Ticuna language: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Ticuna–Yuri language spoken in Amazon Basin}} | {{Short description|Ticuna–Yuri language spoken in Amazon Basin}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} | |||
{{Infobox language | {{Infobox language | ||
| name = Tïcuna | | name = Tïcuna | ||
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| date = 2021 | | date = 2021 | ||
| familycolor = American | | familycolor = American | ||
| fam1 = [[Ticuna–Yuri languages|Tïcuna–Yuri]] | | fam1 = [[Ticuna–Yuri languages|Tïcuna–Yuri]] | ||
| iso3 = tca | | iso3 = tca | ||
| glotto = ticu1245 | | glotto = ticu1245 | ||
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}} | }} | ||
'''Ticuna''', '''Tikuna''', '''Tucuna''' or '''Tukuna''' is a language spoken by approximately 50,000 people in the [[Amazon basin|Amazon Basin]], including the countries of [[Brazil]], [[Peru]], and [[Colombia]]. It is the native language of the [[Ticuna people]] and is considered "stable" by ethnologue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Size and vitality of Ticuna |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/size-and-vitality/tca |access-date=2022 | '''Ticuna''', '''Tikuna''', '''Tucuna''' or '''Tukuna''' ({{langx|tca|Duüxügu|links=no}}) is a language spoken by approximately 50,000 people in the [[Amazon basin|Amazon Basin]], including the countries of [[Brazil]], [[Peru]], and [[Colombia]]. It is the native language of the [[Ticuna people]] and is considered "stable" by ethnologue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Size and vitality of Ticuna |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/size-and-vitality/tca |access-date=28 November 2022 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> Ticuna is generally classified as a [[language isolate]], but is apparently related to the extinct [[Yuri language (Amazon)|Yuri language]] (see [[Ticuna-Yuri languages|Tïcuna-Yuri]]) and there has been some research indicating similarities between Ticuna and [[Carabayo language|Carabayo]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 April 2014 |title=Linking Isolated Languages: Linguistic Relationships of the Carabayo |url=http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2014/04/28/linking-isolated-languages-linguistic-relationships-carabayo/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Seifart |first1=Frank |last2=Echeverri |first2=Juan Alvaro |date=16 April 2014 |title=Evidence for the Identification of Carabayo, the Language of an Uncontacted People of the Colombian Amazon, as Belonging to the Tikuna-Yurí Linguistic Family |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=4 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...994814S |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0094814 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3989239 |pmid=24739948 |doi-access=free |article-number=e94814}}</ref> It is a [[Tonal Language|tonal language]], and therefore the meaning of words with the same phonemes can vary greatly simply by changing the tone used to pronounce them. | ||
Tïcuna is also known as Magta, Maguta, Tucuna/Tukuna, and Tukna. | Tïcuna is also known as Magta, Maguta, Tucuna/Tukuna, and Tukna. | ||
== Classification == | == Classification == | ||
Some have tentatively associated the Ticuna language within the proposals of the [[Macro-Arawakan languages| | Some have tentatively associated the Ticuna language within the proposals of the [[Macro-Arawakan languages|Macro-Arawakan]] or [[Macro-Tucanoan|Macro-Tukano]] stocks, although these classifications are highly speculative given the lack of evidence. A more recent hypothesis has linked Yuri-Ticuna with the [[Saliban languages|Saliban]] and [[Hoti language|Hoti]] languages in the [[Duho languages|Duho stock]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Jolkesky |first=Marcelo |title=Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. |date=2016 |journal=Title in English: An Archaeo-Ecolinguistic Study of the South American Tropics. The Downloadable Version (1.2) is the 2nd Update of My Original PhD Dissertation (Original Version: February 2016; 2nd Update Publication Date: October 2017) |url=https://www.academia.edu/27105400 |publisher=Brasilia: UnB. PhD Dissertation.}}</ref> However, the linguistic consensus is that Ticuna may actually be considered a [[language isolate]] in its present-day situation, since Yuri is extinct. | ||
== Sociolinguistic situation == | == Sociolinguistic situation == | ||
=== Brazil === | === Brazil === | ||
Ticuna is the Indigenous language most widely spoken in Brazil.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Skilton|first=Amalia|date=2021|title=Ticuna (tca) language documentation: A guide to materials in the California Language Archive|url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/24972|journal=Language Documentation & Conservation|language=en-US|volume=15|pages=153–189|hdl=10125/24972|issn=1934-5275}}</ref> | Ticuna is the Indigenous language most widely spoken in Brazil.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Skilton |first=Amalia |date=2021 |title=Ticuna (tca) language documentation: A guide to materials in the California Language Archive |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/24972 |journal=Language Documentation & Conservation |language=en-US |volume=15 |pages=153–189 |hdl=10125/24972 |issn=1934-5275}}</ref> | ||
