The intellectual journey leading up to this dissertation began in 2005 when I initiated the master-level research on the Aché language in Eastern Paraguay. In 2009 I continued my collaboration with the Aché speech communities as a graduate researcher. Given this longstanding research relationship, I am, of course, deeply indebted to many native language experts, consultants, community leaders and elders, language activists, students and, of course, Aché friends. Certainly, this research on the Aché language would have been entirely impossible without the tireless support from all six communities and their leadership.The contribution of most of the Aché people directly involved in my research goes far beyond the tasks of classical native language consultants. Instead, I had the support of a stable, well-organized and extremely dedicated team of Aché researchers who provided not only the data collections but also participated in tasks of data processing or analysis, and also language teaching. While it seems impossible to list all the Aché colleagues and consultants who contributed to my work, I would like to mention at least a small, but extremely vital group of Aché representatives. My special thanks to Andrés