Gurindji affixes in Gurindji Kriol

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from McConvell and Meakins (2005) and Meakins (2007; 2011). McConvell and Meakins (2005) argue that Gurindji Kriol emerged from code-switching between Gurindji and Kriol, in which English-based Kriol was the matrix language, and that therefore elements from Gurindji can be considered as borrowings. Only forms for which there are sufficient indications that they are used with native, English-based stems, are counted here, e.g. the borrowed plural marker -rrat is not counted here because it “is only found on demonstratives of Gurindji origin” (Meakins 2007:386).

2 markers for core cases (Meakins 2007:367)

  • -ngku ~-tu ‘ergative’, e.g. diya-ngku ‘the deer (threw)’, boi-ngku ‘the boy (was minding)’, gel-tu ‘the girl (gave)’
  • -yu ~ -wu ~ -u ‘dative’, e.g. Malingu-wu ‘to Malingu’; an additional example, jikinfaul-u ‘for the chicken’, is a less clear because it dates from the 1970s, when loans were not established yet.

3 markers for peripheral cases

  • -ngka ~ -ta ‘locative’, diya-ngka ‘on the deer’, tri-ngka ‘on the tree’
  • -ngkirri ~ -jirri ‘allative’, e.g. motika-ngkirri ‘to the car’
  • -nginyi ‘ablative’, e.g. klif-nginyi-ma (cliff-ablative-topic) ‘off the cliff’, hol-nginyi-ma (hole-ablative-topic) ‘from the hole’, juwingjuwing-nginyi ‘from the swing’

3 number markers

  • -kujarra ‘dual’ (no examples of hybrids)
  • -walija ‘paucal’, e.g. hook-walija ‘a few hooks’, bi-walija ‘a few bees’
  • -purrupurru, -nyarrara, -nganyjuk ‘associative plural’ (no examples of hybrids)

2 nominalizers

  • -ny ‘nominalizer’ (no examples of hybrids)
  • -kaji ‘agentive noun’, e.g. toktok-kaji (talk-agentive) ‘recorder’, mok-kaji ‘cigarette lighter’

4 nominal suffixes affecting information structure

  • -rni ‘only’, e.g. leg-ta-rni (leg-locative-only) ‘right through his leg’
  • -ma ‘topic’, e.g. klif-nginyi-ma (cliff-ablative-topic) ‘off the cliff’, mami-ngku-ma (mother-ergative-topic) ‘the mother (got)’
  • -rla ‘focus’, e.g. hiya-rla ‘here’
  • -rayinyj ‘alone’ (no examples of hybrids, not treated by Meakins as belonging to this set of forms)

2 proprietive/privative suffixes

  • -yawung ‘proprietive’, e.g. motika-yawung ‘their car’, femli-yawung ‘his family’
  • -murlung ‘privative adjectivizer’, e.g. kuloj-murlung ‘naked’

2 non-interrelated suffixes

  • -kari ‘another’, e.g. mor-kari ‘more’, najan-kari ‘another’
  • -k, -pijik ‘inchoative, attaching to nouns and verbs’ (no examples of hybrids)