Robert M. W. Dixon
Auteur de The Rise and Fall of Languages
A propos de l'auteur
Notice de désambiguation :
(eng) The blues, language, autobiography are by the same author. He also wrote some mysteries and sf.
Séries
Œuvres de Robert M. W. Dixon
Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics (2001) — Directeur de publication — 16 exemplaires
Words of our country : stories, place names, and vocabulary in Yidiny, the Aboriginal language of the Cairns-Yarrabah… (1991) 11 exemplaires
The Handbook of Australian Languages: Volume 4: The Aboriginal Language of Melbourne and Other Grammatical Sketches (Th (1991) 10 exemplaires
Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (2006) — Directeur de publication — 8 exemplaires
Dyirbal Song Poetry: The Oral Literature of an Australian Rainforest People (UQP paperbacks) (1996) 8 exemplaires
Wargamay, the Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri, Watjarri, Margany and Gunya, Tasmanian (1979) 8 exemplaires
What is language? A new approach to linguistic description (Linguistics library) (1965) 7 exemplaires
Where Have All the Adjectives Gone?: And Other Essays in Semantics and Syntax (Janua Linguarum. Series Maior, 107) (1982) 7 exemplaires
The Grammar of Knowledge: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (2014) — Directeur de publication — 6 exemplaires
Edible gender, mother-in-law style, and other grammatical wonders : studies in Dyirbal, Yidin, and Warrgamay (2015) 4 exemplaires
The Semantics of Clause Linking: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (2009) — Directeur de publication — 3 exemplaires
Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 5: Grammatical Sketches of Bunuba, Ndjébbana and Kugu Nganhcara (2000) 2 exemplaires
Jirrbal Girramay Language Conference 1 exemplaire
Jezici bolji od drugih 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
Language form and linguistic variation : papers dedicated to Angus McIntosh (1982) — Contributeur — 4 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Dixon, Robert Malcolm Ward
- Autres noms
- Brown, Hosanna (pseudonym)
Tully, Simon (pseudonym) - Date de naissance
- 1939-01-25
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- UK
- Lieu de naissance
- Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK
- Études
- University of Oxford
University of Edinburgh - Prix et distinctions
- Leonard Bloomfield Award (Linguistics, 2006)
- Notice de désambigüisation
- The blues, language, autobiography are by the same author. He also wrote some mysteries and sf.
Membres
Critiques
Prix et récompenses
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 59
- Aussi par
- 2
- Membres
- 678
- Popularité
- #37,272
- Évaluation
- 4.0
- Critiques
- 4
- ISBN
- 163
- Langues
- 2
A brief book about language change, which dates back to 1997 but I don't know how fast the field moves. The author has two main points to make. First off, he compares the evolution of language to Steven Jay Gould's concept of punctuated equilibrium in biology: long periods of steady development with little change, interspersed with periods when the environment changes rapidly and organisms, or languages, must adapt equally rapidly to survive. The impact of Western colonialism is the most recent and largest such traumatic change to have hit the world's language groups and ddiversity.
His other main point is to propose an alternative to the "family tree" model of language relationships. It works well for Indeo-European (within limits) and also for the Austronesian languages of the Pacific; but he is sceptical, to put it politely, of Greenblatt's claims to have constructed family trees for the African and Amerindian languages, let alone the pretensions of Nostratic. Surely in most cases where different language groups exist side by side for centuries, it makes at least as much sense to consider a "linguistic area" where neighbouring speakers may steal vocabulary and grammar from each other. His example is Australia, the area he knows best, but I can see relevance for the Albanian / Macedonian / Bulgarian / Romanian relationship which I've always found fascinating. He makes the point that even Proto-Indo-European doesn't appear to have been homogenous - did the instrumental plural end with *-bhis or *-mis ?
Anyway, I found this rather more digestible than dear old C.-J. Bailey's essay collection. Must look out for more on this topic...… (plus d'informations)