Hup's typological treasures: Description and explanation in the study of an Amazonian language

Abstract

This paper presents several of the typologically most intriguing features of Hup, an endangered Nadahup (Makú) language spoken in the northwest Amazonian Vaupés region; these are differential object marking, evidentiality, noun classification, “bound” nouns and inalienable possession, and the multifunctional form teg. Each of these areas of Hup grammar and its typological significance are best understood within an approach that weaves explanation together with description, and in the process takes a view of language as a dynamic, non-autonomous system, which cannot be abstracted away from its own past or the culture and environment of its speakers.