Mawayana language

Mawayana (Mahuayana) is an Arawakan language of Guyana.

Classification

Aikhenvald (1999) lists Mawayana (with the alternate name of Mapidian and possibly Mawakwa) together with Wapishana under a Rio Branco group (North-Arawak). Hicks (2002), instead, reports that it has no "semantic" similarity with Mapidian or the other Wapishanan languages.^[4] Carlin (2006:314), however, states that Mawayana "is closely related to Wapishana" and according to Ramirez (2001:530) they share at least 47% of the lexicon.

Phonology

According to Carlin (2006:320), Mawayana has, among its consonants, two implosive consonants /ɓ/ and /ɗ/ and what has been described as a "retroflex fricativised rhotic", represented with ⟨rž⟩. The vowel systems contains four vowels (/i-e, a, ɨ, u-o/), each of which has a nasalised counterpart.

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.  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)

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