Karu language
Karu, one of several languages called Baniwa (Baniva), or in older sources Itayaine (Iyaine), is an Arawakan language spoken in Guainía, Colombia, Venezuela, and Amazonas, Brazil. It forms a subgroup with the Tariana, Piapoco, Resígaro and Guarequena languages.[2] There are 10,000 speakers.[3]
Not to be confused with Baniwa of Guainia.Karu
12,000 (2001–2007)[1]
-
Northern
- Upper Amazon
- Eastern Nawiki
- Karu
- Eastern Nawiki
- Upper Amazon
- Carútana-Baniwa
- Hohôdene (Katapolitana)
- Siusy-Tapuya (Seuci)
- Ipeka-Tapuia
- Curripaco (Wakuénai)
- Unhun (Katapolitana, Enhen)
- Waliperi
- Mapanai
- Moriwene
bani1259 Baniwa-Curripaco
Aikhenvald (1999) considers the three main varieties to be dialects; Kaufman (1994) considers them to be distinct languages, in a group he calls "Karu". They are:
Various (sub)dialects of all three are called tapuya, a Brazilian Portuguese and Nheengatu word for non-Tupi/non-Guarani Indigenous peoples of Brazil (from a Tupi word meaning "enemy, barbarian"). All are spoken by the Baniwa people. Ruhlen lists all as "Izaneni"; Greenberg's Adzánani (= Izaneni) presumably belongs here.
Ramirez (2020) gives the following classification for three separate dialect chains:[4]: 44
Grammar[edit]
Alignment System[edit]
Baniwa has active–stative alignment.[8] This means that the subject of an intransitive clause is sometimes marked in the same way as the agent of a transitive clause, and sometimes marked in the same way as the patient of a transitive clause. In Baniwa alignment is realized through verbal agreement, namely prefixes and enclitics.
Prefixes are used to mark: