1998
VIII, 458 pp.
2 maps, 2 b/w photographs, 2 genealogical charts, 4 language tree models, numerous tables, charts and tone diagrams
Text language: English
The present study deals with the Surmic language group, spoken in southwestern Ethiopia and in the southern Sudan. Until recently, these languages were among the least studied on the African continent.
The editors reunite the analytical study of languages and the investigation of the social dimension of language structure. For them areal diffusion and language contact play an important role in the understanding of formal linguistic matters. The present volume contains a series of pioneering studies addressing synchronic and diachronic aspects of these little known languages.
CONTENTS
Part I GENERAL
Gerrit J. Dimmendaal: Surmic Languages and cultures – An introduction
Gerrit J. Dimmendaal: A syntactic typology of the Surmic family from an areal and historical-comparative point of view
Moges Yigezu: Women in society and female speech among the Suri of Southwestern Ethiopia
Peter Unseth / Jon Abbink: Cross-ethnic clan identities among Surmic groups and their neighbours – The case of the Mela
Peter Unseth: Two old causative affixes in Surmic languages
Jon Abbink / Peter Unseth: Surmic languages and cultures – A bibliography
Part II NORTHERN SURMIC
Peter Unseth: Notes on clan, kinship and marriage patterns among the Manjang
Part III SOUTHWESTERN SURMIC
Jonathan Arensen: Murle categorization
Scott Randal: A grammatical sketch of Tennet
Moges Yigezu / Gerrit J. Dimmendaal: Notes on Baale
Part IV SOUTHEASTERN SURMIC
Jon Abbink: Violence and political discourse among the Chai Suri
Osamu Hieda: A sketch of Koegu grammar – Towards reconstructing Proto-Southeastern Surmic
Marco Last / Deborah Lucassen: A grammatical sketch of Chai, a Southeastern Surmic language
Hans-Georg Will: The Me’en verb system – Does Me’en have tenses?
Searching for Chai, Surma, Surmic, Mursi and East Sudanic you will find publications on Surmic languages and cultures and on further Nilo-Saharan languages:
