| Harákmbut | |
| Nativename: | aratbuten huaa |
| Ethnicity: | 2,090 Harakmbut (2013) |
| Date: | 2000–2007 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Glotto: | hara1260 |
| Glottorefname: | Harakmbut |
| Dia1: | Amarakaeri |
| Dia2: | Watipaeri |
| Dia3: | Arasaeri |
| Dia4: | Pukirieri |
| Dia5: | Sapiteri |
| Dia6: | Kisambaeri |
| Dia7: | Toyoeri |
| Lc1: | amr |
| Ld1: | Amarakaeri |
| Lc2: | hug |
| Ld2: | Huachipaeri |
| Map: | Harakmbut languages.png |
| Mapcaption: | Amarakaeri (north) and Watipaeri (south). The shadowed area is the probable earlier distribution of the Harakmbut language. |
Harakmbut or Harakmbet (stress on the second syllable) is the native language of the Harakmbut people of Peru. It is spoken along the Madre de Dios and Colorado Rivers, in the pre-contact country of the people. There are two dialects that remain vital: Amarakaeri (Arakmbut) and Watipaeri (Huachipaeri), which are reported to be mutually intelligible. The relationship between speakers of the two dialects is hostile.[1]
As of 2012, Amarakaeri is still being learned by children in some communities. There 5% literacy compared to 75% literacy in the second language Spanish. They live in the communities of Puerto Luz, Shintuya, San José Del Karene, Barranco Chico, Boca Inambari, Boca Ishiriwe, Puerto Azul, Masenawa and Kotsimba. The name Amarakaeri, from wa-mba-arak-a-eri "murderers", is considered derogatory; the endonym Arakmbut is preferred.[1]
Speakers of Watipaeri (wa-tipa-eri) are mostly concentrated in the indigenous communities of Queros and Santa Rosa de Huacaria, in the Peruvian rainforest. Their members have been experiencing cultural loss, including the complexities of their language, particularly because of the generational gap between the elders and the youth.[2]
There are at most only a handful of fluent speakers remaining for any of these dialects.[1]
The genetic position of Toyoeri is disputed. Some researchers have divided the dialects into two main groups, with Watipaeri and Toyoeri phonetically and lexically somewhat different from Amarakaeri/Arakmbut, Arasaeri and Sapiteri. Data from Aza (1936) and Peck (1958), however, suggest that Arakmbut is different from the other four, which are similar to each other.[1]
Harakmbut has been accepted as a language isolate since the 1960s.[1] Adelaar (2000, 2007)[4] [5] presents mainly lexical evidence that it is related to the Katukinan family of Brazil; influence from Tupian languages also suggest an origin in Brazil. Campbell (2012) accepted the evidence as "reasonably persuasive".[6] Jolkesky (2011) concurs, and adds Arawan to the family.[7] Glottolog notes "promising lexical links with Katukina [...] with a fair amount of near-identical forms, but the systems of pronouns, numerals or bound morphology show no cognation.
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Pano, Puinave-Nadahup, Tupian, and Arawakan language families due to contact.[8]
Similarities with Tupian may be indicative of an earlier origin downstream in the Madeira River interaction sphere.[8]
The following inventory is that of Amarakaeri, the most vital dialect. Other dialects appear to only differ in the presence of /h/ or the lack of /w/.
Amarakaeri has ten vowels:[1]
| Close | i ĩ | u ũ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-mid | ɛ ɛ̃ | ɔ ɔ̃ | ||
| Open | a ã |
When adjacent to /a/, /e/ tends to rise to /i/ or /j/. This can cause palatalization of a preceding consonant, e.g. kate-apo 'why?' as pronounced as /[ˈkatiabɔ]/ or pronounced as /[ˈkaʧabɔ]/. Similarly, /o/ tends to rise to /u/ or /w/ when adjacent to /a/ or /e/, e.g. ĩ-nõ-põ-ẽ-ỹ 'I know' as pronounced as /[ĩˈnɔ̃pwɛ̃j̃]/.[1]
Consonants are as follows:[1]
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | k | |
| Fricative | s | |||
| Approximant | w | |||
| Flap | ɾ |
The phonemic status of pronounced as /[h]/ and pronounced as /[ʔ]/ is not clear. They vary between dialects, but also between speakers and even with the same speaker in Arakmbut. They may be epenthetic consonants used to demarcate syllables that do not have an onset or coda consonant.[1]
/t k n s/ occur in syllable codas, and /ŋ/ only in syllable codas.[1]
Stops tend toward pronounced as /[b d ɡ]/ in intervocalic position. (In Toyoeri and Sapiteri, this has only been reported for /k/.) Among younger people, and often among their elders, the alveolars /t n/ palatalize to pronounced as /[t͜ʃ]/ and pronounced as /[ɲ]/ (or pronounced as /[nd͜ʒ]/) before /i, ĩ/; /s/ palatalizes to pronounced as /[ʃ]/ before /i, ĩ/ and /u, ũ/. (In Toyoeri and Sapiteri, this has only been reported for /t/.)[1]
The nasal consonants have different realizations, depending on whether adjacent vowels are oral or nasal, with /m/ and /n/ affected before an oral vowel, and /n/ and /ŋ/ affected after one:
| V_ | Ṽ_ | _V | _Ṽ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| m | m | m | mb | m | |
| n | dn | n | nd | n | |
| ŋ | ɡŋ | ŋ | - | ||
The nature of Harakmbut nasality has yet to be fully elucidated, and in Amarakaeri at least there is some free variation of allophones. For instance, 'five' has been attested as both pronounced as /[waˈmaʔnɛ̃ŋ]/ and pronounced as /[waˈmbaʔnɛ̃ŋ]/. Nonetheless, there is a phonemic distinction of vowel nasalization after nasal consonants, as in the proper name pronounced as //mɔɾimɔ̃//.[1]
Stress is on the penultimate syllable, not counting inflectional suffixes, which do not change stress placement in a word.[1]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Toyeri (also spelled in other sources as Toyoeri), a variety of Harákmbut.[9]
| gloss | Toyeri | |
|---|---|---|
| one | unchinda | |
| two | botta | |
| three | baʔpa | |
| tooth | ua-ít | |
| tongue | ua-no | |
| hand | ua-mba | |
| woman | uaxet | |
| water | meei | |
| fire | táʔak | |
| moon | pöxen | |
| maize | sinke | |
| jaguar | apane | |
| house | xahak |
. Lyle Campbell . Grondona . Verónica . Campbell . Lyle . 2012 . The Indigenous Languages of South America . Classification of the indigenous languages of South America . The World of Linguistics . 2 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 59–166 . 978-3-11-025513-3.
. Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles.