An acquisition sketch of polysynthetic verbal morphology in Murrinhpatha

Abstract

Murrinhpatha is one of the few traditional Australian Indigenous languages still being acquired by children. It is the traditional language of the Kardu Diminin, Kardu Yek Maninh, Kardu Yek Nangu, Rak Kirnmu, Yek Wunh and Kardu Kura Thipmam clans, spoken in Wadeye and the broader Thamarrurr region of northern Australia. Murrinhpatha is a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the Southern Daly family. A striking feature of Murrinhpatha is its complex verbal morphology. Most verbal predicates in the language are bipartite, comprising classifier and lexical stems, and produced in single words which also contain other inflectional and derivational morphology. While some aspects of how children acquire th..