Mawayana language

Mawayana (Mahuayana), also known as Mapidian (Maopidyán), is a moribund Arawakan language of Guyana.

Classification

Aikhenvald (1999) lists Mawayana (and possibly Mawakwa as a dialect) together with Wapishana under a Rio Branco (North-Arawak) branch of the Arawakan family. Carlin (2006:314) notes that Mawayana "is closely related to Wapishana" and according to Ramirez (2001:530) they share at 47% of their lexicon.

Phonology

Mawayana has, among its consonants, two implosives, /ɓ/ and /ɗ/, and what has been described as a "retroflex fricativised rhotic", represented with ⟨rž⟩, that it shares with Wapishana. The vowel systems contains four vowels (/i-e, a, ɨ, u-o/), each of which has a nasalised counterpart.^[6]

Morphosyntax

Mawayana has a polysynthetic morphology, mainly head-marking and with suffixes, although there are pronominal prefixes. The verbal arguments are indexed on the verb through subject suffixes on intransitive verbs, while agent prefixes and object suffixes on transitive verbs (Carlin 2006:319).

n-kataba-sï

1A-grab.PAST-3O

'I grabbed him.'

tõwã-sï

sleep.PAST-3S

'He fell asleep.'

nnu	a-na	mauɗa	chika-dza	Mawayana
1PN	when-1S	die	NEG-COMPL	mawayana
'When I die there will be no Mawayana left at all.'

Notes

References

• Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (1999). "The Arawak language family". In Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R.M.W. The Amazonian languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 65–106. 
• Carlin, Eithne B (2006). "Feeling the need. The borrowing of Cariban functional categories into Mawayana (Arawak)". In Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R.M.W. Grammars in contact: A cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• Carlin, Eithne B (2011). "Nested identities in the Southern Guyana-Surinam corner". In Hornborg, Alf; Hill, Jonathan D. Ethnicity in ancient Amazonia: Reconstructing past identities from archaeology, linguistics, and ethnohistory. University Press of Colorado. pp. 225–236. 
• Carlin, Eithne B; Boven, Karin (2002). "The native population: Migration and identities". In Carlin, Eithne B.; Arends, Jacques. Atlas of the languages of Suriname. KITLV Press. pp. 11–45. 
• Carlin, Eithne B; Mans, Jimmy (2013). "Movement through time in the southern Guianas: deconstructing the Amerindian kaleidoscope". In Carlin, Eithne B.; Leglise, Isabelle; Migge, Bettina; et al. In and out of Suriname: Language, mobility, and identity. Caribbean Series. Leiden: Brill. 
• Ramirez, Henri (2001). Línguas Arawak da Amazônia setentrional (in Portuguese). Manaus: Universidade Federal do Amazonas. 

Languages of Guyana
Official language	English
Indigenous languages	Akawaio Arawak Atorada Carib Macushi Mapidian Mawayana Patamona Pemon Waiwai Wapishana Warao
Other languages	Caribbean Hindustani Guyanese Creole Guyanese Sign Language

Languages of Suriname
Official language	Dutch
Regional languages	Aukan Caribbean Hindustani Javanese Kwinti Saramaccan Sranan Tongo
Indigenous languages	Akurio Arawak Carib Mawayana Sikiana Trió Waiwai Warao Wayana