Andrey Nikulin
Núcleo Takinahaky de Formagao Superior Indígena — Federal University of Goiás; [email protected]
Nasal harmony in consonants in Chiquitano and its origins
This article deals with the origins of the so-called consonant nasal harmony in Chiquitano (Bolivia/Brazil, Macro-Je family), in which the consonants /|3 r j ii|/ change to /m n ji n/, usually when a nasal segment is present elsewhere in the word. The exact rules vary from dialect to dialect and are not fully described in the literature. Based on published works and my own field recordings, I provide a description of nasal harmony in contemporary varieties of Chiquitano. I argue that nasal harmony had vowels as its primary targets in Proto-Chiquitano, whereas consonants were indirectly affected by the process due to tautosyllabic assimilation. I also provide evidence that nasal harmony in consonants arose when nasal vowels underwent massive denasalization, thus phonologizing the erstwhile nasal and nonnasal allophones of the sonorant series. The present hypothesis explains why morphemes without a single nasal segment can have a floating feature [+nasal] in the contemporary Chiquitano varieties under examination and accounts for the phonological adaptation of certain loanwords from Spanish and Guarani.
Keywords: Chiquitano language; Macro-Je languages; nasal harmony; consonant harmony.
In Chiquitano (< Macro-Je; Bolivia, Brazil), consonants assimilate in nasality under certain circumstances, whereas intervening vowels do not necessarily nasalize. This phenomenon is known as nasal harmony, and it is already noted in the earliest surviving descriptions of Chiquitano (1).
(1) 18th-century Javeriano Chiquitano (Anonymous n/d apud Adam & Henry 1880: 3)
a. <obobos> <omomoma> /o-(3o(3ó-gi/ /o-momó-ma/ NHA-toad-x NHA-toad-DiM 'toad' 'little toad'
18th century Santiagueño Chiquitano (Pellejá n/d: 3)
b. <turus> <tunumaa> /turu-gi/ /tunú-ma?a/ door-x door-DiM 'door' 'little door'
Similar facts are reported and discussed for all known Chiquitano varieties, including Bésiro (Sans 2011), the San Rafael subdialect of Eastern Chiquitano (Girard 2014), the Ignaciano sub-dialect of Eastern Chiquitano (Ciucci & Macoñó Tomichá 2017: 38-39), and Migueleño (Nikulin 2020a: 4-7).
While nasal harmony targeting vowels is cross-linguistically well-attested (Botma 2024), Chiquitano is unusual in showing a kind of nasal harmony where consonants are the main targets of the process. A textbook example of nasal harmony in consonants is Hyman's (1995) account of KiYaka (< Bantu < Niger-Congo; Democratic Republic of Congo). It has been argued that consonant harmony is fundamentally different from vowel harmony in that it involves featural agreement as opposed to spreading (Hansson 2001; Rose & Walker 2001, among others), though this has been contested (Jurgec 2011). In any case, nasal harmony re-
Journal of Language Relationship • Вопросы языкового родства • 21/3-4 (2023) • Pp. 184—200 • © Andrey Nikulin, 2023
stricted to consonants is entirely unattested in South American languages other than Chiquitano, in stark contrast with nasal harmony in vowels. The latter phenomenon is widely attested in geographically adjacent languages, such as Gwarayu (< Tupi-Guaranian < Tupian; Bolivia; Danielsen 2019), Eastern Bolivian Guarani (< Tupi-Guaranian < Tupian; Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay; Dietrich 1986: 60-63), Ayoreo (< Core Zamucoan < Zamucoan; Bolivia, Paraguay),1 and Moseten (Mosetenan; Bolivia; Sakel 2004: 40-41), as well as in the genetically related language Maxakali (< Maxakalian < Macro-Je; Brazil; Silva 2020: 139-145). In languages that show nasal harmony in vowels, consonants are also often affected by the process, but they are not the primary target. Therefore, Chiquitano is typologically and areally salient regarding its nasal harmony pattern.
The goal of this article is twofold. After a brief presentation of the dialectal diversity of Chiquitano (Section 1), I make an attempt at elucidating the synchronic workings of the nasal harmony in the attested Chiquitano varieties (Section 2). I show that there are at least two processes involved, with different directionalities and different domains. I also identify a phonotactic tendency and a loanword adaptation pattern that provide a clue to the diachronic origins of the nasal harmony in consonants. In Section 3,1 propose that Chiquitano at an earlier stage displayed a classic nasal harmony, whereby nasality spread bidirectionally from nasal vowels. At that stage, nasal consonants occurred as allophones of approximants due to local assimilation. Later, vowels underwent denasalization in most environments, and nasal consonants became phonemic. Section 4 concludes the paper.
1. Chiquitano and its dialects
Chiquitano is a macrolanguage in the sense that it is usually referred to as a single language but is in fact a dialect continuum consisting of varieties perhaps best viewed as distinct languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility. It is spoken in the Chiquitania (locally Chiqui-tania) region, spanning eastern Santa Cruz (Bolivia) and southwestern Mato Grosso (Brazil). A significant part of the respective ethnic group identifies as Monkdxi (often spelt Monkox), pluralized as Monkoka, and refers to their language as Besiro. These endonyms are, however, not accepted in parts of the Chiquitania. In this article, the term Besiro refers to a specific Chiquitano variety (see 1.1 below).
The 2012 Bolivian census reports a total of 148,736 individuals nationwide to have declared themselves to be ethnically Chiquitano, Monkox, or (speakers of) Besiro. However, in the same census, only 6,709 respondents aged 4 or above declared Chiquitano/Besiro as their LI, and only 2,401 individuals aged 6 or above claimed Chiquitano/Besiro to be the language they speak the best (INE 2015). The 2022 Brazilian census reports a total of 197 Indigenous residents in the Portal do Encantado Indigenous Land that falls within the Mato Grosso portion of the Chiquitania region described above, as opposed to 1,046 in the 2010 Census (IBGE 2023: 139). No demographic statistics are currently available on the ethnic Chiquitano or Camba (Kamba) population in communities of Mato Grosso that lie outside Portal do Encantado, such as Vila Nova Barbecho, and within the urban limits of towns such as Porto Es-peridiao, Caceres, Pontes e Lacerda, Vila Bela da Santissima Trindade, Varzea Grande, or Corumba (Pacini 2012: 276; Silva 2009). In any case, the Chiquitano language in Brazil is se-
1 Nasal harmony in Ayoreo is described as affecting consonants in published works (e.g. Bertinetto 2009:11-2), but Pier Marco Bertinetto (p. c., 2023) and Luca Ciucci (p. c., 2023) confirm that unstressed vowels are also weakly nasalized under nasal spread.
verely endangered; Santana (2014: 27) reported as few as 4 or 5 speakers, though revitalization efforts are underway (Santana 2014; Rupé 2022). In total, Chiquitano is spoken by fewer than 7,000 individuals (probably around 2,000 if only fluent speakers are considered) out of an estimated ethnic population of 150,000.
