Accompanying DVD-ROM contains ... "the electronic version ... [of] the book [including] several hundred photographs and video clips illustrating local flora and fauna, topography, material culture, and song and dance performances."--Page 4 of cover.

"This dictionary is the third in a series of publications (see Moyle 2003, 2007) about Takuu ... .The contents of this dictionary were obtained from a large number of Takuu's residents who responded sometimes as individuals, other times as groups"--Page 4.

This book is a comprehensive description of the grammar of Rapa Nui, the Polynesian language spoken on Easter Island. After an introductory chapter, the grammar deals with phonology, word classes, the noun phrase, possession, the verb phrase, verbal and nonverbal clauses, mood and negation, and clause combinations. The phonology of Rapa Nui reveals certain issues of typological interest, such as the existence of strict conditions on the phonological shape of words, word-final devoicing, and reduplication patterns motivated by metrical constraints. For Polynesian languages, the distinction between nouns and verbs in the lexicon has often been denied; in this grammar it is argued that this distinction is needed for Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui has sometimes been characterised as an ergative language; this grammar shows that it is unambiguously accusative. Subject and object marking depend on an interplay of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic factors. Other distinctive features of the language include the existence of a ‘neutral’ aspect marker, a serial verb construction, the emergence of copula verbs, a possessive-relative construction, and a tendency to maximise the use of the nominal domain. Rapa Nui’s relationship to the other Polynesian languages is a recurring theme in this grammar; the relationship to Tahitian (which has profoundly influenced Rapa Nui) especially deserves attention. The grammar is supplemented with a number of interlinear texts, two maps and a subject index.

The extant generalizations about the grammar of space rely heavily on the analyses of declarative sentences. There is a need to check whether these generalizations also hold in the domain of interrogation. To this end this book analyzes data from some 450 languages (including non-standard varieties). The focus is on paradigms of spatial interrogatives such as English where, whither and whence and their internal organization. These paradigms are checked for recurrent patterns of morphological mismatches (such as syncretism) and different degrees of complexity (e.g. the number of segments). The data-base consists of a large parallel literary corpus (Le petit prince and translations thereof) which is complemented by further sources of information such as descriptive grammars. The data are analyzed from a synchronic perspective. However, diachronic issues are addressed unsystematically, too. It is shown that the distribution of phenomena which characterize paradigms of spatial interrogatives are subject to areal-linguistic factors. This is the first typological study of spatial interrogatives. It provides new insights for students of the grammar of space, morphological paradigms, and language typology.

This book presents a novel and innovative approach to the study of social evolution using case studies from the Old and the New World, from prehistory to the present. This approach is based on examining social evolution through the evolution of social institutions. Evolution is defined as the process of structural change. Within this framework the society, or culture, is seen as a system composed of a vast number of social institutions that are constantly interacting and changing. As a result, the structure of society as a whole is also evolving and changing. The authors posit that the combination of evolving social institutions explains the non-linear character of social evolution and that every society develops along its own pathway and pace. Within this framework, society should be seen as the result of the compound effect of the interactions of social institutions specific to it. Further, the transformation of social institutions and relations between them is taking place not only within individual societies but also globally, as institutions may be trans-societal, and even institutions that operate in one society can arise as a reaction to trans-societal trends and demands. The book argues that it may be more productive to look at institutions even within a given society as being parts of trans-societal systems of institutions since, despite their interconnectedness, societies still have boundaries, which their members usually know and respect. Accordingly, the book is a must-read for researchers and scholars in various disciplines who are interested in a better understanding of the origins, history, successes and failures of social institutions.

The practice of inserting sharp objects into the skin or other body parts for beautification or other purposes is thousands of years old. The oldest mummy discovered in Egypt had a pierced ear. Ancient African civilizations had habits of piercing their lips and tongues. The oldest evidence of facial piercing was discovered in 2020 on the skeleton of a man who lived about 12,000 years ago. Ear piercing has been common throughout history. Often used for spiritual protection, people wore metal on their ears to prevent evil spirits from entering the brain through the ear canal. Ancient African tribes and the Egyptians also practiced body modification through earlobe stretching, as did people in Asia. This practice among royalty is evident on the death mask of the young Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, as well as on statues of the Buddha, where his earlobes reach almost to his shoulders. Nose piercing is probably more than 4000 years old in the Middle East and was often offered as a gift and is still a tradition among some African tribes. In India, nose piercing was done for a completely different reason. The jewel is usually worn in the left nostril of a woman. In Ayurveda, the traditional Indian approach to health and well-being, the spot on the left nostril is associated with the female reproductive organs, and piercing here is believed to facilitate childbirth.