A Grammar of Mursi: A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia(15 Africa)

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.

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
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.