occur as the main predicator in a verbless clause, (ii) the ability to form phrasal modifiers of
heads in an NP (ie. adnominal usage) and (iii) strict derivational use to create new lexemes. The last two
criteria have been discussed and exemplified using -kenhe 'possessive' in the section on inflection versus
derivation above (cf. §4.1.1). The first criterion can be exemplified by noting that the typical translation
of a sentence like "Kwementyaye has a wife" would be that given in (6) [using declarative intonation].
(6) Kwementyaye newe-kerte

Kwementyaye spouse-PROP
Kwementyaye has a wife.
Here -kerte, which could be called 'the having suffix', predicates the relation between the subject of the
clause, Kwementyaye, and the possessed entity attributed to him, newe 'spouse'. The case form -kerte
'proprietive' is, therefore, designated the main predicator in this clause because it is the only predicator.
It is important to realise that while all semantic case forms are predicates, in the sense that they
control arguments, it is only those case formss which can predicate a stative relation between two entities
which may occur as main predicators in verbless clauses. By looking at Table 4-1 we find that -le
instrumental', -ketye aversive, and -werne 'allative' cannot be used in this way. This is because they
necessarily predicate the relation between an entity and an action: -le instrumental indicates the relation
between an action and the object used to perform the action, -werne 'allative' relates the action of
motion and the place towards which motion happens, and -ketye 'aversive' predicates the relation
between an action and the thing which is avoided by performing the action.
An interesting feature which emerges from an examination of the three aforementioned criteria is
that a series of inclusions can be observed as far as the semantic case formss are concerned (see Table
4-2). All case forms which can have a strict derivational use are also used to form phrasal modifiers in
NPs. Similarly, all case forms which may be used as phrasal modifiers in NPs can be used as main
predicators in verbless clauses. The reverse of these statements is not true.
Derivational Œ Use as Phrasal Œ Use as Predicator Œ Full set of

use Modifier in NP in Verbless Clause Semantic Cases
(adnominal)
-kerte -kerte -kerte -kerte 'proprietive'

-kenhe -kenhe -kenhe -kenhe 'possessive'
-arenye -arenye -arenye -arenye 'associative'
-ke -ke -ke 'dative'
-nge -nge -nge 'ablative'
-larlenge -larlenge -larlenge 'comitative'
-iperre -iperre -iperre 'AFTER'
-le(LOC) -le(LOC) 'locative'
-le(INST) 'instrumental'
-werne 'allative'
-ketye 'aversive'
Table 4-2: Series of set inclusions for semantic cases
The first step in the inclusion would appear to have a clear diachronic explanation; the true
derivational use of case forms arises out of a previous modifier use in NPs. I would suggest that the
attribute signalled by the modifier, may come to be seen to uniquely identify the head in such a way that
the head is no longer necessary. Thus a unique lexeme is derived which now has the same referent as
we imagine a previous head to have had. Irlpe-kerte (ear-PROP) 'number seven boomerang' could, for
instance, be seen to arise from a phrase which meant 'boomerang' or 'thing' which 'has an ear'. I have no
explanation for the second step of inclusion. The final step of inclusion - showing that -le (INST), -
werne (ALL), and -ketye (AVER) cannot be used as a predicator in a verbless clause - has already
been explained above by the observation that these cases only relate an 'entity' and an 'event' and do not
relate two entities.
A subcategory of cases that is commonly recognised in grammars of Australian languages is that
of 'local case'. This appears to be established mainly on semantic grounds and includes those case forms
which have a significant, or primary, spatial function. These case forms, which I have labelled 'spatial
cases', are a subset of semantic cases and are indicated for Mparntwe Arrernte in Table 4-1. Also
indicated in Table 4-1 are those case relations/forms that are commonly treated as derivational, rather
than inflectional, in other Australian languages.
4.2 Functions of Case Inflections

Following a brief discussion of the analysis of Ø case marking, each of the case forms will be
discussed in turn, detailing the different functions each case form can perform. Different functions, here,
do not necessarily entail different senses or meanings of the case form itself. As Wierzbicka (1980:xix)
observes, "[c]ases do not have meaning in isolation - their meanings are relative to specifiable syntactic
constructions". A different function may here be identified, for instance, if the case form attaches to a
particular stem type giving rise to a unique or perhaps unpredictable interpretation; or if the case form
operates at different syntactic levels; or if it is used to express notions associated with different
semantico-functional domains (eg. space, time, discourse cohesion, etc.) and so on. None of the case
forms shows any phonologically conditioned allomorphic variation.
4.2.1 Ø Case-Marking; Split Case Marking; Tripartite Case Systems

In recent years the analysis of the marking of core syntactic cases in Australian languages, has
been the topic of much discussion in Australianist circles. One subject of debate involves the underlying
raison d'etre for split case-marking where a nominative-accusative case marking pattern tends to hold
for nominals referring to higher animates, typically pronominals, while an Ergative-Absolutive case
marking pattern holds for remaining nominals (Silverstein 1976, 1981; Dixon 1976, 1977:254-55,
Wierzbicka 1981; Comrie 1981:122-129, 181-184). Another focus of discussion has been the related
question of whether one really wants to recognise four case relations - Nominative, Accusative, Ergative,
Absolutive - or whether only three case relations are justified - Ergative, Nominative, Accusative
(Goddard 1982, 1983; Blake 1985). Central to these discussions is the analysis of unmarked, or zero-
case-marked, forms.
I will not attempt to add more to the theoretical discussion surrounding the above issues, but will
outline the position taken here as well as presenting facts from Mparntwe Arrernte that have a bearing
on positions other people have taken. In this discussion I will make use of Dixon's three basic syntactic
functions (introduced in Dixon, 1972:128 ff and understood here to be grammatical functions cf.
§1.4.3.1): S = intransitive subject; A = transitive subject; O = transitive object.
In terms of marking of core syntactic cases Mparntwe Arrernte does indeed have a split: non-
pronominal forms which bear case for the NP will take -le in A (ie. Ergative) function and will take Ø in
S and O functions; pronominal forms, on the other hand - with one exception - will take Ø in S and A
function and will take -nhe in O (ie. Accusative) function. As noted, and discussed in §3.7.1, the
exception is the first person singular pronoun which has the form the for A grammatical function but has
the form ayenge for S and O grammatical functions. In other words the 1st person singular pronoun
manifests an Ergative pattern of marking while all other pronouns - 1st person non-singulars, 2nd person;
and 3rd person form - are nominative-accusative. This is an interesting exception to Silverstein's
(1976:122) observation that "[i]f an ergative system splits simply into two two-way case-marking
schemes, then minimally either the [+ ego] (or the [+ tu]) forms are nominative-accusative, the rest
ergative-absolutive".
Goddard (1982) has rightly argued that descriptions of Australian languages have commonly
confused case marking (case forms) with systems of case (case function). He notes that "if we stick with
the traditional concept of a case as a substitution class, most Australian languages have a system of
THREE (core) cases: nominative, ergative, and accusative." This analysis is the one favoured for
Mparntwe Arrernte and, as a result, what would previously have been treated as absolutive case for
non-pronominals and the first person singular is now treated as a situation in which the accusative case
form and nominative case form are identical (ie. both are Ø-marked). Similarly, for pronouns other than
the first person singular the ergative and nominative cases also have homophonous case forms (again
both are Ø-marked).
This allows for more elegant statements of certain syntactic phenomenon. Instead of saying that
there is a certain relation between the absolutive nominal and the accusative pronominal in an example
such as (7), where there are two NPs which exhibit a part-whole relation and which are both undergoers
of the action, it is more economical to say that both noun-phrases are in the accusative case function and
that such part-whole relationships require case agreement.
(7) Artwe-le nge-nhe tanthe-ke ulyepere-Ø.

man-ERG(A) 2sg-ACC (O) spear-pc thigh-ACC(O)
The man speared you in the thigh.
Similarly, this analysis reveals an implicit relation between the cases of definite and non-definite
expanded NPs. It has been noted (cf. §3.7.1&3) that case is marked on the last element of a phrase,
and when the NP is non-definite the final element of the phrase is a nominal but when it is definite the
final element will be a form of the third person pronominal. It would seem an unnecessary complication
to say that definite NPs have a different set of case relations to their non-definite counterparts (see Table
4-3).
Non-Definite NP Definite NP
Ergative (A) artwe kngerre-le artwe kngerre re-Ø

man big-ERG(A) man big 3sg-ERG(A)
a big man (saw it) the big man (saw it)
Nominative(S) artwe kngerre-Ø artwe kngerre re-Ø

man big-NOM(S) man big 3sg-NOM(S)
a big man (fell down) the big man (fell down)
Accusative(O) artwe kngerre-Ø artwe kngerre re-nhe

man big-ACC(O) man big 3sg-ACC(O)
(I saw)a big man (I saw)the big man
Table 4-3: Comparison of case marking on definite and non-definite NPs.
As we can see from the Table 4-3, Ø can mark all three core case functions. The use of -le
versus Ø for ergative case function or -nhe versus Ø for accusative case function is lexically determined
according to whether the item to bear case is nominal or pronominal. Nominative (S) case is the only
one for which both lexical classes show Ø marking. Ergative case and accusative case will be discussed
under the forms which realise their substitution class: -le and -nhe respectively. The zero realisation of
these cases have the same functions as the overt forms. Since lack of any marking is the identifying
feature (in terms of substitution classes) of the nominative it will be discussed next.
4.2.2 Functions of Ø Nominative (S)

In keeping with its traditional application, nominative in Mparntwe Arrernte is: (i) the case of
single direct core argument of an intransitive verb (ie. S function; eg. 8) and (ii) the case of citation (eg.
9).
(8) Pwerte-Ø tnye-ke ahelhe-ke.

Rock-NOM(S) fall-pc. ground-DAT
The rock fell to the ground.
(9) Arritnye nhenhe-ke "irrarnte-Ø", kenhe yanhe-ke "ngkwene-Ø"

name this-DAT "irrarnte"-NOM BUT that-mid-DAT "ngkwene"-NOM
The name for this one is "irrarnte" (black cockatoo), and for that one it is
"ngkwene" (white cockatoo).
Further uses of the nominative case are listed below.

(iii) Subject complements in equational sentences agree with the subject by taking nominative
case (eg.10).
(10) a. Kngwelye marle-Ø unte-Ø.

dog female-Nom 2 sg-NOM
You're a bitch. ( A bitch is what you are.)
b. Irrkwentye mape itne-Ø nhele-ntye mape-Ø ne-me.
policeman pl(grp) 3pl-NOM tease-NMZR pl(grp)-NOM be-npp
Those policemen are a "cheeky" (cruel) bunch.
(iv) Names, terms of address - Akin to its citation function, the nominative is the case of the
argument expressing the name, or term of address, with verbs of naming. This is of interest because it
means that the three semantically distinct verbs of naming - atniwe- 'to call anything by its name',
anperne- 'to call someone by the appropriate kin term', ke- 'cut; to call a place one's totem, to call
someone by a certain kin term' - semantically select for each of the three strict syntactic cases (ergative,
accusative, and nominative cf. eg. 11).
(11) a. The Rosie re-nhe atniwe-me Missus re-Ø.

1sgERG(A) Rosie 3sg-ACC(O) call-npp Missus
3sg-NOM
I call Rosie (that name) Missus.
b. Ampe nhenhe-le nge-nhe ke-me/anperne-me ipmenhe-Ø.

child this -ERG(A) 2sg-ACC(O) cut-npp/call(kin)-npp granny(MM)-
NOM
This child calls you granny.
Note that when a name/address term is definitised as in (11a) the 3rd person pronoun is not in
accusative form, as would be expected if it were a nominal complement agreeing with the object. When
this argument is a non-definite nominal, as in (11b), it takes Ø-marking and, therefore, in no way agrees
with the transitive subject. These facts determine the nominative status of the argument.
(v) Language Spoken - With the verb angke- 'to speak, talk', the language which a person
habitually speaks, or has an ability to speak, appears in the nominative.
(12) Ayenge Arrernte-Ø angke-me

1sg S Arrernte-Nom speak-npp
I speak Arrernte.
(vi) Body parts causing pain - Transitive verbs of affect, such as twe- 'hit'; tanthe- 'poke, spear',
and ke- 'cut', can be used idiomatically as verbs indicating physical pain. In this sense they appear to be
intransitive, although they do control two arguments in nominative case. These two arguments are a
particular body part, or parts, and the higher animate (typically human) which is experiencing pain in this
part (eg. 13).
(13) a. Arerre tyenhe-Ø tanthe-me ayenge-Ø

chest 1sg POSS-NOM spear-npp 1 sg-NOM
My chest is hurting me. [I can feel stabbing pain in my chest.]
b. Iltye re-therre-Ø-me kwete ke-me unte-Ø?

hand 3dl-NOM-INTERR still cut-npp 2sg-NOM
Are your hands still bothering you (from blisters)? [lit. Are the two
hands still cutting you?]
Interestingly, in sentences such as (13b), there are speakers of about 30 and under who allow
the body parts to control number cross-reference of S/A in the verb. For these speakers the verb in
(13b) could be ke-rle.ne.rre-me 'cut-dl.S/A-npp'. This, plus the typical ordering of the body part noun-
phrase left-most, suggests that this argument is the main subject of the verb. Moreover, this argument is
treated like the actor, or controlling noun-phrase, in English translations by bilingual speakers.
The facts of this unique construction might be explained through recourse to two interacting
systems; part-whole and transitivity. Part noun-phrases typically show case agreement with the noun-
phrase referring to the whole of which they are a part. If a part is affected the whole is affected, if
something is located at the part, it is located at the whole, and so on; thus there is identity between the
two. This, then, explains the shared case in this construction. The question arises, however, why only
nominative case is used with verbs that typically have an ergative and accusative argument? This might
be explained by the fact that semantically this construction is a type of middle transitive in which the
potential actor and undergoer are identical; so there is no real distinction of actor and undergoer
possible. In this sense they are like reflexives, but differ from them in that reflexives typically focus on a
whole entity often acting consciously on itself (in the case of higher animates). Here there is no real
control of the action, just experience of pain and the focussed entity in this construction, the body part
which is the cause of pain in the whole, is clearly non-agentive. Nominative is clearly the favored case for
marking a core role which is neither agentive nor patientive and is also favoured for marking the
argument(s) of what are basically stative rather than active predicates.
4.2.3 Functions of -nhe ACCusative
The case suffix -nhe 'accusative' attaches to the unmarked forms of pronouns, with the exception
of first person singular, and it indicates that the noun-phrase for which such a pronoun bears case is the
object of a transitive verb (ie. 0 grammatical function). The accusative marking for all other noun-phrase
types is Ø. The suffix -nhe, therefore, unambiguously marks the role of undergoer - an entity which has
token-specific semantics, but which, in relative terms, is the non-initiating, and typically controlled,
argument with respect to the action of a predicate (Foley and Van Valin, 1984:32 ff).
(14) Ampe arntirte-le ilerne-nhe we-ke pwerte-le.

child rotten-ERG(A) 1dl-ACC(O) pelt-pc stone-INST
Some rotten kid pelted us (two) with stones.
As far as accusative cases with ditransitive verbs are concerned, we can make the following
observations. Amongst ditransitive verbs at least two types can be identified, depending on the roles of
the two non-Ergative arguments (cf. §5.1.3.3). The first type has accusative and dative arguments. One
example of this type is the verb ile- 'to tell (a story); tell someone to do' which in its 'tell a story' sense;
marks the addressee with dative case and the linguistic content is realised in accusative case (15a). The
verb ile- 'to tell' also has a directive sense in which the addressee is accusative and there is a purposive
complement which carries the content of the order (15b). Thus the one verb form may have different
senses depending on which of its semantically core roles is in accusative case.
(15) a. Kngerrepate-le tnengkerre relhe therre-kerte re-nhe

Elder-ERG(A) Dreamtime story womantwo-PROP 3sg-
ACC(O)
ile-rne nwerne-ke
tell-p.immed 1pl-DAT
An elder just told the Dreamtime tale about two women to us (all).
b. Elaine-le anwerne-nhe ile-ke alhe-rltiwe-tyeke.

Elaine-ERG(A) 1pl-ACC(O) tell-pc go-pl.S/A-PURP
Elaine told us to go away.
The second relevant type of ditransitive verb is the very small number of double accusative
verbs. These verbs have two case frames one in which the recipient of a transferred object is in dative
case (16a) and one in which the recipient appears in accusative case (16b). The transferred object is
always in accusative case. The change in frames does not appear to involve a change in sense, but
merely a change in focus similar to dative shift in English. The archetypal example of this type is nthe-
'give'.
(16) a. Artwe-le intilentye re-nhe nthe-tyenhe itne-ke.

man-ERG(A) painting 3sg-ACC(O) give-npc 3pl-DAT
The man will give the painting to them.
b. Artwe-le itne-nhe intilentye re-nhe nthe-tyenhe.

man-ERG(A) 3pl-ACC(O) painting 3sg-ACC(O) give-npc
The man will give them the painting.
Accusative is not only the case of the object, but is also the case of complements to the object.
Thus, for example, with verbs of affect the object may be associated with an accusative marked nominal
complement which indicates the 'part' of the object entity which is affected. Note that in such cases, the
accusative-'part'-complement corresponds to what in English would be a prepositional phrase (eg. 17).
(17) The nge-nhe twe-ke kaperte re-nhe.

1sgErg(A) 2sg-ACC(O) hit-pc head 3sg-ACC(O)
I hit you on the head.
4.2.4 The Form -le: Ergative, Instrumental, and Locative:

While it seems plausible that the diachronic process which neutralised the distinctiveness of final
vowels in the Arandic languages caused the syncretism of a proto-Arandic ergative/instrumental *-lu and
locative *-la, it is not synchronically clear the degree to which the ergative, instrumental, and locative
case functions of the form -le are to be regarded as polysemous or homophonous. Although it is
possible to distinguish these three general case functions on formal grounds, extended uses of -le may
not always be clearly associated with just one of the three.
Amongst Australian languages more than three-quarters have the same form for ergative and
instrumental functions, while the remaining languages have locative and instrumental covered by the one
form (Dixon, 1980:304). The Arandic languages are amongst the very small minority of Australian
languages where these three functions are covered by a single form (see Blake 1977:5). It is also worth
noting that in Luritja (Green, p.c.) both the ergative form and the locative form each have an
instrumental function.
The semantic linking of these three functions would be quite natural, and it is the instrumental
which would semantically connect ergative to locative. In an archetypal situation where an instrument is
used, the effect produced by the instrument is what the agent had intended. In a sense then, both
instruments and agents typically cause something to happen, and what the instrument does can be said
to be the same as what the agent who wields the instrument has done, or at least intended to do. (ie.
The agent causes the instrument to do something wanting to cause something else to happen). This
would explain the linkage of ergative to instrumental, but where does locative fit in? Again, when one
considers an archetypal situation, the instrument is in contact with the agent, and is commonly brought
into contact with a patient (if there is one). The component of contact requires co-location. Instrument,
therefore, has a natural association with both location and agency. It is not far-fetched, therefore, to
expect that such semantic links would - in the course of time - reduce the probable original homophony
of ergative/instrumental and locative in Arandic to polysemy, under the impetus of an iconicity principle
that suggests one form should have one meaning.
The formal criteria which allow us to distinguish each of the three general case functions are as
follows. Firstly ergative, being a core function, always relativises leaving a gap, while instrumental
always relativises leaving a pronominal copy. Locative may mark either core or peripheral arguments
and so can relativise leaving either a gap or a pronominal copy. Secondly, the Ergative form of the first
person singular is the while that for first person singular instrumental and locative is atyenge-le (1sgDat-
le). This distinguishes the core Ergative function from the other case functions of -le, but does not
distinguish between these other two functions. The instrumental can be seen to be distinct from the
locative from the observation that lexemes encoding inherently locative notions, such as the
demonstratives (cf. §3.6.1), may optionally be marked with -le when in locative function [eg. nhenhe(-le)
= here], but must always be marked with -le when in Instrumental function [eg. nhenhe*(-le) 'with this'].
Moreover, as noted in §3.6.1, the demonstratives nhenhe 'here; this' and yanhe 'there (mid); that (mid)'
have contracted locative forms with -le - nhele and yale -, but these same contractions are not used in
instrumental function.
Having demonstrated that each of the three general case functions of -le may be distinguished
formally, each one will be discussed in turn.
4.2.4.1 Functions of -le Ergative (A)

The suffix -le 'ergative' only attaches to non-pronominal nominal elements and indicates that the
noun-phrase which is so-marked is in the transitive subject (A) grammatical function. Using Foley and
Van Valin's terms (1984:32), in a transitive sentence, -le 'ergative' always marks the role of actor - an
entity which, relative to the undergoer role indicated by accusative case in Mparntwe Arrernte, is
considered the potential initiator or controller of the action of a predicate . In Mparntwe Arrernte the
Ergative argument may be animate (eg. 18a) or inanimate (eg. 18b).
(18) a. Arelhe kngerre therre-le ampe mape-Ø ilte-ke.
womanbig two-ERG(A) child pl(grp)-ACC(O) scold-pc
The two big women scolded the children.
b. Kwatye urewe-le iwerre re-nhe arte-me.

water river-ERG(A) way 3sg-ACC(O) cover-npp
The (flooded) river is covering the road.
It is not always easy to predict which transitive verbs will allow an inanimate actor and what the
nature of that entity will be. For instance, the two verbs werne- 'to blow' and ampe- 'to burn', which
have both transitive and intransitive uses (cf. §5.1.3.4), only take inanimate actors when used
transitively. It is also worth pointing out, in this context, that there is an idiomatic type of adversative
construct in which a verb of affect - for example tanthe- 'spear, poke', ke- 'cut', but most frequently
twe- 'strike, hit, kill' - has as its ergative marked NP an ambient phenomenon (eg. meteorological
phenomenon such as rain, cold, heat; eg. 19a), or a physical ailment (eg. 19b). The object of this
construct is always a higher animate, typically human. The semantic force of the construct is that the
animate entity is suffering because of the presence of the inanimate entity. The affect verbs, therefore,
are not functioning in their primary, literal, sense.
(19) a. Irrernte-le ayenge twe-me.

cold-ERG 1sgO hit-npp
I'm suffering from the cold. [lit. The cold (weather) is hitting me.]
b. Margaret re-nhe tengkwelknge-le twe-ke.

Margaret 3sg-O a cold(snot)-ERG hit-pc
Margaret has caught a cold. [lit. A cold struck Margaret.]
It should be noted that Mparntwe Arrernte is only morphologically Ergative, as far as non-
pronominals are concerned; in several aspects of its syntax it manifests a tripartite or nominative -
accusative system (cf. §4.2.1; Ch. 10 & Ch. 11).
4.2.4.2 Functions of -le INSTrumental

Instrumental -le marks an entity which the subject (S or A) of a verb uses to perform the verb
action. Unlike the ergative function, which is only relevant to transitive sentences, the instrumental
function appears with both transitive (eg. 20a) and intransitive (eg. 20b) verbs. As the examples in (20)
show, -le 'instrumental' is commonly translated by English 'with' or 'using'.
(20) a. Ampe urreye-le thipe we-rle.pe-ke pwerte-le, shanghai-le.

child boy-ERG bird pelt-Do Along-pc rock--INST, sling shot-
INST
The boy went along pelting birds with stones, with a sling shot.
b. Irretetye-le ayenge lhe-me,ngkwerne kurne-warte.

walking stick-INST 1sgS go-npp, bone bad-SINCE
I get around using a walking stick, because of my bad leg [as you should know].
Unlike some Australian languages (Blake 1977:46; Goddard 1983:81), the instrumental case
form can mark the active use of a body part in the performance of an action.
(21) Re ikwere angke-rle.ne-me iltye-le

3sgS 3sgDAT speak-CONT-npp hand-INST
She's handsigning to him.[lit. She is speaking to him with her hands].
Finally, there is an interesting idiomatic usage in which human animates can be marked with the
instrumental to indicate that the human actor of a transitive verb action accomplishes the action by getting
someone else to do it (eg. 22).
(22) Me-l-atye pmere kethe-lh.ile-ke atyenge-le

mother-ERG-1KinPOSS house uncovered-CAUSE-pc 1sgDAT-INST.
My mother got me to clean the house.[lit. My mother cleared up the house
with (using) me.]
That this is an instrumental usage and not an ergative one is clear from the fact that the NP
atyenge-le '1sg DAT-INST' is used instead of the '1sgERG(A)'. In example (22) the person referred to
by the ergative marked NP does not do the action, but does initiate it and control it, as befits the actor
role. The person in the instrumental role is merely used to achieve the intentions of the actor, and there is
a strong implication that they themself do not want to do the action. Thus example (22) is in distinct
contrast to a benefactive construction like that in example (23), where the implication is that the person
wants to do the action.
(23) The pmere kethe-lh.ile-ke me-k-atye.

1sgA house uncovered-CAUSE-pc mother-DAT-1KinPOSS
I cleaned up the house for my mother.
While this construct is attested a number of times in my corpus, speakers vary as to whether they
think such sentences are acceptable when they are presented out of context. It appears to be amongst
that category of utterances which speakers will admit that they say, but which they feel is not proper
Arrernte. This is likely to be associated with the idiomatic feel that adheres to it.
4.2.4.3 Functions of -le Locative

4.2.4.3.1 Spatial Functions
a) Static Location - With stance verbs (existential/position verbs like ne- 'to be sitting'; inte- 'to
be lying down' and tne- 'to be standing') and other verbs that do not entail movement or change of
position of core arguments, the suffixation of locative -le to a NP indicates the place at which an entity is
statically located (eg. 24). The suffix -le 'locative' manifests the basic predicate 'be at' and is commonly
translated by English 'in, at, on, around'. The exact interpretation of the locative relation is dependent on
several aspects of the situation described, including the canonical relationship between the thing located
and the entity marked as the location (cf. §7.4.2.5; note particularly eg. 24b)
(24) a. Artwe nhenge Ewyenpere Atwatye-le ne-me.

man REMEMB spear-tree gap-LOC live-npp
That man (you know the one) lives at Eastside camp (Speartree Gap).
b. Relhe mape ure-le inte-rle.ne-tyeme.

womanpl(grp) fire-LOC lie down-CONT-pp
The women were lying (sleeping) around the fire.
This function of -le 'locative' contrasts with -nge 'ablative', which may be used for 'dynamic
location' and 'beginning point location' (cf. §4.2.6.1), and -ke 'dative', which may be used for 'endpoint
location' (cf. §4.2.5.1). In many languages the same form is used to mark the place where a person or
thing is at rest, the place where an object has come to be located, the place where the undergoer or
focus of an event such as 'seeing' or 'spearing' is located, and the place within which an active event is
contained. As the following examples from Warlpiri show, the suffix -rla/-ngka 'locative' can be used in
all these situations (as can the English preposition 'in').
(25) a. Wati ka ngurra-ngka nyina-mi.

man AUX camp-LOC sit-nonpast
The man is sitting in camp.
b. Karnta-ngku ka miyi ngurra-ngka/ parrija-rla yirra-rni.

woman-ERG AUX food camp-LOC/ coolamon-LOC put-nonpast
The woman is putting the food in the camp/in the coolamon.
c. Wati-ngki ka jurlpu watiya-rla nya-nyi.
man-ERG AUX bird tree-LOC see-nonpast
The man sees the bird in the tree.
d. Wati-ngki ka nantuwu warru-warrka-rni ngurra-ngka.

man-ERG AUX horse around-ride/climb-nonpast camp-LOC
The man is riding the horse around in the camp.
In Hale's (1982:258) terms, the locative in all the above examples indicates that something (the figure) is
portrayed as being coincident with (ie. at the same place as) something else (the ground). Mparntwe
Arrernte, however, can use -le 'locative' only in the equivalent of (25a), where there is static (central)
location; for the equivalents of (25b) and (25c), where there is location at an endpoint, the dative case
form -ke must be used, and for the equivalent of (25d), where an active event is being located (ie.
dynamic location), -nge 'ablative' must be used to indicate location.
b) Path or Medium of motion - With verbs of motion a -le location complement indicates the
path along which something moves, or the medium within which it moves. Rough English equivalents are
'along', 'within' and 'through'. This interpretation of -le 'locative' is consistent with its sense of static
location described above, since in both cases this form indicates that the figure always remains located
in/at/on the marked reference point for the duration of the action or state being considered (eg. 26).
(26) a. Re Stuart Highway-le lhe-me.

3sgS Stuart Highway-LOC go-npp
He's travelling along the Stuart highway.
b. Thipe kenhe lhe-nhe-lhe-nhe alkere-le.

birds BUT go-NMZR.Hab.rdp sky-LOC
Birds, on the other hand, are fliers [ie they habitually go along in the sky]
4.2.4.3.2 Temporal Function

Lexemes describing periods of time (day, parts of a day, month, and seasons), as well as their
quantification, may be marked with locative -le to indicate the period of time in which an action/event
took place (endured), with the implication that the event was completed within that time period
(compare with -nge 'ablative' cf. §4.2.6.4).
(27) a. Ingwe-le kake ilerne pety-alpe-ke Robert-nge.

Night-LOC brother 1dlS come-back-pc Robert-ABL
My brother and I came back with Robert last night.
b. Urreye re ingke lhe-ke Irrkenayeme-werne arlte urrpetye-le.

boy 3sgS foot go-pc Connor's Well-ALL day few/three-LOC
The boy walked to Connor's Well in 3 days.
4.2.4.4 Other Uses of the -le form

As mentioned the outset -le has a number of uses which cannot be clearly associated with just
one of these three general functions.
4.2.4.4.1 Manner Adverb formative: The suffix -le can be used to derive manner adverbs from certain
adjectival nominals (28a) and may optionally be attached to true manner adverbs (28b). It, therefore,
functions something like '-ly' in English (cf. §7.4.3.1).
(28) a. Kwementyaye lhwarrpe-le / arerte-le / nterte-le angke-ke
Kwementyaye sad-ADV / deaf-ADV / quiet-ADV speak-pc
Kwementyatye spoke sadly / stupidly / quietly.
b. Re-therre mwantye(-le) irrpe-ke pmere-ke.

3dlS carefully(-ADV) go into-pc camp-DAT
They two went carefully (slowly) into the camp.
This use could be associated with either the instrumental or ergative functions (or both). It is not
uncommon in languages of the world that the method of indicating 'the thing used in performing an action'
is also used to indicate the 'manner "used" in performing an action'; thus the connection with instrumental
function is highly plausible. Note, however, that they each answer different questions. An "instrumental
phrase" would answer the question iwenhe-le? 'what with?' while the adverbial phrase would answer the
question nthakenhe? 'how?; in what way?'.
The possible link with Ergative becomes clear when languages nearby are examined and it is
found that a number of them have ergative marking on manner adverbials in transitive sentences, in
agreement with the transitive subject. In Yankunytjatjara, Goddard (1983:57) notes that what he calls
active adjectives (see §7.1) 'constitute a separate phrase which need not be continguous to the actor
NP, but which agrees with it in case' and which 'like English 'manner adverbs', describe how a particular
action was carried out.' If a similar analysis is to be proposed for Mparntwe Arrernte a diachronic step
must be postulated whereby ergative cross-reference of manner forms was generalised to all subjects,
transitive or intransitive. Note that both examples in (28) involve intransitive verbs. This hypothesis is
not implausible since Mparntwe Arrernte, syntactically, treats S and A in the same way, and since the
marking for agreement with intransitive S would have been Ø making it formally indistinct from the
adjective form, thus making -le a more salient marker of adverb status. This hypothetical change may
have been pushed along by the fact that -le already marked temporal adverbials, as well as marking the
semantically related instrumental.
4.2.4.4.2 Compound Ligature in nthe- 'give a' constructs

There is a type of idiomatic causative construct in which an adjective (29a) or verb root (29b)
which indicates a negative or unsettled state of the emotions (ie.sadness, fear, surprise) can be
compounded with nthe- 'to give', obligatorily using -le as the link between the two elements. The
resulting compound is a transitive verb stem meaning 'for someone or something to cause someone to
feel in a negative or unsettled way' as indicated by the first part of the compound. Typically, this implies
that the actor - if there is one in the conventional sense - did not intend to cause these feelings. This is in
contrast to parallel verb stems formed by suffixing -(lh)ile 'causative' to the elements which form the first
part of the construct presently under discussion (cf. §5.5.3).
(29) a. Nanthe-le ayenge atere-le-nthe-ke.

horse-ERG 1sgO afraid-?-give-pc
The horse gave me a fright.
b. Re-rle angke-ke-le-rle Christine re-nhe apate-le-nthe-ke.

3sgS-REL speak-pc-ERG-REL Christine 3sg-O dumb found-?-
give-pc
What she said left Christine awestruck.
Another similar form, the verb meaning 'to teach', optionally uses -le to link kaltye 'to be
knowledgeable about' and nthe- give.
(29) The ampe itne-nhe Arrernte kaltye(-le)-nthe-me

1sgA child 3pl-ACC Arrernte knowledgeable(-?)-give-npp
I teach the children Arrernte.[ie. I cause the children to be
knowledgeable about Arrernte.]
4.2.4.4.3 Cohesive Function: Switch Reference
The suffix form -le is the general marker of same subject (SS) in switch reference, and the
subordinate clauses which it marks may have a temporal 'when/while' sense or a reason/cause sense.
One can also talk about a fusion of same subject -le, with the 'non-past-progressive' -me, to give -me-
le, which appears in a number of complex clausal structures that entail same subject. These include
'event seriation' as well as the derivation of manner adverbs from verbs. For a complete discussion of -
me-le and same subject use of -le see chapter 11.
Austin (1981:330) notes that it is common amongst Australian languages with switch-reference
for locative to mark same subject. One explanation for this may be that the entailment of coincidence
between place of located entity and place of the locating reference point, is extended to necessary
coincidence of the performer of two actions. Note however, that same subject -le can convey the
temporal sense associated with locative -le, as well as the 'adverb formative' sense of -le which was
previously attributed to either the general instrumental or ergative case functions. There is no one clear
general function to associate this usage with, and this, more than any other sub-function, may be
evidence of an underlying semantic connection between the three general case functions of -le.
4.2.4.4.4 Language being spoken

With the verb angke- 'to speak' -le can be used to mark the language someone is speaking. This
is usually seen to be in contrast with other languages you could expect that person to be speaking
(compare with the nominative cf. §4.2.2.v).
(30) Arreng-atye Anmatyerre-le angke-rne.

grandfather(FF)-1KinPOSS Anmatyerre-INST/LOC speak-p.immed.
My grandfather(FF) was just speaking in Anmatyerre.
It is unclear as to whether the instrumental function of -le is relevant here (ie. the language being
'used' is Anmatyerre), or whether this is an extension of the locative function, parallel with English use of
'in' in the translation of (30).
4.2.5 Functions of -ke DATive
4.2.5.1 Spatial Functions
(a) The case suffix -ke 'dative' marks the person/place/thing at which something becomes
located after moving, or being moved, there. This function is inconsistent with inherently directed motion
verbs such as lhe- 'go' and petye- 'come', but occurs with 'oriented motion' verbs such as tnye- 'fall' and
irrpe- 'go into' (eg. 31a) and with verbs of transfer and putting such as nthe- 'give' (eg. 31b) and arrerne-
'put' (see §7.3.2.4 and fn. 19 in chapter 7). This suffix, in this particular function, roughly corresponds to
the English prepositions 'to', 'into', and 'onto' (compare with -werne 'allative' cf.§4.2.7.1).
(31) a. Lewetyerre lhwenge-ke irrpe-ke.

goanna(S) burrow-DAT go into-pc
The goanna entered the burrow.
b. Eli-le ingkwerlpe nthe-me Margaret-ke.

Eli-ERG native tobacco give-npp Margaret-DAT
Eli is going to give Margaret some tobacco.
(b) An NP marked with dative -ke may be used to give the precise location of the object or
'focus' argument of a verb at the end point of an event which can take place over a distance without
either S/A or 'focus'/O moving. It may be used to give the location of the object of perception verbs
(eg.32) or the location of the object of a verb like tanthe- 'to spear', or the location of the 'focus'
argument of an intransitive verb like arlke- 'shout for, shout at'. Compare with the spatial functions of
locative -le (cf. §4.2.4.3.1).
(32) The nyengke are-ke apere-ke.

1sgA zebra finch see-pc red gum-DAT
I saw the zebra finch in the gum tree.
4.2.5.2 Addressee
The dative case form marks the argument which fills the semantic role of 'addressee' with say/tell
verbs, and as such it is typically translated by English 'to' (eg. 33).
(33) Ipmenh-l-atye-le ampe itne-ke atnengkerre ile-ke.

granny(MM)-ERG-1KinPoss-ERG child 3pl-DAT Dreamtime story(O)
tell-pc
My granny told a Dreamtime story to the kids.
4.2.5.3 Focus of internal human states

(a) Dative marks the focus/reason for a person's emotional or attitudinal state. The emotional
predicates for which the Dative provides a complement may be a nominal predicate (eg. 34a) or an
intransitive verb (eg. 34b).
(34) a. Re atere nanthe-ke.

3sgS afraid horse-DAT
He's afraid of horses.
b. Anwerne Christine-ke irrar-irre-tyenhe.

1plS Christine-DAT 'homesick'-INCH-npc
We're going to miss Christine.
(b) An NP marked for dative case indicates the content of a cognitive state (eg.35).
(35) a. Ayenge alye-lhe-ntye nhenhe-ke kaltye.
1sgS sing-REFL-NMZR this-DAT 'be knowledgeable of'
I know this song.
b. Council mape itirre-ntye ngkwinhe-ke itirre-me.

Council pl(grp)(S) think-NMZR 2sgPOSS-DAT think-npp
The council is thinking about your idea.
(c) Dative case forms may mark an entity which is not, or will not be, in the perception of a
person but which is the focus of attention of the action they are performing (eg. 36).
(36) Me-k-angkwe karelhe-Ø toyota-le.

mother-DAT-2KinPOSS wait-IMP toyota-LOC
Wait for me (your mother) in the toyota.
4.2.5.4 Dative of Attempt

With certain transitive verbs what would typically be the O argument may be replaced by a
dative marked argument. Unlike the accusative case which marks an actual undergoer the 'dative of
attempt' indicates an intended but non-actual undergoer. This argument is the goal of an attempted
performance of the action, but the action may either be unsuccessfully performed (37a) or the potential
object may not be presently available for actual performance of the action (37b). This last being closely
related to the function in §4.2.5.3 c. In this function the dative is commonly translated by 'at' or 'for'.
(37) a. Re aherre-ke tyerre-ke

3sgS kangaroo-DAT shoot-pc
He shot at the kangaroo (but missed).
b. Kweke nhenhe-le arrpenhe mape-ke awe-me

little this-ERG other pl(grp)-DAT hear-npp.
This little one is listening out for the other ones. [ie. Trying to hear when
they're coming].
4.2.5.5 The conscious reason for performance of an action.

(a) The dative typically marks an adjunct which encapsulates the purpose for an action being
performed (eg. 38). Compare with the purposive suffix -tyeke (cf. §5.3.2.2)
(38) Amp-aye! Kwatye in-Ø-aye tea-ke.

child-EMPH! water get-IMP-EMPH tea-DAT
Hey (my) child! Get some water for tea. [So that I can make some tea.]
(b) As in many languages, the dative marks an adjunct which refers to the person/people who
will benefit from performance of the action. In other words it commonly marks the semantic role of
benefactive and, as such, is typically translated into English by 'for' (eg. 39).
(39) Kele nthetye kere-ke lhe-ke nye-k-ikwe-ke.

O.K. youngman(S) game-DAT go-pc father-DAT-3KinPoss-DAT
So, the young man went out for meat for his father.
(c) An adjunct which indicates the person on behalf of whom, or in place of whom, the action is
performed is also occurs in the dative (ie. the person deputised to do the action; the 'deputative'
function).
(40) Unte kwenhe angke-tyeke ngkwinhe mape-ke, Arrernte

mape-ke.
2sgS ASSERT speak-PURP 2sgPOSS pl(grp)-DAT, Arrernte
pl(grp)- DAT
You should speak on behalf of your people, for Arrernte people.
4.2.5.6 Topic of what is being said

When used with a say-tell verb, a dative complement can designate the general topic of what is
being said (eg. 41). As such it is translated by 'about' and functions in a way similar to -kerte
'proprietive' (cf. §4.2.8.2.c).
(41) Itne angke-rre-rne re-rle mpware-ke-ke.

3plS speak-RECIP-p.immed 3sgA-REL do-pc-DAT
They were just speaking about what he did.
4.2.5.7 Temporal Function
When -ke 'dative' is attached to a quantified temporal the resultant adjunct indicates the amount
of time an action endures for. There is no entailment that an action is completed within that time (eg.
42).
(42) Arlte nthakentye-ke arrantherre Ti-Tree-le inte-ke?

Day how-many-DAT 2plS Ti-Tree-LOC sleep-pc.
How many days have you camped at Ti-Tree for?
4.2.5.8 Kin Possession

In §3.9.1.2 it was noted that a pronoun, proper name, or kin term will occur in dative case to
designate a possessor where the possessed entity is designated by a kin term. This is a fixed NP with
the possessor typically preceding the possessed (eg. 43).
(43) ... Elizabeth-ke newe-le knge-ke crowbar ulthe-ntye

re-nhe,
... Elizabeth-DAT spouse-ERG carry-pc crow bar press down-
NMZR 3sg-ACC,
... Elizabeth's husband carried the heavy crow bar ... [T7-5]
4.2.5.9 Dative as linker in nominal/adverbial reduplications

In §7.4.4.4, I discuss a type of morphologically linked reduplication in which dative -ke occurs
to link full reduplications of lexemes indicating temporal periods, spatial distance, adjectival qualities or
quantification (including ennumeration). Such reduplications derive new members of the class of adverbs.
With temporal periods and quantifiers, such a derived form may indicate the recurrent, or repetitive
relation that two or more individual entities of the same kind have with respect to other entities and the
event they are performing. With spatial distance terms this form of reduplication describes a reciprocal
relation that holds between two or more entities (eg. 44 ).
(44) Kele mweteke therre kaperte itwe-k-itwe ne-rlenge,

O.K. car two(S) head near-DAT-near be-DS,
itne ultake-lhe-ntye re-nhe iteth-ile-ke.
3sgA break-REFL-NOM 3sg-ACC alive-CAUS-pc.
So, when the two cars were bonnet to bonnet (lit. head near to near), they
started the broken one (by jump starting it).
4.2.5.10 Cohesive functions: Switch Reference
It should be noted that, at least diachronically, the alternative different subject marker -rleke is
based on the dative form. The common different subject marker is -rlenge (cf. Ch. 11).
4.2.5.11 Discussion of Dative Functions

The majority of functions which have been identified for the Dative involve a sentient being,
typically human, as the subject (S or A) of an action or state for which the dative is a complement or
adjunct. These functions typically require that this person is 'cognizant of the entity marked by the dative'
and that 'the entity marked by the dative is in some way the cause (or) reason for the person's present
action or state'. Semantically, then one component shared by these particular functions may be
something like: Person X[S/A] has Y[DAT] in mind (or is aware of Y), and because of that X is/is
doing/is feeling Z[state, action, emotion]. Thus when a person is afraid of a horse (cf. eg.34a) 'S/he is
aware of the horse and because of that feels afraid'; or when a person gets water for tea (cf. eg. 38),
's/he has tea in mind and because of that gets water'; or even when a person attempts to shoot a
kangaroo and misses (cf. eg.37a) it is true that 's/he had the kangaroo in mind (was aware of the
kangaroo) and because of that shot at it'. This component is relevant at least to the functions under
§§4.2.5.3-5; and possibly to those under §§4.2.5.2,6,&8.
That the dative marking of kin possession (cf. §3.9.1.2 & §4.2.5.8) may also contain the above
semantic component can be explained as follows. Goddard (1983:74) notes for Yankunytjatjara that
the use of the case forms -ku/-mpa 'purposive' in genitive constructions is semantically linked with their
purposive and benefactive use. He goes on to say (1983:75) that "The genitive construction in
Yankunytjatjara, as in most Australian languages, is far more restricted [ie.more than in English (DPW)],
taking in relations of ownership, use, custody, and care (including kin relationships), depending in part on
the type of head noun involved." In Mparntwe Arrernte, where the dative, which is cognate to the -ku
allomorph of the Yankunytjatjara 'purposive', is restricted to kin possession, I would suggest that the use
of the dative reflects the obligations and prescribed behaviour entailed in kin relations (rather than
Goddard's concept of custody and care). The construction X[human noun]-DAT Y[kinterm] 'X's kin
relation Y', which is often rendered in Aboriginal English as 'Y[kin term] for X' (eg. she is wife for
Thomas), would, on this analysis, contain among its semantic components: 'Y is the person who, when
s/he has person X in mind, should behave/act towards X in a certain way (as laid down by tradition)'. It
may even be that this prescribed behavioural component is part of all kin terms, at least in pragmatic
terms, and the use of the dative for kin possession may merely reflect this component, rather than
conveying it..
Another semantic component which links a different, but overlapping, set of the above functions
has to do with the previous non-coincidence of two entities, and their subsequent coincidence.
Roughly, this can be explicated as 'X not be at Y, then X become be at Y'. This component is clear for
transfer, and motion where the dative marks the end point location of a theme (cf. §4.2.5.1a). It is also
consistent with at least some purpose uses of the dative (cf. §4.2.5.5a), where an action is performed
such that the performer will be able to have in their possession the dative marked nominal. A similar
feature may also be relevant to benefactive (cf. §4.2.5.5b) and deputative (cf. §4.2.5.5c) uses of the
dative. With respect to this last use, the deputative, note that English uses the phrase 'in place of' which
parallels the semantic link which would be postulated for Mparntwe Arrernte.
Finally, it is worth noting that the Dative typically occurs with verb actions that must be directed
towards some entity for the action to be performed efficiently. This links motion, transfer, say/tell verbs,
and certain verbs of affect and perception; as opposed to such classes as verbs of ingestion, corporeal
verbs, and so on. The entity towards which an action is directed regularly occurs in the dative. So,
while it may, for instance, be unnecessarily metaphorical to see the addressee of a say/tell verb as a
'goal' or 'target', it is nevertheless true that speech is typically directed towards an addressee (since this
provides the optimum situation for communication).
The above components do not account for all uses of the Dative, but merely provide the major
semantic links amongst various functions. They also, hopefully suggest the direction of possible
extension into functions not mentioned in this discussion, such as the temporal, and reduplicative linking
uses. We may designate the general semantic role covered by the dative the focus, subtypes of which
are goals, benefactives, recipients, addressees and so on. The dative form enters into opposition with -
werne 'allative', -nge 'ablative', -le 'locative', -kenhe 'possessive', -nhe/Ø accusative, and -ipenhe 'after'.
4.2.6.A Functions of -nge ABLative
4.2.6.A.1 Spatial Functions
(a) With motion and transfer verbs (eg. ine- get), -nge indicates motion away from the entity
referred to by the phrase to which it is attached (eg. 45).
(45) Re pmere-nge lhe-ke lhere-werne.

3sgS camp-ABL go-pc creek-bed-ALL
He went from the camp to the creek.
(b) Locates S/A at the beginning point of an action which can take place over a distance without
either S/A or O or Focus moving(eg. perception verbs, to spear, shout, etc). In this function, -nge
'ablative' would again be translated by English 'from' (eg. 46).
(46) Relhe-le amp-ikwe are-me arrken-irre-rlenge pmere-nge.

woman-ERG child-3KinPOSS see-npp playful-INCH-DS camp-
ABL The woman watched her child playing from the camp.
(c) Dynamic Location: The ablative suffix locates a dispersed activity by marking the area
containing that activity. Thus it has a similar function to the Japanese particle de 'locative (of action)'.
(47) Alknge therrke-therrke unte-rl-unte-rliwe-ke pmere-nge.

eye green run-SPORAD.rdp-pc camp-ABL
That cat ran here, there, and everywhere in the camp.
(d) Relative Location: With spatial nominals and compass point terms, -nge 'ablative' marks
the reference point in relation to which another object is located in the way indicated by the spatial term
(eg. 48; cf. the relative location construction in §7.3.2.2).
(48) Ilwempe re pmere-nge ayerrere-le tne-me.

ghost gum 3sgS camp-ABL north-LOC stand-npp
That ghost-gum stands to the north of the camp.
4.2.6.A.2 Use in Comparative Constructions

The ablative suffix -nge is also used to mark the standard of comparison in comparative
constructions. As such it can be translated as English 'than'.
(49) Kwementyaye kele anteme atyenge-nge arlpenty-ulkere.
Kwementyaye O.K. now 1sgDAT-ABL tall-MORE
Kwementyaye is already taller than I am.
4.2.6.A.3 Reason/Cause/Control Functions

(a) A NP or clause marked with -nge 'ablative' can indicate the reason for something happening
and, as such it may be translated by English 'because'.
(50) M-angkwe unte are-tyeke lhe-tyek-aye,
mother-2KinPOSS(O) 2sgS see-PURP go-PURP-EMPH,
rlkerte kngerre-nge re.
sick big-ABL 3sgS
You should go visit your mother because she's very sick.
(b) The ablative suffix attaches to the controller in a comitative relation (cf. §4.2.12.3).
(51) Les Kathy-nge petye-rne

Les Kathy ABL come-p.immed.
Les just arrived with Kathy.[ie. It was Kathy's idea to come, or Kathy
drove him here]
(c) Closely related to the usage in (b), the suffix -nge 'ablative' marks the mechanical means of
transportation and so may, in this function, be translated using 'by'.
(52) Ayenge ingwenthe irrepelane-nge lhe-tyenhe ngkwenge-werne.

1sg S tomorrow plane-ABL go-npc 2sgDAT-ALL
Tomorrow, I'll be travelling by plane to where you are.
4.2.6.A.4 Temporal Function

The form -nge 'ablative' suffixes to particular names for points or periods in time. These include
the English borrowings for names of months, names of days, clock times, year dates, day dates, and also
the Mparntwe Arrernte term altyerre meaning Dreamtime. The suffix indicates that an event has its
occurrence at that point in time.
(53) Kele 1953-nge the imper-rle.lhe-ke Bungalow School.

O.K. 1953-ABL 1sgA leave-DO&GO-pc Bungalow School
So, in 1953 I left the Bungalow School. [From a text by Basil Stevens,
'Kaltyirrekerle Kerte' (School Days) which appeared in Yeperenye Yeye (1985)]
4.2.6.A.5 Cohesive Functions

(a) Switch-reference: The ablative form marks a different subject 'reason' clause when suffixed
to negativised verb (cf. §11.2.4) [ie. X do something because Y didn't do something]. Note that
diachronically the switch reference marker on non-negated verbs, -rlenge, is also based on the ablative
(cf. Chapter 11). .
(54) Ayenge ne-ke, re mantere lhewe-tyekenhe-nge.

1sgS sit-pc, 3sgA clothes wash-VbNEG-ABL(D.S.)
I stayed because he didn't do the washing. [So, I had to do it; or I
didn't have anything clean to wear.]
(b) Discourse: When -nge attaches to ikwere '3 sg DAT' the resulting form can be used in a
text to indicate that a preceding episode/event is over and the text is moving onto another episode/event
which is related to, and temporally subsequent to, the immediately preceding episode/event (cf. §3.7.3).
(55) Ikwere-nge re pmere-werne alpe-ke inte-ty.alpe-tyeke.

3sgDAT-ABL 3sgS camp-ALL go-back-pc lie-GO.BACK&DO-PURP
And so, after all that, has returned home to sleep.
4.2.6.B The morphemic complex -nge-ntyele 'from X onwards'

The ablative suffix -nge is uniquely associated with an extensional suffix -ntyele 'onwards' (cf.
§7.4.2.4) which often attaches to it. The form -ntyele 'onwards' may occur without a preceding -nge
and its meaning appears to be the same as the combined form -nge-ntyele. This meaning can be
explicated roughly as "from X onwards". These forms indicate that, although there is a change in place,
time, state, or event, there is still a continuing association with the previous state, time, place, or event,
as well as an association with the later state, time, place or event.
Note that -ntyele has a reduced variant form -tyele which occurs less frequently. This variation
is similar to the -ntye ~ -tye variation of the verbal nominaliser suffix (cf. §3.10.1.1).
4.2.6.B.1 Spatial: Extension

The morphemic complex -nge-ntyele 'from onwards' marks the point from which a path or other
linear object extends (eg. 56).
(56) Iwerre nhenge Ntaripe-nge-ntyele Imerle-werne-theke inte-me.

way REMEMB Heavy tree.gap-ABL-ONWARD Emily.Gap-ALL-
WARDS lie-npp
The path extends from Heavy tree gap to Emily Gap.
4.2.6.B.2 Temporal Function
The complex -nge-ntyele 'from onwards' can also occur on temporal nominals and nominals
referring to stage of life or historical periods to indicate that some state or event took place 'from that
time onward'. In this function it is often translated by English 'since'.
(57) Ampe-nge-ntyele ayenge tnengkerre nhenhe-ke kaltye.

child-ABL-ONWARDS 1sgS Dreamtime.story this-DAT know
I've known this Dreamtime story since childhood.
4.2.6.B.3 Source or origin in a transformation

While the ablative on its own may mark the original thing which undergoes a transformation into
something else, it is far more common to use -nge-ntyele 'from onwards' for this function.
(58) Artwe ampwe-le kwetere mpware-me atnyere-nge-ntyele.

man old-ERG club(O) make-npp ironwood-ABL-ONWARD
The old man made a fighting club (nulla-nulla) out of ironwood.
4.2.6.B.4 Discourse Function

A form with much the same function as discussed in § 4.2.6.A.5(b) above is derived by adding -
nge-ntyele 'from onwards' to ikwere '3sgDAT'. Sentence (55) above would apparently mean the same
thing if ikwere-nge 'after that' was substituted with ikwere-nge-ntyele 'after that'.
4.2.6.C Discussion of ablative functions

There appear to be two main semantic components shared by a majority of the functions
attributed to -nge 'ablative'. These components are:
(i) a sense of something (event, entity) having prior coincidence at the thing (event, entity,
time) which is the beginning point of some event (state or activity) - something X be (at) Y before
being/becoming (at) Z [and not (at) Y]; and
(ii) a sense of non-coincidence - X not be same W (place, state, event, time) as Y.

Some functions may contain only one or other of these components. For instance the functions
of 'dynamic' (cf. §4.2.6.A.1c) and 'relative' (cf. §4.2.6.A.1d) location contain only the second
component (ie. non-coincidence) and not the first (ie. 'prior co-incidence'). Still other functions may
contain none of these components. These are linked, however, to the central components by virtue of
sharing other components with functions that do have at least one of these criterial features. This
appears to be the relation which holds between the 'point in time' temporal function (cf. §4.2.6.A.4),
which has neither of the above components, and 'dynamic' location which has component (ii); like
'dynamic location', the temporal funtion of -nge 'ablative' orients a whole event, but in time instead of
space. Cause or reason functions of -nge 'ablative' appear to stem from the fact that a causal event is
prior to the event (or state) which it initiates. Thus causality is linked with component (i) above. The
comitative function (cf. §4.2.6.A.3b) and the 'means of transport function' (cf. 4.2.6.A.3c) stem from
the causal function in that in both these cases it is the NP marked with -nge 'ablative' which initiates (or
enables) the event. While I would maintain that no single (or even core) definition of -nge 'ablative' can
be given for Mparntwe Arrernte, I am not presently sure of exactly how many senses (as opposed to
functions) this form has.
To further understand the various functions of the ablative it would be useful to examine the
various other forms -nge enters into opposition with. These are -werne 'allative', -ke 'dative', -le
'locative', -tyeke 'purposive', -kerte 'proprietive', and -larlenge 'comitative'. Two forms which
appear to have overlapping functions with -nge are -iperre 'AFTER' and -arenye 'associative'.
4.2.7.A Functions of -werne ALLative

4.2.7.A.1 Spatial Functions
(a) In conjunction with motion verbs, -werne 'allative' attaches to a nominal phrase to indicate
the place or direction towards which motion takes place. There is no entailment on whether the moving
object ever arrives at that place, although this is frequently implicated. Allative phrases may occur as
core or peripheral arguments.
(59) a. "Awerle map-aye pmere arre-k-antherre-nhe-werne

bad dog pl(grp)-EMPH home 2plPOSS-ALL
alpe-rltiw-Ø-aye!"
go back-plS/A-IMP-EMPH
"Hey you pack of mutts go back to(wards) your own home!"[T8-19]
b. Wenke re nthep-irr-intye-me
yng.woman 3sgS woman's dance-INCH-DO COMING-npp
aherre ikwere-werne.
kangaroo 3sgDAT-ALL
The young woman came dancing towards the kangaroo.[T10-18]
(b) With verbs which describe an action that can take place over a distance without either the
S/A or the Focus/O moving (eg. perception verbs, to spear, shout, etc.), a -werne marked phrase
indicates the place or direction towards which the action is directed. In such cases the allative phrase
functions as a peripheral adjunct (eg. 60).
(60) Antekerre-werne re arlke-rne amp-ikwe-ke.

South-ALL 3sg shout-p.immed child-3KinPOSS-DAT
She just called out towards the South to her child.
4.2.7.B The morphemic complex -werne-theke/-thepe '-to-wards'

Parallel to the association of -ntyele 'onwards' with -nge 'ablative' (cf. §4.2.6.B), -werne
'allative' is also associated with an extensional suffix. This suffix has two allomorphs, -theke and -
thepe, and can be glossed as '-wards'; as in 'towards', 'upwards' and 'southwards' (cf. §7.4.2.4). While
Mparntwe speakers use both forms, -theke is the most frequently encountered variant. Some
speakers claim that -thepe is, in fact, an Eastern Arrernte (Ikngerripenhe) form. It is not, as yet, clear
what dictates the use of one variant or another in the speech of Mparntwe Arrernte speakers.
The morphemic complex -werne-theke '-to-wards' has a number of uses which are distinct from
those of simple -werne on its own, and which are antonymically related to some, but not all, of the uses
of -nge-ntyele 'from-onwards'.
4.2.7.B.1 Spatial Functions

(a) As with -werne (4.2.7.A (a)) above, an NP suffixed with -werne-theke can be used with a
motion verb to indicate the place/direction towards which motion happens. Its interpretation differs from
-werne 'allative' in that, while -werne phrases with verbs like lhe- 'go' and alpe- 'go back' may be
interpreted as the place where the moving entity ends up, -werne-theke only has the sense that motion is
directed with respect to this reference point. In other words, while -werne may, with some verbs, be
interpreted as either 'to' or 'towards', -werne-theke is only to be interpreted as 'towards'.
(61) ..., [re] are-me-le wenke re-nhe petye-rlenge
..., 3sgA see-npp-SS yng.woman 3sg-ACC come-DS
ikwere-werne-thepe.
3sgDAT-ALL-wards
..., when he saw the young woman coming towards him. [T10-16]
(b) The morpheme complex -werne-theke 'allative-wards' may perform the exact same function
as distinguished in 4.2.7.A (b) for -werne 'ALLative'. In short, it can form a phrase which indicates the
place or direction towards which an action which can take place over a distance (eg. perception verbs,
cf. example 62) is directed.
(62) Kethe-werne-theke are-rle.ne-me-le imerte the

outside-ALL-wards see-CONT-npp-SS then 1sgA
awe-me-le alturle-ampinye-ke, ...
hear-npp-SS west-vicinity-DAT, ....
While I was looking outside I heard something in the vicinity
of the west,... [T8-10]
(c) The point to or towards which a path or other linear object extends can be marked by -
werne-theke '-to-wards'. (Compare with -ke-kerte, cf. §4.2.8.B)
(63) Iwerre nhenge Ntaripe-nge-ntyele Imerle-werne-theke inte-me.

way REMEMB Heavytree Gap-ABL-onwards Emily Gap-ALL-wards
lie-npp
The path extends from Heavy tree gap to/towards Emily Gap.
4.2.7.B.2 Endpoint in a transformation

With certain verbs that indicate that an entity has been transformed from one state into another -
werne-theke '-to-wards' can indicate the endpoint of the transformation; that is, the resultant state. As
such it can be translated by English 'into' (eg. 64)
(64) The ayeye nhenhe Angkelethe-nge-ntyele

1sgA story this English-ABL-onwards
kngartiwe-me, Arrernte-werne-theke
turn over-npp, Arrernte-ALL-words
I'm translating this story from English into Arrernte.
4.2.7.C Discussion of allative functions
The senses of -werne 'allative' and -werne-theke '-to-wards', unlike their relational opposites -
nge 'ablative' and -nge-ntyele 'from onwards', are largely confined to the spatial domain. Note,
however, that as with -nge-ntyele 'from onwards', we see change of state being treated with the same
morphology as change of location. In this case the endpoint towards which both types of change lead
may be marked with -werne-theke '-to-wards'. Note further, that -werne 'allative' is in semantic
contrast with -ke 'dative' which may mark the end point location of a thing that has moved (cf. §4.2.5.1).
With an oriented motion verb like tnye- 'to fall' an allative phrase indicates motion towards the referent
of the phrase and entails that it hasn't reached the referent yet, while a dative phrase entails that the
moving entity actually reached the referent of the dative phrase. Thus there is a clear distinction betwee
potential goal, marked by allative, and actual goal (location) marked by dative. It has often been noted
that it is common for a dative to take on allative functions (cf. Blake 1977: 60-61, 1987:46-52, Blansitt
1988), but this is usually discussed in terms of case syncretisms in which the dative takes over the role of
an allative in a language with no allative case form. It is important to realise that a language may, like
Mparntwe Arrernte, manifest two distinct allative relations, one carried by the dative and the other
carried by a 'true allative'.
4.2.8.A Functions of -kerte PROPrietive

4.2.8.A.1 Possession
A noun phrase marked with -kerte 'proprietive' may be used adnominally (eg. 65c) or
predicatively (eg. 65a,b) to indicate that the head or topic noun phrase possesses, or contains, the
referent of the proprietive phrase. Thus, in some senses, the proprietive is the converse of the
possessive relation; that is, with the proprietive the possessed entity carries the relational suffix and it is
the possessor which is focussed rather than vice versa. Like the 'POSSessive' case which is marked by
-kenhe (cf. §4.2.9), the sense of possession with the proprietive is very broad including alienable,
inalienable and kin possession.
Unlike the 'POSSessive', the proprietive has no entailment of ownership for alienable possession.
For instance -kerte 'PROPrietive' can predicate the temporary possession of an entity which is on loan
(eg. 65a). In adnominal use the -kerte phrase typically post-modifies the head.
(65) a. Lyete re Kwementyaye-kenhe mwetekaye-kerte

now 3sgS Kwementyaye-POSS car-PROP
Today he has Kwementyaye's car.
b. Aherre ne-me apethe-kerte, tayele arlpentye-kerte,
kangaroo be-npp pouch-PROP, tail long-PROP,
iltye therre-kerte, ante ingke therre-kerte
hand two-PROP, and feet two-PROP
Kangaroos have a pouch, a long tail, two arms, and two legs.
c. Artwe angkwere urrpetye-m-urrpetye-kerte

man sister few-UQ-few-PROP
re yanhe petye-me
3sgS there(mid) come-npp
The man with six sisters is coming just over there.
4.2.8.A.2 Characteristics/Attributions
(a) Very closely related to the general sense of possession just discussed, and perhaps actually
indescriminable from it, -kerte 'PROPrietive' is used, again adnominally and predicatively, to convey
attributes which characterise an entity (ie. person, place, or thing).
(66) a. Arlwerte-arlwerte-kerte-kwenye, arlpentye-kerte-rle

curly-PROP-NomNEG , long-PROP-FOC
Not the curly haired one, the long haired one.
[Not the one with curly hair, the one with long hair].
b. Unte-me newe-kerte?
2sgS-INTER spouse-PROP
Are you married? [Do you have a spouse].
(b) Derivational use - Names of entities with characteristic attributes: A number of words
referring to real world entities are derived by adding -kerte 'PROPrietive' to an attribute, typically some
part of the entity, which characterises the referent of the noun lexeme. In other words there are some
cases where X-kerte is used as the common name for a thing and the name means 'the X-haver' or 'the
thing with the prominent X'. Examples are atnethekerte (the stinger-haver) 'scorpion', kngwelyekerte
(the dog-haver) 'Greyhound bus' and irlpekerte (the ear-haver) 'the number 7 boomerang (which has a
part which looks like an ear)'.
(c) Topic of a linguistic act: A proprietive phrase with -kerte may be used to convey, in general
terms, what a song, story, or conversation is about. In this function it may be used adnominally (eg. 67a)
or predicatively (eg. 67b) with respect to a noun phrase referring to a linguistic act (like a story), or it
may be used as a peripheral adjunct with say-tell verbs (eg. 67c).
(67) a. Re-rle alye-lhe-rne-rle utnerreng-atye-kerte.

3sgS-REL sing-REFL-p.immed-REL emubush-grub-PROP
What he just sang was about the utnerrengatye caterpillar.
b. The ayeye ampe-kweke-kerte ile-me ampe mape-ke.

1sgA story child-little-PROP(O) tell-npp child pl(grp)-DAT
I'm going to tell a story about a baby to the kids.
c. Iwenhe-kerte itne angke-rre-pe-rre-me?

What-PROP 3plS speak-RECIP-FREQ rdp-npp
What are they spending so much time talking about?
It is worth noting that titles of stories and songs are derived in this way using -kerte
'PROPrietive'. In such derivations it is typically the main protagonist(s) or main entities of concern in the
story or the song, which take such marking. Most frequently the title has a term for story or song as its
head and the proprietive phrase modifies this (eg. 68a), but occasionally the title consists solely of the
proprietive phrase (eg. (68b).
(68) a. Ayeye Kngwelye Kweke-kerte.

story dog little-PROP
The story of the little dog.
b. Artewe-kerte.
Bush-turkey-PROP
About the Bush Turkey. [T11]
4.2.8.A.3 Accompaniment
(a) As a sentential adjunct (peripheral NP) a phrase marked with -kerte 'proprietive' tends to
refer to an entity (person, thing) which accompanies the subject in the performance of an event (state or
action). Unlike some Australian languages (cf. Dixon, 1977:203-312), there is no constraint on the
animacy of the subject or the accompaniment. Typically the accompanying entity is under the control of
the subject.
(69) a. Apmwerrke, merne-rlke-kerte kere-rlke-kerte, ayenge

yesterday, bread-TOO-PROP meat-TOO-PROP, 1sgS
irrpe-nhe-ke pmere kake-kenhe-ke re-nhe nthe-tyeke.
go into-DoPAST-pc home e.brother-POSS-DAT 3sg-ACC give-
PURP
Yesterday, I entered my brothers house with some bread and some meat to
give to him.
b. Anwerne ulenye lhe-ke kere-ke kngwelye-kerte.
2sgS hunt go-pc game-DAT dog-PROP
We went hunting for game with dogs.
Two further sub-types of the accompaniment function may be identified as follows: (i) the
accompaniment of equipment, and (ii) the comitative use.
(i) In the first case, given particular entities and events, the accompaniment phrase may
inferentially be interpreted as an instrumental, as in example (69)b above. However, while -kerte
'proprietive' is clearly the form which marks entities that the subject is equipped with for the
performance of an action (eg. 69b, 70a) it does not entail that those entities are in fact used
instrumentally. Example (70b) demonstrates that an 'equipment-nounphrase' with the proprietive can be
further marked with the instrumental case form -le.
(70) a. Artwe re kere-ke lhe-tyeme irrtyarte-kerte, amirre-kerte,

man 3sg-S game-DAT go-pp spear-PROP, womera-PROP,
ante alye-kerte.
and boomerang-PROP.
The man was going off hunting for game with a spear, a spear-thrower,
and a boomerang.
b. Ngke-ke-rle are-me-le, nwerne tnye-rle.pe-ke

crack-pc-REL see-npp-SS 1plA dig-Do Along-pc
therre-ke-therre-le, crow bar nyente-kerte-le.
two-DAT-two-ADV, crow bar one-PROP-INST.
When we saw where they (the witchetty grubs) had cracked out we dug
along two at a time using one crow bar each.[Four people had gone out with
two crow bars] [T7-12]
The accompaniment sense is clear with peripheral adjuncts, however it may also apply in
adnominal and predicative uses. This is however very difficult to distinguish from possession and
attributional senses. For example, in a noun phrase such as arelhe atneme-kerte 'the woman with a
digging stick', it is not clear whether the proprietive phrase is restrictive in the sense of picking the
woman with the digging stick out from other women, or whether it indicates possession, or whether the
'accompaniment of equipment' sense is the primary one. Indeed, given different contexts, each
interpretation might be appropriate and it may otherwise be inappropriate to distinguish three senses.
(ii) In the second case a comitative sense, which contrasts with -larlenge 'comitative' (cf.
§4.2.12) and the comitative use of -nge 'ablative' (cf. §4.2.6.A.3), may be distinguished. Here -kerte
'proprietive' attaches to the person who is being controlled, or who is the non-initiator, in a comitative
relation.
(71) Christine Margie-kerte lhe-me IAD-werne.

Christine Margie-PROP go-npp IAD-ALL
Christine is going with Margie to IAD. [ie. It was Christine's idea to go, or she
was driving and Margie was tagging along.]
4.2.8.B The morphemic complexes : NP-ke-kerte / V-tyeke-kerte 'endpoint, extent'

The proprietive can attach to a dative marked noun phrase or a purposive marked verb to form
an adverbial phrase which indicates the end point extent of a state or an action. Noun phrases marked
in this way may have a spatial or temporal adverbial function, while verbs marked in this way have only a
temporal interpretation.
4.2.8.B.1 Spatial Function

With predicates with a motion component NP-ke-kerte 'NP-DAT-PROP' indicates the place
up to, and including which, an act of motion extends. This does not entail that this point is the
destination, or that motion ceases. For example, one can travel up to a certain point and then turn and
travel in another direction; the turning point being the endpoint extent of one line of travel and the
beginning point of a new one (eg. 72). NP-ke-kerte 'up until NP' may also indicate the endpoint extent
of a linear, extended object, as in (73).
(72) Alhere-ke-kerte alhe-Ø; kele anteme ayerrere-irre-Ø.

creekbed-DAT-PROP go-IMP; O.K. now north-INCH-IMP
Go up until the creek bed, then turn north.
(73) Irrtyarte ikwerenhe urteke-ware, pwerlepe-ke-kerte.

spear 3sgPOSS short-DISMIS, shoulder-DAT-PROP
His spear was just a short one, it went up to his shoulder.
4.2.8.B.2 Temporal Function

The morphemic complex -ke-kerte '-DAT-PROP' can occur on temporal nominals and
nominals referring to stage of life and historical periods to indicate that some state or event lasted up until
that point in time (eg. 74) .
(74) Ayenge Bungalow Schoole-ke irrpe-ke wenke-ke-kerte.

1sgS Bungalow school-DAT enter-pc young woman-DAT-PROP
I went to the Bungalow school until I was a young woman.
When -kerte 'proprietive' attaches to a 'purposive' marked verb, the resultant form indicates that
some other state or event is in process and continues until the verb event marked by the morphemic
complex is accomplished. The typical inference is that the cessation of the main verb event is contingent
upon the accomplishment of the event marked with -tyeke-kerte '-PURP-PROP' (eg. 75).
(75) Re artne-pe-kwete-artne-ke, m-ikwe petyalpe-tyeke-kerte.

3sgS cry-FREQ-still-rdp-pc, mother-3KINPOSS come back-PURP-
PROP
He kept on crying until his mother returned.
It is worth suggesting, in passing, that the contribution of -kerte 'proprietive' in these morpheme
complexes is to indicate the inclusion, or containment, of the spatial or temporal point specified within the
path or temporal range indicated. In a sense then it would have a function parallel to that of 'including' in
the English phrase 'up to and including'. Note that, as mentioned previously, dative can have the function
of marking final, end-point, location (destination) and so could be expected to be used to show 'extent'
(cf. §4.2.5.1). By contrast, as noted with respect to example (72) the -ke-kerte '-DAT-PROP'
complex can mark a point that is not a final destination, but one which is contained within a longer path
of travel.
4.2.8.C Discussion of proprietive functions

The case form -kerte 'proprietive' is the equivalent of what has often been glossed as the
'HAVING' suffix for Australian languages (cf. Dixon 1976:203-310). As the above list of functions
shows, -kerte covers a semantic range which only partially overlaps with that of English 'have', and
'other English lexemes which may commonly translate -kerte are 'with' and 'about'.
For another Australian language, Kayardild, Evans (1985:100) has suggested that the primary
function of the proprietive -kuru should be explicated as 'X can expect Y to be in the same place as X
when X wants, and X can do with Y what X wants'. Such an explication would suffice for those uses of
-kerte 'proprietive' where someone's ownership of an alienable object is concerned, but this is by no
means a central use. In fact, -kerte 'purposive' is often used to skirt around the whole issue of owership
(cf. 4.2.8.A.1 above). Indeed, for Mparntwe Arrernte, there is no evidence that there is a single
primary function of the proprietive. While it does not, at present, seem possible to explicate a single
core invariant for -kerte 'proprietive', there are a number of recurrent semantic components shared
between different (but not all) functions.
If X is Y-kerte, then for a number of functions it must be the case that 'Y is in the same place as
X'. This is true of the accompaniment functions, as well as some possessive uses. For another subset of
functions there is a shared semantic component 'What Y does is what X wants it to do'. This expresses
the sense that the noun phrase marked with -kerte 'proprietive' refers to a non-initiating entity. Note that
this is similar to, but not as strong as, the second part of Evans explication of -kuru 'proprietive' for
Kayardild. In comitative uses in Mparntwe Arrernte (cf. 4.2.8.A.3a(ii)), it would be untrue to say that
'X can do with Y what X wants' although it is true that in this function, as in other accompaniment
functions, that the referent of the proprietive marked noun phrase is doing an action which is the same or
similar to that of the subject of the action, and which it is doing, at the subject's instigation. This element
of being controlled is also relevant to the alienable possessive functions of -kerte 'proprietive'.
The attribute functions (cf. §4.2.8.A.2) contain, amongst other components, the component that
'Y is something that X has which one can say causes it to be different from other things of the same
kind'. Thus 'greyhound buses' are distinguished from other buses by having a dog on the side (cf.
§4.2.8.A.2b), a story about a little dog is distinguished from other stories by virtue of having a little dog
in it (cf. example 68a), and a married person is distinguished from other people by virtue of having a
spouse (cf. example 66b). It is often the case that in attributional uses Y is a part of X. The part-whole
relation is also, by definition, a feature of -kerte's use in describing inalienable possession. As noted
previously, the notion of inclusion, or being a part of something, may be relevant to -kerte's occurrence
in the morphemic complex referring to endpoint extent (cf. 4.2.8.B above).
4.2.9 Functions of -kenhe POSSessive

Evidence from the pronouns (cf. §3.7) suggests that the possessive suffix is originally composed
of the dative -ke and a form -nhe which may be the reflex of the accusative suffix or which may instead
be the original possessive suffix. Note, for instance, that the 3rd person singular possessive ikwerenhe is
formed by adding -nhe to the suppletive 3rd singular dative form ikwere.
Similarly, complex pronouns such as arr-anthe-rre '2pl-OPP.Moi-pl', which form the dative by
placing -ke between the first two morphemes (arre-k-anthe-rre), form the possessive by adding -nhe at
the end of the dative form complex: arre-k-anthe-rre-nhe '2plPOSS'. On one analysis then, it would be
possible to say -nhe is a possessive morpheme and it controls dative form for both nominals and
pronominals. Two factors which go against this approach, and which favour viewing -kenhe as a single
morphemic unit synchronically, are the following:
(i) while non-core case forms are based on the dative forms for pronouns,
cases are usually attached directly to a nominal without any intervening case form
necessary. There is however no such possessive form as *artwe- nhe (man-POSS) 'man's'.
and (ii) native speakers tend to regard -kenhe as a single indivisible unit.
4.2.9.1 Possession
As its gloss implies the main function of -kenhe 'possessive' is to mark possession, and in this
function it may be used adnominally, or predicatively. It forms one of three constructions in which it is the
possessor argument which is subordinated and the possessed argument is the head or focus of the
construct. The other two constructs are inalienable possession marked by apposition of part and whole
arguments (cf. §10.1.2), and kin possession marked by the dative (cf. §3.9.1.2 and §4.2.5.8). The
possessive phrase with -kenhe has a broader range of application which includes the expression of
inalienable possession and kin possession. This is not to say that a POSSessive phrase is a priori
substitutable for the appositional construct or the 'dative of kin possession'; each construct has its own
semantics and functional range. For example, a 'dative of kin possession noun phrase', such as atyenge
tyeye (1sgDAT younger sibling) 'my younger sibling', may be used either as a term of address (you) or
as term of third person reference while the corresponding POSSessive construct, tyeye tyenhe (younger
sibling 1sgPOSS) 'my younger sibling', may only be used as a term of third person reference.
Of the three constructs mentioned the POSSessive construct is the only one which expresses
alienable possession. In this use it entails ownership of the alienable object (eg. 76). This is in distinct
contrast to the PROPrietive (cf. §4.2.8) which has a similar range of application as far as possession is
concerned, but which has a converse alignment of head and modifying argument, and which only entails
that the 'possessor' has something with them (ie. the possessed entity) but with no entailment of
ownership.
(76) A: Imp-Ø-aye, nhenhe Yeperenye-kenhe

leave-IMP-EMPH this Yipirinya-POSS
mwetekaye, atyenhe-kwenye.
vehicle,1sgPOSS-NomNEG
B: Iwenhe-nge unte Yeperenye-kenhe mwetekaye-kerte?

what-ABL 2sgS Yipirinya-POSS vehicle-PROP
A: Hey, leave it alone, this is Yipirinya's vehicle, not mine.
B: Why do you have Yipirinya's vehicle?
Furthermore, while an English phrase such as 'John's picture' may refer to the picture that John owns or
the picture of John (among other interpretations, cf. Anderson 1985), in Mparntwe Arrernte an
equivalent POSSessive construct (picture John-kenhe) would have only the first sense (ie. ownership),
while the second sense would be conveyed by the PROPrietive (picture John-kerte [a picture with John
in it]).
4.2.9.2 Entity used to provide desired commodity

Adnominally -kenhe may also be used to create a noun phrase referring to something by means
of which, or from which, some desired commodity can be obtained. Here -kenhe attaches to the
desired commodity and the modified noun refers to the general class of entity of which the referent of the
nounphrase is a specific member (eg. 77).
(77) a. Kngwelye aherre-kenhe

Dog kangaroo-POSS
A Kangaroo dog
b. Makite kere-kenhe
gun game-POSS
A hunting rifle
c. arne kwatye-kenhe
tree water-POSS
A water tree (ie. a tree from which one can get drinking water)
d. pwerte ure-kenhe
rock fire-POSS
A flint [a stone for fire]
e. urtne merne-kenhe
coolamon v.food-POSS
A coolamon for putting bush fruit and bush vegetables in.
There is no sense of ownership or possession in this use of -kenhe, although it does require a habitual
association of the head entity to the modifying entity as well as the sense that the referent of the phrase is
something people use to acquire a desired commodity. This construction is akin to common English
noun-noun compounds such as bird-dog; cattle-dog; fruit tree, etc.
4.2.9.3 Derivational Use: Terms for Entities with Particular Functions

in Respect to Another Entity
Derivationally -kenhe 'possessive' has a use which is similar to that in §4.2.9.2, in that the
referent of the derived lexeme is related by its function to the referent of the base of the derivation. This
form derives new lexemes where X-kenhe refers to 'something people use for thing X (in some way),
and which is thought of as only belonging with thing X (and not belonging with anything else)' (eg. 78).
(78) a. werlatye-kenhe = a bra

breast-POSS
b. rlkerte-kenhe = medicines
sickness-POSS
c. kwarte-kenhe = egg carton

egg-POSS
d. floor-kenhe = carpet/floor tiles

floor-POSS
As can be seen from the above list, this derivation has been used to incorporate a number of new
artifacts arising from contact with white settlement.
4.2.9.4 Discussion of possessive functions
While each function of -kenhe 'possessive' would require separate definition, it is worth noting
that all of -kenhe's uses appear to share a semantic invariant which may be explicated along the following
lines:
(Y) X-kenhe = 'when one thinks of Y, one thinks of it as something that is usually in the
same place as X (,this is the right place for Y to be)'. [ie. X belongs with Y]
Thus, when one thinks of a 'bra' one thinks of it as usually being in the same place as 'breasts' (cf.
example 78a), and when one thinks of a 'kangaroo dog' one thinks of it as usually being in the place
where 'kangaroos' are (cf. example 77a) and when one thinks of the 'Yeperenye bus' one thinks of it as
usually being in the place where 'Yeperenye' is (cf. example 76). This definition of the semantic
invariant (which must not be seen as a full definition of -kenhe 'possessive') attempts to capture a sense
of habitual association, but does not entail that the two associated entities are always together in one
place. Thus, while -kenhe 'possessive' is consistent with inalienable possession, it does not entail it.
Note that -kerte 'proprietive' (cf. §4.2.8) contains no sense of habitual association but only entails that
two things happen to be together at a certain point in time, not that they belong together.
4.2.10 Functions of -arenye ASSOCiative

4.2.10.1 Spatial Function
The case suffix -arenye 'associative' typically associates a person, animal, or thing with the place
where they habitually live or are usually found. The suffix is added to the term designating the particular
place and may be translated by: 'from X'; 'X-dwellers'; 'denizens of X'; or 'belonging to place X'. Such
'associative' phrases may be used adnominally (eg. 79a) or predicatively (eg. 79b and c).
(79) a. Tyerrtye Iwepethek-arenye mape ikwere mwarre ne-ke.
person Jay Creek-ASSOC pl(grp) 3sgDat good be-pc
The people from Jay Creek (or the people belonging to Jay Creek)
were kind to him.
b. Aherte, rapite kwenhe, ipert-arenye.

rabbit, rabbit ASSERT, hole-ASSOC.
Aherte, that is rabbits, are hole-dwellers. [denizens of holes]
c. Urlpe nhenhe ayerrer-arenye ne-me.

red ochre this north-ASSOC. be-npp.
This red ochre is from the north.
[i.e. is the kind that's typically found in the north.]
A person may have a number of different places with which they are habitually associated,
besides the place where they reside, and -arenye 'associative' may be used to convey each of these
associations. Thus, an Mparntw-arenye (Alice Springs-ASSOC; Alice Springs-dweller) person who
works for the Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) may also be said to be I.A.D.-arenye and
because they were born at Santa Teresa Mission (Ltyentye Purte) would also be regarded to be
Ltyentye Purt-arenye. This same person could have traditional responsibilities for yet another place and,
once again, -arenye 'associative' would be appropriate for predicating this association.
4.2.10.2 Kinship: Group Association

As well as places, -arenye 'associative' may also, although more rarely, attach to family names
and terms for kin and family groups. Associative phrases of this type indicate that one person, or a
number of people, belong to the family group indicated. In fact one can ask "ngwenh-arenye?" (who-
ASSOC) meaning what (family) group of people does this person belong with."
(80) a. Anwakerre-kwenye, Malyenweke-arenye.

SAME PATRIMOIETY-NomNEG OPPOSITE-PATRIMOIETY-ASSOC
She's) not the same patrimoiety (as us), (she) belongs to the
opposite patrimoiety.
b. Ampe ngwenhe Stevens-arenye?

child who Stevens-ASSOC
Which child is one of the Stevens family?
Note that, idiomatically, -arenye 'ASSOCiative' attaches to nyente 'one' to form nyentarenye
which means 'a loner; alone, by oneself'. [Literally, habitually associated with one].
4.2.10.3 Part-Whole Relations

There are also uses of -arenye 'ASSOCiative' which in English could be translated by 'part of'.
In these cases -arenye attaches to the term for a whole object and the 'associative' relation is predicated
of some object which would be considered as either a separable or inseparable part of the whole. A lid
to a teapot can be said to be teapot-arenye 'part of the teapot; belonging to the teapot', similarly the
arm, amwelte, can be said to be tyerrty-arenye (body/person-ASSOC) 'part of the body; part of a
person'.
4.2.10.4 Derivational Uses

(a) Used to derive personal names: The place with which a family or a person has a habitual,
and identifying, association may form the basis of a family or personal name, or a nickname. -Arenye
'ASSOCiative' is added to place names to derive these personal names. A number of families from the
Western Arrernte area are recognised as having surnames which are derived in this way. Thus the
surname Mukatarinja [Mwekatarenye], at least originally means "those people (the family) with a
habitual association with Mwekata". Example (81) shows this form used as a nickname.
(81) "Iwepetheke-areny-aye. Nthenhe-wern-aye?"

Jay Creek-ASSOC-EMPH. Where-ALL-EMPH
Hey Jay Creek! Where are you going? [You should be over here].
(b) Names of things associated with a particular location or habitat: A number of words
referring to entities of different types have been derived by adding -arenye 'ASSOCiative' to the place or
habitat in which the referent of the derived form is typically found. Thus X-arenye refers to "something
which is habitually found in place X" (eg. 82).
(82) a. alayarenye = sea shell (sea-dweller; belonging to the sea)
b. arnarenye = insects (tree, plant-dwellers)

c. irrerntarenye = spirit being who inhabits one location. [May be invisible
or may look like people who still wear traditional clothing.] (cold-dwellers;
belonging to the cold.)
4.2.10.5 Discussion of associative functions

The functions of -arenye 'ASSOCiative' listed above have a clear semantic association with one
another. Note, for example, that in its spatial, kinship, and part-whole functions -arenye always attaches
to a form which refers to something which can be seen to contain the thing which the phrase modifies or
predicates something about. It therefore goes on the whole term which contains the part; the family
group term which contains the individual member or members; and the place term which would spatially
contain the entities which would live, work, or simply exist there. Moreover, the association which -
arenye describes is always a habitual or typical association: the part is necessarily associated with the
whole; the individual has a family and kin grouping with which they are always associated; and various
entities will be associated with the place where they are typically found. A rough, overarching,
explication of the phrase (X) Y-arenye would be something like:
When one thinks of X one commonly thinks of Y.

X is something/someone which is often found within (the place where) X (is).
Of course, since an entity may be uniquely associated with a particular place it is not surprising
that this association may be used to identify and name such an entity. Thus, the derivational uses are a
logical extension of this basic meaning.
4.2.11 Functions of -iperre ~ -ipenhe = AFTER

The forms -iperre and -ipenhe are here treated simply as stylistic, but not semantic, variants. In
my data and investigations I have been unable to determine a semantic split across any of the functions in
which these two forms participate which native speakers could identify consistently. This
notwithstanding, it should be pointed out that Rosie Ferber (an Mparntwe Arrernte person) and Gavan
Breen do identify (1984:15) a semantic difference between these forms. It is worth quoting them in
extenso on this point. Discussing the question form iwenhe ipenhe, which translates as 'why?', they say:
"This has a very similar meaning to iwenhe iperre, and we could have the same question and answer with
ipenhe instead of iperre. They are not exactly the same, though.
If we compare the questions:
Thenhe iperre unte? and Thenhe ipenhe unte?

where AFTER you where AFTER you
we can see a difference between iperre and ipenhe. If you ask a person Thenhe iperre unte?, he is a
stranger and you want to know which country he comes from. If you ask him Thenhe ipenhe unte?,
you'll be asking him where he's been since you just lately saw him. The answer to the first one might be:
Yenge apele alturle iperre. 'I'm from the west.' The answer to the second one might be: Yenge town
ipenhe apetyalperne. 'I just came back from town.'
It should also be pointed out that I beg to differ with Ferber and Breen (1984) regarding the
morphological status of -iperre and -ipenhe. They regard, and write, these forms as independent words,
while I say they are bound suffixes like all other case forms. My justification is that they do not take
independent word stress, they cannot be said independently in citation form (ie they are dependent on
another element for their occurrence), and, like all vowel initial suffixes and clitics - but unlike vowel
initial words - they require, in normal speech, the elision of the final /ë/ of the word to which they are
attached. Of the two allomorphs, -iperre is by far the more commonly occurring.
4.2.11.A Functions with Nominals

4.2.11.A.1 Temporal Functions
(a) A nominal representing a specific time period or event can be marked with -iperre
~ ipenhe to indicate a prior time or event after which something else happens. [ie. after; from; having
done X (, then Y)]
(83) a. ...nwerne lhe-ke ... dinner-iperre ...

...1plS go-pc dinner-AFTER ...
...After dinner, we went ... [T7-1]
b. ..., ankw-iperre kem-irre-me-le window-le tne-rle.ne-me-le.

..., sleep-AFTER get up-INCH-npp-SS window-LOC stand-CONT-
npp-SS
...after sleeping I got up and was standing at the window. [After having
been asleep ...].[T8-8]
(b) -Iperre ~ ipenhe 'AFTER' can indicate something which has a previous, but presently
discontinued, association with the thing to which the case is attached (eg. 84). In this sense this suffix
may be translated as 'formerly' or 'from'.
(84) The kenhe knge-ke ... kwatye plastic nhenge, plastic orange
1sgA BUT carry-pc ... water plasticREMEMB, plastic orange
juice-iperre nheng-ulkere-larlenge. P.-le kenhe knge-ke kwatye
juice-AFTER REMEMB-KIND-COM B.-ERG BUT carry-pc.
water
arrpenhe ngkwarl-iperre kngerre nhenge yanhe-ulkere-larlenge.
other grog-AFTER big REMEMB that(mid)-KIND-COM.
I carried water in a plastic thing, in one of those things that had formerly had
orange juice in it. B., on the other hand, carried some more water in a big thing, like
that which had previously contained wine. [T7-7,8]
4.2.11.A.2 Cause/Result Functions

(a) The immediate, or direct, cause of a certain event or state will be marked with -iperre ~
-ipenhe 'AFTER' (eg. 85).
(85) a. Mern-iperre atnerte kngerre.

Food-AFTER stomach big
I'm full. (Lit. I have a big stomach because of food [i.e.
the food I've just eaten]).
b. Re ilwe-kearrwengkelthe kurn-ipenhe.
3sgS die-pc disease bad-AFTER
He died from a bad disease.
(b) Closely related to function 4.2.11.A.1a, -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' can indicate a thing or
quality which is the direct result of the entity/event referred to by the form to which the suffix attaches
(eg. 86).
(86) a. Artwe re aherr-ipenhe are-ke.

man 3sgA kangaroo-AFTER(O) see-pc
The man saw the evidence of a kangaroo, [i.e. the tracks,
droppings, and eaten plants]
b. Wale mape pmer-arenye itne-ke artwe re-therre ile-ke

well group camp-ASSOC 3pl-DAT man 3-dl-A tell-pc
nhenge, altyerr-iperre nhenhe-ketye kwenhe.
REMEMB, dream-AFTER this-AVER. ASSERT.
So, the two men told all the people from the camp about this, to
prevent the results of this (bad) dream (happening). [T11-T29,30]
4.2.11.A.3 Spatial Function

Place or direction terms suffixed with -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' can be interpreted as marking
the place where a person/thing was before moving to be in the place where they are now.
(87) a. Wale, artwe arrpenhe re anper-irre-nhe-ke artwe

well man other 3sgS pass-INCH-DO PAST-pc man
antekerr-iperre ikwere.
south-AFTER 3sgDAT
Well, this man went past the man from the south. [From a text by Willie
Rice in Hendersen ed. 1986]
b. Darwin-iperre m-atye petyalpe-ke apmwerrke-ulkere.

Darwin-AFTER mother-1KinPOSS come-back-pc yesterday-MORE
My mother came back from Darwin a few weeks ago.
While this use of -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' appears to overlap with some of the spatial functions of -
nge 'ABLative' there are differences. One difference, according to some speakers, is that in a sentence
like (87)b, -iperre 'AFTER' conveys that the person had spent quite a bit of time in Darwin. If,
however, -nge 'ABLative' is used instead, this would be consistent with Darwin simply being a brief
stop-over point; for connecting flights for example. As another example of the distinction between -nge
'ABLative' and -iperre ~ -ipenhe, note the difference in interpretation between examples (88)a and
(88)b.
(88) a. The re-nhe ine-ke Ian-nge.

1sgA 3sg-ACC get-pc Ian-ABL
I got it from Ian (i.e. the money or the book)
b. The re-nhe ine-ke Ian-iperre

1sgA 3sg-ACC get-pc Ian-AFTER I
got it from Ian (it would refer to a rash, or disease but not money /book).
Thus with the transfer verb ine- 'get' a person could be marked as the source from which an object
moved to another person by using -nge 'ABLative'. However, if -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' is used,
then the person is not the source of a moving object but the source from which something like a disease
has spread. This sense can obviously be seen to overlap with the causal sense of 4.2.11.A.2a.
It is also, worth pointing out that -arenye 'ASSOCiative' (cf. §4.2.10) also contrasts in its spatial
usage with -nge 'ABLative' and -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER'. Thus even though, when attached to a
place term, all three could be translated by English 'from', they are all semantically distinct. We have
already seen how -nge 'ablative' and -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' are distinguished. As for -arenye
'associative', it differs from each of these other two morphemes in the same way. -Nge 'ablative' and -
iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' entail that an entity moved away from the place suffixed with these forms.
This is not an entailment with -arenye 'associative' which only requires habitual association with the
place. The question in example (89), 'Are you from here?', can therefore only use -arenye
'ASSOCiative' and not the other forms. If either of the other forms had been used, one would be asking
the addressee if s/he was presently in a place that is away from the place that s/he is presently located,
which would be illogical.
(89) Unte-me nhenhe-arenye/*-nge/*iperre?

you-INTERR here-ASSOC/*-ABL/*AFTER
Are you from here?
4.2.11.A.4 Cohesive Function, Discourse

As with -nge 'ABLative', -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' attached to ikwere '3sg DAT' can be used
to introduce new events or episodes into a text. Ikwer-iperre could roughly be translated by "After that
then ....", and clearly marks that the preceding episode event has come to an end and a new one is
beginning.
(90) Ikwer-ipenhe thipe kweke re alkere-k-irre-me-le

3sgDAT-AFTER bird small 3sgS sky-DAT-INCH-npp-SS
pmere-werne alkere-le-lhe-me-le alpe-ke
home-ALL sky-LOC-go-npp-SS go back-pc
After that, then the little bird took off into the air and flew home.
4.2.11.B -TENSE-le-iperre verb forms 'After V happens, then Y'

Adverbial clauses (eg. 91a andb) and adnominal modifiers (eg. 91c) may be derived by suffixing
-iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' to verbs subordinated with "same-subject" -le (cf. chapter 11). Such forms
can convey the range of temporal and cause/result functions given above for -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER'
on nominals. Thus, V-tense-l-iperre can convey such notions as : 'After V happens, then Y' (eg. 91a);
'V happening is the immediate cause of Y' (eg. 91b); and 'something which has, or is, the quality or result
of doing V action' (eg. 91c).
(91) a. ... nwerne lhe-ke, merne arlkwe-ke-l-iperre, dinner-iperre
... 1plS go-pc food eat-pc-SS-AFTER dinner-AFTER
Undoolya Road itwe pwerte nhenge yanhe mape-werne
Undoolya Road near hill REMEMB. that(mid) group(pl)-
ALL
tyape-ke unthe-tyeke.
witchetty-DAT look-for-PURP.
We went, after eating some food, after dinner, to the spot along the
Undoolya Road near where those mountains are, to look for witchetty
grubs. [T7-1,2]
b. Ngkwerne ultake-lhe-ke re arne-nge tnye-ke-l-iperre.

bone-Sbreak-REFL-pc 3sgS tree-ABL fall-pc-SS-AFTER
Her leg was broken from her falling out of a tree.
c. Newe-l-ikwe ilte-ke artwe ntywe-ke-l-iperre re-nhe.

spouse-ERG-3KinPOSS scold-pc man drink-pc-SS-AFTER
3sg-ACC His spouse berated the drunken man. [ie. the man who had
previously been drinking].
4.2.11.C Discussion of functions of 'AFTER'

It seems logical to say that all the functions discussed above for -iperre ~ -ipenhe are derived
from its primary temporal sense of 'after'. In other words, -iperre ~ -ipenhe 'AFTER' always mark
some entity or event which comes before, and is often conceptually linked to, some other entity or event
being talked about. Thus the cause, here, always temporally precedes the result. Similarly, in a case like
(86a) above, where the -iperre phrase is referring to the results themself, it is marking the entity which
was there before (ie the kangaroo) and which left the results of its presence behind it (ie. droppings,
tracks, etc.). As for the spatial use, I noted that -iperre ~ -ipenhe always marks the place that an entity
was located at before moving. Finally, the discourse cohesive function is clearly a temporal function
indicating that an event/episode follows after the event/episode so-marked. It might be said, then, that
as well as providing its gloss, 'after' is also a sufficiently simple explication for -iperre ~ -ipenhe
'AFTER'.
4.2.12 Functions of -larlenge COMitative

While -nge 'ABLative' and -kerte 'PROPrietive' both have a comitative function (cf. §4.2.6.A.3
and §4.2.8.A.3) which relates to the numerous other functions of these forms; -larlenge's only use is as a
comitative. In general it is used in situations where the two entities in the comitative relation are thought
of as being equally in, or out of, control of the event they are involved in. Two types of comitative
relations with -larlenge can be identified:
4.2.12.1 Simple Comitative

In the simple comitative use, -larlenge indicates that two entities are together in the same place
and are playing the same role in the event described by an utterance. -Larlenge 'comitative'
could attach to the phrase referring to either entity, and this would only change which entity is being
focussed, but would not describe a different event or a different relation between the entities (unlike -nge
'ablative' and -kerte 'proprietive', see discussion in §4.2.12.3). The noun phrase without -larlenge
'comitative' refers to the entity in the comitative relation which is in focus (as the head of the
construction).
(92) a. Pwepelye irrpenge-larlenge arnerre-le ne-me kwaty-iperre.

tadpole fish-COM rock-hole-LOC be-npp rain-AFTER
After the rain tadpoles along with fish live in the rockholes.
b. ..., atningke ikwere-larlenge mpwepe-le re tne-ke.

..., mob(alot) 3sgDAT-COM middle-LOC 3sgS stand-pc
..., with the mob [standing around him] he stood there in the
middle (ie he stood in the middle of the mob.) [T11-37]
4.2.12.2 Comitative of Containment

An interesting feature of -larlenge's usage is that when one is talking about a thing (typically a
mass noun) being together with the thing which contains it, -larlenge 'COMitative' must occur on the
container and not the contained (eg. 92). In this usage the form often translates as 'in, inside'.
(93) a. Artwe-le lhengkiwe-ke tobacco ikwerenhe

man-Erg hide-pc tobacco 3sgPOSS
tyampite-larlenge pmere arrengekwe-ke.
tin-can-COM house other side-DAT
The man hid his tobacco (which is) in a tin-can, on the other side
of the house. [ie the tobacco in the tin can was hidden - both
container and contained]
b. ... re petyalpe-ke urlt-ampe-kerte; arntape-larlenge

3sg S come back-pc hollow-honey-PROP; bark-COM
ngkwarle urlt-ampe.
sweet-stuff hollow-honey(sugarbag).
...he returned with some wild honey (ie. sugarbag; from hollow in
tree); wild honey in a piece of bark. [From text by Willie Rice in
Henderson ed. 1986]
It is quite possible that example (92)b above is meant to have an interpretation more in line with that of
the 'comitative of containment' than with the simple comitative.
4.2.12.3 Discussion of comitative functions

In both uses of -larlenge 'COMitative', the two entities which the form relates are thought of as
being in the same place as each other and they both have the same type of involvement with respect to
the event specified. As far as 'container' and 'contained' are concerned, the asymmetry in ability to be
suffixed with -larlenge 'COMitative' may have to do with the fact that the actual location of the
'contained' is fully dependent on the location of the 'container', whereas the reverse proposition is not
equally true.
The way in which -larlenge differs from comitative uses of -nge 'ABLative' and -kerte
'PROPrietive' has to do with the fact that it does not ascribe 'control' to either of the entities in the
relation. 'Control' here refers either to one entity's acting as the initiator of an event also involving
another, or the inherent dominance relation between the two entities. By contrast, -nge 'ABLative' (cf.
§4.2.6.A.3) marks the controlling argument in a comitative relation while -kerte 'PROPrietive' (cf.
§4.2.8.A.3) marks the controlled argument in a comitative relation. The heads of each of these two
comitative constructs are, therefore, the 'controlled' and the 'controller' respectively. The examples in
(94) demonstrate the contrast in the comitative use of each of these three forms. Note that each
sentence can be given the same English translation, although the optional used of 'along' and 'together'
helps disambiguate the control relations.
(94) a. Rosie Margaret-nge lhe-ke lhere-werne.

Rosie Margaret-ABL go-pc creek-bed-ALL
Rosie went (along) to the creek with Margaret. [It
was Margaret's idea; Margaret drove].
b. Rosie Margaret-kerte lhe-ke lhere-werne.
Rosie Margaret-PROP go-pc creek-bed ALL
Rosie went to the creek with Margaret (along).
[It was Rosie's idea; Rosie drove]
c. Rosie Margaret-larlenge lhe-ke lhere-werne.

Rosie Margaret-COM go-pc creek-bed-ALL
Rosie went to the creek (together) with Margaret. It
was both/neither of their idea; someone else drove].
The examples in (94) demonstrate how Mparntwe Arrernte requires its speakers to specify control
relations for comitatives, whereas English does not. Whether the 'co-control' sense associated with -
larlenge 'COMitative' arises from its position in a system vis-a-vis -nge 'ablative' and -kerte
'proprietive', or whether it is part of its inherent meaning, is still a matter for investigation.
4.2.13 Functions -ketye AVERsive

The suffixe -ketye 'AVERsive' is unique in that it may be added directly to either noun or verb
roots (cf. §5.3.3.3). When it is attached to nouns, it acts as a case suffix, according to the criteria
outlined previously (cf. §4.1.2), and it is this usage which the present section discusses. Note that as a
nominal case -ketye 'AVERsive' only ever functions to convey outer periphepal arguments.
4.2.13.1 Avoidance of entity which could cause something bad to happen

-Ketye 'AVERsive', in its most frequent usage, indicates that the subject does (will do) the verb
action in order to avoid something bad happening. The noun phrase which is marked with -ketye
'aversive' is the entity which would cause this bad thing to happen unless it is avoided (eg. 95). Common
translations for X-ketye in this function are for 'fear of X'; 'lest X (do something bad)'; and 'so that X
doesn't do anything bad'.
(95) a. Kngwelye itne-ke-ketye kwele alknge-therrke

dog 3pl-DAT-AVER QUOT cat(eye green)-S
alwirre-me-le unte-ke.
run-away-npp-SS hurry-away-pc
For fear of the dogs the cat made a hurried escape.
[Lest the dogs got it, the cat ran away]
b. Arrpenhe angke-ke, "Kwatye-werne alpe-rre-tyeke

other-S say-pc., water-ALL go back-dl S/A
ilerne, ure-ketye."
1dlS, fire-AVER.
The other one said, "We have to go back to the water, for fear of
the fire. [or else the fire will get us.] [T9-13]
c. Kwatye re-nhe antywe-Ø, uterne-ketye.
water 3sg-ACC drink-IMP, summer/sun-AVER
Drink the water so that the heat (sun) won't get to you.
4.2.13.2 Kin Avoidance

In the function discussed in §4.2.13.1 above, the -ketye 'AVERsive' marked NP would be the
direct cause of an event that would have physically bad consequences. The suffix -ketye 'aversive' can,
however, also be used in situations of kin avoidance, where the person who is the subject of the action
does the action to avoid a socially bad situation. In such cases the aversive-marked noun-phrase would
not actually cause something bad to happen, but its avoidance makes sure that there is no close
proximity betwen proscribed kin relations (eg. 96). In this usage -ketye 'AVERsive' often translates as
'away from'.
(96) a. Door-ketye lhe-rlt.iwe-Ø ayenge arrate-nhe-tyenhe.nge.

Door-AVER go-pl S/A-IMP, 1sgS appear-DO PAST-CNTNGNT
You mob get away from the door, so that I can get out.
[Woman talking to her elder brother, with whom she had an avoidance
relation (cf.§1.2.4.3. Note the use of plural S/A marking on the imperative
verb form, event though only one person is being addressed. This is a
feature of the avoidance language in this relationship].
b. Artwe re mwer-ikwe-ketye ularr-irre-ke. man

3sgS mother-in-law-3KinPOSS-AVER face away-INCH-pc
The man turned away from [for fear of] his mother-in-law.
4.2.13.3 Spatial Sense: Away From

For some few speakers -ketye 'AVERsive' can be used in association with the form ularre 'to
face away' to simply convey the spatial notion "away from" without any sense that some bad situation is
to be avoided. For these speakers there is a distinction in the pronominal forms between -ketye
'AVERsive' added to the suppletive dative pronominal forms to indicate aversion (eg. ikwere-ketye [3sg
Dat-AVER] = for fear of him/her/it) and -tye added to these forms to indicate "away from" (eg. ikwere-
tye [3 sg DAT-AWAY] = "away from him/her/it").
(97) Mweteke pmere-ketye ularre ne-me.

car camp-AVER face-away be-npp
The car is facing away from the camp.
[One could use pmere ikwere-tye here.]
4.2.13.4 Discussion of aversive functions

The gloss 'AVERsive' is used because it is true that in most cases a bad event or situation is
being averted. Comparable forms in other languages have been glossed as 'Negative Causative' (eg.
Yallop, 1977:975-76, for Alyawarra -ikitja), 'Lest' , 'Fear', or 'Fearitive'. In both the functions in
§4.2.13.1 and §4.2.13.2 above, the S/A of the main verb event performs the action with the intention of
making sure that some particular second event or situation does not happen, because it would be a bad
thing to happen. (i.e. X do Y not wanting bad thing Z to happen). In §4.2.13.1, however, it would be
the referent of the noun phrase suffixed with -ketye 'AVERsive' which could cause the bad event to
happen (W could cause bad thing Z to happen.), whereas in §4.2.13.2 it is the failure to avoid the
referent which would bring about a socially bad situation (ie.not staying away from W would cause
someone P to be close to person Q, that would be a bad thing because W is not allowed to be close to
Q (because of the way they are related to each other) ).
The use of -ketye 'aversive' in the simple spatial sense "away from" is clearly related to the above
senses since in a large number of cases one does physically stay away from the thing referred to by the -
ketye phrase in order to avoid something unpleasant. It is not yet clear, however, what the small group
of people who use -ketye in this sense have in common (socially; assuming it is related to a social
variable), nor is it clear whether this is an original or an extended sense of the form.
4.2.14 Summary of case functions
The above presentation of case forms and their functions demonstrates, albeit in a cursory
fashion, the very broad area of semantic/functional space covered by these few forms. Table 4-4 is
meant to be nothing more than a rough summary of this discussion. Its main purpose is two-fold.
Firstly, it shows at a glance the approximate range of semantico-functional domains covered by each
form. Secondly, it shows the case forms which enter into systematic opposition within each domain.
There have been points in the discussion where the manner in which several case forms divide up the
semantic space in a certain domain has been investigated explicitly. However, there is not enough space
to discuss all the distinctions to be found, and this table must suffice as an indicator of these further
distinctions.
Table 4-4 is not meant to be complete, and presents only the most important divisions for each
case form. Moreover, the semantico-functional domains under which specific uses of cases are listed do
not always correspond to the headings used in the preceding discussion. The divisions justified within a
case form's range of meanings/functions intersect with, but do not necessarily correspond to, the
divisions which are most useful to capture the whole system of case. So, for example, while the heading
"Reason/Cause/ Control" (cf. §4.2.6.A.3) within the section on -nge 'ABLative' gives an indication of
why the 'reason', 'COMitative', and 'means of transport' uses of -nge 'ABLative' are grouped together;
when it comes to the wider system it seems more perspicuous to separate these subfunctions into their
more specific groupings.
Chapter Five
Case Assigning Predicates, Verbs and Verb Morphology
5.1 Case Assigning Predicates

5.1.1 Preliminaries
As noted in §4.1.3, for Mparntwe Arrernte, deciding what are the essential, or core, case roles
which a particular predicate assigns is often a difficult task. NPs are freely ellipsed from utterances and
there are few obvious grammatical reflections of what are to be considered core arguments. S
(nominative) and A (ergative) arguments trigger number agreement in the verb (cf. §5.4.2) so their status
as core arguments is easily determined. However, unlike Warlpiri (Hale 1974:1982) where there is an
auxiliary that includes pronominal agreement with all the principal arguments of a verb (S/A, O, DAT),
no clear diagnostic shows O (accusative) and DAT (dative) to be core without also picking out other
cases that are usually considered to be oblique.
In §4.1.2 I indicated that the marking of a relativised position within a relative clause is here
used as a diagnostic for determining core arguments. Gapping (non-occurrence) of the coreferential
NP in the relative clause occurs only when that NP is filling a semantic role which is commonly
associated with the predicate of the relative clause. Where the semantic role played by the coreferential
NP in the relative clause is not typically associated with the predicate then a pronominal copy, marked
for the relevant semantic role, must be present in the position relativised (cf. §10.1.3.6). Using this test
we find, for example, that when the head of a NP modified by a relative clause is coreferential to the
allative (ALL) role in the relative clause then that position may be gapped if the verb in the relative clause
is lhe- 'go' (eg. 1b) but if the verb in the relative clause is are- 'see' then the position must be filled with
an allative case-marked pronominal copy (eg. 2b).
(1) a. Re lhere-werne lhe-ke.

