LANGUAGE AND CULTURE RESEARCH CENTRE, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

9 May 2018

Number systems in the grammar of Karijona (Cariban)

David Felipe Guerrero-Beltran

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA

1 Background: The Carijona people and the Karijona language

 Karijona [iso639-3 cbd] is an endangered language spoken in Northwest Amazonia. It

belongs to the Taranoan group of the Cariban language family, together with Tiriyó (Trio)
and Akuriyó (Aikhenvald, 2012; Carlin, 2004; Derbyshire, 1999; Meira, 2000).

 There are approximately 120 Carijona people living in two communities in the departments
of Guaviare and Amazonas (Puero Nare and La Pedrera); some Carijona also reside in the
urban areas of Villavicencio (department of Meta) and San José (department of Guaviare).

 Some Carijona are also believed to be located in the Chiribiquete National Park (department
of Caquetá, Colombia) (Franco, 2002) (see the Appendix 1).

 Today, there are only five speakers that actively use Karijona in one family. In addition,
about ten speakers use the language occasionally, and are able to hold conversations and tell
traditional stories. Sixteen speakers understand Karijona and have some proficiency in the
language.

 All speakers of Karijona are bilingual with Spanish.

 The data for this study was collected on several fieldtrips in the Carijona community of
Puerto Nare between 2014 and 2017.

 The corpus consists of about 30 hours of transcribed recordings of first- and second-hand
data, including traditional stories, historical accounts, everyday conversations, and
interviews.

 Karijona has a phonemic inventory of 7 vowels and 14 consonants (Robayo, 2000).

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 Table 1. Karijona vowels
Front Central Back
Closed i ɨ u
Mid e ə o
Open a

Table 2. Karijona consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Glottal
t k
Stop
b d g
tʃ
Affricate
dʒ
Fricative s w h
Nasal m n ɲ
Flap r

 Karijona is a language with a highly synthetic and agglutinative morphology. It also shows
some features of morphological fusion.

 The syntactic functions are expressed through constituent order, predicate marking
(cross-reference markers on verbs), and postpositions.

 There is a tendency for the constituent order to be SV and AOV in intransitive and
transitive clauses, with the predicate occurring in the clause final position. Depending on a
number of pragmatic factors, the language allows VS, OVA, and AVO constituent orders.

 Verbs, nouns, and adverbs belong to open word classes, while quantifiers, pronouns,
particles, and postpositions constitute closed classes of words.

 Karijona word classes can also be divided into two distinct types:

TYPE I. VERBS, NOUNS, AND POSTPOSITIONS – these are word classes that can be cross-
referenced for person and number (see §2).
TYPE II. ADVERBS, QUANTIFIERS, PRONOUNS, AND PARTICLES – these word classes cannot be
inflected by cross-reference markers for person or number.

 The non-spatial setting is expressed through combinations of two codependent

morphological paradigms on the verb:

TENSE PARADIGM – contains two tense markers for non-future -∅ and future -ta. The non-
future marker -∅ has a syllabic allomorph /-ʤa/, which occurs with reduced forms of verbal
stems that end with a consonantal segment (Meira, 2000).

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 ASPECT-MOOD PARADIGM – contains five aspect markers and one mood marker whose
meanings depend on their combination with tense markers, particles, and adverbs. They
have recognizable prototypical meanings: imperfective, durative, habitual, perfective,
remote, and imperative.

Table 3. Combinations of tense and aspect-mood markers in Karijona

Tense Aspect-Mood
Resulting meaning
Marker Meaning Marker Meaning
-e imperfective durative present or immediate future
-nə durative durative non-future
-kədəkə habitual habitual past
-Ø non-future
-ɨ perfective perfective past
-ne remote remote past
-kə imperative immediate imperative
-e imperfective future
-ta future
-kə imperative delayed imperative

 In terms of the predicate marking, Karijona has cross-reference markers (person prefixes
and number suffixes) (see §4).

 The number and person of predicate’s arguments can also be expressed by free pronouns
(see §3 and §4).

Table 4. Pronouns, person prefixes, and number suffixes on verbs in Karijona

Free pronouns Cross-reference A/O markers
MIN AUG A O Root MIN A O Root AUG
1 əwɨ aɲa i- ʤɨ- nɨ- i- NA
2 əmərə aɲamoro mɨ- əʤi- mɨ- əʤi-
-tə
1+2 kɨmərə kɨɲamoro kɨse- kɨ- kɨse- kɨ-
3.HUM.PROX nərə namoro verbal -Ø verbal
3.AN.DIST məkə məkamoro root root
NA
3.IN.PROX enɨ nɨ- i- nɨ- i-
(=toto)
3.IN.DIST mərə
3.IN.ANAPH irə

 In transitive clauses, person prefixes distinguish two subsets according to the grammatical
relations they express – A markers for the subject and O markers for the object.

 Both of them occupy the same slot on the verb; the selection of the marker depends on the
reference of the predicate arguments, following this referential hierarchy (Meira, 2000):
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 (1) Speech Act Participants (1+2, 1, and 2) > (3 and nouns)

 Verbs of transitive clauses agree with the argument which is higher in the hierarchy.

Table 5. Structural positions on transitive verbs in Karijona

Person
–1 Tense Number Aspect-Mood
Root (Enclitics)
+1 +2 +3
A-markers O-markers
-e (IPFV)
=toto (3.COLL)
i- (1.MIN.A) ʤɨ- (1.MIN.O) -nə (DUR)
=rehe (FRST)
mɨ- (2.A) əʤi- (2.O) verbal -∅ (NFUT) -∅ (MIN) -kətəkə (HAB)
=ha (EMP)
kɨse- (1+2.A) kɨ- (1+2.O) root -ta (FUT) -tə (AUG) -ɨ (PFV)
=ke (NEG)
nɨ- (3.A) i- (3.O) -ne (REM)
=tɨ (REP)
-kə (IMP)

 In intransitive clauses, Karijona shows a mixed intra-clausal alignment system that

depends on the reference of the argument of the verb. The mixed alignment system consists
of 1 person ergative pattern, 2 and 3 person accusative pattern, and 1+2 person split
pattern (see the Appendix 2).

 Karijona has a set of 38 established spatial and non-spatial postpositions. Semantically,

postpositions fall into four basic types: classificatory and orientation (spatial postpositions),
and relational and mental state (non-spatial postpositions) (Guerrero-Beltrán, 2018).

Scheme 1. Semantic types of Karijona postpositions

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2 The expression of number in Karijona

 In Karijona, the number is expressed in pronouns, verbs, nouns, and postpositions.

 In pronouns, both person and number are expressed within free forms (§3), while in verbs
(§4), nouns (§5), and postpositions (§6), person and number are expressed separately by
cross-reference markers (person is marked by prefixes and number is marked by suffixes).

 In (2), the pronoun aɲamoro (2 person augmented) makes reference to the person and
number of the A argument. In addition, person and number are expressed separately by the
person prefix (mɨ- 2.A ‘you’) and the number suffix (-tə AUG ‘more than one’):

(2) aɲamoroS mɨ-hɨnə-ʤa-tə-iPRED

aɲamoro mɨ-hɨnəh-∅-tə-e
2.AUG 2.A-kill-NFUT-AUG-IPFV
‘Y’all are going to kill (someone).’

 The expression of number is one of the criteria to distinguish verbs, nouns, and
postpositions. They make use of different sets of cross-reference suffixes to express number.

 In (2) above and (3) below, the suffix -tə expresses augmented number on the verbs hɨnəh
‘kill’ and eh ‘come’ (see Table 7 in §4):

(3) m-e-ʤa-tə-iPRED
mɨ-eh-Ø-tə-e
2.SA-come-NFUT-AUG-IPFV
‘Y’all are coming.’

 In NP possessive constructions, the possessed noun receives the cross-reference number

suffix of the possessor.

