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Title:
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Patterns in Karitiana: Articulation, perception, and grammar
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Author:
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Caleb Everett
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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Rice University
, Department of Linguistics
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Degree Date:
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2006
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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General Linguistics
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Subject Language(s):
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Karitiâna
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Director(s):
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Matt Shibatani
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Abstract:
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In this study, I present analyses of various aspects of Karitiana, a
Tupí-Arikém language spoken in the state of Rondônia, in the Amazon region
of Brazil. These analyses range in both methodology and scope, but are
unified by the goal of elucidating articulatory, perceptual, and
morphosyntactic patterns in the language. These patterns crystallize during
the course of each of two parts of the dissertation. In the first part, I
focus on the sound system of Karitiana. The investigation of the sound
system includes detailed analyses of the phonemic inventory of the
language, as well as basic phonological processes. However, the
investigation also includes acoustic, quantitatively-oriented examinations
of the vowel system, stop-vowel sequences, and patterns of velar lowering,
among other phenomena. These studies focus on basic articulatory gestures
in the language. Basic perceptual patterns, related to the
typologically-unusual patterns of velar lowering in the language, are also
considered in Part I, via the discussion of a speech-perception experiment
carried out among the Karitiana.
In Part II morphological and syntactic patterns in Karitiana are examined,
within a functional-typological framework. Part II includes a grammatical
sketch of Karitiana morphology and syntax, as well as more detailed studies
of two basic aspects of Karitiana morphosyntax, namely grammatical
relations and voice phenomena. I demonstrate that in some cases the latter
sorts of phenomena reflect basic conceptual patterns, associated with the
construal of event types, which are evident in the grammar of Karitiana.
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