List of tables xiii List of figures and maps xv Preface xvi Acknowledgments xvii Abbreviations used in glosses xix Abbreviations for example sources xxi Format of examples and texts xxii 1 The Kotiria and their language 1 1.1 Linguistic diversity in Brazilian Amazonia 1 1.2 The Tukanoan language family 3 1.2.1 Research on Tukanoan languages 6 1.2.2 Research on the Kotiria language 8 1.3 The Kotiria: demographics and geographic location 8 1.4 A brief history of contact 13 1.5 Linguistic exogamy, multilingualism, and the Vaupés social system 15 1.6 The specter of language loss and the development of language maintenance programs 18 2 Phonology 22 2.1 Phonemic inventory 22 2.2 Consonants 23 2.2.1 Plosives: voiced, voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated 24 2.2.2 The relation of [d] and [r] 30 2.2.3 The affricate / / 32 2.2.4 Allophones of oral consonants 34 2.3 Vowels and vowel harmony 36 2.4 The syllable 38 2.4.1 Shapes, constraints, and association rules 38 2.4.2 Moras in prosodic structure 39 2.5 Suprasegmental nasalization 42 2.5.1 Nasal allophones and derivations of [+nasal] morphemes 43 2.5.2 Spreading processes 45 2.6 Suprasegmental tone 48 2.6.1 Tone or pitch accent? 48 2.6.2 Derivations and spreading processes 50 2.6.3 Monomoraic roots and tonal melodies Buy the Book

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This paper investigates evidentiality as a category of clause modality in Wanano (Eastern Tukanoan). I discuss four major categories of modality by which statements, questions, and ‘oriented’ utterances are grammatically and obligatorily marked and explore areas of semantic overlap. The major focus is the complex and typologically interesting Wanano evidential system, and I describe the core and extended semantics of each of the five categories — HEARSAY, VISUAL, NON-VISUAL, INFERENCE, and ASSERTION. This description provides input to the theoretical discussion of the relationship between evidentials and epistemic values. I conclude that in Wanano, not only statements coded by evidentials but also statements referring to irrealis situations and interrogatives display sensitivity to scalar values of speaker commitment.

This article explores and compares multilingualism in small-scale societies of Western Africa and Lowland South America. All are characterized by complex and extensive multilingual practices and regional exchange systems established before the onset of globalization and its varying impacts. Through overviews of the general historical and organizational features of regions, vignette case studies, and a discussion of transformative processes affecting them, we show that small-scale multilingual societies present challenges to existing theorization of language as well 2 as approaches to language description and documentation. We aim to bring these societies and issues to the fore, promoting discussion within a broader audience.

This article analyzes the use of several response particles in face-to-face interaction in Wa’ikhana, an East Tukano language of northwestern Amazonia. Adopting a Conversation Analysis approach, we explore details of each particle, considering their prosodic shapes, the action contexts in which they occur, and their sequential positioning, all crucial to understanding their meanings in interaction. Our analysis shows that Wa’ikhana response particles exhibit both universal and language-particular properties, thus demonstrating the contributions of data from lesser-studied languages to research on language in social interaction, and the value of an interactional approach in the study of under-described, and often endangered, indigenous languages.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANALISANDO PARTÍCULAS EM WA’IKHANAEste artigo analisa o uso de um conjunto de partículas responsivas em interação cotidiana em Wa’ikhana, língua da família Tukano Oriental, falada no noroeste amazônico. Adotando a abordagem da Análise de Conversação, exploramos detalhes de cada partícula, considerando sua forma prosódica, o contexto de ação em que ocorre e sua posição sequencial, todos cruciais para o entendimento do seu significado em interação. Nossa análise mostra que partículas responsivas em Wa’ikhana exibem propriedades universais e próprias, demonstrando a contribuição de dados provindos de línguas pouco conhecidas à pesquisa sobre linguagem e interação social, bem como o valor da abordagem interacional no estudo de línguas indígenas pouco estudadas e muitas vezes ameaçadas.---Original em inglês.