An Introduction to the Languages of the World

Born of Russian emigre parents in Leskovac, Serbia, Yugoslavia, in 1938. In 1950 left Yugoslavia, and after one year spent in refugee camps in Italy and Germany immigrated to Canada. Finished high school in Toronto, Canada, and received a scholarship to study at Princeton University in New Jersey. Also studied at the Taiwan National University for one year before completing AB at Princeton. After graduating from Princeton, studied at University of California, Berkeley, for a doctorate in linguistics. Appointed Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall of 1968. Retired as an associate professor from that institution in 2000. Taught in Burma, Korea, Japan, and Russia. (Russia and Korea were on a Fulbright.) Presently serving as the rector of the Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, with the rank of an archpriest.

"This book is an important pedagogical resource, presenting in succinct form information on the classification of the world's languages into language families and on the major structural types with regard to a wide range of phonological, morphological, and syntactic phenomena, as well as detailed presentations of languages selected to illustrate interaction of structural features as they occur in texts." --Bernard Comrie, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics,University of California, Santa Barbara"The second edition of An Introduction to the Languages of the World is a leap forward. I welcome the chapter on writing systems and the language sketches. The book stresses the diversity of the world's languages and is well balanced across the globe. The decision to use ISO coding for language names, now the standard nomenclature for languages, is also welcome. Altogether, a fine achievement." --Mark Aronoff, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics,Stony Brook University

• List of TablesList of FiguresSymbols and Abbreviations 1 Classification of Languages 1.1 Genetic classification 1.2 Typological classification of languages 1.3 Exercises 1.4 Suggested readings 2 Classification of Writing Systems 2.1 Typological classification of writing systems 2.2 Genetic classification of writing systems 2.3 Exercises 2.4 Suggested readings 3 Europe 3.1 Indo-European 3.2 Uralic 3.3 Caucasus area 3.4 Basque 3.5 Sketch of Russian 3.6 Sketch of Finnish 3.7 Exercises 3.8 Suggested readings 4 Asia 4.1 Altaic area 4.2 Paleosiberian area 4.3 Sino-Tibetan 4.4 Hmong-Mien 4.5 Tai-Kadai 4.6 Austroasiatic 4.7 Dravidian 4.8 Burushaski 4.9 Other languages in Asia 4.10 Sketch of Mandarin Chinese 4.11 Sketch of Classical Tibetan 4.12 Exercises 4.13 Suggested readings 5 Africa 5.1 Afro-Asiatic 5.2 Nilo-Saharan 5.3 Niger-Congo 5.4 Khoisan area 5.5 Other languages in Africa 5.6 Sketch of Modern Standard Arabic 5.7 Sketch of Swahili 5.8 Exercises 5.9 Suggested readings 6 Oceania 6.1 Austronesian 6.2 Papuan area 6.3 Australian area 6.4 Sketch of Hawaiian 6.5 Sketch of Dyirbal 6.6 Exercises 6.7 Suggested readings 7 The Americas North American area 7.1 Eskimo-Aleut 7.2 Na-Dene 7.3 Algic 7.4 Muskogean 7.5 Siouan 7.6 Iroquoian 7.7 Caddoan 7.8 Yuman 7.9 Sahaptian 7.10 Tsimshianic7.11 Kiowa-Tanoan 7.12 Uto-Aztecan 7.13 Salishan Mesoamerican area 7.14 Oto-Manguean 7.15 Totonacan 7.16 Mixe-Zoquean 7.17 Mayan South American area 7.18 Intermediate area 7.19 Western Amazonia 7.20 Northern foothills 7.21 Andes region 7.22 Southern foothills 7.23 South 7.24 Central Amazonia 7.25 Northern Amazonia 7.26 Sketch of Central Alaskan Yup?ik 7.27 Sketch of Ayacucho Quechua 7.28 Exercises 7.29 Suggested readings 8 Language Birth, Death, and Revitalization 8.1 Mixed languages8.2 Constructed languages 8.3 Pidgins 8.4 Creoles 8.5 Sign languages 8.6 Language endangerment and renewal 8.7 Sketch of Tok Pisin 8.8 Exercises 8.9 Suggested readings References Language Index Subject Index