Table of Contents:
1 Introduction -- 1.1 Environment -- 1.2 Culture and lifestyle -- 1.3 Language Use -- 1.4 History of Contact -- 1.5 Linguistic Classification -- 1.6 Data collection and fieldwork -- 1.7 Typological Characteristics -- 1.7.1 Word Order -- 1.7.2 Possessor pronominal suffixation on inalienably possessed nouns -- 1.7.3 Subject-marking by prefixation on the verb -- 1.7.4 Exclusive/inclusive distinction within 1st person plural -- 1.7.5 Reduplication -- 1.7.6 Subject marking by suffixation -- 1.7.7 Tense/aspect marking by suffixation -- 1.7.8 Post-postional phrases with case-marking by cliticisation -- 1.7.9 Topic marking -- 1.7.10 Focus marking -- 1.7.11 Serial constructions marking medial and final verbs -- 2 Phonology -- 2.1 Phonemes -- 2.1.1 Consonants -- 2.1.2 Vowels -- 2.1.3 Phonemic and orthographic inventory -- 2.2 Phonotactics -- 2.2.1 Syllable patterns -- 2.2.2 Consonant sequences -- 2.2.3 Vowel sequences -- 2.3 Phonological processes -- 2.3.1 Rules affecting nasal consonants -- 2.3.2 Rules affecting non-nasal consonants -- 2.3.3 Rule affecting vowels -- 2.4 Stress -- 2.5 Orthographic conventions -- 2.5.1 Long vowels -- 2.5.2 Nasals -- 2.5.3 Labialised /k/ -- 2.5.4 Approximants -- 3 Word Classes and Morphology -- 3.1 Open Word Classes -- 3.2 Closed Word Classes -- 3.2.1 Pronouns -- 3.2.2 Demonstratives -- 3.2.3 Interrogative/indefinite -- 3.2.4 Adverbs -- 3.2.5 Numerals and quantifiers -- 3.2.6 Enclitics -- 3.2.7 Conjunctions -- 4 Nouns and noun phrases -- 4.1 Nouns -- 4.1.1 General nouns -- 4.1.2 Temporal nouns -- 4.1.3 Human nouns -- 4.1.4 Directly possessed nouns -- 4.1.5 Adjectival nouns -- 4.2 Noun phrase -- 4.2.2 Compound nouns -- 4.2.3 Possessive noun phrase -- 4.2.4 Appositional noun phrase -- 4.2.5 â Headlessâ noun phrase -- 4.2.6 Modifier noun phrase -- 4.2.7 Pronominally headed noun phrase -- 4.2.8 Co-ordinate and serial noun phrases -- 4.2.9 Case-marking on noun phrases -- 5 Verbs and verb phrases -- 5.1 Verbs -- 5.1.1 Subject prefixes -- 5.1.2 Verbs with subject-marking by suffixation -- 5.1.3 Object suffixes -- 5.1.4 Continuous aspect reduplication -- 5.1.5 Verb nominalisation -- 5.1.6 Final tense/aspect markers -- 5.1.7 Medial tense/aspect markers -- 5.1.8 Verbs of motion and direction -- 5.2 Verb phrases -- 5.2.1 Aspectual verb phrases -- 5.2.2 Nominal + â doâ verb phrases -- 6 Clauses and simple sentence types -- 6.1 Non-verbal clauses -- 6.1.1 Equative clauses -- 6.1.2 Locative clause -- 6.1.3 Possessive clauses -- 6.2 Verbal clauses -- 6.2.1 Existential clauses -- 6.2.2 Intransitive clauses -- 6.2.3 Transitive Clauses -- 6.2.4 Other constituents of the clause and clause ordering possibilities -- 6.3 Clause negation -- 6.3.1 Non-verbal clause negation -- 6.3.2 Existential clause negation -- 6.3.3 Verbal clause negation -- 6.4 Declarative sentences -- 6.5 Interrogative sentences -- 6.5.1 Content questions -- 6.5.2 Polar questions -- 6.6 Commands and prohibitions -- 6.6.1 Commands -- 6.6.2 Prohibitions -- 7 Complex Sentence Structure -- 7.1 Serial constructions/merged clauses -- 7.1.1 â Adverbialâ SVC: -- 7.1.2 Directional focus SVC -- 7.1.3 Constructions involving the medial suffix /-n/ -- 7.1.4 Object-subject serial causative -- 7.2 Clause chaining/coordinate dependent clauses -- 7.3 Coordinate constructions -- 7.3.1 Clause coordination using conjunctions -- 7.3.2 Clause coordination by juxtaposition -- 7.4 Subordinate-Main structures -- 7.4.1 Temporal/conditional contingencies -- 7.4.2 Reason-result clauses -- 7.4.3 Relative clauses -- 7.5 Complements -- 7.5.1 Utterance predicates -- 7.5.2 Predicates of propositional attitude and knowledge -- 7.5.3 Predicates of modality -- 7.5.4 Predicates of immediate perception -- 8 Topic and Focus -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Topic and focus markers -- 8.3 Defining Topic -- 8.4 Previous discussion of Maisin information structure -- 8.4.1 Topic -- 8.4.2 Focus -- 8.5 Topic in Maisin -- 8.5.1 Topic and focus in a narrative text -- 8.5.2 Topic and focus in a procedural text