David William Fleck
@amnh.org
Research Associate, Division of Anthropology
American Museum of Natural HIstory
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Linguistics, ethnobiology, zoology, Amazonia, Panoan languages
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
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Scopus Publications
David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
Shipibo, spoken in Amazonian Peru, has a complex system of word-level stress assignment that early studies described as being partially predictable and partially lexically determined. More recent studies have attempted to analyze Shipibo primary stress as overall predictable by postulating underlying consonants. However, hitherto no phonological studies have considered the effect of prefixation on stress assignment, which provides definitive evidence that primary stress in Shipibo is in fact only partially predictable. Body-part prefixes also uncover stress patterns that reveal important clues about the structure of proto-Panoan syllables. This paper proposes a synchronic analysis of Shipibo stress that takes into account these new data and puts forward a historical explanation for the intricate stress systems found in many modern Panoan languages.
Paúl M. Velazco, Robert S. Voss, David W. Fleck, and Nancy B. Simmons
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
ABSTRACT In this report, the fourth of our monographic series on mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru, we document the occurrence of 98 species of bats, including 11 emballonurids, 2 noctilionids, 66 phyllostomids, 1 furipterid, 4 thyropterids, 7 vespertilionids, and 7 molossids. New species based on specimens collected in this region (Peropteryx pallidoptera, Micronycteris matses, Hsunycteris dashe, Sturnira giannae, and Thyroptera wynneae) have already been described elsewhere, but noteworthy distributional and taxonomic results newly reported here include the first specimen of Diclidurus isabella from Peru and the diagnosis of Glossophaga bakeri as a species distinct from G. commissarisi. Lists of examined voucher specimens, identification criteria, essential taxonomic references, and summaries of natural history observations are provided for all species. Original natural history information reported herein includes numerous observations of roosting behavior obtained by indigenous Matses collaborators. We assess the Yavarí-Ucayali bat inventory for completeness and conclude that more species remain to be discovered in the region, where as many as 116 species might be expected. Most of the “missing” species (those expected based on geographic criteria but not actually observed) are aerial insectivores, a guild that is notoriously difficult to sample by mistnetting. Of the 98 species in the observed regional fauna, only 71 are known to occur sympatrically at Jenaro Herrera, by far the best-sampled locality between the Yavarí and Ucayali rivers. Faunal comparisons with extralimital inventories (e.g., from Brazil, Ecuador, and French Guiana) suggest that frugivorous bats are substantially more speciose in western Amazonia than in eastern Amazonia, a result that is consistent with previous suggestions of an east-to-west gradient in the trophic structure of Amazonian mammal faunas. As previously reported, the Matses have only a single name for “bat,” but they recognize the existence of many unnamed local species, which they distinguish on the basis of morphology and behavior. However, by contrast with the well-documented accuracy of Matses observations about primates and other game species, recorded Matses monologs about bat natural history contain numerous factual errors and ambiguities. Linguistic underdifferentiation of bat diversity and inaccurate natural history knowledge are both explained by cultural inattention to small, inedible, and inoffensive nocturnal fauna.
