Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists (Paperback)

by Thomas E. Payne (Author) "The first task of a grammar or grammar sketch is to identify the language being described, and to provide certain particulars concerning its ethnolinguistic context..." (more)
Key Phrases: organizing grammatical relations, pragmatic statuses, constituent order ergativity, Seko Padang, Duke of Wimple, Papua New Guinea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...a comprehensive field researcher's guide to the description of undocumented & near extinct languages." T. Rosenberg, LLBA

"I would rate this book highly as an important part of a practical strategy for writing the description of the morphosyntax of a field language." Austin Hale, Notes on Linguistics

"...Describing Morphosyntax is an excellent guide not only for field linguists but also for all linguists who are interested in fascinating aspects of grammar." Word

Product Description
This book is a guide for linguistic fieldworkers who wish to write a description of the morphology and syntax of one of the world's many underdocumented languages. It offers readers who work through it one possible outline for a grammatical description, with many questions designed to help them address the key topics. Appendices offer guidance on text and elicited data, and on sample reference grammars that readers might wish to consult. This will be a valuable resource to anyone engaged in linguistic fieldwork.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 413 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521588057
• ISBN-13: 978-0521588058
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #289,642 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Starter Book, May 18, 2000

By	Robert Simpson (NZ) - See all my reviews

Although subtitled as a field guide for linguists, I have been using this book as a guide for studying linguistics. It is well set out, full of examples (usually in non indo-european languages) and with cogent English desciptions. A good bibliography, which is frequently referred to, gives further more in depth reading if more understanding is required.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research guide, October 24, 2000

By	Peter J. Silzer "AKA Dr. Language" (Monterey, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Anyone interested in the world's lesser-researched languages will want to use this "guide for field linguists." The author provides a well-researched approach to common and not-so-common features of morphology and syntax. Practical, clear questions at strategic points provide an outline that could be used to produce a good descriptive grammar of most any language. The examples are a marvelous cross-section of linguistic tid-bits from around the world.

The helpful index of languages and index of subjects concludes the 400-page volume.

I recommend this book to students and faculty alike.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Language Creator's Bible, November 12, 2004

By	David Peterson "The Creative Linguist" (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Even though this book is intended for linguists doing fieldwork, it is an absolute must for those who create languages for fun. Why? Well, the purpose of the book is to teach a fieldworker how to write a descriptive grammar for the language s/he's working on. It points out everything that should be recorded, and gives examples of different phenomena from different languages. Well, guess what? A language creator is essentially a fieldworker working on an undiscovered language: his/her own. This book will guide a language creator in creating a grammar of his/her own language, and, when you get stuck, it's always helpful to see how natural languages do things. As a language creator, I highly recommend this book to anyone who creates languages.

(And, as a linguist, I highly recommend this book to anyone who's doing fieldwork, of course.)