Martine Robbeets - Böcker

This volume provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of how archaeology, genes, and language can be combined to shed light on the human past. Our understanding of human prehistory has been revolutionized in recent years by the growth of interdisciplinary perspectives, and particularly by insights from the study of ancient DNA. At a time when the 'Big Data' movement in genetics and archaeology is beginning to make inroads into linguistics, The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology and Language sets the agenda for future research in the discipline of archaeolinguistics.The handbook is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the basic frameworks of archaeolinguistics, addressing recent trends and new perspectives. Chapters in Part II explore the application of archaeolinguistics to different stages in human history, from hunter-gathering via the adoption of farming and the rise of writing to modern times. Part III features regional case studies from different parts of the world, including not only Indo-European but also Uralic, Transeurasian, Sino-Tibetan, Paleosiberian, Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Papuan, Australian, Afrasian, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, Kalahari Basin, Andean, and Lowland South American languages. In illustrating the extent to which linguistic, archaeological, and genetic histories align or differ, the volume goes beyond the level of 'broad brush' approaches by engaging specialists from a range of disciplines as co-authors, shedding light on language dynamics from multiple perspectives.

The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages provides a comprehensive account of the Transeurasian languages, and is the first major reference work in the field since 1965. The term 'Transeurasian' refers to a large group of geographically adjacent languages that includes five uncontroversial linguistic families: Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic. The historical connection between these languages, however, constitutes one of the most debated issues in historical comparative linguistics. In the present book, a team of leading international scholars in the field take a balanced approach to this controversy, integrating different theoretical frameworks, combining both functional and formal linguistics, and showing that genealogical and areal approaches are in fact compatible with one another. The volume is divided into five parts. Part I deals with the historical sources and periodization of the Transeurasian languages and their classification and typology. In Part II, chapters provide individual structural overviews of the Transeurasian languages and the linguistic subgroups that they belong to, while Part III explores Transeurasian phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, and semantics from a comparative perspective. Part IV offers a range of areal and genealogical explanations for the correlations observed in the preceding parts. Finally, Part V combines archaeological, genetic, and anthropological perspectives on the identity of speakers of Transeurasian languages. The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages will be an indispensable resource for specialists in Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic languages and for anyone with an interest in Transeurasian and comparative linguistics more broadly.

The scope and nature of the connections between the Transeurasian languages are among the most disputed issues in comparative historical linguistics. This four-volume collection will assemble the most important scholarly writings concerning the historical relationship between these languages, particularly those discussing areal and genealogical correlations.

This book deals with shared verb morphology in Japanese and other languages that have been identified as Transeurasian (traditionally: “Altaic”) in previous research. It analyzes shared etymologies and reconstructed grammaticalizations with the goal to provide evidence for the genealogical relatedness of these languages.