Grammar of Mursi

Firew Girma Worku, Ph.D. (2020), James Cook University, is an Adjunct Research Fellow of the College of Arts, Society and Education at that university. He specializes in Nilo-Saharan languages particularly in Surmic languages. His main interests consist describing and documenting endangered languages, linguistic anthropology, and typology.

• AcknowledgementsList of Tables, Maps, Diagrams, and FiguresAbbreviations and Conventions1 Introduction1.1 The Mursi People: Historical Background1.2 Linguistic Profile of Mursi1.3 Geography and Mursi Neighbours1.4 Economy and Subsistence1.5 Traditional Leadership1.6 Local Groups, Clans, Kinship System and Age Sets1.7 Major Traditional Practices1.8 Cattle, Color Terms and Naming1.9 Linguistic Affiliation1.10 Sociolinguistic Situation1.11 Previous Studies; Ethnographic Exploration in the Lower Omo Valley1.12 Fieldwork Methodology and Language Data2 Phonology2.1 Introduction2.2 Notes on Orthography and Phonetic Transcriptions2.3 Inventory of Phonemes2.4 Syllable Structure2.5 Phonological Processes2.6 Tone2.7 Wordhood2.8 Clitics2.9 Special Phonology2.10 Female Register3 Word Classes3.1 Introduction3.2 Open Word Classes3.3 Closed Word Classes4 Noun Phrase Structure4.1 Introduction4.2 Non-clausal Modifiers of NP4.3 Clausal Modifiers4.4 Nominalizers4.5 Complex Modification4.6 Summary of Head-Modifier Dependency Relation5 Possession5.1 Introduction5.2 Juxtaposed System5.3 Possessive Construction with A and B Possessors5.4 Possessive Construction with C-type (Possessive Pronouns)5.5 Pertensive5.6 Noun Modification Constructions5.7 Predicative Possessive Construction5.8 Summary6 Number6.1 Introduction6.2 The Realization of Number6.3 Suffixation6.4 Suppletion6.5 Number Marking by Tone6.6 n/g Alternation6.7 The Bound Number/Aspect Marking Forms -t/-ɗ6.8 Additional Suffixes6.9 Number-Determined Suppletive Verb Forms6.10 Reduplication6.11 Number Words6.12 Number and Agreement7 The Verb and Predicate Structure7.1 Introduction7.2 Phonological Properties of Verb Roots7.3 Morphological Properties8 Adjectives8.1 Introduction8.2 Phonological Properties of Adjectives8.3 Morphological Properties of Adjectives8.4 Syntactic Properties8.5 Semantic Properties8.6 Summary9 Valency Changing Operations9.1 Introduction9.2 Valency Decreasing Derivations9.3 Valency-Increasing Derivations10 Grammatical Relations10.1 Introduction10.2 Constituent Order10.3 Case Markers10.4 Adpositions10.5 Verb-Final Suffix11 Comparative Constructions11.1 Introduction11.2 Mono-clausal Comparative Construction11.3 Phrasal plus Mono-clausal Construction11.4 Bi-clausal Construction Type I11.5 Bi-clausal Construction Type II11.6 ɓá Construction11.7 Other Types of Comparative Constructions11.8 Equality Construction12 Questions12.1 Introduction12.2 Content Questions12.3 Non-interrogative Particles12.4 Tag Questions12.5 Polar Questions12.6 Other Question Strategies13 Negation13.1 Introduction13.2 Bound Negators13.3 Negating a Copula Clause13.4 Negative Existential Verb níŋɛ ‘Not Present’13.5 Inherently Negative Verb ímág13.6 Indefinite-Like Words13.7 Interjection ɪmm ɪmm ‘no’13.8 Tracing and Linking Negators14 Clause Types, Clause Combining and Coordination14.1 Introduction14.2 Clause Types14.3 Clause CoordinationAppendix: Transcribed TextsBibliographySubject Index