The papers selected for this volume were first presented at the 14th international conference on english historical linguistics bergamo, 2006. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. John benjamins publishing company linguistic society of. Dimmendaal has done the sameand much morefor students of african languages. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languagesz zzzzzz gerrit j. The primary tool of historical linguistics is the comparative method, a way of identifying relations among languages in the absence of written records. Sociohistorical linguistics searching for historical linguistics 257 found 1155 total alternate case. At that important event, alongside studies of phonology, lexis, semantics and dialectology presented in two companion volumes in this series, many innovative contributions focused on syntax and. Recent publications this list acknowledges recent works except offprints of single articles that appear to bear on the scientific study of language. Papers should have a diachronic orientation and should offer new perspectives, refine existing methodologies, or challenge received.
According to this rule, john and i are going is correct but john and meme and john are going is incorrect. Pdf historical linguistics and the comparative study of african. A historical linguistics course book that deals with the historical and comparative study of african languages. Indiana university press, research center in anthropology, folklore and linguistics and mouton. Revising the bantu tree american museum of natural history. Papers should have a diachronic orientation and should offer new perspectives, refine existing methodologies, or challenge received wisdom, on the basis. Areal contact in nilosaharan chapter 16 the cambridge. Pdf historical linguistics and the comparative study of. Gerrit jan dimmendaal this advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative study of african languages.
Historical linguistics is the study of how and why language changesboth the methods of investigating language change and the theories designed to explain these changes. The book contains abundant examples both from familiar european languages, to make the. His research interests focused mainly on the nilosaharan languages he completed his studies 19731978 in african studies, arabic studies, history, and comparative literature at leiden university, and graduating with a doctorate in 1982. The bound form, eacould be a reflex of nyaa girl, daughter or of an earlier protoform. A controversial example involves sound changes in dutch that appear to have their origin in the celtic spoken in the area before. Find link is a tool written by edward betts longer titles found. Schrijver 2014, chp 5, meaning phonology is tied to the ground and not to languages, so to speak. This advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative study of african languages. Dimmendaal, differential object marking in nilosaharan, journal of african languages. Dimmendaal described to the comparative method, lexical and grammatical cognates, the reconstruction of historical developments, techniques for the subclassification, and the use of languageinternal evidence and internal reconstruction. It functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative method, involving the establishment of lexical and grammatical cognates, and the reconstruction of their historical development. This highly accessible introductory text takes a handson, howto approach, rather than just talking about the subject as many texts do.
The first part functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative. Linguistics colloquium, institute for asian and african studies, humboldt university, berlin, 10. Buy historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages by gerrit jan dimmendaal 2011 0608 by gerrit jan dimmendaal isbn. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of african. Historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics in which an investigation of the history of languages is used to learn about how languages are related, how languages change, and what languages were like hundreds and even thousands of years ago even before written records of a language. The study of linguistic change over time in language or in a particular language or language family, sometimes including the reconstruction of. It has been revitalized in the last few decades by a wealth of new linguistic, historical, anthropological, and genetic evidence, innovative methods of classi. Some prominent linguists think of phonology as having deep roots locally johanna nichols pc. Distinctive to this text is its integration of the standard topics with others. Language ecology and linguistic diversity on the african continent. Historical linguistics from the website of jay jasanoff historical linguistics, the study of language change, is the oldest subfield of modern linguistics. Gerrit dimmendaal is eminently suited to guide the reader and student through the maze. Ideally speaking, historical linguistics is the study of.
Buy historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages by gerrit jan dimmendaal 20110608 by gerrit jan dimmendaal isbn. This book can be used for a second course in historical linguistics, but it is important to introduce many of the findings in a first course i believe. While historical comparative linguistics commonly deals with the immaterial traces of the past in africas presentday languages, archaeology unearths the material vestiges of ancient cultures. Dimmendaal 2011 published an introduction to historical linguistics and the comparative study of african.
