# Cavineña language

Cavineña is an indigenous language spoken on the Amazonian plains of northern Bolivia by over 1,000 Cavineño people. Although Cavineña is still spoken (and still learned by some children), it is an endangered language. Guillaume (2004) states that about 1200 people speak the language, out of a population of around 1700. Nearly all Cavineña are bilingual in Spanish.
The Cavineño people live in several communities near the Beni River, which flows north from the Andes. The nearest towns are Reyes (to the south) and Riberalta (to the north).

## Phonology

Where the practical orthography is different from IPA, it is shown between angled brackets:
Consonants :
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c ⟨ty⟩ | k | kʷ ⟨kw⟩ | |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɟ ⟨dy⟩ | | | |
| Affricate | Affricate | | ts | t͡ɕ ⟨ch⟩ | | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s | ɕ ⟨sh⟩ | | | h ⟨j⟩ |
| Lateral | Lateral | | ɺ ⟨r⟩ | ʎ ⟨ry⟩ | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | j ⟨y⟩ | | w | |
Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i | | ʊ ⟨u⟩ |
| Mid | e/ɛ ⟨e⟩ | | |
| Low | | a | |
Examples in the morphology and syntax sections are written in the practical orthography.

## Morphology
### Verbs

Verbs do not show agreement with their arguments, but are inflected for tense, aspect, mood, negation, and aktionsart, among other categories. There are six tense, aspect, or mood affixes:
| -ya | imperfective | for present, generic, habitual, and near future events |
| -wa | perfective | for events that occurred earlier the same day |
| -chine | recent past | for events that occurred between a day and a year ago |
| -kware | remote past | for events that occurred a year or more ago |
| -buke | remote future | for events far in the future |
| e-…-u | potential | for events that are contingent on other events |
The following examples show the remote past and perfective affixes:
I-ke
1SG-FM
=bakwe
=CONTR
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
e-wane=tsewe]
1-wife=ASSOC
kanajara-kware
rest-REM.PAST
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
tujuri=ju].
mosquito.net=LOC
I-ke =bakwe [e-kwe e-wane=tsewe] kanajara-kware [e-kwe tujuri=ju].
1SG-FM =CONTR 1SG-GEN 1-wife=ASSOC rest-REM.PAST 1SG-GEN mosquito.net=LOC
'Me, I was resting with my wife in my mosquito net.'
Pakaka-wa
fall-PERF
=mi
=2SG(-FM)
[manga=ju=ke].
mango.tree=LOC=LIG
Pakaka-wa =mi [manga=ju=ke].
fall-PERF =2SG(-FM) mango.tree=LOC=LIG
'You fell from the mango tree.'
Aktionsart suffixes include:
| -tere and tirya | completive |
| -bisha | incompletive |
| -nuka | repeated/reiterative |
The following examples show the completive and reiterative suffixes:
Shana-tirya-kware
leave-COMP-REM.PAST
=tuna
=3PL(-ERG)
[piya=kwana
arrow=PL
mariku=kwana
bag=PL
jadya].
and
Shana-tirya-kware =tuna [piya=kwana mariku=kwana jadya].
leave-COMP-REM.PAST =3PL(-ERG) arrow=PL bag=PL and
'(They ran away and) left all their arrows and bags behind.'
Peadya
one
tunka
ten
mara=kwana
year=APPROX
ju-atsu
be-SS
=tu
=3SG(-FM)
ekwita
person
kwa-nuka-kware
go-REITR-REM.PAST
babi=ra…
hunt=PURP.MOT
Peadya tunka mara=kwana ju-atsu =tu ekwita kwa-nuka-kware babi=ra…
one ten year=APPROX be-SS =3SG(-FM) person go-REITR-REM.PAST hunt=PURP.MOT
'After about ten years or so, the man went hunting again.'
Cavineña is the first language in the Amazon for which an antipassive voice has been described.
Cavineña has a periodic tense paradigm with four suffixes: diurnal -chinepe, nocturnal -sisa, auroral -wekaka and vesperal -apuna (Guillaume 2008:126), with cognates in the rest of Tacanan. These markers can be redundantly combined with temporal adverbs:
meta-tu
at.night-3SG
nei
rain
ju-sisa-kware.
be-NOCT-REM.PST
meta-tu nei ju-sisa-kware.
at.night-3SG rain be-NOCT-REM.PST
‘It rained all night long.’
Among the verbal suffixes, we also find a celerative -wisha encoding quick speed.
Iji-wisha-kwe
drink-CELER-IMP:SG
e-na!
DUMMY-water
Iji-wisha-kwe e-na!
drink-CELER-IMP:SG DUMMY-water
‘Drink your water quickly (and let’s go)!’ (Guillaume 2008: 202)

