The Grammar of Inalienability W DE G Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 14 Editors Georg Bossong Bernard Comrie Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York The Grammar of Inalienability A Typological Perspective on Body Part Terms and the Part-Whole Relation edited by Hilary Chappell William McGregor Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York 1996 Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin. © Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data The Grammar of Inalienability : a typological perspective on body part terms and the part-whole relation / edited by Hilary Chappell, William McGregor. p. cm. — (Empirical approaches to language typology ; 14) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 3-11-012804-7 (alk. paper) 1. Grammar, Comparative and general - Possessives. 2. Human ana- tomy — Nomenclature (Popular) 3. Semantics, Comparative. 4. Language and culture. I. Chappell, Hilary, 1955- II. McGregor, William. III. Series. P299.P67G73 1995 415-dc20 95-37989 CIP Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication-Data The grammar of inalienability : a typological perspective on body part terms and the part-whole relation / ed. by Hilary Chappell and William McGregor. — Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1996 (Empirical approaches to language typology ; 14) ISBN 3-11-012804-7 NE: Chappell, Hilary [Hrsg.]; GT © Copyright 1995 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Disk conversion with TEX: Lewis & Leins GmbH, Berlin Printing: Gerike GmbH, Berlin Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin Printed in Germany. Dedication We dedicate this book to the late Steve Johnson. His energetic sup- port, wholehearted backing and assistance in setting up the 'Body Parts in Grammar' workshop and general enthusiasm for the proposal con- tributed greatly to its success at the annual conference of the Australian Linguistic Society held in his department at the University of New Eng- land, Armidale, New South Wales in August, 1988. Preface The present volume grew out of a Workshop on the theme 'Body parts in grammar', which was held during the Australian Linguistic Society An- nual Conference at the University of New England in August 1988. Due to the success of the workshop, we decided to ask the presenters to write up their papers for publication. To broaden the scope of languages repre- sented, we also invited several other linguists to contribute to the project. The papers cover a number of topics under the headings of inalienability and the personal domain, and draw on data from widely distributed and, in some instances, previously undescribed languages. There is a particular focus on the Pacific region, with contributions on Oceanic, Australian, Asian, and American languages. We are grateful to Verlag Sauerländer (Aarau, Switzerland) for per- mission to publish Christine Beal and Hilary Chappell's translation of Charles Bally's 1926 article. Melbourne September 1994 Main languages discussed in this volume