BA, MA (Auckland), PhD (La Trobe)
Email simon.overall@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 8813
Office 1N4
First Floor
Arts Building
Albany Street
Dunedin
Mail English and Linguistics
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand
Teaching
- LING 111 A World of Languages
- LING 217 What's Behind Language: Sound and Structure
- LING 314 Comparative Morphosyntax
- LING 424 Linguistics Fieldwork
Research
My research interests have two main threads. Firstly, Amazonian languages, in particular those of northwest Peru, and their historical connections with other Amazonian and Andean languages. Secondly, my work in grammatical description relates to larger concerns with how individual and cultural knowledge are expressed through language, and what are the interpersonal and cultural factors that interact with diachronic processes of language change.
I have extensive fieldwork experience with Aguaruna (known to its speakers as Iiniá Chicham), a language in the small Chicham family (formerly known as Jivaroan), spoken by about 55,000 people in Peru’s Amazonas and Loreto regions; and Kandozi-Chapra (Candoshi-Shapra), an isolate spoken on the Morona and Pastaza rivers in Loreto, Peru.
Publications
Overall, S. (2023). Kandozi-Chapra. In P. Epps & L. Michael (Eds.), Amazonian languages: An international handbook: Language isolates I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Shapra (Vol. 1). (pp. 615-657). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110419405-013
Overall, S. E. (2022). While we are not yet dead: Themes of love and loss in a Kandozi-Chapra drinking song. In A. Storch & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), The art of language. (pp. 53-80). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004510395_005
Cop, M., & Overall, S. (2021). How to make dramatic use of body parts. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Language & Society Conference 2020. Retrieved from https://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/Language-and-society-conference
Overall, S. (2019, November). Nasal prosody in Aguaruna (Chicham, Peru), and the challenges it presents for orthography development. Verbal presentation at the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Conference (NZ Ling Soc), Christchurch, New Zealand.
Overall, S. (2019, November). Some challenges in adapting Spanish orthography to represent Aguaruna, an indigenous Peruvian language. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Hispanic Studies (NHUSS) Seminar, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Overall, S. E. (2017). A grammar of Aguaruna (Iiniá Chicham). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter, 636p.
Authored Book - Research
Overall, S. E., Vallejos, R., & Gildea, S. (Eds.). (2018). Nonverbal predication in Amazonian languages. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins, 407p. doi: 10.1075/tsl.122
Edited Book - Research
Overall, S. (2023). Kandozi-Chapra. In P. Epps & L. Michael (Eds.), Amazonian languages: An international handbook: Language isolates I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Shapra (Vol. 1). (pp. 615-657). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110419405-013
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2022). While we are not yet dead: Themes of love and loss in a Kandozi-Chapra drinking song. In A. Storch & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), The art of language. (pp. 53-80). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004510395_005
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2018). Nonverbal predicates and copula constructions in Aguaruna (Chicham). In S. E. Overall, R. Vallejos & S. Gildea (Eds.), Nonverbal predication in Amazonian languages. (pp. 135-161). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.122
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E., Vallejos, R., & Gildea, S. (2018). Nonverbal predication in Amazonia: Typological and diachronic considerations. In S. E. Overall, R. Vallejos & S. Gildea (Eds.), Nonverbal predication in Amazonian languages. (pp. 1-49). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.122
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2017). A typology of frustrative marking in Amazonian languages. In A. Y. Aikhenvald & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic typology. (pp. 477-512). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781316135716.015
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2017). The grammatical representation of commands and prohibitions in Aguaruna. In A. Y. Aikhenvald & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), Commands: A cross-linguistic typology. (pp. 61-82). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198803225.001.0001
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2016). Attributive adjectives and the internal syntax of the NP in Jivaroan. In F. Queixalós & D. M. Gomes (Eds.), O Sintagma Nominal Em Línguas Amazônicas. (pp. 29-43). Campinas, Brazil: Pontes Editores.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2016). Switch-reference and case-marking in Aguaruna (Jivaroan) and beyond. In R. van Gijn & J. Hammond (Eds.), Switch reference 2.0. (pp. 453-472). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2014). Clause chaining, switch reference and nominalisations in Aguaruna (Jivaroan). In R. van Gijn, J. Hammond, D. Matić, S. van Putten & A. V. Galucio (Eds.), Information structure and reference tracking in complex sentences. (pp. 309-340). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. E. (2014). Nominalization, knowledge, and information source in Aguaruna (Jivaroan). In A. Y. Aikhenvald & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), The grammar of knowledge: A cross-linguistic typology. (pp. 227-244). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198701316.003.0011
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. (2009). The semantics of clause linking in Aguaruna. In R. M. W. Dixon & A. Y. Aikhenvald (Eds.), The semantics of clause linking: A cross-linguistic typology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overall, S. (2019). Parrots, peccaries, and people: Imagery and metaphor in Aguaruna (Chicham) magic songs. International Journal of Language & Culture, 6(1), 148-174. doi: 10.1075/ijolc.00020.ove
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. E. (2019). Taming the jaguar: On the lexical equivalence of 'jaguar' and 'domestic dog' in Amazonian languages. The Mouth, (4), 92-106.
