Tiriyó language

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Tiriyó / Trio tarëno ijomi
Pronunciation:	IPA: [taɽə:no ijo:mi]
Spoken in:	Brazil, Surinam
Region:	Northern Amazonia, Guianas Plateau
Total speakers:	~2,000 (in 2005)
Language family:	Cariban  Taranoan   Tiriyó / Trio
Official status
Official language of:	none
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	none
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	tri
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

The Tiriyó language is spoken by the Tiriyó (also known as Trio, autodenomination tarëno), approximately 2,000 people living in several villages on both sides of the Brazil-Surinam border in Northern Amazonia. It is a relatively healthy language, learned by all children as their mother tongue and actively used in all areas of life by its speakers. Most of the Tiriyó (there are no precise numbers, but impressionistic observation would suggest more than half) are monolingual speakers. Of course, the long-term survival of their language, as is the case for almost all native South American languages, remains an open question.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Dialects 3 Phonology 3.1 Vowels 3.2 Consonants 3.3 Syllable Structure and Phonotactis 3.4 Stress 3.5 Reduplication 4 Morphology 4.1 Morphophonology 4.1.1 Syllable reduction 4.1.2 Ablaut 4.2 Word Classes 4.2.1 Nouns 4.2.2 Verbs 4.2.3 Adverbials 4.2.3.1 Adverbs 4.2.3.2 Relators 4.2.4 Particles 4.2.5 Interjections and Ideophones 5 Syntax 5.1 Phrase Types 5.2 Main Clause Types 5.3 Subordination 6 Vocabulary 7 References

[edit] Classification

Tiriyó has been classified as belonging to the Taranoan group of the Guianan sub-branch of Cariban, together with Karihona (Carijona), in Colombia, and Akuriyó, in Suriname, the former with a few, and the latter with apparently no, speakers left.

[edit] Dialects

There seem to be two main dialects in the Tiriyó-speaking area, called by Jones (1972) Eastern or Tapanahoni basin, and Western or Sipaliwini basin dialects, and by Meira (2000, to appear) K-Tiriyó and H-Tiriyó. The main difference thus far reported is phonological: the different realization of what were (historically) clusters involving /h/ and a stop (see Phonology section below). Grammatical and/or lexical differences may also exist, but the examples thus far searched are disputed.

Demographically, H-Tiriyó is the most important dialect (~ 60% of the speakers). It is the dialect spoken in the village of Kwamalasamutu, Suriname, and in the villages along the Western Paru river (Tawainen or Missão Tiriós, Kaikui Tëpu, Santo Antônio) and also along the Marapi river (Kuxare, Yawa, etc.). K-Tiriyó is spoken in the villages along the Eastern Paru river (Mataware, and some people at Bonna) in Brazil, and in the villages of Tepoe and Paloemeu in Suriname.

[edit] Phonology

Tiriyó has 9 vowels and 7 consonants, as shown in the chart below. (Orthographic symbols in bold, IPA values in square brackets.)

[edit] Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i [i]	ï [ɨ]	u [u]
Middle	e [e]	ë [ə]	o [o]
Low		a [a]

• The cardinal vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are very close to their usual values in, e.g., Spanish.
• The central vowel ï is usually [ɨ], but [ɯ] is also heard, especially after a velar consonant;
• The central vowel ë is usually [ə], but [ʌ] or [ɤ] are also common.

[edit] Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Postalveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasals	m [m]	n [n]
Plosives	p [p]	t [t]		k [k]
Fricatives			s [ʃ, s]	h [h]
Rhotics		r [ɾ, ɽ, ɺ]
Approximants	w [ʋ]		j [j]

• The nasal and non-nasal plosives have their usual pronunciation.
• The fricative s shows a considerable amount of variation. Some speakers have [s], others have [ç] or [s], or even [ʃ]. The following vowel also influences the pronunciation of s: [ʃ]-like realizations are more frequent before i or e.
• The rhotic r is often retrofex ([ɽ]) and may have some laterality ([ɺ]); simple taps ([ɾ]) are also sometimes heard.
• The approximant w has usually no rounding (ʋ), and sometimes (especially if followed by e or i) some friction [β}]
• The glottal fricative h is the most obvious difference between the two main dialects. In K-Tiriyó, there is no h; where H-Tiriyó has an h, K-Tiriyó shows a VV sequence (realized as a long vowel): i.e., K-Tiriyó is actually an h-less dialect. In K-Tiriyó, each h-cluster - hp, ht, hk (historically *[hp], *[ht], *[hk]) - has a different realization: [(h)ɸ], [ht], [(h)h] (i.e., with p and k, [h] is weakly realized and spirantizes the following plosive; with t, [h] is stronger and there is no spirantization). Older H-Tiriyó speakers have a fourth cluster hs [(h)s], with a weakly realized [h], while younger H-Tiriyó speakers have [:s] ~ [ss] (K-Tiriyó speakers have only [:s]; all in all, its status is, however, marginal.
  
  The following examples illustrate these differences:

Underlying form	Gloss	H-Tiriyó	K-Tiriyó
/mahto/	'fire'	[mahtɔ]	[maatɔ]
/tuhka/	'Brazil nut'	[tu(h)ha]	[tuuka]
/pihpë/	'skin'	[pi(h)ɸə]	[piipə]
/wïhse/	'anatto'	[ʋɨ(h)se]~[ʋɨ:se]~[ʋɨsse]	[ʋɨɨse]

[edit] Syllable Structure and Phonotactis

The basic syllable template is (C₁)V₁(V₂)(C₂) -- i.e., the possible syllable types are V₁, V₁V₂, V₁C₂, V₁V₂C₂, C₁V₁, C₁V₁V₂, C₁V₁C₂, C₁V₁V₂C₂. The following remarks can be made:

1. Onsetless syllables (V₁, V₁V₂, V₁C₂, V₁V₂C₂) occur only word-initially; all vowels except ï are possible in this position.
   Ex.: aware 'caiman'; enu 'his/her eye'; ëmë 'you (sg.)'; irakë 'giant ant'; okomo 'wasp'; uru 'bread-like food'.
2. The most frequent syllable type is C₁V₁, in which all vowels and all consonants (except h) are possible.
   Ex.: pakoro 'house', kurija 'gourd', mïnepu 'brige', tëpu 'stone', jako 'friend!', nërë 's/he', wewe 'wood, tree, plant'
3. Vowel sequences (V₁V₂) can be made of identical vowels (V₁ = V₂), in which case they are realized as long vowels. In this case, no coda consonants are possible (i.e., no *(C₁)VVC₂).
   Exs.:aapë 'your arm', eeke 'how?', mëërë 'that one (animate)', piito 'brother-in-law', tïïnë 'quiet', ooto (tree sp.), muunu 'fish bait'.

[edit] Stress

[edit] Reduplication

[edit] Morphology

[edit] Morphophonology

[edit] Syllable reduction

[edit] Ablaut

[edit] Word Classes

[edit] Nouns

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Adverbials

[edit] Adverbs

[edit] Relators

[edit] Particles

[edit] Interjections and Ideophones

[edit] Syntax

[edit] Phrase Types

[edit] Main Clause Types

[edit] Subordination

[edit] Vocabulary

[edit] References

• Meira, Sérgio (1998). "Rhythmic stress in Tiriyó (Cariban)". International Journal of American Linguistics 64: 352-378.
• Meira, Sérgio (2000). A reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: Phonology and Morphology. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
• Carlin, Eithne (2004). A Grammar of Trio: A Cariban Language of Suriname. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften).
• Meira, Sérgio (to appear). A Grammar of Tiriyó. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Mouton de Gruyter.