Argument indexing in Kamang
Kamang (Alor-Pantar, non-Austronesian/Papuan) has a typologically unusual system of argument indexing, in which the S or P argument can be indexed on the verb by one of several prefix paradigms. Some verbs always show indexing, while others exhibit differential argument indexing (DAI). In DAI, the use of a particular prefix paradigm or zero marking depends on different (combinations of) factors. We investigate the effects of argument role (S, P), independent argument realisation, the animacy and topicality of the indexed argument, and lexical stipulation. We perform a quantitative analysis of these factors for the first time in Kamang discourse, drawing on an annotated corpus of spoken Kamang. A complex picture emerges in which Kamang argument indexing is best viewed not as a single system, but as multiple subsystems for which different factors are relevant in a given context, and which do not operate on all verbs or all indexing strategies equally.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Language background
- 3.Data and methods
- 4.Results
- 4.1Overview of the dataset
- 4.1.1Distribution of marking strategies
- 4.1.2Valency classes
- 4.2Argument role and animacy
- 4.2.1Argument role
- 4.2.2Animacy
- 4.3Discourse factors
- 4.3.1Co-occurrence constraints with independent arguments
- 4.3.2Topicality
- 4.4Lexical stipulation
- 5.Summary: Differential indexing in Kamang
- 5.1/o/-series
- 5.2/a/-series
- 5.3/e/-series
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References
References (67)
References
Al-Gariri, Husam. unpublished ms. Vowel length contrast in prefixes of Kamang (dialectal variation). Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Bates, Douglas, Martin Maechler, Ben Bolker & Steve Walker. 2015. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67(1). 1–48. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baumann, Stefan & Arndt Riester. 2012. Referential and lexical givenness: Semantic, prosodic and cognitive aspects. In Gorka Elordieta & Pilar Prieto (eds.), Prosody and Meaning, 119–162. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brickell, Timothy C. & Stefan Schnell. 2017. Do grammatical relations reflect information status? Reassessing Preferred Argument Structure theory against discourse data from Tondano. Linguistic Typology 21(1). 177–208. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brugman, Hennie. & Albert. Russel. 2004. Annotating Multi-media/Multi-modal resources with ELAN. In Maria Teresa Lino, Maria Francisca Xavier, Fátima Ferreira, Rute Costa & Raquel Silva (eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language Resources and Language Evaluation (LREC 2004), 2065–2068. Paris: European Language Resources Association.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chafe, Wallace L. 1976. Givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics and point of view. In Charles N. Li (ed.), Subject and topic, 27–55. New York: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Coghill, Eleanor. 2014. Differential object marking in Neo-Aramaic. Linguistics 52(2). 335–364. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dryer, Matthew S. & Martin Haspelmath (eds.). 2013. WALS Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. [URL]
ELAN, (version 6.0) [computer software]. 2020. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Fauconnier, Stefanie. 2011. Differential agent marking and animacy. Lingua 121(3). 533–547. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fedden, Sebastian & Dunstan Brown. 2017. Participant marking: Corpus study and video elicitation. In Marian Klamer (ed.), Alor-Pantar languages (Second Edition): History and typology (Studies in Diversity Linguistics), 403–446. Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fedden, Sebastian, Dunstan Brown, Greville Corbett, Gary Holton, Marian Klamer, Laura C. Robinson & Antoinette Schapper. 2013. Conditions on pronominal marking in the Alor-Pantar languages. Linguistics 51(1). 33–74. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grossman, Eitan. 2015. No case before the verb, obligatory case after the verb in Coptic. In Eitan Grossman, Martin Haspelmath & Tonio Sebastian Richter (eds.), Egyptian-Coptic linguistics in typological perspective, 203–226. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gundel, Jeanette K., Nancy Hedberg & Ron Zacharski. 1993. Cognitive status and the form of referring expressions in discourse. Language 69(2). 274–307. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haan, Johnson Welem. 2001. The grammar of Adang: A Papuan language spoken on the Island of Alor East Nusa Tenggara – Indonesia. Sydney: University of Sydney.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haig, Geoffrey & Stefan Schnell. 2014. Annotations using GRAID (Grammatical Relations and Animacy in Discourse). version 7.0. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Haig, Geoffrey & Stefan Schnell (eds.). 2022. Multi-CAST: Multilingual corpus of annotated spoken texts. Version 2211. Bamberg: University of Bamberg. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Haspelmath, Martin. 2006. Against markedness (and what to replace it with). Journal of Linguistics 42(1). 25–70. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haspelmath, Martin. 2021. Role-reference associations and the explanation of argument coding splits. Linguistics 59(1). 123–174. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holton, Gary. 2010. Person marking, verb classes, and the notion of alignment in Western Pantar (Lamma). In Michael C. Ewing & Marian Klamer (eds.), Typological and areal analyses: Contributions from East Nusantara, 99–119. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holton, Gary. 2014. Western Pantar. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch Grammars (Pacific Linguistics 644), 23–96. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holton, Gary & Laura C. Robinson. 2017. The linguistic position of the Timor-Alor-Pantar languages. In Marian Klamer (ed.), The Alor-Pantar languages: History and typology (Studies in Diversity Linguistics 3), 147–191. 2nd edn. Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Iemmolo, Giorgio. 2011. Towards a typological study of differential object marking and differential object indexation. Pavia: University of Pavia PhD dissertation.
