The present work is a detailed phonological, morphological, syntactic, and text-oriented description of Anywa (Anywak), a western Nilotic language related to Shilluk and spoken in Ethiopia and Sudan along the rivers Sobat, Baro, Gelo, and Akobo. It used to be spoken by about 200,000 people, whereas more recent estimations state only 100,000 speakers anymore. The synchronic analysis is supplemented by internal reconstructions revealing the relative time depth and the specific paths of development of various grammatical features.
Typologists will find Anywa particularly interesting, since it belongs to the split-ergative languages, a language type considered for a long time absent in Africa. The book is complemented by an appendix of 55 pages containing Anywa texts with both word-by-word and free translations and by various indices.
By the author a compact dictionary of Anywa/Anywak was published in the same series, as well as further contributions:
Torben Andersen in Afrika und Übersee, 82 (1999), 251–253
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