Hudson, Joyce (1986). An analysis of illocutionary verbs in Walmatjari. In George Huttar & Kenneth Gregerson (Eds.), Pragmatics in non-western perspective (pp. 63-83). Dallas: University of Texas at Arlington. PDF (open access)
The twenty-two illocutionary verbs analyzed here represent the main speech acts of Walmatjari, an Australian Aboriginal language spoken along the Fitzroy River in the North of Western Australia. In my description, I follow the approach developed by Wierzbicka (1972, 1980), according to which explications of illocutionary verbs are given in terms of a small set of semantic primitives. The first of the verbs looked at (many) corresponds to the semantic primitive SAY. The others are semantically related to the following list of English verbs: tell, call (out), ask, request, order, respond, refuse, deny, stop, rebuke, prevent, forbid, demand, advise, sing, curse, tease, anger, laugh, talk, scold, quarrel, abuse, scream, confront, speak straight, say what you mean, cause shame, embarrass, stand in, take someone’s part.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
