Anju Saxena Boeken

Kanashi is a unique Sino-Tibetan language spoken exclusively in Malana, a village in Himachal Pradesh, India, surrounded by Indo-Aryan language speakers. This book addresses the scarcity of linguistic material on Kanashi and explores its intriguing prehistory, questioning how it became isolated from its closest relatives. It examines the potential genealogical links between Kanashi and Kinnauri, despite the significant geographical separation. The work seeks to shed light on the shared linguistic features that have remained underexplored in existing literature.

The increasing globalization and centralization threaten the existence of many smaller languages, particularly in South Asia, where dominant languages like Hindi, Urdu, and Nepali are rising alongside English, often at the expense of lesser-known tongues. Despite a history of stable multilingualism, language death is prevalent in the region. The impact of modern information and communication technologies on cultural and linguistic diversity remains uncertain: will they strengthen or weaken it? This volume unites previously disconnected research areas, including traditional South Asian descriptive linguistics, sociolinguistics, documentary linguistics, intellectual and cultural property issues, fieldwork ethics, and language technology. Recent awareness among researchers in documentary linguistics and language technology highlights the potential benefits of their collaboration. Insights from documentary linguistics are also influencing descriptive linguistics and sociolinguistics. The synergy among these fields offers vast potential. Rather than providing a straightforward guide to applying modern technology to address language shift in South Asia, this volume equips readers with foundational knowledge about the challenges and possible directions for solutions, serving as a toolbox for shaping the linguistic future of the region.

With its many and diverse languages, including some with very long documented histories, its cultural diversity, and its widespread multilingualism- both the stable and transient kind- the Himalayan region is a treasure trove of empirical data for linguistic research on language typology and universals, historical linguistics, language contact and areal linguistics. Himalayan Languages contains contributions on Himalayan linguistics written by some of the leading experts in the field. The volume is divided into three parts: First, a general overview is given of the linguistic study of Himalayan languages and language communities. The second part offers synchronic studies of individual languages of the region (Indo-Aryan languages Shina and Kalasha, and Tibeto-Burman languages Belhare, Magar, Kinnauri, Classical Tibetan and Thangmi). The papers in the third part of the volume address topics in historical and areal linguistics, with an emphasis on the Tibeto-Burman languages of the region, discussing grammaticalization processes (in Sunwar, Newar, Seke, Tshangla and Bantawa) and the subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman.

Die Ganga-Ebene ist eine ausgedehnte fluviale geomorphe Landschaft, die durch ein kompliziertes Netz von Flusskanälen, deren Tälern und dazwischen liegenden großen, erhöhten Gebieten (Interfluves) mit sehr hoher Bevölkerungsdichte gekennzeichnet ist. Diese Interfluve-Regionen haben ihre eigenen charakteristischen geomorphologischen Merkmale, z. B. aktive Flüsse, verlassene Kanalgürtel, Seen und Teiche usw. Das aktive Entwässerungssystem umfasst viele eingeschnittene kleine gewundene, grundwassergespeiste Nebenflüsse, die im Schwemmland entspringen und versickern. Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der umfassenden Untersuchung verschiedener Segmente der ausgedehnten Interfluve-Oberflächen der Ganga-Ebene, ihrer Geomorphologie und ihrer Beziehung zu anderen fluvialen Elementen, dem Verteilungsmuster von Seen/Teichen und der Multiproxystudie von See-Füll-Sequenzen, um das Paläoklima und die Geschichte der Paläovegetation während des Holozäns zu enträtseln. Es wurde versucht, das Wissen über die Geomorphologie, das Paläoklima und die Geschichte der Paläovegetation mit Hilfe von Phytolithen, Mikrofauna und stabilen O- und C-Isotopen aus biogenem Kalzit von Ostrakoden aus Seesedimenten zu verstehen und zu erweitern und auch die Anpassung an die menschliche landwirtschaftliche Nutzung der Ganga-Ebene im Holozän zu beleuchten.