[X] Anthropological Linguistics

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Vol. 42, no. 3 (Fall 2000)


Contents

Articles

Chukchi Women�s Language: A Historical-Comparative Perspective Michael Dunn305
Is There an �Ethiopian Language Area�?Mauro Tosco329
Some Phonetic Structures of ChickasawMatthew Gordon, Pamela Munro, and Peter Ladefoged366

Book Reviews

A Dictionary of the Maya Language as Spoken in Hocab�, Yucat�n (Victoria Bricker, Eleuterio Po�ot Yah, and Ofelia Dzul de Po�ot) Martha J. Macri401
Talking on the Page: Editing Aboriginal Oral Texts. Papers Given at the Thirty-Second Conference on Editorial Problems, University of Toronto, 14�16 November 1996 (Laura J. Murray and Keren Rice, editors) Anthony Mattina403
Ethiopic Documents: Argobba Grammar and Dictionary (Wolf Leslau) Grover Hudson406
Tense and Aspect in Obolo Grammar and Discourse (Uche E. Aaron) Ronald P. Schaefer408
Power, Marginality and African Oral Literature (Graham Furniss and Liz Gunner, editors) Dan Ben-Amos410
Kashmiri: A Cognitive-Descriptive Grammar (Kashi Wali and Omkar N. Koul)Alice Davison414
Arabic Verbs in Time: Tense and Aspect in Cairene Arabic (John C. Eisele) Ignacio Ferrando417
Vernacular Language: A Re-Evaluation (Andr�e Tabouret-Keller, Robert B. LePage, Penelope Gardner-Chloros, and Gabrielle Varro, editors) Erica McClure421
Codeswitching Worldwide (Rodolfo Jacobson, editor) Penelope Gardner-Chloros424
Historical Linguistics: An Introduction (Lyle Campbell) Karen M. Booker429
Nostratic: Sifting the Evidence (Joseph C. Salmons and Brian D. Joseph, editors) Stefan Georg431
Constructive Case: Evidence from Australian Languages (Rachel Nordlinger) Rob Pensalfini435

Abstracts

Chukchi Women�s Language: A Historical-Comparative Perspective

Michael Dunn
Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen

Abstract. Chukchi women�s language differs from the Chukchi men�s variety in a number of synchronically unpredictable ways, particularly with respect to an alternation between r and c/ç. This article shows that this alternation is nonarbitrary, originating from the asymmetric collapse of three cognate sets into two, such that in men�s Chukchi *r and *d > r and *c > ç, whereas in women�s Chukchi *r > r and *d and *c > c. Arguments are made that the historical motivation for this can be found in a process of dialect mixing whereby Chukchi women adopted features of nonnative Chukchi accent as a social marker.

Is There an �Ethiopian Language Area�?

Mauro Tosco
Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples

Abstract. This article addresses the question of whether or not there is an �Ethiopian language area,� as proposed by Charles A. Ferguson in 1970. Competing approaches to the concept of �language area� are evaluated, arriving at the conclusion that the existence of a language area may be conclusively de�monstrated only in the presence of genetically unrelated languages and of a multilateral convergence process. It is further argued that the notion of an �Ethiopian language area� is false. Although the Ethiopian languages display numerous common features, these are either retentions from a common Afro-Asiatic stock or the result of long-standing unilateral contact, followed by language loss and substratal retention, but without multilateral convergence towards a common model.

Some Phonetic Structures of Chickasaw

Matthew Gordon
University of California, Santa Barbara

Pamela Munro and Peter Ladefoged
University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract. This article provides a quantitative phonetic study of Chickasaw, a Muskogean language spoken in Oklahoma. Basic properties such as vowel quality, voice onset time, and consonant closure duration are examined and compared with the corresponding properties in other languages of the world. The article also investigates various quantitative properties of the typologically unusual three-way length distinction in Chickasaw vowels.

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