Robert S . Voss, David W. Fleck, and Sharon A . Jansa
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
This report is the third in our monographic series on mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavari-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru. Based on taxonomic analysis of specimens collected in the region, we document the occurrence of 19 species of marsupials in the genera Caluromys, Glironia, Hyladelphys, Marmosa, Monodelphis, Metachirus, Chironectes, Didelphis, Philander, Gracilinanus, and Marmosops. Our principal taxonomic results include the following: (1) we provide a phylogenetic analysis of previously unpublished mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data for Caluromys that supports the reciprocal monophyly of all currently recognized species in the genus but reveals substantial heterogeneity in one extralimital taxon; (2) we explain why Marmosa constantiae is the correct name for the southwestern Amazonian taxon previously known as Mar. demerarae, and we diagnose Mar. constantiae from Mar. rapposa, a superficially similar species from southern Peru, eastern Bolivia, and central Brazil; (3) we explain why Mar. rutteri is the correct name for one of the Amazonian species currently known as Mar. regina, and we restrict the latter name to the transAndean holotype; (4) we recognize Metachirus myosuros as a species distinct from Met. nudicaudatus based on morphological comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis of new mtDNA sequence data; and (5) we name a new species of Marmosops to honor the late Finnish-Peruvian naturalist Pekka Soini.Of the 19 marsupial species known to occur in the Yavari-Ucayali interfluve, 16 have been recorded in sympatry at Nuevo San Juan, the Matses village where we based most of our fieldwork from 1995 to 1999. We explain why we believe the marsupial species list from Nuevo San Juan to be complete (or nearly so), and we compare it with a species list obtained by similarly intensive fieldwork at Paracou (French Guiana). Although Nuevo San Juan and Paracou are 2500 km apart on opposite sides of Amazonia, the same opossum genera are present at both sites, the lists differing only in the species represented in each fauna. We briefly discuss current explanations for spatial turnover in species of terrestrial vertebrates across Amazonian landscapes and provide evidence that the upper Amazon is a significant dispersal barrier for marsupials.Marsupials are not important to the Matses in any way. In keeping with their cultural inattention to mammals that are inconspicuous, harmless, and too small to be of dietary significance, the Matses lexically distinguish only a few kinds of opossums, and they are not close observers of opossum morphology or behavior.
David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
Shipibo, a Panoan language spoken in Amazonian Peru, has a set of 31 monosyllabic forms, representing mostly body parts, which are phonologically attached to the front of verbs, adjectives and nouns. For most of these morphemes, noun roots designating body parts exist which are semantically similar and whose initial segments are the same. Consequently, previous scholars have analyzed these prefixed forms as allomorphs of or otherwise synchronically derived from the noun roots. The present paper will present evidence demonstrating that Shipibo-Konibo body-part morphemes are independent prefixes and best analyzed as not being synchronically derived from body-part nouns. Furthermore, although body-part prefixation is quite productive in Shipibo, many lexicalized prefixed stems exist, which have undergone semantic and/or phonological changes. Therefore, a second goal of this paper is to provide a more accurate description of the grammar of Shipibo prefixation by identifying lexicalized stems and treating them separately.
Robert S. Voss and David W. Fleck
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
ABSTRACT This report continues our monographic analysis of mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru. Based primarily on specimens collected in the region from 1926 to 2003, interviews with Matses hunters, and published sight surveys of large mammals, we document the local occurrence of 33 species of xenarthrans, carnivores, perissodactyls, artiodactyls (including cetaceans), and sirenians. All of the species in these groups, with the exception of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), are recognized and named by the Matses, from whom we recorded extensive accounts of mammalian natural history. The local xenarthran fauna consists of nine species (Cabassous unicinctus, Priodontes maximus, Dasypus novemcinctus, D. pastasae, Bradypus variegatus, Choloepus hoffmanni, Cyclopes didactylus, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla), all of which are represented by examined specimens. Only two xenarthrans (D. pastasae and C. hoffmanni) are primary game species for the Matses, who are familiar with many aspects of their biology that were previously unrecorded in the scientific literature. However, Matses interviews also provide important new information about the behavior of D. novemcinctus (a secondary game species) and M. tridactyla, neither of which has previously been studied in rainforested environments. The local carnivore fauna consists of 16 species (Atelocynus microtis, Speothos venaticus, Leopardus pardalis, L. wiedii, Panthera onca, Puma concolor, Pu. yagouaroundi, Eira barbara, Galictis vittata, Mustela africana, Lontra longicaudis, Pteronura brasiliensis, Bassaricyon alleni, Nasua nasua, Potos flavus, Procyon cancrivorus), most of which are represented by examined specimens; six species without preserved voucher material are known from camera-trap photographs and/or unambiguous sightings by Matses hunters and field biologists. Although the coati (N. nasua) is the only carnivore occasionally hunted by the Matses for food, Matses interviews are richly informative about the natural history of other species, notably including S. venaticus, Leopardus spp., Pa. onca, Puma spp., and E. barbara. All of the local ungulates (Tapirus terrestris, Pecari tajacu, Tayassu pecari, Mazama americana, M. nemorivaga) are hunted by the Matses for food, and the hunters we interviewed are correspondingly well informed about the natural history of most of these species, with the exception of the seldom-encountered gray brocket (M. nemorivaga). Both species of local cetaceans (Inia geoffroyi, Sotalia fluviatilis) are familiar to the Matses, although neither is eaten. The xenarthrans, carnivores, ungulates, and aquatic mammals that inhabit the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve are all widespread species, so this component of the regional fauna, as currently understood, is not biogeographically distinctive, nor is it extraordinarily diverse (by western Amazonian standards). Although we discuss several noteworthy taxonomic and nomenclatural issues relevant to these taxa, the principal contribution of this report consists in the natural history information compiled from our Matses informants and the resulting overview of local community structure as defined by diurnal activity, locomotion, social behavior, and trophic relationships.
