Garifuna language

Garifuna is an Arawakan language spoken in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize by the Garifuna people. The language is also spoken to a lesser extent in Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast. Historically it was referred to as Carib or Black Carib and Igñeri by Europeans. One interesting feature of Garifuna is a vocabulary split between terms used only by men and terms used only by women. This does not however affect the entire vocabulary but when it does, the terms used by men generally come from Carib and those used by women come from Arawak.

Where Spoken

Garifuna is spoken in Central America, especially in Honduras (about 128,000 speakers), but also in Guatemala (about 20,000 speakers), Belize (about 15,000 speakers), Nicaragua, and within the USA in New York City.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Garifuna is composed as follows:

• 45 % Arawak (Igñeri)
• 25 % Carib (Kallínagu)
• 15 % French
• 10 % English
• 5 % Spanish or English technical terms

Apart from that, there also some few words from African languages.

Phonology

In Garifuna there are six vowels: a, e, i, o, ü, and u.

The system of consonants does not show any peculiarities: b, ch, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y.

Grammar

Personal pronouns

With independent personal pronouns, Garifuna distinguishes masculine and feminine gender:

The forms au and amürü are of Cariban origin, the others are of Arawakan origin.

Plural of nouns

Pluralization of nouns is irregular, it is realized by means of suffixing. For example:

• isâni "child" – isâni-gu "children"
• wügüri "man" – wügüri-ña "men"
• hiñaru "woman" – hiñáru-ñu "women"
• itu "sister" – ítu-nu "sisters"

However, the plural of Garífuna is Garínagu.

Possession

Possession on nouns is expressed by personal prefixes:

• ibágari "life"
• n-ibágari "my life"
• b-ibágari "your (singular) life"
• l-ibágari "his life"
• t-ibágari "her life"
• wa-bágari "our life"
• h-ibágari "your (plural) life"
• ha-bágari "their life"

Verb

On the Garifuna verb, the grammatical categories tense, aspect, mode, negation, and person (both subject and object) are expressed by means of affixes, partly supported by particles.

The paradigms of conjugation are very numerous.

Examples

The conjugation of the verb alîha "to read" in the present continuous tense:

• n-alîha-ña "I am reading"
• b-alîha-ña "you (singular) are reading"
• l-alîha-ña "he is reading"
• t-alîha-ña "she is reading"
• wa-lîha-ña "we are reading"
• h-alîha-ña "you (plural) are reading"
• ha-lîha-ña "they are reading"

The conjugation of the verb alîha "to read" in the simple present tense:

• alîha-tina "I read"
• alîha-tibu "you (singular) read"
• alîha-ti "he reads"
• alîha-tu "she reads"
• alîha-tiwa "we read"
• alîha-tiü "you (plural) read"
• alîha-tiñu "they (masculine) read"
• alîha-tiña "they (feminine) read"

There are also some irregular verbs.

Numerals

From "3" upwards, the numbers of Garifuna are exclusively of French origin and are based on the dying Vigesimal system, which in today's Standard French is only apparent at "80":

• 1 = aban
• 2 =biñá, biama, bián
• 3 = ürüwa (< trois)
• 4 = gádürü (< quatre)
• 5 = seingü (< cinq)
• 6 = sisi (< six)
• 7 = sedü (< sept)
• 8 = widü (< huit)
• 9 = nefu (< neuf)
• 10 = dîsi (< dix)
• 11 = ûnsu (< onze)
• 12 = dûsu (< douze)
• 13 = tareisi (< treize)
• 14 = katorsu (< quatorze)
• 15 = keinsi (< quinze)
• 16 = dîsisi, disisisi (< "dix-six" → seize)
• 17 = dîsedü, disisedü (< dix-sept)
• 18 = dísiwidü (< dix-huit)
• 19 = dísinefu (< dix-neuf)
• 20 = wein (< vingt)
• 30 = darandi (< trente)
• 40 = biama wein (< 2 + vingt → quarante)
• 50 = dimí san (< "demi cent" → cinquante)
• 60 = ürüwa wein (< "trois-vingt" → soixante)
• 70 = ürüwa wein dîsi (< "trois-vingt-dix" → soixante-dix)
• 80 = gádürü wein (< quatre-vingt)
• 90 = gádürü wein dîsi (< quatre-vingt-dix)
• 100 = san (< cent)
• 1,000 = milu (< mil)
• 1,000,000 = míñonu (< engl. million?)

Other Types of Words

The language uses prepositions and conjunctions.

Syntax

The word order is verb-subject-object (VSO).

External links

• Ethnologue, Languages of the World: Garifuna
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Garifuna version (sample text)
• A Caribbean Vocabulary Compiled in 1666 (lists of older Garifuna words)

References

• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Garifuna". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
• "Garifuna (Black Carib)". Native Languages of the Americas. http://www.native-languages.org/garifuna.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 
• Langworthy, Geneva (2002). "Language Planning in a Trans-National Speech Community" (PDF). In: Indigenous Languages Across the Community, ed. by Barbara Burnaby and Jon Reyhner. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University, pp. 41–48.
• "A Caribbean Vocabulary Compiled in 1666". The United Confederation of Taíno People. http://www.uctp.org/garifunalist.html. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 
• Palacio, Clifford J.. "Online Garifuna Lessons". http://www.seinebight.com/cjp/dir.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 
• Josephs, K. Marie. "Garifuna". Cariblanguage.org. http://www.cariblanguage.org/garifuna.html. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 
• Suazo, Salvador (1994). Conversemos en garífuna (2nd ed.). Tegucigalpa: Editorial Guaymuras. (written in Spanish)

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