Chiquitano is classified as a divergent member of the Macro-Jê family (Adelaar 2008). Historically, the Chiquitania was a multilingual region, with Chiquitano spoken alongside an undetermined number of Chapacuran, Arawakan, Tupian, Bororoan, and Zamucoan languages. From the 16th century onward, Spanish and Portuguese were added to this list. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, however, Jesuit missionaries imposed Chiquitano as the lingua franca of the Jesuit missions, resulting in a massive language shift to Chiquitano from other indigenous languages; of these, only the Arawakan language Paunaka survives to this day in use in areas corresponding to the old mission towns. The mid-20th century saw another language shift from Chiquitano to Eastern Bolivian Spanish in Bolivia and to Brazilian Portuguese in Brazil. The linguistic effects of these situations of language contact are discussed in Nikulin (2019).
1.1. Dialectology
Regarding the internal dialectal diversity of Chiquitano, at least three dialect zones, or maybe three languages, can be identified. I refer to these as Bésiro, Eastern Chiquitano, and Migueleño.
The Bésiro variety, currently the most vital, is recognized as one of the official languages of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It is the only Chiquitano variety that has a codified orthographic norm (Parapaino Castro 2008). It is spoken in the Lomerío area and in the town of Concepción, in the province of Ñuflo de Chávez (Santa Cruz department, Bolivia), by descendants of refugees who fled from the Jesuit missions. Tomichá Chuvé (2023) is the most recent sociolinguistic study on Bésiro. The Bésiro forms in this article come from Galeote Tormo (1993), Parapaino Castro (2008), and Sans (2010).
Eastern Chiquitano is a provisional umbrella term for the varieties spoken in northern, northeastern, and southeastern Chiquitania, which are notable for using the root popiji- 'rainbow' as opposed to içi-, found in other dialects. Subdialects include Ignaciano (spoken in and around the town of San Ignacio de Velasco, in the province of José Miguel de Velasco, Santa Cruz, Bolivia), Brazilian (remembered by some elders in the villages of Acorizal, Fazendinha, and Vila Nova Barbecho, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso), Santiagueño (spoken in Santiago de Chiquitos, in the province of Chiquitos, Santa Cruz, Bolivia), and possibly others.
The Migueleño variety is spoken by no more than 30 individuals in the province of San Miguel de Velasco (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). This is the variety that I have most first-hand experience with. I studied it in six fieldwork trips to the village of San Juan de Lomerío and the town of San Miguel de Velasco between 2017 and 2023.
An unresolved issue in Chiquitano dialectology is how to classify the Javeriano variety, spoken in San Javier de Chiquitos (Ñuflo de Chávez province, Santa Cruz, Bolivia). Galeote Tormo (2014: 269) offers a very limited amount of data, representative of a transitional variety combining both Migueleño and Eastern Chiquitano features, which is quite unexpected given the location of San Javier de Chiquitos. The descriptions of Anonymous (1718) and Anonymous (n/d), which are also most likely based on the variety spoken in San Javier three centuries ago (henceforth 18th-century Javeriano Chiquitano), represent a lect that differs significantly from all known contemporary varieties of Chiquitano. Given the complex sociolinguistic situation of the Chiquitania and the high incidence of migrations between different mis-
sions, it appears unlikely that 18th century Javeriano Chiquitano is a direct ancestor of modern Javeriano, or of any other modern Chiquitano lect.
1.2. Phonology
This subsection provides a pandialectal outline of Chiquitano phonology. The preferred syllable structures in Chiquitano are CV and V; consonant clusters or codas are rarely tolerated. Nevertheless, they may occur as a result of vowel elision or in loanwords.
Table 1 lists the consonants that have phonemic status in at least one Chiquitano variety. Chiquitano shows progressive palatalization of consonants, and the palatalized consonants (analyzed either as allophones of plain consonants or as independent phonemes, depending on the variety and on each author's analytical decision) are indicated below the respective phonemes in Table 1 without the slash marks.
/p/ p' ~ c N ti (/ts/) /tí/ /k/ ki~c m
/g/ <r /S/ № <r (M)
/(3/ l?H M /]/ (/ui/)
/m/ m' ~ ji M /JV m
Table 1. Chiquitano consonants
The phoneme /ts/ is present in all varieties except Bésiro, where it has merged with /s/ (2). The phoneme /x/ is present only in Migueleño, which shows a chain shift /r/ (before a consonant) > /g/ > /x/ (3). The phoneme /h/ occurs marginally in all varieties except Bésiro (4). The marginal phonemes /uj/ and /q/ occur in all dialects except Bésiro, which has /(3/ and /m/ instead (5). The aforementioned progressive palatalization process operates in slightly different ways depending on the specific variety. For example, Bésiro palatalizes /p (3 m t g k/ to [p' |3'm' t' (j k'], respectively, whereas Migueleño palatalizes /p (3 m t x k/ to [c j ji t' c? c] (6).
(2) Bésiro n-o-sokoré-s ~ Migueleño o-tsokoré-s 'seriema bird. : '
(3) Bésiro §áífj-tp ~ Migueleño xa?í-(e 'faeces'
(4) Bésiro aémo ~ Migueleño haémo 'for you'
(5) Bésiro n-o-i@ó-§ ~ Migueleño o-iujó-x 'deer.
