Acknowledgements
This book project would not have seen the light of day without the help of many people and institutions that supported us during the research and the writing of this book. It is dedicated to all the people puzzled by and interested in language issues that we have met during many years of research and involvement in French Guiana and to our friends and colleagues who supported us in our ‘quest’ for Takitaki.
We are most heavily indebted to the numerous people in French Guiana who agreed to talk to us about Takitaki, who let us record interactions in which they used Takitaki and who pointed us to sites and material where we could find Takitaki and information about it. Among the people who helped us, we especially would like to thank S. B. Sanna, M. Sanna and B. Masanna who identified and carried out many of the recordings for this project. S. B Sanna also spent many hours transcribing the data and patiently answered many questions about it and also helped us to find additional information where needed. M. Sanna kindly typed and checked the transcriptions. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers of the project who provided us with very helpful comments on the project.
The following institutions provided financial support for the project:
The French national research institutions IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) through our program on Language Contact at the Centre d’Etudes des Langues Indigènes d’Amérique (SeDyL-CELIA).
The French Ministry of Culture (DGLFLF, Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France)
The Ireland-France Ulysses Exchange Scheme (2007) funded by IRCHSS (Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences) & EGIDE France funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
IRCHSS Research Fellowship (2007–2008).