3sgS creekbed-ALL go-pc.
She went to(wards) the creekbed. [Allative = core argument]
b. Lhere re-rle Ø lhe-ke-rle ...

creekbed 3sgS-REL [gap] go-pc-REL ...
The creekbed that he went to(wards) ... [gapped allative in relative clause]
(2) a. Re lhere-werne are-ke.
3sgA creek-ALL see-pc.
She looked towards the creekbed. [Allative = peripheral (oblique) argument]
b. Lhere re-rle *(ikwere-werne) are-ke-rle ...
creekbed 3sg-REL 3sgDAT-ALL see-pc-REL ...
The creekbed that she looked towards ... [allative pronominal copy in
relative clause]
Thus, Hale's (1982:264) claim for Warlpiri that :

"the use of spatial cases with stance and motion verbs is not limited by the arbitrary lexical
property of verbs. It does not make sense to classify the verbs in terms of the spatial cases they
select."
is not equally applicable to Mparntwe Arrernte. As will be seen in §5.1.3 below, verbs in Mparntwe
Arrernte may be subclassified according to the spatial cases they select to mark core arguments.
The above diagnostic appears to reflect something more like the thematic role structure (ie.
semantic role structure) of verbs rather than having anything to do with the syntactic subcategorisation of
verbs (in the strict sense of the term). The results obtained from applying this diagnostic corresponds
with the frequency with which NPs marked for certain roles occur with certain predicates and also
reflects, in most cases, the notional semantics of the predicates. As subcategorisation does not appear
to be a useful notion for Mparntwe Arrernte the subclassification of predicates will be based on thematic
role structure. As a result, a predicate with a number of different senses may, correspondingly, have
different thematic role structures. Predicates in Mparntwe Arrernte are of two general types; nominal or
verbal.
5.1.2 Nominal Predicates

Nominal predicates are a small subclass and they are all of the type which Austin (ms. 1988:5)
has labelled extended nominals. Forms in this class take two NPs, one marked for nominative (S) case
and the other marked for dative (eg. 4). They are all stative in meaning and examples are given in (3).
(3) kaltye 'be knowledgeable of' kutne 'be ignorant of'

arrangkwe 'no, nothing; have nothing of' atere 'be afraid of'
(4) Ayenge ure-ke arrangkwe.
1sgS fire-DAT 'have nothing of'
I don't have any matches.
5.1.3 Verbal Predicates

Verbal predicates may be initially subclassified according to transitivity type.
5.1.3.1 Intransitive verbs
Generally speaking intransitive verbs all share the property that they take an argument marked
for S grammatical functions as opposed to an arguments marked for A grammatical function. An
apparent exception to this involves certain impersonal verbs describing 'meteorological events' like
alharrke- 'to lighten' and aherlke- 'to dawn' which do not seem to take any NP arguments. Hale
(1982:231) has suggested for Warlpiri that similar apparently subjectless verbs have as their understood
subject either ngurra 'camp, home, country' or else nguru 'sky'. I have no evidence that this is the case
for Mparntwe Arrernte. Assuming that these verbs are indeed subjectless then their thematic structure
would be represented as { }. The following further subtypes of intransitive have been identified. The
first subtype may be considered the basic intransitive subtype while all further subtypes may be
considered extended intransitives.
(i) S only verbs (ie. {S}): The basic intransitives have no other core arguments beyond the
argument manifesting S grammatical function. Examples are arnpe- 'stride off; take steps', ilwe- 'die',
and artne- 'cry'.
(ii) {S , SCOMP} verbs: The existential-positional verbs ne- 'be; sit', inte- 'be (of horizontally
extended object); lie (down)', and tne- 'be (of vertically extended object), stand' when used in their
copular, sense, take two NPs both marked for nominative case. One NP acts as subject and the other
as a subject complement (ie. predicate nominative). In this function, these verbs need not appear when
the tense is understood to be present tense but must appear when any other tense is intended. This
means that the NP acting as subject complement , for instance purrke 'tired' in example (5a), may be
the apparent predicate in present tense stative or equative clauses.
(5) a. Ayenge purrke (ne-me). vs. b. Ayenge purrke

*(ne-ke).
1sgS tired (be-npp). 1sgS tired be-pc.
I'm tired I was tired.
(iii) {S, LOC} verbs: When the existential-positional verbs given in (ii) above are used in their
positional (ie.locational) sense then their thematic role structure determines nominative and locative case
marking (eg. 6).
(6) a. Ure ahelhe-le ne-ke.

fire(S) ground-LOC be/sit-pc.
A fire was on the ground. (ie. it existed sitting on the ground).
b. Ure ahelhe-le inte-ke.

firewood(S) ground-LOC be/lie-pc
Firewood was on the ground. (ie. it existed lying on the ground)
(iv) {S, ALL, ABL} verbs: The three intransitive deictic (ie. 'inherently directed') motion verbs
which suggest motion away from a fixed point - that is, lhe- 'go, move away from', unte- 'hurry off', and
alpe- 'go back' - have three core roles in their basic thematic structure which are indicated by
nominative, allative, and ablative case-marked NP's (eg. 7). There is a hierarchy amongst these
arguments such that an NP playing the allative role is more strongly associated with such predicates
than is an NP filling the ablative role. For a justification of this hierarchy, with examples, see the
discussion of relative clauses in §10.1.
(7) Meye ilanthe pmere-werne alpe-ke Congress-nge.

mother 1dl[dif.patr](S) camp-ALL go back Congress-ABL
My mother and I went back to camp from the Congress health clinic.
(v) {S, ABL, ALL} verbs: Deictic verbs like petye- 'come' and unte-tye- (hurry off-hither-)
'hurry this way', which suggest motion towards a fixed point, have a thematic structure with the same
three semantic roles as for (iv) above. However, verbs in this group differ in that the hierarchy amongst
the case marked NPs involves the NP marked for ablative case having a stronger association with such
verbs than the allative (again see the discussion of relative clauses in §10.1.3).
(vi) {S, DAT} verbs: Quite a large number of semantically heterogeneous verbs have a thematic
role structure that is realised by a nominative NP and a dative NP. Examples of such verbs and their use
are given in (8) and (9).
(8) karelhe- 'to wait for' kangke- 'to be proud of, happy about'
antye- 'to get up onto; climb' unthe- 'to wander around looking for'
(9) a. ... kenhe aherre re karelhe-tyeme ikwere.

... BUT kangaroo 3sgS wait-pp 3sgDAT
... and the kangaroo was waiting for her. [T10-13]
b. Ayenge pwerte-ke antye-ke.
1sgS hill-DAT climb-pc.
I climbed a hill.
5.1.3.2 Transitive verbs

Transitive verbs are recognised by the fact that they always have an A (ergative) role as part of
their thematic structure and the fact that they may be derived into non-transitive verbs using -lhe
'reflexive'. The basic transitive verb also has an O (accusative) role (ie. {A,O}). There are a large
number of basic transitive verbs covering a wide semantic range (cf. eg. 10).
(10) tnye- 'to dig' atnyene- 'hold on to, have'
arlkwe- 'eat' ilte- 'to swear at, scold'
The O grammatical function is not a characteristic feature of transitive verbs in all occurrences since,
for some verbs, it may be replaced by a dative marked NP to indicate an 'attempted action' (cf.
§4.2.5.4) or an allative marked NP to indicate the direction in which an action was performed (cf. eg.
2). However, unlike the O argument, the dative and allative NPs in these functions can not be said to
belong to the thematic structure of the verb. Under the diagnostic discussed previously they would
relativise with a pronominal copy rather than a gap while the O role relativises with leaving a gap.
The facts are unclear, but it may be that a number of verbs which are classified as {A,O} may
also have an instrumental role associated with them. Candidates for classification as {A ,O, INST}
include tanthe- 'to spear, stab', we- 'to hit with a missile' and nhe- 'to water'. If this thematic frame
does exist then such verbs would belong to the following general classification.
5.1.3.3 Ditransitive Verbs

Ditransitive verbs are here basically any verb that assigns a third case role beyond A and O.
Thus the relation between ditransitive and transitive verbs is similar to that between extended intransitive
verbs and basic intransitives.
(i) {A, O, O} verbs: The verb nthe- 'to give' and other verbs based on this form, such as
kaltye-le-nthe- (knowledge-LOC/INST-give-) 'to teach someone something', may assign two of its
three core semantic roles (the theme and the goal) to accusative case. The third role (an agentive source)
takes the A role (eg. 11).
(11) Carol-le ampe itne-nhe lesson re-nhe kaltye-le-nthe-me.

Carol-ERG child 3pl-ACC lesson 3sg-ACC knowledge-LOC/INST-
give-npp
Carol is going to teach the children the lesson.
(ii) {A, O, DAT} verbs: The 'give' verbs mentioned in (i) have an alternative pattern of case
assignment in which one of the three roles (the goal) may appear as a dative-marked NP rather than an
O (eg. 12).
(12) Kele inarlenge kweke ikwere itne lyeke mape nthe-ke.

OK echidna little 3sgDAT 3plA prickle pl(grp)O give-pc
So, to the little porcupine (ie. echidna), they gave a lot of quills.
Other 'transfer' verbs also have a semantic 'goal' role represented in the dative as well as an A
and O role, as do 'put-type' verbs (ie. verbs of causative position), and certain verbs of 'saying and
telling'.
(13) yerne- 'to send something to someone'

arrerne- 'to put; to sit something in position'
ile- 'to tell something to someone'
Interestingly, the perception verbs are- 'to see', awe- 'to hear', and ntyerne- 'to smell' appear to
take a weakly associated role, represented by a dative NP, which gives the location of the entity which
is being perceived (ie. it gives the location of the argument in O grammatical function; see discussion of
relative clauses in §10.1).
(iii) {A, O, ABL} verbs: As well as an A argument and an O argument, verbs of 'taking' also
have a core source role which is represented by an ablative-marked NP. Examples of verbs of this type
are given in (14).
(14) ine- 'to get; to take something from somewhere'
irlwe- 'to take something off something else'
tyarre- 'to take something out of something else'
Certain of these verbs, such as the last two given in the example set above, may be derived by
suffixation of -lhe 'reflexive' into a kind of middle transitive verb which has both an argument in S
grammatical function and an argument in O grammatical function (ie. {S ,O}). In these derived 'reflexive'
forms the actor (S role) is the coreferential with the referent of the source role and the NP in O
grammatical function still conveys the thing that is taken away (ie. the semantic role of theme; see
§5.5.2iii for sentence examples).
(15) irlwe-lhe- 'to undress; to take something off oneself'

tyarre-lhe- 'to pull something (eg. a thorn) out of oneself'
(iv) {A,O,NOM} verbs: As mentioned, and exemplified, in §4.2.2.iv, the three known verbs of
'naming' shown in (16) have the namer coded for A function, the entity named coded for O function, and
the name coded in a nominative (Ø) marked NP.
(16) atniwe- 'to call anything by its name'

anperne- 'to call a person by appropriate kin term
ke- 'to cut; to name a person by kin term, or name a place or
totem as a person's dreaming or conception site.
5.1.3.4 Ambitransitive Verbs

Thus far only two verb roots have been attested which may be used as either transitive verbs (ie.
{A, O}) or as intransitive verbs (ie. {S}). These are ampe- 'to burn (of fire); for a fire (or fiery entity) to
burn something' and werne- 'to blow (of wind); for a wind to blow something around/over'. The S/A
role for both of these verbs is restricted to a small class of inanimates which, by their very nature,
perform the verb root action. In other words, the S/A may be thought of as a kind of "cognate" subject.
For ampe- the S/A must be something like ure 'fire' or aherrke 'sun' while for werne- it must be rlke
'wind' or some type of wind like antekerenye 'south wind'.
(17) a. Ure ampe-me anteme. vs b. Ure-le itne-nhe ampe-ke.

fire(S) burn-npp now fire-ERG(A) 3pl-ACC(O) burn-pc
The fire is burning now. The fire burnt them.
(18) a. Rlke werne-me. vs. b. Rlke-le pipe mape werne-me.

wind blow-npp. wind-ERG(A) paper pl(grp)O
blow-npp
The wind is blowing. The wind is blowing the papers (around).
5.2 Structure of the Verb
A fully expanded verb has seven functionally distinct slots as indicated in figure 5-1 on the
following page. This statement must be qualified slightly by noting that in some cases number agreement
is expressed through portmanteau morphemes occuring within the continuous aspect slot or within the
category of associated motion slot. The only two positions within the verb which are obligatorily filled
are the initial and final positions. The first element in a verb is the verb root itself and the final element
must be an inflectional suffix which indicates the dependency status of the verb. In this final slot may be
found inflections indicating the tense, mood, and/or modality of a clause as well as inflections which
indicate the type of semantic relation a dependent verb holds with respect to a main verb.
5.3 Inflections occurring in final position in the verb

The three general types of dependency status which verb final inflections may manifest are:
(i) Independent, or main verb , inflections.
(ii) Inflections which , when attached to a verb, may require that a following
copular verb act as an auxiliary indicating the tense or dependency status of
the whole clause.
(iii) Dependent verb inflections.
Each of these different sets of inflections will be examined in turn.
5.3.1 Main Verb inflections

5.3.1.1 Tense
Tense is distinguished from other stem final inflections by the fact that only these forms may be
followed by switch-reference markers; with the suffixation of switch-reference inflections the tense forms
lose their absolute tense sense and become relative tense markers (cf. §11.2.1). The six distinct tenses
may be divided into four past forms and two non-past forms. This two-way distinction of past vs. non-
past forms is also found in certain other Australian languages (eg. Yidiñ; Dixon 1977). The past tense
forms are used for events before the moment of speaking while the non-past tense forms may be used
for events after the moment of speaking. Two aspectual distinctions cross-cut the past vs. non-past
tense distinction; these are progressive and completive aspects. Using Chung and Timberlake's (1985)
framework for tense, aspect and mood, 'progressive' may be defined
as referring to a perspective on an event in which the event frame (ie. "the interval of time on which the
predicate occurs" [1985:203]) is internal to the event or the event goes on before, during, and after the
event frame. In other words, the event (state or activity) is ongoing within the bounds of the chosen
temporal perspective. 'Completive' refers to the fact that a particular event is viewed as having an end,
or a point of achievement, and it comes to that end, or is achieved, before, or within, some chosen point,
or interval, for temporal reference. Two past forms - -tyerte 'used to happen' and -rne 'just happened' -
manifest distinctions not encountered in the non-past; a metrical distinction between remote and
immediate past and an aspectual distinction between habitual and punctual. The six tense inflections and
their meanings are given in table 5-1.
Table 5-1 : The Mparntwe Arrernte Tense System
In a survey of the 12 texts in appendix 1 it was found that, as far as usage for the purposes of
absolute tense (as opposed to relative tense) is concerned, the past completive tense -ke was by far the
most frequently occurring tense with 184 occurrences. The vast majority of uses of -ke 'past completive'
were in the narrative texts (texts 7-12). The non-past-progressive tense -me occurred 60 times and it is
the absolute tense form which is most commonly found in procedural texts (texts 1-3) and expository
texts (texts 4-6). In narrative texts, -me 'non-past-progressive' commonly, but by no means always,
appears in the conversations of protagonists. The next most common tense was -tyerte 'remote past
habitual' with 25 occurrences. This tense form appeared in both procedural and narrative texts, but not
in the expository texts. Of the 25 occurrences of -tyerte 'remote past habitual', 19 were in traditional
narratives (texts 9-12). The past progressive form -tyeme appeared 12 times, once in a personal
account narrative and 11 times in traditional narratives. All five occurrences of the 'immediate past
(p.immed)' tense -rne are in text 12, and all of its appearances in this text are in the recorded speech or
thoughts of the protagonists. The tense form -tyenhe 'non-past-completive' only occurs once (in text
11).
The past completive tense form -ke merely indicates that an invent was completed (or achieved)
before the present time of speaking and gives no sense of how long ago, or how recently, the event took
place (eg. 19). The tense form -tyeme 'past progressive (pp)' is used when focussing in on an event in
the past as it is happening, and, like -ke 'past completive (pc)', it does not give any indication how long
in the past the event was occurring. In all the examples attested in the texts, the event in progress in the
past later comes to completion (eg. 20).
(19) a. Arrule kngerre ne-ke artwe.

long ago big live/be-pc man
A very long time ago there lived a man. [T11-1]
b. Apmwerrke the Eli aknge-ke Nthepe-werne.
yesterday 1sgA Eli take-pc [place name]-ALL
Yesterday I took Eli to Nthepe.
(20) a. Kenhe re kenhe mpwepe-le tne-tyeme,

BUT 3sgS BUT middle-LOC stand-pp,
atningke ikwere-larlenge mpwepe-le re tne-ke, ...
many 3sgDAT-COM middle-LOC 3sgS stand-pc, ...
Kele ikwere-ng-iperre arnterre unt-elp-unte-ke, unte-ke
anteme
OK 3sgDAT-ABL-AFTER intensively run-C.Incep.rdp-pc,
run-pc now
So he, on the other hand, was standing in the middle, in the middle of that
crowd he stood, ... . So then after that he tried really hard to run away, and
then he ran off.[T10-36,37,42]
b. Re-rle kwele ne-tyeme artwe re-kemparre

3sgS-FOC QUOT sit-pp man 3sgS-FIRST
uyerre-nhe-tyenheng-aye, are-rle.ne-me-le, ...
disappear-DO PAST-SBSQNt-EMPH, see-CONT-npp-SS, ...
She, so they say, was sitting, while she watched for the man (ie. her
husband) to first disappear past (into the distance), ... [T12-14]
The past metrical tenses give a rough measure of the distance in time from the speech event. A
period of about 1 week appears to be the lower limit for -tyerte 'remote past habitual (rem.p.hab)' and
the upper limit for -rne 'immediate past (p.immed)'. Typically, however, -rne 'immediate past' is used
when the event happened at the time just prior to the speech event (eg. 21), while -tyerte 'remote past
habitual' is typically used when the event occurred habitually over a long period at some time much
longer than a week ago (eg.22). The roughly one week limit is approached depending on the
significance of the event. The Pope's visit in Alice Springs in 1986 was an extremely significant event
and so up to a week after he left it was considered an event that just happened (eg. 23a), while all the
recent preparations for the Pope's arrival were relegated to the remote past (eg. 23b).
(21) "Arrken-irre-nty-ipenhe-yaye; kwetethe-rle
fun-INCH-NMZR-AFTER-EMPH; always-FOC
arrken-irre-p-irre-me kwenhe, ankw-irre-rne kwenhe."
fun-INCH-FREQ.rdp-npp ASSERT, sleep-INCH-p.immed ASSERT
"It's because of playing; (he's) always playing, he just went to sleep (a moment
ago)." [T12-63 : Wife responding to husband who had asked why his baby son
was always asleep when he got home from hunting.]
(22) Arrule kwele mpware-tyerte, tyerrtye arrwekele-nye mape-le,

long ago QUOT make/do-rem.p.hab, people before-tmp.nom
pl(grp)-ERG,
ngkwarle untyeye yanhe-ulkere ke-me-le itne kwele arrerne-
tyerte
nectar/honey corkwood that(mid)-KIND cut-npp-SS 3plA QUOT
put-rem.p.hab
kwatye-kerleke ikwemeye re-nhe ntywe-tyenhenge.
water-CONNECT sweet 3sg-ACC drink-SBSQNT
Long ago, so they say, the first people (ie. the people from before), used to do
this: they cut down corkwood nectar of that sort and they used to put it to mix
into water and then they'd drink that sweet stuff. [T3-5,6]
(23) a. Pope re petye-rne anwerne-nhe are-tyeke.

Pope 3sgS come-p.immed 1pl-ACC see-PURP
The Pope just came to visit us.
b. Alakenhe nwerne-rle mpware-tyerte Pope-ke.

like so 1plA-FOC do-rem.p.hab Pope-DAT
That's what we used to do for the Pope's visit.
The non-past-progressive tense -me may be used to describe events which are ongoing in the
present (eg. 24a), or for habitual statements with current standing (eg. 24b; see also 21a), or may also
occasionally be used in a way similar to the "historical present" in English (eg. 24c). Further, the tense
suffix -tyenhe 'non-past-completive (npc)' contrasts with -me 'non-past-progressive (npp)' in future
senses in that the former is used when asserting that an event will have happened at a certain time in the
future (eg. 25) while the latter only indicates that it will, or may, be happening sometime in the future.
Compare examples (26) a and b.
(24) a. "The arrekantherre ayeye knge-tye-me

1sgA 2plDAT story take-hither-npp
ayenge-rle angke-tyenhenge-rle."
1sgS-REL speak-SBSQNT-REL
"I'm bringing a story for you that I will tell." [T11-34]
b. Antyetyerre ahelhe-ke irrpe-me kwatye uyerre-rlenge, lhere-ke.

frog ground-DAT go into-npp water disappear-DS, creekbed-DAT
Frogs go int the ground when the water disappears, (they go into) the sand
of the creek beds. [T5-6]
c. Nyente re-rle unthe-tyerte; pmere arrpanenhe-werne

one 3sgS-FOC look for-rem.p.hab; camp many different-
ALL
Ihe-pe-lhe-me nyente re.
go-FREQ.rdp-npp one 3sgS
He used to travel around on his own; (you see) he keeps going to all
these different places by himself. [T11-2]
(25) Artwe nthetye therre-le kenhe, ..., re-nhe arrwekele altyerre-le

man youngman two-ERG BUT, ..., 3sg-ACC before dream-
LOC
are-ke ingwe ikwere-le re-rle nhenge arrate-tyenhe.
see-pc night 3sgDAT-LOC 3sgS-THAT REMEMB appear-npc
But two young men, ... , dreamed beforehand, during the night, that he will
arrive (in their camp). [T11-28]
(26) a. Ingwenthe kngwelye re-penhe ilwe-tyenhe.

tomorrow dog 3sgS-PITY die-npc
Tomorrow the poor dog will die. (ie. Tomorrow the poor dog will
have died.)
b. Ingwenthe kngwelye re-penhe ilwe-me.
tomorrow dog 3sgS-PITY die-npp
Tomorrow the poor dog will/may be dying. (But it may not die
until sometime later.)
5.3.1.2 The positive and negative Imperatives (Ø 'IMP' & -tyele 'NegIMP)
The positive imperative is formed by a zero (Ø 'IMP') suffix to the verb stem. Simple
imperatives of this kind are not very insistent and do not assume that the addressee must do what the
speaker says (eg. 27a). Emphatic clitics (cf §8.1.2.15-17) commonly co-occur with the simple positive
imperative to give it greater force (eg. 27b).
(27) a. Are-Ø kweke yanhe inte-rlenge.

See-IMP little that(mid) lie-DS
Have a look at that little baby lying there.
b. "Arrate-warre-Ø! Arrate-warre-Ø! Pety-Ø-aye! Pety-Ø-aye! "

appear-plS/A-IMP appear-plS/A-IMP come-IMP-EMPH come-
IMP-EMPH
"(Everyone) Come out! Come out! (You must) Come here! Come here!"
[T11-32]
The negative imperative is formed by suffixing -tyele 'Neg.Imp.' to the verb stem and has greater
force than the simple positive imperative (eg. 28).
28. "Ularre uthne-rr-intye-tyele!"

Facing towards bite(of animal)-RECIP-DO COMING-NegIMP
"Don't fight with each other while coming towards me!" (old dog
speaking to a pack of other dogs). [T8-20].
The subject (ie. S or A) of a verb marked for the positive or negative imperative is understood
to be the addressee and typically does not appear in the imperative clause.
5.3.1.3 -rle 'Generic event' (Gen Evt)
This suffix -rle 'generic event' indicates that the verb to which it is attached does not identify a
particular event that has been, or will be, realised; but, instead, the verb identifies a generic event that
would (or should) occur in the normal course of events. There are three distinct uses of -rle.
(i) When it is used to mark the simple main verb of an utterance, and no time reference is
understood, then -rle 'generic event' creates a 'universal', or 'omni-temporal' statement (eg. 29). It is
roughly equivalent to certain uses of the English simple present tense.
29. Pintye-pintye ntye-rle.

(k.o. grass) smell(intr)-GenEvt
Pintye-pintye grass smells (ie. stinks, gives off odour).
(ii) Where time reference is already understood, then a verb marked with -rle 'generic event'
designates a general habitual action which would be expected to happen during the time period
indicated. Here it is akin to some uses of 'will/would (eg. 30).
(30) Country kere kngerre ikwere-werne lhe-tyerte. Kele imerte

country game big 3sgDAT-ALL go-rem.p.hab. OK then
halfway-up knge-rle.
halfway carry-GenEvt
They used to go to the place where there was a lot of game (ie. meat). So they
would carry (that waterbag) halfway (to the main camp). [From a text by Davey
Hayes on making and using skin waterbags.]
(iii) Finally, it is not uncommon for the English deontic modal forms 'gotta', 'can't', 'can', and
'should' to be used in Mparntwe Arrernte and when they are used they are always followed by a verb
inflected with -rle 'generic event' indicating what is, or should, necessarily be the case (eg. 31).
Constructions involving English deontic modal forms followed by a verb marked with -rle 'generic event'
are very common in oratorical-hortative texts (cf. §1.2.3)
(31) a. Ampe kweke nwerne-kenhe mape itne gotta same-again

child small 1pl-POSS pl(grp) 3p1S 'got to' same-again
ne-rle nwern-arteke again.
be-GenEvt 1pl-SEMBL again
Our children have to be the same as us.(They have to do what we have to do).
[From a text by Basil Stevens, 'Emily Gap lives: Our Culture Never Dies'
which appeared in Yeperenye Yeye]
b. Anwerne can't petye-rle nhenhe-le inte-tyeke peke,...

1p1S 'can't come-GenEvt here-LOC lie-down-PURP maybe
We can't come and camp at this place,...[From transcript of a Four Corners
tape of Davey Hayes speaking about Emily Gap].
5.3.1.4 -eye Permissive (PERM)

The suffix -eye 'permissive' attaches to a verb stem to form utterances which either seek
permission from the addressee for someone (speaker or other) to perform the verb action, or else
request that the addressee assent to doing the verb action. Such utterances variously translate into
English as: 'Can X do V?', 'May X do V?', 'Let X do V please?' 'Would X like to V?', 'Shall X do
V?'.
Verbs marked with -eye 'permissive' most commonly co-occur in question forms where -me
'interrogative' (cf. §9.3.3) is cliticised to the first constituent. The resulting question may either convey a
polite request (eg. 32a) or an offer (eg. 32b).
(32) a. Ayenge-me pety-eye nge-nhe are-tyeke?

1sgS-INTER come-PERM 2sg-ACC see-PURP.
Can I come and visit you?
b. The-me nge-nhe pmere-ke iwe-nh-eye?

1sg-A-INTER 2sg-ACC home-pc throw away-DO PAST-PERM
Would you like me to drop you off at home? (eg. May I drop you off?)
Permissive marked verbs may, however, also occur in utterances that simply have interrogative
(eg. 33a) or declarative intonation (eg. 33b). In this latter case the speaker almost demands that a
certain person be allowed to do the action of the verb stem.
(33) a. Unte ikwere-nge lh-eye?

2sgS 3sgDAT-ABL go-PERM
Would you please go with him? (He may need help.)
b. The arrerne-rle.lh-eye.
1sgA put-DO & GO-PERM
Let me put it (my dirty washing) out please. (I'd be terribly
embarrassed if you did it and I want to get it over and done with.)
5.3.1.5 -mere Hypothetical (HYPO)

Clauses containing a verb inflected with -mere 'hypothetical' may occur either as simple
utterances on their own or in a complex conditional construction. In the former case, the simple
utterance may be a wish (eg. 34a) or it may venture, or ask for, a hypothesis about what things would be
like given certain circumstances that do not presently obtain (eg. 34b).
(34) a. The kere nhenhe arlkwe-mere.

1sgA meat this eat-HYPO
I wish I could eat this meat. [But it's not mine].
b. Bushe-ke-me nthakenh-irre-mer-aye kutne mape,

bush-DAT-INTER how-INCH-HYPO-EMPH ignorant
pl(grp)(S),
town-arenye mape?
town-ASSOC pl(grp)(S)
What would ever become of that lot of ignorant people, those town
people, if they were out bush? [ie. I can just imagine what would
become of those ignorant townies out in the bush.]
One type of complex conditional structure contains the 'hypothetical' clause following either a
temporal adverbial switch-reference clause (eg. 35a; cf. §11.2 & §11.3.1), or a declarative clause
typically containing the particle peke 'might, maybe' (eg. 35b). The initial clause presents conditions that
might obtain, or might have obtained, and the clause with -mere 'hypothetical' suggests what could
happen, or could have happened in those circumstances. Thus, -mere 'hypothetical' is used to convey
counter-factuals (eg. 35b).
(35) a. Dam itne mpware-rlenge, kwatye-le atake-mere.

dam 3plA make-DS, water-ERG destroy-HYPO
When they build the dam, then the water could (hypothetically)
destroy it [and put us all in danger].
b. Unte apmwerrke peke petye-ke, arratye unte re-nhe are-mere.

2sgS yesterday maybe come-pc, true 2sgA 3sg-ACC
see-HYPO If you had come yesterday , then you certainly would have seen
her.
5.3.2 Inflections where verb dependent on auxiliary to carry tense

When a verb carries either the suffix -tyekenhe 'verb negator' or -tyeke 'purposive' then an
existential-positional verb (cf. §5.1.3.1(ii)-(iii) and §10.3.3), typically ne- 'be; sit', may be required to act
as an auxiliary bearing the tense or dependency type of the clause. This auxiliary verb typically follows
verbs marked with these suffixes but this need not be the case. If the tense intended is present then the
auxiliary usually does not occur and it is also optional with other tenses when the general time reference
is understood.
Historically the inflections to be discussed seem to be related to the nominalising suffix -ntye/-tye
(cf. §3.10.1.1) and may be seen as semi-nominal in the sense that they are dependent on an auxiliary. In
§5.1.3.1(ii) (cf. also §10.3.3), it was observed that NPs acting as predicates in equational clauses also
rely on existential-positional verbs to bear tense. Verbs marked with these inflections are non-nominal in
the sense that they, and not the auxiliary, determine the argument structure and case in the clause and
tend to bear all other non-final verb inflections including number agreement for S/A.
5.3.2.1 -tyekenhe/-tyange 'verb negator' (VbNEG)

There are two alternate forms of the suffix which is used to negate verbs. The first, and by far the
most common, is -tyekenhe, while the rarer alternate is -tyange. The evidence to date suggests that the
two forms are freely interchangable without apparent distinction in meaning. As well as being used to
indicate general negation (eg.36a) these suffixes may also be used in many situations where English
'can't/couldn't' would be the best translation (eg. 36b).
(36) a. Anwerne-k-artweye mape-le

pmere kurn-ile-tyekenhe ne-ke.
1pl-DAT-custodian
grp.(pl)-ERG country(O) bad-CAUS-VbNEG
be-pc
Our ancestors didn't (ever) hurt the country (ie. the land). [From a text by
Thomas Stevens]
b. Me-l-atye
kake
are-tyekenhe lyete,
Mother-ERG-1KinPOSS e.brother(O) see-
VbNEG today,
re-rle lhe-ke-rlenge pwetye-
werne.
3sgS-FOC go-pc-DS
bush-ALL
My mother can't visit (ie. see) my brother today because he's gone out bush.
5.3.2.2 -tyeke 'Purposive' (PURP)

The purposive inflection -tyeke is unique since it may, in fact, claim membership in each of the
three dependency classes identified earlier (ie. main; requiring auxiliary, and dependent). Its membership
in each of these classes corresponds with three broad semantic functions.
(i) Deontic : A verb marked with -tyeke 'purposive' may occur as the main verb in an utterance
(with no auxiliary) to convey the sense that the S/A 'must' or 'should' do the verb action. The particle
kwenhe 'assertive', or some other marker of emphasis, commonly, but not necessarily, occurs in such
utterances (eg. 37a vs. b).
(37) a. Re kwenhe lhe-tyeke,

m-ikwe
rlkerte kngerre-nge.
3sgS ASSERT go-PURP,
mother-3KinPOSS(S) sick big-ABL
He should go because his mother is seriously ill.
b. "Kwatye-werne alpe-rre-tyeke
ilerne, ure-ketye!"
water-ALL
go back-dlS/A-PURP 1dlS, fire-AVER.
"We must return to the water for fear of the fire!" [T9-13]
(ii) "Time of intention" : When a verb marked with -tyeke 'purposive' takes an auxiliary, the tense
on the auxiliary indicates the time of the intention to do the verb action rather than the time of the verb
action. For example, where the tense on the auxiliary is a past tense, the clause containing -tyeke
'purposive' indicates that the S/A intended to do the verb action but, for some reason, never got around
to doing it (eg. 38).
(38) Re alhe-tyeke ne-rne.

3sgS go-PURP be-p.immed
She was just about to go. (but she got held up)
Since the auxiliary is optional when the present time is understood, utterances with a purposive
marked verb may arise which have the appearance of the main verb use discussed in (i), but, which
have the function being described in here. In the usage under discussion, an auxiliary referring to the
present time - through tense marking with -me 'non-past-progressive' - could be added to the clause,
however, when -tyeke 'purposive' is used in its deontic function no auxiliary can be added. Where the
intention is in the present time, the clause with -tyeke 'purposive' indicates that the action will happen or
is about to happen. In these cases, therefore, -tyeke 'purposive' may appear to function as a future
tense (eg. 39).
(39) The pipe

tanthe-tyeke (ne-me).
1sgA book(paper) write(spear)-PURP (be-npp)
I'm going to write a book. (I'm intending to write a book.).
(iii) Purposive : The most frequent usage of -tyeke 'purposive', at least in texts, is to form a
dependent clausal complement or adjunct that indicates the event which is the purpose, focus, or
intended endpoint result of the main verb action. It commonly translates as 'to' or 'in order to'. Certain
verbs which select for a purposive complement (cf. §10.5.2), such as ile- 'to tell someone to do
something' and uterne- 'to force someone or something to do something', require that the O of the main
clause be coreferential with the S/A of the purposive clause. In this case the subject (ie. S/A) of the
purposive clause is obligatorily absent (eg. 40).
(40) Kwementyaye-le re-nhe uterne-ke nterte
ne-tyeke.
Kwementyaye-ERG 3sg-ACC force-pc
quiet be-PURP
Kwementyaye ordered (forced) him to be quiet.
However, as an adjunct, as well as in its other complement uses (eg. with ahentye-ne- 'want'), there are
no entailments concerning the coreferentiality of arguments between the purposive clause and the main
clause. The purposive may act as an adjunct to the majority of verbs (eg. 41).
(41) a. Pilikane arrerne-Ø ure-ke,

kwatye ite-tyeke.
billycan(O) put-IMP
fire-DAT, water(O)
cook-PURP
Put the billycan on the fire in order to boil the water.
b. Re ankwinte-me kwene-le anteme

kwatye arrpenhe-k-ante
3sgS sleep-npp
inside-LOC now rain(S)
other-DAT-ONLY
ne-tyeke.
be-PURP
It (the frog) sleeps underground until there is another rain. (lit. It lies
sleeping inside only for there to be another rain.) [T5-8]
Historically the form -tyeke 'purposive' arises from the dative suffix -ke added to the nominaliser
-tye and many of its functions closely parallel those of the dative (cf. §4.2.5; §10.5.2).
5.3.3 Dependent Verb Inflections

The dependent verb inflections described hereunder all form dependent non-embedded (ie.
adjoined) clauses. As an extension of their dependent uses, each of these inflections may show up,
typically in conversations, as the final inflection on what appears to be the main verb of an utterance. In
other words, to use the term coined by Evans (1985, chapters 7&9; 1988), they all have apparently
insubordinate uses.
5.3.3.1 -eyemenge 'hope to do' (HOPE)

Verbs marked with -eyemenge 'hope' generally have the sense that the S/A is, or was, hoping to
get the chance to do the verb stem action. Such verbs often carry the implication that something is
preventing, or will prevent, the hope from being realised. Most frequently -eyemenge 'hope' forms a
dependent verb in which the event that is hoped for is the intended outcome of performing the main verb
action (eg. 42).
(42) a. Apmwerrke ayenge arrare-ke kere-ke. The

arlkw-eyemenge ite-ke.
yesterday 1sgS
miss out-pc meat-DAT. 1sgA eat-HOPE
cook-pc.
Yesterday, I missed out on the meat. (Eventhough) I cooked it hoping to eat it.
b. Re-rle kwele ne-tyeme artwe

re-kemparre uyerre-tyenheng-aye,
3sg-FOC QUOT sit-pp
man 3sgS-FIRST
disappear-SBSQNT-EMPH
are-rle.ne-me-le, kweke re-nhe yern-
eyemenge
see-CONT-npp-SS, little
3sg-ACC send-HOPE
kwatye-werne lhe-tyeke.
water-ALL go-PURP
She was sitting watching for the man (ie. her husband) to disappear so that she
would have a chance to send the baby off to the water(hole). [ie. she is hoping to
send the baby off by itself, which is something that her husband would
prevent.] [T12-14,15]
Example (43) is an instance where a verb marked with -eyemenge 'hope' is the only verb in an
utterance. In other words, it is being used insubordinately .
(43) "Ayenge-rle lyete awethe ulyenye lh-

eyemenge kwenhe."
1sgS-FOC today again
hunting go-HOPE
ASSERT
I'm really hoping to go hunting again today. [T12-71]
5.3.3.2 -tyenhenge 'Subsequent' (SBSQNT)
Both the dependent and insubordinate uses of -tyenhenge 'subsequent' share the sense that the
occurence of the verb stem event is temporally subsequent to some prior event. The two events must, in
a very general sense, be related, but there is no inherent causal or conditional relation between them. A
causal or conditional interpretation is, however, common and consistent with the use of -tyenhenge
'subsequent'.
When used dependently, the clause containing -tyenhenge 'subsequent' may occur before or
after the main clause (eg. 44a & c). There is no entailment that the two clauses share arguments (eg.
44c) but it is usually the case that at least one argument (typically the S/A) is shared (eg. 44a & b).
Common translations of these these complex constructions are: 'Event-1 and then Event-2'; 'Event-2
later on after Event-1'; and 'Event-1 before Event-2'.
(44) a. Re lhewe-lh-ke school-

werne lhe-tyenhenge.
3sgS wash-REFL-pc school-
ALL go-SBSQNT
He washed before going off to school.
b. Ayenge lhe-tyenhenge, the nhenhe-kemparre mpwar-eye.

1sgS go-SBSQNT, 1sgA
this-FIRST do-PERM
I'll go, if you let me do this first.
c. The aherre irrtnye-iwe-ke, urreke-le unte

ure ite-tyenhenge.
1sgA kangaroo skin-throw away-pc, later-LOC
2sgA fire light-SBSQNT
I skinned the kangaroo before you got the fire going.
The most frequently encountered example of the 'independent' usage of a verb marked with -
tyenhenge 'subsequent' is the formulaic expression for goodbye (eg. 45).
(45) Urreke are-tyenhenge.

later see-SBSQNT
See you later.
This expression may be interpreted as meaning that some other, unspecified, events will occur first (for
instance the speaker, or addressee, will leave now) before the speaker sees the addressee again. Note
the parallel with the use of 'then' in such expressions as 'see you later then'.
5.3.3.3 -ketye 'Aversive' (AVER)

-ketye 'aversive' is the only inflection in Mparntwe Arrernte which attaches to either nominal or
verbal stems. With nominals it is a case marker (cf.§4.2.13) and with verbs it is a stem final verb
inflection which forms dependent clauses. On verb stems -ketye 'aversive' indicates that the main verb
action is, or should be, done in order to avoid the bad event indicated in the verb stem to which -ketye
attaches. Thus the main verb event may be seen as a precaution taken against the possibility of the
dependent verb event occuring. Common translations associated with -ketye 'aversive' are 'lest', 'for fear
of', and 'or else' (eg. 46). As with -tyenhenge 'subsequent', there is no entailment that the aversive clause
share any arguments with the main clause. However, examples where there is not a shared argument are
extremely rare.
(46) Arrentye re lengkiwe-lhe-tyerte,

arrpenhe-le re-nhe are-ketye.
demon 3sgS hide-REFL-rem.p.hab,
other-ERG 3sg-ACC see-
AVER
The demon used to hide himself for fear of someone seeing him.
Aversive clauses are commonly used in the formation of threats and warnings. In such
utterances the main clause is a positive or negative imperative (eg.47).
(47) Arne-ke antye-tyele atnye-ketye.

tree-DAT climb-NegIMP fall-AVER
Don't climb trees, you could fall. (ie. lest you fall)
A warning or threat may consist of the aversive clause on its own when the precaution to be
taken is understood (eg. 48).
(48) Ayenge payuthne-ketye.

1sgO ask-AVER
Avoid asking me (I might lead you astray).
The aversive suffix is frequently extended by the suffixation of -nge 'ablative'. This appears to
strengthen the causal link between the aversive and the main clause and implies that the bad event
definitely would happen if the precaution in the main clause is not taken (eg. 49). Without -nge 'ablative',
the suggestion is only that the bad event could happen (cf. examples 46-48).
(49) a. Medicine unte ntywe-tyeke kwete unte rlkerte kngerr-irre-ketye-

nge.
medicine 2sgA drink-PURP
still 2sgS sick big-INCH-AVER-ABL
You must continue to take the medicine or else you'll get seriously ill.
b. Lhe-rltiw-Ø-aye, the arrernantherre-nhe

twe-ketye-nge.
go-plS/A-IMP-EMPH, 1sgA 2pl-ACC
hit-AVER-ABL
Piss off (you mob), because I'll hit you all (if you don't).
There is a close association between -ketye 'aversive' and the particle athathe 'hurry before' (cf.
§8.2.3.6).
5.3.3.4 Switch-reference
The form and function of switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte are described in detail in
chapter 11. The adjoined clauses which are marked for switch-reference either have a temporal
adverbial or a causal sense. In its temporal adverbial sense a dependent, switch-reference, clause
conveys an event that acts as the reference point for identifying exactly when the main clause action
occurs (eg. X while Y; X before Y; X after Y, etc.). In its causal function the dependent clause gives the
reason for, or cause of, the main clause event (X because Y).
Roughly speaking, switch-reference clauses also indicate whether the dependent clause S/A is
the same as , or different to, the main clause S/A. The suffixes which convey same or different reference
either attach to one of the set of tense inflections or to the negative inflection -tyekenhe 'verb negator'.
When switch reference attaches to the tense morphemes they lose their absolute tense meaning and
indicate the relative temporal relation between the dependent and the main clause (cf.§11.2). The suffix
which indicates same reference is -le 'SS'. Different reference is indicated by -nge 'DS' when the
preceding inflection is -tyekenhe 'verb negator', otherwise it is indicated by -rlenge 'DS' or -rleke 'DS'.
See chapter 11 for examples.
5.4 Optional Verb Inflections
5.4.1 Verb Reduplication

The "fillers" of the reduplication slot in the verb convey aspectual information which, roughly,
describes a macro-event composed of different types of repetitions of all or part of the event referred to
in the verb stem (eg. frequently, sporadically, continually begin doing, or distributively). It is worth noting
that, rather than being considered actual morphemes that fill the position indicated in figure 5-1 (given
previously), verb reduplications in Mparntwe Arrernte are regarded as processes which utilise different
linking morphemes and involve different parts of the verb stem.
The position following all other optional positions in the verb, and preceding the obligatory stem
final inflections, is chosen as the seat of these processes because it is only this position which fits the
details of all four different reduplications. There are two partial reduplications - reduplication with -pe
'frequentive' (FREQ.rdp) and reduplication with -rliwe 'sporadic' (SPORAD.rdp) - which reduplicate
the final (V)(C)Ce of a stem and add linking morphemes between stem and copy. What the actual final
(V)(C)Ce of a verb stem is depends on what non-final suffixes are stacked onto the verb (eg. 50). The
form of these reduplications is similar to reduplication with -nhe 'nominaliser of habitual involvement'
which derives verb stems into nouns that are habitually involved in the verb stem action (cf. §3.10.1.2).
(50) a. lhe-rre-p-erre-ke
b. angk-irtne-rl-irtne-rliwe-me
go-dl.S/A-FREQ.rdp-pc
speak-REVERS-SPORAD.rdp-npp
(two) frequently went
speak back to from time to time
Similarly, there is a full reduplication - reduplication with -lhile 'causative; distributive' (CAUS.rdp) -
which requires all non-final suffixes to be established before fully reduplicating all information in the stem.
A verb final suffix is then added to the end (eg. 51).
(51) atnye-nhe-lh-atnye-nhe-lhile-rne
fall-DO PAST-CAUS.rdp-p.immed
just now dropped something all over the place in passing
The fourth reduplication - reduplication with -elpe 'continuous inception' (C.Incep.rdp) - is
another partial reduplication, but this time it is the initial (V)(C)C of the root which is reduplicated and
the linking morpheme -elpe is placed between the copy and the following full verb form (eg. 52).
(52) t-elpe-tanthe-me
C.Incep.rdp-spear-npp
continually making as if to spear
As there is no evidence of prefixing anywhere else in the language the idea of positing a
reduplication slot in the position before the verb root to account for this last reduplication type is
unattractive. This solution would also miss the functional and semantic similarity of all four reduplication
processes. Since I have chosen to analyse reduplications as meaningful processes rather than
morphemes, there need not be any restriction on which part of the verb stem is affected. As this last
reduplication type, unlike the other types, shows no interplay with the other optional slots in the verb
stem, there is nothing which impedes positing that it is controlled from the same position as other verb
reduplications. The position itself is, however, determined by the type of interplay the other three
reduplications show with respect to the fillers of other optional slots in the verb. That is to say, for the
first three reduplication types, the non-final, optional, inflections must be established before reduplication
takes place and then a verb stem final morpheme occurs after the reduplication, thus establishing the
penultimate position in the verb stem as the position for reduplication. Each of the four productive verb
reduplication types will be discussed in turn.
5.4.1.1 Reduplication & -pe 'happen frequently; frequentive' (FREQ.rdp)

The basic rule for the formation of the 'frequentive' reduplication type may be written as:
#(X)(V)C(C)e-Æ #(X)(V)C(C)e-pe-(V)C(C)e- . The linking morpheme -pe is likely to have originated
from the proto-Arandic verb form for 'go' *ape-, which also occurs as a bound (fossilised) form in the
continuous morpheme -rle.pe 'do continuously while in motion' (cf. §5.4.3) and the motion verb petye-
'come' (originally 'go-hither-' cf. §5.5.10). While there is no sense of motion entailed by this
reduplication type, there is a sense that the verb stem action does "go on and on". That is to say, within a
given time period, the event represented by the verb stem is repeated with such a high frequency, or is
continuous to such a degree, that it may be thought of as "always" happening, or happening habitually (at
regular time intervals), within the given time frame (eg. 53 & 54). The overall sense of reduplication & -
pe may roughly be explicated as:
[verb event] Y goes on happening over and over again. There is not a time (within time frame X) where
one would say that the verb action does not happen.
(53) ne- 'sit; be; exist'

ne-pe-ne- 'to just sit around, do nothing else'
angke-rre- (speak-RECIP-) angke-rre-pe-rre- 'to be
continually speaking
'speak to
each other'
to each
other'
(54) a. "Ingkirre-rle picture-werne lhe-rlt.iwe-p-iwe-me."

all/every-FOC movies-ALL
go-pl.S/A-FREQ.rdp-npp
Everyone keeps going off to the pictures. [ie. Everone's going to the
movies goes on happening over and over again. There's not a time when you'd
say they're not going to the movies]. [T8-36]
b. "Kweke nhenhe-me iwenh-ipenhe-rle kwetethe
ankwe kngerre
little this-INTER
what-AFTER-FOC always
asleep big
the are-ty.alpe-p-alpe-me
kwenhe?"
1sgA see-GO BACK & DO-FREQ.rdp-npp ASSERT
"Why is it that this baby is always in a deep sleep whenever I come back to see
him?" [T12-60]
As is to be expected from its semantics, reduplication & -pe 'frequentive' is not possible with a
verb like ilwe- 'to die' when it has a singular subject, since the action is not repeatable. However, when
the subject is plural, and refers to a large number of entities, this reduplication type may apply to such
verbs (eg. 55).
(55) Pweleke mape / *nyente

ilwe-p-ilwe-me.
cow (bullock) pl(grp) / *one
die-FREQ.rdp-npp
The cattle / *a cow keep(*s) on dying.
5.4.1.2 Reduplication & -rliwe 'happen sporadically; sporadic' (SPORAD.rdp)

The formation rule for reduplication & -rliwe 'sporadic' may be represented as: #(X)(V)C(C)e-
Æ #(X)(V)C(C)e-rle-(V)C(C)e-rliwe-. The semantic effect of this reduplication type is to indicate that
the event represented by the verb stem happens a number of different times, but each occurrence of the
event does not follow immediately after the preceding occurrence of the event. Further, the occurrence
of the verb stem event need not happen at regular time intervals, it may be intermittent. Thus, while
reduplication & -pe 'frequentive' refers to frequent, regularly spaced, occurrences of an event,
reduplication & -rliwe 'sporadic' refers to infrequent, irregularly spaced occurrences of an event (within a
given time frame), hence the gloss 'sporadic' (eg. 56 & 57). This reduplication type may be defined as
follows:
[verb event] Y happens over and over again. There are times (within time frame X) where one would
say that the verb action is not happening. One can not say exactly when Y will happen (again).
(56) ne- 'sit; be; exist'
ne-rl-ne-rliwe- 'gets up and down from
time
to time, never sits still for
very long'
ke-lhe- (cut-REFL-) 'cut oneself' ke-lhe-rle-lhe-rliwe- 'to
cut oneself from
time to time' (eg.
during ceremony)
(57) Atetherre yanhe irrpe-rl-irrpe-rliwe-me.

budgerigar that(mid) go into-SPORAD.rdp-npp
That budgerigar is popping (its head) in and out (of its nest) from time to time.
[lit. The budgerigar('s head) is sporadically entering (the nest).]
When an event's recurrence is dependent upon some other intermittent event first occurring, then
reduplication & -rliwe 'sporadic' may mark the consequent event and the whole structure roughly
translates as 'whenever X, then Y' (eg. 58).
(58) a. The utyene are-tyenhenge, or

perne-tyenhenge peke;
1sgA sore see-SBSQNT,
or rub-SBSQNT
maybe;
tanthe-rl-anthe-rliwe-me.
spear-SPORAD.rdp-npp
Whenever I look at, or rub against, my sore, it hurts (ie. it 'spears' me).
b. Re itelare-me-le
re-rle lhe-ke Darwin-werne,
3sgA remember-npp-SS 3sgS-THAT go-pc
Darwin-ALL,
re re-nhe twe-rle-twe-rliwe-me.
3sgA 3sg-ACC hit-SPORAD.rdp-npp
When ever he remembers that she ran off to Darwin (that time), he hits her.
The form -rliwe which occurs in this reduplication type appears to be related to the morpheme of
the same form which means 'do verb action quickly' (cf. §5.4.3). This form is, diachronically, composed
of iwe- 'to throw away' and -rle. The form -rle may be seen to be related to a wide variety of verb
suffixes, including -rle 'generic event' (cf. §5.3.1.3), the -rle which occurs to signal 'on going action' in the
morphemic complexes that fill the continuous slot (§5.4.3), and the -rle which signals 'motion subsequent
to action' in certain of the associated motion morphemic complexes (cf. chapter 6).
5.4.1.3 Reduplication & -lhile 'force to do; action on multiple objects' (CAUS.rdp)
Reduplication & -lhile 'force to do, action on multiple object' is not very well understood. The
form -lhile is a suffix which derives causative verbs (cf. §5.5.3) and causative semantics are clearly
associated with this reduplication type. The verb root of these reduplications is always intransitive, while
the reduplicated form is transitive. This is a total reduplication type and the rule of formation may be
presented as follows (but see footnote 25): VerbStem-[intransitive] Æ VerbStem-lhe-VerbStem-lhile-.
One of the senses of this reduplication type is that the agent of the verb stem event forces the patient to
do the verb action of the intransitive stem against the patient's own will or desire (eg. 59). This reading
entails that both the agent and patient are sentient beings. Note that certain, but not all, simple causative
formations which allow an inanimate object do not allow an inanimate object in the associated
reduplication (eg. 60). It is common that there is more than one patient and/or that the action performed
by the patient(s) is (are) continuous over a short time frame, but these are not entailments as example
(60)b shows.
(59) a. Drunk-le atere-le-nthe-ke

akethe-le ane-rlte.ne-rlenge
Drunk-ERG afraid-INST/LOC?-give-pc outside-LOC
sit-plS/A.CONT-DS
arawe-lhile-me-le, irrpe-lh-irrpe-lhile-me-le apmere-ke.
disturb-CAUS-npp-SS, go into-CAUS.rdp-npp-SS
house-DAT
The drunk gave the people sitting outside a fright, disturbed them, and drove
them into their houses. (lit. 'forced them to go into their house against their will')
b. Arlke-lhe-arlke-lhile-me artwe inentye-le

pmere arnkentye-ke
scream-CAUS.rdp-npp
man kurdaitcha-ERG camp
men's camp-DAT
peke pmere arlwekere-ke
peke ingwele perte-me-le.
maybe camp women's camp-DAT
maybe night-LOC creep up on-npp-SS
When the kurdaitcha creeps up on the single mens's or single women's camps,
he causes (everyone) to scream (and run around).
(60) a. The bin arrate-lhile-ke.

1sgA bin(O) go out-CAUS-pc
I put the bin outside. (ie. 'I caused the bin to go out.')
b. The ampe urreye / *bin arrate-lh-

arrate-lhile-ke.
1sgA child boy /
*bin go out-CAUS.rdp-pc.
I forced the the little boy / *the bin to go outside.
There are examples where the O argument of a verb that is formed by reduplication & -lhile is
plural and inanimate. In such cases the sense of the reduplication appears to be that the agent causes
each member of the group which functions as O to do the intransitive verb action individually, one after
the another. It is common for the individual entities in the group to end up distributed over a wide area
as a result of the verb action. As example (61) shows, the plurality of the O argument need not be
specified overtly but is understood by virtue of what the meaning of this reduplication type entails.
(61) a. Ampe-le merne atnye-lhile-ke.

child-ERG bread fall-CAUS-pc
A child dropped some bread. (ie. caused the bread to fall).
b. Ampe-le merne atnye-lhe-atnye-lhile-ke.

child-ERG bread fall-CAUS.rdp-
pc
A child dropped pieces of bread all over the place (one after the other).
5.4.1.4 Reduplication & -elpe 'continuous inception' (C.Incep.rdp)

As mentioned earlier, reduplication & -elpe 'continuous inception' is the only form of verb
reduplication in Mparntwe Arrernte in which the initial part of the verb stem is reduplicated. The actual
reduplication process for this type may be represented as: #(V)C(C)X- Æ #(V)C(C)-elpe-(V)C(C)X-
. The effect of this reduplication type on the verb stem is to indicate that the verb stem action continues
to be in its beginning stages but is never achieved within the time frame considered. For example, the
verb root tnye- means 'to fall', while the reduplicated form tny-elpe-tnye- means to 'be continually on
the verge of falling without actually falling'. Thus, tny-elpe-tnye- may be translated as 'staggering' or
'stumbling along' when the performer of the action is a person, or it may be translated by 'teetering on the
brink (of falling)' when used with respect to a large rock perched on the edge of a cliff. Similarly, the
verb root therre- means 'to laugh', and 'to continue at the beginning of a laugh without actually laughing'
would be th-elpe-therre- which is usually translated as 'to smile'. In speaking of a known
hypochondriac, one Eastern Arrernte woman used the verb stem ilw-elpe-ilwe- which is formed from
ilwe- 'to die' and which means 'to be continually in the beginning stages of dying without ever actually
dying'. Thus, reduplication & -elpe indicates both the inception of the verb stem event and continuity at
that initial (pre-achievement) stage for a certain amount of time without achievement of the action, hence
the gloss 'continuous inception' is used. Common translations of this reduplication type are 'just
beginning to', 'on the verge of', and 'to pretend to do', but a more accurate definition may be rendered as
follows:
[verb event] Y begins to happen and goes on beginning to happen [or begins to happen over and over
again]. There is not a time (within time frame X) where one could say that Y has happened.
(62) a. Ikwere-nge imerte kwele ankw-elpe-ankw-ile-

tyenhenge,
3sgDAT-ABL then QUOT
asleep-C.Incep.rdp-CAUS-SBSQNT,
keme-rl-irre-ke re-nhe.
get up-REL-INCH-pc 3sg-ACC
After that (she) then started getting the baby, who had just woken up, back to
sleep. (lit. continued at the beginning of causing to sleep) [T12-55]
b. Apmwe-le kenhe kwele re-nhe

ay-elp-ayerne-me-le, ...
snake-ERG BUT QUOT
3sg-ACC bind-C.Incep.rdp-npp-SS
But a snake was coiling around him, ... [lit. was at the beginning of binding him
but never tied it off or fixed the binding (ayerne- also means 'to tie')] [T12-
116]
It is not at all clear what the origin of the linking morpheme -elpe is. It is possible that, in parallel
with the used of a form that originally meant 'go' in reduplication & -pe 'frequentive' (cf. 5.4.1.1), -elpe
has the same origins as alpe- 'go back'. Semantically, one could suggest that in reduplication & -elpe
'continuous inception' the verb event is continually 'going back to the beginning', but this may be pushing
things too far.
5.4.1.5 Further comments concerning verb reduplication
One type of iconicity that is well reported for reduplications (cf. Moravcsik 1978; Anderson
1982) is that repetition of all or part of the verb stem corresponds to repetition or continuity of the verb
action. Thus it is not surprising that all four reduplication types discussed in §§5.4.1.1-4 are associated,
in at least one of their uses, with continuity and/or repetition. However, one further type of iconicity
which is manifested by the partial reduplications discussed in §§5.4.1.1,2 &3, and which to my
knowledge has not previously been reported for any language, is that reduplication of final elements in
the verb stem corresponds to the verb stem event being achieved over and over again (ie. the event
repeatedly comes to an end; cf. reduplication & -pe 'frequentive' and reduplication & -rliwe
'sporadic'), while reduplication of initial elements of the verb stem corresponds to the event continuing to
begin without ever being achieved (ie. the event stays at the beginning it never ends; cf. reduplication & -
elpe 'continuous inception).
It is also important to realise that these verb reduplications are not mutually exclusive and one
verb form may contain at least two verb reduplication types (eg. 63). The principles of combination and
interpretation for these double reduplications is not well understood.
(63) a. t-elpe-tanthe-p-anthe-me
spear-C.Incep.rdp-FREQ.rdp-npp
always making as if to spear (something), over and over again, without doing it
b. atnye-lhe-atnye-lhile-p-ile-me
fall-CAUS.rdp-FREQ.rdp-npp
keeps on dropping individual objects all over the place all the time
c. angk-elp-angke-rl-angke-rliwe-me
speak-C.Incep.rdp-SPORAD.rdp-npp
stuttering (or babbling) from time to time
Finally, it must be noted that certain enclitics and free particles may be inserted after the linking
morpheme of a verb reduplication. This is discussed and exemplified in §8.3.
5.4.2 Number Agreement with S/A

Verbs may take suffixes which agree in number with their subject. That is, both S and A
arguments, but not O arguments, may trigger number agreement in the verb. This then is one piece of
evidence that, despite ergative morphology, aspects of the morpho-syntax of Mparntwe Arrernte are
best stated in terms of a nominative subject (cf. §10.3.3).
(64) a. Artwe therre-le nwerne-nhe twe-rlenerre-ke.

man two-ERG(A) 1pl-ACC hit-dl.S/A-pc.
The two men hit us all.
b. Nwerne re-nhe awe-rrirre-ke.

1plA 3sg-ACC hear-pl.S/A-pc
We all heard it.
c. Artwe therre lhe-rre-me.

man two-S go-dl.S/A-npp.
The two men are walking away.
d. Nwerne shop-werne lhe-rltiwe-me.

1plS shop-ALL go-pl.S/A-npp
We all went to the shop.
As the above examples show, there are suffixes which indicate whether the subject is dual and
others which indicate whether the subject is plural. When the subject is singular, there is no special
marking on the verb. Number agreement is basically optional, but it tends to be most prevalent when the
S/A of a verb has been omitted. One special case of this is imperatives, where it tends to be the rule to
indicate number on the verb.
Different verb forms may take different number agreement suffixes. Moreover, the particular
number agreement suffix which a verb form takes appears to be determined by the immediately
preceding verb suffix rather than the verb root itself. Thus, while impe- 'to leave something behind' is
suffixed directly with -rrirre to indicate 'plural subject' (ie. impe-rrirre-), impe-nhe- 'to leave something
behind while going past', which contains the associated motion inflection -nhe 'DO PAST', is suffixed
with -rltiwe to indicate plural subject (ie. impe-nhe-rltiwe-). Note also that, as far as the marking of
plural subject is concerned, there are continuous aspect forms and associated motion forms which may
also indicate number agreement. Such portmanteau forms may not be used along with fillers in the
number agreement slot (see §5.4.3 and §5.4.4).
5.4.2.1 Dual subject marking

All forms which mark dual subject contain -rre in them, and it seems probable that these forms
are, in some way, linked historically with the derivational verb suffix -rre 'reciprocal' and the number
form therre 'two'. The suffix -rre itself is used to mark dual subject with the existential-positional verbs -
ne- 'sit', tne- 'stand', and inte- 'lie' - and with the simple intransitive deictic motion verbs - lhe- 'go', unte-
'hurry away', alpe- 'go back'. The verb petye- 'come' and verbs suffixed with the associated motion
inflection -intye 'DO COMING' take the suffix -lerre to indicate dual subject. All other verbs mark dual
subject with -rlenerre. This last form is, at least historically, composed of the morphemic complex which
indicates continuous aspect (non-motional) -rle.ne (cf. §5.4.3), and the dual subject marker -rre. This
form need not, however, indicate continuous aspect but always indicates dual subject (eg. 64a). A
distinction, may, therefore, be established between the dual subject suffix -rlenerre, which has no
entailment of continuity, and the sequence -rle.ne 'continuous' followed by its associated dual subject
marking -rre (ie. -rle.ne-rre), which does entail continuous aspect.
5.4.2.2 Plural Subject Agreement

The situation with plural subject agreement is not very clear. There are six different plural subject
agreement suffixes which have been attested so far, and each is associated with a different group of
verbs. In some cases there is a close semantic association between the group of verbs which take a
particular plural subject agreement suffix, but in other cases the associations are not obvious. The six
suffixes, and examples of the six verb classes with which they are associated, are given in table 5-2.
Verbs which are inherently directed away from speaker all take -rltiwe to indicate plural subject
agreement, as do verbs suffixed with the associated motion inflection -nhe 'DO PAST'. The form -
rltiwe 'plural subject' is apparently composed of -rlte, which marks plural agreement in the continuous
aspect complexes (cf. §5.4.3), and iwe- 'throw away'. Here the agreement suffix seems to reflect the
semantic idea of 'awayness' inherent in the forms to which it attaches.
The suffix -rre, which marks dual subject agreement on a restricted set of stance and motion
verbs, may also mark plural subject agreement on certain other intransitive verbs. The majority, but not
all, of the forms which take -warre to mark plural subject agreement are also intransitive; this includes all
reflexivised forms. Verbs which have been inchoativised with -irre may all take -re when the verb has a
plural subject. This may have arisen from a dissimilation of -rre from the same sound sequence of the
preceding inchoative derivational suffix (ie. -irre-rre- > -irre-re-) .
The majority, but not all, of the verbs which mark plural subject agreement by means of the suffix
-rrirre are transitive verbs. The possibly related -rnirre has only been attested marking plural subject on
tne- 'to stand'. It is also worth pointing out that while most speakers use -rrirre as the plural agreement
suffix for impe- 'to leave something behind', others use a seventh form -lewarre for this verb.
Table 5-2: Plural subject agreement markers and examples from the
verb classes they determine
5.4.3 Continuous Aspect

The fillers of the continuous aspect slot are morphemic complexes composed of two elements.
The first element is either -rle or -rlte. The form -rle indicates the general notion of 'continuity' but
expresses no information about the number of the subject, while -rlte conveys the general notion of
'continuity' as well as marking 'plural subject agreement'. The second element of the complex expresses
either that the verb event continues while the subject is in motion, in which case -pe is used, or that the
verb event is merely continuous without any reference to motion, in which case -ne is used. Note that -
pe is the modern reflex of the proto-Arandic verb form *ape- 'to go' which no longer occurs as a free
form in Mparntwe Arrernte and ne- is the verb which means 'to sit; stay; be'. The four complexes which
indicate continuous aspect are given in table 5-3 and their use is exemplified in (65).
Table 5-3 : Morphemic complexes indicating continuous aspect
(65) a. Thomas ulyentye-le ne-rle.ne-me.

Thomas shade-LOC
sit-CONT-npp.
Thomas is sitting around in the shade. (ie. is sitting continuously in the shade)
b. Thomas ulyentye-le ne-rle.pe-me.

Thomas shade-LOC
sit-DO ALONG-npp
Thomas is continually sitting in the shade as he goes along. (ie.
eitherThomas is going along from shade to shade and sitting down each
time or Thomas is sitting while going along in the shade (eg. in a car)).
c. Yepe-yepe mape ilwe-rlte.ne-me

kwete.
sheep
pl.(grp) die-CONTpl.S/A-npp still
The sheep are still continuing to die.
d. Itne re-nhe twe-rlte.pe-ke.

3plA 3sg--ACC hit-DO ALONGpl.S/A-
pc
They're hitting it (the tin can) as they go along.
There is another aspectual inflection, which is not yet well understood, that might also be
assigned to this position in the verb. This form is -rliwe 'DO QUICK' and it is used to indicate that 'the
verb action is done very quickly'. Speakers often translate this form as 'like lightning, quick as lightning'.
It has a parallel structure to other forms in this slot in that it has an initial element -rle, although without its
sense of continuous aspect, followed by the verbal element iwe- 'to throw away'.
(66) a. ... , husband tyenhe-ke

anteme imerte the ile-rliwe-me,
..., husband 1sgPOSS-DAT
now then
1sgA tell-DO QUICK-npp
..., so then, quick as lightning, I tell my husband [T8-22]
b. Pmere-werne-theke-rlke kwele re
half-way
camp-ALL-WARDS-TOO
QUOT 3sgS half-way
urrpare-lhe-rl.iwe-ke itwe-anteye.
erase-REFL-DO QUICKLY-pc near-still/too
From half way towards the camp to right up close she quickly rubbed
out her tracks. [T12-142]
There is no attested form -rlt.iwe which entails that a 'plural subject does the verb action quickly', but I
pointed out in section §5.4.2.2 that there is a simple plural number agreement form -rltiwe which occurs
only on basic motion verbs indicating motion away from speaker. It is possible that this number
agreement form originally had an aspectual sense which it has since lost.
5.4.4 The Category of Associated Motion

The category of associated motion is discussed in detail in chapter 6. The fourteen associated
motion forms are : -intye 'do while coming', -inty.alpe 'do while coming back', -intye.lhe 'do while
coming through', -irtne 'do while going back; do back to', -nhe 'do on the way past', -tye.kerle 'do
while going downwards', -ty.antye 'do while going upwards', -tye.lhe 'go and then do verb action', -
ty.alpe 'go back and then do verb action', -rle.lhe 'do verb action and then go', -rl.alpe 'do verb action
and go back', -artne.lhe 'quickly do verb action and go', -artn.alpe 'quickly do verb action and go back',
and -ty.intye 'do verb action on Y's arrival'. As can be seen from the above list of forms, eleven of the
fourteen forms that fill the associated motion slot in the verb stem are morphemic complexes (full stops
separated the elements of the morphemic complex).
Note that when an associated motion form is morphemically complex and the first element of the
complex is either -intye 'Do COMING' or -tye 'prior motion' then -te may be inserted between the two
elements of the complex to indicate plural subject agreement eg. 67).
(67) a. ar-intye.t.alpe-me
b. angke-tye.te.lhe-
ke
see-DO COMING.plS/A.BACK-npp
speak-GO & DO plS/A
they see on their way back here they said when they got
there
This method of marking plural number agreement is also available to motion verbs in which -tye 'move
towards speaker (ie. hither)' has been attached to a basic deictic motion verb and the resulting form has
had alpe- 'go back' compounded to it (see §5.5.10; eg 68).
(68) knge-tye-t-alpe-me
take-HITHER-plS/A-BACK-npp
(they) are bringing (it) back
Where the first element of an associated motion complex is -rle 'subsequent motion' the marking
of plural subject agreement may be by substituting -rle with -rlte. This method of marking plural number
agreement is the same as with the continuous aspect forms discussed in the previous section (ie. §5.4.3;
69).
(69) ine-rlte.lhe-rne
get-DO & GO pl.S/A-p.immed
(they) just picked (her) up [ie. (they) just now got (her) and went]
The methods which are described above for the marking of plural number agreement in
associated motion complexes are not the only methods available. Unlike the continuous aspect
complexes, plural subject agreement for verbs inflected for associated motion may, instead, be marked
in the normal way with a filler in the number agreement slot of the verb stem (cf. §5.4.2). The two types
of marking may not co-occur. Thus corresponding to example (67)a there is also example (70)a, and
example (70)b may be used instead of example (69).
(70) a. ar-inty.alpe-rltiwe-me
b. ine-rle.lhe-rltiwe-rne
see-DO COMING BACK-plS/A-npp
get-DO & GO-plS/A-p.immed
seeing on their way back here
(they) just picked (her) up
5.5 Verb Derivation

5.5.1 -rre 'reciprocal' (RECIP)
The derivational suffix -rre 'reciprocal' attaches to transitive verb stems to derive an intransitive
verb stem which requires that the referent of its S argument is non-singular (compare examples 71a and
b). Such derivations convey the sense that the entities in the S role are doing the verb stem action to
each other (eg. 71b, 72).
(71) a. Artwe yanhe-le re-nhe twe-ke.
man that (mid)-ERG(A) 3sg-O hit-pc.
That man hit him.
b. Artwe therre yanhe-Ø twe-rre-ke.

man two that(mid)-S hit-RECIP-pc
Those two men are fighting (lit.hitting each other)
Angke-'to speak' is the only attested intransitive verb which takes -rre 'reciprocal' (eg. 72).
(72) Anwerne gotta angke-rre-rle

schoole nyewane ikwere
3sg S got to speak-
RECIP-GenEvt school new
3sgDAT.
We have to discuss the new school. (ie. we have to talk to each other about the
new school).
5.5.2 -lhe 'Reflexive' (REFL)

The derivational suffix -lhe 'reflexive' derives intransitive verb stems from transitive and
ditransitive verb stems. Three main uses of -lhe 'reflexive' may be identified.
(i) Reflexive stems may encode the notion that someone or something animate performs the
action of the transitive/ditransitive verb stem upon themself (eg. 73). In effect the S argument of the
reflexive stem is simultaneously agent and patient (cf. §11.4.4). When used in this sense the reflexive
action may be intentional or accidental, depending on the verb stem action and the context.
(73) a. Atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-

me-le,
hit-REFL-npp-SS, hit-REFL-npp-SS,
hit-REFL-npp-SS
arlpmenye-le kwele perne-lhe-ke.
ash-INST
QUOT rub-REFL-pc
While she hit herself and hit herself and heit herself, she covered herself
with ashes. (mourning for the loss of her baby).[T12- 131]
b. Ampe kweke ntywe-lhe-ke

child small(S)
drink - REFLE-pc
The baby is sucking its thumb. (lit. drinking itself).
(ii) There are a number of reflexive stems which encode that the S argument undergoes an action
that it did not itself initiate. The S argument of such verbs is frequently inanimate (eg. 74).
(74) a. Arne knge-lhe-me

rlke-nge.
tree(S) take/carry-REFL-npp wind - ABL
The trees are moving in the wind.
b. Mweteke ikwerenhe ultake-lhe-ke.

car
3sgPOSS(S) break(tr)-REFL-pc.
Her car broke down.
(iii) When certain ditransitive verbs are suffixed with -lhe reflexive (see §5.1.3.3(iii)), the S
argument of the reflexive stem may be construed as acting as an agent and as a location. In such cases
there is also an O argument marked for the accusative case. Such reflexives convey the sense that
someone or something animate does the ditransitive verb action to a thing that they have located on
themself (eg. 75). In that such reflexive stems take both a NP in S grammatical function and a NP in O
grammatical function, but no NP in A grammatical function, they may be regarded as middle transitives.
(75) a. Ayenge lyeke re-nhe

tyarre-lhe-ke
1sg(S) prickle
3sg-ACC(O) pull s.t out of-REFL-pc
I pulled the prickle out myself.
b. Ar-Ø-aye! Artwe yanhe mantere
irlwe-lhe-me, ingkirrenthurre.
see-IMP-EMPH man that(mid)
clothes take off of-REFL-npp all
INTENS
Have a look! That man there is taking his clothes off, absolutely all of
them.
Compare also the following commonly used reflexive forms with their transitive/ditransitive
counterparts. These are, more or less, idiomatic forms which do not clearly fall into any of the divisions
given above; although the idiomatic sense is usually a fairly transparent extension of what would be the
literal meaning of the reflexive form.
(76) kare- 'to mind s.t. for s.o.' kare-lhe-

'to wait for'
utyerne- 'to lift s.t up'
utyerne-lhe- 'to be boastful; to skite'
thele- 'to pour s.t. out'
alhwe thele-lhe- [blood pour-REFL] 'to bleed'
ile- 'to tell s.t. to s.o'
ile-lhe-
'to apologise, admit'
alye- 'to sing s.o./s.t.'
alye-lhe- 'to
sing; to sing a song'
arrkerne- 'to taste/test s.o/s.t.' arrkerne-lhe-
'try to do s.t.'
5.5.3 -ile and -lhile 'Causative' (CAUS)

The two related causativising suffixes - -ile and -lhile - have different distributions. While -lhile
is the only form used to causativise intransitive verbs either -ile or -lhile may be used to derive causative
verbs from nominals.
When -lhile is attached to an intransitive verb it forms a transitive or ditransitive stem which
generally has the meaning that the agent causes the object to do the action encoded in the intransitive
verb form (eg. 77; see also examples 60a and 61a given previously).
(77) tnye- 'to fall'

tnye-lhile-
'to drop s.t.'
arrate- 'to appear'
arrate-lhile- 'to take s.t. out of
s.t. else;
or to make appear'
pwernke- 'to split open (intr.)' pwernke-lhile- 'to split s.t. open'
mangke- 'to grow (intr)'
mangke-lhile- 'to raise; bring up'
Two interesting exceptions to the above generalisation involve the intransitive verbs therre- 'to
laugh' and artne- 'to cry'. When they are transitivised with -lhile the resultant forms do not mean 'to
make someone laugh' or 'to make someone cry'. Instead, therre-lhile- means 'to laugh at someone, to
laugh someone down' and artne-lhile- means 'to cry for someone, to mourn someone'.
A large number of, but not all, intransitive verbs may be causativised with -lhile 'causative'. See
§5.5.4 and §5.5.10 for some examples of intransitive verb stems which can not host -lhile 'causative'.
As mentioned previously (cf. §5.4.1.3), this form of the 'causative' suffix is also part of a productive verb
reduplication type which means 'to force someone to do something against their will' or 'to act on the
members of a group individually, one at a time'.
Verbs which are derived by the addition of either -ile or -lhile 'causative' to nominals generally
have the sense that the agent causes the object either to have the quality described in the nominal root or
to become the thing referred to by the nominal (eg. 79). Although it appears that a nominal may freely
take either -lhile or -ile 'causative' when being verbalised it is worth pointing out that -ile 'causative' is
the more commonly used form. A small heterogeneous, group of nominals do, however, appear to
occur regularly with -lhile 'causative'.
(78) artwe 'initiated man' artw-ile-
'to initiate (ie. cause to become an
initiated
man)'
perrke 'a coal'
perrk-ile- 'to make (wood)
into coals'
ulkere 'slippery, smooth' ulker-ile-
'to smooth s.t.'
nyente 'one'
nyente-lhile- 'to to unite two things'
kertne 'top; above; over' kertne-lhile- 'to
raise s.t. up; to lift s.t.'
(79) Walye re-nhe imerte ulp-ile-me-le,

twe-me-le,
branch 3sg-ACC then
'dust'-CAUS-npp-SS, hit-npp-SS,
ngkwelty-ile-me-le; ...
pieces-CAUS-npp-SS;
The leafy branches are then crushed, chopped, and made into small pieces; ...
[T1-2]
5.5.4 The unproductive causative suffix -rne

The following pairs appear to demonstrate that Mparntwe Arrernte once had a widespread
causative suffix -rne.
(80) ntye- 'to give off an odour'

ntyerne- 'to smell s.t.'
ilwe- 'to die'
ilwerne- 'to extinguish a fire'

alw-irre-'to run away'
alwerne- 'to chase s.o./s.t.'
ilpe- 'to protect s.o. with s.t.' ilperne-
'to accuse s.o.' (cause s.o.
to defend themself)'
knge- 'to take; carry'
kngerne- 'to carry (while holding s.t.
up ??)'
These are the only such pairs which have been attested and speakers reject the use of -rne on
other verb roots and nominals. Note that the intransitive verb roots in the above list cannot be
causativised using -lhile 'causative'.
A substantial proportion of transitive verb roots in Mparntwe Arrernte end in rne. It is tempting
to suggest that these arise, historically, from the use of -rne to causativise roots which no longer exist in
Mparntwe Arrernte. Below is a partial list of transitive verbs ending in rne.
(81) arrerne- 'to put'

ngerne- 'to dig'
alyerne- 'to twist, wrig out' ngkerne- 'to stand s.t. up,
to stop'
ayerne- 'to tie, bind'
uterne- 'to force, order to do'
yerne- 'to send'
urrerne- 'to blaim s.o. for s.t.'
nterne- 'to spear, poke,sew' perne- 'to
rub,paint'
5.5.5 -irre 'Inchoative' (INCH)

Intransitive verb stems may be derived from nominals through the suffixation of -irre 'inchoative'.
In many of its uses -irre 'inchoative' is best translated as 'to be in the process of becoming' (eg. 82).
(82) purrke 'tired'

purrk-irre- 'to be getting tired'
wenke 'young woman' wenk-irre- 'to be in the process of
becoming a
young woman
ahele 'angry'
ahel-irre- 'to be getting angry'
kaltye 'knowledgeable' kalty-irre- 'to learn'
When one wants to emphasise that the subject argument is well on the way to completely
becoming exactly what is specified in the nominal root, then the clitic -rle 'focus; relative clause, that
clause' (cf. §8.1.1.18) is added to the nominal root and -irre 'inchoative' is then added to this. In
contrast, the simple inchoative stem without -rle 'focus' makes no real commitment as to the degree to
which the subject changes towards becoming whatever is specified in the root. The distinction is roughly
the same as that between 'to become X' and 'to be in the process of becoming X'. Compare examples
(83)a and b.
(83) a. Annge nhenhe urrperl-irre-me

fruit this
black-INCH-npp
This fruit is darkening.(ie. it is in the process of becoming black, but
it may in fact be half black and green or just dark green; it is just ripening)
b. Annge nhenhe urrperle-rl-irre-me

Fruit this
black-FOC-INCH-npp
This fruit is becoming all black.(and could in fact be going rotten).
The form -irre 'inchoative' does not convey the sense of 'becoming' or 'changing' in all its uses.
For instance it attaches to a small number of body part nouns to derive intransitive verbs which may be
considered fairly idiomatic. In all cases the body part is associated in some way with the verb action.
(84) iltye 'hand,finger' ilty-irre-

'to sign to someone, speak in sign
language'
akwe 'hand arm'
(a)kw-irre- 'to wave'
ahentye 'throat, desire' ahenty-irre- 'to want, desire'
atnerte 'stomach' atnert-
irre- 'to be pregnant'
alknge 'eye'
alkng-irre- 'to have a vision; to have a
conception totem enter

you;
to be conceived, born'
alhe 'nose'
(a)lh-irre- 'to lust after; to
leer at [to be sniffing
around like a dog]'

Examples of other inchoative stems which do not really have the sense of 'becoming' what is
specified in the nominal root, but are simply intransitive verbs of different types, are given in (85).
(85) arrkene 'playful; joke; fun' arrken-irre-

'to play'
mpeltye 'diarrhoea'
mpelty-irre- 'to have diarrhoea'
alkngwe 'forgetful'
alkngw-irre- 'to forget s.t.'
5.5.6 Free Verbs or Derivational Suffixes? : The ambiguous behaviour of -ile 'causative' and -irre
'inchoative'
In the preceding section I have treated the forms -ile 'causative' and -irre 'inchoative' as
derivational suffixes, but this analysis is not unproblematic. There is evidence to argue that these forms
are, in fact, more like free form verbs.
One set of facts which demonstrates the ambiguous nature of these forms involves reduplication
&-elpe 'continuous inception'. As noted in §5.3.1.4, this type of verb reduplication copies the initial
(V)(C)C of a verb stem (86).
(86) ultake- 'to break s.t.' ult-elp-ultake- 'to remain on the verge of breaking s.t.'
However, with certain 'inchoativised' and 'causativised' verb stems derived from nominals, this form of
reduplication may reduplicate the initial (V)(C)C of either the nominal root (eg. 87 a(i), b(i)) or of the
supposed derivational suffix (eg. 88 a(ii), b(ii)) . I have been unable to discern a difference in meaning
between these alternatives. The former case is consistent with the derivational suffix analysis and the
latter with the free verb analysis.
(87) a. kalty-irre- 'be knowledgeable-INCH-' to learn

(i) k-elpe-kaltyirre- to be on the verge of learning s.t.
(ii) kalty(e) irr-elp-irre- to be on the verge of learning s.t.
b. ankw-ile 'asleep-CAUS-' to put to sleep

(i) ankw-elpe-ankw-ile- to be just about to cause s.o. to
fall asleep
(ii) ankw(e) il-elp-ile- to be just about to cause s.o. to
fall asleep
Derived verb stems with idiomatic or unpredictable meanings - such as the previously discussed
inchoative verbs based on body part nominals (cf. example set 84) - do not allow this alternation in what
may be reduplicated. Only the initial (V)(C)C of the nominal root, and therefore of the whole derived
verb stem, may be reduplicated. This suggests that there are at least some clear cases where -ile
'CAUS' and -irre 'INCH' should be analysed as derivational suffixes.
Possible evidence against these forms being derivational suffixes is the fact that they need not
"attach" to single nominals but may "attach" to whole noun phrases (eg. 88). It would be difficult to
argue that a single verbal lexeme has been derived in such cases, although one could perhaps argue for
inchoative and causative verb phrases.
(88) a. Marle kweke re [relhe

mwarre kngerre]NP(-)irre-ke
girl little
3sgS woman good
big
INCH-pc
The little girl became a beautiful woman.
b. Itne re-nhe [artwe Arrernte

nthurre](-)ile-ke.
3sgA 3sg-ACC man
Arrernte INTENS
CAUS-pc
They made him a true Arrernte initiated man.
A final example of the ambiguous nature of -ile 'causative' and -irre 'inchoative' involves the
various positions of these forms in the questions meaning 'What is X doing?'. The question form with -ile
is used when the answer is expected to involve a transitive verb action and -irre 'inchoative' is used when
the answer is expected to involve an intransitive verb action. 'X' is usually a nominal or pronominal term
which refers to a person. The various possible forms of these questions are given below.
(89) a. (i) Nthakenhe irre-me X?
b. Nthakenhe ile-me X?
how
INCH-npp X
how CAUS-npp
X
What is X doing?(intrans.)
What is X doing?(trans.)
(ii) Nthakenhe X irre-me?

Nthakenhe X ile-me?
(iii) X nthakenhe irre-me?
X nthakenhe ile-me?
(iv) *X irre-me nthakenhe?
*X ile-me nthakenhe?
(v) *Irre-me nthakenhe X ?
*Ile-me nthakenhe X ?
(vi) *Irre-me X nthakenhe?
*Ile-me X nthakenhe?
Notice in the above set of examples that irre-me 'INCH-npp' and ile-me 'CAUS-npp' must
always follow nthakenhe 'how', while the 'X' nominal has full freedom of placement. This latter form may
even occur between nthakenhe 'how' and the verb form(ative)s. If these were truly free verb forms then
they would be expected to have full freedom of positioning. Instead, their relationship to nthakenhe
'how' suggests that they always occur after, although not always immediately after, the form with which
they must be seen to combine - at least semantically - to form the predicate of a clause. Compare this
with the possible permutations of the question form meaning 'Where does X live?' in which the verb may
occur in all positions.
(90) (i) Nthenhe-le ne-me X?

Where-LOC sit-npp X?
Where does X live?
(ii) Nthenhe-le X ne-me?

(iii) X nthenhe-le ne-me?
(iv) X ne-me nthenhe-le?
(v) Ne-me nthenhe X ?
(vi) Ne-me X nthenhe-le?
The relevant facts from the discussion above may be summarised as follows:
(i) There are some uses of -irre 'inchoative' and -ile 'causative' in which they are clearly
derivational suffixes.
(ii) There are other uses where these two forms show possibilities that would not be expected of
derivational suffixes but would fit with them being free verbs. These include: the ability to undergo
processes, such as reduplication & -elpe 'cintinuous inception', which are restricted to verb stems;
possible "attachment" to phrases as opposed to simple lexemes; and a certain freedom of separability
from the element which would be considered the stem of the inchoative or causative formation.
(iii) In all cases the forms -irre 'inchoative' and -ile 'causative' follow the constituents which would
be considered the stem of their respective formations, although they need not always follow immediately.
Thus, there is linear precedence even if it is not always immediate precedence. This is quite unlike other
free verb forms.
From these facts one may conclude that the weight of evidence is against -irre 'inchoative' and -ile
'causative' being considered simple free verbs, although they could, in some of their uses, be analysed as
free verbs with extremely restricted syntactic possibilities. In some uses they are clearly derivational
suffixes, in others they are more like clitics, and the possibility that they are verb forms which form
phrasal units can not be ruled out.
5.5.7 Transforming English verbs into Mparntwe Arrernte verbs

As noted and exemplified in §1.2.3, it is not uncommon for Mparntwe Arrernte speech to be
peppered with English words which are regularised to conform to the rules of Mparntwe Arrernte
grammar. Verbs which are transitive in English always have -em 'English transitive, (E.tr.)' attached to
them, and if they are being used transitively in Mparntwe Arrernte then they take -ile 'causative'. If,
however, they are used intransitively, they take -irre 'inchoative'. The normal range of the Mparntwe
Arrernte derivational and inflectional verb suffixes attach to these forms.
(91) mix-em-ile- 'to mix s.t. with s.t. else'

turn-em-ile- 'to turn s.t. over/around/inside out'
thank-em-ile- 'to thank s.o. for s.t.'
want-em-irre- 'to want'
English intransitive verbs which occur in Mparntwe Arrernte discourse simply have -irre
'inchoative' suffixed to them (eg. 92).
(92) swim-irre- 'to swim'

shower-irre- 'to bathe; swim; go into water'
run-irre- 'to run'
5.5.8 The stacking of verb derivational suffixes

Inchoative verbs may be causativised using -lhile 'causative' and causative verb stems may be
reflexivised using -lhe 'reflexive'. Verb forms with all three of these derivational suffixes stacked on top
of each other do occur (eg. 93).
(93) Ayenge kwatye-ke irrpe-me

irrernt-irre-lhile-lhe-tyeke
1sg S water-DAT
go into-npp cold-INCH-CAUS-REFL-PURP
I'm going swimming in order to cool myself down.
[lit. I'm going into the water in order to make myself become cool]
Causativised verb forms may also be made into reciprocal verbs using -rre 'reciprocal' (eg. 94).
(94) Itne thethek-ile-rre-me-le urlpe-le, ...

3plS red-CAUS-RECIP-npp-SS red ochre-INST, ...
When they were making each other red with red ochre, ...
5.5.9 Verbs formed from compounding

Verbs formed from compounding may have verbs, nominals, or adverbials as the first element of
the compound and the final element is always a verb stem.
The compounding of two verb stems is not very common in Mparntwe Arrernte but it does
occur (eg. 95; see also §5.5.10).
(95) pety-alpe- come-go back- 'to return'

tyarre-knge- pull out-carry- 'to drag s.t. along'
Much more common is the compounding of nominal stems with verb stems (eg. 96).
(96) irraker-iwe- carved line-throw away- 'to carve a design into'

atn-ine- guts-get- 'to gut an animal'
As with nominal compounds (cf. §3.10.4) it is very common for the first element of a compound
verb to refer to a body part (eg. 97). Such verb compounds often have idiomatic meanings.
(97) alh-arlkwe- 'nose-eat-'

'to snap at s.o., to get angry with'
alkng-uthne- 'eye-bite-' 'to
be jelous of'
irlp-angke- 'ear-speak-' 'to remember'
Perhaps the most recurrent form to be found in compound verbs is arre- 'mouth' which, as
pointed out in the section on nominal compounding, never occurs on its own as a free form word. A
significant number of the verb stems which describe actions involving the mouth have arre- as their first
element (eg.98). It is not always possible to discern the individual meaning of the verb form to which
arre- 'mouth' compounds.
(98) arr-wantye- 'mouth-lick, suck' 'to kiss s.o'

arr-angke- 'mouth-speak' 'to cry, wail'
arr-a(r)lke- 'mouth-(?)shout to' 'to yawn'
arr-althe- 'mouth-(?)to pluck out' 'to howl, shout'
arr-ilpe- 'mouth- ? ' 'to chew'
arre-tye- 'mouth- ? ' 'to whisper'
arre-wanthirre- 'mouth- ? ' 'to whistle'
Examples of adverb+verb compounds are:
(99) anyelknge-(-l)-ine- 'sneakily (-ADV)-take-' 'steal'

artange(-le)-twe- 'cooperatively (-ADV)-hit-' 'to
beat up on'
There are two forms ahirre 'do by imagining, percieve s.t. supernatural' and alhengke 'recognise'
which are only attested in compounds with either are- 'see' or awe- 'hear' (eg. 100). These two forms
are treated here as manner adverbs (cf. §7.3.3), but their presence may suggest that Mparntwe
Arrernte, like Warlpiri (Nash 1980:16, 42-55), possesses preverbs. This question deserves further
investigation.
(100) ahirr-are- imagine-see- to

visualise; to imagine; to have a vision
ahirr-awe- imagine-hear- to imagine the sound of;
to hear
supernatural voices
alhengk-are- recognise-see- to recognise by sight; to
decipher
alhengk-awe- recognise-hear- to recognise the sound of; to
identify s.t.
by sound'
In Mparntwe Arrernte, verbs which share a certain semantic range often end in the same
sequence of sounds. These sequences often correspond to free verb forms and, although it may be
difficult to identify the first part of the stem, it is tempting to suggest that the verbs originally arise from
compounds. The five most common occurring verbs in such "compounds" are : (i) iwe- 'to throw away'
which is found in verb stems which generally mean 'to cause s.t. to be away from s.t. else', (ii) are- 'to
see' which is generally found in verbs involving visual perception or verbs to do with looking after
something. (iii) ke- 'to cut' which shows up at the end of verbs that typically involve the physical
separation of two things (including acts of requesting s.t. from s.o.)' (iv) angke 'to speak, say' which is
often found in verbs that involve making sounds through the mouth; and finally (v) -ine 'to get' which
often occurs in compound verbs which involve 'obtaining' something. Examples involving each of these
forms are given in (101).
(101) (i) iwe- 'to throw s.t. away, to throw s.t. to; to drop s.o. off at'
pelh-iwe- saliva-throw away- to

spit
irraker-iwe- carved line-throw away- to carve a design into s.t.
irrtny-iwe- dry skin-throw away- to peel s.t. off of,
to skin
atn-iwe- [name]-throw away- to
call s.t. by its name
nthak-iwe- ?-throw away-
to char fur/scales off game
t-iwe- ?-throw away-
to scrape burnt covering
off
ankert-iwe- ?-throw away-
to push s.t.
lengk-iwe- ?-throw away-
to hide s.t. somewhere
alty-iwe- ?-throw away-
to tip s.t. out of, spill
kngart-iwe- ?-throw away-
to turn s.t. over; translate
arramp-iwe- ?-throw away-
to tease s.o.
nthar-iwe- ?-throw away-
to pinch s.o.
(ii) are- 'to see'

lhengk-are- recognise-see-
to recognise by sight
ahirre-are- imagine-see-
to visualise; have a vision
alhe-l-are- nose-LOC/INST-see- to trick
s.o.
alkng-are- eye-see-
to
turn s.t. around
ite-l-are- [throat-LOC/INST]-see- to know s.t.;
remember
uy-are- in vain-see-
to misplace s.t.;
be unableto see s.t.
where it should be
itw-are- ?near-see-
to
watch s.t./s.o going away
arn-are- ?-see-
to watch s.t./s.o. coming

atw-are- ?-see-
to go to visit; approach
arr-are- ?-see-
to miss out on s.t, to seenothing of s.t .

arntarnt-are- ?-see-
to take care of
s.o./s.t.
k-are- ?-see-
to mind s.t. for s.o. else

(iii) (a)ke- 'to cut; call s.o. by kin term, call s.t. a person's Dreaming site or totem'
twe-le-ke- hit-?-cut- to break animals

neck
atn-ake- [name]-cut-to praise s.o.; choose as the winner
or as the best
pe-ke- ?-cut-
to smash s.t.
ult-ake- ?-cut-
to break s.t.
at-ake- ?-cut-
to destroy s.t. that has been built; to fill in a hole.
pwern-ke- ?-cut- to
split open, crack (intr.)
laye-ke- ?-cut-
to ask for
in-ke- ?-cut-
to ask (beg) for food, money
r-ake- ?-cut-
to grab s.t. away from
wele-ke- ?-cut-
to bark (of dog)
(iv) angke- 'to say, speak; to make sound characteristic to a thing'
arr-angke- mouth-say-to cry, wail

irlp-angke- ear-say- to remember; call to mind
aheye-angke- breath-say- to breathe
ant-angke- ?-say- to call s.o.
over
mp-angke- ?-say- to sigh;
cry out in pain
(v) ine- 'to get, obtain'
tyarr-ine-
pull out-get-
to pull s.t.
atn-ine-
guts-get-
to gut an animal
anyelknge(-l)-ine- sneakily(-ADV)-get- to steal s.t.
untye-l-ine-
neck-INST/LOC-get- to be elder sibling of s.o.
terte-rl-ine-
dirt?- FOC-get- to clean up s.t.
(home,meat)
5.5.10 Deictic motion verbs and their formation

Verbs in the deictic motion subclass describe a motion path which is 'away from the place where
the speaker is' or which is 'towards the place where the speaker is'. This is a small closed subclass in
Mparntwe Arrernte, containing four basic verb roots and six verb stems which are derived from the
basic verb roots. The four basic forms comprise three intransitive verb roots - lhe- 'go', alpe- 'go
back', and unte- 'hurry away' - and one transitive verb root - knge- 'take, carry'. These four verbs
entail that motion is 'away from the place where speaker is', and they are the only basic verb roots which
take the suffix -rltiwe to indicate 'plural subject' (cf. §5.4.2).
With the exception of alpe- 'go back', which is the only basic root to indicate a return rather than
a straight motion path, these verb roots take the suffix -tye 'move towards speaker, move hither' to
derive verb stems which describe that motion is 'towards the place where speaker is'. Thus there is
unte-tye- (hurry away-hither-), 'hurry hither', knge-tye- (take- hither-)'bring', and the apparently
suppletive form petye- 'come'. The form *lhe-tye- (go-hither) is not a possible form and it seems
reasonable to suggest that pe- was originally the verb meaning 'to go' in Mparntwe Arrernte, but that it
was replaced by lhe - 'to go'. In other words, petye- is composed of the original verb for 'to go', pe-,
and the suffix -tye 'hither'. Evidence has been presented previously in this chapter (cf. §5.4.3, footnote
34, §5.4.1.1) which would confirm that (a)pe- was the proto-Arandic verb for 'go', although it is only
retained in this meaning in Kaytetye. Note that the suffix -tye 'hither' does not attach to any other verbs
in the language.
The verb root alpe- 'go back' may be compounded to the end of all three verb stems which
describe a straight motion path towards speaker. The result of this compounding is to derive verbs that
indicate that motion is 'back towards the place where speaker is'. The three compounds are pety-alpe-
'come back', knge-ty-alpe- 'bring back' and unte-ty-alpe- 'hurry back'. In order to give a clearer
picture of the structure of, and relationships within, the deictic motion verb class, the ten verb stems
belonging to this class have been organised into a table (cf. table 5-4)
Table 5-4: The deictic motion verb subclass
The deictic motion verbs are the only verbs in the language which cannot be inflected with the
deictic forms from the category of associated motion (cf. chapter 6). This is not surprising since these
motion verbs are already inherently deictic. Further, while non-deictic intransitive motion verbs like tnye-
'fall' and irrpe- 'go into' have corresponding transitive forms, tnye-lhile- (fall-CAUS-) 'to drop' and
irrpe-lhile- (go into-CAUS-) 'to put into' (cf. §5.5.3), there are no derived transitive verb stems based
on the intransitive verbs from this subclass. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the members of the
deictic motion verb class have an extremely high frequency of occurrence in narrative texts (as an
examination of the narrative texts in appendix 1 will reveal).
Chapter Six
The Category of Associated Motion
6.1 Introduction
A particularly interesting and well-elaborated area of Mparntwe Arrernte grammar concerns the
ability to specify within a verb that the verb action is associated in some way with a motion event. Thus,
a verb form inflected in this way may indicate that the verb action happened while the subject moved
back towards speaker, or it happened after the motion of the subject was completed, or it happened
while going upwards, and so on. The fourteen forms which convey information of this type uniquely fill
the slot in the verb which follows all derivational suffixes and precedes the aspect and subject number
inflections (cf. figure 5-1). Because of their particular semantic contribution, as well as the fact that they
take up a specific position within the verb, these forms are regarded as constituting a unique grammatical
category which Koch (1984:23) has christened 'the category of associated motion'.
Although it has various morphological realisations and different degrees of elaboration, the
'category of associated motion' is quite common in Australian languages of the Pama-Nyungan stock
(Koch 1985). This category, however, appears to reach its fullest development in the Arandic sub-
group (Koch 1984), as well as in languages, such as Diyari (Austin 1981:98-101) and Adnyamathanha
(Tunbridge 1988), which are immediately to the south and south-east of this sub-group. While not
known under this name, the category of "associated motion" is also to be found in a number of languages
elsewhere in the world, most notably amongst the Indian languages of North, Central and South
America. Elson and Pickett (1964:25), for instance, list among their meaning categories for affixal
morphemes a group labelled "movement and intention" under which they note:
"In some languages affixes are used to indicate movement direction, or intention, or a combination of
these. Aztec has an elaborate system of indication of movement and direction, including such indications
as 'going out to perform the action', 'coming in', 'going' and 'coming'. Isthmus Zapotec has two different
systems regarding motion [affixes to the verb]... ."
6.2 Is this 'Aspect'?

For Atsugewi (Palaihnihan, Hokan: California), Talmy (1985:116) notes that there are positons
in the affixal verb complex for what he labels "aspect-related satellites". These "satellites" divide
semantically into two groups which he calls 'primary' and 'secondary' aspectual notions. Of these two
groups he states:
"The 'primary' kind indicates how the action of the verb root is distributed with respect to the general
flow of time. The 'secondary' kind indicate how the action is distributed with respect to another ongoing
event, namely one of moving along."
Talmy's 'secondary' group is Koch's 'category of associated motion'.

If Talmy's (1985:77) fairly standard definition of 'aspect' as the 'pattern of distribution of action
through time' is taken, then the forms which are here labelled as 'associated motion' do not fit neatly into
the category of 'aspect'. Talmy (1985:114) himself admits as much by noting that 'satellites' do not
always indicate pure aspect and a 'liberal interpretation' is to be given to 'aspect' so that "we can present
together many of the forms that seem to be treated by a language as belonging to the same group". In
Mparntwe Arrernte, however, forms conveying what would be considered typical aspectual notions are
not treated in the same way as the 'associated motion category': they either take up their own position in
the verb (cf. §5.4.3) or are manifested through processes like reduplication (cf. §5.4.1). Moreover, as
Tunbridge (1988:269) points out, it is spatial notions, not temporal notions, which are basic to this
category and, as such, "it should be regarded at the very least as a distinct sub-category of aspect
[Talmy's solution: DPW], and preferably as a separate category of verb specification altogether [Koch's
solution: DPW]".
6.3 Subclassification of forms

The fourteen 'associated motion' forms are given in table 6-1 and, as can be seen from the table,
they divide naturally into further subgroupings. The first major distinction is between those forms which
entail that the subject of the verb stem event is also the moving entity (ie. the figure/theme) in the motion
event, which is true of the top thirteen forms, and that form at the bottom of the table (ie. -ty.intye 'do on
Y's arrival') which entails that the subject of the verb stem event is different from the moving entity in the
motion event.
Table 6-1: Subclassification of associated motion forms
The first division within the top thirteen forms has to do with the temporal relation between action
and motion. On the one hand the verb stem event may be concurrent with motion, while, on the other, it
may be non-concurrent with motion, occurring either immediately before or immediately after motion.
All associated motion forms convey some type of information about the nature of the motion
path. The 'action concurrent with motion' forms further subdivide according to whether the motion path
is directed with respect to speaker or whether it is merely oriented rather than deictic. The 'non-
concurrent' forms, by contrast, simply divide according to whether the motion path's shape is 'straight' or
'return', and this is cross-cut by a division into whether motion is 'prior', 'subsequent' or 'subsequent and
hurried' with respect to the verb action.
The associated motion forms can go on verb stems of all classes with the exception of the
'deictic motion verbs' (cf. §5.5.10). As noted in §5.5.10, this incompatibility is predictable since much
of the information that the 'associated motion' inflections encode is identical to information lexicalised in
these particular verb stems. In fact, two of the verbs in 'deictic motion verb' subclass (ie. lhe- 'go' and
alpe- 'go back') show up as part of some of the morphemically complex forms within this category.
It is important to realise that, although the 'associated motion' inflections convey similar
information to certain motion verbs, these forms do not derive motion verbs. A verb form inflected for
'associated motion' takes exactly the same case frame(s) and adjunct possibilities as the verb stem
without any 'associated motion' inflection.
Each subgroup of 'associated motion' forms will now be discussed in turn. Of these subgroups
the 'directed concurrent motion' group deserves the most attention because it manifests a number of
important and complex phenomena which are not represented in other subgroups.
6.4 Action and Motion Concurrent

There are a number of ways in which the notion of concurrence of action and motion can be
understood and it is important to realise that a verb action will be distributed along a path of motion in a
way which is consistent with the inherent semantics of the verb stem. The forms in this subgroup do not
entail that motion is continuous nor that the verb action continues with motion. Instead, they entail that
the path of motion is to be regarded as continuous and that the verb action happens at some time in the
midst of the path. If a verb stem, for instance, entails that the subject be stationary to perform the action
then motion will be necessarily discontinuous, but a concurrent motion form may still be used if this
'static' action takes place at a point intermediate to the subject's motion path. By contrast, where an
action can happen at the same time as motion, both may be interpreted as completely concurrent for the
duration of the motion event.
It is best to illustrate this point with verbs which allow a full range of interpretations. A good
choice here are the existential-positional verbs tne- 'to be standing', ne- 'to be sitting', and inte- 'to be
lying down', which at first glance might seem incompatible with a concurrent motion interpretation.
One interpretation available to these verbs when inflected for 'concurrent motion' is that
someone or something moved along, then stopped once and stood/sat/lay for a while, and then
continued moving along again (eg. 1).
(1) Lhere-le re relhe ikwere-nge n-intye-ke;
creekbed-LOC 3SgS woman3sgDAT-ABL sit-DO COMING-pc;
nhenhe-werne petye-me-le
here - All come-npp-SS
He (stopped and) sat in the creek-bed with that woman on his way here.
Another possible interpretation, which can be seen as an extension of the first interpretation, is
where the subject takes up the same stationary position at several points along the motion path (eg. 2).
(2) Ampe re ulyentye-le inte-ty.antye-ke, uterne-ketye-nge

child 3sgS shade-LOC lie down-DO UPWARDS-pc sun-AVER-ABL
The child lay down from shade to shade while going upwards, to escape
the hot sun. [The child is climbing a big mountain and keeps getting tired out from the heat
and exertion].
Finally, someone or something may be standing, sitting, or lying all the time that they are moving.
This is possible, for instance, when a person is in a vehicle (eg. 3), sliding in mud, on an escalator, and so
on.
(3) Artwe makite-kerte Toyota ingkerne-le

man rifle-PROP-S Toyota behind-LOC
tn-inty.alpe-me; aherre-ke unthe-me-le
Stand-DO COMING BACK-npp; kangaroo-DAT look for-npp-SS
The man with the gun is standing coming back this way in the back of the
Toyota, while looking for kangaroos.
6.4.1 Concurrent motion directed with respect to speaker (ie. deictic forms)
6.4.1.1 Definitions and Examples
(i) -intye = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving toward place where

speaker is now (eg. 1, 4, & 5).
(4) "… alpe-rltiw-Ø-aye! Ularre uthne-rr-intye-tyele!"

… go back-pl.S/A-IMP-EMPH! Facing bite-RECIP-DO COMING-NegIMP
"...(you mob) go home! Don't come fighting with each other in this direction!"
[Old dog speaking to a pack of other dogs].[T8-19,20]
(5) ..., pmere Mparntwe-ke anteme irrp-intye-ke

..., country (Alice Springs)-DAT now go into-DO COMING-pc
re, Mparntwe-ke
3sgS, (Alice Springs)-DAT
…, then he (the first white man) came into Mparntwe (the Alice Springs region),
into Mparntwe. [From text by Willie Rice, in Henderson ed. (1986:30)]
(ii) -inty.alpe = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving back towards place where
speaker is now (eg. 3, 6 & 7).
(6) Ngkwarle re lhere-ke lhengkiw-inty.alpe-ke awethe.

"sweet stuff" 3sgA creek-bed-DAT hide-DO COMING BACK-pc
again
Once again he's hidden the grog in the creek bed on his way back here.
(7) Kunye kweke rlkerte-nge artn-inty.alpe-ke.

Poor thing little sick-ABL cry-DO COMING BACK-pc
The poor little thing cried all the way back here because of her illness.
(iii) -intye.lhe= X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving through some place Z

towards the place where the speaker is now (eg. 8).
(8) Alhekulye-le petye-me-le yanhe arrate-intye.lhe-ke,...

Mt. Gillen-LOC come-npp-SS there (mid) appear-DO COMING THRU-
pc
When coming through Mt. Gillen he appeared just there on his way towards
here. [From text by Willie Rice in Henderson ed. (1986:30) - my analysis]
(iv) -irtne= 1. X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving back towards place

which is away from the place where speaker is now (eg. 9 & 10).
2. (a) X[SUBJ] does Y[VerbStemEvent] (back) to Z after Z has already
done Y to X (eg. 11).
(b) After having changed X becomes (or is caused to become)
the same as it was before ( eg. 12).
(9) Nthenhe arrantherre arlkw-irtne-tyenhe Thursday-nge?

Where 2pl(A) eat-REVERS-npc Thursday-ABL
Where will you eat on your way back on Thursday?
(10) Arrpenhe angke-ke, "Kwatye-werne alpe-rre-tyeke

Other say-pc, "water-ALL go back-dlS/A-PURP
ilerne, ure-ketye!" Kele arrpenhe-le tyarre-kng-irtne-ke.
1dlS, fire-AVER O.K. other-ERG pull out-carry/take-REVERS-pc
One of them said, "We have to return to the water, or the fire will get us!" So
the other one dragged him back (towards the water). [T9-13,14]
(11) Ilengare-me unte pwerte nhenge nth-irtne-me atyenge?

When-INTER 2sgS money REMEMB give-REVERS-npp 1sg DAT
When are you giving that money (you remember) back to me?
(12) Iparrpe mwarr-irr-irtne-Ø-ewe!

quickly good-INCH-REVERS-IMP-EMPH+
Hurry up and get well again! [lit. quickly become back to being well]
6.4.1.2 Comments on concurrent motion deictic forms and their use

Examining the four forms defined above we see that two of these (-intye 'do while coming' and -
irtne 'do while going back away from') are simple monomorphemic suffixes, while the other two are
suffixal morphemic complexes composed from the verb forms alpe- 'go back' or lhe- 'go' attached to the
suffix -intye 'DO COMING'. At first blush it is tempting to analyse these morphemic complexes
alternatively as a type of verb compounding; with the directed motion verbs attaching to a verb inflected
with -intye. While this is most likely the diachronic origin of -intye.lhe 'DO COMING THRU' and -
inty-alpe 'DO COMING BACK', this is not the best synchronic solution for two reasons.
Firstly, and most importantly, there is nothing to distinguish the functioning of the complexes from
the functioning of the monomorphemic suffixes. They take up the same position in the verb with the
same inflection types following and the simplest analysis, therefore, is to say they are both of the same
category regardless of morphemic complexity. This point holds true for all the suffixal complexes in the
category of associated motion.
Secondly, in analysing these as suffixal morphemic complexes it is easy to explain their ability to
occur with the vast majority of verb stems to convey a singular (idiomatic) meaning. The compounding
analysis, on the other hand, leads us to try and explain why it is just these two verbs, and no others,
which attach to -intye inflected verbs. Moreover, these are not necessarily the verbs that would be
expected in such a compound since the meaning which is realised is not the mere addition of the
meanings of the morphems but is more idiomatic. In §5.5.10 it was noted that lhe- 'go' and alpe- 'go
back' necessarily entail motion away from speaker; however, -inty.alpe and -intye.lhe entail motion
towards speaker. It is clear that alpe- adds the return path component to its complex, although it loses
the 'go away from speaker' component. The -intye.lhe form is even more idiomatic since neither -intye
'COME DOING' nor lhe- 'go away from speaker" conveys the sense of 'going through a place' which is
inherent in the complex. For these reasons it is preferable to see these complexes as unified forms
deserving their own defintions and their own entries in the lexicon.
Looking back at -irtne 'do while going back; do back to; reversive', it can be seen that this form
has three senses, only one of which is a concurrent motion sense. The meanings of this form all have in
common that something returns to its point of origin. Thus, either something moves back to where it was
(cf. definition 1), or an action is done back to the original perpetrator of the action (cf. definition 2a), or
a thing returns back to its original state (cf. definition 2b). Of these three uses of -irtne, the second sense
only occurs with those transitive verbs that can also be derived into a reciprocal (cf. §5.5.1), and the
third sense only arises with verbs of transformation, especially verbs derived with the inchoative -irre (cf.
§5.5.5) or the causative -ile (cf. §5.5.3). The 'directed concurrent motion' use of -irtne has the same
wide applicability as all 'associated motion' forms and so it is not surprising that certain decontextualised
sentences with a verb inflected with -irtne are ambiguous, as in example (13).
(13) Re ayenge tw-irtne-ke.

3sgA 1sg O hit-REVERS-pc
a) He hit me on his way back
b) He hit me back (after I hit him).
It is also worth pointing out that while the 'associated motion' use of -irtne 'reversive' is as an
inflection to the verb, the other two uses are derivational. This being the case it is possible to add
associated motion suffixes to -irtne when it is used derivationally (eg. 14).
(14) Alakenhe arrantherre awe-me, akweke-me-kweke
Like so 2pl A hear-npp, little-by-little
ware-rle the il-irtne-nhe-me ayeye re-nhe
DISMIS-TOP 1sgA tell-REVERS-DO PAST-npp story 3sg-ACC
In this way you all understand, just little by little I recreate [ie. tell back] the
(Dreamtime) story as we go past (the important sites). [From talk by Thomas Stevens
delivered to Yipirinya School students]
As the forms in this subgroup are all deictic, referring to both the place of the speaker and time
of the speech act, it is not surprising that they interact in a particular way with verb semantics, person-
hood of verbal arguments, and tense of verb. To illustrate this point a 'point-action repeatable' verb
twe- 'hit' and an 'ongoing action' verb angke- 'speak, say' will be compared within the frame:
person X[SUBJ] 1sg[O or Focus] V-intye-non-past-progressive.
The important components of this frame are that the tense is non-past-progressive (taken as 'present'),
the object or focus of the action is '1st person singular' (ie. me), and the 'deictic concurrent motion' form
-intye 'DO COMING' is used. In this particular frame we find that twe- 'hit' is totally unacceptable (eg.
15a) while angke- 'speak, say' is perfectly acceptable (eg. 15b). Both verbs, however, can be used if
the tense is changed to 'past completive' (eg. 16a, b).
(15) a. *Re ayenge tw-intye-me.

3sgA 1sgS hit-DO COMING-npp
*S/he is hitting me as s/he comes (this way).
b. Re atyenge angk-intye-me.
3sgS 1sgDAT speak-DO COMING-npp
S/he is speaking to me as s/he comes (this way).
(16) a. Re ayenge tw-intye-ke.

