Hixkaryana ( ) is a Cariban language spoken by 600 people on the Nhamundá River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. It is one of 17 languages that have object–verb–subject word order, initially described by linguist Desmond C. Derbyshire.
History The Hixkaryana are first recorded under the name "Babui" or "Wabuí" in 1725. A wordlist appearing under this name published in 1947 is essentially identical with modern Hixkaryana. The name "Hixkaryana" was originally the name of one of their clans. Čestmír Loukotka (1968) lists both "Hishcariana" and "Uaiboí" in his "Waiwai group" in the Cariban languages.
Phonology
Consonants +Hixkaryana consonants Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive Fricative Tap Approximant is a retroflex tap with a lateral release. Before the close vowel , only may occur, but in other environments it is contrastive with .
Vowels +FrontBackClose , Close-mid Open-mid Open has a number of allophones in certain environments; it is realized as closer after a postalveolar consonant, a long with a central glide preceding a syllable with a back vowel, as close, less tense in unstressed syllables followed by a syllable which does not have stressed , and as elsewhere.
Grammar
In Hixkaryana, arguments are indexed on the verb by personal prefixes, which form an inverse-like pattern in which the argument highest in the hierarchy 2nd > 1st > 3rd is indexed on the verb. If the object of a transitive verb outranks the subject, the appropriate O-prefix is used; otherwise, an A-prefix is used.
A-prefixes O-prefixes 1A 0-/ɨ- 1O r(o) 2A m(ɨ)- 2O o(j)-/a(j)- 1+2A t(ɨ)- 1+2O k(ɨ)- 3A n(ɨ)-/j-
Intransitive verbs take prefixes mostly similar to the transitive prefixes, with an active–stative. The arguments' grammatical number is indexed on the verb by portmanteau suffixes that combine tense, aspect, mood, and number.
Hixkaryana has an object–verb–subject word order. In most cases, the person prefixes clearly indicate which arguments are the subject and object. When both the subject and the object are third person, however, the person prefix is inadequate to fully determine the identity of the arguments, requiring word order. The example below, , cannot be given the AVO reading ; the OVA reading – – is the only possible one.
Indirect objects, however, follow the subject:
Moreover, the word order in non-finite embedded clauses is SOV. Like most other languages with objects preceding the verb, it is postpositional.
References
Bibliography
External links Metathesis in Hixkaryana Hixkaryana in SAILS database on South American languages