Languages of South America.Amazonian Languages
After Epps & Salanova 2013 (typology of Amazonian), Adelaar 2004 (the Andes)(unless otherwise indicated, maps come from glottolog.org and Adelaar 2004)
Никогда вы не найдетеВ наших северных лесахДлиннохвостых ягуаровБроненосных черепах
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Generalities: South America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_the_Americas
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Short vs. long chronological theory All settlers coming to the Americas after 19k BP (LGM) vs. First setlers coming before LGM, i.e. 21 to 40 k BP
First evidence of humans in South America back in 11k BP
Evidence of manioc cultivated from 4k BP in Amazon Basin, agrarian communities in the Andes
5,5k BP – domestication of llamas, vicuñas, guanacos, and alpacas
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Domestication of camelids
alpaca
llama
vicuña
guanaco
source: wiki
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South America
Languages of the Andes: grue
Amazonian languages: orange
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Adelaar 2004: the five ‘spheres’
Chibcha sphere Chibchan (27) pouring out
to Mesoamerica Inca sphere Languages of the
eastern slopes Araucanian sphere Tierra del Fuego
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Adelaar 2004: the five ‘spheres’
Chibcha sphere Inca sphere
Quechuan (45) Languages of the
eastern slopes Araucanian sphere Tierra del Fuego
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Adelaar 2004: the five ‘spheres’
Chibcha sphere Inca sphere Languages of the
eastern slopes (111) Tacanan (7), Jivaroan (4),
Cahuapanan (3), Bora-Huitoto (9), Zaparoan (6) and isolates
Also Panoan, Arawakan, Tupi-Guarani, Tucanoan,
Araucanian sphere Tierra del Fuego
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Adelaar 2004: the five ‘spheres’
Chibcha sphere Inca sphere Languages of the
eastern slopes Araucanian sphere
(2) Tierra del Fuego
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Adelaar 2004: the five ‘spheres’
Chibcha sphere Inca sphere Languages of the eastern
slopes Araucanian sphere Tierra del Fuego 1 (†8)
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Fuegan: nomadic hunter gatherers
occupancy since 6k BP dog and horse, metal weapons come in lately – under
Spaniards tone, wood and bone weapons Atlantic coast: land hunting (foot nomads, more bilingual) Pacific coast: seafood (canoe nomads, contestedly
monolingual) Kawesqar, Chono, Ya(h)gan, Selk’nam, Haush (Manenkn),
Tehuelche (Patagones), Gününa Küne, Tehues (Teushen) NB: language list, not genealogical classification
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Contact conditions: mixed marriages, particularly in the late colonial period; barter between the Selk’nam on one side and the
Yahgan or Kawesqar on the other; slaving raids (e.g. by the Chono in Kawesqar territory); shared fishing grounds (e.g. between the Kawesqar and
the Yahgan); capture of Kawesqar women by the Tehuelche; migration of groups of Selk’nam across the Strait of
Magellan and integration of the latter into the Tehuelche,
migration of Tehuelches across the Strait of Magellan; extensive migration of Mapuche Indians into Patagonia.
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Language loss in Tierra del FuegoChono Kawesq
arYahgan
Selk’nam
Haush
Gününa Küne
Tehues Tehuelche
Before 1850
21 fam.
4,000 2,900 3,600 300 some 500-600
9,000-10,000
1875 1 fam. 2,500+ 2,000 2,000-6,000
1900 130-945
1,500- 300-
1925 150-400 50 70-100 1-3 10-12
1950 100 40 20 40
1975 2-3 100
1985 - 28 8 1 - - - 29
“false precision”; contagious deseases as well as armed colonization in 19th cent.
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Classification: unresolved
Languages of land nomads - Selk'nam, Haush, Gününa Yajich, Teushen and Tehuelche – probably related (10 to 55 percent of basic vocabulary)
Kawesqar + Chono +? Yahgan
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Phonology
Voiced, glottalized present but not widespread, complex syllables
E.g. Selk’nam: ejectives, r~l variation
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Morphology
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Word order
xe-nn mer čonn ‘The man came’
come-AF.MS DC man
yEpr t’E:n han t’elqn ‘The girl usually eats meat’
meat eat CU girl
(Najlis 1973 via Adelaar 2004)
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Amazonia: ~300 lgs in ~ 50 gen. units
Map shows major families only, including:
Tupi-Guarani 76Arawakan 60 Carib 32Panoan 27Tuk(c)anoan 25 Jê 16Brazil, but also Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Paraguay
http://www.athenapub.com
green purpleblue
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Language families and isolates
Tupi(-Guarani) – 76 incl. Guarani, official lg of Paraguay, some 5 mln speakers
Carib – 32 (incl. Carib, Hixkaryána, Macushi, Apalaí) Panoan 27 (incl. Shipibo-Konibo) Tukanoan 25 Arawakan (Maipurean) – 60 (incl Paumari) Jê 16
Putative Macro Jê includes in addition Bororo (2), Jabutian (2), Maxakalian (2), isolates Krenak, Ofaye, Karaja, Rikbatsa
Minor families: Nadahup (Puinavean) - 7 (incl. Hup), Arauan 6, Nambiquaran 6, Chapacuran 5, Guaykuruan 5, Yanomam 4, Katukinan 2, Yaguan 2
Isolate: Pirahã (“Pirahã debate”), Trumai…
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Phonetic and phonology Rare phonemes: bilabial affricate (Shipibo),
bilabial trill (Wari’, Pirahã) voiced linguolabial double flap (tongue tip
hits the roof of the mouth then the bottom lip) Pirahã
Lexical tone: register tone (low, high, none), sometimes limited to the stressed syllable (pitch accent?)
