American Indian languages : the historical linguistics of Native America

Summary: There is remarkably little consensus in the field, largely due to the 1987 publication of Language in the Americas by Joseph Greenberg. He claimed to trace a historical relation between all American Indian languages of North and South America, implying that most of the Western Hemisphere was settled by a single wave of immigration from Asia. This has caused intense controversy and Campbell, as a leading scholar in the field, intends this volume to be, in part, a response to Greenberg. Finally, Campbell demonstrates that the historical study of Native American languages has always relied on up-to-date methodology and theoretical assumptions and did not, as is often believed, lag behind the European historical linguistic tradition.

Record details

ISBN: 0195094271
ISBN: 9780195094275
ISBN: 0195140508
ISBN: 9780195140507
ISBN: 9786610481453
ISBN: 6610481458
Physical Description: print
xi, 512 pages : maps ; 26 cm.
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-482) and indexes.

Formatted Contents Note:

Note on the Classification Lists and the Maps -- 1. Introduction -- App. Native American Pidgins and Trade Languages -- 2. The History of American Indian Linguistics -- App. Comparison of Major Classifications of North American Languages -- 3. The Origin of Native American Languages -- 4. Languages of North America -- 5. Languages of Middle America -- 6. Languages of South America -- 7. Distant Genetic Relationships: The Methods -- 8. Distant Genetic Relationships: The Proposals -- 9. Linguistic Areas of the Americas -- Index of Languages, Language Families, and Proposed Genetic Relationships.