Patience L. Epps
Professor — Ph.D., Linguistic Anthropology, University of Virginia
Professor, Department of Linguistics

Contact
- E-mail: pattieepps@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512.471.9015
- Office: CLA 4.736
Interests
Amazonia; indigenous languages; language documentation; historical linguistics; prehistory
Courses
LIN 345 • Lang Change/Lang Variation-Wb
40385 • Spring 2021
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM
Internet; Synchronous
LIN 392 • Language Contact-Wb
40505 • Spring 2021
Meets W 12:00PM-3:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
LIN 389D • Rsch Docum/Descript Ling-Wb
39210 • Fall 2020
Meets F 12:00PM-3:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
UGS 302 • Language/Culture Amazonia-Wb
60260 • Fall 2020
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
Wr
ID
LIN 392 • Lang Diversification And Death
39840 • Spring 2020
Meets M 12:00PM-3:00PM RLP 4.716
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
39315 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM JES A216A
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
39425 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM RLP 4.716
UGS 302 • Language/Culture Amazonia
60520 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM MEZ 1.122
GCWr
ID
LIN 393 • Language Contact
40375 • Fall 2018
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM RLP 4.716
UGS 302 • Language/Culture Amazonia
62110 • Fall 2018
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM RLP 0.120
GCWr
ID
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40480 • Spring 2018
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CLA 1.108
LIN 389D • Rsch Docum/Descript Ling
40590 • Spring 2018
Meets M 12:00PM-3:00PM CLA 4.716
UGS 302 • Language/Culture Amazonia
62120 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM MAI 220F
GCWr
ID
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40945 • Spring 2017
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM WEL 3.260
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
41070 • Spring 2017
Meets F 12:00PM-3:00PM CLA 4.716
LIN 393 • Language Contact
40905 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CLA 4.710
UGS 302 • Language/Culture Amazonia
62005 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CLA 0.120
GCWr
ID
LIN 389D • Rsch Docum/Descript Ling
40270 • Spring 2016
Meets F 12:00PM-3:00PM CLA 4.716
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
39999 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM JGB 2.202
UGS 302 • Language & Culture Of Amazonia
61270 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM GDC 2.402
GCWr
ID
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
41445 • Spring 2014
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM BEN 1.126
LIN 392 • Lang Diversification And Death
41590 • Spring 2014
Meets W 12:00PM-3:00PM CLA 4.716
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
41423 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CLA 4.716
UGS 302 • Language & Culture Of Amazonia
65030 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 2.128
GCWr
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40935 • Spring 2013
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM WEL 2.256
LIN 393 • Language Contact
40865 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM MEZ 2.118
UGS 302 • Language & Culture Of Amazonia
63630 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ B0.302
Wr
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40780 • Spring 2012
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM PAR 301
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
40915 • Spring 2012
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM PAR 210
CGS 360 • Language And Thought
33875 • Spring 2011
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM SZB 416
(also listed as LIN 350, PHL 365)
LIN 382 • Historical Linguistics
41205 • Spring 2011
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM UTC 4.120
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
40815 • Fall 2010
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CAL 323
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
41125 • Spring 2010
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM CBA 4.328
LIN 382 • Historical Linguistics
41227 • Spring 2010
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM PAR 103
LIN 393 • Language Contact
41610 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CAL 323
PHL 365 • Language And Thought
43455 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 101
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40520 • Spring 2009
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM CBA 4.328
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
40649 • Spring 2009
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CBA 4.326
LIN 393 • Language Contact
42365 • Fall 2007
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 323
PSY 341K • Language And Thought
45115 • Fall 2007
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 210
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
41005 • Spring 2007
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM CBA 4.328
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
41130 • Spring 2007
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM CAL 419
LIN 393 • Language Contact
42055 • Fall 2006
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CAL 323
PSY 341K • Language And Thought
44880 • Fall 2006
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM JES A203A
LIN 345 • Lang Change And Lang Variation
40220 • Spring 2006
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CBA 4.328
LIN 392 • Linguistic Typology
40345 • Spring 2006
Meets W 2:30PM-5:30PM RAS 313A
Publications
Books/edited volumes
Under contract. Epps, Patience, Danny Law, and Na’ama Pat-El (eds.). Historical Linguistics and Endangered Languages: Exploring Diversity in Language Change. (Routledge Series in Historical Linguistics.) New York: Routledge.
