Lexical Reconstruction

Lexical Reconstruction PDF

Author: Isidore Dyen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1974-12-12

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 0521203694

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In this book, lexical reconstruction is used to provide links between cultural and social anthropology and linguistics in Athapaskan languages and dialects.

Lexical Reconstruction in Central Chadic

Lexical Reconstruction in Central Chadic PDF

Author: H. Ekkehard Wolff

Publisher:

Published: 2023-11-08

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1009346350

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Due to a long history of contact, the Chadic languages are the internally most diverse of the Afroasiatic language families, especially in terms of their sound systems. In this ground-breaking study, the author draws on his extensive research experience to unpack the morpho-phonological principles that underpin the languages' diverse prosody effects, arguing that massive variation results from diachronic processes called 'prosodification' of segmental units. The study compares data from 66 of the 79 known languages from the Central branch of the Chadic language family, most of them unwritten and under-researched. It traces language changes for 228 lexical items that can be reconstructed from the proto-language's basic vocabulary, unearthing typological features that link Central Chadic to its deep Afroasiatic heritage. It is accompanied by a set of online appendixes, providing the full analytical apparatus of all lexical reconstructions, with explicit identification of each of the diachronic sound changes and processes involved.

Lexical Acculturation in Native American Languages

Lexical Acculturation in Native American Languages PDF

Author: Cecil H. Brown

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1999-02-04

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0195352874

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Lexical acculturation refers to the accommodation of languages to new objects and concepts encountered as the result of culture contact. This unique study analyzes a survey of words for 77 items of European culture (e.g. chicken, horse, apple, rice, scissors, soap, and Saturday) in the vocabularies of 292 Amerindian languages and dialects spoken from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. The first book ever to undertake such a large and systematic cross-language investigation, Brown's work provides fresh insights into general processes of lexical change and development, including those involving language universals and diffusion.

Linguistic Reconstruction

Linguistic Reconstruction PDF

Author: Anthony Fox

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9780198700012

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"Anthony Fox's new textbook is primarily for students with an elementary knowledge of general linguistics who need an up-to-date introduction to historical linguistics, particularly to new developments in the theory and practice of linguistic reconstruction." -- Back cover.

Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia

Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia PDF

Author: Patrick Vinton Kirch

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-03-15

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9780521788793

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The power of an anthropological approach to long-term history lies in its unique ability to combine diverse evidence, from archaeological artifacts to ethnographic texts and comparative word lists. In this innovative book, Kirch and Green explicitly develop the theoretical underpinnings, as well as the particular methods, for such a historical anthropology. Drawing upon and integrating the approaches of archaeology, comparative ethnography, and historical linguistics, they advance a phylogenetic model for cultural diversification, and apply a triangulation method for historical reconstruction. They illustrate their approach through meticulous application to the history of the Polynesian cultures, and for the first time reconstruct in extensive detail the Ancestral Polynesian culture that flourished in the Polynesian homeland - Hawaiki - some 2,500 years ago. Of great significance for Oceanic studies, Kirch and Green's book will be essential reading for any anthropologist, prehistorian, linguist, or cultural historian concerned with the theory and method of long-term history.

A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu

A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu PDF

Author: Alexander Vovin

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9004644822

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This monograph deals with the reconstruction of the Proto-Ainu language and the problems of its genetic affiliation.

A Historical Phonology of Central Chadic

A Historical Phonology of Central Chadic PDF

Author: H. Ekkehard Wolff

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-06-02

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1009021443

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Of all of the African language families, the Chadic languages belonging to the Afroasiatic macro-family are highly internally diverse due to a long history and various scenarios of language contact. This pioneering study explores the development of the sound systems of the 'Central Chadic' languages, a major branch of the Chadic family. Drawing on and comparing field data from about 60 different Central Chadic languages, H. Ekkehard Wolff unpacks the specific phonological principles that underpin the Chadic languages' diverse phonological evolution, arguing that their diversity results to no little extent from historical processes of 'prosodification' of reconstructable segments of the proto-language. The book offers meticulous historical analyses of some 60 words from Proto-Central Chadic, in up to 60 individual modern languages, including both consonants and vowels. Particular emphasis is on tracing the deep-rooted origin and impact of palatalisation and labialisation prosodies within a phonological system that, on its deepest level, recognises only one vowel phoneme */a/.

Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology

Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology PDF

Author: Philip Baldi

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 311088609X

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TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

Grammatical Reconstruction

Grammatical Reconstruction PDF

Author: Don Daniels

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-03-09

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 3110616211

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There is still widespread disagreement among historical linguists about how, or whether, syntactic reconstruction can be done. This book presents a comprehensive methodology for syntactic reconstruction, grounded in a constructional understanding of language. The author then uses that methodology to reconstruct Proto-Sogeram, the ancestor to ten languages in Papua New Guinea. Chapters are devoted to phonology, lexicon, verbal morphosyntax, nominal morphosyntax, and syntactic constructions. The work culminates in a sketch of Proto-Sogeram grammar. Based largely on the author's original fieldwork, this is an innovative application of a novel methodology to new data, and the most complete reconstruction of a Papuan proto-language to date. It will be of interest to scholars of language change, language reconstruction, typology, and Papuan languages.