Kitabı oku: «The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations», sayfa 2

ADJECTIVES

The verb is the primitive part of speech in American tongues. To the aboriginal man every person and object presents itself as either doing or suffering something, every quality and attribute as something which is taking place or existing. His philosophy is that of the extreme idealists or the extreme materialists, who alike maintain that nothing is, beyond the cognizance of our senses. Therefore his adjectives are all verbal participles, indicating a state of existence. Thus üssatu good, is from üssân to be good, and means the condition of being good, a good woman or thing, üssati a good man.

Some adjectives, principally those from present participles, have the masculine and neuter terminations i and u in the singular, and in the plural i for both genders. Adjectives from the past participles end in the singular in issia or üssia, in the plural in annu. When the masculine ends in illi, the neuter takes urru, as wadikilli, wadikurru, long.

Comparison is expressed by adding bén or kén or adin (a verb meaning to be above) for the comparative, and apüdi for the diminutive. Ubura, from the verb uburau to be before in time, and adiki, from adikin to be after in time, are also used for the same purpose. The superlative has to be expressed by a circumlocution; as tumaqua aditu ipirrun turreha, what is great beyond all else; bokkia üssá dáuria, thou art better than I, where the last word is a compound of dai uwúria of, from, than. The comparative degree of the adjectives corresponds to the intensive and frequentative forms of the verbs; thus ipirrun to be strong, ipirru strong, ipirrubîn and ipirrubessabun to be stronger, ipirrubetu and ipirrubessabutu stronger, that which is stronger.

The numerals are wonderfully simple, and well illustrate how the primitive man began his arithmetic. They are: —

1 abba.

2 biama, plural biamannu.

3 kabbuhin, plural kubbuhinínnu.

4 bibiti, plural bibitinu.

5 abbatekkábe, plural abbatekabbunu.

6 abbatiman, plural abbatimannínu.

7 biamattiman, plural biamattimannínu.

8 kabbuhintiman, plural kabbuhintimannínu.

9 bibitiman, plural bibititumannínu.

10 biamantekábbe, plural biamantekábunu.

Now if we analyze these words, we discover that abbatekkábe five, is simply abba one, and akkabu, hand; that the word for six is literally “one [finger] of the other [hand],” for seven “two [fingers] of the other [hand],” and so on to ten, which is compounded of biama two, and akkabu hands. Would they count eleven, they say abba kutihibena one [toe] from the feet, and for twenty the expression is abba lukku one man, both hands and feet. Thus, in truth, they have only four numerals, and it is even a question whether these are primitive, for kabbuhin seems a strengthened form of abba, and bibuti to bear the same relation to biama. Therefore we may look back to a time when this nation knew not how to express any numbers beyond one and two.

Although these numbers do not take peculiar terminations when applied to different objects, as in the languages of Central America and Mexico, they have a great variety of forms to express the relationship in which they are used. The ordinals are:

atenennuati, first.

ibiamattéti, second.

wakábbuhinteti, our third, etc.

To the question, How many at a time? the answer is:

likinnekewai, one alone.

biamanuman, two at a time, etc.

If simply, How many? it is:

abbahu, one.

biamahu, two.

If, For which time? it is:

tibíakuja, for the first time.

tibíamattétu, for the second time.

and so on.

VERBS

The verbs are sometimes derived from nouns, sometimes from participles, sometimes from other verbs, and have reflexive, passive, frequentative, and other forms. Thus from lana, the name of a certain black dye, comes lannatün to color with this dye, alannatunna to color oneself with it, alannattukuttun to let oneself be colored with it, alanattukuttunnua to be colored with it.

The infinitive ends in in, ün, ùn, ân, unnua, ên, and ûn. Those in in, ün, ùn, and ân are transitive, in unnua are passive and neuter, the others are transitive, intransitive, or neuter.

The passive voice is formed by the medium of a verb of permission, thus:

amalitin, to make.

amalitikittin, to let make.

amalitikittunnua, to be made.

assimakin, to call.

assimakuttün, to let call,

assimakuttùnnua, to be called.

The personal pronouns are united to the verbs as they are to the nouns. They precede all verbs except those whose infinitives terminate in ên, in, and ân, to which they are suffixed as a rule, but not always. When they follow the verb, the forms of the pronouns are either de, bu, i he, n she, it, u, hu, je or da, ba, la, ta, wa, ha, na. The latter are used chiefly where the negative prefix m, ma or maya is employed. Examples:

hallikebben, to rejoice

hallikebbéde, I rejoice.

hallikebbébu, thou rejoicest.

hallikebbéi, he rejoices.

hallikebbên, she rejoices.

hallikebbéu, we rejoice.

hallikebbéhü, you rejoice.

hallikebbéje, they rejoice.

majauquan, to remain

majáuquada, I remain.

majáuquaba, thou remainest.

majáuquala, he remains.

majáuquata, she remains.

majáuquawa, we remain.

majáuquaha, you remain.

majáuquana, they remain.

Moods and Tenses. Their verbs have four moods, the indicative, optative, imperative, and infinitive, and five tenses, one present, three preterites, and one future. The rules of their formation are simple. By changing the termination of the infinitive into a, we have the indicative present, into bi the first preterite, into buna the second preterite, into kuba the third preterite, and into pa the future. The conjugations are six in number, and many of the verbs are irregular. The following verb of the first conjugation illustrates the general rules for conjugation:

ayahaddin, to walk.

