15.2677, Books: Language Description/Ket: Vajda

Tue Sep 28 14:45:52 UTC 2004

LINGUIST List: Vol-15-2677. Tue Sep 28 2004. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 15.2677, Books: Language Description/Ket: Vajda

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org)
        Sheila Collberg, U of Arizona
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Megan Zdrojkowski <megan at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers
are available at the end of this issue.

===========================Directory==============================

1)
Date: 22-Sep-2004
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Ket: Vajda

-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:42:01
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Ket: Vajda

Title: Ket
Series Title: Languages of the World/Materials 204

Publication Year: 2004
Publisher: Lincom GmbH
	      http://www.lincom-europa.com

Author: Edward J. Vajda, Western Washington University

Paperback: ISBN: 3895862215 Pages: 109 Price: 38 (Europe EURO)

Abstract:

Ket is the only surviving member of the formerly widespread Yeniseic
family and one of the world's more intriguing language isolates. Its
phonology, vocabulary, and grammar differ strikingly from the
surrounding families. A system of five phonemic tones, apparently
derived from simplified consonant articulations, mark the beginning
of each phonological word. Agreement-related inflections reflect a
tripartite noun-class division based on animacy and gender. The
polysynthetic verb contains ten position classes and involves a
variety of distinct agreement patterns: active/inactive,
ergative/absolutive, nominative/accusative, and two that employ
redundant subject markers. Each stem selects one of these strategies
as part of its lexical makeup. The co-indexed subject and object NPs
are zero-marked regardless of the verb's agreement type.
Incorporation affects certain intransitive subjects, as well as
objects, instruments, and directional adverbs. Important derivational
categories include event number (punctual vs. iterative) and
transitivity, with transitive and intransitive stems normally
differing in some formal way. Causatives, inceptives, and even
infinitives are distinct lexemes rather than grammatical forms of
another stem. The only verbal inflectional categories are tense
(past/non-past), mood (indicative/imperative), and agreement in
person, class, and number with at most two grammatical terms.
Particles convey other temporal and modal nuances. Most morphemes
are roots or grammatical inflections. With so few derivational affixes,
compounding is the most prevalent technique of lexeme creation.
Redundant inflections also play a role in stem formation. This is
manifested most obviously in the verb, but occurs in the noun too.

Despite its isolate status, Ket shares certain areal features with
its Uralic, Turkic, and Tungusic neighbors. These include a nominal
paradigm containing a dozen cases and a propensity to use
postpositions or case suffixes as clausal subordinators.

Ket is spoken today by a few hundred of the 1,200 Ket people, mainly
in remote areas near the Yenisei River in the Turukhansk District of
Russia's Krasnoyarsk Province. Most speakers are adults who know
Russian fluently too.

This book contains the first full-length description of Ket to appear
in English. It covers all aspects of the phonology, morphology and
syntax of Southern Ket (the dialect with the most speakers), and
briefly discusses the traditional culture and its characteristic
vocabulary. Also included is a previously unpublished folktale with
interlinear morpheme glosses and an English translation.

Linguistic Field(s): Language Description
Subject Language(s): Ket (Language Code: KET)

Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)

See this book announcement on our website:
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=11574

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Blackwell Publishing
		http://www.blackwellpublishing.com	

	Cambridge University Press
		http://www.cup.org	

	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
		http://www.continuumbooks.com	

	Edinburgh University Press
		http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/	

	Elsevier Ltd.
		http://www.elsevier.com/locate/linguistics	

	Equinox Publishing Ltd.
		http://www.equinoxpub.com/	

	Georgetown University Press
		http://www.press.georgetown.edu	

	John Benjamins
		http://www.benjamins.com/	

	Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
		http://www.erlbaum.com/	

	Lincom GmbH
		http://www.lincom-europa.com	

	MIT Press
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/	

	Mouton de Gruyter
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com	

	Oxford University Press
		http://www.oup.com/us	

	Rodopi
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
		http://www.routledge.com/	

	Springer
		http://www.springeronline.com	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

	Anthropological Linguistics
		http://www.indiana.edu/~anthling/

	Arawak Publications

	CSLI Publications
		http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/

	Canadian Journal of Linguistics
		http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=cjl/cjl.html

	Cascadilla Press
		http://www.cascadilla.com/

	Graduate Linguistic Students' Assoc., Umass
		http://glsa.hypermart.net/

	International Pragmatics Assoc.
		http://ipra-www.uia.ac.be/ipra/

	Kingston Press Ltd
		http://www.kingstonpress.com/

	Linguistic Assoc. of Finland
		http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/

	MIT Working Papers in Linguistics
		http://web.mit.edu/mitwpl/

	Multilingual Matters
		http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

	Pacific Linguistics
		http://pacling.anu.edu.au/

	Palgrave Macmillan
		http://www.palgrave.com

	Pearson Longman
		http://www.pearsoneduc.com/discipline.asp?d=LG

	SIL International
		http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp

	St. Jerome Publishing Ltd.
		http://www.stjerome.co.uk

	Utrecht Institute of Linguistics
		http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/

-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-15-2677	