Nukak language

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Contents 1 Nukak Language 2 Phonology 2.1 Vowels 2.2 Consonants 2.3 Tones 3 Grammar 3.1 Type 3.2 Sustantivo 3.3 Pronouns 3.3.1 Interrogatives 3.4 Verbs 3.5 Adverbs 3.6 Interjections 4 References

[edit] Nukak Language

The Nukak speak a tonal language, part of the Makú-Puinave language family, and and is closely related to the languages of the Kâkwa, Cacua or Bara-Makú, which are spoken in the Querarí and Papurí in the basin of the Vaupés river.

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowels

There are six oral vowels and six nasal in the Nukak language (high front close, high mid, high back, mid open, mid back not round, low central).

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ ɨ̃	u ũ
Middle	ɛ ɛ̃		ʌ ʌ̃
Low		a ã

The vowel [u] is spoken approximately like the labial sound [w], in posnuclear position or before another vowel, at the beginning of the word or syllable, with an airless variant [ʍ] before [i], [ĩ], [ɨ], if the tone is lowered.

The vowel [i] sounds like the palatal semivowel [j] (y) when it appears immediately after another vowel at the end of the morfema.

[edit] Consonants

There are eleven consonant phonemes: [p]; [b] (created as [m] with a nasal vowel, pre-nasalized at the start of a word and post-nasalized at the end of a word; [t]; [d] (created as [n] with a nasal vowel, pre-nasalized at the start of a word and post-nasalized at the end of a word; [č] ([ʦ] or [ʧ] indifferently); [ɟ] ([ɲ] ñ in a nasal environment); [k]; [ɡ] ([ŋ] in a nasal environment); [ɺ] (lateral vibrated, varying with the approximant [ɹ], the vibrated [ɾ] the lateral [l]); [h] (aspirated) and; [ʔ] (the glottal stop).

	labial	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
occlusive voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
occlusive voiced	b	d	(ɟ)	ɡ
fricative voiceless					h
vibated lateral		ɺ

If [ɺ] is followed by [t] it is pronounced [t]; if [ɺ] is after a resonant consonant it is pronounced [d]. If [ɟ] is preceded by [t] or [ʔ] it is pronounced resonant [ʧ]. With some infijo or prefix markers the [ʔ] glottalization is substituted by the nasal [n] when it is followed by any vowel or the aspirada fricative [h] or in nasal [n] suffixes, it is silent when followed by [t].

The palatal sonora [ɟ] (y) / [ɲ] (ñ), can be treated as a variant of the vowel [i] when it precedes a vowel in the initial position of the root of the afijo or when it lays between two vowels.

[edit] Tones

The nouns', verbs', and adjectives' nuclear vowels, use high, low, falling, and rising tones with regards to the respective vowel lengthening. However the falling tone is actually the use of the high tone with closed syllables by an occlusive consonant, or by [h], or with open syllable consonant-vowels (CV) at the end of a morpheme while the rising tone is a tonal inflection of a phrase enunciated a the last syllable.

The tonal contrast which is found in minimal pairs opposes ascendant tones with high tones and everyone of these two tonal inflection of the phrase enunciated a the last syllable completely modify the meaning of the word or tonal root. The syllables that are not stressed by default have a low tone. The high and ascendant tones present themselves only when the monomorphic monosyllables lexeme, are substantives, adjectives or verbs. The disyllable and trisyllable are characterized by the accent in the first syllable. In prefixed or suffixed words, the accent corresponds with the tone of the first syllable. It should be advised that all the tone-accent system is under investigation.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Type

The running order for sentences is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) however the subject may not come before the object since the languages verbs are conjugated with personal conjugation prefixes. The cases are expressed using suffixes at the nouns (declension). It is an agglutinative language; the prepositions of the Indo-European languages are posposiciones sufijadas. Some adjectives precede the noun, but most of them are put after the substantive and have no genus.

