17.1521, Books: Language Description, Ket: Vajda

Wed May 17 16:35:20 UTC 2006

LINGUIST List: Vol-17-1521. Wed May 17 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.1521, 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) 
        Laura Buszard-Welcher, U of California, Berkeley  
        Sheila Dooley, 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: Svetlana Aksenova <svetlana at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

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

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

1)
Date: 17-May-2006
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Ket: Vajda 

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 12:33:32
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Ket: Vajda 

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

Publication Year: 2006 
Publisher: Lincom GmbH
	   http://www.lincom.at

Author: Edward J. Vajda, Western Washington University

Paperback: ISBN: 3895862215 Pages: 109 Price: Europe EURO 39

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 (ket)

Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=19635

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Blackwell Publishing          
		http://www.blackwellpublishing.com	

	Cambridge University Press          
		http://us.cambridge.org	

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

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

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

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

	European Language Resources Association          
		http://www.elda.org/sommaire.php	

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

	Hodder Arnold          
		http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk	

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

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

	Lincom GmbH          
		http://www.lincom.at	

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

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

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

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

	Palgrave Macmillan          
		http://www.palgrave.com	

	Rodopi          
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

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

	Springer          
		http://www.springer.com	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

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

	CSLI Publications
		http://cslipublications.stanford.edu/ 

	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/ 

	Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
		http://www.lotpublications.nl/ 

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

	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-17-1521	