Karu language

Last updated
Karu
Tapuya
Native to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil
Ethnicity Baniwa people
Native speakers
18,000 (2007–2012) [1]
Arawakan
Dialects
  • Carútana-Baniwa
  • Hohôdene (Katapolitana)
  • Siusy-Tapuya (Seuci)
  • Ipeka-Tapuia
  • Curripaco (Wakuénai)
  • Unhun (Katapolitana, Enhen)
  • Waliperi
  • Mapanai
  • Moriwene
Official status
Official language in
Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil (São Gabriel da Cachoeira)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
bwi   Baniwa
kpc   Curripako
Glottolog bani1259   Baniwa-Curripaco
ELP
Baniwa.png

Karu, one of several languages called Baniwa (Baniva), or in older sources Itayaine (Iyaine), is an Arawakan language spoken in Guainía, Colombia, Venezuela, and Amazonas, Brazil. It forms a subgroup with the Tariana, Piapoco, Resígaro and Guarequena languages. [2] There are 10,000 speakers. [3]

Contents

Varieties

Aikhenvald (1999)[ full citation needed ] considers the three main varieties to be dialects; Kaufman (1994)[ full citation needed ] considers them to be distinct languages, in a group he calls "Karu". They are:

Various (sub)dialects of all three are called tapuya, a Brazilian Portuguese and Nheengatu word for non-Tupi/non-Guarani Indigenous peoples of Brazil (from a Tupi word meaning "enemy, barbarian"). All are spoken by the Baniwa people. Ruhlen lists all as "Izaneni"; Greenberg's Adzánani (= Izaneni) presumably belongs here.

Ramirez (2020) gives the following classification for three separate dialect chains: [4] :44

Phonology

Vowels [5]
Front Central Back
High ɪ ʊ
Mid ɛ
Low ə

When short, the vowels /ieao/ are realized as ɛəʊ]. Vowels are nasalized when adjacent to nasal consonants; nasal /aː/ is realized as [ɐ̃ː], while the other vowels show little change in their place of articulation when nasalized.

More precisely, stressed vowels are nasalized before simple nasal consonants, and vowels on either side of voiceless nasals are nasalized regardless of whether they are stressed.

Sequences of vowels may reduce to diphthongs and triphthongs, for example [nwajˈnidzonɪ] for /nu-aiˈnidzu-ni/. [6] The resulting [j] behaves differently than the consonant /j/.

Consonants [7]
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d
Affricate voiceless ts ( )
voiced dz
Sonorant ( β ) ɺ ʐ j w h
Palatalization
  • Palatalization is more productive in Baniwa than in Karipako. In Baniwa, /ts/ and /dz/ are pronounced [tʃ] and [dʒ] before /i/. In Kuripako, they are pronounced [tʃ] and as the approximant [j] before all vowels.
  • In both dialects, /h/ is pronounced [ç] before /i/. In Baniwa, when /h/ occurs after consonantal /j/ (but not the [j] allophone of the vowel /i/), the sequence is pronounced [ʃ]; this is [ç] in Kuripako. [9]
Voiceless nasals
  • A sequence /Nh/ (where 'N' is a nasal) may be realized as a voiceless nasal, [m̥ɲ̥], or as a (glottal) fricative hç] with nasalization on adjacent vowels.
  • The /h/ may be in the following syllable, as in [n̥õʷə] from /nuha/ 'I'. [10] Other authors have analyzed these sounds differently, and there are similar processes in other Arawakan languages.
Aspirated consonants
  • Similarly, a sequence /Ȼh/ (where 'Ȼ' is a plosive or affricate) is aspirated: [pʰ,t̪ʰ,tʰ,kʰ,tsʰ,tʃʰ]. The /h/ may be in the following syllable.
Other effects of /h/
  • The other sonorants are similarly devoiced under the influence of /h/, for [ɺ̥ʂʃw̥] in Baniwa.
  • Kuripako /β/ becomes [ɸ] and /j/[ç].

Grammar

Alignment system

Baniwa has active–stative alignment. [11] This means that the subject of an intransitive clause is sometimes marked in the same way as the agent of a transitive clause, and sometimes marked in the same way as the patient of a transitive clause. In Baniwa alignment is realized through verbal agreement, namely prefixes and enclitics.

Prefixes are used to mark:

Enclitics are used to mark:

PrefixesEnclitics
singularpluralsingularplural
1st personnu-wa--hnua-hwa
2nd personpi-i--phia-ihia
3rd
person
Nonfeminineri-na--ni/ -hria-hna
Feminineʒu-
Impersonalpa--pha

The differences between active and stative intransitive clauses can be illustrated below:

Noun classification system

Baniwa has an interesting system of noun classification that combines a gender system with a noun classifier system. [12] Baniwa has two genders: feminine and nonfeminine. Feminine gender agreement is used to refer to female referents, whilst nonfeminine gender agreement is used for all other referents. The two genders are only distinguished in third person singular. Aihkenvald (2007) considers the bipartite gender system to be inherited from Proto-Arawak. [12]

In addition to gender, Baniwa also has 46 classifiers. Classifiers are used in three main contexts: [12]

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

'pan'

  • With numerals, e.g.

apa-api

one-CL.hollow

mawapi

blowgun+CL.long.thin

apa-api mawapi

one-CL.hollow blowgun+CL.long.thin

'one blow gun'

  • With adjectives, e.g.

