Languages of hunter-gatherers and their neighbors

Achagua

Family
Arawakan
Region
South America
ISO 639-3
aca
Location
4.39°, -72.20°
Notes
Closely related to Piapoco
Features
Basic Vocabulary
Flora Fauna Vocabulary
Cultural Vocabulary
Grammatical Data
Ethnographic Information
Data Sources
Huber, R.; Reed, R. 1992. Comparative vocabulary: selected words in indigenous languages of Colombia. Instituto Linguistico de Verano. Meléndez Lozano, Miguel Ángel. 1998. La lengua achagua, estudio gramatical. Lenguas Aborígenes de Colombia, Descripciones, 11. Santafé de Bogotá: CCELA, UNIANDES. Meléndez Lozano, Miguel Angel. 2011. Diccionario Achagua-Español / Español-Achagua. Bogotá: CESO-CCELA, Universidad de los Andes. Rodriguez, José Vicente, compiler, and others. 1995. Mamíferos colombianos: sus nombres comunes e indígenas. Bogotá: Conservation International, Fundación Mario Santo Domingo. Wilson, Peter J. and Levinsohn, Stephen H. 1992. Una descripción preliminar de la gramática de la lengua achagua (Arawak). Bogotá: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.


Basic Vocabulary (191)
English Spanish Portuguese Semantic Field Part of Speech Orthographic Form Phonemicized Form Gloss as in Source Etymology Code Proto-Form Proto-Language Loan Source Wanderwort Status Etyma Set Etymology Notes General Notes Source
above encima, arriba acima location áakai áakai unique See Language page
and y e grammar See Language page
ash ceniza(s) cinzas environment ba:li ba:li inheritance See Language page
at en, a em, a location See Language page
back espalda costas body wóhna: wóhna: inheritance See Language page
bad mal mal quality máaʃi máaʃi inheritance See Language page
belly barriga barriga body áwai áwai unique See Language page
below abajo, debajo abaixo location káinakula káinakula inheritance See Language page
big grande grande quality wé:ri wé:ri doubtful loan, direction unknown Desano wɨarí See Language page
black negro preto colour katʃáhulai katʃáhulai inheritance See Language page
blood sangre sangue body í:rai í:rai inheritance See Language page
boil/pimple espinilla, granos espinha, borbulha body missing See Language page
bone hueso osso body ijáhi ijáhi inheritance See Language page
breast pecho, seno peito body kúta kúta inheritance See Language page
child niño, niña criança human samáʃta, samálita samáʃta, samálita inheritance See Language page
cloud nube nuvem environment sáanai sáanai unique See Language page
cold frío frio quality kasaliniri kasaliniri inheritance See Language page
correct/true verdad, de veras verdade quality jáawa jáawa unknown See Language page
day día dia time éeri éeri inheritance See Language page
dirty sucio sujo quality ká:lí ká:lí inheritance See Language page
dingo/wolf fauna See Language page
dry seco seco quality míʃii míʃii unique See Language page
dull/blunt sin filo, mocho, desafilado, embotado, romo maçante, desamolado, não afiado quality méemai méemai See Language page
dust polvo poeira environment pukúpukui pukúpukui unique See Language page
ear oreja orelha body wíba wíba inheritance See Language page
earth/soil tierra terra environment káinabi (h&r) káinabi (h&r) semantic shift dirt See Language page
egg huevo ovo fauna éewiʃi éewiʃi inheritance See Language page
eye ojo olho body túi túi inheritance See Language page
far lejos longe quality déktʃe:, déktʃala déktʃe:, déktʃala inheritance See Language page
fat/grease grasa gordura body júuwika júuwka inheritance See Language page
father padre, papá pai kinship sálihina sálihina unique See Language page
feather pluma pena fauna báinaʃi báinaʃi inheritance sem shift from hair? See Language page
fire fuego fogo environment ʧiʧtái ʧiʧtái inheritance See Language page
flower flor flor environment íwinaʃi íwinaʃi inheritance See Language page
fog niebla, neblina nevoeira, bruma, neblina environment samána samána See Language page
fruit fruta fruta flora íta, ítali íta, ítali inheritance See Language page
good bueno bom quality sáika sáika unique See Language page
hair (of head) cabello cabelo body wíta 'baina: ('cabeza' +?) wíta 'baina: ('cabeza' +?) inheritance see feather See Language page
hand mano mão body ká:hi ká:hi inheritance See Language page
3sg el/ella ele/ela grammar lija/ ruja lija/ ruja inheritance See Language page
head cabeza cabeça body wíta wíta inheritance See Language page
heavy pesado pesado quality kadúkuni: kadúkuni: unique See Language page
how? como como grammar úhni:…-kaa, léhta úhni:…-kaa, léhta unique See Language page
1sg yo eu grammar nuja nuja inheritance For pronouns: include bound/cliticized pronominal forms where significantly different from the free forms See Language page
if si se grammar kita, ktate kita, ktate See Language page
in/inside dentro, adentro dentro location já:wiʒiku, liku já:wiʒiku, liku inheritance See Language page
intestines intestinos intestinos body íjakua: íjakua: inheritance See Language page
lake lago lago environment kalísa kalísa inheritance See Language page
leaf hoja folha environment bánabai bánabai inheritance See Language page
left/left hand izquierdo esquerdo location/body apáulikuehe apáulikuehe inheritance See Language page
leg/foot pierna perna body húi: (M), káwa húi: (M), káwa inheritance See Language page
lightning rayo, relámpago relampago environment é:nu é:nu semantic shift thunder See Language page
liver hígado figado body tʃáaliʃi tʃáaliʃi unique See Language page
long largo comprido, longo quality matʃéenii matʃéenii inheritance See Language page
louse piollo, piojo piolho fauna witeniʃi witeniʃi inheritance order Phtiraptera See Language page
man/male hombre homem human waʃíalikua waʃíalikua inheritance See Language page
meat/flesh carne carne fauna í:naʃi í:naʃi inheritance See Language page
moon luna lua environment kéeri kéeri inheritance See Language page
mother madre, mamá mãe kinship túwa túwa inheritance See Language page
mouth boca boca body núma núma inheritance See Language page
name nombre nome human hiʔinaʃi hiʔinaʃi inheritance See Language page
near/close cerca de perto quality urúni urúni inheritance See Language page
nape base del cuello, nuca nuca body See Language page
neck cuello pescoço body wáaʃi wáaʃi unique See Language page
new nuevo novo quality wá:li wá:li inheritance See Language page
night noche noite time táaje táaje unique See Language page
no/not no não grammar hókai hókai inheritance See Language page
nose nariz nariz body dáku dáku inheritance See Language page
old viejo velho quality salírani salírani inheritance See Language page
one uno um number ba- (dp91) ba- (dp91) inheritance See Language page
other otro outro grammar áabi áabi inheritance See Language page
pain/painful/sick dolor, doloroso, enfermo dor, doloroso, doente body bálinakua bálinakua unique See Language page
person/human being persona pessoa human chóniwa (w&l) inheritance See Language page
rain lluvia chuva environment ú:nia ú:nia inheritance See Language page
red rojo vermelho colour kírai kírai inheritance See Language page
right/right hand derecha direita location/body sáikakitehe sáikakitehe unique See Language page
road/path camino caminho manufacture iníhba, jáhbaa (h&r) iníhba, jáhbaa (h&r) inheritance See Language page
root raíz raiz flora -hítʃu -hítʃu inheritance See Language page
rotten podrido podre quality bádáiʒiú, iʒídui bádáiʒiú, iʒídui inheritance; unknown See Language page
sand arena areia environment kái-na kái-na inheritance See Language page
sharp afilado, filudo, filoso afiado quality ké:mai, ké:ʒa ké:mai, ké:ʒa inheritance See Language page
short corto curto quality tʃúkui tʃúkui inheritance See Language page
shoulder hombro ombro body séhkuʃi séhkuʃi unique See Language page
shy/ashamed tímido, vergonzoso timido, com vergonha mental missing See Language page
skin piel pele body mana: mana: inheritance See Language page
sky cielo céu environment é:ʒi é:ʒi unique See Language page
small pequeño pequeno quality húbee húbee unique See Language page
smoke humo fumaça environment í:sa í:sa inheritance See Language page
star estrella estrela environment sáalii sá:lii doubtful loan Carib See Language page
stick/wood palo pau, vara flora áikuba áikuba inheritance See Language page
stone piedra pedra environment i:ba i:ba inheritance See Language page
tail cola, rabo rabo body íiʃíʃi íiʃíʃi inheritance See Language page
that ese/esa esse grammar liára liára inheritance See Language page
3pl ellos/ellas eles/elas grammar najá najá inheritance See Language page
thick grueso, gordo, espeso grosso quality manuáhuí, banítái manuáhuí, banítái inheritance See Language page
thin delgado fino quality áulakue áulakue inheritance See Language page
this este/esta este grammar liáni; lée (h&r) liáni; lé: (h&r) unknown See Language page
2sg xx xx grammar hija hija inheritance See Language page
throat garganta garganta body wá: wá: unique See Language page
three tres tres number matáli matáli inheritance See Language page
thunder truenos trovão environment túʒunau; éenu (R01) túʒunau; éenu (R01) unique; inheritance See Language page
bite morder morder body já:amua já:amua unique; inheritance See Language page
blow soplar soprar body húhuneda húhuneda unique See Language page
breathe respirar respirar body missing See Language page
burn quemar queimar environment éma éma inheritance See Language page
chew masticar, mascar mastigar body jámuederi jámuederi unique See Language page
climb subir subir motion íireriu íireriu inheritance See Language page
come venir vir motion í:nu í:nu inheritance See Language page
cook cocinar cozinhar impact tʃáneri tʃáneri inheritance See Language page
count contar contar mental hútaderi hútaderi unique See Language page
cry llorar chorar mental íitʃeri íitʃeri inheritance See Language page
cut/hack cortar cortar impact í:hu, wítʃuéda í:hu, wítʃuéda unknown; inheritance See Language page
die/be dead morir morrer state mánali: mánali: unknown; inheritance See Language page
dig cavar cavar impact kéni kéni inheritance See Language page
dream soñar sonhar mental dáhuneriu dáhuneriu inheritance See Language page
drink beber, tomar beber body í:reri, íra í:reri, íra inheritance See Language page
eat comer comer body íja íja inheritance See Language page
fall caer cair motion káu káu unique See Language page
fear miedo medo mental ká:ʒui ká:ʒui inheritance See Language page
flow fluir fluir motion missing See Language page
fly volar voar motion jáareriu jáareriu inheritance See Language page
grow crecer crescer state dáwineriu dáwineriu inheritance See Language page
hear oír ouvir mental éemeri 'listen' éemeri 'listen' inheritance See Language page
hide esconder esconder motion bájeriu bájeriu inheritance See Language page
hit golpear, pegar bater impact inúa, bása-eʒi inúa, bása-eʒi inheritance See Language page
hold correr, asegurar, sostener segurar other kánakeriu kánakeriu inheritance See Language page
kill matar matar impact na, -inúa (h&r) na, -inúa (h&r) inheritance See Language page
know/be knowledgeable saber, conecer saber, conhecer mental éeweri, jaléenaa éeweri, jaléenaa unknown; inheritance See Language page
laugh reír rir mental káideri káideri unknown; inheritance See Language page
lie down acostarse, echarse deitar motion lé:mani jú, kuáu lé:mani jú, kuáu unique; inheritance See Language page
live/be alive vivir viver, morar body missing See Language page
open/uncover abrir abrir other mékueri mékueri inheritance See Language page
pound/beat machacar, golpear bater impact báaseri báaseri See Language page
say decir dizer mental máiri máiri inheritance See Language page
scratch rascar rasgar impact missing See Language page
see ver ver mental kába kába inheritance See Language page
shoot tirar, disparar, balear atirar impact missing See Language page
sit sentar(se) sentar state wa:u wa:u inheritance See Language page
sleep dormir dormir body má:ka má:ka inheritance See Language page
sniff/smell olfatear, oler cheirar body miédéda miédéda inheritance primarily transitive See Language page
spit escupir cuspir body wíiseri wíiseri inheritance See Language page
split partir, dividir rachar, dividir, partir impact ʃéʃineʒiu, ʃádáiʒiu ʃéʃineʒiu, ʃádáiʒiu unique See Language page
squeeze estrujar, exprimir espremer impact badakana: badakana: unique See Language page
stab/pierce apuñalar, acuchillar apunhalar impact missing See Language page
stand estar de pié ficar em pé state missing See Language page
steal robar roubar other nédueri nédueri inheritance See Language page
suck chupar chupar body íireri íireri inheritance See Language page
swell hincharse inchar body missing See Language page
swim nadar nadar motion jamara jamara unique See Language page
think pensar pensar mental péenseri péenseri loan Portuguese See Language page
throw tirar, lanzar atirar, jogar impact kása kása inheritance See Language page
tie up/fasten atar, amarrar amarrar impact báhi, báhe: báhi, báhe: inheritance See Language page
turn girar, volter, torcer virar other ríhkueriu ríhkueriu unique may be transitive or intransitive See Language page
vomit vomitar vomitar body keta, kétéʒi keta, kétéʒi inheritance See Language page
walk caminar, andar andar motion híneriu híneriu unknown See Language page
work trabajar trabalhar other ʃíakeri ʃíakeri unique See Language page
yawn bostezar bocejar body báiri báiri unique See Language page
tongue lengua lingua body núinane núinane inheritance See Language page
tooth diente dente body nué: nué: inheritance See Language page
two dos dois number tʃáma- (dp91), 'tʃamai tʃáma- (dp91), 'tʃamai inheritance See Language page
water agua agua environment ʃiátai ʃiátai unique See Language page
1pl.incl nosotros (inclusivo) nós (inclusivo) grammar wája wája inheritance no inclusive/exclusive distinction unless noted See Language page
1pl.excl nosotros (exclusivo) nós (exclusivo) grammar missing See Language page
wet mojado molhado quality íisabii íisabii inheritance See Language page
what? que, qué que grammar tána tána inheritance See Language page
when? cuando quando grammar na: na: semantic shift from 'what' See Language page
where? donde onde grammar kta kta unknown See Language page
white blanco branco colour kabálai kabálai inheritance See Language page
who? quien, quién quem grammar tána tána inheritance same as 'what' See Language page
wife esposa esposa kinship -ínuu -ínuu inheritance See Language page
wind viento vento environment káuli káuli inheritance See Language page
wing ala asa body báina:ʃi, nábai báina:ʃi, nábai inheritance See Language page
woman/female mujer mulher human í:na, í:neto: í:na, í:neto: inheritance See Language page
yellow amarillo amarelo colour meré:ki meré:ki unique See Language page
2pl ustedes vocês grammar ijá ijá inheritance See Language page
foot pie pé body íba íba inheritance See Language page
again de nuevo, otra vez de novo grammar bánio bánio inheritance See Language page
all todo todos other kinínama kinínama inheritance See Language page
ankle tobillo tornozelo body túkula túkula inheritance See Language page
armpit axila, sobaco axila body kuáhiʃi kuáhiʃi inheritance See Language page
faeces heces, mierda, excremento, estiércol fezes body (nú:)jami (nú:)jami inheritance See Language page
lung pulmón pulmão body missing See Language page
sweat sudar suor, suar body missing See Language page
itch hormiguear, sentir comezón coçar body See Language page
bark corteza casca environment íimanaʃi íimanaʃi inheritance See Language page
fingernail uña unha body bawía bawía inheritance See Language page
heart corazón coração body wówa wówa inheritance See Language page
sun sol sol time káiwia (h&r) káiwia (h&r) inheritance? See Language page
mountain/hill montaña, colina, loma, cerro morro, serra environment missing See Language page
green verde verde quality uléejii (blue/green) uléejii (blue/green) inheritance See Language page
hot caliente quente quality amúai amúai inheritance See Language page


Flora Fauna Vocabulary (133)
English Spanish Portuguese Semantic Field Part of Speech Linnean Name Orthographic Form Phonemicized Form Gloss as in Source Etymology Code Proto-Form Proto-Language Loan Source Etymology Notes Wanderwort Status Etyma Set Range of Term Word Structure Word Structure Notes Classifier Classifier Notes Hypernym Source Association with Social Categories Ritual/Mythologically Significant Ritual Notes Food Source Food Notes Medicinal Medicinal Notes How Collected Who Collects How Prepared Psychotropic Psychotropic Notes Traded Trade Notes Distribution Habitat Dangerous Ethnobiology Notes Species Notes General Notes
bat murciélago morcego flora-fauna Chiroptera spp. híʃiri híʃiri inheritance See Language page
bird pajaro, ave passaro flora-fauna míʃi:du míʃi:du doubtful loan, direction unknown Cubeo míxi-do See Language page
curassow mitu, montete (Peru), paujil/panjuil (Peru), paujil de Salvin (Peru for Mitu salvini) mutum flora-fauna Crax sp., Nothocrax sp. píi∫iku (H&R) píi∫iku (H&R) doubtful loan, WW? Quechua piʃku See Language page Amazonia
toucan tucán, pinsha (Peru) tucano flora-fauna Ramphastos sp. t∫áasi (H&R) inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonia
gray-winged trumpeter Grulla, Trompetero Ala Gris jacamim flora-fauna Psophia crepitans missing See Language page Northern Amazonia (N of Solimões), not in northern Colombia; Dark-winged trumpeter is found south of Solimões
guan pava, pucacunga (Peru), pava de Spix (Peru) jacu flora-fauna Penelope sp. maʒái (H&R) maʒái (H&R) inheritance WW%mare, Arawak origin See Language page Different types have different localized ranges
tinamou tinamu, perdiz, gallineta inambu, inhambu flora-fauna family Tinamidae áapaiwa áapaiwa unique See Language page Widespread Amazonia
hummingbird colibrí, picaflor (Peru) beija-flor flora-fauna family Trochilidae θíihi (R01) θíihi (R01) inheritance See Language page Widespread
kingfisher martín pescador, catalan (Peru) martim-pescador flora-fauna family Alcedinidae tʃalíri tʃalíri inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonia
owl (large) búho, lechuza corujão flora-fauna order Strigiformes dúmuʒuku (H&R) doubtful loan - WW? %murukutu / kurukutu See Language page Widespread
macaw ara, guacamaya Arara flora-fauna family Psittacidae; Ara sp. éeta (H&R espec.: large red and yellow parrot) inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonia
parrot loro real, loro (Sp. form is a loan from Carib) papagaio flora-fauna Amazona amazonica lóra (H&R, SP) doubtful loan from Span 'loro', or Arawak > Span See Language page Widespread
dove paloma pomba flora-fauna family Columbidae missing See Language page
hawk halcón, gavilán gavião flora-fauna family Accipitridae tolótolo tolótolo unique See Language page
vulture buitre, gallinazo, rinahui (Peru) urubu flora-fauna family Cathartidae wáat∫uli wáat∫uli inheritance See Language page Widespread South America
duck pato pato, marreco flora-fauna Anatidae family kumáta (pato real); katʃúwa; úunana (pato carretero); wílili (pato giiire) kumáta (pato real); katʃúwa; úunana (pato carretero); wílili (pato giiire) inheritance See Language page
great egret Garza Blanca, Guyratî Garça-Branca-Grande flora-fauna Ardea alba máali, úuku, máali, úuku, inheritance See Language page Widespread South America
woodpecker pájaro carpintero, carpintero pica-pau flora-fauna family Picidae walápueri walápueri unique See Language page Widespread Amazonia
dog (camp, domestic) perro cachorro flora-fauna Canis famililaris áuli áuli unknown/sem shift? - WW See Language page Not native; widespread
dog (wild; bush dog) sachaperro, Perro de Monte, Zorro Vinagre, Guanfando; Zorro Ojizarco, Zorro Negro, Perro de Orejas Corta cachorro-do-mato flora-fauna Speothos venaticus; Atelocynus microtis See Language page Widespread Amazonia
anteater oso hormiguero; tapia pelejo or pelejo chico for Cyclopes didactylus tamanduá flora-fauna Myrmecophaga tridactyla (giant anteater); Cyclopes didactylus (silky anteater) sá:ru sá:ru inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonian lowlands
armadillo armadillo, carachupa (Peru), yangunturi (Peru for Giant armadillo) tatu flora-fauna family Dasypodidae; e.g. Priodontes maximus (Giant armadillo), Dasypus novemcinctus, Dasypus kappleri tʃée (dp91) tʃé: (dp91) inheritance See Language page Widespread in Amazonia
sloth pereza, pelejo (Peru), perezoso (Peru) macaco preguica flora-fauna Choloepus sp., Bradypus sp. See Language page Widespread Amazonia
alligator, black caiman babilla; cachirre jacaré flora-fauna Melanosuchus niger, Caiman schlerops; Paleosuchus sp. katʃúiɻi (hr01); tʃamána (HR92) katʃúiɻi (hr01) inheritance See Language page Throughout Amazonia Port term reportedly borrowed from Tupi
electric eel anguila eléctrica poraquê flora-fauna Electrophorus electricus tʃamái (R01) tʃamái (R01) inheritance See Language page
fish (generic) pez peixe flora-fauna kubái kubái inheritance See Language page
pacu fish palometa, garopita, garopa, curhuara (Peru) pacu flora-fauna Mylossoma sp. sarabada sarabada See Language page
pirana piraña, caribe piranha flora-fauna subfamily Serrasalmidae múwa múwa inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonia
tigerfish taraira, guabina, huasaco (Peru) traíra flora-fauna Hoplias sp. See Language page Widespread Amazonia
mandi catfish maparate (used in Peru for some types of catfish, including Auchenipterus sp.), cunchi (used in Peru for some types of catfish), bagre (catfish) mandi flora-fauna Auchenipterus sp. See Language page Widespread Amazonia
speckled catfish surubí, pintadillo surubim, sorubim flora-fauna Pseudoplatystoma sp. kuliri kuliri See Language page Widespread Amazonia
toad sapo sapo flora-fauna order Anura kuíiba, íibaʒu (H&R92) kuíiba, íibaʒu (H&R) inheritance See Language page
iguana iguana, garipiares (Colombia) camaleão flora-fauna Iguana sp. tʃamánali (HR92) t∫amánali (H&R) WW (inheritance?) %tʃamana, maybe from tʃaba-li 'Anolis sp.'? See Language page iguana' is reportedly from Arawak iwana
small lizard lagartija calango flora-fauna order Squamata dú:ru 'lizard sp.' dú:ru 'lizard sp.' doubtful loan, direction unknown Siona/Koreguaje toʔro See Language page
stingray (generic) rayas látigo, raya arraia flora-fauna Potamotrygon sp. ijáduli ijáduli inheritance See Language page
crab cangrejo caranguejo flora-fauna infraorder Brachyura missing See Language page
anaconda anaconda, boa, boa acuática grande sucuri flora-fauna genus Eunectes káawai (lit. 'having a belly') káawai (lit. 'having a belly') unique See Language page Widespread Amazonia
boa boa; mantona (red-tailed boa); boa de altura jiboia flora-fauna family Boidae, subf. Boinae missing See Language page
snake (generic) culebra, serpiente cobra flora-fauna áapi (dp91),ái á:pi (dp91), ái inheritance See Language page
snake (poisonous generic) or rattlesnake víbora (Peru), jergón (Peru), yarara jararaca flora-fauna Bothrops jararaca/atrox missing See Language page Widespread South America
tortoise (red foot, yellow foot/giant) tortuga, morrocoy, motelo jabutí, tartaruga flora-fauna Yellow-footed: Geochelone denticulata; Red-footed: Geochelone carbonaria ʃip[ánu][li] (dp91); áaʒa, íikuli (H&R92) ʃip[ánu][li] (dp91) inheritance See Language page Widespread
Amazon dolphin bufeo, delfín, tonina (del Orinoco) boto cor-de-rosa flora-fauna Inia geoffrensis múuja múuja inheritance See Language page Downstream of major rapids and waterfalls
mushroom champiñón, hongo cogumelo flora-fauna (any edible generic) áikuba wíba (lit. 'tree-ears') áikuba wíba (lit. 'tree-ears') unique See Language page prioritize generic term that includes any edible species
black palm bacaba, mapora, pusui, patabá bacaba flora-fauna Oenocarpus bacaba missing See Language page Mature forests of Rio Negro and Upper Amazon may be confused in some entries with O. bataua
açai palm huasí (Peru), asahi, manaca (Ven), asaí, palmiche (Colombia) açaí flora-fauna Euterpe sp. missing See Language page floodplains, swamp; esp. northern Amazonia
miriti palm moriche (Col, Ven), aguaje (Col, Peru), achual, miriti buriti flora-fauna Mauritia flexuosa diwíta (R01) diwíta (R01) inheritance? - WW See Language page Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela; in and near swamps trunks contain sago-like starch
palm for roof thatch pui, irapay, hoja de irapay, caraná caraná flora-fauna Mauritiella armata OR Lepidocaryum tenue (irapay), Mauritius carana missing See Language page Mauritia carana is limited principally to the Rio Negro and Upper Orinoco regions; dry catinga forests palm
paxiuba palm pona, huacrapona, cashapona, macanilla, pachiuba paxiuba flora-fauna Iriartea exorrhiza OR Iriartea deltoidea húuba (R01) húuba (R01) inheritance See Language page Widespread Amazonia palm
peach palm, pejibaye palm chontaduro (Col, Ecuador); pipire (Col); pijuayo (Peru), pijiguao (Ven); tembe (Bol) pupunha flora-fauna Bactris gasipaes missing See Language page
seje palm ungurahui (Peru), palma de seje, milpesos, patabá patoá, patuá flora-fauna Jessenia bataua, aka Oenocarpus bataua makúpai makúpai See Language page mostly north of Equator; common in Amazonia may be confused with O. bacaba - compare entries
coca coca coca flora-fauna Erythroxylum coca missing See Language page secondary scrub vegetation. lower alt. of eastern Andes plant
cotton algodón algodão flora-fauna Gossypium (barbadense: long fibers; hirsutum: short fibers) dumáʃi dumáʃi inheritance See Language page secondary scrub vegetation plant; some sources may confound with kapok Ceiba pentandra (esp. if a single gloss for 'cotton' is given')
kapok ceiba, huimba, lupuna (Peru for Ceiba sp.) sumaumeira flora-fauna Ceiba pentandra wéeni wéeni See Language page northern South America and central America; common in disturbed areas tree
hot pepper ají, pimentón/pimiento rojo, pucunucho (Peru), charapilla (Peru) pimenta flora-fauna Capsicum sp., principally chinensis and frutescens ijáliaa ijáliaa unique See Language page secondary scrub vegetation, indigenous garden plant
peanut maní (may be loan from Taino Arawak), cacahuete amendoim flora-fauna Arachis hypogaea See Language page plant
pineapple piña abacaxi flora-fauna Ananas comosus missing See Language page plant
arrow cane, wildcane caña flecha, caña brava, caña isana cana para flechas, frecheira, Cana-do-rio flora-fauna Gynerium sagittatum See Language page tropical regions, especially river banks plant
banana, plantain banano, banana, cambur, bellaco, variedad de plátano banana flora-fauna Musa sp. palatuna palatuna loan Span/Port See Language page Names for banana/plantain may be derived from bastard plantain by semantic shift.
