The Arapaho Language
Will be published approx. on 31. August 2008
Book
Hardback
544 pages
978-0-87081-901-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Arapaho Language is the definitive reference grammar of an endangered Algonquian language. Arapaho differs strikingly from other Algonquian languages, making it particularly relevant to the study of historical linguistics and the evolution of grammar. Andrew Cowell and Alonzo Moss Sr. document Arapaho's interesting features, including a pitch-based accent system with no exact Algonquian parallels, radical innovations in the verb system, and complex contrasts between affirmative and non-affirmative statements.Cowell and Moss detail strategies used by speakers of this highly polysynthetic language to form complex words and illustrate how word formation interacts with information structure. They discuss word order and discourse-level features, treat the special features of formal discourse style and traditional narratives, and list gender-specific particles, which are widely used in conversation. Appendices include full sets of inflections for a variety of verbs.
Arapaho is spoken primarily in Wyoming, with a few speakers in Oklahoma. The corpus used in The Arapaho Language spans more than a century of documentation, including multiple speakers from Wyoming and Oklahoma, with emphasis on recent recordings from Wyoming. The book cites approximately 2,000 language examples drawn largely from natural discourse - either recorded spoken language or texts written by native speakers.
With The Arapaho Language, Cowell and Moss have produced a comprehensive document of a language that, in its departures from its nearest linguistic neighbors, sheds light on the evolution of grammar.
Arapaho is spoken primarily in Wyoming, with a few speakers in Oklahoma. The corpus used in The Arapaho Language spans more than a century of documentation, including multiple speakers from Wyoming and Oklahoma, with emphasis on recent recordings from Wyoming. The book cites approximately 2,000 language examples drawn largely from natural discourse - either recorded spoken language or texts written by native speakers.
With The Arapaho Language, Cowell and Moss have produced a comprehensive document of a language that, in its departures from its nearest linguistic neighbors, sheds light on the evolution of grammar.
Reviews / Votes
"The combined efforts of Andrew Cowell and Alonzo Moss have not only produced a very important work on the Arapaho Language, but also a work that may be the most comprehensive grammatical analysis of Arapaho in print. While the book will be of substantial interest to linguists studying Algonquin languages, particularly those spoken in the plains, Cowell and Moss have put together a work that can also be useful for students hoping to learn Arapaho."- Neyooxt Greymorning, Great Plains ResearchMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Colorado
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 19 to 99 years
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
880 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-87081-901-8 (9780870819018)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Andrew Cowell is a professor of linguistics at the University of Colorado. Alonzo Moss Sr. is a native speaker of Arapaho from Wyoming who has worked extensively to teach and document the language on the Wind River Reservation.
Content
