Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance Problems in Comparative Linguistics Oxford Linguistics 1st Edition by Alexandra Y Aikhenvald, R M W Dixon ISBN 0198299818 978-0198299813

Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance Problems in Comparative Linguistics Oxford Linguistics 1st Edition by Alexandra Y Aikhenvald, R M W Dixon ISBN 0198299818 978-0198299813

Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance Problems in Comparative Linguistics Oxford Linguistics 1st Edition by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon - Ebook PDF Instant Download/Delivery: 0198299818, 978-0198299813

Full download Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance Problems in Comparative Linguistics Oxford Linguistics 1st Edition after payment

Product details:

ISBN 10: 0198299818

ISBN 13: 978-0198299813 

Author: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon 

Two languages can resemble each other in the categories, constructions, and types of meaning they use, and in the forms they employ to express these. Such resemblances may be the consequence of universal characteristics of language, of chance or coincidence, of the borrowing by one language of another's words, or of the diffusion of grammatical, phonetic, and phonological characteristics that takes place when languages come into contact. Languages sometimes show likeness because they have borrowed not from each other but from a third language. Languages that come from the same ancestor may have similar grammatical categories and meanings expressed by similar forms: such languages are said to be genetically affiliated.

This book considers how and why forms and meanings of different languages at different times may resemble one another. Its editors and authors aim (a) to explain and identify the relationship between areal diffusion and the genetic development of languages, and (b) to discover the means of distinguishing what may cause one language to share the characteristics of another. The introduction outlines the issues that underlie these aims, introduces the chapters which follow, and comments on recurrent conclusions by the contributors. The problems are formidable and the pitfalls numerous: for example, several of the authors draw attention to the inadequacy of the family tree diagram as the main metaphor for language relationship.

The authors range over Ancient Anatolia, Modern Anatolia, Australia, Amazonia, Oceania, Southeast and East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The book includes an archaeologist's view on what material evidence offers to explain cultural and linguistic change, and a general discussion of which kinds of linguistic feature can and cannot be borrowed. The chapters are accessibly-written and illustrated by twenty maps. The book will interest all students of the causes and consequences of language change and evolution.

Table of contents:

1.:Introduction, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon
2.:Archaeology and the Historical Determinants of Punctuation in Language-Family Origins, Peter Bellwood
3.:An Indo-European Linguistic Area and its Characteristics: Ancient Anatolia. Areal Diffusion as a Challenge to the Comparative Method?, Calvert Watkins
4.:The Australian Linguistic Area, R. M. W. Dixon
5.:Descent and Diffusion: The Complexity of the Pilbara Situation, Alan Dench
6.:Contact-Induced Change in Oceanic Languages in North-West Melanesia, Malcolm Ross
7.:Areal Diffusion, Genetic Inheritance, and Problems of Subgrouping: A North Arawak Case Study, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
8.:Linguistic Diffusion in Present-Day East Anatolia: From Top to Bottom, Geoffrey Haig
9.:The Role of Migration and Language Contact in the Development of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family, Randy J. LaPolla
10.:On Genetic and Areal Linguistics in Mainland South-East Asia: Parallel Polyfunctionality of 'Acquire', N. J. Enfield
11.:Genetic Versus Contact Relationship: Prosodic Diffusibility in South-East Asian Languages, James A. Matisoff
12.:Language Contact and Areal Diffusion in Sinitic Languages, Hilary Chappell
13.:Areal Diffusion Versus Genetic Inheritance: An African Perspective, Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
14.:Convergence and Divergence in the Development of African Lanaguages, Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva
15.:What Language Features can be 'Borrowed'?, Timothy Jowan Curnow

People also search for:

areal diffusion and genetic inheritance problems
    
areal diffusion and genetic inheritance problems in comparative linguistics
    
diffusion index economics
    
genetic diffusion
    
biological diffusion

Tags: Alexandra Y Aikhenvald, R M W Dixon, Areal Diffusion, Genetic Inheritance, Comparative Linguistics, Oxford Linguistics