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. E. (2018). From verb to noun and back again: Non-referential uses of nominalizations in Aguaruna (Chicham). STUF, 71(1), 133-150. doi: 10.1515/stuf-2018-0006
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. E., & Wojtylak, K. I. (2018). Nominalization in Northwest Amazonia: Introduction. STUF, 71(1), 1-18. doi: 10.1515/stuf-2018-0001
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. E. (2016). Who were the Antipas? A linguistic and ethnohistorical investigation of a forgotten tribe. Liames, 16(1), 59-69.
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. (2008). On the non-phonemic status of the velar nasal /ŋ/ in Jivaroan. Liames, 8, 45-59.
Journal - Research Article
Overall, S. E. (2018). Aguaruna. International Journal of American Linguistics, 84(Suppl. 1), S55-S68. doi: 10.1086/695546
Journal - Research Other
Overall, S. E. (2013). [Review of the book Linguistics and archaeology in the Americas and Estudios sobre lenguas andinas y amazónicas]. Language Dynamics & Change, 3(1), 133-139. doi: 10.1163/22105832-13030104
Journal - Research Other
Overall, S. E. (2010). Jerarquía y tratamiento de la primera persona plural en la gramática de aguaruna. In M. Censabella & R. González (Eds.), Il Encuentro de Lenguas Indígenas Americanas y Il Simposio Internacional de Lingüística Amerindia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: CONICET. [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Overall, S. (2006). The genitive form of the noun in Aguaruna. Proceedings of the 2005 Australian Linguistic Society (ALS). Retrieved from http://www.als.asn.au/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Cop, M., & Overall, S. (2021). How to make dramatic use of body parts. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Language & Society Conference 2020. Retrieved from https://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/Language-and-society-conference
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overall, S. E. (2017). Chaining chains: Tail-head linkage and other devices for linking clause chains in Aguaruna (Chicham). Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Association for Linguistics Typology (ALT). Retrieved from http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/news-and-media/past-events/alt-conference-2017/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overall, S. E. (2017). Frustrative and the grammatical expression of emotion. Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Association for Linguistics Typology (ALT). Retrieved from http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/news-and-media/past-events/alt-conference-2017/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overall, S. E. (2015). Canonical and non-canonical switch-reference in Western Amazonia. Proceedings of the 11th Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) Conference. (pp. 102-103). Retrieved from https://ling.unm.edu/news-and-events-/alt-2015/program/abstract-booklet-.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overall, S. E. (2013). Some curious and subtle properties of grammatical objects in Aguaruna (Jivaroan). Proceedings of the 10th Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) Biennial Conference. Retrieved from https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/2013_ALT10/files/participants.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overall, S. (2019, November). Nasal prosody in Aguaruna (Chicham, Peru), and the challenges it presents for orthography development. Verbal presentation at the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Conference (NZ Ling Soc), Christchurch, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2019, November). Some challenges in adapting Spanish orthography to represent Aguaruna, an indigenous Peruvian language. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Hispanic Studies (NHUSS) Seminar, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2016, May). Negation in Kandozi. Verbal presentation at the International Colloquium Amazonicas VI: The Structure of Amazonian Languages, Leticia, Columbia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2014, May). Predicate nominals and enclitic copulas in Jivaroan and Candoshi. Verbal presentation at the Amazonicas V, Belém, Brazil.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2013, September). The rise of evidentiality? Nominalization as a marker of non-firsthand information source in Aguaruna (Jivaroan). Verbal presentation at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE), Spilt, Croatia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2012, April). Adjectival modification and compounding in Aguaruna (Jivaroan). Verbal presentation at the International Colloquium Amazonicas IV, Lima, Peru.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. (2012, April). Orality spreading in Aguaruna. Verbal presentation at the International Colloquium Amazonicas IV, Lima, Peru.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overall, S. E., & Wojtylak, K. I. (Eds.). (2018). STUF 71(1) [Special issue: Nominalization in Northwest Amazonia]. [Guest Editors].
Other - Edited Journal
