The phonology and morphology of Kubeo: the documentation, theory, and description of an Amazonian language

Abstract

This dissertation offers a detailed account of the phonology, morphophonology and elements of the morphosyntax of Kubeo, a language from the Eastern Tukanoan family, spoken in the Northwest Amazon. The dissertation is itself an experiment of how language documentation and empowering of the native speaker community can be combined with academic linguistics. Kubeo has numerous elements of great theoretical interest, such as nasal harmony, tone and stress, complex morphophonology, noun classes and noun classifiers, evidentiality, interlocking system of lexical aspect and tense, etc. The goal of this dissertation is to present data with as much detail, transparency and information as possible, aligned with a high analytical concern to account and search for explanations of the complex and fascinating aspects of the language in different foundations of modern Linguistics, such as by exploring different theoretical proposals and typological generalizations, using historical and comparative approaches and applying acoustic analysis in critical phonological issues.