Nanti is an Arawakan language spoken by approximately 250 people in southeastern Peruvian Amazonia, principally in a number of small communities located near the headwaters of the Camisea and Timpía Rivers. It belongs to the Kampan branch of the Arawak family, and is most closely related to Matsigenka, with which it is partially mutually intelligible.

The language is also sometimes called Kogapakori (variants: Cogapacori, Kugapakori), a pejorative term of Matsigenka origin meaning 'violent person'.

Phonology

Consonants

The phonemic inventory of Nanti is typical of the Kampa languages and of the Arawakan family as a whole, although there are some differences. The table below does not include allophones, but Nanti's system of allophony is a distinguishing feature of the language.

LabialAlveolarAlveo- palatalVelarGlottalUnspecified
Stopvoicelesspttʲk
voicedbg
Affricatet͡st͡ʃ
Fricativesʃh
Flapɾɾʲ
NasalmnɲN
Glidej

Nanti exhibits a lack of symmetry in the stop series; while there is a voiceless /t/, there is no equivalent voiced /d/. This asymmetry is common among the Kampa languages.

Vowels

Nanti has a vowel inventory typical for the Arawakan languages except for the diphthong /ɯi̯/, which Michael argues is monomoraic.

FrontCentralBack
Highi iːɯi̯
Mide eːo oː
Lowa aː

Bibliography

  • Crowhurst, Megan; Michael, Lev (2005). "Iterative footing and prominence-driven stress in Nanti (Kampa)". Language. 81 (1): 47–95.
  • Michael, Lev (2008). (PhD thesis). University of Texas at Austin. hdl:.
  • Michael, Lev (2012a). "Nanti self-quotation: Implications for the pragmatics of reported speech and evidentiality". Pragmatics and Society. 3 (2): 321–357.
  • Michael, Lev (2012b). "Possession in Nanti". In Aikhenvald, Alexandra; Dixon, R. M. W. (eds.). Possession and Ownership: A cross-linguistic typology. pp. 149–166.
  • Michael, Lev (2005). "El estatus sintáctico de los marcadores de persona en el idioma Nanti (Campa, Arawak)". Lengua y Sociedad (in Spanish). 7 (2): 21–32.

External links