The Native Languages of South America: Origins, Development, Typology

by Loretta O'Connor, Pieter Muysken

Overview

In South America indigenous languages are extremely diverse. There are over one hundred language families in this region alone. Contributors from around the world explore the history and structure of these languages, combining insights from archaeology and genetics with innovative linguistic analysis. The book aims to uncover regional patterns and potential deeper genealogical relations between the languages. Based on a large-scale database of features from sixty languages, the book analyses major language families such as Tupian and Arawakan, as well as the Quechua/Aymara complex in the Andes, the Isthmo-Colombian region and the Andean foothills. It explores the effects of historical change in different grammatical systems and fills gaps in the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) database, where South American languages are underrepresented. An important resource for students and researchers interested in linguistics, anthropology and language evolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107044289
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/20/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Loretta O'Connor is a postdoctoral researcher in the South American languages research group of the Traces of Contact project, Radboud University Nijmegen.

Pieter Muysken is Academy Professor of Linguistics at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: South American indigenous languages – genealogy, typology, contacts Pieter Muysken and Loretta O'Connor; Part I. Introduction to South America: 2. Human migrations, dispersals, and contacts in South America Loretta O'Connor and Vishnupriya Kolipakam; 3. Basic vocabulary comparison in South American languages Harald Hammarström; Part II. Case Studies in Contact: 4. Structural features and language contact in the Isthmo-Colombian Area Loretta O'Connor; 5. The Andean foothills and adjacent Amazonian fringe Rik van Gijn; 6. The Andean matrix Simon van de Kerke and Pieter Muysken; 7. The Arawakan matrix Love Eriksen and Swintha Danielsen; 8. The Tupian expansion Love Eriksen and Ana Vilacy Galucio; Part III. Comparative Perspectives on Linguistic Structures: 9. Language internal and external factors in the development of the desiderative in South American indigenous languages Neele Mueller; 10. Verbal argument marking patterns in South American languages Joshua Birchall; 11. The noun phrase: focus on demonstratives, redrawing the semantic map Olga Krasnoukhova; 12. Subordination strategies in South America: nominalization Rik van Gijn; Part IV. Major Findings and Conclusions: 13. The languages of South America: deep families, areal relationships, and language contact Joshua Birchall, Swintha Danielsen, Love Eriksen, Ana Vilacy Galucio, Rik van Gijn, Harald Hammarström, Simon van de Kerke, Vishnupraya Kolipakam, Olga Krasnoukhova, Pieter Muysken, Neele Müller and Loretta O'Connor.

Editorial Reviews

Advance Praise: "A truly significant book, a major contribution ! It provides many new findings on the history and typology of South American languages, with important implications for linguistics generally." —Lyle Campbell, University of Hawai'i Mānoa

"The Native Languages of South America is a gold mine of precious specimens within reach of anyone interested in uncovering linguistic treasures. Amerindian languages are still vastly underexplored and continue to reveal phenomena that at times conform to expected universal tendencies and at times surprise and provoke us toward the revision – sometimes radical – of existing descriptive and theoretical models. This book will be useful not only to typologists, but also those who wish to know more about the results of new interdisciplinary research. Archeology and ethnography partner up with historical linguistics, which no longer merely reproduces the classic mold of the historical-comparative method, but revives areal diachronic study, investigating the multiple and complex contacts between societies and languages in the prehistorical and historical times of the indigenous peoples of South America." —Bruna Franchetto, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - Museu Nacional

From the Publisher