Omurano | |
---|---|
Mayna | |
Native to | Peru |
Ethnicity | Maina |
Native speakers | a few speakers or rememberers (2011) [1] |
unclassified (Saparo–Yawan?) | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | omu |
Glottolog | omur1241 |
Omurano is an unclassified language from Peru. It is also known as Humurana, Roamaina, Numurana, Umurano, and Mayna. The language was presumed to have become extinct by 1958, [2] but in 2011 a rememberer was found who knew some 20 words in Omurano; he claimed that there were still people who could speak it.
It was spoken near the Urituyacu River (a tributary of the Marañón River), [3] or on the Nucuray River according to Loukotka (1968). [4]
Tovar (1961) linked Omurano to Taushiro (and later Taushiro with Kandoshi); Kaufman (1994) finds the links reasonable, and in 2007 he classified Omurano and Taushiro (but not Kandoshi) as Saparo–Yawan languages.
Maynas, once mistaken for a synonym, is a separate language.
Despite there being previous proposals linking Omurano with Zaparoan, de Carvalho (2013) finds no evidence that Omurano is related to Zaparoan. [3]
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Urarina, Arawak, Zaparo, and Leko language families due to contact. [5]
A word list by Tessmann (1930) is the primary source for Omurano lexical data. [6]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items. [4]
gloss | Omurana |
---|---|
one | nadzóra |
two | dzoʔóra |
head | na-neyalok |
eye | an-atn |
woman | mparáwan |
fire | íno |
sun | héna |
star | dzuñ |
maize | aíchia |
house | ána |
white | chalama |
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