3sgA 1sgS hit-DO COMING-pc
S/he hit me as s/he came (this way).
b. Re atyenge angk-intye-ke.
3sgS 1sgDAT speak-DO COMING-pc
S/he spoke to me as s/he came (this way).
The explanation for this contrast in behaviour between twe- 'hit' and angke- 'speak, say' in the
non-past, lies in the fact that it is not possible for someone to be both moving towards the speaker and
hitting the speaker at the same time. In other words, twe- requires the actor and the object to be in the
same place; thus, where the speaker is the object and the tense is non-past, the action can not be
accomplished in the midst of a motion path directed with respect to speaker, as required by 'deictic
concurrent associated motion' forms, but would necessarily be accomplished at the end point of such a
path. The grammaticality of the past form in example (16a) is explained by the section below on the use
of these forms in reporting events (cf. §6.4.1.3).
'Speaking', on the other hand, is an action which can simultaneously focus on a 1st person
singular addressee and take place in the midst of a path directed with respect to speaker (ie. the 1st
person argument). In short, one can start speaking to a person from quite a distance away while
continuing to move towards them.
The above example shows the number of interacting semantic factors that must be taken into
account if an acceptable utterance is to be produced using the 'deictic concurrent motion' forms. It is
worthwhile pointing out that it is evidence of this sort which helps establish semantic components such as
"while moving towards the place where speaker is" in the definition of forms such as -intye 'DO
COMING'.
6.4.1.3 The use of deictic concurrent motion forms in reporting events

An examination of how these forms are used in reporting events, and how the component "now"
in the meaning of these forms manifests itself, will conclude this discussion of the 'deictic concurrent
motion' subgroup. The diagram in figure 6-1 (on following page) will be useful for this investigation.
Figure 6-1 portrays one person going, or going back, from the Yipirinya School towards
Ewyenpere-Atwatye (East Side Camp), stopping at the creek-bed and hitting me (the speaker) and then
continuing on towards Ewyenpere-Atwatye. For what is basically a single event there are several
possible, and mutually exclusive, reports which make use of the 'concurrent motion' forms. The choice
of which form is to be used in a report of the event is dependent on the spatial relation between the place
where the report is being made and the motion path of the subject of the action.
Figure 6-1: Example scene of action in midst of motion path

If I (the speaker) stay at the creek and report what has just happened to me to someone else
who is at the creek, then, assuming my assailant has continued his travels, I would have to use the form -
nhe 'DO PAST' (from the next group to be discussed) in my report of the event (eg.17). This form is
used because from the point of view of where I am now the motion path runs past (or through) me.
(17) Re ayenge twe-nhe-rne,

3sgA 1sgO hit-DO PAST-p.immed.,
Ewyenpere-Atwatye-werne lhe-me-le/alpe-me-le.
East Side camp-ALL go-npp-SS/go back-npp-SS
He hit me on his way past going (back) towards East Side camp.
I would, however, use the form -intye 'DO COMING', -inty.alpe 'DO COMING BACK', or -
intye.lhe 'DO COMING THRU' in my report if I later go to Ewyenpere Atwatye and tell somebody
there what happened. These forms are chosen because, from the vantage point of Ewyenpere Atwatye,
the motion path of the past event is directed towards the place where I am now. The form -inty.alpe
'DO COMING BACK' is used (eg. 18a) when the assailant's motion path is a return path which
originated in the vicinity of Ewyenpere Atwatye (dotted line in figure 6-1). If the report focusses on the
fact that the path of motion comes through the creek, and it is not a return path, then -intye.lhe 'DO
COMING THRU' can be used (eg. 18b). Finally, -intye 'DO COMING' is used (eg. 18c) where the
motion path is not a 'return one' and I simply want to say that the event happened amidst the motion path
which is directed towards where I'm making this report.
(18) a. Re ayenge tw-inty.alpe-ke, nhenhe-werne

3sgA 1sgO hit-DO COMING BACK-pc, here-ALL
pety.alpe-me-le.
come back-npp-SS
He hit me on his way coming back, as he was coming back towards here
(ie. to[wards] Ewyenpere-Atwatye) [Reported at Ewyenpere Atwatye,
subject's motion path is a return path]
b. Re ayenge tw-intye.lhe-ke lhere-nge,

3sgA 1sgO hit-DO COMING THRU-pc creekbed-ABL,
nhenhe-werne petye-me-le.
here-ALL come-npp-SS
He hit me at the creek on his way coming through (the creek bed), while
coming to here (Ewyenpere Atwatye). [Reported at Ewyenpere-Atwatye, subject's
motion path is a straight path through a fixed intermediate point]
c. Re ayenge tw-intye-ke, nhenhe-werne petye-me-le.

3sgA 1sgO hit-DO COMING-pc, here-ALL come-npp-SS
He hit me on his way coming here.[Reported at Ewyenpere-Atwatye, subject's
motion path is a straight path]
Finally, if my present viewpoint on this event is from Yipirinya (see Fig. 6-1), and my assailant's
motion path had been a return path back to Ewyenpere-Atwatye, then -irtne 'reversive' must be used in
the report of what happened.
(19) Re ayenge tw-irtne-ke, Ewyenpere-Atwatye alpe-me-le.

3sgA 1sgO hit-REVERS-pc, East Side camp go back-npp-SS
He hit me on his way going back while he was returning towards East Side
camp.
Just as a straight motion path away from speaker is the unmarked (basic) case for deictic motion
verbs (cf. §5.5.10), so it is for the 'directed concurrent motion' inflections. In other words there is no
form which explicitly encodes "X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving towards a place which is
away from the place where speaker is now". In the situation where I am at Yipirinya reporting on my
attack in the creek bed and my attacker's motion path is a straight line path from Yipirinya towards
Ewyenpere-Atwatye then my report would be as in Example (20) with no associated motion inflection
on twe- 'hit'.
(20) Re ayenge twe-ke, Yeperenye-nge

3sgA 1sgO hit-pc, Yipirinya-ABL
Ewyenpere-Atwatye-werne lhe-me-le.
East Side camp-ALL go-npp-SS
He hit me on his way from Yeperenye to East Side camp.
The use of 'now' in the 'place where speaker is now' component of the definitions of -intye, -
intye.lhe, -inty.alpe, and -irtne reflects the fact that whenever these forms are used it is the present spatial
perspective on the motion path which is conveyed. That is, even a motion path made in the past has a
shape and direction which changes with the changing perspective of a reporter of an event that happened
along that motion path and these changes in spatial perspective are captured in the present speech event
through use of these forms. Note, however, that one is only compelled to represent the present spatial
perspective on the event and its associated motion path if they choose to use one of these associated
motion forms. It is equally possible to just report the event as re ayenge tweke 'He hit me' no matter
where the reporter is. Resorting to this last option is, however, seen as resorting to children's speech; if
the motion path is known it should be indicated, to avoid doing so is to be 'uncooperative'.
Two further observations on the use of these forms in the reporting of events are relevant.
Firstly, as is evident in examples (18) - (20), each form is frequently used in an utterance with a 'deictic
motion verb' which recapitulates much of the meaning of the form: petye- 'come' commonly occurs
alongside -intye 'DO COMING' or -intye.lhe 'DO COMING THRU'; petyalpe- 'come back' and -
inty.alpe 'DO COMING BACK' are commonly used together; alpe- 'go back' recapitulates the meaning
of -irtne 'REVERSive'; and lhe- 'go' corresponds to zero marking, or the unmarked form. Secondly,
while I have chosen to give the reporter the patient role in the above sentences this is not to say that the
principles outlined are constrained to this situation. If I, the reporter, had been at the creek and watched
someone else get hit then I would still be compelled to report the event according to the principles
sketched above.
The facts just presented seem to corroborate Lewis' (1976:27) conclusion, based on non-
linguistic data, that Aboriginal people from the central desert region appear to operate with what he calls
a 'dynamic mental map' which is constantly being updated with the speakers new spatial orientation to
important places and events. He states that:
"It would appear then, that the essential psycho-physical mechanism was some kind of dynamic image or
mental 'map', which was continually up-dated in terms of time, distance and bearing, and more radically
realigned at each change of direction, so that the hunters remained at all times aware of the precise
direction of their base and/ or objective."
This linguistic data suggests that to use the 'deictic concurrent motion' forms felicitously in reports one
must similarly make use of, and constantly up-date, such a mental 'map' which indicates one's present
location and orientation with respect to a particular event located along a directed motion path which has
a particular shape.
6.4.2 Oriented Concurrent Motion

6.4.2.1 Definitions and examples
(i) nhe = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving past/through a

place/person/thing Z that the addressee knows the location of (eg. 21, 22)
[NB. When speaker is the reference point then -nhe necessarily involves
"on way past the place where speaker is now" (cf. example 17)]
(21) Re peke angkethekwe nthurre ne-ke, re

3sgS maybe thirsty INTENS be-pc, 3sgS
anteme artnerre-nhe-ke kwatye ngentye-werne-theke.
now crawl-DO PAST-pc water soakage-ALL-WARDS.
It (the baby) must have been very thirsty, as it crawled through (the camp) on its
way to the soakage.
(22) … itwe-werne-theke re unte-ke, alknge-therrke

… near-ALL-WARDS 3sgS hurry-pc, cat (eye-green)
re, kenhe kngwelye itne kele re-nhe ine-nhe-rlenge.
3sgS, BUT dog 3plA O.K. 3sg-ACC get-DO PAST-D.S.
It, the cat, hurried towards a near by one (ie. a tree), but the pack of dogs got
it on the way past. [ie. past the women watching this] [From a story by Rosie
Ferber about a cat talking.]
(ii) -tye.kerle = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving downwards (eg. 23, 24).
(23) Artwe-le arrwe re-nhe twe-tye.kerle-ke.

man-ERG wallaby 3sg-ACC hit-DO DOWNWARDS-pc
The man killed the rock wallaby on his (the man's) way down (the hill).
(24) Ampe pwerte-ke atnarnpe-me-le ne-tye.kerle-ke.
child hill-DAT descend-npp-SS sit-DO DOWNWARDS-pc
The child slid down the hill. [Lit: The child sat while moving downwards,
descending the hill]
(iii) -ty.antye = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] while moving upwards (eg. 25, 26).
(25) Nanthe-nge ilerne pwerte-ke antye-me-le
horse-ABL 1dlS hill-DAT ascend-npp-SS
ne-ty.antye-rre-ke.
sit-DO UPWARDS-dls/a-pc
On horseback we two rode up the mountain. [Lit: By horse we two sat
while moving upwards, ascending the hill/mountain]
(26) …, kunye-penhe that iwenhe-kweye ikwere-le

…, poor thing-PITY that what-SELF DOUBT 3sgDAT-LOC
tne-ty.antye-tyekenhe ne-ke; arrangkwe nthurre.
stand-DO UPWARDS-Vb.Neg. be-pc; nothing INTENS.
…, the poor thing wouldn't stand going upwards on that whatchamacallit;
not at all [referring to an encounter with an escalator]
6.4.2.2 Comments on oriented concurrent motion forms and their use

The forms in the 'oriented concurrent motion' subclass, like the oriented motion verbs (cf.
§7.3.2.4 [esp. fn. 19]), do not anchor the path of motion at one end or another but indicate the
disposition of a motion path either with respect to the vertical axis (oriented up or down), or with respect
to a reference point intermediate to the path (oriented past/through).
The two inflections which make reference to the vertical axis (-tye.kerle 'DO DOWNWARDS'
and -ty.antye 'DO UPWARDS') are both suffixal morphemic complexes. The first element of both
complexes is -tye, which probably originally derives from the nominaliser -tye (cf. §3.10.1.1). The
second element is, in one case, the suffix -kerle which only occurs on kwene 'down, inside, under' to
form a lexeme meaning 'downwards' (cf. §7.4.2.4). The second element in the other case is the verb
antye- 'to ascend, climb, ride'. Thus, it is the second element of the complex which conveys the sense of
orientation and the semantic contribution of the first element is completely unclear.
Once again, suggesting that these complex forms are to be explained, instead, by verb
compounding is a tempting, but fruitless, hypothesis. If the form -tye is here taken to be the nominaliser
of verbs, then it is difficult to explain why the suffix -kerle would take tense; unless, of course, one
makes the assumption that it is originally a verb. Further, the sense of motion encoded in the complex is
not present in either -kerle or -tye. From this, it appears necessary to treat -tye.kerle 'DO
DOWNWARDS' as a complex unit, and so to treat -ty.antye 'DO UPWARDS' as in fact arising from a
compound, which is possible, would be missing the parallelism between these two forms.
The monomorphemic form -nhe 'DO PAST' is very common in texts while the other two forms
are not attested in my textual corpus at all. The suffix -nhe 'DO PAST' chooses as its reference point
some person, place or thing by which, or through which, the motion path runs. This reference point is
not usually stated but is understood from context hence the component in the definition
'place/person/thing that the addressee knows the location of' (ie.'you know where Z is'). For a non-
native speaker it is often difficult to know what the particular reference point for -nhe 'DO PAST' is in a
narrative text since it may be taken from the point of view of the narrator or from the point of view of the
protagonists in the story. For example, a person telling a story with accompanying sand drawings may
talk about some action happening on the way past, where the path of motion is drawn past the story
teller but not past any entity internal to the story. There is a need, therefore, to distinguish between text
internal and text external reference points.
The form -nhe 'DO PAST' is also used metaphorically in some fairly restricted temporal phrases
referring to the passage of time. For example, the two verb forms uyerre-nhe- 'disappear on the way
past/through' and anper-irre-nhe- (pass-INCH-DO PAST-) 'pass by/through on the way by/through'
can both be used with respect to time units 'passing' by (typically arlte 'days', as in example 27).
(27) Arlte arrpenhe uyerre-nhe-ke, impatye

day other disappear-DO PAST-pc tracks
ikwere-larlenge 'gain re inte-ke
3sg DAT-COMM again 3sgS lie-down-pc
Another day went by and once again he camped there right with the tracks.
[From a text by Basil Stevens about a man, a dog, and a cannibal]
Just as the 'deictic concurrent motion' forms were each associated with a 'deictic motion verb'
with which they commonly co-occur (cf. §6.4.1.3), so too are the forms presently under consideration
associated with a particular oriented motion verb. Verbs inflected with -tye.kerle 'DO
DOWNWARDS' commonly have their meaning reinforced by the use of atnarnpe- 'descend' (eg. 24).
Not surprisingly -ty.antye 'DO UPWARDS' has a similar relationship with antye- 'ascend, ride, climb'
(eg. 25). Finally, -nhe inflected forms commonly occur with the derived 'oriented motion' verb anper-
irre- (past/through-INCH) 'go past, go through'. Note that the adverb of orientation anpere which forms
the basis of this verb has the same conflation of the senses of 'through' and 'past' as -nhe 'DO PAST'
does (see §7.3.2.1).
6.5 Non-Concurrent Motion

6.5.1 Definitions and examples
(i) -tye.lhe = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] at a place after moving to be there (eg. 28, 29).
(28) Ahelhe-ke anteme itne irrpe-tye.lhe-rleke, …

ground-DAT now 3plS go into-GO & DO-DS, …
Then they (the Dreamtime caterpillars) went into the ground on their arrival
there (at Emily Gap), … [From a story by Davey Hayes about the sacred
Yeperenye caterpillars]
(29) Ikwere-tayeme kenhe kwele, arrentye re

3sgDAT-time BUT QUOTE, demon 3sgS
arrate-tye.lhe-rlenge. Re angke-tye.lhe-ke: ...
appear-GO & DO-DS, 3sgS speak-GO & DO-pc: ...
But, just at that time, so they say, a demon arrived [lit.
come & appear] on the scene. He came and said:... [From a story by Basil
Stevens about a man, a dog and a cannibal]
(ii) -tye.alpe = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] at a place after moving back to be there
[ie. X do Y on returning to a place] (eg. 30, 31).
(30) Ikwere-nge arrerne-lhe-ty.alpe-rlenge lyeke-le

3sg DAT-ABL put-REFL-GO BACK DO-SS prickle-ERG
atnelhe tanthe-ke.
bottom spear-pc.
After that when he returned and sat down, a prickle stabbed him in the bum.
(31) …, kere aherre anyente anteme re-therre are-ty.alpe-rre-ke

…, game kangaroo one now 3dlA see-GO BACK & DO-dlS/A-pc
arne arrengekwe-le tne-rle.ne-rleke.
tree opposite side-LOC stand-CONT-DS
…, then the two of them returned and saw a kangaroo standing on the other
side of the tree.
(iii) -rle.lhe = X[SUBJ] doY[VerbStemEvent] at a place and then X move away from that
place (eg. 32, 33).
(32) Ayenge ahentye-ne-tyekenhe ne-ke meye 1sgS desire-be-Vb-

Neg be-pc mother
tyenhe iwe-rle.lhe-tyeke.
1sgPOSS throw away-DO & GO-PURP.
I didn't want to leave my mother behind. [Lit: throw my mother away and
then go] [From a text by Carmel Ryan, translated by Margaret Heffernan]
(33) Ny-ikwe lhe-tyerte unthe-tyeke

Father-3KinPOSS go-rem.p.hab look for-PURP
impe-rle.lhe-me-le me-nhenge therre lhere-le
leave-DO & GO-npp-SS mother-DYADIC two creek bed-LOC
ne-rle.ne-rre-tyeke …
sit-CONT-dlS/A PURP.
The father used to go hunting and leave the mother and baby behind in the
creek bed. [Lit: leave the mother and child and then go]
(iv) -rl.alpe = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] at a place and then X move from that
place back toward the place where X moved from before doing Y (eg. 34, 35). [ie.
X do Y and return to the place he had been before]
(34) Aherre impatye are-ke-l-iperre re pertirre-rl.alpe-ke.

Kangaroo track see-pc-SS-AFTER 3sgS turn around-DO & GO BACK-
pc
After seeing some kangaroo tracks he turned around and went back (to his
camp to prepare for the hunt). [From a story by Basil Stevens abouta man, a dog, and
a cannibal]
(35) Relhe Pengarte-le merne yalke kutye-rl.alpe-ke.

woman(skin-name)-ERG veg.food bush onion gather-DO & GO
BACK-pc.
The Pengarte woman gathered up bushonions and then returned.
(v) -artne.lhe = X[SUBJ] quickly do Y[VerbStemEvent] at a place and then X quickly
move away from that place (eg. 36, 37).
(36) Urrek-aye, ayenge-kemparre kwatye-ke irrp-artne.lhe-me.

later - EMPH, 1sgS-FIRST water-DAT go into-quicklyDO&GO-npp
Hang on a minute, I'll just have a quick swim and then go.
(37) The arreng-atye Old Timers-ke ar-artne.lhe-ke

1sgA grandfather(FF)-1KinPOSS old timers-DAT see-quicklyDO&GO-pc
I had a quick visit with my grandfather (FF) at Old Timers and then shot off.
(vi) -artn.alpe = X[SUBJ] quickly do Y[VerbStemEvent] at a place and then X quickly

move from that place back toward the place where X moved from
before doing Y [ie. X quickly do Y and then quickly return to the
place he had been before that](eg. 38, 39).
(38) The merne-kemparre arlkw-artn.alpe-me

1sgA food - FIRST eat-quickly DO&GO BACK-npp
petyalpe-tyenhenge lyete-ware.
come back - SBSQNT nowish-DISMIS
I'll just quickly eat my lunch first and then I'll come back in just a little while.
(39) Arrpenhe re ankw-inte-rlenge, ater-althe-le

other 3sgA sleep-lie down-DS, afraid-bad.person-ERG
re-nhe tw-artn.alpe-ke.
3sg-ACC hit-quickly DO&GO BACK-pc
While the other one was sleeping, the coward hit him and left as quickly as
possible.
6.5.2 Comments on non-concurrent motion forms and their use

All six members of the basic 'non-concurrent motion' set are dimorphemic complexes which
follow a single pattern of formation. The first element in these complexes conveys the temporal relation
between verb action and motion, while the second element conveys the general shape of the motion
path.
The initial elements -tye, -rle, and -artne in the morphemic complexes distinguish three types of
temporal relation between action and motion.
The -tye in the forms -tye.lhe 'GO & DO' and -ty.alpe 'GO BACK & DO' indicates that motion
is prior to the performance of the verb action. That is, the verb action is performed at a place only after
the subject has moved, or moved back, to be at that place. While this -tye is homophonous with the -
tye discussed above for the forms -tye.kerle 'DO DOWNWARDS' and -ty.antye 'DO UPWARDS',
and probably has the same diachronic origin (ie. from the deverbal noun formative -tye cf. §3.10.1.1), it
is clear that they are not to be seen as the same synchronic form. The -tye found within the paradigm of
basic 'non-concurrent motion' inflections clearly has a meaning, as noted above, which it contributes to
the morphemic complex, while the other -tye appears to lack any semantic features of its own and is
totally subordinated to the complexes in which it occurs. Further, if one were to suggest that the -tye
which conveys a sense of priority in this subgroup was the same as the nominalising -tye, then there
would be no source to derive the 'prior' notion from. Not even a pragmatic source for 'priority' is
possible since the temporal relation between action and motion (ie. go [back] and do) encoded in the
two forms with -tye is not iconic with the ordering of the verb stem and the motion verb in the complex
(ie. the verb [DO] precedes motion [GO (BACK)]).
The element -rle in the inflectional complexes -rle.lhe 'DO & GO' and -rle.alpe 'DO & GO
BACK' conveys the sense that motion is subsequent to the performance of the verb action. In other
words, the subject performs the action at a place and then s/he moves, or moves back, to some place
else. The form -rle, like -tye 'motion prior', is a form which occurs elsewhere stem finally on verbs. This
again is suggestive of the diachronic origins of the 'associated motion' forms; however, the -rle that
occurs as a stem final inflection on verbs has 'irrealis', 'continuous' and 'deontic' senses (cf. §5.3.1.3) but
nothing really related to one action's subsequence with respect to another action. The two forms are
therefore synchronically identified as homophonous, with -rle 'subsequent motion' having a restricted
occurrence in the two 'associated motion' complexes under discussion.
Finally, in -artne.lhe 'Quickly DO & GO' and -artn.alpe 'Quickly DO & GO BACK', -artne is
like -rle 'subsequent motion' in that it conveys the sense that motion is subsequent to action, however, as
the glosses show, it also adds a component of speed. While the subsequent forms with -rle convey no
entailment concerning the speed at which action, motion, and transition of action to motion take place,
the subsequent forms with -artne require that action and motion be done quickly and, most
importantly, that motion follows immediately on the completion of the action. The subject, therefore,
performs the verb action quickly at a place and then immediately rushes off, or back, to another place.
The source of the form -artne remains a matter for speculation. Unlike -tye and -rle, there is no
evidence of it having derived originally from a suffix which can occur finally on verb stems. The most
promising source seems to be a motion verb with a speed component in it (like 'run' or 'hurry along').
The following possible, and plausible, range of cognates is suggestive in this context: artnerre- 'to crawl'
(Mparntwe Arrernte); artnpe- 'to run' (Kaytej); wadna- 'to run' (Arabana) and padna- 'go' (Parnkarla).
The deictic motion verbs lhe- 'go' and alpe- 'go back' provide the second element for the
'associated motion' forms presently under discussion. They contribute to the meaning of the complex
whether a 'straight' motion path or a 'return' motion path is being referred to; in which case lhe- and
alpe- are used respectively. As with the forms -inty.alpe 'DO COMING BACK' and -intye.lhe
'DO COMING THRU', alpe- 'go back' and lhe- 'go' do not retain the notion that motion is 'away from
the place where speaker is' when used as the second element of the morphemic complexes which make
up this sub-group. In this particular case, each of the six basic 'non-concurrent motion' forms can refer
to a motion event that is either directed towards or away from the speaker, or that is not directed with
respect to speaker at all. The 'GO' which appears in the glosses of these forms do not, therefore,
provide the most perspicuous label and 'MOVE' might be a better choice.
In examining the textual occurrence of these forms it is clear that the "subsequent hurried" forms
-artne.lhe 'Quickly DO & GO' and -artn.alpe 'Quickly DO & GO BACK' are much less common in
texts than the other forms in this class, although they are well attested in general conversation. The other
four forms, by contrast, are all well represented in the textual base. In narratives, especially, they
function to mark a shift in scene and/or a change in the new participants in a scene.
The 'prior' forms -tye.lhe 'GO & DO' and -ty.alpe 'GO BACK & DO', for instance, frequently
serve to introduce a new participant into the story. In example (29) above, where two 'prior' motion
forms have been used, this is the very first appearance of a demon in the text and this is a major turning
point in the story. The inflected verbs arrate-tye.lhe- 'move and then appear at a place' and angke-
tye.lhe- 'move and then speak at a place' both convey that the demon has moved and just come to a
place where the main protagonist is. Examples (28) and (30) are cases where main protagonists have
shifted from one scene to another and a new and important event is happening in the new location. In
example (31) the main protagonists, two hunters, have just come upon (are-ty.alpe- 'go back and see')
the focus of their endeavour, a kangaroo. Prior to this they were travelling along hunting for kangaroos
and following this event they remain in this place to kill and prepare the animal. Thus, in this example,
the 'prior motion' form helps to both introduce a new focal participant, the kangaroo, as well as
indicating the shift of scene.
The 'subsequent' forms (-rle.lhe 'DO & GO' and -rl.alpe 'DO & GO BACK') are typically used
when all the participants in a scene are established but one of these participants leaves. If the focus stays
with the remaining participants in a scene, then this not only means that the number of participants has
been depleted, but it also tends to signal an important change and a new event taking place within the
scene. For instance a number of stories have a theme, alluded to in example (33) (and exemplified by
text 12 in appendix 1), where a father leaves a mother and child behind (impe-rle.lhe 'leave and go') and
then the focus remains with the mother and child to show that when the mother is on her own with the
baby she is negligent. Alternatively if the focus remains with the participant who does a verb action and
then leaves the scene of that event, as is the case for the texts from which examples (32), (34) and (35)
come, then this necessarily entails a change of scene and the verb marked for subsequent motion can be
viewed as one of the first indicators of such a change.
6.6 The form -ty.intye 'do on Z's arrival'

6.6.1 Definition and examples
(i) ty.intye = X[SUBJ] do Y[VerbStemEvent] to Z[OBJ/FOC] after Z move to be at place

where speaker is (eg. 40,41).
(40) Gabriella ngkwenge karekhe-ke, ngkwenge angke-ty.intye-tyeke.

Gabriella 2sgDAT wait-pc, 2sgDAT speak-DO on Y's arrival-
PURP
Gabriella waited for you so that she could speak to you when you arrived.
(41) Tyewe-nhenge therre-le arrentye re-nhe

friend-DYADIC two-ERG demon 3sg-ACC
twe-ty.intye-rle.ne-ke kwetere-le.
hit-DO on Y's arrival-CONT-pc club (nullanulla)-INST
Both friends (who were laying in wait) beat the demon with clubs
when he came (to their camp).
In §6.3 I noted that the form -ty-intye 'DO on Z's Arrival' differs from all other associated
motion forms because it attributes motion to the object (eg. 41) or focus (ie. DAT marked core
argument; eg.42) of the verb action rather than the subject. This form, therefore, also differs from the
others in that its application is restricted to transitive verbs and verbs which select a dative marked core
argument.
The morphemic complex -ty.intye 'do on Z's arrival' indicates that the object or focus moves to
the place where the subject is and then the subject does the verb action to the object/focus on his/her/its
arrival. The motion event is therefore temporally prior to the verb action and this would explain the use
of -tye 'prior motion' as the first element in the complex. This use of -tye is in line with its use in the basic
non-concurrent motion group discussed previously (cf. §6.5). As well as indicating non-concurrence of
motion and action, this morphemic complex also conveys that the motion path is directed. That is, the
motion path is anchored at one end to the place where the subject is and motion happens in that
direction. It seems reasonable to suggest that the -intye which occurs as the second element of this
complex provides this component of directedness and that it is, therefore, related to the form -intye 'DO
COMING' which belongs to the 'deictic concurrent motion' subgroup. If this is true, however, it is then
necessary to claim that -intye 'DO COMING' has lost the features of 'concurrent motion' and 'directed
with respect to speaker' when it fused to become part of the complex -ty.intye 'Do on Z's Arrival'. Note
that elicitation has revealed that no parallel forms *-ty.inty.alpe, *-ty.intye.lhe, *-ty.irtne, *-rl.intye,
and so on, occur. In other words it would appear that -ty.intye 'Do on Z's arrival' is a one-off formation
based on elements from the basic 'non-concurrent motion' subgroup and the 'deictic concurrent motion'
group.
The number of examples which attest this form is quite small. What examples there are do not
come from the textual corpus but have been attested in conversations or created during elicitation. It is
important to point out that in all of these examples the subject of the action is human and s/he has been
consciously waiting for the object/focus in order to do the verb action to them. As such the definition
given for -ty.intye may need to be revised if further examples show that these more specific features are
constant components of the form's use. A more general definition is given because it is only the semantic
components given therein which are clearly contributed by the suffixal complex, while the more specific
features of use described above, could be derived from other aspects of the utterance. The question for
these examples then is: are these more specific features actually part of -ty.intye 'do on Z's arrival' and
also recapitulated elsewhere in the utterance (and its context), or do other aspects of the utterance
uniquely contribute such features on their own? Only further investigation will answer this question.
6.7 Further Comments on the Category of Associated Motion

Having discussed the individual 'associated motion' forms and the subclasses into which they fall,
there are still some further observations which need to be made concerning the wider category of
'associated motion' and its manifestation in Mparntwe Arrernte.
6.7.1 The analysis of 'associated motion' morphemic complexes

It has been argued that, on distributional and semantic grounds, it is better to treat the forms
which are dimorphemic in origin as unitary complexes rather than propose that they arise from a
synchronic process of verb compounding. There are two features which might be seen to go against this
interpretation.
One of these is the fact that, although the basic verb stem dictates the case form of arguments, it
is the element that would be interpreted as a motion verb, and not the verb stem, which dictates the form
of the following cross-reference inflection for number of subject (cf. §5.4.2). Thus, for example, all and
only, deictic motion verbs, with the exception of petye- 'come', take -rltiwe as the marking for plural
subject. So this is the plural subject inflection which alpe- 'go back' and lhe- 'go' take as free verbs and
it is also the same inflection which follows them when they are elements of 'associated motion'
complexes. Interestingly -nhe 'DO PAST', which occurs only as an 'associated motion' form, also
dictates the use of -rltiwe for plural subject marking. This fact provides evidence that -nhe is originally a
motion verb which compounded directly onto the stem of other verbs (see fn. 22). As for -intye 'DO
COMING', it shares with the free form petye- 'come' the fact that they are the only forms which
determine the use of the suppletive dual subject form -lerre (cf. §5.4.2.1). This suggests, as with -nhe
'DO PAST', that -intye may have been a free form motion verb (see fn. 11) and also indicates the close
affinity between -intye 'DO COMING' and petye- 'come'.
The second feature which might go against the 'unitary complex' hypothesis concerns the fact
that, as mentioned in §5.4.4, plural subject marking need not always follow the 'associated motion' slot
when the associated motion form is dimorphemic. In this situation, instead of a number inflection
following the dimorphemic complex, the form -te may, alternatively, occur between the two elements of
the complex. Examples of this are are-tye.te.lhe-me see-prior.pl S/A.go-npp 'plural subjects go and
see' and ar-intye.t.alpe-me see-do coming.pl S/A.go back-npp 'plural subjects see on their way back'.
It is true that these facts show that the two elements of an associated motion complex are separable,
however, since this method of number marking only occurs with motion complexes the facts also attest
to the unique nature of such complexes. It is not clear why plural number marking can occur in either of
two different positions when associated motion complexes are used, nor is it clear whether the choice of
one form of marking over another has semantic consequences or not.
6.7.2 The diachronic origin of the associated motion category

Tunbridge (1988), in discussing Adnyamthanha, and Koch (1984), in discussing Kaytetye, have
both suggested paths for the diachronic development of 'associated motion forms'. These paths of
development are also supported by the Mparntwe Arrernte data. One path involves the direct
compounding of motion verbs to the end of verb stems and the latter interpretation of these forms as
inflections when the independent form of these motion verbs disappear. Evidence has been provided
above which suggests that this path could explain the origin of the forms -nhe 'DO PAST' (see fn. 22), -
intye 'DO COMING' (see fn. 11), -irtne 'REVERSive' (see fn. 12) and -artne (cf. §6.5.2) which marks
'quick subsequent motion' in the complexes -artne.lhe 'Quickly DO & GO' and -artn.alpe 'Quickly DO
& GO BACK'. A second path of development involves, at the first stage, the ordering of a verb with
subordinating inflection (either a nominaliser or participial formative) before a tense marked motion verb,
then the later compounding of these verb forms, and finally the semantic reanalysis of the subordinating
suffixes and the coalescence of this suffix and the motion verb stem into a single inflectional complex.
This path would explain the 'non-concurrent motion' complexes which have -rle as an indicator of
'subsequent motion' (cf. §6.5.2) and -tye as an indicator of 'prior motion' (cf.§6.5.2). For both of these
paths to lead to the formation of a single grammatical category, it would seem necessary to assume that
certain general processes of analogy were at work and this lead, amongst other things, to a single slot in
the verb being given over to 'associated motion'.
6.7.3 Near lexical status of certain 'associated motion' marked verbs

Earlier (section 6.3) I mentioned that the 'associated motion' forms could occur on all verb types
with the exception of the 'deictic motion verbs' and, apart from restrictions placed on the use of -ty.intye
'Do on Z's Arrival' (cf.§6.6), this appears to be true. However, it is worth mentioning that certain
combinations of verb and associated motion inflection occur together so regularly that they are almost to
be regarded as separate lexemes. These include the forms given in (42):
(42) arnpe-nhe- step-DO PAST- to leave: to step past

uyirre-nhe- disappear-DO PAST- to pass by: disappear
anper-irre-nhe- past/through-INCH-DO PAST- to pass by
arrat-intye- appear-DO COMING- to arrive
nth-inty.alpe- give-DO COMING BACK- to give something back(to me)
are-tye.lhe- see-GO & DO- to come upon
tnye-tye.lhe- fall-GO & DO- to lie down: go to bed
(when very tired)
iwe-rle.lhe- throw away-DO & GO- to leave someone/something behind: to drop
someone off
impe-rle.lhe- leave it-DO & GO- to leave someone/something behind; take one's leave
of
If the 'category of associated motion' ceased to be productive in Mparntwe Arrernte, one would
still expect the above forms to be retained and they would be the vestigial reminders that the category
had once existed.
6.7.4 Explaining the common co-utilisation of motion verbs and associated

motion forms: the raison d'etre of the category of 'associated motion'
Finally, it may seem a curious fact that when an 'associated motion' form is used, then, it is usual
to find within the same clause or sentence, or in the preceding or following sentence, a motion verb
which reiterates the motion event described by the particular 'associated motion' form used. To
speakers of English there appears to be unnecessary redundancy here. However, it is important to
remember that it is not the main function of 'associated motion' forms to present and elaborate
information about a motion event.
Just as tense, both absolute and relative, functions to locate events within the flow of time, the
'category of associated motion' functions to locate events within the flow of space. Flowing space is
motion and 'associated motion' forms help to foreground, identify, and characterise the event of the verb
stem by making it a figure whose disposition in this space-flow is characterised with respect to a
particular motion event acting as ground. In English it is common to want to focus on and elaborate the
time of an event and so it is not uncommon to use adverbial forms which will recapitulate features of the
meaning of the tense on the verb. Similarly, in Mparntwe Arrernte, the use of motion verbs, in tandem
with verbs inflected with the corresponding 'associated motion' forms simply means that it is common in
this language to give a motion event its own prominence and elaboration as well as using that same
motion event as a background against which another event achieves prominence.
6.8 Conclusion
In the preceding discussion I have tried to elaborate some of the more important and interesting
characteristics of the 'category of associated motion' as it is manifested in Mparntwe Arrernte. Particular
areas of focus have been the subclassification, definition, structure, origin and use of the forms within this
category. Where possible, some of the most salient features of this category's use in discourse have
been elaborated. In this connection it is worth reiterating that the discussion of the use of 'deictic
concurrent motion' forms in reporting events revealed that speakers of Mparntwe Arrernte must
constantly keep an updated view of their present spatial disposition with respect to a particular motion
path if they are to use these forms correctly. As far as I am aware, this is a feature of discourse and
reporting which has never before been reported for any language. The existence of this newly
recognised grammatical category, as well as its position in the verb, provides new material for cross-
linguistic studies of verb morphology (such as Bybee 1985) to work with and account for. Finally, that a
grammatical category which is concerned with locating a verb stem event against the background of a
motion event (ie. against the "flow of space") should arise in Central Australian languages may surely be
associated with the cultural importance that travel and spatial orientation has for the speakers of these
languages. Myers' (1986:54) following comments concerning the Pintupi may equally be applied to
speakers of Mparntwe Arrernte. He states that:
"Orientation in space is a prime concern for the Pintupi. Even their dreams are cast in the framework of
spatial co-ordinates. It is impossible to listen to any narrative, whether it be historical, mythological, or
contemporary, without constant reference to where events happened. In this sense, place provides the
framework around which events coalesce, ... Not temporal relation but geography is the great
punctuator of Pintupi story telling."
Chapter Seven
Adverbs and Adverb Morphology
While there tends to be a fair degree of agreement amongst grammarians of Australian languages
with respect to the identification, and typical membership, of the nominal, verbal, and even particle/clitic
word classes, the status of adverbs as a common word class is much more questionable. I will,
therefore, briefly discuss some of the issues associated with the establishment of an "adverb" class in
certain other Australian languages before discussing adverbs in Mparntwe Arrernte.
7.1 'Adverb' in Australian Languages

Dixon (1980:271) lists "adverb(al)" as one member of "[t]he most typical set of word classes
required for an Australian language", but his examples of adverbals from Dyirbal (1980:282) are, as he
states, able to be regarded as a special subclass of verbs and the distinction between adverbals and
verbs is made on the basis of semantic rather than formal criteria. He further mentions that "[s]ome
Australian languages have a separate class of non-inflecting adverbs"; this characteristic of being
completely non-inflecting is, however, often taken as being criterial for assignment to the particle class.
For Yankunytjatjara, Goddard (1983:36) recognises both a class of 'free particles' and a class of
'adverbs' but notes that the distinction between the two classes is, once again, semantic rather than
formal, since both are classes of "morphologically inert words". In his grammar of Martuthunira, Dench
(1987) moves right away from the use of the term 'particle' as the label of a word class and instead
employs the term 'adverbs' for all non-inflecting word forms that occur as one of the constituents of a
clause. In other words, what many Australianists, including myself, would call 'particles', he calls
'adverbs'. Dench makes this substitution of terms in response to Zwicky's (1985) criticism of particles
as a syntactic category which "is distinguished entirely negatively: particles are the words left over when
all the others have been assigned to syntactic categories" (Zwicky, 1985:292). Zwicky's solution, the
one followed by Dench, is to place forms that would typically be lumped together as particles into
classes that are more firmly established on positive syntactic criteria cross-linguistically. Although he
follows Zwicky in this matter, Dench (1987:120) admits that :
"It is debatable whether lumping particles into an adverb class gains much more than just the abolition of
an embarrassing particle class. The problems inherent in a clear definition of 'adverb' in English and the
extensive description of adverb types throughout the literature shows much the same syntactic and
semantic heterogeneity as leads Zwicky to revile 'particle' in the first place."
Closer to home, Yallop (1977:101-108) groups together 'adverbs' and 'uninflected words' in the same
chapter in his description of Alyawarra. It is not clear, but his adverb subclass appears to be established
primarily on semantic grounds and includes uninflected forms, obligatorily inflected forms, optionally
inflected forms, derived forms and even clitic forms. Thus the Mparntwe Arrernte cognates of the
Alyawarra forms may be found here distributed across the 'adverb' and the 'particle/clitic' word classes.
Two important facts emerge from these observations; firstly, that in some Australian languages
adverbs, unlike nominals or verbs, are established solely on semantic grounds, and secondly, that there is
a close affinity between certain adverbial notions and certain notions that typically fall into the particle
class within Australian languages.
To further complicate the issue, forms which correspond to adverbial notions, may often be
treated as defective or unique members of other more clearly established lexical categories. This raises
the question of whether it would be better to treat these forms as members of a separate adverb class.
Blake (1987:3), making a general observation for Australian languages, notes that :
"The translational equivalents of English adverbs of time and place may bear local case inflection or be
uninflected and thus pose a problem for classification. They differ from particles in that they carry some
of the grammatical relations also borne by nominals, e.g. locative. They are best considered sub-classes
of nominals."
Here then, where one could argue that there are both formal and semantic criteria for establishing a class
of 'adverbs', we are told that the class is best considered as a subclass of nominals. In recognition of
their oddity, however, Blake (1987:45) coins the term "defective nouns" for such nominals which fail to
take the full range of cases and which may, in fact, appear uninflected in a clause. His main formal
argument for their nominal status "is the fact that they can be converted to verbs by derivational suffixes
that otherwise occur only with indisputable nouns, ..." (1987:45-46).
While the application of derivational morphology may certainly provide useful criteria for
establishing and distinguishing word classes, it is clear that they do not do so in all cases. In English, for
example, there are both adjectives and nouns which may take the derivational suffix -ly to form
adjectives (kindly, sickly; princely, kingly), and the derivational prefix anti- may attach to nouns
(antimatter), adjectives (antinuclear, anticlimactic), adverbs (anticlockwise) or verbs (antifreeze,
antiknock). Similarly, in Mparntwe Arrernte reduplication appears to operate derivationally with
members of the nominal class, the verb class, and the adverb class. I see nothing wrong, therefore, in
setting up an adverb class which takes the same possibilities for derivation into verbs as nominals do,
and this is the position I adopt with respect to Mparntwe Arrernte.
As far as forms conveying notions akin to manner adverbials are concerned, we find that if an
adverb class or subclass is established for a particular Australian language then it is typical for the class
to contain manner adverbs, although it may or may not contain temporal adverbs and typically does not
contain spatial adverbs. It is worth pointing out, however, that there are languages in which there is a
formally distinct set of forms that convey manner adverbial notions, but which may not get labeled as
'adverbs'. For instance, Warlpiri has "a large number of 'adverbial' elements ... and these occur only in
concert with an inflected verb" (Nash, 1980:42), but these elements, which convey the way an action is
performed or distributed, are labelled 'preverbs' rather than 'adverbs'. Nash (1980:16) notes that
"Preverbs are rather like adverbs, but different enough as a class to warrant a different name".
Similarly, Yankunytjatjara, in Goddard's analysis of the language, possesses a class of what he calls
'active adjectives' . According to him (1983:32-33) 'active adjectives', such as wala 'quickly' and
puriny 'slowly, gently', "essentially describe an actor 'in action'" and differ from other adjectives in two
important respects : (i) they cannot be predicated of a subject in a verbless sentence and (ii) they "do not
as a rule enter into NPs, but form a separate phrase showing case agreement with the actor NP". As
noted previously, Goddard also sets up a separate class of adverbs and notes (1983:259) that "[it] may
be difficult to tell whether a word is an active adjective or an adverb if, due to its semantics, it almost
always occurs with intransitive verbs". Bowe (1987:90-102), in her discussion of sentence level
modifiers in Pitjantjatjara, a sister dialect with Yankunytjatjara, comes to the conclusion, based on
differential behaviour with respect to the placement of pronominal clitics, that there are not two different
types of adjective; Goddard's 'active adjectives' are indeed 'manner adverbials'. She points out that the
categories of 'adjective' and 'manner adverbial' which she sets up may share certain lexical items but
both classes also have members which will not be found in the other class. This latter example
demonstrates the profusion of factors that may involved in choosing to employ one category label over
another and shows that the question of manner adverbs is not much clearer than temporal and spatial
adverbs.
In this discussion I have attempted to do two things. Firstly I have tried to demonstrate that
setting up an 'adverb' class for Australian languages is not typically a straightforward matter. Secondly, I
have tried to canvass the relevant issues with respect to the association of adverbal notions with various
parts-of-speech in Australian languages. We are finally ready to discuss 'adverbs' in Mparntwe
Arrernte.
7.2 The identification of adverbs in Mparntwe Arrernte

In Mparntwe Arrernte the adverb class is set up on formal as well as functional and semantic
grounds. Given the discussion in 7.1 it should not be surprising to find that adverbs in Mparntwe
Arrernte lie at a point intermediate between nominals and particle/clitics with respect to the feature of
inflection. This then is one formal criterion for identifying adverbs; when used in adverbal function they
may, like particles, occur uninflected in a clause (1a), or they may, like nominals, bear one of the spatial-
case suffixes (1b).
(1) a. Lyete re petye-rne.

nowish/today 3sgS come-p.immed
S/He just came right now.
b. Lyete-le re petye-rne.
nowish/today-LOC 3sgS come-p.immed.
S/He just came recently. [or He just arrived today.]
It is important to realise that when an adverb bears a spatial case suffix it is never understood as
a subcategorised complement, as a nominal bearing spatial case suffixes may be, but is always an
adjunct to the clause. In other words, nominals are distinct from adverbs in that they may instantiate the
arguments of a verb's (more precisely, a predicate's) logical structure, while adverbs cannot do this.
That adverbs cannot instantiate verbal arguments becomes clouded by the fact that certain
forms may have dual categorisation in both the nominal and the adverb class. In fact, there appears to
be a distinction within the adverb class such that temporal and spatial adverb forms have a greater
tendency to dual categorisation than other adverbs (manner, aspectual, degree of achievement). An
apparently related fact is that spatial and temporal adverbs are typically able to take all spatial cases in
adverbal function, and often do, while the other adverbs, in the rare cases when they are inflected,
typically take only -le 'LOC/ADV'. With these latter adverbs there does not tend to be a discernible
semantic distinction between inflected and uninflected forms, unlike the situation with spatial and
temporal adverbs (cf. (1)). Thus, corresponding to the fact that adverbs are intermediate between
particles and nominals, it appears that groups within the adverb class appear to be either more "nominal"
or more "particle-like" in nature.
As I mentioned in 7.1, I am willing to claim for Mparntwe Arrernte that verbs can be derived
from both nominals and adverbs using the same derivational morphology: they may be transformed into
intransitive verbs using the inchoative -irre (cf. §5.5.5), or transitive verbs may be derived using the
causative forms -lhile/-ile (cf. §5.5.3). Thus the adverb anyelknge '(do) sneakily', which has no nominal
properties beyond the fact that it can (optionally) take -le 'LOC/ADV' suffixed to it, may be
inchoativised to give anyelkngirre- 'to sneak around'. The ability to take verb derivational morphology
distinguishes adverbs (as well as nominals) from the particle/clitic class. That we need to set up a class
of adverbs distinct from "nominals" becomes clearer when further derivational evidence is taken into
account. In section (§7.4.3.2) below I show that value adjectives may be derived into adverbs using the
suffix -ntye (mwarre 'good, healthy' mwarrentye 'well (adv.)' ). These derived forms never occur as part
of an NP, one of the crucial tests for nominal status (cf. §3.1). Going in the other direction, as noted in
§1.4.4.1, certain forms - like mwantye 'carefully, slowly' - which convey adverbal notions cannot occur
as part of an NP unless they are reduplicated to form adjectival nominals (eg. mwantye-myantye
'careful'). That forms like mwantye 'carefully, slowly' and the derived form mwarrentye 'well (adv)' are
not particles can be shown by the fact that they optionally take the inflection -le 'LOC/ADV' (as in (2)).
(2) a. Unte mwarre-ntye(-le) angke-ke

2sg good-vADVZR(-LOC) speak-pc
You spoke well.
b. Mwantye(-le) anteme unte ntywe-tyeke kwenhe tea

re-nhe.
carefully(-LOC) now 2sgA drink-PURP ASSERT tea
3sg-O
You should drink the tea carefully.
Less reliable formal criteria that may be used in deciding whether a word is an adverb or not
are positionality and co-occurring constituents within the clause. Adverbs may occur in various places
within the clause but spatial and temporal adverbs have a very high frequency of occurrence in the initial
and final margins of the clause and 'manner, aspectual, and degree of achievement' adverbs have a high
frequency of occurrence immediately before the verb, or they may be found in the initial margins of the
clause, but rarely occur after the verb. It is also generally true that adverbs occur only in clauses with
verbal predicates or in clauses where the verb action is understood but the verb itself has been ellipsed
(as in (3) where arntarntare-tyeke 'look after-PURP' is the understood verb).
(3) Kweke yanhe-Ø mwanty-ewe kwenhe.

little that(mid)-O carefully-EMPH+ ASSERT
Make sure (you watch) that little one carefully.
When the various criteria discussed above are employed we get a set of adverbs which is not
terribly dissimilar to the adverb class in a language like English in terms of the notions covered, the
functions of the forms, and the identifiable subclasses within the group. The forms in this set may be
used to answer the questions nthenhe? 'where?' ilengare? 'when?', or nthakenhe? 'how?' rather than the
questions iwenhe? 'what?' iwenhe-arteke? 'what like?', ngwenhe? 'who?' or nthakentye? 'how many?'.
In a clause they function to give further information describing particular features of the event (such as
location, precise time, and manner) beyond what is conveyed in the core of the clausal proposition itself
(ie.beyond what is conveyed by the finite inflected verb and the arguments it takes). The very fact that
the class of adverbs in Mparntwe Arrernte meets the 'traditional' notion of adverbs might be cause for
consternation: Lyons (1968:225) claims that "it is doubtful whether any general theory of syntax would
bring together as members of the same syntactic class all the forms that are traditionally described as
'adverbs'", and if this is so, then one would be surprised to find, for a language as different from English
as Arrernte is, an adverb class defined on formal criteria that contains much the same type of
membership as is traditionally associated with adverbs. Of course, the possibility can not be ruled out
that the researcher was unconsciously guided by 'Anglo-centric' notions in setting up such a class for
Mparntwe Arrernte, but I prefer to think of the results as confirmation that the 'traditional' notion of what
constitutes an adverb class has both empirical and theoretical validity and that the term 'adverb' can (and
should) be used cross-linguistically to identify comparable categories set up on the basis of formal,
semantic, and functional criteria.
7.3 Subclasses of Adverbs

As presaged by the discussion in 7.2, three basic subclasses of adverbs can be identified for
Mparntwe Arrernte: temporal adverbs, spatial adverbs, and a group of adverbs covering manner,
aspectual, and 'degree of achievement' notions. These will be discussed in turn.
7.3.1 Temporal Adverbs

One way of distinguishing temporal adverbs is by their ability to occur on their own, uninflected,
as an answer to a question containing ilengare 'when'. This is exemplified in (4) with ingwenthe
'tomorrow; near future'.
(4) Q: Ilengare Minister re petye-me?

when Minister 3sgS come-npp
When is the Minister coming?
A: Ingwenthe.
tomorrow
Tomorrow.
This feature of temporal adverbs is in strict contrast to a temporal noun like arlte 'day' which must take
inflection before it can answer a question with ilengare 'when?'.
When a temporal adverb is uninflected it indicates that the occurrence of the clausal event with
which it is associated is at the time, or within the temporal period, specified by the adverb. This is very
similar to the temporal function of -le 'locative' described in §4.2.4.3.2 of the case chapter. The
difference between a temporal adverb with -le 'locative' and one without it appears to correspond to the
difference between the time referred to by the adverb being conceived of as a having some form of
extent versus it being conceived of as a point. This distinction can be discerned in (1) above. When an
adverb is suffixed with spatial case forms other than the locative, then the time indicated in the adverb
typically becomes a reference point for the relative location of an event in time (eg. (5b)) rather than the
precise temporal location of the event (eg. (5a) and cf. (1)).
(5) a. "Lyete ayenge aherre-ke unthe-tyeke lhe-me, ..."

now/today 1sgS kangaroo-DAT look for-PURP go-npp,
...
Now I am going out looking for kangaroo.
b. "Lyete-nge-ntyele kwenhe arrantherre ayenge

now-ABL-onwards ASSERT 2plA 1sgO
alwerne-rle ine-tyeke."
chase-GenEvt get-PURP
From now on you will all chase me to get me . [ie. I will be your prey.]
Another feature of temporal adverbs is that they tend to occur initially in the clause or
immediately before the verb. In narrative texts the occurrence of temporal adverbs initially in a clause
typically coincides with, and acts as a signal of, a major scene change. Moreover, as is evidenced by the
four traditional narratives in the appendix, the conventional opening to a traditional narrative in Mparntwe
Arrernte involves the use of the temporal adverb arrule 'long ago' (eg. (6)).
(6) Arrule artwe ampwe irrkwe-rre-ntye therre ne-ke.

long ago man old hold-RECIP-NMZR two be-pc
A long time ago there lived a pair of (old men) siamese twins.
In §3.10.3.4 it was observed that the suffix -nye 'temporal nominal' was added to temporal
adverbs with non-future reference, as well as to two spatial nominal forms which have temporal adverb
usage, to derive temporal nominals from adverbs. This then acts as a criteria for establishing one subset
of temporal adverbs. This set is given in (7).
(7) Non-future forms :

apmwerrke 'yesterday; past few days, very recent past'
arrule 'a long time ago, long ago'
ahinpe 'not recent'
lyete 'today, now, recently'
spatial/temporal adverbs :
arrwekele 'before; in front, front'
ingkerne 'after; behind, in back, back'
Adverbs referring to future time periods, and which can not, therefore, be suffixed with -nye 'temporal
nominal', are given in (8).
(8) urreke 'later, later on'

ingwenthe 'tomorrow, next few days, very near future'
The pure adverbs in (7) and (8) may be considered both 'deictic' and 'scalar'. They are deictic because
their time reference is made with respect to the time of speaking and they are scalar because the time
period they refer to has a non-specific, variable, duration. Thus an adverb like ingwenthe does not
translate specifically as 'the day after today' but means something more like 'some not too long period
after today which is limited to being at least the day after today'. As a reflection of these properties,
these adverbs, like the interrogative ilengare 'when?', can host the clitic -ulkere 'more' (cf. §8.1.2.2).
When one of these adverbs has -ulkere 'more' attached to it, the resulting complex refers to a time
period of greater duration from the fixed minimum than the adverb itself would usually be taken to cover.
While ingwenthe can refer to 'tomorrow' or 'the next few days', ingwenthe-ulkere refers to something
more like 'a few weeks from now'. Similarly, urreke 'later' becomes urreke-ulkere 'even later, much
later'.
There is a further class of temporal adverbs all of which are also temporal nominals. These
forms meet the general criteria for temporal adverbs but do not have any other of the characteristics of
the adverb types already discussed. This set, given in (9), refers to the various phases of the day and, as
Goddard (1983:256) notes for similar forms in Yankunytjatjara, "[s]emantically, these words seem to
refer primarily to the state of the light as the day proceeds through its cycle".
(9) kethe-kethe 'pre-sunrise, when sky is red' (a good time for hunting;
reduplication of kethe 'outside of, cleared, naked')
aherlkentye 'sun rise' (aherlke- 'for dawn to break' -ntye NMZR)
ingwenthe-ingwenthe 'very early morning just past sunrise' (syn. ingwethnele ?)
ingweleme 'morning, particularly late morning' (for some speakers
at least, this term can subsume the first three terms above)
arlte-mpwepe 'midday' (arlte 'day' mpwepe 'middle')
(a)ngwerre 'afternoon when sun is noticeably lower in the sky'
(a)ngwerre-(a)ngwerre 'evening, period just preceding sunset'
alkngerreke (?) 'time just after sunset but you can still see the light'
ingwe 'night time'
ingwe-mpwepe 'middle of the night' (ingwe 'night' mpwepe 'middle')
When the forms in (9) are used as uninflected adverbs in a clause, they indicate that the event
occurs during that phase of a day. These adverbs need not make reference to a particular day, so their
use need not be deictic (eg. (10)).
(10) Kethe-kethe itne ulenye lhe-rle.

pre-dawn 3plS hunting go-GenEvt
In the pre-dawn they would go hunting.
While these forms need not be deictic, in conversation they can be used to refer to a time
period calculated with respect to the time of speaking. Thus ingwe 'night', by itself, can refer to either
'this past night' - if the clause it is part of is in the 'past completive' tense, and the time of speaking is not
deep in the night (in which case it may be interpreted as 'this night, now') - or it can refer to 'this
coming night' (if the clause is in a 'non-past' tense). Following similar considerations, unmodified
ingweleme could refer to 'this morning' or 'tomorrow morning'. Note that a number of the forms for
times of the day are clearly based on ingwe 'night' and this may be related to the fact that a daily cycle
appears to be calculated from night to night (more accurately from post-sunset to sunset).
It is worth pointing out that forms referring to the seasons, which are given in (11), appear to
have only a nominal function and not an adverbal function.
(11) uterne 'summer; sunlight; heat from sun; (for some speakers) sun'
uterne urle 'early summer' (urle 'forehead' thus the forehead of summer)
alhwerrpe 'winter'
alhwerrpe urle 'autumn' (urle 'forehead' thus the forehead of winter)
ulpulpe 'spring'
Moreover, the terms apmwerrke 'yesterday, past few days, very recent past' and ingwenthe 'tomorrow,
next few days, very near future' also have an adjectival function as well as an adverbal function. In their
adjectival function they modify either the noun arlte 'day' (eg. (12)) or they modify the English words for
the various days, in this latter case apmwerrke translates English 'last' and ingwenthe translates as 'next'
(eg. (13)).
(12) a. arlte apmwerrke nhakwe b. arlte ingwenthe nhakwe

day yesterday that(dist) day tomorrow that(dist)
the day before yesterday the day after tomorrow
(13) b. Tuesday apmwerrke b. Tuesday ingwenthe

Tuesday yesterday Tuesday tomorrow
last Tuesday (ie. Tuesday just gone) next Tuesday (ie.Tuesday coming up)
While the phrases in (12) and (13) are not analysed as containing any adverbs, it is important to realise
that they may be used with a temporal adverbial function. In other words temporal adverbs are not the
only means for conveying temporal adverbial notion in Mparntwe Arrernte.
7.3.2 Spatial adverbs and related spatial expressions

Spatial adverbs may occur as the sole, uninflected member of an utterance which answers a
question containing nthenhe 'where?'. The adverb provides the location (eg. (14)) or orientation (eg.
(15)) of the event specified in the question.
(14) Q:Nthenhe relhe mape nthep-irre-tyenhe Saturday-nge?

where woman grp(pl)S women's.dance-INCH-npc Saturday-
ABL?
Where will the women dance on Saturday?
A: Nhakwe
there (dist)
Over there.
(15) Q:Nthenhe-werne amp-atye lhe-ke?

where-ALL child-1kinPOSS go-pc?
Where did my child go to? [Which way did my child go?]
A: Anpere.
past
(S/He went) past (here).
In line with there categorisation as adverbs, spatial adverbs may appear in a clause with or without
inflection (eg. (16)). As far as their position within a clause is concerned spatial adverbs appear to occur
more frequently than temporals as the final constituent of the clause, but they are not uncommon in clause
initial position or in the position immediately before the verb. The set of examples in (17) show spatial
adverbs in various positions within a clause.
(16) Kertne(-werne) ar-Ø-aye!

up/top(-ALL) see-IMP-EMPH
Look up!
(17) a. Window-le tne-rle.ne-me-le imerte

window-LOC stand-CONT-npp-SS then
are-rle.ne-me-le kethe-werne-theke,
see-CONT-npp-SS out-ALL-wards
While standing by the window and gazing outwards,
b. Ingkerne kenhe anew-ikwe artne-tyeme, ...

behind BUT spouse-3kinPOSS cry-pp
But behind his wife was crying, ... [ie. in the back ground]
c. ..., artwe antekerr-arenye kenhe anpere lhe-ke.

..., man south-ASSOC BUT past go-pc
..., the southern man, on the other hand, went past.
We may identify several subclasses of spatial adverb on the basis of what other word classes the
forms have membership in. One important subclass, the spatially deictic demonstratives, has already
been discussed in the section on nominals (cf. §3.6.1). Three other subclasses which may be
recognised are 'adverbs of orientation', 'spatial part cum positional forms', and 'cardinal points and
distance forms'. Members of these three subclasses share two properties with each other that they don't
share with the spatially deictic demonstratives. The first is their ability to occur in a construct called the
relative location construction (see §7.3.2.2 for discussion) and the second is their derivation into motion
verbs when they host verb derivational morphology (see §7.3.2.4). In my description of each of the
subclasses I will follow Talmy (1975, 1983) in using the terms figure and ground. The figure is the object
or event whose disposition in space is the "salient issue", and the ground is the object with respect to
which a figure's disposition receives characterisation.
7.3.2.1 'Adverbs of Orientation'

All forms which comprise the 'adverbs of orientation' subclass belong solely to the class of
adverbs. There are four attested forms and they all share the semantic property that they make
reference to certain geometric characteristics of the figure and use these characteristics to describe the
figure's orientation with respect to the ground. The four forms are given in (18).
(18) ularre 'facing towards'

untyeme 'facing away from'
atalkwe 'across, crossing, over'
anpere 'past, through, passing by'
A figure which has a discernible front may be said to be presenting that aspect towards the
ground or away from the ground. Ularre describes the former situation and untyeme the latter. In line
with their senses, both forms dictate a certain case form for the reference object : ularre 'facing towards'
determines use of the allative case -werne, typically extended by -theke '-wards' (eg. (19a)), and
untyeme 'facing away from' determines use of the ablative case -nge (eg. (19b)).
(19) a. Re ure-werne-theke ularre ne-me

3sgS fire-ALL-wards facing sit-npp
He is sitting facing towards the fire.
b. Re ure-nge untyeme ne-me

3sgS fire-ABL face.away sit-npp
She is sitting facing away from the fire.
Untyeme 'facing away' can also be used when the aversive suffix marks the ground. In this usage the
aversive may have either its 'avoidance' (eg. (20a)) or its 'spatial' (eg. (20b)) sense (cf. §4.2.13).
(20) a. Artwe kwenhe gotta mwer-ikwe ikwere-ketye untyeme

ne-rle.
man ASSERT have.to WM-3kinPOSS 3sgDAT-AVER
face.away sit-GenEvt
A man really has to sit facing away from his mother-in-law. [maintaining
typical form of avoidance behaviour]
b. Kele anteme kngwelye mape pmere ikwere-tye

OK now dog grp.pl camp 3sgDAT-AVER
untyeme uthne-rre-irtne-ke.
face.away bite-RECIP-REVER-pc.
So then the pack of dogs bit each other on their way back away
from the camp.
The other two 'adverbs of orientation', anpere 'past, through' and atalkwe 'across', both indicate
that the figure has a linear extension and occurs in an orientation such that the ground is in some way
central to the extension. With anpere, the figure may be located away from the ground in which case it
extends 'past', or 'tangentially to' the ground. Alternatively the figure may extend 'through' the middle of
the ground with some of the figure extending at both ends beyond the ground The common glosses
given by bilingual speakers for anpere are 'past' and 'through'. Thus, an extended linear object like a
spear (irrtyarte) can either lie past (alongside) an object (eg. (21a)), or it can be embedded through
something (eg. (21b)), and in both cases anpere will be used.
(21) a. Irrtyarte pwerte-nge anpere inte-me.

spear rock-ABL past lie-npp
The spear is lying past (ie. beside/alongside) the rock.
b. Irrtyarte arrate-ke ahentye-le anpere.

spear appear-pc throat-LOC past
The spear stuck out through the neck (of the kangaroo). [the spear is
showing on both sides of the neck]
Anpere 'past, through' conveys a sense similar to the perlative case of some other Australian languages
(eg. Warlpiri, in Hale, 1982:258ff). Moreover, it has a close semantic association with the 'associated
motion' form -nhe meaning 'to do on the way past' and the two forms frequently co-occur in a sentence
(cf. §6.4.2).
The situation where the figure extends over the ground from one end to the other is described by
atalkwe which is most frequently glossed as 'across' and sometimes 'over'. As with the English glosses,
atalkwe 'across, over' is consistent with a situation where the figure is either in contact with the surface of
the ground (eg. (22a)) or else passes over above it (eg. (22b)).
(22) a. Irrtyarte pwerte-le atalkwe inte-me.

spear rock-LOC across lie-npp
The spear is lying across the rock.
b. Eastside Bridge Todd lhere-nge atalkwe inte-me.

Eastside Bridge Todd creekbed-ABL across lie-npp
The Eastside Bridge spans the Todd river (lit. lies over )
Both anpere 'past' and atalkwe 'across' can be used where a figure, treated as a point, is in motion. In
such a case these adverbs locate the path of the figure which may be conceived of as an extended line
with respect to the ground (eg. (23)).
(23) a. Kele itware-ke ware re-nhe itne alhe-rleke anpere.

OK watch.go-pc DISMIS 3sg-ACC 3plA go-DS past.
So the just watched him go of past (them).
b. Kwementyaye kamele-ke antye-ke desert-le atalkwe.

Kwementyaye camel-DAT ride-pc desert-LOC across.
Kwementyaye rode a camel across the desert.
7.3.2.2 'Spatial parts cum positionals'

The forms in this subclass evidence a type of regular polysemy whereby each form can both
designate a spatially defined part of an object and describe a certain positional relation between two
objects (a figure and a ground). This is a distinction which is commonly lexicalised in English; thus we
have 'the top' and 'above', 'the back (of)' and 'behind', 'the bottom of' and 'below', and so on. In their
spatial part sense these forms behave as noun nominals and in their positional relation sense they behave
as adverbs. At last count the 'spatial parts cum positional' subclass comprised ten distinct forms which
distinguish five systems of spatial opposition. These five systems are:
(i) Verticality (ie. up or down)

(ii) Containment -- An object or ground is perceived as having a containing boundary
and on one side of that boundary a thing is within the object/ground and on the
other side it is outside it.
(iii) Front/Back -- Along the horizontal dimension an object, or ground, can be
attributed a pair of opposed, biased parts depending on, as Wierzbicka (1972:103)
puts it, which part normally first or last "comes into contact with what is outside".
(iv) Peripheral/Central -- A line, area, or volume can have designated termini,
perimeters, or bounds (sides); the point that is roughly equidistant from these termini or
bounds is the middle or centre.
(v) Deictic -- Forms in this system indicate the proximity to the speaker of a figure in
relation to another reference point (ground). The speaker, or the place where the
speaker is, acts as an understood, and secondary ground.
The forms which realise these systems are given in (24).
(24) A. Verticality :
kertne (a) 'top' (b) 'above, over, up'
kwene (a) 'bottom' (b) 'below, under, down'
B. Containment :
kethe (a) 'the outside of' (b) 'outside'
kwene (a) 'the inside of' (b) 'inside'
C. Front/Back :
arrwekele (a) 'the front' (b) 'in front, preceding; before'
ingkerne (a) 'the back of' (b) 'behind, following; after'
D. Peripheral/Central :
itere (a) 'the side of' (b) 'along, beside of'
mpwepe (a) 'the middle, centre' (b) 'in between, amongst'
E. Deictic :
angathe (a) 'this side of Y' (b) 'X be on this side of Y'
intwarre (a) 'the other side of Y' (b) 'X be on the other side of'
The tenth form in this subclass, arrengakwe, does not fit into any of these systems but can be
seen to bear a relation to both the 'front/back' and the 'deictic' systems. It is often used to translate
'behind' but is quite distinct from ingkerne 'the back of; behind' in that it is used where the ground is an
object which, like a fence or tree, has no discernible front or back and the part or figure whose location
is of interest is on the opposite side of this ground with respect to a secondary reference point. This
secondary reference point is often, but not always, the speaker. The two senses of arrengakwe are,
therefore, 'the side (part) of Y that is away from Z' and 'X be on the side of Y which is away from Z'.
In their adverb sense members of the 'spatial part cum positional' subclass can enter into a
special construction in which the NP representing the ground is suffixed with -nge ABL and is followed
immediately by the spatial adverb. This structure predicates of the figure NP that it is not in contact with
the ground, but is close enough that it can be located by reference to the spatial (positional) relation it
holds with respect to the ground. This construction will be labeled the relative location construction
since the figure is not located 'at' the ground but 'relative' to it. The NP representing the figure may
precede or follow this construct. The general form of the relative location construction may be
represented as in (25) and examples are given in (26).
(25) NPfig , V, [NPgrd-nge SpatialAdverb]
(26) a. Re ingke-lhe-me [atyenge-nge ingkerne].
3sgS foot-go-npp 1sgDAT-ABL behind
He's walking behind me.
b. Artwe [relhe-nge arrwekele]-le tne-me.

man woman-ABL in.front-LOC stand-npp
The man is standing in front of the woman.
The spatial nominal mpwepe 'centre, middle, in between', in its adverbial usage, entails two or
more reference points. In the relative location construction, the ablative suffix -nge must either be
attached to a non-singular nominal (if the figure is between or amongst objects of the same type) or it
must be suffixed to each of the relevant ground nominals all of which precede mpwepe (eg. (27)).
Examples (26b) and (27) demonstrate that spatial cases may be attached to the relative location
construction.
(27) Alyweke unte kwerne-me [yenpe-nge tyelke-nge mpwepe]-ke.

Knife(O) 2sgA insert-npp skin-ABL flesh-ABL in.between-DAT
You insert the knife between the skin and the flesh.
As indicated in §7.3.2, the relative location construction is not only used with the subclass under
discussion but is also used with 'orientational adverbs' (cf. (21a) and (22b)) and with the 'cardinal points
and distance forms' (cf. (34)).
In their 'spatial part' sense (ie. noun nominal sense) the members of the 'spatial part cum
positional' subclass can enter into 'part-whole' constructions (cf. §10.1.2) where the NP referring to the
whole immediately precedes the 'spatial part' noun . Since such part-whole constructions are complex
NP's they must be inflected for case within a clause. In (28) there are two part-whole constructs
involving ure 'fire' as the 'whole' and two spatially contrasting parts of the fire, its kertne 'top' and its
itere 'side'. Note that the verb arrerne-lhe- 'to put oneself down at' assigns dative case -ke to the first
complex NP (ure kertne 'top of the fire'), while the verb (a)ne- 'sit' assigns locative case -le to the
second (ure itere 'side of the fire').
(28) "Alaye!Ure kertne-ke arrerne-lhe-tyel-aye, ampe-ketye-nge!

watch-out! fire top-DAT put-REFL-NegIMP-EMPH, burn-AVER-ABL
Ure itere-le ware an-Ø-aye!"
fire side-LOC DISMIS sit-IMP-EMPH
(Mother to child) "Watch out! Don't sit down on top of the fire or you'll get
burnt! Just stay here at the side of the fire."
The contrasting senses of location that one can achieve using a 'spatial part cum positional' form
in a part-whole construct as opposed to the 'relative location construction' is demonstrated in (29). In
both (29a,b) the same action is performed but the product of the performance ends up in two different
places. In (29a), where there is the part-whole construct pwerte kwene 'bottom of the rock', the design
ends up on the bottom of the rock itself. In (29b), on the other hand, where there is a spatial adverb in
the 'relative location construction' (ie. pwerte-nge kwene 'beneath the rock'), the action of creating a
design is located beneath the rock and the design itself ends up in the dirt beneath the rock.
(29) a. Artwe ampwe-le inte-lhile-ke pwerte kwene-ke.

man old-ERG design[lie-CAUS]-pc rock bottom-DAT
The old man made a design on the bottom of the rock. [lit. cause (s.t.) to lie on]
b. Artwe ampw-le inte-lhile-ke pwerte-nge kwene (ahelhe-ke).

man old-ERG design[lie-CAUS]-pc rock-ABL beneath
(ground-pc)
The old man made a design beneath the rock (in the dirt).
7.3.2.3 Cardinal Points and Distance Forms

Cardinal points and distance forms are brought together into one subclass because they can
function both as adverbs and as adjectival nominals. Each subdivision, however, has its own distinct
properties and so they will be discussed separately.
a) Cardinal Points
Within the horizontal plane there are two intersecting axes which are recognised by Arrernte
speakers. One axis runs roughly north-south, and the other runs roughly east-west. The basic set or
cardinal point terms that describe this system are given in (30).
(30) ayerrere 'north'

antekerre or arleywe 'south'
alturle 'west'
ikngerre 'east'
While the evidence is scant, it does appear that more specific compass point terms can be formed
through a compounding of the cardinal point terms given in (30). The available examples show only two
terms being compounded. In these compounds the north-south axis has primary status and provides the
first element to the compound while the second element specifies whether the precise direction is west or
east of this axis. The four compounds that have been attested are given in (31) and little more can be
said about them.
(31) ayerrere-alturle 'north-west'

antekerre-alturle 'south-west'
ayerrere-ikngerre 'north-east'
antekerre-ikngerre 'south-east'
As in other Australian languages, the cardinal point terms are used with great frequency to
provide direction, orientation, or immediate location of objects and events. While there are body part
terms for the left and right hand, akwalyenge and akwarratye respectively, these are not used in a spatial
or directional sense and there are no other forms corresponding to English 'left' and 'right'. Instead, the
cardinal point terms are typically employed where English speakers would use 'left' and 'right'. For
instance, while driving along the streets of Alice Springs or through the bush, all commands to alter
directions are given to the driver in term of the cardinal points. The forms of the command may involve
either an inchoativised form of the cardinal point term or simply the term itself in adverb function, often
with spatial inflection. Handsigning the directions typically accompanies the commands. An example of
such direction giving is given in (32).
(32) Ayerrere-werne-theke alh-Ø-aye. Kele anteme ikngerr-irre-Ø

north-ALL-wards go-IMP-EMPH. O.K. now east-INCH-IMP
ante ikwere-nge ayerrere-werne awethe-'gain turn-irre-Ø.
and 3sgDAT-ABL north-ALL again-same.again turn-INCH-IMP
Kele arratye kwete, arratye kwete. Alturle-theke, kele ayerrere
OK straight still, straight still. West-wards, OK north
anteme. Kele nhenhe nthurre-ke ayenge atnarnpe-lhile-Ø.
now. OK here INTENS-DAT 1sgO descend-cause-IMP
Go northwards. O.K. now turn east and after that turn towards the north again.
O.K. keep on going straight ahead, straight ahead. Turn west, and now north.
O.K. drop me off right here.
Similarly, where English speakers would use 'left' or 'right' to differentiate one object from another (such
as the 'left foot', 'the right shoulder, or 'the tree on the left'), Mparntwe Arrernte once again uses the
compass point terms, but this time in adjectival function. As adjectives, cardinal point terms indicate
that the referent of the head of the NP is the one which, relative to other entities of the same kind, is
located in the direction indicated by the cardinal point term (eg. (33)).
(33) a. Alpere arrern-Ø-aye pwerlepe ikngerre-ke.

hanging put-IMP-EMPH shoulder east-DAT
Hang it (the bag) over your east shoulder.
b. Re tin-shed ayerrere arte-ke.

3sgA tin-shed north-O build-pc.
He built the north tinshed. [ie.the one which compared to others is in the north]
In §7.3.2.2 it was noted that the cardinal point terms, in their adverb function, can take part in
the 'relative location construction'; an example of this is provided in (34). An example of a cardinal point
adverb directing an event other than a motion event is given in (35).
(34) Itne pwerte-nge alturle(-le) ne-me

3plS hill-ABL west(-LOC) be-npp
They live to the west of the hill.
(35) Ayerrere ar-Ø-aye!

north see-IMP-EMPH
Look north!
Earlier it was observed that the cardinal point axes were only 'roughly' directed: ayerrere, for
instance, usually means 'northish' rather than exactly 'north' by the compass. East and west may always
be determined by movements of the sun, and north and south can, of course, be determined with respect
to the given east-west axis, but this is not the way people tend to determine directions within their own
country. Within certain defined and well known areas, important landmarks typically provide the major
guides used for reckoning cardinal point orientation within the area and so the points that fix the axes
within these areas often do not align with the compass. In the Alice Springs town are, for instance,
Mparntwe Arrernte people direct themselves by reference to the fact that the MacDonnell Ranges form
a rough east west line, and inside the range the Todd river flows roughly north to south.
b) Distance forms
There are two basic forms which indicate relative distance, irrespective of direction, position, or
orientation. These forms, which are given in (36), may refer to the distance between two entities, two
events, or an entity and an event, or it may refer to the distance covered in the performance of an action
such as a motion event, a speech event (eg. shouting a long way), or an act of perception (eg. being able
to see only a short distance).
(36) itwe 'close, nearby, a short distance'

arlenge 'distant, far, far way, a long way'
There is a third distance form, arlenge-arlentye 'very far away, a great distance', which is based on
arlenge 'far' plus a compounded intensifier arlentye that only occurs attached to arlenge and never occurs
on its own.
Examples of distance forms functioning as adverbs are given in (37).
(37) a. ..., kenhe kele relhe nhenge petye-anteme-alpe-rlenge,

..., BUT OK woman REMEMB come-now-back-DS,
itwe anteme.
near now
..., while the woman (you remember the one) was right now
returning close by.
b. Kenhe kwele artwe just arlenge-nge-anteye ar-intye-ke.

But QUOT man just far-ABL-AS WELL see-DO COMING-pc
But, supposedly, the man had just seen (everything) from afar as he came.
c. ..., artnerre-ke-nhe-pe-nhe-tyennhenge arlenge-arlentye nthurre
..., crawl-?-DO PAST-FREQ.rdp-SBSQNT very far INTENS
re anteme kwele
3sgS now QUOT
..., and subsequently he had now, so they say, crawled (past) and crawled
(past) and crawled (past) a very great distance.
In their adjectival function these forms indicate that the modified noun is at the relative distance
indicated with respect to other specified (or understood) entities (eg. (38)). It seems that distance forms
in adjectival function may often appear as the sole member of a NP where the head of the NP is
understood to be pmere 'place, camp'. In this case it may be hard to distinguish a distance form's
adjectival function from its adverbal function (39).
(38) a. Kele kwele re arne itwe-le tne-tyeme, ...

OK QUOT 3sgS tree close-LOC stand-pp
So it was supposedly standing at a nearby tree, ... b. Pmere
arlenge-ke kngerrepate mape-le lengkiwe-ke
place far-DAT elder grp.(pl)-ERG hide
tywerrenge nhenge re-nhe, ...
sacred object REMEMB 3sg-ACC
The elders hid that sacred object in a distant place, ...
(39) a. ..., not itwe-ke peke kwele re are-ke, arrangkwe.

..., not close-DAT maybe QUOT 3sgA see-pc,
nothing.
..., he didn't even see (a game animal) at close quarters [ie. at a close place],
nothing at all.
b. Arlenge-le kenhe kwele ne-ke kwatye iperte re, ...

far-LOC BUT QUOT sit/be-pc water hole 3sgS, ...
But the waterhole, so they say, was at a distant (place), ... [ie. the waterhole
lay at a distance from the camp]
An interesting feature of the use of distance forms to indicate the relative location of one object
or place with respect to another is the differential assignment of case to the entity which acts as ground.
In discussing the distance of a figure with respect to the place where the speaker is, the speaker marks
the NP referring to the place s/he is in (ie. the ground) with the ablative case -nge (eg. (40a)). Similarly
if the speaker is referring to the distance of a place (the figure) with respect to another place (the ground)
which is roughly on a path between where the speaker is and the place being located, then ablative case
is also used (eg. 40b). In contrast, the dative case -ke marks the ground if the place being located (the
fiqure) is the place where the speaker is (eg. (40c)) or if it is between the place where the speaker is and
the place acting as ground (eg. (40d)). Thus, in contrast to English where the figure is always either
'close to', or 'far from' the ground (but not 'far to', or 'close from'), in Mparntwe Arrernte the figure can
be 'close to' or 'close from' the ground, or 'far to' or 'far from' the ground, depending both on the
alignment of the relevant entities with respect to the place of speaker and the entity chosen to be ground.
(40) a. Pmere nthenhe Amoonguna-nge arlenge / itwe ne-me?

place where Amoonguna-ABL far / close sit/be-npp
Which place is far/close from Amoonguna. [Where speaker is in Amoonguna.]
b. Darwin Alice Springs-nge arlenge.

Darwin Alice Springs-ABL far
Darwin is far from Alice Springs. [Where speaker is in Amoonguna.]
c. Amoonguna Alice Springs-ke itwe(-le).

Amoonguna Alice Springs-DAT close(-LOC)
Amoonguna is close to Alice Springs. [Where speaker is in Amoonguna.]
d. Alice Springs Darwin-ke arlenge ne-me.

Alice Springs Darwin-DAT far be-npp.
Alice Springs is far to Darwin. [Where speaker is in Amoonguna.]
The logic dictating the use of -ke 'dative' or -nge 'ablative with the distance forms seems fairly
clear. As Wierzbicka (1972:98) points out, distance is not a static notion, but entails the idea of
movement of some real or imaginary object. In Mparntwe Arrernte it appears that the speaker, in
describing relative distance, tends to imagine a motion path emanating from his/her present place of
location. Ablative is used where the ground is at the beginning of this path or is roughly on this path and
is closer to the beginning point than the figure is. In other words the speaker would have to travel from
where s/he is, and from all places intermediate (close or far) to get to the figure location. Dative, on the
other hand, is used where the ground is at the end point of this imagined motion path and the beginning
point of the path (speakers location), or intermediate points on that path, are the ones whose relative
distance is of concern. Thus, the speaker would have to travel to the ground location (and not from it).
[Compare with other uses of ablative and dative in §4.2.6 and §4.2.5 respectively].
Of course this system breaks down when the relevant entities can not be conceivably aligned
along a path emanating from the speaker. In this situation, if two entities are close to each other than the
reduplicated form itwe-ke-itwe (close-DAT-close) 'close by each other' (cf. §7.4.4.4) is used and
neither entity is case marked. In the case of two entities being far from each other it is not clear whether
it is possible to use arlenge-ke-arlenge 'far from each other', which is apparently an acceptable form but
which is as yet unattested in conversation or text. Instead, -nge ABL is again used to mark one of the
entities as the ground and the figure is said to be distant from it (eg. (41)). The principles dictating which
of the two entities is chosen as ground and which is chosen as the figure seem to include (i) whether or
not one of the two entities is stationary; in which case the stationary object is chosen as ground; (ii)
whether one of two places has special significance for the speaker or not; the place of significance tends
to be chosen as ground; or (iii) the relative size of the entities; the larger the entity the more likely it is to
be chosen as reference point. These principles assume that the speaker is not imagining him/herself to
be at the place of one of the entities in which case that is automatically the point of (original) reference
(cf. fn. 15).
(41) Mweteke ultake-lhe-ke-rle re pmere-nge arlenge ne-me.

car break(tr)-REFL-pc-REL 3sgS camp-ABL far sit/be-npp
The broken down car is far from the camp.[said at point intermediate between the
car and the camp]
7.3.2.4 Derivation of spatial adverbs into verbs of motion and verbs of causative position
In the introduction to this discussion of spatial adverbs it was mentioned that the members of all
three subclasses of spatial adverbs discussed here share the property that they can be derived into
motion verbs. When these forms take the inchoative -irre (cf. §5.5.5) then they become members of the
'oriented motion verbs' subclass of motion verbs; along with such underived verbs as tnye- 'fall' and
antye- 'ascend, go up, climb'. When these forms take causative morphology (ie. either -ile or -lhile
'CAUS' cf. §5.5.3) they are derived into transitive verbs which mean that 'an agent causes the object to
move with the orientation described in the root' (see (42) and (43); also (32)).
(42) Adverb Inchoative (-irre) Causative (-ile/-lhile)

anpere 'past, through' anper-irre- 'to go past' anper-ile 'to move
s.t. past'
kertne 'up, above, top' kertn-irre- 'to rise' kertne-lhile- 'to raise
or lift s.t. up'
ayerrere 'north' ayerrer-irre- 'to go north; ayerrer-ile- 'to move or
to turn to the north' turn s.t. northwards'
arlenge 'far' arleng-irre- 'to go a long arlenge-lhile- 'to move
distance' s.t. far away'
(43) a. Pmere-nge-rlke arleng-irre-ke re, ...

camp-ABL-TOO far-INCH-pc 3sgS, ...
He had gone far from (his) home too, ...
b. Tyerrtye mape irrkwentye therre-le anper-ile-ke Stuart

Arms-nge,
person grp(O) police two-ERG past-CAUS-pc Stuart Arms-
ABL,
The two policemen moved the people past the Stuart Arms hotel, ...
c. Ampe kweke akertne-lhile-lhe-me.

child little up-CAUS-REFL-npp.
The baby is lifting itself up. [ie. raising itself to a standing position]
7.3.3 Manner, aspectual, and 'degree of achievement' adverbs

As the title to this section suggests, this class of adverbs is, semantically, quite heterogeneous.
Roughly, forms in this class all provide information on how an action is performed, rather than where or
when it is performed, but they do not all answer a question with, or even based on, nthakenhe 'how?'.
In fact a number of the forms can't occur on their own without an overt verb to modify. The features
which bring the members of this class together were mentioned in §7.2: all forms in this grouping may
optionally take the suffix -le to indicate their adverb status, but do not occur with any other case suffixes
attached, and they tend to precede the verb directly, often forming a tight phrasal - at times almost
lexical - unit with the verb. Typically, their occurrence with -le 'LOC/ADV' or without -le 'LOC/ADV',
does not carry an easily discernible semantic difference. However, it is worth noting that this is not
always the case, as (44) shows. Here, where the form arnterre 'do with great attention; do intensively'
modifies angke- speak, it appears that when the adverb is uninflected (44a) it describes the physical act
of producing the words (ie. loudly), but when -le is attached to the adverb (44b) it describes the way the
message was delivered (ie. forcefully).
(44) a. Re arnterre angke-me.

3sgS intensively speak-npp
S/He speaks loudly.
b. Re arnterre-le angke-me.
3sgS intensively-LOC/ADV speak-npp
S/He speaks forcefully. [eg. speaks strongly for his/her country]
The distinction between manner, aspectual, and degree of achievement forms within this class
can be made on semantic and formal grounds. Each group is discussed in turn.
7.3.3.1 Manner adverbs

Manner adverbs may indicate the speed with which an action occurs, the degree of force
invested in the action, and/or the way an animate being goes about the performance of an action. A
selection of some of the most common forms is given in (45).
(45) mwantye 'carefully; slowly'

iparrpe 'quickly'
arnterre 'do intensively; do with great attention; do "hard"'
pwethepe 'do anyway, although not interested; do carelessly'
kwenpe 'do anyway, without worrying about bad consequences;
do bravely (or foolishly)'
tnyante 'do to "death"; do severely; do savagely'
artange or arntangentye 'do co-operatively'
anyelknge 'do sneakily'
ankeye 'do in begging manner'
The forms in this class can be used to answer questions with nthakenhe 'how?', although forms vary as
to whether they can occur on their own in an answer or whether they must co-occur with the verb they
modify. The two 'speed' forms mwantye 'carefully, slowly' and iparrpe 'quickly' may occur on their own
and, unlike the other forms, may be used with 'emphatic clitics' (cf. §8.1.1.15-17) to convey
interjectional commands that demand that the addressee do the action with the speed or care indicated
(eg. (46)).
(46) a. "Mwanty-ewe!" b. "Iparrp-aye!"

carefully/slowly-EMPH+ quickly-EMPH
Be careful! or Go slowly! Hurry up!
These two forms also tend to have a greater freedom of positionality, occurring before or after the verb
and not necessarily immediately next to it (eg. (47)).
(47) a. Iparrpe re mantere irlwe-lhe-ke kwatye-ke irrpe-

tyeke.
quickly 3sgS clothes take off-REFL-pc water-DAT go
into-PURP
Quickly he took of his clothes in order to swim.
b. Re antye-ke mwantye nthurre ante arnterre itirre-ke
3sgS climb-pc carefully INTENS and intensively

think-pc
itelare-tyeke iwenhe-rle urreye ikwere ile-ke.
remember-PURP what-REL boy 3sgDAT tell-pc
He climbed carefully and thought hard to remember what the boy had
told him. [From Ferber in Henderson (ed.) 1986; my translation and
morphemic analysis]
Another form which may occur on its own in an utterance and which has a fair degree of
flexibility with respect to its position in a clause is alakenhe 'like so, thus, in this manner'. This is, by far,
the most frequently encountered manner adverb. As mentioned in §2.6.3 (see also §2.8.1), this form is
used to indicate that a physical demonstration or oral description of the manner in which an action occurs
is provided in the immediate context of the utterance (48).
(48) a. Arelhe re angke-ke alakenhe, "Lyete ayenge lhe-me merne-

ke."
woman 3sgS speak-pc thus, now 1sgS go-npp
food-DAT ."
The woman spoke thus, "Now I'm going out for some food."
b. Alakenhe the pwerte iwe-ke.

thus 1sgA stone throw-pc
In this manner I threw the stone. [Said while demonstrating the action.]
The other members of the manner adverb subclass must co-occur with an overtly manifested
verb and they must precede that verb; although they need not precede it immediately (eg. (49), also (44,
(47b)). When these forms immediately precede the verb they typically form a tight unit with the verb
and the two are often said together as if they were a single lexical item. Indeed, I would argue that some
'manner adverb + verb' combinations, such as anyelknge-(l)-ine- [do sneakily(-LOC/ADV)-get-] 'to
steal' and ahirre-are- [by imagining-see-] 'to envision, to picture in one's mind', should be recognised as
lexical compounds (cf. §5.5.9).
(49) a. ..., re-nhe nhakwe mape-le artangentye-le

..., 3sg-ACC that(dist) grp(pl)-ERG co-operatively-
LOC/ADV
uthne-rrirre-me kwenhe, kngwelye mape-le
bite-pl.S/A-npp ASSERT, dog grp(pl)-ERG
..., that pack over there, the pack of dogs, is really ganging up and attacking
it (the cat). [lit. they are co-operatively biting the cat]
b. Kwenpe(-le) re arlkwe-ke arntirte re-nhe.

without worry(-LOC/ADV) 3sgA eat-pc rotten 3sg-ACC
Without caring, s/he went right ahead and ate the spoiled (food).
c. Re re-nhe tnyante twe-pe-twe-me kwetethe.

3sgA 3sg-ACC severely hit-FREQ.rdp-npp always.
He keeps on beating her severely all the time.
7.3.3.2 Aspectual adverbs

Aspectual adverbs roughly indicate the degree to which an action continues or continues to be
repeated. The three attested members of this class are given in (50).
(50) awethe 'do again; do more'

kwete 'to still do; keep on doing'
kwetethe 'always do'
Two of these forms, kwete 'still' and kwetethe 'always', are odd from the point of view of the
larger 'manner, aspectual, and degree of achievement' class of adverbs, because they have a high
frequency of occurrence after the verb. In fact, it is tempting to analyse them as particles except that
they can host the case suffix -le 'LOC/ADV', although they do so very rarely. There may be evidence
from 'particle/clitic insertion' (§6.3) to suggest that the form kwete 'still' is best considered a member of
both the adverb and particle/clitic word classes. The form kwetethe 'always' acts as a noun modifier in
at least one well discussed and culturally significant compound: pmere kwetethe (camp/country
always) 'everlasting home, eternal place, the traditional home country of a person or a totem'. The use
of these two forms as aspectual adverbs is exemplified in (51) (see also (49c) and (55a)).
(51) a. ..., urrperle mape-le nhenge re-nhe twe-me

kwete.
..., black pl(grp)-ERG REMEMB 3sg-ACC hit/kill-npp
still
..., Aboriginal people continue to kill that one.
b. Kunye-werne uyarne kwete unte-ke.

poor thing-PITY(E.A.) in vain still hurry away-pc.
The poor thing kept on running away in vain.
c. ..., are-tye.lhe-me-le atwetye re-nhe marle re

..., see-GO&DO-npp-SS joey 3sg-ACC girl 3sgS
nthep-irre-tyerte kwetethe.
dance-INCH-rem.p.hab always
..., when (she) went and visited the joey, the girl always used to dance.
d. Kwetethe itne alakenhe mpware-p-are-me.

always 3plA like so make/do-FREQ.rdp-npp
They always do it that way (by habit).
Awethe 'again; more' has been mentioned previously in the section on quantifier nominals (cf.
§2.3). In its adverb function this form typically occurs before the verb and indicates that a verb action is
being repeated once again, or that 'more' of the same previously established, and continuing, action is
taking place (52).
(52) a. Awethe re lhe-me-le, pmere arrpenhe-ke arrate-tye.lhe-rle, ...

again 3sgS go-npp-SS, camp other-DAT appear-GO&DO-
GenEvt,...
Then he'd go off again and appear in some other camp, ...
b. Wenten awethe angke-ke Land Council ikwere.

Wenten again speak-pc Land Council 3sgDAT.
Wenten spoke some more about the Land Council.
All three 'aspectual adverbs' may be reduplicated. The shared semantic effect of reduplication
with these forms is discussed in §7.4.4.1.
7.3.3.3 'Degree of achievement' adverbs

Forms in this subclass indicate, roughly, the degree to which an action can be said to be
successfully enacted. Their interpretation is dependent upon the Aktionsart of the verb; successful, or
unsuccessful, enactment of a verb like lhe- 'go, move away' may refer simply to the starting point of the
action, beyond which the action is in motion and so achieved, while with a verb like ilwe- 'to die' the
action may be in process but is only achieved once the end point is attained. The three forms in this
subclass are given in (53).
(53) ingkwe 'nearly, to nearly accomplish an action, almost'

uyarne or uye 'do action in vain; unable to do'
apale 'do action wrongly, make a mistake in doing; to be wrong
to do an action'
All members of this subclass occur somewhere before the verb they modify. Like certain
members of the 'manner' adverb subclass, when these forms occur immediately before a verb, the
adverb and verb may combine, from the point of view of pronunciation, to form a tight lexical unit. In
fact, the verb (a)palunthe- 'to look for something that is lost, search for' appears to arise from the
compounding of apale 'wrongly' and unthe- 'to wander around looking for something (that isn't lost)' with
slightly shifted semantics.
Ingkwe 'nearly' indicates that an action or end point state comes close to being achieved, but , in
fact, it never is (54).
(54) a. Ayenge ingkwe angke-ke "arrangkwe".

1sgS nearly say-pc "no".
I nearly said "no" (when I meant to say "yes").
b. Mwanty-aye, unte re-nhe ingkwe we-ke.

carefully-EMPH, 2sgA 3sg-ACC nearly hit with missile-pc.
Be careful, you nearly hit him (with the ball you threw).
Uyarne 'in vain', or simply uye, indicates that an entity is actively attempting to perform an action
but they are, for some reason, unable to successfully achieve the action they are attempting. Typically
there is some actual physical impediment preventing the performer from doing the action (55) (see also
51b, T9-8). It is important to note that uyarne is often translated by 'can't', but in Mparntwe Arrernte it
doesn't have the deontic sense of 'not being permitted' that English 'can't' has. In Western Arrernte, on
the other hand, yarne apparently covers much the same semantic range as English 'can't'.
(55) a. Re kngerr-arteke angke-tyekenhe kwete ane-ke,

3sgS big-SEMBL speak-VbNEG still be-pc,
ikwere-nge itne re-nhe uye awe-tyerte.
3sgDAT-ABL 3plA 3sg-ACC in vain understand-rem.p.hab
He still didn't speak like an adult and because of that they couldn't
understand him. (ie. they tried in vain to understand him)[ From Ferber in
Henderson (ed.) 1986; my translation and morphemic analysis]
b. Kwementyaye-le uyarne-le yake-ke ampe re-nhe,

Kwementyaye-ERG in vain-LOC/ADV prevent-pc child 3sg-ACC
kenhe re kwenpe-le lhe-rlenge.
BUT 3sgS without worry-LOC/ADV go-DS
Kwementyaye tried in vain to prevent the child (from going), but she went
right ahead and took off regardless.
Apale 'wrongly', unlike the preceding forms, may be used with states as well as actions and
processes. With an action or process, apale may either indicate that the event, although being achieved,
was not achieved as intended or as one would have expected (56a), or it may indicate a moral sense
that it was simply wrong (or mistaken) to do the verb action (56b). With stative predicates apale
indicates that , with respect to the entity of which the state is predicated, the state is wrong or is not as it
should be (56c).
(56) a. The nge-nhe apale twe-ke.

1sgA 2sg-ACC wrongly hit-pc
I wrongly hit you. (ie. I made a mistake in hitting you; either I meant to hit
someone else, or I meant to hit you but missed or hit you in the wrong spot.)
b. Apale anteme ayenge lhe-ke.

wrongly now 1sgS go-pc
It was wrong of me to have gone. [Said by someone who had a premonition
that something bad would befall his child who was left in camp with its mother]
c. Re apale relhe Pengarte-kerte.

3sgS wrongly woman Pengarte-PROP.
He is wrongly with a Pengarte woman. (He wrongly has a Pengarte woman. ie.
She is not a possible marriage choice for him.)
7.3.3.4. Co-occurrence of manner, aspectual, and degree of achievement adverbs

A single clause may contain a member from each of the manner, aspectual, and degree of
achievement subclasses. Generally speaking, members from within the same subclass do not co-occur.
While I have not had all that much success in exploring thoroughly the ordering and scoping relationships
amongst co-occurring forms from these three subclasses, what information I have uncovered suggests
that if all three types occur before the verb then the ordering amongst them is:
degree of achievement adverb - aspectual adverb - manner adverb
This is only the relative ordering and there is no constraint that the forms must immediately precede each
other (eg. (57); see also (51b)).
(57) a. Old man re ingkwe awethe tnyante tnye-ke.

old man 3sgS nearly again severely fall-pc.
The 'old man' nearly had another severe fall. [lit. nearly fell severely again]
b. New-ikwe-le apale Kwementyaye re-nhe kwetethe

spouse-3KinPOSS-ERG wrongly Kwementyaye 3sg-ACC
always
nthurre kwele ankeye-le kakwe-me pwerte-ke.
INTENS QUOT beggingly-LOC/ADV bite-npp money-
DAT.
Her husband is forever wrongly hitting Kwementyaye up for money. [lit.
wrongly always beggingly biting for money]
7.4 Adverb Derivation
Apart from reduplicated forms, which will all be treated together, adverb derivations will be
discussed according to the general subclass of adverb they are associated with. Thus, temporal
derivations, spatial derivations, and 'manner, aspectual, and degree of achievement' derivations will be
discussed in turn, followed by a discussion of reduplications which give rise to adverbs.
7.4.1 Temporal Derivations

Many shades of distinction in terms of the temporal location of an event are achieved by use of
particle/clitics to modify temporal adverbs. For example, when -ante 'only, exclusively', -ulkere 'more',
and ware 'dismissive' are used to modify lyete 'today, now' we get: lyet-ante 'the very first time', lyet-
ulkere 'nowadays; recently', and lyete-ware 'in just a moment; just a moment ago'. Forms used
specifically to derive temporal adverbs and temporal adverbials are given below.
7.4.1.1 -tyathe 'the whole time through; throughout' (All Time)
The form -tyathe attaches to temporal nominals, temporal adverbs, and temporal phrases to
convey that an event continued for the whole of the time indicated (egs. (58, 59)).
(58) arlte kngerre-tyathe day big-All Time 'all day long'

ingweleme-tyathe morning-All Time 'the whole morning'
arrule-tyathe long time-All Time 'goes on and on'
ingwe-le-tyathe night-LOC-All Time 'all night through'
(59) Ingwe ikwere-le-tyathe itne pmere ikwere-werne travel-irre-ke, ...

night 3sgDAT-LOC-AllTime 3plS place 3sgDAT-ALL travel-INCH-pc ,
...
Throughout the night they travelled to that place, ...
7.4.1.2 -ureke 'during'

The form -ureke 'during' attaches to nominals or nominal phrases case-marked with -le 'LOC'
and indicates that an event happened at some stage during the course of the time period referred to by
the noun or noun phrase (egs. (60, 61)).
(60) a. atwe-rre-ntye-l-ureke b. nhenhe ikwere-l-ureke
hit-RECIP-NMZR-LOC-during this 3sgDAT-LOC-during
during the war; during the fight during this time
(61) a. ..., kele yalke-rlke re-nhe anteme ite-me-le kweke

..., OK bush onion-TOO 3sg-ACC now cook-npp-SS
little
re kwenhe ankwe-l-ureke.
3sgS ASSERT asleep-LOC-during
..., so (she) then cooked the onions during the time that the little
(boy) was asleep.
b. Alhwerrpe-l-ureke re rlkert-irre-ke.
winter-LOC-during 3sgS sick-INCH-pc
During the winter he fell sick.
7.4.1.3 -tayeme 'time'
The suffix -tayeme 'time' attaches to non-temporal noun nominals or noun phrases to indicate a
significant time period, either historical or recurrent, which is characterised by the thing referred to in the
noun or noun phrase. This form is a borrowing of English 'time' and the derivation it creates can be used
as an adverbial that locates an event within the time period indicated (62).
(62) ngkwarle-tayeme sweet stuff-time in the time of year when

there's a lot of sweet sap, nectar and honey
kwatye-tayeme water-time in the rainy season
Bungalow-tayeme Bungalow-time in the historical period when local
Aboriginal people were living and
being educated at the Old
Telegraph Station
station-tayeme station-time in the personal historical time for
someone who worked and lived
on a cattle station
ikwere-tayeme 3sgDAT-time at the time just mentioned; during the
episode mentioned
This form may also attach to full clauses to create an adverbial that locates an event during the
time of the event in the adverbial clause (63).
(63) Pmere mission-le ayenge ne-me-tayeme, ...

place mission-LOC 1sgS live-npp-time, ...
When I was living at the mission, ... [lit. during the time I am living at the
mission, ... (ie. Ltyentye Purte 'Santa Teresa')]
7.4.2 Spatial Derivations

7.4.2.1 -thayete 'side of'
The suffix -thayete 'side of' is based on the English form 'side'. One of the several uses of
English 'side' is as a compound formative which gives rise to compounds like 'north-side', 'top-side',
'river-side' and so on. Although the Mparntwe Arrernte form has a more restricted sense, it is this use of
'side' which -thayete most closely resembles.
It appears that -thayete 'side of' only suffixes to forms which manifest an antipodal opposition
(Lyons, 1977:281-282) which is, typically, spatial. That is, it attaches to those forms which indicate one
spatial pole or extreme, which is diametrically opposed to another named spatial pole. Kertne 'top' and
kwene 'bottom' are just such an antipodal pair, as are ayerrere 'north' and antekerre 'south'. The
attachment of -thayete 'side of' derives forms which are members of the 'spatial parts cum positionals'
subgrouping discussed in §7.3.2.2. In their noun nominal 'spatial part' sense, they designate the area of
an entity, typically a place or thing, which has its main association with a particular cardinal point (eg.
(64a)) or with a particular spatial part of the entity itself (eg. (64b)). Such derivations entail that there is
a totally complementary, but opposing, area that is a part of the place or entity.
(64) a. Pmere inteye meke-meke nhenge ntherrtye

place cave sacred REMEMB range
antekerre-thayete-le ne-me
south-side of-LOC be-npp
That sacred cave (you remember the one) is on the south side of the range.
b. Ntyame itne-kenhe toyota kertne-thayete-ke arrerne-ke

apmwe-ketye.
swag 3pl-POSS Toyota top-side of-DAT put-pc snake-
AVER
(They) placed their swags on the top side of the Toyota for fear of snakes.
In their adverbal function, derivations with -thayete 'side of' indicate that an event takes place
within the area referred to in the derivation (65a). Furthermore, they can occur in the 'relative location
construction' (cf. §7.3.2.2) to indicate a figure's location with respect to one side of a ground object
(65b).
(65) a. Re are-tye.lhe-ke Anmatyerre mape ayerrere-thayete.

3sgA see-GO&DO-pc Anmatyerre pl(grp) north-side of
He came across the Anmatyerre people on the north side.
b. Ayenge lhere-nge angathe-thayete-le ne-me.

1sgS creek bed-ABL this side of-SIDE-LOC live-npp
I live on this side of the creek. [but I live away from the creek]
There are a few cases in which -thayete 'side of' does not attach to forms which have a spatial
sense. The first instance is where it is suffixed to arrpenhe 'other, another' to give arrpenhe-thayete
which can be glossed as 'other side' and which indicates the opposite area from the one the speaker and
hearer are in, or from the one being talked about. Arrpenhe-thayete 'other side' can also designate kin
relations which are either of a different generation or, more often, of a different patrimoiety with respect
to a given person. This leads to the fact that the conceptual domain of kinship, which can be conceived
of as being divided into diametrically opposed, but complementary, named sections, may be treated
similarly to space in that the terms designating the 'poles' of this system can also take -thayete 'side of'.
So, for the two opposing generations we can have nwerne-kenhe-thayete (1pl.samePat.sameGen.-
POSS-side of) 'our side, the same generation' and nyurrpe-thayete (opposite generation-side of) 'the
side of the opposite generation'. For the two opposing patrimoieties we get anwakerre-thayete
(1pl.samePat.dif.Gen-side) 'our side, the same patrimoiety' and malyanweke-thayete (opposite
partimoiety-side of) 'the side of the opposite partrimoiety'.
7.4.2.2 -ampinye 'vicinity of'

The form -ampinye 'vicinity of' is clearly cognate with the Antekerrepenhe form '-ampenye'
which Breen (1982 ms.:3) describes as a noun stem formative "which is combined with location words
and the compounds thus formed, with or without locative suffix (-l), function as locative phrases." This
description is very roughly in accord with the facts for -ampinye 'vicinity of' in Mparntwe Arrernte,
although the notion of what a 'location word' is must be reviewed. Further, the ability to occur with or
without -le LOC/ADV is the diagnostic used here for the identification of adverbs rather than nouns.
Moreover, while not providing a definition for '-ampenye', Breen's most consistent gloss is 'side'. If this
is the case, then the Mparntwe Arrernte form is semantically distinct from the Antekerrepenhe form.
In Mparntwe Arrernte -ampinye 'vicinity of' can suffix to spatial nominals, spatial parts cum
positionals (66b), cardinal point terms, body part terms (66a), place names and phrases referring to
places or locations (66c). In other words, it may attach to anything that has a spatial/locational element
as part of its semantics. Thus, while kaperte 'head' would not normally be described as a location word,
it does entail a specific spatial relationship between the part designated and the rest of the body. The
sense imparted by -ampinye is similar to 'in the vicinity of'. That is, one is not saying something is really
located at the place or thing that -ampinye suffixes to, but it is in that general area. This can be said of
something that is changing its location within one area and so is not located at one specific point (66a),
or it can be said of something that has a specific location but the speaker is not sure of that location
(66b) or is unable to describe that location precisely (66c).
(66) a. Menge kngerre alkere-le-lhe-me kaperte-ampinye.
fly big sky-LOC-go-npp head-vicinity of
There's a big fly flying around in the vicinity of (my) head.
b. Pwerte kwatye-kwatye re yakwethe kwen-ampinye(-le)

ne-me.
stone water-water 3sgS bag inside-vicinity of(-LOC) be-npp.
The quartz crystal (ie. transluscent stone) is somewhere inside the bag.
[There are lots of things in the bag so it may be hard to find immediately]
c. Itne road mpwareke pmere re-rle ahelhe-ke irrpe-ke-rle-

ampinye.
3plA road make-pc place 3sgS-REL ground-DAT go into-
pc-REL-vicinity of
They are building a road in the vicinity of where it (the totemic ancestor) went
into the ground.
7.4.2.3 -[ke]rleke 'outer surface contact; connected to' (CONNECT)

The 'suffix' -[ke]rleke 'surface contact, connected to' is difficult to categorise in formal terms
since it appears to be in transition between a clitic form -rleke which only attaches to nominals in the
dative case and a spatial suffix -kerleke which has incorporated the dative case -ke. This distinction in
form is most obvious with the irregular dative pronouns. The third singular dative pronoun ikwere may,
for instance, show up as either ikwere-rleke or ikwere-kerleke when suffixed with this form. I am not
able to state with any confidence the social, pragmatic, or semantic distribution of these two variants. I
would mention, however, that this is parallel to the situation concerning the aversive suffix -ketye (cf.
§4.2.1.3). In recognition of this variation the form will be cited as -[ke]rleke 'CONNECT' in the
discussion. Note also that this form commonly 'replaces' the case marking on noun complements that
would generally be assigned locative case -le or dative case -ke (in its sense of end point location) and
so, although it can create forms which can have an adverbial function, it is not clear that whether it should
be analysed as an aberrant case form or a type of adverb deriving suffix. It has been included in this
section primarily on semantic grounds.
In the most general of terms -[ke]rleke 'CONNECT' predicates a spatial relation between two
entities and is attached to the entity functioning as ground. The nature of this spatial relation depends on
whether the two entities are discrete count nouns, like irrtyarte 'spear', or whether they can have a mass
noun interpretation, like kwatye 'water'. Where the two objects are discrete and countable -[ke]rleke
'CONNECT' is often translated as 'on' or 'onto'. These are fairly accurate translations if we accept
Bennet's (1975:67) compositional definition of English 'on' as "locative surface", which is proposed to
account for sentences like 'There's a book on the table' and 'There's a picture on the wall'. In the
translation of both of these sentences the use of -[ke]rleke 'CONNECT' would be appropriate (67).
(67) a. Pipe table-kerleke ne-me. b. Picture wall-kerleke ne-me

book table-CONNECT be-npp. picture wall-CONNECT
be-npp
There's a book on the table. There's a picture on the wall.
In the case of the Mparntwe Arrernte form, however, some further semantic specifications must be
added. Firstly, -[ke]rleke can not be used to predicate a spatial relation of two entities which are
associated as part and whole. In other words the entities must be completely separate entities.
Secondly, the thing that is located is portrayed as being fully connected in some way to the entity acting
as ground. With count nouns this connection is between the outer surfaces of the entity and the
connection can be made utilising an intermediate object (68).
(68) a. Re kele ulyentye-le ne-rlene-me-le lyeke tyarre-lhe-ke;

3sgA OK shade-LOC sit-CONT-npp-SS prickle(O) extract-
REFL-pc
mpere-kerleke ante ingke artepe-kerleke.
knee-CONNECT and foot back-CONNECT
While he was sitting in the shade he pulled prickles out of himself; (they
were stuck) on his knees and on the tops of his feet.
b. The rope-le nyente-lhile-ke mweteke Toyota

tyenhe-kerleke
1sgA rope-INST one-CAUSE-pc car Toyota
1sgPOSS-CONNECT
knge-ty-alpe-tyenhenge town-werne.
take-hither-go back-SBSQNT town-ALL
I attached the car onto my Toyota with a rope and then towed it
back to town.
c. ..., rlke-le anteme nhenge itere arrpenhe-thayete-werne

anteme
..., wind-ERG now REMEMB side other-side of-ALL
now
nhenge kwatye ikwere-rleke werne-ke.
REMEMB water 3sgDAT-CONNECT blow-pc
..., the wind had blown those things (the plant debris) on the surface of the
water across to the other side.
Where the two entities to be related are mass nouns, the sense of being firmly in contact, and
connected, with each other is understood in terms of the two things being completely mixed together.
There is no reference to outside surface contact in this instance since the contact can be seen to be
complete through and through, thereby forming a new whole (69a) or a new total (69b).
(69) a. ..., ngkwarle untyeye yanhe-ulkere ke-me-le itne kwele

..., nectar corkwood that(mid)-KIND cut-npp-SS 3sgA
QUOT
arrerne-tyerte kwatye-kerleke ikwemeye re-nhe ntywe-tyenhenge.
put-rem.p.hab. water-CONNECT sweet 3sg-ACC drink-
SBSQNT
..., they apparently gathered corkwood nectar of that sort and they used to mix
it with water and then drink that sweet (concoction).
b. Pwerte lhang-Ø-aye nhenhe-kerleke twenty dollar

money add on-IMP-EMPH this-CONNECT twenty dollar
mpware-tyeke, merne-ke.
make-PURP, food-DAT.
Add some money onto this (money) to make up twenty dollars for groceries.
7.4.2.4 The four "-wards" suffixes: -ntyele / -tyele 'from onwards'; -theke / -thepe
'towards'; -ntape 'upwards'; and -kerle "downwards"
Mparntwe Arrernte possesses a system of four suffixal forms which are used to indicate that
some entity or event is aligned with respect to a given point of orientation. This system realises two
major oppositions. The first opposition is between -ntyele / -tyele 'from onwards; away from' and -
theke / -thepe 'towards', while the second opposition is between -ntape 'upwards' and -kerle
'downwards'. Corresponding to these oppositions, each pair of suffixes has a special affinity for another
pair of spatial forms which maintain similar oppositions. The suffixes -ntyele / -tyele 'from onwards' and -
theke / -thepe 'towards' are associated with the spatial cases -nge 'ABL' and -werne 'ALL'
respectively (cf. §4.2.6.B & §4.2.7.b), while -ntape 'upwards' and -kerle 'downwards' only attach to
kertne 'up, above, top' and kwene 'down, below, bottom' respectively. The adverbal and adverbial
adjuncts that these suffixes form may describe static orientation (lean towards) as well as dynamic
orientation (move upwards).
As well as attaching to the end of NPs marked with the ablative or allative case (70a),
(functioning either as complement or adjunct), the forms -ntyele / -tyele 'from onwards' and -theke / -
thepe 'towards' may also attach directly to nominals or adverbs which have an inherent spatial/locational
sense. As noted in §4.2.6.B, -ntyele / -tyele 'from onwards' indicates that an event or an entity is
oriented away from the direction, place, or entity that this suffix attaches to (70b). The variant forms of
this suffix parallel the variation in the form of the verb nominalising suffix -ntye / -tye, but I can offer no
explanation for the variation; -ntyele is the more common of the two variants. The suffix -theke / -
thepe 'towards' indicates that an entity or event is oriented so that it is aligned towards the reference
point which bears this suffix (70c). The variant form -theke is the most commonly encountered form in
Mparntwe Arrernte, while -thepe is encountered in other Arandic varieties such as Western Aranda.
The use of both forms in Mparntwe Arrernte may simply be for stylistic effect.
(70) a. Thipe kweke antywe-nge-ntyele tnye-tyenhe ahelhe-werne-theke.

bird little nest-ABL-onwards fall-npc ground-ALL-wards
The baby bird will fall from out of the nest towards the ground.
b. Ikwere-nge arne ilwempe yanhe tne-me alturle-ntyele.

