Descriptive Grammars – serie

Turkish is spoken by about fifty million people in Turkey and is the co-official language of Cyprus. Whilst Turkish has a number of properties that are similar to those of other Turkic languages, it has distinct and interesting characteristics which are given full coverage in this book. Jaklin Kornfilt provides a wealth of examples drawn from different levels of vocabulary: contemporary and old, official and colloquial. They are accompanied by a detailed grammatical analysis and English translation.

Rapanui, the language of Easter Island, is in danger of extinction. A Polynesian language, closely related to Maori, it is spoken by less than 2000 people. This description, based on recordings made in the 1980s and on information provided by the islanders, represents Veronica De Feu's determination to recored the language before it dies out.All linguistic aspects are covered; the syntax, morphology, phonology and lexicon of the language. Just as importantly, it has been structured in such a way as to facilitate cross-language comparisons. There are over 800 illustrative sentences, each accompanied by interlinear grammatical analysis and translation. It also contains a Rapanui folk tale; in both the original and English.This descriptive grammar provides a new look at the whole structure of Rapanui. As a source of vocabulary it goes beyond any previously available dictionaries.

First Published in 1993. Punjabi is the language of the Punjab-the land of five rivers--of northern India and Pakistan. Primarily written in three distinct scripts, a unique feature of the language is that, along with Lahanda and the Western Pahari dialects, it is the only modern Indo-European language spoken in South Asia which is tonal in nature. It is recognized as one of the several national languages of India and Pakistan, and approximately forty-five million people speak Punjabi as either a first or second language. This Descriptive Grammar accounts for the linguistic and sociolinguistic properties of Punjabi and Lahanda/Multani. It explores the standard language, giving a comprehensive account of syntax, morphology and phonology. With a descriptive, typological and cognitive examination of the language, this is the most up-to-date, comprehensive and authoritative description of modern Punjabi to date. This volume will be invaluable to students and researchers of linguistic theory and practice.

This is the first major study of any Chapakuran language and makes an important contribution to linguistic theory. This study is especially timely as the Chapakuran languages of Western Brazil and Eastern Bolivia are endangered, and less than 2,000 known speakers of Wari and its related dialects are left in existence.

First published in 2003. Present day Japanese has a basic word order of subject, object,, verb (SOV). As a result, it has postpositions rather than prepositions, branching is to the left. rather than to the right, and inflectional endings are added to the right rather than to the left. The goal of the editors of this series is to provide references works for a number of languages which will be uniform in appearance and content.

Gulf Arabic is the term used to refer to a number of related dialects which are spoken along the Gulf littoral from northern Kuwait to Oman. The people who live in this area are linked to each other by trading and seafaring traditions which go back many centuries, as well as by the complex tribal structure of Arabia. With the development of education since the second world war, and increasingly close social, political and developmental ties between Gulf states, a form of dialectal Arabic has evolved which is not closely associated with any one particular state, and which exhibits features common to them all. This is still unmistakably `Gulf' in its basic pronunciation and morphology, as well as in its basic lexical stock, but its syntax and to some extent lexicon have been influenced by standard Arabic and other Arabic dialects. Clive Holes provides a description of this educated, pan-Gulf dialect.

Hungarian is spoken by 12-14 million people worldwide. A unique language, completely unrelated to the languages of its neighbouring countries, it boasts a grammar full of complex features and a vocabulary deriving largely from Asia.Hungarian addresses current issues in the description of languages and applies up-to-date research techniques to Hungarian. This is the first comprehensive descriptive grammar of the Hungarian language available in English.

Malayalam is one of the four major Dravidian languages spoken principally in the southern part of India. It has a recorded history of eight centuries and is spoken by more than thirty million people on the Malabar coast of southern IndiaThis is the first detailed description of Malayalam, providing an in-depth analysis of the linguistic richness of this language.

Focusing primarily on Standard Maltese, the authors clarify many areas which, until now, remain undefined, with emphasis on syntax and intonation. English loanwords continue to find their way into Standard Maltese, especially as the Maltese inhabitants become increasingly bilingual, and the variations are studied, as well as their morphological behavior. The book describes the syntactic, morphological and phonological structure of Maltese as one integrated linguistic system composed of different strands (Arabic, Romance and English).

This descriptive grammar provides a uniquely comprehensive description of Maori, the East Polynesian language of the indigenous people of New Zealand. Today, the language is under threat and it seems likely that the Maori of the future will differ quite considerably from the Maori of the past.Winifred Bauer offers a wide-ranging and detailed description of the structure of the language, covering syntax, morphology and phonology. Based upon narrative texts and data elicited from older native-speaking consultants and illustrated with a wealth of examples the book will be of interest to both linguistic theoreticians and descriptive linguists, including language typologists.

