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Full-Text Articles in Modern Languages
Review Of: Compendium Of The World's Languages, Volume 1: Abaza To Kurdish; Volume 2: Ladakhi To Zuni, 2nd Edn., Edward J. Vajda
Review Of: Compendium Of The World's Languages, Volume 1: Abaza To Kurdish; Volume 2: Ladakhi To Zuni, 2nd Edn., Edward J. Vajda
Modern & Classical Languages
These two weighty volumes actually go far in showcasing the world's linguistic diversity, both past and present, in a format that is invitingly accessible to any reader with a modicum of familiarity with general linguistic terms and concepts. Engaging the curiosity of the nonspecialist is a very worthwhile goal as linguists succeed in bringing ever more language forms to the attention of the general public. However, because even the most dedicated linguist can intimately know only a miniscule fraction of the world's linguistic richness, the success of any encyclopedic treatment of world languages hinges crucially on the published sources consulted. …
Review Of: Classifiers: A Typology Of Noun Categorization, Edward J. Vajda
Review Of: Classifiers: A Typology Of Noun Categorization, Edward J. Vajda
Modern & Classical Languages
This book offers a multifaceted, cross-linguistic survey of all types of grammatical devices used to categorize nouns. It represents an ambitious expansion beyond earlier studies dealing with individual aspects of this phenomenon, notably Corbett's (I99I) landmark monograph on noun classes (genders), Dixon's important essay (I982) distinguishing noun classes from classifiers, and Greenberg's (I972) seminal paper on numeral classifiers. Aikhenvald's Classifiers exceeds them all in the number of languages it examines and in its breadth of typological inquiry. The book is intended to inspire and guide more linguists into conducting fieldwork on undescribed or under-described languages by providing 'a framework within …
Review Of: Changing Valency: Case Studies In Transitivity, Edward J. Vajda
Review Of: Changing Valency: Case Studies In Transitivity, Edward J. Vajda
Modern & Classical Languages
In languages that contain them, verb-internal subject/object agreement affixes are normally a purely grammatical affair. But the morphological patterns that create distinctive transitive and intransitive verb stems are derivational. The dependence of a verb's grammatical properties on derivational processes of stem creation is particularly interesting when valency-changing mechanisms are considered cross-linguistically. This is precisely the aim of this volume, which compares techniques used to build passives, deagentives, causatives, applicatives and other valency-related stem types in a range of languages deliberately chosen for their genetic and typological diversity.