LINCOM Studies in A Grammar of Teribe Native American Linguistics In this series ; J. Diego Quesada 01 Ange Lopex-Garcia Cramética musa (02 Michael Dara (ds) Language and Culture in Native North ‘America tudes in Honor of Heinz-Jargen Pinnow (04 Chastian Lehmann Possession in Yucatec ‘Structures functions = typology 05 Lieve Verbeeck Linguistic Acculturation in Mopan Maya ‘A study of language change in Belizean Mopan duo to Spanish and English culture and language contact 06 Andrés Romero-Figeroa ‘AReterence Grammar of Warao 11 Marcus Mala ‘The Javae Language 30 Sérgio Meira ‘A Reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: Phonology and Morphology, 231 ison Gabas, J Phonological Study ofthe Karo Language (Brazil) 32 John Stonnam ‘Aspects of Tslshaath Nootka Phonetics & Phonology 24 Claudine Chamercau Grammaire du purépecha 238 J. Diogo Quesada ‘A Grammar of Teribe 2000 LINCOM EUROPAContents Preface ‘Acknowledgements ‘Abbreviations 1. The Teribe language and people rm 12 13 14 1s 24 23 24 Geographic and historical context Degree of endangerment Genealogical and areal aspects ‘Typological features (Overview) Previous studies Phonology Phoneme inventory and realization 2.1.1 Vowels 2.1.1.1 Oral vowels 2.1.1.2 Nasal vowels 2.1.2 Consonants 2.1.2.1 Stops 2.1.2.2 Fricatives 2.1.2.3 A case of phonological split: the alveopalatal afficate 2.1.2.4 Nasals 2.1.2.5 The lateral flap 2.1.2.6 The trill 2.1.3 Glides and diphthongs 2.1.4 Syllable structure Phonological processes 2.2.1 Vowel harmony, vowel fluctuation and vowel dissimilation 2.2.2 (De)Nasalization 2.2.3 Consonant clusters and consonant lenition 2.24 Possilized epenthesis Suprasegmental phonology 2.3.1 Tone, stess, and intonation 2.3.1.1 Word stress 2.3.1.2 Sentence stress 2.3.2 Sentence-closing plotalization Orthographic conventions 1s Is 16 16 7 7 7 n 25 26 7 8 30 3 31 4 35 36 37 37 39 39 alContents 3. Morphology 31 32 ‘Nouns and nominal morphology 3.1.1 Nouns. 3.1.1.1 Basie nominal roots (monomorphemic nouns) 3.1.1.2 Derivation 3.1.1.3 Compounding 3.1.2 Pronouns 3.1.2.1 Personal 3.1.2.2 Possessive 3.1.2.3 Reflexive and reciprocal 3.1.2.4 Indefinite 3.1.3 Numeral classifiers and number 3.1.3.1 Numeral 3.1.3.2 Interrogative 3.1.33 Indefinite 3.1.3.4 The plural marker -ga 3.1.3.5 Panttives 3.1.4 Demonstatives 3.1.5 Possession markers 3.1.6 Information-structure markers 3.1.6.1 Topic 3.1.6.2 Focus Verbs and verbal morphology 3.2.1 Verb classes 3.2.1.1 Asyndetic predications 3.2.1.2 Positional and existential verbs 3.2.1.3 Movement and intransitive verbs 3.2.1.4 Transitive verbs 3.2.2 Verbal categories 3.2.2.1 Aspect 3.2.2.1.1 Perfective 3.2.2.1.1 Perfect 3.2.2.1.3 Sudden 3.2.2.1.4 Imperfective 3.2.2.1.5 Prospective 3.2.2.1.6 Progressive 3.2.2.1.7 Participial constructions 3.2.2.2 Mood and modality 3.2.2.2.1 Imperative 3.2.2.2.2 Ability 3.2.2.2.3 Deontic modality Contents 3.2.2.2.4 Other modal forms 3.2.2.3 Position 3.2.2.4 Person and number 3.2.2.5 Reported speech 3.3. Adjectives 3.3.1 Basic (monomorphemic) adjectives 3.3.2 Adjective formation 3.3.2.1 Suffixation 3.3.2.2 Reduplication and compounding 3.3.2.3 The origin marker -so 3.4 Adverbs and other word classes 3.4.1 Adverbs 3.4.1.1 Spatial 3.4.1.2 Temporal 3.4.1.3 Manner 3.4.1.4 Adverbial phrases 3.4.2 Adpositions 3.4.3 Conjunctions 3.4.4 Question markers 3.4.4.1 Yes/no questions 3.4.4.2 Information questions 3.4.5 Negation markers 3.4.6 Particles Syntax 4.1. "The simple sentence 4.1.1 Grammatical relations 4.1.1.1 Subject 4.1.1.1.1 Subject prominence and tack thereof 4.1.1.2 Object 4.1.1.3 Dative 4.1.1.4 Obliques. 4.1.1.5 Summary 4.1.2 Word order 4.1.2.1 Main clause 4.1.2.1.1 Non-transitive clauses 4.1.2.1.2 Transitive clauses 4.1.2.1.2.1 The case for ergativity 4.1.2.1.2.2 The case against ergat 4.1.2.1.3 The left periphery 81 2 3 8s 2SeeR 2 SEEeS 7 99 102 102 102 103 10s 106 106 106 106 109 mm 2 13 13 14 us us us 16 u7 13Contents 4.1.2.2 Noun Phrase 4.1.2.2.1 Demonstratives, adjectives, numeral classifiers 4.1.2.2.2 The relative clause 4.1.2.3 Verb Phrase 4.1.2.3 Verb serialization 4.1.2.3.2 A note on auxiliarty 4.1.2.4 Possession 4.1.2.5 Comparatives 4.1.3 Valence and syntactic operations 4.1.3.1 Causativity 4.1.3.2 External possession 4.1.3.3 Dative shit 4.1.3.4 Reflexive, reciprocal, and middle 4.1.3.5 Object demotion and noun incorporation 4.1.4 Inversion 4.1.4.1 Aspect in the OVSdé order 4.1.4.2 The inventory of Teribe inverse constructions 4.1.4.3 The status of dé 4.1.4.4 The ontological saliency hierarchy 4.1.4.5 Passive to inverse and pragmatic inversion 4.2 The complex sentence 4.2.1 Paratactic constructions 4.2.1.1 Asyndesis 4.2.1.2 Syndetic constructions 4.2.2 Hypotactic constructions 4.2.2.1 Complement clauses 4.2.2.1.1 Reported speech 4.2.2.1.2 Indirect questions 4.2.2.2 Adverbial clauses 4.2.2.2.1 Conditional sentences 4.2.2.2.2 Purposive clauses 4.2.2.2.3 Causal clauses 4.2.2.2.4 Temporal clauses 4.2.2.2.5 Locative clauses 4.2.2.2.6 Simultaneous clauses 4.2.2.2.7 Concessive clauses 4.3 Information structure 4.3.1 Participant-highlighting 4.3.1.1 Topic 4.3.1.2 Focus 126 27 18 130 0 Bs BB 139 140 140 141 142 143 145 146 7 150 133, 154 136 158 158 158 159 160 160 161 162 162 162 163 164 165 166 166 167 167 168 169 14 Contents Sample texts, Ss Ter 5.2 Tlapga wue dbong dé ¢ lanyo 5.3, Tawa jem jerong wlorke kokshko 5.4 U shri sore 5.5 Boyo shavigy sore References 180 180 at 136 190 194 197Preface ‘There are currently 16 Chibchan languages alive. Some are facing imminent death (eg: Paya in Honduras, Rawa iu Nicaragua, Guatuso and Doruca in Costa Rica), having less than 400 speakers left, while the rest includes languages with numbers of speakers ranging from 2,000 (e.g. Bari in Colombia and Venezuela) to even 150,000 (e.g. Guaymi) and 70,000 (e.g. Cuna), the last two spoken in Panama, a country of barely 2,500,000 people. Also spoken in Panama, Teribe, with no more than 1,000 speakers appears as a language under potential danger of extinction, especially considering the number of speakers of other languages of that country. This scenario plus the fact that there is relatively litle description of the grammar of this language, especially in comparison with other languages of the CChibchan family such as Rama, Guatuso, Bribri, Cabécar, Boruca, Cuna, Kogui, and even the extinet Muisea, made it compulsory to provide a relatively comprehensive description of the structure of Teribe. This grammar comes to fill a lacuna in a twofold manner: it provides an extensive account of the structure of Teribe, and in doing so, it reduces the number of Central American Chibchan languages being undescribed, especially the so-called isthmian languages (those spoken in Costa Rica and Panama); there still remain Guaymi and Bocoti ‘without their published grammars, The Chibchén languages of Colombia are “being taken care of” by the linguists working within the frame of the Centro Colombiano de Estudios en Lenguas Aborigenes (CELA). This grammar is therefore intended as a contribution to the description of a language at three levels: a. language-immanent, b. Chibchan comparative ‘grammar; e. documentation of endangered larguages, especially those of the American continent,Abbreviations 1.2.3 a cer a come con conn conT-Foe EE eM bi DR bist bs excl exist Foc rep imp IPERS MPR. wet InTeNs iv Loc ‘grammatical person ability marker ‘causative marker ‘lause-final particle (numeral classifier comparative marker conditional connective, linker ‘contrast definite demonstrative diminutive direct distant imperative different subject exclusive existential marker focus frusrative ideophone imperfective impersonal imperative inclusive imensifier locative operator Mass Mop NON-EXIST NUM ont ony ‘ORGN PART PARTCL PERF PERS: Pre PL ost oss Prose @ ECP REL sup TAM ‘mass noun marker ‘modality operator negation marker negative existence numeral deontic modality obviative origin participle particle perfective person marker perfect plural positional verb possessive prospective aspect purpose (ves!no) question marker reciprocal reflexive relativizer singular sudden aspect tense-aspect-mood topic1. The Teribe people and language 1.4 Geographic and historical context Tenbe (te +.be] belongs to the Chibchan family of languages, which covers a wide area ranging from Northeastern Honduras, through the Atantic Coast of Nicaragua, most of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, tothe West of Veneauea (see Map 1, white area). Terie is spoken in wo ge0-politcally separate locations. Most ofits speakers, approximately 1,000 people, lve in tbe basin of the Changuinola and Terbe rivers, tropical forest in the province of Bocas del ‘Toro, Northwestern Panama. 