"The languages indigenous to North America are characterized by a remarkable genetic and typological diversity. Based on the premise that linguistic examples play a key role in the origin and transmission of ideas within linguistics and across disciplines, this book examines the history of approaches to these languages through the lens of some of their most prominent properties. These properties include consonant inventories and the near absence of labials in Iroquoian languages, gender in Algonquian languages, verbs for washing in the Iroquoian language Cherokee and terms for snow and related phenomena in Eskimo-Aleut languages. By tracing the interpretations of the four examples by European and American scholars, the author illustrates their role in both lay and professional contexts as a window onto unfamiliar languages and cultures, thus allowing a more holistic view of the history of language study in North America"--.

• A HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF NORTH AMERICA
• Editorial page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of contents
• Preface & Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Figures
• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1 Aims of the book
  • 1.2 Terms and definitions
  • 1.3 Structure of the book
• 2. The languages of North America
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Genetic and areal overview
    • 2.2.1 Introduction
    • 2.2.2 Algonquian languages
    • 2.2.3 Iroquoian languages
    • 2.2.4 Eskimo-Aleut languages
    • 2.2.5 Loss of the languages: Its causes and implications
  • 2.3 Overview of structural characteristics
    • 2.3.1 Introduction
    • 2.3.2 Sound systems
    • 2.3.3 Word and sentence structure
      • 2.3.3.1 Polysynthesis
      • 2.3.3.2 Noun incorporation
    • 2.3.4 Gender
    • 2.3.5 Classifiers
  • 2.4 Concluding observations
• 3. Studies of the languages of North America
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Missionary and other pre-modern sources
  • 3.3 From 1788 till the 1840s
  • 3.4 Since the second half of the 19th century
  • 3.5 Wider contexts
  • 3.6 Concluding observations
• 4. Sound systems in Iroquoian languages
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Motifs in phonetic accounts
    • 4.2.1 Introduction
    • 4.2.2 Describing sounds in unwritten languages
    • 4.2.3 Gaps in phonetic inventories
    • 4.2.4 Uncommon sounds
    • 4.2.5 ‘Confused’ sounds
  • 4.3 Images of languages and speakers
    • 4.3.1 Introduction
    • 4.3.2 Images of languages
    • 4.3.3 Images of speakers
  • 4.4 Concluding observations
• 5. Gender in Algonquian languages
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Early studies: 17th–19th centuries
    • 5.2.1 Introduction
    • 5.2.2 17th and 18th centuries
    • 5.2.3 Late 18th and 19th century
  • 5.3 Studies of Algonquian gender since the beginning of the 20th century
    • 5.3.1 Introduction
    • 5.3.2 Early 20th-century accounts
    • 5.3.3 Bloomfield and Greenberg
    • 5.3.4 Gender and culture
    • 5.3.5 Gender as a grammatical category
  • 5.4 Concluding observations
• 6. Cherokee verbs for washing
  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Cherokee verbs for washing: The life cycle of the example
    • 6.2.1 Introduction
    • 6.2.2 Origin (1818–c.1860)
    • 6.2.3 Propagation (c.1860–c.1950)
    • 6.2.4 Exposition and status quo (1952–present)
  • 6.3 Images of languages and speakers
    • 6.3.1 Introduction
    • 6.3.2 Images of languages
      • 6.3.2.1 Methodological issues
      • 6.3.2.2 Abstract terms in ‘primitive’ languages
      • 6.3.2.3 Abstract terms and the Cherokee example
    • 6.3.3 Images of speakers
  • 6.4 Concluding observations
• 7. Eskimo words for snow
  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 Eskimo words for snow: The life cycle of the example
    • 7.2.1 Introduction
    • 7.2.2 Origin (1894–c.1940)
    • 7.2.3 Propagation (c.1940–c.1990)
    • 7.2.4 Exposition and status quo (1986–present)
  • 7.3 The Eskimo and Cherokee examples: A comparison
  • 7.4 Concluding observations
• 8. Concluding discussion
  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Life cycles of linguistic examples
  • 8.3 Functions of examples
    • 8.3.1 Methodology
    • 8.3.2 Theory and ideology
  • 8.4 Motifs
    • 8.4.1 Complexity and ‘richness’
    • 8.4.2 Abstract and ‘concrete’
  • 8.5 Prospects
• References
• Index of Biographical Names
• Index of Subjects & Terms
• Index of Languages & Dialects