3sgDAT tree ghost gum that(mid) stand-npp west-
onwards.
Because of that, that ghost gum stands (leaning) from the west.
c. Arrwekele-theke are-tye-te-lhe-tyeke!
front-wards see-GO-pl.S/A-&DO-PURP
You must go along and look towards the front.
The form -ntape 'downwards' is not attested except in combination with kertne 'up, above, top'
and the only other occurrence of -kerle 'downwards', outside of its association with kwene 'down,
below, bottom' , is in the 'associated motion' form -tye.kerle 'do while going downwards' (cf. §6.4.2).
These suffixal form, therefore, reiterate the spatial information in the forms they are fixed to and add an
'oriented towards' sense to them (71). The forms kertne-ntape 'upwards' and kwene-kerle 'downwards'
are apparently synonymous with the two derived forms which involve the same two 'spatial part cum
positional' forms and the semantically more general suffix -theke / thepe 'towards': kertne-theke
'upwards' and kwene-theke 'downwards'.
(71) a. Ilerne unte-rre-ke kertne-ntape pwerte kertne-werne.

1dlS hurry-dlS/A-pc up-upwards hill top-ALL
We (two) ran upwards to the top of the hill.
b. Irrtyarte kertne-ntape tne-me.

spear up-upwards stand-npp
The spear is standing upright. [ie. standing upwards with spear point up]
c. Inwerle atnarnpe-me kwene-kerle pwerte-werne.

spider descend-npp down-downwards rock-ALL
The spider is descending downwards towards the rock. [ie. It is lowering itself
down on its thread.]
d. Antyipere kaperte kwene-kerle arlpere ne-rlene-me.

bat head down-downward hanging be-cont-npp
The bat is hanging upside down. [lit. The bat is hanging head downwards.]
7.4.2.5 A note on the expression of spatial locational concepts

It is important to remember that much of the information as to the specific locational relation
between a figure and a ground is often left to pragmatics; the exact relation being pragmatically derived
on the basis of the sense of the particular locative case form chosen, the nature of the figure, the nature
of the ground, and the particular event that is being predicated in the clause. So, for example, if -le
'LOC' marks the ground and the verb ne- 'be, sit, live' is the clausal predicate, then the default
interpretation of the figure-ground relation will be 'on' when, for instance, the figure is a person and the
ground is a chair. If the figure is a group of people and the ground is a fire then the canonical
interpretation will be 'around' the fire, and where the ground is a car and the figure a jerrycan of petrol,
the default interpretation is that the jerry can is 'inside' the car. It would be unwise to underestimate the
degree to which this sort of inference, based on canonical associations between objects, is used in text
and conversation. However, as we have seen in §7.3.2 and in this section, there are formal means by
which a more precise characterisation of spatial location can be communicated when necessary.
Compare, for instance, the four examples in (72) which have ilwempe 'ghost gum' as figure and pwerte
'hill' as the primary ground. The expression of the different locational relations between figure and
ground in these examples involve the cardinal point term ayerrere 'north' in combination with -thayete
'side of' (72a), -ampinye 'vicinity of' (72b) , as well as occurring in the 'relative location construction'
(72b, c) and as an adjectival modifier (72d).
(72) a. Ilwempe pwerte ayerrer-thayete-le ne-me.

ghost gum hill north-side of-LOC be/sit-npp
The ghost gum is on the north side of the hill.
b. Ilwempe pwerte-nge ayerrere-le ne-me.

ghost gum hill-ABL north-LOC be-npp
The ghost gum is (just) north of the hill.
c. Ilwempe pwerte-nge ayerrere-ampinye-le ne-me.

ghost gum hill-ABL north-vicinity-LOC be-npp
The ghost gum is somewhere around the area north of the hill.
d. Ilwempe pwerte ayerrere-le ne-me.

ghost gum hill north-LOC be-npp
The ghost gum is on the north hill.
A further observation concerns Talmy's (1983:17-19) claim that "[e]xpressions that refer to a
Reference Objects parts in order to localise a figure divide into three kind according to the amount of
distance they indicate". The three kinds involve (i) contact with; (ii) adjacency to; or (iii) being at some
distance from, a biased part. In Mparntwe Arrernte this corresponds, respectively, to (i) the use of a
'spatial part cum positional' form in a part-whole construction : pwerte kertne-le (hill top-loc) 'on the hill';
(ii) the use of the 'relative location construction': pwerte-nge kertne-le (hill-ABL above-LOC) 'just
above the rock'; and (iii) the use of the 'relative location construction' in combination with -ampinye
'vicinity of': pwerte-nge kertne-ampinye-le (hill-ABL above-vicinity-LOC) 'in the vicinity of the area
above the hill'.
7.4.3 Manner, aspectual, and 'degree of achievement' derivations

7.4.3.1 -le 'manner adverb formative' (ADV)
In §4.2.4.4.1 I discussed the fact that the case suffix -le, which indicates ergative, locative, and
instrumental case, could be used on nominals to indicate adverbial function and that it was not clear
which, if any, of the case notions this adverbial function was to be associated with. Indeed, it would
seem reasonable to argue that a significant number of adjectival nominals are derived into manner
adverbs through suffixation of -le. While true manner adverbs may optionally host -le, adjectives must
bear it if they are to function as an adverb. I have, tentatively, assigned the gloss of 'ADV' to this
function of -le. Manner adverbs which are derived from adjectives using -le 'ADV' indicate that the
performer of the action is characterised by the adjectival quality and this is manifested in the way they
perform the verb action, or that the manner in which the performer does the action suggests that the
adjectival quality could be predicated of them, at least for the duration of the performance. A large
proportion of the adjectives which commonly enter into this derivation describe human emotions,
abilities, and bodily states. (egs. (73, 74)).
(73) pure 'shy' pure-le 'shyly'

arerte 'deaf; stupid; unthinking' arerte-le 'stupidly; do without
thinking'
alenpenye 'smart, clever' alenpenye-le 'cleverly'
purrke 'tired' purrke-le 'tiredly'
(74) a. Lhwarrpe-le re ile-ke arrule-nye-kerte.

sad-ADV 3sgA tell-pc long ago-tmp.nom-PROP
Sadly he told (us) about things from long ago.
b. ..., lyeke re-nhe kwele atere-le tyarre-tyenhenge

..., prickle 3sg-ACC QUOT afraid-ADV extract-SBSQNT
iparrpe-iparrpe nthurre-le kwele mpere-kerleke.
quickly-quicklyINTENS-ADV QUOT knee-CONNECT
..., and then (she) fearfully, and very very quickly, pulled out the prickles
stuck into the (baby's) knees.
Compare this use of -le 'ADV' with the use of 'same subject' -le in the formation of adverbial clauses (cf.
§4.2.4.4.3 and §11.2).
7.4.3.2 The unproductive suffix -ntye (val.adv) and value adverbs

The value adjectives mwarre 'good', (a)kenge 'bad', and kurne 'bad' all have corresponding
adverb forms ending in -ntye: mwarre-ntye 'do well, successfully', (a)kenge-ntye 'do badly', and kurne-
ntye 'do badly'. As their glosses suggest, these 'derived' forms are used to evaluate the performance of
an action with respect to one's expectations as to how the action should be performed successfully (eg.
75).
(75) a. Nwerne ahentye-ne-me ampe mape
1plS desire-be/sit-npp child pl(grp)
mwarre-ntye kaltye-le-nthe-tyeke.
good-val.adv. knowledge-LOC/INST-give-PURP
We want to teach our children well.
b. Iwenhe-nge unte akenge-ntye angke-me, irrkwertethe-arteke.

what-ABL 2sgS bad-val.adv. speak-npp, stutterer-SEMBL
Why are you speaking badly, like someone with a speech impediment.
These forms are not used to evaluate the consequences of the action nor do they suggest an evaluation
of the performer. It sometimes appears that the value adjectives can occur on their own as adverbs in a
sentence (with no affixation), but it seems that these uses can be analysed as adjectival; where a given,
or understood, entity is being evaluated rather than the performance of the action. Thus, although a
sentence like (76) might be translated into English as 's/he spoke well', it must be understood to mean
that the speaker is saying good things rather than saying them well.
(76) Re mwarre angke-ke.

3sgS good speak-pc
S/He said good things. [ie. S/He said correct and sensible things.]
Note that the English form -way may sometimes replace -ntye 'value adverb' on these adjectives
(77), and it seems that -le 'ADV' (cf. §7.4.3.1) may also be used to derive 'value adverbs'.
(77) Relhe re kenhe mwarre-way re kwele tyerne-rlenge, ...

woman 3sgS BUT good-way 3sgS QUOR responded-D.S, ...
But the woman responded properly, ...
The -ntye suffix, in this function of deriving adverbs, appears to be of limited productivity. It
does, however, seem to be related to the -ntye ending which optionally occurs on the end of the manner
adverb artange 'co-operatively' (cf. §7.3.3.1). It is also intriguing that this termination is formally
identical to the productive verb nominaliser -ntye (cf. §3.10.1.1), but beyond this little more can be
said.
7.4.3.3 -ngare / -renge 'happens X number of times' (TIMES)

The suffix -ngare / -renge 'TIMES' has already been mentioned and partially exemplified in §3.5.
There it was pointed out that this suffix attaches exclusively to quantifier nominals and derives an adverb
that indicates that the event which it modifies happens as many times as is indicated in the root of the
derivation. Where the action happens more than once, then the actions are typically understood to
happen regularly one after another. Forms with -ngare / -renge 'TIMES' may also be used to indicate
the number of days or nights an action occurred. Thus, -ngare / -renge 'TIMES' derives new members
into the class of 'aspectual adverbs' which was discussed in §7.3.3.2 (78).
(78) a. Itne kaperte ingkerne-thayete ayenge therre-ngare

3plA head back of-side 1sgO two-TIMES
tanthe-ke, ayenge ankw-ile-tyeke.
spear/poke-pc 1sgO sleep-CAUS-PURP.
They injected me twice in the back side of the head in order to put me to sleep.
[ie. The doctors gave me two shots in the back of the head.]
b. Awethe-ngare apeke itne nhenge arne twe-rlt.alpe-me ...

more/again-TIMES maybe 3plA REMEMB tree hit/chop-
plS/A.DO&GO BACK-npp
Sometimes (ie. at other times) they might chop some wood and bring it back ...
[From Stevens, in Henderson, ed.,1986:8; my translation and morphemic analysis]
The two variant forms of -ngare / -renge 'TIMES' apparently have the same meaning and can
attach to the same range of quantifier nominals; the form -ngare is, however far more common.
Strehlow (1944:104-105) observes that "-raÑa is the suffix usually employed in W[estern] A[randa]
and N[orthern] A[randa], -Ñara that found in E[astern] A[randa] and S[outhern]A[randa]; but neither is
unknown in the other districts". Note that the two variants appear to arise as a metathesis of the syllables
'nga' and 're'. Morphemes which have metathesised variants are attested elsewhere in Mparntwe
Arrernte; for example, the word for 'a fly' may be either menge or ngeme. Metathesis as a source of
new morphemes in Arandic languages could have been quite common. Turner and Breen (1984)
describe a play language, called Rabbit Talk, which is used by speakers of the Akarre variety of Arandic
languages and in which the main rule involves a shifting of the first consonant or consonant cluster, and
any preceding vowel, to the end of the word.
7.4.4 Adverb Reduplications

Unlike nominal reduplications (§3.10.5) and verb reduplications (§5.4.1), there are no attested
partial reduplications which act as adverbs. All reduplications which give rise to adverbs are, therefore,
total reduplications; although a number of these have no attested root form (§7.4.4.1). As with nominal
and verbal reduplication, some adverb reduplications are morphologically linked (§7.4.4.4).
Semantically, most of the reduplications which realise adverbs, convey a sense of 'repetition' and/or
'continuity' (cf. (1, 2, and 4 below)), just as we've seen for reduplications in other parts of speech.
7.4.4.1 Total Reduplications with no analysable root forms: Accompanying stance or noise
In Wilkins (1984a:21) I claimed that there were a number of unanalysable reduplications which
could be classified as 'manner adjectives' and which indicated that "to do something X-X is to perform a
specific action over an over again". While I basically hold to this characterisation of their meaning - with
the additional component that the action is performed with a specific accompanying stance or noise -- I
would now classify these forms as adverbs rather than adjectives (79, 80). One reduplication that fits
here on semantic grounds, but does have an analysable root, is rltare-rltare 'to do making a regular
knocking or ticking noise' which is formed by duplicating rltare 'knock, tick, clap, sound made by hitting
arne terwerre 'clapping sticks' together'
(79) male-male to move in manner appropriate to traditional form of

meeting between strangers which involves repeated stylised
actions and preparation to do battle
artwiltye-artwilye to move along with spear held ready and aimed
lthape-lthape do an action that results in the lapping sound that dogs
make or that water in a rockhole makes against the sides
nentye-nentye do making shuffling or padding noises (spec. with feet)
(80) a. Kele male-male kwele re nyent-irre-tyeke lhe-ke, ...

OK meet traditional way QUOT 3sgS one-INCH-PURP go-pc, ...
So, he went to meet (with the stranger) in the traditional way, ...
b. Kngwelye-le lthape-lthape ntywe-me.
dog-ERG "lappingly" drink-npp
The dog drinks making a lapping sound.
7.4.4.2 Reduplications to form temporal adverbs

In §7.3.1 I noted that the Arrernte day is divided into ten named time periods (cf. examples in
(9)) and that the terms for these time periods act both as temporal adverbs and temporal nominals. The
reader may have noticed that three of these ten time periods are designated by forms which are
reduplications of recogniseable free root forms. Two of these reduplications, angwerre-angwerre
'evening time preceding sunset' and ingwenthe-ingwenthe 'early morning just after sunrise', are derived
from forms that are themselves temporal adverbs; angwerre 'afternoon period' and ingwenthe
'tomorrow, next few days, very near future' respectively. The third reduplication, kethe-kethe 'pre-
sunrise, when sky is red' is based on the form kethe 'outside of; cleared; naked'
7.4.4.3 Reduplication of Aspectual Adverbs

The three aspectual adverbs discussed in §7.3.3.2 can all be fully reduplicated. The force of
these reduplications is to emphasise, and intensify, the degree of continuation or repetition indicated in
the root form adverb. These reduplications usually imply surprise over the fact that the action has
continued or been repeated to the degree it has (eg. 81, 82).
(81) kwete 'still, keep on' kwete-kwete 'keep on and on, though
you thought it might have
finished by now'
awethe 'again, more' awethe-awethe 'again and again,
more than expected'
kwetethe 'always' kwetethe-kwetethe 'always, without a break;
you'd think that there
could be a break'
(82) Mperlkere mape-le warle arte-me pmere meke-meke-ke

white grp(pl)-ERG house build-npp place sacred site-DAT
Alices Spring-le, pmere Mparntwe-le, kwetethe-kwetethe.
Alice Springs-LOC, place Mparntwe-LOC, always-always
White people are forever building houses on sacred sites (here) in Alice Springs.
One reduplicated form that belongs in this grouping on semantic grounds is impene-impene 'to
keep on doing to the very end without a break'; there is, however, no attested form impene outside this
reduplication (83).
(83) Re pmere impene-impene(-le) mpware-me.

3sgA house do to end(-LOC/ADV) make/do-npp
He'll keep on building the house until it's finished. [M.H. gave the context as
someone trying to get a house ready before impending rains.]
7.4.4.4 Morphologically linked reduplication

Adverbs may also be derived by linking certain nominal roots with their fully reduplicated copies
by using -ke 'dative' or -me 'unified quantity' (cf. §3.10.3.5). Reduplications linked by these morphemes
typically derive manner or temporal adverb. Temporal adverbs arise when it is a temporal nominal root
(eg. arlte 'day') which is reduplicated and manner adverbials arise from the reduplication of quantifiers
(eg. nyente 'one') or certain adjectival nominals (eg. kweke 'little').
The form of reduplication where -me 'unified quantity' links the nominal root and its copy is both
formally and semantically similar to English forms such as 'inch-by-inch', 'little-by-little' (kweke-me-
kweke), and 'day-by-day' (arlte-me-arlte) in which 'by' is used to link reduplicated forms. The sense
that the 'nominal-me-nominal' derivation conveys is that the whole of the action referred to is built up, or
achieved, through repeated, incremental, actions. The increment, or measure, by which the action is built
up is indicated in the root of the reduplication (84).
(84) a. Nwerne lesson mape kaltye-le-nthe-me nyente-me-
nyente.
1plA lesson pl(grp) knowledge-LOC/INST-give-npp one-UQ-
one
We teach the lessons one-by-one. [ie. in order, not so much one at a time]
b. Unte kwenhe Arrernte-ke kalty-irre-tyeke kweke-me-

kweke!
2plS ASSERT Arrernte-DAT knowledge-INCH-PURP little-UQ-
little
You should learn Arrernte little-by-little! [Don't try to do it all at once.]
In §3.10.3.5 it was noted that -me 'unified quantity' was used to derive quantifiers where the
quantified referents are identified as making up a coherent, unified group. This sense is in keeping with
the present use where incremental actions are seen to become unified to achieve the overall goal of the
action.
Where the dative suffix -ke links reduplicated nominals, the resultant adverbs indicate that the
action referred to is achieved over and over again according to some sort of regular pattern. The action
may recur at some regular time interval (85a), the same number of actors may perform the action each
time (85b), there may be the same number of recipients each time (85c) , and so on. Although -ke
'DAT' is often translated by English 'to', there is only a superficial resemblance between English forms
like 'day-to-day' and Arrernte temporal reduplications linked with the dative. When the root of the
reduplication is a number term the sense of the derivation is akin to English 'at a time' in phrases like 'five
at a time'.
(85) a. Re gotta lhe-rle urrkape-tyeke arlte arrpenhe-k-arrpenhe.

3sgS have to go-GenEvt work-PURP day other-DAT-other
He has to work each day.
b. ..., nwerne tnye-rlepe-ke therre-ke-therre-le crowbar nyente-

kerte-le
..., 1plA dig-DO ALONG-pc two-DAT-two-ADV crowbar
one-PROP-INST
..., we dug two at a time with one crowbar each, as we went along.
[ie. There were four people and two crowbars and they were going along
digging up witchetty grubs.]
c. Lesson nhenhe ampe mape-ke nthe-Ø nyente-ke-nyente.

lesson this child pl(grp)-DAT give-IMP one-DAT-one.
Give this lesson out to the children one at a time. (ie. one each; one copy of the
lesson to each child)
Examples (84a) and (85c) demonstrate fairly clearly the distinction between the 'nominal-me-
nominal' and the ' nominal-ke-nominal' adverb deriving reduplications.
Chapter Eight
Particle/Clitics
This chapter contains a simple inventory of the particle/clitics which have been collected to date.
Chapter 9 discusses in detail the the meaning and use of five members of the particle/clitic class and
demonstrates the complexities involved in assessing the exact contribution of a particle/clitic to an
utterance.
As mentioned in §1.1.4.1, the collection of particle/clitics is not strictly a word class since it
contains both free and bound morphemes. A particle is here defined as any free word form which
cannot, by itself, take any form of inflection. A clitic, on the other hand, is a bound morpheme which can
occur post inflectionally and is not itself derivational or inflectional. There are four reasons why I choose
to treat particles and clitics together. Firstly , the formal boundaries between particles and clitics are, in
reality , particularly difficult to define for Mparntwe Arrernte. Secondly, in Mparntwe Arrernte,
members of the two form types often fall together because of related semantic functions, as shown in
chapter 9. Thirdly, if one looks at a cross section of Australian languages (Pama-Nyungan and Non-
Pama-Nyungan) then one finds a significant degree of agreement between the stock of meanings
encoded through the particle/clitic grouping. One language might, however, have a certain meaning
encoded in a clitic form, while another has it in a particle form. This generalisation does not seem to hold
for languages outside of Australia (ie. that certain meanings like hearsay are going to be encoded in
particle or clitic form). Finally, as discussed in §8.3 below, there is a linguistic phenomenon which I am
calling 'particle/clitic' insertion that is restricted to certain members of both the particle subclass and the
clitic subclass, and is not attested with nominals, verbs, or adverbs.
8.1 Clitics
8.1.1 Enclitics which may attach to either verbs or nominals
8.1.1.1 -arteke 'semblative' (SEMBL)
The enclitic -arteke 'semblative' means that something is 'like' or 'resembles' the thing, quality,
time, or action to which it attaches (eg.1).
(1) a. Urreye nhenge-le mpware-ke artwe-l-arteke.

boy REMEMB-ERG do-pc man-ERG-SEMBL
The boy behaved just like a man (does)
b. Re petye-ke re lhe-rlenge-arteke.
3sg S come-pc 3sgS go-DS-SEMBL
She came at the same time as he went.
c. Lyet-ulkere ampe mape ne-tyeke arrenge

today-more child pl(grp) be-PURP grandfather(FF)
itne-kenhe ne-tyert-arteke.
3pl-POSS be-rem.p.hab-SEMBL
Nowadays kids should be like their grandfathers used to be.
8.1.1.2 -tetye 'instead'

The clitic -tetye 'instead' signals that one thing or action occurred 'instead of' or 'in contradiction
to' another, as in the examples in (2).
(2) a. Re-tetye ater-irre-me, ayenge-kwenye.

3sgS-instead afraid-INCH-npp, 1sg-Nom NEG
He's the one who's getting frightened; not me.
b. Ultake-lhe-ntye imp-Ø-aye, mwarre-tetye nth-Ø-aye.

break-REFL-NMZR(O) leave-IMP-EMPH, good(O)-instead
give-IMP-EMPH.
Leave the broken one give me the good one instead.
c. Ampe ikwere ahentye-ne-tyekenhe, ater-irre-me-tetye.

child(S) 3sgDAT desire-be-VbNEG, afraid-INCH-npp-instead
Children don't like him, on the contrary, they become afraid of him.
8.1.1.3 -warte 'since, because (as you should know)' (SINCE)

The reason why a situation is the way it is may be indicated by the element to which the clitic -
warte 'since, because' attaches. At the same time as indicating a reason, -warte 'since, because'
implies that the addressee should already be familiar with the reason. Further, -warte indicates that the
situation is what would be expected given the contents of the element to which it cliticises. This clitic
may be explicated roughly as follows: 'what else would one expect since, as you would know, X is the
case'. This is exemplified by (3).
(3) a. Kele nhenge irrkwe-rre-ntye-warte, arrpenhe uyarne
O.K. REMEMB hold-RECIP-NMZR-SINCE, OTHER in vain
murnt-irre-tyerte, kenhe arrpenhe-le re-nhe tyarre-knge-tyerte.
refuse-INCH-rem.p.hab, BUT other-ERG 3sg-ACC pull out-
take-rem.p.hab
Since these were siamese twins (as you know), the other one used to refuse (to
go hunting) in vain, but the other (twin) just used to drag him along.[T9-7,8,9]
b. Re lhe-ke-rlenge-warte, the mpware-me.

3sgS go-pc-DS-SINCE, 1sgA do-npp.
Since (as you would know) he's left, I'm doing it.
8.1.1.4 -me 'interrogative' (INTER)

The interrogative clitic -me is discussed in detail in §9.3.3. It forms a question which seeks
information about the referent (thing or action) of the constituent to which it is attached. Constituents
with -me 'interrogative' attached to them occur clause initially.
(4) Penny-le-me puke mape arrern-irtne-ke?

Penny-ERG-INTER book pl(grp) put-REVERS-pc.
Was it Penny who put the books back (on the shelves)?
8.1.1.5 -athewe? 'isn't it?' (TAG)

The clitic -athewe 'isn't it?' conveys that the speaker wants the addressee to agree that the
proposition that s/he has just stated is true, thus acting something like tag questions in English, as
illustrated in (5).
(5) a. Bruce Lee-athewe mwarr-ulkere.

Bruce Lee-TAG good-more.
It's Bruce Lee who's the best, isn't it?
b. The karte-nge impe-k-athew-aye.
1sgA cards-ABL leave(win)-pc-TAG-EMPH
I won at cards, didn't I?!
8.1.1.6 -eye? 'is it?'

Cliticising a single word or phrase with -eye? 'is it?' forms a type of "yes-no" question. The
force of the question is roughly: 'Is it true that X is the case?'. The usage of this form is demonstrated in
(6).
(6) a. Ngkwinh-eye? b. Ingkwetwe-k-eye?

2sgPOSS-is it? nearly hit-pc-is it?
Is this yours? Did it nearly hit (him)?
8.1.1.7 -arteye? 'what about?'

The clitic -arteye 'what about?' forms a question which asks whether a proposition which holds
for one thing also holds for the thing to which this form is cliticised (eg. 7). In other words, it asks: 'What
about X with respect to the proposition at hand, is the proposition true for X as well?'.
(7) a. Robert-arteye? Re-me petye-me?

Robert-what about? 3sgS-INTER come-npp?
What about Robert? Is he coming along (too)?
b. Alhe-me kwatye-ke irrpe-tyek-arteye?

go-npp water-DAT go into-PURP-what about?
What about going for a swim?[(one of a series of suggestions of what to do]
8.1.1.8 -kathene 'mistaken belief' (MISTAKE)

A detailed discussion of -kathene 'mistaken belief' is contained in §9.3.2. This form basically
conveys the sense that 'someone mistakenly believed to be true' the proposition contained in, or
concerning, the thing/action to which -kathene 'mistaken belief' is attached (eg. 8)
(8) Kweke re-rle kwele ankw-inte-tyeme-kathene.

little 3sgS-FOC QUOT sleep-lie-pp-MISTAKE
The little baby was mistakenly believed to be sleeping (by its mother). [In fact it
was dead.] [T12-125]
8.1.1.9 -ante 'only, exclusively' (ONLY)

That a thing or action is the only thing or action in the particular context, and there is nothing else,
is signalled by -ante 'only, exclusively' (eg. 9). Very roughly -ante means 'X and nothing/no one other
than X'.
(9) a. Kwementyaye-kenhe pwerte atnyen-eye, ikwer-ante nthe-tyeke.

Kwementyaye-POSS money hold-PERM, 3sgDAT-ONLY give-
PURP
Could you hold on to Kwementyaye's pay and give it to her only (ie. don't
give it to anyone else).
b. Re arlkwe-tyek-ante lhe-ke.
3sgS eat-PURP-ONLY go-pc
He went only to eat (and for no other purpose).
8.1.1.10 -anteye 'as well, too, again, still' (AS WELL)

-Anteye 'as well, too, again, still' roughly conveys the sense that an event (stative or action) is to
be considered a "copy" of some other event or is an event that is happening in addition to another event.
When the event is seen as the duplication of another event, then the "copied" event may be performed at
the same time as the original event, but by a different S or A, in which case the glosses 'too' or 'as well'
are appropriate (eg. 10a,b). Where the event is repeated at some stage after the original event by the
same S or A, then the gloss 'again' is appropriate (eg. 10c). If the event is repeated continuously by the
same S or A argument, then native speakers may even translate -anteye as 'still'.
This clitic may attach to the verb which represents the duplicate or additional event (eg. 10a), or
it may attach to a subject argument to indicate that that entity is performing the same action as another
entity (eg. 10b), or it may attach to a spatial or temporal adverbial indicating the time or place at which
the event was repeated by the same entity (eg. 10c). Note that -anteye 'as well' commonly attaches to
awethe 'again, more' forming aweth-anteye 'once again, yet again'.
(10) a. Alturl-arenye map-arteke, itne "itye" angke-m-anteye.

West-ASSOC pl(grp)-SEMBL, 3plS "itye"(no) say-npp-AS
WELL
Like the Western Arrernte people, they (Anmatyerre people) say 'itye' (no,
nothing) as well.
b. Jocinta-le ankerte twe-ke, Thomas-l-anteye.

Jocinta-ERG bearded dragon hit-pc, Thomas-ERG-AS WELL
Jocinta killed a bearded dragon and Thomas did too.
c. Kenhe kwele relhe ingkern-anteye kem-irre-ke.

But QUOT woman(s) behind-AS WELL get up-INCH-pc
But once again the woman got up afterwards (after her husband or behind
him).[T12-94]
8.1.1.11 -kine / -'gain / -again 'same again'

The enclitic -kine / -'gain / -again 'same again' is a borrowing of English 'again' and the three
variant forms represent the different degrees to which speakers maintain the English pronunciation of the
form. In Mparntwe Arrernte the form is enclitic rather than free, a fact which might have arisen because
of the English form's rough semantic matching with the clitic -anteye 'AS WELL' (cf. §8.1.1.10). In fact
-kine 'same again' duplicates part of the functional range of -anteye 'AS WELL' and is used to indicate
that one action or thing is another instance of (ie. is the same again as) some previously mentioned action
or thing (eg. 11a). Like -anteye 'AS WELL', -kine 'same again' is regularly found attached to awethe
'again; more' to give a form which means 'once again, yet again' as in example (11)b.
(11) a. Alakenhe kwele old people mape-le

like so QUOT old people pl(grp)-ERG
awe-rrirre-tyerte-gain kwele.
hear-plS/A-rem.p.hab-same again QUOT
Just like that, so they say, old people used to hear (dog's speaking) the same
again (as I did). [T8-40]
b. ..., mpwepe-ke kwele re arrerne-lhe-ke, awethe-kine,

..., middle-DAT QUOT 3sgS put-REFL-pc, again-same again,
lyeke re-nhe tyarre-lhe-rle.ne-tyeke.
prickle 3sg-ACC pull out-REFL-CONT-PURP.
..., in the middle (of the path) he sat down and once again pulled the prickles
out of himself. [12 - 32]
8.1.1.12 -rlke 'too, as well' (TOO)

The clitic -rlke 'too, as well' indicates that the constituent to which it attaches refers to one in a
series of two or more things or actions. Each of the things or actions in the list share the same general
property or have the same thing predicated of them, as in (12). A brief explication would be: 'What is
said about U, (and V, (and W )) can, at the same time, be said about X' (ie. X is another thing which fits
in the proposition in the same way as other things being mentioned').
(12) a. Artw-ante ane-tyange, relhe-rlke.

man-ONLY be-VbNEG, women-TOO
There weren't only men but women as well.
b. Pmere ikwere-irre-me-le, nwerne ntywe-ke, arlkwe-ke-rlke.

camp 3sgDAT-INCH-npp-SS, 1plA drink-pc, eat-pc-TOO
When we got to the camp, we drank and ate too.
8.1.1.13 -kemparre 'be first' (FIRST)

-Kemparre 'be first' marks a thing or action as being 'the first in a succession of' two or more
things or actions, as examples (13)a and b demonstrate.
(13) a. Re-rle kwele ne-tyeme artwe re-kemparre

3sgS-FOC QUOT be-pp man 3sgS-FIRST
uyerre-nhe-tyenheng-aye, are-rle-ne-me-le...
disappear-DO PAST-SBSQNT-EMPH, see-CONTR-npp-SS...
She was sitting watching for the man (her husband) to leave first...(before
sending the baby off by itself) [T12-14]
b. Urreke nwerne n-eye-kemparr-aye,.....

later 1plS sit-PERM-FIRST-EMPH,
Hey, in a while, could we have a rest first (before moving on to do anything
else) [T7-12].
8.1.1.14 -urrke 'before doing anything else' (BEFORE)

The clitic -urrke 'BEFORE' may attach to nominal or verbal constituents, indicating that one
action is going to happen before anything else does, as in (14). There is apparently no entailment that
there be a definite action which is going to follow the action indicated.
(14) a. Ayeng-urrke ne-m-ewe, unte-kemparre lh-Ø-aye.

1sgS-BEFORE be-npp-EMPH+, 2sgS-FIRST go-IMP-EMPH
Before doing anything else (I'm adamant that) I'm going to have a rest here,
you go first.
b. Re lhe-k-urrke, kenhe re imerte petyalpe-me.

3sgS go-pc-BEFORE BUT 3sgS then return-npp
She went before doing anything else, but she'll be coming back.
8.1.1.15 -aye 'emphatic' (EMPH)

There are three emphatic clitics in Mpartwe Arrernte which can be used either to gain someone's
attention or to strengthen the force of the proposition being made (see also §8.1.1.16 and §8.1.1.17).
They are commonly, but by no means necessarily, associated with imperatives. The three vary in
strength of emphasis. The first of these, the mildest, is -aye 'emphatic', which roughly means 'I want you
to listen to what I'm saying' (eg. 15).
(15) Arelh-aye, ayenge artwe arrpenh-aye, kngwely-irre-tyel-aye!

woman-EMPH 1sgS man other-EMPH, dog-INCH-Neg IMP-EMPH
Hey lady, I'm really another man (ie. I'm not what you think I am). Don't
become like a dog! [ie. Stop trying to seduce me.]
8.1.1.16 -ewe 'strong emphatic' (EMPH+)
The second 'emphatic' clitic is -ewe 'strong emphatic' (EMPH+), which has a slightly stronger
force than -aye 'emphatic' and basically means: 'I really want you to listen to what I'm saying'.
Compare §8.1.1.15 and §8.1.1.17.
(16) Ampe map-ewe, apmwe-ketye ar-elp-ar-Ø-ewe!
child pl(grp)-EMPH+, snake - AVER see-C.Incep.rdp-IMP-EMPH+.
Hey children (listen carefully), you must begin watching out for snakes!.
8.1.1.17 -eyewe 'very strong emphatic' (EMPH++)

The strongest of the three emphatic clitics is -eyewe 'EMPH++'. A simple explication of its
meaning is:'You've got to listen to what I'm saying' (see also §8.1.1.15 and §8.1.1.16).
(17) Ure kngerr-eyewe! Nwerne gotta alpe-rl-eyewe,

fire big-EMPH++! 1plS got to go back-GenEvt-EMPH++,
ampe-ketye-nge!
burn-AVER-ABL!
Heyyy!! There's a big fire! We've really got to get (the hell) back to where we
were, or else we'll be cremated.
8.1.1.18 -rle 'focal constituent; relative clause; 'that' clause' (FOC; REL; THAT)
The clitic -rle marks three distinct, but related functions: 'focal constituent', 'relative clause', and
'that' clause'. In the first use, it can mark a constituent, other than a verb, which has focal prominence in
an utterance (eg. 18a and b). In this function it is frequently used to give emphasis to an element which is
being asserted in contradistinction to another given element. In general terms it means'this is what's being
talked about at the moment'.
(18) a. Artwe-le-kwenye re-nhe mpware-ke, Relhe-he-rle.

man-ERG-Nom NEG 3sq-ACC make-pc, woman-ERG-FOC
It wasn't a man who made it, it was a woman.
b. "Ayenge-rle kere-werne lhe-tyenhenge, ..."

1sg S-FOC game-ALL go-SBSQNT
I'm going hunting, ...[T12-5]
Secondly, -rle 'relative' may form a relative clause by cliticising to the first constituent of the
modifying clause, as in (19) below. It may also optionally cliticise to the end of the verb. Case for the
whole NP attaches to the end of the clitic. For a detailed description of relative clause formation and
relative clause types, see §10.1.3.
(19) Artwe alpe-me [[pmere]Hd [apmwerrke-rle

man go back-npp camp yesterday-REL.
re mpware-k-rle]SREL -werne]NP
3sgA make-pc-REL -ALL
The man is returning to the camp that he made yesterday.
Finally, -rle 'THAT' marks a that-complement clause for certain verbs of cognition, perception
and saying/telling (cf.§10.5.2). Once again the form -rle cliticises to the first element of the subordinate
clause but it cannot be repeated on any other element (including the verb). The complement clause
follows immediately after the verb to which it is subordinate (eg. 20).
(20) 'Unte re-nhe awe-tyenhenge ile-rlenge [re-rle kere arrwe

2sgA 3sg-ACC hear-SBSQNT tell-DS 3sgA-THAT game wallaby
arlkwe-tyekenhe ane-p-ane-me] ante re ngkwenge ile-tyenhe
eat-Vb NEG be-FREQ.rdp-npp and 3sgA 2sgDAT tell-npc
[yanhe-rle atningke ane-me apwerte akertne-le]'
there(mid)-THAT many be-npp hill top/up -LOC.
"You'll hear her tell (you) that she hasn't eaten any wallaby and she'll tell you
that there are a lot of them living up there in the hills." [From a text by Rosie
Ferber in Henderson ed. 1986: 58 (my morphemic analysis and translation)]
8.1.2 Enclitics which attach only to nominals or to both nominals and adverbs
8.1.2.1 -kwenye 'nominal negator' (NomNEG)
The 'nominal negator' clitic, -kwenye, has a number of uses. It may be used to indicate that the
referent of a nominal about which some proposition has been asserted does not fill the designated role in
the proposition (eg. (21) below, and cf. §8.1.1.17 (17) and §8.1.1.2 (2a)). Instead, the referent of some
other nominal fills the role. (ie.'X is not a thing/person about which you can say Y is true'; 'It's not
Z[person/thing] about which proposition Y is true (it's Z) ).
(21) Re are-ke aherre re-nhe, the-kwenye.

3sgA see-pc kangaroo 3sg-ACC, 1sgA-NomNEG
He saw the kangaroo, not me. (ie. it wasn't me who saw it)
Additionally, -kwenye 'nominal negator' may indicate that something is lacking from a situation or
a thing, as in example (22) below. In this function it is like the 'privative' case of other Australian
languages. Note that arrangkwe 'no, nothing; be nothing of' also has a similar function (cf. §5.1.2 and
§8.2.4.3).
(22) Itne kwatye-kwenye ane-me-le, itne ilwe-me peke.

3plS water-NomNEG be-npp-SS, 3plS die-npp maybe
Because they have no water, they might die.[ie. 'they are without water']
Finally, when -kwenye 'NomNEG' attaches to a verb nominalised with -ntye/-tye (cf.
§3.10.1.1), it can have the sense that the verb action has never yet happened or never will happen, as
the examples in (23) illustrates.
(23) a. New-ikwe are-tye-kwenye re ne-tyenhe.

spouse-3KinPOSS(O)see-NMZR-NomNEG 3sgS be-npc.
He will never see his wife again. [He will be without seeing his wife]
b. Atny-atye arrwekele-nge lhe-ntye-kwenye perre

uncle(MB)-1KinPOSS before-ABL go-NMZR-NomNEG
THOUGH
Sydney-werne re peke lhe-tyenhe ingwenthe-ulkere peke.
Sydney-ALL 3sgS maybe go-npc tomorrow-MORE
maybe.
Though my uncle has never been to Sydney before, he might go some day.
8.1.2.2 -ulkere 'comparative, more; kind of' (more; KIND)

The clitic -ulkere has two general uses, both of which are associated with comparison. In its first
function, it is used to create comparatives and attaches to a quantifier or adjectival nominal phrase to
indicate that one thing is greater in terms of the quantity (eg. 24a) or quality (eg. 24b) designated than
another thing is. The standard of comparison is marked by -nge 'ablative' (cf. §4.2.6.A.2). Note that it
is typically, but not necessarily, the case that the comparative precedes the standard of comparison.
(24) a. Purte nhenhe-ke therre awethe-ulkere arrerne-ke
cluster this-DAT two again-MORE put-pc
purte yanhe-nge.
cluster that-ABL.
There are two more put into this group than that group.
b. Ian arlpentye nthurr-ulkere nwerne-ke-nge

Ian(S) tall INTENS-MORE 1pl-DAT-ABL
Ian is much taller than us.
As an extention of this same function, -ulkere 'more' attaches to temporal adverbs/nominals

referring to points in time to indicate that the temporal reference has been increased. Thus, for example,
from cliticising lyete 'now; today', ingwenthe 'tomorrow', and apmwerrke 'yesterday' with -ulkere 'more',
we get lyet-ulkere 'nowadays; recently', ingwenth-ulkere 'a few days/weeks from now; sometime in the
future' and apmwerrk-ulkere 'a few days/weeks ago, sometime in the recent past' respectively.
The second general function of the form -ulkere is to indicate that one thing is of the same
general kind as another, or is of the kind being described or indicated. When telling a story, or in
conversation, speakers will often make the hand sign for a thing being referred to. So, instead of saying
the word for the thing, they will often use the demonstrative nhenge 'you remember the one' with ulkere
'kind' cliticised to it (ie. nhengulkere) meaning 'the thing of the kind that I just signed'.
(25) Unte warre kwatye pintye-pintye nheng-ulkere mape

2sgA REMIND water water-reeds REMEMB-KIND pl(grp)
itelare-Ø, kwatye-le tne-nhe-tne-nhe, ntye-ntye kngerre,
know-IMP, water-LOC stand-NMZR.Hab.rdp stink-NMZR big,
ikwer-ulkere kngerre-werne unte lhe-pe-lhe-Ø kwenhe.
3sgDAT-KIND big-ALL 2sgS go-FRQ.rdp-IMP ASSERT
You remember the water reeds of this kind (just signed), the ones that stand in
the water and stink a lot, you must keep on going to the big ones of that kind. [T12-
19,20,21]
8.1.2.3 -arrpe 'by one's self, on one's own' (SELF)

The clitic -arrpe 'self' attaches to the subject (ie. S/A) noun phrase to emphasise that the
referent(s) of that phrase does the verb action by itself(themselves), without anyone else doing the
action. (ie. X, and only X, does Y[verb action])
(26) a. Kwementyay-arrpe kwenhe re-nhe are-tyeke.

Kwementyaye-ERG-SELF ASSERT 3sg-ACC see-PURP
Kwementyaye should visit her himself (no one else).
b. Ane pmere ingkenye-nge kngwelye mape angke-rre-rle.

and camp deserted-ABL dog pl(grp) speak-RECIP-GenEvt
itn-arrpe peke unthe-rlte.ne-me-le
3plS-SELF maybe look for-CONTplS/A-npp-SS
And dogs would speak to each other in deserted camps when they were
travelling around by themselves. [T8-41]
The actual status of -arrpe 'self' as a clitic is unclear. In §3.9 it was noted that -arrpe 'self'
could be classed as a kin-relation nominal because it can take the kin possessive suffixes. It is also
clearly associated with the forms arrpenhe 'other' and arrpanenhe 'each, every, many different ones'.
The form arrpe 'self' does not, however, occur as an isolated word form on its own and, in the usage
considered here, it clearly fuses to become part of the preceding word.
There is one attested example of arrpe 'self' on a verb form. It is unclear whether this is
standard.
(27) ..., alpawe nthurre peke re petye-tyeke-arrpe antime.

..., weak INTENS maybe 3sgS come-PURP-SELF exactly
..., or even the very weak must themselves come right away. [T11-14]
8.1.2.4 -penhe 'poor thing; pitiable thing' (PITY)

The form -penhe 'poor thing' cliticises to both nominal and pronominal NPs (eg. (28a) and (28b)
respectively) which refer to an animate entity that has suffered or is suffering from some unpleasant
occurrence. The clitic indicates that the speaker feels that this entity is to be pitied or regarded with
sympathy because of its suffering. Not surprisingly, this form is commonly attached to the nominal kunye
'poor thing, dear thing', as in (28b).
(28) a. ...., alknge-therrke re-penhe kwele angke-rlenge;
...., cat(eye-green) 3sgS-PITY QUOT speak-DS
"Pleyathe! Pleyathe! Ayenge-penhe impe-rrirr-Ø-aye! ..."
"Please! Please! 1sgS-PITY leave-plS/A-IMP-EMPH..."
..., the poor cat, so they say, was saying "Please ! Please ! Leave poor
unfortunate me alone.! ..." [said to pack of dogs chasing cat] [From a text
by Rosie Ferber about a cat speaking]
b. Aler-ikwe re-nhe artwe-le-penhe arte-ke; kunye-penhe.

child(FS/D)-3KinPOSS 3sg-ACC man-ERG-PITY cover-pc;
poor thing-PITY
The unfortunate man buried his son; poor thing.
8.1.2.5 -itanye 'despite, even though' (DESPITE)

The clitic -itanye is discussed in detail in §9.2.2. It cliticises to the end of a noun phrase which is
marked for spatial or temporal adverbial function with one of the case suffixes -le 'locative', -nge
'ablative' or -ke 'dative'. Roughly, -itanye indicates that, despite the conditions presented in the noun
phrase, someone or something is behaving in a certain unexpected way (see example 29). In other
words, one would expect the prevailing conditions to prevent the person or thing from doing what they
are doing, but they don't.
(29) Lhwerrpe-k-itanye, urinp-irre-me

winter-DAT-DESPITE, hot-INCH-npp
Despite the fact that it's winter, it's getting hot.
8.1.2.6 -iknge 'I'm sick of..., happens too much' (TOO MUCH)
The form -iknge 'happens too much' is also discussed in detail in §9.2.1. It conveys the sense
that the speaker is unhappy with, or sick of, the fact that an action regularly involves the referent of the
constituent to which it is attached. In other words, the action is said to 'happen too much' with respect
to a certain entity.
(30) Kere kenhe kwele arrwekele-iknge-rle unte-rl-unte-rliwe-ke.

game BUT QUOT in front-TOO MUCH-FOC hurry off-SPORADIC.rdp-pc
But the game animals were forever hurring off in all directions in front (of him).
[Lit. But the game animals, so they say, hurried off here and there, (I feel) it was bad
that it always happened (too much) in front.] [T12-89]
8.1.2.7 -arrkngele 'be indirect reason for anger' (IndReasAng)

Dative-marked nominal phrases may be cliticised with the form -arrkngele 'be indirect reason for
anger' to convey that the referent of that nominal phrase is the indirect reason for or the focus of the
aggressive actions or angry feelings of the subject of the clause. The function of this clitic is similar to
some uses of English 'over' (see translations of examples in 31).
(31) a. Artwe therre yanhe twe-rre-me relhe-k-arrkngele.

man two that(mid) hit-RECIP-npp woman-DAT-
IndReasAng
Those two men are fighting over a woman.
b. Ayenge ankey-althe yanhe ikwere arnkelye merne-k-

arrkngele.
1sgS greedily-BadCHAR that(mid) 3sgDAT cranky bread-
DAT-IndReasAng
I'm cranky at that greedy bugger over the bread (ie. because they wouldn't
give me any).
8.2 Particles
Laughren's (1982) subclassification of particles in Warlpiri into (i) propositional particles, (ii)
sentential particles, (iii) conjunctions, and (iv) interjections is equally applicable to Mparntwe Arrernte.
As in Warlpiri (Laughren 1982:131), some particles may occur in more than one group.
8.2.1 Propositional Particles

As Laughren (1982:133-4) notes:
"Propositional particles (PP) indicate the speaker's attitude to or judgment concerning the proposition
expressed by the clause to which the PP is attached, or the speaker's role with respect to the speech act
itself."
As well as having scope over entire clauses, propositional particles in Mparntwe Arrernte may have
scope over individual constituents within a clause. As such, they may also express the speaker's attitude
or judgment concerning a particular constituent's role with respect to the entire proposition of the clause.
As a very general rule, propositional particles tend to have scope over the constituent that they follow,
although when their scope is the the entire clause, their placement appears to be much more flexible.
8.2.1.1 kwele 'so they say, hearsay, "quotative", supposedly' (QUOT)

Kwele 'so they say, hearsay, "quotative", supposedly' (QUOT) is discussed in detail in §9.3.1.
This particle is used to indicate that what the speaker is saying is not based on their own experience
(eg.32). Instead, through the use of kwele 'quotative', the speaker intimates that s/he heard the
information that s/he is presently conveying from some other source and so cannot definitely assert its
truth.
(32) Marle kweke re kwele nthep-irre-ke atwetye kweke ikwere.

girl little 3sgS QUOT dance-INCH-pc joey little 3sgDAT
The little girl, so they say, danced for the little joey. [T10-4]
8.2.1.2 kwenhe 'assertion' (ASSERT)

The particle kwenhe 'assertion' is used to assert the validity of a proposition. This does not
mean that the speaker claims that it is necessarily a true proposition, but only that s/he believes it is
soundly based and so would support it. Kwenhe 'assertion' is also used to emphasise that the referent of
a particular constituent is definitely the one that plays the role in the proposition at hand (eg. 33a).
(33) a. Parlkerne kwenhe, kookaburra-kwenye!

kingfisher ASSERT, kookaburra-NomNEG
It's "parlkerne", not "kookaburra" ! [Admonishing a child for using an
English word for a certain bird rather than the correct Arrernte form.]
b. Kwatye itere ikwere anteme kwele re are-ke apmwe kngerre

water side 3sgDAT now QUOT 3sgA see-pc snake big
nhenhe-ipenhe kwenhe. Apale ne-ke kwenhe.
this-AFTER(O) ASSERT. wrongly be-pc ASSERT.
By the side of the water , so they say, she now saw what were clearly the
signs left by this big snake. Something was definitely wrong. (ie. she had
certainly acted wrongly.) [T12-129,30]
8.2.1.3 (a)pele 'it's a fact' (FACT)

(A)pele 'it's a fact' (FACT) is a particle which conveys that the speaker or someone s/he is
quoting is claiming that the proposition is definitely true.
(34) a. Nhenhe pele kngerre-rle, yanhe kenhe kweke-rle.

this FACT big-FOC, that BUT little-FOC
This one, without a doubt, is the big(ger) one, that one, on the other hand, is
the small(er) one.
b. "Kweke pele the-rle kwetethe arntarntare-p-are-me-rle

kwenhe."
little FACT 1sgA-REL always look after-FREQ.rdp-npp-REL
ASSERT
"It's a fact that it's the little one that I'm always looking after all the time.
[T12-80]
8.2.1.4 (a)peke 'maybe, might; if; or' (maybe)

The particle (a)peke 'maybe, might; if; or' (maybe) has a wide range of related used (cf. §3.8.2).
Common to all its uses is the sense that the speaker is saying that some proposition is possibly the case.
It therefore commonly translates as 'might' or 'maybe'.
(35) Ingwenthe Tangentyer-arenye peke petye-me pmere mwarr-ile-tyeke.

Tomorrow Tangentyere-ASSOC maybe come-npp camp good-CAUS-
PURP
Tomorrow someone from Tangentyere might come to fix up the camp.
In an example such as the one above peke 'maybe' tends to convey that the speaker feels it is quite
probable that the proposition will prove to be true.
In complex conditional constructions, peke 'maybe' is often used in the conditional clause to
indicate the hypothetical nature of the propostion. In this function it is similar to English 'if'.
(36) Unte peke diabetes-kerte, nhenhe-le nge-nhe rlkerte mpware-tyeke.
2sgS maybe diabetes-PROP, this-ERG 2sg-ACC sick make-
PURP
If you have diabetes, then this is going to make you sick. [From translation
by Margaret Heffernan of a text on Diabetes which appeared in Yeperenye Yeye]
Finally, peke 'maybe' can also be used to signal disjunction between co-ordinated elements. In
this function it is repeated after every nominal phrase (eg.37a) or clause (eg. 37b) which is to be
understood as a possible alternative to every other element in the string that is similarly marked. In this
function it has a sense similar to English 'or'.
(37) a. Kwart-iperre arrate-me yep-arenye peke, ntyarlke peke,

egg-AFTER appear-npp tarvine-ASSOC maybe, k.o. caterpillar
maybe,
arrpenhe peke.
other maybe
From the eggs might appear Yeperenye (tarvine) caterpillars, or Ntyarlke
caterpillars, or some other kind (of caterpillars). [T4-3]
b. Kere nyente peke-rle kwele re atwe-ke peke,

game one maybe-FOC QUOT 3sgA kill-pc maybe,
are-ke peke kwele; arrangkwe.
see-pc maybe QUOT; nothing
Perhaps there was supposedly one game animal that he killed or even saw;
no, nothing at all. [4 - 135]
8.2.1.5 ithwenge 'maybe not'

Ithwenge 'maybe not' is used when the speaker accepts that a proposition is possible but feels
that it is not very probable. It is, therefore, in direct contrast with peke (above) in its simple 'might,
maybe' usages.
(38) Bob-le ithwenge ngkwarle-ke nthe-me pwerte kweke-ware.

Bob-ERG maybe not 'grog'-DAT give-npp money little-DISMIS
Maybe Bob will give (us) a little bit of money for grog (, but I doubt it).
The two particles peke 'maybe' and ithwenge 'maybe not' may occur in juxtaposition to indicate
the speaker's inability to assess to any degree the probability of a proposition. In other words, ithwenge
peke and apeke ithwenge both mean 'maybe and then again maybe not'.
8.2.1.6 ware 'not much, only, just, nothing important, dismissive' (DISMIS)
The particle ware 'dismissive' is used either when the speaker is saying that something is not to
be thought of as being very much or when s/he is dismissing something as not being very important.
(39) Nhenhe-nge anteme ayeye nhenhe uyerre-me. Ayeye urteke ware.

this-ABL now story this finish-npp. story short DISMIS
This is where the story finishes. It's only a short story.[T9-16,17]
As well as being used to downplay the significance of a proposition, ware 'dismissive' may also
be used to attenuate the exact meaning of an element. For example, when ware 'dismissive' has scope
over nthe- 'to give something to someone', the sense of the combination (ie. ware nthe-) is 'to lend
something to someone' (ie. not really give it, just sort of give it). Note also that ware 'dismissive' can
function as an interjection and is commonly used to answer the phatic interjection werte 'what's up?' (cf.
§8.2.4.1). In this usage it means 'nothing much, nothing of significance'.
8.2.1.7 nthurre 'very, real(ly); intensifier' (INTENS)

Nthurre 'very, real(ly); intensifier' is an intensifying particle which can be used to modify nominals
of all types, adverbs, verbs and whole clauses. With adjectival nominals it has a sense similar to English
'very', while with nouns it indicates a 'true' or 'proper' instance of the category specified by the noun.
With adverbs, verbs and clauses the speaker uses nthurre 'intensifier' to indicate that the modified
element is to be taken to mean exactly what it says.
(40) a. Crowbar arrpenhe ne-ke arrar-ulkere, kenhe arrpenhe

ne-ke
crowbar other be-pc light-MORE, BUT other be-pc
ulthe-ntye nthurre.
press down-NMZR(heavy) INTENS
One of the (two) crowbars was lighter, but the other (one) was very heavy.
[T7-4]
b. ..., kenhe itne ingkerre mpware-ke re-rle ile-ke nthurre.

..., BUT 3plA all do-pc 3sgA-REL tell-pc INTENS
..., but they would all do exactly what he told (them to do). [T11-22]
8.2.1.8 antime 'right there and then; right here and now' (PRECISE)
Antime 'precisely at this time and place' is a particle which is not yet well understood. It appears
to be used to convey the speaker's claim that the event of the clause in which antime 'PRECISE' occurs
happens at the precise time and place indicated. Where the speaker is giving an order or describing an
action that s/he is presently performing, antime 'PRECISE' is used to indicate that the action should
happen or is happening 'right here and now' (eg. 41a). Otherwise, antime 'PRECISE' tends to translate
as 'right there and then' or 'in that very spot'. This latter usage is illustrated in examples (41)b and c.
(41) a. The kwatye ite-me antime, ...

1sgA water boil/cook-npp PRECISE
I'm boiling water right here and now, ... [stop bothering me to do it]
b. Itere-ng-ante therre anteme re-therre antime irrtyarte iwe-ke.

side-ABL-ONLY two now 3dlA PRECISE spear throw-pc
Now, from both sides they two threw (their) spears right there and then.
[T11-45]
c. ... yanhe antime re uyerre-ke.

... that(mid) PRECISE 3sgS finish-pc.
... right there and then he died. [T11-48]
The family resemblance, in terms of both form and meaning, between -ante 'ONLY' (§8.1.1.9),
-anteye 'AS WELL' (§8.1.1.10) , anteme 'now' (§8.2.2.4), and antime 'PRECISE' needs to be fully
explored and may lead to a clearer picture of the function of antime 'precise'.
8.2.1.9 warre 'may I remind you' (REMIND)

Warre 'may I remind you' is used when the speaker feels compelled to remind the addressee of
information that the addressee should not have forgotten. In most cases the speaker has reason to
believe that the addressee has forgotten something that the speaker regards as important information
with regard to the context at hand. Roughly, warre 'remind' could be explicated as 'I feel I must remind
you that X, which is something you shouldn't have forgotten'.
(42) a. Unte warre artwe, not ampe.

2sgS REMIND man, not child.
Remember you are a man, not a child. (So stop acting that way.)
b. "Kele warre aherlke-ntye-nge kem-irre-Ø kwenhe."

O.K. REMIND to dawn-NMZR-ABL get up-INCH-IMP ASSERT
Hey, may I remind you it's already sunrise, so get up (and get ready).[T12-70]
8.2.1.10 y'know (yenewe) 'you know; you understand'
Y'know (yenewe) 'you know; you understand' is a borrowing of English 'you know, ya know'.
As in informal Australian English, the particle y'know 'you know' is used in Mparntwe Arrernte either to
seek confirmation that the addressee understands what the speaker is saying, in which case it often takes
rising (question) intonation (eg. 43a), or is used to indicate that the addressee should already know or
remember what is being talked about (eg. 43b). In this last function it is a bit like nhenge 'REMEMBER'
(cf. §3.6.2) or warre 'REMIND' (see preceding section).
(43) a. ..., itne pele kwele awe-ke, y'know?, alknge-therrke

..., 3plA FACT QUOT hear-pc you know, cat(eye-
green)
re-penhe kwele angke-rlenge.
3sgS-PITY QUOT speak-DS
..., they, so they, definitely heard <are you with me?> a cat speaking. [From
a text by Rosie Ferber about a cat speaking]
b. ... Pmere Nthurrke yanhe, y'know; wale that's nhenhe

mape-kenhe...
... place Emily Gap that(mid), you know; well that's
this pl(grp)-POSS...
... Emily Gap over there, you know it; well that belongs to these people...
[From text by Basil Stevens, 'Emily Gap Lives On - Our Culture Never Dies'
in Yeperenye Ayeye 1984]
8.2.2 Sentential Particles

Sentential particles in Mparntwe Arrernte provide information relevant to the temporal or
discourse ordering of events, as well as marking of episode boundaries in discourse.
8.2.2.1 kele 'ready; already; O.K.; so; the end' (O.K.)

Kele 'ready; already; O.K.; so; the end' (O.K.) roughly entails that one event, or a series of
events, is over or completed and tends to imply that it is possible for a new event, or a new series of
events, to begin.
As part of a clause kele can mean either (i) that the event in that clause has already happened, in
which case it typically occurs directly before the verb (eg. 44a), or (ii) it can mean that the previous
event or series of events is now over and the present clause is introducing a new event, in which case it
commonly occurs as the first element in the clause (eg. 44b).
(44) a. ... kenhe m-ikwe kenhe kele uyerre-rle.ne-ke-rlange ...

... BUT mother-3KinPOSS BUT O.K. disappear-CONT-pc-DS
...meanwhile his mother, on the other hand, had already disappeared.[T12-30]
b. Arrpenhe angke-ke, "Kwatye-werne alpe-rre-tyeke ilerne,

other say-pc, "water-ALL go back-dlS/A-PURP 1dlS,
ure-ketye!" Kele arrpenhe-le tyarre-kng-irtne-ke.
fire-AVER O.K. other-ERG pull-take-REVERS-pc
(The lazy) one (of the siamese twins) said, "We must go back to the water
for fear of the fire!". So the other one pulled him along after him back
(towards the water). [T9-13,14]
In conversations, kele 'O.K.' is frequently used as the sole member of an utterance. With -eye?
'is it?' (cf. §8.1.1.6) cliticised to it, it forms a question (ie. 'Keleye?') which means 'Are you/we ready? ;
Are you/we finished?; Is it alright?' and the standard affirmative reply to this is simply 'Kele.' 'O.K., yes
I'm/we're ready/finished; Yes it's alright.'. Kele 'O.K.' is also used on its own at the end of a narrative
text to signal that the text is over. It is a conventional ending much like 'The End' in English.
8.2.2.2 wale 'well (then); (and) so' (well)
The sentential particle wale 'well (then); (and) so' only occurs at the beginning of a clause and
indicates that the episode, event or proposition of the clause is an expected or logical follow up to what
has gone before in the discourse. Wale 'well' commonly marks where a new event or episode is
beginning (eg. 45a) or where a recurring event or episode is beginning again (eg. 45b). The source of
this form appears to be English 'well'.
(45) a. Wale mape pmer-arenye itne-ke artwe re-therre ile-ke nhenge,...

well pl(grp) camp-ASSOC 3pl-DAT man 3dlA tell-pc
REMEMB,...
Well (then) the other inhabitants of this camp were, of course, told that
by the two men, ... [T11-29]
b. Wale kweke re awethe-kine road anteme-rle kwele mpware-

ke,
well little 3sgA again-same again road now-FOC QUOT
make-pc, ...
And so yet again the little (boy) made a road, ... [4-101]
8.2.2.3 imerte 'and then, then' (then)

Imerte 'and then, then' is used to indicate that the event or episode encoded in the clause within
which it occurs is temporally subsequent to the preceding event or episode. There also tends to be an
implication that this subsequent event or episode is a logical progression from the preceding event. This
particle commonly translates as 'then' or 'and then' and may occur in most positions within a clause with
the exception of initial position.
(46) a. ... ingkirreke purte-lhile-tye.lhe-rle, nyente-kwenye;

... all cluster-CAUS-GO&DO-GenEvt, one-NomNEG;
ayeye itne-ke imerte nhenge ile-me-le, ...
story 3pl-DAT then REMEMB tell-npp-SS, ...
... (he) would go and gather everyone together, without exceptions; and
then (he'd) tell a story to them, ... [T11- 7,8]
b. Ntywe-nty-ipenhe imerte kwele artnerre-nhe-me-le
ulyentye-werne ...
shade-ALL...
After drinking then (he) crawled by towards some shade; ... [T12-45]
8.2.2.4 anteme / aneme ' at this point in time, now, and now' (now)
The particle anteme / aneme ' at this point in time, now, and now', like imerte 'then', may occur
in most positions within the clause except clause-initially. Roughly it means that the event or state
expressed in the clause occurs (occurred, will occur) 'at this point in time' (as understood from context).
Its closest English equivalent is 'now' or 'and now'. Unlike imerte 'then', there is no entailment that the
event of the clause containing anteme 'now' is temporally subsequent to the preceding event; they may,
for instance, occur simultaneously. Both anteme 'now' and imerte 'then' may occur in the same clause
(see example 47b). In rapid speech the 't' of anteme 'now' may be elided to give aneme.
(47) a. Kngwelye kweke re ingkerne mangke-ke; kngerre

anteme.
dog llittle 3sgS behind grow-pc; big now.
The little dog grew up back there; it was big now. [From a story about a
man, a dog, and a cannibal by Basil Stevens]
b. Kele kwele imerte relhe re kweke re-nhe anteme

O.K. QUOT then woman3sgA little 3sg-ACC now
ine-rliwe-me-le, ...
get-DO QUICKLY-npp-SS, ...
With that done, so they say, then the woman quickly got the baby now
(ie. at this point in time), ... [T12-51]
8.2.3 Conjunctions
Two forms which may be used as conjunctions have been discussed previously. These are
nhenge 'REMEMBER' (cf. §2.6.2), in its sense of 'whenever X, then Y', and (a)peke 'maybe' (cf.
§8.2.1.4), which may be used with a sense similar to English 'or'. Particles which function primarily as
conjunctions are given below.
8.2.3.1 ante / ane 'and'
Ante / ane 'and', like the English form which is the source of this particle, is a coordinating
conjunction in Mparntwe Arrernte. In a way parallel to anteme / aneme 'now' (cf. §8.2.2.5), the 't' of
ante may be elided to give ane. Ante / ane 'and' may conjoin clauses (eg. 48a) or NPs (eg. 48b and c),
and the number of conjuncts is, theoretically, infinite. When there are more than two conjuncts, this
conjunction is typically placed between the final two conjuncts.
(48) a. ..., kenhe aherre re re-nhe arntirrkwe-ke ante

..., BUT kangaroo 3sgA 3sg-ACC catch-pc
and
re-nhe re arlkwe-ke.
3sg-ACC 3sgA eat-pc.
..., but the kangaroo caught her and ate her. [T10-20]
b. Artwe re [arlkwerte, amirre, irrtyarte, ante alye]-kerte

man 3sgS shield, spear thrower, spear, and boomarang-
PROP
lhe-ke arrentye twe-tyeke.
go-pc demon hit-PURP
The man went out (armed) with a shield, a spear-thrower, spears, and a
boomerang in order to kill the devil.
c. Re [Elaine-ke,, Eli-ke,, ante Wenton-ke] unthe-rle.pe-ke.

3sgS Elaine-DAT,, Eli-DAT,, and Wenton-DAT look for-DO
ALONG-pc
He went along looking for Elaine, for Eli, and for Wenton.
NP coordination with ante 'and' contrasts semantically with the listing structure that is discussed
later in §10.1.1.1; while the listing structure does not entail that the list of NP referents is exhaustive,
structures with ante 'and' do apparently code exhaustiveness of listing. Note that when ante 'and' is used
to conjoin noun phrases case marking may either appear on every conjunct (eg. 48c) or it may appear
only once, occurring on the final conjunct. This difference in the placement of case corresponds to a
semantic distinction. When case occurs only once, the entities that are being conjoined are seen as
forming a single group , with the entities typically being together in the one place at the same time. When
case appears on each conjunct, the entities are not necessarily seen as forming a group, and, as is clear
from example (48)c, the entities referred to may all be in different places.
The semantics of the structure in which case for the complex NP occurs only once may be
explicated as follows:
Things/People/Places which I am thinking of [now, in this context]

together because I am saying the same thing about each of them.
I think of these things/people/places as being together in a group.
One of these things/people/places is A.
One of these things/people/places is B.
(One of these things/people/places is Z)
(...)
These are all the things/people/places in the group.
The coordinated structure with ante 'and' as well as case on each conjunct may be defined thus:
Things/People/Places which I am thinking of [now, in this context]

together because I am saying the same thing about each of them.
One of these things/people/places in A.
(One of these things/people/places is Z)
(...)
These are all the things/people/places I am thinking of together
Compare the semantics of the above structures with the semantics of the structures discussed in
§3.9.2, §§8.2.3.2 & 3, and §§10.1.1.1 & 2.
8.2.3.2 X uthene Y uthene 'X and Y which are a common pairing; binary-and' (bi-and)
X uthene Y uthene 'binary-and' is only used to conjoin noun phrases and it limits the number of
conjuncts to two. Moreover, this structure cannot conjoin just any two entities, but, instead, must
conjoin entities of the same animacy status that are regarded by Arrernte speakers as being of the same
type and kind, and which are commonly thought of as occurring naturally together. Thus, while it is
natural to say 'alkere uthene angkwelye uthene' (sky binary-and cloud binary-and) 'sky and clouds', it is
distinctly unnatural to say '??pwerte uthene angkwelye uthenhe' (rock/hill binary-and cloud binary-and)
'rocks and clouds'. Similarly, while it is natural to use this structure to conjoin two terms referring to
men's artifacts (eg. alye uthene irrtyarte uthene 'boomerang and spear'), or two terms referring to
women's artifacts (eg. atneme uthene urtne uthene 'digging stick and coolamon'), it is odd to use this
structure to conjoin a term for a men's artifact with that for a woman's artifact (eg. ?alye uthene urtne
uthene 'boomerang and coolamon') since the two things do not form a common pairing in the real world
and are not thought to belong together in the natural scheme of things. When the constraint on animacy
is violated the resulting structure using uthene 'binary-and' is distinctly bad, even when an animate entity
is commonly associated with the inanimate entity. So, while it is perfectly acceptable to say 'artwe
uthene arelhe uthene' 'a man and a woman', it is thoroughly unacceptable to say '*artwe uthene irrtyarte
uthene' '*a man and a spear'. Note that, although the ordering of conjuncts in this structure is free, such
NP coordinations are semantically similar to what Malkiel (1959) called irreversible binomials for English
(eg. 'cat and mouse', 'salt and pepper', 'Gilbert and Sullivan', 'husband and wife').
(49) ..., kenhe Elizabeth-le knge-ke handbag tin-a-meat nyente-

kerte
..., BUT Elizabeth-ERG carry-pc handbag tin of meat one-
PROP
ante merne urrpetye, tea uthene tyweke uthene.
and bread few, tea bi-and sugar bi-and
..., but Elizabeth, on the other hand, carried a handbag with one tin of meat and
three loaves of bread, as well as tea and sugar.[T7-6]
The structure X uthene Y uthene may be explicated as follows (compare this explication with
those given in §3.9.2, §§8.2.3.1 & 3, and §§10.1.1.1 & 2):
Two things/people/places of the same kind which people commonly think

of as belonging together (in a group)
The other of these things people places is B
I am thinking of these two people/places/things together [now, in this
context] because I am saying the same thing about each of them.
Finally, it should be noted that case appears on each conjunct, and, although it is preferable that
uthene 'binary-and' occur after each conjunct, it is possible for it to occur just once between the two
conjuncts.
8.2.3.3 NameX therre NameY therre: coordination of named people using therre 'two'
Yallop (1987:740-741) has argued, on the basis of data from Alyawarra, that "pairs are a
special focus of attention in Australian grammars" and that this fact arises from "the central importance
of duality in Australian cultures". Mparntwe Arrernte also supports this point with data similar to that in
Alyawarra. For instance, it was noted in §3.9.2 that the suffix -nhenge 'kin-dyadic' was used to form
'dyadic' kinship terms which refer to a group of two people who are in a certain complementary kin
relationship with one another. Furthermore, it was noted above, in §8.2.3.2, that Mparntwe Arrernte
possesses a NP coordination strategy that only conjoins two entities of the same kind which are
perceived by Arrernte people as naturally belonging together.
In this section a similar strategy is discussed, in which the quantifier therre 'two' itself is used as a
conjunction to link the names of two people that are commonly thought of as being a 'couple'. Common
pairings for which this is used are husband and wife, paired siblings, and a pair of close friends. Thus this
structure would be a good one for conveying such English pairings as 'Romeo and Juliet' or 'Gilbert and
Sullivan'. In its fullest form this structure has therre 'two' after each of the two conjoined names and case
is marked on the conjunctions rather than the conjuncts (eg. 50a). There is, however, a reduced form of
this structure in which only one name occurs followed by therre 'two' (eg. 50c). In using this reduced
structure the speaker assumes that the addressee, on hearing the name of just one person, will be able to
think of who the other person that is commonly associated with that named person is. In a sense, then,
the second conjunct of the structure is derived by pragmatic means.
(50) a. Ayenge lhe-ke Sandy therre-nge Wendy therre-nge.

1sgS go-DAT Sandy two-ABL Wendy two-ABL
I went with Sandy and Wendy. [where Sandy and Wendy are two sisters]
b. Arlte ingkerreke nhe-le ayenge unthe-tyerte pmere bush-le

day all this-LOC 1sgS walkabout-rem.p.hab place bush-
LOC
atyemeye-nge, atnye-ng-atye, ante ankele-nhenge therre-nge;
grandfather(MF)-ABL uncle-ABL-1KinPOSS and m.cousin-
DYADIC two-ABL
Augustine therre Duncan therre.
Augustine two Duncan two
All this time I spent walking about through the bush with my grandfather,
my uncle and also my cousin brothers Augustine and Duncan Lynch. [From a
story written and translated by Basil Steven, Kaltyirrekerle Kerte (School Days) in
Yeperenye Ayeye 1985]
c. Willie therre-le ayeye ile-ke.

Willie two-ERG story tell-pc
Willie (and Hilda) told a story. [Willie and Hilda are husband and wife.]
A rough definition for the structure 'NameX therre NameY therre' is as follows:
Two people which are usually together and which people think of as belonging together (as a couple)
One of these people is named "X"
The other of these people is named "Y"
I am thinking of these two people together [now in this context] because I am saying the same thing
about each of them.
Other structures manifesting coordinate semantics with which this structure may be compared
are to be found in §3.9.2, §§8.2.3.1 & 2, and §§10.1.1.1 & 2
8.2.3.4 kenhe 'now consider this one; on the other hand, by contrast, but' (BUT)
Kenhe 'now consider this one; on the other hand, by contrast, but' may occur immediately
before (eg. 51a) or immediately after the first major constituent of a clause, or it may be repeated on
both sides of that constituent (eg. 51b). Generally speaking, kenhe 'BUT' conveys that, 'having
considered the preceding proposition, event or thing, the addressee should now consider the present
proposition, event or thing'. Often there is an implication that the two things which are being considered
in turn are contrastive, but this does not appear to be an entailment of kenhe 'BUT'. If one were, for
instance, looking at a series of pictures, then one could use kenhe 'BUT' simply to introduce the next
picture (ie. "..., kenhe nhenhe kenhe anteme." (..., BUT this BUT now) "..., now have a look at this
one.").
The factors which determine the placement of kenhe 'BUT' before, after, or on both sides of the
first major constituent are not yet clear. It does appear that when kenhe 'BUT' is used initially in a
clause, without being repeated, it is most frequently interpreted in a way similar to English 'but' (eg. 48a).
When kenhe 'BUT' flanks both sides of a constituent, it tends to mean something like 'consider this one;
this one on the other hand' (eg. 48b). Central to this distinction appears to be the question of whether
the scope of the particle is the whole clause or just the first constituent. This requires further
investigation.
(51) a. Kele nhenge irrkwe-rre-ntye-warte arrpenhe uyarne

O.K. REMEMB hold-RECIP-NMZR-SINCE other in vain
murnt-irre-tyerte, kenhe arrpenhe-le re-nhe tyarre-knge-tyerte.
refuse-INCH-rem.p.hab BUT other-ERG 3sg-ACC pull out-
take-rem.p.hab
Since they were siamese twins, the (lazy) one used to refuse (to go hunting)
in vain, but the other (twin) used to just drag him along. [T9-7,8,9,10]
b. ..., kweke re ulyentye-le purrke kngerre ne-me;

..., little 3sgS shade-LOC tired big be/sit-npp;
kenhe m-ikwe kenhe kele uyerre-rle.ne-ke-rlenge.
BUT mother-3KinPOSS BUT O.K. disappear-CONT-pc-DS
..., the baby is very tired in the shade, while his mother, on the other
hand, had already diasappeared. [T12-30]
8.2.3.5 perre 'even though; anyhow, anyway' (THOUGH)

Perre 'even though; anyhow, anyway' (THOUGH) occurs at the boundary between two clauses
and may be included intonationally at the end of the first or at the beginning of the second. This
conjunction indicates that the action of the second clause happened, or could happen, anyhow, even
though the proposition in the initial clause might be seen as a reason for it not happening (see also
example 23b in §8.1.2.1).
(52) a. Me-l-ikwe-le alhe-tye-kwenye-ke ile-ke,

mother-ERG-3KinPOSS-ERG go-NMZR-NomNEG-DAT tell-pc,
perre re lhe-ke.
THOUGH 3sgS go-pc
His mother told him not to go, but he went anyhow.
b. Irrernte-nge perre, kele kwatye-ke irrpe-ke re.

cold-ABL THOUGH, O.K. water-pc go into-pc 3sgS
Even though it was cold, he went swimming.
8.2.3.6 athathe 'quickly do Y before X happens; hurry before X happens' (HurBef) Athathe 'quickly
do Y before X happens; hurry before X happens' (HurBef) appears to have an extremely restricted
distribution; it only seems to occur in aversive clauses (cf. §5.3.3.3 and §4.2.13) and it follows
immediately after the nominal or verbal form inflected with -ketye 'aversive'. The meaning of this form
therefore seems to recapitulate many of the features of the meaning of -ketye 'aversive'. Two
components athathe 'hurry before' seems to add are: (i) a sense of speed, the main verb action must be
done quickly so that the action of the aversive clause won't have its bad result, and (ii) a sense that the
main clause event must happen before the event in the aversive clause. While it is common for complex
aversive constructions to mean that the performance of the main clause event will prevent the action of
the aversive clause from happening, this tends not to be the case when athathe 'hurry before' is used.
Instead, the event of the aversive clause with athathe 'hurry before' tends to be one that cannot be
prevented and so will happen anyway; what would be bad, however, is if the main verb event is not
completed before the inevitable occurrence of the event in the aversive clause.
(53) a. Arelhe-le kere ite-me aherrke arrate-ketye-nge athathe.

woman-ERG meat cook-npp sun rise-AVER-ABL HurBef
The woman is hurriedly cooking the meat before the sun rises. [There is
a ban on her cooking during the day.]
b. Re-nhe ar-Ø-aye, lhe-ketye athathe.

3sg-ACC see-IMP-EMPH, go-AVER HurBef.
Hurry and visit him before he leaves. [or else you'll miss him completely]
c. Rlke kngerre-ketye athathe, re pmere-ke irrpe-ke.

wind big-AVER HurBef, 3sgS camp-DAT go into-pc.
Before the big wind (blew up), he hurried into the house.
8.2.4 Interjections
Interjections are here defined as those particles which usually constitute an utterance on their
own (cf. Laughren 1982:132). Also included in this class, therefore, are those forms which traditionally
fall under the rubric of exclamations. Laughren (1982:132) notes that interjections function "to express
the speaker's attitude or reaction to the preceding linguistic utterance or to an extra-linguistic event".
A number of previously discussed particles could also claim membership in the set of
interjections because they have been attested as the sole member of an utterance with the general
function attributed to interjections. These are (a)peke 'maybe' (cf. §8.2.1.4), ithwenge 'maybe not'(cf.
§8.2.1.5), ware 'dismissive'(cf. §8.2.1.6), and kele 'O.K.' (cf. §8.2.2.1)
8.2.4.1 werte 'what's up, what's news; gidday'

Werte 'what's up, what's news; gidday' is basically used when the speaker wants to be filled in
on what's happening in a particular context and believes that the addressee can help provide the
information. It is used, for instance, to seek information from the addressee when the speaker senses
that there is either something wrong which involves the addressee or that the addressee is involved in, or
knows about, something interesting that is happening (but which is not obvious to the speaker within the
context). Werte 'what's up' is also the conventional phatic opening greeting which is used when one
meets someone one knows and whom one has not seen for a while.
8.2.4.2 yewe-yewe / yewe / yawe / ye 'yes'
Yewe-yewe / yewe / yawe / ye 'yes' are all ways of giving positive affirmation concerning the
addressee's previous utterance. All four forms may be used to answer 'yes' to a polar question, and they
can all be used when back-channeling - that is, when one wants to show that one is following what
someone is saying. The difference between the forms appears to be one of emphasis. Yewe-yewe 'yes'
is used mainly when affirming that a proposition is definitely correct; yewe 'yes' and yawe 'yes' tend to be
used, often with emphatic stress, when there is strong agreement with the force of a proposition; and,
finally, ye 'yes' is the least emphatic form and is the form which is most commonly used when back-
channeling. As a back-channel form, ye 'yes' does not entail agreement with what is being said but
simply affirms that one is attending to what has been said; by contrast, the other three forms appear to
entail agreement.
8.2.4.3 arrangkwe 'no; nothing; have nothing of'

The interjection arrangkwe 'no; nothing; have nothing of' belongs both to the nominal class and
the particle/clitics class. As a nominal it can mean 'nothing' or it can be a nominal predicate meaning
'X[S] have nothing of Y[DAT]' (see §5.1.2). As a particle/clitic it is an interjection which means 'no' or
'no way'. It can be used to answer a polar question in the negative or to disagree with a propostion put
forward by another participant in the conversation.
8.2.4.4 yweke 'I don't know'

Yweke 'I don't know' is used by a person to convey that s/he does not know the information
which has been asked of him or her. It can, for example, be used to answer polar questions or to
answer the interjection werte 'what's up' (cf. §8.2.4.1).
Note that yweke 'I don't know' contrasts with two other forms which could translate as 'don't
know'. These are the predicate nominal kutne 'X be ignorant of Y' and the negative form of the verb
itelare- 'to know, to remember' (ie. itelare-tyekenhe 'not know, not remember'). The interjection yweke
'I don't know' differs in two important ways. Firstly, it can only predicate the speaker's own lack of
knowledge; whereas, the other two forms may predicate that someone other than the speaker lacks
certain knowledge. Secondly, this interjection never specifies the thing that the speaker doesn't know,
that is always understood from context. With the other two forms, the thing that isn't known is an
argument of both predicates and typically appears in the same utterance with them.
8.2.4.5 mpe 'let's go'
Mpe 'let's go' is a hortative interjection which is usually employed when the speaker is about to
go off somewhere and it is understood that the addressee is going to go along with her/him. However, it
can also be used when other joint activities, besides travel, are intended. For instance, someone who is
sitting around waiting to start playing cards might say, impatiently, "Mpe!" meaning 'come on let's get this
game going'.
8.2.4.6 ngke 'give it to me'

The interjection ngke 'give it to me' tends to be used when an item that the speaker wants is
closer to the addressee, or is easier for the addressee to get, and the speaker wants the addressee to
pass it to him/her. A gesture is usually used to indicate what the object is. This form may also be
directed to babies when a person is about to pick a baby up. In this usage it may be understood to
mean something like 'come on little one, give yourself to me'. There is also some evidence that this form
can be used when one is slightly taken back or disgusted by a suggestion or proposition that someone
has made. In this function it appears to mean something like 'give over, you can't be serious' (cf.
example 55 below).
8.2.4.7 me 'here it is'

Me 'here it is' is used when handing something to someone. It is the form that is used when, for
instance, one is responding to the interjection ngke 'give it to me'.
8.2.4.8 kunye 'poor thing, poor bugger; dear one'

The interjection kunye 'poor thing, poor bugger; dear one' is a nominal which also functions as an
interjection. As both a nominal and an interjection, it is used to refer to some animate being for which
the speaker has sympathy, pity and/or affection. As an interjection it may be used when one hears about
something bad happening to another animate being, or when one hears about someone for whom one
has affection and hasn't seen for a long time (and would like to see), or when someone who has died is
referred to in some oblique way. It is also commonly uttered to someone on the happy occasion of that
person's return to a place after having been away for a long time. In this last case the speaker appears
to be indicating both affection for the person who has returned as well as sympathy for them having to
spend so much time away from the country and the community.
8.2.4.9 alaye! 'watch out! ; get out of the way'
Alaye! 'watch out!; get out of the way' is used to alert the addressee to some immediate danger
or to tell them to move out of the way because they are blocking the way. It is often used where English
speakers would use 'excuse me' to get past another person.
8.2.4.10 kweye 'what the heck am I doing/saying/thinking?; is that right?' (SelfDoubt)

Kweye 'what the heck am I doing/saying/thinking?; is that right?' is exclaimed when the speaker
is surprised that something is not the way s/he assumed it was. In using kweye 'self doubt' the speaker
conveys that s/he should know something for a fact but, for some reason, is just at the moment either
doubting that s/he does know it, or is realising that s/he has forgotten it all together. It can be used, for
instance, when somebody expects to find something in a place and it is not there or when a person is
being told something that conflicts with what s/he thought to be true.
There are three further related uses of kweye 'self-doubt'. The first of these has already been
discussed in §3.8.2 and involves kweye 'self doubt' being compounded to interrogative forms.
Secondly, a sort of tag question can be generated by following a statement with kweye 'self doubt'. A
tag question of this type indicates that the speaker is not sure of the statement that s/he has just made
and would like the hearer to confirm or disconfirm it (compare with -athewe 'isnt it?' cf. §8.1.1.5).
(54) Re kele lhe-ke, kweye?

3sgS O.K. go-pc, SelfDoubt
She's already left, hasn't she? (I'm not really sure and I'd like you to tell me
yes or no.)
Finally kweye 'self doubt' can occur within a statement to check whether the addressee seriously means
the proposition s/he has just stated or implied. This can be meant to be quite sarcastic.
(55) Ngke, the kweye mpware-tyenhe. That's urrkape-ntye

give it here, 1sgA SelfDoubt do-npc. That's work-NMZR
ikwerenhe, re mpware-tyeke.
3sgPOSS 3sgA do-PURP
Give over, do you really expect that I'll do it. That's his job, he should do it.
8.2.4.11 yekaye 'What the hell's going on here?!, SHIT!, ouch!'

Yekaye 'What the hell's going on here?!, SHIT!, ouch!' is exclaimed when someone has just
been positively or negatively shocked or surprised by something. It would be used, for instance, by
someone who had just heard a loud explosion, seen a car accident, sat on a thorn, found a lot of money,
or walked into a room with lots of food in it.
8.2.4.12 eyyye! 'yuck!, that's terrible, Oh no!'

The interjection eyyye! 'yuck!, that's terrible, Oh no!' is pronounced as [i::] with a high and rising
pitch. This exclamation is used when a person finds something they've just seen or heard particularly
disgusting or distasteful. It may also be exclaimed empathetically by someone who has just heard about
something bad happening to someone else and who would hate to have that bad thing happen to
him/herself.
8.2.4.13 Other forms which function as interjections

Finally, it is worth pointing out that there are also some forms from other parts of speech classes
which frequently function like interjections. Examples include "Imp-Ø-aye!" (leave[tr.]-IMP-EMPH)
'leave it alone!', "Ar-Ø-aye!" (see-IMP-EMPH) 'have a look at that, check that out', "Alh-Ø-aye!" (go-
IMP-EMPH) 'go away! piss off!', "Urreke" (later) 'wait a while; hang on a minute', and certain verbs
and noun phrases used for swearing.
8.3 Particle/clitic insertion

A particularly intriguing phenomenon which requires further investigation is the ability to insert
members of a restricted group of particle/clitics into the middle of certain types of complex verb stems.
In the majority of cases, there is no clear distinction between the sense of a verb stem that has a
particle/clitic internal to it and the same verb stem modified externally by the particle/clitic. The
particle/clitics which take part in this process are: -arteke 'SEMBLative', -tetye 'instead', -ante
'only', -anteye 'as well', -rlke 'too', kwele 'QUOTative', kwenhe 'ASSERTion', (a)pele 'FACT', (a)peke
'maybe', ware 'DISMISsive', nthurre 'INTENSifier', anteme 'now', and imerte 'then'. As mentioned in
the introduction to this chapter, the fact that there are both particle forms and clitic forms which show the
same behaviour in this regard may be taken as partial justification for identifying a single particle/clitic
class. However, I must point out that kwete 'still' (cf. §7.3.3.2), which is classified primarily as an
adverb, may also be inserted into certain verb stems.
The various types of complex verb stem which allow particle/clitic insertion are: certain verb
compounds (cf. §5.5.9), verb reduplications (cf. §5.4.1), verbs taking further derivational suffixes (cf.
§§5.5.2-3), verbs derived from nominals (cf. §§5.5.3,5 & 6), verbs inflected for associated motion (cf.
chapter 6), and verbs negativised with -tyekenhe 'verb negator' (cf. §5.3.2.1). These six complex verb
stem types appear to differ in terms of the range of particle/clitics which they may have inserted into
them, although, at present, there is not sufficient information to be sure of the range for each type.
Particle/clitic insertion for each of these six types will be be briefly discussed and exemplified below.
8.3.1 Insertion into verb compounds

Certain verb compounds will allow a particle/clitic to be inserted before the final element of the
compound (which is always a verb, cf. §5.5.9).
(56) a. pety-alpe- come-go back- to come back

pety-antem-alpe- come-now-go back- to come back now
b. itel-are- [throat-INST/LOC]-see- to know, remember

itele-kwele-are- [throat-INST/LOC]-QUOT-see- to supposedly
know
8.3.2 Insertion in linked verb reduplication

Verb stems which have been reduplicated to convey various aspectual distinctions (cf. §5.4.1)
may have a particle/clitic inserted between the linking morpheme and the material which is copied (eg.
57). Of the particle/clitics listed above as taking part in particle/clitic insertion, the only two which have
not been attested in reduplicated stems are -tetye 'instead' and nthurre 'intensifier'.
(57) a. (i) twe- (ii) twe-p-arteke-twe-

to hit, kill hit-[link]-SEMBL-FREQ.rdp-
to appear that s.o. is beating s.t.
repeatedly
b. (i) kalty-irre- (ii) k-elpe-rlke-kalty-irre-
knowledgable-INCH- C.Incep.rdp[-link]-TOO-
knowledgeable-INCH- to learn to also be
on the verge of learning s.t.
8.3.3 Insertion into causative and reflexive derivations

Where a verb stem is derived from a verb root using either -lhile 'causative' (cf. §5.5.3) or -lhe
'reflexive'(cf. §5.5.2), a particle/clitic may be inserted between the root and the derivational morpheme
(eg. 58). It does not appear that a particle/clitic can be inserted between the root and the derivational
suffix -rre 'reciprocal'.
(58) a. murne- to stick s.t. to s.t

else
murn-anteme-lhe- get s.t. stuck-now-REFL- to get oneself stuck in s.t.
now
b. tnye- to fall
tnye-ware-lhile- fall-DISM-CAUS- to merely drop
something
8.3.4 Insertion into inchoative and causative verbs derived from nominals
In §5.5.5 the question of whether -ile 'causative' and -irre 'inchoative' were free verbs or
derivational suffixes was discussed. If one takes them to be basically derivational suffixes, as I do, then
it is relevant to point out that particle/clitics may occur between these suffixes and the nominal roots to
which they attach (eg. 59).
(59) a. ater-irre- afraid-INCH - to get scared, become afraid

ater-antem-irre- afraid-now-INCH- to get scared now
b. ntyerrk-ile- dry-CAUS- to dry something

ntyerrk-imert-ile- dry-then-CAUS- to then dry something
8.3.5 Insertion into verb forms inflected for associated motion

Verb stems inflected for associated motion (cf. chapter 6) may have a particle/clitic inserted
between the verb root and a simple, mono-morphemic, associated motion suffix (eg. 60a). There are
also examples where a particle/clitic is inserted between the two parts of an associated motion
morphemic complex (eg. 60b).
(60) a. atnarnpe-nhe- get down-DO PAST- to descend on way past

atnarnpe-kwete-nhe- get down-still-DO PAST to keep descending on
way past
b. ar-inty.alpe- see-DO COMING BACK- to see

while coming back
ar-inty-kwele-alpe- see-DO COMING-QUOT-BACK to supposedly see
while
coming back
8.3.6 Insertion into the verb negator -tyekenhe

As for verbs negated with -tyekenhe 'verb negator', a particle/clitic may actually insert between
the -tye and the -kenhe of the negativising suffix (eg. 61). This is evidence that the suffix is originally, if
not synchronically, a combination of two morphemes (perhaps -tye 'nominaliser' and a form -kenhe
'negative', cf. §5.3.2.1).
(61) arlkwe-tyekenhe eat-VbNEG didn't eat, can't eat

arlkwe-tye-nthurre-kenhe eat-Vb+INTENS+NEG- not really eating
arlkwe-tye-tetye-kenhe eat-Vb+instead+NEG- (why) didn't (you) eat it
instead [to someone who

brought back a live snake]
It is interesting to note that particle/clitic insertion into the verb-negating suffix provides one clear
example where the particle/clitic internal form is semantically distinct from the particle/clitic external form.
The form arlkwe-tyekenhe 'didn't eat, can't eat' entails that no act of eating took place. When this form is
cliticised with -ante 'ONLY', the resultant form arlkwe-tyekenh-ante 'only didn't eat' also entails that no
act of eating took place. However, when -ante 'ONLY' is inserted into the negative suffix, the resultant
form arlkwe-ty-ante-kenhe 'didn't only eat (,but did something else as well)' requires that an act of eating
did take place in conjunction with some other activity. Thus, the negative suffix in the latter form has
primary scope over the clitic, and the composite unit meaning 'not only' modifies the verb.
8.3.7 Final comments and multiple particle/clitic insertion

It is possible that a further investigation into the morphological, functional and semantic nature of
particle/clitic insertion may require a revision of the present analysis of the Mparntwe Arrernte verb stem
and its constituent parts. Indeed, a complete analysis of particle/clitic insertion would seem to be
required if we are to get any closer to answering the question of "What is a word in Mparntwe
Arrernte?". To further increase the complexity of the problem, I would note that there are examples
where more than one particle/clitic can be inserted into a verb stem, as in example (63) below.
(63) angke-p-ante-pek-antem-angke-me
speak-[link]-ONLY-maybe-now-FREQ.rdp-npp
'now might only keep on speaking'
Chapter Nine
Five Particle/Clitics for Criticism and Complaint
9.1 Introduction
Locke (1959: 99) has argued that:
"he who would show the right use of particles, and what significancy and force they have, must take a
little more pains and observe nicely the several postures of his mind in discoursing".
In the brief conversation presented in example lines [1] through [6] (on the following page) there are five
different particle/clitics (cf. chapter 8) which have been underlined: -itanye 'despite' (cf. §8.1.2.5), -iknge
'happens too much' (cf. §8.1.2.6) , -me 'interrogative' (cf. §8.1.1.4), -kathene 'mistaken belief' (cf.
§8.1.1.8), and kwele 'quotative; hearsay' (cf. §8.2.1.1). Each of these particle/clitics has a distinct and
variable range of uses; however, when they are used to convey criticism and/or complaint, as in the
conversation below, they form a functionally coherent subset of particle/clitics. The meaning and use of
these five particle/clitics form the focus of this chapter. As Locke recognised, when compared to other
elements of the grammar, particles (and likewise clitics) are notoriously difficult to describe precisely
(see Wierzbicka 1976, 1986; Goddard 1979) and one must, therefore, "take a little more pains" when
dealing with them. It is the aim of this chapter to describe the "several postures of the mind" that each of
the given particle/clitics is used for in Mparntwe Arrernte and to thereby demonstrate the type of
semantic, pragmatic, and structural factors which must be taken into account in the detailed description
of the remaining particle/clitics in Mparntwe Arrernte (cf. chapter 8).
Integral to this description is a natural language definition for each particle/clitic, much as has
been presented for other elements discussed in other chapters of this thesis. This is significant for two
reasons. First, because it makes evident the type of meaningful content contained in particle/clitics; a
point which needs to be made since to date there has been little serious consideration of the meaning of
particle/clitics (Wierzbicka 1976:327; Wierzbicka 1986). Second, an explicit definition indicates how
and why simple English glosses provide an inaccurate and non-equivalent translation. There are culture
specific modes of thinking encapsulated in particle/clitics and this can only be shown through explication.
As well as providing a definition I also intend to show, by demonstration, that here the generation
and/or interpretation of a speech act such as a criticism or complaint can be seen as a function of the
interaction of the particle/clitic's general meaning, the meaning of the elements that the particle/clitic
modifies, and the cultural logic that puts these two things together in context and interprets them.
[1] A: Werte kake, mane nth-Ø-aye!
What's-up brother, money give-IMP-EMPH.
G'day brother, give me some money.
[2] B: Ingwe kngerre-l-itanye, iwenhe-ke unte

night big-LOC-DESPITE, what-DAT 2sgS
petye-me, ingkirreke ankw-inte-rlenge?!!
come-npp, all asleep-lie-DS
What on earth have you come here for?! Don't you realise
it's the middle of the night and people are sleeping?!
[3] A: Mane kweke-ke ware inke-tyeke.

money little-DAT only ask-for-PURP.
I've just come to ask for a little bit of money.
[4] B: Arrangkwe! Th-iknge mane ngkwenge

nothing 1sgERG-TOO MUCH money 2sgDAT
nthe-me. Ayenge-me banke?
give-npp. 1sgNOM-INTER bank?
No way! I'm sick of giving you money all the time. What
do you think I am, a bank?
[5] A: Tyew-atye-kathene ayenge itirre-ke.

friend-1KinPOSS-MISTAKE 1sgS think-pc
I thought you were my friend.
[6] B: Tyewe ngkwinhe imerte kwele ayenge.

friend 2sgPOSS then QUOT 1sgNOM.
Tyewe-le kwele work payntem-ile-tyeke,
Friend-ERG QUOT work find-tr-PURP,
mane re-nhe are-tyenhenge.
money 3sg-ACC see-SBSQNT.
I am your friend, so they say, but they also say friends
should work and then they'll have their own money.
The five particle/clitics under discussion can be divided into two groups depending on whether
their use for criticism and complaint is derived directly from the meaning of the particle/clitic itself or
whether it is derived by implicature from a contradiction of some aspect of the particle/clitic's meaning.
The first group contains -iknge 'happens too much' and -itanye 'despite', while kwele 'quotative;
hearsay', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -me 'interrogative' form the second group. Each group will be
discussed in turn.
9.2 Criticism/complaint derived directly from particle/clitic's meaning

9.2.1 -iknge 'happens too much' (TOO MUCH)
The clitic -iknge 'happens too much' is the closest thing in Mparntwe Arrernte to a particle/clitic
that inherently encodes the notion of a criticism or complaint, although it can be used for compassion as
well. This form can be cliticised to the end of any argument of a verb and it indicates that the argument
so marked is perceived by the speaker to be excessively involved in the verb event in whatever role it is
playing and the speaker is saying s/he doesn't like that. Rough, but appropriate, English glosses are
something like 'I'm sick of...', 'forever' (ie. he's forever coming home late), 'always', and 'too much'.
None of these English glosses fully captures the meaning, however, and a more precise definition would
be:
X-iknge: Something involving X happens again and again.

It shouldn't be like that.
I feel bad because of it.
I wish it could be different, but I don't think it will be.
Whether an utterance containing -iknge 'happens too much' indicates complaint, criticism, or
compassion depends on the verb semantics, the role of the cliticised argument, the person-hood of that
argument, and the discourse context.
When -iknge 'happens too much' is cliticised to a 1st person argument the utterance is
interpreted and reported as a complaint. This makes sense since complaints in Mparntwe Arrernte, as in
English, require that a speaker convey something like: "Something is happening which involves me and I
feel bad because of that". These are exactly the components we get when we feed a first person
component into our definition of -iknge 'happens too much'. An utterance which exemplifies this comes
from line [4] of the opening conversation; the relevant sentence is repeated here as example (7).
(7) Th-iknge mane ngkwenge nthe-me.

1sgA-TOO MUCH money 2sgDAT give-npp.
I'm sick of giving you money. [Can't someone else do it for once?]
In example (7) -iknge 'happens too much' is marking a 1st person agent (The) and the complaint
involves the speaker feeling it's unfair that s/he should have to perform the action of giving money to the
addressee over and over again. In example (8), however, -iknge 'happens too much' marks a 1st
person patient (ayenge) and the speaker is complaining that s/he should not have to suffer the verb action
(hitting) over and over again:
(8) Re ayeng-iknge twe-me.

3sgA 1sgO-TOO MUCH hit-npp.
He's forever hitting me. [I wish he'd stop.]
While -iknge 'happens too much' cliticised to a first person argument always produces a
complaint, other senses can be interpreted when -iknge 'happens too much' cliticises to non-first person
arguments. Here we must be sensitive to verb semantics and the role of the argument to which -iknge
'happens too much' is being cliticised. For instance, given a verb that entails, or generally implies, a
benefit to one of its arguments, then -iknge 'happens too much' cliticised to the beneficiary results in an
utterance that is to be interpreted as a jealous, or envious, complaint. In other words, the speaker is
saying that something good is happening to someone else again and again and the speaker feels bad
because s/he is missing out on that good thing. Examples (9)a and b demonstrate this case.
(9) a. Re re-nh-iknge arr-wantye-me.

3sgA 3sg-ACC-TOO MUCH kiss(mouth-lick)-npp.
She's always kissing him. [I wish she'd kiss me.]
b. Unte pwerte relhe yanhe-k-iknge nthe-me. Ayenge-rl-arteye?
2sgA money womanthat-DAT-TOO MUCH give-npp. 1sgS-
FOC-what about
You always give money to that woman.What about me?
With verbs of adverse affect, on the other hand, the use of -iknge 'happens too much' can have
two interpretations. If the argument marked with -iknge 'happens too much' is the sufferer of a verb of
adverse affect then the speaker is signalling compassion for the sufferer (eg. 10)
(10) (Kunye,) Re re-nh-iknge ilte-me
(Poor-thing,) 3sgA 3sg-O-TOO MUCH scold-npp.
(Poor thing,) He's always getting told off by him.
[He shouldn't be subjected to that.]
The sense of compassion in an utterance such as (10) arises in the following logical way. By
using -iknge 'happens too much' here the speaker conveys that "something bad keeps on happening to
someone else (ie. they keep on being scolded)". The speaker is also saying that "it shouldn't be that way
and I feel bad because of it". It is this feeling bad over somebody else's bad experiences, a sort of
empathy, which leads one to infer and interpret the utterance as one of compassion as opposed to one
of criticism or complaint.
If, however, the performer of a verb of adverse affect is the argument that -iknge 'happens too
much' cliticises to, then we have a clear example of a criticism. Somebody is continually performing an
undesirable action and the speaker is making a comment on how it shouldn't be that way and how bad it
makes him/her feel. Thus, in contrast to example (10), we have example (11) in which -iknge 'happens
too much' is cliticised to the performer, rather than the sufferer, of the verb action ilte- 'to scold'.
(11) R-iknge re-nhe ilte-me.Tyerrtye mwarre-le

3sgA-TOO MUCH 3sg-ACC scold-npp. person good-ERG
alakenhe ilte-tyekenhe ne-me.
like-so swear-VbNEG be-npp
He's always telling him off. Good people don't behave (ie. scold) like that.
Utterances such as that in example (11) often appeal to a general knowledge of how people are
meant to behave. The "bad feelings" of the speaker encoded in -iknge 'happens too much' are here seen
to be the same sort of indignation any normal member of the community is meant to feel when there has
been a behavioural breach. This being the case, it is clear that to use and understand -iknge 'happens too
much', in this sense, as a native speaker does, one must know what the Mparntwe Arrernte socio-
cultural norms of behaviour are and must, in fact, know what is good and bad in culturally appropriate
terms.
From the above discussion it is possible to produce the schema given in figure 9-1 which
indicates how a native speaker listening to an utterance with -iknge 'happens too much' in it can interpret
its intended sense and thereby be able to attach an appropriate report type (cf. footnote 3) to it .
Figure 9-1: Schema for predicting what report type an utterance containing -iknge
'happens too much' will be associated with.
The schema in figure 9-1 leads one to the question of what report type (ie. speech act type) is
associated with utterances in which -iknge 'happens too much' is cliticised to a non-1st person argument
of a verb that is neutral with respect to benefit or adversity. As might be expected from the schema, in
such a case the same utterance can be interpreted in three different ways - as complaint, compassion, or
criticism. It is only the discourse context which allows one to choose amongst the three senses. Thus, a
neutral verb like angke- 'to speak', can be regarded as a verb of benefit when it leads to someone
getting recognition or money (eg. 12, interpretation a); it can be the cause of someone's suffering when
they are the poor person who has to speak every time there's a meeting (eg. 12, interpretation b); or a
longwinded and boring speaker can be seen to be performing an action of adverse affect (eg. 12,
interpretation c).
(12) R-iknge angke-me.

3sgS-TOO MUCH speak-npp.
(a) He's always speaking. [When do I get my chance?]
(b) (Poor thing,) He's always having to speak.
(c) He never stops speaking. [The big-mouth.]
Here then we see a common distinction between utterances where lexicon and sentence frame
provide all the semantic information required for an interpretation, and utterances where context is
required to fill in extra meaningful components before a complete interpretation is possible. The schema
presented works once context fills in the necessary components about benefit and adversity and
indicates what the perceived role of the marked argument is.
9.2.2 -itanye 'despite'

The second member of the group under discussion,-itanye 'despite', cliticises to a word or
phrase denoting a prevailing or ambient condition, and indicates that something is behaving unexpectedly
under such conditions. Common English glosses which come fairly close to rendering -itanye's meaning
are: 'despite', 'even though', 'although', and 'How could Y do that?'. Its more exact explication is:
X-itanye: Knowing that X is the case, one would think that Y would behave
in a particular way.
I'm saying this to let you know that Y is not behaving as Y should
when X is the case.
(Isn't that surprising?) Y is doing Z (instead).
The clitic -itanye 'despite', unlike -iknge 'happens too much', need not imply anything about the
speaker's attitudes or feelings, although it is commonly associated with a sense of surprise. An example
of its use in a simple declarative utterance is given in (13).
(13) Lhwerrpe-k-itanye, urinp-irre-me.

winter-DAT-DESPITE, hot-inch-npp
Even though it's winter, it's getting hot.
In example (13) we have an impersonal construction referring to the weather. The prevailing set
of conditions is that it is winter and -itanye 'despite' tells us that:
Knowing that it is winter, one would think that the weather (unstated subject) would behave in a
particular way (it should be cold). However, this utterance is to let you know that the weather is not
behaving as it should during winter; it's getting hot instead.
We can see from its definition that -itanye 'despite', as opposed to -iknge 'happens too much',
doesn't have the components "I feel bad" or "it shouldn't be like that". As such its semantics are not as
closely associated with the notions of criticism or complaint. However, when -itanye 'despite' refers to a
person, rather than the weather or some other non-human thing, the logical inference may be a criticism.
To say a person isn't behaving as they should is, in Mparntwe Arrernte culture, tantamount to a criticism.
The effectiveness of the inferred criticism varies to the extent that people agree on what the
prevailing conditions are, and what behaviour is required under those conditions. Furthermore, the more
aberrant the behaviour the more obvious the criticism. Still another relevant factor is whether the
addressee is also the person who is behaving unnaturally.
Thus, we have only a mild criticism where the prevailing condition is subject to varied opinion.
This can be exemplified by opinions as to how good a movie is (cf. 14). If a person walks out on a
movie that the speaker thinks is good s/he may be subject to the speaker's general criticism for not
agreeing with the speaker's opinion, or the speaker may simply use -itanye 'despite' to indicate surprise
about the other person's behaviour.
(14) Mwarre-ng-itanye, re picture impe-ke.

good-ABL-DESPITE, 3sgA movie leave-pc.
Despite the fact that it was so good, he left the movie. [How could he?]
As well as clearly ambient phenomena like winter-time and night-time, or even goodness and
evil, a prevailing condition can also be seen as anything that would, or should, constrain social behaviour.
Thus "holes" and "women" can be seen as prevailing conditions in examples (15) and (16) respectively.
The fairly strong criticism to be inferred from both utterances is due to the fact that under those
conditions the person's behaviour was completely socially deviant.
(15) Iperte-k-itanye, mweteke iperte-ke kwerne-ke, arerte-l-arteke.

hole-DAT-DESPITE, car hole-DAT insert-pc, mad-ERG-SEMBL
Despite knowing that there were lots of holes around, he went right ahead and
drove into a hole [got the car bogged], (as if he were a madman).
(16) Relhe mape-k-itanye, artwe yanhe mantere irlwe-lhe-ke.

womangroup-DAT-DESPITE, man that(S) clothes(O) take-off-REFL-
pc
Even though there were all those women around, that man took
all his clothes off. [How disgusting!]
Where the unexpected behaviour of another person can be seen to be affecting the speaker in a
negative way, an utterance with -itanye 'despite' may be interpreted as containing a complaint as well as
a criticism. Thus in line [2] of our example interchange, repeated here as example (17), person B's
immediate rebuff to a request for money is both a criticism and a complaint. S/He is criticising person A
for going around late at night when A should be at home asleep, like everyone else. Furthermore,
implicit in person B's statement is a complaint, because B would like to be in bed like all other normal
people and would be but for person A's unnatural behaviour. Notice also that person B is violating
Grice's (1975:45) 'Co-operative Principle' and is trying to get the conversation away from the request
for money.
(17) Ingwe kngerre-l-itanye, iwenhe-ke unte petye-me,

night big-LOC-DESPITE, what-DAT 2sgS come-npp,
ingkirreke ankw-inte-rlenge?!
everyone asleep-lie-DS(sim)
What on earth have you come here for? Don't you realise it's the
middle of the night and everyone's sleeping.
A fuller understanding of -itanye's contribution to the the utterance in (17) [ie. line [2]] can be
gained by examining the following explication:
"Knowing it's the middle of the night, one would think that you would behave in a particular way (ie. be
asleep and let everyone else, like myself, sleep). I'm saying this to let you know that you are not
behaving as you should when it's the middle of the night."
Again, as with -iknge 'happens too much', only with shared notions of what constitutes normality
and with a knowledge of how one is to act under given conditions can utterances with -itanye 'despite'
be used and interpreted with native speaker competence.
9.3 Criticism/Complaint derived from a logical contradiction of part of the particle/clitic's meaning
In the discussion of -iknge 'happens too much' and -itanye 'despite' we saw how their inherent
semantic content can lead to the production of utterances which convey criticism and/or complaint.
More to the point, it was demonstrated that the full interpretation of an utterance containing one or other
of these two clitics requires, in varying degrees, a knowledge of the semantic content of other lexical
items in the utterance, a knowledge of the discourse context, and a knowledge of Mparntwe Arrernte
socio-cultural norms. All this other knowledge, however, is fully integrated with the meaning of the
particle/clitic to render a final interpretation. This is in complete contrast to our second group of
particle/clitics - kwele 'quotative', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -me 'interrogative' - where the sense of
criticism and/or complaint arises through quite a different mechanism. Here, a misfit or contradiction
between the particle/clitic's meaning and the real world knowledge of both speaker and hearer leads to
an implicature, the interpretation of which results in a complaint/criticism.
The use of kwele 'quotative', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -me 'interrogative' in this way is akin
to irony or sarcasm in English. Grice (1975: 53) has claimed that irony arises as an infringement of the
first maxim of Quality; "do not say what you believe to be false", but Grice never indicates how the
generation of ironic statements differs from the generation of exaggerations or metaphors both of which
are also supposed to come about through the infringement of the Quality maxim. I believe it to be a
shortcoming of the Gricean framework that even though it talks about meanings, contradictions of
meanings, and resultant implicatures, it never deals with explications of meanings.
In the following discussion I hope to indicate explicitly where semantic contradictions arise.
Further, I hope to show that it is due to the fact that kwele 'quotative', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -
me 'interrogative' share significant semantic components that they are used in a parallel way to convey
criticism/complaint through something like irony. Moreover, I wish to show that a single invariant (core)
implicature, whose meaning can be explicated, can be attached in a principled way to utterances
containing any of these three particle/clitics.
9.3.1 kwele 'quotative'

Australian languages commonly contain a particle/clitic which attributes a statement or a
proposition to someone other than the speaker; a so-called quotative or hearsay particle/clitic. The
Mparntwe Arrernte equivalent is the particle kwele 'quotative'. The meaning and use of kwele
'quotative', however, is not quite so straightforward. It is definitely part of the sense of kwele 'quotative'
that, in attributing a proposition to someone other than the speaker, the speaker is also indicating that
s/he would be unable to assert the validity of the proposition. The particle kwele 'quotative', which has
scope over the constituents that it follows, is used in many senses like English "supposed" or "so they
say". Its meaning can be represented as follows:
X kwele: I want you to know that someone else has said this about X.
(If I'm reporting them correctly.)
I wouldn't say it if they hadn't said it, because I have
no direct experience of it myself.
A very common place to find kwele 'quotative' is in traditional Dreamtime narratives. For
instance, text 12 of appendix 1 contains 129 instances of -kwele 'quotative'. Such narratives are said to
have been handed down to the present generation from their ancestors. In using kwele 'quotative' in
these stories the 'other person' that the speaker indicates as 'having said this about X' can, therefore, be
readily identified as "the ancestors" or "my forebears". Moreover, while the validity, or ultimate truth, of
the stories is not to be questioned, the speaker conveys through the use of kwele 'quotative' that s/he has
no direct experience of the facts of the story, and that s/he wouldn't have been able to recount the story
if it hadn't passed down to her/him.
(18) Pmere arrule-rle kwele ne-ke; artwe nyente, ... camp
long-ago QUOT be-pc; man one,
A long time ago, so they (the ancestors) say, there lived; a man, ... [T12-1]
While the facts of Dreamtime stories are beyond question, kwele 'quotative' can in other
circumstances be used to bring into question facts put forward by others. The most obvious examples of
this are where the speaker "quotes" propositions that have been put around about him/herself by others.
In most such cases, especially where the proposition conveys that the speaker has done some particular
action, if the facts about the speaker were true, then the speaker would be expected to be able to assert
their validity. With kwele 'quotative' the speaker indicates that s/he has no direct experience of the facts,
and this leads to the logical inference that s/he is saying the facts are untrue (eg. 19).
(19) The kwele re-nhe twe-ke.

