A collection of papers dealing with issues in the 'Mainland Austronesian Languages', Chamic, Acehnese and Moken/Moklen - not a single genetic sub-grouping but a number of related languages that have undergone parallel typological restructuring away from their Austronesian heritage, converging on a type that places them on the southern periphery of the broader Mainland Southeast Asian Linguistic Area . In prehistoric times speakers of these languages migrated to the Asian mainland from insular Southeast Asia . Over many years of independent development plus prolonged contact with mainland languages, they have shifted typologically, particularly towards reduced word structure, increased phoneme inventory, and more isolating syntax. The emphasis of the papers is on historical change, particularly in respect of lexical borrowings and the evolution of phonological systems.

A collection of papers dealing with issues in the 'Mainland Austronesian Languages', Chamic, Acehnese and Moken/Moklen - not a single genetic sub-grouping but a number of related languages that have undergone parallel typological restructuring away from their Austronesian heritage, converging on a type that places them on the southern periphery of the broader Mainland Southeast Asian Linguistic Area . In prehistoric times speakers of these languages migrated to the Asian mainland from insular Southeast Asia . Over many years of independent development plus prolonged contact with mainland languages, they have shifted typologically, particularly towards reduced word structure, increased phoneme inventory, and more isolating syntax. The emphasis of the papers is on historical change, particularly in respect of lexical borrowings and the evolution of phonological systems.

Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs, this volume tests the basic assumptions that underlie current attempts to present ‘creole structure’ as a special type, from typological as well as sociohistorical perspectives. The sum of the findings presented here suggests that careful empirical investigation of input varieties and contact environments can explain the structural output without recourse to an exceptional genesis scenario. Echoing calls to dissolve the notion of ‘creolization’ as a special diachronic process, this volume proposes that theoretically grounded approaches to the notions of simplicity, complexity, transmission, etc. do not warrant considering so-called ‘creole’ languages as a special synchronic type.

Previously published as the first volume of The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, this work is devoted exclusively to prehistoric migration, covering all periods and places from the first hominin migrations out of Africa through the end of prehistory. Presents interdisciplinary coverage of this topic, including scholarship from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, genetics, biology, linguistics, and more Includes contributions from a diverse international team of authors, representing 17 countries and a variety of disciplines Divided into two sections, covering the Pleistocene and Holocene; each section examines human migration through chapters that focus on different regional and disciplinary lenses

Việt Nam is the home of more than fifty ethnic minorities--such as the Cham and Thai--many of which have distinctive clothing and weaving traditions linked to antiquity. The tight-fitting tunic called ao dai, widely recognized as a national symbol, has its roots in the country's 2,000-year history of textiles. Beginning with silk production in the Bronze Age cultures of the Red River, this book covers textiles in Việt Nam--including bark-cloth, kapok and hemp--through the centuries of Chinese rule in the north, a number of independent feudal societies and the brief period of French colonial rule.

Many Austronesian languages exhibit isolating word structure. This volume offers a series of investigations into these languages, which are found in an "isolating crescent" extending from Mainland Southeast Asia through the Indonesian archipelago and into western New Guinea. Some of the languages examined in this volume include Cham, Minangkabau, colloquial Malay/Indonesian and Javanese, Lio, Alorese, and Tetun Dili. The main purpose of this volume is to address the general question of how and why languages become isolating, by examination of a number of competing hypotheses. While some view morphological loss as a natural process, others argue that the development of isolating word structure is typically driven by language contact through various mechanisms such as creolization, metatypy, and Sprachbund effects. This volume should be of interest not only to Austronesianists and historians of Insular Southeast Asia, but also to grammarians, typologists, historical linguists, creolists, and specialists in language contact.

The first published treatment of the syntax of Jarai, an Austronesian language of Southeast Asia, this volume focuses on the noun phrase and three regions of the clause: the left periphery, inflectional elements, and the verbal domain. Close attention is given to pseudo-cleft questions and serial verb constructions. Phenomena are carefully described, then analyzed within the Minimalist framework.