Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World (Concise Encyclopedias of Language and Linguistics)

__Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World__ is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world. It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world's major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution.Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning __Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics__, this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages are unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, by the leading scholars in linguistics. In highlighting the diversity of the world's languages - from the thriving to the endangered and extinct - this work will be the first point of call to any language expert interested in this huge area. No other single volume will match the extent of language coverage or the authority of the contributors of __Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World__. \* Extraordinary breadth of coverage: a comprehensive selection of just under 400 articles covering the world's major languages, language families, and classification structures, issues and disputes\* Peerless quality: based on 20 years of academic development on two editions of the leading reference resource in linguistics, __Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics__ \* Unique authorship: 350 of the world's leading experts brought together for one purpose\* Exceptional editorial selection, review and validation process: Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie act as first-tier guarantors for article quality and coverage\* Compact and affordable: one-volume format makes this suitable for personal study at any institution interested in areal, descriptive, or comparative language study - and at a fraction of the cost of the full encyclopedia

Chapter One

A

Abkhaz

B G Hewitt, SOAS, London, UK © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Abkhaz language (/[a.]'aps.(wa bez.){wa/) belongs to the North West Caucasian family (see Caucasian Languages). Abkhazians traditionally occupied the triangle framed in northwestern Transcaucasia between the Black Sea, the Greater Caucasus, and the river Ingur; the river Psou is now the northern frontier. This territory comprises the Republic of Abkhazia (/a.ps.'na/, capital Aqw'a, aka Sukhum), de facto independent since the war with Georgia (1992–1993) but in international law, deemed to be part of Georgia still. For most of the Soviet period it was an autonomous republic.

A wave of migrants out of Abkhazia after the Mongol incursions (14th century) removed the most divergent dialect, T'ap'anta, to the northern Caucasus (Karachay-Cherkessia). Consolidated there by Ashkharywa dialect speakers (17th and 18th centuries), today's Abaza population descended from them. Following Russia's conquest of the northwest Caucasus in 1864, most North West Caucasian speakers (including the now extinct Ubykhs) migrated to Ottoman lands, where the diaspora-communities (predominantly in Turkey) vastly outnumber the homelanders; even so, the surviving languages are endangered in all locations. The dialects of Sadz, Akhch'ypsy, and Ts'abal are no longer attested in Abkhazia; only northern Bzyp and southern Abzhywa remain. Of the 102938 Soviet Abkhazians recorded in 1989, 93 267 resided in Abkhazia, constituting 17.8% of the population. The single largest ethnic group in Abkhazia in 1989 were the Mingrelians; Abazas totalled 33801. Though 93.3% of Abkhazians claimed fluency in Abkhaz, younger generations tend to use Russian (or Turkish).

The 17th-century, half-Abkhazian traveller Evliya Celebi provided the first linguistic evidence. P. Uslar produced the first grammar (1862–1863), devising a Cyrillic-based script. An adaptation of this alphabet served the Abkhazians when the Soviets assigned them literary status (1921), though two different roman orthographies were tried during the infant USSR's latinizatsija-drive. A Georgian orthography was imposed in 1938 and replaced by another Cyrillic alphabet in 1954. This one is still used, albeit with a recent reform to regularize labialization-marking. Abaza acquired literary status only in 1932; the Abkhaz and Abaza Cyrillic scripts diverge markedly.

A comprehensive list of phonemes appears in Table 1.

Certain idiolects have /f'/ only in /a.'f'a/ 'thin' (otherwise /a.'p'a/). Bzyp boasts 67 phonemes by adding [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] to the alveolo-palatals and [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] to the back fricatives. A glottal stop, apart from possibly realizing intervocalic /q'/, is also heard in [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] 'no' (cf., /a:j/ 'yes'). Open vowel /a/ contrasts with close /a/; /a:/ might also be phonemic. Stress is distinctive.

