Fulniô language

Fulniô, or Yatê, is a language isolate of Brazil, and the only indigenous language remaining in the northeastern part of that country. The two dialects, Fulniô and Yatê, are very close. The Fulniô dialect is used primarily during a three-month religious retreat. Today, the language is spoken in Águas Belas, Pernambuco.[2]

Yatê-Fulniô
Native toBrazil
RegionÁguas Belas, Pernambuco
Native speakers
1,000 (2011)[1]
Macro-Gê?
  • Yatê-Fulniô
Dialects
  • Fulniô
  • Yatê
Language codes
ISO 639-3fun
Glottologfuln1247
ELPYaté

The language is also called Carnijó, and alternate spellings are Fornió, Furniô, Yahthe, and Iatê.

Classification

Kaufman (1990) classified Fulniô as one of the Macro-Gê languages. However, Eduardo Ribeiro of the University of Chicago, who is working on large-scale classification of Brazilian languages, finds no evidence to support this, and treats it as an isolate. Jolkesky (2016) again has it as Macro-Je, but Nikulin (2020) again excludes it.

Phonology

Fulniô has the following sounds:

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive plain p td k
aspirated
Affricate plain ts
aspirated tsʰ tʃʰ
Fricative f sz ʃ h
Approximate l j w

/pʰ/ is rare.

  • A glottal stop [ʔ] occurs, but is considered epenthetic.
  • /n/ can be heard as a velar nasal [ŋ] before a velar stop.
  • /l/ can be heard as a palatal lateral [ʎ] before a post-alveolar affricate, and can be heard as an alveolar lateral flap [ɺ] when following fricatives, nasals or stops.

Vowels

Fulniô has 8 vowels.

Front Central Back
Closed i u
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɔ
Open æ a
  • /a/ can be heard as a nasalized sound [ə̃] when preceding a nasal consonant in closed syllables, or word-finally after a nasal consonant.

There are few contrasts between /o/ and /u/, suggesting /u/ is a recent addition, perhaps from Portuguese.

All seven have nasalized and glottalized allophones, depending on adjacent consonants. Vowels occur long and short. However, long vowels result from assimilation of /h/, are pronounced [Vh] in one dialect, and so are analyzed as /Vh/ sequences.

Tones are high and low. Contour tones occur allophonically adjacent to voiced consonants. Final syllables tend to lack a tone contrast, and final vowels may be devoiced or dropped.

There are no vowel sequences; vowels either coalesce or are separated by a glottal stop. Consonant clusters are limited to two consonants, apart from a possible additional /j w/, with the maximum syllable being CCCVC; reduced vowels between consonants are analyzed as /j w/ by Meland & Meland: /tfàltʰùlkja/ 'crossing over', /kwlèlja/ 'rotten'.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[3]

glossFulnio
headi-tká
eyeitó
toothdzyashi
footishiri
wateroya
firetoːwẽ
startiúyá
maizemalchi
jaguarkléken
blackchichiá

Nikulin (2020)

Some Yaathê words given by Nikulin (2020),[4]:69–70 cited from Lapenda (1965,[5] 2005 [1968][6]), Barbosa (1991),[7] Costa (1999),[8] F. Silva (2011a,[9] 2011b[10]), and Branner (1887).[11]

Portuguese gloss
(original)
English gloss
(translated)
Yaathê
cinzaashesfêlôwa
footfêhê
folhaleafta(-)cʰa
fígadoliverta(-)cô
dentetoothta(-)xi
cabelohairli
águawaterôːja
línguatonguekts(ʰ)ale
bocamouthta(-)tʰê
nariznosekʰletʰa
olhoeyetʰô
orelhaearkfakê
cabeçaheadtkʰa
fogofiretôwê
árvoretreecʰleka
sementeseedkêtʰôja
ouvirhearkfala-
dormirsleepkfafa-
terraearthfê(j)ʔa
piolholousecfôwa
pedrastonefô(ʔ)a
chuvarainflicja
mãohandkoho ~ kʰoja (?)
caminhoroadtdi
dargivekô-
estar sentadobe seatedkine-
estar deitadolying downkʰa-
irgoo-, no-
rabotailta(-)tô
carnemeatucʰi ~ utxi
nomenameketkʲa
unhanail (finger)kʰôtkʲa

Bibliography

References

  1. Yatê-Fulniô at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) closed access
  2. Ethnologue
  3. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  4. Nikulin, Andrey. 2020. Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo. Tese de Doutorado em Linguística, Universidade de Brasília.
  5. Lapenda, G. C. Perfil da lingua yathê. Arquivos, Recife, v. 21/47, p. 54–72, 1965.
  6. Lapenda, G. C. Estrutura da língua Iatê, falada pelos índios Fulniôs em Pernambuco. 2ª ed. Recife: Editora Universitária UFPE, 2005 [1968]. 277 pp.
  7. Barbosa, E. A. Aspectos fonológicos da língua Yatê. 1991. 55 pp. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística) – Departamento de Lingüística, Línguas Clássicas e Vernácula, Instituto de Letras, Universidade de Brasília. 1991.
  8. Costa, J. F. da. Yaːthê, a última língua nativa no Nordeste do Brasil: aspectos morfo-fonológicos e morfo-sintáticos. 1999. 365 pp. Tese (Doutorado em Linguística) – Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. 1999.
  9. Silva, F. P. da. A sílaba em Yaathe. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística) – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, 2011a. 133 pp.
  10. Silva, F. P. da. Descrição da estrutura silábica do Yaathe, uma língua indígena brasileira. In: Anais do VII Congresso Internacional da Abralin. Curitiba: s./ed., 2011b. p. 1378–1389.
  11. Branner, J. C. Os Carnijós de Aguas Bellas [Notas sobre uma língua indigena brasilieira]. Revista do Instituto Historico e Geographico Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro, v. 94, n. 148, p. 359–365, 1929.
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