Omurano language explained

Omurano language should not be confused with Maynas language.

Omurano
Also Known As:Mayna
States:Peru
Ethnicity:Maina
Speakers:a few speakers or rememberers
Date:2011
Ref:[1]
Familycolor:American
Family:unclassified
(Saparo–Yawan?)
Iso3:omu
Glotto:omur1241
Glottorefname:Omurano

Omurano is an unclassified language from Peru. It is also known as Humurana, Roamaina, Numurana, Umurano, and Mayna. The language was presumed to have become extinct by 1958, but in 2011 a rememberer was found who knew some 20 words in Omurano; he claimed that there were still people who could speak it.

It was spoken near the Urituyacu River (a tributary of the Marañón River), or on the Nucuray River according to Loukotka (1968).[2]

Classification

Tovar (1961) linked Omurano to Taushiro (and later Taushiro with Kandoshi); Kaufman (1994) finds the links reasonable, and in 2007 he classified Omurano and Taushiro (but not Kandoshi) as Saparo–Yawan languages.

Maynas, once mistaken for a synonym, is a separate language.

Despite there being previous proposals linking Omurano with Zaparoan, de Carvalho (2013) finds no evidence that Omurano is related to Zaparoan.[3]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Urarina, Arawak, Zaparo, and Leko language families due to contact.[4]

Vocabulary

A word list by Tessmann (1930) is the primary source for Omurano lexical data.[5]

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[6]

gloss Omurana
one nadzóra
two dzoʔóra
head na-neyalok
eye an-atn
woman mparáwan
fire íno
sun héna
star dzuñ
maize aíchia
house ána
white chalama

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: O'Hagan. Zachary J.. Informe de campo del idioma omurano. 14 April 2013. 22 September 2011.
  2. Book: Loukotka, Čestmír . Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles.
  3. de Carvalho. 2013. On Záparoan as a valid genetic unity: Preliminary correspondences and the status of Omurano. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica 5: 91-116.
  4. Jolkesky . Marcelo Pinho de Valhery . 2016 . Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas . Ph.D. dissertation . Brasília . University of Brasília . 2.
  5. Tessmann, Günter. 1930. Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: grundlegende Forschungen für eine systematische Kulturkunde. Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter.
  6. Book: Loukotka, Čestmír . Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles.