Jamamadí language

Madí
Jamamadí
Native to Amazonas State, Brazil
Ethnicity Jamamadi, Banawá, Jarawara
Native speakers
800 (2006)[1]
Arawan
  • Madí
Dialects
Jarawara
Banawa
Jamamadi
Language codes
ISO 639-3 jaa
Glottolog jama1261[2]

Madí—also known as Jamamadí (Yamamadí, Yamamandi, Yamadi) after one of its dialects, and also Kapaná or Kanamanti (Canamanti)—is an Arawan language spoken by about 800 Jamamadi, Banawá, and Jarawara people scattered over Amazonas, Brazil.

The language has an active–stative clause structure with an agent–object–verb or object–agent–verb word order, depending on whether the agent or object is the topic of discussion (AOV appears to be the default).[3]

The dialects of Jamamadi that are or were once spoken include Bom Futuro, Pauini, Mamoria, Cuchudua, Jaruára (Jarawara, Yarawara), Kitiya (Banawá, Banawa Yafi, Jafí), and Tukurina. Pama, Sewacu, Sipo, and Yuberi were either dialects or closely related languages.

Phonology

The phonology is illustrated here with the Jarawara dialect:

Vowels

Front Back
High i iː
Mid e eː o oː
Low a aː

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive b t ɟ k (ʔ)
Nasal m n
Fricative ɸ s
Liquid r
Semivowel w

The glottal stop [ʔ] has a limited distribution.

The liquid /r/ may be realized as a trill [r], flap [ɾ], or lateral [l]. The palatal stop /ɟ/ may be realized as a semivowel [j].

The glottal fricative /h̃/ is nasalized. See rhinoglottophilia.

Bibliography

References

  1. Madí at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Jamamadi". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. Dixon, "Arawá", in Dixon & Aikhenvald, eds., The Amazonian Languages, 1999.

External links


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