The Amazonian LanguagesR. M. W. Dixon, Aleksandra I︠U︡rʹevna Aĭkhenvalʹd The Amazon Basin is arguably both one of the least-known and the most complex linguistic regions in the world. It is the home of some 300 languages belonging to around twenty language families, plus more than a dozen genetic isolates, and many of these languages (often incompletely documented and mostly endangered) show properties that constitute exceptions to received ideas about linguistic universals. This book provides an overview in a single volume of this rich and exciting linguistic area. The editors and contributors have sought to make their descriptions as clear and accessible as possible, in order to provide a basis for further research on the structural characteristics of Amazonian languages and their genetic and areal relationships, as well as a point of entry to important cross-linguistic data for the wider constituency of theoretical linguists. |
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Common terms and phrases
adjectives adverbial affricate Aikhenvald allophone alveolar Amazon Amazonian languages Arawá Arawak languages areal diffusion Baniwa BIç bilabial Bolivia Brasília Brazil Carib languages Chayahuita classifiers cognate Colombia consonants constituent order cross-referencing derived dialects East Tucano languages ergative evidentiality example forms fricative function gender genetic glottal grammar groups guages Guahibo Guató Içana Indígena Instituto Lingüístico intransitive Jarawara Jivaro Kaingang Kipeá Kulina language families lexical língua linguistic area Lingüístico de Verano locative Macro-Jê languages Makú languages marked markers Maxakali morpheme morphology Nadëb Nambiquara nominal North Arawak languages occur palatal Pano Paumarí Payne Peru phoneme phonological plural Portuguese possessed nouns possessor postpositions prefix pronominal pronouns refer reflexive river Rodrigues Série Lingüística South American speakers spoken stems subgroup subordinate suffixes syllable Tariana tense third person transitive verbs Trumai Tucano languages Tupí Tupí-Guaraní Tupinambá Tuyuca Universidade Upper Xingu Vaupés velar verbal voiceless stop Wayampi Witoto word Yagua Yanomami Yawalapiti