Nomatsiguenga language

Last updated
Nomatsiguenga
inato
Native to Peru
Ethnicity Machiguenga
Native speakers
6,500 (2003) [1]
Arawakan
  • Southern
    • Campa
      • Matsigenka
        • Nomatsiguenga
Language codes
ISO 639-3 not
Glottolog noma1263
ELP Nomatsiguenga

Nomatsiguenga (Matsigenka) is an Arawakan language of Peru. It is close enough to Machiguenga to sometimes be considered dialects of a single language, especially given that both are spoken by the Machiguenga people. Most speakers are monolingual.

Contents

Phonology

According to Lawrence, Nomatsiguenga has the following consonant and vowel phonemes. [2]

Nomatsiguenga consonants
Bilabial Dental Alveo-
palatal
Velar Glottal Unspecified
Nasal m m n n ŋ ng, nN n, m
Stop Voiceless p p t t k k
Voiced b b g g
Fricative s s ʃ sh h h
Affricate ts ts ch
Liquid ɾ r
Semivowel j y

The archiphoneme N is the only consonant that can appear word-medially or in a syllable coda. [3]

Nomatsiguenga vowels
Front Central Back
High i i iiɨië
Mid e e ee o o oo
Low a a aa

The diphthong /ɨi/ does not have a long counterpart, nor does it pattern with the other phonemic diphthongs. [4]

Nomatsiguenga has three phonemic diphthongs: /ai/, /ei/, and /oi/. [5]

Grammar

Nomatsiguenga is one of the few languages in the world that has two different causative mechanisms to denote whether the causer was involved in the activity with the causee or not. The prefix ogi- is used to express the idea that the causer was not involved in the activity, while the suffix -hag is used when the causer is involved. [6]

y-ogi-monti-ë-ri

3MSG-CAUS1-cross.river-NFUT-3MSG

i-tomi

3MSG-son

y-ogi-monti-ë-ri i-tomi

3MSG-CAUS1-cross.river-NFUT-3MSG 3MSG-son

"He made his son cross the river (he told him to)."

y-monti-a-hag-ë-ri

3MSG-cross.river-E-CAUS2-NFUT-3MSG

i-tomi

3MSG-son

y-monti-a-hag-ë-ri i-tomi

3MSG-cross.river-E-CAUS2-NFUT-3MSG 3MSG-son

"He made his son cross the river (he helped him across)."

Notes

  1. Nomatsiguenga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Lawrence 2013, p. 8.
  3. Lawrence 2013, p. 9.
  4. Lawrence 2013, p. 12.
  5. Lawrence 2013, p. 14.
  6. Wise, M. R. (1986). "Grammatical characteristics of PreAndine Arawaken languages of Peru". In Derbyshire, D. C.; Pullum, G. K. (eds.). Handbook of Amazonian languages. Vol. 1. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 567–642. Cited in Dixon, R. M. W. (2000). "A Typology of Causatives: Form, Syntax, and Meaning". In Dixon, R. M. W.; Aikhenvald, Alexendra Y. (eds.). Changing Valency: Case Studies in Transitivity. Cambridge University Press.

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References