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Vol. 50, nos. 3-4 (Fall and Winter 2008)

Contents

Abstracts

Language Contact in the Cairns Rainforest Region

R. M. W. Dixon
Cairns Institute, James Cook University

Abstract. The Cairns rainforest region in northeast Queensland, Australia, constitutes a distinct geographical zone and also a small linguistic area. This article focuses on contact between the dialects of two languages—Yidiñ, which came into the area from the north, and Dyirbal, which entered from the south. It also pays attention to Ja:bugay, Yidiñ’s northerly relative, and Warrgamay, Dyirbal’s southerly neighbor. There is discussion of how the languages have influenced each other in terms of demonstratives and related items, tense system, pronoun system, initial rhotic, and contrastive vowel length. In each instance, the likely direction of diffusion is examined.

Identity Planning in an Obsolescent Variety: The Case of Jersey Norman French

Mari C. Jones
University of Cambridge

Abstract. This article examines some of the corpus and status planning initiatives prompted by the revitalization of obsolescent Jersey Norman French (Jèrriais) on the Channel Island of Jersey. These have yielded a somewhat paradoxical situation whereby the dialect is currently being fostered as a quintessential part of island identity, despite the fact that, at present, it is spoken only by some 3 percent of the population. The success of the revitalization movement is discussed—including issues such as the need to “sell” the linguistic component of Jersey identity to Xmen via Yish—as is the changing nature of Jèrriais linguistic identity.

Aspects of Karitiâna Vowels

Caleb Everett
University of Miami

Abstract. This article represents a quantitatively oriented study of aspects of oral vowels in Karitiâna, an endangered Amazonian language. First, the basic formant characteristics of oral vowels are described, with attention paid to influences such as preceding place of articulation. Second, the effect of word-level stress on the spectral tilt of oral vowels is discussed. It is also demonstrated that stressed vowels are more displaced in the F1-F2 plane than their unstressed counterparts. Finally, the normalized vowel spaces of eight speakers are presented. These normalized spaces are suggestive of a sociolinguistic pattern meriting further investigation.

Evidentiality in Dena’ina Athabaskan

Gary Holton
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Olga Lovick
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Abstract. Dena’ina evidentials are enclitics with a complex paradigmatic morphology. Their first component varies with person, while the second component varies with animacy and number, thus marking source and nature of knowledge. Although evidentiality in Dena’ina is not coded as an obligatory inflectional category on the verb, it is also not scattered throughout the grammar. The existence of an incipient inflectional evidential system demonstrates the ability of Athabaskan languages to innovate morphological structures outside the verb. The uniqueness of the Dena’ina system demonstrates the heterogeneity of Athabaskan grammar beyond the verb word.

The Expression of Noun Phrases in Halkomelem Texts

Donna B. Gerdts
Simon Fraser University

Thomas E. Hukari
University of Victoria

Abstract. This article discusses overt versus zero noun phrases in transitive clauses based on data from two Halkomelem texts. Transitive clauses with two postverbal noun phrases are relatively rare. The most common clause type is one in which the sole postverbal noun phrase is the object. This follows from the previously noted facts that topics are often subjects and that topics tend to be zero. Overt noun phrases are used to refresh or reestablish a topic and also to end a discourse segment. This helps explain the residue of examples where the sole postverbal noun phrase is the subject. Nontopic noun phrases, including objects, tend to be overt, even when they closely follow an overt expression of the same noun phrase. Certain verbs though, such as lemœt ‘look at it’, seem to prefer zero objects, thus largely accounting for clauses with no overt noun phrases.

The Impact of Anterior Dental Extraction and Restoration on the Articulation of Affricates by Dinka Refugees in Nebraska

Jerold A. Edmondson
University of Texas at Arlington

David J. Silva
University of Texas at Arlington

Mary S. Willis
University of Nebraska Lincoln

Abstract. As part of a multidisciplinary investigation of Dinka refugees in Nebraska, this article reports on the linguistic effects of having extracted lower anterior teeth replaced with fixed dental restorations utilizing titanium implants. The research focuses on the pre- and post-implantation production of the Dinka palatal obstruents, segments for which the lower front teeth play a critical passive role in articulation. The results suggest that the replacement of the lower front teeth produces mixed results, at least in the short term, with some speakers manifesting improvement in their production of affricates and others presenting no appreciable change.

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