Gregory D. S. Anderson

The volume offers a description of the history and linguistic consequences of Russian-Turkic contacts in two adjacent republics in the Altai-Sayan region of south central Siberia, viz. Khakasia and Tuva. First an overview of Russian-Turkic contacts is offered. Next follows a lengthy outline of the standardized form of Khakas to serve as a basis of comparison for the data discussed in subsequent chapters. The complex linguistic history of Abakan, the capital of Khakasia is addressed, in particular what indigenous sources have contributed to the modern urban vernacular. This is in large part the result of intense mixing and amalgamation of the diverse dialects of Khakas. Further the role that Russian has played in shaping the modern speech variety attested in the capital city is examined in detail. Finally, Abakan Khakas data is compared with that of Kyzyl Tuvan, spoken in the capital city of the significantly less Russianized Republic of Tuva. The volume also includes a brief general discussion of the dynamics of language contact and structural change in languages under conditions of contact.

Language Contact in South Central Siberia

The Munda Verb is a unique book on the typology of the verb in the Munda language family, and the first of its kind on any language family of the Indian subcontinent. The author painstakingly works out nearly all the details of the morphology of the verb in each modern Munda language and offers a description of the typology of the Munda verbal systems both individually and collectively. The author uses a large amount of data from modern Munda languages, as well as an extensive cross-linguistic corpus offering comparisons from genetically unrelated languages such as Fox, Amele, Kinyarwanda, Luyia, Takelma, Tonkawa, Burushaski, or Tangut where relevant. Points of note include the unusual incorporation system of South Munda Sora and the elaborate and complex system of verb agreement attested in the Kherwarian Munda languages. Further, the author discusses models for a Proto-Munda verbal system and problems in its reconstruction at various points throughout. This book is of great interest to specialists working on the Munda languages, South Asian linguistics, language typology, historical linguistics and to scholars of both morphology as well as syntax.

Typological Perspectives

The Munda Verb

Auxiliary Verb Constructions in Altai-Sayan Turkic is a comprehensive survey of the rich system of auxiliary verbs found in the Altai-Sayan Turkic languages spoken in south central Siberia. This includes a discussion of the range of patterns of inflection in the auxiliary verb constructions, the development of various verbal affixes that were originally auxiliary verbs, and the wide array of functions that auxiliary verb constructions have in this group of languages. These latter include the usual tense, mood, and aspect categories that are commonly associated with auxiliary verbs across the languages of the world. In addition, auxiliary verb constructions have several less typical functions in the Altai-Sayan Turkic languages. These include both unusual modal or aspectual categories like unexpected action or 'pretend to' forms and categories relating to so-called verbal 'orientation' or 'direction' and 'version'. In the former instance, the forms mark motion toward or away from the subject, topic, or discourse locus, while the latter formations indicate whether a subject or a nonsubject is the participant primarily affected by the action of the verb.

Auxiliary Verb Constructions in Altai-Sayan Turkic

This book - the first of its kind on any language family of the Indian subcontinent - treats the typology of the verb in the Munda language family. It presents details of the verb morphology in each Munda language, including systems of agreement, tense/aspect/mood categories, noun incorporation, auxiliary verbs, negation, transitivity, etc. An exhaustive cross-linguistic corpus is used for comparison.

This is the most comprehensive survey ever published of auxiliary verb constructions, as in 'he could have been going to drink it' and 'she does eat cheese'. Drawing on a database of over 800 languages Dr Anderson examines their morphosyntactic forms and semantic roles. He investigates and explains the historical changes leading to the cross-linguistic diversity of inflectional patterns, and he presents his results within a new typological framework. The book's impressive range includes data on variation within and across languages and language families. In addition to examining languages in Africa, Europe, and Asia the author presents analyses of languages in Australasia and the Pacific and in North, South, and Meso-America. In doing so he reveals much that is new about the language families of the world and makes an important contribution to the understanding of their nature and evolution. His book will interest scholars and researchers in language typology, historical and comparative linguistics, syntax, and morphology.

Gregory D. S. Anderson

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