› › Bawm Language And Lore

Bawm Language and Lore

Author : Verena Reichle

Publisher : Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic Publishers

Page : 280 pages

File Size : 29,86 MB

Release : 1981

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN :

Get eBook

Book Description

Bawm is spoken by the Bawm-Zo, a tribal society of the Chin family living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the adjoining areas of India and Burma. Their language is Tibeto-Burman of the Central Kuki group. It is spoken in two variants, a tonal and an atonal one. The noun phrases are distinguished on the principle of ergativity. The grammar is neither transformational nor otherwise designed for computers to read, but for humans to understand. Every textual example of Bawm is provided with a morpheme-for-morpheme translation into English, which makes it possible to use the grammar for comparative purposes in language typology. The two folklore texts about the lives of Bawm tribal chiefs provide interesting insight into the culture and society of the Bawm-Zo.



Typology of Pluractional Constructions in the Languages of the World

Author : Simone Mattiola

Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company

Page : 263 pages

File Size : 45,2 MB

Release : 2019-04-24

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9027262586

Get eBook

Book Description

The aim of this book is to give the first large-scale typological investigation of pluractionality in the languages of the world. Pluractionality is defined as the morphological modification of the verb to express a plurality of situations that can additionally involve a plurality of participants and/or spaces. Based on a 246-language sample, the main characteristics of pluractionality are described and discussed throughout the book. Firstly, a description of the functions that pluractional markers cross-linguistically express is presented and the relationships occurring among them are explained through the semantic map model. Then, the marking strategies that languages display to express such functions are illustrated and some issues concerning the formal identification are briefly discussed as well. The typological generalizations are corroborated showing how pluractional markers work in three specific languages (Akawaio, Beja, Maa). In conclusion, the theoretical conceptualization of pluractionality is discussed referring to the Radical Construction Grammar approach.



Standard Negation

Author : Matti Miestamo

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter

Page : 505 pages

File Size : 19,82 MB

Release : 2008-08-22

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 3110197634

Get eBook

Book Description

This book is the first cross-linguistic study of clausal negation based on an extensive and systematic language sample. Methodological issues, especially sampling, are discussed at length. Standard negation – the basic structural means languages have for negating declarative verbal main clauses – is typologized from a new perspective, paying attention to structural differences between affirmatives and negatives. In symmetric negation affirmative and negative structures show no differences except for the presence of the negative marker(s), whereas in asymmetric negation there are further structural differences, i.e. asymmetries. A distinction is made between constructional and paradigmatic asymmetry; in the former the addition of the negative marker(s) is accompanied by further structural differences in comparison to the corresponding affirmative, and in the latter the correspondences between the members of (verbal etc.) paradigms used in affirmatives and negatives are not one-to-one. Cross-cutting the constructional-paradigmatic distinction, asymmetric negation can be further divided into subtypes according to the nature of the asymmetry. Standard negation structures found in the 297 sample languages are exemplified and discussed in detail. The frequencies of the different types and some typological correlations are also examined. Functional motivations are proposed for the structural types – symmetric negatives are language-internally analogous to the linguistic structure of the affirmative and asymmetric negatives are language-externally analogous to different asymmetries between affirmation and negation on the functional level. Relevant diachronic issues are also discussed. The book is of interest to language typologists, descriptive linguists and to all linguists interested in negation.



A Survey of Word Accentual Patterns in the Languages of the World

Author : Harry van der Hulst

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter

Page : 897 pages

File Size : 43,35 MB

Release : 2010-12-15

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 3110198967

Get eBook

Book Description

In part I of this volume, experts on various language areas provide surveys of word stress/accent systems of as many languages in 'their' part of the world as they could lay their hands on. No preconditions (theoretical or otherwise) were set, but the authors were encouraged to use the StressTyp data in their chapters. Australian Languages (Rob Goedemans), Austronesian Languages (Ellen van Zanten, Ruben Stoel and Bert Remijsen), Papuan Languages (Ellen van Zanten and Philomena Dol), North American Languages (Keren Rice), South American Languages (Sergio Meira and Leo Wetzels), African Languages (Laura Downing), European Languages (Harry van der Hulst), Asian Languages (Harry van der Hulst and René Schiering), Middle Eastern Languages (Harry van der Hulst and Sam Hellmuth). There is an introductory chapter (Chapter 1) that will provide the reader with elementary terminology and theoretical tools to understand the variety of accentual systems that will be discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Chapter 2 has a double function. It presents an overview of stress patterns in Australian languages, but at the same time it is intended to (re-)familiarize readers with the coding, terminology and theoretical ideas of the StressTyp database. Chapter 11 presents statistical and typological information from the StressTyp database. Part II of this volume contains 'language profiles' which are, for each of the 511 languages contained in StressTyp (in 2009), extracts from the information that is contained in the database. This volume will be of interest to people in the field of theoretical phonology and language typology. It will function as a reference work for these groups of researchers, but also, more generally, for people working on syntax and other fields of linguistics, who might wish to know certain basic facts about the distribution of word accent systems



The Sino-Tibetan Languages

Author : Graham Thurgood

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 1268 pages

File Size : 25,97 MB

Release : 2016-12-08

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 1315399482

Get eBook

Book Description

There are more native speakers of Sino-Tibetan languages than of any other language family in the world. Our records of these languages are among the oldest for any human language, and the amount of active research on them has multiplied in the last few decades. Now in its second edition and fully updated to include new research, The Sino-Tibetan Languages includes overview articles on individual languages, with an emphasis on the less commonly described languages, as well as descriptions and comments on the subgroups in which they occur. There are overviews of the whole family on genetic classification and language contact, syntax and morphology, and also on word order typology. There are also more detailed overview articles on the phonology, morphosyntax, and writing system of just the Sinitic side of the family. Supplementing these overviews are articles on Shanghainese, Cantonese and Mandarin dialects. Tibeto-Burman is reviewed by genetic or geographical sub-group, with overview articles on some of the major groups and areas, and there are also detailed descriptions of 41 individual Tibeto-Burman languages, written by world experts in the field. Designed for students and researchers of Asian languages, The Sino-Tibetan Languages is a detailed overview of the field. This book is invaluable to language students, experts requiring concise, but thorough, information on related languages, and researchers working in historical, typological and comparative linguistics.