Paúl M. Velazco, J. Angel Soto-Centeno, David W. Fleck, Robert S. Voss, and Nancy B. Simmons
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
ABSTRACT A new species of the nectarivorous bat genus Hsunycteris is described from lowland Amazonian forest in northeastern Peru. The new species, H. dashe, can be distinguished from other congeners by its larger size; V-shaped array of dermal chin papillae separated by a wide basal cleft; metacarpal V longer than metacarpal IV; broad rostrum; lateral margin of infraorbital foramen not projecting beyond rostral outline in dorsal view; well-developed sphenoidal crest; large outer upper incisors; weakly developed lingual cusp on P5; and well-developed, labially oriented M1 parastyle. A phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome-b sequence data indicates that H. dashe is sister to a clade that includes all other species of the genus including H. cadenai, H pattoni, and a paraphyletic H. thomasi. We provide a key based on craniodental and external characters of all four known species of Hsunycteris.
Robert S. Voss, David W. Fleck, Richard E. Strauss, Paúl M. Velazco, and Nancy B. Simmons
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
ABSTRACT The ecological mechanisms that sustain high species richness in Neotropical bat communities have attracted research attention for several decades. Although many ecologists have studied the feeding behavior and diets of Neotropical bats on the assumption that food is a limiting resource, other resource axes that might be important for species coexistence are often ignored. Diurnal refugia, in particular, are a crucial resource for bats, many of which exhibit conspicuous morphological or behavioral adaptations to the roost environment. Here we report and analyze information about roost occupancy based on >500 field observations of Amazonian bats. Statistical analyses of these data suggest the existence of distinct groups of species roosting (1) in foliage, (2) exposed on the trunks of standing trees, (3) in cavities in standing trees, (4) in or under fallen trees, (5) beneath undercut earth banks, and (6) in arboreal insect nests; additionally, we recognize other groups that roost (7) in animal burrows, and (8) in rocks or caves. Roosting-guild membership is hypothesized to have a filtering effect on Amazonian bat community composition because some types of roosts are absent or uncommon in certain habitats. Among other applications of our results, cross-classifying bat species by trophic and roosting guilds suggests that the often-reported deficit of gleaning animalivores in secondary vegetation by comparison with primary forest might reflect habitat differences in roost availability rather than food resources. In general, ecological and evolutionary studies of Neotropical bats would be enhanced by considering both trophic- and roosting-guild membership in future analyses, but additional fieldwork will be required to determine the roosting behavior of many data-deficient species. Kuesban utsi-utsiek ikek. Kuesban kuëte tëdion uzhek. Kuesban mani padan uzhek. Kuesban meçhodon uzhek. Kuesban tazhodo tëdion uzhek. Kuesban kuëte tanunkiokkid dadiadek. Kuesban kuëtedapa tëdion kodotanaknombo kuesban utsi ikkid. Padnubi zhëkuëdapambik utsi tëmpadapa zhëkuëdapan. Kuesban dadpenkiozhë ikek. (Bats exist in different ways. Bats sleep under trees. Bats sleep in wild banana plants. Bats sleep in termite nests. Bats sleep under buttress roots. Bats hang on the trunks of very dry trees. Other bats are under big fallen trees, where the tree is twisted. Also, others are in big hollows, in big hollows of big tëmpa trees. There are very, very many kinds of bats.) —Antonio Manquid Jiménez Tajur4
