The phonology and morphology of Marrithiyel : a preliminary study

Abstract

In the broad typological division of Australian languages, Marrithiyel is classed as a non Pama-Nyungan or prefixing language. It shares with the other languages of Arnhem Land and the Kimberleys the property of cross­ referencing core clause participants - e.g. subject, object, indirect object - with pronominal prefixes attached to the verb. Marrithiyel additionally has further options for cross-referencing certain other participants, e.g. purposive NPs, as pronominal verbal suffixes. Information about tense and certain specifications of participant number are also conveyed by verbal suffixes. The pronominal prefixes form part of the "auxiliary". The auxiliary is an obligatory constituent of every Marrithiyel verb. It has three basic slots. The first slot is always filled by a subject morpheme. The third slot takes morphemes encoding object, indirect object, locative - allatives (of intransitives), or information about transitivity, the choice of which morpheme appears being determined by a strict selection hierarchy. Cross­ referencing with a direct object prefix is only available for objects of highly transitive actions. The second slot is filled by an auxiliary verb stem, which acts to classify or further delineate the action or event denoted by the main verb.