Kanamarí language
Kanamarí, or Katukina-Kanamari, is a Katukinian language spoken by about 650 individuals in Amazonas, Brazil. It is considered endangered.
Kanamarí | |
---|---|
Katukina-Kanamari | |
Native to | Brazil |
Region | Amazonas |
Ethnicity | 3,340 (2006–2008)[1] |
Native speakers | 1,300 (2006)[1] |
Harákmbut–Katukinan
| |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:knm – Kanamarikav – Katukina |
Glottolog | kana1291 |
ELP | Dyapá[2] |
Katukina[3] |
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.[4]
Synonyms and dialect names include Tshom-djapa, Tsohon-djapa, Wiri-dyapá, Pidá-dyapá, Kutiá-dyapá (Kadiu-diapa, Cutiadapa), Tucun-diapa, Bendiapa, Parawa.
Etymology
The term Katukina is derived from the Proto-Purus term *ka-tukanɨ, meaning ‘speaker of an indigenous language’.[5] As a result, it is used to refer to a few different unrelated languages belonging to separate language families, including Panoan and Arawakan:
- Katukina (Arawakan)
- Katukína (Panoan)
- Catuquinarú (unclassified)
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
voiced | b | d | dʒ | |||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
Fricative | h | |||||
Approximant | l |
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 [k̚].
Grammar
The syntax of Kanamarí is characterized by ergative–absolutive alignment.[7] 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
'The dog died.'
no-ti
2.SG.GEN-kill
paiko
grandfather
'You killed grandfather.'
If the absolutive argument is a pronoun it is represented by its free from.
ki:tan
sleep
idi:k
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
'The jaguar killed grandfather.'
References
- Kanamari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Katukina at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - Endangered Languages Project data for Dyapá.
- Endangered Languages Project data for Katukina.
- Harald Hammarström (2013) Review of the Ethnologue, 16th Ed.
- Carvalho, Fernando O. de. 2019. On the etymology of the ethnonym Katukina. Revista Brasileira de Línguas Indígenas (Vol. 2, 1) - 2019.
- dos Anjos, Zoraide (2011). Fonologia e Gramática Katukina-Kanamari (PDF) (Ph.D. Dissertation). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- Queixalós, Francesc (2010). "Grammatical relations in Katukina-Kanamari". In Gildea, Spike; Queixalós, Francesc (eds.). Ergativity in Amazonia. pp. 235–284.
- Queixalós, Francesc 2012. The Katukina-Kanamari antipassive. In: Gilles Authier and Katharina Haude (eds). Ergativity, Valency and Voice. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. (pp. 227–258)