Maxakalí language
Maxakalí (Yĩy'ax 'language', Tikmũ'ũn Yĩy'ax 'Maxakalí language') is a Maxakalían language spoken in fourteen villages in Minas Gerais, Brazil, by fewer than a thousand people.
Dialects
Mason identifies six varieties of Maxakali. All but Maxakalí proper are extinct:
- Maxakalí
- Caposhó (Kapoxo) (†)
- Cumanashó (Kumanaxo) (†)
- Maconí (Makuni) (†)
- Monoshó (Monaxo, Monocho) (†)
- Panyame (†)
Phonology
Maxakalí has five vowels, occurring in both oral and nasal form.
Vowels
Consonants
Syntax
Word order
The most common word order in Maxakalí is SOV.
| | Kakxop | te | xokhep | xo’op |
| | child | SUB | milk | drink |
- "The child drinks milk"
Morphosyntactic alignment
Maxakalí is an ergative language. The ergative case covers transitive subjects as well as indirect objects. The absolutive case covers intransitive subjects and transitive objects.
| Person |
Ergative |
Absolutive |
|---|
| 1st sing |
ã |
ũg |
| 2nd sing |
xa |
ã |
| 3rd sing |
tu |
ũ |
| 1st plur incl |
yũmũ’ã |
yũmũg |
| 1st plur excl |
ũgmũ’ã |
ũgmũg |
| | ũgmũg | mõg | nãpet | ha | nũy | xa | hãpxop | ũm | pop |
| | 1pl:excl:ABS | go | market | to | in-order-to | 2sg:ERG | food | some | buy |
- "We (excluding you) are going to the market to buy you (indirect object) some food."
Morphology
Suppletive verb number
For some verbs, number is shown not by conjugation, but by suppletive verb stems. These verb stems can show number differences either for the subject or for the object.
Subject number
- "The man sits/sat."
- "The men sit/sat."
Object number
| | tik | te | koktix | putex |
| | man | SUB | monkey | kill (singular) |
- "The man killed a monkey."
| | tik | te | koktix | kix |
| | man | SUB | monkey | kill (plural) |
- "The man killed the monkeys."
Noun compounding
Maxakalí nouns readily form compounds, here are some examples:
- "lips"
- "salt"
- "finger"
References
External links