A summary reconstruction of proto-maweti-guarani segmental phonology (original) (raw)
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Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 2023
This paper addresses one of the open issues in the reconstruction of Proto-Tupi-Guarani (PTG) segmental phonology: The status of the *k-*kʲ opposition. We argue that the contrast is artifactual and that the presumed evidence in favor of PTG *kʲ can be considered as secondary developments of PTG *k in Kayabí, Guarayu, Kagwahiva, Tenetehára, Kamayurá, and Ka'apor. We establish additional facts regarding the structure of PTG and the historical phonology of TG languages, also showing that this finding eliminates the need for an unmotivated split in Pre-PTG history, a problematic feature of current reconstructions of the Proto-Tupian consonant system.
AMERINDIA
This paper offers a brief description of the phonology and phonetics of the Amapari variety of Wajãpi (AW), a Tupian language of the Tupi-Guarani family spoken in northeastern Amazon regions of Brazil and French Guyana. I discuss the evidence for the contrastive status of its segmental units, with emphasis on the more salient phonetic manifestations of these elements and with comparisons with other Wajãpi dialects, better represented in the published literature. I argue that surface [kw] is best analyzed as a single complex segment kʷ and that AW differs from other Wajãpi varieties in retaining a contrast between w and β. I also provide evidence of the frequent realization of the glottal stop as supra-segmental glottalization, and of processes of both regressive and progressive nasalization. Particularly noteworthy is the evidence for a gradient process of regressive height harmony in vowels and of the predictable nasalization of final unaccented-a, two processes not described so far for other Wajãpi varieties.
Carvalho_Outline of the phonetics and phonology of the Amapari variety of Wajãpi (Tupi-Guarani)
This paper offers a brief description of the phonology and phonetics of the Amapari variety of Wajãpi (AW), a Tupian language of the Tupi-Guarani family spoken in northeastern Amazon regions of Brazil and French Guyana. We discuss the evidence for the contrastive status of its segmental units, with emphasis on the more salient phonetic manifestations of these elements and with comparisons with other Wajãpi dialects, better represented in the published literature. We argue that surface [kw] is best analyzed as a single complex segment kʷ and that AW differs from other Wajãpi varieties in retaining a contrast between w and ß. We also provide evidence of the frequent realization of the glottal stop as supra-segmental glottalization, and of processes of both regressive and progressive nasalization. Particularly noteworthy is the evidence for a gradient process of regressive height harmony in vowels and of the predictable nasalization of final unaccented -a, two processes not described so far for other Wajãpi varieties.
International Journal of American Linguistics, 2021
This paper offers a comparative reconstruction of the phonology of Proto-Purus (PP), the common ancestor of Iñapari, Apurinã and Yine. The reconstruction presented here differs in many ways from current opinion on PP phonology: I argue that the contrast between r and l is a secondary development in Yine, that there is no need for reconstructing a vowel *I, and that most if not all instances of initial h in Yine reflect PP *h. Also, based on correspondences between syncopated vowels in Yine and mobile accents in Iñapari, I reconstruct for PP a morphological or mobile accentual system. Next, shared innovations support the classification of the sparsely documented Kuniba and Kanamirim together with Yine, but do not point to any compelling subgrouping hypothesis involving Yine, Apurinã and Iñapari. The paper ends with an appendix listing all 206 cognate sets used in the reconstruction, along with etymological notes.
Carvalho_Proto-Tupi-Guarani did not have a palatalized velar stop
This paper tackles one of the open issues in the reconstruction of Proto-Tupi-Guarani (PTG) segmental phonology: The status of the *k-*kʲ opposition. We argue that the contrast is artifactual, and that the presumed evidence in favor of PTG *kʲ can be accounted for as secondary developments of PTG *k in Kayabí, Guarayu, Kagwahiva, Tenetehára, Kamayurá, and Ka'apor. We establish auxiliary facts about the structure of PTG and about the historical phonology of TG languages, showing, in addition, that this finding eliminates the need for an unmotivated split in Pre-PTG history, a problematic feature of current reconstructions of the Proto-Tupian consonant system.
Nikulin_Carvalho_2022_A Revised Reconstruction of the Proto-Tupian Vowel System
Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 2022
This contribution is concerned with the reconstruction of the vowel qualities of Proto-Tupian, the ancestral language of the Tupian language family. The study is grounded in a bottom-up application of the comparative method and seeks to offer a more balanced reconstruction that avoids an overreliance on the Tupí-Guaraní branch. It is first shown that the height opposition traditionally reconstructed for the rounded vowel series (*o vs. *u) is best interpreted as an opposition between an unrounded vowel and a rounded one (*ə vs. *o). It is also argued that multiple instances of *e in the traditional reconstruction should be rather attributed to *ə. Finally, it is shown that two vowels (symbolized as *ɨ and *ɯ) must be reconstructed in lieu of the traditional *ɨ. The resulting proposal has consequences for the subgrouping of the Tupian family.
Folia Linguistica Historica, 2022
A new sound change for Guarani(an): glottal prothesis, internal classification, and the explanation of synchronic irregularities Abstract: A so far overlooked sound change in the historical phonology of the Guaranian branch of the Tupi-Guarani language family is discussed in the present paper. The sound change in question, which accounts for certain synchronic morphological irregularities, consists of the insertion of the glottal fricative h in word-initial position any time the next (right-adjacent) syllable has a glottal stop ʔ as its onset consonant. Allomorphy resulting from this change is shown to affect verbal, nominal, and postpositional prefixes, as well as monomorphemic lexemes, thus unifying the treatment of synchronic patterns which are often addressed as an exclusive trait of certain verb forms. The paper ends by discussing the issue of internal classification, pointing a few limitations in past attempts to ground the subgrouping of Tupi-Guarani languages on phonological grounds, and highlighting the status of glottal prothesis as the first known phonological isogloss exclusively shared by the Guaranian varieties.
Nasal harmony in Awetí and the Mawetí-Guaraní family (Tupí
Amerindia 31, 2008
1. Object: Awetí and the ‘Mawetí-Guaraní’ subfamily “Mawetí-Guaraní” is a shorter designation of a branch of the large Tupí language family, alongside with eight other branches or subfamilies. This branch in turn consists internally of the languages (Sateré-) Mawé and Awetí and the large Tupí-Guaraní subfamily, and so its explicit but longish name could be “Mawé-Awetí-Tupí-Guaraní” (MTAG). This genetic grouping has already been suggested (without any specific designation) by A. D. Rodrigues (e.g., 1984/85; Rodrigues and Dietrich 1997), and, more recently, it has been confirmed by comparative studies (Corrêa da Silva 2007; Drude 2006; Meira and Drude in prep.), which also more reliably establish the most probable internal ramification, according to which Mawé separated first, whereas the differentiation between Awetí, on the one hand, and the precursor of the Tupí-Guaraní (TG) subfamily, proto-Tupí-Guaraní (pTG), on the other, would have been more recent. The intermediate branch could be named “Awetí-Tupí-Guaraní” (“Awetí-TG” or “ATG”). Figure 1 shows the internal grouping of the Tupí family according to results of the Tupí Comparative Project under D. Moore at the Museu Goeldi (2000–2006).
Reconstructing Pre-Bakairi segmental phonology
Anthropological Linguistics, 2005
In this article, the comparative method is used to reconstruct the segmental phonology of Pre-Bakairi from the two extant dialects of Bakairi, a Cariban language spoken in Central Brazil. The reconstructed forms are then compared with the nineteenth-century data collected by the German explorer Karl von den Steinen. Based on this comparison, certain aspects of the reconstruction are changed. In the end, a segmental phonology of Pre-Bakairi is proposed, together with the changes that account for the present-day dialects. A list of reconstructed forms is given in the appendix.
Reduplication as a tool for morphological and phonological analysis in Awetí
Reduplication in Indigenous languages of South America, 2014
0 Introduction This study describes reduplication in Awetí, a Brazilian indigenous language spoken byasmallpeoplelivinginthreevillagesintheregionoftheheadwatersoftheXingu river,MatoGrosso,centralBrazil. 1 Awetídoesnotbelongto,butistheclosestrelative of the well-known Tupí-Guaraní subfamily, the largest branch of the Tupí family. Mawé,AwetíandTupí-GuaranítogetherconstituteamajorbranchofTupí,"Mawetí-Guaraní"(RodriguesandDietrich1997;Drude2006;DrudeandMeirainprep.). The main interest this study may claim is of a methodological character: the contributionthatthestudyofreduplication(henceforth"RED",forshort)canmakefor the understanding of phonological and morphological units and processes, such as nasalization, abstract morpheme-final phonemes, identification of the stem and of morphemeboundaries,thederivation/inflectiondistinction,etc. Sections1and2serveasabasisfortheremainingpaper.Section1summarizes the phonological system of Awetí. Section2 gives some basic morphological properties and presents some diagnostic affixes used in the remaining sections. Then section3 gives a short general overview over RED in Awetí. Section4 describes the basic patterns of RED found with active (transitive and intransitive) verbs. The members of asmall particular subclass of these end in an unstressed syllable; these aretreatedinsection5.Section6usesevidencefromREDforacloserlookatcertain (morpho-)phonological alternations at the beginning and end of verbal stems. RED with stative verbs is treated in section7. Finally, the RED-related behavior of 1 ThegeneralknowledgeofAwetíunderlyingthisstudyisaresultoftenyearsofworkonAwetí,inclu-dingatotalofaroundfourteenmonthsoffieldwork.From2001to2005,theprojectwassupportedby the Volkswagen Foundation within the DOBES (Documentation of Endangered Languages) program, focusingondocumentingthelanguageandaspectsoftheculture.From2008on,myresearchhasbeen supportedbyaDilthey-fellowshipwhichagainallowsmetodofieldworkandtoinvitespeakerstothe Museu Goeldi in Belém. Reduplication has been studied, and the specific data used in this study has beenelicited,duringthefieldtripinApril/May2009.Iamverygratefulforthesupportbythefunding agencies, the Museu Goeldi and my Awetí teachers. I also owe thanks to several reviewers of earlier versions of this paper, in particular to an anonymous reviewer and the editors. Remaining shortcomingsareminealone.