Obscure cognates and lexical reconstruction: notes on the diachrony of the Xinguan Arawak languages

Abstract The present paper discusses evidence supporting the claim that the common Xinguan Arawak noun for ‘hand’, *wɨʂɨku, is a shared lexical innovation of this subgroup and that, in addition, a formation for ‘finger’ derived from a nominal compound with the roots for ‘hand’ and ‘head’, *kapɨ-tɨwɨ, sets Waurá, Mehinaku and Kustenaú apart from other languages of the family, including Yawalapiti. The reconstructed Proto-Arawak etymon for ‘hand’, *kʰapɨ, is preserved in the Xinguan Arawak languages only in the form of obscure cognates, instantiating interesting developments in lexical semantics as well as a relatively uncommon sound change in Yawalapiti. The discussion incorporates and addresses the historical linguistic significance of the earliest documentation of the Xinguan Arawak languages, the material gathered by Karl von den Steinen in 1887-1888. The analyses and data discussed highlight serious shortcomings in some of the reconstructed forms and diachronic developments advanced by Payne (1991), such as the postulation of a shift *a > ɨ in Waurá and the reconstruction of syllable-final *h for the Proto-Arawak language, one of the most controversial aspects of his comparative study.

摘要：本文讨论了支撑以下论断的相关证据：新瓜阿拉瓦克语（Xinguan Arawak）中表示“手”的通用名词*wɨʂɨku属于该语支的共享词汇创新；此外，由“手”与“头”的词根构成的名词性复合词衍生出的“手指”构词形式*kapɨ-tɨwɨ，使得瓦乌拉语（Waurá）、梅希纳库语（Mehinaku）与库斯特瑙语（Kustenaú）区别于该语族的其他语言（包括亚拉拉皮蒂语Yawalapiti）。原始阿拉瓦克语（Proto-Arawak）中表示“手”的构拟词源形式*kʰapɨ仅以晦涩同源词的形式留存于新瓜阿拉瓦克语诸语言中，这一现象既体现了词汇语义层面的有趣演变，也反映了亚拉拉皮蒂语中一种相对罕见的语音变化。本文的讨论纳入并阐释了新瓜阿拉瓦克语诸语言最早文献记录的历史语言学价值，该批资料由卡尔·冯·登·斯坦因（Karl von den Steinen）于1887至1888年收集整理。文中所涉及的分析与数据揭示了佩恩（Payne, 1991）提出的部分构拟形式与历时演变存在严重缺陷，例如他假定瓦乌拉语中存在*a > *ɨ的音变规则，以及为原始阿拉瓦克语构拟了音节尾*h——这也是其比较研究中最具争议的内容之一。