Grammar

In this dictionary, the majority of the lexical ítems that are nouns are displayed in the singular form. In general, the plural of inanimate nouns are formed adding the suffix –ri and the plural of animate nouns are formed by adding –a. When the plural form is irregular, this is indicated after the part of speech, as in the example below:
ríca inan., f.o.l. fruto (fruit).
ej. Atii yucʉ ríca merẽ boticoaya. El fruto de este árbol ya está maduro. (The fruit of this tree is already ripe.)
pl. rícari o ríca rupaa.

There are three types of nouns that do not occur in the singular form: mass nouns, non specific forms, and intrinsically plural forms. In the case of mass nouns (which refer to objects that are not countable), there is neither a singular nor plural form. For example, oco ‘agua’ (wáter) and weta ‘almidón de yuca’ (cassava starch), which are mass nouns, these will be labeled as ‘sustantivo de masa’ (s.de masa) (mass nouns).

In the case of non specific forms, which refer to non specific objects or inanimate nouns, occur in the simple form of the noun.
For example, poawẽ ‘pelo’ (hair) has a plural form poawẽrĩ ‘pelos’ (hair), and the non specific form is simply poa ‘pelos’ (hairs). In the context where the speaker is not focusing on the number of hairs, generally the non specific form is used (even though the singular form could be used if there are several hairs to count).
These non specific forms are also included in this dictionary as lexical items because, in general, they are the most simple forms and most used forms of these words. In the lexical entries for these non specific forms, they are labeled f.n.esp. for the lexical category ‘forma no específica’ (non specific form). The plural form of the word, which is used for the specific sense, in other words, when it is countable, is given only when it is an irregular form and is then considered as a lexical subform.

For example, the word poa ‘pelos’ (hairs) appears in the following manner:
poa inan., f.n.esp. cabello, cabellos; pelo, pelos (hair, hairs).
ej. Cʉ̃ poa boticoasupa, cabʉcʉ cʉ̃ caãnoi. Dicen que al madurarse, su pelo ha vuelto blanco.
poawẽ inan. un pelo; cabello. (They say that when they mature, their hair has turned white.)
(The plural form poawẽrĩ does not occur, because it is regular.)
The majority of the “intrinsically plural nouns” (s.plural) consist of insects that generally occur in groups and appear in its plural form. The singular form of these nouns is formed by adding a suffix to the plural form.

For example in the case of butua ‘comejenes’ (fire ants), the singular is formed by adding –mʉ ‘singular’ and becomes butuamʉ ‘comején’. The plural form is used when the speaker is referring to the ants with a non specific sense, in other words, when not thinking of amounts or when referring to a plural number of ants.
When the speaker is referring to one of a group of ants, the singular form –mʉ is used. Here is an example of how the word butua ‘comejenes’ (fire ants) occurs:

butua an., s.plural comejenes (fire ants).
ej. Butua ʉgayama pũũ caboarijere.
Los comejenes comen las hojas podridas. (The fire ants eat the rotten leaves.)
gram. butuamʉ, uno de un grupo de comejenes (one of a group of fire ants).

Finally, there are some nouns, adverbs of time, and spatial relationships that occur only in linked forms. They are modified by a pronoun, another noun, adjective, or the proform ca-.1
Here are some examples of how these linked forms occur:
cʉ̃ rʉpoa ‘la cabeza de el’, (his head).
yʉ yarã ʉ̃mʉa ‘mis parientes (masculinos)’, (my parents – masculine).
ati rʉ̃mʉ ‘este día’ (this day).
capito() ‘la desembocadura’ (river mouth).

These are all labeled f.o.l. ‘forma obligatoriamente ligada’ (obligatory linked form). Examples that occur in this dictionary:
rʉpoa inan., f.o.l. cabeza, (head).
ej. “Yʉ rʉpoa wʉ̃gãjãñuña,” ĩwõ Carlo nʉmo.
“Tengo dolor de (mi) cabeza,” dijo la esposa de Carlos. (“I have a headache,” said Carlos’ wife.)

ʉ̃mʉa an.pl., f.o.l. hombres (grupo de), (group of men).
ej. “Ati wii ʉ̃mʉa roque tutuajãñuñama,” ĩwĩ Carlo.
“En cambio, los hombres de esta casa son muy fuertes,” dijo Carlos. (“To the contrary, the men of this house are very strong,” said Carlos.)

rʉ̃mʉ adv., f.o.l. día, (day).
ej. Jĩcã rʉ̃mʉ Carlo bapacʉmi marĩ yarã mena.
Carlos acompañó a nuestros parientes por un día. (Carlos accompanied our parents for a day.)

