Product Information
Some 800 Austronesian languages are spoken in the area extending from Madagascar to eastern Indonesia and to the north to Taiwan and the Philippines. They vary greatly in almost every possible respect, including the size and social make-up of the speech communities and their typological profiles. This book is designed to serve as a reference work and in-depth introduction to these languages, providing a source of basic information for linguists and other professionals concerned with this area. It highlights the cultural and linguistic diversity of this group of languages while at the same time keeping track of their common heritage. Five introductory articles on linguistic history, language politics, language endangerment, ritual speech and special registers, and major typological features have the entire area in their scope and provide a balanced and up-to-date discussion of the major issues. The core of the volume consists of grammatical sketches of twenty languages plus three chapters dealing with different aspects of Malay (Old Malay, Malayic varieties and Colloquial Indonesian), representing a good cross-section of the linguistic diversity found in the area.Product Identifiers
PublisherTaylor & Francis LTD
ISBN-139780415681537
eBay Product ID (ePID)108413535
Product Key Features
Book TitleThe Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar
AuthorAlexander Adelaar, Nikolaus Himmelmann
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2011
Number of Pages864 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height234mm
Item Width156mm
Additional Product Features
Series TitleRoutledge Language Family Series
EditorNikolaus Himmelmann, Alexander Adelaar
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom