Reconstruction:Proto-Cariban/ɨrɨ

This Proto-Cariban entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Cariban

Alternative forms

• *rɨ

Verb

*ɨrɨ (t-added stem *tɨrɨ) (transitive)

1. to do
2. to make
3. to put, to set, to place
4. to give

Reconstruction notes

The t-added form of this word can be confidently reconstructed as *tɨrɨ; however, the prefix that introduces it takes the form *t- before vowels and *tɨ- before consonants, so that the word may break down as either *t-ɨrɨ or *tɨ-rɨ (both segmentations are given without comment in Gildea 2007). Descendants without the prefix show forms both with and without an initial *ɨ-, so that the root might plausibly be reconstructed as either *ɨrɨ or *rɨ.

Descendants

• Guianan:
  • Apalaí: yri, tyri (t-added stem)
  • Kari'na: yry
  • Proto-Taranoan: *rɨ, *tɨrɨ (t-added stem)
    • Akurio: rï
    • Carijona: tïrï
    • Trió: rï, tïrï (t-added stem)
  • Wayana: ïrï
• Parukotoan:
  • Waiwai: iri, tiri (t-added stem)
• Venezuelan Cariban:
  • Mapoyan:
    • Yabarana: turu
  • Pemongan:
    • Akawaio: ïrï, tïrï (t-added stem)
    • Macushi: îrî, tîrî (t-added stem)
    • Pemon: rü, irü
  • Yao (South America): eri
• Waimiri-Atroari: ry
• Ye'kwana: üdü, tüdü (t-added stem)

References

• Gildea, Spike, Doris Payne (2007) “Is Greenberg’s ‘Macro-Carib’ viable?”, in Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi: Ciências Humanas, volume 2, number 2, Belém, pages 19–72
• Meira, Sérgio, Bruna Franchetto (2005) “The southern Cariban languages and the Cariban family”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 71, pages 127–192
• Florian Matter, editor (2021), “*ɨrɨ”, in Comparative Cariban Database‎^[1], Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, retrieved 2024-02-20
• Meira, Sérgio (1998) A Reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: Phonology and Inflectional Morphology‎^[2], Houston: Rice University, page 177
• Courtz, Hendrik (2008) A Carib grammar and dictionary‎^[3], Toronto: Magoria Books, →ISBN, page 438
• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “üdü”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[4], Lyon