[edit] Sustantivo

The Nukak substantives have the grammatical genders masculine or feminine (as in Spanish language). The plural is indicated with the suffixwɨn. Presentan marcas de caso, por ejemplo:

accusative -na

dativ -ré' ("to")

instrumental -hî' ("with")

locative -rí' ("in", "for")

genitive -î' ("of", "belongs to")

El vocativo se expresa en algunos casos por un cambio del tono y en otros marcando con -a o duplicando la última vocal, después de la consonante.

Los sustantivos admiten la forma interrogativa, que se marca con el sufijo -má' . También admiten alguna marcas de tiempo como -hîpî' ("el de antes"). El conectivo -tɨ equivale a "también" o a la conjunción "y".

Son comunes los sufijos clasificadores: -na' ("largo y delgado", da' ("redondo y pequeño"), -dub ("pequeño, delgado y con punta"), -nɨí ("plano y delgado"), -ne ("melenudo"), -yi ("abundante").

[edit] Pronouns

The personal pronouns wéem ("I"), méem ("you"), nin ("he" close; "this"), kan ("he" visible, "that"), kun ("he" not present, "that" over there), nin' ("her" close; "this"), kan' ("her" visible, "this"), káan ("ello" lo tratado, "that"), kun' ("her" not present, "that" (over there) Wíit ("we"), yéeb ("you all"), kéet ("them"). Los acusativos se marcan wéna, ména, ninna, kanna, kunna, nin'na, kan'na, kun'na, Wítta, yebmna, kéeta.

The possessive pronouns can be libres: wî' ("mine"), mí' ("yours"), aî' ("his"), mi'î' ("hers"), Wîi' ("our"), ñí' ("you all's"), i'î' ("theirs"). También hay posesivos atados, que aparecen como prefijos del nombre poseído son: wa- (1^st person singular), ma- (2^nd p. s.), a- (3^rd p. s. masculine), mi- (3^rd p. s. femenina), hi (1^st p. plural), ñi (2^nd p. plural), i- (3^rd p. plural). En la conjugación verbal los mismos operan como un prefijo de actancia que funciona como pronombre personal a falta de éste o al tiempo que él.

[edit] Interrogatives

déi ("what?" "which?" thing), de pán ("what?" action), háu'ka, de'e ("who?), déimɨnɨ ("when?"), ded ("where?"), jáu' (why?") function with marks: of the case, for example the alativo de' yúkú ("towards where?"), the instrumental de'e hin ("with whom?"), or the genitive de'e î' ("who's?"); one can emphasize the question to the conversational partner adding báa' . Furthermore, the interrogatives allow further marks of the time like jáu' ra' ("due to what?" actual). The conversational partner may respond with an interrogative in order to declare that s/he does not know the answer.

[edit] Verbs

Los verbos se conjugan con el prefijo de actancia y con sufijos e infijos de aspecto (continuo, inmediato), tense (past, present, future) and mood (imperative, desiderativo, interrogative). For example:

Past -nábé

Future -nátu'

dubitativo -náhitu'

Conditional -'náno'

Present

imperfect -náka

negative -kaná

continuing -né'

Interrogative

past -yáa

future -pî'

conditional -no'pî'

present -ráa'

negative -ka

Desiderativo -iná- ("tal vez")

Planeativo -ɨí' - ("planear" la acción)

Repetitivo -pî- ("repetidamente")

Agentivo -rít ("porque", "debido a que")

The imperative mood is created by duplicating the last vowel of the verb stem, after the last consonant. The vowels [u]. [i] al duplicarse tras the final consonant, are said as semivowels [w],[j] (y). The verb stems that end with these semivowels become almost as consonats, de manera que es la vocal que las antecede la que are duplicated.

The duplication of the vowel tras the consonant que cierra the verb stem, but adding al final the consonant [p] (-VCVp), forms a copretérito and if it follows the mark -tí' it forms asubjunctive preterite: jɨm ("to be"); jɨmɨ ("may hae been"),; jɨmɨp ("was"); jɨmɨptí' ("si estuviera").

