36.2446, Diss: Quechuan; Northern Pastaza Quichua; Anthropological Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Language Documentation, Semantics, Text/Corpus Linguistics: Alexander Rice: "Embodied Discourse and Viewpoint in Northern Pastaza Kichwa Storytelling"

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2446. Mon Aug 18 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2446, Diss: Quechuan; Northern Pastaza Quichua; Anthropological Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Language Documentation, Semantics, Text/Corpus Linguistics: Alexander Rice: "Embodied Discourse and Viewpoint in Northern Pastaza Kichwa Storytelling"

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Date: 16-Aug-2025
From: Alexander Rice [arice4 at fsu.edu]
Subject: Embodied Discourse and Viewpoint in Northern Pastaza Kichwa Storytelling


Institution: University of Alberta
Degree Date: 2025

Dissertation Title: Embodied Discourse and Viewpoint in Northern
Pastaza Kichwa Storytelling

Dissertation URL:
https://ualberta.scholaris.ca/items/7eaff092-6f7e-4f6a-99d7-652f6295ab59

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     Discourse Analysis
                     Language Documentation
                     Semantics
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics

Subject Language(s): Northern Pastaza Quichua (qvz)

Language Family(ies): Quechuan

Dissertation Director(s): Sally Rice, Jorge Rosés Labrada

Dissertation Abstract:

Viewpoint is the locus of consciousness in a given space or conceptual
model of the world. Human beings make use of several linguistic
resources to project their own viewpoint as well as viewpoints of
other entities. These resources are organized into “semiotic channels”
which are categories based on the mode of information being conveyed.
These channels run the gamut from the manipulation of the acoustic
signal to the choice and arrangement of words and even facial
expressions and gestures. The objective of this dissertation is to
describe how and why speakers of Northern Pastaza Kichwa, a Quechuan
language of Ecuador, use their speech and bodies to project viewpoint
in narrative.
In Chapter 1, I introduce Northern Pastaza Kichwa and its speakers as
well as the concept of viewpoint. I also lay out the language corpora
used in this dissertation and provide a primer on interpreting the
linguistic examples used in this dissertation. Chapter 2 constitutes a
grammar sketch of Northern Pastaza Kichwa, which provides the
morphosyntactic and phonological underpinnings of the role that the
vocal-aural modality plays in the multimodal expression of viewpoint
as is described in the following chapters.
In Chapter 3, I address the question of how Northern Pastaza Kichwa
storytellers project viewpoint in narrative. I show that their
viewpoint-projecting resources can be conceptually organized into
three semiotic channels: the Speech Channel (phonological and
morphosyntactic phenomena), the Body Channel (posture, facial
expression, gaze, etc.), and the Hands Channel (manual gesture).
Crucially, I argue that storytellers can make use of these channels to
project multiple viewpoints simultaneously. For example, a speaker may
project the viewpoint of a character in a narrative in the Speech
Channel by using a reported speech construction and, simultaneously,
by using her hands to represent the action of another character in the
Hands Channel.
In Chapter 4, I deploy descriptive and inferential quantitative
methods to detect patterns in viewpoint projection and tackle
questions relating to why Northern Pastaza Kichwa storytellers use
said patterns. To this end, I conducted three case studies that each
examine a different aspect of viewpoint projection. The first case
study in Section 4.1 concerns the interaction between viewpoint and
the language’s system of evidential clitics. Using logistic regression
models, I show that the genre of the narrative and the viewpoint a
storyteller uses in the Speech Channel at a given time are significant
predictors of the storyteller’s choice of evidential clitic. The
second case study in Section 4.2 uses logistic regression models to
examine how frequently storytellers project multiple viewpoints
simultaneously and what may motivate these mixed-viewpoint
projections. I show that mixed-viewpoint projection is comparatively
rare and, when occurring, is likely motivated by high-transitivity
events. The third case study in Section 4.3 is qualitative in nature
and explores the kinds of character viewpoints to which the
storytellers prefer to allocate their resources. Here, I demonstrate
that the storytellers often devote significant resources to projecting
the viewpoints of supernatural spirit characters compared to the
viewpoints of animal characters.
In Chapter 5, I provide an overview of the findings of this
dissertation and discuss their relevance to language documentation and
description as well as to linguistic inquiry more generally. More
specifically, I argue that the linguistic encoding of viewpoint is
inherently multimodal and describe how Northern Pastaza Kichwa
storytellers use their voices and bodies to create virtual
environments to better represent the viewpoints of entities in
narrative. These findings provide insight into human cognition and
contribute to a growing body of knowledge that highlights the
importance of storytelling practices in minority-language communities
and oral culture at large. The use of the body in traditional
storytelling practices is an undervalued component in models of
language revitalization that are hyper-focused on developing literacy
often at the expense of supporting oral and social language skills.



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