(6) Bésiro /n-i-po-gi/ nipjó§ ~ Migueleño /i-poó-gi/ coóx 'her house'
Table 2 shows the vowel inventory of the Chiquitano varieties. In this article, I follow the mainstream practice of representing the non-high front vowels as /e/ and /é/, though I find their most typical realizations to be closer to [;;] and [?;], respectively. The status of vowel length as a distinguishing feature is disputed (cf. Ciucci & Macoñó Tomichá 2017: 40).
mm mm /u/ (/Ü/)
/e/(/e/) /a/ (/ä/) /o/(/o/)
Table 2. Chiquitano vowels
Nasal vowels are present in all varieties, though their status is contested in Bésiro (cf. Sans 2010: 90-1). In varieties other than Bésiro, they almost always occur next to another vowel, possibly separated by a glottal stop (7).2 In other environments, nasal vowel phonemes arguably surface as [VN] or [VN] sequences (8), though it remains debatable whether the segments resulting in these sequences are in fact underlying nasal vowels or /VN/ sequences. [VN] and [VN] sequences are rare in native vocabulary (8a-d), though they are common in borrowings from Spanish (8e-f). The vowel in such sequences is audibly nasal before palatal or velar consonants (8a, c-d), but less so before labial or dentialveolar ones (8b, e-f).
(7) a. Bésiro a-taitfomé-ka ~ Migueleño a-taítfomé-ka 'you squeeze out'
b. Bésiro kimúinVa ~ Migueleño cimÓWa? 'in the middle'
c. Bésiro tpoéfj-s ~ tpuéfj-s ~ Migueleño tpO?e-s 'pampa field'
d. Bésiro kár¡-§ ~ Migueleño ka?a-x 'stone'
e. Bésiro n-u-táu-ma ~ Migueleño u-táí-ma? 'bird.¿?'
(8) a. Migueleño i-ca-ti [íjicati] 'I go away'
b. Migueleño tató-x [tan'tox] 'güembé vine'
c. Migueleño uka [ urjka ] 'who. '
d. Migueleño tkamála [íqka'maTa] 'there'
e. Migueleño kapo-x ['kampox] 'space' (< Spanish campo)
f. Migueleño ¡6eta-x ['[3£ntax] 'shop' (< Spanish venta)
Stress is contrastive and mobile (Nikulin 2022), and is indicated by means of an acute accent in this article. The circumflex accent symbolizes the so-called "strong stress", which lengthens the vowel and removes floating accents to its right (Nikulin 2022: 15-18).
More detailed phonological descriptions are available for the Bésiro (Rrüsi & Krüsi 1978; Sans 2010) and Migueleño (Nikulin 2020a, 2021) varieties.
2. Nasal harmony: a synchronic view
This section identifies several nasality-related facts that hold synchronically in Chiquitano. 2.1 discusses a regressive nasal harmony process. 2.2 and 2.3 state important static restrictions regarding the occurrence of oral and nasal sonorants as well as nasal vowels. 2.4 provides an interim summary of the section.
2.1. Regressive nasal harmony
Regressive nasal harmony in Chiquitano is a process whereby nasality spreads from a nasal segment (any of /m n ji q T ü í é ó a/) leftwards. In 9-11, the sonorants /[3 r j u]/ are nasalized to /m n ji r)/. (We will later see that that the high vowels /i i u/ may also be targeted by this process, at least in the Migueleño variety.) The triggers are given in boldface. The domain of this process includes the root with all inflectional and derivational prefixes, as well as certain suffixes. No segments are known to block the leftward nasal spread.
2 In 7c-d, Besiro [n] is clearly not phonemic, since that variety lacks the phoneme /n/. Krusi and Krusi (1978: 60-1) analyze it as a transition between a nasal vowel and a velar stop or sibilant. Similarly, Sans (2010: 94) identifies [rjs], [qg], [nf], and [rjk] as allophones of /s/, /g/, and /k/ after nasal vowels. Those authors that do not recognize the existence of underlying nasal vowels apparently consider [n] to be an allophone of /n/.
(9) Migueleño
a. /kijará-xi/ fox-x 'fox ($)'
b. /kuru(3asi-xi/ chicken-x 'chicken ($)'
c. /kurusi-xi/ cross-x 'cross'
d. /t|a|3-o/ drink-F.3 'she drinks'
e. /tári(3-o/ break-F.3
'it is broken'
/kijiana-ma?a/
fox-DiM
'little fox ($)'
/ k u n u m a s i-m a ? a /
chicken-DiM
'little chicken ($)'
/0-cunusi-na-ta/
INV-croSS-CAUS-F.3SGp
'she is blessing her'
/ma-t|am-an-a/
ANTP-drink-CAUS-F.3
'she offers a drink'
/ma-tanim-an-a/
ANTP-break-CAUS-F.3
'she breaks'
(10) Eastern Chiquitano, Rafaeleño subdialect (Girard 2014)
/oseujó-^i/ /oser]6-ma?/
maize-x maize-DiM
'maize' 'little maize'
/jo:rip'aki?ó-^i/ /fio:nip'aki?o-ma?/
courbaril-x courbaril-DiM
'courbaril tree' 'little courbaril tree'
/0-(3a-topi-k'a/ /0-ma-topi-paka-ka/
1 +2-antp-bathe-f. n3 l+2-ANTP-bathe-CAUS-F.N3
'we bathe' 'we bathe something'
/u-|3á-ka/ /u-ma-t-e?/
l+2-eat-f.N3 l+2-eat-F.3SGP-OBLiNV
'we (incl.) eat' 'we (incl.) eat it'
/jo-/ /jio-toki?a:-gi/
3pl- 3PL-navel-x
'their' 'their navels'
(11) 18th-century Javeriano Chiquitano (Anonymous n/d apud Adam & Henry 1880: 3)
a. <ibobica> <imomicoe>
/i-|3o|3i-ka/ /i-momi-k-o?e/
lSG-invite-F.N3 1 SG-invite-f. 3SGp-oblinv
'I invite' 'I invite her'
b. <yagaborica> <ñagamoniteé>
/j-asa(3ori-ka/ —> /fi-asamoni-t-e?e/
lSG-look-F.N3 lSG-look-f.3SGp-oblinv
'I look' 'I look at it'
c. <iziborica> <iquimonimacaca>
/i-tsi(3ori-ka/ /0-i-kimoni-maká-ka/
lSG-spank-F.N3 1 sg-inv-sp ank-C aus-f. n3
'I get spanked' 'I spank'
d. <obobos> <omomoma>
/o-(3o(3ó-gi/ /o-momó-ma/
NHA-toad-x NHA-toad-DiM
'toad' little toad'
The leftward nasal spread is productive in Chiquitano, and applies to older borrowings from Spanish (in Nikulin's 2019 classification, all those that belong to stratum A and some of those that belong to stratum B), as shown in 12a-b. However, newer borrowings (12c-d) are not affected by nasal harmony, and constitute lexical exceptions. (12d shows an effect of rightward nasal spreading, on which see 2.2.)
