Documenting Linguistic Structure and Language Change in Yawarana

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

It is known that language change is inevitable and systematic and that genetically related languages often exhibit parallel changes. The Cariban languages, which constitute one of the largest linguistic families of South America, are a good testing ground for this expectation since closely related Cariban languages often show dissimilar changes. Spike Gildea of the University of Oregon along with linguist Natalia Cáceres and lexicographer Marie-Claude Mattei Muller will document a critically endangered Cariban language Yawarana [yar]. Extant data for Yawarana show surprising phonological differences (e.g., syllable reduction, stress) with closely related languages, Mapoyo and 'Pémono. In addition, there are dramatic differences in morphosyntax (e.g., case alignment, verbal conjugations) between Yawarana, Mapoyo, and 'Pémono and their Cariban neighbors Panare, 'Tamanaku, and Ye'kwana. Particularly striking are differences between main clause verb forms resulting from nominalizations (like English 'eating' or 'eater' based on 'eat') or a participial (like English 'eaten' based on 'eat'). All languages change, and some entirely replace verb conjugations with nominalizations and participles, but it is unusual for a language or language group to have made so complete a change when the nearest related languages have not. To investigate these and additional grammatical features of Yawarana, this team will work with the last speakers of the language to produce a state-of-the-art documentary corpus, including audio and video recordings of Yawarana speech with annotations and analysis of speech samples. The final products will include a reference grammar and a Yawarana-Spanish bilingual dictionary. The resulting data will elucidate the nature of language change in Cariban and will have implications for theories of language change. Gildea and his team will collaborate with the Venezuelan Ministry of Education in their efforts to produce educational materials about the Yawarana language for use in speech community schools. The documentary corpus created for this project will be archived at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (University of Texas). The project is supported by co-funds from the National Science Foundation's International Science and Engineering Office.