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This page intentionally left blank AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years, speaking about 250 languages. Through examination of published and unpublished materials on each of the individual languages, Professor Dixon, a pioneering scholar in this field, surveys the ways in which the languages vary typologi- cally and presents a profile of this long-established linguistic area. The para- meters examined include phonological contrasts, types of nominal case marking, patterns of verb organisation, varieties of pronoun systems, the de- velopment and loss of bound pronouns and a prefixing profile, generic nouns, nominal classifiers and noun classes, and ergative/accusative characteristics. The areal distribution of most features is illustrated with more than thirty maps, showing that the languages tend to move in cyclic fashion with respect to many of the parameters. There is also an index of languages and language groups. Professor Dixon brings a unique perspective to this diverse and com- plex material which will appeal to researchers and students in linguistics as well as to anthropologists with linguistic interests. R . M . W . DIXON is Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University. Professor Dixon’s book publications include grammati- cal studies of five Australian languages, of a dialect of Fijian, and of English, as well as Where have all the adjectives gone? and other essays in seman- tics and syntax (1982), Ergativity (Cambridge, 1994), and The rise and fall of languages (Cambridge, 1997). CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE SURVEYS General editors J. Bresnan (Stanford University) B. Comrie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,Leipzig) W. Dressler (University of Vienna) C. Ewen (University of Leiden) R. Lass (University of Cape Town) D. Lightfoot (University of Maryland) S. Romaine (University of Oxford) N.V. Smith (University College London) This series offers general accounts of the major language families of the world, with volumes organised either on a purely genetic basis or on a geographical basis, whichever yields the most convenient and intelligible grouping in each case. Each volume compares and contrasts the typological features of the languages it deals with. It also treats the relevant genetic relationships, historical development and sociolinguistic issues arising from their role and use in the world today. The books are intended for linguists from undergraduate level upwards, but no special knowledge of the languages under consideration is assumed. Volumes such as those on Australia and the Amazon Basin are also of wider relevance, as the future of the languages and their speakers raises important social and political issues. Volumes already published include Chinese Jerry Norman The languages of Japan Masayoshi Shibatani Pidgins and Creoles (volume I: Theory and structure; volume II: Reference survey) John H. Holm The Indo-Aryan languages Colin Masica The Celtic languages edited by Donald Macaulay The Romance languages Rebecca Posner The Amazonian languages edited by R.M.W. Dixon and AlexandraY.Aikhenvald The languages of Native North America Marianne Mithun The Korean language Ho-Min Sohn AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES Their Nature and Development R. M. W. DIXON Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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