(12) Migueleño
a. /¡(jpinit'ti-maTa/ < older Spanish espíritu [es'piritu] + dim hummingbird-dlm spirit 'hummingbird' 'spirit'
b. /motóni-cpi/ < older Spanish botón [bo'ton] + x button-x button 'button (clothing)' 'button'
c. /ari(3iróne/3 < older Spanish almidón [almi'5on] starch starch
'starch' 'starch'
d. /rominú-xi/ < older Spanish lomillo [lo'miÁo] + x saddle-x saddle
'saddle' 'saddle'
Furthermore, some suffixes lie outside the nasal spreading domain. In 13, nasality does not spread from the suffixes /-pr?r/ and /-ijio/; forms such as ^/op-i-t'asun-ó-jiíTí/ or */ma?-ijio/ are, therefore, unattested.
(13) Migueleño
a. /op-i-t'asu r-ó-pT?r/ b. /|3a?-ipo/ 3PL-INV-call-F.3-lSGp DEM.PL-PL
'they call me' 'these ($)'
A handful of so-called Trojan morphemes, which carry a floating [+nasal] feature, exist in Chiquitano. These trigger nasal spreading despite lacking any of /m n ji q T ü í é ó a/. In 14-16, the Trojan morphemes are given in boldface.
(14) Migueleño /ij-/ lsg.
a. /ji-0-á-ka/ b. /p-ápa/ c. /p-ótu/
lSG.¿?-ANTP-put-F.N3 lsc. '-louse lsc. '-tongue
'I put (3)' 'my lice (3)' 'my tongue ($)'
(15) Eastern Chiquitano, Rafaeleño subdialect /a(3-/ 2pl (Girard 2014) a. /am-asi-ká-ti/ b. /am-óío/ c. /am-ótu/
2PL-look-F.N3-CTPT 2PL-tooth 2PL-tongue
'you (pi.) look' 'your (pi.) teeth' 'your (pi.) tongues'
3 In this example, Spanish [m] is unexpectedly adapted as Migueleño /|3/. I surmise this is due to the necessity to preserve the oral quality of /r/ (< Spanish [ö]), which would otherwise nasalize to /n/ as per the progressive nasal harmony process (2.2).
(16) 18th-century Javeriano Chiquitano (Anonymous n/d apud Adam & Henry 1880: 3) <yebabaca> <iñemamacaca>
/j-e|3a|3á-ka/ /0-iji-emama-ká-ka/
1 sg-mo ve_clo ser-f. n3 1 sg-in v-mo ve_clo ser-c aus-f . n3
'I move closer' 'I move it closer'
Finally, at least in the Migueleño variety, high vowels are also targeted by nasal spread, but only when preceded by another vowel (possibly with an intervening glottal stop), as shown in 17a'-e'.
(17) Migueleño
a. /tsoi-tjokó-ka/ a'. /tsoï-t|ïmô-ka/
l+3-dance-f.N3 l+3-sit-f.N3
'we (excl.) dance' 'we (excl.) sit'
b. /0-a-ij-axú|3i/ b'. /0-a-i-tja?ä/
nf-2SG-inv-wash nf-2SG-inv-bring
'for you to wash it' 'for you to bring it'
c. /ja?i-xi/ c'. /pa?t-ma?a/
young_man-x young_man-DiM
'young man' 'boy'
d. /ta|3ai-xi/ d'. /tamat-ma?a/
chicha-x chicha-DiM
'chicha' 'chicha (dim.)'
e. /a-u-tja?a/ e'. /á-ü-timo/
nf-3PL-drink nf-3PL-sit
'for them to drink' 'for them to sit'
2.2. Progressive nasal harmony
Sans (2011) posits a rightward nasal spread process for Bésiro based on negative evidence. Indeed, there is a static restriction in all Chiquitano varieties, whereby /mV/, /nV/, /jiV/, /rjV/, and nasal vowels may not be immediately followed by any of /(3 r j u]/. By contrast, sequences of syllables with nasal onsets are common in the lexicon of Chiquitano (18).
(18) Migueleño
a. /anené-si/ b. /rominú-xi/ c. /momené-si/
day-x saddle-x comb-x
'day' 'saddle' 'comb'
Examples such as 18b (borrowed from Spanish lomillo [lo'miÁo]) are particularly revealing. Since Spanish /A/ is normally adapted as Chiquitano /r/ or /j/ in borrowings (Nikulin 2019: 12), one could expect the resulting form to be */romirú-xi/, which is, however, unattested. The illicit sequence */mir/ is instead replaced with /min/.
Another piece of evidence supporting the rightward nasal spread is the distribution of stem-final consonants in verbs. In general, verbal roots commonly end with /(3/, /r/, rarely with /j/, /u]/ (19a-e). However, roots that include a nasal segment can only end with one of those segments if a voiceless consonant intervenes (as in 19b-c). Otherwise, the root-final consonant of the stem can only be /m/ or /n/ (rarely /p/), as shown in 19f-h. All examples in 19 contain the f.3 suffix /-o/ (or /-a/, as per vowel harmony); in addition, 19c-d and 19g contain the antipassive prefix /(3a-/ (or /ma-/, as per regressive nasal harmony).
(19) Migueleño a. /t|a|3-o/ drink-F.3 'she drinks' e. /siuj-o/ be_dry-F.3
b.
