Waimiri-Atroarí language

First contact with the Waimiri Atroari occurred in the 17th century with the Spanish and Portuguese crown spreading to gain more territory (Do Vale).  First official contact with the Waimiri Atroari took place in 1884 with Joãno Barbosa Rodrigues who enlisted the Waimiri Atroari as guides. At this point in time the Waimiri Atroari already had a reputation for being violent and Rodrigues sought to change the stereotypes associated with the group (Do Vale).

In 1911 a member of the SPI (Indian Protection Services) made contact with the Waimiri Atroari, the following year the First Indian Attraction Station was established (Do Vale). Despite friendly contact the government of this region saw the great wealth of resources that the native land possessed and encouraged the invasion of the land in order to exploit the natural resources (Do Vale). As a result, the Waimiri Atroari took up defense of their land with bows and arrows. This led to many acts of violence between the Waimiri Atroari and non-indigenous people, with military forces used to combat the indigenous group and wiping out entire villages (Do Vale). The next large scale conflict with the Waimiri Atroari that has been documented is in the 1960s with the Amazonas State and Roraima Territory Government's plan for a highway between Manaus and Caracarai, cutting directly through indigenous land (Do Vale). This project brought in individuals and teams to "pacify" the Waimiri Atroari as well as Military forces to build the highway and intimidate the indigenous people (Do Vale). As a result of high tension and disagreements most of the non-indigenous pacifists were killed by the Waimiri Atroari (Do Vale).

In 1971 the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Reservation was created, however between plans for Amazonas expansion and the discovery of cassiterite deposits, the government continued to infringe on the land (Do Vale). The reserve was demoted to a Temporary Restricted Area for the Attraction and Pacification of the Waimiri Atroari Indians in 1981 in order to exclude the mineral deposits from their land (Do Vale). Later more land was taken from the Waimiri Atroari as a hydroelectric plant project flooded over 30,000 hectares of their land (Do Vale). Today the Waimiri Atroari have their own school system which they control independently (Do Vale).

Waimiri Atroari belongs to the Carib language family, which is centralized in Northern South America. The Carib languages in northern Brazil are fairly similar, while Waimiri-Atroari is rather different (Moore, 2006, 119).{{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=D.|date=3 April 2008|title=Brazil: Language Situation|journal=The Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics|pages=117–128}} Carib can be categorized into three groups: Northwest Amazon, Guiana area and Upper Xingu Basin. Waimiri Atroari seems to fall into the second group, Guiana area.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=16}}

João Barbosa Rodrigues’ wordlist seems to be the first to document the language in 1885 and he refers to the people as "Crichanas".{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=12}} A century later, in 1985, a phonological proposal and alphabet were developed by a Catholic missionary couple from the Indigenous Missionary Council.{{sfn|Bruno|2010|p=85}} A year after, in 1986, another missionary couple from the Evangelical Mission of the Amazonian (MEVA), created a more accurate orthography.{{sfn|Bruno|2010|p=86}}

It seems that the first detailed description was done by Ana Carla Bruno. She released a dissertation in 2003 on the descriptive grammar of the Waimiri-Atroari language. She extensively described the phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax of the language. In addition, she has continued detailing the typology of Waimiri-Atroari in further works. In 2004, she published a paper on reduplication in the language. The following two years, she detailed its pronominal system (2005){{Cite journal|last=Bruno|first=Ana Carla|date=2005|title=Reduplicacao em Waimiri Atraori|journal=Amerindia|volume=especial sobre linguas Carib, no. 28|pages=88–94}} and causative construction (2006).{{Cite journal|last=Bruno|first=Ana Carla|date=2006|title=The Causative Construction in Waimiri Atraori|journal=LIAMES|volume=6|pages=101–108}} Then, in 2008 and 2009, she further analyzed the syntactic features of case-marking; phrase structure, clauses and word order. Most recently, she explored the value of linguistic analysis to better language revitalization by analyzing the syllable structure in the orthography and formal education of Waimiri-Atroari (2010).{{sfn|Bruno|2010}}

While there are currently no language documentation projects for Wairmiri Atroari, there are projects for other languages in the Carib family. Carib language documentation supported by DOBES include the following languages: Kuikuro, documented by Bruna Franchetto, as well as Kaxuyana and Bakairi, which have been documented by Sergio Meira (Báez et al., 2016, 32).{{Cite book|title=Language Documentation and Revitalization in Latin American Contexts: Latin American Contexts|editor-last1=Báez|editor-first1=Gabriela Pérez|editor2=Chris Rogers|editor3=Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|year=2016}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=31}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=32}}

Bruno (2003) creates a thorough documentation of the morphology of Waimiri Atroari which includes nouns of possession, relational morphemes, derivational morphemes, pronouns, non-third person pronouns and third-person pronouns. Verbs have also been documented, covering tense/aspect suffixes, mood (imperatives and negation suffix), interrogative clitic, interrogative forms, causative forms and desiderative suffix. Waimiri Atroari also has documentation of adverbs, postpositions, particles and case markings.