Despite being home to more than 50% of the Ticunas, Brazil has only recently started to invest in native language education. Brazilian Ticunas now have a written literature and an education provided by the Brazilian [[Fundação Nacional do Índio|National Foundation for the Indian]] (FUNAI) and the [[Ministry of Education (Brazil)|Ministry of Education]]. Textbooks in Ticuna are used by native teachers trained in both Portuguese and Ticuna to teach the language to the children. A large-scale project has been recording traditional narrations and writing them down to provide the literate Ticunas with some literature to practice with. | Despite being home to more than 50% of the Ticunas, Brazil has only recently started to invest in native language education. Brazilian Ticunas now have a written literature and an education provided by the Brazilian [[Fundação Nacional do Índio|National Foundation for the Indian]] (FUNAI) and the [[Ministry of Education (Brazil)|Ministry of Education]]. Textbooks in Ticuna are used by native teachers trained in both Portuguese and Ticuna to teach the language to the children. A large-scale project has been recording traditional narrations and writing them down to provide the literate Ticunas with some literature to practice with. | ||
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Ticuna education is not a privilege, but part of a wider project carried on by the Brazilian government to provide all significant minorities with education in their own language. | Ticuna education is not a privilege, but part of a wider project carried on by the Brazilian government to provide all significant minorities with education in their own language. | ||
In 2012, the Brazilian government launched an educational campaign for the prevention of [[Prevention of HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] and [[violence against women]], the first such campaign in Brazil ever conducted in an indigenous language.<ref>{{Cite news | In 2012, the Brazilian government launched an educational campaign for the prevention of [[Prevention of HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] and [[violence against women]], the first such campaign in Brazil ever conducted in an indigenous language.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=11 October 2012 |title=Brazilian government uses indigenous language for the first time in anti-AIDS campaign |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-government-uses-indigenous-language-for-the-first-time-in-anti-aids-campaign/2012/10/11/e756f500-13ed-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705201616/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-government-uses-indigenous-language-for-the-first-time-in-anti-aids-campaign/2012/10/11/e756f500-13ed-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html |archive-date=5 July 2022 |access-date=21 October 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> | ||
| | |||
| title = Brazilian government uses indigenous language for the first time in anti-AIDS campaign | |||
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-government-uses-indigenous-language-for-the-first-time-in-anti-aids-campaign/2012/10/11/e756f500-13ed-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html | |||
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220705201616/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-government-uses-indigenous-language-for-the-first-time-in-anti-aids-campaign/2012/10/11/e756f500-13ed-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html | |||
| | |||
| | |||
}}</ref> | |||
=== Peru === | === Peru === | ||
| Line 51: | Line 47: | ||
=== Colombia === | === Colombia === | ||
Colombian Ticunas are taught in Spanish, when they have access to school at all. Since the establishment of Ticuna schools in Brazil some have ventured to attend them {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} | Colombian Ticunas are taught in Spanish, when they have access to school at all. Since the establishment of Ticuna schools in Brazil some have ventured to attend them.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} | ||
=== Christian ministries === | |||
A number of Christian ministries have reached the Ticuna people. These ministries have translated the Bible into the native Ticuna language and even have a weekday radio show that is broadcast in Ticuna, Portuguese, and Spanish by the Latin American Ministries (LAM).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latin American Ministries – Project Ticuna |url=http://www.latinamericanministries.net/ticuna/ucb-lam}}</ref> | |||
== Phonology == | == Phonology == | ||
=== Vowels === | === Vowels === | ||
Vowels qualities are {{IPA|/a e i ɨ u o/}}. Vowels may be nasalized and/or | Vowels qualities are {{IPA|/a e i ɨ u o/}}. Vowels may be nasalized and/or have creaky voice, under which tones are lowered.<ref name=":0">Anderson, Doris, ''[https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/76/17/69/76176939243494844467435088076270050366/acd_convrsticuna.pdf Conversational Ticuna]'', Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1962</ref> There are diphthongs {{IPA|/ai̯/}} and {{IPA|/au̯/}} that carry a single tone, contrasting with vowel sequences {{IPA|/ai/}} and {{IPA|/au/}} that carry two tones. | ||