beans frijoles, frejol, caraotas (negras, rojas, blancas) feijão flora-fauna Phaseolus spp. missing See Language page plant
grass hierba, pasto capim, grama flora-fauna (generic) kanáhiʒi kanáhiʒi inheritance See Language page
maize, corn mazorca, maiz milho flora-fauna Zea mays ká:na ká:na inheritance Inland N. Arawak See Language page widespread, esp. in river floodplains plant
tobacco tabaco tabaco flora-fauna Nicotiana tabacum tʃé:ma (dp91) tʃé:ma (dp91) inheritance See Language page plant
tree árbol arvore flora-fauna áikuba áikuba inheritance See Language page
achiote, anatto achiote urucum flora-fauna Bixa orellana tʃáawihiri (lit. 'ripe tiger') píiri (H&R) inheritance See Language page secondary scrub vegetation and indigenous gardens shrub
inga guaba, guamo, guama, shimbillo (Peru) inga flora-fauna Inga spp. wíilu (R01) wíilu (R01) inheritance See Language page Secondary scrub vegetation and indigenous gardens. North and South America (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Suriname, Colombia)
avocado palta, aguacate abacate flora-fauna Persea americana See Language page secondary scrub vegetation and indigenous gardens tree
bitterwood tortuga caspi, pretina (Peru for tree and tumpline); carahuasca (Peru) envira flora-fauna Duguetia sp. OR Fusaea longifolia OR Guatteria chrysopetala See Language page secondary forests, native to Brazil tree
brazil nut castaña castanha do para (B. excelsa); castanha de cutia (C. edulis) flora-fauna Bertholletia excelsa [cf. Couepia edulis 'castanha do cutia'] See Language page 1) Couepia: restricted area within Brazil, Rio Purus basin and middle Solimões. 2) Bertholletia: elev: consistently about 200m; mature forests. Widely distributed from Peru, E. Colombia, Brazil to Nicaragua. tree
cashew anarcado, castaña de cajú, nuez de la India, marañon, cajú, merey (Venezuela) caju flora-fauna Anacardium occidentale / giganteum missing See Language page secondary scrub vegetation and indigenous gardens tree; most sources will not distinguish between occidentale and other varieties
genipap jagua, majagua - Colombia, caruto, xagua - Venezuela, bigrande - Bolivia, huito, yaguayagua - Peru, ygualti - Nicaragua, maluco - Mexico genipapo, jenipapo flora-fauna Genipapa americana táana táana inheritance See Language page widespread lowland SA shrub
japurá oreja de murcielago japurá flora-fauna Erisma japura See Language page large tree
rubber tree (sorva) caucho, siringa, shiringa seringa, borracha flora-fauna Hevea sp. See Language page Widespread Amazonia tree
ucuqui yugo, caimitillo del monte (Peru) ucuqui flora-fauna Pouteria ucuqui See Language page native to NW Amazonia, found primarily in Vaupes and Caqueta regions other species of Pouteria exist and have much-used edible fruit; these can be subsituted where relevant
Amazon tree-grape uva de monte, uvilla (Peru), puruma, caime, caimarona (and variants; Col.) cucura flora-fauna Pourouma cecropiifolia missing See Language page grows wild in Western Amazon basin; cultivated in Colombia since pre-Colombian times a tree; not a true grape
manioc (bitter or generic) yuca brava mandioca flora-fauna Manihot esculenta á:liri, áaliʒi á:liri, á:liʒi semantic shift from potato See Language page not generally cultivated in western (subAndean) Amazon. Arroyo-Kalin (2010) argues for a correlation with distribution of dark earths, mostly formed after 1AD, and the modeled-incised pottery tradition. Provides more starch and is more pest-resistant than the sweet variety, but requires much processing. Arroyo-Kalin (2010) proposes that bitter type was developed from sweet through post-ceremic agricultural intensification (motivated by high starch yield
manioc (sweet) yuca, caribe macaxeira flora-fauna Manihot esculenta ké:niru ké:niru semantic shift? from bitter/generic manioc See Language page Primary staple in western/subAndean Amazonia, less important elsewhere No processing required, but lower starch yield and pest resistance than bitter variety
potato papa batata flora-fauna Solanum tuberosum See Language page secondary scrub vegetation compare entries for sweet potato
potato, sweet potato camote, batata dulce, batata, cumara batata-doce flora-fauna Ipomoea batatas kalíʃta kalíʃta inheritance See Language page plant
cará tuber, purple or white camote, sachapapa cará roxo, branco flora-fauna Dioscorea sp. jáakui jáakui inheritance See Language page secondary scrub vegetation; forest clearings plant
tannia, yautia huitina (Peru), ñame taioba branca flora-fauna Xanthosoma spp. See Language page
bottle-gourd (vine) or calabash (tree) calabazo, calabaza; auyama (Dominican Republic and Venezuela), ayote (parts of Central America), zapallo (parts of South America), tutumo/totumo/totuma (Cresc tree), huingo (Peru for Crescentia cujete), tapara cabaça flora-fauna Crescentia cujete (round variety - tree); (Cucurbita) Lagenaria siceraria (bottle variety - vine) tʃukúta ('gourd', H&R), mulíikiaa; dúuja 'totumo' tʃukúta ('gourd', H&R), mulíikiaa; dúuja 'totumo' See Language page indigenous gardens plant; tree
squash calabaza, calabacines, auyamas, zapallos, huingo (Peru) abóbora flora-fauna Cucurbita sp. kúiru kúiru loan, direction unknown Maku kuilu See Language page plant
cipó vine tamishi, bejuco, yare cipó flora-fauna Heteropsis spp. á:kua á:kua See Language page secondary forest, floodplain vine
fish poison, barbasco barbasco, matapez (Colombia) timbó flora-fauna Lonchocarpus spp. kúuna kúuna inheritance See Language page secondary forests and secondary srcrub vegetation shrub/tree
hallucinogenic vine, banisterium, ayahuasca ayahuasca, yage ayahuasca, caapi flora-fauna Banisteriopsis caapi súipa 'yage' súipa 'yage' loan - WW %tuipa See Language page semi-domesticated, native to Amazonian basin, esp. NW vine
hallucinogenic snuff vilca, cebil, yopo paricá, yopo flora-fauna Anadenanthera sp. or virola júuba 'yopo' júuba 'yopo' See Language page
insect (generic) insecto insecto flora-fauna generic See Language page
ant (generic) hormiga formiga flora-fauna Formicidae manée (class); kéeʃi manée (class); kéeʃi See Language page
bullet ant, lesser giant hunter ant conga, hormiga yanabe (Colombia), isula (Peru), Hormiga Veinticuatro tocandira flora-fauna Paraponera clavata manée manée inheritance See Language page
leaf-cutter ant Colombia: zampopo, hormiga arriera; Venezuela: bachaco; Peru: curuhuinse saúva flora-fauna Atta sp. kúwa kúwa inheritance See Language page
honeybee abeja abelha flora-fauna Apis mellifera; Tetragonisca angustula; Trigona amazonensis máaba má:ba inheritance See Language page
cockroach cucaracha barata-do-mato flora-fauna order Blattaria pirítu pirítu inheritance See Language page
firefly, lightning bug lampírido, luciérnaga (Peru), añañahui (Peru), cocuyo (attributed Taino origin) vagalume flora-fauna fam: Elateridae, Fengodidae, Lampyridae kúudi kúudi inheritance? - WW See Language page
butterfly, moth mariposa borboleta flora-fauna order Lepidoptera á:tutuma á:tutuma loan Bora tootóba, Witoto tɨtɨbɛ See Language page
moth mariposa nocturna, polilla mariposa flora-fauna order Lepidoptera áatutuma áatutuma See Language page
angleworm lombriz minhoca flora-fauna order Opisthopora úumai úumai inheritance See Language page
centipede ciempiés centopéia flora-fauna class Chilopoda missing See Language page
scorpion escorpión; alacran escorpião flora-fauna order Scorpiones akétoo akétoo loan Witoto akaìdo See Language page
cicada cigarra, chicharra cigarra flora-fauna super fam. Cicadoidea tʃijáintʃijai tʃijáintʃijai doubtful loan (into protolg?) - WW onomatopoeic See Language page
flea pulga pulga flora-fauna order Siphonaptera kawánairi kawánairi inheritance See Language page
blowfly/housefly mosca mosca flora-fauna Diptera hulédiru hulédiru inheritance See Language page
cricket saltón, grillo grilo flora-fauna family Gryllidae híidu híidu inheritance See Language page
edible palm-dwelling larva (palm weevil) suri, mojojoy larva, broca-do-coqueiro, aramandaiá flora-fauna Rhynchophorus sp. missing See Language page
praying mantis, stick insects mantis religiosa louva-a-deus flora-fauna order Mantodea, family Mantidae See Language page
mosquito mosquito, zancudo mosquito, carapana flora-fauna Anopheles sp. má:hiʒi má:hiʒi loan Carib, also shared Piapoco See Language page
termites, white-ants comején (Peru), termitas cupim flora-fauna order Isoptera kamaɽa (rw) kamaɽa (rw), kamaʒa (H&R) inheritance See Language page
tick garrapata carrapato flora-fauna superfam Ixodoidea kíirabini (lit. 'those that hold blood'), kubáa-li (R01) kíirabini (lit. 'those that hold blood'), kubáa-li (R01) unique; inheritance See Language page
wasp avispa; specific type: ronzapa/ronsapa caba flora-fauna order Hymenoptera, sub: Apocrita áini áini inheritance See Language page
snail caracol, churo (Peru) caracol flora-fauna class Gastropoda waláluta waláluta inheritance See Language page
spider araña aranha flora-fauna Arachnidae, Araneae é:ni é:ni inheritance See Language page
jaguar yaguar, yaguareté, jaguar, otorongo (Peru), tigre (Peru) onca flora-fauna Panthera onca tʃáawi (hr01) tʃá:wi (hr01) doubtful loan into protolanguage, direction unknown Tukanoan *jai, cf. Tupi-Guarani *jawar See Language page
manatee vaca marina, manatí peixe-boi flora-fauna Trichechus sp. apíia apíia See Language page
brown woolly monkey Mono Lanudo Común, Choro, Churucu, mono choro (Peru), mono lanudo cafe, barrigudo de Humboldt macaco barrigudo flora-fauna Lagothrix lagothricha missing See Language page
howler monkey (red-handed) mono aullador, mono coto (Peru) guariba flora-fauna Alouatta belzebul [or other Alouatta sp.] aláwata, ∫íilee (H&R, actually listed under cebus monkey but referred to in the footnote for howler monkey) loan - WW Carib See Language page
tufted capuchin monkey mono negro (Peru), Machín Negro, Maicero Cachón, mono maicero macaco prego flora-fauna Cebus apella missing See Language page
white-fronted capuchin Machín Blanco, mono blanco, Maicero Cariblanco, mono blanco (Peru) Caiarara flora-fauna Cebus albifrons missing See Language page
white-fronted spider monkey Machin Blanco, Mono Araña de Vientre Amarillo, maquisapa (Peru), braceadora (Colombia) macaco aranha, coatá, quatá flora-fauna Ateles belzebuth/paniscus missing See Language page
opossum zarigüeya, rabipelado, zorro, zorrillo mucura flora-fauna family Didelphidae missing See Language page
giant otter Lobo Grande de Río, nutria gigante, lutria ariranha flora-fauna Pteronura brasiliensis jéewi (R01) jéewi (R01) See Language page
neotropical otter (small) Nutria, Lobo de Agua, lobito de rio, perro de agua (Colombia) lontra flora-fauna Lontra longicaudis missing See Language page
collared peccary sajino, pecarí de collar, jabalf, Javelina, Saíno, Pecarí de Collar caititu, caetitu flora-fauna Pecari tajacu, Tayassu tajacu tʃamúu (H&R92) t∫amúu (H&R) inheritance See Language page
white-lipped peccary Chancho de Monte, Cariblanco, Huangana queixada flora-fauna Tayassu pecari áhitʃa (dp91) áhitʃa (dp91) inheritance See Language page
porcupine puerco espín, erizo (Peru), casha cushillo (Peru) cuandu, porco-espinho flora-fauna family Erethizontidae tʃáara tʃáara inheritance See Language page
cotamundi, coatimundi Coatí, Tejón, Achuni, zorro guache quati flora-fauna genus Nasua missing See Language page
agouti (black agouti, black-rumped agouti) Guatusa Negra, Añuje, Agutí (black-rumped), picure, jochi colorado cutia flora-fauna Dasyprocta spp. híiθi (R01) híiθi (R01) inheritance See Language page
capybara Capibara, Carpincho, Ronsoco capivara flora-fauna Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris kéesu kéesu inheritance See Language page
green acouchi Guatín, Punchana, curi, picurito rabudo, picurito rabilargo cutiara flora-fauna Myoprocta pratti missing See Language page
paca (lowland) Guanta, Paca, Majaz, majás (Peru), labba (Guyana) paca flora-fauna Cuniculus paca (Agouti paca is sometimes used as well although cuniculus is the correct term.) táaba (HR) táaba (H&R) inheritance See Language page
mouse, rat ratón camundongo, rata flora-fauna Mus musculus íiʒi (dp91), íiɻi (hr01) í:ʒi (dp91), í:ɻi (hr01) inheritance See Language page
squirrel ardilla, danta (Ven) serelepe, quatipuru, esquilo flora-fauna family Sciuridae máatiri máatiri inheritance See Language page
tapir sachavaca, danta anta flora-fauna Tapirus terrestris éema (hr01); ejué (R95) é:ma (hr01), dáanta (SP, H&R) inheritance See Language page
deer venado veado, cariacu flora-fauna family Cervidae, esp. Odocoileus virginianus néeri néeri inheritance See Language page
horse caballo cavalho flora-fauna Equus caballus éema (=tapir) éema (=tapir) See Language page


Cultural Vocabulary (97)
English Spanish Portuguese Semantic Field Part of Speech Orthographic Form Phonemicized Form Gloss as in Source Etymology Code Proto-Form Proto-Language Loan Source Wanderwort Status Etyma Set Etymology Notes Word Structure Word Structure Notes General Notes Source
basket (general) canasta, canasto, cesta cesto culture-material mapíli mapíli loan, direction unknown Yabarana See Language page
