Concise encyclopedia of the languages of the world

CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

LANGUAGES
OF THE WORLD


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CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

LANGUAGES
OF THE WORLD
COORDINATING EDITOR
KEITH BROWN
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK
CO-EDITOR
SARAH OGILVIE
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK


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Cover image: Adapted from Orbis Terrarum Nova (1594) by Petro Plancio


THE EDITORS

Keith Brown was Editor-in-Chief of the second edition of the Encyclopedia of
Language and Linguistics (Elsevier, 2006). He is now an Associate Lecturer in
the Faculty of English at Cambridge. From 2007 he has been President of the
Philological Society. From 1990 to 1994 he was President of the Linguistics
Association of Great Britain, and he has been a Member of Council of the
Philological Society since 1998. He is author of Linguistics Today (Fontana,
1984) and co-author, with Jim Miller, of Syntax: A Linguistic Introduction to
Sentence Structure and Syntax: Generative Grammar (Hutchinson, 1981).
Keith was joint editor of Concise Encyclopedia of Linguistic Theories and
Concise Encyclopedia of Grammatical Categories (Pergamon Press, 1997
and 1998), Common Denominators in Art and Science (Aberdeen University
Press, 1983) and Language, Reasoning and Inference (Academic Press, 1986).

Sarah Ogilvie, Trinity College, Oxford, is a linguist and lexicographer
who specializes in words that enter English from non-European languages.
She was Languages of the World section editor of the second edition of the

Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Elsevier, 2006), a former editor of
the Oxford English Dictionary, and was Etymologies Editor of the Shorter
Oxford Dictionary (6th ed., 2007).


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ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ARTICLES

Abkhaz
Adamawa-Ubangi
Africa as a Linguistic Area
Afrikaans
Afroasiatic Languages
Ainu
Akan
Akkadian
Albanian
Algonquian and Ritwan Languages
Altaic Languages
Amharic
Anatolian Languages
Ancient Egyptian and Coptic
Andean Languages
Arabic
Arabic as an Introflecting Language
Arabic Languages, Variation in
Aramaic and Syriac
Arawak Languages

Areal Linguistics
Armenian
Arrernte
Artificial Languages
Assamese
Australia: Language Situation
Australian Languages
Austric Hypothesis
Austroasiatic Languages
Austronesian Languages
Austro-Tai Hypotheses
Avestan
Aymara´
Azerbaijanian
Bactrian
Balinese
Balkans as a Linguistic Area
Balochi

Balto-Slavic Languages
Bantu Languages
Bashkir
Basque
Belorussian
Bengali
Benue–Congo Languages
Berber
Bikol
Bislama
Brahui

Breton
Bulgarian
Burmese
Burushaski
Caddoan Languages
Cape Verdean Creole
Cariban Languages
Catalan
Caucasian Languages
Cebuano
Celtic
Central Siberian Yupik as a Polysynthetic Language
Central Solomon Languages
Chadic Languages
Chibchan
Chimakuan Languages
Chinantec: Phonology
Chinese
Chinese as an Isolating Language
Choco Languages
Chorasmian
Chukotko-Kamchatkan Languages
Church Slavonic
Chuvash
Classification of Languages
Cornish
Cree


viii Alphabetical List of Articles

Creek
Crow
Cupen˜o
Cushitic Languages
Czech
Danish
Dardic
Dhivehi
Diachronic Morphological Typology
Dinka
Dogon
Domari
Dravidian Languages
Dutch
Eblaite
Efik
Elamite
Endangered Languages
English in the Present Day
English, African-American Vernacular
English, Early Modern
English, Later Modern (ca. 1700–1900)
English, Middle English
English, Old English
English, Variation in Nonnative Varieties
English: World Englishes
Eskimo–Aleut
Esperanto
Estonian

Ethiopia as a Linguistic Area
Ethiopian Semitic Languages
Ethnologue
Etruscan
Europe as a Linguistic Area
Evenki
Ewe
Fanagalo
Fijian
Finnish
Finnish as an Agglutinating Language
Flores Languages
Formosan Languages
Franglais
French
Fulfulde
Galician
Gamilaraay
G < z
Georgian
German
Germanic Languages
Gikuyu
Goidelic Languages
Gondi
Gothic