{{sfn|Bruno|2003}}

Bruno states that pronouns can take both subject and object positions in Waimiri Atroari.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=76}}

Bruno states that kara~kra is used when responding to a question or to emphasize that the person did an action or wants something. It is also the only pronoun that can be used in the OSV order.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=77}}

{{interlinear|number=(1)

|wasypy-pa kra w-ia

|hungry-EMPH 1.PRO 1-COP

|'I am hungry.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(2)

|meprypyny kara h-yn-iany.

|{Tapir meat} 1.PRO 1.A-eat-TAM

|'I was eating tapir meat.'}}

It seems that for a 1st person singular object, aa can be used (Bruno 81).

{{interlinear|number=(3)

|ka ram aa{{=}}ini-pia.

|3.PRO 2PART 1.O-see-IMM.PAST

|'He saw me.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|pp=78-79}}

{{interlinear|number=(4)

|amyry m-om-pia syna kaka

|2.PRO 2.S-dive-IMM.PAST water LOC

|'You dove into the water.'}}

It seems that the morpheme a is used to express a 2nd person singular object as in the examples (5) {{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=100}} and (6) {{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=118}} below.

{{interlinear|number=(5)

|ka ram a-wen-tah-py-pia.

|3.PRO 2PART {2.O-threw up-VERBL-CAUS-IMM.PAST}

|'She/he made you throw up.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(6)

|Ka ram a-ini-piya.

|3.PRO 2PART 2.O-see-IMM.PAST

|'He saw you.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=79-80}}

{{interlinear|number=(7)

|araky ram kyky h-y-sa xiba myryka-se

|Today 2PART 1+2.PRO 1+2.S-go-TAM fish {fish-in order to}

|'Today we go fishing.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(8)

|a’a n-itxi-piany kaapa taka

|1+3 1+3.S-go-REC.PAST garden ALL

|'We went to the plantation garden.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=123}}

{{interlinear|number=(9)

|Irɨ k-ini-pe-s na.

|3.PRO 1+2.O-see-?-DESI COP

|'She/he wants to see us.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(10)

|Ka ram a’{{=}}ini-pia.

|3.PRO 2PART 1+3.O-see-IMM.PAST

|'She/he saw us.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=80-81}}

{{interlinear|number=(10)

|mykyky ty-se kinj-e

|3.PRO 3.REFL-foot wash-TAM

|'He is washing his own foot'}}

{{interlinear|number=(11)

|mykyky ty-se kinj-e

|3.PRO 3.REFL-foot wash-TAM

|'He is washing his own foot'}}

{{interlinear|number=(12)

|mykyka’a ram n-yma-pa

|3.PRO 2PART 3.S-fall-REM.PAST

|'He fell'}}

{{interlinear|number=(13)

|Ka ram ka ini-huwa na

|3.PRO 2PART 3.PRO see-NEG COP

|'He does not see him'}}

{{interlinear|number=(14)

|iry n-aryma-pa te’xy n-eeni-pa

|3.PRO {3.S-come back-REM.PAST} DESI 3.S-stay-REM.PAST

|'He did not want to come back'}}

Mykyka and ka can appear in object position, but Bruno notes that ka seems to be the preferred morpheme in her data.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|pp=79 & 81}}

{{interlinear|number=(15)

|amyra mykyka m-ary-py-pia mykyka ini-se.

|2.PRO 3.PRO 2.A-order-CAUS-IMM.PAST 3.PRO {see-in order to}

|'You ordered him to see him.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(16)

|ka ram ka ini-huwa na.

|3.PRO 2PART 3.PRO see-NEG COP

|'He does not see him.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|pp=81-82}}

{{interlinear|number=(17)

|apia hanji? aa{{=}}samka ram kanji

|What this 1.POSS{{=}}hammock 2PART this

|'What is this?' 'This is my hammock.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(18)

|pip-ky anjinji i-etaty

|{Look for-IMP} here/this REL-name

|'Look here for the names!'}}

{{interlinear|number=(19)

|byby maryba ka-tape.

|3.PRO song sing-{{gcl|REM.FUT|remote future tense}}

|'He will sing.'}}

By is used to describe animate objects.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=81}}

{{interlinear|number=(20)

|bypa i-eka by karyka-e’?

|Whose REL-pet this chicken-INTERR

|'Whose is this chicken?'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|pp=82-83}}

Myry can only be used to describe inanimate objects.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=82}}

{{interlinear|number=(21)

|wyty ka myry

|Meat EVID this

|'This is meat.'}}

Mymo’ and mo’o are used with inanimate objects, while myky is used with animate objects.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=82}}