David W. Fleck
American Museum of Natural History
7 Introduction 9 Classification and inventory of Panoan languages and dialects 9 Ethnonyms and orthography 12 Former misconceptions about the Panoan family 17 On dialects and languages 19 Panoan internal classification and Panoan dispersal 21 Relations to other South American families 22 Panoan-Takanan relations 22 Other proposed genetic ties beyond the family 24 Contact with other Amazonian groups and Kechua speakers 24 History of Panoan linguistics 26 The Jesuits (1640s–1768) 26 The Franciscans (1657–1930s) 28 Foreign travelers of the 1800s 32 European philologists of the late 1800s 34 A new generation of list collectors and linguists (1900–1930s) 34 The Summer Institute of Linguistics (1940s–present) 37 University academics (1970s–present) 39 Priorities for future research 41 Typological overview 43 Phonology 43 Morphology 43 Syntax 44 Ethnolinguistic features 45 Linguistic taboos 45 In-law avoidance speech 45 Weeping kinship lexicon 45 Lingua francas and pidgins 46 Ceremonial languages 46 Gender-specific speech 46 Game synonymy and pet vocative terms 48 References 49 Appendix 1: Index of common denomination synonyms, variants, and homonyms 74
Roberto Zariquiey Biondi and David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
Most Panoan languages have closed sets of about 30 monosyllabic forms that attach phonologically to the front of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. These forms, mainly designating body-part notions and semantic extensions of these, appear at first glance to be synchronically derived from polysyllabic body-part noun roots. This paper offers the first detailed study of the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties of prefixation in Kashibo-Kakataibo. In contrast to other authors’ analyses of Panoan prefixes, we present evidence to show that prefixes in Kashibo-Kakataibo are synchronically independent morphemes, rather than allomorphs of body-part nouns. Subsequently, we present the diachronic scenarios that can account for the perplexing formal and semantic similarities between body-part prefixes and body-part nouns in Kashibo-Kakataibo
Robert Munro, Rainer Ludwig, Uli Sauerland, and David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
In Matses reported speech, the personal, spatial, and temporal indexicals of the reported speech act must be maintained from the point of view of the original speaker, thus resembling a strict form of direct speech. However, substantial paraphrasing, extraction, reconfiguration, and de re construals are permitted, which are features more typically associated with indirect speech. We give a detailed account of this unique reported speech system, its relationship to the evidential system, and the broader implications for theories of reported discourse. In relation to the evidential system, all past events learned through inference or speech must encode the point of view of an event’s detection, and in turn the context of the reporting of that event, the only exception being that community elders may make direct indexical reference to unobserved past events within a “Narrative Past” construction used exclusively for recounting oral history.
