Review from previous edition This is, in many ways, a near-perfect model of how a descriptive grammar of ANY language should be presented. Although the grammatical treatment and exposition are excellent, for me, one of the best parts of the book are the examples and how they are presented.

Michael W Morgan

Who said a descriptive grammar should not also be a good read?

Michael W Morgan

A fundamental grammatical description of this sort - complete with glossed texts, dictionary materials, a wealth of diachronic insights, and authoritative social and cultural information about the speakers - might be expected to constitute the crowning achievement in a lifetime of successful effort. For this author, however, it is merely another in a long roster of outstanding linguistic accomplishments that promise to continue unabated.

Edward J Vajda, Western Washington University

This is the first account of Jarawara, a Southern Amazonia language of great complexity and unusual interest, and now spoken by less than two hundred people. It has only two open lexical classes, noun and verb, and a closed adjective class with fourteen members which can only modify a noun. Verbs have a complex structure with three prefix and some twenty-five suffix slots. There is an eleven-term tense-modal system with an evidentiality contrast (eyewitness/non-eyewitness) in the three past tenses. Of the two genders, feminine and masculine, feminine is unmarked. There are at least eight types of subordinate clause constructions, including complement clauses, relative clauses, coreferential dependent clauses, and 'when', 'if', 'due to the lack of' and 'because of' clauses.There are only eleven consonants and four vowels but an extensive set of ordered phonological rules of lenition, vowel assimilation and unstressed syllable omission. There are four imperative inflections (with different meanings) and three explicit interrogative suffixes within the mood system. The book is entirely based on field work by the authors.
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The first account of Jarawara, a Southern Amazonia language of great complexity and unusual interest, by one of the world's leading linguists.
1. Introduction: The Language and its Speakers ; 2. Phonology ; 3. Grammatical Overview ; 4. Predicate Structure - General ; 5. Predicate Structure - Miscellaneous Suffixes ; 6. Predicate Structure - The Tense-Modal System ; 7. Predicate Structure - Secondary Verbs, Mood, and Negation ; 8. Verbal Derivations - Causative and Applicative ; 9. Verbal Reduplication ; 10. Noun Phrase Structure ; 11. Possessed Nouns and Adjectives ; 12. Demonstratives and Related Forms ; 13. Copula Clauses ; 14. Structure of a Verbal Main Clause ; 15. Commands and Questions ; 16. A-Contructions and O-Constructions ; 17. Complement Clauses ; 18. Dependent Clauses ; 19. Nominalised Clauses ; 20. Peripheral Marker jaa and ni-jaa ; 21. Other Peripheral Markers ; 22. The Relational Noun ihi/ehene 'Due to, Because of' ; 23. List Constructions ; 24. Syntactic Organisation ; 25. Word Class Derivations ; 26. Topics in Semantics ; 27. Prehistory
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`Review from previous edition This is, in many ways, a near-perfect model of how a descriptive grammar of ANY language should be presented. Although the grammatical treatment and exposition are excellent, for me, one of the best parts of the book are the examples and how they are presented.' Michael W Morgan `Who said a descriptive grammar should not also be a good read?' Michael W Morgan `A fundamental grammatical description of this sort - complete with glossed texts, dictionary materials, a wealth of diachronic insights, and authoritative social and cultural information about the speakers - might be expected to constitute the crowning achievement in a lifetime of successful effort. For this author, however, it is merely another in a long roster of outstanding linguistic accomplishments that promise to continue unabated.' Edward J Vajda, Western Washington University
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First account of a uniquely complex and unusual language Entirely based on field work by the author
R. M. W. Dixon is Adjunct Professor at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University. His pioneering fieldwork on Australian Aboriginal languages began in the 1960s and led, among many other works, to grammars of Dyirbal and Yidiñ, culminating in Australian Languages: Their nature and development (CUP 2002). His other books include A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian (U Chicago Press 1988), Ergativity (CUP, 1994), The Rise and Fall of Languages (CUP 1997) and A Semantic Approach to English Grammar (OUP 2005). The hardback edition of The Jarawara Language of Southern Amazonia (OUP 2004) was winner of the 2004-5 Leonard Bloomfield Prize,
Les mer
First account of a uniquely complex and unusual language Entirely based on field work by the author

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199600694
Publisert
2011
Utgiver
Oxford University Press
Vekt
1138 gr
Høyde
247 mm
Bredde
169 mm
Dybde
38 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
732

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

R. M. W. Dixon is Adjunct Professor at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University. His pioneering fieldwork on Australian Aboriginal languages began in the 1960s and led, among many other works, to grammars of Dyirbal and Yidiñ, culminating in Australian Languages: Their nature and development (CUP 2002). His other books include A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian (U Chicago Press 1988), Ergativity (CUP, 1994), The Rise and Fall of Languages (CUP 1997) and A Semantic Approach to English Grammar (OUP 2005). The hardback edition of The Jarawara Language of Southern Amazonia (OUP 2004) was winner of the 2004-5 Leonard Bloomfield Prize,