| Maká | |
|---|---|
| Maká | |
| Pronunciation | [maˈka] |
| Native to | Argentina, Paraguay |
| Region | Presidente Hayes Department,Asunción |
| Ethnicity | Maká people [es] |
Native speakers | (1,500 cited 2000)[1] |
Matacoan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mca |
| Glottolog | maca1260 |
| ELP | Maká |
| 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. | |
Maká is aMatacoan language spoken inArgentina andParaguay by the Maká people. Its 1,500 speakers live primarily inPresidente Hayes Department near the Río Negro, as well as in and aroundAsunción.[2]
| 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][page needed]
| 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/.
Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun.[4]
| Masculine nouns | Feminine nouns |
|---|---|
In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:
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.[5]
| singular | plural | gloss |
|---|---|---|
| sehe | sehe-l | 'land(s)' |
| naxkax | naxkax-wi | 'tree(s)' |
| tenuk | tenuk-its | 'cat(s)' |
Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case.[6]
efu
woman
sehets.
fish
Ne’ efu Ø-tux ka’ sehets.
DEM.F woman A.3-eat INDEF.M fish
‘The woman eats fish.’
Nouns agree with their possessor in person.[7]
Verbs agree with their subject and object in a rather complex system. Gerzenstein (1995) identifies five conjugation classes for intransitive verbs.[3][page needed] The following two examples show intransitive verbs from conjugation classes 1 and 3.
| tremble (conjugation class 3) | dance (conjugation class 1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tsi-kawelik | 'I tremble' | hoy-otoy | 'I dance' |
| 2 | łan-kawelik | 'you tremble' | ł-otoy | 'you dance' |
| 3 | yi-kawelik | 'he/she trembles' | t-otoy | 'he/she dances' |
| 1pl.incl | xiyi-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.[8]
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.[3][page needed]
The following examples show the applicative suffixes-ex'instrumental ('with')' and-m'benefactive ('for')'
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
ute
rock
nunax.
dog
Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.
DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
sehets
fish
k’utsaX
old.man
H-osxey-i-m na’ sehets na’ k’utsaX
A.1-grill-P.3-for DEM.M fish DEM.M old.man
‘I grill fish for the old man.’
In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.[9]
Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N.[10]
efu
woman
t-aqhay-ets
ikwetxuł
four
fo’
white
tiptip-its
horse-PL
Ne’ efu t-aqhay-ets ne’ ikwetxuł fo’ tiptip-its
DEM.F woman S.3-buy-toward DEM.PL four white horse-PL
’The woman bought four white horses.’
The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká issubject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.[11]
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
ute
rock
nunax.
dog
Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.
DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject.[12]
In yes–no questions, the usualsubject–verb–object order changes toverb-subject-object following an initial particleme.[13]
Me
k’utsaX
old.man
xukhew?
man
Me y-eqfemet-en na' k’utsaX na' xukhew?
Q A.3-injure-CAUS DEM.M old.man DEM.M man
‘Did the old man injure the man?’
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', andinhats'ek'why'. The following example shows an interrogative sentence with an initial question word.[14]
Łek
what
tux
eat
xukhew?
old.man
Łek pa' tux na' xukhew?
what DEM.M eat DEM.M old.man
‘What did the old man eat?’