400 kilometers avay, and separated by the Talamanca mountain range, inthe Sout-Pacific region of Costa Rica, live nearly 500 descendants of them, known a8 ‘Térrabas (ee Map 2). Originally, bo groups lived alo the Terite river (in Tribe called di 4s, "Big River’), fom its source to its mouth in today's Bahia de Almirante, including the Isla Cold (see Map 3), known then a Isla de Tijar. On the Ista de Tj, the Teribes coexisted with other groups such as the Chénguenas, Dorasques, and Seguas (cf. Ferndndez 1886: 374).' In general, there isle documentation available about the Teribes. I is assumed that Columbus was the fiat Spaniard the Teribes had conat with, during the navigators fourth voyage, in 1502 (Reverte 1967: 24). That conact was apparently brief, as were subsequent Spanish incursions during the sittenth century. One of the ensuing exploration journeys to Teribe testy was orgaized by J. Vasquez de Coronado, a8 mayor of the Province of Costa Rica, in 1863, The first wren record of the region is due io Vésqiez de Coronado himself: “Teri. Es Palenque. Es provincia por si, haziael norte, pasada la cordillra (cf. Peralta 1883: 238) According to ora raion, te name Terbi (whence Tenbe) sem fam Tb (hi @ compound word consisting of the lexemes ¢'ér (‘grandma’) and bi (‘suki’), “the wise frandma’, the name with which the ancient Terbes refered ta rock located atthe source of the Terie river. That rock was believed to have special curative powers because the spirit ofthe wise grandna lived on it. The people in need of cute would go all the way tothe stone binging orn and other offerings in order to be cued (the sory of Tri included in Chapter 5). The Teries were among the mos dificult group to conquer. All sources available (e.g Femindez. 1889, 1976; Perala 1883, Roberts 1827) highlight the indomitable and belicose staracter of the Terbes. It tok the Spaniards almost 130 years to finaly subde them, Tht Surrender was made possible in 1695, when the Spanish missionaries “relocated” a can, the Térrabas, who were apparently in favor of ehrisianizaton. That relocation, which consiuted art and parcel of a conquest strategy designed by the Spaniards to both subdue the rebellious Talamanca groups (Bribris, Cabéares, Chinguenas, et.) and 0 seize Indians in order to take sep ith Chinguenas and Dorasqus were groups of Chibchanafiition (ef Conscnla 1991) The Scpuas were a Mescamerican (presumably Azts) grup, they wore enc of many. Mesoamerican {Gloss established in Lower Cental America, which in pre-Hispanic tines formed a network desaed ‘Gatansor eld from Souther Conral America to Yucatan and evento. Catal Mexico (Carmak 1283: 296 et pasim), Thus comes as no surprise thatthe Tenibe word fr ‘tanger’ and no Indians neers sa, with “cognates” m close relatives of Teribe (ew, Boruea Cabest)2 The Teribe people and language them to the reducciones (cf. Guevara & Chacén 1992: 33 er passim),? was crucial for both the surrender and the subsequent fate of the relocated group: El pueblo de Téjabas, llamado San Francisco, lo sac6 mi compafero fray Pablo le Refullida de Ia monttia y poblo tres horas de camino de Boruca, para que el padre misionero que esta alli de la provincia de Nicaragua 10 asia (cf. Ferninder 1886: 376). Map 1. Geographic Location of the Chibchan Languages Middle \ America a ‘After the relocation both groups lost steady contact. According to oral tradition, there was sill contact for some years, until a group of Teribes was lost while trying 10 cross over 10 the Pacific, Similarly, the sources available (e.g. Fernéndez 1889: 392; Femdndez 1976: 238, Guevara & Chaoén 1992: 111) mention later contacts between them; some of those contacts were even violent, 28 the one that took place in 1761, when some Teribes coming from the A reducctén was a village created by the Spaniards, which was to be peopled with Indian seized daring raids (euphemisicaly called cabalgadas, cavalcade’) as well as Indians deported from varius ‘nearby locations in order to have had labor handy. In practice, the reduciones were huge concentration Camps. The village of San Francisco de Térraba, as the Franciscan missionaries named it, became a ‘educciGa whose ial inhabitants were the relocated Tenbes, st was erected close to that of Boruca, the ‘oldest reduccion in the area (ef, Guevara & Chacén 1992: 33) Geographic and historical comext 3 Map 2. Geographic Location of Teribes and Térrabas Cavobean Sea Costa Rica eaneeey Pcie Osean ne Map 3. Teribe Territory in Pai ‘Cartbean Sea 4 senate a» a Atlantic atacked the ‘Térrabas setled in Cabagra and Broran,’ on the Pacific. After that, no ‘riven records of contact between the two groups exist, withthe exception ofthe last assault of ‘San Francisco de Térraba by the Terie in 1820, mentioned in passing by Guevara & Chacén (1992: 37). Cosia Rica's relinquishing the Province of Bocas del Toro to Panama in the 19th ‘Both communities use the name Broran to refer to both the relocated group andthe village known [n Costa Rica as Térraba. The origin ofthat name is uncertain, ts meaning is also unknown. According {Rt ration, that was the name of the relocated clan Italso is probable thar the relocated clan eave ‘tame to ter nee home: In ay case. thee being no eable sources abot te origin of ths name. al references to it will necessarily remain atthe level of spoculation.4 ‘The Teribe people and language century might have sealed any possible (but unlikely) contact sill existing between the (wo groups. “The story ofthe separation remained and gave way to the legend that atthe end of time both groupe would reunite, It wat not necessary 10 go that far, however. Far inthe 1970's, in a series of international congresses of indigenous organizations, a “reencounter” took place after ‘which the two communities have established and intensified contact. In one such conference, the “word spread” that some non-Panamanian participants spoke Terie; representatives from both ‘groups came face 10 face and through the use of the language and knowledge of legends and traditions recognized each other as Teribes. The news was carried to both communities. Some years later, in subsequent conference, reciprocal invitations were made and some visi on both sides of the border took place. By then, the contact was firmly established, but it had not been “offcialized”, On October 16, 1992 (500 years after the Spanish incursion and almost 300 years afer the separation) the “Official Encounter of the Térraba and Teribe Peoples” was organized Mr, César Santana then King ofthe Teribes, and his SO-member entourage arrived in Térraba, and a one-week celebration took place; the reencounter is documented in Quesada (20002). As a result of that reencounter, several “cross-Teribe” (for want of @ bette term) marriages have ensued, and a teacher of the language has been sent to Térraba, ‘As stated above, the