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The thesis gives a description within the framework of tagmemic theory of Resigaro, a South American Indian language of the Huitoto group, spoken in the region between the Amazon and the Putumayo, in north-eastern Peru. The Introduction reviews critically previous work on the language, and sets out modifications in tagmemic theory which it is claimed avoid circularity and repetition and improve the description. Principal among these is a strict separation of the three modes of Contrast, Variation and Distribution, and the use of multiplication of derive structures. Part I of the thesis describes the first two levels of the Phonological Hierarchy - Phoneme level and Syllable level. Part II describes the grammatical hierarchy, in which the following levels are set up: Root Stem Word (Group) (Piece) Phrase Clause Sentence (Group and Piece are sub-levels affecting only the Verb class.) Each Level is described in a separate chapter, starting at the lowest level (Root). Each class (Verb, Noun, Pronoun, etc.) is described in turn at each level at which it has elements. At Phrase level, Phrases are described as being either Endocentric or Axis-Relator. Endocentric Phrases (Verb, Noun, and Numeral) are described first. At Clause level, the description of Clause structure is preceded by a description of Clause-level tagmemes - first the nuclear, and then the peripheral tagmemes. It is indicated that this simplifies the presentation of Clause structure. Under Clause structure, the Declarative clause is described first, and other Clause classes are derived from this, viz.: Interrogative, Imperative, Nominalized and Relativized. The description of the Contrast and Variation modes of Sentence level is followed by an analysis of the first section of a text. Appendix I presents a lexicon of Resigaro in two parts: Part I is Resigaro-Spanish-English, and Part II is Spanish-Resigaro. Appendix II presents a 376-word four-language comparative word list for Resigaro, Bora, Ocaina and Huitoto Muinane.

It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the reasons why Cuzco Quechua, an Amerindian language of Latin America, uses allomorphs, or multiple forms, to represent the minimal semantic units of the language (or morphemes). Starting from the Initial hypothesis that the relatively minor role of allomorphy in contemporary Cuzco Quechua indicates the earlier absence of that allomorphy, the motivation for the introduction and retention of allomorphy is examined, as this relates to a number of characteristic types; Vowel Deletion, affecting final suffixes, Consonant Cluster Simplification and Vowel Dissimilation, affecting suffixes of the verb stem, and the potential allomorphy of the suffixes of Person, pronominal and verbal. Such allomorphy proves to be the result of attempts to contain new morphological developments within existing structural preferences of syllable configuration, and to limit the potential for semantic ambiguity, arising out of identity of form, or homonymy. The unanticipated result of such a study is the implication in all cases considered of an earlier process of affixation, leading to the formation of untypical morph-forms, Allomorphy is seen to be the by-product of compensatory change, introduced to modify the results of previous developments, In particular, the role of the 'empty morph', ni, of nominal Person is found to be implicated in the derivational history of all Quechua suffixes of Person, and its origin imputed to an early role of the verb ni-, 'to say', used with auxiliary function. Based on the evidence of allomorphy, the conclusion is drawn that many of the suffixes of Cuzco Quechua owe their origin to syntactic forms of expression, indicating that the role of the syntactic construction in this typically agglutinative language was formerly more significant than is now recognised.

After the preface, table of contents and list of symbols, an introductory chapter gives details about the Jebero people and language, including an account of all previously published material, describes the circumstances and scope of this present study and summarizes some of the general characteristics of the language. The second chapter containing on explanation of the transcription used in the thesis is followed by an outline description of the phonology. The remainder of the thesis is a grammatical study of the verbal piece considered at different stages of grammatical analysis from the sentence to the morpheme. The function of the verbal piece is first given and this entails a description of the sentence-types found in the material examined since the function of the verbal piece is stated in terms of these sentence-types. The structure of the verbal piece is then taken up and this is set out in terms of the smaller elements of which the verbal piece may be said to be composed, namely the clause, phrase, and word, each of which is dealt with in turn. The Validity of the word as a grammatical element is shown and the basis for the establishment of word classes is described. A full description of each word class follows, giving details concerning stems, roots, and affixes of various classes and subclasses, In this way all the morphemes, words, and larger units which can enter into a verbal piece are classified as members of one or other system of grammatical elements. Some texts with translations are provided and for the first of these a full grammatical analysis is given. The thesis ends with two appendioes and a bibliography.

After a preface, a general index is given, followed by a general introduction. Following this introduction are the nine main chapters of the thesis, each with an individual outline of its contents, and grouped as follows: chapter 1 introduces the various transcriptions used; chapters 2 and 3 describe the phonology; and chapters 4 to 9 present the grammatical analysis. Within these grammatical chapters, there are certain subgroupings. Chapter 4 presents the analysis from the sentence to the piece, and chapters 6 to 9 handle the analysis of the various pieces introduced in chapter 4. Chapters 6 and 7 describe the pieces whose structure can be stated in terms of phrases, taking the analysis down to the level of the morpheme; chapters 8 and 9 deal with those pieces and their constituents which are not analysed in terms of phrases. Chapter 5 is somewhat different, as it describes two aspects of the grammar - the prefixial paradigm and the relationship between strong and weak forms - which are relevant to the description of both phrasal and non-phrasal pieces. Following these nine chapters, an analysis of one of the texts is provided. The thesis is then concluded with a vocabulary of stems cited in the thesis, and a bibliography.

This thesis presents an analysis of the phonology and the grammar of the Guajajara language, each in turn being described within a hierarchical framework. Following a general introduction to the Guajajara people and language, (Chapter One), and an account of the transcription employed, (Chapter Two), a theoretical introduction to the analytical framework of the study and a summary of the hierarchies, are found in Chapter Three. Chapters Four to Seven describe the phonological hierarchy, starting with the largest unit, the Span, (Chapter Four) and working down through successively smaller units, the Foot (Chapter Five) and the Syllable (Chapter Six) to the smallest ones, Consonants and Vowels. Chapters Eight to Fourteen describe the grammatical hierarchy. The Sentence, and specially the favourite sentence, is dealt with in Chapter Eight, verbal and Nominal Units in Chapters Nine and Ten respectively, other units of phrase rank in Chapter Eleven, and Particles in Chapter Twelve. Chapter Thirteen describes non-favourite sentences, and Chapter Fourteen, constructions larger than the sentence. Theoretical conclusions are drawn in Chapter Fifteen, and a parsed text presented in Chapter Sixteen. The thesis ends with a bibliography, both of general linguistic works, and of works relating to the Guajajara people and language, and with an index and a key to the abbreviations used.