/aëtsor-o/ lose-F.3 'she is lost' /mánom-o/ sleep-F.3
c.
g-
/ma-kátar-a/ ANTP-SÍng-F.3 'she sings' /ma-kitjonon-o/ ANTP-snore-F.3
'it (wood) is dry' 'she sleeps' 'she snores'
d. /|3á-t|ej-o/ ANTP-give-F.3 'she gives' h. /tomóen-o/ tie-F.3 'it is tied'
Rightward nasal spread is clearly blocked by voiceless consonants (Sans 2011). Any voiceless segment that intervenes between a potential trigger (underlying nasal segment) and a potential target (oral sonorant) results in the failure of the sonorant to nasalize (20-21).
(20) Migueleño
a. /aetsor-o/ (*/aetson-o/) lose-F.3 'she is lost' c. /káta|3ó-xi/ (*/kátamó-xi/) lock-x 'lock'
e. /materá-xi/ (*/matená-xi/) flag-x 'flag'
g. /maicftiru/ (*/maic?tinu/) teacher 'teacher ($)' i. /ma-ematakúruts-o/ (*/ma-ematakúnuts-o/) ANTP-wait-F.3 'she waits'
b. /ma-katar-a/ (*/ma-katan-a/) ANIP-Sing-F.3 'she sings' d. /matori-xi/ (*/matoni-xi/) parrot-x 'parrot ($)' f. /omeneti(3o/ (*/omenetimo/) how_many 'how many' h. /ma-kasar-a/ (*/ma-kasar-a/) ANTP-have_rest-F.3 'she has a rest'
(21) Bésiro
a. yiaijkiré-s (*paykiné-s) b.
dragonfly-x 'dragonfly' c. n-u-manturé-s (*n-u-mantuné-s) d.
L-NHA-crab_eating_fox-x 'crab-eating fox'
n-o-tiykiri-ç (*n-o-tiykini-ç) L-NHA-rufous_hornero-x 'rufous hornero bird' metúura (*metúuna) Ventura 'Ventura ($)'
One exception to the rightward nasal spread rule is the Bésiro linking consonant n-, which is added to noun forms that would otherwise be word-initial and does not trigger nasal spread, as in n-aró-§ (*n-anó-p) 'rice'. In other Chiquitano varieties, the cognate prefix has the form /r-/ (unless regressive nasal harmony applies), as in Migueleño /r-aró-xi/ 'rice', suggesting that its form in Bésiro is the result of a recent sound change *r > n in the word-initial position, which counterfeeds the progressive nasal harmony.
Some loanwords from Spanish are also exempt from progressive nasal harmony (22), though others —such as the example in 18b — do undergo it.
(22) Migueleño
a. /saporá-xi/ (*/saponá-xi/) lady-x 'lady'
/miêrkuri-çi/ (*/miênkuni-çi/) Wednesday-x
'Wednesday' (< Spanish miércoles)
c. /marijá-xi/ (*/manijiá-xi/) María-x 'María'
d. /0-t'anijiére/ fVt'anijiéne/) 0-M-Daniel 'Daniel (S)'
2.3. Static restrictions on nasal vowels
An important fact about the nasal vowels in Chiquitano varieties other than Besiro is that they are frequent only as part of /VV/ and /V?V/ sequences in native vocabulary (that is, only when they are adjacent to another vowel, possibly with an intervening glottal stop), as briefly discussed in 1.2 (examples 7-8). Additional examples are given in 23 (the /VV/ and /V?V/ sequences are in boldface).
(23) Migueleño a. /cooto?o/ soon 'soon' d. /ma-üxókon-o/ ANTP-be_ill-F.3 'she is ill' g. /0-tioki-?okó-ta/ INV-nude-CAUS-F.3SGp 'she is undressing her' j. /pái-xi/ month-x 'month'
b. /i-t|oki?a/ c.
lSG-navel 'my navel' e. /a-i-ca-?i/ f.
2SG-INV-bring-IMP 'bring it!' h. /0-caka?a-xi/ i.
3SG-liver-x 'her liver' k. /ma-etonimi-?o/
ANTP-wash_hands-F.3 'she is washing her hands'
/má-íki-?o/ ANTP-ask-F.3 'she asks, she greets' /pojioetó-xi/ belt-x 'belt' /(p-ó?ó-k-ó?i/ lSG. -listen-I.N3-['SIV 'I listen ($)'
The Bésiro cognates of these forms contain VN sequences, which are variably analyzed as underlying nasal vowels or as bisegmental /VN/ sequences: kónto 'soon', ma-uijpókon-o 'she is ill', poyioentó-§ 'belt'.
In other environments, nasal vowels are rare in native vocabulary (24), and at least in the Migueleño variety they are pronounced with a clearly audible consonantal phase, raising doubts on whether they should be really analyzed as underlying nasal vowels (cf. Nikulin 2021: 24-26) or as bisegmental sequences. Most occurrences of nasal vowels (or maybe bisegmental sequences) in this environment are found in transparent loans from Spanish (25). (24) Migueleño
a. /tató-xi/ güembé-x 'güembé vine' c. /sàkijoré-si/ blackbird-x 'blackbird ($)'
[tan'tox]
[saqkijo'res]
(25) Migueleño
a. /tomico/ [to'míjico]
Sunday
'Sunday' (< Spanish domingo) c. /tjopa-xi/ ['tjompax] sweater-x
'sweater' (< Spanish chompa)
b. /I-ca-ti/ [icati]
lSG.gO-F.N3-CTFG 'I go'
d. /íkamá?a/ [íqka'maTa] there 'there'
b. /ma-pesar-a/ [ma'peqsara] ANTP-think-F.3
'she thinks' (< Spanish pensar) d. /t'u^été-si/ [t'uwen'tes] duende-x 'duende'
2.4. Interim summary
So far, we have seen that Chiquitano exhibits two kinds of nasal spread with differing direc-tionalities: the regressive (right-to-left) type of spread (2.1) is not blocked by any segments, whereas the progressive (left-to-right) type of spread (2.2) is blocked by voiceless segments. Both processes target the sonorants /(3 r j vq/ and the high vowels /i i u/ (the latter are only affected when they occur in the environment V(?)_), with the outcomes being, respectively, /m n ji q/ and ¡11 u/. The usual triggers are the nasal segments /m n p i] I fl i e o a/, but nasal spread is also triggered by Trojan morphemes, i.e. lexically specified morphemes that do not contain any of the normally expected segments. Loanwords are often, but not always, exempt from nasal spread. An additional important fact is that nasal vowels are frequent only in /VV/ and /V?V/ sequences in native vocabulary, except in the Besiro variety, whereas sequences of the type /CVC/ are mostly found in recent loans.
