The Amazonian Languages

An overview of one of the richest and most complex linguistic regions in the world, the Amazon Basin.

R. M. W. Dixon (Edited by), Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Edited by)

9780521570213, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 September 1999

476 pages, 14 maps 120 tables
23.7 x 16 x 3.5 cm, 0.89 kg

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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]