Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development (Cambridge Language Surveys)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 11/14/2002
EAN 9780521473781, ISBN10: 0521473780
Hardcover, 778 pages, 23.2 x 16 x 5.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
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 Through examination of published and unpublished materials on each of the individual languages, Professor Dixon surveys the ways in which the languages vary typologically and presents a profile of this long-established linguistic area. The areal distribution of most features is illustrated with more than 30 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, a pioneering scholar in the field, brings an interesting perspective to this diverse and complex material.
List of maps
List of abbreviations and conventions
Preface
Acknowledgements
Conventions followed
List of languages and language groups
1. The language situation in Australia
2. Modelling the language situation
3. Overview
4. Vocabulary
5. Case and other nominal suffixes
6. Verbs
7. Pronouns
8. Bound pronouns
9. Prefixing and fusion
10. Generic nouns, classifiers, genders and noun classes
11. Ergative/accusative morphological and syntactic profiles
12. Phonology
13. Genetic subgroups and small linguistic areas
14. Summary and conclusion
References
Index of languages, dialects and language groups
Subject index.