1sgA QUOT 3sg-ACC hit/kill-pc.
I'm supposed to have killed him. [But I should know if I did, and I didn't.]
Although kwele 'quotative', by definition, alludes to an original source for a proposition, this
source is not always identifiable. In fact kwele 'quotative' is often used when there is no real perpetrator
of the fact beyond the speaker him/herself. A speaker trying to sway an argument their way may use
kwele 'quotative' in an utterance so as to put a new fact into the argument which the speaker doesn't
have to defend but which has the support of a nameless 'they'. Further, kwele 'quotative' can be used to
soften commands and orders by falsely indicating that the order is only being passed on through the
speaker from some unnamed 'commander' (eg. 20). (This is not to say that kwele 'quotative' could not
be used in an authentic case of a command being passed on.)
(20) Arrantherre kwele ntert-irr-Ø-aye!

2plS QUOT quiet-INCH-IMP-EMPH.
You mob are supposed to be quiet! [ie. Someone else has said that you
mob have to shut up!]
The ironic usage of kwele 'quotative' to express criticism comes about when it modifies a
proposition that everybody, including speaker and hearer, should be able to assert as true, or when it
refers to something that both the speaker and the hearer, and perhaps only they, know to be true. The
former instance returns us to the issue of 'norms of behaviour'. In Mparntwe Arrernte culture, as in any
culture, there are conventional norms of behaviour the validity of which every 'normal' member of the
society would be able to assert. The semantics of kwele 'quotative' entails that the speaker is unable to
assert the proposition referred to; if that proposition is a conventional norm of behaviour there is an
obvious incongruity. The mismatch is exploited for stylistic effect. A speaker using kwele 'quotative' in
this way is, in effect, saying that because s/he is experiencing another person's deviant behaviour the
evidence of the validity of the proposition referring to conventional behaviour is to the speaker only
hearsay and not substantiated by his/her own present experience. The incongruity leads further to an
implicature which is to be interpreted as a criticism of the person who is behaving abnormally. (An
explication of the implicature will be presented in §9.3.4 after discussion of -kathene 'mistaken belief'
and -me 'interrogative'.) An example of this usage is to be found in (21), where a husband is talking to
his wife. In Mparntwe Arrernte society it is a woman's role to look after the children, but this woman
has been looking after her child very badly. On returning from a hunting trip the husband sees that the
baby is sick and has scratches all over it. In chastising her, he utters example (21).
(21) Unte kwele ampe kweke arntarntare-me.

2sgA QUOT child small look-after-npp.
You, so they say, are meant to look after the baby. [But I've
seen no evidence of it myself. (So smarten up your act.)]
The second instance which leads to an utterance of criticism with kwele 'quotative' is exemplified
in line [6] of the conversation in §9-1 (repeated here as (22)).
(22) Tyewe ngkwinhe imerte kwele ayenge.

friend 2sgPOSS then QUOT 1sgS.
You're supposed to be my friend. [But what you're doing now
makes me question that.]
It happens to be the case that the participants in this conversation, A and B, are friends. This is
something which under other circumstances they would assert to be fact. The use of kwele 'quotative' is,
therefore, incongruous since by using it one of the pair -- B -- is claiming s/he could not assert the fact of
the proposition. A more precise explication of kwele's contribution to (22) might clarify this point:
I want you to know that somebody else has said that I'm your friend. (Which is something both you and
I really know is true.) I wouldn't say it if they hadn't said it because I have no direct experience of it
myself. (Because at the moment you're not acting like a friend; a friend wouldn't come in the middle of
the night scrounging for money.)
It should not be difficult to see how such semantics, along with the mismatch between
proposition and fact, leads to a conversational implicature which conveys criticism and which forces the
hearer to consider his/her behaviour under the circumstances.
One final point should be made. If the two people concerned were not friends, there would be
no incongruity and hence no conversational implicature. This would simply be a case of bringing into
question hearsay facts as discussed previously.
9.3.2 -kathene 'mistaken belief'

The particle/clitic -kathene 'mistaken belief' can cliticise to any constituent of an utterance and it
indicates that someone mistakenly believed that the semantic contents of that constituent was true with
respect to the total proposition, but now realises s/he was wrong. English expressions which
approximate -kathene 'mistaken belief' are 'Person W thought X, but Y instead', 'W mistook X for Y',
and 'W wrongly assumed X'. Explicating -kathene 'mistaken belief' in natural language terms yields
the following definition:
X-kathene: Person W had a reason to believe that X was the case.

W is surprised to find out that s/he was wrong.
W now knows that Y is the case not X.
From the definition it can be seen that their was a reason for someone to believe something was
the case. This person's 'mistake', then, arises from a misperception of the facts at his/her command.
The misperception may simply be through faulty logic leading to an erroneous assumption. This would
for instance be the case where, as in example 23, someone who is responsible for handing out wages
wrongly assumes that, because a lot of people picked up their money yesterday, then everybody must
have picked up their money yesterday and s/he is then confronted by someone who wants their money
today .
(23) Unte mane re-nhe apmwerrke ine-ke-kathene.

2sgA money 3sg-ACC yesterday get-pc-MISTAKE.
I wrongly assumed you had picked up the money yesterday.
On the other hand, the misperception may be through an actual inability to perceive through the
senses the exact nature of something and so believing it to be something else. That being so -kathene
'mistaken belief' would be used when someone mistook one person for another person who looked very
similar, or when they were mistaken about the identity of an object seen at a distance:
(24) Arlenge-nge aherre-kathene ayenge itirre-ke, arleye-rle!

far-ABL kangaroo-MISTAKE 1sgS think-pc, emu-FOC
Hey! From afar I thought it was a kangaroo, but it turns out that it's an emu.
The particle/clitic -kathene 'mistaken belief' is used ironically for criticism and complaint when it
marks something as mistaken that both the speaker and the addressee know to be true. The only
attested cases of this usage are where -kathene 'mistaken belief' is cliticised to a possessed relationship
term and is used in reference to someone who is, in fact, in that relation to the possessor. As noted in
§3.9, relationship terms include all kin terms as well as terms for friends, and there are clearly defined
obligations which any specific relationship entails (cf. §1.2.4). The use of -kathene 'mistaken belief' in
this way is to criticise someone for not behaving as they should according to their relationship
obligations. A rough English equivalent would be something like, "So X calls himself Y's Z" (said with
ironic/sarcastic intonation) where Z is a relationship term. The precise Arrernte equivalent is captured in
the following:
I had reason to believe X was Y's Z[relationship term]. (Which in fact X is.)
I'm surprised to find that I was wrong. (I must be wrong, X is not behaving
as a Z should towards Y.)
I now know that X is not Y's Z. (But the truth is X is Y's Z.)
I should note that what is missing from the above is an explication of both the implicature of
criticism and the illocutionary purpose which are attributed to the utterance as a result of the clash
between -kathene's meaning and the real world facts. The general implicature and purpose are,
however, the same as those attributed to critical uses of kwele 'quotative' and -me 'interrogative' and so
will be presented during the discussion of the complete group (cf. §9.3.4).
Examples of the usage just discussed are found in (25) and (26). It is part of one's
responsibilities as a brother (cf. 25) or a friend (cf. 26), to give food or money to someone to whom you
are related in that way. A refusal to comply with a sibling's or friend's request for these things is
therefore a breach, albeit a mild one, of obligations and is a target for criticism. When the criticism is
addressed to the miscreant the illocutionary purpose is to shame the addressee into complying with their
obligations. We can see this to be the premise upon which the utterance in line [5] (reproduced here as
(26)) of the opening conversation is based.
(25) K-ikwe-kathene ayenge itirre-ke

EldBr-3sgKinPOSS-MISTAKE 1sgS think-pc.
Oh! I thought you were his brother. [But you can't be because you won't do X
for him.]
(26) Tyew-atye-kathene ayenge itirre-ke.

friend-1sgKinPOSS-MISTAKE 1sgS think-pc.
I thought you were my friend. [But you can't be since a friend would give me
money.]
It is perhaps self-evident, but still worth emphasising, that to use -kathene 'mistaken belief' with
relationship terms to form criticisms one must be in full command of the socio-cultural knowledge of
what obligations various relations entail and what constitutes a breach of those obligations. Certain kin,
for instance, have no obligation to provide food or money on request, and so using -kathene 'mistaken
belief' under these conditions would be infelicitous. These same kin may however have ceremonial
obligations, which, if not fulfilled properly, leave them open to criticism and -kathene's use would be
appropriate. Moreover, it would be very hard to construct a scenario where -kathene 'mistaken belief'
could be used in this way with respect to a mother-in-law's behaviour towards her son-in-law since a
strict avoidance relation holds between them (cf. §1.2.4.3) and she has no direct dealings with, or
obligations to, him .
9.3.3 -me 'interrogative'

The final particle/clitic to be discussed is -me 'interrogative'. Dixon (1980:285) notes that this
same form, which he labels an interrogative clitic, "recurs in widely separated (Australian) languages."
Unfortunately I have found no grammar of a language, with a form cognate to -me 'interrogative', in
which a clear definition of the clitic is given or which cites that it can be used ironically; something which
is very common is Mparntwe Arrernte. In fact, most Australian grammars give little more than a gloss
and note that it forms yes/no questions. This is frustrating since -me 'interrogative' provides a rare
chance for cross-linguistic comparison. As Dixon (1980:285) observes, -me 'interrogative' "contrasts
with the other clitics and particles, which usually have quite distinct forms in different languages." For
Mparntwe Arrernte we can define -me 'interrogative' as follows:
X-me: Somebody/something else has said/implied that something is the case.
There is a part, part "X", of what they've said/implied that I'm not sure of.
I want to know whether I've identified part "X" correctly or not.
I assume you know.
I want you to tell me.
Any constituent of an utterance can be cliticised with -me 'interrogative' and that constituent must
occur as the initial constituent of the utterance. While the rest of the proposition is taken as established,
it is the validity of this cliticised constituent which is being checked with respect to the total proposition.
An equivalent effect is achieved in English by using an interrogative structure and stressing the particular
constituent which is to be checked. Thus, given the statement in example (27), the three questions in
example (28) can be formed using -me 'interrogative'. Each question checks a different constituent from
the three constituents that form the utterance in example (27).
(27) Artwe-le relhe re-nhe knge-ke.

man-ERG woman3sg-A take-pc.
A man took the woman.
(28) a. Artwe-le-me relhe re-nhe knge-ke?

Did a man take the woman? [Or was it someone else?]
b. Relhe re-nhe-me artwe-le knge-ke?

Did a man take the woman? [Or did he take someone else?]
c. Knge-ke-me artwe-le rlhe re-nhe?

Did a man take the woman? [Or did he do something else to her?]
The clitic -me 'interrogative' can convey a sense of criticism and complaint when it is used
rhetorically to form a pseudo-question which requires no answer since the hearer knows that the
speaker knows the answer to the question. The semantics of -me 'interrogative' entails that the speaker
is not sure of something, s/he wants to know whether s/he is right or wrong about that thing, and s/he
wants the addressee to tell him/her if s/he is right or wrong. Clearly, then, there is an incongruity if the
speaker uses -me 'interrogative' to check something that s/he already knows to be true or untrue and
therefore does not need an answer to. This clash leads the addressee to an implicature of criticism
which will be explicated in §9.3.4.
It should also be noted, however, that it is not just this clash which leads one to the implicature of
criticism. A speaker uses this utterance form in a situation where someone expects the speaker to do
something that s/he doesn't feel s/he should have to do. By using -me 'interrogative' the speaker is
indicating that from the other person's behaviour one would think that the world was other than the
speaker thought it was and the speaker feigns to be checking whether the world really is other than s/he
thought it was. Thus the semantics of -me 'interrogative' in context, as well as the misfit between
semantics and reality, lead to an implicature of criticism/complaint.
A close English parallel to this use of -me 'interrogative' is 'What does Y think I am, an X?', where X
is someone or something whose purpose or job it is to do the action person Y is demanding of the
speaker ('What do you think I am, a taxi?'; 'What does he think I am, his servant?'). The example of
this use of -me 'interrogative' is found in line [4] of the opening interchange and is reproduced here as
example (29).
(29) Ayenge-me banke?

1sgS-INTER bank?
Am I a bank? [The way you keep asking me for money, you'd think I was.]
Here the constant requests for money make the speaker 'realise' that the addressee must be
referring to a bank and s/he is 'checking' whether it is s/he him/herself who is supposed to be a bank.
More specifically:
You have implied that there is a bank around here (by coming here and
constantly asking for money)
There is a part of what you've implied (ie. exactly who, what or where the bank
is ) that I'm not sure of.
I want to know whether it's me who is a bank.
I assume you know.
I want you to tell me.
9.3.4 Discussion of implicature

Some observations are to be made with respect to the preceding discussion of kwele 'quotative',
-kathene 'mistaken belief', and -me 'interrogative'. We can begin by noting that all three particle/clitics
share two semantic features. Firstly, in using any of these three particle/clitics (from the perspective of
speaker), the speaker is presenting a piece of information that s/he would not assert to be true.
Secondly, the speaker is saying that there may be, or may have been, a reason to assert that the piece of
information was true. The particle kwele 'quotative' requires that the speaker has no personal experience
of the information, and so cannot assert its truth, but others are claimed to have asserted its truth. In
using -kathene 'mistaken belief' with respect to a belief that the speaker held, the speaker indicates that
s/he had reason to believe the information to be true, but now s/he knows it to be untrue and therefore
couldn't assert it. Finally, using -me 'interrogative', the speaker says s/he thinks from what others have
said or implied that a piece of information may be true with respect to a given proposition, but s/he isn't
sure, and so couldn't assert it, but wants to know if it is true.
It is significant to note that of the 57 particle/clitics in Mparntwe Arrernte (cf. chapter 8) it
appears that only these three share both the semantic features stated, and, moreover, it appears that only
these three can be used with an implicature of criticism and/or complaint. In other words, the generation
of the implicature is highly principled and constrained. Certainly the mechanism by which the implicature
is called up is regular; in a situation where both the speaker and the addressee know something to be
true or untrue (and each knows that the other knows), the speaker claims to be unable to assert the
information's validity, and only goes as far as saying that there may be, or may have been, a reason to
say it was true. This disparity triggers the implicature.
Note further that the context for such usage involves someone behaving in a way that the
speaker disapproves of and which distresses her/him, or makes her/him feel bad in some way. In all
cases the speaker, if we took her/his words at face value, would seem to be saying that the behaviour of
some other person has lead her/him to believe that the world is other than s/he had believed it to be.
S/He fell prey to hearsay; was mistaken; or at least needs to check, about how the world really is. Since
both the addressee and speaker know that the world really is as the speaker says s/he had believed it to
be, the addressee is forced to go back and reassess his/her behaviour, or the behaviour of the person
being referred to, as well as taking note of the speaker's general attitude to the situation.
Although I do not subscribe to their general thesis, Sperber and Wilson (1981:312) make a nice
observation when they relate the fact that irony commonly carries implications of failure to reach a
certain standard to the fact that "standards or rules of behaviour are culturally defined, commonly
known, and frequently invoked" and therefore can be readily called to mind through an ironic
implicature. This is just the sort of thing we have seen in operation in Mparntwe Arrernte. Both kwele
'quotative' and -kathene 'mistaken belief' invoked specific socio-cultural norms; kwele 'quotative' by
referring explicitly to the behavioural norms and -kathene 'mistaken belief' by referring to relationships
which entail norms of behaviour. The clitic -me 'interrogative' is slightly different as it alludes to unfair
expectations of what the speaker should do and forces the addressee to realise what s/he should
normally expect of the speaker and so how s/he, or the person referred to, should behave.
It is now possible to present the explication of the implicature of criticism and complaint that
arises for all three particle/clitics when the triggering mechanism described above comes into play. The
definition is of the shared, invariant, core meaning of the implicature; clearly extra meaningful components
are to be added for each individual particle/clitic. Further, the explication is relevant only to situations
where the person criticised and/or complained about is the addressee; as was the case for all the
examples in the opening interchange.
Explication of shared components of kwele 'quotative', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -me 'interrogative'
and context-based trigger for the implicature:
(Shared components)
I say that I can't say X is true; even though one might have (or might have had) a reason to believe
it was true.
(Trigger)
I say this knowing that both you and I know whether X is true or untrue and you know that I
know.
I say this because something bad is happening to me because of what you are doing, and what you are
doing would make someone think that something is true that we both know to be untrue (eg. they'd think
you weren't supposed to look after the baby (cf. example 21) or that you weren't my friend (cf. example
26), or that I was a bank (cf. example 29)).
Explication of the implicature:
I say this because I want you to think for yourself about how you should behave and I want that to cause
you to stop doing the thing that makes me feel bad.
Through the above explication we can see that the meaning of the implicature cannot simply be
derived from some transformation of the meaning of a conventional utterance which contains one of
these particle/clitics. More to the point, the criticism/complaint utterances are not mere contradictions of
the meaning of the related conventional proposition as Grice (1975:53) would suggest, even though they
are 'ironic' in the sense that what the speaker "has said or has made as if to say is something he does not
believe" (Grice, op. cit.). While contradiction is part of the meaning, and provides the trigger of the
implicature, the contradiction is, demonstrably, not of the complete meaning of the particle/clitic, let alone
of the whole utterance. Furthermore, components relating to the speaker's attitude and his illocutionary
purpose are also relevant parts of the meaning that can be attributed to the implicature.
In contrast to the Gricean framework (cf. Grice 1975, 1989), therefore, I contend that what
would usually be treated as non-conventional (ie. conversational) implicatures already exist as explicable
and conventional parts of the grammar of any language. A specific implicature may be associated with a
number of semantically related utterance types. When certain semantic components of these utterances
are contradicted, by context or through internal semantic dissonance, the fixed implicature will be
invoked and must be seen as part of the total, explicable, meaning of the utterance in context.
In sum, I have attempted to demonstrate that kwele 'quotative', -kathene 'mistaken belief', and -
me 'interrogative' form a semantically coherent group, even though they have widely divergent uses. This
semantic coherence explains how and why they are all used 'ironically' to convey criticism and complaint.
Moreover, the implicature which arises from their atypical (as opposed to non-conventional) usage can
be attributed to the interpretation of utterances according to specific conventional principles and the
implicature can be given an explicit definition which includes attitudinal information and the illocutionary
purpose of the utterance.
9.4 Conclusion
This chapter began with a fairly simple and a fairly normal conversation. The key to fully
understanding what each interlocutor communicated in that conversation lay in understanding the
contribution to the discourse made by the particle clitics -itanye 'despite', -iknge 'happens too much', -
me 'interrogative', -kathene 'mistaken belief' (cf. §8.1.1.8), and kwele 'quotative; hearsay'. These
particle/clitics reveal the "several postures of the mind" of the interlocutors and the task of this chapter
has been to explain, as fully as possible, the "significancy and force" of those forms so that the
conversation may be understood in its entirety.
To simply generate sentences in a language may not be difficult, and would be within the scope
of a traditional grammar. However, to perform speech acts in that language is similar to performing
other acts within a culture; one must become part of the speech community in some way, and understand
the shared cultural values and conventions of the speech community before one can perform and
interpret the acts felicitously. This same general point holds for any utterance whose interpretation or
production is dependant upon the specific socio-cultural context of the language concerned. As well as
syntactic and semantic acceptability, there is another level of acceptability, socio-cultural acceptability,
which grammars should describe. The correct use of particle/clitics discussed here relies on such
knowledge of values and conventions which should become a necessary adjunct to their description.
This however is beyond the scope of this thesis.
I believe, however, that there is a practical spin-off from a closer look at particle/clitics through
the approach that I have outlined. Particle/clitics can be the bane of a grammarian's, translator's and/or
interpreter's existence. In many languages, including Mparntwe Arrernte, they are near ubiquitous in
speech and, as I hope I have indicated, they are very difficult if not impossible to translate with a single
equivalent. I suggest an approach such as the one taken here (which gives explicit natural language
definitions, discusses general principles for appropriate use and principles for variations in meanings, as
well as indicating the rough equivalents of the linguistic form under discussion) is crucial for writing better
grammars and for training translators, interpreters and second language learners successfully.
It is also my belief that a true understanding of the interface between pragmatics and semantics
(whatever one takes those terms to mean) will proceed no further if approaches to the problem continue
to work from the top down, attempting to develop a framework that is broad enough to explain all
linguistic phenomena at once but failing to base it on a sufficiently detailed analyses of nitty-gritty linguistic
data. A bottom up approach is needed to counterbalance this tendency and test its assumptions. If the
focus of interest is meaning, whether it be labelled semantic or pragmatic, the linguist should be able to
explicate it in natural language terms and thereby explore it more closely in order to find out by what
means (lexical, contextual, social, syntactic, etc., and including any possible mixtures of the
aforementioned) the totality of the meaning may have been constructed. Moreover, we will have a much
better idea of how semantics, pragmatics, grammar, context, and socio-cultural conventions interact
within a particular language if we narrow our view to a small, fairly-well delimited area of language, like a
subgroup of particle-clitics, and proceed to look closely at explications of specific naturally occurring
utterances to see how various final interpretations arise, and then compare related interpretations and
processes to see if any general principles emerge.
Chapter Ten
Aspects of Syntax
Many of the topics which are often covered in chapters on syntax have been covered in previous
chapters. As a rule the combinational properties of various parts of speech and of individual
grammatical forms were discussed in the sections where they were introduced. Further, since much of
the "syntax" of Mparntwe Arrernte is in fact coded in inflectional and derivational morphology, a
considerable ammount of syntactic information is given in the discussion of the inflectional and
derivational morphology of the various parts of speech. The following is a partial list of topics, and
constructions, relating to the syntax of Mparntwe Arrernte, which have already been discussed: the
structure of simple NPs (§3.1); classifier (ie. specific-generic) constructions (§3.4); the ostensive
equational frame (§3.6.1); definitizing and discourse marker functions of third person pronouns (§3.7.3);
dative of kin possession (§3.9.1.2; §4.2.5.7 & §4.2.5.11); the core peripheral, adnominal and
derivational functions of NPs marked with various cases (Chapter 4); syntactic types of predicates
(§5.1); the various overtly marked moods in which an independent clause can appear (§5.3.1); auxiliary
verb constructions (§5.3.2); dependent clauses (§5.3.4); reciprocals, reflectives, causatives and
inchoatives (§5.5); the relative location construction (§7.3.2.2); comparatives (§8.1.2.2); disjunction
(§8.2.1.4); sentential particles (§8.2.2); conjunctions (§8.2.3); and particle/clitic insertion (§8.3). In this
chapter further aspects of Mparntwe Arrernte syntax are investigated.
10.1 Complex Noun Phrases

A complex NP is any NP which contains more than one simple NP within it, or which contains
an NP and a modifying clause. In §3.1 complex NPs were contrasted with simple NPs and it was noted
that, on the above criterion, NPs containing relative clauses, conjoined NPs, NP-relator phrases, part-
whole constructions and the pronominal inclusion construction were all to be considered complex NPs.
NP-relator phrases such as possessives and proprietives have been discussed in chapter 4 (see
especially §4.1.1, §4.2.5.8, §§4.2.8.1 & 2, §§4.2.9.1 & 2, §4.2.10.1, §§4.2.11.1b & 3 and §4.2.12)
and conjoined NPs with overt conjunctions were discussed in §§8.2.3.1-3. In this section conjoined
NPs with no overt conjunction (including pronominal inclusion), part-whole constructions,and relative
clauses will be discussed in turn.
10.1.1 Coordinated NPs without overt conjunctions
10.1.1.1 Listing
Blake (1987:91) notes that "[s]imple, asyndetic juxtaposition is probably the most common
strategy" for NP coordination in Aboriginal languages. In Mparntwe this is just one of six basic
strategies used for translating an English coordinate noun phrase (cf. §3.9.2; §§8.2.3.1-3 and
§10.1.1.2). In this particular strategy an indefinite number of NPs, each individually marked for the
same case, are listed one after another with no conjunctive element appearing at any point in the string
(eg. 1). It is not uncommon for there to be significant pausing between each of the conjuncts. This is the
only strategy for NP conjunction which does not entail that the list of entities provided is exhaustive,
hence the ability to ask Iwenhe arrpenhe? 'What else?' in example 1b. This is also the only strategy
which allows certain individual conjuncts to be independently negated (eg. 1b).
(1) a. Atningke-le arrentye re-nhe twe-ke arne-le,, pwerte-le.

many-ERG monster 3sg-ACC hit-pc stick-INST rock-
INST
The crowd hit the monster with sticks and with stones.
b. A: Iwenhe-me unte are-ke, arrantherre pwetye-werne lhe-me-le?

What-INTER 2sgA see-pc, 2plS bush-ALL go-npp-
SS
What did you(sg) see when you all went out bush?
B: The are-ke apmwe-Ø,, pwerte inteye-Ø,, ilthe-Ø-kwenye,,

1sgA see-pc snake-O, rock cave-O, building-O-
NomNEG,
mweteke-Ø-kwenye,, artwe alethenge nhenge re-nhe.
car-O-NomNeg,, man stranger REMEMB 3sg-
ACC
I saw a snake, a cave, no buildings, no cars, and that stranger (the one
mentioned before).
A: Iwenhe arrpenhe?
What other
What else?
The listing strategy may be used to conjoin NPs which refer to a diverse range of entities,
properties and/or events, and there is no suggestion that the individual referents are thought of as forming
a group (beyond the fact that they are being talked about together). Such conjoined phrases cannot be
used for the subject of symmetric (eg. reciprocal) predicates, although conjoined NPs formed by any
other strategy may be (egs. 2 & 3).
(2) Kwementyaye-ø,, Gabriella-ø apmwerrke petye-ke/*twe-rre-ke

Kwementyaye-S,, Gabriella-s yesterday come-pc/*hit-RECIP-pc
Kwementyaye and Gabriella came/*fought-with-each-other yesterday
(3) a. Rosie ante Carol kele anteme angke-rre-me
Rosie and Carol O.K. now speak-RECIP-pc
Rosie and Carol are speaking with each other right now
b. *Rosie,, Carol kele anteme angke-rre-me
Semantically the listing structure NPa-caseß,, NPb-caseß,, (NPc-caseß,, ...) may be defined as follows:
Things/People/Places which I am thinking of together [now, in this context] because I am saying the
same thing about each of them.
(One of these things/people/places is C,...)
Structurally the listing strategy appears to pose an intriguing problem. Although there is
coordinate semantics and there is a series of constituents each of which belongs to the same syntactic
category and has the same semantic function (cf. Schacter's 1977 Coordinate Constituent Constraint), it
appears that one can extract one conjunct from the series in apparent violation of Ross's (1967)
coordinate structure constraint. In examples (4)a and b, one conjunct appears initially in focal position
where it is questioned, while the other conjuncts occur finally and are taken as given information.
(4) a Artwe-ke-me unte unthe-ke arelhe-ke,, ampe-ke?

man-DAT-INTER 2plS look for-past woman-DAT,, child-DAT
Did you look for a man as well as a woman and a child? (for a man, you
looked for a woman, a child, and?)
b Ngwenhe arrpenhe-kerte Davey lhe-ke

who other-Prop Davey go-pc?
Bob-kerte,, Fran-kerte Amoonguna-werne?
Bob-Prop Fran-Prop Amoonguna-ALL?
Who else did Davey go to Amoonguna with besides Bob and Fran? (lit. With
whom else Davey went with Bob, Fran, and - to Amooguna?)
It has generally been assumed (Chomsky 1957, Ross 1967, Schacter 1977, Sag et al. 1985) that there
is a fairly universal coordinate structure which encapsulates coordinate semantics. The nature of this
structure is such that the conjuncts are all specified as belonging to the same category as each other and
together they form a complex category of exactly the same type and function. Ross (1967:161)
proposed the structure in figure 10-1 as a universal definition of the notion coordinate structure, allowing
for distinct language, specific manifestations and positioning of the morpheme functioning as conjunction.
Figure 10-1: Ross's (1967) representation of coordinate structure
I would claim that the listing strategy for coordination in Mparntwe Arrernte does not conform to
what has been taken as universal for coordinate structures in the generative tradition. The fact that each
NP is independently case marked, the fact that there may be long pauses between each conjunct, and,
most importantly, the fact that conjuncts may be extracted and questioned independently of other
conjuncts, suggest that the NP conjuncts do not form a complex NP constituent. In other words,
although there is clearly an NP complex (ie. a group of adjacent NPs), there is not a complex NP in the
traditional sense. The analysis preferred here is that each conjunct is an independent immediate
constituent of the sentence and each one independently fills complement or adjunct function (cf. figure
10-2). This is supported by the failure of this construction to fill subject position with reciprocal
predicates. The fact that the conjuncts tend to congregate together may possibly be explained by the
very fact that they are all occurring in a position where a constituent of that type would be expected to
occur at that point in the discourse. It is clear that this structure requires further investigation and
explanation.
Figure 10-2: Proposed representation of Mparntwe Arrernte "Listing" structure

(note that dotted branches indicate that no grammatical rule orders these
contituents at this level)
10.1.1.2 Pronominal Inclusion (The Plural Pronoun Construction):

Translation of phrases such as 'John and Fred and I', 'your mother and you', and 'he and you all'
are typically rendered in Mparntwe Arrernte by what has come to be known in Australianist circles (eg.
Goddard 1983:100-102, Blake 1987:93-94) as the' inclusive construction'. This structure was first
recognised as a type of NP coordination by Hale (1966) who examined such constructions in Lardil and
in lower Aranda. Similar constructions in Indo-European, Austronesian, Uralic and various African
language families have been dubbed the 'Plural Pronoun Construction' (PPC) by Schwartz (1985, 1988)
who has attempted a universal characterization of the construction.
In Mparntwe Arrernte the 'inclusive' construction has the following features:
1. There is a fixed order of elements in which a pronoun (egs. 5e-f, and 6a), a kinterm (egs.
5a-c), a name (egs. 5d, g), or a complex NP making reference to kin (eg. 6c), or to named people
(eg. 6b,7) precedes a non- singular pronoun.
2. The number of people referred to by the first element is a subset of the number indicated in the
non-singular pronoun. Thus if the first element is singular the non-singular pronoun must be dual or
plural and if the first element is dual then the non-singular pronoun is typically plural but may,
in certain cases, be dual (cf.line 4 of text 8 in appendix 1).
3. The non-singular pronoun typically reflects the kin relations internal to the group, although the
general pronoun set may be used (cf. § 3.7.2).
4. Where the first element is a pronoun it must be singular, it cannot be first person, and it must be a
subset of a non-singular pronoun of a different person. Thus the 2nd singular pronoun may precede a
1st dual or 1st plural pronoun and the 3rd singular pronoun may precede a 2nd dual, 2nd plural, 1st
dual or 1st plural pronoun.
5. Where both elements are pronouns they must both be marked for the same case (egs. 5f, 6a),
in all other constructions of this type case is only carried by (egs. 5g, 6c) the non-singular pronoun
(ie. the final element).
Examples are given in 5 and 6. Examples 5a-c show how the non-singular pronoun varies as the kin
relations internal to the group vary.
(5) a. akngeye ilake = father and I (lit. father we-two)

father 1dl+pat.dif.gen
b. meye ilanthe = mother and I (lit. mother we-two)
mother 1dl dif.pat
c. kake ilerne = elder brother and I (lit. brother we-two)
eld.brother 1dl+pat+gen
d Margaret itnakerre = Margaret and they (all are+pat, at least one dif.gen)
Margaret 3pl+pat.dif.gen
e. re mpwele = s/he and you (lit. s/he you two)
3sg 2dl+pat+gen
f. ngkwenge anwerne-ke = to you and us
2sg DAT 1pl+pat+gen-DAT
g. Margaret anwerne-ke = to Margaret and us
Margaret 1pl+pat+gen-DAT
(6) a. Mpe, unte ilerne-Ø gotta Davey are-rle

C'mon, 2sg 1dl+pat+gen-A have-to Davey see-IRR
Come on, you and I have to visit Davey.[Man (FF) to grandson (SS)]
b. Margaret re-rlke itne lhe-rltiwe-ke

Margaret 3sg-TOO 3plS go-plS/A-p
Margaret and they went (lit. Margaret, she too, and they went).
c. Yaye uthene kake uthene anwerne-ke re nthe-ke.

e.sisters bi-and e.brother bi-and 1pl-DAT 3sgA
give-pc
She gave it to (my) sister, (my ) brother and I.
The structure under discussion is obviously not a 'typical' coordinate structure; there is only one
overt conjunct, the first element, and the other conjunct is understood to be the "remainder" of the group
referred to by the non-singular pronoun (the second element) once the referent of the overt conjunct
(first element) has been "subtracted" from that group. While standard NP coordinations construct a
group, this structure takes a group as given and one must procede to "deconstruct" the group on the
basis of having given one or some of its members. Semantically we may try to define the 'inclusive'
construction very roughly as follows.
[ NP[kinterm/name/sg.pronoun] Non-singular-pronoun]NP :
There is a group of people which you should be able to identify if I say
"[non-singular pronoun]" .
[Each of the people in this group does/doesn't belong to the same patrimoiety. Each of the people in the
group (of the same patrimoiety) does/doesn't belong to the same generation].
One/two of these people is/are X[kinterm/name/sg.pronoun].
I assume you can think of who the other person/people in the group is/are. [Because you know X and
you know the group X belongs to].
I am thinking of these people together [now in this context] because I am saying the same thing about
each of them.
Interestingly the Mparntwe Arrernte 'inclusive' construct differs from the 'plural pronoun
construction' (PPC) Schwartz (1985, 1988) discusses, only in that in the languages Schwartz has
examined the non-singular pronoun is the first element in the construction, while here it is the final
element. I do not agree with Schwartz's interpretation of the structures, however, in that she claims that
the non-singular pronoun has singular reference in the PPC. As stated above I believe the non-singular
pronouns have their normal reference and the other conjuncts which are understood from the
construction are deduced pragmatically.
The following example demonstrates just how complex a complex NP involving NP
coordinations can be. Note that the 'inclusive construction' is used twice, and that two other
coordination strategies are also used, the strategy with ante 'and' (cf. §8.2.3.1) and the strategy with
uthene 'binary and' (cf. §8.2.3.2 ). This example also demonstrates that it is common, when referring to
a list of individuals, to attempt to represent the internal relationships within the group as closely as
possible. A rough schematic diagram of the complex NP in example 7 is given in figure 10-3 .
(7) P. ilanthe ante Sandy uthene Elizabeth uthene anwerne lhe-ke,

P. 1dl(-Patr) and Sandy bi-and Elizabeth and
1pl+patr+gen-S go-pc
P., Sandy, Elizabeth and I went,...('P. and I, and Sandy and Elizabeth and I'
[or lit. P. we two and Sandy and Elizabeth we all]) [where Speaker and P. are
cross-cousins,and Sandy and Elisabeth are husband and wife] [T7-1]
Figure 10-3: Complex NP involving 3 coordination strategies (and 4 coordinations)
There is one final point which is worth mentioning before leaving the inclusive construction.
Unlike many Australian languages, Mparntwe Arrernte has no inclusive/exclusive distinction in its
pronouns, however the 'inclusive construct' operates as a means for expressing inclusion and exclusion.
For instance, unte ilerne (2sg 2dl +patr+gen 'you and I' [ie. 'you we-two]') clearly expresses inclusion,
while re ilerne (3sg 1dl+patr+gen 's/he and I'[ie.' s/he we-two]') clearly expresses exclusion.
10.1.2 Part-whole Constructions

Blake (1987:94) observes that in expressing the inalienable possession of a part by a whole
"Australian languages usually place the word for the whole and the word for the part in parallel with no
genitive expression". He goes on to say that (1987:95):
"Until very recently most writers on Australian languages presented the whole-part construction as an
example of a type of noun phrase...However, it seems that more often than not the whole and the part
are separate phrases that can be juxtaposed".
Mparntwe Arrernte, however, possesses a complex NP construction containing a part-NP and a whole-
NP which must occur adjacent to one another with no overt marking of possession and with case
marking appearing on the last element of the complex phrase, and it also allows a 'part-NP' and a
'whole-NP' to appear, each with independent case marking, as distinct constituents of the same clause.
In the first instance, the complex NP indicates inalienable possession and the head of the construct is the
'part-NP'. In the second instance, the two NPs may be seen to fulfill distinct semantic roles within the
clause (cf. §11.4.4 ), or one NP, typically the 'part-NP', may be interpreted as an amplification or
secondary predication with respect to the other NP which functions as a clausal argument. Examples
(8)a and b show the semantic and structural distinctions between the part-whole construction (ie. the
complex NP) and the independent part and whole NPs within the one clause. Note that only in 8a could
the body part possibly be interpreted as detached from the body. Note also that the verb could
intervene between the two NPs in 8b but it can not intervene between those in 8a (cf. egs. 8c & d).
(8) a. The artwe kaperte re-nhe are-rne pwerte-ke

1sgA man head 3sg-ACC see-p.inmed hill-DAT
I just saw the man's head in the hills.
b. The artwe re-nhe kaperte re-nhe are-rne pwerte-ke

1sgA man 3sg-ACC head 3sg-ACC see-p.inmed hill-DAT
I just saw the man, in that I saw his head, in the hills.
c. *The artwe are-rne kaperte re-nhe pwerte-ke
d. The artwe re-nhe are-rne kaperte re-nhe pwerte-ke
I just saw the man, in that I saw his head, in the hills.
With body parts of people and animals, as well as parts of plants, the 'part-whole' construction is
typically, but not always (cf. eg.9c), organized with the whole-NP preceding the part-NP (egs. 9a, d).
Further, it must be noted that the posssession of a body part by an inanimate being is very frequently
indicated by using -kenhe 'possessive' to mark the possessor (eg.9b) or by using a possessive pronoun .
Note that in example (9)c there is both a part-whole construction and a separate part-NP which
indicates that utyene 'sore' is the part of 'my foot' which is causing 'me' pain.
(9) a.Kngwelye ingke kwarne-me

dog foot(s) hurt-npp
The dog's foot is hurting.
b.Kngwelye-kenhe ingke kwarne-me

dog-POSS foot hurt-npp
The dog's foot is hurting.
c."Urreke nwerne n-eye-kemparr-aye, ingke

later 1plS sit-PERM-FYRST-EMPH, foot
ayenge kwarne-me-rlenge utyene"
1sgS hurt-npp-DS sore
Hey could we please sit down first, in a little while, the sore on my foot is
hurting (lit. my foot is hurting [due to] the sore). [T. 7-12]
d. ...; untyeye arntape, iwenhe-kweye-kwenye,

...; corkwood bark, what-SELF DOUBT-NomNEG
irrweltye-kwenye, arntape ularte
twigs-NomNEG, bark pure
...; corkwood bark, without watchamacallit, without twigs, just the bark.
As Blake (1987:96) notes, a "generally applicable test for showing that the whole and the part are
separate phrases even when adjacent is the possibility of separate modification for the whole and part".
In Mparntwe Arrernte the whole and part may take separate modification in both the complex NP
construction (ie. the part-whole construction; eg. 10a) and as independent phrases within the clause (eg.
10b).
(10) a. Aherre kweke ayenpe mwarre-ngentyele itne

kangaroo small skin good-from-onwards 3plA
mpware-tyerte kine,...
make-rem.p.hab. same again
They also used to make (a water bag) from the healthy skin of a small red
kangaroo as well,...
b. Arelhe ampwe re kwenhe alhewethe-tyeke

woman old 3sgS ASSERT wash-REFL-PURP
alknge therreme, utyene-ketye-nge
eye two-UQ, sore-AVER-ABL
The old woman should wash both eyes, or else she'll get sores.
Example 10b demonstrates that whenever an animate being performs an action on a part of
itself, the reflexive form of the verb must be used, and if the part and whole NP occur in the same
reflexive clause they must occur as independent NPs. Although the relative clause is intransitive the part
and the whole still fulfill distinct semantic roles as determined by the predicate (ie. in 10b the 'whole' =
washer [=Agent] and the 'part' = washed [=Patient]). For further discussion and exemplification along
these lines see §§11.4.3 & 4.
Finally, in §7.3.2.2, the fact that 'spatial parts cum positionals' could, in their spatial part sense,
enter into the 'part-whole' construction was discussed and exemplified. In fact, the majority of attested
part-whole constructions appear to involve spatial part nouns like atnartenge 'the base of' (eg.11a),
kertne 'the top of; above; up; high' (eg. 11b), and so on. It seems that spatial-part-NPs always follow
the NP referring to the whole immediately, and part-whole constructions involving spatial parts do not
appear to be readily paraphrasable by constructions using overt possessives.
(11) a. ..., kele imerte re are-tye.lhe-me-le

O.K. then 3sgA see-GO&DO-nppSS
atwetye kweke nyente atnyeme atnartenge-ke
joey small one witchetty bush base-DAT
.., so then she came upon a little joey at the base of a witchetty bush. [T10-3]
b. Ilerne unte-rre-ke kertne-ntepe pwerte kertne-werne

1dlS hurry off-dlS/A-pc up-upwards hill top-ALL
We both ran upwards to the top of the hill.
For comparative purposes the reader may wish to consult Hale's (1981) anlysis of the grammar
of part-whole relations in Warlpiri and McGregor's (1985) discussion of the treatment of body parts in
the clause grammar of Kuniyanti.
10.1.3 Relative Clauses
The classic work on "relative clauses" in Australian languages is Hale's 1976 article 'The
adjoined relative clause'. In this discussion he notes that there is a clause structure, common to
Australian languages, which is (i) dependent on the main clause but not embedded in it and (ii) typically
receives, in any one language, a variety of interpretations including both a temporal adverbial
interpretation (Hale's T-relative) and a NP relative clause interpretation (Hale's NP-relative). The
interesting feature of the NP-relative's interpretation, as Hale saw it, was a discrepancy between the fact
that they were semantically embedded but syntactically unembedded.
The main body of Hale's discussion concentrates on Warlpiri, and for this language he
convincingly demonstrated that it was impossible to derive the adjoined relative clause from an
underlying embedded structure. To round out his discussion, he presented comparative evidence from
Kaytetye. Hale noted that the significant difference between Warlpiri and Kaytetye is that the clauses
under discussion are always unembedded in Warlpiri, while in Kaytetye they may be either embedded or
unembedded. For Kaytetye Hale tentatively hypothesised that the underlying structure of both the
embedded and unembedded surface structures was a clause of the adjoined type and embedded surface
structures were the result of a transformation that attracted the adjoined clause towards the head. Hale
noted that the attraction analysis had a natural motivation since it eradicated the incongruity between the
semantic embeddedness and syntactic adjunction (parataxis) of the structure. he did not rule out the
possibility that the Kaytetye structures were in fact underlyingly embedded and commented that much
more research needed to be done.
The facts presented for Kaytetye by Hale are very similar to those encountered in Mparntwe
Arrernte. Hale, himself, was apparently taking Kaytetye as representative of the whole Arandic family.
In this section it is not my objective to take issue with, and reanalyse, Hale's work; too much water has
passed under the bridge of linguistic theory for that to be fruitful. This section presents a fairly detailed
description of relative clauses for one variety of Arandic, indicating that there is a specific clause type
which only has a NP-relative interpretation and is not of the adjoined type. Mparntwe Arrernte also has
clauses of the adjoined type discussed by Hale, but these clauses, which are discussed in the following
chapter, only have a temporal or causal interpretation and have a structure which is completely distinct
from Mparntwe Arrernte NP-relatives.
The fact that the four associated relative clause structures, which are discussed below, have only
a NP-relative interpretation is significant. Comrie (1980) and Keenan (1985) both claim that a language
has a true relative clause structure only if the main function of the structure is to restrict the possible range
of referents of a given, or understood, head noun to a specific subset of that range. Moreover, these
structures have to function in or as noun phrases. On this basis, Comrie (1980:137) concludes that,
because in Warlpiri the adjoined relative clause can equally have a temporal or a NP-relative
interpretation, it is to be considered simply a general subordinate construction and cannot be regarded as
a relative clause. In a similar vein, Keenan (1985:166) writes:
"Warlpiri is like a number of Australian languages in not having a relative clause construction per se, but
rather a more generally useful subordinate clause construction which can function in a way equivalent to
a relative clause when it contains an argument co-referential to an NP in the main clause".
It will be shown below that, in contrast with the adjoined clause structure, none of the relative
clause structures in Mparntwe Arrernte are restricted in occurrence to the periphery of the main clause.
While it is to be expected that fully embedded relatives take up the position in the clause which is
ascribed to the NP in which they are embedded, it is also the case that headless relative and relative
clauses which are discontinuous from their head are commonly found at positions within the clause
which are associated with the case role for which they are marked. Of course, if the nominal role that
the relative clause is functioning in is a peripheral one, then its location at the periphery of the main clause
is again a consequence of its case-marking and/or function and not a consequence of its clause type.
Thus, even though there are relative clause structures which do not appear to be embedded within NPs,
these structures nevertheless commonly occur embedded within the main clause and, unlike the adjoined
structure, can be flanked on both sides by material from the main clause in which they operate.
10.1.3.1 General Structure Shared by all Relative Clause Types

All the associated relative clause types share the structure given in figure 10-4.
[X-rle (Y) VbFINITE (-rle)]SREL (3pnDef) -CASE
Figure 10-4: Structure Contained in all Relative Clause Types
There is a subordinate clause, SREL (following Keenan 1985:142), in which the first constituent of the
clause is marked with the enclitic -rle to indicate the clause's subordinate status. Any further constituents
of the clause tend to follow this constituent and the verb of the clause, which typically occurs in clause
final position, may also, optionally, take the enclitic -rle (see §8.1.1.18 for further functions of this clitic).
The verb in the SREL clause is finite and can bear all the inflectional suffixes taken by independent main
verbs. The case of the NP in which, or for which, the SREL occurs is typically marked directly onto the
verb complex but a 3rd person definitising pronoun may follow SREL, in which case the pronoun bears
case. Thus the two markers which help one to delineate the general structure common to all relative
clause types in Mparntwe Arrernte is the -rle 'relative' marked initial constituent and the final case
marking. However, because -rle 'relative' is a multifunctional enclitic and SREL frequently occurs in a
role in the matrix which takes Ø case marking, it is not always easy to identify, unambiguously, a relative
clause structure. Note also that, as far as case-marking with -le 'ergative, instrumental, locative' is
concerned, if there is no definitising pronoun, then the case marker appears before, not after, the second,
optional, occurence of -rle (egs. 22a, 30a below).
One case which is not handled by the general formulation given above is where SREL is
verbless. In all such cases the role of the understood head noun in the relative clause is as S and the
SREL conveys a stative predication regarding that entity (ie. predicates its location, who it is possessed
by, what qualities it has, etc.). The nominal or nominal complex which acts as predicator in this case is
always cliticised with -rle 'relative'.
The structural feature which distinguishes the different relative clause types in Mparntwe Arrernte
is the position of the head (or domain) noun with respect to SREL. The four possibilities encountered
are:
(i) The head and SREL are both elements of the one continuous NP. Thus these are fully embedded (eg.
12).
(12) Kele m-ikwe petyalpe-me-le [[ulyentye] Hd [re-rle

O.K. mother-3KinPOSS come back-npp-SS shade 3sgA-REL
ampe kweke re-nhe iwe-rle. lhe-ke]SREL-werne]NP,...
child little 3sg-ACC throw away-DO&GO-pc-ALL
When its mother came to the shade where she had dropped the baby off,...
[ALL in main = gapped DAT in SREL] (From translation by Margaret Heffernan
of English text by Carmel Ryan, appeared in Yeperenye Yeye 1984)
(ii) The head and the SREL both occur within the same clause but are discontinuous with each other and
are each marked for the same case (eg. 13).
(13) Irrkwentye [arelhe]Hd-ke angke-rle.ne-me [newe ikwere-rle

police woman-DAT speak-CONT-npp spouse 3sgDAT(O)-REL
ulyepere tanthe-ke]SREL-ke.
thigh(O) spear-pc-DAT
The policeman is talking to the woman that stabbed her husband. [DAT in main
= gapped A in SREL]
(iii) The head is missing altogether (ie. a headless relative; eg.14).
(14) Kele artwe alethenge re apwerte kertne-ke antye-nhe-ke

O.K. man stranger 3sgS hill top-DAT climb-DO PAST-
pc
[artwe anew-ikwe re-rle ane-tyeme]SREL -werne.
man spouse-3KinPOSS 3sgS-REL sit/live-pp -ALL
So the stranger (while going past) climbed up the hill towards (the place) where
the woman's husband was sitting. [ALL in main = gapped LOC in SREL]
(iv) The head is embedded within the SREL (ie. an internally headed relative eg.15).
(15) Warlpele mape-le peke awe-tyenhenge [[evidence]Hd-rle

white person pl(grp)-ERG maybe hear-SBSQNT evidence(O)-REL
anwerne arrerne-me]SREL-ke
1plA put-nnp-DAT
Then white people might attempt to listen to the evidence that we're putting (in
court). [DAT in main = overt O in SREL]
In an examination of 19 texts (including the 12 texts in the appendix) which together comprise
approximately 1,000 clauses, 54 relative clauses were found. These texts were narratives, procedural
and expository, with the smallest text being made up of 12 clauses and the largest one being made up of
305 clauses. Table 10-1 gives the number of occurrences for each of the four types of relative clause
listed above. This table shows that, at least for the data base examined, there is not a significant
difference in the frequency of occurrence of embedded, discontinuous, and headless relatives, but the
internally headed relative is quite rare.
(i) Fully Embedded Relative Clause = 18

(ii) Discontinuity between head and SREL = 14
(iii) Headless Relatives = 17
(iv) Internally Headed Relatives = 5
TOTAL = 54
Table 10-1: Number of occurences of each of the four relative clause types in a survey
of 19 texts (approx. 1,000 clauses).
Having introduced the reader to the general structure which defines the relative clauses in Mparntwe
Arrernte,as well as introducing the four associated types of relative clause, the discussion will now focus
on the functions of each relative clause type.
10.1.3.2 Fully Embedded Relatives

As far as fully embedded relatives are concerned, the SREL takes up the position in the simple
NP (cf. fig. 3-1) after the demonstrative and before the 3rd person definitising pronoun. Although all
elements prior to the SREL are optional, at least one must occur to head the NP and case marking only
occurs once (see figure 10-5; eg. 16).
[[(Classifier) (Noun)] (Adj.P.) (QuantP) (Demonstrative) SREL (3pnDef)-CASE]NP
Figure 10-5: Structure of NP with fully embedded relative (at least one element prior to
SREL must appear to head the phrase).
(16) [[Artwe ampwe nhakwe]Hd [alye nhenge-rle mpware-ke-rle]SREL

man old that(dist) boomerang REMEMB(O)-REL
make-pc-REL 3sgA
re] NP irrtyarte-rlke, amirre-rlke mpware-p-are-me
3sgA spear(O)-TOO, womera(O)-TOO make-FREQ.rdp-npp
The old man there that made that boomerang makes spears and womera as well.
[A of main = gapped A of REL]
It appears that such fully embedded structures always act as restrictive modifiers of the head.
Here I use Comrie's (1981:136) functional definition of restrictive relative clause:
"A relative clause then consists necessarily of a head and a restrictive clause. The head in itself has a
certain potential range of referents but the restricting clause restricts this set by giving a proposition that
must be true of the actual referents of the overall construction".
In keeping with their restrictive sense, fully embedded relatives frequently occur when new entities that
are referential but non-specific are introduced (eg. 17a,b) into a text, or when an entity is reintroduced
into a text (eg. 12). Further, they are quite commonly used in the 'margins' of a text for conveying the
provenance of the text itself (eg. 17c).
(17) a. Ayenge arratye apate-ke [[arne]Hd [ayenge-rle

1sgS true amaze-pc thing 1sgO-REL
kaltye-le-nthe- ke]SREL -ke]NP
knowledge-ADV-give-pc -DAT
I was truly fascinated with the things that Iwas taught at school. [DAT in
main = gapped O2 in SREL] (From a text by Basil Stevens, 'Kaltyirrekerle
Kerte' [School Years] which appeared in Yeperenye Yeye)
b. ...arne-le twe-ke peke [[arne iwenhe-peke]Hd
stick-INST hit-pc maybe thing what-maybe
[itne-rle nhenge itwe-ke are-me]SREL ikwere-le]NP peke
3plA-REL REMEMB near-DAT see-npp 3sgDAT-
INST maybe
..., (they) hit (the demon) with sticks or with whatever thing they could see
close by. [INST in main = gapped O in SREL] [T11-39]
c. The ile-tyeke ahentye-ne-me [[ayeye nhenhe]Hd [atyenge-rle

1sgA tell-PURP desire-be-npp story this 1sgDAT-REL
Mparntw-arenye-le ile-rlte.lhe-ke]SREL-Ø]NP
'Alice Springs'-ASSOC-ERG tell-plS/A.DO&GO-pc-O
I want to tell this story that was told to me by the (old people) of Mparntwe
(ie. Alice Springs area) before they disappeared. [O of main = gapped O of
SREL] [From a text by Davey Hayes: Yeperenye Yeye]
10.1.3.3 Discontinuity between head and SREL

The previous section has shown that in fully embedded structures SREL is similar to the
modifiers of a noun head in a simple NP in that it post-modifies the head and occurs prior to case-
marking. SREL, however, is the only NP modifier which may occur in the same clause as, but
discontinuous from, its head. In this case both the head and the SREL are marked independently for the
same case (eg. 18).
(18) a. Arlte arrpenhe-le anteme artwe nhenhe lhe-ke [pmere

day other-LOC now man this go-pc camp
kngerre-werne]Hd anteme, [atningke-rle ne-ke-werne]SREL
anteme.
big-ALL now, many-REL live-pc-
ALL now.
On another day this man went to a big camp, to (one) where alot of people
lived. [ALL in main = gapped LOC in SREL] [T11-27]
b. The arrekantherre [ayeye-Ø]Hd knge-tye-me

1sgA 2plDAT story-O take-hither-npp
[ayenge-rle angke-tyenhenge-rle-Ø]SREL."
1sgS-REL speak-SBSQNT-REL-O
I've brought to you all a story which I'm going to tell. [O in main = gapped
SCOMP in SREL][T. 11-34]
That Mparntwe Arrernte has an embedded relative clause corresponds to the fact that, unlike
most Australian languages, it has a rigid NP structure. However, that SREL, as opposed to any other
type of modifier in the NP, is able to occur discontinuous from its head and still be regarded as a phrase
level modifier is not surprising. Foley (1980) has proposed that there is "a universal constraint upon the
form that the various Adjunct + Noun constructions can assume in any given language. This universal
has been termed the Bondedness Hierarchy, and this is centered around the notion of strength of
syntactic bond." (Foley 1980:197). The Bondedness Hierarchy (see Fig. 10-6) reveals that, of all
modifiers, relative clauses have the weakest syntactic bond with respect to the noun that they modify.
Figure 10-6: The Bondedness Hierarchy (Foley 1980:174)
It was found that, of the 14 examples collected in the text survey mentioned previously, 13 of the
structures had the head occurring in a position in the main clause which was prior to that in which the
SREL occurred and there was only 1 example where the head followed the SREL (eg. 19). In this last
case only a pause separated SREL from the head and the intonation over the head indicates it was
added as a clarificatory comment.
(19) Kngwelye re are-tye.lhe-ke [kere-rle tyerre-ke re-nhe]SREL,

dog 3sgA see-GO&DO-pc meat-REL roast-pc
3sg-ACC,
[ure perrke-Ø]Hd.
fire coal-O.
(The dog) came upon the coals where the meat was cooked. [lit. (The dog)
went and saw where the meat was roasted, the coals. [O in matrix = gapped LOC in
REL] (From a text by Basil Stevens)
This evidence suggests that, just as embedded relatives post-modify the head, discontinuous relatives
also have an overwhelming tendency to post-modify. In this feature discontinuous relatives in Mparntwe
Arrernte appear to be at variance with the analogous structures in Kaytetye. Hale (1976:100) noted for
Kaytetye that it "shares with Walbiri the option of preposing the relative clause, although it seems to be
taken up somewhat less often in Kaititj than in Walbiri - in the case of NP-relative at least." He goes on
to say that "[w]hen the relative clause is preposed [in Kaytetye], the coreferential noun phrase remains
undeleted in the subordinate clause, but its main clause partner is represented by a determiner or by the
anaphoric element /rinh/ advanced to initial position in the main clause, as in Walbiri." These facts are
not at all the same as those for Mparntwe Arrernte. I know of no cases where SREL occurs preposed
to its matrix clause, and in the one case where it occurs before its head (eg. 19) the coreferential NP has
been deleted from SREL.
In direct contrast to embedded relatives, the SREL which is discontinuous from its head often
functions as a non-restrictive modifier, although it may also function restrictively. In non-restrictive
function it is not uncommon for the SREL to be preceded and/or followed by a pause and given the
intonation pattern associated with other parentheticals and afterthoughts (egs. 18a, 20). In this way it
does function like other noun modifiers. Note that in an example such as 20 the pause and the
independent marking of case may be the only things which separate the head and SREL.
(20) Re imerte ingkerreke itne-nhe ankertiwe-me-le

3sgA then all 3pl-ACC(O) push-npp-SS
iperte kngerre nhenge-werne [ure ntyelpe-ke]Hd,
hole big REMEMB-ALL fire red-hot-DAT,
[ahinpe-rle perrke-irre-ke-rle-ke]SREL;
previously-REL coal-INCH-pc-REL-DAT
Then he pushed everyone towards a big hole and into a red hot fire ,one that
had previously turned to coals. [DAT in matrix = gapped S in SREL] [T11-25]
There are also cases, however, which are not attested for other modifiers within the NP, in
which no pause or special intonation occur to mark off the SREL from the rest of the main clause. In
these cases it is not always clear whether the SREL is functioning restrictively or non-restrictively.
Examples 12 and 17b above are two such cases.
In a cross-linguistic investigation of the functions of adjectival modifiers Byrne (1983) observed
that there need not be a clear division between restrictive and non-restrictive modification; intermediate
cases do arise. This also appears to be the case as far as split relatives in Mparntwe Arrernte are
concerned. There are occasions where the head is presented as given information, and therefore should
be able to be identified by the addressee, but an SREL is used to ensure that the addressee has no
problem making the identification. In other words, the heads in these cases do not have a 'certain
potential range of referents' - as is required by Comrie's definition of restrictive relative clause - unless
one has been unable to follow the story, but to accomodate for that very possibility a restrictive SREL
is given. Example 21 contains two instances of this "intermediate retrictiveness".
(21) [Artwe re-therre]Hd kenhe, [re-nhe-rle altyerre

man 3dlS BUT, 3sg-ACC-REL dream
are-ke therre-me-Ø]SREL, itepe-le anteme therre
see-pc two-UQ -S, side-LOC now two
[ikwere]Hd karelhe-ke, [re-rle unte-me ikwere]SREL.
3sgDAT wait-pc, 3sgS-REL run-npp 3sgDAT.
But the two men, the two that had seen him (the demon) in the dream,
waited on both sides for him, the one who was running. [S in matrix = gapped A
in SREL; DAT in matrix = S in SREL] [T.11-44]
In the first discontinuous relative in example (21) two men who had been mentioned previously in the
text are reintroduced by a definite noun phrase, but to ensure identification the author also gives a
parenthetic SREL reiterating a previous, significant, event which only involved the two men (ie. dreaming
that a demon would come to their camp). In the second instance the main protagonist, a demon who
wanders from camp to camp killing people, is first referred to in this utterance by a third person singular
dative pronoun (ikwere). This pronoun is followed by the main verb and then another parenthetical
SREL clarifies exactly who the the dative pronoun refers to. This may be motivated by the fact that for
the two sentences prior to this the demon was subject (S/A) and topic but in this sentence both role and
thematic status change: the 'two men' are taking over topic status and subject function for a couple of
sentences. Thus the functional squish between restrictive and non-restrictive uses of SREL in these
examples arises from the competing motivations involved in reference tracking, thematic packaging of the
text, and the pragmatic imperative to 'be perspicuous' (Grice 1975:46).
The last manifestation of the split relative to be discussed here is related to the above examples in
that they involve the extreme case of an SREL modifying a head for which the referent is already known.
In contrast with English, it is not unnatural to use an SREL to modify any pronoun, including first and
second person pronouns. In English these sound archaic and appear to be limited to Biblical language
('let ye who is without sin cast the first stone') and songs ('I, I who have nothing'). All the attested cases
of first and second person pronouns modified by an SREL show the pronoun head followed immediately
by SREL with both structures falling together under the same intonation contour. These are analysed as
discontinuous relatives by virtue of the fact that both head and SREL are independently marked for case.
In keeping with the general tendency of discontinuous relatives, SRELs in these structures are not used
restrictively. Instead, for the examples attested, the SREL tends to provide a justification or reason for
the main verb action by presenting some relevant fact about the speaker (eg. 22a) or addressee (eg.
22b).
(22) a. [The]Hd [Robert-kenhe-rle mweteke atnyene-me-le-rle]Srel

1sgA(ERG) Robert-POSS-REL car hold-npp-ERG-REL
anyelkng-althe re-nhe arntirrkwe-ke
steal-Bad.Char 3sg-ACC catch-pc.
I who had Robert's car caught the thief (of the car). [A of main clause =
gapped A of SREL]
b. Anwerne payuthne-rne [nge-nhe]Hd [conference-werne-rle

1plA ask-p.immed 2sg-O conference-ALL-REL
lhe-ke-rle-Ø]Srel.
go-pc-REL-O.
We just asked you who went to the conference (don't pass the quesion on to
some one who didn't go). [O of main clause = S of SREL]
In concluding this discussion of structures where there is discontinuity between head and SREL,
I would like to point out that it would be more accurate to say that such structures do not tend to be
used restrictively (in the strict sense of the term) rather than saying that they are used non-restrictively.
This then includes those instances of "intermediate restrictiveness". Furthermore, it is worth emphasising
that independent case marking of head and SREL is the consistent characteristic of split relatives, while
discontinuity between head and SREL is a typical, but non-essential, characteristic.
10.1.3.4 Headless Relatives

A clause may contain a NP whose sole constituent(s) may be either a case marked SREL or a
SREL followed by a 3rd person definitising pronoun bearing case. Thus, there is no overt head noun
(externally or internally to SREL) within the same clause, nor is there any other overt modifier of a noun
head which could be said to head the relative clause. As such, SREL may be seen to be like other
modifiers of the noun head in a NP in that they too may stand as the sole members of a NP (cf. §3.1).
When other modifiers act as the sole constituent of a NP, they typically act almost anaphorically to refer
back to some previously mentioned entity, and this can also be the case with headless relatives (eg.23).
(23) Storybook nhenhe the mpware-ke apmwerrke,

storybook this 1sgA make-pc yesterday
kenhe nhenhe kenhe the lyete mpware-ke.
BUT this BUT 1sgA today make-pc
[Apmwerrke-rle mpware-ke-rle]SREL-ø kurne ware
yesterday-REL make-pc-REL-S bad DISM
I made this story book yesterday, but this one, on the other hand, I made
today.The one I made yesterday isn't that good. [S in main = gapped O in SREL]
It is important to realise that there are structures which on the surface appear to be fully
embedded or discontinuous relatives but which in fact are equational sentences containing one NP with a
noun head, in subject function, and another NP containing a headless SREL acting as a predicative
subject complement. Such equational structures have an intonation pattern which clearly distinguishes
the subject NP from the subject complement (eg. 24).
(24) Kngwelye therre nhenhe-Ø [r-arrpe-rle mangke-lilhe-ke-rle]SREL.

dog two this-S 3sgA-SELF-REL grow-CAUS-pc-REL-S
These two dogs are (the ones) that he raised himself. [SCOMP in matrix =
gapped O in SREL] (from a story by Basil Stevens)
As Keenan (1985:142) points out, headless relatives need not always to refer back to a previously
mentioned entity. It is often the case that the missing head of a headless relative refers to an indefinite
non-specific entity, or set of entities, or refers to a very broad category of entities which would be
covered by a classifier (ie. generic) nominal (cf. §3.4). In this case headless relatives in Mparntwe
Arrernte may be seen to correspond to English structures like 'something that...', 'someone who...', 'what
X did/said/etc...', 'the thing that...', and 'the place where...'. In all cases a head could be supplied.
(25) a. Peter re itelare-tyekenhe [re-rle angke-tyeme-rle]SREL-Ø

Peter 3sgA know-VbNEG 3sgS-REL speak-pp-REL-O
Peter didn't know what he was saying. [O in main = Nom SCOMP in
SREL] (From a bible translation by Margaret Heffernan)
b. ...,[[re-rle tnye inte-ke]SREL ikwere-nge-ntyele]NP

3sgS-REL dead lie-pc 3sgDAT-ABL-ONWARDS
alkere-k-irre-nhe-ke,...
sky-DAT-INCH-DO PAST-pc,...
..., from (the place) where he lay dead he took flight past (the
crowd),...[ABL in matrix = LOC in SREL] [T.11-50]
As an extension of the above function, headless relatives are used to derive place names which
mean, roughly, 'the place where Dreamtime event X happened'. The event which provides a name for a
place is always a significant event which happened at that place during the travels and/or actions of the
Dreamtime Ancestors.
(26) a. Ntyarlke-rle Tyarne-me

Ntyarlke caterpillar-REL cross-over-npp
The place where the Ntyarlke caterpillar totemic ancestor crossed over (a
place in the Alice Springs on the edge of Todd river).
b. Aherlke-ke-rle
to dawn-pc-REL
The place where it dawned (site on east side of Alice Springs where Ntyarlke
caterpillar ancestors decided to rest untill sunrise before moving on)
Since all place names may be preceded by pmere 'place; camp, country, home' in generic function ( eg.
Pmere Ntyarlkerle-Tyarneme; cf. §3.4.1) the head of these headless relatives may, in a sense, be seen
to manifest itself overtly.
Another noteworthy use of headless relatives arises in procedural texts (cf. texts 1-3 in
Appendix 1). Here it is common for headless relatives to be used to refer to the resultant form of a thing
which has undergone some previously mentioned process. The headless relative typically contains only
the verb which indicates the transformation the entity underwent to get into its present state (eg. 27).
(27) a. Ampe-ke-l-iperre itne [perrk-irre-ke-rle]SREL-Ø ine-me-le

burn-pc-SS-AFTER 3plA coal-INCH-pc-REL-O
get-nnp-SS
iwe-me. Irrernt-irre-me-le urrperl-irre-me. Kele imerte
throw out-npp coldINCH-npp-SS black-INCH-npp. O.K.
then
ikwere-nge-ntyele [urrperle-rl-irre-ke-rle]SREL-Ø
3sgDAT-ABL-ONWARDS black-FOC-INCH-pc-REL-O
ine-mele,...
get-npp-SS
After (the bark) is burned they get the ones that have become coals and throw
them (out of the fire). When (they) cool down (they) turn black. After that
(they) get the ones that have turned black,...[in both cases O in main = S in
SREL] [T2-6, 7, 8]
b. Kele arntape re-nhe twe-me ilepe-le

O.K. bark 3sg-ACC hit/chop-npp axe-INST
[Ngkwelty-ile-ke-rle]SREL-O-Ø imerte kwatye-ke arrerne-me
pieces-CAUS-pc-REL then water-DAT
put-npp
itetyeke,
..cook-PURP,..
So the bark is chopped with an axe, then the stuff that has been made into
pieces is put in water to boil,.. [O in matrix = gapped O in SREL]
In headless relatives we see that the distinction between an embedded finite clausal structure and
a nominalisation become blurred. Clearly, headless relatives may function like nominalised clauses, but it
is still an open question as to whether any, some or all, headless relatives are best treated structurally as
nominalisations. Certainly the use of headless relatives to derive place names appears to be a true
nominalisation strategy, but even in cases like this a head (pmere 'place') can be provided and it is not
obvious that the "names" are not still true relative clauses modifying a coventionally ellipsed noun head.
10.1.3.5 Internally Headed Relatives

Internally headed relative clauses are, as mentioned earlier, extremely rare in texts and no
examples have been attested from formal elicitation. Thus it is premature to make any statement on the
function of this form of relative. The few internally headed relatives which have been gleaned from texts
all share the feature that the head is the initial constituent in SREL and has the relative clause marker -rle
attached to the end of it. The head is marked for its role in the relative clause and not the matrix clause
(see especially example15, and also example 28). In these cases the head is a full NP, pronominal or
nominal, and does not refer to another co-referential NP elsewhere in the clause. This is relevant, since
under certain conditions, which will be discussed later (cf. §10.1.3.6), 3rd person pronominal copies
may surface in the relative clause indicating the role played by the referent of the matrix clause argument
within the relative clause. However, in such cases the head is present in the matrix clause and there is no
reason to believe the anaphor in the relative clause is heading the clause.
(28) a. Nwerne-k-artweye mape... ampwerrke nthurre ne-ke,
1pl-DAT-custodian pl(grp)(S)... whole/fat INTENS be-pc
[[nwerne]Hd-rle kwetethe rlkerte ne-m]SREL-arteke
1plS-REL always sick be-npp-SEMBL
ne-tyekenhe lyete.
be-VbNEG today
Our ancestors...were very heakthy, (they were) not like us who are always
sick now. [SEMBL in main = overt S in SREL] (from a text by Thomas
Stevens)
b. Re itere-ke are-ke [[ampe kweke re-nhe]Hd-rle ampwe-le

3sgA side-DAT see-pc child little 3sg-ACC-REL
snake-ERG peke uthne-ke-rle]SREL-Ø
maybe bite-pc-REL-O
She saw at the side (of the water) the baby whom may have been bitten by a
snake.[O in main = overt O in SREL] [From a translation by Margaret
Heffernan of a text by Carmel Ryan in Yeperenye Yeye 1984]
10.1.3.6 Access to Relativisation

In §4.1.2 the observation was made that NPs functioning as core argument relativise leaving a
gap, whereas case marked NPs functioning as peripheral arguments or phrasal modifiers relativise
leaving a case marked pronominal copy. With the exception of examples of internally headed relative
clauses, all previous examples within this section on relative clauses (ie. §10.3.1) have involved a gap
where one would expect to find the argument in SREL which is co-referential to the head. In example
11, where the verb in SREL iwe-rle.lhe- (throw-DO&GO-) 'drop off' is a verb of transfer or putting, the
gapped argument is the end point location (goal) which would be marked by dative case. Examples 14
and 15 contain the verb ne- 'sit, stay' in SREL and the gapped argument in both cases is the location
(typically marked by locative case). The verb angke- 'say; speak' semantically entails something which
is said and this argument is typically marked by a nominative SCOMP, but it is gapped from the SREL
in examples 18b and 25. Most other gapped arguments from prior examples are undisputable core
arguments functioning as O (accusative), S (nominative) or A (ergative) in SREL. In examples 2-4 of
chapter 4 it was shown how a dative marked NP may either relativise leaving a gap or leaving a case
marked pronominal copy depending on what level of structure the NP was functioning at (ie. core,
periphery, or adnominally). The same variability was demonstrated for allative marked NPs in examples
1-2 of chapter 5, and it also applys to NPs marked with locative, ablative and possibly instrumental
case. For instance in example 29a where the verb in SREL is ine- 'take', the argument which is gapped
from SREL would be marked with the ablative case, but in 29b, because the verb in SREL is are- 'see',
the ablative marked argument must relativise leaving a case marked pronominal copy. In the first
instance the argument that is gapped is one that is recoverable since its role in SREL is determined by
the semantic structure of the verb (ie. it is a core argument), whereas in the second instance the argument
is merely functioning as an adjunct in the periphery of the clause and so its role in SREL would not be
predictable if gapped.
(29) a. Re lhe-ke [[artwe]HD[unte-rle pwerte ine-ke-rle]SREL-kerte]NP

3sgS go-pc man 2sgS-REL money get-pc-REL-PROP
She left with the man who you got money from. [PROP in matrix = gapped
ABL in SREL]
b. Anwerne lhe-ke [[pmere]HD re-rle ikwere-nge artwe mperlkere

1sgS go-pc place 3sgA-REL 3sgDAT-ABL man white
are-ke-rle]SREL-werne]NP
see-pc-REL ALL
We went to the place where he saw the white man from. [ALL in matrix
=pronominal copy ABL in SREL]
NPs marked with -kenhe 'possessive', -kerte 'proprietive', -arenye 'associative', -iperre
'AFTER', -ketye 'aversive', and -larlenge 'comitative', never function as core arguments and so always
relativise leaving a case marked pronominal copy (eg. 30).
(30) a. [[Artwe]Hd [the-rle kngwelye ikwerenhe re-nhe

man 1sgA-REL dog 3sgPOSS 3sgACC
twe-ke-le-rle]SREL]NP ayenge pele twe-ke kwenhe
hit-pc-ERG-REL 1sgO fact hit-pc ASSERT
The man whose dog I hit truly hit me. [A in main = pronominal POSS in
SREL]
b. Re pwerte-le we-ke [[ampwe]Hd [ampe-rle ikwere-ketye

3sgA rock-INST pelt-pc snake child-REL 3sgDAT-AVER
alw-irre-ke-rle]SREL-Ø]
away-INCH-pc-REL-O
She pelted the snake that the child fled for fear of with stones. [O in main =
pronominal AVER in SREL]
On the basis of the preceding discussion, the accessibility hierarchy for relativisation in
Mparntwe Arrernte may be represented as in figure 10-7. Note that the crucial distinction is between
core (ie. semantically determined by predicate) versus non-core (ie. not semantically determined by
predicate) functions of arguments, a distinction which is not readily captured by previous formulations of
the so-called universal hierarchy for NP Accessibility (Keenan and Comrie 1977:66; Comrie 1981:149;
Keenan 1985:147).
Figure 10-7: The Accessibility Hierarchy in Mparntwe Arrernte.
In §5.1.3.1 it was noted that for some predicates a hierarchy amongst core arguments may be
discerned. The evidence for such a hierarchy involves the fact that certain verbs have core arguments
which relativise leaving a gap only if certain other of the core arguments of that verb are overtly present
in SREL. Thus, with the verb lhe- 'go', an ablative argument can only relatise leaving a gap if the allative
argument is present in SREL (eg. 31a), but if the allative argument is missing from SREL the ablative
argument must relativise leaving a pronominal copy (eg. 31b). An allative argument with lhe- 'go' is not
dependent on the appearance of an ablative argument for it to relativise leaving a gap (eg.31c). Thus it
seems reasonable to claim that the allative argument has a tighter semantic association with the verb lhe-
'go' than does the ablative argument, although both are core arguments of the verb.
(31) a. Sydneyane-me [[pmere]Hd [Christine-rle Darwin-werne

Sydneybe-npp place Christine-REL Darwin-ALL
lhe-ke-rle]SREL-Ø]NP
go-pc-REL-NOM
Sydney is the place from which Christine went to Darwin. [Nom SCOMP
in main = gapped ABL in SREL]
b. Ayenge ahentye-ne-me[Kwemantyaye-rle *(ikwere-nge) anteme
1sgS desire-be-nnp Kwemantyaye-REL 3sgDAT-ABL now
lhe-rne]SREL-ke
go-p.immed-DAT
I want (the one) that Kwementyaye has just now gone away from. [DAT in
main = pronominal ABL in SREL]
c. [[Pmere]Hd [nwerne-rle lhe-me-rle]SREL-Ø] pmere kngerre nthurre.

place 1plS-REL go-nnp-REL-Splace big INTENS
The place that we are going to is very important. [S in main = gapped ALL in
SREL] (cannot mean 'the place we're leaving from is very important)
One of the many intriguing issues that this analysis of relative clauses raises involves verbs of
perception. With these verbs a dative marked NP indicating the location of the object of perception
may relativise leaving a gap as long as both the A and O arguments of the verb are present in SREL (eg.
32). To be consistent, it is necessary to claim that the dative of location is a weakly associated argument
with verbs of perception in Mparntwe Arrernte, but it is not clear what components of the semantic
structure of such verbs determines such a role. Moreover, it is not clear that a verb like are- is so
markedly different in its semantic structure from its English equivalent 'see' which is not intuitively
associated with a semantic role that locates the object of perception. This is another topic which
requires further investigation.
(32) Unte kwenhe unthe-tyeke [[arne]Hd [unte-rle thipe

2sgS ASSERT look for-PURP tree 2sgA-REL bird
nyengke are-me]SREL -ke]NP,...
zebra finch(O) see-npp -DAT,...
You should look for the tree in which you see zebra finches,...[DAT in matrix =
DAT (of LOCATION) in SREL]
The relative clauses from the 19 texts which were discussed earlier (cf. §10.1.3.1) were
surveyed to find what roles in SREL had been relativised and how many times a particular role had been
relativised. The results are tabulated in table 10-2.
Table 10-2: Text count of roles played by relativised NP in SREL

In table 10-2 we find that, overall, the most commonly relativised roles in the texts examined are
O and S, while the A role by comparison, is a much less common target for relativisation. These findings
appear to conform to Fox's (1987) findings (based on conversational data) which suggest that a
language will be more likely to relativise on S and O (Fox's P), due to "constraints on coversationally
appropriate strategies for introducing referents into the discourse" (1987:869). Fox has proposed that
the category 'absolutive' should replace the category 'subject' at the far left of Keenan and Comrie's NP
Accessibility Hierarchy. This may be going too far, as Fox makes no mention of roles beyond S, A, and
O. In the Mparntwe data we see that locative is a very common role to relativise, and together the non-
S/A/O roles are relativised upon 17 times compared to the 18 times for O and the 15 times for S. If the
Mparntwe Arrernte data are indeed comparable to Fox's data, her explanation should also account for
these other facts, but they do not appear to.
The number of times that an NP containing a relative clause fills a particular role in the main
clause has also been tabulated for the 19 texts investigated. These results are given in table 10-3. The
outstanding finding here is that no example of an NP with a relative clause is attested in A grammatical
function in these texts, although, as example 15 above shows, this is not an impossibility. On the basis
of these data it appears that O is, relatively speaking, a favoured role for a NP with a relative clause to
appear in. These data await further investigation and explanation.
Table 10-3: Text count of roles played in matrix clauses by a NP with a relative clause
10.2 Verb Iteration

In narrative texts it is common to find a structure in which a fully inflected verb is iterated
between two and six times. The verb may be a main verb or a dependent verb and nothing intervenes
between the repetitions of the verb except, perhaps, a very slight pause. All repetitions fall under a
single intonation contour and the speed of the iteration tends to be quite rapid. A verb iteration may in
fact make up a whole sentence (eg. 35). The effect of this structure is to indicate that an event was
continuous (either repeated or ongoing) over an extended period of time (egs. 33-35). The number of
repetitions of the verb is roughly iconic to the length of time being indicated and, in some cases, the
number of repetitions of a verb action (although, in such cases the ratio is not necessarily one to one; eg.
34). This structure is similar to the English use of iterative conjunction of a verb form using 'and', as in
"My old bomb still goes and goes and goes" or "They trudged and trudged and trudged on ward
towards their goal". Stylistically, verb iterations are often used in the oral presentation of a narrative, to
build up tension and/or to signal that events are not unfolding as they would normally be expected to.
(33) Tharte kwele re irre-rle.lhe-ke kere ikwere
start QUOT 3sgS INCH-DO&GO-pc game 3sgDAT
anteme kwele are-rle.pe-ke, are-rle.pe-ke,
now QUOT sec-DO ALONG-pc, see-DO ALONG-pc
are-rle.pe-ke, are-rle.pe-ke
see-DO ALONG-pc, see-DO ALONG-pc
So he started off to go for meat and he went along looking and looking and
looking and looking. (Implies it's taking too long to find any game, indicating that
something is wrong) [T.12-88]
(34) Atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-me-le,
hit-REFL-npp-SS, hit-REFL-npp-SS, hit-REFL-npp-SS
arlpmenyele kwele perne-lhe-ke.
ashes-INST QUOT rub-REFL-pc
While she hit herself and hit herself and hit herself, she rubbed herself with
ashes. (Iteration indicates the repetitious action of intense grieving behaviour - a
mother has lost her son) [T12-31]
(35) Pmere urrpme-le-rle ne-me ahelhe tyete.

place narrow-LOC-FOC be-npp ground soft
Ingkante-ke, ingkante-ke, ingkante-ke, ingkante-ke
track-pc, track-pc, track-pc, track-pc
In a narrow place there is soft ground. (He) tracked and tracked and tracked
and tracked (the kangaroo). (In this text by Basil Stevens, a man has spent several
days tracking a kangaroo and when he finally gets the kangaroo he also encounters a
cannibalistic demon.)
10.3 Simple sentences and the basic elements of clause structure

At its simplest, a sentence in Mparntwe Arrernte consists of a nominal or verbal predicate, and
the NP arguments, if any, that fulfil the semantic roles determined by the peredicate. Although the
ordering of elements in NPs is fairly fixed, the ordering of constituents in a simple sentence tends to be
very free. Verbless equational sentences are one exception to this statement since they tend to have a
fixed ordering of S before SComp (cf.§10.3.3).
As far as the ordering of S, A, O and V are concerned, SV and A(O)V are typical in elicited
sentences and have a high frequency of occurrence in conversation and text (cf. §10.4), but all word
order possibilities have also been attested for simple sentences in both conversation and text. Where a
verb is associated with 3 arguments, there is a tendency for two arguments to precede the verb and one
argument to follow, although it is not uncommon for all three to precede the verb. The argument that
tends to follow the verb is not usually A, S or O, but instead tends to be marked as dative, ablative,
allative or instrumental. This may signal an underlying distinction in Mparntwe Arrernte between direct
core (ie. A, S, O) and non-direct core (ie. DAT, ABL, ALL, INST (?)) arguments (cf. §1.4.3.1).
10.3.1 Semantic Roles and Grammatical Functions

In previous discussions it has been mentioned that the function of core NPs and the case marking
associated with those functions is essentially determined by the semantics of the predicate. In this
section I will attempt to show briefly how this works.
The semantic role, or roles, of an argument may be calculated from the position or positions filled
by the argument in the decomposition of the predicate. For instance, the core meaning of the verb
tanthe- 'to spear; to poke; to sew; to write' may be composed as follows:
Person X does something to thing Y (which has a pointed end) to cause the pointed part of Y to come
firmly into contact with part of Z. Person X wants Y to cause Z to become changed by doing that.
Since X is simultaneously the first argument of the predicates 'do', 'cause', and 'want' in the
decomposition, it plays the semantic role of agent. That is, the filler of this role consciously does
something in order to cause something else to happen. The Y argument, which may be filled by an entity
like a pen, a spear, a finger or a needle, is the second argument of 'do' and 'cause' in the first part of the
decomposition, and the first argument of 'come firmly in contact with' and 'cause' in the later part of the
decomposition. Because this argument moves it plays the semantic role of a theme and because it is
used to cause something to happen it is also an effector (more particularly an instrument). We may call
this argument an effector-theme. Finally, argument Z, is the second argument of 'come in contact with'
thus it is a goal and location, but it is also the first argument of 'become changed' which also makes it a
patient. Thus argument Z is a patient-goal; in other words, it is caused to become different because of
something moving to it and contacting it. The change in Z may be that it has a hole in it, it has something
written on it, it has a depression in its surface, or it is in pain.
So, tanthe- 'spear; write; poke; sew' has three core arguments and the semantic roles of those
arguments are roughly agent, patient-goal and effector-theme(instrument). Because tanthe- 'spear; write;
poke; sew' is a (di-)transitive verb, one of its thematic roles must be associated with the macro-role of
ACTOR and one of its roles must be associated with the macro-role of UNDERGOER (cf. §1.4.3.1).
According to the 'actor-undergoer hierarchy' (fig. 1-6), the argument closest to the agent end of the
thematic role hierarchy is assigned to the ACTOR macro-role while the argument closest to the patient
end of the thematic role hierarchy is the UNDERGOER. Since tanthe- 'spear; poke; write; sew' has an
agent thematic role and a patient-goal role, these are assigned to ACTOR and UNDERGOER
respectively. The ergative case is the marker of 'actor' and the accusative (O) case is the marker of
'undergoer'. The third role, the effector-theme (instrument) is marked by a case which reflects its
semantics, which in this case is the instrumental -le.
(36) a. Artwe-le aherre tanthe-ke irrtyarte-le

man-ERG(A) kangaroo(O) spear-pc spear-INST
The man [ACTOR: Agent] speared the kangaroo [UNDERGOER: Patient-
Goal] with a spear [effector-theme].
b. The re-nhe iltye-le tanthe-ke

1sgA 3sg-ACC finger-ERG spear-pc
I [ACTOR: Agent] poked him [UNDERGOER: Patient-Goal] with my finger
[effector theme].
It is important to realise that the semantic roles of agent and patient are not always actors and
undergoers, similarly not all actors and undergoers are agents and patients. In Mparntwe Arrernte the
notion of actor and undergoer is only relevant to transitive predications.
For intransitive predicates there is one argument which appears in the nominative case and for
some verbs this argument may reflect an agent thematic role, for others it may reflect the semantic role of
theme, and so on. Roughly the intransitive verb ilwe- 'to die' may be decomposed as "X become be
dead" and its single argument is a patient. The intransitive verb lhe- 'go' may be decomposed as "X go
towards Y away from Z", and, thus, it has 3 arguments: one a theme, one a goal, and one a source. The
semantic case of allative and ablative are assigned to the goal and source respectively, but the theme is
assigned the strict syntactic case nominative. Similarly, the intransitive verb unthe- 'to look for' may be
defined as "X have Y in mind and so X goes along looking wanting to cause self to become be at, and
see, Y". With this verb the Y argument is the focus and ultimate endpoint goal of the action and so it
recieves dative marking, while the X argument is simultaneously an agentive-theme-experiencer and this
is the argument which is assigned to the strict syntactic case nominative. It should be clear from this
discussion that the particular semantic role of an argument is not the criterion for assigning nominative to
one of the arguments of an intransitive verb. It is for this reason that the nominative-marked argument of
an intransitive verb is identified as playing a particular grammatical, rather than semantic, function in the
clause in which it occurs. That is to say, the nominative marked argument fulfills the S grammatical
function (cf. §1.4.3.1).
To show that the macro-roles actor and undergoer are independent of the thematic roles agent
and patient, it will suffice to examine the transitive verb itelare- which may roughly be glossed as 'to
know; to remember'. This verb refers to an active process of thinking about something that one already
knows or is aware of and may roughly be decomposed as "Person X thinks about something Y which is
something X knows from before". The semantic role played by X is experiencer and that played by Y is
focus (or in RRG terms theme). Since the verb is transitive, and experiencer outranks focus (theme) on
the 'actor-undergoer hierarchy' (fig. 1-6), it is the NP functioning as experiencer which is assigned the
actor macro-role, and so is marked with ergative (A) case, while the NP functioning as focus (theme) is
assigned the undergoer macro-role and is marked with accusative (O) case (eg. 37).
(37) Re mpwarentye kurne re-nhe itelare-me

3sgA make/do-NMZR bad 3sg-ACC know/remember-npp
He [ACTOR: experiencr] knows (is aware of) the bad happenings. (ie. the bad
things that have been done) [UNDERGOER: focus (theme)]
As noted in §5.1.3.4, in its transitive use a verb like ampe- 'to burn' only selects for an inanimate,
ergative marked, subject (ie. A). In terms of semantic roles, the fiery entity which causes something else
to burn is an effector. This fact, combined with the discussion from the previous paragraph,
demonstrates that both the ergative and the accusative case are, like the nominative, used to mark
semantically disparate core roles. So, for transitive verbs, the grammatical functions A and O are
recognised, these being, respectively, the clausal manifestations of the actor and undergoer macro-roles.
Beyond the grammatical functions A, S and O, which are indicated by ergative, nominative and
accusative case-marking, the other arguments which are part of the core of a predicate have semantic
roles which correspond fairly directly to one or other of the semantic core cases. In other words, the
semantics of dative, allative, ablative , locative and instrumental cases are direct indicators of the
semantic role of the core arguments they attach to, whereas ergative, nominative and accusative are not.
10.3.2 The Grammatical Relation Subject in Mparntwe Arrernte

The only grammatical relation that it may be possible to justify for Mparntwe Arrernte is
"subject"; otherwise grammatical processes may be stated in terms of grammatical functions (ie. A, S
and O) or semantic roles. Subject in Mparntwe Arrernte is recognised by the shared morphosyntactic
treatment of NPs in A and S grammatical functions as opposed to any other NPs functioning in the core
of a clause. In §5.4.2 it was noted that only S and A arguments trigger optional number agreement in
the verb. Further, in purposive clauses (cf. §5.3.2.2) which function as an adjunct rather then a
complement, the S or A is deleted under identity with either the S or A of the matrix clause (eg.38).
Where the S/A in the purposive clause is different from that in the matrix, it must be present (eg.39).
(38) a. The merne ine-ke re-nhe arlkwe-tyeke.

1sgA food get-pc 3sg-ACC eat-PURP
I got food to eat. (It could not mean 'for you to eat') [A = gapped A]
b. Ayenge lhe-ke arlkwe-tyeke.

1sgS go-pc eat-PURP
I went to eat. [S = gapped A]
c. Arwe yanhe petye-ke angke-tyeke

man that(man) come-pc speak-PURP
The man came to speak. [S = gapped S]
d. Arelhe yanhe-le door altywe-rile-ke irrpe-tyeke.

woman that-ERG door open-CAUS-pe go into-
PURP
The woman opened the door in order to enter. [A = gapped S]
(39) The kere knge-tyeke *(unte) re-nhe arlkwe-tyeke

1sgA meat take-Hither-pc 2sgA 3sg-ACC eat-pc
I brought meat for you to eat. (A?A so there is no deletion under identity )
In a similar vein the facts presented in chapter 11 will reveal that switch-reference in Mparntwe
Arrernte marks a subordinate clause to show whether the S or A (ie.the subject) of that clause is the
same as or different from either the S or A (ie. the subject) of the main clause.
Not all constructions in Mparntwe Arrernte make use of the grammatical relation subject. For
instance, in coordinated clauses in which both clauses share an argument in common that is overt in the
first clause and absent from the second, it appears that pragmatic rather than grammatical principles
govern the interpretation of what roles are taken to be coreferential between the clauses. In (40)a the
default, non-contextualised, interpretation is that the A of the first clause is coreferential to the S of the
second, but this is not the required interpretation. The O argument is in focal position in the first clause
and if the whole story is about the referent of the O argument it is possible to interpret that argument as
coreferential with the missing S of the second clause. In (b) the default interpretation is necessarily that
the O is coreferential with the missing S, because 'crying' is the typical reaction of a young boy who has
been bitten.
(40) a. Urreye kweke re-nhe kngwelye-le uthne-ke ante unte-ke.

boy little 3sg-ACC dog-ERG bite-pc and hurry off-pc.
The little boy was bitten by the dog and (it, the dog) ran off. [preferred]
(also possible: The little boy was bitten by the dog and (he, the boy) ran off.)
b. Urreye kweke re-nhe kngwelye-le uthne-ke ante artne-ke.

boy little 3sg-ACC dog-ERG bite-pc and cry-pc
The little boy was bitten by the dog and (he, the boy) cried.
Finally it is worth mentioning that there is no structure like a passive which enables an argument
in O grammatical function, or any other non-S/A function, to become subject. Thus the notion of subject
in Mparntwe Arrernte is not fully comparable to that in English.
10.3.3 Verbless Clauses and Copular Clauses

As in many Australian languages, two types of verbless clause may be identified in Mparntwe
Arrernte. In the first type, which will be termed equational, there are only two NPs, one functoning as
subject (S) and the other apparently functioning as the predicate of the clause (ie. subject complement,
SComp, eg. 41a). In the second type a nominal predicate, that is an extended nominal (cf. §5.1.2),
predicates a relation between an NP in the nominative case and an NP in the dative case (eg. 41b).
Nominal predicates may convey cognitive states, emotional states (eg. 41b), or the absence (or
presence) of something. All verbless clauses are stative.
(41) a. Margaret re kaltye-le-nthe-nhe-nthe-nhe mwarre.

Margaret 3sgS knowledgeable-/INST-give-NMZR.hab.rdp good
Margaret is a good teacher.
b. Ampe nhenhe nanthe-ke atere.
child this horse-DAT afraid
This child is afraid of horses.
Verbless clauses of the equational type may function to: (i) ascribe a property, characteristic, or
quality to the S (egs. 42a, b); (ii) to equate a known referent to another known referent (eg. 42c); (iii)
to convey possession (eg. 42d); and (iv) to convey location (eg. 42e). Note that, as mentioned in
§4.1.3, when the subject complement of a verbless equational clause is marked with dative, ablative,
locative, possessive, associative, proprietive, AFTER, or comitative cases, the case marker is
semantically the main predicator in the clause. That is, in examples such as (42)b, d, and e, it is the case
form which determines the semantic relationship between S and the complement NP to which the case is
attached.
(42) a. Arne yanhe arlpentye.

tree that tall
That tree is tall.
b. Kwementyaye irlpe kngerre-kerte.

Kwemewntyaye ear big-PROP
Kwementyaye is an eavesdropper. (lit. Kwemantyaye has big ears)
c. Nhenhe ampe tyenhe.

This child 1sgPOSS
This is my child.
d. Ayeye kngerre nhenge Arrernte Mape-kenhe

story big REMEMBER Arrernte pl(grp)-POSS
This important story (you know the one) belongs to (all) Arrernte people.
e. Margaret uthene Rosie uthene Congress-le.

Margaret bi-and Rosie bi-and Congress-LOC
Margaret and Rosie are at the Congress (Medical Clinic).
While verbless clauses involving extended nominals allow free ordering of constituents, verbless
equational clauses have a fixed ordering of S before SComp.
As noted in §5.1.3.1, all apparently verbless clauses have present reference and must take a
copular verb marked for tense when the temporal reference is other than the present (eg. 43a-c). Even
when temporal reference is the present, clauses of this type may manifest a copula marked with -me
'non-past-progressive' (eg. 43d). When a copular verb occurs in equational clauses it is freely positioned
with respect to the other two constituents of the clause, but the S still tends to precede the SComp,
although this is no longer mandatory as it is in verbless equational clauses (eg. 43c).
(43) a. ..., kenhe arrpenhe ne-ke ulthe-ntye nthurre

BUT other(s) be-pc press down-NMZ
INTENS(SComp)
..., but the other one was very heavy. [T.12-12]
b. Arrpenhe kenhe tyepe-tyepe ne-tyerte

other(s) BUT lively be-rem.p.hab
But the other one used to be energetic. [T.9-4]
c. Itne-kenhe-rle ne-ke re;...

3sg-POSS FOC(SComp) be-pc 3sg
It belonged to them;...[Theirs is what it was;...] [T.12-12]
d. ..., ayenge kele arre-k-antherre-nhe kere
1sgS O.K. 2pl-POSS game
artewe ante-me-rle ne-me-nge.
wild turkey (SComp) how-FOC be-npp-ABL
..., because now I am your wild turkey. [T.11-55]
The three verbs which may function as copulas are ne- 'be; sit; stay; exist', -tne 'be standing;
exist in an upright position' and inte- 'be lying down; exist in a horizontal position' (cf. §5.1.3.1 (ii)).
These 'existential-positional' verbs also function to predicate the existence of an entity and to predicate
the location of an entity (cf. 5.1.3 (iii)), as well as functioning as copulas. Thus these three verbs each
manifest 3 verb subclassification frames: {S} in their existential sense, {S, LOC} in their locative sense,
and {S, SComp} in their copular sense. As the examples in (44) show, ne- 'be; sit; stay' is the most
general and the most commonly occurring copula verb, and it is possible to replace most copular uses of
tne- 'be standing' and inte- 'be lying down' with ne- 'be; sit; stay'. These three verbs are used to indicate
that the S argument exists in a characteristic orientation or stance. Thus, while ure 'fire' habitually 'sits',
ure 'firewood' habitually 'lies down' (cf. eg. 6 in chapter 5), and, while arne 'trees' habitually 'stand' (eg.
44a), arne 'sticks' habitually 'lie down' (eg. 44b). So, 'existential-positional' verbs help to clarify which
sense a polysemous noun is used in.
(44) a. Arne yanhe arlpentye tne-me.

tree that(mid) tall stand-npp
That tree is tall. (That tree stands tall) (cf. example 42a)
b. Arne yanhe arlpentye inte-me.

stick that long lie-npp
That stick is long. (That stick lies long)
10.4 Word order and Topic Continuity in a Narrative Text

In this section a short narrative text will be used to examine the factors determining constituent
order in narratives. The factors determining the structure of noun phrases referring to major
protagonists and the basic dependencies amongst clausal elements will also be examined. The 'skeletal'
structure of text 10 from appendix 1 is provided in table 10-4 (on the following two pages).
The conventions used in this table are given in the list of conventions at the beginning of the
thesis, but a brief overview will be presented here. All elements of a clause are
Table 10-4: Structural Outline of Text 10 from Appendix 1
Ayeye Marle Uthene Atwetye Uthene-Kerte by Margaret Heffernan
S1 1.<[N T.Adv]T.Adv'l {PropPart Vintr:exist [Class. N Adj Quant-Nom)]NP-Indef-Si}>

Pmere arrule kwele neke ampe marle kweke nyente-Ø.
<[Long ago] {supposedly lived [one little girl child]}>
S2 2. <{PnSi PropPart Vintr:d.mot} [N Quant-LOC]T.Adv'l > ¨

Re kwele lheke arlte nyente-le
<{She supposedly went } [one day] > ¨
3. <SentPart SentPart {PnAi Vtr:perc-SS [N Adj Quant-Acc)]NP-Indef-Oj}

kele imerte re aretyelhemele atwetye akweke nyente-Ø
<O.K. then {she went-and-saw [one little joey]}
[N N-DAT]LocP>
atnyeme atnartenge-ke.
[at base of witchetty bush]>
S3 4. <{[N adj Pn]NP-Def-Si PropPart Vintr:man.mot} [N Adj PnDAT]NP-

Def-Benj>
Marle kweke re kwele nthepirreke atwetye kweke ikwere,
{[the little girl] supposedly danced} [for the little joey]>
5. <Conj {[N Adj Pn]NP-Def-Aj Vtr:perc} [AspAdv Intens]AspP [N Quant-

LOC]T.Adv'l>
Kenhe atwetye kweke re aretyeme kwetethe nthurre arlte arrpanenhe-le
<but {[the little joey] was watching} [really always] [on every
day]>
S4 6. {[N adj Pn]NP-Def-Si Vintr:d.mot} ¨ {[N Adj Pn-ACC]NP-Def-Oj Vtr:perc-PURP}

Marle kweke re lhetyerte atwetye kweke re-nhe aretyeke;
{[the little girl] used to go} ¨ {[the little joey] in order to
see}
S5 7. <{Vtr:perc-SS [N Pn-ACC]NP-Def-Oj}> Æ
aretyelhemele atwetye re-nhe
<{when go and see [the little joey}>Æ
8. <{[N Pn]NP-Def-Si Vintr:man.mot} AspAdv>

marle re nthepirretyerte kwetethe
<{[the girl] used to dance} always>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
S6 9. <SentPart [T.Adv/noun Adj/Intens quant-LOC]T.Adv'l SentPart

Kele arrule kngerre arrpenhe-le anteme,
<O.K. [in another very long time] now,
10. {[N adj Pn]NP-Def-Si [N Adj]NP-SCOMP[?] SentPart-Vintr:become}>

marle kweke re wenke kngerre anteme-irreke
{[the little girl] [a big young woman] now-became}>
Conj <{[N Adj Pn]NP-Def-Sj Ø}>

ante atwetye kweke re.
and <{[the little joey]}>
S7 11. <{PnSi&j [Adj Quant]NP-SCOMP(?) SentPart-Vintr:become} [Adj(?) AspAdv]Adv'l >
Re-therre kngerre therre anteme-irreke purte kwete.
<{they-two [both big] now-became [together still]>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
S8 12. <[N Quant-LOC]T.Adv'l SentPart {[N Pn]NP-Def-Si Vintr:d.mot} ¨

Arlte nyente-le anteme wenke re lheke
<[on one day] now {[the young woman] went ¨
{[N Pn-ACC]NP-Def-Oj Vtr:perc-PURP}>

aherre re-nhe aretyeke,
{[the kangaroo] in order to see}>
13. <Conj {[N Pn]NP-Def-Sj Vintr:perc(?) PnDATi}>

kenhe aherre re karelhetyeme ikwere
<but {[the kangaroo] was waiting for her}>
S9 14. <{[N Pn]NP-Def-Si SentPart Pn DATLoc-k Vintr:or.mot.(?)}>

Wenke re imerte ikwere arratetyelhemele,
<{[the young woman] then at there went and appeared
15. <Conj {[N Pn]NP-Def-Sj Vintr:stance.change-SS Æ Vintr:stance/exist}>

kenhe aherre re kemirremele neke
<but {[the kangaroo] getting up Æ sat}>
16. ¨ <{ Vtr:perc-SS [N Pn-ACC]NP-Def-Oi¨{Vintr:d.mot.-PercComp Pn-ALLj} }>
aremele wenke re-nhe petyerlenge ikwere-werne-thepe.
¨ <{ when seeing [the young woman] ¨ {coming towards him}
}>
S10 17. <SentPart {[N Pn]NP-Def-Si Vintr:man.mot } [N PnDAT]NP-Def-Ben/Locj

Kele wenke re nthepirretyelheke aherre ikwere
<O.K. {[the young woman] went and danced} [for the kangaroo]
ManAdv SentPart>
itwe-me-itwe-me anteme.
closer-and-closer now>
S11 18. <{[N Pn]NP-Def-Si Vintr:man.mot} [N Pn-ALL]NP-Def-ALLj >

Wenke re nthepirretyeme aherre ikwere-werne
<{[the young woman] was dancing} [towards the kangaroo]>
S12 19. <SentPart {[Sp.Adv Intens]Sp.Adv'l-SComp(?) SentPart-Vintr:become}>

Kele itwe nthurre anteme-irreke
<O.K. {[very close] now-became}>
20. <Conj {[N Pn]NP-Def-Aj Pn-ACCOi Vtr:manip}>

kenhe aherre re re-nhe arntirrkweke,
<but {[the kangaroo] her grabbed}>
Conj <{Pn-ACCOi PnAj Vtr:aff.ingest}>

ante renhe re arlkweke.
and <{ her he ate}>
enclosed in angle brackets (ie. <...>), the core (ie. nuclear predicate plus arguments) is enclosed in curly
brackets (ie. {...}), and the nucleus is underlined. Verbal predicates are marked for general transitivity
type and verb class (eg. Vintr:exist = an intransitive verb of the existential subclass), and, unless a verb
is shown to take further marking, such as PURP (ie. purposive), it is to be understood as a main verb.
Square brackets enclose the constituents of a phrase and the subscripts at the end of the bracket
indicate the type of phrase (eg. [N T.ADV]T.ADV'l = a temporal adverbial phrase made up of a noun
and a temporal adverb). For noun phrases the NP subscript is followed by an indicator of definiteness
and an indicator of the grammatical function of the phrase. Subscripts i & j keep track of the two major
participants (eg. [N adj Pn]NP-DEF-Si = a definite noun phrase in S grammatical function referring to
first participant in the text is composed of a noun and an adjective and a definitising pronoun). An arrow
(ie.'Æ') shows the direction of dependency of a unit containing a predicate and the unit upon which it is
dependent. S1, S2, S3 and so on keep track of the sentences, while numbers refer to the numbered
lines in text 10 in appendix 1. Finally a dotted line indicates episodic boundaries.
While constituent order in Mparntwe Arrernte is flexible in the sense that the position of a
constituent in a clause does not convey grammatical information, it is clear that the ordering of
constituents is governed by pragmatic and discourse principles. The relevant discourse notions that will
be used here are:
(i) Topic - The thing that is being talked about.
(ii) Comment - That which is said about the topic.
(iii) Focus -That part of the comment which is presented as being the central, or focal part of
what the speaker is trying to communicate.
(iv) Presupposed information ("old information") - Those parts of a proposition which the speaker
assumes the hearer is aware of at the time of utterance and which the speaker assumes the hearer
can use to assimilate information s/he was previously unaware of within the discourse context.
(v) New information - Those parts of a proposition which the speaker does not assume the hearer
is aware of at the time of the utterance, but which the speaker wants the hearer to assimilate.
(vi) Contrastive, or marked, focus - Information which to a certain extent is presupposed but is being
presented as if it was not presupposed, or as if it was not understood. The choice of some particular
element (rather than some other possible choice) as new information (cf. Chafe 1970:225, 1973)
Blake (1987:155) observes that there are two principles of discourse which are common in
Australian languages: "(a) topic precedes comment, (b) focus comes first". He also notes that "[t]he
focus is usually nominal or adverbial..." The first of these principles, 'topic precedes comment', is clearly
in evidence in Mparntwe Arrernte. However, in Mparntwe Arrernte it would appear that the focus
(which is typically new information) comes after the verb. Elements which are in contrastive, or marked
focus, appear clause initially and may often be the only element in a clause (with the rest of a proposition
understood). Such elements are typically marked by clitics or by special intonation contours. Both focus
and contrastive focus are usually conveyed by NPs or adverbial phrases. A morpho-syntactic fact
which corresponds directly to the 'contrastive focus-first-principle' is the fact that the constituent to
which the interrogative 'checking' clitic -me attaches must be first in its clause (cf. §9.3.3). A morpho-
syntactic fact which corresponds to the 'topic-before-comment-principle' is the rigid ordering of S
before SComp in verbless equational clauses (cf. §10.3.4).
In the text under consideration in this section we find that at the beginning of each new episode in
the text a setting temporal adverbial occurs in initial position (ie. in lines 1, 9, and 12). As noted in
chapter 7 it is common for adverbials to occur initially in clauses which introduce a new series of events
within a text.
Line 1 of the text presents all new information. The focus 'a little girl' occurs after the verb, and
this is not unusual since entities that are introduced in a text for the first time often make their first
appearance post-verbally in an indefinite NP. This introductory line is a good example of "the so called
existential-presentative VS word order [employed] to introduce indefinite subjects into the register for
the first time" (Givon 1983:34). The 'little girl' is a major participant in the text and has high persistence
(in the sense of Givon 1983) throughout the text. The other major participant in the text is 'a little joey'
which also has its first introduction into the text in an indefinite NP in post-verbal position. The
introduction of this participant takes place in in line 3, where there is a transitive clause in which the A
grammatical relation is filled by a pronoun before the verb. The pronoun in this clause refers to the little
girl who is now presupposed information and is the topic of the clause. This is the only instance of AVO
ordering in the text and it arises through the interaction of the topic-before-comment rule and the strategy
of introducing new participants postverbally.
There are two other cases where an O occurs after the transitive verb, these are in lines 7 and
16. In both cases the O argument is a definite NP, the first one referring to 'the little joey' and the
second to 'the little girl'. The reason the verb is first in these clauses appears to be due to the fact that in
both cases the clause is a dependent temporal clause. There are no uses in this text of an argument in A
grammatical function occurring after the verb (ie. an occurrence of VA, OVA, OAV), but, although this
is relatively rare, it does occur. The rarity of A after the verb corresponds to the fact that agents tend to
be animate and tend to have high topicality. Further, A (unlike S and O) is not a favoured role for the
introduction of new participants All other constituent orderings do, however, occur in this text.
By far the most recurrent ordering of constituents in the text is S before V, which occurs 12
times (lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18). In all cases the referent of the S argument is one
or other or both of the major participants. In ten of these cases the S argument is represented by a
definite NP, and in two the S argument is represented by a pronoun. In each of these cases the S
argument is topic and the 'topic-before-comment' rule applies.
The organisation of the transitive clause in line 3 has already been discuessed, but there are two
other transitive clauses in which both the grammatical functions A and O occur along with the verb.
Both these clauses occur back to back in line 20. The first of these clauses is ordered AOV while the
second is OAV. This first clause sees a change of topic from 'the girl' in the preceding two lines to 'the
kangaroo' which is in A function. Due to the change of topic the A argument is a definite NP while the
O argument , 'the girl', which, unlike 'the kangaroo', persists from the preceding clause, is a pronoun (it
could not be Ø because it is no longer topic). The A argument in this clause is the topic and remains the
topic in the second clause, but in this the climactic final clause where the girl is eaten by the kangaroo,
there is stylistic inversion to convey the surprise ending. The O argument is in contrastive focus in this
last clause signalling the unexpectedness of the kangaroos behaviour.
The general ordering of core arguments and verb in this text are summarised in table 10-5
(following page). Note that line 10 contains a conjoined clause in which there is a NP in S grammatical
function, but the verb is ellipsed.
Arguments marked with semantic cases rather than strict syntactic cases tend to occur after the
verb and in clause final position, regardless of whether they are functioning as core or peripheral
arguments. This accounts for the dative marked arguments in lines 3, 4 and 13 and the allative marked
arguments in lines 16 and 18. The peripheral dative NP in line 17 is post-verbal but not final in the
clause, and the core dative pronoun in line 14 is preverbal (although it does not represent one of the
major participants).
1. V Si
2. Si V
3. Ai V Oj
4. Si V
5. Aj V [Oi=Ø]
6. Si V ; Oj V [Ai =Ø]
7. V Oj [Ai =Ø]
8. Si V
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
10. Si SComp(?)-V ; Sj [V is ellipsed]
11. Si&j SComp(?)-V
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
12. Si V ; Oj V [Ai=Ø]
13. Sj V DATi
14. Si DATk V
15. Sj V [NB. Here the V is in fact composed of two predicates in a nuclear juncture]
16. V Oi PercComp [Aj=Ø] (in the perception complement the order is: V ALLj [Si=Ø])
17. Si V
18. Si V
19. SComp(?)-V [Si=Ø ]
20. Aj Oi V ; Oi Aj V
Table 10-5: Ordering of core arguments for clauses of each line in Text 10 (appendix 1)
Purposive adjunct clauses form core junctures (cf. §1.4.3.1) and in this text follow the core
structure upon which they are dependent (lines 6 and 12). In both cases the A of the purposive clause is
absent (ie. Ø) because it is coreferential with the S of the main clause (cf. §10.3.2). In line 16 the S of
the perception complement, which functions as a clausal argument within the core set up by perception
verbs, is also absent under identity with the A of the main clause. Of the four switch-reference marked
clauses in lines 3, 7, and 16, two (ie. 3&16) follow the clauses upon which they are dependent and one
(ie.7) precedes. Thus 5 out of 6 dependent clauses in this text follow rather than precede the matrix
verb upon which they are dependent. Note that in the switch-reference clauses just mentioned all three
clauses were marked for same subject, and in lines 7 and 16 the A of the switch-reference clause is
deleted under identity with the coreferential S in the matrix clause. In the switch-reference clause in line
3 there has been no deletion under identity. One other case of switch reference marking occurs in line
15, this, however, is a tight serialisation of nucleus to nucleus (cf. §11.3.2.1) in which the dependent
verb always precedes the main verb.
As far as the positioning of particles is concerned the following features may be observed. The
two sentential particles with a temporal sense, anteme 'now' (cf. §8.2.3.4) and imerte 'then' (§8.2.3.3)
have highly variable placement, occurring in both the core and the periphery of a clause, but never
occurring initially in a clause. The particle anteme 'now' may even be seen to occur as part of the nucleus
(lines 10, 11, 19). This freedom of placement may have to do with their semantic content since temporal
adverbs and temporal adverbials (including temporal adverbial clauses) also have variable placement.
The sentential particle kele 'O.K.' (cf. §8.2.2.1) and the conjunction kenhe 'but' (cf. §8.2.3.4) tend to
occur intially in a clause (lines 3, 5, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20). The conjunction ante 'and' (cf. §8.2.3.1)
occurs between clauses (lines 10 & 20). The three sentential particles and two conjunction just
mentioned have a very high frequency of occurrence in narrative texts. While physically a part of the
clause, these sentential particles and conjunctions may be analysed as functioning at the sentence level
and so are outside clausal information structuring. Propositional particles tend to occur within the core
of a clause which is in keeping with their function of modifying aspects of the core proposition.
As far as the functions of structures of NPs referring to the two major participants are
concerned, the following observation may be made. As new information, both participants are
introduced by an indefinite noun phrase which contains a noun head, an adjective and a quantifier, as
well as case marking. In the case of the first noun phrase referring to the 'girl' (in line 1), there is also a
social status classifier within the head. After their introduction, these participants are taken as
presupposed information and all further references to them are by definite NPs, pronouns, or zero
anaphors. Note that, before there is any competition with a second participant (ie. the joey), the second
and third mentions of the 'girl' (lines 2 and 3) are conveyed by pronouns without going through the stage
of a definite NP.
As soon as both participants are presupposed and, so definite, there is a reference tracking
problem since 3rd person singular pronouns and anaphors do not distinguish sex or animacy. That is to
say, because both participants are persistent in the text, it would be difficult to know which participant
was filling which role if all mentions were carried by pronouns or zero anaphora. This accounts for the
high rate of definite NPs; of the 35 times after their introduction that one or other or both of these two
participants function(s) as a clausal argument, 20 of their mentions are as definite NPs, while only 8
mentions are as pronouns, and 7 mentions are left to zero anaphora. The varying structures of the NPs
referring to the two primary participants are given in table 10-6. Note that in this text all definite NPs
maintain the noun head from the NP that introduced the participants. Noun modifiers from that initial
mention may or may not be present in the definite NPs. There is a clear tendency that, with subsequent
mentions, definite NPs will be made up of fewer constituents. Because the two participants undergo a
transformation in their being from a 'girl' to a 'young woman' and from a 'joey' to a 'kangaroo' in the
second episode, the head noun which is used to refer to these participants changes in the third episode.
Marle 'girl'/ Wenke 'young woman' Atwetye 'joey' / Aherre 'kangaroo'

1. [Class N Adj Quant-Ø]Indef-S -
2. PnS -
3. PnA [N Adj Quant-Ø]Indef-O
4. [N Adj Pn]Def-S [N Adj PnDAT]Def-Ben
5. ØO [N Adj Pn]Def-A
6. [N Adj Pn]Def-S -
ØA [N Adj Pn-ACC]Def-O
7. ØA [N Pn-ACC]Def-O
8. [N Pn]Def-S -
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
9. - -
10. [N Adj Pn]Def-S -
- [N Adj Pn]Def-S
11. PnS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
12. [N Pn]Def-S -
ØA [N Pn-ACC]Def-O
13. PnDAT [N Pn]Def-S
14. [N Pn]Def-S -
15. - [N Pn]Def-S
16. [N Pn-ACC]Def-O ØA
ØS Pn-ALL
17. [N Pn]Def-S [N PnDAT]Def-Ben/Loc
18. [N Pn]Def-S [N Pn-ALL]Def-ALL
19. ØS -
20. Pn-ACCO [N Pn]Def-A
Pn-ACCO PnA
Table 10-6: The changing structure and function of NPs referring to the two major
participants of Text 10 (in Appendix 1)
The following constraints on zero anaphora apply for this text. Zero anaphora is only used in a
clause when the argument which is omitted is coreferential to the topic of the preceding clause. Zero
anaphora only occurs, in this particular text, where there is an overt coreferential pronoun or definite NP
within another clause within the same sentence.
Zero anaphora provides one clue that the two participants are not exactly on equal footing within
the text. Of seven cases of zero anaphora, six are with respect to the 'girl', while only one is understood
to refer to the 'joey'. Further evidence that, overall, the 'girl' is the primary protagonist while the 'joey' is
a secondary protagonist has to do with the typical roles played by each one (cf. table 10-6 above). The
'girl' occurs 12 times in S grammatical function, 4 times in A grammatical function, 4 times in O
grammatical function and 1 time as dative. By contrast, the 'joey' occurs 3 times in S grammatical
function, 4 times in A grammatical function, 4 times in O grammatical function , 2 times in dative and 2
times in allative. Overwhelmingly, the 'girl' is associated with S grammatical function. Further,
occurence in non S/A roles accounts for less than a quarter of the roles played by the 'girl', while they
account for more than half of the roles played by the 'joey'.
Main and secondary protagonist need not remain constant from episode to episode. The first
episode of this text clearly establishes the 'girl' as the main protagonist. The second episode sees the
two participants on an equal footing, while the third episode sees some instability. It is in the third
episode that 4 of the 'girl's' 5 occurrences in a non-S/A role occur, 3 of these being in O grammatical
function. Similarly, 5 of the 'joey's' 7 occurrences in an S/A role appear in this third episode. These
changes reflect the surprise turn around in the climax of the text which finally sees the dancing girl
grabbed by the kangaroo and eaten.
It is important to realise that this text is fairly typical of traditional narrative texts in Mparntwe
Arrernte. If one examines the three other traditional texts in appendix 1, they will find a similar plot
structure in which habitual actions of main participants are extablished at the beginning, somewhere
towards the middle there will be an episode which suggests things will change, and finally, the habitual
patterns of action are disrupted by the death of one or more of the major participants.
The main intent of this fairly dense description has been to demonstrate that constituent ordering
and the manifestation of participants in Mparntwe Arrernte (traditional) narratives is highly principled.
Variations in constituent ordering and variations in the treatment of central participants may be explained
through differential responses to competing discourse, functional, and grammatical motivations at
different points in a text. The significant generalisations which hold for this and other (traditional)
narratives are summarised as follows.
1) Topic precedes comment.
2) Focus is after the verb.
3) Contrastive, or marked focus, is clause initial (and tends to be marked formally by means of
clitics or distinct intonation.
4) New participants tend to be introduced by indefinite NPs and it is common for new
participants to be introduced into the focus position after the verb.
5) It is very rare for arguments in A grammatical function to follow the verb (Thus most
intoductions of a participant that will persist in a text are in S or O grammatical function).
6) The most recurrent ordering of a core grammatical function (ie. an argument marked by a core
syntactic case) and a verb is S before V (assuming that S is presupposed and therefore definite).
7) Presupposed arguments which are marked by one of the strict syntactic cases (ie. fulfill one
of the three grammatical functions A, S, or O) tend to precede rather than follow the verb.
8) Arguments that function in the core or periphery of a clause and which are marked by one of
the semantic cases (ie. dative, allative, etc.), have a tendency to follow the verb, although if they
are definite and part of the core of the clause they may precede the verb.
9) Presupposed arguments are conveyed by definite NPs, pronouns or zero anaphora.
10) Where there is more than one persistent third person participant in an episode of a text,
definite NPs tend to be used much more frequently than pronouns or zero anaphora for conveying
presupposed arguments.
11) Definite NPs tend to have fewer elements than the indefinite NP which they can be traced
back to, and tend to lose elements with subsequent mentions.
12) A zero anaphor only tends to occur when its referent is the topic of the preceding clause
13) Within a sentence with a zero anaphor, one tends to find a coreferential pronoun or definite
NP within a clause of the same sentence.
14) A zero anaphor is much more likely to occur in a dependent rather than a main clause.
15) Any constituent of a clause may be ellipsed, even the verb and the noun head of NPs is
freely ellipsed.
16)Dependent clauses tend to follow rather than precede the verb, core, or clause upon which
they are dependent.
17) The beginning of a new episode in a text tends to be signalled by an adverbial at the beginning
of the first clause of the initial sentence of that episode.
18) The main protagonist (or protagonists) in an episode of a traditional narrative tends to fill S or
A grammatical function, with S grammatical function having higher frequency.
19) If there is a secondary protagonist (or protagonists) in an episode of a traditional narrative,
they tend to fill non-S/A functions in the episode.
20) The habitual patterns of behaviour of participants which persist throughout a traditional
narrative are established in the initial part of the text. The role typically played by those
participants in the initial part of the text tend to be changed in the final part of the text. A persistent
participant that tends to fill S or A roles in the beginning of the text tends to fill non-S/A roles in the final
part of the text. Conversely a persistent participant that tends to play non-S/A roles in the
beginning part of the text, if there is one, tends to fill S or A roles in the final part of the text.
21) The generalisations in 1-19 are to be understood as general tendencies only and taken
together as a set are only claimed to be applicable to traditional narrative. Those generalisations are
not strictly ordered.
10.5 Complex Sentences
A number of topics that would typically come umder the heading of complex sentences have
been discussed previously in this chapter. Relative clauses were discussed in §10.1.3 and certain
features of dependent and coordinated clause types have been mentioned in §10.3.2 and §10.4. In the
following chapter 'switch-reference' clauses and related complex constructions are investigated. In this
section clausal coordination without conjunction and complementation are discussed briefly.
10.5.1 Clausal coordination without conjunctions

Conjunction of clauses with overt conjunctions has been discussed and exemplified in §3.6.2 (ie.
nhenge 'remember; whenever'); §8.2.1.4 (ie. peke 'maybe; if; or'); §8.2.3.1 (ie. ante 'and'); §8.2.3.4 (ie.
kenhe 'but'); §8.2.3.5 (ie. perre 'even though'); and §8.2.3.6 (ie. athathe 'hurry before X happens').
Like NPs (cf. §10.1.1), clauses may also be coordinately conjoined using asyndetic juxtaposition. It
would be more accurate to say that both core (eg. 45b) coordination and peripheral (eg. 45a, c, d)
coordination (cf. §1.4.3.1) may be conveyed in this manner. The conjuncts of such constructions may
either be dependent structures (eg. 45b, d) or independent structures (eg. 45a, c).
(45) a. ..., kwerre kwele arrate-me apethe ikwerrenhe-nge,

Young one(S) QUOT appear-npp pouch 3sgPOSS-ABL
aherre-arteke, athetheke kweke kwele lyeke-ke ne-tyekenhe.
kangaroo-SEMBL red little(s) QUOT prickle-DAT be-
VbNEG
...a young one (ie. a young echidna) appears out of its pouch, like a
kangaroo, and the small red thing doesn't have any prickles. [T.6-2, 3]
b. ..., tea ntywe-me-le, merne-rlke arlkwe-me-le, ltyirre-me-le.

tea(O) drink-npp-SS food(O)-TOO eat-npp-SS rest-npp-SS
..., drinking tea, and eating food too, and resting. [T.7-13]
c. Artwe kere-ke alhe-rle, relhe merne-ke
man game-DAT go-GenEvt womanv.food-DAT
alhe-rle lewetyerre-kerrlke kenhe kweke kenhe...
go-GenEvt goanna-DAT-TOO BUT little BUT
The man would go out for meat and the woman would go out for bush fruits
and vegetables, and for goanna too, but the baby...[T.12-66]
d. ... alharrke-rlenge, kwatye urnte-rlenge
lighten-D.S water/rain rain-D.S
..when it is lightening and when rain is falling. (ie. when there is lightening
and when rain is falling)
Core coordinations of this type typically require identity of subjects (ie. S/A) between conjuncts
(eg. 45b). Peripheral coordination may (eg. 45a) or may not (egs. 45c & d) have coreferential
arguments. The facts concerning the interpretation of zero anaphora in peripheral coordinations are
discussed in §10.3.2.
10.5.2 Complementation
Using Noonan's (1985:42, 64) universal semantic characterisation of complementation as "the
grammatical state where a predication functions as an argument of a predicate", three general
complement types may be identified in Mparntwe Arrernte: purposive complements (cf. §5.3.2.2),
perception complements (cf. §11.4.4), and '-rle' (that) complements (cf. §8.1.1.18).
Predicates of cognition and desire which select for a dative argument that conveys the focus of
cognition or desire may fill this argument position with a purposive complement clause. As discussed in
§5.3.2.2, purposive clauses are marked with -tyeke 'purposive'. Thus the verb ahentye-ne- 'want' (eg.
46) and the nominal predicate kaltye 'be knowledgeable of' (eg. 47) both take purposive complements.
(46) a. Re kere-ke ahentye-ne-me.

