| Author | : C. L. Voorhoeve |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 188 |
| Release | : 1982 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : |
Morphology and Language History
| Author | : Claire Bowern |
| Publisher | : John Benjamins Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 384 |
| Release | : 2008 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 9027248141 |
This volume aims to make a contribution to codifying the methods and practices linguists use to recover language history, focussing predominantly on historical morphology. The volume includes studies on a wide range of languages: not only Indo-European, but also Austronesian, Sinitic, Mon-Khmer, Basque, one Papuan language family, as well as a number of Australian families. Few collections are as cross-linguistic as this, reflecting the new challenges which have emerged from the study of languages outside those best known from historical linguistics. The contributors illustrate shared methodological and theoretical issues concerning genetic relatedness (that is, the use of morphological evidence for classification and subgrouping), reconstruction and processes of change with a diverse range of data. The volume is in honour of Harold Koch, who has long combined innovative research on understudied languages with methodological rigour and codification of practices within the discipline.
The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area
| Author | : Bill Palmer |
| Publisher | : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
| Total Pages | : 1142 |
| Release | : 2017-12-04 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 3110567261 |
The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide is part of the multi-volume reference work on the languages and linguistics of all major regions of the world. The island of New Guinea and its offshore islands is arguably the most diverse and least documented linguistic hotspot in the world - home to over 1300 languages, almost one fifth of all living languages, in more than 40 separate families, along with numerous isolates. Traditionally one of the least understood linguistic regions, ongoing research allows for the first time a comprehensive guide. Given the vastness of the region and limited previous overviews, this volume focuses on an account of the families and major languages of each area within the region, including brief grammatical descriptions of many of the languages. The volume also includes a typological overview of Papuan languages, and a chapter on Austronesian-Papuan contact. It will make accessible current knowledge on this complex region, and will be the standard reference on the region. It is aimed at typologists, endangered language specialists, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and all those interested in linguistic diversity and understanding this least known linguistic region.
The Papuan Languages of New Guinea
| Author | : William A. Foley |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 324 |
| Release | : 1986-11-20 |
| Genre | : Foreign Language Study |
| ISBN | : 9780521286213 |
This introduction to the descriptive and historical linguistics of the Papuan languages of New Guinea provide an accessible account of one of the richest and most diverse linguistic situations in the world. The Papuan languages number over 700 (or 20 per cent of the world's total) in more than sixty language families. Less than a quarter of the individual languages have yet been adequately documented, and in this sense William Foley's book might be considered premature. However, in the search for language universals and generalisations in linguistic typology, it would be foolhardy to neglect the information that is available. In this respect alone, the present volume, systematically organised on mainly typology principles, is particularly timely and useful. In addition, the processes of linguistic diffusion are present in New Guinea to an extent probably paralleled elsewhere on the globe. The Papuan Languages of New Guinea will be of interest not only to general and comparative linguists and to typologists, but also to sociolinguists and anthropologists for the information it provides on the social dynamics of language content.
Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World
| Author | : Thomas Edward Dutton |
| Publisher | : Walter de Gruyter |
| Total Pages | : 698 |
| Release | : 1994 |
| Genre | : Foreign Language Study |
| ISBN | : 9783110127867 |
TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.
Causatives and Causation
| Author | : Jae Jung Song |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 290 |
| Release | : 2014-06-11 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 131788843X |
Causatives and Causation is the first comprehensive study of causative constructions found in the world's languages. This important new research, based on a data base of more than 600 languages, not only investigates fully the richness and variety of causative types, but also presents an alternative perspective to the traditional typological approach. The new typology enables a better understanding of how the human mind cognizes causation and how this is reflected in language. Causatives and Causation is also an important attempt to integrate language typology with diachrony by constructing a diachronic model of causative affixes on the basis of this new typology. Drawing on the theoretical insight of Role and Reference Grammar, this book provides a case study of the causative constructions in Korean, providing additional support for both the proposed new typology and the diachronic model. It also examines the pragmatic foundations of causatives, an important but previously unexplored area of study.
Person
| Author | : Anna Siewierska |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 354 |
| Release | : 2004-07 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 9780521776691 |
This textbook deals with the grammatical category of person, which covers the first person, the second person, and the third person. Drawing on data from over 700 languages, Anna Siewierska compares the use of person within and across different languages, and examines the factors underlying this variation. She shows how person forms vary in substance, in the nature of the semantic distinctions they convey, in how they are used in sentences and discourse, and in the way they function to convey social distinctions. By looking at different types of person forms in the grammatical and social contexts in which they are used, this book documents an underlying unity between them, arguing against the treatment of person markers based on arbitrary sets of morphological and syntactic properties. Clearly organized and accessibly written, it will be welcomed by students and scholars of linguistics, particularly those interested in grammatical categories and their use.
From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics
| Author | : Pieter Muysken |
| Publisher | : John Benjamins Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 306 |
| Release | : 2008-02-06 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 9027291365 |
From linguistic areas to areal linguistics explores language description and typology in terms of areal background, presenting case studies in areal linguistics. Some concern well-established linguistic areas such as the Balkan, other regions such as East Nusantara (Indonesia) and the Guapore-Mamore (Amazon) regions have never before been studied in an areal perspective, and yet other areas are involved in current debates. The insight has gained ground that languages owe many of their characteristics to the languages they are in contact with over time. Yet the nature of these areal influences remains a matter of debate. Furthermore, areas are often hard to define. Hence the title: a shift from linguistic areas as concrete and circumscribed objects to a new way of doing linguistics: areally. New findings include the observation that there may be many more language areas than previously recognized. The book is primarily directed at linguists working in descriptive, comparative, historical and typological linguistics. Since it covers linguistic areas from four continents, it will have a wide appeal.
The Historical Relationships of the Languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia
| Author | : James T. Collins |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 212 |
| Release | : 1983 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : |
