Waikuri language

Waikuri (Guaycura, Waicura) is an extinct language of southern Baja California spoken by the Waikuri or Guaycura people. The Jesuit priest Baegert documented words, sentences and texts in the language between 1751 and 1768.

Waicuri
Guaicurian
Guaycura
RegionBaja California
EthnicityGuaycura
Extinctbefore 1800
unclassified
(Guaicurian)
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
qjg Guaicura (Waikura, Waykuri)
 qea Waicuri (Waicuru)
 qny Cora (Huchití)
Glottologguai1237  Guaicurian
monq1236  Monqui
The location of Guaycura. Monqui and Pericú are essentially unattested; Cochimí, which is still spoken, is a Yuman language.

Waikuri may be, along with the Yukian and Chumashan languages and other languages of southern Baja such as Pericú, among the oldest languages established in California, before the arrival of speakers of Penutian, Uto-Aztecan, and perhaps even Hokan languages. All are spoken in areas with long-established populations of a distinct physical type.[1]

Name

The ethnonym Waikuri and its variants likely originates from the Pericú word guaxoro 'friend'. Variations of the name include Waicuri, Waicuri, Guaicuri, Waicura, Guaycura, Guaicura, Waicuro, Guaicuro, Guaycuro, Vaicuro, Guaicuru, Guaycuru, Waikur.[2]:187

Classification

Baegert's data is analyzed by Raoul Zamponi (2004). On existing evidence, Guaycura appears to be unrelated to the Yuman languages to its north. Some linguists have suggested that it belonged to the widely scattered Hokan phylum of California and Mexico (Gursky 1966; Swadesh 1967); however, the evidence for this seems inconclusive (Laylander 1997; Zamponi 2004; Mixco 2006). William C. Massey (1949) suggested a connection with Pericú, but the latter is too meagerly attested to support a meaningful comparison. Other languages of southern Baja are essentially undocumented, though people have speculated from non-linguistic sources that Monqui (Monquí-Didiú), spoken in a small region around Loreto, may have been a 'Guaicurian' language, as perhaps was Huchití (Uchití), though that may have actually been a variety of Guaycura itself (Golla 2007).

The internal classification of Guaicurian (Waikurian) languages is uncertain. Massey (1949), cited in Campbell (1997:169), gives this tentative classification based on similarity judgments given by colonial-era sources, rather than actual linguistic data.

Guaicurian (Waikurian)
  • Guaicura branch
    • Guaocura (Waikuri)
    • Callejue
  • Huchiti branch
    • Cora
    • Huchiti
    • Aripe
    • Periúe
  • Pericú branch
    • Pericú
    • Isleño

However, Laylander (1997) and Zamponi (2004) conclude that Waikuri and Pericú are unrelated.

Phonology

Phonology of the Waikuri language:[3]

Consonants

Consonants were voiceless stops p t c k and maybe glottal stop; voiced b d, nasal m n ny, flap r, trill rr, and approximants w y.

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k (ʔ)
voiced b d
Affricate t͡ʃ
Nasal m n ɲ
Rhotic ɾ, r
Approximant w j

Vowels

Waikuri had four vowels, /i, e, a, u/. Whether or not vowel length was phonemic is unknown.

Grammar

The little we know of Guaycura grammar was provided by Francisco Pimentel, who analyzed a few verbs and phrases. Guaicura was a polysyllabic language that involved a lot of compounding. For example, 'sky' is tekerakadatemba, from tekaraka (arched) and datemba (earth).

Beagert and Pimentel agree that the plural is formed with a suffix -ma. However, Pimentel also notes a prefix k- with the 'same' function. For example, kanai 'women', from anai 'woman'. According to Pimentel, the negation in -ra of an adjective resulted in its opposite, so from ataka 'good' is derived atakara 'bad'.

Pronouns were as follows (Golla 2011):

Pronouns
Subject Object Inalienable
possessive
Alienable
possessive
I be my be- ~ m- bekún
thou e’i thee e’i ? thy e- ekún
s/he  ? his/her ti- ~ t-
we katé us kepe our kepe- kepekún
you peté  ?
they  ? their kikún

Text

The Pater Noster is recorded in Guaycura, with a literal gloss by Pimentel (1874: cap. XXV).

Kepe-dare
Padre Nuestro
Kepe-dare tekerekadatemba daï, ei-ri akatuike pu-me, tschakarrake pu-me ti tschie.
Padre nuestro (que en el) cielo estás, te reconocemos todos (los que) existimos (y te) alaban todos (los que) somos hombres y.
Ecun gracia ri atume cate tekerekedatemba tschie. Ei-ri jebarrakeme ti
(Y por) tu gracia  ? tengamos nosotros (el) cielo (y). Te obedeceremos (los) hombres
pu jaupe datemba pae ei jebarrakere aëna kea. Kepekun bue
todos aquí (en la) tierra como a ti obedientes arriba siendo. Nuestra comida
kepe ken jatupe untairi. Kate kuitscharrake tei tschie kepecun atakamara,
(a) nos da este día. (Y a) nos perdona (y) nuestro malo (pecado),
pae kuitscharrakere cate tschie cavape atacamara kepetujake. Cate tikakamba tei
como perdonamos nosotros también (a) los (que) mal (nos) hacen. (A) nos ayuda
tschie cuvume ra cate atukiara. Kepe kakunja pe atacara
y (no) querremos no nosotros algo malo. (Y a) nos protege de mal
tschie.
y.