Under contract. Epps, Patience and Lev Michael (eds.). Handbook of Amazonian Languages. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. Vols 1&2: Amazonian Languages: Families and Isolates.
2013 Epps, Patience, Na'ama Pat-El, and John Huehnergard (eds.). Contact Among Genetically Related Languages. Special edition of the Journal of Language Contact 6.
2013 Epps, Patience and Kristine Stenzel (eds.) Upper Rio Negro: Cultural and Linguistic Interaction in Northwestern Amazonia. Rio de Janeiro: Museu do Índio-FUNAI. 597 pp. Ebook available at http://www.museunacional.ufrj.br/ppgas/livros_ele.html
2009 Epps, Patience and Alexandre Arkhipov (eds.). New Challenges in Typology: Transcending the Borders and Refining the Distinctions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. xi + 428.
2008 A Grammar of Hup. (Mouton Grammar Library 43.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. xxiii + 983.
Journal articles
Submitted. Epps, Patience and Danilo P. Ramos. ‘Hup bi’id ɨd: Shamanic incantation at the nexus of language and culture’. Special edition of Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, ed. Anthony Webster and Rusty Barrett.
Submitted. Epps, Patience. ‘Language contact’. Oxford Bibliographies Online.
Forthcoming. Beier, Christine and Patience Epps. ‘Reflections on Fieldwork: A View from Amazonia’. Special issue of Language Documentation and Conservation, ed. Bradley McDonnell, Andrea Berez-Kroeker, and Gary Holton.
Forthcoming. Epps, Patience, Anthony Webster, and Anthony Woodbury. ‘Documenting speech play and verbal art: A tutorial.’ Journal of Language Documentation and Conservation.
2018 Epps, Patience. ‘Contrasting linguistic ecologies: Indigenous and colonially mediated language contact in northwest Amazonia’. Special issue of Language and Communication, ed. Ruth Singer and Jill Vaughan.
2018 Ramos, Danilo Paiva and Patience Epps. Caminhos de sopro: discurso xamânico e percursos florestais dos Hupd’äh. Mana 24(1): 161-198.
2017 Epps, Patience and Katherine Bolaños. ‘Reconsidering the ‘Makú’ family of northwest Amazonia.’ International Journal of American Linguistics 83.3:467-507.
2017 Epps, Patience, Anthony Webster, and Anthony Woodbury. ‘A holistic humanities of speaking: Franz Boas and the continuing centrality of texts.’ International Journal of American Linguistics 83:41-78.
2017 ‘Subsistence pattern and contact-driven language change: A view from the Amazon basin.' Language Dynamics and Change 7:47–101.
2016 'Response to Thomas Widlok, "Hunter-gatherer situations" (CHAGS 11 Keynote 1)', Journal of Hunter-Gatherer Research 2(2): 149-154.
2014 Haynie, Hannah, Claire Bowern, Patience Epps, Jane Hill, and Patrick McConvell. 'Wanderwörter in languages of the Americas and Australia.’ Ampersand 1:1-18.
2014 Brown, Cecil H., Charles R. Clement, Patience Epps, Eike Luedeling, and Søren Wichmann. 'The Paleobiolinguistics of the Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)’. Ethnobiology Letters 5:104- 115.
2014 Bowern, Claire, Hannah Haynie, Catherine Sheard, Barry Alpher, Patience Epps, Jane Hill, Patrick McConvell. 'Loan and inheritance patterns in hunter-gatherer ethnobiological nomenclature.' Journal of Ethnobiology 34(2): 195–227.
2014 Brown, Cecil H., Charles R. Clement, Patience Epps, Eike Luedeling, and Søren Wichmann. 'The Paleobiolinguistics of Maize (Zea mays L.)'. Ethnobiology Letters 5:52-64.
2013 Epps, Patience and Andrés Salanova. 'The languages of Amazonia'. Tipiti (Journal for the Anthropology of Lowland South America) 11(1):1-28.