This usage is an overgeneralization of the rule that only i should be used in subject position, never me. Ever since african historical linguistics emerged in the 19th century, it has served a double purpose. The success of historical linguistics in the nineteenth century was a major force behind the growth of synchronic linguistics in the twentieth. This engaging book is illustrated with language examples from all six continents, and covers the fundamental concepts of language change, methods for historical linguistics, linguistic. Historical biology is part of biology, and hence constrained by biological knowledge and theory. Numerous case studies throughout the book show both that theoretical linguistics can be used to solve problems where traditional approaches to historical linguistics have failed to produce satisfying results, and that the results of historical research can have an impact on theory. The receipt of individual books cannot be separately acknowledged and no book can be returned to the publisher. Comparative linguistics originally comparative philology is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages in order to establish their historical relatedness. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of. Papers dealing with any language or language family are welcome. Dimmendaal described to the comparative method, lexical and grammatical. Comparative linguistics is the scientific study of language from a comparative point of view, which means that it is involved in comparing and classifying languages.
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestral language or parental language, called the protolanguage of that family. Nicholas rolle, florian lionnet, and matthew faytak. Gerrit jan dimmendaal born 1955 is a dutch linguist and africanist. The first part functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative method, involving the establishment of lexical and grammatical cognates, the reconstruction of their historical development, techniques for the subclassification of related languages, and the. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages by gerrit j. Pdf download historical linguistics free ebooks pdf.
While observed sound patterns are obviously informative. Indeed, many of us want to convincingly identify what are the causal impacts that shape the evolution of. Homonym 1,434 words no match in snippet view article find links to article. The included papers are of particular relevance to those working in metaphor theory and syntactic semantic change within cognitive linguistics, but will also be of interest to other historical linguists and those studying cognitive semantics and metaphor from a synchronic viewpoint.
This advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative study of. Dimmendaal has carefully researched a vast portion of literature and studies done in historical linguistics, and even presents findings beyond his areas of specialization. Project muse historical linguistics and the comparative. Languages may be related by convergence through borrowing or by genetic descent, thus languages can change and are also able to crossrelate. Figure 10 the subclassification of surmic according to dimmendaal 1998b 363.
Standard approaches to lexical data use the comparative method the central theoretical tool of historical linguistics to identify sound shifts from presenceabsence patterns among paired languages e. Trasks historical linguistics, third edition, is an accessible introduction to historical linguistics the study of language change over time. Mar 12, 2020 historical linguistics traditionally known as philologyis the branch of linguistics concerned with the development of a language or of languages over time. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages. But men may some swevenes sene whiche hardely that false ne bene, but afterwarde ben apparaunt. While historicalcomparative linguistics commonly deals with the immaterial traces of the past in africas presentday languages, archaeology unearths the material vestiges of ancient cultures. The term family reflects the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a biological family tree, or in a subsequent modification, to. Comparative and historical linguistics are often treated as a single discipline, although they actually differ considerably with respect to their goals and methods. The first part functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative method, involving the establishment of lexical and grammatical cognates, the reconstruction of their historical development, techniques for the subclassification of related languages, and the use of. Language ecology and linguistic diversity on the african continent, language and linguistics compass 25. Hyman and others published historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages by gerrit j.
D56 2011 496dc22 2011002759 isbn 978 90 272 1178 1 hb. Department of linguistics university of oslo head position in nominal compounds a lesson from africa given the fact that so many languages in africa and elsewhere in the world are poorly studied, there is obviously still a lot to be learned about the typology of languages. This advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative. The book contains abundant examples both from familiar european. Pdf historical linguistics download full pdf book download. Sep 03, 2012 the first is that this is not one book, but two. He has been professor of african studies at university of cologne.
This accessible, handson text not only introduces students to the important topicsin historical linguistics but also shows them how to apply the methods described and how to thinkabout the issues. Historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics in which an investigation of the history of languages is used to learn about how languages are related, how languages change, and what languages were like hundreds and even thousands of years ago even before written records of a. Historical linguistics traditionally known as philologyis the branch of linguistics concerned with the development of a language or of languages over time. Historical linguistics and the comparative study of african languages gerrit j. Language ecology and linguistic diversity on the african. More recently, however, doubt about gumuz being a part of.
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