Abkhaz(-Abaza) is unique among Caucasian languages in not employing case-markers for the verb's major arguments, relying purely on pronominal crossreferencing within the polysynthetic verb; this patterning with three sets of affixes confirms the family's ergative nature. Some preverbs distinguish directionality via an a-grade (essive/illative/allative) vs. a reduced/zero grade (elative/ablative) for the specified location.

The Stative-Dynamic opposition, verbal complexity, the relative strategy, the potential/involuntary constructions, and the preverbal grade-system are illustrated below:

(1) [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] the-womanII the-beltI itI-sheII-wear- Stat-Fin.Pres

'The woman is wearing the/a belt'

(2) [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] he-womanII the-beltI

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] itI-herII-Prev-sheIII-put-Past.N/F.Aor-Res

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] itI-II-Pot-herII-Caus- itI-II-Pot-Prev-do- Prev-do-Dyn-not.Pres Dyn-not.Pres

'I cannot make the woman put on (herself/some other woman) the belt'

(3) [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] he-womanII the-beltI

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] itI-herII-Prev-sheIII-take-Past.N/F.Aor-Res

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] itI-II-unwilling-herII- itI-II-unwilling- Caus-Prev-do-Past- Prev-do-Past- Fin.Aor Fin.Aor

'I unwillingly/involuntarily got the woman to remove the belt (from herself/some other woman)'

(4) [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] the-beltI itI-whoII-Prev-whoIII- the-womanI take-Past-N/F.P/I

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] sheI-myII-wife-Stat-Fin.Pres 'The woman who took off her belt is my wife'

The lexicon reveals Iranian, Turkish, Russian, and Kartvelian (mainly Mingrelian) influences.

Adamawa-Ubangi

J Bendor-Samuel, Summer Institute of Linguistics, High Wycombe, UK

© 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The languages grouped together as Adamawa-Ubangi belong to the Volta-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family. These languages are spoken across central Africa in an area that stretches from northeastern Nigeria through northern Cameroon, southern Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), and northern Zaire into southwestern Sudan.

The Speakers

In the absence of firm figures, the number of speakers of languages in this group can only be estimated at around eight to nine million people. Several languages with a million or more speakers belong to this group (e.g., Zande in CAR, Zaire, and Sudan; Ngbaka in North Zaire; and Gbaya in CAR and Cameroon).

Study of the Group

Little study of the languages in this group was undertaken before the 20th century. Westermann and Bryan (1952) treated them as individual units or clusters. Greenberg (1963) was the first to group them together as a branch of Niger-Congo. He used the name 'Adamawa-Eastern' for this group of languages. Samarin (1971) suggested the use of the name 'Ubangi' to replace 'Eastern.' Boyd (1989) has summarized recent studies on this language group, showing that for many of the languages there has been little detailed research. This is particularly true of the Adamawa languages. Knowledge of many of them is very sketchy.

Classification

The languages fall into two main groups – Adamawa and Ubangi. The Adamawa languages are found in northern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad, whereas the Ubangi languages are spoken in CAR, northern Zaire, and southwestern Sudan.

The Adamawa languages are divided into 16 groups: Waja (at least 6 languages), Leko (4 languages), Duru (18 languages), Mumuye (9 languages), Mbum (7 languages), Yungur (5 languages), Kam, Jen (2 languages), Longuda, Fali, Nimbari, Bua (9 languages), Kim, Day, Burak (6 languages), and Kwa.

Lexicostatistic studies show that the relationship among the groups is loose, but some of them can be grouped together so that two or perhaps three clusters emerge. The Leko, Duru, Mumuye, and Nimbari groups form a core of closely related languages. Another cluster comprises Mbum, Bua, Kim, and Day. Possibly a third cluster of Waja, Longuda, Yungur, and Jen can be formed.

The Ubangi languages show a much closer relationship to each other than do the Adamawa languages, and they fall into six main groups: Gbaya (4 languages), Banda, Ngbandi, Sere (6 languages), Ngbaka-Mba (9 languages), and Zande (5 languages).

