How free is free?: word order in Australian Indigenous languages

Start date
Research partner(s)
University of Melbourne
University of South Australia

This project aims to address the fundamental issue of how the grammatical structure of the language we speak shapes the way we plan and interpret sentences. The project will use innovative methodologies to investigate language production and comprehension in three Australian Indigenous languages that have unusually free word order, where the words in a sentence can be varied in multiple ways without changing the overall meaning. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of the relationship between language structure and human cognition, a deeper understanding of the grammatical structure of three Indigenous languages and how they differ from other languages, and important contributions to Indigenous language maintenance and education.

Output(s)

Sentence planning and production in Murrinhpatha, an Australian 'free word order' language
Type
Journal article
Authors
Rachel Nordlinger, Gabriela Garrido Rodriguez, Evan Kidd
Publisher
Project Muse
Publication date
Rights notice
Printed with the permission of Rachel Nordlinger, Gabriela Garrido Rodriguez, & Evan Kidd. © 2022.
Uncovering ergative use in Murrinhpatha: Evidence from experimental data
Type
Journal article
Authors
Rachel Nordlinger, Evan Kidd
Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication date
Rights notice
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Why we need a gradient approach to word order
Type
Journal article
Authors
Levshina, Natalia, Namboodiripad, Savithry, Allassonnière-Tang, Marc, Kramer, Mathew, Talamo, Luigi, Verkerk, Annemarie, Wilmoth, Sasha, Rodriguez, Gabriela Garrido, Gupton, Timothy Michael, Kidd, Evan, Liu, Zoey, Naccarato, Chiara, Nordlinger, Rachel, Pa
Publisher
De Gruyter Mouton
Publication date
Rights notice
© 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.