Ideophones in Katuena (Tunayana)

This book contains an analysis of the structure and use of ideophones - sound-symbolic words evoking sensory imagery - in Katuena (Tunayana), a moribund Amerindian language with only a few remaining speakers. The Katuena language has a large number of ideophones, and these are used both in story-telling and in daily conversation. The first part of this study provides an introduction to the Katuena people, their history and their language, as well as an overview of the literature on ideophones. The second part uses a corpus of the language and interviews with speakers to provide a comprehensive analysis of the phonological and morphological structures of Katuena ideophones, as well as their syntactic characteristics. This is followed up by an analysis of the meanings and uses of ideophones, including the ways in which iconicity contributes to their meanings, and the gestures which frequently accompany these sound-symbolic words. There are very few speakers of Katuena (Tunayana) left, and this language will soon disappear completely. This book and the research contained within it are a small step towards the full documentation of Katuena language and culture.