Greek, Ancient
Greek, Modern
Guaranı´

Gujarati
Gullah
Gur Languages
Guugu Yimithirr
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hawaiian Creole English
Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish
Hebrew, Israeli
Highland East Cushitic Languages
Hiligaynon
Hindi
Hindustani
Hiri Motu
Hittite
Hmong-Mien Languages
Hokan Languages
Hopi
Hungarian
Hurrian
.Ijo.
Ilocano
Indo-Aryan Languages
Indo-European Languages
Indo-Iranian
Inupiaq
Iranian Languages
Iroquoian Languages
Italian
Italian as a Fusional Language

Italic Languages
Japanese
Javanese
Je`rriais
Jewish Languages
Jiwarli
Kalkutungu
Kannada
Kanuri
Kapampangan
Karen Languages
Kashmiri
Kayardild
Kaytetye
Kazakh
Keres
Ket
Khasi
Khmer
Khoesaan Languages
Khotanese
Kinyarwanda

ee


Alphabetical List of Articles ix

Kirghiz
Kordofanian Languages

Korean
Krio
Kru Languages
Kurdish
Kurukh
Kwa Languages
Lahnda
Lak
Lakota
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Long-Range Comparison: Methodological Disputes
Louisiana Creole
Luganda
Luo
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Macro-Jeˆ
Madang Languages
Madurese
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Malayo–Polynesian Languages
Maltese
Malukan Languages
Mambila
Manambu

Mande Languages
Maori
Mapudungan
Marathi
Mayan Languages
Michif
Misumalpan
Mixe-Zoquean Languages
Mobilian Jargon
Mon
Mongolic Languages
Mon-Khmer Languages
Morphological Typology
Morrobalama
Munda Languages
Muskogean Languages
Na–Dene Languages
Nahuatl
Native American Languages
Native Languages of North America, Variation in
Navajo
Nenets
Nepali

Ngan’gi
Niger-Congo Languages
Nilo-Saharan Languages
Niuean
Nivkh
Norse and Icelandic

North Philippine Languages
Norwegian
Nostratic Hypothesis
Nuristani Languages
Nuuchahnulth
Nyanja
Occitan
Old Church Slavonic
Omaha-Ponca
Omotic Languages
Oneida
Oromo
Ossetic
Oto-Mangean Languages
Pahlavi
Palenquero
Pa¯li
Panoan Languages
Papiamentu
Papuan Languages
Pashto
Persian, Modern
Persian, Old
Phoenician
Pictish
Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins and Creoles, Variation in
Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara
Polish
Pomoan Languages

Portuguese
Punjabi
Quechua
Rhaeto Romance
Riau Indonesian
Romance Languages
Romani
Romanian
Russenorsk
Russian
Ryukyuan
Saami
Salishan Languages
Samar-Leyte
Sango
Sanskrit
Santali
Scots
Scots Gaelic


x Alphabetical List of Articles

Semitic Languages
Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian Linguistic Complex
Shona
Sign Languages
Sign Language: Morphology
Sign Languages of the World
Sindhi

Sinhala
Sino-Tibetan Languages
Siouan Languages
Skou Languages
Slavic Languages
Slovak
Slovene
Sogdian
Somali
Songhay Languages
Sorbian
South Asia as a Linguistic Area
South Philippine Languages
Southeast Asia as a Linguistic Area
Southern Bantu Languages
Spanish
Sumerian
Swahili
Swedish
Syriac
Tagalog
Tahitian
Tai Languages
Tajik Persian
Tamambo
Tamil
Tanoan
Tariana
Tatar
Telugu

Thai
Tibetan
Tigrinya
Tiwi

Tocharian
Toda
Tohono O’odham
Tok Pisin
Torricelli Languages
Totonacan Languages
Trans New Guinea Languages
Tsotsi Taal
Tucanoan Languages
Tungusic Languages
Tupian Languages
Turkic Languages
Turkish
Turkmen
Ugaritic
Ukrainian
United States of America: Language Situation
Uralic Languages
Urdu
Uto-Aztecan Languages
Uyghur
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Vure¨s
Wa

Wakashan
Wambaya
Warlpiri
Welsh
West Greenlandic
West Papuan Languages
Wolaitta
Wolof
Xhosa
Yakut
Yanito
Yiddish
Yoruba
Yukaghir
Zapotecan
Zulu


SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION

Note that italicized titles are included for classification purposes only and do not cross-refer to articles.

