Grammaire de l'émérillon teko, une langue tupi-guarani de Guyane française
... Teko (Tupian) is a good example of such a case. 5 The grammar of Teko recognizes three noun classes: dependent nouns, autonomous nouns, and absolute nouns (Rose 2011). The criterion for this distinction is essentially syntactic valence (something we will return to in Section 1.2.2): dependent nouns are obligatorily possessed, autonomous nouns are optionally possessed, and absolute nouns are non-possessible. ...
In this work we are presenting a database structure to encode the phenomenon of differential possession across languages, considering noun possession classes and possessive constructions as independent but linked. We show how this structure can be used to study different dimensions of possession: semantics, noun valence, and possessive constructions. We present preliminary survey results from a global sample of 120 languages and show that there is a universal semantic core in both inalienable and non-possessible noun classes. Inalienables are centered on body parts and kinship. Non-possessibles are centered on animals, humans, and natural elements.
... As attested by [153], the Kawahiv were once located between the Tapajós and Xingu rivers, thus closer to the Asuriní Tocantins, Parakanã, and Suruí than to the groups there suggested. Historically, the Kawahiv languages have been long separated from Wayampi, Tekó, since these have been at their current locations for centuries [154][155][156][157], with Tembé likewise already at their current location at least the beginning of the seventeenth century [118,158]. Another perceived shortcoming concerns the proximity of Tupinambá with the southern languages, in opposition to the aforementioned genetic studies. ...
Tupí-Guaraní is one of the largest branches of the Tupían language family, but despite its relevance there is no consensus about its origins in terms of age, homeland, and expansion. Linguistic classifications vary significantly, with archaeological studies suggesting incompatible date ranges while ethnographic literature confirms the close similarities as a result of continuous inter-family contact. To investigate this issue, we use a linguistic database of cognate data, employing Bayesian phylogenetic methods to infer a dated tree and to build a phylogeographic expansion model. Results suggest that the branch originated around 2500 BP in the area of the upper course of the Tapajós-Xingu basins, with a split between Southern and Northern varieties beginning around 1750 BP. We analyse the difficulties in reconciling archaeological and linguistic data for this group, stressing the importance of developing an interdisciplinary unified model that incorporates evidence from both disciplines.
... Tupi-Guarani languages The data in this section are taken from Rose (2011Rose ( , 2015. 10 In Emerillon, most subordinating affixes are suffixes, but there are two subordinating prefixes, t-and si-, both of which mark purpose clauses. We focus here on the t-prefix. ...
This article shows that a hitherto unattested construction type – namely, adverbial subordinator prefixes – is in fact attested in several languages. While Dryer’s 659-language convenience sample does not turn up any clear example of such a construction, we argue that this is in part due to arbitrary coding choices that a priori exclude potential constructions of this type. In order to document the existence of adverbial subordinator prefixes, we present a number of languages with different genealogical and areal affiliations, each of which shows solid synchronic evidence for what appears to be a universally dispreferred feature. Furthermore, we identify some diachronic pathways through which adverbial subordinator prefixes grammaticalize.
... As attested by [153], the Kawahiv were once located between the Tapajós and Xingu rivers, thus closer to the Asuriní Tocantins, Parakanã, and Suruí than to the groups there suggested. Historically, the Kawahiv languages have been long separated from Wayampi, Tekó, since these have been at their current locations for centuries [154][155][156][157], with Tembé likewise already at their current location at least the beginning of the seventeenth century [118,158]. Another perceived shortcoming concerns the proximity of Tupinambá with the southern languages, in opposition to the aforementioned genetic studies. ...
