A Grammar of Semelai (Cambridge Grammatical Descriptions) - Softcover

Kruspe, Nicole

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052114499X ISBN 13: 9780521144995

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Semelai is a previously undescribed and endangered Aslian (Mon-Khmer) language of the Malay Peninsula. This book - the first in-depth description of an Aslian language - provides a comprehensive reference grammar of Semelai. Semelai intertwines two types of morphological system: a concatenative system of prefixes, suffixes and a circumfix - acquired through extended contact with Malay - and a nonconcatenative system of prefixes and infixes (including infix reduplication), inherited from Mon-Khmer. There are distinctive word classes - Nominals, Verbs and Expressives - the latter iconic utterances which simultaneously provide information about the predicate and its arguments. Semelai has many derivational processes which change word class or affect transitivity, and it combines both head-marking and dependent-marking profiles. It also has a rich phonemic system of 20 vowels and 32 consonants. Nicole Kruspe's discussion is complemented with a generous number of illustrative examples and texts, creating a reference work that will be welcomed by descriptivists and typologists alike.

About this title

Book Description:

This book provides a comprehensive reference grammar of Semelai, a previously undescribed and endangered Aslian (Mon-Khmer) language of the Malay Peninsula. Nicole Kruspe looks at a wide range of its grammatical, morphological and phonological characteristics, and her discussion is complemented by a large number of illustrative examples and texts.

About the Author:

Nicole Kruspe is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 052114499X
• ISBN 13: 9780521144995
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520