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Handbook of Amazonian Languages PDF

661 Pages·1998·140.95 MB·English
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Handbook of Amazonian Languages W DE G Handbook of Amazonian Languages Volume 4 edited by Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum 1998 Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., Berlin. © Printed on acid free paper which falls within the guideline of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data (Revised for vol. 4) Handbook of Amazonian languages. Includes bibliographies. 1. Indians of South America - Brazil - Languages. 2. Amazon River Region - Languages. I. Derbyshire, Desmond C. II. Pullum, Geoffrey K. PM5151.H36 1986 498 86-12692 ISBN 0-89925-124-2 (v. l : alk. paper) ISBN 0-89925-421-7 (v. 2 : alk. paper) ISBN 0-89925-813-1 (v. 3 : alk. paper) Die Deutsche Bibliothek - Cataloging-in-Publication-Data Handbook of Amazonian languages / ed. by Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum. - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter Vol. 4(1998) ISBN 3-11-014991-5 © Copyright 1998 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printing: GerikeGmbH, Berlin. - Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin - Germany. Preface This fourth volume of the Handbook of Amazonian Languages follows three earlier volumes published in 1986, 1990, and 1991 respectively. In addition to the linguistic contents of this volume—two grammatical descriptions of a Cariban and an Arawakan language, a typological study of a Panoan language, and a historical and comparative exploration of Tupian languages, all summarized and discussed in our editorial introduction—we include a cumulative index to all four volumes, subsum- ing the index that was included in volume 3. There is a sense in which it is an encouraging sign to us that the project continued by this volume should be so far from having succeeded in achieving complete coverage of its subject matter. The Handbook of Amazonian Languages has not surveyed all the languages of the Amazon basin, nor even a fair percentage of them. There is much more to be done than we have been able to do. The reason we see that as a very good sign is that it stems from the simple fact that the indigenous inhabitants of Amazonia, despite the sometimes genocidal ferocity of the five hun- dred years of assault on their very existence, are not extinct, nor close to being extinct. It is true that millions of Amerindian people in Amazonia have died unnecessarily, in a story of conquest, slavery, disease, displacement, and outright mass murder that brings great shame upon humankind. But it is nonetheless true that as the 20th century ends, the speakers of the hundreds of lowland South American languages (the Arawan, Arawakan, Cariban, Je, Jivaroan, Panoan, Tucanoan, Tupian, and many other language families) still thrive in many different regions, from Ecuador in the west to the mouth of the Amazon in the east, from Venezuela in the north to Paraguay in the south, and across much of the vast area of Brazil. Indigenous South Americans survived their migration to the Americas from Asia some forty thousand years ago, and have coped in the last five hundred years with violence and traumatic social change on a scale that is hard to conceive of. But down to the present day, in many parts of the region, they still pass on their ancient languages and traditions to their children, defend their own political interests with intelligence and skill, and make their own decisions about interacting with the complex web of modern social, political, religious, and economic life in South America. Down through the many millennia of human habitation of the Amazon basin, despite the gathering momentum of the wave of extinctions that is sweeping away so many of the world's languages today, many of the beautiful and intriguing aboriginal languages of the Amazon have persisted in use and not given way to Spanish or Portuguese. Indeed, one of the languages described in this volume is spoken by a tribe (the Wai Wai) who have been increasing their population steadily vi Derbyshire and Pullum in recent years rather than fading away. This book is a further expression of our admiration and wonder at the linguistic aspect of the many intellectual achievements of the Indians of the Amazonian area. We dedicate this volume to the memory of Grace Derbyshire, who died unexpect- edly in 1997 as the manuscript was being readied for the press, and is missed by everyone who knew her. She was a participant from the start in the mission to the Hixkaryana people that began in the 1950s, residing among the Hixkaryana people on the Nhamundä river for many years and learning their language. She was Desmond Derbyshire's constant companion in his linguistic and bible translation work for forty years, and was constantly supportive of the work that led to this book. Volume 4 South America Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean See p. 226 for large scale map showing locations of Warekena and some neighboring language groups. See p. 492 for map showing locations of Tupi-Guarani language groups. CONTENTS Preface v Map of South America viii Introduction 1 Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum Part I: Grammatical Sketches 21 Outline of contents for grammatical sketches Wai Wai 25 Robert E. Hawkins Warekena 225 Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald Part II: Typological Study: Amahuaca (Panoan) 441 Margarethe W. Sparing-Chavez Part III: Comparative Study: Tupi-Guarani 487 Cheryl Jensen Cumulative Index to Volumes 1-4 619

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The fourth volume in a series on the languages of Amazonia. This volume includes grammatical descriptions of Wai Wai, Warekena, a comparative survey of morphosyntactic features of the Tupi-Guarani languages, and a paper on interclausal reference phenomena in Amahuaca.
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