A Comparative Phonology of Gbe

A Comparative Phonology of Gbe PDF Author: Hounkpati B.C. Capo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110870533
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Comparative Phonology of Gbe (Publications in African Languages and Linguistics, No 14).

A Comparative Phonology of Gbe

A Comparative Phonology of Gbe PDF Author: Hounkpati B.C. Capo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110870533
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Comparative Phonology of Gbe (Publications in African Languages and Linguistics, No 14).

Comparative Phonology of Gbe

Comparative Phonology of Gbe PDF Author: H. B. C. Capo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789067652742
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Phonology of Tone

The Phonology of Tone PDF Author: Keith Snider
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110869373
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description


Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages

Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages PDF Author: Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027287228
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 441

Get Book Here

Book Description
This advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative study of African languages. The first part functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative method, involving the establishment of lexical and grammatical cognates, the reconstruction of their historical development, techniques for the subclassification of related languages, and the use of language-internal evidence, more specifically the application of internal reconstruction. Part II addresses language contact phenomena and the status of language in a wider, cultural-historical and ecological context. Part III deals with the relationship between comparative linguistics and other disciplines. In this rich course book, the author presents valuable views on a number of issues in the comparative study of African languages, more specifically concerning genetic diversity on the African continent, the status of pidginised and creolised languages, language mixing, and grammaticalisation.

A Grammar of Fongbe

A Grammar of Fongbe PDF Author: Claire Lefebvre
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110880180
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 609

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a reference grammar of Fongbe, a language which is part of the Gbe dialect cluster. It is spoken mainly in the former kingdom of Dahomey, which today comprises the southern areas of Benin and Togo. This book has three objectives: First, its main purpose is to provide a thorough description of the grammar of Fongbe. Second, this book provides language-specific syntactic tests which were developed in the course of this research. Finally, we provide the reader with the most exhaustive list possible of references on Fongbe, and on the Gbe languages in general. This book thus attempts to represent a "state of the art" of the language itself, and of the analyses proposed to account for its particular constructions. This book is of particular interest to Africanists, scholars interested in comparative linguistics or in the reconstruction of language families, and creolists who work on the languages spoken in the Caribbean area.

Creoles, Their Substrates, and Language Typology

Creoles, Their Substrates, and Language Typology PDF Author: Claire Lefebvre
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027206767
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 641

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since creole languages draw their properties from both their substrate and superstrate sources, the typological classification of creoles has long been a major issue for creolists, typologists, and linguists in general. Several contradictory proposals have been put forward in the literature. For example, creole languages typologically pair with their superstrate languages (Chaudenson 2003), with their substrate languages (Lefebvre 1998), or even, creole languages are alike (Bickerton 1984) such that they constitute a definable typological class (McWhorter 1998). This book contains 25 chapters bearing on detailed comparisons of some 30 creoles and their substrate languages. As the substrate languages of these creoles are typologically different, the detailed investigation of substrate features in the creoles leads to a particular answer to the question of how creoles should be classified typologically. The bulk of the data show that creoles reproduce the typological features of their substrate languages. This argues that creoles cannot be claimed to constitute a definable typological class."

The Morphosyntax of Complement-head Sequences

The Morphosyntax of Complement-head Sequences PDF Author: Enoch Oladé Aboh
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195159905
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first book on the syntax of the Niger-Conger language family, which includes most of the languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Aboh, who is a native speaker of one of the languages (Gungbe) discussed, analyzes different aspects of the syntax of the "Kwa" language group. Aboh also suggests how grammatical pictures for these languages can shed some light on Universal Grammar in general.

Degrees of Restructuring in Creole Languages

Degrees of Restructuring in Creole Languages PDF Author: Ingrid Neumann-Holzschuh
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027275459
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Get Book Here

Book Description
Basic notions in the field of creole studies, including the category of “creole languages” itself, have been questioned in recent years: Can creoles be defined on structural or on purely sociohistorical grounds? Can creolization be understood as a graded process, possibly resulting in different degrees of “radicalness” and intermediate language types (“semi-creoles”)? If so, by which linguistic structures are these characterized, and by which extralinguistic conditions have they been brought about? Which are the linguistic mechanisms underlying processes of restructuring, and how did grammaticalization and reanalysis shape the reorganization of linguistic, specifically morphosyntactic structures commonly called “creolization”? What is the role of language contact, language mixing, substrates and superstrates, or demographic factors in these processes? This volume provides select and revised papers from a 1998 colloquium at the University of Regensburg in which these questions were addressed. 19 contributions by renowned scholars discuss structural, sociohistorical and theoretical aspects, building upon case studies of both Romance-based and English-oriented creoles. This book marks a major step forward in our understanding of the nature of creolization.

L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis

L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis PDF Author: Claire Lefebvre
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027285241
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this volume, second language (L2) acquisition researchers and creolists engage in a dialogue, focusing on processes at work in L2 acquisition and creole genesis. The volume opens with an overview of the relationship between L2 acquisition and pidgins/creoles (Siegel). The first group of papers addresses current language contact at a societal or an individual level (Smith; Terrill and Dunn; Bruhn de Garavito and Atoche; Liceras et al.; Müller). The second section focuses on processes characterizing various stages of L2 acquisition and creole genesis: relexification and transfer from the L1 and their role in the initial state (Sprouse; Schwartz; Kouwenberg; Aboh; Ionin). Chapters in the third section discuss processes involved in developing grammars, namely, reanalysis and restructuring (Sánchez; Brousseau and Nikiema; Steele and Brousseau). The final section concentrates on fossilization and the end state (Cornips and Hulk; Montrul; Lardiere). Between them, the chapters cover lexical, morphological, phonological, semantic and syntactic properties of interlanguage grammars and creole grammars.

African Languages

African Languages PDF Author: Bernd Heine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521666299
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 412

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is an introduction to African languages and linguistics, covering typology, structure and sociolinguistics. The twelve chapters are written by a team of fifteen eminent Africanists, and their topics include the four major language groupings (Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afroasiatic and Khoisan), the core areas of modern theoretical linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax), typology, sociolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and language, history and society. Basic concepts and terminology are explained for undergraduates and non-specialist readers, but each chapter also provides an overview of the state of the art in its field, and as such will be referred to also by more advanced students and general linguists. The book brings this range of material together in accessible form for anyone wishing to learn more about this challenging and fascinating field.