A grammar of Kakua

This thesis presents a linguistic description of Kakua, a Kakua-Nukakan language spoken in the Vaupés area of the Upper Rio Negro region in Northwest Amazonia. Speakers of Kakua live in forest settlements located in the Departamento del Vaupés in Colombia. The two main Kakua settlements are Wacará and Nuevo Pueblo. Wacará, located in between the Vaupés and the Querarí Rivers, is the most populated Kakua village, inhabited by 183 speakers (by August of 2015). Nuevo Pueblo, with around 50 speakers, is located in between the Vaupés and the Papurí Rivers. Kakua speakers total an approximate number of 230 individuals. In this grammar I present an analysis of the linguistic data collected during my own fieldtrips between 2009 and 2015. Based on this data, the grammar presents a description of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Kakua along its 13 chapters. The description of Kakua, presented in this grammar, is based on a functional-typological linguistic framework, which helps to present language-specific linguistic phenomena and to link it to the general linguistic literature. The grammar of Kakua presents various interesting typological features from both areal and cross-linguistic perspectives, which are highlighted throughout the book. The research presented here also attempts to provide a better illustration of a little-known endangered language of Amazonia