This chapter poses the question “What does it mean to be an isolating language?” and addresses it by offering a case study of such a language, Riau Indonesian. First, this chapter surveys the debate concerning the viability of the notion of word as a comparative concept, proposes a definition of… read more
How and why did Riau Indonesian acquire its isolating profile? Its isolating structure may traced back continuously through a series of increasingly large language networks – Malay/Indonesian koinés, Malay/Indonesian in general, Malayic, Western Nusantara, and the Mekong-Mamberamo linguistic… read more
How complex are isolating languages? The Compensation Hypothesis suggests that isolating languages make up for simpler morphology with greater complexity in other domains, such as syntax and semantics. This paper provides detailed argumentation against the Compensation Hypothesis. A… read more
This paper presents empirical evidence for a theory of syntactic categories in the tradition of categorial grammar, in which more complex categories are derived from simpler ones by means of category formation operators. In Jakarta Indonesian, almost all words and larger expressions belong to a… read more
1.Introduction
2. Macrofunctionality
3. Riau Indonesian
4. Sama: Description
4.1 The functions of sama
4.2 Sama plus reduplication
4.3 Sama and other forms
5. Sama: Analysis
5.1 Cross-linguistic replicability
5.2 Fuzziness of boundaries
5.3 Unified syntactic and… read more