Among the many ways in which sounds alternate in the world's languages, changes in the order of sounds (metathesis) are relatively rare. Mutsun, a Southern Costanoan language of California which was documented extensively before the death of its last speaker in 1930, displays three patterns of synchronic consonant-vowel (CV) metathesis. Two of…

Taking up analytical issues raised primarily in Dixon (2000) and Dixon & Aikhenvald (2000), this dissertation combines descriptive work with a medium-sized (50-language) typological study. Chapter 1 situates the dissertation against a concise survey of typological-functional work on causative constructions from the last few decades, and…

A study of Dakota Sioux presents evidence for Possessor Ascension. In this construction, a nominal that is semantically a possessor is syntactically not a constituent of the noun phrase but a constituent of the clause. The report first discusses the universal characterization of Possessor Ascension in the framework of relational grammar, and…

Examines Kamsa ritual language and describes a model (based on accessibility, formalization, and efficacy) for specifying its semiotic constitution. (EKN)

This article discusses the species designation and taxonomies of Delaware and Algonkian and presents eight classifications of taxa by form, habitat, color, movement, sound, use, relationship, and appearance. Relevant research is also reviewed. (CLK)

The distribution of Hualapai auxiliary verbs "-yu" and "-wi" can not be explained only by the presence or absence of an object, or by the active or stative feature of the matrix verb. It can be explained in terms of transitivity, in that "-wi" corresponds to high transitivity and "-yu" to low transitivity of…

A study of Karok, an American Indian language spoken in northern California, provides an argument for CV theory over moraic theory from compensatory lengthening. In a previous study, moraic theory is argued to be superior to CV phonology in accounting for compensatory lengthening; it is shown here that compensatory lengthening in Karok cannot be…

It is proposed that some reduplication processes found in Kwakiutl, a native language of British Columbia, can be explained in a very illuminating way within a moraic theory. It is argued that the cases of so-called reduplication found in Kwakiutl should be viewed as the result of a copying process triggered by the moraic requirement of some…

This article proposes a California Penutian etymology for two distinct roots meaning "two," and shows some of the transformations of morphological material which have characterized innovations in language subgroups related to California Penutian. This provides important evidence for the history of California Penutian. (CLK)

Kutenai has an obviation system reminiscent of the systems found in Algonquian languages, in which at most one third person nominal in a clause is proximate and others are obviate. Although the behavior of proximate nominals within clauses and within texts reflects a special status for proximates as having some sort of "higher rank" than…

IN AN ATTEMPT TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN PSYCHOPHYSICAL STUDIES OF HUE DISCRIMINATION AND ETHNOLINGUISTIC STUDIES OF HUE LABELING, AN EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED COMPARING LABELING AND DISCRIMINATION FUNCTIONS FOR SPEAKERS OF INDO-EUROPEAN (AMERICAN ENGLISH) AND NON-INDO-EUROPEAN (MEXICAN INDIAN) LANGUAGES. IT WAS FOUND THAT HUE LABELING PATTERNS OF…

A conservative analysis of simple declarative sentences in Lummi is given in order to clarify the role of the morpheme "ng" (a phonetic approximation of this morpheme) and the order and form of pronouns. In Lummi the combination of the transitivizer and "ng" acts as a passive marker on the verb. However, there are cases where…

The dictionary of Lushootseed, the Puget Salish Indian language spoken in the area of Seattle, Washington, begins with an introduction to the language's name, dialects, geographic distribution, research methodology and native informants, texts used as sources, and pronunciation and transcription. It also gives an overview of the way entries are…