Grammars in Contact A Cross-Linguistic Typology

by Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R. M. W.

• ISBN13: 9780199556465
• ISBN10: 0199556466
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The present volume examines the ways in which linguistic traits may change in a contact situation. It contains an encyclopaedic introduction, which sets out a general theory of contact-induced change, and twelve subsequent chapters, which analyze the effects of language contact on grammatical systems in a variety of languages belonging to different geographical areas and diverse types.

Author Biography

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald is Professor and Associate Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University. She has worked on descriptive and historical aspects of Berber languages and published, in Russian, a grammar of Modern Hebrew (1990). She is a major authority on typological and areal features of South American languages, particularly of the Arawak family: Bare (1995, based on work with the last speaker, who has since died), Warekena (1998), and Tariana (2003). Her monographs include Classifiers: a Typology of Noun Categorization Devices (2000, 2003), Language Contact in Amazonia (2002), Evidentiality (2004), and The Manambu Language of East Sepik, Papua New Guinea (2008).
R.M.W. Dixon is Professor and Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University. He has published grammars of a number of Australian languages (including Dyirbal and Yidin), in addition to A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian (1988), The Jarawara Language of Southern Amazonia (2004) and A Semantic Approach to English Grammar (2005). His works on typological theory include Where have All the Adjectives Gone? and Other Essays (1982) and Ergativity (1994). His essay The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997) expounded a punctuated equilibrium model for language development which is the basis for his detailed case study Australian Languages: their Nature and Development (2002). He is currently working on an extensive study of the basic linguistic theory.

Table of Contents

Grammars in Contact: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Grammatical Diffusion in Australia: Free and Bound Pronouns

How Long do Linguistic Areas Last?: Western Nilotic Grammars in Contact

Grammars in Contact in the Volta Basin (West Africa): On COntact Induced Grammatical Change in Likpe

Basque in Contact with Romance Languages

Language Contact and Convergence in East Timor: The Case of Tetun Dili

Language Contact and Convergence in Pennsylvania German

Balkanizing the Balkan Sprachbund: A Closer Look at Grammatical Permeability and Feature Distribution

Cantonese Grammar in Areal Perspective

Semantics and Pragmatics of Grammatical Relations in the Vaupes Linguistic Area

The Vaupes Melting Pot: Tucanoan Influence on Hup

The Quechua Impact in Amuesha, an Arawak Language of the Peruvian Amazon

Feeling the Need: The Borrowing of Cariban Functional Categories into Mawayana (Arawak)

Glossary of Terms

Author Index

Index of Languages, Language Families, and Linguistic Areas

Subject Index

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