Madí language

Madí—also known asJamamadíafter one of its dialects, and alsoKapanáor Kanamanti (Canamanti)—is anArawan languagespoken by about 1,000Jamamadi,Banawá, and Jarawara people scattered overAmazonas,Brazil.
The language has anactive–stativeclause structure with anagent–object–verborobject–agent–verbword order, depending on whether the agent or object is the topic of discussion (AOV appears to be the default).
Madí (meaning simply "people") has three extant dialects, corresponding to three distinct tribal groups. Dialectal differences are an important part of tribal self-identification, and although all three dialects are mutually intelligible Madí speakers refer to them as separate languages. The dialects and the tribes they represent are as follows:
These three dialects share 95% of their vocabulary, and their grammars are nearly identical. Dixon characterizes Jarawara and Banawá as somewhat closer to each other than either is to Jamamadí, analogous to the standard British, Australian and American varieties of English. The three tribes have relatively little long-term interaction with one another; close personal relations, social events, and marriages generally occur only within a given tribe. As a result, there is no particularprestige dialectof Madí, and in fact all the native terms for other dialects described above are slightly derogatory.
Of the three Madí dialects, Jarawara is the most thoroughly documented; as such, this article will refer to Jarawara unless otherwise indicated.
Madí has a relatively small phonemic inventory, distinguishing four vowel qualities and twelve consonants.
All vowel qualities may occur short or long, but the distinction is fairly limited and has a lowfunctional load. All monosyllabic words have a long vowel: /baː/ "to hit", /soː/ "to urinate". In polysyllabic words, however, vowel length is occasionally contrastive, as shown in theminimal pair/ˈaba/ "fish" and /ˈaːba/ "to be finished, dead". Many instances of long vowels developed historically from the loss of /h/ preceding an unstressed syllable, a process that is still ongoing; for example, the citation form /ˈɸaha/ "water" may be pronounced /ɸaː/ in casual speech.
Vowels are allophonicallynasalizedwhen adjacent to nasal consonants /m n h/, and at the end of main clauses.
The Jarawara dialect does not distinguishvoicingin any of its consonants. It is cross-linguistically unusual, however, in that voicing in its stop series is asymmetrical; /t k/ are underlyingly voiceless, whereas /b ɟ/ are underlyingly voiced. All except /ɟ/ have occasional voiced or voiceless allophones, i.e. /p d g/; voiced allophones often occur word-initially, and voiceless allophones tend to occur word-medially. This system is the result of several mergers occurring in the transition from Proto-Arawan, which had a much larger consonant inventory. The latter system is mostly preserved in the modern Arawan languagePaumarí.
In common with many otherAmazonian languages, Madí has a very simple syllable structure (C)V; that is, a syllable must consist of a vowel, which may be preceded by a consonant. All consonant-vowel sequences are permitted except/wo/. VV sequences are heavily restricted; aside from /oV Vo/ (which may also be transcribed /owV Vwo/, with an intervening consonant), sequences where /h/ is deleted before an unstressed vowel, and the recent loanword/ɟia/"day" (from Portuguesedia), the only permitted sequence is/ai/. Words cannot begin with VV sequences, except when/h/is deleted from the sequence /VhV-/.
In the Jarawara dialect,stressis assigned to every second mora counting from the end of the phonological word, beginning with the penultimate, e.g./ˌkaraˈɸato/"tape recorder". Since long vowels bear two moras, they are always stressed:/ˌbatiˈriː/"priest".
In Banawá, however, stress is counted from the beginning of the word: the first (in words of two moras) or second (in words of three or more) mora is stressed, along with every second mora following. Jamamadi may share this system.
Like all indigenous languages of South America, Madí was not written prior to Euro-American contact; moreover, no officially standardized orthography yet exists for the language, and most native speakers are illiterate. The basis for written representation of the language today, both among native and non-native speakers, is a practical orthography devised bySILfor the Jamamadí dialect. The differences between theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA), the SIL orthography for Jamamadí, and Dixon's orthography for Jarawara are listed below.
This article, which focuses mostly on the Jarawara dialect, will henceforth use Dixon's practical orthography even when discussing Jamamadí and Banawá.
Like many indigenous languages of the Americas, Madí is grammaticallyagglutinative, primarily suffixing, and "verb-heavy"; that is, a great deal of grammatical information is conveyed through verbal affixes, with each affix generally corresponding to a single morpheme. Dixon, for example, counts six prefixes and over eighty affixes. The Jarawara sentence below provides an example of a highly inflected verb, with six affixes corresponding to eight independent words in English (lexical roots are highlighted in bold):
On the other hand, all verbal affixes are optional, and many verbs occur in speech with three affixes or fewer; as a result, the actual morpheme-per-word ratio is lower than the large inventory of affixes might suggest. Other word classes, moreover, inflect with far less regularity and variety than verbs do. As a result, while theoretically possible, single-word sentences such as those characteristic ofpolysyntheticlanguages are rare in Madí.
Madí displays a "fluid-S"active-stative alignmentsystemand a basicobject-subject-verb(OSV) word order. The latter feature is shared by other regional languages (e.g.Apurinã) but is very rare cross-linguistically.
Madí has a two-way gender system, distinguishing between masculine and feminine. All nouns carry gender, but not overtly; instead, the gender of a noun is shown by its verbal agreement, specifically in affixes. Affixes which mark for gender generally do so by a vowel alternation:-afor masculine,-efor feminine. For example, the declarative suffix-kVsurfaces as-kawhen the verb it applies to references a masculine subject, but as-kewhen feminine.
The default, unmarked gender is feminine, and all subject pronouns (regardless of the sex of their referent) require feminine gender agreement.
As mentioned above, the verb is by far the most morphologically complex part of speech in Madí. However, the precise delineation of a "single verb" is difficult, since certain grammatically bound inflections can nonetheless form independent phonological words. For example, the masculine declarative suffix-keis phonologically bound to the verb root in the wordkake"he is coming", but part of a phonologically independent word in the sentenceokofawa oke"I drink (something) with it". For this reason, Dixon prefers to analyse Madí in terms of "predicates" and "copulas" - sentence-level grammatical units which includes the verb root, personal pronouns in any position, and inflectional affixes, but excludes noun phrases.
This section discusses the notable features of Madí verbal morphology.
In contrast to suffixation, prefixation is relatively limited. There are only three prefix slots (relative positions which can only be occupied by a single member of the corresponding set), and only six unique prefixes in total. All of these are, however, extremely common:
The use and meaning of the applicative prefixka-are somewhat complex, and vary from verb to verb. For some intransitive verbs the applicative, in its prototypical linguistic function, adds a degree ofvalencyand turns a peripheral argument into a core object (O); for example, the sentencejomee habo naka owa ni-jaa"the dog (S) barksat me(periph.)" becomesjomee owa habo kanaka"the dog (S)barks-atme (O)". However, there are many instances in which the applicative does not necessarily perform this syntactic role, and instead signals some semantic function (e.g. when the subject S is a sick person or a full container).
The verb root is a single invariant morpheme to which inflection is applied. All verb roots are obligatory and cannot be deleted, with the single exception of the verb-ati-na"to say, ask", whose rootati-is omitted if its auxiliary is prefixed with a pronouno-, ti-orhi-; it surfaces therefore as merely the auxiliary-na.
Because of the variety and productivity of derivation in Madí, as well as the high degree ofhomophonyresulting from sound change, there are somewhat fewer verb roots than would be expected in a more isolating language, and a single Madí verb root can correspond to several in English. The root-wina-, for example, can be translated as "be hanging", "lie (in a hammock)", "live (in a place)", "be located", or "stay".Such ambiguity is resolved through inflection and pragmatic context.
The vast majority of verbal inflection in Madí takes place through suffixation. Because of the variety and complexity of suffixes as a whole, this section will describe them in specific categories.
Certain verb roots in Madí cannot themselves take inflection, but require the auxiliary-na / -hato do so.The semantic distinction between the two is mostly opaque, but those taking-haseem to be vaguely associated with "becoming" - e.g.tanako-ha"to be(come) sweaty". While-na-is deleted under several conditions (mostly the addition of certain suffixes),-ha-is not except when preceded by the causative prefixniha-(see above). The auxiliary-hamust always be preceded by the prefixto-"away", except when another Slot 1 prefix takes its place.
Occasionally, the absence of an auxiliary may occur on semantic criteria. Dixon records the sentencebiti weje-ke"she is carrying her son on her back" (with declarative marker-ke). The root-weje-, "to carry on one's back", is usually non-inflecting, and so a sentence containing an auxiliary might be expected. However, the sentence in question was made in reference to a photograph, indicating a semantic rule that an ordinarily non-inflecting verb can take inflection without an auxiliary if it describes a statement of timeless fact, rather than an ongoing event.