 In (4), the noun kaikuʧi ‘dog’ takes the augmented possessor suffix –ko (see Table 8 in §5):

(4) kɨ-kaikuʧi-rɨ-koNP [itu ta-wə]PP:OBL n-ehena-∅-nəPRED

kɨ-kaikuʧi-rɨ-ko itu ta-wə nɨ-ehena-∅-nə
1+2.R-dog-MIN.POSS-AUG.R forest BOUND-INE 3.SA-run-NFUT-PFV
‘Our dog runs in the forest.’

 In postpositions, the suffix -ne expresses augmented number (Table 10 in §6), as in (5):

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(5) əʤi-marə-nePP:CC w-a-eCOP
əʤi-marə-ne wɨ-a-e
2-COMIT-AUG 1.MIN.IRR-COP-IPFV
‘I am with y’all.’

 In addition to the cross-referencing, number systems in pronouns, verbs, nouns, and

postpositions have their own structural characteristics.

3 Number system in pronouns

 Pronouns are the only members of the TYPE II word classes (adverbs, quantifiers, pronouns,
and particles) that have a grammatical system of number.

 Karijona distinguishes personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns, depending on

the deictic characteristics of the referent. Personal pronouns refer to Speech Act
Participants (SAPs) and demonstrative pronouns to non-SAPs.

 There is a set of six personal pronouns referring to the speaker (1 person), the addressee (2
person), and both the speaker and the addressee (1+2 person). All personal pronouns
contrast by minimal and augmented number.

 Demonstrative pronouns distinguish 3 person animate (human proximal, and animate

distal) and inanimate (proximal, medial, distal, and anaphoric); only 3 person animate
contrast in number.

Table 6. Personal and demonstrative pronouns in Karijona

Number
Pronouns Minimal Augmented
Person
1 əwɨ aɲa
Personal
2 əmərə aɲamoro
pronouns
1+2 kɨmərə kɨɲamoro
3.HUM.PROX nərə namoro
3.AN.DIST məkə məkamoro
Demonstrative 3.IN.PROX enɨ
pronouns 3.IN.MED mərə
3.IN.DIST mənɨ
3.IN.ANAPH irə

 In (6), personal pronoun aɲa expresses augmented number for the 1 person:

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(6) sekame [n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨPRED=toto S] [aɲaS n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ]PRED
sekame nɨ-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ=toto aɲa nɨ-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ
then 3.SA-disappear-NFUT-PFV=3.COLL 1.AUG 3.SA-disappear-NFUT-PFV
‘Then they disappeared, we disappeared.’

 Similarly in (7), the demonstrative pronoun nərə expresses minimal number for the 3
person human.

(7) nərəS n-ahe-ʤa-ePRED

nərə nɨ-aheh-∅-e
3.HUM.PROX.MIN 3.SA-die-NFUT-IPFV
‘He is going to die.’

 In contrast, demonstrative pronouns that do not have animate referents, such as irə
(3.ANAPH) in (8), do not express number:

(8) irə=ʤapp kɨ-də-kədəkə=totopred ihatu-na-seSC

irə=ʤa nɨ-tə-kədəkə=toto ihatu-na-se
3.ANAPH-ALLAT 3.SA-go-HAB=3.COLL coca-VBZ-SUP
‘There (lit. to that), they used to go to chew coca.’

 As shown in (6) and (7) above, the personal pronoun aɲa (1.AUG) and the demonstrative
pronoun nere (3.HUM.PROX.MIN) co-occur with the person prefix nɨ-, and there is no number
marking on the verb. In such cases, the person and number readings depends solely on
pronouns.

4 Number system in verbs

 The number system in Karijona verbs is expressed by cross-reference markers and a

particle that refers to number of core arguments of the verb, as well as by their interactions
with pronouns.

