Research articles

Published

Zahrer, Alexander. 2024. Exploring natural speech intonation of an under-researched Papuan language. Speech Prosody 2024. 1095-1099.

Zahrer, Alexander, Andrej Zgank, and Barbara Schuppler. 2020. Towards Building an Automatic Transcription System for Language Documentation: Experiences from Muyu. In: Proceedings of The 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, 2893-2900.

Schuppler, B., Hagmüller M., & Zahrer A., 2017. A corpus of read and conversational Austrian German. In: Speech Communication 94.C, 62-74.

Upcoming

Zahrer, Alexander. (in press) Verbal Number in Muyu. [Accepted by Studies in Language, July 2024]

Zahrer, Alexander. (accepted) Serial verbs and minimal markers. The no-linking-element criterion revisited. [Accepted in Linguistic Typology, June 2025]

Monographs

Zahrer, Alexander. 2025. Children of the sago: Muyu text. Berlin: Language Science Press.

Dissertation

Title:
Zahrer, Alexander. 2023. A Grammar of Muyu. PhD dissertation, University of Münster. [download here]

NOTE!!!
This thesis was awarded best dissertation of the faculty in 2023 at the University of Münster. [see here]

Abstract
This thesis is a grammar of Muyu, a Papuan language of Western New Guinea in the east of Indonesia. It is spoken by around 2000 people in 22 villages in the Boven Digoel regency and in suburbs of several coastal cities. The language belongs to the Ok language family of the Trans New Guinea phylum and is severly endangered. This work is the first comprehensive grammar on Muyu. It is based on nearly 11 months of fieldwork during which a corpus of audio-visual recordings, transcripts and translations has been compiled. The corpus is the primary data source for all analyses in the thesis. This study covers a wide range of topics that are described in 12 chap- ters. Beyond the expected chapters on phonology, verb morphology and clause syntax, the description has a special focus on complex predicates. Ty- pologically, the most interesting features are verbal number and the extensive use of multi-verb constructions (MVCs). The word class of demonstratives is especially rich and covers a wide area of functions. Furthermore, we find many typical TNG features: gender agreement on the verb, verb-final clause syntax, a lack of nominal morphology, switch reference and tail-head linkage. The appendix of this grammar includes two fully glossed texts and a large word list (Muyu-English) with over 2500 entries. The grammar is accompa- nied by an openly accessible collection of language material archived in the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).

Event organisation

• Exploring Tail-Head Linkage: Cross-Linguistic, Methodological, and Theoretical Perspectives, SWL X, Potsdam. 2025. (co-hosted with Katharina Gayler, University of Cologne)
• Vielfaltslinguistik 7, University of Münster. 2025. (hosted)

Presentations

Zahrer, Alexander. 2025. Serial verbs and minimal markers. The no-linking element criterion revisited. (Presentation, workshop Verbal complex predicates, Jahrestagung DGfS Mainz)

Zahrer, Alexander. 2025. Functions of tail-head linkage. Statistical modelling of a discourse strategy. (Presentation, workshop: Exploring tail-head linkage, SWL X Potsdam)

Zahrer, Alexander. 2025. Patterns of postnominal flagging in Trans New Guinea. An intra-genetic typology. (Presentation Vielfaltslinguistik 7, Münster)

Zahrer, Alexander. 2024. Habitual auxiliary constructions in the Papuan language Muyu. (Presentation, workshop Colloque Habituals and habitual auxiliaries, Paris)

Zahrer, Alexander. 2024. Exploring natural speech intonation of an under-researched Papuan language. (Poster presentation Speech Prosody 2024, Leiden) [download presentation]

Zahrer, Alexander. 2024. Noun phrases in Trans New Guinea languages. (Presentation APLL16, Amsterdam) [download presentation]

Zahrer, Alexander. 2024. Zwei Arten von Demonstrativa in Muyu. (Presentation Vielfaltslinguistik 6, Graz) [download presentation]

Zahrer, Alexander. 2023. From clause conjoining to clause chaining. Evidence from Muyu. (Presentation APLL15, Olomouc)

Zahrer, Alexander. 2022. Combining verbal number in Muyu. (Presentation APLL14, Berlin) [download presentation]

Zahrer, Alexander. 2021. Bridging constructions in Muyu narratives. (Presentation APLL13, Edinburgh [online])

Zahrer, Alexander. 2020. Chaining Clauses, Serializing Verbs? Ambiguities in the Status of Non-Finite Verbs in Muyu. (Presentation SLE2020 [online])

Zahrer, Alexander. 2019. Muyu Grammar Sketch. A lowland Ok language of New Guinea. (Presentation WLP5 Manokwari)

Zahrer, Alexander, Petra Hödl & Dina El Zarka, 2017. Pitch accent types, question types and attitudes. A perceptual study of Austrian German. (Poster auf der Tagung "PundP13: Phonetik und Phonologie im deutschsprachigen Raum, 28.-29.9.2017, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Zahrer, A., 2017. Zur Sprache kommen. Funktionsverbgefüge als Teil der Alltäglichen Wissenschaftssprache. (Vortrag auf der Tagung "Wissenschaftlich schreiben lernen. Diagnose und Förderung wissenschaftlicher Textkompetenz", 26.2.2016, Universität Graz)