Robert S. Voss and David W. Fleck
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
Abstract This report is the first installment of a monographic study of mammalian diversity and ethnomammalogy in a sparsely inhabited rainforest region between the Yavarí and Ucayali rivers in northeastern Peru. Our study is based on several large collections of mammals (totaling about 3500 specimens) made at various localities in this region between 1926 and 2003, and on our long-term ethnobiological and linguistic fieldwork with the Matses, a Panoan-speaking group of indigenous Amazonians who still obtain most of their dietary protein by hunting mammals. Our primary objectives are to document the species richness of the regional fauna through taxonomic analysis of collected specimens, and to assess the detail and accuracy of Matses knowledge of mammalian natural history by linguistic analysis of recorded interviews. The regional primate fauna is definitely known to consist of at least 14 species documented by collected specimens and/or repeated sightings of taxa with visually conspicuous diagnostic traits. This fauna includes three atelids (Alouatta seniculus, Ateles belzebuth, Lagothrix lagothricha), eight cebids (Aotus nancymaae, Callimico goeldii, Callithrix pygmaea, Cebus albifrons, Cebus apella, Saguinus fuscicollis, Saguinus mystax, Saimiri sciureus), and three pitheciids (Cacajao calvus, Callicebus cupreus, Pithecia monachus). All 14 species are known to occur sympatrically at one inventory site, but Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii) is rare and uakaris (Cacajao calvus) seem to be patchily distributed, so some local faunas may have only 12 or even fewer species. This regional fauna is unique because neighboring interfluvial regions lack some species that are present in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve, and because some species that are present in neighboring interfluvial regions are not known to occur between the Yavarí and the Ucayali. Matses knowledge about primate natural history is clearly correlated with size and cultural importance. For example, information obtained from standardized interviews about spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth, a large game species) can be parsed into 86 observations about its ecology and/or behavior, whereas interviews about pygmy marmosets (Callithrix pygmaea, a small nongame species) contain only nine observations on these topics. Item-by-item comparisons of Matses observations about spider monkeys with the published results of scientific field research suggests that the Matses are generally accurate observers of primate natural history, a conclusion that is additionally supported by comparing community patterns of resource use compiled from our interview data with community-ecological studies of primate faunas in the scientific literature. Most exceptions (discrepancies between Matses observations and the scientific literature) can be explained by cultural inattention to small nongame species. Although these results suggest that archiving native Amazonian knowledge about mammalian natural history might be a cost-effective alternative to lengthy fieldwork for some research objectives, there are significant linguistic barriers than can inhibit effective cross-cultural communication. Among the Matses, these include a surprisingly large number of zoologically redundant names (synonyms and hyponyms). Relevant primate examples are discussed in substantive detail.
Burton K. Lim, Mark D. Engstrom, Fiona A. Reid, Nancy B. Simmons, Robert S. Voss, and David W. Fleck
American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored)
Abstract We report the discovery of a new species of doglike bat (Peropteryx) from the lowland Amazonian forests of Ecuador and Peru. It has transparent wing membranes that are faintly tinged brown with pale-brown arms and digits; ears that are separated on the forehead; and a skull with small, shallow pterygoid pits that are anterolateral to an undivided basisphenoid pit and that are separated by a mesopterygoid extension. These characters distinguish the new species from morphologically similar species with which it was previously confused (P. leucoptera and P. macrotis). A molecular phylogenetic analysis of unlinked loci from each of the four genetic transmission systems of mammals (mitochondrial, nuclear-autosomal, X, and Y chromosomes) independently corroborated the placement of the new species as the sister taxon to a clade that includes P. kappleri, P. macrotis, and P. trinitatis; the basal lineage for the genus is P. leucoptera. This phylogeny suggests that transparent wings (sometimes described as “white” but actually lacking pigment), the traditional character used to diagnose Peronymus, is not a unique synapomorphy. Furthermore, based on a molecular dating analysis, the depth of divergence of Peropteryx is equivalent to that of another New World emballonurid genus (Balantiopteryx). Therefore, Peronymus does not warrant higher-level recognition as a subgenus or genus.
David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
Matses, a Panoan language spoken in Amazonian Peru and Brazil, has two fourth‐person (= “interclausal third‐person coreferential”) pronouns, an ergative one (ambi ) and an absolutive one (abi ), that are used in subordinate clauses to indicate coreference with an argument in a higher clause. These fourth‐person pronouns are typologically exceptional in that they do not also code possession or intraclausal coreference, do not play a role in indirect speech, and coreference is not restricted to matrix subjects. The interaction of argument structure and intra- and interclausal morphosyntax creates a complex but systematic set of rules governing the fourth person as opposed to the simple third person. The functions of the fourth person in Matses are explored in depth, particularly with respect to how they have motivated and shaped the evident diachronic development of the fourth‐person forms from simple third‐person pronouns that have been replaced by zero‐anaphora.