separation and relocation of the Térrabas marked a turning point in the history ofthe Teribe people and language. Two important consequences of linguistic nature can be readily identified. First is the language death issue. Although the relocated group initially ‘kept its language, and despite the unquestionable historical neglect by the Costa Rican Government (ef. Guevara & Chacén 1992), the result ofthe split proved especially negative for the language, as the Térrabas, like many other indigenous groups in Costa Rica, were subjected to a process of assimilation to the mainstream Costa Rican culture -according 10 Guevara & CChacén (1992: 38-45), as early as 1841, that is, twenty years after that country’s independence from Spain-; compulsory elementary education since the late 19th century also played a key role in that process. Gabb (1886: 40S) already noted the difference between the two groups, in the second half of the 19th century, highlighting the accelerated shift away from Térraba, which eventually lad to the present state of only three elderly luent speakers and half a dozen semi- speakers remaining. No doubt, linguistic and cultural orphanhood must have reinforced the ‘process of decay. Second, the dialecial division ofthe language must have deepened. Although it isnot known how many dalecs existed atthe time ofthe Spanish Conquest, there should be no doubt as to the existence of dialectal variation; at least two dialects must have existed, the one spoken on the Ista de Téjar and the one spoken on dryland. The relocation, then, enhanced the ‘existing variation. So far, however, only two dialects ofthe Ianguage have been identified and described to varying degrees, the Térraba dialect (Costa Rica) and the Teribe dialect (Panama). ‘Among the differences between these dialects are the phonological split ofthe voiceless bilabial ‘op fp! into two phonemes /p/ and /! (a voiceless bilabial fricative), oF the loss of phonemic status of the glides /w/ and (i, in the former. The degree of intelligibility between the wo dialects seems to be acceptable, This grammar is about the Panamanian dialect of Teribe. Geographic and historical context 5 ‘The Teribes call themselves naso (< na ‘here’ + so MARKER OF ORIGIN), The term nas is also used to refer to the Térrabas and to other indigenous groups, in opposition to sivas itis also used to refer to the language. In this book, the cover term naso will not be used forthe language because it includes the two dialects, Térraba and Teribe, while thie grammar i only about the later. ‘The Teribes, who are basically swidden agriculturaliss, are distributed in approximately 27 villages, 18 of them along the Teribe river; the whole area makes up the Comarca (a large reservation). The most important, and larger, villages are Siyllik, Sieyking, and Diuy; the fest ‘wo, which lie on opposite sides at approximately two hours upriver from the town of ‘Changuinola (the nearest non-indigenous town), can be considered the “capital” of the Teribe culture. The King sts in Sieylik, where all administrative matters are handled. Sieyking is the other larger village. It isin these two villages where the language is healthiest ‘The administrative organization of the Teribes consists of a hereditary, non-absoltstic monarchy, whose head is the King, followed by a Vice-King; the latter position is not hereditary. Next in the hierarchy are the King’s representatives, appointed by him, who work as liaison between him and the population. In addition, the community chooses ther representatives 'o the Panamanian local government (regidores). Finally, there are the police, whose role is to patrol the comarca and to enforce the law. Decision-making does not solely rest on the King, To that effect, the King must consult with La direccién, of council of village leaders, whose function i isto pass, or repeal laws that rule the entre comarca. In general, the people respect and accept the King’s authority, which plays a significant role inthe Teribe culture, In principle, King’s rule ends with his death; however, under special circumstances, ifthe people so wish, and if there is consensus, a King can be removed. In the last twenty years, this situation has arisen only two times. 1.2 Degree of endangerment ‘As pointed out in 1.1, the separation of the Tribes was especially negative for the ‘elocted group, which during the last hundred years has undergone a process of ssimilaton to the mainstream Costa Rican cultute. Both compulsory elementary education and the reaively "apid development of means of transportation and telecommunication systems (letricty, mass ‘media, et.) inevitably led to the decay and death of the language in Costa Ria. I is now too late for a process of language revitalization in Térraba; the wil i simply not there. The general aitade of the Térrabas is of neglect; despite the encounter, the general feeling there it that “we are two peoples". ‘The language was preserved in Panama, on the other hand, thanks to the relative isolation and almost complete lack of social integration ofthe group; Teibe is coessible only by river, there is no electricity. In the communities of Siellik and Sieyking, the language ', at least fr the time being, not seriously threatened. The existing degree of bilingualism does not Tepresent serious danger, and the degree of linguistic loyaly is still relatively high, a the language is sila symbol of cultural identity, Bauman (1980) has proposed 2 well-known6 The Teribe people and language classification for the state of the indigenous languages vis & vis English in the United Stes, which comprises the following categories: 1. flourishing, 2. enduring, 3. declining, 4, ‘obsolescent, and 5. extinct. Among the criteria underlying Bauman’s clasification are age profile of speakers and their degree of bilingualiem (+), proportion of speakers to the whole population (+), fluency of young speakers (+), degree of preference for the native language (4), degree of bilingualism (+4), and adaptation capacity ofthe language to @ changing culture . The values in parentheses are the result of direct observation in both Teribe communities. According to these values, Teribe finds itself half-way between enduring and declining, However, when the other villages are taken into consideration, the situation does not look so heartening; there are villages where the language is not spoken at all. A recent study by Oakes & Oakes (MS) reveals that inthe third largest village, Diuy, the use of Spanish is displacing use of Teribe at an accelerated pace. Even in the two “stronghold villages” a seties of noticeable threatening trends can be identified. These are dealt with in what follows. Population: The number of speakers of Teribe totals slightly more than 1,000 people: the largest group of speakers of a Chibchan language, Ngibére or Guaymi, approximately 150,000 is from Panama, a country of barely 2.5 mil. Considering that the demographic growth of the indigenous groups of Panama in the lat 100 years is a meager 1.7% -vs. whites 49%, blacks 69% and mixed 119%- (Médica 1974, 11), the Teribes not only consiute a minority, but also this growth trend does not look too promising for them. In addition, there is the non- negligible fact that whites and mixed setlers continue 10 establish themselves in neighboring ‘areas. This creates a scenario where a minority group is every time more surrounded by speakers of majority languages, inthis case Spanish and Guaym; and though that in itself does ‘not entail extinetion, it does represent a potential threat, especially if intermarriages take place. “That is precisely what has happened with the few marriages between Teribe women and Térraba men living in Costa Rica; the later are monolingual