Maká language

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.[2]

Maká
Maká
Pronunciationmaˈka
Native to
  • Argentina
  • Paraguay
RegionPresidente Hayes Department, Asunción
Native speakers
1,500 (2000)[1]
Matacoan
  • Maká
Language codes
ISO 639-3mca
Glottologmaca1260
ELPMaká

Phonology
Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal/
Velar		 Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive plain p t ts k q ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ tsʼ kʼ qʼ
Fricative f ɬ s x χ h
Approximant w l j

Velar consonants alternate with palatal consonants before /e/ and sometimes before /a/. Examples include /keɬejkup/ ~ [ceɬejkup] "autumn" and /exeʔ/ ~ [eçeʔ] "stork". The palatal approximant /j/ is realised as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/, as in /inanjiʔ/ ~ [inançiʔ].[3]

Vowels
Front Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

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

Gender

Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun (Gerzenstein 1995:153:

Masculine nouns Feminine nouns

na’

DEM:MASC

sehe’

land

na’ sehe’

DEM:MASC land

'this land'

ne’

DEM:FEM

naxkax

tree

ne’ naxkax

DEM:FEM tree

'this tree'

na’

DEM:MASC

nunax

dog

na’ nunax

DEM:MASC dog

'this (male) dog'

ne’

DEM:FEM

nunax

dog

ne’ nunax

DEM:FEM dog

'this (female) dog'

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 (Gerzenstein 1995:150):

singularpluralgloss
sehesehe-lland(s)
naxkaxnaxkax-witree(s)
tenuktenuk-itscat(s)

Case

Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case (Gerzenstein 1995:139):

Ne’

DEM:F

efu

woman

Ø-tux

A3-eat

ka’

INDEF:M

sehets.

fish

Ne’ efu Ø-tux ka’ sehets.

DEM:F woman A3-eat INDEF:M fish

‘The woman eats fish.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

Agreement with the possessor

Nouns agree with their possessor in person (Gerzenstein 1995:148):

y-exi’

1S-mouth

y-exi’

1S-mouth

'my mouth'

Ø-exi’

2-mouth

Ø-exi’

2-mouth

'your mouth'

ł-exi’

3-mouth

ł-exi’

3-mouth

'his/her/their mouth'

in-exi’

1PL:INCL-mouth

in-exi’

1PL:INCL-mouth

'our (inclusive) mouth'

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.

tremble (conjugation class 3)dance (conjugation class 1)
1tsi-kawelik'I tremble'hoy-otoy'I dance'
2łan-kawelik'you tremble'ł-otoy'you dance'
3yi-kawelik'he/she trembles't-otoy'he/she dances'
1pl inclusivexiyi-kawelik'we (inclusive) tremble'xit-otoy'we (inclusive) dance'

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

love (conjugation class 6)
hi-su'un'I love (him/her)'
łi-su'un'you love (him/her)'
yi-su'un'he/she loves (him/her)'
xite-su'un'we (inclusive) love (him/her)'

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.

love (conjugation class 6)subject/object combination
k'e-su'un'I love you'1SUBJ›2OBJ
tsi-su'un'he/she loves me'3SUBJ›1OBJ
ne-su'un'he/she loves you'3SUBJ›2OBJ

Other combinations involve an object agreement marker which may either precede or follow the subject marker (Gerzenstein 1995:94-101):

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

A3-throw-with

ke’

INDEF:MASC

ute

rock

na’

DEM:M

nunax.

dog

Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.

DEM:F woman A3-throw-with INDEF:MASC rock DEM:M dog

‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

H-osxey-i-m

A1-grill-P3-for

na’

DEM:M

sehets

fish

na’

DEM:M

k’utsaX

old:man

H-osxey-i-m na’ sehets na’ k’utsaX

A1-grill-P3-for DEM:M fish DEM:M old:man

‘I grill fish for the old man.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

Syntax

Noun phrases

In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun (Gerzenstein 1995:155):

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 (Gerzenstein 1995:154):

Ne’

DEM:FEM

efu

woman

t-aqhay-ets

S3-buy-toward

ne’

DEM:PL

ikwetxuł

four

fo’

white

tiptip-its

horse=PL

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

DEM:FEM woman S3-buy-toward DEM:PL four white horse=PL

’The woman bought four white horses.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

Affirmative

The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example (Gerzenstein 1995:138)

Ne’

DEM:F

efu

woman

ni-xele-ex

A3-throw-with

ke’

INDEF:MASC

ute

rock

na’

DEM:M

nunax.

dog

Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.

DEM:F woman A3-throw-with INDEF:MASC rock DEM:M dog

‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject (Gerzenstein 1995:106):

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/ (Gerzenstein 1995:136):

Me

Q

y-eqfemet-en

A3-injure-CAUS

na'

DEM:M

k’utsaX

old:man

na'

DEM:M

xukhew?

man

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

Q A3-injure-CAUS DEM:M old:man DEM:M man

‘Did the old man injure the man?’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

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 (Gerzenstein 1995:178:

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?’

References
  1. Maká at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  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.
  3. Gerzenstein, Ana (1995). Lengua Maká. Estudio descriptivo. Archivo de Lenguas Indoamericanas (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires. ISBN 950-29-0176-2.
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