Karu language

Karu, one of several languages called Baniwa (Baniva), or in older sources Itayaine (Iyaine), is an Arawakan language spoken in Guainía, Colombia, Venezuela, and Amazonas, Brazil. It forms a subgroup with the Tariana, Piapoco, Resígaro and Guarequena languages. There are 10,000 speakers.

Varieties

Aikhenvald (1999)[full citation needed] considers the three main varieties to be dialects; Kaufman (1994)[full citation needed] considers them to be distinct languages, in a group he calls "Karu". They are:

• Baniwa of Içana (Baniua do Içana)
• Curripaco (Kurripako, Ipeka-Tapuia-Curripako)
• Katapolítani-Moriwene-Mapanai (Catapolitani, Kadaupuritana)

Various (sub)dialects of all three are called tapuya, a Brazilian Portuguese and Nheengatu word for non-Tupi/non-Guarani Indigenous peoples of Brazil (from a Tupi word meaning "enemy, barbarian"). All are spoken by the Baniwa people. Ruhlen lists all as "Izaneni"; Greenberg's Adzánani (= Izaneni) presumably belongs here.

Ramirez (2020) gives the following classification for three separate dialect chains:

• Southern (Karotana): lower Içana River, also a group living in Victorino on the Guainia River (Colombia-Venezuela border) Mapatsi-Dákeenai (Yurupari-Tapuya) Wadzoli-Dákeenai (Urubu-Tapuya) Dzawi-Mínanai (Yauareté-Tapuya) Adaro-Mínanai (Arara-Tapuya)
• Central (Baniwa): middle Içana River (from Assunção Mission to Siuci-Cachoeira) and its tributaries (Aiari River and lower Cuiari River); also around Tunuí Hohódeeni Walipere-Dákeenai (Siucí-Tapuya) Máolieni (Cáuatapuya) Mápanai (Ira-Tapuya) Awádzoronai Molíweni (Sucuriyú-Tapuya) Kadáopoliri etc.
• Northern (called "Koripako" in Brazil): upper Içana River (from Matapi upwards), Guainia River, headwaters of the Cuiari River. Has individual ISO 639 code. Ayáneeni (Tatú-Tapuya) Payoálieni (Pacútapuya) Komada-Mínanai (Ipéca-Tapuya) Kapitti-Mínanai (Coatí-Tapuya) etc.

Phonology

When short, the vowels /ieao/ are realized as [ɪɛəʊ]. Vowels are nasalized when adjacent to nasal consonants; nasal /aː/ is realized as [ɐ̃ː], while the other vowels show little change in their place of articulation when nasalized.

More precisely, stressed vowels are nasalized before simple nasal consonants, and vowels on either side of voiceless nasals are nasalized regardless of whether they are stressed.

Sequences of vowels may reduce to diphthongs and triphthongs, for example [nwajˈnidzonɪ] for /nu-aiˈnidzu-ni/. The resulting [j] behaves differently than the consonant /j/.

• Most sounds are found in both Baniwa and Kuripako. Kuripako apparently has both /β/ and /w/, though possibly the difference is allophonic, where Baniwa has only /w/ in those words; Baniwa has both /dz/ and /j/ where Kuripako has only /j/.
• [ŋ] occurs preceding a velar consonant.
• Lateral [ɺ] varies with median [ɾ], though the lateral allophones is preferred.

Palatalization

Palatalization is more productive in Baniwa than in Karipako. In Baniwa, /ts/ and /dz/ are pronounced [tʃ] and [dʒ] before /i/. In Kuripako, they are pronounced [tʃ] and as the approximant [j] before all vowels. In both dialects, /h/ is pronounced [ç] before /i/. In Baniwa, when /h/ occurs after consonantal /j/ (but not the [j] allophone of the vowel /i/), the sequence is pronounced [ʃ]; this is [ç] in Kuripako.

Voiceless nasals

A sequence /Nh/ (where 'N' is a nasal) may be realized as a voiceless nasal, [m̥n̥ɲ̥], or as a (glottal) fricative [ɸhç] with nasalization on adjacent vowels. The /h/ may be in the following syllable, as in [n̥õʷə] from /nuha/ 'I'. Other authors have analyzed these sounds differently, and there are similar processes in other Arawakan languages.