The six vowels may be nasal or laryngealized. The sixth vowel is spelled ''ü''. | The six vowels may be nasal or laryngealized. The sixth vowel is spelled ''ü''. | ||
| Line 117: | Line 107: | ||
Ticuna is an unusually tonal language for South America, with over 10 mostly contour tones. Ticuna has one of the largest tone inventories in the world with 8–12 phonemic tones depending on the dialect.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} Tones are only indicated orthographically, with diacritics, when confusion is likely. | Ticuna is an unusually tonal language for South America, with over 10 mostly contour tones. Ticuna has one of the largest tone inventories in the world with 8–12 phonemic tones depending on the dialect.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} Tones are only indicated orthographically, with diacritics, when confusion is likely. | ||
Research has indicated isolated tonal languages with complex tones are more likely to occur in regions of higher humidity and higher mean average temperature because it is believed the vocal folds can produce less consistent tones in colder, drier air. Ticuna was one of the languages of focus in this study due to its prevalence—and complexity—of tones.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Everett |first=Caleb |display-authors=etal |date=February | Research has indicated isolated tonal languages with complex tones are more likely to occur in regions of higher humidity and higher mean average temperature because it is believed the vocal folds can produce less consistent tones in colder, drier air. Ticuna was one of the languages of focus in this study due to its prevalence—and complexity—of tones.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Everett |first=Caleb |display-authors=etal |date=3 February 2015 |title=Climate, vocal folds, and tonal languages: Connecting the physiological and geographic dots |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=112 |issue=5 |pages=1322–7 |bibcode=2015PNAS..112.1322E |doi=10.1073/pnas.1417413112 |pmc=4321236 |pmid=25605876 |s2cid=1678719 |doi-access=free}}</ref> | ||
=== Consonants === | === Consonants === | ||
| Line 130: | Line 120: | ||
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] | ![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] | ||
|- | |- | ||
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]] | ! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]] | ||
!{{small|voiceless}} | !{{small|voiceless}} | ||
| {{IPA link|p}} | | {{IPA link|p}} | ||
| Line 167: | Line 157: | ||
Natively, Ticuna has no lateral or uvular consonants,<ref name=":0" /> although /l/ is found in some Spanish loanwords. | Natively, Ticuna has no lateral or uvular consonants,<ref name=":0" /> although /l/ is found in some Spanish loanwords. | ||
The affricate {{IPA|/dʒ/}} (spelled "y") may be pronounced as {{IPA|/ɟ/}},<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lengua ticuna: resultados de fonología y sintaxis | The affricate {{IPA|/dʒ/}} (spelled "y") may be pronounced as {{IPA|/ɟ/}},<ref>{{Cite book |last=Montes Rodríguez |first=María Emilia |title=Lengua ticuna: resultados de fonología y sintaxis |year=2004}}</ref> and also {{IPA|/j/}}, but only before the vowel {{IPA|/a/}}. A central {{IPA|/ɨ/}} vowel sound may also be pronounced as a back {{IPA|[ɯ]}} sound. Other sounds, {{IPA|/f s x l/}} are found in Spanish loans. | ||
Consonants may also be glottalized. Glottal stop is spelled ''x.'' | Consonants may also be glottalized. Glottal stop is spelled ''x.'' | ||
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Nasalization is indicated with a tilde, and laryngeal vowels with a macron below.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diccionario ticuna – castellano |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/90/20/51/90205190508691852389084667097660892450/tca_Ticuna_Dictionary_2016_web.pdf |website=www.sil.org}}</ref> | Nasalization is indicated with a tilde, and laryngeal vowels with a macron below.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diccionario ticuna – castellano |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/90/20/51/90205190508691852389084667097660892450/tca_Ticuna_Dictionary_2016_web.pdf |website=www.sil.org}}</ref> | ||
=== Literacy === | |||
Besides its use at the Ticuna schools, the language has a dozen books published every year, both in Brazil and Peru. Those books employ a specially devised phonetic writing system using conventions similar to those found in Portuguese (except for K instead of C and the letter Ñ instead of NH) instead of the more complex scientific notation found, for instance, at the [[Language Museum]]. | |||
In school Ticuna is taught formally. Children in schools typically in areas of Catholic Missionaries are also taught either Portuguese or Spanish as well.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Ticuna Indigenous Trive in Brazil and Colombia|url=https://xapiri.com/pages/ticuna|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730065656/https://xapiri.com/pages/ticuna|archive-date=30 July 2017|access-date=30 July 2017}}</ref> | |||
