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Re: Tj'a-ts'a~n stress pattern

From:Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
Date:Thursday, February 11, 1999, 19:40
Tim Smith wrote:

>At 04:57 PM 2/9/99 +0100, Kristian Jensen wrote: >> >>I have read about bantu languages that lengthen the vowels in >>stressed syllables. According to the "Compendium of the World's >>Languages" by George Campbell, Zulu has regular stress on the >>penultimate syllable and this contains a long vowel. > >Could you tell us something about this book?
ISBN 0-415-11392-X (hardback) 1995 Routledge:London ISBN 0-415-16049-9 (paperback) 1998 Routledge:London It is a reference book of almost 100 languages including both major and many of the lesser-known languages of the world. It includes representatives of most of the language families with samples of Amerindian such as Navajo, Quechua, and Mapadungu, and of African languages such as Fulani and Nama (Khoisan); languages of new independant states of the former Soviet Union, like Uzbek and Belorussian; and languages of certain ethnic groups aspiring to self-determination, such as Basque, Breton, and Nivkh (Gilyak). The articles are order alphabetically and each has a standard structure for ease of reference, including general historical and sociolinguistic introduction, writing system, sound system, and gramatical system. At the end of the book is an appendix of all the relevant writing systems. Mind you, the book is a _reference_ book, so it does not go into detail. It can give conlangers a brief introduction to a certain language. So I would not recommend this book to someone who wants more details to a specific language. For instance, there isn't any diachronic descriptions of any of the languages listed in the book. I have found the phonological descriptions too standardized making some of the descriptions imprecise. -Kristian- 8)