Ute Reference Grammar
Author
Ute is a Uto-Aztecan language of the northernmost (Numic) branch, currently spoken on three reservations in western Colorado and eastern Utah. Like many other native languages of Northern America, Ute is severely endangered. This book is part of the effort toward its preservation. Typologically, Ute offers a cluster of intriguing features, best viewed from the perspective of diachronic change and grammaticalization. The book presents a comprehensive synchronic description of grammatical structures and their communicative functions, as well as a diachronic account of a grammar in the midst of change. The book is the first of a 3-volume series which also includes a collection of oral texts and a dictionary. Ute speakers and tribal members may find in the present volume a step-by-step description of how words are combined into meaningful communication. Linguists may find a detailed account of one language, an account that is unabashedly informed by universals of grammar, communication and change.
[Culture and Language Use, 3] 2011. xxiii, 441 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© Southern Ute Tribe, Ignacio, Colorado
Table of Contents
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Table of contents | pp. i–xvii
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Preface | pp. xix–xx
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Foreword | pp. xxi–xxii
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Namu-máy-vaa-tu- | pp. xxiii–xxiv
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Chapter 1. Introduction | pp. 1–14
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Chapter 2. Sound system and orthography | pp. 15–32
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Chapter 3. Word classes and word structure | pp. 33–62
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Chapter 4. Simple clauses: Verb types, participant roles, and grammatical relations | pp. 63–92
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Chapter 5. The diachrony of Ute case-marking | pp. 93–116
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Chapter 6. Tense, aspect, modality and negation | pp. 117–154
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Chapter 7. Noun phrases-I: Referential coherence | pp. 155–192
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Chapter 8. Noun phrases-II: Larger noun modifiers | pp. 193–212
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Chapter 9. Verbal complements | pp. 213–230
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Chapter 10. De-Transitive Voice | pp. 231–262
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Chapter 11. The diachrony of Ute passives | pp. 263–272
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Chapter 12. Relative clauses | pp. 273–292
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Chapter 13. Contrastive focus and emphasis | pp. 293–302
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Chapter 14. Non-declarative speech acts | pp. 303–334
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Chapter 15. Possession | pp. 335–346
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Chapter 16. Comparative constructions | pp. 347–356
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Chapter 17. Adverbial clauses | pp. 357–388
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Chapter 18. Clause chaining and discourse coherence | pp. 389–404
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Chapter 19. Lexical derivation patterns | pp. 405–426
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Chapter 20. Interjections | pp. 427–430
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Bibliography | pp. 431–434
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Index | pp. 435–444
“This is an impressive and extremely valuable piece of work, comprehensive and richly exemplified throughout. It will serve as the authoritative reference to the inner workings of a very interesting, complex, and highly endangered language. In combination with the promised republication of the Ute Dictionary and Ute Traditional Narratives, it will fill an important gap in the documentation of the world’s linguistic diversity.”
Tim Thornes, Boise State University, Anthropoligical Linguistics 54(1): 89-95 (2012)
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF/2JNN: Linguistics/Uto-Aztecan languages
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2010042475