Aikanã language

Aikanã (sometimes called Tubarão,[3] Corumbiara/Kolumbiara, or Huari/Uari/Wari) is an endangered language isolate[1] spoken by about 200 Aikanã people in Rondônia,[4] Brazil. It is morphologically complex and has SOV word order.[5] Aikanã uses the Latin script. The people live with speakers of Koaia (Kwaza).

Aikanã
Tubarão, Huari
Native toBrazil
RegionRondônia
Native speakers
200 (2007)[1]
Dialects
  • Masaká
Language codes
ISO 639-3tba
Glottologaika1237
ELPAikanã[2]

Classification

Van der Voort (2005) observes similarities among Aikanã, Kanoê, and Kwaza, but believes the evidence is not strong enough to definitively link the three languages together as part of a single language family. Hence, Aikanã is best considered to be a language isolate.[6] An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)[7] also found lexical similarities between Aikanã and Kwaza. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with Kanoe, Kwaza, and Nambikwara due to contact.[8]

Varieties

Varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):[9]

  • Huari (Corumbiara) - spoken between the Corumbiara River and Guarajú River, Rondônia
  • Masaca (Aicana) - spoken on the left bank of the Corumbiara River
  • Aboba - extinct language once spoken on the Guarajú River
  • Maba - extinct language once spoken on the Guajejú River (unattested)
  • Puxacaze - once spoken on the Guajejú River, Brazil (unattested)
  • Guajejú - once spoken at the sources of the Jamarí River and Candeia River (unattested)

Phonology

Phonological inventory:[10]

Vowels
Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i y u
Mid ɛ ø a~ə
Open
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩ ũ
Mid ɛ̃
Open ã

Consonants
Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ñ /ɲ/
Stop p /p/
b /b/		 t /t/
d /d/		 k /k/ ’ /ʔ/
Fricative s /s/
th /ð/		 j/h /h/
Affricates ts /t͡s~t͡ʃ/
Trills r /r/
Approximant w /w/ l /l/ y /j~ʒ/

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Huari and Masaca, as well as Capixana.[9]

glossHuariMasacaCapixana
one amemeeːamämepátairä
two arukaiatukakãerá
three ümaitüpiakaúkä
head chimétinupái-kutá
ear ka-niyúka-nĩgói-tẽyõ
tooth múimõiːi-pé
hand inéinéi-so
woman chikichíkidätiámíaʔä
water hanéhánäkuni
fire íneínéiní
stone huahuáuroräakí
maize atitíákíatití
tapir ariméalümäitsá

Aikanã plant and animal names from Silva (2012)[11] are listed in the corresponding Portuguese article.

Further reading
  • Vasconcelos, I. P. (2004). Aspectos da fonologia e morfologia da língua Aikanã. Maceió: Universidade Federal de Alagoas. (Masters dissertation).

References
  1. Hein van der Voort (2007). "Theoretical and social implications of language documentation and description on the eve of destruction in Rondônia" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Aikanã.
  3. Hein van der Voort (2004). A Grammar of Kwaza. Walter de Gruyter. p. 9. ISBN 3-11-017869-9.
  4. "Ethnologue report for language code:tba". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  5. "Aikana Language and the Aikanã Indian Tribe". Native Languages of the Americas website. 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  6. Van der Voort, Hein. 2005. Kwaza in a comparative perspective. International Journal of American Linguistics 71: 365–412.
  7. Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013).
  8. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
  9. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  10. "Aikana Pronunciation Guide". Native Languages of the Americas website. 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  11. Silva, Maria de Fátima dos Santos da. 2012. Dicionário de raízes da língua aikanã. M.A. dissertation, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Guajará-Mirim campus. (PDF)
  • Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: AIKANA
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