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The present volume collects contributions addressing different
aspects of the measurement of linguistic differences, a topic which
probably is as old as language itself but at the same time has
acquired renewed interest over the last decade or so, reflecting a
rapid development of data-intensive computing in all fields of
research, including linguistics.
Kanashi, a Sino-Tibetan (ST) language belonging to the West
Himalayish (WH) subbranch of this language family, is spoken in one
single village (Malana in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh state,
India), which is surrounded by villages where - entirely unrelated
- Indo-Aryan (IA) languages are spoken. Until we started working on
Kanashi, very little linguistic material was available. Researchers
have long speculated about the prehistory of Kanashi: how did it
happen that it ended up spoken in one single village, completely
cut off from its closest linguistic relatives? Even though
suggestions have been made of a close genealogical relation between
Kanashi and Kinnauri (another WH language), at present separated by
over 200 km of rugged mountainous terrain, their shared linguistic
features have not been discussed in the literature. Based on
primary fieldwork, this volume presents some synchronic and
diachronic aspects of Kanashi. The synchronic description of
Kanashi includes a general introduction on Malana and the Kanashi
language community (chapter 1), linguistic descriptions of its
sound system (chapter 2), of phonological variation in Kanashi
(chapter 4), of its grammar (chapter 3) and of its intriguing
numeral systems (chapter 5), as well as basic vocabulary lists
(Kanashi-English, English-Kanashi) (chapter 9). As for the
diachronic and genealogical aspects (chapters 6-8), we compare and
contrast Kanashi with other ST languages of this region (in
particular languages of Kinnaur, notably Kinnauri), thereby
uncovering some intriguing linguistic features common to Kanashi
and Kinnauri which provide insights into their common history. For
instance: a subset of borrowed IA nouns and adjectives in both
languages end in -(a)n or -(a)s, elements which do not otherwise
appear in Kanashi or Kinnauri, nor in the IA donor languages
(chapter 6); and both languages have a valency changing mechanism
where the valency increasing marker -ja alternates with the
intransitive marker -e(d) in borrowed IA verbs (again: elements
without an obvious provenance in the donor or recipient language)
(chapter 7). These features are neither found in IA languages nor
in the WH languages geographically closest to Kanashi (Pattani,
Bunan, Tinani), but only in Kinnauri, which is spoken further away.
Intriguingly, traces of some of these features are also found in
some ST languages belonging to different ST subgroups (both WH and
non-WH), spoken in Uttarakhand in India and in western Nepal (e.g.
Rongpo, Chaudangsi, Raji and Raute). This raises fundamental
questions regarding genealogical classification, language contact
and prehistory of the WH group of languages and of this part of the
Indian Himalayas, which are also discussed in the volume (chapter
8).
The increasing globalization and centralization in the world is
threatening the existence of a large number of smaller languages.
In South Asia some locally dominant languages (e.g., Hindi, Urdu,
Nepali) are gaining ground beside English at the expense of the
lesser-known languages. Despite a long history of stable
multilingualism, language death is not uncommon in the South Asian
context. We do not know how the language situation in South Asia
will be affected by modern information and communication
technologies: Will cultural and linguistic diversity be
strengthened or weakened as they become increasingly prevalent in
all walks of life? This volume brings together areas of research
that so far do not interact to any significant extent: traditional
South Asian descriptive linguistics and sociolinguistics,
documentary linguistics, issues of intellectual and cultural
property and fieldwork ethics, and language technology. Researchers
working in the areas of documentary linguistics and language
technology have become aware of each other in the last few years,
and of how work in the other area could be potentially useful in
furthering their own aims. Similarly, the insights of documentary
linguistics are making their way into descriptive linguistics and
sociolinguistics. However, the potential for synergy among these
areas of research is almost limitless. This volume provides the
reader, not so much with a do-it-yourself recipe for applying
modern technology to the problem of language shift in South Asia
today, but rather with some basic knowledge about the problems
involved and some directions from which solutions could be
forthcoming, a toolbox rather than a blueprint, for helping to
shape the linguistic future of South Asia.
The present volume collects contributions addressing different
aspects of the measurement of linguistic differences, a topic which
probably is as old as language itself but at the same time has
acquired renewed interest over the last decade or so, reflecting a
rapid development of data-intensive computing in all fields of
research, including linguistics.
This volume is dedicated to Robin Cooper on the occasion of his
65th birthday. The honoree's contributions to formal linguistics
and language technology range from quantifier storage techniques
and generalised quantifiers to the development of foundations and
applications of a type-theoretical framework for formal semantics
and pragmatics of natural language, with a focus on linguistic
interaction in conversation. In this book the reader will find
brilliant contributions of prominent linguists, computer scientists
and philosophers which ranges over a broad repertoire of topics
related to the outstanding work of Robin Cooper.
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