Areal Linguistics
Africa as a Linguistic Area
Balkans as a Linguistic Area
Ethiopia as a Linguistic Area
Europe as a Linguistic Area
South Asia as a Linguistic Area
Southeast Asia as a Linguistic Area
Afroasiatic Languages

Ancient Egyptian and Coptic
Berber Languages
Chadic Languages
Hausa
Cushitic Languages
Highland East Cushitic Languages
Oromo
Somali
Omotic Languages
Wolaitta
Semitic Languages
Eblaite
Central
Arabic
Arabic Languages, Varation in
Aramaic and Syriac
Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish
Hebrew, Israeli
Jewish languages
Maltese
Phoenician
Syriac
Ugaritic

Eastern
Akkadian
Southern
Ethiopian Semitic Languages
Amharic
G < z

Tigrinya
ee

Introduction
List of Abbreviations
Classification of Languages

Altaic Languages
Mongolic Languages
Tungusic Languages
Evenki
Turkic Languages
Azerbaijanian
Bashkir
Chuvash
Kazakh
Kirghiz
Tatar
Turkish
Turkmen
Uyghur
Uzbek
Yakut
Australian Languages
Australia: Language Situation
Mirndi
Wambaya
Pama-Nyungan
Arrernte
Gamilaraay

Guugu Yimithirr
Jiwarli
Kalkutungu


xii Subject Classification

Kaytetye
Morrobalama
Pitjantjatjara / Yankunytjatjara
Warlpiri
Southern Daly
Ngan’gi
Tangkic
Kayardild
Tiwi
Austroasiatic Languges
Mon-Khmer Languages
Eastern
Khmer
Northern
Khasi
Vietnamese
Wa
Southern
Mon
Munda Languages
Santali
Austronesian Languages
Formosan Languages

Malayo-Polynesian Languages
Central
Flores Languages
Malukan Languages
Oceanic
Fijian
Maori
Tahitian
Tamambo
Vures
Western
Balinese
Bikol
Cebuano
Hawaiian
Hiligaynon
Ilocano
Javanese
Kapampangan
Madurese
Malagasy
Malay
Niuean
North Philippine Languages
Riau Indonesian
Samar-Leyte
South Philippine Languages
Tagalog

Caucasian Languages

Abkhaz
Georgian
Lak
Chukotko-Kamchatkan Languages
Dravidian Languages
Brahui
Gondi
Kannada
Kurukh
Malayalam
Tamil
Telugu
Toda
Hmong-Mien Languages
Indo-European Languages
Albanian
Anatolian Languages
Hittite
Armenian
Balto-Slavic Languages
Baltic Languages
Latvian
Lithuanian
Slavic Languages
Belorussian
Bulgarian
Church Slavonic
Czech
Macedonian
Old Church Slavonic

Polish
Russian
‘Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian Linguistic Complex’
Slovak
Slovene
Sorbian
Ukrainian
Celtic
Breton
Cornish
Goidelic Languages
Pictish
Scots Gaelic
Welsh
Germanic Languages
Afrikaans
Danish
Dutch
English, Old English
English, Middle English


Subject Classification xiii

English, Early Modern
English, Later Modern (ca. 1700–1900)
English in the Present Day
English, World Englishes
English, African-American Vernacular
English, Variation in Nonnative Varieties

German
Gothic
Luxembourgish
Norse and Icelandic
Norwegian
Scots
Swedish
Yiddish
Hellenic
Greek, Ancient
Greek, Modern
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan Languages
Assamese
Bengali
Dardic
Kashmiri
Dhivehi
Domari
Gujarati
Hindi
Hindustani
Lahnda
Marathi
Nepali
Nuristani Languages
Pa¯li
Punjabi
Romani
Sanskrit