3sgS meat-DAT desire-be/sit(want)-npp
S/he wants some meat.
b. Re lhe-tyeke ahentye-ne-ke.
3sgS go-PURP desire-be/sit(want)-pc
S/he wanted to go.
c. Re ahentye-ne-ke Kwementyaye lhe-tyeke.
3sgS desire-be/sit(want)-pc Kwementyaye go-PURP
S/he wants Kwemantyaye to go.
(47) a. Re kaltye Arrernte-ke.

3sgS be knowledgeable of Arrernte-DAT
S/he knows Arrernte.
b. Re kaltye alye mpware-tyeke.

3sgS be know boomerang make-PURP
He knows how to make boomerangs.
Note that the subject of the purposive complement with these predicates must undergo equi-delation
when it is coreferential with the subject of the matrix predicate. If the subjects in both clauses refer to
distinct entities then the subject in the purposive complement must be present.
Purposive complements may also be selected by say/tell verbs and jussive verbs. In this case a
puposive verb may convey the content of what a person was told, asked, ordered or forced to do.
With such verbs the subject of the purposive clause may be deleted under identity with argument in
object grammatical function in the matrix clause (eg. 48; see also examples with uterne- 'force' in
§5.3.2.2).
(48) Artwe-le ilerne-nhe ile-ke lhe-tyeke

man-ERG 1dl-ACC tell-pc go-PURP
A man told us to go.
Certain predicates of cognition, as well as certain say/tell and perception verbs, may select for a
-rle complement which functions in a way similar to 'that' clauses in English. This complement coveys the
content of a fact that is known (eg. a,b), or is not known (eg. c), or that is being communicated (eg. d,
also see example in §8.1.1.18). As noted in §8.1.1.8, the clitic -rle 'focus; relative; that' attaches to the
first constituent of the complement clause. There is no further marking on the complement clause, and it
follows the predicate, although not necessarily immediately. Other than -rle 'THAT' marking the first
constituent, the complement clause is structured like an independent main clause.
(49) a. Re itelare-me John-rle petye-ke.

3sgA know-npp John-THAT come-pc
He knows that John came.
b. The awe-ke unte-rle re-nhe twe-ke.

1sgA hear-pc 2sgA-THAT 3sg-ACC hit-pc
I heard that you hit him.
c. Artwe re kenhe kutne-rle ne-ke relhe re-rle kwele
man 3sgS BUT ignorant of-FOC be-pc woman 3sgA-
THAT QUOT
kweke re-nhe yerne-tyerte-nge
little 3sg-ACC send-rem.hab-ABL
kwatye-werne nyente artnerre-ke-nhe-rle.ne-tyeke kwele.
water-ALL one crawl-?-DO PAST-CONT-PURP QUOT
But the man did not know that the woman used to send the baby to crawl to
the water hole on its own. [T.12-82]
d. Arwe-le ilerne-ke ile-ke relhe-le-rle ikwere

man-ERG 1dl-DAT tell-pc woman-ERG-THAT 3sgDAT
arlke-tyenhe.
call out-npc
The man told us that a woman will call out to him.
Finally, perception verbs may select for a non-finite clausal complement which conveys an event
that is perceived by the senses of the subject of the perception verb. The verb of the perception
complement has -rlenge, which is identical to the different subject switch-reference morpheme, as the
final suffix in the stem (eg. 50). As discussed and exemplified in §11.4.4, even though the different
subject switch-reference morpheme is used to mark perception complements, there is no entailment that
the subject of a perception complement is referentially different from the matrix clause subject. When
the subject of the matrix clause and the perception complement are identical, the subject of the
perception complement is deleted under identity (cf. examples in §11.4.4). Further, note that in 50a the
notional subject of the perception complement is represented as the oject of the perception verb, while
in 50b the complement clearly contains its subject and it would appear that the whole perception
complement is filling the O grammatical function of the transitive perception verb. As noted in §10.4,
perception complements tend to follow the verb upon which they are dependent.
(50) a ..., kenhe aherre re kem-irre-me-le ne-ke are-me-le

..., BUT kangaroo 3sgS get up-INCH-npp-SS sit-pc see-npp-
SS
wenke re-nhe petye-rlenge ikwere-werne-thepe
yng. woman 3sg-ACC come-D.S(perc.Compl) 3sg-DAT-ALL-
wards
..., but the kangaroo raised himself up and sat watching her, the young
woman, coming towards him. [T10-15,16]
b. The are-ke kere aherre-le kwatye ntywe-rlenge.

1sgA see-pc game kangaroo-ERG water drink-D.S
I saw the kangaroo drinking water.
Chapter 11
Switch-Reference And Morphologically Related Constructions
11.1 Introduction
11.1.1 General
Preceding a conference on switch-reference held in 1979, Bernard Comrie asked a simple and
pertinent question: 'How can one be sure when one is dealing with a switch-reference system?' (cited in
Munro 1980:2). The question remains a valid one, especially since switch-reference has become a
'buzz-word' of linguistics in the 1980s (cf. Munro 1980, Austin 1981b; Reesink 1983; Haiman and
Munro eds. 1983; Finer 1985; Austin ed. 1986; Roberts 1988). It is in the nature of linguistic
terminology that a term like switch-reference becomes popularised long before it is clearly defined,
resulting in it being used inconsistently. Such a situation usually acts as a spur to the 'pinning down' of the
phenomenon under discussion and the subsequent reapplication of labels with more precise meanings.
How, for instance, does switch-reference differ from obviation as that term is used by Simpson
and Bresnan (1983:49)? Do we want to regard obviation as an expansion of switch-reference which
tracks other arguments besides subjects? Or perhaps switch-reference is to be seen simply as a reduced
form of obviation which concentrates solely on tracking the subject. Furthermore, where case-markers
in a language are used for so-called switch-reference functions, how does one tell whether one is dealing
simply with the case system or another separate system to be labelled switch-reference?
It is the aim of this chapter to provide a description of those complex sentences in Mparntwe
Arrernte which exhibit the features other writers have called switch-reference, as well as describing
morphologically related complex structures. Through this description I hope to elaborate some of the
parameters to be taken into account if switch-reference is to be characterised in a meaningful way. The
first step, however, is to review the way switch-reference has been presented in the literature and to
outline the features that have been attributed to it.
11.1.2 What is switch-reference?

Jacobsen's (1967) original characterisation of switch-reference involved the following features:
(i) it is "a device for pronominal reference" (ibid.:238);

(ii) it "concerns relationships among participants playing like roles with respect to
successive narrated events" (ibid.:253);
(iii) the relationship signalled is one of simple identity or non-identity (loc. cit.);
(iv) "there is no other categorisation of referents" (ibid.:254);
(v) there is "no reference to the speech event" (loc. cit.).
Jacobsen clearly distinguished switch-reference from obviation as the latter is used in the study of
some American Indian languages; although the two are of the same general type, they differ with respect
to feature (iii). Obviation is not concerned with identity or non-identity, but with relative importance or
emphasis of participants in a narrative.
It should be obvious from the characterisation given above that Jacobsen would say that a
system that marked the identity or non-identity of objects in successive narrative events would also be
considered switch-reference. However, it is clear that some linguists have misread Jacobsen and
misrepresent him in saying that this is a relation holding solely between subjects. The relevant paragraph,
quoted out of context by Austin (1981b:309) and Goddard (1983:161), among others, is in fact a more
specific characterisation of switch-reference for the Hokan-Coahuiltecan languages. The full paragraph
states (Jacobsen, 1967:240) that:
"We are now ready for an explanation of what I mean by switch-reference in the languages under
consideration. It consists simply in the fact that a switch in subject or agent, of the sort that has been
exemplified, is obligatorily indicated in certain situations, by a morpheme, usually suffixed, which may or
may not carry other meanings in addition." [emphasis added]
This is not meant by Jacobsen as a universal definition of switch-reference. It is, instead, the language-
specific realisation of those general features outlined above. This confusion leads us to a broad and a
narrow definition of switch-reference. The broad definition is Jacobsen's original characterisation. The
narrow, more popularised one, based on the misinterpretation of Jacobsen's quote above, has three
essential features:
(i) "a switch in subject or agent ... is obligatorily indicated in certain situations";
(ii) this is done "by a morpheme, usually suffixed";
(iii) this morpheme "may or may not carry other meanings in addition".
The broader definition speaks only of the general type of system to which one would give the label
switch-reference, rather than the method (morphological, syntactic or otherwise) by which switch-
reference is realised. The narrow definition, since it was originally a language-specific one anyway,
confuses the system with its method of realisation; hence the necessity for the qualifications emphasised
above. Goddard (1983:161) indicates some of the dangers of this 'narrow' definition when he notes that
"the qualifications ... are easily neglected and switch-reference is sometimes discussed as though it was
always a uniform process mechanically determined by syntactic relations between successive clauses."
He stresses the need to remember that morphemes may signal switch-reference in certain situations only
and, further, that they may carry other meanings in addition. In §11.3 below, I will discuss for
Mparntwe Arrernte how one of the morphemes in the switch-reference system is also found and used
outside that system, and so should not be defined solely through that system.
Goddard's criticism would certainly be applicable to Munro's (1980:3) claim that:
"Switch-reference tends to be an overwhelming syntactic phenomenon. Same/different decisions are

made with regard to the syntactic subjects of the clauses involved, regardless of their status as semantic
or underlying subject."
There are two main reasons why this claim is too strong. Firstly, it denies any significant semantic or
stylistic function to switch-reference. In Mparntwe Arrernte at any rate, the switch-reference system (as
opposed to the morphemes used in switch-reference) conveys a limited number of associated semantic
relations between clauses and is used for stylistic purposes, such as foregrounding and backgrounding of
information. Thus the use of switch-reference becomes a semantic and stylistic choice among other
possible forms of 'clause packaging'. Secondly, such a view ignores the fact that switch-reference is
primarily interested in the identity or non-identity of participants playing like roles. Thus it is very
concerned with semantic issues of how sameness or difference of identity is perceived and encoded in a
language. Payne (1980:100), for instance, notes that for Chickasaw, there are situations in which both
"same reference and different reference marking seem equally acceptable". For Mparntwe Arrernte,
there are also conditions under which there is an option for marking a verb with either same- or
different-reference. The choice has semantic and stylistic correlates which demonstrates that there is
more than a simple mechanistic syntactic process in operation. Strict syntactic accounts, such as Finer
(1985), have thus far failed to deal with cases of variable choice of coding (cf. Foley ms.) and do not
attempt to define 'precisely' what constitutes sameness or difference of reference, the very notion which
lies at the heart of switch-reference. More recent accounts of switch-reference, such as Foley (ms.) and
Roberts (1988) have suggested that certain phenomena, such as the variable choice in coding certain
switch-reference clauses, follow from the fact that switch-reference is an 'extra-syntactic' discourse
device. These points will be discussed in §11.3 and §11.4.
Further confusion seems to arise over what exactly is being tracked by switch-reference.
Jacobsen originally talked of "participants playing like roles", by which he meant participants fulfilling the
same grammatical function in each clause. Others have talked simply of shared or 'comparable'
arguments being tracked. Still others talk of 'topics' being tracked. There is little to say on this point
except to comment that it is important to distinguish between a system that is merely keeping track of
coreferential arguments between clauses and one that is tracking a grammatical category such as subject
or a discourse category such as topic.
The 'narrow' definition of switch-reference has been further elaborated by Munro (1980) and
Foley and Van Valin (1984). Munro (1980:2) points out that "switch-reference continues to operate
even when no one would question the difference of the two subjects". As a logical corollary, I would
add the following feature to a characterisation of 'narrow' switch-reference (cf. §11.2 below):
switch-reference should apply regardless of whether or not the two subject NPs are overtly present in
their respective clauses.
Foley and Van Valin (1984), working within the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) theory of
clause structure and of clause juncture and nexus (cf. §1.4.3.1), give the following features as
characteristics of switch-reference systems:
(i) "the primary diagnostic feature of switch-reference systems is a distinction in

peripheral junctures between dependent and independent verbs" (ibid.:339);
(ii) "dependent verbs carry the switch-reference marker" (ibid.:345);
(iii) "switch-reference is restricted to peripheral junctures" (ibid.:367);
(iv) "switch-reference (usually) involves a series of dependent but not embedded
verbs linked by morphemes expressing referential and possibly semantic relations
between the verbs" (loc. cit.);
(v) "Every language with switch reference which we have investigated employs it in
peripheral co-subordinate nexus and many restrict it to that juncture-nexus type"
(loc. cit.).
I will use the RRG framework to show that the switch-reference system in Mparntwe Arrernte
works at one level of juncture, while the forms that realise the switch-reference system can be used at
other levels of juncture with meanings consistent with their switch-reference usage (see §11.3 below).
11.2 Switch-Reference in Mparntwe Arrernte
Switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte clearly tracks the identity or non-identity of the subject
(ie. the S/A pivot; cf. §10.10.3.2) of two clauses and the switch-reference marked clause functions as a
temporal adverbial clause or causal clause with respect to the clause upon which it is dependent. The
morpheme -le 'same subject (SS)' indicates that the referents of the subjects of two clauses have shared
identity. As noted previously, this form is the same as the case-marker for locative, ergative and
instrumental cases (cf. §4.2.4.4.3). This apparently fits with Austin's (1981b:330) observation that there
is a common association between locative case-marking and relative same-subject marking (see also
Goddard 1988).
The marking of non-identity of the referents of the subjects of two clauses is a little more
complicated. On 'negativised' verbs, the form is -nge 'different subject (ablative)' (cf. §11.2.4), while on
non-negative verbs it is -rlenge 'different subject (DS)' or -rleke 'different subject'. I have been unable
to find a semantic difference between -rlenge 'different subject' and -rleke 'different subject'. When
interchanged, grammaticality and meaning are apparently preserved. By far the more common of the
two forms is -rlenge 'different subject'. I would suggest that historically the forms -rlenge and -rleke
come from the relative clause formative -rle (cf. §8.1.1.18 and §10.1.3) combined with -nge 'ablative'
or -ke 'dative'. This, however, is not a synchronically viable analysis. While these 'different subject
forms' may sometimes be homophonous with sequences of relative clause marker and 'ablative' or
'dative' on the verb of a relative clause (cf. example 20 in chapter 10), it is always possible to remove
the -rle 'relative' that may appear on verbs in relative clauses (leaving case attached to the verb final
inflection), but it is never possible to remove the -rle from the (non-negative) verb of a clause marked for
different subject. Moreover, the switch-reference dependent clauses marked for non-identity behave
differently, as far as position, movability, and semantics are concerned, from the equivalent relative
clause forms (cf. §10.1.3). That one should develop from the other is however, quite plausible.
Examples (1) through (6) illustrate the operation of switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte:
(1) Artwe alye-lhe-me-le petye-me.

man(S) sing-REFL-npp-SS come-npp
A man is coming (while) singing.[S=S]
(2) Artwe alye-lhe-(me)-rlenge ayenge petye-me.

man(S) sing-REFL-(npp)-DS 1sgS come-npp
I'm coming while the man is singing. [SpS]
(3) Artwe-le alye-lhe-me-le kere ite-ke.
man-ERG(A) sing-REFL-npp-SS meat(O) cook-pc
The man cooked the meat while singing.[A=S]
(4) Me-l-atye-le atyenge ile-ke, ayenge kweke ne-rlenge.

mother-ERG-1Kin POSS-ERG(A) 1sgDAT tell-pc 1sgS small be-DS
My mother told (this story) to me when I was young. [ApS (DAT=S)]
(5) K-ikwe-le kere lewetyerre twe-ke

brother-3KinPOSS-ERG meat goanna hit-pc
(, re) kere aherre ingkante-me-le.
(, 3sgA) game kangaroo(O) track-npp-SS
His brotheri killed a goanna while hei was out tracking a kangaroo.[A=A]
(6) The ankerte are-ke menge arlkwe-rlenge.
1sgERG(A) lizard(O) see-pc fly(O) eat-DS
I saw the lizard (while it was) eating a fly.[ApA (O=A)]
It is important to point out that in all of the sentences given above, the events are simultaneous
and both clauses are 'affirmative'. Below it will be seen that slight variations in switch-reference marking
occur for certain non-simultaneous clauses and on dependent negative verbs. Bearing this in mind, there
are still several features of the realisation of switch-reference in Mparntwe Arrernte to be noted from
examples (1) to (6) above. It should be clear that whenever the S/A pivots (ie. subjects) of both clauses
are coreferential, then -me-le '-npp-SS' marks the dependent clause. However, when the S/A pivots
are non-coreferential, the dependent verb is marked with (-me)-rlenge 'npp-DS'. On the occasions that
a non-S/A argument of one clause is coreferential with the S/A argument of the other clause (as in
examples 4 and 6), there is no special morphosyntax to indicate such identity. This is evidence that the
system under discussion is restricted to S/A pivots and that this construction provides further evidence
for the grammatical relation subject in Mparntwe Arrernte (cf. §10.3.2).
Another point to observe is that it is very common to delete one of the coreferential S/A
arguments when same-subject is marked (see examples 1, 3 and 5). This, however, is not obligatory
zero anaphora since the NP or its pronominal equivalent can be realised at the surface (as in example
5). There are restrictions on which NP to delete in that the NP must carry the case-marking required by
the matrix clause verb. Thus, in example (3), where the matrix clause A is coreferential to the S of the
dependent clause, the surface NP that must remain is the ergative-marked one, artwe-le 'man-ERG (A)',
even though it immediately precedes the intransitive verb whose subject it is coreferential with. This
constraint is one indicator of clausal dependency.
A final point to make is that where the switch-reference system is in operation, the dependent
clause may precede the matrix clause, as in examples (1) through (3), or follow it, as in examples (4) to
(6). I have not analysed fully the intonation contours for differences between the two orderings, but I
can say that either ordering is as likely to have a pause break between the clauses or to be treated under
a single intonation contour. The occurrence or non-occurrence of a pause appears to have more to do
with whether both clauses appear with their full complement of arguments than with ordering of the
clauses. If a coreferential argument has been deleted from one of the two clauses, then they are likely to
be given a single intonation contour (cf. examples 1, 3, 5 and 6). Where both verbs appear with all their
arguments, then there is greater likelihood of a pause break (cf. example 4). Note that in example (5),
when the coreferential NP is realised in a pronominalised form, a pause break must also occur; without
this NP, there is a single intonation contour. The ordering of clauses seems to have more to do with
semantics and style than with syntax.
The preceding facts appear to provide a counter-example to Foley and Van Valin's (1984:338)
statement that the common occurrence of switch-reference in verb-final languages is "sensible in view of
the fact that switch-reference morphemes occur on the verb and anticipate an NP in the next junct".
From our discussion, it can be seen that it is equally common for the dependent clause to be post-matrix;
hence, the final verb in the sentence can carry switch-reference morphemes, and so cannot anticipate
any NPs in the main clause.
The dependent status of the clause marked for switch-reference is easily demonstrated. Firstly,
verbs with switch-reference marking cannot occur independently as main predicates. Secondly, the
switch-reference marking can affix to the tense morphemes commonly found on main clause verbs. In
such cases, the tense marking does not indicate time of event with respect to the speech event, but
instead indicates the time of event with respect to the main verb event. In other words, as noted in
§5.3.1.1, switch-reference marked verbs are also marked for relative tense and are dependent on the
main verb for the expression of absolute tense.
11.2.1 Relative tense

The six absolute tenses which were discussed and exemplified in §5.3.1.1 are -me 'non-past
progressive (npp)', -tyenhe 'non-past completive (npc)', -ke 'past completive (pc)', -tyeme 'past
progressive (pp)', -tyerte 'remote past habitual (rem.p.hab)' and -rne 'immediate past (p.immed)'.
Only the first four tenses are attested in texts in a relative-tense usage. The use of the remaining two
suffixes for relative-tense purposes in fabricated sentences have also been attested.
Examples (1) to (6) above all use -me 'non-past progressive' as a relative-tense suffix to indicate
that two actions occur simultaneously. In these six examples the switch-reference clause may be seen to
function as a temporal adverbial clause, although the dependent clause in example (6) may also be
interpreted as a perception complement (cf. §10.5.2). The suffix -me is by far the most common of the
relative tenses. For Mparntwe Arrernte, the use of -me 'non-past progressive' to indicate simultaneity
with the different-subject marking seems to be optional and it is usually not realised (cf. examples 2, 4
and 6). It appears that this optionality is not permitted in Western Arrernte; in this variety -me 'non-past
progressive' must be used to indicate simultaneity for both same- and different subject marked clauses.
Parallel to the use of -me 'non-past progressive' to indicate that the dependent event is
happening at the same time of the main event, -ke 'past completive' marks the dependent event as
occurring (and coming to completion) prior to the inception of the main event (eg. 7 and 8); -tyenhe
'non-past completive' shows that the dependent event happens after the main event (eg. 9 and 10); -
tyeme 'non-past progressive' indicates that the dependent event is ongoing at some time prior to the
beginning of the main clause event (and may still be continuing) (eg. 11); -tyerte 'remote past habitual' as
a relative tense indicates a habitual event that comes to an end prior to the main verb event beginning;
and -rne 'past immediate' marks switch-reference clause event as happening immediately prior to the
main clause event. Thus, the relations of temporal ordering and aspect associated with the absolute
tense usage of these six forms remains roughly the same, but what changes is the fact that the main clause
event, not the present moment of speaking, acts as the tense locus (cf. Chung and Timberlake 1985)
for the switch-reference clause. The interpretation of -ke 'past completive', -tyenhe 'non-past
completive' and -tyeme 'past progressive' as relative tenses relies on viewing the two linked events as
one 'macro-situation' with one event immediately leading to or overlapping with the other. As noted
above, the use of -tyerte 'remote past habitual' and -rne 'past immediate' are only from a few
fabricated sentences so little can be said about their interpretation.
(7) Nhenhe-le re arlkwe-ke-le inte-ke-rlke.

here-LOC 3sgERG eat-pc-SS lie-pc-too
This is where it ate and then slept as well.
[description of kangaroo tracks at a place]
(8) Dulcie-le are-ke ankerte irrpe-ke-rlenge lhwenge-ke.

Dulcie-ERG see-pc lizard enter-pc-DS burrow-DAT
Dulcie saw that the lizard had gone into the burrow. [She noticed some
movement and then found some lizard tracks heading into the burrow.]
(9) Tnye-tyenhe-le, re artne-ke.
fall-npc-SS 3sgNOM cry-pc
(The baby) cried because it was about to fall.[said of a baby tottering back and
forth, crying].
(10) Darwin-werne re lhe-tyenhe-rlenge, ayenge chairman ane-ke.

Darwin-ALL 3sgS go-npc-DS, 1sgS chairman be-pc
Since he was going to Darwin, I had to be the chairman. [ie. I was chairman because
he was later going to go to Darwin (and so he couldn't be chairman the whole time.]
(11) ... inte-tyeme-le re uthne-ke kweke re-nhe.

... lie-pp-SS 3sgA bite-pc little 3sg-ACC
... (the snake) was lying there (by the water cooling down) and then it bit the
baby. [T12-118]
Unlike the simultaneous constructions, where the dependent event may simply be used as a
temporal adverbial, fixing the exact time of the main event but not necessarily related to it in any way,
there has to be a close semantic connection between the two events for -tyenhe 'non-past
completive', -ke 'past completive', and -tyeme 'past progressive' to be used in the dependent clause.
In examples (7) and (11), this connection involves one action of the subject leading directly, in a natural
progression, to the accomplishment of the main verb action. In (8), it is the evidence of a previous
event that is being perceived, and so the dependent event is acting as an argument of the main event.
Finally, in examples (9) and (10), the relationship between the two events is causal.
11.2.2 Switch-reference on negatives

In §5.3.2.1 it was observed that verb negation in Mparntwe Arrernte is handled by the
suffixation of -tyekenhe 'verb negator' or -tyange 'verb negator' to the verb stem, thereby forming non-
tensed, semi-nominal verbs which optionally take an auxiliary when the present time is understood, but
require the auxiliary to bear tense for past or future time reference. An interesting characteristic of
negative verbs and clauses is that switch-reference marking can either be suffixed directly to the negative
or to the auxiliary. There is a semantic distinction between these two options. Furthermore, there is also
a formal distinction; as noted above, the different-subject marking on negative verbs is simply -nge
'different subject (ablative)', not -rlenge 'different subject' or -rleke 'different subject'.
When switch-reference is suffixed directly to the negative, as in examples (12) through (15),
there tends to be a causal relation holding between the two clauses.
(12) Ayenge ne-ke, the mantere lhewe-tyekenhe-le.

1sgS be-pc 1sgA clothes wash-VbNEG-SS
I stayed, because I didn't do the washing. [Therefore I didn't have any clean
clothes to wear.]
(13) Ayenge ne-ke, re mantere lhewe-tyekenhe-nge.

1sgS be-pc 3sgA clothes wash-VbNEG-DS
I stayed, because he didn't do the washing.
(14) Re lhe-ke pmere tyewe ikwerenhe-werne

3sgS go-pc camp friend 3sgPOSS-ALL
arlkwe-tyeke, re merne ite-tyekenhe-le.
eat-PURP 3sgA food cook-VbNEG-SS
Hei went to hisi friend's place to eat because hei didn't cook any food.
(15) Re lhe-ke pmere tyewe ikwerenhe-werne

3sgS go-pc camp friend 3sgPOSS-ALL
arlkwe-tyeke, re merne ite-tyekenhe-nge.
eat-PURP 3sgA food cook-VbNEG-DS
Hei went to hisi friend's place to eat because hej didn't cook any food.
There are, however, a few text examples in which the relation between clauses of this form
would best be translated by something like 'even though' (eg. 16).
(16) Re merne arlkwe-ty.alpe-me, re merne ite-tyekenhe-le.

3sgA food eat-GO BACK & DO-npp 3sgA food cook-VbNEG-SS
Hei came back and ate the food even though hei didn't cook it.
Example (16) cannot be translated by 'Hei came back and ate the food because hei didn't cook
it'. I have been told that a sentence like (16) would be used to say something bad about somebody
when one had asked or expected that person to do something but s/he had not and yet s/he still
expected to benefit from the completed action. Thus the dependent clause provides a proposition which
would be expected to be a reason or cause for the main clause action not happening, but in fact it is not.
In other words, the dependent clause is a type of 'non-realised cause'. The attested examples with this
interpretation are all similar to (16) in that they have same-subject marking on the dependent clause. In
addition to sharing S/A arguments, there must be at least one other shared argument (like merne 'food' in
example 16) which is the object (ie. O) or the focus of both actions. Constructions with this
interpretation need to be investigated further.
To convey a temporal adverbial reading through a dependent negative clause, one has to use the
clause form in which the negativised verb is followed by a copula marked for switch-reference (eg. 17
and 18)
(17) Ayenge urrkape-tyekenhe ne-me-le, the pmere-le

1sgS work-VbNEG be-npp-SS 1sgA camp-LOC
ne-rle.ne-me-le ampe kweke arntarntare-tyerte.
be-CONT-npp-SS child small look after-rem.p.hab.
When I wasn't working, I used to stay at home and look after the baby.
(18) Re pmere-le ne-tyekenhe ne-rlenge, amp-ikwe

3sgS camp-LOC be-VbNEG be-DS child-3KinPOSS
nayepe-le ke-lhe-ke.
knife-INST cut-REFL-pc
Hisi childj cut himself, on a knife, when hei wasn't at home.
The clauses in which negative verbs are marked directly for switch-reference cannot be interpreted as
temporal adverbials at all.
An intriguing unsolved problem is the way in which the semantic split for switch-reference-
marked negative clauses corresponds to the difference in structures, and what the actual nature of the
structural difference in clause and juncture type is. Note, however, that the simultaneous temporal
reading occurs only where the (relative) tense-marking is visible: that is, in V-VbNEG copula-rel.tense-
SS/DS structures. In simple V-VbNEG-SS/DS clauses, there is no (relative) tense marking, and so the
interpretation can be causal, which is temporally sequential by definition.
11.2.3 Discourse realisation of switch-reference

11.2.3.1 Subject NP ellipsis
In §11.1.2 above, the claim was made that switch-reference should occur regardless of the overt
presence or absence of the subject/actor NPs. As has been noted previously, it is a common feature of
Mparntwe Arrernte to use extensive ellipsis of 'given' NP arguments once the main topic, orientation and
setting of a text have been established (as long as no reference tracking problems arise, cf. §10.4). It is
in such contexts that we find the principle described above in operation. For instance, in the text from
which the following excerpt is taken, the primary protagonist is 'a man (the owner of a dog) who has
been taken by cannibals'. This protagonist, being well known by this time, has already been ellipsed
from example (19). The new major protagonist of the episode at hand has become the man's little dog
who has come to save the man. While the NP referring to the dog is present in (19), it is ellipsed from
(20).
(19) Nyente-ngare anteme kngwelye kweke re

one-TIMES now dog small 3sgA
petye-me-le ntyerne-ke. Can't irrpe-rle
come-npp-SS smell-pc can't enter-GenEvt
The dog came and sniffed around (for the man) once, but he couldn't get in.
[From a story about a man, a dog, and a cannibal, by Basil Stevens]
(20) Ntyerne-me-le, kertne anteme lhe-ke.

smell-npp-SS top now go-pc
Then (he) went to the top and sniffed around (for the man). [lit. While
sniffing, (he) now went upward) [From a story about a man, a dog, and a
cannibal, by Basil Stevens]
Sentence (20) is a clear example of the reference-tracking system indicating same-subject even
where no NPs are present in the actual sentence itself. The full NPs or their pronominal equivalents
could be inserted to make explicit the parenthesised arguments in translation. This, however, is not felt
to be as effective, stylistically, as the ellipsed version.
11.2.3.2 Trans-sentential switch-reference

A phenomenon closely related to that discussed in §11.2.3.1 is what I will call trans-sentential
switch-reference. In the literature on switch-reference, there is little mention of situations in which a verb
carrying same- or different-reference marking (and hence supposedly dependent) occurs on its own
within a sentence without any main verb present. In other words, these are examples of what has
previously been called insubordination (cf. §5.3.3), where a subordinate verb form appears to be acting
as a main verb (ie. independently). This is not an infrequent occurrence in Mparntwe Arrernte, and most
(although not all) examples of it can be explained by saying that a main clause in a text or discourse can,
later in the text or discourse, be referred to by an anaphor or be ellipsed, as long as it is contextually
recoverable. In such cases, switch-reference is in a sense trans-sentential because the clause that acts as
a matrix is in a different sentence from the dependent verb, although a phrase referring back to the main
clause may be present in the sentence containing the dependent verb (eg. 21).
(21) Tayele re-nhe kemparre twe-mele arlkwe-tyeme. [long pause]

tail 3sg-ACC first hit-SS eat-pp
Ikwere-tayeme kwele, arrentye re arrate-tye.lhe-rlenge.
3sgDAT-TIME QUOT demon 3sgS appear-GO & DO-DS
He chopped up the tail and was eating it. [long pause] It was then, they say,
when the Cannibal arrived on the scene.[From a text by Basil Stevens about a
man, a dog and a cannibal]
In example (21), ikwere-tayeme kwele 'at that time so they say' is anaphoric to the immediately
preceding sentential event and could have been translated 'while that (ie. matrix event) was happening
(something else happened)'. The dependent clause is a simultaneous one, marking different-subject and
introducing a new character for the first time. In this way, the split into two sentences preserves the
'simultaneity' of the two events, most commonly expressed through switch-reference clauses, and also
serves to highlight the entrance of a character who is to play an important role as the text unfolds.
Cases of ellipsis, as opposed to anaphora, are most common in conversational discourse. A
participant in a conversation may interject or may add to or question the statement of another participant
by using a sentence that is a clause morphologically subordinated (marked for same- or different-
subject) to a sentence uttered by another participant. The interesting thing to note here is that these
'subordinate' clauses can have an illocutionary force different from that of the main clause. That is, such
clauses can be used to ask, for instance, whether something happened at the same time as the matrix
clause event, even though the matrix clause is itself is in declarative form. As Foley and Van Valin
(1984:220) observe, the outermost clausal operator is illocutionary force (cf. figure 1-8) which has the
entire periphery, as well as all other peripheral operators, in its scope. Thus, if the dependent clause is
to be construed as being in the same sentence as the main clause (ie. as an element of the main clause),
there cannot be a possibility of different illocutionary forces between the clauses. Different illocutionary
forces signal different independent clauses, thus even if a clause is marked as being dependent, if it takes
its own illocutionary force it is independent. The conversational excerpt given in example (22) illustrates
this point:
(22) A: Yeah, ikwere-kerte, re pente-ke kwete, bullock re.

Yeah 3sgDAT-PROP 3sgERG follow-pc still bullock
3sgDEF
Yeah, (they walked along) with it. That bullock, he kept on following
(them).
B: Nhenge kaltyirre-me-le, eh?

remember(S) learn-SS eh
Was that one we're talking about learning (as he followed along)?
[From a taped conversation between Davey Hayes and Franky Stevens]
The conversation from which (22) is taken is about a bullock lost in the bush, searching for
water. It then comes across some Arrernte people and starts following them. We can see that A simply
states that the bullock was following along. B uses a same-subject simultaneous verb form that would
be subordinated to A's statement (as shown in parentheses in the translation) to ask whether the bullock
was learning about the country and how to find water as it followed the people along. The full non-
ellipsed version, incorporating the main clause of A, which B could have used is given as example (23)
(23) Re nhenge kaltyirre-mele pente-ke kwete, bullock re?

3sgA remember learn-SS follow-pc still bullock 3sgA
Was that one we're talking about, the bullock, learning as it followed along?
Example (23) would have kaltyirremele emphasised through stress to show that that is the part of the
statement being questioned. Example (22), then, provides a clear case where, because of easy
recoverability of ellipsis through context, a subordinate clause can occur as an independent sentential
entity.
Trans-sentential switch-reference and full ellipsis of subject NPs, shows that neither subject NPs
nor even matrix verbs need appear at surface level in a sentence for the morphological marking to
indicate the shared or non-shared identity of subject referents.
11.3 System Versus Morphology

11.3.1 The level and nature of switch-reference clause linkage
Thus far it has been shown that, as far as the semantic relations holding between clauses are
concerned, the switch-reference system in Mparntwe Arrernte is used when temporal-adverbial and
causal notions are to be encoded. Furthermore, I have indicated that the distinction in interpretation
between a temporal or causal reading, as well as slight variations of interpretation within these two
general semantic categories, are generally a function of:
(i) whether or not relative tense is being marked (in negatives);

(ii) which relative tense is chosen;
(iii) whether non-S/A arguments are coreferential between clauses; and
(iv) the contextual information that would lead to a canonical interpretation.
As mentioned in §10.1.3, the dependent switch-reference clauses are clearly of the adjoined
clause type first discussed by Hale (1976), but used only in what he called a "T-relative" sense. They
have flexible positional possibilities with respect to being to the left or right of, or even in a separate
sentence from, the main clause, but are "never flanked by material belonging to the main clause" (Hale,
1976:86). In terms of RRG theory (cf. §1.4.3.1 4 [see also footnote 5 of this chapter]), such adjoined
clauses are of the 'peripheral co-subordinate' juncture-nexus type. They are peripheral because each
clause can have a verb with all its arguments, none of which need be coreferential with arguments in the
other clauses; they are co-subordinate because the switch-reference clause is dependent, but it is not
embedded. Van Valin (1984:8) further remarks that co-subordination entails two structural features:
distributional dependence (that is, the clause cannot occur independently without some understood
matrix clause) and grammatical category dependence, which in this case means the main verb carries
tense for the dependent clause.
If the information given for Mparntwe Arrernte is compared with Austin's (1981b) outline of the
structural and semantic possibilities for switch-reference in Australian languages, then we find that
Mparntwe Arrernte manifests only a subset of the total range of possibilities. For instance, Austin
(1981b:311) sets up another type of adjoined clause, the "implicated" or "purposive" , which, in some
Australian languages, can be marked for switch-reference. In Mparntwe Arrernte, purposive clauses
(cf. §5.3.2.2 and §10.5.2) are never marked for same- or different-reference and they are not adjoined
structure. They may function as core arguments (ie. clausal complements) of certain verbs (§10.5.2)
and as adjuncts they are embedded within the periphery of the main clause. The tracking of referents
between main and purposive clause is handled by zero anaphora (see examples in §10.3.2 and
§10.5.2). Austin (1981b:317), following Hale, also notes the use of switch-reference-marked
adjoined clauses in restrictive or non-restrictive relative clause function in certain Australian languages.
However, as has been discussed in detail in §10.1.3, Mparntwe Arrernte possesses restrictive and non-
restrictive NP-relative clauses which are embedded and finite. Relative clauses are not marked for
switch-reference.
11.3.2 -Me-le versus -me.le

The morphology that realises a switch-reference system need not be confined to or defined by
that system. In Mparntwe Arrernte, the two morphemes -me-le '-npp-SS', which in the switch-
reference system marks same identity of subject and simultaneous occurrence of two events, is used in
constructions where no different-subject marking is possible; thus, for these constructions, a switch-
reference system cannot be said to exist. The meaning of -me-le '-npp-SS' in these other constructions
is, however, related to its switch-reference usage. It marks dependent verbs which necessarily have the
same subject as the main verb, and the occurrence of the dependent verb event can be seen as being
part of the same macro-event as the main verb. In the constructions to be discussed, the -me 'non-past
progressive' cannot be viewed as relative tense because there is no possibility of any other tense
morpheme filling this position and because the reading need not be simultaneous, but can also be prior
(ie. pre-sequential). For these constructions, it may be best to regard the morphemic sequence -me-le '-
npp-SS' as a single morphemic complex -me.le which has a unitary semantic function. For this chapter
only a formal distinction is made between -me-le and -me.le. Functionally, -me.le is very similar to the
Western Desert language serials discussed by Goddard (1983:194-212 and Goddard 1988). I will
outline the uses of -me.le in order to show how and why they are to be distinguished from the use of -
me-le '-npp-SS' for the switch-reference system.
11.3.2.1 Manner adverbials

One of the functions of -me.le is to form manner adverbials from verbs. There are two types of
manner adverbials that can be formed in this way, the distinction between the two being characterised by
the tightness of the semantic and syntactic bond between the two verbs. The first type indicates 'the
means by which the main verb action is achieved' and can be likened to instrumental arguments which
would be case-marked with -le. The second type indicates 'the way an action is done' or 'the nature of
the action's process'. This second type is to be grouped semantically with certain true adverbs, such as
iparrpe 'quickly' and mwantye 'slowly, carefully', and the adverbs which are derived from adjectival
nominals suffixed with -le 'manner adverb formative (cf. §7.4.3.1). The two types are discussed in turn.
11.3.2.1.1 'Means' manner adverbials

Structurally, 'means of achievement' adverbials are distinguishable in several ways. The
dependent verb always precedes the main verb and the two are treated as an inseparable complex.
There is no possibility of any argument intervening between the two verbs, and there is no pause. No
verb has an argument that is not shared by the other verb. Associated motion inflections (cf. chapter 6)
which occur on the main verb refer to the whole complex (eg. 25). Pre-verbal 'degree of achievement'
adverbs (cf. §7.3.3.3) modify the whole complex even though they may seem semantically inconsistent
with the verb they immediately precede (eg. 24). There is no possibility of independent negation of
verbs. All of these features are clearly distinct from those obtaining between dependent switch-
reference-marked clauses and main clauses. They are the same, however, as those present in what
Goddard (1988) calls 'tight serialisation'. Examples of this structure are provided in (24) and (25)
(24) Re door ingkwe twe-me.le altywer-ile-ke.

3sgA door nearly hit-MANNER open-CAUS-pc
He nearly hit the door open or He nearly opened the door by hitting it.
(25) Kwementyaye-le ice-cream wantye-me.le arlkw-inty.alpe-me.

Kwementyaye-ERG ice-cream lick-MANNER eat-DO COMING BACK-npp
Kwementyaye is coming back this way licking-eating an ice-cream or
Kwementyaye is coming back this way eating an ice-cream by licking it.
Example (24) demonstrates that the 'degree of achievement' adverb ingkwe 'nearly' modifies the whole
verb complex. If ingkwe 'nearly', which always precedes the verb it modifies, was simply modifying
twe-, and not the full complex, then hitting could not take place since the meaning would be 'nearly hit'.
However, example (24) can mean that 'hitting' actually took place and this 'nearly opened the door'.
Example (25) shows how the associated motion morphology must, when present, be interpreted as
covering both verbs in the complex, and not just the main verb; in other words the interpretation of the
structure requires not only that there be 'eating while coming back' but also 'licking while coming back'.
With respect to the semantics of this construction type, we note that the first verb (ie. the
dependent one) is more specific about the details of the performance of the action but can be neutral
with respect to overall effect. The main verb, however, gives details of the overall effect. This fact
constrains the types of verbs that can occur together in this structure, as well as putting constraints on
which verb can fill which slot. Thus, an impact verb can occur with its effect, as in example (24), the
former taking the dependent verb morphology -me.le and the latter taking main verb morphology. The
reverse ordering and assignment of morphology is nonsensical. In this case, the strict ordering of the
verbs clearly mirrors the ordering of events, in a way that the reverse ordering would not.
Example (25) is typical of the other common kind of verb pairing for this construction. Verbs
which would share important semantic features and are likely to have the same or similar sub-
categorisation often occur together in this construction. The main verb is often an achievement verb,
while the dependent one is often an activity (process) verb. In this example, we have wantye- 'lick' and
arlkwe- 'eat', both of which involve 'actions of the mouth' which are often directed 'towards food', but
'licking' need not change a thing, whereas 'eating' does. Eating, since it gives some information about the
overall effect rather than the process, must therefore be the main verb, while licking is dependent. Note
that while the two events can be seen as being simultaneous - that is, while the ice cream is being 'licked',
it is also being 'eaten' - one can only say that the end-point (ie. something having been eaten) has been
achieved after the process (ie. licking) took place. Other examples of this sort of pairing are given in
(26):
(26) a. rake-me.le ine-me

grab-MANNER get-npp
'to get by grabbing'
b. we-me.le tanthe-me
hit with missile-MANNER spear-npp
'to spear by hitting with a missile'
This construction provides a useful and all too rare diagnostic test to aid in the sub-categorisation
and explication of verbs.
A further reflection of the tightness of bonding between verbs in structures of this type is that the
whole 'adverbial-verb' structure may be nominalised with -ntye 'nominaliser' (cf. §3.10.1.1) to yield a
noun referring to the type of event performed. Thus twe-me.le altywer-ile-ntye (hit-MANNER open-
CAUS-NMZR) means 'a break-in (ie. a break and enter robbery)'.
One final point to mention about the means manner adverbial construction is that structurally one
could argue for verb compounding rather than an adverbial plus verb construction. Certainly the
construction involves much tighter bonding than normally occurs between an adverb and a verb.
Semantically, however, the dependent verb clearly acts as an adverbial-type modifier of the main verb.
Furthermore, Mparntwe Arrernte possesses structures which are more clearly verb-compounding (cf.
§§5.5.9 & 10).
11.3.2.1.2 'Nature of process' adverbials

With respect to structure, the derived 'nature of process' adverbs differ from the type described
in §11.3.2.1.1 above in only one respect. The two verbs involved can be split by intervening arguments
although the dependent verb must always occur before the main verb. When the two verbs are together,
they are always treated as a single intonation grouping. This shows a similar but looser type of syntactic
bonding between verbs. This category of adverbial derived from a verb more clearly parallels true
adverbs in both semantics and structure. This can be seen in examples (27)a and b.
(27) a. Re ikwere lhwarrpe-le pwerte nthe-ke.

3sgS 3sgDAT sad-ADV money(O) give-pc
She gave the money to him sadly (with sadness).
b. Re ikwere kangke-me.le pwerte nthe-ke.

3sgS 3sgDAT happy-MANNER money(O) give-pc
She gave the money to him happily.
In many languages, it is not uncommon for words that are related as semantic opposites to occur
in different word classes. Dixon (1982:51) points out for English that "we have adjectives raw and
whole as the unmarked members of oppositions raw/cooked and whole/broken, but use verb forms for
the marked poles". For Mparntwe Arrernte, the nominal adjective lhwarrpe 'sad' and the verb kangke-
'to be happy, proud' are just such a pair. What is relevant to the present discussion is the fact that, when
adverbialised, the adjective takes -le 'manner adverb formative' (as in example 27a) and the verb takes -
me.le 'MANNER' (as in example 27b), and their syntactic behaviour becomes equivalent to non-derived
manner adverbs (cf. §7.3.3.1). Any true adverb, like kwenpe 'do without care' in (28) below, could fill
the same position:
(28) Re ikwere kwenpe-(le) pwerte nthe-ke.

3sgS 3sgDAT do without care-(ADV) money(O) give-pc
He gave the money to her without care.
Note that true adverbs can optionally take -le 'ADV' (cf. chapter 7), and that in examples (27) and (28)
the adverb and the verb it modifies are split by the O argument.
Verbs that can form adverbials of this type are restricted semantically to those which attribute an
ongoing state of being, feeling, or process to the relation between the subject and the performance of an
action. Verbs which are inherently 'point-action', 'accomplishment', 'achievement' and the like are, of
course, impossible candidates for this form of adverbialisation. There is no restriction on the semantics
of the main verb. A further example of this type is given in (29)
(29) Kake tyenhe ingke utyene-kerte kwarne-me.le

brother 1sgPOSS foot sore-PROP hurt-MANNER
lhe-ke hospital-werne.
go-pc hospital-ALL
My brother walked painfully to the hospital on his sore foot.
The structural information given for the two types of manner adverbial construction discussed
above shows that the level of juncture, in RRG terms, could not possibly be peripheral as in switch-
reference, but is instead nuclear. The main diagnostics that are used here to show nuclear juncture are
the facts that all core arguments must be shared and that directionals (ie. associated motion) and aspect
marked on the main verb must operate over both verbs. Since all arguments must be shared, there is
clearly no possibility of non-identity between S/A arguments of the verbs; thus, there is no possibility of a
switch-reference system operating at this level of juncture (see footnote 8). Identity of subject
arguments is, by definition, necessary at this level, and the use of -me.le 'MANNER' can be seen to
signal this, perhaps redundantly.
11.3.2.2 Seriation
Another type of construction in which we find the unitary morphemic complex -me.le is in
sentences which have a subject performing several events in succession which culminate in an event
whose occurrence is dependent on all the preceding events having occurred. This is a specific type of
clause chaining or serialisation which I will term seriation. In these constructions, all non-final verbs are
marked with -me.le 'SERIAL' and are dependent on the final verb for expression of tense. The verbs
are ordered consecutively, with the linear ordering of verbs mirroring the actual ordering of events.
There is no possibility of re-ordering clauses without a meaning change. Verbs occur with any other
arguments that are relevant for the event, but the subject argument which is shared by all verbs typically
occurs just once. Pauses commonly occur between verb-argument groupings. Example (30) is typical
of the construction under discussion.
(30) Kwementyaye-le ure ine-me.le, ure nthile-me.le, tea ite-ke.

Kwementyaye-ERG firewood(O) get-SERIAL fire(O) light fire-SERIAL
tea(O) cook-pc
Kwementyaye got the firewood, lit a fire and made the tea.
In Mparntwe Arrernte, seriation is very commonly used in precedural texts (cf. texts 1-3 in
Appendix 1). Such texts, while describing in detail the way to perform various acts, such as making
something or tracking animals, often do not make any reference to an individual actor. Instead of using
an unspecified actor form like English 'one', no S/A argument need occur at all. This is exemplified in
(31), which is taken from a text about how to skin a kangaroo to make a water bag.
(31) Alakenhe ware amwelte ultake-rliwe-me.le, ulyepere ultake-

me.le,
like so DISM arm(O break--DO QUICK-SERIAL thigh(O) break-SERIAL
tayle ultake-me.le, turn-em-ile-me.le, aherre skin-em-ile-me.
tail(O) break-SERIAL turn-Eng tr-CAUS-SERIAL kangaroo(O) skin-
Engtr-CAUS-npp
Just break the arms away quickly like this (indicates with hands how action is
performed), then break the legs, then break the tail, turn it (inside out ) and skin
the kangaroo.[From a text by Davey Hayes about how to make a water bag.]
From the facts presented above it should be clear that seriation falls, structurally, between -me.le
derived manner adverbial constructions and constructions in which switch-reference occurs. Firstly, the
dependent verbs of the adverbial constructions have no individual arguments of their own, while the
dependent verbs in switch-reference clauses form full clauses with their complete range of arguments. In
switch reference clauses the arguments of the dependent verb can be different from those of the main
verb. Seriation, however, involves linking of reduced clauses, with sharing of one core argument, namely
subject (ie. S/A), which is typically realised once. Each verb, however, may have other non-S/A
arguments realised overtly, thus in examples 30 and 31 each verb has its own O argument.
Secondly, the dependent verbs of adverbial constructions must occur before the main verb, and
when the verbs occur next to one another, they are pronounced within a single intonation group.
Seriation also requires fixed ordering of dependent verbs with respect to main verbs, but there are
pauses between sequentially ordered verbs, indicating a looser linkage. In both these construction types,
ordering of verbs is used to mirror temporal ordering of events; however, for switch-reference
constructions, it has been noted that relative tense (cf. §11.2.1), not ordering, is used to mark the
ordering of events . This corresponds with the fact that switch-reference marked clauses are free to
occur before or after the main clause which indicates a much looser linkage than seriation. The structural
features of seriation therefore indicate that it is a core-level juncture, while 'adverbial' constructions are
nuclear junctures, and switch-reference constructions are peripheral junctures.
This discussion of -me.le constructions shows that we should not confuse the morphology used
in the switch-reference system with the switch-reference system itself. It is easy to imagine situations
where same reference, or identity of subject arguments, must be marked as a semantic category, but not
necessarily in opposition to different-reference. Indeed, some juncture levels and nexus types by their
very nature require identity of subject (ie. S/A) arguments. It is not surprising that the morphology that
marks identity at these juncture levels is used to form a systematic opposition with marking of non-
identity at a juncture level and nexus type that allows the possibility of both same- and different-
reference. It is this systematic opposition which is the defining feature of a switch-reference system, not
the morphology.
11.4 Problems Of Identity

11.4.1 General discussion
Both the wide and narrow definitions of switch-reference (cf. §11.1) agree that the system is
concerned with showing the identity or non-identity between arguments playing like syntactic roles in
linked clauses. It must, however, be asked what 'identity' means for any individual language. In a highly
syntactically mechanistic system, one could suggest that only NPs with exactly the same constituents,
structure, and equivalent reference could be said to be identical. This constraint has never, to my
knowledge, manifested itself in any real language. On the other hand, it is not uncommon in the literature
on switch-reference to find examples where the identity between arguments can only be explained
semantically and not syntactically. Below I discuss such situations for Mparntwe Arrernte. I will discuss
the circumstances in which Mparntwe Arrernte indicates same identity even though the reference of two
NPs cannot be said to be exactly the same. I will also point out cases in which there is an optionality of
perceiving two arguments as identical or non-identical depending on the desired communicative effect.
Finally, I will discuss a situation in which it appears that subject NPs which have the same reference are
marked as being non-identical.
11.4.2 Inclusion
The principle of inclusion in switch-reference has been noted both for American Indian languages
(Jacobsen 1967, Payne 1980) and Australian languages (Austin 1981b). This principle states that, even
though strict coreferentiality of subjects does not hold, a switch-reference clause will be marked for
same identity if the referent(s) of one of the subject NPs is/are included among the referents of the other
subject NP. In American Indian languages, it appears that same identity is marked regardless of
whether the main clause subject is a subset of dependent clause subjects or vice versa. Mparntwe
Arrernte, however, is like the Australian language Diyari (Austin 1981a, 1981b), which only has
unidirectional inclusion. In Mparntwe Arrernte, as in Diyari, for a dependent clause to be marked as
having same-subject, the referent(s) of the main clause subject must be included amongst the subordinate
clause subject's referents (eg. 32). The converse situation is not possible (eg. 33).
(32) a. Artwe yanhe rlkert-irre-ke tyerrtye mape

man that sick-INCH-pc person pl(grp)
yanhe pmere arrpenhe-werne lhe-me-le.
that camp another-ALL go-npp-SS
That man became sick, while those people were moving camp.
[He was one of the people moving camp.]
b. Ayenge alye-lhe-ke, ilerne kere ite-me-le.

1sgS sing-REFL-pc 1dlA meat cook-npp-SS
I sang while we two were cooking meat.
(33) *Ilerne alye-lhe-ke, the kere ite-me-le.

1dlS sing-REFL-pc 1sg(A) meat cook-npp-SS
*We two sang while I was cooking meat.
Examples (32)a and b show that inclusion operates when the subjects are either elaborated noun
phrases or pronouns. In example (32)b we see that the sentence is grammatical when the main verb
subject is ayenge 'first person singular' and is included in the dependent verb subject, ilerne 'first person
dual'. However, example (33), which is the same as example (32)b, except for the reversal of the
number of the subjects between main and dependent clause, is ungrammatical.
The facts for inclusion in switch reference clauses are remarkably similar to those of the
'inclusive' constructions (ie. plural pronoun construction, cf. §10.1.1.2). Since Mparntwe Arrernte has
no inclusive/exclusive distinction in the first person dual and plural pronoun, Switch-reference
constructions can be, and are, used to mark an inclusive/ exclusive distinction by using the inclusion
principle to mark two subjects as identical or as non-identical. This is exemplified in (34)a and b which
differ only in SS- and DS-marking respectively:
(34) a. Unte tnye-ke ilerne lhe-me-le.

2sgS fall-pc 2dlS go-npp-SS
You fell while we (incl) were going along.'
b. Unte tnye-ke ilerne lhe-rlenge.

2sgS fall-pc 2dlS go-DS
You fell while we (excl) were going along.'
The possibility of an inclusive/exclusive distinction being signalled in this way is, of course, not
restricted to first persons. Anywhere inclusion is possible, exclusion can be signalled. It is important to
note that the same situation can be portrayed inclusively or exclusively, depending on the speaker's focus
of interest and communicative intent. For instance, a group of people walking along together, one of
whom is a crying boy, can be described using either SS- or DS-marking as in example (35).
(35) Urreye kweke artne-lape-ke, itne lhe-rlenge / lhe-me-le.

boy small cry-along-pc 3pl go-DS / go-npp-SS
The little boy cried as they [excl/incl] walked along.
It was explained to me that use of different-subject marking in example (35) results in the interpretation
that all members of the group are from the same (harmonic) generation, but the boy is from a different
(non-harmonic) generation. As noted in §1.2.4.3 it is a cultural fact that there is a strong distinction
between same and different generation level and that close mixing between generations, especially cross-
sex, is frowned upon. In using different-subject marking, the speaker focuses on the fact that the boy is
not to be seen as part of the group (even if he is physically part of the group). The inclusion principle
would be used if the group referred to were a family or if there were a number of people of mixed
generation levels.
That inclusion in Mparntwe Arrernte works in the direction that it does is not surprising.
Subjecthood correlates closely with topichood, and we can see the main verb subject as our continuing
focus of interest. Same-subject marking means that the subject of the main clause is performing both the
main and subordinate actions. However, if the whole group were the main clause subject and the
dependent clause subject was a subset of that group, then there would be some members of the main
subject not performing the dependent action. In a sense, the topic (focus of interest) has changed.
Where the main clause subject is a subset of the dependent clause subject set, it is logically necessary
that the main subject perform both the main and dependent actions.
11.4.3 Part-whole relations

Another situation in which two subject NPs apparently refer to separate entities, but are treated
as being identical, is where one of the two subject NPs are in a part-whole relationship. The exact
nature of the part-whole relation affects the range of possibilities for switch-reference. For instance, with
respect to body parts, part-whole relations are necessarily treated as case of same identity and so there
is no possibility of different-reference being marked (eg.36 and 37).
(36) Alhe irrke-ke ayenge petye-me-le (*petye-rlenge).

nose be itchy-pc 1sgS come-npp-SS (come-DS)
My nose itched as I was coming along.
(37) Alte antyenyi-irre-me, artwe ampw-irre-me-le (*ampw-irre-rlenge).

hair S grey hair-INCH-npp man old-INCH-np-SS (old-INCH-DS)
A man's hair goes grey when he is getting old.
Note that in (36), where alhe 'nose' is the part and ayenge 'first person singular' is the whole, there is no
need to indicate the possessor of the nose since it is inherent in the construction.
Unlike inclusion, body part-whole relations can work in either direction. In other words, it does
not matter if the whole is the main or dependent subject or if the part is, the dependent clause will always
be marked for same-subjects (eg. 38).
(38) a. Iltye tyenhe knge-lhe-me-le ayenge lhe-me.

hand 1sgPOSS(S) carry-REFL-npp-SS 1sgS go-npp
I'm going along, while my hand is swinging.
b. Ayenge lhe-me-le, iltye tyenhe knge-lhe-me.

1sgS go-npp-SS hand 1sgPOSS(S) carry-REFL-npp
My hand is swinging as I go along.
The difference between examples (38)a and b is one of foregrounding and backgrounding, similar to the
differences in the English translations.
There are also cases in which two things can be treated as being either in a part-whole relation
or as two individual entities. As expected, such cases allow for either same- or different-subject
marking on the dependent clause. In example (39)a below, ure 'fire' is perceived as part of alepe
'firestick' and same subject-marking is used; in example (39)b, on the other hand, the fire is seen as an
individual agent working on and changing the firestick, and in this case DS-marking is used. Here again,
the speaker has a choice of expressing two perspectives on the same event.
(39) a. Alepe kweke-me-kweke-irre-me, ure ampe-me-le.

firestick(S) little by little-INCH-npp fire(S) burn-npp-SS
The firestick is becoming smaller as it burns.
b. Alepe kweke-me-kweke-irre-me, ure ampe-rlenge.

firestick(S) little by little-INCH-npp fire(S) burn-DS
The firestick is becoming smaller as the fire burns.
A special case of two separate entities which may be viewed either as parts of the one whole or
as separate entities involves places which have the same totemic affiliation. Two places that have the
same Dreamtime totemic affiliation are seen to be physical manifestations of the Dreamtime being that
created them and are said to be similar in nature. Something which affects one of these places will affect
the other, as well as affecting the totem for the place and the people associated with the place and the
totem. Thus, even if the two places are physically distant from one another, they may be treated as
'parts' of the same 'whole' and same-subject marking may be used to indicate the unified nature they are
perceived to have (via the totemic affiliation), while different-subject marking may be used to emphasise
the fact that they are different places which are physically distant from one another (eg. 40). The choice
of same- or different-reference, once again, is not simply (or even primarily) a syntactic choice, but is
also a semantic, stylistic, and pragmatic choice.
(40) a. Pmere nhakwe kurn-irre-me-le, pmere nhenhe kurn-irre-ke.

place that(dist) bad-INCH-npp-SS, place this bad-INCH-pc
When that place became defiled, this (related) place (also) became defiled.
[same-subject marking emphasises these are two places united by the same
totemic affiliation]
b. Pmere nhakwe kurn-irre-rlenge, pmere nhenhe kurn-irre-ke.

place that(dist) bad-INCH-DS, place this bad-
INCH-pc
When that place became defiled, this (other) place (also) became defiled.
[different-subject marking emphasises that the two places (even though sharing
the same totemic affiliation, are separate, distant, entities.]
Finally, I would note that the verbs used in each clause may dictate whether the subject NPs are
to be viewed as part-whole or as separate entities. In examples (41)a and b, only one type of switch-
reference marking is possible for each example, even though one might imagine that the two S/A
arguments would maintain the same 'part-whole' relationship in both sentences.
(41) a. Kwerte ne-me ure ampe-me-le. (*ampe-rlenge).

smoke be-npp fire burn-npp-SS (*burn-DS)
There's smoke when a fire burns.
b. Kwerte arrate-me ure ampe-rlenge. (*ampe-me-le).

smoke rise-npp fire burn-DS (*burn-npp-SS)
The smoke rises as the fire burns.
In (41)a, kwerte 'smoke' and ure 'fire' are treated as one entity together at one place; the fact
that there is smoke is dependent on a fire burning. In other words, the relation between main and
dependent actions emphasises the close semantic association between the two nouns functioning as
subject of each clause. In (41)b, however, arrate- 'to rise' is an action which implies motion from one
place to another. The action could only be attributed to the smoke, but not to the fire. It can be shown
that arrate- 'to rise' requires that smoke and fire be perceived as two entities by noting that if an ablative
phrase is added to the main clause it is ure-nge 'from the fire' (eg. 42). This makes explicit the fact that
these two entities, although they are at one level connected in a part-whole relation, are also separable,
and one (smoke) can move away from the other (fire).
(42) Kwerte arrate-me ure-nge, ure ampe-rlenge.

smoke rise-npp fire-ABL fire burns-DS
The smoke rises from the fire as the fire burns.
It should be clear that if the subject of the dependent verb were to be associated with an argument in the
main clause, it would have to be the ablative argument, not the subject. Thus, different subject-marking
is the logical choice when one considers the meaning of the verbs.
The facts in this section provide, perhaps the clearest demonstration that Finer (1985:35) is
wrong in his assertion that switch reference does not have its ultimate explanation in functional terms but
is "inescapably syntactic". It should be clear that in certain instances in Mparntwe Arrernte the choice
of same- or different-reference is not a syntactic one but a semantic and/or pragmatic one.
11.4.4 Split personality?

A very intriguing feature of Mparntwe Arrernte grammar appears when we investigate verbs of
self-perception. Verbs can inherently indicate self-perception (eg. welhe- 'to feel (sick or cold)') or can
be derived through reflexivisation of ordinary perception verbs. For example, awe- 'to hear' can be
reflexivised to form awe-lhe- 'to hear oneself' and are- 'to see' can be reflexivised to form are-lhe- 'to
see oneself'. Interestingly, when what is perceived is oneself doing an action, the perceived action is
marked for different-, not same-, subject. Moreover, marking the dependent verb for same-subject is
ungrammatical. This is despite the fact that the subject of the perceived action is apparently identical to
the subject of the self-perception verb. Examples (43) through (45) demonstrate these facts.
(43) a. Ayenge irrernte welhe-ke.

1sg S cold feel-pc
I felt cold.
b. Ayenge welhe-ke alpaw-irre-rlenge (*alpaw-irre-me-le).

1sg S feel-pc weak-INCH-DS (weak-INCH-npp-SS)
I felt myself getting cold.
(44) Artwe are-lhe-ke ne-rle.ne-rlenge.

man(S) see-REFL-pc sit-CONT-DS
The man saw himself sitting down.
(45) Ayenge awe-lhe-ke alye-lhe-rlenge.

1sg S hear-REFL-pc sing-REFL-DS
I heard myself singing.
In example (43) it is clear that 'I' am the one who is 'feeling' and 'I' am the one who is 'getting
weak'. Furthermore, the only NP argument in the sentence is ayenge 'first person singular': the subject
of the dependent verb has been deleted under identity with the main-verb subject. Nevertheless, the
dependent verb marking can only be -rlenge 'different-subject'.
Now, the fact that the perceived action of a self-perception verb acts as a complement of that
verb cannot be ignored. As noted in §10.5.2, it is a general rule that all perception verbs, including self-
perception verbs, take a complement marked with -rlenge. Such perception complements are, by
definition, embedded in the main clause and so are very different, both structurally and semantically,
from the switch-reference marked clauses discussed above which are non-embedded and usually
convey temporal and/or causal meanings. This may be the end of the story, although it fails to provide
any explanation as to why the marker of perception complements is formally identical to different subject
marking, assuming they are related.
One possible explanation of this state of affairs is to say that the subject of perception
complements is always essentially different from the subject of the perception verb, even with verbs of
self-perception. To argue this involves claiming that, although self-perception verbs are syntactically
intransitive (note there is no ergative marking on artwe in example (44)), they are semantically transitive
with the performer of the perception verb action being identical to the undergoer. Semantically, it is the
undergoer (ie. focus/theme) of the self-perception action who is doing the dependent action. The
different-subject marking can be seen to be sensitive to the fact that the dependent verb subject is
identical with the semantic undergoer (the O role), and not the semantic actor (the A role). The fact that
semantic actor, semantic undergoer, and subject of dependent clause are all coreferential explains why
only one NP occurs in examples (43)b to (45), there is coreferential deletion.
Evidence to support this explanation can be seen in example (46)
(46) Artwe kngerre-penhe nthurre are-lhe-ke ingke utyene ikwerenhe.

man big-one INTENS see-REFL-pc foot sore 3sgPOSS
The very big man looked at his (own) sore foot.
Example (46) demonstrates how part-whole relations are treated with self-perception verbs. If a person
is looking at part of his/her own body, then the verb must be reflexivised and hence becomes intransitive.
Neither the perceiver nor the perceived takes any overt case-marking. If we used the transitive form of
the verb, the NP whose referent is the perceiver would be ergative case-marked as in example (47).
(47) Artwe kngerre-penhe nthurre-le are-ke ingke utyene ikwerenhe.

man big-one INTENS-ERG see-pc foot sore 3sgPOSS
The very big man looked at his (ie. someone else's) sore foot.
The perceiver in (47) cannot be interpreted as seeing a part of himself, but must be looking at a part of
someone else. In other words, the third person singular possessor cannot be construed as coreferential
with the subject. The distinction between (46) and (47) may be seen as another form of referent-
tracking. Example (46) can then be interpreted as a sentence which is intransitive in form, but which
takes two coreferential NP arguments and is semantically transitive. In Mparntwe Arrernte, where there
is a fixed constituent order for the NP and NPs cannot be split, there is no possibility of analysing (46)
as an instance of a discontinuous NP with agreement in case-marking between the two parts (cf.
§10.1.2). Thus each NP fills a different semantic role, with the part-NP filling the semantic role of
"focus (theme)" (ie. perceived entity) and the whole-NP filling the "experiencer" (ie. perceiver) role, and
reflexive marking on the verb indicates 'identity' of part and whole. Taking this hypothesis further, it
seems reasonable to suggest that in a simple self-perception sentence like Ayenge are-lhe-ke (1sgS
see-REFL-pc) 'I saw myself', the part and the whole are exactly the same, and so there is necessary
deletion of one of the NPs. In other words, a structure like 'Ayenge arelheke ayenge' may be seen to
underly, semantically, the sentence for 'I saw myself'. In the self-perception constructions where an
action is the thing being perceived, the subject of the dependent clause can be seen as coreferential with
the second perceived body-part argument.
Another way of demonstrating the 'split in personality' is to show what happens when a person
perceives him/herself doing one thing while in fact doing something else (eg. 48 and 49)
(48) Ayenge ankw-inte-me-le altyerreare-lhe-ke ne-rle.ne-rlenge.

1sg S sleep-lie-npp-SS dream see-REFL-pc sit-CONT-DS
While I lay sleeping, I dreamed of myself sitting down.
[lit. I saw myself, in a dream, sitting down.]
(49) Ayenge awe-lhe-ke angke-rlenge radio-nge

1sg S hear-REFL-pc speak-DS radio-ABL
angke-me-le Kwementyaye-ke Yeperenye-le.
speak-npp-SS Kwementyaye-DAT Yipirinya-LOC
I heard myself speaking on the radio while I spoke to Kwementyaye at
Yirpirinya. [A pre-recorded tape was being played.]
Both (48) and (49) contain a switch-reference marked temporal clause which has the subject of
the self-perception verb doing an action which is contrary to, yet simultaneous with, the perceived
action. This dependent temporal clause is marked as having the same-subject as the main verb. The
perceiver argument of the self-perception verb (ie. the underlying actor) can perform, in reality, an action
like talking to somebody and at the same time perceive him/herself (ie. the underlying undergoer) as, for
instance, speaking in a pre-recorded interview (cf. eg. 49). Thus the alignment of one dependent verb
action with an underlying actor of a self-perception verb in one instance and the alignment of the other
dependent verb action with an underlying coreferential undergoer, explains why we find same-subject
and different-subject marking respectively.
The analysis suggested here is in line with Haiman's (1985:144) contention that:
"the two participants of a reflexive clause are interpreted as the mind and the body, or perhaps as the
two halves of the divided self, of the agent."
Furthermore, there is parallel data from Jiwarli (Southern Pilbara region of Western Australia, Austin ms.
1985) which lends support to the approach taken here. In Jiwarli, reflexives are both syntactically and
semantically transitive. That is to say, there is no reflexive detransitivising process, so to express reflexive
notions you use a transitive clause with subject and object coreferential as in example (50)a. Now, if a
relative clause (perception) complement is added, it must be marked as different subject, even though
both A and O are coreferential with each other and with the subordinate clause subject (examples 50b
and c).
(50) a. Ngatha nhanya-nyja ngatha-nha.

I-NOM(A) see-PAST I-ACC(O)
I saw myself.
b. Ngatha nhanya-nyja ngatha-nha malu papa-ngka

I-NOM(A) see-PAST I-ACC(O) shadow water-
LOC
yukarri-ya-nha.
stand-relDS-ACC
I saw my shadow standing in the water.
c. Ngatha kurlkayi-rninyja-rru wangka-iniya-nha ngatha-nha.

I-NOM hear-past-now speak-relDS-ACC I-ACC
I heard myself talking.
There do not seem to be any examples in Mparntwe Arrernte where a contrast with same-
subject is possible for perception complements. Thus, there is no systematic contrast between different
subject-marking and same subject-marking to indicate that the switch-reference system is in operation.
As in our discussion of -me.le 'MANNER; SERIAL', the morpheme -rlenge here is being used in a non-
switch-reference function in a certain juncture-nexus type. But, as with -me.le, the non-switch-reference
function of the morpheme -rlenge appears to be clearly associated with its function within the system of
switch reference.
11.5 Conclusion
Mparntwe Arrernte manifests the features of switch-reference outlined in §11.1. The definitions
given there, however, portray the mechanism of switch-reference as a rule disembodied from other
factors in the language. They say nothing of the possible broader semantic and stylistic functions of
switch-reference. Notions such as 'sameness' and 'difference' through which switch-reference has been
defined have themselves been left virtually unexplored. As has been demonstrated here, a knowledge of
what constitutes identity in a language is crucial to understanding switch-reference and how it is used.
The data from Mparntwe Arrernte should at least indicate some further possibilities about how switch-
reference is used and how it can be realised, structurally, in discourse. I hope I have made it clear that
switch-reference, in systematic interaction with other morpho-syntactic and semantic constructs in the
language, has the potential for conveying a variety of related and often subtle semantic distinctions.
From the data presented in this chapter, it can be seen that if one is to use the switch-reference
system as a native Mparntwe Arrernte speaker does, one needs to know what counts as identity for the
language. This requires a knowledge which is more socio-cultural than linguistic. To know whether two
subjects are to be expressed as identical or non-identical through switch-reference, one has to have a
command of at least the following (non-syntactic) information:
(i) the cultural categorisation, classification, and perception of both entities and the
relations between entities; including whether one entity is necessarily, optionally, or
never seen to be part of another entity, or whether one category is subsumed under another;
(ii) the social categorisation and the implicit and explicit rules about how people
should behave with respect to each other (determining the use of inclusion); and (iii) a
native speaker's feeling for style, so that when the same situation can be presented in two
ways, one could feel which subtle nuance is better than another for the discourse at hand.
This supports Foley's (ms: 7) conclusion that:

"in most languages which have switch reference it is a major mechanism for linking clauses together into
discourse. As discourse articulates a conceptual world, the mechanisms which form it should reflect the
semantic and pragmatic bases of the world. This is something switch-reference clearly does."
Further, a full understanding of switch-reference for any language only comes when one looks at
the full system of clause juncture possibilities and their interactions with each other. For instance, one
needs to investigate how the functional load for expressing the full range of meanings is distributed across
various complex-sentence types and what the nature of the morphemes used to make various complex
constructions is. I have only touched on this briefly in my discussion of the use of -me-le '-npp-SS' at
three different juncture levels (cf.§11.3) and the use of -rlenge 'DS' to mark perception complements (cf.
§11.4.4). The facts from these two discussions demonstrate nicely the need to distinguish the system of
switch-reference, which operates at a particular juncture-nexus type, and the morphology of switch-
reference which need not always function within the switch-reference system.
Finally, both this chapter and this thesis may be concluded by noting that switch-reference
demonstrates many of the recurrent themes of this thesis. Among the most important of these are the
facts that: (i) a linguistic element or structure cannot be completely described without a description of its
function and its position within a system of relations to other structures; (ii) studies of grammatical
structure necessarily go hand in hand with studies of semantic structure, and (iii) the grammar of a
language - not just its lexicon - encodes, responds to, and is explained by, the socio-cultural
preoccupations of its speakers. In switch-reference may be found one of the culminations of the natural
genius of Mparntwe Arrernte grammar.
APPENDIX 1 : Texts
The following twelve texts are meant to be representative of a number of genres and, thus, are
intended to exemplify the most significant grammatical and lexical properties which are associated with
those genres. Using Longacre's (1976: 197-231) schema for genre types, the first three texts may be
regarded as procedural texts. All three texts describe the processing of certain local plant materials.
The next three texts are expository in genre and each one describes the general properties and
behaviours of some native fauna. The final six texts are all narratives and of these the first two are
personal accounts and the final four are traditional narratives. An important genre which is not
represented here is the hortatory genre. Texts which exemplify the hortatory genre can be found in
editions of the Yipirinya School newsletter Yeperenye Yeye as well as other publications of the Yipirinya
School and the Institute for Aboriginal Development. Also absent from this collection of texts are
transcripts of conversations (although see §1.2.3 [eg. 7 in ch. 1] and Ch.9 [eg. 1]). Texts 7, 8, 9, 11
and 12 do, however, contain examples of direct speech and in each of these texts certain of the
examples of direct speech may be considered hortatory.
The texts are organised such that each text is presented in three versions. A complete version of
the Mparntwe Arrernte text, as an Mparntwe Arrernte text, is presented first. This version does not
cut the words into morphemes, but demonstrates, by means of paragraph breaks, the cohesive textual
units above the level of the sentence. This presentation of the text is essentially the same as that
produced by Arrernte writers for Arrernte readers. The second version of the text breaks all the words
into their component morphemes and provides an English gloss for each morpheme. There is, however,
no English translation under the interlinear gloss. Instead, the third version is a free English translation of
the text presented, basically, as an English text. All three versions are linked by virtue of numbers which
cross-reference from propositional units within the Mparntwe Arrernte version of the text to the glossed
version and then to the free English translation.
It is important to note that the English translations given here tend to be freer than those provided
for example sentences presented in the body of the thesis. Thus an example from one of these texts may
be given a more literal translation when used to exemplify a point in the thesis.
1. UTNERRENGE-KERTE
by Rosie Ferber
Unte peke utyene papethekerte kele utnerrenge walye keme.1 Walye renhe imerte ulpilemele,
twemele, ngkweltyilemele;2 kwatye itemele urele therrke-therrkirretyekekerte urrperlirremele.3
Ikwerenge renhe artnarnpelhilemele angwelirretyeke ngkernemele.4 Kele imerte utyene lhewelhemele
angwelelerle.5
Atengkwelkngekerte unte utnerrenge renhe kwatyele itemele ntyerneme;6 ahentye peke
irrkayirrekerle, alhe peke ametyirrekerle.7
Utnerrenge-Kerte
emu bush-PROP
[1] Unte peke utyene papethe-kerte kele utnerrenge walye ke-me.

2sgS maybe sore 'all over'-PROP OK emu bush branch cut-npp.
[2] Walye re-nhe imerte ulp-ile-me-le, twe-me-le,

branch 3sgO then 'dust'-CAUS-npp-SS, hit-npp-SS,
ngkwelty-ile-me-le;
pieces-CAUS-npp-SS;
[3] kwatye ite-me-le ure-le therrke-therrk-irre-tyeke-kerte water

boil(cook)-npp-SS fire-LOC green-INCH-PURP-PROP
urrperl-irre-me-le.
black-INCH-npp-SS.
[4] Ikwere-nge re-nhe artnarnpe-lhile-me-le angwel-irre-tyeke 3sgDAT-ABL

3sgO descend-CAUSE-npp-SS cool-INCH-PURP
ngkerne-me-le.
stand(tr)-npp-SS.
[5] Kele imerte utyene lhewe-lhe-me-le angwele-le-rle.

O.K. then sore wash-REFL-nppSS cool-INSTR-REL.
[6] Atengkwelknge-kerte unte utnerrenge re-nhe kwatye-le cold(snot)-PROP

2sgA emu bush 3sg-O water-LOC
ite-me-le ntyerne-me;
boil(cook)-npp-SS smell-npp;
[7] ahentye peke irrkay-irre-ke-rle, alhe peke

throat maybe faint-INCH-pc-REL, nose maybe
amety-irre-ke-rle.
blunt-INCH-pc-REL.
ABOUT THE EMU BUSH

If you are covered in sores then cut some leafy branches off the emu bush.1 The leafy branches
are crushed and chopped into very small pieces2 and then boiled in water until the water becomes a
blackish-green.3 After that, take the mixture off (the fire) and stand it to cool.4 Then wash the sores
with the warmish mixture 5.
If you have a cold then you inhale the fumes of the emu bush boiling in water .6 (It's also good)
if your voice has disappeared or if your nose is blocked.7
________________________________________________________________________
2. ARNTAPE UNTYEYE-KERTE
by Margaret Heffernan
Untyeye kwelaye.1
Kngerrepate mapele ileme itne kwele untyeye ketyeke alhemele.2 Itne untyeye keme,3
kngetyalpemele itne urele itetyenhenge ure alkngenthele aperrkirremele ampetyeke;4 untyeye arntape,
iwenhekweye-kwenye, irrweltyekwenye, arntape ularte.5 Ure kngerre itemele itne arntape renhe
alkngentheke iweme ampetyeke.6 Ampekeliperre itne perrkirrekerle inemele iweme.7 Irrerntirremele
urrperlirreme.8
Kele imerte ikwerengentyele urrperle-l-irrekerle inemele, itne arrerneme apwerte athere-kerleke
athetyhenhenge.9 Ulpilemele nthurre, kele imerte itne peke arrerneme arntape arrpenhekerleke,10
utyene kerleke anteme arrernetyenhenge,11 utyene kngerre nhenge-ulkere-kerleke
uyerrelhiletyenhenge.12
Arntape Untyeye-Kerte
bark corkwood-PROP
[1] Untyeye kwel-aye.

corkwood QUOT-EMPH
[2] Kngerrepate mape-le ile-me itne kwele untyeye

elder pl(grp)-ERG tell-npp 3plS QUOT corkwood
ke-tyeke alhe-me-le.
cut-PURP go-npp-SS
[3] Itne untyeye ke-me,

3plA corkwood cut-npp,
[4] knge-ty-alpe-me-le itne ure-le ite-tyenhenge

take-hither-go back-npp-SS 3plA fire-LOC heat/cook-SBSQNT
ure alkngenthe-le aperrk-irre-me-le ampe-tyeke;
fire flame-LOC/INST/ERG coal-INCH-npp-SS burn-PURP
[5] untyeye arntape, iwenhe-kweye-kwenye,

corkwood bark, what-SELF DOUBT-NomNEG
irrweltye-kwenye, arntape ularte.
twig-NomNEG, bark pure
[6] Ure kngerre ite-me-le itne arntape re-nhe

alkngenthe-ke
fire big heat/cook-npp-SS 3plA bark 3sg-ACC flame-DAT
iwe-me ampe-tyeke.
throw away-npp burn-PURP
[7] Ampe-ke-l-iperre itne perrk-irre-ke-rle ine-me-le iwe-me.

burn-pc-SS-AFTER 3plA coal-INCH-pc-REL get-npp-SS throw away-npp
[8] Irrernt-irre-me-le urrperl-irre-me.
cold-INCH-npp-SS black-INCH-npp.
[9] Kele imerte ikwere-nge-ntyele urrperle-rl-irre-ke-rle ine-me-le,

OK then 3sgDAT-ABL-onwards black-FOC-INCH-pc-REL get-npp-SS,
itne arrerne-me apwerte athere-kerleke athe-tyenhenge.
3plS put-npp rock grind stone-CONNECT grind-SBSQNT
[10] Ulp-ile-me-le nthurre, kele imerte itne peke arrerne-me

'dust'-CAUS-npp-SS INTENS, OK then 3plA maybe put-npp
arntape arrpenhe-kerleke,
bark other-CONNECT,
[11] utyene-kerleke anteme arrerne-tyenhenge,

sore-CONNECT now put-SBSQNT
[12] utyene kngerre nhenge-ulkere-kerleke uyerre-lhile-tyenhenge.

sore big REMEMB-KIND-CONNECT disappear-CAUS-SBSQNT
ABOUT CORKWOOD BARK
So, we're supposedly talking about the corkwood tree.1

The older people talk about going to gather (cut) some corkwood (bark).2 They cut some
corkwood,3 bring it back, and then they put it (cook it) in the fire so that it burns and turns into coals;4
that's just the bark of the corkwood, not whatchamacallit, not any twigs, just the bark and nothing else.5
When there is a big fire they throw that bark into the flame so that it will burn.6 After it is burnt they get
the ones that have become coals and throw them (outside the fire).7 When the coals cool down they
turn black.8
So, then, after that, they get the ones that have turned black and they put these on a grinding
stone and then grind them up.9 When it is rmade into a fine powdery they might put it on top of some
other (piece of ) bark10 and now it's ready to put onto sores.11 It will then make big sores like this
one (points to a sore) disappear.12
________________________________________________________________________
3. NGKWARLE UNTYEYE-KERTE
Ngkwarle untyeye nhenge anerlenge kwatye kngerriperre,1 anwerne kenhe alherlengerle

ngkwarle ikwere unthetyeke;2 ngkwarle ikwere unthemele, arratye aremele anwerne kemele iltye-ke
lerne-mele awantyerlenge.3 Mwarre kngerre, ikwemeye nthurre.4
Arrule kwele mpware-tyerte, tyerrtye arrwekele-nye mapele,5 ngkwarle untyeye yanhe-ulkere
kemele itne kwele arrernetyerte kwatye-kerleke ikwemeye re-nhe ntywetyenhenge.6 Lyete-ulkere
kenhe pwetyarenye mapele-ante anteme mpwareme alakenhe renhe,7 kwetethe itne untherlanemele.8
Ngkwarle Untyeye-Kerte
nectar/honey corkwood-PROP
[1] Ngkwarle untyeye nhenge ane-rlenge kwatye kngerr-iperre,

nectar/honey corkwood REMEMB be/sit-DS rain big-AFTER
[2] anwerne kenhe alhe-rlenge-rle ngkwarle ikwere unthe-tyeke;

1plS BUT go-DS-FOC nectar/honey 3sgDAT look for-PURP
[3] ngkwarle ikwere unthe-me-le, arratye are-me-le anwerne

nectar/honey 3sgDAT look for-npp-SS, properly see-npp-SS 1plA
ke-me-le iltye-ke lerne-me-le awantye-rlenge.
cut-npp-SS hand-DAT shake out-npp-SS suck-DS
[4] Mwarre kngerre, ikwemeye nthurre.

good big, sweet INTENS
[5] Arrule kwele mpware-tyerte, tyerrtye arrwekele-nye mape-le,

long ago QUOT make/do-rem.p.hab, person before-TmpNOM pl(grp)-
ERG
[6] ngkwarle untyeye yanhe-ulkere ke-me-le itne kwele arrerne-tyerte

nectar/honey corkwood that(mid)-KIND cut-npp-SS 3plA QUOT
put-rem.p.hab
kwatye-kerleke ikwemeye re-nhe ntywe-tyenhenge.
water-CONNECT sweet 3sg-ACC drink-SBSQNT
[7] Lyete-ulkere kenhe pwety-arenye mape-le-ante anteme

now/today-MORE BUT bush-ASSOC pl(grp)-ERG-ONLY now
mpware-me alakenhe re-nhe,
make/do like so 3sg-ACC
[8] kwetethe itne unthe-rle.ne-me-le.

always 3plS look for-CONT-npp-SS
ABOUT CORKWOOD NECTAR

That corkwood nectar is around after there has been a lot of rain,1 and that's the time we go out
looking for it; we look around for that nectar2 and when we've found it we cut it (the flower) and shake
it (the honey) into our hands and then lick it up.3 It's wonderfully sweet.4
Long ago, the people who went before us used to do this:5 they used to gather corkwood nectar
of that sort and mix it with water and then drink that sweet concoction.6 But nowadays it's only the
people who live out bush that prepare the corkwood honey that way.7 They're always going out hunting
around (for that corkwood honey).8
________________________________________________________________________
4. INTELYAPE-LYAPE-KERTE
by Yipirinya School Teachers (jointly constructed)
Intelyape-lyape kwartengentyele.1 Intelyape-lyapele kwarte mpwareme.2 Kwartiperre

arrateme yeperenye peke, ntyarlke peke, arrpenhe peke.3 Yeperenye re mpwarelheme irrarle anteme,
intelyape-lyap-irretyenhenge kwene4/5. Irrarlengentyele arrateme intelyape-lyape6.
Intelyape-lyape-Kerte
butterfly-PROP
[1] Intelyape-lyape kwarte-nge-ntyele.

butterfly egg-ABL-ONWARDS
[2] Intelyape-lyape-le kwarte mpware-me.

butterfly-ERG egg make-npp
[3] Kwart-iperre arrate-me yep-arenye peke,

egg-AFTER appear-npp tar vine-ASSOC(k.o.caterpillar) maybe,
ntyarlke peke, arrpenhe peke.
k.o.caterpillar maybe, other maybe
[4] Yep-arenye re mpware-lhe-me irrarle anteme,

tar vine-ASSOC(k.o.caterpillar) 3sgS make-REFL-npp cocoon now
[5] intelyape-lyap-irre-tyenhenge kwene.

butterfly-INCH-SBSQNT inside.
[6] Irrarle-nge-ntyele arrate-me intelyape-lyape.

cocoon-ABL-ONWARDS appear-npp butterfly
BUTTERFLIES
Butterflies come from eggs.1 The butterfly lays eggs (lit. makes)2 (and then) from the eggs
appear yeperenye caterpillars, ntyarlke caterpillars, or some other sort of caterpillars.3 The yeperenye
caterpillar then makes itself a cocoon 4 and later develops into a butterfly inside (the cocoon).5
(Finally) a butterfly appears from out of the cocoon.6
_______________________________________________________________________
5. ANTYETYERRE-KERTE
by Yipirinya School Teachers (jointly constructed)
Antyetyerre kwarte mpwareme kwatye kertneke.1 Kwartengentyele pwepelye arrateme.2

Ingke therre anteme arrateme pwepelyengentyele.3 Ikweriperre iltye therre anteme arrateme.4
Antyetyerre anteme aneme.5 Antyetyerre ahelheke irrpeme kwatye uyerrerlenge, lhereke.6
Antyetyerre iltye therrele ingke therrele artelhemele irrpeme ahelheke.7 Re ankwinteme kwenele
anteme, kwatye arrpenhekante netyeke.8
Antyetyerre-Kerte
frog-PROP
[1] Antyetyerre kwarte mpware-me kwatye kertne-ke.

frog egg make-npp water top-DAT.
[2] Kwarte-nge-ntyele pwepelye arrate-me.

egg-ABL-ONWARDS tadpole appear-npp
[3] Ingke therre anteme arrate-me pwepelye-nge-ntyele.

foot two now appear-npp tadpole-ABL-ONWARDS
[4] Ikwer-iperre iltye therre anteme arrate-me.

3sgDAT-AFTER hand two now appear-npp
[5] Antyetyerre anteme ane-me.

frog now be-npp
[6] Antyetyerre ahelhe-ke irrpe-me kwatye uyerre-rlenge,

frog ground-DAT go into-npp water disappear-DS,
lhere-ke.
creekbed-DAT
[7] Antyetyerre iltye therre-le ingke therre-le arte-lhe-me-le

frog hand two-INST foot two-INST cover-REFL-npp-SS
irrpe-me ahelhe-ke.
go into-npp ground-DAT
[8] Re ankw-inte-me kwene-le anteme,

3sgS asleep-lie-npp inside-LOC now.
kwatye arrpenhe-k-ante ne-tyeke.
rain/water another-DAT-ONLY be-PURP.
FROGS
A frog lays (lit. makes) its eggs on top of water1 and from out of those eggs tadpoles emerge.2
First the hind legs (feet) appear from the tadpole,3 and then the fore legs (hands) appear.4 Now it's a
frog.5
Frogs go into the ground when the water disappears, they go into the sand of the creek bed.6 A
frog uses both its fore legs (hands) and its hind legs (feet) to bury itself into the ground7 and then it
sleeps underground, but only until the next rain.8
______________________________________________________________________________
________
6. INARLENGE
Inarlenge kenhe kwele aneme;1 kwerrke kwele arrateme apethe ikwerenhenge, aherre-arteke,2
athetheka kweke kwele lyekeke netyekenhe.3 Akngerre-ulkere-irrerlenge akwele melikwe
iwerlelhemele lheme ilerlapetyeke akwele inarlenge arrpenhe mapeke,4 kenhe kwele inarlenge arrpenhe
itne apetyerlenge aretyeke kwele akweke renhe.5 Apmere arrpanenhengentyele, kweke ikwere kwele
itne petyeme lyeke kwele nthetyeke.6 Itne kwele irrperremele nthurre, itere ikwerele akertnelerlke,7
lyeke nthemele akwele itne aneme.8 Ikwerengentyele kwele inarlenge kweke re lyeke-kerte-
irrerlenge,9 itne kwele irrarnpirremele alpeme.10
KELE
Inarlenge
porcupine (echidna)
[1] Inarlenge kenhe kwele ane-me;

porcupine BUT QUOT be-npp;
[2] kwerrke kwele arrate-me apethe ikwerenhe-nge, aherre-arteke,

young one QUOT appear-npp pouch 3sgPOSS-ABL, kangaroo-
SEMBL
[3] athetheke kweke kwele lyeke-ke ne-tyekenhe.

red little QUOT prickle-DAT be-VbNEG
[4] Akngerre-ulkere-irre-rlenge akwele me-l-ikwe iwe-rle.lhe-me-le

big-MORE-INCH-DS QUOT mother-ERG-3KinPOSS throw-DO&GO-
npp-SS
lhe-me ile-rle.pe-tyeke akwele inarlenge arrpenhe mape-ke,
go-npp tell-DO ALONG-PURP QUOT porcupine other pl(grp)-
DAT,
[5] kenhe kwele inarlenge arrpenhe itne apetye-rlenge are-tyeke kwele

BUT QUOT porcupine other 3plS come-DS see-PURP QUOT
akweke re-nhe.
little 3sg-ACC
[6] Apmere arrpanenhe-nge-ntyele, kweke ikwere kwele itne petye-me

place each and every-ABL-onwards, little 3sgDAT QUOT 3sgS come-npp
lyeke kwele nthe-tyeke.
prickle QUOT give-PURP
[7] Itne kwele irrpe-rre-me-le nthurre, itere ikwere-le akertne-le-rlke,

3plS QUOT go into-plS/A-npp-SS INTENS, side 3sgDAT-LOC top-
LOC-TOO,
[8] lyeke nthe-me-le akwele itne ane-me.

prickle give-npp-SS QUOT 3plS be-npp.
[9] Ikwere-nge-ntyele kwele inarlenge kweke re lyeke-kerte-irre-rlenge,

3sgDAT-ABL-onwards QUOT porcupine little 3sgS prickle-PROP-
INCH-DS,
[10] itne kwele irrarnp-irre-me-le alpe-me.

3plS QUOT scattered-INCH-npp-SS go back-npp
KELE
OK
PORCUPINES
Now porcupines (echidnas) are supposed to be (like this);1 baby porcupines, so they say, come
out of their pouches just like kangaroos do,2 and they are red and have no quills (prickles).3 When they
get bigger, it is said that the mother leaves the baby to go around telling other porcupines (about her
baby),4 and that's when the other porcupines all come to have a look at the little one.5 They come from
everywhere to give the baby some quills.6 They gather close together at the sides and on the top of the
baby porcupine7 as they give it its quills.8 Afterwards, when the baby porcupine has got all its quills,9
the others disperse and go home.10
The End
________________________________________________________________________
7. Untitled account of a bush trip
P. ilanthe ante Sandy uthene Elizabeth uthene anwerne lheke, merne arlkwekeliperre, dinner-
iperre,1 Undoolya road itwe pwerte nhenge yanhe mapewerne tyapeke unthetyeke.2 Nwerne kngeke
crowbar therre ware.3 Crowbar arrpenhe neke arrare-ulkere, kenhe arrpenhe neke ulthentye nthurre.4
Elizabeth neke ingke utyenekerte ante Elizabetheke newele kngeke crowbar ulthentye renhe,5 kenhe
Elizabethele kngeke handbag tin-a-meat nyentekerte ante merne urrpetye, tea uthene tyweke uthene.6
The kenhe kngeke crowbar arrare renhe ante kwatye plastic nhenge, plastic orange juice-iperre nhenge-
ulkere-larlenge.7 P.-le kenhe kngeke kwatye arrpenhe ngkwarle-iperre kngerre nhenge yanhe-ulkere-
larlenge.8 Kele nwerne lheke Golder's pmere nhenge yanhe itwelewerne (indicates place), pwerte
ilerrtyele kwete, aretyalpemele atnyeme atnartenge ngkekerleke tyape.9 Ngkekerle aremele, nwerne
tnyerlepeke therre-ke-therre-le crowbar nyentekertele.10 Kele ikwerenge, arratyerle tyape urrpetye-
ke-urrpetye nwerne tnyekelerle, Elizabeth angkeke,11 "Urreke nwerne neye-kemparraye, ingke ayenge
kwarnemerlenge utyene.12 Lhere kweke nhenhele nwerne netyekaye, tea ntywemele, mernerlke
arlkwemele, ltyirremele."13 Arratye nwerne neke lhere kweke ikwerele.14 Sandy-le ure inemele tea
iteke, merne kenhe nwernekenhe mpengerle neke.15 Ikwerenge nwerne tea mpengirrerlenge, nwerne
ntyweke merne arlkwemele.16
[1] P. ilanthe ante Sandy uthene Elizabeth uthene anwerne

P. 1dl(-patr.) and Sandy bi-and Elizabeth bi-and
1pl(+patr.+gen.)S
lhe-ke, merne arlkwe-ke-l-iperre, dinner-iperre,
go-pc, food eat-pc-SS-AFTER, dinner-AFTER,
[2] Undoolya road itwe pwerte nhenge yanhe mape-werne

Undoolya road near hills REMEMB that(mid) pl(grp)-ALL
tyape-ke unthe-tyeke.
witchetty grubs look for-PURP
[3] Nwerne knge-ke crowbar therre ware.

