Enawene Nawe language

Not to be confused with Salumá language.
Enawene Nawe
Salumã
RegionMato Grosso, Brazil
EthnicityEnawene Nawe people
Native speakers
570 (2014)[1]
Arawakan
Language codes
ISO 639-3unk
Glottologenaw1238
ELPEnawené-Nawé

Enawene Nawe (Enawené-Nawé, Enawenê-Nawê, Eneuene-Mare), also known as Salumã, is an Arawakan language of Brazil spoken by about 570 people living in the Juruena River basin area, and more specifically along the Iquê river in the state of Mato Grosso.

Classification

Aikhenvald (1999) classifies Enawene Nawe as a South Arawak language together with Terena, Lapachu and Moxo.[1] However, more recent works by both Fabre (2005) and Brandão & Facundes (2007) consider the language to form a subgroup with Paresi in the Paresi–Xingu branch of Arawakan languages.[1]

Comparison of personal pronouns between Paresi and Enawene Nawe[2]
Person Paresi Enawene Nawe
1SG natyo nato
2SG hitso hixo
3SG eze ere
1PL witso wixo
2PL xitso dexo
3PL ezenae erenaha
Comparison of numbers[1][3]
Number Paresi Enawene Nawe
one hatita xoxola
two hinama initini
three hanama koytala
four zalakakoa noxi
Comparison of other vocabulary[1][3]
Word Paresi Enawene Nawe
to fall ezoa edoa
itch mare, mali wera
drink era, tera wesera
corn kozeto korito
eye zotse edose
house hati, hana hakolo
vulture oloho olohõ
night maka mikya
stone tsehali sairi
uncle koko kokore
sour katyala katala
basket koho tohe
bathe koaha nakohã
arrive kaoka takwa

Phonology

Consonants

Enawene Nawe is described by Zorthêa (2006) as having 15 contrastive consonants.[3]

Consonant inventory
Labial Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal 		Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless kʷ ⟨kw⟩ t ⟨t⟩ kʲ ⟨ky⟩ k ⟨k⟩
voiced d ⟨d⟩
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ñ⟩
Flap ɾ ⟨r⟩
Fricative s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨x⟩ h ⟨h⟩
Approximant w ⟨w⟩ l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩

Among these, the following allophonic variations are reported:[3][4]

Consonant variations
Type Examples
⟨w⟩ varies between [w] and [b] in word-initial position before the front vowels /e/ and /i/
  • ⟨wesera⟩ "to drink": [weseɾa~beseɾa]
  • ⟨wera⟩ "itch": [weɾa~beɾa]
⟨m⟩ varies between [m] and [w]
  • ⟨datamare⟩ "(mythical character)": [datamaɾe~datawaɾe]
  • ⟨Alame⟩ "(proper noun)": [alame~alawe]
⟨d⟩ varies between [d], [s], [ɾ] and [l]
  • ⟨datowa⟩ "tomorrow": [datowa~latowa]
  • ⟨derohi⟩ "ritual step": [deɾohi~leɾohi]
  • ⟨edoa⟩ "to fall": [edoa~eɾoa]
⟨r⟩ varies between [ɾ] and [l]
  • ⟨Kawari⟩ "(proper noun)": [kawaɾi~kawali]
  • ⟨korito⟩ "corn": [koɾito~kolito]
⟨k⟩ varies between [k] and [g] between vowels ⟨nawenekota⟩ "I think": [nawenekota~nawenegota]
⟨ky⟩ varies between [kʲ] and [gʲ] between vowels
⟨t⟩ varies between [t] and [d] between vowels
  • ⟨atana⟩ "thunder": [atana~adana]
  • ⟨meta⟩ "tickle": [meta~meda]

Vowels

Enawene Nawe is described by Zorthêa (2006) as having 4 oral vowels and 4 nasal vowels.[3]

Oral
Front Back
Near-Close i ⟨i⟩ o~u ⟨o⟩
Mid e~ɪ ⟨e⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩
Nasal
Front Back
Near-Close ĩ ⟨ĩ⟩ õ~ũ ⟨õ⟩
Mid ẽ~ĩ ⟨ẽ⟩
Open ʌ̃ ⟨ã⟩

Grammar

Pronouns

Independent personal pronouns[2]
Person Singular Plural
1st nato wixo
2nd hixo dexo
3rd ere erenaha

Numerals

The first eleven numbers in Enawene Nawe are as follows:[3]

Number Enawene Nawe
1 xoxola
2 initini
3 koytala
4 noxi
5 monarese,

eswe

6 lolokwate
7 lolate
8 hoxiro
9 mamalakari
10 ketera
11 darayti

Zorthêa (2006) notes that all numbers except initini (2) and monarese (5) can be preceded and followed by affixes.[3]

Affixes

Enawene Nawe makes use of a variety of suffixes and prefixes to derive different meanings from root words.

Gender suffixes

Zorthêa (2006) describes Enawene Nawe as having two suffixes to explicitly mark gender: -lo for the feminine gender and -re for the masculine.[3] De Almeida (2015), however, notes four suffixes: -nero and -lo mark the feminine gender, while -nere and -li mark the masculine.[4]

Examples from de Almeida (2015):[4]

  • Towalinero "a Towali woman"
  • Towalinere "a Towali man"
  • Iyakaloti "a female spirit"
  • Iyakaliti "a male spirit"

Place suffix

The suffix -kwa is used to mark places and is commonly found in village names. For example, the name of the Enawene Nawe village Matokodakwa is ultimately derived from matokoda, meaning "container for transporting liquids", and -kwa "place".[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Brandão, Ana Paula Barros (2014). "A reference grammar of Paresi-Haliti (Arawak)" (PDF). pp. 6–7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  2. ^ a b Brandão, Ana Paula Barros (2018). "A documentação participativa: o caso das línguas Paresi-Haliti e Enawene Nawe" [The participatory documentation: the case of the Paresi-Haliti and Enawene Nawe languages] (in Portuguese). p. 101. Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Zorthêa, Kátia Silene (2006). "Daraiti Ahã: Escrita alfabética entre os Enawene Nawe" [Daraiti Ahã: Alphabetical writing among Enawene Nawe] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  4. ^ a b c d de Almeida, Juliana (2015). "Enawene-Nawe Wixo: Diferença e convivialidade na gestão sociopolítica do cosmos" [Enawene-Nawe Wixo: Difference and user-friendliness in the socio-political management of the cosmos] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Universidade federal do Amazonas. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-01-21.