Just, Erika & Slavomír Čéplö. 2022. Differential object indexing in Maltese – a corpus based pilot study. In Przemysław Turek & Julia Nintemann (eds.), Maltese: Contemporary changes and historical innovations, 105–132. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Just, Erika & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich. 2022. A corpus-based analysis of P indexing in Ruuli (Bantu, JE103). South African Journal of African Languages 42(2). 234–242. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klamer, Marian. 2010. A grammar of Teiwa (Mouton Grammar Library 49). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klamer, Marian. 2014. Kaera. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 11: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 644), 97–146. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klamer, Marian. 2017. The Alor-Pantar languages: Linguistic context, history and typology. In Marian Klamer (ed.), The Alor-Pantar languages: History and typology, 1–49. 2nd edn. Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klamer, Marian & František Kratochvíl. 2018. The evolution of differential object marking in Alor-Pantar languages. In Ilja A. Seržant & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Diachrony of differential argument marking, 69–95. Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klamer, Marian & Antoinette Schapper. 2012. ‘Give’ Constructions in the Papuan Languages of Timor Alor Pantar. Linguistic Discovery 10(3). 174–207. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kratochvíl, František. 2007. A grammar of Abui: A Papuan language of Alor. Utrecht: LOT PhD Thesis.
Kratochvíl, František. 2014. Differential argument realization in Abui. Linguistics 52(2). 543–602. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lazard, Gilbert. 2005. What are we typologists doing? In David S. Rood, Adam Hodges & Zygmunt Frajzyngier (eds.), Linguistic Diversity and Language Theories (Studies in Language Companion Series), 1–23. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Prince, Ellen F. 1981. Toward a taxonomy of given-new information. In Peter Cole (ed.), Radical pragmatics, 223–255. New York: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Quick, Phil. 2005. Topic continuity, voice and word order in Pendau. In I. Wayan Arka & Malcolm Ross (eds.), The many faces of Austronesian voice systems: Some new empirical studies, 221–242. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
R Core Team. 2019. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Riester, Arndt & Stefan Baumann. 2017. The RefLex scheme – Annotation guidelines. In SinSpeC. Working Papers of the SFB 7321, vol. 141, 1–30. University of Stuttgart.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Robinson, Laura C. & John W. Haan. 2014. Adang. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 644), 221–284. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Saad, George. 2020. Abui. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 31: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 660), 267–348. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schäfer, Roland. 2020. Mixed-Effects Regression Modeling. A practical handbook of corpus linguistics. Cham: Springer.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schapper, Antoinette. 2014. Kamang. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 644), 285–350. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schapper, Antoinette. 2020a. Introduction. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 31: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 660), 1–52. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schapper, Antoinette. 2020b. Nedebang. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 31: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 660), 53–138. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schapper, Antoinette & Marten Manimau. 2011. Kamus Pengantar Bahasa Kamang-Indonesia- Inggris (Introductory Kamang – Indonesian – English Dictionary). Kupang, Indonesia: UBB-GMIT.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schapper, Antoinette, George Saad, Katherine Walker & Clemens Mayer. in prep. Multi-CAST Kamang. In Geoffrey Haig & Stefan Schnell (eds.), Multi-CAST: Multilingual corpus of annotated spoken texts. Version 2211. Bamberg: University of Bamberg.
Schiborr, Nils N., Stefan Schnell & Hanna Thiele. 2018. RefIND – Referent Indexing in Natural-language Discourse: Annotation guidelines (v1.1). Bamberg; Melbourne: University of Bamberg/University of Melbourne.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seržant, Ilja A. & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.). 2018. Diachrony of differential argument marking (Studies in Diversity Linguistics 19). Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Siewierska, Anna. 2013a. Verbal person marking. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Siewierska, Anna. 2013b. Alignment of verbal person marking. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Siewierska, Anna & Dik Bakker. 2008. Case and alternative strategies: Word order and agreement marking. In Andrej L. Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds.), The Oxford handbook of case, 290–303. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Steinhauer, Hein. 2014. Blagar. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 11: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 644), 147–220. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Steinhauer, Hein. 2020. Bukalabang. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 31: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 660), 139–188. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stokhof, W. A. L. 1975. Preliminary notes on the Alor and Pantar languages (East Indonesia) (Pacific Linguistics B 43). Canberra: Linguistic Circle of Canberra.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stokhof, W. A. L. 1987. A short Kabola text (Alor, East Indonesia). In Donald C. Laycock & Werner Winter (eds.), A world of language: Papers presented to Professor S. A. Wurm on his 65th birthday, 631–648. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Venables, William N. & Brian D. Ripley. 2002. Modern Applied Statistics with S. Fourth. New York: Springer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Virtanen, Susanna. 2014. Pragmatic direct object Marking in Eastern Mansi. Linguistics 52(2). 391–413. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Walker, Katherine. accepted. Differential indexing in Kamang: A viewpoint alternation. Linguistics Vanguard (Special Issue).
Willemsen, Jeroen. 2017. Predicative Augmentation Applicatives. Linguistica ONLINE 191. 1–22. Available at [URL] (last access 16 January 2023).
Williams, Nicholas J. 2017. Kula. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 21: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 655), 185–266. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Windshuttel, Glenn & Asako Shiohara. 2017. Kui. In Antoinette Schapper (ed.), The Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, Volume 21: Sketch grammars (Pacific Linguistics 655), 109–184. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena & Ilja A. Seržant. 2018. Differential argument marking: Patterns of variation. In Ilja A. Seržant & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Diachrony of differential argument marking, 1–40. Berlin: Language Science Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Walker, Katherine
2024.
Differential indexing in Kamang: a viewpoint alternation.
Linguistics Vanguard 10:s1
► pp. 85 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Walker, Katherine & Pegah Faghiri
2023.
Introduction to Lexical constraints in grammar: Minority verb classes and restricted alternations.
Open Linguistics 9:1
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.