The Tense, Aspect and Modality System in Murrinh-Patha

Abstract

This paper is an overview of the tense, aspect and modality (TAM) system in Murrinh-Patha, a polysynthetic language of the Daly River region of northern Australia. Our aim is to provide a detailed account of the range of TAM categories and their uses, highlighting along the way areas of interest for theoretical semantic analysis. We build here on earlier descriptions of tense, aspect and mood in Murrinh-Patha, most notably work by Street, and argue for reanalysis and refinement in various places, resulting in what we believe to be a more accurate and revealing analysis of the overall system. © 2012 The Australian Linguistic Society.