On Diversity And Complexity Of Languages Spoken In Europe And North And Central Asia

Author : Pirkko Suihkonen,Lindsay J. Whaley
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 437 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2014-12-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027269362

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On Diversity and Complexity of Languages Spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia by Pirkko Suihkonen,Lindsay J. Whaley Pdf

The languages of Europe and North and Central Asia provide a rich variety of data. In this volume, some articles are summaries of large areal typological research projects, and some articles focus on structures or constructions in a single language. However, it is common to all the articles that they investigate phenomena that have not been examined previously, or they apply a new framework to a topic. The volume will be of interest to scholars with a focus on this broad geographic region, typologists, historical linguists and discourse analysts. The uniqueness of this volume is that it brings together work on a genetically diverse set of languages that have some shared areal traits.

Author : Lars Johanson,Lidia Federica Mazzitelli,Irina Nevskaya
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 413 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2019-03-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027263001

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Possession in Languages of Europe and North and Central Asia by Lars Johanson,Lidia Federica Mazzitelli,Irina Nevskaya Pdf

This volume is a collection of articles dealing with the linguistic category of possession and its expression in languages spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia (Uralic, Turkic, Indo-European and Caucasian), with a few excursions into other parts of the world. Some papers engage in typological comparisons, both within and beyond the borders of individual language families focusing on issues of motivation; meaning and forms used in expressing possession; typology of belong constructions; marking possession in possessor chains; non-canonical possessives and their relation to the category of familiarity; metaphoric shifts of possessive semantics. Others focus on possession in individual languages, offering new precious pieces of information on the linguistic expression of possession in lesser known languages, some of which are endangered and even unwritten. The volume will be of interest to both general linguists and typologists as well as to experts/students of the individual languages or language families analyzed in the papers.

Author : Pirkko Suihkonen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 3895861642

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Areal Distribution and Typological Diversity of Languages Spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia by Pirkko Suihkonen Pdf

Author : Martine Robbeets,Alexander Savelyev
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 984 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2020-05-27
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198804628

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The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages by Martine Robbeets,Alexander Savelyev Pdf

The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages provides a comprehensive account of the Transeurasian languages, and is the first major reference work in the field since 1965. The term 'Transeurasian' refers to a large group of geographically adjacent languages that includes five uncontroversial linguistic families: Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic. The historical connection between these languages, however, constitutes one of the most debated issues in historical comparative linguistics. In the present book, a team of leading international scholars in the field take a balanced approach to this controversy, integrating different theoretical frameworks, combining both functional and formal linguistics, and showing that genealogical and areal approaches are in fact compatible with one another. The volume is divided into five parts. Part I deals with the historical sources and periodization of the Transeurasian languages and their classification and typology. In Part II, chapters provide individual structural overviews of the Transeurasian languages and the linguistic subgroups that they belong to, while Part III explores Transeurasian phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, and semantics from a comparative perspective. Part IV offers a range of areal and genealogical explanations for the correlations observed in the preceding parts. Finally, Part V combines archaeological, genetic, and anthropological perspectives on the identity of speakers of Transeurasian languages. The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages will be an indispensable resource for specialists in Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic languages and for anyone with an interest in Transeurasian and comparative linguistics more broadly.

Author : Francesca Di Garbo , Bruno Olsson , Bernhard Wälchli
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2024-05-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961101788

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Grammatical gender and linguistic complexity I by Francesca Di Garbo , Bruno Olsson , Bernhard Wälchli Pdf

The many facets of grammatical gender remain one of the most fruitful areas of linguistic research, and pose fascinating questions about the origins and development of complexity in language. The present work is a two-volume collection of 13 chapters on the topic of grammatical gender seen through the prism of linguistic complexity. The contributions discuss what counts as complex and/or simple in grammatical gender systems, whether the distribution of gender systems across the world’s languages relates to the language ecology and social history of speech communities. Contributors demonstrate how the complexity of gender systems can be studied synchronically, both in individual languages and over large cross-linguistic samples, and diachronically, by exploring how gender systems change over time. In addition to three chapters on the theoretical foundations of gender complexity, volume one contains six chapters on grammatical gender and complexity in individual languages and language families of Africa, New Guinea, and South Asia. This volume is complemented by volume two, which consists of three chapters providing diachronic and typological case studies, followed by a final chapter discussing old and new theoretical and empirical challenges in the study of the dynamics of gender complexity.

