A Grammar of Mursi

A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia

Series: 

Mursi is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by a small group of people who live in the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia, and is one of the most endangered languages of the country.
Based on the fieldwork that the author conducted in beautiful villages of the Mursi community, this descriptive grammar is organized into fourteen chapters rich in examples and an appendix containing four transcribed texts. The readers are thus provided with a clear and useful tool, which constitutes and important addition to our knowledge of Mursi and of other related languages spoken in the area.
Besides being an empirical data source for linguists interested in typology and endangered language description and documentation, the grammar constitutes an invaluable gift to the speech community.
Copyright Year:
2021
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-44991-6
Publication:
08 Mar 2021
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-44989-3
Publication:
11 Mar 2021
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Firew Girma Worku, Ph.D. (2020), James Cook University, is an Adjunct Research Fellow of the College of Arts, Society and Education at that university. He specializes in Nilo-Saharan languages particularly in Surmic languages. His main interests consist describing and documenting endangered languages, linguistic anthropology, and typology.
Acknowledgements
List of Tables, Maps, Diagrams, and Figures
Abbreviations and Conventions

1 Introduction
 1.1 The Mursi People: Historical Background
 1.2 Linguistic Profile of Mursi
 1.3 Geography and Mursi Neighbours
 1.4 Economy and Subsistence
 1.5 Traditional Leadership
 1.6 Local Groups, Clans, Kinship System and Age Sets
 1.7 Major Traditional Practices
 1.8 Cattle, Color Terms and Naming
 1.9 Linguistic Affiliation
 1.10 Sociolinguistic Situation
 1.11 Previous Studies; Ethnographic Exploration in the Lower Omo Valley
 1.12 Fieldwork Methodology and Language Data

2 Phonology
 2.1 Introduction
 2.2 Notes on Orthography and Phonetic Transcriptions
 2.3 Inventory of Phonemes
 2.4 Syllable Structure
 2.5 Phonological Processes
 2.6 Tone
 2.7 Wordhood
 2.8 Clitics
 2.9 Special Phonology
 2.10 Female Register

3 Word Classes
 3.1 Introduction
 3.2 Open Word Classes
 3.3 Closed Word Classes

4 Noun Phrase Structure
 4.1 Introduction
 4.2 Non-clausal Modifiers of NP
 4.3 Clausal Modifiers
 4.4 Nominalizers
 4.5 Complex Modification
 4.6 Summary of Head-Modifier Dependency Relation

5 Possession
 5.1 Introduction
 5.2 Juxtaposed System
 5.3 Possessive Construction with A and B Possessors
 5.4 Possessive Construction with C-type (Possessive Pronouns)
 5.5 Pertensive
 5.6 Noun Modification Constructions
 5.7 Predicative Possessive Construction
 5.8 Summary

6 Number
 6.1 Introduction
 6.2 The Realization of Number
 6.3 Suffixation
 6.4 Suppletion
 6.5 Number Marking by Tone
 6.6 n/g Alternation
 6.7 The Bound Number/Aspect Marking Forms -t/-ɗ
 6.8 Additional Suffixes
 6.9 Number-Determined Suppletive Verb Forms
 6.10 Reduplication
 6.11 Number Words
 6.12 Number and Agreement

7 The Verb and Predicate Structure
 7.1 Introduction
 7.2 Phonological Properties of Verb Roots
 7.3 Morphological Properties

8 Adjectives
 8.1 Introduction
 8.2 Phonological Properties of Adjectives
 8.3 Morphological Properties of Adjectives
 8.4 Syntactic Properties
 8.5 Semantic Properties
 8.6 Summary

9 Valency Changing Operations
 9.1 Introduction
 9.2 Valency Decreasing Derivations
 9.3 Valency-Increasing Derivations

10 Grammatical Relations
 10.1 Introduction
 10.2 Constituent Order
 10.3 Case Markers
 10.4 Adpositions
 10.5 Verb-Final Suffix

11 Comparative Constructions
 11.1 Introduction
 11.2 Mono-clausal Comparative Construction
 11.3 Phrasal plus Mono-clausal Construction
 11.4 Bi-clausal Construction Type I
 11.5 Bi-clausal Construction Type II
 11.6 ɓá Construction
 11.7 Other Types of Comparative Constructions
 11.8 Equality Construction

12 Questions
 12.1 Introduction
 12.2 Content Questions
 12.3 Non-interrogative Particles
 12.4 Tag Questions
 12.5 Polar Questions
 12.6 Other Question Strategies

13 Negation
 13.1 Introduction
 13.2 Bound Negators
 13.3 Negating a Copula Clause
 13.4 Negative Existential Verb níŋɛ ‘Not Present’
 13.5 Inherently Negative Verb ímág
 13.6 Indefinite-Like Words
 13.7 Interjection ɪmm ɪmm ‘no’
 13.8 Tracing and Linking Negators

14 Clause Types, Clause Combining and Coordination
 14.1 Introduction
 14.2 Clause Types
 14.3 Clause Coordination

Appendix: Transcribed Texts
Bibliography
Subject Index
This grammar book is an invaluable source material for linguists and anthropologists who are interested in theoretical and descriptive linguistics, linguistic anthropology, ethnocultural documentation, and comparative studies of the Surmic group languages.
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