This project documents two endangered and little-studied languages of Gran Chaco, South America: Pilagá (Guaycuruan) and Nivacle (Mataco-Mataguayan). It undertakes grammatical and lexical analyses of Nivacle, and comparative analyses of Pilagá and Nivacle grammatical structures and lexicon, also with an eye to what is known about other Chaco languages. Joint work on these languages is motivated by the fact that the traditional Nivacle territory extended from the mid-Pilcomayo River to the Bermejo River, partially overlapping Pilagá and Wichà (Mataco-Mataguayan) territories in northern Argentina. In this region there is evidence of potentially non-genetic diffusion of features. Pilagá is spoken by about 5,000 people; Nivacleì is spoken by fewer than 1,000 people in Argentina. There are more Nivacleì speakers in Paraguay, but language shift to Spanish is rapid, especially among the younger generations and especially among women married to criollo men. Field research is mostly in Argentina, with visits to Nivacleì communities in Paraguay to develop a better understanding of linguistic history and dialect variation. Analyses are undertaken in the field, and at universities in Argentina and Oregon.
Documentation under this project includes recording and videotaping of verbal performances to create a representative sample of genres. Some documentary materials were previously collected for Pilagaì, but some were suboptimal for archiving, have not been fully analyzed or prepared for archiving, and extant materials are incomplete as far as genres; the current project addresses these issues. There has been little prior modern linguistic work on, or documentation of Nivacle.
Outcomes will include an archived corpus of 20 hours of video and audio recordings, databases with from five to ten hours per language of translated and analyzed elicited and text materials, and tri- or quadri-lingual lexical databases (Pilagaì, Nivacleì, Spanish, English). It will enable open access to materials for speakers and the linguistic community, ethical considerations permitting. Focused analyses investigate the grammatical constructions of Nivacle and compare Pilagaì-Nivacleì grammatical and lexical issues. The results increase understanding of diffusion of structural features and lexica, as opposed to inheritance of features from proto-languages in the Chaco region. The project investÃgates internal divisions and influences among Chaco languages. It amplifies knowledge of world-wide patterns in expressing possession, ways of classifying in-view/out-of-view objects, the development of tense/aspect from determiners, grammatical relations and stative/active systems, and other linguistic features.
The documentary cultural and linguistic materials are of interest and use to the language communities for their education and language revitalization goals, and will be explained and promoted in community workshops. They are useful to other linguists, educators, anthropologists, and historians. The project provides training for at least three students (two graduate), and for native speakers. Indeed, the project is a joint effort between researchers and the language communities. It further strengthens research partnerships and between the University of Oregon and the Instituto de Investigaciones LingüÃsticas of the National University of Formosa, with the potential to create new research opportunities for students of both countries.
