Maká language
Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay
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Phonology
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/ is realised as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/, as in /inanjiʔ/ ~ [inançiʔ].[3][page needed]
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 /j/.
Morphology
Nouns
Gender
Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun.[4]
| Masculine nouns | Feminine nouns |
|---|---|
na’ DEM.MASC sehe’ land 'this land' |
ne’ DEM.FEM naxkax tree 'this tree' |
na’ DEM.MASC nunax dog 'this (male) dog' |
ne’ DEM.FEM nunax dog 'this (female) dog' |
In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:
ne’
these
sehe-l
land-PL
‘these lands’
ne’
these
naxkak-wi
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.[5]
| 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.[6]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
Ø-tux
A.3-eat
ka’
INDEF.M
sehets.
fish
‘The woman eats fish.’
Agreement with the possessor
Nouns agree with their possessor in person.[7]
y-exi’ 1S-mouth 'my mouth' |
Ø-exi’ 2-mouth 'your mouth' |
ł-exi’ 3-mouth 'his/her/their mouth' |
in-exi’ 1PL.INCL-mouth 'our (inclusive) mouth' |
Verbs
Agreement with subject and object
Verbs agree with their subject and object in a rather complex system. Gerzenstein (1995) identifies five conjugation classes for intransitive verbs.[3][page needed] The following two examples show intransitive verbs from conjugation classes 1 and 3.
| tremble (conjugation class 3) | dance (conjugation class 1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tsi-kawelik | 'I tremble' | hoy-otoy | 'I dance' |
| 2 | łan-kawelik | 'you tremble' | ł-otoy | 'you dance' |
| 3 | yi-kawelik | 'he/she trembles' | t-otoy | 'he/she dances' |
| 1pl.incl | xiyi-kawelik | 'we (inclusive) tremble' | xit-otoy | 'we (inclusive) dance' |
Transitive verbs belong to a different conjugation class, Conjugation 6. The following forms show a transitive verb with a 3rd person object:
| love (conjugation class 6) | |
|---|---|
| hi-su'un | 'I love (him/her)' |
| łi-su'un | 'you love (him/her)' |
| yi-su'un | 'he/she loves (him/her)' |
| xite-su'un | 'we (inclusive) love (him/her)' |
If the object of the transitive verb is 1st or 2nd person, then certain combinations of subject and object are shown by a portmanteau morpheme.
| love (conjugation class 6) | subject/object combination | |
|---|---|---|
| k'e-su'un | 'I love you' | 1SUBJ›2OBJ |
| tsi-su'un | 'he/she loves me' | 3SUBJ›1OBJ |
| ne-su'un | 'he/she loves you' | 3SUBJ›2OBJ |
Other combinations involve an object agreement marker which may either precede or follow the subject marker.[8]
łe-ts-ikfex
2.SUBJ-1SG.OBJ-bite
'you bite me'
xi-yi-łin
1PL.INCL.OBJ-3-save
'he/she saves us (inclusive)'
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.[3][page needed]
The following examples show the applicative suffixes -ex 'instrumental ('with')' and -m 'benefactive ('for')'
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A.3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
H-osxey-i-m
A.1-grill-P.3-for
na’
DEM.M
sehets
fish
na’
DEM.M
k’utsaX
old.man
‘I grill fish for the old man.’
Syntax
Noun phrases
In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.[9]
e-li-ts
2-child-PL
łe-xiła’
3-head
'your children’s head'
Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N.[10]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
t-aqhay-ets
S.3-buy-toward
ne’
DEM.PL
ikwetxuł
four
fo’
white
tiptip-its
horse-PL
’The woman bought four white horses.’
Sentences
Affirmative
The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.[11]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A.3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject.[12]
Wapi
rest
ne'
DEM.F
efu.
woman
'The woman rests'
Interrogative
In yes–no questions, the usual subject–verb–object order changes to verb-subject-object following an initial particle me.[13]
Me
Q
y-eqfemet-en
A.3-injure-CAUS
na'
DEM.M
k’utsaX
old.man
na'
DEM.M
xukhew?
man
‘Did the old man injure the man?’
Sentences with wh-questions show a sentence-initial question word. Maká has a very small inventory of question words, with only three members: łek 'who, what', pan 'which, where, how many', and inhats'ek 'why'. The following example shows an interrogative sentence with an initial question word.[14]
Łek
what
pa'
DEM.M
tux
eat
na'
DEM.M
xukhew?
old.man
‘What did the old man eat?’