Nheengatú/Grammar

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Grammatical Person

In Nheengatú, the grammatical person of speech, as well as its properties, is indicated with a prefix. There are two series of grammatical-person prefixes: dynamic (<dy>), which indicate the subject of transitive verbs and dynamic intransitive verb, and stative, which function as name determinants, postposition complement, and index of coreference to the subject of inflecting stative verbs. Here, we are considering stative prefixes as attributes that indicate possession.

Dynamic prefixes

  • kuntai<v><pres><p1><sg> ↔ akuntai
  • kuntai<v><pres><p1><pl> ↔ yakuntai
  • kuntai<v><pres><p2><sg> ↔ rekuntai
  • kuntai<v><pres><p2><pl> ↔ pekuntai
  • kuntai<v><pres><p3><sg> ↔ ukuntai
  • kuntai<v><pres><p3><pl> ↔ taukuntai

Stative prefixes

  • rera<n><px1sg> ↔ serera
  • rera<n><px1pl> ↔ yanerera
  • rera<n><px2sg> ↔ nerera
  • rera<n><px2pl> ↔ perera
  • rera<n><px3sg> ↔ irera
  • rera<n><px3pl> ↔ tarera

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

First Class

With nouns and verbs, only first-class personal pronouns are used. The 1st class personal pronouns, which function as subjects, also serve as direct objects. Examples:

  1. Ixé kurumĩ. "I'm (a) boy."
  2. Indé kunhã. "You (are a) woman."
  3. Aé apigaua. "He (is a) man."
  4. Ixé aiku iké. "I am here."

Here are the personal pronouns of the first class of Nheengatú:

  • ixé<prn><pers><p1><sg> ↔ ixé "I"
  • indé<prn><pers><p2><sg> ↔ indé "You"
  • <prn><pers><p3><sg> ↔ aé "He/She"
  • iandé<prn><pers><p1><pl> ↔ iandé "We"
  • penhẽ<prn><pers><p2><pl> ↔ penhẽ "You"
  • aintá<prn><pers><p3><pl> ↔ aintá "They"
  • ta<prn><pers><p3><pl> ↔ ta "They"

Second Class

With some adjectives, the pronouns of the second class are used.

  1. Se pusé. "I (am) heavy."
  2. I kuere. "He (is) tired."
  3. Yane apara. "We (are) crooked."

Here are the personal pronouns of the second class of Nheengatú:

  • se<prn><pers><p1><sg> ↔ se "I"
  • ne<prn><pers><p2><sg> ↔ ne "You"
  • i<prn><pers><p3><sg> ↔ i "He/She"
  • yane<prn><pers><p1><pl> ↔ yane "We"
  • pe<prn><pers><p2><pl> ↔ pe "You"
  • aintá<prn><pers><p3><pl> ↔ aintá "They"
  • ta<prn><pers><p3><pl> ↔ ta "They"

Possessive Pronouns

  • se<px1sg> ↔ se ("my")
  • ne<px2sg> ↔ ne ("your")
  • i<px3sg> ↔ i ("his/her")
  • yane<px1pl> ↔ yane ("our")
  • pe<px2pl> ↔ pe ("your (plural)")
  • aintá<px3pl> ↔ aintá ("their")
  • ta<px3pl> ↔ ta ("their")

Demonstrative pronouns

  • kuá<prn><dem> ↔ kuá ("this")
  • nhaã<prn><dem> ↔ nhaã ("that")
  • kuá suí<prn><dem> ↔ kuá suí ("here")

Nouns

Plurals

Nheengatú forms the plural of nouns with the ending -ITÁ, which is only used when absolutely necessary. When a noun clearly references the plural, either because a numeral precedes it or due to context, the suffix is usually omitted.

  • kunhã<n><pl> ↔ kunhãitá
  • uka<n><pl> ↔ ukaitá
  • nheenga<n><pl> ↔ nheengaitá
  • yawara<n><pl> ↔ yawaraitá
  • pirá<n><pl> ↔ piráitá
  • apigaua<n><pl> ↔ apigauaitá
  • taina<n><pl> ↔ tainaitá

Postpositions

  • upé<post> ↔ upé ("in/at")
  • supé<post> ↔ supé ("to") [personal]
  • irũmu<post> ↔ irũmu ("with")
  • kiti<post> ↔ kiti ("to") [locative]
  • rupi<post> ↔ rupi ("through")
  • riré<post> ↔ riré ("after")
  • suí<post> ↔ suí ("from") [indicates origin or cause]

Past

The past is constructed with adverbs. Often, they are omitted, especially if it is clear when something has happened in the past or if the listener knows the speaker refers to the past.

Augmentative

-UASU, -ASU, and -USU are augmentative suffixes. The suffixes -ASU and -USU are used, preferably, when the noun ends in an unaccented vowel. The latter is, then, removed from the word.

  • takuara<aug><n><sg> ↔ takuarusu
  • apigaua<aug><n><sg> ↔ apigauasu
  • iakaré<aug><n><sg> ↔ iakaréuasu
  • iakaré<aug><n><sg> ↔ iakaréasu
  • buia<aug><n><sg> ↔ buiusu
  • igara<aug><n><sg> ↔ igarusu

Diminutive

-I and are suffixes that express the diminutive. The noun that receives the suffix drops, if existing, its final unstressed "A."

  • tatu<dim><n><sg> ↔ tatui
  • ita<dim><n><sg> ↔ itai
  • takuara<dim><n><sg> ↔ takuarĩ
  • nheenga<dim><n><sg> ↔ nheengĩ

Derivation

The suffix -SAUA (sometimes -TAUA, -PAUA), added to a verb, an adjective, etc., turns them into nouns. The forms -TAUA and -PAUA can only appear in forms inherited directly from proto Tupi. They cannot be used to form new words in Nheengatú. Cardinal numbers are also formed by attaching this suffix to their ordinal counterparts.

  • suri<adj><nmz> ↔ surisaua ("happy" | "happiness")
  • katu<adj><nmz> ↔ katusaua ("good" | "goodness")
  • purasi<v><nmz> ↔ purasisaua ("to dance" | "dance")
  • iepé<n><nmz> ↔ iepesaua ("one" | "first")
  • mukũi<adj><nmz> ↔ mukũisaua ("two" | "second")
  • musapíri<adj><nmz> ↔ musapírisaua ("three" | "third")
  • irundi<adj><nmz> ↔ irundisaua ("four" | "fourth")

Causative Voice

In Nheengatú, the causative voice is formed by using the prefix MU- with intransitive verbs, nouns, adjectives, particles.

  • pinima<adj><caus> ↔ mupinima ("painted" | "to paint")
  • kuara<n><caus> ↔ mukuara ("hole" | "to drill")
  • paua<v><caus> ↔ mupaua ("to finish" | "to make finish")
  • puranga<adj><caus> ↔ mupuranga ("pretty" | "to embellish")
  • tini<adj><caus> ↔ mutini ("roasted" | "to roast")
  • tusuru<adj><caus> ↔ mutusuru ("big" | "to enlarge")
  • saku<adj><caus> ↔ musaku ("hot" | "to heat")

Habituality

-UERA is a suffix that expresses habit, frequency, custom. It is used with verbs, with particles, adjectives.

  • nheẽ<v><pres><p3><sg><hab> ↔ unheẽuera ("to say" | "(she) often says")
  • mundá<v><pres><p3><pl><hab> ↔ amundáuera ("to steal" | "(they) often steal")
  • maã<v><pres><p3><pl><hab> ↔ remaãuera ("to steal" | "(they) often steal")

Reduplication

Reduplication, in Nheengatú, provides aspectual information to verbs and intensifies adjectives.

Unstressed syllable before the stressed syllable

If the word has an unstressed syllable before the stressed syllable, they are repeated.

  • puku<adj><sup> ↔ pukupuku ("large")
  • iepé<adj><sup> ↔ iepéiepé ("one")
  • kaú<v><ints> ↔ kaúkaú ("to get")

Diphthong at coda position

When there is a diphthong, the semivowel of the first member of the reduplication drops.

  • ieréu<v><ints> ↔ ieréieréu ("to turn")

Stressed syllable is penultimate and no other precedes it

If the stressed syllable is the penultimate one and there is no other before it, only the stressed syllable is duplicated.

  • kuere<adj><sup> ↔ kuekuere ("tired")

Unstressed syllables that separate the members of the reduplication

The unstressed syllables that separate the reduplication members are dropped.

  • kupíri<v><ints> ↔ kupikupíri ("to clear off")
  • mupinima<v><ints> ↔ mupinipinima ("to paint/write")