Samoan Reference GrammarSamoan Reference Grammar is the first extensive grammar of Samoan, by number of speakers the largest Polynesian language. The grammar is divided into eighteen chapters which cover phonetics, phonology, and orthography, word classification and morphology, the syntax of various types of phrases, simple clause structure, nominalization, dependent clauses, coordination, and finally, case marking and grammatical relations. The descriptive framework is not tied to a particular linguistic theory, but is based on the empirical findings of linguistic typology during the last two decades. The grammar is descriptive in the sense that it takes the Samoan ways of expression as the starting point of analysis and describes the meanings which are encoded by the various types of construction. |
Contents
PHONOLOGY AND ORTHOGRAPHY | 19 |
sequences of vowels | 28 |
A PRELIMINARY VIEW | 49 |
Copyright | |
25 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
absolutive argument absolutive noun phrase adverbial clauses aiga ali'i alofa ANAPH anaphoric Apia ART boy ART girl ART house ART thing ART(nsp.pl ART(nsp.sg ART=POSS complement clause CONJ constructions denoting EMPH ERG ART erg.v ergative verbs expressed fafine fale full reduplication function iloa interrogative lab.v lava LD ANAPH LD ART leaga leai lelei lenei lexical morphemes locative-directional long form matou matua maua Maunu Moana modifying morphemes nominalised verbal clauses non-erg.v non-ergative verbs noun phrase nucleus numerals partial reduplication particle PERF POSS ART possessive noun phrase predicate prefix prenuclear preposition PRES ART PRES ART(nsp.sg PRES ART=POSS=3.sg preverbal pronoun PROG reduplication relative clause Samoan Savai'i semantic semi-verbal clauses sentences singular sp.pl suffix syllable syntactic tagata tama tasi tautala teine tele Tiuga Tutuila verb phrase woman word