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

maka-api

big-CL.hollow

tʃipaɾa-api maka-api

metal.object-CL.hollow big-CL.hollow

'big pan'

Aihkenvald (2007) divides Baniwa classifiers into four different classes. One set of classifiers is used for humans, animate beings and body parts. Another set of classifiers specify the shape, consistency, quantification or specificity of the noun. Two more classes can be distinguished. One is only used with numerals and the other is only used with adjectives. [12]

Classifiers for Humans and animate beings: [12]

ClassifierUsageExample
-itafor animate males and body partsapa-ita pedaɾia 'one old man'
-hipafor human males onlyaphepa nawiki 'one man'
-mafor female referentsapa-ma inaʒu 'one woman'

Classifiers according to shape, consistency, quantification and specificity: [12]

ClassifierUsageExample
-daround objects, natural phenomena and generic classifierhipada 'stone'
-apaflying animate, semioval objectskepiʒeni 'bird'
-kwaflat, round, extended objectskaida 'beach'
-khacurvilinear objectsa:pi 'snake'
-navertical, standing objectshaiku 'tree'
hollow, small objectsa:ta 'cup'
-makastretchable, extended objectstsaia 'skirt'
-ahnaliquidsu:ni 'water'
-imasidesapema nu-kapi makemaɾi 'one big side of my hand'
-paboxes, parcelsapa-'pa itsa maka-paɾi one big box of fishing hooks'
-wanathin sliceapa-wana kuphe maka-wane 'a big thin slice of fish'
-watabundle for carryingapa-wata paɾana maka-wate 'a big bundle of bananas'
canoesi:ta 'canoe'
-pawariversu:ni 'river'
-ʃaexcrementiʃa 'excrement'
-yaskinsdzawiya 'jaguar skin'

Negation

There are two main strategies for negation in the Kurripako-Baniwa varieties: [3]

Different varieties have different negative markers. This is so prominent that speakers identify Kurripako dialects according to the words for 'yes' and 'no'. [3]

DialectSpoken inYesNo
Aha-KhuriColombia, Venezuela & BrazilAhaKhuri
Ehe-KhenimVenezuelaEheKhenim
Oho-KaroColombia & BrazilOhoKaro
Oho-ÑameColombia & BrazilOhoÑame

The independent negative markers come before the verb. They are used as clausal negators in declarative and interrogative sentences. They are also used to link clauses. [3]

The privative suffix is attached to nouns to derive a verb which means 'lacking' the noun from which it was derived. The opposite of the privative prefix is the attributive prefix ka-. This derives a verb which means 'having' the noun from which it was derived. [3] The difference can be illustrated below:

The prefix is used in combination with the restrictive suffix -tsa to form negative imperatives, e.g. ma-ihnia-tsa 'don't eat!'. A privative prefix is also reconstructed in Proto-Arawak privative as *ma-. [13]

Word order

Granadillo (2014) considers Kurripako a VOS language. [3]

Further reading

References

  1. Baniwa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Curripako at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (2014-01-01). "Negation in Tariana: A North Arawak Perspective in the Light of Areal Diffusion". Negation in Arawak Languages. pp. 86–120. doi:10.1163/9789004257023_006. ISBN   978-90-04-25701-6. Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Granadillo, Tania (2014-01-01). "On Negation in Kurripako Ehe-Khenim". Negation in Arawak Languages. pp. 74–85. doi:10.1163/9789004257023_005. ISBN   978-90-04-25701-6. Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
  4. Ramirez, Henri (2020). Enciclopédia das línguas Arawak: acrescida de seis novas línguas e dois bancos de dados. Vol. 1 (1 ed.). Curitiba: Editora CRV. doi:10.24824/978655578895.2. ISBN   978-65-5578-895-2. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  5. de Souza (2012), p. 42.
  6. de Souza (2012), p. 168 ff.
  7. de Souza (2012), p. 150.
  8. de Souza (2012), p. 83.
  9. de Souza (2012), p. 154 ff.
  10. de Souza (2012), p. 163, 167.
  11. Aikhenvald, "Arawak", in Dixon & Aikhenvald, eds., The Amazonian Languages, 1999.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aikhenvald, Alexandra (2007). "Classifiers in Multiple Environments: Baniwa of Içana/Kurripako—A North Arawak Perspective on JSTOR". International Journal of American Linguistics. 73 (4): 475. doi:10.1086/523774.
  13. Michael, Lev; Granadillo, Tania; Granadillo, Lev Michael|Tania (2014-01-01). Michael, Lev; Granadillo, Tania (eds.). Negation in Arawak Languages » Brill Online. doi:10.1163/9789004257023. ISBN   978-90-04-25701-6. Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2015-07-17.

Bibliography

de Souza, Erick Marcelo Lima (2012). Estudo Fonológico da Língua Baniwa-Kuripako [Phonological Analysis of the Baniwa-Kuripako language](PDF) (Master's thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). University of Campinas. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2017-06-24.