An Introduction to African Languages - Hardcover

Childs, G. Tucker

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9027226059 ISBN 13: 9789027226051

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co, 2003

Synopsis

This book introduces beginning students and non-specialists to the diversity and richness of African languages. In addition to providing a solid background to the study of African languages, the book presents linguistic phenomena not found in European languages. A goal of this book is to stimulate interest in African languages and address the question: What makes African languages so fascinating? The orientation adopted throughout the book is a descriptive one, which seeks to characterize African languages in a relatively succinct and neutral manner, and to make the facts accessible to a wide variety of readers. The author’s lengthy acquaintance with the continent and field experiences in western, eastern, and southern Africa allow for both a broad perspective and considerable depth in selected areas. The original examples are often the author’s own but also come from other sources and languages not often referenced in the literature. This text also includes a set of sound files illustrating the phenomena under discussion, be they the clicks of Khoisan, talking drums, or the ideophones (words like English lickety-split) found almost everywhere, which will make this book a valuable resource for teacher and student alike.

About this title

Synopsis

Providing an introduction to the linguistic study of African languages, the orientation adopted throughout this book is a descriptive-structural-typological one, as opposed to a formal-theoretical approach. Formalisms are not eschewed per se but rather are invoked when they aid the central thrust of the book, which is to describe and characterize the languages of Africa in a succinct and concise manner, and to make the facts accessible to the unfamiliar reader. To say that the approach is typological means that a given structure is compared to structures of the same type (typically ones familiar to the readers), set within an established range of variation, and characterized as usual or unexpected. Further detail is also provided, where possible, in terms of the structure's synchronic distribution and diachronic origin. The text assumes at least some knowledge of language structure on the part of its readers, but nothing beyond that acquired in a first-year linguistics course. The book is organized by linguistic domain or sub-field within linguistics, and each of the chapters can be read independently.

Readers can thus read selectively or read the book sequentially from cover-to-cover. Instructors can use the book as a text for a course in African languages or even language typology. There is generous indexing by topic, language and author; appendix two contains widely used alternative names for the languages discussed and directs readers to listings in the language index.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 9027226059
• ISBN 13: 9789027226051
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 285