کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
5042883 | 1474909 | 2017 | 18 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
- Critique of natural, as opposed to artificial, language as proper object of study.
- Damin male initiate speech register frequently labeled an 'invented language.'
- Initiate signed language (Marlda Kangka) served as a substrate for Damin.
- Phonetically marked forms initially used as paralinguistic accompaniments to sign.
- Damin is socially emergent rather than the singular invention of an individual.
The Lardil male initiate language, Damin, is a unique linguistic system. Traditionally employed by second-order male initiates, or warama, Damin has a lexicon of no more than 150 distinct morphemes and a phonology employing ejectives and clicks-sound types unattested in other Australian languages. These esoteric features have led scholars to see Damin as an artificial or invented language. I argue that the label of linguistic artificiality forestalls explanation as much as it aids it. In this paper I show that the eccentric features of Damin developed in an emergent and unplanned manner in which conventionalized paralinguistic phonations became semanticized as they were linked up with a signed language, Marlda Kangka, employed by first-order male initiates, or luruku.
Journal: Language & Communication - Volume 56, September 2017, Pages 1-18