New Benjamins title: Givon - Ute Reference Grammar

[Paul Peranteau]

  Ute Reference Grammar

By T. *Givón*, University of Oregon

Culture and Language Use 3
2011. xxiii, 441 pp.

Hardbound 978 90 272 0284 0 / EUR 110.00 / USD 165.00
Paperback 978 90 272 0285 7 / EUR 36.00 / USD 54.00

  e-Book - Available from e-book platforms
978 90 272 8741 0 / EUR 110.00 / USD 165.00

Ute is a Uto-Aztecan language of the northern-most (Numic) sub-family. 
It is currently spoken on three Indian reservations in western Colorado 
and eastern Utah. Like most native languages in North America, Ute is 
severely endangered, and this book is part of the effort toward its 
preservation. The description given here is based on 35 years of work on 
the Southern Ute Reservation in Southwest Colorado. Typologically, Ute 
offers a cluster of intriguing features -- nominalization of all 
subordinate clauses, pragmatically-controlled word order, an evolving 
system of pronominal suffixes, remnants of a noun-classifier system, a 
constantly expanding system of post-positions, and more -- all viewed 
best from a perspective of ongoing historical change. While the book is 
a comprehensive description of the grammar as used now by Ute elders, it 
also describes a language in the midst of historical change. It is the 
first of a three-volume set which also includes a collection of oral 
texts and a dictionary. Ute speakers and tribal members on the three Ute 
reservations may find this volume a step-by-step introduction to the 
grammar of their language -- how words are combined into meaningful 
clauses, and how clauses in turn are combined into coherent 
communication. Linguists may find here a detailed description of a 
beautiful language, an account informed by communicative use, language 
universals, and diachronic change.

Table of contents
Table of contents i--xvii
Preface xix--xx
Foreword xxi--xxii
Namu-máy-vaa-tu- xxiii--xxiv
Chapter 1. Introduction 1--14
Chapter 2. Sound system and orthography 15--32
Chapter 3. Word classes and word structure 33--62
Chapter 4. Simple clauses: Verb types, participant roles, and 
grammatical relations 63--92
Chapter 5. The diachrony of Ute case-marking 93--116
Chapter 6. Tense, aspect, modality and negation 117--154
Chapter 7. Noun phrases-I: Referential coherence 155--192
Chapter 8. Noun phrases-II: Larger noun modifiers 193--212
Chapter 9. Verbal complements 213--230
Chapter 10. De-Transitive Voice 231--262
Chapter 11. The diachrony of Ute passives 263--272
Chapter 12. Relative clauses 273--292
Chapter 13. Contrastive focus and emphasis 293--302
Chapter 14. Non-declarative speech acts 303--334
Chapter 15. Possession 335--346
Chapter 16. Comparative constructions 347--356
Chapter 17. Adverbial clauses 357--388
Chapter 18. Clause chaining and discourse coherence 389--404
Chapter 19. Lexical derivation patterns 405--426
Chapter 20. Interjections 427--430
Bibliography 431--434
Index

-- 
Paul M. Peranteau
John Benjamins Publishing
763 N 24th Street
Philadelphia PA  USA
Ph: 215 769-3444  Fax: 215 769-3446