The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages
Summary
The feel-good place to buy books
The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages by Claire Bowern
The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages is a wide-ranging reference work that explores the more than 550 traditional and new Indigenous languages of Australia. Australian languages have long played an important role in diachronic and synchronic linguistics and are a vital testing ground for linguistic theory. Until now, however, there has been no comprehensive and accessible guide to the their vast linguistic diversity. This volume fills that gap, bringing together leading scholars and junior researchers to provide an up-to-date guide to all aspects of the languages of Australia. The chapters in the book explore typology, documentation, and classification; linguistic structures from phonology to pragmatics and discourse; sociolinguistics and language variation; and language in the community. The final part offers grammatical sketches of a selection of languages, sub-groups, and families. At a time when the number of living Australian languages is significantly reduced even compared to twenty year ago, this volume establishes priorities for future linguistic research and contributes to the language expansion and revitalization efforts that are underway.
Bowern and her seventy-six contributors (fifty-five of them based in Australian institutions) masterfully deliver on the book's promise advanced in several thoughtfully detailed introductory chapters exploring both the historical landscape and taxonomies of these languages (both old and new) and the intricacies of documentation methods that aim to preserve them [..] Moreover, the Guide goes the extra mile to correct widespread misconceptions stemming from broad over-generalisations about the capabilities and characteristics of Indigenous languages, ensuring that they are presented in an authentic light and given just representation. * Thomas Poulton, Australian Book Review *
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198824978 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198824971 |
| Title | The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |
| Author | Claire Bowern |
| Series | Oxford Guides To The World's Languages |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2023-06-13 |
| Number of pages | 1184 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |