Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Contact-induced change in a highly endangered language of Northern Bougainville

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Smith, Ellen (2016) Contact-induced change in a highly endangered language of Northern Bougainville. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 36 (3). pp. 369-405. doi:10.1080/07268602.2015.1134300

Research output not available from this repository, contact author.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2015.1134300

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Languages belonging to the Northwest Solomonic (NWS) subgroup, within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, are spoken in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and in the western Solomon Islands. These languages are lexically the most innovative Austronesian languages, retaining the least number of Austronesian cognates. Certain languages also show atypical grammatical structures. These innovative features are typically assumed to be the result of linguistic contact with the Papuan languages of the region. However, until Evans and Palmer's research on Mono-Torau and Uruava, research into contact-induced change had been carried out in other areas of Melanesia, but little was known about contact-induced change in NWS. Mono-Torau and Uruava display right-headed structures, including SOV clauses, postpositions and preposed possessors; these structures differ from other NWS structures and Evans and Palmer argue that this variation arose through Mono, Torau and Uruava speakers’ social contact with speakers of neighbouring Papuan languages, thus reflecting contact-induced change. Recent fieldwork reveals that Mono-Torau and Uruava are not the only NWS languages to exhibit such atypical grammatical features. Papapana, a highly endangered language spoken in northern Bougainville, also displays right-headed structures including verb-final clause orders, a postposition and preposed possessors. I argue that, as with Mono-Torau and Uruava, these differences reflect contact-induced change resulting from social contact with speakers of neighbouring Papuan languages.

Item Type: Journal Article
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics
Journal or Publication Title: Australian Journal of Linguistics
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISSN: 0726-8602
Official Date: 2016
Dates:
DateEvent
2016Published
24 February 2016Available
16 October 2015Accepted
Volume: 36
Number: 3
Page Range: pp. 369-405
DOI: 10.1080/07268602.2015.1134300
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item
twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us