Lexical Acculturation in Native American Languages

by Cecil H. Brown

Overview

Lexical acculturation refers to the accommodation of languages to new objects and concepts encountered as the result of culture contact. This unique study analyzes a survey of words for 77 items of European culture (e.g. chicken, horse, apple, rice, scissors, soap, and Saturday) in the vocabularies of 292 Amerindian languages and dialects spoken from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. The first book ever to undertake such a large and systematic cross-language investigation, Brown's work provides fresh insights into general processes of lexical change and development, including those involving language universals and diffusion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195121612
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	02/28/1999
Series:	Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

ONE: Introduction		3	(8)
TWO: Methodology		11	(8)
THREE: Nomenclature		19	(23)
FOUR: Lexical Universals		42	(13)
FIVE: Lexical Borrowability		55	(15)
SIX: Regional Patterns and Bilingualism		70	(22)
SEVEN: Lexical Replacement		92	(13)
EIGHT: Native Term Diffusion		105	(16)
NINE: European Loan Diffusion		121	(16)
TEN: Loan Shift: A Brief Case Study		137	(7)
ELEVEN: Postcontact Linguistic Areas		144	(14)
TWELVE: Conclusion		158	(10)
APPENDIX A: Statistical Reports on Individual Items of Acculturation		168	(14)
APPENDIX B: Lexical Sources and Other Information for 292 Language Cases		182	(39)
References		221	(18)
Index of Languages, Items of Acculturation, Personal and Geographical Names		239	(14)
Subject Index		253