Puinave language
| Puinavé | |
|---|---|
| Wãnsöhöt | |
| Pronunciation | [wãnsɤhɤt] |
| Native to | Colombia, Venezuela |
| Ethnicity | 7,000 (ca. 2007)[1] |
Native speakers | 3,000 (2001–2008)[1] |
unclassified | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pui |
| Glottolog | puin1248[2] |
Puinave, AKA Waipunavi (Guaipunabi) or Wanse (Wãnsöhöt), is a poorly attested and generally unclassified language of South America.
Contents
Phonology[edit]
Consonants[edit]
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives | p | t | k | |
| Nasals | m | n | ||
| Fricatives | s | h |
Vowels[edit]
| Front | Back unround. |
Back round. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ĩ | ɯ | u |
| Mid | e | ɤ ɤ̃ | o õ |
| Open | a ã |
Syllable structure is (C)V(C); nasal syllablic nuclei cause allophonic variation of consonantal segments in the same syllable. The phonemes /m n/ have oral, non-sonorant allophones [b d] in the onsets of syllables with oral nuclei.
The high vowel [u], when occurring in onset or coda position, is realized as a glide [w]. When the high vowel /i/ is in coda position, it is also realized as a glide [j], but in onset position, it is realized as a palatal stop matching in nasality with the nucleus, either [ɟ] or [ɲ], in the same way that /m n/ match the following vowel's nasality. Any glides [w] occurring before or [j w] occurring after a nasalized nucleus are also realized as nasal [j̃ w̃].
Tone[edit]
Puinave distinguishes four surface (phonetic) tones: two simple (H and L) and two contour (HL and LH); these are analyzed as being composed of two phonemic tone values, H and L. Girón Higuita and Wetzels (2007) note that speakers seem to associate H with prominence, rather than increased duration or intensity (the typical correlates of prominence in languages like English).
Morphology and Syntax[edit]
Jesús Mario Girón's description of the morphology and the function of nominalized constructions in this language can be found in The Linguistics of Endangered Languages (edited by Leo Wetzels).
Classification[edit]
Puinave is sometimes linked to other poorly attested languages of the region in various Macro-Puinavean proposals, but no good evidence has ever been produced. The original motivation seems to simply be that all of these languages were called Maku "babble" by Arawakans.[3] Ongoing work on Puinave by Girón Higuita at the University of Amsterdam will hopefully clarify the situation.
Bibliography[edit]
Girón Higuita, J.M. and W. Leo Wetzels (2007). Tone in Wãnsöhöt (Puinave). Language Endangerment and Endangered Languages: Linguistic and Anthropological Studies with Special Emphasis on the Languages and Cultures of the Andean-Amazonian Border Area, W. Leo Wetzels ed., CNWS Publications.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Puinavé at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Puinave". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ Patience Epps, 2008. A Grammar of Hup. Mouton de Gruyter.
External links[edit]
- Puinave dictionary online (select simple or advanced browsing)
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