First published in 1933, this book looks at the phonetics of African languages. It argues that a good grounding in phonetics and tone work is an indispensable preliminary to anyone embarking on a study of African language and so provides the material necessary for this in a simple form. The volume is primarily a practical manual for students of African languages but will also be an invaluable tool for students of general linguistics as a work of scientific interest. The languages observed present features of language that are very different to those found in Europe.
This book developed out of a survey course on African languages that Uriel Weinreich invited the author to teach at Columbia University. The focus of the course changed considerably in the years that the author taught the course (1964-1968), in large part to accommodate the interests of many students without a background in linguistics but registered for the course. The one thing African languages have in common, setting them off from all the other languages in the world, is the fact that they are spoken in Africa.
Lexicon Grammaticorum is a biographical and bibliographical reference work on the history of all the world's traditions of linguistics. Each article consists of a short definition, details of the life, work and influence of the subject and a primary and secondary bibliography. The authors include some of the most renowned linguistic scholars alive today. For the second edition, twenty co-editors were commissioned to propose articles and authors for their areas of expertise. Thus this edition contains some 500 new articles by more than 400 authors from 25 countries in addition to the completely revised 1.500 articles from the first edition. Attention has been paid to making the articles more reader-friendly, in particular by resolving abbreviations in the textual sections. Key features: essential reference book for linguists worldwide 500 new articles over 400 contributors of 25 countries
Women in the History of Linguistics is a ground-breaking investigation into women's contribution to the description, analysis, and codification of languages across a wide range of different linguistic and cultural traditions. Notably, the volume looks beyond Europe to Africa, Australia, Asia, and North America, offering a systematic and comparative approach to a subject that has not yet received the scholarly attention it deserves. In view of women's often limited educational opportunities in the past, their impact is examined not only within traditional and institutional contexts, but also in more domestic and less public realms. The chapters explore a variety of spheres of activity, including the production of grammars, dictionaries, philological studies, critical editions, and notes and reflections on the nature of language and writing systems, as well as women's contribution to the documentation and maintenance of indigenous languages, language teaching and acquisition methods, language debates, and language use and policy. Attitudes towards women's language-both positive and negative-that regularly shape linguistic description and analysis are explored, alongside metalinguistic texts specifically addressed to them as readers. Women in the History of Linguistics is intended for all scholars and students interested in the history of linguistics, women's studies, social and cultural history, and the intersection between language and gender
This book is an introduction to African languages and linguistics, covering typology, structure and sociolinguistics. The twelve chapters are written by a team of fifteen eminent Africanists, and their topics include the four major language groupings (Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afroasiatic and Khoisan), the core areas of modern theoretical linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax), typology, sociolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and language, history and society. Basic concepts and terminology are explained for undergraduates and non-specialist readers, but each chapter also provides an overview of the state of the art in its field, and as such will be referred to also by more advanced students and general linguists. The book brings this range of material together in accessible form for anyone wishing to learn more about this challenging and fascinating field.
This innovative handbook takes a fresh look at the currently underestimated linguistic diversity of Africa, the continent with the largest number of languages in the world. It covers the major domains of linguistics, offering both a representative picture of Africa’s linguistic landscape as well as new and at times unconventional perspectives. The focus is not so much on exhaustiveness as on the fruitful relationship between African and general linguistics and the contributions the two domains can make to each other. This volume is thus intended for readers with a specific interest in African languages and also for students and scholars within the greater discipline of linguistics.
Originally published in 1987, this thesaurus is concerned with the spoken languages of Africa. Languages are grouped into a relatively large number of sets and subsets within which the relationship of languages to one another is locally apparent and uncontroversial. The volume presents the languages in classified order with notes on each language, their variant names and immediate classification, and reference to the sources consulted. One section offers an exhaustive list of the languages spoken as home languages by local communities in each state, together with details of languages widely used for inter-group communication, given official recognition, or used in education or the media. There are brief phonological analyses of a broad sample of some 20 African languages and a comprehensive bibliography and language index to the whole work
This book provides a broad overview of current work on South African languages, language resources and language technologies. While it provides a fairly comprehensive overview, it also ties together the most recent knowledge state here, and is therefore truly innovative ? The book is therefore informed by current international trends in the respective fields of science, and feeds back into them ? There is absolutely no doubt that the book has an academic peer audience and is directed at specialists in the field. - Prof. Axel Fleisch, University of Helsinki, Finland
Originally published in 1956, this volume presents a survey of the non-Bantu languages in the area extending south of the Sahara from Lake Chad to the Indian Ocean, together withj those of South Africa. The arrangement is primarily linguistic, in as much as larger units which show some indisputable affinities are where possible treated contiguously. Languages in the centre of the total area are discussed first, followed by thos ein the west, north, east and finally south.