## Syntax
### Nouns and noun phrases
#### Subtypes of nouns

There are three subtypes of nouns in Cavineña:
* e-nouns, which are a closed class of about 100 to 150 terms which must take a prefix e-. (The prefix is realised as y- before the vowel a).
* kinship nouns, which are a small class of about 30 terms which are obligatorily inflected for their possessor.
* independent nouns, which are an open class of a couple of thousand terms. Independent nouns do not take any e- prefix nor any possessor inflections.

#### Case marking

Case marking on noun phrases is shown through a set of clitic postpositions, including the following:
| =ra | ergative case |
| =tsewe | associative case (= English 'with') |
| =ja | dative case |
| =ja | genitive case |
| =ju | locative case |
The dative and genitive cases are homophonous.
Pronouns (independent or bound) also show these case distinctions.
The following example shows several of the case markers in context:
I-ke
1SG-FM
=bakwe
=CONTR
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
e-wane=tsewe]
1-wife=ASSOC
kanajara-kware
rest-REM.PAST
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
tujuri=ju].
mosquito.net=LOC
I-ke =bakwe [e-kwe e-wane=tsewe] kanajara-kware [e-kwe tujuri=ju].
1SG-FM =CONTR 1SG-GEN 1-wife=ASSOC rest-REM.PAST 1SG-GEN mosquito.net=LOC
'Me, I was resting with my wife in my mosquito net.'
Pakaka-wa=mi
fall-PERF=2SG(-FM)
[manga=ju=ke].
mango.tree=LOC=LIG
Pakaka-wa=mi [manga=ju=ke].
fall-PERF=2SG(-FM) mango.tree=LOC=LIG
'You fell from the mango tree.'
Ai=tu-ke=mi
INT=3SG-FM=2SG(-ERG)
mare-wa?
shoot-PERF
Ai=tu-ke=mi mare-wa?
INT=3SG-FM=2SG(-ERG) shoot-PERF
'What did you shoot?'

#### Order in noun phrases

Noun phrases show the order:
    (Relative Clause)-(Quantifier)-(Possessor)-Noun-(Adjective)-(Plural marker)-(Relative clause)
The following examples show some of these orders.
E-marikaka
NPF-cooking:pot
ebari=kwana
big=PL
E-marikaka ebari=kwana
NPF-cooking:pot big=PL
'big cooking pots'
dutya
all
tunaja
3PL:GEN
etawiki=kwana
bedding=PL
e-tiru=ke
RES-burn-LIG
dutya tunaja etawiki=kwana e-tiru=ke
all 3PL:GEN bedding=PL RES-burn-LIG
'all their bedding that had burnt'
(The clitic =ke 'ligature' appears at the end of a relative clause.)

