The Languages of East and Southeast Asia: An Introduction

Abstract

This book surveys the languages of East and Southeast Asia from the perspective of general descriptive linguistics, and explores the ways in which language, culture and history are intertwined. My goal is to provide an accessible resource for students and teachers of linguistics, language studies, and Asian Studies. I have tried to use plenty of concrete examples throughout, drawing on little-known minority languages as well as the major national languages of a dozen countries. To help linguistics students consolidate their knowledge and skills, there are exercises with solutions for each chapter. Though readers who are not studying linguistics may with to skip lightly over sections of certain chapters, most of the book should make sense and be interesting reading for those with a minimal background in linguistics, and little or no personal knowledge of any East or Southeast Asian language.Obviously, no one person can be a specialist on the number of languages and language families found in East and Southeast Asia, so I have had to rely on the works of a great number of dedicated linguistic scholars. My task has been to locate and select a range of comparable material, and then to digest, explain, and contextualize it so as to fashion it into coherent, clear, and above all interesting story.