Sindhi
Sinhala
Urdu
Iranian Languages
Avestan
Bactrian
Balochi
Chorasmian
Khotanese
Kurdish
Ossetic
Pahlavi
Pashto
Persian, Modern
Persian, Old
Sogdian
Tajik Persian
Italic Languages
Latin

Romance Languages
Catalan
French
Galician
Italian
Je`rriais
Occitan
Portuguese
Rhaeto Romance
Romanian

Spanish
Tocharian
Khoesaan Languages
Niger-Congo Languages
Adamawa-Ubangi
Atlantic Congo Languages
Fulfulde
I. jo.
Wolof
Benue-Congo Languages
Efik
Mambila
Bantu Languages
Gikuyu
Kinyarwanda
Luganda
Nyanja
Shona
Southern Bantu Languages
Swahili
Xhosa
Zulu
Dogon
Gur Languages
Kru Languages
Kwa Languages
Akan
Ewe
Yoruba
Kordofanian Languages

Mande Languages
Nilo-Saharan Languages
Dinka
Kanuri
Luo
Songhay Languages
North American and Middle American Languages
Algonquian and Ritwan Languages
Cree
Michif
Caddoan Languages
Chibchan


xiv Subject Classification

Chimakuan Languages
Eskimo-Aleut
Inupiaq
West Greenlandic
Hokan Languages
Pomoan Languages
Iroquoian Languages
Oneida
Keres
Mayan Languages
Misumalpan
Mixe-Zoquean Languages
Muskogean Languages
Creek

Na-Dene Languages
Navajo
Native American Languages
Native Languages of North America, Variation in
Oto-Mangean Languages
Chinantec: Phonology
Zapotecan
Salishan Languages
Siouan Languages
Crow
Lakota
Omaha-Ponca
Tanoan Languages
Totonacan Languages
United States of America: Language Situation
Uto-Aztecan Languages
Cupen˜o
Hopi
Nahuatl
Tohono O’odham
Wakashan
Nuuchahnulth
Papuan Languages
Central Solomon Languages
Manambu
Skou Languages
Torricelli Languages
Trans New Guinea Languages
Madang Languages
West Papuan Languages

Pidgins and Creoles
Bislama
Cape Verdean Creole
Fanagalo
Franglais
Gullah

Hawaiian Creole English
Hiri Motu
Krio
Louisiana Creole
Mobilian Jargon
Palenquero
Papamientu
Pidgins and Creoles, Variation in
Russenorsk
Sango
Tok Pisin
Tsotsi Taal
Yanito
Sign Languages
Sign Languages of the World
Sign Language: Morphology
Sino-Tibetan Languages
Sinitic Languages
Chinese
Tibeto-Burman Languages
Burmese
Karen Languages
Tibetan

South American Languages
Andean Languages
Aymara´
Quechua
Arawak Languages
Tariana
Cariban Languages
Choco Languages
Macro-Jeˆ
Mapudungan
Panoan Languages
Tucanoan Languages
Tupian Languages
Guarani
Tai Kadai Languages
Lao
Thai
Uralic Languages
Estonian
Finnish
Hungarian
Nenets
Saami


Subject Classification xv

Language Isolates and Languages of Disputed
Affiliation
Ainu

Basque
Burushaski
Elamite
Etruscan
Hurrian
Japanese
Ket
Korean
Nivkh
Ryukyuan
Sumerian
Yukaghir
Artificial Languages
Esperanto

Issues in Language Typology and Classification
Endangered Languages
Ethnologue
Morphological Typology
Diachronic Morphological Typology
Arabic as an Introflecting Language
Chinese as an Isolating Language
Central Siberian Yupik as a Polysynthetic
Language
Finnish as an Agglutinating Language
Italian as a Fusional Language
Long-Range Comparison: Methodological
Disputes
Austric hypothesis
Austro-Tai hypothesis

