Terêna language

Terêna
Etelena
Native toBrazil
RegionMato Grosso do Sul
EthnicityTerena people
Native speakers
16,000 (2006)[1]
Arawakan
  • Southern
    • Bolivia–Parana
      • Terêna
Dialects
  • Terena proper
  • Chané
  • Guaná
  • Kinikinao
Language codes
ISO 639-2ter
ISO 639-3Variously:
ter – Terena
gqn – Kinikinao & Guaná
caj – Chané
Glottologtere1279
ELPTerena
 Guana (Brazil)

Terêna or Etelena is an Arawakan language spoken by 15,000 Terenas. The language has a dictionary and written grammar.[2] Many Terena people have low Portuguese proficiency. It is spoken in Mato Grosso do Sul. About 20% are literate in their language, 80% literate in Portuguese.

Terêna has an active–stative syntax[3] and verb-object-subject as default word order.[4]

Dialects

Terêna originally had four varieties: Kinikinao, Terena proper, Guaná, and Chané. These varieties have sometimes been considered to be separate languages.[3] Carvalho (2016) has since demonstrated all four to be the same language.[5] Only Terena proper is still spoken.

Language contact

Terena originated in the Northwestern Chaco.[6] As a result, many Northern Guaicuruan loanwords can be found in Terena.[7]

There are also many Tupi-Guarani loanwords in Terena and other southern Arawakan languages.[8]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t () k ʔ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless s ʃ h
prenasal ⁿz ⁿʒ
Nasal m n (ɲ)
Tap ɾ
Lateral l (ʎ)
Approximant w ~ v j

/w, ʃ, n, l/ may often be heard as [v, tʃ, ɲ, ʎ].[9]

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ĩ (ɨ) u ũ
Mid e o õ
ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low a ã

[ɨ] is heard as an allophone of /i/.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Terena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kinikinao & Guaná at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Chané at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Butler, Nancy Evelyn; Ekdahl, Elizabeth Muriel (1979). Aprenda Terêna, Vol. 1 (in Portuguese). Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  3. ^ a b Aikhenvald 1999.
  4. ^ Rosa, Andréa (2010). Aspectos morfológicos do terena (Aruák) (PDF) (Thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Três Lagoas: Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. pp. 71–72. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-05-13. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  5. ^ Carvalho, Fernando (2016-03-10). "Terena, Chané, Guaná and Kinikinau are one and the same language:: setting the record straight on southern Arawak linguistic diversity". LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas (in Portuguese). 16 (1): 39–57. doi:10.20396/liames.v16i1.8646165. ISSN 2177-7160.
  6. ^ Carvalho, Fernando O. de (Fall 2019). "Etymology meets ethnohistory: Linguistic evidence for the pre-historic origin of the Guaná-Chané in the Northwestern Chaco". Anthropological Linguistics. 61 (3): 341–363. doi:10.1353/anl.2019.0020. JSTOR 27023791.
  7. ^ Carvalho, Fernando O. de (April 2018). "Arawakan-Guaicuruan Language Contact in The South American Chaco". International Journal of American Linguistics. 84 (2): 243–263. doi:10.1086/696198.
  8. ^ Carvalho, Fernando O. de (2017). "Tupi-Guarani Loanwords in Southern Arawak: Taking Contact Etymologies Seriously". Revista Linguí∫tica. 13 (3): 41–74. doi:10.31513/linguistica.2017.v13n3a16383.
  9. ^ Silva, Denise (2013). Estudo lexicografico da lingua terena: proposta de um dicionário terena-português (Thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Araraquara: Universidade Estadual Paulista. hdl:11449/102358.
  10. ^ Nascimento, Gardênia (2012). Aspectos Gramaticais da Língua Terena (PDF) (Thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

References