Nonverbal predication in Amazonia

[Extract] The present volume is a collection of 13 chapters selected from 32 presentations at a special session on nonverbal predication at the international conference Amazonicas V, that took place in Belem, Brazil, in May 2014. 1 Following this introductory chapter, the papers are primarily descriptive and historical, offering abundant data generally from original and extensive periods of fieldwork, often on languages with relatively little prior description. Thus, each contribution in this volume contains a great deal of new data and analyses, presenting a far more detailed picture of nonverbal predication in individual languages than is found in published grammatical descriptions. Several contributions also offer historical reconstructions, from either comparative data or internal reconstruction. This volume embodies linguistic diversity in South America, offering chapters dealing with 14 individual languages belonging to nine linguistic families: Arawakan, Cariban, Panoan, Yanomanan, Chicham (formerly known as Jivaroan), Tupian, Tukanoan, Mataguayan and Guaykuruan, plus Movima, an isolate language. In addition, it includes a historical-comparative paper combining original field data with previously published work (Cariban). This volume also embodies the diversity of researchers in this area: contributors are affiliated with academic institutions from around the globe (South and North America, Australasia, and Europe), and the majority of them are engaged in collaboration efforts aimed at promoting local development among speech communities and local institutions.