basket, small canasta, canasto, cesta cesto pequeno, tampado culture-material See Language page
bead abalorio, mostacilla, cuenta, gota, puca; necklace=collar miçanga culture-material wabaíʃi wabaíʃi unique See Language page
bed cama cama culture-material cáama (w&l) káama (w&l) loan Spanish See Language page
hammock hamaca, chinchorro rede culture-material á:maca, éeda (R01) á:maca; éeda (R01) inheritance, inheritance See Language page
bench, seat banco, silla, asiento banco culture-material jáaʒubaiʃi (h&r) já:ʒubaiʃi (h&r) unique/Piapoco possibly from reflex of 'sit'? See Language page
canoe canoa canoa transport í:da, húnaa í:da, húnaa inheritance See Language page
drum (large signal) tambor, manguaré, maguaré (Colombia) tambor culture missing Used to be used by Tukanoan peoples (and others?), sound carried for long distances See Language page
drum tambor tambor culture-mythology missing See Language page
shaman, healer chamán, brujo xaman, pajé, feiticeiro culture-mythology kamálikai kamálikai inheritance In RN region, there is typically one person per village (if that) who is a full-fledged 'shaman'. He is very much a specialist and has considerable power to cure, as well as power to curse. He is respected and feared. Shamans are thought to turn themselv See Language page
healer curandero benzador, curandeiro, kumu (Tukano) culture-mythology Refers to a lower-level healer; in RN region, most older men in a village have this capacity, and command a repertoire of healing spells. Power is primarily for good, whereas the true shaman is capable of malignant acts as well. See Language page
broom escoba vassoura culture-material tʃubáʃi tʃubáʃi inheritance cf. Tupi-Guarani See Language page
clothing ropa roupa culture-mythology íibalaʃi íibalaʃi inheritance? shared Piapoco See Language page
fence, palisade cerco cerca other kuɻáaɻa (R01), kúura kuɻáaɻa (R01), kúura loan Spanish/Portuguese may be related to defense/warfare? See Language page
firewood leña lenha other tʃitʃába tʃitʃába inheritance prob. rel. 'fire' See Language page
Curupira (spirit type) Curupira, Madremonte Curupira culture-mythology malignant forest spirit, covered with long hair, feet turned backward; in Upper Rio Negro region See Language page
ghost (of dead person)/evil spirit espíritu malo, espíritu maligno, fantasma, demonio espirito culture-mythology wawáʃi wawáʃi unknown shared Piapoco See Language page
deity/powerful spirit/culture figure dios(es), deidad divinidade, figura mítica culture-mythology kuwáihiri; [others: kutʃí kutʃí, makabani, kahuijali, purunaminali, kamáisani] kuwáihiri; [others: kutʃí kutʃí, makabani, kahuijali, purunaminali, kamáisani] inheritance In RN region, frequently translates as 'Bone-Son', 'One on the bone', etc. See Language page
flute flauta, quena (Peru) flauta culture-mythology bútutu bútutu inheritance multiple types? japurutu, deer-bone, etc. See Language page
panpipe carrizo, zampoñas, flautas de pan, rondadora caniço, flauta de pã culture-mythology íiwa íiwa See Language page
hollow log/trough for beer-making canoa para chicha cocho de caxiri narcotics See Language page
ritual song cycle (kapiwaya) kapiwaya capiwaya culture-mythology See Language page
knife cuchillo faca culture-material wisúwiʃi wisúwiʃi unique cf. Piapoco See Language page
machete machete facão culture-material páinije páinije loan Spanish peinilla 'comb/machete type' See Language page
axe/stone axe hacha (de piedra) machado (de pedra) subsistence tool tʃúuʃi tʃúuʃi unknown especially for clearing fields See Language page
arrow flecha flecha subsistence tool θitúwa (hr01), púja (h&r) θitúwa (hr01), púja (h&r) inheritance; loan, direction unknown Mapoyo pua 'spear' hunting, warfare See Language page
spear lanza lança subsistence tool tʃáawinaa (lit. 'jaguar-arm' tʃáawinaa (lit. 'jaguar-arm' unique See Language page
bow arco arco subsistence tool tʃáawidauʃi tʃáawidauʃi unique arco See Language page
paddle/oar remo remo transport té:na té:na inheritance See Language page
plate plato prato culture-material mitáhia mitáhia unique See Language page
pot olla, pote panela, vasilha subsistence tool karáhi karáhi loan - WW %parapi See Language page
basin/bowl tazón, plato hondo, taza tijela culture-material áana áana doubtful loan Carib 'pot', e.g. Makushi ɨiní See Language page
griddle for cooking flatbread tiesto (Colombia), budare (Venezuela), tortera (Peru) forno para beiju subsistence tool huáli huáli inheritance agriculture? See Language page
rattle matraca, maraca marico, chocalho culture-mythology missing See Language page
resin resina, brea, copal resina, brea, breu subsistence tool matʃajnadejliə, máini (H2001) matʃajnadejliə, máini (H2001) inheritance See Language page
wax cera cera other missing See Language page
honey miel mel food jáamitu jáamitu unique only gathered in wild throughout Amazonia? See Language page
stone for lighting fires piedra para hacer fuego pedra para acender fogo culture-material See Language page
rope/string mecate, cuerda, soga corda culture éenaʒuʃi éenaʒuʃi inheritance See Language page
tattoo tatuaje, tatu tatuagem culture-mythology See Language page
thatch/roof crisneja palha, caraná culture-material náanimaʃi náanimaʃi unknown See Language page
yurupari, jurupari (or any flutes forbidden to women) yurupari jurupari culture-mythology a ritual complex in various parts of Amazonia involving sacred flutes/trumpets, forbidden to women. See Language page
fetish, charm fetiche, encanto, filtro de amor, pusanga feitiço, puçanga culture-mythology See Language page
feather headdress plumaje, corona de plumas enfeite/capacete de penas culture-mythology See Language page
paint body, body paint pintura corporal pintura corporal culture-mythology See Language page
afterworld, land of dead, Heaven tierra do los muertos terra dos mortos culture-mythology munínetaa munínetaa See Language page
school escuela escola acculturation See Language page
bottle botella garrafa acculturation See Language page
paper papel papel acculturation káaʃta 'book, paper' káaʃta 'book, paper' loan Span/Port 'carta' See Language page
dream sueño, soñar sonho, sonhar culture-mythology súlinideriu 'to dream' súlinideriu 'to dream' See Language page
chicken gallina galinha acculturation kawáamai kawáamai unknown shared Achagua, Piapoco, Baniwa, Yavitero, Warekena See Language page
grave tumba, sepultura, sepulcro sepultura, sepulcro, cova culture-mythology See Language page
pipe for tobacco pipa cachimbo other See Language page
sugarcane/sugar azúcar, caña de azúcar açucar (de cana) acculturation básue 'sugar cane' básue 'sugar cane' See Language page
skirt falda, saya, fustan, pollera saia culture-material missing See Language page
shoes zapatos sapatos dress See Language page
policeman polícia policía acculturation See Language page
soldier soldado soldado acculturation missing See Language page
cat gato gato acculturation míitʃi míitʃi loan - WW %miʃi See Language page
gun arma, escopeta espingarda, fusil acculturation éenu 'lightning bolt; gun' éenu 'lightning bolt; gun' semantic shift thunder/lightning' See Language page
hat sombero chapéu dress kajúna kajúna unknown shared Piapoco See Language page
chief/leader jefe, cacique chefe culture-mythology wákaliʃi; wákali 'dueño' wákaliʃi; wákali 'dueño' inheritance? shared Yucuna See Language page
club garrote, cachiporra clava, porrete subsistence tool missing See Language page
loincloth taparrabos, guayuco, pampanilla tanga, tapa-sexo dress See Language page
fireplace hogar lareira other See Language page
fishing line cordel/cuerda p/ pescar, sedal, tanze linha de pesca subsistence tool See Language page
salt sal sal food iwíduma iwíduma inheritance See Language page
song (generic) canción, canto canção culture-mythology ʃímaʃi ʃímaʃi unique See Language page
blowgun cerbatana, pucuna (Peru) zarabatana subsistence tool mabi, mawi (Melendez 2014) mabi, mawi (Melendez 2014) inheritance currently limited to certain groups (favoring h-g orientation, e.g. Nadahup) within RN region See Language page
dart (blowgun) dardo, birote (Peru), bala (Peru) dardo, seta subsistence tool hunting and warfare See Language page
fan abanico abanador, abano subsistence tool missing esp. for fanning a cooking fire See Language page
fish (with line) anzuelear, pescar con linea pescar (com linha) food tésu-eri tésu-eri See Language page
fish (with fish-poison) pescar con barbasco, barbasquear pescar com timbó; tinguijar food ma (R01) ma (R01) inheritance See Language page
hunt cazar caçar food múru-eri múru-eri See Language page
game animal caza, animal de caza caça, animal de caça food kúeθe-ɻi (R01) kúeθe-ɻi (R01) inheritance Interesting correlation to 'fish' in Tukanoan languages See Language page
gourd (dipper/bowl) cucharón, pate (Peru), totomo, totuma, totumo cuia subsistence tool tʃukúta ('gourd', H&R), dúuja 'totumo' tʃukúta ('gourd', H&R), dúuja 'totumo' inheritance? - WW; unknown %koto/matoko See Language page
grater rallador, rallo ralador, ralo subsistence tool á:ta á:ta inheritance esp. for grating manioc, but can be used for other things as well See Language page
grid of sticks for smoking meat or placing objects (shelf) barbacoa jirau subsistence tool missing See Language page
mortar mortero pilão subsistence tool á:na á:na inheritance See Language page
pestle pilón, mano de mortero, mazo, moledor mão de pilão subsistence tool See Language page
fermented drink masato, chicha caxiri, chicha culture kuliáa kuliáa semantic shift from 'mingau' prioritizes manioc beer where distinction is made See Language page
flour/meal from manioc fariña, mañoco (Venezuela); harina farinha food íinabiʃi íinabiʃi unique agriculture See Language page
flat bread, cassava bread pan de yuca, casabe/cazabe beiju food béeri, júula béeri, júula inheritance; doubtful loan (into protolg), direction unknown Carib usually manioc; agriculture, but also can be made from certain wild seeds/fruits See Language page
starch (tapioca, other) almidón goma de tapioca food missing See Language page
tapioca drink, mingau cahuana, caguana mingau food kulía (R01) kulía (R01) inheritance agriculture See Language page
tipiti (manioc squeezer) tipiti, matafrio, sebucán, exprimador, prensa para yuca tipiti food iríkaa (lit. 'squeezer') iríkaa (lit. 'squeezer') inheritance word of Tupi origin; agriculture: specifically for squeezing poison out of manioc See Language page
tripod for washing manioc trípode tripé subsistence tool agriculture See Language page
venom for darts, poison veneno curare subsistence tool missing hunting, currently is falling out of use in Vaupés region, associated primarily with h-g groups (but this may be recent?) See Language page
woven strainer/sieve colador tejido, cedazo (Peru), cernedor (Peru) peneira, cumatá subsistence tool tʃakátui, damúuku tʃakátui, damúuku doubtful loan cf. Nheengatu; Tukanoan 'mingau' agriculture? commonly used for sifting dry manioc flour See Language page
bait for fishing cebo, carnada para pescar, empate (Peru) isca subsistence tool wanáwaʃi wanáwaʃi can refer to worms; more generic See Language page
fishtrap trampa de peces, trampa matapi, cacuri subsistence tool See Language page
bottom grinding stone manufacture if different word from top grinding stone See Language page
digging stick subsistence tool See Language page
top grinding stone metate, mano; piedra de moler metate, mano manufacture use word for top grinding stone if different from bottom stone See Language page
boomerang/throwing stick (generic) subsistence tool See Language page
spearthrower subsistence tool See Language page
house other kúita kúita unique See Language page


Grammatical Data (226)
Category Grammatical Feature Grammatical Feature: Notes Feature Status Grammatical Notes Source Etymology Notes General Notes Phylogenetic Code
Phonology - Segmental Pre-/post-nasalized stops Analysis posits that the stop is the most relevant underlying phoneme. Comment in notes on whether the nasal contour is understood as a phonetic (allophonic) effect, or is phonologically contrastive. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Segmental Glottalized/ejective consonants Phonemic contrast [NOT counting glottal stop/fricative] no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Segmental Palatalized stops Phonemic contrast no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Segmental Phonemic vowel length Does the language have long and short vowels? yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Segmental Phonemic glottalization/laryngealization of vowels yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Segmental Complex onsets Onset consists of more than one consonant phoneme no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Segmental No codas *(C)VC [no also equals highly constrained] no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Segmental Word-final coda required Do all syllables end in a consonant? no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 14
Phonology - Suprasegmental Contrastive tones Note how many contrastive tones no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Suprasegmental Contrastive stress Does stress occur on different syllables with meaning difference? no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Suprasegmental Nasalization property of morpheme or syllable In contrast to nasalization as a property of segments no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Suprasegmental Nasal spreading across some morpheme boundaries Do some affixes or other morphemes take the nasal/oral properties of the root they attach to? no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 16
Phonology - Suprasegmental Vowel harmony yes Melendez, 1998: 35
Morphology - General Verbal fusion (2+ categories marked by portmanteau morphemes on verb) Verb combines two or more categories (tense, aspect, mood, person, number, etc.) in portmanteau morphemes{ [ignore proclitics unless they are fused with values other than person/number] no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - General Inflection manifested by replacement of segmental or suprasegmental phonemes Stem change, tone no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - General Verbal synthesis (1+ inflectional categories marked by verbal affixes) Morphological complexity in verbs - multiple inflectional affixes in a single verb word no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: strongly prefixing There are many more prefixes than suffixes no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 6
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: strongly suffixing There are many more suffixes than prefixes yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 6
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: roughly equal or one weakly preferred The numbers of suffixes and prefixes are not notably different no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 6
Morphology - General Reduplication: full The full morpheme is reduplicated yes not productive Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 55
Morphology - General Reduplication: partial Only part of the morpheme is reduplicated yes not productive, verbs with iterative semantics Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 56
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive NN compounding Noun compounds created from two noun phrases are common and systematically produced no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive VV serialization (without compounding) Verb roots can be combined in a single predicate without markers of subordination (distinct from subordinating construction) or distinct inflection yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 117
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive VV compounding Serial verb constructions involve chaining of roots together in one morphophonological word no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Verb-adjunct (aka light verb) constructions There is a set of semantically weak verbs used in complex verbal constructions, e.g. 'take a nap' no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Auxiliary verb(s) There are verbs that accompany main verbs of clauses and take grammatical marking not expressed by main verbs yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 5
Morphology - Incorporation Incorporation of nouns into verbs is a productive intransitivizing process Verb contains nominal segment no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Morphology - Incorporation Productive incorporation of other elements (adjectives, locatives, etc.) into verbs Like noun incorporation, but incorporated elements are not nouns no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Noun classes/genders Nouns are organized into sets with distinct morphological treatment; usually affects all nouns and involves agreement within the NP yes There is a subclass of animates that receives the number and gender marking Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 22
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Number of noun classes/genders Note the (approximate) total number of noun classes/genders 3 Adjectives agree with nouns: masculine/feminine (neutralized in plural) Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 35
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Noun classifiers (distinct from noun classes/genders) Nouns are organized into sets, but only a limited set of nouns may be implicated, with no or limited agreement marking. If only numeral classifiers exist, indicate yes but explain. yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex is a relevant category in noun class(ification) system for animates Masculine, feminine, neuter yes There is a subclass of animates that receives the number and gender marking Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 22
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex is a relevant category in noun class(ification) system for inanimates no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 22
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Animacy (w/o reference to sex) is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system Animate/inanimate, human/non-human no Wilson, Peter J. (Stephen Levinsohn, translator) (1992). Una descripcion preliminar de la gramática del Achagua (Arawak). Bogotá: ILV: p. 22
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex/gender distinction only in 3rd person pronouns add in notes section whether gender is present in other PNs or not in any PNs; consider with reference to pronouns and person marking only yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 22
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Shape is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system for animates yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Shape is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system for inanimates yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification "Repeater" classifiers Where no distinct classifier exists, a copy of the noun itself may function in the morphosyntactic classifier "slot" no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Numeral classifiers (specific to numerals) Special classifier forms that occur only with numerals no -i is an "other" form, but otherwise numerals use the same set of classifiers Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Classifiers used as derivational suffixes to derive nouns Verb + classifier = 'thing for doing V, thing that does V, etc.' no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Categories - Number Singular number may be marked on the noun Often occurs in a small subset of nouns if a single entity is referred to, e.g. insects that normally occur in groups yes There is a singular marker on inalienable nouns (animates). Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 63
Nominal Categories - Number Plural affix on noun yes There is a plural marker on inalienable nouns (animates) Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 63
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked by stem change or tone on noun no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked by reduplication of noun no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Number Plural word/clitic no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked on human or animate nouns only yes The number and gender depend on animacy, because they can be attached to animate nouns Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Number Pronominal plural: stem + nominal plural affix Pronouns use a nominal plural affix not specific to pronouns no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Number Unique associative plural marker e.g. 'John and his associates', 'John and them' no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Definite or specific articles Definite = particular referent known to both speaker and addressee; specific = particular referent known to speaker only no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Marker of definiteness distinct from demonstratives Focus on articles/markers whose primary function is to mark definiteness no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Indefinite or non-specific article or marker no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Inclusive/exclusive: in free pronominals Inclusive =us + you, exclusive = us but not you no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Inclusive/exclusive: in verbal inflection (bound) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Distance contrasts in demonstratives (number) Note the number of distances in the demonstrative system 2 Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 25
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Other contrasts in demonstratives (visibility, elevation, etc.) no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 3sg pronouns yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 3pl pronouns no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 1st and/or 2nd person pronouns no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Formal/informal distinction in pronouns Polite pronominal variants or differential avoidance of pronouns no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Reflexive pronouns e.g. English 'himself', Spanish 'se'; distinct form(s) from basic (non-reflexive) pronominals; distinct from reflexive verbal affix no The pronouns can be intensified using -naa (nuyánaa: I, myself) Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 25
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Adpositions mark core NPs Prepositions or postpositions mark subjects, objects, beneficiaries/recipients yes The dative case marks beneficiary or recipient Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 72
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: number of cases Note the number of grammatical relations that may be morphologically marked on the noun 24 Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 72
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: only non-core arguments morphologically marked Subjects, objects, beneficiaries/recipients NOT marked, but other grammatical relations are no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: symmetrical All NPs marked if in appropriate syntactic relation; no distinction in marking based on semantics (type of entity) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: asymmetrical Semantically defined subset of NPs marked for case, e.g. animates no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: suffix or postpositional clitic yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: prefix or prepositional clitic no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: infix or inpositional clitic no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: stem change no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: tone no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 71
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: comitative = instrumental Same marking for 'with a person' and 'with an instrument' no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 75
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-2 At least some part of the system involves base-2 no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-5 At least some part of the system involves base-5 yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-10 At least some part of the system involves base-10 no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Other base (specify) 4, 20, etc. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Etymological transparency in any numerals under 5 e.g. two = 'eye-quantity' no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Numerals do not go above 5 'Many' or some other non-exact term used no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Numerals Numerals do not go above 10 'Many' or some other non-exact term used no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Categories - Other nominal Tense or aspect inflection on non-verbal predicates i.e. nominal or adjectival yes The tense and modal markers can occur on nominal predicates Melendez, 1998: 141
Nominal Categories - Other nominal Person inflection on non-verbal predicates i.e. nominal or adjectival no Melendez, 1998: 141
Nominal Syntax - Possession Pronominal possessive affixes: prefix on N alienable/inalienable? yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 66
Nominal Syntax - Possession Pronominal possessive affixes: suffix on N alienable/inalienable? no Inalienable nouns have a "non-possessed" suffix, pronominal forms are all prefixing Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 22
Nominal Syntax - Possession Head/dependent marking in possessive NP: dependent e.g. 'the boy-'s dog' no postposition between possessor and possessed noun (alienable) Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 65
Nominal Syntax - Possession Head/dependent marking in possessive NP: head e.g. 'the boy his-dog' no postposition between possessor and possessed noun (alienable) Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 65
