| Description |
1 online resource (xv, 358 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
ACLS Humanities E-Book
|
| Contents |
List of Illustrations -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Transcription and Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Favored and Disfavored Grammatical Patterns -- 3. Correlations between Types -- 4. Correlations of Structural Types with Grammatical Categories -- 5. Diachronic Stability: Genetic and Areal -- 6. The Role of Geography: Structural Affinities between Areas -- 7. Linguistic Diversity: Geographical Distribution -- 8. Diversity and Linguistic Prehistory: Conclusions and Open Questions -- App. 1 Sample Languages -- App. 2 Data: Language (by Area) and Structural Features -- App. 3 Alphabetical List of Languages -- App. 4 Frequency and Distribution of Voice Systems -- Notes -- References -- Indexes |
| Summary |
"Scholars have long sought to discover whether there is a detectable genetic relationship among the world's languages, whether linguistic methods can demonstrate that all of the world's languages evolved from a single "mother tongue." In this book, Johanna Nichols offers original and important material that is likely to change significantly the way this exploration is conducted." "For over a century, the comparative method has been the principle analytic tool in the reconstruction of prehistoric languages from which historically attested languages have developed. This method looks for regular laws which govern sound correspondences among the cognate words of related languages." "The problem with cross-linguistic work based on theories of sameness is that it is necessarily limited to seeking genetic relatedness and reducing structural variety to types. It is restricted to shallow time depths and cannot draw inferences from diversity. But unless it is fairly well understood in what ways languages may group and differ over great depths of time within a geographical area, speculation about whether a certain isolated shared feature signals a genetic relationship is futile. In this groundbreaking book, Nichols proposes means of describing, comparing, and interpreting linguistic diversity, both genetic and structural, and thereby provides the foundations for a theory of diversity based upon population science." |
|
"Using a database of 174 languages representing the world's linguistic families and surveying a number of structural features and grammatical categories as well as geographical distribution, Nichols establishes the relative frequencies and markedness of grammatical properties, their interaction with each other, their relative diachronic stability, and their correlations with geographical location and type of linguistic area." "Maps, tables, appendices, and a reproduction of the sample and database will enable readers to test Nichols's conclusions, explore further hypotheses, expand existing databases, and assign cross-linguistic problems to students." "This book will be of critical interest to linguists, archaeologists, population specialists, and anyone interested in ways of classifying mankind."--Jacket |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Comparative linguistics.
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Areal linguistics.
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Language and languages -- Variation.
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Linguistic demography.
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Kayardild -- Kaiadilt people (G35) (Qld SE54-06)
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Mangarrayi -- Mangarayi language (N78) (NT SD53-09)
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Mangarrayi -- Mangarayi people (N78) (NT SD53-09)
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Maung -- Mawng language (N64) (NT SC53-13)
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Maung -- Mawng people (N64) (NT SC53-13)
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Ngiyampaa -- Ngemba people (D22) (NSW SH55-10)
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Ngiyambaa -- Ngemba language (D22) (NSW SH55-10)
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Jingulu -- Djingili -- Jingili language (C22) (NT SE53-06)
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Dyirbal -- Djirbal -- Jirrabul language (Y123) (Qld SE55-05)
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Jingulu -- Djingili -- Jingili people (C22) (NT SE53-06)
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Dyirbal -- Djirbal -- Jirrabul people (Y123) (Qld SE55-05)
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Kayardild -- Kaiadilt language (G35) (Qld SE54-06)
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Language -- Linguistics -- Language classification
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Linguistics -- General.
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Areal linguistics.
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Comparative linguistics.
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Language and languages -- Variation.
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Linguistic demography.
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Taaltypologie.
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Taalvariatie.
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Linguistique comparée.
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Variation linguistique.
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Démographie linguistique.
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Reconstruction linguistique.
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
0226580563 |
|
9780226580562 |
|
9780226580593 |
|
0226580598 |
|
0226580571 |
|
9780226580579 |
|
