This thesis consists of a phonological description of the Yamalero language, based on primary data. Yamalero is a Guahiban language spoken by some 300 people in the Colombian Eastern Plains. Some...Show moreThis thesis consists of a phonological description of the Yamalero language, based on primary data. Yamalero is a Guahiban language spoken by some 300 people in the Colombian Eastern Plains. Some of these speakers are ethnic Yaruro, who had been reported to speak Yaruro (Pumé), but this thesis shows that none of them is able to use this language any more. Yamalero is a virtually undocumented language, since the only materials available before the publication of this phonological description were a 31 terms wordlist. This enabled the classification of Yamalero within the Cuiba-Sikuani language continuum. This thesis shows some features of the Yamalero phonology that are closer to Sikuani, such as the process of lenition of aspirated plosives, and others that are closer to Cuiba, such as the presence of consonantic codas. When appropriate, it also shows its resemblances to other genetically unrelated languages in the area, such as Saliba, Piapoco, Achagua or Puinave. This phonological description contributes to the study of Guahiban languages, on which very little research has been published in the last 20 years, as well as to the study of the languages between the Amazonia and the Andean foothills.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The main objective of this thesis is to tackle the key questions that arise when one becomes aware of the omnipresence and seemingly unrestricted polysemy of the Czech reflexive marker se/si. Do...Show moreThe main objective of this thesis is to tackle the key questions that arise when one becomes aware of the omnipresence and seemingly unrestricted polysemy of the Czech reflexive marker se/si. Do all its different functions have something in common? And why are its equivalents in languages like English and Dutch exploited to a much lesser degree? Building on insights and solutions offered both by Czech structural grammarians and scholars working within different functionally oriented frameworks of present-day linguistics such as linguistic typology and Construction Grammar, the thesis attempts to draw a coherent picture of the semantic network underlying the different functions of the marker and to set this picture in a historical and crosslinguistic context.Show less
