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Katukína-Kanamarí language

Katukinan language spoken in Brazil From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Katukina-Kanamari is a Katukinan language spoken by about 650 individuals in Amazonas, Brazil. It is considered endangered.

Quick facts Katukina-Kanamari, Native to ...

The two principal varieties, Kanamari (Canamarí) and Katukina (Catuquina), are mutually intelligible, and have both been confused with neighboring languages with the same or similar names.[5]

Synonyms and dialect names include Tshom-djapa, Tsohon-djapa, Wiri-dyapá, Pidá-dyapá, Kutiá-dyapá (Kadiu-diapa, Cutiadapa), Tucun-diapa, Bendiapa, Parawa.

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Etymology

The term Katukina is derived from the Proto-Purus term *ka-tukanɨ, meaning 'speaker of an indigenous language'.[6] As a result, it is used to refer to a few different unrelated languages belonging to separate language families, including Panoan and Arawakan:

Phonology

Consonants

More information Labial, Alveolar ...

An alveolar lateral consonant /l/ may be realized as a retroflex lateral [ɭ]. A velar nasal [ŋ] sound is often heard when following after nasal vowels. A glottal stop [ʔ] can be heard before word-initial vowels. A word-final /k/ may also sound unreleased [].

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...

/i/ and /u/ may be realized as approximant sounds [j] and [w], when preceding another vowel.[7]

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Grammar

The syntax of Kanamarí is characterized by ergative–absolutive alignment.[8] The absolutive argument (i.e. the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs) is unmarked for case, and usually appears following the verb phrase.

tyuku

die

wa:pa

dog

tyuku wa:pa

die dog

'The dog died.'

no-ti

2.SG.GEN-kill

paiko

grandfather

no-ti paiko

2.SG.GEN-kill grandfather

'You killed grandfather.'

If the absolutive argument is a pronoun, it is represented by its free-standing form.

ki:tan

sleep

idi:k

2.SG

ki:tan idi:k

sleep 2.SG

'You slept.'

The ergative argument (i.e. the agent of transitive verbs) is marked for genitive case. If the agent is a pronoun, it is represented by a genitive prefix (as in no-ti paiko 'you killed grandfather' above). If the agent is a full noun, it is linked to the verb with the case marker na, which phonologically attaches to the verb:

pi:da

jaguar

na=ti

GEN=kill

paiko

grandfather

pi:da na=ti paiko

jaguar GEN=kill grandfather

'The jaguar killed grandfather.'

References

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