Pacific languages an introduction

Almost one-quarter of the world's languages are (or were) spoken in the Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world. Although numerous technical books on groups of Pacific or Australian languages have been published, and descriptions of individual languages are availa...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lynch, John
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Honolulu University of Hawai'i Press [1998]©1998, 1998
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: JSTOR Open Access Books - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02734nam a2200373 u 4500
001 EB002132590
003 EBX01000000000000001270647
005 00000000000000.0
007 tu|||||||||||||||||||||
008 221110 r ||| eng
020 |z 0824818989 
020 |a 0824818989 
020 |a 0824842588 
020 |a 0824881834 
020 |z 9780824818982 
020 |a 9780824818982 
020 |a 9780824881832 
020 |a 9780824859183 
020 |a 0824859189 
020 |a 9780824842581 
050 4 |a P381.P3 
100 1 |a Lynch, John 
245 0 0 |a Pacific languages  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b an introduction  |c John Lynch 
260 |a Honolulu  |b University of Hawai'i Press  |c [1998]©1998, 1998 
300 |a xix, 359 pages  |b illustrations, maps 
505 0 |a Linguistics: some basic concepts -- The languages of the Pacific -- The history of the Austronesian languages -- The history of the Papuan and Australian languages -- Sound systems -- Oceanic languages: grammatical overview -- Papuan languages: grammatical overview -- Australian languages: grammatical overview -- Languages in contact -- Pidgins, creoles, and Koines -- Language, society, and culture in the Pacific context-- Conclusion. Ideas about Pacific language 
505 0 |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-343) and index 
653 |a LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b ZDB-39-JOA  |a JSTOR Open Access Books 
500 |a Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002 
856 4 0 |u https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv893h2b  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 499 
520 |a Almost one-quarter of the world's languages are (or were) spoken in the Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world. Although numerous technical books on groups of Pacific or Australian languages have been published, and descriptions of individual languages are available, until now there has been no single book that attempts a wide regional coverage for a general audience. Pacific Languages introduces readers to the grammatical features of Oceanic, Papuan, and Australian languages as well as to the semantic structures of these languages. For readers without a formal linguistic background, a brief introduction to descriptive linguistics is provided. In addition to describing the structure of Pacific languages, this volume places them in their historical and geographical context, discusses the linguistic evidence for the settlement of the Pacific, and speculates on the reason for the region's many languages