Grammatical Reconstruction
Author | : Don Daniels |
Publisher | : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Total Pages | : 447 |
Release | : 2020-03-09 |
ISBN-10 | : 9783110616569 |
ISBN-13 | : 3110616564 |
Rating | : 4/5 (69 Downloads) |
Download or read book Grammatical Reconstruction written by Don Daniels and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-03-09 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is still widespread disagreement among historical linguists about how, or whether, syntactic reconstruction can be done. This book presents a comprehensive methodology for syntactic reconstruction, grounded in a constructional understanding of language. The author then uses that methodology to reconstruct Proto-Sogeram, the ancestor to ten languages in Papua New Guinea. Chapters are devoted to phonology, lexicon, verbal morphosyntax, nominal morphosyntax, and syntactic constructions. The work culminates in a sketch of Proto-Sogeram grammar. Based largely on the author's original fieldwork, this is an innovative application of a novel methodology to new data, and the most complete reconstruction of a Papuan proto-language to date. It will be of interest to scholars of language change, language reconstruction, typology, and Papuan languages.