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Nebraska
Press Series 1
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A Grammar of Comanche
Jean Ormsbee Charney, Cloth:
1994,x,273,CIP.LC 93-30300,0-8032-1461-8
Studies in the Anthropology
of North American Indians Series
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Comanche belongs to the Numic branch
of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is spoken by
a handful of people (generally aged 70 and older), most
of whom live in the vicinity of Lawton, Oklahoma. This
study is based on the model of descriptive grammar developed
by Mary Haas and her students at the University of California
at Berkeley in the 1950's and 1960's. The phonology,
morphology, and syntax of the language are described
and exemplified in some detail. Comanche manifests the
phonological final features of most Numic languages.
Its morphology is fairly easy to identify, with little
in the way of complex morphophonemics beyond the final
feature system. There is a wealth of affixation in many
areas of the language-for instance, the instrumental
prefixes, the postpositions, and the verbal suffixes.
The pronominal systems contain many different forms,
and nominals and pronominals are inflected for subjective,
objective, and possessive case. The most important element
of the sentence is usually marked with one of two topic
markers, and demonstratives are marked for the speaker's
presumption of the hearer's knowledge of their referents.
Sentences with subordinate clauses manifest the switch
reference system that is characteristic of Numic languages.
JEAN ORMSBEE CHARNEY is a member of
the Center for the Study of the Native Languages of
the Plains and the Southwest at the University of Colorado,
Boulder, Colorado. She received a Ph.D. in linguistics
from that university. She is presently pursuing studies
of Comanche and is also working as an editor and production
manager for the oral history phases of the Nye County,
Nevada, and Lincoln County, Nevada, town history projects.
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