Rama language
Rama is one of the indigenous languages of the Chibchan family spoken by the Rama people on the island of Rama Cay and south of lake Bluefields on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Other indigenous languages of this region include Miskito and Sumu. Rama is one of the northernmost languages of the Chibchan family.
The Rama language is severely endangered. Their language was described as "dying quickly for lack of use" as early as the 1860s. By 1980, the Rama were noted as having "all but lost their original ethnic language", and had become speakers of a form of English creole instead. In 1992, only approximately 36 fluent speakers could be found among an ethnic population of 649 individuals in 1992. The number of speakers on Rama Cay island was only 4 in 1992. There have been several language revitalization efforts. The fieldwork for the first dictionary of Rama was done during this time by Robin Schneider, a graduate student from the University of Berlin.It is spoken in Honduras and Nicaragua
Phonology
There are three basic vowel sounds: a, i and u. In addition to these, e and o have been introduced as distinct vowels in some foreign loanwords. Each vowel may be either short or long. Here the vowels are shown in standard Rama orthography:
The following consonants are found :
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
| Voiceless Plosives | p | t | k | kw | ||
| Voiced Plosives | b | d | g | |||
| Fricatives | s | h | ||||
| Nasals | m | n | ng | ngw | ||
| Liquids | l, r | |||||
| Semivowels | y | w |
Rama words have non-predictable stress.
Phonotactics and sandhi
Rama phonotactics includes notable consonant clusters at the beginning of words and word-internally. Variations among speakers witness a tendency to simplify such clusters.Such clusters often arise due to a tendency to omit unstressed short vowels. For example, when the third person singular subject prefix i- and the past tense suffix -u are added to the verb stem kwis "eat", thus: i- + kwis + -u, the verb stem loses its only vowel, resulting in the form ikwsu "he/she/it ate". Sometimes omitting different vowels may lead to alternative results. Adding the past tense suffix -u to the verb stem maling "kill", i.e. maling + -u, may give either mlingu or malngu "killed".
There are also cases of vowel alternation in morphemes and lexical stems.
Consonants display a degree of sandhi-type alternation, as seen for example in the final consonant of the same stem aakar "stay, be", cf. the imperative aakit "stay!". This latter variant is found both word-final and before a suffix beginning with a consonant.
Grammar
In terms of grammatical typology Rama may be considered a fairly "normal" language for the linguistic area within which it is located, despite the lack of close genetic ties with its immediate neighbours. For example, Rama shares some general typological features with Miskito, a dominant contact language, displaying many characteristics typical of SOV languages. A single set of prefixes serves to express both pronominal possessors and subjects. Noun phrase relations are indicated by postpositions, tense and subordination by verbal suffixes.Noun phrase
Elements of the noun phrase
There are no articles. Nouns are frequently undetermined, e.g. Pkaak tkii su itraali " lizard walks on ground", Salpka sauk u ikuu "He/she caught fish with hook".Demonstrative determiners precede the noun: ning nguu "this house", naming tausung "that dog". Quantifiers follow the noun: tausung saiming "one dog", puus puksak "two cats", nguu ngarak "many houses", tamaaski ui "every morning", kaulingdut umling "all the people", tausung saina "the other dog, another dog".
Most nouns do not change for number, but those denoting humans can take the plural suffix -dut or -lut, as in kiiknadut "men", kumaalut "women", tiiskamalut "children", etc.
Attributive adjectives follow the noun they qualify: salpka taara " big fish".
Possession
Inalienable pronominal possession, found with body parts and characteristics, is expressed by prefixes attached to the possessed noun: nup "my eye", yausa "his/her strength", nsusuluk "our fingers".In other cases, a genitive pronoun precedes the possessed noun, e.g. naing puus / nguu / aak / tiiskama / taata / tairung "my cat / house / name / child / father / sister", maing kaulingdut "your family ", yaing aak "his/her name", nsulaing rama kuup "our Rama language".
The forms naing, maing, yaing etc. also function predicatively, as in Naming puus naing "That cat is mine".
Nominal possession is expressed by two constructions: possessor + possessed, e.g. naing taata aak "my father's name", and possessor + aing + possessed, e.g. Nora aing nguu "Nora's house".
Pronouns
Personal pronouns have free and bound forms as in the following table. The third person singular bound form is i- before a consonant or y- before a vowel.| Independent | Prefix | |
| I, me | naas, na | n- |
| you | maa | m- |
| he/him, she/her, it | yaing | i-, y- |
| we, us | nsut | nsu- |
| you | mlut | m- -lut |
| they, them | anut | an- |
The independent pronouns are often used as subjects: Nah tawan ki aakar "I live in Bluefields", Maa kalma apaakut? "Can you sew a dress?", Yaing taaki "He/She is going". They may also be complements of postpositions: Naing airung ning nguu ki aakar nah u "My mother lives in this house with me", maa kang "from you", Walsa anut su tabiu "The tiger came out at them". Note that -ut changes to -ul before a vowel, for example in nsul u "with us".
