Re: Books for conlangers
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, September 14, 2005, 18:54 |
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On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:58:59 -0400, Julia "Schnecki" Simon
<helicula@...> wrote:
> So, what language(s) would you recommend for a first (and maybe second
> and third ;) taste of ergative?
Dyirbal and Basque are both fairly interesting. Really, though, I'd advise
_Ergativity_ by RMW Dixon. It gives far more information than any given
single-language grammar could. It's one of those linguistics textbooks
that I can read purely for fun, too. It's one heck of a read.
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0521448980
> I haven't seen an easily
> readable Sumerian grammar yet. (Hey, I'd even settle for *sort*of*
> easily readable...)
There's a book called _A Manual Of Sumerian Grammar And Texts_ by John L
Hayes, volume 5 of the "Aids and Research Tools In Ancient Near Eastern
Studies" series. It's an instructional text on reading the language rather
than a straight grammar, but it's reasonably readable, given all the
hedging and fudging that has to occur with all the unknown and
partially-understood morphemes and structures.
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0890031975
Paul
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