A grammar of Wayana

dc.contributor.advisorGildea, Spikeen_US
dc.creatorTavares, Petronila da Silvaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T08:43:52Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T08:43:52Zen_US
dc.date.issued2006en_US
dc.description.abstractWayana is a Cariban language spoken in northern Brazil, southern Surinam, and southern French Guyana by a total of around 900 speakers. The previous descriptive works on this language consist of a few vocabulary lists, a short grammar sketch, and a few articles on specific topics. This dissertation contributes to the documentation of the language by providing a more detailed description of most aspects of the Wayana grammar. The chapters range from a description of the language's phonological aspects to the morphology of the speech classes and the basic syntactic patterns. In addition, the appendixes include a collection of texts and a vocabulary list. Patterns discussed in this work include those of syllable reduction, in which words may undergo reduction of entire syllables; differences in the possessibility of nouns, which depend on semantic and cultural considerations; the complex system of spatial postpositions distinguishing features such as the position, path or goal of a trajector vis-a-vis its landmark; and a split ergative system in which no motivation for the split has yet been explained. The data used in this work were obtained through elicitation sessions and from recordings of spoken narratives.en_US
dc.format.extent464 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS LING. 2006 TAVARESen_US
dc.identifier.citationTavares, Petronila da Silva. "A grammar of Wayana." (2006) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18984">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18984</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/18984en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectLinguisticsen_US
dc.subjectModern languageen_US
dc.titleA grammar of Wayanaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentLinguisticsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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