A Grammar of West Coast Bajau

A Grammar of West Coast Bajau PDF Author: Mark T. Miller
Publisher: ProQuest
ISBN: 9780549145219
Category : Austronesian languages
Languages : en
Pages : 928

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Book Description
This dissertation is a description of the grammar of West Coast (WC) Bajau, a western Austronesian language spoken in Sabah, Malaysia by some 60,000 people. Drawing extensively from elicited data as well as a corpus of compiled texts, I describe the language at its various levels: phonology, morphology, phrase structure, clause structure, clause-combining operations, and discourse. In its verbal morphology, WC Bajau shows a (marked) actororientation vs. (unmarked) undergoer orientation with both transitive and intransitive verb roots. I show evidence for a verb phrase in WC Bajau, in one (and possibly two) voices. Investigation of the pragmatic structure of the clause shows that WC Bajau has both a topic and a focal position preverbally. Though primarily descriptive in nature, the grammar devotes some space to theoretical issues concerned with the voice system, which has long been the subject of debate among linguists and typologists studying western Austronesian languages. I argue on primarily syntactic grounds that WC Bajau shows little evidence for an ergative-antipassive voice system, as has been proposed for a number of other Sama-Bajaw languages. Instead, WC Bajau patterns as a symmetrical voice language with two transitive voices, as well as a 'true passive' voice. In this and other respects, WC Bajau resembles Malay/Indonesian and Balinese ('Indonesian-type' languages) as opposed to the indigenous languages of Sabah and some Sama-Bajaw languages, which show greater resemblance to the 'Philippine-type' languages.

A Grammar of West Coast Bajau

A Grammar of West Coast Bajau PDF Author: Mark T. Miller
Publisher: ProQuest
ISBN: 9780549145219
Category : Austronesian languages
Languages : en
Pages : 928

Get Book Here

Book Description
This dissertation is a description of the grammar of West Coast (WC) Bajau, a western Austronesian language spoken in Sabah, Malaysia by some 60,000 people. Drawing extensively from elicited data as well as a corpus of compiled texts, I describe the language at its various levels: phonology, morphology, phrase structure, clause structure, clause-combining operations, and discourse. In its verbal morphology, WC Bajau shows a (marked) actororientation vs. (unmarked) undergoer orientation with both transitive and intransitive verb roots. I show evidence for a verb phrase in WC Bajau, in one (and possibly two) voices. Investigation of the pragmatic structure of the clause shows that WC Bajau has both a topic and a focal position preverbally. Though primarily descriptive in nature, the grammar devotes some space to theoretical issues concerned with the voice system, which has long been the subject of debate among linguists and typologists studying western Austronesian languages. I argue on primarily syntactic grounds that WC Bajau shows little evidence for an ergative-antipassive voice system, as has been proposed for a number of other Sama-Bajaw languages. Instead, WC Bajau patterns as a symmetrical voice language with two transitive voices, as well as a 'true passive' voice. In this and other respects, WC Bajau resembles Malay/Indonesian and Balinese ('Indonesian-type' languages) as opposed to the indigenous languages of Sabah and some Sama-Bajaw languages, which show greater resemblance to the 'Philippine-type' languages.

The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar

The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar PDF Author: Delia Bentley
Publisher:
ISBN: 1009353551
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1014

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Book Description
Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) is a theory of language in which linguistic structures are accounted for in terms of the interplay of discourse, semantics and syntax. With contributions from a team of leading scholars, this Handbook provides a field-defining overview of RRG. Assuming no prior knowledge, it introduces the framework step-by-step, and includes a pedagogical guide for instructors. It features in-depth discussions of syntax, morphology, and lexical semantics, including treatments of lexical and grammatical categories, the syntax of simple clauses and complex sentences, and how the linking of syntax with semantics and discourse works in each of these domains. It illustrates RRG's contribution to the study of language acquisition, language change and processing, computational linguistics, and neurolinguistics, and also contains five grammatical sketches which show how RRG analyses work in practice. Comprehensive yet accessible, it is essential reading for anyone who is interested in how grammar interfaces with meaning.

Syntax - Theory and Analysis. Volume 1

Syntax - Theory and Analysis. Volume 1 PDF Author: Tibor Kiss
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110377403
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
This Handbook represents the development of research and the current level of knowledge in the fields of syntactic theory and syntax analysis. Syntax can look back to a long tradition. Especially in the last 50 years, however, the interaction between syntactic theory and syntactic analysis has led to a rapid increase in analyses and theoretical suggestions. This second edition of the Handbook on Syntax adopts a unifying perspective and therefore does not place the division of syntactic theory into several schools to the fore, but the increase in knowledge resulting from the fruitful argumentations between syntactic analysis and syntactic theory. It uses selected phenomena of individual languages and their cross-linguistic realizations to explain what syntactic analyses can do and at the same time to show in what respects syntactic theories differ from each other. It investigates how syntax is related to neighbouring disciplines and investigate the role of the interfaces especially the relationship between syntax and phonology, morphology, compositional semantics, pragmatics, and the lexicon. The phenomena chosen bring together renowned experts in syntax, and represent the consensus reached as to what has to be considered as an important as well as illustrative syntactic phenomenon. The phenomena discuss do not only serve to show syntactic analyses, but also to compare theoretical approaches with each other.

