• myGriffith
    • Staff portal
    • Contact Us⌄
      • Future student enquiries 1800 677 728
      • Current student enquiries 1800 154 055
      • International enquiries +61 7 3735 6425
      • General enquiries 07 3735 7111
      • Online enquiries
      • Staff phonebook
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    • Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

  • All of Griffith Research Online
    • Communities & Collections
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • This Collection
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • Statistics

  • Most Popular Items
  • Statistics by Country
  • Most Popular Authors
  • Support

  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Admin login

  • Login
  • Talking about our Bodies and their Parts in Warlpiri

    View/Open
    Embargoed until: 2019-06-01
    Author
    Wierzbicka, Anna
    Goddard, Cliff
    Year published
    2018
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Linguists generally assume that all languages have some words for parts of the human body such as ‘head’, ‘hands’, ‘mouth’ and ‘legs’, but it is not so widely agreed that speakers of all languages can speak—or even consciously think—of the designata of such words as ‘parts of the body’. In particular, it has been claimed that the Australian language Warlpiri lacks any suitable lexical equivalent of ‘part(s)’. Using data from the Warlpiri English Encyclopedic Dictionary, this study contests this claim, arguing that the relevant sense of ‘part’ exists in Warlpiri as one sense of the polysemous closed-class item yangka (whose main meaning can be stated, roughly, as ‘that one, you know the one’). Our argument is framed within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to meaning analysis, according to which meanings are stated as substitutable, cross-translatable paraphrases. NSM researchers have long maintained that PART(S) is a universal semantic prime, i.e. an indefinable meaning expressible by words or phrases in all human languages. The study also considers broader issues to do with semantic theory, polysemy and translation.
    Journal Title
    Australian Journal of Linguistics
    Volume
    38
    Issue
    1
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2018.1393862
    Copyright Statement
    © 2018 Taylor & Francis (Routledge). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Australian Journal of Linguistics on 03 Dec 2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2018.1393862
    Subject
    Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/372840
    Collection
    • Journal articles

    Footer

    Social media

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • Linkedin
    First peoples of Australia
    • Aboriginal
    • Torres Strait Islander

    Disclaimer

    • Privacy policy
    • Copyright matters
    • CRICOS Provider - 00233E

    Tagline

    • Gold Coast
    • Logan
    • Brisbane
    • Australia