This introductory article outlines the central topic of the present special issue, viz. the contrast between alienable and inalienable possession, and how this contrast is reflected in the grammars and lexicons of natural languages. It sketches the historical background of the alienability contrast in the linguistic literature and points to a number of biases that need to be overcome in order to (1) advance our understanding of the contrast and (2) face the limits of its explanatory potential. Specifically, the present introduction, as well as the contributions to the present issue, proposes to move beyond prototypical possessive relationships (ownership, part-whole, and kinship relations), prototypical possessor categories (human possessors) as well as prototypical possessee categories (artifacts, body-parts and kin). In addition, the issue contains three contributions dealing with Amazonian languages, thus filling in an important gap in previous crosslinguistic studies on possession. The data presented in the special issue show that many morphosyntactic phenomena that have been explained in terms of the alienability contrast – or are amenable to such explanations – cannot be reduced to it, and are sometimes even better described without recourse to alienability at all. The present article thus concludes that the alienability contrast is at best regarded as a heuristic tool in exploring linguistic data, and cautions that, if used as the only explanatory principle, it could actually hamper an adequate description of the data.
The article deals with attributive modification in South American languages. It focuses on descriptive terms that denote properties. First of all, it is observed that attributive modification with property terms is possible in most, but not all South American languages. The typology of attributive constructions is argued to constitute a continuum, from syntactically loose nominal expressions, on the one hand, to morphologically complex structures which are ambiguous between compounding and derivation, on the other hand. The latter involves the use of lexico-grammatical means such as classifiers. The paper also raises the question of a possible diachronic link – at least for some languages – between intransitive clauses and postnominal property terms, which are often verbal in nature.
This paper investigates the expression of comparison of equality and similarity in Mojeño Trinitario, an Arawak language spoken in Lowland Bolivia. A methodological introduction discusses the fact that within a first-hand corpus of spontaneous texts, the root kuti that expresses similarity occurs in five different constructions, while comparisons of equality are not found. The paper therefore focuses on this polycategorial root, which shows the two major functions of similative predicate ‘be like, resemble’ and similative preposition ‘like’. The root kuti is also used in verbal compounds, as a subordinator, and as an epistemic marker. The paper carefully describes the five similative constructions, and the form and function of the similative root kuti in each of these constructions. Two major issues discussed throughout the paper are the characterization of this polycategorial root in terms of parts of speech, and its diachronic evolution via grammaticalization and pragmaticalization.
https://brill.com/view/journals/fdl/50/1/article-p227_17.xml
Assessing the internal coherence and constituency of language families often centers either around comparing certain form-meaning correspondences, or around identifying the presence or absence of linguistic features across the members of the family. The former approach is generally restricted to the lexicon. The latter approach focuses mostly on structural characteristics of language. In this paper we present an alternative approach to comparing grammatical systems between languages within a language family, which aims at bringing these two approaches and their results closer to each other. We look at subordination strategies in a sample of Tupian languages, taking constructions as the basic unit of comparison, treating them as form-meaning correspondences. The Tupian family offers an especially intriguing case for studying subordination strategies in the South American context, given its enormous geographical spread and the variety of contact situations involving its member languages. Major patterns of subordination strategies can be discerned across the family, e.g. strategies involving nominalization, verbal incorporation and other subtypes of verbal serialization, but there is also a great degree of variability between the different languages. By mapping the structural diversity onto the known genealogy and geographic distribution, we hope to shed more light on the history of the Tupian family and on the diffusability of subordination strategies.
This paper presents an internal classification of Tupí-Guaraní based on lexical data from 30 Tupí-Guaraní languages and 2 non-Tupí-Guaraní Tupian languages, Awetí and Mawé. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using a generalized binary cognate gain and loss model was carried out on a character table based on the binary coding of cognate sets, which were formed with attention to semantic shift. The classification shows greater internal structure than previous ones, but is congruent with them in several ways.
This article offers a typological overview of the Emerillon language, a Tupí-Guaraní language spoken by a small community in French Guiana. General information is provided on various aspects of the grammar, within the domains of phonology, morphology, and syntax. Special attention is given to a few features of the language that are rather rare and/or poorly discussed in the typological literature, namely morphemic nasal harmony, a hierarchical person indexation system, a rare type of nominal predication, and the existence of a specific marker for sociative causation. These features are all typical of the Tupí-Guaraní family.
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