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 Table 7. System of number in Karijona verbs
PERSON
Number suffix/particle
Person PREFIXES

A O Minimal Augmented
1.MIN i- ʤɨ- Implicit in the prefix Not applicable
2 mɨ- əʤi-
-Ø (MIN) -tə (AUG)
1+2 kɨse- kɨ-
Implicit in demonstrative pronouns
Implicit in demonstrative
3 or by the collective particle =toto
nɨ- i- pronouns
(3.COLL)
1.AUG Not applicable Implicit in the personal pronoun

 The 2 person and 1+2 person form a productive system of number marking on verbs. The
suffix -tə expresses the augmented number and minimal number is formally unmarked (-∅).

 In (9), the augmented number on the verb eh ‘come’ is expressed by the suffix -te:

(9) aɲamoroS m-e-ʤa-tə-iPRED

aɲamoro mɨ-eh-∅-tə-e
2.MIN 2.SA-come-NFUT-AUG-IPFV
‘You are going to come.'

 (10) shows the unmarked form of minimal number for the 1+2 person, expressed by the
pronoun kɨmərə ‘you and I’ and the person prefix kɨ- ‘you and I’:

(10) kɨmərəS kɨs-ahe-ʤa-∅-ePRED

kɨmərə kɨse-aheh-∅-∅-e
1+2.MIN 1+2.SA-die-NFUT-MIN-IPFV
‘We (you and I) are sick.’

 In (11), the verb eharaga ‘dance’ takes the suffix -tə to express augmented number. The
augmented meaning is also expressed by the pronoun kɨɲamoro ‘y’all and I’:

(11) kɨɲamoros k-eharaga-∅-tə-iPRED

kɨɲamoro kɨ-eharaga-∅-tə-e
1+2.AUG 1+2.SA-dance-NFUT-AUG-IPFV
‘We (you all and I) are dancing.’

 In (12), the pronoun aɲamoro ‘y’all’ co-occurs with the 1+2 person prefix kɨ- and the
augmented number suffix -tə to agree with the 2 person augmented acting over the 1 person
minimal (2.AUG>1.MIN):

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(12) aɲamoroA kɨ-hɨnə-ʤa-tə-iPRED
aɲamoro kɨ-hɨnəh-ʤa-tə-i
2.AUG 1+2.O-kill-NFUT-AUG-IPFV
‘Y’all are going to kill me.’

 Number of the 1 person is not expressed by number suffixes on the verb. 1 person minimal
is implicit in i- ‘I’ and ʤɨ- ‘me’, as in (13):

(13) kaherɨO i-hɨnə-ʤa-ePRED

kaherɨ i-hɨnə-ʤa-e
hen 1.MIN.A-kill-NFUT-IPFV
‘I am going to kill a hen.’

 The 1 person augmented is implicit for aɲa ‘we’. This pronoun is obligatory expressed in
all cases due that it only co-occurs with the personal prefixes of the 3 person (nɨ-‘he/it’ and
i-‘him’), as in (14) (repeated from (6)):

(14) sekame [n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨPRED=toto S] [aɲaS n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ]PRED

sekame n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ=toto aɲa n-ehetɨh-∅-ɨ
then 3.SA-disappear-NFUT-PFV=3.COLL 1.AUG 3.SA-disappear-NFUT-PFV
‘Then they disappeared, we disappeared.’

 Similar to the 1 person augmented, the 3 person augmented cannot be expressed by the
augmented -tə (‘more than one’). Instead, there are two strategies to express augmented
number for 3 person arguments:

I. Using pronoun demonstratives, as in (15):

(15) namoroS=A n-ənə-ʤa-nəPRED

namoro nɨ-ənəh-∅-nə
3.HUM.PROX.AUG 3.SA-eat.meat-NFUT-DUR
‘They are eating.’

II. Using the collective particle =toto, as in (16):

(16) n-aheh-0-ɨPRED=totoS
nɨ-aheh-0-ɨ=toto
3.SA-die-NFUT-PFV=3.COLL
‘They died.’

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  Both strategies cannot be used simultaneously. In (17), the collective particle =toto can only
occur when the demonstrative pronouns namoro (3.HUM.PROX.AUG) ‘these’ and məkamoro
(3.AN.DIST.AUG) ‘those’ are not present:

(17) kohetoO ∅-ene-nəPRED=totoS

koheto ∅-ene-nə=toto
shotgun.Sp 3.O-look-DUR=3.COLL
‘They are looking at a shotgun.’

