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Alexandra Aikhenvald
£35.00
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Alexandra Aikhenvald
£44.00
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R.M.W. Dixon
£44.00
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Languages of the Amazon
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
560 pages
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Maps, Tables, Figures
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246x171mm
978-0-19-959356-9
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Hardback
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17 May 2012
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- The first book of its kind
- Accessible, clear, minimal jargon
- Spiced with anecdotes from author's fieldword
- Describes and analyses the features of over 300 languages
- Illustrated with numerous maps
- Features a comprehensive guide to sources
This is the first guide and introduction to the extraordinary range of languages in Amazonia, which include some of the most the most fascinating in the world and many of which are now teetering on the edge of extinction. Alexandra Aikhenvald, one of the world's leading experts on the region, provides an account of the more than 300 languages, comparing their common and unique features, setting out their main characteristics, and describing the histories and cultures of the people who speak them. The languages abound in rare features and in most cases have been in contact with each other for generations, giving rise to complex patterns of linguistic influence. The author
draws on her own extensive field research to tease out and analyse the patterns of their genetic and structural diversity. In the process she shows how they reflect the interrelations of language and culture: different kinship systems, for example, produce different linguistic outcomes. She also explains the roles and workings of their unusual features including evidentials, tones and whistles, and elaborate positional verbs. The book ends with a glossary of terms, and a comprehensive list of references for those interested in following up a language or linguistic phenomenon.
Alexandra Aikhenvald's fascinating book is aimed at a wide readership, including linguists and anthropologists. It is unburdened by esoteric terminology, written in her characteristically
straightforward style, and brought vividly to life with numerous anaecdotes of her experience in the region. It may be used as reference for research and as an introduction for courses in Latin American studies, Amazonian studies, linguistic typology, and general linguistics.Readership: Linguists, anthropologists, philosophers, and others interested in the Amazonian languages and their speakers. The book is designed both as a reference for research and as an introduction for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in Latin American studies, Amazonian studies, linguistic typology, and general linguistics.
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Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald is Distinguished Professor and Research Leader (People and Societies of the Tropics) at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. She is an authority on languages of the Arawak family, from northern Amazonia, and has written grammars of Bare (1995, based on work with the last speaker who has since died) and Warekena (1998), plus A Grammar of Tariana, from northwest Amazonia (CUP, 2003). Her comprehensive grammar, The Manambu Language from East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, was published by OUP in 2008. Other books include Classifiers: a Typology of Noun Categorization Devices (2000, paperback 2003),
Language Contact in Amazonia (2002), Evidentiality (2004, paperback 2006), and Imperatives and Commands (2010) all published by OUP. She is co-editor with R. M. W. Dixon of the OUP series Explorations in Linguistic Typology, the fifth volume of which is The Semantics of Clause Linking (2009, paperback 2011).
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"A great resource for specialists, but Aikhenvald wrote it in such a way that it is also accessible to nonspecialists. The author has vast knowledge and experience in this area ... Highly recommended."
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1: Languages of the Amazon: a bird's eye view
2: Language Contact in Amazonia
3: Sounds of Amazonia
4: Building Words
5: The Multifaceted Noun
6: The Versatile Verb
7: Who Does What to Whom: grammatical relations
8: Changing Valency
9: How to Know Things: evidentials in Amazonia
10: Reflecting the World Around: genders, noun classes, and classifiers
11: 'We can't say it with one word': multiverb constructions
12: Putting a Sentence Together
13: The Art of Speech
14: Finale: the treasures of Amazonian languages
Glossary of terms
References
Index of authors
Index of languages, linguistic families, and areas
Index of subjects
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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