David W. Fleck
Project Muse
The Matses language of the Panoan family, spoken in Amazonian Peru and Brazil, has one of the most intricate evidential systems ever described, requiring speakers to precisely and explicitly code their source of information every time they report a past event. In a typologically unique inflectional configuration that I call DOUBLE TENSE the speakers specify both (i) how long ago an inferred event happened and (ii) how long ago the evidence upon which the inference was made was encountered. This article explores in detail the Matses evidential system, focusing on several novel patterns relevant to the typological study of evidentiality and providing social and historical perspectives.
David W. Fleck
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Abstract This paper proposes methodology and provides practical tips for associating plant and animal names of little-known languages with scientific designations, especially for the purpose of producing accurate dictionary entries. The focus is on how a linguist can accomplish this task with or without the assistance of biologists, while avoiding the unsound practice of relying solely on vernacular names in the contact language. The points presented here are illustrated with examples from Matses, a language in the Panoan family spoken by an indigenous society living in western Amazonia, with whom the author has conducted extensive zoological, ethnobiological and linguistic field research.
David W. Fleck
John Benjamins Publishing Company
In this paper I analyze ergative patterns and the antipassive construction in Matses, a Panoan language spoken in western Amazonia. The Matses antipassive appears initially to be fairly typical, but is unique in that, in addition to the cross-linguistically typical indefinite Patient reading, it can also be used to code an unmentioned first-person Patient. Furthermore, only verbs specifying human O’s can take the antipassive suffix, and only verbs coding significantly affected Patients can have an indefinite reading. This is exactly the opposite of what one would expect of an antipassive construction. This atypical distribution of the Matses antipassive is explained by a combination of interacting factors, including a first-person empathy phenomenon and accommodation to a competing functionally similar object omission construction.
David W. Fleck
University of Chicago Press
Matses, a Panoan language spoken in Amazonian Peru and Brazil, has a set of 28 monosyllabic forms, representing mostly body parts, which are phonologically attached to the front of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. All Panoan languages seem to have a similar set of morphemes, and there is some controversy about whether these are prefixes or incorporated nouns. Here, this phenomenon is exemplified in detail for Matses, and I argue that while this process might have evolved from noun incorporation, synchronically it should be considered prefixation. This distinction is important for the synchronic interpretation of Matses prefixation as product of grammaticalization and for a comparative‐historical perspective of these Panoan forms. Among the characteristics of Matses prefixation that are not consistent with noun incorporation is an applicative‐like function, where the prefix allows into the clause an extra constituent that is in a Figure–Ground relation with absolutive arguments.
David W. Fleck, Robert S. Voss, and James L. Patton
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
The Matses Indians of northeastern Perú recognize two linguistically labeled folk species of saki monkeys (Cebidae: Pithecia) that are said to be morphologically distinguishable, to prefer different habitats, and to be noninterbreeding. Because the systematic literature recognizes only one biological taxon of Pithecia in the area inhabited by the Matses, their folk taxonomy suggests either the presence of a previously undescribed species or a hitherto undocumented range extension. All known species of Pithecia are currently thought to be allopatric, so both possibilities are of interest. We obtained blood samples and anatomical voucher material from hunters' kills in order to test the biological basis for the Matses folk taxonomy of sakis. Molecular and morphological analyses of the collected material indicate that both Matses folk species correspond to one effectively panmictic population of Pithecia monachus. Overdifferentiation in folk classification systems, whereby one biological species is represented by two or more nonsynonymous folk species names, is a potentially widespread source of error that should be considered by researchers using local informants for primate field studies. In addition to resolving a folk-taxonomic enigma, our study provides the first quantitative analyses of local (within-population) morphological and molecular variation in this little-known platyrrhine genus.
David W. Fleck and John D. Harder
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Species diversity, relative abundance, and seasonal variability in reproductive activity of marsupials were examined at two locations in tropical rain forests in northeastern (Amazonian) Peru during wet and dry seasons. Eight species of opossums (Didelphimorphia) were captured in a single 11-ha plot, but only four ( Didelphis marsupialis, Marmosops noctivagus Philander opossum , and Philander andersoni ) were common. Large differences with respect to species diversity and abundance of opossums were found between two similar rain-forest sites. Reproductive activity in opossums was positively related to rainfall and fruit production.