New Guinea: Keystone of Oceanic linguistics

For it is not going too far to assert that the languages of New Guinea, in fact of the whole insular area surrounding it, offer a very interesting linguistic constellation, not only by their peculiar features but particularly by the unusually intricate phenomena of their mutual relations. [...]there...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde land- en volkenkunde, 1953-01, Vol.109 (4), p.289-299
Main Author: Anceaux, J.C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative linguistics
Cultural background
Ethnolinguistics
Historical linguistics
Islands
Language
Linguistic anthropology
Linguistic substrata
Linguistics
Polynesian studies
Swadesh, Morris
Theoretical linguistics
Vocabulary
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For it is not going too far to assert that the languages of New Guinea, in fact of the whole insular area surrounding it, offer a very interesting linguistic constellation, not only by their peculiar features but particularly by the unusually intricate phenomena of their mutual relations. [...]there are farreaching changes going on in the linguistic situation owing to inter-lingual contact. KEYSTONE OF OCEANIC LINGUISTICS. graphical descriptions. [...]Latham discussed in 1847 in an appendix to the "Narrative of the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly" by J. Beete Jukes, the relation of the languages of Oceania (1). H. C. von der Gabelentz who collected data of many Melanesian languages, was puzzled at the striking physical differences between Melanesians and Polynesians. [...]he thought any conclusion as to the linguistic relatedness between these two areas premature. In this connection an investigation into the influence exercised on a language by a sub-stratum may spread light over the cultural background of these processes (64, 65).' [...]this area may prove to be of special interest from the point of view of general linguistics also.
ISSN:0006-2294
2213-4379
0006-2294
DOI:10.1163/22134379-90002394