Author: Mark Donohue
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110161885
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 612
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Book Description
The series builds an extensive collection of high quality descriptions of languages around the world. Each volume offers a comprehensive grammatical description of a single language together with fully analyzed sample texts and, if appropriate, a word list and other relevant information which is available on the language in question. There are no restrictions as to language family or area, and although special attention is paid to hitherto undescribed languages, new and valuable treatments of better known languages are also included. No theoretical model is imposed on the authors; the only criterion is a high standard of scientific quality. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.
Author: Matti Miestamo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110197634
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 505
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Book Description
This book is the first cross-linguistic study of clausal negation based on an extensive and systematic language sample. Methodological issues, especially sampling, are discussed at length. Standard negation – the basic structural means languages have for negating declarative verbal main clauses – is typologized from a new perspective, paying attention to structural differences between affirmatives and negatives. In symmetric negation affirmative and negative structures show no differences except for the presence of the negative marker(s), whereas in asymmetric negation there are further structural differences, i.e. asymmetries. A distinction is made between constructional and paradigmatic asymmetry; in the former the addition of the negative marker(s) is accompanied by further structural differences in comparison to the corresponding affirmative, and in the latter the correspondences between the members of (verbal etc.) paradigms used in affirmatives and negatives are not one-to-one. Cross-cutting the constructional-paradigmatic distinction, asymmetric negation can be further divided into subtypes according to the nature of the asymmetry. Standard negation structures found in the 297 sample languages are exemplified and discussed in detail. The frequencies of the different types and some typological correlations are also examined. Functional motivations are proposed for the structural types – symmetric negatives are language-internally analogous to the linguistic structure of the affirmative and asymmetric negatives are language-externally analogous to different asymmetries between affirmation and negation on the functional level. Relevant diachronic issues are also discussed. The book is of interest to language typologists, descriptive linguists and to all linguists interested in negation.
Author: Raphael Mercado
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027287759
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 389
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Book Description
The Austronesian language family is the largest language family in the world, yet its members are relatively little studied, particularly from a formal perspective. Interestingly, because these languages exhibit typologically unusual properties, they pose important challenges to linguistic theory. Any theory that postulates a grammar that is common to all languages must take into account the particular characteristics of this language family. The contributions to this volume comprise five chapters on phonology and twelve chapters on syntax, all addressing aspects of these Austronesian challenges. The volume presents new data, new analyses of old data, and comparisons of closely related languages, as well as comparisons to languages outside of the language family. Taken together they form a unique picture of Austronesian linguistics. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and language typology, as well as scholars of Austronesian languages.
Author: Maya Safhida, dkk
Publisher: Syiah Kuala University Press
ISBN: 6232646878
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 278
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Book Description
Indonesia is a pluralistic nation, consisting of various ethnic groups throughout the country. Each tribe has its own language to communicate, both among ethnic and inter-ethnic groups. Language has an important role as a means of communication for humans to convey their intentions, and ideas, and express themselves in interactions in society. The Acehnese language is one of the regional languages in Aceh Province, one of the provinces out of 37 provinces in Indonesia. This language is one of the languages with the largest number of speakers in the province. It dominates in the acquisition of the language of the people in Aceh. However, until now, few people know about the fundamentals of the Acehnese language. Structurally, the Acehnese language has many unique features. One of its uniqueness is the phonological aspect or the sound of the language. The Acehnese language has a higher number of phonemes when compared to other regional languages in Aceh, even Indonesian. Another of its uniqueness, for example, is in the aspect of vocabulary and how some word differences are seen in the varieties of Acehnese spoken throughout the province, country, and even those speakers who reside in other countries. There are also many social factors in Acehnese society that affect the meaning of a particular word or phrase in this language. Therefore, we had invited researchers and practitioners to contribute to writing the book ‘The Acehnese Language and Society’, as part of the Universitas Syiah Kuala Press Book Series ‘Language and Linguistics’.
Author: Sara Pacchiarotti
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110777940
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 484
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Book Description
This book is about recurrent functions of applicative morphology not included in typologically-oriented definitions. Based on substantial cross-linguistic evidence, it challenges received wisdom on applicatives in several ways. First, in many of the surveyed languages, applicatives are the sole means to introduce a non-Actor semantic role into a clause. When there is an alternative way of expression, the applicative counterpart often has no valence-increasing effect on the targeted root. Second, applicative morphology can introduce constituents which are not syntactic objects and/or co-occur with obliques. Third, functions such as conveying aspectual nuances to the predicate (intensity, repetition, habituality) or its arguments (partitive P, highly individuated P), narrow-focusing constituents, and functioning as category-changing devices are attested in geographically distant and genetically unrelated languages. Further, this volume reveals that spatial-related morphology is prone to developing applicative functions in disparate languages and phyla. Finally, several contributions discuss the diachrony of applicative constructions and their (non-syntactic) attested functions, including a case of applicatives-in-the-making.
