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‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’ in the Circum-Pacific Language Area

‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’ in the Circum-Pacific Language Area This article reports on the peculiar distribution of languages lacking lexical differentiation for the concepts ‘sun’ and ‘moon’, i.e., languages that express both concepts with the same term or use terms that share lexical material. The phenomenon is largely confined to the Americas, but it is also found in indigenous languages of northeastern Eurasia (“Paleosiberian” languages) and languages of New Guinea. A representative sample of the world’s languages indicates that the areal distribution of the phenomenon is strongly correlated with the large and old Circum-Pacific language area, and it is argued that it can be interpreted as a historical marker that bears witness to the common history of these languages. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Anthropological Linguistics University of Nebraska Press

‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’ in the Circum-Pacific Language Area

Anthropological Linguistics , Volume 51 (3) – Oct 15, 2010

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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Trustees of Indiana University
ISSN
1944-6527

Abstract

This article reports on the peculiar distribution of languages lacking lexical differentiation for the concepts ‘sun’ and ‘moon’, i.e., languages that express both concepts with the same term or use terms that share lexical material. The phenomenon is largely confined to the Americas, but it is also found in indigenous languages of northeastern Eurasia (“Paleosiberian” languages) and languages of New Guinea. A representative sample of the world’s languages indicates that the areal distribution of the phenomenon is strongly correlated with the large and old Circum-Pacific language area, and it is argued that it can be interpreted as a historical marker that bears witness to the common history of these languages.

Journal

Anthropological LinguisticsUniversity of Nebraska Press

Published: Oct 15, 2010

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