| Preface | p. v |
| List of Figures | p. xv |
| List of Maps | p. xvii |
| List of Tables | p. xix |
| Abbreviations and Conventions | p. xxi |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| What is verb classification? | p. 1 |
| Towards a typology of classification | p. 4 |
| Superclassification and subclassification | p. 4 |
| Classes and categories | p. 5 |
| Classifiers and classifying constructions | p. 7 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 8 |
| Understanding grammatical superclassification | p. 10 |
| A conceptual model | p. 10 |
| Distributional criteria for grammatical superclassification | p. 16 |
| An example: the Kijanoun class system | p. 22 |
| Verb superclassification Australian style | p. 25 |
| Semantic basis of verb superclassification | p. 29 |
| Fundamental parameters | p. 29 |
| On class, category, and classification meaning | p. 34 |
| Prediction and explanation | p. 35 |
| Aims and organisation | p. 38 |
| The Gooniyandi verb classifier system | p. 41 |
| Structure of the verbal complex | p. 41 |
| The X morphemes as category markers | p. 44 |
| The semantics of Gooniyandi verb classifiers | p. 54 |
| Extendible classifiers | p. 60 |
| Accomplishment classifiers | p. 64 |
| Monovalent classifiers | p. 64 |
| Avalent classifiers | p. 66 |
| The reasonably well populated categories | p. 66 |
| The minor categories | p. 76 |
| The bivalent classifier | p. 78 |
| Parallelisms between extendible and accomplishment classifiers? | p. 80 |
| Exceptions | p. 83 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 85 |
| Two special cases | p. 87 |
| Classification of the most frequent verb roots | p. 87 |
| Classification of English borrowings | p. 94 |
| Remarks on verb classification in Bunuba | p. 96 |
| CVC-based verb category systems | p. 101 |
| Formal properties of CVCs | p. 101 |
| Nyulnyulan languages | p. 107 |
| Worrorran (Northern Kimberley) languages | p. 117 |
| Jarrakan languages | p. 120 |
| Jaminjungan languages | p. 122 |
| Wagiman | p. 125 |
| Daly River languages | p. 128 |
| Maran languages | p. 137 |
| Mangarrayi | p. 138 |
| Pama-Nyungan languages | p. 139 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 145 |
| Comparison of verb category systems | p. 149 |
| Degrees of grammaticisation | p. 149 |
| IVs recurrent in CVC-based category systems | p. 152 |
| Speech; avalent | p. 160 |
| Stance; monovalent | p. 161 |
| 'Sit, be' | p. 161 |
| 'Stand' | p. 162 |
| Motion; monovalent | p. 162 |
| 'Go' | p. 162 |
| 'Fall' | p. 163 |
| 'Become' | p. 164 |
| Induced motion; bivalent | p. 164 |
| 'Carry' | p. 164 |
| 'Throw' | p. 165 |
| 'Put' | p. 166 |
| Acquisition; bivalent | p. 167 |
| 'Catch, get' | p. 167 |
| 'Give' | p. 167 |
| Violence; bivalent | p. 168 |
| 'Hit' | p. 168 |
| 'Poke' | p. 168 |
| Perception; bivalent | p. 169 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 169 |
| Gooniyandi and Nyulnyul systems in contrast | p. 171 |
| Formal characteristics | p. 171 |
| System level comparison | p. 174 |
| Individual categories compared and contrasted | p. 176 |
| Atelic categories | p. 180 |
| The unmarked Nyulnyul category -J 'say, do' | p. 182 |
| Telic categories | p. 182 |
| Categorisation of vocalisation/communication events | p. 186 |
| Categorisation of motion events | p. 192 |
| Motoric pattern | p. 196 |
| Nature of moving entity | p. 199 |
| Nature of medium | p. 200 |
| Location of carried item | p. 201 |
| Other types of motion events | p. 201 |
| Conclusion | p. 203 |
| Verb class systems: conjugations | p. 207 |
| Pama-Nyungan conjugation classes | p. 208 |
| Non-Pama-Nyungan conjugation classes | p. 213 |
| Nyulnyulan languages | p. 214 |
| Worrorran languages | p. 219 |
| Mindi languages | p. 221 |
| Wagiman and Wardaman | p. 222 |
| Gunwinjguan languages | p. 223 |
| Maran languages | p. 224 |
| Nunggubuyu | p. 225 |
| Anindilyakwa | p. 227 |
| Overlapping conjugation class membership | p. 228 |
| Other types of verb class system | p. 236 |
| The grammar of verb superclassifying constructions | p. 245 |
| Overview of approaches to verb classification | p. 246 |
| Conjugation by auxiliary | p. 246 |
| Compounding analysis | p. 247 |
| Semantic bleaching | p. 249 |
| Classifying analyses | p. 250 |
| Fusion and union analyses | p. 252 |
| CVCs as complex predicates | p. 261 |
| Grammatical relations in conjugation classes? | p. 266 |
| Grammatical relations in CVCs | p. 266 |
| Valency and transitivity in Nyulnyul CVCs | p. 275 |
| Related grammatical phenomena | p. 283 |
| Verb classification in a wider perspective | p. 284 |
| Non-CVC compound verb classifying constructions | p. 284 |
| The Ngiyambaa compound verb construction | p. 284 |
| The Hindi-Urdu compound verb construction | p. 287 |
| Categorisation by prefixes | p. 290 |
| Lexical prefixes | p. 290 |
| Instrumental prefixes | p. 292 |
| Categorisation with quantification | p. 293 |
| Other verbal constructions | p. 295 |
| Noun incorporation | p. 296 |
| Nominal argument classification | p. 298 |
| Concluding observations | p. 300 |
| Other types of compound verb construction | p. 301 |
| Other double-unit verb constructions | p. 307 |
| Auxiliary constructions | p. 307 |
| Serial verb constructions | p. 309 |
| Associated motion constructions | p. 312 |
| Final remark | p. 316 |
| Marking of diathesis alternations | p. 317 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 319 |
| Evolution of verb classification in Australia | p. 323 |
| Ideophone origins of UVs | p. 324 |
| Distinctive phonotactic features | p. 324 |
| Phonaesthesia | p. 327 |
| Use of UVs as expressives | p. 330 |
| Limited morphological modification | p. 332 |
| Syntactic properties | p. 333 |
| Comparison with recurrent features of ideophones | p. 333 |
| Motivations for historical change from ideophone to UV | p. 334 |
| Origins and historical development of the CVC | p. 339 |
| Origins of Pama-Nyungan conjugation markers | p. 351 |
| Evolution of meaning | p. 354 |
| Australia as a verb classification Sprachbund | p. 358 |
| Verb classification in discourse: a preliminary investigation | p. 363 |
| Category distribution in Gooniyandi narratives | p. 364 |
| A textual investigation | p. 377 |
| Interpretation and explanation | p. 385 |
| Conclusions | p. 391 |
| Overview | p. 391 |
| Comparatison of noun and verb classification | p. 398 |
| Directions for future research | p. 404 |
| Basic information on Australian languages mentioned in this book | p. 413 |
| Australian phonologies and orthographies | p. 435 |
| Notes | p. 441 |
| References | p. 473 |
| Index of authors | p. 507 |
| Index of languages | p. 513 |
| Index of subjects | p. 517 |
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