Despite being grammatically bound to the root verb, these auxiliary roots form a new phonological word, taking with them all suffixes following. For example, the inflected formweje-keabove is a single phonological word, but Dixon's expected form with an auxiliary -weje nineke- is two.
There are two "secondary verbs" in Madí:ama"continuous(ly)" andawine/awa"(it) seems". Like auxiliary roots, these form a new phonological word, but are optional. These take place after the auxiliary root, "miscellaneous suffixes" (the slot comprising the majority of suffixes), and tense-modal suffixes, as well as third-position pronouns, but before mood and post-mood suffixes.
These suffixes mark thetenseof the verb,evidentiality, andmodality. There is only a single degree of future tense, but three degrees of past: immediate, recent, and far past. The past tense forms are also fused with evidentiality (eyewitness vs. non-eyewitness), for a total of six past suffixes. The other suffixes in this category mark intentional, irrealis, hypothetical and reported ("it is said"...) modality respectively.
Tense-modal suffixes share a single slot relative to the verb root, but are not necessarily exclusive; for example, the past non-eyewitness suffixes are very often followed by the reported modal suffix.
Towards the end of the predicate are attached suffixes conveyinggrammatical mood. These areindicative(divided into declarative and "backgrounding"; both optional),imperative(marked for proximity and positive vs. negative, for a total of four),interrogative(content, polar, and polar-future), as well as several single suffixes relating to a narrative (e.g. a climactic sentence).
These can only be followed within the predicate by "post-mood" suffixes - namely, the negative-raor a recapitulated tense form.
The majority of Madí suffixes, however, are inserted into a slot after the verb root (or auxiliary root, if there is one) and before the tense-modal suffixes. Dixon characterizes members of this slot as "miscellaneous suffixes", a group consisting of at least fifty-six distinct suffixes, all of these are strictly optional. Examples include-bisa"also",-mata"for a short time", and-rama"unusual, unexpected". In general, these suffixes can combine with one another freely, although multiple subgroups exist whose members appear to be mutually exclusive.
The copulaamahas a much more limited range of inflection than predicative verbs. The only suffixes which can follow it are negative-ra, declarative-ke / -ka,backgrounding-ni / -ne, and interrogatives-ni(hi) / -re / -ra. If the subject of the copula is a prefixed first- or second-person singularo- / ti-, moreover, this will attach to the negative-rarather than the verb itself:ama ti-ra-haa"is it not you?"
Unlike in English, a copula in Madí can be formed without a complement. Such sentences can be translated as either "it is" or "there is, exists"; for example,sire amake"it is cold" (lit."cold is") butbosaro amake"there is a sore" (or indeed, "it is a sore").In general, the copulaama"to be" can be omitted without a suffix - e.g.towisawa-bona tike waha"you are going to be a chief now",lit."chief you now" - but this is rare.
Like many languages, Madí lacks a verb corresponding to "to have". Instead, the possessed noun is used within a copula:oko sirakaa amaka"I have some rubber" (lit."my rubber is".)
Nominal morphology is very simple. The only affix which can apply to a noun is the accusative suffix-ra, which is essentially extinct in Jarawara (although still common in Jamamadí and Banawá); a remnant of this can be seen, however, in the non-singular object pronounsera, otara, tera, mera.
There is also a grammatically bound but phonologically independent markertaa, which signifies contrast with a previous noun (not X "but Y"). This inflection follows the noun, but precedes the accusative-rain Jamamadí and Banawá.
Madí contrastsalienable and inalienable possession: kinship terms ("my father") and parts of a whole ("my arm") are considered inalienably possessed, whereas other possessions are alienable. Most inalienable possession is marked simply by sequence, with the possessed following the possessor. An alienably possessed noun, on the other hand, must be preceded withkaa:Okomobi kaa kanawaa"Okomobi's canoe".
Madí has a rich inventory of personal pronouns. All personal pronouns mark fornumber; the first person plural also marks (as in many Amazonian languages) forclusivity. UnlikeIndo-European languagessuch as English, Madí pronouns do not mark forcase(e.g. "I" vs. "me"), but instead for the pronouns' position in relation to the verb (which itself signals the grammaticalargument). The table below lists the pronominal forms cited by Dixon: