In this pioneering study Paul D. Kroeber examines the history of an array of important syntactic constructions in the Salish language family. This group of some twenty-three languages, centrally located in the Northwest Coast and Plateau Regions, is noted for its intriguing differences from European languages, including the possible irrelevance of a noun/verb distinction to grammatical structure and the existence of distinctive systems of articles, which also often function as marks of subordination.

 

Kroeber draws on and analyzes data from a wide range of textual and other sources. Centering his detailed investigation on patterns of subordination and focusing, he situates these against the broader background of Salish syntax, examines their interrelationships, and reconstructs their historical development. The result is a study that significantly enhances understanding of the structure and history of Salish. As important, Kroeber’s critical command of sources and well-considered historical proposals are exemplary, setting a methodological standard for Americanist scholarship.

Paul D. Kroeber has written for International Journal of American Linguistics and Anthropological Linguistics. He is a research associate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University, Bloomington.

“A significant contribution to Salishan linguistics and more generally to the linguistics of Native America. It is, I believe, the most comprehensive comparative study of a set of syntactic structures to date for any language family in the Americas (and perhaps elsewhere as well). . . . The scholarship is impressive throughout.”—Sarah G. Thomason, editor of Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective

"An enormously detailed description of syntactic features of the Salish Language family. . . . Krober’s book impresses with its thorough analysis of a huge body of morphosyntactic and syntactic material froma large number of languages. In logical fashion and clearly organized around what are generally recognized as salient features and issues, he describes and clarifies typological similarities and differences between the languages as they exist synchronically, and draws on methods of historical construction to make plausible predictions about the historical development of syntactical constructions as they developed in the subfamilies of Salish over time."—Marianne Ignace, Rezensionen