The Oxford Guide to the Papuan Languages

by Evans, Nicholas; Fedden, Sebastian

• ISBN13: 9780198849483
• ISBN10: 0198849486
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-09-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

This volume presents a wide-ranging survey of the Papuan languages, spoken on the island of New Guinea and its surroundings. They make up around 12% of the world's languages, with a level of linguistic diversity comparable to the vast Eurasian zone concentrated into just 1% of the world's land area. This is true whether we count individual languages (around 890), families and isolates (around 95), or elements of structural diversity: many linguistic phenomena were first reported or are still only attested in this region.

Following a detailed introduction by the editors, The Oxford Guide to the Papuan Languages is divided into four parts. The first provides structural descriptions of 23 languages from across the region, many of which have never previously been described. Part II includes typological surveys of features that are of particular interest in Papuan languages, from tone to valency change, and from information structure to kinship terminology. Chapters in Part III explore language in its cultural context, with topics including multilingualism, sign languages, and language shift, while Part IV focuses on historical and contact studies. The volume will be a crucial reference not only for scholars of Papuan languages but also for anyone interested in the human history of this fascinating and little-known part of the world.

Author Biography

Nicholas Evans, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, Australian National University,Sebastian Fedden, Professor of Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris

Nicholas Evans is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the Australian National University. He investigates linguistic diversity and what this tells us about the nature of language, culture, deep history, and human creativity. He has carried out extensive fieldwork in Northern Australia (Kayardild, Bininj Kunwok, Dalabon, Iwaidja) and Papua New Guinea (Nen, Idi); his interests range from questions of grammar-writing, linguistic typology, and translation to historical linguistics. A member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Australian Social Sciences Academy and the British Academy, he has been awarded an inaugural Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis, and a Ken Hale Award from the Linguistics Society of America.

Sebastian Fedden is Professor of Linguistics at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and is affiliated with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and the University of Surrey. He is a typologist with a specialization in morphology and Papuan languages and linguistics. His interests span linguistic diversity, the relationship between language, mind and culture, and grammar writing. He has carried out fieldwork in Papua New Guinea (on Mian) and Indonesia (on languages of Alor and Pantar). His grammar of Mian, published in 2011, won the von der Gabelentz Award of the Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) for the best published grammar from 2009 to 2012.