The Evolution of Grammar

Author : Joan Bybee

Publisher : University of Chicago Press

Page : 420 pages

File Size : 48,74 MB

Release : 1994-11-15

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 0226086658

Get eBook

Book Description

Joan Bybee and her colleagues present a new theory of the evolution of grammar that links structure and meaning in a way that directly challenges most contemporary versions of generative grammar. This study focuses on the use and meaning of grammatical markers of tense, aspect, and modality and identifies a universal set of grammatical categories. The authors demonstrate that the semantic content of these categories evolves gradually and that this process of evolution is strikingly similar across unrelated languages. Through a survey of seventy-six languages in twenty-five different phyla, the authors show that the same paths of change occur universally and that movement along these paths is in one direction only. This analysis reveals that lexical substance evolves into grammatical substance through various mechanisms of change, such as metaphorical extension and the conventionalization of implicature. Grammaticization is always accompanied by an increase in frequency of the grammatical marker, providing clear evidence that language use is a major factor in the evolution of synchronic language states. The Evolution of Grammar has important implications for the development of language and for the study of cognitive processes in general.



The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia

Author : Paul Sidwell

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Page : 1261 pages

File Size : 43,12 MB

Release : 2021-08-23

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 311055612X

Get eBook

Book Description

The handbook will offer a survey of the field of linguistics in the early 21st century for the Southeast Asian Linguistic Area. The last half century has seen a great increase in work on language contact, work in genetic, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics, and since the 1990s especially documentation of endangered languages. The book will provide an account of work in these areas, focusing on the achievements of SEAsian linguistics, as well as the challenges and unresolved issues, and provide a survey of the relevant major publications and other available resources. We will address: Survey of the languages of the area, organized along genetic lines, with discussion of relevant political and cultural background issues Theoretical/descriptive and typological issues Genetic classification and historical linguistics Areal and contact linguistics Other areas of interest such as sociolinguistics, semantics, writing systems, etc. Resources (major monographs and monograph series, dictionaries, journals, electronic data bases, etc.) Grammar sketches of languages representative of the genetic and structural diversity of the region.



A Grammar of Pangkhua

Author : Zahid Akter

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Page : 434 pages

File Size : 25,58 MB

Release : 2024-09-02

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 3111387674

Get eBook

Book Description

Pangkhua is an endangered Tibeto-Burman language, spoken by about 2000 people in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. This volume provides a comprehensive grammatical description of the language, based on more than a year of original fieldwork in a Pangkhua village. Taking a broadly functional typological perspective, Zahid Akter analyzes Pangkhua phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse. Some of the typologically notable characteristics of Pangkhua include presence of a relatively large number of sesquisyllabic words, an elaborate person marking on verbs, absence of a clausal conjunctive, and lack of a distinct word class of adjectives. As the first comprehensive description of the language, this grammar contributes to comparative Tibeto-Burman linguistics more broadly by laying the groundwork for further studies locating Pangkhua in its genealogical, areal, and typological contexts. It will also serve as an invaluable resource for the maintenance and revitalization of Pangkhua language and culture.



Person

Author : Anna Siewierska

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 354 pages

File Size : 23,22 MB

Release : 2004-07

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9780521776691

Get eBook

Book Description

This textbook deals with the grammatical category of person, which covers the first person, the second person, and the third person. Drawing on data from over 700 languages, Anna Siewierska compares the use of person within and across different languages, and examines the factors underlying this variation. She shows how person forms vary in substance, in the nature of the semantic distinctions they convey, in how they are used in sentences and discourse, and in the way they function to convey social distinctions. By looking at different types of person forms in the grammatical and social contexts in which they are used, this book documents an underlying unity between them, arguing against the treatment of person markers based on arbitrary sets of morphological and syntactic properties. Clearly organized and accessibly written, it will be welcomed by students and scholars of linguistics, particularly those interested in grammatical categories and their use.



Mru

Author : BRAUNS

Publisher : Birkhäuser

Page : 250 pages

File Size : 14,23 MB

Release : 2013-11-11

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 3034856946

Get eBook

Book Description

his book offers a glimpse into the world of for her territorial integrity; and the country soon T exchanged the arrogance of its administrative the Mru- a world which is unknown and officers for a persistent jungle war- a war which inaccessible to us. It shows pictures which can be seen nowhere else and describes a culture which soon found international participants. The area which until the r96os bad been least affected by this has been described nowhere else. Apart from the two authors- Claus-Dieter Brauns, as photogra unrest was the small mountainous strip which at pher, and the writer, as anthropologist- there is no the partition of British India in r 94 7 bad been one who could have written or illustrated this handed over to Pakistan as part of the hinterland of book. And this book will be for many years, if not Chittagong. for ever, the only document of its kind about the In r963 in the southernmost part of this relatively Mru, since the culture of the Mru documented here low chain of mountains, the so-called Chittagong Hill Tracts, C. -D. Brauns came upon an ethnic - a people residing in the southeast corner of Bangladesh- is threatened with extinction. group which fascinated him.