Phonological Form, Morphological Class, and Syntactic Gender: The Noun Class Systems of Papua New Guinea Arapesh. This research will add to the understanding of linguistic clasification by collecting and analyzing data on the Arapesh dialects spoken in Papua New Guinea. Arapesh nouns are assigned to genders (agreement classes) not according to their semantics, but rather according to their phonological form. Arapesh speech will be carefully recorded so that the phonological system may be analyzed, gender agreement will be documented, and the precise basis of classification will be determined for each of the dialects. The proposed research will (1) document an extraordinary linguistic system that is currently being leveled under contact pressure, (2) contribute to linguistic typology by drawing attention to a new dimension of structure which is relevant to classification, and (3) challenge the fundamental assumption of modern cognitive science that subdomains of knowledge are informationally encapsulated.
