Topics in Descriptive Papuan Linguistics

Topics in Descriptive Papuan Linguistics PDF Author: Ger P. Reesink
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Eipo language
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book

Book Description

Topics in Descriptive Papuan Linguistics

Topics in Descriptive Papuan Linguistics PDF Author: Ger P. Reesink
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Eipo language
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book

Book Description


The Papuan Languages of New Guinea

The Papuan Languages of New Guinea PDF Author: William A. Foley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521286213
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book

Book Description
This introduction to the descriptive and historical linguistics of the Papuan languages of New Guinea provide an accessible account of one of the richest and most diverse linguistic situations in the world. The Papuan languages number over 700 (or 20 per cent of the world's total) in more than sixty language families. Less than a quarter of the individual languages have yet been adequately documented, and in this sense William Foley's book might be considered premature. However, in the search for language universals and generalisations in linguistic typology, it would be foolhardy to neglect the information that is available. In this respect alone, the present volume, systematically organised on mainly typology principles, is particularly timely and useful. In addition, the processes of linguistic diffusion are present in New Guinea to an extent probably paralleled elsewhere on the globe. The Papuan Languages of New Guinea will be of interest not only to general and comparative linguists and to typologists, but also to sociolinguists and anthropologists for the information it provides on the social dynamics of language content.

A grammar of Papuan Malay

A grammar of Papuan Malay PDF Author: Angela Kluge
Publisher: Language Science Press
ISBN: 394467586X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 880

Get Book

Book Description
This book presents an in-depth linguistic description of one Papuan Malay variety, based on sixteen hours of recordings of spontaneous narratives and conversations between Papuan Malay speakers. ‘Papuan Malay’ refers to the easternmost varieties of Malay (Austronesian). They are spoken in the coastal areas of West Papua, the western part of the island of New Guinea. The variety described here is spoken along West Papua’s northeast coast. Papuan Malay is the language of wider communication and the first or second language for an ever-increasing number of people of the area. While Papuan Malay is not officially recognized and therefore not used in formal government or educational settings or for religious preaching, it is used in all other domains, including unofficial use in formal settings, and, to some extent, in the public media. After a general introduction to the language, its setting, and history, this grammar discusses the following topics, building up from smaller grammatical constituents to larger ones: phonology, word formation, noun and prepositional phrases, verbal and nonverbal clauses, non-declarative clauses, and conjunctions and constituent combining. Of special interest to linguists, typologists, and Malay specialists are the following in-depth analyses and descriptions: affixation and its productivity across domains of language choice, reduplication and its gesamtbedeutung, personal pronouns and their adnominal uses, demonstratives and locatives and their extended uses, and adnominal possessive relations and their non- canonical uses. This study provides a point of comparison for further studies in other (Papuan) Malay varieties and a starting point for Papuan Malay language development efforts.

The Greater Awyu Languages of West Papua

The Greater Awyu Languages of West Papua PDF Author: Lourens de Vries
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501506951
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Get Book

Book Description
This book is a comprehensive and authoritative description of the Greater Awyu family of Papuan languages. The book brings together many decades of research on Greater Awyu languages, including 10 years of field work by the author. The book presents a description of major patterns found in languages of the family: phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse. In addition, major aspects of the anthropological linguistics of Greater Awyu languages are described: counting systems, language names, kinship, linguistic ideologies, lexical substitution registers, avoidance and taboo. The linguistic patterns of Greater Awyu languages are systematically placed in the genetic, typological, areal and historical contexts of New Guinea. The long dialect continuums within the family, by reflecting different diachronic stages, offer a window on the origin of switch reference, clause chaining, topic markers, postpositions and double-headed relative clauses. The book is relevant for readers interested in the typological, historical and cultural linguistics of New Guinea but also for anthropologists and historians because the history and cultural practices of Greater Awyu speakers are a key part of the story of this language family.

Topics in Descriptive Austronesian Linguistics

Topics in Descriptive Austronesian Linguistics PDF Author: Ger P. Reesink
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Austronesian languages
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book

Book Description


Hua, a Papuan Language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea

Hua, a Papuan Language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea PDF Author: John Haiman
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027230048
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 609

Get Book

Book Description
There is no country in the world where as many different languages are spoken as in New Guinea, approximately a fifth of the languages in the world. Most of these so-called Papuan languages seem to be unrelated to languages spoken elsewhere. The present work is the first truly comprehensive study of such a language, Hua. The chief typological peculiarity of Hua is the existence of a 'medial verb'construction used to conjoin clauses in compound and complex sentences. Hua also shows a fundamental morphological distinction between coordinate and subordinate medial clauses, the latter are not 'tense-iconic', the events they describe are not necessarily prior to the event described in later clauses. Moreover their truth is always presupposed. The distribution and behaviour of a post-nominal suffix - mo provides insights into the nature of topics, conditional clauses, and functional definitions of the parts of speech. In phonology, the central rules of assimilation are constrained by the universal hierarchy of sonority, which may, however, be derived from binary features. These are some of the areas in which the grammar of Hua is unusually perspicuous. The present work aims at a standard of completeness such that it would be a useful reference work for research in almost any theoretical topic.

Koromu (Kesawai)

Koromu (Kesawai) PDF Author: Carol Priestley
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501510959
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 554

Get Book

Book Description
This book is a grammatical description of Koromu (or Kesawai), an endangered and previously undescribed language in Papua New Guinea's Ramu Valley. Koromu belongs to the Madang subgroup of the putative Trans New Guinea family. The grammar covers the structures of the language, with an emphasis on information structure. Geographic, linguistic, social and historical setting are described as well as phonology and morphophonology. The book examines the morphosyntactic structures of the language, covering basic clause structure, word classes, phrase structures and structures of spatial reference, verbal morphology, serial verb constructions, experiencer object constructions and the various constructions of clause combining (clause chaining, complement clauses, adverbial and relative clauses). Chapters also deal with noun phrase (non)realisation and morphological signaling of prominence and show how links and tails are encoded grammatically. Appendices contain texts and a wordlist.

A Grammar of Nungon

A Grammar of Nungon PDF Author: Hannah Sarvasy
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004340106
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 659

Get Book

Book Description
A Grammar of Nungon is the comprehensive reference grammar of Nungon, a previously-undescribed Papuan language of northeast Papua New Guinea. Hannah Sarvasy provides a rich description of the language in its cultural context, based on original immersion fieldwork.

Dynamics of Language Changes

Dynamics of Language Changes PDF Author: Keith Allan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811564302
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book

Book Description
This book explores the dynamics of language changes from sociolinguistic and historical linguistic perspectives. With in-depth case studies from all around the world, it uses diverse approaches across sociolinguistics and historical linguistics to answer questions such as: How and why do language changes begin?; how do language changes spread?; and how can they ultimately be explained? Each chapter explores a different component of language change, including typology, syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, lexicology, discourse strategies, diachronic change, synchronic change, how the deafblind modify sign language, and the accommodation of language to song. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of language change over time, simultaneously advancing current research and suggesting new directions in sociolinguistic and historical linguistic approaches.

The Interface Between Syntax and Discourse in Korafe

The Interface Between Syntax and Discourse in Korafe PDF Author: Cynthia Farr
Publisher: Pacific Linguistics
ISBN:
Category : Korape language
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Get Book

Book Description