== Morphology == | == Morphology == | ||
{{Expand section|date=November 2025}} | |||
Ticuna is a fairly [[Analytic language|isolating]] language morphologically, meaning that most words consist of just one morpheme. However, Ticuna words usually have more than one syllable, unlike isolating languages such as [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]. Typologically, Ticuna word order is [[subject–verb–object]] (SVO), though unusually this can vary within the language. | Ticuna is a fairly [[Analytic language|isolating]] language morphologically, meaning that most words consist of just one morpheme. However, Ticuna words usually have more than one syllable, unlike isolating languages such as [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]. Typologically, Ticuna word order is [[subject–verb–object]] (SVO), though unusually this can vary within the language. | ||
== Syntax == | == Syntax == | ||
{{Expand section|date=November 2025}} | |||
Ticuna displays [[Nominative–accusative alignment|nominative/accusative alignment]], with person, number, noun class, and clause type indexed on the verb via proclitics. Transitive and unergative verbs tend to favor an Subject-(Object)-Verb word order, while unaccusative verbs show a preference for Verb-Subject word order.<ref name=":3" /> | Ticuna displays [[Nominative–accusative alignment|nominative/accusative alignment]], with person, number, noun class, and clause type indexed on the verb via proclitics. Transitive and unergative verbs tend to favor an Subject-(Object)-Verb word order, while unaccusative verbs show a preference for Verb-Subject word order.<ref name=":3" /> | ||
== Vocabulary == | == Vocabulary == | ||
<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.native-languages.org/ticuna_words.htm | <ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Vocabularin in Native American Languages: Ticuna Words |url=http://www.native-languages.org/ticuna_words.htm |website=Native Languages}}</ref> | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
!Ticuna Word | !Ticuna Word | ||
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The counting words in Ticuna imply a base five system of counting as the word for five is the combination of "one five". Six through nine all contain the same beginning "naixmixwa rü" and then append the values for one through four respectively (such that six is "naixmixwa rü" and "wüxi" meaning one).<ref name=":2" /> | The counting words in Ticuna imply a base five system of counting as the word for five is the combination of "one five". Six through nine all contain the same beginning "naixmixwa rü" and then append the values for one through four respectively (such that six is "naixmixwa rü" and "wüxi" meaning one).<ref name=":2" /> | ||
=== Examples | === Examples === | ||
An example of spoken Ticuna can be found | An example of spoken Ticuna can be found here.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Recordings – Ticuna Language |url=http://globalrecordings.net/en/language/1675}}</ref> | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
!Phrase<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/Greetings%20T.htm#Ticuna | !Phrase<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greetings in more than 3000 languages |url=http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/Greetings%20T.htm#Ticuna}}</ref> | ||
!Meaning | !Meaning | ||
|- | |- | ||
| Line 309: | Line 306: | ||
|} | |} | ||
=== | ===Loukotka (1968)=== | ||
[[Čestmír Loukotka|Loukotka]] (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.<ref name="Loukotka">{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |author-link=Čestmír Loukotka | [[Čestmír Loukotka|Loukotka]] (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.<ref name="Loukotka">{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |author-link=Čestmír Loukotka |url=https://archive.org/details/classificationof0007louk |title=Classification of South American Indian languages |publisher=UCLA Latin American Center |year=1968 |location=Los Angeles |url-access=registration}}</ref> | ||
{| class="wikitable sortable" | {| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
Latest revision as of 04:44, 29 November 2025
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".<templatestyles src="Template:Infobox/styles-images.css" />Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
Ticuna, Tikuna, Tucuna or Tukuna (Template:Langx) is a language spoken by approximately 50,000 people in the Amazon Basin, including the countries of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. It is the native language of the Ticuna people and is considered "stable" by ethnologue.[1] Ticuna is generally classified as a language isolate, but is apparently related to the extinct Yuri language (see Tïcuna-Yuri) and there has been some research indicating similarities between Ticuna and Carabayo.[2][3] It is a tonal language, and therefore the meaning of words with the same phonemes can vary greatly simply by changing the tone used to pronounce them.
