Nonuya language

Nonuya (Nononotá, Nyonuhu, Nonuña, Achiote) is a Witotoan language formerly spoken in Colombia and Peru that is now nearly extinct. Genocide, disease, and forced migration caused the Sparrowhawk and Backpacker tribes to form families with the Andoke and the Muinane to create the Nonuya community. Most Nonuya have Muinane and Spanish as their native languages.[2]

Nonuya
Nononotá, Nyonuhu, Nonuña, Achiote
Native toColombia, Peru
EthnicityNonuya peoples
Native speakers
2 (2012)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3noj
Glottolognonu1241
ELPNonuya

There are no surviving Nonuya people with Nononotá as their mother tongue as the last native speaker died in 2003.[3] However, the Nonuya community has recently reestablished itself, and is attempting to revitalize its culture through revitalizing its language.[4] The Nonuya use the available documentation created by the last native speakers between 1973 and 2007, which include prayers, songs, and a lexicon, to relearn the language. These documents are accessible today in audio files and transcripts which can be used for practical spelling.[5]

Phonology

Some of the only linguistic research on Nonuya was on its phonological and phonetic features, Nonuya has 6 vowels and 15 consonants.[6] Nonuya has no nasal vowels, similar to its predecessor Witotoan.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Mid e o
Open a

Nonuya's six vowel system is typical of Northwest Amazonian languages.

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ
Stop voiceless p t tʲ k ʔ
voiced b d g
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ
voiced d͡z d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless ɸ ʃ h
voiced β
Flap ɾ

Some sources also suggest that Nonuya has two implosive sounds (/ɗ/ and /ɓ/), and distinguish labialised consonants.[3]

Grammar

Not much is known about Nonuya grammar as, until recently, the only linguistic studies done on Nonuya were on phonetic/phonological analysis but it can be inferred through the typical features known to Witotoan languages and the 1953 lexicon.

Features of Witotoan languages:[3]
  • All Wititoan languages are nominative-accusative with agreement shown on the heads of phrases (head marking) and some elements of agreement marked on the dependent element of a phrase (dependent marking).
  • They are predominantly agglutinating with some fusion and mostly suffixing. Though there are a few cases of prefixes.
  • Syntactic functions are expressed using cross-referencing on the verb and case marking
  • Word order is typically Agent Object Verb (SOV), but it may change, depending on context, to SVO
  • Pronouns disinguish between male/female singular, male/female dual, and male/female plural

Cases

There are six syntactical cases and seven locative cases in Nonuya: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, locative, and instrumental.[7] The locative case includes pi : "in", wan or piwan : "with" used as both "in the company of" and instrumental, wan can also be used in some contexts to mean "in addition". Paq : "for" (interest, aim, duration), rayku : "due to, in sight of", kama : "until" "while" "according to" "all together", pura : "in a pair" "from among a group" and ntin, whose form is difficult to analyse but is recorded as meaning "all together", "with"

Lexicon

The first wordlist of Nonuya was created by Marquis Robert de Wavrin and Paul River in 1953 and included 394 words and expressions.[3] The document compares Nonuya, Ocaina, and Witotoa and attempts to record the endangered language for future revival.

English Nonuya Ocaina Witotoa
Good morning wətsihōmonāhĭ wo(h)ə(ü)kaj(w)ə(ü)ra māreho(wi)
Yesterday bohōf(w)ə ə(ü)tǒ nayfotomonay
Man hǒkká hōh'ə uey(ma)

References
  1. Nonuya at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Pueblo Nonuya (in Spanish). Pruebaw. 2006.
  3. Wojtylak, Katarzyna (2016). "Some notes on aspects of Nonuya (Witotoan) grammar". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Did you know Nonuya is dormant?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  5. "La lengua Nononota (Nonuya) - Recuperación de la lengua nonuya en Peña Roja (Amazonas)". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  6. "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  7. Rivet, Paul; Wavrin (1953). "Fêtes et usages des Indiens de Langui (Province de Canas, Département du Cuzco)". Journal de la Société des Américanistes. 42: 4 – via Persée.
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