Language name and locationː Saruahá, Amazonas state, Brazil [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区苏鲁瓦哈语, 巴西西北部亚马孙州普鲁斯河, 茹塔伊河和茹魯阿河流域热带雨林苏鲁瓦哈原住民村落

 

1. wanzy [wanzɨ]

2. uhwamazy (litː ''two', 'few' )

3. uhwamakiany wanahawadari (masculine) *

4. uhwamazy bujini (litː 'two pairs' / 'only pairs')

5. ibihi wanaharu (litː 'one of our hands')

10. ibihi aikuwaru (litː our entire hands')

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Ms. Adriana Huber, Indigenous Missionary Council CIMI), Brazil. March 26, 2010.Translated from Portuguese to English by Dr. Ronald B. MacDonell, CIMI, Conselho Indigenista Missionário ("Missionary Indigenous Council") of the Roman Catholic Church, Brazil, June 17, 2010.

供资料的语言学家: Ms. Adriana Huber, 2010 年 3 月 26 日.

 

Other comments: Saruahá or Suruwahá, Sorowaha, Zuruahã, Indios do Coxodoá is spoekn by approxiamtely 140 speakers in some villages among the Juruá, Jutaí and Purus rivers area, Amazonas state, northern Brazil.

 

The Suruwaha people has the following number system:

1   wanzy (I don’t have phonetic symbols on the internet. The letter y represents the

     high central vowel i.)     "one" wanji "just one " (the change zy --> ji happens if a

     person wants to express a value judgement; in this case, wanzy means “1” in a

     neutral way, and wanji means “1” evaluated as an insufficient quantity by the

     speaker (who would prefer that there be a greater quantity). Wanzy is an adjectival

     form of the verb wana(ha)- “to be only one”, a being verb.  Wanzy is used with the

     auxiliary verb na- (wanzy hagwani “she is only one”, present witnessed; wanzy nagi

    “he is only one”, present witnessed).

      Ex: Wanzy ny-hyru kahyzy-nasa-wa

      one   aux.nominalized to be pleasant-neg-remote past witnessed 3sing.fem.
     "To be alone is not pleasant." [accoding to the past personal experience of the

     speaker]
2   uhwamazy "two” "few" (it can be said of a small population: used by the
     Suruwaha to say that they are few persons – only 142 – when compared to the
     Deni people – about 600 persons).
     uhwamaji "just two" (see the explanation about wanji – this phonological change
     does not occur only with numbers,  but also with other adjectives that describe
     characteristics: kahyzy - pretty, ka-kahiji - "how pretty, wow!"...).
     Uhwamazy is an adjectival form of the being verb "uhwama-" (to be two). There
     also existe the forms uhwamari (ex: Mahuny uhwamari – two tapirs; mahuny is a
     masculine noun) and uhwamaru (hakuri uhwamaru – two anteaters; hakuri is a
     feminine noun). -ri is an masculine adjectivizer/relativizer, -ru is a feminine
     adjectivizer/relativizer.

3    uhwamakiany wanahawadari (masculine) "when there are two, one more goes
      beyond " (="three")
      uhwama-kiany wanaha-wada-ri
      two- zero morfeme corresponding to the masculine-when (for a subordinate clause
      with a subject different from the subject of the main clause) to be one-in another
      place - masculine adjectivizer)

      uhwama-ni-kiany      wanaha-wada-ru (feminine)
      two-feminine-when to be.one-in another place –feminine adjectivizer

4    uhwamazy bujini  "two pairs"/ "only pairs" = "four"

5    ibihi wanaharu    "one of our hands" (N.B. "hand", as all words indicating human
      body parts, is a grammatically  feminine possessed noun; i-(bihi) is the marker of
      the 1st person plural; for that reason, wanaha-ru (which is a feminine form).

10  ibihi akuwaru      "our entire hands"
      amasa-             being verb meaning "to be numerous"
      amasari             many (m.)
      amasaru            many (f.)
      madi amasa-kaxa-waky  "they were many persons (fact personally witnessed by
      the speaker in the past)"
      persons to be.many-intens.-remote past witnessed 3 plur masculine

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