Book notice: Wolff, Proto-Austronesian Phonology with Glossary

[Doug Cooper]

John Wolff's long-awaited "Proto-Austronesian Phonology with glossary",
is now available both in hard copy and in pdf format.  The physical book
(1,100 pages, in two volumes) may be obtained for US$60 via:

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/SoutheastAsia/publications/item.asp?id=1227
(phone (+1) 607 277-2211)

The electronic version may be found via the wonderful eCommons service
of the Cornell University Library:

http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/19308   (vol 1 description)
http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/19307   (vol 2 description)
http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/19308/2/Wolff_Phonology_Vol1_Final.pdf
http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/19307/2/Wolff_Phonology_Vol2_Final.pdf

 From the preface:
This work is the study of the history of words in the Austronesian (An) 
languages—their
origin in Proto-Austronesian (PAn) or at later stages and how they developed 
into the
forms that are attested in the current An languages.

   A study of their history entails the reconstruction of the sound system 
(phonology)
of PAn and an exposition of the sound laws (rules) whereby the original sounds
changed into those attested in the current An languages.

   The primary aim of this work is to examine exhaustively the forms that can be
reconstructed for PAn and also for the earliest stage after the An languages 
began to
spread southward from Taiwan.

   For the later stages—that is, forms that can be traced no further back than
to the proto-languages of late subgroups, we do not attempt to be exhaustive
but confine ourselves to only some of the forms that are traceable to those
times, treating those that figure prominently in the literature on historical An
linguistics or those that have special characteristics important for 
understanding
in general how forms arose and the processes that led to change.

   In short, the aim of this study is not just to reconstruct protomorphemes and
order the reflexes according to the entries they fit under, but rather to 
account for
the history of each form that is attested and explain what happened 
historically to
yield the attestations.

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