Philosophy

Artificial intelligence

Natural language processing

Verb

Computer science

Linguistics

Australian Journal of Linguistics

In this article, it is argued that Ngarla (Ngayarta, Pama-Nyungan), an under-studied language of the Pilbara region of northwestern Australia, is a verb classifying language of the type described by, for example, McGregor. Verb classifying languages are found in the north of Australia, but the phenomenon has previously not been recognized in languages of the northwestern Pilbara region. The Ngarla verb classifying system is described as being a highly grammaticalized one. Historical sources of the second part of the verb compound, the inflecting verbs, are sought, and short comparisons are also made to Martuthunira and Yinjibarndi (both Ngayarta, Pama-Nyungan).

Verb Classification in Ngarla (Ngayarta, Pama-Nyungan)