blench%20chapter%203[2]

《blench%20chapter%203[2]》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在教育资源-天天文库。

1、Language,linguisticsandarchaeology;theirintegrationinthestudyofAfricanprehistoryChapterfortheOXFORDHANDBOOKOFAFRICANARCHAEOLOGYPETERMITCHELL&PAULLANE(eds)RogerBlenchKayWilliamsonEducationalFoundation8,GuestRoadCambridgeCB12ALUnitedKingdomVoice/Fax.0044-(0)12

2、23-560687Mobileworldwide(00-44)-(0)7967-696804E-mailR.Blench@odi.org.ukhttp://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm1.IntroductionMuchhasbeenmadeofthe‘newsynthesis’inrecentyears,theintegrationofarchaeology,linguisticsandgenetics(Blench2004,2006;Sanchez-Mazasetal.2008

3、).Akeyassumptionofthistypeoftrans-disciplinaryenterpriseiscongruence,thatpatternsoflanguagedistributioncaninprinciplematchresultsfromarchaeologyandgenetics,sincetheydirectlyreflecthumanactivities.Thelogicofthisistransparentcongruenceinthepresent;cultureandla

4、nguageclearlyreflectoneanotherandanydivergencescanbe1explainedbywell-establishedsociolinguisticprocesses.Africaconstitutesamosaicofsome2000languages,fallingintofourmajorphylaandasmallnumberofisolates.Thedensityoflanguagesandtheirpatternscallforinterpretation

5、andexplanationintermsofprehistory.Linguistswouldliketounderstandandmodeltheprocessesresponsibleforthesynchronicsituationandtypicallyturntoarchaeologyandmorerecently,genetics.Archaeologistshavebeenmorecircumspect,withagreatmanyignoringtheresultsoflinguisticre

6、searchoractivelyopposinganyconjunctionofthedisciplines(e.g.Eggertetal.2006).Whereinteresthasbeenshown,forexampletheBantuexpansion,itcanbehighlyselective,bypassingmanyothersignificantproblems,suchasthehomelandandexpansionoftheMandepeoples.Thisfailuretoexplore

7、integratedprehistorydoesnotnecessarilyoperateelsewheretheworld,withtheIndo-EuropeanandOceanicregionsmoreencouragingexamplesofsynthesisandco-operation.Despitethis,thestudyofAfricanlanguagesshouldhavemuchtoteachusabouttheprehistoryofthecontinent.Languagesaresp

8、okenbypeoples,andhumanmigrationisasmuchafactofthepastasitisvisibleinthepresent.Notonlydoesthepatternoflanguagestestifytothesemovementsonabroadscale,butembeddedinthelexiconofindividuallanguagesis