Andoque language explained

Andoque
Nativename:Andoké
States:Colombia
Ethnicity:820 Andoque people (2018 census)
Speakers:370
Date:2007
Ref:e25
Speakers2:50 monolinguals (no date)
Familycolor:American
Fam1:Bora–Witoto ?
Fam2:Andoque–Urequena
Iso3:ano
Glotto:ando1256
Glottorefname:Andoque
Map:Andoque.png

Andoque is a language spoken by a few hundred Andoque people in Colombia, and is in decline. There were 10,000 speakers in 1908, down to 370 a century later, of which at most 50 are monolingual. The remaining speakers live in four residential areas in the region of the Anduche River, downstream from Araracuara, Solano, Caquetá, Colombia;[1] the language is no longer spoken in Peru. Most speakers shifted to Spanish.

Classification

Andoque may be related to the extinct Urequena language (also Urekena or Arequena) which is known only from a single 19th century wordlist.[2]

Kaufman's (2007) Bora–Witótoan stock includes Andoque in the Witótoan family, but other linguists, such as Richard Aschmann, consider Andoque an isolate.

Phonology

Andoque has been analyzed to have the lowest consonant-to-vowel ratio of any language in the world, with ten consonants and nine vowel qualities.[3] However, other studies (see below) have reported other numbers of consonants and vowels.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Landaburu (2000) reports nine oral vowels and six nasal vowels.

Consonants

LabialCoronalDorsalGlottal
Stopnasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Continuantfricativepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
approximantpronounced as /link/
The phoneme /pronounced as /ɲ// is represented orthographically as (ñ) and the phoneme /j/ is written (y).

Tone

Andoque vowels have one of two phonological tones, low or high, with the low tone being far more frequent. Landaburu (2000) marks high tone vowels with a tilde and leaves low tone vowels unmarked. While some lexemes are distinct only in tone (such as -ka- 'mix' and -ká- 'distribute'), Landaburu notes that many grammatical distinctions are made solely through differences in tone, as in the examples below which differ in tense.

Grammar

Classifiers

The subject noun does not appear alone, but is accompanied by markers for gender or noun classifiers (which are determined by shape). These noun classifiers are as follows:

! colspan="3"
Animate
MasculineFeminineCollective
AnimatePresent-ya--î--ə-
Absent-o--ô-
InanimateFlexible or hollow-o-
Rigid or elongated-ô-
Other-ó-
Person markers include o- ("I"), ha- ("you (singular)"), ka- ("we") and - ("you (plural)").

The adjectival or verbal predicate has a suffix which agrees with the subject: -ʌ for animate subjects and flexible or hollow ones; -ó for rigid or elongated ones; -i for others. Adjectival and verbal predicates are also marked with prefixes indicating mood, direction or aspect, and infixes for tense. The nominal predicate (What something is) does not have a suffix of agreement nor a dynamic prefix, but it can take infixes for tense and mood, like the verb. Other grammatical roles (benefactive, instrumental, locative) appear outside the verb in the form of markers for case. There are 11 case suffixes.

Evidentials

In addition, the sentence has markers for the source of knowledge, or evidentials indicating whether the speaker knows the information communicated firsthand, heard it from another person, has deduced it, etc.

There is also a focus marker -nokó, which draws attention to the participants or indicates the highlight of a story. In the language there are means of representing action from the point of view of the subject or other participants, or from the point of view of an external observer.

Vocabulary

Landaburu (2000)

Landaburu (2000) gives the following Swadesh list table for Andoque:[4]