The prefix forms of the pronouns are used as subject prefixes with verbs: Neli aa nitangu "I gave it to Nelly", Tamaik suulikaas niaukut "Tomorrow I will cook some meat", Taa u mtaaku? "With whom did you go?", Itaaku "he/she went", Ipang su ansiiku "They came to the island". In the second person plural, m- is prefixed and -lut suffixed to the verb.
Subject prefixes are omitted when the subject is represented by an independent pronoun: "I am going" is either Nah taaki or Ntaaki, "He is going" is either Yaing taaki or Itaaki, etc. They are also commonly absent in the presence of a full subject noun phrase: Naing taata taaki "My father is going", but "repetition" of the subject is also possible: Pkaak tkii su itraali "The lizard walks on the ground".
A pronominal object is expressed by adding the postposition aa to the pronouns, which adopt the prefix form in the singular but the full form in the plural: naa, maa, yaa but nsula etc. But third person objects are commonly zero-marked, that is, the absence of an overt object of a transitive verb implies an understood "him", "her" or "it", e.g. Anangsku "They cleaned it".
The demonstrative pronouns are the same as the corresponding determiners: ning "this", naming "that", as in Ning naing nguu "This is my house".
The interrogative pronouns are niku "what", taa "who", as in Niku maing aak? "What is your name?", Taa rama kuup alkwsi? "Who speaks Rama?", Taa u mtaaku? "With whom did you go?".
Postpositions
Rama postpositions perform roughly the same functions as English prepositions, as in tkii su "on the ground", tawan ki "in town", nah u "with me", nguu aing "of the house", etc.Postpositional phrases may occur either before or after the verb. Some postpositions have a shorter and a longer form; following the verb the long forms are used, e.g. Nangalbiu naing taata kang "I ran away from my father" but before the verb the short forms are more usual: Naing taata ka nangalbiu.
Although aak or aa is given as an object marker, most objects take no postposition, e.g. Kruubu kiikna kwisu "The tiger ate the man".
In addition to the simple postpositions there are more complex forms of the relational type that express more specific relationships. These are composed of a noun-like lexical form followed by a postposition, such as psutki "inside", karka "out of". They are placed after a noun phrase, e.g. ngurii psutki "inside the hole", or a postpositional phrase, e.g. ung su karka "out of the pot". Such expressions may also be used adverbially.
The verb
Overview
The simplest structure for verb forms consists of these elements:- an optional subject prefix
- the verb stem
- either a tense/mood suffix or a subordination marker
This basic structure may be expanded by adding other elements, including aspect markers and preverbs. More complex meanings can be expressed through the use of serial verb constructions.
Tense/mood and subordinator suffixes
Most verb forms end in a suffix such as one of the following which either specifies a tense or else signals a subordinate clause:Use of one of the subordinator suffixes constitutes the main subordination strategy. Since these suffixes occupy the same place as the tense suffixes, the resulting subordinate clauses are tenseless, in this respect resembling non-finite clauses in European languages. Nonetheless, Rama verb forms with subordinators take subject prefixes under the same basic conditions as tensed ones, and in this way resemble finite forms.
Examples with siik "come": nsiiki "I am coming", nsiiku "I came", nsiikut "I will come", nsiikbang "for me to come", nsiikka "when I come", nsiikkata "if I come" etc.
In some cases the lack of any suffix signals a lack of marked tense or a habitual sense: compare Ntaakkama aakari "I am ready to go" with Nah tawan ki aakar "I live in the town". Imperatives in the second person singular are also suffixless, e.g. Siik! "Come!" One verb, taak "go", has a suppletive imperative mang! or bang! "go!".
Sometimes forms with the -bang suffix are used in independent clauses: see the section on Aspect below.
Aspect
Using the simple past tense of kwis "eat", the sentence Kruubu kiikna kwisu means "The tiger ate the man", but the "manner of eating" may be specified further to express completion of the action by adding to the stem kwis the aspect marker -atkul, giving Kruubu kiikna kwisatkulu "The tiger ate the man all up". Further examples with -atkul- are: Dor yakaangatkulu "He/she shut the door tight" and Paalpa ansungatkulu "They saw the whole manatee". Another aspect-marking suffix similarly used is -atkar expressing repetition.A range of further aspectual nuances may be conveyed by a variety of periphrastic constructions. Several of these involve the verb aakar "stay" or its derivative baakar, either of which, following a verb stem, may convey progressive aspect: Nah paun baakiri "I am crying". Baakar can also express "be about to ".
The suffix -bang may express intention, as in Tiiskama nitanangbang "I am going to look at the baby", and in first person plural imperatives, as in Nsukamibang! "Let's sleep!". In the latter use the subject prefix may be omitted, e.g. Rama kuup alkwisbang! "Let's speak Rama!".
A form related to bang, bating, means "want" with a nominal object, as in Sumuu ibatingi "He/she wants a banana", but with verbal complements means "be going to " in the simple form, as in Itraat batingi "He/she is going to walk", or "get ready to " in the progressive baakar construction, as in Nalngu bating baakiri "I get ready to drink".
Another periphrasis, constructed with aakar following the subordinate form in -kama of the main verb, expresses "be ready to ", e.g. Ntaakkama aakari "I am ready to go".
One other means of expressing aspectual nuances is provided by the use of a second set of emphatic tense suffixes which replace the simple suffixes, namely -aing emphatic affirmative, -uing habitual past and -uting emphatic future.
Modality
Modal notions are expressed by further periphrastic constructions. A verb with the -kama suffix may be used in an independent clause to convey obligation: Tiiskiba umling taakkama skuul ki "All the children must go to school". Ikar is used as a modal auxiliary of volition, as in Nah rama kuup larn tang ikri "I want to learn Rama". Ability may be expressed by the future/irrealis tense form in -ut, e.g. Maa kalma apaakut? "Will/can you sew a dress?" Inability is expressed by the negator angka preceding the complete verb, e.g. Nah rama kuup angka alkwsi "I cannot speak Rama".Preverbs
Rama has preverbs which form constructions comparable to English phrasal verbs such as "run away", "come over", "carry on" etc. The Rama preverbs resemble some of the postpositions in form: they are ba-, yu-, ka-, su- and yaa-. Like English phrasal verbs, the meanings and uses of Rama preverb constructions can be quite idiomatic and unpredictable. Preverbs precede the subject prefix if present: Kanangalbiu "I ran away from ". Ngulkang tawan ki yuansiiku "They brought the wild pig to the town". Tiiskama taa yutaaku? "Who took the child?".While many preverb-verb combinations are lexically specified, yu- may also be used productively to express an instrumental argument, e.g. Nainguku kiskis nsukuaakari, suulikaas yunsuaukkama "That's why we have tongs, in order to roast meat with ".
Serial verbs
A limited range of serial-type constructions are found. A notable case of this is the use of the verb traal "walk" following another verb, as in: Ipang ika kiikna paalpa baanalpi traali lakun aik "Men of Rama Cay go to look for manatee in the lagoon". The morphological analysis of baanalpi traali "they go to look for" is: ba-an-alpi traal-i.The sentence
'Be' and 'have'
Noun and adjective predicates are constructed without a copula, in the order Subject + Predicate, e.g. Ning naing nguu "This is my house", Yaing aak Basilio "His name is Basilio", Paalpa suuli taara "The manatee is a big animal", Naing nguu aakwaala "My house is pretty" ; so also Naming puus naing "That cat is mine" and Naing puus suuk mlingkama "My cat is for killing rats". The Subject + Predicate order is inverted in a question such as Niku yaing aak? "What is his name?"The verb aakar "stay" is used to express "be " and "be ", as in Skuul saud aap su aakar "The school is on the south side", Nah mliika aakar "I am fine". Aakar can also mean "live " as in Nah ipang su aakar "I live on Rama Cay", and "there is" as in Nguu ngarak ipang su aakar "There are many houses on Rama Cay".
The verb kuaakar means "have", e.g. Nah nising puksak kuaakar "I have two sisters", Nainguku kiskis nsukuaakari "That's why we have tongs", Puupu kwiik ngarak ikuaakari "The octopus has many arms".
Word order with verbal predicates
In sentences with a verb as predicate, the basic order is:- SV if intransitive, e.g. Sukmurk tkari "The frog jumps", Nah paun baakiri "I am crying", Naing tiiskama almlingi "My child is sick"
- SOV if transitive, e.g. Kruubu kiikna kwisu "The tiger ate the man", Nora rama kuup alkwsi "Nora speaks Rama", Nah tausung saiming kuaakar "I have one dog".
- in front of the verb: Pkaak tkii su itraali "The lizard walks on the ground", Tulkumas ituk u naayarnguli "The scorpion bites with its tail", Ipang su ansiiku "They came to the island", Nguu ngarak ipang su aakar "There are many houses on the island", Nah u alkwis! "Speak with me!", Nah yaabra aap su aapunu "I grew up on the south side", Naas sii ba taak ikar "I don't want to go for water", Salpka taara sauk u ikuu "He caught a big fish with a hook", Kruubu tamaaski ui tabii "The tiger came out every morning".