V.ʉmʉreco pito() rel.esp., f.o.l. desembocadura, (mouth of a river).
ej. “Bairi yua, ásúparã ayawaroa capitopʉ Pee Ñicõ tʉpʉ,” ĩwĩ Carlo.
“Entonces, los dioses se fueron a la desembocadura (del río), al lugar donde vivía la Abuela del Fuego,” dijo Carlos. (Then, the gods went to the mouth of the river, the place where the Grandmother of the Fire lived.
sin. capito(pʉ) ant. caropoto(pʉ), pote(pʉ) V.caroca(pʉ).

Verbs – Verbs occur in their nominalized form, since this is the form that the Carapanas use to refer to verbs. In the majority of the cases, they use one of the inanimate nominalizing suffixes, either –rique ‘nominalizador para sujetos concretos’ (nominalizer for concrete subjects), or –rije ‘nominalizador para sujetos abstractos’ (nominalizer for abstract subjects). The suffix –rique is used to indicate that the speaker is focusing more on the action or process of change of the verb than on the subject.
For example, for tʉ̃gorique ‘oír’ (to hear), the suffix –rique indicates that the attention is centered on the action of hearing. It is assumed that an animate being is capable of performing the action of hearing; either this or it is made explicit. Nevertheless, this suffix –rique cannot be used with certain verbs for diverse reasons.
For certain verbs, the inanimate nominalizer is used – rije ‘sustantivador para sujetos abstractos’ (nominalizer for abstract subjects), which indicates that the subject is inanimate and non specific. For example, the suffix –rije is used with orije ‘estado de ser afilado’ (the state of being sharp), from the root o ‘(ser / estar) afilado, da’, ‘(to be) edged, from’.

Apart from the majority of cases, there are some irregular verbs and composite verbs that have an irregular verb as their final verb. These two cases do not occur in their nominalized form with the suffixes –rique o –rije, but, in contrast, the nominalizer changes to – je/ –taje.
For example:

Irregular verbs:
atáje(atí-) v.i. venir (come).
apéricoataje(apé-) v.i. no venir (not come).
átaje (áti-) v.t. hacer (to make).
ápericoataje (ápe-) v.t. no hacer ( not make it).
átáje (á-) v.i. ir (to go).
ápéricoataje (ápé-) v.i. no ir (not go).
anajẽ (ani- / ni-) v.i. ser, estar, vivir (to be, to live).
amerataje (amerî-) v.i. no ser, no estar, no vivir (not live, not be).
cùtaje (cùti-) v.i. tener (to have).
manaje (mani-) v.i. no tener (not have).
Composite verbs that have an irregular verb as their last verb:
yoátáje (yo-) v.i. motión río abajo + (á-) ir (to go downstream) v.i. ir río abajo.ruticoátáje (ruticoa-) v.r. escaparse + (á-) v.i. ir escaparse (to escape).
Nevertheless, the grammatical classification and the definitions and examples are given, not with reference to the nominalized form, but to the verbal root of each word. The following is a list of the verbal roots being classified in this dictionary with their corresponding abbrevations.
v.t. verbo transitivo
v.i. verbo intransitive
v.caus. verbo causative
There are verbs in Carapana that denote that the action or state originated in animate or inanimate beings. In the cases in which the Spanish does not show distinction, this clarification is made after the definition.
For example, in Spanish ‘(estar) fuerte’ (to be strong) can be used to describe animate beings as well as inanimate objects; but, in Carapana wẽpʉ̃rĩjẽ ‘(ser/estar) fuerte’ (to be strong) is used only to describe animate beings.
See the following example:
wẽpʉ̃rĩjẽ v.i. (ser/estar) fuerte (de ser animado) (to be strong – to be animated).
The majority of the verbal roots can conjugate with all the suffixes of time/evidence. Those that do not are accompanied by a grammatical note. In addition to the nouns and verbs, this will include some of the adverbs, the spacial relationships, and a few adjectives. Although, for the purposes of this dictionary, lexical items have been limited, Carapana has the following grammatical categories:
1) sustantivos (nouns)
2) verbos (verbs)
3) adverbios (adverbs)
4) adjetivos (adjectives)
5) pronombres (pronouns)
6) morfemas adjuntos al sustantivo (marcadores de caso, marcadores de discurso, cuantificadores, clasificadores, relacionadores espaciales) (Morphemes attached to the noun such as case markers, speech markers, quantifiers, classifiers, spatial relationships)
7) morfemas adjuntos al verbo (tiempo y aspecto, modo, concordancia del verbo con los objetos, verbos auxiliares, partículas del verbo) (Morphemes attached to the verb such as time and aspect, mode, concordance of the verb with objects, auxiliary verbs, verb particles)
8) conjunciones (conjunctions)
9) interjecciones (interjections)
10) negativos (negatives)
11) modificadores (modifiers)
1 Note: With the exception of the proforma ca- (see section I.C.4), in the orthography, the modifier is written as a separate word.