ABSTRACT

The Routledge Handbook of North American Languages is a one-stop reference for linguists on those topics that come up the most frequently in the study of the languages of North America (including Mexico). This handbook compiles a list of contributors from across many different theories and at different stages of their careers, all of whom are well-known experts in North American languages. The volume comprises two distinct parts: the first surveys some of the phenomena most frequently discussed in the study of North American languages, and the second surveys some of the most frequently discussed language families of North America. The consistent goal of each contribution is to couch the content of the chapter in contemporary theory so that the information is maximally relevant and accessible for a wide range of audiences, including graduate students and young new scholars, and even senior scholars who are looking for a crash course in the topics. Empirically driven chapters provide fundamental knowledge needed to participate in contemporary theoretical discussions of these languages, making this handbook an indispensable resource for linguistics scholars.

part I|328 pages

Common Phenomena in North American Languages

chapter 1|32 pages

Phonological Inventories

chapter 2|33 pages

Segmental Processes

chapter 3|23 pages

Stress, Tone, and Pitch Accent

chapter 5|35 pages

The Expanded NP

Number, Possessors, Gender, Animacy, and Classifiers

chapter 9|23 pages

Switch-Reference in American Languages

A Synthetic Overview

chapter 10|20 pages

Ergativity and Ergativity Splits

chapter 12|15 pages

Antipassives

chapter 14|19 pages

Quantification

part II|258 pages

Selected Language Families and Issues in the Historical Linguistics of North America

chapter 15|34 pages

Otomanguean Languages

chapter 16|32 pages

Mayan Languages

chapter 17|27 pages

Muskogean Languages

chapter 18|28 pages

Iroquoian Languages

chapter 19|21 pages

Salish Languages

chapter 21|20 pages

Algonquian Languages

chapter 22|25 pages

Eskimo-Aleut

chapter 23|23 pages

Evaluating Proposals for Long-Distance Genetic Relationships

Uto-Aztecan vs. Plateau Penutian