Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative
Linguistics (Explorations in Linguistic Typology) (Paperback)
by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Editor), R. M. W. Dixon (Editor)
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0199283087/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6913783-
5955352#reader-link>
"Book Description
Two languages can resemble each other in the categories,
constructions, and types of meaning they use; and in the forms they
employ to express these. Such resemblances may be the consequence of
universal characteristics of language, of chance or coincidence, of
the borrowing by one language of another's words, or of the diffusion
of grammatical, phonetic, and phonological characteristics that takes
place when languages come into contact. Languages sometimes show
likeness because they have borrowed not from each other but from a
third language. Languages that come from the same ancestor may have
similar grammatical categories and meanings expressed by similar
forms: such languages are said to be genetically affiliated. This
book considers how and why forms and meanings of different languages
at different times may resemble one another. Its editors and authors
aim (a) to explain and identify the relationship between areal
diffusion and the genetic development of languages, and (b) to
discover the means of distinguishing what may cause one language to
share the characteristics of another. The introduction outlines the
issues that underlie these aims, introduces the chapters which
follow, and comments on recurrent conclusions by the contributors.
The problems are formidable and the pitfalls numerous: for example,
several of the authors draw attention to the inadequacy of the family
tree diagram as the main metaphor for language relationship. The
authors range over Ancient Anatolia, Modern Anatolia, Australia,
Amazonia, Oceania, Southeast and East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The book includes an archaeologist's view on what material evidence
offers to explain cultural and linguistic change, and a general
discussion of which kinds of linguistic feature can and cannot be
borrowed. The chapters are accessibly-written and illustrated by
twenty maps. The book will interest all students of the causes and
consequences of language change and evolution. "
Paperback: 470 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 4, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199283087
ISBN-13: 978-0199283088 "
Click on "Excerpts" in the link above and scroll to page 4 for a
discussion of the family tree model.
M. Kelkar