Studies in Kimberley Languages in Honour of Howard Coate

Studies in Kimberley Languages in Honour of Howard Coate PDF Author: William McGregor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aboriginal Australians
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description

Studies in Kimberley Languages in Honour of Howard Coate

Studies in Kimberley Languages in Honour of Howard Coate PDF Author: William McGregor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aboriginal Australians
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description


The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia

The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia PDF Author: William B. McGregor
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134396023
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The Kimberley, the far north-west of Australia, is one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the continent. Some fifty-five Aboriginal languages belonging to five different families are spoken within its borders. Few of these languages are currently being passed on to children, most of whom speak Kriol (a new language that arose about half a century ago from an earlier Pidgin English) or Aboriginal English (a dialect of English) as their mother tongue and usual language of communication. This book describes the Aboriginal languages spoken today and in the recent past in this region.

Processes of Language Contact

Processes of Language Contact PDF Author: Jeff Siegel
Publisher: Les Editions Fides
ISBN: 9782762120981
Category : Creole dialects, English
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description


Multiple Preverbs in Ancient Indo-European Languages

Multiple Preverbs in Ancient Indo-European Languages PDF Author: Chiara Zanchi
Publisher: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag
ISBN: 3823392743
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
The book investigates multiple preverbs (PVs) in some ancient IE languages (Vedic, Homeric Greek, Old Church Slavic, and Old Irish). After an introduction, it opens with the theoretical framework and a typologically-oriented overview of PVs. It then gives quantitative data about multiple PV composites and carries out philological, formal, semantic, and syntactic analyses on them. The comparison among these languages suggests that a process of accumulation lies behind multiple PV composites. Also, PV ordering is explained by different factors: semantic solidarity between PVs and verbs PVs tendency to be specified by event participants, PVs etymologies, influence from other languages. The book also contributes to casting light on the reasons for PVs grammaticalization and lexicalization. These are two distinct reanalyses triggered by the same factor, i.e. the mentioned semantic solidarity, which makes PVs be felt as redundant. They are thus reassigned salient pieces of information as actional markers (grammaticalization) or reinterpreted as part of the verb (lexicalization).

Clusivity

Clusivity PDF Author: Elena Filimonova
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027293880
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
This book presents a collection of papers on clusivity, a newly coined term for the inclusive–exclusive distinction. Clusivity is a widespread feature familiar from descriptive grammars and frequently figuring in typological schemes and diachronic scenarios. However, no comprehensive exploration of it has been available so far. This book is intended to make the first step towards a better understanding of the inclusive–exclusive opposition, by documenting the current linguistic knowledge on the topic. The issues discussed include the categorial and paradigmatic status of the opposition, its geographical distribution, realization in free vs bound pronouns, inclusive imperatives, clusivity in the 2nd person, honorific uses of the distinction, etc. These case studies are complemented by the analysis of the opposition in American Sign Language as opposed to spoken languages. In-depth areal and family surveys of clusivity consider this opposition in Austronesian, Tibeto-Burman, central-western South American, Turkic languages, and in Mosetenan and Shuswap.

Historical Linguistics 2001

Historical Linguistics 2001 PDF Author: Barry J. Blake
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 902729660X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
This is a selection of papers from the 15th International Conference on Historical Linguistics held in Melbourne 13-17 August 2001, hosted by the Linguistics Program at La Trobe University. The papers range from the general theoretical to the study of particular languages and embrace most areas of linguistics, particularly morpho-syntax.

Murrinhpatha Morphology and Phonology

Murrinhpatha Morphology and Phonology PDF Author: John Mansfield
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501503103
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Murrinhpatha is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in a region of tropical savannah and tidal inlets on the north coast of the continent. Some 3000 speakers live mostly in the towns of Wadeye and Nganmarriyanga, though they maintain close ties to their traditional lands, totems and spirit ancestors. Murrinhpatha word structure is highly complex, and quite distinct from the better-known Pama-Nyungan languages of central and southern Australia. Murrinhpatha is characterised by prolific compounding, clitic clusters, cumulative inflection, irregular allomorphy and phonological assimilation. This book provides a comprehensive account of these phenomena, giving particular attention to questions of morphological constituency, lexical storage, and whether there is really such thing as a ‘word’ unit.

Language Universals and Variation

Language Universals and Variation PDF Author: Mengistu Amberber
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313012482
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Issues addressed in this contributed volume include lexical semantics, morphosyntax, and phonology based on the broad theme of formal approaches to language universals and variation. Aspects of natural language variation are investigated from a formal theoretical perspective, including the Principles and Parameters/Minimalist Program, Lexical Functional Grammar and Optimality Theory. A wide range of languages and language families are considered, including Amharic, Arabic, Bantu, Berber, Chamorro, English, French, Japanese, Malyalam, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, and Warlpiri. This is an important addition to the growing body of literature on language universals and variation from formal theoretical perspectives. It will be a useful reference to linguistics specialists and other cognitive scientists. The topics covered are also diverse, ranging from pronominal clitic variation in dialects of Spanish to passives in Bantu and Polish and the typology of Wh-in-situ questions and vowel place constraints.

A Grammar of Ngardi

A Grammar of Ngardi PDF Author: Thomas Ennever
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110752433
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 795

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Book Description
Ngardi is a highly endangered language with fewer than 10 remaining speakers and is no longer being acquired by children. Despite the limited circulation of a draft dictionary (Cataldi, 2011), there has been no published reference grammar of this language. Upon publication, this work will constitute the most comprehensive grammar of any Ngumpin-Yapa language. The Ngardi language exhibits many of the same typologically interesting features first identified in the related language Warlpiri—namely phenomena of non-configurational syntax and null anaphora. This grammar also brings to light a number of unique properties which will be of interest to linguistic typologists and formal theorists. The registration of arguments both through case marking on free NPs as well as in pronominal enclitics is similar to Warlpiri but differs in its detail—particularly in the ability to register various non-core cases (e.g. locative and allative) as ‘arguments’ in the pronominal complex. Within the verbal system, Ngardi is notably for a large number of verbal inflections (~20) which mark various distinctions in tense, aspect and mood, as well as associated motion and speaker-centric directionality. Ngardi exhibits a highly articulated system of complex predication, covering both complex verb and serial verb constructions. Other typologically interesting aspects of the language include the presence of dedicated apprehensional constructions and interesting interactions between negation and clausal modality. The descriptive value of this grammar is enhanced by its sustained regional comparison of the linguistic features of Ngardi with those of neighbouring Ngumpin-Yapa and Western Desert languages. This grammar (and a forthcoming dictionary) of Ngardi will be of great significance to both those few remaining Ngardi speakers as well as the next generation of Ngardi people for whom accessible published materials will be an invaluable resource.

Verb Classification in Australian Languages

Verb Classification in Australian Languages PDF Author: William B. McGregor
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110870878
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
This book deals with systems of verb classification in Australian Aboriginal languages, with particular focus on languages of the north-west. It proposes a typology of the systems according to their main formal and semantic characteristics. It also makes some proposals concerning the historical origins and grammaticisation of these systems, and suggestions regarding the grammatical relations involved. In addition, an attempt is made to situate the phenomenon of verb classification within the context of related verbal phenomena such as serial verb constructions, nominal incorporation, and complex predicates.