Author : Edward Vajda
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 556 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2024-03-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783111378466

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The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia by Edward Vajda Pdf

The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia: A Comprehensive Guide surveys the indigenous languages of Asia’s North Pacific Rim, Siberia, and adjacent portions of Inner Eurasia. It provides in-depth descriptions of every first-order family of this vast area, with special emphasis on family-internal subdivision and dialectal differentiation. Individual chapters trace the origins and expansion of the region’s widespread pastoral-based language groups as well as the microfamilies and isolates spoken by northern Asia’s surviving hunter-gatherers. Separate chapters cover sparsely recorded languages of early Inner Eurasia that defy precise classification and the various pidgins and creoles spread over the region. Other chapters investigate the typology of salient linguistic features of the area, including vowel harmony, noun inflection, verb indexing (also known as agreement), complex morphologies, and the syntax of complex predicates. Issues relating to genealogical ancestry, areal contact and language endangerment receive equal attention. With historical connections both to Eurasia’s pastoral-based empires as well as to ancient population movements into the Americas, the steppes, taiga forests, tundra and coastal fringes of northern Asia offer a complex and fascinating object of linguistic investigation.

Author : Andreas Hölzl
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 543 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2018-08-29
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961101023

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A typology of questions in Northeast Asia and beyond by Andreas Hölzl Pdf

This study investigates the distribution of linguistic and specifically structural diversity in Northeast Asia (NEA), defined as the region north of the Yellow River and east of the Yenisei. In particular, it analyzes what is called the grammar of questions (GQ), i.e., those aspects of any given language that are specialized for asking questions or regularly combine with these. The bulk of the study is a bottom-up description and comparison of GQs in the languages of NEA. The addition of the phrase and beyond to the title of this study serves two purposes. First, languages such as Turkish and Chuvash are included, despite the fact that they are spoken outside of NEA, since they have ties to (or even originated in) the region. Second, despite its focus on one area, the typology is intended to be applicable to other languages as well. Therefore, it makes extensive use of data from languages outside of NEA. The restriction to one category is necessary for reasons of space and clarity, and the process of zooming in on one region allows a higher resolution and historical accuracy than is usually the case in linguistic typology. The discussion mentions over 450 languages and dialects from NEA and beyond and gives about 900 glossed examples. The aim is to achieve both a cross-linguistically plausible typology and a maximal resolution of the linguistic diversity of Northeast Asia.

Author : Benjamin Fagard,José Pinto de Lima,Dejan Stosic,Elena Smirnova
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 525 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2020-10-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110686791

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Complex Adpositions in European Languages by Benjamin Fagard,José Pinto de Lima,Dejan Stosic,Elena Smirnova Pdf

While much attention has been devoted to simple nominal relators, especially prepositions and case markers, complex nominal relators have not yet been the focus of a systematic and cross-linguistic study. The chapters of this volume provide not only a working definition of such constructions, but also a description of complex adpositions and other complex nominal relators in a variety of European languages, both Indo-European and non-Indo-European, including some languages for which this phenomenon had received little attention, such as Breton and Albanian. Building on synchronic and diachronic corpus-based investigations, the authors show commonalities and specificities of these linguistic items across languages, trying to explain why and how they emerged. The research presented in this volume confirms the wide-spread use of complex adpositions in Europe, and the data reviewed in the final discussion suggests it might be the same in other parts of the world, as well. This book thus offers not only detailed descriptions of complex nominal relators in fifteen languages, but also indications of what to look for in other languages, and how to distinguish between a syntactically free sequence and a genuine complex nominal relator.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2022-12-28
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004503502

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Endangered Languages of Northeast Asia by Anonim Pdf

An exciting and up-to date book on endangered languages of Northeast Asia both from the emic and etic perspective.

Author : Chris Shei,Saihong Li
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 894 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2022-07-28
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 9781000574500

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The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics by Chris Shei,Saihong Li Pdf

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which Asian languages should be conceptualized as a whole, the distinct characteristics of each language group, and the relationships and results of interactions between the languages and language families in Asia. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent on Earth, and the site of many of the first civilizations. This Handbook aims to provide a systematic overview of Asian languages in both theoretical and functional perspectives, optimally combining the two in intercultural settings. In other words, the text will provide a reference for researchers of individual Asian languages or language groups against the background of the entire range of Asian languages. Not only does the Handbook act as a reference to a particular language, it also connects each language to other Asian languages in the perspective of the entire Asian continent. Cultural roles and communicative functions of language are also emphasized as an important domain where the various Asian languages interact and shape each other. With extensive coverage of both theoretical and applied linguistic topics, The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics is an indispensable resource for students and researchers working in this area.