This is the first comprehensive grammar of Nigerian Pidgin. This book provides basic descriptive and analytical treatment of the syntax, morphology and phonology of a language which may soon become the most widely spoken in all of Africa.

Persian, or Farsi, is one of the world's oldest languages. Dating back to the sixth century B.C., it is spoken today by over forty million people in Iran and 5 million in Afghanistan. This is the first comprehensive grammar of Persian and provides detailed coverage of all its linguistic aspects, including the syntax, morphology and phonology.

Tuvaluan is a Polynesian language spoken by the 9,000 inhabitants of the nine atolls of Tuvalu in the Central Pacific, as well as small and growing Tuvaluan communities in Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. This grammar is the first detailed description of the structure of Tuvaluan, one of the least well-documented languages of Polynesia. Tuvaluan pays particular attention to discourse and sociolinguistics factors at play in the structural organization of the language.

Evenki is one of nine Tungusic languages spoken in Siberia and Northern China. This book gives the first ever complete description of all this language's linguistic domain. Evenki is remarkable both for the vast area where it is spoken - from Western Siberia through the Amur region to the shores of the Arctic Ocean to Northern China - and for its immense number of dialects and sub-dialects.

Finnish is one of the Finno-Ugrian family of languages, and being historically linked with Swedish, can be compared with that language, particularly in its vocabulary. There are about five million native speakers of the language and large Finnish-speaking minorities in Norway, Sweden, the USA and Canada. It is a morphologically rich language, which has 15 cases and a variety of finite and non-finite verbal categories. Its inflectional suffixes have a wide range of grammatical functions and a large number of derivational affixes, providing a productive source of word formation. It has a complex vowel system. This descriptive grammar explores many interesting details of Finnish syntax, morphology, phonology and lexicon, providing the linguist, for the first time in English, with the opportunity for cross-language comparisons and making this important language accessible to a wide range of theoretical and descriptive linguistic analysis.

First Published in 2004. Among the languages of Europe spoken by bilingual communities, Catalan has a special status because of its vitality. Catalan enjoys official recognition in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, in spain and in the principality of Andorra. Catalan is of importance within the Romance family because it constitutes a link between the Ibero-Romance family of languages and the Gallo-Romance branches. This book will be of interest to both Romanists and general linguists engaged in comparative work.

Kashmir boasts a language which challenges every field of linguistics. Kashmiri is spoken by approximately 3,000,000 people. Its syntax, similar to Germanic and other verb second languages, has raised many significant issues within current generative theories proposed by Chomsky and other prominent linguists.

This volume constitutes what is perhaps the most thorough description of a creole language to date. Following the Descriptive Grammar Series outline, it provides detailed coverage of a full range of grammatical, phonological and lexical information, written with the interests of formalists and functionalists, creolists and students of language universals and typology in mind. Expressions of lin-uistic judgements by both native and trained native speakers of Ndyuka combine with close study of texts to provide a solid basis for the work. More than two thousand examples of constructions and forms are considered in context and these give the careful reader a rich picture of all the stuctural and functional aspects of this radical creole. The authors' close acquaintance with the Ndyuka language community spans more than 25 years and allows the intuitions of Ndyuka speakers to show through clearly. Numerous cross references and an index of forms and topics of special interest supplement the detailed table of contents, facilitating the testing of hypotheses on language universals, typology, creolization, and processes such as clefting, relativization and verb serialization.

Strong linguistic and ecological pressures are gradually pushing Koromfe, the local language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, towards extinction. Spoken by, at the most, 10,000 people, Koromfe has defied political and cultural domination by other local languages. Few other researchers have studied Koromfe in such detail and this is the first detailed linguistical analysis of its kind. Consequently, data is provided which sheds light on many previously unanswered questions concerning both Koromfe and genetic and general linguistic issues. The information which constitutes this Descriptive Grammar is based on field work made by the author. As a Gur or Voltic language, the author shows how Koromfe shares many phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic affinities with other such languages.

