Enawene Nawe language
# Enawene Nawe language

Enawene Nawe (Enawené-Nawé, Enawenê-Nawê, Eneuene-Mare), also known as Salumã, is an Arawakan language of Brazil spoken by about 570 people living in the Juruena River basin area, and more specifically along the Iquê river in the state of Mato Grosso.

## Classification

Aikhenvald (1999) classifies Enawene Nawe as a South Arawak language together with Terena, Lapachu and Moxo. However, more recent works by both Fabre (2005) and Brandão & Facundes (2007) consider the language to form a subgroup with Paresi in the Paresi–Xingu branch of Arawakan languages.

Comparison of personal pronouns between Paresi and Enawene Nawe :

| Person | Paresi | Enawene Nawe |
| - | - | - |
| 1SG | natyo | nato |
| 2SG | hitso | hixo |
| 3SG | eze | ere |
| 1PL | witso | wixo |
| 2PL | xitso | dexo |
| 3PL | ezenae | erenaha |

Comparison of numbers :

| Number | Paresi | Enawene Nawe |
| - | - | - |
| one | hatita | xoxola |
| two | hinama | initini |
| three | hanama | koytala |
| four | zalakakoa | noxi |

Comparison of other vocabulary :

| Word | Paresi | Enawene Nawe |
| - | - | - |
| to fall | ezoa | edoa |
| itch | mare, mali | wera |
| drink | era, tera | wesera |
| corn | kozeto | korito |
| eye | zotse | edose |
| house | hati, hana | hakolo |
| vulture | oloho | olohõ |
| night | maka | mikya |
| stone | tsehali | sairi |
| uncle | koko | kokore |
| sour | katyala | katala |
| basket | koho | tohe |
| bathe | koaha | nakohã |
| arrive | kaoka | takwa |

## Phonology

### Consonants

Enawene Nawe is described by Zorthêa (2006) as having 15 contrastive consonants.

Consonant inventory :

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stop | voiceless | kʷ ⟨kw⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | kʲ ⟨ky⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | |
| Stop | voiced | | d ⟨d⟩ | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ | | |
| Flap | Flap | | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s ⟨s⟩ | ʃ ⟨x⟩ | | h ⟨h⟩ |
| Approximant | Approximant | w ⟨w⟩ | l ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | | |

Among these, the following allophonic variations are reported:

Consonant variations :

| Description | Examples |
| - | - |
| ⟨w⟩ varies between [w] and [b] in word-initial position before the front vowels /e/ and /i/. | ⟨wesera⟩ "to drink": [weseɾa~beseɾa] ⟨wera⟩ "itch": [weɾa~beɾa] |
| ⟨m⟩ varies between [m] and [w]. | ⟨datamare⟩ "(mythical character)": [datamaɾe~datawaɾe] ⟨Alame⟩ "(proper noun)": [alame~alawe] |
| ⟨d⟩ varies between [d], [s], [ɾ] and [l]. | ⟨datowa⟩ "tomorrow": [datowa~latowa] ⟨derohi⟩ "ritual step": [deɾohi~leɾohi] ⟨edoa⟩ "to fall": [edoa~eɾoa] |
| ⟨r⟩ varies between [ɾ] and [l]. | ⟨Kawari⟩ "(proper noun)": [kawaɾi~kawali] ⟨korito⟩ "corn": [koɾito~kolito] |
| ⟨k⟩ varies between [k] and [g] between vowels. | ⟨nawenekota⟩ "I think": [nawenekota~nawenegota] |
| ⟨ky⟩ varies between [kʲ] and [gʲ] between vowels. | |
| ⟨t⟩ varies between [t] and [d] between vowels. | ⟨atana⟩ "thunder": [atana~adana] ⟨meta⟩ "tickle": [meta~meda] |

### Vowels

Enawene Nawe is described by Zorthêa (2006) as having 4 oral vowels and 4 nasal vowels.

Oral :

| | Front | Back |
| - | - | - |
| Near-Close | i ⟨i⟩ | o~u ⟨o⟩ |
| Mid | e~ɪ ⟨e⟩ | o~u ⟨o⟩ |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ | a ⟨a⟩ |

Nasal :

| | Front | Back |
| - | - | - |
| Near-Close | ĩ ⟨ĩ⟩ | õ~ũ ⟨õ⟩ |
| Mid | ẽ~ĩ ⟨ẽ⟩ | õ~ũ ⟨õ⟩ |
| Open | ʌ̃ ⟨ã⟩ | ʌ̃ ⟨ã⟩ |

## Grammar

### Pronouns

Independent personal pronouns :

| Person | Singular | Plural |
| - | - | - |
| 1st | nato | wixo |
| 2nd | hixo | dexo |
| 3rd | ere | erenaha |

### Numerals

The first eleven numbers in Enawene Nawe are as follows:

| Number | Enawene Nawe |
| - | - |
| 1 | xoxola |
| 2 | initini |
| 3 | koytala |
| 4 | noxi |
| 5 | monarese, eswe |
| 6 | lolokwate |
| 7 | lolate |
| 8 | hoxiro |
| 9 | mamalakari |
| 10 | ketera |
| 11 | darayti |

Zorthêa (2006) notes that all numbers except initini (2) and monarese (5) can be preceded and followed by affixes.

### Affixes

Enawene Nawe makes use of a variety of suffixes and prefixes to derive different meanings from root words.

**Gender suffixes**

Zorthêa (2006) describes Enawene Nawe as having two suffixes to explicitly mark gender: -lo for the feminine gender and -re for the masculine. De Almeida (2015), however, notes four suffixes: -nero and -lo mark the feminine gender, while -nere and -li mark the masculine.

Examples from de Almeida (2015):

* Towalinero "a Towali woman"
* Towalinere "a Towali man"
* Iyakaloti "a female spirit"
* Iyakaliti "a male spirit"

**Place suffix**

The suffix -kwa is used to mark places and is commonly found in village names. For example, the name of the Enawene Nawe village Matokodakwa is ultimately derived from matokoda, meaning "container for transporting liquids", and -kwa "place".

