Dialectology as Dialectic : : Interpreting Phula Variation / / Jamin R. Pelkey.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Backlist Complete English Language 2000-2014 PART1
• VerfasserIn: Pelkey, Jamin R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2011]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] , 229
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (498 p.)

Dialectology proper has traditionally focused on the geographic distribution of language variation as an end in itself and has remained relatively segregated from other branches of linguistic and extra-linguistic inquiry. Cross-fertilizing winds have been blowing through the field for more than a decade, but much work remains for adequate synthesis. This book seeks to further the interdisciplinary integration of the field by highlighting, and harnessing, the many dialectic tensions inherent in language variation research and dialect definition. Undertaking a broadscale experiment in applied dialectics, the book demonstrates multiple grounds for insisting on a more robust, integrational approach to dialectology while simultaneously demonstrating grounds for defining the Phula languages of China and Vietnam. The Phula languages belong to the Burmic sub-branch of the Tibeto-Burman family and are primarily spoken in southeastern Yunnan Province, China. With origins as early as the ninth century, these language varieties have been left undefined, and largely unresearched, for hundreds of years. Based on extensive original fieldwork, the book identifies 24 synchronic Phula languages descended from three distinct macro-clades diachronically. This is accomplished by blending typological-descriptive, historical-comparative and socio-cognitive perspectives. Diagnostics include both qualitative and quantitative measurements, and insights from history, geography, ethnology, language contact, sociolinguistics and more are called on for data interpretation. This dialogic approach incorporates complexity by asserting that dialectology itself best flourishes as an interdependent dialectic - a dynamic synthesis of competing perspectives.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of maps -- List of tables -- List of figures -- General abbreviations -- Data source abbreviations -- Chapter 1 Introduction Synchronic Phula in diachronic perspective -- Chapter 2 Research background Field methods, theory, and dialectology -- Chapter 3 Synchronic language definitions Identity, intelligibility, and contact -- Chapter 4 Ethnolinguistic vitality Contact, endangerment and shift -- Chapter 5 Phula phonologies Five representative sketches -- Chapter 6 The language clades of Phula Proper Establishing historical subgroupings -- Chapter 7 Phula and Southeastern Ngwi Sani, Axi, Azhe, Azha, Nisu, and Phula Proper -- Chapter 8 Conclusion Diachronic Phula in synchronic perspective -- Appendix A Sociolinguistic questionnaires -- Appendix B Lexical elicitation datasheet sample -- Appendix C Similarity and distance matrices -- Appendix D Sample RTT translation -- Notes -- References -- Index