Pointing Out Directions in Murrinhpatha

• Authors: Joe Blythe , Kinngirri Carmelita Mardigan , Mawurt Ernest Perdjert , Hywel Stoakes
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Rather than using abstract directionals, speakers of the Australian Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha make reference to locations of interest using named landmarks, demonstratives and pointing. Building on a culturally prescribed avoidance for certain placenames, this study reports on the use of demonstratives, pointing and landmarks for direction giving. Whether or not pointing will be used, and which demonstratives will be selected is determined partly by the relative epistemic incline between interlocutors and partly by whether information about a location is being sought or being provided. The reliance on pointing for the representation of spatial vectors requires a construal of language that includes the visuo-corporal modality.

Keywords

EN

Multimodal utterances; indexical reference; name avoidance; sequence organization; gestureand pointing; collaborative reference; epistemics; demonstratives

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Open Linguistics
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1

Dates

received

2015-06-13

accepted

2016-02-11

online

2016-05-16

Contributors

author

Joe Blythe

• Macquarie University, University of Melbourne

author

Kinngirri Carmelita Mardigan

• Kanamkek Yile Ngala Wadeye Aboriginal Languages Centre

author

Mawurt Ernest Perdjert

• Kanamkek Yile Ngala Wadeye Aboriginal Languages Centre

author

Hywel Stoakes

• University of Melbourne

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/opli-2016-0007