The Amazonian Languages

by R. M. W. Dixon, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

Overview

The Amazon Basin is the least known and the most complex linguistic region in the world today. It is the home of some 300 languages many of which (often incompletely documented and mostly endangered) show properties that constitute exceptions to received ideas about linguistic universals. This book is the first in English to provide an accessible overview of this rich and exciting linguistic area. It will provide a basis for further research on Amazonian languages as well as a point of entry to important data for theoretical linguists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521570213
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/23/1999
Series:	Cambridge Language Surveys
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.33(h) x 1.38(d)

Table of Contents

List of maps; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Conventions followed; 1. Introduction R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald; 2. Carib Desmond C. Derbyshire; 3. The Arawak language family Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald; 4. Tupí Aryon D. Rodrigues; 5. Tupí-Guaraní Cheryl Jensen; 6. Macro-Jê Aryon D. Rodrigues; 7. Tucano Janet Barnes; 8. Pano Eugene E. Loos; 9. Makú Silvana and Valteir Martins; 10. Nambiquara Ivan Lowe; 11. Arawá R. M. W. Dixon; 12. Small language families and isolates in Peru Mary Ruth Wise; 13. Other small families and isolates Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon; 14. Areal diffusion and language contact in the Içana-Vaupés basin, north-west Amazonia Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald; 15. The Upper Xingu as an incipient linguistic area Lucy Seki; Index of authors; Index of languages and language families; Subject index.

Editorial Reviews

..."a useful, comprehensive linguistic anthology for the Amazonian region" Notes on Linguistics

From the Publisher