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Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>
anu.edu.au>Title: Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head Series Title: PL 524 Publication Year: 2002 Publisher: Pacific Linguistics http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ Editor: Ger P Reesink Hardback: ISBN: 0858834944, Pages: ix + 340, Price: Australia A$84.00 International A$77.00 Abstract: This book is the first detailed introduction to languages of the Bird's Head peninsula of Indonesia's Irian Jaya (Papua) province. Detailed data on these languages have only become available in the last decade, and the papers in this volume present some of the results of this new research. The first article sketches out the relationships between the eastern Bird's Head languages - both with each other and with other languages in the surrounding area. Following the introduction are short descriptions of three languages, Mpur (by Cecilia Od�), Meyah (by Gilles Gravelle), Sougb and Mansim (both by Ger Reesink). Each of these contributions is presented as an independent unit, with illustrative text material. The article on Mansim is of particular importance. Until Reesink's fieldwork in the region, Mansim was thought to be extinct. While the language has few speakers left, it is not quite extinct: Ger Reesink was fortunate enough to collect some materials from a few of the last remaining speakers. Mansim is closely related to Hatam, a language already described in an earlier Pacific Linguistics volume by Reesink. Lingfield(s): Language Description Subject Language(s): Hatam (Language Code: HAD) Manikion (Language Code: MNX) Meyah (Language Code: MEJ) Mpur (Language Code: AKC) Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue