An Introduction to African Languages

Front Cover
John Benjamins Publishing, Dec 19, 2003 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 265 pages
This book introduces beginning students and non-specialists to the diversity and richness of African languages. In addition to providing a solid background to the study of African languages, the book presents linguistic phenomena not found in European languages. A goal of this book is to stimulate interest in African languages and address the question: What makes African languages so fascinating? The orientation adopted throughout the book is a descriptive one, which seeks to characterize African languages in a relatively succinct and neutral manner, and to make the facts accessible to a wide variety of readers. The author s lengthy acquaintance with the continent and field experiences in western, eastern, and southern Africa allow for both a broad perspective and considerable depth in selected areas. The original examples are often the author s own but also come from other sources and languages not often referenced in the literature. This text also includes a set of sound files illustrating the phenomena under discussion, be they the clicks of Khoisan, talking drums, or the ideophones (words like English lickety-split) found almost everywhere, which will make this book a valuable resource for teacher and student alike.
 

Contents

1 Introduction
1
2 The classification of African languages
19
3 Phonetics and phonology
55
4 Morphology
97
5 Syntax and semantics
117
6 Historical and typological issues
153
7 Social effects on the languages of Africa
175
Appendices
217
References
223
Index
261
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