| Hodï | |
|---|---|
| Yuwana | |
| Jojodö tjįwęnę | |
| Pronunciation | [hotɨ] |
| Native to | centralVenezuela |
| Ethnicity | Hodï |
Native speakers | 640 (2007)[1] |
Duho ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yau |
| Glottolog | yuwa1244 |
| ELP | Jotí |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheHodï (Jodï, Jotí, Hoti) language, also known asYuwana (Yoana),Waruwaru, orChikano (Chicano), is a smallunclassified language spoken by theHodï people ofVenezuela. Very little is known of it; its several hundred speakers are monolingual hunter-gatherers. The people call themselvesJojodö ('the people') orWįlǫ̈, and their languageJojodö tjįwęnę.[2] The two communities with the most speakers are San José de Kayamá and Caño Iguana, with several hundred speakers total.[3]: 550
Sources are inconsistent with nasals, varying between e.g.nV andlṼ.[4]
No classification of Hodï has yet been established to the satisfaction of linguists.
Attempts have been made to link Hodï with the nearbyPiaroa–Saliban languages. A recent proposal classifies Hodï and (Piaroa–)Saliban as the branches of a single Jodï–Salibanmacrofamily.[5] However, similarities in vocabulary with the Piaroa–Saliban languages may in fact be due tosprachbunding: Henley, Mattéi-Müller and Reid (1996) argue that the apparentcognates between Hodï and Piaroa–Saliban are ratherloanwords.
Henley et al., based on limited data, said that Hodï may be related to theNadahup languages.[6] The only linguist to speak Hodï andPiaroa, Stanford Zent, has collected more reliable data and said that it is "probably" related to the Piaroa–Saliban languages.[7]
Since 1985 a relationship to theYanomaman languages has also been suggested, in part on the grounds that Hodï shares 20% of its vocabulary with this family.[8]
The first phonological analysis is Vilera Díaz (1985). She largely retains the vocalic description of earlier researchers, apart from finding vowel length is a product of emphasis, but does not state whether vowel nasalization is phonemic, and does not provide a minimal pair for /o/ vs /u/.[9]
The mid central vowel is written⟨ö⟩.
| oral | nasal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| front | central | back | front | central | back | |
| close | i[i] | ɨ[ɨ] | u[u] | ĩ | ɨ̃ | ũ |
| mid | e[e,ɛ] | ɘ[ɘ,ʌ] | o[o,ɔ] | ẽ | ɘ̃ | õ |
| open | a[æ,a,ɑ] | ã | ||||
Quatra (2008) maintains that [ɛ] and [ɑ] are distinct phonemes, but does not provide any minimal pairs to demonstrate that. He also maintains that [ɘ] and [ɑ] are only nasalized following nasal consonants.
| Bil. | Dent. | Alv. | Alv-pal | Pal. | Post-pal. | Vel. | Lab-vel | Glot. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obstruent | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | tʃʲ ~ kʲ | k | kʷ | |||
| voiced | b (ɓ?) | ɗ | dʒ ~ ɲ | |||||||
| fricative | (β) | h hʷ | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||
| Continuant | w | l | hʲ j | |||||||
There is no minimal pair for/β/, so it is not clear that it is a separate phoneme.
/n/ is [ŋ] before a velar. /k/ and /kʲ/ are [ɡ, ɡʲ] after a nasal and occasionally intervocalicly. Intervocalic /l/ is [ɺ]. /b/ (perhaps ɓ) is [ɓʷ] before /i e o/. /ɗ/ was written 'd' due to lack of typewriter support.
[kʲ] varies as [tʃʲ], and [dʒ] varies as [ɲ] in all contexts, not just adjacent to nasal vowels.
Phonetic aspiration occurs at boundaries, often before voiceless consonants and always before /l/.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Alv-pal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | preasp. | plain | preasp. | plain | preasp. | plain | preasp. | |||
| Obstruent | voiceless | jt[ʰt] | ky[c] | jky[ʰc] | k | jk[ʰk] | ||||
| voiced | b | d | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | jn[ʰn] | ñ[ɲ] | jñ[ʰɲ] | |||||
| Continuant | w | jw[ʰw] | l | jl[ʰl] | [j]} | jy[ʰj] | j[h] | |||
The voiced stops are realized as nasals [m n] between nasal vowels. From the orthography, it is assumed that the 'aspirated' consonants are pre-aspirated, but there are no minimal pairs to establish them as phonemic.