A Syntax of the Nivkh Language

The Amur dialect

Translated and edited by
Emma Š. Geniušienė | Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Editor
Ekaterina Gruzdeva | University of Helsinki
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027206060 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027271402 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00
 
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This volume, originally published in Russian in 2012, is one of the few larger works on Nivkh (Gilyak), an underinvestigated endangered Paleosiberian language-isolate, that have appeared lately. It is a descriptive grammar based on extensive language data and supplemented with the authors’ experiments and subtle analysis, aimed at elucidating some moot points of the highly specific Nivkh syntax, and with quantitave data. It focuses on syntactic and semantic types of verbs and their aspectual and temporal characteristics, various groups of verbal grammatical morphemes, the use of finite and non-finite verb forms, and especially on numerous converbs, sentence types, word order, two-predicate constructions, relative clauses, direct and indirect speech, text structure and cohesion. The typological expertise and insights of V.P. Nedjalkov and the native intuitions of G.A. Otaina combine to add value to this volume. The book will be of interest to specialists in morphosyntax, typology, general linguistics and indigenous languages.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 139] 2013.  xxx, 396 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
A Syntax of the Nivkh Language written by the leading typologist Vladimir P. Nedjalkov and native speaker Nivkh specialist Galina A. Otaina, and thoroughly edited by another leading typologist Emma Geniušienė together with Nivkh expert Ekaterina Gruzdeva is the first fully-glossed grammar of Nivkh to be published in English. Moreover, unlike previous grammars of Nivkh which paid more attention to morphonological aspects of the language, the present work is focused on syntax. Being a truly typologically-informed and typology-oriented description, A Syntax of the Nivkh Language will significantly contribute to the advancement of knowledge in general linguistics as well. Nivkh possesses a number of typologically interesting phenomena such as morphonological changes in the syntactic complexes “direct object + verb” and “attribute + head noun”, the lack of (person) agreement in the finite indicative forms but its presence in the imperative paradigm, the existence of over 20 converbal forms etc. presenting many challenges to standard linguistic assumptions. As a language isolate, which is presumably a remnant of some very old language family, Nivkh will allow us to peel back beyond our current view of Northeast Asia to make visible earlier stages of its human past.”
“This is an invaluable piece of work which resulted from a fruitful collaboration between one of the leading linguists of the time and an unparalleled native talent. The authors would be appreciated for generations for leaving this work to the academics, and the editors making it accessible to broader public.”
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CF/2Z: Linguistics/Other languages

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
ONIX Metadata
ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2013022881 | Marc record