William J. Gedney’s Comparative Tai Source Book

William J. Gedney’s Comparative Tai Source Book
Author: Thomas John Hudak
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2007-12-03
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 082483190X

This volume provides accurate and reliable data from 1,159 common cognates found in 19 dialects from the Tai language family. Originally collected by noted Tai linguist, the late William J. Gedney, the data are organized into the three branches of the Tai language family, the Southwestern, the Central, and the Northern, to facilitate comparisons among the various sound systems within the individual branches and within the Tai language family as a whole. Supplementing the cognates are phonological descriptions of each of the dialects. Included among the nineteen dialects are Siamese, White Tai, Black Tai, Shan, Lue, Yay, Saek, and dialects found at Leiping, Lungming, Pingsiang, and Ningming in China. The meticulous attention paid to consonants, vowels, and tones found in each cognate will allow for further dialect studies, for the investigation of questions concerning the tripartite division of the Tai language family, and for the continuing investigation into the reconstruction of the Proto-Tai language family and its wider genetic relationships.

William J. Gedney’s Comparative Tai Source Book

William J. Gedney’s Comparative Tai Source Book
Author: Thomas John Hudak
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2007-12-03
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0824865618

This volume provides accurate and reliable data from 1,159 common cognates found in 19 dialects from the Tai language family. Originally collected by noted Tai linguist, the late William J. Gedney, the data are organized into the three branches of the Tai language family, the Southwestern, the Central, and the Northern, to facilitate comparisons among the various sound systems within the individual branches and within the Tai language family as a whole. Supplementing the cognates are phonological descriptions of each of the dialects. Included among the nineteen dialects are Siamese, White Tai, Black Tai, Shan, Lue, Yay, Saek, and dialects found at Leiping, Lungming, Pingsiang, and Ningming in China. The meticulous attention paid to consonants, vowels, and tones found in each cognate will allow for further dialect studies, for the investigation of questions concerning the tripartite division of the Tai language family, and for the continuing investigation into the reconstruction of the Proto-Tai language family and its wider genetic relationships.

The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia

The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia
Author: Paul Sidwell
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 983
Release: 2021-08-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110558149

The handbook will offer a survey of the field of linguistics in the early 21st century for the Southeast Asian Linguistic Area. The last half century has seen a great increase in work on language contact, work in genetic, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics, and since the 1990s especially documentation of endangered languages. The book will provide an account of work in these areas, focusing on the achievements of SEAsian linguistics, as well as the challenges and unresolved issues, and provide a survey of the relevant major publications and other available resources. We will address: Survey of the languages of the area, organized along genetic lines, with discussion of relevant political and cultural background issues Theoretical/descriptive and typological issues Genetic classification and historical linguistics Areal and contact linguistics Other areas of interest such as sociolinguistics, semantics, writing systems, etc. Resources (major monographs and monograph series, dictionaries, journals, electronic data bases, etc.) Grammar sketches of languages representative of the genetic and structural diversity of the region.

Inspirations from a Lofty Mountain— Festschrift in Honor of Professor William S-Y. Wang on his 90th Birthday

Inspirations from a Lofty Mountain— Festschrift in Honor of Professor William S-Y. Wang on his 90th Birthday
Author: Gang PENG
Publisher: City University of HK Press
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2023-07-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9629376725

An internationally acclaimed linguist, Professor William S-Y. Wang has had a distinguished career both in Hong Kong and abroad. In addition to formulating the theory of lexical diffusion, his academic interests have included experimental phonetic studies, language simulation and modeling and, more recently, aging and language. In honor of Prof. Wang’s 90th birthday, his colleagues and friends from around the world have contributed more than 30 articles for a two-volume commemorative Festschrift. The contents of this English volume include diachronic, synchronic, and interdisciplinary linguistic studies from authors across Asia and in the United States. Focusing mainly on the Chinese language, topics include the evolution of language, the relationship between language and music, and the functions and processes of the brain involved in language production. Written by and for seasoned language researchers, this Festschrift will also appeal to students of Chinese linguistics and readers with an interest in Chinese culture, history, and neurology.