speakers of Spanish and the language in those households is Spanish even in the absence of the father. The Teribe women living in “Térraba rarely have the chance to speak with one another; and when they do they tend to use Spanish; a couple of them already show signs of accelerated language altrtion, such as Vocabulary loss, abundant calques from Spanish, code-switching during narrations, and difficulty © produce elicitations. Schooling: In Teribe there are elementary schools only; the first schools started in the mid 1970's. Aside from the negative fact that language and culture are not part of the curriculum, schooling in Spanish means thatthe only language that they know how to read and ‘write is Spanish; the presence of lierature (journals, textbooks, magazines and Bibles) writen in Spanish in households is increasing. As a result, people tend to talk about what they read in the language in which they read it. A yet more critical issue is that native teachers tlk 10 their pupils in Spanish not only during class time but also out of clas, Clearly, there is the implicit message that Spanish i the language of authority and superiority. Negative attitudes could arise from that Religion hough the non-relocated Teribes eventually became Christian, their hostility Degree of endangerment 7 toward anything Spanish remained; this might explain their alliances with the English pirates and the Englsh-ruled Miskito from Nicaragua, as well as their “conversion” to protestanism, and continuous wars with catholic Indians, the Talamancas, especially (cf. Quesada, 20000 and citations therein). In the early 1950's, new protestant, anglophone denominations appeared in Terie. Religion became more prominent in the life of the people; obviously, the language of transmission was Spanish. The use of Spanish in religious actviies and discussions is higher than that of Teribe. Despite the presence of the Summer Institue of Linguistics (SIL) in the 1970's, interrupted at the end of that decade and recently restated, there is no religious et ‘alone secular- material writen in Teribe accessible o the people (and if there were, most peoale would not able 10 read it). Furthermore, the presence of U.S. imported sects has creaied divisions inthe community, Ontiz & Von Chong. (1982: 137) have already pointed out at the detrimental consequences of this activity: La presencia de estas seciasreligiosas ha ocasionado el divisionismo entre los moradores 4e algunos pobiados. Por ejemplo: en Druy [sc] Insecta religiosa Evangelista ha Aividido el poblado en dos sectores: el de los evangelists y el de los pecadores. Esta sitwacion afecta tremendamente a la comunidad, pues los trabajos que requieren la Iervencién conjunta de todos los moradores no se pueden hacer a menos que se dvidan responsabilidades laborales. En consecuencia, la presencia de esia secia religiosa en Druy perturba la armonia entre los moradores y restringe todo tipo de actividad que conlleve al mejoramiento dela comunidad, ‘A similar situation occurred recently as another sect, New Tribes, made its way in, The communities of Sieylik and Sieyking were biterly split, especially for the rudeness said to have been employed by this group in order to get established there. My Teribe consulants have ‘identified this incursion as one of the causes of the “peaceful coup” which prompted elections in 1998 to force out King César Santana, who did not want to allow this sect in Language policy: The Teribes are clear when it comes to their language policy: itis Forbidden “to sel the language”. However, their conception of what itis to sell the language is rather idiosyncratic. in principle, it is not permited to teach the language 10 siwas because language can be a way of profit, so they say. A siwa can profit from the language by writing ‘grammars, and collecting stories, publishing and selling them, Any individual linguist trying to work there has to get a permit from the King, who determines the conditions under which Tinguistic work isto be done. It is required from linguists that copies of any published work be aiven to the community. Several aspects are worth discussing in regards o this language policy. In the first place, ‘although the phrase “itis forbidden to sel the language” does sound unequivocal, in practice itis ‘ot. Both the permission given to this author to do descriptive work there and the SIL return, tironologically concurrent with New Tribes’ arrival, evidence inconsistent enforcement of the Policy (exception made of the former King’s opposition to the latter event). Second, this policy 's not designed to actually protect the language from extinction, Language obsolescence beyns from within, and itis inside the community (e.g. schooling in Spanish, illiteracy in Teribe,8 The Teribe people and language extraneous religion, not individual linguists or casual visitors) thatthe threat is growing. Finally, though meaningful, the requirement that copies of any published work be given to the community loses effectiveness given te lack of a more substantial language policy External contact: The last threatening aspect wo be discussed isthe growing contact with the outer work, The wo iain souices are the increasing tendency of the Teribes to send their kids to the Changuinola high school, and the continuous emigration of young men to the banana plantations, In the case of high school, the threat is bigger than that posed by elementary schoo, since the students have t slay out of the comarca, in most cases in a Spanish-speaking environment outside class time; sometimes, students quit high school but do not return tthe reservation. The result is similar to that of migratory workers; in principle, these people go to the plantation during the week and come back for weekends and vacation time; however, in ‘many cases the men take their family with them and rarely pay visits to their relatives in the ‘comarca, All this constiuies a potential source of disintegration of the society as young generations leave their home. In summary, Teribe is sill a relatively healthy language in Sieylik and Sieyking; it is seriously endangered in some communities (Dluy) and it is practically history in some others (La ‘Tigra) This use of the language from zer0 to very high roughly correlates with the proximity 10 Changuinola: the nearest villages are Spanish-speaking; in the farthest ones, Sieyllikt and Sieyking, the language is used most. This clearly shows that in this specific case geographic proximity to the dominant language plays a role in endangerment. If one considers, however, that the government is planning to build road to link Sieyllik and Sieyking with Changuinola (an old but until now not materialized promise, though), tbe impact of that single event in the future of the language could be devastating. 