Cohesive features In Rembarrnga narratives
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
Australian Linguistic Society
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Communications and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications
RAS ID
5492
Abstract
A number of features found in spoken narratives in the Rembarrnga language of Arnhem Land can be seen to serve a cohesive function within the text. These include not only ellipsis of pronominal prefixes and tense marking from the verb complex but also the repetition of fully inflected verbs in subsequent sentences in order to background completion of one activity/event in the process of moving on to the next. Repetition of sentence elements in differing order allows focus to come upon different elements in turn. Incorporation of the noun into the verb complex allows cohesive backgrounding of a nominal element following its initial introduction to the text. A number of text examples of such apparently cohesive features are explored.
Access Rights
Free_to_read
Comments
McKay, G. (2008). Cohesive features in Rembarrnga narratives. Selected papers from the 2007 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Adelaide, South Australia. Available here.