A Dictionary of Nafsan, South Efate, Vanuatu

A Dictionary of Nafsan, South Efate, Vanuatu
Author: Nicholas Thieberger
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2021-10-31
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0824890515

This is a dictionary of Nafsan, the language spoken in Vanuatu in the south of Efate Island in the villages of Erakor, Pango, and Eratap. Nafsan is one of 130 distinct languages spoken in Vanuatu. Over several decades, linguist Nicholas Thieberger worked in close collaboration with the Erakor community to record this unique language and to refine its written presentation. The resulting publication offers insight into the diversity of meanings available to speakers of Nafsan, providing some 3,400 senses for Nafsan words and an English-Nafsan finderlist. In addition, the book gives an overview of the Nafsan sound system, provides a list of existing literature on the language dating back to early missionary translations, and includes maps of Efate locating nearly 200 place names. Readers will also find South Efate cultural knowledge embedded in the explanations of the Nafsan words and their usages. A welcome companion to Thieberger’s A Grammar of South Efate (2006), this book complements and significantly augments other multimedia resources made available online by the author.

A Grammar of Mavea

A Grammar of Mavea
Author: Valérie Guérin
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2011-11-30
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0824836391

Spoken on Mavea Island by approximately 32 people, Mavea is an endangered Oceanic language of Vanuatu. This work provides grammatical descriptions of this hitherto undescribed language. Fourteen chapters, containing more than 1,400 examples, cover topics in the phonology and morphosyntax of Mavea, with an emphasis on the latter. Of particular interest are examples of individual speaker variation presented throughout the grammar; the presence of three linguo-labials (still used today by a single speaker) that were unexpectedly found before the rounded vowel /o/; and a chapter on numerals and the counting system, which have long been replaced by Bislama’s but are remembered by a handful of speakers. Most of the grammatical descriptions derive from a corpus of texts of various genres (conversations, traditional stories, personal histories, etc.) gathered during the author’s fieldwork, conducted for eleven months between 2005 and 2007.

Kokota Grammar

Kokota Grammar
Author: Bill Palmer
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2008-10-31
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0824863259

This work describes the grammar of Kokota, a highly endangered Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands, spoken by about nine hundred people on the island of Santa Isabel. After several long periods among the Kokota, Dr. Palmer has written an unusually detailed and comprehensive description of the language. Kokota has never before been described, so this work makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the Oceanic languages of island Melanesia. Kokota Grammar examines the phonology of the language and includes a lengthy section on stress assignment. It continues with chapters on nouns and noun phrases, minor participant types, possession, argument structure, the verb complex, clause structure, imperative and interrogative constructions, and subordination and coordination (including verb serialization). The typological interest of Kokota, along with its degree of endangerment and the paucity of information on Northwest Solomonic languages in general, combined with the level of detail given in the volume, make this a work of considerable interest to Austronesian linguists, typologists, syntacticians, phonologists, and all who are involved in describing and documenting endangered languages.

Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology

Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology
Author: Junko Habu
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 761
Release: 2017-12-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1493965212

The Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology focuses on the material culture and lifeways of the peoples of prehistoric and early historic East and Southeast Asia; their origins, behavior and identities as well as their biological, linguistic and cultural differences and commonalities. Emphasis is placed upon the interpretation of material culture to illuminate and explain social processes and relationships as well as behavior, technology, patterns and mechanisms of long-term change and chronology, in addition to the intellectual history of archaeology as a discipline in this diverse region. The Handbook augments archaeologically-focused chapters contributed by regional scholars by providing histories of research and intellectual traditions, and by maintaining a broadly comparative perspective. Archaeologically-derived data are emphasized with text-based documentary information, provided to complement interpretations of material culture. The Handbook is not restricted to art historical or purely descriptive perspectives; its geographical coverage includes the modern nation-states of China, Mongolia, Far Eastern Russia, North and South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

A Dictionary of Mah Meri as Spoken at Bukit Bangkong

A Dictionary of Mah Meri as Spoken at Bukit Bangkong
Author: Nicole Kruspe
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2010-07-06
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 082486056X

Mah Meri is an Aslian (Austroasiatic: Mon-Khmer) language spoken in scattered settlements along a section of the southwest coast of Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia. The Mah Meri are the only Aslian speakers who live in a coastal environment. Their language, which may have about 2,000 speakers, has no written language and is highly endangered. This is the first comprehensive dictionary of Mah Meri and is based on the author’s extensive field research and consultation with members of the community over the last ten years. The dialect presented here is spoken by about 600 people at Bukit Bangkong, the most southerly Mah Meri settlement. The dictionary contains around 4,000 entries, each with a phonetic transcription and translations in both English and Malay. Many entries are further complemented by illustrative examples, notes on usage, derivations, ethnographic information, and illustrations—all provide insight into the world of Mah Meri speakers. Two finder lists (English–Mah Meri and Malay–Mah Meri) are included, giving access to the intended audience of international and local scholars and community members. The volume also includes a general introduction to the Mah Meri, notes to assist the reader in using the dictionary, and a short grammatical description.