1.3 Genealogical and areal aspects ‘As mentioned at the ouset, Terie is @ Chibchan language. Within this family, Teribe consiutes a branch of its own, see (SI). The original Chibchan teritory was the present-day border zone between Costa Rica and Panama, atthe Talamanca mountain range, which cross- cuts that border; from there, migratory movements both nortibound and southbound took place (Constenla 1991, Fonseca & Cooke 1993). This means that, genealogically, the Teribes have remained in isolation not far from the original Chibchan area tll today. “The Chibchan languages, in turn, constitute the largest stock and have the widest distribution within the linguistic area known as the Intermediate Area, which borders with the Mesoamerican Atea to the north and with the Amazonian and Peruvian areas to the south ‘Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area meet in what is today Western Honduras, the middle of [Nicaragua (actually dividing that country in two, West and East), and Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula, The areal features distinguishing both areas are rather clear-cut: the Mesoamerican languages exhibit a verb-inital basic word order patie (VSO/VOS), have prepositions, a possessed-possessor and an adjective-noun order. ‘The languages of the Intermediate Area, on the other hand, are SOV, have postpositions, and have possessor possessed and noun-adjective Genealogical and areal aspects 9 ‘orders (ef. Constenla 1991). Teribe is no exception to these word order pattems. in addition, it shares some other features with the isthmian languages (Bribri, Cabécar, Teribe, Bocos, Guaymt, Cuna) such as the existence of numeral classifiers, which has been hypothesized to ‘originate from a set of Proto-Chitchan class terms, which in conjunction with the head noun formed lexical compounds (Constenla 1989: 29). The development of such class terms into ‘numeral classifiers constitutes an innovation in these languages (SI) The place of Teibe inthe Chibchan family [refs ‘Guaymi Cuna-Dorasque Cundiarhuacan a) 11. Dram erins) Pana) 2 nem 12. Chango exinc) Pam 3 Game ame Seca eee cect < Camr — (Gom i) 1 Datetiay.—_(ealonna Sri (Com ia) a (cama & ba Gamay 16 Koni = 1 tee Panama te (Cotman Gayet (Coma RicePaams) 18 aman (com 9. Bao Cm Rie Pama) «19. anges (eina) {colombia 10, Cana (amy 2 Cima (Coumban (Adapted from Constenla 1991), ‘Areal features distinguishing the Imermediate Area from other areas in the south include the nominalizaion of subordinate clauses and full-ledged evidential systems in the Peruvian ‘Area, and the existence of both subject and object agreement sysiems in the Amazonian Area (Constenla. 1991: 135). Absence of passives is common 10 both the Amazonian and the Intermediate areas. Teribe also lacks a passive and evidentials, and does not exhitit "ominalization of subordinate clauses. ‘A recent study on Chibchan comparative grammar (Quesada 19994) evidenced that there ‘ends o exist a division between the languages of Colombia and those of Central America n10 The Teribe people and language terms of certain features. First the category of auxiliaries seems to be more relevant and more grammaticalized in Colombia. The same is true, second, of modal systems; the existence of data source systems puts these languages close to those of the Peruvian Area. Third, agreement (cross-referencing) seems to be more syntactcized in Colombia than in Central America, with the notable exceptions of Tunebo in the former and of Rama and Guatuso in the later. Fourth, ‘with exception of Rama, clause connectors as part of verbal morphology are absent in Central America, but present in Colombia. All these differences point to a more elaborate verbal complex in Colombia (again, excluding Tunebo) than in Central America. The “Central American” features of Chibchan are all found in Teribe, which, based on the preceding can be ‘characterized as a Central American isthmian language of the Chibchan stock in the Intermediate Area, 1.4 Typological features (Overview) ‘The basic constituent order in Teribe is SOV (1), with an alternative order OV-s, where -s stands for a suffix indexing person (subject) (2). In principe, the alternation of these ‘wo orders is discourse-run; however, a series of other complex factors also play a roe in that choice; these will be addressed in 4.1.1 (1) tawa bong kullo Teno IPLEXCL tiger footprint see-PERF "We saw the tiger's foorprins* 2) singna tsa wuo-ro-r meat litle eat-PERF-1SG “Tate a litle meat’ ‘Adpositions in Teribe are postnominal, as illustrated in (3) and (4), where the postposition is used to express location and instrument, respectively: @) @ ben sdk uw shho 186 stay-PERE POSIT.SIT house in “1 sayed inthe house” (8) tino-ro-roa shit g0 ‘chase-PERF-IPL.EXCL dog. with “We chased [ie] withthe dogs’ Possesive determination is prenominal in Terie; the head noun (possessum) can be preceded by a possessive marker (a member of a paradigm that is also used to express objects of ‘postpositions and direct objects in the SOV order), a in (5), oF by another noun asin (6) (9) bor siti 186.7088 dog, ‘my dog’ © plu shit king dog “the King’s dog’ ‘Typological features (Overview) Adjectives, on the other hand, are postnominal (7), as are numeral classifiers (8a); the Jauer follow the verb when the object is counted (8b) in both the SOV and the OV-s orders: wale woleso woman prety ‘pretty woman’ (Ga) Sbi kwara pot CL,ROUND-one “One pot’ (8b) Dring nwléno-r lara machete buy-PERF-ISGCL.LONG-one “bought one machete? Relative clauses can be postnominal (9) or head-interal (10): (9) Domer {sik tre sho) — bor shiti zr0-n0 man POSTTSIT —DEMin——_15G,POSSdog_Kill-PERF CFP “The man who lives here killed my dog" (10) (Maria kwomgla) osl-no| i-no-r Maria horse buy-PERF soe. PERF-1SG “I saw the horse that Maria bought” [Negation is expressed by the form lldme, which is strictly clause-inl: (1) ta sik toksa lleme 18 Postr.stT alone NEG “Lam not alone (siting) In yes/no questions the question marker de appears in final postion (12), whereas in information questions the question word appears usually in stu as in (13a) and (136): (12) cinocencio sok de? Inocencio POSTT.stF@ “Is Inocencio home?" (13a) ¢Pa twe lone? 256 come when “When will you come?” (136) ¢Pa ee Eno? 286 who see-PERF "Who did you see?" Comparison is analytic in Teribe, In comparative constructions the standard of ‘comparison follows the adjective; the order is thus QUALITY-STANDARD- MARKER: (1) Bor u_—_kégué bopoya kino 1s6.Poss house old yours COMP "My house is older than yours’ ‘The coding of major syntactic functions is realized mainly by word order, especially ix ‘he case of full noun phrases. Teribe is a strict OV language; thus, in the case of transitive2 The Teribe people and language constructions, any NP immediately preceding the verb, be it inthe SOV or in the OV-s orders, will be an object, as shown in (I) and (2) above, It becomes clear, then, that it isthe subject that can be moved around the verb or verb phrase, In the SOV order itis preverbal, in the OV-s ‘order, not being a full NP, itis coded by the person suffix. The other possibilty forthe subject is to be realized as a full noun phrase in postverbal position; this situation oocus in the context of inversion, as in (15): (13) Ta Fya Juan de 136 see-IMP.INV Juan OBV “Juan sees me" In intransitive and stave clauses the only participant is placed in preverbal position (16) (16) Tawa tng bara IPLEXCLPOSIT.BE 3 middle “We are inthe middle of them’ ‘When the participants are coded as pronouns both word order and the pronoun forms come into play. Teribe has two pronominal paradigms, nominal and oblique: ay NOMINAL osLiguE Lo bor “ SINGULAR 2, pa bop 00 2 ¢ ba Texel. tawa borwa Tinel. shi bi PLURAL = 2, pay bomi 3same ¢ ba 3aiff. ebga ba ‘The forms of the nominal paradigm are used to code subjects in the S(O)V order (18) and objects in the OV-s order (19), while the forms ofthe oblique paradigm are used to code objects. of transitive verbs (18) and objects of posipostions (20), but not subjects. The language thus ‘operates in terms of a nominative-accusative system by opposing O to A and S, despite the fact that the nominal paradigm is used for both subjects and objects: (18) Ta bop Kime 136286 help “help you" (19) Pa kimiesr 256 help-186 “help you" 20) dour twa-ra bor kong money give-PERF-3 186 10 “He gave the money to me" 'As for grammatical categories, the verbal dimension has more grammaticalized Typological features (Overview) B distinctions than the nominal dimension, The later is practically limited to NUMBER, which includes the singular/plural opposition plus the six classes expressed by numeral classifiers. The other nominal category, expressed by pronouns, not by nouns, includes the INCLUISIVE/EXCLUSIVE opposition for frst person plural and SWITCH REFERENCE, thied person plural. ~ The verbal dimension is characterized by the existence of three verb classes that give rise 10 three distinct clause and word order types. Such classes include positional verbs, ‘movement and intransitive verbs, and transitive verbs. The only category which is common to all three types is ASPECT. Teribe is a “tenseless” language. MOOD and MODALITY inclide imperative mood and epistemic modality expressed by bound morphology, as well as deonti and desiderative modality, expressed analytically. Other verbal categories expressed include PERSON and NUMBER, by virtue of the “agreement” system in the OV-s order. There is verb serialization in Teribe. Finally, affxation is exclusively suffixal (with the exception of numeral classifiers, which are prefixes (ef. 88-b). There is litle noun morphology; as for verbal morphology, the (transitive) verb takes as many as two suffixes, one for aspeetmood and one for person (which Includes number), as can be seen in (2), (4), and (8b) above. 