TY - CHAP
T1 - The origins of isolating word structure in eastern Timor
AU - Schapper, A.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This paper addresses the issue of isolating word structure and its origins in the Austronesian and Papuan languages of eastern Timor. McWhorter (2007) claims that both groups of languages evidence extensive loss of grammatical complexity as a result of “interrupted transmission” due to significant non-native acquisition. I refute McWhorter’s assertion that the eastern Timor languages are not “normal” through a detailed exposition of their morphological complexities. Whilst recognising that they are isolating leaning, I argue that there is nothing “unnatural” about the grammars of these languages and that phonological changes within the Timorese Sprachbund provide sufficient explanation of their morphological profiles.
AB - This paper addresses the issue of isolating word structure and its origins in the Austronesian and Papuan languages of eastern Timor. McWhorter (2007) claims that both groups of languages evidence extensive loss of grammatical complexity as a result of “interrupted transmission” due to significant non-native acquisition. I refute McWhorter’s assertion that the eastern Timor languages are not “normal” through a detailed exposition of their morphological complexities. Whilst recognising that they are isolating leaning, I argue that there is nothing “unnatural” about the grammars of these languages and that phonological changes within the Timorese Sprachbund provide sufficient explanation of their morphological profiles.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85102962757&partnerID=MN8TOARS
UR - https://benjamins.com/catalog/tsl.129
U2 - 10.1075/tsl.129.09sch
DO - 10.1075/tsl.129.09sch
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9789027207906
T3 - Typological Studies in Language (TSL)
SP - 391
EP - 446
BT - Austronesian Undressed
A2 - Gil, David
A2 - Schapper, Antoinette
PB - John Benjamins Publishing Company
CY - Amsterdam, Philidelphia
ER -