Languages with Longer Words Have More Lexical Change Søren
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
North Digul River Family)
[Text version of database, created 11/11/2019]. Annotated Swadesh wordlists for the Awbono-Bayono group (North Digul River family). Languages included: Kovojab [kov]; Enamesi [ena]; Awbono [awh]. DATA SOURCES I. Kovojab. Wilbrink 2004 = Wilbrink, Ans. 2004. The Kopkaka of Papua. Provisional notes on their language, its language affiliation and on the Kopkaka culture. Master's thesis. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Hischier 2006 = Hischier, Phyllis. 2006. Exploration of the remote Kopayap and Urajin areas in West Papua, Indonesia: A First Contact in Kopayap and Urajin. Manuscript. II. Bayono. Wilbrink 2004 = Wilbrink, Ans. 2004. The Kopkaka of Papua. Provisional notes on their language, its language affiliation and on the Kopkaka culture. Master's thesis. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. III. Awbono Wilbrink 2004 = Wilbrink, Ans. 2004. The Kopkaka of Papua. Provisional notes on their language, its language affiliation and on the Kopkaka culture. Master's thesis. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. NOTES 1. General. The North Digul River family consists of the Becking and Dawi Rivers languages (see: 1 de Vries, Lourens. 2012. Some notes on the Tsaukambo language of West Papua. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia. Special Issue 2012 Part I: 165-193, and: de Vries, Lourens, Ruth Wester and Wilco van den Heuvel. 2012. The Greater Awyu language family of West Papua. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia. Special Issue 2012 Part I: 269- 312) and the Awbono-Bayono family, hitherto considered to be an isolate. A draft reconstruction of proto-North Digul River and its subgroups can be found on the Newguineaworld website under the title "North Digul River." It is part of a larger family which includes Central Digul River (a.k.a. -
Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas edited by Andrea L. Berez, Jean Mulder, and Daisy Rosenblum Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 Published as a sPecial Publication of language documentation & conservation language documentation & conservation Department of Linguistics, UHM Moore Hall 569 1890 East-West Road Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822 USA http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc university of hawai‘i Press 2840 Kolowalu Street Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888 USA © All texts and images are copyright to the respective authors. 2010 All chapters are licensed under Creative Commons Licenses Cover design by Cameron Chrichton Cover photograph of salmon drying racks near Lime Village, Alaska, by Andrea L. Berez Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data ISBN 978-0-8248-3530-9 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/4463 Contents Foreword iii Marianne Mithun Contributors v Acknowledgments viii 1. Introduction: The Boasian tradition and contemporary practice 1 in linguistic fieldwork in the Americas Daisy Rosenblum and Andrea L. Berez 2. Sociopragmatic influences on the development and use of the 9 discourse marker vet in Ixil Maya Jule Gómez de García, Melissa Axelrod, and María Luz García 3. Classifying clitics in Sm’algyax: 33 Approaching theory from the field Jean Mulder and Holly Sellers 4. Noun class and number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-historical 57 research and respecting speakers’ rights in fieldwork Logan Sutton 5. The story of *o in the Cariban family 91 Spike Gildea, B.J. Hoff, and Sérgio Meira 6. Multiple functions, multiple techniques: 125 The role of methodology in a study of Zapotec determiners Donna Fenton 7. -
Assessing the Chitimacha-Totozoquean Hypothesis1
ASSESSING THE CHITIMACHA-TOTOZOQUEAN HYPOTHESIS1 DANIEL W. HIEBER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA 1. Introduction2 Scholars have attempted to genetically classify the Chitimacha language of Louisiana ever since the first vocabulary of the language was collected by Martin Duralde in 1802. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to relate Chitimacha to other isolates of the region (Swanton 1919; Swadesh 1946a; Gursky 1969), Muskogean as part of a broader Proto-Gulf hypothesis (Haas 1951; Haas 1952), and even languages as far afield as Yuki in California (Munro 1994). The most recent attempt at classification, however, looks in a new direction, and links Chitimacha with the recently-advanced Totozoquean language family of Mesoamerica (Brown, Wichmann & Beck 2014; Brown et al. 2011), providing 90 cognate sets and a number of 1 [Acknowledgements] 2 Abbreviations used in this paper are as follows: * reconstructed form ** hypothetical form intr. intransitive post. postposition tr. transitive AZR adjectivizer CAUS causative NZR nominalizer PLACT pluractional TRZR transitivizer VZR verbalizer morphological parallels as evidence. Now, recent internal reconstructions in Chitimacha made available in Hieber (2013), as well as a growing understanding of Chitimacha grammar (e.g. Hieber forthcoming), make it possible to assess the Chitimacha- Totozoquean hypothesis in light of more robust data. This paper shows that a more detailed understanding of Chitimacha grammar and lexicon casts doubt on the possibility of a genetic connection between Chitimacha and Mesoamerica. Systematic sound correspondences prove to be unattainable for the data provided in Brown, Wichmann & Beck (2014). However, groups of correspondences do appear in the data, suggestive of diffusion through contact rather than genetic inheritance. -
