John Colarusso

McMaster University, Linguistics and Languages, Faculty Member

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John Colaursso was born in San Diego California and raised in Mississippi and Newark, New Jersey. He holds degrees from Cornell (BA), Northwestern (MA) and Harvard (PhD). At Harvard he specialized in Linguistics and focused on the languages of the Caucasus mountain region.He has taught at McMaster University since 1976, when he entered Canada as a landed immigrant. He is now a dual citizen and a full professor in two departments, Anthropology, and Linguistics and Languages, the latter being a department which he helped to found in 1981. He has published or edited seven books and has written over 100 articles. He is a recognized authority on the Caucasus, on mythology, and on historical linguistics. He has also done work in vastness theory, the formal theory of “how big is language.”
Address: Dundas, Ontario, Canada

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Na'ama Pat-El

The University of Texas at Austin

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Eitan Grossman

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Omar Coloru

Università degli Studi di Bari

Kristian Kristiansen

University of Gothenburg

Martin Haspelmath

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research

Johnni Langer

UFPB - Universidade Federal da Paraíba

Davide Ermacora

Università degli Studi di Torino

Mauro Grondona

University of Genova

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Papers by John Colarusso

Analysis of Texts and a Basic Lexicon of the Abkhaz Language by Tamio Yanagisawa, in cooperation with Ana Tsvinaria, and: Analytic Dictionary of Abkhaz by Tamio Yanagisawa, with the assistance of Anna Tsvinaria-Abramishvili

Anthropological Linguistics, 2013

Reviewed by John Colarusso, McMaster University These two volumes represent the English debut of ... more Reviewed by John Colarusso, McMaster University These two volumes represent the English debut of a Japanese linguist and student of literature, Tamio Yanagisawa, an expert on Russian and Abkhaz associated with Nagoya University, in the field of Caucasus studies. They represent an enormous amount of effort and scholarly commitment. Further, they are the culmination of a series of studies of Northwest Caucasian languages from 1997 on that are apparently in Japanese. Taken together, along with one of the available grammars (Hewitt 1979; Chirikba 2003), the investigator should be able to acquire reasonable insight into the structure of this remarkable language. The books are the result of six years of intensive fieldwork, conducted in Georgia, with the late Ana Tsvinaria (Abramishvili), who was born in Ochamchira (Analysis of Texts, p. 532). She spoke the Abzhywa (Abzhwi) dialect upon which the literary language is based. The language in both books is essentially the literary one; neither other Abkhaz dialects nor the Abkhaz dialect situation in general are discussed. Yanagisawa uses the modified Cyrillic alphabet of the literary language, adding a transliteration into a Latinbased script in the analyzed texts and grammatical discussions in both volumes. His transcription follows Hewitt (1979), as does the overall conceptual structure of his grammatical account. This approach results in a thorough account of many verbal and syntactical details, but also couches many of these same details in a somewhat opaque form; I discuss some examples of this opacity below. Overall, Abkhaz is remarkable at many levels. It has a large consonantal inventory (between fifty-seven and seventy-one consonants, depending upon the dialect) that contrasts with a minimal vertical vowel system that opposes an unspecified syllabic peak (oe) to an open one (a). The consonants can occur in seemingly unconstrained two-member clusters, with a few three-member clusters occurring; some clusters involve gemination. Nouns are largely built up by elaborate processes of compounding, while the polypersonal verbs show elaborate modification by affixation. Lacking case, Abkhaz is a morphologically ergative language, with the form and order of personal inflection on the verb (prefixal person markers, called "indices" by many scholars) manifesting a split ergativity that is dependent upon syntactic processes of transitivity reduction and enhancement. Transitive verbs are ergative unless the transitivity of the verb is reduced in some way, in which case they show antiergative (antipassive) inflection. The language has several copulas and, curiously, one of them requires its subject to appear in an oblique or ergative form (Hewitt 1979:105). In addition, reflexives are transitive (ergative), with the reflexive expression in the object slot, while reciprocals are detransitivized (antiergative), with the reciprocal expression in an indirect object slot, contrary to constraints on anaphors espoused in current linguistic theory. Abkhaz syntax follows subject-objectverb order and is verb-dominated, with subordination often marked by the inflection of