Nostratic hypothesis


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INTRODUCTION

In this volume, the world’s leading experts describe many of the languages of the world. It is estimated that there
are more than 250 established language families in the world, and over 6800 distinct languages, many of which
are threatened or endangered. This volume provides the most comprehensive survey available on a large
proportion of these. It contains 377 articles on specific languages or language families drawn from the two
editions of the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (ELL). The articles describe the sounds, meaning,
structure, and family relationships of the languages, and have been chosen to illustrate the range and diversity of
human language.
The Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is unrivalled in its scope and content. We include
articles on all the large language families, such as Austronesian by Tony Crowley, Niger-Congo by John BendorSamuel, and Indo-European by Neville Collinge; on many smaller families, like the North American Iroquoian
by Marianne Mithun and Caddoan by David Rood; and on many ‘language isolates’, languages with disputed
genetic affiliation to any other language, such as Burushaski by Greg Anderson, Basque by Jose´ Hualde, and
Japanese by Masayoshi Shibatani. We have included a few languages which are no longer spoken but which
have been important for historical linguistics, like Ancient Egyptian by John Ray, Hittite by J G McQueen, and
Pictish by William Nicolaisen. There are also articles on pidgins and creoles spoken all over the world, from an
article by Suzanne Romaine on Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea to another by Raj Mesthrie on Fanagalo in
southern Africa; as well as various articles on Sign languages by Wendy Sandler, Ulrike Zeshan, and Trevor
Johnston respectively.
All the world’s major languages are covered with articles on Chinese by Yueguo Gu, Arabic by Stephan
Procha´zka, Hindi by Shaligram Shukla, and Spanish by Roger Wright. English is thoroughly described with
articles on all its periods by Cynthia Allen (Old English), Jeremy J Smith (Middle English), Helena RaumolinBrunberg (Early Modern English), Joan Beal (Later Modern English), Michael Swan (English in the Present
Day), and Braj Kachru (World Englishes). Inevitably some of the languages described in this volume have very
small numbers of speakers and hence are in danger of being overwhelmed and lost altogether. Some linguists

estimate that as many as 50–80% of the world’s languages may be at risk of extinction in the next century. Many
communities and linguists around the world are working together to develop innovative ways of passing on
their languages to future generations. The article Endangered Languages by Lenore Grenoble describes some of
the reasons for language loss and proposes practical means of assessing language vitality.
The Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is the definitive resource on the languages of the world
in one compact volume. Each language article gives a brief description of the language and its speakers, together
with any known or hypothesized genetic relationships, and highlights interesting phonological, semantic, and
syntactic features. Similarly, the articles on language families outline the membership and distribution of the
family and highlight any particular phonological, semantic, or syntactic features common to the family. There is
a list of useful references for further reading at the end of each article. The articles are ordered alphabetically
by language, so the reader who wishes to see the overall coverage in a particular family or area will find it
helpful to consult the subject classification in the front of the volume. Many languages are known in the
literature under different names or spellings. Authors have highlighted these differences, and, in some cases,
explained why they have chosen one name or spelling over another. For ease of reference, all variant language


xviii Introduction

names and spellings are listed in the index. Just because a language does not have its own article, does not mean
that it is not discussed in another article, so users of this volume are encouraged to work from the index in order
to find information on the language they want.

The Notion ‘Language’
The identification of different languages is not a straightforward matter. Every language is characterized by
variation within the speech community that uses it. If the resulting speech varieties are sufficiently similar as to
be considered merely characteristic of a particular geographic region or social grouping they are generally
referred to as dialects, so Cockney and Norfolk are usually considered to be dialects of English. Sometimes
social, political and historical pressures are such that the varieties are considered to be distinct enough to be
treated as separate languages, like Swedish and Norwegian or Hindi and Urdu. Often the question of whether
two languages are varieties of a single language or distinct languages is much argued over, like Macedonian and

Bulgarian, or English and Scots. The naming of a language is another point of possible contention. While most
linguists estimate around 6800 languages in the world, they also recognise four or five times that number of
language names. A particular language may be known by one name to scholarship and another to its speakers;
thus the name ‘Akan’ is not generally used by speakers of the language since Akan speech forms constitute a
dialect continuum running from north to south in Ghana and different communities refer to their tongue by
different names – Asante, Fante, Twi, Akuapem, Brong, Akyem or Kwahu.

