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Vol. 61, no. 3 (Fall 2019)

Contents

Abstracts

Oneida Person Indefiniteness: Usage and Florescence

José Antonio Jódar-Sánchez
University at Buffalo

Abstract. Oneida (Northern Iroquoian) "feminine/indefinite" (F/I) pronominal prefixes are polysemous between an indefinite and a feminine reading. Feminine meaning is more common in texts, explaining speakers' intuition that this meaning is more basic. Moreover, F/I prefixes are more common in "irrealis" narratives—narratives about ghosts, customs, and memories. Indefinite F/I prefixes may cooccur with indefinite words, e.g., uhkaý ok 'someone'; about half the occurrences of F/I prefixes do so. Conflation of the two meanings is culturally based—positively, in the relation between womanhood and mankind and negatively, in the relation between womanhood and the unimportant.

Etymology Meets Ethnohistory: Linguistic Evidence for the Prehistoric Origin of the Guaná-Chané in the Northwestern Chaco

Fernando O. de Carvalho
Universidade Federal do Amapá (UNIFAP), Brazil

Abstract. This article discusses linguistic evidence on the migrations of Arawakan groups to the Paraguay region of South America. The fact that Guaicuruan loanwords in the language of the Guaná-Chané cluster semantically in domains related to bodies of water is best explained by tracing the origins of the Guaná-Chané to dryer environments, these loanwords referring to novel aspects of the Paraguay landscape that they encountered as they moved into it. These findings, combined with evidence in the ethnohistorical literature, support the hypothesis of a single prehistoric origin for the Guaná-Chané in the northwestern Chaco.

Scrambling Syllables in Sung Poetry of the Maldives

Garrett Field
Ohio University

Abstract. The most popular form of poetry in Dhivehi (an Indo-Aryan language of the Maldives) before the twentieth century, raivaru, utilizes the scrambling of syllables as a poetic device. Scrambling harnesses processes typically associated with language games. Yet, while players of language games transform words according to rigid processes, Maldivian poets scramble syllables in response to six poetic constraints. Two broad forms of scrambling may be distinguished: intraword vs. long-distance. One factor that may influence the poet’s decision to scramble syllables in particular ways is the recitation melody.

Terms of Endearment in Omani Arabic

Khalsa Al Aghbari
Sultan Qaboos University

Rahma Al Mahrooqi
Sultan Qaboos University

Abstract. In Omani Arabic, terms of endearment are formed by women to project an identity that reveals not only intimacy and friendship, but also inferiority and subordination. Their use reveals gender differentiation whereby women are expected to assume an independent role that gives them power and detachment from families. This study documents the linguistic richness and creativity of Omani Arabic terms of endearment as used in Omani society.

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