Serial Verbs in Oceanic: A Descriptive Typology

by Terry Crowley

Overview

This book describes the diversity of serial verb constructions within Oceanic languages. Serial verb constructions are sequences of verbs placed one after another to express meanings which in other languages are typically expressed by means of single verbs. It has long been established that West African, Southeast Asian and Papuan languages are serializing languages, but the construction has only comparatively recently been recognized in Oceanic languages, which belong to a very large sub-group of the Austronesian family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198241355
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/06/2003
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Terry Crowley is Associate Professor in the Department of General and Applied Linguistics at the University of Waikato. He has researched languages in Vanuatu for 25 years, and has written about the Paamese and Erromangan languages. He has produced a dictionary of Bislama, and a detailed account of its historical development.

Table of Contents

1. Linguistic typology and serial verbs2. Oceanic languages, serial verbs and linguistic descriptions3. Paamese serial verbs4. The distribution and evolution of Oceanic serial verbs5. The dissolution of Oceanic serial verbs6. Oceanic serial verbs and Melanesian Pidgin7. Oceanic serial verbs and the broader contextReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Clear and concise...Serial Verbs in Oceanic is a very rewarding book to read. ... It is the breadth of coverage of topics in this book that is one of its biggest strengths, and what makes it so useful, particularly for those who are not primarily specialists in Ocean or Austronesian languages."—Linguist List

From the Publisher