Ensaios sobre lenguas indígenas de las tierras bajas de Sudamérica : contribuciones al 49o Congreso Internacional de Americanistas en Quito 1997 = Essays on indigenous languages of lowland South America : contributions to the 49th International Congress of Americanists in Quito 1997

This volume is the result of a number of talks on the indigenous languages of the South American lowlands (i.c. Amazonia and the Gran Chaco region) held at the 49th International Congress of Americanists in Quito in 1997. Lowland South America is one of the linguistically most diverse parts of this world. The articles in the present volume reflect this diversity. They are based on linguistic data from over 60 languages from over 25 different linguistic families: Araucanian, Arawa, Carib, Chapakura, Cholon, Guaykuru, Jaqi, Jivaro, Macro-Jê, Maipure, Makú, Mataguaya, Pano, Piaroa-Sáliba, Quechua, Tacana, Tukano, Tupi, Uru-Chipaya, Yanomami and a number of isolates and unclassified languages. The articles are all written by specialists in their field, and the data are mostly from firsthand experience. This book also reflects a good range of different approaches to the subject: it contains descriptive, comparative, historical and theoretical articles on the phonological, morphosyntactic and pragmatic components of the linguistic systems concerned. This collection is intended to contribute to the study of the indigenous languages of South America, and to further the interest in the highly endangered linguistic heritage of this underdocumented part of the world.