Omurano language
Omurano is an unclassified language from Peru. It is also known as Humurana, Roamaina, Numurana, Umurano, and Mayna. The language was presumed to have become extinct by 1958,[2] but in 2011 a rememberer was found who knew some 20 words in Omurano; he claimed that there were still people who could speak it.
| Omurano | |
|---|---|
| Mayna | |
| Native to | Peru |
| Ethnicity | Maina |
Native speakers | a few speakers or rememberers (2011)[1] |
unclassified (Saparo–Yawan?) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | omu |
| Glottolog | omur1241 |
It was spoken near the Urituyacu River (a tributary of the Marañón River),[3] or on the Nucuray River according to Loukotka (1968).[4]
Classification
Tovar (1961) linked Omurano to Taushiro (and later Taushiro with Kandoshi); Kaufman (1994) finds the links reasonable, and in 2007 he classified Omurano and Taushiro (but not Kandoshi) as Saparo–Yawan languages.
Maynas, once mistaken for a synonym, is a separate language.
Despite there being previous proposals linking Omurano with Zaparoan, de Carvalho (2013) finds no evidence that Omurano is related to Zaparoan.[3]
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Urarina, Arawak, Zaparo, and Leko language families due to contact.[5]
Vocabulary
A word list by Tessmann (1930) is the primary source for Omurano lexical data.[6]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[4]
gloss Omurana one nadzóra two dzoʔóra head na-neyalok eye an-atn woman mparáwan fire íno sun héna star dzuñ maize aíchia house ána white chalama
See also
Further reading
- O'Hagan, Zachary J. (2011). Omurano field notes. (Manuscript).
References
- O'Hagan, Zachary J. (22 September 2011). "Informe de campo del idioma omurano" (PDF). Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- Omurano language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- de Carvalho. 2013. On Záparoan as a valid genetic unity: Preliminary correspondences and the status of Omurano. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica 5: 91-116.
- Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- Tessmann, Günter. 1930. Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: grundlegende Forschungen für eine systematische Kulturkunde. Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter.