This dissertation contains a new detailed description of Carib grammar and the most extensive inventory of Carib lexemes and affixes so far. It is based on the work of previous researchers and a... Show moreThis dissertation contains a new detailed description of Carib grammar and the most extensive inventory of Carib lexemes and affixes so far. It is based on the work of previous researchers and a decade of field work carried out by the author, mainly in Galibi, a Carib village in eastern Suriname. The Carib language is spoken by some 7000 people living in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. This book distinguishes four dialects: Venezuelan Carib, Guyanese Carib, western Surinamese Carib, and eastern Surinamese Carib which includes French Guianese and Brazilian Carib. Interesting features of the description are (a) a new phonological analysis, including details on stress and stress patterns, (b) a morphological analysis, including among other things a hitherto undescribed tense/aspect morpheme as well as new explanations of many details, (c) a presentation of five syntactic word units, (d) dozens of pages containing texts with an interlinear morphological analysis and translation, and (e) a dictionary containing information on more than 6500 words. Information about the four dialects has been incorporated in the grammar and dictionary. A new supradialectal orthography is used and suggested as fit for all Carib dialects. Show less
