Harvey / Mailhammer Proto-Australian

Reconstruction of a Common Ancestor Language
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-3-11-142188-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 24, 502 Seiten

Reihe: Studies in Language Change [SLC]ISSN

This book is the first full evaluation of the Proto-Australian hypothesis, which proposes that most Australian languages have a common ancestor: Proto-Australian [PA]. Using the standard methodologies of historical linguistics, the authors show that nearly all Australian languages descend from PA. Given that PA was a single language, it was spoken only in a small area of Australia. Its descendants have spread across the continent. Current theories of language spread do not offer clear motivations for large-scale spread in hunter-gatherer economies. This raises significant questions for analyses of Australian prehistory and archaeology specifically, and more widely for general theories of hunter-gatherer prehistory and language spread.

Zielgruppe

Researchers in Historical Linguistics, Indigenous Studies, Langua

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harvey, Mark

Mailhammer, Robert

Über Autor(innen)

Mark Harvey, University of Newcastle. Callaghan Australia; Robert Mailhammer, Western Sydney University, Australia.