Taruma language

Taruma (Taruamá) is a nearly extinct, divergent language of northeastern South America. It has been reported to be extinct several times since as far back as 1770, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last three speakers living in Maruranau among the Wapishana, and is documenting the language.^[2][3] The people and language are known as Saluma in Suriname.^[4]

Taruma
udžĕssi
Native to	Guyana, formerly Brazil & Suriname
Region	South of Aishalton
Ethnicity	Taruma people
Native speakers	3 (2022)[1]
Language family	Isolate or Katembri–Taruma ? Taruma
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tdm
Linguist List	qoi
Glottolog	taru1236
ELP	Taruma

Classification

Taruma is unclassified.^[5] It has been proposed to be distantly related to Katembri (Kaufman 1990), but this relationship has not been repeated in recent surveys of South American languages (Campbell 2012).^[6]

History

Taruma was spoken around the mouth of the Rio Negro during the late 1600s, but the speakers later moved to southern Guyana. In the 1940s, the Taruma tribe were reported to no longer exist as a distinct group.^[7][4] However, their presence has recently been confirmed in the Wapishana village of Marunarau, where they are recognized as a distinct tribe.^[8] Only one of the three knows Taruma well enough to produce "coherent texts", and the other two have "a much weaker knowledge" of Taruma.^[9]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Chibchan, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Tupi, Arawa, Jivaro, Karib, Mura-Matanawi, Tukano, Yanomami, and Kwaza language families due to contact.^[10]

The following table illustrates some of the aforementioned borrowing situations:^[10][11][12]

Loanwords in Taruma by language

gloss Taruma Damana (Chibchan) Katukina Wapishana (Arawakan) Mawayana (Arawakan) Arikapu Proto-Tupian Proto-Arawan Proto-Jivaroan Proto-Cariban Mura Proto-Tucanoan father aide ade - - - - - - - - - - sister aʧi asi - - - - - - - - - - mouth kukana kəka - - - - - - - - - - bird zuri suri - - - - - - - - - - snake báhũ - paɡo - - - - - - - - - wood u - -ʔu - - - - - - - - - tick piʤíʤi - piːʧiN - - - - - - - - - tobacco suma - uːba suuma - - - - - - - - bow kobara - - sumara - - - - - - - - star wire - - wiiʐi - - - - - - - - go maku - - makʰu-n - - - - *maku 'leg' - - - monkey rumi - - ruumi - - - - - - - - worm pararu - - pʰaʐaru - - - - - - - - egg dani - - ʤani - - - - - - - - chest duku - - ɗukʰuri - - - - - - - - flea kuwaba - - kʰuwaiɓa - - - - - - - - bottle pateli - - pater - - - - - - - - howler monkey rumi - - rumi - - - - - - - - calabash gŏlie - - - kawalie caiman hiri - - - - uhiri - - - - - - deer konia - - - - kudi - - - - - - dance (v.) kabihwi - - - - kəwi - - - - - - eat ko - - - - - *kˀu - - - - - path afe - - - - - *ape - - - - - arrow kupa - - - - - *ekʷˀɨp - - - - - salt wuka - - - - - *wukɨt - - - - - deer hiʧi - - - - - *ɨʧɨ - - - - - axe bade - - - - - - *bari - - - - wild dog hi - - - - - - *-hi - - - - forest nukuda - - - - - - *nuku 'mountain' - - - - peccary baki 'tapir' - - - - - - - *paki *pakira - - leaf ʤuka - - - - - - - *nuka - - - sweet-potato aɸi - - - - - - - - *napi - *jãpi canoe kanawa - - - - - - - - *kanawa - - hand aɸũ - - - - - - - - *apô 'arm' - - earth dudu - - - - - - - - *nono - - poison kʷima - - - - - - - - *kuma - - fire hʷa - - - - - - - - - hũai - breast iwa - - - - - - - - - iiwe - mountain uwai - - - - - - - - - uwe 'forest' - foot apa - - - - - - - - - apai - tongue njebena - - - - - - - - - - *tʲʔeme water dja - - - - - - - - - - *tʲʔia 'river' three wikʲã - - - - - - - - - - *ɨtˀia woman ɡumi- - - - - - - - - - - *tʔõmi-

Similarities with Chibchan (especially with the Magdalena and Dorasque-Changena subgroups) may be due to the former presence of Chibchan speakers in the Northeast Amazons.^[10]: 327 Similarities with Tucanoan suggest that Taruma had originated in the Caquetá basin.^[10]: 348

Phonology

Consonants

Taruma consonants^[1]

		Bilabial		Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
		voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced			voiceless	voiced
Nasal			m		n
Plosive	plain	p	b	t	d			k	g	ʔ
	lab.							kʷ	gʷ
Fricative	plain			s		ʐ	ɕ			h
	lab.	ɸʷ
Tap					ɾ

Vowels

Taruma vowels^[1]

	Front		Central		Back
	plain	nasalized	plain	nasalized	plain	nasalized
Close	i	ĩ	ɨ	ɨ̃
Mid					o	õ
Open			a	ã

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.^[13]

gloss	Taruma
one	oshiwai
two	dzyowa
three	mikyahahi
head	a-dam
eye	a-tsi
man	gika
water	za
fire	fwa
sun	hwa
jaguar	dun
house	duiya

For a list of Taruma words from Jolkesky (2016),^[10] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Further reading

• Meira, Sérgio. (2015). Taruma wordlist. (Manuscript).