Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Indo-European languages; Dravidian languages; Nilo-Saharan languages; Niger-Congo languages; Altaic languages; Caucasian languages; Unaffiliates languages

Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Indo-European languages; Dravidian languages; Nilo-Saharan languages; Niger-Congo languages; Altaic languages; Caucasian languages; Unaffiliates languages PDF Author: Alan S. Kaye
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781575060187
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Phonologies of Asia and Africa

Phonologies of Asia and Africa PDF Author: Alan S. Kaye
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 1575060191
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1075

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Book Description
This large, 2-volume work presents more than 50 authoritative articles by leading specialists on a wide variety of ancient, medieval, and modern languages and dialects of the greater Near East and Africa, from a variety of language families. The articles are concise descriptive narratives presenting the basics of the phonology of the languages and dialects, with an emphasis on the phonological processes operative in them. A major goal of the work is a definite statement on the language and/or dialect in question with regard to genetics, typology, and/or universal elements. Of interest to general linguists as well as those specializing in Afro-Asiatic languages.

The Evolution of Grammar

The Evolution of Grammar PDF Author: Joan Bybee
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226086658
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Joan Bybee and her colleagues present a new theory of the evolution of grammar that links structure and meaning in a way that directly challenges most contemporary versions of generative grammar. This study focuses on the use and meaning of grammatical markers of tense, aspect, and modality and identifies a universal set of grammatical categories. The authors demonstrate that the semantic content of these categories evolves gradually and that this process of evolution is strikingly similar across unrelated languages. Through a survey of seventy-six languages in twenty-five different phyla, the authors show that the same paths of change occur universally and that movement along these paths is in one direction only. This analysis reveals that lexical substance evolves into grammatical substance through various mechanisms of change, such as metaphorical extension and the conventionalization of implicature. Grammaticization is always accompanied by an increase in frequency of the grammatical marker, providing clear evidence that language use is a major factor in the evolution of synchronic language states. The Evolution of Grammar has important implications for the development of language and for the study of cognitive processes in general.

Historical Linguistics

Historical Linguistics PDF Author: Lyle Campbell
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262532679
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
This accessible, hands-on text not only introduces students to the important topicsin historical linguistics but also shows them how to apply the methods described and how to thinkabout the issues; abundant examples and exercises allow students to focus on how to do historicallinguistics. Distinctive to this text is its integration of the standard topics with others nowconsidered important to the field, including syntactic change, grammaticalization, sociolinguisticcontributions to linguistic change, distant genetic relationships, areal linguistics, and linguisticprehistory. Examples are taken from a broad range of languages; those from the more familiarEnglish, French, German, and Spanish make the topics more accessible, while those fromnon-Indo-European languages show the depth and range of the concepts they illustrate.This secondedition features expanded explanations and examples as well as updates in light of recent work inlinguistics, including a defense of the family tree model, a response to recent claims on lexicaldiffusion/frequency, and a section on why languages diversify and spread.

Mechanisms of Syntactic Change

Mechanisms of Syntactic Change PDF Author: Charles N. Li
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477301054
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 641

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Book Description
Historical linguistics, the oldest field in linguistics, has been traditionally dominated by phonological and etymological investigations. Only in the late twentieth century have linguists begun to focus their interest and research on the area of syntactic change and the insight it provides on the nature of language. This volume represents the first major contribution on the mechanisms of syntactic change. The fourteen articles that make up this volume were selected from the Symposium on the Mechanisms of Syntactic Change held at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1976, one of a series of three conferences sponsored by the National Science Foundation. These papers clearly demonstrate that the generative approach to the study of language does not explain diachronic processes in syntax. This collection is enlightening, provocative, and carefully documented with data drawn from a great variety of language families.

The Major Languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa

The Major Languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa PDF Author: Bernard Comrie
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113493257X
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
Based on the much-praised The World's Major Languages, this is the first comprehensive guide in paperback to describe the development, grammar sound and writing system, and sociological factors of the major language families in these areas.

A Dictionary of the World's Languages

A Dictionary of the World's Languages PDF Author: Carlos del Saz-Orozco
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Tiberian Hebrew Phonology

Tiberian Hebrew Phonology PDF Author: Joseph L. Malone
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 9780931464751
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This impressive study analyzes the form of biblical Hebrew that was canonized by the Masoretes, Jewish religious and language scholars who were centered in Tiberias in the late first millennium C.E. The grammatical system of the Masoretes is the key to understanding the Hebrew Bible, and yet because of its tremendous complexity, the system has often been neglected. This study of Tiberian Hebrew phonology is a valuable contribution toward a fuller understanding of Masoretic grammar. The sound system of biblical Hebrew is quite distinct from that of modern Hebrew and is the most elaborate of all the attested Semitic languages. Dr. Malone's thorough analysis describes this sound system in light of both recent linguistic study (generative phonology) and his own far-ranging work on other Semitic languages. The results of his work are stated in the form of phonological rules that will assist the biblical Hebrew scholar in understanding phonology and its impact on Hebrew grammar. The reader will find much value in the elaborate charts and diagrams throughout the book, especially chapter 10, which illustrates the derivations of the first twenty verses of the Book of Genesis, and chapter 12, which presents an inventory of Tiberian Hebrew words and phrases of particular interest. A glossary and bibliography complete the book.

Bound Lives

Bound Lives PDF Author: Rachel Sarah O'Toole
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 0822977966
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Bound Lives chronicles the lived experience of race relations in northern coastal Peru during the colonial era. Rachel Sarah O'Toole examines how Andeans and Africans negotiated and employed casta, and in doing so, constructed these racial categories. Royal and viceregal authorities separated "Indians" from "blacks" by defining each to specific labor demands. Casta categories did the work of race, yet, not all casta categories did the same type of work since Andeans, Africans, and their descendants were bound by their locations within colonialism and slavery. The secular colonial legal system clearly favored indigenous populations. Andeans were afforded greater protections as "threatened" native vassals. Despite this, in the 1640s during the rise of sugar production, Andeans were driven from their assigned colonial towns and communal property by a land privatization program. Andeans did not disappear, however; they worked as artisans, muleteers, and laborers for hire. By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Andeans employed their legal status as Indians to defend their prerogatives to political representation that included the policing of Africans. As rural slaves, Africans often found themselves outside the bounds of secular law and subject to the judgments of local slaveholding authorities. Africans therefore developed a rhetoric of valuation within the market and claimed new kinships to protect themselves in disputes with their captors and in slave-trading negotiations. Africans countered slaveholders' claims on their time, overt supervision of their labor, and control of their rest moments by invoking customary practices. Bound Lives offers an entirely new perspective on racial identities in colonial Peru. It highlights the tenuous interactions of colonial authorities, indigenous communities, and enslaved populations and shows how the interplay between colonial law and daily practice shaped the nature of colonialism and slavery.

Glossary of Morphology

Glossary of Morphology PDF Author: Bauer Laurie Bauer
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474464270
Category : Grammar, Comparative and general
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
This pocket-sized alphabetic guide introduces terms used in the study of linguistic morphology, the study of the structure of words. The importance of morphology has been more clearly recognised in recent linguistic theory, and this glossary thus covers an area of growing interest. Clearly written by a leading authority in the field, the glossary provides coverage of both traditional and contemporary terminology.Key features* A handy and easily understandable pocket guide for anyone embarking on courses in morphology* Supplies numerous cross-references to related terms* Contains an introduction which discusses the centrality of morphology in linguistic studies* Covers new terminology such as contextual inflection and morphome* Includes an annotated bibliography with suggestions for further reading