Author : Henrik Liljegren
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 493 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2016-02-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783946234319

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A grammar of Palula by Henrik Liljegren Pdf

This grammar provides a grammatical description of Palula, an Indo-Aryan language of the Shina group. The language is spoken by about 10,000 people in the Chitral district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. This is the first extensive description of the formerly little-documented Palula language, and is one of only a few in-depth studies available for languages in the extremely multilingual Hindukush-Karakoram region. The grammar is based on original fieldwork data, collected over the course of about ten years, commencing in 1998. It is primarily in the form of recorded, mainly narrative, texts, but supplemented by targeted elicitation as well as notes of observed language use. All fieldwork was conducted in close collaboration with the Palula-speaking community, and a number of native speakers took active part in the process of data gathering, annotation and data management. The main areas covered are phonology, morphology and syntax, illustrated with a large number of example items and utterances, but also a few selected lexical topics of some prominence have received a more detailed treatment as part of the morphosyntactic structure. Suggestions for further research that should be undertaken are given throughout the grammar. The approach is theory-informed rather than theory-driven, but an underlying functional-typological framework is assumed. Diachronic development is taken into account, particularly in the area of morphology, and comparisons with other languages and references to areal phenomena are included insofar as they are motivated and available. The description also provides a brief introduction to the speaker community and their immediate environment.

Author : Evie Coussé,Peter Andersson,Joel Olofsson
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-23
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027264169

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Grammaticalization meets Construction Grammar by Evie Coussé,Peter Andersson,Joel Olofsson Pdf

Grammaticalization research has increasingly highlighted the notion of constructions in the last decade. In the wake of this heightened interest, efforts have been made in grammaticalization research to more precisely articulate the largely pretheoretical notion of construction in the theoretical framework of construction grammar. As such, grammaticalization research increasingly interacts and converges with the emerging field of diachronic construction grammar. This volume brings together articles that are situated at the intersection of grammaticalization research and diachronic construction grammar. All articles share an interest in integrating insights from grammaticalization research and construction grammar in order to advance our understanding of empirical cases of grammaticalization. Constructions at various levels of abstractness are investigated, both in well-documented languages, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, Norwegian and English, and in less-described languages, such as Manchu and Mongolian.

Author : Saartje Verbeke
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2017-11-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004346789

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Argument structure in Kashmiri by Saartje Verbeke Pdf

In Argument structure in Kashmiri Saartje Verbeke studies the patterns of grammatical relations in the Indo-Aryan language Kashmiri, including case marking and verb agreement, from a typological point of view.

Author : Andreas Hölzl,Thomas E. Payne
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2022-10-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961103959

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Tungusic languages: Past and present by Andreas Hölzl,Thomas E. Payne Pdf

Tungusic is a small family of languages, many of which are endangered. It encompasses approximately twenty languages located in Siberia and northern China. These languages are distributed over an enormous area that ranges from the Yenisey River and Xinjiang in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin in the east. They extend as far north as the Taimyr Peninsula and, for a brief period, could even be found in parts of Central and Southern China. This book is an attempt to bring researchers from different backgrounds together to provide an open-access publication in English that is freely available to all scholars in the field. The contributions cover all branches of Tungusic and a wide range of linguistic features. Topics include synchronic descriptions, typological comparisons, dialectology, language contact, and diachronic reconstruction. Some of the contributions are based on first-hand data collected during fieldwork, in some cases from the last speakers of a given language.

Author : András Bárány,Oliver Bond,Irina Nikolaeva
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2019-03-28
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780192540157

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Prominent Internal Possessors by András Bárány,Oliver Bond,Irina Nikolaeva Pdf

This volume is the first to provide a comprehensive cross-linguistic overview of an understudied typological phenomenon, the clause-level argument-like behaviour of internal possessors. In some languages, adnominal possessors - or a subset thereof - figure more prominently than expected in the phrase-external syntax, by controlling predicate agreement and/or acting as a switch-reference pivot in same-subject relations. There is no independent evidence that such possessors are external to the possessive phrase or that they assume head status within it. This creates a puzzle for virtually all syntactic theories, as it is generally believed that agreement and switch-reference target phrasal heads rather than dependents. Following an introduction to the typology of the phenomenon and an overview of possible syntactic analyses, chapters in the volume offer more focussed case studies from a wide range of languages spoken in the Americas, Eurasia, South Asia, and Australia. The contributions are largely based on novel data collected by the authors and present thorough discussions of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of prominent internal possessors in the relevant languages. The volume will be of interest to researchers and students from graduate level upwards in the fields of comparative linguistics, syntax, typology, and semantics.