{{interlinear|number=(22)

|mymo’ {marehe ram} abremyhsa

|That sieve-2PART round

|'That sieve is round’}}

{{interlinear|number=(23)

|myky ram tabe’a mo’o ka samka

|That 2PART capybara There EVID hammock

|'That is a capybara' 'There, is the hammock.'}}

{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=84}}

{{interlinear|number=(24)

|a'a txi-piany mo'o ase mydy taka.

|1+3.PRO go-REC.PAST there new house ALL

|'We went there to the new village.'}}

Waimiri Atroari uses non-verbal negation, that is, negation marked by particles kap~kapy~kapa and wan. These particles act to indicate negation rather than negation being marked on a verb and are often used to negate existence as seen below (Bruno 115).

{{interlinear|number=(25)

|aiana ram wyty kapa

|Sp.bird 2PART meat/food NEG

|'Any-preto is not food.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(26)

|wyty wan naminja

|Meat NEG dog

|'Don't eat the food, dog!'}}

There are two kinds of causative forms that can be used to signify if a subject causes an event. First, there is the -py morpheme that indicates if someone “made” someone else do something or if they are not resistant to “cause” an event to happen. There is one construction where the morpheme -py appears with the lexicalized verb, such as in examples (27) and (28), where -py attaches to the verb for 'tell' (Bruno 100).

{{interlinear|number=(27)

|Aa Kaina h-ary-py-pia kyrywu ini-se.

|1.PRO Kaina 1.S-tell-CAUS-IMM.PAST snake {see-in order to}

|'I told/dictated to Kaina to see the snake.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(28)

|Paruwe aa-iry-py-pia woky yry-ky Marta inaka

|Paruwe 1.O-tell-CAUS-IMM.PAST banana give-IMP Marta DAT

|'Paruwe told/dictated to me to give the banana to Marta.'}}

There is also a form where -py does not appear with a lexicalized verb, such as in examples (29) and (30), where -py attaches to the verbs 'bleed' and 'laugh'. It also seems that intransitive verbs like these, behave like transitive verbs when they take a causative form like V[Intr+Caus [A O]] (Bruno 101).

{{interlinear|number=(29)

|kyka ram ka hu-myny-tah-py-pia.

|1+2.PRO 2PART 3.PRO 1+2.A-bleed-VERBL-CAUS-IMM.PAST

|'We made him bleed.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(30)

|Ka k-yeepitxah-py-pia.

|3.PRO 1+2.O-laugh-CAUS-IMM.PAST

|'She/he made us laugh.'}}

Second, there is a form that indicates if the subject is “letting” the event happen. Someone is ordered or permitted to do something without forcing the other or knowing if the other may fulfill the event. It seems that there is an absence of the morpheme -py, as in examples (31) and (32), and the particle tre’me is notable, however Bruno notes that the particle tre’me may not mean "let" because of example (33), in which it does not indicate "let/permit" (Bruno 103).

{{interlinear|number=(31)

|Aa wo'nj-e'me h-aminjaky-piany a-wenpa-typah tre'me tyruwa kapry pyky.

|1.PRO clay-VAL 1.A-permit/let-REC.PAST 2.O-learn-? PART pan make how

|'I permitted you to/let you dabble in the clay to learn how to make a ceramic pan.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(32)

|Aa ka m-injaky-piany wyty ipy-na tre'me.

|1.PRO ka 2.O-permit/let-REC.PAST meat {look for-?} PART

|'I permitted you to/let you leave to hunt.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(33)

|Aa k-aa-piany maryba taka a-iwapy-try pyky a-wenpa-typa tre'me.

|1.PRO 2.O-take-REC.PAST party/song ALL 2.O-sing-? how 2.O-learn-? PART

|'I took you to the party for you to learn how to sing.'}}

Waimiri Atroari is  what Gildea (1998)Gildea, Spike. “On Reconstructing Grammar: Comparative Cariban Morphosyntax.” Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, vol. 18, Oxford: Oxford Press (1998). classifies to as an Inverse Split system-S. Characteristics of this language system include A and O nominals having no case marking, a lack of auxiliaries and personal prefix set as well as the collective number suffixes.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=5}} In Inverse Split System-s, also referred to as Set I systems the OV unit may either precede or follow the A, in Wamiri Atroari the order is AOV.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=7}}

A Verb-Phrase may be formed with just the verb.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=7}}

{{interlinear|number=(1)

|Ka-ky!

|speak-IMPER

|'Speak!'}}

A verb may be preceded by a Noun-Phrase.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=8}}

{{interlinear|number=(2)

|bahinja maia kɨnk-E

|Children knife break-TAM

|'The children break the knife.'}}

The particle ram cannot separate elements of a single phrase, however it can be used as a tool to determine which element is moved within a sentence.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=8}}

{{interlinear|number=(3)a.

|tahkome i-inɨ-pia ram Irikwa

|elders REL-eat-IMM.PAST 2PART Irikwa

|'Irika (a mythological entity) ate the elders.'}}

{{interlinear|number=b.

|*[tahkome ram i-inɨ-pia] Irikwa

|elders 2PART REL-eat-IMM.PAST Irikwa

|}}

In OSV contexts the object may move independently to subject position rather than the Verb-Phrase preceding the Noun-Phrase through the process of topicalization in which its components cannot be separated.{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=8}}

{{interlinear|number=(4)

|woky i-eki kra h-ee-ia

|Banana REL-juice 1.PRO 1.A-drink-TAM

|'I drink the banana juice'}}

Hierarchical relationships exist in Waimiri Atroari in which  the third person is ranked lower than the first, second and first plural inclusive and exclusive person.   In situations where second person acts on first person, or first person acts on second person there is may be subject agreement or object agreement. Therefore, it is necessary that subject and object marking follow a hierarchy : 1=2, 1+2/1+3>3. The following table provided by Bruno{{sfn|Bruno|2015|p=11}} illustrates how case is marked in Waimiri Atroari as well as the hierarchy present in the language.

or

{{interlinear|Amra aa{{=}}k-ini-pia|2.PRO 1.O-2-see-IMM.PAST}}

|}

Noun phrases which possess quantifiers show positional variation, as seen in examples (5) to (9). Adverbials quantifiers may be positioned on either side of the head noun. Bruno (2003) explains the relative mobility of these quantifiers by categorizing them as adjuncts.{{sfn|Bruno|2003}}

{{interlinear|number=(5)

|waha xiba

|many fish

|'many fish'}}

{{interlinear|number=(6)

|xiba waha

|fish many

|'many fish'}}

{{interlinear|number=(7)

|kinja wyty ipo-piany wapy

|people meat look.for-REC.PAST many

|'People hunted a lot.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(8)

|inja wapy wyty ipo-piany

|people many meat look.for-REC.PAST

|'Many people hunted.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(9)

|wapy kinja wyty ipo-piany

|many people meat look.for-REC.PAST

|'Many people hunted.'}}

Examples (10) to (12) provide examples of the occurrence of the numeral one. (11) is unique in the set as it refers to 'one group' while (10) and (12) refer to one individual.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=108}} Example (13) demonstrates use of the number two and examples (14) and (15) provide depictions of the use of number three.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=140}}

{{interlinear|number=(10)

|awinihe petxi ka-ky ampa ia

|one {wild pig} talk-PAST other to.

|'One petxi talked to the other.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(11)

|awinih-pa ka kinja txi-pia itxi taka

|alone-EMPH EVID people go-IMM.PAST jungle ALL

|'The kinja went to the jungle alone.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(12)

|awynihe petxi Kwawura i-atyka-pa ty-kyda tohnaka

|One pig Kwawura REL-put-REM 3.REFL-back over

|'One wild pig put Kwawura on his own back.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(13)

|typytyna karyka

|two chickens

|'two chickens'}}

{{interlinear|number=(14)

|weri samka ka-pia takynynapa

|Woman hammock make-IMM.PAST three

|'The woman made three hammocks.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(15)

|takynyny pahky kaminja n-apynaka.

|three only non-native 3-escape

|'Only the three white men escaped.'}}

As of recently, due to western influence, Portuguese loanwords are also used to refer to amounts higher than three, and it is common for younger speakers to use them for amounts lower than three.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=140}}

{{interlinear|number=(16)

|dois kinja xiba myry-myry-pia quatro pahky.

|Two people fish REDUP-fish-IMM.PAST four only

|'Two people caught only four fish.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(17)|italics3=yes

|amy kinja dezessete apytphy

|Other people seventeen behind

|amy kinja dezessete nate’me

|Other people seventeen behind

|'Seventeen people were in front, and seventeen were behind.'}}

However, traditionally, it is common for the Kinja people to use waha~wapy ('many, a lot') for amounts more than three because they did not count up to three.{{sfn|Bruno|2003|p=140}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book

|last=Bruno |first=Ana Carla

|year=2003

|title=Waimiri Atroari Grammar: Some Phonological, Morphological, and Syntactic Aspects

|publisher=University of Arizona

|location=Tucson

}}

• {{Cite journal

|last=Bruno |first=Ana Carla

|date=2010

|title=Lessons from Waimiri Atraori Syllable Structure

|journal=LIAMES

|volume=10

|pages=85–99

}}

• {{Cite journal

|last=Bruno |first=Ana Carla

|date=2015

|title=Case Marking in Waimiri Atroari: typical nominative/accusative or nominative with some inverse/split-s features

|journal=Revista Linguíʃtica

|volume=4 |number=2

|url=https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/rl/article/view/4417/3189

}}

{{refend}}