Aspirated consonants

Similarly, a sequence /Ȼh/ (where 'Ȼ' is a plosive or affricate) is aspirated: [pʰ,t̪ʰ,tʰ,kʰ,tsʰ,tʃʰ]. The /h/ may be in the following syllable.

Other effects of /h/

The other sonorants are similarly devoiced under the influence of /h/, for [ɺ̥ʂʃw̥] in Baniwa. Kuripako /β/ becomes [ɸ] and /j/ [ç].

Grammar

Alignment system

Baniwa has active–stative alignment. This means that the subject of an intransitive clause is sometimes marked in the same way as the agent of a transitive clause, and sometimes marked in the same way as the patient of a transitive clause. In Baniwa alignment is realized through verbal agreement, namely prefixes and enclitics.

Prefixes are used to mark:

• Active intransitive subjects (Sa)
• Agents of transitive clauses (A)
• Possessors
• Arguments of adpositions

Enclitics are used to mark:

• Stative intransitive subjects (So)
• Patients of transitive clauses (O)

The differences between active and stative intransitive clauses can be illustrated below:

• Transitive: ri-kapa-ni 'He sees him/it'
• Active Intransitive: ri-emhani 'He walks'
• Stative Intransitive: hape-ka-ni 'He is cold'

Noun classification system

Baniwa has an interesting system of noun classification that combines a gender system with a noun classifier system. Baniwa has two genders: feminine and nonfeminine. Feminine gender agreement is used to refer to female referents, whilst nonfeminine gender agreement is used for all other referents. The two genders are only distinguished in third person singular. Aihkenvald (2007) considers the bipartite gender system to be inherited from Proto-Arawak.

In addition to gender, Baniwa also has 46 classifiers. Classifiers are used in three main contexts:

• As a derivational suffix on nouns, e.g.

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

'pan'

• With numerals, e.g.

apa-api

one-CL.hollow

mawapi

blowgun+CL.long.thin

apa-api mawapi

one-CL.hollow blowgun+CL.long.thin

'one blow gun'

• With adjectives, e.g.

tʃipaɾa-api

metal.object-CL.hollow

maka-api

big-CL.hollow

tʃipaɾa-api maka-api

metal.object-CL.hollow big-CL.hollow

'big pan'

Aihkenvald (2007) divides Baniwa classifiers into four different classes. One set of classifiers is used for humans, animate beings and body parts. Another set of classifiers specify the shape, consistency, quantification or specificity of the noun. Two more classes can be distinguished. One is only used with numerals and the other is only used with adjectives.

Classifiers for Humans and animate beings:

Classifiers according to shape, consistency, quantification and specificity:

Negation

There are two main strategies for negation in the Kurripako-Baniwa varieties:

• Independent negative markers
• The privative derivational prefix ma-

Different varieties have different negative markers. This is so prominent that speakers identify Kurripako dialects according to the words for 'yes' and 'no'.

The independent negative markers come before the verb. They are used as clausal negators in declarative and interrogative sentences. They are also used to link clauses.

The privative suffix is attached to nouns to derive a verb which means 'lacking' the noun from which it was derived. The opposite of the privative prefix is the attributive prefix ka-. This derives a verb which means 'having' the noun from which it was derived. The difference can be illustrated below:

• Noun: iipe 'meat'
• Privative: ma-iipe > meepe 'be thin' (lit. lack meat)
• Attributive: ka-iipe > keepe 'be fat' (lit. have meat)

The prefix is used in combination with the restrictive suffix -tsa to form negative imperatives, e.g. ma-ihnia-tsa 'don't eat!'. A privative prefix is also reconstructed in Proto-Arawak privative as *ma-.

Word order

Granadillo (2014) considers Kurripako a VOS language.

Further reading

• Gonçalves, Artur Garcia. 2018. Para uma dialetologia baniwa-koripako do rio Içana. M.A. dissertation, Universidade de Brasília.

Bibliography

de Souza, Erick Marcelo Lima (2012). [Phonological Analysis of the Baniwa-Kuripako language] (PDF) (Master's thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). University of Campinas. (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-11.

External links

• 2021-07-24 at the Wayback Machine at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.
• 2021-07-25 at the Wayback Machine at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.
• (online dictionary)