Djeoromitxí language

Djeoromitxi
Jabuti
Native to	Brazil
Region	Rondônia, at the headwaters of the Rio Branco
Ethnicity	170 (2012)[1]
Native speakers	40 (2007)[1]
Language family	Macro-Gê Yabutian Djeoromitxi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	jbt
Glottolog	djeo1235
ELP	3267 Jabutí

Djeoromitxi or Jabutí (Yabuti) is an endangered Yabutian language that is spoken by only about fifty people (though including some children) in Rondônia, Brazil, at the headwaters of the Rio Branco.

Phonology

There is no tonal system in Djeoromitxí and accent is not contrastive. Morphophonological processes are rare.

Syllable structure follows a (C)V pattern.^[2]

Consonants

The table below shows the consonant phonemes of Djeoromitxí according to Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010).^[3]

Although Pires (1992) counts /b/ /d/ as distinct phonemes, Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) count them as allophones of /m/ /n/ before oral vowels.^[4]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive		p	t	k
Affricate	voiceless	ps	tʃ
	voiced	bz	dʒ
Fricative					h
Approximant		w
Trill/Tap			r

According to Pires (1992), [ɸ] is an allophone of /p/ before high and medium round vowels, and [ɲ] is an allophone of /n/ following the high nasal vowel /ĩ/.

While /ps/ and /bz/ only occur before /i/, they are contrastive with the other bilabial obstruents.^[5]

According to Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010), /k/ is backed to [q] before [ʉ] and often aspirated before /ə/ and /u/. They state that /p/ is realized as [ɸ] or [pɸ] before back vowels and [ʉ].

When preceded by a personal prefix, or when starting the second element of a compound, /h/ becomes /r/. With some roots, /h/ can become /n/ in a similar manner.^[6]

Vowels

The tables below show the vowel phonemes of Djeoromitxí according to Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010).^[3]

The accounts of Pires (1992) and Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) basically agree on the vowel phonemes.

Oral Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ʉ	u
Close-mid		ə
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Nasal Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ĩ
Open-mid	ɛ̃		ɔ̃
Open		ã

According to Pires (1992), [ũ] is an allophone of /õ/ in free variation with [õ] after /h/.^[7]

Ribeiro and van der Voort (2010) state that /ʉ/ is often realized as [ø].^[3]

Grammar

Djeoromitxí has nouns, verbs, adverbs and particles, with adjectives treated as intransitive verbs. Its syntax is noun-modifier and SOV or OVS in order.^[8]

The following examples demonstrate noun-modifier and SOV word order.

Pronouns and person markers

The following table shows Djeoromitxí pronominal forms.^[8]

	Pronoun	Possessive/Preposition	Intransitive subject	Transitive subject	Transitive object
1st person singular	hʉ	—	—	hʉ	—
2nd person	adʒɛ	a-	a-	adʒɛ	a-/adʒɛ
3rd person	na	i-/N	i-/na/N	na/N	i-/N
1st person plural	hirʉ	hi-	hi-	hirʉ	hi-
Impersonal	—	hi-	—	—	i-/ɛ-

The use of the forms is illustrated in the following examples:^[11]

References

Citations

Works cited

External links

• Djeoromitxi basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database