3. A diachronic account
I propose that nasal harmony in Chiquitano originally involved vowels and not consonants. This is plausible from a typological point of view: nasal harmony processes are common in Eastern South America, and mostly affect vowels (in addition to triggering allophony in sono-rant segments), as proposed by Pi can go (2010) for the Mundurukuan branch of the Tupian language family and by Silva (2020) for the Macro-Je language Maxakali.
I reconstruct bidirectional nasal spread for Proto-Chiquitano. It was triggered by underlying nasal vowels (/i u 5 e o a/) and targeted vowels rather than consonants. The right-to-left nasal spread was not blocked by any segment, whereas the left-to-right nasal spread was blocked by voiceless segments. In my proposal, Proto-Chiquitano lacked the nasal phonemes */m n p Y)/. Instead, I reconstruct the sonorants */|3 r j u]/, which surfaced as *[m n p rj] before nasalized) vowels, as proposed by Sans (2011) for the Besiro variety. I further propose that all nasal vowels were denasalized in the contemporary Chiquitano varieties, except when they were part of /VV/ or /V?V/ sequences. The segments *[m n p rj] — originally positionally conditioned allophones of */|3 r j u\/ — have thus acquired phonemic status, as shown in 26.
(26) Proto-Chiquitano
a. */takore-si/ [tako'nesi]
b. */arere-si/ [ane'nesi]
c. */o|3-etsor-o/ [o'metsoro]
d. */|3aro|3-6/ ['manomo]
The erstwhile nasal harmony sal harmony (27).
(27) Proto-Chiquitano
a. */kijara-gi/
a'. 7kTjara-(3a?a/
b. 7tJa|3-o/
b'. 7|3a-tja|3-ar-a/
Migueleño /takoné-si/ [tako'nes] /anené-si/ [anches] /om-étsor-o/ [o'metsoro] /mánom-o/ [manomo]
in vowels then gave rise to
'sugarcane' 'day'
'they are lost' 'she sleeps'
a long-distance (consonantal) na-
Migueleño /kijará-xi/ /kifianá-ma?a/ /t|a|3-o/
/ma-tlam-an-a/
'fox'
'little fox'
'she drinks'
'she offers a drink'
This hypothesis handily accounts for the existence of Trojan morphemes in contemporary varieties of Chiquitano, tracing them back to morphemes with an erstwhile nasal vowel that is not part of a /VV/ or /V?V/ sequence (28).
(28) Proto-Chiquitano Migueleño
a. */-otu/ [-otu] /-ótu/ [-'otu] 'tongue'
a'. 7ij-/ + 7-otu/ —> 7íj-Ótu/ [Tjiotu] /ji-ótu/ [potu] 'my tongue (($)'
b. */-apa/ [-apa] ~ * I-apa I [-apa] /-apa/ [-apa] 'louse, lice' b'. 7ij-/ + */-apa/ ~ * I-apa I —> /ji-ápa/ [papa] 'my lice (
*/íj-apa/ [Tjiápa] ~ */íj-apa/ [Tjiapa]
This scenario is corroborated by comparative evidence. The Chiquitano root for 'tongue' (28a-a) has Macro-Je cognates with a nasal vowel in the initial syllable (Adelaar 2008: 24), and the respective Proto-Macro-Je etymon is reconstructed as *-ñü-¡ctdk (Nikulin 2020b: 386).
Further support comes from the adaptation patterns of loanwords from Spanish. In the early colonial period, Spanish /mV/, /nV/, /p V/ were borrowed as Chiquitano /|3V/ [mV], /rV/ [nV], /jV/ [jiV], whereas Spanish /VNC/ sequences were borrowed as /VC/, since underlying codas were not allowed (29). Example 29c shows that at this point only progressive harmony applied, whereas the regressive was already largely inactive.
(29) a. Spanish ventana /bentána/ 'window' Chiquitano */|3étará-/ +
progressive harmony —> */|3étara-/ *[métana-] > Migueleño /metaná-xi/ 'window'
b. Spanish bandera /bandéra/ 'flag' Chiquitano */|3átera-/ *[ matera-] > Migueleño /materá-xi/ 'flag'
c. Spanish lomillo /lomíÁo/ 'saddle' Chiquitano */ro§im-/ + progressive harmony 7ro|3írü-/ *[romínü-] > Migueleño /rominú-xi/ 'saddle'
d. Spanish Ventura /bentúra/ 'Ventura' Chiquitano */|3étüra/ *[me tu:ra] > Bésiro /metüra/ 'Ventura ( )'
Loans from Guaraní (which has nasal spread) preserve nasal(ized) vowels as such in earlier Chiquitano (30).
(30) Guaraní /takwar-e?é/ [takwaré'?é] 'sugarcane' Chiquitano /takoré-/ [takoné-] > Migueleño /takoné-si/ 'sugarcane'
In /VV/ and /V?V/ sequences, denasalization did not take place, and nasality was preserved in all varieties except Bésiro, on which see below (31).