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Yaşar, Murat. The North Caucasus Borderland: Between Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire, 1555-1605. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 272 Sayfa, ISBN: 9781474498692

Kadim, Oct 14, 2023

Based on a comparative analysis of the Ottoman and Muscovite diplomatic correspondence, this book... more Based on a comparative analysis of the Ottoman and Muscovite diplomatic correspondence, this book presents a historical account of the North Caucasus peoples from 1555 to 1605, when Russia expanded into the region. The North Caucasus becomes a contested borderland, with the Ottomans, Safavids, Crimean Khanate, and Muscovy competing for influence externally, and the Nogays, Cossacks, Dagestanis, and Circassians internally. This elaborate interplay of cooptation, persuasion, loyalty, and betrayal eventually led to the Ottomans and Dagestani allies expelling the Muscovites from the region.

Ingush Grammar by Johanna Nichols

Anthropological Linguistics, 2014

Dixon, R. M. W. 1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Pr... more Dixon, R. M. W. 1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1981 Wargamay. In Handbook of Australian Languages. Vol. 2: Wargamay, the Mpakwithi Dialect of Anguthimri, Watjarri, Margany and Gunya, Tasmanian, edited by R. M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, 1—144. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Tsunoda, Tasaku 1974 A Grammar of the Waru×u Language, North Queensland. M.A. thesis, Monash University. 1988 Antipassives in Warrungu and Other Australian Languages. In Passive and Voice, edited by Masayoshi Shibatani, 595—649. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2003 A Provisional Warrungu Dictionary. Tokyo: Department of Asian and Pacific Linguistics, Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Tokyo. 2006 Reflexive and Middle Constructions of Warrungu (Australia). In Voice and Grammatical Relations: In Honor of Masayoshi Shibatani, edited by Tasaku Tsunoda and Taro Kageyama, 299—333. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Peoples, languages and lore

Some Biogenetic Considerations for Historical Linguistics: Phyletic Comparison

Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2018

Chechnya

Current history, Oct 1, 1995

Tekla DOMOTOR, Hungarian Folk Beliefs, translated by Christopher M. Hann, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1983. 324 pages, US $17.50 (cloth)

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The Northwest Caucasian Languages (RLE Linguistics F: World Linguistics)

Routledge eBooks, Jan 21, 2014

Part 1. Warkhag and his sons

A Short Biography of the Translator

This is a digital reproduction of "The Book of Analysis", a translation of the second book of the... more This is a digital reproduction of "The Book of Analysis", a translation of the second book of the Abhidhamma-the Vibhaṅga-by U Thit. t. ila, which was rst published in 1969. While I tried to produce an exact copy of the original text, some changes were introduced: • Internal links were added, so that readers can easily click the numerous references. • A bibliography was added. • The table of contents was moved to the front of the book.

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Nart Sagas from the Caucasus

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Part 2. Urizhmag and Shatana

Part 5. Khamis and Batraz

A Selection of the Abkhaz Corpus

Counter-Examples in Linguistics (Science): The Case of Circassian as a Split Anaphor Language

Linguistica Atlantica, Aug 21, 2004

Linguists often resist data that undermines the dominant paradigm to which they adhere. This pape... more Linguists often resist data that undermines the dominant paradigm to which they adhere. This paper examines split anaphors in Circassian, a language of the Caucasus, as a case study of such rejection. A typology of counterexamples is devised and contrastively applied to physics and to linguistics, with etTortsmade to cite examples from each field. The split anaphor case is presented as an error in prediction and hence as a refutation of the Government and Binding paradigm. Its treatment is contrasted with that of the orbit of Mercury, a comparable error in prediction of Newtonian mechanics. A symmetry-breaking approach is taken to the problem of split anaphor (in which reflexivesare ergative while reciprocals are anti-ergative).A new explanation for ergativity is offered. This explanation predicts that only ergative languages with a particular rule coupling will exhibit split ergativity.

