This book collects Joseph Greenberg's most important writings on the genetic classification of the world's languages.
Fifty years ago Joseph Greenberg put forward the now widely accepted classification of African languages. This book charts the progress of his subsequent work on language classification in Oceania, the Americas, and Eurasia,in which he proposed the language families Indo-Pacific, Amerind and Eurasiatic. It shows how he established and deployed three fundamental principles: that the most reliable evidence for genetic classification is the pairing of sound and meaning; that nonlinguistic evidence, such as skin colour or cultural traits, should be excluded from the analysis; and that the vocabulary and inflections of a very large number of languages should be simultaneously compared. The volume includes Joseph Greenberg's substantive contributions to the debate his work provoked and concludes with his writings on the links between genetic linguistics and human history.
William Croft's introduction focuses on the substance and the development of Professor Greenberg's thought and research within the context of the discussion they stimulated. He also includes a bibliography of scholarly reactions to and developments of Joseph Greenberg's work and a comprehensive bibliography of his publications in books and journals.
Arvustused
This [ book] constitutes a service to the historical linguistics community...Croft is to be congratulated in allowing us some additional insight into the development of Greenberg's ideas and his reaction to his critics. * April McMahon, Times Hig her Education *
Preface |
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vii | |
Editor's Introduction |
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xi | |
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Part I. Classification, grouping, and subgrouping |
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1 | (70) |
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Historical linguistics and unwritten languages (1953) |
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3 | (30) |
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Genetic relationship among languages (1957) |
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33 | (14) |
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The problem of linguistic subgroupings (1957) |
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47 | (12) |
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The general classification of Central and South American languages (1960) |
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59 | (6) |
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Appendix: Tentative linguistic classification of Central and South America (1960) |
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63 | (2) |
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The methodology of language classification (1963) |
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65 | (6) |
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Part II. Classification, sound correspondences, and reconstruction |
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71 | (120) |
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The principles of genetic linguistic classification (1987) |
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73 | (42) |
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Appendix: A generalization of glottochronology to n languages (1987) |
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108 | (7) |
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On lumping and splitting in linguistics and biology (1999) |
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115 | (4) |
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The concept of proof in genetic linguistics (2000) |
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119 | (16) |
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Review of Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary: Materials for a Reconstruction, by Vladimir E. Orel and Olga V. Stolbova (1996) |
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135 | (8) |
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Protolinguistic variation: a link between historical linguistics and sociolinguistics (1989) |
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143 | (10) |
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Indo-Europeanist practice and American Indianist theory in linguistic classification (1990) |
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153 | (38) |
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Part III. Indo-Pacific, Amerind, Eurasiatic |
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191 | (150) |
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The Indo-Pacific hypothesis (1971) |
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193 | (84) |
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Appendix: A comparison of Greenberg's and Wurm's classifications of the non-Austronesian, non-Australian languages of Oceania, by Timothy Usher |
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261 | (16) |
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Classification of American Indian languages: a reply to Campbell (1989) |
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277 | (10) |
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In defense of Amerind (1996) |
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287 | (38) |
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Does Altaic exist? (1997) |
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325 | (6) |
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The convergence of Eurasiatic and Nostratic (1998) |
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331 | (10) |
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Part IV. Genetic linguistics and human history |
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341 | (48) |
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Linguistic typology and history: Review of Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time by Johanna Nichols (1993) |
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343 | (6) |
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Are there mixed languages? (1999) |
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349 | (10) |
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Language and archaeology: Review of Archaeology and Language: the Puzzle of Indo-European Origins by Colin Renfrew and A Guide to the World's Languages, vol. 1: Classification, by Merritt Ruhlen (1988) |
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359 | (12) |
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Beringia and New World origins: the linguistic evidence (1996) |
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371 | (18) |
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Bibliography of Works Related to Joseph H. Greenberg's Theory and Methods for Genetic Linguistics |
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389 | (22) |
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Works by Joseph H. Greenberg on Genetic Linguistics |
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389 | (9) |
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Reviews, Commentaries, and Discussion of Joseph H. Greenberg's Works on Genetic Linguistics |
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398 | (13) |
Author Index |
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411 | (6) |
Subject Index |
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417 | |
Joseph H.Greenberg (1915-2001) was one of the twentieth-century's most original and influential linguists. He was Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University, 1962-85, where he was also Director of the African Languages and Area Center, 1967-78. His books include The Languages of Africa (1963), Anthropological Linguistics (1968) Language Typology: A Historical and Analytic Overview (1974), Language in the Americas (1987), and Indo-European and its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family (2000/2002).
William Croft received his Ph.D. in linguistics at Stanford University in 1986. His publications include Typology and Universals (1990), Syntactic Categories and Grammatical Relations (1991), Studies in Typology and Diachrony (coedited with Keith Denning and Suzanne Kemmer, 1990), Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach (2000), and a large number of scholarly articles. His current research areas include syntax, semantics, typology, and historical linguistics. Forthcoming books include Cognitive Linguistics (with D. Alan Cruse) and Verbs: Aspect and Argument Structure.