Monash Linguistics Seminar Semester 2010

9 March
Zhiqun Chen (Monash University)
A study of the graph míng 明 (bright)

Traditionally defined as a typical example of compound ideograph, the graph míng 明 (bright) was used that way by Creel in his argument for the ideographic nature of the Chinese writing system and by Boodberg in his argument for its phonetic nature. In this study, I will demonstrate, through a diachronic study of how míng明 and other related graphs were used from the 13th century BCE to the early 20th century, that the final establishment of míng 明 as the standard form for ‘bright’ over other variants should be largely attributed to such external factors as calligraphic evolution and orthographic reform. I will argue that ignoring such external factors in studies of the Chinese writing system not only introduces the risk of misconstruing the development of ancient Chinese characters but also impedes our understanding of the underlying principles that govern the formation of these characters.

23 March
Yvonne Treis (RCLT)
Negative participles, agent adjectives and verbal nouns in Kambaata (East Cushitic)

The paper discusses three categorial hybrids in the East Cushitic language Kambaata, viz. negative participles, agent adjectives and verbal nouns, all of which are shown to combine properties of two word classes (lexical categories) systematically. Unlike their affirmative counterparts, Kambaata negative relative verbs qualify as verbal adjectives (participles), because, apart from having verbal inflectional morphology and a completely verbal argument structure, they have also acquired adjectival morphology to indicate case/gender agreement with their head nouns. The combination of verbal and adjectival features is less balanced for agent adjectives, which retain fewer properties of the verbs they are based on; they are still able to govern objects and adverbial clauses, though. Kambaata verbal nouns behave almost entirely like verbs in relation to their dependents but as nouns in the clause they are arguments of. I will argue that the negative participle formation and the verbal noun formation are inflectional processes which change the word form word class from verb to adjective and verb to noun, respectively, but which preserve the properties of the lexeme word class (Verb). In contrast, the agent adjective formation is analysed as a derivational process with a greater impact on lexeme word class.

13 April
Peter Austin (SOAS)
Reading the lontars: literacy and orality among the Sasak, eastern Indonesia
Abstract to be added

27 April
Peter Gerard (Monash University)
The challenge for minority languages in an Internet dominated by English

The challenge for minority languages in an Internet dominated by English The concept of a 'minority language' is explored, first globally and then in the context of European charters and legislation, and UNESCO projects. An overview is given of the highly competitive global initiatives taken since the 1880s, starting with the Alliance Française, to promote the prestige of the major European languages; since WW2 the major impetus has been to counter the dominance of English. The position of regional languages without official status at the sovereign state level is of course much more vulnerable, even where they are truly global languages thanks to sustained emigration.

The impact of the progressive modern Spanish Constitution (1978) in supporting regional languages is highlighted, as background to the extraordinary initiatives taken by the Basque, Catalan and Galician regional governments in promoting their 'own languages' via the Internet. The Catalan initiatives in particular have been a stimulus and model for Welsh, Scots and Bretons, amongst other regional language nationalists The challenges for all minority language users in using the Internet are discussed, together with various initiatives taken to overcome these barriers.

11 May
John Gibbons
Abstract to be added

25 May
Evan Kidd (Latrobe University)
Abstract to be added