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The Functions Revisited, a Nart God of War and Three Nart Heroes

Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2006

The Nart sagas (myths, actually) of the Caucasus (Colarusso 2002) contain a remarkable figure tha... more The Nart sagas (myths, actually) of the Caucasus (Colarusso 2002) contain a remarkable figure that presents unexpected links with the Germanic god of war, Wodan (Norse Odin). I shall also examine three heroes, all of whom are characterized by unremitting hostility between them and the Nart band. Parallels between Nart hostility and the berserker hostility in Germanic and the rivalry among the heroes in Irish suggest a detailed security structure for early Indo-European society. Germanic preserves a wealth of titles that fit into this structure. Parallels with the mother of the Nart warband, Satanaya, and the transfunctional goddess complete the picture of an early stage of Indo-European society built upon moieties, rather than functions, each of which could field a warband. Later expansion seems to have brought about a structural inversion and social specialization so that the canonical functions emerge in many of the daughter branches. Only two Nart sagas deal with Nart Wardan(e) (Hedeghatl’e 1970, vol. 7, no. 650, pp. 167-168, no. 651, pp. 168-170; Colarusso 2002, pp. 134-137). While the North Caucasus may seem remote from the Germanic homeland of Scandinavia and northern Europe, I shall show that a link with the Caucasus is at least likely if not altogether certain, and that certain anomalies surrounding the Germanic god of war can be resolved through this link, which is ultimately a GermanicIranian one. This link would have been by means of the Goths in the Crimea in the third century of the Christian era, who occupied the region contiguous with the North Caucasus along with Iranians and perhaps early bands of Huns. The Circassians even preserve an account of a war between themselves and the /g°a(n)t‘(e)/, in which their king, Boz (an Iranian name), was captured and crucified (Colarusso 1994a). In fact, a 1

Anthropological Linguistics, 2013

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Yaşar, Murat. The North Caucasus Borderland: Between Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire, 1555-1605. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 272 Sayfa, ISBN: 9781474498692

Kadim, Oct 14, 2023

Ingush Grammar by Johanna Nichols

Anthropological Linguistics, 2014

Peoples, languages and lore

Some Biogenetic Considerations for Historical Linguistics: Phyletic Comparison

Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2018

Chechnya

Current history, Oct 1, 1995

Tekla DOMOTOR, Hungarian Folk Beliefs, translated by Christopher M. Hann, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1983. 324 pages, US $17.50 (cloth)

Download

The Northwest Caucasian Languages (RLE Linguistics F: World Linguistics)

Routledge eBooks, Jan 21, 2014

Part 1. Warkhag and his sons

A Short Biography of the Translator

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Nart Sagas from the Caucasus

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Part 2. Urizhmag and Shatana

Part 5. Khamis and Batraz

A Selection of the Abkhaz Corpus

Counter-Examples in Linguistics (Science): The Case of Circassian as a Split Anaphor Language

Linguistica Atlantica, Aug 21, 2004

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The Functions Revisited, a Nart God of War and Three Nart Heroes

Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2006

A Grammar of the Kabardian Language

by mino fedor and John Colarusso

●Author: John Colarusso University of Calgary Press (Openaccess) ISBN 978-1-55238-668-2 ●INTRODUC... more ●Author: John Colarusso
University of Calgary Press
(Openaccess)
ISBN 978-1-55238-668-2
●INTRODUCTION
This is the first comprehensive grammar of a non-Indo-European language from the Northwest Caucasian family in a language other than Russian. Kabardian is complex at every level. The language treated is not the literary standard, but Kabardian as it was found in texts and in the mouths of Kabardians. This study is an advance over grammatical sketches of related languages in that it gives a complete account of the phonology and morphology of the language, accounting for what were previously known as "random variants." A Grammar of the Kabardian Language also gives the reader the first account of the syntax of this language. It will give the area specialist access to the language. It will give the linguist interested in complex languages access to an extraordinarily difficult language, and it will give the theoretical linguist access to a language that exhibits topological exotica at every level of its grammar, from phonetics to the lexicon.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported
Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca

Refereed
Yes
Citation
Colarusso, J. "A Grammar of the Kabardian Language". University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, 1992.

Url
http://press.ucalgary.ca/
Publisher
University of Calgary Press
Uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1880/49341

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John Colarusso

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