Vocabulary

Waikuri vocabulary from Zamponi (2004), which was compiled primarily from 18th-century sources by Johann Jakov Baegert,[4] as well as from Lamberto Hostell and Francisco de Ortega:[2]

Nouns

English glossWaikuriNotes
earth, landdatembà; atembà
skytekerekádatembàlit. ‘arched earth/land’
dayuntâiri, untáîri
weekambúja‘place where one lives; house; church’
year; pitahayaambía
mescalpui; kenjei, kennei
horse; muletitschénu-tschà‘child of a wise mother’
k.o. snakematanamu‘light red . . . [snake] with black spots’
k.o. eaglejatacrielit. ‘deer-catcher’
man; personéte (pl. ti)
womanánaï (pl. kánaï)
father-dáre, -áre (man speaking); -cue (woman speaking)
parentpera kari
son-tschánu, -tschénu
shamantaniti; tantipara
missionarytià-pa-tù‘one who has his house in the north'
forehead-tapà ~ -apà
nose-inamù
arm; hand-kére
right arm-tschuketà
pain-enembeû
foodbúe
place where one lives; house; churchambúja
ceremonial wandtiyeichalit. ‘he can talk’
dance flooramaeka
word-tanía
a songambéra didì
a danceagénari
paymenttenkíe

Pronouns

English glossWaikuriNotes
Ibe (subject)
you (sg.)subject
wecatèsubject
you (pl.)petèsubject
you (sg.); to youdirect/indirect object
us; to uskepedirect/indirect object
minebecún, beticúnalso used adjectivally with alienably possessed nouns
yours (sg.)ecún, ecùn; eiticúnalso used adjectivally with alienably possessed nouns
ourskepecùnalso used adjectivally with alienably possessed nouns
theirskicùnalso used adjectivally with alienably possessed nouns
this onetâupe
these onescávape
that onetutâu
those onestucáva
this same onetâuvérepeprobably also used as a demonstrative determiner
who?aipe(e), ci pe
all, everythingpualso quantifier; cf. 'all'
something
nothingvâra, buarà

Other parts of speech

English glossWaikuriNotes
greatapánne
goodatacá (pl. atacámma), aata ce; atukià
ugly; badentuditù (pl. entuditámma)
washedkunjukaráü (pl.)
beatentschipitschürre (pl. kutipaû)
deadtibikíu (pl.)
archedtekereká
aloneíbe
many (?)pari; cuncari
all
threeakúnju
thisjatúpe, jaûpe
in (a region); from (separation); by means ofpreposition
from (source); at the side of; in (time)mepreposition
oftepreposition
on, upontínapreposition
belowbúnjupostposition
on account ofdéve; tiptischeûpreposition
acknowledgeakátuikè
bedaï (sg.?); kéa (pl.?)
be ashamed
be bompedára
beattschípake
becomepunjére
believeirimánju
burykejenjùta (pl.?)
canpuduéne
chatjake (pl. kuáke)
comeku
commandïebitschéne
confesskutéve
diepibikí (?)
do (cause)tujakè
fightpiabakè (pl. kupiábake)
forgivekuitscharrakè, kuitscharaké
giveuteürì, utere; kên
go down, descendkeritschéü
go uptschukíti
hatekumbáte
haveatú
helptikakambà
kisstschumuge
knowkériri, rthe risi, kereri
lie (down)tíe
livetipè, tipé
make, createuretì
obeyjebarraké
playamukíri
praisetschakárrake
protectkakunjà
rememberumutù (pl. kumutú)
sitpenekà
stretch outkutikürre (pl. ?)
sufferhíbitsche
talktiyeicha‘can talk’ ?; cf. 'ceremonial wand'
there isepí
touchundiri
wish, desirecuvu
thenenjéme
aboveaëna
from thereaipúreve
andtschie
aspáe, pàe
imperative particletêi (sg.); tu (pl.)
novâra‘nothing’; cf. 'nothing'
thanks (?)payro

References

  1. Golla, Victor. (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-5202-6667-4
  2. Zamponi, Raoul. 2004. Fragments of Waikuri (Baja California). Anthropological Linguistics 46. 156–193.
  3. Zamponi, 2004
  4. Baegert, Johann Jakob. 1772. Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien. Mannheim: Thurfürstliche Hof- und Academia Buchdruckerei
  • Golla, Victor. 2007. Atlas of the World's Languages.
  • Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian Languages.
  • Gursky, Karl-Heinz. 1966. "On the historical position of Waicuri". International Journal of American Linguistics 32:41–45.
  • Laylander, Don. 1997. "The linguistic prehistory of Baja California". In Contributions to the Linguistic Prehistory of Central and Baja California, edited by Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat, pp. 1–94. Coyote Press, Salinas, California.
  • Massey, William C. 1949. "Tribes and languages of Baja California". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 5:272–307.
  • Mixco, Mauricio J. 2006. "The indigenous languages". In The Prehistory of Baja California: Advances in the Archaeology of the Forgotten Peninsula, edited by Don Laylander and Jerry D. Moore, pp. 24–41. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
  • Swadesh, Morris. 1967. "Lexicostatistical Classification". in Linguistics, edited by Norman A. McQuown, pp. 79–115. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 5, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.
  • Zamponi, Raoul. 2004. "Fragments of Waikuri (Baja California)". Anthropological Linguistics 46:156–193.
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