What’s in a verb? Studies in the verbal morphology of the languages of the Americas

Abstract

Verbal morphology tends to be the most complex part of the grammatical structure of indigenous American languages. Studies in this volume look into the structural complexity that verbal forms can exhibit on the American continent and into the morphological categories that have attracted researchers’ special attention. Unlike most other volumes on indigenous American languages, the present collection overrides regional boundaries and addresses interesting morphological phenomena across North, Central, and South America. Moreover, it pays tribute to the long-standing tradition of Dutch and the Netherlands-based linguists working in the Americas and gives an overview of current Dutch involvement in the study of these languages.

This volume is a collection of articles presenting original fieldwork or novel comparative or historical research, often on little-known languages and phenomena and illustrated with unique data. Each contribution provides a brief outline of the verbal morphology of the language under consideration and an in-depth analysis of a selected topic. This volume will be of particular interest to general linguists, typologists, linguistic experts as well as students with an interest in morphosyntax and morphophonology, and in the languages of the Americas in general.