A Reference Grammar of Kotiria (Wanano)

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A Reference Grammar of Kotiria (Wanano)

Kristine Stenzel

Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas Series

536 pages
15 figures, 1 map, 38 tables

Hardcover

July 2013

978-0-8032-2822-1

$80.00 Add to Cart
Paperback

July 2014

978-0-8032-4927-1

$40.00 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

July 2013

978-0-8032-4649-2

$40.00 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

July 2013

978-0-8032-6542-4

$40.00 Add to Cart

About the Book

Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

This volume is the first descriptive grammar of Kotiria (Wanano), a member of the eastern Tukanoan language family spoken in the Vaupes River basin of Colombia and Brazil in the northwest Amazon rain forest. The Kotirias, who have lived in this remote region for more than seven hundred years, participate in the complex Vaupés social system, characterized by long-standing linguistic and cultural interaction. The Kotirias remained relatively isolated from the dominant societies until the early part of the twentieth century, when increasing outside influence in the region triggered rapid social and linguistic change. Today the Kotirias number only about sixteen hundred people, and their language, though still used in traditional communities, is in risk of becoming endangered.

Kristine Stenzel draws on eight years of intensive work with the Kotirias to promote, record, and revitalize their language. Working with dozens of native speakers and drawing on numerous oral narratives and written texts, this book is the first comprehensive study of this endangered language and one of the few reference grammars of this language family.

Author Bio

Kristine Stenzel is a professor of linguistics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her articles have appeared in International Journal of American Linguistics, Studies in Language, and edited volumes.

Table of Contents

List of tables
List of figures and maps
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Format of examples and texts
1 The Kotiria and their language
2 Phonology
3 Words
4 Noun classes and noun formation
5 Nominal morphology
6 Noun phrases
7 Verbal semantics and serialization processes
8 Nonroot stem morphemes in the verb
9 Clause modality
10 Clause structure 
11 Complex sentences
Appendix 1: Texts 
Appendix 2: Vocabulary
References
Index

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