36.1128, Books: The Expression of Information Structure in Bantu: van der Wal (ed.) (2025)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1128. Wed Apr 02 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1128, Books: The Expression of Information Structure in Bantu: van der Wal (ed.) (2025)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Joel Jenkins, Daniel Swanson, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Joel Jenkins <joel at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 01-Apr-2025
From: Sebastian Nordhoff [sebastian.nordhoff at langsci-press.org]
Subject: The Expression of Information Structure in Bantu: van der Wal (ed.) (2025)


Title: The expression of information structure in Bantu
Series Title: Contemporary African Linguistics
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Language Science Press
           http://langsci-press.org
Book URL: https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/463

Editor(s): Jenneke van der Wal

eBook
Hardcover

Abstract:

The Bantu language family is spread over a large area of Africa,
stretching from Cameroon to Kenya to South Africa, and comprises an
estimated 555 languages. The languages show a large amount of
small-scale variation while at the same time forming part of one
relatively uniform family within Niger-Congo. Interestingly, the
morphosyntax of these languages has been observed to be heavily
influenced by information structure. Studying the expression of
information structure in Bantu is therefore of great importance not
only for developing cognitive models of the role of information
structure in language, but also for understanding the basic
grammatical structure of the Bantu languages themselves. Before
modelling the interaction between syntax and information structure in
Bantu, however, a thorough empirical description of the expression of
information structure in Bantu should be available. That description
is what this book aims to provide.
This book follows from a systematic investigation of information
structure in the languages of the BaSIS research project (Bantu Syntax
and Information Structure). The data come from original field research
conducted using the BaSIS methodology, which was specifically
developed to investigate the expression of information structure in
Bantu. The book contains a comprehensive introduction chapter which
explains the main terms and issues in the field of information
structure, the methodology employed in the project, and common
structures which characterise topic and focus expression in Bantu. The
introduction is then followed by eight chapters which each give
detailed descriptive overviews of the expression of information
structure in a different Bantu language, namely Tunen (Guthrie
classification A44, Cameroon), Teke-Kukuya (B77, Congo), Kîîtharaka
(E54, Kenya), Kirundi (JD62, Burundi), Rukiga (JE14, Uganda),
Kinyakyusa (M31, Tanzania), Makhuwa-Enahara (P31, Mozambique), and
Cicopi (S61, Mozambique).
Taken together, the book provides detailed information on the
expression of information structure in the Bantu family. It is
intended both to inform future theoretical work and to provide a
methodology and model for the investigation of information structure
that can be used in studies of other languages.

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     Typology

Subject Language(s): Makhuwa (vmw)
                     Teke-Kukuya (kkw)
                     Tunen (tvu)




------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List to support the student editors:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

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

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

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

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

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

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

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

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

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1128
----------------------------------------------------------