Panare, also known as E'ñapa Woromaipu, is a seriously endangered Cariban language spoken by about 3,500 people in Central Venezuela. A Typological Grammar of Panare by Thomas E. Payne and Doris L. Payne, is a full length linguistic grammar written from a modern functional and typological perspective. The many remarkable characteristics highlighted in the grammar include a 'split-inverse' person marking system, transitivity-sensitive aspect and person-marking verb morphology, object incorporation, relatively nonconfigurational NP structure, both verb-initial and object-initial constituent orders, a complex system of clause chaining, switch reference, and a rich system of evidential and epistemic marking.
Thomas E. Payne, PhD (1985), UCLA, is Senior International Linguistics Consultant with SIL International, and Research Associate in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon. He publishes books and research articles in descriptive linguistics and grammar writing.
Doris L. Payne, Ph.D. (1985) UCLA, is professor at the University of Oregon and a consultant with SIL International. She has published on Native American and East African languages, and leads workshops around the world focused on morphosyntax and discourse.
1 The Language and Its Speakers
2 Phonology and Morphophonology
3 Nouns and Nominals
4 Nominal Derivation and “Possessive” Denominalization
5 Modifcation
6 The Morphosyntax of the Verb: Organizing Principles
7 Verb Stem Derivation
8 Past-Perfective Aspect Constructions
9 Non-Pastperfective Aspect Constructions
10 Minority Class Verbs
11 Noun Phrase Structure
12 Adpositional Phrases and Oblique Constituents
13 Copula Constructions
14 Voice and Valence
15 Knowing and Not Knowing: Epistemic and Negative Categories
16 Commands and the Expression of Deontic Modality
17 Questions and Contrastive Constructions
18 Complementation
19 Adverbial and Medial Clauses
20 Relative and Modifying Clauses
Appendix. Two Panare Texts
References
Index
Linguists and anthropologists interested in typology, universals, endangered languages, constituent order, functional linguistics, descriptive linguistics, linguistic theory, historical change, Cariban languages, indigenous languages of the Americas, languages of Latin America.