1.5 Previous studies ‘Though valuable, the existing information on the Terbe language is scarce. It i tasiclly the result ofthe work of two linguists of the Summer Instiute of Linguists (SIL) in the 1970's, Carol Koontz and Joanne Anderson. Koontz & Anderson (1974) is a sketchy (‘ancestor, elder’), both [p] and (b} may follow: (Clap ga] ~ ['ttab.ga] ‘pl can also precede liquids, in initial position only, though: as) pli hunger’ ‘plu “king? Ipribri/ ‘around’ ‘Another feature of /p! in final positon is the fact that it can also undergo assimilation by nasalization; thus, the reflexive pronoun /op/ is realized as [om] if preceding a nasal segment, asin (20): (20) Jop+nek’ > — omanek"] “hide” “The voiced bilabial stop /b occurs in syllable-inital position, as shown above, and followed by liquids in that position, asin /brik/ ‘leave’. In most cases, however, i is followed by vowels, In intervocalic position it becomes a bilabial friative [8] @) Cosi) “agai {(sv.raa] “they (other subject) took it away” ofa] ‘people’ The same realization occurs when it appears between a vowel and a vocalic consonant, ‘sully iui, in sylable-ntal position: (22) [ofl] siferen™ {two fo] ‘while’ Wt does not become ficatve, however, if the liquid precedes it (note that the liquid is a ‘multiple vibrant, as opposed to the preceding example, where itis simple, no doubt ‘multiplicity of vibration at sable boundary is playing a role inthe blocking of fiatve articulation: (23) [wortbo) “border” The dento-aleolar stops behave in a way similar to that of the bilabial steps Aspiration is rater lenis, the lous ofthe aspirated seument/h being rested 10 word-20 Phonology inital position (see (12) above). The principles alluded to above in relation to the distribution of the two variants ofthe aspirated bilabial phoneme govern the distribution of its two variants [iS] and {tthe later tending to be rather dental [1] ‘The now-aspirated dentoralveoles stop appears in syllables (9) above, and also in syllable-final position, in which case its articulation is rather lenis (24) pesit} “ater” (set) “fast? [{pot’so] “well, fine” It can also be followed by liquids (in syllableinitial position), and occur in intervocalic position as well, but, as opposed to the bilabial (and velar) stops, it does not undergo sonorization as readily, thus: tial position, as shown ia (258) Mwoutlik) = + ['w8.Ahk'}—*['we dk") “think” ‘da.tal > [data] *f'dada) “father but (250) farester + [drecde] “there isnot (suppletive form for existence)” (250) oceurs rather sporadically and does not represent standard speech ‘The voiced dento-alveolar stop appears in initial position (see (9) above) and followed by liquids in that position (26) ator ‘sun’ rai’ “food, meal” Ide! “foot’ {A peculiarity ofthis segment is that it forms clusters with the other two voiced stops in intial Position; such clusters constitute an instance ofa very productive double articulation where no traces of a vocalic segment can be perceived in between? (27a) db /dbon’ [dbon} “tiger” ‘fdbat/ [abar) ‘day’ iabur! [aur] “money? fébuk’ [uk] “throw away, overtiow” Hdboxj’ —[TBo.cjt] answer" (27%) dg idgur’ (jar) sake" ig Ga “plant” ge! (Gel “Tong ag0 Idgukwo! [ju.kwo] “piece, pack (Sp. amuga)’ 7 A cluster containing two stops is also found in the number “four” pkey. This combination has been attested only inthis case Phoneme inventory and realization 2 égo.no! {ono} “boiled? Following a vowel, the dento-alveolar stop sometimes becomes fricative: (28) a wasp.kwo.dgo.no! {12,fa, 3p: kwo.59o.1n0} ‘We planted corn’ However, a more frequent realization of is as tap, usually boundary 29) hakimtumi.de/ {takim-te.tmi“*re] “will you (pl) help me?” Finally, behavior of the velar stop does not differ significant from that of the other stops. The aspirated segment ha two allophones, {k*] and {K], whose distribution follows the pattern ofthe other aspirated segments inthe system It is restricted to word-inital posiion; ‘examples were given in (13) above. ‘The non-aspirated velar stop, /k/, appears in syllable-iitial position, as illustrated in (10) above. In that position, itis followed by both vowels and liquids: intervocalic position at word (60) feagal “head? ‘eu! “Theat! ‘elofo “gras, bush’ sa “get fetch, obtain” tn sylable-final position itis articulate in a lenis manner: G1) [do‘pok’] ‘numeral classifier for one animate objects)" Wok] “there ilre” In both intervocalic position and when preceding a voiced segment, it tends to become voiced, its realization being ficative 62) [he:ve.rog) “he came down’ (kav.209) ‘hair Inthe first of the two preceding examples, /K/ precedes the glottal ficative fv (Ihek her. 01), jek jerong> ‘came down’), which has been deleted; the sequence Vk + V appears, thereby creating the context for lenition, and for stress placement. Voicing of /K/ when followed by a liquid only occurs in unstressed syllables; this is the case of the purposive sux /-KJo/, which serves to derive nouns from verbs (notice the “regressive” vowel harmony in the sevond example), ef 2.2.1 on Vowel harmony and 3.1.1.2 on nominal derivation: 3) fhuy+ Koy + honglo} “sharpener” (bury = sharpen’) Hdan+klo! > — {'donglo] “dryer (idan! = ‘dry’)2 Phonology ‘The voiced velar stop /, like the other voiced stops, occurs in syllable-intil position (Gee (10) above), followed by liquids and in intervocalic position, In the last two instances it tends to become fticative [+] G4) fag kava] “head Kkim.iaga/ —[{kim.taxa) “helper, aid, assistant” Mdoglo/ —[do-elo] “numeral classifier for three (animate objects) Koglo! —['oxro] “gir” Iti also followed by the bilabial glide wv, sylable-intially, in which case it also tends to be articulated in a fricative manner (i the preceding syllable is open, fricativization is aln certain): G5) fko.gwal —[ko-rwa] “stepfather” Iewegwo! [kwe-xwo] ‘turtle! [No doubs, lack of stress also contributes to the frcatization ofthis segment. st 2.1.2.2 Fricatives ‘The four fricative phonemes appear chiefly in initial position, where most of the ‘minimal pairs are found, and in initil-position clusters, of which they are the first members (36) Wives lz (sok! ‘size’ vs lao! “pubic hair’ Js) ‘alive vs facut” ‘se.no/*he became tied’ vs __/ze.no/ “he got cold’ Jsan/ ‘come back’ vs lzanl “spend” GD Wve: Mri “Takeout” vs bint hoarse (Sik “take out vs [sik ‘wishbone-shape’ ‘Su.go ‘anteater ys fgu.goup thee’ ‘There i itle neutralization of the voiced voiceless opposition; inthe sporadic cases autested, that neutralization occurs in sylabe-inital postion, and it is basically the voiced member ofthe opposition that loses its sonority (G8) aliswé.nalok.3e.bo,pho.z0n 31Sur bo.gtkebin 3 {,ali'wi8.na.cok’ 1 bop. 209 turbo. fee in fe] ‘People brought us food, meals, palm hearts, plantains’ In the preceding example there is no filing intonation (as would be expected, cf 23.1) probably because of the series context, in which thre appears tobe a clash between the end of the series andthe intonation; apparently, the speaker had a longer ist in mind but found herself short of elements and stopped there Each of the alveopalatal phonemes has a voiced and a voiceless allophone, respetively, withthe phonemic counterpart used in fee variation sporadically The ony case Phoneme inventory and realization 2 of allophonic variation is that of the negative particle /sume’, which in rapid speech becomes {huml; this realization of the voiced alveopalatalficative as glottal frcative is exclusive to this item, (Clusters consist of the fticative seyient followed by a liquid or a stop; such clusters, tare abundant in the language, especially when the fticative element is voiceless (but se= below); a remarkable exception to this tendency are the clusters /sp-/ and /st/, unatested. J, while (396) shows clusters whose (39a) illustrates clusters whose second member is a liqui second element isa stop: (39a), seu “blood Me “wild pig’ ‘slat! very’ fru atrve® Islony ‘next to ‘fru “gray hairy” (390) skew ‘take off (clthes)” po! “hit (witha sticky” Iskus.ton/ “hung” ‘Mla.ta/ ‘worm’ Iskok/ “break’ /Mkaw! ‘nine? ‘The second element in a frcative-intial cluster can also be a nasal: (40) fsmo/ “cold” ‘mil “laziness” In eases like the previous two, the ficative does not become voiced; similarly, there are casts in which the voiceless alveopalatalfrcative precedes a voiced stop in the cluster, voicing is by no means automatic here either (the same is true forthe cases of frcative + liquid, above), that is, the voiced and the voiceless allophones are in free variation’ (1) dor’ [Sdar]——_‘stribute, share, portion’ ‘sdekwo! —[sdekwo} ‘culture ik) fale] “to squash Is! [soi] “become used to “Threesmember clusters include the ficative segment, followed by a stop (generally the ver one) and a bilabial glide (42) kwik “folding bed, cot” Iskwel ‘crazy’ (ewer bo! ‘eotton belt Frictive+ glide in inal position is also frequent: (3) won! ess" ‘Swit “eruteh? The glottal fcatve/h/ occurs in syllable-ntal positon ony, In rapid speech it terds tobe deleted, but only at word boundary; in word-medial position it is not deleted (44a) fekshero) ——_[he-ve.on]} “came down!4 Phonology Anwethon! (ove. on} “ame and stood but (440) Ko.hon/ [kohony*['k0.09} “et up" ‘There ae a couple of clusters in which / is the first member, followed by a liquid (45) Mader ‘ruth? nl8.ko jo! “uly 2.1.2.3. case of phonological split: the alveopalatalaffricate “The alveopalatal affricate segment /f/ appears as a recent acquisition of the Teribe phonological system, concretely as the result of a phonological spit {/ seems to stem from the palatalization of the cluster /ts/ before the high front vowel, and of the alveolar stop /t/ before that vocalic segment. The clearest instance of the hypothesized situation appears in (46): (46) —si-ra/ (Jsi-ra] ~[si'ra] ‘a litle, some” vs Afial [fica] “small” Note that there is @ change in stress placement, in addition, of course, to the new, albeit related, meaning, as is tobe expected ina case like this. In addition, ira has given rise, via derivation, tothe word /fi.ra.wal-> [f.ra a] “very littl, litle one’, which isnot realized as sTtsica.fal ‘The other likely source of /Af, could be the causative verb iché ft, “let, command, send, make, order’ (the other item where /f/ occurs), presumably as the result of palatalization ‘of it. That the original phonetic cause has been extended is evidenced by the fact that the afficate realization is not limited to the forms of that verb that contain front vowels (in which case it would be a case of palatalization, plain and simple), but has been extended to forms containing non-front vowels (47) Afar’ Piaf “he let him’ litforo’ + itfo.ror] et (bien) While there are still speakers, mainly older ones, that sporadically exhibit a non-palatalized realization of the affricate segment before the low central vowel (['Ltja.ca), the palatalized realization before the back vowel is categorical thus there is no *(',tjo.cor], On the other hand, sequences containing the alveolar stop plus the palatal glide do not show affrication 8) hv + fvey*Itel “climb" jonol = + Yo.noY*1'tfo.no} ‘climbed? ‘The alveopalatal affricate segment has a very reduced frequency, appearing in no more than halfa dozen items, which suggests tha its phonologization is incipient. Most of the items containing this new phoneme include loan words, such as (the Miskitu name of the nearest non-Teribe town), ; ‘turkey’, the term used in some varieties of Phoneme inventory and realization 2s Central American Spanish, or (‘ko.\fi, ‘pig’, which has cognates in the neighboring ‘Talamanca languages, where /tf/ has a much higher frequency and functional load ' It might well be the ease that such loans have played a roe inthe incipient phonologization of 2.1.24 Nasals “The nasal phonemes contrast mainly in initial position, which is where their frequency is highest; exception to this statement has tobe made ofthe velar nasal /1y, which is limited to final position: (49) iv ws ial wo mal “fish” nal “here” (pal “figure Imo! ‘jealousy’ Ino! ‘person’ Spo! lie ‘he velar nasal contrasts in final position with the alveolar one (50) Invvsfyy: jon! “fine, good!" ys [jon “floor” ‘sin! ‘pregnancy symptom vs /si/__ ‘a woman's brother’ Alun! “bark (dogs)” vs Akluny ‘carth, soil ‘The alveolar-velar opposition is morphophonemic: wn ‘pin! ‘Teach’ vs pin’ ‘toteach’ ‘Mond “I sharpen” vs Pour’ “to sharpen’ In general, all nasals have only one realization, except for the alveolar nasal, which has 1 velar allophone in (syllable-}final position, apparently in fre variation (52) IposkwoN/ + ['poskwon] ~ [‘pos.kwon) “Tend” IpaNfo! + ('pan fo] ~ fpan.fo} ‘clouds’ ‘There are two sources of variation in the realization of the velar nasal One is the tendency to neutralize the velar feature of // in final position if followed by a vowel or by a hhomorganic consonant (53) sig ‘a woman's brother’ + ['sintde] ‘the woman’s brother + obviative marker Feu) ‘grow up" = ['ku.no] ‘grew up" ‘hea ‘belong; positional: be'-»[‘ten*Tde] “does it belong?/is it (there) ‘The other instance of allophonic variation concerns the velar nasal, which is sometimes deleted in rapid speech; this deletion only applies to unstressed items. The second case in (54) below, the unstressed syllable corresponds tothe postpostion kon/ “to in which cae, the velar realization in final position becomes alveolar (54) fotoy — fUt0] ‘arsived” Toatkor! + [batko] “with him” ‘any > ial ‘positional: stand” "eg Bribikiv, BorucaMkut, Cabscar kat26 Phonology Finally, the bilabiel nasal /m/ can also appear in syllable-final postion, and its realization is bilabial (m] (55) cum’ ‘size’ Jyunl ‘up ‘sdam/ “tow land’ 2.1.2.5 The lateral flap ‘This phoneme appears only in initial position (followed by # vowel) and following, stops in clusters (56) Mago’ “beach” Ai “rolativizer, topic marker’ alo! “sunt Napgal “elder, ancestor, lord” AAdofo! ‘grass, bush’ /V has theee allophones: [J], (J, and [c]. In initial position, itis realized either as [1] oF as (I), depending on speech speed. Contexts favoring the non-flap articulation ar lervocalic position and certain clusters. The tap allophone [r] does not appear in initial or imervocalic position, its distribution being limited to clusters. Examples ofintervocali realization follow (57) fabalay (ba Ja) ~ (bata) star” Joti) [arti] ~ [li] “the devil” (af ‘devil’ + /i/ topic marker’) wal’ [walt] ~[wa'l} ‘woman’ Iwoliso! —_ {wo'ltso} ~ {wo.'er.so] ‘pretty, nice? [As for its realization in clusters, in general, it is as follows: if the preceding stop is ‘voiced /W! becomes [+]; ithe stop is voiceles, it is realized as [I]: (68) fpogio! —_{pPo-t0] ‘hammock’ ‘doglo! —do-xr0] “numeral laste for three, animate objects! roglo! —(Wo-er0] “ait (68) ipoklo! polo] “be wotlk ['w0.tlik’] ‘think ne! tua] “speak? AiBkewo! [15.40] “ianguage? ndofo! —_klofo] “grass, bush’ Phoneme inventory and realization 2 [As noted above, these rules are dependent on speech speed. In general, slow speech tends 19 favor the flap articulation [J], while the allophones (in the distribution explained) appear i rapid speech. “There are clusters whose first member is the bilabial glide, In those cases / has to allophones in free variation, (I] and {cI (59) vlorky —fwlor‘Ks] ~[wror kr] “hunt” pwlas! fwlar]— ~ [wear] “sit down’ When the first element of the cluster is a sibilant, both [1] and [+] appear, again wit speed being the determining factor, the former occurs in slow speech while the latter occursin rapid speech: (60) /slon/ [slop] ~{sron] “next to" ‘lar! [lar] ~ [sear] very’ 2.1.2.6 The trill ‘The last consonantal phoneme in the Teribe inventory has two main variants, an alveolar multiple vibrant (r] and a tap {cl the former appears in intial and final position, “while the later occurs elsewhere (though in syllable-inal position they seem to be in fiee variation): (61) ro! {ro} “inside” res! {res} “tice” Keoku/ (ro kt] “ask? pti! (pri) “finish? sal aca] “much” Jporky —['por-ka{'por.ka] “ie” Jinpana! —(i.pa.naYi-pa.na) “he followed (him)* [Another realization of the trill is as an alveolar stop (t], & clear case of dissimilation, which ‘occurs when it appears in final postion; this realization isin free variation with the muttple vibrant (62) Akimte? kim] “help” igh! wi “finish oer! [bed “remain “The wil occurs in inital postion, in final position (as illustrated in (61) and (62) above), respectively It also occurs asthe second member in clusters, The first member of & Cluster can be a sibilant of a stop; in these contexts, itis realized as tap (63) Jasuld [eruk’} sill28 Phonology ‘sem (sein) “blood Wragwan! —{fra.'gwan] ‘parallel poles’ rik) brik’) “eave? ‘pik’ pak’) “bind, te Idre! {dre} foot’ ak [teak] scarce, litle wv (ker) ‘eet sori) (sari) ib" 2.1.3 Glides and diphthongs “The two glides are very productive in Teribe, not so much in terms of diphthongization but rather in terms of contrasts between the two, as well as in their presence in clusters, especially the bilabial one. Contrasts between the two follow (64) fwono/ “bathed” ws {jono! “drank, consumed” bal “son, daughter’ vs Sal “vomit (noun)" ‘vo! ‘liver’ vs fo! ‘earthquake’ Avory iguana’ vs fon! “floor ‘hw! frequently appears as the first and/or second element in clusters, in the first case, it is usually followed by aliquid (65) fwlorku! “hunt ‘ela! “sit alo! “wasp” Isle! “docile! [As the second element in clusters, w/ is usually preceded by obstruents; notice the presence of the liquid phoneme following the glide in most ofthese obstruent-initial clusters (65) tewio! ‘price, value’ Awl! “buy" favo! “medicine” Pes! “rabbit? Iswlol “iness? Jfwon “dress? (Swiny “deer Iswek! “fix, solve” can also be the third element in a cluster Phoneme inventory and realization 29 (67) /skowa! “erazy’ Iskewikd “folding bed, cot” It can even be followed by a fourth consonant ina cluster (68) kw strength’ {As for diphthongs, rising ones are by far the more common: (69) kaw! “nine? Isrow! ‘jump ‘The palatal glide /j! appears in syllable-initial position, and as such in rising diphthongs: (70) fw! “eat, consume’ fared “he put” oj! “evil spirit, devi? Iplujol ‘majesty’ ‘sujal “burn (imperfective inverse)’ “The diphthongs ja! and /jo/ are morphemes; the former is the inverse imperfective maiker and the later is a lexical suffix used to derive “abstract” concepts out of more concrete anes (6 3.1.1.2); such isthe case of /plu/ “king /plujo! ‘majesty’ In sllable- initial position, /V appears in afew clusters, asthe first member (7) Ais “sukia’ ‘igal “skunk? It should be noted that in the case of bi ‘sukia’ for some speakers, the word has no glide, for them it consists of only two segments /bi!. There are no large clusters formed with iz is the case with fv. In most cases, isthe Second member of a cluster, whose first member is generally a stop: (2) Ikjonl “boat” Akio! “oil” Aw “elim up jor! “liquid? jal “three! [As for falling diphthongs, these are more numerous than the falling ones formed with the other slide because of the morphological status of /), namely as marker of frst peson plural inclusive. Examples of falling diphthongs formed that way include (3) ploy “we thrust it int the earth’ Soria “we make’30 Phonology pity “we tie up, bind’ Ipositil “we tear, cleave” “Authentic” falling diphthongs include (74) Mooi “wife, trap” oj ‘deophone” (used to simulate a gunshot) Posi) “halt Isoj/ “near is ‘a man’s older brother" 0 “guaba’ (Inga laurina)* ‘Two forms that consist of a base (a postposition and a demonstrative), respectively, plus the locative postposition /V, have become rather bonded and can be regarded as cases in between the two just mentioned: (75) teil “there! oil “inside” 2.1.4 Syllable structure “The following eight syllable types exist in Teribe (76a) Open v fal “devil” cv fal “eold, fu’ cv pli “hunger In this type, the frst segment is generally a stop, and the second one can be a liquid, as in the third case in (76a), or another stop, asin the first two cases in (76b) (760) ‘dg “to plant ‘bal “daytime’ (76) CCV fawlo! “medicine” ‘An admittedly rare type, in which the last two consonants are the glide and aliquid is (76d) (76a) ccccv (Skveli/ “strength (77a) Closed ve lati “arrive eve Mwy! “sharpen! ceve heal! Title” “A tong green frat that contains sed “wrapped” in am edible cotton-ike tise (the seeds are not edible), not tobe confused with Eng, Guava (Sp, Guryaba, Psdium guavas) Phoneme inventory and realization 3 ‘The CCVC type has two main sequences; one consists of a stop followed by a liquid. asin the thicd ease in (77a); the other, more widespread, structure/patern is that containing a cluster of two stops in pre-nuclear postion am) Fabon) “tiger” ‘abu! ‘money’ Hdbuk “throw away, overthrow’ agar! ‘snake’ Non-existent in the language are: (77) sve seccve 2.2 Phonological processes ‘The three most characteristic phonological processes of Teribe are described in this section. The first one pertains to the vowel system, while the remaining two occur withn the consonant system. 2.2.1 Vowel harmony, vowel fluctuation and vowel dissimilation ‘As hinted at atthe beginning of this chapter, some vowels exhibit uctuating quality, ‘The first context in which this fuctuation of the vowels occurs is that of vowel harmony, which in Teribe is “regressive”: the quality of the vowel in the suffix determines that of the vowel in the stem. This occurs in both lexical and inflectional morphology. Examples of the former include the sufixes -kwo,/-klo!, and /-gal (78) Idan + -klo/ “+ [donklo ['donglo) dryer’ (/dan’ = dry’) Ipt+ Ko! + Ipoklo’ “bed? (py! = sleep’) Als + -kwor > Mbkwo! “Tanguage’(/I8/~ ‘speak’ (parks + -ga/ > parkaga’ ‘worker’ (/park/ = “work’) kimts + -gal + fkimmtagal “helper” (Akimt! = *help’) As for inflectional morphology, vowel harmony occurs with vebs of Class IV, which ends in 1 (see 32.13 and 321.4), among the suffixes triggering vowel harmony are the marcer of perfective aspect in the SOV order Ln, the marker of perfective aspect in the OV-s order (al, and the imperative marker /-zoy. Examples follow (79) Leno! hvojd’ want” + Iwvojdono! ‘wanted’ Hag! “plant > fdgono! “planted” ia cut” > lrono! veut" rime help" + fkimtono! “helped’