From Linguistic Areas to Areal LinguisticsPieter Muysken From linguistic areas to areal linguistics explores language description and typology in terms of areal background, presenting case studies in areal linguistics. Some concern well-established linguistic areas such as the Balkan, other regions such as East Nusantara (Indonesia) and the Guapore-Mamore (Amazon) regions have never before been studied in an areal perspective, and yet other areas are involved in current debates. The insight has gained ground that languages owe many of their characteristics to the languages they are in contact with over time. Yet the nature of these areal influences remains a matter of debate. Furthermore, areas are often hard to define. Hence the title: a shift from linguistic areas as concrete and circumscribed objects to a new way of doing linguistics: areally. New findings include the observation that there may be many more language areas than previously recognized. The book is primarily directed at linguists working in descriptive, comparative, historical and typological linguistics. Since it covers linguistic areas from four continents, it will have a wide appeal. |
Contents
The problem of the Caucasian Sprachbund | 25 |
East Nusantara as a linguistic area | 95 |
The GuaporéMamoré region as a linguistic area | 151 |
Local convergence | 181 |
A Tai language with some Sinitic characteristics | 221 |
275 | |
291 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abkh Abkhaz Adyghe Aikhenvald Albanian areal Armenian Aromanian Austronesian languages Avar Azeri Balkan languages Balkan Sprachbund Bird's Head Bulgarian Cantonese Caucasian languages Caucasian linguistic Caucasus Cenderawasih Bay clause clitic-doubling clitics consonants constructions convergence cultural Daghestan Daghestanian daj¹ dak¹ dative distinction được East Nusantara Enfield ergative evidentiality example genetic Georgian glottalized grammar Greek groups guages Guaporé Guaporé-Mamoré region Guinea Halmahera inalienable influence islands jazykov Kabardian Karachay-Balkar Kartvelian Klamer Klimov Kumyk languages of East lexical Lezgi linguistic area Macedonian dialects marker mbouj Megleno-Romanian Megrelian modal ACQ Moluccas morphological ndaej negation North nouns okay Ossetic Pacific Linguistics pan-Caucasian Papuan languages PhD dissertation phonological possessive possessor possessum pre-verbal prefix pronominal Reesink result S/he sentences Slavic South speak speakers spoken structure substrate suffix Svan Tabasaran Tidore Timor traits Trubetzkoy Tsakhur Turkic Turkish typological Ubykh verb vigesimal Voorhoeve Waropen Zhuang