Language Classification
Languages can be classified in a number of different ways and for a number of different purposes. The most
common classification is ‘genetic’, which classifies languages into families on the basis of descent from a
presumed common ancestor. ‘Areal’ classification groups languages together either on the basis of structural
features shared across language boundaries within a geographical area, or more straightforwardly simply
within a geographical area. A ‘lexicostatistic’ classification uses word comparisons as evidence of language
relationships. A ‘typological’ classification supposes a small set of language types, traditionally word types
(isolating, agglutinating, fusional, polysynthetic), to which languages can be assigned.
Genetic classification The article Classification of Languages by Barry Blake describes the principles
underlying the classification of languages adopted in ELL2 and hence in this work. It is accompanied by a
map showing the location of major language groupings worldwide. This approach is one in which languages are
classified into families, based on divergence from a presumed common ancestor. Good examples are the
Dravidian languages of Southern India and Indo-European. The Indo-European family includes most of the
languages of Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, and the northern part of South Asia. These languages can be shown to
descend from a common ancestor, a common protolanguage. There are no records of the ancestral language, but
it can be reconstructed from records of daughter languages such as Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, and Latin by using
what is known as the ‘comparative method’. The method is briefly explained in the article. The comparative
method relies on the existence of historical records and while this is possible for Indo-European and Dravidian
languages, it is not possible in the same way for other proposed language families – the indigenous languages of
the Americas or of Australia for example.
More speculative classifications, far from universally accepted, relate more language families together and
hence try to explore language further back in time. These efforts are discussed in Lyle Campbell’s article LongRange Comparison: Methodological Disputes. One of the boldest and most controversial is the Nostratic
hypothesis, which proposes a macrofamily consisting of Indo-European, Semitic, Berber, Kartvelian, Uralic,

Altaic, Korean, Japanese, and Dravidian. Similarly ambitious is the proposed Austro-Tai hypothesis combining
Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao), the Tai-Kadai (or Daic) family, and Austronesian. The Austric hypothesis extends
this proposal to include Austroasiatic.
Areal classification There is a broader and a looser sense in which an areal classification can be useful. The
looser sense simply groups languages together regionally. Here genetic affiliations are not firmly established but
shared lexicon and similar structural features suggest that the languages in question have been in contact with
each other over a long period of time. In the stricter sense, areal linguistics is concerned with the diffusion of
structural features across language boundaries within a geographical area. The term ‘linguistic area’ refers to a
geographical area in which, due to borrowing and language contact, languages of a region come to share certain
structural features – not just loanwords, but also shared phonological, morphological, syntactic, and other


Introduction xix

traits. The central feature of a linguistic area is the existence of structural similarities shared among languages
where some of the languages are genetically unrelated, like Turkish and Greek in the Balkans. It is assumed that
the reason the languages of the area share these traits is through contact and borrowing. In addition to a general
article on Areal Linguistics by Lyle Campbell, this volume also includes articles on areas which have been
particularly studied from an areal point of view: Africa as a Linguistic Area by Bernd Heine; Balkans as a
Linguistic Area by Victor Friedman; Ethiopia as a Linguistic Area by Joachim Crass; Europe as a Linguistic
Area by Thomas Stolz; South Asia as a Linguistic Area by Karen Ebert; Southeast Asia as a Linguistic Area by
Walter Bisang.
Lexicostatistic classification Word comparisons were thought for a long time to be evidence of language
family relationship, but, given a small collection of likely-looking words, it is difficult to determine whether they
are really the residue of common origin and not due to chance or some other factor. Lexical comparisons by
themselves are seldom convincing without additional support from other criteria. Most scholars require that
basic vocabulary be part of the supporting evidence for any distant genetic relationship. Basic vocabulary is
generally understood to include terms for body parts, close kinship, frequently encountered aspects of the
natural world (mountain, river, cloud), and low numbers. Basic vocabulary is generally resistant to borrowing,
so comparisons involving basic vocabulary items are less likely to be due to diffusion and stand a better chance

