LINGUIST List 9.1011

Thu Jul 9 1998

Books: Semantics

Editor for this issue: Brett Churchill <brettlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Bernadette Martinez-Keck, Books on Semantics

John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the
following new title in the field of Semantics:


NOMINAL CLASSIFICATION IN ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA
Marc Harvey & Nicholas Reid (eds.)
University of Newcastle / University of New England
1997. x, 296 pp. Studies in Language Companion Series, 37
US/ Canada: Hb: 1 55619 848 5 Price: USD 89.00
Rest of the World: Hb: 90 272 3040 4 Price: NLG 178,--


This volume aims to extend both the range of analyses and the database on
nominal classification systems. Previous analyses of nominal
classification systems have focused on two areas: the semantics of the
classification system and the role of the system in discourse. In many
nominal classification systems, there appear to be a significant
percentage of nominals with an arbitrary classification. There is a
considerable body of literature aimed at elucidating the semantic bases
of classification in such systems, thereby reducing the degree of
apparent arbitrariness. Contributors to this volume continue this line of
enquiry, but also propose that arbitrariness in itself has a role from a
wider socio-cultural perspective. Previous analyses of the discourse role
of classification systems posit that they play a significant role in
referential tracking. For the languages surveyed in this volume,
contributors propose that reference instantiation is an equally
significant function, and indeed that reference instantiation and
tracking cannot be properly divided from one another. This volume
provides detailed information on classification in a number of northern
Australian languages, whose systems are otherwise poorly known.

Contents: Introduction; Nominal Classification and Gender in Aboriginal
Australia; New Guinea 'Classificatory Verbs' and Australian Noun
Classification: A Typological Comparison; Head Classes and Agreement
Classes in the Mayali Dialect Chain; head and Agreement Classes: An Areal
Perspective; Class and Classifier in Ngan'gityemerri; Nominal
Classification in Marrithiyel; Noun Classes, Nominal Classification and
Generics in Murrinhpatha.


Contributions by: Mark Harvey; Nicholas Reid; Fransesca Merlin; Steve
Powell Robert; Alan Rumsey; Nicholas Evans; Ian Green; Michael Walsh.

- ------------------------------------------------------------
Bernadette Martinez-Keck Tel: (215) 836-1200
Publicity/Marketing Fax: (215) 836-1204
John Benjamins North America e-mail:berniebenjamins.com
PO Box 27519 
Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 

Check out the John Benjamins web site:
http://www.benjamins.com

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1998 Contributors