Taruma (Taruamá) is a divergent language of northeastern South America. It has been reported to be extinct several times since as far back as 1770, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last three speakers living in Maruranau among the Wapishana, and is documenting the language.[2][3] The people and language are known as Saluma in Suriname.[4]
| Taruma | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Guyana, formerly Brazil & Suriname |
| Region | South of Aishalton |
Native speakers | one family (as of 2009)[1] |
Katembri–Taruma ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tdm |
qoi | |
| Glottolog | taru1236 |
| ELP | Taruma |
Classification
editTaruma is unclassified.[1] It has been proposed to be distantly related to Katembri (Kaufman 1990), but this relationship has not been repeated in recent surveys of South American languages (Campbell 2012).[5]
History
editTaruma was spoken around the mouth of the Rio Negro during the late 1600s, but the speakers later moved to southern Guyana. In the 1940s, the Taruma tribe were reported to no longer exist as a distinct group.[6][4] However, their presence has recently been confirmed in the Wapishana village of Marunarau, where they are recognized as a distinct tribe. [7]
Language contact
editJolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Chibchan, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Tupi, Arawa, Jivaro, Karib, Mura-Matanawi, Tukano, Yanomami, and Kwaza language families due to contact.[8]
The following table illustrates some of the aforementioned borrowing situations:[8]
gloss Taruma Damana (Chibchan) Katukina Wapishana (Arawakan) Arikapu Proto-Tupian Proto-Arawan Proto-Jivaroan Proto-Cariban Mura Proto-Tucanoan father aide ade - - - - - - - - - sister aʧi asi - - - - - - - - - mouth kukana kəka - - - - - - - - - bird zuri suri - - - - - - - - - snake báhũ - paɡo - - - - - - - - wood u - -ʔu - - - - - - - - tick piʤíʤi - piːʧiN - - - - - - - - tobacco suma - uːba suuma - - - - - - - bow kobara - - sumara - - - - - - - star wire - - wiiʐi - - - - - - - go maku - - makʰu-n - - - *maku 'leg' - - - monkey rumi - - ruumi - - - - - - - worm pararu - - pʰaʐaru - - - - - - - egg dani - - ʤani - - - - - - - chest duku - - ɗukʰuri - - - - - - - flea kuwaba - - kʰuwaiɓa - - - - - - - caiman hiri - - - uhiri - - - - - - deer konia - - - kudi - - - - - - dance (v.) kabihwi - - - kəwi - - - - - - eat ko - - - - *kˀu - - - - - path afe - - - - *ape - - - - - arrow kupa - - - - *ekʷˀɨp - - - - - salt wuka - - - - *wukɨt - - - - - deer hiʧi - - - - *ɨʧɨ - - - - - axe bade - - - - - *bari - - - - wild dog hi - - - - - *-hi - - - - forest nukuda - - - - - *nuku 'mountain' - - - - peccary baki 'tapir' - - - - - - *paki *pakira - - leaf ʤuka - - - - - - *nuka - - - sweet-potato aɸi - - - - - - - *napi - *jãpi canoe kanawa - - - - - - - *kanawa - - hand aɸũ - - - - - - - *apô 'arm' - - earth dudu - - - - - - - *nono - - poison kʷima - - - - - - - *kuma - - fire hʷa - - - - - - - - hũai - breast iwa - - - - - - - - iiwe - mountain uwai - - - - - - - - uwe 'forest' - foot apa - - - - - - - - apai - tongue njebena - - - - - - - - - *tʲʔeme water dja - - - - - - - - - *tʲʔia 'river' three wikʲã - - - - - - - - - *ɨtˀia woman ɡumi- - - - - - - - - - *tʔõmi-
Similarities with Chibchan (especially with the Magdalena and Dorasque-Changena subgroups) may be due to the former presence of Chibchan speakers in the Northeast Amazons.[8]: 327 Similarities with Tucanoan suggest that Taruma had originated in the Caquetá basin.[8]: 348
Vocabulary
editLoukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[9]
gloss Taruma one oshiwai two dzyowa three mikyahahi head a-dam eye a-tsi man gika water za fire fwa sun hwa jaguar dun house duiya
For a list of Taruma words from Jolkesky (2016),[8] see the corresponding Portuguese article.
Further reading
edit- Meira, Sérgio. (2015). Taruma wordlist. (Manuscript).
Notes
edit- ^ a b Carlin 2011 (p. 11 12)
- ^ "Taruma". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Eithne Carlin (2006). "Feeling the need". Grammars in Contact: A Cross-linguistic Typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 315.
- ^ a b "Indianen, Inheemsen". Suriname.nu (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN 9783110255133.
- ^ Campbell, Lyle. 2018. Language Isolates. New York: Routledge.
- ^ "Marora Naawa Village". Wapichanao @ Community Lands. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
References
edit
- Eithne B. Carlin (2011) "Nested Identities in the Southern Guyana Surinam Corner". In Hornborg & Hill (eds.) Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia.
- Eithne B. Carlin (2006) "Feeling the Need: The Borrowing of Cariban Functional Categories into Mawayana (Arawak)". In Aikhenvald & Dixon (eds.) Grammars in Contact: A Cross-Linguistic Typology, pp. 313–332. Oxford University Press.