Mbabaram: a Dying Australian Language

1966 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-121
Author(s):  
Robert M. W. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Australian Institute ◽  
Cape York ◽  
Australian Languages ◽  
Research Officer

Between October 1963 and August 1964 the writer was engaged in linguistic field-work in the Cairns Rain Forest of North Queensland, while employed as Research Officer by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Intensive studies were made of the Dyirbal, Giramay, and Mamu languages, and linguistic descriptions of these languages are at present being prepared for publication. In 1942 Tindale had mentioned a language that he called ‘Barbaram’, spoken on top of the Dividing Range about 70 miles inland from Cairns. Entirely on the basis of the 11 words Tindale quoted, it seems, Mbabaram acquired a reputation of mystery, and has been singled out as one of the two Australian languages which seem least able to be fitted into the linguistic pattern of the continent. Recent work by Hale on 30 Cape York languages seemed to emphasize the possible uniqueness of Mbabaram.

scholarly journals Linear Lengthening in Iwaidja: An Event-Quantifying Intonation at the Phonology to Semantics/Pragmatics Interface

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Caudal ◽  
Robert Mailhammer
Keyword(s):  
Field Work ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Experimental Field ◽  
Event Description ◽  
Specific Device ◽  
Australian Languages

This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour found in the Northern Australian language Iwaidja called Linear Lengthening Intonation (LLI). Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4,000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e. cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually-determined relative scalar meaning (e.g., a ‘typical duration’ à la (Tatevosov 2008)). Iwaidja differs from other Northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns (see e.g. (Bishop 2002: 2002; Simard 2013)), in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device; not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).

Homer and the Monuments: a review

Antiquity ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 25 (98) ◽  
pp. 69-74
Author(s):  
John Myres
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Actual Shape ◽  
Material Evidence

This really monumental book reviews the material evidence accumulated—in more than two generations—for the periods within which the Homeric Poems came into being, and applies this evidence to discover the circumstances in which they achieved their actual shape. Outlines of this enquiry were proclaimed by Schliemann's excavations at Hissarlik (his site for Troy), Mycenae, and Tiryns; a remoter background by Sir Arthur Evans' work at Knossos; but detail has come from many hands, and in many fields of research—literary and even linguistic study reacting to archaeological, and propounding fresh problems to excavators. Two world wars have interrupted field-work and retarded publication. Miss Lorimer's own preface bears two dates (1946 and 1949), and she has to admit difficulties in obtaining important books, while some recent work is not noticed. In more than sixty years the leading figures in Homeric studies have changed; but one feels the abiding influence of Helbig and Dörpfeld in archaeology, and of Monro and Leaf in scholarship.

A revision of the Australian Tortricini, Schoeotenini, and Chlidanotini, (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Tortricinae)

1965 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 613 ◽  
Author(s):  
IFB Common
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Leaf Miners ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
Cape York

The Australian Tortricini, Schoenotenini, and Chlidanotini together include 40 species in 17 genera. The Tortricini which are represented by 16 species in six genera, fall into two groups, the Phricanthes group with two genera and the Eboda group with four genera. Phricanthes Meyr. contains four Australian species, P. peistica and P. diaphorus being described as new. The other two species have a wide distribution abroad. The larvae attack plants in the family Dilleniaceae. The endemic genus Scolioplecta Meyr. includes seven widely scattered species, of which S. exochus and S. allocotus are described as new. A new species, A. diapella, from the Cape York Peninsula is referred to Amboyna Razowski, based on an Indonesian species. Anameristes, gen. nov. is a monotypic genus from north Queensland rain forest, established for Eboda cyclopleura Turn. Eboda Walk, contains one Australian species, and a series of others in the Indo- Malayan and Papuan areas. Asterolepis Razowski includes three species from Australia and New Guinea, with A. earina from Cape York and A. brandti from Papua described as new. The Schoenotenini are represented by 19 Australian species in seven genera. Two elements are distinguished. The Proselena group ranges from India to the New Hebrides and Rapa, including eastern Australia and New Zealand, while the Schoenotenes group has reached its greatest diversity in New Guinea. Proselena Meyr, has two species; Syncratus, gen. nov. has two new species, S. scepanus and S. paroecus; Tracholena, gen, nov., with type species Cnephasia sulfurosa Meyr., has three species; and Palaeotoma Meyr. is monotypic. The larvae of Proselena are leaf miners in Bursaria, those of T. sulfurosa tunnel in the bark of exotic Cupressus, while Palaeotoma has larvae boring in insect galls on Eucalyptus. Larval characters of these are discussed and compared with those of the New Zealand Prothelymna and Dipterina. The wide-ranging Diactenis Meyr., with a single new Australian species D. tryphera, may also belong to this group. Two genera of the Schoenotenes group are known from Australia. Cornuticlava Diak. includes three rain forest species in northern Queensland, including C. aritrana and C. phanera described as new. Epitrichosma Low. contains seven Australian species, one of which comes from the Darwin area, another E. hesperia, sp. nov. from south-western Australia, one from rain forest in southern Queensland and eastern New South Wales, and four including two new species E. ceramina and E. metreta from north-eastern Queensland. The last also occurs in New Guinea. The Chlidanotini contain five Australian species in four genera. Trymalitis Meyr. and Caenognosis Wals. are small but widely distributed Old World genera. The two new monotypic endemic genera Daulocnema, based on D. epicharis, sp. nov., and Leurogyia, based on L. peristictum, sp. nov., are described. The venation, genitalia, mouth-parts, and other adult structures, used to distinguish the genera, together with the larval characters of a few species, are discussed and figured. The genitalia of both sexes and the wings of the Australian species are figured and keys to the genera and species are given.