CONTENTS; Preface; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 The Arapaho People and the Social Contexts of the Arapaho Language; 2 The Aims and Purposes of this Grammar; 3 The Arapaho Language Sources Used; 4 General Introduction to the Structure of the Arapaho Language; 5 Organization of the Grammar; PHONOLOGY; 1. Phonology; 1.1 Phonemes; 1.2 Intermorphemic Rules; 1.3 Pitch Accent; 1.4 Notes on Phonological Analyses in the Grammar; MORPHOLOGY'INFLECTION; 2. Inflection'Nouns; 2.1 Preliminary: Animacy and Inanimacy; 2.2 Plurals; 2.3 Obviation; 2.4 Noun/Verb Agreement; 2.5 Possession; 2.6 Vocative; 2.7 Locative; 3. Inflection'Verbs; 3.1 Preliminary; 3.2 Affirmative Order; 3.3 Non-affirmative Order; 3.4 Imperative Order; 3.5 Conjunct Order; 3.6 Tense and Aspect; 3.7 Tense and Aspect with Vowel-initial Stems; 3.8 Conclusion; MORPHOLOGY'DERIVATION; 4. Derivation'Nouns; 4.1 The Base Noun Stem; 4.2 Derivational Suffixes; 4.3 Grammatical Initials, Prenouns, and Proclitics; 4.4 Overall Morphosyntax of the Noun; 4.5 Deverbalisation Processes; 4.6 Verbal Nouns; 5. Derivation'Verb Finals; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Preliminary Remarks: Grammatical vs. Semantic Transitivity; 5.3 Derivational Finals; 5.4 Secondary Derivation and Valence Shifting; 5.5 Passives; 5.6 Causation; 5.7 Rapid Action; 5.8 Multiple Secondary Derivational Finals; 5.9 Derivation from Verb to Noun, and Noun to Verb; 5.10 Samples of Various Verb Stems Based on the Same Root; 6. Derivation'Verb Medials and Concrete Finals; 6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Object/Undergoer Construction; 6.3 Body Part Medials; 6.4 Instrumental Construction; 6.5 Mode of Action Construction; 6.6 Topic Construction; 6.7 Sensation Construction; 6.8 Self-sensation Construction; 6.9 Natural Forces Construction; 6.10 Contrasting Independent and Dependent (Final) Verbs; 6.11 Dependent Verb Finals with Nominal-like Initial Elements; 6.12 Additional Nominal Incorporations; 6.13 Derivation of Additional Medials and Concrete Finals from Verbs; 7. Derivation'Denominalizations; 7.1 Possessive Construction; 7.2 'Have as a ...' Construction; 7.3 Gathering/producting Construction; 7.4 Predicative Construction, 'to be a ...'; 7.5 Similative Construction, 'to be like a ...'; 7.6 Existential Construction, 'there is ... here'; 7.7 Impersonal Verb; 8. Derivation'Reduplication; 8.1 Formation; 8.2 Semantics of Reduplication; 8.3 Multiple Reduplications'of Different Morphemes'in One Word; 8.4 Lexicalized Reduplications; 9. Derivation'Preverbs and Verb Initials; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 Aspect; 9.3 Auxiliary/Modal Forms; 9.4 Qualifiers, Quantifiers, Intensifiers, and Delimiters; 9.5 Direction and Location; 9.6 Time; 9.7 Manner; 9.8 General Remarks on the Semantics of Arapaho Preverbs/Initials; 9.9 Unusual Verb Initial Roots; 9.10 Derivation of Additional Preverbs and Verb Initials; 9.11 A Derivational Sample; 9.12 The Abstract, Deictic Directionals; 9.13 /eti-/ Preverb: Unrealized Actions in Main Clauses; 9.14 Comparatives and Superlatives; 9.15 Semi-independent Detachment Construction; 10. Proclitics; 10.1 Introduction; 10.2 Phonology; 10.3 Morphosyntax; 10.4 Syntax and Semantics; USAGE; 11. Usage'Non-affirmative Order; 11.1 Wh-/Substantive Questions; 11.2 Other Details of Question Constructions; 11.3 Admonitive Construction with /ibeexu/; 11.4 Aorist Construction with kookoos=; 11.5 Potential Construction with /eebeh/; 11.6 'How ... !' Construction; 11.7 'Whether' Construction: Embedded Yes/No Questions; 11.8 'Probably' Construction; 11.9 Contrary-to-fact, Negative Judgment Construction; 11.10 'Seems ...' Construction with wootii; 11.11 'Should be known that ...' Construction with wooce'; 11.12 Emphatic Negative Construction; 11.13 'I suppose ...' Construction; 11.14 Additional Negative