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An Ethnographic Account of Language Documentation Among the Kurripako of Venezuela

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An Ethnographic Account of Language Documentation Among the Kurripako of Venezuela An Ethnographic Account of Language Documentation Among the Kurripako of Venezuela Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Granadillo, Tania Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 21:40:04 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195916 AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION AMONG THE KURRIPAKO OF VENEZUELA By Tania Granadillo Copyright © Tania Granadillo 2006 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2 0 0 6 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Tania Granadillo entitled An Ethnographic Account of Language Documentation among the Kurripako of Venezuela and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 7 2006 Jane Hill _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 7 2006 Michael Hammond _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 7 2006 Heidi Harley _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 7 2006 Ofelia Zepeda Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: April 7 2006 Dissertation Director: Jane Hill 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Tania Granadillo 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been done without the many people who in one way or another gave me their support. First and foremost my husband Christian who has been a source of motivation and encouragement throughout this journey. Also, our daughter Zoe who was embarked in this journey later on and was always cheerful no matter what. A special recognition goes to my parents and specially mother who has offered support in so many different ways that I cannot see myself having accomplished even half of what I have done without her. Gracias! My committee was also a source of advice and support. Jane Hill always had valuable suggestions and advice, especially when there were issues that needed adjustment and change. Mike Hammond provided valuable insights and always pushed me to pursue what I thought was important regardless of the academic value. Heidi Harley granted the much needed linguistic theoretical balance in planning the data acquisition and analyzing the corpus. Ofelia Zepeda always reminded me to not loose sight of the speakers and their own interests and needs. Finally, though not an official part of the committee due to unforeseen circumstances for the defense, Susan Philips offered valuable methodological and theoretical insights that complemented the rest of the committee and that enriched this dissertation. To all of them a big thank you. My graduate studies and this dissertation would not have been possible without the financial support granted by different agencies and sponsors at different times. A Fulbright fellowship funded my first two years of graduate studies (1999-2001). Funding from the University of Arizona’s Joint Anthropology and Linguistics PhD Program helped fund the rest of my graduate studies as well as the fieldtrips taken. The Tinker Foundation partially funded the fieldtrip taken in the summer of 2000. The University of Arizona’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute (SBSRI) granted a pre- doctoral and a doctoral grant which partially funded fieldtrips and research expenses in the summer of 2001 and all of 2004 respectively. A Dissertation Improvement grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF BCS-0318762) also contributed to my fieldtrip and research expenses for 2004. In Venezuela I am most grateful to the people of Victorino, Pavoni, La Esperanza and Saron. They were willing to have me there with them forever asking questions. They welcomed me and my family into their lives and homes. I also found a second “institutional home” at the Centro Amazónico para la Investigación y el Control de Enfermedades Tropicales “Simón Bolívar” (CAICET) during 2004. They provided a group of researchers with whom to share my ideas and experiences that proved to be an invaluable support. Thank you Magda, Gregorio, José Antonio, Jeyni, Johanna and the rest of the personnel. I am also indebted to my undergraduate professor and mentor María Eugenia Villalón who encouraged me to work on Indigenous Languages and has been a source of inspiration throughout my graduate studies as well. Finally, to my fellow graduate students: my cohort in the ANLI program, Heidi and Luis with whom I shared many of the trials, tribulations and rewards of this program; Meghan, Dan and Shannon who were part of the dissertation group that kept me on track; Stacey for pep talks; and Kiki for encouragement: thank you! 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................7 LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................8 ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................11 CHAPTER 2 LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION...........................................................14 2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 14 2.2 Language Documentation....................................................................................... 14 2.3 Documentary Linguistics........................................................................................ 19 2.4 Kurripako language documentation........................................................................ 27 2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 3 THE KURRIPAKO LANGUAGE AND ITS SPEAKERS ........................37 3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 37 3.2 Who are the Kurripako?.......................................................................................... 37 3.3 Linguistic Classification and Dialectal Variation................................................... 41 3.4 Lexico-statistical Analysis...................................................................................... 47 3.5 Kurripako Classification within the Arawak Family.............................................. 55 3.6 Previous work on Kurripako................................................................................... 69 3.7 Grammatical sketch of Kurripako, Ehe-Khenim dialect ........................................ 72 3.7.1. Phonology ....................................................................................................... 73 3.7.2 Typological Profile .......................................................................................... 76 3.7.3 Nominal Morphology....................................................................................... 77 3.7.4 Closed Classes: Personal pronouns, demonstratives, interrogatives, numbers, adpositions ................................................................................................................ 78 3.7.5 Verbal Morphology.......................................................................................... 79 3.7.6 Syntax .............................................................................................................. 82 3.8 A word on orthography........................................................................................... 84 3.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 86 CHAPTER 4 ARGUMENT MARKING: STATIVE-ACTIVE TYPE.............................88 4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 88 4.2 Stative-active argument marking in typological perspective.................................. 88 4.3 Kurripako argument
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