A grammatical, phonological and lexical comparison between the Waikurúan, Matacoan and Bororoan families: a case of areal diffusion?

Abstract

This paper aims at a comparison of the Waikurúan, Bororoan and Matacoan language families on the basis of (i) the comparison of the relational morpheme in Waikurúan and Bororo; (ii) the comparison of the use of glottal air flow mechanisms when implementing voiceless plosives in Kadiwéu (Waikurúan) and Bororo (Bororoan); and (iii) the comparison of 350 items in Waikurúan and Matacoan and 138 items in Waikurúan and Bororoan. The evidence suggests that these families have been in intense contact, but a genetic relationship between them seems to be at least uncertain.

Keywords

• Chaco
• Relational morpheme
• Areal linguistics