1plS take-pc crowbar two DISMIS.
[4] Crowbar arrpenhe ne-ke arrare-ulkere, kenhe arrpenhe ne-ke
crowbar other be-pc light-MORE, BUT other be-pc
ulthe-ntye nthurre.
press down-NMZR(heavy) INTENS.
[5] Elizabeth ne-ke ingke utyene-kerte ante Elizabethe-ke newe-le

Elizabeth be-pc foot sore-PROP and Elizabeth-DAT spouse-ERG
knge-ke crowbar ulthe-ntye re-nhe,
take-pc crowbar press down-NMZR(heavy) 3sg-ACC,
[6] kenhe Elizabethe-le knge-ke handbag tin-a-meat nyente-kerte

BUT Elizabeth-ERG take-pc handbag tin-of-meat one-PROP
ante merne urrpetye, tea uthene tyweke uthene.
and bread few, tea bi-and sugar bi-and.
[7] The kenhe knge-ke crowbar arrare re-nhe ante kwatye plastic
1sgA BUT take-pc crowbar light 3sg-ACC and water plastic
nhenge, plastic orange juice-iperre nhenge-ulkere-larlenge.
REMEMB, plastic orange juice-AFTER REMEMB-KIND-COM
[8] P.-le kenhe knge-ke kwatye arrpenhe ngkwarle-iperre

P.-ERG BUT take-pc water other grog(nectar/honey)-AFTER
kngerre nhenge yanhe-ulkere-larlenge.
big REMEMB that(mid)-KIND-COM
[9] Kele nwerne lhe-ke Golder's pmere nhenge yanhe

O.K. 1plS go-pc Golder's camp REMEMB that(mid)
itwe-le-werne, pwerte ilerrtye-le kwete, are-ty.alpe-me-le
near-LOC-ALL, hill gully-LOC STILL, see-GO BACK&DO-npp-SS
atnyeme atnartenge ngke-ke-rleke tyape.
witchetty bush base crack out-pc-DS witchetty grub.
[10] Ngke-ke-rle are-me-le, nwerne tnye-rle.pe-ke

crack out-pc-REL see-npp-SS, 1plA dig-DO ALONG-pc
therre-ke-therre-le crowbar nyente-kerte-le.
two-DAT-two-ADV crowbar one-PROP-INST.
[11] Kele ikwere-nge, arratye-rle tyape urrpetye-ke-urrpetye

O.K. 3sgDAT-ABL, true-FOC/REL witchetty grub few-DAT-few
nwerne tnye-ke-le-rle, Elizabeth angke-ke,
1sgS dig-pc-SS-FOC/REL, Elizabeth say-pc,
[12] "Urreke nwerne n-eye-kemparr-aye,

"later 1plS sit-PERM-FIRST-EMPH
ingke ayenge kwarne-me-rlenge utyene.
foot 1sgNom hurt-npp-DS a sore.
[13] Lhere kweke nhenhe-le nwerne ne-tyek-aye,

creekbed little this-LOC 1sgS sit-PURP-EMPH,
tea ntywe-me-le, merne-rlke arlkwe-me-le, ltyirre-me-le."
tea drink-npp-SS, food-TOO eat-npp-SS, rest-npp-SS."
[14] Arratye nwerne ne-ke lhere kweke ikwere-le.

true 1plS sit-pc creekbed little 3sgDAT-LOC.
[15] Sandy-le ure ine-me-le tea ite-ke,

Sandy-ERG firewood get-npp-SS tea cook-pc
merne kenhe nwerne-kenhe mpenge-rle ne-ke.
food BUT 1pl-POSS cooked-REL be-pc.
[16] Ikwere-nge nwerne tea mpeng-irre-rlenge,

3sgDAT-ABL 1sgS tea cooked-INCH-DS,
nwerne ntywe-ke merne arlkwe-me-le.
1plA drink-pc food eat-npp-SS
Untitled account of a bush trip
After eating, after lunch that is, B. and I and Sandy and Elizabeth all went1 to the ranges near
Undoolya to look for witchetty grubs.2 We only took two crowbars with us.3 One of the crowbars
was quite light but the other one was very heavy.4 Elizabeth had a sore foot and so her husband carried
the heavy crowbar5 while she carried a handbag with one tin of meat and three loaves of bread and tea
and sugar.6 As for me, I carried the light crowbar and a container of water made out of an orange juice
container.7 B., on the other hand, carried another container of water. This time the container was an
empty wine flagon.8 O.K., so we went towards near where the Golder's place is, and kept on through
the gullies [?], and on our way back this way we saw that some witchetty grubs had emerged (ie.
cracked out ) at the base of a witchetty bush.9 When we saw the evidence of witchetty grubs 'cracking
out' we started digging around. Two people at a time dug with one crowbar each.10 After a while, sure
enough, we were digging out grubs a few at a time. Then Elizabeth said,11 "Hey could we please have a
rest soon, my foot is killing me.12 We should sit in this little creek and have a cup of tea, something to
eat, and a good rest."13 So we settled down in that little creek.14 Sandy collected some firewood and
boiled up some tea and our food was already ready to eat.15 So, when the tea was ready we drank
and ate.16
________________________________________________________________________
8. Ayeye Kngwelye Ampwe Therle Aweke Angkerlengerle-Kerte

by Rosie Ferber
Ayeye kweke arrpenhe, funnybuga-'gain.1

Pmere mission-le ayenge neme-tayeme,2 ltyentye purtele nerlenge,3 ingwe nyentele atyenge
newe uthene ayenge ilerne pmerele nerleneke.4 - Picturewernerle lherltiweke ingkirreke, y'know,
ingkirre nthurrerle lherltiwekenge.5 Pmere alturle-ampinyele ayenge netyerte.6 - Ankw-inte-rlanemele
imerte ayenge kemirremele,7 ankwiperre kemirremele window-le tnerlenemele.8 Window-le
tnerlenemele imerte arerlenemele kethewernetheke.9 Kethewernetheke arerlenemele imerte the
awemele alturle ampinyeke, y'know, pmere;10 old antyinyekenhe pmere-thayeteke, aweke kngwelye
mape uthnerrerlenge, arnterre alwernerremele uthnerrerlenge.11 Kele pmere arrpenhe
ikwerewernetheke itne unterltiwekaye.12 Antekerre-thayetengentyele unterltiweke.13 Kenhe artwe
ampwe, kngwelye ampwe nyente, y'know, artwe ampwe nhenhekenhe pmerelerle netyerte.14 Pmere
ingkenye, pmere ingkenye nthurre this one.15 "Kngwelye areyaye! Nyerrenhaye, nyerrenhaye.16
Ularrewe, uthnerrintyetyele kwenhe!"17, re, kngwelye ampwe re, ywepeke,18 "Awerle mapaye pmere
arrekantherrenhewerne alperltiwaye!19 Ularre uthnerrintyetyele!"20
Kele ayenge angkeke, pmere kwenengerle the awetyemerle,21 husband tyenheke anteme imerte
the ilerliweme,22 "Hey kngwelye nhakwe areyewe awetyekaye kwenhe, angkerrerlenge kwenhe.23
Kngwelye ampwe nhakwele ilteme.24" Ya, kele, kngwelye ampwe re ywepeke kngwelye arrpenhe
mape, y'know, ikwerewernethekerle uthnerrintyeke.25 Ikwerengentyele imerte re, kngwelye itne
arratye utepirremele uthnerltalpeke pmere itnekenhewerne.26 Kele ikwerengentyele artwe, kweye?,
kngwelye ampwe re petyeke.27 Ikngerretheke anteme re petyeke28. Pmere ingkenyele nemele
nhenge-ulkere pekerle petyeke;29 akiwarre angk-elp-angkintyeke.30 Kele, the tyenge neweke anteme
ileke,31 "Aretyekaye kwenhe, kngwelye ampwe re petyerlenge nhenhewerne, ularretheke anteme."32
Kele re petyemele angk-elp-angkintyeke.33 "Hoyyy!", ikwere-artweye mapeke peke, y'know, re
angkeke,34 "Haye, ingkirrerle lherltiwe-p-iweme, ingwe nyentelerlke peke ware netyekenhe.35
Ingkirrerle picturewerne lherltiwe-p-iweme."36, angk-elp-angkintyeke, ikngerretheke lhemele.37
Ikwerengentyele yanhe renhe awemele-athewe, ayenge ikwere properly therreke.38 Lyetante
renherle the aweke kngwelye ankgkerlenge.39 Alakenhe kwele Old People mapele awerrirretyerte
again kwele.40 Ane pmere ingkenyenge kngwelye mape angkerrerle itnarrpe peke untherltanemele,41
unterltanemele peke angkerrerlarteke anernnge(?) awerle;42 angkerretyerte peke rerle itne.43 Wale the
lyetante renhe aweke ikwere-tayeme, kngwelye angkerlenge.44 Wale I'm properly apateke, properly
therrelhileke.45 Arnterre therreke ayenge kngwelye ikwere.46
KELE
Ayeye Kngwelye Ampwe The-rle Awe-ke Angke-rlenge-rle-Kerte

story dog old 1sgA-REL hear-pc speak-DS-REL-PROP
[1] Ayeye kweke arrpenhe, funnybuga 'gain.
story little other, funny-bugger-again
[2] Pmere mission-le ayenge ne-me-tayeme,

place mission-LOC 1sgS live-npp-TIME
[3] Ltyentye Purte-le ne-rlenge,

beefwood cluster (Santa Teresa)-LOC live-DS
[4] ingwe nyente-le atyenge newe uthene ayenge ilerne

night one-LOC 1sgDAT spouse bi-and 1sgS 1dlS
pmere-le ne-rle.ne-ke.
camp/home-LOC be/sit-CONT-pc
[5] - Picture-werne-rle lhe-rltiwe-ke ingkirreke, y'know,

- movies-ALL-FOC go-pl.S/A-pc all/every, you know
ingkirre nthurre-rle lhe-rltiwe-ke-nge.
all/every INTENS-FOC go-pl.S/A
[6] Pmere alturle-ampinye-le ayenge ne-tyerte. -

place west-vicinity of-LOC 1sgS be-rem.p.hab. -
[7] Ankw-inte-rle.ne-me-le imerte ayenge kem-irre-me-le,

asleep-lie down-CONT-npp-SS then 1sgS get up-INCH-npp-SS
[8] ankw-iperre kem-irre-me-le window-le tne-rle.ne-me-le.

asleep-AFTER get up-INCH-npp-SS window-LOC stand-CONT-npp-SS
[9] Window-le tne-rle.ne-me-le imerte are-rle.ne-me-le kethe-werne-theke.

Window-LOC stand-CONT-npp-SS then see-CONT-npp-SS outside-ALL-
wards
[10] Kethe-werne-theke are-rle.ne-me-le imerte the awe-me-le

outside-ALL-wards see-CONT-npp-SS then 1sgA hear-npp-SS
alturle-ampinye-ke, y'know, pmere;
west-vicinity of-DAT, you know, place;
[11] old antyinye-kenhe pmere-thayete-ke, awe-ke kngwelye mape

old grey haired-POSS camp/home-SIDE-DAT, hear-pc dog pl(grp)
uthne-rre-rlenge, arnterre alwerne-rre-me-le uthne-rre-rlenge.
bite-RECIP-DS, intensively chase-RECIP-npp-SS bit-RECIP-DS
[12] Kele pmere arrpenhe ikwere-werne-theke itne unte-rltiwe-k-aye.

OK place other 3sgDAT-ALL-wards 3plS run-pl.S/A-pc-EMPH
[13] Antekerre-thayete-nge-ntyele unte-rltiwe-ke.

south-SIDE-ABL-onwards run-pl.S/A-pc
[14] Kenhe artwe ampwe, kngwelye ampwe nyente, y'know,

BUT man old, dog old one, you know
artwe ampwe nhenhe-kenhe pmere-le-rle ne-tyerte.
man old this-POSS camp/home-LOC-FOC live-rem.p.hab
[15] Pmere ingkenye, pmere ingkenye nthurre this one.

camp/home deserted, camp/home deserted INTENS this one.
[16] "Kngwelye arey-aye! Nye-rre-nh-Ø-aye, nye-rre-nh-Ø-aye!

dog plural-EMPH! fuck-RECIP-DO PAST-IMP-EMPH, fuck-RECIP-DO PAST-
IMP-EMPH
[17] Ularre-we, uthne-rre-intye-tyele kwenhe!",

facing-EMPH+, bite-RECIP-DO COMING-NegIMP ASSERT
[18] re, kngwelye ampwe re, ywepe-ke,

3sgA, dog old 3sgA, hunt away-pc
[19] "Awerle map-aye pmere arre-k-antherre-nhe-werne

bad dog pl(grp)-EMPH camp/home 2plPOSS-ALL
alpe-rltiw-Ø-aye!
go back-pl.S/A-IMP-EMPH
[20] Ularre uthne-rr-intye-tyele!"

facing bite-RECIP-DO COMING-NegIMP
[21] Kele ayenge angke-ke, pmere kwene-nge-rle the awe-tyeme-rle,

OK 1sgS speak-pc, camp/home inside-ABL-REL 1sgA hear-pp-REL
[22] husband tyenhe-ke anteme imerte the ile-rliwe-me,

husband 1sgPOSS-DAT now then 1sgA tell-DO QUICK-npp
[23] "Hey kngwelye nhakwe arey-ewe awe-tyek-aye kwenhe,

hey dog that(dist) plural-EMPH+ hear-PURP-EMPH ASSERT,
angke-rre-rlenge kwenhe.
speak-RECIP-DS ASSERT
[24] Kngwelye ampwe nhakwe-le ilte-me."

dog old that(dist)-ERG scold/swear-npp
[25] Ye, kele, kngwelye ampwe re ywepe-ke kngwelye arrpenhe

mape,
yes, OK, dog old 3sgA, hunt away-pc, dog other pl(grp),
y'know, ikwere-werne-theke-rle uthne-rr-intye-ke.
you know, 3sgDAT-ALL-wards-REL bite-RECIP-DO COMING-npp
[26] Ikwere-nge-ntyele imerte re, kngwelye itne arratye 3sgDAT-ABL-onwards

then 3sgS, dog 3plS truly
utep-irre-me-le uthne-rlt.alpe-ke pmere itne-kenhe-werne.
turn back-INCH-npp-SS bite-pl.S/A.DO & GO BACK-pc place 3pl-POSS-ALL
[27] Kele ikwere-nge-ntyele artwe, kweye?,

OK 3sgDAT-ABL-onwards man, SELF DOUBT
kngwelye ampwe re petye-ke.
dog old 3sgS come-pc
[28] Ikngerre-theke anteme re petye-ke.

east-wards now 3sgS come-pc
[29] Pmere ingkenye-le ne-me-le nhenge-ulkere peke-rle petye-ke;

camp/home deserted-LOC live-npp-SS REMEMB-KIND maybe-FOC
come-pc;
[30] akiwarre angk-elp-angk-intye-ke.

cranky speak-C.INCEP.rdp-DO COMING-pc
[31] Kele, the tyenge newe-ke anteme ile-ke,

OK, 1sgA 1sgDAT spouse-DAT now tell-pc
[32] "Are-tyek-aye kwenhe, kngwelye ampwe re petye-rlenge

see-PURP-EMPH ASSERT, dog old 3sgS come-DS
nhenhe-werne, ularre-theke anteme."
here-ALL, facing-wards now
[33] Kele re petye-me-le angk-elp-angk-intye-ke.

OK 3sgS come-npp-SS speak-C.Incep.rdp-DO COMING-pc
[34] "Hoyyy!", ikwere-artweye mape-ke peke, y'know, re angke-ke,

hoyyy!, 3sgDAT-custodion pl(grp)-DAT maybe, you know, 3sgS
speak-pc
[35] "Haye, ingkirre-rle lhe-rltiwe-p-iwe-me, ingwe nyente-le-rlke

hey, all/every-FOC go-pl.S/A-FREQ.rdp, night one-LOC-TOO
peke ware ne-tyekenhe.
maybe DISMIS be/stay-VbNEG
[36] Ingkirre-rle picture-werne lhe-rltiwe-p-iwe-me.",
all/every-FOC movies-ALL go-pl.S/A-FREQ.rdp-npp
[37] angk-elp-angk-intye-ke, ikngerre-theke lhe-me-le.

speak-C.Incep.rdp-DO COMING-pc, east-wards go-npp-SS.
[38] Ikwere-nge-ntyele yanhe re-nhe awe-me-l-athewe,

3sgDAT-ABL-onwards that(mid) 3sg-ACC hear-npp-SS-TAG
ayenge ikwere properly therre-ke.
1sgS 3sgDAT properly laugh-pc
[39] Lyet-ante re-nhe-rle the awe-ke kngwelye angke-rlenge.

now/today-ONLY 3sg-ACC-FOC 1sgA hear-pc dog speak-DS
[40] Alakenhe kwele Old People mape-le awe-rrirre-tyerte-again

kwele.
thus/like so QUOT old people pl(grp)-ERG hear-pl.S/A-rem.p.hab-again QUOT
[41] Ane pmere ingkenye-nge kngwelye mape angke-rre-rle

and camp/home deserted-ABL dog pl(grp) speak-RECIP-GenEvt
itn-arrpe peke unthe-rlte.ne-me-le,
3plS-SELF maybe go looking for-pl.S/A.CONT-npp-SS
[42] unte-rlte.ne-me-le peke angke-rre-rl-arteke anernge awe-rle;

run-pl.S/A.CONT-npp-SS maybe speak-RECIP-GenEvt-SEMBL ? hear-
GenEvt
[43] angke-rre-tyerte peke re-rle itne.

speak-RECIP-rem.p.hab maybe 3sg-FOC(?) 3plS
[44] Wale the lyet-ante re-nhe awe-ke ikwere-tayeme,

well 1sgA now/today-ONLY 3sg-ACC hear-pc 3sgDAT-TIME
kngwelye angke-rlenge.
dog speak-DS
[45] Wale I'm properly apate-ke, properly therre-lhile-ke.
well I'm properly shocked-pc, properly laugh-CAUS-pc
[46] Arnterre therre-ke ayenge kngwelye ikwere.

intensively laugh-pc 1sgS dog 3sgDAT
KELE
OK
A Story About An Old Dog That I Heard Talk
This is another little story, it's a funny one like the other one.1
At the time that I was living at the mission,2 (in other words) when I lived at Santa Teresa,3 my
husband and I were staying at home one night.4 - You see, everyone else had gone to the movies, I
mean absolutely everyone else had gone.5 [I used to live in the western part (of the mission).6] - I had
been sleeping and then I awoke,7 after being asleep I got up and was standing at the window.8 While
standing at the window, I then stared outside.9 I was staring outside when I then heard something
somewhere in the west of the camp.10 It was on the side of the camp where an old man's home was
that I heard a pack of dogs fighting (lit. biting each other), they were chasing each other and fighting
really hard (ie. they were very loud).11 So, they ran to another place.12 From out of the south side
they ran,13 but an old man, I mean an old dog, used to live at this old man's house.14 The place was
deserted, totally deserted.15 "Hey you dogs! Fuck yourselves on the way past! Fuck yourselves as
you pass! (lit. Fuck each other while going past!)16 Don't come along fighting each other towards
me!",17 he, the old dog, was hunting them away.18 "You mangey mutts go home to your own
place!19 Don't come along fighting each other facing here!"20
After that I said, from the place inside where I was listening,21 I quickly told my husband22
"Hey you've really got to listen to this pack of dogs, they're actually speaking to each other.23 That old
dog over there is swearing."24 Yes, so, that old dog hunted the pack of other dogs away, you know,
the ones that has come along fighting amongst themselves.25 Because of that , then, the dogs really did
turn around and they fought and then returned towards their homes.26 So, after that, the man - what
am I saying - I mean the old dog, came along.27 He now came in an easterly direction.28 He might
have come through the deserted place he was staying at , the one of the kind indicated;29 he was sort of
speaking in a cranky way as he came along (lit. cranky, he continued to be on the verge of speaking as
he came along).30 So, I said to my husband,31 "You must have a look, the old dog is coming this way,
he's coming towards us now." 32 And so, he came along, and as he did he seemed to be speaking.33
"Hey!!", he might have been talking to his owners, you know,34 "Hey, everyone is always taking off,
they don't stay home even for one night.35 Everyone keeps going off to the pictures.".36 It was as if
he were speaking while coming along walking eastwards.37 When I heard that, of course, I really had a
good laugh at it.38
That was the very fist time I heard a dog speaking.39 Old people apparently used to hear dogs
like that in exactly the same way.40 Dogs would speak amongst themselves in deserted places as they
went around looking for things,41 as they ran along it might have sounded like they were speaking to
each other;42 they used to speak to each other.43 Well that was the time that I first heard a dog
speaking.44 Well I was thoroughly dumbfounded and really had a good laugh at it.45 I laughed really
hard at the old dog.47
The End
_______________________________________________________________________
9. ARTWE AMPWE IRRKWERRENTYE THERRE-KERTE

by Basil Stevens
Arrule artwe ampwe irrkwerrentye therre neke.1 Arrpenhe netyerte urrkapetyeke,

unthetyeke,2 re lhetyekerlke arrangkwerle.3 Arrpenhe kenhe tyepe-tyepe netyerte.4 Nhenhe re
arrpenhe renhe irrtyelhiletyerte lhetyeke5 merneke peke unthetyeke, kereke peke.6 Kele nhenge
irrkwerrentyewarte7 arrpenhe uyarne murntirretyerte,8 kenhe arrpenhele renhe tyarre-kngetyerte.9 Re-
therre netyerte kwatye iterele.10
Arlte nyentele ure ampintyeke.11 Arrpenhe angkeke,12 "Kwatyewerne alperretyeke ilerne,
ureketye!".13 Kele arrpenhele tyarre-kngirtneke.14 Renhe-therre urele ampeke anteme.15
Nhenhenge anteme ayeye nhenhe uyerreme.16 Ayeye urteke ware.17
Artwe Ampwe Irrkwe-rre-ntye Therre-Kerte

man old hold-RECIP-NMZR two-PROP
[1] Arrule artwe ampwe irrkwe-rre-ntye therre ne-ke.

long ago man old hold-RECIP-NMZR two be-pc
[2] Arrpenhe ne-tyerte urrkape-tyeke, unthe-tyeke,

other-S be-rem.p.hab work-PURP, look for-PURP
[3] re lhe-tyeke-rlke arrangkwe-rle.
3sgS go-PURP-TOO nothing-FOC/REL
[4] Arrpenhe kenhe tyepe-tyepe ne-tyerte.

other-S BUT energetic be-rem.p.hab
[5] Nhenhe re arrpenhe re-nhe irrtye-lhile-tyerte lhe-tyeke
this 3sgA other 3sg-ACC accompany-CAUS-rem.p.hab go-PURP
[6] merne-ke peke unthe-tyeke, kere-ke peke.

food-DAT maybe look for-PURP meat-DAT maybe.
[7] Kele nhenge irrkwe-rre-ntye-warte

O.K. REMEMB hold-RECIP-NMZR-SINCE
[8] arrpenhe uyarne murnt-irre-tyerte,

other-S in vain refuse-INCH-rem.p.hab,
[9] kenhe arrpenhe-le re-nhe tyarre-knge-tyerte.

BUT other-ERG 3sg-ACC pull out-take-rem.p.hab.
[10] Re-therre ne-tyerte kwatye itere-le.

3dlS be-rem.p.hab water side-LOC
[11] Arlte nyente-le ure amp-intye-ke.

day one-LOC fire burn-DO COMING-pc
[12] Arrpenhe angke-ke,

other speak-pc
[13] "Kwatye-werne alpe-rre-tyeke ilerne, ure-ketye!"

"water-ALL go back-dlS/A-PURP 1plS, fire-AVER
[14] Kele arrpenhele tyarre-kng-irtne-ke.

O.K. other-ERG pull out-take-REVERS-pc
[15] Re-nhe-therre ure-le ampe-ke anteme.

3dl-ACC fire-ERG burn-pc now
[16] Nhenhe-nge anteme ayeye nhenhe uyerre-me.

this-ABL now story this-S finish-npp
[17] Ayeye urteke ware.

story short DISMIS
A STORY ABOUT A PAIR OF SIAMESE TWINS
A long time ago there lived a pair of Siamese twins. They were two old men.1 One of the pair
never wanted to do any work, or go hunting, or even go for a walk.2/3 But the other one used to be
very lively and busy.4 This last one would always invite the other one to go5 hunting for meat or bush
food with him.6 However, since they were Siamese twins,7 the other one would refuse in vain8, because
the lively one would just pull the lazy one after him.9
These two used to live beside some water.10 One day a fire came burning through11 and the
lazy one said,12 "Let's go back to the water, before the fire gets us!"13 So the other one pulled him
along after him back towards home.14 However, the two of them got burned up in the fire.15
This is how the story finishes.16 It's only a short story.17
______________________________________________________________________
10. AYEYE MARLE UTHENE ATWETYE UTHENE-KERTE

Pmere arrule kwele neke ampe marle kweke nyente.1 Re kwele lheke arlte nyentele2 kele
imerte re aretyelhemele atwetye kweke nyente atnyeme atnartengeke.3 Marle kweke re kwele
nthepirreke atwetye kweke ikwere,4 kenhe atwetye kweke re aretyeme kwetethe nthurre arlte
arrpanenhele.5 Marle kweke re lhetyerte atwetye kweke renhe aretyeke;6 aretyelhemele atwetye
renhe7 marle re nthepirretyerte kwetethe.8
Kele, arrule kngerre arrpenhele anteme,9 marle kweke re wenke kngerre anteme-irreke ante
atwetye kweke re.10 Re-therre kngerre therre anteme-irreke purte kwete.11 Arlte nyentele anteme
wenke re lheke aherre renhe aretyeke12 kenhe aherre re karelhetyeme ikwere.13 Wenke re imerte
ikwere arratetyelhemele,14 kenhe aherre re kemirremele neke15 aremele wenke renhe petyerlenge
ikwerewernethepe.16 Kele wenke re nthepirretyelheke aherre ikwere itweme-itweme anteme.17
Wenke re nthepirrintyeme aherre ikwerewerne.18 Kele itwe nthurre anteme-irreke19, kenhe aherre re
renhe arntirrkweke ante renhe re arlkweke.20
Kele
AYEYE MARLE UTHENE ATWETYE UTHENE-KERTE

story girl bi-and joey bi-and-PROP
[1] Pmere arrule kwele ne-ke ampe marle kweke nyente.

camp long ago QUOT be-pc child female small one
[2] Re kwele lhe-ke arlte nyente-le

3sg QUOT go-pc day one-LOC
[3] kele imerte re are-tye.lhe-me-le atwetye kweke nyente
O.K. then 3sgA see-GO&DO-npp-SS joey little one
atnyeme atnartenge-ke.
witchetty bush base-DAT
[4] Marle kweke re kwele nthep-irre-ke atwetye kweke ikwere,

female little 3sgS QUOT dance-INCH-pc joey little 3sgDAT,
[5] kenhe atwetye kweke re are-tyeme kwetethe nthurre

BUT joey little 3sgA see-pp always INTENS
arlte arrpanenhe-le.
day many-different-LOC
[6] Marle kweke re lhe-tyerte atwetye kweke re-nhe are-tyeke;

female little 3sgS go-rem.p.hab joey little 3sg-ACC see-PURP
[7] are-tye.lhe-me-le atwetye re-nhe

see-GO&DO-npp-SS joey 3sg-O
[8] marle re nthep-irre-tyerte kwetethe.
female 3sgS dance-INCH-rem.p.hab always.
[9] Kele, arrule kngerre arrpenhe-le anteme,

O.K., long time big other-LOC now,
[10] marle kweke re wenke kngerre anteme-irre-ke

female little 3sgS young woman big now-INCH-pc
ante atwetye kweke re.
and joey little 3sgS
[11] Re-therre kngerre therre anteme-irre-ke purte kwete.

3dlS big two now-INCH-pc together still
[12] Arlte nyente-le anteme wenke re lhe-ke

day one-LOC now yng.woman 3sgS go-pc
aherre re-nhe are-tyeke
kangaroo 3sg-ACC see-PURP
[13] kenhe aherre re kare-lhe-tyeme ikwere.

BUT kangaroo 3sgS mind-REFL(wait)-pp 3sgDAT
[14] Wenke re imerte ikwere arrate-tye.lhe-me-le,

yng.woman 3sgS then 3sgDAT appear-GO&DO-npp-SS
[15] kenhe aherre re kem-irre-me-le ne-ke

BUT kangaroo 3sgS get up-INCH-npp-SS sit-pc
[16] are-me-le wenke re-nhe petye-rlenge ikwere-werne-thepe.

see-npp-SS yng.woman 3sg-ACC come-DS 3sgDAT-ALL-wards
[17] Kele wenke re nthep-irre-tye.lhe-ke aherre ikwere

O.K. yng.woman 3sgS dance-INCH-GO&DO-pc kangaroo 3sgDAT
itwe-me-itwe-me anteme.
near-UQ-near-UQ now
[18] Wenke re nthep-irr-intye-me aherre ikwere-werne.

yng.woman 3sgS dance-INCH-DO COMING-npp kangaroo 3sgDAT-ALL
[19] Kele itwe nthurre anteme-irre-ke,

O.K. near INTENS now-INCH-pc,
[20] kenhe aherre re re-nhe arntirrkwe-ke

BUT kangaroo 3sgA 3sg-ACC hold(catch)-pc
ante re-nhe re arlkwe-ke.
and 3sg-ACC 3sgA eat-pc
Kele
O.K.
A STORY ABOUT A GIRL AND A JOEY
A long time ago, so they say, there lived a little girl1 and one day she went out walking2 and
found a little joey at the base of a witchetty bush.3The little girl danced for the baby joey4 and the joey
watched her intently every day.5 You see, the little girl used to go to visit the joey6and on arriving she
always used to dance.7/8
Well, after a long time,9 the little girl had grown into a young woman and the joey had grown
too.10 The two of them had grown up together.11 Then, one day, the young woman went to visit the
kangaroo12 and the kangaroo was waiting for her.13 The young woman arrived14 and the kangaroo
raised himself up15 and sat watching her coming towards him.16 When the young woman got there she
started dancing for the kangaroo, and she danced closer and closer to him.17 The young woman was
dancing straight towards the kangaroo18 and then,when she had danced right up to him,19 the kangaroo
grabbed her and ate her.20
THE END
_______________________________________________________________________
11. ARTEWE-KERTE
by Basil Stevens
Arrule kngerre neke artwe.1 Nyente rerle unthetyerte, pmere arrpanenhewerne lhe-pe-lheme
nyente re.2 Nhenge pmereke arratetyelhemele, pmere kngerreke,3 re nhenge mape
purtelhiletyelhetyerte, iletyerte.4 Ayeye kngerre renhe ilerle; nyente renhe kwetethe renhe alakenhe
iletyerte.5 Awethe re lhemele, pmere arrpenheke arratetyelherle, nyente renhe antime
mpwaretyelhetyerte:6 ingkirreke purtelhiletyelherle, nyentekwenye;7 ayeye itneke imerte nhenge
ilemele,8 ayeye renhe, nthakenhe rerle nhenge mpwaretyelheme kere tyewerrelye kngerre pele itne
arlkwetyenhenge;9 rerle kwele mpwareme, ante mape renhe imerte ilemele:10 "ingkirreke arrantherre
petyetyeke;11 impemelaye ingkirreke irrtyarte arrekantherrenhe alye uthene ingkerne pmereke.12
ingkirreke nyentekwenye atyengenge petyetyeke, nyente netyekenhe ingkerne.13 ingkirreke, pwenge
peke, anathe, tnemerle irretetyele peke re, ampwe kngerre tnyelpetnyeye re, alpawe nthurre peke re
petyetyeke-arrpe antime.", re angkeke.14
Kele re purtelhileke ingkirre nyenteme netyekenhe ikwerenge arrwekeleke,15 ilemele imerte:
"Arrwekeletheke aretyetelhetyeke.16 Kaperte kwene peke itere therrerlke peke aretyekenhe,17 ampe
tyenhe mape arrantherre ayenge urrerneperneketyenge,18 nwernenhe arrentye kngerrele arlkweketye
ingkirreke.19" ingkirreke re aterirreke ante ikwere kangkwirreke itne.20 Artenpele kenhe anteme
itnenhe kngeke,21 kenhe itne ingkirre mpwareke rerle ileke nthurre.22 Kele ingkernenge anteme artwe
re petyemele,23 arlpelhe kngerre therre anteme ikwerenge nhenge arratintyeke.24 Re imerte ingkirreke
itnenhe ankertiwemele iperte kngerre nhengewerne ure ntyelpeke, ahinperle perrke-irrekerleke;25
ingkirreke nthurre itnenhe ankertiwemele, roastemileme.26
Arlte arrpenhele anteme artwe nhenhe lheke pmere kngerrewerne anteme, atningkerle
nekewerne anteme.27 Artwe nthetye therrele kenhe, ikwerele neke, pmere ikwererenye, renhe
arrwekele altyerrele areke ingwe ikwerele rerle nhenge arratetyenhe.28 Wale mape pmererenye itneke
artwe re-therre ileke nhenge,29 altyerriperre nhenheketye kwenhe.30 Wale alakenhe kine artwe re
arratetyelhemele pmereke, arlketyelheme mapeke:31 "Arratewarre! Arratewarre! Petyaye!
Petayaye!32 Ampe tyenhe mape kwenhe atyenge kangkwirretyeke.33 The arrekantherre ayeye
kngetyeme ayengerle angketyenhengerle.34" Relhe mapele ante ampe mapele arratintyemele
arrwekelewerne renhe, mpwepekerle tnemele ileke anteme, artange-perteke.35 Kenhe re kenhe
mpwepele tnetyeme,36 atningke ikwerelarlenge mpwepele re tneke,37 itne kenhe renhe twerlenge,
pwertele wemele mapele;38 arnele tweke peke arne iwenhe-peke itnerle nhenge itweke areme ikwerele
peke.39
Kele artwe re nhenge atnulkeke,40 re alakenhe itelaretyekenhele renherle altyerre arekiperre
ikwere karelherrirreke.41 Kele ikwerengiperre arnterre unt-elp-unteke, unteke anteme,42 kenhe
atningke re kenhe alwernerlenge.43 Artwe re-therre kenhe, renherle altyerre areke therreme, itepele
anteme therre ikwere karelheke, rerle unteme ikwere.44 Iterengante therre anteme re-therre antime
irrtyarte iweke,45 renhe anteme nterneke irrtyartele.46 Kele renhe anteme itne tweke,47 yanhe antime
re uyerreke, kunye.48 Tyerrtye ikwerenhenge, intel-tnye ikwerenge anteme kemirreke thipe
kngerrepenhe anteme.49 Kemirremele, ante nhenge alkerekirreke, rerle tnye-inteke ikwerengentyele
alkererkirrenheke,50 kele itnenhe, atningke renhe, ilenhemele:51 "Lyetengentyele kwenhe arrantherre
ayenge alwernerle inetyeke.52 Nthenheke peke ayenge aremele, ayenge twetyeke.53 Twemele
ayenge, arrantherre arlkwetyeke,54 ayenge kele arrekantherrenhe kere artewe antemerle nemenge.55"
Yanhenge anteme nhenge mapele nhenge nthenhe peke lhemele, pmere pwetyeke peke
aremele,56 urrperle mapele nhenge renhe tweme kwete.57 Makitekerte peke lhemele itnenhe tyerreme,
artewe itnenhe.58 Nthenheke peke thipe kngerrepenhe nhenhe renhe aremele,59 itnenhe apentemele,
impepe peke itnenhe tweme kwete.60 Kele rerle merne ante kere nwernekenherle, arlkwetyeke
ngayakwe.61 Yanhe renhe anteme itne kere artewe anteme arlkwerreperreme.62
KELE
Artewe-Kerte
bush turkey-PROP
[1] Arrule kngerre ne-ke artwe.

long ago big be-pc man
[2] Nyente re-rle unthe-tyerte, pmere arrpanenhe-werne

one 3sgS-FOC look for-rem.p.hab, camp many different-ALL
lhe-pe-lhe-me nyente re.
go-FREQ.rdp-npp one 3sgS
[3] Nhenge pmere-ke arrate-tye.lhe-me-le, pmere kngerre-ke,

REMEMB camp-DAT appear-GO&DO-npp-SS, camp big-DAT
[4] re nhenge mape purte-lhile-tye.lhe-tyerte,
3sgA REMEMB pl(grp) together-CAUSE-GO&DO-rem.p.hab
ile-tyerte.
tell-rem.p.hab
[5] Ayeye kngerre re-nhe ile-rle; nyente re-nhe kwetethe re-nhe

story big 3sg-ACC tell-GenEvt; one 3sg-ACC always 3sg-ACC
alakenhe ile-tyerte.
like so tell-rem.p.hab
[6] Awethe re lhe-me-le, pmere arrpenhe-ke arrate-tye.lhe-rle,

again 3sgS go-npp-SS, camp other-DAT appear-GO&DO-GenEvt
nyente re-nhe antime mpware-tye.lhe-tyerte:
one 3sg-O exactly do-GO&DO-rem.p.hab
[7] ingkirreke purte-lhile-tye.lhe-rle, nyente-kwenye;

all together-CAUS-GO&DO-GenEvt, one-NomNEG
[8] ayeye itne-ke imerte nhenge ile-me-le,

story 3pl-DAT then REMEMB tell-npp-SS
[9] ayeye re-nhe, nthakenhe re-rle nhenge mpware-tye.lhe-me

story 3sg-ACC, how 3sgA-FOC REMEMB do(make)-GO&DO-npp
kere tyewerrelye kngerre pele itne arlkwe-tyenhenge;
meat meat-gift big FACT 3plA eat-SBSQNT
[10] re-rle kwele mpware-me ante mape re-nhe imerte

3sgA-REL/FOC QUOT do-npp and pl(grp) 3sg-ACC then
ile-me-le:
tell-npp-SS
[11] "ingkirreke arrantherre petye-tyeke;

all 2plS come-PURP
[12] impe-me-l-aye ingkirreke irrtyarte arre-k-antherre-nhe
leave-npp-SS-EMPH all spear 2plPOSS
alye uthene ingkerne pmere-ke.
boomerang bi-and behind camp-DAT
[13] ingkirreke nyente-kwenye atyenge-nge petye-tyeke,

all one-NomNEG 1sgDAT-ABL come-PURP
nyente ne-tyekenhe ingkerne.
one be-VbNEG behind
[14] ingkirreke, pwenge peke, anathe, tne-me-rle irretetye-le

all,every blind maybe, crippled, stand-npp-REL cane/crutch-INST
peke re, ampwe kngerre tny-elpe-tnye-ye re,
maybe 3sgS old big fall-C.Incep.rdp-?NMZR? 3sgS
alpawe nthurre peke re petye-tyeke-arrpe antime.", re angke-ke.
weak INTENS maybe 3sgS come-PURP-SELF exactly, 3sgS say-pc
[15] Kele re purte-lhile-ke ingkirrenyente-me ne-tyekenhe

OK 3sgA together-CAUS-pc all one-UQ be-VbNEG
ikwere-nge arrwekele-ke,
3sgDAT-ABL front-DAT
[16] ile-me-le imerte: "Arrwekele-theke are-tye.te.lhe-tyeke.

tell-npp-SS then: front-WARDS see-GO&DO.plS/A-PURP
[17] Kaperte kwene peke itere therre-rlke peke are-tyekenhe,

head down maybe side two-TOO maybe see-VbNEG,
[18] ampe tyenhe mape arrantherre ayenge urrerne-pe-rne-ketye-nge,

child 1sgPOSS pl(grp) 2plA 1sgO blame-FREQ.rdp-AVER-ABL
[19] nwerne-nhe arrentye kngerre-le arlkwe-ketye ingkirreke."

1pl-ACC demon big-ERG eat-AVER all
[20] ingkirreke re ater-irre-ke ante ikwere kangkw-irre-ke itne.
all 3sgS afraid-INCH-pc and 3sgDAT pay attention-INCH-pc
3plS
[21] Artenpele kenhe anteme itne-nhe knge-ke,

fire pit BUT now 3pl-ACC take-pc
[22] kenhe itne ingkirrempware-ke re-rle ile-ke nthurre.

BUT 3plA all do-pc 3sgA-REL tell-pc INTENS
[23] Kele ingkerne-nge anteme artwe re petye-me-le,

O.K. behind-ABL now man 3sgS come-npp-SS
[24] arlpelhe kngerre therre anteme ikwere-nge nhenge

wing big two now 3sgDAT-ABL REMEMB
arrat-intye-ke.
appear-DO COMING-pc
[25] Re imerte ingkirreke itne-nhe ankertiwe-me-le iperte kngerre

3sgA then all 3pl-ACC push-npp-SS hole big
nhenge-werne ure ntyelpe-ke, ahinpe-rle perrke-irre-ke-rle-ke;
REMEMB-ALL fire red-hot-DAT, previously-REL coal-INCH-pc-REL-
DAT
[26] ingkirreke nthurre itne-nhe ankertiwe-me-le, roast-em-ile-me.

all INTENS 3pl-ACC push-npp-SS, roast-E.tr-CAUS-npp
[27] Arlte arrpenhe-le anteme artwe nhenhe lhe-ke pmere kngerre-werne

day other-LOC now man this go-pc camp big-ALL
anteme, atningke-rle ne-ke-werne anteme.
now, many-REL live-pc-ALL now
[28] Artwe nthetye therre-le kenhe, ikwere-le ne-ke,

man young-man two-ERG BUT, 3sgDAT-LOC live-pc
pmere ikwer-arenye, re-nhe arrwekele altyerre-le are-ke
camp 3sgDAT-ASSOC, 3sg-ACC before(front) dream-LOC see-pc
ingwe ikwere-le re-rle nhenge arrate-tyenhe.
night 3sgDAT-LOC 3sgS-THAT REMEMB appear-npc
[29] Wale mape pmer-arenye itne-ke artwe re-therre ile-ke nhenge,

well pl(grp) camp-ASSOC 3pl-DAT man 3dlA tell-pc REMEMB
[30] altyerr-iperre nhenhe-ketye kwenhe.

dream-AFTER this-AVER ASSERT
[31] Wale alakenhe-kine artwe re arrate-tye.lhe-me-le pmere-ke,

well like-so-again man 3sgS appear-GO&DO-npp-SS camp-DAT
arlke-tye.lhe-me mape-ke:
call-out-GO&DO-npp pl(grp)-DAT
[32] "Arrate-warre-Ø! Arrate-warre-Ø! Pety-Ø-aye! Pety-Ø-aye!

appear-plS/A-IMP appear-plS/A-IMP come-IMP-EMPH come-IMP-EMPH
[33] Ampe tyenhe mape kwenhe atyenge kangkw-irre-tyeke.

child 1sgPOSS pl(grp) ASSERT 1sgDAT pay-attention-INCH-PURP
[34] The arre-k-antherre ayeye knge-tye-me

1sgA 2plDAT story(O) take-hither-npp
ayenge-rle angke-tyenhenge-rle."
1sgS-REL speak-SBSQNT-REL (O)
[35] Relhe mape-le ante ampe mape-le arrat-intye-me-le womanpl(grp)-

ERG and child pl(grp)-ERG appear-DO COMING-npp-SS
arrwekele-werne re-nhe, mpwepe-ke-rle tne-me-le ile-ke anteme,
front-ALL 3sg-ACC, middle-DAT-REL stand-npp-SS tell-pc(REL) now,
artange-perte-ke.
cooperate-creep up on-pc
[36] Kenhe re kenhe mpwepe-le tne-tyeme,
BUT 3sgS BUT middle-LOC stand-pp,
[37] atningke ikwere-larlenge mpwepe-le re tne-ke,

many 3sgDAT-COM middle-LOC 3sgS stand-pc
[38] itne kenhe re-nhe twe-rlenge, pwerte-le we-me-le mape-le;
3plA BUT 3sg-ACC hit-DS, rock-INST pelt-npp-SS pl(grp)-ERG
[39] arne-le twe-ke peke arne iwenhe-peke

stick-INST hit-pc maybe thing what-maybe
itne-rle nhenge itwe-ke are-me ikwere-le peke.
3plA-REL REMEMB near-DAT see-npp 3sgDAT-INST maybe
[40] Kele artwe re nhenge atnulke-ke,

OK man 3sgS REMEMB be shocked-pc
[41] re alakenhe itelare-tyekenhe-le

3sgA like so know-VbNEG-SS
re-nhe-rle altyerre are-k-iperre ikwere kare-lhe-rrirre-ke.
3sg-ACC-THAT dream see-pc-AFTER 3sgDAT mind-REFL(wait)-plS/A-
pc
[42] Kele ikwere-ng-iperre arnterre unt-elp-unte-ke, unte-ke anteme,

OK 3sgDAT-ABL-AFTER intensively run-C.Incep.rdp-pc run-pc now,
[43] kenhe atningke re kenhe alwerne-rlenge.

BUT crowd(many) 3sgA BUT chase-DS
[44] Artwe re-therre kenhe, re-nhe-rle altyerreare-ke therre-me,

man 3dlS BUT, 3sg-ACC-REL dream see-pc two-UQ
itepe-le anteme therre ikwere kare-lhe-ke,
side-LOC now two 3sgDAT mind-REFL(wait)-pc,
re-rle unte-me ikwere.
3sgS-REL run-npp 3sgDAT.
[45] Itere-ng-ante therre anteme re-therre antime irrtyarte iwe-ke,
side-ABL-ONLY two now 3dlA exactly spear throw-pc
[46] re-nhe anteme nterne-ke irrtyarte-le.

3sg-ACC now spear-pc spear-INST
[47] Kele re-nhe anteme itne twe-ke,

OK 3sg-ACC now 3plA kill-pc
[48] yanhe antime re uyerre-ke, kunye.

there(mid) exactly 3sgS finish-pc, poor-thing
[49] Tyerrtye ikwerenhe-nge, inte-l-tnye ikwere-nge anteme

body 3sgPOSS-ABL, lie-?-dead(?)[corpse?] 3sgDAT-ABL now
kem-irre-ke thipe kngerre-penhe anteme.
get up-INCH-pc bird big-one now
[50] Kem-irre-me-le, ante nhenge alkere-k-irre-ke,

get up-INCH-npp-SS, and REMEMB sky-DAT-INCH-pc
re-rle tnye-inte-ke ikwere-nge-ntyele alkere-k-irre-nhe-ke,
3sg-REL dead(?)-lie-pc 3sgDAT-ABL-ONWARDS sky-DAT-INCH-DO PAST-pc,
[51] kele itne-nhe, atningke re-nhe, ile-nhe-me-le:

OK 3pl-ACC, crowd(many) 3sg-ACC, tell-DO PAST-npp-SS
[52] "Lyete-nge-ntyele kwenhe arrantherre ayenge alwerne-rle ine-tyeke.

today-ABL-ONWARDS ASSERT 2plA 1sgO chase-GenEvt get-PURP
[53] Nthenhe-ke peke ayenge are-me-le, ayenge twe-tyeke.

where-DAT maybe 1sgO see-npp-SS, 1sgO kill-purp
[54] Twe-me-le ayenge, arrantherre arlkw-tyeke,

kill-npp-SS 1sgO, 2plA eat-PURP,
[55] ayenge kele arre-k-antherre-nhe kere artewe anteme-rle ne-me-nge."

1sgS OK 2plPOSS game bush turkey now-FOC/REL be-npp-ABL.
[56] Yanhe-nge anteme nhenge mape-le nhenge nthenhe peke

that(mid)-ABL now REMEMB pl(grp) REMEMB where maybe
lhe-me-le, pmere pwetye-ke peke are-me-le,
go-npp-SS, countrybush-DAT maybe see-npp-SS,
[57] urrperle mape-le nhenge re-nhe twe-me kwete.

black pl(grp)-ERG REMEMB 3sg-ACC kill/hit-npp still
[58] Makite-kerte peke lhe-me-le itne-nhe tyerre-me, artewe itne-nhe.

gun-PROP maybe go-npp-SS 3pl-ACC shoot-npp, bush turkey 3pl-ACC
[59] Nthenhe-ke peke thipe kngerre-penhe nhenhe re-nhe are-me-le,

where-DAT maybe bird big-one this 3sg-ACC see-npp-SS
[60] itne-nhe apente-me-le, impepe peke itne-nhe twe-me kwete.

3pl-ACC follow-npp-SS, wounded maybe 3pl-ACC hit-npp still.
[61] Kele re-rle merne ante kere nwerne-kenhe-rle,

OK 3sgS-FOC/REL v.food and meat 2pl-POSS-FOC/REL
arlkwe-tyeke ngayakwe.
eat-PURP hungry
[62] Yanhe re-nhe anteme itne kere artewe anteme

that 3sg-ACC now 3plA game bush turkey now
arlkwe-rre-p-erre-me.
eat-plS/A-FREQ.rdp-npp
KELE
OK (The End)
STORY OF THE WILD TURKEY
A long time ago there lived a man1 who used to travel about by himself. He used to go to lots
of different places2 and, whenever he arrived at a big camp,3 he used to gather all the people together
to tell them a story.4 The story he would tell was a big one and it was always the very same one.5
Then he would go off to another place and when he got there he would do exactly the same thing:6 he
would gather everyone from the camp together, without any exceptions;7 then he would tell them a
story8 about how he was going to throw a big feast for them.9 When he had done that he would then
say to them:10 "All of you must come with me;11 leave all your spears and boomerangs behind in
camp.12 Absolutely everyone must come with me, no one is to be left behind.13 Even if a person is
blind or crippled, or walking on crutches, or is staggering from old age, or is very weak, they must
definitely come.14"
After that he would gather everyone in front of himself15 and he would say: "You must all look
straight ahead.16 You must not look downwards or to either side,17 because, if you do ,a powerful
demon will eat us all19 and I don't want you, my children, blaming me for that.18" Everyone would be
frightened by this and so they would pay close attention to him.20 And, since they would not realise
that he was taking them into a big pit of fire,21 they would do exactly what he said.22 Then he would
come up from behind them23 and, as he came, large wings would appear from his body24 and he
would push everyone into a fire pit full of red hot coals.25 Absolutely everyone would be pushed into
the pit and they would all be roasted.26
Then, one day, this man went to a big camp; a place where a lot of people lived.27 But, in this
camp there lived two young men who had a dream one night which foretold the evil man's arrival.28 The
other inhabitants of the camp were warned by these two men29 so that the bad things in the dream
could be avoided.30 So, once again, when the story-teller arrived at the camp he begin calling out to
the people who lived there:31 "Come out! Come out! Come! Come!32 My children , you should pay
attention to what I have to say.33 I've brought you a story that I'm going to tell.34" The women and
children came out and together they closed in on the man who was now standing in the middle
talking.35 But he, however, was just standing there in the middle of all those people36/37 when they
began to hit him and pelt him with rocks.38 They hit him with sticks or with whatever they could find
near at hand.39
Well the man was certainly shocked by this40 because he didn't realise that, as a result of a
dream, the people had been waiting for him.41 So after that he tried hard to run away and then he broke
free and ran for his life,42 but the crowd was chasing him.43 Those two young men, however, - the
two that had seen the evil man in their dream - lay in wait on each side of the path for the man who was
trying to escape.44 From both sides the two men threw their spears at precisely the right moment and
they both got him.45/46 After that, the whole crowd made sure he was dead47 and he passed away
right there in that spot, poor fellow.48 And then, from out of his dead body there arose a large bird
which took off into the sky.49/50 As the bird ascended it spoke to the crowd saying:51 "From this day
onwards you will all hunt me.52 Wherever you see me you should kill me.53 Kill me to eat me,54 for
now I am your bush turkey.55"
Since that time, whenever and wherever Aboriginal people find that bush turkey, in the bush or
elsewhere, they kill it.56/57 If they are out with a gun then they shoot it.58 Wherever they see this
large bird59 then they will follow it and if it is wounded then they will kill it properly.60 So that's our
bush food and meat for us to eat when we are hungry.61 That's why Aboriginal people eat the bush
turkey.62
THE END
Story of the Wild Turkey - [This is the original English version which was written by Basil Stevens and
published in Yeperenye Yeye 1983, p9]
Once there was a man, this man used to do a lot of travelling on his own, and in every camp he
came upon, the same thing happened. He would walk into the camp and gather up everyone and start
telling his big stories about the big feast that he was throwing for everyone. He said, so everybody leave
your spears and boomerangs there's no need for them.
Then he said, no one must be left behind, even the blind, crippled and the weak must all come.
Then he got them all in a big heap in front of him and started urging them forward.
Don't look to the front or to either sides my children or the great spirit would kill us all.
Everyone was scared and just listened to him and followed orders. Then before everyone knew what
was happening the man that was behind them had grown a very long wing span like a big giant bird and
herded them into a big pit filled with red hot coals and roasted them all.
The next place he came upon had a lot more people. This time there were two young men who
dreamed of his arrival so everybody was waiting for him. As usual he walks in calling out the the people;
come, come, my children and listen to what I have to say. So all the women and children first was there,
all around and had him in the middle. They hit him with stones, sticks and everything they could find. He
got a big surprise and tried to run away. They chased him and the two men on each sides with spears
chased him too and they speared him and killed him and that was the end of him.
But from his dead body a big beautiful bird took off and flew into the air, and called back to the
people:
"You may hunt for me now and kill me again and eat me, for now I am your Wild Turkey."
And that is why the Aborigines still don't like wild turkey wherever we see this big bird we still
hunt him down till we kill him again.
THE END
______________________________________________________________________
12 AMPE URREYE KWEKE ARTNERRENTYE-KERTE

[Ayeye ampe urreye kweke kerte kwele]

Pmere arrulerle kwele neke; artwe anyente, ante newikwe arelhe nyente, ante ampe urreye
kweke artnerrentye.1 Itne kwele netyerte mwarre nthurre.2 Ampe urreye kweke artnerrentye re kenhe
kwele neke nyenterle ikwere-therrenhe.3 Artwe re anteme kwele angkeke alakenhe, arlte nyentele,
ingweleme kwele kemirremele;4 "Ayengerle kerewerne lhetyenhenge,5 unte gotta ampe kweke yanhe
mwantye nthurrele atnyenerle kwenhe, arntarntarerle yanhe kwenhe.6" Kele kwele artwe re irrtyarte
ikwerenhe ineke, amirrerlke,7 alheke anteme kwele re.8 Kele kwele re arlengirremele uyerrenheke.9
Kenhe kwele relhe re kemirremele,10 urtne kweke - [Iperte nhenge-ulkere mernerlke
arrernentye kngerre.11 Itnekenherle neke re; arlatyeyekenhe, langkwerlke arrernentye kngerre,
yalkerlke.12] - renhe-ulkere kwele ineke, ante kwatyekenhe iperte nthurre, atneme atnyematye
tnyetyeke.13 Rerle kwele netyeme artwe re-kemparre uyerrenhetyenhengaye, arerlenemele,14 kweke
renhe yerneyemenge kwatyewerne lhetyeke, nyentarenye, artnerrenhe-pe-nhetyeke kwele.15 Arlengele
kenhe kwele neke kwatye iperte re, itnerle kwatyerle ntywemele netyerte.16 Ikwerenge kwele re
kweke renhe ileke,17 "Aweye kwekaye!18 Unte warre kwatye pintye-pintye nhenge-ulkere mape
itelare,19 kwatyele tnenhe-tnenhe, ntyentye kngerre,20 ikwere-ulkere kngerrewerne unte lhe-pe-lhe
kwenhe.21" Akweke renhe kwele re ileke.22
Kele kwele arelhe re arnpenheke,23 kweke re kenhe kwele nemele itwarerleke.24 Kele
artnerrenhetyeke anteme kwele re kng-elpe-kngelheke.25 Artnerrenheme kwele re nheke
artnerrenheke.26 Ikwerenge kwele re purrkirreme, mpwepele neke.27 Mpwepele nemele, nemele,
kwele re kele ulyentyele nerlenemele lyeke ulyeke tyarrelheke; mperekerleke ante ingke-
artepekerleke.28 Tyarrelhemele kwele netyeme, kweke re ulyentyele purrke kngerre neme;29 kenhe
mikwe kenhe kele uyerrerlenekerlenge tnyematyekerlke untherlenetyeke kwele, lewetyerrekerlke,
yalkekerlke, arlatyeyekerlke.30 Ankerterlke renhe peke re twerlepetyeme.31 Awethe kwele kweke re
artnerrenherle, mpwepeke kwele re arrernelheke, awethe-kine, lyeke renhe tyarrelherlenetyeke.32
Awethe-anteyerle imerte kwele lhemele, artnerrenhemele, artnerrekenhe-pe-nhetyenhenge arlenge-
arlentye nthurre re anteme kwele.33 Pmerengerlke arlengirreke re;34 kele kwatye renhe anteme re
itwekelhileke.35 Kwatye iperte kwatye kngerre-tayeme intenhe-intenhe.36 Ikwere itweke anteme
kwele re irreke, lherewernetheke re anteme kwele.37 Artnerrekenhemele arnkarrele kweye alengke
rerle re atnyenheke peke, atnarnpenheke; 38 kenhe relhe re kenhe kwele apmere arrere-kwenye
ikwerele kwele alhepelherlenge, utepe-utepe-kwele-irrerlenge pmere arlenge.39 Alewetyerre iltye-
ingkekerte anteme kwele tnyentyipenhe re twemele-twemelerle kngetyeke; ankerterlke peke renhe
apmwerlke peke renhe.40 Yalkerlke tnyemele, kwele uyerrerleneke, arlatyeyerlke tnyerlenemele
urreke-anteye.41 Lhere iterekerlirreke anteme kwele, re petyapletyeme kwatye iperte ikwerewerne42,
kenhe kweke nhengepenhe kwele kele lhere ikwerele anteme artnerrenherlenge, kwatye
ikwerewernetheke, angkethakwe anteme.43 Kwatye renhe kwele walye mape kwele re iltyele
alakenhe-iletyenhenge ingkirreke kwele : kethilemele, ntywemele kwele.44
Ntywentyipenhe imerte kwele artnerrenhemele ulyentyewerne; ankweke kwele
iwelheyemenge,45 kenhe kele relhe nhenge petye-anteme-alperlenge, itwe anteme.46 Aretyalpemele
kweke renhe ankweke nheke,47 ure itemele iparrpe-iparrpele kwele, lewetyerre maperlke
nthekiwemele,48 kele yalkerlke renhe anteme itemele kweke re kwenhe ankwelureke.49 Kwentye-
kwentyilemele kwele kele ingkirrekerle mpengileke; mernerlke, kererlke, lewetyerrerlke, ante renhe
ingkirre mpengilekerle.50 Kele kwele imerte relhe re kweke renhe anteme inerliwemele,51 lyeke renhe
kwele aterele tyarretyenhenge iparrpe-iparrpe nthurrele kwele mperekerleke;52 mperekerleke kwele
lyekerle tantheke nhenge artnerrintye-p-intyerlenge,53 iltyeke renhe kwele tyarretyenhenge thengkarre
renhe.54 Ikwerenge imerte kwele ankw-elpe-ankwiletyenhenge, kemerlirreke renhe.55
Kweke ikwere-artweye re, nyikwe re kenhe kwele kele itwe anteme,56 kererle tanthekerle,
kere intwarlpekerte kwele arraterlelherlenge, mpengekerte.57 Arrernelhetyalpemele akwele aretyalpeke
kweke renhe ankwe kngerre.58 Payuthnetyalpeke,59 "Kweke nhenheme iwenhipenherle kwetethe
ankwe kngerre the aretyalpe-p-alpeme kwenhe?60 Karrerlke nenhe-nenhe anetyange kwenhe.61"
Kenhe kwele relhe re ilerlenge,62 "Arrkenirrentyipenheyaye; kwetetherle arrkenirre-p-irreme kwenhe,
ankwirrerne kwenhe.";63 urrtyirremele kwele.64
Arlte arrpanenhe rerle kwele neke alakenhe re kwete.65 Artwe kereke alherle, relhe merneke
alherle lewetyerrekerlke,66 kenhe kweke kenhe kwele nyente rerle artnerrekerlanerlenge kwatye
ikwerewerne.67 Ikweripenhe anteme kwele artwe re nyenterenge anteme re arlte nyente arrpenhele
kemirreke.68 Kemirremele kwele kemelhileke,69 "Kele warre aherlkentyenge kemirre kwenhe.70
Ayengerle lyete awethe ulyenye alheyemenge kwenhe.71" Relhe re kwele kemirremele72 merne
arlatyeyerlke renhe kwele itne ingweleme arlkwerremele, kwatyerlke ntywerremele, kererlke
arlkwerremele; kweke rerlke.73 Artwe re kwele imerte ilemele,74 "Kweke yanhe mwantyewe
kwenhe.75 Tnengkerre kngerrerle the arernenge kwenhe, altyerre kngerre kwenhe, kweke renhe kwele
urltatyele tweke.76 Urltatyelaye, urltatyelerle twerne kwenhe kweke yanhe.77 Mwantyele anteme unte
lyete arntarntaretyeke kwenhe ankwe kwetetherle the aretyalpe-p-alpeme kwenhe.78" Relhe re kenhe
mwarre-way re kwele tyernerlenge,79 "Yawe kwenhe. Kweke pele therle kwetethe arntarntare-p-
aremerle kwenhe."80 Artwe re kenhe kwele kutnerle neke.81 Artwe re kenhe kutnerle neke relhe rerle
kwele kweke renhe yernetyertenge kwatyewerne nyente artnerrekenherlanetyeke kwele.82
Kele kwele artwe re irrtyarterlke ikwerenhe inerlelheke amirrerlke kere twetyeke lhetyeke,
tanthetyeke.83 Arnpenheke kwele.84 Alkngare-kwele-lh-elpe-lhenheke, kweke renhe anerlenerlenge
ar-elp-arenhemele kwele.85 Atnerte kenhe kwele re kurnerle welheke kweke ikwere.86 Kereke
kwele re arerlapetyemaye87 tharte kwele re irrerlelheke kere ikwere anteme kwele arerlepeke,
arerlepeke, arerlepeke, arerlepeke.8 Kere kenhe kwele arrwekelikngerle unterle-unterliweke.89 Just
atnante ware nhenge-ulkere kwele nerlenge lyetenye.90 Nhenhenge lyeterle kemirrenhernerle, yanhenge
lyeterle kemirrenhernerle, nhakwerle unterliweme kwenhe:91 "Iwenheperte antemerleme lyete
kwenhe?"92 Kwete kwele re lheke kere twetyeketwetye kwele unthetyeke.93
Kenhe kwele relhe nhenge ingkerne-anteye kemirreke.94 Artwe renhe arlenge-arteke-irrerlenge
itwareke.95 Arne ikwerenhe mape inerlelheke anteme ante urtne kweke iperte renhe-therrenhe;
mernekenhe ante kwatyekenhe,96 inemele kwele arnpenherlenge kweke renhe ilerlelheme,97 "Aweye
kwekaye, kwatye nhengewerne alhepelhe kwenhe.98 Kwatye pintyarre-angketyarre nhengewerne you
arrwekele artnerrenherle kwenhe;99 ayenge nhakwerle lhemengerle kwenhe merne nwerneke
inenhetyeke kwenhe.100"
Wale kweke re awethe-kine road antemerle kwele mpwareke,101 kwele re artnerrerlenemele,
iwerre kngerre antemerle kwele mpwareke;102 artnerreperrerle kwele, arlte arrpanenhe ikwerele
kwele.103 Artnerrenhemele kwele kweke re awetherle nerle.104 Ulyentye arrpanenhe rerle netye-
netyalpetyerte ulyentye ikwerele line-up re anerlepeke.105 Atnarnpe-kwele-nheke, lhere ikwerewerne
kweke re artnerrenheke.106 Kwatye ikwerele anteme kwele anthelke mape nhenge, pere walye
y'know, nhenge lernelhetyerte arntyerrke;107 lkele anteme nhenge, itere arrpenhe-thayetewerne anteme
nhenge kwatye ikwererleke werneke.108 Kele aharle netyenhenge itere arrpenhe-thayetele
nemerle,109 ikwere-thayete-wernerle akwele kweke re artnerrintyetyeme110 apmweke-anternenhe
nhenhe kenhe ikwere karelherleke.111 Itwekirremele kwele aherele kwele artnerrintyerle kwatye
kngerre nhenge warre yanhe kwenhe, itepele aremele112. Re pele ikwerengentyele kwele awethe-
anteye nthelke renhe kwele nhenge iwenhe-kwey-iletyelherle.113 Arlengirremele kwele ankertiweke,
kethilemele, ntywetyenhenge kwatye.114 Ntywetyeke anteme kwele re artepe-arrernelheke.115
Apmwele kenhe kwele renhe ay-elp-ayernemele yanhe ikwere-perre-anteye kwele tnyante-uthneke,
kwatye ikwere itereke-anteye.116 Impatye anteme nhenge apmwe re neke, apmwe re kenhe
uthnemelanterle nhenge lheke anthelkengentyele.117
Kwatye iterele pekerle nhenge irrerntirremele intetyemele re uthneke kweke renhe,118 kenhe
kwele arelhe nhenge itwe anteme kwele ularre-ularre; lewetyerrerlkekerte kwele yalkerlke, ultherte
ikwerekerte,119 merne arlkwenhe-arlkwenhe akngerre ikwerekerte kwele petyalperlenge.120
Kwetethe nhenge rerle mpware-p-areme-arteke kwele re mpwaretyalpeke.121 Ure kutyeke, ure alepe
theneke, ure itemele anteme neke.122 Ure imerte nhenge arlpmanthe anteme irrerlenemele itelaraye,
tyerretyeke;123 lewetyerrerlke, yamerlke renhe itetyeke, arlatyeye ante yalke, awele-awelerlke peke
renherle re inetyerte.124 Kweke rerle kwele ankwintetyeme-kathene.125 Mernerlke, kererlke
mpengerlilekeliperre kwele kele kweke renhe anteme kwele ulyentyeke inartnalpeke, artnerremele
pekerle iwelheke.126 Anpemele kwele, nhenhe pele arrangkwe kwenhe.127 Atwelheke kwele re
yanhe ikwere awethe-anteye128 kwatye itere ikwere anteme kwele re areke apmwe kngerre
nhenhipenhe kwenhe.129 Apale neke kwenhe.130 Atwelhemele, atwelhemele, atwelhemele,
arlpmenyele kwele pernelheke.131 Alhwante anteme kwele anertneke.132
Kenhe kwele artwe nhenge kenhe kwele, artwe nyikwe re kenhe kwele petyalpeke;133 no
kere nyenterle kwele re tweke.134 Kere nyente pekerle kwele re atweke peke, areke peke kwele,
arrangkwe.135 Arlenge-anterle kwele re aretyeme kemirrenherlenge, not itweke peke kwele re areke,
arrangkwe.136 Re kwele pele aretyalpeke relhe renhe arlpmenye-anterle kwele arnarerlenerlenge,
mperlkere-nthurrerle-ilelhekerle arlpmenyele.137 Kweke kenhe kwele interlenge, arintye-kwele-
alpeke arlengenge-anteye apele,138 "Oh alakenhe nhengerle ayenge urltatyerlke irrerlelheke.139 Apale
anteme ayenge lheke.140"
Kenhe relhe re kenhe kwele arrwekele-anteyerle artwe ikweretyenge impatye renhe kwele
urrpareke.141 Pmerewernethekerlke kwele re half-way urrparelherliweke itwe-anteye.142
Kenhe kwele artwe just arlengenge-anteye arintyeke.143 Amirreke kwele re irrtyarte
kwernemele, ulte tantheke ikwere-anteye.144 Ikwere-anteye kwele apele renhe untyerlke tweke,145
kweke renhe-anteye iperteke artemele,146 imerte renhe urele iterlelhemele alhemele pmere
arrpenhewerne anteme.147
Nhenhe anteme kweke artnerrentye ikwere kerte ayeye nhenhe re neke.148 Ingkerne-ingkerne
ayeye ikwerengerle renhe apmwele uthneke;149 kele artwe re pmere arrpenhewerne lheke, pmere
arrpenheke tyerrtye arrpenhe mape aretyelhetyeke.150
KELE
Ampe Urreye Kweke Artnerre-ntye-Kerte
child boy little crawl-NMZR-PROP
[Ayeye ampe urreye kweke-kerte kwele.]

[story child boy little-PROP QUOT]
[1] Pmere arrule-rle kwele ne-ke; artwe anyente, ante new-ikwe

camp long time-FOCQUOT live-PC; man one and spouse-3KinPOSS
arelhe nyente, ante ampe urreye kweke artnerre-ntye.
womanone, and child boy little crawl-NMZR
[2] Itne kwele ne-tyerte mwarre nthurre.

3plS QUOT live-rem.p.hab good INTENS
[3] Ampe urreye kweke artnerre-ntye re kenhe kwele ne-ke

child boy little crawl-NMZR 3sgS BUT QUOT be-pc
nyente-rle ikwere-therre-nhe.
one-FOC 3dlPOSS
[4] Artwe re anteme kwele angke-ke alakenhe,

man 3sgS now QUOT speak-pc like so
arlte nyente-le, ingweleme kwele kem-irre-me-le;
day one-LOC, morning QUOT get up-INCH-npp-SS
[5] "Ayenge-rle kere-werne lhe-tyenhenge,
"1sgS-FOC meat-ALL go-SBSQNT
[6] unte gotta ampe kweke yanhe mwantye nthurre-le

2sgA have to child little that(mid) carefully INTENS-ADV
atnyene-rle kwenhe, arntarntare-rle yanhe kwenhe."
hold-GenEvt ASSERT, look after-GenEvt that(mid) ASSERT."
[7] Kele kwele artwe re irrtyarte ikwerenhe ine-ke, amirre-rlke,

O.K. QUOT man 3sgA spear 3sgPOSS get-pc, womera-TOO
[8] alhe-ke anteme kwele re.
go-pc now QUOT 3sgS
[9] Kele kwele re arleng-irre-me-le uyerre-nhe-ke.

O.K. QUOT 3sgS far-INCH-npp-SS disappear-DO PAST-pc
[10] Kenhe kwele relhe re kem-irre-me-le,

BUT QUOT woman 3sgS get up-INCH-npp-SS
[11] urtne kweke - [Iperte nhenge-ulkere merne-rlke

coolamon little - [hole REMEMB-KIND v.food-TOO
arrerne-ntye kngerre.
put-NMZR big
[12] Itne-kenhe-rle ne-ke re; arlatyeye-kenhe,

3pl-POSS-FOC be-pc 3sgS; yam(type)-POSS
langkwe-rlke arrerne-ntye kngerre, yalke-rlke.] -
bush banana-TOO put-NMZR big, bush onion-TOO] -
[13] re-nhe-ulkere kwele ine-ke, ante kwatye-kenhe iperte nthurre,

3SG-ACC-KIND QUOT get-pc, and water-POSS deep
INTENS,
atneme atnyem-atye tnye-tyeke.
digging stick witchetty bush-grub dig-PURP
[14] Re-rle kwele ne-tyeme artwe re-kemparre

3sgS-FOC QUOT sit-pp man 3sgS-FIRST
uyerre-nhe-tyenheng-aye, are-rle.ne-me-le,
disappear-DO PAST-SBSQNT-EMPH see-CONT-npp-SS
[15] kweke re-nhe yern-eyemenge kwatye-werne lhe-tyeke,

little 3sg-ACC send-HOPE water-ALL go-PURP,
nyent-arenye, artnerre-nhe-pe-nhe-tyeke kwele.
one-ASSOC, crawl-DO PAST-FRQNT.rdp-PURP QUOT
[16] Arlenge-le kenhe kwele ne-ke kwatye iperte re,
far-LOC BUT QUOT be-pc water hole 3sgS
itne-rle kwatye-rle ntywe-me-le ne-tyerte.
3plA-REL water-REL drink-npp-SS be-rem.p.hab
[17] Ikwere-nge kwele re kweke re-nhe ile-ke,
3sgDAT-ABL QUOT 3sgA little 3sg-ACC tell-pc
[18] "Aweye kwek-aye!

baby boy little-EMPH
[19] Unte warre kwatye pintye-pintye nhenge-ulkere mape itelare-Ø,
2sgA REMIND water water-reeds REMEMB-KIND pl(grp) know-IMP
[20] kwatye-le tne-nhe-tne-nhe, ntye-ntye kngerre,

water-LOC stand-NMZR.Hab.rdp smell(intr)-NMZR big,
[21] ikwere-ulkere kngerre-werne unte lhe-pe-lhe-Ø kwenhe."

3sgDAT-KIND big-ALL 2sgS go-FREQ.rdp-IMP ASSERT
[22] Akweke re-nhe kwele re ile-ke.

little 3sg-ACC QUOT 3sgA tell-pc.
[23] Kele kwele arelhe re arnpe-nhe-ke,

OK QUOT woman 3sgS step-DO PAST-pc
[24] kweke re kenhe kwele ne-me-le itware-rleke.

little 3sgA BUT QUOT sit-npp-SS watch go away-DS
[25] Kele artnerre-nhe-tyeke anteme kwele re kng-elpe-knge-lhe-ke.

OK crawl-DO PAST-PURP now QUOT 3sgS take-C.Incep.rdp-REFL-pc
[26] Artnerre-nhe-me kwele re nheke artnerre-nhe-ke.

crawl-DO PAST-npp QUOT 3sgS ?(here-DAT) crawl-DO PAST-pc
[27] Ikwere-nge kwele re purrk-irre-me, mpwepe-le ne-ke.
3sgDAT-ABL QUOT 3sgS tired-INCH-npp, middle-LOC sit-pc
[28] Mpwepe-le ne-me-le, ne-me-le, kwele re kele

middle-LOC sit-npp-SS, sit-npp-SS, QUOT 3sgS OK
ulyentye-le ne-rle.ne-me-le lyeke ulye-ketyarre-lhe-ke;
shade-LOC sit-CONT-npp-SS prickle shade-DAT pull out-REFL-pc;
mpere-kerleke ante ingke-artepe-kerleke.
knee- CONNECT and foot-back-CONNECT
[29] Tyarre-lhe-me-le kwele ne-tyeme,

pull out-REFL-npp-SS QUOT be-pp
kweke re ulyentye-le purrke kngerre ne-me;
little 3sgS shade-LOC tired big be-npp;
[30] kenhe m-ikwe kenhe kele uyerre-rle.ne-ke-rlenge

BUT mother-3KinPOSS BUT OK disappear-CONT-pc-DS
tnyem-atye-ke-rlke unthe-rle.ne-tyeke kwele,
witchetty bush-grub-DAT-TOO look for-CONT-PURP QUOT
lewetyerre-ke-rlke, yalke-ke-rlke, arlatyeye-ke-rlke.
goanna-DAT-TOO, bush onion-DAT-TOO, yam(type)-DAT-TOO
[31] Ankerte-rlke re-nhe peke re twe-rle.pe-tyeme.

lizard-TOO 3sg-ACC maybe 3sgA hit-DO ALONG-pp
[32] Awethe kwele kweke re artnerre-nhe-rle, mpwepe-ke kwele re

again QUOT little 3sgS crawl-DO PAST-GenEvt middle-DAT QUOT
3sgS
arrerne-lhe-ke, awethe-kine, lyeke re-nhe tyarre-lhe-rle.ne-tyeke.
put-REFL-pc, again/more-again prickle 3sg-ACC pull out-REFL-CONT-PURP
[33] Awethe-anteye-rle imerte kwele lhe-me-le, artnerre-nhe-me-le,

again-still/too-FOC then QUOT go-npp-SS, crawl-DO PAST-npp-SS,
artnerre-ke-nhe-pe-nhe-tyenhenge arlenge-arlentye nthurre re anteme kwele.
crawl-?-DO PAST-FREQ.rdp-SBSQNT very far INTENS 3sgS now
QUOT
[34] Pmere-nge-rlke arleng-irre-ke re;

camp-ABL-TOO far-INCH-pc 3sgS;
[35] kele kwatye re-nhe anteme re itwe-ke-lhile-ke.

OK water 3sg-ACC now 3sgA near-DAT-CAUS-pc
[36] Kwatye iperte kwatye kngerre-tayeme inte-nhe-inte-nhe.

water hole rain big-TIME lie-NMZR.Hab.rdp
[37] Ikwere itwe-ke anteme kwele re irre-ke,

3sgDAT near-DAT now QUOT 3sgS INCH-pc
lhere-werne-theke re anteme kwele.
creek bed-ALL-wards 3sgS now QUOT
[38] Artnerre-ke-nhe-me-le arnkarre-le kweye alengke

crawl-?-DO PAST-npp-SS bank-LOC SelfDoubt ?unfortunate one
re-rle re atnye-nhe-ke peke, atnarnpe-nhe-ke;
3sgS-REL 3sgS fall-DO PAST-pc maybe, descend-DO PAST-pc;
[39] kenhe relhe re kenhe kwele apmere arrere-kwenye ikwere-le

BUT woman3sgS BUT QUOT place nearby-NomNEG 3sgDAT-LOC
kwele alhe-pe-lhe-rlenge, utepe-utepe-kwele-irre-rlenge pmere arlenge.
QUOT go-FREQ.rdp-DS turn back(rdp)-QUOT-INCH-DS place far
[40] Alewetyerre iltye-ingke-kerte anteme kwele tnye-nty-ipenhe

goanna hand-foot-PROP(O) now QUOT dig-NMZR-AFTER
re twe-me-le-twe-me-le-rle knge-tye-ke;
3sgA hit-npp-SS-hit-npp-SS-REL(O) take-hither-pc;
ankerte-rlke peke re-nhe apmwe-rlke peke re-nhe.
lizard-TOO maybe 3sg-ACC snake-TOO maybe 3sg-ACC
[41] Yalke-rlke tnye-me-le, kwele uyerre-rle.ne-ke,
bush onion-TOO dig-npp-SS, QUOT finish-CONT-pc
arlatyeye-rlke tnye-rle.ne-me-le urreke-anteye.
yam(type)-TOO dig-CONT-npp-SS later-still/too
[42] Lhere itere-ke-rl-irre-ke anteme kwele re

creek bed side-DAT-REL-INCH-pc now QUOT 3sgS
pety-alpe-tyeme kwatye iperte ikwere-werne,
come back-pp water hole 3sgDAT-ALL
[43] kenhe kweke nhenge-penhe kwele kele lhere ikwere-le anteme

BUT little REMEMB-PITY QUOT O.K. creek bed 3sgDAT-LOC now
artnerre-nhe-rlenge, kwatye ikwere-werne-theke, angkethakwe anteme.
crawl-DO PAST-DS, water 3sgDAT-ALL-WARDS, thirsty now
[44] Kwatye re-nhe kwele walye mape kwele re

water 3sg-ACC QUOT branches pl(grp) QUOT 3sgA
iltye-le alakenhe-ile-tyenhenge ingkirreke kwele :
hand-INST like so-CAUS-SBSQNT all QUOT:
keth-ile-me-le, ntywe-me-le kwele.
uncovered-CAUS-npp-SS, drink-npp-SS QUOT
[45] Ntywe-nty-ipenhe imerte kwele artnerre-nhe-me-le

ulyentye-werne; ankwe-ke kwele iwe-lh-eyemenge,
shade-ALL; asleep-DAT QUOT throw away-REFL-HOPE
[46] kenhe kele relhe nhenge petye-anteme-alpe-rlenge, itwe anteme.

BUT O.K. womanREMEMB come-now-back-DS, near now.
[47] Are-ty.alpe-me-le kweke re-nhe ankwe-ke nheke,

see-GO BACK&DO-npp-SS little 3sg-ACC sleep-DAT ?(Here-DAT),
[48] ure ite-me-le iparrpe-iparrpe-le kwele,

fire cook-npp-SS quickly-quickly-ADV QUOT
lewetyerre mape-rlke nthekiwe-me-le,
goanna pl(grp)-TOO roast(?)-npp-SS,
[49] kele yalke-rlke re-nhe anteme ite-me-le

OK bush onion-TOO 3sg-ACC now cook-npp-SS
kweke re kwenhe ankwe-l-ureke.
little 3sgS ASSERT asleep-LOC-during.
[50] Kwentye-kwenty-ile-me-le kwele kele ingkirreke-rle

all sorts together-CAUS-npp-SS QUOT O.K. all-FOC/REL
mpeng-ile-ke; merne-rlke, kere-rlke, lewetyerre-rlke,
cooked-CAUS-pc; v.food-TOO, meat-TOO, goanna-TOO
ante re-nhe ingkirrempeng-ile-ke-rle.
and 3sg-ACC all cooked-CAUS-pc-REL
[51] Kele kwele imerte relhe re kweke re-nhe anteme ine-rl.iwe-me-le,

OK QUOT then woman3sgA little 3sg-ACC now get-DO QUICK-npp-
SS,
[52] lyeke re-nhe kwele atere-le tyarre-tyenhenge

prickle 3sg-ACC QUOT afraid-ADV pull out-SBSQNT
iparrpe-iparrpe nthurre-le kwele mpere-kerleke;

quickly-quickly INTENS-ADV QUOT knee-CONNECT;
[53] mpere-kerleke kwele lyeke-rle tanthe-ke nhenge

knee-CONNECT QUOT prickle-REL spear-pc REMEMB
artnerr-intye-p-intye-rlenge,
crawl-DO COMING-FREQ.rdp-DS,
[54] iltye-kere-nhe kwele tyarre-tyenhenge thengkarre re-nhe.

hand-DAT 3sg-ACC QUOT pull out-SBSQNT burr (bindi-eye?)
3sg-ACC
[55] Ikwere-nge imerte kwele ankw-elpe-ankw-ile-tyenhenge,
3sgDAT-ABL then QUOT asleep-C.Incep.rdp-CAUS-SBSQNT,
keme-rl-irre-ke re-nhe.
get up-REL-INCH-pc 3sg-ACC
[56] Kweke ikwere-artweye re, ny-ikwe re kenhe kwele

little 3sgDAT-custodian 3sgS, father-3KinPOSS 3sgS BUT QUOT
kele itwe anteme,
OK near now,
[57] kere-rle tanthe-ke-rle, kere intwarlpe-kerte kwele

game-REL spear-pc-REL, meat over shoulders-PROP QUOT
arrate-rle.lhe-rlenge, mpenge-kerte.
appear-DO&GO-DS, cooked-PROP
[58] Arrerne-lhe-ty.alpe-me-le akwele are-ty.alpe-ke

put-REFL-GO BACK&DO-npp-SS QUOT see-GO BACK&DO-pc
kweke re-nhe ankwe kngerre.
little 3sg-ACC asleep big
[59] Payuthne-ty.alpe-ke,
ask-GO BACK&DO-pc,
[60] "Kweke nhenhe-me iwenh-ipenhe-rle kwetethe ankwe kngerre

"little this-INTER what-AFTER-FOC always asleep big
the are-ty.alpe-p-alpe-me kwenhe?
1sgA see-GO BACK&DO-FREQ.rdp-npp ASSERT
[61] Karre-rlke ne-nhe-ne-nhe ane-tyange kwenhe."

awake-TOO be-NMZR.Hab.rdp be-VbNEG ASSERT."
[62] Kenhe kwele relhe re ile-rlenge,

BUT QUOT woman 3sgA tell-DS,
[63] "Arrken-irre-nty-ipenhe-y.aye; kwetethe-rle

fun-INCH-NMZR-AFTER-EMPH2 always-FOC
arrken-irre-p-irre-me kwenhe, ankw-irre-rne kwenhe.";
fun-INCH-FREQ.rdp-npp ASSERT, asleep-INCH-p.immed ASSERT.";
[64] urrty-irre-me-le kwele.

lie-INCH-npp-SS QUOT.
[65] Arlte arrpanenhe re-rle kwele ne-ke alakenhe re kwete.

day many-different 3sgS-FOC QUOT be-pc like so 3sgS still
[66] Artwe kere-ke alhe-rle, relhe merne-ke alhe-rle lewetyerre-ke-rlke,

man meat-DAT go-GenEvt, womanv.food-DAT go-GenEvt goanna-DAT-
TOO,
[67] kenhe kweke kenhe kwele nyente re-rle

BUT little BUT QUOT one 3sgS-FOC
artnerre-ke-rle.ne-rlenge kwatye ikwere-werne.
crawl-?-CONT-DS water 3sgDAT-ALL.
[68] Ikwer-ipenhe anteme kwele artwe re nyente-renge anteme

3sgDAT-AFTER now QUOT man 3sgS one-NumAdv now
re arlte nyente arrpenhe-le kem-irre-ke.
3sgS day one other-LOC get up-INCH-pc.
[69] Kem-irre-me-le kwele keme-lh.ile-ke,

get up-INCH-npp-SS QUOT getup-CAUS-pc,
[70] "Kele warre aherlke-ntye-nge kem-irre-Ø kwenhe.

"OK REMIND to dawn-NMZR-ABL get up-INCH-IMP ASSERT.
[71] Ayenge-rle lyete awethe ulyenye alh-eyemenge kwenhe."

1sgS-FOC today again hunting go-HOPE ASSERT.
[72] Relhe re kwele kem-irre-me-le

woman 3sgS QUOT get up-INCH-npp-SS
[73] merne arlatyeye-rlke re-nhe kwele itne ingweleme arlkwe-rre-me-le,

v.food yam(type)-TOO 3sg-ACC QUOT 3plA morning eat-plS/A-npp-
SS,
kwatye-rlke ntywe-rre-me-le, kere-rlke arlkwe-rre-me-le; kweke re-rlke.
water-TOO drink-plS/A npp-SS, meat-TOO eat-plS/A-npp-SS; little 3sgA-
TOO
[74] Artwe re kwele imerte ile-me-le,

man 3sgA QUOT then tell-npp-SS,
[75] "Kweke yanhe mwanty-ewe kwenhe.

little that(mid) carefully-EMPH+ ASSERT.
[76] Tnengkerre kngerre-rle the are-rne-nge kwenhe,

dream big-FOC 1sgA see-p.immed-ABL ASSERT,
altyerrekngerre kwenhe, kweke re-nhe kwele

dream big ASSERT, little 3sg-ACC ASSERT
urltatye-le twe-ke.
premonition(?)-ERG hit-pc.
[77] Urltatye-l-aye, urltatye-le-rle twe-rne

premonition(?)-ERG-EMPH premonition(?)-ERG-FOC hit-p.immed
kwenhe kweke yanhe.
ASSERT little that(mid).
[78] Mwantye-le anteme unte lyete arntarntare-tyeke kwenhe

carefully-ADV now 2sgA today look after-PURP ASSERT
ankwe kwetethe-rle the are-ty.alpe-p-alpe-me kwenhe."
asleep ASSERT-REL 1sgA see-GO BACK&DO-FREQ.rdp-npp ASSERT"
[79] Relhe re kenhe mwarre-way re kwele tyerne-rlenge,

woman3sgA BUT good-way 3sgA QUOT respond-DS,
[80] "Yawe kwenhe. Kweke pele the-rle kwetethe

"yes ASSERT. little FACT 1sgA-REL always
arntarntare-p-are-me-rle kwenhe."
look after-FREQ.rdp-npp-REL ASSERT."
[81] Artwe re kenhe kwele kutne-rle ne-ke.

man 3sgS BUT QUOT ignorant-FOC/REL be-pc
[82] Artwe re kenhe kutne-rle ne-ke relhe re-rle

man 3sgS BUT ignorant-FOC/REL be-pc woman3sgA-THAT
kwele kweke re-nhe yerne-tyerte-nge kwatye-werne
QUOT little 3sg-ACC send-rem.p.hab-ABL water-ALL
nyente artnerre-ke-nhe-rle.ne-tyeke kwele.
one crawl-?-DO PAST-CONT-PURP QUOT.
[83] Kele kwele artwe re irrtyarte-rlke ikwerenhe ine-rle.lhe-ke

OK QUOT man 3sgA spear-TOO 3sgPOSS get-DO&GO-pc
amirre-rlke kere twe-tyeke lhe-tyeke, tanthe-tyeke.
womera-TOO game kill-PURP go-PURP, spear-PURP.
[84] Arnpe-nhe-ke kwele.

step-DO PAST-pc QUOT.
[85] Alkngare-kwele-lh-elpe-lhe-nhe-ke, kweke re-nhe

?turn around-QUOT-REFL-C.Incep.rdp-DO PAST-pc, little 3sg-ACC
ane-rle.ne-rlenge ar-elp-are-nhe-me-le kwele.
sit-CONT-DS see-C.Incep.rdp-DO PAST-npp-SS QUOT
[86] Atnertekenhe kwele re kurne-rle welhe-ke kweke ikwere.
stomach BUT QUOT 3sgS bad-FOC/REL feel-pc little 3sgDAT.
[87] Kere-ke kwele re are-rle.pe-tyem-aye

game-DAT QUOT 3sgA see-DO ALONG-pp-EMPH
[88] tharte kwele re irre-rle.lhe-ke kere ikwere anteme kwele

start QUOT 3sgS INCH-DO&GO-pc game 3sgDAT now QUOT
are-rle.pe-ke, are-rle.pe-ke, are-rle.pe-ke, are-rle.pe-ke.
see-DO ALONG-pc, see-DO ALONG-pc, see-DO ALONG-pc, see-DO ALONG-pc.
[89] Kere kenhe kwele arrwekel-iknge-rle unte-rle-unte-rl.iwe-ke.

game BUT QUOT front-TOO MUCH-FOC hurry away-SPORADIC.rdp-pc
[90] Just atn-ante ware nhenge-ulkere kwele ne-rlenge lyete-nye.

just shit-ONLY DISMIS REMEMB-KIND QUOT be-DS
today-tmp.nom
[91] Nhenhe-nge lyete-rle kem-irre-nhe-rne-rle,

here-ABL recently-REL get up-INCH-DO PAST-p.immed-REL,
yanhe-nge lyete-rle kem-irre-nhe-rne-rle,
there(mid)-ABL recently-REL get up-INCH-DO PAST-p.immed-REL
nhakwe-rle unte-rl.iwe-me kwenhe:
there(dist)-REL hurry away-DO QUICK-npp ASSERT:
[92] "Iwenhe-perte anteme-rle-me lyete kwenhe?"

"what-?wrong now-FOC-INTERR today ASSERT"
[93] Kwete kwele re lhe-ke kere twe-tyeke.twetye kwele unthe-tyeke.

still QUOT 3sgS go-pc game kill-up until QUOT look for-PURP.
[94] Kenhe kwele relhe nhenge ingkerne-anteye kem-irre-ke.

BUT QUOT womanREMEMB behind-still/too get up-INCH-pc.
[95] Artwe re-nhe arlenge-arteke-irre-rlenge itware-ke.
man 3sg-ACC far-SEMBL-INCH-DS watch go away-pc
[96] Arne ikwerenhe mape ine-rle.lhe-ke anteme ante urtne kweke

thing 3sgPOSS pl(grp) get-DO&GO-pc now and coolomon little
iperte re-nhe-therre-nhe; merne-kenhe ante kwatye-kenhe,
deep 3dl-ACC v.food-POSS and water-POSS,
[97] ine-me-le kwele arnpe-nhe-rlenge kweke re-nhe ile-rle.lhe-me,

get-npp-SS QUOT step-DO PAST-DS little 3sg-ACC tell-DO&GO-npp,
[98] "Aweye kwek-aye, kwatye nhenge-werne alhe-pe-lhe-Ø kwenhe.

"baby boy little-EMPH, water REMEMB-ALL go-FREQ.rdp-IMP ASSERT.
[99] Kwatye pintyarre-angketyarre nhenge-werne you arrwekele

water reeds-abundance REMEMB-ALL you in front
artnerre-nhe-rle kwenhe;
crawl-DO PAST-GenEvt ASSERT
[100] ayenge nhakwe-rle lhe-me-nge-rle kwenhe

1sgS there(dist)-FOC/REL go-npp-ABL-FOC/REL ASSERT
merne nwerne-ke ine-nhe-tyeke kwenhe."
food 2pl-DAT get-DO PAST-PURP ASSERT
[101] Wale kweke re awethe-kine road anteme-rle kwele mpware-ke,

well little 3sgA again-again road now-FOC QUOT make-pc,
[102] kwele re artnerre-rle.ne-me-le, iwerre kngerre anteme-rle

QUOT 3sgS crawl-CONT-npp-SS, path(way) big now-FOC
kwele mpware-ke;
QUOT make-pc;
[103] artnerre-pe-rre-rle kwele, arlte arrpanenhe ikwere-le kwele.
crawl-FREQ.rdp-GenEvt QUOT, day many different 3sgDAT-LOC QUOT.
[104] Artnerre-nhe-me-le kwele kweke re awethe-rle ne-rle.

crawl-DO PAST-npp-SS QUOT little 3sgS again-FOC be-GenEvt
[105] Ulyentye arrpanenhe re-rle ne-tye-ne-ty.alpe-tyerte

shade many different 3sgS-FOC sit-?-sit-GO BACK&DO-rem.p.hab
ulyentye ikwere-le line-up re ane-rle.pe-ke.
shade 3sgDAT-LOC lined-up 3sgS sit-DO ALONG-pc
[106] Atnarnpe-kwele-nhe-ke, lhere ikwere-werne kweke re artnerre-nhe-ke.

descend-QUOT-DO PAST-pc, creekbed 3sgDAT-ALL little 3sgS crawl-DO
PAST-pc.
[107] Kwatye ikwere-le anteme kwele anthelke mape nhenge,

water 3sgDAT-LOC now QUOT ?plant debris pl(grp) REMEMB,
apere walye y'know, nhenge lerne-lhe-tyerte arntyerrke;
red gum branches y'know, REMEMB shake out-REFL-rem.p.hab
dry;
[108] lke-le anteme nhenge, itere arrpenhe-thayete-werne

wind-ERG now REMEMB, side other-SIDE-ALL
anteme nhenge kwatye ikwere-rleke werne-ke.
now REMEMB water 3sgDAT-CONNECT blow-pc.
[109] Kele aharle ne-tyenhenge itere arrpenhe-thayete-le ne-me-rle,

OK pile be-SBSQNT side other-SIDE-LOC be-npp-FOC/REL,
[110] ikwere-thayete-werne-rle akwele kweke re artnerr-intye-tyeme

3sgDAT-SIDE-ALL-FOC/REL QUOT little 3sgS crawl-DO COMING-pp
[111] apmwe-k-anternenhe nhenhe kenhe ikwere kare-lhe-rleke.

snake-DAT-huge here BUT 3sgDAT mind-REFL(wait)-DS
[112] Itwe-k-irre-me-le kwele ahere-le kwele artnerr-intye-rle kwatye
near-DAT-INCH-npp-SS QUOT swiftly-ADV QUOT crawl-DO COMING-GenEvt
water
kngerre nhenge warre yanhe kwenhe, itepe-le are-me-le.
big REMEMB REMIND that(mid) ASSERT, edge-LOC see-npp-
SS.
[113] Re pele ikwere-nge-ntyele kwele awethe-anteye nthelke

3sgA FACT 3sgDAT-ABL-ONWARDS QUOT again-still/too plant debris
re-nhe kwele nhenge iwenhe-kweye-ile-tye.lhe-rle.
3sg-ACC QUOT REMEMB what-SelfDoubt-CAUS-GO&DO-GenEvt.
[114] Arleng-irre-me-le kwele ankertiwe-ke, keth-ile-me-le,

far-INCH-npp-SS QUOT push away-pc, uncovered-CAUS-npp-SS,
ntywe-tyenhenge kwatye.
drink-SBSQNT water.
[115] Ntywe-tyeke anteme kwele re artepe-arrerne-lhe-ke.

drink-PURP now QUOT 3sgS back-put-REFL-pc.
[116] Apmwe-le kenhe kwele re-nhe ay-elp-ayerne-me-le

snake-ERG BUT QUOT 3sg-ACC bind-C.Incep.rdp-npp-SS
yanhe ikwere-perre-anteye kwele tnyante uthne-ke,
there(mid) 3sgDAT-?(though)-still/too QUOT severely bite-pc,
kwatye ikwere itere-ke-anteye.
water 3sgDAT side-DAT-still/too.
[117] Impatye anteme nhenge apmwe re ne-ke, apmwe re kenhe

tracks now REMEMB snake 3sgS be-pc, snake 3sgS BUT
uthne-me-l-ante-rle nhenge lhe-ke anthelke-nge-ntyele.
bite-npp-SS-ONLY-FOC/REL REMEMB go-pc plant debris-ABL-ONWARDS.
[118] Kwatye itere-le peke-rle nhenge irrernt-irre-me-le
water side-LOC maybe-FOC REMEMB cold-INCH-npp-SS
inte-tyeme-le re uthne-ke kweke re-nhe,
lie-pp-SS 3sgA bite-pc little 3sg-ACC,
[119] kenhe kwele arelhe nhenge itwe anteme kwele ularre-ularre;

BUT QUOT womanREMEMB near now QUOT turn back-turn back;
lewetyerre-rlke-kerte kwele yalke-rlke, ultherte ikwere-kerte,
goanna-TOO-PROP QUOT bush onion-TOO, all sorts 3sgDAT-PROP
[120] merne arlkwe-nhe-arlkwe-nhe akngerre ikwere-kerte kwele

v.food eat-NMZR.Hab.rdp ig(alot) 3sgDAT-PROP QUOT
pety.alpe-rlenge.
come back-DS.
[121] Kwetethe nhenge re-rle mpware-p-are-me-arteke kwele

always REMEMB 3sgA-REL make-FREQ.rdp-npp-SEMBL QUOT
re mpware-ty.alpe-ke.
3sgA make-GO BACK&DO-pc
[122] Ure kutye-ke, ure alepe thene-ke,

firewood gather-pc, fire firestick lay down(tr)-pc,
ure ite-me-le anteme ne-ke.
fire cook-npp-SS now be-pc
[123] Ure imerte nhenge arlpmanthe anteme irre-rle.ne-me-le

fire then REMEMB hot embers now INCH-CONT-npp-SS
itelar-Ø-aye, tyerre-tyeke;
know-IMP-EMPH, cook(in hot embers)-PURP;
[124] lewetyerre-rlke, yame-rlke re-nhe ite-tyeke, arlatyeye ante yalke,

goanna-TOO, yam-TOO 3sg-ACC cook-PURP, yam(type) and bush
onions,
awele-awele-rlke peke re-nhe-rle re ine-tyerte.
bush tomato-TOO maybe 3sg-ACC-REL 3sgA get-rem.p.hab
[125] Kweke re-rle kwele ankw-inte-tyeme-kathene.

little 3sgS-FOC QUOT asleep-lie-pp-MISTAKE
[126] Merne-rlke, kere-rlke mpenge-rl-ile-ke-l-iperre kwele kele

v.food-TOO, meat-TOO cooked-REL-CAUS-pc-SS-AFTER QUOT OK
kweke re-nhe anteme kwele ulyentye-ke in-artn.alpe-ke,
little 3sg-ACC now QUOT shade-DAT get-Quickly:DO&GO BACK-pc
artnerre-me-le peke-rle iwe-lhe-ke.
crawl-npp-SS maybe-REL throw away-REFL-pc
[127] Anpe-me-le kwele, nhenhe pele arrangkwe kwenhe.

touch-npp-SS QUOT, this FACT nothing ASSERT
[128] Atwe-lhe-ke kwele re yanhe ikwere awethe-anteye

hit-REFL-pc QUOT 3sgS there(mid) 3sgDAT again-still/too
[129] kwatye itere ikwere anteme kwele re are-ke apmwe kngerre

water side 3sgDAT now QUOT 3sgA see-pc snake big
nhenh-ipenhe kwenhe.
this-AFTER(O) ASSERT
[130] Apale ne-ke kwenhe.

WRONGLY be-pc ASSERT.
[131] Atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-me-le, atwe-lhe-me-le,
hit-REFL-npp-SS, hit-REFL-npp-SS, hit-REFL-npp-SS,
arlpmenye-le kwele perne-lhe-ke.
ashes-INST QUOT rub-REFL-pc.
[132] Alhw-ante anteme kwele ane-rtne-ke.

blood-ONLY now QUOT be-??-pc.
[133] Kenhe kwele artwe nhenge kenhe kwele,

BUT QUOT man REMEMB BUT QUOT,
artwe ny-ikwe re kenhe kwele pety.alpe-ke;
man father-3KinPOSS 3sgS BUT QUOT come back-pc;
[134] no kere nyente-rle kwele re twe-ke.

no game one-FOC/REL QUOT 3sgA kill-pc.
[135] Kere nyente peke-rle kwele re atwe-ke peke,

game one maybe-FOC/REL QUOT 3sgA kill maybe,
are-ke peke kwele, arrangkwe.
see-pc maybe QUOT, nothing.
[136] Arlenge-ante-rle kwele re are-tyeme kem-irre-nhe-rlenge,

far-ONLY-FOC QUOT 3sgA see-pp get up-INCH-DO PAST-DS
not itwe-ke peke kwele re are-ke, arrangkwe.
not near-DAT maybe QUOT 3sgA see-pc, nothing.
[137] Re kwele pele are-ty.alpe-ke relhe re-nhe

3sgA QUOT FACT see-GO BACK&DO-pc woman 3sg-ACC
arlpmenye-ante-rle kwele arnare-rle.ne-rlenge,
ashes-ONLY-REL QUOT watch come-CONT-DS,
mperlkere-nthurre-rle-ile-lhe-ke-rle arlpmenye-le.
white-INTENS-REL-CAUS-REFL-pc-REL ashes-INSTR.
[138] Kweke kenhe kwele inte-rlenge, ar-intye-kwele-alpe-ke

little BUT QUOT lie-DS, see-DO COMING-QUOT-BACK-pc
arlenge-nge-anteye apele,
far-ABL-still/too FACT,
[139] "Oh alakenhe nhenge-rle ayenge urltatye-rlke irre-rle.lhe-ke.

"Oh like so REMEMB-FOC/REL 1sgS premonition-TOO INCH-DO&GO-pc
[140] Apale anteme ayenge lhe-ke."
WRONGLY now 1sgS go-pc."
[141] Kenhe relhe re kenhe kwele arrwekele-anteye-rle

BUT woman3sgA BUT QUOT front(before)-still/too-FOC
artwe ikwere-tye-nge impatye re-nhe kwele urrpare-ke.
man 3sgDAT-AVER-ABL tracks 3sg-ACC QUOT erase-pc
[142] Pmere-werne-theke-rlke kwele re half-way

camp-ALL-WARDS-TOO QUOT 3sgS half-way
urrpare-lhe-rl.iwe-ke itwe-anteye.
erase-REFL-DO QUICK-pc near-still/too
[143] Kenhe kwele artwe just arlenge-nge-anteye ar-intye-ke.

