Introduction
- Author(s):
- Winskel, H.
- Format:
- Book section
- Publisher:
- 2013.
- Language:
- English
- Abstract:
- Traditionally, psycholinguistic research has predominantly focused on a small number of European languages. In more contemporary times, there has been a rapidly growing interest in investigating more diverse languages. By including a broader range of languages, we can build more comprehensive and representative universal models of psycholinguistic mechanisms and processes. The aim of the current volume is to contribute to this cross-linguistic endeavour and at the same time partially address this imbalance in research focus through reviewing some of the research conducted on the fascinating and varied languages of South and Southeast Asia. The people living in this large geographical region of South and Southeast Asia represent a large proportion of the world’s population and speak a large number of diverse languages. South Asia comprises Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. These areas are home to several hundred languages belonging to the Indo-European, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic families. The area of Southeast Asia encompasses Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia and southern China with at least five language families (Tai-Kadai, Sino-Tibetan, Hmong-Mien, Austroasiatic, Austronesian) spoken in this area (Enfield, 2005, 2011). The rich diversity and significance of these languages is reflected in the number of languages spoken; for example, in India it is estimated as being 438, Indonesia 719, and Vietnam 106 (Ethnologue). Moreover, languages such as Hindi, Malay or Indonesian are spoken by millions of people. © Cambridge University Press 2014.
- ISSN:
- 9781139084642 (ISBN); 9781107017764 (ISBN)
- DOI:
- 10.1017/CBO9781139084642.001
- Identifier:
- HmongStudies3658