Maká is a Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay by the Maká people. Its 1500
speakers live primarily in Presidente Hayes Department

Presidente Hayes Department

Presidente Hayes is a department in Paraguay. The capital is the city of Villa Hayes. The department was named after U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was the arbitrator in a boundary dispute between Paraguay and Argentina after the War of the Triple Alliance.-Districts:The department is...

 near the Río Negro, as well as in and around Asunción.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes of Maká

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...	Palatal-Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....	Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
Plosive	p	t		k	q	ʔ
Ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...  plosive Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...	pʼ	tʼ		kʼ	qʼ
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...			ts
Ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...  affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...			tsʼ
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	f		s	x	χ	h
Lateral fricative Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....		ɬ
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	m	n
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...	w			j
Lateral approximant Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....		l

Velar consonants alternate with palatal consonants before /e/ and sometimes before /a/. Examples include /keɬejkup/ ~ [ceɬejkup] "autumn" and /exeʔ/ ~ [eçeʔ] "stork". The palatal approximant /j/ alternates with the palatal fricative /ç/ before /i/, as in /inanjiʔ/ ~ [inançiʔ].

Vowel phonemes of Maká

	Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...	Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...	Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...	i		u
Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel...	e		o
Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...		a

Syllables in Maká may be of types V, VC, CV, CCV, and CCVC. When a consonant cluster appears at the beginning of a syllable, the second consonant must be /x/, /h/, /w/, or /y/.

Gender

Maká has two genders -- masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun (Gerzenstein 1995:153:

Masculine nouns

naxkax

dem:masc

land

dem:fem

tree

‘this land’

'this tree'

na'

nunax

ne'

nunax

dem:masc

dog

dem:fem

dog

‘this (male) dog'

‘this (female) dog'

In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:

ne’ sehe-l
these land-pl
‘these lands’

ne’ naxkak-wi
these tree-pl
‘these trees’

Number

Maká nouns inflect for plurality. There are several distinct plural endings: -l, -wi, Vts, and -Vy. All plants take the -wi plural, but otherwise the choice seems to be unpredictable (Gerzenstein 1995:150):

singular	plural	gloss
sehe	sehe-l	land(s)
naxkax	naxkax-wi	tree(s)
tenuk	tenuk-its	cat(s)

Case

Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case (Gerzenstein 1995:139):

Ne’	efu	Ø-tux	ka’	sehets.
dem:f	woman	A3-eat	indef:m	fish
‘The woman eats fish.’

Agreement with the possessor

Nouns agree with their possessor in person (Gerzenstein 1995:148):

y-exi’	Ø-exi’	ł-exi’	in-exi’
1s-mouth	2-mouth	3-mouth	1plur:incl-mouth
‘my mouth’	'your mouth'	'his/her/their mouth'	'our (inclusive) mouth'

Applicatives

Verbs in Maká have a series of suffixes called 'postpositions' in Gerzenstein (1995), which have the effect of introducing new oblique objects into the sentence.

The following examples show the applicative suffixes -ex 'instrumental ('with')' and -m 'benefactive ('for')'

Ne’	efu	ni-xele-ex	ke’	ute	na’	nunax.
dem:f	woman	A3-throw-with	indef:masc	rock	dem:m	dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’

H-osxey-i-m	na’	sehets	na’	k’utsaX
A1-grill-P3-for	dem:m	fish	dem:m	old:man
‘I grill fish for the old man.’

Noun phrases

In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun (Gerzenstein 1995:155):

e-li-ts	łe-xiła’
2-child-pl	3-head
'your children’s head'

Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N (Gerzenstein 1995:154):

Ne’	efu	t-aqhay-ets	ne’	ikwetxuł	fo’	tiptip-its
dem:fem	woman	S3-buy-toward	dem:plur	four	white	horse=pl
’The woman bought four white horses.’

Sentences

The basic word order in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example (Gerzenstein 1995:138)

Ne’	efu	ni-xele-ex	ke’	ute	na’	nunax.
dem:f	woman	A3-throw-with	indef:masc	rock	dem:m	dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’