Hixkaryana language

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{{language |name=Hixkaryána |states=Brazil |region=Upper Nhamundá River, Amazonas |speakers=500–600 |familycolor=American |fam1=Carib |fam2=Southern |fam3=Southern Guiana |iso2=sai|iso3=hix}}

Hixkaryana is one of the Carib languages, spoken by just over 500 people on the Nhamundá river, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. It is one of a few known natural languages that normally use Object Verb Subject word order, and may have been the first such language to be described (by linguist Desmond C. Derbyshire).

toto	yonoye			kamara
toto	y-	ono	-ye	kamara
person	3SG-	eat	-DIST.PAST.COMPL	jaguar
"The jaguar ate the man."

Indirect objects, however, follow the subject:

bɨryekomo	yotahahono				wosɨ	tɨnyo	wya
bɨryekomo	y-	otaha	-ho	-no	wosɨ	tɨnyo	wya
boy	3SG-	hit	-CAUS	-IMM.PAST	woman	her-husband	by
"The woman caused her husband to hit the boy."

Moreover, word order in nonfinite embedded clauses is SOV. [1]. Like most other languages with objects preceding the verb, it is postpositional.

1 Phonology
2 Grammar
3 External links
4 References

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Phonology

Hixkaryana has the following phonemic inventory:

	Labial		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p	b	t	d	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	k
Fricative	Template:IPA		s		Template:IPA			h
Nasal	m		n		Template:IPA
Tap			Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Semivowel	w				j

Template:IPA is a retroflex tap with a lateral release. The orthography used is as follows: Template:IPA = <tx dy>; Template:IPA = <f x>; Template:IPA = <ny>; Template:IPA = <ry>; /j/ = <y>. The vowels are Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA, written <e>, <ɨ>, <u>, <o>, and <a>.

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Grammar

In Hixkaryana, arguments are indexed on the verb by means of person prefixes. These prefixes form an inverse-like pattern in which the argument highest in the hierarchy 2nd > 1st > 3rd is indexed on the verb. If the object of a transitive verb outranks the subject according to this hierarchy, the appropriate O-prefix is used; otherwise, an A-prefix is used.

A-prefixes		O-prefixes
1A	/ɨ-	1O	r(o)
2A	m(ɨ)-	2O	o(j)-/a(j)-
1+2A	t(ɨ)-	1+2O	k(ɨ)-
3A	n(ɨ)-/j-

Intransitive verbs take prefixes mostly similar to the transitive prefixes given above. The arguments' grammatical number is indexed on the verb by means of portmanteau suffixes that combine tense, aspect, mood, and number.

In most cases, the person prefixes unambiguously determine which of the arguments in the subject and which is the object. When both the subject and the object are third person, however, the person prefix is inadequate to fully determine the identity of the arguments. In these situations, therefore, word order is crucial in determining their identity. The example above, 'toto yonoye kamara', cannot be given the SVO reading "the man ate the jaguar; the OVS reading -- "the jaguar ate the man" -- is the only possible one.

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