The Language of Hunter-Gatherers
The Language of Hunter-Gatherers
Patrick McConvell , Australian National University, Canberra
Richard A. Rhodes , University of California, Berkeley
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Hunter-gatherers are often portrayed as 'others' standing outside the main trajectory of human social evolution. But even after eleven millennia of agriculture and two centuries of widespread industrialization, hunter-gatherer societies continue to exist. This volume, using the lens of language, offers us a window into the inner workings of twenty-first-century hunter-gatherer societies - how they survive and how they interface with societies that produce more. It challenges long-held assumptions about the limits on social dynamism in hunter-gatherer societies to show that their languages are no different either typologically or sociolinguistically from other languages. With its worldwide coverage, this volume serves as a report on the state of hunter-gatherer societies at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and readers in all geographical areas will find arguments of relevance here.
- Addresses an ongoing debate, whilst bringing new kinds of data to the argument
- Includes a valuable appendix on forager languages
- Easily accessible, it avoids using technical linguistic jargon
Reviews & endorsements
'Overall, this is a fascinating volume that presents many inter-related case studies of how language histories are shaped by HG lifeways, and especially their interaction with neighbouring food producers.' John Mansfield, LINGUIST List
Product details
February 2020Hardback
9781107003682
742 pages
235 × 155 × 36 mm
1.3kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Introductory Chapters:
- 1. Hunter-gatherer anthropology and language Tom Güldemann, Patrick McConvell and Richard Rhodes
- 2. Genetic landscape of present day hunter-gatherer groups Ellen Gunnasdóttir and Mark Stoneking
- 3. Linguistc typology and hunter-gatherer languages Balthasar Bickel and Johanna Nichols
- 4. Ethnobiology and the hunter-gatherer/food-producer divide Cecil Brown
- Part II. Africa:
- 5. Hunters and gatherers in East Africa and the case of Ontoga (Southwest Ethiopia) Mauro Tosco and Graziano SavÃ
- 6. The Khoe-Kwadi family in Southern Africa Tom Güldemann
- Part III. Tropical Asia:
- 7. Hunter-gatherers in South and Southeast Asia: the Mla-Bri Jørgen Rischel
- 8. Languages in the Malay Peninsula Niclas Burenhult
- 9. Language in the Andaman Islands Juliette Blevins
- 10. Historical linguistics and Philippine hunter-gatherers Lawrence A. Reid
- 11. Hunter-gatherers of Borneo and their languages Antonia Soriente
- Part IV. New Guinea and Australia:
- 12. The linguistic situation in near Oceana before agriculture Malcolm Ross
- 13. Language, locality and lifestyle in New Guinea Mark Donahue
- 14. Small language survival and large language expansion in aboriginal Australia Peter Sutton
- 15. Language and population shift in pre-colonial Australia: non-Pama-Nyungan languages Mark Harvey
- 16. The spread of Pama-Nyungan in Australia Patrick McConvell
- Part V. Northeastern Eurasia:
- 17. Typological accommodation in central Siberia Edward J. Vadja
- 18. Hunter-gatherers in Eastern Siberia Gregory D. S. Anderson and K. David Harrison
- Part VI. North America:
- 19. Primitivism in hunter and gatherer languages: the case of Eskimo words for snow Willem J. de Reuse
- 20. Language shift in the Subarctic and central Plains Richard A. Rhodes
- 21. Uto-Aztecan hunter-gatherers Jane H. Hill
- Part VII. South America:
- 22. Language and subsistence patterns in the Amazonian Vaupés Patience Epps
- 23. The Southern Plains and the Continental Tip Alejandra Vidal and José Braunstein.
