You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (October 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Canichana, or Canesi, Joaquiniano, is a possible language isolate of Bolivia (department of Beni). In 1991 there were 500 Canichana people, but only 20 spoke the Canichana language; by 2000 the ethnic population was 583, but the language had no L1 speakers left.
Canichana | |
---|---|
Joaquiniano | |
Native to | Bolivia |
Region | Beni Department |
Extinct | ca. 2000 |
Tequiraca–Canichana?
| |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | caz |
Glottolog | cani1243 |
ELP | Canichana |
![]() Historical distribution of the language |
It was spoken on the Mamoré River and Machupo River.[1]
Current situation
editThe Canichana territory is part of the region historically known as Moxos (or Mojos), which covers approximately 200,000 square kilometers of what is now the department of Beni. According to data provided in Crevels and Muysken (2009:15), based on the 2001 Census, the Canichana population at that time amounted to 404 members. During the research conducted by Crevels between 1999 and 2001, the author could only find three elders who still remembered some single words and phrases in Kanichana. Regarding the ethnic group, Crevels notes that the Canichanas are mainly engaged in agriculture, with their main agricultural products being cassava, corn, rice, beans and plantains. Part of the harvest is for self-consumption and the other part for local sale. Hunting, fishing and gathering are complementary traditional activities, in addition to the sale of their labor as laborers on the ranches.
Classification
editDespite tentative proposals to classify the language, it is generally considered a language isolate or an unclassified language.[2][3][4]
Phonology
editFront | Mid | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Central | e | o | |
Low | a |
Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voicing | - | + | - | + | - | + | - | + | - | + | - | + | |
Plosives | Simple | p | b | t | d | k | g | ʔ | |||||
Ejective | (p') | (t') | (k') | ||||||||||
Affricates | Simple | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||||||||||
Ejective | (t͡ʃ') | ||||||||||||
Fricatives | Simple | s | ʃ | h | |||||||||
Lateral | |||||||||||||
Nasals | m | n | |||||||||||
Liquids | Lateral | l | ʎ | ||||||||||
r | |||||||||||||
Semivowels | w | j |
Morphology
editAs far as nominal morphology is concerned, non-human nouns seem to carry the suffix -ni, which probably indicates the non-possessed form of the noun. For example, the nouns ni-chi 'smoke', ni-chuku 'fire', and ni-platsu 'flower'. Some adjectives also carry the prefix -ni, e.g. ni'-tatila 'canine', nĩ'-bla'su 'boy, small'. Nouns not bearing this prefix are those referring to kinship terms and body parts, which are always inalienable nouns bearing a personal prefix; for example: the nouns eu-tana 'my mother' and eu-nimara 'my heart'. As far as number is concerned, the plural is expressed by the suffix -na, e.g. santo-na 'saints'.
As for verbal morphology, it can only be noted that the main arguments S and A of the first and second person are obligatorily marked in the verb. The personal prefixes S/A seem to be derived from the free personal pronouns and can also appear in nouns as possessive markers, as observed in (1).
Eu-tarpa
1SG-love
eu-ja-tissi
1SG-HON-father
Dios
God
I love God (lit. I love my father God)
As for the negation, it seems that this is not marked in the predicate but is only expressed through the negative particle nihuas, which is placed before the predicate, as observed in (2):[2]
Nihuas
NEG
e-massota
1SG-understand
en-copphurúnue
2SG-language
I don't understand your language
Syntax
editAs in neighboring languages, it seems that the only obligatory element in the Canichana clause is the predicate, which generally precedes the subject and complements, as seen in (3):
E-massota
1SG-understand
en-copphurúnue
2SG-language
I understand your language
Interrogative pronouns always appear in the initial position of the phrase, as seen in (4):
Lava
Where
an-ja-chi?
2SG-go-*
Where are you going?
In the noun phrase, the adjectives follow the core noun, as seen in (5):[2]
nérahua
banana
mátihi
ripe
ripe banana
Language contact
editJolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochica language due to contact.[5]
Vocabulary
editLoukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Canichana.[1]
gloss Canichana one mereka two kadita three kaʔarxata tooth eu-kuti tongue au-cháva hand eu-tixle woman ikegahui water nese fire nichuku moon nimilaku maize ni-chuxú jaguar ni-xolani house ni-tikoxle
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ^ a b c d Crevels, Mily (2012). "Canichana". Lenguas de Bolivia. 2: 415–449.
- ^ Markham, Clements (1910). "A List of the Tribes of the Valley of the Amazons, Including Those on the Banks of the Main Stream and of All the Tributaries". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 40: 73–140.
- ^ Pauly, Antonio (1928). "Ensayo de etnografía americana: viajes y exploraciones". (No Title).
- ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KANICHANA.[1]
- de Créqui-Montfort, G.; Rivet, P. (1913). Linguistique Bolivienne: La Langue Kaničana. Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 18:354-377.
External links
edit- (in French) La Langue Kaničana
- Lenguas de Bolivia Archived 2019-09-04 at the Wayback Machine (online edition)
- Canichana transcriptions of GlobalRecordings audio files
This article related to the Indigenous languages of the Americas is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.