Maricopa language
| Maricopa | |
|---|---|
| Piipaash chuukwer / Xalychidoma chuukwer | |
| Spoken in | USA |
| Region | Arizona |
| Ethnicity | 400 (1997) |
| Native speakers | 181 (1990) 160 (2000) |
| Language family |
Yuman
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mrc |
The Maricopa language is spoken by the Native American Maricopa tribe, on two reservations in Arizona: the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Gila River Indian Community.
Contents |
[edit] Grammar
Maricopa is a subject–object–verb language, with six or seven cases. It makes no grammatical gender distinction.
David Gil reports that the Maricopa have no equivalent for and, but that they are managing quite well. The various relevant relations are solved using different linguistic structures. However, whether the absence of a lexeme constitutes a lexical gap depends not on some theory but on the shared verbal habits of the people employing the relevant conceptualization. Accordingly, it is not valid to say that speakers of Maricopa are lacking the lexeme and. Rather, it is speakers of, for example, English who would experience the lack.[1]
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Gil, David (1991). "Aristotle goes to Arizona, and finds a language without 'and'". In Zaefferer, D. Semantic universals and universal semantics. Berlin: Foris. pp. 96–130.
- Gordon, Lynn (1986). Maricopa Morphology and Syntax. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[edit] External links
- Ethnologue entry for Maricopa
- Rosetta Project entry for Maricopa
- Maricopa language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
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