Gagana Samoa

Bess Press. 112 pages. Illustrations. The book features 200-400 illustrated introductory vocabulary words, a pronunciation guide, and glossaries. The categories which include family, home, school, the body, clothing, food, opposites, numbers, nature, and time, accurately portray the Samoan culture as well as teach basic vocabulary. An Audio CD recorded by a native speaker is included. Recommended for ages 4-8, but adults will also find it invaluable as a first language primer.

200 pages. Includes illustrations and an audio CD disc. Gagana Samoa is a modern Samoan language resource. Designed for both classroom and personal use, it features: Gagana Samoa is a modern Samoan language resource. Designed for both classroom and personal use, it features a methodical approach suitable for all ages; an emphasis on patterns of speech and communication through practice and examples; 10 practical dialogues covering everyday social situations; an introduction to the wider culture of fa`asamoa through photographs; more than 150 exercises to reinforce comprehension; a glossary (dictionary) of all Samoan words used in the course book; oral skills supplemented with audio files available on a separate audio CD. A methodical approach suitable for all ages ? An emphasis on patterns of speech and communication through practice and examples ? Over 950 exercises to reinforce comprehension ? Oral skills supplemented by audio CD ? An introduction to the wider culture of "fa`asamoa" through photographs.

University of Hawaii Press. 466 pages. Samoan-English, English-Samoan text. Customer's Comment: "I have personally used this book many times at work to find the meaning of Samoan words. It is written very well, with all of the diacritical marks - including the okina (glottal stop) and kahako (macron), to allow for correct pronunciation. The book is nicely bound with a white comb binding, and with burgundy red as the main color, and with a yellow triangle motif running down the side, and a yellow title line" Now available only in softcover.

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.