Languages of the Amazon

Languages of the Amazon

Author: Aleksandra I︠U︡rʹevna Aĭkhenvalʹd

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-05-17

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 0199593566

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This guide and introduction to the extraordinary range of languages in Amazonia includes some of the most fascinating in the world and many of which are now teetering on the edge of extinction.


The Languages of the Amazon

The Languages of the Amazon

Author: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-05-18

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0191007994

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This is the first guide and introduction to the extraordinary range of languages in Amazonia, which include some of the most the most fascinating in the world and many of which are now teetering on the edge of extinction. Alexandra Aikhenvald, one of the world's leading experts on the region, provides an account of the more than 300 languages. She sets out their main characteristics, compares their common and unique features, and describes the histories and cultures of the people who speak them. The languages abound in rare features. Most have been in contact with each other for many generations, giving rise to complex patterns of linguistic influence. The author draws on her own extensive field research to tease out and analyse the patterns of their genetic and structural diversity. She shows how these patterns reveal the interrelatedness of language and culture; different kinship systems, for example, have different linguistic correlates. Professor Aikhenvald explains the many unusual features of Amazonian languages, which include evidentials, tones, classifiers, and elaborate positional verbs. She ends the book with a glossary of terms, and a full guide for those readers interested in following up a particular language or linguistic phenomenon. The book is free of esoteric terminology, written in its author's characteristically clear style, and brought vividly to life with numerous accounts of her experience in the region. It may be used as a resource in courses in Latin American studies, Amazonian studies, linguistic typology, and general linguistics, and as reference for linguistic and anthropological research.


Languages of the Amazon

Languages of the Amazon

Author: Aleksandra I︠U︡rʹevna Aĭkhenvalʹd

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-05-17

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 0199593566

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This guide and introduction to the extraordinary range of languages in Amazonia includes some of the most fascinating in the world and many of which are now teetering on the edge of extinction.


The Amazonian Languages

The Amazonian Languages

Author: R. M. W. Dixon

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1999-09-23

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 9780521570213

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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.


Amazonian Indians from Prehistory to the Present

Amazonian Indians from Prehistory to the Present

Author: Anna Roosevelt

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2022-05-10

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 0816549370

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Amazonia has long been a focus of debate about the impact of the tropical rain forest environment on indigenous cultural development. This edited volume draws on the subdisciplines of anthropology to present an integrated perspective of Amazonian studies. The contributors address transformations of native societies as a result of their interaction with Western civilization from initial contact to the present day, demonstrating that the pre- and postcontact characteristics of these societies display differences that until now have been little recognized. CONTENTS Amazonian Anthropology: Strategy for a New Synthesis, Anna C. Roosevelt The Ancient Amerindian Polities of the Amazon, Orinoco and Atlantic Coast: A Preliminary Analysis of Their Passage from Antiquity to Extinction, Neil Lancelot Whitehead The Impact of Conquest on Contemporary Indigenous Peoples of the Guiana Shield: The System of Orinoco Regional Interdependence, Nelly Arvelo-Jiménez and Horacio Biord Social Organization and Political Power in the Amazon Floodplain: The Ethnohistorical Sources, Antonio Porro The Evidence for the Nature of the Process of Indigenous Deculturation and Destabilization in the Amazon Region in the Last 300 Years: Preliminary Data, Adélia Engrácia de Oliveira Health and Demography of Native Amazonians: Historical Perspective and Current Status, Warren M. Hern Diet and Nutritional Status of Amazonian Peoples, Darna L. Dufour Hunting and Fishing in Amazonia: Hold the Answers, What are the Questions?, Stephen Beckerman Homeostasis as a Cultural System: The Jivaro Case, Philippe Descola Farming, Feuding, and Female Status: The Achuara Case, Pita Kelekna Subsistence Strategy, Social Organization, and Warfare in Central Brazil in the Context of European Penetration, Nancy M. Flowers Environmental and Social Implications of Pre- and Post-Contact Situations on Brazilian Indians: The Kayapo and a New Amazonian Synthesis, Darrell Addison Posey Beyond Resistance: A Comparative Study of Utopian Renewal in Amazonia, Michael F. Brown The Eastern Bororo Seen from an Archaeological Perspective, Irmhilde Wüst Genetic Relatedness and Language Distributions in Amazonia, Harriet E. Manelis Klein Language, Culture, and Environment: Tup¡-Guaran¡ Plant Names Over Time, William Balée and Denny Moore Becoming Indian: The Politics of Tukanoan Ethnicity, Jean E. Jackson


The Languages of the Andes

The Languages of the Andes

Author: Willem F. H. Adelaar

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-06-10

Total Pages: 746

ISBN-13: 113945112X

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The Andean and Pacific regions of South America are home to a remarkable variety of languages and language families, with a range of typological differences. This linguistic diversity results from a complex historical background, comprising periods of greater communication between different peoples and languages, and periods of fragmentation and individual development. The Languages of the Andes documents in a single volume the indigenous languages spoken and formerly spoken in this linguistically rich region, as well as in adjacent areas. Grouping the languages into different cultural spheres, it describes their characteristics in terms of language typology, language contact, and the social perspectives of present-day languages. The authors provide both historical and contemporary information, and illustrate the languages with detailed grammatical sketches. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be a valuable source for students and scholars of linguistics and anthropology alike.


Language Dispersal, Diversification, and Contact

Language Dispersal, Diversification, and Contact

Author: Mily Crevels

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-07-25

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0191035750

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This book addresses the complex question of how and why languages have spread across the globe: why do we find large language families distributed over a wide area in some regions, while elsewhere we find clusters of very small families or language isolates? What roles have agriculture, geography, climate, ethnic identity, and language ideologies played in language spread? In this volume, international experts in the field provide new answers to these and related questions, drawing on the increasingly large databases available and on novel analytical research techniques. The first part of the volume outlines some general issues and approaches in the study of language dispersal, diversification, and contact. In the rest of the volume, chapters compare the language and population histories of three major regions - Island Southeast Asia/Oceania, Africa, and South America - which show particularly interesting contrasts in the distribution of languages and language families. The volume is interdisciplinary in approach, with insights from archaeology, genetics, anthropology, and geography, and will be of interest to a wide range of scholars interested in language diversity and contact.


The Native Languages of South America

The Native Languages of South America

Author: Loretta O'Connor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-03-20

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 1139867989

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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.