Tense

Tense PDF Author: Bernard Comrie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521281386
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
Bernard Comrie introduces readers to the range of variation found in tense systems across the languages of the world.

Tense

Tense PDF Author: Bernard Comrie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521281386
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
Bernard Comrie introduces readers to the range of variation found in tense systems across the languages of the world.

Geographical and Historical Introduction

Geographical and Historical Introduction PDF Author: Bernd Heine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African languages
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description


The Negative Existential Cycle

The Negative Existential Cycle PDF Author: Ljuba Veselinova
Publisher: Language Science Press
ISBN: 3961103399
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 670

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Book Description
In 1991, William Croft suggested that negative existentials (typically lexical expressions that mean ‘not exist, not have’) are one possible source for negation markers and gave his hypothesis the name Negative Existential Cycle (NEC). It is a variationist model based on cross-linguistic data. For a good twenty years following its formulation, it was cited at face-value without ever having been tested by (historical)-comparative data. Over the last decade, Ljuba Veselinova has worked on testing the model in a comparative perspective, and this edited volume further expands on her work. The collection presented here features detailed studies of several language families such as Bantu, Chadic and Indo-European. A number of articles focus on the micro-variation and attested historical developments within smaller groups and clusters such as Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese, and Nanaic. Finally, variation and historical developments in specific languages are discussed for Ancient Hebrew, Ancient Egyptian, Moksha-Mordvin (Uralic), Bashkir (Turkic), Kalmyk (Mongolic), three Pama-Nyungan languages, O’dam (Southern Uto-Aztecan) and Tacana (Takanan, Amazonian Bolivia). The book is concluded by two chapters devoted to modeling cyclical processes in language change from different theoretical perspectives. Key notions discussed throughout the book include affirmative and negative existential constructions, the expansion of the latter into verbal negation, and subsequently from more specific to more general markers of negation. Nominalizations as well as the uses of negative existentials as standalone negative answers figure among the most frequent pathways whereby negative existentials evolve as general negation markers. The operation of the Negative Existential Cycle appears partly genealogically conditioned, as the cycle is found to iterate regularly within some families but never starts in others, as is the case in Bantu. In addition, other special negation markers such as nominal negators are found to undergo similar processes, i.e. they expand into the verbal domain and thereby develop into more general negation markers. The book provides rich information on a specific path of the evolution of negation, on cyclical processes in language change, and it show-cases the historical-comparative method in a modern setting.

Historical Dictionary of Kenya

Historical Dictionary of Kenya PDF Author: Michael Mwenda Kithinji
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538157462
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 617

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Book Description
Kenya has a rich and complex history. Due to the vast discoveries of prehistoric archaeological remains, Kenya is one of the few places in the world with the largest and most complete record of human’s cultural development. Furthermore, the country’s strategic location astride the Indian Ocean and the East African littoral attracted numerous foreigners such as the Arabs, Persians, Portuguese, Americans, British, Chinese, French, and Germans. Additionally, immigrants from throughout Africa and beyond have settled in Kenya to escape conflict or political persecution, while others wanted an opportunity to begin a new life. As a result of being a gateway to the world, the country traditionally has been one of the most important business, cultural, diplomatic, and political centers in Africa. Still, Kenya, like many other countries throughout the world, has been plagued by an increasing array of complex economic, political, and social challenges. Historical Dictionary of Kenya, Fourth Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Kenya.

Tense and Aspect in Bantu

Tense and Aspect in Bantu PDF Author: Derek Nurse
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199239290
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Derek Nurse looks at variations in the form and function of tense and aspect in Bantu, a branch of Niger-Congo, the world's largest language phylum. His account is based on data from more than 200 Bantu languages and varieties, a representative sample of which is freely available on the publisher's website.

Preposition Placement in English

Preposition Placement in English PDF Author: Thomas Hoffmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139494562
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Preposition placement, the competition between preposition stranding (What is he talking about?) and pied-piping (About what is he talking?), is one of the most interesting areas of syntactic variation in English. This is the first book to investigate preposition placement across all types of clauses that license it, such as questions, exclamations and wh-clauses, and those which exhibit categorical stranding, such as non-wh relative clauses, comparatives, and passives. Drawing on over 100 authentic examples from both first-language (English) and second-language (Kenyan) data, it combines experimental and corpus-based approaches to provide a full grammatical account of preposition placement in both varieties of English. Although written within the usage-based construction grammar framework, the results are presented in theory-neutral terminology, making them accessible to researchers from all syntactic schools. This pioneering volume will be of interest not only to syntacticians, but also second-language researchers and those working on variation in English.

The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect

The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect PDF Author: Robert I. Binnick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195381971
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 1128

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Book Description
This Handbook is a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible guide to the topics and theories that current form the front line of research into tense, aspect, and related areas.

A Study Guide for Kenya

A Study Guide for Kenya PDF Author: Jay E. Hakes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kenya
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description


The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, 5 Volume Set

The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, 5 Volume Set PDF Author: Marc van Oostendorp
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 140518423X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 3183

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Book Description
Available online or as a five-volume print set, The Blackwell Companion to Phonology is a major reference work drawing together 124 new contributions from leading international scholars in the field. It will be indispensable to students and researchers in the field for years to come. Key Features: Full explorations of all the most important ideas and key developments in the field Documents major insights into human language gathered by phonologists in past decades; highlights interdisciplinary connections, such as the social and computational sciences; and examines statistical and experimental techniques Offers an overview of theoretical positions and ongoing debates within phonology at the beginning of the twenty-first century An extensive reference work based on the best and most recent scholarly research – ideal for advanced undergraduates through to faculty and researchers Publishing simultaneously in print and online; visit www.companiontophonology.com for full details Additional features of the online edition (ISBN: 978-1-4443-3526-2): Powerful searching, browsing, and cross-referencing capabilities, including Open URL linking, with all entries classified by key topic, subject, place, people, and period For those institutions already subscribing to Blackwell Reference Online, it offers fully integrated and searchable content with the comprehensive Handbooks in Linguistics series

Negation Patterns in West African Languages and Beyond

Negation Patterns in West African Languages and Beyond PDF Author: Norbert Cyffer
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027206686
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This volume deals with issues on negation patterns in languages of West Africa and the adjacent north and east. The first aim is to provide data on various aspects of negation in African languages. Although the topics addressed here reflect a great diversity of negation patterns, the following typological features have been identified to be prominent in our region: conflict or even incompatibility between negation and focus, use of other indirect means of negating non-indicative mood (covered under the term Prohibitive ), different negation patterns in different Tense-Aspect-Moods (e.g. Imperfective vs. Perfective), lack of negative indefinites, and disjunctive negative marking (often referred to as double negation ). The articles presented here show that areal factors have played a significant role in the development of negation strategies in the languages of West Africa and beyond. On the other hand genetic factors seem to be less prominent."