(31) a. Proto-Chiquitano */0-6?6pakí-gi/ *[6?opa'ki[>i] ~ */0-6?ópakí-gi/ *[6?6pakigi] >
Migueleño /0-6?opakí-xt/ 'her shoulder'
b. Proto-Chiquitano *Ag6?e-si/ *[k?6'?£SÍ] > Migueleño /c?o?e-si/ 'pampa field'
c. Proto-Chiquitano */ka?á-gi/ *[ka?agi] > Migueleño /ka?a-xt/ 'stone'
d. Proto-Chiquitano */ja?í-|3a?a/ *[pá7ímá?á] > Migueleño /pa?í-ma?a/ 'boy'
e. Proto-Chiquitano */a-í-ta?a/ K[al t'a?a ] > Migueleño /a-7-t'a?a/ 'for you to bring'
f. Proto-Chiquitano 7ts6T-tJi(3Ó-ka/ *[tscfitjTm6ka] > Migueleño /tsoT-tfimó-ka/ 'we (excl.) sit'
g. Proto-Chiquitano */á-ü-tí|3ó/ *['autímó] > Migueleño /á-ü-timo/ 'for you (pi.) or them to sit'
h. Proto-Chiquitano */a-i-ta?a/ K[al t'a?a ] > Migueleño /a-7-t'a?a/ 'for you to bring'
i. Proto-Chiquitano 7ta(3aí-(3a?a/ *[tamaima?a] > Migueleño /tamaí-ma?a/ 'chicha.DiM'
At least in the Migueleño variety, nasality is not always clearly audible on vowels immediately following nasal consonants, as in [tama'?a] 'one', [maa'tax] 'fishhook', [naakig] 'peanut'. The respective phonological representations are perhaps /tama?a/, /m-a(?)a-tá-xi/, /na(?)akí-gi/ (from Proto-Chiquitano */tá|3a?á/, 7(3a?atá-gi/, K/ra?a kí-^i/).
In the Bésiro variety, */V?V/ sequences yielded WN (if the vowels are different) or VN (if the vowels are identical), where N is realized as [m] before /p/ (32a), [n] before /t tj"/ (32b),
[13] before /k s g/ as well as word-finally in the numeral 'one' (32c-g), and zero before /m n ji/ or word-finally in most instances (32h).
(32) a. Proto-Chiquitano */0-6?6paki-gi/ *[6?opa'ki[>i] ~ */0-6?6pákí-gi/ *[6?6pakigi] >
Bésiro n-ompaki-§ 'her shoulder'
b. Proto-Chiquitano */ü-|3a?aturé-si/ *[ümá?átu'resi] > Bésiro n-u-manturé-s 'crab-eating fox'
c. Proto-Chiquitano */ra?akí-gi/ *[na?aki(pi] ~ K/ra?akf-^i/ *[na?akKpi] > Bésiro nat]kí-tp 'peanut'
d. Proto-Chiquitano */(3a?aká-gi/ *[ma?akagi] ~ */(3á?aka-gi/ *[má?á'ká[>i] > Bésiro mar¡ká-§ 'south wind'
e. Proto-Chiquitano *Ag6?e-si/ *[k?ó'?£sí] > Bésiro tpoéfj-s 'pampa field'
f. Proto-Chiquitano */ka?á-gi/ K[ ka'?a^+ ] > Bésiro kár¡-§ 'stone'
g. Proto-Chiquitano */ta|3a?á/ *[táma ?á] > Bésiro tamár¡ 'one'
h. Proto-Chiquitano */ja?i-(3a?a/ *[pá7ímá?á] > Bésiro yiáima 'boy'
Word-finally, reconstructed */V?V/ sequences do not show traces of nasalization in Bésiro, at least according to the published sources. The Bésiro reflexes in 33 are from Parapaino Castro (2008).
(33) a. Proto-Chiquitano */a-T-sa(3ü-ts-e?é/ *[ajsamu ts?;??;] > Bésiro a-i-samu-sc?c 'make it!'
(compare Migueleño /a-7-samu-ts-e?é/)
b. Proto-Chiquitano */kaí|3a?á/ *[katma?a] > Bésiro kaimá 'now' (compare Migueleño /karma?á/)
c. Proto-Chiquitano */a-i-to(30?é/ ^[ajt'o'mo??;] > Bésiro a-i-t'omó?c 'for you to tie it' (compare Migueleño /a-T-t'omóTé/)
As a result of differentiated evolution of */V(?)V/ sequences (which did not denasalize completely) and simplex nasal vowels (which did denasalize), contemporary Chiquitano varieties display synchronically active alternations between oral and nasal segments. In Migueleño, for example, one finds multiple morphemes where morpheme-final /V?V/ sequences alternate with short oral vowels before certain affixes (34). These mostly go back to Proto-Chiquitano alternations between */V/ and */V?V/ (cf. Nikulin 2020a: 5, fn. 6). In Bésiro, alternations between V and VN are common (35), which go back to */V?V/ sequences word-finally or before an obstruent, respectively.
(34) a. Proto-Chiquitano Migueleño
a'. Proto-Chiquitano Migueleño
b. Proto-Chiquitano Migueleño
b'. Proto-Chiquitano Migueleño
*/u-(3a-anta-ka/
/0-ma-nit'a-ka/
1 +2-ANTP-speak-F. n3
'we (incl.) speak'
7h-u-[3a-arTta?a/
/0-0-ma-nitia?a/
NF-l+2-ANTP-speak-F.N3
'for us (incl.) to speak'
7i-ka-ta/
/0-ca-ta/
iNV-carry-F.3SGP
'she carries it'
*/h-ap-a-ka?a/
/(h)-ap-a-ka?a/
nf-2PL-antp-carry
'for you guys to carry'
*[üma:nTt'aka ]
^[hümámt'aíá]
♦[Tk'ata]
*[hápaká?á]
(35) a. Proto-Chiquitano Bésiro
a'. Proto-Chiquitano Bésiro
b. Proto-Chiquitano Bésiro
b'. Proto-Chiquitano Bésiro
*[tsimJä'?ämä?ä]
*[tsimJä'?ämä?ätai]
'[ajt'ömö??;]
'[ajt'omo'TTta ]
7tsT(3a?á-(3a?a/ tfim'áma small-DiM 'it is small' 7tsT(3a?á-(3a?a=tai/ tfim'ámantai small-DiM=just 'it is just small' 7a-í-tó|3o?é/ ait'ornóle 2SG-iNV-tie 'tie it!'
7a-í-tó|3ó?e-ta/ ait'omoénta 2SG-INV-tie-F.3SGp 'you tie it'
The scenario proposed in this section accounts for a range of facts. First of all, it derives a cross-linguistically unusual consonant harmony pattern from a typologically plausible vowel harmony pattern (26-27). Second, it provides a diachronic explanation for the existence of Trojan morphemes (28). Third, it accounts for the adaptation patterns of a handful of early loanwords from Spanish and Guaraní (29-30). It also accounts for the reflexes and alternations found in daughter varieties (31-35).
