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1.
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Pacific
Languages: An Introduction. University
of Hawaii Press. 384 pages.
Includes illustrations and maps.
Almost one-quarter of the world's languages are (or were) spoken in the
Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world.
Although
numerous
technical books on groups of Pacific or Australian languages have been
published, and descriptions of individual languages are available, until
now there has been no single book that attempts a wide regional coverage
for a general audience. Pacific Languages introduces readers to the
grammatical features of Oceanic, Papuan, and Australian
languages as well as to the semantic structures of these languages. For
readers without a formal linguistic background, a brief introduction to
descriptive linguistics is provided.
In addition to describing the structure of Pacific languages, this
volume places them in their historical and geographical context,
discusses the linguistic evidence for the settlement of the Pacific, and
speculates on the reason for the region's many languages. It devotes
considerable attention to the effects of contact between speakers of
different languages and to the development of Pidgin
and Creole languages in the Pacific. Throughout, technical
language is kept to a minimum without oversimplifying the concepts or
the issues involved. A glossary of technical terms, maps, and
diagrams help identify a language geographically or genetically;
reading lists and a language index guide the researcher interested in a
particular language or group to other sources of information.
Here at last is a clear and straightforward overview of Pacific
languages for linguists and anyone interested in the history of
sociology of the Pacific.
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UHAW
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$48.95
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$6.80
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$14.80
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