2013 ‘Inheritance, calquing, or independent innovation? Reconstructing morphological complexity in Amazonian numerals’. Journal of Language Contact 6:329-357, special ed. Epps, Huehnergard, Pat-El.
2013 Epps, Patience, John Huehnergard, and Na’ama Pat-El. ‘Introduction’. Journal of Language Contact 6, special ed. Epps, Huehnergard, Pat-El.
2013 Brown, Cecil H., Charles R. Clement, Patience Epps, Eike Luedeling, and Søren Wichmann. 'The Paleobiolinguistics of Domesticated Manioc (Manihot esculenta)'. Ethnobiology Letters 4:61-70.
2013 Epps, Patience and Andrés Salanova. ‘As línguas da Amazonia.’ LIAMES (Línguas Indígenas Americanas) 12:7-38. [modified version of Epps & Salanova above, in Portuguese]
2013 Brown, Cecil H., Charles R. Clement, Patience Epps, Eike Luedeling, and Søren Wichmann. 'The Paleobiolinguistics of Domesticated Chili Pepper (Capsicum spp.)'. Ethnobiology Letters.
2012 Epps, Patience, Claire Bowern, Cynthia Hansen, Jane Hill, and Jason Zentz. 'On numeral complexity in hunter-gatherer languages.' Linguistic Typology 16: 39-107.
2011 Bowern, Claire, Patience Epps, Russell Gray, Jane Hill, Keith Hunley, Patrick McConvell, and Jason Zentz. 'Does lateral transmission obscure inheritance in hunter-gatherer languages?' PLoS ONE 6(9):e25195.
2010 ‘Linking valence change and modality: Diachronic evidence from Hup.’ International Journal of American Linguistics 76(3):335-356.
2009 ‘O nascimento de um sistema de classificação nominal,’ [‘Birth of a noun classification system’], (revised and translated version of Epps 2007, in Wetzels [ed.]). Invited contribution to ReVEL (Revista Virtual do Estudo da Linguagem, a Brazilian linguistics journal); special edition on indigenous languages of Brazil, edited by Wilson Silva.
2009 ‘Escape from the noun phrase: From relative clause to converb and beyond in an Amazonian language.’ Diachronica 26(3):287-318.
2009 Epps, Patience and Herb Ladley. ‘Syntax, souls, or speakers? On SIL and community language development.’ In Lise Dobrin et al. ‘Academic priorities, SIL International, and the past and future of linguistics’ (set of associated short papers), Language 85(3):640-646.
2009 ‘Language classification, language contact, and Amazonian prehistory.’ Language and Linguistics Compass 3(2):581-606.
2008 ‘Hup’s typological treasures: Description and explanation in the study of an Amazonian language.’ Linguistic Typology 12(2):169-193.
2008 ‘From “wood” to future tense: Nominal origins of the future construction in Hup.’ Studies in Language 32(2):383-404.
2006 ‘Growing a numeral system: The historical development of numerals in an Amazonian language family.’ Diachronica 23(2):259-288.
2005 ‘Areal diffusion and the development of evidentiality: Evidence from Hup.’ Studies in Language 29(3):617-650.
Book chapters
Forthcoming. ‘Naduhup’. Introdução às línguas indígenas do Brasil, ed. Angel Humberto Corbera Mori, Paulo Henrique P. S de Felipe, and Jackeline do Carmo Ferreira. Campinas: Editora Mercado de Letras.
Forthcoming. Epps, Patience and Danny Law. ‘Semantics’. Language Contact: An International Handbook (HSK), ed. Joeren Darquennes, Joe Salmons, and Wim Vandenbussche. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
Forthcoming. Tallman, Adam J. R. and Patience Epps. ‘Morphological complexity, autonomy, and areality in Amazonia’. Morphological Complexity, ed. Peter Arkadiev & Francesco Gardani. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Forthcoming. ‘Amazonian linguistic diversity and its sociocultural correlates.’ In Language Dispersal, Diversification, and Contact: A Global Perspective, ed. by Mily Crevels & Pieter Muysken. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Forthcoming. ‘Language and subsistence patterns in the Amazonian Vaupés.’ In The Languages of Hunter-Gatherers: Global and Historical Perspectives, edited by Tom Güldemann, Richard Rhodes, and Patrick McConvell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2017 ‘Hup: Story of the Deer Spirit’. On This and Other Worlds: Voices from Amazonia, ed. Kris Stenzel and Bruna Franchetto. Language Science Press. http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/167.
2017 Epps, Patience and Lev Michael. ‘The areal linguistics of Amazonia.’ In Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics, ed. by Raymond Hickey, 934-963. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2015 'Temperature terms in Hup, a Nadahup language of Amazonia.' In The Linguistics of Temperature, ed. by Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2014 Epps, Patience and Kelsey Neely. 'Movimiento y orientación en construcciones verbales: una perspectiva amazónica'. In Movimiento y espacio en lenguas de América, ed. by Lilián Guerrero. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
2014 'Historical linguistics and socio-cultural reconstruction.' In The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics, ed. by Claire Bowern and Bethwyn Evans, 579-597. London/New York: Routledge.
2014 ‘Reduplication in Hup.’ In Reduplication in South American Indian Languages, ed. by Gale Goodwin Gómez and Hein van der Voort. Leiden: Brill.
2013 Epps, Patience and Kristine Stenzel. 'Introduction: Cultural and linguistic interaction in the Upper Rio Negro region'. In Epps and Stenzel (eds.), Upper Rio Negro: Cultural and linguistic interaction in northwestern Amazonia, 13-52. Rio de Janeiro: Museu do Índio-FUNAI.
2013 Epps, Patience and Melissa Oliveira. 'Upper Rio Negro astronomies: At the intersection of daily life, ritual, and verbal art'. In Epps and Stenzel (eds.), Upper Rio Negro: Cultural and linguistic interaction in northwestern Amazonia, 91-182. Rio de Janeiro: Museu do Índio-FUNAI.
2012 Brown, Cecil H., Eike Luedeling, Soeren Wichmann, & Patience Epps. 'The paleobiolinguistics of domesticated squash (Cucurbita spp.).' In Explorations in Ethnobiology: The Legacy of Amadeo Rea,ed. by Dana Lepofsky and Marsha Quinlan. (Contributions in Ethnobiology Series.) Denton: Society of Ethnobiology.
2012 ‘Between headed and headless relative clauses.’ In Typological and Empirical Studies of Relative Clauses, edited by Zarina Estrada and Bernard Comrie. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2012 ‘On form and function in language contact: A case study from the Amazonian Vaupés region.’ In Dynamics of Contact-Induced Language Change, edited by Isabelle Léglise and Claudine Chamoreau. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
2011 ‘Reciprocal constructions in Hup.’ Reciprocals and Semantic Typology, edited by Nicholas Evans, Alice Gaby, Stephen Levinson and Asifa Majid, pp.315-328. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2010 ‘Linguistic typology and language documentation.’ The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology, edited by Jae Jung Song. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2010 ‘A escola entre os Hupd'äh do Alto Rio Negro: encontrando um caminho.’ [‘School among the Hupd’äh of the Upper Rio Negro: finding a path.’] Viviendo en el Bosque: Ensayos Sobre los Makú del Noroeste Amazónico, edited by Gabriel Cabrera. Universidade Nacional de Colombia - Sede Medellín.
2009 ‘Loanwords in Hup, a Nadahup language of Amazonia.’ Loanwords in the world's languages: a comparative handbook, edited by Martin Haspelmath and Uri Tadmor. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter Mouton.
2009 Epps, Patience and Alexandre Arkhipov. ‘Introduction.’ In New Challenges in Typology: Transcending the Borders and Refining the Distinctions, edited by Patience Epps and Alexandre Arkhipov, pp. 1-8. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2009 ‘Where differential object marking and split plurality intersect: Evidence from Hup.’ In New Challenges in Typology: Transcending the Borders and Refining the Distinctions, edited by Patience Epps and Alexandre Arkhipov, pp. 85-104. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2008 ‘Grammatical borrowing in Hup.’ Grammatical Borrowing: A Cross-linguistic Survey, edited by Yaron Matras and Jeanette Sakel, pp. 551-565. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2007 ‘Birth of a noun classification system: The case of Hup.’ Language endangerment and endangered languages: Linguistic and anthropological studies with special emphasis on the languages and cultures of the Andean-Amazonian border area, Indigenous Languages of Latin America series (ILLA), edited by Leo Wetzels, pp. 107-128. Publications of the Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies (CNWS). Leiden University, The Netherlands.
