The Ecology of the Spoken Word: Amazonian Storytelling and Shamanism among the Napo Runa. Michael A. Uzendoski and Edith Felicia Calapucha-Tapuy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012. 264 pp (original) (raw)
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On this and other worlds: Voices from Amazonia - Studies in Diversity Linguistics 17, Language Science Press, 2017
This edited volume offers a collection of twelve interlinear texts reflecting the vast linguistic diversity of Amazonia as well as the rich verbal arts and oral literature traditions of Amazonian peoples. Contributions to the volume come from a variety of geographic regions and represent the Carib, Jê, Tupi, East Tukano, Nadahup, and Pano language families, as well as three linguistic isolates. The selected texts exemplify a variety of narrative styles recounting the origins of constellations, crops, and sacred cemeteries, and of travel to worlds beyond death. We hear tales of tricksters and of encounters between humans and other beings, learn of battles between enemies, and gain insight into history and the indigenous perspective of creation, cordiality and confrontation. The contributions to this volume are the result of research efforts conducted since 2000, and as such, exemplify rapidly expanding investment and interest in documenting native Amazonian voices. They moreover demonstrate the collaborative efforts of linguists, anthropologists, and indigenous leaders, storytellers, and researchers to study and preserve Amazonian languages and cultures. Each chapter offers complete interlinear analysis as well as ample commentary on both linguistic and cultural aspects, appealing to a wide audience, including linguists, historians, anthropologists, and other social scientists. This collection is the first of its type, constituting a significant contribution to focused study of Amazonian linguistic diversity and a relevant addition to our broader knowledge of Amerindian languages and cosmologies. Media files complement the interlinear texts and are available for download.
This paper applies an historical sociolinguistic approach (Romaine 1982) to the study of Classic Lowland Mayan (CLM) inscriptions. Such approach analyzes the spread of innovative linguistic variables through geographic and social space, over time. The paper, revisiting the case study first outlined in Mora-Marín (2011), applies a quantitative analysis to two examples of real-time change in CLM texts, the spread of -(a)wan and -(V)lel, to determine to what extent such spread exhibits a hierarchical geographic diffusion (Trudgill 1974; Chambers and Trudgill 1998), based on site size rankings (Brown and Witschey 2002), and whether their spread was interrelated, with positive results in both regards. In addition, implicational scaling (Bailey 1973; Bailey et al. 1993:368-372) is also employed to better understand the linguistic embedding of -(a)wan. The results point to a hierarchy of lexical and syntactic diffusion. The paper then revisits the comparative evidence from the postconquest Ch’olan languages, from a variationist perspective, resulting in a complex scenario: -(V)lel emerged in the western Maya lowlands (Chontal region); -(a)wan exhibits a more complex scenario, showing greater categoricization in the eastern Maya lowlands (Ch’orti’, but not Ch’olti’), followed by the western Maya lowlands (Chontal, but not Ch’ol), a pattern that could correlate with the close interaction between Copan and Palenque evident in CLM texts. In conclusion, a historical sociolinguistic approach offers scholars a chance to develop more realistic models of linguistic development and interaction than is possible through the exclusive application of the comparative method and family tree model alone.
On the Morphosyntax of Indigenous Languages of the Americas
International Journal of American Linguistics, 2017
Boas (1917) mentioned several phenomena found in the morphosyntax of Amerindian languages (including nominal incorporation and lexical affixation) that posed challenges to accepted views of synchronic and typological issues raised by genealogical relatedness and areal convergence on the continent, morpheme classes like roots, stems, and affixes in languages in general, and whether the fundamental unit of human speech is the word or the sentence. A century later, and despite the increased amount of data available and a substantial amount of theorizing on morphosyntactic issues, these challenges have proved considerably recalcitrant. Framed in terms of morpheme types, word domains, and word classes, this article surveys the progress since Boas's introductory paper and examines open questions in the study of the morphosyntax of indigenous languages of the Americas.
