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The Routledge Language Family series is aimed at undergraduates and postgraduates of linguistics and language, and those with an interest in historical linguistics, linguistic anthropology and language development.
According to a widely accepted hypothesis, the Khoesan languages represent the smallest of the four language phyla in Africa, geographically distributed mainly in Botswana and Namibia. Today, only 30 or so Khoesan languages may still exist, with about 300,000 native speakers. In other words, most Khoesan languages were already extinct before a sound scholarly interest in them could begin to develop.
Drawing together a distinguished group of international experts, with much of the material taken from data collected by the authors' own field work, this volume presents descriptive, typological, historical-comparative and sociolinguistic material on Khoesan. The Khoesan Languages contains eight sections: an introduction, an overview of genetic relationships, a typological survey and profile of Khoesan, four chapters covering core linguistic areas of Khoesan phonetics and phonology, tonology, morphology and syntax, and a final chapter tackling major issues in Khoesan sociolinguistics, as well as discussions of language contact.
Comprehensive and scholarly, yet also lucid in its coverage of a broad range of languages, dialects and sub-groups, this unprecedented and original work represents the current state of Khoesan linguistics.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction. Rainer Vossen 1. General background2. Typological characteristics.3. The intended audience4. The contents5. Geographical coverageChapter 2: Genetic relationships: an overview of the evidence Henry Honken 1. Introduction2. Previous work in the field3. Agreements and disagreements4. South African Khoesan5. East African Khoesan6. For and againstChapter 3: TypologyTom Güldemann 1. Introduction2. Morphosyntax3. Phonetics and phonology4. Toward a typological profile of KhoesanChapter 4: Phonetics and phonology1. Hadza Bonny Sands 2. Sandawe Edward D.Elderkin 3. South African Khoesan3.1. Northern KhoesanAmanda Miller 3.2. Central Khoesan 3.2.1. Namibian Khoekhoe and !Gora Wilfrid H.G. Haacke 3.2.2. Hai§omThomas Widlockl 3.2.3. Kxoe subgroup Rainer Vossen3.2.4. Naro Hessel Visser 3.2.5. §Gana subgroup Hirosi Nakagawa3.2.6. Shua subgroup Rainer Vossen 3.2.7. Tshwa subgroup Rainer Vossen 3.3. Southern Khoesan (Tuu languages) Tom Güldemann 3.4. Eastern =HoanHenry HJonken 3.5. Kwadi Tom Güldemann Chapter 5: Tonology1. Hadza Bonny Sands2. Sandawe Edward D. Elderkin 3. South African Khoesan 3.1. Northern Khoesan Amanda Miller 3.2. Central Khoesan3.2.1. Namibian Khoekhoe Wilfred H.G. Haacke3.2.2. Kxoe subgroup: Khwe, §Ani Rainer Vossen 3.2.3. Naro Hessel Visser 3.2.4. §Gana subgroup: GuiHirosi Nakaga
About the author
Rainer Vossen is a University Professor and Executive Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Frankfurt upon Main, Germany.
Summary
Essential reference for this particular linguistic community, as well as for linguists working on typology and syntax.