scholarly journals Mergers in Bardi: contextual probability and predictors of sound change

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (s2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Babinski ◽  
Claire Bowern
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Minimal Pair ◽  
Functional Load ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Pair Density ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Australian Languages

AbstractA crucial question for historical linguistics has been why some sound changes happen but not others. Recent work on the foundations of sound change has argued that subtle distributional facts about segments in a language, such as functional load, play a role in facilitating or impeding change. Thus not only are sound changes not all equally plausible, but their likelihood depends in part on phonotactics and aspects of functional load, such as the density of minimal pairs. Tests of predictability on the chance of phoneme merger suggest that phonemes with low functional load (as defined by minimal pair density) are more likely to merge, but this has been investigated only for a small number of languages with very large corpora and well attested mergers. Here we present work suggesting that the same methods can be applied to much smaller corpora, by presenting the results of a preliminary exploration of nine Australian languages, with a particular focus on Bardi, a Nyulnyulan language from Australia’s northwest. Our results support the hypothesis that the probability of merger is higher when phonemes distinguish few minimal pairs.

Facilitating Program Evaluation at Greater Vancouver Mental Health Service

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 16-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merry Wood
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Anthropological Field Work ◽  
Multicultural Health ◽  
Research Officer

After consulting for eighteen years in the field of multicultural health, I "retired" in 1993 to a nine-to-five job as Research Officer with Greater Vancouver Mental Health Service (GVMHS). My initial responsibility was to develop a model of program self-evaluation for use by GVMHS staff. Below, I describe how I came to understand the organization, how staff came to understand my role, what process was followed to arrive at a model of evaluation, and, finally, the nature of the model developed. The approach I have taken to this work is similar in several ways to the process of anthropological field work.

Herpetofauna of a northern Australian monsoon rain forest: seasonal changes and relationships to adjacent habitats

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Martin ◽  
W. J. Freeland
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Lizard Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Australian Monsoon ◽  
Monsoon Rain ◽  
Frog Species ◽  
Cape York ◽  
Forest Habitats ◽  
Monsoon Forests

ABSTRACTThe herpetofauna of a floodplain monsoon rain forest in northern Australia is composed primarily of species from non rain forest habitats. The majority of frog species use rain forest as a seasonal refuge, and there is a marked increase in numbers during the dry season. Faunal richness lies within limits expected on the basis of the length of the dry season and species richnesses of non-Australian faunas. There are few lizard species and an abundance of frog species (none of which is a rain forest specialist) in comparison to rain forest herpetofaunas in other tropical regions. The impoverished lizard fauna, and the paucity of rain forest specialists may be because (a) seasonal invasion of rain forest by frogs prevents evolution of, or colonization by, specialists or (b) rain forest specialists may not have been able to cross semiarid habitats separating the Northern Territory from eastern Australian rain forests. The herpetofaunas of monsoon forests in Cape York Peninsula may provide a means of distinguishing between these hypotheses.

scholarly journals Status of the West Indian snakeChironius vincenti

Oryx ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Henderson ◽  
Gary T. Haas
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
West Indian ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Leeward Side ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
The West ◽  
Direct Benefits

The snake Chironius vincenti (Colubridae) is endemic to the West Indian island of St Vincent, and for many years herpetologists considered the species to be extinct. Recent field work has indicated that it still survives but that it is restricted to primary and secondary rain forest (at elevations between 275 and 600 m) primarily on the leeward side of the island and that it probably occurs at low population densities. The range of C. vincenti appears to overlap widely with that of the endangered St Vincent parrot (Amazona guildingii) and the snake will gain significant, direct benefits front the protection afforded the parrot.

On the identity of Hyla strigilata Spix, 1824 (Anura: Hylidae): redescription and neotype designation for a “ghost” taxon

Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1441 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUNO V.S. PIMENTA ◽  
JULIAN FAIVOVICH ◽  
JOSÉ P. POMBAL JR
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Atlantic Rain Forest ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Southern Bahia ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unidentified Species

Recent field work in Atlantic Rain Forest patches in the southern region of the State of Bahia, Brazil, resulted in the discovery of some populations of an unidentified species of the Scinax catharinae group. An extensive literature review, along with the examination of specimens and distribution patterns of all known species of this group, showed that Hyla strigilata Spix, 1824, a long confused species with lost type material, is an available name for the specimens from Bahia. In order to clarify the taxonomic problems surrounding this taxon, the nomenclatural history of Hyla strigilata is reviewed and a neotype is designated, described, and figured. The association of this name to extant populations from southern Bahia and its consequent stabilization is considered important since it is the type species of the genus Ololygon, a name available for the clade of Scinax catharinae. Data on habits, habitat, and geographic distribution are also presented.

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