Djeoromitxí language

Djeoromitxi or Jabutí (Yabuti) is an endangered Yabutian language that is spoken by only about fifty people (though including some children) in Rondônia, Brazil, at the headwaters of the Rio Branco.

Phonology

There is no tonal system in Djeoromitxí and accent is not contrastive. Morphophonological processes are rare. Syllable structure follows a (C)V pattern.

Consonants

The table below shows the consonant phonemes of Djeoromitxí.

Although Pires (1992) counts /b/ /d/ as distinct phonemes, Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) count them as allophones of /m/ /n/ before oral vowels.

According to Pires (1992), [ɸ] is an allophone of /p/ before high and medium round vowels, and [ɲ] is an allophone of /n/ following the high nasal vowel /ĩ/.

While /ps/ and /bz/ only occur before /i/, they are contrastive with the other bilabial obstruents.

According to Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010), /k/ is backed to [q] before [ʉ] and often aspirated before /ə/ and /u/. They also state that /p/ is realized as [ɸ] or [pɸ] before back vowels and [ʉ].

When preceded by a personal prefix, or when starting the second element of a compound, /h/ becomes /r/. With some roots, /h/ can become /n/ in a similar manner.

Vowels

The tables below show the vowel phonemes of Djeoromitxí according to Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010).

The accounts of Pires (1992) and Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) basically agree[clarification needed] on the vowel phonemes.

Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) state that /ʉ/ is often realized as [ø].

According to Pires (1992), [ũ] is an allophone of /õ/ in free variation with [õ] after /h/.

Grammar

Djeoromitxí has nouns, verbs, adverbs and particles, with adjectives treated as intransitive verbs. Its syntax is noun-modifier and SOV or OVS in order.

The following examples demonstrate noun-modifier and SOV word order.

paku

woman

nõtʃi

old

Ø-

3-

hukʉkʉ

leave

paku nõtʃi Ø- hukʉkʉ

woman old 3- leave

'The old woman left'

adʒɛ

you

na

3

ri

DAT

kuka

fruit

õ

give

adʒɛ na ri kuka õ

you 3 DAT fruit give

'You give the fruit to him'

Pronouns and person markers

The following table shows Djeoromitxí pronominal forms.

The use of the forms is illustrated in the following examples:

hʉ

I

hamə

tired

hʉ hamə

I tired

'I'm tired'

adʒɛ

you

a-

2-

ramə

tired

adʒɛ a- ramə

you 2- tired

'You're tired'

nikʉ

field

nikʉ

field

'my planted field (with maize)'

i-

3-

rawa

flower

i- rawa

3- flower

'(its) flower'

hʉ

I

a-

2-

tʉmi

beat

adʒɛ

you

hʉ a- tʉmi adʒɛ

I 2- beat you

'I'm going to beat you'

hʉ

I

i-

3-

tɛ

bring

a-

2-

ri

DAT

i-

3-

ũ

give

adʒɛ

you

hʉ i- tɛ a- ri i- ũ adʒɛ

I 3- bring 2- DAT 3- give you

'I brought it to give to you'

Citations

Works cited

• Pires, Nádia N. (1992). (PDF) (MA thesis). Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
• Ribeiro, Eduardo Rivail; van der Voort, Hein (October 2010). . International Journal of American Linguistics. 76 (4): 517–570. doi:. ISSN .

External links