Huambisa language
Huambisa | |
---|---|
Native to | Jivaroan
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | hub |
Glottolog | huam1247 |
ELP | Huambisa |
Huambisa, Huambiza, Wambiza, Jíbaro, Xívaro, Wampis, Maina, or Shuar-Huampis is an indigenous language of the
Classification
Huambisa belongs to the
Geographic Distribution
Official Status
The Huambisa language is largely spoken between the
Dialects/Varieties
Because of how closely the languages of the Jivaroan family are related, they are often thought of as to make up a
Phonology
Huambisa is phonetically related to Aguaruna.[9] The Huambisa language has been studied as a subject of sound symbolism, which connects words through their phonological form to their semantic meanings.[10] It is found in the Huambisa language correspondence among connotations of sounds relative to the words they describe within phonemes, meaning the sounds of the language are not only significant literally, but also symbolically.[11] Much of what is known of Huambisan phonetics is specific to the Wachiycu dialect spoken along the Wachiyacu River[9] and the dialect of the Santiago River region.[5]
Consonants
The Huambisa language has 14
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop
|
p | t̠ | k | ʔ | |
Affricate
|
t͡s | t͡ʃ | |||
Fricative
|
s | ʃ | h | ||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||
Rhotic | r | ||||
Approximant
|
j |
Vowels
The Huambisa language contains 8 vowels: the 4 oral vowels /a, i, ɨ, u/, and their nasal counterparts, /ã, ĩ, ɨ̃, ũ/, respectively. Huabisan vowels are characterized solely by "height, frontness/backness, and oral/nasal prosody."[5] The following table shows the Huambisa vowel system of oral vowels and their nasal counterparts with pronunciation in IPA transcription.[5]
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High | i | ĩ | ɨ | ɨ̃ | u | ũ |
Low | a | ã |
Phonotactics
Consonants are usually found in onset of the syllable, with the exception of /r/, /ɲ/ and /ʔ/. The only consonants to ever occupy the coda are the nasals /n/ and /m/.[5]
Grammar
Morphology
There is marked difference of significance between words with even the slightest morphological variation, and these specific words are paired with specific contexts.[5]
Syntax
The language contains a complete set of grammar rules, including three unclear forms of verbs characterized by distinct suffixes which are added to root verbs like a form of conjugations. The suffix -tasa is intentionally added to a root word to form a verb, while the suffices -mu and -t indicate the verb is being nominalized or adjectified. The latter suffix, -t, is not commonly found in informal exchanges.[7] The reason the verb forms have been deemed unclear by some scholars is because of inconsistency between root and suffix relationships. In some cases a single root verb can have various distinct meanings when the three different forms of suffices are added to the end. For example: takastasa (to work), takamu (completion/completed), and takat (cultivation/cultivated). In other cases a root word, no matter the suffix, retains a distinct meaning and instead follows the pattern described that is similar to conjugation. For example, atsaktsa, atsakamu, atsakat are verbal and nominal/adjective forms, respectively, of the root word "affiliate." The Huambisa language also contains two forms of nouns that also are not bound to strict syntactical rules. The only distinctly recognized suffix pattern for nouns is the suffix -n which represents nominalization or the accusative case of a noun. However, even with nominalization and in the accusative case, there are irregular suffices other than -n.[7]
Vocabulary
The Huambisa language has a wide vocabulary that has been extensively documented in the last century. The Huambisan lexicon is said to be similar to that of the Aguaruna language as well.[9] The breadth of the Huambisa vocabulary can be mainly attributed to speakers' specification of context in their word choice. For example, the English verb "to open" applies to a wide range of objects which it can be acting upon, while the Huambisa lexicon contains at least 5 different words which mean "to open," all of which then have at least 3 conjugative forms. The word used is dependent on very specific contextual features. Uritsa/uraimu/urat refers to opening things like a bag, book, door, etc. Ijakratsa/ijakeamu/jakat and nakaktasa/nakamu/nakat refer to opening fruits like peanuts, cacao, sapota, etc. "To open" when referring to opening the eyes is iimtasa/iimiamu/iimat and the word "open" used to talk about opening the mouth is wagkatsa/wagkamu/waat, while to say "to make open the mouth" has a different word set entirely: iwagtasa/iwagmu/iwat.[7]
Notes
- ^ a b Huambisa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Vales, Miroslav (2013). "Relaciones de la lenguas en el sector occidental de la familia lingüistica jívaro". Études Romanes de Brno. 34: 171–181.
- ^ Berlin, Brent; O'Neill, John P. (1981). "The pervasiveness of onomatopoeia in Aguaruna and Huambisa Bird Names" (PDF). Journal of Ethnobiology. 2: 238–261.
- ^ "Huambisa". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Peña, Jaime G. (2015). A Grammar of Wampis (PhD thesis). University of Oregon.
- ^ "Did you know Huambisa is threatened?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
- ^ a b c d Jakway, Martha (2008). Vocabulario Huambisa.
- ^ "Amazonas reconoce uso oficial de lenguas awajún, wampis, y quechua". August 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Beasley, David (1957). "Notes on Huambisa phonemics". Lingua Posnaniensis. 6: 1–8.
- PMID 25498744.
- PMID 26913934.
External links
- A Grammar of Wampis, University of Oregon dissertation