Proto-Australian: Reconstruction of a Common Ancestor Language (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783111421445)

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.

Author: Mark Harvey, Robert Mailhammer
ISBN-10: 3111421449
ISBN-13: 9783111421445
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Language: English
Published: 08/05/2024
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.10lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.25d