2007 ‘The Vaupés melting pot: Tucanoan influence on Hup.’ Grammars in Contact: A Cross-linguistic Typology, edited byAlexandra Aikhenvald and R.M.W. Dixon. Explorations in Linguistic Typology 4, pp. 267-289. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Databases and archival collections
2018+ (depositing in progress) ‘Nadëb Collection’. Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America. Media: audio, text, image. Access: public or restricted.
2017+ (depositing in progress) ‘Dâw Collection’. Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America. Media: audio, text, image. Access: public or restricted.
2015 ‘South American Languages.’ Languages of Hunter-Gatherers and their Neighbors: Database, Claire Bowern, Patience Epps, Jane Hill, and Patrick McConvell. https://huntergatherer.la.utexas.edu.
2013+ Epps, Patience and Luciana Storto. ‘Documentation of Dâw, a Nadahup language of Brazil.’ Endangered Languages Archive. Media: audio, text, image. Access: public or restricted. http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0362.
2009 Hup. World Loanword Database. edited by Martin Haspelmath and Uri Tadmor. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. (Online at http://wold.clld.org/.)
2001+ (further depositing in progress). ‘Hup Collection of Patience Epps.’ Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America. Media: audio, text, image. Access: public or restricted. http://ailla.utexas.org/search/view_resource.html?dep_id=1842&dtype=I.
Reviews and other publications
2015 Review of The Languages of the Amazon, by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Invited review, Anthropological Linguistics 56(1).
2015 Review of Linguistics and Archaeology in the Americas, ed. by Eithne B. Carlin and Simon van de Kerke. (Brill’s Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas.) Leiden: Brill. Invited review, Diachronica 32:1, 121–130.
2012 Review of Subordination in Native South American Languages, ed. by Rik van Gijn, Katharina Haude, and Pieter Muysken (Amsterdam: John Benjamins). Invited review, Language 88(4):926-929.
2011 Review of A Grammar of Cavineña,by Antoine Guillaume. Invited review, Anthropological Linguistics 53(1):77-79.
2009 Review of Linguistic Fieldwork, by Claire Bowern. Invited review, Linguistic Typology 13(3):491-498.
2003 Liszkowski, Ulf and Patience Epps. Directing attention and pointing in infants: a cross-cultural approach. Field Research Manual, vol. 1, edited by Nick Enfield (page numbers unavailable). Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen; Language and Cognition Group.
Community materials
2017 Storto, Luciana Raccanello, Patience Epps, Clariana de Assis Caldeira, Karolin Obert, & Sunkulp Ananthanarayan (eds). Histórias de Vida do Povo Dâw. CreateSpace self-publishing. iv + 59.
2017 Histórias Dâw [Dâw Stories]. Book of 8 Dâw stories and narratives, as told by community members. CreateSpace self-publishing. iv + 40.
2017 Tɨh Wähäd d’äh nɨh Pɨnɨg [Stories of the Old Ones]. Book of 11 traditional Hup stories, as told and illustrated by community members. CreateSpace self-publishing. iv + 62.
2016 Patience Epps & Danilo Paiva Ramos (eds). Os Cantos do Homem-Sombra, Batɨ́b’ Yam Pɨnɨg. São Paulo: Editora Hedra. 29 pp.
2005/2016 Hupd’äh nɨh pɨnɨgd’äh [Stories of the Hupd’äh]. Book of 15 traditional Hup stories, as told and illustrated by community members. CreateSpace self-publishing. iv + 64.
2004/2017 Hup ɨd hɨ’k’et, Alfabeto Hup [Hup Alphabet Book]. Learner’s guide to Hup orthography, illustrated by community members. CreateSpace self-publishing. i + 32.