Proto-Australian Reconstruction of a Common Ancestor Language |
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| Author:
| Harvey, Mark
Mailhammer, Robert |
| Series title: | Studies in Language Change [SLC] Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-3-11-142188-9 |
| Publication Date: | Aug 2024 |
| Publisher: | De Gruyter, Inc.
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| Imprint: | De Gruyter Mouton |
| Book Format: | Ebook |
| List Price: | USD $120.99USD $140.00 |
Book Description:
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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...
More Description
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.