Handbook of Amazonian Languages Volume 1-4

2340 Pages·459.384 MB·

by  Desmond C. Derbyshire (editor), Geoffrey K. Pullum (editor)

Handbook of
Amazonian Languages

Handbook of
Amazonian Languages
Volume 1
edited by
Desmond C. Derbyshire and
Geoffrey K. Pullum
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York · Amsterdam
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Handbook of Amazonian languages.
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 (alk. paper)
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Handbook of Amazonian languages / Desmond
C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum ed. -
Berlin ; New York ; Amsterdam : Mouton
de Gruyter
NE: Derbyshire, Desmond C. [Hrsg.]
Vol. 1 (1986).
ISBN 3-11-010257-9
Printed on acid free paper.
© Copyright 1986 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin. All rights reserved, including those of
translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form — by
photoprint, microfilm, or any other means — nor transmitted nor translated into a machine
language without written permission from Mouton de Gruyter, a Division of Walter de
Gruyter & Co., Berlin. Printing: Ratzlow-Druck, Berlin. — Binding: Dieter Mikolai,
Berlin. - Printed in Germany.
PREFACE
This volume, the first of a planned series of three, is the result of nearly ten
years of collaborative work. The editors worked together on documenting the
languages of Amazonia on grants from the U.K. Social Science Research
Council to University College London during 1977-1981 (grant nos. HR5114
and HR6990), and are grateful for that support, which provided some of the
foundations for the preparation for the present volume. The first-named editor
is also grateful to the British Academy for grants of travel funds mat were
essential in making this project possible, and to the Summer Institute of
Linguistics and its members (particularly those in Brazil and Peru, at the
University of North Dakota summer sessions, and in the Academic Publications
and Printing Arts departments in Dallas) for their constant cooperation,
assistance and support. Both editors thank the Syntax Research Center at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, for other assistance and support during
1981-1985.
The aim of the work is to increase the accessibility of descriptive and
interpretive material relating to the grammatical structures of the languages· of
Amazonia. We have both been struck by the paucity of information about the
indigenous languages of South America in the mainstream of linguistics. Even
relatively wide-ranging comparative surveys of linguistic phenomena often fail
to have even a single Amazonian language in their sample, and to a large
extent this is not because of deliberate exclusion but rather because of a lack
of available information. To the extent that this work is successful in
improving the situation, the majority of the credit must go to the authors of
the various contributions that we have elicited for inclusion here. These
authors have spent significant portions of their lives working in Amazonia and
learning the languages they discuss and describe in these pages. The
appearance of this collection is primarily a tribute to them.
Many other scholars have assisted us in various ways, often giving
generously of their expertise and their time. We cannot list every name, but
we want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to every one of them.
SOUTH AMERICA
Approximate locations of 10 Guajajara
some Amazonian 11 Jamamadi
language groups 12 Machiguenga
13 Nomatsiguenga
14 Pajonal Campa
1 Amuesha
15 Palikur
2 Apalai
16 Parecis
3 Apurinä
17 Paumari
4 Ashaninca
18 Piraha
5 Asheninca
19 Piro
6 Canela-Kraho
20 Terena
7 Caquinte
21 Urubu-Kaapor
8 Culina
22 Waurä
9 Deni
23 Yagua
CONTENTS
Preface v
Map-South America vi
Abbreviations ix
Introduction I
Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum
Part I: Grammatical Sketches
Outline of Contents for each chapter in Part I 31
Apalai 33
Edward and Sally Koehn
Canela-Kraho 128
Jack and Jo Popjes
Pirahä 200
Daniel L. Everett
Urubu-Kaapor 326
James Kakumasu
Part : Word Order and Typological Studies
Verb Prominence, Verb Initialness, Ergativity and Typological
Disharmony in Guajajara 407
Carl H. Harrison
Basic Constituent Order in Yagua Clauses: Implications for Word
Order Universals 440
Doris L. Payne
viii CONTENTS
Part III: Comparative Arawakan Studies
Comparative Survey of Morphology and Syntax
in Brazilian Arawakan 469
Desmond C. Derbyshire
Grammatical Characteristics of PreAndine
Arawakan Languages of Peru 567
Mary Ruth Wise
ABBREVIATIONS
ABLAT ablative
ABS absolutive
ACCOMPL accomplished
ACT actual
ADJ adjective
ADJVZR adjectivizer
ADLAT adlative
ADVERS adversative
FF affirmative
AFFIRM affirmation
AG agent
ANIM animate
ASP.AUX aspect auxiliary
ASSOC associative
ΓΝΤΑ attention
AUG augmentative
AUX auxiliary, auxiliary verb
BEN benefactive
CAUS causative
CERT certainty
CESS cessative
CLASS class, classification, classifier
CLOS closure
CMPL completive
CNCT connective
CNJ conjunction
COLL collective
COMIT comitative
COMPAR comparison
COMPL complement
COMPLMTZR complementizer
COND conditional
CONT continuative
CONTRADES contradesiderative
CONTRAEXP contraexpective
CONTRAFACT contrafactual
COP copula
CUST customary
DAT dative