| Maká | |
|---|---|
| Maká | |
| Pronunciation | maˈka |
| Native to |
|
| Region | Presidente Hayes Department, Asunción |
Native speakers | 1,500 (2000)[1] |
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mca |
| Glottolog | maca1260 |
| ELP | Maká |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
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]
| 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 |
|---|---|
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’
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]
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);
Nouns agree with their possessor in person.[7]
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'
|
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]
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)'
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')'
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.
DEM.F woman A3-throw-with INDEF.M 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);
In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.[9]
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.[10]
Ne’
DEM.F
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.F woman S3-buy-toward DEM.PL four white horse-PL
’The woman bought four white horses.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.[11]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax.
DEM.F woman A3-throw-with INDEF.M 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.[12]
Wapi
rest
ne'
DEM.F
efu.
woman
Wapi ne' efu.
rest DEM.F woman
'The woman rests'
In yes–no questions, the usual subject–verb–object order changes to verb-subject-object following an initial particle me.[13]
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.[14]
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?’
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| Official languages |
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| Indigenous languages |
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| Other European languages |
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| Sign languages |
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| Matacoan |
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| Guaicuruan |
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| Mascoian |
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| Charruan * |
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Italics indicate extinct languages / * indicates that the inclusion of the language family within Mataco-Guaicuru family is disputed | |
Authority control databases: National  |
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