Verbal negation is expressed in different forms: el infijo -ka- entre la raíz y las marcas de aspecto, tense or mood; prefixing to the verb stem the word "no" yab' - or "rehusar" dɨi' -or "sin efecto" îí'. The imperative negation (prohibitive) is marked by the suffix -kê´ .

Es común la composición de verbos compuestos, tanto por dos o más raíces verbales como por verbo con nombre, adjetivo o adverbio. La marca -a después de la raíz de un verbo intransitivo lo convierte en verbo transitivo.

Mediante los sufijos -hát (el objeto para actuar o la idea abstracta de la acción), -pe' (el objeto sobre el cual ha recaído la acción, participio) , se nominalizan los verbos. El sujeto que actúa ("ser el que") se señala con el prefijo de actancia y un sufijo correspondiente -ni' , para la primera y segunda persona y la tercera femenina singular; -ni para la tercera masculina singular y -nit para la tercera plural; a los cuales se les puede agregar la marca de inminencia, actualidad o énfasis -yé' .

Las raíces verbales terminan siempre en consonante o en las aproximantes [w], [j] (y) que realizan [u], [i]. El verbo jɨm tiene el significado específico de "to be", diferente a "to be" que se expresa muchas veces en forma tácita con las diferentes marcas de los interrogativos and the personal pronouns and avece con yit, que tiene una forma enfática yittí' ("I am").

[edit] Adverbs

The Nukak language has many adverb forms. Various adverbs are important in the construction of sentences. For example, they frequently use hébáká ("verdaderamente") y para enfatizar aun más la declaración que se hace se le agrega -yé' . The verbal link tɨtíma'hî ("after"), can be between the subject and the object and verb. An adverb can follow a los sustantivos, like hattí' ("also", "neither", "yet") or can be expressed by means of a suffix like -hê' ("only" "precisely").

[edit] Interjections

Kútu' "Hey!", "Attention!", it is an exclamation said in order to begin to speak. hâré "Be careful!" or dɨpí hâré "Be very careful!"; waá'yé' "Enough!; be'bét yé' "Quickly!"; ni'kábá'í' "That's it!"; son otros ejemplos de exclamaciones usadas por los Nukak.

[edit] References

• Asociación Nuevas Tribus de Colombia 1982 a 1993 ("New Tribes of Colombia Association 1982 to 1993"): Informes trimestrales de actividades, presentados a la Dirección General de Asuntos Indígenas del Ministerio de Gobierno o del Interior, Bogotá: varios mecs. ("Trimestral Activities Report, presented to the Board of General Indigenous Affairs of the Government or the Interior, Bogotá: various mecs.")
• Cabrera, Gabriel; Carlos Franky y Dany Mahecha 1999: Los N+kak: nómadas de la Amazonia colombiana; Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia. ISBN 958-8051-35-5
• Cathcart, Marylin 1979: "Fonología del Cacua", Sistémas Fonológicos Colombianos IV: 9-45. ILV; Lomalinda (Meta): Editorial Townsend.
• Hess, Richard; Kennet Conduff y Jan Ellen Conduff 2005: Gramatica Pedagógica Provisional del idioma Nɨkák. Bogotá: Iglesia Nuevos Horizontes.
• Mahecha, Dany 2006 "Los nɨkak: experiencias y aprendizajes del contacto con otras gente". W. Leo Wetzels (ed.) Language Endangerment and Endangered Languages: Linguistic and Anthropological Studies with Special Emphasis on the Languages and Cultures of the Andean-Amazonian Border Area. ILLA - CNWS. Leiden University.
• Mahecha Rubio, Dany; Gabriel Cabrera y Carlos Franky 2000: "Algunos aspectos fonético-fonológicos del idioma Nukak [n+kak]"; Lenguas indígenas de Colombia. Una visión descriptiva: 547-560. María Stella González de Pérez ed. Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.- ISBN 958-611-083-4
• Silverwood-Cope, Peter L. 1990 Os makú, povo caçador do nordeste da Amazônia. Editora Universidade de Brasília. ISBN 85-230-0275-8