- at the end of the sentence : Nsut rama larn tangi Nora u "We are learning Rama with Nora", Naing airung ning nguu ki aakar nah u "My mother lives in this house with me", Nkiikna ngulkang malngi twiis u "The man kills the wari with a lance", Maa kalma apaakut naing isii? "Can you sew a dress like mine?", Naing taata ngabang yuisiiku nguu ki "My father brings the silkgrass into the house", kiskis yuisiikka nguu ki "when he brings the tongs into the house", yupsi tabii ung su karka "when the oil comes out of the pot".
- or at the beginning of the sentence: Ipang su nah maktungu "I was born on Rama Cay", Ngurii psutki yaing tiiskama yuitaaki "She took the child inside the hole", Ung ariis ba upsi ankai "They put the oil in the empty pot", Tamaik suulikaas niaukut "Tomorrow I will cook meat".
Questions
Yes/no questions take the same form as the corresponding statement, e.g. Maing nguu taara? "Is your house big?", Maa ipang su aakar? "Do you live on Rama Cay?", Maa rama kuup alkwsi? "Do you speak Rama?", Maa nising kuaakar? "Have you a sister?", Maa kalma apaakut naing isii? "Can you sew a dress like mine?" Such questions may be answered using Aha "Yes" or Mahaling "No".Some question words :
| Pronouns | niku | "what" |
| Pronouns | taa | "who" |
| Adverbs | ngarangki, ngarangsu | "where" |
| Adverbs | niika bii | "how" |
Question words may be preceded by another sentence constituent as topic, e.g. Tiiskama taa yutaaku? "Who took the child?", Maa, ngarangki aakar? "And you, where do you live?".
However, question words generally stand at the beginning of the sentence: Ngarangki maa aakar? "Where do you live?", Ngarangki ngulkang aakar? "Where does the wari live?", Ngarangki Nora aing nguu aakar? "Where is Nora's house?", Ngarangsu yaing taaki? "Where is he/she going?", Ngarangsu yaing taata taaki? "Where is his/her father going?", Taa nsulaing rama kuup alkwsi? "Who speaks our Rama language?", Taa u mtaaku? "With whom did you go?".
Questions words with a non-verbal predicate: Niku maing aak? "What is your name?", Niika bii maing kaulingdut? "How is your family?"
Negation
Sentences may be negated by placing taama after the verb or predicate, e.g. Nah ipang su aakar taama "I do not live on Rama Cay", Maa rama kuup alkwsi taama "You do not speak Rama", Naing nguu taara taama "My house is not big", Naming tausung naing taama "That dog is not mine", or by placing aa before the verb, e.g. Paalpa aa baanalpiu "They didn't look for the manatee", Naas aa taak ikar "I don't want to go".There is a special negative word, angka, to express impossibility, e.g. Nah angka aakar tawan ki "I cannot live in Bluefields".
Coordination and subordination
Coordinating conjunctions: an "and", barka "but": Naing nising an naing tairung ning nguu ki aakar nah u "My sister and my brother live in this house with me", Nah tausung saiming kuaakar an maa puus puksak kuaakar "I have one dog and you have two cats", Naing nguu taara taama, barka aakwaala "My house is not big, but it is pretty".Subordinate clauses may be formed by means of subordinator suffixes as described above. Reported speech is formed by juxtaposition as in Anaapiu anaungi "They found it, they say". Relative clauses also have no specific subordinator but the clause marker kaing may be employed, e.g. Suulikaas nipaayau kaing Neli aa nitangu "The meat I bought, I gave it to Nelly".
Lexicon
Rama has borrowed words from Miskito, English, Rama Cay Creole and Spanish. Besides such loans, Rama has a primary lexicon of Chibchan origin, expanded through various word-formation processes.Many verb stems are made up of extensions from primary roots by the addition of one of the prefixes al- and aa-, which often correlate with intransitive and transitive meanings respectively. Evident intransitive derivation with al- is illustrated by the pairs maling "kill" : almaling "die", aark : alaark "break " and auk : alauk "roast ", while other cases of outward resemblance are semantically opaque, e.g. kwis "eat" and alkwis "speak", or involve more complex relationships, e.g. aap "find" and baalp or the inalienable noun -upulis "eyelash".
New concepts can also be expressed syntactically, e.g. through genitive constructions such as preya aing nguu "church", or through verbal paraphrase.
Partial or complete reduplication is seen in the forms of some words, including onomatopoeics such as tahtah "dripping", animal names like ngaukngauk "spider" or tkwustkwus "rabbit", colour names and other descriptive adjectives such as nuknuknga "yellow", ngarngaringba "green", siksiknga "speckled", kingkingma "calm", and others, e.g. tiskitiski "a little".
Some recorded words that were claimed to be from the Corobicí language are actually from a dialect of Rama spoken in the region of Upala.