Structural Features

Phonetics and Phonology

In Adamawa languages the set of initial consonants is much larger than the set of noninitial consonants, whereas in Ubangi languages there is little difference in size between the two sets of consonants. Most languages have either a five- or seven-vowel system. Two, three, or four contrastive tones are found. Downstep is not common.

Grammar and Syntax

Noun class systems are not universal and are found mainly in the Adamawa languages. Some only comprise paired singular and plural suffixes without concord markers.

Verb systems usually contrast perfective and imperfective forms. Verbal extensions mark iteration, intensive, benefactive, and causative. Generally, inflectional morphemes are prefixed, and derivational morphemes are suffixed.

The predominant sentence word order is SVO. Negative markers occur clause final, and interrogative markers and words occur sentence final.

Africa as a Linguistic Area

B Heine, Institut für Afrikanistik, Universität zu Köln, Köln, Germany

© 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On Linguistic Areas

A number of different definitions of linguistic areas have been proposed; what is common to most of them are the following characteristics:

1. There are a number of languages spoken in one and the same general area.

2. The languages share a set of linguistic features whose presence can be explained with reference to neither genetic relationship, drift, universal constraints on language structure or language development, nor to chance.

3. This set of features is not found in languages outside the area.

4. On account of (2), the presence of these features must be the result of language contact.

Among the linguistic areas (or Sprachbunds) that have been proposed, perhaps the most widely recognized are the Balkans and Meso-America. The African continent has been said to form a linguistic area, but so far there is no conclusive evidence to substantiate this statement.

Earlier Work

While there were a number of studies on areal relationship in Africa in the earlier history of African linguistics, Greenberg (1959) constitutes the first substantial contribution to this field. In an attempt to isolate areal patterns both within Africa and separating Africa from other regions of the world, he proposed a number of what he called 'special' features of African languages. The properties listed by Greenberg include in particular a number of lexical polysemies, such as the use of the same term for 'meat' and '(wild) animal,' the use of the same term for 'eat,' 'conquer,' 'capture a piece in a game,' and 'have sexual intercourse,' and the use of a noun for 'child' as a diminutive or of 'child of tree' to denote 'fruit of tree.' Another noteworthy contribution to areal relationship within Africa appeared in 1959: Larochette (1959) presented a catalog of linguistic properties characteristic of Congolese Bantu (Kikongo [Kituba], Luba, and Mongo [Mongo-Nkundu]), an Ubangi language (Zande), and a Central Sudanic language (Mangbetu), but many of the properties proposed by him can also be found in other regions and genetic groupings of Africa. A catalog of properties characterizing African languages was also proposed by Welmers (1974) and Gregersen (1977). Building on the work of Greenberg (1959) and Larochette (1959), Meeussen (1975) proposed an impressive list of what he called 'Africanisms,' that is, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical properties widely found in African languages across genetic boundaries.

Another seminal publication on areal relationship was published by Greenberg in 1983. Noting that there are no areal characteristics found everywhere in Africa but nowhere else, he proceeded to define areal properties "as those which are either exclusive to Africa, though not found everywhere within it, or those which are especially common in Africa although not confined to that continent" (1983: 3). As an example of the former, he mentioned clicks; as instances of the latter, he discussed in some detail the following four properties: (1) coarticulated labiovelar stops, (2) labiodental flaps, (3) the use of a verb meaning 'to surpass' to express comparison, and (4) a single term meaning both 'meat' and '(wild) animal.' He demonstrated that these four properties occur across genetic boundaries and, hence, are suggestive of being Pan-African traits, especially since they are rarely found outside Africa.

Greenberg (1983) went on to reconstruct the history of these properties by studying their genetic distribution. He hypothesized that (1), (3), and (4) are ultimately of Niger-Kordofanian origin, even though they are widely found in other African families, in particular in Nilo-Saharan languages. For (2), however, he did not find conclusive evidence for reconstruction, suggesting that it may not have had a single origin but rather that it arose in the area of the Central Sudanic languages of Nilo-Saharan and the Adamawa-Ubangi languages of Niger-Congo.

