A description of the Emmi language of the Northern Territory of Australia

Description:

Emmi, named after the word for 'what' in the language, is a highly endangered polysynthetic Australian language with only a handful of fluent speakers. A member of the Daly River sprachbund of the Northern Territory, Emmi is a head-marking language with vestigial noun class marking, but a highly developed system of verb classifiers and ordered nominal and propositional enclitics. Emmi noun incorporation is lexical and syntactic, and, as in other languages of the region, lexically incorporated body-parts function as metaphors and classifiers for entitties of similar shape to these body-parts. The syntax of Emmi simple and complex clauses involves serial constructions in which major intransitive verbs have been poly-grammaticised to provide aspectual information.

subjects: Ami language (Australia),  Grammar,  Australian languages,  Language - Linguistics - Grammar and syntax,  Language - Linguistics - Language elicitation - Translated,  Literature and stories,  Language - Vocabulary - Word lists,  Emmi / Ami Ami language (N15) (NT SD52-07),  Menthe / Manda language (N6) (NT SD52-07)

Places: Australia,  Northern Territory,  Belyuen / Delissaville (Cox Peninsula NT Top End SD52-04)