Keywords
Ninam
Ninam do Alto Mucajaí
Evidentiality
How to Cite
Abstract
Evidentiality, as a grammatical category, has been identified as a common feature among the languages of the Amazon region, including the Yanomami languages. This paper presents new findings on the evidentiality system used in Ninam of Alto Mucajaí, a Yanomami language located along the banks of the Mucajaí River in Northern Brazil. These findings were obtained through the review of data collected in 1970 and the analysis of data collected between 2021 and 2022. Older data from Ninam indicated that the language had a five-term system and that, fifty years later, it has been reduced to a three-term system. This evidentiality system is composed of VISUAL, HEARSAY, AND UNSPECIFIED markers. The appearance and placement of evidentiality markers are affected by tense/aspect morphemes and the presence of adverbs. In addition, evidentiality is a grammatical category exclusively found in the main clause.
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R.M.W. (1998). Evidentials and areal typology: a case-study from Amazonia. Language Sciences 20(3): 241-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(98)00002-3
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R.M.W. (1999). Other small families and isolates. In R.M.W. Dixon; Alexandra Aikhenvald Y. (eds.), The Amazonian languages (Cambridge Language Surveys), pp. 341-384. Cambridge University Press.
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (2003). Evidentiality in typological perspective. In R.M.W. Dixon; Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), Studies in evidentiality, pp. 1-32. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.54.04aik
Albright, Sue R. (1970). Kind of knowledge, information source, location and time in Siriana predicates. Seminar Papers Series 1: 1-19.
Anderson, Lloyd B. (1986). Evidentials, paths of change, and mental maps: typologically regular asymmetries. In Wallace L. Chafe; Johanna Nichols (eds.), Evidentiality: the linguistic coding of epistemology (Advances in discourse processes 20), pp. 273-312. Ablex.
Borgman, Donald M. (1990). Sanuma. In Desmond C. Derbyshire; Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds.), Handbook of Amazonian languages, vol. 2: 17-231. Mouton de Gruyter. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110860382
Derbyshire, Desmond C; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (1990). Handbook of Amazonian languages, vol. 2. Mouton de Gruyter.
Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (eds.) (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 25ª ed. SIL International. Available at: http://www.ethnologue.com
Ferreira, Helder Perri (2017a). Yanomama clause structure - part I. LOT. Available at: https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/179073/179073_1.pdf
Ferreira, Helder Perri (2017b). Yanomama clause structure - part II. LOT. Available at: https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/179073/179073_2.pdf
Ferreira, Helder Perri; Senra, Estêvão Benfica; Machado, Ana M. Antunes (orgs.) (2019). As línguas Yanomami no Brasil: diversidade e vitalidade. Instituto Socioambiental; Hutukara Associação Yanomami. Available at: https://acervo.socioambiental.org/acervo/publicacoes-isa/linguas-yanomami-no-brasil-diversidade-e-vitalidade
Gómez, Gale Goodwin (1990). The Shiriana dialect of Yanam (Northern Brazil). Comissão Criação Parquet Yanomami.
Ramirez, Henri (1994). Le Parler Yanomamɨ des Xamatauteri (Tese de doutorado em linguística). Université de Provence, Aix-En-Provence.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2023 Victoria Elizabeth Infante Peña
Downloads