Sociolinguistic Survey of Mpi in Thailand
Sociolinguistic Survey of Mpi in Thailand Ramzi W. Nahhas SIL International 2007 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2007-016, August 2007 Copyright © 2007 Ramzi W. Nahhas and SIL International All rights reserved 2 Abstract Ramzi W. Nahhas, PhD Survey Unit, Department of Linguistics School of Graduate Studies Payap University/SIL International Chiang Mai, Thailand Mpi is a language spoken mainly in only two villages in Thailand, and possibly in one location in China, as well. Currently, Mpi does not have vernacular literature, and may not have sufficient language vitality to warrant the development of such literature. Since there are only two Mpi villages in Thailand, and they are surrounded by Northern Thai communities, it is reasonable to be concerned about the vitality of the Mpi language. The purposes of this study were to assess the need for vernacular literature development among the Mpi of Northern Thailand and to determine which (if any) Mpi varieties should be developed. This assessment focused on language vitality and bilingualism in Northern Thai. Additionally, lexicostatistics were used to measure lexical similarity between Mpi varieties. Acknowledgments This research was conducted under the auspices of the Payap University Linguistics Department, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The research team consisted of the author, Jenvit Suknaphasawat (SIL International), and Noel Mann (Technical Director, Survey Unit, Payap University Linguistics Department, and SIL International). The fieldwork would not have been possible without the assistance of the residents of Ban Dong (in Phrae Province) and Ban Sakoen (in Nan Province). A number of individuals gave many hours to help the researchers learn about the Mpi people and about their village, and to introduce us to others in their village. -
A Critique of the Separation Base Method for Genealogical Subgrouping, with Data from Mixe-Zoquean*
Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 2006, Volume 13, Numbers 2 – 3, pp. 225 – 264 DOI: 10.1080/09296170600850759 A Critique of the Separation Base Method for Genealogical Subgrouping, with Data from Mixe-Zoquean* Michael Cysouw, Søren Wichmann and David Kamholz Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig ABSTRACT Holm (2000) proposes the ‘‘separation base’’ method for determining subgroup relationships in a language family. The method is claimed to be superior to most approaches to lexicostatistics because the latter falls victim to the ‘‘proportionality trap’’, that is, the assumption that similarity is proportional to closeness of relationship. The principles underlying Holm’s method are innovative and not obviously incorrect. However, his only demonstration of the method is with Indo-European. This makes it difficult to interpret the results, because higher-order Indo-European subgrouping remains controversial. In order to have some basis for verification, we have tested the method on Mixe-Zoquean, a well-studied family of Mesoamerica whose subgrouping has been established by two scholars working independently and using the traditional comparative method. The results of our application of Holm’s method are significantly different from the currently accepted family tree of Mixe-Zoquean. We identify two basic sources of problems that arise when Holm’s approach is applied to our data. The first is reliance on an etymological dictionary of the proto-language in question, which creates problems of circularity that cannot be overcome. The second is that the method is sensitive to the amount of documentation available for the daughter languages, which has a distorting effect on the computed relationships. -
The West Papua Dilemma Leslie B
University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2010 The West Papua dilemma Leslie B. Rollings University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Rollings, Leslie B., The West Papua dilemma, Master of Arts thesis, University of Wollongong. School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, 2010. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3276 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact Manager Repository Services: [email protected]. School of History and Politics University of Wollongong THE WEST PAPUA DILEMMA Leslie B. Rollings This Thesis is presented for Degree of Master of Arts - Research University of Wollongong December 2010 For Adam who provided the inspiration. TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION................................................................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... iii Figure 1. Map of West Papua......................................................................................................v SUMMARY OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................1 -