### Pronouns

Pronouns in Cavineña can appear in either independent or bound forms. The two kinds of pronouns are pronounced almost exactly the same, but the bound pronouns appear in second position, after the first word of the sentence. Independent pronouns tend to be contrastive, and usually appear first in the sentence.
The following pronouns are found:
Absolutive pronouns :
| | | singular | dual | plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | i-Ø-ke | ya-tse | e-kwana |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | mi-Ø-ke | me-tse | mi-kwana |
| 3rd person | neutral | tu-Ø-ke | ta-tse | tu-na |
| 3rd person | proximate | ri-Ø-ke | re-tse | re-na |
Ergative pronouns :
| | | singular | dual | plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | e-Ø-ra | ya-tse-ra | e-kwana-ra |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | mi-Ø-ra | me-tse-ra | mi-kwana-ra |
| 3rd person | neutral | tu-Ø-ra | ta-tse-ra | tu-na-ra |
| 3rd person | proximate | riya-Ø-ra(?) | re-tse-ra | re-na-ra |
Dative pronouns :
| | | singular | dual | plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | e-Ø-kwe | ya-tse-ja | e-kwana-ja |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | mi-Ø-kwe | me-tse-ja | mi-kwana-ja |
| 3rd person | neutral | tu-Ø-ja | ta-tse-ja | tu-na-ja |
| 3rd person | proximate | re-Ø-ja | re-tse-ja | re-na-ja |
notes that the formative suffix -ke (of singular absolutive bound pronouns) and the ergative suffix -ra (in ergative bound pronouns) do not show up when absolutive or ergative pronouns occur last among the second position clitics.

### Sentences

Cavineña has ergative case marking on the subject of a transitive verb. For sentences with a non-pronominal subject, this is shown with an ergative case clitic /=ra/:
Iba=ra=tu
jaguar=ERG=3SG(-FM)
iye-chine
kill-REC.PAST
takure.
chicken
Iba=ra=tu iye-chine takure.
jaguar=ERG=3SG(-FM) kill-REC.PAST chicken
'The jaguar killed the chicken.'
For a sentence with a pronominal subject, there are distinct ergative and absolutive forms of the pronouns:
I-ke=bakwe
1SG(ABS)-FM=CONTR
kwa-kware=dya=jutidya.
go-REM=FOC=RESTR
I-ke=bakwe kwa-kware=dya=jutidya.
1SG(ABS)-FM=CONTR go-REM=FOC=RESTR
'I just went.'
E-ra=tu
1SG-ERG=3SG(-FM)
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
tata-chi]
father-AFFTN
adeba-ya=ama.
know-IMPFV=NEG
E-ra=tu [e-kwe tata-chi] adeba-ya=ama.
1SG-ERG=3SG(-FM) 1SG-GEN father-AFFTN know-IMPFV=NEG
'I do not know my father.'
Verbs do not inflect for the person of the subject or other arguments in the clause. Instead, a set of clitic pronouns occurs in the second position of the clause, as in the following examples:
Tume=tuna-ja=tu-ke=Ø
then=3PL-DAT=3SG-FM=1SG(-ERG)
be-ti-wa
bring-go.TEMP-PERF
budari.
banana
Tume=tuna-ja=tu-ke=Ø be-ti-wa budari.
then=3PL-DAT=3SG-FM=1SG(-ERG) bring-go.TEMP-PERF banana
'I will go and bring bananas for them.'
Kwadisha-ya
send-IMPFV
=tu-ke
=3SG-FM
=e-ra
=1SG-ERG
=e-kwe
=1SG-DAT
encomienda
package
[e-kwe
1SG-GEN
ata=ja=ishu].
relatives=GEN=PURP.GNL
Kwadisha-ya =tu-ke =e-ra =e-kwe encomienda [e-kwe ata=ja=ishu].
send-IMPFV =3SG-FM =1SG-ERG =1SG-DAT package 1SG-GEN relatives=GEN=PURP.GNL
'I am sending a package to my relative.'
The clitics are ordered so that 3rd person pronouns precede 2nd person pronouns, which precede 1st person pronouns. (Some of the clitic pronouns in these examples have a formative element /-ke/ after them and some do not.)