Comparative Reconstruction of Proto-Mojeño and the Diversification of Mojeño Dialects

Abstract

Comparative reconstruction of proto-mojeño and the phonological diversification of mojeño dialects 1ABSTRACT: This paper addresses nine open issues in the historical phonology of Mojeño, an Arawak language of Bolivia. We propose solutions to these problems by postulating reconstructed forms for Proto-Mojeño based on a comparison of the two extant varieties of the language, Ignaciano and Trinitario, and on 17 th century sources on Old Mojeño. Contrarily to a recent claim, we argue that the contrast between *n and *ɲ can be straightforwardly reconstructed for Proto-Mojeño. We suggest that the marginally contrastive opposition between s and ʃ in Ignaciano derives from sound symbolism. We argue for a contrast between *a and *o in Proto-Mojeño that was later lost in Ignaciano. We reconstruct the accentual system of Proto-Mojeño, as a basis for explaining diachronic rhythmic syncope in Trinitario. Syncope of vowels in weak metrical positions accounts for the emergence of consonant clusters and morphophonological alternations in Trinitario. Besides, hiatus resolution has led to the phonologization of the consonant / c /, while the vowel /͡ əe/ emerged from a process of monophthongization. Indirect consequences of Trinitario rhythmic syncope are the phonologization of the consonant / ç /, consonant loss and the development of phonological vowel length. An appendix presents 191 Proto-Mojeño reconstructions and cognate sets. RESUMO: Neste trabalho abordamos nove fenômenos ou questões em aberto acerca da fonologia histórica do Mojeño, uma língua Arawak falada na Bolívia. Propomos soluções para essas questões com base em uma reconstrução do Proto-Mojeño, partindo da comparação entre as duas variedades existentes da língua, o Ignaciano e o Trinitario, e fazendo uso de fontes do século 17 sobre o Mojeño Antigo. Discordando de parte da literatura sobre o tema, mostramos que o contraste entre *n e *ɲ pode ser reconstruído para o Proto-Mojeño. Apresentamos evidências de que o contraste entre s e ʃ encontrado somente no Ignaciano resulta de um processo de simbolismo fônico. O mesmo dialeto também inovou ao perder o contraste entre*a e *o reconstruído para a proto-língua. Reconstruímos o sistema acentual do Proto-Mojeño e, a partir disso, explicamos a emergência de encontros consonantais e alternâncias morfofonológicas em Trinitario, como resultado da síncope de vogais em posições métricas fracas. Processos de resolução de hiato e de monotongação deram origem à / c / e à /͡ əe/ nesse mesmo dialeto. Consequências indiretas da síncope diacrônica incluem ainda a fonologização da fricativa / ç /, a perda de certas consoantes e o desenvolvimento de duração vocálica contrastiva. Por fim, um apêndice apresenta um conjunto de 191 etimologias com étimos reconstruídos para o Proto-Mojeño.

Demorphologization of the proto-arawakan privative *ma- in Terena

“…Carvalho & Rose 2018), allow for the straightforward reconstruction of Privative *mo-for Proto-Mojeño (the Ignaciano variety of Mojeño shows ma-instead due to the context-free merger PM *o, *a >a in this dialect; see Carvalho 2017c, Carvalho & Rose 2018.…”

“…The noun mókere 'deaf person', for instance, has a clearly privative meaning, but the comparison to -kêɲo 'ear' leaves the loss of -ɲo unexplained, as this element has no independent morphological status (cf. pm *-kiɲo 'ear hole'; Carvalho & Rose 2018). An etymology relating mókere 'deaf person' to an etymon having the Privative *mo-is, therefore, hard to establish now and remains only a promising hypothesis.…”

“…As noted inCarvalho & Rose (2018), Old Mojeño forms from Marbán (1701) that include relative/ inalienable nouns, such as body-part terms and kinship terminology, are normally given with the first person singular prefix <nu->.…”

The historical phonology of Paunaka (Arawakan)

“…These are complemented by a grammar of the Trinitario variety (Gill, 1957), a stream of recent in-depth descriptions of parts of Trinitario phonology, morphology and syntax in Rose (2011Rose ( , 2014Rose ( , 2015a, an extensive description of the morphosyntax of Ignaciano (Olza Zubiri et al, 2002) and the grammatical description of Old Mojeño in Marbán (1701). I have also benefited from the Proto-Mojeño (PM) reconstructions of Carvalho and Rose (2018) for comparison with Paunaka. For Terena there are several papers and book-length descriptions authored by Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) linguists Grimes, 1964;Eastlack, 1968;Bendor-Samuel, 1961), an extremely useful pedagogical grammar in two volumes Butler, 1979), an unpublished dictionary Butler, 1969) and first-hand, fieldwork data by the author of the present paper.…”

“…Synchronic instances of r in the language likely result from borrowing, as comparative data shows that the language has lost *r regularly. The language differs from Proto-Mojeño and from Terena in lacking a contrastive nasal stop ɲ, which occurs only as a surface variant in Paunaka Terhart, 2014), and, also, by lacking an alveolar affricate ts, reconstructed for Proto-Mojeño and inferable for earlier stages of Terena Rose, 2018;Carvalho, 2017c). Finally, like most Arawakan languages, Paunaka organizes its segmental elements in simple CV syllables, eventually tolerating onset-less V syllables in wordinitial position and allowing for some amount of tautosyllabic vowel combinations Terhart, 2014, p. 229).…”