The Reconstruction of Proto-SHWNG Morphology
David Kamholz Proto-SHWNG morphology David Kamholz <[email protected]> The Long Now Foundation, PanLex project The reconstruction of Proto-SHWNG morphology 1 Introduction • Proto-SHWNG is a high-level subgroup of Proto-Austronesian (Figure 1), first put on a firm empirical basis by Blust (1978) • About 40 SHWNG languages are now spoken on South Halmahera, the Raja Ampat islands, Cenderawasih Bay, and the lower Mamberamo river (Figure 2 on the next page) • Kamholz (2014) proposes a new subgrouping of SHWNG languages on the basis of morphological innova- tions, regular sound changes, and irregular phonological developments (Figure 3 on page 3) • Kamholz (2014) locates the homeland of Proto-SHWNG in southern Cenderawasih Bay • There is little previous work on Proto-SHWNG reconstruction; van den Berg (2009), by far the most ambitious previous attempt, is useful but relies on questionable subgrouping assumptions • Goal: To reconstruct, if possible, the Proto-SHWNG subject and inalienable possessive marking paradigms, assuming the subgrouping of Kamholz (2014) • Methodology: iterative bottom-up and top-down reconstruction, using data collected in Kamholz (2014) Proto-Austronesian Formosan Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Western Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Central Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Proto-South Halmahera–West Proto-Oceanic New Guinea Figure 1: The higher branches of the Austronesian family tree, after Blust (2013: 729–743), originally appearing as Blust (1977). Nodes in italics are not proto-languages, but rather are cover terms for multiple primary branches. 13-ICAL – 1 – Academia Sinica, Taipei, July 19, 2015 David Kamholz Proto-SHWNG morphology Figure 2: Map ofRaja the Ampat SHWNG archipelago. -
Pacific News from Mānoa NEWSLETTER of the CENTER for PACIFIC ISLANDS STUDIES, UNIVERSITY of HAWAI‘I
Pacific News from Mānoa NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR PACIFIC ISLANDS STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I No. 3 August–December 2012 and the new host communities, and how they are engaging with this global phenomenon. INSIDE The President of the Republic of Kiribati, His PACS 108 Workshop 2 Excellency Anote Tong, will present the keynote address on Watada Lecture by Teresia Teaiwa 2 Thursday, 4 April. President Tong has played a prominent Pan Pacific Association’s 2nd Trivia Night 3 role in creating regional and international awareness of the Wantok Night 3 impacts of climate change on small island places and Pacific News from Mānoa Goes All Electronic 3 communities. He is an advocate for creative responses and CPIS Seminars 4 adaptations to climate change at the local, regional, and Student and Alumni Activities 7 international levels. Faculty and Staff Activities 7 Information for registering and the schedule of speakers Publications and Moving Images 9 will be available in late February at Conferences and Meetings 11 10http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/2013conf/index.htm . Bulletin Board 11 OCEANIA RISES WAVES OF CHANGE: CLIMATE “Oceania Rises” is an event organized by CPIS students and CHANGE IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS staff. The purpose of the event is to help foster multicultural and pan-Pacific unity, while privileging Pacific Islander AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HAWAIʻI voices. ”Oceania Rises” will help to promote awareness of The Center for Pacific Islands Studies is pleased to announce Pacific cultures and new approaches to academia that build its 2013 conference, “Waves of Change: Climate Change on interdisciplinary approaches to research. -
Sino-Tibetan Languages 393
Sino-Tibetan Languages 393 Gair J W (1998). Studies in South Asian linguistics: Sinhala Government Press. [Reprinted Sri Lanka Sahitya and other South Asian languages. Oxford: Oxford Uni- Mandalaya, Colombo: 1962.] versity Press. Karunatillake W S (1992). An introduction to spoken Sin- Gair J W & Karunatillake W S (1974). Literary Sinhala. hala. Colombo: Gunasena. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University South Asia Program. Karunatillake W S (2001). Historical phonology of Sinha- Gair J W & Karunatillake W S (1976). Literary Sinhala lese: from old Indo-Aryan to the 14th century AD. inflected forms: a synopsis with a transliteration guide to Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers. Sinhala script. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University South Asia Macdougall B G (1979). Sinhala: basic course. Program. Washington D.C.: Foreign Service Institute, Department Gair J W & Paolillo J C (1997). Sinhala (Languages of the of State. world/materials 34). Mu¨ nchen: Lincom. Matzel K & Jayawardena-Moser P (2001). Singhalesisch: Gair J W, Karunatillake W S & Paolillo J C (1987). Read- Eine Einfu¨ hrung. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ings in colloquial Sinhala. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Reynolds C H B (ed.) (1970). An anthology of Sinhalese South Asia Program. literature up to 1815. London: George Allen and Unwin Geiger W (1938). A grammar of the Sinhalese language. (English translations). Colombo: Royal Asiatic Society. Reynolds C H B (ed.) (1987). An anthology of Sinhalese Godakumbura C E (1955). Sinhalese literature. Colombo: literature of the twentieth century. Woodchurch, Kent: Colombo Apothecaries Ltd. Paul Norbury/Unesco (English translations). Gunasekara A M (1891). A grammar of the Sinhalese Reynolds C H B (1995). Sinhalese: an introductory course language. -
A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs Author(S): Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman Source: American Antiquity, Vol
Society for American Archaeology A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs Author(s): Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1976), pp. 80-89 Published by: Society for American Archaeology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/279044 Accessed: 24/02/2010 18:09 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sam. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Society for American Archaeology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Antiquity. http://www.jstor.org 80 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 41, No. 1, 1976] Palomino, Aquiles Smith, Augustus Ledyard, and Alfred V. -
Serial Verb Constructions in Gurene.Pdf
University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh i UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS IN GURENE BY JOSEPH AYAMGA (10238296) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF M.PHIL LINGUISTICS DEGREE JULY 2018 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii DECLARATION I, Joseph Ayimbila Ayamga, declare that except for references to this work in which I have been duly cited, this thesis is as a result of my original research, under the supervision of Professor Kofi K. Saah and Dr. Paul K. Agbedor and that it has neither been whole nor in part been presented for another degree elsewhere. CANDIDATE …………………………. ………………………. JOSEPH AYIMBILA AYAMGA DATE SUPERVISOR …………………………. ………………………. PROF. KOFI. K. SAAH DATE SUPERVISOR …………………………. ………………………… DR. PAUL K. AGBEDOR DATE University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Mrs. Adongo Abagna of blessed memory and Mr. Tahiru Aberinga. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my profound gratitude to the Almighty God for having helped me to accomplish my academic work that took me this to point. Though it was very tough, God did everything easily for me because of His mercy and favour. I would also like to thank all those who have helped me in diverse ways to achieve my academic goal. My profound gratitude goes to my principal supervisor, Prof. Kofi K. Saah, who did not only supervise this work, but also provided guidance and counseling and words of encouragement that helped me in my course work and in writing this thesis. -
Final Report
final report knowledge for managing Australian landscapes Kantri is for Laif (Country is for Life) A Strategy for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge and the Development of Indigenous Livelihoods on the Remote north Australian Indigenous Estate. A Land & Water Australia, CRC-TSM and NAILSMA Project Initiative Published by Land & Water Australia Product Code PN30198 Postal address GPO Box 2182, Canberra ACT 2601 Office location Level 1, The Phoenix 86 Northbourne Avenue, Braddon ACT 2612 Telephone 02 6263 6000 Email [email protected] Internet www.lwa.gov.au © Commonwealth of Australia, July 2009 Disclaimer The information contained in this publication is intended for general use, to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the sustainable management of land, water and vegetation. It includes general statements based on scientific research. Readers are advised and need to be aware that this information may be incomplete or unsuitable for use in specific situations. Before taking any action or decision based on the information in this publication, readers should seek expert professional, scientific and technical advice and form their own view of the applicability and correctness of the information. To the extent permitted by law, the Commonwealth of Australia, Land & Water Australia (including its employees and consultants), and the authors of this publication do not assume liability of any kind whatsoever resulting from any person’s use or reliance upon the content of this publication. Kantri is for Laif (Country is for Life) Na‐ja narnu‐yuwa narnu‐walkurra barra, wirrimalaru, barni‐wardimantha, Barni‐ngalngandaya, nakari wabarrangu li‐wankala, li‐ngambalanga kuku, li‐ngambalanga murimuri, li‐ngambalanga ngabuji, li‐ngambalanga kardirdi kalu‐kanthaninya na‐ja narnu‐yuwa, jiwini awarala, anthaa yurrngumantha barra.