Maká language
Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay
title: "Maká language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-paraguay", "matacoan-languages", "chaco-linguistic-area"] description: "Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maká_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Maká |
| nativename | Maká |
| pronunciation | |
| states | Argentina, Paraguay |
| region | Presidente Hayes Department, Asunción |
| speakers | 1,500 |
| date | 2000 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | American |
| fam1 | Matacoan |
| iso3 | mca |
| glotto | maca1260 |
| glottorefname | Maca |
| notice | IPA |
| ethnicity | |
| :: |
| name = Maká | nativename = Maká | pronunciation = | states = Argentina, Paraguay | region = Presidente Hayes Department, Asunción | speakers = 1,500 | date = 2000 | ref = e18 | familycolor = American | fam1 = Matacoan | iso3 = mca | glotto = maca1260 | glottorefname = Maca | notice = IPA | ethnicity =
Maká is a Matacoan language spoken in Argentina and Paraguay by the Maká people. Its 1,500 speakers live primarily in Presidente Hayes Department near the Río Negro, as well as in and around Asunción.
Phonology
::data[format=table title="Consonants"] | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal/ Velar | Uvular | Glottal | Nasal | Plosive | plain | ejective | Fricative | Approximant | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Velar consonants alternate with palatal consonants before and sometimes before . Examples include ~ and ~ . The palatal approximant is realised as a palatal fricative before , as in ~ .
::data[format=table title="Vowels"]
| Front | Back | High | Mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Syllables in Maká may be of types V, VC, CV, CCV, and CCVC. When a consonant cluster appears at the beginning of a syllable, the second consonant must be , , , or .
Morphology
Nouns
Gender
Maká has two genders—masculine and feminine. The demonstratives reflect the gender of a noun. ::data[format=table]
| Masculine nouns | Feminine nouns |
|---|---|
| :: |
In the plural the gender distinction is neutralized, and the plural demonstrative is the same as the feminine singular:
|ne’ sehe-l |these land-PL |‘these lands’}}
|ne’ naxkak-wi |these tree-PL |‘these trees’}}
Number
Maká nouns inflect for plurality. There are several distinct plural endings: -l, -wi, -Vts, and -Vy. All plants take the -wi plural, but otherwise the choice seems to be unpredictable. ::data[format=table]
| singular | plural | gloss |
|---|---|---|
| sehe | sehe-l | |
| naxkax | naxkax-wi | |
| tenuk | tenuk-its | |
| :: |
Case
Maká does not have any overt case marking on nouns. Consider the following sentence, where neither the subject nor object shows any case.
|Ne’ efu Ø-tux ka’ sehets. |DEM.F woman A.3-eat INDEF.M fish |‘The woman eats fish.’}}
Agreement with the possessor
Nouns agree with their possessor in person.
::data[format=table]
| :: |
Verbs
Agreement with subject and object
Verbs agree with their subject and object in a rather complex system. Gerzenstein (1995) identifies five conjugation classes for intransitive verbs. The following two examples show intransitive verbs from conjugation classes 1 and 3.
::data[format=table]
| tremble (conjugation class 3) | dance (conjugation class 1) | . |
|---|---|---|
| tsi-kawelik | hoy-otoy | |
| łan-kawelik | ł-otoy | |
| yi-kawelik | t-otoy | |
| xiyi-kawelik | xit-otoy | |
| :: |
Transitive verbs belong to a different conjugation class, Conjugation 6. The following forms show a transitive verb with a 3rd person object:
::data[format=table]
| love (conjugation class 6) |
|---|
| hi-su'un |
| łi-su'un |
| yi-su'un |
| xite-su'un |
| :: |
If the object of the transitive verb is 1st or 2nd person, then certain combinations of subject and object are shown by a portmanteau morpheme.
::data[format=table] | love (conjugation class 6)|| subject/object combination | |---| | k{{`}}e-su'un | | tsi-su'un | | ne-su'un | ::
Other combinations involve an object agreement marker which may either precede or follow the subject marker.
|łe-ts-ikfex |2.SUBJ-1SG.OBJ-bite |'you bite me'}}
|xi-yi-łin |1PL.INCL.OBJ-3-save |'he/she saves us (inclusive)'}}
Applicatives
Verbs in Maká have a series of suffixes called 'postpositions' in Gerzenstein (1995), which have the effect of introducing new oblique objects into the sentence.
The following examples show the applicative suffixes -ex and -m
|Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax. |DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog |‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’}}
|H-osxey-i-m na’ sehets na’ k’utsaX |A.1-grill-P.3-for DEM.M fish DEM.M old.man |‘I grill fish for the old man.’}}
Syntax
Noun phrases
In noun phrases, the possessor precedes the possessed noun.
|e-li-ts łe-xiła’ |2-child-PL 3-head |'your children’s head'}}
Noun phrases show the order (Demonstrative) (Numeral) (Adjective) N.
|Ne’ efu t-aqhay-ets ne’ ikwetxuł fo’ tiptip-its |DEM.F woman S.3-buy-toward DEM.PL four white horse-PL |’The woman bought four white horses.’}}
Sentences
Affirmative
The basic word order for a transitive clause in Maká is subject–verb–object, as seen in the following example.
|Ne’ efu ni-xele-ex ke’ ute na’ nunax. |DEM.F woman A.3-throw-with INDEF.M rock DEM.M dog |‘The woman threw a rock at the dog.’}}
For intransitive clauses, the basic order is verb-subject.
|Wapi ne' efu. |rest DEM.F woman |'The woman rests'}}
Interrogative
In yes–no questions, the usual subject–verb–object order changes to verb-subject-object following an initial particle me.
|Me y-eqfemet-en na' k’utsaX na' xukhew? |Q A.3-injure-CAUS DEM.M old.man DEM.M man |‘Did the old man injure the man?’}}
Sentences with wh-questions show a sentence-initial question word. Maká has a very small inventory of question words, with only three members: łek , pan , and inhats'ek . The following example shows an interrogative sentence with an initial question word.
|Łek pa' tux na' xukhew? |what DEM.M eat DEM.M old.man |‘What did the old man eat?’}}
Notes
References
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