Omurano language
| Omurano | |
|---|---|
| Mayna | |
| Native to | Peru |
| Ethnicity | Maina |
Native speakers | <10 rememberers (2013)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | omu |
| Glottolog | omur1241 |
Omurano is a language isolate from Peru.[1] It is also known as Humurana, Roamaina, Numurana, Umurano, and Mayna. The language was presumed to have become extinct by 1958,[2] but in 2011 a rememberer was found who knew some 20 words in Omurano; he claimed that there were still people who could speak it.[3] The community has otherwise switched to Urarina, another language isolate.
It was spoken near the Urituyacu River (a tributary of the Marañón River),[4] or on the Nucuray River according to Loukotka (1968).[5]
Classification
[edit]Tovar (1961) linked Omurano to Taushiro (and later Taushiro with Kandoshi); Kaufman (1994) finds the links reasonable, and in 2007 he classified Omurano and Taushiro (but not Kandoshi) as Saparo–Yawan languages.
Maynas, once mistaken for a synonym, is a separate language.
Despite there being previous proposals linking Omurano with Zaparoan, de Carvalho (2013) finds no evidence that Omurano is related to Zaparoan.[4]
Language contact
[edit]Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Urarina, Arawak, Zaparo, and Leko language families due to contact.[6]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Omurano has 10 consonants. No fricative or velar consonants have been attested.[1]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveopalatal | Palatal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | |||
| Stop | p | b | t | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Affricate | ʧ | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Lateral | l | j | ||||
| Glide | ||||||
Vowels
[edit]Omurano has 5 vowel qualities. Nasal vowel counterparts are only present for [i]. Length is not phonemic.[1]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | nasal | |||
| High | i | ĩ | u | |
| Mid | e | o | ||
| Low | a | |||
Tone
[edit]Omurano has two surface-level tones, high and low.[1]
Vocabulary
[edit]A word list by Tessmann (1930) is the primary source for Omurano lexical data.[7]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[5]
gloss Omurana one nadzóra two dzoʔóra head na-neyalok eye an-atn woman mparáwan fire íno sun héna star dzuñ maize aíchia house ána white chalama
See also
[edit]- Maina Indians
- Extinct languages of the Marañón River basin
- Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas
Further reading
[edit]- O'Hagan, Zachary J. (2011). Omurano field notes. (Manuscript).
References
[edit]
- ^ a b c d e O’Hagan, Zachary (2023-01-16), Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), "20 Omurano", Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré, De Gruyter, pp. 939–956, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-007, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved 2025-03-14
- ^ Omurano language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ O'Hagan, Zachary J. (22 September 2011). "Informe de campo del idioma omurano" (PDF). Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ a b de Carvalho. 2013. On Záparoan as a valid genetic unity: Preliminary correspondences and the status of Omurano. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica 5: 91-116.
- ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- ^ Tessmann, Günter. 1930. Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: grundlegende Forschungen für eine systematische Kulturkunde. Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter.