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8 - SEMANTICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2011

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Summary

A full account of the semantics of Dyirbal would be considerably more lengthy than the description of the grammar and phonology, in chapters 3–7. In this chapter we refer briefly to some of the main points of Dyirbal semantics, paying attention to aspects that reinforce and help to explain parts of the syntax. A complete account of the semantics, in the form of a comprehensive dictionary-thesaurus of the language, is in active preparation. A provisional statement of verb semantics, going into considerably more detail than is attempted here, will be found in Dixon [1971].

Guwal-Dyalŋuy correspondences

We mentioned in 2.5 that when a speaker was within earshot of a ‘taboo’ relative he had to use Dyalŋuy, the so-called ‘mother-in-law’ style. In all other circumstances he had to use Guwal, the ‘everyday’ style. Every dialect has its own Guwal and Dyalŋuy. Each Dyalŋuy has identical phonology, and almost exactly the same grammar, as its Guwal. However, it has an entirely different vocabulary, there being not a single lexical item common to the Dyalŋuy and Guwal of a tribe.

Confronted with a Guwal word a speaker will give a unique Dyalŋuy ‘equivalent’. And for any Dyalŋuy word he will give one or more corresponding Guwal words. It thus appears that the two vocabularies are in a one-to-many correspondence: each Dyalŋuy word corresponds to one or more Guwal words (and the words so related are in almost all cases not cognate with each other).

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1972

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  • SEMANTICS
  • R. M. W. Dixon
  • Book: The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084987.009
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  • SEMANTICS
  • R. M. W. Dixon
  • Book: The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084987.009
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • SEMANTICS
  • R. M. W. Dixon
  • Book: The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084987.009
Available formats
×