Leko (Rik'a) is an isolate language of East Bolivia that is on the verge of extinction .
| Leco | |
|---|---|
| Countries | Bolivia |
| Regions | La paz |
| Total number of speakers | about 20 |
| Status | |
| Classification | |
| Category | Languages of South America |
| Isolated | |
| Writing | latin |
| Language Codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | no |
| ISO 639-2 | no |
| ISO 639-3 | lec |
| WALS | |
| Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
| Ethnologue | |
| ELCat | |
| IETF | |
| Glottolog | |
Currently ( 2006 ), about 20 people living in the La Paz department speak Leko language: in the vicinity of Apolo (province of Franz Tamayo ) and in a number of villages along the Mapiri-Caca and Koroiko rivers . All carriers over 60 years old, mostly men, all of them stopped using leco for everyday communication even during their youth, in the 1960s . Scattered in various villages, the Leko carriers live in a Hispanic or Aymaraic language and practically do not contact each other.
Family relations are not established leko, the language is classified as isolated .
Content
- 1 Grammar
- 2 notes
- 3 References
- 4 Literature
Grammar
The morphology of Leko is agglutinative in nature, with a significant predominance of suffixation over prefixation . The person-number of the subject is expressed by a suffix occupying the far-right position in the verb form; in a number of forms, as a result of fusion, the indicators of time and the person-number of the subject merge into a single cumulative morpheme. The person-number of an object with a transitive verb is optionally expressed by a prefix, the use of which depends on a number of semantic , pragmatic and discursive factors (for more details see Kerke 2006).
The word order is relatively free, presumably we can talk about the basic order of SOV . Adjectives and demonstrative pronouns precede the definable noun , adverbs precede the adjective, the possessor precedes the possessive.
The case marking is suffixive, arranged by the nominatively accusative principle .
Notes
Links
Literature
- Kerke, S. van de. 1998. Verb formation in Leko: Causatives, reflexives, and reciprocals. // L. Kulikov & H. Vater (eds.) Typology of verbal categories , 195-203. Linguistische Arbeitsberichte 382, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
- Kerke, S. van de. 1999. A 19th century doctrine in the Leko language. // S. Dedenbach-Salazar & L. Crickmay (eds.) The language of Christianization in Latin America: Catechisation and instruction in Amerindian languages , 115-150. BAS 20 / CIASE 29, Saurwein, Markt Schwaben.
- Kerke, S. van de. 2000. Case marking in the Leko language. In H. van der Voort & S. van de Kerke (eds.) Indigenous languages of Lowland South America , 25-39. Leiden: ILLA 1, CNWS.
- Kerke, S. van de. 2002. Complex verb formation in Leko. In M. Crevels et al. (eds.) Current studies on South American languages , 241–255, Leiden: ILLA 3, CNWS.
- Kerke, S. van de. 2006. Object cross-referencing in Leko // Rowicka & Carlin (eds) What's in a Verb: Studies in the verbal morphology of the languages of the Americas . Utrecht: LOT Publications, 2006.
- Lafone Quevedo, SJ 1905. La lengua Leca , Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina , tomo 60.
- Montaño Aragón, M. 1987. Guía etnográfica lingüística de Bolivia. La Paz: Don Bosco.