Nambikwara language

Nambikwara
Southern Nambikwara
Kitãulhu
Native to Mato Grosso, Brazil
Ethnicity Nambikwara
Native speakers
 720 (2006)[1]
Nambikwaran
  • Nambikwara
Language codes
ISO 639-3 nab
Glottolog sout2994[2]

The Nambikwara language (Southern Nambikwara or Kitãulhu, contrasting with Northern Nambikwara or Mamaindé; also spelled Nambikuára, Nhambikwara or Nambiquara) is an indigenous language of Brazil, spoken by about 1200 Nambikwara people in the Mato Grosso state. It forms a small Nambikwaran language family, which are often considered dialects of a single language despite not being mutually intelligible. They are a language isolate; Joseph Greenberg had included in his Gê–Pano–Carib phylum,[3] but this has not been followed by other linguists. Nambikwara is in vigorous use in the Nambikwara communities and in spite of having few speakers the language is not endangered. The name Nambikwara is of Tupi origin.

Most Nambikwara are monolingual but some young men speak Portuguese.[4]

Phonology

Nambikwara phonology is complex: it distinguishes aspirated, glottalized and plain consonants, and also has two different phonation types of vowels, nasal vowels and three tones.

Vowels

Kroeker (2001) distinguishes 19 different vowel sounds for Kitãulhu, based on six vowel qualities:[5]

Oral vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ o
Open a ʌ
Creaky
Front Back
ḭ u
ɛ̰ o̰
a̰
Nasal
Front Back
ĩ i
ɛ̃
ã
Nasal creaky
Front Back
ḭ̃ ṵ̃
ɛ̰̃
ã̰

Apart from /ʌ/, these have creaky counterparts, /ḭ ɛ̰ a̰ o̰ ṵ/, and apart also from /o/, nasal and creaky nasal counterparts, /ĩ ɛ̃ ã ũ/, /ḭ̃ ɛ̰̃ ã̰ ṵ̃/.

Lowe (1999), on the other hand, does not recognize /ʌ/.[6] He describes /u/ as varying as [u-ʊ-ɨ-ə] in unstressed syllables, and unstressed /a/ as [ɜ].

Tone

Each syllable is marked for either falling, rising, or level tone; the three tones are marked with superscript numbers: 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Consonants

In Kroeker's analysis, Southern Nambikwara distinguishes 29 different consonant phonemes. The language contains an additional implosive alveolar stop [ɗ] which is only used by elderly people and is becoming obsolete.[7]

Consonant inventory per Kroeker (2001)
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Central Lateral Plain Labialized
Plosives Plain p [p] t [t] k [k] kw [kʷ] x [ʔ]
Aspirated ph [pʰ] th [tʰ] kh [kʰ] kwh [kʷʰ]
Glottalized tx [tʔ] kx [kʔ]
Affricate Plain j [tʃ]
Fricatives Plain f [ɸ] s [s] h [h]
Glottalized fx [ɸʔ] sx [sʔ] hx [hʔ]
Sonorants Plain m [m] n [n] l [l] y [j] w [w]
Aspirated wh [ʍʰ]
Glottalized mx [ʔm] nx [ʔn] lx [ʔl] yx [ʔj] wx [ʔw]

Lowe (1999), however, analyzes many of these are sequences. For example, analyzing the aspirates as stop + /h/ simplifies the morphophonemic description of the language.

Consonant inventory per Lowe (1999)
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Central Lateral
Plosives p [p] t [t] k [k] x [ʔ]
Fricatives (f [ɸ]) s [s]
Sonorants (m [m]) n [n] l [l] y [j] w [w] h [h]

(f) and (m) are in parentheses as they only occur in loanwords.

Lowe describes aspiration on the voiceless stops p, t, k, and on n, l, but not on w. Because he breaks up Kroeker's complex consonants into clusters, he posits a more complex syllable structure, with up to four initial consonants and up to a single coda consonant, which can only be t, k, x, h, n. The initial clusters can consist of any consonant at onset, but subsequent slots can only be w, h, x. A maximal CCCCVC syllable is seen in kwhxax3kax3li3su2 (sp. deer).

Allophones

The plosives p, t, k are freely voiced in all positions: [p~b], [t~d], [k~ɡ]. A syllable-final n within a word when preceded by a nasal vowel assimilates to the following consonant as [m], [n], [ŋ], and when preceded by an oral vowel it is also prestopped ([ᵇm], [ᵈn], [ᶢŋ]). L is a lateral [l] before the back vowels [o], [u], and a flap [ɾ] before the non-back vowels [i], [e], [a].

Grammar

The grammar of Nambikwara is polysynthetic and mostly suffixing. It uses active–stative alignment. Its basic word order is SOV. It has four word classes: verbs, nouns, adverbs and interrogative pronouns. Nambikwara has a complex system for expressing evidentiality.

Sample text

Ha3txa2 khon3kxi3jau3xa2[8]

Ha3txa2 kox3khaix1toh3na2hẽ3ra2. Nx3ha2kxai3, yã1ti3na2hẽ3ra2.

—Yxo2hxa3ti3li3a1tũ1xã1, na1tãu3ã1, txa2se3kxa3lxa2 ã3nũ1xa3kxi2sa3na2hẽ3ra2. Ha3txa2 tĩn3ka3khai1xai2la1wa2, nxe3ha2kxai3, yã1ti3na2hẽ3ra2. Nxe3ha2kxai3, ju3txa2 yah3lo2nã3xa2 ai3ka3tai2la1wa2. Nxe3ha2kxai3, yã1ti3na2hẽ3ra2. Ju3txa2 tau3ka2 sa2tã3nhxa3ti3na1hẽ3ra2, sũn2ta3ti3hĩ1nai3ta2sa2. Ka3ja3la2 o2lha2ha2kxai3 yuh3lxi3jau3kxai3la1 i3sxã3 tĩ3hẽ1ra2. Nai1na1ta1, ya3lo3jãx1na1ka3tu3, Ro3ber2jah3la2 tau3ka2 sa2tã3nhxa3ja3ha1hẽ1ra2. Nxe3ha2kxai3, hĩ1na2 tẽ1ha2 xai3la1ju3txa2 wi1khai1xn2na3ra2. Nxe3ha2kxai3 kãi2ka3li3khaix1sa3nha2wa2.

Translation (in Portuguese):[9]

Fazendo uma ponte

A ponte estava muito ruim, por isso eu me apressei. Minha esposa caiu na água enquanto estava atravessando. O pau da ponte era muito velho. As pessoas velhas sempre andaram neste lugar e por isso eu me apressei. Derrubei uma árvore ontem à tarde. Os civilizados estavam com medo e saíram, mas o Roberto me ajudou. Agora passar por lá é muito bom. Por isso estou muito alegre.

Rough English translation:

Building a bridge

The bridge was very bad, so I hurried up. My wife fell in the water while she was passing through. The planks of the bridge were too old. The old people always walked here place and so I hurried up. I felled a tree yesterday afternoon. The civilized ones were afraid and left, Roberto helped me. Now going that way is very good. So I am very happy.

References

  1. ↑ Nambikwara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Southern Nambikuara". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ McQuown & Greenberg 1960
  4. ↑ Kroeker, 2001 p.1
  5. ↑ Kroeker, 2001, pp. 80 - 81
  6. ↑ Ivan Lowe, 1999, "Nambiquara", in Dixon & Aikhenvald, eds, The Amazonian Languages. CUP
  7. ↑ Kroeker, 2001, p.78
  8. ↑ Txa2wã1ha3txeh3nxãn3su2, pg 9-10
  9. ↑ Txa2wã1ha3txeh3nxãn3su2, pg 24.

Bibliography

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