Different histories, different results: the origin and development of two Amazonian languages
2011
Tupinambá, a member of branch III of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic family of the Tupi linguistic stock (Rodrigues 1984/ 1985) is-in so far as it is known-the only Brazilian indigenous language that has had an important role in the development of two Amazonian languages, namely Kokáma/ Omágua and Amazonian Língua Geral or Nheengatú. These are two languages that originated in contact situations and, even though having Tupinambá in common as a source language, have become typologically different in several aspects due to the peculiarities of the social histories of their speakers. With regard to Kokáma/Omágua, there are three concurring hypotheses on its origin: (a) it is simply another language of the Tupi-Guarani genetic family, (b) it is a descendant of the Amazonian Língua Geral, or (c) it developed from contact between speakers of Tupinambá and speakers of other languages, including an Arawakan one, and is not the continuity of any particular language. With regard to the Amazonian Língua Geral, some scholars treat it as a creole language, but to others it is a continuation of Tupinambá spoken outside the indigenous villages, subjected to external influences over the course of time. In this paper I present arguments in favor of the different development possibilities of both Kokáma/Omágua and Amazonian Língua Geral, taking into account aspects of 1 I am thankful to Gabriel Antunes de Araujo and Margarida Petter for having invited me to present a paper on Amazonian languages and linguistic contact at the 5 th ABECS meeting, as well as to Prof. Aryon D. Rodrigues for his criticism and suggestions, which was particularly important for me since he is the most well versed scholar of the linguistic history of the Tupi stock of languages. ANA SUELLY ARRUDA CÂMARA CABRAL 10 the social history of the respective speakers, as well as lexical and grammatical features of each of the two languages.
Multilingual imperatives: the elaboration of a category in north-west Amazonia
The Vaupés River Basin in north-west Amazonia is a well-established linguistic area. Its major feature is obligatory societal multilingualism which follows the principle of linguistic exogamy: 'those who speak the same language as us are our brothers, and we do not marry our sisters'. Speakers of East Tucanoan languages, and of one Arawak language, Tariana, participate in the exogamous marriage network, and share the obligatory multilingualism. Long-term interaction between East Tucanoan languages and Tariana has resulted in the rampant diffusion of grammatical and semantic patterns and calquing of categories. A typologically unusual system of eleven imperatives in Tariana bears a strong impact from East Tucanoan languages. But to say that imperative meanings were just borrowed or calqued from East Tucanoan languages would be a simplification. The markers come from different non-imperative categories, via distinct mechanisms. I discuss the mechanisms involved in the development of Tariana multiple imperatives, and then address the crucial question: which factors facilitate the diffusion of commands? International Journal of American Linguistics 74: 189-225.
Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages
2011
When the late Austronesian linguist Terry Crowley published a version of the historical comparative linguistics course he had been teaching at the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific, he stated that one motivation for his introductory textbook was to demonstrate that the comparative method could be applied universally (1992:10). Gerrit J. Dimmendaal has done the same-and much more-for students of African languages, generously pouring more than thirty years of scholarship into a careful, thorough, insightful, and rich description of the historical lives of African languages. Ultimately, this is more than the "advanced textbook" in historical comparative linguistics described on the publisher's website, but a synergistic exposition on the nature of language and of language change with a special focus on Africa. Dimmendaal systematically works through a comprehensive explanation of the comparative method and related methods of analysis in the first seven chapters. The next five chapters he devotes to an exposition of language contact phenomena and areal influences, and in the final four chapters he discusses language change and its relationships to typology, cultural-historical studies, and the view of language as a species in an ecology. African languages provide the examples and illustrations for each topic, and in this way Dimmendaal substantiates the claim he makes in his preface: "African languages have a story to tell." Resonances throughout the book include an appreciation of scholarly work and discoveries leading to our current understanding of African languages and their genetic relationships. I especially appreciated the insights into the actors and historical development of the scholarly disciplines related to historical comparative linguistics specifically, as well as to other sub-disciplines within the linguistic field. Moreover, Dimmendaal does not shy away from disagreements over theory, but presents relevant arguments from various perspectives and then makes his own position clear. The author continually insists that historical and comparative studies of languages must be thorough and methodical, and deep as well as broad. Dimmendaal does this more by example than through direct admonition. He cites himself so often that it becomes obvious that he speaks from years of field experience, careful data collection, deep analysis and reflection, and searches for explanations. He demonstrates seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the histories of people