How to copy your neighbors’ ways: A cross-generational perspective on nominalizations in Tariana

Tariana, an endangered Arawak language of north-western Amazonia (Brazil), has a number of strategies for nominalizing verbs. These include noun classifiers as word-class changing derivational markers, in addition a number of nominalizing suffixes. Nominalizations are a subclass of nouns, with their own set of special properties. As a consequence of areal diffusion from the neighboring and unrelated East-Tucanoan languages, Tariana nominalizations come to be used as complementation and relativization strategies. This is especially so for innovative speakers of Tariana who use Tucano on a daily basis, and whose language bears a strong imprint of Tucano, the main language of the region.