Roots, Preverbs, Proclitics, and Particles; 11.15 Affirmative Order Negative Markers; 11.16 Narrative Past Tense /e'ih/ and Other Special Features of Narrative; 11.17 Personal Names; 11.18 Non-affirmative Inflections with Commands and Requests; 11.19 The Concept of Irrealis and Uncertainty in Arapaho; 12. Usage'Imperatives and the Imperative Order; 12.1 Lexical Imperatives; 12.2 Use of Deictic Directionals with the Imperative; 12.3 Indirect Imperatives; 12.4 Suggestive/Potential Imperative; 12.5 Future Imperative; 12.6 Conjunct Order Semi-imperative/Hortatory Construction with /eetih/; 12.7 Impersonal Verbs as Command Forms; 12.8 Pragmatic Particle tous as Consent to Commands or Suggestions; 12.9 Future Tense as Imperative; 12.10 Imperative Morphosyntax and Syntax; 12.11 Special Forms Used in Prayers; 13. Usage'Conjunct Order; 13.1 Conjunct Order, Simple Conjunct Mode; 13.2 Conjunct Order, Subjunctive Mode; 13.3 Conjunct Order, Iterative Mode; COMPLEX CLAUSES AND SYNTAX; 14. The Noun Phrase; 14.1 Adjectival Modification; 14.2 Demonstratives; 14.3 Presentational Constructions; 14.4 Noun Sequences; 14.5 Definiteness and Indefiniteness; 14.6 Pronouns; 14.7 Noun Phrase Syntax; 15. The Verb Phrase'Particles; 15.1 General Particles; 15.2 Locative Particles; 15.3 Multiple Particles Together; 15.4 Particle/Verb Stem Interaction; 15.5 Adverbial Particles; 16. The Verb Phrase'Noun-Verb Agreement; 16.1 Proximates and Obviatives; 16.2 Object-marking on Verb Stems: A Broader Perspective; 16.3 Transitive vs. Semi-transitive Stems: A Text Sample; 16.4 /tii/ Semi-transitive Stems; 16.5 /yei/ Semi-transitive Stems; 16.6 Ditransitive Verbs and Secondary Objects; 16.7 Secondary Derivation to Shift the Object Marked on Verb Stems; 16.8 Aesthetic and Poetic Factors in Marking Arguments on the Verb; 17. The Verb Phrase'Subordinate Clauses; 17.1 Relative Clauses; 17.2 Adverbial Clauses; 17.3 Complement Clauses; 17.4 Relative Roots/Preverbs and Independent Verbs; 17.5 Relativizer/Complementizer/Adverbial Clause Markers /toh/ and /tih/; 18. Syntax'Main Clauses and Sentence-level; 18.1 NP Occurrence in Main Clauses; 18.2 Marked Syntactic Order: NP-V; 18.3 Pragmatic Saliency as Determining Factor for Preposed NPs; 18.4 Left Dislocation and Apposition; 18.5 Shfting from Focused to Unfocused Position; 18.6 Tendencies in NP Occurrence and Placement; 18.7 Clauses with Two NPs; 18.8 Comparative Example: A Text from John Goggles (1883'1952); 18.9 Word Order and Focus: Beyond NPs; 18.10 Syntax of Subordinate Clauses; 18.11 Discontinuous Constituents; 18.12 Cleft Constructions; 18.13 Appositions/Pseudo-clefts, and Right Dislocation; 18.14 Copulatives; 18.15 Multi-verb, Serial Sequences; 19. Discourse-level Features; 19.1 Presentational Particles; 19.2 Pragmatic Particle wohei; 19.3 Pragmatic Particle nohuusoho' and Other Summational Devices; 19.4 Sequential preverb /e'ne'i'/ or 'ne'i/; 19.5 Sequencing Particles; 19.6 Emphatic and Gendered Particles and Proclitics; 19.7 Emphatic Citational Form; 19.8 Greetings and Departures; 19.9 Substitutionary/Pausal Particles; 20. Numbers, Counting, Times, and Dates; 20.1 Count Numbers; 20.2 Basic AI/II Number Verbs; 20.3 Ordinal Numbers; 20.4 Group-Count Forms; 20.5 Special Derivational Nominal Suffix for 'Number of Days'; 20.6 Special Number Preverb for Numbers Used as Substantives; 20.7 Number Particles; 20.8 The Semantics of Counting in Arapaho; 20.9 Times and Dates; 21. Variation in Arapaho; 21.1 Northern vs. Southern Arapaho; 21.2 Northern Arapaho Internal Variation; 21.3 Incipient Obsolescence as a Source of Variation; 22. Beyond Grammar; Appendices; Verb Tables; Bibliography; Index;