Tïcuna is also known as Magta, Maguta, Tucuna/Tukuna, and Tukna.
Classification
Some have tentatively associated the Ticuna language within the proposals of the Macro-Arawakan or Macro-Tukano stocks, although these classifications are highly speculative given the lack of evidence. A more recent hypothesis has linked Yuri-Ticuna with the Saliban and Hoti languages in the Duho stock.[4] However, the linguistic consensus is that Ticuna may actually be considered a language isolate in its present-day situation, since Yuri is extinct.
Sociolinguistic situation
Brazil
Ticuna is the Indigenous language most widely spoken in Brazil.[5]
Despite being home to more than 50% of the Ticunas, Brazil has only recently started to invest in native language education. Brazilian Ticunas now have a written literature and an education provided by the Brazilian National Foundation for the Indian (FUNAI) and the Ministry of Education. Textbooks in Ticuna are used by native teachers trained in both Portuguese and Ticuna to teach the language to the children. A large-scale project has been recording traditional narrations and writing them down to provide the literate Ticunas with some literature to practice with.
Ticuna education is not a privilege, but part of a wider project carried on by the Brazilian government to provide all significant minorities with education in their own language.
In 2012, the Brazilian government launched an educational campaign for the prevention of AIDS and violence against women, the first such campaign in Brazil ever conducted in an indigenous language.[6]
Peru
Ticunas in Peru have had native language education at least since the 1960s. They use a writing system that was, apparently, the base for the development of the Brazilian one. However, much of the literature available to Peruvian Ticunas comprise standard textbooks.
Colombia
Colombian Ticunas are taught in Spanish, when they have access to school at all. Since the establishment of Ticuna schools in Brazil some have ventured to attend them.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Christian ministries
A number of Christian ministries have reached the Ticuna people. These ministries have translated the Bible into the native Ticuna language and even have a weekday radio show that is broadcast in Ticuna, Portuguese, and Spanish by the Latin American Ministries (LAM).[7]
Phonology
Vowels
Vowels qualities are Script error: No such module "IPA".. Vowels may be nasalized and/or have creaky voice, under which tones are lowered.[8] There are diphthongs Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA". that carry a single tone, contrasting with vowel sequences Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA". that carry two tones.
The six vowels may be nasal or laryngealized. The sixth vowel is spelled ü.
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| oralScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | nasalScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | oralScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | nasalScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | oralScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | nasalScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | ||
| Close | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link |
| creakyScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Mid | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
| creakyScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |||
| Open | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||||
| creakyScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |||||
Tones
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Ticuna is an unusually tonal language for South America, with over 10 mostly contour tones. Ticuna has one of the largest tone inventories in the world with 8–12 phonemic tones depending on the dialect.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Tones are only indicated orthographically, with diacritics, when confusion is likely.
Research has indicated isolated tonal languages with complex tones are more likely to occur in regions of higher humidity and higher mean average temperature because it is believed the vocal folds can produce less consistent tones in colder, drier air. Ticuna was one of the languages of focus in this study due to its prevalence—and complexity—of tones.[9]
Consonants
The consonants of Ticuna consist of the following phonemes:[8]
| Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voicelessScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | (Template:IPA link) | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link |
| voicedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
| Nasal | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
| Liquid | Template:IPA link | |||||
| Glide | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||||
Natively, Ticuna has no lateral or uvular consonants,[8] although /l/ is found in some Spanish loanwords.