Gulf Arabic is the term used to refer to a number of related dialects which are spoken along the Gulf littoral from northern Kuwait to Oman. The people who live in this area are linked to each other by trading and seafaring traditions which go back many centuries, as well as by the complex tribal structure of Arabia. With the development of education since the second world war, and increasingly close social, political and developmental ties between Gulf states, a form of dialectal Arabic has evolved which is not closely associated with any one particular state, and which exhibits features common to them all. This is still unmistakably `Gulf' in its basic pronunciation and morphology, as well as in its basic lexical stock, but its syntax and to some extent lexicon have been influenced by standard Arabic and other Arabic dialects. Clive Holes provides a description of this educated, pan-Gulf dialect.

Turkish is spoken by about fifty million people in Turkey and is the co-official language of Cyprus. Whilst Turkish has a number of properties that are similar to those of other Turkic languages, it has distinct and interesting characteristics which are given full coverage in this book. Jaklin Kornfilt provides a wealth of examples drawn from different levels of vocabulary: contemporary and old, official and colloquial. They are accompanied by a detailed grammatical analysis and English translation.

Persian, or Farsi, is one of the world's oldest languages. Dating back to the sixth century B.C., it is spoken today by over forty million people in Iran and 5 million in Afghanistan. Now available in paperback for the first time, this comprehensive grammar of Persian provides detailed coverage of all its linguistic aspects, including the syntax, morphology and phonology.

Punjabi is the language of the Punjab - the land of five rivers - of northern India and Pakistan. Primarily written in three distinct scripts, a unique feature of the language is that, along with Lahanda and the Western Pahari dialects, it is the only modern Indo-European language spoken in South-East Asia which is tonal in nature. It is recognised as one of the several national languages of India and Pakistan, and approximately forty-five million people speak Punjabi as either a first or second language.This Descriptive Grammar accounts for the linguistic and sociolinguistic properties of Punjabi and Lahanda/Multani. It explores the standard language, giving a comprehensive account of syntax, morphology and phonology. With a descriptive, typological and cognitive examination of the language, this is a comprehensive and authoritative description of modern Punjabi . This volume will be invaluable to students and researchers of linguistic theory and practice.

This is a complete grammatical description of Marathi, which belongs to the Indo-European family and is spoken in Maharashtra State in India. It has around 45 million speakers, who comprise about eight per cent of the total population of India. Marathi is particularly interesting from the point of view of its structure: it is a blending of linguistic features of the Indo-European and Dravidian language families. Marathi provides fascinating data for the study of language typology, structural change, and language universals.Marathi is presented in a broad, universally intelligible framework which makes it accessible to linguists and non-linguists, and native and non-native speakers alike.

First published in 2003. Present day Japanese has a basic word order of subject, object,, verb (SOV). As a result, it has postpositions rather than prepositions, branching is to the left. rather than to the right, and inflectional endings are added to the right rather than to the left. The goal of the editors of this series is to provide references works for a number of languages which will be uniform in appearance and content.

Rapanui, the language of Easter Island, is in danger of extinction. A Polynesian language, closely related to Maori, it is spoken by less than 2000 people. This description, based on recordings made in the 1980s and on information provided by the islanders, represents Veronica De Feu's determination to recored the language before it dies out.All linguistic aspects are covered; the syntax, morphology, phonology and lexicon of the language. Just as importantly, it has been structured in such a way as to facilitate cross-language comparisons. There are over 800 illustrative sentences, each accompanied by interlinear grammatical analysis and translation. It also contains a Rapanui folk tale; in both the original and English.This descriptive grammar provides a detailed look at the whole structure of Rapanui.

Among the languages of Europe spoken by bilingual communities, Catalan has a special status because of its vitality. Catalan enjoys official recognition in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, in spain and in the principality of Andorra. Catalan is of importance within the Romance family because it constitutes a link between the Ibero-Romance family of languages and the Gallo-Romance branches. This book will be of interest to both Romanists and general linguists engaged in comparative work.

This descriptive grammar provides a uniquely comprehensive description of Maori, the East Polynesian language of the indigenous people of New Zealand. Today, the language is under threat and it seems likely that the Maori of the future will differ quite considerably from the Maori of the past.Winifred Bauer offers a wide-ranging and detailed description of the structure of the language, covering syntax, morphology and phonology. Based upon narrative texts and data elicited from older native-speaking consultants and illustrated with a wealth of examples the book will be of interest to both linguistic theoreticians and descriptive linguists, including language typologists.

Evenki is one of nine Tungusic languages spoken in Siberia and Northern China. This book gives the first ever complete description of all this language's linguistic domain. Evenki is remarkable both for the vast area where it is spoken - from Western Siberia through the Amur region to the shores of the Arctic Ocean to Northern China - and for its immense number of dialects and sub-dialects.