Linguistic Reconstruction: An Introduction to Theory and Method (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics)

Description

How and why are languages constantly changing? Historical lingustics seeks to find out by going beyond the history of individual languages to discover the general principles which underlie language change. But our evidence is severely limited. Most of the world's languages are still unwritten, and even in areas with long written traditions, such as Europe and the Near East, documentary evidence stretches only a little way back along the path of the historical development of languages. How, then, can we uncover our long linguistic prehistory, and what can it tell us about language change? This new textbook is an accessible general guide for students with an elementary knowledge of linguistics to the methods and theoretical bases of linguistic reconstruction, and of newer, less well established principles such as the application of linguistic universals and language typology, and quantitative techniques. Finally he reviews the principles for establishing language relationships and for uncovering information about the homelands and cultures of the prehistoric speakers of reconstructed languages. FRONT-MATTERS Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Preface Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures A Note on Transcription and Transliteration LINGUISTIC RECONSTRUCTION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THEORY AND METHOD 1. Introduction 1. 1. Why Reconstruction? 1.2. The Methods of Reconstruction 1.3. The Status and Limitations of Reconstructions Notes Further Reading 2. Background to the Comparative Method 2.1. The Significance of the Comparative Method 2.2. The Origins of the Comparative Method 2.3. The Development of the Comparative Method int he Nineteenth Century 2.4. The Nineteenth Century: Conclusions NOTES FURTHER READING 3. The Comparative Method in the Twentieth Century 3.1.Introduction 3.2. Structuralist Linguistics and Language 3.3. The Comparative Method and Generative Grammar 3.4. The Twentieth Century: Further Developments NOTES FURTHER READING 4.The Comparative Method: basic procedures 4. 1. Introduction 4.2. Stages of Reconstruction 58 4.3. Setting up the Correspondences 4.4. Establishing the Proto-Phonemes 4.5. Assigning Phonetic Values 4.6. Conclusion 87 NOTES FURTHER READING 5. Comparative Reconstruction of Morphology, Syntax, and the Lexicon 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Comparative Reconstruction of Morphology 5.3. Comparative Reconstruction of Syntax 5.4. Reconstruction and the Lexicon NOTES FURTHER READING 6. Issues in Comparative Reconstruction 6.1. Introduction 6.2. The Tree Model 6.3. The Wave Model 6.4. The Uniformity of the Proto-Language 6.5. The Regularity Principle 136 6.6. The Comparative Method: Evaluation 137 NOTES FURTHER READING 7. Internal Reconstruction 7. 1. Introduction: the origin of the method 7.2. The Basis of the Method 7.3. Formalizing the Method: Stages of Reconstruction 7.4. Setting up the Correspondences 7.5. Establishing the Pre-Phonemes 155 7.6. Assigning Phonetic Values 165 7.7. Reconstructing Systems and Structures NOTES FURTHER READING 8. Applications and Implications of Internal Reconstruction 8. 1. Internal Reconstruction of Morphology 8.2. Internal Reconstruction of Syntax 8.3. 'Laws' of Language Development 194 8.4. Internal Reconstruction, Generative Phonology, and Relative Chronology 206 8.5. Internal Reconstruction and the Comparative Method 210 9. Reconstructing Language Relationships 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Criteria for Subgrouping 218 9.3. Trees and Language Relationships 224 9.4. Mass Comparison 236 NOTES FURTHER READING 10. Language Typology and Linguistic Reconstruction 10.1 The Typological Classification of Languages 10.2. Language Typology, Language Change, and Reconstruction 10.3. Typology and Phonological Reconstruction 10.4. Typology and Syntactic Reconstruction NOTES FURTHER READING 11. Quantitative Methods in Reconstruction 11.1 Introduction: The Use of Quantitative Methods 11.2. The Probabilities of Language Relationships 11.3. Lexicostatistics and Glottochronology 11.4. Quantitative Methods and Typology NOTES FURTHER READING 12. Reconstruction, Culture, and Society 12.1. Introduction 12.2. Evidence for Cultural Context 12.3 Prehistoric Homelands I2.4. Reconstructing Culture NOTES FURTHER READING BACK-MATTERS References A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z General Index Language Index Name Index Back-Cover