Hodï language

The Hodï (Jodï, Jotí, Hoti) language, also known as Yuwana (Yoana), Waruwaru, or Chikano (Chicano), is a small unclassified language of Venezuela. Very little is known of it; its several hundred speakers are monolingual hunter-gatherers.

Not to be confused with Hoti language.
Hodï
Yuwana
Regioncentral Venezuela
Native speakers
640 (2007)[1]
Duho ?
  • Hodï
Language codes
ISO 639-3yau
Glottologyuwa1244
ELPJotí[2]

Classification

No classification of Hodï has yet been established to the satisfaction of linguists.

Attempts have been made to link Hodï with the nearby Piaroa–Saliban languages. A recent proposal classifies Hodï and (Piaroa–)Saliban as the branches of a single Jodï–Saliban macrofamily.[3] However, similarities in vocabulary with the Piaroa–Saliban languages may in fact be due to sprachbunding: Henley, Mattéi-Müller and Reid (1996) argue that the apparent cognates between Hodï and Piaroa–Saliban are rather loanwords.

Limited by poor data, Henley et al. argue that Hodï may be related to the Nadahup languages.[4] The only linguist to speak Hodï and Piaroa, Stanford Zent, has collected more reliable data and argues that it is "probably" related to the Piaroa–Saliban languages.[5]

Since 1985 a relationship to the Yanomaman languages has also been suggested, in part on the grounds that Hodï shares 20% of its vocabulary with this family,[6] but this hypothesis has since been largely rejected.

Phonology

The first phonological analysis is Vilera (1985).[7]

Vowels
oral nasal
front central back front central back
close i ɨ u ĩ ɨ̃ ũ
close-mid e ɘ o ẽ ɘ̃ õ
open a ã
Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
plain preasp. plain preasp. plain preasp. plain preasp. plain preasp.
Obstruent voiceless t ʰt c ʰc k ʰk kʷ ʰkʷ ʔ
voiced b ʱb d ʱd ɟ ʱɟ
Continuant ɾ ʱɾ j ʱj w ʱw h

The voiced stops are realized as nasals [m n ɲ] between nasal vowels.

Bibliography
  • Guarisma P., V.; Coppens, W. (1978). Vocabulario Hoti. Antropológica, 49:3-27. GUDSCHINSKY, S. C. (1974). Fragmentos de Ofaié: a descrição de uma língua extinta. Série Lingüística, 3:177-249. Brasília: SIL.
  • Krisólogo B., P. J. (1976). Manual glotológico del idioma wo'tiheh. (Lenguas indígenas de Venezuela, 16.) Caracas: Centro de lenguas Indigenas, Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas, Universidad Católica "Andrés Bello".
  • Mattei-Müller, M. (1981). Vocabulario Hodï (Hoti). (Manuscript).
  • Quatra, M. M. (2008). Bajkewa jkwïkïdëwa-jya jodï ine - Dodo ine. Diccionario básico Castellano - Jodï. Caracas: Ediciones IVIC.

References
  1. Hodï at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Jotí.
  3. Labrada, Rosés; Emilio, Jorge (2015). "Jodi-Saliban". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Henley, Paul; Marie-Claude Mattéi-Müller y Howard Reid 1996. "Cultural and linguistic affinities of the foraging people of North Amazonia: a new perspective"; Antropológica 83: 3-37. Caracas.
  5. Zent S & E Zent. 2008. Los Hoti, in Aborigenes de Venezuela, vol. 2, second edition
  6. Migliazzi, Ernesto C. 1985. "Languages of the Orinoco-Amazon region"; H.M.Klein & L. Stark (eds.): South American Indian Languages: 17-139. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  7. Vilera Díaz, Diana C. 1985. "Introducción morfológica de la lengua Hoti". Thesis in Anthropology. Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.
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