List price
EUR €179.00USD $215.00
Browse results
The single most important imperative of contemporary linguistics is to document, describe, and analyze endangered languages and other lesser-known languages and dialects. This open access, peer-reviewed series publishes titles on poorly studied languages and dialects around the world, and especially welcomes contributions on languages of Japan and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Single and multi-authored monographs discussing a single language or multiple languages are welcome, as well as thematic collections of contributions by various scholars. Authors not affiliated with NINJAL or UHM are encouraged to apply for open access funding with their own institutions or with relevant private or governmental funding organizations. Information about open access publishing with Brill may be found here.
Interested scholars may contact the Acquisition Editor at Brill, Dr Uri Tadmor. Please direct all other correspondence to Associate Editor Elisa Perotti.
Interested scholars may contact the Acquisition Editor at Brill, Dr Uri Tadmor. Please direct all other correspondence to Associate Editor Elisa Perotti.
A Northern Siberian Turkic Language of the Taimyr Peninsula
Dolgan is a severely endangered Turkic language spoken in the extreme north of the Russian Federation which has undergone noticeable substrate influence and thus exhibits grammatical structures differing from other Turkic languages. The grammar at hand is the first fully-fledged grammar of Dolgan in English language: It describes the Dolgan language system from an internal perspective basing on corpus data of natural Dolgan speech. It takes historical, comparative and typological perspectives, if applicable, but refrains from pertaining to a particular linguistic theory. Consequently, both Turcologists and general linguists can make use of it independently from their individual research question.
A Northern Siberian Turkic Language of the Taimyr Peninsula
Dolgan is a severely endangered Turkic language spoken in the extreme north of the Russian Federation which has undergone noticeable substrate influence and thus exhibits grammatical structures differing from other Turkic languages. The grammar at hand is the first fully-fledged grammar of Dolgan in English language: It describes the Dolgan language system from an internal perspective basing on corpus data of natural Dolgan speech. It takes historical, comparative and typological perspectives, if applicable, but refrains from pertaining to a particular linguistic theory. Consequently, both Turcologists and general linguists can make use of it independently from their individual research question.
A Spoken Variety of South-West Iran
This book is the very first comprehensive description of the Arabic variety spoken in the South-Western Iranian province of Khuzestan. It contains a detailed description of its phonology and morphology with numerous examples and a collection of authentic texts presented in transcription with an English translation. The author uses a corpus-based method for the grammatical analysis relying on original data collected during fieldwork in Khuzestan as well as among other Khuzestani Arab communities in Kuwait and Austria. The introduction and text collection offer the reader insights into Khuzestani Arab culture and traditions. The book highlights the peripheral character of Khuzestani Arabic spoken as a minority dialect in Iran and isolated from influence by both Standard Arabic and regional prestige varieties. It also provides an in-depth description of the linguistic development of Ahvaz, Khuzestan’s capital city.
A Spoken Variety of South-West Iran
This book is the very first comprehensive description of the Arabic variety spoken in the South-Western Iranian province of Khuzestan. It contains a detailed description of its phonology and morphology with numerous examples and a collection of authentic texts presented in transcription with an English translation. The author uses a corpus-based method for the grammatical analysis relying on original data collected during fieldwork in Khuzestan as well as among other Khuzestani Arab communities in Kuwait and Austria. The introduction and text collection offer the reader insights into Khuzestani Arab culture and traditions. The book highlights the peripheral character of Khuzestani Arabic spoken as a minority dialect in Iran and isolated from influence by both Standard Arabic and regional prestige varieties. It also provides an in-depth description of the linguistic development of Ahvaz, Khuzestan’s capital city.
Grammatical Sketches of Japanese Dialects and Ryukyuan Languages
Volume Editor:
Michinori Shimoji
Japanese is definitely one of the best-known languages in typological literature. For example, typologists often assume that Japanese is a nominative-accusative language. However, it is often overlooked that Japanese, or more precisely, Tokyo Japanese, is just one of various local varieties of the Japonic language family (Japanese and Ryukyuan). In fact, the Japonic languages exhibit a surprising typological diversity. For example, some varieties display a split-intransitive as opposed to nominative-accusative system. The present volume is thus a unique attempt to explore the typological diversity of Japonic by providing a collection of grammatical sketches of various local varieties, four from Japanese dialects and five from Ryukyuan. Each grammatical sketch follows the same descriptive format, addressing a wide range of typological topics.
Grammatical Sketches of Japanese Dialects and Ryukyuan Languages
Volume Editor:
Michinori Shimoji
Japanese is definitely one of the best-known languages in typological literature. For example, typologists often assume that Japanese is a nominative-accusative language. However, it is often overlooked that Japanese, or more precisely, Tokyo Japanese, is just one of various local varieties of the Japonic language family (Japanese and Ryukyuan). In fact, the Japonic languages exhibit a surprising typological diversity. For example, some varieties display a split-intransitive as opposed to nominative-accusative system. The present volume is thus a unique attempt to explore the typological diversity of Japonic by providing a collection of grammatical sketches of various local varieties, four from Japanese dialects and five from Ryukyuan. Each grammatical sketch follows the same descriptive format, addressing a wide range of typological topics.
