LINGUIST List 11.2389
Sat Nov 4 2000
Books: Native American Languages, Chinese Linguistics
Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>
Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers are
available at the end of this issue.
Directory
LINCOM EUROPA, Native American Languages: Mapudungun
LINCOM EUROPA, Chinese Linguistics: Learning to Read Pinyin Romanization...
Message 1: Native American Languages: Mapudungun
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 16:40:32 +0100
From: LINCOM EUROPA <LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de>
Subject: Native American Languages: Mapudungun
Mapudungun
FERNANDO Z��IGA
Universit�t Z�rich
Mapudungu(n), sometimes also called Mapuche or Araucanian, is not only
one of the indigenous languages of the Americas whose genetic
affiliation is still obscure but also one of the comparatively few
languages of the region spoken by a considerable number of speakers
(some thousands in Argentina and an uncertain figure -possibly close to
200'000 native, but not monolingual, speakers- in South Central Chile).
Mapudungun has been rightly recognized as a crucial factor in this
ethnic group's struggle for cultural survival.
Despite the fact that the bulk of indigenous loanwords in Chilean and
Argentinian Spanish comes from other languages, especially Chilean
toponymy shows a profound Mapudungun influence way beyond present-day
Mapuche territories.
Although there are some more or less comprehensive grammars of the
language written in the 20th century, this is to be the first short
reference grammar of this polysynthetic language available in English.
Some remarkable features are the following: rather simple phonology
(unlike its surviving neighbors, Mapudungun has neither uvular nor
glottalized phonemes; there are six vowels and only few consonant
clusters), simple nominal morphology (neither case nor gender, marginal
number), fairly complex verbal morphology (detailed aspectual and
spatial categories, several productive valency-changing operators,
polypersonalism, inverse system, nominal incorporation), and clause
linkage patterns that rely heavily on semantically rather vague reduced
verb forms.
ISBN 3 89586 976 7.
Languages of the World/Materials 376.
Ca. 87pp. USD 36 / DM 64 / � 22.
New: A Students' and course discount of 40% is offered to the above
title.
Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no.
/ expiry date. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by
airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special
discounts offered to individual subscribers.
Free copies of LINCOM's new catalogue for 2001 (project line 11) are
available from LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de.
LINCOM EUROPA, Freibadstr. 3, D-81543 Muenchen, Germany;
FAX +49 89 62269404;
http://www.lincom-europa.com
LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de.
Message 2: Chinese Linguistics: Learning to Read Pinyin Romanization...
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 16:46:28 +0100
From: LINCOM EUROPA <LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de>
Subject: Chinese Linguistics: Learning to Read Pinyin Romanization...
Learning to Read Pinyin Romanization and its Equivalent in Wade-Giles:
A Practical Course for Students of Chinese
SIEW-YUE KILLINGLEY
The most important romanization system of Chinese until recent times was
the Wade-Giles system. Pinyin is now the most important romanization
system in modern usage and is the system used in international
communications and in computer software. But Wade-Giles still retains an
unparalleled place in the canon because a great deal of sinological work
published before 1955 used it exclusively, and it continues to be used
in areas of study such as Chinese philosophy. While Pinyin consonant
letters maintain a one-to-one correspondence between a particular sound
and a letter or sequence of two letters, there is a much more
complicated correspondence between vowel letters and vowel sounds.
Wade-Giles has a lesser degree of divergence between sound and letter,
and in this respect is easier to operate.
The chief aim in this course is to teach competence in reading Pinyin
romanization, and to foster an understanding of the principles
underlying that romanization system. The student is introduced to some
phonetics, although theoretical discussions are kept to a minimum. For
those who wish, this course also teaches the ability to systematically
convert each Pinyin representation into its Wade-Giles equivalent.
This course is directed at anyone who wishes to study Chinese fairly
seriously for general or specialist purposes. It is meant to be used in
conjunction with any current Chinese-language teaching book that uses
Pinyin. No previous knowledge of phonetics is presupposed, and the
course can be followed with or without a teacher. Parts of this course
have been used since 1994 in draft form for beginners studying courses
on Chinese language and culture at the University of Newcastle. This
first published edition has been completed in the light of the author's
experience in teaching those courses.
The lessons introduce difficulties of pronunciation and spelling
gradually, beginning with Chinese sounds which are easily relatable to
those of English (e.g., nasals), and progressing to those which may be
outside the student's experience (e.g., retroflex fricatives).
Tone is introduced and taught by drawing on known analogies of pitch
features in English intonation rather than taught as something entirely
alien to the student's experience. Each lesson contains explanations,
oral practice which enables the student to produce correct sounds, and
practice in relating each sound to its Pinyin representation. A final
lesson gives guidance on how to use Chinese-English Dictionaries.
Appendices on the organs of speech, on tables of vowels and consonants,
and on developing a keyboard for Pinyin spelling complete with tones
using macros in WordPerfect.
ISBN 3 89586 199 5.
LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics 05.
96pp. USD 34/ DM 64 / � 21. 2nd printing.
New: A Students' and course discount of 40% is offered to the above
title.
Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no.
/ expiry date. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by
airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special
discounts offered to individual subscribers.
Free copies of LINCOM's new catalogue for 2001 (project line 11) are
available from LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de.
LINCOM EUROPA, Freibadstr. 3, D-81543 Muenchen, Germany;
FAX +49 89 62269404;
http://www.lincom-europa.com
LINCOM.EUROPAt-online.de.
Pubs-postscript-html