Laughren, Mary

English

The Australian National University

A NOTE ON ANNA WIERZBICKA' S COMMENTS ON THE WARLPIRI DICTIONARY PROJECT Mary Laughren In replying to Anna Wierzbicka' s comments on the Warlpiri Dic tionary Project in this volume , I do not want to touch on all the points raised , but rather concentrate on one point which I feel is of fundamental importance where the view of Wierzbicka appears to differ considerably from that of the c o­authors of the Warlpiri Dict ionary Projec t :  the notion of s implicity in language and the appropriateness of kinds of metalinguistic terminology . The definitions of entries in the Warlpiri dictionary try to uncover and display the semantic content of an item and the relation between that item and other items with respect to that semantic content . If we examine verbal predicates , it is clear that verbs belong to natural classes with respect to their meaning and their diathes i s .  Thus , a verb such as paka-rni ' hit ' (cf . Laughren and Nash , this volume) ,  cited by Wierzbicka , belongs to a class of  verbs whose core meaning we def ine as  follows : 1 .  xERG produces an ef fect on yABS by some entity coming into contact with y. ( ' En tity' in our metalanguage refers to any referent in the real world . Entities can be divided into beings , non-beings and so forth . )  In Warlpiri each verb of this type , which we have labelled ' contact/effec t ' , can be classif ied into one of two subclasse s :  ( a )  x causes some entity ( zERG) to  come into contact with y .  ( z  i s  predicated of x b y  a redundancy rule . )  ( b )  x i s  some entity which comes into contact with y .  Peter Austin, ed . Papers i n  Australian l inguistics No . 1 5 :  Austral ian Aboriginal lexicography , 1 45-148. Pacific Linguistics , A-66 ,  1983.  © Mary Laughren 1 4 5  Laughren, M. "A Note on Anna Wierzbicka's Comments on the Warlpiri Dictionary Project". In Austin, P., McConvell, P., Day, R., Black, P., Zorc, R., Schebeck, B., McKay, G., Hale, K., Laughren, M., Nash, D., Wierzbicka, A., Laughren, M. and Koch, H. editors, Papers in Australian Linguistics No.15: Australian Aboriginal lexicography. A-66:145-148. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1983.   DOI:10.15144/PL-A66.145 ©1983 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s).  Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL.  A sealang.net/CRCL initiative.146 MARY LAUGHREN In some cases (b)  d ivides into two further subclasses ( i )  and ( i i ) : ( i )  x is active.  ( i i) x i s  inactive. Some morphologically simple verbs which belong to this· class are jarnti­rni ' scrape,  sculpt , carve, scratch ' ,  jiti-rni ' cause to be/fee l ,  provoke ' ,  kat i-rni ' t rample , press on, weigh on, tread on' , kipi-rni ' winnow ' , l arrji-rni ' scratch , claw ' , l uwa-rni 'hit , pelt , knock , strike ' ,  maja-rni ' straighten ' ,  paji-rni ' cut , carve , sever , bite , pick , break' , paka-rni 'hit , knock, thresh , chop ' ,  pangi-rni ' dig, scratch ' ,  pant i-rni ' pierce , poke , stick int o ,  spear ' ,  parlji-rni ' wash ' , pi-nyi ' hit , knock , bite, f ight , attack ' , t irlarri-rni ' spli t ' ,  t irlpi-mi ' flake ' ,  t urlka-mi ' pinch ' ,  wal ji-rni ' pluck , pull out ' , wari-rni 'entwine , wrap around , t ie around ' , yarl i-rni 'wet , dampen ' , yarlki-rni ' bite , sting ' , yipi-rni ' squeeze out ' , yirnt i-rni ' knock down , topple over , capsize, blow over ,  jostle,  push, shove ' , y urrpa-rni 'grind, crus h '  • While 1 .  above def ines the core meaning of the ' c ontact/effect ' c lass , the additional elements of meaning which distinguish the verbs which are members of  this class , relate to  the core with respect to the nature o f  the effect (s uch as concussion, pressure , puncture , cleaning ) ,  the nature of the entity which comes into contact ( s uch as  sharp pointed , water , entity moves through the air , sharp edged) and the nature of the contact ( such as concentrating on one point on y ,  linearly oriented over surface of y) . These ' contact/effect verbs differ from a class of verbs we call the ' contact ' verbs such as  jampi-rni ' l ick ' , marnpi-rni ' t ouch ,  handle ' ,  nyunji-rni ' kis s ' . The latter do not contain as part of their meaning an effect clause. The common core meaning distinguishing this class is given in 2 .  2 .  xERG, being , comes into contact with yABS,  by causing some part ( specif ied ) of x to come into contact with y .  The difference i n  meaning for each verb i s  derived f rom the bodypart specification in its entry (for example , in the definition of jampi-rni ' lick ' , xE RG  comes into contact with yABS by causing tongue to come into contact with y;  in the definition of marnpi-rni ' touch , hand l e '  it is the hand of x; in the definition of nyunji-rni 'kiss ' it is the mouth of x ) . Another class of verbs are the ' transfer/movemen t '  verbs , most  of which d ivide into two subclasses : causative and non-causative. The core meanings are as follows : 3 .  (Non-Causative) : xABS moves along a path (yPERLative) f rom some place ( zELative) to another place (wALLative) .  A NOTE ON WIERZBICKA ' S  COMMENTS 4 .  ( Causative) : xERG causes yABS to move along a path ( zPERLative) from some place (wELa tive) to another place ( vALLative) . As in the case of the other classes , the individual verbs are d ist inguished by elements of  meaning which relate to the core , such as the relation between the starting and ending place (that is , one is higher or lower than the other : warrka-rni 'go upwards ' as opposed to j iti-rni 'go downwards ' ;  or endpoint is internal or external to some entity : yuka-mi ' enter ,  go i n ' , yirrpi-rni ' put inside ' as opposed to wilypi-pardi-mi 'go out o f ' , wilypi-ma-ni ' take out o f ' ) ,  the speed of travel (that is , rapid speed gives the marked parnka-mi 'move rapidly , run' versus the unmarked ya-ni 'go ' ) ,  the spatial relation between the arguments with respect to path travelle d ,  starting and ending points (that is , coincidence versus non-coincidence gives rdanpa-rni ' accompany ' ,  ka-nyi ' take , carry , bring ' versus yil ya-mi ' send ' ,  yampi-mi ' l eave ' ) .  If we define a verb like paka-rni by the supposedly s imple English word ' hit ' , and l uwa-rni by the supposedly simple expression 'hit by throwing ' and so on for all the ' contact/effect'  verbs , then we fail to bring out a most important generalization: these verbs are related , and they belong to a class of verbs , by virtue of having a common semantic core . We also fail to accurately define the meaning of each verb since the meaning of  the ' s imple '  English word ( s )  does not ful ly match the meaning o f  the Warlpiri ' equivalent ' .  For example , English ' h i t '  can be used in sentences such as the following : 6 .  (a)  The man hit me . ( b )  He hit the ball  over the fenc e .  ( * )  ( c )  He hit his forehead against the ledge. ( * )  ( d )  The idea suddenly hit me . ( * )  ( e )  At last he hit the headlines/ the big t ime . ( * ) 147 In those sentences followed by an asterisk , Warlpiri paka-rni could not be used s traightforwardly to translate English 'hit ' . In 6 ( b )  one would have to introduce a transfer/movement verb to express the movement of the ball and then use paka-rni in another clause or in an infinitival complement . In 6( c ) , the diathesis whereby the patient 'he'  is in subject position with respect to 'hi t '  i s  not possible with paka-rni as can b e  seen from our definition (Laughren and Nash, this volume ) .  The metaphorical uses o f  English ' hi t '  (as in 6(d)  and ( e »  can under no circums tances b e  translated b y  paka-r ni . Conditions for the application of lexical redundancy rules should ideally fall out from the correct definition of verbal predicates , which s pell out their essential lexical and conceptual elements , and the correct formulation of  the rules themselves . The two should intermesh in a natural way . This i s  one of the main theoretical and practical aims of the Warlpiri Dictionary Projec t .  148 MARY LAUGHREN The Warlpiri Dictionary Project is s till in its initial s tages with respect to the definitions of the meanings of entries . The collection of data and its organization has been very time consuming ; the organization is , however ,  becoming increasingly refined . Our definitions are being constantly revised and , hopefully improved, as we are able to compare greater amounts of related data. We do aim to define all words and to provide glosses or appropriate English translations . We aim for uniformity in our definitions , based on clearly s tated principle s .  Finally , it  should b e  pointed out that the draft o f  the Warlpiri dictionary on which Anna Wierzbicka based her comments was a very preliminary one of mixed contents .  Some of the entries represented elaborated definitions , glosses , examples and so forth according to the format described by Laughren and Nash ( t his volume) but many ent ries consisted of unprocessed data copied straight from the card file at M. l . T .  We will soon be circulating drafts of  the d ictionary organized according to semantic fields and classes and we hope by so doing to gather more fruitful comment s .  Laughren, M. "A Note on Anna Wierzbicka's Comments on the Warlpiri Dictionary Project". In Austin, P., McConvell, P., Day, R., Black, P., Zorc, R., Schebeck, B., McKay, G., Hale, K., Laughren, M., Nash, D., Wierzbicka, A., Laughren, M. and Koch, H. editors, Papers in Australian Linguistics No.15: Australian Aboriginal lexicography. A-66:145-148. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1983.   DOI:10.15144/PL-A66.145 ©1983 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s).  Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL.  A sealang.net/CRCL initiative.

A Note on Anna Wierzbicka's Comments on the Warlpiri Dictionary Project

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A Note on Anna Wierzbicka's Comments on the Warlpiri Dictionary Project

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