A Cross-Generational Study
What is the relationship between spatial and temporal representations in language and cognition? What is the role of culture in this relationship? I enter this discussion by offering a community-based, cross-generational study on the community of speakers of aṣ-Ṣāniʿ Arabic, members of a Negev Desert Bedouin tribe in Israel. The book presents the results of ten years of fieldwork, the linguistic and cognitive profiles of three generations, and first-hand narration of a century of history, from nomadism to sedentarism, between conservation, resilience, and change. Linguistic and cognitive representations change with lifestyle, culture, and relationships with nature and landscape. Language changes more rapidly than cognitive structures, and the relationship between spatial and temporal representations is complex and multifaceted.
A Cross-Generational Study
What is the relationship between spatial and temporal representations in language and cognition? What is the role of culture in this relationship? I enter this discussion by offering a community-based, cross-generational study on the community of speakers of aṣ-Ṣāniʿ Arabic, members of a Negev Desert Bedouin tribe in Israel. The book presents the results of ten years of fieldwork, the linguistic and cognitive profiles of three generations, and first-hand narration of a century of history, from nomadism to sedentarism, between conservation, resilience, and change. Linguistic and cognitive representations change with lifestyle, culture, and relationships with nature and landscape. Language changes more rapidly than cognitive structures, and the relationship between spatial and temporal representations is complex and multifaceted.
Editor-in-Chief:
Peter Bakker
This series deals specifically with contact languages, i.e. new languages that emerged out of contact between two or more ethnolinguistic groups, and includes pidgins, creoles, pidgincreoles, and mixed languages. It welcomes comprehensive grammatical descriptions and collections of grammatical sketches of hitherto undescribed or underdescribed varieties. Creoles and pidgins with both European and non-European lexifiers are of interest. In the case of mixed languages, it is desirable that the components from the different source languages are indicated graphically.
We encourage a unifying typological approach, so that these volumes are both accessible to typologists coming from different theoretical backgrounds and intelligible to the wider linguistic readership. Authors are expected to follow Leipzig glossing rules and IPA conventions. The editors may specify the TOC structure and the list of abbreviations; these will be discussed with authors at the book proposal stage.
This is a peer-reviewed series; the editors will work with authors to ensure high standards. Interested scholars should contact the series editor Dr Peter Bakker. Please direct all other correspondence to Associate Editor Elisa Perotti.
We encourage a unifying typological approach, so that these volumes are both accessible to typologists coming from different theoretical backgrounds and intelligible to the wider linguistic readership. Authors are expected to follow Leipzig glossing rules and IPA conventions. The editors may specify the TOC structure and the list of abbreviations; these will be discussed with authors at the book proposal stage.
This is a peer-reviewed series; the editors will work with authors to ensure high standards. Interested scholars should contact the series editor Dr Peter Bakker. Please direct all other correspondence to Associate Editor Elisa Perotti.
A Creole Language of the Caribbean Area
This book constitutes a primary data-supported, comprehensive grammar of Papiamentu. It analyzes spontaneous speech data from two varieties spoken in Aruba and Curaçao. The author examines structural features so far unexplored in the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, and aspects of sentential semantics. Particular attention is given to nominal classifiers, non-pro-drop syntactic constructions, and absolute tense marking, traits that are rarely described in regards to Creole or Romance languages. Researchers interested in formal analyses of Papiamentu, Creole languages, and in language contact will find this book an indispensable tool.
A Creole Language of the Caribbean Area
This book constitutes a primary data-supported, comprehensive grammar of Papiamentu. It analyzes spontaneous speech data from two varieties spoken in Aruba and Curaçao. The author examines structural features so far unexplored in the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, and aspects of sentential semantics. Particular attention is given to nominal classifiers, non-pro-drop syntactic constructions, and absolute tense marking, traits that are rarely described in regards to Creole or Romance languages. Researchers interested in formal analyses of Papiamentu, Creole languages, and in language contact will find this book an indispensable tool.
Abstract
This chapter summarizes some of our findings and discusses some key issues related to previous descriptions of Papiamentu and other Creoles. It draws additional generalizations on the typological features described throughout the book and their possible origin in lexical sources and/or typological universals. Discussion of areas unexplored in previous chapters and future research also constitute part of the conclusions. It examines the important role played by documentation and data-supported analysis in understanding Creoles.
Abstract
This chapter summarizes issues in the description of Papiamentu and its relation to other languages from a typological perspective. It highlights differences between this interpretation of Papiamentu features and previous work; and incorporates a section on the goals of our research, data collection, and the methodology used in the analysis. Finally, we provide a general guide for readers on how to navigate the content of this book.
Abstract
Morphology is a key component of Creole studies. Following 19th century traditions regarding the typological classification of languages and based on an assumed morphological type of “older” languages, some analyses have stressed apparent deficiencies in Creole structures, which they classify as “new” languages. In this chapter, we demonstrate Papiamentu displays a variety of morphological mechanisms with the same semantic functions encoded in other natural languages. This multiplicity of mechanisms demonstrates that this Creole is neither deficient nor constitutes a new linguistic system. This chapter focuses on morphological features, some matching those in the lexifier, such as derivational and inflectional forms, or in the substrate, such as reduplication, tonal distinctions, and nominal classifiers. A number of allomorphs are also described, demonstrating that interdialectal variation (not only diatopic variation between Aruban, Curaçaoan, and Bonairean lects) is present in Creole systems. There is also an account of selected lexical categories.