Table of Contents

1. Papuan languages: A general introduction, Nicholas Evans and Sebastian FeddenPart I. Language descriptions2. Mpur (Isolate, Birds Head), Ger Reesink and Cecilia Odé3. Abawiri (Lakes Plain), Brendon Yoder4. Sentani (Sentanic), Marian Klamer5. Skou (Sko), Mark Donohue6. Srenge (Torricelli), Jose Antonio Jodár-Sánchez, Lea Brown, and Matthew S. Dryer7. Tuwari (Walio), Sylvain Loiseau8. Haruai (Piawi), Bernard Comrie and John Davies9. Iatmul (Sepik, Ndu), Gerd Jendraschek10. Awiakay (Arafundi), Darja Hoenigman11. Baining (New Britain), Birgit Hellwig, Cindy Schneider, and Tonya Stebbins12. Touo (Isolate, Solomon Is.), Angela Terrill and Michael Dunn13. Bine (Oriomo), Christian Döhler14. Yei (Yam), Mae Carroll15. Soq (TNG, Madang), Don Daniels16. Menya (TNG, Angan), Carl R. Whitehead17. Eipo (TNG, Mek), Volker Heeschen18. Nalca (TNG, Mek), Bernhard Wälchli and Erik Svärd19. Telefol (TNG, Ok Oksapmin), Sebastian Fedden20. Yaqay (TNG, Anim), Bruno Olsson21. Urama (TNG, Kiwaian), Jason Brown22. Iha (TNG, West Bomberai), Katherine Walker and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann23. Kalamang (TNG, West Bomberai), Eline Visser24. Abui (TNG, Alor Pantar), František Kratochvíl, George Saad, and Benediktus DelpadaPart II. The typology of Papuan languages25. A typology of Papuan segmental phoneme inventories, John Hajek and Timothy C. Brickell26. Tone in Papuan languages, Sebastian Fedden27. Semantic typology in Papuan languages, Birgit Hellwig28. Lexical typology in Papuan languages, with special reference to colexification, Antoinette Schapper29. Kinship terminology in Papuan languages, Nicholas Evans, Wolfgang Barth, Simon J. Greenhill, Bruno Olsson, and Sam Passmore30. Ethnobiological nomenclature in Papuan languages, Chris Healey, Janet Gagul, and Alfred Kik31. Lexicography and lexicology of Papuan languages, Volker Heeschen and Sonja Riesberg32. Alignment in Papuan languages, Bruno Olsson and Christian Döhler33. Valency change in Papuan languages, Bruno Olsson34. Reciprocal constructions in Papuan languages, Nicholas Evans35. Tense, aspect, and mood systems in Papuan languages, Nicholas Evans and Sebastian Fedden36. Evidentiality and epistemic marking in Papuan languages, Lila San Roque37. Serial verbs in Papuan languages, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald38. Coverb constructions in Papuan languages, Sonja Riesberg and Bruno Olsson39. Demonstratives in Papuan languages, František Kratochvíl40. Numeral systems in Papuan languages, Bernard Comrie41. Nominal classification in Papuan languages, Sebastian Fedden42. Possession in Papuan languages, Gary Holton and Henry Osborne43. Grammatical number in Papuan languages, I Wayan Arka, Mary Dalrymple, and Keira Mullan44. Suppletion in Papuan languages, Tina Gregor45. Switch reference in Papuan languages: Synchronic and diachronic, Don Daniels46. Clause chaining in Papuan languages, Hannah S. Sarvasy47. Reported speech in Papuan languages, Ger Reesink and Nicholas Evans48. Information structure in Papuan languages, Don Daniels49. Discourse patterns and emerging grammar in Papuan languages, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann and Sonja RiesbergPart III. Papuan languages in their cultural context50. Multilingualism in the Papuasphere, Christian Döhler51. Speech styles and registers in Papuan languages, Darja Hoenigman52. Language, song, and sung tales in the Papuan region, Alan Rumsey and Don Niles53. Names and naming in Papuan languages of New Guinea, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald54. Gesture in New Guinea, Kensy Cooperrider and Rafael E. Núñez55. Sign languages of the Papuasphere, Lauren W. Reed56. Sociocultural processes of Papuan linguistic diversification, James Slotta57. Sociolinguistic variation in New Guinea, Eri Kashima and Dineke Schokkin58. The contemporary sociolinguistics of Tanah Papua, Yusuf Sawaki and I Wayan Arka59. Rampant language shift in Papua New Guinea, Don Kulick and Lise M. Dobrin60. Acquisition of Papuan languages, Birgit Hellwig, Hannah S. Sarvasy, and Marisa Casillas61. Language socialization in Papuan languages, Lila San Roque and Bambi B. Schiefflin62. An overview of the missionary linguistics of New Guinea, Lourens de Vries, René van den Berg, and Bert VoorhoevePart IV. Papuan historical and areal linguistics63. Tentatively tracing Trans New Guinea, Simon J. Greenhill64. The Madang branch of Trans New Guinea, Don Daniels65. Comparative grammar of the Huon peninsula languages, Edgar Suter66. Contact-induced morphological change in Dedua, Edgar Suter67. Historical linguistics of the Yam family, Nicholas Evans, Christian Döhler, and Mae Carroll68. Papuan-Austronesian contact in pre-modern eastern Indonesia, Marian Klamer69. Austronesian-Papuan contact in Northwestern New Guinea, Laura Arnold and Emily Gasser70. Papuan-Papuan contact: Sepik, Sylvain Loiseau71. Papuan Malay, Angela Kluge72. Papuan histories and linguistics, Chris Ballard