Wiktionary:About Kari'na

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This page explains considerations for Kari'na entries that are not covered by Wiktionary:Entry layout explained and other general policies.

The Kari'na or Carib language (also known by many other names: see Category:Kari'na language; natively karìna auran) is an Amerindian language of the Cariban family spoken in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela by some 7000 people.

Dialects

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The distribution of Kari'na speakers, incidentally showing the language’s four dialect areas as separate bubbles – respectively, from west to east: Venezuelan, Guyanese, West Surinamese, East Surinamese (including French Guianese).

Kari'na can be subdivided into a number of mutually intelligible dialects. Four main dialects (or dialect groups) have been identified: Venezuelan, Guyanese, West Surinamese, and East Surinamese, with the latter category also including the Kari'na spoken in neighboring French Guiana. All varieties but that of East Suriname seem to be dying off and are, by and large, no longer spoken by young people. Wiktionary uses a cross-dialectal orthography (as devised by Hendrik Courtz) to represent Kari'na words. Where terms differ between dialects in a more-than-superficial way, the East Surinamese form should usually constitute the main entry, with other dialectal variants made into alternative-form entries as appropriate.

Terms and senses limited to specific dialects should be labelled appropriately, with labels such as {{lb|car|Venezuela}}, {{lb|car|Guyana}}, {{lb|car|West Suriname}}, and {{lb|car|East Suriname}} added to the start of the definition line. Terms appearing in both West and East Surinamese but not other dialects may be labelled simply {{lb|car|Suriname}}.

Orthography

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There are a number of Kari'na alphabets in use in different countries. The cross-dialectal alphabet developed by Hendrik Courtz and used at Wiktionary consists of 15 letters: a, e, i, j, k, `, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, and y. A grave accent is used for a plosive archiphoneme. Foreign loanwords and interjections may additionally feature the letters b, d, f, g, and the digraph sj, which are otherwise unused.

A comparison of the different official writing systems, together with Courtz’s transcription system as used at Wiktionary, is given below.

Wiktionary
(= Courtz)		 Venezuela West Suriname East Suriname French Guiana Notes
a a a a a
a aa aː a a representing the long allophone of /a/
e e e e e
e ee eː e e representing the long allophone of /e/
i i i i i
i ii[1] iː i i representing the long allophone of /i/
i ∅ i i i when unstressed word-initially; but phonetic changes always apply as if present
j d y j y
j y[2] y j y following /i/
j dü y j y following /ɨ/ word-initially
j ∅ ∅, w j ∅, w between vowels, especially back vowels and /a/, in a handful of irregular cases
k k k k k
k k g g k following /n/
k kü k k k following /ɨ/ word-initially
k sh[2] k k k following /i/
` ’ ʔ ’ ’
` ’ ∅ ’ ’ between vowels
` j ʔ ’ ’ preceding /s/
` j x ’ ’, ∅ preceding a plosive
`p j xp ’p ’p, p
m m m m m
m m m m n preceding /p/
m mu m m m following /u/
m mü m m m following /ɨ/
m mi[2] m m m following /i/
n n n n n
n n, ∅ ŋ̂ n n word-finally and preceding /s/
n n ŋ n n preceding /k/
n nü n n n following /ɨ/ word-initially
n ñ[2] n n n following /i/
nj ññ iy nj y
o o o o o
o oo oː o o representing the long allophone of /o/
p p p p p
p p b b p following /n/
p pu p p p following /ɨ/ and /u/
p pi[2] p p p following /i/
r r r r l
r rü r r l following /ɨ/ word-initially
r y[2] r r l following /i/
s s s s s
s sü s s s following /ɨ/ word-initially
s sh s s s preceding or following /i/, but not both
t t t t t
t t d d t following /n/
t tü t t t following /ɨ/ word-initially
t ch[2] t t t following /i/
u u u u u
u uu[1] uː u u representing the long allophone of /u/
w v w w w
w w w w w following /ɨ/ and /u/
w vi[2] w w w following /i/
w ∅ ∅ w w preceding /u/
y ü ï y ɨ
y üü[1] ïː y ɨ representing the long allophone of /ɨ/
y ∅ ∅ y ∅ when unstressed word-initially; but phonetic changes always apply as if present
yi i ïi yi ɨi word-finally
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 In the Venezuelan standard, long high vowels can also be (and usually are) represented by doubling the following consonant instead, unless the consonant is ⟨r⟩. I have not been able to determine an infallible rule for when one solution is chosen versus the other. A few consonants double irregularly: ⟨ch⟩ → ⟨tch⟩, ⟨sh⟩ → ⟨jsh⟩, ⟨s⟩ → ⟨js⟩.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 If the preceding /i/ does not represent a syllable nucleus but rather forms the end of a diphthong, no preceding ⟨i⟩ is written and the consonant letter is doubled instead. A few consonants double irregularly: ⟨ch⟩ → ⟨tch⟩, ⟨sh⟩ → ⟨jsh⟩, ⟨s⟩ → ⟨js⟩.

Most word stresses and long vowels in Kari'na are perfectly predictable and therefore should not be represented in the Wiktionary orthography. A few words exceptionally have irregular stress (with corresponding vowel lengthening). Irregular stresses should not be marked in entry names, but should be marked with an acute accent in alternative display parameters, for example by means of the head= parameter to templates such as {{head}}, as the |alt= parameter to {{t}} (when adding translations), or as the second unnamed parameter to {{l}} (when linking to specific entries in various lists) and {{m}} (when mentioning Kari'na words). When a vowel would take both a grave accent and an acute simultaneously, both accents are replaced by a circumflex.

Parts of speech

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Kari'na, like other Cariban languages, makes no distinctions between adjectives and adverbs. In keeping with our treatment of other languages in the Cariban family (and that of most linguists working with the family, but notably not Courtz’s grammar), we conventionally treat these words as adverbs.

Resources

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