The Languages of AustraliaDescribed by Ken Hale as 'nothing less than a masterpiece' and by P. H. Matthews as 'absolutely clear, astonishingly complete, factually fascinating', The Languages of Australia (first published in 1980 and now reissued) was a landmark in Australian linguistics. This pioneering work of synthesis covered more than two hundred Aboriginal languages, and stimulated the next generation of scholarship in the field. The author's subsequent search for an overarching theoretical model to explain the unusual properties of Australian languages finally led him to adopt a 'punctuated equilibrium' model of language development. Dixon proposed this in The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997), which provided the framework for his major work Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development (2002). The Languages of Australia is still sought after, however, as a benchmark in the discipline and because its first four chapters provide a valuable non-technical introduction that does not appear in the 2002 volume. |
Contents
Tribe and language | 23 |
Speech and song styles | 47 |
The role of language in Aboriginal Australian society today | 69 |
Vocabulary | 97 |
Phonology | 125 |
Phonological change | 195 |
Classification of Australian languages | 220 |
Word classes | 266 |
Nouns | 292 |
Pronouns | 327 |
Verbs | 378 |
Syntax | 438 |
Summary | 467 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal added addition adjective affix apical appears Australian languages bound changes chapter clause cognate common conjugation consonant continent contrast corresponding cover dative derivational described dialect discussion distinct disyllabic dropped Dyirbal English ergative evidence example fact final function further genetic genitive give given grammatical Guugu Yimidhirr identical indicates inflection initial instance intransitive involve laminal lateral linguistic locative marking meaning mentioned modern languages monosyllabic nasal nominal Note noun object occur opposition original past pattern peripheral person phoneme phonological position possible prefixing probably pronominal pronouns recent refer Rembarrnga roots semantic sentence similar single sometimes songs sounds South speakers stem stop structure style suffix suggests syllable syntactic tongue transitive tribes usually verb verbal vocabulary vowel Warlpiri Warrgamay Western Desert words Yidiny