Makú languages

Infobox Language family
name=Makú
region=Amazon
familycolor=American
fam1=Puinave-Maku or
Macro-Puinavean?The Makú (Macú) languages form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name "Makú" is pejorative, being derived from the Jeral (a Tupian language) word meaning "slave, underling".

The Makú family should not be confused with the Máku language, which is also spelled "Macu" or "Makú". There are proposals linking the Máku isolate with Makú, but the name is coincidental.

Languages

Makú consists of four languages:

*Dâw (Kamã)
*Nadëb (AKA Nadöbö, Xïriwai, Hahöb, Guariba/Wariwa, Kaborí; plus Kuyawi dialect)
*Hupdë (AKA Jupdá/Ubdé; plus dialects Yuhup(de)/Yahup) (see Hupda)
*Nïkâk (AKA Nukak, plus dialect Kakua AKA Bará) (see Nukak)
*Kuri-Dou (†)Kuri-Dou is extinct; it had two dialects, Kurikuriaí and Dou.

Typology

Dâw and Hupda have lost prefixes but acquired suffixes from grammaticalized verb roots. They also have heavily monosyllabic roots, as can be seen by the reduction of Portuguese loan words to their stressed syllable, as in Dâw "yẽl’" "money", from Portuguese "dinheiru." Nadëb and Nïkâk have polysyllabic roots. Nïkâk allows a single prefix per word, whereas Nadëb is heavily prefixing and polysynthetic: Up to nine prefixes per word (which is highly unusual for the Amazon), with incorporation of nouns, prepositions, and adverbs.

Genetic relations

Rivet (from 1920), Kaufman (1994) and Pozzobon (1997) include Puinave within the family. However, there is little evidence to go on.

Henley, Mattéi-Müller and Reid (1996) present evidence that the Hodï languages (Hoti, Yuwana) are also related.

Puinavean forms part of a hypothetical Macro-Puinavean family along with the Katukinan and Arutani-Sape families and the Maku isolate (not to be confused with the Maku languages above).

Macro-Puinavean is included in Joseph Greenberg's larger "Macro-Tucanoan" stock, but this is generally rejected.. Another larger grouping is Morris Swadesh's "Macro-Makú".

External links

* Ethnologue:
** [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90619 Maku]
** [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pui Puinave]

* Proel: [http://www.proel.org/mundo/puinavean.htm Familia Puinave-Maku]

Bibliography

* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). "American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America". New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
* Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). "Ethnologue: Languages of the world" (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
* Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). "Language in the Americas". Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* Henley, Paul; Marie-Claude Mattéi-Müller y Howard Reid (1996): "Cultural and linguistic affinities of the foraging people of North Amazonia: a new perspective"; "Antropológica "83: 3-37. Caracas.
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), "Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages" (pp. 13-67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1992) Guta www.albume.net
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), "Atlas of the world's languages" (pp. 46-76). London: Routledge.
* Pozzobon, Jorge (1997). Langue, société et numération chez les Indiens Makú (Haut Rio Negro, Brésil). "Jounal de la Société de Américanistes de París" 83: 159-172. París.
* Rivet, Paul y Constant Tastevin 1920: "Affinités du Makú et du Puinave"; "Journal de la Société des Américanistes de París", n.s. t XII: 69-82. París.
* Rivet, Paul; P. P. Kok y C. Tastevin 1925: "Nouvele contributión a l'étude de la langue Makú; International "Journal of American Linguistics", vol. 3, n. 24, p.p. 129-132. New York.