{"id":3682,"date":"2008-04-23T09:36:18","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T09:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2008\/04\/its-a-comprehensive-reference-grammar-innit\/"},"modified":"2011-02-05T07:49:19","modified_gmt":"2011-02-05T07:49:19","slug":"its-a-comprehensive-reference-grammar-innit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2008\/04\/its-a-comprehensive-reference-grammar-innit\/","title":{"rendered":"it’s a comprehensive reference grammar, innit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Wednesday, Elizabeth Zeitoun’s recently published Grammar of Mantauran (Rukai)<\/a> arrived in my mailbox at SOAS from Academic Sinica in Taipei. This is a beautifully produced description of a dialect of Rukai, one of the Endangered Languages of Taiwan<\/a> and at 551 pages is a sizeable account of the language.
\nSo I got to thinking: this is a pretty impressive comprehensive reference grammar of an endangered language. And then, well what counts as a ‘comprehensive (reference) grammar’? The term gets used quite a bit in relation to endangered and minority languages. For example the February 2007 newsletter<\/a> [pdf] of La Trobe University’s Research Centre for Linguistic Typology<\/i>, the most recent one available, contains over 25 uses of the term, and all 10 PhD students associated with the Centre are said to be writing a ‘comprehensive grammar’ of a small language. A Google search for “comprehensive reference grammar” returns 1,130 hits, and for “comprehensive grammar” 128,000 hits, though that includes things like A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language<\/a> by Randolph Quirk,Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik, which doesn’t really count for our purposes, nor does Matthews and Yip’s Cantonese: A Comprehensive Reference Grammar<\/a>.
\nSo I then adopted a tried and true sampling method of language typologists, namely have a look at the grammars of smaller languages that are on my book shelves at SOAS and pick the fattest ones (ok, ok, I know real<\/b> typologists don’t do sampling like this any longer, but bear with me for the purposes of this exercise). What I came up with is summarised in the following table (astute readers will notice that I am not controlling for factors like margin width, page size, font type size and line spacing, but I’m only human):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

Author<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Language<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Date<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Size<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Zeitoun<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Rukai<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2007<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

551pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Francesca Merlan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Wardaman<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1994<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

617pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

William McGregor<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Gooniyandi<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1990<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

618pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

R.M.W. Dixon<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Jarawara<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2004<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

636pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Heath<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Nunggubuyu<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1984<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

664pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Nicholas D. Evans<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Kayardild<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1995<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

837pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

U.V. Joseph<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Rabha<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2007<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

858pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Keren Rice<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Slave<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1989<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1370pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Now if we count the number of pages in each
\nbook that actually deal with grammatical description we get a slightly
\ndifferent picture (some of the fatter ones are padded out with Sample
\nTexts<\/em>; and Vocabulary<\/em> at the back):<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

Author<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Language<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Date<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Size<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Grammar<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

pages<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Notes<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Zeitoun<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Rukai<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2007<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

551pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

490<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp491-524 are texts<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Francesca Merlan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Wardaman<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1994<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

617pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

330<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp331-610 are texts and wordlist<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

U.V. Joseph<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Rabha<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2007<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

858pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

488<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp489-663 is a chapter of ‘Correlative
\nanalysis’<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Nicholas D. Evans<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Kayardild<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1995<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

837pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

569<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp570-800 are texts and dictionary<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

William McGregor<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Gooniyandi<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1990<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

618pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

572<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp573-606 are texts and lexicon<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

R.M.W. Dixon<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Jarawara<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

2004<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

636pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

582<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp583-632 are texts and vocabulary<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Heath<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Nunggubuyu<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1984<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

664pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

664<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/p>\n

Keren Rice<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

Slave<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1989<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1370pp<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

1332<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

<\/p>\n

pp1335-1354 are texts<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\nAnd the winner is, on both counts, Keren Rice’s Grammar of Slave<\/a> (and what a deserving language it is too, mind-bendingly complex in its morphology and having plenty of phonology and syntax too). Jeffrey Heath’s grammar of Nunggubuyu comes in second (it’s another mind-bendingly complex language, but unfortunately the grammar is now out of print) \u2013 complemented by his 556 page separate<\/b> volume of Ethnographic and Narrative Texts<\/em>.
\nOf course simple quantitative measures like page counts don’t give us a real picture of how we might determine what comprehensive<\/em> means in qualitative terms in relation to grammars, but I think the exercise is interesting and informative none-the-less. Perhaps it is time to get to work on parameters for a reliable qualitative<\/b> approach to determining what we mean when we refer to a work as a “comprehensive (reference) grammar” (cf. my previous blog post<\/a> about possible qualitative measures for text corpora).
\nNow, back to reading about Rukai.<\/div>\n

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Last Wednesday, Elizabeth Zeitoun’s recently published Grammar of Mantauran (Rukai) arrived in my mailbox at SOAS from Academic Sinica in Taipei. This is a beautifully produced description of a dialect of Rukai, one of the Endangered Languages of Taiwan and at 551 pages is a sizeable account of the language. So I got to thinking: … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linguistics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4533,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions\/4533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}