The affricate Script error: No such module "IPA". (spelled "y") may be pronounced as Script error: No such module "IPA".,[10] and also Script error: No such module "IPA"., but only before the vowel Script error: No such module "IPA".. A central Script error: No such module "IPA". vowel sound may also be pronounced as a back Script error: No such module "IPA". sound. Other sounds, Script error: No such module "IPA". are found in Spanish loans.
Consonants may also be glottalized. Glottal stop is spelled x.
Orthography
The letters of the Ticuna alphabet are as follows:
| a | b | c | ch | d | e | g | i |
| m | n | ng | ñ | o | p | q | r |
| t | u | ü | w | x | y |
Letters f, j, k, l, s, v, z are used in Spanish loanwords.
Nasalization is indicated with a tilde, and laryngeal vowels with a macron below.[11]
Literacy
Besides its use at the Ticuna schools, the language has a dozen books published every year, both in Brazil and Peru. Those books employ a specially devised phonetic writing system using conventions similar to those found in Portuguese (except for K instead of C and the letter Ñ instead of NH) instead of the more complex scientific notation found, for instance, at the Language Museum.
In school Ticuna is taught formally. Children in schools typically in areas of Catholic Missionaries are also taught either Portuguese or Spanish as well.[12]
Morphology
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Ticuna is a fairly isolating language morphologically, meaning that most words consist of just one morpheme. However, Ticuna words usually have more than one syllable, unlike isolating languages such as Vietnamese. Typologically, Ticuna word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), though unusually this can vary within the language.
Syntax
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Ticuna displays nominative/accusative alignment, with person, number, noun class, and clause type indexed on the verb via proclitics. Transitive and unergative verbs tend to favor an Subject-(Object)-Verb word order, while unaccusative verbs show a preference for Verb-Subject word order.[5]
Vocabulary
| Ticuna Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Wüxi | One |
| Taxre | Two |
| Tomaxixpü | Three |
| Ãgümücü | Four |
| Wüxi mixepüx | Five |
| Naixmixwa rü wüxi | Six |
| Naixmixwa rü taxre | Seven |
| Naixmixwa rü tomaxixpü | Eight |
| Naixmixwa rü ãgümücü | Nine |
| Guxmixepüx | Ten |
| Chatü | Man |
| Ngexüi | Woman |
| Airu | Dog |
| Iake | Sun |
| Tawēmake | Moon |
| Dexá | Water |
The counting words in Ticuna imply a base five system of counting as the word for five is the combination of "one five". Six through nine all contain the same beginning "naixmixwa rü" and then append the values for one through four respectively (such that six is "naixmixwa rü" and "wüxi" meaning one).[13]
Examples
An example of spoken Ticuna can be found here.[14]
| Phrase[15] | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Nuxmaxē pa corix | general greeting spoken to a man ("sir") |
| Nuxmaxē pa chiurax | general greeting spoken to a woman ("madam") |
| Nuxmaxē pa yimax | general greeting spoken to a man ("fellow") |
| Nuxmaxē pa woxrecü | general greeting spoken to a woman ("girl") |
| Nuxmaxē pa pacüx | general greeting spoken to a young woman ("miss") |
| Nuxmaxē pa chomücüx | general greeting spoken to a friend |
| Nuxmax | general greeting spoken to a stranger |
| Ngexta cuxū? | Where are you going? (spoken to one person) |
| Ngexta pexī? | Where are you going? (spoken to a group) |
| Ngexta ne cuxū? | Where are you coming from? (spoken to one person) |
| Ngexta ne pexī? | Where are you coming from? (spoken to a group) |
Loukotka (1968)
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[16]
| gloss | Tucuna |
|---|---|
| one | wöi |
| two | tádi |
| three | tamaípo |
| head | na-eró |
| ear | na-chin |
| tooth | ná-puita |
| man | yáte |
| fire | öo |
| sun | öake |
| earth | náni |
| maize | cháwue |
| tapir | náke |
References
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- ↑ a b c Anderson, Doris, Conversational Ticuna, Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1962
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External links
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- "Conversational Tikuna" – Ticuna course and grammar at the Summer Institute of Linguistics
- Ticuna publications for download
- OLAC resources in and about the Ticuna language
- Ticuna (tca) language documentation: A guide to materials in the California Language Archive (Skilton 2021)
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