Yanomaman languages
Encyclopedia
Yanomaman is a small language family
of northwestern Brazil
(Roraima
, Amazonas) and southern Venezuela
.
Sunumá is the most lexically distinct. Yanomamö has the most speakers (17,600) while Yanam has the fewest (560).
has suggested a relationship between (his) Chibchan. Migliazza (1985) has suggested a connection with Panoan and Chibchan.
Yanomaman languages are SOV, suffixing, predominantly head-marking with elements of dependent-marking. Its typology is highly polysynthetic. Adjectival concepts are expressed by means of stative verbs, there are no true adjectives. Adjectival stative verbs follow their noun.
There are five demonstratives which have to be chosen according to distance from speaker and hearer and also according to visibility, a feature shared by many native Brazilian languages such as Tupian
ones including Old Tupi. Demonstratives, numerals, classifiers and quantifiers precede the head noun.
There is a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession, again a common areal feature, and a rich system of verbal classifiers, almost a hundred, they are obligatory and appear just before the verb root. The distinction between inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural, a feature shared by most native American languages, has been lost in Yanam and Yanomam dialects, but retained in the others.
Yanomami morphosyntactic alignment is ergative–absolutive, which means that the subject of an intransitive verb is marked the same way as the object of a transitive verb, while the subject of transitive verb is marked differently. The ergative case marker is -ny. The verb agrees with both subject and object.
Evidentiality
on Yanomami dialect is marked on the verb and has four levels: eyewitness, deduced, reported, and assumed. Other dialects have fewer levels.
The object of the verb can be incorporated into it, especially if it not in focus:
Non-incorporated:
Incorporated:
Relative clauses are formed by adding a relativizing ('REL' below) suffix to the verb:
Sanuma dialect also has a relative pronoun ĩ.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
of northwestern Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(Roraima
Roraima
Roraima is the northernmost and least populated state of Brazil, located in the Amazon region. It borders the states of Amazonas and Pará, as well as the nations of Venezuela and Guyana. The population is 400,000 and the capital is Boa Vista...
, Amazonas) and southern Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
Language division
Yanomaman consists of 4 languages, very similar with each other, sometimes classified as a dialect continuum:-
- YanamYanam languageYanam is a Yanomaman language spoken by approximately 560 speakers in Roraima, Brazil and southern Venezuela near the Mucajai, upper Uraricáa, and Paragua rivers.-Synonymy:...
( Ninam, Yanam-Ninam) - SanumáSanumá languageSanumá is a Yanomam language spoken in Venezuela and Brazil. It is also known as Sanema, Sanima, Tsanuma, Guaika, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari and Chirichano...
( Tsanuma, Sanima) - Yanomámi ( Waiká)
- Yanomamö ( Yanomame, Yanomami)
- Yanam
Sunumá is the most lexically distinct. Yanomamö has the most speakers (17,600) while Yanam has the fewest (560).
Genealogical relations
Yanomamam is usually not connected with any other language family. Joseph GreenbergJoseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...
has suggested a relationship between (his) Chibchan. Migliazza (1985) has suggested a connection with Panoan and Chibchan.
Characteristics
Yanomami languages have a distinction between oral and nasal vowels. There are seven basic vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ɨ (also spelled y), ə. In the Yanam language, u has merged with ɨ.Yanomaman languages are SOV, suffixing, predominantly head-marking with elements of dependent-marking. Its typology is highly polysynthetic. Adjectival concepts are expressed by means of stative verbs, there are no true adjectives. Adjectival stative verbs follow their noun.
There are five demonstratives which have to be chosen according to distance from speaker and hearer and also according to visibility, a feature shared by many native Brazilian languages such as Tupian
Tupian languages
The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.-History, members and classification:...
ones including Old Tupi. Demonstratives, numerals, classifiers and quantifiers precede the head noun.
There is a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession, again a common areal feature, and a rich system of verbal classifiers, almost a hundred, they are obligatory and appear just before the verb root. The distinction between inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural, a feature shared by most native American languages, has been lost in Yanam and Yanomam dialects, but retained in the others.
Yanomami morphosyntactic alignment is ergative–absolutive, which means that the subject of an intransitive verb is marked the same way as the object of a transitive verb, while the subject of transitive verb is marked differently. The ergative case marker is -ny. The verb agrees with both subject and object.
Evidentiality
Evidentiality
In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...
on Yanomami dialect is marked on the verb and has four levels: eyewitness, deduced, reported, and assumed. Other dialects have fewer levels.
The object of the verb can be incorporated into it, especially if it not in focus:
Non-incorporated:
- kamijə-ny sipara ja-puhi-i
- 1sg-ERG axe 1sg-want-DYNAMIC
- 'I want an/the axe'
Incorporated:
- kamijə-ny ja-sipara-puhi-i
- 1sg-ERG 1sg-axe-want-DYN
- 'I want [it], the axe'
Relative clauses are formed by adding a relativizing ('REL' below) suffix to the verb:
- wãro-n shama shyra-wei ware-ma
- man-ERG tapir kill-REL eat-COMPL
- 'the man who killed the tapir ate it'
Sanuma dialect also has a relative pronoun ĩ.