Indicative Mood

Present tense:

dayahadda, I walk.

bujahadda, thou walkest.

lujahadda, he walks.

tüjahadda, she walks.

wayahádda, we walk.

hujahádda, you walk.

nayuhádda, they walk.

First preterite – of to-day:

dayaháddibi, I walked to-day.

bujaháddibi, thou walked to-day.

lijaháddibi, he walked to-day.

tujaháddibi, she walked to-day.

wayaháddibi, we walked to-day.

hujaháddibi, you walked to-day.

nayaháddibi, they walked to-day.

Second preterite – of yesterday or the day before.

dayahaddibüna, I walked yesterday or the day before.

bujaháddibüna, thou walked yesterday or the day before.

lijaháddibuna, he walked yesterday or the day before.

tujaháddibüna, she walked yesterday or the day before.

wayaháddibüna, we walked yesterday or the day before.

hujaháddibüna, you walked yesterday or the day before.

nayaháddibüna, they walked yesterday or the day before.

Third preterite – at some indefinite past time:

dayaháddakuba, I walked.

bujaháddakuba, thou walked.

lijaháddakuba, he walked.

tujaháddakuba, she walked.

wayaháddakuka, we walked.

hujaháddakuba, you walked.

nayaháddakuba, they walked.

Future:

dayaháddipa, I shall walk.

bujaháddipa, thou wilt walk.

lijaháddipa, he will walk.

tujaháddipa, she will walk.

wayaháddipa, we shall walk.

hujahaddipa, you will walk.

nayahaddipa, they will walk.

Optative Mood

Present:

dayahaddama or dayahaddinnika, I may walk.

First preterite:

dayahaddinnikábima

Second preterite

dayahaddinbünáma

Third preterite:

dayahaddinnikubáma

Imperative Mood

bujahaddáte or bujahaddalte, walk thou.

hüjahaddáte or hujahaddalte, walk ye.

nayahaddáte, let them walk.

wayahaddali, let us walk.

Participles

ayahaddinnibi, to have walked to-day.

ayahaddinnibüna, to have walked yesterday.

ayahaddínnikuba, to have walked.

ayahaddínnipa, to be about to walk.

Gerund

ayahaddinti.

ayahaddinnibia.

The following forms also belong to this verb:

ayahaddinnibiakubáma, to may or can walk.

ayahaddahálin, one who walks there (infinitive form).

As in all polysynthetic languages, other words and particles can be incorporated in the verb to modify its meaning, thus:

dayahaddáruka, as I was walking.

dayahaddakanika, I walk a little.

dayahaddahittika, I walk willingly.

In this way sometimes words of formidable length are manufactured, as:

massukussukuttunnuanikaebibu, you should not have been washed to-day.

Negation may be expressed either by the prefix m or ma, as mayahaddinikade, I do not walk (where the prefix throws the pronoun to the end of the word, and gives it the form appropriate for that position), or else by the adverb kurru, not. But if both these negatives are used, they make an affirmative, as madittinda kurru Gott, I am not unacquainted with God.

COMPOSITION OF WORDS AND SENTENCES

“In general,” remarks Prof. Von Martius, “this language betrays the poverty and cumbrousness of other South American languages; yet in many expressions a glimpse is caught of a far reaching, ideal background.”⁴ We see it in the composition and derivation of some words; from haikan to pass by, comes haikahu death, the passing away, and aiihakü marriage, in which, as in death, the girl is lost to her parents; from kassan to be pregnant, comes kassaku the firmament, big with all things which are, and kassahu behü, the house of the firmament, the sky, the day; from ükkü the heart, comes ükkürahü the family, the tribe, those of one blood, whose hearts beat in unison, and üküahü a person, one whose heart beats and who therefore lives, and also, singularly enough, ükkürahü pus, no doubt from that strange analogy which in so many other aboriginal languages and myths identified the product of suppuration with the semen masculinum, the physiological germ of life.

The syntax of the language is not clearly set forth by any authorities. Adjectives generally, but not always, follow the words they qualify, and prepositions are usually placed after the noun, and often at the end of a sentence; thus, peru (Spanish perro) assimakaku naha à, the dog barks her at. To display more fully the character of the tongue, I shall quote and analyze a verse from the Act Apostelnu, the 11th verse of the 14th chapter, which in the English Protestant version reads:

And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

In Arawack it is:

Addikitti uijuhu Paulus anissiäbiru, kakannaküku na assimakâka hürküren Lÿcaonia adiân ullukku hiddin: Amallitakoananutti lukkunu dia na buté wakkarruhu, nattukuda aijumüneria wibiti hinna.

Literally:

They – seeing (addin to see, gerund) the – people Paulus what – had been done (anin to do, anissia to have been done), loudly they called altogether the – Lycaonia speech in, thus, The – gods (present participle of amallitin to make; the same appellation which the ancient Greeks gave to poets, [Greek: poiêtai] makers, the Arawacks applied to the divine powers) men like, us to now (buté nota præsentis) are – come – down from – above – down – here ourselves because – of.