Karu language


Karu, one of several languages called Baniwa, or in older sources Itayaine , is an Arawakan language spoken in Colombia, Venezuela, and Amazonas, Brazil. It forms a subgroup with the Tariana, Piapoco, Resígaro and Guarequena languages. There are 10,000 speakers.

Varieties

Aikhenvald considers the three main varieties to be dialects; Kaufman considers them to be distinct languages, in a group he calls "Karu". They are:
Various dialects of all three are called tapuya, a Brazilian Portuguese and Nheengatu word for non-Tupi/non-Guarani Indigenous peoples of Brazil. All are spoken by the Baniwa people. Ruhlen lists all as "Izaneni"; Greenberg's Adzánani presumably belongs here.
Ramirez gives the following classification for three separate dialect chains:

Sounds

FrontBack
Highi iː
Mide eːo oː
Lowa aː

Baniwa has active–stative alignment. This means that the subject of an intransitive clause is sometimes marked in the same way as the agent of a transitive clause, and sometimes marked in the same way as the patient of a transitive clause. In Baniwa alignment is realized through verbal agreement, namely prefixes and enclitics.
Prefixes are used to mark:
Enclitics are used to mark:
The differences between active and stative intransitive clauses can be illustrated below:
Baniwa has an interesting system of noun classification that combines a gender system with a noun classifier system. Baniwa has two genders: feminine and nonfeminine. Feminine gender agreement is used to refer to female referents, whilst nonfeminine gender agreement is used for all other referents. The two genders are only distinguished in third person singular. Aihkenvald considers the bipartite gender system to be inherited from Proto-Arawak.
In addition to gender, Baniwa also has 46 classifiers. Classifiers are used in three main contexts:
Aihkenvald divides Baniwa classifiers into four different classes. One set of classifiers is used for humans, animate beings and body parts. Another set of classifiers specify the shape, consistency, quantification or specificity of the noun. Two more classes can be distinguished. One is only used with numerals and the other is only used with adjectives.
Classifiers for Humans and animate beings:
ClassifierUsageExample
-itafor animate males and body partsapa-ita pedaɾia 'one old man'
-hipafor human males onlyaphepa nawiki 'one man'
-mafor female referentsapa-ma inaʒu 'one woman'

Classifiers according to shape, consistency, quantification and specificity:
ClassifierUsageExample
-daround objects, natural phenomena and generic classifierhipada 'stone'
-apaflying animate, semioval objectskepiʒeni 'bird'
-kwaflat, round, extended objectskaida 'beach'
-khacurvilinear objectsa:pi 'snake'
-navertical, standing objectshaiku 'tree'
-Øhollow, small objectsa:ta 'cup'
-makastretchable, extended objectstsaia 'skirt'
-ahnaliquidsu:ni 'water'
-imasidesapema nu-kapi makemaɾi 'one big side of my hand'
-paboxes, parcelsapa-pa itsa maka-paɾi one big box of fishing hooks'
-wanathin sliceapa-wana kuphe maka-wane 'a big thin slice of fish'
-watabundle for carryingapa-wata' paɾana maka-wate 'a big bundle of bananas'
-Øcanoesi:ta 'canoe'
-pawariversu:ni 'river'
-ʃaexcrementiʃa 'excrement'
-yaskinsdzawiya 'jaguar skin'

Negation

There are two main strategies for negation in the Kurripako-Baniwa varieties:
Different varieties have different negative markers. This is so prominent that speakers identify Kurripako dialects according to the words for 'yes' and 'no'.
DialectSpoken inYesNo
Aha-KhuriColombia, Venezuela & BrazilAhaKhuri
Ehe-KhenimVenezuelaEheKhenim
Oho-KaroColombia & BrazilOhoKaro
Oho-ÑameColombia & BrazilOhoÑame

The independent negative markers come before the verb. They are used as clausal negators in declarative and interrogative sentences. They are also used to link clauses.
The privative suffix is attached to nouns to derive a verb which means 'lacking' the noun from which it was derived. The opposite of the privative prefix is the attributive prefix ka-. This derives a verb which means 'having' the noun from which it was derived. The difference can be illustrated below:
The prefix is used in combination with the restrictive suffix -tsa to form negative imperatives, e.g. ma-ihnia-tsa 'don't eat!'. A privative prefix is also reconstructed in Proto-Arawak privative as *ma-.

Word Order

Granadillo considers Kurripako a VOS language.

Vocabulary