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LINGUIST List 21.73

Wed Jan 06 2010

Books: Genetic Classification/Historical Ling: McGregor, Rumsey

Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales <hannahlinguistlist.org>

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers are available at the end of this issue.
Directory
        1.    Julie Manley, Worrorran Revisited: McGregor, Rumsey
Message 1: Worrorran Revisited: McGregor, Rumsey
Date: 22-Dec-2009
From: Julie Manley <jmanleycoombs.anu.edu.au>
Subject: Worrorran Revisited: McGregor, Rumsey
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Title: Worrorran Revisited
Subtitle: The case for genetic relations among lanauges of the Northern Kimberley region of Western Australia
Series Title: Pacific Linguistics
Published: 2009
Publisher: Pacific Linguistics
                http://pacling.anu.edu.au/

Author: William B McGregor
Author: Alan Rumsey
Paperback: ISBN: 9780858835 Pages: 131 Price: AUS $ 41.00 Comment: In Australia add 10% GST
Abstract:

In this book we attempt to establish the genetic relatedness of a set of
some twenty named regional speech varieties of the Northern Kimberley
region of Western Australia. We argue that, contrary to recent claims by
some scholars, they constitute a genetic family-like unit. The case is
argued by application of the comparative method, along with a
lexical-statistical method, a modified version of lexicostatistics, that
compares lexical similarities (in both form and semantics) within the basic
vocabularies of the languages with no presumption of genetic relatedness.
The results of these two independent methods are in substantial agreement,
thus providing independent support for our proposals. The main thrust of
the volume is an application of the comparative method, whereby we
establish the genetic relatedness of the languages by reconstructing
features—mainly phonological and grammatical, to a lesser extent lexical—of
a protolanguage from which features of the modern languages could plausibly
have derived. We also present comparative evidence that three primary
subgroups can be distinguished in the family.

Linguistic Field(s): Genetic Classification
                            Historical Linguistics
Language Family(ies): Pama-Nyungan

Written In: English (eng )

See this book announcement on our website:
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=45289

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-------------- Major Supporters --------------
Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/
De Gruyter Mouton http://www.degruyter.com/mouton
Edinburgh University Press http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/
Georgetown University Press http://www.press.georgetown.edu
John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/
Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us
University of Toronto Press http://www.utpjournals.com/

------------- Other Supporting Publishers -------------
St. Jerome Publishing Ltd http://www.stjerome.co.uk



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