Misplaced Pages

Maká is a Matacoan language spoken in Argentina and Paraguay by the Maká people. Its 1,500 speakers live primarily in Presidente Hayes Department near the Río Negro, as well as in and around Asunción.

Phonology

Velar consonants alternate with palatal consonants before /e/ and sometimes before /a/. Examples include /keɬejkup/ ~ 'autumn' and /exeʔ/ ~ 'stork'. The palatal approximant /j/ is realised as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/, as in /inanjiʔ/ ~ .

Syllables in Maká may be of types V, VC, CV, CCV, and CCVC. When a consonant cluster appears at the beginning of a syllable, the second consonant must be /x/, /h/, /w/, or /j/.

Morphology

Nouns

Gender

Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun.

In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:

ne’

these

sehe-l

land-PL

ne’ sehe-l

these land-PL

‘these lands’

ne’

these

naxkak-wi

tree-PL

ne’ naxkak-wi

these tree-PL

‘these trees’

Number

Maká nouns inflect for plurality. There are several distinct plural endings: -l, -wi, -Vts, and -Vy. All plants take the -wi plural, but otherwise the choice seems to be unpredictable.

Case

Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case.

Ne’

DEM.F

efu

woman

Ø-tux

A.3-eat

ka’

INDEF.M

sehets.

fish

Ne’ efu Ø-tux ka’ sehets.

DEM.F woman A.3-eat INDEF.M fish

‘The woman eats fish.’

Agreement with the possessor

Nouns agree with their possessor in person.

Verbs

Agreement with subject and object

Verbs agree with their subject and object in a rather complex system. Gerzenstein (1995) identifies five conjugation classes for intransitive verbs. The following two examples show intransitive verbs from conjugation classes 1 and 3.

Transitive verbs belong to a different conjugation class, Conjugation 6. The following forms show a transitive verb with a 3rd person object:

If the object of the transitive verb is 1st or 2nd person, then certain combinations of subject and object are shown by a portmanteau morpheme.

Other combinations involve an object agreement marker which may either precede or follow the subject marker.

łe-ts-ikfex

2.SUBJ-1SG.OBJ-bite

łe-ts-ikfex

2.SUBJ-1SG.OBJ-bite

'you bite me'

xi-yi-łin

1PL.INCL.OBJ-3-save

xi-yi-łin

1PL.INCL.OBJ-3-save

'he/she saves us (inclusive)'

Applicatives

Verbs in Maká have a series of suffixes called 'postpositions' in Gerzenstein (1995), which have the effect of introducing new oblique objects into the sentence.

The following examples show the applicative suffixes -ex 'instrumental ('with')' and -m 'benefactive ('for')'

Ne’

DEM.F

efu

woman

ni-xele-ex

A.3-throw-with

ke’

INDEF.M

ute

rock

na’

DEM.M

nunax.

dog

Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.

DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog

‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’

H-osxey-i-m

A.1-grill-P.3-for

na’

DEM.M

sehets

fish

na’

DEM.M

k’utsaX

old.man

H-osxey-i-m na’ sehets na’ k’utsaX

A.1-grill-P.3-for DEM.M fish DEM.M old.man

‘I grill fish for the old man.’

Syntax

Noun phrases

In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.

e-li-ts

2-child-PL

łe-xiła’

3-head

e-li-ts łe-xiła’

2-child-PL 3-head

'your children’s head'

Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N.

Ne’

DEM.F

efu

woman

t-aqhay-ets

S.3-buy-toward

ne’

DEM.PL

ikwetxuł

four

fo’

white

tiptip-its

horse-PL

Ne’ efu t-aqhay-ets ne’ ikwetxuł fo’ tiptip-its

DEM.F woman S.3-buy-toward DEM.PL four white horse-PL

’The woman bought four white horses.’

Sentences

Affirmative

The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.

Ne’

DEM.F

efu

woman

ni-xele-ex

A.3-throw-with

ke’

INDEF.M

ute

rock

na’

DEM.M

nunax.

dog

Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.

DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog

‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’

For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject.

Wapi

rest

ne'

DEM.F

efu.

woman

Wapi ne' efu.

rest DEM.F woman

'The woman rests'

Interrogative

In yes–no questions, the usual subject–verb–object order changes to verb-subject-object following an initial particle me.

Me

Q

y-eqfemet-en

A.3-injure-CAUS

na'

DEM.M

k’utsaX

old.man

na'

DEM.M

xukhew?

man

Me y-eqfemet-en na' k’utsaX na' xukhew?

Q A.3-injure-CAUS DEM.M old.man DEM.M man

‘Did the old man injure the man?’

Sentences with wh-questions show a sentence-initial question word. Maká has a very small inventory of question words, with only three members: łek 'who, what', pan 'which, where, how many', and inhats'ek 'why'. The following example shows an interrogative sentence with an initial question word.

Łek

what

pa'

DEM.M

tux

eat

na'

DEM.M

xukhew?

old.man

Łek pa' tux na' xukhew?

what DEM.M eat DEM.M old.man

‘What did the old man eat?’

Notes

1. Maká at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Herzfeld & Lastra 1999.
3. ^ Gerzenstein 1995.
4. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 153.
5. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 150.
6. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 139.
7. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 148.
8. Gerzenstein 1995, pp. 94–101.
9. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 155.
10. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 154.
11. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 138.
12. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 106.
13. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 136.
14. Gerzenstein 1995, p. 178.

References

• Gerzenstein, Ana (1995). Lengua Maká. Estudio descriptivo. Archivo de Lenguas Indoamericanas (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires. ISBN 950-29-0176-2.
• Herzfeld, Anita; Lastra, Yolanda (1999). Las Causas sociales de la desaparición y del mantenimiento de las lenguas en las naciones de América: trabajos presentados en el 49avo Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Quito, Ecuador, julio 7-11, 1997 (in Spanish). USON. ISBN 978-968-7713-70-0.

External links

• Argentinian Languages Collection of Ana Gerzenstein, containing audio recordings of Maká, from the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.
• Maca (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)

• Languages of Paraguay
• Matacoan languages
• Chaco linguistic area