The Amazonian Languages

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.

• An accessible overview of the 300-plus languages of the Amazon Basin, bringing together what is known about these little-known and endangered languages • Of major importance to theoretical linguists and language typologists alike, since many Amazonian languages contain features that challenge received notions of language universals • Can be used from undergraduate level upwards; also of relevance to policy-makers, NGOs and others involved with the survival of Amazonian peoples

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.