The Languages of East and Southeast Asia

• The first textbook introduction to some of the world's most popular languages in a region with a long tradition of language study
• For linguistics students, highlights include its treatments of celebrated East Asian features such as classifiers serial verb constructions, tones, topic-prominence, and honorifics
• With its exercises, solutions, and glossary, and many fascinating examples, this is an ideal introduction to descriptive and field linguistics
• Shows students of particular Asian languages how their language fits structurally and culturally into the regional language mosaic

Readership: Students and teachers of linguistics, East Asian languages, and Asian Studies.

Cliff Goddard, Professor of Linguistics, Griffith University, Australia

1: A First Look
1.1: Introductory Remarks
1.2: Lack of Inflection
1.3: Word Order (constituent order)
1.4: Sounds and Writing of East Asian Languages
1.5: Lexical Tone
1.6: Classifier Constructions
1.7: Serial Verb Constructions
1.8: Multiple Pronouns and Other Systems of Address
1.9: Honorific Forms
1.10: Other Common Features
2: Language Families, Linguistics Areas, and Language Situations
2.1: What is a Language Family?
2.2: The Major Language Families of East Asia
2.3: Mainland Southeast Asia as a Linguistic Area
2.4: Language Situations in the Countries of East Asia
3: Words: Origins, Structures, Meanings
3.1: Loans as Indicators of Cultural History
3.2: Word Structure: Derivational Morphology
3.3: Meaning Differences Between Languages
3.4: Cultural Key Words
4: Grammatical Topics
4.1: Classifier Constructions Revisited
4.2: Aspect
4.3: Serial Verb Constructions
4.4: Subject and Topic
4.5: Sentence-final (illocutionary) Particles
5: The East Asian Soundscape
5.1: Phoneme Systems
5.2: Word Shapes: Phonatactics
5.3: Tones and Allotones
5.4: Shifting Sounds: Morphophonemics
5.5: Pitch-Accent in Japanese
6: Writing Systems of East Asia
6.1: Types of Writing System
6.2: Alphabetic Systems
6.3: A Logographic System: Chinese
6.4: Japanese: A Multi-scriptal System
6.5: A Note on Calligraphy
7: The Art of Speaking
7.1: Word Skills in East Asian Languages
7.2: Speech Styles
7.3: The Japanese Honorific System
7.4: Communicative Styles
Exercises
Solutions