Search for areal properties across Africa is associated not the least with creole linguistics. In an attempt to establish whether, or to what extent, the European-based pidgins and creoles on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have been shaped by African languages, students of creoles pointed out a number of properties that are of wider distribution in Africa, perhaps the most detailed study being Gilman (1986).

(Continues...)

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Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world.

It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world’s major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution.

Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages are unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, by the leading scholars in linguistics.

In highlighting the diversity of the world’s languages — from the thriving to the endangered and extinct — this work will be the first point of call to any language expert interested in this huge area. No other single volume will match the extent of language coverage or the authority of the contributors of Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World.

* Extraordinary breadth of coverage: a comprehensive selection of just under 400 articles covering the world's major languages, language families, and classification structures, issues and disputes
* Peerless quality: based on 20 years of academic development on two editions of the leading reference resource in linguistics, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
* Unique authorship: 350 of the world's leading experts brought together for one purpose
* Exceptional editorial selection, review and validation process: Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie act as first-tier guarantors for article quality and coverage
* Compact and affordable: one-volume format makes this suitable for personal study at any institution interested in areal, descriptive, or comparative language study - and at a fraction of the cost of the full encyclopedia Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world. It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world's major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution. Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics , this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages are unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, by the leading scholars in linguistics. In highlighting the diversity of the world's languages - from the thriving to the endangered and extinct - this work will be the first point of call to any language expert interested in this huge area. No other single volume will match the extent of language coverage or the authority of the contributors of Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World . * Extraordinary breadth of coverage: a comprehensive selection of just under 400 articles covering the world's major languages, language families, and classification structures, issues and disputes * Peerless quality: based on 20 years of academic development on two editions of the leading reference resource in linguistics, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics * Unique authorship: 350 of the world's leading experts brought together for one purpose * Exceptional editorial selection, review and validation process: Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie act as first-tier guarantors for article quality and coverage * Compact and affordable: one-volume format makes this suitable for personal study at any institution interested in areal, descriptive, or comparative language study - and at a fraction of the cost of the full encyclopedia Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world. It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world s major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution. Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics , this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages are unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, by the leading scholars in linguistics. In highlighting the diversity of the world s languages from the thriving to the endangered and extinct this work will be the first point of call to any language expert interested in this huge area. No other single volume will match the extent of language coverage or the authority of the contributors of "Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World." * Extraordinary breadth of coverage: a comprehensive selection of just under 400 articles covering the world's major languages, language families, and classification structures, issues and disputes * Peerless quality: based on 20 years of academic development on two editions of the leading reference resource in linguistics, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics * Unique authorship: 350 of the world's leading experts brought together for one purpose * Exceptional editorial selection, review and validation process: Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie act as first-tier guarantors for article quality and coverage * Compact and affordable: one-volume format makes this suitable for personal study at any institution interested in areal, descriptive, or comparative language study - and at a fraction of the cost of the full encyclopedia "Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world. It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world's major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution. Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages are unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, by the leading scholars in linguistics. In highlighting the diversity of the world's languages - from the thriving to the endangered and extinct - this work will be the first point of call to any language expert interested in this huge area. No other single volume will match the extent of language coverage or the authority of the contributors of Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World."--BOOK JACKET. The Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is the definitive single volume resource for the world's major languages and language families, in which the world's leading experts describe the sounds, meaning, structure, and family relationships of over 350 languages. It comprises 377 articles on languages and on macro language families and regions. It extends access to 'state-of-the-art' published review information from Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Second Edition. The concise format is easy to use, easy to store and ideal for individual or small group study or discussion. This work offers an encyclopedic A-Z coverage: 377 languages in depth across 24 language families. The content derives from the most authoritative, up-to-date, comprehensive and international reference source in its field. The authors are drawn from senior academia and from all continents. Comprehensive linguistic re-indexing will allow superior reference usage and give the reader the option of going directly to the language they are looking for, or of reading the book region-by-region, language family by language family