Proto-Australian: Reconstruction of a Common Ancestor Language
Aug 2024 · Studies in Language Change [SLC] Book 24 · Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Ebook
502
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About this ebook
This book is the first full evaluation of the Proto-Australian hypothesis, which proposes that most Australian languages have a common ancestor: Proto-Australian [PA]. Using the standard methodologies of historical linguistics, the authors show that nearly all Australian languages descend from PA. Given that PA was a single language, it was spoken only in a small area of Australia. Its descendants have spread across the continent. Current theories of language spread do not offer clear motivations for large-scale spread in hunter-gatherer economies. This raises significant questions for analyses of Australian prehistory and archaeology specifically, and more widely for general theories of hunter-gatherer prehistory and language spread.
About the author
Mark Harvey, University of Newcastle. Callaghan Australia; Robert Mailhammer, Western Sydney University, Australia.
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