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Maká is a Matacoan language spoken in Argentina and Paraguay by the Maká people. Its 1,500 speakers live primarily in Presidente Hayes Department near the Río Negro, as well as in and around Asunción.[2]
Velar consonants alternate with palatal consonants before /e/ and sometimes before /a/. Examples include /keɬejkup/ ~ [ceɬejkup] 'autumn' and /exeʔ/ ~ [eçeʔ] 'stork'. The palatal approximant /j/ is realised as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/, as in /inanjiʔ/ ~ [inançiʔ].[3][page needed]
Syllables in Maká may be of types V, VC, CV, CCV, and CCVC. When a consonant cluster appears at the beginning of a syllable, the second consonant must be /x/, /h/, /w/, or /j/.
Nouns
Gender
Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun.[4]
| Masculine nouns | Feminine nouns |
|---|---|
na’ DEM.MASC sehe’ land 'this land' |
ne’ DEM.FEM naxkax tree 'this tree' |
na’ DEM.MASC nunax dog 'this (male) dog' |
ne’ DEM.FEM nunax dog 'this (female) dog' |
In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:
ne’
these
sehe-l
land-PL
‘these lands’
ne’
these
naxkak-wi
tree-PL
‘these trees’
Number
Maká nouns inflect for plurality. There are several distinct plural endings: -l, -wi, -Vts, and -Vy. All plants take the -wi plural, but otherwise the choice seems to be unpredictable.[5]
| singular | plural | gloss |
|---|---|---|
| sehe | sehe-l | 'land(s)' |
| naxkax | naxkax-wi | 'tree(s)' |
| tenuk | tenuk-its | 'cat(s)' |
Case
Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case.[6]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
Ø-tux
A.3-eat
ka’
INDEF.M
sehets.
fish
‘The woman eats fish.’
Agreement with the possessor
Nouns agree with their possessor in person.[7]
y-exi’ 1S-mouth 'my mouth' |
Ø-exi’ 2-mouth 'your mouth' |
ł-exi’ 3-mouth 'his/her/their mouth' |
in-exi’ 1PL.INCL-mouth 'our (inclusive) mouth' |
Verbs
Agreement with subject and object
Verbs agree with their subject and object in a rather complex system. Gerzenstein (1995) identifies five conjugation classes for intransitive verbs.[3][page needed] The following two examples show intransitive verbs from conjugation classes 1 and 3.
| tremble (conjugation class 3) | dance (conjugation class 1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tsi-kawelik | 'I tremble' | hoy-otoy | 'I dance' |
| 2 | łan-kawelik | 'you tremble' | ł-otoy | 'you dance' |
| 3 | yi-kawelik | 'he/she trembles' | t-otoy | 'he/she dances' |
| 1pl.incl | xiyi-kawelik | 'we (inclusive) tremble' | xit-otoy | 'we (inclusive) dance' |
Transitive verbs belong to a different conjugation class, Conjugation 6. The following forms show a transitive verb with a 3rd person object:
| love (conjugation class 6) | |
|---|---|
| hi-su'un | 'I love (him/her)' |
| łi-su'un | 'you love (him/her)' |
| yi-su'un | 'he/she loves (him/her)' |
| xite-su'un | 'we (inclusive) love (him/her)' |
If the object of the transitive verb is 1st or 2nd person, then certain combinations of subject and object are shown by a portmanteau morpheme.
| love (conjugation class 6) | subject/object combination | |
|---|---|---|
| k'e-su'un | 'I love you' | 1SUBJ›2OBJ |
| tsi-su'un | 'he/she loves me' | 3SUBJ›1OBJ |
| ne-su'un | 'he/she loves you' | 3SUBJ›2OBJ |
Other combinations involve an object agreement marker which may either precede or follow the subject marker.[8]
łe-ts-ikfex
2.SUBJ-1SG.OBJ-bite
'you bite me'
xi-yi-łin
1PL.INCL.OBJ-3-save
'he/she saves us (inclusive)'
Applicatives
Verbs in Maká have a series of suffixes called 'postpositions' in Gerzenstein (1995), which have the effect of introducing new oblique objects into the sentence.[3][page needed]
The following examples show the applicative suffixes -ex 'instrumental ('with')' and -m 'benefactive ('for')'
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A.3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
H-osxey-i-m
A.1-grill-P.3-for
na’
DEM.M
sehets
fish
na’
DEM.M
k’utsaX
old.man
‘I grill fish for the old man.’
Noun phrases
In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.[9]
e-li-ts
2-child-PL
łe-xiła’
3-head
'your children’s head'
Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N.[10]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
t-aqhay-ets
S.3-buy-toward
ne’
DEM.PL
ikwetxuł
four
fo’
white
tiptip-its
horse-PL
’The woman bought four white horses.’
Sentences
Affirmative
The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.[11]
Ne’
DEM.F
efu
woman
ni-xele-ex
A.3-throw-with
ke’
INDEF.M
ute
rock
na’
DEM.M
nunax.
dog
‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’
For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject.[12]
Wapi
rest
ne'
DEM.F
efu.
woman
'The woman rests'
Interrogative
In yes–no questions, the usual subject–verb–object order changes to verb-subject-object following an initial particle me.[13]
Me
Q
y-eqfemet-en
A.3-injure-CAUS
na'
DEM.M
k’utsaX
old.man
na'
DEM.M
xukhew?
man
‘Did the old man injure the man?’
Sentences with wh-questions show a sentence-initial question word. Maká has a very small inventory of question words, with only three members: łek 'who, what', pan 'which, where, how many', and inhats'ek 'why'. The following example shows an interrogative sentence with an initial question word.[14]
Łek
what
pa'
DEM.M
tux
eat
na'
DEM.M
xukhew?
old.man
‘What did the old man eat?’
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