Kapitel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

55 Caddoan

  • Logan Sutton und Armik Mirzayan
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The Caddoan family consists of five documented languages: Caddo, Wichita, Kitsai, Arikara, and Pawnee. Caddoan speakers were historically distributed in semi-sedentary agricultural villages through the southern and central Great Plains from eastern Texas to South Dakota. The contemporary Tribes are all based in Oklahoma, except for the Arikara, who belong to the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara (MHA) Nation of North Dakota. This chapter summarizes briefly: (a) the historical and current statuses of the Caddoan languages, including documentation and revitalization efforts; (b) some of their well-described phonological and morphosyntactic features; and (c) understudied topics of interest within each language, and across the family as a whole, suggesting potentially rich avenues for future research. The Caddoan languages are characterized by strikingly small phoneme inventories, a high degree of polysynthesis, and complex morphophonology. We situate the robust morphology in larger morphosyntactic constructions and within various discourse contexts. Particular attention is given to 1) prosodic phonological features, such as vowel devoicing; 2) classificatory, deictic, and speaker perspectival constructions which highlight discourse dynamics beyond the level of the word; and 3) grammatical strategies for reference tracking.

Abstract

The Caddoan family consists of five documented languages: Caddo, Wichita, Kitsai, Arikara, and Pawnee. Caddoan speakers were historically distributed in semi-sedentary agricultural villages through the southern and central Great Plains from eastern Texas to South Dakota. The contemporary Tribes are all based in Oklahoma, except for the Arikara, who belong to the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara (MHA) Nation of North Dakota. This chapter summarizes briefly: (a) the historical and current statuses of the Caddoan languages, including documentation and revitalization efforts; (b) some of their well-described phonological and morphosyntactic features; and (c) understudied topics of interest within each language, and across the family as a whole, suggesting potentially rich avenues for future research. The Caddoan languages are characterized by strikingly small phoneme inventories, a high degree of polysynthesis, and complex morphophonology. We situate the robust morphology in larger morphosyntactic constructions and within various discourse contexts. Particular attention is given to 1) prosodic phonological features, such as vowel devoicing; 2) classificatory, deictic, and speaker perspectival constructions which highlight discourse dynamics beyond the level of the word; and 3) grammatical strategies for reference tracking.

Heruntergeladen am 3.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110712742-055/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen