Nadahup languages
| Nadahup | |
|---|---|
| Makú | |
| Geographic distribution |
Amazon |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Glottolog | nada1235 |
The Nadahup languages, a.k.a. Makú (Macú) or Vaupés–Japurá, form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". Nadahup is an acronym of the constituent languages.
The Nadahup family should not be confused with several other languages which go by the name Maku, including the Maku language of Roraima. There are proposals linking this unclassified language with Nadahup, but also with other languages.
Nadahup consists of about four languages, based on mutual intelligibility. Nadeb and Kuyawi, Hup and Yahup, and Nukak and Kakwa, however, share 90% of their vocabulary and are mutually intelligible, and so are separate languages only in a sociolinguistic sense. These four branches are not close: Although the family was first suggested in 1906, only 300 cognates have been found, which include pronouns but no other grammatical forms.
Nadëb may be the most divergent; of the other languages, there is disagreement on the placement of Nïkâk. Martins (1999) propose two classifications, pending further research:
Nadëb (a.k.a. Kaburi; plus Kuyawi dialect)
Nïkâk (a.k.a. Nukak, plus dialect Kakwa)
Dâw (a.k.a. Kuri-Dou, pejorative Kamã)
Hup (a.k.a. Jupdá; plus dialect Yuhup/Yahup)
Nadëb (with Kuyawi dialect)
Hup (with Yuhup dialect)
Nïkâk (with Kakwa dialect)
However, Epps considers Hup and Yahup to be distinct languages, and maintains that the inclusion of the poorly attested Nukak and Kakwa has not been demonstrated and is in fact highly dubious:
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