Nasal prosody, nasal harmonyGuarani nasal harmonynõ-rõ-nũpã-ĩ ‘I don't beat you’ndo-ro-haihu-i ‘I don't love you’
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Noun classes: rich Sex-based gender systems Classifiers
Some Bora lgs: several hundred classifiers Humans by sex, animates by sex, shape or
unspecified, inanimates by shape, function etc. Shape: flat, round, long etc.; culture based
classifications Wakú ‘vines, snakes, fishing lines’ + ‘large catfish’?? large catfish is the namesake of a ceremonial
trumpet that is bound with a vine rim and named ‘two-snakes.’
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Numeral systems: poor Some ‘1’ and ‘2’ only; many ‘1’ to ‘3’ to ‘5’ Often, etymologically transparent: in Hup,
‘two’ derives from ‘eyes’, ‘three’ from ‘rubber tree seed’. In many ‘four’ derives from ‘brother, companion’
Andersen 2005: “where numeral systems exist, they are a cultural attainment, that is, they have developed (or been borrowed from other languages) because they were culturally motivated.”
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Tense and number
Tense
Number Nouns
Verbs
How come?
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Verbal tense: weak Time reference expressed by optional
suffixes or clitics Future vs. (optional) non-future
Past vs. present reference induced from the type of situation (actional class) – probably common to North America Mebengokre (Jê):
ba nẽ ba ku-by ‘I grabbed it’
I Non.Fut I it-grabba nẽ ba i-ngryk ‘I'm angry’I Non.Fut I I-angry
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Tensed nouns Arawak, Carib, Nambiquara, Tupi-Guarani:
tensed nominal referencea. che-roga-kue my-house-FORMER ‘my former house’ (ashes or house)b. che-roga-ra my-house-FUTURE ‘my future house’ (bricks or standing
house)
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Tensed nouns Not verbal tense cliticized to nouns! Epps:
“… structurally simple noun phrases with markers that encode the evidence surrounding the epistemic status of the entity's existence.”
Independent of clausal verbal tense: a. o-va-ta che-róga-kue-pe 3-move-FUT 1-house-FORMER-in‘He will move into my former house.’b. a-va-va'ekue hoga-rã-pe 1-move-PAST 3.house-FUTURE-in‘I have moved into his future house.’
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Verbal number
Multiple participants (agreement?) or multiple event (iterativity)? Itonama – complicate verbal number but
lacking nominal number Possibly a trait in common with N.
America, esp. Muskogean and Tsimshian, where it is morphologically similar to Jê
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Verbal number Mẽbengokre, alias Kayapo (Jê): argument number
shifts to aspect when the verb changes from dynamic to stative (nominalized) form
a. krwỳj jã nẽ môp krẽ ‘This parakeet ate the malanga.’
parakeet this NFUT malanga eat.V.SGb. krwỳj jã nẽ môp ku ‘…ate the malangas.’parakeet this NFUT malanga eat.V.PLa. krwỳj jã nẽ kute môp krẽn ‘…has eaten (once in his
life).’parakeet this NFUT 3ERG malanga eat.N.SGb. krwỳj jã nẽ kute môp kur ‘…often eats’
parakeet this NFUT 3ERG malanga eat.N.PL
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Evidentiality: abundant Nonvisual (heard, but also tasted or felt)
Visual may be marked but usually unmarked Reportative
Does quotative count? Inferred Speaker’s responsibility for ‘facticity’ of
the information conveyed or for the event itself connection to culture: interactive expectations
and ethnography of speech
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Evidentiality: abundant
Interaction with grammar and morphology
From obligatory to discourse-based Visual may be marked but usually
unmarked From particles to paradimgs of
suffixes to fusion with tense, person and number (Tuyuca < East Tukano)
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Ergative alignment: many Carib, Arawak, Tupi, (Macro) Jê,
Nadahup, Panoan, Zaparo, Yagua, Yanomami, Trumai, Tacana, Guahibo
Ergativity: ‘counter’-splits: Ergative on pronouns, accusative on NPs Ergative in present (generic / habitual),
accusative with past reference
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Active alignment: Tupi Alias: split intranstive, active-stative,
split S, fluid S Especially Tupi-Guarani
in common with N. America?
A
P
A
P
A reason to introduce the fourth slot to Dixonian A/S/P opposition? Need to distinguish between S=A and S=P?
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Active alignment: Tupi
Alias: split intranstive, active-stative, split S, fluid S
Especially Tupi-Guarani
A
S
P
Rather, distinction is based on verbal classification: stative vs. active Stative may exhibit nominal properties The same verb may be construed with active and stative interpretation
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Active alignment: Tupi Guarani:
Stative (P-prefix) Active (A-prefix)
che-yta ‘I can swim’ a-yta ‘I swim’
che-monda
‘I'm a thief’ a-monda ‘I steal’
che-karu ‘I'm a big eater’ a-karu ‘I eat’
che-ka’a ‘I'm a drunkard’ a-ka’a ‘I get drunk’
che-guata ‘I'm a fast walker’ a-guata ‘I walk’
che-kirirĩ ‘I'm a quiet person’ a-kirirĩ ‘I stop talking’