ABSTRACT
Warlpiri is a language of central Australia, spoken by about 3,000 people. There are significant numbers of Warlpiri speakers in other communities: Warrabri, Alice Springs, and Tennant Creek. Simpson has written a short grammar of Eastern Warlpiri and a vocabulary list. While most accounts focus on the Yuendumu variety of Warlpiri, Swartz discusses Lajamanu Warlpiri, concentrating in the later work on the pragmatic use of word order. The two morphologically determined word classes, verbal and nominal, form the major part of the lexicon. One of the principles that may assist the child in the acquisition of the verb classes is the phonological connections between the past and nonpast. Only one verb in Yuendumu Warlpiri has an alternative case frame depending on whether the agent or affected object is the subject. In addition to the case forms for core arguments, the semantic cases in the language include locative, allative, elative, perlative, admonitive, proprietive, and possessive.