no. Spanish gloss English gloss Andoque
1. yo I o-ʔɤ
2. you ha-ʔɤ
3. nosotros we kẽ-ʔɤ̃
4. ésto this ʌɲẽ́
5. hoja leaf -sedɤ̃
6. aquel that ʌdí
7. ¿quién? who? kó-i
8. ¿qué? what? hi-ʌ
g. no not hʌ́ʌ-bã́
10. todos all sí-õ-kɤ̃
11. muchos many hʌ́ʌ-pãã́, ɯ́ɯ-kɤ̃
12. largo one bɤ̃kɤ̃-
13. uno two ʌisidé
14. dos big ʌ-ʌ́hʌbã́
15. grande long ĩʔõ-kɤ̃
16. perro dog ĩɲõ
17. chico small uʔ-pãã́-ɲé-ʌ
18. mujer woman tiʔi
19. hombre person ʝóʔhʌ
20. pescado fish bei
21. pájaro bird hiʌɸo
22. piojo louse táʔsi
23. cola tail -dɤ̃ta
24. árbol tree kɤ̃́ʔɤ̃dɤ
25. semilla seed -tapi
26. raíz root -ɲeko
27. corteza bark -tasi
28. piel skin -tasi
29. carne flesh -ɤ̃ta
30. sangre blood -duʔs
31. hueso bone -tadɤ̃
32. grasa grease kẽɤ̃i
33. huevo egg -hádɤ
34. cuerno horn -si
35. pluma feather -ɲeɸʌ
36. parado standing taɲe-
37. cabello hair ka-tai ʌka-be
38. cabeza head -tai
39. oreja ear -bei
40. ojo eye -ʔákʌ
41. nariz nose -pɤta
42. boca mouth -ɸi
43. diente tooth -kódi
44. lengua tongue -sodɤ̃
45. rodilla knee -kodoi
46. garra, uña claw, nail -sikopɤ
47. pie foot -dʌka
48. mano hand -dobi
49. barriga belly -tura
50. cuello neck -ɲekɤ̃́i
51. senos breasts -ɲeé
52. corazón heart -pĩ́tú
53. hígado liver -tú
54. beber drink -kóʔ-
55. comer eat -baʔi-
56. morder bite -ʝu-
57. ver see -do-
58. oir hear -tó-
59. saber know -do-
60. dormir sleep -pʌ-
61. morir die ĩ-hʌ́ʌ-
62. matar kill -buʔ-
63. nadar swim -ɲṍẽi-
64. volar fly -bu-
65. andar, caminar walk -tá-
66. venir come da-ɤ̃-
67. acostado lying down se-aɲe-
68. dar give -ĩ-
69. sentado seated ʝi-ɸɤʌ́-aɲe-
70. decir say -kɤ̃-/-ẽʔ-
71. sol sun ĩɒ̃
72. luna moon pódɤɤ̃
73 estrella star ɸʌʔko
74. agua water dúʔu
75 lluvia rain dɤ-i
76. piedra stone ɸisi
77. arena sand poʔsɒ̃ɤ̃
78. tierra earth ɲṍʔĩ
79. nube cloud bóasiakʌi dɤ̃kɤ̃
80. humo smoke bóasiakʌi
81. fuego fire ʌʔpa
82. ceniza ashes pʌtakoi
83. arder burn -du-
84. camino path dubɤ, õbɤ
85. cerro mountain toʌ́i
86. rojo red peo-
87. verde green paʝo-
88. amarillo yellow dóɒ-
89. blanco white poʔté
90. negro black uo-
91. noche night hʌʔpʌ́ʌ
92. caliente hot pã-
93. frio cold dõsi-ko-
94. lleno full ɸiʔ
95. nuevo new pá-
96. bueno good ɸɤɲe-
97. redondo round -tude 'bola' ("ball")
98. seco dry ʝɒʔɒ-
99. nombre name -ti

Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Andoque.[5]

gloss Andoque
one itsidixate
two ükhümá
head ka-tái
eye ka-haksü
tooth ka-koːné
man phohaː
water dzühü
fire nóhapa
maize tsobohi
jaguar inóh
house dzyaʔpüko

Notes

  1. Book: Epps . Patience . Michael . Lev . Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Chapra . Walter de Gruyter . Berlin . 2023 . 978-3-11-041940-5.
  2. https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/71532/Natterer%27s_Linguistic_Heritage.pdf?sequence=1 Johann Natterer's Linguistic Heritage
  3. Web site: WALS Online - Chapter Consonant-Vowel Ratio . 2023-03-09 . wals.info . 2024-05-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240526095550/https://wals.info/chapter/3 . live .
  4. Landaburu, Jon. 2000. La Lengua Andoque. In González de Pérez, María Stella and Rodríguez de Montes, María Luisa (eds.), Lenguas indígenas de Colombia: una visión descriptiva, 275-288. Santafé de Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
  5. Book: Loukotka, Čestmír . Čestmír Loukotka

    . Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles.

Bibliography

External links