5 Number system in Karijona Noun Phrases

 The expression of number on Karijona noun phrases depends on a number of

morphosyntactic factors. As shown in §2, possessive constructions involve cross-
referencing for person and number. This is the main strategy to express number in noun
phrases.

 Possessed nouns are marked for person of possessor, possession, and number of
possessor. They can also be marked by suffixes expressing former possession.

Table 8. Structural positions available for possessed nouns in Karijona

Person of (Former Possessive Number of
Size
possessor Root possession) markers possessor
+4
–1 +1 +2 +3
ʤɨ- (1.MIN.R) -hə
əʤi- (2.R) (MIN.FRM.POSS) -rɨ (MIN.POSS) -∅ (MIN.R)
kɨ- (1+2.R) -ʧa -to (AUG . POSS) -ko (AUG.R) -ʧikə (DIMV)
nominal root
i- (3.R) (AUG.FRM.POSS) -imə (AUGV)
aɲa (1.AUG) Not applicable

 Cross-reference markers specify the person (-1) and number (+3) of the possessor (R),
and Possessive markers (+2) show that the noun is in the possessed function (D) and
specify its number (-rɨ for minimal possessed nouns, and –to for augmented ones).

 Former possession markers (+1) refer to past or terminated possessive relations and
evaluatives (+4) express the values of small and big sizes.

 In (18), the noun hatu ‘nephew’ carries the cross-reference marker of 1 person (ʤɨ-)
functioning as a possessor marker. The possessive marker -rɨ marks the minimal number of
the possessed noun.

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(18) [∅-batu-ruNP maruku]NP:A nɨ-hono-ʤa-kədəkəPRED
ʤɨ-hatu-rɨ maruku nɨ-honoh-∅-kətəkə
1.MIN.R-nephew-MIN.POSS Marcos 3.A-narrate-NFUT-HAB
‘My nephew Marcos used to narrate.’

 In (19), muguhə ‘orphan’ consists of the noun mugu ‘child/son’ and the suffix of former
possession -hə (MIN.FRM.POSS):

(19) əwɨCS [mugu-həN haha-∅-ke]CC n-a-iCOP

əwɨ mugu-hə haha-a-ke nɨ-a-e
1.MIN child-MIN.FRM.POSS father.Sp-ADVZ-NEG 3.SA-COP-IPFV
‘I am an orphan that does not have (lit. a former son not having) a father.’

 The number marking can co-occur within the same NP. In (20), the word ʤeʧiʧatogo ‘our
ancestors (former fathers)’ simultaneously takes the suffixes -ʧa (FRM.AUG), -to (AUG.POSS),
and -ko (AUG.R):

(20) [mərə pedrera sawana-rɨ=ho=tɨ]PP:SARG n-otonaga-∅-∅=rehePRED

mərə pedrera sawana-rɨ=ho=tɨ nɨ-otonaga-∅-ɨ=rehe
3.INAN.MED Pedrera lowlands.Sp-MIN.POSS=GNRL=REP 3.SA-emerge-NFUT-PFV=FRUST

[kɨɲamoro ʤ-eʧi-ʧa-to-go tɨʤahoro]NP:S

kɨɲamoro ʤ-eʧi-ʧa-to-ko tɨʤahoro
1+2.AUG 1.MIN.R-father-AUG.FMR.POSS-AUG.POSS-AUG.R all
‘At the lowlands of La Pedrera, all our ancestors (former fathers) emerged.’

 Non-possessed nouns do not carry person or number affixes, and they have an indefinite
reference. They can refer to one object, such as koheto ‘shotgun’ (Spanish borrow word) in
(21) (repeated from (17)):

(21) kohetoO ∅-ene-nə=totoPRED

koheto ∅-ene-nə=toto
shotgun.Sp 3.O-look-DUR=3.COLL
‘They are looking at a shotgun.’