of being inherited from a common ancestor than other kinds of vocabulary. Still, basic vocabulary can also be
borrowed – though infrequently – so that its role as a safeguard against borrowing is not foolproof. Lexicostatistics are often used as partial evidence in discussing relationships between Southern American and African
languages where there are few historical records: see for example the articles by Constenla Uman˜a on
Misumalpan and Chibchan, and the article by David Dwyer on Mande.
Typological classification At the beginning of the nineteenth century, morphological studies identified a
small set of language types related primarily to word structure. The main types were isolating (words are
monomorphic and invariable, as explained in the article on Chinese as an Isolating Language by Jerome
Packard) agglutinating (words are formed by a root and a clearly detachable sequence of affixes, each of
them expressing a separate item of meaning, as exemplified in the article Finnish as an Agglutinating Language
by Fred Karlsson), fusional (words are formed by a root and (one or more) inflectional affixes, which are
employed as a primary means to indicate the grammatical function of the words in the language; see Italian as a
Fusional Language by Claudio Iacobini) and polysynthetic (the base is the lexical core of the word; it can
be followed by a number of postbases e.g. Central Siberian Yupik as a Polysynthetic Language by Willem de
Reuse). Further types have been added as explained in Arabic as an Introflecting Language by Janet Watson.
This morphological typology is still of some relevance but with advances in grammatical and semantic
description typological classification is nowadays refined. It extends to a range of other linguistic features
and to an interest in ‘universal’ linguistic properties. Syntactic features such as word order differences between
languages, case marking systems, tense and aspect distinctions, modal markers, for instance evidentiality, and
serial verb construction. Phonological features such as consonant types, like ejectives or clicks, vowel or nasal
harmony and stressmarking. It also includes discourse phenomena including topic marking, reference chaining,
and switch reference. Features like these can be found in the index.
The articles in this volume provide fascinating insights into the structure, history, and development of
language families and individual languages. They highlight the diversity of the world’s languages, from the
thriving to the endangered and extinct. No other single volume matches the coverage of languages or the
authority of the contributors of the Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World.
Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie


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CONTRIBUTORS

C Abbott
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI, USA

P Bakker
Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

F Ackerman
University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

Z Bao
National University of Singapore, Singapore

W F H Adelaar
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

M Baptista
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

T A A˚farli
Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Trondheim, Norway

J Barnes
SIL International, Bogota, Colombia

D Aguirre Licht
Universidad de los Andes, Bogota´, Colombia

A Y Aikhenvald
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
C L Allen
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
E Al-Wer
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, UK
A Amha
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
G D S Anderson
Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany and University of
Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
D Appleyard
University of London, London, UK
A Archi
University of Rome, Rome, Italy
I W Arka
Australian National University, Denpasar Bali,
Indonesia

P O Bartlett
Vienna, VA, USA
W Bauer
Wellington, New Zealand
J Beal
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
J Bendor-Samuel
Summer Institute of Linguistics, High Wycombe, UK
S B Benor
Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion,
Los Angeles, CA, USA

A Berge
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA
J Beswick
University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
P Bhaskararao
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan
T K Bhatia
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
T Biberauer
Newnham College, Cambridge, UK

J Augerot
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

W Bisang
Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

P K Austin
School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK

B J Blake
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia


xxii Contributors
K M Booker
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

B Demiraj
University of Munich, Munich, Germany

K Bo¨rjars
The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

P Denwood
University of London, London, UK

S Brainard
Summer Institute of Linguistics, Philippines, Manila,
Philippines

G Deutscher
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

J O Breedveld
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
G Breen
Institute for Aboriginal Development, Alice Springs, NT,
Australia
G A Broadwell
State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
J L Brockington
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
L Campbell
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
U Canger
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
S Chaker
INALCO, Paris, France
P Ni Chatha´in

University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

G J Dimmendaal
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
A Dolgopolsky
University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
M Donohue
National University of Singapore, Singapore
E Drechsel
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
H Dua
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India
J Le Duˆ
Universite´ de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France
M Durrell
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
P N Dutta Baruah
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India
D Dwyer
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

J Cole
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana,
IL, USA

K Ebert
University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

N E Collinge
Cambridge, UK

J Edmondson
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

B Connell
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

J F Elwolde
Valladolid, Spain

A Constenla Uman˜a
University of Costa Rica, San Jose´, Costa Rica

G Escure
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

J Crass
Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

A Esposito
Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, UK

J Cremona

J Essegbey
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

y

T Crowley

University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
G Cunningham
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
G Darms
University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

N Evans
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
T Eytho´rsson
University of Iceland, Reykjavı´ k, Iceland

A T de Castilho

T T Field
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

W J de Reuse
University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

D W Fleck
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

y

Deceased.