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics PDF Author: Chris Shei
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000574504
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 894

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Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which Asian languages should be conceptualized as a whole, the distinct characteristics of each language group, and the relationships and results of interactions between the languages and language families in Asia. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent on Earth, and the site of many of the first civilizations. This Handbook aims to provide a systematic overview of Asian languages in both theoretical and functional perspectives, optimally combining the two in intercultural settings. In other words, the text will provide a reference for researchers of individual Asian languages or language groups against the background of the entire range of Asian languages. Not only does the Handbook act as a reference to a particular language, it also connects each language to other Asian languages in the perspective of the entire Asian continent. Cultural roles and communicative functions of language are also emphasized as an important domain where the various Asian languages interact and shape each other. With extensive coverage of both theoretical and applied linguistic topics, The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics is an indispensable resource for students and researchers working in this area.

Nominalization in Western Austronesian

Nominalization in Western Austronesian PDF Author: Maria Bardají
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3111461904
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
This book explores nominalization processes in Totoli (Sulawesi, Indonesia) within the context of western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages. The main focus is on lexical nominalizations, especially on action nominal constructions derived with pV-/pVN-/pVg- and kV-. By means of corpus data, the book provides a characterization of the form and the functions of these constructions and their hybrid nominal and verbal nature. It then investigates the role of nominalization (and subordination) in information packaging using the concept of at-issueness. Finally, it provides a systematic survey of nominalization constructions in 67 western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages.

A Grammar of Makasar

A Grammar of Makasar PDF Author: Anthony Jukes
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004412662
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
The book is a grammar of the Makasar language, spoken by about 2 million people in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Makasarese is a head–marking language which marks arguments on the predicate with a system of pronominal clitics, following an ergative/absolutive pattern. Full noun phrases are relatively free in order, while pre-predicate focus position which is widely used. The phonology is notable for the large number of geminate and pre–glottalised consonant sequences, while the morphology is characterised by highly productive affixation and pervasive encliticisation of pronominal and aspectual elements. The work draws heavily on literary sources reaching back more than three centuries; this tradition includes two Indic based scripts, a system based on Arabic, and various Romanised conventions.

Comparative Austronesian Dictionary

Comparative Austronesian Dictionary PDF Author: Darrell T. Tryon
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110884011
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 3564

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Book Description
Volumes in the Trends in Linguistics. Documentation series focus on the presentation of linguistic data. The series addresses the sustained interest in linguistic descriptions, dictionaries, grammars and editions of under-described and hitherto undocumented languages. All world-regions and time periods are represented.

Applicative Constructions in the World’s Languages

Applicative Constructions in the World’s Languages PDF Author: Fernando Zuniga
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110730952
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1100

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Book Description
This book presents a state-of-the-art cross-linguistic survey of applicative constructions in the functional-typological tradition. An introductory section sets the terminological and analytical stage, presents the methodology used by the different chapters, and provides a typological outlook. The individual contributions address the morphological, syntactic and semantic variation of applicatives, as well as their discourse-pragmatic function. They cover all major language families and some isolates that feature some illuminating version of the phenomenon, paying special attention to language-internal variation and unity. The phenomena surveyed range from those instances usually considered canonical (valency-increasing, syntactically and semantically predictable, productive, dedicated, and optional) to those occasionally understudied in descriptive works and frequently neglected in comparative studies (valency-neutral, rather unpredictable, lexicalized, syncretic, and/or obligatory).

The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia

The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia PDF Author: Alexander Adelaar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192534262
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1089

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Book Description
This volume presents the most wide-ranging treatment available today of the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Southeast Asia and their outliers, a group of more than 800 languages belonging to the wider Austronesian family. It brings together leading scholars and junior researchers to offer a comprehensive account of the historical relations, typological diversity, and varied sociolinguistic issues that characterize this group of languages, including current debates in their prehistories and descriptive priorities for future study. The book is divided into four parts. Part I deals with historical linguistics, including discussion of human genetics, archaeology, and cultural history. Chapters in Part II explore language contact between Malayo-Polynesian and unrelated languages, as well as sociolinguistic issues such as multilingualism, language policy, and language endangerment. Part III provides detailed overviews of the different groupings of Malayo-Polynesian languages, while Part IV offers in-depth studies of important typological features across the whole linguistic area. The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia will be an essential reference for students and researchers specializing in Austronesian languages and for typologists and comparative linguists more broadly.

A Grammar of Teiwa

A Grammar of Teiwa PDF Author: Margaretha Anna Flora Klamer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110226065
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 559

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Book Description
Teiwa is a non-Austronesian ('Papuan') language spoken on the island of Pantar, in estern Indonesia. It has approximately 4,000 speakers and is highly endangered. The genetic relationship between the Alor-Pantar languages and other Papuan languages remains controversial. Located some 1,000 km from their putative Papuan outliers. This volume presents a grammatical description of one of these 'outlier' languages. The grammar is based on primary field data, collected by the author in 2003-2007. A selection of glossed and translated Teiwa texts of various genres and world lists (Teiwa-English/English-Teiwa) are included