Under this proposal, the consonantal inventory of Proto-Chiquitano can be reduced to 12 contrastive segments (as opposed to 21 phonemic consonants in Migueleño), as shown in Table 3. The allophones *[p' §' m't' q, k'] must have existed in Proto-Chiquitano in palatalizing environments (*/i_V// */i_V/, where V + /i T/, except for /g/, which palatalizes even when the following vowel is one of /i I/). The allophones *[m m'npi]] must have occurred in the protolan-guage preceding nasal or nasalized vowels. The consonants [u] 13] are not mapped to any phoneme; instead, they are considered here to be inserted automatically in the environments 7i_V/, */LV/, respectively (cf. Nikulin 2021:20-1).
7p/ 7t/ 7ts/ 7t// 7k/ *M
*[ppi] [t t] *[ts] *[tj] *[k ki] *m
7g/ 7s/
*[g<i] *[S] 7h/ ![ H ]
7|3/ 7 r/ 7j/ epenthetic
*[|3 |3i m mi] *[rn] *[U! q]
Table 3. Proto-Chiquitano consonants
The vowel inventory of Proto-Chiquitano is shown in Table 4.
/i 1/ /11/ /uü/
/ee/ /aä/ /00/
Table 4. Proto-Chiquitano vowels
4. Conclusion
In this article, a diachronic explanation was proposed for the existence of an unusual nasal harmony pattern in Chiquitano, whereby consonants, rather than vowels, are the main targets of the process. In my account, nasal consonants *[m n ji] and sonorants *[|3 r j] were allophones of one single series of phonemes in Proto-Chiquitano, with the choice determined by the nasality of the following vowel (*[q] and *[u] ] were epenthetic segments and probably were not phonemic at all). Nasality spread from all underlying nasal vowels leftwards (with no blocking segments) and rightwards (blocked by voiceless segments), in a way quite similar to the neighboring Tupi-Guaranian languages. Contemporary Chiquitano varieties mostly substituted oral vowels for their nasal counterparts through extensive denasalization, except where nasals were found in */VV/ or */V?V/ sequences. Early loans from Spanish and Guarani entered the language before the denasalization phase took place. When denasalization was complete, nasal consonants became phonemic, and nasal harmony started to be associated mostly with consonants.
The reconstruction proposed in this article is compatible with external data from other Macro-Je languages. The Proto-Macro-Je etyma of Proto-Chiquitano forms with a nasal vowel are also reconstructed with a nasal vowel: compare Proto-Chiquitano */-ala/ 'feces', */-o26/ 'food', */-otu/ 'tongue', 7-(3aro(3-/ 'to sleep', 7'-?ija/ 'nose', */-e?e/ 'hand', 7aje-/ 'meat' and Proto-Macro-Je *-nVt° 'feces', *-nu2(C) 'food', ^-nu^tok 'tongue', *nu2p 'to lie (down)', *-nija 'nose', *-nim° 'hand', *-nit 'meat'.
Nasality in contemporary Chiquitano varieties has not yet been studied instrumentally. Future research will need to address the degree to which phonetic nasalization persists in environments such as /C_C/, /_? J, as well as next to nasal consonants.
Abbreviations
1/2/3 first/second/third person NF nonfinite
ANTP antipassive NHA non-human animate gender
CAUS causative N3 non-third person
CTFG centrifugal OBLINV oblique inverse voice
CTPT centripetal p patient
DEM demonstrative PL plural
DIM diminutive PSTV postverb
F finite SG singular
INV inverse voice X singular, non-diminutive, with no referential possessor
L linking consonant (? male speech
M masculine gender 9 female speech
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the Chiquitano speakers who have welcomed me in their homes and taught me their language with great patience: Ignacia Tomichá Yopié, Antonia Socoré Masai, Victoriano Julián Laverán Ramos, Micaela Ribera Montero, and Miguel Putaré Tapanaché. Elmar Socoré Casupá, Rubén Pitigá Socoré, and their families have made my stays in San Juan de Lomerío possible. The present article would not exist without the support of my fellow Bobikixh colleagues, especially Brittany Hause — who has also proofread the text and made a number of valuable suggestions — and Luca Ciucci. This paper was originally presented at the 18lh Sergei Starostin Memorial Conference on Comparative-Historical Linguistics in March 2023. I thank the audience for their comments and suggestions.
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Tomichá Chuvé, Ignacio. 2023. Situación del idioma bésiro, base para la autonomía indígena Monkox de Lomerío. Talk presented on July 27-28, 2023 at III Congreso MOVA: Memoria Oral y Voces de América, Universidad de Salamanca & Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción de Chile, Salamanca. Available online at: www. youtube. com/watch? v=xgdtTX_aNZk.
А. В. Никулин. К вопросу о происхождении консонантной гармонии по назальности в языке чикитано
В статье рассматривается происхождение так называемой консонантной гармонии по назальности в чикитано (Боливия/Бразилия, семья макро-же) — процесса, в рамках которого согласные /|3 г ] щ/ ассимилируются в/тпр п/, как правило, при наличии носового сегмента в том же слове. Точное правило варьируется от диалекта к диалекту, причём в литературе оно описано недостаточно полно. В статье предлагается описание гармонии по назальности в современных диалектах чикитано на материале опубликованных данных, а также полевых данных автора. Предполагается, что в прачикитано основными объектами гармонии по назальности были гласные, тогда как согласные затрагивались этим процессом опосредованно, в результате внутрислоговой ассимиляции. Консонантная гармония по назальности возникла как следствие массовой деназализации носовых гласных, приведшей к фонологизации бывших носовых и неносовых аллофонов сонорных согласных. Представляемая гипотеза позволяет объяснить, почему некоторые морфемы без единого носового сегмента имеют плавающий признак назальности в современных диалектах чикитано, а также описать фонологическую адаптацию заимствований из испанского и гуарани.
Ключевые слова: чикитано язык; макро-же языки; гармония по назальности; консонантная гармония.