Garifuna (language)
| Garifuna | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Honduras , Guatemala , Belize , Nicaragua a . United States | |
| speaker | over 100,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
sai |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
cab |
|
Garifuna (Garífuna) is the language of the Garifuna ethnic group and was also called "Caribe" or " Black Carib "; the name Igñeri is also given for this language, but is originally just the name of the Arrawak language, which was involved in the creation of today's Garifuna.
distribution
The Garifuna is spoken in Central America , especially in Honduras (approx. 98,000 speakers), but also in Guatemala (approx. 17,000 speakers) and Belize (approx. 12,000 speakers), as well as in Nicaragua and the USA ( New York City ).
vocabulary
The Garifuna, which is one of the indigenous American languages , consists of a dominant Arawak component (Igñeri) and a Caribbean component (Kallínagu). In addition, French , English and regionally also Spanish words have entered the vocabulary of this language over the course of time (for ethnogenesis → Garifuna ). The numerals in particular are almost exclusively of French origin (see below).
The vocabulary is made up as follows:
- 45% Arawak (Igñeri)
- 25% Caribbean (Kallínagu)
- 15% French
- 10% English
- 5% Spanish or English technical terms
There are also some words from African languages in the Garifuna .
Phonology
There are six vowels in Garifuna , aeio ü u , where ü stands for [ɨ].
The consonant system shows no abnormalities: b, ch, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, t, w, y
grammar
Personal pronouns
The Garifuna distinguishes between the genera "masculine" and "feminine" in the independent personal pronouns :
| masculine singular | feminine singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ouch | nugía | wagía |
| 2nd person | amürü | bugía | hugía |
| 3rd person | ligía | tugía | hagía |
The pronouns au and amürü are of Caribbean origin, the others are of Arawak origin.
noun
The plural formation of nouns takes place irregularly, namely by suffixing , e.g. B .:
| isâni ("child") | isâni-gu ("children") |
| wügüri ("man") | wügüri-ña ("men") |
| hiñaru ("woman") | hiñáru-ñu ("women") |
| itu ("sister") | ítu-nu ("sisters") |
The plural of garífuna ("Garifuna") is garínagu ("Garifunas").
Possession ( Possession ) is the noun with pronominal prefixes expressed:
| ibágari | "Life" |
| n-ibágari | "my life" |
| b-ibágari | "your life" |
| l-ibágari | "His life" (masculine singular) |
| t-ibágari | "Her life" (feminine singular) |
| wa-bágari | "our life" |
| h-ibágari | "Your life" |
| ha-bágari | "Her life" (plural) |
verb
On the verb be affixes (partly by particles ) the categories Tense , aspect , mode , negation and the person ( subject and object hereinafter) Konjugationsparadigmen are very numerous.
The conjugation of the verb Aliha ( "read") in the progressive form of the present tense
| n-alîha-ña | "I'm reading now" |
| b-alîha-ña | "You are reading now" |
| l-alîha-ña | "He is reading now" |
| t-alîha-ña | "She is reading now" |
| wa-lîha-ña | "We are reading now" |
| h-alîha-ña | "You are reading now" |
| ha-lîha-ña | "they are reading" |
The conjugation of the verb alîha in the simple present tense
| alîha-tina | "I read" |
| alîha-tibu | "you read" |
| alîha-ti | "he reads" |
| alîha-tu | "she reads" |
| alîha-tiwa | "we read" |
| alîha-tiü | "you read" |
| alîha-tiñu | "They (masculine) read" |
| alîha-tiña | "They (feminine) read" |
There are also a number of irregular verbs.
Numerals
With the exception of the words for "one" and "two", the numerals of the Garifuna are exclusively of French origin and are based entirely on the vigesimal system , which in today's standard French only appears at "80":
| number | Numeral | French counterpart | literal translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | aban | ||
| 2 | biñá, biama, bián | ||
| 3 | ürüwa | trois | |
| 4th | gádürü | quatre | |
| 5 | seingü | cinq | |
| 6th | sisi | six | |
| 7th | sedu | sept | |
| 8th | widü | huit | |
| 9 | nefu | neuf | |
| 10 | dîsi | dix | |
| 11 | ûnsu | our | |
| 12 | dûsu | douze | |
| 13 | tareisi | treize | |
| 14th | katorsu | quatorze | |
| 15th | no | quinze | |
| 16 | dîsisi, disisisi | "Dix-six" (seize) | ten (plus) six |
| 17th | dîsedü, disisedü | dix-sept | |
| 18th | disiwidü | dix-huit | |
| 19th | dísinefu | dix-neuf | |
| 20th | Wine | vingt | |
| 30th | darandi | trente | |
| 40 | biama wine | "Deux-vingt" (quarante) | two (times) twenty |
| 50 | dimí san | "Demi cent" (cinquante) | one and a half (times) one hundred |
| 60 | ürüwa wine | "Trois-vingt" (soixante) | three (times) twenty |
| 70 | ürüwa wine dîsi | "Trois-vingt-dix" (soixante-dix) | three (times) twenty (plus) ten |
| 80 | gádürü wine | quatre-vingt | |
| 90 | gádürü wine dîsi | quatre-vingt-dix | |
| 100 | san | cent | |
| 1,000 | milu | mil | |
| 1,000,000 | míñonu | engl. million? |
Other parts of speech
The language uses prepositions and conjunctions .
syntax
The word order is verb-subject-object (VSO).
Some basic vocabulary words
| Word meaning | Garifuna |
|---|---|
| head | ichügü |
| eye | agu |
| ear | arigai |
| nose | igiri |
| mouth | iumaü |
| tooth | ari |
| tongue | iñeñei |
| heart | anigi |
| hand | uhabu |
| foot | ugudi |
| water | duna |
| Fire | watu |
| Sun | weyu |
| moon | hati |
literature
- Salvador Suazo: Conversemos en garífuna . 2nd Edition. Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa 1994.
Web links
- Garifuna . Ethnologue , Languages of the World:
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Garifuna Version (text sample)
- Clifford J. Palacio: Online Garifuna Lessons
Individual evidence
- ^ Salvador Suazo: Conversemos en garífuna. 2nd Edition. Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa 1994.