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All Outputs (27)

Investigating grammatical borrowing in Moseten through historical sources (2023)
Book Chapter
Sakel, J. (in press). Investigating grammatical borrowing in Moseten through historical sources. In E. Gibson, & M. Poliak (Eds.), From fieldwork to linguistic theory: A tribute to Dan Everett. Berlin: Language Science Press

Using historical sources (1804-1913), this paper investigates the influence of Span-ish on the grammar of modern Mosetén, an indigenous language spoken in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes and the adjoining Amazon basin. Focusing on the categories... Read More about Investigating grammatical borrowing in Moseten through historical sources.

The origins of the shape bias: Evidence from the Tsimané (2022)
Journal Article
Jara-Ettinger, J., Levy, R., Sakel, J., Huanca, T., & Gibson, E. (2022). The origins of the shape bias: Evidence from the Tsimané. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(10), 2437–2447. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001195

In the United States, children often generalize the meaning of new words by assuming that objects with the same shape have the same name. We propose that this shape bias is influenced by children’s exposure to objects of different categories (artifac... Read More about The origins of the shape bias: Evidence from the Tsimané.

Transfer and language contact: The case of Pirahã (2012)
Journal Article
Sakel, J. (2012). Transfer and language contact: The case of Pirahã. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(1), 37-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006911403212

In this article the author argues that the language contact situation between Pirahã (Muran) and Portuguese can best be explained in a framework combining the theoretical approaches to language contact and transfer. In this contact situation, Portugu... Read More about Transfer and language contact: The case of Pirahã.

New perspectives on language transfer (2012)
Journal Article
Treffers-Daller, J., & Sakel, J. (2012). New perspectives on language transfer. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(1),

Mosetén and Chimane argument coding: A layered system (2011)
Journal Article
Sakel, J. (2011). Mosetén and Chimane argument coding: A layered system. International Journal of American Linguistics, 77(4), 537-557. https://doi.org/10.1086/662159

This paper discusses the argument-coding system of Mosetenan, a small language family spoken in the Bolivian Amazon. While there is no case marking on nouns, all coding of arguments is found in the cross-reference ending of verbs. Intransitive verbs... Read More about Mosetén and Chimane argument coding: A layered system.

Grammatical borrowing from Spanish/Portuguese in some native languages of Latin America (2010)
Journal Article
Sakel, J. (2010). Grammatical borrowing from Spanish/Portuguese in some native languages of Latin America. STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 63(1), 65-78. https://doi.org/10.1524/stuf.2010.0006

In this paper I investigate how different factors can influence the range of grammatical categories affected by language contact, drawing on a sample of ten native languages of Latin America. The languages are all in contact with the highly dominant... Read More about Grammatical borrowing from Spanish/Portuguese in some native languages of Latin America.

Types of loan: Matter and pattern (2007)
Book Chapter
Sakel, J. (2007). Types of loan: Matter and pattern. In Y. Matras, & J. Sakel (Eds.), Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective (15-30). Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199192.15

A central concern of contact linguistics has long been to categorize the ways in which elements are borrowed from one language into another. For this pur-pose Matras and Sakel (2004) introduced the terms matter (MAT) and pattern(PAT) in the questionn... Read More about Types of loan: Matter and pattern.