Nominal Syntax - Possession Possessive classifiers There are special classifiers that occur with possessed entities no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 62
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Morphological marking of inalienable possession Where inalienable possession differs from alienable, the former takes a morphological marker (may include an associated free particle/pronoun) yes unpossessed affix for inalienable nouns, alienable nouns can take a derivational affix to become inalienable Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 20
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Morphological marking of alienable possession Where inalienable possession differs from alienable, the latter takes a morphological marker (may include an associated free particle/pronoun) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 20-22
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Default marker for inalienably possessed nouns if unpossessed An inalienable noun that is in an unpossessed state must have a derivational affix or associated form yes suffix marking not possessed form of inalienably possessed nouns Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 20
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Inalienable possession of kin terms 'my-father' but *father yes examples given of inalienable kin terms, but no mention of whether all kin terms are inalienable Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 20
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Inalienable possession of body parts (human/animal) 'my-leg' but *leg yes examples given of inalienable body-part terms, but no mention of whether all kin terms are inalienable Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 20
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Generic human nouns are obligatorily bound/possessed Human nouns must co-occur with another noun (e.g. Hup-man, NonIndian-woman, but *man) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Nominal Syntax - Adjectives Underived adjectives There are underived adjectives which do not have counterparts in other word classes yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1993: 33
Nominal Syntax - Adjectives Gender inflection on adjectives within the NP There is gender agreement/concord (animate/inanimate or masc/fem, etc.) within the NP, e.g. la casa blanca, el perro blanco yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1993: 33
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: action/state (arrive/arrival) There is a morpheme which derives an event from a verb no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 51
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: agentive (sing/singer) There is a morpheme which derives an agent or subject from a verb yes? The suffix -ni can derive an agent, although no indication that it is confined to this use Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 51
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: object (sing/song) There is a morpheme which derives a patient or object from a verb yes? The suffix -kuaa can derive an object, although there is no indication that it is confined to this use Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 51
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive verbalizing morphology There is a morpheme which derives a verb from a noun or adjective yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 53
Nominal Syntax - Other NP coordination and comitative phrases marked differently 'John and Mary went to market' is marked differently from 'John went to market with Mary' yes Melendez 1998, 172
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Dedicated past marker(s) Past tense is regularly morphologically marked on the verb or elsewhere yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 107
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Multiple past tenses, distinguishing distance from time of reference e.g. distant vs. recent past yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 107
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Multiple future tenses, distinguishing distance from time of reference e.g. imminent vs. distant future no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 109
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Dedicated future or non-past marker(s) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 109
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: prefix no Wilson & Levinsohn, 1992: 107-109
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: suffix yes Wilson & Levinsohn, 1992: 107-109
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: tone or ablaut no Wilson & Levinsohn, 1992: 107-109
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect suppletion no Wilson & Levinsohn, 1992: 107-109
Verbal Categories - Mood Dedicated imperative morpheme or verb form There is a special morpheme (or morphemes, or a bare verb root where inflection is normally expected) used to signal imperative (command) mood no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 100
Verbal Categories - Mood Polite imperative morpheme There is a distinct morpheme for polite imperative constructions (specify if it has other functions in the language) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 100
Verbal Categories - Mood Difference between negation in imperative (prohibitive) and declarative clauses There are different strategies for marking negation in imperative and declarative clauses no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 100
Verbal Categories - Mood Dedicated hortative morpheme or verb form (1pl or 3rd person imperative) as opposed to imperative; the person in control of desired state of affairs is not the addressee; ex: 'Let's sing' / 'Let him sing' yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 101
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: affix on verb Inflectional marking of capacity to do something no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 104
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: verbal construction yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 105
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: other marking no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 106
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: affix on verb Modal expressing hypothesis yes There is an affix for probability Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 102
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: verbal construction no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 102
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: other marking no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 102
Verbal Categories - Mood Marking of expected/unexpected action or result There is inflectional marking of expected/unexpected no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Verbal Categories - Mood Verbal frustrative Modal expressing frustration ("in vain") no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Verbal Categories - Mood Verbal habitual Modal expressing habituality no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Verbal Categories - Mood Apprehensive construction There is a single morpheme or verb form to mean '(be careful lest) X happens' no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 100
Verbal Categories - Mood Reality status marking on verbs There are dedicated morpheme(s) for realis/irrealis 'actualized/unactualized events' no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Verbal Categories - Mood Affect markers (positive/negative) Note whether these inflectional markers are positive or negative no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Verbal Categories - Directionals Directional elements affixed to the verb There are grammaticalized elements indicating movement away, toward, there and back, etc. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:74
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized visual Indicates information has been witnessed visually - indicate only if an overt marker n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized nonvisual Indicates information has been sensed firsthand but not visually (usually heard; also smelled, tasted, felt) n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized inferential Indicates information has not been experienced firsthand, but inferred from some kind of evidence - indicate only if an overt marker. n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized reportive Indicates speaker is not responsible for veracity of statement, merely reporting; 'allegedly' n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized quotative Indicate presence of adjacent representation of repeated discourse n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Other evidential Any other evidential values not represented above n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: verb affix or clitic n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: part of tense system Includes portmanteau morphs n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: separate particle n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: modal morpheme n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 91
Verbal Categories - Verbal number Verbal number suppletion yes these agreement markers aren't required on verb Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 19
Verbal Categories - Other Social interaction markers Note the type of interaction no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Word Order No fixed basic constituent order no SVO Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 2
Word Order VS in intransitive clauses Verb precedes subject no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 2
Word Order VS in transitive clauses no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 2
Word Order VO in transitive clauses Verb precedes object yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 2
Word Order OS in transitive clauses Object precedes subject no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 2
Word Order Preposition-Noun no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 3
Word Order Noun-Postposition or case suffix yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 3
Word Order Gen-Noun Possessive phrase composed of a free possessor and its possessum has possessor first (e.g. John's book) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 5
Word Order Noun-Gen Possessive phrase composed of a free possessor and its possessum has possessum first (e.g. 'book of John') no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 5
Word Order Adj-Noun Adjective precedes the noun no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 4
Word Order Noun-Adj Adjective follows the noun yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 4
Word Order Dem-Noun yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 44
Word Order Noun-Dem no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 44
Word Order Num-Noun yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 45
Word Order Noun-Num no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 45
Word Order Noun-Rel Relative clause follows noun that it modifies yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Word Order Rel-Noun Relative clause precedes noun that it modifies no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Word Order Re<Noun>l (internally headed relative) e.g. 'the dog cat chased-NMZR got away' ('the cat that the dog chased got away') no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Word Order Relative clause is correlative or adjoined e.g. 'what is running, the dog chased that cat' yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Word Order Question word is clause initial 'what', 'who', etc. come first in interrogative clause yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 125
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: nominative-accusative w/ marked accusative Objects of transitive clauses ('P') have a unique marker, while subjects of transitive ('A') and intransitive ('S') clauses are unmarked or share a different marker from that occurring on objects no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: nominative-accusative w/ marked nominative Subjects of transitive and intransitive clauses share a marker, while objects of transitives are unmarked no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: ergative-absolutive Subjects of intransitive clauses and objects of transitives share a unique marker, while subjects of transitive clauses are unmarked or have a different marker no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: tripartite Intransitive subjects, transitive subjects, and transitive objects all receive distinct case markers no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: active-inactive Subjects of intransitive clauses are treated two different ways: like subjects of transitives if they are more agent-like (e.g. he jumped), and like objects of transitives if they are more patient-like (e.g. he fell asleep) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: marked accusative no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: marked nominative no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: ergative-absolutive yes, no, mixed, other no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: tripartite no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: active-inactive no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: nominative-accusative Same as above, for pronominal affixes/clitics on verbs no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: ergative-absolutive yes, no, mixed, other no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: active-inactive no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: hierarchical Marking of A and P depends on their relative ranking on a hierarchy (usually 1>2>3 or 2>1>3) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: split More than one of the above systems is represented in person marking, depending on e.g. person (e.g. 1/2 vs. 3), tense-aspect value, main vs. subordinate clause type, etc. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: pronouns in subject position Pronominal subjects are free pronouns that occur in the same position as full NP subjects yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: prefixes on verb Pronominal subjects are marked as verbal prefixes (free pronouns may be another option) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: suffixes on verb Pronominal subjects are marked as verbal suffixes (free pronouns may be another option) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: clitics on variable host Pronominal subjects are clitics that can attach to verbs, nominal constituents, etc. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: pronouns in non-subject position Pronominal subjects are free pronouns but do not normally occur in the position expected for full NP subjects no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person marking on intransitive verbs Intransitive verbs take person-marking clitics/affixes yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person marking (of agents) on transitive verbs Transitive verbs take subject (A) markers yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person-marking (of objects) on transitive verbs Transitive verbs take object (P) markers yes The third person has a different form Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking 3rd person zero in verbal person marking: subjects 3rd person subjects are not overtly marked within the verbal person-marking system no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 28
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking 3rd person zero in verbal person marking: objects 3rd person objects are not overtly marked within the verbal person-marking system no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 28
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Number can be marked separately from person on the verb Verbal person marking exists, but number is (or can) be marked separately no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 23
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Possessive affixes/clitics on nouns are same as verbal person markers Where nouns take possessive affixes, these are the same as the person-marking affixes no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 27
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Gender distinguished in verbal person markers For any person, verbal person markers exhibit different forms depending on the gender (masc/fem, animate/inanimate, etc.) of the referent yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 27
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: indirect object In ditransitives (e.g. 'John gives a book to Bill'), the theme (book) is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives, while the recipient/beneficiary (Bill) is treated differently no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: double object In ditransitives (e.g. 'John gives Bill a book'), both the theme (book) and the recipient/beneficiary (Bill) is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: secondary object In ditransitives, the recipient/beneficiary is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives, while the theme (book) is treated differently no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reciprocal: dedicated morpheme Verb becomes reciprocal through use of reciprocal morpheme associated with the verb (may be attached to the verb root). This morpheme is only used to mean reciprocal. no Not a morphological part of verb Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:115
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reflexive: dedicated morpheme Verb becomes reflexive through use of reflexive morpheme associated with the verb (may be attached to the verb root). This morpheme is used only to mean reflexive. no A morpheme -u is used but it is also found on unaccsuative verbs and as a marker on the reciprocal marker Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 112
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reciprocal/reflexive: same morpheme Verb becomes reciprocal or reflexive through use of a morpheme that means either reciprocal or reflexive which attaches to the root of the verb no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:115
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Passive Passive voice usually involves a change to the verb, while the object of the active voice verb is promoted to subject in the passive voice, and the former subject is deleted/demoted no there is a suffix used when the subject is a patient, which is used in passive constructions Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:30
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Antipassive Like passive, but deletes or demotes the object of a transitive verb; usually found in ergative languages n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Other intransitivizing morphology There is/are some other mechanism(s) for reducing valency no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Applicative: benefactive Applicative adds a beneficiary/maleficiary object argument to the verb no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Applicative: other Applicative adds some other object argument to the verb n/a Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: prefix Causative is morphological and is attached before the root of the verb no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:94
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: suffix Causative is morphological and is attached after the root of the verb yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:94
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative marked by circumfix, stem change, or tone Morphological causative other than simple prefix/suffix no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:94
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: serial verb or analytical construction Causative construction that involves periphrasis or serialization yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992:94
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: dedicated 'make do by proxy' Indicates that the causer does not directly cause the action of the verb to be realized, but does so by inducing someone else to carry out the action, e.g. 'John had the house painted.' yes periphrastic construction with yáa Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 95
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: dedicated sociative Indicates that causer participates in event no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Other transitivizing morphology (adds valence) There is/are some other mechanism(s) for increasing valency no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Negation Clausal negator is a preposed element Clausal negator is a preposed element yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Clausal negator is a postposed element Clausal negator is a postposed element no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: affix Negatives: affix no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: particle Negatives: particle yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: auxiliary verb Negatives: auxiliary verb no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: double Standard (non-emphatic) negation typically requires two morphemes, e.g. French 'ne V pas' no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 131
Simple Clauses - Negation Distinct negative form for 'NP does not exist' yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 140
Simple Clauses - Negation Distinct negative expression 'I don't know' Lexical expression or highly idiomatic phrase no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 137
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: interrogative particle Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by interrogative particle no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 122
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: verb morphology Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by interrogative verb morphology no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 121
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: word order Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by word order (esp. subject-verb inversion) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 121
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: intonation only Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by intonation only yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 121
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Content questions: word order differs from declaratives Content questions distinguished from declaratives by word order (esp. subject-verb inversion) as well as by presence of Q-word (who, what, etc.) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 125
Simple Clauses - Predication Predicate adjectives: verbal Adjectives act like verbs in predicative position no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Predication Predicate adjectives: nominal Adjectives act like nouns in predicative position no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Predication Zero copula for predicate nominals is possible Predicate nominals may occur without a copula (i.e. grammatical in some circumstances, if not all) yes Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 19
Simple Clauses - Predication Headless relative clauses Compare Eng 'the one that fell' (but in Eng 'one' could be considered a head) yes When relative clauses are juxtaposed Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Simple Clauses - Predication Headless relative clauses are the dominant or only form of relative clause Relative clauses that form a constituent with a head noun (in a single noun phrase) are rare or nonexistent; some descriptions may refer to adjoined or correlative clauses. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Simple Clauses - Predication Relative clause may occur with a noun classifier/class marker It may be unclear whether the classifier is the nominal head of the construction or is an agreement marker on the relative clause no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Predication Relativizer is a verbal affix no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 143
Simple Clauses - Predication Morphological relativizer is homophonous with nominalizer The same morpheme marks a relative clause and is a nominalizer on verbs (and/or other word classes) no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 145
Simple Clauses - Desiderative expressions Grammaticalized verbal desiderative Indicates that the subject desires to carry out the action denoted by the verb (distinct from verb 'want', but may be grammaticalized from it) no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992
Simple Clauses - Other Clause chaining Clauses can be grouped such that only one bears most of the verb morphology, and the others are marked as to whether they share a subject with this reference clause. no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 154
Simple Clauses - Other Morphologically marked switch-reference system There are special markers to indicate same vs. different subject when two clauses are combined no Wilson & Levinsohn 1992: 154
Simple Clauses - Other Morphologically marked distinction between simultaneous and sequential clauses Morphology (usually on verb) distinguishes between clauses denoting events that occur at the same time or in sequence no info Wilson & Levinsohn 1992


Ethnographic Information
Current Population (speakers) Former Population Estimate Subsistence Preference Density Sedentism Ecotome Marriage Pattern Notes Source
AG