BUT QUOT man just far-ABL-still/too see-DO COMING-pc.
[144] Amirre-ke kwele re irrtyarte kwerne-me-le,

womera-DAT QUOT 3sgA spear insert-npp-SS
ulte tanthe-ke ikwere-anteye.
side(body) spear-pc 3sgDAT-still/too.
[145] Ikwere-anteye kwele apele re-nhe untye-rlke twe-ke,

3sgDAT-still/too QUOT FACT 3sg-ACC neck-TOO hit-pc,
[146] kweke re-nhe-anteye iperte-ke arte-me-le,

little 3sg-ACC-still/too hole-DAT cover(bury)-npp-SS,
[147] imerte re-nhe ure-le ite-rle.lhe-me-le

then 3sg-ACC fire-INST/LOC cook(ignite)-DO&GO-npp-SS
alhe-me-le pmere arrpenhe-werne anteme.
go-npp-SS camp other-ALL now.
[148] Nhenhe anteme kweke artnerre-ntye ikwere-kerte

this now little crawl-NMZR 3sgDAT-PROP
ayeye nhenhe re ne-ke.
story this 3sgS be-pc.
[149] Ingkerne-ingkerne ayeye ikwere-nge-rle re-nhe apmwe-le uthne-ke;

behind-behind story 3sgDAT-ABL-REL 3sg-ACC snake-ERG bite-pc;
[150] kele artwe re pmere arrpenhe-werne lhe-ke,

OK man 3sgS camp other-ALL go-pc,
pmere arrpenhe-ke tyerrtye arrpenhe mape are-tye.lhe-tyeke.
camp other-DAT person other pl(grp) see-GO&DO-PURP.
KELE
OK(THE END)
A STORY ABOUT A CRAWLING BABY BOY
A long time ago there lived a man, his wife, and their baby son who was at the crawling stage.1
This was their only child and, altogether, they used to live very well.2/3
One day, in the morning when the man had awoken, he said:4 "I'm going hunting,5 make sure
you take good care of the baby, look after him.6" The man got his spear and womera and left.7/8
Then he disappeared into the distance.9
The woman, on the other hand, got up10 and gathered together her coolamon [The one with a
hole like this, that was always used for putting bush foods in.11 It's something they had in the old days
for putting things like yams, bush bananas, and bush onions in.12], and a deeper one for carrying water
in, and her digging stick so that she could dig up witchetty grubs.13 She stayed to watch her husband
disappearing first,14 before sending the baby to go crawling to the water-hole on his own.15 This was
the water-hole where they used to get their drinking water, and it was quite a long way away.16 So
after the coast was clear she said to the baby:17 "Hey, my darling little boy!18 You remember the
pintye-pintye grasses,19 the ones that have a strong smell and stand by the water,20 well that's where
you have to go again today.21" That's what she told the baby to do.22
So then the woman just walked off23 and the baby sat watching her go away24. Then he
himself started to move to crawl off.25 And he crawled, and he crawled.26 After a while he got tired
and sat down in the middle of his journey.27 There he sat and sat in the shade pulling prickles out of his
knees and the tops of his feet.28 While he was sitting there in the shade pulling prickles out and feeling
very weary,29 his mother was nowhere to be seen, hunting around for witchetty grubs, goannas, bush
onions, and yams I suppose.30 She might have been killing lizards as she was going along.31 Anyway,
the little one crawled off again, and then once again sat down in the middle and pulled prickles out,32
and then started off yet again. He crawled and crawled and crawled and by now he had come a very
long way.33 He was far away from his home34 and he was now approaching the water-hole.35 The
water-hole always lay there in the rainy season.36 Finally he got right close up to it and headed for the
creek bed.37 He crawled along the bank [something could have happened to him, he could have have
fallen] and then dropped down the bank to get to the water.38
His mother, however, was at this time wandering around at some place that was nowhere near
the water-hole, and was just turning back.39 She brought the goannas that she had dug up and killed
and was carrying them with their forelegs and back legs all strung together. She might have caught some
other lizards and snakes as well.40 She had finished digging bush onions and was up to digging yams.41
She had reached the side of the creek and was returning to the water-hole.42
At this time the poor little boy was crawling across the sand towards the water because he was
thirsty.43 With his hand he cleared away all the leaves and the brush from the water and had a drink44.
After his drink he crawled off towards some shade where he threw himself down to sleep.45
Then, his mother finally returned and neared him.46 She saw that her son was sleeping when
she arrived back.47 She quickly got the fire started and charred the outside of the goannas,48 and then
cooked the bush onions while all the while the baby slept.49 She prepared all the food together and
after a while everything was cooked; the bush vegetables, the meats, the goannas, everything.50 When
she finished that she got the baby as quick as lightning51 and, in fear, started rapidly taking out the burrs,
prickles, and thorns that had stuck into the baby as it had come crawling along.52/53 She took them
out of his knees and out of his hands and arms,54 and since he had been awakened by this she started
him back off to sleep.55
The father finally approached carrying the meat he had speared, and which he had prepared and
cooked before bringing it home.56/57 When he got to camp he sat down and noticed that the baby was
sound asleep.58 So, the first thing he asked was,59 "Why is it that the baby is always sound asleep
whenever I come home?60 He's never awake.61" But the woman lied and told him,62/64 "It's from
playing. He plays all the time and that's why he sleeps."63
Every day it was the same.65 The man went out for meat, his wife went out for bushfruit and
vegetables and also for goannas.66 but the poor little one was always left on his own to crawl to the
water-hole.67 Then one day the man woke up68 and when he got up to wake his wife up saying,69
"Hey, the sun's up, it's time to get up.70 I want to go out hunting again today.71" The woman got up72
and for breakfast they all ate some yam and some meat, and drank some water. Even the baby had this
for breakfast.73 Then the man told his wife,74 "You must be very careful with the baby.75 I just had a
very powerful dream, a big dream that something bad is going to happen to the baby.76 I've had a really
bad premonition concerning the baby.77 Today you've got to really look after that little one that's
always asleep whenever I get home.78" The woman responded as though she always did everything
properly,79 "Yes, of course. I always look after the baby, it's all I ever do."80 You see, the man didn't
know.81 He didn't know that the woman always used to send the baby crawling all the way to the
creek by himself.82
So the man got his spear and womera and set off to go kill some meat.83/84 As he went he
continued to glance back atthe baby who was sitting there in camp.85 He felt bad in the stomach for the
baby.86 Anyway, he started off looking for meat as he went along. He hunted and hunted and
hunted.87/88 Without fail the animals were always scattering away in front of him before he had chance
to see them.89 There was only ever fresh droppings lying on the ground.90 One had just gotten up
from here. From just there another one had just taken off past here. And from over there another one
had fled.91 "What's going wrong with today?", he thought to himself.92 But he was determined to keep
on hunting until he killed something.93
Once again the woman stayed behind before getting up to go off.94 As soon as she saw her
husband disappear into the distance95 she collected all her things together; her digging stick, and her
two coolamons (the one for water and the one for bush food).96 When she got everything together she
strode off; but before leaving she told her son,97 "Hey my darling boy, you've got to go off to the water
now.98 Crawl off ahead to where all the smelly pintye-pintye are.99 I'm going off over there to gather
our food again.100"
And so yet again the little boy made a road.101 He had created quite a large path from
crawling,102 since he would crawl along the same path every day.103 Yet again he sat down.104 he
used to sit from shade to shade always returning to the same places he had rested before, resting every
now and then as he went along.105 He descended down the bank to the creek bed.106 On the
surface of the water there were dry leaves and red gum branches which had fallen from the trees.107
The wind had blown this debris to the other side on top of the water108 and a pile had built up
there.109 So the baby came crawling to this other side where the leaves were110 and there waiting for
him was a huge snake.111 You know how when he was nearing the big water-hole he would crawl
more quickly along the edge his eyes fixed on the water.112 Just as before he does whatever it is that
he always does to the plant material on top of the water.113 He pushed these things right away and
cleared the surface so that he'd be able to drink the water.114 But, when he bent down to drink,115
the snake coiled around him and gave him a savage bite right there by the water-hole.116 Although the
tracks of the snake were still there, the snake just bit the baby and then slithered off away from the pile
of plant material.117 The snake might have been lying there cooling itself beside the water-hole when it
bit the baby.118
At this same time the baby's mother was near. She was on her way back with the goannas, and
bush onions, and all sorts of things.119 You see the baby's tragic accident occurred when his mother
was on the way back with lots of food.120 She did just what she had always done on her return from
hunting.121 She collected the firewood, laid down the fire-stick and lit the fire.122 Then the fire burnt
down into hot ashes and coals for cooking123 the goannas, yams, and bush onions, and perhaps bush
tomatoes which she always used to collect.124 She mistakenly thought that the baby was sleeping all
this time.125 When everything was completely cooked she went to collect the baby in the shade. She
believed that, as usual, the baby had thrown itself down to sleep after crawling all that way.126 But,
when she touched the baby there was absolutely no response.127 She started hitting herself in sorrow
right there128 and at the same time she noticed the tracks the big snake had left beside the water.129
She had done something very wrong.130 She hit herself and hit herself out of sorrow, and rubbed her
whole body with ashes.131 She had blood all over her.132
Then the father returned home133 without having killed one thing.134 He didn't kill anything, or
even see anything.135 Nothing. He might have seen animals getting up and scattering in the distance,
but he didn't get any closer than that.136 And so, when he returned he found his wife all covered with
ashes and watching his approach. She had made herself all white with ashes.137 Even from a distance
he could see, as he arrived, the baby was just lying there.138 "So the premonition of danger that I felt
before I went off has come true. It was wrong of me to leave.140"
For fear of what the man may think the woman erased the tracks that lead into the camp.141
From halfway out to right up close to the camp she had busily rubbed out evidence of herself.142
But the man had seen everything from a distance as he came.143 He inserted the spear into the
womera and speared her in the side.144 Then he also hit her on the back of the neck145 and he buried
the baby,146 and then set the woman on fire before setting out to another place.147
So that's the story of the little crawling baby.148 Afterwards, after the baby is bitten by the
snake,149 the man goes off to another to find some other people to live with.150
_______________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX 2 : Lexicon
This lexicon is in two parts: the first part lists suffixes and clitics and the second part is a word
list. These lists contain most of the forms which occurred in the examples and texts above, although
proper names have not been included. Some forms which have not appeared anywhere else in the thesis
are also provided in order to give a better perspective on the semantic domains which are covered by
the Mparntwe Arrernte lexicon. Unfortunately, constraints on space and time have not enabled me to
provide a listing of forms according to semantic domains, nor are words specified for their part of
speech (although in most cases this is clear from the gloss). Alternative forms of a word are often listed
after the head word and question marks are used to indicate uncertainty about form and/or meaning.
Verbs are given in uninflected form and certain common or idiomatic verb derivations are listed.
Occasionally antonyms (marked 'ant.') and rough synonyms (marked 'syn.') are provided within the entry
for a word and example sentences (unglossed) may be provided to clarify the use of a word. The reader
is reminded that words that may optionally be pronounced with an 'a' (cf. §2.1.1.4) in initial position are
treated as consonant initial words in this thesis. The primary purpose of this lexicon is to facilitate
understanding of the examples and the texts and to provide a rough indication of the way the Mparntwe
Arrernte lexicon 'carves' up semantic space.
Part A : Suffixes and Clitics

FORM TRANSLATION GLOSS
-again 'same again'
-althe 'bad character' Bad.CHAR
-ampe 'honey'
-ampinye 'in the vicinity of'
-angketyarre 'place abundant in' abundance
-angkwe 'your kin relation' 2KinPOSS
-ante 'only, exclusively' ONLY
-anternenhe 'huge; giant; huge
amount of'
-anteye 'as well, too, again, still' AS WELL
-arenye 'associative; denizen of' ASSOC
-arrkngele 'be indirect reason for anger' IndReasAng
-arrpe 'by one's self, on one's own' SELF
-arteke 'semblative; X is like Y' SEMBL
-arteye 'what about?'
-artne.alpe 'quickly do verb action and DO QUICKLY&GO BACK
quickly go back'
-artne.lhe 'quickly do verb action and DO QUICKLY&GO
quickly go'
-artweye 'custodian; person responsible for
something or someone'
-athewe 'isn't it?' TAG
-atye 'my kin relation' 1KinPOSS
-atye 'grub'
-aye 'emphatic' EMPH
-elpe (see 'reduplication & -elpe')
-em 'marker of English transitive verb' E.tr
-ewe 'strong emphatic' EMPH+
-eye 'permissive' PERM
-eye? 'is it?; (polar question formative)'
-eyemenge 'hoping to do' HOPE
-eyewe 'very strong emphatic' EMPH++
-'gain 'same again'
-iknge 'I'm sick of X'; 'happens TOO MUCH
too much'
-ikwe 'his/her kin relation 3KinPOSS
-ile 'causative' CAUS
-inty.alpe 'do action while coming back' DO COMING BACK
-intye 'do action while coming' DO COMING
-intye.lhe 'do action while coming through' DO COMING THRU
-ipenhe AFTER
-iperre AFTER
-irre 'inchoative' INCH
-irtne '(a) do action while going back REVERS
(b) do back to; change back to'
'reversive'
-itanye 'despite; even; though' DESPITE
-kathene 'mistaken belief' MISTAKE
-ke 'dative' DAT
-ke 'past completive' pc
-kemparre 'be first' FIRST
-kenhe 'possessive (genitive)' POSS
-kerle 'downwards'
-[ke]rleke 'X is in (firm) contact with Y' CONNECT
-kerte 'proprietive (having suffix)' PROP
-ketye 'aversive; for fear of' AVER
-kine 'same again'
-kwenye 'nominal negator (& privative)' NomNEG
-larlenge 'comitative' COM
-le 'ergative' ERG(A)
-le 'instrumental' INST
-le 'locative' LOC
-le 'manner adverb formative' ADV
-le 'same subject' SS
-lhe 'reflexive' REFL
-lhile 'causative' CAUS
-lhile (see reduplication & lhile)
-lerre 'dual subject marking; only with dl.S/A
petye- (come) and -intye DO
COMING)'
-lewarre plural subject marking; only with pl.S/A
impe- 'to leave s.t.'
-me 'interrogative; checking' INTER
-me 'non-past progressive' npp
-me 'unified quantity' UQ
-mere 'hypothetical' HYPO
-ngare 'happens X number of times' TIMES
-nge 'ablative' ABL
-nhe 'accusative' ACC(O)
-nhe 'do action while moving DO PAST
past/through a point'
-nhe (see reduplication & -nhe)
-nhenge 'kin relation together DYADIC
with its complementary
kin relation'
-ntape 'upwards'
-ntye 'nominaliser' NMZR
-ntye 'value adverb (marker)' val.adv
-ntyele 'extends, goes or changes ONWARDS
from X onwards'
-nye 'temporal nominal (formative)' tmp.nom
-pe (see reduplication & -pe)
-penhe 'poor thing; pitiable creature' PITY
-re 'plural subject marking' plS/A
reduplication & -elpe 'continuous inception' C.Incep.rdp
reduplication & -lhile 'force to do; action on CAUS.rdp multiple objects'
reduplication & -nhe 'nominaliser of habitual NMZR.Hab.rdp
involvment'
reduplication & -pe 'happen frequently, FREQ.rdp
frequentive'
reduplication & -rliwe 'happen sporadically, SPORAD.rdp
sporadic'
-renge 'happens X number of times' TIMES
-rl.alpe 'do verb action and go back' DO & GO BACK
-rle 'generic event' GenEvt
-rle 1. 'focal constituent' FOC
2. 'relative clause' REL
3. ''that' clause' THAT
-rleke 'different subject' DS
-rle.lhe 'do verb action and then go' DO & GO
-rle.ne 'do verb action continuously' CONT
-rle.nerre 'dual subject marking' dl.S/A
-rlenge 'different subject' DS
-rle.pe 'do verb action continuously DO ALONG
while moving along'
-rliwe 'do quickly, do like lightning' DO QUICK
-rliwe (see reduplication & -rliwe)
-rlke 'too, as well' TOO
-rlte.ne 'plural subject do verb CONTpl.S/A
action continuously'
-rlte.pe 'plural subject do verb DO ALONGpl.S/A
action continuously while
moving along'
-rltiwe 'plural subject marking with pl.S/A
basic deictic motion verbs'
-rne 'immediate past' p.immed
-rnirre 'plural subject marking; only pl.S/A
with tne-'
-rre 'plural subject marking' pl.S/A
-rre 'dual subject marking' dl.S/A
-rre 'reciprocal; do to each other' RECIP
-rrirre 'plural subject marking' pl.S/A
-tayeme 'time'
-te 'plural subject marking' pl.S/A
-tetye 'instead'
-thayete 'side of'
-theke '-wards'
-thepe '-wards'
-ty.alpe 'go back and then do verb action' GO BACK & DO
-tyange 'verb negator' VbNEG
-ty.antye 'do action while going upwards' DO UPWARDS
-tyathe 'the all time through,throughout' All-Time
-ty.intye 'do verb action on Y's arrival'
-tye 'nominalizer' NMZR
-tye 'move towards speaker; hither' HITHER
-tyeke 'purposive' PURP
-tyekenhe 'verb negator' VbNEG
-tye.kerle 'do action while going downwards' DO DOWNWARDS
-tyele 'negative imperative; don't!' NegIMP
-tye.lhe 'go and then do verb action' GO & DO
-tyeme 'past-progressive' pp
-tyenhe 'non-past completive' npc
-tyenhenge 'subsequent' SBSQNT
-tyerte 'remote-past-habitual' rem.p.hab
-ulkere 'comparative, more' MORE
-ulkere 'a kind of' KIND
-ureke 'during'
-urrke 'before doing anything else' BEFORE
-warre 'plural subject agreement' plS/A
-warte 'since; because; as you SINCE
should know'
-werne 'allative; to, towards' ALL
-Ø 'positive imperative' IMP
Part B: Word List
ahakeye native currant

aharle heap; mound; (grave?)
ahantye skin waterbag (of wallaby or kangaroo skin)
ahate shortened, depleted (eg. of days running out or fire stick burning down)
ahatirre- become shortened or diminished (eg. of time or firestick) [shortened-INCH-]
ahawethe well-known, famous; easy to identify
ahe a fight; anger (hot??)
ahe-kngerre dangerous; aggressive [kngerre = big; much]
ahele angry; angrily
ahele-uthnerre- to argue with each other; have a verbal fight
[ahele = angrily; uthne- = to bite (of animals); -rre 'to do to each other (RECIP)]
ahelhe ground; dirt; sand; land; country
ahelirre- to get angry [angry-INCH-]
ahelkngwe mound over grave; grave mound
ahentye throat; desire
ahentye-ne- to want ; need; desire; like (ie. want or need something; want or need to do
something)
ahentyekwenye to dislike s.t./to do s.t.; have no desire for s.t. or for doing s.t. [desire-
NomNEG]
ahentyirre- to want; need; desire; like s.t.
ahere quickly, in a hurry, do fast
aherlke- to dawn; for sun to rise [syn. aherrke arrate-]
aherlkentye sunrise, dawn [aherlke- = to dawn; -ntye = NMZR]
aherre kangaroo (generally); red kangaroo (specifically)
aherre-aherre kangaroo grass ? (used to make a medicinal drink good for colds and sore throats)
[kangaroo-kangaroo]
aherrke sun (older speakers)
aherrke arrate- sun rise, for sun to rise [sun appear; syn. aherlke-]
aherte rabbit-eared bandicoot; now used for rabbit
aherte-aherte plant with white flowers that spring up during kwatye-tayeme (rainy season) [fr. aherte
= rabbit eared bandicoot REDUP]
ahethile- to clear s.t. up; sweep up (like kethile- ) [ahethe =??]
aheye breath
aheye-aheye fontanelle (soft spot on a baby's head which "breaths") [breath-breath]
aheye-angke- to breathe [breath-speak]
aheyenenhe kind of snake
ahinpe long period of time, not recently
ahirre to do imagining
ahirre-are- to envision; picture in one's mind, visualise; imagine; to have a vision [are- = to
see]
ahirre-awe- to imagine a sound; hear in one's mind; to hear supernatural voices and sounds
[awe- = to hear]
akantye tip of; the end point of an object
akantyere [akantyerre?] storm clouds (white thunder cloud)
akarre be awake
ake(+) head [used rarely and only in compounds or idioms: ake-le knge-me = carrying on the head]
ake-rtapme back of head
ake-ngkwerne skull [head-bone]
akerturrpe short cut
akintye the red flower of the bean tree (inernte)
akiwerre [akeywarre ?] sulky, cranky, upset, worried
akngane- for a totem to manifest itself in a place
aknganentye place where a totem has manifested itself; a person's Dreaming'; conception site;
sacred dreaming place)
[-ntye 'nominaliser']
akngeye father [F; FB]
akwalyenge left hand [akwe- = hand, arm; alyenge = ?]
akwangenye left hand (body-part only, not spatial term)
akwarratye right hand (body-part only, not spatial term) [akwe- = hand, arm; arratye =
right, true,correct]
akwe(+) arm or hand [only used as the first element of derivations and compounds: (a)kw-
irre- = to wave; to handsign]
akwintye windbreak
alakenhe like so, thus (to do in the manner indicated)
alakentye this many (demonstrating with fingers, in writing, or by drawing exact number of
strokes in sand) [see nthakentye]
alartetye traditional leader, spokesman and representative for a group (usually of a large
family/clan group)
alayarenye sea shell [sea-associative]
alaye a large body of water (not flowing) like a lake or the sea
alaye! look out!; get out of the way!; watch out or something bad will happen to you!; pardon
me.
aleme liver (of human or animal)
alengke unfortunate one
alenpenye smart, clever
alenye tongue
alepe firestick
aleperentye female kurdaitcha; wild woman, kind of devil
alere nieces and nephews [BS/D; HZS/D] a man's term for his child(ren) [see ampe]
alernnge sun
alertekwenhe over there (the one I'm pointing to) [exophoric]
alethe journey; trip
Alethe-Theperringethe Alice Springs (Arrernte version of the English form) [see Mparntwe]
alethenge stranger; unfamiliar thing
alhampwe orphan, s.o. without one or both parents
alharrke- to lighten (i.e. to flash with lightening)
alharrkentye lightening [-ntye = NMZR]
alhe nose; snout
alhe-altywere nostril (lit. nose opening)
alhe-arlkwe- "to hunt s.o./s.t. away"; chase s.o./s.t. out of the camp [nose-eat-]
alhele-are- to trick s.o. [nose-INST/LOC-see-]
alhelpe coolibah?
alhengke-are- to recognise by sight; to decipher
alhengke-awe- to recognise the sound of; identify s.t. by the sound it makes
alhengkeye (?) unfortunate person; s.o. "like an orphan or an ugly person", s.o. whose luck is
against them. [see alengke]
alhentere white person (typically Anglo-Australian) [apparently from "pink nose": alhe ntere-
ntere] (note that the handsign for white people is the forefinger brought down across the nose)
alherrkngerne fail to do properly; not do exactly as you intended; to miss s.t. [alherrkngerne ware
awerne 'I just didn't catch(ie. hear) (what you just said a minute ago)']
alhwe blood
alhwe thelelhe- to bleed [blood pour s.t.+REFL-]
alhwe-unte- to bleed [unte- = to hurry, to run, to flow quickly]
alkarle clean; new (ant. ulperte; arntirte)
alkere sky; heaven
alkere-alkere clear, transparent [fr. alkere = sky reduplicated]
alkerekirre- [alkereke irre-] to take off into the sky (of bird, plane); to take flight [alkere = sky; -
ke = DAT; -irre = become (INCH)] (lit. to become in the sky)
alkerele-lhe- [alkerele lhe-] to fly [-le = LOCative; -lhe = to go (lit. to go along in the sky)]
alkngapere are- to stare at [voyeur see-]
alkngapere voyeur, s.o. who continues to stare at s.t. (typically in a lecherous way); Iwenhe
aremaye, alkngapere kngerre unte? 'What are you looking at, you big
voyeur?'
alkngare- to turn around ?
alkngarelhe- to turn back; (turn head to) look back at [-lhe 'reflexive']
alkngarlpe hip bones (?)
alkngarnpelhe(?) eyebrows [alknge = eye; arnpelhe = ?]
alkngarnte eyebrows [alknge = eye; arnte = ?]
alknge eye
alknge urltirreke "hollowed" eyes (ie. eyes that look as though they've become hollow), this is
taken as a symptom of serious illness [eye hollow-INCH-pc]
alknge uthne- jealous, s.o. to be jealous of s.o. else [eye bite (of animals)]
alknge irrkaye short sighted [eye invisible/hazy]
alknge-arlpelhe eyelash (arlpelhe = leaf; feather, wing)
alknge-kwarte eyeball (kwarte = egg)
alkngenthe flame; light; electricity (electric lights) [alknge 'eye'; nthe historically 'flame', cf.
nthile-]
alkngerurrke ankle
alkngetherrke(-therrke) cat (-therrke = small green plant; therrke-therrke = green) [lit.
green-eyes]
alknge-urrperle pupil (lit. eye black)
alknginere [alkngirnere] cicada
alkngirre- to have a vision or premonition (expecially used with respect to quickening during
pregnancy and association of unborn child with conception site);
to be 'born' (become filled with spirit) [eye-INCH-]
alkngultye tears
alknguntye [alknge-untye] tears [eye+waterdrop]
alkngwe forgetful
alkngwile- to make forget [-ile = CAUSative]
alkngwirre- to forget (thing forgotten is marked with DATive or PURPosive) [-irre =INCH]
alpalthe someone who walks out of step; someone with a limp
alparre coolamon (for carrying child)
alpatye [ilpatye] ringneck parrot
alpawe weak (of people, expecially referring to people weak from sickness or old age [?])
alpe- go back, return back (away from place where speaker is); go home
alperrantyeye bush tomatoe; desert currants
alte hair, fur
alte-we- to make (spin) hairstring [hair+throw (a missile)]
alterre- to tear or rip s.t.
altharte men's and general corroborees; ceremonies
althe- to pluck the feathers or hair off of s.t.
altherrpe bald [?]
althwe-althwe rotten, of wood
alturle west
altyartwe wire grass (native millet)
altye kin relations, family
Nthakenhe tyerrtye therre altyenhenge? 'How are (those) two people related to each
other?'
Nthakenhe tyerrtye mape altye neme? 'How are (those)people related to each other?'
altyirre- become one of the family; become adopted; be accepted into a group (be given a
skin name?) [relation-INCH-]
altyele female (cross-) cousin [MBD; FZD; DHM; SWM]
altyerreDreamtime; a person's Dreaming country; the law of the Dreaming; a dream (that one has
while one's asleep); God
altyerre are- to have a dream; it is through dreams that one accesses the Dreamtime and also
accesses future events. Not all dreams are significant, but when a dream is accompanied
by "feelings" in certain body parts (like the stomach or clicking in the nose) then the person
knows the dream is significant and needs to be interpreted.
altyerriperre Dreamtime stories
altyeye parts of bush banana plant (langkwe) which are eaten, especially the creepers which
are eaten when young
altyiwe- to tip s.t. out of; to drain; pour s.t. out; chuck liquid away
altywere open (adj) [ant. martelhentye]; an opening (open at both ends); a hole (as in
clothes or swiss cheese; ie. holes without depth, 2D); idiom kaperte altywere 'open minded';
iltye altywere 'magician'
altywerile- to open s.t. up (eg. a door); turn on (e.g. tap, light) [ant. marte-] [be open+CAUS-]
altywerirre- to open, for s.t. to become open by itself [be open+INCH-]
alware [arlware ??] swollen [see wangke-]; inflated
alwe be away from (?) (cf. alwerne- and alwirre-)
alwerne- to chase [fossilized causative -rne on alwe which probably originally meant 'away'
cf. alwirre-]
alwerregrass with a pretty white flower
alwerrknge veins; sinew; string made from prepared sinew used for such things as binding spear
head to spear, etc. (sinew is chewed to make it soft and pliable)
alwerrknge-purtirre- cramping of muscles [purte = clump, cluster; irre- = become (INCH) (lit. for
sinews to clump together)
alwirre- to run away, escape [alwe, which probably originally meant 'away', with irre- =
INCH]
alye boomerang
alye- to sing someone (ie. cause somthing good/bad to happen to someone by singing certain
songs) ; sing a song
alyelenge 1. term for phenomenon involving dark rain cloud behind which sun is shining so
that rays (shafts of light) are radiating out
2. person (male or female) having gone through initiation involving knocking out of one
of the top front teeth [associated with water dreaming] [darkness of gap of missing
tooth next to other teeth resembles the phenomenon in 1] (cf. mpwelarre)
alyelhe- to sing a song [sing-REFL-]
alyelhentye songs (esp. non traditional songs) [sing-REFL-NMZR]
alyelke queasy feeling, to feel like you're about to vomit
Atnerte alyelke welheme, welheme ntewirrerlenge '(the) stomach feels queasy, feeling like
you'll vomit'
alyenge [?] left hand [cf. akwalyenge]
alyepe belt or string for carrying, things made of human hair (usu. associated with men [?])
alyerne- to squeeze, twist, wrig out
alyweke stone knife (not commonly made anymore) but term can be used for store-bought
knife
amake elbow
amane-kweke baby boy, affectionate term used by adults; this is recognized as a borrowing from
Anmatyerre but is frequently used by Mparntwe spkrs
amirre womera, spear thrower
amiwerre the Milky Way
ampe child (generally; term used of an uninitiated person of any age); child in relation to mother
(specifically MS/D: cf. alere); sons and daughters [S; D]
ampe marle girl (lit. (child) female) [marle more generally means female]
ampe urreye boy (lit. (child) male) [urreye more generally means male]
ampe- to burn (tr. [with fire or sun as A]; also intr.)
ampe-kenhe alyelhentye made up song for kids. Only happens nowadays. Songs for kids
used to be part of (a)tnengkerre, Dreamtime stories
ampe-kenhe pwerte child endowment [child-POSS money]
ampe-kweke baby (lit. child-small)
ampekartweye parents [ampe 'child', -ke DAT, +artweye 'custodian' (lit. custodians of children)
ampeke be leaning
ampeke arrerne- to lean s.t. against s.t. else [arrerne- = to put]; cause two things to come
together
ampeke ne- to be leaning against something [ne- = to sit, to be]
ampenye leftover food (s.t. leftover that still may be useful) [not sure what other contexts beside
food this may be used in]
ampine- (?) to follow the tracks of s.o./s.t. (?)
ampwe old (of living things: typically people and animals) [cf. ingkweye]
ampwe-mape old people, the elders (ampwe = old, mape = pl. group marker)
amwelte [amulte??] arm; foreleg
anaketye very large fruit or bush tomatoe type (?)
Anmatyerre name of another Arandic language group living to the North of Alice Springs
aname paralysed(?)
anathe crippled(?)
anatye yam (long kind which grows to the north of Alice Springs)
ane and [alternate of ante]
aneme now [alternate of anteme]
Angale one of the eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle; Penangke;
Pengarte; Mpetyane]
angathe the other side of Y; X be on the other side of Y

near here; close by (on this side) [ant. intwarre]
ange-ange grandfather (FF: shortened form of arrenge-arrenge) [FF; FFB/Z]
angelthe edible leaves of a plant (when they are still young and green)
angeme a fly [cf. (a)menge]
angereke bush bean
angke- to speak, say, make sound typical of an entity
angke-lh-angkelhile- make s.t. talk(force to speak); to start (e.g. a motor); turn a radio or cassette
player on [speak-CAUS.rdp]
angkentye language [-ntye = NMZR]
angkere (?) [angere] resin from altharte(?) = spinifex bush prepared and used to affix blades
solidly to handles etc.
angkere-angkere k.o. water reed
angkerr(ingke) ? k.o. tree; its bark is used for making arlpmenye/ilkwentye, ashes for
ingkwelpe = bush tobacco
angkerre coolibah?
angkerre- to converse, speak to each other [-rre = do to each other (RECIP)]
angkerrpmerne k.o. tree that produces seeds which can be ground to make flour
angketye word; sentence; s.t. which is said [-tye = NMZR]
angkwelye cloud
angkwere elder sister [Z+; FBD+; MZD+] [see yaye]
angware- to imitate, mimic, copy s.o./s.t.
angwele [angwerle ?] cool, warm (of something that was hot, that has become not hot, eg. of
tea which has cooled down slightly); steam
angwelirre- for s.t. hot to cool down to where it is warm [cool-INCH]
anhele- (?) to tease; torture; be cheecky
anherremother-in-law [HM; MMBD; MFZD]
anherredaughter-in-law [SW; MBDD; FZDD]
ankele male (cross-)cousin [MBS; FZS; DHMB; SWMB]
ankere resin
ankerre coolibah
ankerte bearded dragon
ankerte-ankerte kind of small lizard
ankertiwe- to push s.t. away
ankeye to do in a begging manner
ankeyalthe greedy person; s.o. who doesn't share (esp. with respect to food) (fr. ankeye =
[adv.] do in a begging manner + -althe 'bad character')
ankurrpme misletoe (?), like small plums, red
ankwe asleep
ankwinte- [ankwe-inte-] to sleep [ankwe 'asleep', inte- 'to lie down']
ankwirre- to become sleepy; to be sleeping [irre- = become (INCH)]
Anmatyerre a language name
annge fruit; seed
anpe- touch something
anpere be or move past s.t.; be or move through s.t.
?past or through; extended along
anperelhe- to go past s.t./s.o.; pass through a place [lhe- = go]
anperirre- to pass by; pass through a place
anperirre-nhe- to pass by
anperne- to touch
anperne- call or name s.o. by the appropriate kin term
The ngenhe kake anperneme 'I call you elder brother'
anpernerrentye relations; people who may call each other by the appropriate kin term
[call by kinterm-RECIP-]
anperre shallow of water; flat of land; ahelhe anperre 'flat ground'
antangke- to call s.o. over to you
antarne shallow [?] (don't know the difference between anperre and antarne)
ante [ane] and
anteke wide, primarily of an open space
antekarenye south wind [fr. ? antekerre = south; -arenye = ASSOC]
antekerre south
anteme now
antenhe possum
antere fat; bone marrow
antetherrke carpet snake
anthe flint chip on woomera
anthelke plant debris, flotsam (?)
antime exactly; right there (PRECISE)
antye poison
antye- to get up on s.t.; get up into, climb; ride (eg. a horse, bicycle)
antyetyerre frog
antyeye sweat; perspiration
antyilpe- to sweat
antyinye [antyenye] grey haired; old person (having grey hair is a mark of wisdom and is to be
respected)
antyipere bat
antywe nest
anwantherre we all (1pl.S/A dif.pat)
anyane- to sort of love or cherish s.t. [commonly used for children] ayenge ampe yanhe
ikwere anyaneme 'I feel clucky over that (dear) child.'
anyelkngalthe thief [fr.anyelknge 'stealing' + -althe 'bad character']
anyelknge- to do sneakily; steal
anyelkngele-ine- to steal [sneakily-get-]
anywerrirre- be critical; annoyed
anywerrirremele angke- to criticise, harangue, complain
apale incorrectly; do action wrongly; make a mistake in doing; to be wrong to do an action
apale-apale wrong, false; mistake
apane- feel; touch [cf. anpe-]
apanenge-apanenge a game of tag [from apane- 'touch']
apanthe largeish coolamon (don't know how it differs from urtne)
apape stick (old word)
apapele irretetye walking stick
aparre butt of spear
apate- speechless over,be; be in awe of; be amazed at
apatele nthe- to amaze; to shock s.o. [be amazed+ADV give-]
ape and (not common in Mparntwe Arrernte)
apekepe weak, eg. of baby just starting to walk; people who are weak from sickness
apekethe [apekathe] a halfcaste (fr. Engl. halfcaste) [Does not refer to all people with some non-
Aboriginal descent, but mainly to those who have left the old traditions behind and
"lost their language". People who are technically halfcastes but are living according to
traditional values are not apekethe. [derrogatory] apele X is a fact [FACT]
aperle grandmother [FM; FMB/Z]; grandchild (for a woman: son's children)
aperle-aperle grandmother [FM; FMB/Z]
aperre k.o. caterpillar Yeperenye arrpenhe brown dots- kerte, white and brown 'It's another
kind of (yeperenye) caterpillar with brown dots, it's white and brown'
apethe pouch of marsupial
apmapele lhe- to swim, using both arm and feet; not commonly used of people [see kwatye-ke irrpe-
] but instead may be used of dogs paddling and the swimming of certain lizards, etc.
apmarle father-in-law [HF; HFZ/B]
apmarle (?) male cousin's children [MBSS/D; FZSS/D]
apmikwe k.o. tree, it can be used to make spears
apmwe snake (generic)
apmwerrke yesterday; a few days ago, "past-ish" [cf. ingwenthe; lyete]
apmwerrke arrpenhe (nhakwe) day before yesterday [yesterday another (that)]
apmwerrkulkere a few days ago; recently [yesterday-MORE]
apwe emu down feathers (used for ceremonial decorations and ceremonial apparel)
apwelhe initiation ceremonies
arawirre- to come to life, to move after being disturbed [-INCH]
arawelhile- to disturb s.o.; to stir or prod s.t. (like a snake) so that it comes to life' [-lhile
'CAUS']
are- to see; visit, look for
arelhe woman
arenge euro; wallaroo (kere)
arerlene- to watch [are- to see -rle.ne 'do continously']
arerre chest
arerte deaf; crazy, mad; stupid
arerte-arerte never pays attention, unmanageable (of child for instance) [fr. Redup. of arerte =
deaf; crazy; stupid]
arethape newborn baby
aretherre wind; strong wind that comes before thunderstorms [Sometimes at springtime from
the West]
aretyelhe- to come upon; find; go and see [see-GO & DO=]
areye group of related entities (3+) plural; more than two individuals [?maybe a clitic]
arintyalpe- to see while coming back
arlantye bicycle lizard
arlatyeye yam type
arlenge far, distant
arlenge-arlentye very far
arlepe prickly wattle
arletye not ready to be eaten; 'unripe' of fruit/vegetable food (merne); 'uncooked', 'raw' of meat
(kere), [note that in some cases you can have vegetable
food which is usually cooked to be eaten so that even if it isripeif it is ripe it may still be
arletye = uncooked (e.g. arlatyeye = yam, sweet potato)]
arleyarre [ileyarre] ? young man recently initiated
arleye emu (kere)
arleye-ingke k.o. plant, (goodenia lunata ?) [emu-foot]
arleywe south (infrequent)
arlke- to call out to, yell, shout
arlkenye line, stripe (spec. a painted line or stripe)
arlkenye arrerne- to put/paint stripes on s.t. [stripes put-]
arlkerampwe [alkerampe] sweet 'ngkwarle' (arlepe also from tnyeme) (like toffee)
arlkerlatye edible grubs found in arlkerle = buck bush
arlkerle buck bush
arlketyerre needle bush
arlketyerrarenye grubs from alketyerre = needle bush [-arenye ASSOC]
arlkwe- (1)to eat ; (2) for a body part to be hurting with pain; amwelte arlkweme '(my) arm is
hurting'
arlkwerte [alkwerte ?] shield
arlkwerte-arlkwerte collarbone [arlkwerte = shield Reduplicated]
arlpatye ring necked parrot (k.o. kere)
arlpe sand hill; sandhill country [when used with place classifier pmere]
arlpele sweet gum, toffee
arlpelhe feather, wing; leaf of plant
arlpentye long, or tall; to have extension in any plane
Arlpere Warlpiri (language group to the north west of Alice Springs)
arlpere [alpere] be hanging; arlpere neme 'to be hanging', arlpere
kngeme 'carrying in a hanging fashion (eg. of purse)'
arlpere arrerne- to hang s.t. up [ie. hanging put]
arlperre white wood (?)
arlpmanthe mixture of hot coals and soil for cooking in
arlpmenye ashes
arlpmerre dew drops
arlte day, daytime
arlte mpwepe midday
arltwe empty, hollow
arltwerre k.o. tree said to be like the wild passion fruit
arlwe pebble, boulder, rounded stone [takes classifier pwerte]; often used to describe circular
and spherical things generally
arlwekere single women's camp
arlwerte-arlwerte curly or fuzzy haired
arnare- to watch s.o./s.t that is approaching [arn- = ?, are- = to see]
arnarenye insects (tree, plant dwellers)
arnartne [arne-artne] scrub; bush country
arne trees and bushes (any plant with woody branches); stick; plants generally; thing (object,
artifact)
arne-twere(?) digging stick, used specifically of wooden stick (arne) used for digging [twere = ?]
arnerre rock hole; water hole
arnewirre- (?) to support each other, to stick up for each other (?)
arnke [apwerte arnke] cliff
arnkelye sulky and angry ("He'd want to fight you")
arnkentye single men's camp
arnkerre [arnkarre] bank of creek/river (cliff? cf. arnke)
arnkwerte-arnkwerte crooked; windy; zig-zag
arnngenye beard (older speakers?)
arnpe- to step on something; perrke-kerleke arnpeke 'stepped on a coal'; to stride or step
towards/past(?); to leave
arnpenhe- to stride off past [stride-DO PAST-]
arnperrke centipede
arntape bark of tree
arntarlkwe fork of tree
arntarntare- to look after s.o/s.t., to take care of s.o./s.t [arntarnt- = ?, are- = see]
arntaye gap (narrow pass between two rocky hills)
arnte- to cramp, to be with cramps, to ache
from cramps; to ache (from a constricted feeling); kaperte ayenge arnteme (head I cramp-
npp) 'I have a headache'
arntenge sister-in-law [HZ; BW; MMBDD; FMBSD; MFZDD; FZZSD]
arnterre white wood (?)
arnterre to do intensively, firmly (eg. hold firmly on to), do with concentration , do "hard"
(eg. think hard about); also loudly (eg. of voice)
arntinye wasp
arntirrkwe- to catch s.t.[ie. s.t. thrown]; capture s.t./s.o [e.g. an animal (in a trap)], hold on to
s.t. [with hands] (c.f. irrkwe-)
arntirte [arntite; arntyite] rotton (of meat, fruit, etc.); sour (of milk); off; bad (of people)
arntirtirre- to decay, to go off
arntwerre- [antwerre-] ? to growl
arnwerre humming noise
arrakerte [arrekerte] mouth [arre- 'mouth' -(a)kerte 'proprietive']
arralte moustache (all spkrs) and beard (yngr spkrs) [arre- = mouth; alte = hair]
arralthe- to shout, howl
arrampiwe- to tease s.o. (about s.t.)
arrangke- to wail; to cry
arrangkere fast (?)
arrangkwe no, nothing; to be without something
arrantherre you all (2plS/A general and dif.pat.)
arrare light of weight; light of colour; thetheke arrare 'light red' [ant. ulthentye]
arrare near, close by
arrare- to miss out on s.t., to see nothing of something (like meat)
arrarlke- (?) [arralke] to yawn
arrarrkwe [arrakwe] the Seven Sisters [star configuration]
arrate- to appear; arrive; rise (eg. of sun or smoke from fire); go out
arratelhile- to take s.t. out of s.t else; make s.t. appear
arratintye- to come out; appear [appear-DO COMING-]
arratye straight; true, correct, right [cf. akwarratye]
arrawenthe- to whistle
arre- mouth [only in compounds: arr-wantye-me = kiss (mouth lick); arr-urrperle = black-mouth
snake; arryenpe = lips (mouth skin)]
arrekerte mouth [arre- = mouth; kerte = PROPR]
arreltye [arriltye] lungs
arrelyenge cheek; jaw
arreme lice
arrengakwe opposite side of X (away from Z), on the other side of s.t. which has no front
and back
arrenge grandfather [FF; FFB/Z]; grandchild (actually: nephew's children or son's child's spouse)
[BSS/d; SDH; SSW]
arrenge-arrenge grandfather [FF; FFB/Z] (affectionate and respectful form of arrenge; cf.
ange-ange)
arrengkere quick; fast
arrentye demon, devil, evil creature
arrere(?)
arrerne- to put s.t. somewhere, sit s.o./s.t. down
arrernelhe- sit down somewhere (intr.) [arrerne- = put, lhe- = REFL]
Arrernte Arrernte, Aranda, Arunta [name of both the language and its speakers]
arretherrke small bush (?) "like utyerrke, atwakeye again" "in the rocks, medicine is good for
anything -the leaves are mixed with fat and red ochre and rubbed on the body." The
seeds are also crushed and mixed with fat to make a "rubbing medicine". Bullocks eat it.
arretye- to whisper
arrewanthirre- to whistle
arrewantye- to kiss [mouth-lick-]
arrewe- to shiver
arrilpe- chew
arrilpenhe-ilpenhe temple (ie. of head) [arrilpe- 'to chew'+HabNMZR ?;
-nhe Redup= Habitual performer of verb action (i.e. 'the chewer')]
arrirlpe sharp (eg.of alyweke knife); pointy (of nose; or pencil)
arritnye name
arriwe ? opening (eg. to a cave)
arrkare spouse (husband or wife) [syn. newe ]
arrkene fun; not serious, a joke
arrkene-arrkene playful, enjoyable
arrkene ilenhe-ilenhe jokes [playful tell-nominaliser of habitual involvement]
arrkenirre- to play, muck around, to joke
arrkerne- to taste s.t.; test s.o./s.t.; to try s.t.
arrkernelhe- to try to do s.t.
arrkernke bloodwood [a medicinal wash is made from this]
arrkipengkwerle bloodwood apple (cf. arrkernke)
arrkngerne kind of tree which was used for "food in early days", the roots are eaten ("yam-arteke"
'like a yam')
arrpanenhe each, every (as in everywhere, every/each day); many different X's
arrpe(+) self; do on one's own
arrpe- to carve; to scrape
arrpenhe other, another; someone; different; strange
arrpenheme some [other-unified quantity]
arrperne- [irrperne-] to accuse; blame [cf. ilperne-]
arrpernelhe- [irrpernelhe-] ? to admit guilt [accuse-REFL-]
arrpwere magpie (big one) (not k.o.kere)
arrthwarrrthwe sp. of bird, owlet-nightjar
arrutne [arrurtne ?] chin; jaw [arre- = mouth; u(r)tne = ? coolamon]
arrule long ago; a long period of time
arrulenye something from long ago; olden times
arrutnenge wild passion fruit
arrwalpe desert tomatoe (?) found in rocky hill country
arrwe rock wallaby
arrwekele front, in front; before (temporal)
arrwekelenye first (front-tmp.nom)
arrwekeletheke forwards (-theke 'wards')
arrweketye woman [used by Mparntwe Arrernte speakers, but not common; syn (a)relhe
[?])
arrwempe (cross-)cousins generally
arrwengkelthe [arrengkwelthe] disease; bad magic; poison
arryenpe [arreyenpe] lips [arre- = mouth; yenpe = skin]
artakwerte(?) heart
artange / artangentye to cooperate in doing, help one another to do, gang up ("double
banking")
artarrene- to bone s.o.
arte- to build a shelter; cover s.t. (as with a blanket); bury s.t. [all senses involve causing s.t.
to become covered]
artekerre root
artepe back (of body); also used to designate the outer (often convex) side of an object (as
opposed to atnerte = stomach) [arlkwerte artepe = front (outer) part of shield]
artepe-arrernelhe- to kneel down and bend over to do s.t.; bending down on hands and
knees as when having a drink from a water hole (?) [back-put-REFL]
arteperrke kidneys
artetye mulga tree
artewarte [?] grinding stone; pestle
artewe wild turkey (k.o.kere)
artityerretyerre [artityerrityerre]
[arteye-tyerre-tyerre (??)] willie wagtail (not k.o.kere)
artitye tooth, teeth
artne scrub; mulga country [arne-artne]
artne- to cry
artnelhile- to cry for s.o.; mourn s.o. (cry+CAUS-; but not cause s.o. to cry as might be
expected [c.f. therrelhile-])
artnerre- to crawl (of babies)
artnerrentye baby at crawling stage (takes child classifier : ampe artnerrentye)
artnwepe swamp
artnwere dingo; (wild dog) kngwelye artnwere
artwe man (ie. initiated male person); son (used when child term is no longer applicable: cf. ampe &
alere)
artwe ampwe old man (artwe = man, ampwe = old)
artwe mperlkere white man (artwe = man, mperlkere = white)
artwe nthetye young man (artwe = man, nthetye = young man)
artwekere [atwekere] (a) boil
artwerte grinding stone; pestle (pwerte artwerte)
(+) artweye (+) custodian of, person responsible for (must attach to dative-marked noun, eg.
ampe-k-artweye child-DAT- custodian 'parents'; or take kin possessive suffixes,
eg. artweyangkwe 'your parent; your boss, guardian)
artwilye-artwilye move along with spearaimed and ready to throw (do with spear aimed and
ready) artwilye-artwilye petyeme 'coming with spear aimed and ready'
artwilyile- to aim a spear (at s.o., s.t.) [aimed+CAUS-]
arunthe many, a lot of
arwe handle of shield
atake- to tear down a building or other structure; fill in a hole; destroy s.t. that is put together
atakelhe- cave in; to collapse (eg. of a building)[-lhe 'reflexive']
atakwe ? windbreak
atalkwe [rtarlkwe] across, crossing, over
ateralthe coward (fr. atere = afraid)
atere afraid of, frightened
aterele-nthe- to frighten, to give s.o. a fright [atere = afraid, -le = loc/inst/erg, nthe- = to give]
aterile- to cause to be afraid
aterirre- to get scared [atere 'afraid', irre- 'inchoative']
aternnge dirty
atertne- to squat, sit with crossed legs
atetherre ? hell
atetherre budgerigah (not k.o. kere)
athathe before; quickly do Y before X happens, hurry before X happens
athe- to grind
atheke [athake] thick (of sticks, but not of meat or rocks), used only of things; its
antonym is said to be irrkerlenge
athere grinding stone
athnwerte curled up
atilirreye frightening stories; arrentye-kerte = with monsters
atnake- to praise s.o.; to choose as the best or as the winner [?name+cut]
atnarnpe- to descend; get down off of, get out of (eg. car); jump off of [cf. atne 'shit'?,
arnpe- 'to step']
atnarnpe-nhe- to descend on the way past
atnarnpelhile- to drop s.o. off somewhere
atnartenge base of an object (eg base of a tree)
atne shit; faeces; guts; anus; vagina [also appears to be used in forms which have to do with
spatial orientation downwards cf. atnarnpe-, atnartenge]
atne-ine- [atnine-] gut an animal, take the guts out of [guts-get-]
atnelhe (?atnilhe) bum, bottom, buttocks [atne 'shit, guts'; lhe nose???]
atnelthirre- to have diarrhoea [syn. mpeltyirre-]
atneme digging sticks, trad. made of wood but can now be used of crowbars
atnengkerre Dreamtime stories
atnengkerriperre song out of a Dreamtime story
atnerte stomach [originally a conflation of atne 'shit, guts' - kerte 'having']; also used to designate
the containing (often concave) side of an object (as opposed to artepe = back); arlkwerte
atnerte 'inside part of a shield where handle is'
atnerte-atnerte pregnant [fr. reduplication of atnerte = stomach]
atnertirre- to be pregnant
atnethe stinger
atnethekerte scorpion [stinger-haver]
atnetye name given to the roots of the bush banana (langkwe)
atnewe-atnewe confident, brave
atningke many, a large number of; a crowd; a revenge party
atnirrke to miss s.t. that you've attempted to hit, spear, come in contact with
atniwe- to call/name s.t./s.o by the appropriate word/name for it [ie. call a person by their
name, nickname or kinterm; call a thing by the word for it in a given language]; give a name
to s.o./s.t.(?) Iwenhe-me unte arritnye atniweke kweke ngkwinhe 'What did you name your
baby?'[lit. What name did you call your little one?]
atnulke- to shock, give a fright
atnwaltye guts of kangaroo (?)
atnwaye [atnware] heel and back part of ankle
atnwaye-atnwaye high heel shoes (new coinage based on atnwaye = back of ankle including
heel)
atnyene- (1) to hold on to; have in one's possession; to wear (?)
(2) to keep s.t safe for someone else;
(3) to have or to hold as in to have/hold a party [calque?]
atnyerlenge medicine boil and wash, suck ngkwarle from the red flowers
atwakeye wild orange
atware- approach, visit, or go to a place[with caution?] The ure amperlenge atwareme 'I'm
approaching the burning fire' Kngwelye-arteke atware-mele petyeme '(The uninvited guest)
comes approaching like a dog'
atwatye gap (in hills)
atwatyirre- (?) to stretch
atwekere boil; abscess
atwerte grinding stone [pwerte atwerte]
atwetye joey (baby kangaroo)
atyangkwelknge fire-stick used during men's initiation ceremonies; this can only be made from
atnyere = supple jack ?
atyanke (?) bullant (yellow and black in creek bed)
atyelpe native cat
atyemeye grandfather [MF; MFB/Z]; grandchild (actually: niece's children or daughter's
child's spouse) [BDS/D; DDH; DSW] <woman's point of view>
atyemeye-atyemeye grandfather [MF; MFB/Z]
atyenge me DATive (ie. for me, to me)
atyenpe slow (?); patient
atyete soft (eg. of feet), pliable
atyetetye small spears used by children for play, usually made from uyenpere =spear-bush
atyetirre- soften, become pliable [soft+INCH-]
atyeye younger sibling [B-; Z-; FBS-/D-; MZS-/D-]
atyure ? ant, k.o. small black stinging ants
atywe calf of leg
awe- to hear, listen to ; understand
awele-awele k.o. bush fruit?
awelye (1) women's dances; ceremonies
(2) men's and women's medicine songs
(3)medicine generally -fat and bush medicine are supposed to be "sung over" when they
are prepared
for use as medicine
awenhe aunt [FZ]
awentye-awerle famous, well known; s.o./s.t. that everybody's heard about [hear-
NMZR+hear-GenEvt]
awerle derogatory term for a camp dog (like mangey mutt or 'fleabag') (?)
awerne poor thing
awerrkawere clumsy, lazy; a clumsy or lazy person
awerrke- to strangle
awerrtyepwere beans from angereke = bush bean
awethe again; more
awethe-awethe again and again, more than expected
ayenge I, me (1sgS/O)
ayepe (?) umbilical cord
ayerne- to tie s.t. up, to bind s.t., wrap/coil around something ayerrere north
ayethe- to irritate, annoy, disturb a person/ animal by brushing against them; what bugs do to you
when they crawl on your arm or inside your shirt
ayewe waist (not so much waist as the fat, soft bit on side around the waist)
ayeye any story or bit of news (particularly a true story; does not usually refer to a Dreamtime
story)
ayeye urrtyirrentye a pretend story, a made up story (for kids) [story a pretense-INCH-
NMZR]
ayuwe [aywe, aywewe ??] old person; particularly old man (respectful)
aywerre noise; sound
aywerte spinifex grass; resin (ankere) comes from it. You leave the plant out to dry and
the resin melts. Mix corkwood (untyeye) bark ashes with the melted resin and it becomes
very hard. It is used in the making of spears (irrtyarte), and womeras (amirre)
eyyye yuck!
ikelhe thick/dense (eg. of hair, including beard)
ikerrke bower bird
ikirre- to avoid kin that one is not - for traditional and ritual reasons - meant to be close to'
ikirrentye respectful; avoidance; secret (of language?) [ikirre- 'avoid'-ntye 'nominaliser']; [cf.
§1.2.4.3]
ikngerre east
ikwemeye sweet tasting, tasty (of cooldrinks, honeyants, etc.) [ant. irrkerteye]
ikwere to, or for, him/her/it (3sg. DAT)
ikwerenge [ikwerengentyele] after that; then (3sg-ABL(-onwards)
ikwerenhe hers; his; its (3sg-POSS)
ilanthe we two (different patrimoiety) [1dl. dif.pat S/A]
ilantye galah
ile- (1) to tell s.t. to s.o.; to describe s.t.: re ayeye ileke itneke 'he told the story to them';
(2)tell s.o. to do s.t. : re itnenhe ileke lherltiwetyeke 'he told them to go' ; The ngenhe ileke
arratetyeke 'I told you to get out.';
(3) to mean s.t.: Ingke "foot" ileme '"Ingke" means "foot"'
ilelhe- to apologise; admit Ayenge ngkwenge ilelheme therle ngenhe tweke 'I apologise for hitting
you; I admit that I hit you.' [tell-REFL-]
ilengare when? [?what-TIMES]
ilepe axe, esp. a stone axe
ilerne we two (general or same patrimoiety, same generation)
ilerrtye furrow; gutter; gully
ilewerre salt; salt pan
ilkerrtye [rlkerrtye ??] baby's spit up, white watery stuff that baby's spit up, stuff that comes out just
before vomitting; dribble
ilkerte [lkerte] hard, firm, strong; firmly, strongly (?)
ilkwatherre s.o. who has been brought along for company (re ilkwatherre mwarre = s/he is
good company)
ilkwentye ? ashes, especially those used for ingkwerlpe 'native tobacco'
ilpe- to defend, protect s.o./s.t.
ilpentye love songs; songs to attract the opposite sex ("You don't have to sing it to them, you
just sing it thinking about someone and if you are strong at it you'll get them")
ilperle tea tree (?)
ilperne- to accuse s.o. of having done s.t. bad
ilpeye needle bush
ilpmerre dew
ilte- to scold s.o.; to swear at s.o.
iltelheye ugly (of people and things)
ilterrpme twe- ? to beat time with sticks or boomerang in accompaniment to song or
dance
ilthe house; any building ?
ilthwe- singe (hairs off carcass)
iltyarnme yabby; crayfish
iltye hand; finger
iltye-altywere magician; sorcerer (hand+open)
iltye kwerrke-kwerrke pinky, little finger [finger+young of animals(rdp)]
iltye purle-purle (?) thumb [finger+young uninitiated boy(RDP)?]
iltye-artepe back of hand [hand-the back]
iltye-atnerte palm of hand [hand-stomach]
iltye-ingke [iltyingke] for several small animals (lizards, rabbits, etc.) to be strung together for
carrying purposes; tied hand to foot or all the necks together or strung over belt.
iltye tywepmare [tyepmware] fingernails
iltyele angke- to handsign, to speak with the hands
iltyele ile- to handsign, to say, tell with the hands
"kake" nthakenhe ileme iltyele 'how do you say "kake" with the hands?'
iltyele angkerre- to converse (speak to each other) in sign language [hand-INST speak-
RECIP]
iltyeme-iltyeme hand signs
iltyirre- to handsign; to wave (to s.o.) [hand+INCH-]
iltywilty(w)e mantis
ilwe- (1) to die [rarely used when talking about people, more common with animals]
Euphemistic equivalents are uyerre- 'to disappear' and the English-based forms 'pass-
away-irre-' and'perish'.
(2) to cough (tengkwelknge ilwe- 'to cough from a cold')
ilweltye frost; ice
ilwempe ghost gum
ilwerne- to extinguish a fire [etym. die+(fossil)CAUS-]
ilwernelhe- to go out (of a fire, or a light burning out); to fizzle out [to extinguish+REFL-]
Imerlknge place name; Mt. Gillen
imerne- show s.t. to s.o.
imerre- see ipmerre-
imerte then (sentential particle)
imparrkiye [imparrkeye] bright, shiny, reflective (of polished metal or the surface of water
in sunlight)
impatye tracks (of animals, people)
impatyile- to tell a story using (ie. accompanying it with) traditional sand drawings which
typically involves tracing in the sand the tracks followed by the participants in the story
[tracks+CAUS-]
impaye! leave it alone [leave-IMP-EMPH]
impe- to leave s.t. behind, leave s.t. alone ; to win at (eg. win at cards)
impene-impene ceaslessly; keep doing to the very end without a break
impepe wounded
imperlelhe- to depart a place; [idiom] to break up with lover/spouse [syn. iwerlelhe-] [leave
s.t. behind+DO&GO-]
imperre- to leave each other; to break up ( a relationionship) [leave+RECIP-]
inape echidna, porcupine (rare in MpA.) [see inarlenge]
inarlenge echidna, porcupine (in local parlance) [see also inape]
ine- to get, or take, s.t. (from somewhere or s.o.) inentye kurdaitche man
inernte bean tree; the seeds/beans (inernte) are all sort of colours and they are strung together to
make necklaces and mats; the wood is used to make a wide range of artefacts including
coolamons and carvings
inernte akintye the red flower of the bean tree (inernte)
ingkante- to track s.o./s.t.; follow s.o./s.t.'s tracks in order to catch it.
ingkarte [ngkarte] ceremony leader ; priest or minister of a Christian church; god
ingke foot; toe
ingke lhe- to walk [foot-go-]
ingke-arte (?) sole of feet, the hardened and thickened callous which forms on the sole of the
foot when one habitually walks around barefoot; term used by some people for thongs "if
you're in bed a long time then your feet atyetirreme (ie. become "soft") and the inge-arte
falls off"
ingke-artepe top of foot [foot-back]
ingke-atnerte sole of foot [foot-stomach]
ingke-kwerrke-kwerrke little toe [kwerrke 'young of animals' reduplicated]
ingke-purle-purle(?) big toe [purle(?) 'young uninitiated boy']
ingke tywepmare [tyepmware] toenails
ingkentetye [ingkantetye] follower [from ingkantek = to track]
ingkerne behind; the back part of; after (temporal and spatial)
ingkerrke abandoned place, one that's been abandoned a long time [takes the classifier for
places pmere][see ingkenye]
ingkerte jealous
ingkertelhile- to make s.o jealous [jealous+CAUS-]
ingkertirre- to become jealous [jealous+INCH-]
ingkertele twerre- to fight each other (for, from, in) jealousy. [jealous+ADV fight+RECIP-]
ingketye [inketye ?] luscious, delicious; kere ingketye = 'delicious meat' (a positive value
judgement word). This word can be used of people much the same way the English gloss can be
ingkinye [ingkenye] deserted place, one that's been abandoned only recently [takes classifier
for places pmere]
ingkirre [ingkerre] (see ingkirreke)
ingkirreke [ingkerreke] all; every; all together
ingkwe nearly, to nearly accomplish an action, almost
ingkwelpe [ingkwe(r)lpe] pitchery/native tobacco; there are a few different kinds of
ingkwelpe: ingkewelpe appears to be both a generic and a specific. Specifically it is a plant found
in the rocky hills. Other kinds of ingkwelpe are: mpurnpe (rocky ground tobacco);
peturre/petere ; arunpe (red tobacco); ingkwelpe therrke (green tobacco). Chewed
ingkwelpe mixed with spit is rubbed onto itchy spots to soothe them.
ingkwepeye white ant nest
ingkwiye [ingkweye] old (of things)
ingwe night(time)
ingweleme morning
ingwemernte dark, without light (eg. inteye ingwemernte = a dark, lightless cave) [fr. ingwe = night,
-mernte = ?]
ingwe mpwepe middle of the night; midnight
ingwenthe tomorrow; the next few days [cf. apmwerrke; lyete]
ingwenthe-ingwenthe early morning, about dawn
ingwenthulkere one day soon, in a few days [tommorow-MORE]
ingwerre major initiation ceremony (last initiation ceremony)
ingwethnele early morning, soon after sunrise
inke soul; spirit
inke- to ask for s.t.
inngerre face
inte spindle; skewer
inte- to lie down (to be in a lying position) ; to camp over night at ; to be born ( at a place or to
someone)
Nthenhele unte inteke? 'Where were you born?'
Ampe kweke inteke relheke 'The child was born to the woman'
intelhile- to write; to sketch, make a design [be lying down+CAUS-]
intelhilentye (a)design, pattern, painting; colour(?) [lie-CAUS -NMZR]
inteltye [intiltye ?] grasshopper
intelyapelyape butterfly; moth
inteye cave; can be used to refer to buildings made of stone, brick, or cement
intilentye [intelhentye?] a painting; mark; sign; stripes [nominalised form of "cause to be
lying down"? cf. intelhile- ]
intirlpe a stick sharpened on both ends used to pin closed the cuts made in carcasses for cooking;
(witchetty grub hook?) [??? inte 'skewer' irlpe 'ear' ???]
intirlpe arrerne- fasten the cuts with a sharp stick
intwarlpe to carry kangaroo over neck; traditional way for men to carry a kangaroo they have
killed (and partially prepared) [typically used with -kerte proprietive attached]
intwarre over there; on the other side away from here (ant. angathe)
intwarrirre- to move away from [-irre INCH]
intwerle hawk who kills other birds, Sparrow-Hawk
intye- to be sexually aroused [of men only]
inwerle spider
inwerrecrippled, lame
iparrpe quickly
ipeltye very close friend (tyewe ipeltye tyenhe 'my close friend')
ipeltye ile- ? to introduce s.o. to s.o. else
ipenye s.o. from a far off place; stranger
iperte hole (in ground); cooking trench; deep
iperte-iperte rough; corrugated; holey (of a road) [fr. Redup. of iperte = hole]
iperteke iteme to cook in ground
ipmenhe "granny" grandmother [MM; MMZ/B]; spouse's cousins; cousin's spouse;
parent's opposite sex cousin's children [ MBDH; FZDH; MBSW; FZSW; HMBS/D;
HFZS/D; FMBDS/D; FFZDS/D; MMBSS/D; MFZSSD]; grandchild (daughter's
children) [DD/S];
ipmenhe-ipmenhe grandmother [MM; MMZ/B]
ipmerre- to accuse s.o. of being guilty of a crime [also recorded imerre-]
ipmerrentye accused; the guilty person [-ntye 'nominaliser']
[also collected imerrentye]
irlkngenye good hunter
irlkngwe burial pit
irlpangke- [irlpe-angke-] to remember, call to mind [ear-speak-]
irlpangkelhile- to remind [ie. cause to remember' -lhile CAUS]
irlparenye [arlparenye] green beetle (important Alice Springs dreaming)
irlpe ear
irlpekerte [alye irlpekerte] number seven boomerang (hook boomerang) [ear- haver]
irlwe- [ilywe-] to remove, take s.t. off of s.t. else
irlwelhe- to undress, take s.t. off of oneself [remove+REFL-]
irrakere carved line, or carved designe; alye irrakerekwenye 'a boomerang without a design
carved in it'
irrakeriwe- carve a line or design into s.t. [carved line+throw away-]
irrare homesick, lonely, be longing to be where one belongs and/or longing to be with one's family
and friends
irrarile- s.o./s.t. cause s.o. to feel homesick or lonely for s.o. [homesick+CAUS-]
irrarirre- to be homesick; to be longing for those things (or a particular person/thing/place) to
which one is attached and feels great affection for (especially used with respect to kin and
country). It is a mixture of pleasure and pain; thinking of those things causes one to feel
pleasurable affection for them and pain of separation from them
irrarle chrysalis, hard shelled pupa of a moth or butterfly; cocoon
irrarnpe scattered; dispersed
irrarnpelhile- to scatter [fr. irrarnpe+CAUS]
irrarnpirre- to scatter; disperse; move off in all directions [fr. irrarnpe+INCH]
irrarnte black cockatoo (not kere)
irraweye weapon collection; used of collection of traditional weapons all together
irre- to become
irrelknge skeleton; corpse; dead person; stripped down or wrecked car
irrepake- to surround s.t.; to go around s.t. so as to avoid it, to skirt around s.t.
irrepake-lhe- (?) to circle, to go in a circle around [-lhe 'reflexive']
irrernte cold
irrerntarenye spirit beings who inhabit one location (cold-ASSOC: cold dwellers, belonging to the
cold)
irretetye [irrerteye] walking stick, cane, crutches; any support for standing up or holding
something up
irretye wedge tail eagle (not k.o.kere); eagle(hawk) ?
irretye-ingke Southern Cross (eagle-foot)
irrewalye corpse; dead person
irreye(-irreye) salt bush
irreyekwerre wild onion
irrkaye invisible, very faint
irrkaye-irrkaye faint, barely visible
irrkayirre- to become faint or disappear (either of something visible or audible)
irrke- to be itchy; feel itchy
irrkere-(?) to rummage around in s.t. for s.t. else, to look for s.t. by moving things around to see
if it's hidden by those things; to get out and clean of food that has been cooking in the
coals and ashes of a fire.
irrkerelhe- to rummage around for (eg. as when digging yalke 'bush onions' out by hand, or
when trying to get something from the bottom of a full handbag)
irrkerlantye [irrkelantye] k.o. hawk
irrkerlenge narrow; very skinny (of an open space like a gap or of things) [ant. atheke ~
athake]
irrkerteye non-sweet; bitter, salty, sour (the normal taste of tea, meat etc.) [ant. ikwemeye]
irrketye hair string headband
irrkngelhe thin bark
irrkwanthe slowly (very)
irrkwe- to catch s.t., hold on to s.t., capture [rarely used, arntirrkwe- more common]
irrkwentye policeman [catch/hold+NMZR (ie. the captor)]
irrkwerrentye (therre) siamese twins [catch/hold+RECIP+NMZR] (syn: murnerrentye therre)
irrkwertethe s.o. with a speech impediment; Italian (ie. refers to a non-Aboriginal [white] person
who couldn't speak English properly)
irrpe- to go into, enter into; dive into water; set (sun)
irrpelthe brave, game
irrpenge fish (gen.)
irrperre- to gather together in one place (can be anywhere, does not have to be inside)
[go into-plural S/A-]
irrpintye- to come into [go into+DO COMING-]
irrtnye bark (thin bark easily peeled off); dry skin; thin peel of fruit, nuts (?)
irrtnye-iwe- to peel the bark/skin/peel off of s.t.
irrtnye-iwelhe- to shed skin (of snake) [dry skin-throw away+REFL-]
irrtyarte spear that is thrown by means of a womera
irrtye- to be going on a trip [?]
irrtyelhile- to invite s.o. to go along to somewhere [-lhile CAUS]
irrweltye twigs; small branches
ite- to cook over a fire, boil water (in a billy), fry; light a fire [cf. nthile-]
itelare- to know s.t.; be conscious of; remember; Itelaraye! "Remember!" [etym. throat+Instr+see=]
[itele-kwele- are- 'to supposedly know']
itelarelhe- to remember [know s.t.+REFL]
itelye birth mark; mole; wart
itepe edge; side
itere side; beside
itethe alive; sober, not drunk
ithwenge maybe not
itirre- think (about s.t.) Nthakenhe unte itirreme ikwere? 'What do you think about it?'
itne they (3plS/A)
itware- to watch s.t./s.o. that is going away [compare with arnare- and atware-]
itwe nearby, close
iwe- to throw s.t. away; throw s.t. to s.o.; drop s.o. off at a place; get rid of s.t.; [idiom] to
break off a relationship with s.o.
iwelhe- to lie down (from tiredness, exhaustion?)
iwenhe what?
iwenheke why (What for?) [what-DAT]
iwenhe-kweye watchamacallit; thingummy [what-SelfDoubt]
iwenhenge why (What from?) [what-ABL]
iwenhepatherrewhat skin name is X?; what subsection does X
belong to?
iwenhe-peke [iwenhepeke] whoever
iwenhipenhe why (After what?)
iwenhiperre why? (After what?)
iwenye mosquito
iwepe itchy grub; web
iwerlelhe- to drop s.o./s.t. off at a place; [idiomatic] to drop s.o. (ie. break up with them, leave
them) [c.f. imperlelhe-] [throw away+DO&GO-]
iwerre way; road, path [Iwerre nwernekenhe 'our way; our law'
kake elder brother [B+; FBS+]
kakwe- to bite (of people); (idiom) to ask for money, borrow money from s.o.
kalke [akalke] a piece
kalke-kalke a half
kalkelhile- to divide s.t. into parts; to separate two (or more) things from each other; to share
s.t. out amongst a number of people [also kalkile-]
kalkile- [akalkile-] to divide, to share
kalkirre- separate (intr.), to divide (intr.), to move away, to become divorced.
kalte-kalte k.o. herb; it grows like a carrot with leaves like an onion; "It makes hair grow really
fast" [?only found in Simpson Desert]
kaltye [akaltye] knowledgeable, wise; to be knowledgeable of s.t.; knowledge (?)
kaltye(le)-nthenhe-nthenhe teacher [knowledgable(+LOC/INST)-NMZR.Hab.rdp]
kaltye(le)-nthe- to teach s.o. s.t.; teach s.t. to s.o.; [knowledgable(+LOC/INSTR)-give-]
kaltyirre- to learn s.t. [be knowledgable of-INCH-]
kamerne (?) uncle [MB] (uncle typically only occurs in possessed form the root of which is tnye-);
niece's husband [BDH]
kangke- [akangke] proud of, be happy about [ant. lhwarrpe]
kangke-mele angke- to praise s.t./s.o.
kangkentye happy, proud (adj); happiness, pride [be proud of+NMZR]
kangkwirre- [akangkwirre-] to pay attention to s.o.; listen carefully to
kanyengarre adze; chisel
kaperte head
kare- to look after s.t./s.o for somebody else (i.e. during their absence), to mind s.t./s.o, to stay
with s.t./s.o. for someone else
karelhe- to wait for s.o./s.t. [mind s.o./s.t. in s.o. else's absence+REFL-]
karnemarre leech
karnte-karnte round
karte cards
Kartetye Kaytetye (Arandic Group to the North)
katyerre [akatyerre] wild sultana (?)
ke- [ake-] (1) to cut s.t.; to pick s.t. (eg. fruit, flowers);
(2) to feel a sharp cutting pain
Ayenge kerlenge nhenhe welheme 'I feel the sharp cutting pain right here';
(3) to name a person's kin relation or to name a place or totem as a person's Dreaming or
conception site/totem. The kwatye-Ø aknganentye ke-me 'I call water my conception
totem'
kele O.K.; ready; already; all right; the end
keltyile- [akeltyile-] ? to split (?)
kelyawe lizard
Kemarre one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
Penangke; Pengarte; Mpetyane]
kemelhile- to wake s.o. up, rouse s.o.; cause s.o. to get up, cause s.o. to stand up [to stand
up(intr.)+CAUS-]
kemirre- to stand up (intr.); to get up; arise; wake up [cf. akarr- irre-]
kenge [akenge] bad (not sure how it differs from kurne)
kenhe but; by contrast; on the other hand (having considered X now consider Y)
kere game, meat providing animal, bird, fish, or reptile; meat
kertne above; up; top (of); high (?) [ant. kwene]
kertnelhile- to lift s.t. [-lhile 'CAUS']
kertnile- to raise s.t. up (eg. a flag) [-ile 'CAUS']
kertwapme (?) lump just at base of neck and top of spine
kethe outside of; naked (of body); clearing, open country, plain, uncovered, bare; clear
kethe-kethe [akethe-kethe] dawn, early morning just before sunrise
kethelhile- uncover
kethile-[akethile-] to clean up, to clear s.t. (messy) up, to make a clearing; uncover
kngake- [akngake-] to pick out; cut out (eg. bullock from a mob); choose
kngartiwe- to turn s.t. over , translate s.t. from one language into another.
kngartiwelhe- to roll (oneself) over (eg. of a dog rolling over on the ground) [turn s.t. over+REFL-]
kngartiwenhe-iwenhe tongs, eggflip [ie. something that habitually turns things over; (turn
over-NMZR.Hab.rdp)]
knge- [aknge-] to carry, to take (move away from speaker carrying/ transporting s.t.) Untyele knge-
'carry on the shoulders' (ie. across the neck), Akele knge- 'carry on the head', Arlpere knge-
'carry by swinging; hanging (eg. a purse)'
kngelhe- [akngelhe-] to move (intr.), sway [e.g. of leaves of tree] [take/carry+REFL-]
kngerne- to carry (while holding s.t. up ??)
kngernelhile- to shake
kngerre [akngerre] big; much, a lot; more; can mean loud when describing sound: rltare
kngerre = a loud explosion, a big bang; when modifying a nominalised verb may be
translated as 'always'
kngerrepate elder; old person; eldest
kngerrepenhe big one
kngerrile- to enlarge s.t.; to raise children [big+CAUS-]
kngetyalpe- to bring back
kngetye- to bring s.t. [take+hither-]
kngeye [akngeye] father and father's brothers
Kngwarreye [Kngwarraye] one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre;
Perrwerle; Penangke; Pengarte; Mpetyane]
kngwelye [akngwelye] dog
kngwelye artnwere dingo
kunye(penhe) poor thing, dear one, a person to be pitied (-penhe = s.o. you feel affection for [?])
kurle hairstring [?]
kurne [akurne] bad; evil; wrong (of a fact) (syn. akenge; ant. mwarre)
kurnirre- [akurnirre-] going bad [-irre INCH]
kurrknge [akurrknge] brain
kurrkurrke owl (not kere)
kutne ignorant of, don't know s.t.
kutye- to collect s.t. (like wood); go along picking things up
kwaketyeke- to hug s.o.; to put an arm around s.o.
kwarne- (?) to hurt, to ache, for body part to cause pain
kwarte eggs (of birds, insects, reptiles, etc.)
kwatere cerimonial head decoration (?)
kwatye water; rain; classifier for water related entities (men's dance?)
kwatye angkentye thunder [rain speak-NMZR]
kwatye-inpe-k-inpe ? grass reed to suck water out of inpekenhe = a narrow gap in the rocks filled
with water
kwatye-kwatye a clearish, translucent appearence [fr. kwatye = water]
kwatye-pwere lightning [kwatye 'water, rain';-pwere 'penis, tail']
kwatye-untye rain drops
kwatyeke irrpe- to swim, to bathe, to shower [water+DAT go into-]
kwe-arrkerne- tastes, s.t. tastes good or bad (transitive verb);
The stew kwe-arrkerneme mwarre 'The stew tastes good to me' [lit. I taste the stew good]
(cf. arrkerne)
kweke small, little; not a large amount of; soft of explosion (ie. small)
kweke-tyweye very small (kweke = small, tweye = ?)
kwelaye rainbow snake, water snake
kwele supposedly, so they say (QUOTative)
Kwementyaye "no-name"; When a person dies there is a taboo on using the name of that person
(and sometimes even words that sound like the name of that person). Kwementyaye is used
as the replacement name for people or things that had the same name as a person who
died.
kwene down; below; the bottom of [ant.: kertne]; in; inside; the inside of [ant.: kethe]
kwene- (?) to insert; to put s.t. into s.t. else [cf. kwene]
kwenekerle downwards
kwenhe the assertive particle (ASSERT)
kwenile- to lower s.t. down (e.g. a flag) [down+CAUS]
kwenirre- to bend down; become lower down [down+INCH-]
kwenpe to do anyway, without worrying about bad consequences, do bravely (or foolishly)
kwentye-kwentye a mixture of a number of different things, especially different foods (?)
kwepalepale bellbird
kwerne- (?) to swallow; to bury; to put s.t. under s.t. else
kwerralye star
kwerrke the young of animals (but is used stylistically for children); small, little
kwerrke-kwerrke a small digit, little finger, little toe
kwerrkwerrke owl
kwertatye ? kurdaitcha [loan from English based Pidgin ?] [syn. inentye and aleparentye (?)]
kwerte smoke
kwertengwerle people who are traditionally respondible for supervising the traditional
owners of a place to make sure sacred sites are look after properly and ceremonies are
performed in the correct fashion and at the right time ("manager"; "caretaker")
kwetante [akwetante] forever; for good [still-ONLY]
kwete [akwete] still; for a long time; keep on
kwete-kwete keep on and on (though you thought it might have finished by now)
kwetere nulla-nulla, hitting stick usually made of arne tyarnpe/(a)thenge = iron wood
kwetethe [akwetethe] always; all the time
kwetethe-kwetethe always without a break (you'd think that there could be a break)
kwethe-kwethe blood ["olden time word"] [syn. alhwe]
kweye eh?, oh!, oops!; what the heck am I doing, saying thinking?; is that right? (SELF DOUBT)
kwirre- [akwirre-] to sign with hands; wave
kwiye baby girl (term of endearment) [cf. weye]
kwiye(-kweke) baby girl, this is used as a term of affection when adults are talking to
babies; the compound form is most common but kwiye on its own is attested
langkwe bush banana (name of both the fruit and the plant: cf. altyeye, atnetye;
ulkantyerrknge)
layeke- to ask s.o. for s.t.
lengkeye [lhengkeye] (?) a person who always has bad things happening to him/her, s.o.
who is always in trouble (?)
lengkiwe- [alengkiwe-] to hide s.t. somewhere
lengkiwelhe- to hide oneself, conceal oneself
lenpenye [alenpenye] clever, bright, smart, good at learning things (can refer to dogs for instance)
lerne- to shake s.t. out of s.t. else (eg. to shake the nectar out of a flower)
lewetyerre [(a)lewatyerre] goanna (sand goanna)
lhalkere [alhalkere] bone through nose [cf. alhe 'nose']
lhange- to add s.t. on to s.t. else; to chuck in money to help buy something; to add numbers
together
lhe- [alhe-] to go, move in the manner typical to the thing moving: thus to walk of people, to flow
of rivers, to hop of kangaroos, etc. [motion away from place where speaker is] [cf. petye-]
lhenpe ; alhenpe armpit
lhere [alhere] creek bed; sand; creek,river
lhewe- [alhewe-] to wash s.t. or s.o.
lhewelhe- [alhewelhe-] to wash oneself
lhile- to promise s.t. to s.o.; owe s.t. to s.o.
lhirre- [alhirre-] to lust after s.o., leer at s.o., desire s.o. [nose+INCH-] (sometimes
translated by Arrernte speakers as 'love')
lhwarrpe [alhwarrpe] sad [ant. kangke-]
lhwenge [alhwenge] burrow
lhwerrpe winter; cold weather
lhwerte [alhwerte] (?) smoke that comes from medicine trees used for "smoking" babies (and
mother during pregnancy) (?)
lke ?bed; mattress?
lterre shin bone
lthane ghost
lthangkwe wet (of person, clothes e.g. from rain) [cf. terte]
lthape-lthape do making a lapping sound; to do an action that results in the lapping sound that
dogs make when drinking water or that water in a lake/rockhole makes against the shore;
Kngwelye lthape-lthape ntyweme 'The dog drinks making a lapping sound'
lthekelthilelhilelhe- to stretch; exercise [lthekelthe '?' -lhile CAUS -lhe REFL]
ltingke-ltingke a bell; sound of bell
ltyentye beefwood tree
Ltyentye Purte Santa Teresa (Beefwood cluster)
ltyirre- to take a rest
lyalthe march fly
lyape- to sprout; to grow (as of leaves from trees, or flowers)
lyapelhile- to grow s.t. (esp. plants) [sprout+CAUS-]
lyarnte head pad, for carrying things on head
lyarnte-lyarnte (?) round (like head pad) [reduplication of lyarnte 'head pad']
lyeke prickle, thorn, quill (of echidna)
Lyeke-kaperte k.o. plant; "billy-goat head-arteke" it's like a goat's head
lyeke-lyeke spikey; rough; thorny (as of unyerre 'the thorny devil') [fr. Redup. of lyeke =
prickle]
lyentye k.o. grass (boiled in water it can be used as a medicinal drink or wash)
lyepe-lyepe intestines
lyetante the first time (s.t. happened) [lyete = now, today;
-ante = only]
lyete now; today [cf. ingwenthe; apmwerrke]
lyete nthurre right now
lyete ware in just a minute; very soon
lyetenye something recent or new [fr. lyete = now, today;
-nye = temporal nominal]
lyetulkere this time; nowadays [today-MORE]
makete (makite) gun, specifically of a rifle but inclusive of any gun (fr. English musket)
male-male move in a manner appropriate to traditional form of meeting between strangers
which involves repeated stylized actions and preparation to do battle
mane money [syn. pwerte]
mangke- to grow up; to grow into an adult (of people, animals, or plants)
mangkelhile- [amangkelhile-] to raise children; cause s.t. to grow up to maturity [grow
up+CAUS-]
mantere clothing (shirts, pants, etc.) [German loan word????]
manyeme desert sultana
mape indicates plurality as well as grouphood [pl.(grp)]
marle girl; more generally 'female' [kngwelye marle 'bitch']
marle-wenke adolescent girl just starting to get breasts (marle = female/girl, wenke = ?)
marte- to close/shut s.t. (to close up an opening)
martelhe- to close, shut [of s.t. closing by itself]; heal over (of a sore or wound) [close
s.t+REFL-]
martelhentye closed, shut (tight) [close s.t.+REFL+NMZR] (ant. altywere)
me+ mother (stem formative form)
me! there!; take it!; here it is! (response to ngke!)
meke-meke sacred (of places)
malyenweke opposite patrimoiety
menge [amenge] fly (cf. angeme)
menge-irrkwenhe-irrkwenhe k.o. lizard
merne designates the class of edible plant foods; bread; food generally [distinguished from kere;
ngkwarle; tyape]
metye blunt (of a blade) [ant. arrirlpe]; stumpy (of the tail of a lizard or of chopped off finger;
blocked (of nose); corner, angle
metyirre- to become blocked up (eg. of nose) [-irre INCH]
meye mother [M; MZ]; nephew's wife [BSW]
mpangke- to sigh, cry out in pain
Mparntwe Alice Springs
mpe! let's go
mpele-mpele a rash (of the kind where little bumps rise up on the skin)
mpeltye diarrhoea
mpeltyirre- [mpeltye- ?] to have diarrhoea [syn. atnelthirre-]
mpenge ready to be eaten; of merne = fruit/vegetable food, this means ripe, of kere =
meat, this means cooked (fr. ampe- = to burn, -nge = Abl.)
mpere [ampere] knee
mperlkere white; white clay; white ochre
mperlkere-mape white people, Europeans (mperlkere = white, mape = pl. group marker)
mpernpe yellow throated miner (not kere)
Mpetyane one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
mpunye to elope, go off to live with (and have a sexual relationship with) someone who is not
your promised spouse (?)
mpunye lherre- to elope [eloping go-dlS/A-]
mpunye unterre- to elope [eloping hurry off-dlS/A]
mpwaltye k.o. big frog
mpwangke [mpwanke]whole, complete (syn. mpwerrke (??))
mpware- to make; to do
mpwe urine
mpwelarre rainbow; (old) term used for person who has gone through ceremony involving
knocking out of front tooth. [cf. alyelenge]
mpwepe in the middle of, in the centre of, between, amongst
mpwerneye brother-in-law [ZH; HB; MMBDS; FMBSS; MFZDS; FZZSS]
mpwerrke [ampwerrke] body; whole; complete (syn. mpwangke (??)); be fat and healthy
(ant.utyewe); full of cup or whole (ant. arltwe)
mpwe-ulhe- [mpwelhe-] to urinate [urine-excrete]
murne- to stick s.t. to s.t. else, jam s.t. in s.t. else so that it gets stuck
murnelhe- to get oneself stuck in something
murnerrentye siamese twins (stick-RECIP-NMZR; sy.n irrkwerrentye)
murntirre- to refuse to do s.t.
mwantye slow; careful (be careful)
mwantye-mwantye careful
mwarre good; healthy, well; Unte mwarre? 'How are you?'[lit.'Are you well?'
mwarre-kngerre beautiful, handsome [good+big]
mwarrentye to do well
mwarrile- to heal s.o., make s.o. better; to fix s.t.
mwarrirre- to heal up, become healthy ; Iparrpe mwarrirrirtneyewe! 'Hurry up and get well
again'
mwekarte hat
mwere husband's uncle or mother's male cousins [HMB; MMBS; MFZS]
mwere son-in-law [DH; MBDS; FZDS]
mweremwenke blowfly
mweteke [mwetekaye] car, bus, toyota, vehicle (fr. Engl. motor car)
mweye-mweye son-in-law [DH; MBDS; FZDS]; husband's uncle or mother's male cousins [HMB;
MMBS; MFZS]
name grass: the term used for long 'wheat-like' or 'reed-like' grasses (cf. therrke)
namelhile- to move s.t. to another location [-lhile CAUS]
namirre- [anamirre-] to shift location; move to another place [-irre INCH]
nanthe horse
naweye father's eldest brother (if very old) [FB+]
nayepe knife (fr. Engl. knife) [syn. alyweke]
ne- (1) to sit (ie. be sitting not to sit down) [cf. arrerne- lhe-]; [positional verb]
(2) to live at a place; stay at a place [positional verb]
(3) to exist; [existential verb]
(4) to be something; to be in a certain state [copula/aux]
(5) ?? to be married ?? Mpwele anteme aneme 'So you two are married now'
nentye-nentye t o make shuffling or padding noises; to make soft but audible (shuffling) noises
[spec. with feet]
nentye-nentye lhe- "go padding along."
newarte married (couple)
newarte ne- to marry; be married
newe [anewe] spouse [husband or wife] (cf. arrkare)
ngangkere traditional healer, can be used of a non-Aboriginal doctor
ngayekwe [angayekwe] hungry [ngkethekwe 'thirsty']
ngentye [angentye] soakage; temporary waterhole (kwatye ngentye)
ngepe [angepe] crow (not kere)
ngerne- [angerne-] to dig with hands (for s.t.) [see tnye- (vtr.)]
ngernelhe- [angernelhe-] to scratch oneself (as in scratching an itch) [dig with hands+REFL-]
ngkarte (see ingkarte)
ngke! 'give it here!'; give over
ngke- crack; crack out of (eg. of eggs, of moth or butterfly from chrysalis [irrarle], etc)
ngkerne- to stand s.t. up, to put s.t. in a standing position; to stop something (eg. a car);
mwetekaye ngkernaye! 'stop the car!'; to grow, raise, cultivate s.t.
ngkernelhe- to stop, come to a stop, anything moving that suddenly comes to a stop; to park
a car [stand s.t. up+REFL-]
ngkerralye ? ribs [cf. utyipme]
ngkethekwe [ankgethakwe] thirsty [cf. ngayekwe 'hungry']
ngkwarle sweet honey-like foods that usually go through a liquid phase and are sucked
licked (wantye-) or are drunk (ntywe-). Some forms of ngkwarle are hard toffee like substances.
Other forms include nectar from flowers, native honey (urltampe), honey ants
(yerrampe), edible tree sap, etc. [clitic -ampe = ngkwarle]; the term is now also used for grog
(any alcoholic beverage but mainly wine).
ngkweltye fragments, small pieces; loose change (ie. loose coins)
ngkweltyile- to smash or break s.t. into small pieces
ure twemele nkweltyilaye 'chop the fire wood into small pieces' [-ile CAUS]
ngkwene [angkwene] cockatoo with pink crest ; Major Mitchell cockatoo
ngkwerne bones in general; leg (bone) specifically
ngkwerne-ngkwerne boney, very skinny; used only of animates to describe a person or animal one
feels to be far too thin. This word definitely has negative connotations
(fr. Reduplication of ngkwerne = bone)
ngkwernelyerre k.o. plant, it produces fruit that is like ahakeye
ngkwerrpme (ankurrpme ?) berry from the mistletoe (?) [emus feed it to their babies]
ngkwetyeke k.o. grass with lots of seeds which are prepared for eating, found during "kwatye-
time" (ie. rainy period)
ngwenhe who?
ngwerre [angwerre] afternoon
ngwerre-ngwerre [angwerre-ngwerre] evening, late afternoon, near sundown
ngwerrknge-ngwerrknge pig
nhakwe that over there; younder (distal certain demonstrative)
nhawerne that over there/yonder uncertain
nhe- [anhe-] to sprinkle or douse s.t. with water ; to rain (when no A and O mentioned); kwatye-le
nhe-me 'it's raining'
nhelhe- [nelhe- ?] to tease; torture; be cruel to; be nasty to
nhelhentye cheeky; cruel ; nasty; a bully; a nuisance
[ -ntye= nominaliser]
nhenge "you remember the one(s), the one(s) from before" REMEMB; whenever
nhengkenhe this here, (proximal) uncertain
nhengulkere of that kind; like this (when referring to handsign for s.t.) [REMEMB-MORE]
nhenhe this/here, (proximal) certain
nipe-nipe scissors [from 'snip-snip' ?]
ntange any type of seed which may be ground and made into an edible porridge (tnurrknge) or can be
ground into flour used for making damper
ntenye-ntenye dots (e.g. like those in dot painings); freckles
nterlanye ? feather shoes worn by kadaitcha
nterne- to spear s.t.; to sew; slang for to copulate
nterte quiet, peaceful, soft of sound
ntertirre- to quieten down, become silent
ntertirraye! 'keep quiet!', 'Shut up!'
ntethe [antethe] flower; down (feather); white wispy clouds ?
ntewe- to tackle s.o., to trip s.o., to throw (wrestle) something like a person or a calf down onto the
ground
ntewirre- [antewirre-] to vomit
nthakenhe how? (see alakenhe)
nthakentye how many? (see alakentye)
nthakiwe- to char fur/scales off game, only used when cooking on an open fire
nthariwe- to pinch s.o.
nthe- to give s.t. to s.o; used to form a type of causative construction where a person is caused
to feel a certain way or know a certain thing [c.f. kaltyele-ntheme; pure-le ntheme 'to
embarass s.o.']
nthenhe [thenhe] where?
nthepe [anthepe] women's dance (at time of initiation); style of dance performed by women;
women's corroboree (at time of initiation)
nthepirre- dance women's dance; now also used for dancing modern Anglo-Australian dance
styles. [-irre INCH]
ntherrtye [antherrtye] range of hills
nthetye [anthetye] young man [opposed to wenke]
nthetye mape young adults including both young men and women (nthetye = young man, mape =
pl. group marker)
nthile- to light a fire; set a fire [flame(?)+CAUS- (see alkngenthe)]
nthintyalpaye! give it back to me! [give+DO COMING BACK-IMP- EMPH]
nthintyalpe- [anthintyalpe] to give s.t. back (to me)
nthintyaye! give it to me! [give+DO COMING+IMP+EMPH]
nthirtne- to return s.t. to s.o., give s.t. back [give-REVERS]
nthurre true, proper, exact, real (eg. artwe nthurre = a real man, that is a man who has been
initiated); in modifying adjectives this means 'very'
nthurrke guts of caterpillar; stomach (name of Emily Gap)
ntulye shadow; the movies [Undoolya 'place name']
nturrerte ? rock pigeon; plumed pigeon
ntyame [antyame] swag, blanket; s.t. you sleep on (on the ground - [Gavan Breen [pc] has
suggested it refers more generally to any soft material that keeps you from direct contact
with the ground (matress; sheet)]
ntyamenye ruby salt bush (?)
ntyarlke k.o. caterpillar
ntyarnpe scoop (like a little shovel)
ntye- to smell; stink; be odoriferous (eg. a flower, rotten meat) [cf. ntyerne-]
ntyelpe red hot
ntyenpe tool used as spade for digging with (e.g. used for digging up yerrampe =
honeyants) (?)
ntyerle a boning instrument
ntyerne- to smell s.t. [cf. ntye- ]
ntyerre- to snore
ntyerrke [arntyerrke] dry (of berries on bush, clothes, etc.)
ntyerrkile- to dry s.t.
ntyerrknge a sneeze
ntyerrknge tnye- to sneeze [a sneeze to fall]
ntywe- [antywe-] to drink
ntywelkere [?] nape; back of neck [cf. untye; kertwapme]
nwerne we all (1plS/A general and same pat. - same gen.)
nwernekartweye ancestors, our forebearers [nwerne 'we all', -ke 'DAT', +artweye
'custodian' (lit. our custodians)]
nyarewe cuckoo?
nye+ stem formative form for 'father' (cf. akngeye)
nye- to copulate with, engage in sexual intercourse with
nyemale rat
nyeme grandfather [MF; MFB/Z] (cf. tyemeye)
nyengke zebra finch (kere)
nyentarenye alone, on one's own [one+ASSOC]
nyente one, a/an; alone, do on one's own; one and the same;
nyentelhile- to mix things together; to unite or join two things; to tie two things together
[one-CAUS]
nyentirre- [anyentirre-] to unite (intr.), meet with s.o., come together, for things (ingredients) to
become mixed together [one+INCH-]
nyewane new
nywerre critical, disparaging, "means like when you're giving a dirty look", showing that you
think something bad about s.o./s.t.
nywerrirremele angke- to complain about , criticize s.t. [critical+INCH+npp+SS say-]
nywerrirremele are- to glare at, give a dirty look at [critical+INCH+npp+SS see-]
palkere crested pigeon (kere)
palunthe- [apalunthe-] to look for s.t. that is lost, search for [wrongly-look for-]
pangkerlangke b ? kind of monster (devil; child killer[?])
papethe [papathe] for lots of the same thing to be all over a place; a confusion of things of
the same kind.
mweteke nhenhe waye papethe-kerte
'This car has wires going everywhere'
parlkene [palkerne?][parlkerne] kingfisher (not kere)
parlkiwe- to peel; to skin
parlpe [aparlpe] to be lost
parlpile- [aparlpile-] to lose s.t. somewhere [lost+CAUS-]
parlpirre- [aparlpirre-] to lose one's way; to become lost [lost-INCH]
parrekelye [parakeelya] leafy water plant found out in the desert (good for camels and
bullocks but not for people)
parrike yard; fence [from English barricade ??]
patele bottle [from English]
+patherre subsection, "skin" (only every occurs with iwenhe )
payemile- to pay; to buy [from conflation of English 'buy' and 'pay']
payntemile- to find [from English find]
payuthne- [apayuthne-] to ask s.o. a question , ask s.o. to do s.t.
peke [apeke] perhaps, maybe, if, or
peke- [apeke-] to smash s.t. (into pieces)
pele [apele] fact (it is a fact that)
pelhe spittle, saliva
pelhe-iwe- to spit (spittle, throw away)
pelkere [apelkere] crested pigeon
Peltharre one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
pelye soft, pliable; felt to be between rlterrke and atyete (of leather for instance vs. cloth vs. glass)
Penangke one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
Pengarte one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
pennge cane grass (?)
pente- [apente-] follow s.o./s.t. ,O
peraltye [aperaltye] sweet solid white insect manna found on leaves of river red gums (pere),
which are licked off the leaves [k.o. ngkwarle]
perante sap like honey (ngkwarle) when it is in liquid form (from the river red gum (apere))
pere [apere] river red gum
perlape conckle berry
perne- [?aperne-] to paint on with the fingers; to rub, to massage
pernelhe- to paint oneself; decorate oneself; rub oneself (eg. with fat)
pernke- to split open
perrke coal of a fire (ure)
Perrwerle one of eight skin names [c.f. Kngwarreye; Peltharre; Kemarre; Perrwerle;
perte- [aperte-] to creep up on, sneak up on, creep around
pertirre- to turn around in order to go back; pull (part/or all of oneself) away from; back down
pertwelenge heart
petyalpe- [apetyalpe-] to come back; move back (towards place where speaker is)
petye- [apetye-] to come, move towards place where speaker is
pewile- to blow on s.t. (eg. a fire); to blow one's nose
pike-pike pig
pilekane billycan (fr. Engl.)
pintyarre reeds
pintye [pentye] spring
pintye-pintye [pentye-pentye] grass (name) found growing beside springs and permanent water
holes; has strong and distinctive smell
pipe book, paper
pleyathe please
pmere camp; country; place; home, house, shelter
[note that this form acts as a classifier for places. Further pmere can take kin possessive
suffixes which indicate its classification as a 'social' entitity [pmer-angkwe 'your dreaming
country]. Some of the different meanings of these forms may be distinguished on the
basis of the existential verbs they occur with. 'Country' lies or sits; 'house, shelter' stands
or sits, and 'camp' just sits.]
pmerekartweye traditional owners of a place [pmere 'country', -ke
[apmerekartweye] DAT, +artweye 'custodian' (lit. the country's custodians)]
pmware bush dish, small container used for putting yalke = bush onions, berries, etc. in
pmware-pmware water beetle (reduplication of pmware 'bush dish')
pmwelkere (?) a clayish off white/yellow colour; grey ; sombre(?)
pmwelpere windpipe
puke book (syn. pipe)
puralthe shameful person [shame+BadCHAR]
pure [apure] shame, embarrassment, shyness; ashamed, embarrassed, shy ayenge pure neme
"I'm ashamed"[a sense of what is shameful is a necessary thing to have; people who act
outrageously in public have "got no shame" and are ridiculed for that. It is not thought to be right to
draw attention to oneself in a public place.]
purenge [apurenge] ashamed, embarrassed; for shame, out of shame, because of
embarassment [common answer (reason) given by s.o. who is asked to do something which is
public and who doesn't want to for that reason]
[shame+ABL]
pure netyekenhe shameless, "got no shame"
purepirre- (?) to fend off, to keep s.o. away from a sore or wound so that they won't hurt it. ?
purirre- [apurirre-] to become shy, to become embarassed or ashamed
purile- [apurile-] to embarass; to cause s.o. to be shy or embarassed
purle (?) boy, considered as young and uninitiated (?) [have only heard term in connection
with the women travelling dreaming and the boys that follow them]
purrke tired; bored
purrkirre- [apurrkirre-]to get tired [-irre INCH]
purte cluster, clump, heap; (do) together
purtelhile- [apurtelhile-] to gather up; bring together; make into a cluster or clump; to round
up cattle
pwathe boss, leader (fr. Engl. boss)
pwe(r)teke hail
pwe-pwe [pwape; apwapwe; apwe-apwe] willy-willy, whirlwind
pweke-pweke puffball
pwelantye [apwelantye] whistling kite, or eagle hawk (not k.o. kere)
pweleke cow; bullock
pwenatye grubs from the roots of (a)pwene = broom brush
pwene [apwene] broom brush
pwenge blind
pwepelye tadpole
pwere penis; tail of animal
pwere alewatyerre b tiger snake (lit. tail of the goanna)
pwere-tayele tail [pwere 'penis,tail'- tayele from English 'tail']
pwerlantye [apwerlantye] k.o. hawk
pwerlepe shoulders
pwerte [apwerte] rock (generic & specific); hill, mountain; money
pwerte athere grinding stone (stone classifer athere grinding stone) pwerteke [apwerteke] hailstones
pwethepe to do anyway although not interested; do carelessly
pwetye bush [from English]
rake- to grab; take s.t. away from s.o.
rante-rante be the same as [ant. arrpenhe]
rapite [rapete] rabbit [from English]
re he, she, it (3sgS/A)
relhe [arelhe] woman
relhe ampwe old woman (ampwe = old)
relhe wenke young woman (wenke = young woman)
renhe her, him, it (3sg-ACC)
rlke [lke] wind; air; spirit
rlkerte sick, ill
rlpurtne- [lpurtne] to fan a fire (?); blow (?)
rltare twe- to hit very hard,vtr; knock on [knock to hit]
rltare-rltare to bang, knock; do causing a banging, knocking sound; rltare-rltare petyeme 'to
come along knocking' (said of woman walking on wooden floor with high heel shoes)
rltare-rltare twe- to knock, bang on something (eg. to knock on the door; bang on the table)
[knocking to hit]
rlte-rlte tiny
rlterre shin; shin bone
rlterrke hard (of things, eg. pwerte = rock); strong (of people and animals); mean (in derogatory sense
of people); tight/taut (of a rope); sturdy (of a table, or of pole stuck into the ground)
rtakwe [atakwe] windbreak
rtekiwe- [rtakiwe-] to spread out (to dry); hang up (to dry)
rtirre-rtirre kingfisher or rainbow bird
rwelywelye [rwelyerwelye; rulyelye] horn (as of bull)
taltyekwele mulga (artetye) apple
tanthe- [atanthe-] to spear; to write; to sew; to peck of birds and bite of mosquitoes; [all the
above require bringing sharp point of s.t. into contact with s.t. else] [syn. nterne-]
to feel a sharp pain : arerre tantheme '(ihave a) sharp pain in the chest'
tarne coolamon; shovel
tatye-tatye five minute grass (?)
tayele tail (from English 'tail' appears be replacing pwere 'penis;tail' and pwere-tayele 'tail':
because of the association these latter two have with 'penis')
te- [ate-] to burst, for something to burst [eg. of a boil, or a balloon]
tekertne- to cough [cf. ilwe-]
tengkwelknge [atengkwelknge] a snot; a cold
teratye hot windless day
ternelhe- to strech oneself (terne-REFL ??)
terte wet, mushy, very soft of ground (ahelhe terte 'mud')
terte(r)line- [??] to clean up dust; to clean meat
terwerre clapping sticks
terwerre twe- to play clapping sticks [clapping stick to hit]
tetye-tetye rough surface
tharte start
th-elpe-therre- to smile (at) [therre- laugh + reduplication & -elpe 'continuous inception' (ie.
continously beginning to laugh without ever laughing]
thakwere [athakwere] mouse
tharre numb
tharte start [from English]
thawe [athawe] waterbag made from arenge = rock wallaby skin [syn. ahantye]
thayete side
the- (athe-) to grind s.t. (with grinding stones; cf athere ), grind seeds (ntange) into flour
(ulpmanthe)
the- (?) to poke in the eye (?)
theke-thekile- to tickle (?)
thele- to pour s.t. (into s.t. else)
thelpetherre- (see th-elpe-therre)
thene- [athene-] to lay s.t. down
thengatye grub (tyape) from thenge = ironwood tree
thenge [athenge] ironwood tree [syn. tyarnpe]
thenge-arlpele edible, toffee-like substance from the sap of the ironwood tree (k.o. ngkwarle)
thengkarre burr, bindi-eye
therre [atherre] two; and [conjoins names of two people who form a common couple (like
husband and wife)]
therreme both
therre- to laugh (at s.t.)
therrelhile- to laugh s.o. down; to affect s.o. by laughing at them. [laugh+CAUS-; but not cause
s.o. to laugh as might be expected; (cf. artnelhile-)]
therre-me-nyente three [two-UQ-one]
therre-me-therre four [two-UQ-two]
therrke small herbaceous green plants (useless?); grass
therrke-therrke green [fr. Redup. of therrke]
thetheke [athetheke] red
thetheke-thetheke pink(?)
thethekirre- be come infected (ie.become inflamed) [red-INCH]
thile- to point at s.t.
thirnte flat ; sheer of a rock face or cliff face; also used to refer to Chinese people
thipe flying animal (birds; bats; ?large cicadas?)
tirrpelhile- ? to smooth s.t. out; to plane s.t. down [tirrpe=? +CAUS]
tiwe- to scrape of the burnt outside of animals before cooking in ground
tiye-tiye magpie lark (small)
tnake- to praise; to flatter
tnarnpe(?) [atnarpe] buttocks (?)
tne- to stand
tnengkerre Dreamtime, Dreamtime story, dream
tnurrknge [atnurrknge] porridge, mush
tny-elpe-tnye- to stagger, teeter on the brink [lit. to continually be about to fall : fall+C.Incep.rdp-
]
tnyante (to do) to "death', severely, sevagely [dead+ONLY]
tnye+ uncle (stem formative form) [cf. kamerne]
tnye dead
tnye- to dig ground for something with an implement like a digging stick (atneme) or a shovel; dig
s.t. up [ NB.may take the ground as O or the thing dug for as O.]; Relhe mape-le ahelhe tnyeke
tyape-ke. Itne tyape tnyeke.'The women dug the ground for witchetty grubs. They dug up
witchetty grubs.'
[see ngerne-]
tnye- [atnye-] to fall down (ALL/DAT)
tnyelhe- to scratch oneself [syn. ngernelhe-]
tnyelhile- to drop s.t. [fall+CAUS-]
tnyematye [tnyemetye] witchetty grub [(a)tnyeme 'witchetty bush', -atye
[atnyematye] 'edible grub']
tnyeme [atnyeme] witchetty bush
tnyentye [atnyentye] moon
tnyentye kwerrke crescent moon [moon-young of animals]
tnyentye mpwerrke full moon [moon full/complete]
tnyerampwe name of sweet sap/gum (ngkwarle) from the supplejack tree (tnyere)
tnyere [atnyere] supplejack
tnyetyalpe- go home and have a rest (idiomatic, lit. fall as soon as you return) [fall-GO
BACK&DO]
tnyetyelhe- to sit/lie down to have a rest during a trip [fall-GO&DO]
ture ? music sticks [arne ture]
twe- [atwe-] to hit, chop; kill; be struck by something unpleasant; to hurt ; to bet (as in betting
money on cards);
twernke pillow, anything gathered to rest your head on while lying down
twerre- [atwerre-] to fight [hit-RECIP-]
tyampete [tyampite] tin can, cup or any small container used for drinking (esp. tea) out of (incl.
tin cans); billy (from Engl. jam pot)
tyape grub, term for class of edible grubs that are dug out of the ground, or out of the roots of
particular trees and bushes; the prototypical tyape is the tnyematye 'the witchetty grub', the
grubs are considered a good source of water, they may be eaten raw or cooked in coals;
the term tyape may also be used (by older speakers) to designate certain caterpillars which are
part of the same life cycle as the grubs
tyarne- [tyane-?] to go through; cross over
tyarnpe [atyarnpe] ironwood tree [syn. thenge]
tyarre- to pull s.t. out of s.t. else (ntyele)
tyarre-ine- [tyarrine-] to pull s.t. out of s.t. else in order to get/have it
tyarre-knge- to drag s.t. along [pull out+take/carry-]
tyarrelhe- to pull s.t. out of oneself (eg. to pull a splinter out of your hand)[pull s.t. out+REFL-]
tyarr-ine- to pull
tyarrpe a crack; a split in something; vagina
tyarrpe atwe- ? to split [crack chop/hit-]
tyeke [atyeke] loose, of s.t. that is not (or is no longer) firmly set in place (eg. of a loose post, or a
tooth that's about to fall out)
tyelepe-lepe navel; belly button
tyelke flesh; muscles
tyelkerne- ?? to split
tyelpme chips
tyemeye grandfather (MF)
tyepe-tyepe [atyepe-tyepe] energetic, lively
tyeperre [atyeperre] special; important (pipe atyeperre = license(?))
tyepetye woman's stories; love stories;
ayeye ilpentye arteke neme 'stories that are like love songs' "Not used much now. Some old
women used to tell stories arlwekere-le"
tyerlarre hairband cloth (scarf), or hairstring
tyerne- to answer, reply (to s.o.'s question)
tyerre- [atyerre-] to cook s.t. in hot coals; to burn s.o. with the smouldering end of a stick, or
with a hot wire, etc; to shoot something
tyerrtye human body; person (refers specifically to Aboriginal people)
tyete [atyete] soft (of pillow, matress); also used to indicate smoothness in some cases (?); can be
used for 'wet' (of ground) [cf. lthangkwe]
tyewe [atyewe] friend (in general)
tyewerrelye 'meat gift' (for a ceremony)
tyipe a piece of s.t., esp. meat
tyipe-tyipe lots of different pieces
tyuketye soakage [from English; syn ngentye]
tyunpe perentie (k.o. kere)
tyweke sugar
tyweke-tyweke chook, chicken (k.o. kere)
tywepmware [tywepmwere] nail of fingers or toes
tywerrenge sacred object; anything directly associated with the Dreamtime stories, songs, land,
ritual objects, paintings, designs.
tywwwe (?) used when s.o. is talking about s.o. or s.t. going off somewhere really fast; typically
accompanies hand sign indicating direction the entity sped off towards. Nthenhe re
uyirrerlelheme? Yweke. Tywwwe, the aretyekenhe.'Where'd he dissappear to? I don't
know, all of a sudden he was gone, I didn't see'
ularre facing towards (ant. untyeme)
ularte nothing mixed in; of mass nouns like kwatye = water this means 'pure', 'fresh'; of count nouns
like artwe = man this means 'just', 'only'
ulenye to hunt, do in manner of hunting;ulenye lhe- 'to go hunting'
ulhe- to excrete (mpwe-ulhe- 'to pee'; atne-ulhe- 'to shit');
to lay an egg
ulkantyerrknge the flower of the bush banana (langkwe)
ulkere slippery; very smooth (eg. of rock so smooth one could slip on it)
ulkerte prentie (said to be and "oldtime word") [syn. tyunpe]
ulpare-ulpare pussytail (?)
ulpe dust(y); soft (of lhere = sand)
ulpere hollow
ulpernelhe- to whistle
ulperte a mess; dirty
ulpertelhile- to make a mess, make s.t. dirty [mess+CAUS]
ulpile- to pound; crush
ulpmernte dust; duststorm
ulpmernte-ulpmernte a dusty red-brown colour [fr. Redup. of ulpmernte = dust]
ulpulpe spring (season)
ultake- to break; chop
ultakelhe- to break (by itself); to break down (of car) [lhe- REFL]
ultakelhentye broken [fr.ultake- = to break tr., -lhe = REFL, -ntye= nominalizer]
ulte side of the body
ultekethe altogether [from English]
ulthe- to press down on s.t., pin s.t. down by force of weight, crush s.t. underneath s.t. else, to
run over s.t.
ulthentye heavy [to press down on s.t.+NMZR] ; dark of colour thetheke ulthentye 'dark
red' [ant. arrare]
ultherte all sorts [from English]
ulye shade
ulyentye shade
ulyenye do hunting ?
ulyepere thigh
unte you (S/A)
unte- to hurry off (away from where speaker is); run
untentye fast (nanthe untentye = a fast horse) [fr. unte- = to hurry along/to run, -ntye =
nominalizer]
unte-tye- to hurry hither
unte-ty-alpe- to hurry back
unthe- to wander around and/or to look for ; hunting around
untye back of neck
untye alyernemele twerle keme break neck of rabbit/man
untye drops of water (raindrops, tear drops)
untyeline- to be elder sibling of s.o. (transitive verb literally meaning "takes by the neck" :
ine- 'to take; get' )
untyeme facing away from
untyetye to be warm (of a person)
untyeyampe nectar of untyeye = corkwood (k.o. ngkwarle)
untyeye corkwood tree
unye- to hum (also used of birds singing)
unyerre mountain devil; thorny devil
upernelhe- [urlpernelhe-] to whistle
ure fire; classifier of fire related entities like smoke, fire stick, coals]
ure atetherre ? fire of hell
ure-nyengke gidgee (?)
ure-wenhe-wenhe fire saw [lit. fire thrower :ure 'fire', we- 'to hit with missile', reduplication &-
nhe nominalise of habitual involvement]
urewe flood; river; large body of flowing water
uringe frog mouth owl
urinpe hot
urlarenye stranger; strange (language); a place that has no Dreamtime stories associated
with it (eg. Sydney)
urle forehead
urlekerte small water carrier (fr. urle 'forehead' -kerte 'having'; metaphor relating to shape (?));
(coolamon)
urlkerrpe suds; beer
urlpe red ochre
urlpere hollow tree
urlpme [urrpme ?] narrow
urltaltye (?) Husband's uncle or mother's male cousins [HMB; MMBS; MFZS]; son-in-law
[DH; MBDS; FZDS]
urltampe wild honey (made by native bee - [hollow-honey])
urltatye [ultatye ??] the click in the nose signalling a premonition
urlte a hollow in a tree (see urltampe)
urnte- dance men's dance; to rain [when kwatye 'water/rain' is understood subject]
urrpme [urlpme?] narrow, primarily of open spaces but can be used of things (?)
urreke soon; later; wait on!; just a minute!; by and by
urreke-ulkere little bit longer [later-more]
urrempere lance; spear; shovel spear
urreme-urreme confused, befuddled, out of it (not knowing what is going on)
urrerne- to blame s.o. (for s.t.)
urreye [urriye] boy/male
urrkale [urrkwale] mulga country
urrkape work
urrkape- to work
urrkapentye a job; work (noun) [to work-NMZR]
urrke pus; matter (from sore)
urrkere (?) spinal column
urrknge soft, mushy (eg. of muddy ground, or of flour mixed with water) [cf. terte]
urrkwale [urrkale] mulga country; desert
urrpare- to erase, wipe out
urrperle black
urrperle-mape Aboriginal people (urrperle = black, mape = pl. group; ie. 'black people', this
arose in relation to mperlkere-mape = white people)
urrpetye a few (specifically three)
urrpetye-ke-urrpatye a few at a time [few-DAT-few]
urrpmale fire saw
urrpme chest scar (made intentionally [as part of initiation?])
urrthe a type of rock
urrtyalthe liar [lie-BadCHAR]
urrtye (a) lie; a pretense
urrtyirre- to lie to s.o. about s.t.; to pretend to be/do s.t. [INCH]
urrwemperre (?) big fighting spear used while held onto or thrown by hand, usually made of
artetye = mulga wood
urrwempele ceremony (initiation?)
urrwerre cockatoo with yellow crest
urtape fire that has burned away but is still hot, with glowing coals [?]
urteke short
urtne general term for largeish coolamon
urtne-uretye large water carrier (coolamon)
utepirre- to turn back; turn around; back off
uterne sunlight; heat of the sun; summer (hot season); the sun (younger speakers)
uterne- to order s.o. to do s.t.; force s.o. to do s.t.
utethe hips (whole hip region) [Watching lead singer of a rock band perform Margaret Heffernan
said about him "utethe tyeke; ngkwerneke arrangkwe" 'loose hips, no bones'
uthene and (binary and) [only conjoins entities of the same general kind that are commonly found
together]
uthne- to bite, of animals [see alknge-uthne-;ahele-uthnerre-]
utnanthe gidgea
utnanthe- being greedy to s.o.; failing to share s.t. that is good with s.o. [transitive verb]
utnenge [urtnenge ?] soul; spirit
utnerrengatye caterpillar from the utnerrenge tree
utnerrenge emu bush [used for medicine]
utnetyiwe- to make a fire using a fire saw.
utyene a sore
utyerne- to lift s.t. up
utyernelhe- to be boastful, to skite [lift up-REFL]
utyerrke native fig
utyewe narrow, thin; used of things or animates; is used to describe humans with positive
connotations, like Engl. "slim"
utyewetyake- to beg and plead on s.o. else's behalf
utyewetyakelhe- to beg and plead for yourself (to s.o)
utyipme ribs
uyare- to misplace something; to be unable to find s.t. where it should be
uyarne unable to do, to do s.t. in vain [be attempting s.t. but be unable to do it]
uye [see uyarne (syn?)]
uyenpere spear tree
uyerre- [uyirre- ??] to disappear; to finish [euphemism for 'to die']
uyerrelhile- to use up; make s.t. disappear [-lhile CAUS]
uyerrenhe- to pass by, disappear (can be used of days) [-nhe
DO PAST]
wake- [awake-] to save s.t. for s.o.
wale well (then), (and) so (well)
walpale [warlpele] white man, (fr. Engl. white fellow)
walye branch
wangke- to swell up, for a part of the body to swell up
wante- to feed s.o. or some animal; breast feed
wantye- [awantye-] to lick s.t., suck s.t.
ware only; nothing much(dimissive DISM); not really
ware nthe- to lend (ie. not really give, just give for a short while)
ware angke- to guess; to not really be saying anything important
warle humpy, wurley, any fully enclosed construction used for living in
warlekwerte widow(er) (i.e. either a man or a woman who has lost their spouse)
warre may I remind you (REMIND)
warrkirre- to work [from English]
watelpere white woman (fr. 'white lubra')
wawe fire, flame [child's word, syn. ure in sense of fire] ; loverboy, (hot-one)
we- to hit s.t. by throwing s.t. at it (like throwing a rock at a bird); also used when something like a
shanghai (slingshot) is used to propel the missile
Itne shanghai-le thipe we-pe-we-me, pwertele 'They're always pelting birds using
shanghais and stones.'; to pelt s.t. with s.t. else
weleke- to bark (of dog)
welhe- to feel cold, sick, bad; ie. to feel/percieve s.t. happening in one's body (or a part of one's
body) or to feel s.t. is affecting one's body (or a part of one's body) Ayenge irrernte welheme
'I feel cold' [etymologically probably the reflexive of awe- 'to hear, understand']
wengkere [awengkere] wild duck (k.o. kere)
wenke young woman
wenkirre- to be in the process of becoming a young woman [INCH]
werlatye breasts; breast milk
werlatye-alhe nipple (lit. breast nose)
werlatye-werlatye k.o. medicine plant with milky sap
werne- to blow [intr.] (of wind, fan); to blow s.t. over/down/around (again where wind or fan is
agent) werratye drought
werre-werre [awerre-werre] name for k.o. wild flowers of different colours
werreke-lyaye-lyaye pretty flowers with red tops
werrpe [awerrpe] blood of kangaroo, esp. blood that collects in chest cavity of kangaroo and
is considered a "health drink" (good for babies)
werte what's up?, what's news?; gidday!
wiye [weye] baby boy (term of endearment) [cf. kwiye]
y'know [yenewe] you know, you understand
yakwethe [ayakwete] any closed container for water, esp. waterbags; also refers to pouches for
carrying tobacco, etc.
yalange that/there, (medial) uncertain
yalke bush onion
yame yam
yanhe there (near); that (near), (medial) certain
yatyerre visitors; guests; do as a visitor
yatyerre ane- to visit; be on a visit
yatyerre lhe-/alhe- to go visiting, go [visit(or) go-]
yawe yes
yaye elder sister [Z+; FBD+; MZD+]
ye yes
yekaye! what the hell's going on here?; shit!; ouch!
yenewe [y'know] you know, you understand
yenpe skin
yepe [ayepe] tar vine;( "yam-arteke" 'like a yam'), its roots are eaten; this is the plant that gives
its name to the Yep- arenye caterpillar (the caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the plant)
yepe-yepe sheep
yeperenye [yeparenye] caterpillar found on tar vine (the main one of three caterpillars sacred to the
Alice Springs area) [yepe 'tar vine', -arenye 'ASSOC']
yerne- to send s.t. to s.o.; send s.o. to do s.t.
yerrampe honeyant [yerre 'ant' -ampe 'honey (source)'
yerre ant (generic)
yewe yes
yewe-yewe yes
yweke [ywekwe ?] I don't know
ywepe- [aywepe] to hunt away ; to chase out of camp
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Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda) :

Studies in the Structure and Semantics of Grammar

A thesis submitted for the degree of

Except where otherwise indicated,

Arrantherre atyenge mwarre aneke angkentye arrekantherrenhe pipeke intelhiletyeke ilemele.

This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Basil Stevens,

General Abbreviations used throughout the thesis:

Other nominal and nominal-deriving forms:

Optional (non-stem final):

Ben Benefactive function

T.Adv Temporal Adverb

PropPart Propositional Particle

Ø zero case marking or elipsed element

Natural Language Definitions:

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Chapter Two: Phonology 74

Chapter Three: Simple Noun Phrases, Nominals, and Nominal

Chapter Four. Case: Forms and Functions 153

Chapter Five. Case Assigning Predicates, Verbs

5.5.6 Free verbs or derivational suffixes?: The ambiguous

Chapter Six. The Category of Associated Motion 270

Chapter Seven. Adverbs and Adverb Morphology 299

8.3.5 Particle/clitic insertion into verb forms inflected for associated

Chapter Nine: Five Particle/Clitics for Criticism and Complaint 382

Chapter Ten. Aspects of Syntax 404

Chapter Eleven: Switch-Reference and Morphologically

APPENDIX 1: Texts 488

APPENDIX 2: Lexicon 544

1.1 Background to the Language

(1) Re lhe-me-le, lhe-me-le pmere arrpenhe-werne. Pmere-k-irre-me-

1.1.2.1 Hale's (1962) view of internal relations within Arandic

c) Labialised bilabials in MpA typically correspond to non-labialised forms in WA.

(ii) At the level of morphology:

(2) WA Ikwere-nge tyunpe-le remeye-nhe ilkwe-ke.

(iv) At the level of syntax:

(3) a. MpA : Akngeye tyenhe lhe-tyekenhe ne-ke

b. WA: Karte nweke itye lhe-ke.

b) Perception complements in MpA are signalled by the different subject switch-

(4) WA Ire nteme tnengkarre are-ke ketyeye mape ulpaye-le

1.1.2.3 Hypothesised revision of internal relations within Arandic

1.1.3 Previous linguistic work on Arandic languages

1.2 Cultural Background and Contact History

1.2.1 Brief history of Alice Springs and surrounding area

(5) "Yanhe ikwere-nge arelhe ingkirreke arrwekele-nye ngkarte-le

1.2.2 History of ethnography of Arandic Groups

Mparntwe Arrernte and English: Languages in Contact

(6) "Ar-Ø-aye! Marle mape-rle petye-me kwatye-ke irrpe-tyeke,

(7) B.S.: ltne-rle kenhe knge-tye-ke arne nhenhe map-aye.

D.H.: Yew-aye! That's all diseases nhenge re knge-tye-ke

B.S.: Re nthurre, nhenhe arrwekele ane-ke-nge no rlkerte.

D.H.: No mange, nothing.

B.S. Arrangkwe ultekethe.

D.H. Blanket-le itne arte-lhe-tyekenhe. Wale name

1.2.4 Kinship and Avoidance

(8) a. Ampe Peltharr-aye, iparrp-aye!

b. Apmwerrke the relhe Mpetyane are-ke hospital-ke.

Figure 1-3 : Patrimoieties, Semi-patrimoieties (nyennhenge sections), and Subsections

(9) Pmere nhenhe therre kenhe ke-nhenge therre; y'know,

(10) ..., pmere nhenge ipmenh-atye.

Figure 1-4 : Generation Moieties, Subsections and First Choice Marriage

(11) Iwenhe-patherre unte?

1.2.4.2 Kin terms