M Florey
Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Contributors xxiii
C Fowler
University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada

J B Haviland
Reed College, Portland, OR, USA

V A Friedman
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

E C Hawkesworth
University College London, London, UK

N Gabas Jr
Bele´m, Brazil

R J Hayward

J W Gair
Cornell University, New York, NY, USA

B Heine
Institut fu¨r Afrikanistik, Universita¨t zu Ko¨ln, Ko¨ln,
Germany

P Geraghty
University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

B G Hewitt
SOAS, London, UK

D Gil
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
Leipzig, Germany

J H Hill
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

C Githiora
University of London, London, UK
C Goddard
University of New England, Armidale, Australia
B Gopinathan Nair
St Xavier’s College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State,
India

K C Hill
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
R Hoogenraad
Alice Springs, NT, Australia
T Hopkins
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

R G Gordon Jr
SIL International, Dallas, TX, USA

J I Hualde
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana,
IL, USA

R Graczyk
St. Charles Mission, Pryor, MT, USA

T J Hudak
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

G B Gragg
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

G Hudson
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

J H Grayson
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

M Hutt
University of London, London, UK

M L Greenberg
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

C Hyslop
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

L Grenoble
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

C Iacobini
Universita` di Salerno, Salerno, Italy

A L Gru¨nberg
St Petersburg Institute of Linguistics, St Petersburg,
Russia

B Ingham
SOAS, London, UK

Y Gu
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing,
China

P J Jaggar
University of London, London, UK
E H Jahr
Agder University, Kristiansand, Norway

W H G Haacke
University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

L A Janda
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

J A Hackett
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

J A Janhunen
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

E P Hamp
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

D Jauncey
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

R T Harms

M Job
University of Go¨ttingen, Go¨ttingen, Germany

A Harris
State University of New York, Stony Brook,
NY, USA

L Johanson
Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany


xxiv Contributors
T Johnston
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

G Lepschy
University College London, London, UK

M C Jones
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

D Levey
Universidad de Ca´diz, Ca´diz, Spain

B D Joseph
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

J W Lobel
University of Hawai’i, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

B Kachru
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL,
USA

T Lundskær-Nielsen
University College London, London, UK

L D Kaplan
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA
F Karlsson
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
F Katamba
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
T Kaufman
University of Pittsburgh, Forest Hills, PA, USA
R Kikusawa
National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan
R Kim
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
A Kimenyi
California State University at Sacramento, Sacramento,
CA, USA

C Macafee

University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
C J MacKay
Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
K MacKinnon
University of Herefordshire, Black Isle, UK
J G Macqueen
University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
C M MacRobert
Oxford University, Oxford, UK
A Marcantonio
University of Rome ‘La Sapienza,’ Rome, Italy
L Marten
School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK
Y Matras
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

G Kiraz
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, Piscataway,
NJ, USA

J M Maxwell
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

K E´ Kiss
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

F Mc Laughlin
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

H Kitano

Aichi University of Education, Aichi, Japan

S Mchombo
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

T Klingler
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

S McLendon
City University of New York, NY, USA

H Koch
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

S Meira
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

M E Kropp Dakubu
University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

R Mesthrie
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

P Y L Laki
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

A Mettouchi
University of Nantes, Nantes, France

H Landar

B B Mfenyana
Kagiso, South Africa

R J LaPolla
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
J R Lee
Summer Institute of Linguistics, Darwin, NT, Australia

J Miller
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

J Leer

M Minegishi
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan

A L Lepschy
University College London, London, UK

M Mithun
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA