Maiani
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
[under construction]
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Sources
[under construction]
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Phonology
May and Loeweke (1982: 2, 14-15, ibid., May 1994) give 10 or 14 consonants and 5 vowels for Maiani as follows:
| m | n̪ | [ŋ] | |
| p | t̪ | s̪ | k |
| [b] | [d̪] | [g] | |
| l | |||
| β | r | ʝ |
| i | u | |
| e | o | |
| a |
Word-finally, voiceless stops /p t̪ k/ are realized as aspirated [pʰ t̪ʰ kʰ].
Root-final fronted apical voiceless stop /t̪/ becomes /s̪/ when followed by a suffix which begins with a high front vowel /i/.
Voiced stops /b d̪ g/ are found only in names and loans, as proto-Kaukombar River /*mb *n̪d̪ *ŋg/ have generally been devoiced and merged with /p t̪ k/ in Maiani. Similarly, velar nasal /ŋ/ has been found in only one word besides names.
Bilabial voiced fricative /β/, systemically equivalent to non-stop /w/, is realized as [β] word-finally, when followed by front vowels /i e/, and when following /i e/ or lowe central /a/ and followed central /a/, and as [w] when followed by rounded vowels /u o/ or following /o u/ and followed by /a/.
Rhotic apical non-stop /r/ is realized as a flap [ɾ] when occuring between vowels at the onset of an unstressed syllable; elsewhere it is a trill [r].
There are no consonant clusters.
Vowel sequences are intepreted as sequences rather than as diphthongs. The folowing sequences have been found:
| i | u | e | o | a | |
| i | — | — | — | io | ia |
| u | ui | — | ue | —< | ua |
| e | — | — | — | — | — |
| o | oi | — | — | — | — |
| a | ai | — | au | ao | — |
The three vowel sequences /uai/ and /aia/ are also found.
Stress is constrastive and most commonly falls on the second syllable..
Pronouns
May and Loeweke (1982: 8-17, 38-40) give pronouns for Maiani in eleven case forms, the bases of which can be divided into two sets as follows:
| I | II | |
| 1 sg. | ʝo(-) | ʝe-ˈ |
| 2 sg. | n̪o(-) | n̪e-ˈ |
| 3 sg. | o(-) | u-ˈ |
| 1 pl. | i(-) | ˈe- |
| 2 pl. | n̪i(-) | ˈn̪e- |
| 3 pl. | o(-) | ˈo- |
(Analysis ours.)
Case forms based upon set I free pronouns are as follows:
| nominative | alienable | “self” | “only” | “too” | |
| 1 sg. | ʝo | ʝo-ŋor | ʝo-ŋor-a | ʝo-ʝia | ʝo-pun̪ |
| 2 sg. | n̪o | n̪o-ŋor | n̪o-ŋor-a | n̪o-ʝia | n̪o-pun̪ |
| 3 sg. | o | o-ŋor | o-ŋor-a | o-iʝia | o-pun̪ |
| 1 pl. | i | i-ŋor | i-ŋor-a | i-ʝia | i-pun̪ |
| 2 pl. | n̪i | n̪i-ŋor | n̪i-ŋor-a | n̪i-ʝia | n̪i-pun̪ |
| 3 pl. | o | o-ŋor | o-ŋor-a | o-iʝia | o-pun̪ |
Case forms based upon set II bound pronouns are as follows:
| inalienable | reflexive | object | locative | alienable | “motion” | |
| 1 sg. | ʝV- | ʝi-mi | ʝe-ˈ | ʝa-βas̪i | ʝi–s̪ip | ʝi–s̪ip |
| 2 sg. | n̪V- | n̪i-mi | n̪e-ˈ | n̪a-βas̪i | n̪i-s̪ip | n̪i-s̪ip |
| 3 sg. | u- | u-mi | u-ˈ | u-βas̪i | u-s̪ip | u-s̪ip |
| 1 pl. | e- | e-mi | ˈe- | e-βas̪i | e-s̪ip | e-s̪ip |
| 2 pl. | n̪e- | n̪e-mi | ˈn̪e- | n̪e-βas̪i | n̪e-s̪ip | n̪e-s̪ip |
| 3 pl. | o- | o-mi | ˈo- | o-βas̪i | ? | o-s̪ip |
(Alienable possessors and “motion” forms are synchornically identical but their suffixes reflect different protoforms.)
Verbal morphology
Loeweke and May (1982: 35-46) give subject-marked desinenences for Maiani in six tense paradigms as follows:
| past | past habitual | future | future habitual | present | imperative | |
| 1 sg. | -a-mo | -iker-a-mo | -emo | -iker-emo | -kemo | — |
| 2 sg. | -a-ro | -iker-a-ro | -ia | -iker-ie | -k-i | -oβ |
| 3 sg. | -a-t̪ | -iker-a-t̪ | -a | -iker-a | -ke | — |
| 1 pl. | -a-mi | -iker-a-mi | -emi | -iker-imi | -kemi | — |
| 2 pl. | -a-met̪ | -iker-a-met̪ | -emet̪ | -iker-imet̪ | -k-emet̪ | -eβet̪ ~ -et̪ |
| 3 pl. | -a-mot̪ | -iker-a-mot̪ | -emot̪ | -iker-imot̪ | -k-emot̪ | — |
In addition to these, an element /-ik- ~ -k-/ precedes the past tense suffixes to indicate the counterfactual meaning “should have;” however full paradigms for this tense/mood are not given.