TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE The earliest rock art - in the Americas as elsewhere - is geometric or abstract. Until Early Rock Art in the American West, however, no book-length study has been devoted to the deep antiquity and amazing range of geometrics and the fascinating questions that arise from their ubiquity and variety. Why did they precede representational marks? What is known about their origins and functions? Why and how did humans begin to make marks, and what does this practice tell us about the early human mind? With some two hundred striking color images and discussions of chronology, dating, sites, and styles, this pioneering investigation of abstract geometrics on stone (as well as bone, ivory, and shell) explores its wide-ranging subject from the perspectives of ethology, evolutionary biology, cognitive archaeology, and the psychology of artmaking. The authors' unique approach instills a greater respect for a largely unknown and underappreciated form of paleoart, suggesting that before humans became Homo symbolicus or even Homo religiosus, they were mark-makers - Homo aestheticus.

The traditional Hopi world, as reflected in Hopi oral literature, is infused with magic-a seamless tapestry of everyday life and the supernatural. That magic and wonder are vividly depicted in this marvelous collection of authentic folktales. For the Hopis, the spoken or sung word can have a magical effect on others. Witchcraft-the wielding of magic for selfish purposes by a powaqa, or sorcerer-has long been a powerful, malevolent force. Sorcerers are said to have the ability to change into animals such as a crow, a coyote, a bat, or a skeleton fly, and hold their meetings in a two-tiered kiva to the northeast of Hopi territory. Shamanism, the more benevolent but equally powerful use of magic for healing, was once commonplace but is no longer practiced among the Hopis. Shamans, or povosyaqam, often used animal familiars and quartz crystals to help them to see, diagnose, and cure illnesses. Spun through these tales are supernatural beings, otherworldly landscapes, magical devices and medicines, and shamans and witches. One story tells about a man who follows his wife one night and discovers that she is a witch, while another relates how a jealous woman uses the guise of an owl to make a rival woman's baby sick. Other tales include the account of a boy who is killed by kachinas and then resurrected as a medicine man and the story of a huge rattlesnake, a giant bear, and a mountain lion that forever guard the entrance to Maski, the Land of the Dead. The editor of such books as Hopi Animal Tales (Nebraska 1998), The Bedbugs' Night Dance and Other Hopi Tales of Sexual Encounter (Nebraska 1995), and Hopi Ruin Legends (Nebraska 1993), Ekkehart Malotki is a professor of languages at Northern Arizona University. Ken Gary is a writer and illustrator with a longstanding interest in the Hopis.

"Hopi Tales of Destruction" preserves seven powerful tales about ancient Hopi villages that now lie in ruins. These narratives shed considerable light on the Hopis' past, giving insight into cultural values and social motivations beyond the ability of archaeology.

The tales concern such villages as Sikyatki, Hisatsongoopavi, and Awat'ovi, which were destroyed by war, fire, earthquake, or internal strife. Though abandoned for centuries, they live in memory, reminders of ancient tragedies and enmities that changed the Hopis forever. Related by storytellers from Second and Third Mesa, these tales vividly describe village destruction and show how much human evils such as witchcraft, hubris, corruption, and betrayal of fundamental values can precipitate social disintegration and chaos.

Ekkehart Malotki, who collected the original tales in the Hopi vernacular, has carefully edited and translated the tales in this special English-language edition. His introduction, notes, and a glossary reveal what historical and archaeological research has pieced together about the villages and correlates the stories with other legends.

The fascinating world of the Hopis is brought to light in this original and informative collection of thirty animal tales featuring Field Mouse, Coyote the Trickster, Cicada and his flute, Medicine Man Badger, the Chipmunk Girls and the Antelope Kids, and many other manifestations of serpents, insects, and birds. These ancient folk tales are traditionally told in midwinter, when the nights are long and cold and all the crops are in. Highly entertaining, the narratives reveal attitudes toward important aspects of Hopi culture, such as courtship and relations between the sexes, friendship, courage, industry, healing, and the treatment of children. Ekkehart Malotki, who compiled the original tales in the Hopi vernacular, has meticulously edited and translated the tales in this special English language edition. An introduction by the distinguished folklorist Barre Toelken examines the cultural relevance of Hopi oral literature and places the tales within a wider, comparative context.

This volume brings together twenty-one traditional tales recently retold by Hopi narrators. Complete with English translations and original Hopi transcriptions on facing pages and a bilingual glossary. "Hopi Coyote Tales" is important to an understanding of the Hopi language and folklore.

To nomadic hunters such as the Navajo, who competed with him on the open range, Coyote was by turns a formidable trickster, a demonic witchperson, and a god. As sedentary planters, the Hopis tended to reduce Coyote to the level of a laughable fool. In these tales Coyote is a friendly bumbler whose mistakes teach listeners what tricks to avoid. Time after time he is hurt or killed for failing to understand a situation correctly. The collection is as amusing as animal fables should be, as simply told, and as instructive.

Published as a companion volume to Father Berard Haile's "Navajo Coyote Tales," "Hopi Coyote Tales" is a valuable contribution to cross-cultural studies.

Kokopelli the flute player is one of the most popular icons that American culture has adopted from the Native peoples of North America. The Kokopelli name and image are everywhere, adorning everything from jewelry, welcome mats, T-shirts, and money clips to motels, freeway underpasses, nature trails, nightclubs, and string quartets. Kokopelli evokes mystery and wonder, ancient ceremonies and spirituality, Mother Earth and the purity of nature.
But what exactly is Kokopelli? Just how Native American is this ubiquitous flute player? In this fascinating book, the distinguished scholar of Hopi culture and history Ekkehart Malotki describes the development of the Kokopelli phenomenon in American mass culture from its beginning to Kokopelli's present status as pan-Southwestern icon. He explores the figure's connections with the Hopi kachina god Kookopolo and Maahu, the cicada, and discusses how this rock-art image has been appropriated and misunderstood. "Kokopelli" sheds light on a little-understood aspect of Hopi culture and testifies to the continuing power of Native cultures to spark the popular imagination and interest of outsiders.