Retuara Syntax: Studies in the Languages of Colombia 3 (Sil International and the University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics 112)

Retuarã Syntax is based on a typological/functional perspective which provides an excellent framework for writing a broadly useful, descriptive grammar.

Retuarã, is also know as Letuama (Tanimuca-Retuarã, Retuama, Letuhama, Ufaina, Uairã) is a member of the central Tucanoan language family and is closely related to Tanimuca. Though the Retuarã and Tanimuca peoples consider themselves as separate groups, they speak the same language with slight lexical differences. Their location is in widely distributed areas of the Amazon Basin in southeastern Colombia has brought them into contact with other Tucanoan and Arawakan languages resulting in some grammatical variations.

Besides a brief phonological sketch and description of various aspects of the Retuarã language, the study presents a detailed discussion of parts of the speech, the noun phrases, case, the verb phrase, adverbs, sentence structure, imperatives, questions, negation, subordination, and various elements of discourse.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
1.1-1.10 Word order constituents
1.11-1.14 Distinguishing major syntactic functions
1.1 5-1.20 Phonology sketch

2. Parts of Speech
2.1. Nouns and adjectives
2.2-2.8 Verbs
2.9. Adverbs
2.10-2.12 Pronouns and other pro-forms
2.13-2.15 Noun adjuncts
2.16-2.22 Verb adjuncts
2.23. Coordinating conjunctions
2.24. Subordinating conjunctions
2.25. Negators
2.26-2.29 Derivational affixes

3. Noun Phrase
3.1. Noun classes
3.2. Genitives
3.3. Relative clause
3.4. Quantifiers
3.5. Numerals
3.6. Adjectives
3.7. Demonstratives
3.8. Relative order of elements in noun phrase
3.9. Case
3.10. Classifiers and concord in the noun phrase

4. Case
4.1. Term
4.2. General locative
4.3. Specific locative
4.4. Ablative
4.5. Instrument
4.6. Comitative
4.7. Benefactive
4.8. Possessive
4.9. Case combinations

5. Verb Phrase
5.1. Order of verb affixes
5.2. Agreement
5.3. Auxiliary verb
5.4-5.9 Tense
5.10-5.15 Aspect
5.16-5.19 Mood
5.20-5.24. Other verbal affixes
5.25. Compound verbs
5.26-5.28 Causatives
5.29. Reciprocals
5.30. Incorporation

6. Adverbs
6.1. Manner
6.2. Time
6.3. Location
6.4. Speaker attitude adverbs
6.5. Mood/aspect adverbs
6.6. Derived adverbs

7. Sentence Structure
7.1. Intransitive
7.2. Transitive
7.3. Ditransitive
7.4. Copular sentences
7.5. Existential
7.6-7.8 Locationals
7.9. Reflexives
7.10. Subordinate clauses

8. Imperatives
8.1. Second-person imperatives
8.2. Indirect imperative
8.3. Negative imperative
8.4. Hortatory
8.5. Third-person imperatives
8.6. Responses to imperatives

9. Questions
9.1. Yes/no questions
9.2. Content questions
9.3. Alternate questions
9.4. Indirect questions
9.5. Courtesy in question-asking
9.6. Answers to questions

10. Negation
10.1. Sentential negation
10.2. Negative verb

11. Subordination
11.1-11.2 Relative clauses
11.3-11.7 Complementation
11.8-11.17 Adverbial clauses formed by suffixes
11.18-11.22 Adverbial clauses formed by conjunctions

12. Elements of Discourse
12.1-12.5 Participant reference
12.6. Stative versus active
12.7. Backgrounding
12.8. Agentiveness reduction strategy
12.9. Thematic development

Appendix
References