 Non-possessed nouns can also refer to a generic class of referents, such as kaheri ‘hen’ in
(22) (repeated from (13)), which does not refer to a specific hen, but to the class of animals
in general:

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(22) kaheriO i-hɨnə-ʤa-ePRED
kaheri i-hɨnə-ʤa-e
hen 1.MIN.A-kill-NFUT-IPFV
‘I am gonna kill hens.’

 Non-possessed nouns in possessive constructions can express number by means of nominal

modifiers. In such cases, pronoun demonstratives mark definiteness and number of the NP
head.

 In (23), kaituʧi ‘dog’, which has an indefinite reading on its own, is modified by the pronoun
demonstrative məkamoro (3.AN.DIST.AUG) ‘those’. Thus, the NP has a definite reading that
expresses augmented number.

(23) [məkamoro kaikuʧi]NP:S n-ehena-∅-nəPRED [itu ta-wə]PP:OBL

məkamoro kaikuʧi nɨ-ehena-∅-nə itu ta-wə
3.AN.DIST.AUG dog 3.SA-run-NFUT-DUR forest BOUND-INE
‘Those dogs are running in the forest.’

 The expression of number depends of the subdivision of nouns in Karijona. Inherently non-
possessed nouns, which include personal names, place names, and landscape terms, cannot
take cross-reference or possessive markers, such as maruku ‘Marcos’ in example (24)
(repeated from (18)):

(24) [∅-batu-ruNP maruku]NP:A nɨ-hono-ʤa-kədəkəPRED

ʤɨ-hatu-rɨ maruku nɨ-honoh-∅-kətəkə
1.MIN.R-nephew-MIN.POSS Marcos 3.A-narrate-NFUT-HAB
‘My nephew Marcos used to narrate.’

 There is a small set of nouns that intrinsically mark number. In (25) and (26), gɨʤa
‘partners’ and mugə ‘children’ are collective nouns that express number without any
number suffix or a demonstrative pronoun.

(25) [səkənərə gɨʤa] NP:CC=totoCS n-a-iCOP

səkənərə gɨʤa=toto nɨ-a-e
two partner.COLL=3.COLL 3.SA-COP-IPFV
‘There are two guys (partners).’

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(26) [əwɨ mugə]NP [aɲa mugə] NP [karihona mugə] NP
əwɨ mugə aɲa mugə karihona mugə
1.MIN child.COLL 1.AUG child.COLL Karijona child.COLL

[[[aɲa womi-rɨ]NP:O eho-rɨ]=s-a-ke] PP:CC=totoCS n-a-iCOP

aɲa womi-rɨ eho-rɨ=s-a-ke=toto nɨ-a-e
1.AUG language-MIN.POSS find-NMZ=DES-ADVZ-NEG=3.COLL 3.SA-AUX-IPFV
‘My children, our children, Carijona’s children, they don’t want to learn our language.’

 Compare gɨʤa ‘partners’ and mugə ‘children’ in (25) and (26) above with the nouns gɨrɨ
‘partner’, mure ‘boy’, and the possessed noun muguru ‘(someone’s) child’ in (27):

(27) mureA ʤ-enə-∅-nəPRED [gɨrɨ mugu-ru-ʧikə]NP:A

mure ʤɨ-enə-∅-nə gɨrɨ mugu-ru-ʧikə
child.IND 1.O-look-NFUT-DUR partner.IND child-MIN.POSS-DIMV
‘The child is looking at me. The companion’s small child.’

 A number of nouns are inalienably possessed, which means that they always carry the
possessor cross-reference and/or the possessive markers. Most of these nouns are kindship
and body part terms.

 In (28), the noun owo ‘uncle’ takes the 2 person prefix əʤi- ‘your’ and the minimal
possessive -rɨ:

(28) [kokogərə aʤ-awo-rɨ-∅=ʤaNP kiʧ-ituda-∅-∅-ePRED]O ganəPRED

kokogərə əʤi-owo-rɨ-∅=ʤa kiʧi-ituda-∅-∅-e ganə
tomorrow 2.R-uncle-MIN.POSS-MIN.R=ALLAT 1+2.IRR.SA-arrive-NFUT-MIN-IPFV 3.IRR.say.DUR
‘He said 'tomorrow we (you and I) will go to your uncle'.'

 Karijona also has a set of alienable nouns. These nouns optionally express number by
cross-reference markers and possessive markers, or by means of demonstrative pronouns.

 They can also be unmarked for number, and have generic or undefined readings. Most of
them are animals and inanimate objects.

 In (29), the formally alienable noun kaikuʧi ‘dog’ is the S argument of the verb təh ‘go’.
Compare with kɨkaikuʧirɨko ‘our dog’ and məkamoro kaikuʧi ‘those dogs’ in (4) and (23)
above.

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(29) kaikuʧiS də-məPRED ʤe-də-kəPP
kaikuʧi təh-mə ʤɨ-da-kə
dog 3.go.IRR-PFV 1-SUBE-TRANS
‘The dog crossed (lit. went) underneath me.’

Table 9. Number system in Karijona nouns

Number suffixes
Formal class
Person prefix Root
of nouns Possessive Number of the
markers possessor
Inherently
non-
NA nominal NA
possessed
nouns
Intrinsically individual
numbered NA NA
nouns collective
Inalienably
possessed obligatory obligatory
nouns
nominal
Alienably optional optional
possessed
(marked by
nouns (marked by demonstratives)
demonstratives)

6 Number system of Karijona postpositions

 Number in Karijona postpositions is simpler than number in verbs and nouns.

 Postpositions are optionally cross-referenced for person and number.

 To mark the augmented, however, instead of the suffix -tə used on verbs (§4) or the suffix
-ko used on nouns (§5), they take the suffix -ne, which is exclusive for postpositions.
Additionally, the 1 person augmented is expressed with the free pronoun aɲa (1.AUG)
without any cross-reference marker.

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 Table 10. Structural slots of Karijona postpositions
Person Number
Postposition
–1 +1
ʤɨ- (1.MIN)
əʤi- (2) -∅ (MIN)
kɨ- (1+2) Postpositional stem -ne (AUG)
i- (3)
aɲa (1.AUG) Not applicable
 Postpositions of orientation express person and number, such as in ʤiwaho ‘in front of
me’ and əʤigəkəne ‘(cross) behind of y’all’ in (30) and (31):

(30) tunaCS ʤɨ-wahoPP:CC n-a-iCOP

tuna ʤɨ-waho nɨ-a-e
river 1-OBE 3.SA-AUX-IPFV
‘The river is in front of me.’

(31) əwɨS əʤi-gə-kə-nePP:OBL ʤ-ituda-∅-∅PRED

əwɨ əʤi-gə-kə-ne ʤɨ-ituda-∅-ɨ
1.MIN 2-POSTE-TRANS-AUG 1.SO-arrive-NFUT-IPFV
‘I arrived behind of y’all.’

 In (32) and (33), əʤinone ‘afraid of y’all’ and əʤino ‘afraid of you (just one)’ are mental
state postpositions inflected by person and number:

(32) əwɨCS əʤi-no-nePP:CC w-a-eCOP

əwɨ əʤi-no-ne wɨ-a-e
1.MIN 2-EVIT-AUG 1.MIN.IRR.SA -COP-IPFV
‘I am afraid of y’all.'

(33) əwɨCS əʤi-no-∅PP:CC w-a-eCOP

əwɨ əʤi-no-∅ wɨ-a-e
1.MIN 2-EVIT-MIN 1.MIN.IRR.SA-COP-IPFV
‘I am afraid of you (just one).'

 Relational postpositions can also express number by the cross-reference suffix -ne, such as
əʤimarəne ‘with y’all’ in (34):

(34) [əwɨ mome]NP:CS w-a-eCOP əʤi-marə-nePP:CC

əwɨ mome wɨ-a-e əʤi-marə-ne
1.MIN together 1.MIN.IRR.SA -COP-IPFV 2-COMIT-AUG
‘I’m together with y’all.’

