The rise of language typology and and increasing interest in the study of language universals have produced a large number of theoreticians who require accurate, well-formulated descriptive data from a wide range of languages. The Descriptive Grammars series provides the required framework, making cross-language comparisons possible and enabling a really fruitful interaction between theoretical and descriptive linguistics. A wide variety of well-known and lesser-known languages are covered and the information is arranged to be readily accessable to linguists working on language universals, language typology, comparative syntax, morphology, or phonology.
By Merja Karalainen, Helena Sulkala
February 05, 2013
Finnish is one of the Finno-Ugrian family of languages, and being historically linked with Swedish, can be compared with that language, particularly in its vocabulary. There are about five million native speakers of the language and large Finnish-speaking minorities in Norway, Sweden, the USA and ...
By Veronica du Feu
October 11, 2010
Rapanui, the language of Easter Island, is in danger of extinction. A Polynesian language, closely related to Maori, it is spoken by less than 2000 people. This description, based on recordings made in the 1980s and on information provided by the islanders, represents Veronica De Feu's ...
By Clive Holes
January 11, 2011
Gulf Arabic is the term used to refer to a number of related dialects which are spoken along the Gulf littoral from northern Kuwait to Oman. The people who live in this area are linked to each other by trading and seafaring traditions which go back many centuries, as well as by the complex tribal ...
By Istvan Kenesei, Robert M. Vago, Anna Fenyvesi
October 11, 2010
Hungarian is spoken by 14-15 million people worldwide. A unique language, completely unrelated to the languages of its neighbouring countries, it boasts a grammar full of complex features and vocabulary of basically Uralic (Finno-Ugric) origin. Hungarian addresses current issues in the description ...
By Omkar N. Koul, Kashi Wali
October 11, 2010
Kashmir boasts a language which challenges every field of linguistics. Kashmiri is spoken by approximately 3,000,000 people. Its syntax, similar to Germanic and other verb second languages, has raised many significant issues within current generative theories proposed by Chomsky and other prominent...
By Winifred Bauer
October 11, 2010
This descriptive grammar provides a uniquely comprehensive description of Maori, the East Polynesian language of the indigenous people of New Zealand. Today, the language is under threat and it seems likely that the Maori of the future will differ quite considerably from the Maori of the ...
By John Hinds
August 10, 2010
First published in 2003. Present day Japanese has a basic word order of subject, object,, verb (SOV). As a result, it has postpositions rather than prepositions, branching is to the left. rather than to the right, and inflectional endings are added to the right rather than to the left. The goal of ...
By Shahrzad Mahootian
April 01, 2010
Persian, or Farsi, is one of the world's oldest languages. Dating back to the sixth century B.C., it is spoken today by over forty million people in Iran and 5 million in Afghanistan. Now available in paperback for the first time, this comprehensive grammar of Persian provides detailed ...