Bücher von R. M. W. (Australian National University Dixon

Described by Ken Hale as 'nothing less than a masterpiece' and by P. H. Matthews as 'absolutely clear, astonishingly complete, factually fascinating', The Languages of Australia (1980) was a landmark in Australian linguistics. Its opening chapters provide a non-technical introduction to over two hundred languages forming this extraordinary linguistic heritage.

Although there is only one ergative language in Europe (Basque), perhaps one-quarter of the world's languages show ergative properties. R. M. W. Dixon here provides a full survey of the various types of ergativity, looking at the ways they interrelate, their semantic bases and their role in the organisation of discourse.