Author: R. M. W. Dixon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191623679
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 568
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Book Description
Basic Linguistic Theory provides a fundamental characterization of the nature of human languages and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis. In crystal-clear prose, R. M. W. Dixon describes how to go about doing linguistics. He show how grammatical structures and rules may be worked out on the basis of inductive generalisations, and explains the steps by which an attested grammar and lexicon can built up from observed utterances. He describes how the grammars and vocabulary of one language may be compared to others of the same or different families, explains the methods involved in cross-linguistic parametric analyses, and shows how to interpret the results. Volume 3 introduces and examines key grammatical topics, each from a cross-linguistic perspective. The subjects include number systems, negation, reflexives and reciprocals, passives, causatives, comparative constructions, and questions. The final chapter discusses the relation between linguistic explanation and the culture and world-view of the linguist and speakers of the language he or she is describing. The book ends with a guide to sources, a consideration of the number of languages in the world, a glossary, and indexes of authors, languages, and subjects covering all three volumes. Volume 1 addresses the methodology for recording, analysing, and comparing languages and includes chapters on analysis, typology, phonology, the lexicon, and field linguistics. Volume 2, like the present work, considers underlying principles of grammatical organization, and has chapters devoted to the word, nouns and verbs, adjectives, transitivity, copula constructions, pronouns and demonstratives, possession, relative clauses and complementation. Basic Linguistic Theory is the triumphant outcome of a lifetime's thinking about every aspect and manifestation of language. The volumes comprise a one-stop introduction for undergraduate and graduate students of linguistics, as well as for those in neighbouring disciplines, such as psychology and anthropology.
Author: Matti Miestamo
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027291357
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
Language complexity has recently attracted considerable attention from linguists of many different persuasions. This volume – a thematic selection of papers from the conference Approaches to Complexity in Language, held in Helsinki, August 2005 – is the first collection of articles devoted to the topic. The sixteen chapters of the volume approach the notion of language complexity from a variety of perspectives. The papers are divided into three thematic sections that reflect the central themes of the book: Typology and theory, Contact and change, Creoles and pidgins. The book is mainly intended for typologists, historical linguists, contact linguists and creolists, as well as all linguists interested in language complexity in general. As the first collective volume on a very topical theme, the book is expected to be of lasting interest to the linguistic community.
Author: Bethwyn Evans
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110730812
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 445
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Book Description
The cognitive concept of prominence is increasingly seen as key to understanding the organisation of grammar. This volume explores the encoding of prominence in languages from across the Austronesian family. The contributions show how prominence is relevant to understanding asymmetries at different levels of grammatical structure, from discourse and information structure to argument expression and socio-pragmatics. Moreover, common themes across contributions point to crosslinguistic tendencies that underpin the conventionalisation of communicative patterns for coordinating interlocutors' attention, and to points of departure for further crosslinguistic exploration of how grammatical asymmetries can be explained in terms of prominence.
Author: Wang Yong
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040051359
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
This book investigates the existential clause (EC) from a cross-linguistic perspective and within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The prototypical EC in the less familiar languages is identified through its functional equivalents in the more familiar ones, which share the common semantic basis of ‘there exists something in some location’. Topics addressed include the morpho-syntactic features of the EC, the subject of the EC, the definiteness effect and its manifestations in the EC, the EC as impersonals, the distinction between entity- vs. event-existentials, and the EC and its related constructions. Drawing on both cross-linguistic observations based on the language sample and in-depth investigations in particular languages (e.g., in Chinese and English), the study aims to unravel how the lexico-grammar of EC is related to its meanings and functions, that is, how meaning is realised in form. The title will appeal to scholars and students in the field of linguistics, especially functional linguistics, and syntax.
Author: Paolo Ramat
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027230980
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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Book Description
This volume is a collection of 12 papers which originated from a research project on 'Europe and the Mediterranean from a linguistic point of view: history and prospects'. The papers deal with specific morphosyntactic aspects of language structure and evolution. The comparative perspective is adopted both from a synchronic (typological) and a diachronic (historical) angle, focusing in particular on possible contact phenomena. Therefore, methodological key words of this book are areal typology and linguistic area. The issues addressed cover such diverse aspects of language structure and change as verb morphology, relative clause formation, Noun Phrase determination, demonstrative systems, possessive markers in Noun Phrases, conjunctive, disjunctive and adversative constructions, non-canonical object marking, impersonal constructions, reduplication and early translations of the Gospels. These topics are discussed particularly in relation to Romance, Germanic, Celtic and Semitic languages, both modern and ancient. This book will interest researchers in typological, historical, functional and general linguistics.