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 7 Summary

Properties Grammatical number systems in Karijona

Word class Pronouns Verbs Nouns Postpositions
TYPE TYPE I TYPE II

–personal –number of the possessor

pronouns: (unmarked) –number suffix
–number suffix -∅ (MIN.R)
(unmarked) (unmarked)
əwɨ (1.MIN) –possessive markers:
əmərə (2.MIN) -∅ (MIN) -∅ (MIN)
-rɨ (MIN.POSS)
kɨmərə (3.MIN) -hə (MIN.FRM.POSS)
Minimal
–intrinsically individual nouns
–demonstrative
pronouns: –implicit in person prefix –noun modification –implicit in
ʤɨ-(1.MIN) (demonstrative pronouns): person prefix
nərə (3.HUM.PROX.MIN) ʤɨ-(1.MIN)
məkə (3.AN.DIST.MIN) nərə (3.HUM.PROX.MIN)
Number məkə (3.AN.DIST.MIN)
–personal – number suffix –number of the possessor
pronouns: -tə (AUG) -ko (AUG.R)
– number suffix
aɲa (1.AUG) –possessive markers: -ne (AUG)
– collective particle
aɲamoro (2.AUG) -to (AUG.POSS)
=toto (3.COLL)
kɨɲamoro (1+2.AUG) -ʧa (AUG.FRM.POSS)
Augmented
– implicit in pronouns: –intrinsically collective nouns
–demonstrative
pronouns: aɲa (1.AUG) –noun modification –implicit in personal
namoro (3.HUM.PROX.AUG) (demonstrative pronouns): pronoun
namoro (3.HUM.PROX.AUG) aɲa (1.AUG)
məkamoro (3.AN.DIST.AUG)
məkamoro (3.AN.DIST.AUG) namoro (3.HUM.PROX.AUG)
məkamoro (3.AN.DIST.AUG)

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Abbreviations

1 first person IPFV imperfective

2 second person IRR irregular form
3 third person MED medial
1+2 first person inclusive MIN minimal
A subject of transitive clause NA Not applicable
ABL ablative NEG negation
ABOUT about NFUT non-future
ADVZ adverbializer NMZ nominalizer
ALLAT allative NP noun phrase
AN animate NSAP non-speech act participant
ANAPH anaphora O object
AUG augmented OBL oblique argument
AUGV augmentative PFV perfective
BOUND bounded place POSS possessive
CC copula complement POSTE postessive
COLL collective PP postpositional phrase
COMIT comitative PROX proximal
COP copula R possessor
CS copula subject REP reportative
DEF definite S subject of intransitive clause
DES desiderative S=A agentive ambitransitive subject
DIMV diminutive S=O pacientive ambitransitive subject
DIST distal SA A-oriented intransitive subject
DUR durative SARG spatial argument
EVIT evitative SC subordinate clause
FMR former SO O-oriented intransitive subject
FRST frustrative Sp Spanish
FUT future SUBE subessive
GNRL general SUP supine
HAB habitual TRANS translative
HUM human TH thematic vowel
IMP imperative V verb
INAN inanimate VBZ verbalizer
INE inessive

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References

Aikhenvald, A. Y. (2012). The languages of the Amazon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carlin, E. (2004). A grammar of Trio. A Cariban language of Suriname. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Derbyshire, D. (1999). Carib. In R. M. W. Dixon & A. Aikhenvald (Eds.), The Amazonian languages
(pp. 23-64). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Franco, R. (2002). Los Carijonas de Chiribiquete. Bogotá: Fundación Puerto Rastrojo.

Guerrero-Beltrán, D. F. (2018). Postpositions in Karijona (Cariban). Paper presented at the

Round Table Meetings, 28 March, LCRC James Cook University.

Meira, S. (2000). A reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: phonology and morphology. Müchen:

Lincom Europa.

Robayo, C. (2000). Avance sobre morfología Carijona. In M. L. G. d. P. Rodríguez de Montes, M.S.

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