loading 
register   login

Classificatory Particles in Kilivila (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics)

by: Gunter Senft
en

0195092112  9780195092110  

 


Classificatory Particles in Kilivila (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics)
By Gunter Senft


 


Product Description:

Common among the world's languages is the phenomenon of classification, a partly or fully grammatical division of the noun lexicon into distinct classes that ultimately derives from the human need to classify and filter data on various levels while communicating. In this book, Senft describes and develops a grammar of classificatory particles in Kilivila, an Austronesian language of the Trobriand Islanders in Papua New Guinea. Drawing largely on his anthropological and linguistic fieldwork in the islands, and emphasizing the use of classifiers in a social context, Senft provides quantitative data and a statistical profile of the status and use of these particles, and the classifier system that employs them.



Summary: An interesting read
Rating: 4

I recieved this as a gift, by a relative who knows my desire to read the odd or obscure. I have no experience in linguistics, but I found it fascinating. Not that I understand Kilivila, or had even heard of it before reading this, but it opened my eyes to the struggles of the linguist to understand the development of a language, and to objectively document it's usage and growth. Senft's research is flawlessly documented, and easy to follow. By reading this, I gained a better understanding of a corner of the world that was previously unknown to me. Well done, Gunter!